A/N : Is it over forever with Logan and Veronica? Will he mess everything up after seeing that innocent hug between his girlfriend and Duncan? Read on and find out!
(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 18 - Can't Stop Falling Into Love

Something weird was going on and Veronica Mars, Sheriff's daughter, wanted to know what that something was. For the past few weeks, she and Logan Echolls had been getting closer. He drove her to and from school pretty much every day, they ate lunch together, they talked and laughed and had fun. He took her ice-skating just a couple of days ago, and things had moved on between them. They'd kissed, and admitted to deeper feelings for each other than either could ever have expected to feel. It was all good, and one of the few positive things Veronica had in her life right now. She'd lost her mother, her best friend, and her boyfriend before that, plus her Dad was busy a lot lately. Having a friend in Wallace, and moreover a boyfriend in Logan was wonderful, at least it had been for a while there.

Things had got weird when Veronica found out about her ex's condition. Duncan's epilepsy had thrown a spanner in the works, messing with her head and making the little blonde wonder about a lot of things. She'd needed to talk it all through with Duncan, she'd been made to see that by Wallace, and she felt better for the conversation with the Kane boy. He'd made her understand that he still cared for her, but that there were a variety of reasons why they just shouldn't be together anymore, one of which was his condition. She hadn't pushed him on what the other reasons might be, though a part of her had wanted to. Mostly Veronica was relieved to know no part of the break up was her fault and that in some way her and Duncan might be friends again, however awkward that might be for a while.

Following their conversation, Veronica had been eager to find Logan. She knew she'd behaved badly this morning, snapping at him when he asked if she was okay. He worried about her, and she loved that he did, but until she'd spoken to Duncan she had nothing concrete to tell him. Besides, she couldn't let out her ex's secret without a word from him to say it was okay to do so.

Clearly Weevil had no qualms about spilling the secrets of others, and for that Veronica was actually quite grateful since he was the one that had told her all she needed to know, still, she was not so quick to spill the secrets of others without a care. She did want to tell Logan the truth, and Duncan had practically given her permission to do so, admitting he had wanted to tell his old friend about his illness many times in the past, but never knowing quite how to broach the subject and that his parents would not look kindly on his spreading the family secret around, or one of the family secrets to be more accurate.

Veronica sighed as she made another attempt to call him on his cell. He hadn't been there at lunch, his car was gone too, and hadn't returned by the time the last bell rang. Wallace had no clue where he was, and a word with Mr Clemmons told Veronica there had been no trouble, her boyfriend had not been sent home for any inappropriate behaviour.

Since getting home, Veronica had been constantly calling Logan's cell. She considered the home phone, or just driving over to his house, but wondered if she might scare his mother if he hadn't come home yet. Poor Lynn, she'd had enough sadness and upheaval, as her husband was charged with attempted assault, and statutory rape, a whole string of women her own age and girls nearer Veronica's all coming out of the woodwork, selling their sex scandal tales to magazines and TV stations. Veronica couldn't believe how strong her boyfriend's mother had been, easily as strong as Logan himself had tried to be. Sure, she leant on a bottle, but she was still standing, albeit with a little wobble to her stance.

"Come on, Logan" Veronica sighed, jabbing the keys of her phone as she sat lotus style on her bed, with Back-up beside her, "Where are you?" she wondered aloud, as she waited for him to answer his cell, maybe this time.

"You've reached Logan Echolls voicemail" said her boyfriend's voice on the pre-recorded message, "And here's today's inspirational quote; The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams, Eleanor Roosevelt" Veronica rolled her eyes at the message she'd heard twelve times already and waited, "When it beeps, you know what to do" Logan's voice said at last and knowing it was stupid to be leaving message thirteen in the space of an hour, Veronica did it anyway.

"Logan, I wish you'd just talk to me" she urged him, "Whatever is wrong, we can talk about it. I'm sorry I was weird this morning. Please, just give me a chance to explain..." she hung up then, not knowing what else to say, without just repeating herself some more as she had been the whole time so far.

"What do you think, boy?" Veronica asked Back-up, rubbing between his ears.

The dog peered up at her, obviously offering no actual opinion, but enjoying her attention for a few moments.

"I think you're right" she nodded once, as if her pet had given her just the answer she needed, "I have to go see him. Let's just hope for his Mom's sake that Logan is being pig-headed and ignoring me" she sighed as she climbed off the bed and shoved her feet back into her shoes, "I so don't want to be the one to tell her that her son is missing"

Veronica pulled her car onto the drive of the Echolls house, glad that the security Lynn had employed was managing to keep the reporters at bay. Besides which, most of them had gone chasing after Aaron the moment he was released, and others were still camped on the Kane doorstep, she was sure. As it was, Veronica was fairly certain she made it to the front door without getting her picture taken at all, something she was very glad of.

Knocking on the door, she glanced around behind herself, double checking that she wasn't going to find herself on the cover of any rag newspapers or teen magazines at breakfast tomorrow. She was less surprised by the lack of attention she was getting from possible lurkers in the bushes, and more so by who opened the front door.

"Veronica, well, what a lovely surprise" Lynn was smiling as the blonde spun back around to face her.

Maybe Mrs Echolls had given her staff the day off, after all a big important person like her didn't usually answer the front door herself, especially not now with all the press around, hounding for a story or picture.

"Hey, Mrs Echolls" Veronica smiled back at her anyway, "I just came by to see Logan... and also to ask how you were doing?" she added, thinking it was both polite to do so, and also genuinely wondering how Lynn's state of mind as right now.

"Don't you worry about me, Veronica" the older woman said, head held high, as she ushered the girl inside, "I have my son, and some good friends. It's amazing what you can survive" she said with a look that almost suggested to Veronica that she was as much assuring her as stating a fact.

She'd obviously got to hear about Veronica's Mom leaving, and knowing as she did how caught up in the whole Aaron and Lilly thing the little blonde was, thought she should say something encouraging.

Though Lynn was a good actress, Veronica didn't believe she was acting now. She looked happy, maybe happier than she'd ever seen her before. Still, there were upsides to this whole situation, for Lynn at least. Aaron was gone from her life, unlikely to return, and easily divorceable now, since the whole world knew of his infidelities and his temper. Logan was probably clinging to his mother more since all this broke out, and without his Dad around to beat the living daylights out of him, he was less likely to be afraid to talk to his remaining parent about things.

"So, things between you and Logan are going well?" Lynn asked, and Veronica was almost sure she saw the woman wink at her, as they walked through the house together.

"Yeah, things are good" Veronica nodded, unsure as to how much her boyfriend might have told his mother about their blossoming relationship.

Clearly she didn't know that anything was wrong today, though honestly even Veronica wasn't entirely sure how big the problem was going to turn out to be.

"I think you're good for him, Veronica" Lynn nodded, as they stopped walking by the glass doors at the back of the house, "He needs a strong, kind young woman like you in his life. You're a credit to your father" she told her, putting hand on the girl's shoulder, "You go ahead now, Logan's just out there by the pool" she she turned, before leaving Veronica alone.

"Thanks" the blonde said mostly to herself, since Mrs Echolls was now gone.

It was not just the woman's compliments that made her smile, it was the fact she didn't catch even the slightest smell of alcohol on her breath.

Taking a deep breath, Veronica stepped out through the door onto the patio, and looked out towards the pool. Logan was laid out on a sun lounger by the edge, with his shirt off, the headphones to his I-Pod jammed in his ears and sunglasses covering his eyes. He was shut off from the world, shut off from her, Veronica thought as she headed over to him. At least it explained why he wasn't answering his phone.

"Logan!" she called, two and three times, the last of which was said as she practically stood over him, though he pretended not to hear her still, "Logan, for God sake!" she complained, reaching to pull the headphones from his ears, but he beat her to it.

"Oh, look, it's Veronica Mars" he smirked, as he propped his sun glasses on the top of his head and looked at her.

There was something about the way he said her name that Veronica really didn't like, but then she should have expected this sarcastic and snippy side of her boyfriend. She'd seen him get exactly the same way with Lilly many times before, of course most of the time she had deserved any mood her man had got into. Veronica couldn't see her own crime had been so terrible. All she'd done was not feel like talking this morning, hardly a felony by anyone's standards.

"Well, since you seemed to have dropped off the planet at some point during school I figured I'd come see if you were okay" she told him, matter-of-factly, "I was worried about you"

Logan laughed at that, though it didn't sound like there was much humour in his tone.

"Veronica was worried about me" he said, as if to a third person that wasn't there, "Wow, I feel special now"

"Oh, good" she smiled, sarcasm evident in her voice as she continued, "Logan's in his 'let's be an ass' mood" she said to that same invisible audience.

"I'm sorry, Ronnie" he shook his head, "Am I not as good company as Duncan?" he asked, each word edged with steel somehow, though the question ought to have been innocent enough.

Veronica wasn't really sure how to respond. Clearly Logan knew she'd been talking to her ex, but that wasn't a crime. Surely it would be impossible for him to know they'd been sharing secrets without him. After all, Wallace wouldn't tell, and Logan taking anything Lilly said as serious would be impossible right now. That only left Weevil to spill, and though that's exactly what he'd done for Veronica, she couldn't think for a moment that he'd have any reason to want to talk to Logan about anything, since the two of them hated each other.

"Are you accusing me of something?" she asked warily, wanting to know what she was going into before she said too much, after all, there was no need to be spilling out Duncan's secret unless it became necessary, and she didn't want it to be just another barb in some fight she and Logan might have.

"Well, gee, Veronica, I don't know" her boyfriend faked a thoughtful look as sarcasm dripped from his words, "What on Earth could I accuse you of?"

"Stop being a jackass, and just tell me what's going on, Logan" she urged him, getting a little annoyed herself by now.

"Oh, I'm a jackass now?" he checked, "That's sweet, V. I'll bet you didn't talk to Duncan that way when you were dating him" he spat, "but then, did you ever really stop dating him?"

"You know that I did" Veronica frowned, "Logan, if anyone knows about my relationship with Duncan it's you" she reminded him, "You also know how he dumped me, or rather didn't bother, and you know how it hurt me"

"Yeah, well you looked real pissed at him when I saw you" he said, waving an arm in an emphatic gesture, "The hug was brutal"

"What...?" Veronica frowned, as Logan leapt up from the sun lounger and started to walk away, "You saw me with Duncan? You saw us hug and now you think...oh my God" she gasped, shaking her head as a thought crossed her mind and a humourless laugh left her lips, "You actually think I'm cheating on you?"

"Oh, come on, Veronica" Logan called from a few steps away, whipping off his sunglasses to stare at her, "Do you really want to deny it?"

"Do you really need me to?" the blonde asked, looking astonished that he would suggest such a thing, "I don't need this, I don't have to take this from you!" she yelled at him, "I actually thought you trusted me, that you and me were solid and..." she shook her head as words failed her, "I know you've been hurt, Logan, we both have, but I thought you understood that I love you" she exclaimed, seeming to suddenly realise what she'd said only when it was too late to take it back.

Veronica's eyes went wide with shock as her brain processed what her mouth had just done, and immediately she turned around and attempted a hasty exit. A few feet away, Logan was similarly shocked by her outburst. They'd been getting so close lately, he'd been contemplating the L word but had no idea she had to. When he'd seen her with Duncan it'd hurt like hell and he'd immediately assumed the worst. After Lilly, it seemed like the most natural thing in the world to do. Now he felt awful for making such an accusation, and an overwhelming need to run after Veronica, and tell her he was sorry.

"Veronica!" he yelled, as hurried after her, catching hold of her arm just before she managed to get back to the house, and spinning her around.

She looked up at him with somewhat angry, slightly teary eyes, mostly he saw she was disappointed that yet one more thing in her life was falling apart. Logan didn't want her to feel that way, he only wanted her to know he was falling in love too, that really he'd already fallen head-over-heels.

Without a word, he pulled her closer, wrapped his arms around her, and crushed his lips to hers. He was afraid she was going to pull away, that she would be too mad at him to reciprocate and would instead slap his face and turn angrily away. Instead she seemed to realise what he was trying to convey. He was sorry for doubting her, he loved her too, the words weren't easy to say but he'd deal with that later, right now he was showing her all the emotions he felt, and she seemed to understand, as she began to kiss him back.

To Be Continued...