DISCLAIMER: Characters of Veronica Mars, any recognizable dialogue, and the canon events of their storyline belong to Rob Thomas.
A/N:
This fic begins one year before the 10-year high school reunion. I've kept certain details from the movie and discarded others.
Veronica is in New York, attending law school, dated Piz again for a while but it didn't work out.
Weevil has his own shop and got married, but is recently divorced. His daughter is 2 years old.
Chapter 1
Veronica POV
A long time ago … we used to trade favors.
It had been nine years since graduation. Eight years since I left Neptune. Tried to put my past behind me.
I kept in touch with my dad, of course. Mac and Wallace, too. But no one else. And I didn't go back to visit.
Going to law school in New York City had become my excuse – too busy, too far to travel. But I could have made the time if I wanted to.
When I left Neptune, I wasn't just leaving behind the people and experiences, but also the way I chose to live my life. I had made a conscious decision to stop working cases.
After my first year of law school, it became apparent that I needed some income to balance the outflow of cash, I heard a couple classmates talking about the fact that they had become paralegals, worked in law firms before attending law school, and one of them even continued to work part-time on top of her demanding coursework. It occurred to me that larger firms employ private investigators. And it didn't take long before I got sucked back in.
I had been working part-time during my second year of law school, but the firm wanted me full-time for the summer. They were working on a big case and had been having trouble tracking down a key witness. They wanted me to focus on that while their primary investigator worked on other things.
It seemed unlikely that the witness had gone very far, but even looking in the five boroughs would be like searching for a needle in a haystack. Our client clearly knew the witness, but she wasn't giving us much info. She did let a few things drop in conversation – things other people might not notice. However as a trained investigator, I not only noticed, I began to connect the dots. She mentioned something about northern New Jersey, and it sounded like he had a couple of jobs where he must have been paid under the table. It seemed logical that he would go back to that area, where he could work and live under the radar. Not much to go on, but I started to narrow my search to a few counties. Other than that, the only lead that seemed promising was that the guy frequented biker bars.
The guy obviously didn't want to be found. I certainly didn't want to spook him by going around asking questions as a P.I. After exhausting all my usual methods, I decided my best bet was to go to his hometown – use another name, get a job and an apartment, eat in local restaurants, go to the bars.
After I ran my plan past the lawyer handling the case, he was uncomfortable with me going by myself. He asked if I had any friends who would blend in, someone who would be willing to do me a favor and back me up – preferably a guy who can handle himself in a bar fight.
I only knew one person who fit that description. Problem was: I hadn't spoken to him in eight years.
It was easy enough to do a background check and find his current contact info. However, I was surprised by some of what I found.
He was now a business owner. He had gotten married but was now divorced. He had a two-year-old daughter. If the photo on his shop's website was current, he had only gotten hotter since I'd last seen him.
Although I had been able to find his cellphone number, I opted to call his work number. It rang twice before someone answered. I asked if he was available, and I was put on hold.
A couple minutes later, a familiar voice asked, "How can I help you?"
My reply was simple: "I need a favor."
There was a moment of silence. I wondered if the call had been cut off or if he had hung up.
Then, I heard him chuckle. "V? Is this a joke?"
"Not a joke."
"Are you in town?"
"No."
"Last I heard, you were in New York."
"You heard right."
"Well, I'm curious enough to ask … what's the favor?"
"I'm working on a case. Trying to find a guy that hangs out in some rough places."
"And you need someone to go with you? You don't have any friends there who can help you out?"
"Not anyone with tattoos who looks good in leather and rides a motorcycle."
"You know I hate to be typecast." He paused, probably waiting to see if I would volunteer anything else. "You're serious about this?"
"Yeah, I am. I'm hoping it would only take a week to check out the locations on my shortlist. Any chance you can take a week off?"
"You called me at work and I'm betting you did your homework before calling. So you know I own the place."
"Yes. I don't know if I can get you paid for the time, but I'm sure I can get all your expenses covered. The only thing it will cost you is the time away."
He didn't respond right away. When he did, he said, "Give me your number. Need to check on a few things. I'll call you back. Might take a couple hours."
I kept myself busy while I waited for his call. I made a list of things I would need to do before he arrived. I was assuming that he would come. I couldn't think of a time he had refused to help me. In fact, he had on multiple occasions dropped what he was doing to do me a favor – like giving me a ride when I found myself unexpectedly in need of one. Even while he was working at Hearst – trying to live life on the straight and narrow, after plea bargaining down to assault – he was willing to help me in ways that could have gotten him sent back to Chino. Not once, but twice. Although I had a change of heart at the last minute, I had asked him to cube Madison's car after finding out that she had slept with Logan. And Eli had offered his unconditional assistance after the video of me with Piz went public.
Even after all these years, I was almost certain that he would do this favor for me. This gigantic favor. Asking someone to fly across the country to help you after years without contact, that was no small thing. There weren't many people I would feel comfortable asking for this big of a favor.
Now that I thought about how short that list of people was, I couldn't help but wonder why I hadn't kept in contact with him. He was one of the few people that I trusted with my life.
After redirecting my thoughts back to my to-do list, I started to chip away at those items. I sent an email to one of the partners of the law firm – he had mentioned he had a motorcycle I could borrow. Then, I checked that area of New Jersey for apartments and employment that would fit what I was looking for. I started packing, which was a bit of a challenge since I wasn't sure how long we would be gone. I also gathered materials I would need to make our fake IDs.
I had called him just after 9:00 a.m. his time, assuming he would be at work by then. He called back about two hours later from his cell phone. He was packing while we talked.
"How soon can you leave?" I asked him.
"Today. Now."
"Really? I'll book your flight while you're driving to the airport. Call me when you get there and I'll give you the info. Or you could text me your email address."
"Will do."
"Weevil …"
"Yeah, V?"
"Thanks for doing this."
"We were always owing each other favors."
"But … a call like this … after eight years of radio silence?"
He didn't respond right away. When he did, his tone was serious and gentle, heavy and light at the same time. "I'm just glad to hear from you." He paused before adding, "And I'm looking forward to seeing you."
A smile slowly spread across my face, as I said, "Me, too."
A/N:
I have a rough outline, but I gotta be honest … I have no idea when I will get back to this (right now, most of my attention is on my 5-part series), but I promise that I will finish this.
There will be plenty of flirting and banter. And a high level of "will they or won't they." Oh, and they'll find the missing witness along the way.
In the meantime, if you haven't read my other VMars fics, please check them out: a WeeVer series that will be five parts [Stall (Part 1), Process (Part 2), and coming soon Commence (Part 3)] two WeeVer one-shots (Just One Night and Beyond a Shadow), a Weevil/OC one-shot (Making Friends and Influencing New Principals), and an M-rated WeeVer fic set pre-Season1 (Pleasure Principle).
Thanks for reading! Until next time …
~Jen
27 March 2018