Disclaimer: The characters were created by Rob Thomas and remain the property of Thomas, the CW, and Warner Bros. Television. No infringement is intended, no profit is made.
Author's Note: This fic was originally written for challenge 3 (Thanksgiving) of Round 3 of vmfic_gameon . That didn't work out so well, so now it's written for challenge 4 of Round 4 of vmfic_gameon (word table). All the words are in the fic. I would like to thank the awesome annie_oakley and the lovely love_is_epic for beta-reading.
As promised, Veronica came by the next day to put in the camera.
"Right, now don't forget to put in a new tape every twenty-four hours and give me a call as soon as you notice the money's gone. If you run out of tapes before that, just wipe one of the old ones and put it back in," she said, standing on a chair in order to adjust the camera's position on top of the cupboard. "And don't forget: don't let anyone know about this - student or teacher."
"A teacher wouldn't do something like this, would they?"
Veronica laughed. Charlie noticed with irritation that she seemed to regard a lot of the things he said as ridiculous. "Clearly, you've never met my High School health teacher," she explained.
"She stole money from a cash box?"
"Yep. And then she accused me and some other students she didn't like. Fun times."
Charlie shook his head, shocked. "I can't believe someone would do that."
"Well, at least she taught me that teachers are no better than other people," Veronica replied simply. "But I kind of already knew that."
Charlie watched in silence while she finished fixing the camera on top of a cupboard and wiped her hands on her jeans. Before she left, saying that she had to work on another case, she gave him a business card for Mars Investigations. Charlie studied the card, which had with a Masonic-looking logo and an address in downtown Neptune, and he wondered how anyone could be so cynical.
He had little contact with either Logan or Veronica for the rest of the week. He sent Logan some pictures of Joanne and Marcy because he'd asked for them and received an answer telling him his wife was gorgeous and his daughter adorable. He took this to be a good sign, but later he was made a little uncomfortable by the fact that it looked like Logan was angling for an invitation for Thanksgiving.
"I'm supposed to celebrate it with Veronica and her dad, like last year," he wrote. "I wish I had an excuse to leave after dinner, though. Last year, Mr. Mars had me watch old baseball games on VHS. I'd rather avoid it this time…"
How could he tell Logan that he wasn't sure he was quite ready to spend Thanksgiving together? How was he to explain, for that matter, that this year he, Joanne and Marcy might not celebrate Thanksgiving at all?
After a week, he noticed that money was gone from the cash box again and he called Veronica. It wasn't long before she came to pick up the camera and the tapes.
"Listen," she said, "I'm in a bit of a rush, but I'll look at this later. Can you drop by the office tomorrow morning? I should have your answer then."
She left, leaving Charlie a bit miffed that she had so little time to spare for him, but he dutifully complied, apprehensive but at the same time curious to know who the thief was.
When he pushed the door of Mars Investigations, he couldn't suppress a grin. Here was the archetype of the private detective's office from a noir movie: the back-alley location, the old, battered furniture, the dreary metal filing cabinets… As he sat down on the couch to take it all in, a bald man in his early fifties wearing a trench coat came out of a door, completing the picture.
"Can I help you?" asked the man.
"I'm looking for Veronica?"
"She went out for an errand. She should be back in a few minutes."
Then a phone rang – an honest to goodness ring like the dial telephones from Charlie's childhood. The man excused himself and went back to where he came from. Charlie listened to the muffled sounds of the conversation coming through the wall.
Thirty seconds later, Veronica came barging through the door, a heavy bag on her shoulder and a stack of files in her arms.
"Hi, Charlie," she called, "sorry I made you wait."
"Not at all. Did you find who did it?"
"Yep, just a second."She sat down behind the desk with the "reception" sign, plopped the files and her bag on it and turned on her laptop.
"Have a seat," she said, pointing to the chair in front of the desk. She launched a video on the computer and turned the screen towards Charlie."Do you know who this is?"
On the screen, a teenage boy was shiftily looking around before getting out the keys to the cupboard and opening the cashbox. Charlie sagged, dropping his head into his hands.
"That's Josh Dubois," he said. "His parents are in a messy divorce and he's been… acting out. You know, getting into fights, partying, alcohol… Mr. Johnson told me he showed up drunk in his class once."
Veronica gave him a wry smile. "Well, at least you can sit him down to tell him a cautionary tale or two," she said.
She gave him a moment or two to feel deflated before attacking him on another subject, and Charlie reflected to himself later that he should have seen it coming.
"Charlie, there's something else I wanted to talk about," she started uncomfortably. "I hope you won't take this the wrong way, but I try to look out for Logan. Because of who he is, he has to be careful who he considers a friend."
Charlie nodded, already knowing where this was going. "You've been investigating me."
"Well, I ran a background check on you," she amended. "I noticed that you've had a lot of hospital expenses on your credit card lately."
She paused to look at him, and Charlie was startled to see that the conversationseemed to be making her miserable.
"Look, I understand that your situation is difficult," she continued, "but what Logan needs is a brother, not someone who asks him for money."
Charlie let out a long sigh. "It's not about the money," he answered. "My wife and I, we have good insurance, so that's not an issue. It's my daughter, Marcy. She's three and she has leukaemia." He paused, taking a deep breath before he continued. "She's gonna need a bone marrow transplant and my wife and I aren't HLA-compatible with her. We've tried everyone in the family, but… so far, nobody is. Logan is our last hope."
"Oh my God." Veronica' voice trailed off, as if she were too horrified to speak. Charlie was slightly grateful to her for not springing out a pep talk about positive thinking, like most people did. Maybe she already knew that it didn't work.
"I know it's a big thing to ask," he said. "I mean, the bone marrow donor has to go through a battery of tests, then he needs to stay two days in the hospital and undergo an operation, and then he has to stay at home for another eight days to recover. So I wanted to get to know him a little bit before, you know, asking. I really can't afford him just saying no to me."
"You should tell Logan. You should talk to him about it and ask him." Veronica's voice was assured now. "If you don't go to him now, he'll think you were just stringing him along the entire time. You can't do that to him."
Charlie nodded his agreement and took out his cell phone. Maybe Veronica was right. Maybe it was time to let go of preconceived ideas, on both sides.
"Logan? Is it okay if I come by your place? There's something I need to tell you."
* * *
Logan was waiting for him with a resigned look on his face.
"So I take it Veronica had a chat with you?" he said, bitterness dripping from his voice.
"What do you want?"
"Look, Logan, I didn't mean to…"
"Cut out the crap, okay? Just tell me what you want."
Charlie was feeling horrible as his carefully made plans went down the drain and as he saw that he was going to leave his brother with the impression that he was a callous opportunist. He hadn't realised until now that he had been looking for his approval, too.
"It's my daughter," he said, resigned. "She has leukaemia. I wanted to ask you if you could get tested for your HLA type. She needs bone marrow."
As he said it, he reminded himself of Trina Echolls's video, a few years back, in which she was whining for the same thing. It had turned out to be a hoax, but he'd always wondered what the deal had been with that. Maybe now, unless Logan believed him, he would never know.
Logan was silent for a moment, probably allowing for the request to sink in."And, what?" he finally demanded, "you felt you couldn't just ask me upfront?"
Charlie sighed. "I was afraid you'd say no if I asked you the wrong way, and since I didn't know you, I didn't know what the right way to ask you was. I couldn't afford that. I'm sorry, Logan."
There was more silence, and Logan finally said: "I'll do it. Just give me the doctor's number, I'll get tested."
"Really?"
Logan was silent for a few moments, but then seemed to come to a solid conclusion. "Yeah, sure," he said with a crooked smile, his eyes twinkling all resentment evaporated. "I mean, who wouldn't want to help the littlest cancer patient?"
Charlie sighed in relief, so overcome with emotion that his hands trembled almost too much to find Dr. Schonberg's number in his cell phone.
"Thanks, man," he said when Logan was done entering it in his own phone. "This means a lot to me."
He squeezed Logan's arm, hoping it would convey a message of infinite gratitude, and then quickly left him, blinking furiously. He wasn't quite ready yet to let his little brother know how easily he started crying.
A week later, right after a gruelling meeting with Josh and his parents (the two had spent the entire time fighting over whose fault Josh's behaviour problems were, completely ignoring the boy himself), Charlie received a call from a very dumbfounded Dr. Schonberg.
"Mr. Stone, there's a man who came forward for testing who claimed to be your half-brother."
It took Charlie a second to shift gears. "Yes, yes, Logan Echolls. I know all about it."
"Well, yes, his blood tests just came back and… Well, I don't really know what to say other than that it's a miracle! It's something I would never have imagined was possible between someone and their half-uncle. He's perfectly compatible with Marcy."
Dr. Schonberg continued to ramble on about guidelines, pre-treatment hospitalizations, transplant schedules and waivers to be signed, but Charlie didn't listen - his little girl was going to be saved, and the help had come from the unlikeliest source of all.
* * *
Between the exam session at school and Marcy's doctor appointments, the following weeks were a blur of activity. Logan and Marcy both had to go through a number of tests to make sure the transplant would be successful. At every step, Charlie was nervous that something would go wrong or that Logan would change his mind, but everything seemed to be going smoothly. Soon Marcy was in the hospital to be prepped for the operation. She was a little disappointed to have to celebrate her birthday in the cancer ward, but she perked up when she got to meet her shiny new uncle.
Logan had called to ask what Marcy wanted for her birthday, and Joanne had said something along the lines of "just bring yourself, we're happy to see you." He'd come without Veronica, which Charlie took to mean that they could finally meet without supervision. Logan was laden with what looked like half of the "36 months and older" stock of a Toys-R-Us store.
"There you go, kid," said Logan, offering the pile for Marcy to unpack, "your mom was trying to short-change you on the present front, so I figured I'd give you something to help punish her."
Charlie groaned when he saw that the toys Logan had bought were all of the loud and annoying type: a game of Twister that Marcy was still way too young for, a fire engine with a siren, a crying doll, a walking, beeping robot and several other things that he'd have to confiscate if he wanted peace at home until at least Christmas. Otherwise, the cat would have to be treated for anxiety disorder again.
"Logan, most of these are toys for boys, not girls," Joanne protested good-naturedly.
"That's an issue you need to take up with Veronica," he answered, throwing up his hands. "She's the one who started ranting about the brain-washing and patriarchy in the middle of the store. Besides, fire engines are cool. Everybody agrees on that."
"And was Veronica the one who decided on the heart-attack-for-the-family-cat theme?" added Charlie with good humour.
"Nope, that was all me. Isn't that what uncles are for?"
The birthday party was fun, and Charlie was glad that Logan had come, regardless of the kind of gifts he'd brought, and that he'd been able to meet Marcy and Joanne,Charlie's mother, and some members of Joanne's family. Everyone was happy to meet him and grateful for what he was about to do for Marcy. The only false note came when Charlie's brother-in-law asked Logan why he had come alone to a family party. Logan looked a bit embarrassed and then muttered that his girlfriend was busy and that his sister was in Thailand shooting a movie.
With all the activity surrounding the transplant, and with classes to teach and papers to grade, Charlie only had time to dwell late at night, and he often found himself staring at the ceiling, thinking about his budding relationship with Logan and what it meant about his father. For all his careful planning, he realised now that he had never actually expected Logan to agree to donate bone marrow and for his feelings towards his brother to do such an about-face. And if Logan wasn't the cliquish, sneering, cruel bastard Charlie had imagined, then what about Logan's allegations about their father?
The subject of Aaron wasn't one that Logan had even mentioned, and the short conversation he'd had with Veronica on the matter had upset her so much that he didn't want to bring it up with her again. He liked both of them, but he also didn't want to think that his father was an abuser or a murderer either. He'd made up his mind that he couldn't have been truly abandoned, since he'd always received a substantial amount of money from the Echolls estate. So the crux of the matter was that either his father had been lying, or Logan had. His only option left was to ask the latter point blank if he'd been telling the truth.
It was a conversation that he couldn't avoid forever, but he decided to postpone it until after the operation. He still didn't want to give Logan second thoughts. He felt guilty to be using him in such a way, but since it was for Marcy, he had no other choice. He promised himself that he would try to make it up to Logan, regardless of the outcome of the conversation.