Acknowledgements to Christian Kane for the chapter title. There are too few Kaniacs in this world—I recommend you take this opportunity to head to YouTube to take a listen. I hate country but I LOVE Christian Kane.
26 – A Different Kind of Knight
Logan had a hard time sleeping after they made it home from the visit with his mom. The rest of the evening had been pleasant but a bit strained. He could very clearly see a difference between his mother with an alcohol buffer and this version without. She was quieter and more hesitant to speak, which made sense. He'd seen how much liquor would loosen even the shyest person's lips at every 09er party he'd ever attended. There were other changes too that he suspected were more about guilt than anything else. She hadn't seemed like she felt guilty at first, even though the intent of the meeting had been for her to apologize. After his blow-up and flight from their session, however, she definitely seemed different. He suspected also that there may have been words with Keith because, throughout the rest of the evening, he noticed that she would frequently look at Keith like she was seeking his approval. It was interesting to watch because Keith responded to her in a lot of the same ways that Logan had seen him act over the last month: small smiles, approving nods, and occasional looks that, when they had been directed at him, Logan had always interpreted as 'good effort but try again'. He supposed there were worse things than his mother having Keith Mars for a parenting coach. Actually, he knew for a fact there were far worse things.
While watching Lynn respond to Keith's cues was interesting, watching her respond to Veronica's was more rewarding—maybe even thrilling, if he had to be truthful. Midway through dinner, Lynn had referred to Veronica's earlier kidding remark about Logan's school spirit and had joked that she was surprised that Logan had gone to school at all in the few weeks since she'd been 'missing'. "He'll usually make any excuse to skip school." Logan had ducked his head when he saw from the faces of everyone else at the table that they all suspected why he missed school most often. It was looks like these that made him want to make sure no one else ever realized what his life was like. Then he heard Veronica's voice. "It's my impression that he's had plenty of reasons to need to stay home—reasons not of his own making if I understand correctly." Lynn had started to sputter some reply but Veronica cut her off. "And if he is actually just blowing school off? I think that might be why some of us have something called 'parental guidance'." Logan could only stare back and forth between the faces of his mom and his girlfriend: the former shocked and dismayed, the latter ready to fight. Logan heard Keith say, "Veronica," in a disapproving voice, and her mouth snapped shut, her lips pursed. She'd laid her hand on his knee under the table after that, in a way that felt protective, and he could feel the animosity rolling off her towards his mom for the rest of the meal. His mom felt it too, it was apparent, because she was very careful with her words for the rest of the evening and she started looking not only at Keith for approval but also at Veronica as well. He supposed he should be upset with a girl who was clearly terrorizing his mother but he couldn't bring himself to feel anything but gratitude towards her. Well...there were other feelings in there also but they were in the category of the 'cookies forever' feelings and he wasn't up to analyzing those yet.
He was still exhausted when his alarm clock jarred him from his uneasy sleep so he sent Veronica a quick text.
Logan Echolls: 7:03 AM: Playing hooky, wanna join me?
He curled back into his pillows with the phone still clutched in his hand and drifted back off to sleep. He startled awake again at the ring of the phone.
"What do you mean you're playing hooky?" Her voice sounded agitated.
"Well good morning to you too, Sunshine. And playing hooky means I sleep in—which you're interrupting by the way—and lay by the pool until it's time to go back to bed. Eating periodically, of course, especially if you come over...you know I never get between you and your food. So, ya coming or not?" He knew she wouldn't but he wanted to make sure she knew he wanted her there.
"Logan, I've got a test today and I've got to figure out the parrot thing. The game's tomorrow. I don't know what happens if Polly's still missing once the big game is over. Although, I do know my letter of recommendation and my excused absences for PE are probably going to disappear, just like the bird."
Logan laughed and stretched across his bed. "Okay, fine, abandon me for the greater good. I see how I rate."
He regretted the joke a moment later when her worried voice came across the line. "Logan, if I could be with you I would. Are you going to be okay? Dad's in the office today; do you want to go over there? Maybe he can help you with whatever's going on."
"Veronica, no, I was just playing with you. I'm fine. I am a little tired this morning but there's nothing particularly wrong. Don't worry, okay? Just go do your badass Nancy Drew thing and call me when you can."
She laughed then and he gave a sigh of relief. He really did feel all right and the last thing he wanted was to upset her. "I might get that on a wallet—BAND. BAMF always seemed too extreme."
"Well, now I've got a birthday present idea," he said. "You get to school, Miss Mars, and I'm going back to sleep. Call me or text me when you get a chance, okay? And come over later if you can."
"Depending on how things go, maybe I'll come by with Wallace when he comes to feed the goat. I'll let you know."
"You guys should bring suits and we can swim and I'll grill something for dinner."
"I've got a suit there already," she teased and he harrumphed into the phone.
"That suit is not for any audience but myself. Bring a one piece."
"You can't be jealous of Wallace."
"No, of course not, but that doesn't mean he gets to look at you in a suit that was already too small two years ago."
"There's something twisted about that statement but I'm barely okay with wearing that suit in front of you so no real risk of me wearing it in front of anyone else. We'll see if we can stick around for swimming and dinner. 'Kay?"
"Sounds good. Call me if you need anything."
"Would you two knock it off? Nobody should have to watch that." Wallace reached over the side of his float to splash water at Veronica and Logan in a clinch in the corner of the pool.
"Why are you watching anyway, dude? That's just weird," Logan said and splashed water back at him.
"The float drifts, there you guys are. I turn it around and it drifts again, and there you are. Don't blame me. I'm the injured party here."
Veronica laughed and twisted away from Logan, throwing herself into the water and swimming over to Wallace. "You better not be thinking about dumping me off, girl, I've got a beverage here," Wallace said defensively, holding his plastic tumbler in front of him. "You don't want my iced tea in the pool, do you?"
She grabbed hold of the float and grinned up at him. "It's not a lot of iced tea. I think the chlorine can handle it."
Wallace looked away from her over to Logan who was still sprawled on the stairs. "Dude, call off your woman."
"Do you seriously think that's how this works?" Logan said with a laugh. Wallace looked down to see Veronica's indignant face as she ducked under the water. A moment later, she came up with enough force to roll the float to the side, sending him and his tumbler into the pool.
When Wallace spluttered back to the top, he found Logan in hysterics at the side of the pool and Veronica already on the float. When he swam toward her menacingly, she sneered at him. "Do you really think it's a good idea to dump me over? If it wasn't for me, you might still be taped to the flagpole."
Logan snorted and Wallace looked at her incredulously. "Really? You're pulling that on me? You throw me out of my seat and wreck my perfectly made iced tea and now you want credit for something you did six months ago?"
She grinned down at him. "So, how about I get the goat back to Pan tomorrow? Will that get me any consideration?"
He shook his head with a smile on his face. "Yeah. There's the one thing you could say that keeps you in that seat. Thanks, Vee." Logan swam up next to them then and leaned on the end of the float.
"What do I get for not knocking this thing over? He's getting rid of his goat—what's in this for me?"
Wallace laughed. "No no no, what you're getting is what started this whole thing in the first place." He kicked away from the float and headed for the stairs. "I've got to get dressed and head for home. Are you coming with me, Veronica, or is your boy toy driving you home?"
"I'll get her home, Wallace," Logan answered in a muffled voice and Wallace climbed out of the pool and headed for the pool house without risking a backward glance.
Veronica slept late on Saturday morning. She had teamed up with Meg on Friday to figure out the mystery of Polly the Parrot's kidnapping and by Friday night, the mascots were safely back with their respective schools and Neptune High, led by Air Fennel, solidly trounced Pan High. All was right again at Neptune High. As right as it ever gets around here.
It had been a little weird working with Meg. A week after the dance, both Logan and Veronica were reasonably satisfied that Duncan was in a stable place in his relationship with Meg and Veronica stopped bugging Logan to keep an eye on Duncan whenever possible. Now, Meg and Duncan just walked around the school holding hands and looking at each other. Veronica did her best to avoid them. She wasn't jealous of them; she was just afraid that she and Duncan had looked as sappy as Meg and Duncan did and she felt retroactively embarrassed every time she saw something that reminded her of their old relationship.
Truthfully though, she was a little bit jealous of their ability to conduct a public relationship. It was getting harder and harder to keep Logan at a distance at school. Actually, it was getting harder to remember she was supposed to be keeping him at a distance. When it was only them, or them with someone who knew already, they were very touchy-feely. That was mostly Logan; he'd always been that way, even before the relationship had turned romantic. His constant touching and kissing was something that Lilly had complained about incessantly but Veronica had thought she was crazy back then and, now that she'd had a chance to be on the receiving end, she was even more convinced that Lilly had been the problem in that relationship, not Logan. Veronica's biggest problem was that she had to remember not to slide up next to him in the hallway and duck under his arm or come up behind him in Journalism and kiss the top of his head. They needed to get this thing out in the open before one of them blew it and outed them prematurely.
She glanced at the clock and hopped out of bed. They were going to meet at the Hut at 1:30 PM. Logan had been bugging her about trying Carrie's signature smoothie so they'd made plans that coordinated with Carrie's work schedule. Veronica also wanted to talk about how they were going to tell Duncan. She didn't want to wait on that any longer.
At 1:15 PM, Veronica wandered into the Hut and immediately ran into Carrie. "Hey there! Logan said you guys were coming by. How's it going?" Carrie smiled at Veronica, who chuckled to herself about how much difference there was between how they had acted towards each other a month earlier and now.
"Hi Carrie. Things are good. I've been told repeatedly—" she rolled her eyes "—that you have some killer smoothie recipe that I'm supposed to check out. Can you set me up?"
"Absolutely. There's a seat over in the far corner that's a little more private than the rest of this place; why don't you go stake it out and I'll get the smoothies for you guys."
A few minutes later, Carrie turned up with the drinks but Logan had still not arrived. Veronica pulled out her phone to send him a text.
Veronica Mars: 1:32 PM: Where are you? Your smoothie is going to melt.
She turned back to Carrie and rolled her eyes. "He's probably still sleeping. You may have to drink his smoothie yourself."
Carrie laughed. "I'm fine with that. When he finally gets here, I'll just make him another." She gestured at the other side of the large love seat that Veronica was sitting in. "I've got time for a break. Do you mind if I sit and I'll keep you company til Mr. Too Sexy for a Watch manages to show up?"
Veronica snorted and held her hand out in a 'be my guest' gesture. "I'm going to have to use that on him sometime." Her phone buzzed and she looked down at it, grimacing as she read the message.
Logan Echolls: 1:34 PM: Sorry. Aaron got home this morning. Wanted to talk about all the Zen junk he learned at the retreat. Everything's ok. On my way to you.
She quickly texted back 'ok' and turned to Carrie. "He got waylaid by his dad. He'll be here pretty soon."
"Well, I'm drinking his drink," Carrie said before taking a slurp off the top. Veronica laughed.
"He snost and lost."
"That he did. So...are you guys going public any time soon or what?" Carrie settled into the corner of the love seat and gave Veronica a curious look. "I mean, secrets can be hot but it's got to get old pretending that you're not into each other whenever you're in public. Plus, I think you guys are going to blow it soon if you don't tell. The way he watches you at lunch...someone's going to figure it out."
Veronica smiled at Carrie's words. "What are you talking about? How does he watch me?"
Carrie scoffed at her. "Don't play coy with me. You know how he looks at you. Like he's just come in from the Sahara Desert and you're the only water around. Like a starving man looks at a steak. Like a vegan looks at a brussel sprout. Face it. Someone's gonna figure it out." She took another sip of the smoothie. "And what's the point anyway? Who don't you want to know?"
Carrie was alone on a love seat in the corner when Logan walked into the Hut. He'd searched for a minute since the corner where she was sitting was tucked away and since he'd been looking for a blonde head. When he hadn't seen the blonde he wanted, he started actually looking at people and noticed Carrie. She was sitting with her head down and she jumped when he spoke her name.
"Carrie, hey, where's Veronica? You've got two glasses here; did she go to the restroom?" He sat on the opposite side of the love seat and lifted a partially full smoothie glass from the table next to the seat. "Is this hers?" Carrie nodded silently and he took a drink before looking at her more closely. "What's wrong with you? Where's Veronica? Did you guys have a fight?"
Carrie finally met his eyes and he was shocked to see they were full of tears. He leaned forward to clasp her arm. "Carrie! What happened? Is it Susan? Did something happen to...the baby?" He said the last two words in a low tone.
"Logan. I'm so sorry; I didn't know. I just thought...oh my God." She hid her face in her hands.
"What is going on? What are you talking about? Where's Veronica?" He stood up and starting looking frantically around the room. Carrie reached up and tugged on his hand.
"She's gone. I'm so sorry. I didn't know."
He dropped back onto the seat and grabbed both her arms, giving her a little shake. "Carrie, you've gotta talk some sense. Where did Veronica go? Is she okay? What happened?" He shook her again. "Please, Carrie, tell me what happened with Veronica."
She looked up at him. "I'm not sure where she went. We were just talking about when you guys were going to stop doing this secret relationship thing and she said you were waiting to tell Duncan first. And then...oh geez, I asked her how long it had been since she and Duncan broke up. And she said he'd dumped her last school year, before Lilly died even, and I said, I know that's the official story but how long did the 'friends with benefits' thing go on...how long since that ended?"
"Wait a minute. What? What's that supposed to mean?" He shook his head in confusion. They'd both admitted to virginity about two weeks before they broke up. No way that turned into anything with benefits in those two weeks. Lilly and I would have known.
Carrie looked at him sadly. "Yeah, she looked at me just like you are—like I was crazy. I just thought she was still trying to keep their secret so I said that she didn't have to pretend with me, I knew that she and Duncan were together after the breakup."
"But that's not true." Logan laced his fingers together along the back of his neck, struggling to understand what was going on. "They never even talked to each other for months."
"No. You're wrong." Carrie looked away from him and leaned her elbow on the arm of the love seat, resting her head against her hand. "But she didn't know that either."
"Hold on, hold on, what are you saying?"
"I'm saying that I saw Duncan and Veronica together in a bedroom at a party at Shelley's last school year, a couple of months after they broke up. And until I mentioned it to her today, I'm very sure she didn't know about it."
"Saw them together doing what? Talking? Making out? What did you see?" Logan was trying to hold it together but was only barely succeeding. He knew what party she was talking about—the one where Veronica had previously confessed to being drugged and not remembering anything.
"Logan, they were together on the bed and he was kneeling over her, taking off her underwear. I just thought they were in there together and I yelled at them about closing the door. But she didn't know that had happened. If she was that out of it...Logan, I think that means he raped her."
Logan jumped up and started for the door. Carrie caught up to him and grabbed his arm. "Where are you going?"
He turned and looked at her. "I know where she went. I'm going to get her back."
Veronica's car was parked just inside the gate of the Kane estate just as he'd expected and Logan screeched the Xterra to a stop in the driveway and bolted toward the door. Veronica and Duncan were standing in the front entryway, Veronica's arms clutched tightly around her, and Duncan gesturing wildly. "Because you're my sister!" Duncan yelled, stepping toward her, clearly out-of-control. Logan stumbled as the implication of that statement hit.
"Hey! Get away from her!" Both their heads swiveled towards his voice and Veronica darted toward him. He caught her in a hug, then held her away from him with his hands on her upper arms, making sure she didn't show any evidence of more violence. "You're okay, right? He hasn't done anything..."
"What do you think I'm going to do to her?" Duncan yelled as he advanced on them. "She's saying I raped her—what are you accusing me of?"
Logan whirled on Duncan, ready to hit him but Veronica's hand landed on his arm and he stopped and stepped back toward her. He slid an arm around her and cradled her cheek in his palm. "You're okay, right?"
She nodded. "Yeah, I'm okay." She stepped closer and put her arms around him, resting her head against his chest. The hand that had been on her face slid around to the back of her head and he hugged her tightly against him.
"What the hell is this?" Duncan bellowed and they jumped to face him, arms still around each other's waists. "Logan! What the hell are you doing with her?"
"It's none of your goddamned business what he's doing with me," Veronica shouted back at him. "Why we thought you deserved some special consideration after what you did to me..." The fight seemed to drop away from her and she hid her face against Logan's chest again.
"I don't know why you're acting like this. We had sex. You were there too. I thought we had some unspoken rule, that we were never going to talk about it, but now...I raped you." He glared at Logan. "Oh...I get it. You're making excuses to the new boyfriend about why you're not a virgin like he expected?" This time it was Veronica who whirled at him, her hand outstretched to strike, but Logan caught her around the waist and pulled her back against him. She stood still, breathing hard for a moment, before looking up toward Duncan again.
"So, tell me this...even if you're right, and it was consensual like you claim, you still thought I was your sister and you never bothered to tell me. Do you think I would have said yes if you'd shared that minor detail? Of course I wouldn't have, and you knew that. That's why you didn't tell and that's why you left me there to wake up by myself, searching for my underwear." Logan was nearly overwhelmed with his need to punch Duncan in the face but he kept his arms tightly around Veronica, trying to hold them both together.
"It was better if you didn't know after what we did." Duncan was getting redder in the face but he'd gone very still.
"Better for you. Me, I just knew someone had sex with me while I was out of it. How much better was that?" Her voice had escalated as she spoke, the last sentence nearly a shriek. "Better that I not realize that I'd just lost my virginity to my brother, when instead I could just wonder who it was. Or how many of them there were." Logan stifled a moan at those words, as he finally heard what she'd been living with for more than a year. "News flash, Duncan—it wasn't better. And you know what else? Even if I had the capacity to say yes, which I find highly questionable, you had some pretty huge information that would have changed my mind if I was actually capable of deciding. You knowingly withheld that pesky little detail. That means that any consent I may or may not have given was obtained under false pretenses. That makes what you did rape!"
"No!" Duncan stepped toward her and Logan stepped back, pulling Veronica to his side with one arm and putting the other up between them and Duncan.
"You stay where you are, dude. I'm not going to let you hurt her again." He backed toward the cars with his arm still wrapped around Veronica's waist. "Someone will be here for her car pretty soon. Don't give 'em a hard time. Got it?"
Duncan nodded and seemed to deflate, sinking to his knees, holding his head in his hands. Logan turned and half-led, half-carried Veronica to the Xterra. When they reached the vehicle and he started to lift her into the passenger seat, she suddenly seemed to become coherent again. "Logan, I can drive."
"Nope. You're coming with me. We'll get your car back, don't worry." He finished getting her buckled in, then snagged her keys and phone out of her bag, extricating her car key and tossing the rest back in her bag. He closed the door firmly and walked to the Le Baron, dropping her key in her seat. As he walked back to the Xterra, he popped Veronica's phone open and pressed a name.
"Yo, V, whaddaya wanna accuse me of now?" In spite of everything, Logan snorted out a laugh.
"You too, huh? But it's not V, just her messenger. Ya busy, Weevs?"
"Echolls. What are you doing with Veronica's phone?"
"Told you. Messenger. Can you do her a favor?" He leaned against his door and peered in. Veronica had reclined the seat slightly and was twisted onto her side with her hands over her face. As he watched, she took a deep, shuddering breath and he was desperate to get her away from here. He glanced back up toward the front door where they'd left Duncan in a heap, but he was gone. Logan looked around him nervously, suddenly concerned about Duncan's potential to lose control, but he saw no one.
"What's this about, Echolls? I'm not some messenger boy, even if you are."
"Please, Weevs, she needs your help." He paused as he gave another glance around him. "Please."
"All right, but you're both gonna owe me."
"Fine. Get one of your merry men to give you a ride to the Kanes'. Veronica's car is in their driveway. Key's in the driver's seat. Take it home for her."
"Are you nuts? So I can get arrested for grand theft auto?"
"No one's gonna bug you; I swear. Just slide the key under her apartment door. Come on, man, it's important." He was getting more and more anxious standing there with Veronica looking so vulnerable.
"She's okay, right?" Weevil's voice softened and Logan smiled.
"She will be, but we need this favor and I need to get off the phone. Will you do this for her?"
"All right, fine. Remember, you both owe me now."
"Take your pick, Weevs, whichever one of us you want more will go to prom with ya." He hung up quickly, not wanting that conversation to go any further.
Logan didn't know if Keith was home or not and he knew Veronica wasn't going to want him to see her like this so he made the quick trip to his own house. She didn't move when he turned the car off so he jumped out and hurried around to her side. He opened her door and reached in to stroke her hair.
"Veronica? Come on, baby. Let's get you inside." She lifted her head and pulled her hands away from her face.
"Logan? Where are we?" She looked around him and he could see her realize where they were. "Why'd you bring me to your house?"
"I wasn't sure if your dad was home and I didn't think you were ready to see him if he was." He brushed her hair away from her face. "Am I wrong? Do you want me to take you home?"
She shook her head. "No, you're right. But...isn't your dad here?" She looked up at him, her fingers twisting the star on her necklace. "I'm not sure about seeing him. I'm a tiny bit on edge." She smiled ruefully. "I'm not really feeling in control and it's entirely possible that I might lose it on him." He chuckled and pulled her upright, turning her sideways in the seat and wrapping his arms around her protectively.
"We'll buzz by him, no questions answered, and I'll go back down and deal with him after you're settled. Okay?"
"I don't want him getting mad at you because we ignored him."
He leaned down to kiss the top of her head. "No, he's all Zen right now, remember? And when he thinks I'm being your knight in shining armor, it will appeal to his romantic drama instincts. Don't worry."
She rocked her head up and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. "You really were, you know."
"Huh?"
"My knight. You were my knight. Not sure about how shiny your armor actually is but you showed up when I needed you. I could have gotten myself out of there but you being there helped me say what I needed to say."
He wrapped his arms around her again and leaned his cheek against her hair. "That's all I want to be."
Thanks to KMD0107 for her suggestions. Also, thanks to all of you who are faithfully reviewing. You guys absolutely make my day. For anyone just reading, I really do love to hear what people are thinking about the story. Please leave a review.