Set during Ruskie business. Trina didn't show up to drive Logan home. That task instead fell on Veronica.

I own nothing.

Please R&R.

"Logan, seriously, give me your keys." Veronica demanded, exasperated.

"You want my keys?" Logan shot back. "They're all yours. All you gotta do if find 'em first. Now that shouldn't be too hard for you since there's a limited amount of places I could have put them." He told her with a leer.

Veronica looked down to the undressed half of his body them back to his face. "You've got to be kidding." Logan just wagged his eyebrows.

Veronica let out a lite laugh, not amused. She sighed. "Fine." She said resolutely and pushed open the door to the girl's bathroom. "Go on." She prompted holding it open. Logan looked blankly at her. "Would you rather have me pull down your tighty whiteys out here in the middle of the hall?"

Logan looked taken aback. "You'd really do that? You'd really go through my underwear just so I wouldn't drive home drunk? Well, what can I say? I'm touched Ronnie. I really am."

"Yeah well, I'd feel guilty if you ended up getting in an accident and getting hurt or killed. Or even worse if you injured some innocent bystander, or a skunk or something. Now that would be a real tragedy."

Logan laughed. "That's my Ronnie." He remarked.

"So?" Veronica prompted well annoyed at this point. She gestured into the bathroom.

"Oh right, the keys. I was just kidding, there not in my underwear. I left them under the sun viser in my car."

"Ugh!" Veronica grunted. "You jackass!"

"What?" Logan argued. "It's not like I actually let you go through with the cavity search."

"Yeah well the joke would have been on you if you had, cause I'd have let the professional handle that part." She said referring to deputy Leo, who was still standing there starting to feel uneasy.

Logan turned to look at the man, "Who's he?"

Veronica rolled her eyes. "Oh god. Just come on." She pulled Logan by the sleeve. "You're following us right?" She called back to Leo.

"Yeah sure, no problem." He assured.

So here they were for the third time ever Logan and Veronica were riding alone in his car. Albeit this time was a little different as Veronica was the one behind the wheel. A situation she was not entirely comfortable with as she was not used to driving such a big monstrosity. Also, her companion was only semi- conscious. He kept mumbling incoherently, but she did catch snippets of what he was saying from time to time, she heard "mom" and "Lilly" repeated frequently. Her heart hurt for Logan. She understood in a way what he was going through. After her mom disappeared she had times when she wondered if she might be dead somewhere. She still wasn't entirely sure. But at least she could still keep hope that her mom would come home safely someday. Logan didn't even have that.

She pulled to a stop in Logan's driveway. She saw in the rearview mirror Leo's car pull in behind. "All right Logan, we're here." She announced. He muttered something she didn't understand, then made a light snoring sound. She suppressed a laugh then tried. "Yo, Tommy C." She shook him. "This is your stop."

"Unh?" Logan started, opening his eyes and taking stock of his surroundings. "Veronica?" He squinted at her. "What are you doing here?"

"I drove you home, remember?" He obviously didn't. "Well whatever. We're here. Time to get out." She jumped out of the cab and went around to the passenger's side. Leo jogged up to meet her. She gave him a smile. She opened the door and gave Logan her hand. "Come on, Logan." He staggered out of the seat. Veronica put one of his arms around her shoulder. Leo took the other. Logan looked at him confused.

"Who the hell are you?" he asked. Leo laughed.

"Oh my god, Logan!" Veronica cried out. "For the last time this is Leo. Whose name you might want to remember since he is doing you a huge favor by not throwing your ass in the drunk tank."

Logan huffed. "I doubt he's doing me any favors."

Veronica ignored him. They stopped at the door. "Is anybody home?" she asked Logan.

"Nope. Daddy dearest is in L.A. he has a meeting with some studio vultures or something."

"And Trina?"

"Your guess is as good as her's I'd imagine. She's probably drunker than I am and in some stranger's bed about now."

Veronica blew out a breath and held up Logan's keys. "Which of these is your house key?"

Logan took the keys and squinted at them. "Um... Hmm. Are sure these are my keys?"

Veronica yanked them back and tried randomly in the lock until it gave. With a sigh she pushed the door open. Leo was about to lead Logan into the house when Veronica intervened. "Uh, could you just wait out here, if you don't mind." She requested.

Leo looked reluctant. "Are you sure you can handle him on your own?"

"Yeah. I got it." She assured. "I'll be back in a minute."

Veronica aided Logan into his house and deposited him on the sofa. "I'll be right back." First she went to the kitchen and put on a pot of coffee, then went to the nearest bathroom and found a bottle of aspirin the medicine cabinet. She took two and filled a glass with water. By the time she got back to Logan he had move off the couch and was now pouring himself a glass of whatever amber colored alcohol it was.

"Logan, are you really sure you should be drinking any more."

"Positive." He slurred. "Whoa!" He cried as the glass over flowed. He put down the bottle and slurped the excess from the glass.

"You know you're probably a drink away from liver failure."

"Hmm." Was all he had to say.

Veronica bit her lip and look to the door to the outside where Leo was waiting for her.

Logan looked at her. "You're still here?"

Veronica sighed and walked over to the coffee table. "You should take these." She suggested setting down the glass of water and pills.

Logan continued to gulp his liquor ignoring her. She turned around and went outside.

Leo was leaning against the hood of his car waiting. "Ready to go beautiful?" he asked when she came out.

"Um, actually I think I'm gonna stay for a while, make sure he's okay."

Leo nodded slowly. "Okay want me to stay with you?"

Veronica sucked in some air through her teeth. "Yeah I don't think that's such a good idea. Logan's not very good with, well, people."

"Are you sure it's safe to be alone with the guy? I'm mean, he's pretty messed up."

"I'll be fine." She assured. "I have plenty of experience dealing with an inebriated Logan."

"Okay. It sounds like you've made up your mind about this." He said sounding reluctant to go. He moved around to the driver's side door. "You know," He said with his hand on the door. "The guy's pretty perceptive for a drunk."

Veronica's brow knitted in confusion.

"When he said, he wasn't the one I was doing a favor for."

Veronica smiled. "Yeah, I know." She said. "And I really do appreciate it Leo. Really."

"Well that's good. But, what I'm trying to get at here is that I like you Veronica."

"I kind of figured that with your willingness to get all eightyfied and come to a high school dance."

He laughed. "So, I just wanna make sure, is there something more going on between you and this guy."

He nodded toward the house.

"Me and Logan? That's crazy!" Veronica blurted automatically, but there was a part of her that really considered the question. She ignored it. "He's an old friend. He's been through a lot. Unless you've been living under a rock I'm sure you've about the stuff going on with his family"

Leo nodded. "And your sure that's all it is. Just helping an old friend through a hard time."

"Yes." She said, though she was beginning to doubt.

"Okay then." Leo opened the car door. "You want me to stop back by later and check up on you?"

"I don't know about stopping by, but maybe you could call."

Leo broke out into a grin. "Oh, I am definitely gonna call."

Veronica smiled. "Later deputy."

"See ya, kid."

Veronica's face scrunched up. "Uh, Leo, " She called. He looked up at her. "You mind not calling me kid? It adds a layer of creepy to the whole age difference thing."

He snickered. "You got it."

She waited until he drove away before turning around and trudging back to the house.

Logan looked up when she entered the room. "Hey look, like a virgin's back.'" He greeted.

He glanced passed her. "What happened to 'Miami Vice'?"

"I sent him home." She informed taking a stride into the room. "I didn't think you should be alone right now."

Logan puffed. "I don't need a babysitter, Veronica."

"Well, first of all, that's debatable" She countered, "and secondly, I'm not here to babysit. I'm here to keep you company. You've been through a lot today, I just thought maybe you could use a friend."

"That still doesn't explain what you're doing here."

"Logan don't be a jerk. I just want to help you."

"Help me." Logan echoed. "There is no help for me Veronica. There were only two people in this world who ever gave a damn about me and there both gone now. First Lilly and now my mom. I'm all alone now. I might as well start getting used to it." He tipped his glass back and emptied it.

"That's not true, Logan. There are people that care about you."

"Really? Name one." He challenged.

"What about Duncan?"

Logan scoffed. "Do you see him around anywhere?" He countered. "Did he even bother to see if I was okay after my little performance at the dance?"

Veronica didn't respond.

"Right, just like I thought." He lurched unsteadily to his feet and moved toward the liquor cabinet.

Veronica thought she probably would regret these words, but said them anyway. "I care."

Logan stopped in his tracks and looked at her. "You care?" He asked sounding dubious. "Since when?"

"Since always Logan." She shot back not gently. "God, do you honestly think I would be here right now if I didn't?" Logan didn't answer. "You and I have a history Logan. One that I can't forget about no matter how much of a jack ass you are sometimes. Whether I like it or not there's a part of me that's always going to care about you."

Abandoning his quest for a drink Logan staggered back to the sofa and sat down heavily. He buried his face in his hands. A sob escaped him. "I just can't believe she's gone. I can't believe she left me alone with that bastard."

Veronica walked over and sat down next to him. She put her hand on his shoulder. "I'm so sorry, Logan."

He sniffed back his tears and looked up at Veronica. "Thank you, Veronica. For sticking around, for giving a crap."

"No problem." She replied. "You want to know how you can start paying me back?"

His eyebrows rose in question.

"Drink some coffee and try to sober up."

He blew out a breath. "I can do that."

Veronica went to the kitchen and poured to mugs full. "Here you go." She handed one to Logan.

"Thanks." He blew on it then took a good sip. "So," He ventured, "What's the deal with you and the cop?"

"Yeah, no, we're not talking about him." Veronica declared.

Logan chuckled. "Oh, why not? Are you embarrassed to dating an old guy?"

Veronica smiled at him, "You know that thing I said about always caring about you no matter what? Yeah, I take that back."

Logan smiled and opened his mouth to make a retort but was cut off by the sound of Veronica's cell ringing.

She took it out and answered. "Hello?... Hello?" after a couple beats her expression changed to one of extreme annoyance. She hung up. "Ugh!"

"What's wrong?"

"Oh nothing. I've been getting these crank calls..."

"Aren't you supposed to be some hot shot junior detective? Haven't you ever heard of *69?" He teased.

"I've tried it smart ass." She retorted. "It just rings and rings."

Logan grabbed the phone from her. "Here, allow me."

Veronica gave him a wry look. "I know having money offers a lot of perks but I don't think making *69 work better is one-"

She was silenced when Logan said, "Yeah, hi, so who the hell is this and why have you been bothering my friend Ronnie?"

Shocked, and a bit excited that someone actually answered Veronica snatched the phone back. "Who is this?" she demanded. "Why have you been calling me?"

Even through his drunken haze Logan was able to read the change in Veronica's expression, something was happening, his body straitened going on alert. He watched Veronica closely for ques as to what was going on.

"Blond lady?" She asked looking pale. "Where?"

"What is it? What's wrong?" Logan asked, leaning in once she hung up.

"My mom." She practically whispered. She took a breath and looked up at Logan. "The person that's been calling me...is my mom. She's in Barstow."

There was a beat of silence as the news sunk in. "Go." Logan said afterwards. "You have to go."

Veronica swallowed and nodded. "Right. But what about you, are you gonna be okay?"

"I'll be fine." He assured. "Don't worry about me. What's important is you finding your mom. No one knows that more than I do."

Veronica felt a pang realizing how true is words were.

"My mom's gone." He went on. "But yours isn't and if there's a chance you could find her tonight, you gotta go. And I promise I won't drink any more alcohol. I'll finish the coffee and sober up. And I'll be waiting for you to call and tell me how it went."

Veronica smiled gratefully at him and nodded. "Okay. Bye." She shot to her feet and crossed the room.

"Good luck!" Logan called after her.

Veronica paused, a sudden impulse coming over her, she bit her lip. Normally she would have ignored it, but she figured, what the hell, it's not like Logan will remember it in the morning, hell he probably won't even remember she was ever here or even showing up at the dance. So, she had nothing to lose. Making her decision she pivoted back around on her heels and tromped back to the couch. She bent down to a confused Logan and pressed her lips to his briefly. When she pulled back his look was of utter shock. She smiled. "Don't forget to take that aspirin." She reminded.

Logan didn't respond, just continued looking dumbstruck. Veronica crossed the room again and went out the door.

The next morning Logan woke up on the couch smiling. Despite the old man playing knick-knack on his brain , and the devastating realization of the day before, he felt good, really good. Like something really amazing had happened to him. It was just too bad he couldn't remember what.