A/N: This has been something that has been bugging me forever, insistently there in the back of my mind, whining in a tiny voice to be written. This fic idea came to me after watching 'Casino Royale' at the movies, then coming home and watching 'Veronica Mars' and falling asleep afterwards. The next day, I woke up, remembering a dream/cross-over of sorts that has been annoying me ever since. And this is it.
The Situation: The events here are set after 'Donut Run' but I know it contains a scene from 'Ahoy Mateys' This really isn't supposed to be taken seriously within the Veronica Mars canon-verse, as a real suspension of belief is required for me to justify this fic. So in this crazy AU of mine, Veronica is actually adopted and has known this all her life.
"A gun, Logan?! A GUN? What are you doing with a gun? You're gonna get yourself killed, don't you understand that?" Veronica nearly screams, crying hysterically.
"Look, it's...look, it's not even loaded."
"Oh, I feel so much better." She says as she furiously wipes the tears from her face.
"Dick's dad gave it to me. He said given my situation..." Logan tries to reassure her, putting the unloaded-gun in the glove compartment.
The sheer insanity and horror of what she had just witnessed causes her to snap at Logan – for saving her life no less. She understands that, but at this moment, she just doesn't care.
"Given your situation, you should just move out of Neptune."
She gets out of the car, but not before Logan comes back with some annoying rejoinder.
"Yeah, well, no can do" indicating his ankle tag.
Veronica slams the door to his XTerra and runs across the road to the Mars Investigations office. This day can only get better, she consoles herself grimly.
As she walks up the stairs, Veronica tries to compose herself so as to not let too much slip in front of her dad. She highly doubts that he would approve of her going to a Fitzpatrick's owned bar, much less threatened with being a life-long billboard for Lucky Charms. No, with everything that had happened recently with Duncan, she has to tread carefully to prove that her father can still trust her.
Making her way to her desk, Veronica sits down, quietly wiping away any residual tears as she hears voices behind the closed door of her dad's office.
The voices suddenly stop and the office door opens as Keith sticks his head out.
"Difficult day at school honey?"
Veronica laughs humourlessly "Algebra II and I just aren't getting along quite as well as we had liked." She indicates towards Keith's office "Shiny new case?"
Keith's expression becomes inscrutable for a moment. "Veronica, you know that you are adopted. Your mother and I have never kept that secret from you"
Veronica feels her stomach tighten. She has had enough of parental issues lately, enough to last a lifetime at the very least. "Yes" she confirms warily.
Keith cannot find the right words to break it to his daughter. "Well, your biological dad has made contact."
"Oh" Veronica's eyes wander over towards their new 'client' behind the office door.
"Veronica, meet your biological father" Keith opens the door wider to allow him through.
"Hello Veronica. It's very nice to see you"
Credits
"Sooo you're my dad" Veronica finds herself somewhat struck speechless, a state that is highly uncommon for her.
He smiles slightly. "Yes, my name is James Bond"
"You're British"
"And you're very observant." It isn't stated meanly.
"Well, yeah, it comes with working as a P.I.'s assistant and everything" Veronica breezes back. Keith shoots her a warning glance. However, before the next pause got too uncomfortable, James offers a 'get-to-know' each other of sorts that night over dinner if Veronica hasn't too much homework.
Veronica looks at Keith before accepting.
"How does seven o'clock at 'The Mirabelle' sound?"
"Sounds perfect" Veronica smiles sunnily.
"Then I'll see you then Veronica. Mr. Mars." He leaves.
Father and daughter wait until his footsteps recede before Veronica bursts out.
"What was that?"
"That was your father honey, and I should expect you to show a bit more respect."
"So when should the respect come along, before or after he gives me the eighteen years worth of birthday and Christmas presents? I'm still waiting for Sugarplum. You know my pony?"
"He just wants to get to know you, you can at the very least give him a chance. You are going to that dinner tonight."
"Yes" Veronica sighs wearily. "Of course I will. Wouldn't want to miss out on the chance on winning the 'Awkwardest Dinner Conversation' award" she mutters to herself as Keith goes back into his office.
Ms Hauser's tedious essay on the 'Risks of Pregnancy' can be left off for another day. She is going to have dinner that night with her biological dad, someone she has never seen before in her life; she has enough on her mind without thinking and writing an essay on the effects a gestating foetus will have on her mornings. Veronica gets herself ready for the night and was out the door when Keith pulls her in for a hug.
"Don't worry dad. No matter how many ponies he wants to give me, I'll be home tonight."
"That's not what I'm worried about."
"I know."
Veronica does not want to be early, so she takes it easy as she drives to the restaurant.
The Mirabelle. One of Neptune's swankiest joints. Favoured watering-hole of the rich and, well richer of Neptune's nobility. Daddy dearest must really be raking in the big bucks or trying to impress his darling daughter.
Veronica pulls up in front of the restaurant and hands her keys to the valet. She is rather unused to this kind of pretentious service and wonders what it would be like if she hadn't been adopted out and whether she would have grown up, accustomed to being waited on.
And to become the quintessential 09er like Madison Sinclair? I'll take the 'have-not' life thanks.
She walks up to the maitre d and says that she is meeting a James Bond. The smiling man walks her to her table where he is there waiting for her. The maitre d hangs around for a moment longer, as if expecting something. Veronica takes a glance at James who has stood up for her and looks at her coat. Smiling slightly to cover her faux pas, Veronica takes off her long black coat and hands it to the maitre d, who takes it away with him politely and makes himself scarce. Just as Veronica and James seat themselves down, a dozen (or so it seems) waiters appear out of nowhere to pull out her chair, fill up a glass of wine for her and some other things that are obscured from Veronica's view.
"I hope you didn't mind that I already ordered us some wine"
"No problem at all. Although, the fact that I am still only eighteen might be a bit of a problem."
"But you're here with a parental guardian. So I'm sure it'll be fine." He smiles at her in a less that 'parental guardian-like' way that disconcerts her. She doesn't like the way that his gaze lingers on her for longer than she'd like.
"True" Veronica says and takes a sip of the red wine. She knows that she is drinking something that probably costs half of her college tuition but is unable to fully appreciate it other than it is sweet and palatable.
Fully focussing on him for the first time, she notes that he looks a little younger than her dad and wonders how young he was when she was born.
Although all of these things do make sense, given the givens.
"Shall we order?" He says and takes a look at the menu.
Veronica is glad to have a chance to hide behind her menu. She is much more uncomfortable than she ought to be. But she hides it well and hopes to God that he can't see it.
They place their order with another one of the smiling faceless waiters, who takes their menus – and Veronica's temporary shield – away. She looks at them leave a little forlornly, while also avoiding James' gaze at her.
"So you're eighteen. Last year of school? Keith tells me that you are doing exceptionally well and in the running for a prestigious scholarship."
He wants to ignore the giant pink elephant in the room and continue the conversation as if we had only been out of contact for a few weeks instead of all my life? Fine, I can play this game just as well as he can.
"I do as well as I can."
"Planning to go to college?"
"Planning to move as far away from Neptune as soon as the graduation ceremony is over."
"I take it you don't like it much here."
There is a hidden something in his words that Veronica, loyal – if adopted – daughter of Keith Mars, doesn't quite like.
She shrugs noncommittally.
"I was never much of a beach-goin' kind of gal." There is something in her tone that indicates this is most definitely not the reason. But no more will be said of the subject. He takes the hint and pauses before pouring her some more wine.
Their dinner appears and a few uncomfortable minutes are passed in silence as they both eat. Veronica, usually patient enough to wait for anything – leads, ideas, perpetrators – to come to her, can't take it anymore. Already on edge tonight, she is rattled enough to finally blurt out.
"Look, this is uncomfortable enough as it is. Why don't you just tell me exactly why you are here after all these years. Why have you sought to make contact? Why now?"
He seems unfazed by her outburst and instead studies her carefully for a moment, his sharp blue gaze met with Veronica's defiant stare. He takes a moment before replying, as if deciding how much he wants to – or should – tell her.
"I just want to get to know you," he says simply.
Veronica is left dumbstruck for a moment at all she was going to get from him.
"After eighteen years? Are you dying?" she asks bluntly. "What do you need a kidney or something?" she asks brazenly with a glint of tears in her eyes.
He chuckles lightly at this.
"I should hope not." He pauses again as if wondering once more how much to tell her.
"Eighteen years ago, when you were born, your mother and I did not feel as if we could look after you properly due to our work. It was then when we found Keith and Lianne who seemed like good people and ready to start a family, something that neither I, nor your mother, were ready for."
Veronica bit back a choke. Her dad knew the identity of her biological parents? All those years, he had said that her biological parents wished to remain anonymous and actively discouraged Veronica from ever investigating into it. It was one of the few things that Veronica and Keith held as promises together with no questions asked. But now to find that her dad knew and even met James?
James guesses some of her emotions that are playing behind her eyes. She keeps her emotions in check well, he observes gravely.
Veronica swallows her anger and compartmentalizes that emotion to be dissected later.
"And my mother? How did you two meet?"
James wonders whether he should just lie to her outright. Save her any more anguish than she already feels by inventing some sweet fairytale. But he sees the cynicism in her too-young eyes and decides for something of a mix. She can find out the real truth for herself if she wants to.
"Your mother and I met each while we were travelling. We met at a function that we both attended due to our work. We stayed together for as long as we could, but then our careers took us in different directions and we had to give you up. Neither of us were really quite the parental type, to tell you the truth." The bitter irony in his words is not lost on him.
"So I was, what, an accident in the lives of two high-flying businesspeople?"
He notices the barely imperceptible hurt in her voice. The truth often does that to people, but James must do this, if not tonight then when? He cannot avoid putting this off any longer anymore.
"Yes, to put it bluntly."
Well-played, you son of a bitch, well-played indeed.
Veronica takes a deep breath and steadies herself. She hates herself for the tears that are beginning to collect in her eyes and tips her head slightly back, willing them with all her tenacity for them not to fall.
And so the sordid origin of Veronica Mars takes an unexpected turn.
"Did you love her?"
James is taken aback by this question. He doesn't expect this and finds that he doesn't have an answer prepared.
"Yes. Very much. She was smart, strong, confident, and knew how to make me laugh," he says almost wistfully, lost in a happier memory from long ago.
"She was very beautiful and I am glad that you took after her more than me," he smiles at her.
Veronica looks up in surprise at this remark-bordering-on-inappropriate-compliment, but instantly covers it with a wary look in her eyes. Both of them have been studying the other since they first met. She notes his blonde hair and strong jaw line, somewhat like her own. His eyes are a bright blue while hers were a not-so-bright blue. Other than that, her nose holds a certain similarity to his, but that is where the resemblance ends.
He was taken aback when he first saw her outside of Keith's office, her eyes wet and with mascara slightly smudged. It was like seeing her again, but alive, much younger and yet with that same wise, sad look in her eyes. It affects him a little too deeply than he would have admitted to himself, to have old memories and feelings brought back up to the surface again by this Californian teenager who was an exact carbon copy of her mother. It scares him slightly that an eighteen year old can unsettle him like this. Tonight is going to be a lot more difficult than he had first imagined it.
She tries to smile back and regain a bit of distance from this rapidly unravelling situation, but is unsure whether she can make a joke about it. She doesn't think that they will ever have that easy camaraderie that she shares with her own father. Well, the whole time thing is a problem for a start. They are just too different and she finds his manners a little stifling.
He is unused to talking to women without wanting something more from them. So he attempts to use a cold politeness that he learnt from long ago.
"Where is she now?"
He clears his throat. He does not feel as if he is speaking to an eighteen year old. Her maturity astounds him; Keith really did raise her along both her biological and adopted fathers' lines of work- that of betrayal, deceit and the cynicism that comes with all that. It pains him to recognise this in her eyes, reflecting what he feels, knowing what he knows, seeing what he's seen and more importantly, doing what he has done.
"Veronica, your mother died a few years after you were adopted out in a horrible car accident."
Ah, lying to your loved ones. Now THAT should be on our family crest, if nothing else.
Veronica expects nothing more than a lie. She accepts this without comment.
"That's a shame. I really wished I could have gotten to know her. Guess I don't have much luck in the maternal department seeing as my adopted mom is an alky and my biological mom in dead"
She is once again hiding behind her sarcasm and anger.
Oh who cares, it's worked for so long now hasn't it?
They finish their dinner and politely refuse the dessert menu. He offers it half-heartedly, but already knows the answer. Neither of them wants to prolong this night. He offers to pay and Veronica doesn't even bother to make a half-hearted attempt at refusing this. There is no way that she can afford her part of the night.
He walks her to her car and opens the door for her.
"Are you sure that you are okay to drive tonight?"
"I only had half a glass."
"But you're a minor."
"I know."
"Good night Veronica."
"Good night."
She drives off, leaving James to walk slowly back to his Aston Martin, contemplating how the night went.
She didn't even ask for the name of her mother.
As Veronica drives home, her mind is lost in the tumultuous events of the night.
So my real dad is some cold, expensive suit-wearing, polite, English son of a bitch who wants to re-connect with his long lost daughter after eighteen years. And my adopted dad (and mom I guess) lied to me my whole life about their knowledge of my biological parents. This has been a great night.
Pulling out her house keys, Veronica hears the TV on inside. It's half past nine and the nightly news is playing. She opens the door to find her dad lying asleep on the couch. Taking the control to switch it off she wakes the dozing Keith by asking -
"Dad, did Al Gore teach you nothing?"
"How was dinner?" he asks sleepily, slowly waking up and focusing on his daughter before him, studying her for any trace of distress. But she remains perfectly guarded as usual and Keith slowly finds it harder to read his daughter every day.
"Oh you know, chocolates, flowers, the usual. Although I did say no to the kiss at the door as you might have – or might not have – noticed."
"That's kind of gross Veronica."
"Yeah, I know. Dinner was… everything I expected it to be," she says, walking towards her room.
"You look tired. And you still have homework to do."
Veronica stops. She can only play the ignoring game once in the course of a night.
"You knew," she says without facing her father.
Keith knows exactly what she means. He should have told her all those years ago, but was promised not to reveal the identity of Veronica's parents by James and felt that he ought to honour that. He knows that this answer will not suffice, after all they had been through. But as eighteen years went by, Keith thought less and less about this and thought it better to keep Veronica in the dark on the subject of the identity of her biological parents. Besides, what could she gain from learning a name?
He sighs. "Yes I did. James made me promise never to reveal his identity to you."
All the night's anger and frustration boiled up within Veronica, causing her to turn violently and spit out.
"He made you promise? Why?"
Keith stood his ground but understood Veronica's anger. However, he could not keep his voice from being raised.
"I don't know Veronica. Your mother and I were just lucky enough to have you. We didn't ask too many questions at that time."
"And my biological mother? Who was she?"
"I don't know. We only had contact with your father"
Veronica feels her sudden fury ebbing away.
So this is where the remnant of the Mars family has got to, has it? Neither of us trusting the other to tell the whole truth anymore.
Both of them are too driven by what they each feel is right to even consider the other's feelings.
Enough of the promise to dad about not investigating into my biological parents.
Keith starts as Veronica slams the door to her room after silently walking away. He lets her go. Just this once, hoping that it would not be the last time.
Veronica sits at her laptop that night, not working on Ms Hauser's essay, but on researching her parents.
Four hours, two cups of coffee snuck from the kitchen and extensive neck pain later. Nada. Bupkiss. Nothing. It's like this guy doesn't even exist. And there is only one line of 'work' that would make someone untraceable.
Veronica snaps her laptop shut and goes to bed.
"Veronica, some British guy in a suit wants to see you."
She is working at Java the Hut, on an un-busy Thursday night. Glad to stop cleaning the espresso machine but not enough to be grateful due to her guest, she unsmilingly walks to the front of the bar.
"Do you have a moment? After work I mean."
She nods silently. "I get off at eight. Do you know where the pier is?"
"I do."
"I'll see you there at eight thirty then."
Their exchange is cold, without any emotion. Veronica has completely closed herself off to him, and James is at a loss to remedy this.
She leaves to get back to work, pushing this encounter to the back of her mind, and uses the annoying customers at The Hut as a welcome distraction for the rest of the night.
The wind snaps at Veronica's long black coat and hair as she walks up to the pier and to the only tall, blond man standing there.
"Hello Veronica."
"Hi."
He doesn't bother with any small talk and gets right to the subject of their meeting.
"I won't be staying in town for much longer. I'm leaving tomorrow as a matter of fact."
She is hardly surprised at this, but allows him to continue uninterrupted.
"I was made aware of your situation by Keith and as I cannot offer you much in terms of a father, I was hoping to help you out, at least financially."
Veronica's eyes widen slightly, but she has been in the private investigation business too long not to suspect this. How many cases has she handled where the rich parents seek to find their adopted out child in order to pay for their college tuitions in order to stave off that nagging feeling in whatever heart they have?
He pushes an envelope towards her.
"There should be enough here to help you at any college you want to get into next year."
Veronica looks down at the offered envelope and slowly goes to take it. She instantly feels dirty about it and doesn't even look at the proffered amount. But she knows that it is practical to take it, even if it does shred her personal integrity to pieces.
"Thank you" she says confusedly, distracted at the way things are going.
"It has been a pleasure meeting you Veronica" he offers his hand to shake, but there is no way in hell Veronica is going to leave things like this.
"So that's it is it? Nice meeting you, I'll never see you again dad?"
"Veronica, you must understand, my work…"
She smiles and interrupts him. "So exactly what work is it that you do? SIS, MI5, MI6?"
He stops, stone cold and for an instant his mask of indifferent politeness slips and Veronica sees something much more dangerous within him, something that he has kept leashed in until now and is suddenly afraid.
"You are a very smart girl Veronica."
"I have been called worse."
The tension between them lessens considerably as James laughs quietly.
"Good luck with everything Veronica."
"You too."
"Goodbye."
"Bye."
He leaves her, standing in the near darkness, alone on the pier. She stands there, thinking slowly to herself.
She will see him again, and next time, she will have a lot more information on both him and her mother.
What do you think? The tense of the whole piece is a bit weird, I admit, as I keep on switching between past (the recollections) and present tenses. Anyways, I kinda dug the fact that I used Bond's first name instead of his last. Yeah, that's all I have to say. Also, sequel? Anyone? Bueller? If so, it'll probably involve some far-fetched Alias-type situations and the ongoing disintegration of Veronica's and Keith's relationship, something that I like writing about, but hope never to see on the show.