Disclaimer: For this last chapter I'd love to be able to say that I own Veronica Mars. Yes, in fact that whole franchise is mine, which is why in the next new episode, she and Logan have crazyhot monkey sex on screen. And it TOTALLY trumps Duncan. And if I were to say this, I would be carted away, or sued, so, as always, I sadly own no part of Veronica Mars, despite my large, and somewhat intense longing to.
"Dad?" The apartment is dark, and the soles of her boots make heavy clacking noises on the hardwood floor. Her keys ping against the counter as they hit it and she turns to get some water from the fridge. Then she hears it, the heavy breathing on the couch behind her. Cursing her stupidity, she thinks back to only a second ago-her surprise at the unlocked front door. Why didn't you think ahead, Veronica? This is Neptune, nothing happens accidentally. "Dad?" She calls again, swallowing the tremor out of her voice. The bottle slips out of her fingers, and cursing audibly she bends to retrieve it. "God, I'm such a klutz. Do you think I got it from your side of the family or mom's?" She asks, hoping against hope that whoever it is doesn't know their sordid family history. "Dad?" She calls again, but she can sense someone behind her. Standing, she smiles brightly. "There you-" The slap that stings across her cheek is enough to send a grown man reeling, and it throws her to the floor. Of their own accord, tears spring to her eyes.
"I think you know by now that I'm not your daddy, little girl." Gasping she blinks up at him, remembering with startling alacrity. She'd handed him a ten, but instead of giving her change, he'd grabbed hold of her wrist instead. "How's about you and me…"
"What are you-" She coughs and swallows, her fingers lightly brushing her bruised cheek. "Why are you here? Because I wouldn't sleep with you? How did you even know where to find me?" She has started to stand, but another blow from his palm has her on the ground again. The room has started spinning.
"Questions, questions. Too many questions for a little girl like you." She'd been inching away from him, and as he notices this, he takes steps to stand over her. "You can't escape me, Veronica Mars. You'll never escape me." And as he hits her again, the world goes black.
"…yeah, I've got her." His voice is low and gruff, with his back to her. Wincing, she takes a sweeping glance around, and with a noiseless sigh of relief, realizes they're still in the apartment. Mr. Criminal Man, you don't know what you're up against. She can sense him turning, and drops her head again, her hands, tied behind her back, working on her cell phone, lodged in her back pocket. Standing in front of her he cups her cheek, and glaring up at him she bites his fingers. "You are a feisty one, gotta admit that. I bet you're wild in the sack." He looks at her approvingly, and Veronica swallows her disgust, recoiling at the thought. "Too bad it's gotta end like this. You coulda had a good thing that night with me." He stops thoughtfully, rubbing his hands together, and she grimaces, the thick ropes chafing her wrists. "Does your face hurt?" He asks, no trace of kindness in his tone. "Such a shame, that one there's," He reaches out a finger and traces one of the bruises on her cheeks. "Gonna leave a mark. Bet that pretty boy of yours won't want you then. Then you'll want me. I'll be all you can get, but I won't want you then. Come to think of it, I don't want you now either, whore." She winces at his words. And he turns, continuing his tirade. That's it, Big Boy, she thinks. Keep on talking. Or not. I have to do this too?
"Pretty Boy?" She asks, making her voice as whispery and non-threatening as possible. "Oh you mean Logan…" She trails off, hoping to light a spark, and has to bite back a grin as he glares at her.
"Don't know why Kendall's so fond of that jackass, he nearly bashed my brain in! If I hadn't fought back…" He continues on, but Veronica's attention is riveted on one word. Kendall. She doesn't ask, doesn't need to, knowing he'll paint himself into a corner eventually. "If your father hadn't caught us together, I wouldn't have had to hurt him, wouldn't have even known you was you…so it's him you have to blame." He glared at her again, not even realizing his mistake until it's too late.
"You hurt my father?" She shrieks, blinking back the tears from her eyes. Her anger spurts forth in droves, and her hands slip free from the ropes as if they're made of string.
"Come on now, Sugar. You should be mad at him. It's his fault." She jumps against him, causing him to fall to the ground, punching and clawing at his face until there's blood on her finger tips. Her fury is untouchable, she could continue like this for hours, until the door bursts open.
"Veronica!" She breathes a sigh of relief, falling against the counter, tears running down her cheeks. Motioning to the bleeding man on the floor, Leo bends to tend to her, as three detectives take stalk of the apartment. "Veronica, are you Ok?" She shakes her head, unable to speak from the constant flow of tears.
"How did you-" When she finally manages to get out the words, her voice is scratchy and she winces as he cups her cheek.
"We found your dad's car." At his words, she begins to cry harder, her heavy, heaving sobs wracking her ribcage. "It's hospital policy to report any untended cars in emergency parking after hours." She nods, remembering his purpose for being there, and bites her lip to keep from crying out. She can hear the timbre of his voice, and it's comforting, but she can't hear his words. She's floating above herself, lost and in pain, silently mourning her father. "…should be Ok," She snaps to attention, her eyes finding his, a question rising in them.
"Who?" She asks quietly, her voice rusty, her whole body shaking with pain and exhaustion. Leo smiles, brushing a piece of her hair away from her forehead.
"Your dad should be fine. He's been shot," She gasps, her eyes closing in fear and shock. "And he was pretty badly beat up, but he's a fighter, he'll pull through." She nods, stumbling as she tries to stand.
"Can…I see him?" She asks weakly, taking his arm to steady herself. Gazing into her eyes, he smiles wanly.
"Veronica, you're a beautiful girl." He starts, making her grin. "But you shouldn't be seeing anyone right now." She staggers into the bathroom, gasping as she takes in the large, purplish gashes on her cheeks, and the blood matted in her hair.
"Leo, thank you for coming I-" The door bursts open for a second time, and Logan runs in, concern and anguish marring his handsome face.
"Veronica!" He shouts, breathing deeply only when he sees her. His shock is palpable as he nears her, taking in the bruises on her face, and for a moment she worries…but then he smiles at her, and it's so open and loving that she almost collapses with relief. "Veronica, what happened?" He breathes, and for a moment, it's just the two of them, and the rest of the world falls away. Taking one last look at them, Leo sighs, fading into the woodwork and out of the apartment. "I heard…in the background…when you called me…" He leans forward, gently taking her face in his hands. "I got here as soon as I could, but there was stupid traffic, and I couldn't…" She shakes her head, pressing a finger to his lips and shushing him.
"Logan, it's Ok." She kisses him softly, and tries to smile without grimacing. "I'm Ok, You're here now, so everything is fine. No one can hurt me when I'm with you." Slowly, they fell back on the bed, Logan holding her gingerly.
"I love you, Veronica." He murmurs, kissing her softly. And she knows without a doubt that as long as they're together, nothing can hurt her.
A/N: And folks, that is a WRAP. I am done, done, done. COMPLETELY done with this story. I hope you liked it, and everything tied together for you. I'm gonna be honest, I totally didn't even think about the shooting when I started, had no idea that I would eventually end up connecting the guy from the convenience store and Kendall and Keith…and actually, I thought I would tie Aaron into this whole mess. But then that ended up being way, way too complicated, so I scrapped that idea. Actually, that's a lie too. Up until I wrote it, I was going to have some weird Aaron/Kendall/Convenience store guy ménage a trios, but that didn't work out so well either. So I threw the Kendall/Convenience store Guy relationship in there, to make it fit. Anyway, I REALLY hope you guys liked it, it has my blood, sweat and tears in it. And it's my baby. AND NOW IT'S DONE. And I'm so happy/sad. It's sort of bittersweet, in a way. And aww, Veronica/Logan! They're my favorite thing ever.