Disclaimer: I own nothing that has anything to do with Veronica Mars or the characters, unless you count the DVDs. This is just for fun.

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Enjoy

Chapter 6

As they sat, waiting to see a doctor, Meg was still in shock. She had known for a long time that her parents were unbalanced, but she had never imagined that they would put one of them in the hospital.

They were at the Neptune Medical Centre for several hours. Grace needed ten sutures in her scalp, and according to the doctor's she had a mild concussion, that had only taken a few minutes.

The staff had called the sheriff's office, to report the clear case of child abuse. It was a slow night, and so Don Lamb made the trip himself, for something to do.

When he saw Meg Manning sitting on the hospital bed, a young girl, clearly her sister in her lap, another girl, this one older sitting on a hard plastic seat beside the narrow bed, he knew who was to blame for this family's visit to the emergency department, remembering the altercation he'd attended two weeks before.

"Miss Manning? Sheriff Don Lamb-"

"I remember, you came that day. These are my sisters, Grace and Lizzie."

Nice to meet you," Don said, lacking sincerity. "Was this your parents?" Don asked Meg.

"Yes," Meg answered, before she could further elaborate, Lizzie broke in.

"It was Dad, he pushed Grace, and she fell down the stairs. I couldn't wake her up, they were still yelling at us, so I grabbed Grace, and ran to Meg's."

"You'll sign a statement to that effect?" Don asked, he would have no trouble convincing a judge to remove the children from their parents' custody if she did.

"Yeah, I will. We don't have to go back, right?"

"Not if I can help it. The doctor said that you're good to go, so Miss Manning, you can take your sisters home, I'll start the paperwork."

"Thank you," Meg said genuinely, grateful.

"No worries, I'll be in touch."

The next day Duncan and Meg were granted temporary custody of Meg's underage sisters, and charges were filed against Mr and Mrs Manning.

This was Neptune, and heartache lurked just below the manicured gardens and luxury houses and expensive cars.

Life was much better for the Manning children after that. They all returned to their schools, it felt weird for Duncan and Meg to be at school, so much had changed.

They didn't feel as though they fitted in with the 09er crowd, kids who's biggest concern was the next party. Most of the time they opted to just stay together, alone.

Speaking of the 09ers, there was one other who had also separated, isolated himself from his friends, withdrawn from everything.

Logan Echolls, an emancipated minor, the son of a murderous adulterer... a father. The father of a child he couldn't bear to meet, to allow into his life. Secretly he was terrified that he would turn out like his father. He was terrified that he couldn't be a good parent to his child, and he couldn't take the chance that he would mess up his child's life, he loved the very idea of his child too much to risk that.

Through the mess with Meg's family, Duncan had stayed close, in case the girls needed him, but once a restraining order was placed against Mr and Mrs Manning, he felt comfortable to leave them at home.

He wanted to check in on Veronica, the only contact they'd had in weeks, was brief conversations on the phone.

The first few times he went, it was by himself, but after a couple of months, Meg was ready to join him. She missed her friend, and though she had been pissed off at her for taking Duncan, things had settled now.

She and Duncan were happy, they were looking forward to the birth of their baby.

And Meg wanted to make amends.

The weekend before Meg went to see Veronica, she and Duncan had spent their weekend painting the room that was to be the nursery. They started out on Saturday morning, going to the hardware store, looking at every paint swatch, searching for the perfect colour.

They settled on a warm golden colour.

The room didn't need much of the coloured paint, despite it's size. The lower half of the walls was covered by a wainscot, which they were planning on just repainting the worn and dirty white.

By the end of the day, both Meg and Duncan were covered in splatters of paint. Meg was wearing a pair of maternity denim overalls, a black t-shirt underneath, seeing Meg standing amongst the painting supplies, her clothes stretched over her swollen belly, spattered with paint, was both hilarious and so sexy.

At that moment they were glad that Lizzie and Grace were out in the pool.

The drive to San Diego was mostly silent, it was just Meg and Duncan, Lizzie was at home with Grace. As Meg sat in the passenger seat, watching the scenery rush past, Meg didn't know what she was doing, why she was going or what she was going to say when she got there.

But Meg knew in her heart that this was the right thing to do, as awkward as it may be. For Duncan's sake if nothing else; she knew it was hurting him, the tension between her and Veronica, it wasn't good for anyone.

When they reached the hospital, Meg followed Duncan up to the NICU, he walked confidently, he knew the way there like the back of his hand by now.

It had been five weeks since baby Daniel had made his too early entrance into the world.

It didn't surprise Meg that Veronica had stayed with her baby, even if it had risked her own health.

As they passed the nurses' station, Meg ignored an older nurse's pointed look at her pregnant belly, the disapproving shake of her head, and her muttering something unflattering as she saw the young couple going over to Veronica, another young parent.

Veronica was sitting in a rocking chair beside a humidicrib, which held her son.

By now Veronica was so accustomed to people coming to care for and check in on her son that she didn't respond when Meg and Duncan walked up.

Duncan cleared his throat, and Veronica turned in her seat to see Meg and Duncan standing behind her. The twisting motion stretched Veronica's still tender caesarean scar, a small hiss of pain escaped her lips as she turned back around. She gave herself a moment before, without looking at her friends, she said, "They have extra chairs over by the nurses' station, you might as well sit down Meg... Don't want to keep you on your feet, somehow no one ever tells you the fun things like that that pregnancy offers, sore swollen feet, stretch marks."

"You know?" Meg asked with a hint of surprise, surely Veronica hadn't had a chance to see her belly in the second she was facing her.

"Duncan told me," Veronica supplied. "Congratulations."

As she heard this, it made sense; of course Duncan had told Veronica.

At thirty-two weeks, Meg felt like a whale, and she was more than ready to collapse into a seat.

Duncan brought one over, before excusing himself to get coffee, sensing that Veronica and Meg needed time to talk.

"He's coming home soon, the doctors say maybe next week."

"That's great, Veronica. How long's it been?"

"Three months last week."

"Are you ready to bring him home? Me and Duncan have barely even started to get the nursery sorted, we only got around to painting it last weekend."

"Not really, I was trying to find an apartment, but there's nothing I can afford. I'm meant to help Dad rearrange all the furniture in my room, make space for the crib, all that, this weekend. If things are going well, Bradley might come home on Monday."

"You know I'm sorry for how I was acting, right. I hated seeing you and Duncan together, when I knew I was pregnant."

"I know, forget about it. I would've been pissed too," Veronica said genuinely. "I heard about your parents, you okay?"

"Getting there. It's harder for Grace and Lizzie, I don't know how they'll go with the trial. Our parents have been charged, abuse and assault. I don't care about them, I just want to make sure that Grace and Lizzie don't have to go back to them."

"Of course," Veronica replied.

There was a lull, broken by a nurse, this one younger, kinder to Veronica, came over. They had just had shift change, a thrice daily routine, Lacey, the nurse had just come on shift. "Hey Veronica, how're you doing today? How's our little guy?"

"Good, thanks," Veronica replied, before introducing Meg, "This is a friend of mine, Meg."

"Good to meet you, Meg," Lacey replied, before asking Veronica, "Do you want me to get Bradley out for a cuddle?"

"Thanks."

Daniel had been free of the ventilator for nearly a week, he still had supplemental oxygen through a nasal canula, but it was a great improvement, and it meant that Veronica could have periods of holding her son.

Lacey went to the crib, opened the side, and gently lifted baby Daniel out of the crib, along with the blanket he was lying on, she swaddled him in the blanket, before handing him over to Veronica.

"Oh Veronica," Meg murmured, awed. "He's beautiful." Maternally, she rubbed her own belly, thinking of her own baby, the baby she would meet in just two months.

"He is," Veronica agreed.

Veronica held her son for a time, and then Meg had a turn holding the baby, as she was rocking Daniel gently, she asked Veronica, "I was thinking of going shopping for baby things tomorrow, do you want to come?"

Veronica knew that Meg would be shopping at much more expensive stores than she could afford, "I can't..."

"Duncan will pay for everything if you want."

Veronica thought for a minute, she didn't want to accept charity, but she also needed to be realistic. A three month stay in the NICU, even with insurance had been costly, her and Keith were already struggling to make ends meet.

When they returned home, as Meg and Duncan cooked dinner, a skill Meg had had for years, but Duncan was still learning, they talked.

"I'm going back up to San Diego tomorrow, Veronica and me are going shopping for baby stuff."

"So things are good between you two now?"

"Seem to be." Meg then softly said, "I sort of told Veronica that you would pay for everything, sorry. I think money's pretty tight for her."

"Don't worry about it, I was already planning to offer to pay."

Lizzie had been out with her friends for the day, she had dropped Grace off at a friend's house, but now they were back.

"Meg, Duncan! We're back!"

"Hi! We're in the kitchen."

Grace followed Lizzie meekly as Lizzie headed into the kitchen.

It seemed perfectly normal for them to be standing in the kitchen of their house, making dinner, talking, like it had been that way for years. It was nice, it felt like a home.

"What did you get up to today, Liz?" Meg asked.

Lizzie sat down on one of the kitchen stools, as she started talking about her day, joining in on the dinner prep as she did so.

Eventually she finished, and asked Meg and Duncan, "What about you guys? You went up to the hospital, right?"

"Yes," Meg said simply before elaborating, "Her baby will be coming home in a few days. I'm going back tomorrow to take her shopping for baby things, I'll probably buy most of the things I need as well, while we're there."

There was a pause, before Lizzie asked, "Um, Meg... I don't know, I guess you and Veronica want to do this together, but... Forget it."

"You want to come?" Meg invited her sister. Free of their parents they were growing closer, Lizzie was less angry, Meg was more relaxed, it made things easier between them.

Lizzie accepted quickly. She was keen to buy things for her soon to be niece.

Meg and Lizzie went up to the NICU to meet Veronica, Lizzie's discomfort was clear to Meg as they approached the unit. "Do you want to wait out here? It's not an easy place to go into."

"I'm okay," Lizzie replied after a moment. She followed Meg through donning gowns, washing hands, before going through to the unit.

Meg placed a gentle hand on his younger sister's elbow, trying to protect her from the pain and suffering within this room.

It was different today though, Veronica wasn't sitting in her usual seat, she was standing, cradling her son in her arms, rocking him gently, humming softly.

After a moment, Veronica turned around, and noticed Meg and Lizzie standing there, she offered a smile, welcoming them over.

Meg walked over, keeping pace with Lizzie, who was still hesitant. "How are you going today, Veronica? Ready to head off?"

Sensing the younger girl's uncertainty, Veronica moved closer to her, and asked her, "You want to have a hold? He's cuddly."

"It's okay, Liz. Go on," Meg encouraged.

Lizzie hadn't held a baby since Grace was born, she had been six, but she still remembered how she was taught to hold a baby, and gently accepted the tiny three month old in her arms.

"He's so small,"

"Premmie, the doctor's use a corrected age system, his actual age, and his age if he had been born at full term," Veronica explained. "He's about the size of a newborn now."

Lizzie could only image if this was how big he was three months into his life, how small he must have been at birth. "What's his name?"

"Daniel."

"Hi Danny," Lizzie said softly, looking down at the infant.

They talked for some time, about the baby, about what they'd been up to, where they were going to go, before Veronica finally took back Daniel, and gently put him back in his crib, which was notably no longer a humidicrib, it was open to the air.

Meg drove them into the shopping district, about twenty minutes drive away, it was a large shopping centre, which held all the usual shops, and then smaller shops, many boutiques spreading into the surrounding streets.

Meg could already feel her ankles protesting, but that wasn't going to stop her today, they were there to shop, and have a good time doing it.

TBC...