A/N: Here's my latest oneshot. It's actually the companion to one of my older oneshots Everything She Does Is For You. I might even do a third sometime to close out the plotline. I actually liked this, but who knows. Anyway, please vote in the poll on my profile. Enjoy! R&R! Thanks! –Mac
Disclaimer: I don't own VMars.
Not The One You Need
Piz had agreed to meet Veronica at Mars Investigations. She had been held up there a lot since her father had lost the election. Keith was back, toiling away, in the P.I. business while Vinnie Van Lowe took his seat in the Sherriff's department—the only upside was business was booming due to the utter incompetence of the new Sherriff. Piz wasn't too keen on having this conversation with Veronica with her father in the next room, but he had to do what he came to do. If he put it off, he would never do it. He had to do it, especially after already having the conversation with Logan…
Unable to muster up the courage to go inside, Piz had been sitting in his car for at least twenty minutes parked outside the building. He had his hands clenched on his steering wheel and he was staring out at nothing through his windshield. His mind was racing coming up with a thousand different ways this could go wrong. He knew he was doing the right thing, that wasn't the problem. He had thought it was hard to talk to Logan—but he was more nervous to speak to Veronica. He had already experienced what Logan could do to him if he got angry, but he didn't want to imagine what Veronica could (and would) do to him if she didn't like what he had to say.
Piz was startled from his thoughts by someone knocking on his window. After recovering from the surprise, he turned to see who had disturbed him. Keith waved at him shortly from the other side of the glass. Piz blew out a breath—he hadn't even seen Keith walk up.
Piz rolled down his window, "Hey, Mr. Mars."
"Hello Piz," Keith responded, "You've been out here for awhile. Were you planning on going in anytime soon?"
"Right, of course," Piz replied, "I just lost track of time. I was thinking about some things."
"Okay," Keith nodded. "I have some work to do outside the office, but Veronica is still inside. She should be there for awhile."
"Thanks Mr. Mars," Piz said as he got out of his car and rolled up his window.
"No problem. See you around Piz," Keith waved as he headed off.
"Not if I do what I came to do," Piz muttered under his breath.
Piz figured that if Keith knew he had been outside, then Veronica must have too. Feeling the pressure of 'now or never' bearing down on his shoulders, he forced himself to go inside. When he entered the office, Veronica was sitting behind her desk organizing some files. At the sound of the door closing behind him, she looked up. She smiled brightly and stood, closing the file she had been looking at. She crossed the room to stand in front of him.
"Well hello there," Veronica replied, "I was wondering when you were going to make it inside."
"We need to talk," Piz blurted out.
Veronica frowned, looking over him critically, as if she would be able to figure out what he was going to say by looking at him, "Is it a happy guess-what-my-roommate-said-this-morning kind of talk or a I-want-to-run-away-with-my-best-friend's-stepmother kind of talk?"
Piz furrowed his brow, "The second, I guess."
"Figures," Veronica dropped down to sit on the couch. When Piz didn't automatically fallow suit, she gestured fro him to take a seat, "Sit, tell me what's going on."
"So, I lied," Piz took a deep breath as he sat down next to her, "I'm not running away with anyone's stepmother."
"I didn't think you were," Veronica murmured. "So what did you really want to talk about?"
"Veronica, I've thought about this for a long time and I think it's the best thing for both of us," Piz began. He took a moment to get the words straight in his head, "I think…I think we should see other people."
"Why do you think that?" Veronica's eyes widened. "I thought we were doing okay."
"I just realized some things recently," Piz tried to explain, "No that's not right. They were always there. I just recently decided to acknowledge them. We could try to make this work, but I don't think I can get past these things. And you and I both know this isn't right."
"But Piz…"
"I am not the one you need," Piz interrupted.
"How can you say that?" Veronica questioned.
"You know how," Piz responded calmly. "I am not the one you need. Your heart and soul belongs to someone else already."
"How do you know that? You don't know that," Veronica snapped, "If you want to break up with me at least make it be because of how you feel not because of how you think I feel. How do you know I don't feel that way about you?"
"Because you had given your heart away long before you met me," Piz answered. "No matter how hard you try to make it me, it won't work. You know it, I know it, he knows it. To keep going on like this is not fair to either of us, or him."
"Don't bring Logan into this," Veronica seethed, "This is about us, not him."
Piz raised an eyebrow, "I didn't say anything about Logan. But you're wrong, it is about him. It's always been about Logan. It's always going to be about Logan." Veronica opened her mouth to reply, but he cut her off, "But that's okay. I get it. We can't control who we love, we just do. It's better that we don't fight it. You want to be with him more than you want to be with me, and that's not going to change."
"I don't want to be with him," Veronica shook her head. "What he did…"
"Is in the past," Piz finished for her. "He loves you Veronica. And if I stayed with you I would only feel like I was standing in the way of you being happy."
"I…every time I'm with him I wind up being hurt," Veronica replied, "I can't go through that again."
"Veronica," Piz took a deep breath before he replied, "You need him, like it or not you need him. You can try to deny, you can try to fight it, but he will always be a part of your life. He's a part of you, and you're a part of him. And I mean that—you have to know how hard it is for me to say this because I wish you felt that way about me, but I am saying it because I know it's for the best. I can't live with being your second choice. I deserve better than having to feel like I don't measure up every time I'm around you."
"Piz, I never…"
"It's okay, Veronica," Piz said firmly. "Because you deserve better than having to settle. I don't understand it, but I truly believe that you can be happy with him, if you let yourself."
Veronica stared down at her lap silently. Piz reached over and took one of her hands. She sighed and gave his hand a squeeze, "I didn't want it to be this way."
"I know. But I can see, even if you can't right now, that you and Logan are meant to be together. I was never supposed to fit in the equation. You tried though, I'll give you that. It's not your fault it turned out negative results," Piz offered her a small smile, "I'm gonna go."
"Okay," Veronica nodded, standing up.
Piz pushed himself off the couch and headed for the door. About halfway there Piz turned back around, "It's funny. It's like the two of you re living one of those epic romances—you have to go through hell and back but you always end up together by the time the credits roll."
Veronica smiled weakly, reminded of Alterna-Proms and speeches about a love that spanned years and continents, "You're a great guy Piz. One day you'll find a girl far better than me who will love you with all her heart."
"That's sweet," Piz responded. "But I don't think there will ever be a girl as amazing as you Veronica Mars."
"I'll see you around campus?" Veronica asked as Piz started out the door.
Piz smiled and gave her a quick nod before disappearing out of the office. He was in his car and pulling away within minutes. He needed to put distance between himself and the feisty blonde detective so he could breathe again. It took him three blocks and a couple of left turns to feel normal again. He had just broken up with Veronica Mars. He couldn't believe himself, but he knew he had done the right thing.
Maybe Veronica and Logan wouldn't get back together. Maybe it would take another ten years for them to speak to each other again. But everything he had said to both Veronica and Logan had been true. He had done all he could do. It was their turn to set things right. He had no doubt they would, in time—Fate had a funny way of working that way.