A/N – Several different things going on with this chapter. As always, thanks for all the support and for continuing to read along. Please let me know what you think with a review!
Disclaimer: All original VM characters belong to Rob Thomas.
Chapter 23 Nightmare Prevention
Logan woke up to the feel of Veronica thrashing around next to him in bed. After the call from Alexis it had taken them both awhile to finally fall asleep. Even though they had both been so exhausted from all the events of the day, the last few days really, their minds seemed to be unwilling to just let either of them drift off to sleep. He did recall finally feeling her relax shortly before he fell asleep himself. It was as if some subconscious part of him wasn't willing to allow himself to rest until he knew she had fallen asleep in case she needed him. As much as his day had been difficult with the accusation that he could have been the one to attack Alexis, hers had been a thousand times worse with what happened at the cemetery.
"No…" she said weakly in her sleep. "Please let me out…" She was frantically pushing at the covers as she let out a small whimper.
"Veronica honey," he said softly as he stroked her head with his hand. "Wake up sweetheart, it's just a nightmare."
Her eyes popped open and she had a wild frightened look on her face. She immediate shoved at him to get him away from her, apparently not yet completely aware of what was real and what was part of her dream. She sat up slightly and started to scoot away from him.
"Veronica," he said softly again and put his hand on her leg, "It's me… Logan. You're safe. It's just a bad dream."
She blinked a few times and then tears quickly started running down her cheeks. She fell back on the bad and covered her face with her hands as she started to sob. He scooted closer to her and wrapped his arm across her waist and kissed her softly on her cheek just below her hands.
"You're okay baby," he said softly again and she turned so she could cling on to him. He repositioned his arms so he could hold her tightly and kissed the top of her head. "You're okay." He could feel her shaking and still breathing erratically against his chest, as well as still sobbing softly. "I'm so sorry honey. You're safe though." He'd had his share of nightmares to know exactly how she was feeling. He kept stroking her head and rubbing her back as her sobbing eventually slowed down and her breathing started going back to normal.
"I had to sleep with the light on for weeks," she said in a quiet voice against his chest. He kissed her lightly on the temple again. He'd had so much going on right after Aaron had attacked her that he hadn't really pushed her about what exactly had happened. Not to mention he was just an extremely messed up kid himself. He hated thinking back to how shitty of a boyfriend he'd been to her that summer. Of course being on trial for murder wasn't trivial, but that really didn't excuse all the ways he'd let her down. He'd eventually stayed over a few nights while her dad was still in the hospital and noticed she'd left the small light on her desk on, but thought it was more because it was too far to reach from the bed and they'd both been too comfortable, wrapped up in each other's arms, to climb out and turn it off.
"I'm so sorry Veronica," he said again and held her a little tighter. He was sorry it was haunting her now as well as how poorly he'd acted then. "Do you want me to turn the light on?"
He felt her shake her head. "No, just hold me," she replied in a small voice as she continued to cling tightly to him.
"I wish I could take all your nightmares away," he whispered softly against her hair and pressed a soft kiss to her head.
"You help more than you know," she said as she finally moved enough that she could tip her head up and look in his eyes. She reached up and stroked his cheek with her fingers. "I don't know what I'd do without you." She looked at him affectionately and took a deep breath. "I have no idea why I ever thought I could live without you Logan." She pressed her lips to his and kissed him softly at first, but then the kiss became much deeper.
"I know I couldn't live without you," he said breathlessly after the kiss. "Not now that I have you back in my life."
He felt her take a deep breath as she licked her bottom lip and gave him that look that he knew always led to one specific activity. What better way to chase their nightmares away than to get completely lost in each other. He knew from experience that whenever he fell asleep in that blissful state after they'd been intimate with each other that his nightmares seemed to stay way. He was certainly willing to sacrifice himself to her in the hope that it would do the same for her. Right Logan like that's any kind of sacrifice. He rolled them so that he was lying on top of her, though using one of his forearms to keep from crushing her, while his other hand caressed her curves. He loved the sounds she made and the way her body reacted to his touch.
He'd gone to sleep in just a pair of boxers, while she'd put on a short nightgown, and in no time at all she'd skillfully slid his boxers off his hips and used a foot to drag them completely off of him. She moved so she could nibble on his ear. "You seem to have lost your shorts," she said in a low sultry voice. The fear and uncertainty was clearly gone from her tone now.
He moaned softly as he pressed more urgently against her. "How did that happen?" he asked in a faux surprised tone.
"No idea," she whispered into his ear. Even though he couldn't see her face from where his head was buried against her shoulder he could still tell there was a mischievous grin on her lips from her tone.
He chuckled softly against her neck. "Should I go and get another pair?" he asked as innocently as he could given their current positions.
"Don't you dare," she replied in a wanton tone. He chuckled again as he moved so he could capture her lips with his.
After a lengthy time of sacrificing himself for her well being, they finally collapsed, wrapped up together and thoroughly exhausted. He felt her drift off to sleep again and hoped she'd sleep the rest of the night more peacefully than she had started out.
When a cell phone went off again, he lifted his head up to figure out where the sound was coming from. She was lying on her side facing away from him with one of his arms wrapped around her and his legs tangled up in hers. She moaned and tightened her hold on her pillow, burying her head a bit more into it. He glanced at the clock and saw that it was already 6:00 in the morning. He was finally awake enough to figure out it was her phone and not his this time.
"V'ronica…" he mumbled before he kissed her shoulder. "It's yours."
"Mmmm… No…." she said as she rolled more onto her stomach and buried her head even more. "Too sleepy… too early."
He kissed her shoulder again and rolled over so he could grab it. It had stopped ringing, but he could see the missed call on the ID. "Babe, it was Leo."
She took a deep breath and held up her hand so he could give her the phone. She rolled over on to her side again and he reached up and pulled her hair back out of her face and kissed her below the ear. She let out a soft moan before she finally dialed Leo's number and put the phone to her ear.
Logan laid his head on the pillow again and closed his eyes while he ran his hand up and down her side. He could hear Leo's voice come through the phone.
"Sorry if I woke you," Leo said as he answered.
"It's okay," Veronica replied, still sounding a bit groggy.
"I thought you'd want to know that Troy regained consciousness about an hour ago."
"That's great," she replied earnestly.
"Yeah, and he was able to confirm it was Liam and Ciaran Fitzpatrick that had beaten him unconscious at his apartment. He didn't realize he'd been buried alive since he was out when they put him in the box and he hadn't woken up in it before we found him. He sort of remembers waking up somewhere else, but as soon as they realized it, they knocked him out again."
"Did you arrest Liam and Ciaran then?"
Leo let out a frustrated breath. "We're working on it. We think someone gave Liam a heads up about what was going on at the cemetery. We'll find them though. We have APB's out, but both of them are missing at the moment." Veronica sighed as well. "I'll probably be tied up with that most of the day though. I'm going to contact the SDPD and LAPD, as well as the Border Patrol."
"Okay. Anything I can help with to find them?"
Logan tensed up and his hand that was running up and down her side froze in place. The thought of her helping to track down either of those Fitzpatrick's did not sit well with him at all. She must have noticed and rolled over so she could look at him, switching the phone to her other ear as she moved. She gave him a slightly questioning look as she waited for Leo's reply.
"Actually, I was hoping to check in with Alexis again to see if she's remembered anything about her attack yet. She was still asleep though, so I was going to see if you could check in with her later. Troy also said he'd really like to thank you in person, so maybe you could drop by and see them both." He hesitated for a moment. "I did hear from Alexis's doctor that she was adamant after I left yesterday that Logan wasn't the one who had hurt her…" He let out a deep breath. "I'll leave it up to him if he wants to check in with her today too."
Veronica's expression became slightly conflicted before she answered. "Sure… of course. I'll let you know later what I find out." She paused a moment before she asked her next question. "How many bodies did you end up finding last night?"
Leo let out a deep breath, "Quite a few. Some had been there a really long time. Having the radar equipment has really helped. Of course it's going to take quite some time to identify all the remains. I still have a few deputies there this morning and we've contacted the FBI too." Leo then thanked her and said he'd be in touch with her later in the day. They said good bye and ended the call.
The two of them laid there just staring at each other for a few minutes. She finally broke first and began to speak. "I may have to help go after criminals sometimes you know."
He let out a frustrated sigh. "Yeah, well you said you wouldn't be doing that on your own though."
"Logan I didn't offer to do that now either," she replied with a bothered look on her face.
He sighed again and rolled on is back, running a hand through his hair. "I know. It's just…" He closed his eyes and shook his head.
He heard her let out a soft sigh and felt her scoot closer to him, as she placed her hand gently on his chest.
He reached down and placed his hand on top of hers. "I just don't want anything bad to happen to you. I don't think I'd be able to survive that Veronica." He opened his eyes and gave her a slightly distressed look.
"I know," she replied as she kissed his shoulder. "But you need to trust that I'm not going to just jump in over my head every time."
He nodded and reached toward her head so he could pull her closer for a kiss. "I'll try," he said softly after the kiss.
She bit on her lip for a moment and her expression became slightly troubled. "Do you think you'll go visit Alexis today then?"
We definitely both have our insecurities don't we? I know her call to me last night didn't help. "I don't know. Probably not," he replied trying to gauge whether they needed to revisit their previous conversation again. "I'll maybe just check in with Victor later and see how she's doing. I also want to find out how Vanessa's doing now. I'm sure she's relieved that Alexis woke up. Maybe I'll just try to contact her instead of Victor." Who knows what Victor's really thinking after yesterday anyway?
Veronica gave him a small smile and nodded. "I hope Vanessa's feeling better now too. Be sure to tell her I said hello when you talk to her."
He nodded and stroked her cheek. "Wanna take a shower with me?" He gave her a sly smile. "I'll make you breakfast after."
Her smile turned more playful and she pretended to be thinking hard about the offer, going as far as to tap her finger on her lip. He laughed and rolled over pinning her under him and peppered her face with kisses. She laughed and tried to use her hands to stop him from moving his head around so she could kiss him back on the lips but he kept moving around and kissing her in different spots on her face.
"Okay, okay, okay," she said through giggles. "I'd love to take a shower with you."
He smiled and pressed his lips to hers, and then hopped up and reached for her hand. "I knew I could wear you down." He pulled her up from the bed and then wrapped his arms around her from behind and walked with her toward the bathroom placing more kisses along her neck.
Things had been so crazy lately, and with Abby staying there too, they hadn't really been able to take any nice long showers together. He started out just massaging her shoulders under the hot stream of water and felt her body completely melt against his. The past week had been such a nightmare for both of them. He was actually relieved with how well the two of them were doing as a couple through all of it. It certainly hadn't been easy and there were plenty of challenging moments, but there were some great moments too. He still couldn't quite believe how far they'd gotten on the topic of getting married. They'd had little breakthroughs since she'd been back where there would be little comments and hints about their future, but the other night at the Grand they'd actually seriously discussed getting engaged and then the following night they'd talked about having kids together. He just needed to figure out how not to be overbearing when it came to her case work. He knew that was going to be challenging for him given his past with her and wanting to keep her away from danger. He was relieved she was at least being understanding for now versus getting angry with him about it. He wasn't sure how long that patience would last though and needed to figure out how to deal with it better himself.
After a very enjoyable shower together, he'd gotten dressed faster than she had and headed down the stairs to start on breakfast. He saw the box of games still out on the table from the day before and decided he'd run those back up to the closet before he started cooking. As he opened the closet door to return the box, he saw the other box that had Alexis's things in it. He'd forgotten about it after first mentioning it to Veronica. He could only imagine how that probably made her feel if she saw it when they got the games out. Why didn't I ever just take that back to Alexis's house?
He walked back to their bedroom where Veronica was about finished getting dressed. "I don't smell any bacon yet?" she said in an admonishing tone as she flashed him a teasing smile. Her smile faltered though when she saw his expression. "Hey, what's wrong?" she asked as she walked over and put her hand on his arm.
"I forgot about the box. I'm sorry." He said with an apologetic look on his face.
She gave him a puzzled look for a moment and shook her head. "What?"
"The box in the closet," he started to explain.
She let out a small sigh and gave him an understanding smile. "It's not a big deal Logan."
"Yeah, but you were so bothered by all the stuff she had at her house and I'd never gotten rid of that stupid box. I'd forgotten it was even there until I went to put the games back. I just wanted you to know that I would have gotten rid of it if I'd thought of it before."
She leaned up and kissed him on the lips. "It was stuffed in the closet Logan. Not out on display. It's completely different." She quirked her lips up slightly. "Of course I won't be opposed to it disappearing now."
He smiled back and nodded. "Consider it done," he said as he kissed her again.
"Good. Now go make me some bacon," she said with a mischievous smirk.
"As you wish, mi lady," he replied as he turned and headed out of the room after placing one more kiss on her lips. He stopped in the extra room and grabbed the box. He decided it was probably a bit harsh to drop it off right now at her house or office after everything that had just happened, but he certainly didn't need to keep it in their house either. He decided he'd drop it by his office after he picked up Abigail and then he could give it back to Alexis later when she'd had some time to recover from everything. He went out to the garage and put it in the back of the Range Rover before starting on breakfast.
After breakfast they both headed over to Mac and Dick's house. Veronica said she'd pop inside to say hello, before she headed off to the hospital. She could tell as soon as Mac opened the door that something was wrong. "What's up?" she asked as Mac led them into the kitchen.
Abby was sitting at the kitchen counter eating a bowl of cereal and hopped down to give Logan a hug and smiled at Veronica too. Mac commented that they just missed Dick since he had to go in and help out at the surf shop.
"I'm going to run up to the office so I can show something to Veronica," Mac said to Logan and Abby. "We probably won't be too long."
A few minutes later Mac was perched at her computer desk and had pulled an extra chair over for Veronica to have a seat too. "So, Stephanie finally called Jake." Veronica could easily tell from her tone it wasn't exactly the conversation she was hoping for. Mac let out a frustrated sigh and hit a button on her laptop.
The screen showed video captures of both Stephanie and Jake. After a quick greeting Jake asked Stephanie why she'd been grounded. "The sheriff's department showed up at my house looking for the missing jewelry with a warrant," she replied with more of an annoyed than concerned expression on her face. You could see Jake quickly processing that bit of information before he spoke again. "Hold on a second babe," he replied and then it looked like he was typing on his PC and the screens went completely black.
"Did they lose the connection?" Veronica asked.
Mac shook her head. "No. He did something that completely scrambled the signal and I couldn't get it again before the call ended." Veronica's eyes widened in surprise. Mac sighed. "This Jake kid's got some pretty mean hacker skills himself I'd say. I'm sure he'd be able to easily figure out how to override the digital locks on those safes."
Veronica cringed. "They seem completely guilty, but without any evidence, I don't think that brief conversation is going to get us any farther." Mac nodded her agreement.
"Can you break through whatever he did and get into their call the next time?" Veronica asked hopefully.
Mac sighed again. "I've been trying, but haven't been able to yet. But I'll keep working on it. I'm sorry Veronica."
"It's okay. It's not your fault. I'm sure you got much farther than anyone else at the Sheriff's office would have. Can you make me a copy to show Leo?" Mac nodded and handed her a thumb drive.
"Already did," Mac said with a grim smile.
"I wish we could figure out where she's stashed the jewelry." Veronica thought about it for a moment. "Hey when you checked her bank accounts, did you see anything for like bank safety deposit boxes?"
Mac scrunched up her brow for a moment before she answered. "I don't remember, but I also wasn't looking for that. I can go back through the records again and see if I find something."
"Great," Veronica replied. "Maybe check the boyfriend's accounts for that too. Although he could have the jewelry in France with him just lying around his apartment and we wouldn't know from here."
"Sounds like you need to get Logan to take you to France," Mac said with a small grin.
Veronica chuckled slightly and nodded. "Yeah, you know Leo certainly wouldn't pay for something like that." Mac nodded in reply.
"Thanks again for helping on this Mac," Veronica said as they both started to head back downstairs.
"Of course," Mac said with a genuine smile on her face. "It's really nice to have you back asking for these sort of favors again." Her smile faltered and she looked more seriously at her. "Is your missing person case closed?"
Veronica let out a deep sigh. "We still need to apprehend the bad guy, but yeah. She's not missing anymore." Mac nodded and reached out to squeeze her hand.
"I'm really sorry," she said with a comforting expression. "If I can do anything at all… let me know. Even if you just want to talk."
Veronica gave her a half smile and nodded. "Thanks Mac."
After Veronica had said a quick good bye to Mac and Abby, Logan walked to the front door with her. He leaned in and stroked her cheek before he gave her a slow kiss. He rested his forehead against hers after their lips parted. He was still gently stroking her cheek and she could feel his warm breath tickling her lips. "Try to stay out of too much trouble today, okay Bobcat?" he asked with his lips quirked up in a lopsided grin. She could tell he was still worried about the entire Fitzpatrick situation. While his over-protective nature sometimes really bothered her, she still felt like given everything that had happened this past week with Alexis he was probably just a little extra worried at the moment.
"I will," she said with a warm smile as she gave him another kiss before stepping away to go. "I'll give you a call later to figure out what our plans are for dinner, okay?"
He smiled and nodded and gave her a little wave as she headed out the door to her car.
She decided she'd go straight to the hospital since visiting hours would just be starting and then she would try helping with the search for Liam and Ciaran. She wondered if Leo had thought to ask Troy for any ideas on where they might be, or if he'd already left the hospital before finding out they weren't able to locate them. She didn't actually plan on physically going to look for them, but thought maybe she could help identify some locations that the deputies should check. She finally made it to the hospital and was debating about whether to stop and see Troy first, or get the unpleasantness of seeing Alexis out of the way. I wonder if she's even remembered who I am? Maybe I can just say I'm with the Sheriff's Department, and she won't even realize the connection.
As she was trying to figure out what to do she nearly walked into someone coming off the elevator.
"We really need to work out a better way of seeing each other," Casey said with a soft smile.
"Sorry, Casey," Veronica said with a slight chuckle. She wondered how many times in the past two months they had practically bowled each other over. She stepped to the side to let other people in and out of the elevator. "Were you here seeing Alexis?" she asked with a compassionate expression.
He nodded. "Yeah… just left her room now. I thought I'd try to stop in early before she had more visitors come see her."
Veronica was having a hard time reading his expression to figure out if it was a good visit or not. "How'd it go?" she finally asked since she couldn't quite tell what he was feeling.
He took a deep breath and nodded. "I think okay. She at least doesn't remember the debacle on Saturday night yet, so that's good, I guess. I'm not positive she remembered me at all when I first walked in, but I think it may have started coming back to her before I left."
"Oh," Veronica replied, wondering what that would mean for her own visit. "She hasn't remembered anything about the attack then?"
Casey shook his head and shrugged. "I don't think so. She at least didn't mention it to me if she did." He paused for a moment and Veronica wondered if he was going to share something else about the visit. She still had the feeling that he was a bit unsettled from it. "I'd better get into the office. I have a client coming in this morning and need to get ready for that." She nodded in understanding and said a quick goodbye before he continued on his way to the front doors. She watched him for a moment and still couldn't help but get the feeling he was upset by something that had happened when he'd been up with Alexis.
Veronica decided she would rather go and visit Troy than Alexis first, so hit the elevator button for the floor the reception desk had told her he was being treated on. She knocked lightly on his door before opening it.
"Hey," she said softly as she walked in. She tried not to react to how badly he looked. She'd seen him at the cemetery, though it was fairly dark, but she knew he'd been beaten pretty badly before they'd buried him. One of his eyes was nearly swollen shut and there were numerous abrasions and bruises covering his face.
"Hey," he replied a bit quietly too. She walked over and pulled a chair over closer to his bed and took a seat. He gave her a small smile as she was sitting down. "Thank you so much Veronica."
"You should actually be thanking Molly," Veronica explained. "If she hadn't thought something was wrong well…" She cringed slightly trying not to consider the alternate ending they could have had.
Troy nodded very slowly. "I'll have to be sure to thank her too when I make it out of here." He paused a moment before he spoke again. "Do you know if they arrested Liam and Ciaran yet?"
Veronica shook her head. "Not that I've heard yet. But I'm sure they'll find them. Would you happen to have any ideas of places they should look from your investigation?"
Troy took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a moment. "Um… I think the family does own a few different properties scattered around some desolate Southern Cal areas."
"I'm sure Leo's probably checking into that, but it can't hurt to see if there's any they haven't checked yet. I wonder if now that we have your testimony against Liam, maybe Molly would be willing to cooperate and help us out."
Troy nodded slowly in reply. "Hey, could I ask for a favor?" he asked a bit sheepishly.
She gave him a sly smile. "That depends? I don't do sponge baths." He chuckled softly, and then grimaced slightly at the pain. "Sorry," she whispered with an apologetic expression.
He nodded slowly. "I'd really like to talk to Debbie. I usually check in with her every few days and I don't want her to worry. Could you get the cell phone from my safe and bring it to the hospital for me? She knows to only answer calls from that number."
She gave him an understanding smile. "Of course. I can bring it by later today."
"Thanks Veronica." He said with a serious tone. "Really, if it weren't for your quick thinking, I probably wouldn't have made it."
"Well you did, so there's that." She reached up and squeezed his hand gently. "I'll see you later."
He nodded slowly again as she stood up and left.
She took a deep breath and braced herself for her next stop. She got off the elevator on the ICU floor that they were still keeping Alexis on. She checked in with the reception desk and showed her ID so she would be allowed back past the security guard that they had for that area. She looked in the window of the room before she opened the door, slightly surprised to find Alexis alone. She was awake, so Veronica knocked lightly and then opened the door.
"Hi," Veronica said with a hesitant expression.
"Hi," Alexis replied a bit tentatively giving her a slightly puzzled look in return.
"Leo asked me to stop by and check in with you, to see if you've remembered anything about your attack." She decided she'd just skip saying who she was in case Alexis didn't remember her, which she thought might be easier.
"Oh," Alexis bit her lip and looked down at her hands for a moment and then let out a deep sigh and looked back up at Veronica. "I do remember you Veronica."
"Oh… I wasn't sure."
"Well I remember meeting you at Logan's office right after the Masquerade Ball, but a lot of the rest is still a bit hazy."
Veronica nodded and gave her a compassionate smile. I suppose it might be better for the investigation if she doesn't remember the nasty things she's said to me. "Any luck remembering who attacked you yet?"
Alexis gave her a small smile, "Well I'd like to say it was you…" Veronica's eyes opened a bit wide in surprise. "I'm just kidding Veronica," she quickly replied when she saw her expression. Alexis shook her head. "No, I'm afraid I haven't remembered any of that yet."
"I um…" Alexis paused again and let out a sigh. "I talked with Nessa for a while yesterday evening. She helped me fill in some of the missing pieces about me and Logan… and you being back." She looked down at her hands for a minute before she spoke again. "I'm guessing I probably wasn't terribly nice about it all, which would explain you not wanting to say who you were when you came in." She looked questioningly back up at Veronica.
Veronica shrugged at first and then nodded. "Yeah, it's fair to say you haven't been thrilled that Logan and I are back together again."
Alexis nodded. "I can imagine… I do still love him you know… but I've also remembered some of the horrible things I did when we were together…" She let out a frustrated sigh and shook her head. "Nessa said the two of you are really happy together."
Veronica nodded in reply. "Yeah, we are. I know you were worried at first that I wasn't going to stay and that I'd just break his heart again, but I have absolutely no intention of doing that. I'm completely committed to making things last between us this time." She wondered if things would have been different between them if she'd been able to be that confident in her and Logan the day Alexis had come to see her at MI.
Alexis gave her a sad smile and nodded. "Yeah, that's what she basically told me as well."
"So…" Let's shift this back to the case. "Nothing at all has come to mind about who might have attacked you?"
Alexis shook her head again and gave her a troubled look. "No, nothing yet."
"We have been checking on several people as possible suspects."
Alexis nodded. "Yeah Leo asked me a few questions yesterday before I some how implicated Logan." She let out a frustrated breath and shook her head.
"Yeah, I heard about that." Veronica paused a moment before continuing. "So nothing that Leo mentioned rang any bells?"
Alexis shook her head. "No, he just mentioned Matt and David, and of course David reminded me of the fight Logan and I had a long time ago which, with my messed up memory, came out all wrong." Veronica nodded and gave her a sympathetic smile.
"How about Kennedy O'Reilly?" Veronica asked watching her reaction carefully.
"Kennedy from Hearst?" Alexis asked trying to think back. "Oh wait, she dated Logan after we broke up the first time." She shook her head again. "I don't remember seeing her recently though."
Veronica nodded. "How about Victoria Branford?"
Alexis's eyes got a bit larger. "You know about Mike and I?" Veronica nodded. "Oh…" She looked down at her hands again. "Well I don't remember her attacking me. I always suspected she knew about me and Mike though, but she had her own little thing going, so never confronted Mike about his extramarital affairs."
Of course, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised given this is Neptune. Veronica let out a sigh. "How about Tommy? I know he had an alibi, but could he have had someone else attack you?"
Alexis looked genuinely surprised. "Oh, I really don't think he'd do that. I remember pieces of the two of us being together, and I don't get the sense that he'd do something like that."
"Matt seemed really intent on pinning it on Logan. Do you think he could have done it just to frame Logan? Logan said the two of them didn't get along very well."
Alexis nodded. "Yeah, Matt really didn't like him. I don't know…" She looked down at her hands again for a moment. "I'm afraid I just don't remember."
"Is there anyone else you can think of who disliked you enough to have done it?" Veronica asked hoping she might think of someone they hadn't considered yet.
"Besides you?" Alexis asked with a smirk.
Veronica smiled back, "Yeah, besides me." She let out a small laugh. "I'm glad I have an alibi, two in fact. Heather and Abigail."
Alexis smiled back and then her expression became a bit sadder. "I'd love to see Abby if Logan would bring her by."
"I'll ask him for you." Veronica replied. She couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for Alexis at this point. She also remembered how fondly Abigail had talked about her and that she'd asked Logan if he could take her to visit her.
"Thank you Veronica," Alexis said with a grateful expression. "And thank you for working on the case." She paused a moment and looked down at her hands again before she started speaking again. "So my assistant stopped to see me yesterday evening as well after she heard I'd woken up… Turns out she was surprised to get a call from the Mayor of Catalina shortly after the accident checking on me… She passed on some information that I'd forgotten until she mentioned it." Veronica gave her a confused look. "I um… I accepted a job right before the accident to run the Chamber over on Catalina." Veronica's expression became genuinely surprised. "I was a little surprised at first too," Alexis continued after noticing Veronica's expression. "Although the more I thought about it I started to remember that I wanted to be there for Nessa… with the baby coming, that it would be nice to be there for her on a more regular basis."
"Oh…" Veronica wasn't quite sure how to respond, she suddenly felt a bit conflicted about how she should react to the news. It's probably rude to get too excited about it. "I'm sure Vanessa will be really happy."
Alexis nodded and gave her a small smile. "And I'm sure you'll be happy to have me out of your and Logan's hair."
Veronica let out a small sigh. "Well we were working on getting along better." Not a total lie, since our very last conversation didn't go too badly.
Alexis gave her a skeptical look. "Well I'm sure our paths will cross from time to time since Logan's always been close with Nessa."
Veronica nodded and gave her a small smile. "I should probably head into the station now." She pulled a card out of her pocket and handed it to Alexis. "But if anything comes back to you, give me a call alright? We just want to be sure you're safe and that whoever did it, doesn't try again. They have good security here, so you don't need to worry. But we'd love to find the person before you get released." Alexis nodded in understanding. "And Catalina? Is it okay if I mention that to Logan, or would you rather tell him?"
Alexis shrugged. "Either way is fine." Veronica could tell though that Alexis would probably rather tell him herself.
Veronica nodded before they said a quick goodbye and she left. Well that didn't go at all like I expected. A part of her really was relieved that Alexis was planning to move to Catalina. She knew that it was likely they'd still run into each other from time to time since Logan did really genuinely care so much about Vanessa, but having her out of Neptune should make things a little easier for them as well. At least she thought it would make her feel a little less insecure about things. Veronica headed toward the Sheriff's Office when she left the hospital to see how things were going with the search for Liam. She decided she'd stop by Troy's later to get the cell phone and bring it back to the hospital for him. She wondered if Mac might be able to help find any other properties that the Fitzpatrick's might be associated with to try to locate them if they still hadn't been apprehended yet. With any luck they would have already found them, but knowing how things seemed to work in cases like this, she wasn't feeling terribly optimistic.