A/N : Wow, the reaction to this story just astounds me, you guys are all so supportive and I appreciate it a lot. Apologies for the lateness of updateage,and relative shortness of chapter. Hopefully you'll like it anyway :-)
(For disclaimer,etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 3 - This Is How It Goes

"Are you just going to sit there glaring all night, Donut?" Lilly asked his brother as she sat across the table from him, slumped down in her chair, her arms folded across her chest.

"I don't know what to say to you" Duncan admitted, shaking his head, "I mean, how could you do this, Lilly? I don't understand!"

"God, what is your problem?" she yelled back at him, getting up from her seat and waving her arms in an emphatic gesture as she laughed, "You're getting as uptight as Mom and Dad" she told him, moving over to the counter and hopping up to sit on the edge.

Jake and Celeste had of course gone apoplectic when they arrived home just minutes after the Sheriff and his men. The whole story was required to be relayed again, Lilly's version, then Duncan's too. They'd tried to get information from Veronica, though Keith had protected his own daughter from the brunt of the Kanes' combined rage. It was the biggest reason why he'd sent her home to fetch the tapes which could easily have waited a while. He wanted her out before things got too bad.

As they heard of Aaron Echolls attack on their little girl, Jake started demanding that heads roll for such a crime, and Celeste's immediate question to her daughter was why this man should want to harm her. She had no doubt in her mind at all that Lilly had again brought trouble upon herself, and of course she was proven right as the truth of the whole sorry affair was revealed.

Both Kanes soon had a drink in their hands, desperate to steady their nerves and remain calm as they thought over the scandal that had occurred. If the media got hold of this, they dreaded to think what could happen. The good name of Kane would be dragged through the mud, and neither Jake nor Celeste relished the prospect of that.

It disgusted Keith to hear the family discuss these matters, referring to how much this would cost to cover up, the damage it could do to them in terms of public relations. They seemed to care not at all about the fact their daughter might have died tonight if not for some quick thinking on both the part of Lilly herself and Veronica.

Hours later, Jake saw Keith to the door as Celeste went to her room, saying she was unable to look at Lilly right now. Jake had also not returned from letting the Sheriff out of the house and had presumably followed his wife or selected another room in the house to hide in. Duncan guessed he was probably in his office, doing as much damage control as possible, despite the fact it was now the early hours of the morning. He and Lilly had been left together and he was stunned to realise she was not at all bothered by the events of the night. It was one big joke to her, the fact she and Veronica might both have been badly hurt, or worse killed, had little or no effect.

"Did you for a second think about what you were doing?" Duncan asked his sister, turning to where she sat on the counter still, kicking her legs like a small child might.

"What's to think?" she shrugged and rolled her eyes simultaneously, "Aaron's hot and he wanted me. Let's face it, what guy doesn't?" she grinned and immediately her brother was on his feet, getting up in her face as he grabbed her by the upper arms.

"This isn't a game, Lilly" he told her sharply, "Don't you understand what you've done?"

"Yeah" she said, to rhyme with 'duh', "I slept with a guy, big deal" she laughed it off like it was nothing, "And he got mad at me when I pissed him off"

"He could've killed you" Duncan pressed the point, but Lilly shook her head, and pushed him away from her, hopping back down to the floor.

"You need to chill out, little brother" she told him, "I know your little world is pretty PG-13 most of the time, but us grown ups have different problems"

"I sometimes wonder if you do have a problem" Duncan said, almost nastily, "If you did it might explain how you think it's okay to act this way" he shook his head, "You're my sister, Lilly, and I love you, but God, I don't understand you"

"What's to understand?" she asked him, not getting it, "I'm seventeen, Duncan, young and free, and..."

"Free?" he echoed, interrupting her, "Did you forget you were with Logan pretty much constantly for the past three years?"

"Logan's sweet" Lilly conceded, "but it's not like we're going to get married, have kids, live happily ever after til we're ninety" she rolled her eyes, "You're so naive, Duncan" she told him as she turned to walk away, but he grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

"No, you're not walking away, I'm not done yet" he told her firmly.

She turned back and glared at him, pulling her wrist free from his grasp.

"God, where do you get off yelling at me about my love life?" she asked him, getting annoyed and angry by now, "I'm not the one who was dating our sister!"

That particular comment silenced Duncan once and for all. She was right of course, he had been dating Veronica and there was a good chance they could very well be half-brother and half-sister, since his Dad and her Mom had been having an affair back in the day. When he found out the truth, he'd stopped dating Veronica, though he couldn't bear to formally dump her and could not give her any real explanation without telling her the secret he'd been sworn to keep.

Lilly, of course, was his one confidante on the matter, and he knew it was probably just as hard for her to keep this thing under wraps as it was for him. After all, Veronica was her best friend, it would be perfect for the two of them to find out they were sisters, it would be disastrous, however, for Duncan to find proof that he was related to the little blonde. He'd fallen in love with her some time ago, and despite his best efforts to quash them, he knew those feelings were still there. He was disgusted with himself for having these thoughts, these emotions, about a girl he might have a blood tie too, but there was nothing he could do about it, not a thing.

The sad and hurt look on his face even got to Lilly, the girl who never seemed to care much for anyone's feelings but her own. She had the decency to look a little ashamed of herself at least as she apologised for her 'below the belt' comment.

"You can't keep this up forever, Lilly" Duncan told her, "You can't keep pretending that nothing and no-one matters but you and what you want" he said seriously, "Tonight, you could've been killed, Veronica too. Now Logan will find out you cheated on him with his father, and will probably have to watch him go to jail, tearing his whole family apart"

"I never meant for all this to happen" Lilly sighed, "It just... it got messed up is all" she shrugged, looking off in the other direction as she thought it over.

She knew what she was doing when she slept with guys, Aaron, Weevil, Logan, and the others whose names were less clear. She always felt like she had such control over them, and she loved it as much as they loved her, which she was sure they all did, whether they said it or not.

As Duncan left the room, she was hardly aware of it. Maybe he was right, maybe she'd had a lucky escape tonight. She knew Aaron was violent, but he wouldn't really have harmed her, would he? As she thought more about it, Lilly wasn't so sure. She ought to go see Veronica tomorrow, check in, see if she was okay. She had kind of saved her, which was very cool.

The next person she thought of was Logan. Duncan was definitely wrong about him. She hadn't screwed up his life, she'd done him a favour. He hated the father who was always on his back, beating him when he did wrong. As for her affair, it wasn't like she was seeing Logan and Aaron at the same time... well, maybe for a while, she smiled mischievously as she thought about it. Her romances had perhaps overlapped here and there, if you could call them all romances.

With a sigh, Lilly headed out of the room and towards the stairs. The events of the night and consequent going over and over of them had tired her out and she was ready for bed and sleep by now. Tomorrow she would go see Veronica and Logan and set everything straight. Duncan was making way too big a deal out of this. It was totally fixable, and she'd be the one to do it.

"Okay, Dad" Veronica said into the phone as she watched Logan sitting on the couch, wiping old tears tracks from his face with the backs of his hands and yawning, "I'll see you later" she half-smiled, "Love you too" she said before the call ended and she hung up the phone.

"It's weird but somehow I don't think my Dad's coming home tonight either" Logan smirked, though he looked far from humorous as Veronica came over to the couch and sat down beside him, "I just feel so stupid right now" he admitted and she shook her head, putting an arm around him.

"You don't have a reason too" she assured him, "What they did... It's not your fault, and you couldn't have known"

"My Dad and my girlfriend, Veronica" Logan shook his head, "Seeing each other at my house, behind my back, and I'm the idiot who didn't even notice"

"Hey, Lilly's my best friend and I had no idea" the blonde promised him, "I thought we shared everything but..." she shook her head at a loss as to understand how her friend could do this.

She knew Lilly chased other guys, or rather allowed them to chase her, but to her knowledge she'd never really cheated on Logan. A few kisses that had gone too far maybe, but then only when her and her boyfriend were on one of their breaks. This she could scarce believe, and yet she'd been subjected to the evidence, just as Logan had.

"What is it with the Kane family?" he sighed, as he turned to look at her, "Y'know I spent weeks asking Duncan why he broke up with you" he admitted, "Couldn't get one decent explanation out of him, not one" he said, shaking his head.

"Join the club" she forced a smile, "It was like he just stopped wanting me around, and he didn't even have the guts to tell me" she sighed.

"Who wouldn't want you around?" Logan smiled, the nearest thing to a genuine smile she'd seen from him all night as he tugged on the back of her hair.

"It's a mystery" she shrugged, feigning genuine confusion, and they both managed to find a little humour in it.

There had been too many tears tonight, too much pain, and tomorrow, or should that be later today, was set to be just as hard to deal with.

"Wow, is that really the time" Logan said with wide eyes as he caught sight of the clock that told him it was past two in the morning.

"I guess" Veronica agreed, "We should both be getting to bed" she said, immediately regretting her choice of words as Logan gave her a look that made her blush, "You know what I mean" she rolled her eyes, looking away, and he agreed that he did know.

"Home doesn't seem so inviting right now" he admitted, "Mom will have heard about everything, she'll be curled up with a bottle" he said sadly.

Logan loved his mother dearly but he really wished she could learn to deal with life without the alcohol and the pills. Living with Aaron Echolls wasn't easy, he knew that, but if only his Mom were more resilient, if she stood up for herself more, maybe Daddy dearest would treat her better.

"You could stay, if you want" Veronica offered, "We only have the couch but..."

"Thanks, Veronica" he said with a smile, looking over at her and putting a hand on her arm, "For everything"

She didn't know how to answer that, or if she should answer at all. She just put her hand over his and squeezed it, offering a smile back at him.

Tonight had been pretty crazy, the repercussions, she was sure, would be felt for a long time yet, but at least she and Logan each had one friend they could rely on. Whatever happened with Lilly, Aaron, Duncan, whoever, these two had made a connection, re-affirmed a friendship that had been a little undefined up to now. It made the whole sorry situation seem a little less dire for the both of them.

To Be Continued...