One of the only things that Veronica Mars didn't mind about being in the strange little two bedroom apartment with the man people were telling her was her father was the eager 3 year old pit-bull called Backup who had followed her protectively around her new surroundings.

Somehow he made her feel safer, and at least… dogs wouldn't lie to you right?

He had been very excited to see her come home and she took that as a good omen for being in this new place. Keith Mars was a kind man, and she felt guilty about the way his brown eyes held such sadness when he looked at her. She wished she could remember something more about him but it was like everything she wanted to know was hidden behind an impenetrable frosted glass inside her mind and she could only make out impressions or shapes of something but when her mind tried to grasp hold of it… it was gone.

She remembered the MRI's, the doctors and the nursing staff from the hospital, she could remember random things, like how to make tea and what things were called… like table and apple but then there was this blockage… and there was nothing.

No information about who she was. Or had been.

Veronica looked at the photographs on her bedroom wall at the random smiling faces but if it wasn't for the mirror in the bathroom, she wouldn't have been able to identify her own.

"Are you hungry?" Keith asked her quietly as he watched her examining the clothes in her wardrobe.

Her stomach growled and she nodded politely, settling on choosing a small pink hoodie and he turned to walk out of the room.

"Uh… Keith? Sorry… I mean, Dad.. could I get a glass of water?" Veronica asked shyly.

"Of course" he smiled, and his face had that sad look again. She knew it wasn't supposed to be there, but she didn't know how to be His Veronica. Right now… she had a puzzle to solve. Everything about this life she found herself in was a mystery, and she had no leads.

She had been found passed out at school and there was only one thing she could recall before she had woken up in that Nurse's office at Neptune High.

A feeling… and a name… and as she looked at the pictures of her and another girl standing beside two boys she got the sense that she didn't want to dig too deeply into this memory.

"You could join me in the living room if you want…? or you could eat here… it's okay if you do" Keith said quietly as he brought her a small sandwich and a glass of water.

"Would it be okay if I just stayed in here?" she asked regretfully but she could tell he was disappointed. She hated making him feel this way… she knew she should feel closer to him… he was her father, but he felt like a stranger.

"Sure… it's probably best you get settled in" he nodded.

She barely knew him at all.

She reached into her small bag and lifted out her painkillers, the throbbing ache in her head was still there, and the stitches were carefully hidden under her ponytail.

"Can I ask you something?" she asked timidly.

"Of course, Honey… you can ask me anything you want" he said as he came in and sat down on the bed. Keith had been trying to keep his movements reserved, small, always careful not to invade too much of her space. His body language was always non-threatening she observed.

"These photographs… did I take them?" she questioned, raising an eyebrow.

She had been told by Wallace that she was on her way to do some photography for her school newspaper the afternoon before she collapsed. Before that wall in her memory came down.

"Yes… yes you love taking photographs… here's your camera" Keith smiled, he was excited by this development and he went into the hallway and returned with a large heavy black camera with an expensive lens, he handed it to her and she played briefly with the settings, zooming in and out. It felt familiar but then so did the taste of sugar in her coffee. This was frustrating.

"And these people… I know them well?" she asked as she showed him the picture of the group of them in formal wear. Something in his expression darkened.

"These are some of the people from your school… but we can talk about that another time… let's just focus on getting you settled home first" he smiled awkwardly and took the picture out of her hand.

He was keeping something from her. Something bad was attached to this memory, and as she looked at the smiling happy faces, she dreaded to think what it could be.

"Meg will be with you today, so if you have any concerns or any questions… she will help you" Ms James the guidance counsellor assured Veronica as she held the small class schedule in her hands.

Part of her worried that they were rushing this too fast, there were more people in the hall ways here than she had seen in the entire two weeks she had been at home, but Keith had had to work today, and Wallace had promised to take care of her. The other students kept looking at her and whispering amongst themselves, she guessed it had something to do with that story that Wallace had told her about how she was the best friend of a girl who had been murdered last year?

Was this place ever going to feel more normal? Was this life she had woke up to find herself in ever going to feel like hers?

"I promise, I won't let anything bad happen" Meg assured her.

There was some whistling from down the corridor and some boys began to sing in a little chorus as they passed.

"Is it all in that pretty little head of yours? What goes on in that place in the dark? Well I used to know a girl and I would have sworn that her name was Veronica. Well she used to have a carefree mind of her own and a delicate look in her eye, These days I'm afraid she's not even sure if her name is Veronica"

Before they erupted into a fit of sniggering and Meg turned to glare at them.

"Very funny Dick!" she snarled.

"Oh come on… it's just a little fun" he retorted.

"Let's go" she said as she wrapped her arm through Veronica's and guided her towards her first class.

"Dude… you missed it" Dick chuckled as he slipped into his seat in Mr Wu's biology class.

"Missed what?" Logan asked, distracted, he was tired. This missing credit card case was making him lose sleep, an argument had erupted between his adopted sister Trina and his mother last night as she had accused her of being the one to steal the credit card.

"Mars… she's back" Dick grinned. "Did you know there's a song about a chick called Veronica who loses her mind?"

"She's here?" Logan queried as his head shot to glance over at Wallace's empty seat.

"Yeah, she's with Meg" Dick told him. "And it's weird… she's all quiet like a freshmen"

"Did they tell you if you will get your memories back?" Meg asked carefully as she sat in the seat next to her at the lunch table later that afternoon.

"They don't know.. they said I might recalls older memories first, and then more recent memories, but that with injuries like this.. sometimes they are never recovered" Veronica told her quietly.

"I'm sorry" Meg smiled, giving her that same pitying look that most people had worn around her lately.

"Why? It's not your fault… and from what I hear… there's some memories I probably don't want back" Veronica admitted.

Lilly Kane, the girl in the picture… The girl who was murdered.

Why would she want to remember something like that?

Meg cast a nervous glance over at Duncan Kane and Veronica followed her gaze, one of the boys from the photo she had been carrying in her pocket. He had been staring at her for the last few lessons, like he wanted to come over and talk to her but couldn't quite figure out what to say.

"Everyone is walking on egg shells and it's driving me a little crazy" Veronica confessed as she opened up her yoghurt. It was just the two of them, Wallace was working in the administration office today.

"I can't imagine what this is like…" Meg sympathized.

"Like I've been dropped off onto an alien planet where everyone has been studying me for years but I barely know the language…" Veronica told her.

"So do you not remember anything?" Meg probed softly.

"Just… a thought… I don't know even know if it means anything… or who it is" Veronica began quietly.

"Well… if you want… I could try and help you figure it out?" Meg offered as she reached out and gripped Veronicas hand.

"There's a phrase keeps popping up sometimes… from before the world went black and I woke up… you know…" she smiled shyly making a small poof hand gesture "was thinking… I miss you Logan" Veronica told her.

"Logan?" Meg asked as she shot her eyes towards the table across the food court.

"Yeah… it's about the only thing I can remember" Veronica confirmed.