"Meg? What's wrong?" Veronica leads her to the couch and Logan wonders if he should leave or find some ice cream, something along those lines anyways.
"You haven't seen Duncan have you?" Both Logan and Veronica pale and Meg takes a deep breath blinking back tears "He's missing."

Veronica stares blankly at the textbook in front of her. It has been two days since Meg came to Logan's house tearfully proclaiming Duncan was missing. The guilt settled in when she realized that her story of the entertainment lawyer has served as a how-to-escape manual for Duncan. Her father was already delving in by the time she had called. The 50,000 reward made Duncan a big fish in a small pond and Veronica wasn't exceptionally worried he would never be found she was just worried about him in general. If Duncan thought she was capable of killing Lilly, even accidently, that information would eat her from the inside out.

"So I heard Duncan Kane took off huh?" Weevil pipes up from beside her, breaking her out of her trance.
"Look Weevil whatever you heard…"
"I heard it was because you accused him of killing Lilly." The words make Veronicas throat feel like sandpaper and she really just wants to tell Weevil to get the hell back to finite mathematics.

"You heard wrong." Well not really.
"But you don't think they've got the right guy?" Veronica is saved a response from her Dad coming in and giving Weevil the sheriff's eye.

"You didn't have to do that." She scolds as the sound of Weevil's motorcycle fades. "Weevil's a good guy." For a moment Keith sees his daughter dressed in bubble-gum pink wearing a naïve smile as she believes the best about everyone.

"A good guy? Veronica I started picking him up when he was 12!"
"I'm not saying he's perfect I'm just saying that he's helped me out in the past and I was just returning the favor."
"Consider yourselves even." He replies pointedly as Veronica rolls her eyes.
"I'm going over to visit the only sane man in my life."
"The one who gives his mother a curfew and asks me to respect the 6-inch rule?" Keith says with a laugh.
"That's the one."

Roughly 20 minutes later Veronica is sitting on the counter at Sac-and-Pac drinking a slushie and teasing Wallace about Mac.

"So are you guys 'official' now?" There is nothing she can to do prevent the bunny-ears from popping up around official.

"We are so not having this conversation." Wallace says as he mentally calculates a customer's change and ands it to them with a smile. "And get down from there or my boss is going to get mad at me again." After making a big show of jumping of the counter and pretending to route through magazines Veronica continues.

"I saw her looking at your box scores the other day." She says tauntingly
"She was looking at box scores?" The huge smile on Wallace's face makes Veronica burst out laughing.
"You've got it bad my friend. But you have to promise me we can still have these special moments at the cash register."

"Well I have to say I'm a bit flattered you're still here." Veronica looks up at him with a quizzical expression. "I mean Mac called from Logan's, that's some pretty messed up stuff." Suddenly more concerned, Veronica stops slurping her slushie and raises an eyebrow. Mac was using Logan's expensive, high-powered computer to try and track passports to see if anyone had ordered a fake to Neptune. They had been hoping to find Duncan's alias this way.

"What do you mean? Did she find something out about Duncan?" Wallace looks at her incredulously for a moment then speaks loudly to the whole store

"Record this date in history this is the first time Wallace Fennel got the 411 before the little birdie got it to Veronica Mars." A couple titters break out among the customers who have no idea what Wallace is talking about but appreciate that eye-rolling and gaffawing from Veronica.
"Am I going to have to tip you over or are you going to spill it on your own?"
"Weevil broke into the Kane house like 20 minutes ago." He continues quieter. "Logan saw the police cars drive up, Mac said he nearly beat the crap out of Weevil before the cops pulled him off. He didn't call you?"
"I forgot my charger in my locker, my phone has been dead all night." Wordlessly Wallace hands over his phone noting the distressed expression on Veronica's face.

"Hey Wallace" Logan answers on the first ring flashing Mac a one second gesture. Before the cops had managed to stop them, both him and Weevil had got some decent punches in and Mac was attempting to stop the bleeding from a deep cut in his eyebrow.

"Hey hon." Veronica says with a false-cheerful voice. "Something to tell me sugarpants?"
"Besides the fact that nicknames really don't suit you?" Logan teases gently. "I tried your cell but it was off and Mac told Wallace so I figured you hear from him. I was kind of busy bleeding all over Mac."
"Are you ok?" Veronica asks with concern.
"Yeah it's nothing a band-aid and a kiss can't fix."
"A kiss eh?" The grin on Logan's face practically translates through the phone. "Wallace finishes his shift 

in 20 minutes. I'll bring him to entertain Mac and I'll see if I can't distract you." After a couple lecherous comments from Logan she hangs up and passes the phone back to Wallace.

"Don't ever violate my phone like that again." He whines pretending to be grossed out by the conversation between her and Logan. The next 20 minutes are spent bantering and wondering exactly what Weevil was doing in Lilly's bedroom.

"Hello?" The Echolls house is unusually quiet when Veronica and Wallace enter. They share a look of confusion before heading in to the computer room smiling a little at the scene. Mac is rocking out with headphones on typing non-stop on the keyboard while Logan dozes on the couch. Smiling at the colors in Mac's hair bobbing to the music Wallace walks over and kisses her on the cheek.
"Hi."
"Hey." She says with a little blush. "Logan passed out at 11, I think I was boring him." A patch of gauze covers part of one eyebrow and both Logan's upper lip and right eye swollen. Despite the fact that Veronica knows the marks are superficial and that he has endured much worse, Veronica can't help feel a touch of concern as she walks over to him.

"Thanks Mac." She whispers gesturing to the neat bandages on his eye and on his hand.

"Yeah well you should see the other guy." Mac says with an eye roll. "Logan was livid. I'm pretty sure Sheriff Lamb is the only reason Weevil is walking right now. Hearing the police cruisers pull up really freaked Logan out." The sound of the sirens had caused Logan to not so casually walk over to the window and peer out. When he saw them turn in to the Kane house he had gone white as a sheet and had ran the short distance up. Although Mac didn't understand what was going through Logan's head she had understood that the situation was serious and was right on his heels the whole way up, which, she pointed out to Logan afterwards, was kind of impressive considering physical activity wasn't her idea of fun.

"That was how he found out about Lilly." Veronica says quietly as she gently pushes the hair back from Logan's forehead. The room holds and awkward silence for a second and Veronica quickly changes the subject. "Any leads?"
"Not yet but I should know more soon." Veronica nods wordlessly, not looking up as she worriedly outlines Logan's small cuts and bruises. Seeing that the mood has shifted Mac and Wallace said goodbye and promised to let her know if they heard anything about Duncan. When they leave, Veronica kisses Logan gently being wary of his swollen lips. Logan moans and flutters his eyes open before smiling drowsily at her.

"You look beautiful." He says trying to butter her up for the lecture he was sure was going to happen.
"You look like you tried to beat up a leader of a motorcycle gang." Veronica replies mimicking his soft tone.


"Good thing I have you to kiss me better." Instead of replying, Veronica softly drags her lips over the bruise on his eye.
"Always." Realizing she is not mad Logan just anchors her firmly his chest as they talk about anything but Duncan, Weevil or fist fights.

Early the next morning Veronica is reminded of her hatred of Neptune High. An awkward looking girl in a puke colored sweater with multiple ponytails hangs hand-crafted missing dog signs while a group of giggling sophomores laugh at one of the signs posted on her back. Angrily she walks over and yanks it off getting a surprised jump from the girl.

"Sorry this was…" Veronica trails of uncomfortable not really wanting to send the girl into tears.
"Oh…thanks." The discomfort in Mandy's own voice is apparent and Veronica thinks this probably happens to the girl a lot. Unfortunately, between needing to find Logan and being late for Bio Veronica really doesn't have time to dwell on the unfortunate girl.

"You're Veronica Mars right?" The girl asks to Veronica retreating form. Grimacing Veronica turns around.
"Sometimes."
"Do you think I could like hire you or something? To help me find my dog?"

"That depends was he cheating on you?" The mixture of confusion and disgust on Mandy's face give Veronica the answer she was expecting and she continues "Lost dogs aren't really my specialty." The girl just smiles and says thank you before turning around to post more signs. For some reason Veronica feels a strange kinship with the girl. She was an outsider. Someone people laughed at and walked all over. Kind of like the Old Veronica with worse clothes and funny hair."You know maybe I could make a couple phone calls or help with signage." She relents, much to the girl's relief.

Later that day Veronica and Logan drive to the sheriff' s department.
"Logan you need to stay in the hallway." The no nonsense tone in her voice causes Logan to stiffen but he is stopped from responding by Veronica. "Logan I'm serious he isn't going to tell me anything with you staring at him." Knowing she is being supremely logical, Logan just nods his agreement and sits on the waiting room chairs as she talks to Leo.

"Veronica Mars, long time no see." His tone tells her it hasn't been nearly long enough. Knowing she needs an in with sheriff's department if they are going to crack the case Veronica smiles.

"First off let me say that I'm sorry." Leo is about to interject but she cuts him off with a hand "I honestly never meant for you to get in trouble or get hurt." He reluctantly makes eye contact with her and Veronica takes a steadying breath as she continues. "Lilly was my best friend. Her case doesn't add up." Leo is about to protest but Veronica just leans closer and continues "Do you know there is a parking ticket that puts her time of death 4 hours off, that your own photos make it impossible for Abel Koontz 

to have a pair of Lilly's shoes…"

"Wait. How do you know all this?" Leo asks incredulously as Veronica takes a steadying sigh.

"I know all this because I have done everything in my power to get to the truth including using you and I'm sorry about that. If it makes you feel any better you are seriously hot it's not like flirting with you was a chore." Leo smirks a little at this. "But I am sorry for hurting you and getting you suspended I just…I have to do whatever it takes." Veronica is so used to dealing with Logan, who would require many more hours of explaining and acquiescing, that Leo's nod of agreement takes her off-guard.
"Ok Veronica…So what do you need me to do?"
"I need to see Weevil." With a nod he takes her bag and lists off the contents Weevil had in his possession at the time of his arrest condoms, 17 cents and a pen.

"Do you have that nail file and the JLO poster I asked for?" Weevil has been expecting Veronica since they've hauled him in and he's a little surprised she's taken this long.
"Why were you in Lilly's room?" Veronica Mars, never anytime for foreplay Weevil thinks with a groan.
"What better house for some B&E?"
"I know about you and Lilly." Seeing Weevil immediately stiffen Veronica forces herself to soften her tone. "I know about the letters."

"Whatever you know that isn't all there is to it." Weevil growls angrily as he jumps off the cot. Those letters were private. It was bad enough when Lilly basically laughed in his face he doesn't need Veronica doing the same. Regardless of how his relationship with Lilly fizzled out, Weevil to got defensive whenever her name was mentioned and was quick to erect the walls.

"I tell you I'm close to finding Lilly's killer and an hour later you're breaking in to her room. What am I supposed to think?"
"Look I told you what I was doing there. If you don't want to believe me, that's on you." Annoyed, Veronica stands to walk out of the room "Are you going to help me or not?"

"Not." It hurts in a way Veronica can't explain that she doesn't know if Lilly thought Weevil was her star-crossed lover or a toy she tired of. There was nothing about Veronica Lilly hadn't known when she was alive and her keeping Weevil a secret stings.

"Alright, alright hold on." He never expected Veronica to leave him there and he quickly weaves a story about a diamond ring. As he expected it works perfectly. Her eyes soften sympathetically and she gives an understanding nod before promising to do her best.



"So why was he there?" Logan asks without preamble. Knowing this will infuriate her boyfriend Veronica waits until the car is parked outside Mars Investigations to answer.
"A diamond ring." He swallows hard but nods and gives her a forced smile.
"Well I don't think he would've hurt her." Veronica is surprised by this admission but just nods her head in agreement. "He loved her."
"You're handling this better than I thought you would." The smile Logan gives this time is more genuine and he reaches up to stroke her cheek lightly.
"Well I have you." He responds softly and Veronica can feel the blush crawl up her cheeks.

As Veronica goes to help Mandy, Logan drives back to the Echolls estate to a frosty welcome from his sister and false cheer from his father. In some ways this 'new' Aaron Echolls is worse than the old. With his father projecting this new façade Logan is constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop. Part of him wants to believe that the unhealthy amount of self-help books, the various classes and the heart-to-hearts Aaron attempts are real but he knows better. It's always an act with him and Logan is getting increasingly uncomfortable with this one. So he flops back on the couch listening to Trina beg Aaron to do a movie with her new boyfriend of the week, the ticking of his father's Rolex sounding remarkably like a time bomb.

"To my son Logan I bequeath my art collection along with the rest of my personal belongings in the house. In addition I leave him the balance in my investment account held with J.P. Morgan totaling 115,000." Boom goes the dynamite. He didn't miss the look of coldness in Aaron's eyes. 115,000 was not a lot to Aaron Echolls but his mother's art collection was worth well over 10 million. There was no way Aaron was going to let that money go without a fight. Immediately after the meeting Logan goes to his room and lies on his bed staring at the ceiling. Was this her way of protecting him? Giving him enough money to flee from Aaron the moment he turns 18? If it was she obviously wasn't paying attention all those years because Aaron would never stop being a forceful presence in Logan's life until he died and probably long after that. No, Logan did not need 115 grand and the awkward painting of a naked Geisha his mother loved, he just need his mother and his best friend back.

"Hello?" A groggy voice came over the phone. He shot a glance at the clock realizing he had been lying in bed thinking and dozing for hours. 2am was a little late to be calling.
"Hey babe."
"Logan? Are you ok?" He can hear Veronica shuffle in bed so she is sitting up. "How did the meeting with the lawyers go?"
"I'm a millionaire come January." A soft sigh comes from the other end.
"Well at least you can buy that Louis Vuitton purse you've always wanted." She teases. In spite of his moodiness Logan smiles a bit.
"Yeah well I was thinking I would wait until the summer line comes out. Then again Trina will be hitting me up for money any minute now."
"Are you going to give her any?"
"No I'm going to take you out in style." Logan says devilishly.
"Is it appropriate to celebrate an inheritance?" Veronica asks feigning ignorance.
"No…but it's not really appropriate to jump off a bridge either." The shift in Logan's tone is obvious and 

there is a moment of strained silence as Veronica grabbles for something to say. "Sorry." He mumbles.
"It's ok"
"I miss you." Logan sighs truthfully, wishing he could hold the tiny blonde in his arms again.
"Logan you saw me 5 hours ago." There is pretend disbelief in her voice but Logan can tell she is amused. "I miss you too." She finishes softly, thinking that this is way to cheesy for either one of them. They say goodnight moments later. Veronica sleeps dreaming of dogs, break-ins and disappearances while Logan stays awake wondering what the hell to do with 8 million in blood money. Really, it's better when they focus on each other.

"12 hours." Logan says before kissing his girlfriend hello. The girl Mandy…or maybe it was Maddy…flushes a deep red when he nods to her and he can't help but smirk a little.

"12 hours till…you buy me a pony?" Veronica replies with enthusiasm.
"No it took 12 hours for my sister to hit me up for my dead mother's money. Well we were sleeping for eight of them so really that's 4."
"I admire her patience." The funny thing is Veronica is being sincere.
"Me too." Logan says with a smile before taking Veronica's books from her hands. "Mandy right?" Logan asks the girl who has been staring at him like a fish for the duration of the conversation. She goes bright pink and sputters awkwardly before her cell phone saves her from responding.

"Hello?...Yes I did?" Mandy's excitement is increasing and both Logan and Veronica look on interested "Oh you have?" The excitement dies down almost immediately as Mandy's face falls.
"What happened?" Veronica asks, concerned.

"Nothing, someone was just playing a stupid trick." The hoots of laughter direct all three's attention to a group of 09ers high-fiving and jeering in the middle of the hall. Veronica raises her eyebrows at Logan who tightens his jaw immediately. "Lenny Soper…I had a crush on him last year. I put his picture in my locker. I didn't tell him but somebody did. He's gone out of his way to be mean to me ever since." Before either Logan or Mandy can stop her Veronica is charging down the hallway ready for a confrontation.

"You prank call Mandy?"
"So what if I did?"
"I want to congratulate you, shake your hand." Fooled by her fake smile Lenny takes her hand which Veronica shakes menacingly. "Congratulations you've been named the world's biggest cockroach. This award is given in recognition of your unparalleled lack of decency and humanity, bravo, you're gonna die friendless and alone."

"Hey everyone knows you're the biggest…" Logan's ears perk up at this and he is about to step in when Veronica steps back to Lenny angrily.



"Shut up. If I want you to speak I'll wave a sausage over your nose. You use Mandy again to try to convince yourself that you're not a loser I will ruin your life, got it." Lenny stares, dumbfounded, for a second before Veronica takes another step closer. "You got it?" He mumbles fine or something close and Veronica walks to Logan who is looking at her with a smirk in place.

"I can't believe you did that." Mandy says, awestruck.

"I can't believe you didn't. You want people to leave you alone or, better yet, respect you. Demand it, make them" Veronica storms off leaving both Logan and Mandy speechless.

"That's Veronica for go get 'em tiger." Logan says to Mandy with a forced laugh before chasing after his angry girlfriend. He grabs her arm and pulls her into the girl's washroom connecting their lips before the door fully shuts.

"That. Was. Ridiculously. Hot." Logan growls punctuating every word with a kiss. The feel of her laugh vibrates against his lips as he kisses her throat. The sensation of her cool hands under his skin makes him shiver with a mix of pleasure and surprise.

"So you like me in bitchy mode?" Veronica asks with a giggle wrapping her legs around his waist. Moments later Logan gives a moan of frustration and pulls away.

"We're not doing this in a public bathroom." Logan says breathlessly. With a smirk Veronica lightly bites his ear.
"We're not?"
"Xterra now."

"A man of few words." Veronica says with a hair flip as she hops of the counter. A couple well placed textbooks hide Logan's continued arousal as he guides Veronica to the back seat of the Xterra. Both walk out 45 minutes later feeling that their activities far surpassed that of second period English.

Later that a day a phone call informs Veronica that Mandy's dog was found on the side of the highway and had to be put down. Grimly, Veronica realizes that she has to close Mandy's case and focus on finding Duncan. That's how her, Logan and Meg end up walking with Back-up down the beach.

"Mexico?" Logan suggests thinking of all the times he's planned to run across the border. When he was 6, and didn't yet know what an angry father really meant, he and Trina had decided to run away to Mexico because they didn't want to miss their cousin's birthday party for another one of Aaron's premieres. They made it about 4 streets before Lynn came speeding up her Beamer trying to decide if she was more angry or relieved. Shock up from the thought of losing Logan, she hadn't let her son out of 

her sight all night letting him curl up on her lap and fall asleep half-way through the awards show. Mexico has been Logan's obsession ever since.

"Duncan hates Mexico." Veronica says thoughtfully. "What if he never left the country? The east coast?" The East Coast was what did it for Veronica. Mainly because it was far away from Neptune but also because of the fancy universities and snowy winters. Lianne's sister lived in New York and every year when Veronica was little they would travel to New York for New Years and she'd watched with wide-eyed awe the splendor and elegance of the whole thing.

"Too far." Meg mumbled. "Canada?" A whole country away from her parents Canada was Meg's dream. A place known for its kind people and beauty. She never visited but always dreamed of taking her sisters and herself to Vancouver, where they could ride gondolas and eat beaver tails.

"None of us are thinking like Duncan." Veronica notes with a groan. Mumbles of agreements curse through the crowd and they start walking back towards Mars Investigations.

"Look at this." Logan says pointing to the message boards. "This is usually where people post notices for surfboards, bands and stuff…It's all covered with dog crap." Neither Veronica nor Meg appreciate the pun but Logan laughs at himself as the girls pull the posters down. Maybe Mandy's case isn't finished after all.

Since they've run out of ideas about Duncan's whereabouts, Meg gives a sorrowful goodbye and Veronica drags Logan back to Mars Investigations to help her with Mandy's case. As Veronica makes her calls to the dog owners Logan tries calling Duncan again only to be met by the same automated greeting.

"Only the pet owners with big rewards have been returned." Over a month of practice has taught Logan that these moments she's talking to herself and not really to him so he just nods before getting up to get a glass of water. Hey can you grab me a pen from my Dad's office please?" He nods and starts riffling through Keith's drawers looking for a black pen only to be stopped by Veronica.

"You're hopeless, utterly hopeless." She says pulling a pack of pens Logan missed from the top drawer. Before Logan can respond Celeste's chilling voice cuts through.

"What did you say to Duncan?" She asks Veronica coolly before turning to Logan "Where is he?" She demands impatiently as if the two teenagers were helping Duncan escape.

"Wait...that sounds like the kind of question you'd ask someone directly involved an accomplice say." Logan says defensively priming himself for a fight. Although Jake loved Logan like a son Celeste had 

always hated the boy blaming him for much of Lilly's behavior. He had more than once defended himself and/or Lilly to Celeste and he was fully prepared to defend Veronica.

" I know you guys think I hate you but I don't." Celeste starts entering further into the room. "I just can't stand to look at you." Logan snorts derisively and Veronica just raises her eyebrows. "When I look at you I see all that's wrong in my life." This comment resonates with Logan who has heard it more than once from his father and his back automatically stiffens. "I see my husband's infidelity. Keith trying to destroy us. I see Lynn in her too small string bikini and it makes me sick to…"

"Then what are you doing here?" Keith says calmly stepping in front of the teenagers, both of whom are still on the defensive.

"I needed to ask them a few questions." The appearance of Keith made Celeste soften her voice almost regretfully but his hard gaze didn't falter.

"You don't need to ask either of them anything. You just leave them alone. Both of them do you understand." Keith's soft-spoken manner has a way of becoming instantly threatening. It's a little awkward for Logan to stand behind Keith being protected. Instinctively he puts his arm around Veronica and she melts in to his touch.

"You don't scare me Keith. If you were such a great detective you would have seen what was happening right underneath your nose." This is the closest to an admission of guilt anyone will get from the Kanes and all three parties are slightly taken aback. Veronica quickly chases after Celeste and makes a deal to clear Weevil.

After looking for lost dogs with Veronica and having a bitch-fight with Celeste, Logan is more than grateful to sink on to a kitchen stool and eat Mrs. Navarro's deviled egg sandwich she had left out for him.

"Is Dad still at dinner?" Trina asks walking with a limp towards the ice maker.

"Yeah. But he's not far, I'm sure if you really tried you could blow smoke up his ass from here." Logan says through a bite of sandwich. She doesn't respond and Logan covers his concern with a quip. "Hey Trin, if you take your top of before you get on the mechanical bull you won't fall off." She turns around from the sink and Logan is instantly reminded of his mother when she tried to protect him. A over-sized pair of sunglasses don her face and a permanent wince is embedded in her usually cold and calm features.


"What happened to you?" Logan asks feeling a surge of anger and concern shoot through him.

"Nothing." Is her only reply as she stumbles by him, pained. Seething, Logan grabs off her sunglasses to reveal a gruesome black eye. As much as he really didn't like Trina he loved her and no one was going to hurt another woman he loved.

"Did that wannabe producer boyfriend do this to you?" Sure she was a bitch but hey they didn't stop him from loving Lilly. She freezes for a moment and Logan takes the chance and tentatively places a hand on her elbow to lead her to the couch. Surprised by the gesture Trina doesn't resist and Logan quickly retrieves and ice pack and a dishtowel. "Here this should help with the swelling." He offers.

"Thanks." She mumbles still stunned that her brat of a brother is having a moment of tenderness.
"You're boyfriend what's his name." He waits a beat for her response then, finding none, blasts on. "Dylan, Dylan what what's his last name?"

"It doesn't matter." In her frustration she dropped the ice pack to shoot him a glare. Reigning in his anger, he holds the ice back to her eye and tries to convince her with the same gentleness that Veronica had used on him.

"Look it does now." She shakes her head and Logan can't contain it anymore. "Jesus Trina he hit you! Tell me his god-damn name." Logan's mask of indifference is nothing compared to Trina's and she is suddenly the ice bitch again.

"You have made it clear that you have no interests in my problems Logan. Don't be wishy-washy. It's so unattractive in a guy." With an affected sniff she leaves the ice pack on the couch and wordlessly returns to her room. Olive branch broken.

Logan leans on Veronica's locker the next morning, waiting anxiously for his girlfriend as he replays the events with Trina over and over in his head. Her blonde head bobs out of the crowd with Wallace as she laughs at one of his jokes.

"Now this is a step-up in locket decorations." Veronica says with a smile planting a soft kiss on Logan's cheek. The gesture makes a small bit of tension drain out of his system but not enough to get the look of worry off his face.
"I gotta talk to you."
"Ok whats wr…" Her cell phone buzzes and she flashes him a deeply sorry look before flipping open the phone.

"Hello? Yes this is Brigit." Veronica speeds through the phone call promising to send her brother, otherwise known as Wallace to pick up the dog. The moment she hangs up the bell rings.

"Logan I have a test…Can it wait until lunch?" Knowing she won't be able to do anything until school is out Logan reluctantly agrees and she gives him a rueful smile before running to class.

Two hours later she is waiting outside his physics classroom, casually leaning against the doorframe.
"Hey." The concern is evident in her tone.
"Hi." He says quickly dragging her into an empty classroom.
"Is everything ok?"
"No. I need you to track down Trina's leech of the week boyfriend." The anger and tension are evident on Logan's face and her heart rate suddenly increases.
"What did he do."
"Beat her up." Logan says gesturing to his face remembering Trina's black eye too vividly. "I plan on returning the favor." There is no point in trying to stop Logan from kicking the crap out of some guy who hit his sister so Veronica promises to look after her adventures with the dog knappers.

The Mexican man who returned the dog denies being the thief and, unfortunately, does not speak English. All Veronica gets from the meeting is that the main guy is a white male who likes to spank busty women, like that narrows down the list. Sighing with frustration Veronica returns to Mars Investigations to find Logan pacing anxiously in the waiting area.

"Do you know his name?" She asks hopefully after giving him a quick kiss hello.
"All I know is his first name's Dylan and he's producing this steamer." Logan says sardonically, passing the screenplay to me as she goes behind the desk.
"Easy." He looks relieved and Veronica can't help but think it's a little impressive how much he can still love his family after all they done to him. "Hi I'm calling from Tod Russell's office at CAA. He read your script Escaping Your Past and he went nuts over it…Have you sold it yet?..Really?...Who's producing it?" Is that G-O-R-A-N?...Great I'm sure he'll want to speak with him.
"Is there really an agent named Tod Russell who works at CAA?" Logan asks before coming up behind her to read over her shoulder.
"Could be…maybe."
"Looks like Trina's Romeo is having a little trouble with the ladies. Two women have filed restraining orders against him in the past 5 years." Logan calls his Dad but is hung up on before he can get the word. Frustrated, Logan goes to his car closely flanked by Veronica who is nervously anticipating an Echolls family fight.

The silence in the car is awkward and heavy as both their imaginations run wild with possible scenerios. When they pull up to the mansion Logan protectively takes Veronica's hand and leads her to the back of the house. The closer they get the more apparent the sounds of screaming and fighting become and the 

couple exchanges a look before breaking into a run. Veronica's face twists in horror as she watches Aaron crack the belt down on a screaming Dylan.

"Oh hey son. How was school?" Logan's eyes flit between Trina and his father "I think I'll see this young man to his car." Much to Dylan's displeasure, Aaron grabs him up by the scruff of his neck and leads him to the front car park. As soon as Aaron rounds the corner the trio seems to come out of there trance and Logan quickly walks up to his sobbing sister.

"I guess you got him off your back." He says with a forced laugh. She doesn't respond just continues to stare at the place where Dylan was. "C'mon let's go inside." Logan says softer, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"God Logan I'm not a child." She spits out before spinning on her heel and storming into the house. Well Veronica, welcome to the real Echolls family Logan thinks with a little groan as he turns around to see his pale-faced girlfriend, horror taking over her entire face.

"Are you ok?" It was a rare occurrence to see Veronica this shaken up and he was more than a little concerned. She just nods mutely before numbly following him to the car. Not a very convincing argument. The ride home was even more strained and Veronica just stares silently out the window the whole time oblivious to the growing concern and dread on Logan's face. Logan parks the car and both sit. Unmoving, for a moment until he hears an incriminating sniff from Veronica. Without hesitation Logan pushes her hair behind her ears so he could get a view of her tear-streaked face.

"What's wrong?" He asks as he wipes one of the fallen tears away. Without saying anything she unbuckles her seatbelt and crawls into his lap, anchoring her arms firmly around his neck as she nuzzles in to his chest. Confused, but not complaining, Logan tightly wraps his arms around and plants a kiss on her head
"All I could see was him doing that to you." Veronica finally whispers, so softly that Logan can barely hear her. His heart catches in his throat and he reclines the seat back fully so he can cradle her closer. They had never really talked about Logan's abuse. She had cleaned him up and he had allowed her to be tender with him but they never actually spoke about what happened in that office or how much it all affected Logan.

"It's ok." He mutters into her hair as she settles her head into the crook of his neck and starts running her hands along his chest, assuring herself that he was still there.

"No Logan, it's really not." She says sitting up and wiping the tears off her face with the back of her hand.

"I can't stand the thought of someone hurting you like that. " Logan gave a cheerless smile and reaches



up to cup her cheek.

"It doesn't happen very much since Mom and I'll be out soon enough." He replies, reassuringly leaning up to give her a quick kiss. "Don't worry."

"I don't know how you expect me to do that." Veronica says sadly before jumping out of the car and walking to her apartment. It was unnerving how Logan just expects Veronica to just shrug off his abuse. True his father has lain off a bit since Lynn died but there was still a rough shove or two not to mention the continuing emotional abuse. What had started out as your average high school romance had quickly progressed into something much more intense. Sometimes, when Veronica really thinks about it, she figures that she might love Logan. How is she supposed to blatantly ignore the pain of someone she cares for so much?

The next day Veronica finds Mandy and lets her know of her plan to prove the guys from the pound are dog-knapping pure bred dogs from the 09er zip and holding them ransom. Between Duncan missing and her growing concern for Logan she needs a project and what better direction to channel her pent up frustration? The girls agree to meet at 7 and Veronica gets the last member of her team.

"Hey Deputy." She says with a smile as Leo pours himself a cup of coffee.
"What can I do you for Veronica?" Thankfully he seems more amused than upset and Veronica quickly fills him in on the case. Excited at the prospect of yelling and arresting, Leo grabs his piece and agrees to meet her, Wallace and Mandy at the pound. As per usual, Veronica was right and the missing dogs were returned to their rightful owners. Even Mandy's dog was alive and after Hanz had an unfortunate run-in with Veronica's tazor, he gave up the address.

"Hey Leo can I ask you kind of a weird question?"
"Do you ask any other kind of question?" Leo says with a smirk.
"When Weevil was arrested you said he had a pen on him. Are you sure it wasn't a pencil." The mistake seems common enough but Veronica couldn't shake the feeling that something didn't add up with Weevil's diamond ring story. Lilly may have been a bit of a Snow Queen but if Weevil had gotten the wrong idea and given her that ring, she wouldn't have accepted it or she would have given it back when she got back together with Logan.
"No it was definitely a pen. Pretty girly one too, pink, plastic." Oh yeah, she knows the one.

flashback

"God why is Logan taking so long?" Lilly whines looking out the window of Logan's Xterra. They were going to the beach to celebrate the beginning of summer and Duncan and Logan had been in the Echolls house for the past 10 minutes while Veronica and Lilly waited, with dwindling patience, in the car.
"Duncan is probably doing his hair." Veronica jokes causing Lilly to giggle at the image.
"Oh my god you'll never guess what I found in my cereal box this morning!" Lilly gasps suddenly excited as she pulls an obnoxiously girly pen out of her purse. "Look it's a spy pen."


"Oh what's a spy pen?" Veronica asks with a giggle as Lilly pops the top of to show the hollow opening.
"I'm going to use it to pass notes to all my lovers."
"This is going to be a very busy little pen." Lilly nods in agreement sending both girls into a fit of giggles

end flashback

Weevil lied. Veronica dwells on this as she enters the apartment. Why would Weevil sneak back in to the Kane house to steal back a couple of love letters? And, if he did, why wouldn't have just told her?

"Honey I know you don't always have a curfew these days but you're starting to make me look bad." Keith says. If Veronica wasn't so focused of Weevil she may have questioned why Keith had his briefcase in the bathroom.
"So you knew Weevil stalked Lilly. You questioned him. What convinced you he wasn't the guy?" These are the moments that Veronica has to force herself to think in PI mode and see Weevil the leader of the motorcycle gang not Eli her friend.

"We searched him, his home, DNA, all that stuff and nothing came up. He also had an airtight alibi. Common, I'll show yah." When Veronica had initially started looking into Lilly's case, Keith had made a point of trying to involve her as little as possible. To others she might have been a hardened PI in training but, to Keith, she was still his little girl who used to feel sorry for prisoners. As the year wore on though, Veronica broke him down. She proved herself able to be objective and dogged but had managed to not get herself so obsessed that her life lacked anything else.

"Weevil was on community service detail from 12pm to 4pm. A dozen people saw it and his time card confirms it." Keith says pulling down the infamous Playboys box. Veronica had discovered it months earlier when she had been looking in her Dad's closet for an old photo album and she had knocked it over, spilling Lilly Kane research all over the ground.

"And now that we know Lilly's time of death is well after 4?" Keith thinks for a minute than continues.
"The Kanes covered up Lilly's murder. We know that. You think they'd go through all that for someone like Weevil?"

"True, but what if they didn't know they were covering for Weevil? Duncan says he found Lilly and then had one of his fits. What if the Kanes thought they were covering for Duncan?" Veronica says not believing she hadn't thought of this before. If the Jake and Celeste thought Duncan killed Lilly and accidently covered for him then the investigation is back where it began.

"Weevil, wait." Veronica says running up to him in the hallway. "The night you broke into the Kane house I gave you a pencil. You were found with a pen." Weevil smirks a little bit then pulls a pen out of his pocket.

"You mean this? You can have it." He pulls the spy pen out of his pocket and hands it to Veronica who immediately looks inside.
"Any messages in there when you found it?" She comments angrily. "Messages from you, perhaps?"
"Now if I told you it wouldn't really be a secret message pen. Would it?"

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