AN: I would have had this up yesterday, except my mom had the flu and we had to go to the hospital on Wednesday, where I promptly caught a cold. Fun. Anyway, I'll forgo my usual prattle in the effort to get to all the anons (registered users, I should have you all done by Monday at the latest), so here goes:
Liv – Sorry for the continued cliffhanger. But look: I fixed it. Food fights are ALWAYS fun! Yup, yup. Me, too. I know! Me, too! Dang. Thanks. And maybe he will, maybe he won't. Read on to find out.
skagirl – Really? Sad. Really? Yay! Maybe they will. Maybe they won't. Hee.
Nina – I'm sorry to have made you unhappy. But look! New chapter! Yay!
princessrose – Did you threaten me? (eyes narrow) Ah, well. You complimented my story. And I've threatened all my readers in general enough. You're off the hook. (winks) Isn't Wallace? I just wanna hug him, he's so cute.
Finally, the cliffy is no more!
Disclaimer: Yeah. Right.
Veronica: Undiscovered
After all the crap I've dealt with over the past few years, you'd think my ex showing up at my hotel door and planting a wet on me wouldn't faze me all that much. You would be wrong. I would be wrong. Because all I could think was, Logan better not come in right now. Also, that Duncan needed an Altoid. Or ten.
"Duncan," I murmured around Duncan's questing lips. "Duncan, stop." He continued to try to kiss me. Ok. More forceful measures needed. I placed my hands on his chest and shoved.
Duncan stumbled back a few feet, looking confused and a little hurt. "Veronica?" he asked in an almost pathetic voice. I ignored him and glanced back at the door. No Logan. Thank God.
I turned my gaze back at Duncan. He started to walk towards me; I held up my hand. "Uh-uh. Back to the wall, buddy." I made a shooing gesture at him, which made him look even sadder. He swung Lilly around and cradled her to his chest as he leaned against the wall. For a second I wanted to kiss him again, to make him feel better.
What had happened? I had loved him once. I had wanted to be with him for the rest of my life. I scrutinized him, from his blue eyes to the child in his arms. He was a good man, and undoubtedly a man. He was steady, and sweet, and finally sure of himself. He was going to be a good parent, at any cost. Even Dad liked him. He was the least broken of anyone to come out of Neptune. Duncan was a good person.
And I didn't want him anymore.
I'd given up being normal; I'd accepted that I'd been broken, and I'd just have to put the pieces back together as they'd fit. There was no more pretending that I'd wake up one day and go back to being the Veronica who could wear white and innocence honestly. If I were still her, I'd be able to love him again. I guess it was just time to accept the new Veronica wasn't going anywhere. And the new Veronica? She was praying to every deity that she knew of that Logan would not walk in just now.
"I came back for you."
I was jolted out of my thoughts and worries. I looked at Duncan through new eyes. I saw confidence, the kind that he'd never really had while he lived within a thousand miles of Celeste. Damn. That was going to suck when I told him I loved ... wait, what did he say?
My eyes widened of their own accord. "Come again?"
Duncan smiled at me in that teddy bear adorable way of his. It was currently making me a little queasy. "I came back for you. CW said he saw you in the airport, and I jumped on a plane here." I didn't say anything, being a little shocked and all. Duncan took my silence as encouragement and took a couple steps forward. "We can get on a plane tonight. We'll be in Australia by tomorrow." I still couldn't find words. He crossed the rest of the room in a few strides, looking hopeful. He tucked a bit of hair behind my ear and gazed in my eyes. "I never stopped thinking about you. I love you, and I want us to be a family. You, me, and Lilly."
I blinked. Oh, hell no.
I pushed his hand down and away from my face. My head turned slightly so I looked at him from an angle, opened my mouth slightly, and raised my eyebrows halfway up my head. "You came here. To get me. So I could be Lilly's mom."
I took a step forward and my voice raised an octave. "You came here assuming that I'd want to leave my home and my college and my BOYFRIEND to take Meg's place for your kid?"
Duncan backed up rapidly, looking a little frightened. Smart guy. I advanced some more. "You disappear off the face of the earth and now I'm supposed to leave everything for you? I mean, I know it was for Lilly, but still. I mean, Duncan. What. The. HELL?"
It was Duncan's turn to look stunned. I shook my head and started to pace, muttering and running my hands through my hair. I grinned for a second as I realized that I'd picked up the habit from Logan. Logan. Oh, God, Logan. He could not come back now.
"You have a boyfriend?"
I turned back to Duncan. "That's the one thing you picked up?" His hang-dog expression made me sigh in repentance. I was being too bitchy. A tad. "I'm with Logan."
Of all the expressions I expected at the moment, relief wasn't even on the list. But that's what Duncan looked just then. Relieved. Maybe I didn't love him anymore because I had stopped understanding him. He smiled widely. "That's ok. Just tell him that you love me. He'll get over it. Start packing."
I narrowed my eyes. Apparently I hadn't been bitchy enough. I didn't remember Duncan being quite this stupid. "Who said I loved you?"
Duncan now looked like he had been punched in the stomach. "Veronica," he croaked. His mouth was opening and closing rapidly and his eyes were practically popping out of his head. He looked like one of the goldfish I'd tried to "save" from the fair when I was six. Hmmm. Attractive.
"No, Duncan. What you're going to do now is listen. You listening?" He continued gaping. "Good." I smiled at him pleasantly. "I don't love you. I love Logan. And the only one getting on a plane to you." I made a silly face at Lilly; she giggled at me. "Oh, and the cutest baby in the world here."
Duncan clutched Lilly. "But I love you. I was waiting for you. Logan ... he was my best friend, but I don't trust him. Not with you."
I took a deep breath. "But I do. And that's what matters." That's one thing I was going to tell Logan as soon as he came back. Which I really hoped didn't happen until I got Duncan out. Logan wouldn't even hear an explanation before he was on the next plane to Neptune. But as much as Duncan was annoying me, I wasn't ready to kick him out on his ass. Yet.
"Why?" The way he said it was simple. Like Duncan. That was mean. But true.
I thought about it for a moment. Why did I suddenly think that Logan was right for me? Why was I in love with him? What made me chose him over stability? The night on the roof flashed to my mind, but that wasn't it. If Dad or Wallace were nearby, they would have saved me, too, and I wasn't about to make out with either of them (gross). The broken look on Logan's face when he'd broken my lamp that had made me feel guilty for an entire year. No. I hadn't done the right thing, breaking up with him, but he hadn't done the right thing either. And while the sex was fantastic (cuddling was finally secondary), it was definitely not that either.
I slowly broke into a wry grin. "We're epic."
Two things happened at that moment. First, Duncan began to look very confused. Not exactly a shocker. What did make me jump were the two arms that snaked around my waist and pulled me to someone's body.
"What ..." I looked up to see Logan, looking down at me. I smiled, then frowned as I remembered our fight, and the fact that my errant ex was still in the room. "Logan, I'm sorry. I didn't know he was coming, and I don't want you to leave again, and I am NOT going to Australia with him ..."
Logan turned me to him, lifted up my chin, and pressed a kiss into my lips. He pulled back slightly and smirked at me. "You say that like I'd let you go to Australia." He tilted his head thoughtfully. "You also say that like I couldn't hear you through the door, and I haven't been standing by the door since DK made that rather spectacular speech about how you guys would make the greatest family. Hey, DK," Logan said in a voice that didn't imply friendly intentions. He pulled me to his side, and I leaned against him. Then I thought for a second, and punched him in the chest. He rubbed the offended spot and cocked an eyebrow. "Are we five again?"
I glared at him lightly. "Do you know how scared I was? I kept thinking you'd come in here, deck Duncan, and be in Neptune before the sun was up. You could've ended this whole Dawson's Creek moment before I had to hit him."
Logan chuckled. "Yeah, but then I wouldn't have gotten a speech. We're epic?"
I rolled my eyes. "It was your word. And you left my honor at stake."
He grinned at me. "You own a taser. Anyway, you told me to take caveman out of the boyfriend description."
I sighed a little. He wasn't saying it, but I knew. He'd stayed on the other side of that door because he wasn't sure I'd wanted him to interrupt. He thought there was a chance I'd want to go with Duncan. He wasn't sure I really wanted to be with him. I was going to have to fix that.
It was at this point I realized that Duncan was still there. He looked kind of depressed. It was his own fault. I couldn't believe he'd assume that I would just go off to another continent with him. I really didn't remember him being so damn stupid.
Logan was looking at Duncan in a way that worried me. Not because I was worried about Logan hurting Duncan, but because I had a feeling that if Logan hit Duncan, Duncan would land on Lilly, and that would be bad.
I smiled brightly at the ex I needed to extract. As soon as possible. "Duncan. It's been fun. But I think you'd better go. Now."
Duncan's brow snapped together. "It's never gonna work. And it'll be too late for us." He brushed past us on his way out of the room, not looking either of us in the eye.
"Thanks for the visit, buddy!" Logan called at Duncan's retreating back. He kissed me on the top of the head. "So much for BFFs and all that. I think this leaves me officially with Dick."
I opened my mouth to ask which he was referring to and say something dirty about the one that didn't have surfing tendencies, when something Duncan had said snapped in my head, and a cold shiver shook itself down my spine. "Oh, my God." I muttered. I looked up at my boyfriend and swallowed. "Hold on." Then I took off.
I sprinted down the hall to the elevator and stuck my hand between the closing doors. Duncan looked at me, confused. Again. I sucked in a breath. "Which airport did Weidman see me in?"
Duncan looked guilty. "What are you talking about?"
I nodded. "I knew it. He wasn't with your parents, and he had no reason to be in New York. He saw me at the airport in Neptune, didn't he?"
Duncan shrugged as his gaze flickered all over the place. "So what if he did?"
I shoved the doors back as they began to close again. "What was he doing in Neptune, Duncan? Why are you in contact with him Duncan?" Duncan was shifting from foot to foot now. My eyes widened and my voice dropped. "Did you tell him to kill Aaron?"
Duncan gazed at me. "You're a really good detective, Veronica. I have no idea how you figured that out. But there is just some stuff you don't understand."
I shook my head. "No. I understand perfectly. You got Aaron killed. And Logan tried to save Cassidy. Still need a reason why I chose him?" Before Duncan could reply, I'd taken my hand from between the doors and he was gone.
I had been wrong. Duncan was the most broken of all of us.
I was still shaking slightly when I got back to the room. Logan was sitting on the bed. When he saw me he tilted his head questioningly. I sat next to him and buried my head in his neck. His arms slid around me. "Duncan killed Aaron," I whispered into his skin, and I hoped the words didn't burn into him.
His grip tightened. "How?" he scratched out.
"Clarence Weidman." I could feel him nodding. He was silent for a minute. I turned my head up to see him. "Logan?"
He inhaled deeply, then smiled reassuringly, if faintly, down at me. "I'm ok. They're both gone now. It doesn't matter anymore."
I looked him straight in the eye. "I love you."
His eyes softened, and grinned. "I heard about that. You know what?"
I sat up. "What?" I asked perkily.
He bent me backwards I was touching the bed and kissed me until I was pretty sure I wasn't going to ever be able breath again, which I was surprisingly ok with. "I love you, too," he murmured against my lips. The edges of my mouth turned up as his hand traced its way up my shirt and he renewed his efforts in his exploration with his tongue.
We'd talk about our fight. I was determined. I'd tell him that I wasn't going to run away anymore, and if he ever did that again, I was kicking his ass. But definitely not until I saw where this was going. Even if I had a pretty good idea exactly where this was going. A girl has a right to make-up sex, after all.
AN: Hee. BAM-CHICA-BAWM-BAWM. I'm sorry if I seemed too harsh to Duncan, or if you don't think V would say all that mean stuff to him. I just hate him so. I hope this has satisfied everyone's curiosity, and has been quite a long enough chapter, as it took me four hours to write it (to be fair, I had to keep getting up to help my mom do stuff, because she's milking this for all it's worth). Happily, this is by far the longest chapter I have written. That's nice, huh? Now night-night for me!
Love? Hate? Review my hours of labor!
