Veronica slowly dressed, wondering why she had even bothered to put make up on. It was already streaming down her face as her tears carried it away, leaving black trails where the tears had ran and continued to run seeing that there was no longer a gentle, caring hand to wipe them away.

She zippered up the back of her dress with shaking hands. She wasn't ready to say goodbye but as such you don't get to choose the time and as is such at some point goodbyes will have to be said. She attempted to clasp the gold bracelet around her wrist but the small hook looked so marred as her vision blurred through tear filled eyes that she just couldn't fasten it and she threw it across the room and collapsed onto her bed into another wave of sorrow.

Keith quietly knocked on the closed door. "Veronica... hunny, are you okay? You don't have to do this...I mean if this is too hard for you..., Keith's voice trailed off as Veronica rolled over to lay on her back, whispering in a choked voice, "...but I do..."

Trina had wound up on Veronica's stairs in a much similar fashion to how her brother had a year ago, in the rain, heartbroken and betrayed. Trina hadn't asked Veronica to find her brother, because unlike Logan, Trina had seen the body and she had received her closure through the form of a pale, lifeless body. Through a cold, ashen face. Through a detached, at ease expression. Instead Trina asked Veronica a different question, a bigger favor.

And in a quiet, cheerless voice, she asked Veronica to plan the funeral and all of the proceedings because she couldn't and she wanted someone who knew him, who loved him, to do it instead. Veronica, though fearing she was inadequate for the job, not because she lacked love but rather lacked the knowledge of what was needed to be planned and how to go about doing that, had hesitantly agreed

Finally after sitting quietly in the front seat as Keith patiently waited next to her, Veronica gathered the strength, and eventually the willpower to pull herself out of the car and up the steps of the small church.
She walked down the center aisle of the church imagining how much more cheerful a building this would be if the occasion had been that of a wedding instead of a funeral, but not much time was there to imagine as she quickly reached the second pew on her left, in which she slid in and waited hanging her head in her hands.

The ceremony commenced as tissues were dabbed to eyes and arms were entangling with one another, pulling in one another for a comforting hug. Most were dressed in expensive, designer suits and skirts huddling towards the front while others, less noticed in the crowd, scattered themselves through the back of the Church, keeping mostly to themselves. The ceremony progressed and soon Veronica found herself in front of the microphone, trying hard not to cry as she looked out into the eyes of people of whom she knew but had never truly known, looking out at a bunch of strangers each with a familiar face, and choking back a sob she began

'To say only a few words about you would be to waste my breath for I could never even touch upon who you were in just a few words for to explain you would take an eternity. Everyone sitting in this room knew you, Logan. Everyone here loved you, which is why they're hear today. To say goodbye to a friend, a brother, a nephew, a cousin, or a love. What will I remember about you? I will remember how stubborn you were, always needing to have your say and never giving in without a fight. God, you were persistent never giving up until you got what you wanted . I'll remember how you learned to love, even though you sometimes felt it was something you always lacked, something that left you hungering, but Logan, I always loved you and whether that is enough was up to you to decide. We had fun didn't we? I'll look back on the times I spent with you in a whole new light, glad that we had a chance to do this while regretting that we never had a chance to do that. I'll count your birthdays though you won't be here to celebrate them with me, far after you are gone and far after you have stopped aging. I'll look back at old pictures, when I fear I may have forgotten your face, when I fear that I can no longer see your smile or the light in your eyes. As I continue to live my life I know you'll be at my side. Watching me every second waiting for me to need you. You'll cry with me when I break down and tears and curse you because you left me here alone and when I fall in love again I know you'll you will be happy but maybe a little sad, that you didn't stay with me but instead chose to leave. I know I'll be sad when I see the beach because it always reminded me of the time that you, Lily, Duncan and I skipped the dance and played 'I never' on its shores. I know that romantic kisses in front of hotels will never be the same because it will always remind me of you. Yellow Xterras cause my heart to throb because I remember the times we spent in yours over the years we spent together, but no matter what I see or do the rest of the days of my life I know everyday I will be a little sad because it's just another day without you. And if this is the free that you wanted, then yes you are, you are 'free at last.'

Of course it wasn't read exactly like this. Veronica stumbled on a few words, choking on her tears and once she broke down all together before she regained composure. When she finished she looked up to see the strangers' eyes so warm and friendly because they too knew how she felt and for once they were all on the same page...the last one, the last of the book that was Logan.

In the end as the attendants dispersed to go back their own separate ways, to their separate lives, as they all continued living, Trina removed her sunglasses revealing puffy, saddened eyes and offered a small smile to Veronica, the only form of a thank you that she was capable of at the moment.

THE END