Okay guys, here's chapter three. I'm kind of proud of this one, so I hope you enjoy reading it!

Disclaimer - As always, this wonderful world that I dance in once in a while belongs to Rob Thomas

It was early morning when Logan showed up at Veronica's house, several days after the 'Police Station Tragedy' as the news was calling it. Tragedy her ass, tragedy implied that it was an accident or natural disaster. Someone had been responsible for this explosion, and Veronica was going to find them. Then she was going to make their life hell.

Logan on the other hand seemed intent on making her forget about the incident. Today he walked in with a smile on his face and a surfboard under his arm. So the distraction of the day would be surfing.

"Okay V, I figure it's about time we hit the beach." Veronica knew the man standing in front of her extremely well. That grin on his face was forced, and there was no twinkle in his eye like there would be if he actually wanted to go surfing. No, his primary purpose in this surfing endeavor would be to keep her as far away from anything involving the explosion as possible. Yesterday he'd used researching apartments as an excuse. Sooner or later he was going to run out of ideas.

Reluctantly Veronica let him into her small apartment. She'd moved out of her Dad's place right after graduation, in favor of the small apartment above Mars Investigations. It was a lot smaller then even Mac's place, but it worked well enough for her. And it was only temporary, in a year she'd be across the country.

"I'm not going surfing Logan."

Logan didn't lose his grin for a second, though she saw his eyes tighten around the edges. Her refusal to give up the case was obviously frustrating him. "You don't have to surf, but you do have to go to the beach. Come on, we're meeting Mac and Dick there."

That threw her off. Mac and Dick were on her side with the whole case thing. They wanted to track down the bastards responsible just as much as she did. Whey the hell were they plotting with Logan to get her to the beach? Unless Logan had planned this whole thing without their consent, and was going to call them when they got to the beach saying she'd agreed to go. She really had to work on that whole trust thing. "One condition."

"What?"

Veronica felt herself start to grin. "You supply the alcohol."

If the expression on his face was any indication, she'd completely thrown him for a loop. Usually Logan was the advocate for alcohol, and Veronica was the one telling him that only alcoholics drink before evening. The comment came as a bit of surprise to Veronica herself, but they'd all had a tough week, and there was no better way to get rid of tension. Plus, Dick always did something stupid when he was drunk, and she really could use the humor.

Before she had an opportunity to think about it anymore Logan spoke up, and when she looked at him she saw a real grin on his face for the first time that week. "Sounds like a deal."

"Remind me why we're going to the beach again?"

Mac grinned at him, amused. "Dick Casablancas that has to be the first time I've ever heard you complain about going to the beach."

"You know it's not the beach I'm complaining about." He watched the road in front of him before taking the last turn out to the beach front. "It's an angry Veronica I'm not awake enough to deal with."

The fact that he was so scared of their tiny friend never failed to amuse her. Then again, she really didn't know anyone who wasn't at least wary of Veronica Mars, her reputation as a badass was well deserved. "How about this. You surf with Logan and I'll take care of Veronica."

That idea seemed to placate him as he parked the jeep. Mac wasn't exactly looking forward to dealing with a pissed of Veronica either, but it was better that she did it then Logan or Dick try and make things worse. Plus, Mac needed some time alone with her best friend to discuss both the case and this new development with Dick. The new development that had caused her to blush when he made a joke about her hair this morning. Sometimes she hated being a girl, not only were they the ones that had to deal with pregnancy and taking care of the kids, but girls blushed ten times as much as guys.

Her current plan of action, which she stuck to obsessively as Dick got their surfboards down from the top of the jeep, was just to avoid touching him in any way. Or being too close to him. And she was definitely avoiding staring into his beautiful eyes. Or thinking about them. Damn it!

Dick and Mac, sitting in a tree a voice in her head sung that sounded suspiciously like both Logan and her younger brother.

"Mac-attack?" Dick's voice yanked her out of her internal screaming match.

She looked up at him guiltily. He had both the surfboards in his arms and was trying to pick up the cooler at the same time. Waving him off she grabbed the color and blanket and led him towards their spot on the beach. They'd been here many, many times over the last few years. Logan and Veronica weren't there yet, so Mac set up the camp and stripped down to her bathing suit. Maybe she could get a couple of waves in before the need for her mediating services began.

Dick laughed at her as she grabbed the surfboard and hurried out to the waves. He'd taught her how to surf shortly after they'd dealt with everything involving Cassidy. He was convinced it was the most therapeutic thing in the world, and she'd decided to give it a try. Surprisingly enough she'd loved it. Last year for Christmas Dick had given her a board that he'd had customized for her. It was black and blue with the word 'ghostworld' on the bottom. She loved it, it was a reminder of how far they'd come.

The waves were perfect that morning, and the ocean was an amazing shade of blue. Other then the cyber world this was by far the closest thing to heaven she could imagine. To her left Dick was already tearing up a wave on his board, laughing his carefree laugh as he went. She smiled sadly. His laugh reminded her that even though they could have this one second of perfection, sooner or later they had to return to reality. At the moment, reality was a dark place. For that second though, she waited on a wave, then jumped on her board and let it take her away.

Screw reality.

She didn't know how long it was before she heard Logan's voice calling to them from shore. They'd both been so caught up in the moment that time had seemed to drift away.

Dick paddled over to her slowly. "Ready to go deal with the beast?"

"She's not a beast." Mac hit him on the shoulder lightly. So much for not touching him.

"You only say that because she never takes her anger out on you."

It didn't take them long to get back to the shore and the little camp Mac had set up. Logan's board was there now too, and so was an extra cooler. Mac felt her eyebrows raise. Somehow she had the distinct feeling she knew what the content of that extra cooler was.

"Dude, I told you I'd bring the drinks." Dick stopped talking when he opened the lid and saw the stack of Budweiser, and some stronger stuff, he'd uncovered. "Never mind."

Logan held up his hands before Mac could tear him a good one, "I swear it wasn't my idea. If you have a problem with it take it up with the tiny blonde one over there."

With disbelief Mac turned towards her best friend. "Wait. You advocated the drinking first thing in the morning?" The world must be coming to an end.

"I think we all need the distraction." Veronica said, reaching in the cooler and grabbing out a beer. "It's been a long week."

"Yeah, and if Veronica Mars is going to become Neptune's newest alcoholic then next week is going to be even longer."

"Come on Mackie," Dick said good-naturedly, a beer already in his grasp. "When's the last time all of us just let loose?"

Sighing Mac reached in and grabbed out one of the Bud Lights. "Fine, but you know I prefer Smirnoff."

Several hours, and many beers later, the group was laying on the beach laughing hysterically about a story Dick was telling. To be honest, Veronica really couldn't tell whether or not Dick's story was actually funny, but she was too tipsy to care. At this point even a dumb Sheriff Lamb joke would be funny.

"And then the guy said 'Dude, I think I lost my shorts'!" Dick finished off with a loud laugh. Veronica shook her head sadly after they'd finished cracking up. Three years after the fact Dick still told stupid stories from his Pi Sig days.

Somewhere around them Veronica heard some music, but she shrugged it off and took another drink of her beer. She couldn't really remember what number she was on. Her third had been a while ago, so…who knew at that point. If anyone really needed to leave any time soon they were screwed. There was no way any of them were safe to drive. Even Mac was tipsy; at that particular moment she was leaning up against Dick, waving her arms around in a failed attempt to explain to him about some computer thing.

"Veronica?"

She looked up at the man next to her. "Yes Logan?"

"I think that's your phone going off."

She paused, listening for another second. "Oh!"

Cell phones as a rule are insanely hard to find, especially when you're a few drinks down the line. It took her a minute to dig in her bag and find it. When she had she lifted it to her ear and slurred, "Hello?"

The voice on the other end of the line didn't sound amused. "V? Are you drunk?"

"No Eli, I am not drunk. I'm tipsy. There's a difference. Now what do you want?"

"Wow, drunk and grumpy. Echolls really must not be very good at his job."

"Logan has no job." Veronica stated dryly, prompting Logan to look over at her.

"Besides the point." Weevil's voice became serious. "Look V I have a clue about the Station."

That caught Veronica's attention. Ever since his short stint as her father's assistant, Weevil had helped them put clues together several times for cases. He was a smart guy, and plugged into the criminal underground. His involvement was dangerous though. Most of the business at the garage he owned, one he'd bought with all his savings after his parole was over, came from PCH bike gangs and other equally seedy characters. If they ever found out that the tough ex-gang leader who ran the garage also helped some of them get arrested, he could end up dead.

"What did you find?" Maybe his clue could help them finally get started on this case.

"One of the bikers was bragging about a cell phone he got from an Irish guy in a gambling game at the River Stix. It belonged to Leo D'Amato. I know he had it the night the Station blew up. I had to call him about a lead on a case he asked me about."

Veronica was sitting up completely straight at this point, any affects from the alcohol wearing off quickly because of the shock. A guy connected to the Fitzpatrick's had Leo's phone after the explosion. It may not be enough evidence to arrest anyone, but it was a step in the right direction. She felt her nerves light up. After a week of searching they finally had something.

"Do you have it with you?"

On the other end of the line Weevil chuckled. "Yeah, I managed to convince the guy that he was better off giving it to me."

"Are you at your garage? I'm on my way."

"Hell no V. The way you sound you'd be an endangerment on the road. You know it's poor guys like me that have to clean up those crashes. Just tell me where you are and I'll be over there in a few minutes."

She told him, and then hung up. Logan, Mac, and Dick were all looking at her expectantly. "Weevil found Leo's cell with one of the bikers. He got it from a Fitzpatrick."

Beside her Logan cursed darkly. "Those bastards."

Surprisingly, or not so any more she supposed, it was Dick who asked the million dollar question. "Is that enough to get a search warrant?"

"No. Especially when the only person who can claim Leo actually had it on him that night is an ex-con who is currently doing various undercover jobs for the police. Even if Dad trusts Weevil it won't be enough to convince any judge in this town."

They all sat silently for a moment. Veronica's brain was working furiously. The Fitzpatrick's certainly had the manpower to pull something like this off, and the resources would have been fairly easy to get a hold of, especially as connected as Liam Fitzpatrick is. The only missing piece was why. Why would a criminal group who prefers to remain as low profile as possible do something like blow up the Police Station? They might not like the Sheriff and the way he constantly foiled their games, but they couldn't have anything to gain by making him look into them more. Still, maybe Liam just got really upset. He wasn't exactly known for holding his temper.

"Are you going to call your dad?" Mac asked.

She thought about it for a second. "Not yet. He legally can't go after this lead, but I can."

Dick spoke up. "You mean we can. The rest of us aren't going to sit back and let you handle this alone."

For a second Veronica felt a little frustrated with him. She was the one here with the most to get back at these bastards for. Those men, and Inga, they were practically her second family. She'd already lost her mother, Lily, even Duncan in a weird way. She wasn't letting anyone mess with the people she had left and get away with it. But Dick was also friends with some of them. And Mac almost as much time at the station as she did. Even Logan enjoyed hanging out with some of the deputies. They each had their own reasons for going after whoever did this.

"Fine. We can go after this lead."

"Am I interrupting a Brady Bunch moment?" Weevil plopped down next to Veronica. "You gringos really spend too much time here."

Without further discussion he handed her the cell and grabbed a beer. Leo's phone was small, but he obviously took very good care of it. She popped it open and scrolled around. There wasn't likely to be any evidence in the phone itself, and it had been passed around too much to hope for prints. Really the only interesting thing about it was where it was found.

"Who was the biker you got this from?" She said absently as she looked through his inbox. He had a lot of messages from someone named 'M'.

"Some kid named Xavier. A newbie. He was trying to prove how tough he is by going to the Stix."

Veronica opened one of the messages and read it, something about opening a new window. The next message was similar. It was almost like…

"Mac, were you texting Leo the day of the explosion?"

Across from her Mac stiffened. "Yeah. He couldn't work some program. Why?"

"No reason, I was trying to figure out who M was. Now I feel stupid." Wait. This was interesting. Veronica felt herself tense up. There was no way she was going to let Mac see that.

"Veronica?" Mac's voice was small, she knew something was wrong. Before she could do anything to stop it she felt the phone being pulled out of her grasp.

When she looked up Mac was staring down at the phone with tears in her eyes. Dick leaned over and put an arm around her. "Mac, Mackie? What's wrong?"

Neither girl could talk. The message had been saved, but never sent, 20 minutes before the time of the explosion. It had said 'Mac, have something to tell you. Left a present for you at the station, going to grab it then I'll be over.'

Veronica had a feeling that this was going to change everything.

After he'd read the message Dick had helped her get up carefully, and took her home. She was too much in shock to do anything but let him help her. Leo had written her, he'd gone back to the station to get something for her. He should never have been in the station at the time of the explosion. If it hadn't been for her he wouldn't have been.

The guilt she felt at that moment was stronger then anything she'd ever felt before. Stronger then what she'd felt after Cassidy, then she'd known that the things he'd done weren't her fault. She just hadn't noticed some things. Tears started to fall from her eyes silently, and she couldn't stop them. Dick led her to the couch and sat down with her. Before long she was full-fledged sobbing into his shirt. So many thoughts ran through her head she couldn't even begin to sort through them. But one, one of them stood out. The single, penetrating idea that she was responsible for the death of her friend.

"Shh, Mac. This isn't your fault." She vaguely heard Dick trying to comfort her.

Words wouldn't come out. She wanted to tell Dick that this was her fault. That she should have done…something. First of all she should have taught Leo to use his cell better, that way he could have actually sent the message. Then she could have told him not to bother going back to the station. She could have some how stopped all this from happening.

After a while she felt herself start to drift to sleep. Her mind couldn't handle all the thoughts anymore, and her body was exhausted from crying. Before she drifted off she felt Dick lay her down and put the blanket from the back of the couch over her. Then the blissful nothing of sleep took over.

In her dream Leo was standing if front of her grinning. The Station was behind him. "Hey Mac guess what? I finally got a laptop. Sacks can't figure out how to set it up either, can you help? Can you help me Mac?"

Mac tried to tell him that she could, but the words wouldn't come out. All she could do was stand there, choked up. She desperately tried to reach out to him.

"It's okay Mac, don't worry about anything. I'm just dead. Honestly, you think any of us are going to be here forever? Just tell everyone I miss them. And don't spend all day on your computer. It's bad for the brain."

With that he laughed and before she could stop him he walked into the station, and she didn't even have time to move before it blew up.

She woke up in a cold sweat to find herself tucked under her blanket on the couch. Dick wasn't anywhere she could see. Bleary eyed she looked at the clock on the wall. It was just after midnight, she'd slept all day. Slowly she stood up and walked to the kitchen. On the table was a note, obviously from Dick, that said he was at his place to grab some clothes, but he would be back soon. He'd left it in case she woke up, more then likely he'd be back soon. It only took her a second of thought before she grabbed her keys off the counter and went out to her car.

While in the car her brain was still working on overdrive. All the thoughts of guilt, fear, and sadness were so welled up that she didn't know how to distinguish between any of them. The only thing she knew for sure was that she had to make this right. Somehow she had to make up for the fact that it was her fault Leo died. When she arrived at her destination she yanked the door open purposely and went to the door. It took Veronica a second to answer after she rang.

"Mac?" The other girl blinked at her for a second. "Are you okay?"

"No." She answered honestly. "I'm not. I just came to tell you that this case is mine. I'm going to find the fuckers who did this."

And when she did, they were going to wish they'd never been born.

There it is! I apologize for how dark the second half of the chapter was, but I had to set up the fact that Mac is going to start taking the lead in this. And don't worry, this is definitely MaDi, Leo and Mac were just friends. For the record, Mac will be a lot different in this fic then she is in the series, so sorry to any one who doesn't like that. Not only is she older, but she thinks she is responsible for someone dying. The change won't be as drastic as Veronica's after Lily's death, not at all, but it will definitely be there. Also, sorry for the lack of MaDi or LoVe in this chapter, that's going to start showing up soon!! Remember - reviews rock my world!!