Veronica sat at her desk that night, staring at her computer screen, frozen. Determination had come to her that it was time she moved forward on one of the major reasons for her return – finding out the truth about Lilly's murder. Still that didn't really come so easily – she wasn't sure what to do first. Putting all the facts and 'facts' together was a logical starter. She did this, organizing them neatly in her computer files. It wouldn't be as complete as it should unless she could get a good long look at her father's files again.
With everything that had gone on since her return, they'd both sort of forgotten about it. She didn't want to have to think about some parts of it… what must have Lilly been thinking, feeling, moments before she died? Was she in pain? Was it quick? The image of her friend's dead body was still firmly in her mind, seared in and impossible to erase. A shudder later, she looked up.
"Dad?" she called out. A few seconds passed before Keith poked his head in.
"Yeah honey?"
"I, uh…" she stood. "I need to look at your files on Lilly's case again."
"Veronica, I don't know, I mean… We've been doing good up until now, and it's fine with the cases at the office, but I'm not sure it's such a good idea for you to be dealing with this case in particular," he shook his head.
"Dad… 'this case' was my best friend, and she's the one that matters the most. I know things you might not know about these people, these things…"
"It's dangerous," he held her face. "I lost you once and I barely survived it. I could never bear it if I lost you again." On the verge of tears like he was, Veronica hugged her father.
"It's okay, I know, I know… I couldn't lose you again either. But I lost Lilly too. I can't get her back. I need to do this. Please, Dad…" she looked up at him.
"We'll talk about it in the morning, okay?"
"Yeah," she nodded. A moment later, the phone rang. "Hello?" Veronica answered.
"Put the news on."
"Wallace? What is it?" Her father gave her a look, but she ignored it.
"Just put the news on."
"Okay." She hung up and headed toward the living room, Keith on her trail.
"What's wrong?"
"I don't know. All he said was to put the news on. Better not be about us," she sighed as she pressed the 'power' button.
"… searching the waters for a body, but so far the searched have remained fruitless. Spokespeople for the Echolls family have not made a statement yet on this tragic event. Father and son have remained out of the cameras' sights since the news reached the media. Some sources site marital difficulties, tied to the attack on her husband and subsequent revelations of this past Christmas. We will bring you more details as they become available."
Veronica and Keith stood shell-shocked as they listened to the report. Veronica had been made aware in passing of the events from the Echolls' Christmas party, but still…
"Why would she do this?" she asked her father.
"It's hard to tell why any of them do…" he shook his head. Despite everything or perhaps because of it, she felt sorry for Logan, how he must have been feeling right then…
THE NEXT MORNING, ECHOLLS HOMELogan stood in his room, taking any and all needed time to get ready before ever going out to cross paths with his father.
When the police came to their door, Aaron was the one to answer, the sounds of his cry drawing Logan out of his room. He stopped just out of their view, listening. His head was still pounding from the dance's aftermath, so naturally this didn't help any. He stood back to the wall, listening to his father eventually talk to the cops.
He didn't move. There existed no place for him to go that was right. He'd had Duncan drive him home in early morning despite increasing reservations about it. And then, standing between one direction that led to sitting in the quiet of his room – alone with his thoughts, and the other direction meaning face time with his father. In that moment, neither bore any appeal. Eventually he just sat there on the ground… waiting for anything to come along.
After a while, 'anything' turned out to be the inevitability of dealing with his father. Aaron came up to him slowly, standing three feet away. "You heard?" Aaron asked.
"I heard," Logan confirmed, willing all available control into refusing the witnessing of any tears.
"Do you… Are you…" Aaron searched for what could even be considered the right thing to say, but only came up short. "I'm here, whenever you're good to talk."
That was the last of it for the rest of the day. Logan didn't want to talk to him yet. He couldn't. If he did, yes there would be things Aaron Echolls fully deserved to hear about what he thought but there were also things he couldn't allow to be spoken. If he were to lose his temper, a likely event, then he could end up letting everything out, both the needed and the impossible. The latter meant the former wasn't worth it.
Yet now there he stood, having to head out there. He needed to go to school, as unbelievable as it may have been. As many likely knew at Neptune High, nothing could numb your mind quicker if you allowed it. How unbelievable had it felt to know he'd rather go to school where person after person would no doubt come up to him to express 'heartfelt condolences' than stay home with his own father?
Truthfully, he'd expected it. He knew one day he'd end up alone, his home lifeline gone, with the one person in his world that had ever succeeded in truly frightening him. Over the years, he'd learned a very important lesson, don't let him see it. He'd gotten so good at it, and sometimes he'd let himself believe he might have gotten over it. And every time, there came something to show him otherwise.
For once though, perfect timing stepped in to give him an out. As Logan stepped into the hall, he could hear his father talking. He found him leaning against the side of the door looking out to the pool, phone to his ear. Rather than letting the opportunity go to waste, Logan moved along to the front door, climbing into his car and driving off.
LATER THAT DAY – NEPTUNE HIGH"Okay, listen up!" the teacher did her best to bring the class to attention. It took longer than she would have hoped, but hope and expectations hardly ever mingled here. "Alright, we are now in part three of this project here. I've given you all ample time and several reminders, so now… who has their picture?" About two thirds of the class raised their hands. "Right," the teacher nodded to herself. "Well lucky for you, your former teachers have been helpful in providing some, so…" she signaled for them to step up.
As that went on, the rest of the class resumed chatting. "Let me see," Veronica reached out for Wallace's picture. He snatched it up.
"Hold up. I'll show you mine if you show me yours."
"You drive a hard bargain, Fennel," she squinted as they swapped pictures. "Wow, a bow tie Wallace? Honestly?" she teased.
"That was my mother's doing, not me. What was I going to do, I was six. You're not exactly one to talk, Pinky Pigtails," he waved the picture at her.
"It was a phase," she defended before turning to Mac, sitting behind Wallace. "What about you?" Veronica asked.
"I don't know, I was pretty much the same, minus some blue hair," she explained before producing her picture, stretching over to hand it to Veronica. The handoff was interrupted as Madison, sitting behind Veronica and next to Mac, snatched it away.
"Now this I gotta see," she smirked.
"Go for it," Mac shrugged, knowing like the others did that trying to get it back would only make things more problematic.
Pleased with herself, Madison sat back and looked at the picture. Her mouth had begun to open, ready for a retort, but as she got a good look at the picture of young Mac, her expression froze. Veronica, Wallace and Mac all shared a look, just as the teacher called them to attention once more. Veronica and Wallace switched back their pictures. Mac reached over and took her picture out of Madison's hand. She didn't even protest, her expression had barely changed.
At the end of class, all handed in the pictures and the work they'd done before heading off. "I have to go to the computer lab before next period, Mac explained before splitting off. Veronica and Wallace continued down the hall.
"Did you see Logan this morning?" Wallace asked her.
'No? He showed up?" she asked, surprised.
"Yeah. Didn't talk to anyone, just walked in. I kind of understand it though. You do what you have to do to get through it." They got quiet for a minute.
Part of Veronica wanted to go to him then. Things between them had not been the same since her return. They were better… strange at times, but still better. But at the same time, there were those other things… those she wasn't ready for. The timing, as odd as it could sound, gave her an out. She hated having to think that way.
Luckily, she had something else to focus on. As she got out of her last class, her phone rang. "Hello?"
"Hey honey," she smiled at the sound of her father's voice.
"Hey Dad, what's going on?" she asked, fishing around in her bag for the keys to the LeBaron.
"If you want to take a look at those files, 'now' might be open." She grinned to herself.
"Thank you!" she breathed.
"Hurry before I change my mind," she could hear the smile in his voice.
"I'll be there as quick as legally possible," she nodded and hung up.
Soon after, she was sitting on the ground behind 'her desk' at Mars Investigations, moving with determination through the Kane case files. She picked up on certain things, but nothing to get her any kind of lead. As she continued pulling things out, the phone rang.
"Mars Investigations," Veronica answered.
"Hey, it's me," Mac responded.
"Hey, what's up?"
"You're the junior detective, you tell me. What does it mean when someone starts to get over curious about your life?"
"Well, there's the obvious 'he likes you,'" she smirked, taking a breathy tone on the last part.
"And if the someone is Madison Sinclair?" Veronica blinked, the smirk dropping.
"Then it's the less obvious 'what the hell?'"
"She's been at it all day, popping out of nowhere like a bitchy Jack-in-the-box, asking about my family, my parents," she listened to Mac explain, pulling another stack of files. In the process, one fell free.
"Well, can anyone ever really know what's going through her mind," Veronica crouched to grab the envelope. Her brow creased as she read the top of the envelope.
"Probably," Mac agreed.
"Okay, well do you want me to look into it?" Veronica opened the envelope, pulling out a stack of photographs.
"I don't know, it's probably nothing."
"Well, sit it out a bit, and if it goes…" her voice trailed as she saw what was on one of the pictures. Her mind rocketed to something she'd seen elsewhere – on the tapes from Action News.
"Veronica? Are you there?" Mac brought her back.
"Y-yeah. So, uh, just wait it out."
"Okay."
"I gotta go."
"Sure, see you tomorrow." They hung up and Veronica looked back to the picture.
It was from Lilly's bedroom, taken from the night of her murder. To the casual observer, there might not have been anything out of place. But it jumped out at Veronica like there was a neon arrow pointed at it – the shoes. She knew them, and she knew without a doubt that she'd seen them in the video from Action News.
Veronica looked to the left, the open door through which she could see her father at his desk. She looked back to the picture. Should she tell him? All in all, he'd been forthcoming with her. But still, what she wanted to do with this might not go over well with him. At the same time, she felt it was possible he'd cooperate.
In the end, the decision felt right. She got up, the picture clutched in her hands, and headed into her father's office. "Dad?" He looked up.
"Yeah?" She sighed and walked up to hand him the picture. He took it, looked at it. She could see he didn't understand what the point was.
"Remember when I got back, I told you I got in town a time before?" He nodded. "One of the things I did was to ask Wallace to get me the tapes of reports on Abel Koontz from the local news. On one of them, Lamb was showing evidence they'd found on Koontz' boat when they arrested him. That was, what, six months after Lilly died?"
"More or less," he confirmed. She nodded, stepping up again.
"One of these pieces of evidence was a pair of Lilly's shoes. I recognized them right away, because I had drawn on them… hearts." Keith looked down to the picture, observing the shoes sitting there, suddenly extremely visible to him. He sat back with realization. "Now aren't you glad you let me take a look?" He looked up at her.
'"I'm glad, that you told me about this."
"But…" she guessed. He stood and circled the desk to stand by her. "If you didn't want me doing this, why'd you let me look then? Was it that you didn't expect me to find anything?" He didn't move. "Let me give this a shot? If it gets too dangerous, I can take a step back."
"I know," he nodded.
"So what's the problem?"
"The last time we got too close for the Kanes' comfort, I lost you," he blurted out. She took a breath as Keith took a pause. "I know that you're careful, but these things have a way of taking you over without a warning. You see why it's hard to let you do these things?" She nodded.
"Hey, I'm not alone. I've got you. We can do this together." That got a smile out of him.
"I never pegged you as the teamwork gal."
"I have many hidden talents," she nodded.
"I can tell." She let the moment linger before forging on.
'I want to go visit Abel Koontz."
"Sure aren't wasting time wearing this in, are you?" he sighed with a partial smile.
"With this new information, maybe he'll talk to us." Keith thought for a moment.
"Go for it," he finally agreed. She leaned in to kiss his cheek.
"Thank you."
"Mm mm," he nodded. She returned to her desk, dialing Cliff's number as she gathered up the documents spread about and placed them back in the box.
"Cliff McCormack," he answered.
"Hey Cliffy," she spoke sweetly.
"Oh God, what do you want? You've got favor in your voice."
"Yeah, I have to work on that. I need your help to get on death row to talk to Abel Koontz."
"You P.I.s sure think big these days, don't you? You do know I don't represent him anymore?" She looked up as her father stepped out of his office.
"Hold on," she told Cliff.
"Just got a call on a bail jumper, I have to go," he explained. He grabbed the receiver from her, taking it to his ear. "Cliff, it's Keith. Do what you can, please?" he spoke looking to his daughter. She smiled. He handed her the phone back, waving before heading out.
"So…" she spoke back into the phone.
"Fine. Write him a request, I'll get it to him. After that, it's up to him."
"Thanks, I owe you."
"Yeah you do." She hung up, feeling suddenly at ease. It felt good to be helping.
Grabbing the file box, she returned it to the safe, closing the door. When she stood and turned around, she jumped in surprise to find she wasn't alone.
"Madison… What are you doing here?"
"I heard you're working… here," she looked around.
"Uh, yeah…" Veronica confirmed, curious to know where she was going with this.
"Right, well I'm hiring you."
"Excuse me?" Veronica had to control her voice to stop it from getting out of control.
"You snoop, I give you money, what's there to not understand?" she spoke as she sat in front of Veronica's desk.
"I know what 'hire' means, Madison. It's the part where you want to hire me that's a little harder to get past."
"It's simple really. I want you to prove my father cheated on my mother years ago," Madison spoke coolly, digging in her handbag.
"Uh?"
"Oh come on, I'm speaking English, aren't I?"
"I'm sorry, you're almost treating me like a person, it's unsettling," Veronica walked around the desk and sat, hands together on the desktop. "I'm assuming you have some kind of lead that's causing those suspicions?"
"Oh it's more than suspicions," she placed a picture in front of Veronica's hands.
"Uh…" she picked it up. "That's Mac's kid picture from class. Where did you get this?"
"I stole it," she spoke naturally before producing a second picture. "This is my little sister Lauren at the same age." Veronica very nearly did a double take.
"Woah, okay…" she looked back from one picture to the other. It could almost be the same person.
"See? It's not just me."
"So you're saying…"
"My father, her mother, don't make me draw you a picture."
"Yeah, that won't be necessary," Veronica cringed. Madison reached into her bag again, this time pulling out a few bills folded together and handing them to her.
"This is to get you started. The rest will come later." Madison stood. "Client/P.I. confidentiality?"
"Of course."
"Right." And with that, she left. It took a moment for Veronica to absorb what had just happened. Madison's hiring her was one thing. What this could potentially mean for Mac…
She put the pictures in her bag, closing up the office to head home. She'd deal with this the next day. This day had enough developments. She didn't think she could take more of them. And from the look of this case so far, there would be plenty of them.
THE NEXT DAY – NEPTUNE HIGHVeronica walked down the hall, scanning the faces to make sure she wasn't approached without warning, caught off guard. So many people, with so many different issues… It was like the year before, on a different level. She saw Mac at her locker up ahead. When Mac saw Veronica, she closed the door and walked over.
"Hey, so this morning she was at it again, in the parking lot. It's freaky. Can you check it out?"
"Yeah, okay," Veronica nodded simply. She couldn't tell her she already knew the reason for Madison's quizzings, not without more information. And even then… How would Mac react to this? Madison may have been on the warpath, but Mac would be blindsided.
She headed into the newspaper class, a haven of sorts lately. She sat at one of the computers, logging on. A moment later, she saw Duncan sitting two computers away.
"Hey…" he greeted her.
"Hey. Have you talked to Logan since…" she let the question trail off.
"I tried, but he's not exactly…"
"Forthcoming?"
"He's not talking at all, to anyone. He just sits there."
"Like after Lilly…" she spoke quietly.
"Yeah," Duncan agreed.
"It never really stops, does it?"
"I know… there's all these things to remind you of them… A song on the radio, letters from people who don't know… A few months ago, I got pulled over for unpaid parking tickets. They weren't mine…"
"Lilly's?" Veronica asked.
"Yeah," he nodded. "The day she died." Veronica looked over to him, then away. Could this be something she could use? The rest of the day seemed to go on forever.
When it finally ended, she went off to the Mars Investigations office. She'd forge on with the Madison/Mac case, hope for the best. She pulled out the envelope she'd found in her locker that day, information about Madison's family. And then there was Mac's information scribbled by her on top of the envelope. That had been something else.
At lunch, she'd sat across from Wallace. She stared at him until he finally looked up as well. "What?"
"I need something… something only possible for you to do, Office Aide guy," she gave a smile. The look on his face was priceless. He'd done it though. He'd gotten Mac's file for her, then returned it after she was done.
Logged on to her trusty 'Prying Eyez', something she'd simply been awed by, she put in the information for the Sinclairs, then the Mackenzies. She never would have expected she'd find something so fast. As she scrolled down the information for the Sinclairs, she found one item that stood out from the rest.
05-12-1992 – Neptune Memorial Hospital - $1 million awarded in lawsuit.
She marked it down on a sheet split in two columns, in the Sinclair column. When she went on looking, in the Mackenzies' background, she once again found nothing but the picture of a regular family. And then…
05-12-1992 – Neptune Memorial Hospital - $1 million awarded in lawsuit.
Veronica sat back, shutting her eyes for a moment. There was no way this was a coincidence. Something existed that connected these two families in a very real way. She didn't believe it was what Madison thought it to be; possibly it was worse. She had to see it through, so she picked up her things and went down to her car to head to the city library.
On the drive over, one thought ran on loop. 'What do I tell Mac?' When she got to the library, she was guided to the microfiche. She didn't know what to expect, or if she'd even find anything. But she did. It knocked the wind right out of her.
Hospital takes hit on baby-swap case.
There it was, the reason why Mac looked so much like Lauren Sinclair… they were sisters, full blood sisters. She closed down the screen, got her things together and left. Part of her wished she'd refused to help Madison, then she wouldn't be in this position.
She drove home, where she was greeted by Backup at the door. She smiled, scratched him just as he liked. He was always there to cheer her up a bit.
"Are you okay?" her father asked, sitting in front of the television.
"Yeah," she nodded slowly. "I wanted to ask you… Would you be able to get a copy of an old parking ticket?"
"I should be, why? What'd you do?" he teased.
"Me? Nothing," she smirked. "Duncan told me today that Lilly got a ticket on the day she died." Keith thought for a moment.
It might not mean anything."
"Yeah, but what if it does?" After a point, he stood.
"I'll make a call."
"Thank you," she nodded before heading into her room.
The next day, Veronica headed to Cliff's office before school. She had prepared her letter for Koontz, now all she had to do was get it to Cliff. When he saw her, he stood.
"You're sure about this?"
"Are you going today?" she handed him the envelope.
"If all goes well, you should get a call by the end of the day," he confirmed. "There's no way to tell what Koontz will do with it."
"Only one way to find out," she spoke as she headed out.
At school, she took a moment to think things through. She needed to decide what to do with Mac and Madison and just stop hesitating already. When it came down to it, this was simple enough. She held this information, important facts that existed. If she knew, it was only fair that Mac be told. She was reasonable from what she knew of her, she could handle it well. Madison on the other hand…
She found Mac sitting outside, working on her laptop. "Hey…" Veronica walked up to her.
"Hi," she looked up smilingly. Veronica looked around, the people near them. This definitely wasn't the place.
"Can you come down to my father's office after school or something?"
"Uh sure, I should. What do you need?"
"It's a long story," she explained.
"Okay," Mac nodded.
"Good. Uh… around six? There's something I have to do first."
THAT AFTERNOON – ECHOLLS HOMELogan wove through gathered masses of people, refusing them all any form of eye contact or conversation. As far as he was concerned, they didn't exist. Half of them were there for show, others for so-called 'affection' toward his mother.
It was all lies as far as he was concerned. If any of them in this place had real heartfelt feelings for the late Lynn Echolls, former Lynn Lester, they… they didn't exist, he held to that. No one here loved her and felt the loss the way he did.
Before they had joined the gathering, Aaron had taken his son aside. They were talking now, though it was mostly in a 'pass the milk' or 'which flowers?' capacity. This was their first talk at length.
"Logan…" he started, then paused for a moment. "Whatever happens out there, it's just a couple hours. Then it'll be over. Just… stick it out, alright?"
"Translation: Don't cause a scene. Got it, pops."
After making an appearance as required, he took some food from the catered tables and headed up to his room. He sat on his bed, back where he'd been sitting before he had to get up and get ready. He placed his plate at his left, slipping his other hand into his right pocket, taking out what he'd been turning over and over in his hand for most of the last few days – his grandfather's… his mother's old lighter. He stared at it for a while.
When he heard a knock at the door, he put it away again. The door opened and Duncan walked in. "Hey… you disappeared down there, I just wanted to make sure…"
"Not feeling the crowd, that's all," Logan spoke evenly. Duncan hesitated, started to leave. Logan didn't look up. "You want a sandwich?" Duncan stopped, looking back at him.
"Okay."
MARS INVESTIGATIONS"I'll try to keep it brief. I have to get back here to meet Mac later," Veronica explained to her father as she hurried along, rechecking the list of visitation guidelines from the prison. She wasn't about to screw this up on a minor detail.
"Honey…" he started.
"I have to hurry," she grabbed her bag.
"Have something to show you."
"Can't this wait?"
"It's Lilly's parking ticket." She stopped, looked at him. For the first time, she noticed the serious look on his face. "Take a look at the time," he handed her the printout.
Her heart tugged at the sight of Lilly's smiling face on the pictures. Then her eyes fell on the time of issue. She looked up at her father.
"Do you realize what this means?" Keith asked her.
"Yeah…" she found her voice.
Shortly after, Veronica sat across from a thick window… and Abel Koontz. She pushed back any traces of a shiver, focusing instead on the task at hand. Before she could even get a word in, Koontz spoke up.
"Well, well… what a nice surprise… Saw you on the news a couple weeks ago. I had a feeling I might be seeing you." She didn't let his sneering smile get to her.
"I have some evidence… evidence that could clear you."
"Do you now?"
"Yeah," she reached into her bag.
"Now why would you want to 'clear' your friend's killer?"
"You didn't kill Lilly."
"Are you sure?"
"Why would you allow yourself to be put in jail for a crime you didn't commit. It doesn't make sense."
"Very little does, Veronica. For example, does it make sense a so-called detective wouldn't notice what was right under his nose. How is your mother, Veronica?"
She sat back, giving a signal of the finger to her side. Koontz looked confused for a moment. When Keith Mars came to stand behind his daughter, the two sharing a look, Koontz didn't show any sign of worry or anything of the sort.
"I've already done all the freaking out I'll do about that, so let's move on, shall we?" He looked like he was weighing through his options. Father and daughter Mars held strong, waiting.
"No…" Koontz shook his head, backing up and standing. "We're done. Guards!" After he left, Veronica looked up to her father.
"We tried…"
"We did more than that," he gave her a nod. "He's hiding something. From the look of things, he's scared we'll know," Keith explained as they pulled up to Mars Investigations.
"What are you thinking?"
"I don't know yet. But we'll find it," he assured her as they got out of the car.
"That works," she smiled. He gave her a sign of the head then. She looked back, finding Mac leaning against the wall by their door, her nose in a book. Keith gave his daughter an inquisitive look, and the one she gave back gave him all the information he needed.
"I'm gonna get us some dinner. Burgers?"
"Yeah," she smiled. He left, and Veronica approached Mac. "Hey." She jumped an inch. "Sorry."
"It's okay, I just get very 'locked in' when I'm reading." Veronica nodded, then indicated for her to follow. They went inside, sitting side by side on the couch, facing each other.
"I want you to know, before anything else, that I didn't say anything until now because it was a hard decision, nothing else."
"Okay?" Mac frowned, lost.
"A few days ago, Madison came here."
"Madison Sinclair?" Mac asked. Veronica nodded.
"She wanted me to work a case for her."
"Seriously?"
"Yeah, I know," Veronica stood, going to the file cabinet, retrieving a file. "The assignment the other day, with the pictures… that's where it started."
"I'm not sure I get where you're going, but go on…"
"Madison stole your picture."
"What?"
"The reason she'd been following you? She was trying to understand this…" She handed Mac the two pictures. She watched as her eyes grew wide.
"W-who…" she held up the second picture.
"Lauren Sinclair. Mac… Madison believed that her father had an affair with your mother years ago, and she wanted me to prove or disprove this. Well I disproved it, but… in the process I found something else… bigger."
"What could be bigger than that?" Mac asked staying calm enough.
"The Sinclairs won a million-dollar lawsuit against Neptune Memorial in 92; so did your parents. You and Madison… you were sent home with the wrong families."
"You mean… switched?"
"Yeah…" Mac was quiet for a moment. "Are you okay?"
"I am, I just… you know, this explains a lot…" Veronica smiled. "Wow… so… I was going to be an 09er…"
"Look… this doesn't change anything."
"I know," she nodded. "They raised me… Thank you for telling me."
"Sure."
"Did you tell Madison?" Veronica shook her head. "What are you going to tell her?"
Veronica called Madison about an hour later, after she and her father got home. "Well?" Madison asked after Veronica had identified herself.
"Your father didn't cheat on your mother." That was the truth.
"What about those pictures? Lauren, she…"
"Coincidence." And that was the lie.
Later, Veronica went on working, entering the new information they had into her computer. Keith came into her room. "Working hard," he commented.
"Yeah," she kept going.
"I don't want you to go too crazy about this. Relax a bit." She paused, looked at him.
"Okay, I can do that… after I finish with this." Keith smiled.
"Hey, compromise," he came to kiss the top of her head. "Long day, I'm off to bed."
"Okay."
After finishing up her files, she put on her PJs and went to sit and watch television. She was relieved… that things were moving on Lilly's case, and that Mac had taken this news rather well. She could tell it would take a bit of time before she really dealt with it, but so far it was looking good.
Her thoughts were interrupted then, as she heard a light knock at the door. Veronica hesitated for a moment, but eventually she stood and padded on over to the door. Pulling the door open, the person she found there was definitely not who she'd expected, but who she honestly expect at this hour?
"Logan? What are you doing here?" There was this look on his face again. Lately that seemed to be his mode of communication. This look… it was a new one, and it took some time for her to understand what it was about. "Logan?" He blinked, and then he spoke.
"I need your help."
TBC