Chapter Sixteen

The setup at the club for the reunion was a bit different than it had been the night before. A check-in table was set up in the large lobby, not allowing anyone upstairs to the main party room without acknowledging their attendance and picking up a name tag.

Unfortunately for Veronica, her high school arch nemesis was manning the table along with two unknowns. As soon as Madison Sinclair caught sight of Veronica, all hopes that the former head cheerleader had grown and matured over time were dashed.

"Who invited you, Veronica Mars?" Madison spat at her venomously, then her eye caught sight of Piz to Veronica's right and she tilted her head, adding coyly, "And who is this handsome man? Surely he isn't here with you, Veronica."

Veronica's eyes hardened and her tongue turned tart. She tossed her long blonde hair back over her shoulder before saying smartly, "Actually, Madison, I believe it was you who invited me. Unless that was one of your lackeys making a judgment call on your behalf. Oops! Their bad," her hand came up to cover her mouth in mock horror before she continued, "And yes, he is with me. He's my plus one, also permitted according to the invitation I received." Then she turned to Piz and motioned with her left hand as if presenting Madison for introduction, "Piz, meet Madison Sinclair. She peaked in high school and apparently still has nothing better to do than be a bossy bitch."

Veronica snatched her name tag off the table while Madison sat with her mouth gaping. The others in her party followed suit, leaving those behind them in line to whisper loudly in their wake: "Who was that?!" "That was Veronica Mars." "You mean, she really existed?! I thought she was a myth!" "More like a legend, Dude." "I'll say! A legendary badass!"

Smirking in satisfaction as they reached the top of the stairs, Veronica couldn't help thinking to herself, 'Ah, my reputation has held up well, I see.'

Right behind her, Piz spoke sardonically into her ear in what could only be considered a stage whisper, "I take it you weren't exactly Miss Popular in high school."

Wallace overheard as he, too, reached the top of the stairs. "That's the understatement of the year," he said. Piz just stared at him as if he needed further explanation. Veronica herself refused to comment so Wallace shrugged, "Everyone needed Veronica but nobody liked her. They were scared of her mostly. Which was just how she wanted it."

Piz turned back to make a comment to Veronica but noticed her looking downward toward the dance floor and meticulously arranged seating areas. Mac stood beside her, glancing with interest between Veronica's determined face and the focus of her concentration. Piz vaguely wondered when Mac had joined them at the top of the stairs but decided it didn't matter.

He came up beside Veronica while Wallace moved to Mac's other side. Trying to follow her gaze for a few moments, Piz then turned so she could hear him better over the noise before he asked, "What are we looking for?"

"Anyone who doesn't hate me," Veronica responded caustically, even though it wasn't entirely the truth. Someone familiar caught her attention out of the corner of her eye, though, and distracted her from continuing to look for her primary target. She motioned toward one of the 'conversation couches' off to their right side and looked expectantly toward Wallace and Mac. With a glimmer of excitement in her eyes, she asked, "Hey! Is that Weevil?!"

Her companions looked down on the crowd in the general direction that she'd been gesturing and slowly nodded, first one and then the other. "Yeah," Wallace said with distaste, "That's biker boy himself. Never woulda guessed that he'd show up here!"

"Biker boy?" Piz repeated loudly in the form of a question to make sure he was heard.

"Weevil was the head of the motorcycle gang," Mac explained matter-of-factly.

"Motorcycle gang?!" Piz asked incredulously.

Veronica patted him on the arm sympathetically and added, "Yes. The motorcycle gang who was constantly at war with the 09ers - the entitled trust fund brats - both of whom had a penchant for putting me in between them."

Taking this in, Piz realized he really didn't know much of anything about Veronica or her life before he met her. He studied her with awe and some trepidation as a fight broke out between two former jocks somewhere below. "We really are on a hellmouth," he said in a daze, unable to take his eyes from the train wreck before him.

Nodding briefly at Piz before turning to hear what Mac was saying, Veronica felt sure she'd missed something. What she managed to catch, though, was something along the lines of:"A reference to the Buffy-verse. I'm amazed."

Turning back to see if Weevil was still where he'd been, Veronica moved toward the stairs leading downward and said, "Come on!"

When they reached the bottom of the stairs, the guys went to get them some drinks and Mac accompanied Veronica over to greet Weevil. First, however, they ran into their old buddy, Dick.

"Oh, hey!" He called as he strode toward them, "Look who it is! Most likely to blog and class buzzkill!"

Immediately, Veronica volleyed back with, "You are just who I was looking for! Most likely to know where I can find the bar?"

Unexpectedly, Dick thrust his pelvis, making a random sound effect at the same time. He pulled a tiny decanter from his belt and offered it to both women with a self-satisfied grin.

When it was motioned in her direction, Veronica shook her head and wrinkled her nose, saying, "Gross." This was promptly followed by Mac saying a definitive, "No," when it was offered to her.

Dick shrugged, uncaring, and took a swig. As he put the lid back on and replaced the flask at the buckle of his belt he said, "Fine. More for me." Then some drunken women on the dance floor caught his eye and he gave Mac and Veronica a nod and lascivious wink before moving away.

Veronica rolled her eyes and faked a tremor up her spine that left her pretending like she was going to throw up. Mac giggled and shook her head, catching sight of Logan sitting off to the left with Carrie, thankfully out of Veronica's peripheral view. Tugging on Veronica's elbow, Mac said loudly, "Come on, let's go find Weevil." Veronica nodded and the two moved off toward the right where they'd been headed before Dick had stopped them.

When they reached Weevil, he was sitting down, talking with a woman beside him. He saw Veronica approach and whispered something in the beautiful woman's ear before standing to greet the petite blonde with a hug.

"Weevs!" she exclaimed, embracing him warmly, "Staying out of trouble, I hope?"

"Shhh!" he warned, looking a little embarrassed as he stepped back from the friendly squeeze and explained, "For now, but I don't want to get in trouble with my wife!"

"Your wife?!" Veronica clamored in disbelief even as he nodded and showed her the ring on his left hand. "You're kidding me! When did that happen?!"

"Awhile ago, V," Weevil returned with an almost shy but proud light in his dark eyes. Then he chided delicately, "A fact you woulda known if you'd left a forwarding address."

Feeling bad, Veronica gave him a look of shame and remorse. "Well, can I at least meet her now?" she asked.

He reached behind him and the woman he'd been speaking to took his hand and stood to join him. She reached a hand to the two women and gave them each a warm smile. "Nice to meet you both. Especially you, Veronica. Eli has spoken of you so highly. I'm Liliana. Eli's wife."

Mac took the outstretched hand first, mumbling her polite niceties. Then Veronica shook the delicate and finely manicured hand and said, "Clearly, Eli has done well for himself."

Liliana smiled and Weevil grinned proudly. Veronica couldn't help herself, though. She had to throw in a jab or a barb somehow. Woefully, she shook her head and said sadly, "I guess that means no more being rescued on the back of your bike, huh?"

Weevil's head snapped up, his eyes popped open and he whipped around with a look of horror to see Liliana's response to the wisecrack about his past. Fortunately for him, Liliana was good-natured and intuitive enough to recognize she had no need to be jealous or possessive with Veronica Mars. She chuckled and winked at Veronica, squeezing Weevil's hand as she said, "No. The back of his bike is mine now. You'll have to find another mode of transportation or avoid needing to be rescued."

Admiration gleamed in Veronica's azure-colored eyes, a satisfied smile on her lips as she nodded and said, "Not a problem. Glad he found such a catch!"

Having noted that Veronica's left ring finger was bare, Liliana spoke earnestly, "I will hope you find the same."

Giving a polite smile to Liliana in response before sharing a meaningful look with Weevil, Veronica said, "It was good seeing you again, Eli, and nice meeting you Liliana. We'd better go catch up with our dates."

They had barely turned to move away when Veronica's mouth opened to make a smartassed remark. Her mouth closed again when her eye caught sight of someone familiar across the room. When she realized that dark, soul-searching eyes were staring back at her, her heart started beating rapidly. She stopped in her tracks without realizing it and didn't move until something, or someone, caused him to break their gaze. Veronica's eyes followed his and her heart sank when she realized he was here with a date.

'Of course he's here with a date, you idiot,' Veronica chided herself as she quickly detoured Mac and herself toward the bar. 'He has a girlfriend, remember?'

Upon reaching the bar, they found the guys and Veronica grabbed a glass of wine from one of them, downing it quickly before reaching for another. She was about to down it as well when she heard Wallace's concerned voice in her ear, "Careful, V. Remember, these are still the people who drugged your drink back in the day. You may want to stay sober to make sure you can deal with 'em."

Frowning, Veronica deliberately placed the wine glass back on the bar and forced herself to withdraw her hand slowly. "Fine," she whispered back to him bitterly, "But when we get outta here, I'm gonna need a drink!"

From behind her, she heard another familiar voice, one that has always grated on her nerves. "Veronica Mars, I didn't expect to see you here," said Gia as she sized up the tiny blonde, obviously wondering if anything had changed.

"Hi, Gia," Veronica said with resignation after she turned around to face the taller, dark-haired woman.

Gia was about to say something more when she was tapped on the shoulder. She turned and saw someone who caused her to shut her mouth. "Excuse me," said an unmistakable voice in an overly polite tone, "Do you think I could make it past you to the bar? Thanks. That would be a really big help."

Veronica could barely breathe when he approached and she missed completely when Gia rolled her eyes and stalked away.

"Hey!" greeted Piz, moving from where he'd stood on the other side of Wallace until he stood diagonal to Veronica and next to Logan.

"Hey," returned Logan, his eyes only for Veronica as he ignored Piz almost completely.

"Hey," she said, drawn in by his magnetic gaze, "I saw you with your date," she commented to Logan casually.

"Yeah," Logan agreed, meeting obvious statement with obvious statement, "I saw you with yours."

At that point, Piz looked like he was about to interject but Wallace touched him on the shoulder and shook his head. "Let it go, man. Just let it go."

Unable to take the puppy dog look on Piz's face, Mac took pity on him and asked, "Piznarski, you wanna dance?"

He hesitated a moment, glancing back at Veronica before turning to Mac with a nod, "Yeah, sure." She took his hand and he followed her out onto the dance floor.

Once Piz was no longer trying to interrupt them, Veronica asked offhandedly, "So, did you come over to get some drinks?"

"No," Logan responded with a bit of a smirk, as if he was in on some inside joke that she didn't know about. "I don't drink anymore," he stated and waited for her reaction.

"Right, and you don't drink any less, either," Veronica provided the punchline with dry sarcasm that in times past would have been typical of them. This time, though, he shook his head. His eyes were clear with a hint of pride in them as the corners of his lips twitched with a smile.

"Your deductive skills have deteriorated greatly, Mars," he teased, "Maybe it's a good thing you gave up on that Nancy Drew stuff."

Ignoring his quip, she feigned disbelief as she lifted her right hand to her heart and said in her best southern drawl, "What is this? I do declare! Logan Echolls has voluntarily hit a dry gulch?"

Logan chuckled, his dark eyes gleaming at her as he said, "Not exactly voluntarily. Another time, maybe. I'll tell you what happened if you don't already know."

His words were a challenge to her and she immediately determined that whatever had happened to cause the change, she needed to find out. Then something struck her. Did he really think she would have been keeping that close of an eye on him for all these years? Had he been hoping that was what she would do?

She suddenly found herself speechless and searching his eyes. What she saw there made her change her mind about going digging and instead caused her to say, "I don't know, but I'd like to."

Now it was his turn to recognize the change and study her face carefully. Finally, he gave a slow nod and a crooked half-smile, unable to keep the backs of his fingers from lightly brushing along her jawline as he said confidently, "You will."

He would have said more but at that moment, a shot rang out. Veronica immediately jumped to the floor to take cover and Logan threw himself over her to shield her. People began shouting and scurrying around like crazy as the fire alarm and sprinklers went off, soaking everyone.

There were no more shots, however, so Logan sprang up and looked around, trying to assess the situation. He saw a bunch of people fighting, all trying to capture the gun from a ridiculously drunk party-goer. He helped Veronica to her feet as Piz, Wallace, Dick, and Weevil joined them.

Turning to Mac when she made her way over, Logan directed, "Go out the back and take the stairs. We'll get this under control and meet you at the sidewalk along the side of the building."

Mac nodded and didn't give Veronica a chance to protest. She dragged the blonde along behind her until Veronica finally shouted in annoyance, "I can do this myself, thank you!"

As they raced down the stairs, they nearly ran into a very drunk Mr. Clemmons. In passing him, Veronica couldn't help but call out, "Hey, Mr. Clemmons! Miss me yet?" to which he responded with not even a slur, "It's been ten years of peace and quiet, Veronica."

Meanwhile, back in the main lounge area, the five amigos stood checkered in front of the bar. They were dripping wet as they gave each other a purposeful look before raising their eyes and their hands heavenward as if thanking the gods for a soaking rain. Then, as if on cue, Logan signaled and they all dramatically lowered their arms and marched forward into battle, kicking asses and taking names as they moved.