Broken

Chapter Three

AN- Hey guys, thanks and sorry for making you wait! I've had a hellish few months trying to write.

EDIT: I just went through and saw the breaks I put into the story in Word were not being published into them, I've fixed this chapter but I don't have chapter two to re-upload, I'm sorry for the probably eye damage/confusion!

Shawn was missing something. That wasn't rocket science, from the moment that Henry had walked in, Shawn knew his father had picked up on something that he had yet to see. Dammit. He hated being tested, especially when it came down to something where he might not have a ton of time to get down to the bottom of the box. But this was one bag of cereal that he had to swallow through as fast as possible. He wasn't sure how he was going to explain it all to Maddie if anything happened to Tess and he knew his already icy relationship with his father would be even worse in that case.

He sat at the table in the Hearst Library, waiting on Veronica to show up as she had promised over the phone a tiny bit over an hour ago. Generally, the fewer people that there were interfering in his work, the easier it was to figure things out and come up with a psychic episode to explain it. Veronica, however, was going to be a necessary asset. And as Shawn poured over the "crime scene" photos for the billionth time, he hoped she would hand him his answers. Something to take back to his concerned father.

She walked in right about on time, and he looked up with a small, tired grimace. Shawn was always well kempt, hair gelled, shirt freshly dry-cleaned (so he could avoid ironing it himself). Stress couldn't stop that. She looked tired, her hair was loose, and brushed, but limp, lacking any real texture. And her clothes screamed lazy day meeting a strange guy in the library, a loose t-shirt and sweatpants.

"Got here as fast as I could," She told him gently as she sat across from him. Her hands immediately went to open her bag, a thick manila envelope appearing as she pulled at it. "I'm studying for a gigantic civics test tomorrow, so…"

"Don't worry about it." Their eyes met briefly, and he could feel her pulling for some opinion to make of him. And that made one side of his mouth turn up in interest. He took the folder when she offered it. "I just need to see whatever my old man saw, it's clearly got him upset."

"I can imagine," Her voice was gentle, but not necessarily convinced. Veronica cleared her throat, nodding to the pile in his hand. "Everything there is in any system on Parker Lee. Not a whole lot, a few parking tickets, the rape case. Of course her psychiatric history is a tad more interesting."

Shawn was already digging into the file, flipping past the evidence photographs to the forms Veronica was beginning to explain. "In 2004 she spent a couple of weeks in a hospital in Denver. Her parents, apparently, felt that she needed to spend that time there because of her reaction to some boy troubles. She never caused herself or anyone any physical harm, however, the doctors put her on anti-depressants because they were concerned that she could resort to some sort of physical violence."

"Meds," Shawn murmured, skimming past. "Is she still on them?"

"She gets them filled on a regular basis, as far as knowing if she still takes them, there's never been enough concern to make her submit to a UA."

"Sorry…but wouldn't you guys. . I mean the sheriff, shouldn't he have tested her when this went down? She had a bad stick with this guy. Then she ends up in the middle of the road while he's driving with his new girlfriend in the car…"

"Look, Shawn, I know it might stink a little but it's not enough to force her to pee in a cup. If she had made a threat or someone had something that said she wanted one of them hurt, then they could look into it but right now, it's just a bad coincidence that turned out okay."

Shawn scanned the copied images of the drug bottle labels, memorizing the doctor's name and the pharmacy, in just enough time for Veronica to gently pry the papers from his hands. "I really hope everything works out for your sister. I think she'll be okay and for now, I have to go cram or I'll lose my financial aid."

Shawn watched her gather her things, observed the tight line that her mouth made, and he sighed. Nodded softly. "Thanks for your time." He got up and shoved his hands into his pockets, turned to look briefly after her as she hurried out, then moved to the corner to pull out his cell phone, and he dialed Gus' number.

"Hey! Buddy! No, no, official business. I need you to tell me about some drugs…"

After a long evening studying her ass off, Veronica found that she was more and more restless as the night progressed. Okay. The Parker thing really smelled like a forced crash, and she knew that the Spencer guy was under a lot of stress, as an investigator and a family member. All the more reason to try and discourage him from pushing it. She had to hope that that was going to be enough to keep Parker from trying anything else. Assuming she had tried to kill anyone at all.

Still, she remembered Tess and the beat of movement under her hand in the hospital, and it made her palm tingle. Logan's child. Veronica shook her head as the enormity of that hit her. Logan was going to be a father. She sort of guessed, at one point, when Lilly had been alive, that she had expected that to happen. Him to knock up some poor, helpless girl, marry her, live unhappily ever after. Still slightly happier than his parents had been together. But when she saw him she could see the fear, and also, she saw contentment. Tess was easy to love because she let Logan love her as he would like to. Not as she wanted him to.

Veronica swallowed past a lump of some unexplained emotion and got up out of bed. Dressed in pajama pants and a tank top, she grabbed a sweater and just started walking. Found herself, after twenty minutes or so, walking along the parking lot near the beach. The familiar sight of a bonfire was a long way off down on the shore, and there weren't any cars in that lot, save one. One that she didn't recognize. She wished she'd brought Backup, or the taser right about then. Went off a few yards to sit in the grass, looking out at the water.

After a few minutes she heard a car door open and felt herself stiffen all over, praying no one would come over. She prayed, at least, until she heard a familiar voice.

"Whatcha doin' out this late, V'ronica?"

Logan. Dressed in his usual tee and jeans, a cotton button up over the tee, completely unbuttoned and flapping around him in the breeze. If she weren't so tired, she might have made a joke about a Michael Jackson tribute video. She watched as his hair flicked in the wind for a moment before smiling up at him. "I could ask you the same thing, but, then we'd get nowhere. Just out for some air."

Logan nodded, and with a couple steps, he found his way next to her. His smell hit her when he did, warm and sweet, sort of like a dark liquor spilled over a warm body. It took her a moment to shake the thought, and he sighed once he was settled. "Me too."

"Got a lot on your mind?"

His mouth quirked at that. "That's sort of the understatement of the century."

"Mm," Veronica really couldn't imagine what sorts of thoughts that he possessed right now, and she frequently tried not to. Logan's life had veered away from the life they'd known when they were together, it was both difficult to accept and comforting, one of her greatest fears had been that if they hadn't worked out he'd end up alone and destructive. "I get that, but…you're happy?"

Logan smiled, shifting to stretch his legs out. "Yeah, I am. I didn't think I would be. But it's all kind of fallen into place. She's great and for now we just buy stuff and the kid is on the backburner, turned down to low, you know?" Slow cooking while they figured out life and the feelings that had spurred them together to begin with.

Veronica nodded as he spoke, wondering how big Lilly was getting, and how all of the men in her life ended up with kids. "Do you think Parker was there for a reason?"

He frowned, at that, glanced over at her. "I leave that to your expert opinion. Should I be keeping her under glass?"

Veronica wanted to tell him about Tess' brother investigating and his theories, but she didn't see any reason in scaring an already spooked first time father any more than he needed to be, and so, she shook her head. "I think she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Logan watched her and the mix of emotions on her face, looking back out over the sea. He really hoped, for Tess' sake, that she was telling him the truth. But he was tired, and stressed out, and freaking out over something that had happened and was over with was not going to help him, or Tess.

He stood and brushed sand off of his ass, paused in thought, mouth open to speak. Something profound about how far they had come as friends came to mind and he shook his head. "Thanks, Vee. She's having a shower in a couple of weeks. You should come and get your girl on."

He walked away without waiting for an answer, climbing into the Mustang and pulling away after a brief wait, and Veronica sighed, wrapping her arms around her knees. "I'll be sure to pencil that in."