My Veronica Mars stories had so much action in them that I am working to try to come up with fresh stuff for this version of season 4. I hope you enjoy the update. I'm not sure how many chapters before Veronica makes an appearance, but this story will be one of my longer ones.
Chapter 6: A Russian Problem
******Where We Left******
Logan eyed the group of Russians warily as he stood. "Be cool," he said to Dick.
"Can I help you?" he asked.
"Logan, you can't go around beating my cousin without consequences," said the Russian, who Logan had seen before.
"What was your name again?" Logan asked the guy. Buffy put down her board and stood next to Logan.
Feeling anxious, Tara reached for Willow's hand.
"Casmir," the big guy said.
"Well, Casmir, Gorya had it coming," Logan said. "It was a fair fight—one on one."
"Well, I don't fight fair," Casmir said, looking at his four companions.
Buffy wasn't about to let Logan get beat by a group of guys and stepped forward. "Well, I don't either," she said coolly. "And unless you want to get beat by a girl, I suggest you get out of here."
Casmir and his friends laughed. "So is this your new bodyguard or is she your new lover?" he asked.
"Neither. Just a friend," Logan said. He wasn't about to let Buffy get hurt or fight for him, and he kicked Casmir hard between the legs, causing him to fall to his knees. Then he hit him in the face, causing his head to swing back, knocking him back further. "I know how to take a beating, but giving one is much more fun."
When another guy moved to attack, Dick jumped into the fray, punching the guy in the face.
Willow resisted the urge to use her magic to end the scuffle. Instead, she jumped up, pulling Tara out of harm's way.
Buffy, of course, wasn't about to let the two other guys attack. First, she kicked Casmir, who was struggling to get to his feet, in the head. She made sure it was nowhere near full force, but it was enough to knock the guy unconscious.
"Buffy!" Willow scolded.
"Sorry," she mumbled. Then she grabbed the man who was landing a punch on Logan's backside while he was busy fighting a different guy. She pulled the man back, knocking him to the ground. Then she moved to punch the last guy hard enough in the face to knock him onto the ground.
Logan helped Dick dispatch the guy he was fighting. "Get gone before I have you all arrested for assault," Logan said. "I still have some influence in this town."
The men glared but didn't attack further. Instead, they helped Casmir to his feet and walked back to their vehicles.
Logan looked at his new pixie friend in amazement. "So you weren't actually exaggerating when you said you'd kick my ass if I upset Willow again, were you?" he asked.
Buffy grinned. "Nope," she said.
"That was so hot! Will you have my first born? I think we'd make a beautiful baby together!" Dick exclaimed.
"So you're over us already, Dick?" Willow asked in mock outrage.
Tara giggled at Dick's flummoxed expression as he tried looking at all three women.
"No, of course not! I'd be happy to be either of yours baby-daddy!" Dick said with a wide smile. Then he gave Buffy a leer. "But she's not a lesbian, so she might actually let me make a baby the old-fashioned way!"
Buffy laughed, unable to take him seriously. "I'm not sure you could handle me, Dick," she said. "I'm very jealous and possessive. If you were mine, I'd hurt you real bad if you so much as looked at another girl."
"But what a way to go!" Dick said with a happy sigh.
Logan laughed, slapping his friend on the back. "Let's not scare off our new friends," Logan said. "Thanks for your help."
"Anytime," Buffy said.
"Why can't we have beach time without drama?" Willow complained.
"Why don't we get a bite to eat or something?" Logan suggested. "My treat."
"You can explain why you're persona non-grata with the Russians in this town," Buffy said with a bright smile.
"I will," Logan said.
"I'm going to go home and change," Buffy said. She looked at Willow and Tara. "Do you want to take me home?"
"Why don't I take you home, so they can get cleaned up?" Logan said. He looked at Willow. "You can pick Buffy up and meet us at a nice Italian place. You like Italian?"
"Are we female?" Willow said with an eager smile.
"Okay, then it's a group date," Logan said with a smirk.
They separated. Buffy was hyped up after the fight. It'd been weeks since she'd gotten to do a spot of violence, and she was chatting a mile a minute.
"You seemed way too happy," Logan observed as he opened the passenger side of Dick's truck.
"It's been too long since I got to beat someone up," she said with a cheeky grin. "You are too tall to sit in the back. I'll be happy to." She moved there before he could protest.
He shrugged and got into the truck as Dick started it up. Buffy gave them her address, and the boys looked with interest at her house when they pulled up.
"You live close to Mac-attack," Dick observed.
"She said she lived pretty close," Buffy said. "So did you text Willow the address of the restaurant?"
"I did," Logan said. "Luigi's is a place Veronica and I always went to. She loves that place."
"Ronnie's another tiny blonde that can eat her weight in food," Dick said.
Eventually, they all made it to dinner, and Logan and Dick gave the three women the back story for his outs with the Russians.
"You do like your drama, don't you?" Buffy asked in bemusement.
"Not as much as it likes me," Logan said. They had secured the only large, round booth the restaurant had. Buffy was next to Willow with Logan next to her at one end and Dick at the other end next to Tara.
"I'm still thinking this is better than the kind of drama we had back in Sunnyhell," Willow said.
"I agree," Buffy said.
"What kind of drama did your hometown have?" Logan asked, curious about his almost sister, Willow, as well as Buffy.
"Well, there was lots of mysterious disappearances," Willow said. "My best friend Xander and I lost our closest friend Jesse our sophomore year. He disappeared." She hated lying, but that was the official story that his parents got.
"And lots of murders. Our high school graduation resulted in several casualties and the school blew up," Buffy said.
"No shit?" Dick asked in shock.
"I remember hearing about that," Logan said. "It was on the news. Some type of gas explosion."
"So they say," Buffy said, taking a drink of her tea.
"Then last year, we had this covert military group working in town doing weird experiments on people," Willow said. "They even kidnapped my ex-boyfriend and were electrocuting him and stuff. Buffy had to go rescue him."
"Wow," Logan said. "That's disturbing."
"The psychology professor, Dr. Walsh, was drugging her own students and using them as test subjects," Buffy said. "It was pretty messed up.
"So there is a town worse than Neptune after all," Logan said.
"I'm surprised," Dick said. "But that does sound like some crazy shit."
"Aren't you going to ask about Willow having one time had a boyfriend?" Logan asked Dick with a smirk.
"No, 'cause they already told me she had one once, but Tara turned her," Dick said, winking at Tara, who giggled and blushed.
"She didn't turn me," Willow said. "She just made me fall in love with her."
"Same thing," Dick said with a shrug. "You gave up stick for her, so she must be pretty hot, huh?"
"You'll never know," Willow said, looking smug.
Buffy laughed, never having seen Willow act so provocatively. Dick brought out a new side in her and Tara that Buffy was really entertained by.
Then the food arrived, and all talking ceased for several minutes.
"This is so good," Buffy said after she inhaled her sampler platter. She'd gotten three different kinds of pasta as she couldn't decide.
"I figured you'd like it," Logan said, smiling at her.
"I can't believe you ate all that," Dick said, looking impressed. "You eat even more than Ronnie, and I didn't think it was possible. Are you bubonic?"
"What?" Buffy asked, confused.
"You know, bubonic—eat a bunch a then throw up later?" Dick said, trying to explain.
Willow snickered. "The word is bulimic, and no, Buffy isn't bulimic. She just has a high metabolism," Willow said.
"Like many athletic people," Buffy said. "I burn it off."
"Ronnie doesn't exercise," Dick remarked. "She must just have high metabolism."
"Would you stop talking so much about my ex?" Logan said with a smirk. "It's creeping me out!"
"He must miss her," Buffy said, grinning.
"Like I would crabs," Dick said, causing Tara to choke on her drink. He pounded her on her back.
"Sorry. You surprised me," Tara said, wiping her mouth.
"Veronica and Dick didn't exactly get along," Logan said.
"She ran over my favorite surfboard—on purpose," Dick said. "Sure, my crazy brother tried to kill her, but that wasn't my fault. I didn't know he was so messed up." Dick frowned at the mention of Beaver. Why did he do that? Why did he bring up his brother?
Buffy exchanged a look with Logan, who gave a slight shake of his head—don't ask questions.
Tara reached for Dick's hand. "Don't be sad, Dick. It's okay to love your brother," she said softly.
Dick looked stricken at her words. "If I had loved him better, he might not have killed so many people. Meg might be alive, and Duncan might not have ran off with their baby. He wouldn't have killed himself before I could tell him how sorry I was for not seeing he was hurting so much," Dick said, his voice breaking.
Logan looked shocked at Dick's confession. Dick had never revealed so much about his feelings about Beaver.
Tara, though, didn't falter. "People in pain don't always allow themselves to get the help they need," she said. "It wasn't your fault. All you can do is learn from the mistakes you made with him and show more compassion to someone else in your life that might need it." She squeezed his hand.
Dick took a breath, not sure what made him blurt out so much. He felt embarrassed, but none of the girls were looking at him with pity. Instead, he saw understanding and sympathy on their faces. Logan, though, looked guilty. Dick rolled his eyes. Logan thought he could protect Dick from everything.
"Sorry, for being a wet blanket," he mumbled.
"We're all entitled to it every so often," Buffy said. "I ran away from home at the end of my junior year after this horrible break up with this guy I was so in love with. He destroyed so many lives, and I felt so guilty for loving him anyway."
"So is that your type? Guys who screw everyone else up?" Logan asked. "I might have to apply since I'm pretty sure all my exes would say I have that qualification!"
Buffy laughed. "Sorry. No broken hearts need apply. I'm looking for fun—not a soul mate," she said.
Logan was struck by her description. Soulmate? Was Veronica his soulmate? Is that why he felt so lost and empty without her? He pushed aside thoughts over Veronica and focused on what else Buffy said.
She was looking for fun, and so was he.
Logan insisted on the girls picking a dessert to take home since he had caused their beach time to be spoiled. None of the girls thought so. In fact, all three of them were impressed that he'd taken on a guy who'd tried to humiliate his ex. It said a lot about his loyalty, and loyalty was something the Scoobies prized a lot.
They hugged both guys and were carrying their small to-go bags out to Willow's car when a motorcycle drew their attention.
"Hey, I think I know that guy," Buffy said to Willow. She waved at the driver.
Weevil paused at the stoplight in front of Luigi's when he saw a girl wave at him. Not sure who it was, he drove his bike into the parking lot, pausing next to the car.
When he realized he did recognize the hot blonde, he grinned and turned off his engine. "Well, hello again," he said.
"Hey," Buffy said, smiling. "It was Weevil, right?"
"Eli Navarro by birth," Weevil said.
"This is Willow and Tara—I think Xander and I mentioned them to you," Buffy said.
The girls gave him a shy smile. "Hello," Willow said.
"Weevil works where Xander's going to," Buffy explained.
"Oh," Willow said, her eyes lighting up. "Xander's the best!"
Weevil grinned. "He's got three beautiful women who love him, but none of you are sleeping with him," Weevil said. "The poor guy."
Buffy laughed. "Yes, well, friends last longer than lovers in some cases—at least in mine," she said.
"You must be dating guys without any staying power," he said, giving her a look that made her flush.
Willow caught the exchange and glanced at Tara, who was fighting a grin. Interesting.
"Weevil said he'd teach me how to ride his bike sometime," Buffy said.
"Well, how about now?" Willow suggested with an eager grin. "I was about to take Buffy home, but you can if you're not busy."
Buffy glared at Willow—could she be more obvious?
"Actually, I'm not busy at all," Weevil said, looking at Buffy. "I'd be glad to give you a lesson and a ride home. We still have two more hours of daylight."
"Oh, we'll take your dessert," Tara offered.
"I'll keep it safe in our fridge," Willow said.
"You better," Buffy said.
Logan had been about to pull out of the parking lot when Dick tap his arm. "I don't believe it!" he exclaimed.
"What?" Logan asked.
"Weevil is driving off with our new hot blonde!" Dick shared in shock.
Logan was equally shocked at he saw Buffy put on a helmet and wrap her arms around Weevil.
"What the hell?" Logan asked, unable to believe it.
"Looks like Weevil managed to have some alone time with Buffy before you," Dick said with a snicker. "I bet that really burns."
Logan's hands tightened on the wheel.
Did it burn? Just a tad…
*****To Be Continued*****
I enjoyed writing this chapter, so I hope you liked it. Reviews are lovely. Thanks!
