A/N: Forgot to mention in the first chapter, the rating is just for disturbing content and occasional bad language. Most updates won't be the fast, but I figured with a new story and the way the first chapter ends, might as well go ahead and post this! Thanks to everyone for reading, alerting, and reviewing! I'm new to writing in the fandom and really excited to be a part of it :)

Chapter 2

A year and a half earlier

In retrospect, perhaps Logan should have listened to Veronica when she insisted three-year olds didn't need epic blowout birthday parties. In general, Veronica didn't like doing anything that could be perceived as flaunting their wealth, and hiring caterers and decorators and party planners for a child's birthday party was the sort of thing real 09ers did. Despite the fact that she lived in the zip code and drove a fancy car, his wife never really could claim to be part of that group. And Logan liked it, really, liked that she kept him grounded. He wanted Evie to grow up better than he did, so perhaps spoiling her, giving her everything she wanted, and hosting birthday parties that made TMZ were not the best route.

So he just hired the caterers. And then bought out the party store of every single detail that matched the theme of her under the sea birthday party. Now that it looked like the ocean vomited on his house, he wondered if perhaps he had gone a little too far.

"Where are the hot chicks?" a voice asked from behind him. "Man, your party planning skills have really suffered since the old ball and chain. Not even a keg in sight. Good thing I brought the party pig!"

Logan turned and saw Dick stepping into the kitchen, thankfully holding a handful of brightly (and probably professionally) wrapped presents instead of the threatened party pig.

"Relax dude, I'm kidding," Dick rolled his eyes. "The party pig won't debut until at least the fifth or sixth birthday."

"Veronica will be thrilled when I tell her we can finally scratch your name off the guest list."

"And deprive Evie of her cool Uncle Dick? Come on, the kid has to have at least one fun influence."

Logan gestured pointedly to all the crap in the room. "Think I have that covered. And no keg, but there is beer in the fridge. Presents over there," he said, indicating the table already teeming with gifts even from their small circle of friends and family. It seemed he wasn't the only one who spoiled Evie.

Dick had just set the gifts down and was headed for the fridge when a tiny rocket hurtled into the room and straight into his arms. "Uncle Dick!" she cried excitedly, strawberry blonde curls flying everywhere as she jumped up.

For all his bluster, Dick's whole face lit up as he scooped up Logan's daughter. He held her just briefly upside down, causing her to squeal with delight, then quickly righted her again and settled her against his chest. "Well hello there, Miss Evelyn," he greeted her. "Can you help me with something? I heard someone was having a birthday today, but now I can't remember who."

"Me!" she giggled.

"You?" he raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure? How old are you?"

"Ummm…" Evie held up her hand, studying it carefully. Logan stood back and grinned, wondering if she would be able to remember what he had been teaching her all week. Her little fingers didn't quite have the coordination and dexterity necessary, so she would hold down her thumb and pinkie with her other hand. She fumbled for a moment, then proudly presented him with her hands. "This many!" she announced.

"Three?" Dick asked, feigning disbelief. "No way. How did you get so big?"

Evie just laughed happily and dropped her head on Dick's shoulder. It was a cute but totally strange sight, one Logan still couldn't believe sometimes. Dick still wasn't a person that he would, say, call to come babysit, but he often dropped by on Logan's days at home with Evie. She had a way of charming everyone she met, and Dick was no exception. And it was probably good for Dick to have someone love him like that, so purely and innocently. It was a foreign concept where they came from, and Evie's joy was just so infectious.

"Corrupting my daughter already, Dick?" Veronica asked as she walked in. Her smile betrayed her as she looped her arm through Logan's and watched Dick tug lightly on Evie's pigtail.

"Nope. Promised Logan the party pig will wait a few more years."

Evie lifted her head at that. "Pig?" she repeated, and Veronica laughed aloud. "Good luck with that, Dick! She doesn't forget anything. Next year she will be asking

where her pig is."

"I hear they make excellent pets," Dick grinned back at her. "All right, tiny one. Go enjoy your party," he told Evie, setting her back on the ground and watching her scamper away.

"She's a mess," Veronica shook her head. "She's already spilled juice on herself, and I've fixed her hair twice. She's going to have more outfit changes than Cher."

Evie's laughter rang through the room from where she had tackled Wallace, and Logan glanced down at his wife. They shared a meaningful look – they both knew it was more than worth all the trouble to hear that sound.

"Ugh. You two are such parents," Dick accused in disgust. "I need to go find normal people before the sap spreads."

He wandered off with his beer, probably going to torment Mac, and Logan pulled Veronica closer and kissed the top of her head. "I, for one, like being a parent."

"Who knew, right?" Veronica joked. "We're not doing so bad at this. She made it to three and everything."

"We didn't even forget to feed and water her."

"Well done, team!" she high fived him. "Ooh, there's my dad. I need to go

question him. He was being cagey about what he got her. If it's a pony, I'm going to be so mad."

Logan released his wife with a laugh and headed over to greet Mac and Wallace, grabbing his camera off the counter as he passed by. It had been a gift from Veronica for his last birthday, along with a few lessons in how to use it. He was nowhere near as good as her, but he still loved capturing photos of his daughter. He just wanted to preserve every moment, still amazed that this was his life. Sometimes it felt hard to believe he hadn't always wanted this. A life of domestic bliss wasn't really what he craved as a teenager, nor was it something he really believed he could have. Even when he left the Navy, he wasn't thinking about things like marriage and kids and family. He thought he would miss the adrenaline rush, the socially acceptable rush of danger. He flew boring routes now in boring planes, but he found he didn't miss it at all. He liked knowing he would come home each night to his wife and his daughter, and he liked knowing that he was going to be there for his daughter in a way his parents had never been for him.

They were getting this right. It seemed impossible to believe that he and Veronica, of all people, were not just doing marriage but also parenthood right, but there was Evie, all smiles and giggles and sweetness. In a sudden burst of need and emotion, he reached over and grabbed his daughter away from Wallace. "Daddy!" she cried, trying to be upset with him but then dissolving into laughter as he tickled her. He felt his camera being taken off his shoulder, then heard the click of the shutter, but he was too busy covering his daughter's face with kisses to pay it any attention.

Present

The TV in the living room was on, the news repeating the story of Evelyn Echolls' disappearance in an endless loop. It was morbid to have it playing, but Logan couldn't take his eyes off the coverage even as he bounced an unhappy Lottie on his knees. A picture filled the screen, one of him with his daughter at her third birthday party. It was early, before she'd gotten icing all over her face, and he vaguely recalled someone taking the picture as he had cuddled Evie to his chest. At the time, he had just felt overwhelmed. Overwhelmed by how much he loved her, overwhelmed by how lucky he had gotten.

Now he was overwhelmed again, but for a very different reason.

He was no stranger to the word gone.

First there was Lilly. Lilly, who had been such a force of nature she seemed unstoppable right up until the moment she wasn't. Lilly, who had tormented him, Lilly, who had loved him. He had lost people before her, grandparents and distant relatives, but Lilly was the first of many who loved him and left him. The loss of Lilly had been so unexpected, so cruel. They weren't together at the time, and he had spent so many months wondering if anything would have been different if they were, or wondering if they would be together again if she was still alive. The open question marks and the dissolution of life as he knew it began one long downward spiral, a spiral that both gave him Veronica and took her away. He hadn't been a completely happy person before Lilly's death; his father always made sure of that, but he'd had hope, at least. His hope died along with Lilly, and nothing was ever the same again.

Then there was his mother. If Lilly's death had gutted him, his mother's suicide had nearly eviscerated him. At least Lilly didn't choose to leave. His mother, on the hand, wanted out. And she didn't care if it meant leaving him behind. It had been harder to accept that she was gone, harder to believe that he would never catch the whiff of her perfume mixed with the aroma of her drink again, harder to believe she would never again press a kiss to his forehead and whisper that she loved him. Lilly had been a fixture in his life, but his mother had for so long been his whole life. The only bright spot in his world as a child, the only person he ever counted on completely. Her death shook him to the core, made him question all those whispered professions of love. If she really loved him, how could she leave him with Aaron? Turning a blind eye was one thing, leaving him was another.

His father was the next to go, but for the first time, Logan experienced what it was like to be relieved someone was really gone. And relief was really the only word for it. He wasn't glad, really. He wasn't happy to be an orphan. But Logan, like everyone else, had never been completely immune to the charms of Aaron Echolls. Theirs had been a complicated relationship consisting mostly of hatred, but always, always there was that undercurrent of love, just enough to make it truly twisted. There were always times that Logan believed it when his dad said it was his fault. There were always times he wished he could be better. And in the rare moments when his father was happy with him or proud of him, Logan felt like the world was at his fingertips. By the time he was a teenager he had stopped craving approval, realising it would never come, but he still sometimes found himself believing his dad might actually love him. It all finally came to an end when they discovered the truth about Lilly's death, but then came the acquittal. And Logan was afraid. Afraid of the power Aaron always did have, afraid of the power Aaron always would have. Gone was a weight off his shoulders. Gone was a promise that he could never be used and manipulated by his own father again. Gone was the hope of finally escaping his curse of a family and finding something better.

There were others still after that. Cassidy, the friend he thought he knew. Carrie, the girl he thought he loved. But at the end of all the loss and all the heartache, he finally found his something better in the three people who completed his world. Really, Veronica had been more than enough. Living the rest of his life with Veronica was reward enough for making it through all the shit before. When he held Evie in his arms for the very first time, it was like every loss, every ounce of pain was just leading him up to this moment, emptying him out so he would have room for this complete, all-consuming joy. The day Lottie was born, he had helped Evie into the bed with her mom, and then he had oh so carefully placed little Lottie in her arms. There, in a hospital room in Neptune, sat his whole universe. And he had never imagined that anyone could be so happy.

There was no word that could adequately describe losing that kind of bliss. There weren't enough words in any language that could convey what gone meant to him now. He, of all people, should have known how easy it was to lose everything in the blink of an eye, but this still felt impossible. He felt like he would wake up at any moment and be back in his house with all of his girls around him. Not knowing if that would ever happen again – if it could happen again – took gone to an all new meaning.

The last few hours had been his worst nightmare. Actually, he was pretty sure he was living an actual nightmare he'd had before, when Veronica was first pregnant and he would lay awake at night imagining all the things that could go wrong. By some miracle, none of them had. They had a smooth, uneventful pregnancy, and Veronica delivered Evie just three days past her due date. Evie was as healthy as could be, and beautiful to boot. By the age of four, her personality was truly developed, and Logan loved each day he spent with her, discovering new facets of the little person he played a part in creating. And each day, he grew a little more complacent, a little more convinced nothing bad could happen.

The last few hours weren't just a nightmare because they were awful; they were a nightmare because they couldn't possibly be real.

It had been five hours now since he got the call. Four and half hours since he arrived breathless and terrified to the Sheriff's office. And one hour since they set up camp at home instead of the interrogation room. Veronica hadn't wanted to go home, hadn't wanted to leave the nerve centre of the investigation, but she also refused to let Lottie out of her sight. The FBI agents, Kelly and Barnes, had finally convinced her it would be better if they did this at home.

Logan felt helpless walking through the doors of his house knowing Evie wouldn't be here, knowing there was nothing he could do about it. There was a joint team assembled now, deputies handpicked by Keith to work with the FBI, and volunteers for the search team had been at it for hours, scouring every last bit of Neptune in search of their missing child. And Logan was just sitting at home watching strangers on TV talk about his daughter as though they knew her, as though they could possibly understand how horrible this really was.

"Mrs. Echolls, was there anyone else who might have known that Evelyn wasn't with you today?" Agent Barnes was asking Veronica.

"Evie," Logan corrected listlessly. "We never call her Evelyn." It was a useless distinction to make, it didn't actually matter a time like this, but Evelyn reminded him too much now of his dead mother. Really, what had they been thinking saddling their daughter with a name like that?

"I'm sorry," the agent responded politely. "I'll try to remember that. Anyone who might have known?" she tried again.

"No," Veronica shook her head in exasperation. Tear tracks still stained her cheeks, and it made Logan feel even worse. Veronica wasn't one to show her emotions if she could help it, but for the last few hours, she had been vacillating wildly between rage and despair. "No, I've told you. It wasn't a planned thing. The baby was sick, I was tired and frustrated. I called my dad and he picked her up. I didn't talk to anyone else between."

"And what about you, Mr. Echolls?" the agent asked.

"A few of our friends knew I was going to San Diego and that Lottie was sick. But that's it," he shrugged.

"Tell me again how this happened," Veronica demanded, whirling to face her father. Keith had come with them back to the house, despite the very clear hostility from both parents. He was leaning now against the wall, head in his hands. He looked older than Logan had ever seen him, more haggard and exhausted than any of them, really. Any other time, Logan might have even felt bad for him. If it had been any child but Evie, he would have been defending his father-in-law.

But it wasn't another child. It was Evie, and she was supposed to be safe with her grandfather today.

Keith looked up, his expression dripping with remorse and self-loathing. "She

wanted to go to the park," he answered hoarsely. "I was playing with her for a while, but there were some other kids about her age. I let her play, and I was sitting fifteen, maybe twenty feet away. She was happy, she was having fun."

"Did you see anyone watching you, Mr. Mars?" Agent Kelly asked.

"No one," he shook his head. "There were other parents, nannies maybe, but everyone appeared to be watching their own kids."

"Why did you stop?" Veronica asked, tears beginning anew. "How could you stop watching her?"

"Veronica," her dad answered pleadingly.

"Mrs. Echolls," Agent Barnes interjected gently, "I know this is difficult, but your father has gone over this with us. The other parents all reported the same thing. Another child was hurt, and everyone was distracted. We have the details we need. We should go over-"

"I don't have all the details I need!" Veronica protested heatedly, and Logan instinctively clutched Lottie a little closer to protect her from the noise. "I don't understand how a four-year old disappears from a park full of people and no one notices! I don't understand how the person who was supposed to be watching her didn't hear or see anything!"

Keith was crying now, silent tears rolling down his cheeks. "I don't know," he admitted weakly. "I don't know, Veronica. I wish to God I did. It was three minutes. I had just looked at my watch, and I looked again when I realised she wasn't there. It was less than four minutes, total."

It seemed like no time at all, but Logan had taken Evie to that park many times. She had been playing in the field by the swings, no doubt leading the other kids in some game born of her wild imagination. Logan had certainly never timed the walk, but he could picture it now. It was no further from that field to the parking lot than it was from his spot on this couch to the far end of their living room. He could probably walk it in under thirty seconds. The sound of a car door opening and closing, an engine starting, a car pulling out of the parking space…none of that would have seemed unusual, none of it would have drawn attention. With three minutes to work with, whoever had taken her still had more than enough time for the lure. Even being generous on the time from the field to the car, there were probably at least two full minutes to talk a young, innocent child away from the safety of her friends and the playground and into the waiting vehicle.

That parking lot was less than a mile from the freeway. Within five minutes, Logan's daughter might have been heading anywhere in the world. By the time anyone realised she was really and truly missing, it was already too late to pick up the trail.

"We're checking traffic cameras," Agent Barnes offered. "Pretty much everything in the area. With the time we're working with, here, it's most likely she was taken somewhere in a car. There's a possibility we may be able to find that car and who she might be with."

"I don't understand," Veronica shook her head. "She knows better than to go with a stranger. She wouldn't do that," she insisted. "Someone at that park has to know something. They heard something or they saw something and they're not talking. Evie wouldn't get in the car with someone she doesn't know."

"I know it may seem that way, Mrs. Echolls," Agent Kelly countered carefully, "but no matter how well kids are taught not to go with strangers, it still happens. One of the kids at the park did say she saw the man Evie went with. We're trying to get more details out of her, but she's quite young. It's hard in those circumstances to get anything we can really work with. Right now I think we should focus on who might have a reason to take her. It may look to be a stranger abduction, but nine times out of ten, it's not. Is there anyone you can think of that might have a reason to try to hurt either of you?"

"Would you like that list alphabetical or chronological?" Logan couldn't help asking bitterly. "My wife's a PI and I'm…well, who I am. We've pissed off a lot of people."

"Is there anyone in particular you could think of? Someone with a score to settle?" Agent Kelly persisted. "Or what about any threats?"

"I used to get creepy letters and e-mails from time to time, but that's mostly died off," he shook his head. "We got some back when Evie was first born, but it's probably been at least a year or two since anyone's tried that."

"Do you keep those letters and e-mails?"

"I've looked into every single one of them," Veronica interjected. "If there was a credible threat from anyone I would have followed up on it."

"All right. I'd still like to see them, but what about cases, Mrs. Echolls?"

"I'll go through all my files, see what stands out."

"I think that's a good start," Agent Barnes agreed.

"What about a ransom?" Logan asked. "Isn't it pretty likely that's what this is about? They must have gone straight for her. Maybe it's someone looking for money?"

"I'd say there's a fairly good chance of that," Kelly nodded. "We've opened a tip line, but you should let us know immediately if you're contacted directly. It can be tempting to pay anyone who claims to have information, but as you probably both know, 99% of those calls are scams, someone looking to turn it into a profit."

Logan knew Veronica had some contact with a group who specialized in that sort of thing, back when she was working the Hayley Dewalt case. The FBI probably wouldn't approve of them getting involved, but Logan didn't care. He would pay any sum to anyone who might be able to help them determine a real ransom from a scam; hell, he'd pay anyone anything they asked whether it was true or not, just on the off chance it might lead him to Evie. He would bleed their accounts dry, sell the house, sell everything he owned just to get her back. One look at Veronica, and he knew she was thinking the same thing.

"We'll get out of your hair now," Agent Barnes offered. "We have security out front, and you can reach either of us anytime on our mobiles. We'll keep you updated about any and all developments."

"Hang in there," Agent Kelly added uselessly. "I know how frightening this is, but right now we operate under the assumption that she was taken for a purpose, and that it wasn't to hurt her. We'll be doing everything we can to bring her home safe."

Veronica looked away, and Logan wondered what she knew that he didn't, what she'd learned working these kinds of cases. "Thank you," he answered tightly, shaking both of their hands. They bid their pleasant but solemn goodbyes, reminding them once more to call if they had anything at all to report.

As soon as they were gone, Veronica turned on her father again. "I think you should go," she told him quietly.

"Veronica, please," he pleaded. "You know I would have never let anything happen if there was anything I could do to stop it."

"All I know right now is that my daughter is missing," Veronica choked. "And I can't look at you right now."

"We'll call you," Logan added softly. He was angry, too, but he could tell how distressed Keith was and just couldn't find it in his heart to blame him right now. "We just need a little time."

Keith nodded reluctantly and looked like he was going to try to hug Veronica, then thought better of it. "I love you," he told his daughter seriously as he walked towards the door. "And I love Evie. We're going to find her."

Logan walked his father-in-law to the front door. "Thanks, Keith," he said quietly. "We're just…"

"I know," Keith nodded, placing a shaking hand on Logan's shoulder. "You call if you need me, okay?"

"I will," he promised. He watched sadly as Keith left, and then suddenly they were alone. The house felt silent and empty, and Logan tried to take a deep breath but it felt like there were bricks sitting on his chest. He felt his cheeks growing wet and reached up to wipe his tears away.

He hadn't thought of anything but Evie since he got the call, but it was strange the way it hit him. He'd been quiet and stoic with the FBI, and now all of a sudden he felt like he'd been hit by a truck all over again. It seemed any moment now he was going to wake up, and then he didn't and she was still gone. And he was no idiot. He might not know as much as Veronica, but he knew time wasn't on their side. The longer they went without a clue, the less likely it became that Evie would ever come home.

His knees went weak and his head suddenly felt strange and detached. He was aware enough to realise he was holding Lottie, so he stumbled back to the couch and sank down just before his legs went out. Startled, Lottie began to cry again. But Logan didn't try to soothe her, didn't care right now that she was as unhappy as the rest of them. Veronica was beside him in a second, and he felt her head drop to his shoulders as her hot tears dripped onto his shirt.

"What are we going to do, Veronica?" he choked out.

"Find her," she managed. "I'm going to find her."

"What if-" he began, then couldn't finish the thought, couldn't let himself go down that path. He'd been thinking it all day, picturing the kind of person who might have taken Evie, who might have some sort of terrible plan to hurt his daughter…had maybe already done it. But he kept trying to push it away, trying to convince himself missing didn't have to mean forever, that she could come home and laugh and play the way she always had.

"That's not it," his wife insisted. "It's not. They want our money or they want me to do something for them. I know it. I just know."

"Okay," he agreed, too desperate to contradict her. And if she said it, he believed it. Because he and Veronica didn't lie to each other, especially over their kids.

Veronica sniffled, and he could feel her pulling herself together beside him. She lifted her head from his shoulder and reached for Lottie, scooping her up and climbing off the couch. "She needs to eat," she said softly.

"Yeah," he agreed. "So do we. Spaghetti?" he offered. It was one of Veronica's go-to favourites when she was having a bad day, and it was easy enough for him to put together.

"Sure," she nodded, but she cradled Lottie to her chest and didn't make a move to leave the room. "I yelled at her this morning," she admitted after a long pause. He didn't say anything, sensing there was more. "I was just so tired. She kept asking me to start her movie over and I snapped."

"It happens, Veronica," he said gently.

"I try so hard not to take frustration out on her. And I told her I was sorry,

but…why did I have to yell at her?"

Logan didn't know his heart could be broken any more today, but the last time he'd seen this much anguish on Veronica's face, they were standing on the roof of the Neptune Grand. He stood up and wrapped his arms around her, careful not to crush Lottie in the process. "It doesn't matter," he whispered. "It doesn't matter."

"I just don't want her to think I'm mad at her. God, why did it have to be today?"

"It doesn't matter," he repeated once more. "You're right. We're going to find her and bring her home. She already knows you're not mad, Veronica. She knows how much we love her. And she knows we're going to find her. We're a family and that's what we do." He kissed the top of her head, wishing he could take this away and bear it all himself. As much as he was hurting, it made it even worse that he couldn't fix it for Veronica. At least Lottie was too little to know what was happening. "Go feed her," he urged quietly. "I'll start dinner. Then we'll find our daughter."

TBC