A/N: Thanks to lex and forcedmovement, my muses. This chapter is dedicated to them and all their awesomeness. Italics are VMVO and as always, feedback is a lovely, lovely thing.
Duncan paused with his hand on the handle to Logan's room, turning around to look at her.
"You should go in first." He said, not meeting her eyes.
"Are you sure?" Veronica asked him, surprised that he'd changed his mind.
"Yeah." Duncan slowly backed away from the door. "Just...make sure he knows I don't hate him, ok?" He requested. She nodded, and he turned around and walked away.
Veronica bit her lip.
Come on, Mars. You can do this. It's just like ripping off a band aid. Sure, it hurts at first, but only for a moment.
With that thought, she grabbed the door and pulled it open, stepping into Logan's room. She raised her gaze to find him staring at her, and it seemed like all the air had been sucked from the room.
"Veronica Mars." Logan finally drawled, and shivers traveled over her skin at the sound of her name rolling off of his tongue. He gestured towards her with his right hand in a sweeping motion. "Intrepid teen girl PI and all around mystery solver."
"Is that an insult or a compliment?" She asked, trying to discern his mood. It was hard, because she wasn't sure how much he knew, and if he was still upset with her for turning him in.
"It's a compliment." He said, not looking at her. "Where's DK?" Logan continued.
"He wanted to give us some time alone." Veronica sat down in the arm chair near the bed and sat her bag on the floor. Logan nodded, and the awkward silence reigned once again.
"So, you just felt like a swim?" Anger took over suddenly, and she was staring at him with fire flashing in her eyes. He met her gaze with surprise written all over his face.
"Do you care?" Logan shot back, and Veronica gasped.
"How can you ask me that?" She replied, her eyes welling up.
You will not cry, you will not cry...
"I dunno, Veronica. Let's think really hard." Logan said, crossing his arms over his chest.
"I'm sorry about turning you in, Logan." Veronica started to apologize, but he interrupted.
"Oh, you mean Snark Fest 2005?" His tone was bitter. "Don't be. A blast was had by all."
"Logan..." She tried again.
"No." Logan sounded defeated. "Don't apologize because we both know you're not sorry." He ran both hands through his hair. "We both know that you wouldn't hesitate to do it again if you thought me guilty of something."
"That's not true." Veronica refuted.
"Isn't it?" Logan sounded so certain.
And hurt. It's all your fault, Veronica.
"No, it's not." She told him before swallowing heavily. "I owed it to Lilly to find her killer."
"You owed it to me, your boyfriend, to tell me the truth." He replied, starting out the window of his hospital room. She watched as he surreptitiously wiped his eyes.
"I never meant to hurt you." Veronica whispered, getting angry again. "But you lied to me too." Her voice cracked. "You told my dad that you were in Tijuana, and even after you knew I was investigating again, you didn't come clean." She was crying now, despite her hurried attempts to wipe the tears away. "You let me believe I could trust you, Logan, and the whole time you were lying to me about the one thing in my life that I needed to set right."
"I was going to tell you." She could barely hear him.
"What?" Veronica asked, shocked by his answer. "When, after they'd already carted you off to jail?" He sighed.
"That night in the pool house." Logan finally answered. "You ran off before I could tell you."
One more for the books, Mars. Well done.
"Why do you think I wanted you to trust me so badly?" His voice was full of anguish. "You thought Duncan might have done it, and the only thing you did was confront him, Veronica. Why was I so different?" Logan asked.
"The shot glass." She murmured. He met her gaze. "All I had on Duncan was suspicion. Sure his parents covered it up, but that didn't mean he killed her." She looked at her hands. "The shot glass was proof that you were with Lilly that day...or so it seemed." He was quiet for a moment.
"Did my dad really kill her?" Logan asked softly.
"Yeah." Veronica answered, her voice just as quiet.
"Why?" He was avoiding her gaze again.
"Why don't we talk about this later." Veronica said, getting up. "I'll let Duncan come in and talk to you." He grabbed her hand.
Is it warm in here, or is it just me?
"I need to know." Logan's voice was insistent. Veronica reluctantly sat back down. He moved to take his hand off her arm, but Veronica covered in with her other hand, holding it in place.
"They were having an affair." She told him. Confusion crossed his face, replaced quickly by anger and disgust, and then finally despair. "He taped them...together, and Lilly took the tapes. He killed her when she wouldn't give them back."
Logan threw his television remote across the room in response to her bombshell. They both watched as it bounced off the wall and shattered into tiny pieces.