A/N: Sorry for the long delay in posting. The real world and writer's block got in the way. Hope this is at least somewhat worth the wait.

bubblebear488: no I did not remember that Veronica had a white gold heart necklace in AEFC...that was strictly a coincidence.

Chapter 12: Stares & Acceptance

Monday morning Veronica and Logan walked down the corridors of Neptune High, whispers and stares following their every move. Once at her locker, they found the pictures and articles that had graced the tabloids taped to the front. In a move Veronica was sure could only be attributed to Madison Sinclair, someone had written the word "whore" across her face.

Veronica glared at the clipping that had been doctored without saying a word. Before she realized Logan's intent, he ripped it down and stuffed it in the nearest garbage can.

"Try not to let it get to you. You and I both know that what was written was nothing but bullshit. Someone is just trying to provoke a reaction." Turning to the tittering crowd he snarled, "Move on kiddies, nothing to see here. Go find something else to gossip about."

"If you want, I can find out who is behind this and make help you kick his or her ass," he offered cheerily.

"As much as I would probably enjoy that getting pissed and beating the crap out of someone won't solve anything. It would only result in you getting kicked out of school and your probation being revoked. Promise me, you aren't going to go do something stupid."

"Oh sure, get practical on me," he grumped. As she leaned against him, he pressed his forehead to hers. "I promise I'm not going to do anything that will get me in trouble. I got lucky last week and I'm not about to mess this up again."

"Good to hear. I'd have to kick your ass if you said anything different," she threateningly responded.

As she had hoped, her threat made him laugh and relaxed the tension in the air. "You think you could kick my ass huh? I'd like to see you try," he smirked.

"What? You think I couldn't do it? I've been working out you know!" she exclaimed, performing a karate chop to back up her statement.

"I can hardly wait. Will we be naked when you try?" he muttered quietly.

"Pervert," she chastened as she smacked him on the chest. She paused for a minute before grinning slyly and whispering in his ear. "I was thinking I might do it the next time we're in the shower."

His only response was to yank her up on her toes and kiss her fiercely. After setting her back on her feet and grinning at each other goofily, they got their books and headed for class. After homeroom, she gave him a quick kiss and headed to her Government class.

She noticed that Duncan, who sat one row over and two seats in front of her, had glanced up when she walked in but quickly looked away. However, the other students immediately stopped chattering to gawk at her as she entered and slid into her seat.

'Great,' she thought, 'we're back to the whole constantly staring at me stage. You would think no one in this school had ever appeared in the tabloids. These people really need to get a new hobby.'

Veronica was busy taking notes on the teacher's lecture when she suddenly felt like someone was burning holes in her back. People had been staring at her since she arrived at school but this had an air of malice to it rather than curiosity. She looked up to find Duncan glowering viciously. She stare defiantly back at him until he finally dropped his eyes.

During her class right before lunch, Veronica went to the bathroom. Walking to the bathroom she passed Duncan in the hallway and was relieved when he did not speak to her. After he left her alone in the hall, she was startled when a few minutes later he shoved the door open and walked in as she was washing her hands. Vividly remembering their last meeting, she eyed him warily. "What are you doing in here Duncan?"

His gaze was intent as he stared at her for a moment before answering. "We need to talk. Since you usually use this room as your office, I thought it was an appropriate venue. Or do you already have a meeting scheduled for this time?"

She stiffened and took a few steps farther away from him. "I don't see that we have anything to talk about. The bruises from our last 'talk' having finally faded and I don't really need any new ones," she replied bitterly.

He had the grace to look away shamefacedly at her reminder of their last conversation. However, his temper soon overtook any shame he may have been feeling. "Are you fucking living with him now? You don't belong with him. I can't believe you are going to marry him."

"Since when do you believe everything you read in the tabloids? Besides, it's none of your business what I am or am not doing," she answered, pissed off about his reaction. "If not Logan, than whom do I belong with? You? I don't think so," she said disbelievingly.

"He doesn't love you like I do. Before you know it, he's going to get tired of fucking you. Then he'll leave you alone so he can go find a new whore."

"Fuck. You. Duncan," she gritted out between clenched teeth. She could feel tears of anger at his unjust prediction gather in her eyes but refused to give them free rein. "My life quit being your business when you dumped me over two years ago. It became even less of your business the day you left me to wake up alone with no underwear! How can you claim to love me and act this way? And you are wrong about Logan. He would never leave me broken and alone like you did," she bitterly continued.

"It wasn't fair; we never should have been apart. If it wasn't for him, we would be back together, the way we were meant to be," he pleaded. He reached out and clutched her hands, squeezing tightly as he tried to pull her closer. The look of despair in his eyes would have devastated the old Veronica, but now she was too mad to even pay much notice.

"We are over Duncan. Whether it was fair or not doesn't matter at this point. You made the choice to believe Celeste and not even say a word to me. I was devastated when you dumped me without a word, but I built a new life for myself. You want the girl you used to date and she's dead. What was left of her after you dumped her, died that day by the pool with Lilly," she explained, pushing him away from her. "You need to accept reality. Even if Logan was not in the picture, you and I could never be together again. I'm sorry Duncan but I don't love you. I'm in love with Logan."

While Duncan stood there silently, shocked as her words seemed to finally sink in, Veronica took the opportunity and stormed out of the bathroom. Instead of returning to class, Veronica went down to the empty journalism classroom and stayed there until first period was over. She returned to the classroom long enough to retrieve her books and give the teacher a sob story about female troubles to explain her absence. Being a typical guy, the teacher did not want to hear about it so he cut her story short and quickly sent her to her next class.

Veronica and Wallace were already seated at their usual lunch table discussing her confrontation with Duncan, when she saw Logan approaching. They abruptly switched subjects and hoped Logan hadn't overheard their discussion.

He kissed her on the forehead before greeting, "Hey V. How's it going this morning?"

"Oh you know, constant stares, whispers, and slut coughs," she responded.

"In other words, same as every other day?" he questioned.

"Yeah, pretty much."

"You two have an extremely odd sense of humor," Wallace interrupted as he stared at them.

"What can I say BFF? It's the lovely atmosphere here at Neptune High, it makes everyone a little crazy," Veronica retorted.

"Uh huh. I'm sure you two would be oh so normal if it wasn't for the school." Wallace kept talking hoping that Logan would not ask what they had been discussing. He knew Veronica was still upset about her war of words with Duncan and she didn't want Logan to know. While he wasn't sure if he completely agreed with her decision not to tell Logan, he could understand her reasoning. Between previously having seen Logan's temper and knowing he was on probation, it was probably best for all parties concerned to keep it quiet.

However, he couldn't help but be a little worried about Duncan confronting her yet again; the fact he would do it in the girls' bathroom made him anxious. Veronica seemed convinced that she had gotten through to him this time. He had wanted to go talk to Duncan but Veronica begged him to drop it and he agreed but planned to keep a close eye on him just to make sure he left Veronica alone for good this time.

"Hey! I'll have you know that I'm perfectly normal," Logan cried out, clearly offended.

"Hardly, you are far from perfect or normal," Wallace accused.

"He's right honey, you're not normal. Normal does not live in a mansion and have access to millions of dollars. Don't be offended, normal is highly overrated," Veronica expounded with a grin.

"Besides, you hang out with the tiny blonde one next to you. That alone takes you far away from the normal realm," Wallace tacked on.

He grinned widely as she gasped and started to protest. The bantering continued until Cassidy and Luke showed up with Casey in tow. No one said anything about the addition of Casey to their little group. Everyone went on like his presence was a normal occurrence and proceeded to drag him into their bickering. Veronica noticed a few of the 09ers, including Madison, glaring at their table. It seemed thought that most of the 09ers were content to leave the group alone.

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Though lunch had been a lot of fun, the rest of the day was nothing Veronica cared to repeat. She was relieved when the school day ended and she climbed into Logan's SUV. They had driven together that morning so she had to go back to his house to retrieve Backup and her car. She had just settled back into her seat, shutting her eyes, when she was startled by Logan speaking.

"Are you going to tell me what happened this morning or do I need to guess?" he questioned.

"What are you talking about? Nothing happened," Veronica replied petulantly. She frowned as she realized he had read her perfectly earlier, but had chosen to let it go until he could ask her in private.

"I thought we were beyond hiding things from each other. Don't lie to me or treat me like I'm stupid Veronica," he gritted out between clenched teeth.

She sighed and accepted defeat. "I got in an argument with Duncan this morning."

"What! Where? When?"

"How? Why?" Veronica finished. Logan turned and glared at her sarcasm. "Sorry, I couldn't help myself. I talked to him this morning shortly before lunch."

Veronica detailed the gist of the confrontation but left out things such as when he called her a whore, trying to downplay the incident as much as possible. When she finished, she sat there silently waiting for a reaction. However, Logan sat there, breathing heavily and staring straight ahead with hands gripping the steering wheel.

"Did he touch you?"

Veronica was so startled when he finally spoke that she jumped in her seat. "What?"

"Did he touch you? Did he leave bruises on you?" he demanded again, enunciating each word slowly.

When he mentioned the bruises, she knew instantly that he'd seen the last ones. "No, no. I'm bruise free," she insisted. He stared at her disbelievingly. "I mean, he grabbed my hands but I pushed him away and ran out the door."

"I want you to stay away from him."

"Hey, I didn't seek him out, he found me. And you can't tell me what to do," she replied angrily.

"I'm not trying to tell you what to do. He's obviously having trouble understanding that it's over. I'll talk to him and make it clear that he needs to stay away."

"No, please Logan, just let it go. You can't afford to get in trouble again. Anyway, I think this time he finally accepted that it is over."

Reaching out, he tucked her hair behind her ear and heaved a sigh of frustration. "I promised you this morning that I wouldn't do anything to get myself in trouble and screw this up. I promise that I'll talk to him, nothing more. I'll even take a witness along if it'll make you feel better," he offered.

She had a hard time believing that Logan could manage to just 'talk' to Duncan without fists becoming involved. However, she did want Duncan to leave her alone and his request wasn't completely unreasonable. Maybe if there was someone else there they could keep him from getting in trouble.

"Fine, go talk to him. But I want multiple eye-witnesses. And I get to choose them," she bargained.

"Whatever makes you happy honey," he replied with a careless wave of his hand.

"OK then." She paused for a moment as she thought about it. "I want you to take Wallace and Beaver and –"

"Dang, would you like me to take the whole school and maybe Backup along?"

She tilted her head and as if seriously considering his suggestion. "No," she finally answered. "Wallace, Beaver, and Luke will do."

"Are you expecting a showdown or something? Me and my posse will roll at sunrise," he snarked.

"I was really thinking of them more as your entourage than your posse," she replied. A big grin spread across her face as her mind drifted.

"What are you smiling about?"

"I was just picturing you all dressed up in chaps and a duster, gun belt slung around your hips. Very sexy." As she let her imagination loose, she let out a long, low whistle.

"I'll dress up like a cowboy if you'll fulfill my schoolgirl fantasy," he negotiated. Grabbing her by the back of the head, he pulled her across the console and devoured her mouth. She let out a groan when he let her mouth go and she sank back in her seat.

After returning to Logan's, she reluctantly packed up her belongings and hustled Backup into the car. She would have liked to stay there for awhile but she needed to get home and clean up the apartment before her dad returned. Logan had offered to come with her but she knew he would be more of a distraction than a help. She also felt things would go better with her dad if Logan was not there when he got home.

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By 7:00 that evening, Veronica and Keith were settled into their favorite booth at Mario's Italian Restaurant. She had been surprised when he had told her that he had not asked Alicia to join them. While she had begun to really like Alicia, she missed spending time alone with her dad.

"So, I don't see a ring on your finger," Keith commented. He grinned widely when she grimaced. "Am I going to have to get my shotgun out and teach that boy not to mess around with my little girl?"

Veronica blushed furiously at his teasing. Though she wouldn't admit it, even under the threat of torture, she had fantasized about what it would be like to be married to Logan over the weekend. "Cute, Dad. I think you can keep the shotgun in the closet for awhile. It'll devastate our public greatly but since neither Logan nor I can remember proposing, we've decided to hold off on the wedding."

"Damn, another prospective marriage ruined by poor short-term memory," he smirked.

"I know you'll just have to put those plans on hold to turn my turn my room into a den of iniquity. I'm not ready to give it up just yet."

"Shucks, though I was really leaning more towards a shrine to the Padres than a den of iniquity." He tossed off the comment offhandedly but Veronica could see relief reflected in his eyes at her assurance she wasn't rushing to leave him alone. None of them were ready for anything quite that momentous at this point.

"Seriously though, I want you to try to stay away from the press. The last thing you or Logan need is to be relentlessly hounded by the paparazzi," Keith cautioned.

Veronica sighed in agitation. "We weren't trying to be caught by them. Since we were on the side of the property, away from the gates we didn't think about them. I guess we forgot they were even there."

While Keith had not been happy to see his daughter's picture splashed across the television and newspapers, he was thrilled to hear she had acting like a normal young adult for once. Over the last two years, she had grown up so much that she forgot to act like a teenage girl with normal worries. "I know you weren't seeking their attention. But they are just looking for a reason to exploit you and Logan. And, you know Aaron's lawyers would love to find a way to discredit the two of you."

"I know," she growled. "I don't even want to think what the publicity is going to be like when the trial starts."

Keith reached across the table and squeezed her hand reassuringly. "It's not going to be easy, but we'll get through it together."

The waiter appeared by their side, disrupting the heavy atmosphere that had begun to cloud the table. After he took their order, as if in tacit agreement, they studiously avoided any serious subjects. Choosing instead to enjoy each others company and catch up.

After dinner, Veronica took Backup for a walk so Keith could have some time alone to call Alicia. She thought about calling Logan to come join her but figured that by the time he got there her dad would be expecting her to return. Once the walk was over, she returned to the apartment to do her homework and get ready for bed. She kissed her dad goodnight and headed for her room.

"Tell Logan I said goodnight," Keith told her as she was about to shut her bedroom door.

"What? I'm not going to see him until tomorrow," she told him confusedly.

"Oh, so you weren't planning to go into your room and call him before you go to sleep?" He raised an eyebrow towards her, daring her to claim otherwise. He laughed when she turned red with embarrassment as she realized he knew exactly what she had planned.

"I'll be sure to give him your love." With that parting shot, she stuck her tongue out and shut her door.

As he heard her muffled voice talking on with phone with Logan, he thought back to yesterday morning when he'd first seen the pictures of Veronica and Logan. He'd had to restrain himself from getting on the first flight home to choke the boy. There was one picture of them standing with their arms wrapped around each other, her head lying on his chest, each looking lost in the presence of the other. The whole scene screamed of an intimacy that can only be achieved by lovers. He had wanted to reach through that picture and rip her out of Logan's arms and lock her in her room for the next 20 years. It had taken him a good 45 minutes to calm down and remind himself that his baby was eighteen now and capable of making her own decisions. However, he had sworn that if the boy hurt her, they would never find his body!