Disclaimer: Great! I looked it up. Rob Thomas owns Veronica Mars. Victoria, Bryan, Portia, and the rest of the next generation, however are my invention- except Lilly, and Jackie's son.
AN: I finally had an idea come to me. Meg's death was never fully resolved for me. I mean yeah, people die like that, but it just seemed way too suspicious for me, and the whole Duncan and Veronica being able to get the baby out of the hospital so easily. So the first part of the chapter takes place that night. At the morgue.
Chapter 4:
Duncan bumped into a metal table and Veronica shushed him. They only had a small window of time; they had to work quickly to get Meg out of there. They would be back for Lilly, but Meg was about to wake up in the cold. Veronica pulled out the outfit she picked out for Meg's new life, and handed Duncan the pen to sign out Meg's body, from the morgue to the funeral home. She pulled out the drawer and got a cup of water for Meg when she woke up. She watched as Meg blinked, and she helped her sit up She handed Meg the water and after she had sipped it, Meg smiled and said, "Did it work?"
"Yes, but we have to hurry," Veronica helped Meg stand up and helped her dress while Duncan turned his back to stand guard. Meg wore a pair of Veronica's old jeans and a pink t shirt. Veronica helped pull her hair back into a pony tail, and Meg met Veronica's eyes pleadingly. Veronica nodded in understanding. "Let's go." They headed to better lit nursery and Meg gazed at her daughter, one of the three babies in the little room.
"She's beautiful, Meg," Veronica said. "Come on, we have start planning if I am going to keep that promise." She led the way past the empty nurses' station and into the stairwell. Meg's legs gave out on the first few steps, and Duncan picked her up, knowing that between the coma and the drug(s), Meg was still too weak to continue. They hastened down the steps, with Veronica leading the way. She stopped them and listened at the first floor entrance. She nodded the all clear signal and made Duncan go first and they walked past the nurse's station- only one nurse occupied it and she had her back turned, talking on the telephone. They went into the garage where Veronica parked Duncan's SUV. Duncan set Meg in the back and helped her fasten the seat belt. Then he and Veronica got into the front and Duncan drove it to the Kane mansion. They went to his old room and Meg was soon settled on the bed, with Veronica sitting next to her and Duncan on the floor. It was time to set the plan into motion.
First thing was to get some dye for Meg's hair and some new ID. They only needed it to get her to another state. She'd be safe from her parents while Veronica and Duncan worked to get the baby out of the country and kept her safe until Veronica could expose the Mannings. Meanwhile Veronica would pull a misdirection and have them looking at the one thing, focusing on the missing baby, and not the missing body of Meg Manning.
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That was the last time I saw her. With dark brown hair and a bright pink t-shirt, with blue jeans. At the airport, about boarded on plane headed for Montana. I was wearing my work uniform about to put our plan into motion with Kendall in Duncan's shower, in front of Logan. Veronica thought about that day, and envisioned the elevator from the hotel at the Neptune Grand.
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(A/N: This scene is from Donut Run. I put some of my own interpretation on it (such as the characters thoughts, because in tv we cannot see thoughts, except in voiceovers)
"Hold the elevator please!" Veronica slapped her hand on the partially closed door, saw Logan and almost turned around and ran. She stepped in and watched the shiny metal doors close. She barely acknowledged Logan, and crossing her arms she settled in for the awkward trip up to the penthouse.
"Hi ho."
"What did you say?" Veronica said almost taking offense.
"Oh, your uniform. Hi-ho, it's off to work you go."
She smiled condescendingly, "I guess that makes me Snow White."
"You must be on your way up to see Mopey."
"How's he doing, Sleazy?"
"Wouldn't know, he doesn't come out of his room. Old Italian ladies don't grieve like this," he smirked, "Boy he must have really loved Meg."
"Well, then there's that other thing. You know, he can't see his baby."
"A baby? How'd that happen?" He baited her, but she ignored him this time. They got off the elevator and head straight in the penthouse.
Veronica opened the door into the suite and stood back, gesturing for Logan to precede her into the room. He walked in and past her, and she shut the door. Logan stood in the lounge area, taking off his jacket, as Veronica passed him to go to Duncan's bedroom. "There she goes, the angel of mercy. Time to fake the donut," Logan said, as he fell onto the couch. He turned his head to observe Veronica, who entered Duncan's bedroom, but stood transfixed by the entrance. "Uh oh. Did you catch him waxing his board?"
Veronica stood frozen, looking towards the room's bathroom. The sound of a shower ceases. "What are you doing here?" She said as she took a small step forward.
Kendall emerged from the shower, wrapped only in a towel. She was momentarily nonplussed to see Veronica, but recovered quickly, saying, "I was invited. How 'bout you?" Veronica turned around and stalked out.
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And once I got that plan put into motion, Duncan and I decided on the perfect time for our fake-up. And then I moped around the house playing my depressing music for Dad. Finally, I was pulled into the police station by Lamb for questioning. But everyone knows all this part of my life. We saved that child's life. At least I will always feel that way even if no one knows it. I still don't know if Meg is making those posts or if it is someone else.
The phone rang on the desk, "Sheriff Mars," Veronica said, then brightened somewhat at the voice. It was her dad. She explained what was going on with his grandchild and finally told him where Duncan was…..
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Victoria stared at her mother incredulously, "You told Grandpa about Duncan's daughter coming?! Why?!"
"He knows about how I helped Duncan kidnap Lilly. About the Mannings and I thought maybe he could help with damage control and maybe get someone to try to trace the online postings from this 'Meg Manning'. Mac would help but she has to work fulltime at Kane Software. So-"
"You had to tell Grandpa," Victoria said, resigned. Keith had told her long ago not to talk to those 'weirdos' online. She sighed, then remembering, "Lilly said that her dad knows too."
"Yes, I told him she could stay with us as long as she wants. I told him she needs answers that he'll never be able to give. She has questions about Meg that can only be answered by her family. So he agreed to let her come here if we'll watch out for her."
"Yes!' Victoria shouted, triumphantly, she did a small two step in the kitchen, nearly dropping the stack of plates she was carrying to the table. She set them on the family dinner table in the kitchen- it was just the family tonight. They only dined at the ostentatious and ornate dining room table that was a wedding present from Dick Casablancas and his amour du jour…. A Lakers' cheerleader then. Now he was with a supermodel that had an IQ lower than Madison Sinclair's. But than Dick always wanted chicks that were young, dumb, and thin.
"So Lilly can have the pool house to herself, and I'll arrange it so that her last name stays secret a little longer. But my case against the Mannings is almost complete. All the information from Lizzie and Grace will add to my case," Veronica said, thinking, Then Duncan can come back, and so can Meg. She shook her head, clearing it, and carried the food to the table. "Bryan! Logan! Dinner!"
Her son- so like his father- bounded into the room. His eyes lit up at the sight of the mounds of potatoes and the platter of steak.
"Great Mom!" he sat down as Logan strolled in, hands in his suit pockets. He smiled as the sight of his wife and daughter being so domesticated and sat at the head of the table. They ate, and Victoria carried the dishes to the sink for Bryan to clean up.
"I'm meeting Portia at the library to study for a while," she said, grabbing her denim jacket from the coat rack by the back door.
"Be home by 10, it's a school night," Veronica said, watching as her daughter rolled her eyes and made her escape out the door.
Nowhere near the library.
Portia sat in the new car her father had gotten her for her sixteenth birthday. Okay it wasn't new. He'd gotten the convertible at the junk yard and asked Eli Navarro to fix it up like new, and they had the car painted her favorite color. Kelly green. Still it rocked as a car, because it ran well, and she had the stereo replaced with her own money.
Victoria, whose nondescript dark blue hybrid was at the shop, sat in the passenger seat, with the window opened. Her digital camera was pointed at the Camelot Motel's room sixteen.
"Come on, come on, come on!" she muttered, eying the room with the camera, and glancing at the clock that read 9:30. Finally the cheating married man stepped out of the room with a red head. Victoria took several pictures for her client and shut the camera off. She turned to Portia who started the car and they drove to the Echolls' estate.
It was the same one where Logan grew up, but the house was less showy and Veronica had nowhere near the amount of parties that the Echolls used to throw. Just a family Christmas party with Wallace's family, the Navarros, Grace and Lizzie Manning, Mac and her family, and Lauren Sinclair- who was Mac's real sister. Madison was invited as well, but she always declined. And sometimes the Casablancas joined them. Usually Dick and whatever girl he was dating, and Eric and Dick's stepdaughter, Dylan.
It was semi-sad story- one of the girls Dick dated had actually been a wonderfully intelligent woman. She was a surgeon, and they had gotten married, and then a suicide bomber had come into the hospital where she worked. Most of the patients and a few staff had gotten out, but Dylan's mother was killed. So Dick became her legal guardian and dated bimbos after that.
Anyway, Victoria got out the car with and waved goodbye to Portia, and went inside.
She waved to her parents who were in the family room, and went up stairs to work on her homework.
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A/N: Next time: Lilly Kane comes to town. Is she like her dad, her mom? Her aunt?
