Logan walked into Veronica's room the next morning after endless hours of studying the waiting room's artless decor. His wife was wide awake and apparently expecting him. Somehow he wasn't surprised.

It had taken the doctors shocking her twice to get her back last night. She had been dead for a full minute and a half, according to her chart. Now, just eight hours later, she was acting as if she had checked into the hospital to have a comfortable place to lie down. The baby had also survived the ordeal, to Logan's delight.

But, he needed answers, so he skipped the preliminary fussing and asked, "Did Duncan smother you last night?"

"Wow, straight to investigative questioning. I'm starting to rub off on you." She smiled cheekily up at him.

"So?" Logan pressed, unamused by her light tone.

She shrugged and the grin slid from her face. She looked every bit as tired and overwrought as Logan felt. "I was asleep. I didn't see anything. And believe me, I wish I knew."

Logan wasn't sure whether he believed her or not. He sat down on the hospital bed and looked at her, searching for the truth on her face."Your dad called."

Her eyes flew open. "You didn't tell him, did you? About Duncan?"

"No, but it took me half an hour to convince him not to fly down here the minute after I told him about your little near death experience." He left out everything about his long conversation with her dad about Lianne and the Dumpster someone had found her in and the fact that she was in a coma she would never come out of. Or about the connection her mother had to what happened to him the other night or about all the threats he and Keith had both been getting lately. Veronica didn't need to hear about that now.

"I'll be fine." She was stubbornly acting as though nothing had happened.

"Veronica!" Logan's voice was a mix of exasperation, tension, and fear. It came out sounding a whole lot like anger. "You almost died… twice! In what alternate dimension of yours can you term that as 'fine?'" Something in him blamed her for getting sick, for scaring him, for almost leaving him. God knows if she had, he probably would have taken another trip to the Coronado Bridge to finish the job he started the night his father had been arrested. He sucked in a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. "You don't remember last night at all?"

Veronica could tell he was suspicious. "I remember-" she took in a deep breath before continuing, "I remember a nurse coming in and hearing a couple people talking. And then, I just remember waking up after they did that other surgery. I'm gonna have more stripes on my stomach than a zebra… which will go nicely with the stretch marks."

He leaned down and pecked her forehead with a small smile, "You still look hot."

She smiled, glowing under his quiet praise and quieted anger, even though she had no idea how his compliments could possibly be true. She wanted to see Duncan and figure this thing out, not lie in bed covered in stitches and plugged into more machines than she could count. She probably looked more like Frankenstein's monster than a "hot" wife.

Logan was still staring at her strangely as if he hadn't seen her in an age and was afraid he wouldn't see her again. His hand found hers. She looked at him carefully; his eyes were red and swollen in a way that went beyond weary. Guilt crept up on her, even though she knew that their circumstances were out of her hands.

"You really scared me," Logan finally admitted, pleading silently for her to say something or make a gesture that would let him take her away where no problems could find them.

She only smiled because she couldn't think of anything else to do. Her smile brightened as she thought of a subject to take his mind off of near-death and kidnappings. "You got a name?"

Logan eyed her, suddenly worried that the lack of oxygen to her brain had done some serious harm. "Yeah, my name's Logan,remember?"

Veronica beamed at him, all at once rueful and sweet. "No, I meant for-" she dropped her eyes to her rounded belly that was hidden beneath a gauzy hospital sheet.

Logan swallowed hard and followed her gaze. "I don't know. You're carrying the baby, I think you should at least get to name him or her after all this."

"Well then, Logan Keith is good if it's a boy."

"Logan?" he asked, glancing back up to meet her eyes and quirking an eyebrow in mock concern, "Don't you think that name is cursed enough with me holding it?"

She grinned at him. "If it's a girl, I would say Lilly. But Duncan already used it for his daughter."

Logan shrugged and looked away. "We've got time."

Her mouth tightened. "There's something you're not telling me."

"Nothing you need to know right now."

"Logan-"

A nurse walked in, interrupting their conversation. Logan was relieved as he knew it wasn't going anywhere good. She routinely checked all of Veronica's vital signs before administering a shot and taking what seemed like the hundred thousandth tube of Veronica's blood to test since she had gotten there. Logan looked away when she did that, squeamish at the sight of his wife's precious blood being taken from her already pale body.

Once the nurse had gone, Logan blurted, "Duncan stole the tape." He knew that bit of information would spark her interest back into the investigation and away from getting angry with him.

"He did?" She sounded surprised. "Look, I ran a check up on the adoption agency and they have an office located in this city. I also hacked into all the current adoptive parents scheduled to pick up their child within the last week up to two weeks from now. Only three babies matched the age and gender of Lilly. I have them and the hotels they are staying at on my laptop. I want you to go and check up on all of them to see if one of the babies is really Lilly. As for Duncan, I think it'd be a better idea for you to check into a hotel and move our things there."

The command washed Logan in relief. He had been afraid she would ask him to stay at the house to spy on Duncan. Of course, it wasn't as if he would normally take an order either way, but there was really no way he could tell her no in her current condition. Unfortunately for him, she probably knew that.

Logan left his wife's bedside only after triple-checking that she was safe and the nurse's urging that his wife needed rest. When went back to Duncan's, he found his old friend huddled in a corner of his room, rocking back and forth and whispering. It was arguably the most disturbing sight that Logan had ever seen.

"Duncan?" He approached him slowly and carefully.

"I didn't do it! I didn't do it, man! I didn't do it! I swear! I didn't kill her! There were people and voices and... and don't know but I didn't do it! I was, I was just… I was-"

Logan put a hand on Duncan's shoulder to steady him. "Who are you talking about? Lilly? Or Veronica?"

"I could never kill Veronica! I didn't do it! Oh God, she's dead!" He wailed and Logan saw the gun that Duncan was holding with trembling hands.

"Veronica's not dead. She's alive… she's alive." Duncan looked up at him as if in disbelief and glanced down at the semi-automatic gun he held in his shaky hands.

"Does she think I tried to kill her?" The question came out as a loud whisper, but it resounded in the small room.

Logan held his hand out and let familiar words slip over his tongue in an effort to ensure Duncan not shoot. "Give me the gun."

Duncan only stared at the firearm with a mixture of confusion and fear.

"Think of your daughter," Logan coaxed, inching closer.

Duncan began to cry again. "I'm so confused!" He clutched the gun tighter. "I want her back!"

Logan still had no idea whether he was talking about Lilly or Veronica. He didn't bother reiterating his question and instead, reached out for the gun.

Duncan's voice raised to a scream. The full force of his words were directed at Logan. "I want her back!!!" He jerked the gun and slammed it against the side of the dresser beside him in his apparent delirium.

The gun fired.