DISCLAIMER: Characters of Veronica Mars, the canon events of their storylines, and recognizable dialogue belong to Rob Thomas.
A/N:
Make sure you haven't missed anything posted recently:
* this chapter was posted on 5 June 2018 ... the SAME DAY as Chapter 11
[CH 11 = the week after Homecoming, including an argument in the parking lot of Java the Hut]
* Chapter 10 was posted on 2 June 2018
[CH 10 = weekend at B&B]
* Chapter 9 was posted on 4 May 2018
[CH 9 = Homecoming dance]
[
"Missing scenes" from Chapter 10 and 11 are revealed here in this chapter.
If you haven't read those chapters, click back to them before continuing to read below.
[
This chapter contains bits of #2.6 "Rat Saw God," #2.7 "Nobody Puts Baby in a Corner," #2.8 "Ahoy Mateys," and #2.9 "My Mother, the Fiend."
Chapter 12
Less than 36 hours after the argument in the parking lot of Java the Hut, I pulled into the school parking lot with Spanish lyrics blaring from my speakers. My mind translated lyrics that my heart wished it did not comprehend:
"I don't know how to live without you
I can't forget you
This emptiness is so immense I can't breathe"
From behind my sunglasses, I watched the PCHers closely enough to know they heard the song. None of them looked sympathetic. Weevil's face was like granite.
It looked like it was going to be an unbearable day. To be expected, I guess, since it followed one of the worst weeks ever.
The death of a trusted friend. Attending a funeral where many considered me unwelcome.
An unwanted kiss from Logan on Friday. A painful kiss-off from Weevil on Saturday.
Kiss kiss. Bang bang. It felt like my life was imploding and exploding at the same time. This blonde had a bombshell dropped on her. And there was very little I could do about it right now … other than let the dust settle and deal with the fallout.
I had cried most of the day Sunday. I was physically and emotionally exhausted. Dad was understandably concerned. He invited the Fennels over that evening for pizza and a movie, hoping to cheer me up.
Wallace had asked me, "What happens now?"
I gave him the only reply that I could: "I honestly don't know."
Life had been brutal recently. Who am I kidding? The past two years had been brutal.
No explanation from Duncan when he broke up with me. Lilly murdered. My mother drinking heavily and then deserting us. The events at Shelly Pomroy's party. The possibility that I was Jake Kane's daughter. Aaron Echolls trying to kill me and get the evidence I had against him. The bus crash … Cervando dead … me in a coma. The PCH mess brought about by what Thumper was involved in … Felix's death … and the effect of that on Eli and his relationship with me.
Life had definitely been much simpler when I had yet to experience the darker aspects of life in Neptune.
When the movie ended and the Fennels finally went home, I showered and got my things ready for Monday morning. Attempting, but failing to go to sleep, I laid in bed thinking. Appropriately, these lyrics floated through my mind:
"Lying in my bed, I hear the clock tick and think of you.
Caught up in circles, confusion is nothing new.
Flashback: warm nights almost left behind,
suitcases of memories …"
My mind was running through events and conversations during the past several weeks – much of which I could remember, some of which was foggy. The doctor had told me to expect that when I didn't sleep well, my brain would have trouble filing the memories from the previous day for later recall. It was frustrating for many reasons.
I've always relied on my brain. Along with my disarming wit and charm, my brain is my weapon of choice. I'm not Xena or Buffy or Wonder Woman. I wasn't born with physical strength to spare. Now, if I could find the geniuses who put the extra hardware into the Bionic Woman, maybe I could fight off the bad guys with girl power. But in my current body, I really needed my mind to be running at peak capacity.
There were not that many fuzzy spots or holes in recent events, but there were a few. Although that concerned me, I really didn't have the time to dwell on that.
Mostly, I was thankful that Felix and Weevil had worked out a plan ahead of time. And that Weevil and I had had a chance to talk about how this stage of it would go down.
Memories from Homecoming weekend played in my head. I found it hard to believe that had only been a week ago. One hellishly long week.
When Brigida had delivered the news about Felix, the romantic setting of our suite abruptly became a war room. After she left us alone, Eli finally told me what Felix had said in his voicemail: he had overheard a conversation Thumper had with his girl. Reading between the lines of what Felix said, we now had a better idea what Thumper was up to. That was good.
But Felix added – after apologizing for ruining our weekend – that it might be time to put the plan in motion because Thumper was acting twitchy. Maybe Thumper knew that Felix had heard them talking. If so, that was not good. Not good at all.
As soon as he finished telling me about the message, Eli called Letty to get an update. That was when we found out Felix had been taken back into surgery.
While Eli had been in the shower, he got another voicemail from a number he did not recognize. After talking to his grandma, he began to listen to the new voicemail and quickly put it on speaker so I could hear. It was Felix's voice. Apparently, he had regained consciousness long enough to borrow someone's phone to call Eli with more information. Letty hadn't mentioned him waking up. We wondered if anyone knew he had been awake long enough to tell someone what happened.
Here's what we found out from his message: Thumper figured out that Felix knew at least some of what he had been doing, but Felix had convinced him that he hadn't told Eli anything yet. So, the two of us should be safe for now.
He also explained what happened on the bridge. When they found Logan, he was drunk, standing on the railing, and looking for a fight. He kicked Hector in the head and knocked him out. Thumper pulled him down and started beating him. Everyone else joined in. Felix had given orders to a few of the guys to take care of Hector's bike and get him out of there. Somewhere in the chaos, Thumper must have sent all of the others on their way, leaving Felix alone with him and Logan. The last thing Felix remembered was the look on Thumper's face as he lunged toward him with a knife in his hand.
As we listened to Felix's message, we had to make some assumptions because some of his thoughts were unfinished. He seemed groggy as he spoke. It got worse toward the end. The last thing he said was: "Watch your back. And take care of your girl."
When we finished discussing the voicemails and listening to each of them a second time, Eli forwarded them to me before deleting them from his phone.
Then, I pulled up a picture on my phone screen and showed it to him – one of Eli and Felix together. I could see the weight of the situation hit him as he looked at the photo. Pulling him into a hug, I said, "Let it out. Once we get back to Neptune, we'll both need to be on our guard. If your emotions get in the way, it could put both of us in danger – and you know it."
Anger and shock shifted to sobering concern and overwhelming sadness. I held him until we ran out of tears.
Finally, we talked about the plan. The backup plan that he and Felix had devised. Now, the two of us would have to try to pull this off by ourselves. Our hand had been forced. We weren't entirely surprised. In fact, we had expected that something would force us to act. But there was no way we could have seen this coming.
Bri made us eat a little something before we left. After she was satisfied that we were both okay to drive, she had Ben unlock Eli's motorcycle. She went all maternal on him when she was saying goodbye. It was obvious how worried she was.
As he walked me to my car, I was reminded of a scene in the movie Some Kind of Wonderful – the one where Watts tries to talk Keith out of going head-to-head with the school's obligatory psychotic jackass. She had said to him: "In another year, you're gone. Better to swallow pride than blood."
Much as I would have liked to encourage Eli to take the path of least violence, I knew there was no way out of this that wasn't messy.
All I could do was say "I love you" and remind him to be careful.
[
My mind had drifted as I drove back to Neptune that day. Although I had taken care of some details prior to that, there were still things to be done. I used the time alone in the car to run through a mental checklist.
Even before I knew exactly what he and Felix were planning, it was obvious that we would need to have tech support in place. With Dad's approval, I had purchased disposable cellphones, plus extra GPS trackers. I found a cross pendant that looked almost exactly like the one Eli usually wore, but this new one had a GPS tracker and a bug. If he was wearing it, I would be able to locate him and hear what was going on.
Although I would occasionally be checking Weevil's location and listening to the surveillance recordings at the end of each day, Mac would be monitoring the locations of all the trackers and phones throughout the day. If something happened to either of us, she would let my dad know ASAP.
As she liked to remind me: "Please, respect the business model, Veronica. I do the gadgets. You do the actual espionage."
[
We weren't sure how long we would have before we would put the next phase of our plan into motion. We just knew it would be soon. The week after Felix's death, we had to use our time wisely, while looking for an opportunity to knock over the first domino.
That opportunity came in the form of a drunken former friend. I had told Eli that Logan kept trying to talk to me at school and that he dropped by The Hut regularly. Last Friday night, as soon as I realized that Thumper had been watching when Logan tried to kiss me, I called Eli. I told him what happened, adding, "You'll probably be hearing from him soon."
About an hour later, I got a call from him on my burner phone. He said that Thumper had just played him a video of the kiss, but it cut out before the knee and the taser. Thumper had already shown it to the rest of the PCHers. For months, he had been trying to convince them that if Weevil were an effective leader, then he would be "able to control his woman."
With resignation in his voice, he said, "This is it."
"I know."
"We need to make this look good."
"I know that, too."
"I've got some time now for us to rehearse. I told the boys that I'm gonna meet up with the chick from the other weekend."
And he was. Because he was talking about being with me at the B&B.
"Let me make a call. See you there in 20 minutes," I told him.
[
I had made arrangements with Leo to use his band's rehearsal space when it came time for us to practice our breakup fight. The soundproof walls meant that we didn't have to worry about anyone overhearing.
When we first got there, I asked him how he was doing. Even though I knew he wouldn't want to talk about it much, the funeral had been earlier in the day. Since we had already begun playing to the audience, we had barely spoken to one another at the church or cemetery. When I had reached out to him, he had pulled away from my touch. However here in this room alone, he let me hold him as he simply replied, "It was a rough day."
Then, we took some time to talk about how the fight should go. He wanted the PCHers right there to see it. We knew it needed to be soon and decided on the next night. After some improv in normal tones of voice, we did a full run-through with the shouting, the glaring, and the threatening.
I had almost forgotten this part of his personality. After getting to know his softer side, it was easy to forget how truly dangerous he could be. I was glad that we were actually on the same side of this fight.
Although I had seen him angry before, I'd never seen him like this. If I weren't completely sure of his love for me, I'd have been scared out of my mind. Frightening doesn't begin to describe the look in his eyes and the way the muscles around them narrowed, not to mention his clenched fists and the tight muscles around his set jaw.
He worked himself into a rage. And that rage made him even more imposing than normal. He seemed taller; his shoulders and chest broader.
The furious words he spat at me felt like punches. We had never been a couple who fought. And I was incredibly thankful for that. Because both of us had deadly aim. The impact of his words hit my gut, spun my head, and bruised my heart.
He walked away from me when he had said, "Then, I guess we're done."
Setting my bag down, I turned my back to him so he wouldn't see how much it had affected me. What I didn't realize was how much it had affected him. He paced on the other side of the room for a couple minutes and then walked up behind me.
Gently placing his hands on my arms, he asked, "Are you okay?"
I didn't know how to answer that.
Cautiously, he moved his hands to my hips. "Nena, talk to me."
Leaning back against him, I said, "Don't wanna talk. No more words right now."
His voice was soft in my ear, "Okay. What do you need?"
Every fiber of my being ached. I ached with yearning for Eli's touch and in grief over Felix's death.
I rolled his question over in my head. What did I need right now?
While I was considering my answer, he wrapped his arms around my waist and kissed the side of my neck.
A few seconds later, I turned around in his embrace. Looking directly into his eyes, I boldly said, "I need you. Now. I need to feel how much you love me."
He took in my words, but also the look that must have been on my face. I could tell that he saw how hurt I was by the fake fight. And I could tell from his eyes that it had been painful for him too. For the next half hour or so, we expressed enough passion to remove the pain.
At one point during sex, he asked, "You know how much I love you, Mia – don't you? Eres mía. You're mine. And I'm yours." With each thrust, he ordered me, "Say it, Mia. Say you're mine."
"I'm yours."
"Again."
"I'm yours."
"Only mine."
"Only yours."
After his release, he dropped his head to rest on my shoulder and whispered, "Again, Mia."
"I'm yours." Then, I gave him a kiss that was much more tender than the sex had been. "And you're mine."
He leaned his forehead into mine. "I wish I had words to explain what I feel for you, how much I feel for you."
"I told you that I didn't want words right now," I teased. "Besides, 'I love you' works pretty well when the person means what they're saying."
A few minutes later, our clothes were back on, he had disposed of the condom, and we were ready to leave.
Taking me in his arms again, he said, "I hate that we have to do this, but I need more time to figure things out. Hopefully, this will give both of us a little cover while I do that." He held my face, his thumbs stroking my cheekbones as he said, "Please forgive me for anything I have to say or do to make this convincing in front of them."
"There's nothing to forgive. Just … be careful." After several goodbye kisses that could easily have led to more sex, I asked, "When Logan inevitably comes up to talk to me, how do you want me to play it?"
"We have to assume Thumper saw the whole thing. If you play nice with Logan, he'll know something's up. Just deal with it when it happens. You could be a little distraught and heartbroken after our 'breakup.' But don't you dare let him comfort you."
Making my best sad face, I asked, "Am I allowed to let anyone comfort me?"
"Backup," he said, deadly serious. "Okay, your dad. Maybe Wallace. Mac. Other female friends." Reacting to my facial expression, he continued, "I'm serious. A lot of guys wouldn't hesitate to take advantage of a vulnerable young lady. Especially one as beautiful as yourself." With a hand tenderly placed on the right side of my face and neck, he whispered into my left ear, "When this is over, I will do whatever it takes to help you get over the pain."
His touch, his words, and his seductive tone caused a shiver to run through my body.
It took a moment for me to gather my next thought. "Guess when I get home, I have to tell Dad what's coming down tomorrow. I wouldn't be surprised if he watches from a distance. Just in case they try anything. Oh – and I need to at least send Mac and Wallace a quick text so they can prepare themselves."
He gave me one more kiss before saying, "Text me on the burner if we need to reschedule the fight. Otherwise, see you tomorrow night after work."
[
[
All day at work on Saturday, I kept running through the script of the fight in my head. I tried to prepare myself. And I thought I was. Prepared, that is. I thought I was prepared for what it would feel like to fake the fight and the breakup, but it was harsher than I anticipated and more painful than I could have imagined. Worst part was, neither of us knew how long we would have to carry on this charade.
We had begun to lay the foundation for the fake breakup when I was at the hospital the day Felix died. The way Eli snapped at me and told me to leave. The way he distanced himself from me and the fact that he wouldn't allow me to offer him physical comfort that day in the waiting room or at the funeral. The way he treated me at school – like I was merely a source of information and a convenient piece of ass. All of those things added up to the narrative we wanted people to believe – that the rumors were true, that our relationship was in trouble, that he didn't trust me, that he was using me.
After crying my way through Sunday, I played the wounded ex-girlfriend when I arrived at school Monday morning. I settled into a new routine of emotional expression – looking slightly spaced out most of the time, interspersed with strategically placed longing glances. I think my performance was convincing. His certainly was. The old swagger was back with the accompanying cold, calculating stare. Damn. He almost had me convinced.
My plan that day was fairly simple: avoid him as much as possible. That worked for the first few hours. But then, he bumped into me in the hallway between classes.
"Miss me that much? You have to find an excuse to touch me?"
Thumper commented something about another girl named Mia. A wicked grin played at the corner of Eli's mouth.
It was painful to let this play out like an ex-boyfriend torturing me in front of his friends. But I steeled myself against the coming words and let the pain show in my expression.
After a few seconds of glaring at me, he laughed and said, "Where do you think I was the other weekend? When my phone was off and all your calls went straight to voicemail?"
I'm sure that I looked stunned, but I didn't respond.
When he walked away, Mac said, "I know this is fake, but that was pretty harsh. You don't think he's actually seeing this Mia chick, do you?"
"Yeah, he is." Lowering my voice, I added, "That's his private nickname for me."
Mac's eyes went wide as she softly exclaimed, "Oh!"
[
That afternoon, I was in the office to drop something off. Eli bumped into me again.
Grabbing my arm, he kept his voice low as he asked, "Do we need to set up a time to meet?"
My words were soft, but my body language would read as if he was harassing me. "No. I'm fine."
"Doesn't look like you're fine. This is all an act?"
"90% of it anyway. You need to quit acting like a concerned boyfriend."
"Something I should be concerned about?"
"Yeah. Solve the case. Fast. So this can be over."
[
[
The next evening, I was listening to the recording captured from the new cross pendant I had given Eli. He had been called to Miss James' office. She explained that I had talked to her.
I made arrangements for Mac to tutor him during our fake breakup. He would need to switch to another history section so he had study hall at the same time as Mac's independent study. They would meet in the conference room next to Miss James' office and she would sit at the other end of the table doing paperwork during the tutoring session.
Keeping our circle as small as possible, I had not let Miss James in on the fact that the breakup wasn't real.
She explained to him that it was his choice, but she strongly recommended that he take this option so that he would not fall behind in his classes. He told her to set it up and let him know when it would start.
At the end of the day, Miss James followed Eli out of the building to tell him that his new schedule would start the next day. "Here is the form to give to your study hall teacher tomorrow. Just show up there for attendance each day. Here is a permanent hall pass for that class period from now 'til the end of the semester … in case you get stopped on the way to my office."
By that point, he must have had a good view of the parking lot.
I heard him say, "Thanks, Miss James. I gotta get going."
"Is everything okay, Eli?"
"All due respect, we're not in a counseling session. I don't have to answer your questions."
"You're right. But if you need to talk …"
"I know where to find you."
I had been there to hear and see what happened next. As he got on his bike, he glanced over at Thumper and a couple others who had gathered around my car. He whistled and waved them over like he was impatient to leave. Even from a distance, he was protecting me.
What I couldn't hear at the time was this: "Just leave her alone. She's not worth the effort. Bigger things to deal with. Vámonos."
[
[
While I was faking a breakup (but not the aching heart – because this was getting to me more than I would ever admit to Eli), Dad was busy with a few cases. He knew I was already overloaded, so he did not ask for any assistance beyond fielding calls and a quick background check for Cliff.
My father was still working on getting the other Manning girls away from their parents. The lawyer for their aunt, Chris Talley, seemed to think they needed just a bit more evidence to ensure the custody case went their way. I, for one, would be thrilled to see the two younger sisters reunited with Meg in Seattle. That would be the happiest ending for them that I could imagine.
Dad had also recently been hired by the parents of Marcos Oliveres, one of the kids who died in the bus crash. They seemed to think that the school board was trying to scare them. Mac provided a bit of tech support. In the process, she identified Marcos as Cap'n Krunk of "Ahoy Mateys" fame – well, as famous as one can get hosting a pirate radio show with a cult following made up almost exclusively of Neptune High students. Amazing that he had been able to keep it a secret, but then, he had barely opened his mouth at school.
In between other cases, Dad was still tracking down leads on the bus crash. I didn't realize how much time he had been spending on that until I stumbled upon a dead rat in the office freezer. When I asked him about it, he told me that he had gone to take a look at the bus after they brought it up. Although he didn't get to spend as much time there as he would have liked because a security guard had shown up, he did find the rat taped to the bottom of a seat. Neither of us was sure what it meant, but it would explain the smell that caused most of the 09ers to rent a limo for the drive home.
As our conversation was ending, Dad admitted, "You were right, Veronica. I should have run for Sheriff. I should have taken over this case."
[
[
Amidst all the crazy that was already swirling at Neptune High School, there was another scandal at school. One not related to the bus crash or the murder of a gang member. Apparently, our school is filled with overachievers – which is not necessarily a good thing.
Even after it all came crashing down, I was still trying to figure out precisely who had anonymously given information to the tabloid that outed the guilty party. There were details from police records and news articles from 1980 and school records dating back to 1979. The events had occurred during my mother's time at Neptune High and hers was one of the familiar names that appeared in the recent tabloid stories. Other names were Deborah Hauser (now teacher, then student), Van Clemmons (then a young science teacher), and the Vice Principal at the time, Alan Moorehead.
If you believe the scuttlebutt and the yarn printed as fact, Principal Moorehead had gotten a student pregnant. She left the baby on his doorstep. Then, he left the baby in a girl's restroom at the school on prom night.
Trina Echolls finally had her fifteen minutes of fame separate from the Echolls family name. She had known that she was adopted, but not that she was "the prom baby," which is what the news articles at the time had dubbed her.
I'm fairly certain that her real mother – a lunch lady named Mary Mooney, who had been a friend of my mother – would have been happy to live in obscurity. That would only be possible when this scandal faded into the background after a new one was exposed.
The primary results were the firing of Mr. Moorehead and the promotion of Mr. Clemmons.
My overactive imagination would point out that Clemmons did not seem a bit sad about his new title of Principal. Although he had never struck me as the type of person to whack someone in the knee with a crowbar to satisfy his craving for a gold medal, he really was the only one to benefit from the scandal. Well, aside from Trina being in the center ring of the media circus.
[
[
It had become my habit to listen to surveillance audio each evening, just to be sure things were going according to plan – or at least, not going off the rails.
During a tutoring session, Eli was working on a particularly difficult math problem. It made me nostalgic for the days when our relationship was a secret and we weren't in danger.
This particular day, Mac had been tasked with passing information. On the recording, I heard him hand her one notebook as she slid another to him. She told him that she had looked at his essay like he asked her to. She made a few suggestions.
Sliding her laptop in front of him, she said, "Also, you might want to take a look at this chart. You might find it helpful."
On the screen was some info from me. The top page of the notebook she had slid over to him contained two gmail addresses and the password for his.
Tapping the computer screen, she said to him, "If you find that helpful, I could email it to you."
"Yeah. That'd be great. Thanks."
I could hear him tear a page from the notebook and fold it up. All of this was happening right under Miss James' nose and she was none the wiser.
Mac was tutoring him every day, which gave him more time after school to find out what Thumper had been up to and to solve Felix's murder. She was able to pass information to him. And I was able to listen in. Hearing his voice when he was with Mac helped me know how he was really doing. It was harder to tell when he was with the PCHers, putting on an act for Thumper and any of the others who might be helping him.
By the time I listened to the recording of the most recent tutoring session, the information he had been looking at was already waiting in his inbox, along with some additional stuff I had found after he met with Mac.
I was about to fast-forward through the recording when I heard that he was still talking to Mac as they walked out of the conference room.
"Need you to keep an eye on her for me."
"You know she's listening to this, right?"
"Yeah. She can punch me later." There was a brief pause, then he lowered his voice even more. "There are some gaps in her memory. And she gets dizzy, has trouble with her balance. I'm not sure if she's told you or if you've noticed, but I need to know that someone's looking out for her when I can't."
Later that day, I got an email reply from Eli thanking me for setting up the tutoring sessions and email accounts so we could pass information. He also mentioned that he was glad that my health class project was over. He couldn't handle seeing Duncan and me co-parenting – even if it wasn't a real baby, but rather an "animatronic parental lifestyle simulator."
[
[
Logan had been arrested within 24 hours of Felix's death, but he had made bail the next day. When Sheriff Lamb gave him a ride home, they found the place all lit up with flashing lights, not to mention the flames engulfing the house.
I heard about it the next day, of course. But I also got a flurry of texts and an email from Eli with an attached document. Logan had purchased his grandmother's house. Rather than harassing them by doing something like raising their rent, he chose to evict them.
When Logan had come to me asking for help, I agreed to assist Cliff with his case, but it would have to be on my terms.
"What exactly are these terms?"
"You can't evict his family. He didn't order them to do this."
"Why are you so concerned about your ex?"
Opting not to answer his question, I simply asked him one in return. "Do we have a deal?"
"Will you give me your friends and family rate?"
Extending my hand toward him, we shook on it.
As soon as I had a moment to myself, I texted Eli's burner phone: house situation solved.
A couple seconds later, my phone buzzed with an incoming call.
"How'd you manage that so fast?"
"You won't like it."
"That usually my line." He laughed and then became serious again. "Tell me anyway."
"Doing some work for Cliff, who happens to be representing Logan."
"You're right. I don't like it. But it's better than being homeless. Thanks."
"Don't mention it."
"No, I think I will mention it. Seriously … thank you. When all this is over, I'll make sure she knows you're the one who did this."
"I don't want credit. I just want you safe. And back in my arms again."
"Soon, Mia."
A/N:
Hopefully, this chapter eased some of the pain and anxiety caused by Chapter 10 & 11. That's why I decided to post these three chapters within a week of each other.
As I'm sure you can guess, there is still some bumpy terrain ahead during the remaining months of senior year, while they deal with Thumper and the bus crash.
Songs mentioned in this chapter: "No se vivir sin ti" – David Bustamante (2002) and "Time After Time" – Cyndi Lauper (1983)
Thanks for reading! Until next time …
~Jen
5 June 2018
nena = baby
eres mía = you're mine
vámonos = let's go