A/N: I am soooooo sorry for taking so long to update.! I swear it wasn't my fault. I was grounded from the internet for something I didn't do. Okay, this is the third and final chapter of "If Only She Had Left a Message" I hope you liked the ending and thanks for reading! I love yah all! P.S. I am going to write another Veronica Mars story soon. It is a V/L angsty romance one-shot. You will love it!

To the Reviewers:

Totally Riddick Obsessed: Thanks, that's exactly what I was going for. I always hated Aaron.

Pequenop: Sorry, but I didn't want to finish the story all in one chapter!

Alicia Jo: See above

Kristen: Don't worry Weevil will have a part. ; )

Miss Lindsay: OMG that was so nice of you to say. I think my head is going to explode now. LOL.

Tp96: I always wanted to end with a cliffie, but I never had the opportunity! BTW you like all the shows I like! Tru, Angel, Buffy, Charmed, Veronica. It's sooo weird!

Lisa: I'm glad you like the story, but about the grammar and spelling mistakes-I reread the entire chapter and there were no spelling mistakes (according to my spellchecker), and as for grammar mistakes: I didn't notice any, my Microsoft Word didn't notice any, and no other reviewers saw any. Not to mention the fact that a lot of them are added in when you go to post the story. So if you would like to e-mail me with specifics I would greatly appreciate it. : ). I'm a freak about mistakes!

Epona9009: I'm sorry : (. I had to keep you guys interested. Now I feel guilty. I LOVE LOGAN! HE'S SO HOT!

Where were we?…..Oh yes……

Aaron, who had put his acting skills to good use and pretended to be unconscious, noticed the gasoline that Veronica was unknowingly standing in. He snickered, and pulled out his lighter. Logan looked at him and then at the ground around Veronica's feet. He shouted and moved towards him, but did not have time to stop him. In one swift movement he had flung the lighter causing a ring of fire to spring up. Luckily, Logan had escaped the blaze.

"LOGAN!" Veronica screamed as the flames threatened to engulf her. They were less than a foot away and she could feel the heat emitting from them. She tried to squirm away but she was still securely tied. Am I going to die this way?

Logan had only seconds to find out what to do and quickly realized that if he had any chance of getting her out of there than he was going to get burned, badly. He took a deep breath and jumped through the fire, not caring about the intense heat. He grabbed the pocket knife his grandfather (on his mother's side) had given him and sawed carefully through the ropes. It took almost thirty seconds. His back was still getting burned the entire time. He picked Veronica up and carried her as far as he could away.

He laid sprawled out face down on the ground his back still on fire, exhausted from all the smoke he had inhaled. Veronica sputtered, saw Logan burning and screamed reaching for a tarp to extinguish the flames.

"Logan, Logan please please wake up." She shook him lightly as his head lay in her lap, and his eyes opened weakly. His skin was bright red and puffy and he tried desperately to speak. She noted that he was in direct contact with the flames more than twice as long as she was. "I was there this time," he managed to sputter then closed his eyes.

She thought back to a time that seemed unreal. "Then Lilly wouldn't have been alone that day. I would have been there."

"Yes Logan, you saved my life." He gave a feeble smile then laid his head back unmoving. "Please don't die," she begged "I need you Logan." She cried on him for a couple of seconds then came back to herself, and remembered the fire. She wiped her tears and tried to find his pulse, but she couldn't find it. She felt around his wrist, eyes open wide. She dropped her ear to his chest, nearly in hysterics. "Oh God! Where is it?" Then she remembered the third place to check for a heartbeat. Her hands trembling, she reached for his throat. She could still see the marks Aaron had left there. Finally, she felt the steady thumping of his beating heart. She nearly cried in relief.

She gently dragged him as far as she could away from the flames, and moved a couple of plastic boxes between him and the fire to form a kind of barricade. "I'm going for help." She was half way across the yard when a thought hit her, and she turned to where Aaron had fallen.

He was gone.

Aaron crawled down the driveway towards Logan's parked car. He stopped to spit out a mouth full of blood, and pulled the keys from the visor. All he could think about was getting out of this town. He might even have to leave the country because there was no doubt in his mind that Logan and that gangster boy were not the only people that Veronica had told about the tapes.

Then he heard motorcycles.

Shit. He turned around so fast he nearly got whiplash. A huge motorcycle gang was riding down the street lead by Weevil. He tried to start the car, but it wouldn't turn. Weevil got off his bike and held up the car battery wires, he looked smug. "Now, where do you think you're going?" he said. Weevil grabbed him by the neck and pulled him out of the car. "You screwed the wrong girl. You ruined everything you rich little punk. Did it make you feel better about yourself you worthless scumbag!" He pulled out brass knuckles and punched him in the side of the face. "You're going to hell, and I'm going to help you get there faster."

Aaron crawled pathetically on the ground and started coughing up blood. "It…it was an accident. She was going to ruin me. What would you have done?" Weevil put his boot into his back and pushed his face into the gravel.

"You're a filthy rat." He said and spit in his face. "Come on boys bring the ropes." Two of the teenagers stepped forward and tied two ropes around Weevil's bike and then to Aaron's ankles. "Let's go for a ride."

One of Weevil's gang members looked nervous "Are we going to kill him?" he asked shyly. And for once Weevil actually thought about it.

"No, he doesn't deserve the privilege of dieing." He looked down at him. "We'll drop him off at the sheriff's department, but only when he's learned his lesson." He got on his bike. "Don't ride any faster than twenty miles an hour. He's gotta last."

The sound of Aaron's screams of protest filled the night air as he was dragged by his feet across the harsh road.

Veronica felt so alone and scared, but now it was her turn to save Logan. He needed an ambulance and fresh oxygen or he would die of smoke inhalation. Not to mention his 2nd degree burns. Her legs felt like they would give out, and all she wanted to do was be home in her bed. Why do rich people have to live so far away form their neighbors? She thought angrily after nearly three minutes of half-running up the abandoned road. Eventually, she reached the Kane Estate (the nearest house), and slammed her fists against the door. Duncan, coincidentally enough, was the unlucky Kane to answer the door.

"Veronica? Oh my god. What happened to you?" he asked seeing her black eye and the ash she was covered in.

"We don't have much time. Call the ambulance and the fire department. Tell them the address of the house down the street. I'll tell you the rest later."

"Veronica, just come inside and sit down." He said worried and confused. He grabbed her elbow to bring her in.

"No!" she shouted and pulled away. "Just call 911!"

Sensing the urgency of the situation he ran to the phone.

They managed to get the fire under control within an hour, and Logan was taken to the hospital immediately. Now Veronica sat beside his bed hours afterward, unable to leave him. A respirator was humming in the background of her thoughts. When the doctor walked in she jumped out of her chair "Is he going to be okay?" she asked desperately.

"He burned about 30 percent of his body," he replied solemnly. He will have to have extensive treatment and he will live, but unfortunately their will be a lot of scarring." She sighed in guilt. Images of Logan with burn scars covering his back and legs flashed before her eyes, bringing her on the verge of tears. She would have started sobbing right then and there, but then Logan moved his finger and blinked his eyes quickly. She turned to him gently saying "Logan? Logan can you hear me?" She turned back to the worried doctor "Can we have some privacy?"

He looked regretful, but he gave her a small smile and said "But if anything happens call the nurse or myself. Alright?"

She didn't even look at him before he left the room. She knelt by his bed and held his hand gently and when she felt the slight pressure of him squeezing her fingers she sighed in relief. He was in pain, and she could tell. Even the slightest movement caused him to murmur in discomfort. No one would ever know the guilt she was feeling at that very moment knowing that he could have died to save her. He repeated the words he had said to her earlier that night. "I was there this time. I did it." He sputtered once again. "I couldn't save her but….but I got to save you. Are you going to leave me too? Please don't go away." He was speaking like a child, and she knew it was the medication talking, but the words still touched her heart.

"You did amazing Logan! I've never seen anything braver in my life!" He voice shook and finally cracked, broken. She wiped away a tear sliding down her beaten face; she had to be strong for him when he needed her. "Guess what? You're going to be fine and in a couple of days, maybe a week or two, you can go home." She smiled at him, but the mention of 'home' seemed to bring his un-medicated self closer to the surface, and he seemed more alert.

"I…I saw him hurt you! Did…did he touch you before I could stop him?" He asked, his weak voice shaking with rage and frustration. "If he doesn't go to prison, I will hurt him so badly he'll wish he was."

Is it selfish that this makes me want him to be better even more?

"Yes, but only a little bit. If you hadn't of come he would have gotten a lot further. I'm…I'm so glad you came," she whispered. She let her head fall on the soft hospital bed, the soft hum of the respirator lulling her to sleep.

She kneeled over his beaten body. He was cold, too cold. She desperately felt his face, only to find that it was just as frozen. She wanted to shake him in desperation, to force him to be alive again. Is he really dead? Slowly Veronica reached for his wrist. The "thump thump" made her sigh in relief, but all too soon his pulse slowed. Slower and slower until it stopped short.

"No! Logan please. Come back." She screamed, stirring from her disturbing nightmare only to find that she was shaking and dripping with sweat.

"Veronica, Veronica. It's okay. I'm right here." Logan's voice echoed to her. She shook the fog from her mind and focused on his face. His eyes were no longer glazed, and that told her the medication dosage had been lightened. He gently smoothed his hair down with his hand.

She wiped a bead of perspiration from her forehead. "Logan, I had the worst dream."

He turned a little more towards her. "What happened in it?"

His concern touched her, so she was hesitant to reveal her nightmare. "I…I dreamed that you died." He looked taken aback. She tried to explain. "I was holding your wrist," she said as quickly as possible. "Then your pulse…it just faded away. I tried to find it. I really did, but it was just…gone."

He held out his hand, which had remained unburned, and she held it anxiously. Salty tears fell on to his palm as she covered it with her face, then grasped it tightly. "Listen to it." He said gently. "It's still there. I promise."

She placed her fingers on his wrist, and felt a flood of relief. The steady beat reassured her. She let her head fall once again on the bed, but she didn't take her hand away. "I really thought I had lost you," said sadly.

"I know me too." She looked up at him. "You can hold onto my wrist. It…It might help you sleep. You know? Since you're having nightmares about it disappearing." He flashed her a small smile.

She yawned still exhausted. "How long have I been asleep?"

"I dunno, but it's been more than a couple of hours. I was only awake to catch some news of what's been going on."

She nearly laid her head back down, but suddenly a thought occurred to her. "Did they arrest your dad?" She almost shouted.

Now there was the genuine smile that she had missed so much in the time she had avoided him. His teeth shined at her and the creases at the top of his lips reached his eyes. "Well…..it seems that when he ran for it Weevil caught him on the road. Now being the good citizen that he is Weevil offered to give him a ride down to the station." He paused and had a look of pride. "While tied by his ankles to the back of his bike."

She gasped. "Really? And Aaron didn't have them arrested?"

"Nope too scared. He knows he's going to prison and everyone knows that Weevil has connections in all the local ones."

"Is he going to have a trial?" She asked quickly without stopping to breathe.

"Yes. On about a billion counts including- sleeping with a minor, first degree murder, kidnapping, attempted rape, and attempted murder (in that order). You name it and he's been busted for it." He seemed content about the whole situation.

"Are…are you okay? I mean you seem so laid back about everything that's happened." She murmured hesitantly.

"How can I not be when the man who killed Lilly is going to jail and I never have to see him again. Not to mention the fact that you aren't ignoring me anymore." He pushed her hair back so it looked a little bit neater. "Are you done with your interrogation?" She nodded sleepily. "Now you have two options: you can leave, go home and tell your dad what the hell is going on." She opened her mouth to argue. "Or... you can rest."

"I'll take option B. I don't want to leave you here alone." And in that moment she realized that even if she had wanted to go home there was no one that could have taken care of Logan in her place. He had no one. Duncan had abandoned him (if his opinion had changed in light of recent events she didn't know), Trina was almost positively on her father's side, he had turned away from almost all the rest of his friends including Dick and Beaver, and his mother was dead. "I'll never leave you alone okay?"

He seemed puzzled. "Why the sudden commitment?"

"Just trust me." And with that she let her head fall onto his hand; her ear on his wrist and allowed the tiredness that she had felt creeping up on her during the entire interrogation over come her. Thump. Thump. Thump.

God I love that sound.

A/N: Sooooooo how was the ending? Did you like it? You have no idea how scared I am that I totally lost all my readers with that ending. Thank you soooo much for sticking with this story! I really appreciate it and I appreciate it even more when you review ; ). Once again sorry it took so long. I blame my mother.