It had taken Keith almost five hours to reach the hospital. He didn't understand how it was Logan who had been with her but he was grateful. Back when the kids had been inseparable, Keith had always been surprised by Logan. His parents barely paid any attention to him, but he seemed to have an instinctive protective streak for his friends that he surely hadn't learned at home. There was a time that he thought this boy would be a more constant figure in his daughter's life, but the grief they'd had, they'd been too young to cope, and it had destroyed their bond, or so he had thought. Following the hallway to room 325, the doctor had given him the rundown on what to expect when he arrived, including the sight of the young man who hadn't left her side since being given access. Bracing himself, he pushed the door open slowly. Logan was sitting beside the bed, holding Veronica's hand with one of his own as he played with her fingers with the other. He was lost in his actions and hadn't even seemed to notice that anyone had entered the room.

Keith stopped short as he took in the appearance of his daughter, bloody and battered and hooked to machines. He'd thought he was prepared, but no amount of explanation could have ever gotten him ready for what he was seeing. He gasped aloud, and Logan's head popped up from his focus on Veronica. His cheeks were stained with dried tears, and he pulled his hands back, self consciously scrubbing them across his cheeks.

"Mr. Mars. You made it." He spoke just above a whisper. "She hasn't woken up yet."

Grabbing another chair, Keith sat down beside Logan next to Veronica's bed. "Thank you for being here for her, Logan."

"There isn't anywhere else I would be. When she called…" Logan gulped down the rest of his statement. "They wouldn't tell me anything more than that she'd be okay."

Keith braced himself. There was a lot they would have to deal with. "Well, she broke both of her legs, which you probably figured out. She has two broken ribs, some blood loss and then there is the injury to her head. It's gonna take some time."

Logan nodded as he looked over Veronica's injuries as Keith listed them out. When he'd finished, Logan turned to him with determination in his voice. "I'm not going anywhere. I'm here. For her."

Keith sighed and it took him a minute to compose himself enough to answer. "Okay, I'll tell them you have my permission for full access. It will stay that way until she says otherwise."

Logan looked relieved. "Thank you, sir."

Keith stood up and gave Veronica a gentle kiss on the forehead, then he went out to talk to someone at the nurse's station. It probably wasn't healthy for Logan to just sit here with her for too long, but if this is where he wanted to be, Keith wasn't going to push him away. As upset as he seemed, this probably was as good a place as anywhere else he might end up. He did want to call Lynn, though. She wasn't winning any mother of the year awards anytime soon, but she should know where her son was. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and hunted through his contacts for a number he hadn't had to call for several months.

He was starting to wonder if she was going to answer when a surprised voice sounded in his ear.

"Keith Mars, this is an unexpected treat. How are you?"

"Lynn, hi, yes, it has been a while, hasn't it?. I'm just calling to let you know that Logan is with me."

"He is? Did something happen, Keith? Is he okay?"

Keith was gratified to hear the concern in her voice. "Veronica was in an accident and apparently it was Logan she called for help. He's been here from the start and I don't have the heart to send him away."

A dramatic gasp came through the phone. "Oh goodness, is she alright?"

"It was pretty bad, but it could have been worse, and she's gonna be fine. It'll be a long recovery, but she's alive and that's what matters. Your son seems to be taking it hard though. I wouldn't be surprised if he was flashing back to last fall. He's quiet and he seems...a little lost, I guess. He's very determined to stay with her."

"Oh Keith, I do worry about him sometimes. It's been so hard for him...since Lilly. I'm sure it's been the same for Veronica. I just thought...they'd help each other heal, but instead...I don't know. He used to talk about Veronica with joy in his eyes, but now… I don't know what happened between them, but after Lilly died, he's changed so much. They didn't heal together; they alienated each other instead. Maybe being there for her now is what they both need to heal."

Keith frowned as he considered her words. He didn't know exactly what had happened between Logan and Veronica either, although he assumed it was the same thing as it was with everyone else in town. His investigation of the Kanes. He hoped that he was making the right choice to let Logan's distress inform this decision. "Well, I told him that he could be here with her until Veronica says otherwise. She'll hopefully wake up in a few hours and then it will be up to her whether he stays or not. Maybe you're right and this will give them the chance to heal each other, but it's going to be Veronica's choice, once she can make it."

"I don't think we could ask for anything more than that. Thank you, Keith. I appreciate you looking out for my son. Like you always did. I'll say a prayer for Veronica."

"Thanks, Lynn. We'll talk soon." Keith ended the call, then moved to the nurses' station. A tall, red headed woman who'd been exiting Veronica's room when he arrived greeted him.

"How may I help you, Mr. Mars?" she asked.

"Logan Echolls. He's the young man in the room with my daughter." She nodded, acknowledging she knew who he meant. "I'm giving permission for the staff to keep him in the loop for now. I suspect that he's going to be here a lot and I don't want to have to constantly be relaying her progress."

"I can make a note of that on her file. Is there anything else I can do for you?"

As she typed into her computer, Keith tried to think if there was anything else.

"Not that I can think of at the moment. Thank you."

Keith nodded at the nurse, then started back toward Veronica's room. The clock in the hallway caught his eye and he realized that it was getting late. He was sure that Logan hadn't eaten and he hadn't either. He opened the door quietly and saw Logan, still sitting at Veronica's bedside, his head resting on his folded arms on the mattress, his shoulders shaking. Keith backed out of the room again, closing the door silently. He still didn't know how Veronica was going to react to her old friend's presence when she woke up, but it was obvious how much this was impacting Logan. And who could blame him? Barely eight months ago, this boy had lost someone he cared about and now he'd almost lost another. How much more could this kid take?

Keith took a deep breath, then re-opened the door, making sure to make more noise this time. When he stepped inside again, Logan was sitting up, turned away from the door, discreetly wiping at his face. Keith walked over and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Logan?" When he looked up, Keith asked, "Have you eaten anything since you've been here?"

Logan straightened in the chair, pulling away from Veronica. "Um, no. I haven't been hungry."

"Well, if you're planning to be here for her, you're gonna need your strength. How about I go see if I can find us both something to eat?" Logan leaned forward again, resting his elbows on the edge of the bed and nodding his agreement without comment.

"All right, I'll be back shortly." As Keith took the elevator down to the 24 hour cafeteria, he thought about what he'd just witnessed. The kid was keeping his thoughts and feelings bottled up inside and Keith knew he was going to have to try to get him to talk. Maybe after they both got some nourishment in them. If nothing else, it would give him something to think about besides Veronica and how close he'd come to losing her.

He brought food up to the room for both of them, and Logan picked at his sandwich with little interest. When they were finished, Keith didn't have the energy to try to get the boy to talk, so instead they both tried to get some sleep, hunched in their bedside chairs, heads on Veronica's mattress.

Keith had been a little surprised when no one tried to roust them out for the end of visiting hours but that didn't mean that the nurses didn't wake them up every couple of hours to come in and check Veronica's vitals. They made reassuring noises every time they came in, assuring them that everything looked good and she was doing well, but morning came and Veronica continued to sleep.

Around 7:30 AM, Keith made another trip to the cafeteria, bringing back coffee and a sweet roll for Logan. By late morning, Keith decided that he couldn't wait any longer for Veronica to wake up and explain herself, so he asked Logan about the case that his daughter had apparently been working without his knowledge.

Logan handed him the bag that the EMT had given him and they looked over the paperwork together. Keith knew nothing about this case. When a new client came into the office, Veronica would often do the initial interview and then pass the information on to him. He would then decide if he was going to take the case and, if so, she would set up a secondary meeting for Keith to obtain more detailed information. In the last couple of weeks, he'd been slammed with cases and he'd been instructing her to refer any new cases to other firms. Instead, what it looked like was his teenage daughter was taking on the cases he hadn't had time for.

Keith sat back and ran his palm over the top of his head. "I wonder how long she's been taking cases behind my back?"

"When I told you, I assumed you knew," Logan said. He looked at Veronica, still and silent in her hospital bed, and shook his head.

"Do you honestly think I would let my daughter get involved to the point she would be put in danger? How long have you known me, Logan?" Keith asked. "She's my secretary. She does background checks, interviews, paperwork. Occasionally I'll let her sit in her car with Backup and take pictures. That's it. She is NOT to be doing field work."

"I'm sorry, sir. I know you were always very protective of her, but after last year, I guess my perspective of you changed."

"Ah, you're referring to my accusations towards the Kanes. Logan, I follow the evidence, not my heart. The Kanes lied about several things involving that night. Instead of helping the case, they hindered it. Now no one is looking for the truth, except me."

"Sir, Abel Koontz…" Logan began but Keith interjected.

"Did not kill Lilly."

"But he confessed," Logan persisted.

"He was paid to confess by the head of security at Kane Software."

"What?" The look on Logan's face said it all. Keith understood. The Kanes had been like a second family to him since he'd moved to Neptune. If what Keith was telling him was true, it was going to be just one more thing that he held dear that had betrayed him.

Keith wasn't ready to finish this conversation. He still hadn't found the witness he was looking for to prove his accusations. He decided it was best for both of them to focus on Veronica's case.

"Logan, since we're going to be here for a while, why don't we look over this case Veronica has gotten herself involved in. We seem to have everything she collected. Maybe we can work out what she knew that caused this accident of hers." Logan looked at him quizzically, but didn't give him any other response, so Keith continued. "You may not have been in my daughter's life much the last few months, but I remember just how intuitive you can be. You need to put those brains of yours to good use, rather than using them for hair brain schemes or conniving people into doing your bidding."

Keith was sure he saw Logan blush at his admission. Instead of making the kid squirm anymore, he stood up and grabbed the files his daughter had. He set them on the hospital table in front of them and began organizing them. It took Logan a minute before he joined him and the two of them began trying to put the pieces together.

They spent most of the day sifting through the paperwork, but found nothing concrete. If that wasn't frustrating enough, Veronica had still not wakened. The nurses came and went, all saying that her vital signs were continuing to improve, but she continued to sleep, or whatever she was doing. Late in the afternoon, Logan's frustration spilled over.

"Dammit, Mars, what were you up to?"

"The boy's got a good question, Veronica. It seems like there has to be more to this than a bail jumper just refusing to go back on the inside." Keith reached over to brush his daughter's hair away from her face. "Feel free to wake up and wow us with the whole story."

"Doesn't it seem a little extreme for someone who's been arrested for hitting his wife to chase someone off the road who's investigating him?" Logan asked. "Why do something that's gonna get you in worse trouble?" He slapped his hand on the little table, then jumped when a phone began to ring.

"I think that's Veronica's," Keith said. Logan looked around the room, hunting for where the sound was coming from before reaching behind him for her messenger bag and pulling the phone out.

"Forgot I had that," he said, looking at the screen. "This isn't a number she's got programmed." He flipped the phone open. "Hello?" Keith leaned in and Logan turned the phone so the sound carried into the room.

"Uh, hello," a woman's voice said hesitantly. "I talked to a girl yesterday. She asked me to call this number if the guy in the picture showed up. Well, he's here." Keith heard a lot of background noise; it sounded like this woman was at a bar.

"Oh, yeah, thanks for calling. Could you tell me where you are?" Logan asked, grabbing the pen from Keith's hand.

"I'm at the Tropic's. He just got here so I imagine he should be here for awhile."

"Thanks, we'll get someone right there." Logan hung up the phone and looked at Keith.

"We got a lead. You stay here with her?" Keith asked

"Yeah. Be careful. You're all she has."

"Not anymore. I'll let you know what I find out. If anything changes here, you let me know, okay?"

"Of course." With Logan in agreement, Keith grabbed his jacket and left the hospital.