Title: There and Back Again
Word Count: 8,354 chapter two only
Rating: PG-14 for language may change in the future
Warnings/Spoilers: If you know that Veronica and Logan broke up, Logan asked Parker out and Cassidy Casablancas' role in the second season, you're more than good to go.
Summary: On the second anniversary of Aaron Echolls death, Veronica and Logan decide to finally set their issues to rest, at the Echolls' cabin, with six of their nearest and dearest friends.
Official Disclaimer: All Veronica Mars characters and plots belong to Rob Thomas and the CW. I do not hold stock either the man or the company. Veronica Mars, Logan Echolls, and any other character featured are NOT mine.

Chapter Two:

8:45 am

Saturday, June 9th 2007

Breakfast had always been Logan's strong suit. It was probably the only meal that he and Duncan would both admit to being able to handle fully. Even before Veronica and the rest of the group were conscious, Duncan had gotten Lilly up, bathed and he had started the French toast and eggs while waiting for the coffee drip. Logan had arrived in the kitchen sometime after Duncan's third mug of coffee to remind him to reset the pot before Veronica got up and start on the pancakes. When Veronica finally came into the kitchen, in a pair of rolled up sweat pants and surfer hoodie that were clearly not her own, she was greeted by a table full of food, a smiling baby and Wallace and Mac, happily munching and reading the paper respectively.

"Now this is how you say good morning." She joked sweetly, snagging Duncan's coffee mug and taking a long sip. The second the liquid touched her tongue, she grimaced. "Ugh!" She handed him his mug back and turned to Logan. "Tell me there's a mug with some sort of sugar content in the room?"

Although this was usually the point where Logan harassed her for her love of overly sweet coffee he chose to just hand her his own mug in response. "Your welcome." He laughed, offering her a plate and pointing to the table. "The pancakes on the end have cinnamon in them."

"You truly know the way to a girl's heart."

His dirty smirk was all Duncan needed to choke on his coffee. "I tried that." Logan reminded her pointedly. "Enjoyable, but didn't last long."

"Everyone else still asleep?" Veronica chose to ignore Logan's comment as she dropped down at the kitchen table beside Lilly.

"Parker's in the shower." Mac admitted slowly, taking a bite of her toast and folding the business section to drop it on top of the pile near the end. "It's all yours." She collected the paper and handed it to Duncan, who was unsuccessfully trying to wipe his daughter's mouth.

Wallace watched sardonically as Veronica loaded up her plate with Logan's pancakes. "Piz was getting dressed when I came down." He took a sip of his juice shook his head at his friend. "You fasting for the rest of the day?" He asked quickly.

Her hand paused after drenching her pancakes in syrup and Veronica spared a second to stick her tongue out at him and then she coughed as she tried to draw in a breath. "These are just really good." She argued, grabbing her fork and digging in. "What's the plan for the rest of the day?"

"I wanted to get out on the ATVs."

Piz seeming to appear out of nowhere to offer a suggestion wasn't the reason why the room went quiet. Not that he noticed really. He made his way to the fridge and poured himself a glass of juice while Veronica, Logan and Duncan just stared. He grabbed an apple off the counter as he passed, sliding himself down on the bench seat nest to Wallace. "Anyone with me?"

There was a quick cough, as Duncan and Logan shared a look before Duncan finally laughed. "Nice shirt, dude." He said pointedly, nodding to Piz's black and white argyle short sleeved sweater. Another quick chuckle and he turned to Veronica. "Do I want to know?"

"Well you always did give your old stuff to charity." Logan handed his friend a refill on his black coffee and grinned to Piz.

When Veronica opened her mouth to rebuff the statement, Duncan turned his full attention to her and she was forced to close her lips. There really was no actual explanation as to why Piz had gotten attached to the shirt. "So" She looked to Lilly. "One vote for ATVs."

"And yet again Veronica Mars proves her power of misdirection." Logan grabbed a slice of bacon and pointed to her attire. "Although I'm sensing that stealing other people's clothes is going to be a trend in this house."

"It's not like you missed it." She shot back, tugging at the neck of the hoodie. "I've had it for two years."

Duncan stood from his seat and physically put himself between the arguing exes. "And he pulled your hair in seventh grade and you put a bong in his locker two years ago." He held up his hands. "If you two can't get along I'm gonna tie you together."

Even as Logan nodded and turned back to the stove, Veronica bit her lip. "Yes Daddy."

For the second time in two days, Logan's laugh was unadulterated as he doubled over. It was worth cleaning up the mess that his mug made against the tiled floor to see the look that now graced Duncan's features.

10:44 am

Saturday, June 9th 2007

She'd traded the sweat pants for a pair of jeans, the hoodie for a tank that she didn't remember buying and an old business shirt of her fathers as a cover and despite the allure of the ATVs Veronica chose to use her first morning at the cabin curled up on the porch swing with a new book and her iPod, just enjoying being away from home. As far as she knew, Logan had taken Wallace, Parker and Piz along when he and Dick collected the four wheelers from the garage. Duncan had decided against the ride, citing that despite the coffee, he wasn't nearly awake enough to go riding sixty miles an hour down the side of a mountain, and Mac wanted to be amazed at the high speed connection that shouldn't have been possible this far from civilization. Which for the moment left her and the book.

Half way through the eighth chapter she could feel the eyes on the back of her head and shifted to look at the intruder. Duncan, in glasses that Veronica still wasn't used to, was leaning against the doorframe, one hand in his pocket and the other still on the door.

"I've had men arrested for less." She told him carefully, pulling her headphones out of her ears. She slid over slightly and propped her feet underneath her. "What's up?"

If there was ever a time for Veronica to be unobservant, Duncan wished that today were it. "Nothing really." He admitted, moving over to the railing in front of her and propping himself up on it. "Just got bored and decided to see what you were up to."

"Where's Lilly?"

"Learning the higher points of HTML and the proper sizing of JPEGs." His smile grew as Veronica put two and two together. "She's decided playing with Mac is better than Daddy."

"Mac has the breakable toy." Veronica nodded and watched Duncan fold and unfold his arms for a second time. "Okay Duncan, what's really up?"

It took him a minute to actually respond to her, crossing his arms once again and smiling at her. "I missed you." He told her sincerely. "And I realized yesterday that I never got the chance to thank you for what you did."

Veronica could have just said that he was welcome and left it at that. But she knew Duncan almost better than anyone else on the planet. And she knew there was something else that he had come out to say. "I used to lie to Lamb all the time. Helping you cross the border was nothing."

"Yeah and I...God this is awkward." Duncan shoved a hand through his hair and chuckled.

"Awkward is being stuck in a car with someone after not speaking to them in a year." She finally set her book down and looked up at her ex. "Awkward is facing your ex-boyfriend after finding out he may be your brother. Awkward is leaving a hotel room after having sex with a guy to find your ex coming out of another room." She laughed as she gestured between them. "Talking to a friend after a year and a half, not so much."

"You saw Logan at the Grande?" Duncan shifted and cocked an eyebrow.

There was another laugh, one of relief this time as Duncan ventured on to an oddly safer topic and Veronica nodded. "He and Kendall Casablancas were the ones we heard going at it in the room next door." She informed him. "But we're not talking about them." She propped her sock clad feet on his knee and tapped him slightly. "What's on your mind Duncan?"

"Are you happy?" He spit it out without much thought.

Veronica couldn't help but to laugh. "Excuse me?"

"Are you happy?" He asked again, this time louder. He could hear his daughter giggling in the living room and held on to the sound. Glad for something other than the look on Veronica's face as she stared at him.

"Am I happy?" She took a breath and shook her head. "I'm as happy as I'm like to get." She decided after a moment. And it was the truth, at least how she saw it. "I can't ask for more than what I've got."

Duncan shook his head. "You could. You should." He slid over to the left and turned her with her feet. When he settled onto the porch swing beside her, her feet was in his lap. "You deserve whatever you want."

"We're not supposed to be this serious." Veronica smiled as she studied his eyes. "This was supposed to be a fun week."

"We are having fun." Duncan was cut off by Lilly's laugh and he pointed to the house. "Listen, that sound means fun."

"What's got you thinking about my happiness?" She pulled her feet underneath herself and focused solely on the man in front of her. He'd grown up, that was for sure, but he was still the same little boy that she had fallen in love with. "Are you happy?" She asked teasingly.

"More than." Duncan said without a moment's hesitation. "My daughter is safe and happy, my best friends are here and - almost the same as ever." When Veronica narrowed her eyes, Duncan shifted uncomfortably. "Logan told me about what happened." He said carefully. "About Madison."

There was nothing that Veronica could really say to that. How was she to respond to an admission like that? "Oh." She said dumbly. "And what exactly did Logan say?"

Her voice was far more tense that he had heard it be in a long time. Duncan watched her shift and didn't try to stop her from moving farther away from him on the seat. "Just the facts." He assured her. The last thing this trip needed was actual tension between Veronica and Logan on top of the obvious sexual tension. "And that you killed Big Bird."

She laughed next, allowing the tension to roll right out of her. She was having a conversation with Duncan. Duncan was nothing else if not safe. "Yeah well, our break-up was inevitable after that." Veronica decided, holding in a few more giggles. She closed her eyes to shut out the memories of that summer. "Logan and I never could last long."

"I wouldn't say that." Duncan tapped her on the leg to get her attention and then smiled. "This may come as a shock to you, but I actually saw how good you were for each other." When Veronica shook her head he nodded. "I'm not supposed to say this, because I love you dearly and he's the bastard that took you away from me, but I'm glad you two got together. Even for a little while."

It wasn't a shock that Duncan was telling her that he saw that she and Logan were a decent couple, Veronica could almost say that she expected that. It was the fact that he had one hand on her knee and his gaze hadn't left her eyes. Or maybe it had something to do with the fact that Duncan had just said he loved her. "Should we be having this conversation?" She asked after a moment, motioning at the space between them with the hand that wasn't still holding the book. "I think we're entering awkward territory."

Duncan laughed and nodded. "Me conceding that Logan just might be the guy for you is awkward?" He asked with mock confusion.

"We have too many issues between us." Veronica pointed out. And neither of them actually needed clarification that she was talking about the man that wasn't sitting there.

"I'm sorry."

"It's not like it's your fault." Veronica touched his hand and smiled. "You didn't cause them."

"Didn't I?" Duncan shifted so he could tear his gaze away from her. "Let's review: I dump you a week before my sister dies, without telling you why, just because Celeste didn't like your mother and she told me, without a shadow of a doubt, that we were related." One finger rose as he was speaking. "Then there was Shelly's party, which has to be the worst thing I have ever done to you." His hand moved to cup her chin and he smiled weakly. "I'm hoping one of these days you'll be able to forgive me for that."

Veronica sighed and nodded. "Consider yourself forgiven, Kane." She let out quickly. "I understand why you did what you did. I didn't want to, not then. But I understand now."

"Well then you know there's only one more thing that I need to take credit for." There was another high pitched laugh from the living room and Duncan pointed. "Exactly how many intimacy issues do you have that don't start with me?"

The more she thought about it, the more she noticed that he was right. And no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't come up with something substantial to say to it. "I'm sorry I accused you of killing Lilly." She blurted out, closing her eyes and praying that he didn't take it as some sort of accusation.

"For a while I thought I did it too." He admitted, scooting closer to her. "And in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't really matter anyway." Duncan kissed the top of her head and then leaned down to her ear. "Stop blaming Logan for what I did."

Her head jerked to the side and Veronica blinked. "I don't" Her voice trailed off even as she bit her lip. "I don't mean to." She said at last. "He's done a lot too."

"And he's paid more than his fair share." Duncan eyed her harshly.

She would have said something profound or snark worthy. Instead, as she opened her mouth, Veronica was cut off by the sound of engines revving. She rested her head on the back of the swing as four ATVs pulled into the front yard. They were all covered in mud, even Parker who had been clinging to Logan's back.

"Then of course, there's that." Veronica nodded to the picture that Logan and his companion made, sliding off the back of their vehicle.

"Is this the part where I point out that there are only four ATVs and he's not your boyfriend?"

Veronica popped him on the arm as he helped her up, both moving to the steps. "I'm not sure, does that come before or after I make your daughter an orphan and no one ever hears from you again?"

Duncan stopped, forcing Veronica to bump into his back. "The scariest part of that statement is that I don't doubt you could."

1:15 pm

Saturday, June 9th 2007

Lunch turned out to be a whirlwind of food that made Logan regret not hiring a short order chef. There were two salads, one left over steak, three hamburgers that were thawed and heated on the stove top, three sandwiches, and one bowl of mac and cheese that mostly wound up on the floor. He was almost glad when Duncan had decided that he was going to help Wallace clean up and Parker shoved everyone out the back door to get in the pool. That was, of course, until Dick and Parker requested refreshments. And he wasn't just meaning the fact that they both demanded not to drink alone.

"Hand me the bottle opener." Logan held out his hand and cocked an eye as Dick set three beer cans on the counter and slid the opener across the marble. "And make sure you grab a root beer for Mac."

Dick did as he was told, pulling a chilled root beer out of the fridge because Mac had declined to drink while swimming. He eyed the two glasses Logan just got done filling on the counter and then his gaze rose to his friends. "You got those?" He asked quickly, laughing as Logan popped the tops off the wine cooler in front of him and the beer bottle in rapid succession. He picked up the beer by the neck, balancing it as he added the Cognac glass filled with green liquid to his fingers. He grabbed the other glass in his other hand, frowning down at the wine cooler.

"Shit." Blinking one long time, Logan glanced out the kitchen window to the group on the patio around the pool and then threw a look at Dick. "Can you grab that?" He asked slowly. "And can you keep it in my sight?"

It was almost as if Dick understood exactly what Logan was asking. He dropped a beer can in each pocket of his swim trunks and stacked the remaining cans in one hand. "Sure." He nodded, grabbing the bottle and holding it directly out in front of him. He pushed the old fashioned screen door open with one foot and held it so Logan could pass through. "Drink's are here!"

Dick allowed the door to swing shut behind Logan and hopped down the stairs. He held out the hand that was balancing the root beer on top of the beer can and nodded as Mac took it, moving to the other side of the pool to deliver beer to Wallace and Piz. Instead of following his friend's trajectory, Logan veered to the side of the pool that had the diving board, skipping over it and handing Duncan the Cognac glass that wasn't filled with green liquid.

"Dick." Veronica held up the glass bottle she had just been handed and leveled her eyes at the blonde. "It's open."

At that point, Logan had two options; watch Dick get his ass kicked for something that wasn't his fault, or step up and save him. It was a good thing that Dick dying would mess up the weekend. "I opened it." He admitted, handing Parker the other glass. "Sorry, I didn't want to chance losing the bottle opener out here." Before Veronica could say anything else, Logan turned his body fully to her. "It was directly in front of me until it hit the door, and I made Dick hold it out in front of him until we got out here."

There was half a second as Veronica seemed to contemplate her drink, and then she smiled. "And how do I know that you didn't put anything in it?"

Logan tilted his head in the opposite direction of hers and returned her smile. "If I wanted you impaired to have my way with you, I would have offered to mix one for you." He winked at her and took a swig of his beer.

"Do me a favor." It was directed at Logan, even though Duncan was smiling at Veronica. When Logan turned, Duncan was staring at his drink. He held it up with a frown. "Take a sip."

"Very funny." Logan dropped onto the wicker chair beside his best friend and shook his head. "I'm never going to live that down am I?"

Duncan took a long drink from his glass and shook his head. "I'm going with no." He laughed as he set his drink beside the baby monitor. Lilly would be up again soon, and he had no doubt that once she realized that all the adults were wet she would want to get into the pool as well. "Although, bright side is that it wasn't the dumbest thing you did that night."

"Can we keep the words 'salt' and 'lick' away from this week?" Veronica asked from her place in the pool. She set her drink off to the side and arched an eyebrow at both her former boyfriends.

From her place on the other side of Duncan, Parker sat up straighter. "Is that all your high school was?" She asked curiously, watching everyone's reactions over the rim of her drink. "Parties and blackmail?"

Mac seemed to contemplate it for a minute, looking from Dick and Wallace at the far end of the deep end to Logan and Duncan up on dry land. "That's not all we did." She protested sharply. "We went to club meetings and school carnivals, and we organized dances and played sports." She pointed over to Wallace, hoping that he would help her out.

"We also started fist fights in club meetings." Logan nodded to Duncan, and then smiled apologetically at Mac.

"And seduced naive co-eds at school carnivals." Veronica offered up with a patented 'behave' look at Logan.

"And Logan showed up pant-less to the last dance I organized." Duncan smiled when Parker's eyes glazed as she tried to imagine it. "Risky Business anyone?"

There was a pause as Parker laughed and Wallace raised his hand. "I played sports." He offered lamely, hoping that no one thought to mention the time when he thought it would be a good idea to kidnap the rival schools mascot, or the time when he popped positive on a drug test. "And to be fair, Veronica did most of the blackmailing."

Parker nodded. "I stand corrected." She lifted her drink above her head as she stood, desperate not to end up wearing it.

"At least you look good while doing it." Logan countered, winking at Parker as the other blonde in the pool bit her lip.

"Hey Logan?" Duncan waited until he had his friend's attention before shaking his head. "You're an idiot." Everyone would have been surprised to know that Logan seemed to understand exactly what Duncan meant.

3:02 pm

Saturday, June 9th 2007

"Okay, so I'm an idiot."

Logan dropped the cards in his hand onto the wicker table and stole a glance at the pool while Wallace shuffled the cards. Mac and Veronica had Lilly in the pool, her swimsuit complete with a little flowery hat to keep the sun off her face, and the child was wasting no time splashing anything her arms could reach. Parker was laying on her stomach on an armless lounger, her bikini straps untied and her sunglasses blocking the view of her eyes. Piz was asleep on the porch, a copy of Gates of Fire held loosely in one hand.

Dick took another swig of his beer and shook his head. "Duh." He finished off the bottle and set it on the ground next to the other two. He took the cards that Wallace dealt him and opened the water bottle that Duncan had brought out for him when Lilly had woken up. "We knew this."

He couldn't help the laughter. Honestly Duncan had tried. But the fact that Dick Casablancas could call anyone an idiot was too funny not to laugh at. "When did you reach this revelation?" He asked after scarfing down a handful of Pringles.

"Known it for a while actually." Logan sorted his cards and studied his hand. The last time he had been this unlucky at cards had been the Christmas Weevil had been invited to the game. He dropped two on the table and looked up to Wallace. "Two."

"Three." Duncan waved at his daughter and laughed. "So what are you going to do about it?"

Logan shook his head. "Nothing."

There was another laugh as Wallace dealt out the rest of the cards and checked his own hand. "That sounds productive."

"This table is full of people I don't want giving me advice." Logan took a swig of his water and leveled the bottle at Duncan. "You're at the top of the list."

"I would think that Wallace and I would be the two people you would want." He sorted his own hand and took a few more chips out of the basket. "Being as close as we are."

"You're both practically her brother." Logan's smirk was back full force now.

Duncan sat there for a moment, just watching his friend. "Do we have another deck?" He asked after a second, turning back to his cards. When Wallace nodded Duncan set his hand down on the table. "Good."

His next move was one that Logan had braced for but wasn't truly prepared. Instead of pulling him out of his chair, as had been expected, Duncan took the chair with them as he grabbed Logan's shoulder and pulled him in the direction of the pool. Wallace was up and away from the table in an instant, watching somewhat helplessly as Duncan, Logan and the wicker chair went over the side of the pool and into the water. Both men surfaced, Logan pulling at the sleeveless shirt he was wearing, and Duncan treading water easily.

That was until Veronica's hand collided with the back of his head.

"What the hell!" Duncan spun and laughed as he realized how close he and Logan had landed to the middle of the pool. He glanced sheepishly at the fuming blonde and then over at his daughter, who was currently laughing and clapping from the safety of Mac's arms. "Sorry?" He offered lamely, rolling his shoulders.

"Sorry?!" Veronica couldn't help but smile at the look on his face. And then she realized just how useless her lecture would be now. "You could have killed yourselves, and all you have to say is sorry?"

The smile hadn't left Logan's face, even as he pulled the soaked material over his head and threw it at dry land. "I deserved it." He cast a look at Duncan and then up to the people surrounding the pool. Parker was sitting up now, readjusting her top and Dick and Wallace both seemed unable to comprehend the fact that they were still alive. "Sorry man."

"Apology accepted." Duncan ducked Veronica's gaze and headed to the shallow end, his eyes firmly on his daughter.

"Oh no." Veronica intercepted him and pointed at his khaki pants and the button down shirt that was almost inside out. "Both of you inside now." When Logan opened his mouth to protest, Veronica glared at him. "You're both soaked, if you want to play in the pool go put your trunks back on."

Logan knew a losing argument when he saw one, so he merely saluted Veronica and swam to the side of the pool, hoisting himself out of the water by the edge. Duncan was hot on his heels, muttering about Veronica and mothers as he went. He laughed and slammed the door, watching with a sadistic smirk as Piz, who had been asleep during the whole chair incident, toppled off of his own.

"What the hell was that about?" With the two troublemakers inside and hopefully not beating the crap out of each other, Veronica was free to glare at the other two that were at the table.

Wallace shrugged. "What was what about?" He asked cautiously, moving to pick up the cards that Logan had dropped on the patio. His best friend coughed and he turned to watch her point at the wicker chair that was now resting upside down at the bottom of the pool. "Guy thing?" He shrugged hopefully.

"Try again?" Veronica turned her gaze to Dick.

There was a moment when Wallace actually thought Dick might cave, throwing the information out to try to hurt rather than to enlighten. Instead Dick just collected his water bottle from the table and took a swig. "Guy thing." He imitated Wallace's shrug and took another sip.

Parker slid off the lounger and into the pool, dunking herself in attempt to cool off. "What just happened here?" She asked Mac, who was still holding Lilly against her chest.

"I don't think I want to know." The shorter girl replied, letting her grip of Lilly go slightly so the girl could splash around a little in the water.

Wallace picked up a bottle that had been knocked over in the scuffle and added it to the top of the table. "It was nothing." He assured the girls, glancing at Dick and amazed to see that the man nodded.

"That was fun." Logan pulled out two pairs of pants from the dresser and flung one at the man heading into the bathroom behind him. "I don't think I've ever appreciated the fact that I can swim more in my life." Duncan murmured a quick 'sorry' on his way past and Logan laughed. "No, seriously, that was fun."

"Anyone ever told you that your definition of 'fun' is kinda twisted?" He left the door open a crack so neither of them had to shout. Stripping off his soaked shorts, he tossed them into the sink with his boxers and pulled on a dry set.

Logan shrugged. "And my version of foreplay involves a tire iron." Logan threw his wet clothes at the door after he had pulled jeans over his boxers. "I'm the son of Aaron Echolls, what do you expect?"

The door opened and Duncan chucked Logan's things into the sink with his own. They could deal with it later. "I can't believe you're just going to do nothing."

The conversation shift made Logan nervous, especially since they were alone inside. Duncan could say whatever he wanted to without an audience. "There's nothing to do." He ran a hand through his hair and pulled a green t-shirt out of the drawer before heading to the bed. "Ronnie and I have tried too many times, and we've failed just as many." He practically shoved his arms into the sleeves and glared at the man who was standing on the other side of the room with his arms crossed. "Neither one of us want to go through that again."

"Why not?" Duncan put himself physically in between Logan and the door.

"Why?" The taller man countered, shifting on the balls of his feet.

"Because you love her." Duncan's eyes locked on Logan's and both men shifted.

He wasn't sure what point Duncan was trying to make, and he wasn't just going to hand everything over. "So do you." He spat, pushing him out of the way and heading down the stairs.

Duncan swore as he hurried to catch up to his friend. "And I have an eighteen month old daughter and am currently living in Australia to avoid jail time." Duncan caught him on the stairs, spinning Logan around and forcing him to look at him. "How stupid are you Logan?"

"You get one warning, DK. This is not something that you want to get in the middle of." Logan pulled his arm away and took a step down. He turned around again and started down the stairs. "Sometimes something gets broken and it can't be fixed. And I got tired of fighting with her about what she wants."

"She's not Lilly!" Duncan slumped down onto the stairs and shook his head.

6:57 pm

Saturday, June 9th 2007

Dinner took a total of twenty minutes, more for the fact that the only people holding up a conversation were Mac, Piz and Parker. Wallace attempted to open the floor to discussion, but was shot down every time. Dick took his dinner and hid in his room and Veronica kept glancing back and forth at the other two as they proceeded to ignore each other throughout the meal. When it was time to clear the table, Mac and Veronica quickly dispatched with the dishes, leaving them in the sink, and shooed Piz and Wallace out of the room, the later grabbing the baby on the way. The last thing they needed was her to pick up any new words.

"The person who doesn't answer my question honestly gets to do the dishes." She sat herself at the foot of the table, smiling the best she could down at her ex-boyfriends. When neither one looked up, she sighed. "You two were fine earlier, what happened?"

Logan was to his feet in no time, grabbing his beer bottle. "I've got dishes." He exclaimed, false cheer spreading to his smile.

Veronica didn't even bother to say anything to Duncan as she followed Logan out. "What happened?" She asked him again, sliding past Parker and a Monopoly board on its way to the living room.

"Don't worry about it." Logan turned on the tap and opened the door to the dishwasher.

"You and Duncan go from goofing around and knocking each other in the pool to not even acknowledging the other's presence when you're sitting two feet apart." Veronica grabbed the rag out of his hand and tilted her head. "I'm not going to not worry about it."

"It's fine Ronnie." Logan finally faced her, running a hand over her hair. "We disagreed, we're working through it. Isn't that what this week is about?"

Veronica nodded, biting her lip and looking to the floor. "Tell me it wasn't about me?" She asked quietly.

For a moment, Logan almost didn't hear her. He definitely wished he hadn't that was for sure. "I promised not to lie to you this week." He took the dish rag out of her hands and turned back to the pile in the sink. "Why don't you go see if anyone wants dessert?"

Ten minutes later they were all sprawled throughout the den, drinks in hand as Piz toyed with the CD player. Duncan and Lilly had claimed the oversized leather armchair, Lilly bouncing happy on her father's lap and carrying on her own conversation with her stuffed bear. Parker and Mac were by the loveseat, the brunette lying sideways across it while the blonde sat on the floor by her feet. Wallace was on the floor next to the coffee table, his head beside the arm of the couch that Veronica had curled herself into while Logan took over the rest. Dick was on the other side of the coffee table with a mountain of oversized pillows.

"Duncan. Truth or Dare?"

"I love games that start out with those options." Duncan took a swig of his water and toyed with Lilly's hair for a second. "Truth." He decided, turning to fully look over to Parker.

The blonde frowned, and then turned to Mac as if she were going to be able to pull a question out of her head just by staring at the back of it. "Uh" She glanced over at Logan and Veronica. "Finish this sentence: My first time was with – "

"My first time was with Shelly Pomroy." Duncan turned his face away from his daughter's and bit his lip. Veronica's mouth dropped open and Dick and Logan both started clapping. "It was six weeks after the funeral and I took the advice of a friend of mine and got drunk." He blushed and shook his head as Logan nodded. "The only reason I know we did something was because she was bragging about it at school the next week."

Logan kept clapping, throwing a look over to Veronica and nodding carefully. "Wasn't the first time you orchestrated debauchery?" Parker laughed as she followed Veronica's gaze to Logan and her eyebrows rose.

"Hell no." Logan grabbed his beer off the coffee table and laughed. "Everyone should be glad I hooked him up with Shelly. Dickie over there wanted him to get it on with Caitlin Ford."

"Didn't you date Caitlin?"

Veronica smiled at Mac's comment and turned to her ex. "Didn't Caitlin cheat on you with Chardo Navarro?" She countered, piercing her lips and taking a sip of her own drink.

"See what I saved you from?" Logan looked over to Duncan once more, his eye pleading with him to keep the game going and save him from Veronica's questions.

"Wallace? Truth or Dare?"

He leaned back, looking from his best friend to the ex that had asked the question. "Dare." He decided, leaning forward to wrap his elbows around his knees. "And please make it something I don't have to get up to do."

Duncan laughed. "You asked for it." He spared a look to Veronica and sighed. "I dare you to kiss Veronica."

The entire room groaned.

"Could you be any more childish?" Piz and Parker seemed to exclaim at once as Wallace turned himself around to face his intended victim.

"It's either Ronnie or Dick." Duncan decided. "Take you're pick."

"Poetic." Wallace dead panned, leaning forward to place a chaste kiss on Veronica's lips. They broke apart almost instantly, both going for their drinks. "I'm gonna need something stronger if we're gonna keep kissing people." He decided.

"You and me both brother." Veronica finished off her water bottle and handed it to her friend to set on the coffee table. Without a thought, she reached over and took the fresh one that Logan was holding out to her. It had seemed odd at the time that Logan suggested bringing a cooler down to the den, but she was now glad he had. "It's your turn Wallace."

He thought about it for a moment and then turned to face the love seat. "Mackenzie. Truth or dare?"

"Truth." Mac said almost instantly, pulling her feet off of the edge of the couch.

"How much money did you make off those purity tests?"

"As much as I had planned." She said after a moment, realizing that she had just confessed to masterminding the whole purity test debacle. "More than enough for my car." Mac closed her eyes against the laughing that had started when she opened her mouth and just let it roll off of her. In the end, she had helped Veronica get the people who had cheated the system, it was penance enough. "What was your score?" She asked Wallace.

"Was it higher than a 14?" Logan deserved the smack to the leg that he got and then he pointed to the floor. "Thank Dick for announcing it to the world." He threw out, pulling his leg away from the blonde.

"Thanks Dick."

The blonde on the floor just shrugged.

"Mr. Echolls?" Mac's voice ran sweet as she turned on her friends' most recent ex-boyfriend.

"Ah hell, why don't we just eliminate the Dare and just ask each other embarrassing questions all night?" Parker nodded, and Veronica shrugged, and it was good enough for Mac.

"What did you think of Veronica the first time you saw her?"

Duncan set his daughter on the floor and stared open mouthed at Mac while Logan closed his eyes. "Déjà vu." He whispered, slightly off kilter.

"Can he get another question?" Veronica saw Parker gear up to complain and shook her head at her. "Mac?"

"Uh, sure." Mac watched Logan's eyes open for a brief moment and shrugged. "Most awkward encounter after sex?"

There was a laugh as Logan turned to Veronica and smiled, both in thanks and amusement. He wondered if Veronica had told Mac and Wallace about their encounter at the Grande. "It was the start of senior year, and I had a nice older lady friend." He paused and shared a look with Dick. "And on my way out I ran into someone coming out of the room next door."

"That's it?" Parker sat up and glared at Logan. "That's the embarrassing thing? You ran into someone?"

Logan sighed. "I ran into Ronnie here." He blew out another breath and looked over at Duncan. "It seems she and Duncan had just gotten finished with a little escapade of their own." He could almost swear he heard crickets chirping outside. "So yes, that has to be the most awkward encounter after sex. Followed very closely by the time a little blonde detective from high school came barging into my room shortly after Kendall left to tell me that I was a bad bad boy for sleeping with a married woman. DK? You never answered my question that night. Was it in the rotation?"

"Oh My God!" Veronica's face wasn't the only red one in the room as she began giggling to the point of falling into Wallace's lap. "Logan!"

"Inquiring minds want to know." Logan ran a hand through his hair and smirked.

"No." Duncan said firmly. "Never."

"It's a shame." He looked to Veronica as his smirk got bigger. "It spent quite a while in mine."

Duncan shook his head, trying desperately to get the vision of his sister and his ex-girlfriend's kiss from years before out of his head. "Dick?" He turned to the man on the floor closest to him and smiled. "Why are you here?"

There was a pause as Dick tried to understand the question. "I thought you were the smart one, dude. I was born." He pulled himself into a sitting position and threw a look around the room. Then his face dropped and he downed the rest of his beer. "We're exorcizing demons this weekend." He said softly, and Veronica had to strain to hear him. "I've got a few of my own." He and Mac shared a look and when she looked away, he frowned. "Ghost World. One moment in high school you wish you could forget?"

"Graduation. Piz, best rock band of all time?"

The way she brushed over the question gave Dick pause. He knew what happened the night of Graduation just as well as anyone. Maybe he understood a little more than most since it was he that was right beside the brunette when she was asked to give the police her initial statement. Logan and Veronica were dealing with Lamb about his little brother's jump, more the former than the latter, since she was barely coherent at best. Then again, he supposed, if he were to find out that his rapist had murdered a bus full of his classmates before blowing his father up, he wouldn't be too talkative either. Mac hadn't answered more than she was asked, and in the end she composed herself just as long as it took the get the questions answered and then get loaded up into Logan's SUV.

A part of him still couldn't get over the fact that Cassidy hadn't said anything to him. It wasn't like that was something he would have made fun of his brother for. Granted Dick wasn't known for being the most sensitive person on the planet, but what happened to Beav – Cassidy, all those years ago wasn't his fault, and he would have helped him if he could.

"Dick?"

His eyes snapped open, and he shook his head in Logan's direction. "Yeah?"

"Worst idea ever?" Logan repeated, shifting to throw his feet onto the coffee table to let Veronica have most of the couch.

He knew what he wanted to say. Dick wished that he actually had the guts to say it. After all he had a laundry list to choose from. Nicknaming his little brother Beaver was probably on there somewhere. Then there were all the times that he belittled him. All the times that he never paid attention to him. Most recently there was the incident with the GHB that went awry. He and Logan had talked about that one, then immediately swore that Veronica would never find out. Him leaving her in a room with Cassidy was probably pretty high up there.

"Shelly's party." He said at last, looking up from his beer bottle and cracking an odd smile. "Screwdrivers with orange soda are hell on the stomach, man."

The room laughed and he took another swig, holding it on his tongue as he chanced a look at Veronica. When she nodded, so did he.

It was one less thing on his list.

2:34 am

Sunday, June 10th 2007

It's almost three in the morning when Logan realizes that no one bothered to pull him off of the couch and send him up to his own bed. It didn't bother him as much as it probably should have. After all, he was still wearing all of his own clothes, and as far as he could tell, Veronica hadn't written on him. His eyes opened slowly, and there was a second when he still wasn't sure why he woke to begin with. Then he heard a thud coming from the floor above him and he sighed into the arm resting on his head. He'd been in his father's cabin for less than three days, and he hadn't slept this weakly since they buried the bastard.

Reluctantly he willed himself to his feet, ran a hand over his face and decided that as long as someone else was awake he wouldn't feel too guilty about finishing off the rest of the homemade pizza that Parker had orchestrated for dinner.

He felt an odd sense of pride when he realized that he made it up the stairs and to the kitchen corridor without any light. Then he shook it off when he saw the back door open. He made it to the fridge before he noticed that he wasn't alone in the room.

"Ronica ate the last slice before bed." At Logan's curse, Duncan held out the plate of nachos in front of him. "That's what I thought too." He grinned.

Logan pulled a cup out of the cupboard and grabbed the orange juice out of the fridge. He held up the carton and when Duncan shook his head he shrugged, filled his glass and replaced the carton. "You're up late."

"We're not dragging this out." Duncan took a breath and a chip off the plate and stared at his friend. If he had to wake the whole house in order to get Logan to talk to him then he would. Yeah, Dick would be pissed and Piz would definitely be confused, but Logan would have to listen.

"Dragging what out?" Logan ran a hand over his face as he gulped his juice, setting himself on one of the bar stools at the counter. "If it's that thing with Ronnie then – "

"You didn't take Veronica from me."

There were no words to describe how confused Logan felt. One minute he was about to tell Duncan that they should just drop it, and the next – nothing. Maybe he was just too tired to think about the connection. He set his glass on the counter and stared at his friend. "I didn't." He said after a while, not even thinking to drop the staring contest that he was having with the top of Duncan's head.

"And the summer before senior year, I didn't take her from you."

Duncan had yet to look up at him, and that scared Logan slightly. He had notice over the course of their friendship that a loud Duncan was the safe Duncan. Too many unexplainable things happened when he got too quiet. The attack on Jake had seemed to come from quiet anger.

Instead of vocalizing his agreement, Logan settled on nodding. He knew that it was true. He had been stupid. Lighting swimming pools on fire with Dick and Cassidy definitely wasn't the smartest thing he could have done during the whole murder situation. Veronica had even asked him to stop, before she let him go. He had made his bed that summer, and although he hated what it had come to, he had understood in the end. After two more break-ups, and God only knew how many arguments.

He had thought it all out; the speech and the final agreement. Duncan had meticulously thought of every aspect of this conversation with his best friend and now he could find a word. "We survived Lilly." He started, biting his lip and shaking his head. "We got past drunken fights, and salt licks, and who stole whose G.I. Joe." His head finally came up and he smiled. "You were there for me when I was being over medicated and I thought I'd helped you when your Mom"

Logan nodded, dropping his eyes to his laps. His fingers were pulling the sleeves of his shirt over his knuckles and he couldn't fight the smile. "You did." He whispered.

"We've been best friends for as long as I can remember, and we can't seem to get past one girl." Duncan made a noise from the back of his throat, somewhere between a cough and a snort, and before he knew it, he was laughing. "Lilly would have laughed her ass off about this." He said at last.

At last, Logan snorted too, and shook his head. "What do you mean 'would have?'" He asked once he found his voice. "She probably saw this coming from a mile away. Sadistic bitch."

"What are we doing?" Duncan shook his head and finally met Logan's eyes. "We're fighting over something that wasn't ours to begin with."

"She'd kill us both if we tried to claim her anyway." Logan settled himself more comfortable on the stool and shook his head. There was still one question that was "Why are you so hell bent on setting us up?"