Chapter Fourteen
After a light hearted lunch filled with laughter, mainly due to Lilly's retelling of the look on Logan's face earlier, the group of four friends headed out to the beach for a relaxing afternoon.
Just like Veronica's dream of being any where else, it was exactly where she wanted to be. Lilly and Veronica sprawled out on a huge blanket tanning while Logan and Duncan went surfing.
As Logan and Duncan returned to find his girlfriend laying out in her bikini, a soft 'damn' escaped his lips as the sun made her skin glow.
"So did you two fine ladies eat all the snacks, or did you leave any for the men folk?" Duncan asked trying to distract his best friend from ravishing his girlfriend in front of Lilly and himself.
"No worries there," Lilly said with a laugh "Ms. Mars here actually left some food for you guys this time."
"Hey! I resent that. I don't usually eat all the food do I?" Veronica asked looking around at her friends to be met with silence. "Well geez! I am just not feeling a hundred percent today."
"Is everything okay?" Logan asked.
"I think I just have the flu coming on or something like that. Hey isn't that Wallace coming down the beach?" Veronica responded with a point up towards the parking lot.
"I think you are right." Lilly said.
"Hey guys" Wallace said timidly with his head down as he drew closer to the group of friends. "I am sorry to intrude but Veronica's dad told me I would find you here."
"Don't be silly, you aren't intruding. Why don't you join us?" Veronica said as her friends nodded in agreement.
Wallace sat down on the corner of the blanket and still kept his head down.
"Wallace what is wrong? What is going on?" Veronica asked concerned with his somber mood.
As Wallace looked up at the four concerned sets of eyes on him, they could all see the tears that had begun to form in his eyes. He looked at Veronica and wiped away the tears. "I came to apologize."
"No Wallace you have nothing-" Veronica began but was cut off by Wallace holding up his hand.
"Veronica, if I hadn't given you that message, none of this would have happened to you. I am so sorry. You have to know how I wish I could take it all back. I am so sorry Veronica." Wallace finished as he hung his head and tried to clear the tears in his eyes.
"Wallace, look at me." Veronica began. "If you had not given me the message, someone else would have. You need to know that. This is no where near being your fault."
"Yeah man, if you don't remember that, the guilt will drive you over the edge." Logan said trying to ease some of the guilt he knew their new friend was feeling.
"Thank you." It was all Wallace could say. His mom had told him the same thing, but it felt better knowing that Veronica didn't blame him.
"Want to join us for some food?" Lilly asked, trying to bring the lightness back to the conversation.
"Now what kind of guy would I be if I passed up food?" Wallace said with a laugh.
"Definitely not Veronica's kind." Logan responded, causing everyone to laugh and earning him a smack on the arm from Veronica.
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"Veronica, Veronica, you are going to be late!"
"I am coming dad. Just two more minutes."
"You are the one who insisted on going to school today. Besides I made you Keith Mars' top secret pancakes."
"Dad, your secret is that they come from a powdered mix." Veronica says while placing her book bag down by the front door and sits down at the counter.
"Syrup?" Keith aks.
"You know it." Veronica says and instantly regrets it. The moment Keith placed her plate right in front of her, nausea swept over Veronica and she made a run for the washroom. She emptied her stomach contents into the toilet and slouched back against the wall groaning. "Damn flu" She moaned as Keith came in after her.
"Certain foods always did set you off when you were sick. I will never forget the time you watched a KFC ad on TV when you were home sick one day from school."
"Daaad!" Veronica moaned.
"Sorry, sorry. Come on let's get you into bed." Keith said while lifting Veronica to her feet.
After tucking Veronica back into her bed, she fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.
"Poor kid is exhausted." Keith muttered under his breath.
As he made his way to her bedroom door he heard Veronica mutter something. "Phone... Logan... worried... school."
Even in her mental and physical exhaustion, she still thought of Logan.
"I think I am officially only fifty percent of my little girls' world" Keith thought to himself as he made his way out of Veronica's bedroom to go placate a worried Logan.
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"Will you please stop moping. Geez, it is just the flu, she isn't dieing. Snap out of it. We need to focus here. Hello.. Logan! Earth to Echolls. Wow. That so isn't as fun as saying earth to Mars."
Logan's head snapped up at the mention of Veronica's last name. "What? Veronica is here?"
"No stupid. Were you listening at all? Ugh. Anyways," Lilly said with a roll of her eyes. "We need to focus right now."
"Focus on what?" Duncan asked.
"Well since Veronica is not here today, it would be a good day to talk to people about whether or not they saw anything at the party."
"Wow, Lil. That is actually a really good idea." Logan said.
"Of course it is a good idea silly, I thought of it! Now how should we do this?"
Logan and Duncan shared an eye roll at the elder Kane's words when Duncan suddenly got a spark in his eye. He stood up suddenly and climbed atop their lunch table outside and let out a few loud whistles and 'hey everyone's. When silence had fallen over the crowd and all eyes were focused on him, he began to speak. "Most of you by now have heard about what happened to one of my best friends Veronica Mars a few weeks ago at Shelly's party. This is Neptune, so I know you have heard the rumors. I need your help people. We need your help. Anyone who saw Troy and Veronica together that night, or saw him lingering outside of the washroom, please let either myself or Lilly or Logan know. What happened was an injustice and this hateful crime can not go unpunished. This is our time to band together as a school and let people know that we will not stand for such behaviour. We will say no to crime in our community and say yes to a criminal behind bars. Thank you for your help. Enjoy the rest of your lunch." And with that he climbed back down and continued to eat his lunch.
"So when you become president in a few years, do you think you can get me out of all my parking tickets?" Logan asked sarcastically.
"People follow a leader. So if we lead the investigation, someone is bound to have seen something."
"And your little podium speech just now?"
"Oh that was just for practice!"Duncan scoffed with a laugh, causing Logan and Lilly to laugh.
"Duncan Kane for president!" Logan laughed with a faux pump of his fist into the air.
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A quick knock at Veronica's front door made her pause her movie and get up off the couch. She walked over to see Backup standing in front of the door waging his tail.
"What boy, no bark?" She asked while scratching the top of his head and answered the door. "Have you lost your touch?"
"I don't like to think so." Logan said with a smirk.
"Never!"
"Hey baby," Logan says stepping through the door and giving Veronica a kiss on the top of her head. "How are you feeling? Are you still sick? I brought you some chicken noodle soup."
"Thanks but I am fine. My dad wouldn't believe me though so he made stay home. I have been bored out of my mind. How was school?"
"School was school. You know the usual."
"So everyone was talking about me then?"
Logan's eyes fell to the floor and Veronica was met with silence.
"Perfect! So everyone knows?"
"This is Neptune Ronnie. Everyone has to know each other's business or this place would crumble. People want to help though. They have been coming up to Duncan, Lilly, and I all afternoon telling us what they saw of you that night. Almost all of them say they would be willing to testify if it came down to that. Granted Duncan and Lilly told them they would tell a judge what they saw or they shouldn't bother coming to school anymore. I guess in this town, when a Kane tells you to do something, you do it. Another rule in the Neptune rule book. Please don't worry about it. People may talk, but you are Veronica Mars. You are the strongest girl I know, who also happens to be the most beautiful girl I know. Who also happens to have the prettiest eyes I have ever seen. Who also happens to-"
"Okay now you just want me to kiss you." Veronica interrupts with a smile.
"See! The smartest girl I kn-" Logan stops mid sentence as Veronica's lips take over his and her arms snake around his neck.
"Now I seem to remember something about food being mentioned." Veronica says as she pulls away still in Logan's arms, causing him to chuckle.
"Of course Ronnie. You go pick out a movie and I will put this soup into a bowl for you." He tells her as he walks away shaking his head.
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"Thank you for meeting me."
"It was no trouble at all Keith. I know you are worried about Veronica, any father would be in your situation. You should be proud of yourself you know, for finding her when you did."
"I just wish it hadn't come to that."
"I know but you did everything you could for her. None of what happened is your fault Keith. You have to know that."
"I know and thank you Alicia. I just have to keep reminding myself every now and again."
"So you said you had some questions for me?"
"Yes I am worried about Veronica because she has been getting sick lately but not at a steady rate like the flu."
"When did she start to get sick?"
"A couple weeks after the first... rape." Keith said with a bitter taste in his mouth.
"There could be a few different causes for her sickness. Symptoms do tend to not show for a couple weeks after contracting the virus in some illnesses. It could also just be post traumatic stress. Everything that happened could now just be catching up to her sub conscience. It is like her brain has finally clicked and fully realized what she went through."
"That sounds horrible. She is reliving everything that happened to her?"
"She isn't reliving it so much as her brain is just catching up. It is like her brain blocked it out so she could ignore what happened to her and not think about it, but she is finally at a place where she can let her guard down and deal with what happened. The rape and kidnapping are horrifying events that is too much for the brain to contemplate that the stress makes her ill. It will pass soon if that is what is wrong with her. If it is post traumatic stress, the only thing you can do for Veronica is let her deal. I would suggest you get her into a doctor's appointment. If you make it a routine check up it won't stress her out and they will still complete a blood test to check for any other causes of her being sick."
"Thank you Alicia. I feel like I have no idea what to do anymore."
"You are a wonderful father Keith and I know that if Veronica were here right now she would agree one hundred percent with me. Any time you have any questions or you just want someone to talk to, you can always call me."
"I will probably take you up on that offer soon. Have a good afternoon Alicia. See you soon."
"Thank you. You too Keith."
A/N: I know. I know. I suck. I just got so caught up in reading other's work and I started to feel like mine would never be good enough, so why bother? Plus I was completely stuck. I knew what I want for the story a few chapters from now but I have no idea what to do in the mean time. Hopefully I will get back into the routine of posting more regularly. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Let me know what you want done differently or what you liked.