I don't own Veronica Mars or the characters, I only lay claim to the plot.

Previously on The Accident:

Veronica has an eating disorder, having lost all desire to eat due to her home life. Lianne Mars has divorced Keith Mars, publically blaming him for everything. Lianne has an affair with Jake Kane. Veronica is in love with Logan, best friends with Lily. Duncan Kane hates her guts, blaming her for everything. Finally her body couldn't handle the abuse anymore and she collapsed into Logan Echolls's pool and was revived and starting to act a bit like her old self again. Now she's slowly beating the disease, trying to figure out who killed Madison S. and seems to be getting somewhere with Logan in the romantic sense of the word. But trouble is never far from Veronica and last we heard, Aaron Echolls kidnapped her and nearly killed her.

Lily has a scar from the accident that has altered her self image greatly - she's still Lily Kane, but without the whoring around. Fiercely loyal to Veronica and Logan, who she is no longer dating. Has begun to cut ties from her biological family because of their treatment of Veronica. Was cornered by Jake Kane and then forced to manipulate Veronica to be more positive about the whole Lianne and Jake affair. Having lost all affection for her parent, Lily is now working hard, trying to find something on her father, so he can be stopped from ruining other people's lives and this time it seems to be right around the corner. She finally allows herself to be loved by the guy she loves, Weevil, but their good time is cut short when trouble stumble through the door – literally.

Logan got a drug problem after the accident because of the pain involved. King of Neptune High and his hate for Duncan Kane - his former best friend - is larger than life. Aaron Echolls is still a violent father. Logan almost always comes to Veronica whenever he's been beaten. He's deeply in love with her, but thinks she'll never see him as anything other than a friend due to his promiscuous ways and past involvement with Lily. He turned to drugs again, but was found out by Veronica and has now sworn to stop. He had a confrontation with Aaron at the hospital while Veronica was being cared for by the doctors. He finally comes clean to Veronica and they declare their love for each other, but sadly Logan has a few unfinished business in his life and it's about to turn his life upside down…

A/N Sorry for the long wait, but I've been really sick lately and couldn't write. That said now I've finally finished the chapter and I really think it's a tad ( a lot actually) anticlimatic after all the waiting you guys have been through...I'll let you all be the judge of how the chapter is. Warning though - the end is probably gonna seem mighty confusing. I'll post the epilogue a lot sooner than this, I promise. Enjoy!

This chapter is Unbetaed. I'm sorry for any unavoidable errors that keep popping up, but my beta said it'd take a little while for her to return and I finally decided to just post and correct later. Will return with betaed version asap.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

"Logan, please help me – he's at your house and he killed Madison and…"

Logan could feel his numbness slowly disappear at the first sound of her voice. The unusual high pitched tone cracked his defenses and he wanted nothing more than reach through the phone and take her away from the danger. The danger that raised me of all things...

He glanced briefly down into Lily's equally as terrified eyes while Veronica's frightened sounding voice still rang in his ear, screaming out the fact that his own father was doing this to her. Then he began moving without really processing it fully and he was outside a few seconds later. He quickly spotted Lily's car and got inside, knowing she'd left the keys inside earlier.

Throughout it all he could feel Keith Mars' presence behind him. As he turned the key in the ignition, Logan said calmly, "Aaron is mine."

Keith actually growled with a feral glint in his normally so friendly eyes. "We'll see who catches him first."

Logan grinned evilly and drove out of the driveway – speeding towards his own parody of a home.

The two men didn't speak during the fast ride. Logan swallowed his rising nerves and concentrated on his raw hatred for Aaron Echolls. Before this day is over, I'll probably have killed my own father…

The mental image of Veronica's scared eyes on his as she was forced away from him brought Logan's nerves down and his anger turned calm and deadly. And I'm gonna enjoy every second of it!

A short time later they arrived at the Echolls mansion and Keith propelled out of the car faster than Logan thought was possible.

Logan followed almost just as fast, but the moment he got through the front door, his eyes zeroed in on his mother's unmoving form. A huge part of him, the one who wanted to go hide behind his mom until the pain disappeared, wanted to go over and see if she was breathing.

He was catapulted out of his momentary indecision when Keith's voice sounded loud and frantic from the terrace.

"Aaron let her go!"

The words cut into Logan like a knife and he quickly ran past his mother – desperate to find his lover if not well then at least alive.

Just as he exited the glass doors to the pool area, Keith reached down and drew out a hidden gun from his jacket pocket and pointed it at the crouching actor, whom Logan's eyes immediately sought out with a gasp.

"Let her go or I swear to God I'm pulling the trigger!" Keith's voice was without hesitation and his hand didn't waver an inch as it continued to point at Aaron. Logan still thought he took too long though. The sight of Veronica's struggle was horrible to watch.

Logan didn't bother to wait for his father's no doubt mocking response – the only thing he cared about in that moment was under water and the jerking movements of her body were slowing down rapidly.

"Wait!" He yelled and pushed past the furious father and ran towards his own crazy parent. Please hang on a little longer baby!

He slammed into the older man a second later and when the other body stumbled backwards and let go of Veronica's head, Logan immediately turned around to pull his lover out of the water, but just as he was touching her shoe, Aaron's shadow fell over them and tore him away with a roar of fury. "Stop right now, son!"

Logan desperately tried to push him away – obsessed with getting to Veronica in time. "Get the fuck off me!"

"Leave her!" Aaron screamed in reply and pushed Logan's head hard into the tiled ground.

Logan blinked dazedly as he struggled to his knees and tried with all his might to push the dizziness and nausea away long enough for him to reach Veronica. Please hang on Veronica, please…

When he felt the edges of his vision return to a somewhat normal level, Logan took one crawling step towards the pool. An expensive boot stepped onto his left hand with a sickening crunch and Logan repressed a groan of pain and looked up at his sire with hate burning in his eyes.

Aaron wasn't looking at him, his sight was now trained on Keith, but he was aiming a gun at Logan's temple and another one was pointed steadily over at Keith. "I will kill you Keith, make no mistakes about it."

"I don't care as long as my daughter is gonna walk away from this – from you, you son of a bitch!"

Aaron chuckled maniacally at Keith's bravado and Logan wanted to kill him all over again. Then all his thoughts of revenge turned to grueling despair, matched by Keith, when Aaron gestured to the pool and the now unmoving lower half of Veronica. "Doesn't seem like that's gonna happen Mars."

Logan watched in his dizzy state as Keith paled and instantly took off, trying to reach his drowning child.

Logan's vision turned into slow-motion mode when Aaron's face twisted with a terrible smug smile as though this was what he'd been waiting for and fired his weapon once just as Keith was getting closer to his goal.

Keith's body slammed backwards when the projectile entered his body and landed on his back a few feet away from Logan. Logan watched Keith's body jerk as though he still tried to get it to reach his child despite his injuries. Logan could see the blood begin to darken the older man's shirt and he briefly closed his eyes in a silent prayer. He's a good man, please let him survive this.

"Whoops." Aaron's voice was full of mockery and Logan's numbed rage began to stir again. Aaron aimed his weapon at the dying Keith and Logan took a final decision. He's toying with a dead man. Veronica is already dead – who knows with mom. He has to pay; I can't let him get away with this!

Logan jumped to his feet and lunged at his murdering psycho of a father. He heard the bang when Aaron fired at him, but felt nothing when the bullet entered his body. Thank God for adrenaline.

His fist rammed into Aaron's chuckling face a second later and before long he had wrestled one of the guns out of his hands. Aaron kicked out with his leg and pushed Logan away. Before long the father and son stood pointing their weapon in the other's face.

Logan smirked coldly. "Looks like we're at a stalemate. Any last words?" I will kill you, you son of a bitch! You killed Veronica!

"Don't make me kill you son." Aaron pleaded softly – at the moment full of fatherly concern. For one split second – a second that scared Logan more than anything, he looked entirely sane. He really is absolutely insane, how did we not know this?

Logan didn't hesitate any longer; he raised his hand and fired without another word. Unfortunately for him, Aaron had already begun moving and the bullet barely grazed his shoulder.

Logan cursed loudly and out of the corner of his eye, he saw movement. Fresh and painful despair welled up in him when he saw Lily running towards the pool with a frantic look in her eyes. Please take good care of her body while I hunt him down and make him pay for this.

Logan sent out one last longing thought to his murdered girlfriend – his soul mate if such a thing was even possible - hoping that somehow she'd hear his wish and help him grant it. I'll find you when all this is over with baby. We didn't get enough time..."

After the thought left him, Logan took a deep breath and followed his father away from the house of horrors and burning grief.

--

Logan finally caught up with his father at the parking lot to the Camelot motel of all places. Once again, he'd borrowed Lily's car and driven after Aaron, who was still driving Logan's x-terra.

It was halfway there, weaving haphazardly in and out of the traffic that Logan first began to feel the effect of his gunshot wound. He glanced down when a twinge of fiery pain made itself known in his abdomen and he noticed the blood and cursed loudly. If this stops me from taking revenge, I'm gonna be really pissed.

He pushed past the growing agony and exited the car with his gun firmly in hand and watched as Aaron got out of the vehicle too.

"Son," Aaron's voice oozed fatherly love and Logan repressed a sudden urge to gag. "This whole thing has grown way out of proportions and I don't know how to make things all right again."

Logan smirked. "How about stop killing the people that I love." The memory of Veronica's unmoving body pressed into him again and he swallowed down his grief. I just have this to deal with before I can relax. Somehow Logan just knew he wouldn't survive this day and wanted to honor his loved ones by hurting the one, who'd hurt them. And then I can be with Veronica again.

A moment later Aaron stopped moving. He was halfway through the parking lot and Logan copied his movement without showing any of his emotions on his face or in his stance. "I only ever wanted what was best for you Logan. Come with me and we'll work this through somehow. It can be done."

Logan laughed, but didn't take his eyes off the weapon in his father's hand. "Like I'm not gonna wind up dead the moment I let go of this gun? Fortunately for me I inherited my mother's intelligence, not yours."

Aaron's eyes darkened dangerously and his tone of voice turned colder. "Do not disrespect your father Logan. Despite all of this I'm still your father."

Logan rolled his eyes and took the safety of the gun and lifted his arm. "You don't know what that word means. Keith Mars is the embodiment of fatherhood. You're not. I know you killed Madison Sinclair and you need to pay for that too. I should probably hand you over to the cops, so her family can get some kind of closure and Duncan can get off the most wanted list, but I can't. I just can't."

Logan cleared his throat and continued past the clenching heartbreak in his chest. "By killing Veronica – the girl I love more than anything, you deserve to die. She deserves revenge for that treatment…So help me God I'm gonna make you pay."

Aaron didn't look phased at all as though Logan's statement didn't matter to him. He straightened up with a vicious smirk on his lips. "Before you go ahead and do that sonny boy, I just have to point out that you don't look so well. Why don't you go to a hospital and we'll meet up later when you're more yourself."

Logan laughed again and he didn't care that the movements in his body caused jolts of agony to retighten from his belly. "I'm more myself now than I've ever been Aaron. Thanks for the fatherly concern, but I'll handle this until you're dead. Don't worry about me, worry about yourself."

"I can't believe you're letting such a little bitch come between us son. Like I said to her earlier, before I…you know, drowned her sorry excuse for an ass, she must really be good in the sack considering all the emotions she's getting out of you."

Logan's anger exploded and he quivered in his effort to hold it in. "Don't talk like that about her."

Aaron laughed mockingly. "Oh right, like she's gonna come screw me over for killing her."

Logan watched his father laugh for a few long moments before he simply said, "No, she's not, but I am."

A second later the parking lot echoed with a loud bang and Aaron Echolls' laugh abruptly turned into a searing scream of pain.

Logan looked on in satisfied silence as his father's knees gave out from under him and he fell to the pavement with both his hands locked onto his injury. Aaron's screams were music to his ears.

"Now you can't fuck up anymore lives." was all Logan said before his own body finally succumbed to his own wound. He copied his father's slow descent to the ground and placed himself on his back with his eyes firmly locked on Aaron's writhing and moaning form. "I'll finish you up in a minute, I just need a breather."

The crazed actor didn't reply in his usual mocking form, he was too caught up in the painful fact that his son had just shot him in the groin.

Sometime later Logan snapped out of his increasingly dizzy mind and slowly struggled back up to his feet. He thought he heard a lot of roaring engines in the background, but he just couldn't look away from Aaron's bleeding form. Maybe I should let him live through life without his pride and joy – that would be an unusual cruel punishment…But no, Logan's bloodthirsty part quickly added, he killed Veronica, he doesn't deserve to live.

Finally Logan managed to get a somewhat steady balance and he wobbled the last few steps over to his father and listened emotionlessly to Aaron's moaned pleas for help. "I'm gonna enjoy this far more than I should – In fact it's almost indecent how much I'm gonna enjoy ending your life. See you in Hell dad."

"Logan don't!"

The words registered as through a black fog and Logan slowly turned away from his intended victim and locked eyes with Veronica.

"You're supposed to be dead." It was the only rational words that left his mouth and Logan shook his head at himself. Maybe I've let my wound bleed for too long and I'm hallucinating. It's not a bad thing – at least she's still alive in my mind…

"…worth it! You'll go to jail too and I can't be without you anymore."

Logan blinked and tried to focus his increasingly bad vision onto his hallucination. "Only you would be nagging me in my imagination. Ronnie, please just be quiet while I handle this."

Veronica sighed and Logan was a bit surprised about the realism of his vision when he felt her hot breath touch his face as she exhaled. "It's not a dream Logan, I'm really here. Lily and Weevil called Lamb and he's supposed to be on his way…Please let me look at you, you're bleeding all over the place."

"No." Logan shook his head. "I'm not bleeding a lot anymore. He is." Logan waved his gun in Aaron's direction and continued, "I should put him out of his misery like a sick animal."

Aaron's moaning got louder when he said that and Veronica stepped over to Logan with a pained grimace on her tired looking face. Again Logan couldn't quite believe how unromantic his hallucination of his murdered lover was. At least she shouldn't look like she's in pain. She should look like she did after we made love. Happy and glowing. Come on stupid mind, work with me here…

"Logan, the police will get him and judging from that wound he's so fiercely cradling, he's gonna be suffering the perfect punishment until he dies. Please let me drive you to the hospital, we need to check your injuries…"

Logan shook his head frowning at his vision's choked up tone of voice. "Don't be sad Veronica. Just let me handle this and then I can concentrate better…Besides," he felt inclined to add, "you can't drive cars anymore, so it wouldn't actually be you doing the driving and I can't drive right now - I've been shot you know."

The annoying darkness was creeping back into him as he spoke and Logan shook his head violently again. His irritation at his weird vision Veronica grew when she seemed to frown in annoyance. "Why can't you just let me do this?"

Veronica took a step closer. Sincerity shone out of her bright blue eyes and Logan fought off his mesmerized feelings at the vivid close up. "I can't take anymore of this drama Logan. Let your dad be taken off by the authorities. Please put down your gun."

Logan looked at her hand, which was slowly making its way to his to remove his weapon and his anger spiked suddenly. He stepped away from her and snarled, "Why can't you understand that I need to see him pay for what he did to you? To Keith and my mom, hell even to Madison and God knows who else?"

He swung his free arm out and pushed Veronica away from him. Hoping that by touching her, the image would fade and he could refocus on his vengeance, but to his shocked surprise his hand actually made contact and for the first time Logan began to reclaim some of his sanity. He watched in horror as the small body stumbled backwards and fell to the ground with a small cry of pain.

Suddenly Lily was next to the supposed illusion and was helping her up. "Just relax Ronnie, I got you."

"I'm fine Lily, just a bit woozy; it'll be fine in a sec."

Logan groaned when he finally took in the fact that Veronica was in fact alive in front of him. And I hurt her… "Oh God, Ronnie." The words left his mouth in a sigh of sadness and profound relief all rolled into one.

Veronica let go of Lily's hands at the sound of his guilty voice and smiled with exhaustion shining in her eyes. "Are you ready to trust me on my whole being alive statement now?"

Logan smiled slowly and took a step towards her and he stood immobile for a long second before he raised his free hand and gently caressed her cheek. Now his confused mind slowly realized that she looked terrible. Dried blood and dirt and grime were prominent on her face and her eyes looked exhausted. And yet at the same time she'd never looked more beautiful to him and unable to control himself, Logan enveloped her in a tight hug. "Oh thank God you're alive."

In the next second he hissed as fresh blood ripped through his gunshot wound and reluctantly he stepped back with a slight wobble. Veronica's eyes widened as they took in the sight of him before her and she quickly turned to Lily, who stood guard over Aaron.

"Lily, did you call 911? He's looking really bad."

"Thanks babe," Logan smirked and walked determinedly over to his now almost unconscious father and his ex-girlfriend. The look Lily sent Aaron would have made him run and hide, had he been more aware of his surroundings.

Weevil appeared a moment later next to Lily and sent a tired, but friendlier than usual look at Logan, who returned the favor. "you don't look so hot, dog. There's an ambulance on its way as we speak."

"I don't need that right now. Veronica looks worse than I do," Logan said and turned his attention back on his thankfully still alive girlfriend. Nothing but her seemed to matter to him now.

Veronica shook her head with the exhaustion still written in her every feature. "you sure know how to sweettalk the ladies, don't you?"

"It's what I do."

The group of friends' banter was suddenly interrupted by a complete stranger's voice. "You kid's step back now or this is gonna get ugly."

A few feet away from Weevil, Lily and Aaron stood a big, burly guy, who looked more drunk than not. He wore a smudged badge on his T-shirt that informed them that he was the manager of the motel. Logan didn't really notice his appearance all that much after that first glance, all his attention was on the riffle in the guy's trembling hands.

Aaron added to the sudden tension by using some of his rarely tapped into acting skills. "Help me sir, these kids are out of their minds – they're gonna kill me. Help me, please!"

"Oh come on," Veronica's exclamation sounded unnaturally loud in the silence following Aaron's plea. "Don't believe him for one second, he's a crazy murderer, who's shot his own son. Look at him!"

Veronica pointed at Logan, whose eyes never left the riffle. "Veronica, it's okay. The cops are gonna be here soon and this mess will all be straightened out then. Don't worry about it."

Logan wanted desperately to calm down Veronica. She looked ready to burst, as though the stranger's misjudgment was the final straw for her on a long and horrific day. He was so caught up in trying to calm down the shaking and hurt blonde that he totally missed the fact that another blonde was just as ready to snap.

"Hey retard!" Lily's voice was crystal clear and cold as ice. "Why don't you crawl back into the hole you came from and leave this to the people it really concerns."

The big burly guy straightened up and Logan wanted to roll his eyes at the whole mess that just kept getting worse and worse. "I'm only doing my civic duty girly! I was minding my own business in the reception when I saw that crazy kid shoot that guy in the family jewels. He's obviously a lunatic."

"You're obviously a lunatic, now go away!" Lily practically screamed the insults at the wanna be helper and it didn't exactly help matters.

Logan felt a rush of much needed adrenaline enter his body. Out of the corner of his eye he was aware that Veronica seemed to get her own rush of energy and that Weevil was scowling threateningly at the stranger for pointing his weapon at a still yelling Lily.

"Hey doofus – point that on someone your own size! If you can find anyone big enough!"

The man sneered and roared at her that he'd point it wherever he damn well felt like and Veronica stepped closer to try and break things up before it exploded completely in all of their faces.

In the midst of it all, Logan had a weird feeling and he glanced down at his eerily silent father. That was when he remembered that Aaron still had his own gun and it was pointed at an unnoticing Veronica.

"No you son of a bitch, no!" Logan was between them when the gunshot went off. The hassled stranger got spooked by the sudden sound and another couple of loud bangs went off.

"LOGAN!"

"ELI!"

Logan sank to his knees and observed calmly how Veronica ripped out Aaron's gun from his hands and threw it away across the parking lot. He was mildly interested in seeing Lily turning pale and grabbing Weevil, who'd begun to sink downwards like he had done himself just moments earlier.

"…love you Eli, you stupid idiot. The ambulance is gonna be here soon, please hang on."

It's much more fascinating to see someone get shot in real life. The thought poured through Logan's oddly serene mind. He sighed and tasted blood in his mouth as he exhaled. "It doesn't hurt as much anymore…"

Veronica's arms grabbed his upper body and took the weight of it. Logan was immensely pleased to keep some dignity that way. At least I won't go head down into the ground now.

Logan blinked and raised his eyebrows at the sudden change of scenery before him. The police and ambulance had arrived in the blink of an eye and were running towards him and the others.

Logan's eyes met his father's. Aaron looked pained and pale and Logan briefly hoped he wouldn't die, because now Logan could see the good thing in Veronica's earlier point of view of him going through life without his pride and joy.

"This has just been a great day for you dad, hasn't it?"

Aaron's eyes glinted and if Logan didn't know any better he'd have sworn they showed signs of regret. Too little too late…

Logan leaned his head back into Veronica's collarbone and sighed again. Once more the coppery taste of blood distracted him momentarily, but then he muttered quietly to her. "I like you holding me this way – it's nice. Especially since you're not dead."

Veronica's voice sounded broken in his ear as she responded. "I'll hold you like this forever as long as you're gonna be okay. I'll drop your ass right now if you don't fight for your life."

"I'm tired Ronnie," Logan could barely make his mouth form the words now. He instinctively knew that he was running out of time. I have to tell her about my feelings one more time before it's too late. No matter how lame it sounds.

"I love you Veronica Mars…I'm sorry it had to go down like this."

Things turned blacker and blacker by the second. At the same time Logan felt his hearing increase and he wanted to cringe a bit when Veronica screamed for the paramedic's right by his ear. Lily's voice was frantic and loud as well as she called for help for Weevil. The stranger, who'd wanted nothing more than help out a supposed victim was crying out his innocence.

Logan pushed all those sounds away; he focused solely on Veronica's voice. "…love you and I won't lose you too!"

I wish she didn't have to cry over me.

--

An annoying beeping sound crept into his consciousness and Logan groaned when a flood of pain swept over his body.

"…he's back – let's get him into surgery right now!"

The darkness returned and Logan blissfully welcomed it. When he came too again, he was hearing familiar voices around him. Unexpected, but familiar.

"...wake up any day now. Two gunshot wounds on top of a heck of a lot of trauma can tire out even the best of guys. Relax Dick, you'll get your surfing buddy back soon enough."

"Do you really think I care one butt load about that Beaver? Moron! He's my best friend and he has be okay again and…"

"…leave if you're gonna yell gentlemen!"

The voices disappeared and Logan ignored his tiny pinch of guilt over witnessing the Cassablancas brothers fight over his condition of all things and let the darkness take him again.

--

"…Eli's being released tomorrow. It wasn't as bad as your wounds, but pretty bad enough in my humble opinion. Now I need you to wake up and tell me you don't approve of our relationship, so we can have a bitchfight just like old times." Logan felt a brush of warm lips on his cheek and heard a whispered, "please get well soon," before he gave up on trying to pay attention.

--

"Logan? I'm still here…Now I only need you. Please, I can't handle things without you." The pure desperation in that voice finally gave Logan the push he needed and he struggled to wake up fully.

"…not alone." The words were a hassle to get through his lips, and he barely managed to utter them in more than a hoarse whisper, but she heard them and he felt her head snuggle into the crook of his neck.

"Thank you Logan." Veronica's relief was tangible even to Logan and he smirked before letting the sleep claim him again content in knowing that when he woke up, she'd be waiting for him.

And if that's not motivation to get better, I don't know what is.

A/N So there you have it...One last finishing update and that will be that. I hope you liked the chapter despite not much really happening. Until next time!

Ditte Mai