Chapter 20

Same Deep Water As You

10:45 Friday September 7

Her mind clears instantly. Instinctively. It's second nature that she just can't shake no matter how shaken she actually becomes. In order to train you to deal with the most stressful situations the FBI devotes months upon months to tearing their trainees apart. Veronica was deprived of sleep, of comfort, of sight, and food and equilibrium and god a hundred other things that make her sharp as a tack even when she should be shitting herself. Logan learned to stay calm in a crisis through regimented training as well. Except of course Veronica was making a career out of it while Logan was simply trying to live his life while avoiding a belt to the back. Or sometimes doing everything he could to ensure it.

So though any sane people in their situation would be paralyzed with terror Veronica and Logan's heart beats elevate not even slightly. That is of course until the gun gets raised. Then all bets are off. Like an idiot Logan moves, trying to get closer to the tiny brunette he'd just been about to scream at. He's not above providing a human shield if absolutely necessary. Unlike Veronica he's already realized that the rest of your life is a long time not to speak to someone ever again. He'd rather it be her rather then him that has to deal with the lifetime of silence, in that regard she would be stronger and it's as simple as that.

The ground in front of him explodes as Danny lets off his first shot of the night. Pieces of concrete erupt out of their setting and fly in every direction. The hole made is just six inches short of his left foot. And either Danny is an incredible shot or a shitty one. Veronica lets out a telling noise that is a wrenching mix of shriek and sob. She wants to freeze him in time, because the clock is ticking now, people had to have heard the gunshot, and all too soon that defiance in his eyes will turn to desperation.

"No more of that, pretty boy," Daniel commands, taking a few steps towards Veronica.

She's not looking at him, though she it was also drilled into her mind never to take her eyes of the man with the gun. She's making sure Logan still has all of his toes. She's making sure he can still walk and run and do all that crazy shit he likes to on a surfboard. She's making sure she's not responsible for anymore of his missing pieces. "Logan don't," she whispers, and it's a noise far too intimate for such a scene, "don't move." It's a plea, he can hear it in her voice and in her eyes, and for once he knows that they are on equal footing, both hoping for two very different endings.

He looks at her, dark hair and dark eyes and he sees the wheels turning in her head just as they are in his. He can't stop looking at her for so many reasons. A gun pointed in between them and they're having a fucking staring contest. How perfectly in character.

There is no upper hand. He moves, he gets shot, and Veronica's alone with Daniel Jameson and his shiny, shiny fucking gun. The reason he and Weevil couldn't find dirt on the guy for so long was because that wasn't his real name. With his real name he'd supported a drug and alcohol habit for nearly a decade. Anthony Russo. He'd made several missteps with his local mob and was currently in deep debt. He needed fast cash, and that's why he was now pointing a gun instead of dropping a manuscript.

"Eyes on me beautiful," he orders Veronica, "Now honey I don't want to hurt you, but I will if you get in the way. This man's done a lot to screw me over in the last couple of days and I plan on getting even."

"Not going to happen," she whispers, her bright red lips still in tact from the rehearsal dinner. It feels like a lifetime ago. There is no fear, no trace of doubt or indecision in her gaze. She looks him in the eye just like she did Alex Corso, Cassidy Cassablancas, and the dozens of other men who've tried to tear her life apart. When there is nothing else left Veronica still has her impeccable poker face. And in that moment Daniel learns Veronica Mars is nothing like her mother.

"I don't see what you're going do to stop me sweetheart," he chirps, the gun now pointed indecisively between Logan and Veronica.

"Me neither," Veronica smiles wryly, because the longer they keep talking the more likely it becomes someone will stumble across them, "That's my problem. But I can't let you shoot him." When Daniel glances over at the boy his eyes are wide as he watches her speak, his mouth hanging open.

He tries to disguise his frustration with a knowing smirk, "Don't tell me you're still in love with this one."

"In how many ways can I say fuck off?" Logan snaps, still without looking. What the fuck is she doing anyway? Playing games and thinking she's the smartest person in the room, typical Veronica. He always forgets how disconcerting it is to feel this pissed and protective at the same time. He doesn't know if he'd prefer to save her or drown her at this point.

"Yes," Veronica nods, blue eyes wide but still completely calm, "So you can assume that if he goes I go. You're already talking about shooting a celebrity, now we're going with his ex fiancé and the local sheriff's daughter. I'm government, but if you met my dad you'd pray the feds got to you first." She smirks back at him as she adds, "So it looks like you have a problem too."

Logan clears his throat, for the first time looking away from Veronica, "I would like to make it explicitly clear that this is not a package deal. In fact I'll go with you right now if it means she's out of the equation."

"I'd pull the fire alarm," she snaps, and now they're looking at each other again. Her hair flies in her face as she whips her whole head around. And he can't picture it. He refuses to picture it. He'd tried so fucking hard to make sure this didn't happen. To ensure this man's words couldn't break her heart figuratively, and now she was in a position where his fucking gun might do it literally.

"And then the guy with the gun will shoot me in the head V," he cracks back without hesitating, trying his best to make it sound like any other sentence. The same indifference he'd assign to opening a door or starting his car. He'd get shot in the head. Same old everyday shit right?

"He's not going to kill you Logan," she retorts like it's the most obvious thing in the world. Like there isn't evidence to the direct contrary in front of them. She glances at Danny as if he's inconsequential. A case file she's just placed back in her drawer. The urge to kill her returns. "He still wants your money otherwise we'd be reading all about his new book. I'm willing to bet that Ronnie Moretti isn't going to wait for him to shop around the manuscript anyway."

When he gapes at her, literally open mouth gapes at her, she actually has the balls to look just as angry as he feels. If he'd come to her first they wouldn't in this mess. "You think Weevil's the only person in this town capable of running a background check?" she hisses, "It took him months to get what I found in a few hours."

"I'm taking the girl," Danny says suddenly, intent on breaking the lover's quarrel that has unexpectedly broken out in the middle of his hold up. He didn't give a fuck what either of these idiots had on him. He had the gun. And in his world that's all that mattered.

"No you're not," Logan's voice is definitive, the muscle in his jaw pulled as taunt as a rubber band.

"I'm done fucking around," Danny argues, cocking the gun. Glad that even though Echolls is mouthing off he's yet to move. Veronica Mars would make a hell of a hostage. Deep pockets over there would be willing to pay a shit load more then ten million to get her back. For all that pretty face and hot body apparently had to offer to him she was little more then dollar signs.

"Me too, you even try and you're going to have to kill me," Logan also knows a lot about staring down psychopaths. In his house it was called dinner. He was there at six o'clock or Aaron came looking for a fight and almost always found one, "And she's poor as shit so you'd be pretty fucked after that."

"Logan," Veronica cautions, she's so close. Danny just needs to make the last three steps.

"She's coming with me," Danny repeats as he moves to cross the distance between him and the small brunette. The gun now definitively pointed at her, "Move and I'll shoot her in the foot, then the knee." Daniel never sees it coming, and for that matter neither does Logan.

She's small. It's a fact. Along with everything else about her the FBI had trained her to use her size as a weapon. Danny's overly confident, assured because of his obvious advantage in size and strength. Her hands are free and he's much more focused on Logan then on what she's doing.

The gun is extended towards her chest. It only takes two motions. She uses her right hand to knock his arm off balance, and he shoots over her shoulder. Then she twists his wrist, and the gun falls out of his hand completely. A split second later it is in two pieces in her hands. She throws one part in the pool and the other in the bushes. For one moment the older man stares at her in complete shock and then he's on the ground with Logan on top of him. She types 911 into her phone while Logan throws punches.

Leo's on the way for the third time this week when she finally realizes Logan hasn't stopped just because Daniel's knocked out cold. She calls his name but he doesn't respond so finally she shoves him. She has to do it three times until he finally blinks up her with something other then blind rage. They are caught there, her kneeling down with her hand on his shoulder and him panting as he tries to remember where he is. The adrenaline is why all he wants to do is kiss her. It's all about the adrenaline.

She blinks first. Standing to find him a towel so he can clean himself up before others arrive. "What happened to the increased security?" she whispers softly as he winces over his hands. She distinctly remembers promises being made so that this exact situation didn't arise.

"Who needs them when I have you to fight my battles for me," he replies, and their might be something like pride in his voice.

She wants to yell. More they anything she wants to scream and cry and make him feel absolutely awful. This is his fault. But she realizes with odd clarity that it doesn't matter. She doesn't even care. He's alive and so is she and the relief of it makes her hands shake. "Fuck," she curses as she watches them, trying to ignore it as she helps Logan to his feet.

"It's okay," he doesn't know why he says it, nothing about this night has been okay. All he knows is that he has to outlive her. He has to. Even if they never see each other again, even if he still can't look her in the eye, she can't get sick and she can never die. He can't handle it. Will go absolutely crazy at the thought.

She runs her fingers through her hair and winces. He isn't hurt, the only thing she has to focus on is the beating of her heart in her throat and those horrible moments she keeps locked in the back of her head. She doesn't know how to say it, but she looks at him with her arms wrapped around herself and murmurs, "Can you just?" She can't finish, but he understands.

He remembers, so clearly that night she had shown up at his apartment after their second breakup. She hadn't needed to say a word. He was miserable and so was she, and the only thing that would make it better was suffering together. Their third breakup was ended much the same way. Like polar opposite magnets they were unendingly drawn together.

Most of the time their miserables canceled each other out, and she was the only girl he'd ever been with who could even come close to understanding him. And maybe that's because she was also the only girl he'd ever been with who absolutely required that he care enough to try. He could lie to Lily, to Hannah and Caitlin, and now that he was famous the girls he hooked up with didn't even require that amount of maintenance. But with Veronica, whether with a look or a carefully staged phone call, had in her power the ability to absolutely wither him. She was allergic to his bullshit and could use words as tools of combat as effortlessly as him. His money made her so uncomfortable she would fidget and she was just as fearless as him if lacking his occasional death wish. They were compatible, but their puzzle pieces fit together roughly. And that was definitely the best and worst part.

He knows what to do, and as usual it doesn't require words. He walks forward and wraps his arms around her shoulders. It's not just her hands that are shaking, he realizes. Her whole body is trembling underneath him. "It was my fault," she whispers and neither is sure to which situation she is referring.

"No it wasn't," he shushes her, it really doesn't matter to him, "It's going to be okay. I promise Veronica, it's going to be okay." She eases her arms out of their position around herself and fists her hands in the back of his shirt. She doesn't know when she starts to cry, it makes absolutely no sense, but his fingers are in her hair and his thumb is rubbing across the crook of her neck and it is just so sweet and so Logan. She doesn't let go. She can't let go even though barely ten minutes ago he'd made it very clear she is the misery of his life. She doesn't know how she can absolutely hate someone and still love them with all her heart. She has never known.

They stay like that until Keith comes stumbling down the stairs in jeans and a wrinkled dress shirt, flanked by an exhausted looking Leo who is also in his street clothes.

11:15 pm Friday September 7

"That's the third time," Mac observes in a high voice as she falls back into the mattress. She's focused on trying to catch her breath, but also on the fact that Veronica has called her three times in rapid succession.

"I thought they were supposed to talk to each other," Dick groans as he turns to lie on his stomach. The covers have been kicked off along with their clothes and they both lay bare on the top of Mac's sheets.

"They probably have, and now she wants to vent about it," Mac explains. Dick does not comprehend girl world, although it varies little from the whispered conversations he has with Logan in his home office.

"Okay well you're busy." Dick argues, as his eyes flutter closed.

"Was," Mac corrects as she stretches across him to grab her cell phone. "Hey Bond," she chirps, and then her face falls, "What? WHAT? Oh my God. OH MY GOD."

Dick turns, seizing the phone from his practically apoplectic fiancée. "What is happening to you?" his whole face screws up as Veronica explains where they are and why, "Holy shit we'll be right there."

Mac is already half way into a pair of sweats as Dick barrel rolls off the bed and tries to figure what the hell he was thinking when he believed Veronica and Logan could have a single fucking conversation without it involving gun fire.

11:15 pm Friday September 7

"And that's the truth?" Keith questions as he jots down notes on a pad. Backup arrived a few minutes ago and is now taping off the scene. Daniel Jameson has already been loaded into an ambulance with a handcuff around his wrist. Logan has been texting Nadine, who is at DEFCON 1 and currently suggesting they deny anything and everything.

"She's on a new painfully honest kick actually," Logan replies with a grimace, but when Keith continues to scrutinize his features he manages a tone that is distinctly genuine, "It's all their Sheriff."

"He should have hired a bodyguard," Veronica mumbles, her voice is hoarse. They are in twin deck chairs a few feet apart and she is feeling mutinous. Hearing him recount all the earlier details that she hadn't been privy to makes her want to strangle him. And then having to admit her part, she can rationalize being jaded to law enforcement when the police station had been headed by a literal idiot, but now her former partner in crime is leading her city's defense, and what can her excuse be? She is drained, in all the ways someone can be, and she just wants to get all of this over with so she can sleep.

Logan doesn't even look over. He should have done something differently, and that's all that matters. "You both should have come to me," her father remarks sternly before flipping the pad closed, "I should take you to the station, but I know you both have something very important going on tomorrow."

As if on cue the very disgruntled, soon to be married couple arrives at the border of yellow tape. "I really wanted to believe this whole thing was a joke," Dick laments, "Like surprise we were kidding about the gun point thing, here's a beer and an eye roll for being gullible."

"Excuse me sir this is a crime scene," an officer states, trying to get in the way of Dick's view.

"Excuse me sir," Dick parrots, "but my life is a crime scene."

"We're with them," Mac interrupts, reaching over to grip Dick's arm. "Veronica," Mac calls, and the brunette turns. Glancing at her father first, who nods, Veronica stands with Logan following in quick succession.

"Mars," an officer calls, and both father and daughter turn, "what should we do with this?" He's holding Veronica's shoe box and plastic bag. She crosses to him in four strides.

"I'll be taking those back," Veronica answers, "It's personal." After an eye roll from her father he once again nods and Veronica's items are given back to her.

Veronica and Logan make it back to Mac and Dick at the same time, their expressions looking equally grim. "Do we need to postpone the wedding?" Mac blurts.

"What?" Dick looks down at his wife to be in horror.

She doesn't look up at him. Her eyes are fixed on their two best friends. "Do we?" she repeats.

"No," Veronica shakes her head, Logan makes his opinion clear the same way, although he adds a fuck for emphasis.

"Okay," Mac smiles, squeezing Dick's arm, "Good."

"Great," Dick agrees, "Because I don't care if the two of you really had been shot. I'm getting married tomorrow."

"To yourself," Mac grumbles jokingly.

"I'll be upstairs in a second," Veronica replies, glancing at Logan. She just has one more thing to give to him, one more painfully honest thing, and then he can decide for himself.

"See you in a minute dude," Logan mimics loyally.

"So does this mean no more sex," Dick questions as they walk away.

"Not for twenty four hours," she kisses him before pushing him towards a different elevator, "See you at the altar, I'll be in white."

"Love you," Dick mouths as his elevator doors close.

"Love you more," she whispers back to the metal shutters.

Back near the pool Veronica hands Logan the shoe box, "This is for you."

"I thought it was personal," he observes, remembering the evil eye she had given her father's guy for even touching it.

"Most of my personal is your personal too," she notes and when he still looks at her blankly she adds frustrated, "Just open it Logan." And then she walks away, because looking at him is breaking her heart.

When he is sure, completely positive, that she is gone he takes a seat in one of the overstuffed chairs in the hotel hallways and opens the box. He can't help but grin when he sees what's on top.

Epic

A novel by LM Duncan.

11:20 pm Friday September 7

True to her word Veronica lets herself back into the hotel room a few minutes after Mac does. Surprisingly only a minute later there's a knock on the door. Parker, in her nightgown and with her hair preciously mussed, looks murderous.

"I see neither of you is actively on fire or preparing to pull a runaway bride," she hisses, "So I'm going to do it, truly this time, I'm killing Veronica."

"I need your help," Veronica replies with an eye roll, as she dumps the contents of her plastic bag on her bed, "Both of you."

Her purchased treasures include a bottle of bleach, a carton of hair dye, and a pair of scissors.