14 – Adding Value

"Your dad makes great pancakes," Meg sighed as she flopped onto the couch. "My dad wouldn't cook if the alternative was starving. He'd probably microwave something but to actually make a breakfast like that? Never."

"My dad IS awesome," Veronica agreed as she sat in the armchair and put her feet up on the coffee table. The dad in question had already headed back to the office to finish up the paperwork on the bail jumper. This gave her a little time to pump Meg for information about Duncan. "So, Meg. Am I correct that you're satisfied with your secret admirer?"

Meg blushed as she looked at Veronica. "Yeah, I really was. But I remembered this morning..." She trailed off and hid her face in her hands. Veronica grimaced as she realized the problem.

"You remembered this morning that Duncan and I used to be a 'thing'. Right?" Meg peeked through her fingers at Veronica and nodded. "Meg, really, that was done a long time ago. If you want to date Duncan, than do it. It doesn't affect me."

"Really?"

"Yes, Meg, really." Veronica got up and went into the kitchen. "Want some juice?"

"No, I'm good. So, if you're okay with this, you don't mind if I go to the dance next Friday with Duncan?"

Veronica sighed dramatically and pressed her hands to her head. "Meg. No, I don't mind. Just believe me, PLEASE."

Meg laughed. "Okay, I won't ask again." She stood up and walked over to sit at the bar. "So, what about you? You should go too."

"Nope, no date. Can't go." Her cell phone rang right then. "Ha! Saved by the bell." She peeked at the caller ID and smiled as she answered. "Well, if it isn't my local police man."

"You got a pen handy?"

Veronica pulled open the junk drawer and grabbed a notebook and pen. "Always. Whaddaya got?"

"Three outgoing calls from Pine Veterinarian Clinic between 4:00 and 4:10. I've got a Fred Ellis, John Frampton, and a Carla Stern."

"You're a prince, Leo."

"Yeah, I'm writing that down."

She smiled at his sarcastic tone. "I'll talk to you later." She chuckled and shook her head.

"How about him?" Meg asked. Veronica jerked her head up at the voice. She'd momentarily forgotten about Meg.

"Huh?"

"The hot deputy. He's totally into you. Ask him to the dance."

Veronica shook her head. "I seriously doubt he wants to go to a high school dance."

"Invite him and see." Meg clapped her hands excitedly.

"I don't really think so." Veronica said. "Look, Meg, I hate to run you off but I've got to go follow up on these leads. Once we're ready, let me drive you home."

"Sure, I need to get going anyway. I just need a few minutes." She hopped off the stool and headed to Veronica's room. "But I think you're making a mistake about Leo."

Veronica shrugged. "Maybe but I don't have time to think about it right now." She followed Meg in to the bedroom to finish getting ready for the day. "I've got a couple to reunite."

"Logan, come on in." Keith stepped back to open the door fully so Logan could come into the apartment. "I gotta say, I was surprised you had time to come by on a Saturday night."

Logan shrugged. "You've been to one party, you've pretty much been to them all. You said you had new information—that seemed more important." He headed for the couch but then stopped short. "Any cookies left?"

Keith laughed. "Nope. Veronica ate the last of them a while ago."

"Isn't she here? I saw her car in the parking lot."

Keith sighed. "She's in her room. She had a little bit of a close call today and she's..."

Logan spun back towards him and grabbed at his arm. "She's okay, right?"

"Don't worry, son, she's fine." Keith patted Logan's shoulder soothingly. "That came out wrong. She wasn't in any danger."

"Oh my God. You scared me." Logan took the last couple of steps to the couch and collapsed onto it, dropping his head into his hands. "Please don't do that to me again."

"I really am sorry." Keith moved over to his chair and sat down, watching Logan take deep breaths. "She wasn't in any danger," he repeated, "but she came within seconds of outing someone in Federal witness protection to the people he's trying to hide from so she's feeling a little traumatized and I think a lot guilty."

Logan lifted his head and peered at Keith through narrowed eyes. "How did she do that?"

Keith chuckled. "A client came in looking for an ex-boyfriend. Veronica tracked him down. Only it turned out the ex wasn't so much an ex as a Federally-protected witness who testified against the Russian mob." He shook his head and grinned. "Luckily, the mob guys, who were following me around thinking I was doing the investigation, weren't all that sneaky and I made their tail. I got back to the office right before Veronica spilled the location of the witness to the fake girlfriend."

Logan continued to stare at Keith. "The Russian mob was following you?"

"Yeah."

"And you figured that out?"

"Well, yeah. They were following too close."

Logan snickered. "And Veronica uncovered the location of someone the Feds were supposed to be hiding."

Keith grinned. "Yeah, she did."

"And you couldn't be prouder."

Keith laughed out loud. "Is it that obvious?"

Logan leaned back into the couch, running his hands through his hair. "I'm not super familiar with the sight of parental pride but yeah, I'd say so." He blew out a deep breath. "How'd she beat the Feds?"

"They made a mistake and let the guy go in with his dog, who was apparently pretty distinctive looking."

"The weird ass dog," Logan said, remembering Wallace's words earlier in the week.

Keith laughed again. "Yeah, she called around to some vets and got a little inappropriate help from one of the deputies..."

"Leo?" Logan said sharply.

"Yeah, he's already gotten himself suspended once because of her. He really should wise up before she gets him fired."

"Meg's trying to set them up." Logan said. "She came by Duncan's this afternoon and mentioned she'd gone by the sheriff's office and convinced him to take Veronica to the 80's dance next Friday. Isn't he too old for her?"

"I have made these inquiries, Logan, but thanks for the backup." Keith laughed at Logan's sheepish look. "They're three years apart; he was a senior in high school the year you guys were freshman. You know Veronica's a little on the older side for your class. Lianne kept her out of kindergarten for an extra year since she was so tiny." He gestured at a picture on the table next to them of pre-school Veronica and they both grinned.

"So, technically, yes, he's over 18 and she's still 17 but I don't think it's unreasonable."

"Hmmph. Well, Meg's intent on setting them up and she made me promise not to mention it to Veronica."

"How do you think that's going to go for you?" Keith teased.

"Exactly! Why should I have to get in trouble for keeping quiet about something she's doing that I don't even approve of?" Logan's hands were again running through his hair.

"Guess you shouldn't have promised then, huh?"

"Then she wouldn't have told me what was going on," Logan said, looking perplexed.

"So what? Has knowing made your life better? Or just more complicated?"

Keith watched the light dawn on Logan's face. "So, the lesson of the day is mind my own business and then I don't know things that I'm going to be sorry I know later."

"That's one possibility. Or, if you do know, figure out how to use the information to add value rather than just as a weapon." Keith was pretty sure this advice wasn't really sinking in so Logan's next words surprised him.

"Like maybe talk Meg out of blindsiding Veronica on Friday."

"That's not a bad option."

Logan heaved a heavy sigh. "That's your opinion. Hanging around with the Mars family is seriously cutting into my go-with-the-flow lifestyle."

"Care to explain that?" Keith asked.

"Well, Veronica's got me watching people and you're telling me I need to talk other people out of their bad ideas. If you will recall, I'm usually the one with the bad ideas."

"I didn't say you need to do anything in particular. I just suggested you consider alternatives and you came up with that on your own. And as far as Veronica is concerned, I'm pretty sure you were compensated for watching whoever you were watching—at least when I found my daughter baking in the middle of the night, she said it was for you." Keith raised an eyebrow at Logan. "True?"

Logan gave a half-hearted sneer and rolled his eyes. "Yes, all those things are true."

"Okay then. Quitcher bitchin'." They both burst out in laughter.

"I'll try. Not making any promises though. I know where that gets me. So, what did you really bring me here to talk about?"

Keith held up a hand, "Hold that thought," and stood up and walked to Veronica's room. He stood silently at the door for a moment, listening. He could hear music playing quietly and tapping from Veronica's keyboard. He returned to the living room and sat again. "I don't think she's coming out anytime soon so we can talk."

Logan glanced over towards Veronica's room. "You've got stuff to tell me that she shouldn't know?"

"Not until you're ready for her to know, Logan," Keith said.

"What if I'm never ready?" Keith watched as Logan went from a laughing young man to an overwhelmed boy, pulling his shirt sleeves down over his hands. Keith felt pretty sure he could cheerfully strangle Aaron Echolls in that moment and not feel a single qualm. That wasn't going to help Logan though and instead of expressing the anger rising in him, he shrugged nonchalantly.

"Then you never tell her. Although I'm pretty sure I know my daughter well enough to say that you can trust her with this information but this is your business and it's up to you to decide who gets to know and when they get to know it."

Logan's head was down, his elbows on his knees and his fingers steepled together, resting against his forehead. "I think you're probably right but I'm not ready yet." He glanced up at Keith. "And I've got some apologizing to try to do first. If she's gonna forgive me for the bullshit I pulled on her, I don't want it to be because she feels sorry for me and my pitiful life."

"That's a good start, Logan," Keith said with an encouraging smile. "Now, here's what I've got." He took a deep breath to steady himself. "Six sets of records, the earliest from when you were five and most recently from two years ago. For what we want to do, your mom and I agree that should be sufficient. Aaron won't want anyone to see these." The homicidal rage against Aaron was rising in him again as he thought of what he'd found in the records.

"But he knows I don't want anyone to see them either," Logan said. "And he's always warned that he'll say it was mom who did these things and that people will believe him." He was resting his head against his hands again.

"Logan, think about that. Even if that were the truth, what would his excuse be for letting her stay around you?" Logan looked up at Keith, his forehead furrowed in contemplation.

"But it's not true."

"Not the point. Aaron accusing your mother looks almost as bad against him as it would against her. And obviously, you would dispute any such allegation and put it back on him."

Logan shuddered, obviously affected by the thought of a confrontation with his father. Keith reached forward to clap a hand on his shoulder.

"Try to relax, Logan, there's more." Logan looked up with a grimace. "I went to see your mom today."

"What? How is she?"

"She's doing really well. Ideally, she's got twenty more days in the rehab program but she really seems to be responding well. The doctor said she's very motivated."

Logan grabbed the throw pillow from the corner of the couch and wrapped his arms around it. "That's good news." He sighed and gave Keith a grim smile. "So, how does she want to play this?"

"When she's ready to leave rehab, she wants to set up a meeting with your dad. Catch him off-guard and then play it that she's working on fixing her life, she's taken the time away to get herself together and she needs some more time still but didn't want to hurt you guys any longer by staying in hiding. Her story is that she doesn't want to push for a divorce, just some more time apart, so she can continue to concentrate on getting past this. Nothing to embarrass or upset him. She wants to try this approach first rather than going with the threats of disclosure. She knows you don't want to do that."

"And then if this works, she goes off to live somewhere else and Aaron and I just stay like we are?" Logan had the pillow in a death grip.

"No, no, what she wants to try and get him to agree to is you and she stay here in Neptune and Aaron goes to your house in L.A."

"So she needs time away from him to get better but not me? That doesn't seem logical. Why would he agree to that?"

Keith shrugged. "Logan, this isn't my plan. It's your mom's. She's just looking for the easiest way to make this happen. I think she's hoping that once it's out that she's not dead but that she took off because of personal problems, it will give him an out to keep his distance. I don't know if it will work. She thinks, and I partially agree with her on this part, that as long as he doesn't think she's making him look bad, he'll be more agreeable. She hopes that means that he'll let you guys kinda do your own thing and leave him free to do whatever he wants."

"Yeah, you might think that but that's not Aaron's style. He's not interested in a reasonable resolution, he wants to win, make sure we know he's the boss." Logan stood up from the couch and started to pace. "I don't think it's gonna work."

"Unfortunately, I think you might be right. Then it comes down to, are you willing to go with the other option and use the records and—more importantly—are you willing to go public when he tries to call your bluff?"

Logan dropped onto the couch again and looked earnestly at Keith. "I said I would but you know I'm not crazy about the idea. I don't even want to come clean with Veronica—do you really think I'm gonna want to tell the world?"

"I know, Logan, I do know, and so does your mom. We've still got time for you to figure out what you're willing to do. Right now, we're pretty much in a holding pattern, until she's ready to come back out into the world. We've got enough of the records—it's not worth the risk to keep looking for more. You just keep your head down and make some decisions."

Logan nodded. His sleeves were pulled halfway down over his hands again. "Okay. I'll let you know."

Keith patted Logan's shoulder again. "Why don't you go bug Veronica for a while. She's been in there too long." Logan smiled weakly and stood up. "Oh, one more thing. Veronica says you think it's Trina staying at the Sunset Regent."

"Yeah, who else would it be?" Logan sneered.

"I'm a little worried about someone else noticing the activity and starting to dig around. Like a tabloid reporter. Finding Trina might get someone on a path that leads to your mom. I know you told Veronica that you wanted to keep Trina from invading your house but that might be the lesser evil. Just one more thing to think about, on top of everything else."

"So are you suggesting that I bust her at the hotel?"

"That might be the way to go," Keith answered. "It's just one option."

"As much as I don't want her at the house, messing with her might be fun." Logan smiled for the first time since the conversation had turned to dealing with Aaron. Although Keith wasn't crazy about what had improved his spirits, he wasn't going to begrudge him something that could cheer the boy up.

"Take Veronica. She'll probably be able to get you up to her room."

That worked. Logan's face turned incredulous and then almost happy. "You're telling me to drag your daughter along to find a way around security?"

"She's obviously good at it," Keith said.

"Yeah, good enough that you may be hearing from the Federal Marshals' office soon," Logan retorted.

"I don't think so. I arranged for the sheriff's office to pick the mob guys up but no one knows Veronica made the witness."

Logan laughed as he stood up and headed for Veronica's room. "Hanging around with you guys is certainly never boring."

I know...no Logan/Veronica interaction. Don't worry, next chapter is all them.

All the usual accolades to kmd0107 for her extremely appreciated input. She's awesome!