A/N : Woah, I so did not expect such a major reaction to this! Especially since the intro chapter was pretty short. I am so grateful to everyone who reviewed for the hugely positive response. I only hope the rest of the fic lives up to expectations...
(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)
Chapter 2 - Lean On Me
Veronica was way past tired when she reached home. It had taken hours to get everything figured out at the Kane house, most especially after the Sheriff, Veronica's very own father, had arrived. Everybody had to give their statement; Lilly, Duncan, Veronica, after Aaron had been taken away in handcuffs, arrested for what he'd attempted to do to Lilly. Of course the attack was only half the story, as Veronica was forced to explain. The tapes would bring up a whole other charge against Aaron Echolls, after all, though Lilly consented to sex with him, she was not quite seventeen and as such too young for it to be legal.
The whole thing made Veronica's head spin and it was far from over yet. She'd only been allowed to escape the Kane house and all the questions and arguing that had occurred when Jake and Celeste arrived home because her Dad realised someone ought to go and recover the tapes from the Mars house.
Veronica had been sent back there with a Deputy he trusted but didn't need right now at the scene of the crime.
"Thanks, Leo" Veronica forced a smile as she hopped out of the patrol car and went towards her home.
She was a little wary of the fact the door opened without being unlocked. Perhaps she'd left it swinging when she'd hurried to save her friend, it was certainly possible. Still, she was a little nervous about going into the house alone when someone might be there. Despite the fact she knew Aaron was behind bars at the Sheriff's office by now, she couldn't quite bring herself to face up to walking into the house.
"Veronica?" Leo called to her as he left the car and followed her up the path, "You okay?" he checked.
"I think there might be somebody inside" she whispered, "I just didn't want to..."
"It's okay" Leo nodded, pulling his gun from the holster, "You stay behind me, we'll check it out" he said, encouraging her to move aside from the door which she did, walking a step behind him as he quietly opened the door and went into the house.
They were both surprised by the sight that met their eyes. No attackers laid in wait, no thieves had been interrupted, here was just a boy, broken and tearful, sitting in the centre of the living room floor, his eyes glued to the TV screen.
"Logan?" Veronica frowned as she stepped out from behind Leo and approached her friend.
He appeared not to hear her at all, and yet he must have in such close proximity. Glancing at the screen, Veronica realised what he was watching and she winced at the sight of Aaron on top of Lilly making her scream with delight.
"Why are you watching this?" she said almost angry at him for doing such a thing.
She reached for the remote and shut off the TV, pulling the tape from the camera and stuffing it back in the box.
"These are all the tapes" she said, pushing them into Leo's hands, "Take them to my Dad, tell him I'm home safe and that Logan is with me"
"Are you sure I shouldn't take you with me, or maybe stay here?" Leo suggested. Veronica shook her head.
"Honestly, I can deal" she assured him with a brave smile.
The deputy just nodded and turned to leave, taking one final glance back at the two young people before he finally left.
"Logan, I'm sorry" Veronica said shakily, a little worried by the fact he'd yet to move, or speak, or react in any way to her presence or the fact the TV screen was now blank.
"Why?" he asked, his voice sounding hoarse.
From the tracks on his face Veronica guessed he'd been crying, something she didn't ever remember him doing before, not ever in front of her.
"I don't know" she said, to cover all bases.
Whether he was asking why she was sorry or why his Dad and girlfriend had done this to him, she had no real reason to give for either question.
"Did you know about this?" he asked suddenly turning angry eyes upon her as she knelt next to him on the floor.
"Of course not!" she shot back indignantly.
"You're probably lying" he scoffed as he scrambled to his feet and turned his back on her, wiping old tears from his face, "You had those tapes, and you're Lilly's best friend, you had to know" sounding both bitter and angry, neither emotion Veronica could blame him for.
She could however protest the fact that he was accusing her of being in on this painful secret, which she had not been til a few hours ago when the tapes had arrived in her mail box via Lilly's hand.
"Logan, look at me" she demanded, pulling on his arm til he did as he was told, "You know I'm not lying" she said, eyes trained on his own, "We've been friends long enough, you know I never would"
Slowly he nodded his head, agreeing that what she said was true. Veronica wasn't a liar, he doubted she'd no how to be so duplicitous. She was the complete opposite to Lilly in so many ways, it was quite shocking how two so different people could be best friends.
"You might just be the only person in my life that doesn't lie to me" he said, almost making it sound like a joke, though the tears that welled in his eyes gave him away.
He half-collapsed onto Veronica, and all she could do was hold onto him. The pair of them crumpled back to the ground and she rocked him like a child as he cried. She figured he'd be upset by all this, though she hadn't quite granted on him being this bad.
When she gave it some thought she realised it wasn't all that shocking. His parents and Lilly, they were the only people in Logan's life that really cared for him. His half-sister, Trina, was never around, and when she was the pair fought like cat and dog. He had a few friends, but the 09ers travelled in packs out of habit. Duncan was perhaps a better ally than most, but the rest came and went as they felt like it.
It occurred to Veronica that two of the three pillars holding up Logan's world had just crumbled to dust. Though his father was hard on him, she had no doubt the man still mattered to his son. He was a constant force if nothing else, a definite part of life that rarely changed. Logan's mother meant the world to him, this she knew for a fact, and proof had been prolific enough over the years. Lilly was his other rock, the one girl he loved above all others. Though she cheated on him, a kiss here, a fumble there, he always took her back and to Veronica's recollection she'd only ever seen Logan share one kiss with another girl whilst he and Lilly were together. One kiss, compared to all she had done. It did not put Miss Kane in a good light, and right now, despite being the girl's best friend, Veronica could find it in herself to violently dislike Lilly, as Logan finally stilled in her arms, his crying over for now.
"Logan" Veronica said softly, hating that she was about to cause him more pain, but knowing she must tell the truth, after all she was the one who just moments ago had assured him she would never lie to him, "There's something else you have to know, about your Dad" she explained, her eyes leaving his and dipping to the floor.
"Did he hurt her?" he asked, and Veronica realised that he must have seen the note Lilly had left with the tapes, the one that said she knew Aaron would come after her when he discovered she had the evidence of their affair.
Logan knew his father's temper always got the better of him. As hurt as he was, as upset and angry as he was at Lilly, he couldn't bear to think Aaron might've harmed her, like all those times he'd hurt him.
"He tried" Veronica admitted with a nod, "I got their just as he..." she winced at the memory, and the way her vivid imagination ran away with her. The consequences could have been horrific if Aaron's hand had made it to that ashtray, if he'd have managed the strike he was clearly planning, "The important thing is, Lilly's okay" Veronica said at last, "Everybody's okay"
"What about him?" he spat the word out like even referring to his father in that simple term made him feel sick.
"He was arrested" Veronica told him, "My Dad has him down at the station, he'll be questioning him when he's done at the Kane house" she explained, "Jake and Celeste kinda hit the ceiling"
Logan managed a painful laugh at that as he pulled out of Veronica's arms and let himself sit down on the carpet.
"Lilly's life ambition is to give Daddy and Mommy Dearest a shared heart-attack" he said with a shake of his head and a smile that didn't reach his eyes, "I guess I just wasn't badass enough for her anymore, I mean, hey, why date the copy when you can have the original, right?" he said with emphatic arm gestures.
"No" Veronica protested, "I don't believe it was like that" she tried to defend her best friend, though she wasn't sure how she was going to continue until the words came out her mouth, "Lilly loves you"
"Yeah" Logan agreed sarcastically, "She loves me so damn much she was cheating on me with my own father!" he exploded, voice rising with anger and emotion as he tried to take it in.
He picked up a ball, presumably abandoned in the middle of the floor by Back-up, and threw it so it hit the wall with a thump, bouncing off somewhere else and rolling out of sight.
"I wish I knew what to say to make it better" Veronica admitted sadly, the emotion of her own situation finally catching up with her it seemed, "I wish I knew, but I don't" she said, voice wavering as the full force of what had happened really hit her.
Lilly could've died tonight. Without her own quick thinking, maybe Veronica could have too. Logan's pain on top of her own shock and confusion was just too much emotion to bear and tears slid down her cheeks, her hand going to her face as she gave in and cried.
"Veronica" the sound of her name from her friends lips was all the invitation she needed to take her turn at being comforted.
She closed the floor space between them and let him wrap his arms around her as she let it all out.
"I thought... he could've killed her, and me" she cried and Logan closed his eyes, hating that he knew it was true.
He'd seen his father's violent temper too many times, against himself, against his mother, the thought of what he might've done to Lilly and Veronica in one of his rages - she was right, he could've killed them both.
"Ssh, it's okay" he comforted the little blonde in his arms, rubbing a hand over her back and trying to calm her.
They remained wrapped together in the middle of the floor, even after she stopped crying, both lost in their own thoughts, and grateful for the support of a friend.
To Be Continued...