Shattered, Forgotten & Treasured
Chapter 14: Family Affairs

Aaron

It has been two excoriating weeks since I heard the blurb about Logan being in an altercation with a gun man in the courthouse. I am still struggling with why the hell he was there in the first place. No one in this damn hell will give me anything, because the bastards are keeping it tight lipped. It boils my blood knowing that Keith Mars actually has stepped up in my place, he pisses me off. Does he not know who the hell I am?

"Echoll's you've got a visitor," one of the jerks who keeps me locked in all day long snips toward me as he opens the cell door. He places the damn cuffs around my hands like I am some common criminal, and shoves me forward. I follow him to the visitors' area where I see my lawyer sitting behind one of the tables.

"Did you find anything out?" I snap as I sit down across from the overpriced harlot.

"Not much, he seems to be fine. I learned from a source at the hospital that Veronica was shot at the courthouse. I don't know all the details since Keith seems to be keeping it quiet," he says as I just look over at the joker pissed that he was wasting my time.

"I'm paying you $500 an hour and you haven't given me crap," I snarl at him as he looks away from me. It seemed like he was hiding something from me. "What the hell are you hiding," I snap as he opens his case up to hand me some papers.

"It seems that your assessts have been frozen," he mutters. I was looking over the papers he handed me and found it odd that the accounts were so low.

"Where is all my fucking money?" I yell as he hands me a few more papers. I guess Logan wasn't as dumb as I thought he was. He was able to find the majority of the hidden accounts in his name as well as the few I hid within the accounts. I hated that I was losing more and more because of the Mars family. I knew deep down that this had Keith Mars written all over it.

"What would you like me to do about this?" my worthless attorney questions as all I want to do is beat the shit out of my damn son to teach him a lesson about respect and loyalty.

"I want you to find out where the hell my son is, and why all of this has been kept on the down low! Find out what he is hiding, damn it do your job for once," I snap as the guard comes in to take me back to my cell.

*****LoVe******

Logan

I loved watching Veronica sleep because she was so cute. I liked over at the bassinet on my side of the bed at our wide awake baby. Gracelynn was able to come home early this afternoon after spending almost two weeks in the hospital. She had a rough first night, but after that she did fine.

"Does my little baby girl want something to eat?" I ask softly as I gently pick her up. I look back at Veronica before slipping out of our room and down the stairs to warm up a bottle for her.

"I bet you're happy to see more than just your little bed," I whisper as we wait for her bottle to heat up. I stare down at my daughter as if she might vanish before my eyes, but I know she isn't going to. I feel like Veronica has been right all this time about me not being like Aaron, but I still feel this struggle not only to protect my family at any costs, but hate the lingering thought that one day I could lose it all.

"Hey, I would have fed her," I hear Veronica say as she pulls me from my thoughts.

"I know, but you were sleeping so soundly. I really thought I could feed her and be back before you woke up," I say as I pull the bottle out of the pan and test it. I reached for Veronica's hand and pulled her with me out the patio doors to a chaise. I sat down passing Gracelynn off to her before pulling her down to lay next to me. She took the bottle from me and started to feed our daughter.

"You just snuck off with her to show her this," I heard Veronica say laughing as I see the first bursts of the sun rising in the distance over the ocean. I knew she understood fully the fact that I wanted to share this beauty with our daughter. I remember the first morning we had Lillian this is what I did. I mean we just brought our little daughter home late the night before, but this was something that all children should be able to have.

"You know, Ronnie all I want to do is make so many memories with our daughter that might erase a lifetime of misery at the hands of my cruel and murderous father," I mutter as she leans closer into me.

"I know, but we have that," she whispers as I look down at our daughter puzzled.

"Have what?" I questioned not understanding fully her comment.

"We have a lifetime. Let's not rush all the memories because if we do it all now, we'll have nothing for the future to bribe her with," Veronica says laughing as I chuckle as well.

"Yes, true," I say with a smile. Of course Veronica would be thinking of the future. She was right though. If I spoiled our daughter now I couldn't hold anything over her head later on.

****LoVe*****

Aaron

"Well have you found anything out," I snapped at my lawyer once again. It had been several days since I had seen him.

"No, Keith Mars has got both Logan and his own daughter locked down at their home. I haven't been able to get any details about either one from anyone," the pathetic piece of crap sitting in front of me said. I slammed my fist into the table as the guard looked over at me.

"I don't care what the hell you have got to do, but get to Logan or else," I sneer at him as I reach over to jerk him closer as the guard pulls me back into my seat. "Get your hands off of me," I snap as I jerk my body away from the guard.

"I'm not going to be very nice to you if you can't keep your abusive hands to yourself," the guard snaps shoving me roughly against my chair.

"I don't know who the hell you are, but you have no clue what the hell you're talking about," I yell as my lawyer stands up.

"I'm sure you do. You think just because your face is plastered all over the media you are important, but you're not. In the end people will see the truth," he snaps as I stand up to face the shit who thought he could speak to me like I was some criminal.

"You don't know shit," I snap as I watch a smirk form on his face.

"I know you killed that girl in cold blood. I also know you abused your son for years. Hell if I had to wager it you probably murdered your wife as well. You see Echolls, I see you for the piece of crap that you are. I don't have to bow down to you, but soon very soon you will have to learn your place or you'll become someone's bitch," he says as he laughs at my frightened lawyers face as he drops the papers in his hands.

"Right, well we'll see whose laughing in the end," I say as calmly as I could without a hint of fear in my voice. He jerks my arm as he opens the door to lead me back to my cell. "Find my son," I yell right before the door close and I am shoved forward losing my balance I fall to the ground while I turn to get up the guard kicks me with his shoe shoving me back down.

*****LoVe*****

Veronica

"Hey," I mumbled as Logan sat down on the bed.

"Hey back at ya," he says kissing my forehead. I open my eyes to see he was already dressed.

"Where you off to?" I questioned as I move to sit up.

"Papa Mars thinks it's time I head back to school. I know school started a week ago, and Gracelynn has only been home about a week," he says looking toward her little bassinette.

"I know, but it's only for half a day. I think we'll be fine until you get home," I whisper as I look down not excited about this one bit.

"I tried to talk him into one more week, but he just gave me his stern look," he says as I laugh.

"Right, didn't you at least give him the head tilt," I say as I tilt my head to show him my point.

"No, I think that only works for certain blondes," he mumbles into my lips as he kisses me softly before deepening the kiss tracing my lips with his tongue.

"Okay, we better stop before I pull you back to bed," I mutter pulling away as I try to regain my composure. He stands up as I throw back the blankets to get up as well.

"I'll wait downstairs for you. Take your time it's still early," he says as I watch him pick up our daughter and leave the room. It amazed me sometimes how loving he was even when he doubted himself. I quickly brushed my teeth, ran the brush through my hair before slipping a pair of yoga pants and a tank top on. I peeked into the room across from ours where Dick usually slept to find Rosie snuggled up in the bed with Dick. Yeah, she's a killer alright. I picked her up off the bed to let her out.

"I was looking for her," Logan says as I enter the living room where he was huddled up on the couch with Gracelynn in his lap sucking on her bottle.

"I found her in Dick's bed," I muttered as he laughed. I opened the back door and put her in the small dog run area Leo set up for her to keep her from running away.

"How is our little girl this morning?" I asked as I sat down beside of him.

"She's doing well, a clean diaper and a fresh bottle," Logan says smiling as I wrap my arm around his free arm.

"God, you two are so predictable," Wallace mumbles as he drops down on the sofa near the back door.

"Well sure come in and make yourself at home," I mutter as he laughs.

"Hey, I brought doughnuts," he says as I look up from my daughter at the mention of the fresh doughy bread that I had been craving the day before. I looked over at Logan who had a huge smirk on his face.

"I called him to see if he'd pick up some, before he headed over here," he said as if it was a normal thing for him to do.

"Why aren't you riding with Dick or having Leo drive you?" I questioned.

"It seems that Aaron is trying to gather information on me and what happened at the court house. Papa Mars thinks it would be best if I arrived with Wallace to keep the hawks from ambushing me," he mutters as I see his point.

"I didn't know that he was inquiring about you," I mutter as Logan passes our baby to me.

"Yeah, well there has been too much going on to really get into the actual details," he mutters once more before getting up taking the empty bottle with him. I wanted to follow him, but felt if he wanted me to he would have asked me to. I sat looking into my baby's warm brown eye that reminded me of her father so much. My dad says that she looks so much like me when I was her age except for the eyes.

"Wallace my man," I hear Dick say as he enters the space.

"I'll meet you two in a minute. I need to talk with Veronica," Logan says as Wallace and Dick leave the room.

"I wasn't sure about all the details at all. Keith has been doing a great job at keeping things under control, but he did explain to me that it was something that has just been happening. I wouldn't hide something like this from you," he says as I nod my head knowing he wouldn't, but it still didn't help the way I was feeling.

"I know, it's just this isn't about you anymore," I say softly as I feel his hand pulling my chin up to look at him.

"I know that. I wouldn't do anything that would ever hurt you or our daughter. I love you too much to be reckless anymore," he says honestly. I knew he was trying hard, but the issue of Aaron Echolls would always be a sore topic.

"I love you too," I say as I feel his lips on mine brushing against them before he deepens it only to pull away as soon as someone clears their throat.

"I thought you had left already," I hear my dad say as I feel Logan chuckle.

"Yeah, I'm leaving right now," he says kissing my forehead before reaching down for his bag and heading toward the door.

"Thanks dad," I mumble as he sits down beside me.

"I try," he says smirking as I elbow him softly. "How's my star pitcher?" he coos at Gracelynn. My dad stayed with me much of the morning until Meg got up. Then he left the two of us in Leo's hands so that he could do a few errands.

"Hey, how is Logan doing," Meg asks as I put Gracelynn in the playpen set up in the living room. We were able to get one that was big enough for both girls for the time being.

"He's doing well. I mean he is such a natural with Gracelynn that I don't understand what his reservations were about being around her," I say softly as she scoots closer.

"I think he was just worried about hurting her even by accident," she says softly as I nod my head. I knew that Logan had those thoughts but he was nothing like Aaron.

"Has Duncan contacted you anymore?" I asked as she looked up from her book.

"He's tried to call me, but I haven't answered him. I just blocked his number. I don't think I should have to deal with him at the moment," she says as I smile. She was doing better at being a mom than some people would have thought. We spent the rest of our morning and early afternoon talking about school work and watching the babies sleep.

I had just changed Gracelynn when I decided to head upstairs to take a nap. I had been trying to stay awake to see Logan come home, but I was tried. I pulled the bassinet next to my side of the bed as I laid down to just rest my eyes.

****LoVe*****

Logan

"Logan," I hear a familiar voice say as I open Wallace's car door. I look toward the voice to see Mac waving her arm.

"Mac," I say smiling as I see the cameras all around the school entry way. I hated the photo hounds for as long as I could remember, but this was just ridicules. I mean why were they hounding me like this.

"How's Veronica and Mac?" she questions as Dick wraps his arms around her waist.

"Their doing well, I know they'd like to see you though," I say laughing as she shoves Dick slightly away.

"I just got home the other night. We had to go see Yosemite," she mumbles as I laugh once more. I envied her a little when she talked about how her family always took different family trips. I would have killed to have Aaron take me on a trip that didn't involve the media following us every step of the way.

"Wow, you have it so rough," I joke with her as she laughs before heading the other direction toward where a few kids were standing. I walked into the school with Dick and Wallace flanking me. I went right to my locker only to stop at the news clipping that some jerk thought would piss me off. They were articles about my mother's death, Veronica leaving me and the favorite was how Aaron was dying. The last one I was hoping was true, but it was all fiction based on lies.

My morning seemed to drag on from one class to the next. I hated having to be in the rooms with all the fake people who were trying to get information on what I had been doing and where Veronica was at. I walked into Journalism class only to see Duncan turn away from me as I sat down next to him. The class even dragged on. I was thankful when lunch came because I decided to head home instead of waiting around for my last class. There was only one place I wanted to be at the moment and it wasn't hanging around fake people.

I walked out toward the parking lot when I felt someone shove me from behind. I turned to ask what the hell was going on when I car came out of nowhere and I was being shoved into the back of it. I looked up to see an older man before I was hit over the head knocking me out.

***LoVe***