Title: Expected and Unexpected

Disclaimer: Rob Thomas? Who's that?

Rating: PG-13?

Word Count: 1014

Warnings/Spoilers: Okay, so Lilly's dead, and I don't make any hints about who did it, even though everyone's goat knows by now. I'd say this is meant to be set around the pilot episode.

Characters/Pairings: Lilly, mentions of Logan/Veronica and Lilly/OC

Summary: Lilly's death wasn't what she thought it would be.

When Lilly pictured dying, it wasn't sudden or violent. Her ideal death (despite the "live fast, die young, leave a pretty corpse" philosophy she claimed to have) would have been an older (but still fabulous) her, surrounded by spoiled grandchildren (because she could be forty and have grandkids, damn it). They would go on and on about how much they loved her and her awesomeness, then she would tell them that not buying them expensive toys showed how much she really loved them. She would then tell stories of her childhood, and retire to bed while they laughed over Granny Lilly's stories. Her last breath would come and go in her sleep while she remembered that one prom night and playing "I Never" with her best friend and their respective boyfriends.

She never pictured who her husband would be, but she was sure he would be a former "lovah" who just refused to be pushed aside. Maybe he would manage to track her down in her new city, and profess his undying love in a public, somewhat embarrassing way. They would run to the nearest church, which would be just around the corner since she was sure she'd live in Vegas, and get married by Elvis. Veronica Mars (the only witness) would be standing silent, befuddled, and somewhat amused beside her while she repeated her vows, then she would declare the first round of drinks were on her. Not that Veronica would actually mean it, she would just get as much sarcasm and disbelief as possible in one sentence.

Veronica Mars would always be her best friend. She just knew it, and it didn't matter if she was strapless red satin or soft candy-pink cotton. Even though it would have been really gross and psychologically traumatizing for Veronica, a part of her had hoped they were sisters. Real sisters. not that dorky "spit sisters" oath they did since they were both terrified of blood. They would be together forever. Of course, they still had to find people to marry for kids, and because Lilly didn't picture a life of celibacy. While Lilly married Un-pictured Lovah - maybe that cute drummer she "dated" for a while -, Veronica would marry...

Hmm. Duncan was out of the picture. Lilly refused - refused - to let either of the Casablancas boys near her best friend. Boys who could exist somewhere but didn't live in Neptune had no chance in Hell since Veronica's future husband had to be someone she knew and approved of. It would simply have to be Logan. Sure, they didn't think of each other "that way," but she never met people she couldn't convince, and she was damn good at convincing them. ("C'mon Veronica, just take one little sip." "Logan, it's not that public, and if someone does come in, I can just pull my skirt back down.")

Yes, it would be her, Veronica, Logan, and Random Guy Who Possibly Drummed at Some Point in His Life, all living together like one big happy family. The house would be huge, of course. It had to be for them to all live comfortably and not find each other in compromising positions. (Her Veronica now would never have sex in the kitchen, but who knew what an older, Logan-influenced Veronica would do?) They would go out drinking together, and when Logan and Veronica finally got married on one drunken night (after somehow managing to wake all the people that mattered and get them there), Lilly would serve as the Best Bridesmaid Ever in her amazing jeans and shiny shirt. Then, sometime the next day, Keith Mars and Celeste Kane would gang up on them during their hangovers and demand real weddings. "Everyone's already here," they'd say. "Money can buy anything," Celeste would reply to their protests of short-notice. Later, they would all have a laugh about how stupid it was to say that when they both indulged in shot-gun weddings.

There would be problems, but Lilly already knew that. They (mostly Logan and Lilly) would have a screaming match about personal space and the benefits of coming up with codes, while Veronica tried to be the peacekeeper until they both snapped at her and she decided to throw in witty quips when she felt like it. It would all be resigned when Lilly promised to knock before coming in the bathroom, and Logan would agree to keep Veronica quiet, and Veronica would turn bright red at the insinuation, but everything would be fine.

Then a few months later, Veronica would come home bitchy and snappy because some gossiping asshat at work (or school) had asked how she could possibly let Logan and Lilly be alone together for some much of the day when they had a history. They would vehemently (and honestly) deny it until she finally broke down and Logan would proceed to spend the rest of the day showing her how insane the doubt the co-worker/student's theory created was, with Lilly's instruction to make Veronica be as loud as possible. Maybe that was a little disturbing and got into the "history" a bit, but Lilly would just be looking out for Veronica and their future.

They would live happily ever after, until Lilly passed on first in a moment of subtle drama (which should have been at fifty, damn it. She didn't want to completely miss her prime). She knew Veronica would be the one to fall apart, and Logan would have to help her; Veronica would appreciate the savior complex he had. Her own husband would mourn her until Logan made him realize that he couldn't go on like that because she wouldn't like it. Then she'd have to step out of Heaven occasionally to haunt his ass when he tried to move on with someone she didn't like. Why the hell did she marry him?

But, she knew her perfect world wasn't meant to come true, what with the ashtray to the face, and all. She just wished Logan and Veronica would stop fighting and accept that they needed each other to move on. Oh, and catch the murdering skeeze, but getting along would be a good start.