Summary: Veronica must decide whether to stand by her husband, the sheriff, or her first love, and brother, Duncan Kane, as history repeats itself. Slightly AU future fic.

Spoilers: Anything in season 1 is fair.

Rating: PG-13/R for incest, mainly in later chapters.

Pairings: Veronica/Duncan, Veronica/Leo

Disclaimer: I don't own VM, and am in no way affiliated with those who do.

Chapter 5- Veronica

I looked, panicked, from my daughter to my husband. Leo smiled at me, and squeezed my hand.

"That's not how we wanted you to find out. We wanted you to know when he decided you should. But since you know, you might as well know all of it.

"Duncan has a medical condition. I guess you know the specifics of it. I guess you actually know pretty much everything about the disease, and how it affects Duncan, and that it is, in no way, his fault."

"She wants to know how it affects Lilly's death," I whispered. Elly nodded.

"I'm not entirely sure. All I know is that he could have killed her without meaning to, without knowing what he was doing, and not remember it. And we don't have any suspects." Elly nodded again.

"I'm going to sleep now," I announced. Leo nodded, and stood up to follow me, stooping to kiss Elly on the forehead first. I didn't. I didn't have even that smidgeon of energy.

As we lay in bed, curled up, half asleep, I turned to Leo.

"Are you going to go after Duncan?" I asked him. He pretended he didn't hear me. "Please, Leo," I whispered. He didn't hear me.

I went into my father's office first thing the next morning. Keith and Veronica Mars were going to find Lilly Kane's murderer again. Then, it wouldn't even matter if Leo thought Duncan did it.

"Have you found anything yet?" I asked immediately.

"I thought you found Elly," he exclaimed, concerned.

"We did. I meant on the Lilly Kane murder case."

"Why would you need me to work on that? It's Leo's top priority, he'll tell you everything he can."

"So, you figure, since the police are on it, who cares?"

"Leo has a better chance of solving the case than I do. He has more resources at his disposal, more people who can focus solely on the Kane case. You know that, honey. If I tried to solve it, I would probably only get in the way."

"But we could work on it together! Like we should have done to find Lilly's murderer. If we had done that, maybe we could have caught Aaron. We might have been able to bring him to justice!"

"Veronica, finding out who killed the niece Lilly never knew isn't going to help bring Aaron to justice. This isn't the same Lilly Kane. You barely even knew this Lilly."

"I know it won't bring Lilly back. I know it won't bring Aaron down. But I have to solve this."

"Why? Why the special interest in this particular murder case?"

"Because she's my niece. And, because, if she wasn't my niece, maybe she would have been my daughter."

"Veronica..."

"No, I love with Leo, not Duncan. But, if Duncan wasn't my brother, would I have gotten the chance to fall in love with Leo? I don't think I would have. I first fell in love with him because I needed to. I needed to be in love with someone I'm not related to."

"So, you're taking a special interest in solving this case because of what Lilly could have been?"

"No. I'm taking a special interest in solving this case because of who she was. She was my niece. Duncan's daughter. Elly's best friend. Isn't that enough?"

"Of course. It's more than enough of a reason. But that doesn't change the fact that the investigation will probably run more smoothly if you work with Leo."

I nodded tearfully, and walked back to my car. I was watching my own heartbreaking adolescence, but I was seeing it through my mother's eyes. Except I wouldn't turn to alcohol, or run away. I wouldn't become Lianne. Although I had an advantage; my ex-lover's wife wouldn't try to chase me out of town. Even if she were alive.

I drove for a while, not knowing where I was going, not going anywhere in particular. I ended up on the beach, the same beach Lilly, Logan, Duncan and I had ditched Homecoming to go to. I got out of the car, and sat in the sand, watching the waves crash against the beach.

Honestly, I had no idea why finding out who killed Duncan's daughter was so important to me. Dad was right. I barely knew her, and I know that Elly isn't the main reason I care. Of course, she's part of the reason. I know exactly what it's like to be her, but that also means I know that she has a burning desire to bring the guilty party to justice herself. Of course, I needed my father's help, and I would have loved my mother's, but I wanted to be the one to figure it out. I wanted to be the one to catch the man who murdered my best friend. If it were only for Elly, I would talk to her, help her search, but I wouldn't want to lead my own, secret search. No, I wanted to solve this mystery for myself, I just didn't know why, or why I didn't want to do it with Leo.