October 17, 2006

"Get the fuck out of my house Mars." She's sitting on his couch, looking far too comfortable.

"Language Sheriff." She gasps in mock horror, before smiling up at him as she crosses her arms over her chest. Her feet are resting on his coffee table and he grits his teeth at the sight of her dirty shoes on his clean possessions. Years ago he tried the whole careless, messy bachelor pad. It didn't work for him. He likes his house clean, ordered. Veronica Mars, of course, has to come in and mess all of that up. She destroys the calm in the rest of his life, how did he not expect her to come here one day and do the same?

"I could arrest you for breaking and entering, you know that right?" He mutters as he moves to the kitchen to grab a beer. She, of course, follows him in.

"I do know that, but wouldn't it be kind of awkward at the station, when I tell all the guys that I'm really your secret love slave? I don't know Donnie, I though our relationship meant more to you than that." She's batting those artificially darkened eyelashes at him, with the worst fake-innocent look on her face that he's ever seen.

"Mars, swear to god, I have the handcuffs on me right now-"

"Kinky."

"You're a college girl now; don't you have some kegger to be doing illegal things at? I'd much rather arrest you there." Don sighed, pushing past her into his living room before reclining onto his couch.

"Geez, I'm so not feeling the love." Veronica quipped before bouncing down onto the couch next to him. "It's almost like you don't care."

"Will caring make you leave? Soon?"

"Why? Is there another nubile young blonde planning to break into your house at 11.30 on a Friday night? And here I was thinking Madison was just another pretty face; I didn't even know I had competition for my jail cell."

"What's wrong with you?"

"I'm bored." She sighs heavily, dropping back against the couch cushions.

"Bored." He repeats skeptically.

"Yes."

"And you couldn't rent a movie like other people? You had to break into the Sheriff's apartment?"

"You know, the funniest thing happened on my way to the video store now that you mention it. I was driving there and then suddenly I realized that it had been a while since I checked in on my beloved local law enforcer, so here I am."

"Mars, I didn't know you cared." He deadpans, before taking a long sip of his beer. There is an awkward silence for a while, while Don drinks his beer and Veronica glances around the room. He has no more wit left in him today, not after spending the entire day fielding questions on the Hearst rape case while trying to investigate another PCH murder that went down two days before. Of course, nothing's been in the media about the deader PCHer. No, it's much more interesting to read about pretty young girls being terrorized by some sicko than to hear about another Latino kid shot in the back. He was sixteen; what kind of sick town is this that teenagers keep getting killed? It's the pathetic kind of town that only cares when white kids are involved, either as victims or perps.

"Long day at the office?" Veronica asks, surprising them both with the lack of malice in her voice.

"Yeah." Don replies, leaning his head back and rubbing his tired eyes. "You?"

"Oh, normal day: class, lab, sting operation. Same old same old."

"Please tell me that this isn't something that is going to create more nightmares for me."

"No, just for me."

"Glad to hear it." There is another silence, but less awkward this time. Don still hasn't opened his eyes and he doesn't plan to.

"Do you remember when I tried out for the basketball team?" Veronica asks, out of the blue. If anything could cause Don to open his eyes, this is it. Veronica referring to the past is a once in a blue moon event. Especially the parts of her past where he played a part.

"Yeah." He replies, keeping his tone even, uncommitted.

"I…you looked so disappointed that afternoon when I told you that I didn't make the cut."

"I wasn't disappointed. You would have made a kick ass point guard, your coach was an idiot."

"No, no, you were great about that part. When I said that I didn't want to play basketball anymore, that I wanted to be a cheerleader."

"Oh, that."

"Yeah, that. Why?"

"Because that wasn't like you, you aren't a quitter, but you just abandoned that project. And maybe I was a little disappointed because I liked playing basketball with you every Sunday afternoon and then eating dinner with you and your parents. You were normal people with obnoxiously normal lives. I liked being a part of that, even if it was only for a couple of hours once a week. I didn't want to lose that."

"But you still came over for dinner." Veronica replies, looking confused.

"How long did that last?" Don asks, looking down at her. She thinks for a second and then has the grace to blush. "I know she was some kind of hero for you, but Lilly Kane did nothing good for you Veronica. She used you, just like she used everyone else in this town. She told you to become a cheerleader, so you quit basketball for the pep squad. She told you to be cruel to everyone who wasn't like her, so you stopped talking to me and your little, normal junior high friends. Nice balanced relationship you had there."

"Lilly was my best friend." Veronica tells him, in a voice that is strangely devoid of emotion.

"With friends like that…" Don says, trailing off, not brave enough to repeat the entire quote. Veronica is still sitting next to him, so he knows that he hasn't said anything that she doesn't already know.

"Lilly was…Lilly was insecure."

"Wow, that's a shock. Poor little rich girl, fucking half the guys in town so she can feel loved." When Veronica's palm connects with his face, he doesn't even flinch. He was expecting it. However, he doesn't regret his words.

"You didn't know anything about her Lamb." She barks, "Lilly was sweet and caring and, and…" She trails off.

"And you hated her, didn't you?" Don asks quietly, tilting Veronica's face so that he can see her eyes. "You hated how superficial she was, how she ridiculed everyone around her, how she treated her family, her boyfriend, her best friend. Lilly Kane was a pretty girl who died far too young and who many people loved but whom no one really liked." Veronica is crying now, not the sobbing kind of crying, the way Madison cried the morning after Don slept with her at the Grand, when he told her that he'd been drunk and that there was no fucking way he'd ever sleep with her again, but the silent kind.

"Lamb, I hope someone talks about you this way once you're dead."

"Hey, I just hope someone remembers me after I die." Don says, putting an experimental arm around Veronica's shaking shoulders, not sure whether he'll get tasered or sobbed on. She doesn't resist, so he pulls her to him, allowing her to cry onto his shirt, soaking it with her tears.

As far as Friday nights go, this has probably been the strangest one of Don's life.