What's Meant To Be Is Meant To Be, Part 1

The dulled sound of bass-filled music filtered through the closed door, but aside from that, there was no sound.

Cassidy was staring at a tired-looking Veronica as if she'd just told him that the moon was in fact made out of cheese and that it had quite a tangy flavor that produced rainbow sprinkles when one burped.

Or something along those lines.

Veronica was no longer sitting in front of him, she'd gotten to her feet midway through her retelling of the crazy story that was her current circumstances and Cassidy was just staring at her as she paced back and forth, finally finishing her tale.

The look on the younger boy's face was one that spoke of the utmost shock mixed in with a growing sense of resignation at the same time.

It's like he knows he's got nowhere else to go, Veronica thought with the now familiar mix of joyful revenge and deep sympathy for the troubled kid.

Before she could succumb to the cloying feelings in her chest or even say anything out loud about the conflict she was going through, Cassidy sighed heavily. With one long glance over at his sleeping brother, he then turned back and met Veronica's gaze head on, looking resigned and like he was finally ready to talk.

His next words confirmed it and Veronica didn't know whether to smile or cry just a little bit.

"What do you want to know first, Lo— I mean Veronica?"

Unable to stand being too close to him for some reason she didn't want to analyze, Veronica grabbed the only chair in the room from the small desk nearby and dragged it a little closer. A moment later, she'd sat herself down and crossed her arms in a subconscious attempt of protecting herself.

She waited a beat, trying to figure out just how to word her questions. In the end, Veronica merely sighed before opening her mouth to speak slowly, "Well, I guess I kinda want to know why you didn't tell anyone about the whole Goodman thing? I mean, why not just let the others use your name and go public with their knowledge and all of your shared experiences to prevent it from happening to someone else? You didn't have to go all evil mastermind on them and kill so many innocent people." Veronica blinked and added ever so quietly that Cassidy almost couldn't hear her.

"There were only two people on that bus that you had any problems with…Meg was pregnant and…there were a lot more than two people on that bus…"

Cassidy blinked, looking as if her words cut him deeply. He swallowed a lump of something that Veronica hoped to God was regret. She needed it to be regret.

"I didn't think that'd be your first question," Cassidy said quietly, even as he shrugged off the chilling glare his perceived casual demeanor warranted. Then he continued on and tried to justify his murderous actions.

"It's completely stupid. I know that, but…" Cassidy sighed and ran a hand through his messy dark locks and not caring that it only made them messier.

Veronica hated that part of her that couldn't quite stop thinking that he looked a little adorable and innocent, but she quickly buried the unwanted feelings when the youngest Cassablancas sibling continued his tale.

"I'm a dork, Veronica and a weak one at that. At least that's what people think of me. The one thing I've got going for me is Dick. Although he treats me like a retard most of the time, he still protects me. I guess you saw that when we fought earlier this year."

Veronica nodded in silent agreement as the memory travelled through her mind. Dick had been truly focused as soon as any hint of violence turned his brother's way. She leaned back in the chair without interrupting, eager to hear more of a story she'd waited too long for as it was.

"So…" Cassidy sighed again, "Anyway…I guess that what I'm trying to say is that I got used to people belittling me over the years and sort of accepted it, but I never liked it. No one likes being seen as a loser." He cast another look at Veronica, and not voicing anything about how she would know all about that before he continued on wearily, "So to combat that reputation a little, I began playing in the little league. I thought maybe it would give me some sort of cool factor or whatever. Woody was the one person, who really saw me, you know. He talked to me, encouraged me to go after what I wanted and I loved him. Looking back at it, I think I replaced my dad with Woody. Then one day he asked me to stay after practice, which wasn't that unusual, he did that quite a lot actually, so…"

Veronica sighed and sat on her hands to stop herself from actually comforting her rapist. But for a caring person, such as Veronica was deep down, it was really hard not to react to the raw pain that radiated from the broken boy in front of her.

After a couple of tension-filled minutes, it dawned on Veronica why Cassidy was looking like he was trying to convince himself to walk on burning coals. She bit her lip to stop a curse from escaping her.

"You don't have to go into details about the whole abuse thing. I doubt it's all that important in the long run and I for one don't need to know every little detail." Veronica stated when she could control her voice a little better.

Cassidy broke into a small relieved smile that he honestly didn't deserve in Veronica's opinion even if she was the one granting him clemency of the whole thing in the first place. He hurried on with his story before she could do anything other than draw in breath to scold him or something she didn't quite know.

"Well, it happened more and more and I was too young to really understand that Woody was a bad man. I mean, I didn't like it at all, all the whispered threats and stuff during the "sessions," but then when it was over, he turned back into my father figure, so I was confused. After a while I got bigger and became a teenager, which I guess was a turnoff for him, so he let me go. He abandoned me for someone else. I didn't understand why I wanted to be around him still, he was a perverted asshole, but I loved him like a son and felt lost afterwards."

Cassidy moved over to the bed and leaned up against it with a small sigh. "I buried everything deep down and went on with my life. Then one day, Marcos and…" he cast an almost sheepish glance Veronica's way before adding softly, "well, I guess that part you already know. They wanted to get the dirty little secret out in the open and I didn't want that. I was a big enough freak as it was already. Once people found out that I let a man do those things to me…"

Veronica saw a full body shudder erupt in Cassidy and his eyes were burning with some kind of intent that she felt a little cowed by if she had to be honest. "Remember how people acted around Dick once his little indiscretion with the not-so-female hooker came out. It didn't even matter to them that err…someone sent her to him. Imagine what they'd have done to me if they learned the truth."

Cassidy closed his eyes in pain at the thought and Veronica shook her head in disbelief.

"So let me get this straight." Her voice was harsher than she wanted it to be, yet she didn't try and apologize for it in her rising anger, "you didn't want people to know that some horrible guy sexually abused you as a child, so your response was to kill off the people who desperately needed closure after their own abuse and in the process you killed an entire buss full of innocent school kids."

Veronica snapped her fingers mockingly and had to struggle so the smirk on her borrowed face didn't turn into a snarl. "Damn! Why didn't I think of that, when all of you turned your backs on me last year?"

Cassidy just stared at her for a long second, unknowingly sending shivers down Veronica's spine when his small sad-looking smile ended and he stated softly, "well, that's easy. You're not crazy enough."

It took a moment before Veronica could even begin to process that particular statement. She took a couple of deep breaths to try and calm down a little before she continued on with her interrogation.

"Well, I guess that answers that question." She deadpanned. "Now please answer me this, 'cause this one really bugs me – even more then you putting your dick places where it didn't belong."

Veronica's baser side reveled a little in the minute flinch her crass wording brought forth in the teenager. She was so deeply focused on Cassidy that she didn't notice the lack of snores coming from Dick's direction, too eager for an answer to a question she'd wanted for years. "Where does Mac fit in in all of this? If you just wanted to hurt her, then—"

Cassidy straightened up as soon as Mac's name was mentioned. His earlier so downtrodden expression turned genuinely upset, almost furious when he interrupted Veronica.

"Don't even say that! It's not like that with her. I care about Mac a lot… I love her. I would never hurt her!"

For the first time since…well, probably since she'd burst through a certain hotel room's door and spotted a heartsick and confused Mac sitting with a sheet clutched around her naked body, Veronica felt like she could breathe a little freer.

For the first time, she was truly and absolutely sure about Cassidy's feelings for her best female friend. Now I finally know why he settled for humiliating her by stealing her clothes and not murdering her in cold blood…

Realizing that her continued silence was only aggravating the offended-looking Cassidy, Veronica held up her hands in a placating manner.

"Relax, no need to go ballistic on me, Cassidy. I needed to know. Whenever I do go back, I'll be able to answer one of Mac's long awaited questions."

"Fine," Cassidy nodded, settling back down as if he hadn't just nearly exploded with anger and once again looking about as threatening as a baby duckling. It was eerie for the time traveler to watch and her uncomfortableness only increased when he added, ever so sensibly, "She deserves to know that through everything I did, I never wanted her to suffer. I love her…Do you anymore questions, Veronica?"

Veronica swallowed down her wariness and crossed her arms defensively, knowing that she needed to broach one more subject for her peace of mind.

"I need to know about the rape, Cassidy." She mentally congratulated herself for not sounding as nervous as she felt. "Why did you do it? Why me? I never did anything to you."

The younger Cassablancas sighed deeply and Veronica watched with a mixture of bitterness, hate and empathy as his eyes teared up. After a little while, he finally looked up at her and started talking. "I know that given what I've done to you, you think of me as perverted and stupid and—"

Not in the least bit interested in listening to his self-deprecations Veronica interrupted with as level a tone as she could manage under the circumstances where her heart was in her throat. "Of course I do think less than stellar thing about you, but I'd prefer it if you'd skip over the name-calling parts. Trust me, there aren't any names you can come up with I haven't already used a gazillion times."

Cassidy rubbed his eye to wipe away the tears and nodded before he finally began his story, "You probably know all about that evening, so I'll just jump to the part where I was locked in the room with you passed out on the bed. I've never been able to get aroused with anybody after the whole Little League thing, but that night I was so angry at everybody for their teasing and you too, but I think that was more a way for me to get the deed done then any actual resentment, 'cause like you said; you'd never done anything to me."

There was a short pause wherein the two of them just stared silently at each other. Eventually, Veronica's patience ran out and she gestured for Cassidy to continue on, which he did with another deep exhale. "I'd had enough and I thought that I'd do it just to shock Dick and make him shut up about me, ya know? Then as I was…err, doing it, I suddenly got this glimpse of you opening your eyes and calmly asking me, what the hell I thought I was doing and I panicked and fled as fast as I could do up my pants. I bumped into someone and puked all over her shoes."

Veronica swallowed again, trying to control the erratic pounding of her heart. It was harder than she'd ever imagined just standing there, listening to her rapists story. Her insides were twisting in her gut uncomfortably and for one brief moment, she wanted nothing more but to call in Logan and hide in his arms. It didn't even matter that his embrace would be different given his new form, she was absolutely certain that Logan's hug would calm her down. It had always done so in the past after all.

Cassidy's voice brought her out of her moment of missing her spouse and she refocused as he finished his tale.

"The rest of that month I walked around practically consumed by panic. So sure that every day would be the day you'd come running up to me and turning me in to the cops and stuff. In the end, I just…I watched you and discovered that you truly didn't remember a thing about it and I started breathing a little easier. I even started picking on you like Dick and Logan told me I should, just so I could fit in a bit more."

Dick suddenly interrupted the two of them by grunting loud enough to drown out the vague echo of still sounding music from the living room area and moving so close to the edge of the bed, that Cassidy and Veronica had to get up and move him to safety before continuing their talk. Neither of them realized that the grunt had a hint of devastated moan in it, both of them too caught up in their talk to notice anything.

Veronica slowly sat down on the chair again and Cassidy repositioned himself on the bed to keep his older brother out of trouble even though the older male had seemingly frozen as soon as they'd touched him and didn't seem to be moving anymore.

"Tell me," Cassidy suddenly asked, "If I apologized with all of my heart, would you let me go? If I swore to never even look badly at other people again?"

There was sincerity in his words, and the words practically dripped with something that sounded like remorse and desperation, but Veronica couldn't stop a tired chuckle from escaping her as a response.

"Come on, Cassidy," she said, achingly gentle in the face of his soft-spoken plea, "you know I can't let you do that. For starters, I'm not the only person that you've wronged here. People are dead and their families are devastated. We both know that you deserve to go to prison and maybe get some much needed counselling as well."

The smile Cassidy gave her was brimming with self-loathing for one split second before he turned fully serious again. "I am, you know." He stated and elaborated while staring intensely at her, "Sorry, I mean. I'm so sorry for all that I've put you through. If I could take it back, I would. I want you to trust me on that at least. Oh, and I'm sorry for the Chlamydia too, but to be fair that's more on Goodman than on me."

Veronica furrowed her brows at his apology, not particularly enjoying the reminders that the whole STD thing brought forth as it had been beyond humiliating sitting in that courtroom in her original timeline and having everyone know about it.

"Yeah that was a real treat. Thanks." Her tone was full of saccharine sarcasm that brought an honest grin forth on Cassidy's weary-looking face.

For one short moment, Veronica could actually see the man he could've become if he hadn't turned down his chosen path of murder and destruction and it was that vision more than anything that made her say what she did next.

"I'll never forget what happened to me, what you did…" Veronica began slowly and watched as her words caused Cassidy to freeze and made his eyes tear up a bit again. She continued, ignoring the old hateful part of her that screamed that she was being an idiot. "I'll never forget, but Cassidy, if you never get redemption for your crimes, I'll give you peace of mind in my case."

Cassidy's eyes widened with pure disbelief and his mouth opened like a fish as if her words had truly stumped him. "You-you mean…?" he stuttered clumsily.

Veronica waited a beat to see if Lily or Lynne would pop up and interfere or something before she nodded once.

"Like I said, I will never forget what you did to me, but I forgive you although my other self keeps screaming for your untimely death."

The silence stretched on and finally the awkward tension in the room made Veronica's usual personality pop out. "Darn it, had I known tonight would end up being more like a Corrs song than anything else, I might have chosen a different wording."

Her joke fell flat as Cassidy merely twitched his lips in a dutiful smile, looking completely lost in thought.

Feeling drained by the emotional talking she'd done and the unexpected conclusion to it, Veronica closed her eyes with a tired sigh for one brief moment.

But still, she soon found that said moment was too long because, suddenly, she felt the smaller male lunge at her with an incredible speed. Before she could even reopen her eyes, Veronica was hit hard on the head with something heavy and as she tumbled down to the floor, already halfway to unconsciousness, she hard Cassidy's parting words as though from a long distance away.

"Thank you for everything Veronica. I just can't go to prison. I'm gonna go set a few things right before it's too late."

0o0o0

It was easy to be completely ignored in the midst of the party going on and for once, Logan actually felt happy to be in Veronica's skin as it meant barely anyone noticed him standing more or less immobile near the bedroom door, staring holes in the wood.

Mac had abandoned him earlier when his half-hearted attention wasn't enough to distract her from her sadness over her boyfriend's disappearing act. Logan didn't really care; too busy waiting for any sign that would make him catapult into action.

That was why he knew something was amiss almost immediately after Cassidy suddenly appeared in the door and, after one longing look in Mac's unknowing direction, simply left without a word.

Veronica!

Logan instinctively knew something was wrong with his wife and quickly barreled through the people standing in his way. Out of the corner of his eye, Logan distractedly noticed Caitlin Ford yelping loudly as she was knocked aside and inelegantly landed on Mandy, who in return squealed like a frightened pig.

It didn't matter; nothing did, except reaching that now half-opened door and seeing Veronica be okay.

A few seconds later, Logan banged the door fully open, only to freeze horrified at the sight that met him.

Dick was sitting with his head in his hands on the edge of the bed, looking like his entire world had just come crashing down around him, but that wasn't all that important to Logan. His eyes were drawn to his own body, to Veronica, who was laying head first on the carpeted floor. He could see a small trail of blood running from her eyebrow and down the side of her cheek.

Logan cursed at the sight. At the sound, Dick looked up. His eyes were puffy and tears were running down his face. "He…" he started hoarsely, "I…Cass…"

The blond couldn't seem to finish a sentence and Logan completely ignored his obvious suffering, too worried about Veronica's unconsciousness.

"Veronica! Honey, come on, don't do this to me. Please, Baby." Logan basically threw himself down beside her and hesitantly turned her unmoving form over and halfway into his lap.

The lack of any kind of reaction made Logan see red. He could almost feel how his growing rage was choking out every last bit of reasoning out of him. His eyes were filled with a murderous fury when they landed on the still crying Dick.

"Where is he?"

Dick wiped his eyes and sniffled just long enough for Logan to contemplate violence before finally speaking in a shocked tone, "He attacked her before I could do anything. I've been drinking too much and my body wasn't reacting as fast as it should…Then he…"

Fresh tears interrupted Dick's tentative calm and he bent over sobbing like nothing Logan had ever seen before, not even that night he'd showed up in college completely broken.

The whole thing made Logan awkward. He'd never been the best in situations with tears. Then something Dick had said, resonated within him and Logan barely swallowed down a fresh set of curses.

'She', so apparently Dick now knows the truth too. Logan glanced down at Veronica in his arms, feeling a fresh wave of urgency come over him at the sight of the blood that still trickled slowly down her face. I have to find Cassidy before he does any more damage.

Logan was so deeply entombed inside his own mind that he failed to notice the fluttering of Veronica's closed eyes, but her muffled moan of pain reached him and he quickly looked down to see her slowly opening her eyes.

The time traveling duo locked eyes and for one short minute, Logan thought he saw long forgotten feelings in Veronica's eyes, but then she blinked and the moment was gone.

"Where is he?" she slurred, trying in vain to sit up. It was clear that whatever had happened had given her something along the lines of a concussion and Logan had to bite back an instinctive need to force her to go to the hospital. He knew that the stubborn female would refuse point blank.

Logan watched quietly as her eyes moved swiftly around the room, cataloging everything in that brilliant mind of hers before they finally landed on Dick's weeping form on the bed.

"So Dickie, how long were you actually awake and more importantly, what did you hear?" To say that Veronica's tone oozed ice was not an exaggeration and Logan spared a second to feel relieved that for once said coldness wasn't directed at him even as he once again had to admire her ability to instantly deduce stuff like Sherlock Holmes.

"A lot of it," was all Dick said and Veronica nodded before she uncoordinatedly managed to get on her feet.

She leaned a little on Logan, seemingly not even noticing her dependence on him however slight. He wasn't about to mention anything and risk her trying to insist on being independent too soon.

Dismissing Dick, Veronica fully turned to look down at Logan. The look in her eyes was desperate and oh-so earnest that he knew he was about to have a hard time saying no to her.

"We have to find him," Veronica said, unknowingly proving him right.

Logan sighed and gently removed himself from Veronica's hold. Then he pointed down at his attire with a rueful smile dancing on his face. "Well, then if you don't mind waiting a few minutes, I'll just change out of this drag costume and join you for a fun game of hunting down the murderous criminal."

Veronica's eyes sparkled briefly at his untimely joke before nodding decisively and turning back to look at Dick. Logan hurried over to the corner where he'd thrown his casual clothes in a fit of pique earlier during his makeover time with Lily and pretended not to listen in on the conversation going on behind him.

"…truly sorry that you had to find out like this," Veronica's tone was full of earnest regret, "but the truth is out there now and you can't just bury your head in the sand. Please tell me if you know where he might go?"

Dick didn't offer up an answer and Logan, even with his back turned, could spot the pure annoyance that was running through Veronica.

"Look Dick, more people could end up dead if you don't help me out here! Cassidy's got problems and I need you to help me get to him in time."

Dick muttered something that Logan couldn't hear and Veronica sighed. Logan finished changing and turned just in time to see her hand over her phone to his best friend.

"Look this is a recording of the whole conversation. Please play it to Mac in private and tell her I'll talk to her as soon as I've found Cassidy. Okay?"

The Casablancas heir nodded, for once silenced and Logan felt his heart go out to his friend. It was never easy to stand by and watch someone you cared about hurting and there was no doubt in Logan's mind that Dick was hurting, reeling from all he'd learned.

Before Logan could do more than offer a tiny sympathetic smile, Veronica grabbed his hand and unceremoniously dragged him out of the hotel suite, while expertly ignoring the curious stares and whispers following their departure.

It took a few minutes before the duo reached the hotel's lobby and continued running outside to find Logan's car.

"Where are we going?" Logan panted, promising himself to do something about Veronica's fitness level yet never mentioning that he was doing it to her at all. He jumped into the X-Terra and barely managed to put on his seatbelt before Veronica drove off with squealing tires.

"I know where Cassidy went," was all Veronica said and the look of intense worry and determination made Logan accept the vague response without questioning it.

Not for the first time since Cassidy had bolted out of the bedroom, looking pale and overwrought, did Logan wonder just what had gone down between them. I may interrogate Dick later for answers if Veronica won't tell me, Logan decided and then put the matter to the back of his mind. There were more important things to worry about after all.

It took a little while; maybe fifteen minutes before Logan began to recognize his surroundings. It'd been years since he'd been there, but he'd driven that route a lot during his time as Woody Goodman's glorified gopher.

"You think he went to Goodman's house?"

Veronica nodded, looking pleased by his assumption. "Yeah, I think he feels like the only way to avoid going to prison is to confront his abuser and then everything will turn out all right."

Logan nodded, that did sound crazy enough to be a plan of an admittedly crazy teenager. "So once we get there, then what?" he asked and grabbed a firm hold of the dashboard when Veronica made a truly sharp turn down the last road to their destination.

Veronica pulled up to the house, running over a couple of fancy-looking garden gnomes in the process with no regret whatsoever. She answered his question before she more or less catapulted out of the car.

"I stop whatever he's planning on doing and hopefully we can go home after that."

Logan nodded, knowing that despite the possibility of violence and mayhem, it really was the soundest plan they had. He quickly followed her, taking a firm hold of her bicep to halt her movement for a second.

"Sounds like a plan to me," Logan stated and added seriously when Veronica looked like she was about to pull her arm out of his grip, "but I'm coming with you 'cause I'm just as big a part of this mess as you and don't you even think about trying to stop me, Mars."

Veronica actually smiled at that fierce declaration and once more making Logan's heart skip a beat as if something was slowly mending itself between them. He shook it off, too used to disappointments to really dare hope, just in time for Veronica's reply to truly register in his mind.

"I wouldn't have it any other way, Echolls."

0o0o0

TBC…