I Don't Own VM or Any Of Its Franchise - although I've got dips on Jason should he ever be up for grabs;)
A/N Hello everyone. Thanks for the reviews, it's nice to see you're still with me;) This chapter might be a bit corny, but I couldn't get it completely like I wanted. Hope you enjoy!
Thanks to Lilybetrox for betaing!
Chapter 7: Failing Anger Management with flying colors
Tapping her foot impatiently, while she waited Veronica was getting severely frustrated. Realistically she knew most of her frustration stemmed from being back in good old Neptune, but right at that moment her hometown and its inhabitants took a backseat, her annoyance with Lieutenant Ripley was in the forefront of her mind. Veronica was once again trying to get in contact with her boss, who had been mysteriously unavailable during each of her last few calls; always ending with the same excuse from an emotionless secretary.
"I'm sorry Agent Mars, he's on an assignment at the moment, and I'll let him know you've called."
Hearing the not entirely unexpected reply to her request, Veronica snarled and didn't even bother saying another word to the secretary before slamming the receiver down hard on the table. Stupid Ripley, she thought gloomily, I want to revenge it all, but I can't do that when you're not here to give me clearance for it!
"Bonehead…"she muttered angrily, getting up from the couch stretching her tense muscles in an attempt to calm down. A second later Veronica instantly tensed up again when Dick's voice came from behind her without warning. "Talking to yourself…you know generally speaking Ronnie, that ain't a good sign; could make people think you're not right in the head."
Veronica sighed heavily, turning her head to glare at the blond man. "Shut up Dick," she said coldly, but without any real venom for once. Having delivered her insult, Veronica sat back down on the couch to clean one of her already perfectly conditioned guns trying to pass the time.
"Shut up Dick?" The man in question repeated with disbelief in his voice. "Is that all? Are you feeling all right, Veronica? I mean; I could go away for a few seconds and give you an opportunity to come up with a better comeback?"
Veronica chuckled without really noticing. "That's funny Dickster, but I'm just too exhausted to exhort myself on your behalf – maybe later, okay? But hey," Veronica beamed innocently, not taking her attention away from the glock in her hands, "I'll take you up on the go away offer if that'll make you feel appreciated."
Dick grinned goofily and eyed the small woman seriously at the same time. It had been a little over a week since their return to Neptune and Veronica still looked like she never slept. Things in the safe house had gotten a little quieter after the shared nightmare/ talking night. Yeah, she even smirks at Weevil now and barely even threatens him; Dick thought, expertly ignoring the small pinch of envy in his chest. It's not like whatever he did to piss her off could be worse than what I did…
The sour thoughts were stopped by Mac, who entered the house with Weevil hot on her tail. As always she barely acknowledged Dick's presence and jumped right into a conversation with Veronica.
"So I've finally gotten a breakthrough – at least I think I have. I went to the Sheriff's department and played the F.B.I. card and got a temporally permission to check out a file or two – which of course enabled me to copy a few hidden files off of Sheriff Stupido's personal main frame and then I sort of left them a little greeting card in the form of one of the nastiest little bugger's I've ever created, if I do say so myself."
The brunette let herself fall ungracefully down right next to Veronica smiling widely. If it wasn't for the evil look in her eyes it would have looked like a true happy smile. But instead it gave the two males present the willies.
"So…" Veronica said slowly and as she put her freshly polished Beretta down on the glass table. "If we pretend for a teeny tiny moment that I understood all of that; you're saying in your native tongue that Vinnie is gonna have a field day trying to open up any of his personal files after this…," Veronica continued when Mac nodded mutely, "and that we now have a few files on Gory and his sort?"
"Basically," Mac replied, leaning forward to grab her favorite laptop from the armchair she'd left it in earlier. A few minutes of furious pounding the keys, Mac leaned back with a confident smile. "It's all yours, Bond."
Veronica smiled wickedly. She scooted closer and started reading the detailed file on Gory that Vinnie van Lowe had apparently been hiding on his hard drive. "You think you can whip up a place where he might be, Mac?" Veronica asked now in full business mode. Mac copied the attitude and pressed a few buttons before answering her friend. "Give me a few hours and I'll be able to tell you what he ate for breakfast last Tuesday."
Both women were so engrossed in their assignment that neither of them noticed Dick and Weevil walking out in the kitchen with worried frowns on their faces.
"Yo man, I thought you had a plan to slow down V and the brainiac?" Weevil whispered.
Dick sighed running a hand through his blond surfer locks. "Yeah well, I did – believe it or not I am capable of coming up with decent ideas every now and again. But Logan is having a hard time getting Wallace to agree to this. Apparently his feelings for our little friend are sort of like the feelings she harbors for the rest of us…"
Weevil echoed Dick's sigh and leaned back at the counter looking uncharacteristically sheepish. "Yeah that's true, sorry man…I just forgot about that part I guess."
Dick's chuckle was anything but humor filled. "Right, like he'll ever forget about her part in his current lifestyle."
Weevil nodded seriously, now showing signs of pity of all things. "Yeah, I guess we sometimes let ourselves forget that he's got legitimate reasons to be as angry as she is. Wallace really lost a lot too…"
"Why are we standing in a corner in the kitchen talking about my old friend?"
Veronica's icy voice caused the two so called tough guys to jump when it interrupted their conversation. Dick gritted his teeth at the sight of Veronica's narrowed eyes; suddenly he felt a rush of annoyance. There were two people talking, yet Veronica's disapproving eyes were – as always – fixated on him.
"We've got nothing better to do now, do we? It sounds like you and Mackie got everything planned out."
Weevil swallowed hard next to Dick, making the latter oddly proud that he remained cool in the presence of the other blonde's obvious anger.
Veronica's blue eyes would have killed them both on the spot if it had been possible. If her eyes didn't do the job, the gun in her hands might wind up doing the deed, Dick realized, glancing down at the weapon. Veronica followed his gaze and seemed to think the same thing, because she slowly placed it on the counter next to her; probably to avoid temptation.
After a brief uncomfortable silence, she spoke again, the tone in her voice sent shivers down Dick's spine. "That may be so, but still I don't appreciate you talking about Wallace and…Just don't do it."
The commanding tone made something snap in Dick and he straightened up, asking with an ugly sneer on his face. "Oh yeah, why's that exactly? Don't like thinking about the one person that's actually got a legitimate reason to hate you, Veronica? I mean, come on…you're the reason that NBA wannabe lost the use of his legs!"
SLAM!
Dick stumbled backwards at the fist connected with his face and before he could prepare himself to do something in return, Veronica had attacked again. Punches rained down on him and he just tried to take it without retaliating. Something inside him knew he'd crossed a line this time, he already regretted his words. I guess, I should be happy she put the gun down after all; I don't wanna end up with two gunshot wounds in a matter of days…
"Don't," punch, "talk," punch, "about," punch, "me," punch, "like," punch, "that," punch, "asshole," punch.
Suddenly strong hands were around Veronica's waist, effortlessly pulling her away from her victim. The arms were familiar to her even though she hadn't felt them around her for years.
"Let me go Echolls, or you'll be next, I swear to God!" Veronica snarled as she watched Dick being dragged to his feet by a silent Weevil. Judging from the look the Latin boy was sending her, Veronica's eyes had to be a fearsome sight to behold at that moment.
"Calm down first Veronica and then I'll let you go." Logan's deep voice muttered in her ear.
The feeling and smell of her old lover made Veronica quiver, her body seemingly remembered everything about him; things her hateful mind couldn't erase no matter how much she tried. She froze mid-movement when she felt her nibbles harden; praying Logan would release her before he noticed her reaction.
"I'm okay now," she whispered and sighed inwardly in relief when the strong arms let go of her a few seconds later.
The following silence was awkward. Mac had apparently been oblivious to the whole thing seeing as her frenzied typing was the only audible sound.
Get a grip on yourself girl! Veronica scolded herself. You're supposed to be in iron control of your freaking emotions…if the guys at work could see you now they'd keel over and laugh their asses off.
Ending her internal lecture, Veronica took a deep calming breath and walked over to Dick and Weevil. The latter was trying to clean a cut she'd managed to make on Dick's eyebrow, but the blood just kept on pouring despite his attentions.
"Give it here." Veronica demanded quietly, holding her hand out. When Weevil didn't move, Veronica tilted her head and raised a blond brow without a word – just waiting.
Finally it dawned on Weevil who'd always been the more stubborn of the two of them and he backed off. He walked in to the living room to check up on Mac. He nodded mutely for Logan to follow and the taller man actually did without complaint or any snarky remarks.
This of course left the two blondes alone.
Dick eyed his attacker cautiously. Veronica didn't notice at first, too busy trying to stop the bleeding she'd caused. When she realized that Dick was tense because of her close proximity, she sighed, swallowing the sudden guilt his predicament caused. "Stay there; I'll just be a minute." Veronica exited the kitchen swiftly and reemerged moments later carrying an emergency kit.
Dick watched her prepare a small cloth and then he flushed in embarrassment when he actually flinched the moment she turned towards him with her hand raised.
Veronica briefly looked like she wanted to smile, but her face had forgotten how as she stated calmly. "Don't worry, Dick, I'm not gonna go all Rocky B. on your face again."
She gently began to wipe the blood of his face and Dick watched in wonder. She walks around with this bitter persona – not that I blame her, but still she can't not care about people. I knew she'd eventually let Weevil back in…but I can't believe she's this kind to me, considering how I acted.
Dick was torn out of his ponderings when Veronica's voice quietly said. "For what it's worth Dick…I'm sorry, I blew up on you like that. I'm just not a nice person anymore and, "she smirked halfheartedly, "I never did Ace my Anger Management Class so..." her voice trailed off in uncertainty as her hand continued gently dapping his wound.
Dick blinked stupidly for a second, before he snapped out of his shock. Veronica Mars is actually apologizing to me. Apologizing to me? Holy cow! Before the absurdness of that thought could overpower him, Dick noticed the huge amount of self loathing in Veronica's blue eyes after her declaration.
Suddenly unable to bear Veronica's obvious emotional pain, Dick straightened up, glancing down at her hands, before slowly taking one in his own and showed it to her. "Look Veronica," he began hesitantly, "I provoked you into doing this and you know damn well as much as I do, that I deserve a hell of a lot worse for what I've done to you and…"Dick tightened his grip to stop Veronica from interrupting and quickly continued. "You could never not be a nice person…Yeah I know you're the Bitch Queen and all that, but look at your hands for a second and tell me I'm wrong."
Veronica followed his eyes down to their intertwined hands and then looked up with a confused frown on her face that made her look nothing but sixteen again. "Okay, what's your point Dickie?"
Dick smiled at the sound of the familiar nickname returning and answered. "My point is Ronnie that your knuckles have been bleeding ever since Logan pulled you off of me. Now, I know a thing or two about that kind of injury, so I'm pretty sure they must hurt like hell right now and yet you've spent the last ten minutes making sure that I'm all right."
Veronica looked down at their hands again for a long while. Eventually she slowly looked up with a strained smile on her lips.
"What's so funny?" Dick couldn't help ask and she shrugged letting go of his hands.
"Well," she said, "if someone would've have told me a few years back that Dick Cassablancas would make me, Veronica Mars, his arch nemesis see a tiny bit of reason, I probably would've shot them."
Dick laughed and for a moment – just one short one, he dared to hope that she'd eventually forgive him for his past mistakes. The thought alone almost made him giddy.
"So," Veronica said a few minutes later when Dick finished bandaging her hands, "did you call Echolls here? 'Cause I don't scheduled any meetings until tomorrow."
Dick didn't get a chance to answer, because they'd just reentered the living room and Veronica didn't need a reason anymore. The answer was right in front of them sitting beside the couch; firmly planted in a silver wheelchair.
"Wallace…" Veronica breathed out in shock.
The tall paralyzed black man, who'd once claimed the spot as her best friend straightened up as much as he could, nailing her to the spot with a blank stare that spoke volumes to everyone around them.
"I thought you swore never to come back to Neptune again, Mars – in fact, I believe you promised me to stay the hell out of my way after you ruined my life."
--
…you ruined my life…
The words dug into Veronica's already fragile mind, tearing it to shreds in an instant. The memory of what she'd been responsible for flew to the forefront of Veronica's mind – and no matter how much she tried; Veronica was helpless against the swirling images pouring through her.
Wallace had been by her side the moment that he'd learnt of Keith's murder and murderer. At the funeral he'd gripped her hand tight, swearing to help her make Logan and Gory pay for their deeds.
Eight months later he'd found her in her new shabby apartment – frantically searching for clues to Logan and Gory's whereabouts. He'd forced her to include him in her findings and every night he'd desperately try to make the grieving girl eat to survive on something else than the thought of revenge.
"I love you Marshmallow, I can't let you be burned by the flames anymore than you've already been. I'm always gonna be here girl!"
The memories of that night he'd uttered those words and embraced her in a tight hug nearly killed Veronica as another image took its place.
Veronica was storming out to her car with a determined and almost manic gleam in her eyes.
"Don't try to stop me Wallace! I just found him and he'll pay for what he did to us, to Mac…and then I'll finally be free to focus on Logan!"
Wallace's strong arms tried in vain to keep the smaller woman from entering her car. Veronica fired up the engine seeing out of the corner of her eyes that the passenger seat-door opened and Wallace entered mutely. "I don't care what it takes," Veronica said without meeting his concerned dark eyes speeding down the road. "I'll get my revenge and if you try to stop me, I'll include you on the list too!"
Wallace had sighed and suddenly taken her tightly in his arms whispering. "I love you Marshmallow; I can't let you be burned by the flames anymore than you've already been. I'm always gonna be here girl!"
Then Veronica felt nausea overload her senses as she remembered the anonymous text message that had followed Wallace's declaration. "He knows – don't come after him – he'll kill you this time.
The next thing Veronica remembered were the lights from an approaching car, the terrifying knowledge of that it was trying to run them off the abandoned road, then the car flipping over and Wallace's scream of pain.
Veronica's quilt intensified when she vividly recalled her next actions; she'd dragged her unconscious friend out of the vehicle moments before it exploded and simply left him after dialing nine one one. Her thirst for Gory's blood had erased everything else.
When Veronica finally entered the building he was supposed to be in and found it empty, she'd screamed out her hate till she was hoarse.
Hours later she'd regained her senses and rushed to the hospital. Wallace's mother, Alicia, who didn't know of Veronica's involvement in the accident yet, flung herself at Veronica's neck crying her heart out. Veronica hadn't been able to show emotions, which would have been too devastating.
The Doctor telling them of Wallace's injuries and the horrible fact that he'd never walk again, replayed in Veronica's mind with cruel intensity.
Then the final memory came, taunting her with its clearness; the one memory Veronica couldn't bear to recall.
Wallace waking up, learning of his paralysis and the look in his eyes when he realized all his dreams were over. Veronica stood by his bedside, begging for forgiveness with tears in her eyes.
Wallace looked blankly at her from his bed and asked calmly. "If I forgive you – will you let go of that thirst for revenge you have and live the rest of your life to the best of your abilities?"
Veronica hadn't been able to answer without lying and Wallace had immediately seen through it saying coolly. "Yeah, that's what I thought. I'll never be able to forget this Veronica – I don't want to see you near me again, all right?"
Veronica had fallen to her knees and sworn to leave the town for good, so he wouldn't suffer needlessly because of her presence.
Her best friend hadn't responded and Veronica had gotten up without looking at him. She walked by a bewildered Alicia without a word. She'd wiped the tears of her face – swearing it would be the last time she cried and two hours later she left Neptune without looking back.
The memories of that time had been locked away safely in the back of Veronica's mind and after having revisited them for the first time in ages Veronica's tired mind couldn't take anymore pressure. She felt her knees weaken. She knew she was about to black out. Please catch me…she thought mindlessly to a certain male presence, without realizing that her silent prayer had been to Logan or that he actually did comply like always.
--
Logan watched his old love intensely easily recognizing the signs of emotional exhaustion when she entered the living room, but she did look more relaxed than he'd seen her in a long time. A moment later her eyes strayed from Dick's and past him before they landed on his companion and then she froze.
Wallace's words seemed to haunt Veronica like Logan used to be haunted by hers. He watched in masked concern as her face crumbled and she somehow fled into her own mind. She's reliving the past, Logan realized as he recognized the blank look. I should know it, he thought sardonically to himself, I see that look in the mirror every day…
Then all thoughts vanished when he noticed a slight shaking in Veronica's body and before anyone even realized what was happening, Logan had wrapped the now unconscious Veronica safely in his arms and was walking towards her bedroom to make her more comfortable.
Before Logan entered her room, he turned sideways looking coldly down at the shocked Wallace Fennell. The warning look in his eyes made Dick and even Weevil take a step back, despite the fact that the warning wasn't intended for them for once. "If you ever cause her this much distress again Fennell, I promise you that your feeling in your arms will follow the ones in your legs."
Having delivered his threat, Logan walked into the bedroom and placed Veronica on her bed. Before he exited her private room, Logan bent down and placed a brief kiss on her forehead, muttering a promise too quiet for the others in the doorway to hear.
He nodded to Weevil, who immediate understood the silent order and planted himself on a chair next to the door. No one would bother the female F.B.I. agent anymore that day – except for her own dreams…
TBC…
A/N I hope you'll let me know what you think;) Also to those of you reading both of my current VM stories, it's gonna be a few days until the next update, I've picked up some extra shifts at work, but after that, I'm going on vacation and I've got permission from the BF to spend one entire day just writing for my fics, so I'll come back with vengeance, I promise. Until next time
Ditte Mai
