Author's Note: I don't own any of this, if I did the show would never have been cancelled. Anyway, I know everyone hates OC content, but I'm using her as a plot device and not a romantic fantasy. Okay, maybe a little bit, but mostly plot device. Something has to start off the series of events I've been concocting.

Chapter 1: Monster

It was two in the morning when she got the call. Veronica pulled the pillow down over her ears and tried to ignore it, but the phone just rang again. Calling twice? On her only day off this week? 'This must be awfully important', she thought to herself and slid her thumb along the screen to answer the call.

"Hello?" she groaned into the phone.

"Mars, we need you on fifth and Lawrence over in Montauk immediately, fast as you can get here." It was her boss, Rodney.

"Do you have any idea wha-"

"It's the Marina Mangler. We think we got him, but...just get down here." He sounded grave, his voice was heavy. Something was very wrong.

Veronica was suddenly awake, her adrenaline had got her moving, "Uh, yeah. Sure. I'll be right there, should I get my partner to-?"

"Piper's already here. She wanted me to let you sleep, but I wouldn't call if it weren't urgent." That was weird, normally Piper was the first person to call her if something broke in a case like

By the time Veronica was showered and out the door, her phone was already buzzing again. This time it was Piper, her partner. It was almost strange how close she had become with Piper, the woman was harsh and blunt, but there was a certain charm to that. They lived in the same building and commuted together, roommates before they could afford to live on their own. Veronica had broached the subject to Piper months back.

"Piper, I love you. But I am also a twenty-six year old woman in New York City who wants to occasionally have her boyfriend for sleepovers that don't end with you making us breakfast," Piper had been relieved.

"Oh thank God you brought it up. I like being your roommate, but I have secret Piper stuff I want to do and you're always around, it's kind of annoying." And so they had decided to move out into their own places. In the same building. With keys to each other's place. Piper still occasionally cooked Josh and Veronica breakfast.

"Hey Pipes, what's going on?" She pressed the elevator button a few times as though it might have some effect on the elevator's speed, "Rod won't tell me anything."

"Just get down here, Veronica. I told him I'd tell you to hustle so this is me telling you: Hustle." Piper ended the call.

Veronica jogged to her car and pulled the portable siren from the glove box, affixing it to the roof of the Mustang. A sense of urgency built in her chest, like something awful was about to happen and Veronica was powerless to stop it. Her foot was like lead on the gas pedal as she moved through the streets of New York, out of the city as quick as she could and towards lake country in Montauk. She distracted herself by remembering her first few weeks with the FBI and how apprehensive she had been when they gave Veronica her first partner assignment. 'This is the moment,' Veronica remembered feeling, 'this is the moment I become an FBI agent.'

Rodney had provided her a file with all of Piper's information on it and Veronica had to stop herself from running to her new desk adjoining her new partner and two other agents. When Veronica had found her new digs, the desk next to hers was empty except for a small cactus and a bland office calendar. She had missed meeting her partner at their desk. One of the agents across from them in the four-desk cube had turned around and watched her, smiling slightly. He was attractive, fit, short dirty blond hair carefully styled to look like he didn't care what she thought of him. Veronica tried to pretend he wasn't looking at her, but found her eyes wandered over to him so she could get a better look. His eyes were bright green, distinct, crisp, clear, the color of cut grass.

He got up and held out a hand to her, "You must be Veronica, Piper's new partner?"

She nodded, strangely nervous where she was normally comfortable. Why did she suddenly feel like she was in high school again?

He let out a slight nervous laugh, obviously the feeling was mutual, "I'm Josh Monroe, I work Intelligence with Brody here." Josh kicked the chair of another agent she hadn't noticed, dark-skinned and buried into a file on his computer. Brody waved a hand without turning around or saying anything, Josh sighed, "He's sometimes more fun than I think I can handle."

"Man, those plastic monkeys in a barrel are too much for your tiny brain to handle." Brody laughed and Josh shoved his chair. Veronica smiled and extended her hand for Josh to shake, "Hi, it's my first assignment to a partner. Do any of you even know where Piper is?"Both of them shrugged, Josh shook his head, "No. But she does that sometimes, this disappearing thing. When I'm feeling particularly dramatic I call her the Lone Wolf so she feels like a badass."

Veronica crossed her fingers, "Please tell me she has that phrase tattooed somewhere."

The sudden sound of a bag hitting the desk made her jump and she turned around quickly. Josh gave the person behind her a small two-fingered salute, "O captain, my captain."The woman in front of her was taller than Veronica by a few inches, more filled out and curvy in the way a woman gets when she spends more time in the gym than at home. Her hair was long and a reddish brown that almost qualified as ginger, but was missing some crucial spectrum that would've made her officially a redhead. The woman's eyes were a blue so pale they were almost gray and they were fixed on Josh when a small smirk crept onto her face, "That phrase literally doesn't even apply here. I'm guessing that wasn't part of the only book you read in high school?"

Now she turned her attention to Veronica and looked her up and down. Piper was still wearing gym clothes and managed to make it look almost in dress code, Veronica had made sure to dress sharply in black slacks and a matching blazer, a bright green blouse underneath. She still made Veronica feel under dressed, "You are Veronica," it was a statement of fact like she had known the whole time, "I'm Piper."

Veronica shook the hand she extended, "I hope you don't mind, I'm really excited to finally get my first partnership assignment." 'I hope you don't mind? Don't mind what? My profusely sweaty hand?' Veronica kicked herself internally, that was not a good first impression.

"Partners aren't temporary, we're probably going to be together for a long time. Think of it as the most horrible relationship of your life that doesn't involve boys," Piper hesitated, "Or…girls?"

"Boys." Veronica smiled and nodded slowly, "Definitely boys. Too many boys sometimes…"

"Well not anymore. Welcome to the FBI where family doesn't matter and all the rules are made up." Piper pulled some clothes and her badge from the gym bag and left the cubicle to change.

Josh sighed again, "I swear she's really kind of cool, she can just be a little tough to adapt to. Piper doesn't expect you to like her at first."

He had been right, Veronica thought Piper was blunt and abrasive. Nothing was ever diplomatic with Piper, if she hated someone she wouldn't keep that from them. It made it difficult sometimes because in the beginning they had both held some enmity towards one another, especially in the field where Veronica was observant and detail-oriented and Piper was all action. It was a very good cop bad cop relationship.

Their first investigation had been a touchy one, they were investigating a child slavery ring in Syracuse. Piper had told Veronica to stay in the car despite Veronica protesting, "You aren't my superior, you're my partner. You can't make me stay in this car and I'm sure as hell not going to let you, this is my case, too, you know."

Piper scowled, "Just trust me, please, and stay in the car. Just for like five minutes. I promise I have a plan."

"If I trusted anybody I wouldn't have joined the FBI."

Piper scowled, "Just trust me, please, and stay in the car. Just for like five minutes. I promise I have a plan."

So Veronica had stayed in the car. At least she had only planned to stay in the car for a few minutes. Then she saw it, the shipping truck bringing produce to the front of the store. There were three guys in the cab and two holding the rails at the back, they all surrounded the back while one man opened up the cargo. 'That's an awfully large group to deliver produce,' Veronica had thought.

She reached into the back and rifled through one of the bags, pulling her camera out and resting it on the dash of the car. She slouched down to try and be invisible, not hard for a little blond girl. Then the weird part happened: cases of produce were being brought out to the truck, not the other way around. Veronica's finger was on the shutter and she started snapping photos. She could have sworn on her life from one of the large holes in the side she saw a finger wiggling out in her direction.

Years of private investigator training kept Veronica in the car taking pictures, but she was snapping them faster now, getting faces and zooming in on the holes in the sides where in her mind she saw eyes or hair or palms. Panic filled her chest, they had to do something. There was no way Piper wasn't going to bust the truck and get them out, they were children.

The door to the car opened and Veronica almost screamed, but Piper buckled her seatbelt and looked over at Veronica crouched down with the camera against the dash. Piper looked at her seriously, "Did you see anything?"

"Why didn't you just TELL me about this part? What about not telling me made this more effective?" Veronica was annoyed that Piper had kept information from her.

"Veronica, tell you about what part?" Then it dawned on Veronica. Piper hadn't been completely sure how they were smuggling the children out of the building. She had deliberately left Veronica there to find something to prove it.

"They're getting the kids out in the produce boxes. They load them right into the truck. How did you not know that?"

"I did," Piper looked up at the store, "But they know my face, they know who I am. They don't load anything when I'm within three miles and I haven't been able to prove it. They don't know who you are, though. They wanted to move the boxes as soon as I parked the car, so they waited until I went inside to do it. I've been solo on this case for a month, they didn't expect me to have a partner. It's kind of a rudimentary operation, they're pretty scrub in the spectrum of criminal masterminds."

Veronica looked back at the truck, "Are we just going to let it leave?"

Piper nodded, "We have to," Veronica opened her mouth to protest but Piper cut her off, "If we don't let them go, the random checkpoint between here and Florida won't be able to catch them." She smiled at Veronica, Veronica smiled back. That was it, their first case. Open andshut.

The police cars and undercover FBI vehicles had formed a barrier around a corner of the block, officers poured around the vehicles and the run-down building with nosy neighbors congealing around the edges to get a better look. Veronica slammed the door and took wide, fast steps up to the tape, flashing her badge unconsciously at the officer starting to protest. Piper trotted up to her quickly, her eyes wide and eyebrows knit together in worry. Something was definitely wrong, Piper never worried.

"Veronica. Come here," Piper grabbed her and pulled her into a hard hug, "I am so, so sorry."

"Sorry? What are you sorry about, Pipe?" Veronica pushed her back, confused.

Rodney, their heavy set supervisor, walked up to her slowly and laid a heavy hand on her shoulder. His eyes were full of concern, "Veronica I need you to prepare yourself for some things. We managed to follow your lead and it...panned out well for us. There's just something you need to know," Rod and Piper exchanged looks, "about the Marina Mangler."

Oh yeah, her lead. Veronica had almost forgotten her theory that the Mangler is a random target serial killer with a catch: He always used marina yachts over a million dollars. It had been small, but it was better than what they had before. Veronica's best guess was that the killer had lived close to these yachts or worked close to them, dragging a body around wasn't easy so he probably wasn't far from the marinas where these super expensive boats were docked. The deaths, when charted out and connected on a very fancy and state-of-the-art cork board with some red string intersected all in the same area. It had been easy from there, interviewing residents within five miles from the most high-end marinas and waiting for someone to come forward. The whole thing had almost fallen through until the other night when a marina worker phoned her to tell her he saw someone lugging a heavy duffel bag into a vacant apartment building. It hadn't been a lot, but Veronica had told Rod and they set up some guys down town.

Apparently, it had been enough. "You do realize you are both scaring me far more than any serial killer has managed to do? What, is it my dad or something?" She hesitated, "Please don't say it's my dad. He's still in California and last I checked that was nowhere near New York."

"It's Josh. The Marina Mangler is Josh," There was the Piper Veronica knew and loved, all blunt expose and no sugar to swallow the bitter pill of reality with. It didn't sink in the first time so Veronica asked her to repeat herself.

Josh? It couldn't be Josh. They had just had dinner with Piper two days ago, at a little Thai restaurant that Josh loved by the marina. Veronica had just kissed him goodbye and told him to enjoy his shift not even six hours ago. She had probably misheard Piper or something.

Piper sighed sadly, "The guy that's been kidnapping working women and hacking them up and leaving them fancy boats is Josh. He tried to run, V, you know what we've got to do when they do that." Piper nodded her head towards the Deputy sitting in an ambulance, mug of tea in hand and itchy looking blanket around his shoulders.

There it was, plain as day right in front of her face. Veronica's boyfriend of two years and fellow FBI investigator was the brutal and ruthless killer of working class women from her nightmares, the one who had eluded Veronica and Piper and their team for almost a year. Half their relationship. Half of it had been a lie.

Josh and Veronica had started dating after three months into her new partnership assignment, he had made it very clear he liked her and intended to have dinner with her, mostly by telling her things like, "I intend to take you out to dinner sometime."

Veronica had a hard time with relationships, they weren't something she went into lightly. It seemed every man in her life except for one had never understood why she did the things that she did. Wallace was supportive and helped her out without complaint, but he expected it to end at some point and couldn't understand when it didn't. Piz had tried to encourage her to do what she loved, but he never understood why it had to involve putting herself in danger all the

Piz. She had broken up with him just before they graduated from Hearst, both of them had felt the pull of life in different directions. Veronica had tried to be gentle, but she wasn't very good at gentle let downs. Piz took it hard, but he understood. He had been feeling like a passer-by in her life, someone there when she needed them but not the other way around. There were things they never talked about that had built up too big to be dismantled without toppling everything, starting with Logan beating up Gorya in the food court Freshman year. That had been the catalyst, they had slowly started omitting things from one another even though Veronica hadn't spoken to Logan since that day. It was a vicious cycle.

Logan wasn't something she allowed herself to think about. It made her feel like she would collapse internally if she thought about things too much. Veronica had long since over-analyzed her flaws and how she had broken their relationship, thinking about it any longer would make her regret every decision that brought her here.

Josh had been different, he had understood her drive to chase the bad guys and background check everyone in her life. Though Veronica was now doing it on a national scale and looking for bigger things than dog-nappers and stolen cars, she still couldn't shake the rush she got every time she and Piper stormed a place or led a bust into a building. All of the research and painstaking hours of tailing people was what drove her, she lived on it. Josh had understood that.

When Veronica finally let him take her out to dinner they had meshed perfectly, he always wanted to hear about her cases and all of the things she had done in her high school and college P.I. days. Josh had encouraged her to pursue the bad guy, something everyone before that had tried to stop her from doing. That was it, after that date it was on. They were always together, always having lunch, always in the break room. Josh gave Veronica a high she hadn't felt in a long time, being with him made her feel like herself. Nothing was off-limits with him, except apparently his deviant propensity to chop up working women and hang their body parts like holiday decorations on multi-million dollar yachts.

Veronica's knees felt weak underneath her, unable to support her weight. She kept walking, more like stumbling forwards with carefully calculated propulsion, until they brought out the gurney with the black bagged body strapped down to it. Someone let out a cry, was it her? Veronica didn't remember falling to her knees, she just felt herself dry-heaving and a hand on her back. Piper crouched beside her and let her vomit onto the pavement. What was that about dry-heaving being the new Mace? Piper just didn't know when to take no for an answer. An ironic smirk twitched at her lips for a second before she threw up again, spitting on the ground before trying to stand up. She was shaking even in low heels, eventually kicking them off all together before trying to get on her feet again. Piper's hands were on her, steadying her as she got up. Veronica collapsed against her friend and felt the grief flood over her in waves, her body started to shake with sobs and she heard herself saying "No, no, no." over and over into the lapel of Piper's blazer.

It was after dawn when Piper led Veronica inside her apartment and put her to bed, it was after three when she finally woke up to the smell of Indian food. Veronica straggled into the living room, puffy eyed with a bad taste in her mouth, to see Piper sitting curled on her couch in a pair of sweat pants and a tank top shoveling yellow rice and chicken tikka into her mouth. Piper looked up and dropped the plate onto the coffee table, shoving her hair behind her ears and standing up quickly. She sprinted to Veronica and wrapped her arms around her, holding her for a moment before mumbling into her tousled blond hair.

"I'm not really sure how you console your only friend after her boyfriend is exposed as a mass murderer. Is there a card or something I get you?"

Despite herself, Veronica laughed, "Probably not. Maybe a Precious Moments figurine?"

Piper laughed and let her go, "Come on, I've got some curry and jasmine rice with your name plastered all over it. Rod cancelled anything we had to do today, whatever that means to him, and I rented all eight Harry Potter movies."

"Is this a break up or a 'Your boyfriend is a murderer' pity party?"

Piper glanced up at the ceiling, "I have no idea."

-

It was a week before Veronica went back to the office, four days without Piper's constant attention and endless supply of take-out. She straightened her blouse out nervously and fidgeted with the chain on her badge, jumping when the doors opened. Taking a deep breath, Veronica stepped out into the hallway and saw it. The beginning of the end. Heads turned towards her with sympathetic smiles, some scowls sprinkled here and there despite her being cleared of any foreknowledge of the murders.

"She's your coworker, not a circus bear. Don't you have bad guys to catch?!" Piper's voice sounded sharp and clear, people jumped and everyone looked down suddenly very busy. She stood crossly, arms folded over her chest and eyes steely as she scanned the crowd. The thin frown on Piper's face broke into a smile and she gave Veronica a small wave, which Veronica returned reluctantly. Great, now she wasn't just an emotional wreck but also a circus attraction.

Veronica shook her hair over her shoulder and straightened up, marching confidently down the hallway into the conference room. It wasn't full, just full of everyone Veronica didn't want to see that early on her first day back. Rod waved her into the conference room and held her seat for her, suddenly determined to be a gentleman now that his lead Intelligence Specialist was a mass murderer and his Special Agent girlfriend was done grieving. She accepted it, not feeling up for a fight. Everyone sitting on the other side of the table was her ranking officer or in Human Resources - yes the FBI had Human Resources - and on Veronica's side was a psychologist, Miranda, she knew well and of course Piper. Rod cleared his throat and folded his

"Veronica, this meeting isn't just a welcome wagon."

"Shut up, it isn't?" she gasped sarcastically and smiled at Rod, "Well then I should tell the ladies up front to put that cake back in the break room."

He cleared his throat again, "We want you to take a leave of absence, leave New York for a while and take some time with your family. Go spend a few months on the beach away from all of this."

Veronica sat forward and stared at him, shocked, "What? For how long?" She shouldn't have been shocked and she knew that, this was something Veronica had anticipated enough that she was picking out clothes for the trip home.

"Until the case is closed and the trial is over."

"Rod, that could be months!"

"I know," he held up his hand to silence her, "but this isn't really a negotiation. You don't need all of this Veronica, you need to be with the people you love." He leaned forwards some more and stared at her meaningfully, "You need to take some time in the sunshine. Get out of here for a bit."

Veronica started to protest until her Chief spoke up, "Non negotiable. Paid leave, of course, but there isn't an option for you to say no."

She stared at the table, mouth open and looked at Piper for support. The woman shrugged and tilted her head in an 'I don't know what you want me to say' way that she always did on the rare occasion that she didn't want to fight. It meant Piper thought the Chief and Rod were right.

Rodney glanced at Piper and back to Veronica, "And Piper is opting to take a leave of absence as well, she wants to chase you back to California for a while. I'm not really sure why she's going, too, her reasoning is weak and I think she just doesn't want to work with someone new."

"I can't work with someone new," Piper interjected, "That's like trying to split up a pair of lungs. It's doable, but it's a really shitty thing to do if nobody's sick."

Rod stared at her for a moment and Veronica covered her mouth to hide her smile, "Get out of my sight. Don't work, don't talk to anyone working the case, stay out of my hair. I'll make sure you have a job when you come back."

Veronica sat back and crossed her arms scowling, "This is ridiculous. I don't need a leave of absence, I need to take my mind off of this. Like with a case. Now."

Rod shook his head, "No, Veronica. You have to take time off. Non-negotiable."

She slammed her palms down on the table and got to her feet, leaning in close as she pointed her finger at each of the four persons sitting across from her, "This? This is ridiculous."

Veronica turned towards the door and walked towards the elevator. Piper caught up to herand just walked next to her into the elevator, hitting the button and looking at her for a few moments, "Don't be mad at them. They're doing what they have to do, not that I knew there was even a protocol for these things. I think they're kind of just making shit up as they go."

Veronica nodded, "I probably created a whole new chapter in their rulebook," she gave a small victorious fist pump, "Veronica Mars, making history at the FBI."

Piper smiled and looked down at her shoes, "I'm taking time off for some personal stuff, too. Just not as intense as yours."

Veronica looked at her interested, "Personal stuff." she raised an eyebrow, "In Neptune? What personal stuff?"

"Not Neptune exactly, but close enough to go with you if you need me to." Piper had avoided the question and Veronica noticed, but she didn't push.

Veronica nodded and stared at the ground. They both got off the elevator and headed back to their building in silence, it was the silence that made Veronica wonder about Piper's "personal stuff". Piper was born and raised in San Diego, it could be anything for all Veronica knew. That was when Veronica realized she was making Piper's business her new distraction, but didn't try to stop herself. She needed this, she needed to escape into someone else's problems. Maybe going home wasn't such a bad idea.