Fuck. What am I doing here?

Veronica stood in front of the cubicle door taking a deep breath. She half-expected to hear Lianne come in after her. Loosening the doors lock, she wandered over to the elongated mirror in the corner of the restroom. It was ornately carved with barb wire, horseshoes and stars. She could see lip marks across the glass; but tried to push the thought away.

Where's Hilts when you need him?

She looked intently in the mirror. Turning on every angle, killing as much time as humanly possible, the quicker the dinner went the less casualties there would be.

'Honey?' She could hear Lianne's voice just outside the door.

Like clockwork.

'Yeah?' She called back with a roll of her eyes. She turned on the tap, the water trickled playfully down her hands, and she reached over for some paper towel.

'Your dinner is on the table,'

'I'll be there in a minute,'

Right after I impale myself.

Lianne footsteps shifted away. Veronica took one final look at herself in the mirror and pulled the door open.

Well, John Keating – cease the day.

She stood in the main restaurant, staring across the room at Lianne and Keith. Her parents out at dinner together. It wasn't something she'd ever thought she'd see again. She could see Hunter still intently colouring, Logan at his side, both with a crayon in hand. Occasionally Logan would stop and offer Hunter a warm smile which Hunter would mirror seamlessly.

It's not Hallmark; but it'll do.

She took her seat next to Logan.

'Hey, I wondered where you'd gotten to,' Keith said.

'I was worried you'd gone all Harrison Ford on us,' Logan quipped, setting his crayon aside.

'Looks like you fell into Daddy Daycare alright,' She offered.

'I don't know, I think we had a pretty good time, wouldn't you say so Hunter?'

'Yeah,' Hunter gave a coy smile.

The conversation died down after a moment. Lianne sat despondently next to the rest of the group, offering very little in the way of conversation, Keith shifted beside her.

'I was telling Logan about the new coffee maker,' Keith added.

'Ahh… yeah,' Veronica uttered, cutting a piece of her meat, 'It tastes as good as it smells,'

A pimple-faced teenage boy dressed in spurs and a cowboy hat, clumsily made his way towards their table, haphazardly plonking down Keith, Logan and Hunter's plate. Veronica looked down at their overflowing meals.

'Hi, my Mom ordered a salad,'

The younger waiter reached into his pocket, producing a loose crinkled sheet of paper, he looked from Veronica to the sheet nervously.

'I-I, I am sorry, I'll have it sorted out right away,' and he scuttled back to the kitchen.

Look at that, you can see his tail between his legs.

'Lianne, do you want some of m-'

'No, Keith, its fine,' She snapped back.

Keith cleared his throat, 'So Logan, I heard you went over to Catalina, how was it?'

'Yeah, it was good. Quite warm, I did some surfing, played some mini-golf. I signed up for pottery class, but it was cancelled at the last minute so…' He joked.

'It's funny, I pictured you more as a life drawing kind of man, myself,' Lianne argued.

'I've only been over there once, it is a beautiful place,' Keith pushed aside Lianne's comment.

'Yeah, my grandfather loved it, he…uh… he took me out there, when I was little kid,'

'I see,' Keith gave a knowing glance.

'Mommy, can we go home soon?' Hunter slumped back against his chair. His plate was pushed towards the middle of the table, mostly done with a few half-eaten nuggets hanging over the side.

'What's the matter, Hunter?' Veronica rested her hand on his arm.

'It's probably all this greasy and salty food,' Lianne snorted.

'Mom, can I have a word?' She walked over towards Lianne's chair and gestured towards the double doors.

She could feel herself bubbling over, she'd just tried to do the right thing, she'd just tried to help her mother. And so far that had meant Logan being met with hostility at every turn.

Once outside, she could no longer contain herself, 'I didn't have to do this, you know,'

'What?' Lianne asked, freeing herself from Veronica's grip.

'I could've been at home right now in my pajamas, eating Mama Leone's and watching The Big Lebowski,'

'Veronica, what are you talking?'

'Tonight. This. This whole thing,' She exasperated ly pointed with her hand towards the restaurant.

'I didn't ask you to do this,' Lianne countered.

'Do you really I'd do this for me? Do you really think I'd do this because I needed it?'

'I don't know why you do what you do, Veronica,'

'What's that supposed to me? Don't you see what sitting in that apartment is doing to you? What it's doing to Hunter? It's killing you both,'

'We're doing fine,'

'And what if you get convicted,' Veronica shouted, 'What will happen then?'

Lianne grew quiet, the words at the very edge of her lips, but she wouldn't let them pass.

'He will go into foster care, Mom,'

'No, he won't, I won't let that happen,' Lianne shook her head vigorously.

'There is a scared little boy in there, who just lost his father and his sister, he may lose his mother as well. He will need a family-people to keep him safe,'

'He has me,'

'I know you don't like Logan and I don't need you to,' Veronica's voice was measured, flowing out so easily, like she'd just be waiting for an opportune time to say this for so long, 'I don't even need you to buy him a World's Greatest Son-in-Law cup or some ridiculous t-shirt from Café Press. What I need is for you to be civil. To pretend that you don't want to run him over with your car.'

'I don't lik-'

'Logan is in my life, you may not like it, but you'll have to tolerate it,'

'I-'

'Think of Hunter,' Veronica urged, reaching her mother's eye. From where they were standing they could see Hunter sitting beside Logan, wriggling happily and throwing his head back in a hearty laugh, as if they'd shared a silent joke. Obviously already growing fond of each other.

'Can we go back inside now?' Veronica moved towards the door, prying it open.

'Veronica?' She heard her mother's voice grow faint.

'Yeah?'

'Why him?'

Yeah, Veronica, why him? How do you explain to your mother what you and your boyfriend have been through since you forced her out of your life more than ten years ago?

'Honestly, Mom, there aren't enough hours in a day,'

Lianne nodded and followed her back inside.

'Hey ladies, we were thinking of going out, getting some icecream and going back to your place to look over some stuff for the lawyers later. I am thinking Mickey D's,'

'Okay, please never say that again,' Veronica mused.

'How about it, Lianne?'

'Yeah, sure,' Her voice suddenly sounded brighter, 'We can go now, Keith,'

'But what about your meal?'

'I'll just eat something at home,' She shrugged.

'If you're sure, what does everyone else want? Hunter wants a chocolate sundae, Logan? Veronica?'

'I am fine,' Logan said, shifting a $50 dollar bill into the middle of the table, Keith pretended not to notice.

'Strawberry, please,'

'Alright well, we can go get the icecream and we can meet you there,'

'Keith, just take the money,' Logan eyed him.

Keith's pride was visibly shaken. While he knew Mars Investigations wasn't going as well as he had hoped, he didn't want Logan paying for things, no matter how big his bank account.

'Alright,' Keith signed, pocketing the bill, 'But this isn't going to become a thing?'

'Define thing?' Veronica bugged.

Keith rolled his eyes and looked at Logan, 'You know, what I mean,'

'Noted,' Logan agreed.

'I want to go with Veronica,' Hunter begged, hugging her waist.

Surprised, she looked at Logan, who offered his best it's-fine-really smile.

'Well, I guess I'll grab his seat, if that's okay with you, Lianne?' Keith turned her, awkwardly.

The group could tell she was turning it over in her mind, the way she paused, drawing out the moment as long as possible.

'It's fine with me, make sure you're good for Veronica, baby,' She kissed Hunter's cheek quickly.

Hunter scrunched his eyes half-shut and proceeded to rub her kiss away vigorously, 'I will,'

Keith returned a moment later with the car seat and handed it to Logan.

'Oh and here,' Lianne handed a set of keys to Veronica, 'So you can get in at the house,'

Well, the tin woman does have a heart after all.

'We'll see you there,' Keith called, climbing into his car.

'We've just gotta put your seat in, Hunter, and then we'll be ready to go,' Veronica said, supervising Logan as he tried to maneuver it into the BMW. In a second, he had it, and opened the door.

'I don't like it,' Hunter frowned, 'It's like a baby seat,'

'It's to make sure you're safe, that's all,' Veronica reasoned.

'Plus, you know all the greatest drivers at NASCAR have to sit in special seats?' Logan offered Hunter a hand as he climbed in. Veronica sat down in her seat and craned her head to watch the exchange.

'They do?'

Logan buckled him, 'Yeah, otherwise if they crash, they can really badly hurt,'

'So I am like a racing car driver?' Hunter's face lit up.

'Yeah, Hunter Scott who drives for NASCAR,'

'COOL!' Hunter beamed.

Logan climbed into the driver's seat and lightly brushed his hand across Veronica's knee.

'Thanks,' She affirmed.

They made their way back across town, passed the ocean still lively with people, the cafes and restaurants that lined the main street filled with chattering laughter or clicking glasses as neon lights glistened and swirled across their bonnet like fireworks. For some, the night was only just beginning. She looked over at Logan and wondered why it had taken so long to get here. Where there was no distance, no absence, but an all-encompassing feeling. That feeling she'd been missing in New York. That feeling that she denied herself so many times while in Logan's arms, when he'd said he loved her-even when she'd come back. All-encompassing. That was Logan.

'I love you, Logan,' She'd tried to say to make it sound non-blasé, like she'd said it a million times, even though she hadn't.

He looked away from the road a second, taking in her face, her blue eyes. Those lips that he'd kissed countless times; but had missed so much while he'd been away, that face he'd been longing to see.

'I love you too. Always will,' He said it with such certainty that it surprised her.

He pulled into the apartment complex and helped Hunter out of his seat.

'I'll be in, in a minute, here take the keys,' She handed them to Logan and he laced his fingers around hers briefly.

She rushed across the road to the Mini-Mart, looking back once to see if they'd been watching, however, they hadn't. Once inside she peered around, the place was poorly stocked, the light flickered and some old man sat on a swivel chair in the furthest corner of the store.

'Can I help you with something?' She turned to see a lanky looking guy wearing a name tag CASH and brandishing a monotone.

'Yes, I just wanted to know if you've seen a blonde lady come in here recently. She lives across the road in one of the apartments, I think. I know she shops here sometimes,'

'Blonde lady? We just hired a new g-woman, but she does night-fill mostly,'

'Did she apply here or?'

'Yeah, something about her husband being a dead-beat and she need some money, she has a kid so…'

'Okay, well thanks, Cash,'

'No problem, she shops here too, she seems like she's having a hard time,'

He nodded and moved back towards the counter.

She left the convenient store and made her way back up the stairs to Lianne's apartment. The door was slightly ajar and she could see Logan and Hunter sitting on the couch.

'My Mom might go to jail,' Hunter sighed, cautiously.

'Yeah?'

'Yeah, they say she's an accessary,'

'My Dad went to jail. He did something bad,'

Good job, Logan, keep the details to a minimum-Don't give my kid brother nightmares.

'My Dad's in jail,' Hunter added sternly, 'He was bad too,'

Silence engulfed the room for a long minute.

'Hunter, they still love you, you didn't do anything wrong,' He sounded like he was talking from experience.

Veronica began to wonder about how much that had played on his mind following his mother's death. Whether he should've saved her. Whether he could've. Or maybe it was his own father's hatred of him that drove him to do what he did to Lilly. But they both knew better. Aaron was sadistic-there was no saving him.

'What if my Mom goes to jail?' Hunter choked.

Logan consider this for a moment, she could already hear the cogs in his head turning over, attempting not to make flippant promises he couldn't keep, 'We-Veronica and I, we'll look after you, we'll make sure you'll be alright. And we'll take you to see your Mom,'

Hunter sniffed and rested his head on Logan 'Will you promise?'

'I promise.'

And the little boy let out a soft whimper of tears into his shoulder.