Logan was waiting impatiently when Keith Mars showed up. He winced inwardly and gave himself a mental pep talk before having to deal with his girlfriend's father. 'I'm a grown-ass man. I've saved his life. I did nothing wrong...this time. There's no reason I should be this jumpy around him.'

The words kept going around in a loop in his head as he watched the shorter, bald man approach. "Keith," he said in the most grown-up tone he could muster, giving a single nod.

"Logan," Keith said in return, the corners of his eyes and lips twitching in amusement. "You know I'm here to get you out, not arrest you, right? No need to be quite so serious."

Huffing out a laugh, Logan shook his head, "Right. Not still the eternal screw-up. Got it." He paused a moment, raised a brow and asked with a mixture of mild amusement and annoyance, "Then how'd I end up here again?"

"Doesn't matter," Keith replied confidently, "You've been cleared." The guard strode up, gave Keith a nod, and unlocked the door. "Come on, let's go. I'm hoping we can make it to San Diego in time to meet that detective with Veronica."

"Actually," the guard spoke up, "He needs to give a statement first. It's been confirmed that his brake line was cut. We need to try to get a timeline for when that might have happened so we can work on figuring out who did it."

After he'd given his statement and left his number with the investigating officer along with a request for regular updates, he and Keith headed back to San Diego.

Before Logan could think of anything to say, Keith decided to break the ice. "So, Logan. How are things going? You staying out of trouble?"

Logan laughed. There was nothing else he could do. The questions were so routine and ordinary but not so much when they came from Mr. Mars.

"Well, I'd say for the most part things are pretty status quo. You know, utter crap. Like, for instance, this kidnapping thing and you having to pick me up at jail? Yeah, those things? Not so great." He paused then, his tone and demeanor softening before he continued, "The rest, though? The rest is pretty great."

Keith gave Logan a warning glance, as if to remind him that he'd better not be insinuating that he and Keith's daughter had a sex life or that said sex life was remotely a part of those things that were pretty great.

Hiding a grin, Logan settled in for the ride and continued, "You know, Mr. Mars, your daughter is a damn good detective. Even when she won't let us try to keep her safe."

With a glare and a grumble, Keith had to agree. He glanced at Logan for a moment and admitted gruffly, "There are times I still wish she'd stayed in New York, away from all this mess. No offense."

Unperturbed, Logan shrugged, "Yeah, I can see that and respect it. And I'd like to think we'd be together now regardless, but if Veronica wasn't happy there, what would be the point?"

The older man was silent, acknowledging to himself that at times the young man next to him seemed to understand his daughter better than he did. Reluctantly, he glanced at Logan and uttered the words that he knew he'd been holding back for far too long.

"I'm proud of you, kid."

Eyes darting to Keith's face, Logan was visibly startled, then obviously pleased. "Thanks." Of course, he couldn't leave it at that and added in his self-deprecating way, "Took me long enough to earn it."

As he drove, Keith studied him with quick sidelong glances, then nodded in agreement but said, "Lesser men wouldn't have bothered trying."

When they arrived at the San Diego Police Department, they found that the detective working Maddox's case had only just recently arrived and had been in with Veronica for only a few minutes. They asked to be shown into the meeting room and were told to wait there while the person at the desk checked in to make sure their presence would be permitted.

Soon they were led to a small corner office where they found Veronica waiting with the detective.

As the officer closed the door behind him, the detective rose and extended his hand. "Detective Mitchell," he said. "Nice to meet you both. Wish it were under better circumstances."

"We do as well," Keith assured him as he took the offered hand and then found a seat.

Logan simply nodded as he shook the man's hand, and took the seat next to Veronica. She took his hand in hers and gave it a squeeze, inspecting him briefly with a slight smile that didn't erase the concern in her eyes.

"I'm fine," he whispered against her ear in reassurance.

She nodded but finished her visual assessment anyway before turning back to the detective. "Now, where were we?"

"You were explaining how you became involved with investigating a sensitive case that appears to deal with national security and corruption," Detective Mitchell offered.

Veronica nodded again and this time looked over at Logan rather cautiously as she spoke, "Logan's colleague, Mr. Dalton, heard something rather disturbing one morning when he was running late to meet Logan. They asked me to poke around and see if I could find anything because they didn't want to go to their superiors without any evidence, especially when it sounded like there may be someone with a good deal of authority involved."

Logan squeezed her hand and watched her closely as she took a breath. Detective Mitchell was recording the conversation, scribbling notes furiously. "Go on," he said and waited for her to continue.

"Well, I really didn't think I'd gotten very far. I mean, I'd discovered some blackmailing being done by some ass named Joe. I was trying to dig further into that, get some info from the Lieutenant Commander this guy had under his thumb but then all this bullshit with kidnapping and cut brake lines happened and really that's about all that I know," Veronica concluded.

"And you said you were about to go to NCIS with the information that you do have so that they could investigate for themselves," Mitchell added, making sure he had all the details straight.

"Yeah. The plan was to go today if we could but obviously that's not happening now," Veronica responded.

"I think you should still try to make that connection, honey," Keith spoke up, just like the dad that he was.

Before she could protest, Detective Mitchell was stating, "I agree," and Logan was adding his two cents with a nod, "Me too." Then he grinned, giving her a peck on the cheek as he said, "Sorry, hon. Looks like you're outnumbered on this one."

Scowling, Veronica glared at him playfully and punched him in the shoulder. The glare, however, still didn't manage to cover the worry in her eyes as she asked, "How will that help bring back Maddox?"

"NCIS has more information and resources than you or I do. They will definitely be able to put a last name and face with your mysterious Joe a lot faster than we ever could," Detective Mitchell explained.

"Will we get to see Nick today?" Logan asked, a tired weight of concern in his dark eyes.

"Probably not," Mitchell confessed before adding apologetically, "I talked to him this morning and while he's ok with us working with you, he still feels that you're at least partly to blame for what's happened."

Logan flinched at his words and this time it was Veronica's turn to give his hand a comforting squeeze. "It'll be ok," she murmured, fervently hoping it would be.

Interrupting their thoughts and quiet interaction, Mitchell cleared his throat to say, "I took the liberty of scheduling you an appointment with the head of the San Diego NCIS office. They'll be looking for you at 2 o'clock this afternoon."

"Thank you," Veronica said, her voice strained with resignation. She stood to her feet then and asked, "Is there anything else?"

"Not at this time," Detective Mitchell reassured her, "If we find anything or need further information, we'll let you know."

Once they were out in the parking lot, Keith turned and asked, "Well, what do you say we grab a little lunch before that 2 o'clock meeting? I don't know about you but I'm starving."

Veronica and Logan glanced at each other, Veronica's brows rising to match the smirk on her lips while Logan grinned down at her. "I could eat," he said casually. She nodded her agreement and intoned rather humorously, "You know I'm always up for good food."

They headed to a diner not far from where they'd be meeting with NCIS. As they ate, they talked strategy and whether they were prepared to be shut out from further involvement in the case.

"Personally, I'm ready to get back to our regularly scheduled programming," Logan stated, "I hate when things get so twisted up and dangerous."

"And here I thought danger was your middle name," Veronica teased flirtatiously.

They exchanged a soft peck on the lips while Keith protested loudly, "Hey hey! None of that with the parental unit around. Save it for when I don't have to admit that it's happening."

The younger couple laughed, looking at each other with amusement dancing in their eyes before leaning in to rest their foreheads against each other affectionately. Logan didn't bother to look at Keith as he said, "Sorry, Mr. Mars. I think you just might be doomed to witness our incessant mushiness forever."

Veronica laughed again when her father groaned. With a sigh, Veronica moved away from Logan and was back to being all business. "So, if they will let me stay involved somehow in the investigation, can you both be ok with it?"

Keith and Logan exchanged a worried glance, then both sighed heavily, resigned. "If they allow you to maintain contact with the case, we won't protest too loudly or try to interfere," Keith said, finally.

Turning to Logan expectantly, Veronica raised her brows, waiting for his answer as well.

Rolling his eyes, he answered, "Yeah, what he said. Me too."

"What if they won't let me stay involved?" Veronica worried aloud, "How will we know what happens?"

"You won't," Logan stated flatly, "I mean, there may end up being some sort of memo that goes out about it in the end, but other than that, nothing."

Frowning, Veronica opened her mouth to say something but Logan put a finger to her lips, "At this point, let them deal with the Navy shit. I want you helping find Maddox. Can you do that?"

A number of emotions flitted across Veronica's features until they finally settled in on resignation. She nodded and kissed the finger still on her lips, "Yeah. I can do that."

"Good," Logan responded, relief clear in his tone. He looked up just in time to see a matching expression on Keith's face. "Now, let's go talk to some Navy investigation guru types and see what we can all piece together."