(James McArthur - Recovery)

Deceit lies and contract alibis. There was so much of it in Neptune it was enough to wrap a marshmallow heart in barbed wire. Yet for such an impressive resume, Veronica Mars looked as intimidating as a teddy bear in combat boots as she picked absently at the label on her soda bottle.

There was no mistaking that fierce intelligence in those cornflower blue eyes, or the sharp as a blade wit that kept most people on edge. It was part of what Logan loved about her, being with around her, challenging her and loving her felt like an adrenaline rush. She could be an acquired taste to some, but as cliché as it sounded, she was as essential to him as air, gravity and the Sun itself. Everything about her demanded authenticity and being present. Her unspoken rule was clear, show up as your full self, no faking it or it only proved to her that you couldn't be trusted.

"You two gotta stop looking at like you want to take a bite out of each other when I'm trying to eat my food," Wallace complained to Veronica as they watched her boyfriend walk through the cafeteria.

"I'm starting to feel like the Hearst location budget for this portion of my movie life is underfunded, feels like the only time I see you is when we are surrounded by plastic trays and plastic cheese" Logan commented partially listening to the snatches of conversations here and there and kissed his girlfriend on the cheek, slotting into the seat next to her. "No Mac?"

Veronica had accompanied the petite brunette to the Neptune Women's Health Centre earlier, his girlfriend had spent a good portion of the morning using the free slot in her schedule now that Professor Landry was still in custody to accompany Mac to the ultrasound appointment.

All these missed criminology classes and the guy was still killing it on Rate-My-Prof.

"She's meeting with her professor and the campus financial aid officer about her scholarship terms" Wallace said no disguising the criticism in his tone. He was still in favour of finding their own Hearst version of a CIA black site to encourage some better behavior from Dick Casablancas.

Mac was pregnant.

Pro-life Promotional Day had apparently given them a stuffed animal with a recording of the heartbeat in it to prove that very fact. Ultrasound pictures showing a small bean shaped shadow detonated that Hydrogen Truth Bomb into reality.

Logan nodded uncomfortably as Veronica shifted closer to him with cat-like elegance and he wrapped an arm over her shoulder. This girl had his heart doing double takes. It would be highly inappropriate to nuzzle his face to the curve of her neck but it felt good to finally be reconnected. Ever since she had agreed to marry him it was like the world was moving in currents he'd never noticed before.

"I'm tempted to put a tracker on her just in case she ends up tied up in the trunk of that Neanderthals car" Veronica quipped as students began multiplying like bacteria in the cafeteria.

Guiltily he winced at the memory of junior year when he'd scoffed at the idea of Dick Casablancas ever breeding. He just couldn't understand what the Hell Dick was thinking. The high powered lawyers and private security firm Dick had set loose on Mac today had crossed a line. A non-disclosure agreement sure, but sending a goon squad to camp outside her dorm less than 12 hours after their disagreement? The memory of how big a mistake it had been to have someone follow Veronica around set his teeth on edge.

What the hell had his morally misguided buddy been thinking? It wasn't like she'd take out a billboard.

"Piz announced the literary council started a Go-Fund-Me page in aid of Weevil's family. There was a little opposition from Lilith House about memorializing an ex-con but with any luck if we can keep the Lampoon from printing anything to antagonize them, we should be able to help out" Amira said thankfully changing the subject.

Logan understood Wallace's position on the matter and how everyone thought Dick should be handling things, but it wasn't so clean cut. The whole thing felt toxic. There was other stuff going on and a side other than hedonistic playboy this kangaroo court knew nothing about.

He regretted agreeing to keep Mac's secret from Dick. Veronica was right, secrets were poison, and they rarely ended well.

Richard Casablancas Snr was back which made the loose fragile threads of his f equilibrium even looser. He didn't have to worry about destructive spirals because Dick wasn't a neurotic drinker and a compulsive gambler or so he thought until Logan got back to the Penthouse and found his roommates stuff gone and revised costings from management informing him that his payments would no longer be shared.

"Can you reach him?" Veronica asked softly, shooting him an assessing glance as Logan tried to call his best man but got no answer. Silently he shook his head. Dick had moved out without saying a word.

Would the real Dick Casablancas please stand up?

He'd rather take a double dose of trash talking that his best friend be giving him the silent treatment. There had been as much warmth in his roommates eyes as crushed ice this morning before he'd left.

Nothing was going to change the past but he should have been paying closer attention…

It had been a turbulent past year, and he felt guilty for the first time realizing that for Dick, behind the sunny frat boy mask he wore so well that the blackest pit of the worst Hell was his living nightmare. Hell-bent on anonymous sex with a parade of girls that had been coming in and out of his hotel suite, running off to Vegas… disappearing for days like it was spring break at random house parties, anything to whelve the loss and the guilt.

He'd quickly updated Veronica in on the car ride back to his penthouse about the reappearance of Richard Snr and asked that she not be so quick to condemn this brooding, menacing version of his friend who seemed intent to only open his mouth the last few days to change his feet.

"Any idea where he could have gone?" she asked when he turned to absorb all the details of her symmetrical features, electric blue eyes pulling him out of his reverie. Veronica Mars could make the world go away with a look.

"A rustic resort out in the boonies?" he sighed curling his arm around her slim waist. "The hot blondes in my life do love to fill my world with drama."

"You think Dick is hot?" Veronica asked raising an eye-brow, the ghost of a smile tipped his mouth.

"Mac thinks Dick is hot," he amended giving her a kiss on the forehead.

"Yeah, they rocked that boat like the Titanic," Veronica quipped sardonically.

Heart breakers tend to be good in the sack.

"Usually you would be whipping out the crossbows in times like this," Logan observed quietly. In fact, Veronica had been rather reserved on the whole issue. Between Weevils murder and everything going on between Mac and Dick, they had barely discussed anything.

"Right now I'm just wishing I could channel the Mentalist," she confessed, scarcely hearing her own words. Solve everything by breakfast… "Sometimes I wish the drama would just stick to Netflix."

Those sky-blue eyes seemed ready for a storm and he reached out cupping her face, his amber eyes pleading with her for patience. Dick was going to be part of her life now, as much as she had issues with the lecherous playboy in the past, she'd seen his loyalty to the people she cared about, and Logan seemed convinced that there was more to this than it seemed.

"I need you to let me handle Dick," he breathed. "Can you trust me?"

"I trust you," Veronica said arching into his touch, her limbs felt like they had the strength of melted butter. "Always."