They sat at the kitchen table, each with a fork in hand, both gently prodding at the stir-fry Keith had cooked earlier that evening. Both in complete silence. She thought she'd seen her dad eye her from across the table; but he'd quickly stared back down at his bowl. It had virtually been left untouched - almost overflowing with confetti-colored vegetables and strips of chicken.

He's definitely not eating his feelings.

She looked up at him and smiled broadly.

Come on Dad, Mommy Dearest so doesn't work for you.

He simpered back.

'I am sorry, Veronica, I just-I worry,' He breathed.

'I know you do, Pops,' She reached across the table and lightly rubbed the top of his hand, 'but I am fine, we'll all be fine; but I need you to be with me on this,' Her ocean blue eyes almost doe-like.

'I am your partner, aren't I?' He smirked.

'Yeah, you are,' Her pearly smile glistened as she raised her hand to high-five him, he of course, slapped it willingly.

Then she let herself slip back into her chair at ease again with her dad's support in tow.

'I love you, Honey,'

'I love you too,' She felt relieved to be able to say that, after all that had happened, how many times she'd thought she'd lose him, it was one of the biggest comforts imaginable.

More than you know, Dad, more than you know.

'I want Hunter to be safe and looked after, you know that, right?'

'I do,' She nodded, pulling her loose hair back behind her ear.

'I know you're an adult, it's just… you've been through so much, I don't want you to get hurt,' He said, still chewing a mouthful of food.

'But he's family, Dad, this is different, you know that,'

She could see there was more he wanted to add; but instead he shrugged his shoulders.

'No, I know, we'll do our best to take care of him,' His voice was so light, almost airy as he said it, and she knew that he truly meant it, 'Hopefully we can get your mom out of this mess,'

'What are the lawyers saying?'

'Not much, they're still pretty tight-lipped at the moment,' He let his silverware fall carelessly across the bowl and pulled his arms up behind his head.

'Do you think she's got a chance?' She suddenly felt choked at the thought of her mom being locked up, among murders and convicted felons.

Stay cool, Mars.

She could tell he was feeling perplexed and maybe a tad disappointed at just how little faith she had left. It was moments like those when he remembered she was no longer a believer of the good-always-triumphs-over-evil trope. No, that Veronica was long gone, stuck somewhere between My Little Pony episodes and their trip to Disneyland. But it had been a brief period none the less.

'Of course she does,' He did his best trust-me face.

'When will you find-'

'In a few days,' He interrupted, 'When I find out anything, I let you know; but at this point we just have to hope this lawyer knows what he's doing. Are you going back to Logan's tonight?'

Logan was still a topic that he took with a grain of salt. While he wanted her to be happy, and accepted it, she knew he still didn't exactly agree with the pairing, she could feel herself getting antsy again.

'I was thinking of hanging around here, we could have a 30 Rock marathon, open a couple of beers, beside who doesn't love a good lemon?'

'Dick's throwing another big blow out at Logan's?' He raised an eyebrow.

'If you mean by 'big,' Chris Hemsworth. Orlando Bloom and Channing Tatum could make an appearance than yes,'

'That big, huh?'

'Yep, Dick's not a fan of invite only, besides his Facebook crawling with midriff-bearing broads. Logan headed off to Catalina for a few days, it's his grandfather's birthday, so he's really not in the mood for poppin' bottles in the club,'

'Poor guy,' He shook his head, 'You didn't want go?'

She took Keith's plate, stacked it onto hers, and wandered into the kitchen 'Nah, I thought I'd give him a couple of days, he can't always be Jake Ryan,'

'Honey, while you're there grab the beers?' She saw him in her peripheral vision, as he strutted back into the living room, she imagined he'd fall down into his arm chair, and let his feet hang over the side of the ottoman.

'Okay,' She sing-songed and reached into the fridge to grab the beers, 'But I better see Alec Baldwin trying to comfort Tina Fey while she cries through her mouth.'

There was a small moan of footsteps as they moved briskly across the floor in the living room and she leant against the kitchen island.

That's m'Dad.

'It's on, Honey.' He shouted over the TV as the volume began to build in intensity.

She let herself fall into a careless smirk.