Title: For the LoVe of it all.
Chapter: Chapter Seven: The Face-off
Summary: Veronica thinks she can walk away from her past and try to move forward, but will LoVe let her? In this Fiction I have taken the liberty of keeping both Meg alive and Hannah in the picture. Duncan and Veronica are together at this stage and Meg is not pregnant. The bus crash did not happen. Duncan was who arrived at Veronica's door at the end of season one.
Spoilers: I am going to say spoilers for most of season two.
Disclaimer: Alas, I do not own any part of Veronica Mars. It all belongs to the great Rob Thomas.
Author's Note:
This is my first Fanfic so please be gentle!
Also all Veronica's thoughts are in italics and flashbacks in bold.
Chapter Seven: The Face-off
Veronica sat on the floor of Logan's bedroom with an empty carton of food next to her and a huge pile of gambling chips on front of her.
"Well Echolls" she said with a triumphant grin on her face, "looks like I kicked your ass…again!"
"Cheat" Logan grumbled under his breath, clearly not happy at having lost all his chips to Veronica three times in a row.
"Well considering I've eaten all the food and taken all your money, my work here is done and it's time for me to go!" Veronica chuckled as she stood up.
Logan bounced to his feet, "You can stay here if you want, it could be dangerous to go back to your empty apartment alone." Logan stared at her with eyes filled with compassion.
"Thanks Logan but my dad is coming home tonight and I really need to get home and feed Backup before he eats the sofa!"
Veronica looked at Logan and noticed the dejected look in his eyes.
She tentatively reached out and touched his hand causing him to bring his eyes up to look at her.
"Logan, I just wanted to thank you again, you really didn't have to help me through all this stuff with Duncan, especially not after…" Veronica took a deep breath, "especially not after how I treated you before the summer."
Veronica looked at Logan with tears threatening to spill over her eyes. Logan slowly pulled her into him and he hugged her to himself, resting his chin on her head.
"Hey, it's okay Veronica" Logan murmured into her hair, "I know you were trying to find out who killed Lilly and I should have known that you were only doing what you thought was right. I'll admit I was mad that you could accuse me but I think what hurt the most was that you didn't trust me"
Veronica buried her head into Logan's chest as she cried.
"I wanted so badly to trust you" she sniffed, "but I needed to know what happened to her Logan, I made a promise."
"I know Ronnie, I know. It's only because of you that it's all over now and he's behind bars. He can't hurt us ever again."
Veronica flinched when she remembered the belt marks on Logan's back, and the thought of him being subjected to that for all those years still made her feel sick.
"I still have nightmares about him you know" Veronica couldn't believe she was telling Logan this but she needed him to know that she understood how he must have felt all those years, helpless and alone with the monster he called father.
Logan's arms tightened around her when he remembered how scared she had sounded the other night in her sleep and now he knew why.
"He can't ever touch you again Veronica and if he ever tries I swear to you I'll kill him myself" A sob caught in Logan's throat when he remembered how he almost lost her that night. "I'll never let anyone hurt you ever again."
Veronica slowly extracted herself from Logan's grip and looked up into his eyes.
She slowly nodded and turned to the door.
"I'll see you Monday at school then?" she asked.
"Sure Ronnie I'll be there with bells on" he said with a sad smile as he tried to lighten the mood.
She laughed softly and walked out the door.
After Veronica had left Logan headed into the living room to watch some TV. He plopped himself on the sofa and was just deciding whether or not he wanted to watch re-runs when he heard Duncan's bedroom door slam shut.
"What the hell man!" Logan shouted at Duncan. "Stop throwing your toys out the cot!"
"Just what in the hell do you think you're doing with Veronica!" Duncan screamed at Logan.
"Why does it even matter to you, you're the one who tossed her out, you're the one who cheated on her" Logan accused Duncan.
"Shut up Logan, you don't know a damn thing about me and Veronica!"
"Wake up D.K, there is no more you and Veronica. You made damn sure of that when she found you with Meg!"
Logan's eyes burned, daring Duncan to make a move.
Duncan knew all to well the look that Logan was giving him and he knew better than to push him to far.
"Look man" Duncan tried to reason, " I know what I did to her was wrong but she's been so distant to me since we got back together. She's not the same girl anymore, I just wanted the old Veronica back"
"Wake up Duncan!" Logan shouted, "She'll never be the same Veronica ever again. Do you just expect her to forget that her best friend was murdered by the same man who tried to burn her alive! Do you want her to just get over the fact that she became a social pariah overnight; mostly thanks to us I might add!"
"He tried to kill her Duncan!" Logan stumbled over the last sentence as he tried to regain control of the emotions coursing through him.
"Grow up Duncan! Veronica's managed to survive more than any of us could handle! She's not your cotton candy princess anymore, she's better than that and you don't deserve her!"
"And I suppose you do!" Duncan screamed, "Sure Logan, isn't this how you played it out in your head? The minute we broke up you would swoop in and save the day. I bet you didn't waste any time trying to get into her pants either!"
Before Duncan could react Logan has thrown a punch that landed squarely on his jaw, sending Duncan flying backwards.
"Don't you dare ever talk about her like that again you self centred asshole!" Logan seethed.
Duncan stood and massaged his jaw; he threw Logan a look and stormed into his bedroom.
'So much for making nice' Logan thought. He sighed, grabbed his jacket and headed out the door.
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As Logan drove he wondered if he was truly going insane. "I've set up a fake stalker, punched my best friend and I'm now on my way to tell my girlfriend about said-stalker, all so I can get to spend as much time as possible with a tiny P.I who drives me mad'
'Yup, I've officially gone insane!'
Logan pulled up at Hannah's house, took a deep breath and climbed out the car.
"Logan baby!" Hannah squealed when she opened the door to find him standing there.
"What a nice surprise, especially since I haven't seen you all weekend" She said in a reproachful tone.
"Yeah sorry Han, Dick really wanted to spend some time bonding"
"I don't; really care what Dick wanted Logan, besides you know how I feel about that boy. He's so pathetic! You would think with all that money he could buy himself a clue!" Hannah rolled her eyes in disgust.
"Look Han, I know that Dick's not always the best example of a human but he's one of the best friends I have, he's stood by me through a lot this last year. Maybe you should try lay off him for a while?" Logan pleaded with his eyes.
"Fine" Hannah huffed, "but only because you asked." Hannah approached Logan slowly and reached up to kiss him seductively on his lips. Slowly, she ran her tongue along the bottom of his lip and Logan couldn't help but wish it was Veronica he was kissing right then.
Reality kicked in and Logan pulled sharply away from Hannah. "What the hell Logan!" She shouted.
"Sorry Hannah my mind's just all over the place right now, that's what I came here to talk to you about. I've been getting these threatening letters. I didn't tell you about it before cause I didn't want to worry you but it's gotten serious and Veronica is going to help me out, she needs to ask you some questions tomorrow. She needs to know who you've noticed hanging around me and stuff like that"
"Veronica! Veronica Mars as in your ex-girlfriend. She's the one helping you out with this!" Hannah shouted
Logan was a little taken aback. "Chill Hannah, this is what she does, she 's a P.I"
"Yeah I know Logan, you've told me on many occasions! I am so not happy with her being around you for extended periods of time."
"Look Han, it's okay. She's just around to find out who's doing is." Logan kissed the top of Hannah's head to try calm her down.
"Now let's forget about this and I'll pick you up tomorrow okay?"
"Fine Logan" She huffed. "But if she tries anything I'm going to have something to say to her!"
Logan chuckled inwardly, he could imagine Hannah trying to give Veronica a verbal ass kicking, but he could also imagine her not getting very far, not with Veronica Mars at least!
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Author's note:
Thank you so much to all the people who have reviewed this story so far!
This chapter was an attempt to explain how Duncan felt about Veronica and of course to introduce you to Hannah who I could totally see as being a spoilt brat!
Thanks again for all the feedback!