A/N: Finally, we get to the long awaited Logan & T.J. conversation - I hope I do not disappoint! Thank you so much for all the fabulous feedback on the previous chapter - you're all awesome :)

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 11

Logan wasn't sure how long he'd been sitting on the couch with Veronica in his arms, until he started to lose the feeling in one of them. Still, he didn't ask her to move at all. She may have done wrong here, in fact she definitely had, but her pain was Logan's pain and he couldn't stand it. He had to comfort her, it was as if it was built into his DNA to hold her until her tears ceased and promise her everything would be okay, even if he had no idea that it actually would be.

The sound of loud music booming overhead made both of the ex-couple jump, and Veronica put a hand to her head.

"Oh, great. The 'drown my sorrows in my stereo' technique," she sighed, now out of Logan's arms at last.

"At least we know she's still up there," he shrugged, then off her odd look he explained. "She's our daughter, Veronica, its hardly a stretch to think she went out the window and ran again."

Veronica wasn't sure what to say to that. There was no denying he was probably right, and yet what had caught her attention most was his use of the word 'our'. He was right, of course. T.J. was their daughter, made of the two of them, not her and Leo like she pretended but her and Logan. That made Teresa both very lucky and entirely cursed, she supposed, given the mixture of their personalities within her.

"Honestly?" she sighed, looking towards the stairs. "I wouldn't be surprised if she had the stereo on a timer so it would start after she left," she said, looking down at Logan who smiled back at her.

That was just the kind of stunt one of them would have pulled in their youth, probably to sneak out and be together. There was really no doubting that it was their daughter up those stairs, no question at all.

"I should go check on her," Veronica shook her head as she stepped away.

Immediately Logan was on his feet reaching for her arm.

"I'll go, please," he urged her. "C'mon, Veronica, I'm not trying to guilt trip you here but you've had the last sixteen years," her reminded her. "Let me try and talk to her now, please?"

Veronica knew she had no way to argue with him. He was perfectly right, and he had every reason to want to get to know the daughter it had taken too long for him to meet. She couldn't imagine things ending well if Logan went up to talk to T.J. now, but at some point they had to face each other, and Veronica wasn't sure she could bear to be piggy in the middle for the rest of her life.

"Sure, go," she nodded, gesturing for Logan to do as he wanted. "Right across from the top of the stairs, that's her room," she explained.

"I'm guessing the door that's shaking to the rhythm of... Joan Jett if I'm not mistaken," he smiled easily and headed for the stairs.

Logan wasn't really sure what he was doing or what he was going to say when faced with his very upset teenage daughter. He doubted any parent really had a clue how to deal with such a situation, but at least they'd had the first sixteen years to get to know their child. He'd had two glimpses of the girl that was perfectly Veronica in the way she was built, but just a little bit himself when her eyes flashed with anger and pain. It wasn't much to build an opinion or a father-daughter relationship on.

"Er, Teresa?" he said, rapping on her door, unsurprised when she didn't answer.

Not bothering to stand on ceremony, Logan let himself in the surprisingly unlocked door.

"Get out of my room!" she yelled over her shoulder, lying on her bed with her back to him.

"That would be a no," the father she didn't care for responded as he flipped off her stereo without a moments pause. "See, I know you probably think you invented teenage angst, but me and your Mom? Yeah, we wrote the book," he told her, with a tome of some kind in his hand as he moved it off the bed and sat down. "All six volumes, I'm pretty sure."

T.J. turned over to look daggers at him, completely unimpressed by his presence, but at least a little in awe of his gall. It was weird how he didn't look much like the face on TV, and damn scary to realise that when he smirked he looked a little like her when she wore the same expression. T.J. pulled her knees up to her chest and wiped the back of her hand across her face.

"I don't know you," she shook her head. "I don't wanna know you, you're not my Dad," she spat nastily.

Logan took it all in his stride, as usual.

"Ah, the Echolls family temper," he noted. "Or maybe it's the Mars family temper? Either way, it was pretty much a given you'd have it," he told her, pulling one leg up under himself as he got comfy on the opposite edge of the bed.

"I'm like my Mom, not like you," she sneered, looking away.

It was awful, she hated all this. Just a day or so ago, her whole life made sense to her. She didn't always love everything about it, but it did make sense. She had a family that loved her, a best friend she could go to in a crisis, she was keeping her grade point average up where it should be, and she was about to turn sixteen. Life was okay for a teenage girl living in Neptune, but now everything had been turned on its head. Leo was not her father, there was no way to turn to Sam with the knowledge that acting heart-throb Logan Echolls was her real Dad, and today was the first day in her life she had skipped school when she wasn't literally so sick she couldn't leave the house. Everything was so beyond messed up, she almost couldn't breathe through it.

"Look, Teresa..." Logan tried again, only to have his head bitten off in a second.

"You don't get to call me that!" she told him, "My family calls me that. If you have to talk to me, you can all me T.J."

"Fine, T.J." he nodded once, determined not to show that she was hurting him at all, after all, none of this was her fault either. "Look, I know you're confused right now, and you're upset and everything," he said carefully. "I can't imagine what a big deal this is for you, but look at it from my side for a second. I have a daughter," he smiled, unable to help himself. "A beautiful, smart, mostly angry daughter apparently," he noted. "I've missed out on sixteen years of your life, T.J., and... and y'know I could be mad about that too".

T.J. didn't want to listen, she didn't want to think about this being someone else's fault. It was easier to blame Logan for coming back here and daring to be her father. Realistically, she knew she was being foolish. Her mother was to blame, even Leo, but not really Logan. If he'd left her and her Mom on purpose, she could blame him then, but he hadn't even known she existed until yesterday.

"I can't make myself like you," she said grumpily as she faced him again, sniffing hard from all her crying. "I don't know you, and given the things the magazines say about you, I'm not sure I want you," she shook her head.

"You believe everything you read in those trashy things?" asked Logan with wide eyes. "Huh. Maybe I should retract 'smart' from your list of qualities," he smiled then to prove he was teasing her.

T.J. couldn't really find it funny given her mood, but Logan was pretty sure the corners of her mouth lifted a little, albeit a very tiny amount. He wasn't the bad guy, if she were honest she knew that. Nobody in this room was a bad person. Hell, both of them even believed that Veronica and Leo did have her best interests at heart even if they did not ultimately handle the situation in the right way.

"So, what do you say, T.J.?" asked Logan then. "I know you feel like you have a Dad already, and I get that, but… you think you and me can at least get to know each other a little? Maybe be friends or something?" he tried, even though the teen still looked dubious.

The fact was, T.J. really wasn't sure how to react. Getting to know Logan Echolls seemed like an insane proposition. Even stepping back for a moment and forgetting he was apparently her biological father, he was still a movie star, and everyone in Neptune High knew his name and face. Here he was, Logan Echolls, star of stage and screen, frequenter of red carpets, sat on the edge of her bed, asking to be her friend. T.J. almost laughed at the realisation that any other teenage girl, especially her best friend Sam, would be positively swooning if they were in her shoes, though from Sam's point of view she would be even less impressed with the father angle than T.J. was. That led to squicky thoughts T.J. was glad she didn't have to worry about herself.

"At least it's you and not Christian Kane," she sighed

"Okay…" said Logan, not really sure where she was going with that until she pointed to the poster above her bed of the bare-chested TV star, some distinct lipstick marks in some places. "Ah, yeah. That'd be… awkward," he said carefully, at which T.J. actually did have to laugh.

Logan thought it best to leave out the part where he knew the man in the poster. Now wasn't the time. This already had to be the most crazy situation either of them had ever been in. Logan was counting being kidnapped by bikers, accused of murder, and punching an FBI agent in amongst his crazy things. T.J. herself was thinking of slightly less violent and scary stuff, but this was still right up there on her weird scale.

"I think we should go tell Mom we're okay," she sniffed then, climbing off the edge of the bed. "Her imagination goes into over-drive sometimes. She probably thinks I killed you by now."

Logan didn't answer that. Firstly, he didn't want to think his daughter was capable of such violence, even though he was sure she could pack a punch and would just as easily as he or Veronica might. Secondly, he knew why Veronica had that vivid imagination for the worst possible things – they had lived through kidnap, rape, murder, parental abuse, and all the most horrible things a teenager could go through. In the long run, Logan had to be at least a little glad that his daughter had been raised by a man hat would see no harm came to her and always treat her right.

Leo was in a world of his own, sat the sheriff's desk just staring unseeing at the computer screen. Keith had to call is name three times before he looked up and took notice.

"Hey, sorry, Keith," he said quickly, sitting up straight and offering his ex-father-in-law to take the seat across from him. "To what do I owe the pleasure?" he asked with a smile that was distinctly forced.

"It's no pleasure, Leo, believe me," Keith sighed as he took the offered chair. "I mean, you know I never really approved of you and Veronica keeping Teresa a secret from Logan," he explained, watching Leo's head drop in disgrace like a naughty school boy. "That said, I think you raised her better than he probably would have, and given the circumstances, I came to check how things were with you".

Leo looked up then with a little surprise. He thoroughly expected Keith to check on Veronica and T.J., he really didn't expect him to come make sure he was doing okay. The fact was he really appreciated someone slightly outside of the loop to talk to, and he planned to tell the former sheriff so.

"Thanks, Keith, I really mean that," he told him seriously. "I mean, yeah, me and Veronica made this choice and we should've known one day what the consequences would be but…"

"But sometimes you just go ahead anyway and hope for the best," the older man sighed. "Believe me, Leo, I know how it goes. I was lucky with Veronica, I raised her as my own and she turned out to be my daughter, but the same thing could have happened with us. I guess she told you about Jake Kane and her Mom".

Leo nodded that he knew the whole story. It was the confusion over Veronica's own paternity that had made Keith so mad about them lying over T.J.'s father. They ought to have known better, he said, Veronica ought to realise the damage she could do, but they'd done it anyway.

"Logan was pretty mad, but that's nothing compared to T.J.'s reaction," Leo shook his head. "She actually seems to have forgiven me but she was so mad at Veronica and weirdly at Logan".

"I'm guessing Logan's anger was aimed mostly at your face," said Keith with half a smirk as he gestured to Leo's split lip.

The sheriff's hand went to the gash subconsciously and he sighed.

"Yeah, we may have got into a fight," he admitted. "Not that I'm proud of it, but I'm guessing he has a pretty good black eye this morning too".

"I won't say you did the right thing there either, but I've kind of been wanting to do that for years, so thank you," Keith admitted with a smile he knew was unfair and wrong.

"I don't wanna lose my daughter, Keith," Leo said sadly then, wiping any look of satisfaction off the older man's face. "I know we don't share DNA or anything, and me and Veronica couldn't make a marriage work, but T.J. is still my little girl".

"You won't lose her, son," Keith assured him standing to put a hand on his shoulder. "She knows how much you love her and you raised her for sixteen years, she won't just forget that because Mr Swanky Pants Echolls is in town".

Leo appreciated the sentiment, and of course he recalled last night when T.J. had hugged him and told him he would always be her Daddy. Still, there was a niggling worry in the back of his mind that wouldn't go away. He could see himself losing the family he built and tried so hard to keep together. Even though they were Logan's to steal in a lot of ways, the thought of it made him feel sick to the stomach and always would.

To Be Continued...