This is a little bit shorter than usual. I wanted to give those who were impatient something to read. Will update again soon.

Part 10

Logan's foot tapped on the floor. He glanced at his watch, then continued tapping. Next, his fingers drummed on the table.

Wallace sighed and turned to Logan. "You're not banging on the door demanding for him to let you do it," he commented.

Logan frowned at Wallace, then looked back at the closed door where Keith was working. "This is too important."

Logan tapped and drummed, tapped and drummed.

Wallace took a phone from his pocket and slid it towards Logan. Logan looked at him oddly. "Call my mom."

"I doubt that your mom can take my attention off this," came the sarcastic reply.

Wallace rolled his eyes and dialed. He hit the speaker and Logan heard the ring. When Alicia answered, Wallace picked up the phone and turned off the speaker. Then he said, "Mom, put Betty on the phone." At that, Logan looked up. Wallace saw the eager delight in his friend's eyes. He grinned. "Hey Bets." Logan stuck out his hand with a determined stare. "Having fun? Yeah? Yeah? You wanna talk to your daddy? Well he's busy trying to be patient."

"If you don't hand that over right now, I'm going to pull a Weevil, strip you to a flagpole," Logan warned.

"And now he's threatening me, Betty."

"There's a school fifteen blocks down you know," Logan growled.

Wallace smirked, then placed his hand over the phone as if Betty would even understand if the baby had overheard. "You want your kid to know that her father bullies her best uncle?"

With narrowed eyes, Logan leaned over and snatched the phone from Wallace. "Hey Betty," he said. Wallace did not miss the noticeable way that Logan's voice shifted, and the way his features brightened. "Are you having fun in the car?" Even though Betty would likely not have understood enough, and from the soft feedback coming from the phone, it was apparent that Logan allowed a certain period of silence on his part. Betty took the silence as her turn to answer, and she cooed and gurgled. "What did you say—you miss me very much? Well I miss you too." Wallace winced. When Logan saw this, he waved Wallace off and stood up. Still talking on the phone as if it were the most important deal he had had to do with a superstar, Logan walked over to the living room, far away enough from Wallace to only hear bits and pieces of the one-sided conversation. "Disneyland—puppy?—diaper!—ribbons…—mommy."

Wallace finally took a magazine from the rack and started shifting through it. He was engrossed in one of the more interesting articles about a newly released Ford when he realized how long Logan had been on the phone. "Hey Logan," he said easily, not looking up from the magazine, "you're eating through my minutes." Two seconds later, a couple of hundred dollar bills was placed beside the magazine. Wallace looked up to tell Logan off. Before he could speak, he saw Logan standing over him with a big grin on his face.

"Sorry man," he said, not sounding apologetic at all but excited. "I'm going to take a little longer. I think she's close to saying 'Betty Echolls' now."

And at that, there was no way Wallace could get mad.

As Logan was walking back to the living room, the door to Keith's room opened. Logan and Wallace stared at him expectantly. Clutching the laptop to his chest, he told his audience, "Let's roll, boys!"

"Betty Echolls, daddy's got to get mommy. Bye baby. Love you."

Keith walked out the door, with Wallace and Logan rushing after him. Logan hurried to Wallace's car and got into the front seat. "Hey!" Wallace exclaimed in protest. "This is my car."

Logan shook his head. "Keith has to give directions, and I drive better."

"Excuse me," Wallace said, but got into the backseat either way.

"Faster then," Logan amended. He turned the key in the ignition and starting the car.

"Okay that I can't deny."

Keith opened the laptop and zoomed at the correct address. "It's in Crescent Valley," he said. "Follow my instructions and try not to kill us."

"I can promise my best," Logan said.

i"Are you ready to leave him for me?"

She sighed and turned her head to press her lips on his bare chest. Veronica had been sleeping with her ear over his heart for as long as he could remember being with her. Slowly, her fingertips ran down from his chest to his navel. "There's really nothing wrong with Duncan," she said softly.

Logan grabbed her hand before it could dip lower. "Try not to be talking about him while you do what you're going to do."

Veronica raised her head and lifted herself up on her elbows, looking down at him. She grinned, then crawled up to kiss his nose. He grabbed her by the arms and brought her crashing down on him. "As I was saying," she said, giggling and claiming his mouth with hers, "there's nothing wrong with Duncan."

"Veronica," he whined, "how many times do we need to repeat the rule—no Duncan in our bed."

She screwed her lips. "You make it sound sleazy!"

"Well no Duncan-talk in the bedroom," Logan protested.

"Well I think you'll like this Duncan conversation," she informed him. She opened her mouth the same time he did. Veronica clapped a hand over his mouth, and shuddered at the feel of his tongue drawing wet circles on her palm. "Okay. So, there's nothing I can complain about with him except for one thing."

Logan closed his hand over her wrist and pulled off the makeshift gag. "What?" he said softly.

"He's not you," she said, then kissed around his mouth. "If I used my brain I'd stay with him. I choose to use my heart now." Veronica saw the moisture in his eyes, and kissed the edges where the tears started to seep out. "Sorry for having to shut you up."

"If you're going to say things like that, then it's perfectly fine," he assured her. He rolled them over so that she lay under him with her golden hair framing her face against the pillow. "I love you. So much."

"Beary much?"

"Beary beary much," he breathed./i

"Logan, turn right."

"Logan, man, Keith said to turn right!"

Logan snapped out of his reverie and swerved to the right. "Sorry," he mumbled. "So I go straight now right?"

"Yeah. Just stay on this road until I tell you," Keith instructed.

Logan wondered what his life would have been like if Veronica had been able to leave Duncan the way they had planned. If so, he was certain that Keith would be calling him son by now. He probably would have half the success he had now because he would have to move away from Hollywood. If he stayed, he would still not have the same filmography because instead of working those late nights in the office, Logan would be at home reading to Betty or fixing dinner with a wife who can make adorable pasta and lopsided cakes.

In the meantime, in another car a little further down the road, Duncan Kane glanced at his rearview mirror and saw a brown car that had been following him since the convenience store. "FBI?" he wondered to himself. It was possible. He was tailing the FBI agent and other FBI agents probably wanted to keep Dawson safe.

When Dawson stopped in front of a green house, Duncan parked a couple of blocks away. The brown car sped past him and stopped just behind Dawson's car. Duncan frowned and watched as Dawson ran towards the house. The man in the brown car stepped out of the car. When the unidentified man drew out a gun, Duncan muttered, "Shit!"

It seemed like slow motion when the man pointed the gun at Dawson's back and shot clean. The FBI agent fell to his knees and dropped facedown on the ground. The shooter then looked up at the house. Duncan looked up and saw the door open.

His breath caught at the sight. Veronica Mars, his cheating fiancé and ideal girlfriend, stood in plain sight. She stared in horror at the sight of the agent, the only person she must have been seeing for the past months, killed in front of her home. When the shooter raised his gun again towards Veronica, Duncan slammed out and ran towards the shooter, screaming madly like a banshee to take her attention off his target. The man turned to Duncan's fast approaching form. Duncan slammed headfirst into the shooter's stomach, then tackled the shooter to the ground.

"Veronica!" Duncan screamed, not looking at her. Instead, he tried to keep the shooter on the ground. "My phone is in my car," he yelled. "Better call the police here!"

Duncan turned the guy over, and glared down at him. He recognized the face vaguely, from the night he went home to the apartment to see a man running away from the building. It was the same night she vanished. His sight went red. This was one of the attackers, a drug dealer who was part of the destruction of the future that Duncan planned. Duncan hit the man's jaw. "Aaaaahhhh!" Duncan yelled, then punched the man over and over.

Veronica scrambled down the steps and ran towards the car. The shooter pushed Duncan off him. The gun lay beside the tire. If she grabbed it, it would be so easy for the man to pry it off her fingers. She kicked it under the car. Veronica grabbed the phone and dialed 911. That was when the man grabbed her by her hair and pulled her away from the car and set her rolling on the ground.

"You—ruined—us!" the man yelled. He went down on all fours and tried to reach for the gun from under the car. Veronica grabbed his ankle and started pulling. He kicked swiftly, delivering a blow to her nose. Still, she clung and pulled.

"Duncan!" she screamed, "Grab the gun."

Duncan shook his head to recover from the blow delivered to him. He then went down on all fours to take the gun. The shooter turned and grabbed her by the throat. He started squeezing, and Veronica gagged. Her eyesight became blurry and black spots danced around her sight. She saw, as she fast approached oblivion, Duncan standing over the shooter. "The gun," she choked out, "first."

Duncan shook his head and jumped on the back of the man. The two men dropped on the ground and tackled each other. "Run!" Duncan commanded.

"No." Veronica crawled under the car and took the gun. She pointed it over to the men rolling on the cement floor. She focused on her target, but the movement did not allow her to fire.

In the scuffle that ensued, Duncan ended up the last one down, clutching his stomach. The shooter quickly whipped around and slammed his elbow on her jaw. Veronica dropped the gun.

"Veronica, just run!" Duncan cried. "For Logan and the kid."

Veronica watched as if frozen as the man she loved, lied to and betrayed struggled against a criminal for a gun. Her heart stopped when the shooter grasped it. Duncan kicked the man, then stood up and took Veronica's hand. "RUN." She started running, pulled along by Duncan. "Into the house," he shouted into her ear. Her eardrums throbbed from pain. Then a shot shattered her peace as it exploded beside him and Duncan grunted. She stopped just when his hand tightened around hers, then slackened. Duncan fell onto his side. Veronica kneeled beside him. "Don't be stubborn and just fucking run, Veronica," Duncan said. "We don't belong together," he winced. "Not even in a massacre body count." He closed his eyes tightly to fight against the pain.

"Dammit, Duncan," she sobbed. Veronica dropped a kiss on his forehead then ran towards the house, with the killer close behind.

tbc