Wow! So it's been a little over a month and half. I appreciate everyone being so patient. I got the other two stories started and also updated another one. This story has been the bane of my existence for the last week. The last week alone I wrote probably close to 8000 words. It's a superlong chapter though just shy of the letters chapter in this story. I ended up taking this chapter a completely different way than I had originally thought I would. You can definitely call it unresolved issues though. Please review and let me know what you thought! I'd really like to know. Oh and thank you for all the prior reviews. I know I didn't respond to probably most of them and I apologize. I'll try to do better this time and reply to all of them.


Logan sat down in front of Lilly's grave. He sighed as he thought about the night before. Well, yesterday in general.

"You look worried, Logan." Lilly's voice startled him. "Why do you look so worried?"

"I wouldn't say worried." He shrugged. "Just confused."

"About what?"

"Veronica's letters."

"What about Veronica's letters?"

"Did you know about them?"

"Yeah, I knew she had written a couple of them." Lilly admitted.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

Lilly laughed, which made Logan smile. It had been 10 years since the last time he heard it. "Come on, Logan. You just saw me for the 1st time in 10 years just a few days ago. Would you really have believed me if I had told you that?"

Logan thought for a moment. He sighed. "Probably not."

"You wouldn't." Lilly confirmed. "Besides it wasn't my place to tell. And that's exactly why I never told Veronica that you had planned to propose to her or that you even went to see her when she was in Quantico."

"You knew about that?"

"Let's just say I checked up on you every once in awhile."

Logan smirked. "Oh, so you think you can be a stalker now that you're an angel?"

"I wouldn't phrase it that way. I just like to keep watch on all the people I love."

Logan cracked a smile.

"Come on Logan. Tell me what it was about the letters that has you confused."

"It was a lot of information to get in one day." He admitted.

"I'm sure it was." Lilly nodded. "What was surprising?"

"She told me I was her first love, Lilly."

"Yeah, I know." Lilly nodded. "What, you think she's lying?"

"Well, I'm doubtful. She was with Duncan for like 2 years…"

"Logan…she already explained about her and Duncan. Quite frankly I'm sure you weren't in love with me…"

"What? Of course I was!" He protested.

Lilly groaned. "Can I finish my sentence please?"

"Sorry. Go ahead."

"As I was going to say, I'm sure you weren't in love with me the way that you were…" Lilly caught herself. "Are…" She emphasized. "in love with her."

"I…" He stopped for a moment and thought about it.

"I don't expect you to admit to this Logan but I always knew you were in love with Veronica."

"What?" Logan's eyes grew wide.

"Yeah. I did. I was very keen to those things. Then again it didn't take a genius to catch on to it. You didn't exactly hide it well."

"Lilly, what the hell are you talking about?"

"Did you think that I forgot that question that I asked about what you thought of Veronica the first time you saw her? You thought she was hot."

"Yeah, we were 12 though. I had a different version of hot back then."

"You used to watch her…a lot actually. You were always protecting her."

"I was just trying to be a good friend. A good friend does those things, Lilly." He pointed out.

"Yeah, they do but you held her to different standards. I was the naughty vixen and she was the perfect virginal princess."

Logan was quiet. Did I really do that? He thought.

"Although you found out soon after I died that she wasn't perfect or a princess. Veronica was a fighter."

"A badass fighter." Logan corrected her. "She still is really."

"Yeah, she had to be to put up with your crap. She weathered that storm all by herself."

"She was a lot tougher than I thought." He held back.

"What?"

"She's a lot more vulnerable than I thought too."

"She hides it well." Lilly admitted.

"The things she told me, I would have never imagined her saying."

"I think that's a little bit of an exaggeration, Logan."

"No, it's not, Lilly. When it came to her parents or should I say her mom, Veronica never let it show how much it bothered her how things happened. Especially with your dad."

"I am surprised you never mentioned to her that you knew."

Logan shrugged. "Like you said earlier, it wasn't my place to tell her that. Besides, at the time, I was doubtful that she would believe me."

Lilly just nodded.

"Then even when she was talking about you…" He drifted off as he glanced over at her. "I never would have guessed the real reason she always ran away."

"But now that you thought about it…"

"Yeah, I can see it now." Logan nodded. "I have all the answers I have been waiting for; it's just a shame it took 7 years for me to get them." He sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. "When I think of all the time that's been lost…"

Lilly stared at him, confused. "Logan, why are you looking at it like that?"

"Like what?"

"Lost time. That's such a negative way to look at it."

"And just how do you think I should be looking at it?"

"Logan, you and Veronica have really grown up these past 7 years. I don't mean physically; yes you're 7 years older but that's not what I mean. You two have had time to reflect on everything. This was especially true of her. She had some time; time away from here and the chaos that Neptune was."

"Still is." He smirked and she laughed.

"Fine; still is. Anyway, it took her moving away, getting her priorities straight and spending some time really thinking about what went wrong."

"That she did." Logan agreed. "Fifty-some letters later."

"Well, when she thought you were taken…"

"But I wasn't." Logan felt like he had said that for the hundredth time.

"Regardless. When she thought you were, it gave her a jolt and it made her think, 'Wow, that really was the end.'"

"There's never an end to us." He told her quietly.

"Again, she didn't know that. When you take things at face value, it can have a positive or a negative effect. In this case…it actually had both."

Logan's eyebrows furrowed. "How do you figure that?"

"The negative could be her thinking you were taken…"

Logan started to open his mouth and Lilly threw a look at him so he quickly shut it.

"And the positive could be her finally taking a long hard look at the past. I think that you guys talking about things really helped."

"I think it did too." He paused for a moment. "I finally got to hear her say it."

"Logan, you knew it. You knew in your heart that she loves you."

"Yeah, I know it now. But there was part of me back then that always made me wonder. I mean, sure she said yes when I asked but finally hearing her say the actual words…"

Lilly smiled. "Felt great?" She filled in.

"Felt amazing actually."

Lilly smiled.

"And to know that she still feels the same way now, makes it even more amazing."

"I am happy for you both, Logan. You deserve it. Especially after everything that you've been through together you deserve your happy ending."

"Thank you, Lilly. I appreciate you saying that."

"So where does this leave you two?"

Logan sighed. "Dating again. Going slow."

"Think you're both ready for that?"

Logan frowned. "What does that mean?"

"I mean, I think it's great that you're back together but ask yourself, are you really going to be able to let all your problems you had before not affect your relationship this time around?"

"Like?"

"Like how you didn't like how dangerous her job was. She's not changing careers for you, Logan. Are you prepared to face the reality of the job this time around?"

"Now is different." He claimed.

"And how is it different?"

"Well, first of all, she has Alex."

"Yeah, he's hot." Lilly commented dreamily.

Logan groaned. "There would be so many problems with that including the fact that you are dead."

"Second of all…" She trailed off.

"Second of all, she's been in the FBI for 7 years. She's survived a hell of a lot."

"Yeah, that was what she told you for her reasoning."

"So?"

"So…the point is, are you going to be able to understand it?"

Logan hesitated for a second too long. "Yeah of course."

Lilly sighed.

"What?"

"I really hope that's true, Logan." She told him quietly. "Really hope that's true."


Meanwhile, at Mars Investigations, Veronica was working on one of her cases when her phone rang. "Mars Investigations."

"Hey." It was Logan.

"Oh hey." A smile was instantly plastered on her face. "How was your day?"

"Good…good. Yours?"

"Good. Getting hungry?"

"Famished." Logan admitted. "Want to meet me at Luigi's in half an hour?"

"Can't wait." Veronica told him. He could tell she was smiling just by the sound of her voice.

"Great. I'll see you there." Logan paused for a moment. "I love you."

"I love you too. See you soon." Veronica hung up the phone and started humming to herself. She was in her own little world until she heard a knock on her door. "Come in." She called out as she reviewed the papers in front of her.

The door quietly opened and there stood a dark figure in the doorway. "Hi."

Veronica froze in her seat. She knew that voice. She slowly looked up. "Oh my god. Duncan."


Logan arrived a few minutes late to the restaurant and was surprised that Veronica wasn't there. She was known for being punctual. Well, most of the time. Sometimes she was even early. He decided to wait to order until she got there.

When she still hadn't showed after 15 minutes, he tried to call. She must have hit ignore because it went straight to voicemail. He then sent a text and she responded with that she was in a business consult. Logan sighed. And so it starts, he realized. Rather than waiting at the restaurant, he decided to wait at her office until she was done. He would just wait in the waiting area; maybe talk to Alex if he was there. As soon as he arrived at the office, he had found it empty. Veronica's door was closed but he could hear muffled voices inside the office.

Ten minutes later, the door opened a crack and Logan could hear Veronica's voice. She seemed hesitant.

"I…I'll see what I can find out, OK? For now, you need to lay extremely low."

"OK. Thanks Veronica." Duncan stepped out, his back to Logan. He closed the door then spun around. Logan's eyes grew wide. "Duncan?"

"Logan?"


Veronica thought her eyes were deceiving her. "Duncan? Is that really you?"

Duncan smiled. He hadn't changed much. He had his hair a darker brown and he also was sporting a mustache. "Yeah, it's really me. How have you been Veronica?"

"Umm…fine. Good. Duncan what the hell are you doing here?"

"I need your help."

"Duncan you shouldn't be here. You can get in so much trouble. You'll wind up going to jail."

"Which is why I need your help." Duncan took a seat in front of her desk. Veronica rose from her desk and peeked out into the waiting room. The room was empty. She closed the door and returned to her desk.

Veronica sighed. "Help with what?"

"I need you to dig up whatever dirt you can find on the Mannings."

"Where's Lilly?" She asked as her phone began to ring. She looked down and saw it was Logan. She hit the ignore button.

"She's with my parents in Napa right now." Duncan admitted. "Look Veronica, I'm tired of running. I don't want to do it anymore. I want to raise Lilly here but I need your help to put the Mannings in their place."

Veronica's phone beeped then. She glanced at the message and replied to Logan she was in a business consult.

"Important?" Duncan raised an eyebrow.

"Sort of." She shrugged. "It will wait a little bit." She wasn't ready to tell him it was Logan though.

"You're the only one I trust, Veronica. It's time to end this once and for all. Please?" Duncan's eyes flashed desperation.

"OK." She slowly nodded. "I'll see what I can do, OK?"

"Oh thanks Veronica. I knew I could count on you! Really. You have no idea how much this means to me." He rose from his seat as she rose from hers. He came around and gave her a hug. The gesture surprised Veronica.

Duncan started to head for the door. As he opened it, he heard her say. "I…I'll see what I can find out. For now, you need to lay extremely low."

Duncan nodded that he would as he left. He closed the door and found his old best friend standing there. "Logan?"

"Duncan?"

Duncan nodded. "Yeah. Hey!" He gave Logan a manly albeit awkward hug.

"Hey! So what are you doing here?"

"I…moved back."

One of Logan's eyebrows shot up in surprise.

Duncan gave a sheepish grin. "Yeah, recent development. Just got back a couple days ago."

"Where's Lilly?"

"She's with my parents in Napa right now."

"Aren't you taking a huge risk coming back?"

Duncan sighed. "It's true but I'm tired of running. It's not the life I want for my daughter. I decided to move back here. That's why I'm here. I'm having Veronica find out whatever she can on the Mannings so I have some leverage for a court battle."

Logan's face remained neutral. Well, as neutral as it could given this information. "Really? Veronica took the case?"

"Well, she's the only I trust, Logan. She made a promise to Meg before Meg died that she wouldn't let her parents take Lilly away from me. Truthfully, I am a little surprised she took it but I'm also relieved she did."

"I'm sure." Logan commented.

Duncan scanned the waiting room. "So what are you doing here?"

"Just needed to talk to Veronica."

"Ahh…well, hopefully we can catch up more soon. I'll be sticking close to home for right now though. Hopefully soon though."

Logan plastered on a polite smile. "Yeah, sounds good."

"OK, talk to you later Logan."

"See ya, DK."


When the front door closed, Logan knocked on Veronica's door. "Yeah." She called out.

Logan opened it and gave her an uneasy smile.

"Oh hey, I'm sorry. I just got done with my consult."

"I know; I just ran into him out here."

Veronica bit her lip. "Really?"

"Really. So you're taking Duncan's case?"

Veronica sighed. "Yes, I told him I would."

"Veronica…"

"Logan…this is not 8 years ago, OK?" She informed him. "I have no intention of replaying senior year here, OK? I'm just doing this so Duncan will be able to keep Lilly."

Logan was quiet.

"I love you." She reminded him. "You know that."

"Yeah, I do."

"We are different people now. I would like to believe that we have all grown up since the last time we were all in Neptune.

Making sure that Lilly stays with Duncan is important to me. I made a promise to Meg."

"I know; Duncan said that."

"OK, so…yes I'm taking the case. It's not going to change us. I won't let it."

"Nice to know."

"Logan…" Her eyes narrowed on him.

"No, I realize that it was important to Meg. I know how important it is that Lilly stays with Duncan too. From the sound of it, Meg's parents looked to be about dead even with my dad in the parenting department."

"Yeah, that's true. They were more emotionally and psychologically abusive though." When she caught Logan's reaction she quickly added. "Not that that's any better. It's just as bad as physical abuse. It's never OK to abuse anyone, especially a child."

"It took me a long time to overcome it."

Veronica nodded. "Yeah, I'm sure it did. I wouldn't be surprised if Lizzie and Grace are still overcoming it. Especially Grace."

"I know how important it is." He repeated. "I just wish it wasn't Duncan."

"It's time to start putting some trust in me." She told him bluntly. "Do you trust me?"

Logan glanced at her. "Yes. Of course I do."

"Good." She nodded. "OK, so I want to get out of here right now. Still hungry?"

"Of course."

"Let's go eat then."

He drove them to Luigi's and they had a relatively quiet supper. There was one call from Alex to follow up on a prior case but otherwise it was peace and quiet. And the subject of Duncan and Lilly wasn't mentioned the rest of the night.

It was after 9 when Logan returned to Veronica to Mars Investigations. She had to pick up some paperwork before she headed home for the night. He parked his Range Rover right next to her Saturn.

He was being very polite and went around and opened the passenger door for her.

"Such a gentleman." She grinned.

"I try." He smirked as he wrapped his arm around her waist.

"Better go in. I need to get that paperwork then need to get home to dad."

"OK." He told her as he leaned down and kissed her. Logan almost moved away but Veronica stopped him. Logan wasn't going to fight her. Her arms went around his neck and kept him close as her mouth opened and his tongue danced around with hers. Veronica moaned as she leaned into him. This is what she had been missing. She missed being kissed like this by him. She loved being close to him again.

They finally came up for air a couple minutes later. "Wow!" Veronica panted.

"Yeah, I'll second that." Logan chuckled. "I've missed doing that."

"Yeah I've missed it too." She kissed him again. "I've missed the heat."

"I have too."

"You realize that we've had even more heat at other activities."

Logan laughed.

"What?"

"We've been together like what, 24 hours and you're already trying to get me into bed."

"Logan…"

"It really has been a long time since you've gotten laid, hasn't it?"

"Logan!" Veronica gasped. "You don't have to announce that to the whole street."

Logan laughed again as he kissed her. "Well, honestly, I would be lying if I told you I wasn't tempted by the offer especially since it's been a little while for me too."

"Oh really?"

"Well, not near as long as it has been for you but yeah."

"But…"

"But…I think it would be wise to wait for now."

"Logan Echolls wants to wait?" Veronica raised a curious eyebrow.

"Hey, don't pose that as a question." He scoffed. "If you remember back to junior year we did. Then again maybe your memory isn't nearly as good as mine." He teased and she slugged him.

"Excuse me who wrote you a lot of letters reminiscing about the past?"

"OK true. I just think that we should maybe pace ourselves."

"OK." She nodded. She glanced down at her watch. It was almost 9:30. They have been outside her office for almost half an hour. "Better go." She gave him another kiss. "I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"OK. Bye, Veronica. I love you."

Veronica grinned. "I love you too, Logan." She gave him a final kiss then headed into her office.


The next morning started at 10 o'clock for Veronica. She normally at work by 8 but she decided to sleep in a little longer. Hey, she was the boss after all. Besides, if something was desperately important, Alex would let her know. She stopped by Manny's Flower Hut and picked 2 bouquets of pink calla lilies and headed to the cemetery. She parked by Lilly's grave and put one of the bouquets down in front of the headstone.

She took a seat in front of it and sighed heavily.

"Uh-oh."

"What?" Veronica said as she stared at the headstone.

"Why aren't you happy, Veronica?"

Veronica glanced over at her dead best friend. "Your brother is back in town."

"Yeah, I know." She nodded. "And my namesake is with him."

Veronica cracked a smile. "Have you seen her?"

"Yeah, she's beautiful…just like her aunt." Lilly batted her eyelashes at Veronica and Veronica laughed.

"Come on Veronica. Tell me what's going on?"

"Well, he wants me to dig up information on the Mannings. He wants to raise Lilly here and not have to worry that they're going to take her away from him."

"And…you took the case." It was a statement, not a question.

"I did." Veronica nodded.

Lilly smirked and Veronica threw her a knowing smile.

"Oh no the Lilly Kane smirk."

"The Lilly Kane smirk?" Lilly feigned hurt. "What does that mean?"

"That means that smirk tells me you're up to no good."

Lilly giggled.

"Tell me what you're thinking."

"I'm thinking about Logan."

Veronica sighed.

"And apparently you are too. This is going to be interesting."

"What does that mean?" Veronica's eyes narrowed.

"That means that this is ultimately going to be a test."

Veronica's eyes narrowed. "A test? What does that mean?"

"You know, I love you two. I love you together. I think you're perfect. I think you're probably even soulmates…"

Veronica cracked a smile.

"That being said, I think you both overestimating just how easy this is going to be. It's not going to be a cakewalk."

"Are you looking into the future and telling me that? Did you know that Duncan was coming home? Did you know that and didn't tell me?"

Lilly groaned. "Veronica, you have such an overactive imagination. First of all, no, I'm not looking into the future. I can't see the future any more than you can. I know what you're both saying about taking things slow and I'm glad to hear that. It's smart. It's nice you talked about what you want to be different. They are all valid points."

"And your concern…"

"My concern is the follow-through…especially when it comes to Logan and your job."

"In general or because of Duncan?"

"Both."

"I told him I'm not changing my job for him. I can't do it and I won't do it."

"I know." Lilly nodded. "And that's smart. But you know Logan and jealousy…"

"He doesn't have a reason to be though." Veronica insisted.

"I know." She nodded again. "And deep down, he knows it too. Second of all, no I didn't know that Duncan was coming home but even if I did, I wasn't going to tell you."

Veronica scowled at that and Lilly laughed. "Veronica…I don't tell secrets. I think you and Logan think that since I'm dead I'll just tell you them as some form to give you an idea of what you should do."

Veronica was quiet.

"You two love reaching." Lilly commented. "Anyway, I'll tell you what I told him yesterday when he came and saw me…"

"He saw you yesterday?"

"Yeah, he was here. Anyway, I'll tell you what I told him. I told him that I am happy for you both. That you deserve it. Especially after everything that you've been through together you deserve your happy ending."

"Think we're going to get it?"

"I have no doubt you'll get it. Will it be smooth sailing? No. You will get it though."

Veronica sighed as she left Lilly's grave. This was the first time in a long time that she didn't feel at peace when she left. She felt extremely uncertain. God, this wasn't good.

She was about to get into her Saturn when she saw a vehicle pull up behind her. It was one she didn't recognize…until she saw Duncan get out of the driver's side.

"Hey Veronica."

"Duncan." Veronica nodded.

"What are you doing here?"

"I come up here from time to time and visit with Lilly." She admitted. "I tell her how things are going."

"Well, that's nice." Duncan cracked a smile. "I'm sure she appreciates the visits." He told her as he opened the passenger door and saw a little blonde haired girl get out of the car. Veronica smiled. She looked a lot like her aunt Lilly but she had a lot of Meg in her too. "Lilly, come here." Duncan took his daughter's hand and led her over to Veronica's car. "I want you to meet your aunt Veronica."

Veronica studied her for a few seconds. Her hair was a honey colored and halfway down her back. She was tall for being almost 9 years old. Her eyes were a pretty shade of blue-green and her skin was very fair. She really did look a lot like Lilly did at her age.

"Veronica, this is my daughter Lilly. Lilly, this is aunt Veronica."

Veronica smiled at the name. Technically at one point in time, her being an actual aunt to Lilly was a possibility. "It's nice to meet you, Lilly."

"Nice to meet you, aunt Veronica." The little girl said shyly.

"I'd stay longer but I need to get to work. I'll let you know if I find anything out."

"Thanks Veronica."

Veronica took off towards the middle of the cemetery and parked again. She reached for the other bouquet of flowers and headed to Meg's headstone. She glanced down at the headstone. God, this had been the first time she had been there since Meg was buried there.

She gently set the bouquet of flowers down beside the marble headstone that had Megan Olivia Manning scrolled on it.

"I'm so sorry, Meg." Veronica whispered. "I've been a horrible friend." She admitted. "I've been in this cemetery so many times to see Lilly but I never stopped to see you. I'm sorry I haven't until now."

Veronica glanced back up the hill and could see two shadowy figures which she knew were Duncan and his daughter.

Little tears formed in the corners of her eyes. "She's beautiful, Meg. She looks just like you." She admitted with a watery smile. "And Lilly."

She stood there quiet for a moment. She closed her eyes and slowly inhaled and exhaled. It was as if she was expecting Meg to be like Lilly and communicate with her from beyond the grave. The wind blew across her face which made Veronica smile.

"I promise I'm going to do everything in my power to keep Lilly with Duncan. I'll make sure that your parents can't hurt her. I'm not going to let you down, OK? I promise I won't."

Veronica then turned and headed to her office. She dove into her work as soon as she got there. Coming up with ammunition against the Mannings was extremely difficult. Stewart Manning was a prominent figure in Neptune….much like Jake Kane used to be. In the 09 circle Jake was still ahead of Stewart.

Veronica ran financials and a background check on each of Meg's parents. Nothing looked exceptionally helpful. Veronica sighed. She didn't really want to do this but if she had to, she was going to go to Lizzie. She was unsure about Grace. Grace was still living at home. She was a senior this year. That would be an absolute last resort. She is more than likely the one that had been hurt most by the abuse but given how she was still considered a dependent, she was reluctant to pursue it right now.

She heard a knock on her doorframe and she looked up. Alex gave her an encouraging smile. "Hey."

"Hey." She smiled back.

"How are things going? You look like you're a woman on a mission."

Veronica smirked. "You could say that." She nodded as she glanced down at her computer screen. "New case."

"Really? That's great. Who's it involve?"

Veronica glanced up and sighed. "Is there anyone out there?"

Alex looked at the waiting room and frowned. "No. Why?"

"OK." She nodded. "Come in and close the door."

Alex was still confused but he did as she requested. "OK, what's going on, V?"

"Well, you remember Logan?"

He gave her a knowing grin. "Kind of hard to forget considering that was just a couple nights ago."

"I've only dated two guys seriously: one was Logan and the other was…"

"Duncan Kane." Alex guessed.

"Right." She nodded.

"OK…still lost here. Is the case for one of the guys?"

"Yeah, Duncan came back a couple days ago to Neptune."

Alex's eyes grew wide. "Seriously? How long has it been?"

"Like eight years. His daughter will be 9 before too long." Veronica gave him an abbreviated explanation of what had happened senior year with Duncan…and she purposely left out about Logan and their tumultuous relationship back then.

"Wow! You never fail to amaze me, Mars."

Veronica smiled as she glanced down at her computer screen again. "You give me way too much credit, Meyers."

"Oh, I don't think so. So what are you going to need me to do?"

"Nothing at the immediate time. Why don't you head home and spend some time with your kids? I'm sure they've been missing you."

Alex shrugged. "I sometimes think they don't even notice I'm gone."

"Oh don't say that. Go on. If anything comes up that I need help on, I'll let you know."

"OK. Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Alex." She smiled then returned to her work.

At eight o'clock, Veronica sighed heavily. She was getting nowhere. She rose from her seat and stretched. There was no way around it. She had nothing to help Duncan with. Desperate times, desperate measures.

After a brief lookup, Veronica punched in Lizzie's phone number. It rang 4 times before Lizzie picked up. "Hello?"

"Lizzie, it's Veronica."

"Veronica who?" Lizzie asked annoyed.

Veronica groaned. "Come on Lizzie. Neptune's not that big. How many Veronicas do you know?"

"What do you want?"

"Your help."

"What makes you think I would ever help you?"

"How about for the sake of your niece?"

Lizzie dropped dead silent.

"Have I got your attention now?"

"Yeah. What about her?"

"First, can I trust that you'll keep this conversation quiet?"

"Meaning?"

"Meaning you won't tell your parents."

"I haven't talked to my parents since I left the house 6 years ago."

Veronica's eyes shot open at that revelation. "Seriously?"

"What do you need, Veronica?"

"First your word Lizzie."

"Yes I won't say a word. Now what about my niece?"

"She's in town."

"What?" Lizzie gasped. "She is?"

"Yeah, she is. She just showed up a couple days ago. I just met her for the first time today."

"How old is she?"

"8."

"So…what do you need my help with?"

"Well, Duncan's in town and he wants to stay that way."

"What?" Lizzie's voice shrilled. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah."

"Did you try to talk him out of it?"

"Of course." She didn't put up a huge fight though if she was being honest. "He's pretty adamant though."

"OK. So…"

"So…in order for him to stay in town and keep Lilly he wants me to build a case against your parents."

"Good luck with that." Lizzie retorted.

"Come on Lizzie. Please. Anything you can help me with. I promised Meg that I wouldn't let your parents take her. She talked about some adoption agency that they'd send her to and it was horrible. You know what they did to Grace, Lizzie. You want the same thing to happen to your niece?"

It was quiet for about 30 seconds.

"Please Lizzie?" Veronica was on the verge of begging. "Anything you can help me with would be greatly appreciated. Do it for Meg. Do it for Lilly."

"Lilly?"

"Yeah, she's named after Duncan's sister. Please Lizzie?"

Lizzie sighed. "OK. I'll help you."

"Oh thank…"

"I want something though."

So so close. "OK."

"I want to meet her."

Veronica's eyes grew wide. "Seriously?"

"Yeah. If you let me meet her, I'll help you out."

"OK. I'll talk to Duncan. This is going to have to be done here at my office though. Duncan, for obvious reasons, can't be seen in public right now."

"Sure. Let me know."

"I will." Veronica disconnected the call and called Duncan. He answered on the 3rd ring.

"Oh hey. How are you doing?"

"Not good." Veronica told him truthfully. "You may not be happiest to hear this but I was really coming up with nothing, Duncan so I had no other choice."

"What?"

"I went to Lizzie."

"What?" He screamed.

"I was hitting dead ends, Duncan. Seriously, I was becoming desperate."

It took about 20 seconds before Duncan responded. "OK, so what did she say?"

"She said she'd help. Her condition is she meets Lilly."

"No."

"Duncan!"

"No, Veronica, it's too risky."

"Yeah if you were out in public yes, it would be. I told her it would have to be here in my office. You want to keep your daughter. Right now I'm thinking this is about the only way."

Duncan sighed. He knew this wasn't going to be easy. "OK. Can you set it up for tomorrow?"

"Will do."

Veronica called and arranged for Lizzie to meet Lilly at 1 the next day. The next thing she remembered was smelling coffee which was weird considered she didn't make any coffee. She glanced down at her computer screen. She had to click it on to see what time it was. It was 20 to 10. She sat up and saw Logan sitting beside her.

"You should really start locking your doors." Logan teased as he kissed her cheek and pulled her sideways into a hug.

"How long have you been here?"

"About half an hour."

"Why didn't you wake me?"

"Because I'm sure you need sleep." He told her as he started to rub her back. "How's the case coming?"

"Slow." She yawned. "I was starting to hit dead ends."

"Did you figure something out?"

"Yeah."

"What are you going to do?"

"Logan, even though this is Duncan and he's our friend, it's still a case."

"So you can't tell me anything?"

"I'm just trying to maintain my business, Logan. It's business; not because it's Duncan."

Logan sighed. "Fine. Whatever."

Veronica sighed. God, she felt like she was back in high school again.

"When are you going to tell him?"

"About what?"

Logan threw her an 'are you serious' look.

"Soon. Probably tomorrow."

"Veronica…"

"Logan…" She ran her fingers through her hair. "It's been a long day, OK? He'll find out we're together. I promise."

Logan nodded. For some odd reason, it felt like it was going to have to be tortured out of her before she would tell Duncan about how she chose Logan.


The next day, promptly at 1, Lizzie Manning arrived at Veronica's office. Veronica warned her when she called back that she should be punctual. Lilly and Duncan had arrived 15 minutes earlier. They had gotten take out from a fast food restaurant and were eating lunch. Veronica had already eaten a sandwich.

When Lizzie walked in, Veronica noticed a couple different things. One, she had done an overhaul on herself. Her golden blonde hair was now auburn brown and it was kept above her shoulders. Her makeup more subdued. Her scantily clad outfits were no more as she was dressed in a crimson knee length silk dress and red high heels. The second thing she noticed was that she appeared to be carrying a present. That was sweet if she was going to give her niece a present.

"Veronica." Lizzie told her evenly.

"Lizzie…wow!" That had slipped past her lips before she got a chance to stop it. "You look amazing."

"Thank you." Lizzie scanned the office. "Looks like you're doing pretty well yourself."

"Yeah, well, all things considered business wise, yeah, I am."

Lizzie then realized what Veronica had meant by that. "Oh, yeah. I heard about your dad being sick. Sorry."

"Oh thanks."

Duncan came into the doorway. "Veronica?"

Veronica turned around and then Duncan was able to see Lizzie.

"Lizzie?" He gazed her up and down.

"Hi Duncan."

"Hey. Um…thanks for helping us."

"Sure." She gave a polite nod.

"Come meet Lilly." Duncan spun around on his heels and headed back into Veronica's office. Lizzie slowly followed behind Veronica. When she stepped inside, she noticed how Lilly was playing with some My Little Ponies.

When Lizzie chuckled, Lilly looked up. Lizzie immediately felt embarrassed. "Oh, I'm sorry. I was just thinking that Meg loved My Little Ponies too. They were her favorite thing to play with."

"Lilly, come here a minute." Duncan took a seat and held out his hand. Lilly stood up and came over by Duncan. "Lilly, this is mommy's sister, Aunt Lizzie. Lizzie, this is Lilly."

"Hi Lilly."

"Hi Aunt Lizzie." Lilly smiled at her which made Lizzie have a bittersweet smile.

"Wow, she…uh…she looks a lot like Meg." Lizzie commented.

"Yeah, I see a strong resemblance to Meg in her. I see some of Lilly too."

"Your sister?"

"Yeah." Duncan quietly nodded.

Lizzie took some time getting to know Lilly…actually a lot of time. She was in Veronica's office for almost two hours. It took Lilly a little time but before any of them knew what hit them, she was talking up a storm telling her about her life. Lizzie told her about herself but mainly she talked about Meg.

"I need to get going." She informed them and reached for the present. "I have an appointment in about 20 minutes I need to get to. Before I go though, I wanted to give you this."

"Lizzie, it was unnecessary for you to get Lilly anything."

"Well, I didn't buy it." Lizzie admitted. "It was something I had though and I thought it was be a nice present for Lilly."

Lilly looked at the present then at everyone. "Go ahead." Lizzie coaxed. "Open it."

Lilly eagerly tore into it and there was silver picture frame. It was split into two sections. One had a picture of Meg with both Lizzie and Grace and the other side there was a picture of Meg and Duncan together. Veronica cracked a smile. They were both beautiful pictures.

"Daddy, it's mommy!" Lilly excitedly exclaimed.

"Yeah, it is sweetie."

"This is mommy and you."

"Yeah, it is." Duncan nodded then looked to both Lizzie and Veronica. "I remember when that picture was taken." He admitted. "It was at the end of school party that John Enbom threw."

Veronica nodded. She knew about the party because of Logan but she didn't go.

"Lilly, what do you tell Aunt Lizzie?"

"Thank you Aunt Lizzie." She gave her a hug. Lizzie pressed a kiss to the top of her head.

"You're welcome sweetie. Well, I better go." She rose and got a piece of paper from her purse and jotted down her phone number on it. "Here's my number; give me a call when you get time and we can talk about the impending case or if …" Lizzie cut off realizing that she was about to make assumptions.

Duncan smiled. "It's OK, Lizzie. I'll definitely call you. We'll all get together sometime, OK?"

"Thanks Duncan. Bye Veronica."

"Bye Lizzie. Take care."

"I hope everything turns out OK for your dad."

Duncan looked confused.

"Thank you. I appreciate that."

Lizzie then left and Duncan turned to Veronica. "What am I missing? What's going on with your dad?"

"He has Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma." Veronica quietly told him as she turned away.

"Oh my god!' He gasped as he gently touched her arm. "I'm so sorry to hear that Veronica. How's he doing?"

"OK. The prognosis is slowly declining though. None of the treatments are working."

"I'm really sorry."

"Thank you, Duncan."

"Listen, I want to thank you for getting Lizzie's help and for even taking the case at all."

"It's not a problem, Duncan." She cracked a smiled as she looked down at Lilly who was off in her own little world playing with her My Little Ponies.

"Well, to say thank you, I'll like to have you over for supper tonight."

Veronica raised a curious eyebrow. "You're cooking?"

"Daddy's a good cook, Aunt Veronica." Lilly piped up then.

"I'm sure he is, Lilly. Well, what time?"

"How about 7:30?"

It was as if Logan had radar to show up at the most inappropriate time as he appeared in the doorway. She glanced up to meet his eyes. It wasn't so much madness in them but more worry than anything. "Umm…sure."

Logan sighed. He was wrong to worry that Duncan was going to steal Veronica away from him, right? It was worse thinking that Veronica was going to let him, right?

"So….who was that just left?" Logan casually asked.

"Lizzie Manning." Duncan glanced over his shoulder at Logan.

Logan's eyes grew wide. "Lizzie? Seriously? That's Meg's sister?"

"The very same." Veronica told him.

Logan glanced down at the little girl who was watching him. "So who is this?" He smiled down at her.

"Logan, this is my daughter, Lilly. Lilly, this is Uncle Logan."

"Hi Lilly."

"Hi Uncle Logan."

Logan grinned. "I need to get used to that."

Veronica glanced over at him. "I forgot to ask you. When's Trina due?"

"Actually she just went to the hospital right now."

"Trina's having a baby?" Duncan asked.

"Yes, first baby. She failed to mention how she had been back in LA. I'm heading over to the hospital right now. I was just going to check to see if you had wanted to come, Veronica. Sorry, Duncan, I guess I didn't realize that you would be here." Logan said but his eyes never left Veronica.

"It's OK. Well, actually I was going to make supper for Veronica." Duncan told him. "You know, kind of as a thank you for helping me with the case and for talking to Lizzie to get her to agree to help us."

So that's why Lizzie was there; she was helping Duncan with the case. "Really?"

"Yeah." Veronica said quietly.

"Duncan, can you give us a minute?" Logan's eyes stayed on Veronica. "I need to talk to my…" Veronica's look said it all. "Veronica."

"Umm…sure."

"We'll be right back." She closed the door to her office. Duncan and Lilly were inside and Veronica and Logan were in the reception area.

"What the hell are you doing?" Logan demanded.

"It's just a thank you meal." Veronica shrugged.

"Veronica, you are not that naïve. You haven't been in a very long time."

"You're making too much of this, Logan. It's just a meal. You're my boyfriend."

"Are you telling me that or are you reminding yourself?" Logan asked as he crossed his arms across his chest.

"Logan…come on. I love you. You know that."

"Yeah, I do. But right now I can't help feeling that the more time you neglect to tell Duncan the truth about us, the more he's going to think he has a chance to get you back."

"I don't…"

"Veronica!" Logan barked then caught himself when he realized how loud he was. "You need to tell him."

"And I plan on it…tonight."

"Why not now?"

"Because…" Veronica hesitated, trying to think of a good excuse. "I'm trying to think the best way to tell him, OK?"

Logan was pissed off. Why the hell did Duncan feel the need to come back now? This was starting to feel like high school all over again.

"Nice to know you're concerned more about Duncan's feelings than your own boyfriend's."

"Logan…" Veronica exclaimed.

"You know what? Just forget it. I need to head to LA to see Trina. I guess I'll just talk to you when you get back." He turned to leave.

"Wait a second!" She told him.

He sighed as he turned back around. "What?"

Veronica rushed over to him and kissed him hard. He tried to resist but Veronica wore him down. It was several seconds later when she moved away from him. "I love you. Just you, Logan. It's always been you, OK? I'm just trying to be a friend. Nothing's going to happen. I promise."

Logan stared at her skeptically.

"What did we say about trust?"

"I trust you; I'm not so sure on him."

"Well, it's time to get past that. I won't do anything that's going to jeopardize us."

He was quiet.

"OK?"

"OK." He slowly nodded. He leaned down and kissed her again. "Have to go." He headed for the door. "Veronica?"

"Yeah?"

He turned around. "I love you too."

Veronica smiled at him as he left. She then sighed. She really thought that Logan was overreacting. That he was jealous. He had no reason to be though. There wasn't a chance in hell Duncan was still interested in her…was there?


That night, Veronica arrived at Duncan's old house at 7:30. She had brought a bottle of wine and made some snickerdoodle cookies. She had brought a present for Lilly too. She loved the necklace that Lilly had given her back when they were in high school. She had worn it almost every day. She decided to give it to Duncan's daughter now. She didn't think that Lilly would actually mind. After all, it was Veronica's necklace now and it was going to family.

She rang the doorbell and Duncan answered the door with a smile. "Hey."

"Hey."

"Come on in." He moved away from the door and she walked in and gazed around. It was still the same. Oh sure, maybe a few minor style changes but otherwise it was still relatively the same.

Lilly was upstairs playing in her bedroom. It was the room right next to Lilly's old room. Duncan had taken up his parents' master bedroom now.

There was no one else at the house. Celeste and Jake were living in Napa permanently and as for any sort of wait staff, Duncan didn't want to risk it.

"Are you hungry? It shouldn't be too much longer."

"What are you making?"

"Grilling steaks."

"Sounds good." Veronica smiled. "Yeah, I'm getting hungry. Haven't had much chance to really eat anything in the last 24 hours."

"Oh well it shouldn't be more than 15 more minutes."

"OK, sounds good." She pulled a little box to hold the necklace in. "You know, Lizzie giving Lilly that picture it got me to thinking."

"About what?"

"I decided to give Lilly a present too."

Duncan sighed. "I really wish you guys wouldn't feel obligated to get her presents. It's exceedingly unnecessary."

"I know but…it's your sister's necklace that she gave the summer before she died."

Duncan was taken aback. "Well, that's very sweet of you, Veronica but don't you want to keep that? Kind of a memento to remember her by?"

Veronica thought about her visits with Lilly and pictured her in her head. "No, I have plenty of memories to remember her by. I'd like her to have it. Do you care if I go give it to her?"

"Sure, OK. I mean if you're sure."

"I am." Veronica confirmed. She headed up the stairs to Lilly's room. She knocked on the door and peeked her head inside. Lilly was on the floor playing with her Barbies. She looked up. "Hi Aunt Veronica."

Veronica smiled. "Hi sweetie. Watcha doing?"

"Just playing with my Barbies. Do you want to play with me?"

"Sure." Veronica sat down next to her. "I want to give you something first." She handed the small box to her.

"What is it?"

"Go ahead and open it and find out."

Lilly opened the box and saw the necklace. "It's so pretty."

"It is." Veronica nodded. "Now, this was your aunt Lilly's." She explained to her as she clasped it around the little girl's neck. "She gave it to me when we were in high school. I'm sure she would love you to have it now."

"Really?" Lilly's eyes lit up in excitement.

"Yes, really."

"Aunt Veronica?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think my aunt Lilly would have liked me?"

"Are you kidding? She would have absolutely loved you, sweetie. She would have spoiled you rotten." Veronica laughed.

"Do you have a picture of Aunt Lilly?"

"Well, not on me. Hasn't your daddy showed you what she looked like?"

"No we didn't have any pictures of her with us."

"Hold on a second. I know there are pictures around here of her." She got up and called down to Duncan. Duncan knew there were pictures of all of them in Lilly's old room. He told her she was fine to go in and get them.

She found the picture from the Homecoming before Lilly died sitting in her mirror on top of her dresser. The old shoebox full of pictures was in her closet.

She came back into the room and sat down beside her. "Here. This is what your aunt Lilly looks like." She showed her the picture from Homecoming.

"Aunt Lilly's so pretty!"

"Yeah, she is."

"Is that you?"

Veronica nodded. "Yep, that's me with your daddy. Uncle Logan was dating your aunt Lilly back then."

"Can I keep this?"

"I don't think your daddy would mind." She told her. "Why don't…" She rose again and set it beside her picture of Meg. "we put it right beside the picture of your mommy?"

"OK." Lilly nodded. "Did you know my mommy?"

Veronica nodded again. "Yep, I sure did. Your mommy was one of my best friends."

"She's in heaven now."

One single tear trickled down Veronica's cheek. "That's right, sweetie. Your mommy's in heaven with Aunt Lilly. They're angels in heaven looking down on you."

"You think they can see me?"

"I know they can."

"Aunt Veronica?"

"Yes?"

"Who's in the picture with mommy and Aunt Lizzie?"

"That's your aunt Grace. That's your mommy's other sister."

"Why didn't she come with Aunt Lizzie to see me?"

Veronica sighed. Wow! She was very inquisitive. "Well, it's kind of hard to explain, Lilly. See aunt Grace is still in high school. She lives with your grandma and grandpa."

"Will I get to meet grandma and grandpa?"

If Veronica had her way, that would be a hell no. "Maybe someday. Your grandma and grandpa want to take you away from your daddy. We don't want them to do that."

"I'd be really sad if I couldn't be with daddy."

"Yeah, I know you would. Before your mommy went to heaven, she made me promise not to let your grandma and grandpa take you away from your daddy."

Veronica and Lilly played Barbies for a few minutes before Lilly started in on her next round of questions.

"Aunt Veronica?"

"Yes?"

"Did you date my daddy?"

Veronica's breath hitched in her throat. "Umm…yeah, Lilly. We dated."

"Were you in love?"

Oh god. "Something like that."

"Are you going to marry daddy?"

Veronica's eyes grew wide in surprise. "Lilly, where would you get an idea like that?"

"From daddy. He has a picture of you by his bed."

Oh shit, Logan's right. Quite frankly deep down she figured he probably was but didn't want to believe that.

She then heard Duncan call up the stairs that supper was ready. He had poured himself and Veronica a glass of wine and Lilly had lemonade.

They casually talked about things…PG rated things.

"I really like the pictures of Aunt Lilly daddy." His daughter told him.

Duncan cracked a smile. "I'm glad, honey."

"Aunt Lilly was very pretty."

"She was." He nodded.

"I put the picture that was taken of all of us in the hallway here before homecoming next to the picture of Meg." Veronica explained as she took a bite of steak. "Wow! That's great."

"Thanks. That was a really good picture."

"It was. I think it was probably the last one taken of all of us together."

"I think so."

The rest of dinner was relatively quiet. Veronica brought out her cookies when everyone was finished. Lilly had two of them; Duncan helped himself to three. They loved them which brought a smile to Veronica's face. It was soon after when Lilly headed back upstairs to keep playing until bedtime.

Veronica's phone beeped in her pocket. Duncan looked over at her. "Sorry." She apologized. "I keep it on because if there's some emergency, Alex can get a hold of me."

Duncan nodded curiously. "Is Alex your boyfriend?"

Veronica stifled a laugh. "No, Alex is my business partner."

"Oh. Sorry; I just assumed."

"It's OK." Veronica cracked a smile as she glanced down at the message. It was from Logan.

-I have a niece

Veronica quickly texted back. –Congratulations Uncle Logan! Can't wait 2 meet her.

"What is it?"

"Oh, Logan just sent a message how Trina had a little girl."

"Oh that's great."

"Yeah, it is." She commented as she put her phone back in her pocket.

"You two must hang out together a lot." Duncan casually mentioned.

Veronica looked up to meet his gaze. "It's relatively new again because I haven't been in town more than 2 months but yeah, we're…"

Duncan was hanging onto her every word.

"We're rebuilding our relationship."

"Are you two together?"

Veronica's conscience, aka Senior Lilly, was telling her, Come on Veronica. Time to tell the truth. He needs to know. "We're…"

"Daddy!" Lilly screamed from upstairs and Duncan sighed.

"Sorry. I'll be back." He told her as he headed upstairs.

Veronica rose from her seat and let out a heavy sigh. God, that was close. She frowned then. How was she planning on answering that question? In the back of her mind, deep in the recesses, she knew he'd ask. She had been playing naïve, she realized. She had just wanted to believe that since so much time had passed, he wouldn't be interested in her. I guess old feelings die hard.

She had to tell him about Logan. About how they were back together and there was no way to break them up. They made plans already. Plans for the future and they involved marriage. It may not be immediate but it would be imminent.

Duncan came back down at 9:30. He had just put Lilly to bed. He let out a heavy sigh.

Veronica cracked a smile. "She in bed?"

He nodded. "We were talking for a few minutes. I showed her some more pictures of Lilly." He pulled out a picture of all 4 of them at the beach. It was taken on Veronica's 16th birthday. Veronica was in a modest magenta bikini and Lilly was in a slightly skimpier teal bikini. Each of them wore a color appropriate sarong. Duncan had black board shorts on and Logan wore red ones. They were sitting on the sand. It was a very impromptu photo. None of them were looking directly at the camera. Veronica had been sitting in between Duncan's legs. Her body was turned looking at Logan though who was behind her to the left. There was a look of surprise on her face and Logan was laughing. Lilly, who had been sitting in between Logan's legs and Duncan were grinning hugely at her.

Veronica's fingers traced over the picture. She remembered that day. "I love this picture."

"Yeah, I do too. Keep it."

"Duncan…"

"No seriously. And actually…" He handed the shoebox to her. "here. I'm sure you have pictures but why don't you take some more?"

"Are you sure?"

"Of course. They're just sitting in her room getting dusty."

"Why didn't you ever take pictures with you when you left?"

"Because it was very unplanned. I took very little with me if you remember right."

"Yeah, that's true."

Duncan refilled his wine glass. "I…I've really regretted leaving you the way I did, Veronica."

She bit her lip. "You did what you had to, Duncan. I have no ill will toward you because of it."

"Yeah but still…" Duncan gazed at her. "I really missed you while I was gone."

"Yeah, I missed you too."

"You know I have a picture of you by my bed."

She slowly nodded as she looked away from him. OK was it hot in here? She wondered. "Lilly told me. Why do you have a picture of me by your bed though Duncan?"

"Because…I love you."

Veronica sighed. She still couldn't meet his eyes.

"I thought about you every day when I was gone."

She was silent.

"We can be together now, Veronica. You're the one I was supposed to be with." Duncan declared.

"Duncan, I…"

He leaned in, almost kissing her but true to the word she gave Logan, she stopped. She put her hand up to his lips. "I…I can't, Duncan." She rose from the couch she was sitting on.

"What? What's going on, Veronica?"

"Duncan…there's been so much time that's passed." Veronica told him as she grabbed her purse. "We can't just pick up where we left off. It's not going to be possible."

"Why not?"

"Because we're different people now, Duncan. I'm different."

He stared at her sadly.

"And…"

"And what?" He pressed.

"And I have a boyfriend, Duncan. I love him." She admitted. "I love him a lot actually and I won't hurt him." She looked down at the floor. "I've hurt him before and I can't do it again. I have to go."

And with that she took off without another word to him. Duncan watched her go, sad and confused.

Veronica couldn't sleep that night. Duncan's almost kiss had been running through her mind since she fled his house. She sat up in her bed at 1:28. She turned on her lamp by her bed and got out of bed to grab the pictures from her desk. She had set the shoebox there when she came in. She opened the box and peered in. Veronica gasped. It seemed like she had a picture for every minute of their friendship. There were a lot of just them. Then there were the ones of all 4 of them and of just Logan and Lilly. Veronica had to dig to the bottom of the pile to find the family pictures of Lilly and Duncan together.

There was a knock on her door. "Veronica?"

"Come in dad." She called out.

Keith opened the door. "You OK, honey?"

Veronica nodded as she scanned the pictures. "Yeah, I'm fine, dad. Sorry if the light woke you up."

"No, I was up. What's wrong? Can't sleep?"Keith sat down beside her on the bed.

She shook her head.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

She shook her head. "No, that's OK. I mean, I do want to talk about it but I think it's best if I talk to the people that it involves." She then found a picture that brought a huge smile to her face. She even laughed.

"What is it?"

Veronica handed the picture to her dad. It was taken about a month after Veronica had met Logan. Lilly was 13 but the others were 12. They were sitting poolside at Logan's pool. They all huge, genuine smiles on their faces. Veronica sat at one end, then came Logan, Duncan and lastly was Lilly on the other end.

"Did Duncan give you that?"

"He gave me the shoebox and told me I could take whatever ones I wanted."

"That's a great picture."

"It is."

A few minutes later, Keith went back to his room and went to sleep. It was just after 2 when Veronica called Logan. It took almost 4 rings before he picked up.

"You're disrupting my beauty sleep." He mumbled into the phone.

"Want me to hang up?"

"No." He yawned. "What's up?"

"I just wanted to tell you congratulations on being an uncle."

"Veronica you sent me a message saying that about 5 hours ago when I was awake."

She sighed. "I'm sorry. I'll hang up. Go back to sleep."

"Veronica, tell me what's going on."

"Nothing. Just…why don't you stop by tomorrow at my work? Say around 1?"

He yawned again. "Are you going to tell me what this is about?"

"I'll explain it all later. I'll let you go back to sleep. Goodnight. I love you."

"I love you too, V. Goodnight."

Veronica sighed as she hung up the phone. Less than 12 hours until they all had a talk. She just hoped that everyone walked away unscathed.


Veronica gazed at the clock. The guys should be arriving at her office any time now. Her stomach was in knots. She had called Duncan that morning and told him the same thing she told Logan that they should talk at 1 in her office. By the tone of his voice, he was excited at the prospect.

"May I help you?" She heard Alex say.

"Uh…yeah." Veronica knew it was Duncan. "I'm Duncan Kane. Is Veronica here?"

"Yeah." Alex glanced through the doorway since it was open a crack. "It's…uh…nice to meet you, Duncan. I'm Alex Meyers. I was Veronica's partner in the FBI a couple years ago."

"Oh…it's…uh nice to meet you." He didn't realize that Alex was a guy.

"You can go on in. Veronica's expecting you."

"Uh…thanks."

He quickly knocked twice and opened the door.

"Hey Duncan. Thanks for coming in. I appreciate it."

"Hey Veronica. Sure. Is there a problem with the case?"

"No…yes. Well, maybe." Veronica sighed. "Duncan we need to talk."

He groaned. "That's never a good thing to hear a woman say."

She gave him a knowing smile. "Yeah, I know. We need to talk more about last night though. First, let me say I'm sorry for just running out on you like that."

"It's OK. I mean, I was going too fast for you. I shouldn't have kissed you…"

"Kiss?" Logan appeared in the doorway as if right on cue. He was less than amused to say the least. "What kiss?"

"Logan." She bit her lip. "Want to have a seat?"

"No thanks." He replied curtly. "I think I'll stick by the doorway."

"Hey Logan." Alex nodded as he returned to his desk after being in the bathroom.

"Hey Alex." Logan nodded to him.

"Let me rephrase." She told him as her eyes narrowed. "Take a seat, Logan." She smiled smugly at him.

"Of course. At your service, sugarpuss." Logan grumbled as he sat next to Duncan.

Alex snickered in the background.

Veronica rose from her chair. "Hey Meyers, don't you have a bail jumper to go chase after?"

"Trying to get rid of me?" Alex smirked.

"As a matter of fact yes I am." She smiled sweetly at him.

"Come on V. I want to see how you handle having both ex-boyfriends back." He teased and Veronica groaned.

"Alex…"

"Don't worry; I'm going." He winked at her then left.

She sighed as she slammed her door shut. "God I have too many men to deal with in my life." She sat back down on her desk and ran her fingers through her hair.

"I don't like that guy." Duncan grumbled.

"Are you kidding? He's a pretty cool guy. Isn't he sugarpuss?" Logan glanced back at her.

She glared at Logan. "Stop using that stupid nickname! You know I hate it."

"I know." Logan smirked. "It's part of why I love using it."

"Logan, why are you even here?" Duncan stared at him.

"I was summoned here." Logan told him bluntly. "I'm assuming to hear about you two making out."

Veronica couldn't help herself; she let out a small chuckle.

"What?" Logan demanded.

"Lilly was right; jealousy is not becoming on you."

"Lilly?" Duncan repeated, confused.

Veronica caught what she said and glanced at Logan who had his eyebrows raised in a way that silently told her, 'go ahead; explain that one'.

"Yeah. Back when they were together in high school and having a fight for the umpteenth time, Lilly mentioned that to me. The color green looks good on you, Logan. In the words of you, senior year, when you were dating Hannah, you're cute when you're jealous."

"Who's Hannah?"

"Long story." Veronica told Duncan while her eyes never left Logan.

"That wasn't a denial, you know."

"Logan, for Christ sake. Duncan and I did not make out. He tried to kiss me but I stopped him, OK? I didn't kiss him."

"Really." It was a statement not a question.

"Yes!" Veronica exclaimed. "Really. Duncan, a confirmation would be great here."

"I tried to kiss her but she stopped me."

Logan breathed a sigh of relief which pissed Veronica off. What happened to trusting her?

"Honestly why do you care though, Logan? She has a boyfriend."

Logan raised an eyebrow curiously. Oh, so it was mentioned just not who the boyfriend was. "Are you really that clueless or are you just acting that way?" Logan quipped.

"What does that mean?"

Veronica sighed. "He cares because he's my boyfriend, Duncan."

"What?" Duncan's eyes grew wide in surprise.

"Logan and I are back together."

Logan smirked at Duncan then rose from his seat. He leaned over the desk and gave Veronica a small kiss. "Thank you. It's about time you admitted that to him."

"Excuse me but you're not a mute. Why didn't you tell him?"

"Wait…" Duncan held up a hand. "I'm still confused. When I left, you two could barely stand each other."

"Duncan, that was eight years ago." Logan reminded him. "Did you really think that you would be able to come back and pick up right where you left off?"

Duncan ignored Logan. "Veronica I love you."

She sighed. "I know; I love you too..."

The expression on Logan's face said it all when she looked over at him. She groaned. "You're ridiculous, you know that? Why don't you let me finish a sentence before you start throwing death glares, OK?"

Logan shrugged. "Fine."

"As I was saying, I love you too. I love Lilly as if she were my own niece. But I'm in love with Logan and honestly I have been for a long time."

Duncan raised an eyebrow. "How long?"

Veronica bit her lip. "Since I kissed him at the end of junior year."

Logan looked stunned at her admission. "Wow! Really?"

"Yes, really. And you think I sell you short."

"Are you telling me that you were in love with Logan while you were dating me?"

Veronica stared at Duncan pensively then glanced over at Logan. "Yeah." She whispered.

"Veronica how could you date me when you were really in love with Logan?" Duncan asked. His voice had raised a notch or two.

"Because Logan had a perpetual death wish that summer."

Logan started to open his mouth but Veronica continued. "If you're planning a rebuttal, it would be wise to save it. Deep down you know what I'm saying is the truth."

"Yeah, I guess."

"No guessing; it's the truth. Look, Duncan, Logan's right and I had even told you this last night. A lot has changed and I do mean a lot. None of us are the same people we were when we were 18. There has been too much time that's past that we can't pick up where we left off. Logan and I have been to hell and back since you left. Between trying to clear Logan of murder charges…"

"Dad's trial and murder…" Logan added.

"Finding out that Cassidy raped me at Shelly Pomeroy's party…"

"Wait, what? Cassidy raped you?" Duncan's voice shrilled.

"Yeah. It took a lot of figuring out to learn that though." Logan told him.

"Right before prom I found out that I had Chlamydia. I didn't think that I had really gotten it from you although that was a brief possibility. You had a small amount of people you had slept with too so I quickly eliminated that option. Anyway, it took a lot of time to figure it out but what happened is that Woody Goodman had molested Cassidy when he played on Woody's little league team."

Duncan's eyes darted over Logan. He nodded.

"Woody had given Cassidy Chlamydia and that was how I got it."

"Oh my god." Duncan whispered.

"That's not the whole story though." Logan told him.

"Oh god, there's more?"

"Yeah so all of this information came out during a showdown between me and Cassidy on the Neptune Grand roof."

Duncan sat in silence.

"He had a gun." Veronica revealed. "He would have killed me if Logan hadn't came to my rescue when I texted him."

Duncan glanced over at Logan again whose gaze was on Veronica. She started tearing up. "Thanks to his help and tackling Cassidy, he got the gun away from him and I was able to grab it."

"I luckily stopped her from shooting him."

"Instead of being arrested, he jumped off the roof."

"Oh god."

"Yeah, " Veronica nodded. "Since then there were a few instances but nothing like that."

"I don't know about that." Logan murmured.

Veronica's eyes narrowed. She knew where he was going but decided that the Hearst rapes needn't be brought up. "The point is, though, when we got back together again senior year, I thought by dating you, I'd be able to forget about my feelings for Logan and legitimately love you."

"But that never happened." He sullenly concluded.

"No, it didn't." She sadly agreed.

"Did you ever love me?"

"I've always loved you, Duncan." Her eyes fell to her desk then. "Back when we were together the first time, I thought I was head over heels in love with you." She admitted. "I had really thought that you were my one true love." She decided to clarify. "My first love."

"Wait, so I wasn't even your first love?" Duncan's eyes darted between Logan and Veronica.

"Duncan…" She let out a huge heavy sigh. "Please let me finish."

He sighed as she continued.

"I did think it. I did." She repeated. "Then you broke my heart."

"Veronica…"

"I realize you thought you were my brother and yeah, that would have been a difficult conversation to have but suddenly breaking up with me with no explanation and ignoring me for more than a year made the idea of you as my first true love vanish."

Logan bit his lip at the admission. Wow! He thought to himself. That's pretty harsh.

"Logan was worse to you, you know." He countered.

"Yeah, junior year he was a jackass."

Logan groaned.

"He bashed my headlights in. Then again, I didn't just take it. I had planted a bong in his locker."

"Ahh…. Nine years later, I finally get a confession." Logan smirked.

"Truthfully, it took me a long time to get over it. All of it from back then but I did."

"It doesn't sound like it." Duncan commented.

"No, I have. I realize you were in a bad place. We became friends again though Duncan after time. I thought senior year was going to be a fresh start; we'd try to redo everything. When I found out about Meg though, I started to realize that things weren't going to be that easy."

"Then I left you."

"Yeah. You left. I wished you well and I didn't give a second thought to you returning. I didn't think you would ever want to try to come back and challenge the Mannings."

"Would you have rather I stayed away?"

"No, I…" She looked to Logan then who was clueless what kind of response should be given. "No, I would want you to do what's best for Lilly. If you feel that it's best to raise her back here, then you should do it. Hopefully that's the main reason you choose to come back though."

Duncan grew silent and Veronica had her answer. "Did you know that she asked me last night if you and I were getting married?"

Logan's eyes opened wide. "What? She did?"

"How did you respond?"

"I…I didn't. You called for supper." She ran her fingers through her hair. "OK, now you need to decide. Now that you know about me and Logan…where do we stand?"

"I thought we didn't." He grumbled.

"Duncan, I still want us to be friends. I do. You and Lilly mean a lot to me. I want to still help you with the case. The question is now that you know where things stand here with everything do you still want me to continue on the case?"

He sighed as he thought about it.

"If you don't want to, I'll understand."

"No, I don't want that." Duncan concluded. "Anything you can do to help, I would appreciate it."

"OK." Veronica nodded.

"I need to go pick up Lilly." Duncan rose from his seat. He headed for the doorway. Before he left though, he turned around. "Can you just answer me one last question?"

"Sure."

"It sounds like since I left, you and Logan have broken up and gotten together more than once."

"True." Logan said.

"OK so how can you be so sure it will work this time?"

Logan and Veronica shared a look. It was like a mutual agreement.

"Because when you spend 7 years regretting how you left things and missing the person you love most, you will do anything you can to be with them."

"I'm sure you might have been thinking the same thing." Logan chimed in. Yeah, Duncan had.

"I wrote letters to Logan, Duncan while I was with the FBI in Quantico. Fifty-seven of them actually. I never mailed them though mainly because I thought that he had moved on without me. It caused me to analyze the past and see what went wrong. We haven't been together long. All of this happened within the last week though."

"A week?" Duncan exclaimed. "You've only been together a week?"

"Well, maybe even less than that." Logan commented. "The point is, Duncan. We've been having serious talks since I ran into her at your sister's grave. We know where we're heading now."

"And that is…"

"Marriage of course."

"What?"

"Look, it's not going to be immediate but we know what the ultimate goal is." Veronica clarified.

"I'm not letting her go this time. This time it's forever." Logan declared.

"Infinity." Veronica corrected and Logan grinned.

Duncan sighed. He never thought he'd lose the battle of Veronica to Logan. He always thought he'd win her. "Well, I guess I'm happy for you."

"You are?" Veronica said, surprised. "You're sounding skeptical."

"I am." He admitted. "But I can see where you've been through a lot together and how much you've depended on each other. I only hope someday I meet someone who looks at me the way Veronica looks at you." He told Logan.

"You will, Duncan. You will."

"OK, I need to go now. Make sure you treat her right, Logan."

"I promise I will."

"OK see you guys."

"Bye Duncan." Veronica told him.

"See ya DK."

Duncan then left and Veronica plopped her head on her desk. "God, that was hard."

"I'm sure it was."

Veronica raised her head then noticed the picture she saw last night; the one of all 4 of them by the Echolls pool. She smiled.

"What is that?" Logan asked as he peered over her desk.

She handed the picture to him and his mouth dropped open as he looked at it. "Oh my god! Look how young we all were."

"Well, we were 12 Logan. This was taken shortly after I met you."

"So where did you find this?"

"In Lilly's room."

Logan glanced up in surprise.

"Duncan gave me an OK to get pictures from her room so Lilly could see what her aunt looked like." She pulled out the shoebox. "He's letting me pick which pictures I want."

"Really? How many have you taken?"

"Just a couple honestly. I like that one and of course this one." She produced the other picture she had looked at the night before.

Logan laughed. "I remember this. I had just told you the concert we were going to for your birthday."

"Yeah." She nodded. "I remember."

"We had a blast that night."

"A lot of good memories." She murmured as she set the pictures on her desk. "I hope they never fade."

"They won't if we don't let them."

Veronica grinned as Logan leaned over and kissed her.


Wow! Huge chapter wasn't it? It took me over an hour to proofread it too. I wasn't originally going to bring Duncan back but decided to. OK so...you want to hear more about Veronica helping him with his case? This is still a Logan/Veronica story so they will still be the focus of this story. I didn't know if you wanted anymore about this. I hope I didn't confuse people with the Lilly/Lilly thing. Anyway, I'd love to know what you thought so please review. I think next chapter may pick up right where this left off and then also jump closer to Thanksgiving. You're great reviewers. I really do appreciate all of them.