Title: Dreams
Rating: PG
Summary: What did Veronica Mars dream of?
Spoilers: General spoilers for the entire series.
Disclaimer: Not mine.
A/N: The idea came to me one day in the middle of my Stats class, and five months later, I finally get around to completing it. :D Who would have thought that of all my fandom, VM would be the one that I would still be writing in 2 years down?
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Little girls dreamed of knights in shining armour just like their Daddies to protect them always. Teenaged girls dreamt of dark strangers bathed in mystery to whisk them away to a place full of excitement and breathless danger. Young women dreamed of men who would love them unconditionally and provide the lives that they had always wanted.
What did Veronica Mars dream of?
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The old Ronnie, the girl that glowed with innocence and naivete, dreamt of a future with Duncan safe in its predictability.
But little girls had to grow up, leaving the comfortable warmth of their childhood behind them for a world that was unbearably cold and lonely, shedding the old skin of wide-eyed wonder for a tougher hide, hidden behind thick guarded walls. Most girls make the transition slowly, gentle hands guiding them through the journey – first boyfriend, first kiss, first breakup. But Ronnie was not like most girls; the death of her best friend had ensured that. The loss of her staunchest defender was followed by the loss of her virginity, snatched from her in a drunken haze, and then the loss of her mother. Ronnie had lost everything she had, till there was nothing left to lose and then she'd given way to a brand-new Veronica Mars.
***
The infamous Veronica Mars that existed in the aftermath of Lilly's death dreamt of nothing more than the momentary escape that a life with Logan brought.
But she was gone too. She'd been locked inside a burning fridge and survived. She'd endured murders and court cases with an inner steel borne out of necessity. She'd befriended PCH-ers and 09-ers alike, the money they brought her being more than enough to cross class divides. Veronica Mars, super bitch, had been the ugly exterior, tough and unrelentless when in pursuit of a case, all jagged edges and hardness in places where she had once been soft. She was the armour that allowed the woman inside to lick her wounds and heal. And when she was ready, Veronica Mars, super bitch, had died as well.
***
The Veronica of today, the young woman who plays the role of friend, daughter and fiancée as naturally as if she had been borne into it, dreams only in shades of warm chocolate.
But even smart, confident, sassy Veronica had a sell-by date. She'd gone to college, graduated top of her class and made it all the way to Quantico as a trainee. She'd found that even mixture of soft girl and kickass bitch that allowed her to survive years of bullying by the boys before they finally realized that she could not be scared away, and then she'd nag them into eating their vegetables and calling their mothers. And all the while, amidst all the chaos that was her life as a trainee, Veronica had managed to fall in love. Theirs was a simple tale. Girl meets boy; boy meets girl; they fall in love. And sure, along the way, there were a few crazy ex-boyfriends and murderous ex-gang members-slash-friends. But they'd survived it all, and now it's time for a new chapter in their lives. So, quietly, peacefully, and joyfully in a church filled with their family, Veronica stepped aside for Veronica Navarro-Mars.