Disclaimer: Don't own them. Just LoVe them.
Notes: I know this kind of thing has probably been done multiple times, but I feel like this is how it should have gone, yes? Angst!

THIS CHAPTER: Veronica confronts Logan about his sleeping with Madison Sinclair.

When Veronica strode into the apartment, Logan was busy with his cufflinks. He glanced at her quickly before returning to his task with a small smile. "Jeans. Bold choice. Hope the maitre d' is fashion forward."

"Did you and Madison have sex over winter break?" He seemed to freeze at that. He turned his head to look at her, and she hoped he would say something, deny it, but he was silent, giving her the answer she didn't think she'd receive. His mouth dropped open a little as he returned his gaze to his sleeves, and her face fell. "I asked you point blank."

"And I lied. Point blank." Logan's eyes burned into her as he stood, approaching her. "It wasn't information that you had a right to know, I knew you wouldn't be able to deal with the Madison thing."

"Which thing are you talking about? The 'she roofied me' thing? Or the thing when I stumbled to my car in the morning, wondering where my virginity was, and she'd written slut on my windshield? Was that the thing you thought I couldn't deal with?" He didn't say a word. She felt her stomach roiling as tears built in her eyes, threatening to spill over. "I am so genuinely sick right now. If I could have eaten anything today, I'd be throwing up all over your floor."

She turned on her heel and moved to leave. "We were broken up at the time." Logan's pleading voice made her spin back to face him.

"You know how I feel about Madison! There was no way, at some point while it was happening, that you weren't thinking about how much I'd hate you being with her." That had come out louder than she'd planned, but she wasn't going to take it back.

"It wasn't like that."

"No? Do you want another variation? Because I've got a million sickening scenarios running on a loop right now." Veronica saw a few flashes in her mind of the things she'd been imagining.

"I wasn't trying to hurt you!"

They did a little dance – he stepped forward, she stepped back. "Oh, really? Imagine if you tried."

"She looked like you!"

The words pulled her up short. They weren't what she was expecting him to say – apologies, promises to make everything better, begging, that's what she expected, what she'd experienced before. "What?"

"She was blonde and she dressed in this little sweater and denim skirt and I was wasted and Dick gave me something to make me a little more fun. I was literally blind drunk and all I could think of was you. When I said your name, she didn't correct me. I thought she was you, and I wanted to be tasting you and smelling you and loving you and she was there and she looked like you." Logan paused, dropping to the couch and rubbing his face. He looked up at Veronica. She could see the telltale sign of tears building in the corner of his eyes, making a flash of guilt flare in her chest. She didn't move from where she was standing by the door, though, unable to reconcile her feelings for him with the dreams she'd been having of Madison being... with him. "I didn't know that it wasn't you, I figured I was hallucinating. We were broken up, but I couldn't think of anything else apart from getting back with you."

"Logan... it could have been anyone else. Anyone else and I would not have cared if you had slept with someone while we were broken up. But it was her."

He glanced at her sharply, eyes narrowing. "If I could take it back... make it not true... I would erase everything. I don't ever want to lose you again. Especially not over Madison Sinclair."

Veronica looked away.

"I can't get it out of my head. It's like a horror movie, repeating over and over and it's just always there. And when it's over, it rewinds and starts again. I haven't slept properly in days, not since she told me. Every time I look at you, I see it again."

Logan was at her side in a flash, reaching a hand to her face, gently caressing her skin with his thumb. Her eyes closed involuntarily at his touch, and she almost nuzzled into it, but she jerked away roughly. She couldn't bear to meet his eyes, to see the hurt she was sure was blazing in them.

"What can I do? How can I make this right?"

She could run away. She could yell and scream and tell him she was never going to get past it, because Madison Sinclair was the whole reason she had been drugged and raped. Madison Sinclair was the one who had tormented her through high school, who had dug her nails under Veronica's skin and torn her apart again and again. But thinking about it, despite Madison being a horrible person, it wasn't entirely her fault that Veronica was drugged – she didn't know Dick had slipped GHB into her drink before she gave it to Veronica, she didn't force Cassidy Casablancas into the room. If there was anything the girl was guilty of that night, it was that she'd scrawled 'SLUT' over Veronica's windshield, which had taken hours to scrub clean.

Logan was looking at her imploringly. Begging her without words to stay, to forgive, to be the person she wasn't built to be. She took a deep breath, solidifying her resolve, and stepped backwards, almost crashing into the wall. The agony that appeared on Logan's face almost made her step back into his embrace wholeheartedly.

"Veronica, please..."

"I'm not leaving you." He seemed to soften at her words, reaching for her. She put up a hand to stop him, and his arms flopped uselessly to his sides. "I'm not leaving you, Logan. But I am going to need some space. Just give me a few days, let me process everything. It's going to be hard to get over this, but I'm trying not to run anymore. Wait for me, and we can work through this."

He looked like he wanted to argue, but he nodded after a few moments, seeming defeated. Veronica lifted her hand and touched his chin tenderly. His eyes met hers, hopeful.

"I'll be back in a few days. I promise."

"Okay."

And then she was walking through the door, shaking, trying not to turn back and run to Logan. Her mind started to replay the scene of Logan and Madison rolling through his sheets, but she pushed it away. It faded into nothingness.