Logan looked warily at Veronica unsure of what exactly he should say, he had offered to hire the small plane from Catalina Island to take them back to Neptune but she had insisted on joining Wallace and the others on the mainland instead.

Weevil Navarro was dead.

He had turned it over a hundred times in his thoughts. It still didn't feel real. First Sheriff Don Lamb had died in the line of duty just days ago, and now one of his old classmates, his old Rival, former nemesis-turned-ally. Probably one of the only guys who'd known Lilly the way he had, was gone.

Veronica hadn't even cried yet…

The two of them had always been close, it was a connection that had used to make him jealous, her father had always said she had a thing for irredeemable bad boys… until he realized that what she felt for Weevil was closer to something siblings share, while a lot of their relationship had been sort of mutually opportunistic, there's such was a respect between Weevil and the pixie-sized sleuth. Eli "Weevil" Navarro, former head of the PCH biker gang had been one of her truest friends.

He'd been the furthest thing you could get from Logan, he had tattoos, he rode motorcycles, and he was very much from the quote-unquote wrong side of the tracks but as an individual, he was an intriguing bastion of contradictions, boasting a rough demeanour but betraying a hidden gentleness. He'd always had Veronica's back, even way back when Logan hadn't.

He'd been a great guy… despite burning down my house…

It made Logan ache to think that… in a different set of circumstances, Weevil should have been the true love of Lilly's life, his lack of socio-economic privilege is certainly what stopped them from becoming something more, he was the ultimate product of his environment, the corruption of Neptune.

Logan watched his fiancée as she picked up the bottles of water from the pop up stand and continued with him on their hike. They'd only heard the news about an hour ago, her silence troubled him.

"Veronica.." he said gently as she pushed the small purse into her backpack. He felt helpless, he wanted to call in reinforcements… or Hell… have her sit down for even five minutes.

"I can't Logan…"she said quietly. "I saw him two days ago. This doesn't make any sense!"

According to Acting Sheriff Keith Mars, her father, Weevil's body had been found in the basement of Hearst University, near the incinerator of the heating system. There had been an attempt to force the body into the furnace itself but whoever had tried wasn't strong enough to get him inside.

Bodies tended to be heavier than people gave them credit for.

He had been found shot three times in the chest and covered in soot; the loud clanging coming from the furnace had alerted several students in the computer labs who complained about the noise when it was investigated by the buildings maintenance supervisor. Someone unfamiliar with the incinerator had attempted to burn some clothes, some leather gloves, and bloodied clothing. Working theory at the moment is they must have been caught in the process by Weevil and decided to cover their tracks.

Logan had called Dick to get some more information from those on campus about what was circulating; no one seemed to know much, and Keith Mars couldn't move on the bloodied clothing until forensics came back. Educated guess said that it probably had something to do with Dean Odell's alleged suicide.

"We can go back…" he offered.

"No… I'm not ready. He's still going to be gone even if we go back now…" she sighed as she stepped into his embrace. Pulling him tighter to her.

This morning had been so perfect…

"It's not like you to avoid a case.." he pointed out.

She hadn't even told Wallace yet…

His thoughts flitted to Mac, she would know by now. He wasn't sure how close she was to Weevil, but he knew that there had been a few parties in the Dorms that he had attended there with Veronica.

"This isn't a case… it's the death of another one of my friends, and right now… I need OUT… I need space, a lot of space to…." She gulped in a large breath and tried her best to fight back the flood of emotion starting to claw its way up inside her chest. "I feel like… I'm going to have a panic attack, like I'm going to rupture at the seams… and there's no air… Logan… I can't… breathe…" she cried as she lost the thread of her speech and the tight control she'd been holding onto finally snapped and she began gasping for air as tears filled her azure blue eyes. He pulled her closer to him, his strong arms enveloping her and holding her close to his chest.

There it was… the inevitable crash as the reality sunk in. He'd been waiting for it, she was just so damn strong. She. Just. Wouldn't. Break. Interacting with someone who's sad and hurting was always awkward; usually Logan avoided these kinds of emotional depths with people… dealing with his inability to help Duncan after Lilly's murder. Logan always thought he was terrible at it. But with her… he wanted to be there for her, and strengthen their relationship, but it's hard to know how to act and what to say. "There, there, it's okay." Just didn't feel like it was going to cut it. He didn't have the words to fix this, so he said nothing, he just hauled her as tightly against him as he could and held her, gently stroking her hair until her breathing calmed and kissed her forehead.

Veronica sank into his embrace and inhaled the calming scent of Logan, ocean and soap.

Weevil was gone leaving a vacuum that could only be filled by him… another piece of Lilly was gone…

She didn't need him to say anything, the arms around her told her everything that she needed to hear, he wasn't going to let her deal with this alone. She could fall apart here, and he would put her back together again. Some people were just written on your soul in permanent ink... and Logan Echolls was on hers. He was the perfect mix of everything that she had ever craved.

Forever, mine, with me. Falling in love with him wasn't something she had expected… but it's something she couldn't have prevented even if she'd tried.

Her arms were wrapped around his waist, her fingers gripping the back of his hoodie, and the tiredness relaxed her shoulders.

"We can head back if you want.." his voice said softly.

"The beach where we are supposed to be meeting Piz and Zoe is just down at the bottom of the next trail" she replied quietly, shaking her head. They could have taken a taxi from the harbour, they both knew that but he understood now that she'd needed some time away from all the questions to gather herself.

Time to process.

She got a few text messages and stopped to read them.

1. Wallce: Got a call from Mac… are you okay?

2. Wallace: Just spoke to your dad… where are you?

"What do you want to do now?" he asked quietly.

"Go on living? That's what people do when someone they love dies… only I'm planning on getting the bastards who did this" Veronica replied.