Summary: My take on what might have happened after Veronica didn't show up at the boat for the big date. The story includes a couple of original L/V lines from episode 1.21.
Logan took a sip of the champagne. He looked around still hoping that she would come. But it had been three hours since the time they were supposed to meet and he started to lose hope. Of course, their so called relationship wasn't the easiest thing to carry on, and he knew she had tremendous emotional baggage with Lilly and Duncan and everything. But so did he. And he believed that they were going to help each other get through this. He knew it was going to be tough, but they were good together and he knew it was the real thing.
"She's not coming." he thought to himself, still trying to come up with reasons why she hadn't showed up. If she needed some time to think, to do whatever she needed to do, she could have called, he would have understood. He would have given her anything she needed, if she had just let him. But she just hadn't showed up without any explanation.
He looked at the bottle of champagne he had just emptied. Now certainly wasn't a good time to go and talk to her. But he knew he needed to to that eventually.
"Tomorrow..." he thought and opened another bottle.
The next day he woke up with a litttle hangover, but very much aware of what happened the previous day and of the fact that he needed to talk to Veronica. He needed to know what happened, whether it was something he had done or something that had been done to her. Or whether it was just Veronica needing some time. Whatever it was, he needed to know.
He saw her at school a couple of times that day, but every time he looked at her, she just turned on her heel and walked away. And he didn't feel like chasing her at school, he knew it wasn't a place for a conversation like this.
Finally when the evening came, he decided to act. He went to her place and if she was home, he was not going to leave until he found out what happened that made her blow him off like this. But it took him about twenty minutes to actually ring the doorbell. His heart was racing, he was scared of her reaction, but he knew they needed to talk.
It took a while until someone opened the door. He was happy it was her. She looked beautiful as, always, but not that excited to see him. He could see the pain in her eyes.
"I'm not leaving." he said firmly, very intent on finding out what's been going on in her life.
Veronica took a deep breath and looked at him. He thought she looked a little timid, but at the same time very sure of what she wanted to say to him. That in a way scared him.
"It's kind of a bad time." she said, obviously not interested in talking to him. But he wasn't going to give up.
"Okay. So I should come back when, never? That work for you?" he knew he wasn't leaving there until he got a chance to talk to her. He was going to do whatever it took. He just couldn't stand not knowing what it's all about. "What did I do, Veronica?" he continued. "Can you just tell me so that I can a-a-apologise or explain!"
"Explain. Okay." she answered, but it definitely didn't look OK. He knew that. "Explain to me why you were the one with GHB the night of Shelly Pomeroy's party when someone drugged and raped me." He didn't say anything. He just stared at her, not really sure whether he heard her right. "Explanation? Apology?" she added with a chilling voice. It was hard not to notice how much pain the conversation was causing her.
"You were raped?" he asked, although he was pretty sure he heard it right. Was that the reason she was scared to show up at their date. He wasn't sure what he was supposed to say or do. He leant forward but she stepped away.
"Okay, don't! Seriously!" she definitely wasn't crazy about him touching her right now. That was fine with him, but he still wanted to know everything.
"What happened to you?"
"You tell me." she asked and it hit him that she thought he had something to do with whatever happened to her.
"Wait. Wait a second, you think..." he couldn't believe she would really think that.
"I was told you were the one with the drugs."
"Yeah. I got some Liquid X when I was in Tijuana with Luke and Sean. We were just gonna have some fun."
"Fun?" she was not at all amused by the explanation. "Like sex with unconscious people fun?"
He could not believe what he was hearing. He had no idea what had happened to her.
"No, fun like go to a rave fun." he answered, but that didn't seem to convinve her at all.
"Oh. Okay. You've convinced me. Bygones." she replied sarcastically. But he could see she was hurting. He wanted to do something to make it better to take away the pain.
"What can I do? What can I do to make it better?"
She didn't seem to be interested in his comfort.
"I'm going to find out who did this to me and I'm going to make them pay. Even if it was you." He stared at her, very upset. How could she believe he could do something like this? He wasn't a saint, but he would never hurt a girl that way. But someone obviuosly did, and he knew he wasn't going to rest until he found out who. But he also knew that in order to find the rapist, he needed to act with Veronica, he needed her to trust him. But convincing her wasn't going to be easy." Sorry. I have to go throw up now." she turned to go back to the apartment, but he wasn't going to let her walk away.
"Veronica, wait!" he grabbed her arm and realized how much she was shivering.
"Let go of me!" she screamed and broke away from him. "Just leave me alone!"
"I will not! And I'm not leaving here until we talk." he needed her to give him a chance to explain, to talk to her and he wasn't going anywhere until that happened.
"And just what do you wanna talk about!" she shouted, this time really angry. "You want details? I'm pretty sure you know all about sex so I don't think you need an account of all the details! Even if you did want them, I'm sorry, I can't help you, because if you remember I was drugged that night. And until I find out who did this to me, I don't wannat see you!"
The angrier she became, the more pain he could see in her eyes and he just wanted to hold her and tell her that everything was going to be OK. If only she would let him.
"Veronica, please just listen to me." he begged, closing the door at the same time.
"You wanna tell me more about the drugs that you brought to the party? Any more unconsious girls you wanted to have fun with?"
"My God Veronica, stop it!" he couldn't stand those accusations. He knew she was right to get upset, but he wasn't gonna let her believe it was him. "Why are you doing this? Do you really believe it was me? Do you really believe I am the one that raped you?" He came a few steps closer to her and made her look into his eyes. "Come on Veronica, do you really really think so? After everything that we've been through..."
"I don't know, Logan." she started to break. "All I know that someone raped me and I am dead set on finding out who it was!" now the tears were streaming down her face at the thought if all the horrible things that might have happened to her. She looked at Logan's sad face and kept asking herself if it could really have been him.
"Well it wasn't me. Come on, you know that! Deep down in your heart you know that it couldn't have been me. You know that! I know you know that!" he waited patiently for her reaction. At first she didn't say anything. She just looked at him wondering. Was he telling the truth? He seemed really honest. She knew from the beginning of their relationship that he wasn't the easiest person to get along with and he could be a real jackass sometimes, but was he a rapist? Why would he need to rape anyone? He could have had any girl he wanted and she seriuosly doubted he wanted to have anything to do with her immediately after Lilly was murdered. OK, so he was the one with the drugs, but does that make him a rapist?
"Logan, I..." she started to speak, but he interrupted her.
"Look, I know I can be a pain in the ass and a jackass and I do like to have fun. I have my issues, but come on, I'm not a rapist. I like to drink, I like to get crazy sometimes, but rape? Come on, just think about it. You know me. As a metter of fact you know me better than anyone else. You know I'm not a rapist, don't you?"
She didn't know what to say. But she was ready to believe him. Maybe it was naive, maybe it was because she was falling for him, but she believed him. Logan was right - he was a jackass, but he wasn't a rapist. But still it was him who brought the drugs to the party. And that wasn't the easiest thing to forgive either. Whoever had the drug, got it from Logan, which made him responsible. She didn't know what to think, what to do, what to say to him. But it didn't seem to matter to Logan, because he knew exactly what he wanted to say and he knew exactly what she must have been thinking.
"Veronica, listen to me." he touched her bare shoulders and this time she didn't object. She fixed her eyes on his, hoping she will be able to tell whether he's being honest. "I know it was wrong to bring the drugs to the party, but I had no idea that such things were happening there. You have to believe me. I would never ever let anything happen to you. Ever. You believe me, don't you?
"I want to, Logan, I really do. But..."
"No buts." he pressed his finger against her lips. "Just please trust me. I promise I'm going to find out who did this to you and I'm gonna kill him, but not before he suffers long hours of torture." Veronica forced a little smile upon hearing that statement. "I swear I'm gonna find him and he will pay!"
"I don't want you to do anything. Let me handle it myself and then we'll see."
"Well then what do you want me to do? Name it, I will do anything. Whatever you want me to."
"I want you to..." she started, but didn't manage to finish as tears started streaming down her face again.
"What? Veronica, what do you want me to do?"
She didn't say anything. For a moment they stared into each other's eyes and then she wrapped her arms around his neck and nestled into his arms. He held her close, as close as humanly possible, hoping that would take her pain away. He would suffer anything if only she could be free from that nightmare. But if that couldn't happen, he was ready to do anything he could to help her get through this. And feeling his strong arms around her, it seemed like she finally realized that. She felt that he was there to help her sort this out and get through everything. After all, just feeling him close to her helped to ease the pain.
He started rubbing her arms and noticed that she was shivering.
"Hey, you're cold." he whispered, but she wouldn't let go of him.
"Not anymore." she whispered through tears and held on to him even closer. But she couldn't stop shivering so broke off the embrace and simply took her hand.
"Let's get you to bed, OK?" he smiled and lead her into her room. He sat on her bed and she followed him. She rested her head against his chest, still holding his hand. "So I assume you no longer think I raped you, huh?"
"I'm sorry Logan." she continued not lifting her head up. "I just... When I found out that you were the one with the drugs I just freaked and I..."
"Hey, I understand." he pulled her closer to him. "I wish I could say I know how you feel, but obviously I don't. But I promise I will do anything to make it easier for you. I promise."
"Well, you started off pretty nicely." she smiled and sighed. "I think I need some rest. It's been a tough day."
"Sure." he smiled and paused for a while. "Do you want me to stay?"
"No... I mean I do, but my dad would freak if he saw you here so I think it's better if you go."
"Yeah, you're probably right. Will you be OK?" he asked concerned.
"I'm not sure, but I'll try to be." she sighed.
"Well, if you need anything, you know where to find me." he kissed her forehead.
"Yes I do."
"Well, I guess this is goodnight then. So... Goodnight Veronica."
"Goodnight." she whispered and watched him leave the room. "Logan!" she called out when he was already gone.
"Yes?" he appeared at the door.
"Thank you for coming today and for not giving up on me."
"How could I ever give up on you?"
"I thought you were a rapist, isn't that enough reason?" she asked, knowing how much her accusations must have hurt him.
"Naaah, it takes more than that. You'd have to kill me to make me give up on you." he said in a serious tone, but she couldn't help but smile. It was him again. It was her Logan. And she knew he would never hurt her.
"That I won't do." she said with a weak laugh.
"Well OK then, good to know." he winked at her and once again tenderly kissed her forehead. "See you."
"See you." she replied and watched him leave. She was so glad it wasn't him who raped her. And now she was sure of that. And she was so relieved that this whole thing was not going to screw things up for her. And for her and Logan. He was the real deal and she knew that. She wasn't sure how their relationship was going to go, but she knew Logan was going to help her deal with everything. And she was sure they would be OK at the end.
THE END