"Veronica. Wake up. We're home."
Keith shook her gently, and Veronica forced one eye open, momentarily disoriented. The last thing she remembered was climbing into the back seat of the cruiser at the hospital. Since Logan was a minor, Keith took his statement in Lynn's hospital room, allowing Veronica to be present. Logan was still in shock and his story of his therapist blithely handing him over to Aaron's men came from him in a cold monotone, as did the subsequent beating and imprisonment by his father. After it was over, Keith and Veronica left the room to make arrangements for a cot so Logan could stay in his mother's room for the night, but, when they returned to the hospital room, they found him curled up like a child next to Lynn, sound asleep. Veronica was privy to Keith's hallway conversation - first with Lynn's doctor, then the head of the psychiatric department - in the hopes that one of them could gently coax Logan to speak to a therapist the next morning and get his physical and mental recovery underway.
Rising from the back seat, Veronica stretched and yawned, glancing through the windows at the darkness outside.
"What time is it?"
"Late. Very late," Keith remarked.
Unbuckling her seatbelt, Veronica slid out the back door. A shiver ran through her as her father began walking away towards the house, and she slammed the door, following slowly behind. This was it. Her father had remained stoic throughout the entire process of cleaning up the mess that was Aaron Echolls' terrible plan. Upon seeing Logan's 'cell', he only pursed his lips and nodded, directing the deputies gathering evidence to make sure no one got their hands on the photos. When they passed Lilly, standing with Jake and Celeste in the lobby of the station, Keith merely nodded, quietly stating that Lilly was free to go now that they had her evidence and statement but ignoring Jake Kane's calls to speak to him in detail. Even as Veronica gave her statement, Keith kept his head down on his pad of paper, quickly jotting down notes as Deputy Sacks led the line of questioning.
But now, nothing was preventing her father from laying into her for her antics. Antics that almost got her killed. At the worst, she figured she would be shipped off to boarding school, never to be seen again. At best, she imagined she would be forced to write "don't do anything stupid" ten-thousand times so it finally stuck in her head.
Keith unlocked the door and disappeared in the dark house, turning off the alarm and flicking on the lights as Veronica entered behind him, exhaling with a shaky breath as she closed the door behind her. This was it. The moment where the yelling commenced, she thought, and braced herself.
When Keith wrapped his arms around her, pulling her hard into his chest, she stiffened in shock. For a moment, Veronica's arms hung dumbly at her side before she realized her father was hugging her and she brought her arms around him, returning the affection. It was then that she heard it, a soft sound above her as Keith pressed his cheek to the top of her head. Crying. At first, she wasn't sure what she was hearing until Keith's body shook against her, a gasp escaping his lips as a sob rang out through the stillness of the house.
The sound of her father crying broke Veronica's defences and tears began to flow down her face, her body shaking as Keith held her close.
"If I had lost you, Veronica…" Keith's voice cracked. "If I had lost you, I don't know what I would have done."
"I'm sorry," Veronica gasped, hiccupping through her tears. "I'm so sorry, Daddy…"
"No, Veronica. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry I couldn't protect you from this man. I'm sorry I didn't see what was happening with Aaron and Logan sooner. I'm sorry I let your mother play out her twisted high-school fantasy using you and Logan as pawns. And I'm so, so sorry I drove your mother to drink so that she couldn't be a better mother to you."
"It's not your fault, Daddy. It's not your fault."
Pulling away from Veronica, Keith held her shoulders, bending slightly to stare into her eyes. "It is my fault, Veronica, and I promise you, going forward, I will be a better father to you."
"Impossible. You're the best father I know!"
Keith let out an ironic chuckle, running his hand over his balding head. "Compared to who? Aaron?"
"Compared to every Dad in Neptune," Veronica stated, wiping her eyes. "You are by far the number one best father ever because at least you try, Daddy. At least you try."
Sighing, Keith shook his head, averting his eyes. "I just feel like somehow I failed you, sweetheart."
"You haven't failed me at all. I failed you, Daddy, by not trusting you to help, and I'm so sorry I didn't come straight to you when Weevil came and gave me the information."
"Good thing your friends had better sense on that front."
Veronica bit her lip. According to her father, it took Mac and Wallace exactly fifteen minutes after Veronica and her crew left for them to cave and call Keith to inform him of what was going on. Unfortunately, it took time for Keith to coordinate a rescue plan, which meant he arrived with the full force of the Balboa County Sheriff's Department just in the nick of time. She would have been mad at her friends for ratting her out if it hadn't saved their lives.
"Yeah. Good thing."
Keith wrapped his arm around Veronica's shoulders and kissed the side of her head, gently guiding her towards the living room. She could hear Backup barking from the back yard, and she turned towards the sound.
"Leave him for now. I want to have a chat before we go to sleep."
"Okay."
Dropping herself onto the sofa, Veronica sniffled back the last of her tears. She wished her father would yell at her and get it over with, but it seemed that he was going to drag out the emotional day a bit longer. Keith lowered himself into his chair, groaning as he moved. For a second, neither of them said anything, listening to Backup's barking taper off to nothing but silence again.
"Veronica—you need help. I need help."
Wrinkling her nose, Veronica frowned. This wasn't the first time her father brought this up. Why he felt the need to bring up her mother again, now, was beyond her when Lianne had nothing to do with what happened today.
"I know, Dad; you want me to go for therapy."
"Veronica, it's more than that." Keith exhaled, slumping back in his chair. "Honey, you have been put in situations that have made you grow up too quickly, and I'm worried that if you don't talk to someone to help you—help us—that you'll lose critical time in your life to people and things that are outside your control."
"I'm still a teenager, Dad."
"I know, Veronica. But you're not acting like one, and that's troubling to me as a father and as someone who has seen what happens to kids that are forced to grow up too fast." Keith clasped his hands on his lap, shaking his head. "Poor choices with boys and sex. Poor choices with drugs and alcohol. Poor choices in life. I don't want that for you, Veronica, or Logan. And unfortunately, because of the choices your mother and I have made in raising you, I feel like that is the path you are on. You've been left with too little supervision and too many outside influences that have skewed your view of the world. And you deserve much better than that. You deserve to have a normal childhood, regardless of Lianne's problems, or mine."
"What's normal, Dad?" Veronica shrugged. "Wallace's dad died when he was a kid, and Mac's family all think that she's a freak because she's a vegan, and Dick's mom took off and his dad keeps dating Laker Girls, and Lilly…well…let's not go there…and Duncan and Casey are so worried their parents will kill them if they ever found out they were a couple—"
Veronica slapped her hand over her mouth, cutting off her excessive truth-telling. Her eyes widened as she watched her dad frown, then chuckle and shake his head.
"Casey and Duncan's secret is safe with me." Leaning forward, Keith reached for Veronica, and she offered him her hand. "As are all your secrets. Veronica, I don't know when you started not to trust me, but we need to get back to a place where you can because if it ends up being you and me for a while, trust is the only thing that's going to keep us working together to make our family work. Do you understand?"
Veronica nodded, squeezing Keith's hand. "Yeah. I understand, Dad."
"Good. Now can we get down to the business of creating our own 'normal'."
"And what's that, dad? What do you see as 'normal' after everything we've been through?"
Rubbing his eyes, Keith exhaled loudly, taking a moment to gather his thoughts. "I think normal will be you and me and Backup for the next little while. I'll move some of my shifts around, so I'm able to drop you off at school every day, and I've been thinking about looking at getting a part-time house-keeper to come in to help with cooking dinner and doing some of the cleaning. That way, there is someone home for you after school, and if you want your friends or your boyfriend to come over, there is supervision until I get home. Plus, if someone helps with the cooking, it guarantees you and I don't end up eating Mama Leone's take out five nights a week."
"You say that like it's a bad thing." Veronica smirked.
"We'll save it for the weekends." Keith winked. "Lynn will be in the market for a new therapist for Logan, and I am hoping she can help me find one for you as well. When your mom comes back, she'll still have her issues—every day will be a struggle for her to keep sober—and I want you to have someone to talk to, not only about Lianne, but also Logan, who doesn't have the weight of parental responsibilities clouding their judgement."
"Logan? Why would I need to talk to a therapist about Logan?"
"Because, Sweetheart, Logan is going to be working through a lot of heavy things in the next few months. Hell, he'll be working through it for the rest of his life. Even though Aaron was a terrible, terrible man, he was still Logan's father, and I'm sure that Logan will have some conflicting emotions about his death. And while you may want to try and help him through these emotions, you are not the best person to do it. He may act out—he may pull away—he may start to experiment with drugs or alcohol…or sex…"
"No! He wouldn't do that."
"Yes, Veronica. He might. But that's why for you and for him, I want you to see a therapist so that if you see something happening with his behaviour, you have somewhere safe you can go for advice. And maybe, if you are both committed to helping yourselves and one another, your relationship won't just be a passing teenage thing—maybe you'll learn some tools to make this last and eventually grow into a healthy adult union because even if you may not think that I am in your corner, I am one-hundred-percent hoping you can go the distance together."
Veronica started chewing on her thumbnail, her gaze wandering off from her dad, trying to imagine what Logan would be like now, after everything he had been through. The outburst from a few days ago ran through her head and the fact that he retreated into his room. Was that what it would be like? Logan so full of anger that he felt the need to separate himself from everyone and everything that loved him? Did that mean he would leave her?
Tears pricked her eyes again, and she covered her face, unable to stop the fresh round of crying. She felt the couch move next to her and her father's arm came around her shoulders, pulling her close to him. Stroking her hair, Keith rocked her slowly as he spoke.
"It's okay to be scared, Veronica. This is a lot to deal with, but we're going to get through it together. You'll see. In the end, we'll be fine."
Taking a shaky breath, Veronica uncovered her face, sniffling back more tears as she nodded. She didn't believe him in the least, but at her fake acceptance, he seemed to smile ever so slightly.
"I'm going to bed," she said softly, rising from his arms and Keith nodded.
"Okay. You sleep. You won't be going to school tomorrow, so take your time coming downstairs tomorrow morning."
She nodded and turned, trudging up the stairs to her room. Once there, she closed the door, pausing to glance around the room. Spying Logan's Pink Floyd shirt on the floor, Veronica quickly shed her clothes, pulling the t-shirt over her head. Glancing in the mirror, she smiled at the triangle and rainbow across the black background that now covered her chest. She thought back to when she stole it from Logan, all those months ago, and how happy they had been, to be together. Veronica wanted that again—the feeling of being fresh and new once more. Right now, she felt old. Older than her thirteen years. Older than her next birthday. So much older, she thought that she should start applying to colleges.
And then, she remembered the simple dream, from so long ago. Maybe one day, she and Logan would have that little apartment, just off-campus. Maybe they would go to school and get good grades and be accepted into Stanford or UCLA or Columbia. Maybe there would be blissful mornings and fun evenings and new adventures for them as they grew up together.
Quickly shutting off the lights, Veronica slid under the pile of covers, inhaling deeply to catch the musky scent of Logan's deodorant and sweat on the shirt. Instead of getting overwhelmed by the here and now, maybe Veronica just needed to focus on her hopes for the future.