A/N: This site won't let me make an accent grave; it can apparently only handle an accent aigu. Sorry.

Just as Veronica and Duncan were heading toward his SUV, Keith pulled up in his car and leapt out.

"Dad!" shouted Veronica as she ran over to him. Keith hugged her tightly. Backup, following his master out of the car, joined them, leaping up to try to get his mistress' attention.

"Are you alright honey?" Keith asked.

"Just a little bruised, but I'll be okay. It could have been a lot worse though. Aaron locked me in a fridge and threatened to set it on fire, but—"

"What? Oh my God. Are you alright?" Keith's face, indeed, his entire head, had gone a deep purple. "Where is he?"

"He's over there, in the back of that cruiser. They've already arrested him."

"What happened? How did you get away from him?"

"Duncan saved me. He followed me from his house after he realized Aaron wasn't there, and he got there just in time and stopped him." At this point, Duncan stepped forward about half a step. Keith relaxed his grip on Veronica slightly and turned toward him.

"Duncan, I don't know what to say, but thank you. If something had happened to her, I don't…." Keith trailed off, unable to complete the thought. He was fighting back tears.

"You, you don't have to thank me. I don't know what I would have done either."

"Thank you, Duncan." Keith paused for a moment before looking around to survey the scene. "So, I don't suppose you could bring me up to speed on everything else that's happened."

"Well, if you'll let me breathe in for a minute, I'll explain everything." Keith released her, and she continued.

"Well, I think you should go looking for Logan. He probably should hear about this from you. Do you want me to come with you?"

"Actually, Dad, there's something else I need to tell you," Veronica said quietly as she led her father a few steps away from the flashing lights.

"What is it honey?"

"It's about Mom. She's not through drinking. Her water bottles? Filled with vodka, and I called the Hazelwood facility, and she didn't finish rehab, she just checked herself out, and that was my college money…." Veronica was crying as she finished telling Keith of his wife's latest betrayal.

"Shh, honey, don't worry about it. I'll go home and talk to your mother. You should go find Logan, make sure he's okay. Why don't you take my cell-tracker, okay? And why don't you take Backup with you too?" Keith brushed away Veronica's tears with his sleeve.

"Thanks, Dad." She turned to rejoin Duncan. "Dad?"

"Sweetie?"

"I want you to be happy. You should be with someone who makes you happy."

"Thanks honey. But as long as I'm with the person I love most in all the world, I'll be happy. I'll see you at home."

"So, you can track anyone's cell-phone with that?" Duncan asked as they drove toward Logan's house.

"Within a certain range, if I know the number."

"So are you getting a signal yet?"

"Not yet. Do you think we should try calling him again?"

"We just tried a couple of minutes ago. We'll be at his house soon."

"You're right."

"Veronica, tell me something."

"Romeo and Juliet is highly overrated. Antony and Cleopatra is a much better love story."

"Tell me something specific."

"Sure. What would you like to know?"

"When did you and Logan start, you know?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Well, obviously the two of you kept it a secret, but I kind of knew something was going on when I saw you two in the hall together before the dance, and I was just wondering, well, I don't know, I mean, did it start before his mom, you know?"

"No, not 'til later, much later. I mean, nothing was going on even when you saw us in the hall that day. I was just helping him look for his mother. He thought—"

"That she was still alive. I know. But wait, if nothing was going on, what were the two of you doing at a hotel in L.A.?"

"What? Duncan, you didn't think we were—"

"Well, no, not that, but I figured it was something, especially since you clearly knew what was going on with him when no one else did, not even me."

"So you thought it was a rendez-vous secréte?"

"Well, kind of, yeah."

"Sorry to disappoint you. It's funny though, Trina thought the same thing."

"Wait, Trina? Trina knew?"

"No she didn't know. I just told you, there was nothing to know. We were at the hotel because one of Logan's mom's credit cards was used there, but it just turned out to be Trina. When she saw us there, she figured we were there as a couple or something."

"But you weren't?"

"No. And anyway, you know I was with Leo at the dance."

"No, I know, but I didn't think that was very serious, to be honest. And then when Logan showed up—"

"Sans pantalons?"

Duncan giggled. "Yeah, and then you were the one who led him away. It sure looked like something was going on between you two."

"Well, again, sorry to disappoint you, but it didn't start until later."

"When?"

"Right before you left, actually. I was looking into the whole bomb-threat story. I followed this new student Ben, who—"

"Wait, Ben? Was that the guy who turned out to be an undercover ATF agent?"

"Exactly, but I didn't know that yet. I was following him when Logan called to tell me that he had told you—"

"About the files you had on your computer."

"And then while I was talking to Logan, Ben all of sudden got into my car and showed me his gun."

"You know, you really ought to get better about locking your car up."

"Yeah, yeah. Anyway, I dropped my phone and Ben ordered me to drive to the Camelot motel. Logan was still on the line and overheard. He beat us to the Camelot and jumped Ben."

"He saved you."

"Yeah. Anyway, after that, I, I kissed him. I mean, it was just a peck, but then he kissed me back."

"And it was not just a peck."

"No."

"Well, I can definitely see how that would be romantic. I mean, showing up in the nick of time to save you and everything."

"Duncan…."

"I mean, not if the guy's your brother, obviously," Duncan answered with an easy laugh. "Anyway, I think you're wrong."

"Oh?"

"The two of you may not have noticed it, but there was definitely something between you before then."

"Maybe you're right. It's difficult to—oh no."

"What? What's the matter?"

"I just got a signal, but it's not coming from his house, or from anywhere else in town."

"Where is it—"

"The Coronado Bridge."

The tires squealed as Duncan turned the car around and hit the accelerator. In the backseat, Backup perked up his ears and growled.

"You don't think…."

"We didn't part on such good terms."

"What happened?"

"After I found out that he'd lied about his alibi, I told Lamb. That idiot told Logan that I was the one who had told him. Logan…didn't take it well. Oh God, why couldn't I have trusted him?"

"Veronica, it's not your fault. He shouldn't have lied. Aaron nearly got away with it because practically everyone helped him cover it up."

"Do you think he's already—"

"No, he wouldn't."

"How do you know?"

"Because he knows he's innocent."

"But then why is he there at all?"

"I don't know."

To be continued….