To be alone or not to be
She used to think that being alone was the only way of not getting hurt!
Now that she was alone, sitting in her room, thinking of him and Madison in Aspen, she realized that being alone was the thing that hurt the most. It wasn't the first time that Logan had betrayed her and she was tired of it. Like she said: this is something she is never getting passed.
He had to understand that. There are just not meant to be, that as simple as that! Maybe EPIC is not what she needed after all.
She was thinking about everything, every single person that had crossed her life. She realised that deep down, she was still in love with Duncan, and as hard as she wish she wouldn't because it made her suffer, she didn't have a choice: her heart had chosen for her.
Veronica had absolutely no way of knowing where he ran with Lilly. Of course she knew where he was heading at first, but then, he told her he would move around a lot to be sure he wasn't found by the FBI… Then she thought that if someone knew how to find him, it would be Clarence Wiedman. He was faithful to the Kane's and he would know where to find the young man. But knowing that she wanted to be with him and being able to be with him wasn't the same thing. If the FBI found him, he would go to prison and she didn't want that. She needed to prove what the Manning's were doing to their children and she had to get on it very fast.
Two weeks later, she had enough proof against the Manning's, enough proof to set Duncan free… She had worked very hard and was surprised that Celeste Kane helped her once by talking to Meg's mother while Veronica stole some of the books.
At the trial, 1 month and a half later, she was surprised when Celeste Kane came to her, thanking her for the work she had done on the case. Duncan was nowhere to be seen that day but she knew he was waiting for it to be officially secure to come back. He didn't want to loose Lilly and it was very understandable. She smiled back at Celeste Kane, thinking that the woman finally understood that they both loved Duncan the same way, they were both ready to fight for him, and that Veronica was more the daughter of Keith Mars than the daughter of Leanne Mars.
Now 3 months had passed since her brake up with Logan. Duncan had been freed of all charges and he contacted her and his family, saying he was coming back any day now.
She was at the beach, without Backup, without Wallace, without Mac… Alone!
She didn't want to be alone anymore; she wanted to be with Duncan, but she didn't know how he felt about her. Sure he said he would always love her, but that was just some words, and as much as she wanted to believe them, she knew better. After all, didn't Logan swore he would be faithful? Didn't Lilly promised that she would always be around? She had seen people destroying themselves all their life because they believed those kinds of words, she didn't want to do the same.
As she was thinking that, she didn't see a car parking behind her, neither did she see the man going out of it with a 1 years old baby girl. When she heard her name, she turned around and saw him.
He was standing there, smiling at her…
The baby girl was walking by herself and let go of her father's hand to run toward Veronica.
'I can't believe that she remembers me!' She thought as she caught the little girl in her arms, tears in her eyes. Duncan was joined them and was smiling:
"I've missed you!" Was the only thing he could think of saying.
"I've missed you more!" She didn't know what else to say, because it was the truth, and it resumed well the situation.
"I love you!" He said after kissing her hello (A kiss closer to making out than kissing).
"I love you too! Oh god I've missed you so much Duncan!" She said as they were hugging tight.
She looked at him and she knew: She wouldn't be alone anymore! He was not going to leave her alone.
"Lilly missed you too! She always had a picture of you near her!" He said.
"I can't believe she is 1 already! She is so big!"
"Yes she is! Now, I think she is hungry, so why don't you come with us. Mom said she was waiting for us to eat!"
"Your mother? I don't think she meant for you to take me home with you!"
"Yes she does. She understood a lot of things lately, she told me to invite you for dinner. Come on, I'll drive you back at your dad's later if you want; Come!"
"Ok! I'm going with you!"
"I am not leaving anymore, not without you!" She knew he wasn't lying, she knew he would always be there.
As they were in the car, Veronica asked:
"How come your mother changed her mind that fast about me? I mean ok she help me a little to get prove against the Manning but…"
"When I came back this morning we had a discussion, I told her that if she made me choose between her and you, I would chose you without any hesitation. I guess she decided that she didn't want me to choose after all." They smiled at each other.
"Can we stop at the office first? I need to give some info to my dad about a case."
"Sure, let's go, this way he'll get to meet Lilly the second!"
"He'll love that!"
They parked in front of Mars investigation and as they were going in, she recognizes a voice in her father's office:
"Mister Mars please you have to talk to Veronica! I didn't mean to have sex with Madison Sinclair! It just happened because… I don't know why… I just… You need to tell her to forgive me!" Logan was crying and obviously drunk.
"Logan, You and Veronica weren't meant to be! She doesn't love you! I know it is hard son, but she loves Duncan and now he is coming back! She worked very hard for him to be able to come back… Get over it! And next time you come to see me, don't talk about sex, and don't be drunk, now come on, I bet Dick is has arrived and waiting for you downstairs." As he opened the door for Logan, they saw Veronica, Duncan and Lilly. Keith gave them an apologizing look, Logan a puppy dog look, and he left.
"Hello Duncan. Veronica, I'm sorry you had to hear that." Keith said.
"It's ok, he needs to get over it!" Veronica said, showing her dad a file and putting it on her desk.
"Mister Mars, please meet Lilly the second!" Duncan said proudly, showing the one year old her was carrying.
"She is very pretty! Are you going to stay in Neptune?"
"Yes, while away I manage to graduate, so now I will join Hearst next year."
"Do you know what you want to major in?"
"I'd like to major in journalism; my father would like me to major in business to take the office after him… I still need to work on that, maybe I'll try to double major if that's not too hard."
"It's not, I double majored in criminology and psychology and I get along pretty well!" Veronica said.
"Yes, but the two of you double majoring will be a lot of work. You need to think about you and Lilly! You would barely have time to see each others, let alone take care of Lilly. I would love to play babysitter sometimes if you need it though!" Keith said. That made Duncan and Veronica smile; her father approved the fact that they were going to be together from now on. She left for her father office for a minute.
"That's why I need to have a talk about it with my father and Veronica. I really want to do the right thing, and I want to be with Veronica, so I need to have her involved. I was thinking of having that talk tonight at dinner. My mom invited Veronica. I'll just see what everyone wants and do what is best for Veronica and Lilly!" Veronica came back in the room, not paying attention to what the two men were saying.
"You need to think about what you want too!" Keith said, smiling and happy that the boy cared so much for his daughter.
"What I want is what makes Veronica and Lilly happy! They are my family now!" Duncan said.
"Well, welcome in the family Duncan." Keith said as Veronica came back to them.
"Ok I'm done! Dad, I've put everything on your desk!"
"OK Veronica, well, you have fun tonight, I don't now when I'll be coming home. I have to meet Alicia; we decided to try to sort things out so…" Keith started
"I don't need to ear that!" Veronica cut him, making Duncan laugh.
"Do you think I needed to ear Logan babbling about how sorry he is that he slept with Madison?" Keith said as they were leaving.
Once in the car, Duncan asked:
"Logan really slept with Madison? THE Madison?"
"Yes…"
"He's stupid! If he really loved you as much as he claims, he wouldn't have!"
"Exactly! … Duncan… You know… I dated Logan a while these years… But I never really loved him… I just need closure…. I…"
"Veronica, don't worry about it! Let's leave the past where he is and start over ok? I understand that I wasn't there and you needed closure… Don't worry about it!"
"I'm glad you're here! You know it right?"
"Oh, I might have forgotten that fact since you last said it 1 hour ago!" He joked, making her laugh too. Hearing the two adults laughing made Lilly laugh too.
15 minutes later, they were parking in front of the Kane mansion. When they came in, Jack greeted them. Celeste joined them 5 minutes later. Veronica thought that it was strange that everything was going so well, but she was happy about it.
The dinner went well and Lilly was now in bed, Veronica, Duncan and his parents were drinking coffee when Veronica's cell phone rang.
"Excuse me, I need to get that, it might be a clue about some case!" She said as she went closer to the door to answer. "Veronica Mars speaking."
"Veronica. How are you doing honey?" Her mother said. The Kane could see Veronica's face paling. "Mum?" Her voice was so little, almost broken.
"What do you want from me?" Veronica's voice was harsh.
"Honey, I just wanted to see you… I thought that maybe you could help me going into rehab again…"
"So that's why you're calling? I already putted you into rehab and you left in the middle of it! I spend all the money I had saved to go to Stanford for you and you didn't finish it and no you want me to do it again? What happen to the 50.000 that you stole from dad?"
"Veronica…"
"Leave me alone, I don't need you! You left when I need you the most, 2 times in a row… You don't mean anything to me anymore! Bye!"
When she hung up, Veronica realized that the Kane had heard everything and understood who was on the other end. Jack looked embarrassed, Celeste looked sad for the girl and she found Duncan behind her, giving her a tight hug.
Secure in Duncan's arms, Veronica left her guard down and cried.
She cried for her mother, for the rape, for Cassidy, for everything that had happened. She cried and Duncan held her the whole time while Celeste was coming back in the room with a cup of tea and some Ben and Jerry ice cream.
"Veronica, sweetie, here, have some tea! Also I know that ice cream can help sometimes." She said as she put the things in front of the girl.
"Thank you Celeste." Veronica said smiling behind her tears. Celeste just realised something: she had won over Leanne. Veronica was going to be with Duncan, probably marrying him some day, and then she would become her daughter in law… Yes, she had definitely won over Leanne.
They decided that Veronica would stay the night here, she agreed, because she needed Duncan, she needed him to be there for her. That night, they talked a lot.
Duncan told her he asked Clarence to kill Aaron after he got released, because he was scared he would hurt her again. She forgave him.
They decided that taking it slow was out of the picture, they loved each other, and they were going to move in together. They just needed to buy a house.
The next week, they visited 5 houses and 7 apartments. As much the one after that.
Finally, they settled on a nice house in between the 09 and the 02 neighbourhood. It has 5 bedrooms, 6 bathrooms, a nice garden were a dog would have fun playing with Lilly.
6 month after they moved into the house, Duncan proposed. She said yes. They got married the summer after that.
As Veronica was looking at her pregnant self in the mirror, she smiled; she had made the right choice! She was not going to be alone anymore in her life.
"Mummy, can I take my new Barbie to go eat with us at Grandpa Keith please?" The now 5 years old Lilly asked.
"Off course sweetie. Go ahead! And don't forget the card for Alicia! It's her birthday after all!"
"Yes mummy!" The little girl answered before running to her room.
"You look fabulous tonight Misses Kane!" Duncan said as he came in the room.
"Thank you mister Kane! You know, I think your son in there is going to be a soccer player! He already knows how to kick!" She complained, smiling.
"Or a fighter like his uncle Logan!" Joked Duncan as they made their way to the car.
OK, so here is a new story. What to you think?
Reviews?
Please?
I love all of my readers!
Lorelei Candice Black