A/N: Thanx to all my reviewers - you rock, as always! ;-)

(For disclaimer, etc - see chapter 1)

Chapter 13 - Original

"After several incidents recently, Mr Clemmons has asked that I assign your lab partners instead of letting you work with your so-called friends" said Mr Woo from the front of the chemistry lab, not a person in the room at all thrilled to hear the news, "So, let's try to get this done as quickly and quietly as possible..." he told them, as he began selecting names from a piece of paper.

What system he was using was anybody's guess, but it was becoming increasingly obvious who the last pair of partners could well turn out to be. It wasn't a huge surprise to hear the names called but that didn't make the situation any less awkward.

"And finally, Logan Echolls and Duncan Kane" announced Mr Woo to an amused class, who were only too aware of how unsuitable a pairing that really was.

The ex and current boyfriends both of Veronica Mars - this was going to be interesting. Of course, whilst today's experiment was being explained, the two boys sat in appropriate silence and barely looked at each other, but conversation could not be avoided after a while, and as the rest of the class set up test tubes and Bunsen burners, and started chatting about both the class and their lives, Logan and Duncan were forced into speaking to one another, or spend the whole lesson not talking at all.

"So..." said Logan, removing the pen from his mouth that he'd been chewing on, "You and Meg seem like the perfect little couple lately"

Duncan looked sideways at his lab partner, eyeing him with suspicion before going back to measuring water into a beaker.

"I can never tell when you're being sarcastic anymore" he said flatly, deciding he was not willing to give any real kind of answer until he was sure of the context of the comment.

"Yeah, well, you never did get me" Logan sighed, evidently not all that bothered, "kind of like you never really got Veronica" he added cuttingly, a smirk on his face that Duncan would love to knock clean off.

"And you do?" he snapped, "Funny, I seem to recall you dumping her as a best friend around ninth grade?" he said, his tone and looks a total challenge and one Logan was happy to take on, even if he wasn't smiling about it anymore.

"It wasn't like that, man, so don't even start" he said in a low voice, "Anyway, you were fast enough to tell Ronnie it was over when you got bored"

"I wasn't bored!" the other boy all but exploded, slamming a hand on the desk and catching a little too much attention.

Apologetic smiles on both their faces the lab partners glanced first at Mr Woo and then at the rest of the class, before going back to their experiment.

"Not that it's your business" muttered Duncan as he concentrated mostly on what he was doing and tried not to look at Logan's annoying face even as he spoke to him, "but... I don't know, she's so weird about stuff sometimes. I was never allowed to be there when her father was around, and not because he didn't like me, just because she wouldn't let me" he rattled on much to the annoyance of his partner, "She seemed to hate parties, I could barely have a drink without her freaking out..."

"Anything else you want to bitch about, you idiot?" Logan was suddenly seething, and whilst Duncan could understand the guy not liking the fact he was ragging on his girlfriend, he couldn't quite make sense of the overwhelming waves of anger coming off Logan right now, "You really don't know her at all, do you?" he said with a shake of his head as he threw his safety glasses onto the table, "You have any idea what she's been through? She clings to her Dad because he's all she has in the world" he explained, trying to keep his voice down for the sake of not getting yelled at by the teacher and equally as much so that no-one else heard Veronica's secrets, "Yeah, that's partly my fault, but he has always been there for her, even when her Mom got her drink problem and up and left them, when Veronica was twelve years old!" he ended more loudly than he started and bit his tongue then before he exploded completely.

To his credit, Duncan looked thoroughly ashamed of the things he'd said and the way he'd treated Veronica as a light dawned in his mind. He was stunned by all Logan was telling him, truly astounded since he had never realised any of this, never really knew Veronica at all it seemed, especially compared with Logan.

"She never told me any of this" he shook his head, looking totally lost, and feeling more than a little hurt as he realised Veronica had shared so much more with this guy than she ever had with him, despite their dating for almost a year.

"Yeah, well, maybe she didn't think you'd understand" he shrugged, anger dissipating as he realised it wasn't entirely Duncan Kane's fault he'd been an ass if he'd never been given all the facts up to now, "Seems like maybe she was right" he added bitterly, knowing it wasn't fair but unable to help himself as he got up and walked away.

Duncan barely noticed Logan was gone, he was just dumbstruck by what he'd been told. Veronica had gone through so much, and he never knew. Why she didn't tell him was anybody's guess. There was every chance she just didn't want to think about the hardships in her life, wanted to focus on the good things, and he couldn't be mad at her for that. On the other hand, it made Duncan wonder how much she really trusted him, or how much she'd ever really cared. She and Logan had certainly got together fast after their ideas of being with himself and Lilly fell through.

Of course, Duncan wasn't sharp enough or even devious enough to figure out the scam that was there before his eyes. It wouldn't occur to him for a moment that Logan and Veronica would fake a revival of their friendship and a subsequent romantic relationship just to get back at him and his sister. Besides, they had both moved on too, Lilly to Weevil, though that relationship seemed rockier than the Grand Canyon, and Duncan himself to Meg.

Sweet, innocent, lovely Meg; he really did care about her a lot and she had a mass of good qualities going for her. Unfortunately, Duncan knew there was one drawback when it came to dating Meg Manning, one thing that could never be overcome no matter how much he or she tried. She was not Veronica Mars.

* * * * *

"Hey, Veronica!"

The blonde was startled by the sound of her name being called, not because she didn't expect to get any attention as she exited the building for lunch, but more so because the voice calling belonged to her ex-boyfriend, Duncan Kane. Forcing down the smile that immediately rose on her lips, she turned to face him with a stern expression.

"What do you want, Duncan?" she asked, as if annoyed by his presence, though secretly she was pleased to have his attention.

After all, if he wanted to talk to her after weeks of sheer avoidance and hiding behind Meg Manning, perhaps that plan she and Logan had hatched was finally working. For a while Veronica had wondered if it even mattered anymore, but she still got that weird fluttering inside when she realised Duncan wanted to talk to her.

"I just... I wanted to talk to you" he said vaguely as he reached her, then preceded to stand there and stare at her without another word.

"C'mon, Duncan, spit it out" she urged him, feeling dumb with people walking by looking at the pair of them just stood in silence.

"I wanted to say... that I'm sorry" he admitted at length, shifting awkwardly on the spot, "I guess what I mean is, well, I didn't handle things well, and I shouldn't have treated you the way I did" he went on, much to the amazement of Veronica.

Why her ex-boyfriend's opinion of both her and his behaviour towards her should have changed like this and so suddenly was anybody's guess. For herself, Veronica had no idea at all, though she wasn't exactly against receiving an apology for the unceremonious way she was dumped previously.

"No, you shouldn't" she agreed, "but hey, we both moved on, right?" she said, watching his face.

She was almost certain he would agree with her words, but his eyes would give him away if he didn't really mean what he said. Veronica had long since learnt to read Duncan as well as any other person she knew, and she had her father's training to thank for that. Spotting liars a mile away, you had to be able to do that in his line of work, and Keith Mars had taught his baby girl all he knew.

"Yeah, I guess we did" he smiled, though the look seemed less than genuine somehow.

Of course, Logan couldn't hear what was going on from his position across the quad. He had got up to meet Veronica when he saw her exit the school building but had stopped short of going over there when he realised Duncan had plans to catch up to the blonde and talk to her. Inside, a battle raged then as Logan watched the ex-couple talking. A part of him wanted to rush over there, swoop in and mark his territory as it were, lay a kiss on Veronica Mars that would show the world she belonged to him and not to Duncan Kane. Still, Logan knew that she could wind up hating him for such actions. Veronica wanted Duncan's attention, it was why this whole thing had begun in the first place, because she wanted her boyfriend back and he wanted...

"Lilly" he smiled as she appeared in front of him, obscuring his view of Veronica and Duncan beyond, "What's up?"

"Kind of what I was gonna ask you" she admitted, putting a hand on his shoulder as she turned to look in the same direction he'd been staring, "Looks like little brother's putting the moves on your girl" she sighed, "Gotta sting right?"

"I don't know" shrugged Logan, unsure how to behave right now.

He didn't want to seem like he cared too much, he wanted Lilly to know he liked her better than Veronica, but at the same time it would make his relationship with Ronnie look entirely unrealistic if he didn't give a damn that she might be getting back together with her ex.

"Donut is such a spaz" Lilly rolled her eyes, sitting down on the edge of the low wall beside Logan, "If he likes her so much I don't get why he dumped her, but then I never really got what he saw in her in the first place"

"Veronica is... she's special" said Logan, not really knowing what else to say.

He was a little surprised when Lilly suddenly laughed loudly near his ear.

"Special?" she giggled, "Really? C'mon, Logan" she rolled her eyes as he looked far too seriously at her, "Whatever she does for you, you know there are plenty of other girls that can do it better" she winked as she got up and sashayed away, leaving Logan feeling even more confused then he had been five minutes ago.

"Hey" she was gone only a second when his other favourite blonde suddenly appeared before him, "You okay?" asked Veronica with a slight frown when she caught sight on the confused look on her pseudo-boyfriend's face.

"Er, yeah" he said, shaking his head, "So, I saw you and Duncan having some big talk"

"It was nothing" she waved away his interest, "Although he was being weirdly nice and apologising for the way he treated me" she considered thoughtfully a smile on her face that had the weirdest effect on Logan.

He wanted to see her happy, of course he did, and wanted the same for himself, so why when they were just now finally getting what they both wanted, did he feel so unhappy about it?

"Veronica?" he cut into her silent thoughtfulness, catching her attention in a second, but unfortunately when her eyes met his he lost his grip on the nerve he'd mustered a second before, "You wanna hit the mall tonight?" he offered, completely out of blue, making her frown.

"The mall?" she asked, a look of distaste crossing her features, "Seriously?"

"I just thought, with Prom getting so close you might wanna look at dresses?" he suggested, "I don't know, I just thought I could get you something special" he smiled, shifting awkwardly where he sat suddenly.

"Logan, you don't have to buy me a Prom dress" she assured him, but he looked pretty certain about it.

"C'mon, Ronnie, I want to" he told her seriously, "What's the point of a no limit platinum card if you can't test the lack of limitation?" he asked where with a smirk that made her laugh.

"Okay, okay" she relented, "We'll go look, but you are not spending some ridiculous amount of cash on a dress I will only ever wear one time"

"You let me worry about that, Miss Mars" he said as he stood up, put his hands on her shoulders and leant in to kiss the tip of her nose.

Veronica giggled at his ridiculous antics, yet couldn't help but love it somehow. She was just so glad to have Logan back in her life, even if this whole scam situation was a little twisted and seemed as if it would be over before long.

To Be Continued...