3x21 Wallace in Wonderland

Veronica awoke to the smell of eggs and bacon. She smiled and stretched before opening her eyes, happy at the thought of a good breakfast. Suddenly her eyes flew opened as she remembered the events of the night before. Guilt and disappointment hit her like a wave and washed away any thoughts she'd had about this being a good day.

She untangled herself from her covers and walked out into the kitchen where her dad stood holding a frying pan and heaping eggs into 2 plates. He glanced up at her as she entered the room.

"Honey, I realise that we live in a troubled world – full of wars, famine and strife but come on – smile a little because today ? Today we have bacon!"

"Dad I'm so sorry about the election." Veronica said searching her dad's eyes for some sign that he was disappointed in her but there was nothing negative there. His eyes were as kind and as loving as always.

"You know what? I had a taste of that old life as the acting sheriff and it wasn't so great! Those uniforms are really restrictive – my body needs room to breathe."

"Gross – no body breathing over the bacon!"

"I wouldn't dream of it!"

Veronica accepted the plate of food her father offered her and smiled at him. He was putting on a brave face for her sake – she knew how much getting his old job back had meant to him and losing it so abruptly to none other than Vinnie Van Lowe was just like kicking him while he was already down. In that moment she vowed to herself that one way or another, she would make it right.

As they settled down to eat there was a knock on the door. Keith Mars looked at his daughter expectantly.

"Are you expecting one of your gentlemen callers?"

"Nope – they all left the money on my nightstand and snuck out the back in the middle of the night just like I told them too! I don't take morning appointments – I need my beauty sleep."

Keith gave her a stern glance and went to open the door. Piz stood there grinning at him, his face still bruised and somewhat worse for wear after his fight with Logan.

"Good morning Mr Mars!"

"Veronica – I believe this one belongs to you. Maybe he didn't get the memo about the beauty sleep…"

"What can I say dad? Love is a drug and this one's addicted!"

"Ok well you two have fun, I'm going to head in to the office. There an answering machine with my name on it that's full of messages!"

"See you tonight!"

"Bye Mr Mars and I'm really sorry about the election – I voted for you."

"Thanks for the support Stosh." Kieth said with a wistful smile before leaving.

Veronica looked over at Piz. It was so easy to like him. He was good natured, loyal and kind hearted – like a puppy. She smiled at him and he smiled back.

"So . . . I came to see if you want to go to the Barenaked Ladies concert with me tonight. I can snag a couple of tickets from the radio station."

"Set it up Howard Stern. It's a date!"

"Excellent!" Piz grinned.

At that moment they were interrupted by the shrill sound of Veronica's phone ringing. She checked the caller ID and then put it on speakerphone.

"Hey Wallace – what's up my brotha from another motha!"

"First of all – don't ever say that again."

"Yeah it came out and it just left a bad taste in my mouth – like when you drink spoilt milk by accident. Forget I ever said it."

"Said what? . . . Hey is Piz with you?"

"Hey Wallace!" Piz interjected.

"Hey - I was thinking of hitting that new club, Wonderland tonight are you guys in?"

Veronica glanced at Piz quizzically and he nodded at her.

"Sure. We can meet you there after the Barenaked ladies concert."

"Alright cool. Later then."

Piz left soon after for an early class and Veronica quickly took a shower and got dressed. She had a busy day ahead of her and she wanted to start by paying a visit to Mr Kane.

Time had not been kind to Mr Kane. He appeared rugged and unshaven and answered his door with a scowl. Veronica greeted him with an over-cheery grin.

"Goooood morning Mr Kane."

"It was . . . what can I do for you Miss Mars?"

Veronica handed him a newspaper.

"Oh you came to bring me the paper. That's very thoughtful of you but Jose the gardener usually brings it to the house when he arrives. If you'd like to take out the trash though on your way out, you'll find it in the kitchen."

"As delightful as that offer sounds, this isn't today's paper -The article on the front page says that charges have been brought against my father dude to the disappearance of evidence on his watch. I would like those charges dropped."

Mr Kane narrowed his eyes at Veronica.

"And I would like for both of my children to be back in this house but we can't always get what we want. I suggest your father get himself a good lawyer. There's really nothing I can do about it."

"Oh come now Mr Kane – don't be so modest. You're a very well connected man. In fact, I'm 100% sure that if you try really really hard you'll think of a way to clear this whole thing up. Maybe if you delve into your little box of tricks you'll find something helpful!"

Veronica was of course referring to the hard drive full of secrets and blackmail information on some of the most prominent members of society – (members of The Castle as they called themselves) that was currently in Mr Kane's possession. She'd managed to swipe and eventually decrypt the drive (with Mac's help) a couple of nights earlier.

Mr Kane gave her a tight-lipped smile while his eyes shot daggers at her. He couldn't risk her releasing any of those secrets. They had been entrusted to him and he had to protect them by any means necessary so he had no choice but to help her.

"I'll see what I can do." He said begrudgingly.

Veronica beamed up at him.

"I knew I could count on you!" she said cheerfully.

"Will that be all? I have a golf game to get to."

"Yup – oh and no need to have me followed or anything – I'm heading back to the wrong side of the tracks where I belong!"

Veronica headed back to her car pleased with the way her meeting with Mr Kane had worked out. She hoped he would come through before Nish published that list of names she'd given her because once that happened she may lose some of her leverage and Mr Kane may no longer be in the mood to humour her. There wasn't anything else she could do for the time being though except for play the waiting game. It wasn't her favourite game but . . . she could make it work.

When Piz and Veronica arrived at Wonderland later that night there was a line stretching all the way around the building. They could almost feel the music pulsing straight through to the parking lot.

"Wow looks like we're going to be waiting a while!" Veronica said taking in the unruly queue of partiers anxious to get inside.

"Oh no need – I was supposed to come here on opening night for the station but I didn't get round to it. I still have the VIP passes - they should get us in!"

"Oh Piznarski, darling . . .you always know just the right things to say!" Veronica said feigning a 1920s movie star accent and batting her eyelashes at him. "It's a good thing I'm wearing my groupie t-shirt!"

Piz smiled as he placed his hand on the base of Veronica's back and ushered her to the bouncers at the front of the line. Sure enough they took one glance at the VIP passes and waived them right in amongst loudly voiced complaints from a few people at the front of the line.

Wonderland looked exactly like it sounded like it should look. There were larger than life characters from Alice in wonderland hanging from the ceiling in a manner that made them seem as though they were swaying. The walls were painted in various patters that were either multi coloured swirls or black and white checked. Red, yellow and green lights spun from the ceiling in all directions and coloured smoke shot out of the walls in 30 second intervals. The bar was made to look like a picnic table and even the dance floor was full of creatively clad people all swaying in time to the music. At that point, Veronica noticed Wallace waiving at them from the edge of the dance floor and pointed him out to Piz.

Once they were all reunited it became clear that it was way too loud to talk so Wallace signed to them that he was heading to the bar to get drinks and Piz dragged Veronica to the middle of the dance floor. He attempted to dazzle her with his moves but not being the best dancer he fully expected her to laugh at him and his eyes lit up when she did. Piz and Veronica danced until the dryness in her throat let her know that she was too thirsty to continue. She wondered what had become of Wallace and the drinks he'd gone to get almost an hour ago now.

Veronica headed to the bar glancing all around for Wallace but there was no sign of him. She'd caught the bartender's attention and was just about to order herself a drink when she spotted something suspicious at the very edge of the bar. Weaving through the crowd of people who were quickly starting to gather to get drinks she made her way to it. Just as she'd suspected, it was Wallace's phone. She looked around for any sign of him but there was none so she checked to see who the last number he'd dialled was. Her own number was right at the top of the list. She checked her own phone. Sure enough she'd received a voicemail from him 15 minutes ago. She quickly made her way to the nearest exit so she could listen to it.

Piz finally caught up with Veronica about a minute after she excited the club. She was holding two phones in her hand. One was hers and the other one belonged to Wallace. As she turned to face him he registered the panic in her eyes and saw that the blood had drained from her face.

"What is it? What's wrong?"

"Piz," she gulped, "I think Wallace has been kidnapped!"

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