Disclaimer: I don't own Veronica Mars or any of it's characters. No copyright infringement intended. No money is being made from this work.

I must have been about seven or eight years old when I first asked my mother about him.

'Mom?'

Veronica turned her head and looked down at her daughter. She smiled at the little girl, 'yeah, sweetie?'

'Do I have a dad?' I asked. The smile slid slowly off of Veronica's face as she bit her lip, thinking of an appropriate answer. 'No, sweetie, you don't have a dad…you have a father.'

I still swear to this day that she muttered under her breath, '…unfortunately.'

The next time it was mentioned was when I was eleven. We were at the school carnival.

'Mom?' I asked.

'Yeah?' she turned back to me, holding her cotton candy in her left hand and mine in her right.

'Where does my father live?'

Her eyes widened as she snapped, 'a long way away,' and handed me my cotton candy, turning away from me, as if to completely avoid the subject.

I wrote an essay about it last year. The task was, 'write an essay about a member of your family.'

I supposed that I had two choices, Grandpa Mars or my mother. But, seriously, how much attention did I want to attract to myself, talking about my totally awesome PI of a grandpa or my famous photographer of a mother. No, I went for a subject completely out of left field. My father.

My Father

By Lila Mars

I've never met my father. I don't even know his name. When my mother talks about him (which is rarely) she only calls him by 'ass,' or 'moron,' or 'jerk.'

I don't know where he's from, or what he does, or if I have half brothers and sisters. I have no idea if he even knows I exist, if he even knows my name.

If I ever meet my 'mystery father,' I'm not sure whether I'll punch him for not being there or hug him, because I finally have a dad.

I'd bet my collection of stuffed toy animals that I am the product of an alcohol-induced one night stand, but if I was bold enough to tell my mother this, I'd be grounded.

One day, I'll meet him, and judge for myself whether to call him 'ass,' 'moron,' 'jerk' or 'dad.'

Yes, this was the essay that got me into the principal's office for a meeting. Me, Mrs Hargrove (the principal) and my mother. Yay!

Mrs Hargrove got straight down to business after my mother arrived. I had already been pulled out of PE (which I was really pissed about because we were playing basketball) and was sitting opposite the headmaster, arms crossed over my chest and scowl on my face for a more dramatic look.

'Thanks for coming, Ms Mars,' said the principal.

'It's no problem.'

'Look, Veronica, I am a bit concerned about your home situation.'

Mom looked shocked. 'Oh… right, continue, please.'

'Lila wrote this essay last week for Mr Landers English class. He was…worried.'

I winced as mom took the essay from the old woman's hand. Damn! If I had known that she would show that to my mom, I would never have submitted it.

I watched her facial expressions carefully as she scanned the paper. She virtually glared daggers into me, once she'd finished.

'Sorry to bring the school into this, Mrs Hargrove, but everything's fine. Lila's just being a bit overdramatic about the circumstances, that's all.'

Hargrove tried a small smile, 'I'm sure. But I'd still rather Lila attend a weekly counseling session.'

This is when I moved schools.

'Lila, what the hell were you thinking?' she practically yelled at me, closing the front door behind me and holding the essay in front of my face.

Mom had insisted that she take me home right there. The car ride had been…torturous silence.

'Mom, chill!'

'Lila,' she slumped into the lounge chair, defeated.

'What if I just want to know him? Have you read that essay properly?'

'Yes, and trust me, you're better off not knowing him. Trust me, Lila.'

'Okay, I trust you. But trust me,one day; I'm going to want a name, an address, a picture. Anything! And you're going to give me everything you have.'

'Well it's a good thing I don't have anything on that loser, then.' She glanced back down at the paper. 'And you're right…'

'About anything in particular? Because if not, I'm going to have to presume that I'm right about everything.'

'Alcohol-induced one night stand. And I learnt my lesson, never; ever sleep with someone that you can't stand,' she looked at me, 'actually, never sleep with anyone. Ever.'

I laughed at my mother. 'Lila!' she said all sternly, like. 'Seriously, it was one of the biggest mistakes…'

'Are you saying that I was an accident?' I asked sarcastically.

'No, sweetie, no… well, you were, but that's not the point. The point is, you're the only good thing that moron ever did.'

Now. Now it's a year later. And I'm fifteen years old, almost sixteen. I have hardly mentioned my father since that day, but he's always in the back of my mind.

One night, I was supposed to be going to this hottie David's party.

Instead, my mom wouldn't let me out and was being a total bitch. This resulted in The. Biggest. Argument. Ever.

Which resulted in me telling her that I was going to move in with Grandpa Mars. Indefinitely.

She told me that it was my decision, and that she wasn't going to try and stop me if that was what I wanted.

'No, mom, what I want is to know who my father is!'

'Oh not this again, Lila!'

'Yes, this again, mom. It will always come to this for the rest of my life, until I meet him.'

'Lila, you're better off…'

'Please, mom, why can't I just judge whether I am better off or not for myself! I'm not five years old! I can think for myself, you know!'

She crossed her arms over her chest. 'Fine, go to Neptune, then, if that's how it's going to be.'

'It is. I'm going to book my ticket now.' I said, and I walked into my room, turning on my laptop.

The one thing about my mother and I, we are both stubborn, stubborn people.

After the ticket was bought for three hours later, I tracked down the largest suitcase that we owned and packed as many of my belongings as I could into it. I wore layer upon layer of clothing so that I could take lots of clothes and made my way into the lounge.

'My flight leaves in an hour,' I stated.

'Lila…'

'Mom, I want to go to Neptune. Please.'

'Fine,' she said, as she got up from the couch and I heard the keys rattle.

The drive to the airport was silent.

And the waiting at the gate was full of awkward conversations. Most were started by my mother saying something like, 'What about your friends, Lil?' And me answering, 'They'll understand, and anyway, we were never that close.'

Which was true. I preferred to do things alone. And anyway, there weren't many decent people that attended a posh private school like, 'Saint Mary's.'

'And what about me? What am I going to do?' she asked.

'Get a life?' I asked with a smile. She frowned at me. 'Come on, mom, seriously. You can go out partying and meet some friends… you hardly have any of those.'

'Maybe I don't want or need any friends,' she replied.

'So you've always been a serial loner?' I asked. She squirmed a little in her seat but kept her eyes on the floor.

'No, no of course not. I used to have friends. Kick ass friends if I do say so myself,' she began to smile, but it wasn't one of her usual smiles. It was one of those that she had when she used to tell me about Grandpa Mars and Neptune, before she left.

'What happened?' I asked quietly.

Her face grew sad, like it always did these days. 'Well…everyone grew up, and got on with their lives, and I got left behind,' she said.

I didn't have a reply to that, but then I felt her hand on top of mine, which was resting on my knee. 'Just…' she tried to use the right wording, '…make the most out of it, Lila. But I think you'll be just fine.'

'Thanks, mom.'

I gave her a hug as I boarded the plane, all set for Neptune, California.

To be continued...

Thanks for reading! Please give some feedback, it is appreciated and it fuels me to write quicker.

By the way, the name of the chapters are titles of Fall Out Boy songs. I don't own them, I just heart them.

So, you should have figured by now that this story is set way into the future, after the third season. Except Sheriff Lamb is still alive. He's a fun character and should never have been killed off in my opinion.

Peace out.