Title: What Ever Happened to Aaron Echolls?
Warnings: Language, violence
Pairings: LoVe
Spoilers: Preseries/Season 1 AU
Summary: It wasn't Liily killed that day, it was Aaron. And when Logan confesses to his murder, Veronica is the only one who believes there's more to the story. Can she find the strength to go against Duncan and the O9ers and even her own dad for his sake?
Disclaimer: I do not own Veronica Mars.
A/N: BIG, BIG thanks to my Betas, Bryrosea and Elschaaf for helping me through this. This would have been a mess without you! Also thanks to all the people on Tumblr who supported the idea. I really hope you enjoy! Don't forget to REVIEW!
Chapter 1
It's funny how your life can change in the blink of an eye.
It had started off as such a normal day. Shopping downtown with Lilly, followed by a pep squad car wash, where Lilly assured Veronica that she was certain to get ogled by a few guys who could help her get over her break up with Duncan. Lilly, of course, kept teasing her with another one of her undoubtably scandalous "secrets" while suggestively soaping up more than just the cars. After saying goodbye to Lilly, Veronica went to the Sheriff's department to wait on her dad so that they could go out for their bi-weekly daddy/daughter dates. Just your average Saturday in Neptune.
Riding home after dinner, belly now full of her favorite foods, Veronica sighed, completely relaxed. A small smile hovered on the crest of her lips. "Hey, Dad?" She asked lightly, staring out the window of his police cruiser and watching the fading sunset in the distance.
"Yes, honey?" Keith turned to look at his daughter and returned her smile.
"Next time, can we go to DiMonico's?" The grin widened and her eyes sparkled with secret mischief.
Her dad shook his head. "No way. We go to Cho's on Thursdays. Luigi's on Saturdays. It's tradition. Your tradition," he added, pointedly.
She batted her sea blue eyes at him. "I know that, but I really want to go to DiMonico's next."
He turned toward her and furrowed his brow. "What's this? My darling daughter willingly choosing to give up pasta to go to a steak house?"
All innocence, she stated, "Hey, sometimes a girl just craves a little red meat."
Keith hitched a brow suspiciously. "And this has nothing to do with the fact that they may or may not have a new dessert called a Chocolate Orgasm?"
"Oh, my delicate ears!" Veronica yelped, placing her hands over her ears before quickly fanning herself with her palm. Adopting her best imitation of a southern belle, she shot him a look of gleeful disgust. "You have forever sullied my precious virtue. Who will have me now, Pa?"
"Honey," he sighed, trying not to smile. I've raised the strangest kid. One day, she's going to set the world on fire, he thought with pride. "I think your virtue is safe for now. No man will be worried about the reputation of a girl who can eat her weight in chocolate."
Beside him, his daughter pouted and crossed her arms in an all-too-familiar move. It was meant to break his will and once the head tilt was thrown in, it had never failed. "Hmph. Dad, this is so not about that. This is about steak. Juicy, chewy, cow-flavored steak."
"Right." He shook his head in disbelief. "Honey, we need to talk about this chocolate addiction you have. Maybe its time for an intervention."
"I don't have a problem, dad. I can quit at any time."
He quirked a solitary eyebrow at her.
"Okay, maybe it is about chocolate," Veronica relented with a huff. Her eyes seemed to grow to the size of saucers. "But Dad, it's three kinds of chocolate-" she held her hand aloft, and raised a finger with each bullet point, "-milk chocolate, fudge truffle, and dark chocolate all topped with cinnamon ice cream, whipped cream, and homemade fudge sauce. Would you really deny your only daughter something that monumental?"
He would not succumb to her pouts and head tilt. He. Would. Not. Stay strong, Keith. "Honey—," he began, before the squawk of the radio cut him off. Bending forward, he frowned, knowing he would only get a call in his off-duty hours if something really bad had happened. "This is Mars, go ahead."
A tense, clipped voice stated, "Sheriff, we got a call from dispatch about a possible 1-8-7 at the Echolls' estate."
From her seat beside him, Veronica gasped. Keith ignored her, focused on doing his duty. "10-4, dispatch. Heading there now." He flipped on the lights, the empty street instantly glowing in a swirl of blues and reds, and spun the cruiser quickly in the direction of the 90909 neighborhood. "Veronica," he commanded. Her face was pressed against the window and unreadable, but her arms gripped the seat and door so strongly the knuckles were turning white. "You know you have to stay in the car." She nodded slowly in acknowledgment and the rest of the short drive was spent in nervous silence.
When Keith pulled up the driveway to the Echolls' mansion, a host of other emergency vehicles and personnel were already on the scene. Exiting the cruiser quickly, he went in search of his deputies. Keith never even looked back at the shocked, worried face of his daughter in the window.
Veronica had been doing ride alongs with her father for years now. She knew the codes. She knew what a 187 meant. She also knew she should stay in the car, and how important it was not to get in the way of the officers doing their job. But none of that mattered when she saw Logan sitting on the curb, trembling and alone. Without thought, she rushed from the car, dropping down on her knees by his side.
"Logan?" She asked, her voice small and uncertain, as she wrapped his large hands in her tiny ones.
As if coming out of a dream, he turned his head slowly in her direction. His red-rimmed eyes and miserable expression burned into her like fire. She inhaled sharply, utterly shocked by the sight. It was as if his agony reverberated through her, forever imprinting onto her soul. In that moment, her heart broke for him.
Tear stains scarred his cheeks, and his brown eyes usually bright and playful were nearly black with grief. "Hey Ronnie," he said, clearly trying for something casual, but the words came out in a compressed, squeaky croak. Running a hand through his hair, Logan twisted his mouth up into a tortured smile, but his eyes overflowed with tears.
"What are you doing here?" A little quake to his voice cut off the end of his question. There was something akin to madness in the way he kept trying to sound normal, and Veronica didn't know how to respond.
"What…what happened, Logan?" She asked cautiously, pulling back ever so slightly from his grip. She had never seen anyone this distraught before, especially not Logan. Sure he could be moody sometimes, even a downright asshole, but this?
Noticing for the first time that her own cheeks were damp, she removed her hand from his and brushed her cheeks to find the cause. Her fingers came back wet. Why am I crying? What do I have to be sad about?
At the loss of contact, Logan turned his gaze from her and shuddered. She wondered if he was crying again and didn't want her to see.
Just as she was about to put her hand on his shoulder, the tremors changed to a strange sort of laughter. Soft at first, the sound grew louder and more hysterical. In between sharp inhales of breath, he spit out the words, "He's dead. The bastard's dead, Ronnie. And I killed him. I fucking killed my dad!"
Suddenly, a pair of strong arms wrapped themselves around her, pulling her away from the raving boy. Veronica was too stunned by what was happening with Logan and by the questions overwhelming her to notice or care that her dad was pushing her back to a police car and yelling at her for disobeying.
Logan had killed his dad? Mr. Echolls was dead? What had Logan done?
It didn't even register for her when her dad passed her off to a deputy before returning to read Logan his rights. She couldn't hear Logan, who continued shouting hysterically as her dad slipped the cuffs on his wrists. All she could see was the tortured look of pain and madness on the handsome face of a boy she had always thought of as one of her best friends.
When she arrived home, she barely glanced at the huddled up form of her mother, sleeping on the sofa again. Her mind raced with questions that she had no answers to: What happened to Mr. Echolls? How did he die? Was it an accident? Did he and Logan get into a fight? What will happen to Logan now? And she was haunted by the look in Logan's eyes. They seemed to be begging her. Pleading for her help.
Unable to calm herself, Veronica dialed her best friend, only to have the call go immediately to voice mail. Come on, Lils, I need you. In her desperation, she very nearly called Duncan, remembering only at the last second that he was no longer her boyfriend and had been doing everything he could to completely cut her out of his life. Hopeless and confused, she jumped on top of her bed and pulled the covers tight around her. Oh my god. Logan.
In the wee hours of the morning, she was woken by the soft, warm hands of her father on her shoulder. Immediately, she sat up and threw her arms around him. "Dad, what happened? Is Logan okay?"
He sighed and patted her arm, gently pushing her away so that he could look her in the eye for what he had to say. "Veronica, honey. Aaron Echolls is dead. He received a blunt force trauma to the head and died instantly." He paused to let the information soak in.
"And what about Logan?" She asked, pulling her knees to her chest under the blankets and wrapping her arms around them.
There was nothing Keith wanted more than to shield his daughter from the harsh realities of the world, especially those of Neptune. But his daughter wasn't as naive as she often seemed, and Keith knew that if he wasn't the one to tell her what happened to her friend, she would hear about it some other way.
"There's not much I'm legally allowed to say, Veronica, but I wanted you to hear what you could from me, before the tabloids get wind of it and splash it all over the news."
Veronica felt numb. The rounded, glassy look in her father's eyes told her everything she needed to know. It was bad. And it would probably get worse. All of a sudden, it was as though an anchor had sunk to the bottom of her gut.
"Logan was brought in to the station, telling us the whole time that he killed his father. When he got there, he waived his right to a lawyer. Legally, that means I am able to submit his statements as evidence and press formal charges."
"Wait," her mind refused to work right, and her heart thudded loudly against her ribcage. "Are you saying you're going to charge Logan? With Mr. Echolls' murder?"
The look in her father's eye was all the confirmation she needed. She heard herself let out a low, keening wail before her father scooped her into his waiting arms.
"Honey, I'm so, so sorry." He murmured, rubbing his hand across her back. "I know he's your friend, and I don't want to believe it. I like the kid, I do, but the evidence is pretty clear, and it doesn't look good. I'm trying to hold off formally charging him, but he's also refused to give any sort of reason why he did it."
"What? Why would he do that?" Veronica demanded. She shuddered one last time and tried to force her tears to come to a stop.
It was a question that had been bothering him all night. What would push a happy-go-lucky kid like Logan to kill his father?
Keith could only shrug. "Is there anything you can think of that would help? Any sort of abuse? Drugs? Alcohol?"
Gritting her teeth, Veronica furiously wracked her brain. Logan was always making little biting comments about his dad, but she had always just assumed it was because Logan was upset that his dad's career seemed to take up so much of his time. When he was around, Mr. Echolls always seemed like a cool dad. He would joke with them and offer to make supper or take them out on the boat. Sometimes, he was a little harsh with Logan when he would do something wrong, but Logan always immediately backed down and apologized. There were a couple of times when it was just her and Lilly around, however, that she got a slightly creepy vibe off of him, but Veronica thought it was probably some sort of Hollywood thing.
A sudden image of Logan, sullen and angry last summer popped into her head.
"What's bugging you, Lo?" She had asked, messing with the fringe of the beach towel wrapped around her waist. Her toes dug into the sand, making small little divots as they bunched up.
He shrugged, looking out at the water, and replied, "Dad's home."
He must be angry because his dad wouldn't let him have a party that weekend like he had planned, she thought. Grinning at him, she'd said, "That's okay. We can just hang out with Lil and Duncan at the beach all week. Maybe we can go to the boardwalk. You could win Lilly a bear. She'll probably pretend to think it's lame, but I know for a fact she'll secretly love it."
"You do, huh?" He looked up at her, eyes wide. Playing with the cuffs on his shirt, he nodded and smiled wide. "That sounds good." He ducked his head, but not before she could see the spread of blush on his cheek. "Thanks, Ronnie."
"I don't know. Logan never really talked too much about what his dad was like when he was at home, but I'm pretty sure that any problems were just the typical teenage rebellion stuff."
"Yeah, that's what I always thought, too." Keith frowned, eyes darkening. Was it possible the kid had a much darker nature than he had ever suspected and had suddenly just snapped? He looked to his daughter and shuddered at the prospect of her being friends with a possible psychopath.
Suddenly, Veronica's eyes flew open. "Dad, what about Mrs. Echolls? Does she know? Or Trina?"
Keith exhaled heavily. "I called Lynn earlier, right after we brought Logan in. She was in New York at a charity fundraiser. She said she will fly back early tomorrow. I'm sure she'll arrange a lawyer. Trina's whereabouts are anybody's guess."
Veronica shook her head in disbelief. Logan would be alone all day? In jail? He couldn't be alone. "Dad, can I see him?"
"No, honey. It's best if you didn't. He's..." This was the part he was dreading the most. How would he explain that Logan was nearly unresponsive and refusing to speak to anyone, except for occasional outbursts of half-crazed laughter and uncontrollable sobbing. He just couldn't. "It will be alright. You'll see."
He pulled away from her, edging toward the end of her bed. "Why don't you try to get some sleep. Once his mom gets into town, I'm sure Logan will agree to a lawyer, and then things will get better." Right now, he was having serious reservations about letting his daughter ever speak to Logan again.
"Honey, I'm really sorry." It was all he could say. Eventually, she would understand. Veronica was a reasonable girl. Yes, she was too kind and naive sometimes, but Keith knew that his daughter would come to accept the truth in time. He just prayed that her heart wouldn't break too much when it happened.
Kissing her forehead, Keith left the room and Veronica pulled the covers up around her shoulders, insulating herself from the coldness surrounding her.
Exhausted from stress and worry, she wasn't able to keep sleep away any longer. But before she drifted off, one thought kept nagging at her. An endless, pounding litany in her skull:
Logan, one of your best friends - the boy that made you laugh, even when you were sad, the boy who never forgets your favorite foods or your favorite movies, the boy who gives you a little thrill just to be around - that boy needs you.
So, what are you going to do about it, Veronica?
What are you going to do?