I wish I had a metal heart

I could cross the line

I wish that I was half as good

As you think I am

I want to be dependable

I want to be courageous and good

I want to be faithful so that I can be heroic and true

I want to be a friend you can rely on

You can lean on and trust

I want to understand so I can forgive

And be willing to love

--Metal Heart (Garbage)

Under any other circumstances Logan would have been stunned when he knocked on the door and Wallace's hot mom answered. As it was, he simply blinked. He was too numb to do anything else.

Veronica is pregnant.

"Yes," she asked.

Oh that's right, you don't know that I spent half the morning following you.

"I'm here about renting the room," he said.

"Oh,"she said and he could tell that she was examining his bruised and slightly swollen jaw. She probably had some issues with the clothes he'd been wearing for a couple of days and the black circles under his eyes as well. "Well, let me show it to you."

She turned and he followed her inside. The tv in the living room was on and a news report was interrupting the regularly scheduled program.

That was fast.

She led him out back and opened the door to the room she had for rent. She was talking about utilities, and rent and first month's this and last month's that. He was only half listening.

Veronica is pregnant.

He walked in and looked around the small room. The interior of his car was bigger.

"It's perfect," he said.

"How old are you exactly," she asked.

"Seventeen," he answered automatically.

"And your parents are OK with you living on your own?"

"My mom is dead," he said. "And my dad's in prison. Or he will be soon."

Yeah, she's going to rent the place to you now.

"But I'm coming into some money so the rent shouldn't be a problem," he said quickly.

She was studying him now.

Get use to it, pal, you're a freak show.

"What's your name?"

He took a deep breath. "Logan. Logan Echolls."

She caught her breath and her eyes flickered to his jaw again.

"Oh," she mumbled. Fortunately that's when Wallace came up behind her and made things really uncomfortable.

"Hey, mom, I--" He stopped as soon as he saw Logan and his eyes instantly narrowed. "What are you doing here?"

"He's here about renting the room," his mom said. "You know Logan from school don't you?"

Wallace looked like he really had something to say but he stopped himself. He glanced at Logan's jaw and then at his own feet.

"He's a friend of Veronica's," he mumbled.

"Oh," she instantly brightened. "Well I certainly trust Veronica's judgement," she said giving Wallace a squeeze. "The room's yours if you want it."

Logan nodded, looking down at his shoes, unable to stand the pity he saw from the two people in front of him.

"That'd be great."

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

When Duncan walked into Mars Investigation he found Keith Mars with his feet up on his desk, talking on the phone.

"Larry King? Yeah, I could do that." He put his feet back on the floor and started digging in his desk drawer. "Listen, I gotta go. Let me know the details when you get them. Thanks."

He hung up and pulled Duncan's cell phone out of his drawer.

"Glad to see you. I figured my toes would get frostbitten in hell before Celeste actually gave you my message." He tossed the cell phone to Duncan. "But seeing as your phone was at my house I had little choice."

The last thing Duncan wanted to do was talk about his parents. Things hadn't exactly been OK between them since they covered up the murder they thought he committed.

"So you found him."

"That I did. You haven't heard from him?"

"No. He's not here?"

Keith frowned slightly.

"I dropped him off at his house last night."

Duncan's head shot up. "His house? You're kidding right?"

"I use to be the sheriff, Duncan. He's a minor. Besides, I figured he'd just grab his car and get out of there. Of course, I figured he would have called you by now too."

Duncan ran down the messages on his phone. Not one from Logan.

"He's probably at a hotel somewhere," Keith said, already opening up his laptop. "You don't think he would have actually confronted his father do you?"

"Have you ever met Logan," Duncan asked.

Keith started up his internet provider. His server popped up with the lead news story of the hour.

"Oh Christ almighty," he whispered.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Veronica grinned at her friends. Meg was holding up a slinky black dress in front of a horrified Mac.

"You said anything in black," Meg said.

"I didn't say anything in black," Mac said, pushing the dress away and walking into the closet. "And do you honestly think I'd fit into anything you own? You're like Barbie. No real girl has your dimensions."

Meg followed her into the closet, still clutching the dress. Veronica smiled and fell back onto the bed. She had been annoyed at the beginning. After the whole Aaron Echolls affair (and the whole Logan Echolls affair) she found herself suddenly little miss popular. If Wallace wasn't showing up with take-out, Duncan was on her doorstep with a rented movie. Even Weevil had found her a curiously good deal on a "pre owned" car (all the proper paperwork in place of course). And every weekend Meg and/or Mac was dragging her somewhere until finally they united and she found that she had plans every Saturday whether she liked it or not.

It had annoyed the hell out of her at first. It was like everyone was afraid she'd break. And if one of them wasn't with her 24/7 they'd find her on a bridge somewhere, dancing on the railing. For a girl who had spent the better part of a year alone and friendless it was a difficult adjustment to make. Not that she had much choice. So she ended up just going with it. After all, there were worse things then having friends right?

Mac stomped out of the closet.

"What's wrong with the clothes that I have on," she grumbled. "And why do we have to go dancing anyway?"

"Because we went to that comic book convention that you wanted us to go to last week," Meg said with a bright smile, presenting the black dress once more.

"But that was cool," Mac said, pushing the dress away yet again.

Veronica laughed as she pulled out her ringing cell phone from her pocket. She was about to answer it when Meg reached out and snatched it out of her hands.

"What did you promise, Veronica Mars?" She said, waving the cell in front of her.

"No work tonight but what if---"

Meg tossed the phone to Mac who popped it open and started tapping with glee.

"No "what ifs". We're going to have fun tonight. Don't worry, the world will not fall apart if you're not available for the evening."

Mac tossed Veronica's phone back to her and found that she'd somehow locked her out of her own cell phone. Sighing, she put it back in her pocket. Meg smiled and grabbed her hands. "Now what can we find for you to wear?"

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Logan was exhausted but he couldn't fall asleep if his life depended on it. He'd spent most of his day being humiliated, poked, prodded, and questioned and yet there was only one place his mind kept returning to.

Veronica is pregnant.

He wanted to shut it off but it wouldn't go away.

Veronica is pregnant.

Well what did you expect you loser? You broke up with her and then you left town.

She didn't waste any time though did she? So whose was it? Wallace? Duncan? Weevil? So many to choose from. Maybe she was more like Lily then he realized. Maybe it was Duncan's and that's why he brought him back. He wanted Logan to be the godfather! What a way to say "thanks for your dirtbag dad murdering my sister". A gift that keeps on giving.

His door opened and Logan opened one eye. Wallace was standing in the door.

"I didn't realize I got turn down service with my stay."

"I want you to stay away from her," Wallace said, crossing his arms like he was afraid of what he might do with them.

"Or what?" Logan almost laughed. "You'll meet me at sunset in the town square?"

"I remember what you use to be even if she doesn't."

Logan sat up.

"What?"

"All she remembers is the guy whose mom threw herself off a bridge. The guy who sobbed all over her in that hotel lobby." Logan felt his anger cut through the numb fog that had been wrapped around him. "I remember the other guy. The one who made slurs about her mom. The one who broke the headlights out of her car. The one who blew her a kiss when she was arrested for making false ID's."

Some of his anger deflated. "That was a long time ago, man. Besides, she's moved on." He fell back on the bed again. "Spectacularly."

"You would think that, wouldn't you?"

Logan's head shot up.

"Excuse me?"

Wallace opened his mouth. Again he really wanted to speak but was fighting it. Then his cell phone went off and ended his struggle. He turned and walked away as he dug his phone out of his pocket.

Logan followed him. He wasn't just going to make a statement like that and leave him hanging.

"I have no idea where that is," Wallace was saying into the phone. "Yeah I'll mapquest it. Keep outta trouble until I get there."

He turned and found Logan almost on top of him.

"That Veronica?"

"You think I'm going to tell you?" Wallace replied, shaking his head and heading inside his house.

Yeah, it was Veronica.

He had given up on the idea of Veronica Mars. He'd spent the day trying to let her go. But Wallace had just given him the one thing he certainly hadn't intended. Hope.

Maybe it's time for that talk now after all.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Author's note: Seriously, Logan will finally catch up with Veronica in the next chapter.

And in case anyone was wondering all the music is from the latest Garbage CD Bleed Like Me. (which I highly recommend by the way) The song Bad Boyfriend was in Leave it to Beaver and kinda inspired this story.

And finally, Jen, I had trouble with Keith dropping Logan off at the house too but I couldn't work out how else to get him there. I really was going to add the line from Keith about how he didn't think Logan would stay at the house before you mentioned it but good call anyway. Thanks for keeping me honest.