A.N - Hello, this is my first foray into the wonderful world of Veronica Mars fan fiction. I just had to get down this stories that seemed to form themselves in my brain. They don't really relate apart from being part of the VM universe, filtered through my odd mind. I decided to use quotes to bookend them because I found so many that could be applied to so many of the characters and situations, besides we all know how important inspirational quotes are. Though I doubt these will be very inspirational, especially not this one in particular.
Disclaimer: I have no claim over Veronica Mars or any of its related intellectual properties, that's Rob Thomas baby. I also have no claim to the wonderful words of the various authors whose quotes I shamelessly use to make myself seem smarter (I'm not).
Disclaimer again: Be warned this is a story with harsh language and features depictions of abuse both emotional and physical. You should probably go play with a puppy instead.
Cocaine Blues
"There are wounds that never show on the body that are deeper and more hurtful than anything that bleeds."
-Laurell K. Hamilton, Mistral's Kiss
Keith Mars, Balboa County Sheriff, had tracked down many men in his time as an officer of the law, his record while not perfect was as good as they get. To be pithy about it, he always got his man.
So why, oh, why was he still up driving the deserted streets of Neptune at quarter to three on a Sunday night, looking for one kid.
Sure kids were small and fast but honestly how many places where there in Neptune a twelve-year-old kid could be at quarter to three?
He'd already checked the all night convenience stores and dinners, the parks and beaches, even the school, that one may have been out of desperation.
Yep, there it was bubbling up inside his chest, desperation. There were in fact many places a lost child could be and few of them where pleasant.
God, if anything happened to that kid, the half formed thought rose unbidden to the surface. Panic would not be useful at the minute he told himself, he was trained to handle this kind of situation, to stay calm and .. Not... Panic.
Still the image of two little blondes dressed in black and crying almost broke his heart.
He gulped down the last of the Sac N' Pac coffee and began to make the rounds of the outer limits of the town again.
Maybe this time.
The contented peace of the Mars family home was broken by the phones shrill demand for attention. Keith had rolled over and tried to block out the irritating reminder of the outside world. If it was anything important then the sheriff's department would page him, not ring the house number. Still after the phone had cut out and rang again, he knew that he wouldn't be getting anymore sleep that night.
He glanced at the alarm clock on the night stand and blearily registered the time as 1:23 A.M. His wife's even breathes told him that the cacophony emanating from the hall had not awoken her. Groaning as he pulled himself out of the warmth of his bed he fished around for a pair of pants and groggily made his way into the hall while simultaneously dressing.
"Sheriff Mars"
"O God Keith, I can't find him, I don't know where he is, please, please!"
"Lynn, calm down, take a deep breath, what happened?"
He could hear the slur in her voice, practically smell the alcohol drifting over the phone lines. Still the fear in her tone was real enough to keep him on the line.
"I'm sure Aaron is fine probably just couldn't get a car back from LA this late, I think he told me he would be out there at meetings or something."
"No, not Aaron, O Keith my baby boy..."
Damn, Keith closed his eyes, I was really hoping this was about Aaron. Philandering husbands where a lot easier to deal with than missing kids.
"I'll be over in a minute" he hung up the phone, glancing at the door covered with a pink name plate that proudly proclaimed 'Veronica' next to a prancing unicorn.
"Go back to bed honey, every things fine" he told the pair of eyes peeking out from the crack in the door. She opened the door just enough so he could see her face, puffy with sleep.
"Just have to run down to the office for a minute, crime never sleeps so neither does the sheriff, apparently".
She nodded, stifling a yawn "Night daddy, be safe".
A solid hour of driving and the sky showed no signs of brightening, the rare California rain was pelting the slick, dark surface of the Pacific Coast Highway as it stretched out away from the sleepy seaside town. He squinted through the haze at the halogen lights of a particularly obnoxious billboard for a new action movie, something about death or heat or rage, the usual, it was the name on the marque that had caught his eye, Echolls. He felt his gut clench and wiped a hand across his weary face.
He had to turn back, head home to his own kid, maybe he had already made his way home, or would in the next few hours.
He was an unpredictable one.
"Cheap justification Keith" he chided himself, "but you can't help the kid by falling asleep and crashing into the pacific, now can you?".
He pulled over into the bus stop area to turn the car around when a bundle of clothes caught his notice, shivering under the narrow bus bench.
"Please god", he breathed practically jumping from the car. A cold breeze was blowing the rain sideways into his eyes and tugged at the edges of the coat draped over the body on the bench. Keith blinked trying to focus his vision, the bundle was moving he was sure, it wasn't just the perpetual motion of the wind and rain tricking his eyes, he was sure.
Still he steeled himself, and reached out his hand. The kid shot up like a startled bird, he flitted from Keith's grasp to the other side of the bench. Adopting a poise halfway between flight and fight, he watched with wary eyes, that seemed to be absorbing the situation and calculating his options.
"Logan" Keith said in a placating tone "It's okay, it's me Sheriff Mars, Veronica's dad" he added, the kid was skittish as a pure breed, but he relaxed a little at the mention of Keith's daughter.
"You're not in trouble, Logan, but there are a lot of people worried about you," did the kid just snort, probably the cold, he continued " and I think its time you came home".
The silence filled up the space between them for a moment before, slumping his shoulders , Logan began walking towards the patrol car. Without a word he made to sit in the back, but Keith placed a hand on his shoulder and steered him around to the passenger door "Heating" he indicated to the vents in the dash.
And judging by how much the kids shoulders shook under his hands, he'd need it.
The white Porsche zoomed around the curve of the road, narrowly avoiding crashing into the metal barrier erected along the cliff side, but not narrowly enough that the paint job wouldn't need a touch up.
Logan's knuckles were white from gripping the leather seats as he tried to prevent himself from sliding into the door or the dash, the seat belt, too big for his slight frame, only managed to choke him. He eyed the needle in the speedometer nervously watching its jerky movements as it rose higher up into the red. Swallowing he moved his eyes to his fathers face, a look halfway between extreme concentration and maniac glee was plastered across the ageing actors features.
"Dad" Logan said, but was drowned out by the growl of the engine, eager to prove its reputation as a speedster. "DAD" Logan yelled, it was beginning to rain , the headlights showed the silver threads hanging in the air but the rest of the world was shrouded in the deepest of blacks. Glimpses of the metal barrier were the only indication they were still on the road and hadn't already been swallowed up into oblivion. "Dad, slow down, you're going too fast!"
Aaron turned his head, narrowing his eyes at his son, pale and shivering next to him, looking truly pathetic. While his attention was focused on his son, he hadn't noticed the car drift out into the next lane, the one for oncoming traffic. The blinding glare of the semi trucks headlights flashed just in time for Aaron to turn the wheel hard, swerving out of the way as the great metal beast hurtled by at 100 M.P.H., leaving the air echoing with the frantic blearing of its horn and the screech of rubber on asphalt. Logan forced air into his lungs, his ears ringing and tears stinging his eyes, Aaron let out a whoop of excitement, drumming his hands on the steering wheel with nervous energy.
"How's that kiddo just like one of my movies, your old man's a real action star" he laughed, pushing down on the gas pedal causing the engine to rev. The car began its jerky movements back along the highway drifting in and out of lanes and brushing the steel barrier every so often. Tears now streaming down his face, Logan's heart was keeping pace with the hurtling machine and he was sure it would give out before the car did.
"Stop, stop, stop, stop, JUST FUCKING STOP" his whisper turned into a scream, the gasoline and cold night air searing through his lungs.
Aaron now thoroughly pissed at his sons wimpy behaviour, hit the brake peddle furiously,letting the car screech to a sudden halt. Logan's head whipped forward, his mouth making contact with the dash, teeth scrapping wood veneer. Aaron looked at him in disgust, leaning over to rub his fingers along the dash, more concerned with the possibility of a chip in the panelling than a chip in his sons tooth.
Logan swung the car door open, half falling out onto the gritty surface of the highway. He emptied the contents of his stomach onto the road, the bile mixing with the blood from his busted lip before being washed away by the rain.
"Get back in the car" Aaron yanked him up, unconsciously using more force than necessary in his frenzied state. Logan just shook his head trying to pull out of his fathers jittery hands. His attempts to extricate himself caused Aaron to stumble back, knocking his elbow against the open door.
"Fuck, fine you don't want to get back in the car, you can stay here, or try to walk home" he sneered slamming the passenger door.
Logan looked at his father in shock, as he lowered himself into the drivers seat again, revving the engine. Logan scrambled for the door but the car took of at speed, causing him to jump back to avoid losing a foot.
He stared as the rear lights were blurred by the rain and then disappeared into the night.
They travelled for about fifteen minutes accompanied only by the rhythmic swishing of the windscreen wipers beating back the rain, Keith occasionally glancing over at the sopping wet boy.
He was constantly fidgeting, leg rattling against the door, hands pulling at the sleeves of the over-sized deputies jacket Keith had given him to replace his drenched coat. He would pull the fabric down over his knuckles and then brush it against the small cut on his lower lip, wincing and dropping his hands to pick at the seat cushion, before repeating the process again after a few minutes.
It was starting to fray on his last nerve.
"You shouldn't keep rubbing at it, it will just make it hurt more" The kid looked startled, his jiggling leg, stilled, tense, his hands covering the injury in question.
"It doesn't hurt" he muttered sullenly between his fingers.
Keith rolled his eyes "What happened?" he asked, matter of factly, sympathy would get him nowhere with this kid.
"Fell" Logan shrugged his shoulders carelessly.
"Wow, that's some trick, fell in Neptune and landed an hour outside the town on a bus bench"
The kid dropped his hands, turning his head to look at Keith, he seemed to be sizing him up, judging him. A con-man considering a mark, Keith shook the thought, he was just a kid, a small rain soaked, shivering kid.
He'd have to turn his badge in tomorrow if he was getting spooked by a kid eye-balling him.
"Ta-da" the kid suddenly said, waving his hands like a cheap conjurer.
Keith couldn't help the laugh that escaped him at the child's sudden change in demeanour. Sullen to perky in three seconds flat, I think he just beat Veronica's best time, he thought to himself wryly.
There was a smile on his face now, it stretched the cut across his lips causing a trickle of blood to run down his chin. Keith couldn't decide whether the sight was comical or just sad.
"So Houdini, this great escape of yours, how exactly was it supposed to go?"
"A magician never reveals his secrets" the boy giggled, reminding Keith once again just how young he actually was "but it may have involved, wait for it..."
He paused dramatically, drawing a deep breath.
"A bus!" he finished triumphantly.
Again Keith had to chuckle at the kids brashness "Well sorry to inform you but they don't tend to run at this hour of the night".
"Morning" Logan corrected him "it's the morning now, nights over, besides who said I was trying to escape?"
The Porsche pulled up to the house, knocking over one of the terracotta pots standing next to the steps leading up to the front door.
Aaron threw open the door, banging it against the iron railing that ran down the side of the steps, denting the already battered car one last time for good measure.
Curly would have his work cut out for him in the morning. Maybe he would get Moran to completely redo the paint job, get a new colour, blue maybe or red? He staggered up the steps, humming a nonsense tune as he tried to turn the keys in the lock.
The door swung open by itself, Aaron wondered when they had that feature installed and how much it had cost? Maybe they could fire the butler? Did they have a butler? He was trying to remember when his eyes focused on his wife's hands grasping the door handle like a life preserver.
"You don't have to do that, it opens all by itself" he chuckled, but she had already swept past him to the diagonally parked (abandoned) car. She threw open the passengers seat looking inside before turning around, eyes pleading.
"Aaron" she croaked out "Where is Logan? You brought him to that meeting, you said you'd be back by ten!" her voice grew more high pitched with each word.
"Ah well Berkowitz invited us to a little gathering after the negotiations where done, you know celebrate my newest feature, its a great role, I play a former C.I.A. agent turned gun for hire who has to protect this diplomats kid, some new kid actor, Connor something, he's really being hyped at the minute next big thing" Aaron chuckled, again. Lynn watched him, eyes glassy, patiently waiting for him to explain where her son was, she tried not to concentrate on the damaged car or the glazed look in his eyes.
"Logan?" she pleaded, hands clasping together in supplication. Aaron clicked his tongue in frustration at his wife's interruption "The little brat wouldn't come with me"
"You left him in LA?" she gasped out, beginning to sway on her feet.
"What do you think I'm stupid or something" he yelled at her, stalking down the steps towards her, eyes narrowed " We were almost home and the brat pretends to be sick and then runs out of the car and wouldn't get back in, what was I supposed to do?"he pointed a finger accusingly in her face. "if you didn't coddle him so much, he wouldn't be such a fucking spoiled brat."
"You left him?" she repeated, half whispered.
"Don't you dare make this my fault" he screamed in her face " unlike you I will not give in to every little tantrum he throws, the boy needs some discipline, he needs to learn a lesson about respect"
With that, he walked around and got back into the car pulling away, grounding the remnants of terracotta and azaleas under the spinning wheels.
He had just started to get feeling back into his toes when Sheriff Mars had decided to strike up a conversation. It had been funny to watch the man's face try to hide his amusement as Logan put on his best clown act. It was much better than the worried glances he had been shooting him earlier.
Still Logan knew that all the banter was just leading up to the real interrogation.
He genuinely liked Keith Mars, he was reasonable despite being an authority figure, he could be funny, and he was Veronica's dad, which got him points the same way Jake got points merely for being Duncan and Lilly's dad.
Keith Mars was probably the best dad in Neptune, make that the world, or at least Logan gathered from the stories Veronica told. To her he was Superman, upholder of Truth, Justice and the Mars family way, which somehow included ice-cream for dinner on special occasions.
All these facts lead Logan to one conclusion, Sheriff Mars wasn't going to let this go easily, and Logan had better come up with a damn good lie to convince him to leave it alone. It made him feel a little bit like the bad guy, lying to someone so good , but the truth wasn't an option.
Besides it had been his fault he wouldn't get back into the car, it was embarrassing, he didn't want Sheriff Mars to think he was that stupid or wimpy.
"So am I gonna get an excuse for why I'm up this early on a Monday morning, driving down the PCH?"
"Commitment to excellence? A burning desire to serve and protect? Overtime?"
Keith didn't smile "Logan?" he said sternly.
Logan sighed, rubbing the cut on his lip, wiping the trickle of blood from his chin as he did. "Would you believe I got lost?" he ventured. Keith snorted "What were you doing, chasing a balloon?"
"A white van with free candy written on the side actually" Logan's smirk faded as Keith's frown deepened.
"Your mother was very worried about you" he said gently, looking out onto the road ahead, attempting to squint through the rain. Logan felt his heart drop into the pit of his stomach, he tried to blink back the hot tears that stung the corners of his eyes.
"My mom called you?" he tried to hide the quiver in his voice.
Keith nodded.
"Not my dad?"
"No, he was away, I'm sure he'll just be happy you're home safe"
"My dad didn't call you?" Keith slowed the car, the kid sounded on the verge of a breakdown.
Logan didn't like looking weak in front of anyone but the tears were falling fast and hard and he couldn't quit catch his breath, he felt like he was drowning. Aaron hadn't called Sheriff Mars to come pick him up, he had just left him there, just left him...
Keith stopped the car, watching as the boys slight frame shook with the huge racking sobs that erupted from his throat. He gently rubbed his back, calmly telling him to breathe.
"Come on now kid, deep breaths, that's it, in and out, good boy, in and out, in and out, come on Logan you have to breathe!"
Slowly the sobs subsided and he watched as the boys ragged breaths began to become even.
"It'll be okay, it's not the end of the world, kiddo, I can't promise you won't be in trouble, but it won't be that bad okay?"
He was still rubbing his back, voice low and soothing, Logan nodded, eyelids drooping.
"Okay" he mumbled, leaning his head against the glass, letting his eyelids close "Okay".
Keith waited till he was sure Logan was soundly sleeping before starting the engine.
Logan stood entranced as the rear lights stained the misty air red till they disappeared into the dark.
Blinking the neon after image from his eyes he considered screaming, crying, begging. Falling to the slick dark highway and beating on it like a war drum, anything to cut through the maddening tapping of raindrops on road.
Still the heavens poured their vitriol down on his head and no amount of pleading or fighting would change the fact that he was here now, alone.
Shaking off the stupor, he did the only thing he could.
He began to walk.
Crossing into the hard shoulder, he pulled the orange fabric of his wind breaker tight around his trembling frame and wondered on into the Stygian night. The cruel hands of the wind pulled at the cloth, trying to snatch his last merge form of refuge, they tickled the back of his neck as the drops of rain fell hard against his cheeks, every drop a stinging slap.
He was thankful for the hard black asphalt beneath his feet, the yellow painted stripe , leisurely leading him towards the ambient glow of the sleepy town perched on the edge of the sea.
At least he had a direction to walk, he was alone but he knew the way home.
"Just follow the yellow brick road ", he said aloud to the no one, "but what to ask the wizard for?" and was answered only by the empty night ahead.
After an indeterminable stretch of time, eyes following the faint colour in the surrounding black, his shoes seemed to fill with lead as his legs turned to wood. Stumbling he raised his eyes to the glare of a halogen lamp trained on a overly large billboard set above a wooden bus bench.
A bleached blonde, airbrushed, sprawled across the fibreglass hood of a Ferrari, starred out at him with hollow eyes and a plastic smile. CG flames spewed from the still tyres of the red sports-car leading away in fiery tracks to equally fiery letters that read 'Death-fist III: Fist of Retaliation'.
Underneath the trite title, in bold black letters the name Aaron Echolls stood out like a bad punchline.
He laughed, cruel ,harsh , loud barks that shook his sopping frame till he fell to his knees exhausted and empty.
Crawling beneath the twisted planks of the bus bench, Logan curled up and let his heavy eyes close, slipping into sleep beneath his fathers name, up in lights.
The glare of the lamps lining the street as the patrol car crossed into Neptune roused Logan from his sleep.
Groggily he stared out the window at the near empty town itself just beginning to brush off the nights sleep and rain.
The side walks were still slick with the nights downpour and reflected the colours of the lights above them, orange street lamps, green, yellow and red traffic lights, blue and purple from a nearby liquor store sign.
The street looked like a neon rainbow and the thought made the sleepy child happy for some reason.
He smiled, a rare moment where he felt in accord with the world.
The truce was broken when the cut on his lip cracked painfully leaking blood onto the window, obscuring the outside world.
"We'll have you home in a couple minutes" Keith said pleasantly trying to stifle a yawn.
Logan suddenly felt terrible for keeping the Sheriff up all night, looking for him. He really wasn't worth it. Besides Aaron would have come back, eventually. He was sure, his dad would have come back.
His chest tightened and he realised that home was the last place he wanted to go. Maybe Sheriff Mars would let him sleep on his couch or on one of the benches at the station, or just drop him off at the top of his street and he could sneak into the house through the back hedge. But if he asked him to do any of that he was sure that the Sheriff would ask him why he didn't want to go home.
That wasn't a question he was willing to answer, not yet.
Lynn paced the front hall, glancing at the door every couple of seconds.
She didn't know what she expected, Aaron to saunter in with Logan by his side, Logan on his own, wet and cold, the sheriff, hat in hand, eyes full of sympathy.
"Mrs. Echolls, we're so sorry, we found him by the road".
She couldn't handle it, it was just too much. She poured herself a drink, with a kick, and settled down by the phone.
Aaron would call, he had to, he'd call, say it was all a mix-up, a mistake, a joke. He was out there right now bringing her baby home, he had to be. He just wouldn't do that to her, to their child.
She closed her eyes, taking a sip of the sour liquid, a picture of Logan smiling, waving at her, developed behind her eyes.
He was by the pool, giggling as he chased little Duncan Kane with a water pistol, he turned to her for a moment to wave, the cast on his arm catching the sunlight.
She choked on the sip, coughing, maybe just to be safe she should call Keith, he was the sheriff, he could find Logan. Besides his daughter, Veronica, was one of Logan's friends, it would be a favour, it didn't have to go through official channels.
She took one last gulp, draining her glass and dialled the number for the Mars residents.
Keith pulled the cruiser up in front of the large, impeccably appointed house, killing the engine.
Light streamed into the car from the wall lamps mounted on either side of the double width entrance doors, as the early morning sun struggled to burn through the grey clouds. The light fell across the face of the small boy sitting across from him, harshly illuminating the purple and yellow that had begun to spread out from his lip to his cheek.
The bruise looked ugly under the stark lighting and Keith had a sudden urge to keep the child buckled safely in his passenger seat where he couldn't hurt himself or worse, be hurt.
"So how about the truth, what happened?" he spoke in a placid tone free of judgement, allowing only a hint of his concern to leak through. Logan turned his head to face the sheriff, eyes resolutely downcast.
He played with the hem of the dark coloured jacket, overly large but warm and comfortable, in the back of his mind he wished he could curl up into it and just sleep. He knew it wasn't his, he knew he would have to give it back, the warmth and comfort where only temporary. He sighed and raised his eyes, locking them with those of the adult beside him.
"I ..." he began in a barely audible voice "My..Dad!" his eyes drifted to the driveway where the rumble of an engine announced the arrival of a white Porsche, severely dented.
Keith couldn't tell who had had the worst night the kid or the car.
At least two different colour paints had been left along the sides of the car in the deep scratches and hollows of what could only be the results of impacts. Keith frowned as the sports car swerved up the drive stopping abruptly across from his own more modest vehicle.
Aaron Echolls climbed out and made his way over to the cruiser, wrapping his knuckles on the drivers window, his ostentatious gold ring making a loud clinking sound against the glass.
Barely disguised irritation evident on his face Keith rolled the window down as the door to the house flew open and Lynn Echolls practically vaulted down the stairs, throwing the passenger door open. Aaron leaned with calculated casualness against the window smiling down at the local sheriff as Lynn gingerly knelt next to her son, taking his hands in hers and wincing at the cut lip and forming bruise on his face.
"Howdy Sheriff!" Aaron smiled, all teeth and charm "What brings you to our neck of the woods?"
" Just delivering some wayward offspring back home" he replied, mild tone at odds with the hard look forming in his eyes.
Aaron noticed and shifted his own features accordingly, eyes only momentarily settling on his wife as she was cooing affectionately at her son, hands still firmly clasped around his smaller ones.
"In all sincerity, Keith, I can't thank you enough for what you have done for my family, I just wish I had been here to avoid causing you so much trouble"
"All in a days or should I say nights work, it's my job to deal with any trouble in this town"
"And we're all so lucky to have a sheriff so good at his job" Aaron nodded sagely.
Lynn had finally pulled Logan from the passengers seat, despite his reluctance and arms wrapped around his shoulders, tears in her eyes, she turned to Keith.
"Thank you, just thank you so much" she choked out.
Keith let himself smile, and nodded his head in acknowledgement "Any time, but lets not make it a habit"
"Well you have to at least come in for a coffee or something, we can't go without rewarding the hero of the night" Aaron put in, raising himself up from the window.
"No, no I have to get back to my own kid but I will settle for an explanation" he said pointedly looking between Aaron and Lynn.
Logan shuffled his feet, Lynn glanced nervously at her husband and Aaron let out a slight chuckle.
"Well, while the cats away" he smirked indicating the battered Porsche "my rapscallion of a son got it into his head to have a little fun with daddy's newest toy, he panicked when he crashed it and must have took off, afraid of his punishment" as he spoke Aaron had circled the car to where his wife and son stood.
He had placed his hand on his sons shoulder, squeezing it.
"But honestly I'm just glad you brought him home safely" he looked down at Logan " and I think someone has learned a valuable lesson"
Logan nodded eyes still firmly on the ground.
"Now apologise to the man for wasting his time and we'll discuss your punishment later" he smiled pleasantly patting the small shoulder under his hand.
"I'm sorry Sheriff Mars, I won't let it happen again" he mumbled in Keith's direction.
"Don't worry about it, but let's keep our emulating of James Dean to leather jackets and lay off the sports cars for a couple more years, okay kid?"
Logan nodded a smile creeping onto his face, he raised his eyes to meet Keith's and in a genuine voice simply said "Thank you".
Keith backed the car out, turning around in the spacious drive, eager to head home.
Of all the places, I had to be Sheriff of the town where kids runaway after wreaking daddy's Porsche, he shook his head.
More money than sense, he thought in exasperation.
Glancing in the rear view as he began to pull away, he saw that Aaron had now wrapped his arm around his sons shoulders, and tightly gripping his arm Logan leaned into his fathers embrace, head ducked, tears rolling down his cheeks. Keith thought he could just make out the words.
"I'm sorry, so sorry".
Keith gently placed a hand on his daughters shoulder and gave it a light shake.
"Sweetheart we're home" he whispered.
The little bundle of blonde just curled up even closer into the deputies jacket draped over her pink summer dress.
Sighing Keith got out of the car and made his way to the passengers side, opening the door carefully so she wouldn't fall out. He hoisted her up into his arms and managed to open the door and traverse the stairs, depositing her on her bed with only a little back strain.
"No more all weekend sleep-overs at the Kane's anymore if you can't even make it the drive home before conking out" he said in mock sternness , answered only by the nonsense mumbling of the deeply asleep.
He began to take off her shoes, smiling when he saw 'LILLY KANE IS FABULOUS' scrawled across the back of her left shoe in flowery script surrounded by hearts and laughing when he read the matching 'VERONICA MARS IS MARVELLOUS' on her right shoe.
Carefully lifting up the yellow daisy covered duvet he tucked her safely into her bed, lightly kissing her forehead.
"Sweet dreams, Veronica honey" he said before switching off the lights and making his way to his own bed.
The room was dark and quiet, he lay on his stomach burying his head into the warmth of the pillows.
Her light footsteps did not make him raise his head, he knew her hesitant steps, always slightly off kilter,drunk or just punch drunk.
She sat beside him on the bed running her manicured nails through his hair and gently scratching his head, resolutely ignoring the rest of his body, a sight unseen.
He only raised his head when he heard the clink of a glass on the night stand, she fumbled in her pocket to produce a prescription bottle, child capped. She struggled to open it before with an amused sigh he propped himself gently up onto his knees , took the bottle and opened it in one deft movement.
Lynn smiled and stroked his unbruised cheek, "What would I do without you?" she chuckled, it didn't quite reach her eyes, the words had too much weight.
They both ignored it.
She counted out two pills, he took them without comment, reaching for the glass he noticed the deep amber colour of the liquid contained within. He raised an eyebrow.
"To help you sleep" she shrugged.
What works for the mother, he thought and swallowed a mouthful, coughing at the burning sensation in his throat, he motioned to put it down.
"Drink it all".
He brought it to his lips, hesitating till Lynn's fingers caught the bottom of the tumbler and tipped it forward, letting the warm liquid flow down his throat.
Another cough and the sound of glass meeting wood.
He lay down, on his stomach, again, she resumed her ministrations to his scalp. The warmth had reached his stomach and spread a fuzzy haze, his eyes closed allowing them to drown out the constant twinges and aches that shot up his back, if only a little.
His mind wandered back to the feeling of the car heater blowing hot air in his face and the warmth in the voice of the man sitting next to him.
That was something he wasn't used to, kindness from men, like a nervous dog he never really liked men, he was much more comfortable with women.
The feeling in his throat was like it had been scorched, not by hot whiskey, but by unspoken words.
What if he had actually said it, told someone?
Lynn was humming, he concentrated on the sound, he recognised the tune, he could hear snippets of the words in his head. He mused as sleep began to creep over him, what was the song called?
When I find myself in times of trouble
Would he have helped? Would he have blamed him? Called him weak? Told him he deserved it?
Mother Mary comes to me
Taken him away from his mom? From Duncan and Lilly and Veronica?
speaking words of wisdom
Put him in a home somewhere with all the other lost boys? Would they hate him, laugh at him, pity him?
let it be
No, he decided, telling would be bad, he should never tell.
Besides things weren't so bad like this.
That's it,
Let it be.
"There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you."
- Maya Angelou
A.N: Yes I know that Connor knew the Echolls way before Logan was twelve, I seem to recall something about a purse, just chalk it up to Aaron being out of it, and an asshole. Yeah mostly the last thing.
Coming Soon: Death-fist III- Fist of Retaliation. He's back and this time the gloves are off. Feel the fist, the fist of retaliation.
Don't forget to check out the original Death-fist and Death-fist II: Fist of Rage.
Starring Aaron Echolls as Daniel Boxer.
In association with Triten' Ché zey pictures.
