Note: Once again, the timeline is split in two. Hee, I got all inspired by the anticipation for the premiere. I finished it like two minutes before it started!
CHAPTER 6: INTERMISSION, PART IV: Sarah Dean
A WEEK LATER, PHILADELPHIA
Veronica sat in the still relatively bare living room of their new home. The house wasn't too big, but not too small either. It had a fireplace, something they cherished these days. It was very different from winter in Neptune. The temperature, the snow… She sat, huddled and wrapped in a blanket, looking into the fire. She looked down to the ground, where she'd laid out her map. She'd taken it from the room in the first motel, something the last occupant had left behind. On it, she'd traced their whole journey.
Each new home had a red star drawn on. Nina, Eve, Laura – New Mexico, Tennessee, Illinois. There was no star over Pennsylvania, no line snaking over the roads that had transported her from Laura Winters of Rockford to Sarah Dean of Philly. Maybe she'd selected this name, knowing she'd miss those who'd inspired it, as the travel line rather than the map. She knew that if there was one thing she needed to give up to make this really permanent, it wouldn't be the letter, the disc, or anything of the sort. Those had been put in a shoebox, hidden. What she needed to rid herself of was the map.
Taking one last look over the track of their journey, she then slowly folded it back closed. She held it in her hands for a few minutes, eyes closed. She'd worked hard not to let herself cry since they left, and as she threw the map into the flames and watched it slowly break down, she continued to keep it together. Her hypnotized gaze into the fire was broken shortly after as her mother returned.
"Sorry it took so long. I wasn't sure which place would be best…" she came to sit next to her daughter, placing a large pizza box in front of them.
"Thanks," Veronica smiled, extending her blanketed arm to enfold her mother in the comfortable quilt.
"Are we okay?" Lianne asked before they dug into their dinner.
"Always."
Over the next few days, Lianne and Veronica, the newly renamed Claire and Sarah Dean, busied themselves establishing their new lives. They'd had their furniture shipped over, transported the rest. They still didn't have all that much, but their previous identities had left some belongings they'd taken with them – they couldn't afford starting with nothing every time.
Veronica was surprised they could afford the house until she discovered her mother had been saving up that money all along – she'd known it would get to this. She didn't let that linger, not looking for another rift with her mother. So mother and daughter worked for days, painting, fixing, placing, arranging the new home. In this time, Lianne began her search for a job, as well as a search for a school for Veronica.
With all this relocating, it was a new thing for "Sarah" to worry about. But after meeting a guidance counselor at her soon-to-be-school, she was relieved to hear she'd be able to do Junior year as she was meant to. She had some make up readings and assignments over her last weekend before classes, but it was nothing she couldn't handle.
Her first day came, and she felt oddly confident. This was her new life starting, and she'd head into it with control. "Look out!" The warning came too late and she soon found herself on the ground. Well, so much for control. She looked up to see that she'd collided with a girl carrying a stack of what looked like newspapers. "Woah, good thing they were still tied up… Are you okay?" the girl asked.
"Y-yeah, I'm fine," Veronica blinked. The bumper seemed to realize she was just standing there over her, so she balanced the stack on one arm and offered her other hand.
"Here…" Veronica took her hand and let her pull. Back on her feet, she breathed. She rubbed at her back, looking around. Thankfully no one was staring. The girl balanced her papers back on both arms as Veronica thanked her. "You're welcome. Considering it's my fault you were down there…" Something dawned on her then. "Hey, you're new here, right?"
"Yeah," Veronica nodded, "Sarah."
"Margot," she identified herself.
"You really like the news?" Veronica indicated the stack. She looked to it and smiled.
"I work at the school paper, I had to pick them up… Hey, you should join. I mean, if you'd like…"
"Maybe…" she shrugged.
"Well come on, I'll show you." Veronica followed, something she'd eventually find herself doing many times. Margot had this way about her that couldn't be ignored. They walked into "Central", as she'd come to call it, and she looked about with some awe. "You okay?" Margot asked with a smirk.
"Definitely," she nodded to her.
"Aren't you glad you met me then," she laughed.
"Glad – and a little sore."
"Yeah, I'll get you some ice for that."
"Thanks." She left to do just that once she'd introduced Veronica to the teacher in charge of the paper, Mr. Seo.
"Have you ever worked at the newspaper before?"
"Not really… we moved a lot, and I didn't want to get too involved knowing I'd have to leave at some point. But we're settled for good now so I'm not going anywhere."
"Good to hear," the man nodded. "Well let's see, we have a few spots open…" he explained, looking over a list before handing it to her. She read through it, all of it sounding like it had potential. The one that got her attention the most was at the very bottom – photographer. It had been something of a hobby that had then turned into a lot more for her. Her parents had gotten her an amazing camera for Christmas last year… It was likely gathering dust in her room back…
"Uh, I-I can do school activity reports," she blinked, putting the list back down to bring her shaking hands back to her lap and out of sight.
"Great, let's get you set up then," Mr. Seo smiled. Veronica smiled back, putting an hopefully relaxed front.
The rest of the morning went off without any more incidents. Margot shared some of her classes, something Veronica was very thankful for. At lunch, they found a table and sat together. "So how long have you been in town for?"
"Uh, about a week and a half. I've been home for the most part though, fixing up the place with my mother…"
"Fun," Margot nodded. "My mother and I don't really do a lot together. Must be nice to be close like that."
"Well, we had some harder times before. We haven't been close the way we are now… for months…"
"What about your dad?" Veronica tensed up there.
"Can we not… talk about home…"
"Oh, I'm sorry, I…"
"N-no, it's okay, I just…"
"No problem, don't worry about it," Margot nodded. Veronica smiled and ate a fork-full of salad. "Okay, so this weekend, I'll introduce you to the wonders of Philly," she continued to nod.
"Works for me," Veronica laughed.
Over the following days and weeks, "Sarah" and Margot became closer friends. Veronica wasn't looking to draw too much attention to herself, so sticking to one person to get into friendship terms with was preferable at the moment. And Margot wasn't very "up with people", preferring to find one true friend. She had excellent instincts about people, or so her Nana said.
For Veronica, it was her first good friendship since Avery and the others. It was the most important step, along with school and the newspaper, to transition into what had to be her life from now on. It was the closest thing she'd had to a normal life in a long time. That didn't make putting Neptune in the past any easier. She continued to be plagued with nightmares, her father angry with her for abandoning him. They weren't going away, no matter how hard she tried, and she feared they never would. The worst were those when her father was joined by Lilly, claiming she'd forgotten about her.
The true problem was the isolation. No one knew of her past except her mother, no one could… Because of this, all her fears and worries could only bubble in her head, she couldn't release them. She needed an outlet. She started doing volunteer work, taught small children to swim – so parents wouldn't risk losing them there like hers almost had. In both cases, there seemed to be some subtle tie to home, but somehow it worked to diminish her nightmares if not end them completely.
There would always be reminders, she came to understand that, accept it. What she got from this was the ability to deal with them accordingly. It was okay, more than okay, for her to miss her father. Nothing would ever change that. She just had to go on.
DECEMBER 24TH
""Margot, what… what are you doing here? I thought you were in Pittsburgh," Veronica spoke as she opened the door to find her friend there.
"We were. But then Mom and Nana got into an argument… again. So we came back early. I'm pretty pissed off at my mother now, so I thought I'd visit someone who didn't make me crazy."
"Come on in," Veronica smiled. They went into the living room and Margot paused.
"Where's your Christmas tree?" Veronica thought quickly.
"We didn't have time to get one. And we lost our decorations in the move, so…"
"Oh! Well, we have tons left over, I could lend you some and we could get you a tree… I'm a bit of a Christmas Nut," she blushed.
"Uh… sure. Okay." She didn't know what else to say. She couldn't tell Margot the real reason there was no lovingly decorated Christmas tree in her home. Christmas was the prime holiday in the Mars home, and all of this was just too much for even this brave girl. Now she had her first confrontation with Christmas overload coming as she and Margot headed to the tree lot. Over the drive, she could only sit and try to focus.
As they got to the lot and Veronica followed and listened to Margot's continuing talk about the signs of a proper tree, her mind was fighting an inner battle. She tried to convince herself that it wasn't a problem; that she might be able to get through Christmas after all. But the longer they were perusing the many tall green and magnificent trees, Veronica was getting more and more queasy. Margot was oblivious as she went on with her explanation on why shorter was better.
The blow, that's what it felt like at least, was seeing a semi-bare little tree. It reminded her of one Christmas, when she was eight. She'd seen a tree like this and she'd begged her father to get that one, saying if they didn't take it then no one would and it would be all alone for Christmas. Keith Mars had taken his daughter's hand, they'd walked to the lot owner and told him they wanted that tree. It had been hard to decorate, too frail to support heavier decorations, but she'd loved it anyhow.
And now, when she saw this little tree, her feet stopped moving and she was taken with a dizzy spell. Margot finally noticed her friend's distress and went to her aid. "Sarah? What's wrong? Are you okay?" she put a hand on her arm. That seemed to get her out of her daze.
"I-I need to get out of here."
"Sure, come on."
They went to a nearby restaurant and Margot ordered two coffees. They were quiet for a moment, Margot confused and Veronica slightly ashamed that she'd lost it like that. "We didn't not have time to get a tree," Veronica finally spoke up.
"Yeah, I'm getting that," Margot nodded. "I know you don't like talking about it, but…"
"It's complicated," Veronica spoke slowly. "I…" she started, knowing she wanted to confide in Margot but would have to choose her words carefully. "I haven't seen my father in… almost a year."
"Did they divorce?"
"Not exactly."
"A fellow Christmas Nut?" That made Veronica smile a bit.
"Sort of."
"Why didn't you just say no when I dragged you off to the tree lot?"
"I don't know," Veronica shrugged.
"Alright, well let's make the next couple of days all about non-Christmas. We'll watch some very action-ish movies or something…" Veronica laughed.
"Sounds good."
"Any other panic buttons I should keep a lookout for? Candy canes? Rudolph?"
"Heat Miser," Veronica confirmed.
"Right, check," Margot nodded.
"Thanks," she breathed happily.
The next days, over Christmas and the rest of the winter break, Margot continued to be there for her friend, providing her with needed distractions from the dreaded holiday. There was an awkward moment when, while Margot went to put an Aaron Echolls movie's DVD in, Veronica almost told her of her having visited the set. It was in the time where Logan was still her friend, and she had been invited there along with Duncan and Lilly.
In January, back in school now, the journalism class was given an assignment. Mr. Seo asked the students to collect articles over a particular subject, spanning a certain amount of time, tracking progress and development.
In the past week, she'd been doing well with "embracing Sarah." She was ready, she felt, to look ahead and settle more into this persona.
Then came the day to present the research projects to Mr. Seo. Veronica and Margot were part of the first few to go, so they could spend the rest of the class sitting back and listening to the others. Martin Keller was one of the last to pass. As usual, Mr. Seo asked about his topic. Veronica was a bit distracted, the class growing restless as time progressed. She was jerked back to attention as Martin announced his topic was Abel Koontz.
Even if she'd wanted to move, leave the room, anything, she couldn't have. She was frozen in place in disbelief. She wasn't sure what her face looked like, but whatever it was, it had made Margot pay attention to Martin's report as well.
He explained that he'd chosen the topic after coming across one article in those he'd kept over the years. He liked to keep clippings, about differing topics, they all knew this. Then he started talking about Koontz. He told about how he'd worked at Kane Software, had been fired… There was use of the word 'disgruntled' in force of course, like that changed anything. He went on about the tip call, the evidence found on his boat, the confession… It all sounded very clean cut, painted a picture of the whole story that made Koontz out to be the single and evident suspect.
As it progressed, Veronica felt more and more like she was about to explode at Martin, give him a piece of her perspective, whatever it was. She came very close to that as there was mention of "the sheriff who hung on to unfounded beliefs of the father's culpability." Her knuckles were sheet white, hands squeezed to near paralysis. It was the next part of Martin's presentation that drowned out any thoughts in her mind except those that made her Veronica Mars and her father's daughter.
In this next part he addressed the possibility of Koontz' innocence. What got the rest of the world to drop aside was one notion – the case was known across the country and probably further. Koontz would have had the best of the best offering their services to him, he could have gotten them. But he didn't – he chose "some small, unknown public defender."
"Why would he do that?"
That question resonated in her mind for weeks to come. The others could have gotten him off, but he let it all lead to a death sentence.
The class ended soon after and it took Veronica a minute before she could move. "Want to come over for dinner?" Margot asked.
"I-I can't, sorry," Veronica blinked. "My mother and I have a, uh…"
"Alright," Margot nodded.
"See you tomorrow," Veronica nodded back.
When she got home, her mother wasn't home from work, so she had the whole silent house to herself. It was a good thing to have at the moment. She went to lie on her bed, staring at the ceiling. Her mind struggled to find steady footing. On the one hand there was the threat on her life, all she and her mother had been through. If they continued like this, she'd most likely be safe.
But then there was the other hand – her father, her home, her identity, and now there was Abel Koontz. She'd tried to keep that out of her head for some time, but now she needed it back. Her father believed the Kanes had something to do with it, then that Koontz hadn't killed Lilly. If all this was true, then her best friend's killer was still at large, out in the world… living when Lilly wasn't. If it was true… then it wasn't right, it couldn't be left like this.
Back in the days of Neptune, she'd trusted her father's instincts. It had left consequences for her to deal with, but she'd gone on because she had to believe in him. Then the running had started, and all of it had been put aside, it and her life too.
"Hey honey…" Veronica looked up, finding that with all this thinking she hadn't heard her mother arrive. "Is everything alright?" She hesitated. Should she tell her?
"I'm… fine, Mom," she smiled.
"Alright. I'll get started on dinner," she nodded before leaving her room.
Veronica lied back down. Nina Healy, Eve Walker, Laura Winters, Sarah Dean… she had to put them aside, let Veronica Mars do the talking for a minute.
PAST – KANE RESIDENCE"Wait, don't move," Veronica laughed.
"I'm not!" Lilly assured her.
"You are too! Stop talking," she instructed. A minute later, Veronica stood back. Lilly looked in the mirror and grinned.
"Good work Mars," she nodded.
"Thanks."
"Alright, my turn!" Lilly stood and made her friend sit in her place. "When my mom puts on makeup it takes forever, she does it… very careful," she demonstrated and Veronica giggled. Lilly made her up in a few minutes and they looked in the mirror, side by side. "Alright, we've got hair, clothes, makeup… Duncan, get in here!" Lilly called out.
"I don't have it yet!" he called back.
"Oh come on!"
"Alright, give me a minute!" Soon, he finally joined them, hauling the camera he'd been looking for. "Can't someone else do this?"
"When you have a friend, sure," Lilly nodded. Duncan stuck his tongue out at her. "Right, here we go! Get clicking!"
The girls started posing together as Duncan worked the camera. They were laughing as picture after picture was taken. "There's no more," Duncan finally announced before they heard their mother calling.
"Kids, it's almost dinner, wash up! Veronica, your father is coming to pick you up!" The girls rolled their eyes.
"She called, didn't she?" Veronica guessed as they started changing back.
"Wouldn't surprise me. Hey, do you notice how her voice changes, just for a second, when she talks about your parents?"
"I don't know," Veronica shrugged. "I just wish she'd stop…"
"Hey, it's her problem. You Veronica Mars are my best friend. You are going to be my best friend forever. Doesn't matter what happens, what my mother says or does… What's important is what we think."
"Best friends," Veronica beamed.
"Yup," Lilly nodded with a grin. The girls laughed and hugged for a moment before continuing to take off the makeup and changing back.
PRESENTVeronica reached into her closet, all in the back, finding the dusty shoebox. She wiped at it with her sleeve before going back to sit on her bed. She pulled the lid off. Her heart leapt, confronted with the bits and pieces of her past she'd ignored for two months.
She found the items that had been in her wallet. There were ID cards, pictures of her parents, one of her and Lilly a few weeks before she died – and one of the pictures from their "fashion shoot". She laughed lightly, looking at the image of the two silly young girls, happy, standing back to back and hand in hand. She shuddered, wiping at the few tears running down her cheeks.
She lied back on the bed, still staring at the picture. So what was she supposed to do? The more time she had to think on it, the more she believed that her father had been more on track than what she'd believed, that Lilly's killer was getting off and getting away with this crime while innocent Abel sat in jail waiting to be killed. Could she really do anything about it?
She was still held back by the issue of her mother and her insistence that Neptune was dangerous for her. They weren't going back as far as "Claire Dean" was concerned.
Veronica reached for the box again, finding the sheets on which she'd figured out the address to her father's secret page, the printouts of his letters, of articles about Neptune she'd read over the months, then the disc from the memorial, and Cliff's list. She unfolded it, looking at the numbers for bus companies, trains… Cliff's note…
"Working with your father I've come to know of some people whose services might be helpful to you if need be. I count myself as one of those, I hope you already know."
Veronica sat up, running a hand through her lengthening and lightening hair. She looked at the cordless phone lying on her desk, eyed it.
So what are you gonna do, Mars?TBC