Veronica was apprehensive about seeing her dad; Jake Kane had suggested that it was too late to keep him out of the mess she had made of the castle investigation. When she walked through the door it was a relief to see he wasn't angry, she wondered if he knew what she had done.

She went to bed that night wondering if he didn't know, or if he was just so disappointed in her that he didn't even bother with the lecture this time. Her guilt preoccupied her but even still her mind periodically flitted to Logan and Piz.

Logan still hadn't called her back, she was sure he must have checked his messages by now, but maybe he was back with Parker, or some other floozy. Piz was a more difficult thought, Logan had a violent streak, but she knew he would never hurt her; Piz on the other hand, had never

shown her anything like what she had seen in the cafeteria earlier.

She couldn't decide whether she should just forget it, she knew if Logan ever found out he would kill Piz, maybe she should take care of him herself. The only problem with that was she could see his point of view, she hurt him, she used him and while she hated that he hit her, she couldn't pretend she thought him striking back in some way was unjustified.

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The morning paper made her blood boil; she guessed this was what Jake was alluding to. As much as she tried to justify it to herself, she knew she had made a big mistake this time, a mistake her father was apparently paying for. She knew his dreams of being sheriff were probably over too, all because of her. Over breakfast she tried to come up with ways to discredit Vinny and get her dad his job back, but she soon gave it up as hopeless. The only thing she could do was go and vote for her dad, and hope that not too many people had read the paper this morning. As she walked outside, she thought at least the weather is a perfect reflection of my mood.

She stayed away from home that day, pretending that it was only about the finals that she had coming up, but she knew that studying in the library was really hiding. She wondered what she would do that night. She didn't want to go home, especially as the results of the election wouldn't be known till tomorrow, she couldn't handle seeing her dad, but maybe if he won despite her he would be more receptive to her apologies. At least the charges would go away thanks to Jake Kane, she knew he would cover up her crime and bail her and her dad out, just to keep his dirty secrets.

Usually she could crash at Mac's or Wallace's, but their respective roommates nixed that plan. Finally she came up with Weevil; maybe he would let her crash. When she turned on her phone to call him she saw she had a lot of missed calls, some from her dad, Mac, Wallace, even one from Piz, but when she saw she had a message from Logan her heart leaped.

She deleted her dad's messages, 5, all asking her to come home to talk; she needed some time to deal before she could do that. Mac and Wallace were worried about her - she guessed that Wallace had heard Piz's side of the story and had filled Mac in - She decided it was too late to call back for any heart to hearts and didn't really want to go into the confrontation between her and Piz, they had been friends long enough that they would understand she needed a few days. She only listened to the start of Piz's message, after he called her a bitch a few times, she deleted it, finally she got to Logan's message

"Ah Veronicas voicemail, I guess you're it in the game of phone tag - anyway I would like to talk, you should know I'm always here for you, so anyway come by anytime or whatever.....talk to you soon"

His tone almost brought tears to her eyes, he sounded so cautious and so hopeful at the same time. She hoped they could at least repair their friendship; there was no one else who knew her so well.

She hit dial and held her breath waiting to see if he would answer.

"Hello... Ronnie" he said sleepily, then she heard music and girls laughter in the background "Am I interrupting quality time with the bimbo's?" she said bitchily "Ronnie! did you really call to have that conversation" he asked softly. She put her head down on the library desk "No, sorry.... I'm just on edge, you know with my dad and all; I guess you saw the paper" "Yeah" He paused "You said you want to talk?"

"Um yeah...... I do want to talk about us..... I have explanations that you deserve to hear, but just with everything at the moment with dad and Piz"

"Wait... Piz, what happened with Piz? Are you alright Ronnie?"

"Yeah, it's not a big deal, I just ......um, I just need somewhere to stay, but maybe it was a bad idea to call......"

"Ronnie, Veronica, don't worry about it, come here, Dick is taking his lady friends to the Pi Sig Party, they should be leaving soon - Come here, you can sleep in his room if you want, and we can talk later, a few days, whenever you're ready"

She paused and Logan just waited listening to her breathing

"Ok, thanks"

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Logan paced around the hotel room, he checked things off on his fingers,

called housekeeping to change Dick's sheets - check, cleaned up Dick's

room - check, stocked the fridge with the non-alcoholic drinks Veronica

likes - check, ordered her a burger from room service - check, showered

- check.

The wait was driving him crazy, maybe she changed her mind, maybe she met up with Piz or one of her friends and decided to stay there, and maybe she went home. Finally he made himself sit-down and watch a movie, it's not like she was coming for a booty-call he reminded himself. Ok, sure when she asked to talk, he hoped maybe she wanted to get back together, or at least be friends again, but tonight she was upset and needed somewhere to sleep. He knew all those things, but still his heart was beating uncontrollably, he was going to see her, and more importantly, one of the few times she needed something, she came to him.

Half an hour later, he kept glancing at the clock. Maybe I should have asked where she was, picked her up, he kept thinking. God I hope she hasn't had an accident.

He heard something outside the door - and jumped, he remember that the room service had already arrived, so either Dick had struck out early and had come back, or it was Veronica.

It sounded like whoever it was, was pacing back and forth in the hallway, so he got up and opened the door.

"I didn't know how long it would take you to knock, so I thought I would let you know your food is getting cold"

Veronica smiled, "You ordered me food?"

"Yeah Burger with the works, you better hurry up before I decide to just eat it myself"

He noticed her tear streaked face as she pushed past him and headed for the room service cart. He was going to say something when he stopped himself, he more than anyone knew that if she was pushed she would run, and he was just glad she was here.

"So what are we watching "She asked around her mouthful of burger, nodding at the TV?

It didn't take Veronica long to fall asleep, As the credits rolled Logan

looked over and saw her sleeping at the other end of the couch, he

sighed and gently carried her into Dicks room and put her to bed. He noticed her phone on the coffee table had been off which was odd, she usually liked to be always contactable.

Logan made a decision and picked up the suite phone and dialled a number by heart

"Veronica?"

"No Keith, its Logan"

"Logan, what can I do for you?"

"I debated whether I would call you, and I think when she finds out she will be angry, but I figured you would be worried. She's here"

"How, how is she?"

"She hasn't said anything really, but I can tell she's upset and feeling guilty, I'm not sure how you guys left it??"

"We haven't even discussed it, neither of us brought it up last night, and I let her sleep this morning, she looked so tired, and..... and her cheek was bruised. I thought if I gave her the day, she might tell me who did that to her - the thought of someone hitting my daughter ....... well you know the feeling - I'm not angry about the election or what happened with Jake Kane, I just want her to come home so I can protect her"

"Bruise?!?!, Jake? He hit her? Do you know where he is?"

"Logan, Logan, calm down, I don't know that he was the one, promise me you'll wait for her to tell you the whole story before you go off half cocked"

Logan took a deep breath before he replied "Ok, Ok.... I don't really want to repeat the whole Piz incident; I nearly lost Ronnie forever because I didn't think"

"Piz incident? I don't know what's happening in my daughter's life at

all do I?"

"I..... I just thought that he had done something, which as it turns out was someone else, Ronnie called me on it, and told me I was out of her life for good........" Logan's voice had turned into a sob as he choked the last part of the sentence out.

Keith was silent for a moment, and said in a compassionate voice "Logan,

I don't think you and Veronica will ever be out of each other's lives,

you have been through too much together to just let that go" There was

another silence before Logan finally spoke

"Thanks Keith, I'll try and get her to come and see you tomorrow, or call or something. You still have my cell number if you need to get in contact right?"

"Yeah, Thanks Logan, and ...... look after my little girl"

Logan softly opened Dick's door and stared at Veronica. She always looked so innocent and beautiful when she was sleeping, but he gasped when she rolled over and he saw that her makeup had rubbed off on the pillow, exposing her bruised face in the moonlight streaming through the window.

As he climbed into his own bed he swore to himself that he was going to make whoever did that pay, and that no-one would ever hurt her again.

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