The only voice in the car as they drove to Lily's location was the GPS device, not that it was necessary with the deputy escort ahead of them. Veronica kept her eyes straight ahead on the flashing lights of the deputy's car to avoid looking at Logan. After ten minutes of silence, they pulled up in front of their destination on the western edge of the '09. It was a brick, French-Country style house which by its size Veronica estimated had 3, maybe 4 bedrooms - quite modest for a home in the '09 zip code. The front light by the door was already on, indicating that someone already knew they were coming.

Veronica parked the car and turned off the engine before turning to Logan and saying, "Please tell me I'm not the only one who thinks this whole idea is crazy."

Logan opened his mouth as if he was going to say something, but shut it again before looking out his window.

"What is it, Logan?"

Logan turned back to Veronica, "I don't know why the hell Duncan thought the two of us working together would be a good idea, but I have no problem understanding why he wouldn't want Lily to stay with Jake."

Veronica cocked her head in way that told Logan to spill it.

"When Duncan moved back, he and Lily went to live with Celeste and Jake. They had remarried and Duncan thought it best if Celeste was surrounded by family before she passed away. It was good for awhile, but then Jake started to treat Duncan like he did in high school."

"Like what? You're going to have to be more specific."

"Don't you remember what Jake was like back then?" Logan asked.

"Last time I saw Jake he seemed to be one bottle of pee away from becoming Howard Hughes the hermit," Veronica replied.

Logan grimaced at that image before explaining, "Right, that was before he got back together with Celeste. When Jake wasn't taking care of Celeste, he was pushing DK to be perfect just like him. He told Duncan what job he should have, what friends he should hang out with, and what women he should date. I'm sure you can guess that Jake wasn't happy when DK started hanging out with me and Dick again. Anyways, Duncan put up with most of it; I think to keep the peace around Celeste, but also to shield Lily from Jake's attention. About two months ago, right after Celeste died, Duncan came to me and asked for the suite at the Grand. Said he didn't want to be a burden on Jake any longer and was planning on building his own house; but if you ask me, with Celeste gone he didn't want Jake to shift his energy from taking care of her to controlling Lily."

"So basically we're the lesser of two evils," Veronica summed it up.

Logan looked straight ahead, "Yeah, Veronica. I guess if you want to look at it in a glass half empty kinda way, yeah, we are."

They both took a moment to contemplate what they were about to do. Finally with a sigh Logan said, "I should be the one to tell her."

Veronica nodded in agreement before adding, "Maybe I should stay in the car. She won't remember who I am and a stranger's presence will probably just make it more upsetting for her."

"Fine," Logan replied and without another word he got out of his SUV and made his way up the walk to the front door. Veronica watched as he was greeted by the worried looking parents of Lily's friend. They had obviously been woken up because they were both in pajamas covered by robes. Logan glanced back quickly at Veronica before he stepped into the house, closing the door behind him.

Veronica let out a breath that she hadn't realized that she had been holding since Logan had exited the car. "What the hell did you get us all into, Duncan?" she muttered before she rested her head on the steering wheel so she could think about the events of the evening.

She wasn't sure how long her head had been down when she heard the tap on the window. She lifted her head to find the man in the bathrobe right outside her door. When he saw that he had her attention he lifted up one of his hands and gestured that he wanted Veronica to roll down her window. It took a few seconds for Veronica to locate the button that worked the window, but she finally found it and pushed it so that her window started rolling down. She had barely lifted her finger from the button when he stuck his hand through the window for a handshake.

"Malcolm Fuller. Father of Katie, Lily's best friend."

Veronica carefully took his hand and shook it. "Veronica Mars," she said, hoping that her brevity would make it clear that she wasn't really wanting conversation.

Mr. Fuller frowned. "Mars? As in the private investigator?" he asked hesitantly.

"That would be my father. Is there something wrong?" Veronica answered.

He gave his head a quick shake no, but then asked "No, but do you mind if I verify your identity with the deputy?"

"Go ahead," Veronica agreed. Veronica's eyes trailed him as he made his way to the deputy's car. She noticed that he was carrying a duffle bag – the same bag that Lily had been carrying in the Neptune Grand's security footage. When Mr. Fuller leaned over the deputy's car window Veronica didn't need to be a master lip reader to make out his question to the deputy "Who is she?" She saw the deputy turn back around and look at her car so she gave him a small wave. Whatever the deputy said next must have satisfied Mr. Fuller because he turned back around and headed back for Logan's car.

"Sorry about that," he apologized when he got back to her window. "We don't want a journalist trying to get the latest scoop or worst yet the people responsible for the explosion to get a hold of Lily. We of course recognize Logan Echolls' from the community and from all that Lily says about him, but we've never heard of you before."

"I'm sure that Lily is like a second daughter to you, of course you want to be careful of who you release her to," Veronica replied.

"Well, it'll be a few minutes. Lily took the news pretty hard so Katie's trying to comfort her in the bathroom, although I don't think there is much any of us can do."

Veronica only gave a weak smile in agreement, leaving an awkward silence between them. She waited for him to ask to put the bag in back but he just stood there. When he did speak, it wasn't anything she anticipated he would say.

"So I bet when you two started dating you didn't anticipate parenting a teenager together so soon."

"Oh, Logan and I, we're not a couple." Veronica blurted out before she could stop herself. She could see the confusion on his face so she quickly thought of a way to cover up her gaff. "We're just really old friends. Growing up we were best friends with Duncan and his late sister. Duncan thought it might be easier if we did this together instead of one of us going it alone."

Silence overtook them again as Malcolm thought about what she had said. Rather than waiting for him to ask her another question, Veronica chose to redirect him.

"The back door is unlocked. You can just drop Lily's bag on the back seat."

"Oh, right," he mumbled as if reminding himself. He opened the back door and deposited the bag in back. After he shut the door, he placed a hand on the edge of the open driver's side window. "It was nice meeting you Veronica. I'm sure we'll be seeing you around." He emphasized his statement with two slaps against the door before he headed back to the house.

The moment Mr. Fuller had closed the front door Veronica closed her eyes again and willed it all to be just a dream.

What felt like just seconds later but was probably at least five minutes, the back passenger door opened and Logan and Lily climbed into the car. As soon as they were both seated, Lily curled up into Logan's arm and buried her face in his shirt. Tiny sobs emerged muffled from Lily's body as Logan soothed her back. Sensing that any major movement or sound on her part would shatter the undoubtedly fragile peace Logan had achieved with Lily, Veronica raised her eyes to her rear view mirror. Without a word, Logan shifted his gaze to meet Veronica's in the mirror and gave her a barely perceptible nod that told Veronica that it was time to go.


Author's Note - Thank you to everybody who is following along with this story and providing me comments. You guys have been wicked encouraging and really did cheer me up when I was feeling down. I was also pleased to see so many new readers this week. So the good news is that I signed a lease on a new place today, which means I can shift focus away from stress and back to writing (at least when I'm not packing). Chapter 12 will hopefully go up on Thursday or Friday.