Disclaimer: Not mine….Owned by CBS….WB and I think a few others….Love both shows…just want to have some fun.
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Mick decides to try the approach deputy Leo suggested. He calls Mars Investigation and leaves a message for Veronica Mars. He doesn't think he will get a call from her until tomorrow so he decides to do some information gathering from his room. He rides the elevator down to the plush lobby and gets a newspaper from the concierge. It's always interesting the amount of information available in the local newspaper. If he doesn't have any luck with Veronica, he might visit the newspaper and see if they have an archive or maybe the library has older copies stored digitally. From the deputy's description of Veronica Mars, Mick hopes he doesn't have to find a way to get around her to get to her boyfriend. He's on his way back to the bank of elevators and sees a younger version of Josef crossing the lobby. Mick has to give himself a mental shake so he doesn't stand there with his mouth hanging open. Logan has a small blond hugged to his side. They are laughing and chatting as they cross the lobby to the elevator. They haven't noticed him yet. Mick follows them into the elevator. He can sense the blond hesitate when he enters the elevator. He senses her heart rate is escalating. He can see her watching him out of the corner of her eye. He isn't sure if it's a coincidence or if she planned it but they are both standing next to the buttons.
She turns to him and smiles brightly "Hey, which floor?" and her hand hovers over the buttons. He notices she hasn't pushed one for their floor yet.
He smiles. She is good. He decides to go for broke. "Veronica?" She narrows her eyes at him and backs herself up to Logan. Mick notices her hand snake into her purse. He wonders at her obvious paranoia. He backs up trying to present less of a threat. He can hear Logan whispering into her ear to slow down. She doesn't have to be afraid. He's here for her and he will protect her. Logan is running his hands up and down her arms trying to calm her.
The doors have closed and she pushes the stop button.
Mick holds up his hands palms up so she can see his hands are empty. He tries to look as harmless as possible. "Hey, I didn't mean to startle you. Deputy D'Amato said to call you. I left a message on your dad's business phone tonight. I'm a P.I. from Los Angeles. I happen to recognized Mr. Echolls and thought maybe I could make an appointment tonight since you were here. I'm sorry; just call me when you can tomorrow."
Veronica visibly relaxes at the mention of Leo's name. She's still holding the stop button. "Please just stand there for a minute." Mick looks at Logan who is still trying to calm her and watching her every move. Veronica pulls her phone out and Mick sees the Taser laying in the top of her purse, that he's sure she had her hand on a minute ago. Now that's not something he'd like to be on the other end of but better than a bullet. Veronica punches her phone and talks for a minute studying him as she does. Leo confirms his story and she hangs up. She visibly relaxes. "Sorry about that. I'm a little…jumpy these days."
"Hey it's ok. As I said, you can call me tomorrow." Mick takes out a business card and hands it to her. I'm staying here in the hotel."
Veronica slides the card in her purse. "You said you recognized Logan, how?"
Mick looks a little sheepish. He takes Logan's booking photo out of his pocket and hands it to her.
Veronica is a bit surprised since she pulled all the hard copies out of Logan's police file and she thought she deleted all the computer copies when her dad was still Sheriff.
Logan looks over her shoulder "Not one of my best photo shoots. Notice the bruising and blood. It doesn't make for a great head shot." He's trying to sound off hand but Mick can hear the tightness in his voice. This was not a good time for him.
Veronica looks up at Mick. "Mr. St. John…. I'd just as soon get this over with. You said you were staying here. Do you mind if we meet in your room in about twenty minutes?"
Mick nods "Yea, that's fine. I'm in 603." Veronica pulls the stop button out and pushes the 6th floor button.
Mick gets off on six and goes to his room. He figures Veronica wants to do some investigating of her own before they meet.
Veronica watches Mick get off the elevator and walk down the hall to his room as the elevator's doors close. She turns to Logan and hides in his arms. She buries her face in his shoulder. He knows she's close to crying but she won't let herself. He wishes she'd just let go. He really needs to get her out of Neptune for a while. He wishes he could talk her into even a day trip to Catalina. "You know, we don't have to do this tonight. The guy said he would meet tomorrow. Just because he had one of my stellar portraits doesn't mean I'm in over my head."
Veronica smiles up at him through unshed tears. "Logan I don't think you did anything. I trust you. I just don't trust the rest of the world. If someone is coming after you, I want to know why." They enter his suite and she immediately goes to her computer and starts doing all the searches she can on Mick St. John. "Wow. This guy is a big time P.I. in L.A., but from everything the L.A. papers say it looks like he's one of the good guys."
"What do you mean big time?" Logan asks.
She points to her laptop. "Get this; according to the papers, he went above and beyond to try and save the life of a deputy DA when a drug lord shot him. They say he's helped them in several other cases, most recently with the murder of Tierney Taylor." Veronica smiles, "Also the gossip columnists have him romantically hooked up with that reporter on BuzzWire."
"Beth Turner?" Logan pipes up a little too quickly. Veronica looks up at him and narrows her eyes. He shrugs and smiles a little embarrassed. "What can I say? If I have to watch the news, I like to watch hot blonds. You're the one that said I needed to know what was going on in the world and I should pay attention."
Veronica smiles and slowly shakes her head. That's her Logan.
"Anyway, he seems on the up and up. Leo said he called a cop he trusts in LA and the guy gave him a good read. I think we should go down and find out what's up. Like I said if someone's going to take a run at you I want to know what's coming." Veronica takes his hand and leads him to the door.
Mick hears a knock on the door. Well, only 10 minutes. She's good. He did the same searches on her that he figures she was doing on him. He also ran as much as he could on Logan. Funny thing is there are no pictures of Logan on the net. There are a few pictures of her from newspaper accounts but none of him. It's as if someone is trying to erase all trace of Logan from the internet. Mick gets nothing but broken links anywhere a picture might have been. You would think the rich son of movie stars would have pictures plastered all over the place.
Mick opens the door and lets them in. Now that Mick can see the two of them in better light, he sees that this kid is about 4 or 5 years younger than Josef was when he was turned. There are differences but they are subtle. There is also of course a real difference behind the eyes. Josef never gives anything away. He's a blank slate when he wants to be. That's what 400 years does for you or to you depending on your point of view. This kid has it all written in his eyes.
Mick's room has a small sitting room that has a table and four chairs. He motions for them to sit down. Mick smiles "Get all your searches done?"
Veronica nods. "Yea, you?"
Mick stands across from them. "Pretty much. I'm curious though as to who's scrubbing Logan's pictures off the net?"
Veronica looks down for a minute. Logan looks at her curiously. "Veronica?"
She shrugs, "Mac has a crawler looking for any pictures of you and erasing them off their servers. I… just thought that the more you could fade from any connection to your father the better. If it's not what you want I can get her to stop it."
He laughs. "You know me. I could care less. I got more than my fill of that Hollywood bullshit when I was growing up. But why didn't you tell me?"
She takes his hand and gives it a tender squeeze. "I had her start it when my motives may not have been quite so noble."
He nods. He knows then that she started it when she still didn't trust him and didn't know what was around the next corner.
Mick smiles to himself, Ryder does the same thing for Josef but with Josef, it's just plain paranoia.
Mick sits down with a file in his hand he lays it on the table and opens it up to the emailed photo he got of Hanna from her mother.
Veronica and Logan sit down across from him. They both look from the file to each other. Logan breaks the silence. "Hanna? What's Hannah got to do with this?"
Mick senses real confusion from Logan. He doesn't think he knows anything about her disappearance.
Mick taps her picture. "She disappeared five days ago. Her mom figures she's headed this way."
"But why?" Logan asks.
Veronica smiles at him. "For you, you lunk head." Veronica shakes her head.
"I'd like to head her off and send her home before she gets here…I'd hate to see her get needlessly hurt…." Mick trails off
Logan is looking a little upset, worrying about this hurting Veronica and Hannah. "Yea, that sounds like a good idea to me. I mean I'm not….I liked her but…you know." And he nervously trails off like Mick did.
Veronica gets up and faces the two of them. "Good grief. That's a really bad idea."
"You think her coming here and finding you and Logan together is good for her?" Mick is confused.
"No, I think that she needs to talk to Logan so she can say good-bye and get some closure or she's going to keep running. You know what they did to her?"
Mick shakes his head. "It sounds like I didn't get the whole picture."
Veronica snorts. "I'm sure you didn't. They shipped her off in the middle of the night and she never got to say good-bye or anything, not to Logan, not to any of her friends. She and I may have not been best buds but there were a lot of kids who liked her. She was….nice. I know her family was a mess because of her dad, and Logan wasn't exactly a prize at that time."
Logan scowls at her and she laughs. "You weren't, but if they were going to make those kinds of changes in her life, it could have been handled so it was less jarring." Veronica turns to Logan. "She loves you, doesn't she?"
He just nods. "Veronica, I know I didn't start that relationship out with the best of intentions but I really did end up caring for her."
"I know. It's ok. Don't worry I'm not upset. You need to talk to her though so she can know that you're ok and that she needs to go home and move on." Veronica turns to Mick. "I have an idea. Did Hanna's mom give you her cell number?"
"Yea, but she's not answering any calls."
"She will, if she sees the number is Logan's."
Mick nods. That makes sense. "So Logan calls her to say that he knows she's missing and asks her where she's at. If she is headed this way he makes plans to meet her and lets her down gently and she goes home."
"That would be the plan." Veronica agrees.
All night Mick has been watching these two with great interest. He's glad that he took the deputy's advice. They're turning out to be more help than he would have guessed. The dynamic between them is very interesting. They move with great care. They are never far from one another. Mick noticed in the lobby before he approached them they were at ease and seemed to be very happy and carefree. As soon as he, as the unknown entered the picture both of them went on defense in posture and in how they relate to each other. They seem very protective of each other. He has no doubt that taking them both on might be a real challenge for a human.
"You want to try it now?" Mick asks.
Logan shrugs. "Sure. I really hope she's not doing this to see me."
Mick flips through the file. "Here's her number. Try to call and see if she answers."
Logan takes a deep breath and punches up the number. "Hello? Hannah? Yea, it's me. Where are you? You're kidding." Logan points down and holds up three fingers. "You want to see me? Yea, I think that's probably a good idea. Stay where you are. I'll be there in a couple minutes." He hangs up.
Logan takes a deep breath. "She's down on the third floor. She got in this morning. V…. I don't want to hurt her."
Veronica rubs his arm trying to comfort him. "I know you don't, but she has to go home and you're the only one she's going to listen to."
Logan snorts. "Yea, cuz I'm such a model of common sense."
She hits him lightly. "Come on Logan quit stalling. I know it's no fun but unless you are dumping me for her that's the only thing that works." Logan stands up and pulls her up into his arms. Mick gets up from the table and goes to the window. He turns his back to them to try and give them some privacy but he can hear Logan quietly whispering to Veronica how much he loves her. Finally, he lets out a sigh. "Ok I'm going. Are you staying here?"
"Yea. I don't think I'll add much to the conversation. Don't worry. I'll be fine. I've got Mr. Snappy with me." She smiles at him and pats him on the butt as he moves towards the door.
"Wait a minute." Mick hands Logan one of his cards. "I would appreciate it if once you get her to agree to go home you could mention that I'm here with a plane ticket and a ride to the airport for her. Have her call me and I'll make arrangements to give her a lift."
Logan nods and leaves.
Mick looks at Veronica curiously. "Mr. Snappy?"
Veronica pulls out her Taser and makes it buzz. "Yea, Mr. Snappy."
Mick laughs and shakes his head. "If you ever need anything in L.A. call me. I have a few connections."
She drops the Taser back into her purse. "Yea, I figured as much, Mr. Big time P.I. Thanks, but for now my stuff seems to be centered on this weird little community and our local meth dealers."
"Is that why you're so jumpy about strangers?" Mick asks.
Veronica nods. "Yea. My father was sheriff, and now he's a P.I. He's spent a lot of time teaching me to take care of myself. Logan parents were abusive dysfunctional monsters and unless it's something he can hand off to a lawyer, he has no concept of dealing with trouble in a way to keep himself alive. If I'm threatened, he loses what little self-preservation he has. Last year he's saved me once from the local crazy meth head suppliers and a crazed teenager with a gun. When I'm in trouble, he's fearless and that scares me half to death. If anything happens to him, it would kill me. I'm not only kind of jumpy for myself but for him as well."
Veronica smiles at Mick and changes the subject. "Hey, I read you were the one who tried to save the deputy DA that got killed up there a few months ago."
Mick looks sad and Veronica feels bad for saying anything but her curiosity gets the better of her. "Sorry, was he a friend of yours?"
"More or less. My friend Beth and he had been dating for a while."
Veronica smiles "Beth Turner? I hear the two of you are an item."
"I see someone read the gossip columns along with my bio."
Veronica laughs. "I've got to be thorough. Logan thinks she's hot. He says if he has to watch the news he might as well enjoy his weakness for blonds."
Mick smiles, "Well, he's got good taste. That's evident. You'd like Beth. You remind me of her. Actually since this seems to be wrapping up so fast I think I may try and get her down here for some R&R later in the week."
The phone rings and Mick picks up. "Hi, yes, this is Mr. St. John. Hannah? Yes, I have a ticket to Vermont for you and I'll give you a ride. No that's ok. I sort of promised your mom I'd watch you board. It's part of what she's paying me for. The ticket is open so yes tomorrow night is fine. You might want to call your mom and let her know you're okay." Mick hangs up as Logan walks in the door.
"That Hannah?" he asks.
"Yea, you did a good job. She's ready to go home." Mick says
Logan laughs and shakes his head. "It wasn't that hard. She didn't come here to see me. Her mother may think moving her away would give her a clean start, but Hannah has good friends in Neptune. She's been communicating with them through the internet at her school." He glances at Veronica. "She already knew we were back together. Apparently, the idea of Hannah going out with me freaked her mother out so bad that besides moving her clear across the country, she's been strict. I think she just wanted to get her mother to wake up and see that she needs to hear Hannah's side of things." Logan shakes his head. "The weird thing is she really is a good person." He shrugs. "And Hannah's going to be eighteen in another eight months so her mother better figure out a way to work things out or she'll lose her for good."
Veronica can see the pain sketch across Logan's face. "You know it wasn't just about dating you. Her mother probably feels guilty because she didn't see that Hannah's dad is a cokehead. That had to be a pretty big jolt for both of them."
Logan shrugs. "Maybe."
Mick clears his throat. "That lines up with what she told me. She's ready to go home. She wants to visit a couple girlfriends during the day tomorrow and then I'll run her to the airport tomorrow afternoon. Thanks. You both made my job much easier."
Logan nods and turns to Veronica. "Ready to go?
"Yea."
Mick watches them leave his hotel room. His smile fades and he decides that he needs to do some investigating of Logan Echolls background. The whole Josef's dead ringer look alike thing is just too weird for words. He picks up the phone to call Beth and the thought of her returns the smile to his face. He can roll the investigation into a long weekend with his favorite newspaper reporter.
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