History Repeats

Disclaimer: I still don't own VM or any of its characters. Let me know how you like it!

Even under three layers of covers she seemed cold. Logan could feel her shaking, sedated through sleeping pills though she was. He knew better than most how unable Veronica was to let go of things, even in sleep.

He wasn't sure she was going to get though it this time, the grief, which he knew would begin to gnaw at her. It never ceased to amaze him that for someone who spends her days proving the assumed guilty innocent, she was never able to do such a favor for herself. He knows the guilt she holds for Lily's death, the bus crash and even this, as irrational and misguided, as it seems. No much how much evidence she had stacked against others, including himself, she was always her own prime suspect. Everything always was and still remains somehow her fault. He doesn't have a clue how she copes. As he wiped away stray tears from Veronica's face, he shuttered realizing that he was about to get yet another front row seat to her so-called "coping".

The call came last night just as Logan was about to go to bed. He and Dick were finally on speaking terms after Cassidy, "as long as Ronnie's name stays out of conversation". Logan was about ready to abandon the friendship, but Veronica insisted that Dick needed someone, and although she wished it didn't have to be Logan, she knew that he was pretty much all Dick had left. As part of their 're-bonding" time, Dick convinced Logan that what they needed was a trip to Vegas. Logan agreed to go half hoping that Dick would find his calling among the slutty showgirls and casinos and decide to "shack up" in Nevada for a while allowing Logan to travel back to Neptune minus one slightly annoying, albeit loyal sidekick.

Logan had just made it back to his hotel room and was expecting her call. They had to set up times when they could get in touch seeing as cell phones aren't allowed in the casinos. He wasn't sure where Dick went, but Logan had had just about enough of the Vegas life. Living his life surrounded by fake people and liars didn't leave him with much of an appetite for bluffers and shady dealers with tricks up their sleeves.

Enter Veronica…Logan didn't understand how that worked either.

When the phone rang, Logan didn't even look at the ID. He had few callers these days, and with Dick gallivanting in cell phone restricted areas that left precious few people who would be calling.

"Hey baby," he answered smoothly while looking at his watch. It was 1 am on the dot. "You called not one second past our scheduled time, careful or I'll start to think you miss me or something". He waited to hear her bite back a response. He had been waiting to hear her voice all night, the cool banter with a hint of underlying affection. Veronica has a uniquely distinctive tone to her voice that Logan can't get enough of. Luckily for him, his Ronnie is a talker. Which is why he was concerned when she didn't automatically start with an effortless comment about sequenced strippers with their legs in the air.

"Ronnie, you there?" He asked, figuring she must have just put down the phone for a second or gotten distracted by something in her line of vision. When he heard her voice, calm and oddly dull, lacking its usual vibrancy, he immediately began packing his clothes.

"Hey Logan" she sniffled. He could hear her trying to compose herself, her breath hitching in the distance as in his mind he could see her turning her mouth away from the phone to hide the evidence of her breakdown.

"What happened?" Logan asked, in a serious voice without hesitation. He always preferred bad news to be delivered quickly…like ripping off a band-aid. Still, his stomach dropped and his head began to pound with the idea that something else had gone wrong. While he may have had plenty of experience learning the best way to hear bad news, in the end, his most valuable lesson was simply that regardless of the delivery, it still sucked.

There was a slight pause on the other end of the phone. Logan could tell that Veronica was trying her best to control her voice and keep it together. Still, he was amazed with the clear, piercing tone of her voice as she managed to choke out,

"Wallace is dead."

Before she lost her battle with Composure and dissolved into gut-wrenching sobs.