Righting the Wrong's
Disclaimer: I own nothing from the Veronica Mars world. It all belongs to Rob Thomas and the networks etc. No money is being made from this. The characters are not mine, I just like to play with them.
Chapter Three: Lunch with Piz
Chapter Summary: Veronica has 'that talk with Piz, and enlists Mac's help with the Kane case.
Pairings: LoVe at a later point. Other pairings will be mentioned, implied or explored.
Chapter Rating: This chapter is a T. Will move to M in later chapter's
Veronica cursed as she looked at the clock. Eight fifty am. She had planned to get up at six thirty and take Back Up for a run. She had a lot to get through before she and Wallace went to dinner tonight, he was leaving the day after tomorrow and she was due to catch her plane to Virginia next Monday. Somewhere in between all that she had to start finding Duncan, talk to Jake about the FBI internship, and make sure Logan was ok and knew to lay low for awhile, and break up with Piz.
She had seen the puppy dog looks in his eyes over the last week. He obviously didn't want her to go to Virginia. She chose to think it was because he didn't really know her and therefore didn't understand how much it meant to her rather than he was in love with her. She didn't feel the same way about him though. Sure Piz was a sweet guy, a good mommy's boy come to think of it.
She felt something for him, as more than a friend but she didn't love him and didn't think she would anytime soon. He had been safe, there when she needed a boyfriend but he never questioned her, didn't demand to know where she was, what she was doing or if she was getting into trouble again. He was an ideal boyfriend for her in that way.
Were these new thoughts all because of Logan? She had warned him about Gori but he still went after him anyway, seeking justice of her behalf because this time she had been too scared of what could happen. To her if she went after him herself.
Piz would never beat anyone up on her behalf, and that was a good thing really, she hadn't had to bail him out of jail yet, but there was just no passion there.
Having finally come to the conclusion that she needed to have 'that talk' with Piz she climbed out of bed and headed for her shower.
Clipping Back Up's leash to his collar she headed for the beach. It had turned out to be a beautiful sunny day after yesterday's rain. Finding a less crowded area she set up her beach towel, unclipped Back Up's leash and threw his tennis ball for him. She had decided she could kill two birds with one stone by taking her dog to the beach and bringing along her laptop which would allow her to do a bit of digging on Duncan.
She had given him specific instructions not to call or email her once he had left Mexico and he had done exactly that. She hadn't been involved in his travel plans after he left Mexico so that way she wasn't lying when she said she didn't know where he had gone.
She decided that talking to Vinnie was probably a good move, he could at least tell her where he had taken Duncan, but again although the somewhat shady detective usually had loose morals, he would be fairly sore having lost the election and not likely to reveal to much to her.
A shadow fell over her as a body plonked down next to her, half on her towel half on the sand.
"Wow, sugar puss, you must be losing your touch to allow little old me to sneak up on you." Logan said, leaning over her trying to see what she was doing on her laptop.
Veronica snapped the laptop shut, as he threw the ball again for Back Up.
"Logan" she greeted. "I didn't expect to run into you here but it saves me a trip to the Grand I guess. How are you?"
"Concerned about me? That's very unlike you Veronica. All I did was beat up some guy who is apparently 'connected' and you want to have a deep and meaningful conversation about it. Strange considering the other day you said you were done, and I was out of your life forever." he dead panned.
Back Up had returned again with the tennis ball and Logan continued to throw it for him. Veronica took the chance to visually check him over whilst he was momentarily distracted. He had a fresh cut above his eye with stitches he didn't have the other day. Obviously Gori had managed to land at least one punch. There were some older bruises that were starting to fade from when he and Piz had 'had it out'.
He was in a wet suit, and looking further behind him she saw his board propped in the sand. He was right she really was losing her touch if she had heard him come up to her or prop up his board.
"Logan, thankyou for looking out for me once again but you shouldn't have done it. I learnt things about Gori, he has ways of making people disappear, what I found out was so disturbing that even I knew to back off and that rarely happens, you know that.
As angry at you as I am for what you did to Piz, now I will be constantly worrying that something might happen to you."
"Aw well I'm fine. Save your worry Veronica, for someone who needs it. And it wasn't all about you either you know, after the whole video tape thing with Lilly how did you expect me to react huh?" he stood up, throwing the ball again for Back Up.
"Listen I have to run, people to destroy and all that. Take care won't you?" he grabbed his board and headed down the beach, leaving her some what speechless. She had been so glad when he had appeared next to her to see that he was fine, she was even expecting his smart arse quips, and another apology. But he hadn't apologised or even tried for the friend thing again and that was puzzling. She still couldn't forgive him for what he did with Madison, it hurt like hell but the whole friend's thing was working well before the incident with Piz.
Realising that she had been at the beach for over an hour she decided it was time to head home with Back Up, the sun was getting hot and she needed to collect her files from Wallace before finalising their dinner plans and heading to Jake Kane's. It probably wouldn't hurt to drop her dad in lunch either. Although he had won the election the guilt was never far away from her about what she had almost cost him, and it was just luck really that Jake had decided he needed her help rather than crucifying her and her dad for her silly actions.
She parked out the front of Wallace's house and headed for the front door. She was glad that Wallace had finished moving out of his dorm room for two reasons. Firstly Piz lived with Wallace in his dorm so it would be entirely awkward making idle chit chat with him, she didn't want to see him until later when they could talk, and secondly explaining to Alicia Fennel why she had to go through Wallace's room without telling her what she needed was not something she wanted to experience.
Her phone buzzed just as she reached the doorstep. Piz's name flashed up on the screen letting her know the text message was from him. The message contained only one word. 'lunch?'. He wanted her to have lunch with him. It seemed as good an opportunity as any. She replied 'yes, 1.30 café at the pier' before knocking on the door.
Wallace had greeted her with his usual bounciness and led her to his room. She had stopped on the way to say a quick hi to Alicia and Darrel who were in the kitchen making cookies.
"I like what you have done with the place" she commented. Piles of clothes were thrown everywhere, books placed in various piles on the floor and desk, and three suitcases were open on the bed.
"Yeah, sorry about the mess. Packing for three months in Africa wasn't as easy as I thought it would be, and I need to get a jump on the mechanical engineering subjects for next fall"
"Which would explain the books then" she said, moving aside the lid of a suitcase to sit on the bed.
"Very good Mars, we'll make an FBI agent out of you yet" he winked. "So we still on for dinner, and your answer had better be yes" he continued digging through his wardrobe.
"Dinner at eight pm, my treat picked you up at seven forty-five pm. I thought about inviting some others but being as selfish as I am I decided some quality BFF time was better."
"So have you found those files yet?" she had called him quickly on the way to the beach this morning to warn him of her visit.
"Here you go" he emerged from inside the wardrobe with the manila files in his hand. "I had them hidden fairly well" he said.
She had given the files to Wallace to hide a couple weeks after he had gotten back from Chicago. Figured it was safer that way. If the FBI had decided to raid her house again they would find nothing, the same as at the office. Since Wallace had spent so much time in Chicago he wouldn't ever be suspected of helping her.
She stood up to leave. A visit to Mac was next on her list for today. "Ok so see you tonight, I'll see myself out wouldn't want to risk upsetting your system" she winked at him and headed for the door bidding farewell to Mrs Fennell and Darrel on the way.
The drive over to Hearst hadn't taken long. There was relatively no traffic today. Mac hadn't moved home yet opting to put it off as long as possible, she still had a few days left but would need to be out of Hearst by the weekend. Mac let her in the door and she was glad Parker wasn't there. That was another awkward moment she was hoping to avoid.
"Hey. New decorator?" she asked upon seeing the dart board with a picture of herself on it, a dart sticking in her nose.
"Apparently Parker likes to play darts, her way of letting off steam or so she says" Mac shrugged.
Veronica had walked over to Mac's desk pulling out one of the files. "Do you think you could take a look at this? I need to know the passenger lists for flights out of Mexico, all airports during these dates."
"Sure I can do that. Any particular reason or is this one of these don't ask I won't lie type things?' she had seated herself at the computer and was opening the hacker program she used to enter certain computers through their back door.
"One of those things" Veronica agreed. "Hey I have to run I'm meeting Piz for lunch, call me when you have something? I'll see what I can do in the way of monetary reimbursement" she was heading towards the door when the lump in Mac's bed caught her eye. She hadn't realised Mac had a visitor. A visitor with blonde hair.
Walking closer to the bed she saw the identity of the mysterious guest. She turned to Mac "why Cindy Mackenzie is that Dick Casablancas in your bed or do mah eyes deceive me?" she drawled in a fake southern accent.
Mac was blushing bright red at the implication of what having Dick in her bed could mean.
"It's nothing like that" she insisted "he showed up at 2am this morning, parallactically drunk. He couldn't even stand I have no idea how he made It here. "
The relentless pounding on the door didn't cease. It finally roused Mac from her slumber and she got up to answer it. 'Parker probably forgot her key again' she thought.
As she opened the door, Dick who had been leaning in against it fell into the room. Luckily most of the dorm had moved out already otherwise she didn't think anyone would still be sleeping after that racket.
She closed the door and stepped over Dick who had fallen on the floor. "Dick what are you doing here?" she asked him. He was on his knees trying to stand but constantly kept falling again. She helped him to stand up and manoeuvred him over to her bed for him to sit down.
He was mumbling and she couldn't quite understand him. Looking at him closer she saw that he was crying. His cheeks were tear stained.
"My fault, my fault" he was saying over and over again. Great a drunken remorseful Dick. What was she supposed to do with him now?
She tried to call Logan but his phone went straight to message bank. She didn't even listen to his inspirational message instead hanging up and resigning herself to deal with Dick. Lucky it was early hours in the morning so a visit from Max was unlikely. Parker had obviously stayed out. So it was only her and Dick.
"He loved you, you know" his slurring cut into her thoughts. "It's all my fault, why didn't I know, why didn't I help?" he was sobbing now. Each breath hitching and his cries getting louder. She had absolutely no idea how to deal with him like this. Mac had never seen Dick so upset or helpless, and why would he come to her of all people?
She knelt down in front of him. Placing her hands on his shoulders. "It's not your fault Dick. No one knew, not even me. He loved you ok. You need to remember that." talking about Cassidy still felt like ripping a scab of a fresh wound, at least Dick was drunk so he wouldn't remember it or try to analyse her.
His sobs seemed to quieten somewhat and she moved her left hand from his shoulder to his back rubbing soft circles constantly whispering "shh it's ok, he's not in any pain anymore"
Dick wrapped his arms around her and held her tight, burying his head in her shoulder. A few minutes had passed when she heard soft snores coming from him. Apparently he had finally given in and passed out. Great. Now what?
She tipped him sideways until he was lying on her pillow. With a bit of effort she managed to get his feet up onto the bed. Pulling a blanket over him she decided her best bet was to sleep in Parker's bed and let him sleep it off.
"So he still hasn't woken" Mac finished her explanation.
"Is he still breathing?" Veronica nudged the sleeping form with her toe.
"Yes, I checked" Mac said. "Now didn't you have to meet Piz for lunch?" she changed the subject whilst pushing Veronica to the door.
"Oh crap I almost forgot" Veronica said throwing a last look in Dick's direction before heading out the door. "Call me when you have something?"
"Sure, I need a few hours though" Mac said shutting the door.
Piz was waiting in a booth towards the back of the café when Veronica arrived. He had been sitting there for about fifteen minutes; she was rarely on time these days.
"Hey you" Veronica slid into the booth across from him. "You ordered yet?"
"Nope, thought I'd wait for you. Do you know what you want?" he asked flipping through the menu.
She didn't need to look at the menu to know what was good here, she had eaten here plenty of times.
"I'll just have the chicken caeser salad and an oj thanks" she said to the waitress who had arrived at their table to take the orders.
"And a burger and fries for me thanks. Oh and a coke" Piz gave his order.
"No probs, be about twenty minutes, we are kind of backed up today" the waitress said before hurrying off to give the cook their orders.
"Veronica I'm leaving tomorrow. I'm going to go home for a few days before my internship starts. When do you leave for Virginia?"
"Monday. Which is good because I haven't packed a thing yet. Piz I think we need to talk, you're a really great guy but -"
"You just want to be friends." he cut her off. He took her hand. "I know this thing between you and me isn't really working. Don't get me wrong I think I'm falling in love with you but I know you don't feel the same. I think it sealed it for me the other day. That look you gave him when he beat that guy up said it all. You may think that you don't like him anymore but I can see that your heart is reserved just for him. I'd like to say we have something special but I'm afraid I cant help but wonder if I was just a way to get back at him in the beginning, and then you felt too guilty to end it." he finished.
"Piz, it wasn't like that I promise you. I like you as more than a friend, you're so sweet and an amazing person but I don't love you just now, I'm so screwed up that I'm not ready for a relationship and I should never have led you on. I am so sorry; I don't want to lose you." The waitress finally arrived with their orders.
They ate in silence for the next few minutes, each lost in their own thoughts. Veronica didn't love Piz but didn't want to lose him as a friend either. Was she asking too much of him?
"You are amazing also Veronica, there's this thing about you that just draws people in and even though I wish there was more between us I don't want to lose you so I hope we can still be friends". He was looking her deep in the eyes, hoping she would see the truth in his words and the hope in his heart.
The rest of the lunch with Piz has passed amicably. She was happy he had agreed to remain friends. He had even insisted on paying the bill. They had said goodbye's with a promise to email and call over the summer. She seemed to get the impression that Piz she thought she was dumping him for Logan but that wasn't the case. There was too much baggage there for anything to happen between herself and Logan. She needed time to rediscover herself, hopefully this summer would be good for that being in Virginia away from her friends and Logan and she would hopefully sort out a few things inside her head.
It was just after four by the time she had made it to Jake Kane's new house. After lunch with Piz she had taken a walk along the beach and around to the cliff base by herself hoping to make things clearer in her mind. Half way along the beach Mac had called her to tell her she had her hands on the passenger manifests for all flights out of Mexico in the three day time slot Veronica had given her to work with. This meant she was one step closer to finding Duncan. It would probably take her a few hours later to go through then all looking for one of the four fake id's she had created for him before he left.
Clarence let her in the front door again and she was currently waiting for Jake in his home office.
"Veronica, sorry to keep you waiting" Jake walked in and sat behind his desk. He gestured for her to take the other seat which she did.
"Mr Kane, I've made some progress with Duncan, but before I go any further there are a few things we should discuss regarding the case." she took out some of her notes from her bag and placed them on the desk.
"Go on, I'll help with what ever I can" he said
"I've made a list of things that need to happen in order for Duncan to come home. The highest priority is for the Manning's to drop the kidnapping charges against him, there's two ways to do it firstly they could voluntarily drop them or secondly we need to find enough evidence against the Manning's to have child abuse charges laid against them, and prove that Duncan only took Lilly to save her from them." she handed over the first folder to him.
"This folder contains all the evidence that Duncan and I collected before he left. Emails from Meg to Child Protective services, as well as one of the notebook's Meg had hidden. The main problem is the abuse that Grace receives appears to be only psychological and is really hard to prove." she watched as he flicked through the contents.
"The problem is I don't really have a lot of experience in this stuff, I'm due to leave on Monday for the FBI summer internship, and I've already been arrested once for breaking into the Manning's house, I'm not sure where to go from here. I was hoping Clarence might be able to offer some guidance considering his background". She was playing with the necklace that Lilly had given her.
"Well the FBI internship is something you can't miss. That would look slightly suspicious seeing as you have been so excited about it. Its best you leave as planned. I do however have a contact over at the Virginian headquarters, I'll let him know to expect you and he may be able to assist you in some way. I'll have Clarence work on the Manning angle from here. I agree with you that we can't risk bringing Duncan back until we can be sure that he won't lose Lilly or be sent to jail on kidnapping charges. I had this made for you, it should help you along the way" he moved some things around in his top draw until he found a business card and handed it to her.
It appeared to be the same business card she had handed him when leaving last night. A Mars Investigations card with her name as the private investigator on it.
"I don't understand" she said. "This is the card I gave you last night".
"I had it modified slightly" he said. "If you hold both thumbs on the bottom corners of the card a water mark should appear through it".
She did as he said placing both thumbs on the bottom corners of the business card and pressed hard. A watermark appeared on the card, it was like one of those holograms where you can only catch it by turning the object a certain way until the sunlight caught it. The under the triangle and eye in the logo was the Castle's logo. When she took her thumbs off the corner the logo disappeared.
"It's how we identify associate members. It's for people who aren't actually members of the Castle but know about them and work for them, or with them if you'd prefer. It will open doors for you with the right people. Castle members will know what to look for in the Card." he explained.
"I'll be in contact with you before you go with details of our guy who is inside. I'll also get Clarence to take a closer look at Alice and Stuart Manning. Is there anything else you need?" he asked.
"Nope, I think that about covers it" she said.
AN: Thanks again to all who read and reviewed this story so far.
Wanabee : Glad you liked it as to whether or not Jake still thinks Veronica is his daughter. Sorry but all will be revealed a bit later on.
XoSethCohenxO : Veronica is working for the Castle, or more for Jake Kane really and by default the Castle. I like to think of it as working with them rather than for them.
Christykg: I'm a LoVe fan also, so there will definitely be a lot of LoVe later on in this story, but as Logan says "they don't write songs about the ones that come easy" ;)
GenecticallyEnhanced1: Thanks for the good review and picking up on my bad grammar. Sadly although I'm a uni student English has never been my strongest forte. I don't have a beta so even though I'm constantly rereading and trying to edit I often miss things. Looking forward to hearing how you find the next chapter.
IluvVM: I'm excited that you're excited. I hope this chapter didn't let you down. I wasn't going to update until later in the week but I'm really excited for this story and where I want to take it and the words just keep swimming around in my head until I type them.
