When the door opened the green eyed girl took one look at her best friend and asked, "Are you okay?"

The petite blonde let her in the Mars household and nodded, "Yeah but you know that stupid stick hurt me."

"Logan's penis?" Lilly piped with a slight curve of her lip.

Her blue eyes widened slightly and she shook her head. "No, I went for a scan today," she informed her best friend. "And you know," she gestured with her hands. "That thing they push up there."

"Why didn't you tell me?" The older blonde frowned. "I'd have come with you."

"It's okay," she assured her best friend. "Logan came with."

Once the duo settled in Veronica's room, the petite blonde retrieved the sonogram from her bag and gave it to Lilly. "Aw," the heiress cooed. "Is that little blob the baby?"

Veronica gave a small nod of affirmation as she settled beside Lilly. "Yeah." She swallowed and admitted, "I want the baby, Lil, but at the same time I feel like I can't do this."

"If you want the baby. You can have the baby, Veronica," Lilly gave her a small smiled of reassurance and hugged her. "You'll be an amazing mom." She wasn't sure what else she could say to Veronica. She wished she could be of more help but what else could she do? It was Veronica's decision to make.

Veronica felt better at the assurance and support of her best friend but that didn't erase all of her worries. She'd ran countless scenarios in her mind and yet she still didn't know what was the best option.

She knew that Logan wanted to keep the baby. She knew that she wanted to keep the baby. But was what they wanted really the best option? Could they raise a baby? Was Logan right that we needed to have an emotionally satisfying solution and keep the baby? Or was the logical route of adoption the best option?

"What's this?" Veronica frowned when Logan handed her a big yellow envelope.

He tugged at his sleeve and swallowed. "It's a drafted contract. I wrote it out as a starting point. we can work out the legalities of it once you've made a decision."

Her eyebrows creased with confusion. "A contract? Logan, what are you talking about?"

"I'm gonna stick by you, Veronica," he told her in a gently firm voice. "Okay? If we have this baby. I'm gonna be there. And this is financial security."

Her eyes widened when she drew out the papers from the envelope. She stared at him with disbelief. "God, Logan!" Hurt colored her eyes. "This isn't about your money!"

"I know," he whispered. Lilly had confided in him about some of Veronica's reservations and he'd gotten the idea of providing her with the security that she needed. He'd decided that if he could ease her anxieties then he would. It wasn't like he had experience in the matter but he figured that he could try. Try to show her that he's serious.

"I'm scared too, Veronica," he admitted in a low whisper. "And I know you have reservations about me being there. I'm just trying to be mature about this and I'm trying do right by you, right by me and make the right decision for us."

Her anger and hurt faded when she realized his true intentions. He'd only been trying to help. That's all he's been doing since... since always.

"This isn't me forcing you to keep the baby, Veronica. But if I'm the reason you don't want to. If you think I'm gonna change my mind and run away or something. I'm not. I'm not forcing your hand here, Veronica. I just want you to make the decision based on what's best for you. And I need you to understand that I'm here. Always," he looked at her with his pleading brown eyes. "Trust me."

Her breath hitched at the intensity of his words and after a moment of aching silence passed between them, she whispered, "I do." Her eyes looked with his as she tore up the drafted contract and said, "I trust you."

His lip tugged at a smile and she offered him a soft smile as she continued, "You said that I'd be the one person you chose to be with you if you were stuck on an island." She took in breath and told him her decision, "We're stuck on an island. And I'm choosing to do this with you."

His eyes widened slightly, he moved closer to her and asked, "Does that mean?"

"Yeah," she let out with a nod. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her into a hug, she melted in his embrace. In a whisper, she said, "My dad's gonna kill us."

He pulled away, slightly shook his head and corrected her, "Your dad's gonna kill me. You, he adores. Me? I got his daughter pregnant." He took her hands in his and idly laced their fingers together. "His only daughter. The apple of his eye."

She let out a nervous chuckle. She wasn't sure of how her father would react. Anger. Disappointment. Disapproval. All valid emotions of a father of a pregnant sixteen year old girl. She knew he wouldn't abandon her. He loved her, no matter what. But she wasn't so sure if she could handle his disappointment in her.

"You probably shouldn't be there when I tell him then," she suggested.

"No," he quickly declined. "C'mon. I mean seriously, he wouldn't let his grandchild grow up without it's father. Right?" His thumb ran over her fingers and he offered her a reassuring smile.

She sighed and admitted, "Logan, I really don't know how he's going to react. Maybe you should wait until after I tell him to talk to him."

"I think I prefer having you in the room. I don't know. But together sounds better."

"How do you think your parents will react?"

Logan paled at the question. He'd thought of everything else in order to avoid thinking of his father's reaction. But he knew what was in store for him. He'd pick a belt and his father would serve him his 'punishment.' The thought of making it all go away had crossed his mind. It sounded so much simpler. Abortion. No one else would know. Veronica wouldn't have had to go through disappointing her parents and he wouldn't have to suffer the slashes of the belt. Everything would be normal.

But what would that do to them? Veronica wouldn't be happy. He wouldn't be happy. Would they be able to handle the question of what could have been?

He'd read that many teenage parents have said that they did not regret their choice to keep their baby. They had terrible circumstances but their child had been the light of their life.

Would they be one of the many?

It's not like they'd have such excruciating circumstances. They didn't live povert-stricken lives. He could afford a baby. Veronica had always had maternal instincts and while the thought of being a father scared the shit out of hi and being a father at sixteen was a hellova lot scarier, he didn't repel the idea of having children. A part of him feared that he'd turn out just like his father. Another part of him wanted to give someone the love that he never had.

"Aaron Echolls, family man. He won't kick me out," he shrugged.

She bit her lip and softly asked, "Logan, are you sure you want this?"

His eyes softened and he stroked her cheek. "Yes."

It was inevitable that Logan and Duncan would have it out. A brawl in the middle of class. Over the petite blonde that held both of their affections. The once best friends sat in the nurses office, Duncan held an ice bag to his head and Logan on his knuckles.

After the nurse left them alone, Duncan eventually broke the silence and asked, "Are you even sorry?"

Logan looked at him and sighed. "I'm sorry that you and Lilly were hurt. Okay? I am. But you dumped Veronica. And you hurt her. And Lilly's hurt me more times than I can count. And just for one night we let ourselves go."

The blue eyed boy snorted, "And you got her pregnant."

"We're keeping the baby, Duncan," he told him. A part of his heart ached for the best friend that he once knew but he'd fallen for the petite blonde and the mini-them that was growing within her. "I can't apologize for the baby. Not now."

"I can't... I don't know how to handle this. You're my best friend. And she's the love..." Duncan trailed off when his brain caught up to the words that had so naturally flowed out of his lips.

A sound of disbelief left Logan's lips and he questioned, "If you love her so much why would you break up with her?"

"I had to, Logan. I can't tell you why."

"Duncan, you have to. Veronica's not just my best friend. She's the mother of my child."

"She's my sister," the words slipped out of Duncan's mouth.

Logan's eyes widened, unable to comprehend Duncan's meaning. "What?"

"Actually," Lilly voiced out as she entered the room. "Veronica's not our sister."

Duncan froze at his sister's words while Logan looked between them frantically, his brain tied their words together and he asked, "Why did Duncan think that Veronica was his sister?"

Lilly sighed. Her brother was just too naïve. Always believing everything everyone said without questioning it. "Daddy dearest and Momma Mars had an affair way back when," she filled Logan in. She turned to her brother and said, "I had a test done. And she's not a Kane."

Duncan's brows furrowed. "But mom said-"

The blonde rolled her eyes. "When are you gonna realize that our mother is worse than the wicket witch of the West? She obviously hates Veronica. Anything to keep her darling son away from the Mars girl."

Logan's eyes widened when he spotted the petite blonde frozen in a shell-shocked state. "Veronica."

Her mouth closed and she looked between the three of them.

When Veronica processed the information, she hadn't been able to believe that her usually happy-go-lucky family wasn't all happy-go-lucky. She didn't know what to do with the information. Did her dad know that her mother had cheated on him?

And an assumption had been the cause of her broken heart? She'd wrecked her brains for weeks trying to figure out what went wrong or if there was something wrong with her when all it had to do was with a over-protective mother and a boy that hid behind his mother's skirt.

Veronica swallowed as she looked at the boy that had first stolen her heart. "I did love you Duncan. But you broke my heart and it hurt."

"I didn't have a choice," he pleaded with her to understand.

Her forehead creased as she shook her head. "You could have talked to me when you found out instead of ignoring my existence." She sucked in a breath, needing more energy than she had to deal with Duncan. "Even if I weren't pregnant. I wouldn't wanna be with someone who'd hurt me like that."

"Veronica-"

"I get it," she interrupted him. "You were hurting, Duncan. But I was too. And so was Logan. And so was Lilly. But they were there for me and you just weren't."

"I'm sorry."

"Sorry as I'm trying to be nice because I want you to be my girlfriend? Or sorry as I wanna be friends again?"

"Whichever one you want."

She nodded and decided, "If you make amends with Logan. We can work on being friends."

These few months had been extremely strenuous for Veronica and Logan but they'd always been able to find solace with each other. That was until the prospect of them was brought up. Logan didn't understand what was keeping them apart from each other. And Veronica didn't understand why Logan couldn't see the bigger picture. It wasn't about them any more.

Logan cupped her cheek and affirmed, "I wanna be with you, Veronica."

She chewed on the inside of her lip. She wished she could just give into him but there was so many factors to consider now. "What happens when we don't work out, Logan? How are we going to handle that mess with a baby?"

"If we don't try, we won't know."

"The risk is too big now," she swallowed. "I don't want us to get together, then break up and make a mess of things." She took his hand away from her cheek and held onto it. "We're doing good so far. What if we can't handle the mess we make of things?"

Logan sighed. He didn't want to force her to be with him but he would fight for her. She was Veronica, she was worth it.

The blonde best friend duo was lounging in Lilly's bedroom when Lilly quizzed, "Wouldn't it be easier to just be with Logan?"

Veronica sighed. How could she make them understand? This wasn't just about her and Logan anymore. "We work well as friends. Being a couple is unexplored territory and we don't know how that's going to turn out. It's not like we're in love with each other. And what happens if we broke up? We have a baby to think about. We can't make decisions so haphazardly. Logan and I... we're bonded for life now. We can't mess it up."

The green eyed blonde quirked her eyebrow and admitted, "I think Logan's probably half way in love with you."

Her blue eyes widened as she exclaimed, "Lilly!"

She ignored Veronica's objection and continued, "And honestly? I think you are too."

The petite blonde shook her head. "Lilly, we're not-"

"Look," Lilly cut her off. "I'm just saying that I think if there's a chance that you two will be happy together, don't you think you it to yourselves to take the chance? Don't hide behind the fact of protecting the future of your baby."

"I'm not hiding anything. We're not in love with each other. We might have a mutual attraction that would have been okay to pursue if we didn't have someone else to think about."

"Veronica," she let out a soft sigh. "You're always thinking about someone else. You're thinking about my feelings, you're thinking about the baby's feelings, how about you think about your own?"

At her three month mark, Veronica had started to notice herself grow bigger and she knew that she wouldn't be able to hide her pregnancy for much longer. She had to tell her parents and she dreaded it.

Logan gave her hand a gentle squeeze in encouragement but when she looked at her father, the tears spilled out. She couldn't get the words out. Keith's eyes widened, concerned at his daughter's sudden burst in tears. He'd noticed that she'd been going through a tough time. He'd tried his best to cheer her up and there were moments when she was happy but she seemed to be carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders.

Keith's arms naturally pulled Veronica into a hug and he softly asked her what was wrong. Lianne stared at the scene with shock. Terror ran up her spine and she watched her daughter sob in her father's arms while Logan's face was colored with concern and an underlining of fear.

Veronica clung to her father, the tears flowed freely, all the guilt she'd felt from keeping this from him had built up within her. She and Logan decided that it'd be best if they told their parents after the three month mark hit, just in case.

"Daddy, we messed up," she murmured against his chest.

"It's gonna be okay, honey." He stroked her hair and encouraged her Just tell me what happened."

After the news of her pregnancy sunk in, her parents had expressed their disappointment but had offered their support. Her father had threatened Logan and had questioned him about what he was planning on doing. Logan had explained that they'd planned on raising the baby together as friends.

"I'm in love with her," he admitted to Keith when they'd gotten a minute alone. He swallowed and continued, "She doesn't love me back. I don't want her to feel pressured. Especially now. I know the circumstances aren't the best but all I want is for her to be happy."

Keith nodded. He wasn't too certain about Logan's assessment on Veronica's feelings. "All I know is that these past few months were tough on Veronica and you're the reason she's smiles most of the time."

His eyes narrowed on Logan and the boy gulped. "No father wants their sixteen year old daughter to be pregnant." Keith dropped his stare and sighed. "But there's not much that I can do now that it's happened except be there for her and support her. Veronica's scared of things she doesn't know. She probably has it embedded in her mind that you want to be with her because she's carrying your baby."

Logan softly asked, "How do I convince her that that's not true?"

Keith placed his hand on Logan's shoulder. "Actions speak louder than words, Logan. Show her." He squeezed Logan's shoulder, a bit too hard and emphasized, "By being a perfect gentlemen."

"Got it, Mr Mars. Thank you." Logan was tempted to add a thank you for not killing me in there but he was afraid that he'd be feeding the Sheriff's ideas.

Logan was playing video games in the pool house when Veronica walked in, he glanced at her and said a hey. She arched an eyebrow as he intensely navigated with the controller. She plopped on the couch beside him and picked up the opened chips packet and started to munch on the chips as she watched Logan play.

"So," he broke the sound of her crunching. "Duncan called me and asked if I'm having my annual poker game."

She put her feet up on his lap. "And are you?"

"I don't know," he let out as he switched off his game and turned to her.

She shrugged and suggested, "Maybe you should."

His hands moved to her feet and he removed her shoes as he reminded her, "The last time I spoke to Duncan, he was declaring his undying love for you and probably cursing me to death."

She rolled her eyes and plopped the chip in her mouth. "You're so dramatic." She gestured to the bottled water on the table and wiggled her fingers so Logan could get it for her.

Logan willingly obliged to her silent command, he took the bottle, twisted the lid off and handed it to her. "I'm not wrong."

She took a sip and handed it back to him. "He's extending an olive branch, Logan. Do you wanna take it?"

He slumped back against the couch. "I don't know." His fingers moved on her feet, gently massaging her. She giggled and he looked at her curiously. He didn't know that she was ticklish on her feet. A grin formed on his lips and he let his fingers move along her foot.

Another giggle passed her lips and she moaned, "Logan! Stop, I wanna eat this." She pouted. He chuckled but let her continue eating. "What do you mean you don't know?" She got them back on topic.

His eyes met hers and he quizzed, "Would you be okay with that?"

She tilted her head and told him, "Don't base your decisions on me."

"You're the mother of my child," he said softly his gaze dropped to her stomach. It wasn't noticeable yet but she was adamant that it was. "And for all I know he's using me to get to you," he grimly remarked.

"Logan." She dropped her feet from his lap and moved into sitting position. "He's your best friend."

"Dick's more of a best friend than Duncan nowadays," Logan shrugged. While he did feel a pang at his chest every time Duncan ignored his presence, he had bigger things to occupy his thoughts and that was much more important that the the broody boy that wanted everything to revolve around him.

Veronica took her chip-free hand and rubbed Logan's arm soothingly. "Dick does have an attachment to you, I'll give him that. But you and Duncan share the same boxer shorts," she playfully nudged him. "I think that means you have a special bond."

He chuckled and pointedly looked at her, "Yeah? And whose fault is that?"

Her lip curved and she shrugged. "I'm just saying, make the decision for you. Not me. And I'll support your choice, okay? As long as it's reasonable and not something like let's feed him to the sharks." She detached her hands from him and picked up the controller.

"Veronica?" He let out in a soft voice.

"Hmm?" She hummed as she handed him the other controller.

He gave her a smile of gratitude and whispered, "Thank you."

She gave him a small smile and a slight nod. "Now get ready for me to kick your ass."

"I want that," Veronica pointed to the jar of pickles.

Lilly scrunched her nose up with disgust and pointed out, "You're eating peanut butter."

"Yeah," the petite blonde sounded out, not in the least bit concerned with her best friend's observation. "But that looks good too."

Logan quirked an eyebrow in amusement. Minutes later, Duncan, Sean, and Connor – who Lilly was extensively flirting with – entered the pool house.

Once everyone was settled, Veronica expressed interest in playing as well. Unable to deny her anything, Logan told her she could. Sean voiced his dismay but a deathful glare from Logan set him straight.

"Veronica, no," Logan looked at her with wide eyes when she gulped down from Duncan's whiskey bottle.

When she put the bottle down, she quirked an eyebrow at Logan and remarked, "He wants to be my friend again. He needs to learn how to share."

"Veronica!" Lilly stared at her with wide eyes.

"Sorry, Duncan, I needed the tea to quench my thirst. Iced tea," she clarified. "Not sun tea," she sniffed at Connor's cup. She moved over and settled on the chair opposite Logan and chimed, "Mind if I deal first." She grabbed the cards and expertly spread them out before shuffling the pack. Logan grinned at her and she smiled in return.

After a couple of hands of Veronica beating the guys, they decided to take a break and join the rest of the Christmas party.

Veronica had immediately been drawn to the buffet, while Lilly flirted shamelessly with Connor. Logan leaned on the counter of the bar and Duncan walked over to him and leaned next to him.

"So…I, uh, you know," Duncan started unable to actually articulate what he needed to say.

"Yeah," Logan let out.

The blue eyed boy swallowed and continued, "I'm sorry about the whole… I just, I don't want to be on the sidelines anymore... I don't know how to deal with everything or what I feel but I do know that I wanna be a part of my best friends lives. Is that cool?"

Logan offered him a smile, "Yeah."

Duncan returned his smile and slapped Logan on his arm as they turned to get a drink. Veronica moved toward the duo and smiled when she saw them smile at each other. She moved beside Logan and butted his butt. He looked at her with amusement and her eyes lit up when she told them, "You have to try these."

Logan's eyes moved from Veronica to his parents and he swallowed. He hadn't told them about the pregnancy as yet. They'd decided that after the party they would tell them. Logan's stomach dropped at the thought. "Come on, you three," Lynn ushered them outside. "You'll miss the surprise."

"And we know how much she loves a surprise," Aaron prompted after his wife. Not a moment later, a waitress ran up to him.

"You don't even care, do you?" She shouted.

Aaron's eyes widened. "I'm sorry?"

"Sleep with me, you say you love me," she wailed out.

"Lynn, I don't know who this person is, I swear." He turned to the waitress and said, "I don't know you."

The woman swung back her arm and stabbed him. Aaron fell back and blood seeped through his white shirt. The security guard held onto the woman as Lynn held Aaron in her arms and yelled, "Somebody call an ambulance."

Wide eyed, Logan took out his cell phone and dialled 911. Veronica and Duncan stood beside him, shocked.

Aaron's eyelids grew heavy and fluttered closed. Lynn cried out and when the crowd clapped outside, Aaron Echolls took his last breath.

A.N I didn't want to add in Keith and Lianne lecture to Veronica and Logan about the pregnancy because they already knew all of that. And yeah, I killed Aaron to avoid Logan getting hurt and dealing with all of that. But it works out, the circle of life.

The next chapter will also take about a week to be put up because I'm super busy at the moment. It's mostly a fluffy fun chapter so if there's any pregnancy or LoVe moments you want me to write out, mention it in your review or PM me and I'll try to work it in.