I don't own Vm or any of its franchise.


Not betaed, but please point out the big errors that I make and I'll correct them...eventually.


A/N What's this? An update? I finally sat my behind down and wrote it out. It went so well that I know know there's about two or three chapters left of this story and of course an epilogue, so soon you won't have to wait and wait and wait for me anymore. Isn't that nice? The next update? Can't say, but I'll try not to let you wait this long again...


Chapter Eleven: A trying Day And An Unwelcome Visitor

"I'm sorry for these last few days' misconception of my actions." Aaron Echolls' voice echoed through the Mars household's kitchen where Veronica, Nicole and Keith were all sitting and eating their breakfast, while watching the morning news.

Veronica's mixed coffee was forgotten halfway up to her lips as she watched the video of Aaron's apologetic face as he tried to salvage some of his lost popularity.

"I'm sorry to all my fans for giving in to something so dark within me. Above all, I'm sorry that I've broken the trust that my loving family had in me. I hope you'll all help me help myself in the future and doesn't let that vigilante that's come forth with his or hers thinly veiled threats. I will come forth as soon as I've gotten the help that I truly need and the truth is no longer a danger to me or my loved ones."

"Bullshit," Veronica muttered as the screen faded back to the newscaster, who smiled an obviously fake cheerful smile and made the usual cheesy comments. "He didn't even apologize to his victim. He's just trying to kiss up to the lesser intelligent people that adores him."

Nicole nodded mutely and returned her attention to her cereal. She'd been talking less after all her confrontations and was nothing like the shallow girl that Veronica had first met upon arriving in Neptune. But she still had the ability to carry a grudge, like her sister, and wouldn't say anything about stuff that involved Lilly Kane in any way.

Keith, on the other hand, frowned briefly at Veronica's language, but the glint in his eyes revealed that he shared his daughter's opinion.

After a beat of silence, Keith said, "Well, I best be going to work and chat a bit with Vinnie. There's no one else greedy enough to help our crazy star with getting his oh so heartfelt message out there." He stood up and kissed first Nicole on her hair and then Veronica.

Veronica was surprised that she barely felt any need to move her head, maybe I'm actually starting to like the guy, she pondered as the door slammed shut behind him a moment later. Inwardly, deeply inside of her, Veronica knew that she actually really liked her father, but there was no way short of an emergency that would make her say it out loud.

"Why has Dad been staring at you so oddly these last few days?" Nicole's voice brought Veronica back to the present with a frown that – unbeknownst to the undercover agent – made her look a lot like her birth father.

"He's always looking, Nicole," Veronica replied and finally remembered her now cold chocolate coffee and took a sip.

"Yeah, but haven't you noticed that he's staring holes in you? It's kindda hard to miss, actually."

Veronica looked at her twin, and saw the seriousness in the other girl's eyes and thought back at her time with Keith over the last few days. Honestly, she knew she hadn't spent a lot of time with him, and when she had been in his presence, Veronica's mind had usually been on other stuff.

But now that Nicole had mentioned it, Veronica would definitely be more aware. "Not really," she eventually answered, "but I'll look into it and see what's going on, okay?"

Nicole smiled and got up to rinse her plate and put it in the dishwater. Just as she'd placed it under the water, there was a knock on the door and Veronica smiled in gratitude when Nicole just muttered that she'd answer it so Veronica could finish eating.

A few moments later, Nicole reentered the kitchen with a blank look on her face. Immediately, all of Veronica's instincts were screaming. "What's wrong, Nikki?"

"It's for you," was all Nicole said and she walked over and started clearing the table quietly. Veronica noticed the quivering lip and frowned again.

When she walked out into the hall and spotted who her visitor was, it all made sense to Veronica.

Lilly Kane was standing on the doorstep looking just as sad as Nicole was in the kitchen, but there was also a spark of happiness in the billionaire heir's eyes. Veronica raised a brow and Lilly explained, "She didn't slam the door in my face and we both know I'd deserve it if she'd done it."

Nodding, Veronica gestured for her new, well; friend was still a bit strong word to use. "Come on in."

Lilly followed the smaller blonde upstairs and Veronica opened the door to her room. Back-up reared his head from the massive amounts of blankets on the bed and blinked sleepily at their arrival before snorting and turning away.

Veronica smiled at the look of confusion on Lilly's face. Apparently, she'd expected the growling beast that she'd become acquainted with on a few occasions and not this…this puppy.

"He can feel that I don't hate your guts anymore and that's why he's not attacking you. That and," Veronica grinned, "he's really a lazy dog and takes his time waking up in the mornings."

Lilly smiled tentatively and crossed the threshold into Veronica's room with noticable trepidation. Veronica distracted her by asking her what she wanted.

Sighing, Lilly sat down on Veronica desk chair. "Well, I actually came to fetch you to be honest. Sheriff Lamb wants to interrogate me about what he saw in those clips and I want you there to make sure I don't slip up and reveal stuff that isn't really important."

The mental picture of the sheriff the one time she'd met him, flashed through Veronica's mind. He seemed to be a lot smarter than I'd expected. Lilly's made a good call to get me involved. She's smart, but he's slippery and I'll bet he'll wiggle my involvement out of her by a lot of cross questioning.

"Let's go then." Veronica said and the two girls walked downstairs again and out to Lilly's car. Out of the corner of her mind, Veronica spotted Nicole's face in the kitchen window and she knew she needed to make things better between the two friends again soon.

An hour later, Lilly and Veronica was sitting on two uncomfortable chairs in the interrogation room at the Sheriff's office. Lamb was sitting casually with his right arm on the table, nursing a cup of coffee. Lilly was sweating and retelling the whole story (except for Veronica's involvement) yet again and Veronica herself was sitting quietly next to Lilly, staring unblinkingly at the sheriff.

Lamb asked the same question that he'd asked fifteen minutes ago, albeit with a different wording and Veronica's patience finally snapped. She held out a hand to Lilly, signaling her to stop speaking and turned all her attention on the man in front of her.

He didn't look intimidated by her stare at all, in fact, Veronica thought she caught a glimpse of amusement and she didn't appreciate that at all. "We're already late for school, Sheriff," she stated coldly, "we're underage – both of us – and Lilly has answered everything you wanted to know in good faith, so stop acting like a cop in a bad eighties cop show and let us go. Or we might just have to get some of the Kane lawyers involved. And trust me; there's no way a small town sheriff is gonna be able to, let's say, find the funds to clothe himself after a round with them."

Lilly was outright gawping at Veronica and her blunt threat, the unnamed cop in the corner had spluttered some of his coffee out of his mouth, nearly choking by the sound of it and Lamb was still sitting calmly at the table, not even flinching.

Veronica's respect for the man went up a notch. She'd remembered halfway through the interrogation that he'd been trained by none other than her father and thus wasn't in the least bit surprised by his intelligence anymore.

After a few minutes of intense silence, where the thirty year old sheriff and the sixteen year old girl stared at each other without moving, Lamb finally sighed and let them go.

On her way out, Lamb's voice stopped Veronica short. She turned as he spoke. "You're good Miss Mars. We could use someone like you here. Would you be interested in an internship?"

"I have a job," Veronica answered, feigning casual surprise and not revealing her honest shock over the offer that had come from out of nowhere.

Lamb smiled and nodded, allowing her to go without another word.

When Veronica reached Lilly's fancy car, the Kane girl wanted to know what had kept her. "I think he just wanted to see if I'd want to be a cop some day," Veronica said and ignored the confused look that Lilly sent her. "Drive, we're already late as it is."

Sighing, Lilly nodded and Veronica was glad that the blonde was too proud to spew out grateful thanks for her assistance. We really are a lot alike, Veronica thought with a small smirk as Lilly's car roared to life.

0o0o0

Nicole wasn't a bad person. At least she didn't think she was. She was good to animals, polite to people that she didn't really know and she didn't go around mocking everyone. In fact the only one she'd ever tried that on had been Veronica and that hadn't exactly worked as planned, had it?

That said, Nicole had no doubt that she shared something darkish with her twin. Because every time she laid her eyes on Duncan Kane or Lilly Kane, Nicole wanted nothing more than to throw something heavy at them and curse them out.

Lilly's betrayal had cut her deep, because of their friendship, but Duncan's betrayal had hurt because they were supposed to be in love.

And now that Lilly had outed herself like a slut, here Duncan was with his puppy dog eyes, practically begging her to get back together with him. Well, Nicole thought and turned away from her ex-boyfriends pathetic stare during lunch, that's not gonna happen. Veronica might be all buddy buddy with Lilly now, but I'm not that easily swayed. No matter how tempted I might feel occasionally…

"What's up with you?"

Nicole started, dropping her banana and looked up into Weevil's dark, but surprisingly friendly gaze. "W-what? How-What?"

Weevil grinned and settled down next to her with a homemade lunch in his hand. "You looked like you wanted to go all "Veronica" on your ex over there. Want me to handle your pretty boy troubles for ya?"

Nicole started again and put her hands on top of Weevils, "no, no. I don't condone violence Eli and you know that. " She trailed off uncertainly because suddenly, Nicole realized just how warm Eli was. And he smells really good too, she thought, fighting off a blush.

Weevil's eyes seemed to sparkle and it did something to Nicole that she was pretty sure Duncan's looks had never done to her. Why have I never noticed how handsome Eli really is?

Weevil blinked and leaned forward an inch. "You know, it can be dangerous to look at a guy like that. You never know what it'll do to them…"

This time, Nicole's blush wasn't able to be stopped and it seemed to please Weevil immensely because he simply grinned and nudged her a bit before starting in on his lunch.

Nicole's mood had been lifted and she was just about to say something teasing about the way the biker ate, when she spotted her sister arrive with Lilly close to her side and the good mood immediately evaporated.

Why is she suddenly so good friends with her? Veronica knows how much Lilly hurt me…it can't be because Lilly's cheating got her injured, it has to be more than that. Veronica is too tough a person to let a little abuse alter her opinions

Nicole's hurt over Lilly's betrayal intensified when she saw her former friend smile happily at Veronica. I thought Veronica and I were growing closer? What is going on? Argh, I hate them both so much right now!

In that moment, Veronica looked over at Nicole with a small smile gracing her lips and Nicole suddenly couldn't look away. She did, however, try to convey just how unhappy she was with Veronica's current company. I'll corner her later at home and force her to tell me what's been going on. She's not the only Mars that can be scary!

0o0o0

Logan's voice ripped Veronica out of the staring contest she'd been having with Nicole and she looked up at the boy that she sort of, maybe, kind of had some attachment to.

"Could we talk?"

"I prefer not to talk to assholes," Veronica snapped and looked away. Logan's eyes glared holes into her side, and before she knew how, he'd grabbed her arm and was pulling her toward a more private space.

"Well, me neither, but I still need to talk to you," he hissed and opened a door that led into one of the empty classrooms that was rarely used.

"Hey, did you just call me an asshole?" Veronica felt a surge of unexplainable anger rush through her. How dare he insult me that son of a bitch?

"It takes one to know one, I guess," Logan replied, slamming the door so hard that the pictures on the wall rattled. "Now I need you to stand still, shut the hell up and let me talk for a second!"

"I don't want to talk to you," Veronica said, crossing her arms. She longed to grab one of her hidden knives and plant it somewhere extremely painful on the boy in front of her, but she repressed the impulse and tried walking by him to the door.

"Oh no," Logan hissed and grabbed her, "no running away until I've had my say!"

Veronica twisted out of his grip and stepped backwards a bit. His reach is longer than mine and judging from the muscles I just felt he's no slouch and could probably get one over me if I'm not careful. I guess I'll have to listen for a few seconds; she concluded and straightened up, looking the Echolls' heir in the eyes with anger pouring out of her every pore.

She really had no idea why she was so angry at him. He'd only defended his father as any normal kid would, but still; she couldn't deny that his insults had torn something inside of her that she didn't even know was there in the first place.

Taking her silence for agreement, Logan jumped into it. "Look, I know I messed up, okay? I didn't know what was happening and I'd never let that crazy idiot escape if I'd known everything. I'm sorry, okay. I didn't mean anything by it; I just wanted to help my dad…"

Something flew into Veronica in that moment, and although she knew she was crossing a line, she did it anyway. "I don't get why you'd even lend a hand to him in the first place, considering his loose hands in private. Or do you actually like being beaten every now and again? Because-"

"Shut up, you have no right to talk about that!" Logan's eyes burned into Veronica's and she knew that his earlier anger was nothing to the eruption of rage she was now witnessing. "Where the hell did you find out about that?" he hissed again, stepping a few steps closer, "I swear if you tell anyone, I'll make sure you won't see your next sunrise."

"Uh, threatening girls, the apple seldom falls far from the three," Veronica taunted evilly, while inwardly, she was screaming at herself to just. Stop. Talking!

Logan's teeth made a screeching sound as he obviously tried to not lay a hand on her in retaliation. Then he blinked and turned cold. All his emotions vanished as though they'd never existed and Veronica felt a never before felt shiver of fear.

Logan's hazel eyes glued her to her spot and then he spoke and Veronica's own anger drowned out her guilt in a heartbeat, "At least I wasn't abandoned by my mother. At least, I know I'm lovable. Maybe she left you because you're not, ever think of that?"

The punch that she threw at him didn't break his nose and Veronica practically snarled with disappointment and jumped forward, eager to succeed on her second try.

To her surprise, Logan showed some skill of his own. He twisted out of her reach and spun around, grapping her leg and pulling so her balance flew out the window. He never actually hit her, but his quick and fluent movements swallowed every hit that she sent his way and she never touched him again.

Somehow he'd managed to get her up against the wall and they were both breathing hard, their scuffle had taken a lot out of them. He was holding both of Veronica's arms over her head in a painful grip and his lower body had trapped her legs, so she couldn't even kick him in the groin.

Then their anger changed into something else and suddenly, Logan's warm lips was on hers and they were kissing each other like they had been made for just that purpose.

They created a fire unlike any other as their lips attacked each other and their hands tore at their clothes. Veronica couldn't think of anything else than the tongue in her mouth, the rough hands on her chest and the feel of his warm skin under her fingertips. She could die a happy woman at that moment.

"Oh, my God," a voice interrupted their furious make out session and Veronica and Logan flew from each other's side to look at the intruder, who happened to be Vice Principal Clemmons of all people.

For the first time in her life, Veronica felt the unmerciful wave of embarrassment. She only just realized that she was clad only in her jeans and bra. Logan was topless as well and Veronica vaguely wondered how they'd managed to keep kissing through all of that, before Clemmons spoke again.

"You two kids better put your clothes back on and we'll pretend I didn't just see what I think I saw." Clemmons escaped and looked flustered and Veronica knew that she'd be laughing under normal circumstances, but at that moment, nothing was even remotely funny to her.

She bent down and grabbed her shirt and had buttoned it halfway when Logan stepped closer to her again. His eyes looked confused and the hint of lust was still there and it did strange things to Veronica's fragile peace of mind. Never in her life, had Veronica felt anything that came close to what she'd felt in her entire being during Logan's kiss. And frankly, it scared the agent more than anything else.

"Veronica-" Logan started, but Veronica held up a hand.

"I can't do this, I can't form bonds – I'm sorry, Logan." She turned around and ignored the call behind her as she ran away like the coward she suddenly knew she was.

The rest of the school day went by without anything remotely interesting happening. And for once, Veronica was happy about that, because that meant she could think about everything without worries. The teachers had learned by now not to call on Veronica in class so she had plenty of time to think.

During the breaks between classes, Veronica used all her not too shabby skill of stealth and avoided Logan at all costs. The look of confusion and hurt she'd spotted in his gaze before fleeing earlier had been enough to melt some of her firm belief that she needed to be sharp for future jobs, and that she didn't need anyone in her life to tie her down emotionally.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, school was out for the day. When Veronica reached the parking lot, she remembered that Lilly had actually driven her to school that day so she didn't have any other option than to walk home. Still, she expertly scanned her surroundings to see if perhaps Nicole's car was still there, but sadly it wasn't and Veronica remembered Nicole telling her at breakfast that she was going to her Pilates' class after school and wouldn't be home until after seven o'clock.

"Damn it," Veronica muttered and started making her way home.

She'd only walked ten minutes, when she recognized the rumbling behind her as Weevil on his bike. She stopped and waited for him to reach her. "Hey, wanna give a gal a lift?" she asked, tilting her head innocently; she'd already figured out that the Latino couldn't resist the head tilt.

"Sure," he grinned, handing her a helmet, "let's roll, Beautiful."

A few minutes later, they pulled into the huge gravel coated entrance to the Mars' house and Veronica jumped off. She noticed an unfamiliar car next to the Le Baron and shrugged, figuring it was one of Keith's clients on a house visit.

"Say," Weevil suddenly sounded a lot like the actual teen that he was, "is your sister home?"

Veronica raised an eyebrow when she recognized the look in her best friend's eyes. I guess, I'm not the only one meddling with romance, she thought with an inwardly sigh. Outwardly, Veronica told her biker friend about the Pilates and he nodded in thanks.

"See ya tomorrow, Chica," he called out as he started his bike again and drove away. Presumably to do something that she shouldn't really condone giving her past employer. Veronica smiled and started walking towards the house, feeling a bit like herself for the first time since Logan's and hers little rendezvous.

Once inside, Veronica greeted Back-up as he ran to her with a yelp of happy greeting and she crouched low to pet him. He licked her nose and she rubbed his ears in thanks, he always lifted her spirits like none other. Dropping her bag, Veronica decided to go to the kitchen to grab something to eat. Maybe I'll choke and all my troubles will be over, she thought gloomily.

Okay, so maybe her mood hadn't lifted all that much, come to think of it.

"Veronica, Sweetie; could you come to my office?" Keith's voice rang through the hall and Veronica frowned.

For the first time since Nicole had brought it to her attention, Veronica considered her twin's warning. Maybe there's something going on after all? She thought and changed direction and headed towards Keith's office.

When she reached the half opened door, Veronica pushed it and stopped dead in her track. One quick scan revealed an ashen faced Keith, who was staring at her with something akin to fear in his eyes, but that wasn't really what she cared about at the moment.

No, all of Veronica's attention was on the small blonde standing awkwardly in front of Keith's desk. Her long blonde hair was the exact same shade as Veronica's and the color of the woman's eyes gave away her identity even before Keith spoke.

"Judging from your expression, I think you already know our guest. She came because she only just recently heard about your uncle's death, Sweetie. But I guess an introduction is in order since you haven't actually ever spoken to her before. Veronica, meet Lianne. Your mother."

Lianne's blue-grey eyes were shining as though they were coated in tears that wouldn't fall, and she smiled tentatively at her youngest daughter. "Hey Honey."

Veronica stood immobile for one long second, before opening her mouth and saying exactly what she felt.

"Oh, give me a break, already!"

TBC…


A/N Was the wait worth it? Sorry about the cliffy, but those of you who knows my style know the last few chapters in my stories always have a lot of these:) Thanks for reviewing!

Until Next Time

Ditte Mai