(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 8 - Mamma Mia

Veronica woke from sleep and hit the snooze button on her clock radio, only to have her father yell for her not to do that very thing.

"Up and at 'em, sweetheart" he encouraged her, "Eggs and bacon for two, already getting cold!" he called, making Veronica sit up sharply and frown hard.

'We don't ever get fried food for breakfast' she thought as she swung her legs out of bed and pulled on her robe.

When Logan had been here the other day, that was like special circumstances, but fried breakfasts on any regular day were simply not permitted. Mom never allowed it, in an attempt to keep both her husband and daughter slim and healthy. Sure, she was away just now, but Dad didn't usually bend the rules so much...

"What's wrong?" Veronica asked from the doorway of the kitchen, and Keith wouldn't look at her as he straightened up the plates and glasses on the table.

"What would be wrong, Veronica?" he checked, but her frown didn't ease up and she didn't offer to move and sit down til he paid her proper attention and gave her a real answer to her question, "I... I have a letter here for you" he said awkwardly, handing it to her.

"Mom?" she said absently as she recognised the hand-writing and tore into the envelope.

She was shaking slightly as she pulled out the letter and read it's contents, tears forming in her eyes as she did so.

"I'm so sorry, sweetheart" her father apologised, but she barely heard as she took in the words her mother had written to her.

It seemed the little break Lianne Mars had taken was not just that. Her visit to her cousin in Wisconsin was apparently less a vacation and more of a permanent move. Instead of coming back tomorrow, as she'd said, Lianne was staying away, she had left Veronica and Keith, and she seemed to think it was for the best.

"Why?" the little blonde shook her head, sending tears cascading down her cheeks, "Why would she leave us?"

"I can't believe she did this in a letter" Keith sighed, as he sat down at the table and encouraged his daughter into the seat beside him, "Veronica, you know your Mom and I have been having some problems lately. We tried to hide it from you but I know you're smarter than that"

"I know you were fighting more" his little girl, who suddenly looked so very young and lost, nodded her head, "I even tried to talk to Mom about it, about her drinking, but she just got mad at me"

"This isn't your fault, honey" Keith assured her, "I promise you. Honestly, it's nobody's fault, not really. Things just got strained, with my job and... and other stuff that shouldn't've mattered" he said cryptically, though Veronica was taking little notice right now as she re-read her mother's letter and cried.

She didn't want to come from a broken home, she wanted her life back how it was, with two parents and a best friend who wasn't a liar, a cheat, and a bitch. Things had changed so much within the past week, and it was making Veronica's head spin. She wasn't sure she knew how to cope with all this, despite the fact she knew things could be so much worse. Lilly could be dead by now, that would be worse. Veronica could have no-one left at all, but as it was she had Logan and the new boy, Wallace. Things could be so much worse, she kept telling herself, but it didn't stop the tears.

Keith hugged his daughter to him, internally cursing his wife. She wasn't like this before, little Lianne who he'd fallen in love with, married, and made a child with. She wasn't a drunk, she wasn't bitter and twisted as she had become now. The woman he'd married wouldn't run away from her problems like this. She wouldn't abandon him or their daughter.

"She says she's leaving because she loves me" Veronica cried, repeating the words she'd read in her mother's letter, "That doesn't even make sense. If she loved me she wouldn't want to leave. Does she even know what happened here?" she asked her father who nodded his head.

"I told her about it" Keith admitted, "I hoped she'd at least come back to talk to you face-to-face but..." he shook his head in the negative, "She said she was trying not to add to the scandal or cause more problems"

Veronica frowned, not understanding how her mother coming home, even to tell her that her parents were breaking up, would have any effect on the tangled mess that now existed between the Echolls, the Kanes, and herself.

"Are you going to be okay, sweetheart?" her father checked, "I know this is a lot to take in, honestly I'm not even processing it that well and I kinda saw it coming"

"I'll be okay" his daughter promised with a forced smile, "I guess, deep down, I wondered if this might happen some day. I just really hoped it wouldn't" Veronica said, her voice cracking as tears overcame her once again.

Logan couldn't shift the grin off his face as he drove towards the Mars house to pick up Veronica and take her to school. For just over a week now he had been making this trip daily, the first time because she was the only person he really had to turn to, and now, just because he really liked it.

Veronica and Logan had become almost like best friends this past week, though at school they spent time with the new kid, Wallace Fennell, as well as each other. Logan didn't mind the other boy so much, he was pretty cool, but it was his alone time with Veronica he enjoyed most, and the one time that was always guaranteed was on the drive to school.

Most of the time they didn't talk about anything deep or meaningful. It was easier to avoid topics like the Kanes, or their parents, most of the time. In fact, talking between them usually consisted of playful banter, a kind of half-hearted, friendly bickering, and when they didn't feel like talking at all they'd sing along to the radio or just watch the world go by as they travelled to school each day.

This morning Logan was a little surprised and worried when the girl who responded to his knocking on the front door of the Mars house was not the smiling happy blonde he was used to, but a much more sad and sullen version of the same girl.

"Hey" he said as he looked at her, trying to see her face which she was doing her best to hide since it was streaked with tear stains still, "Veronica, are you okay?" he checked.

"I'm fine" she snapped a little too harshly as she pushed past him and headed towards the car, "Can we please just go?" she urged him and Logan didn't argue, though he was far from happy with this situation.

They got in the car and he pulled off the drive in silence, only the radio made any sound and even that began to annoy the boy who always liked the music to be blaring on a regular day.

"Okay" he said to himself as they stopped at a red light and he clicked the radio off, "Something isn't right here" he declared as Veronica spared him a brief glance, "So either I did something stupid since yesterday, like in my sleep or something that I'm not aware of" he said thoughtfully, "or something happened to you that you're not sharing"

"I don't have to tell you everything, Logan" Veronica snapped once again, hating herself for having done so just a second later.

It wasn't Logan's fault that her Mom had upped and left. It wasn't his fault Lianne was a drunk or a less nice person that she used to be. He wasn't in control of how much Veronica felt the need to cry, and it wasn't as if he was doing anything wrong in asking her what the problem was, in fact he was clearly trying to do the right thing, be a good friend and all. They really only had each other, and Wallace, she ought to be grateful he was concerned about her, so why was she being so mean?

"I'm real sorry, Veronica" Logan said icily, putting the car into gear and moving through the now green light, "I just had this crazy idea that you and I were maybe friends now. Can't imagine how that happened" he said with a nasty edge to his voice that upset Veronica even more, not because he was being less than pleasant but because she knew it was her own fault.

"We are friends, Logan" she told him, "I'm sorry, I don't mean to snap at you. In some ways, you've been more of a friend to me this past week than Lilly was in the whole time we were best friends" she admitted, melting Logan just a little and causing a ghost of a smile to play around his lips.

It was nice to know he really meant something to somebody like that, that he could be this great friend and just what Veronica needed. As much as he needed people, he wanted to be needed to, he wanted to be loved, he wanted somebody to want him to be around. His father never had, his mother was often too drunk to notice him, though he couldn't blame her for that, given all she'd had to live through with Aaron.

"So, is it like twenty questions?" Logan smirked, "Am I supposed to ask if your problem is animal, vegetable, or mineral?" he joked, glancing sideways at Veronica as they turned a corner into the road that led to Neptune High.

"It's my Mom" she admitted, in a quiet little voice that Logan hadn't heard her use in years.

Little Veronica Mars was still pretty shy and quiet when he first knew her, but as she'd grown up and spent increasing amounts of time around himself and Lilly, she'd come out of her shell more. The little girl tone had faded as the strong young woman beneath shone through. Now she was back to her childish voice and Logan wondered what awful thing must've happened to Veronica, and apparently her mother, in order for her to make this transformation back to her old self.

"What happened?" he urged her to explain, wishing he wasn't driving right now so he could actually pay her proper attention.

"She left us" she said softly, "Her vacation wasn't so much a vacation, more a permanent leaving of us"

"Wow, I'm sorry" Logan said sincerely as he pulled the car into the school lot and parked up in his usual space, "Really, Veronica, I am" he assured her as he shut off the engine and turned to face her.

"It's okay" she forced a weak smile.

Veronica was desperate not to cry here, not in school, not in front of Logan. There had been too much of that lately, far too much. Still, the tears were too many and welled up so fast there was just no way to stop them escaping and they trickled down her cheeks before she had chance to prevent it happening.

"Come here" Logan said softly as he pulled her to him and she cried on his shoulder.

This kind of thing seemed to happen a lot lately, though it hadn't fully occurred to the two of them what they were doing the day of the dreaded incident when Aaron had almost killed Lilly, and the truth of their affair had been revealed. The crying, and hugging, and leaning on each other, Veronica and Logan had done that without a thought. Now the blonde's head was spinning as she found herself being held in Logan's arms, in the centre of the school parking lot. Surely there was something wrong with this picture, and yet she was glad of the comfort and understanding.

"I'm so sick of crying" she admitted, when she pulled away a moment later, the two of them still incredibly close together in the confines of the car.

"Don't worry about it" Logan told her as he wiped a stray tear from her cheek with his thumb, "You're not the only one" he told her, the look in his eyes telling her that on more than one occasion he had broken down too, albeit in private and away from prying eyes.

There was an intense moment that passed between them then, something almost electric as they sat their in Logan's car, eyes locked, arms around each other, his hand at her cheek still. Veronica was just thinking that if she didn't let out the breath she was holding soon she was going to pass out when suddenly the beautiful moment was shattered.

"Hey guys!" Wallace called as he came bounding over to the car, "What's up?" he asked as Veronica and Logan found their attention being stolen form each other at last.

Though both were attempting smiles as they exited the car and walked towards the school building with their other friends, neither were really so happy, and for more than one reason. Perhaps what got to them most was the fact their little moment there had been broken, leaving the pair of them wondering what might have happened if it had not.

To Be Continued...