A/N: Thanx as always for the fab reviewage! A little less fluff, a little more serious this chapter. Time for Keith to find out about his daughter's affair with the Echolls boy!

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 7 - Right From Wrong

Veronica had never been so nervous in her whole life. Her relationship with her father was one she'd always been sure of. Things with her Mom were nothing like plain sailing, as her drinking grew worse and worse. Things with Lilly had their ups and downs due to the older girls wild behaviour, and as for Veronica's boyfriend, Duncan Kane, well if that particular relationship grew any more rocky the blonde was sure to fall and break some bones.

The one man a girl should always be able to depend upon was her Daddy, and Veronica had always believed that to be true. They didn't have secrets or lies, at least, not until now. More than lying to Duncan and the Kanes, even trying to hide her pregnancy from Logan initially, Veronica felt worst about telling untruths to her father. Keith was like the last good man, and he'd bent over backwards to do everything he could to help his little girl be happy and healthy, even back when it wasn't certain she was even his daughter. Now she had to tell him that she'd lied to him, and about something so important.

It had all made sense in her head a few days before, telling her Dad and everybody that the baby was Duncan's child. Veronica realised almost immediately what a mistake she'd made and the final deciding factor that let her know what a real fool she was had happened today, in the girls bathroom of Neptune High of all unlikely places.

Logan Echolls had once again been her saviour and confidante, despite the fact he was technically the one that had gotten her into this situation. She knew he loved her and dared to believe that he might actually be there for her through all of this. It gave her the extra confidence she needed to face her father and tell him the truth, at least she thought it had. Now as she paced up and down the porch she wasn't quite so sure.

She'd said she was coming outside for some air, which was true enough. The house was suffocating, the pressure too intense. Veronica had hoped that the fresh clean air and space to move would help, but alone out here all she did was think over and over what she must do until she worked herself up into a complete frenzy over it.

"How did I get into this mess?" she said as she sat down hard on the porch seat, putting her head into her hands.

She looked up again almost immediately as she heard the sound of a blaring radio and a car pulling onto the drive. She was stunned to see Logan hop out of his bright yellow X-terra and stroll up the path and onto the porch where she sat staring at him still.

"Hey" he greeted her with an awkward smile.

"Logan, what are you doing here?" Veronica asked, looking puzzled as she stared up at him.

"Well, that's a nice welcome for someone who came to help you out" he said as he came to sit beside her, "Veronica, you shouldn't have to tell your Dad the truth about the baby and everything by yourself"

"I got myself into this situation, Logan" she reminded him with a sigh, "I should be the one to get me out"

"Except it takes two to tango" he said with a look, "And you didn't exactly drag me kicking and screaming around the dancefloor"

The analogy might have been amusing had Veronica been in the mood for any sort of joke at all. Unfortunately, all humour was gone from her mind, until her deed was done. She didn't mind the fact that Logan would be with her when she faced her father, he would at least deflect some of Keith's anger. Although she realised that thought didn't really reflect well on her, Veronica couldn't help it. She'd take any help she could get in this situation and Logan must've known he was in for some serious being yelled at or worse when he faced the father of the girl he recently knocked up!

"Okay" Veronica nodded once and got to her feet, "I think it's now or never" she said, looking down on Logan who took her hand and pulled himself up beside her.

"I'm right here with you, Veronica. Right here" he promised her, glad to have received even the smallest of smiles in return, before she opened the front door and led him inside.

Veronica dropped Logan's hand almost immediately she realised her father was right there in the kitchen. He welcomed the young man as the friend of his daughter that he was, and asked if they were going to be studying together.

"Er, no, Dad" Veronica shook her head, following her father as he moved into the living room with a cup of coffee in his hand, "Logan and I actually need to talk to you about something"

"Okay" the sheriff said warily, as the two kids took a seat together on the couch opposite him, "Should I be worried?" he asked, his tone half way between joking and serious just to cover all options.

Neither Veronica nor Logan really knew how to answer that. What they did know was that the questions were only going to get more difficult from here on out, and the little blonde decided to adopt that old philosophy of treating an awkward situation like a bandaid - just say it fast and get it done, have the pain be over in one large burst, then at least the worried anticipation of suffering is gone.

"Dad" she said, taking in a shaky breath, her fingers lacing and unlacing in her lap, "There's a chance that the baby's father isn't Duncan..." she said, her voice disappearing into nothing by the end of the sentence.

"Who else would it be, Veronica?" Keith asked her, looking vaguely amused and what he considered to be a ridiculous remark, "I don't... You?" he said suddenly, that one three letter word aimed at Logan with such a severe look that the poor boy half expected to look down and find a blade or bullet embedded in his chest.

"Yes, sir" he said, clearing his throat twice before the words could even be heard.

In an instant Keith was up out of his seat, pacing the room, running a hand over his head and clearly suffering with some pent up anger he couldn't yet put into words. Veronica knew the signs of an explosion of fury from her father, despite the fact he rarely if ever lost it. In fairness, she'd never hit him with anything this major before, and she feared how mad he would get, both at her and at Logan.

"Dad, please, try to stay calm" she begged of him, though it was perhaps the stupidest thing she could have asked of him, and she knew it the moment the words left her mouth and reached her ears.

"Stay calm?" Keith echoed her words with that level of sheer incredulity that only an angry parent could muster, "Here you sit, Veronica, telling me not only that you're pregnant, at barely sixteen I might add, but that the father might not even be your boyfriend, whose family we've already told by the way, and you're honestly expecting me to be calm?" he rattled off, loudly and succinctly, as he pointed an angry finger at his only daughter and attempted to lay down the law, something that was made a little harder by the fact that she'd already broken these rules he thought he'd impressed so well upon her as she grew up.

"Mr Mars" Logan cut in, though he was far more tentative and far less bold than his usual self, "it isn't all Veronica's fault..." he tried to explain, but the last thing Keith wanted was to hear this boy speak.

"You're damn right it isn't!" he yelled, turning his attention on the person that had got his daughter into trouble, "You have some explaining to do, young man! In fact, the both of you do!" he said angrily, causing both of them to flinch with his fierce tone that was usually reserved for criminals and suspects.

"I know, Dad, and I'm sorry" Veronica tried to explain, not afraid of her father because she could never be that, but visibly shaking and looking terribly guilty and sorry as she continued, "We just, it was one time, I had a fight with Duncan and..."

"And you just fell into bed with he next guy that came along?" Keith cut in, "I raised you better than that, Veronica!" he yelled, regretting his words the moment they had left his lips, but unable to say anymore.

He turned his back on the kids, his hand going over his mouth as he realised his latest comment was uncalled for. Logan wasn't just any guy, he had been Veronica's best friend these past few months and hardly less than that since they were twelve years old. Whilst it was still wrong of his daughter to be sleeping with her boyfriend and another man, and worse get herself pregnant, Keith still regretted the accusation he'd flung at her. She wasn't some whore he'd hauled in off the streets, she was his baby girl, no matter how mad she'd made him today.

"Please, sir, it wasn't like that" Logan begged him to understand, "You have to know that... that I love our daughter" he explained as Veronica looked on in partial astonishment and Keith remained with his back to the pair trying to process all the information he was receiving, "and even though the situation we're in isn't perfect, I'm going to stand by Veronica in all of this"

The words and their meaning were commendable enough to the father, and beautiful to the tearful daughter, but neither half of the Mars family were so stupid that they believed love and hugs was all that was needed to fix this.

"Y'know the part I really don't understand?" Keith asked as he finally faced his daughter once again, his tone a little quieter and face having lost some of its anger in favour of disappointment perhaps, "The part where you lied to me, Veronica, and you let me go ahead and lie to the Kanes too"

"I'm sorry, I just... I thought it would be easier, but nothing can be anymore" the blonde tied to explain, but knew she could give no better explanation than she already had, "Its all too hard and I can't... I'm so sorry, Daddy" she said, collapsing into floods of tears, almost breaking the hearts of both men who loved her so much.

Keith sat down heavily on the arm of the couch and pulled Veronica too him, cradling her in his arms as he had so many times before when she was a little kid. As grown-up as she was now, as much of an adult as she could sometimes seem and would have to be when the baby came, she was still so much a child too.

"No, Veronica, I'm sorry" her father told her with a sigh, all the fight going out of him, as he rested his chin on the top of her head, "I'm not dealing with this well, and I'm expecting you to have control when everything around you is falling apart and everything inside is so mixed up" he said, knowing he ought to have realised that sooner, and feeling bad that he hadn't.

"I should have told you the truth from the start" Veronica said with a sniff as she looked up at him, "but I hated thinking you might... that you'd judge me for cheating on Duncan..."

"Sweetheart, I can't say I condone cheating" he told her, putting a hand to her cheek and wiping her tears away, "but you're my daughter, my little girl, no matter what happens or what you do, I am always going to love you and be on your side" he swore, earning a watery smile from his daughter, before turning his focus on the boy that sat beyond her, "And Logan, I'm not going to pretend that I'm happy about what you've done" he told him firmly, "but you came here to face up to your responsibilities, which is a lot more than some young men would have done" he said, knowing it to be true, "You say you love Veronica and you'll stand by her? All good words and decent promises" he nodded, "but you have to prove to the both of us now that you mean those things you said"

"I will, sir" Logan promised the both of them solemnly, "I swear I will"

To Be Continued...