A/N – Sorry about the evil cliff-hanger last week! It just seemed like a good spot to stop that chapter and to give everyone something to wonder about. I loved some of the ideas people posted about what might be going on. I'm not really sure yet how long this story will be, but my last one in this series was 35 chapters, so I'm thinking this one may go at least 25 based on where we are and what they have to figure out. Although I never really expected that one to be so long when I started either. Of course now there's an entire new mystery that needs to be solved. This was what I had planned from the beginning, and had to put in quite a few things to get us here. I hope you all continue to enjoy it as it all unfolds.

As always, thanks for all the support and for continuing to read along.

Disclaimer: All original VM characters belong to Rob Thomas.

Chapter 14 - Tempest

As Logan got closer he could see a huge gash on Alexis's forehead where the blood had been flowing from. He immediately pressed his hand to the wound with the hope that she was still alive since the blood was bright red and still flowing down to the concrete.

He was amazed he was able to give the 911 operator an address because at that point he felt like he was in total shock. He used his free hand to wipe her hair away from her face. Please don't die. I can't bear to lose another person I care about. He felt tears falling down his cheeks. He couldn't focus enough to check for her pulse. Part of him didn't want the confirmation that he may have been too late. He finally noticed something lying on the ground that he hadn't seen when he first ran over to her. It was a sculpture that he'd gotten her for her birthday when they were still happily engaged. It was a wave carved into a special rock they'd found in Australia. He noticed the edge of it was covered in blood. His stomach churned and he turned his attention back to her, away from what appeared to be what someone had hit her with. Murder weapon? Please let her be alive.

He had moved his free hand down to gently grasp her shoulder. "Lexi?" His voice cracked with emotion. "Can you hear me? Please wake up." He moved his hand back up to cup her cheek. "Help is coming." He tried pushing her hair away again so he could see her face better.

At first he didn't register that the paramedics had arrived. He must have told the operator that they were in the back and that the door was unlocked, though he didn't remember it at the moment. One of the paramedics was checking her pulse while the other was trying to move Logan out of the way to be able to help her too.

"I've got a very faint pulse," the younger one checking had said. The other man, quite a bit older than Logan, was taking something out of the bag he'd been carrying to bandage up her head.

The younger man stood up and ran back into the house. Logan was still kneeling on the ground, though out of the way now, watching helplessly. "Did you do this?" the paramedic asked Logan cautiously, keeping his tone very calm and non-threatening. Logan shook his head and looked at the man with wide worried eyes. The paramedic looked more closely at Logan. "Are you hurt too, or is that just from her?" Logan looked down and saw all the blood on himself.

"Her," he was able to whisper.

The man nodded slowly. "Do you know what happened?" Logan shook his head again.

The other man had returned with a gurney and Logan stood up finally as they began to move her onto it. "You're the one who called 911?" The older man asked next. Logan nodded, not quite able to find his full voice yet. "Are you her husband?" Again Logan shook his head and stood silently.

The younger man was talking into his radio, but Logan couldn't focus enough to know what he was saying. They started to move her toward the house to take her to the ambulance.

"We've radioed in for someone from the sheriff's department to come and talk to you." The younger paramedic explained as they moved through the house.

Logan finally found the strength to speak again, "No… no… I want to go with her… to the hospital." His voice came out hoarse and raspy. He hadn't felt quite this scared and helpless since he found Veronica lying in the parking garage at Hearst after she was attacked.

They'd reached the ambulance and were carefully loading her into it. "Sorry sir," the younger man continued, "only spouses or direct family members are allowed to ride along..." He started to move Logan out of the way so he could close the doors.

Logan cut him off before he finished. His worry and fear finally exploding into a rage of desperation at that point. "What? ...Are you serious? ...I'm the… I'm the fucking Mayor and if I want to ride in the fucking ambulance, I will." He felt his heart rate exploding as he stood there wanting to shove the young paramedic out of the way.

The older man intervened. "It's fine Mike, Mr. Echolls can ride with us. I've got her secured if you want to close up the doors and go." He gestured for a spot for Logan to take a seat. "Radio and let them know we're on our way and that Mr. Echolls is riding with us."

Back at their house, Veronica was finishing up the meatballs and getting ready to mix up some garlic butter for the bread. She had a pot of sauce simmering on the stove and the smell had caused Abigail to run in several times asking if it was ready yet. She was waiting to cook the noodles as soon as Logan got home. She was surprised that he wasn't home yet and wondered if he'd gotten into a lengthy discussion with Alexis.

She was a little surprised when her phone rang and she saw his name on the display. "Hey, I hope you'll be home soon. Your woman folk are starving."

There wasn't an immediate reply and she wondered for a moment if they had a bad connection until she heard a doctor being paged in the background.

"Logan are you okay? Are you at the hospital?" She tried to keep the anxiety out of her tone, but it would have helped if he'd say something.

"It's Lexi," he finally said in a shaky voice. She immediately knew it was bad when he called her Lexi, as well as the tone of his voice.

"What happened Logan?" She asked softly.

"She's..." he paused and she could hear his voice break. "Can you come down here and bring me some clean clothes?"

"Of course. Are you at the ER?" she asked, trying to remain calm so she didn't add to the obvious anxiety he was already experiencing.

"Yeah... Thank you..."

"I love you Logan," she said softly.

"Love you too." He said softly back then hung up the phone.

Heather and Abigail were in playing video games while they were waiting for dinner, so Veronica poked her head in and asked Heather if she could come upstairs with her for a minute. She really didn't want to worry Abigail until she knew what was going on. She quickly filled Heather in on the cryptic phone call with Logan and said she'd call her as soon as she knew what was going on. She gave her quick instructions on what still needed to be done for dinner so her and Abigail could eat without them.

She spotted Logan as soon as she walked into the emergency room waiting area. He had his head buried in his hands, his elbows resting on his knees, sitting hunched forward in the seat. She immediately understood why he'd asked for clean clothes when she saw him. On the drive over she had assumed Alexis was in the hospital due to a drug overdose given what happened over the weekend. She was not expecting to find Logan covered in blood. She quickly walked over to him and knelt down in front of him.

"Are you okay?" she asked as she carefully put her hand on his shoulder. He looked up and gave her an uncertain look. "Are you hurt?" She asked looking him over.

"No," he said as he shook his head. She gently placed her hand on his cheek and stroked it lightly with her thumb. The expression on his face was so heart breaking. "What happened?" she asked softly.

"I don't… I don't now," he answered in a broken voice as he shook his head slowly.

She gave him a compassionate look and nodded slowly. "Just tell me what you do know."

"I found her… out on the ground... next to her pool. Someone had… someone had hit her in the head and left her there."

Veronica felt bile in her throat as she flashed back to Lilly's crime scene. She immediately understood why he was so devastated. "Is she…."

Logan took a deep breath and then answered what he knew she was wondering. "She's still alive… or was when we arrived..." He shuddered slightly then continued. "They are running tests on her. They said… They said she lost a lot of blood… and they don't… they don't know if she's going to regain consciousness or not."

"I'm so sorry Logan." Veronica said softly. Even if she wasn't Alexis's biggest fan, she would never have wanted something like this to happen, and then Logan finding her only made it that much worse. "Why don't you go and change clothes. I can wait here if a doctor comes back out with an update."

Logan nodded and stood up. He'd already washed his hands off when he got to the ER, but he still had her blood all over his clothes. He carefully reached for her head and pulled her a little closer so he could kiss her forehead. "Thank you," he whispered against her skin. She nodded and watched as he turned to head into the bathroom to change after he took the bag of clean clothes from her hand.

Her mind was racing, trying to think of all the possible scenarios that could have happened. As she was standing there waiting for Logan to come back out, Leo and a deputy walked into the ER. Leo spotted her and gave her a concerned look and walked over to her. "Where's Logan?" He asked in a calm voice with a very somber expression on his face.

She gestured with her head toward the bathroom. "He's in changing clothes." Leo nodded in reply.

A minute later Logan came back out. Leo studied him carefully before he spoke. "Hey Logan, I'm so sorry about all of this." He paused a moment then continued with almost a suspicious look on his face. "Where are your other clothes?"

"What?" Logan looked confused for a minute. "Oh, they were ruined, so I just threw them away." He sighed and walked back over to the chair he'd been sitting in.

Leo nodded to the other deputy who headed toward the bathroom. Veronica's expression became instantly concerned. "Leo…" she said in an anxious tone.

"It's just standard procedure Veronica. You know that." Leo said in a calm voice.

Veronica shook her head getting more furious by the second. "You know he didn't have anything to do with this." She said in a low angry tone to Leo. She didn't want other people in the ER or Logan to hear her though.

"I know that Veronica, but we still have to follow proper procedures. You of all people should be able to understand that." He explained, but Veronica just scoffed at him.

"I'm just trying to find out what happened to her, so we can be sure she's safe." He replied with a serious expression.

Veronica took a deep breath. She knew getting in an argument with Leo wasn't going to be productive. "Have you been to the house?"

Leo shook his head. "Norris responded to the call. He's still over there now, but called me and gave me an overview. I was hoping to get a statement from Logan, but I can see he's not handling this very well."

Veronica glanced over at Logan, who was back to sitting in about the same position as when she arrived. She turned back to Leo, "Can you blame him? This is just like Lilly all over again." She shook her head and took a deep breath, feeling a wave of nausea trying to overtake her again as her stomach clenched.

"No, I can't even imagine having to relive this again." He gave her a sympathetic look, and rested his hand on her shoulder giving it a light squeeze.

Leo walked over toward Logan and took a seat in the chair next to him and put his arm across his shoulders. "I really am sorry about this Logan." Logan nodded and took a deep breath and sat up a bit straighter in his chair as Leo dropped his arm. Veronica walked over and sat in the chair on the other side of Logan and reached over and took one of his hands in both of hers. He gave her a quick grateful smile then turned back to Leo.

"I'm going to need to get a statement from you about what happened," Leo said in an almost regrettable tone.

Logan shook his head and shrugged. "I just stopped by to pick up some things… and… and found her like that out by the pool."

Leo nodded. He'd already heard the report from the paramedics on what they found when they arrived and what her condition was then as well.

"How did you get into the house?" Leo asked next.

"The door was unlocked," Logan shook his head. "She never remembers to lock it when she comes home from work."

"And you didn't hear or see anyone else?" Leo asked as Veronica carefully studied Logan's reactions.

Logan shook his head again. "No nothing. The house was empty and completely quiet when I walked in." He let out a sad sigh, "I almost just took the box and left… but thought I'd… thought I'd see if she was out swimming… and then..." He shook his head and didn't continue.

Leo understood and nodded, "It's lucky for her that you did."

Logan squeezed Veronica's hand a little tighter and nodded.

"Do you know of anyone who's threatened her lately who would have done something like this?" Leo asked next.

Veronica grimaced. How many people had Alexis made angry enough to want to bash her in the head? She immediately thought back to the fight at Growlers Saturday night. Surely that wouldn't be enough to lead to an attack like that would it?

Logan shook his head. "I can't think of anyone who hated her enough to go to that extreme."

'Crimes of passion aren't always about hate.' Veronica thought to herself.

Leo nodded. "If you think of anything else, please be sure to let me know." He patted him on the shoulder again and gave a quick look at Veronica before he stood up. "I'm going to go talk with the hospital staff and get an update of how things are going. I'll be back in a few minutes."

Veronica removed one of her hands from holding his, and reached across his shoulders with her free arm. He sighed and tipped his head so it was resting more on her shoulder, closing his eyes and squeezing her hand a little tighter. "Thank you for being here." He whispered quietly to her.

"Of course, where else would I be." She kissed his temple and moved her hand to massage the base of his neck a little bit. "Is there anything else I can do?"

He shook his head. "The doctor said they may keep her sedated to determine how much damage was done from the… from the blow. I called her parents right before I called you and I'm waiting for them to get here. The doctor said at this point all we can do is wait." He sucked in a shaky breath. "He really wasn't sure if she would come out of it… even once they take her off the medication… but they would… they would do as many tests as they could."

She kissed his temple again. "I really am sorry Logan." He nodded and looked at her sadly.

"I don't understand why someone would do this to her. Maybe it was an attempted robbery that just went wrong…" Logan trailed off thinking back to finding her at the house.

"Maybe," Veronica replied. "Do you know if it looked like anything was taken?"

Logan shook his head. "No the house seemed normal when I walked in. Her purse and briefcase were in her office." He paused for a moment. "The sculpture they hit her with… It would have been in the house, not out by the pool. Maybe they… maybe they grabbed it and chased her outside..."

Veronica nodded. "I'm sure Leo will figure out what happened. He said Norris is there looking things over." She hesitated for a moment. "Do you want me to go and take a look too, or stay here with you?" He squeezed her hand a little more tightly. "I can stay," she replied as she nodded.

He took a deep breath and leaned closer to kiss her forehead. "Maybe you should go and take a look though. You're the best investigator I know. If there are any clues there, I know you'd be able to find them."

She gave him a small half smile, "While I appreciate the vote of confidence, Leo's team is just as good. I think you need me more here."

He gave her a sorrowful look. "My uh…. my car is still there…" he took a deep breath. "I really don't want to go back there tonight and get it… maybe you could ride over with Leo and bring it back to the hospital for me?"

She gave him a little smile and nodded as she moved her hand to gently stroke his hair. "Of course."

Their moment was quickly interrupted by a frantic looking David coming up to them. "What the hell are you doing here?" Logan barked out as he saw him.

"I… I was supposed to have dinner with Lexi…" he stammered out. "And when I got there the… the sheriff deputies said she'd been taken to the ER."

Veronica watched as Logan clenched his jaw and stared angrily at David. She put her hand on his arm. She was worried about how quickly this situation could escalate. "Why don't I fill him in on what happened okay?" She said calmly. Logan nodded, but still looked angry. Veronica stood up and took David's arm and walked him to the other side of the waiting room and sat down with him there. She filled him in on everything she knew so far. He ran one of his hands through his hair with a horrified expression on his face when she finished.

She was about to stand back up and go to sit with Logan again, when she noticed his dress shoes had sand on them. That's peculiar since he's still in slacks and a shirt and tie. "Were you out walking on the beach?" Veronica asked curiously.

"What?" he asked in confusion. She gestured down to his feet. "Oh, I um… no… I don't know where the sand came from. Maybe there was some near my car at Lexi's since I parked out on the street with the patrol cars there."

Veronica nodded and went back over to sit with Logan until Leo came back out. Leo came back a few minutes later and let them know that the doctors were still monitoring her and that there hadn't been any changes. For the time being she was basically in a medically induced coma while they assessed the injury to her head and the swelling around her brain that she was experiencing.

Veronica momentarily cringed to herself with a memory back to another boyfriend's ex-girlfriend in a coma. She asked Leo if he was headed over to her house so she could retrieve Logan's car. She gave Logan a quick kiss and promised to be back as soon as possible, before standing up and leaving with Leo.

Leo was unusually quiet on the way there. Veronica finally let out a frustrated breath. "Just say whatever you're thinking," she finally blurted out.

"We really need to figure out who did this." Isn't that what the Sheriff's department does? "You and I both know how it's going to look. He was the only one there, covered in her blood. We both know he'd never do it, which is why we need to find out who actually did. Norris said it doesn't look like a robbery attempt. He said it looks to him like someone intentionally attacked her."

Veronica sighed. Yes she did know how it looked, but he was just the one to find her. No one would ever accuse him of actually doing it. Who are you kidding Veronica, this is Neptune after all.

"There was an incident Saturday night at Growlers between Alexis and Kennedy O'Reilly. I wouldn't think it would have escalated to something like this, but it's certainly someone we should check into." Veronica explained as they continued to drive. Leo nodded in understanding. "I also thought it was peculiar that David had sand on his shoes when he arrived at the Hospital… I'm sure it's nothing… but it was odd."

When they got to the house, Veronica said she wanted to take a quick look around before she headed back to the hospital. She sort of felt like that was what Logan had wanted her to do anyway, but used the car as an excuse so she wouldn't feel bad leaving him there alone at the hospital. Although she absolutely did believe he had no desire to come back here so soon either. She took a quick look at the door on the way in, and of course there was no indication of a break in there. The house seemed very orderly and nothing really appeared to be out of place. She stepped into the office quickly and saw the box with Abby's name on it. She sighed, knowing that was the only reason Logan had been there. Of course with it being basically a crime scene at the moment, she couldn't just take the box either. She also noticed the pictures that were in the office. Many of them were of Alexis and Vanessa, and some with an older couple that she guessed were their parents. There were several of them also with a young man that she guessed must have been Jackson. He looked a lot like his dad. She was a bit surprised that there were also several with Alexis and Logan. She saw the one with them and Abby, but also saw a few others at different places they'd been too. A few of them were her entire family with Logan as well. Her heart sank a little looking at how happy they had all looked in the photos. Like he really was a part of their family. There was even one with Alexis, Logan, Cassandra and Charlie all sitting in front of a Christmas Tree. Logan and Charlie were sitting next to each other with the two women sitting on their laps with their arms around the waists of the women. Charlie's smile looked so similar to Logan's in the picture and all four of them seemed so happy and in love. She took a deep breath and turned to take a quick look around the office for anything that seemed out of place. Anything to get my mind to focus back on the case and not on the pictures.

She left the office and headed out towards the back of the house where more of the deputies were out looking and saw the crime scene photographer at work. It was dark out now, but there were large bright lights illuminating her entire back yard. She felt her stomach churn again as she saw the puddle of blood next to the swimming pool. It was just too much like what happened with Lilly. Did someone intentionally do it this way because of that? To send a message to her or Logan? She quickly shook her head and convinced herself that it was just coincidental. She went over to where the wave sculpture was still laying on the ground. They had tried not to disturb anything until Leo arrived so he could see the scene too. She noticed it had a small plate on it with an engraving. 'Life's storms bring the best waves. Thanks for being my tempest. Love always, Logan' Veronica swallowed the lump that formed in her throat.

It was obvious the sculpture had been used to hit her given it had blood on it. Veronica tried not to look too closely. There was probably skin and hair on it too, but she really didn't need to see that much detail. She'd let the lab guys deal with that. She took a quick look around the yard. There were two large palm trees in the far corner of the yard with a hammock stretched between them. She immediately flashed back to the photo at the art exhibit at Hearst with Alexis and Logan's feet in a hammock by a beach. She shook her head and started looking around again. There was also a gate that led out toward the beach. The fence around the yard was probably 6 foot high, not impossible for a person to climb over, but if she always left her door unlocked, there wouldn't be much need for that. But if someone had been here possibly at the same time that Logan had arrived at the front door, they could have left through the gate, so she went over for a closer look. She'd grabbed a pair of gloves so she could touch things and tried the handle. It easily opened. She realized it only locked from the outside where there was a key pad to unlock it. She looked around outside of the gate for any clues using the light on her phone, but didn't see any. It pretty much opened right up to the beach. It was dark now, but she imagined at the time it would have happened, earlier in the day, there could have been a lot of people around. She wasn't sure how close to sunset it had happened though and it could have been starting to get dark, which would have made it even easier for someone to disappear that way and not be spotted at all.

Veronica took another quick look around but decided she'd better get back to the hospital and Logan. She knew the deputies would be thorough in their search for clues. There was still a potential that it was a robbery attempt and she'd run outside to escape and the person followed her and hit her, then heard Logan at the door and bolted out to the beach before they were able to steal anything. If that was the case, then Alexis might not be in danger anymore. If it was intentional and someone really did mean to kill her though, then whoever that might be may try to get to her at the hospital to silence her.

"What are your thoughts?" she asked Leo as she walked back over to him. He shook his head and sighed. He must have been thinking almost exactly the same thing that she was.

"I think I'll call the hospital and have a security guard put on her room until we get farther along with the case just to be safe." He told her. She nodded and said she'd talk with him soon and headed back out front to drive Logan's car back to the hospital. She also took the opportunity of being alone in the car to make some calls, starting with Heather.

"Oh my…" Heather started to blurt out then must have stopped herself because of Abigail after Veronica gave her an update.

"Any chance you can stay the night there since I don't know how late we'll be?" Veronica asked hopefully.

"Sure, of course." Heather paused, "What should I tell you know who?"

"Who?" she heard Abigail ask in the background.

"Just let her know there was an emergency that Logan and I had to take care of. I want to talk with Logan before we tell her anything. You can say it was related to one of my cases with the Sheriff's department if she asks too many questions." Not a total lie probably now.

Veronica also placed calls to her dad and Mac on her drive back. She didn't want them to hear what was going on from someone else. They of course both told her to let them know if there was anything at all that they could do. Mac said she could help with Abigail if they needed it. She'd reschedule any appointments given the situation. She debated about whether to call Casey. She finally decided she'd better so he didn't find it out some other way. She imagined Leo would be making a press statement probably later in the evening or at the latest by early the next morning. She found his name on her contact list and placed the call.

"Hi Veronica," he said in a friendly voice. "What's up?"

"Hey Casey…. Um… where are you?"

"I'm actually up in San Francisco…" She let out a small sigh. She was glad that at least she didn't have to worry about him as a potential suspect too. "I had to come up this morning to meet with a client this afternoon and I'm flying back later tonight."

"Um… there's been an incident… with Alexis…"

He must have sensed it was bad by her tone, "Oh no, what happened?" he asked in a worried voice.

"Someone attacked her at her house… they hit her in the head… Logan just happened to be stopping by and found her… she's at the hospital and they are doing tests… they're not sure yet… about her prognosis…"

The line went completely silent when she stopped speaking. "Casey? Are you okay?"

"Yeah… um… thanks for letting me know… I'll… I'll check in on things…"

"Okay, I'm so sorry Casey." She said softly.

"Yeah… me too." They quickly said good bye and she ended the call.

When she made it back to the hospital, she found Logan still in the same spot, but he was sitting next to the couple that she recognized from the picture at Alexis's house as her parents. Her mom was sitting next to Logan with her dad on the other side. He had one arm around her and her head was turned into his side. His other hand was gripping on to her hands that she had rested in her lap. They both looked completely devastated. David had also moved over and was sitting in the seat next to her dad. Veronica quietly made her way to the empty chair next to Logan, not really wanting to have their attention directed to her because she didn't want to seem like an intrusion. They all seemed to be either staring back toward the ER area, or down at the ground and not in her direction at all luckily. When she sat down though, Logan turned to see her and let out a deep breath. He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her a little closer giving her a tender kiss on the forehead.

Alexis's parents unfortunately noticed the movement and both turned to look at her. She gave them a sympathetic smile and then bit a little nervously on her lower lip.

"Oh," Logan said, realizing they hadn't met Veronica before. "This is my girlfriend Veronica Mars. Veronica this is Maggie and Victor Calloway."

They gave her a small nod, but both looked too worried to actually say anything. Veronica tried to sink back behind Logan again. "Any word from the doctors?" she whispered to him.

He shook his head. "Not really. They did say they were going to move her out of the ER onto the ICU floor soon and then her parents can go in and see her when they get her all settled there. They aren't sure how long they'll need to keep her medicated. The swelling isn't too bad so they are hoping it won't be too long."

She nodded and reached over and squeezed his hand. Soon the doctor came back out and they all stood up to get an update. He gave them directions on where to go to check in and find out what room she was going to be moved to. He didn't have any news on her prognosis yet though. They quietly made their way to the new floor, standing in an awkward silence waiting for the elevator. Once they made it to the ICU floor, her parents went to check in with a receptionist while David went and took a seat in the waiting area and Logan and Veronica stood off to the side.

"Did anyone call Vanessa yet?" Veronica asked quietly.

Logan shook his head. "I don't think any of us want to stress her out with the baby. Eventually someone needs to let her know though." Veronica nodded grimly.

Victor and Maggie walked back over to them. Maggie had seemed like she was trying her best to hold herself together in the ER, but that resolve seemed to be crumbling now. She turned toward Victor sobbing. "I don't understand why someone would do this to our baby," she sobbed as she buried her head into his chest. It looked like Victor was trying to be strong for her too, but Veronica noticed several tears streaming down his cheeks too as he was trying to comfort her. Logan reached out and gently rubbed his hand up and down Maggie's back too. Victor gave him a grateful look as he tried to steer Maggie to a chair again. "They said it would be about 15 minutes before we can go in and see her," he said quietly to Logan as he walked off with Maggie. Logan nodded and let out a shaky breath as he looked at Veronica.

She walked closer to him and wrapped her arms around his waist. Regardless of what her differences with Alexis were, she had been a major part of his life over the last 6 years and her parents were in a way sort of Logan's family too. He took a deep breath and tipped his head so his cheek rested on top of her head. "Did you find anything at her house?" He asked in a quiet voice.

She smiled a little to herself. She knew he'd sent her there to do some sleuthing. She shook her head. "Unfortunately no, but I didn't stay long either. I'm sure Leo will let us know if they find anything. He did say he'll put a security guard on her here at the hospital though in case who ever did it comes back to harm her again."

She felt him take a deep shuddering breath. "I can't believe someone intentionally tried to kill her. Is that what Leo thinks?"

She shrugged slightly, "I think it's too early to tell. Maybe it was just a burglar trying to get away and only meant to knock her out. Leo just wants to take every precaution. He was sending deputies around her neighborhood to see if anyone saw something. I'm sure he'll probably do a press release soon too and maybe someone saw something that will help. If the beach behind her house is pretty popular, maybe someone saw the person coming out the gate if that's the way they went."

Logan lifted his head off of hers. He took her hand and walked back over to sit next to Maggie again. David was in his spot next to Victor again. It almost seemed like they all understood the two of them needed a physical barrier due to their past issues.

Logan swallowed a lump in his throat and reached over and squeezed Maggie's hand after he sat down. "She's one of the most tenacious people I know Maggie. She's a fighter. If anyone can get through this, it's her." He said quietly to her. Maggie looked at him through her tear filled eyes and just nodded.

About 20 minutes later a nurse came out and said her parents could go in and see her for a little while. They were trying to limit how many people they allowed in to see her currently, but if the others wanted to come back the next day during visiting hours, they'd allow others besides immediate family if the family permitted it. Logan said he'd wait for Maggie and Victor to come back out before he left. David said he was going to go and get a hotel room for the night and that he'd see them again in the morning. He gave Maggie a quick hug and shook Victor's hand before turning and heading to the elevators without a word to Logan.

Logan and Veronica sat silently for a while in the waiting room before Logan finally spoke again. "I was thinking I should ask Maggie and Victor if they want to come and stay out our place. What do you think?"

Veronica gave him an understanding smile and nodded. "I did ask Heather if she could stay until we get back. I wasn't sure how late it would be. But I'm sure we can work out something with the rooms we do have."

A worried look crossed his face. "Oh no, Abby," he said, just now remembering again that she was staying with them too. He'd completely forgotten about it from the shock of everything happening, even though she was the only reason he'd been at Alexis's house.

Veronica gently stroked his cheek. "Heather was going to tell her we had emergency on one of my cases. She wasn't going to say anything about Alexis until you were ready to."

Logan nodded and took a deep breath. They sat in silence again until Maggie and Victor came back out. Maggie was back to sobbing into Victor's chest, and Victor looked much worse than he had when he went in. Logan stood and walked over rubbing Maggie's back again. "Any changes?" He quietly asked Victor. Victor shook his head.

"If you need a place to stay tonight, you're welcome to come over to our house." Logan said softly.

Victor gave him a quick grateful smile, "I think we'll probably stay here until they kick us out and then get a room at the Grand since it's closer than your house. But thank you Logan." Logan nodded in understanding. Victor leaned toward Logan a bit more, "Do you want to go in and see her? I think I can get the nurse on duty to let you go in with us for a few minutes if you'd like. She said we could go in and check on her again in a little while. They were just doing some vital checks and other stuff and needed to get us out of the room for a while." Logan sighed and nodded, bringing a small smile to Victor's lips.

They went back over to where they'd all been sitting before. Veronica couldn't hear what had been said by them across the room, so Logan filled her in briefly. She reached over and took his hand again, giving it a firm squeeze. "Do you think you could eat something? I could go down to the cafeteria and get you something." Veronica asked, realizing that neither of them had eaten dinner yet and it was now getting close to 8pm. He shook his head but gave her a thankful smile. She nodded back knowingly. The stress and anxiety had curbed her appetite as well and she wasn't even the one who had found her.

After another 15 minutes of sitting in silence, Logan suggested that maybe she could go home so Heather could go home too. She gave him a worried look. "I'd rather stay here with you. I can drive you home and we can come back for the BMW tomorrow. I talked with Heather when I went to get your car and she said she was happy to just stay the night given what was going on. Her classes tomorrow aren't until mid-morning." He gave her a grateful smile and nodded.

A nurse came out a few minutes later, and said they could go back to see her again. Logan went with Maggie and Victor this time, leaving Veronica in the waiting room. He was back out about 20 minutes later and the nurses said they would need to be leaving since visiting hours were about over.

Veronica still had Logan's keys and led him silently to the car. She didn't need to ask how he was doing to know he wasn't doing well. She was sure this was a little too similar to what had happened with Lilly for him to be handing it well. She was having a hard enough time with the memories, and she didn't have the relationship with Alexis that Logan did.

Heather was watching TV when they arrived home, while Abigail was already asleep in her room. She came out of the game room and gave Logan a hug as they walked toward the stairs. He mumbled a quick thanks, and then headed up to their bedroom. Veronica stayed behind to fill Heather in on what had happened since they last talked, before following Logan up to bed. Heather decided since it was sort of late, she would stay and go back to her dorm in the morning.

Logan had already climbed into bed, leaning back against the pillows with an arm crossed over his head when Veronica walked into their bedroom. She quickly changed and climbed in to bed next to him. He pulled her into his arms and held her tightly. "I love you so much," he whispered into her hair as he kissed her head.

"You know I love you just as much, right?" She said back as she squeezed him tightly too.

She heard a soft 'yeah' as he pulled her up a little higher so he could kiss her on the lips. She gave him a sad smile as their foreheads rested together, 'It's going to be okay," she said in the most convincing voice she could muster.

"I hope you're right," he said quietly before kissing her deeply again. She scooted back down so they could try to fall asleep. She really hoped what happened today didn't set off a whole new set of nightmares for him, but she wasn't optimistic about that. She gently ran her hand over his chest as they laid there in silence. She was relieved when she finally did feel him doze off to sleep.