A/N: this has been dormant for some time, I got tripped up by all of the new movie info coming out that no longer matched my tale. I've finally found inspiration to continue with my story so here it is. Sorry of it's been so long that you have to reared from the beginning to remind yourself what's going on. Feedback is great if you're willing.

"So...what do you think this all means?"

"I'm confident there's someone out there that doesn't like you at all!"

"Ha!" Logan barks out a laugh but she can see pain in his face.

"Whoever it is they also don't want us to be together in any way. Can you think of anyone that would want us apart enough to go to these lengths?"

"The entire free world...?"

She gives him the "come on be serious look" and he returns it with the "I think I am being serious" look.

"I know of one person that really doesn't want us together..." He says raising his eyebrows at her.

"No...Piz has nothing to do with this. He catches spiders in our apartment and walks them outside to let them go."

"I'm not buying it. I think he's a criminal mastermind."

Veronica smiles at him, relieved that the ease between them has returned.

"I think we should probably keep our distance from one another. Can you stay with Dick for awhile?" Logan nods. "Do you have any idea where I can find Luke? I'd like see how he spends his days...Then I'll go to the reunion tomorrow, blech, and see if I can get any canaries to sing there, but you should stay a million miles away from it."

"Not a problem. I'll keep working with Eli, see what he can dig up. Haldeman still hangs with Sean Friedrich a lot. His best friend is a guy name Lou Cobbler."

"You're saying that name as if I should know him...should I?"

Logan shrugs, "He was in our graduating class."

"Really?"

She stands up and heads into her room.

"Should I follow you...?" Logan yells after her, she notes a bit of hopefulness in his voice.

Peering back around the doorjamb, "Um...I'm looking for our yearbook Logan, not changing into something 'more comfortable'! Actually, scratch that, I am changing into something more comfortable! Give me 5 minutes." Her heart is beating a million miles a minute, she's not sure if it's Logan's presence or the adrenalin of being back on a case. She grabs a pair of flannel lounge pants and a little black kimono top. She sits on a little love seat that is in her room, a chest serves as a coffee table in front of it. She moves several books and a stack of magazines to the floor and lifts the lid. "Hey Logan," she calls over her shoulder, "come back here."

A lump forms in her throat as she pulls out the item on top. Her black studded shoulder bag.

"Are you okay?" Logan has appeared at the door.

"I...am...yes. There's just more stuff in here than I thought." She pats the love seat next to her with her hand. "Come have a seat, let's see if we can find that yearbook."

They sit together on the love seat, alternately reaching into the chest and pulling out items. It's quiet between them, but not uncomfortable.

"Hey look...your tazer!"

"Sparky! I wonder if it still works", she says as she takes it from him...and he scoots several more inches away from her. "Relax, I'm not going to experiment on you." She gives him a punch in the arm, he returns back those couple of inches.

They pull out several voice recorders, a pile of fake ids with Veronica's picture on them - mostly with her name listed but a few with pseudonyms. Walkie-talkies, a pocket knife, an old bluetooth, her old sidekick phone, a set of random keys, her old Nikon camera...

"I can't believe my dad kept all of this..."

"What's this?" Logan has a small clear plastic box in his hands. "It's from a fortune cookie..."True Love Stories Never Have Endings"

Veronica catches her breath.

"Holy Shit Veronica...those are the LOST numbers! How freaky is that?!"

"I know! That's why I kept that! I loved that show!" Veronica doesn't tell him that the cookie and the sentiment are from Duncan(ironically she never even noticed the numbers, even though she really did love the show). It used to remind her of her relationship with Duncan but ultimately she held onto it as a promise that once she found it - true love - it would never leave her. She was too jaded now to believe it.

"I can probably throw that away now - show's been off the air for years and I don't think they're going to make a movie or anything."

"Do you believe it?"

"That they won't make a LOST movie? I don't know...stranger things have happened."

"...that true love stories have no end...?"

"No...I don't believe it...do you?"

"I do. I think some relationships are transcendent, weathering every bump, meant to be, they're just...I don't know...what's the word I'm looking for...?"

Barely audibly.."Epic?..."

There is an uncomfortable silence..."Right...epic...I had almost forgotten..."

She can feel him looking at her and she can't force herself to meet his gaze, fearing that she'll lower her defenses, lose control. Luckily she finally sees what she's looking for. Sensibly the heaviest things are at the bottom of the chest.

"Yearbooks! Here's what we're looking for!"

She sets the stack of four books in her lap, all of them have nice protective plastic covers. She finds the one from their senior year and thumbs through to find the section of senior pictures. "Cobbler?" she asks Logan again, finally able to look him in the eye.

"Yes, Cobbler."

"Here he is. Wow! That is one nerdy kid. Look, he signed my book next to his name. 'Veronica...calc was fun. Have a nice life. Lou.' Apparently he was in my calculus class...and it was fun. I have absolutely NO memory of this guy whatsoever...or of calculus ever being fun."

"You are such an elitist, so stuck up..." Logan teases her.

"Okay, man of the people, did you remember him when you were reintroduced?"

"I. Did. Not."

She laughs and it feels like heaven.

"If you'll text me Luke's address...you have it right...I'll get up early tomorrow and stay on his heels all day?"

"How, you don't have a car...do you need to borrow mine?"

"Do you understand how this works? Following someone...inconspicuously...?"

"Hello?"

"Hey dad! We're in my room."

Keith slowly enters the room, one eye squinted shut and his nose scrunched up.

"Dad..."

"Oh, thank God! Hey Logan, do you have everything you need for the guest room?"

"Thanks Keith, I'm going to crash with Dick...we decided that's the best idea. Veronica, thanks for your help. I'll talk to you tomorrow okay? Keith." Logan shakes Keith's hand and makes his exit, followed closely by Cartman.

"What's going on?" Keith asks her as she passes him by following Cartman, following Logan.

"Come sit down with me and I'll fill you in."

There was a time when Veronica would give her father only selective information, largely because of her age and any perceived misconduct on her part but this time she needs his full involvement and so she tells him everything she currently knew.

"Veronica, is there anyway I can persuade you to drop this? Go back to New York, resume your future? You're destined for greatness, Veronica!"

"In law? Dad...do you know the difference between a lawyer and a prostitute? A prostitute stops screwing you once she's dead."

"Veronica..."

"What's the difference between a porcupine and lawyers in a Porsche? On a porcupine, the pricks are on the outside. I've got a million of them."

There was an uncomfortable silence between the two.

"I need to do this Dad. Something's not right here and I need to figure out what. Can I use you car tomorrow?"

"I'll need you to drop me at the office but then you can have it. And Piz?"

"Fuck! Oh! Sorry...I didn't mean to say that. But..." Veronica sighed and rolled her eyes. "Maybe the three of us can have lunch tomorrow. So...what kind of camera equipment are you sporting these days daddy dearest?"

The next morning, bright and early, she and her Dad headed to his office. His new setup was is in a more industrial area of town. When he first moved his office there it was a pretty dicey place to be. His building even has a chain link fence around it that he chains at night as a mere locked door isn't much of a deterrent. Recently though a couple of nearby blocks are gaining some cache. There's a hipster coffee shop a few doors down, a night club 2 blocks over and a warehouse currently being renovated into flats. Cartman is along for the ride today, Keith likes having him at the office when he knows he'll be there catching up on paperwork.

"Tell me again why I'm going into my office at 6:30 in the morning?" Keith yawns, which makes Cartman yawn and they both look at Veronica with droopy eyes.

"Because, I don't know Luke's schedule and I don't want to run the risk of missing him. I'm sure you have a couch and a doggy bed in that office, you can both take a nap."

Veronica drops them then swings by the hipster coffee place. She gets her latte and turns around looking for the ubiquitous condiment bar for a couple of packs of sugar. Not seeing one she asks another nearby patron if they know where the sugar is.

"This place doesn't have any sweeteners available. They're purists."

"Seriously? Man, I thought New York was pretentious."

Now to get to Luke's place, Logan sent her the address which is outside Neptune a bit, closer to San Diego. She makes it there by 7:30 and only hopes that Luke isn't a super early riser. She circles the apartment building a couple of times, discerning what the likely place of exit will be. Logan says he drives some variety of pick-up truck. The apartment building has a parking garage and while there are some cars parked on the streets around the building she doesn't see any trucks. She parks where she has a good look at the parking garage exit, pulls out her binoculars and sips her coffee. Her phone rings. It's Piz. Crap.

"Hey you! I was just thinking about you. I'm doing a little surveillance this morning but maybe you and Dad and I can squeeze in lunch!" Veronica tried to sound as perky as she possibly can.

"Oh...I've made plans to spend the day with Wallace, get caught up. I was just letting you know that Wallace, Mac and I will come get you around 6:30...okay?"

"Oh...yeah, sure..." Okay Veronica, you're not allowed to feel spurned by Piz when you were dreading even picking up the phone. "Have fun!"

Veronica's brain feels like mush. She's so torn between the person she was, the person she is and the person she wants to be. Especially because she doesn't know who she wants to be. She has worked so hard for the past several years at school. She poured everything she had into her education and was single minded in her purpose. But being back in California feels so good, so right. Although she is rusty at this stakeout thing - she keeps wanting to nod off. She turns the volume on her ipod up a little bit.

Finally, about 8:40, a dark green pick-up truck comes out of the garage. The window is down and she can almost tell it's Luke even without the binoculars. She follows him for a shortish drive - about 15 minutes to a building not far from the new Shark Field. She's starting to feel a little silly. Maybe Luke is just an average working Joe with a little side job - albeit a scummy side job. Is sitting for hours in an old Honda, her butt going numb, drinking pretentious unsweetened coffee really a better choice than a nicely appointed office in Manhattan? She figures she's a freak of nature for preferring the former.
The hours drag on, she calls her Dad at the office to let him know she won't meet him for lunch. Then she's surprised to see Luke come back out of the building. He's in a hurry and looks very agitated, nervously swiping his mouth with the back of his hand. He hops in his truck and takes off with purpose. Veronica has a bit of a hard time keeping up with him. As she follows she notices that they're not far from the 09'er and her spidey senses start to tingle. Luke parks on the street next to a brick building with a banner on the outside that touts: "The Warehouse. Luxury Loft Living. Call for Availability." It lists a number and a website.

Veronica watches Luke enter the building then waits a few minutes before getting out of her car and approaching the entrance herself. Cautiously she makes sure he's not still in the lobby then walks in. It's not a huge lobby but it's pretty swank. There are a bank of mailboxes to her left - she glances quickly at them but notices that only unit numbers seem to be listed, no names. Strike one for Veronica. A uniformed doorman is standing behind a desk near an elevator.

"Can I help you miss?"

"Yes...I noticed the sign outside said there is still availability and I'm looking for a place to live - I'm relocating from New York. Would it be possible to look at one of the available units?"

The doorman stretches his arm to her with a business card in his hand. "I'm afraid I'm not at liberty to show any units but if you'll call the number on this card, you can schedule an appointment." Damn, strike two.

"Terrific", she says as she takes the card. "Thanks so much!"

She exits the building and heads back to her car, frustrated. Who is Luke here to see? As she settles back into her seat in the Honda she looks at the business card. Well, well, what do we have here? The Warehouse. Goodman Management. Gia Goodman, President...interesting.

Picking up her phone, "Logan, hey it's me. What do you know about Gia Goodman these days? Do you happen to know where she lives?"

"I try and avoid Gia as much as I can. She still talks a blue streak. She's made a name for herself in town with real estate. Dick might know. Hold on..." Veronica can hear muffled voices. "He says she's in some penthouse loft, not too far from the club...what's going on Veronica?"

"I'll explain a little later. Thanks." With that she hangs up and pulls out her laptop - looking up the advertised website for the lofts. Ta Da! Floor plans of the units! It's a four story building. The 2nd and 3rd floors have 4 units on each floor but the 4th floor has just 2 bigger penthouse suites. Now what? Veronica gets back out of her car and looks up at the neighboring edifices. Taking her binoculars from the car she points them at one of the large windows on the top floor. The angle is so steep that someone would have to come directly to the window to see anything, all she is seeing is ceiling. She soldiers on and walks around the block to other sets of windows. Cha-ching. Gia passes briefly by the window on the northwest corner of the building. Now, how to get a better angle.

Veronica dashes back to her dad's car to gather some supplies - he had thrown together various surveillance tools for her last night - including his camera with an amazing telephoto lens. Amongst the gadgets are a couple of bugs which gives Veronica an idea. She opens google maps on her phone and types in "florist" - excellent - there's one just 3 miles from here. She's going to take a chance that Luke will be here for awhile and drives quickly to the address on her phone.

Thankfully, "The Blossom" has just what she is looking for - a small selection of ready-made bouquets behind the glass door of a refrigerator unit. There are your standard dozen long-stem roses, a cheap-ass one consisting mostly of baby's breath and carnations in an ugly glass vase, a tropical number with birds-of-paradise and reedy twigs and finally a lovely bunch of white calla lilies. Winner, winner, chicken dinner! She grabs the bouquet and turns to the register.

"Will that be all?" The proprietor asks as she takes the flowers from Veronica and wraps the stems in cellophane, tied with a bright green ribbon.

"Yes, thanks. Do you have enclosure cards?"

"Sure thing. That'll be $80.00.

Veronica nearly chokes. "I'll need a receipt." She says as she hands over her credit card. She'll be billing her client for these!

Back in her car she hurries back to the lofts. She scribbles on the enclosure: "loving the new digs!" Signed "a happy customer!", she writes Gia's name on the outside of the envelope along with the address. She grabs one of the bugs and tucks it low in the bouquet. Now she needs a delivery person. There is a smattering of people walking around but she's needs the right mixture of someone that looks like they could be a delivery person and someone that's going to buy her poppycock story. And...skater dude in the long shorts and knit hat...you win. She spies him in her rear view mirror, riding up behind her. She pops out of the car.

"Excuse me!" Earbuds. Damn. Veronica starts flailing her arms trying to get his attention. She finally does and he slows to a stop, pulling out the earbuds, a grin coming across his face.

"Yeah?"

"Would you be willing to do me a huge favor? My best friend got dumped not long ago and I'm trying to cheer her up so I want to deliver these flowers to her from a secret admirer but the doorman of her building knows me, I'm there all the time. Could you just walk these into the building there? Just give them to the door man and say 'delivery', her name is on the card, the doorman will get them to her from there."

"Sure, no problem." He takes the flowers, gives her an approving nod, and wheels off.

Hopefully, if she can't get a camera angle, she can at least listen in. She is walking around the building that is directly across from Gia's place - it is a little taller so if she can figure a way to the roof, she might have pretty good sight lines. She's not really even sure what this place is, it doesn't seem residential. She finds a door marked maintenance and pulls on the knob. Locked. She puts her earpiece in and listens for what the bug is picking up.

She isn't getting very clear reception and doesn't hear anything but static. Finally, "hey dude, delivery...names on the card...later!"

Well, the flowers are in the lobby. Step one accomplished.

As she's concentrating on listening, the maintenance door flies open, some guy walks out and heads up the sidewalk away from her, never even noticing her standing there. She grabs the door before it closes and scoots inside. She is immediately in a stairwell with another interior door that says "maintenance" again, leading to the first floor physical plant. She starts to climb the stairs. The door at the top of the stairwell must be required to be an egress because it's a push bar that lets her right out onto the roof. She walks around the perimeter, figuring out where she is now in relation to where Gia's place is. Bingo, there's the loft. Tucked behind an air exchange, Veronica pulls out her dad's camera and points it at the window where she saw Gia earlier. Wow, this lens is really nice, she can read the titles of the magazines on Gia's coffee table. She sees Luke, Gia and some other guy. Luke is pacing back and forth, still clearly agitated. Gia's arms are cross and she's biting her thumbnail, her eyes are wide and darting back and forth between Luke and the other guy. Come on doorman, deliver the damn flowers. Luke says something emphatically, pointing at the other guy, then crosses and leaves the frame of the window. She's hearing something now from the bug, knocking.

"Oh, excuse me." Maybe that was Luke?

"Very sorry sir. Miss Goodman...you have a delivery..."

Veronica sees Gia turn and head to what she assumes is the door to the loft. She can't see it from her vantage point.

"My goodness! What in the world? Thank you Barry."

"You're welcome Miss Goodman. You and Mr. Cobbler have a nice evening."

That's Lou Cobbler! Wow! He's not nearly so nerdy anymore.

"Who are those from babe?"

"I don't know, here," Gia has come back into view and hands the flowers to Lou as she pulls the enclosure card off and reads it.

"Huh! Apparently a satisfied customer...that's kind of strange...Cobb, what are we going to do?"

"I don't know, Luke is a ticking time bomb. He'll ruin everything if he opens his big mouth." Cobb is walking toward the kitchen area.

"He scares me."

"Luke?" Cobb is reaching for something in a cabinet. Oh no. Shit.

"No. Luke is a puppy dog..."

Veronica is kicking herself for being so rusty...Cobb is filling a vase full of water. And 3...2...1...glub, glub, glub.

Cobb has left the vase full of her drowned bug and calla lilies on the kitchen counter and he's come back around and put his arms around Gia. Gia lays on her head on his shoulder. It's a rare quiet Gia moment and Veronica finds it touching. She checks the time. It's almost 4:00. She needs to get home and get ready for the reunion.