"Well, that's the last of it," Veronica sighed.
"I thought girls had more stuff. This is surprisingly small compared to what I expected."
"I'm not your average girl, Wallace," Veronica grinned.
"Who you tellin'?" Wallace laughed.
There was a knock on the door.
"That must be the movers," she said.
She answered the door and let in a couple of guys who loaded up all her stuff in about twenty minutes. She had hired a long-distance moving company who specialized in moving people cross-country. For smaller loads, like hers, they combined a few stops, but her things would arrive in Neptune in four to five days. She was in no rush for them. Most of what was in those boxes represented a completely different life for Veronica. It was the life she'd been living - but not the life she really wanted.
"So that's it?" Wallace asked.
"Yeah - just going to leave my key..."
Veronica's words trailed off as she laid the key on the kitchen counter. She laid it next to a photo frame. It was a picture of her and Piz. They were smiling. Happy. Wallace noticed the photo and picked it up to look.
"That doesn't even look like you, V," he said.
"That's because it isn't," she said, sadly.
"I did love Piz," she said, sounding distant, "in my own way. But it wasn't the kind of love he deserved. I wish...I just wish I had admitted that to him, to myself, before we got this far."
Wallace sat the photo back down on the counter next to the key.
"You know, V," Wallace said, looking up at her and smiling. "If you gotta get your heart broken...I can't imagine any better way for it to be broken than by Veronica Mars."
Veronica turned her head to the side, looking at Wallace sideways.
"You know, Fennel, I think that may be the nicest thing you've ever said to me."
"Ever have and ever will, Mars. Let's go eat. I'm hungry."
After Wallace and Veronica had lunch, he spent the afternoon and evening with Piz. Meanwhile, Veronica sat at her computer and stared blankly at the screen for hours before finally responding to Logan's email.
Hey, there, sailor -
Well, I'm done. The good news is - it only cost me a few hundred bucks to fail this miserably at my first attempt at the bar. Seriously, I won't know for several months (yes, months!) :( whether or not I passed, but - that thing kicked my ass hard! It was brutal.
What is it they say about hard lessons? Oh, well, they say the California bar isn't much better, so maybe I'll find a future as a non-practicing lawyer? Maybe I can be Cliff's paralegal or something. Anyway-
I'm pretty bummed that I don't get to talk to you tonight. That pretty much sucks. But I understand. I mean, it's not like you're miles and miles away, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean or anything...I shouldn't be worried...right? Just kidding. Sort of.
And I'm totally not jealous. It's not like there's a lot to do on a sub, anyway, right? And surely, they don't let women on those subs. Do they? Are there women in your unit? Ok, now I really am making myself paranoid.
Seriously - I'm just messing around. I don't know how to have a conversation with a keyboard. And it's really lousy at talking dirty to me, so you really do have to hurry back to a phone ;)
I miss you, too, Logan. And I am counting down the days until I get to jump in your arms, you wearing your sexy as hell sailor-man suit, and you tote me through the airport while Joe Cocker plays in the background.
...
Back in Neptune twenty-four hours and already the shit's hitting the fan. Way to go, Veronica. How many ways can you single-handedly fail in a forty-eight hour period?
"Really, Cliff? That is all you got?"
"What do you expect, Veronica? I'm not exactly Johnny Cochran. And I'm sure not Dick Tracy. Isn't that sort of your department?" Cliff smirked.
"You're a lawyer, Cliff. A lawyer. Do you know how hard it is to pass the bar exam to become a lawyer? Of course you do - you did it. See? Now how hard can it be to come up with a decent, half-ass defense for someone who is innocent?" Veronica near-shouted, slamming her hands down on the desk.
"I'm just gonna chalk this up to worrying about your dad or female problems or something..." Cliff trailed off as he gathered his briefcase and headed for the door.
"Wait, wait, Cliff. I'm sorry. I'm being a bitch. This has absolutely nothing to do with you. It's a shitty case, I got that. Celeste Kane is a lying bitch. And the Sheriff is a corrupt as his brother was an idiot. It's not your fault the whole world has gone to hell right now."
Cliff dropped his briefcase and sat back down.
"What's going on, V? I thought your dad was doing well," Cliff asked, concerned.
"He is. It's just ... a lot of stuff going on right now."
"Anything you want to talk about?"
"Really? Since when did we do this?" Veronica asked motioning her finger back and forth between her and Cliff.
"Hey, I get paid by the hour. Talk all you want," Cliff grinned.
Veronica arched her eyebrows and looked sideways at the lawyer.
"Seriously, V, I've bailed you out of jail. Several times. What can't you tell ole Cliffy?"
Veronica relented, "Besides this crap case, Dad's recovery, Logan being in the middle of the Pacific ocean, another incompetent Lamb in the Sheriff's office, and the fact I just failed my bar exam - everything is peachy."
"First of all, why are you back here doing this? You should be doing my job. Then, I can retire and sip mai tais on the beach with some long-legged, blonde..."
"Cliff!" Veronica said, snapping him back to reality. When he finally looked at her she continued, "Did you not just hear me say I failed? Plus, dad needs me here. I don't think I'm even cut out to be a lawyer."
"That's the craziest thing I've heard all day, V. Veronica Mars could rule the world one day. Being a lawyer is really nothing compared to that."
"I can't be a lawyer if I can't pass the bar," she said, rolling her eyes and ignoring Cliff's plan for her world take-over.
"Who says you didn't pass? You don't know yet. Plus, who says you have to pass the bar on the first try?" he said. "Just look at me. I didn't pass on the first try, and I'm here today."
Veronica resisted the urge to say, 'Exactly.' and instead went with, "And just how long did it take you to pass?"
"What matters is that I did pass and so will you," he said.
Translation: the number of times it took me to pass is exactly why I'm here today and not sipping mai tais on the beach.
"Well, thanks for the pep talk, but unless I want be a failure at 'Investigator', too, I really should get to work finding evidence to clear Weevil."
"Anytime, Veronica. My door's always open," Cliff said, opening the door to Mars Investigations.
"Uh, that's my door," Veronica replied.
Cliff just shrugged and headed out.
Veronica shook her head and turned her focus back to the case file on her desk. It was damn near impossible to figure out how to clear Weevil. Celeste Kane wasn't backing down from her story - a total lie - and the only people who could backup Weevil's side of things were a bunch of biker gangsters that had zero credibility in front of a jury. She hoped maybe her dad had some advice for her. She hadn't really discussed cases with him since the accident. Partly because she wanted him to heal before they talked shop. Keith hadn't mentioned it because, secretly, he hoped Veronica would forget this nonsense and return to New York. Finally tired of staring at the case file with no revelation, she grabbed her keys and headed out. She drove to her dad's rehab facility. He had just finished a rehab session and a shower when she arrived with a bag of takeout for them.
"That smells delicious," Keith smiled as Veronica unpacked the bag.
"I bet compared to this food, anything else smells heavenly," she replied.
"Actually, the food is pretty good here. Much better than at the hospital," Keith grinned.
Veronica was relieved to see her dad looking so well. He looked almost himself again.
"So, how was New York?" her dad asked, leaving that question pretty open-ended.
"Umm..." said Veronica, not really sure how much to tell him. "Well, the bar was the hardest thing I've ever seen, done, or imagined."
Keith grinned.
"I'm sure you did fine," he replied.
"If 'fine'," Veronica smirked, making quotations with her fingers, "means 'fail', then, yes. Let's go with 'fine'."
"I'm sure you're overreacting," Keith told her.
She grabbed her chopsticks and rolled her eyes.
"Not so much," she sighed.
"Well, did Wallace have a good time?" Keith asked, still being very careful with his words and not mentioning Piz's name.
Veronica noticed his tiptoeing around the conversation.
"He did. He and Piz," she said, with emphasis on the Piz, "had a really good time together. I'm glad. I'm sure Piz was glad to know that not all of his friends had betrayed him."
Keith nodded, not sure how to respond.
"Nothing to say, Dad?" Veronica asked. She knew Keith was holding back his opinions. "No need to hold back on my account."
"What do you want me to say, Veronica?"
"Whatever you want. Like always," she replied, grinning.
"I don't think it's any secret I'm disappointed in your choices, Veronica. I was so happy you'd gotten out of Neptune. You had a life in New York. You were going to make something for yourself, honey. Plus, Piz was good for you."
Veronica sighed.
"Dad, I tried. I really did. But I was living a life that wasn't mine. That's not who I really am, and I think you know that, too," she said.
"Come on, Veronica, that's bull..."
"No, Dad, it's not," she said, her voice rising a little. "I looked around that apartment the day I packed, and I didn't recognize the person who lived there. I thought that I could get away from Neptune and that would take all of this out of me. It didn't. It just hid it for a while."
"And Logan?" he asked.
"Him, too, I guess," she said, staring out at nothing, lost in memory.
Keith just nodded silently for several seconds before he finally spoke.
"You know I just want what's best for you, right? Whatever and whoever that is," he smiled.
"I know, Dad," she said, smiling back.
"You know he saved my life," he said after several bites of food.
"I mean, he called 911 and all..."
"No, Veronica, he pulled me out of the car. When the truck doubled back...If he hadn't gotten to me when he did..."
Keith was choked up by the memory of the accident. It was still very fresh in his mind.
"Well, I'm just grateful, is all," he finally said.
"Me, too," Veronica agreed. She thought it odd that Logan hadn't mentioned that part. He never told her that he put himself in harm's way to save her dad. It made her long to hear his voice all the more.
"So, how's Weevil's case?" Keith asked, acknowledging with a nod the stack of files Veronica had also brought with her.
"Ugh," Veronica let out another deep sigh. "Not so good."
Keith reached over the table and grabbed the stack of files.
"Let's take a look..."