Disclaimer: I do not own Veronica Mars or any of the characters.
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Veronica ends up falling asleep lying on Wallace's lap. Though it's a fitful sleep, she does get a few hours in. The smell of bacon wakes her up.
"Mom? That you?"
"Your mom's not here. She probably went to the hospital."
"Mmm, that smell's good." Veronica says while getting up and going over to Wallace. She pokes him playfully on the side of his stomach and teasingly say's, "I didn't know you could cook."
Wallace puts a plate in front of Veronica and get's one for himself. "You be the judge of that."
Veronica scoops up some, brings it to her nose, and sniffs it. Deciding it smells ok, she hesitates, then puts the fork to her mouth, slowly widening her jaw, and shoves it in. She chews a few times, swallows, and says "Not bad." She continues to eat.
Wallace laughs. "Not bad huh, I guess that's as good of a compliment I'm gonna get out of you. Hurry up and eat so I can take you to the hospital. I called my mom and she said he woke up last night."
"How is he?"
"He's doing well. He slept last night, and he's waiting to see you."
Veronica nods her head and quietly finishes her breakfast, then get's in the shower while Wallace cleans up.
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Veronica anxiously opens the door to her dad's room, walks over, and gives him a great big bear hug, while trying not to hurt him. When she pulls back, she tries to hide the tears in her eyes.
"Hey sweetie." He rubs his thumb across the bruise on her cheek.
Meanwhile Alicia and Wallace leave to give them some privacy.
"Are you hurt?"
"No, dad I'm ok. Veronica looks around, and finally asks, "Where's mom?"
"I haven't seen her. Was she supposed to be here?" Veronica shrugs, and Keith say's, "Listen honey we need to talk."
"I know dad. But First...
She was interrupted by a knock on the door, and Sheriff Lamb walks in.
"Hello Keith, I'm just here to ask a few questions."
"Can't you see I'm busy with my daughter? I haven't seen her since yesterday. I need some family time. Alone."
"Sorry Keith, but you know better than that. I'm just following procedure. You can talk to Veronica after."
Keith sighs, "Fine let's get this over with."
"I just need you to tell me your side of the story, then I need to get Veronica's and you can go on with your...moment here."
"I get a phone call from Veronica telling me it was Aaron Echoll's. She found tapes of him and Lily in bed together. I told her to stay put, but she told me Aaron was at the Kane's party, and Duncan was gonna keep and eye out for him."
"I told her to come straight home, stopping for nothing. When I didn't hear from her after 15 minutes, I called her cell phone. She didn't answer, so I got in the car and tracked her cell phone signal."
"There's a car in front of me that hit a tree. It look's like Veronica's so I get out and look. There's no one inside, so I run to the house across the street thinking she went to get help. Just to be on the safe side, I draw my gun out, and slowly walk to the back of the house calling out Veronica's name. I hear her voice, and it sounds like it's coming from the roof. I look up and see Aaron Echoll's, and he jumps on me. We immediately start fighting. He whacks me on the head with a glass bottle, twice. He knocks me to the ground and was gonna hit me with something, so I grabbed the closest thing to me, and whacked him with it. He went down and I hit him in the face a few times."
Keith pauses, looks at Veronica, who's trying to piece the two stories together, takes a deep breath, then continues.
"Aaron whips out a lighter, throws it, and the deck catches on fire. He start's laughing, then tells me Veronica's in the fridge that's on fire. That I might wanna check up on her. I run over to the edge of the fire, where I can hear her frantically calling me." Keith stops talking because there must be something stuck in his throat, causing his eyes to tear up. He coughs and clears his throat before continuing on.
"So I did what any father would do. I went into the fire to rescue my daughter. I get the fridge open and Veronica safely out of the fire before I collapse. I was on fire. From then on, all I can really remember is the pain, and hearing Veronica speak to me, before I pass out."
"I wake up again, and the ambulance is wheeling me out to the front of the house."
"When I wake up again, I'm here at the hospital, where Alicia tells me my daughter's alive and at home getting some rest."
Sheriff Lamb finishes writing down the story, then looks over at Keith who is now holding Veronica's hand. "Ok Veronica it's your turn now. Veronica tells him everything she told Wallace, looking at her father from time to time, to see his reaction. Sheriff Lamb finishes taking notes from her story and says, "Ok that's it for now, if there's more, I'll be in touch."
He leaves, and Veronica turns to her father and says, "There's something you need to know about mom."
"What is it? Is she ok?"
I don't know how much you know, but I used my college money to help send mom to rehab." Veronica pauses, then continues, "She's an alcoholic."
"I wondered where your money went to."
"Then last night before I left to go to the Kane's house, I took a sip of mom's water and spit it out. She had alcohol in it." "She's still drinking."
Veronica sighs, but keeps talking. "When I got back from the hospital, she wanted to know what happened. I told her you were in the hospital, and that you were going to be ok. She asked me again what happened, and I said I would tell her in the morning, but first I wanted her to pack her things. I told her I didn't want her there when you come home."
Veronica sniffs, but keeps going. "I told her I know she didn't quit drinking, that she didn't finish rehab, wasting my college money. I said I was through, and limped away to my room and haven't seen her since. I don't even know if she's there anymore."
At that last sentence Veronica starts crying again. "I wanted her gone, but after you got out of the hospital. She didn't even check to see if you were ok."
"Veronica, honey, you did the right thing. I'm glad you called Alicia here, and you told your mother what you did. I tried to make it work for your sake, because I knew how much you wanted things back the way they were. Back when things were simple. But I couldn't do it. I wasn't happy."
"I know you're happy with Wallace's mom. Your right I wanted things back the way they were, but I realize things can never be the same. Too much has happened. I just want you to be happy, and if Alicia makes you happy, then I'm ok with it. I love you, and I want what's best for you."
Veronica leans down and gives her dad another hug. He kisses her on the forehead, and thanks her. Wallace and his mom walk in then, and Veronica looks at Alicia and smiles. She returns the smile, walks over and hugs Veronica.
"Thank you for calling me last night. It meant a lot to me."
"I'm sorry I had my dad break up with you. I just wanted my family back together. But that's not going to happen now. I'm really glad it's you my dad likes. Wallace you ready to leave?"
"Yea whenever you are."
Veronica kissed her dad on the forehead, waves to Alicia, and walks out the door, nearly colliding with Trina Echoll's.
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(A/N: Let me know what you think so far.)