Hey everybody. I'm not sure how I feel about this chapter. I've reread it a couple times and I go from loving it to not being sure. So if you could please let me know what you think, that would be great.

Oh and to everybody who keeps pointing out little things like Logan knowing in the pilot that Veronica's Mom is an alcoholic, well in my story we'll pretend he didn't. So if I ever write something that contradicts what the show said it's probably because I want it that way. But thanks for being so detailed. I forgot all about that scene. :)

Veronica walked into her apartment her mind consumed with everything her Mother told her the day before. So Jake Kane couldn't have killed Lily. Veronica was able to mark one suspect off her list but she needed to ask her Dad what Celeste's alibi was along with Duncan's.

She waved at her Dad who was sitting on the couch reading the newspaper. She sat down on her bed and turned her computer on wondering why Abel Koontz would have confessed to murdering Lily. She knew he was dying, having read his hospital chart at the Doctor's office but how did that fit in with Lily's murder.

"Dad, can you come in here for a minute?" Veronica asked a couple minutes later.

"I really need to get you a bell so you can ring for me," Keith joked leaning against the doorframe. He was holding up Neptune's local paper when he said, "Looks like Neptune beat the hell out of Pan last night."

"Yeah," Veronica said distractedly. She looked up from her laptop, "I want you to answer me something, honestly."

"Sure, honey," Keith said walking farther into the room and sitting down on her desk char.

"Don't get mad and don't blow me off, just answer me, please," Veronica said stalling.

"Okay," he said leaning forward.

"Why would a person agree to confess to a murder he didn't commit?" Veronica asked quickly getting it all out before her Dad could stop her.

"Veronica," Keith sighed. But when her eyes pleaded with him to be honest and tell her the truth he went on. "Money, a lot of it."

"But if you're not around to spend that money, what does it matter?" Veronica asked confused.

"How did you…" Keith started to ask but he just stared at her for a moment. Of course she knew, she would have dug until she found out everything about Abel Koontz. "Who told you he was dying?"

"Nobody," Veronica admitted. She stared down at her hands that she had clasped in her lap before she confessed to everything. "I…uh…read his chart at his Doctor's office." She looked up at her Dad. "The same Doctor's office that the Kane's use."

"And what else did you read at the Doctor's office?" Keith asked waiting to hear all of it before he lost it.

"That Duncan has a type of epilepsy that causes him to have rages and black outs," Veronica explained. She stared at him. "But you knew that."

"No I didn't," Keith said shaking his head. "They didn't just let you read their files."

"No they didn't," Veronica agreed.

Keith stared at his daughter wondering where she'd learned how to be as sneaky and gutsy to sneak a peek at a Doctor's private files. "Well, maybe there's someone else. Someone you care about that will be around after that person dies," he said finally answering her question. He stood up to leave.

"I saw Mom," Veronica said before he got out the door.

"What?" Keith asked sure he'd heard her wrong.

"She called me yesterday," Veronica said softly. "I went to see her…to ask her something."

"Where is she?" Keith asked shocked that Veronica had seen and talked to his wife when he hadn't seen or heard from her since she left.

"I don't know," Veronica admitted. "After Logan and I drug her out of a bar we talked for awhile and I left her kneeling in a parking lot of some Diner." She closed her laptop and set it aside. "I hate her."

"You do not hate your Mother," Keith said after a minute of silence had passed.

"She's been having an affair with Jake Kane for my entire life," Veronica said staring intently in his eyes so she could see his reaction. When he looked down at his hands it was like an admission of guilt. "You knew!"

"Veronica," Keith said calmly.

"How could you let her do that to you?" Veronica asked standing up so she could pace away the anger she had inside. "Have you no pride?"

"I didn't know for sure," Keith said before she could say anything else.

"But you suspected," Veronica said without looking at him.

"Yes," Keith admitted. "I wondered…"

"How could you let me date Duncan suspecting that?" Veronica asked facing him once again.

"I could see how you felt about him," Keith said wishing he could wrap her in his arms and take away the pain in her eyes. "And like I said, I didn't know for sure."

"But he's my brother!" Veronica yelled at him but she froze when she realized what she said. If there was ever a moment where she wished she could take something back, this was it.

"What are you talking about?" Keith asked shocked and confused at the same time.

"I took a blood test Dad," Veronica whispered just loud enough for him to hear. "When Able Koontz told me that I might not be yours…I had to know."

"When did you ever talk to Abel Koontz?" Keith asked already knowing the answer.

"I went to see him…in prison," Veronica admitted.

"You are so grounded," Keith said shaking his head at her. "How could you go visit a confessed killer in prison Veronica? I thought I raised a smart girl but you are showing signs of-"

"We both know he didn't kill Lily," Veronica said interrupting him before he could insult her. "Besides, who would have thought that Abel Koontz would tell me the truth and not my own parents."

Keith stared at her like she punched him in the stomach hard enough to knock the wind out of him. First she tells him that his wife had been cheating on him for their entire marriage instead of just a couple years like he'd suspected. Then she tells him that she had a blood test taken and that he's not her father and finally she accused him of lying to her about everything. But he put all that aside and just pulled his squirming daughter into his arms and held her as she stared sobbing. He'd never seen her cry so hard and witnessing his tough girl lose control brought tears to his own eyes.

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"You didn't know," Veronica said over an hour later, "did you?"

Keith sat on the floor of her bedroom stroking her hair as her head was laying on his chest. She'd only stopped crying minutes ago and was now just shuddering every couple seconds.

"No, I didn't know," Keith said softly.

"I'm sorry Dad," Veronica whispered. "I've just….I've had a lot of stuff bottled up for awhile now."

"I can tell," Keith said trying to lighten the mood a bit. "What exactly did your Mother tell you Veronica?"

Veronica closed her eyes wishing that she hadn't started this whole conversation. She hated hurting her father. He was her hero. He was her everything. The only person in her life that was always honest. She shouldn't have taken her anger out on him.

"That she doesn't know who my father is," Veronica said softly.

"And you took a test…when?" Keith asked.

"Remember when I told you I had an extra credit assignment," Veronica said pausing allowing him time to remember.

"And you had me give my blood instead of yours because you couldn't prick yourself with the needle," Keith said softly. "I always thought that was a little strange."

"I had to know," Veronica whispered.

"And the tests say…I'm not your Dad," Keith said his voice breaking at the thought.

"No!" Veronica exclaimed sitting up so she could turn and face him. "You will always be my Dad…no matter what that test says."

"But you think Jake Kane…" Keith said his voice trailing off. He couldn't finish the thought, it made his heart break just at the idea.

"It makes sense…don't you think," Veronica said shuddering at the thought of having Jake as her father. She just remembered how Lily had turned out and if she'd been raised by Jake and Celeste…would she have turned out the same way? Or would she be like Duncan. Tailor made to think and act a certain way. It was almost like he didn't have his own brain, he just did what was expected of him. She didn't want to be like that.

"Then I think we should go talk to Jake Kane," Keith said raising his hand to stop the argument before it began. "I know you don't want to. I know you say you don't care but someday you might."

"It won't change anything," Veronica insisted shaking her head.

"You wouldn't be my daughter if it did," Keith whispered pulling his daughter back into his arms for another hug. He never wanted to let go but he was afraid that he might have too.

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Veronica sat on the couch at Mars Investigations inputting the newest information she had on Lily's case on her laptop. She had found Abel Koontz's daughter and had hidden her away in a hotel. She knew Clarence Weidman was hot on the trail, trying to sabotage their chance at proving Abel wasn't Lily's killer and she had to stay one step ahead of him.

"Hey," Logan said from the entry way of the office.

"Hey," Veronica said sitting up. She exited out of the document she was typing in and set her laptop on the coffee table.

"So you seem distracted at school today," Logan said walking farther into the room.

"Yeah…I…uh…had a long talk with my Dad last night," Veronica admitted quietly.

"You told him," Logan said surprised. The last time they'd talked about it she'd claimed that she didn't want to hurt her father anymore than he'd been hurt already.

"It slipped out," Veronica said looking down at her hands that were clenched tight in her lap. "He knows about my Mom and Jake. He knows that he's not…well I told him about the test results. He knows that I've been to see Abel Koontz, I'm grounded by the way."

"Didn't like the fact that you went to see him in prison huh?" Logan said smiling at her.

"No, he was a little angry," Veronica said but then she rolled her eyes. "He was angrier than I've ever seen him. I honestly thought he would lock me in my room and throw away the key."

"I'm surprised he didn't," Logan said hating that their conversation was all stilted. It had been this way since he'd confessed that he had feelings towards her. He wanted them to be comfortable around each other. "Look Veronica-"

"Veronica!" Keith called from inside his office.

"One moment," Veronica said holding up a finger as she hurried into her father's office.

Logan stood in place for a moment before making his way over to the couch to sit down. He wanted to tell Veronica that she didn't have to act different around him now that she knew how he felt. He wanted her to be normal…he wanted her to be the feisty girl that he'd come to know and fall for.

He sat there for a minute but when Veronica didn't come out of her father's office he got bored. And when Logan Echoll's got bored he got nosy. He picked her laptop up wondering what school assignment she was working on but when he saw the Lily Kane Investigation typed up he froze. It only took him a second to realize that if he read it she'd get pissed but that didn't stop him from getting more comfortable and opening up the file.

"What do you think you're doing?" Veronica asked when she walked out of her father's office and saw Logan sitting on the couch reading her laptop.

"God Veronica," Logan said surprised he was able to set the computer down gently when he was so angry. "Do you trust anybody?"

"You knew I was investigating Logan," Veronica pointed out calmly. She could see his anger, it was written all over his face.

"Yeah I knew you suspected The Kane's but there's a lot of other people on that list," Logan said gesturing towards the computer.

"Everybody who knew Lily is a suspect," Veronica said crossing her arms over her chest. It was hard to believe that this was the same boy that had confessed to having feelings towards her. Right now he looked like he wanted to revert to the psychotic jackass and smash her computer this time instead of her headlights on her car.

"I'm a suspect," Logan said his voice cracking. "You honestly think I could have killed Lily."

"Logan," Veronica said tilting her head to the side as she tried to appeal to the boy who'd been her friend these past few weeks.

"I loved her Veronica," Logan said noticing that her father was standing in the doorway of his office and no longer working at his desk. "I would have killed for her, not killed her."

"What does it even matter Logan?" Veronica asked confused. "You weren't even here. You were out of the country. Two eye witnesses, it's airtight."

"What if I told you that I wasn't out of the country," Logan said staring at her. He could see the suspicion rise in her eyes and he laughed but there was nothing funny about it. "I knew it. You think I could have killed Lily."

"Are you telling me you weren't in Mexico?" Veronica asked.

"No I wasn't in Mexico," Logan admitted as he walked towards the door. "I was right here in Neptune. I saw you at the carwash with Lily and was pissed at the both of you. So I drove off and got drunk. Woke up the next morning and Lily was dead."

Veronica watched him as he walked right out of the office and slammed the door behind him. She barely made it to the couch to sit down before her legs gave out one her. She stared at the computer and saw that he'd left it open on his file. She knew she had to lean over and type in that he had no alibi but she didn't want to.

"Honey," Keith said walking towards his daughter.

"He didn't do it Dad," Veronica said whipping around to face him. "I know that he has no alibi but I know he couldn't have killed Lily."

"He admitted he was angry that day Veronica," Keith pointed out.

"I've seen Logan pissed off Dad," Veronica insisted. "Believe me, he's been pissed at me all year. But he never could have killed Lily."

Keith stared at her and smiled softly. "It's good to see a little of the old Veronica shine through," he said cryptically.

"What does that mean?" Veronica asked confused following him back to his office.

"The old Veronica would have trusted Logan without him having to have an alibi," Keith said sitting back down behind his desk. "The new Veronica would have started investigating into his where abouts that day." He saw her face flush and smiled even bigger. "It's okay that you trust him Veronica. I agree with you…Logan couldn't have killed Lily."

"He's a good guy," Veronica said thoughtfully. "Isn't he?"

"Let's just say he's a work in progress," Keith said forever the protective father. He hated to ruin her good mood but he wanted to remind her of what they'd been talking about before the Logan blow up. "Remember, meeting with Jake Kane tomorrow at 4."

"I remember Dad," Veronica said sighing. She stood in his office for another moment staring at the man who she knew to be her Dad but she couldn't help but be afraid of what a test might say in the future.

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"Jake," Keith said as he walked into Jake's office at Kane Software the next day. Veronica was behind him but didn't say a word as they took their seats in front of Jake's desk. "Thank you for meeting us."

"I gotta say I was surprised," Jake said obviously confused as to why Keith Mars would request a meeting with his daughter. He could only assume it had something to do with the Kane's Lily Remembrance College Fund. "Did you have any questions about the college scholarship?"

"No Jake," Keith said looking at his daughter but she was just sitting there staring at Jake.

"Okay then," Jake said fidgeting in his seat when he noticed the blank stare Veronica was wearing. She was just staring at him with a look he couldn't decipher. "What can I help you with?"

"You can start by telling me why you've been having an affair with my Mother for the past 16 years," Veronica said coldly. She could feel her father's gaze and she knew he wasn't happy that she'd started the conversation that way but she couldn't help it. Every time she stared at him she pictured him with her Mother for her entire life. She hated him.

"Veronica…" Jake said looking between her and Keith. "I don't know where you're getting your information but-"

"My Mother," Veronica said before he could get the lie out. "I saw her the other day. She's not doing so good."

"You saw your Mom," Jake said sitting up straighter.

"Maybe I could see more of her if you wouldn't have run her out of town," Veronica said glaring at him.

"I had nothing to do with those photographs Veronica," Jake said calmly.

"Then who did?" Veronica asked smirking when he didn't say anything. "Your security specialist took them. Threatened to kill me and then threatened to kill my Mom if I didn't stop looking for her. Well I didn't stop. I found her."

"What pictures?" Keith asked confused.

"Why my Mom?" Veronica asked clenching her fists when her voice broke. She wasn't going to cry. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction. "There are tons of women in Neptune, women who would be glad to spice up your sex life. I've seen them. Why go after my Mom who had a family?"

"I've known Lianne for years," Jake started to say but Veronica cut him off.

"I know, I've seen the yearbook," Veronica said standing up.

"I loved your Mother Veronica," Jake said using the past tense.

"When'd you quit?" Veronica asked crossing her arms over her chest. "When you realized I might be your daughter and that the secret might come out and ruin your perfect little family?"

"My daughter?" Jake said standing up quickly.

"Like you didn't know," Veronica said her tone of voice like ice. She turned and walked out of his office unable to stand there listening to his lies anymore. Just being in his presence made her sick to her stomach.

"I had no idea," Jake said softly. He sat back down in his chair forgetting for a moment that there was still another person in his office.

"Is it possible though?" Keith asked quietly. Jake looked up at him and mentally did the math and Keith could tell from the look on his face that it was possible. "I think we should have a test done…quietly," Keith suggested.

"Of course," Jake said still distracted. He was too busy thinking about Lianne and the possibility of having another daughter. He barely noticed when Keith stood up and left his office. Minutes later he picked up his phone making the call to his doctor setting up tests for both Veronica and himself. As he hung up he couldn't help but wonder if Veronica was his. He kept trying to find similarities in their looks but every time he tried pictures Veronica, he just saw Lianne.