Disclaimer is in chapter one.

A/N Not maipigen again. I'm her BF and she's been begging me to post this since it was just sitting finished on her computer ever since the accident. She's slowly doing better and if all goes well will be released from hospital in the upcoming week. Then there's a lot of other stuff like training and getting better etc. Enjoy and I am supposed to thank you for the well wishes. I read them to her when her concussion meant she couldn't stand reading for long periods of time. Thanks.

Alterations and Counselling

There was a tense silence in the room; none of the two people present seemed willing to break it for some reason. A standard-issued wall clock ticked away loudly in the quiet room until stubbornness was eventually replaced by impatience by one of them.

"Well…tell me again just how you ended up in this mess?"

Veronica squinted through the corner of her eye to glare angrily – albeit subtlety - at Lily, who hadn't moved from her spot, where she was leaning with fake nonchalance up against the window in the school counsellor's small office.

The deceased Kane looked like she was trying very hard not to tap her heel-clad foot impatiently the longer it took for Veronica to respond. Finally, and with a weary sigh, Veronica opened her mouth, ending the unofficial stalemate the two friends had gotten themselves into.

"Look Lil, I really don't want to discuss this whole thing with you right now."

Lily put her hands through her golden hair and shook her head to make the locks fall gently down her shoulders, portraying someone that didn't have a care in the world. Since Veronica knew her too well, it most likely didn't even slightly fool her and so, Lily turned to fully face her transformed best friend, who was sitting in a worn-out chair in front of a much used desk, looking tired but defiant all at the same time.

"There's not a whole lot that you can do to escape me, remember? I'm a dead girl walking after all." Lily stated flatly, barely keeping her frustration at bay. It didn't get any easier when Veronica merely sighed heavily. She was keeping her attention on the desk and a cheap-looking stapler that they both knew had once housed a camera, which Veronica had hidden in it in the original time-line.

Will I have to do that again too? Veronica wondered briefly, before movement from Lily tore her back into the present with a vengeance.

Lily jumped elegantly on top of the desk right in front of Veronica. Without any pause to give the former teenage detective a chance to snark anything, the deceased Kane spoke in an unusually serious tone that honestly didn't suit her carefree nature all that much.

"Ronnie, please try to understand how very much of a bad idea this was. You've already altered a few things on your own and trust me; the man upstairs isn't seeing eye to eye with your reasoning for those changes."

Veronica bit back an inhumane – and slightly childish – snarl even as she fearlessly locked eyes with her first best friend. "If you're about to spew some crap about, how everything happens for a reason, you need to trust me that I don't give a flying fuck about that statement. I've heard it before and it was just as meaningless then…"

The heat in Veronica's voice wasn't a surprise to Lily. She even understood it given what she knew of Veronica's life over the last year or so before the time travel had come along. Before the former Kane Heir could try and diffuse the situation so it didn't evolve into a complete screaming match that she only ever enjoyed having with Celeste, Lily watched Veronica in Logan's tall body slump in her seat with another loud sigh.

"Look, Lily," she said slowly with an exhausted undertone that made the ghost cringe inwardly, "we both know that I've lived through a lot and unlike you, I've also lived through this hell of a year once before and again you can believe me when I say this. There were a lot of wrongs that needed to be righted. And," Veronica lifted a hand when Lily tried to interrupt, "I know that stopping Kendall from joining forces with Mr. Echolls a.k.a. Gigantic Psychopath Numero Uno wasn't in your script, but I'm not sorry. I went to the prison and I intervened when I saw the chance to and Logan doesn't need to know anything about it."

Lily twirled a long golden hair lock around her index finger as she contemplated Veronica's statement for a long while. She pretended not to notice nor secretly enjoy the sight of Veronica fidgeting uncomfortably in her seat as she waited for Lily to speak.

"Listen, when you do these things Veronica, it changes the way things were meant to go. It can prove dangerous beyond anyone's imagination playing around with Destiny without explicit permission."

Clenching her fists, Veronica had to use all of her willpower to not resort to Logan's bad habit of beating up people that annoyed him or made him uncomfortable as was the case right now with Lily…well, sort of, Veronica amended silently and ignored the tiny part of her that viciously pointed out that Logan's temper had cooled over the years and before their marriage had turned into a total disaster, he'd actually counselled teenagers with anger issues.

Getting a grip of her own rather wobbly temper problems, Veronica crossed her arms and leaned back to get a better view of her friend. "Lily," she then tried to explain with heartfelt sincerity, "So many mistakes were made this year. I mean; avoidable ones too. Duncan didn't really have to run away with baby Lily. If we'd been rational about it, the Kane money could've easily paid the way for him to gain custody the legal way – especially since Neptune's corruption is pudding in the Kane family's hands. By threatening Aaron the way I did, I also made sure, that Duncan won't have his death on his hands."

Lily looked curious at that last statement and then shrugged with an agreeable nod when Veronica quickly explained that it didn't really take a genius to figure out who'd been responsible for the hit on the famous murderer.

Veronica uncrossed her arms, got up with a sudden need for movement and walked around in a circle silently for a minute. Then she added a few more of the wrongs that needed to be corrected to the list, suddenly desperate to make Lily understand and agree with her.

"It's not like I don't already know how to get Mr. Druggy Plastic Surgeon to confess to his false witness statement, therefore Hannah won't have to be heartbroken by Logan…and speaking as one, whose heart was destroyed by said male, I don't really want anyone to live through that if I can do anything to stop it."

Once more, Veronica expertly pretended not to hear her inner voice point out that she also wouldn't have to remember just how quickly Logan had fallen for the other and genuinely nice girl if the girl never really entered the picture.

Finally reaching the end of her quickly thought up list, knowing that if she was given more time it would only turn longer and longer, Veronica stopped moving and bit her lip nervously as she waited for Lily's response.

The Kane girl looked up at her old friend for a long while. Eventually, she copied Veronica's earlier weary sigh and spoke, with uncharacteristic sadness and defeat etched into every inch of her beautiful face.

"Ronica, I totally get where you're saying, I do. And trust me in this if nothing else: the fact that mini-me and Donut are well on their way to be together without having to flee the country is nothing short of great, but…" Lily hesitated but then finished with another heavy exhalation. "You really can't change the past. It's already been done and just because Duncan won't flee the country this time around, it doesn't change the fact, that he'll end up living in Australia in a couple of days from now."

Hearing that, Veronica lost her fragile grip on her temper and practically threw herself back into the chair she'd abandoned earlier. "Tell me then, how can you and Lynne change the past between me and Logan if it's all just so damn set in stone, huh? Just stop this stupid thing and send me home right now!"

Instinctively, Lily reached out to embrace her miserable friend, but Veronica pushed the gesture away with a small hiss of exasperation. A moment later, Veronica said hoarsely, looking a little broken. "It's killing me to be here Lily, being like this hurts me more then you'll ever know. Please end it, reverse it or whatever; just make it stop!"

Lily swallowed her own guilt, the wretchedness of the whole thing getting to her like never before and she decided to reveal just a little bit of the truth. Veronica needed to grasp the seriousness of the situation before she ended up doing more harm than good anyway.

"The reason you and Logan were sent back is not because of a whim or a bet or anything silly like that." Lily waited for Veronica to look up and meet her gaze before continuing softly, "You and Logan's future weren't supposed to turn out like it did. Something went wrong. You're…epic, remember? Epic people need to stay together."

Veronica drew in breath to actually scream at the murdered teen. About what she didn't even really know, but before she finished the door to the office suddenly opened and in walked the school's counsellor, Rebecca James.

Rebecca's kind eyes took in the sight of the King of Neptune High sitting alone in her small office with what looked a lot like tears in his eyes and a look of something she couldn't really put into words as his dark eyes met hers.

What's going on here? Rebecca thought to herself before closing the door behind her and putting on her professional mask.

"Hello Logan, thank you for coming. I hope you didn't wait too long, I had a few details to discuss with a couple of other people and I didn't realize how late it was."

She watched quietly, and a little unnerved as Logan nodded and seemed to put on his own mask of pure expressionlessness while leaning back in his seat with an air of complete relaxation that almost made her forget the dark shadows under his eyes.

Veronica kept cursing her bad luck as she cast a few sideways glances at Lily, who once again had morphed into the former queen of Neptune even though her performance couldn't even be seen by anyone other than Veronica. Lily ignored the mocking tilt of Veronica's eyebrow as she studied the older woman curiously. Then she broke into a smirk and left with a parting note of warning inside Veronica's mind.

"Remember what I said and please don't screw this up any more than you absolutely have to."

It was Rebecca sitting down at her desk and clearing her throat delicately that brought Veronica out of her head and into the present once again.

"So, Logan," Rebecca began kindly, "I called you in here to discuss your family situation and how it's changed you. I know things are tough for you right now. Are you having trouble with someone…say, a little blonde girl?"

Veronica held her breath and almost let slip a whole torrent of curses. She was not prepared to deal with this!

0o0o0

"Why didn't you tell me Miss James met with you and wanted to discuss your mental health during senior year?"

Logan flinched and spilled his Snapple all over the red plastic table in the quad and looked up at his own very angry reflection.

The question damn near pierced through him, and he had to repress an instinctive reaction to flee from the anger. Ultimately, Logan did what he always did in situations he'd rather avoid; he acted like it didn't faze him.

"Well, little-miss-I-have-a-perfect-memory, I forgot. How's that excuse?"

Veronica's answering laugh was drenched with disbelief and irritation. It sounded so much like the bullying teenager Logan had once been that it caught the attention of their curious peers and made Duncan walk over to them. The sole surviving Kane child probably thought he needed to intervene before their conversation escalated into a full-grown fight.

Logan almost whimpered pathetically as the other male drew closer. He still vividly recalled the very unwelcomed kiss he'd received and definitely didn't want a repeat performance. "Make him go away, piss him off or something," he ordered frantically with an edge of begging in his voice that he didn't even want to deny. He was that desperate.

Logan noticed distractedly that Wallace was following right behind Duncan. His usually so genial face was full of a warning that vaguely mimicked the expression he'd worn when he'd exploded at Logan in the original time line. Logan refused to let his mind wander back to that and let himself be distracted a little by the fact that Jackie wasn't far behind the dark-skinned teenager.

It seemed like she was at the stage in her life where she'd accepted Veronica's hold over Wallace, but judging from the glances she sent who she thought was Veronica and then Wallace, said acceptance wasn't endless.

Logan watched silently as the real Veronica froze up when the trio came closer. He could easily see the pure longing in her eyes and it made him a little uncomfortable with guilt. Once again he realized just how much she missed her friend and Logan sort of wished he'd remembered and told her a little about Wallace and his interactions since they'd been back. It would probably have cheered her up to know I have no idea how to play besties with her bestie…

In the end, the trio arrived at Logan's table before he could say much of anything. To his utter humiliation, as soon as Duncan arrived, he slipped down beside him and planted a chaste kiss on his 'girlfriend's' cheek. Veronica made a sound as if she barely managed to stop a giggle from escaping her and that naturally put an end to any and all sympathy Logan may harbored – his appetite didn't survive the kiss either and he pushed his tray away from him with a sigh of disgust.

Fortunately, Wallace placed himself right in front of who he thought to be Logan with an air of distaste simmering all around him, and took away any attention Logan's actions may have caused. When Wallace spoke, his voice seemed to have a touch of ice in it that would've sent shivers down a weaker person's spine.

"So…What's up with you today?"

Clearly, the basketball-player was spoiling for an argument that Veronica would never give him. She did however do her best to act like Logan would've in the same circumstance sans violence.

Jackie sat down at the table, next to Logan and watched her boyfriend's uncharacteristic antagonistic behavior closely. As did, Logan noticed, Duncan. The Kane's eyes were narrowed as if he didn't quite know who to root for. It would seem like the fight he'd had with 'Logan' had knocked some sort of friendship sense back into his skull and he didn't want to see Wallace explode on his former best friend completely.

Logan would've appreciated Duncan's slight turnaround, but he was too busy taking advantage of the lack of attention. He'd childishly grabbed the nearest paper napkin from his abandoned tray and was repeatedly wiping his abused cheek, silently yearning for a gallon of Purell.

In the end, Wallace's lack of experience with poisonous conversations showed when Veronica abruptly ended the icy conversation by sitting down next to Jackie and he almost gawped like a fish on land, unable to continue. The other female quickly got back up, took a firm hold of Wallace's hand and began dragging him away to their next class– clearly; her patience was at an end.

Wallace didn't object, but he did look over his shoulder and asked his supposedly best friend with a raised brow, "You coming, V? I don't think Mrs. Hauser's gonna like waiting too long even though it's you."

Putting down his mangled napkin, Logan forced and replied with a shrug and Veronica's head tilt firmly in place, "What can I say? The lady does adore me. Please tell her that I got called away by Clemmons or something. Thank you."

Wallace shook his head with a smile. Obviously, he thought Veronica was skipping class to work on another case or something because he simply waved before disappearing through the open doors.

After Wallace and Jackie left, there was a beat of awkward silence. The trio hadn't exactly had a peaceful last couple of encounters.

Then it seemed like Duncan decided to take on the role of peace-keeper. He turned to who he thought was Logan and, using that special calm voice that unknowingly irritated the married couple to bits, Duncan asked a question.

"Are you two ever going to relax around each other? Whatever it is you're fighting about now, it's not worth it. I'll skip last class too. Baby Lily is ready to come home from the hospital now and I don't want her to spend too much time with the Mannings'…" His voice turned a little hesitant as he sent a slightly worried glance Logan's way, as if even mentioning his dead ex-girlfriend would piss him off. "I…I kinda promised Meg that."

When neither of the time travelers verbally reacted to his statement, Duncan nodded curtly to 'Logan' and delivered another oh-so-sweet-kiss to his oh-so-delighted-'girlfriend'. Then he too got up and left, walking determinedly toward the parking lot.

Logan looked forlornly down at the pathetic remains of his napkin and tried not to gag after having received yet another round of attention from his childhood friend that he'd never wanted. Never ever in a million years times ten.

It took him a few minutes to work up anything resembling his former appetite and when he succeeded, Logan looked up from pulling his tray back in front of him and met the cold stare from his wife that had all but burned a hole in his head since they'd been left alone.

Evidently, Veronica was ready to continue their previously interrupted discussion. "Well," Logan said, rolling his eyes obnoxiously, "Stop glaring at me like I sold a pony to the closest glue factory, okay? I just forgot one little memory in the midst of hundreds of others way more important, that's all."

His words didn't diffuse the situation like Logan had hoped. Instead Veronica simply leaned forward with an irritated twitch in her face. "I was taken by surprise, Logan." She stated quietly, not wanting to be overheard by the few stragglers still sitting in the quad. "We both know that I don't like surprises, remember?"

For the first time since she'd arrived, Logan felt an inkling of honest anger spark to life inside of him. He clenched his jaw and when he spoke, the words left him through gritted teeth.

"Yeah, I remember. It's one of the rare things we have in common. Unlike you, I just don't freak out over every little surprise. I mean," Logan forced a cool smile onto his lips that had no humor in it whatsoever, "I can't say I particularly enjoyed finding out about your little jaunt to Daddy Dearest last week, but you don't see me pitching a fit, do you?"

It would be a lie if Logan said he didn't feel an immense satisfaction when the blood drained from Veronica's face and she gasped in shock.

"How'd you find out?"

Logan chuckled and placed his face in his hands, once again abandoning his untouched lunch. "You forget, Mister Echolls, that I'm the one who's related to Keith Mars these days. The man that knows everything…He told me."

Veronica looked like she'd been sucking on a lemon at the reminder of her dad's loyalties to someone that wasn't really her and Logan had to swallow down the tiny pinch of guilt he felt at making her remember that.

There was another awkward silence for a while and then Logan did something he'd promised himself he wouldn't do. "How did it go in the prison?" he asked quietly, hating himself for ever needing to know the answer.

0o0o0

As the question left Logan, Veronica immediately tensed. Inwardly, she instantly relived the afternoon she'd entered the visiting area and locked eyes with her best friend's killer, her husband's abusive father and her own attempted murderer, Aaron Echolls.

The sun had fallen in through the barred windows and the sight of Aaron in an orange jumpsuit had momentarily caused Veronica to stop in her tracks right in front of the booth where he sat waiting behind inches of bulletproof-glass. His dark hazel eyes that he'd given to his son had met hers and his million-dollar smile had been ignited as he took the connecting phone up to his ear and gestured for her to do likewise.

Veronica had to force down bile at the honest pleasure that was shining in her father-in-law's face just from seeing her. Instead, she nodded once in a silent greeting and sat down on the uncomfortable seat before grabbing the phone that connected to Aaron's.

"Hey Son, I'm so glad you're here at last. I really wanted to talk to you."

"Then talk," Veronica muttered coolly, using every bit of strength she possessed to not make the fact that she hated him too obvious.

Aaron's smile faltered a bit and for one split second, Veronica caught a glimpse of darkness flash through his eyes. Then he blinked and the open and friendly expression was firmly back on.

"Look, Son; I know you're angry with me and I understand. I do however want your forgiveness more than anything else and I promise you that when I get out of here, things are going to change."

Veronica didn't respond, vitriol threatened to escape her tight-lipped mouth, but thankfully Aaron was too caught up in his no doubt rehearsed performance to notice her reaction.

"Although it's going to be hard at first, I know that we'll move on from this bad experience and I'll make everything okay again. I already have something planned; Son and then we'll be a happy family again."

Unable to control herself anymore, Veronica barked out a bitter laugh that brought a frown of bemusement on Aaron's face. The frown turned a darkening scowl when she finished laughing and started speaking.

"Do you for one second think that anytime Lo-I spent with you ever made me happy? What made you think that? The beatings? The abuse and the threats? Stop looking at me like that, I'm too old to cower in front of you now, Daddy."

Veronica leaned forward towards the thick see-through Plexiglas and added, sounding every bit as evil as the unapologetic murderer in front of her. "You will never get out of here. Your little appointment with Mrs. Cassablancas will go as I say or you will end up dying a pathetic death. Trust me; I know how to make it look like you killed yourself in remorse. Believe me, you're better off in here among people, who want nothing more than a little morning fuck in the showers. Don't test my resolve on this. If you do, I swear I'll make you see just how far I'm willing go. Do you understand?"

A long minute passed by in utter silence. Tension kept building unacknowledged. Neither of them blinked, unwilling to be the first to look away. At long last, Aaron drew in a deep breath and slowly nodded. This time his eyes had a flash of something Veronica had never seen in them before. It was fear and it was delicious to see for the former blonde.

Someone laughing and shouting nearby jolted Veronica out of the memory and she met Logan's questioning gaze. She bit her lip briefly, trying to decide how to answer his reluctant question.

"Nothing important really happened." Veronica finally settled on saying, "He was like he always is and I played the part of his disappointed son when he tried to insincerely make everything dandy again. That's all. I promise."

0o0o0

Logan knew she was lying. Something else happened in there, he thought as he shook his head a little ruefully at the blatant lie, but who really cares? That asshole in that prison stopped being my father the second his fist hit my face when I was four.

As though she knew he was on to her, Veronica avoided his gaze. She was currently looking over at Weevil, who stood all alone over by the entrance doors, looking for all the world like he too was skipping class. Logan scanned the Latino, silently remembering that it was around this time that the PCH gang leader had been betrayed and feeling a little guilty for not helping him out even though they had their own problems to deal with.

"So," Logan asked, deciding to change the earlier subject completely. "Heard anything from our visiting pain in the asses lately? My mom seems to only drop by when I'm doing something that's either juvenile in her eyes or in danger of changing too much of the timeline."

Suddenly, as if his words reminded her of something, Veronica lit up in a smile. For once her eyes didn't have any hint of their shared sadness in them. She answered, while carelessly rummaging through his old schoolbag for what turned out to be an apple.

"When you say juvenile, I'm willing to bet it's because you're trying to ogle my body or something to that affect, right?" Logan smirked but didn't admit to anything and Veronica continued, "As for the other stuff, I wouldn't worry too much about that just yet if I were you…well, I am, but… oh never mind. Lily told me, that no matter what we do, we couldn't change certain things."

Logan's brow furrowed when she elaborated, "Things like Duncan's upcoming move Down Under."

He'd barely begun processing that new information when a voice interrupted their conversation.

"Hi Kids. I was looking for you. Happy coincidence and all that. I think we need to sit down and have a little meeting."

Logan straightened up hearing Rebecca James' statement. He glanced over at Veronica, who was eyeing her father's former love interest like she was a piece of gum under her shoe. Trying to avoid a confrontation, Logan put on as much of Veronica's personality as he could in such a short time and turned to the guidance counsellor with a faked smile.

"So…err…am I going first or is chivalry truly dead?"

Rebecca smiled just as politely as Logan, albeit without the fakeness. "I noticed the two of you sitting here, obviously skipping class and I wanted to have a meeting with you together because I think the history between the two of you needs to be addressed to avoid possible incidents from happening in the future. Also," she added with a small shrug, "I thought it'd be good for you to talk in a safe space."

Veronica grabbed her things and got up. For once, Logan got to see her looking completely like him in every way. Especially when she turned to Rebecca with a sneer on her face that screamed about superiority. "Tell me why I should waste another minute in your quaint little office, Becca?"

Rebecca didn't give an inch in the face of the famed Echolls temper and Logan's inner respect o' meter rose a few degrees when she simply responded to Veronica's insulting tone with a calm-spoken threat of her own. "Well, Logan. It's quite simple really. You do as I ask or I'll go to the principal's office to inform him of your little unscheduled absence from class. So," as the brunette continued there was a tiny bit of ice to be found in her voice, "get your things and follow me. We all know you've got nothing better to do since you're just sitting here and chatting aimlessly. The sooner you do as I say, the quicker it'll be over with."

Then the woman turned and walked in the direction of her office. She completely ignored the two dumbfounded students sitting frozen at the red plastic table behind her. As she entered her office a moment later, leaving the door open for the former couple to enter, something weird happened.

A misty shadow exited the utterly unsuspecting counselor, turning into a see-through Lily Kane. Rebecca didn't notice, sitting down at her immaculate desk, readying for a conversation she'd suddenly felt compelled to set up.

Lily crossed her arms and waited a beat until she heard Veronica and Logan come closer, both grumbling a bit at their upcoming chore. Well, the ghostly blonde thought smugly, it's a start. And, knowing that her two best friends would finally get a chance to talk about their shared history, however subtlety, Lily left them to it.

0o0o0

TBC…