Title: Mutual
Author: Brendan/brencon
Pairings/Characters: Logan/Veronica, ensemble
Word Count: 2,394
Rating: PG-13, so far.
Summary: What if Logan and Veronica got together before everything went to hell?
Spoilers: Set pre-series, but will include some season one stuff later.
Warnings: Swearing.
Disclaimer: Veronica Mars belongs to Rob Thomas and the nice people at the CW
Author's Note: Thanks to Nikita for the beta. Italics represent Veronica's thoughts and/or voiceovers. Obviously, I've fudged up the timeline, but not by much.
"Right girls, show the best pep! I don't want any idle gossiping – unless it's with a donating customer!" Ms. Stafford said, a sickly-sweet smile plastered onto her face.
The pep squad were in line before her, dressed in their outfits. Miss Stafford had allowed them to leave school before the last class in order to arrive at the car wash in time.
Veronica hoped that Yolanda had completed her section of phase three; otherwise this car wash was going to go down the tubes. The illicit painting, on the other hand, had gone down extremely well…or bad, if you were Lilly Kane.
Through the grape vine, Veronica heard that Lilly had arrived looking wickedly pissed off and, when she arrived at her locker, she instantly turned bright red and screeched. She threw death glares at the other students who had surrounded her locker before shoving her backpack into her brother's hands and running off in search of the janitor.
So, phases one and two went excellently, and with the final stage about to begin, I guess all that's left to say is that the bitch is going to meet her maker!
Once her pep talk was over, Ms. Stafford directed the girls to their sections and had them all collect buckets and sponges and await the incoming traffic of customers.
First on the scene was Logan. Since his big yellow truck was out of commission, he had arrived in his father's limo. Veronica smirked when she noticed that her ex-best friend was none too pleased to see it coming in their direction.
Sliding down his window, Logan pulled Veronica to him and quickly kissed her. He then handed her a couple of bills.
"Now, be careful, cause this is my baby," he joked, sitting back in the seat. Veronica threw him a look which caused him to laugh, "You're right, I don't care, go nuts with it!" It was then that Veronica noticed her BFF beside her BF.
"Hey Yo!" she called out cheerfully. She threw her a look, asking if everything was on schedule. When she received the thumbs up, Veronica couldn't help but laugh out loud.
"Today is going to be super fun!" she called out to the two in the vehicle. Chuckling, Logan moved the window back up and waited for the cleaning to begin.
Both Lilly and Veronica grabbed a sponge while Lilly lifted a bucket of soapy water and placed it between herself and Veronica.
Turning to Yolanda, Logan waited a few moments before speaking.
"When will the first be showing up?"
Glancing at the clock in the dashboard, she smiled, "'Bout five minutes."
"Excellent!" said Logan, Doing his best Mr. Burns impression.
They both laughed for a few minutes while the girls outside continued to wash the SUV. A couple of minutes later, a cop and a fireman began to head in Lilly's direction.
"Looks like two came together," Yolanda said.
"Did you give them their outfits?" Logan asked.
"Of course I did! What kind of fool do you take me for? Do you really think I wanna get on the bad side of your girlfriend? Anyway, shouldn't you be doing something now?"
Logan's face was blank for a moment before he remembered his only task for the final phase and quickly slid down the dividing window and passed the driver a CD to put on.
Just as the cop and the fireman reached Lilly, Right Said Fred's 'I'm Too Sexy' blasted out from the speakers. Logan had the driver open the sunroof and all the windows so the music could be heard properly.
Lilly was glued to the ground. First she thought something awful had happened, what with the cop and a fireman walking in her direction, but when she heard the cheesy camp song begin to play, she knew it was just a prank.
And when the two men began to strip and gyrate in her direction, Lilly's blood began to boil.
She tried to get away from the men, but they followed her everywhere. Soon, three more arrived, and all got stuck in, stripping and dancing around her.
Veronica pulled her pep squad top off to reveal a t-shirt that said 'Veronica Mars is smarter than me'. As the men removed their last piece of clothing at the same time, they all had the same style of underwear on. And they all had the same saying.
"Veronica Mars is smarter than me," Lilly read. She glanced at Veronica, who was, by now, in stitches with laughter, she was almost crying. She looked at the limo and saw her ex-boyfriend and the new girl standing out of the sun roof. Both were cheering and screaming stupidly. After another five minutes, Ms. Stafford arrived on the scene and shooed the men away, before facing Lilly.
"Miss Kane, as much as your parents may be rich, this was a stupid prank to pull. Add that to the painting on your locker and the advertisement in this morning's newspaper - what must your parents be thinking? Now, get back to work."
As their pep squad advisor walked away, Lilly noticed Logan paying the five guys and overheard him congratulating them on "a job well done".
With that, Lilly saw red. She marched towards the laughing form of Veronica Mars and shoved her hard. Veronica lost her balance and feel to the ground hard. She scraped her back and elbows hard and felt hot blood begin to flow from the cuts.
"You did all of this! Didn't you? You put that smutty picture of me on my locker and placed those 'call me' ads in the newspaper and hired those guys! All of this is your fault!"
Lilly picked up the closest bucket; one filled to the brim with dirty water, and threw it over younger blonde.
"Do you know what you've done, you little bitch?" Lilly spat, dropping the bucket beside her. "Huh? You screwed everything up!"
Spluttering and coughing as she sat up, Veronica looked on, disbelieving, as Lilly stormed away to her silver jeep. Miss Stafford had witnessed the tail end of the argument and rushed to aid Veronica to her feet.
"Oh no, are you all right Miss Mars?" she asked, before noticing her student's blood-stained arm. "I think you should head home and clean up. I'll have Shelley take over your post. And then I'll be have a talk with Vice Principal Clemmons about Lilly Kane's actions later this evening. Are you alright to get home?" Miss Stafford asked as she handed a towel to Veronica.
"Yeah, I'll be fine. My car is just over there."
"Okay, then I'll see you Monday morning. Safe driving."
Veronica said goodbye and headed to her boyfriend's limo. She explained what she was going to do. Logan asked his driver to take Yolanda home, who was grateful that nothing worse had happened, while he drove Veronica back to her house.
Yolanda returned to the limo and waved goodbye to her friends as Logan helped Veronica to the LeBaron.
"How did it get here? I thought it was still in the shop?" Logan asked as he helped Veronica into the passenger seat while he dropped himself into the driver's.
"Dad had one of his deputies drop it off during lunch. He knew I had no way of getting here without it and he couldn't afford to leave work early to collect me so he decided to pick it up earlier than planned. But it's working as good as ever."
"And how are you doing?"
"Couple of aches and scrapes, nothing major. I just wanna take a shower and change into actual clothes."
Smirking, Logan took her left hand in his and squeezed.
"I think it's hot."
"Of course you would."
"So, I guess your plans for hanging out with Yolanda have gone down the crapper, right?"
"Pretty much, yeah," Veronica answered, easing the towel from her elbow. It was stained in a deep red.
I'm glad I'm not squeamish.
"Why?"
"I was wondering," Logan started, clearing his throat as he turned into the 09er road, "if you wanted to hang out round the Echolls family pool again this evening? Or maybe just watch some DVDs in the pool house?"
"Sure, let me just shower and change into less wet clothes."
Logan chanced a glance at his girlfriend and felt the air being knocked out of him. The top was just clenching to her body thanks to the water. Logan gulped twice before facing the road again.
"You alright there, Logan?" Veronica asked.
"Yeah, why?" Logan answered, his voice raising on the word 'why'.
"It's just that your ears have gone all red…and now your neck is too. What's up?"
Logan groaned at her choice of words and shifted uncomfortably in the seat. He glanced at her and smiled.
"I'm fine. Trust me, everything is good."
"Okay then, if you're sure?"
"I'm positive."
"Well…good then, I guess." Veronica said, wondering what was going on with him.
They arrived at her house a few minutes later. Veronica directed Logan to the kitchen and told him to grab something if he was hungry. Veronica rushed upstairs to the her room and chose an outfit quickly before heading to the bathroom. She turned the water on and stepped beneath the shower head, twisting the knobs to find the right temperature.
Finding it, she sighed contentedly as she stood beneath the water for a few seconds before cleaning away the dried blood and muck from her hair.
Ten minutes later she returned to the kitchen to find Logan eating Poptarts and drinking a bottle of her Skist.
She moved to a cupboard and retrieved the first aid kit that her father had insisted they have. She grabbed the safety scissors and the large roll of band-aids. Walking to Logan, she held them out for him to take.
Confused, Logan said, "What do you expect me to do with this?"
"Patch me up…doc," Veronica said, smirking.
Logan cut off a number of strips and gently placed them over her fresh wounds.
"How come we always end bandaging up each other after a run in with Lilly?" Logan asked, tossing the scissors and plaster into the box and returning it to its rightful place.
"Fate," Veronica mused, taking the last of Logan's Poptarts and taking a bite.
"Oh, so we're what, star-crossed lovers? Ruined lives, bloodshed…" he said pointedly, indicating her arms, "Epic? That kind of fate?"
"Pretty much, yeah," Veronica agreed, taking a drink from his Skist.
"Glad we're on the same page then. You ready to head to the homestead?"
Nodding, Veronica twisted the cap back on the bottle. "Uh-huh. Just let me grab some DVDs."
She exited the kitchen to find her mother walking down the stairs, a suitcase by the front door, as she carried another down with her.
"Mom? What - what's going on?" Veronica asked, her voice small and quiet.
"Veronica? Oh honey, I didn't want to do this while you were here…I'm leaving. I signed the divorce papers your dad had drawn up."
"You were just going to leave without even telling me? Don't you even care about me?" Veronica asked, her voice breaking.
"It's because I love you that I'm doing this! I can't be around you!"
"What do you mean, why can't you be around me?"
"I left the pictures with your father. I don't think he's looked at them yet, but he probably will when he gets home."
Lianne moved forwards and pulled Veronica in for a hug. Veronica broke down in chest-shattering sobs. When Lianne pulled away, Veronica fell to the floor, her sobs echoing through the air.
The front door slammed hard. Her mother didn't even say goodbye.
Veronica then felt herself in warm, strong arms. Logan lifted her into his arms and carried her into the living room, sitting down and placing her on his lap. He held her as she cried a river of warm, salty tears.
For almost a whole hour, Veronica cried. She looked so broken that Logan knew he could never leave her alone. When her cries had relaxed, she slid back from his chest. His green-ish t-shirt was wet.
"Can we go to your place now? I don't wanna stay here right now."
"Of course," Logan said, as Veronica sat up. Logan joined her side and, taking her hand in his, led her from the scene of her mother's departure.
In the car, Veronica was quiet. Logan kept throwing her quick looks of care and love, who took them gratefully, but she couldn't talk. When they got to the Echolls Mansion, it was around quarter past five in the evening. Logan, wanting to keep Veronica to himself and not have her worry about others showing up, guided her to the pool house. The curtains with his parents' faces shimmered in the breeze as he slid open the glass door.
Once inside, he lowered himself to the bed. Veronica crawled on top of him and planted herself there. She just needed contact.
It was after fifteen minutes that Logan noticed something odd in the fan above. He followed the white plastic covering across the ceiling and down behind the bookshelf.
He gently shook Veronica and pointed out his findings.
"What is that, Logan?" she asked, standing up on the bed and examining it. Logan got up and moved to the faux-book case. Sliding it open, he found a TV screen and a video recorder. Switching it on, he saw Veronica on the screen. Backing away, he drew his hand to his mouth.
"Oh my God," he whispered.
He watched himself on the screen as he waved at the fake mirror and then at the fan. Veronica watched and then re-enacted his movements.
"What the hell?" Logan said quietly. He moved back towards the bookshelf and slid the drawers open. In doing so, he revealed two video tapes, one dated 10-01-03 and the other 10-02-03.
Grabbing the second one, he pushed the tape in and pressed play.
On screen, he saw Lilly. She was grinding and groaning before being tossed onto her back. The man then faced the camera and smiled.
Logan's dad…and Lilly? They're having an affair?
"Lover, where are you?" the voice of one of the people on screen called out, sending shivers up Veronica's spine.
Oh my God.