Chapter 11
The next morning after breakfast, Logan and Veronica decided to conquer the apartment. Veronica had to get all her stuff, and then she needed to pack up Keith's stuff. She was just hoping that Leanne wouldn't be there. Of course all those hopes were dashed the second they walked through the door.
"Veronica Mars!"
"Not my name," Veronica said, walking right past Leanne and into her bedroom with Logan in tow.
"So where do you want to start?" Logan asked, looking around.
"Clothes?"
"Suitcases?"
"Under the bed. Are you cool if I run out and pick up some boxes?"
"Ya, I'll get all your unmentionables packed up," Logan smirked at her as she walked out of the room and straight past Leanne. But when she saw what she was doing, she stopped and backed up.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" she demanded, when she saw Leanne packing up pictures.
"I'm packing up the apartment."
"No you're not. This isn't your house. This isn't your stuff."
"This most certainly is my house." Leanne countered, standing up.
"No it's not. You left. When you left, you lost the right to call this your house."
"You kicked me out Veronica!"
"You walked out in the first place! You were taking money from Dad!" Veronica shook her head and took a deep breath. "I want you out."
"Excuse me?"
"I want you to leave. Now."
Leanne stepped towards her and Veronica jumped back, yelling for Logan.
"If you don't leave now I'm calling the Police. Your name isn't on the apartment, mine is. And I want you to leave." Veronica stood her ground, Logan right behind her.
"Veronica Mars you have no idea what you're doing!"
"That's not my name!" Veronica screamed at her.
"Of course that's your name! I named you!"
"My name is Veronica Echolls. I'm married now."
"You're what!?" Leanne practically screamed at her.
"You sat in the Judge's chambers and he told you that I was emancipated through marriage." Veronica said it slowly, like her mother wouldn't understand her otherwise. And then Leanne slapped her so hard that she fell back into Logan.
"Get out!" Logan yelled, pulling Veronica behind him. "NOW!"
Leanne looked stunned at what she had done and tried to take a step towards Veronica, but Logan stood in her way with a murderous look on his face.
"Leave," he snarled. "Now."
Leanne turned and walked out the door, mumbling something about being sorry and calling later, and Veronica sat on the floor looking equally as stunned as her mother.
"Come on, let's just pack your stuff and go." Logan said turning back to Veronica and picking her up off the ground.
"No. It's fine. I need to do this. I want to get rid of this place as soon as possible."
"Veronica-" Logan started, but she cut him off.
"I'm fine, Logan. Can we please just do this?"
"Okay, fine." Logan put his hands in the air and took a step back. "Where do you want to start?"
"Start with the living room and work our way around?"
"Okay, I'll grab the boxes from the car."
Veronica nodded, took a deep breath and then started to pick up all the pictures in the room and put them on the coffee table. When Logan walked in and saw this, he silently put a box together and started to put all the pictures in. That was how the rest of the day went. Veronica picked things up and put them together in piles and then Logan put them into boxes. It wasn't as hard as Veronica thought it would be and she was able to keep her crying to a minimum until they made it to her dad's room. Her entire apartment was packed into boxes and ready to be moved to her new life, and now she stood in the doorway to everything she wished she could have back. Logan came up behind her and rubbed her arms, kissing the top of her head.
"Do you want me to do it?" he offered, but Veronica shook her head, wiped her eyes and stepped into the room.
"I don't know where to start," she mumbled.
"The closet?" Logan offered.
The smell hit her before she could even think about touching anything in the closet. Tears filled her eyes again and she sat down on the floor pulling her knees to her chest.
"Daddy," she whispered.
Logan sat down beside her and she put her head on his shoulder.
"Why don't you let me do it." He offered again and this time Veronica nodded in agreement. As Logan took all the clothes and put them in boxes, Veronica pointed out the few things that she wanted to keep. Keith's sheriff uniform and a few sweaters, one of which she took from Logan and pulled over her head, curling into it like a blanket and leaning against the bed.
"What do you want me to do with these filing boxes?" Logan asked, lifting the boxes off the shelf at the top of the closet.
"They're old case files. I'll put them in a storage locker."
"This is the file on the bus," Logan said, pulling one of the boxes down.
"It's pretty useless now," Veronica said passively, pulling a pillow off the bed and lying down.
"Are you okay?" Logan asked, kneeling down beside her.
"I'm fine. I just want to get this over with."
"Why don't you go pack up your room?"
"I don't want to be by myself," Veronica admitted quietly.
Logan smiled sadly and sat down beside her.
"I just see him everywhere," she sighed. "It's hard."
"I know it is. But we'll be done soon. We just have a little bit left."
Veronica nodded and sat up again, then pulled herself to her feet and moved to her dad's dresser, pulling everything out of the drawers and into boxes. She did this without paying much attention, the sooner she got it done the sooner she could leave.
By 3 in the afternoon, they had packed up the entire apartment and Veronica had separated the boxes that she wanted to keep and the ones that could go to the thrift store. The only things that were going to the thrift store were most of her dad's clothes. Most of the boxes were going into a storage locker, other than Veronica's stuff and some of the dishes.
Once they had loaded the X-Terra and then unloaded it back at the hotel, Veronica crawled into bed and cried. She cried for her dad and for her mother, for Mac and for absolutely everything they had lost in the last week. Logan came in after a while and layed down beside her, pulling her against his chest.
"It's all gonna be okay, baby. I promise." Logan whispered it so quietly that she barely heard, but she did hear it.
"Don't go anywhere, okay?" Veronica told him, wrapping an arm around his stomach and putting her head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat.
"Never." Logan promised. And he had never meant anything more in his life.