Chapter 38
When Veronica got home, the pictures she needed were waiting for her at the front desk. She grabbed an envelope to put them in and headed straight to Hearst. The hearing would be starting soon. She arrived at the Administration building a few minutes before the Pi Sigs, and met them on the path.
"Hello, Chip, Dick, faceless Star Trek crew members."
"Hey. Here to give us our money back?" Chip asked.
"Mm," Veronica pulled the envelop out. "The morning after the haunted house, Claire woke up alone in the park, five a.m., her head was shaved." As she spoke, she handed Chip the ATM photo that showed Claire with a guy standing a few feet behind her. "This photo was taken of Claire the night she was raped. It's from an ATM on the corner of Stanton and Lake. Look at the time stamp. Two a.m. The haunted house had been closed for two hours. She still has her hair, so we know she hasn't been raped yet. And look who she's with."
"Who's that dude?" Dick asked. "He's not one of us."
"Precisely. You Pi Sigs have exactly one Asian member, and that is not him. Voila. Proof of innocence, courtesy of pixie spy magic." The boys cheered happily, and Dick pulled her into a hug.
"I knew you could do it, Ronnie!"
Veronica gave a small, unenthusiastic smile and carefully extricated herself from Dick's embrace. In front of the building, she could see Nish, Nancy, Parker and Claire standing with a group of girls, glaring in disgust at her. She decided that it would probably be safer to just go home, instead of sticking around for the trial. Her speedy retreat didn't stop Parker from finding her the next day when she was waiting for Logan to get out of his Comm class.
"Good news!" She cried, waving in congratulations. "The Pi Sigs were absolved!"
"Because they were innocent." Veronica sighed, closing the book she had been reading.
"Because you helped them, which is what you were trying to do all along." Parker crossed her arms angrily. "How do you live with yourself?"
"Quite happily. I was looking for the truth and I found it. You wanna nail someone to the wall, just to have someone nailed there, or do you want the person responsible to pay?"
Veronica and Parker stared at each other until Parker started to squirm and finally looked away. Veronica got to her feet and walked away, pulling a bottle of water out of her bag and twisting the cap. As she took a sip, Logan ran up behind her and grabbed her waist.
"Hey! Careful, man, there's a beverage here!" Veronica cried, quickly righting the bottle to stop it from spilling all over herself. Logan smiled and kissed the top of her head.
"How you doing?" She asked, he had seemed pretty down the night before, but they hadn't gotten a chance to speak yet.
"On top of the world, looking down on creation." Logan assured her. "But I was hoping we could track down Norman Phipps again."
"Why?"
"I gave him a pocket watch that belonged to my grandfather, the only descent member of my family- I wish you could have met him." Logan told her.
"Not a problem. In my world, the wicked don't get parting gifts."
Norman was in the exact same place he had been for a week, staying in a hotel a few blocks away from the Grand. Veronica refused to let Logan come with her, explaining that she could hold her own despite being pregnant and that they didn't need any more assault charges on his record. She checked the room number at the desk, then showed herself upstairs and knocked at his door.
"Hey there, fake Charlie." Veronica greeted when he opened the door. "You weren't expecting to see me again, were you? Can I come in?" She didn't wait for him to answer and pushed past him into the room.
"Look, I'm just doing my job." Norman told her. "Fair warning, it will be out next week."
"Great. I'm here for the watch." Norman didn't look surprised by this. Instead he walked over to the suitcase sitting at the bottom of the bed and pulled the watch out of a pocket, handing it to Veronica.
"Pleasure doing business with you." Veronica took the watch and headed for the door.
"Good luck with the baby." His voice made it clear that he was giving the exact opposite of good luck. Veronica gave him a smile and the finger before letting the door close behind her.
Veronica knew the article was out before she saw it. She was leaving the hotel to meet Weevil, who was helping her with a presentation for Criminology. The second the elevator opened, she saw the security guards standing with a large group of reporters. Before she could step back and close the doors, a couple reporters broke free of the pack and ran at her.
"Veronica! Veronica! What's it like being married to Logan Echolls?"
"How does it feel to be having a killer's grandson?"
"Do you think Logan will hurt the baby?"
Veronica was about to reach for her taser when the security guards caught up again and quickly formed a ring around her. Natalie, one of the managers came running and ducked under the security guards.
"Mrs. Echolls, maybe you'd like to go back to your room?" She suggested. "We're just waiting for the sheriff's department to come and help us get rid of these reporters."
"Good luck with that, but I have somewhere to be."
"I'm sorry, I know that this isn't my place, but I've dealt with these things before. Why don't you step into my office and give Mr. Echolls a call." She didn't sound like she was going to take no as an answer, so Veronica followed her, keeping her head down and ignoring the yelling and camera flashes.
"You can hide out in here for as long as you need." Natalie gave her a smile and ducked back into the circus outside. Veronica sat down in an armchair and pulled out her phone.
"Hey, what's up?" Logan answered on the second ring.
"I've been shoved into Natalie's office and told to call you."
"What happened?" Logan demanded. She could hear him walking around, and then the unmistakeable sound of the door slamming shut.
"The Vanity Fair article is out and there's reporters everywhere. They practically attacked me."
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. The security guys were really good, but now I'm stuck here. I'm supposed to be meeting Weevil so we can finish going over my Criminology presentation one last time." Veronica complained, opening the door an inch and peeking outside. The reporters were a bit farther back, but they were still there. The second Logan walked through the elevator doors they would go nuts again. Before she could warn him of this, the elevator dinged and Logan stepped out. Unlike Veronica, however, he was prepared. Before any of the photographers or reporters could make a move, Logan booked it across the lobby and pushed the door open, making Veronica jump backwards.
"Hi." He gave Veronica a smile, but she just glared. "Okay, so maybe you should call Weevil and get him to come over here to go over the project."
"Obviously!" She snapped, pulling her cellphone out and dialling again.
"V! Where are you?" Weevil asked.
"I'm trapped by reporters. Can you get over here?"
"Are you okay?" Weevil asked nervously.
"I'm fine. I just can't leave the hotel without being attacked by reporters and photographers."
"Alright. I'll be there soon."
Veronica hung up and turned back to Logan.
"Ready to try getting back upstairs?" He held out his hand.
"As I'll ever be."
The sheriff's department had arrived along with Lamb himself, who was getting rid of the photographers. It wasn't doing much good, however, they just started taking pictures over him as soon as Logan and Veronica emerged.
"Is it a boy or a girl?!"
"When was the wedding?!"
"Where did you honeymoon?!"
"Logan, did you marry her because she's pregnant?!"
Veronica felt Logan tense up at that question, and before she could stop him he whipped back around to face the woman who had asked.
"I married her, because I'm in love with her. And she got pregnant after we got married, not that it's any of your business." Veronica grabbed his hand and pulled him back towards the elevators. Natalie ran over and followed them into the elevator.
"Sheriff Lamb has promised to get them out of the library, but we can't stop them from standing off of the property. I'm sure you have a lot of experience with reporters," She turned to Logan. "So if you just tell us what you need in regards to keeping them at bay, we're happy to help."
"Thanks." Veronica gave a small nod as the elevator came to a stop on their floor. Natalie gave a nod, then pressed the Lobby button.
"So," Veronica opened the door and dropped onto the couch. "What does you vast expertise tell us to do in this situation?"
"It tells me to get you a security guard."
"Not a chance. Try again."
"Veronica."
"Logan."
"I'm serious."
"So am I. I'm not having a big scary guy with a gun follow me around!"
"It's for your safety. For the baby's safety."
"I'm not going to be attacked, Logan. And if I am, I can still hold my own. Besides, there has never been a single pregnant celebrity that was attacked by the paparazzi. They just follow them around and take pictures." Veronica argued.
"I'm serious. This is serious, Veronica."
"I'm not saying it's not. I'm just saying that I don't need a security guard."
"I don't want you going out alone."
"Fine. I won't. I will take one of you with me when I go out."
"One of us?" Logan asked, seeming to find the conversation amusing now.
"You, Dick, Weevil, Wallace, whoever the hell it is that you want to follow me around."
Before Logan could continue the conversation, there was a knock at the door and Veronica jumped to her feet.
"Hey, Weevil. Thanks for coming." Veronica smiled.
"It's a mess down there!" Weevil cried. "Lamb tried to arrest me twice before I got through the door."
"What for?"
"Isn't that the eternal question. Hey, man!" Weevil turned and shook Logan's hand.
"Hey."
"So, you ready to go over the material?" Veronica asked, pointing towards couch.
"Sure."
Weevil and Veronica worked for around an hour before Veronica was totally satisfied.
"Remember, 10:30 sharp on the 30th."
"I know. You've told me twelve times."
"I'm just being thorough."
"Whatever you say, V. I gotta get to work, so I'll see you later."
"Ya, I have to get going too." Veronica agreed, grabbing her bag. "I have a class at 11."
"Want a ride?"
"No thanks, I'm-"
"Yes. She does." Logan cut in. "You go with Weevil and I'll pick you up after class."
"Logan-"
"Veronica!"
"Logan, he has his bike. I'm not getting on a motorcycle at 3 months pregnant. I have some idea of what you're not supposed to do when pregnant."
"I'll walk you down to the parking garage," Weevil jumped in.
"Great." Veronica rolled her eyes, kissed Logan's cheek and headed for the door.
"You know, this would be a lot easier if you could get to the parking garage through the hotel, instead of having to go next door." Veronica complained as they made their way through the lobby. She could already see the flashes of cameras outside.
"Ya, that definitely would've come in handy about now." Weevil agreed. "You ready?"
Veronica nodded and they pushed outside into the lion's den.
"Veronica! Veronica! Who's your friend?"
"Are you cheating on Logan?!"
"Is he the baby's father?"
Veronica put her head down, Weevil threw an arm over her shoulder and put an arm out to keep the yelling mob at bay.
"Well this is fun." Weevil smiled.
"You and I have very different definitions of the word 'fun.'"
A/N: Super short, I know. Sorry. I lost my entire thought pattern for this chapter and now I've just given up. New chapter soon. I promise. Thanks for reading! And for leaving reviews!