Disclaimer: You know the drill: I don't own VM, M&M's or a drill.

A/N: So this is so late. I wish I had a good excuse but I don't so please accept my apology. Your reviews totally spurred me on. I will finish this as it's all outlined and not finishing something is one of my major pet peeves (Sometimes, I wish those unfinished fics at least had one line stating "they lived happily ever after."). So should Veronica get her revenge on Lilly? I'm really not sure if I should include or cut those chapters. Enough with my indecision, on with the show...

Veronica put her arms around him, grasping him tight not wanting to let go. She inhaled his familiar scent of salt and mint, so much like home to her. Duncan let her relax in his embrace for a bit before he pulled back. "Happy B-day, little sis."

"Happy B-day, big bro. I miss you," she said looking into his eyes.

Duncan's face again reflected sadness and disappointment. "Duncan," Veronica questioned his look as she had never been been the recipient of that look from Duncan and was quite unsure how to react.

"Veronica," he paused, "I'm worried about you."

"You don't have to worry about me. I'm fine." She smiled unconvincingly at him putting on her perfect sister face.

"Fine? Veronica, you're wasting away. You pushed everyone who tries to help you away and you don't even try to help yourself. You hibernate here in this shrine you made to me and let me tell you, it's a little creepy."

Stung by his words, Veronica tried to defend herself, "But Duncan-"

"No Veronica. No one else is getting through to you I have to say this. No one else is saying this. You have to live."

"He said it," Veronica mumbled not wanting Duncan to hear her but he had.

"Logan," he provided.

"I don't want to talk about him," she said with finality.

"Too bad. We're talking about all of it. You can't go on like this. You won't go on like this." His arms grabbed Veronica's shoulders and forced her to look at him.

"Maybe I don't want to go on. Maybe it's too hard," Veronica cried.

"Do you know how insulting that is to me, Mom, Dad, yourself, and all the people who care about you here? I know the last few months have been beyond horrible for you and and I knew that you were going to struggle but this is worse than what I expected. You've lost yourself and you're not even trying to get back. There's no fight left in you."

"What's left to fight for?" Her anguish was easily heard.

"Your future, Veronica. You," he put bluntly.

"Me? My future. My future is full of you, Mom, and Dad missing from birthdays, vacations, holidays , and the everyday minutia of life. God, I don't even want to think about it. I'll be alone."

"By choice, Veronica. You'll be alone by choice. Uncle Keith, Aunt Sabrina and Uncle Tom, Weevil, Angel, Lo-"

"Do not say his name." Veronica cut him off.

"Well, he counts as much as you don't want him to be included. They all care about you. They're all trying their best with you. Trying to bring you out. Veronica, what's it going to take?"

"You"

"I can't be here forever. I can't stay here. Eventually, I need to rest. I want to rest. I deserve to rest."

"You're going away? From me? I won't see you?" Veronica weakly asked.

"I have to go. There's this great pull for me to go and my spirit feels almost compelled but first I need to make sure you're able to deal with everything, that you'll be okay," Duncan implored wanting in the worst way for his sister to dispel all of his doubt and fear.

Veronica met his eyes wanting to comfort him by lying but knowing she couldn't. She had never lied to her brother before and she was not going to start now. "Duncan, I...I don't know. This feeling has not gone away. I need to keep you here and in my life to feel the tiniest bit alive. That's what the wall was about. I thought that if I could surround myself with you, I could at least exist, not go crazy with grief and loneliness. Here, in this room with you all around me, you block out the outside world. It's like you create a barrier to keep all of the pain away. For me, it's only with you that I know how to live. We never existed without each other and some part of me doesn't exist without you here physically. Right no, I feel like there's this internal battle going on between non-existence and living and I still haven't chosen a side to fight for."

Duncan noted the desperation that filled his sister's voice. There was an equal pull toward both sides, however Duncan was sure that he could help Veronica in making the right, the only choice. He was not going to let his sister overtly or covertly end her life. "Veronica, I loved our closeness too but at some point we needed to form relationships that were important to us as we were to each other. We should have had best friends, boyfriends, girlfriends. We should have made more of an effort with Mom and Dad but now that isn't possible for me."

"We can still be close just don't leave," Veronica pleaded.

"You can't ask that of me. I have to go eventually and you have learn to let other people be important in your life. Please don't ask me to stay again."

It suddenly hit Veronica that she was the only thing holding Duncan back from being at peace. By being here with her, he was providing her with comfort and peace to his own detriment. A wave of shame swept over her. Actions, for which she was responsible, had hurt her brother. Veronica's steely determination soon kicked in. "I'm so sorry. I never realized how much hurt I caused you. Duncan, I just...could you help me?"

They were the the words that Duncan had been praying for and hearing his sister utter them in such a remorseful and slightly hopeful tone encouraged him to let a breath of air and smile down at her halo of blond hair. "You know that I'll always be there to help you even if I can't make my presence known to you. I'll be looking over your shoulder."

Veronica laughed, "Now that's creepy."

"Shut up. You're the one with the bizarro bedroom," he teased glad the the tension between the two had dissipated into their former state. "Now let's talk. I'll be the teacher and you can be my obedient student who oohs and aahs over my wisdom."

"I love you, Duncan." Veronica said through her giggles and clasped her hands around her brother's waist.

The two talked for hours discussing and tearing apart their former lives and how it impacted Veronica's current choices. They discussed what Veronica wanted out of life and how she needed to change in order to achieve those goals. They discussed family members, former friends, new friends, and enemies. Collapsed on the bed, Veronica felt spent from the outpouring of emotions she had felt in those hours. Whoever said you couldn't feel opposite emotions was wrong. Maybe those emotions didn't occur at the same second but when they came rolling one on top of the other it certainly felt like they occurred together. She didn't think that she possessed the strength to take much more. However, Duncan was not done and had reached, possibly, the worst topic.

"About Logan," Duncan began nonchalantly hoping to trick his sister into compliance.

Veronica shot up from her prone position and began listing all of her objections to his inclusion in their conversation. Primary among them was "he's not important" with which she began and ended her objection list.

"He's very important," Duncan put simply silencing his sister.

"You've got to be joking. How?" Even as Veronica marshaled her defenses with denial, she felt guilty for repeatedly rejecting Logan. Even at his most annoying, she sensed something with him, a pull. It was something that she had never felt with anyone else and frankly, it scared her. How could she let someone mean that much to her again?

Duncan knew what was going on in his sister's mind. Attribute it to brotherly love, twin closeness, or divine intervention, he knew she was frightened of Logan and the feelings he brought about in her but she couldn't be allowed to wallow, or avoid or run away from them. She needed to face them head on like the kick ass sister that she was. "Do you want me to spell it out for you or could you just go with he's important?"

"Do we have to discuss him? He's not important," Veronica whined trying to cover up the lie.

Duncan looked at his sister and almost rolled his eyes. She was too stubborn for her own good. "Bullshit, you know he's important."

"Why?" she queried again not so much for herself but to answer why Duncan thought he was important.

"Because he's the only one that's been able to break through the M&M shell of yours. Sure you get angry with Lilly and you interact with Keith, Weevil, and Angel but it's not the real you. You're holding back so much of yourself. With Logan, it's the first time I've seen you lose your guard. You actually talk to him and not as some faux version. I know that Weevil sees some of the sass and sweetness that is you but you never get to a deeper level and your emotions are not heightened like they are when you're with Logan."

Veronica blushed. She couldn't begin to refute Duncan's claims. Trust her brother to close off all her exits. Deciding that the best course of action was the truth, she admitted, "I feel something for him Duncan but I don't want to. I don't want him to become so involved in my life."

"That's your choice but if you have these feelings for him shouldn't you make an effort to include him in your life? Why don't you?"

"Sometimes I think that he'll replace you. That if he becomes that person to me, I won't have you."

"Didn't I just say I'd always be there for you?'

"Yes, stalkerazzi."

"Any other pertinent reasons?"

"Yes, if I let him in, he'll be taken from me too," she confessed.

Duncan couldn't say that her fears weren't valid. The three most important people in Veronica's life had been taken from her and why should she take the chance. He knew, she just had to know it. "He may be," Duncan admitted, "but he may not then you will have missed out on everything. I'm not saying that Logan is 'the one'. He may be or he may not be. The only way that you'll know that is if you let him in. Let him know you. Life does not offer guarantees or second chances. I wish I had your opportunities."

"Duncan," she said noticing her brother's wistful tone at the end.

"No. I don't begrudge you your future. Just realize how lucky you are and take full advantage of what life hands you."

"Even if I wanted to, I don't think he'll let me. I made some pretty harsh comments to him. You know, Bitchy Veronica showed her claws."

"If my recollection is correct even Bitchy Veronica was pretty lovable. Yes, you were hard on him. So maybe you have to apologize and talk things out. You know like friends," he finished condescendingly joking with her.

"Thanks for your help, Ghandi."

"Anytime, Terminator."