Just a warning: There is something I will not be doing in this fic that I see done in a lot of other fics once . . . something . . . has been resolved. You'll figure out what it is.

Kanes and Abels territory, still. And yes, that is a real plot from the first season of The Closer.

Disclaimer: Rob Thomas created Veronica Mars. I am not Rob Thomas.

X X X X X

The shindig itself was your typical '09er parent party, if with fewer guests. If it wasn't for that and the lack of carolers outside singing "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen," we could have just as easily have all been at the Echolls Christmas party.

Well, that and the lack of psychopathic waitresses with knives.

Sabrina was there, too, but I wasn't able to talk to her to find out if there had been any other harassment.

Jake announced the scholarship -- Lilly, who was no intellectual, would have found the notion hysterical. Then he invited everyone over to the dinner table. I looked out to the pool area.

I don't know what drew me out there, except that I'd never been back to -- to the spot where Lilly died -- since the day it happened. I looked at the site as though there were something there that could prove that Aaron Echolls had killed her.

No such luck. Even Don Lamb isn't that incompetent. And, of course, even if he was, Clarence Weidman isn't. Any evidence they'd found would have, presumably, long since been dumped into the nearest incinerator.

From behind me, a voice asked if I was okay.

I turned around. Duncan was there too, looking at the same spot. "You're not hiding from me, I hope."

"I'd've thought it was more the other way around."

He gave a small grin. "You said we're good. I'm good with you as well. I can't imagine what you must have been going through . . . not knowing like that." He paused. "But I am sorry for any pain I caused you. I never, ever wanted to hurt you."

"I know," I said.

"I come here a lot."

"Well, it's your house."

"No. I mean here, here. Where it happened. To think about her. At first I begged my parents to sell this place. I kept imagining the last thoughts that went through he heard. But now? It's kind of peaceful. When I'm here, I feel like she's still with me." After a second, "Dad says you're convinced I didn't do it."

"I am," I said. "I know you didn't. Not even by . . . accident."

"How can you be sure when I don't even remember."

"I am," I said. "I can't say why."

"Oh. It might impede the investigation."

"Right." Let him believe that.

"How did you find out about my epilepsy?"

Oh, when I went to your doctor I stole your files. So how 'bout them Padres? "Carrie Bishop was gossiping about it in the restroom a while back. I was concerned, so when I found out about other incidents, I put two and two together." There. A half-truth.

"I don't like Carrie Bishop," he said after a long pause.

"Join the club."

"There you two are," Jake Kane's voice said, a bit loudly, from behind them. "I was wondering where you two had snuck off to!" Ah. Celeste was watching from the window. "Well, come on in, the lamb's getting cold!"

As he and Duncan were blocking Celeste's view, he whipped out a couple of sheets of paper and handed them to me. "Read them later," he said.

I put them in my pocket.

As we walked back I said in a whisper, "If you're trying to drag this out for dramatic effect I swear I'll break your arm."

Jake laughed like I'd just said something hysterically funny. "I'm not your father, Veronica."

Duncan said, "She's not?" at the same time I said, "Thank God."

Jake Kane looked almost hurt at that. Too damn bad. Let him be hurt. "I'd be proud if you were," he said. "But for my son's peace of mind --" and Duncan, indeed, seemed like he'd had a weight lifted, "I'm glad you're not."

As you can imagine, after that the rest of the evening was something of an anticlimax.

I left as early as I could without pissing off Miss Manners. Duncan caught up to me at the door.

"We're not related," he said, grinning, as he walked with me to my car.

"Well, you don't have to sound so excited about it."

"You know why --"

"I know." We stopped right in front of the LeBaron.

"At least now you get why I've been so awkward with you for the last year and a half."

"You mean my frantic search for right deodorant was all for nothing?" I said, pouting. "Oh, poo."

"Around here, Veronica, I think everyone uses Secret."

I burst out laughing.

"God, I've missed that," he said. "I've missed you."

My laughter stopped very quickly. "Duncan --"

After a second, he said, "Relax. I'm not going where the look on your face made me realize you thought I was going." A pause. "Did that make sense? Anyway, I have no plans on dumping Meg and coming after you. I think you'd kill me if I did."

"If Logan didn't beat me to it."

"I'm just hoping that we can be friends again. Actual friends. I think -- I think Lilly would like that, if nothing else."

I said, "I think she would too."

We hugged, and then I got in my car and left.

X X X X X

Not straight home; I was heading over to the Echolls' place. I called Logan on my way over.

"You and Mac didn't both get Pac-Man Fever, did you?"

He laughed. "No, we managed to restrain our competitive urges for one night."

"Speaking of urges . . ."

"I thought you'd never ask." Lynn Echolls, if you're wondering, was in LA for a week filming her part in The Closer. I think she was going to play the mother of some rich kid whose family would do anything to make sure their son wasn't convicted of murdering a young woman.

I figure all she needed to do was ask Celeste Kane.

Along the way, I mentioned that oh by the way I wasn't actually Jake Kane's daughter and that Duncan and I had come to an understanding.

"Are you sure, Machiavelli?" he asked a bit nervously. "During the confrontation, he said how much he loved you . . ."

"I think he understands that the past tense is the important part there," I said. "Anyway, he loved the old me. The pink frilly me."

"And not the badass you've become?"

"You think I'm a badass?"

"Let's see. You told off Jake Kane, got two Casablancases arrested, tasered a Sinclair, and invaded the Echolls estate. I'd say your status as a badass is pretty much cemented."

Once I got there, I kissed him all the way from the front door to his bedroom.

Then we did other fun and delightful things. At least twice.

Unfortunately, tonight I couldn't linger. Dad being home, and all that.

As I was getting dressed, I said, "So should I leave the money on the bureau?"

"Two hundred per," he said. "No discounts just 'cause I like you."

"Two hundred?" I said, raising my eyebrows. "Boy, are you undercharging."

"How much were you thinking?"

"All the gold in Fort Knox."

"I don't think that'll fit on my bureau."

"Ah well." I made a show of checking my purse. "I'm a little short this time."

"You're a little short every time."

"Was that a crack about my height?"

"No, no," he said. "You have to have height for someone to make a crack about it." Then he sat up. "Anyway. Beaver and Madison tomorrow?"

"No . . . I think tomorrow it's my Dad."

He got serious immediately. "Are you sure?"

I sighed. "Yeah. I'm sure."

"So why do you want Wallace and Mac there?"

"I'd invite the PCH'ers if they'd all fit. I just want as many people as possible to be between my Dad and the door when I tell him how Lamb reacted."

"The PCH'ers; hell, Mars, you'd better invite the Marines."

"How many?"

"All of them."

X X X X X

The next day, Sabrina was really, really upset because she'd gotten an 86 on AP Bio, and screamed at me for not having gotten Caz to stop.

I'd thought about it, thought. Caz's record didn't indicate vindictiveness, and his behavior didn't either. And the failure of the ravers to point to him, while not conclusive, had been enough to make me suspect that someone else might be behind this. My suspicions ran in the direction of Hamilton Cho, who now led the senior class in GPA and was therefore in line for the Kane scholarship.

Hamilton Cho's father ran a pizza place with a fairly good reputation, so after work I invited Wallace and Mac to join me and Logan for some Cho's pizza. On the way down, I told them everything about my rape, Lamb's reaction, and the big confrontation at the Kane household -- stressing that I had forgiven Duncan, winding up with last night's paternity revelation.

Wallace was stunned and angry and wanted Lamb's head. Mac simply asked, "Would you like me to dump him into the list of known sex offenders? Because I will if you want me to."

"Tempting. But no."

"I want to do something," she said. Wallace echoed the sentiments.

"And now we come to the favor I said I was going to ask you," I said. "I want you to be there when I tell my father."

"Why?" Wallace said.

"Because of the way you two just reacted. Now, how do you think my father's going to react?"

They got it. They were a little dubious about standing in his way -- Wallace used the phrase "cannon fodder" at least twice -- but eventually they agreed to help.

I then went into Cho's pizzeria, chatted up Hamilton Cho -- he didn't seem to think too highly of Sabrina -- and planted a tracer on his car. We'd see where he went.

We took the pizza and drove home.

By the time Dad got there, we were done eating. He was a bit surprised at the crowd, but said, "Logan. Wallace. Mac."

"Hi, Mr. Mars," they said more or less in unison.

"Taking the act on the road?" he asked.

"You know how it goes," Logan said. "First Neptune, then San Diego, then the world. And just think: You can say you knew them when."

"Ah, fame."

He went into the bathroom and I told everyone to get in their positions. When Dad got out I was sitting on the couch and told him I wanted to show him something.

"What is it, sweetheart?"

I showed him the DNA test results.

As he read them over I said, "What? You thought my finely honed deductive abilities were nurture? Uh-uh. Nature all the way!"

"Veronica," Dad said in his that disturbingly calm voice that indicated that he was a half-second away from exploding, "Why were you undergoing a paternity test with Jake Kane?"

"Funny story there, Dad . . ."