Chapter Notes:

Trigger warning: sexual abuse of a minor

(Yep...he's a monster.)

Keith sipped his coffee and leaned back in his chair. From his office, he had a clear view of the guest bedroom door and neither Logan nor Veronica had made a move to come out. It was now 10 am and he had already reviewed the over-night audio from the Kane mansion and was on his second cup of coffee while he listened live to the feed. Other than listening to breakfast chatter and Duncan's side of several boring phone calls, there was not much happening.

Finally, the door to the bedroom opened and out stepped his slightly dishevelled son-in-law. "Good morning!" Keith happily greeted him.

Logan turned and smiled at Keith, a big toothy grin. "Good morning! Listening to anything fun?" He said, scratching his hair.

Keith shook his head. "Nope. FYI - You and Veronica missed breakfast by a few hours. Alicia had her volunteer work with the Boys and Girls Club today. So feel free to raid the fridge for anything you want. Coffee is still hot."

"Terrible bed and breakfast service!" Came Veronica's voice from behind Logan. "I will have to give you only one star on my Google rating!" She continued and poked her head in the office with a grin.

Kevin shook his head. "Ha ha. And for you young lady, Alicia left a long summer dress for you to wear home. Your clothes from yesterday will have to be dry cleaned."

Veronica shot her finger at Keith and made a clicking sound with her mouth. "Thanks Daddy-o. Have I mentioned that the best decision you ever made was to marry Alicia? I mean...besides having me."

Keith laughed. He opened his mouth to retort when he heard Wiedman's voice in his ear. He quickly turned towards the computer and yanked the headphone out of the jack. The sound of C.W.'s voice filled the room.

"...transmitted photos to me last night. It took me some time to print them, Mr. Kane."

The sound of a moving chair and footsteps filled the room. Logan and Veronica walked closer to the computer, taken in by the sounds. "Well, hand them over! I can't get enough of those pictures of Veronica screaming at Logan. Let's see her give it to him again."

"Interesting choice of words, Mr. Kane...I should warn you..."

There was the sound of rustling paper.

"...they aren't fighting."

Logan wrapped his arm around his wife, pure glee in his eyes, knowing what the photos contained.

A loud yell filled the room and the sound of ripping papers. There were footsteps and then the sound of shattering glass. Veronica jumped a bit and her heart started to beat faster.

"How can she be with him, knowing what he did?" He bellowed, his voice filling the room. "He slept with a hooker and she still took him back!"

Weidmen's voice followed. "Sir. I mentioned that it would be difficult to break them up."

"Shut up! Logan Echolls has brainwashed her! He has her thinking I raped her, for Christ's sake! I have to save her from him." He growled.

Veronica turned and put her arms around Logan, suddenly terrified of what would happen next.

"If you kill him, she will have nothing to live for and kill you or herself." Came C.W.'s voice, full of concern, but not necessarily for Duncan.

"Pfffftttt...I'm not going to kill him. I want him to live and feel the agony of losing her again. I need him to live a long and healthy life, knowing that I stole the woman he loved back from him. That's worse than any death imaginable." Laughed Duncan.

Logan scowled. "Well, it's nice he wants to keep me alive." He interjected into the remote conversation.

Weidmen's voice was thick with frustration. "So then if you are not going to leave them alone, then what IS your next move?"

Silence filled the room as they waited for Duncan's answer. "Keep up surveillance. I know they caught on to our position across from their loft, but I still want them tracked. I will think about my next move."

Weidmen let out a sigh. "Now if you'll excuse me, Mr. Kane, I promised Miss Kane and Mrs. Williams that I would provide security for their outing to the Neptune Art Gallery today." There was a pause. "And I will arrange for someone to come and fix the broken window as well, sir."

"Alright. Thank you for going with them. I worry about Lilly when she is out alone with her tutor. Some crazy person could kidnap her for ransom at any time." Duncan's voice was full of concern for his daughter. There was the shuffling of papers. "And dispose of those pornographic photos as well. It's disgusting."

Keith looked over at the couple. Veronica had her face scrunched up, trying not to laugh. Logan was looking away from Keith, keeping his eyes on the ceiling and smiling.

There was the sound of footsteps and the door opening and closing. There were more footsteps and the rustling of papers. Keith plugged the headphones back in and put one to his ear to monitor things again. "Well, was that the reaction you were both hoping for?" He sighed.

Veronica got an evil look in her eye and she grinned. "Better."

Veronica and Logan had showered and had their first cups of coffee at Keith's house, but decided to go out for breakfast and then come home to change before coming into the office that afternoon. They let Sandy know their plans and she happily informed them that she and Mac would take care of anything that came up. They left Veronica's car with Keith, as he offered to locate and remove the tracker Duncan had placed on the vehicle, and both took the Hummer home.

When they arrived there was a moment of silence as they got off the elevator. The closed blinds cast dark shadows over the loft, punctuated by sharp lines of light. Logan had removed the photos from sight when he returned the day before. Everything seemed strangely haunted by their fights the previous day. Veronica reached out and took Logan's hand. She kicked off Alicia's flip flops and led him across the space to their bed. She let go of his hand and crawled in, reaching out for him. He slid off his shoes and slid into her arms, putting his head gently on the side of her chest, and wrapping his arms around her.

"Maybe we can see someone." Veronica said out loud.

"Ummm...like who?" Replied her confuse husband.

She started playing with his hair nervously. "Like a marriage counsellor. Maybe he or she could help us with some of our problems." She said quietly.

"We could do that." He said. "I would be more than willing. You know, therapy has helped to make me the well adjusted man I am today." His tone was slightly teasing.

She pinched his arm playfully and he laughed. "Well, I have never been to one. Unless you count Becky-with-the-good-hair, in High School, as therapy."

Logan moved his hand over to her stomach and lay it in the now convex valley. "Do you know why I don't want to try for more kids?" He said quietly.

She brought her hand on top of his. "Tell me."

"In my life, I have lost my parents, my first girlfriend, and my best friend. All dead. I never, ever, thought that we could lose a child. It just seemed too horrible to think about." He took a deep breath. "But now I think, what if you carry a healthy child to term, and he or she lives a happy life with us for a while, and then one day, on the way to school, some lunatic shoots them. Or they get some terrible disease that can't be cured. Or we are in a car accident and they die. How do you go on after that? We are barely surviving the death of a child we never got to meet. How do you survive that?"

Veronica was at a momentary loss for words. "I guess, we just can't think about that." She said slowly, choosing her words. "If we let fear guide our lives then we wouldn't be where we are now – together and married and building a life as partners." She paused to think a moment "Maybe we just have to make each day count with our child. I mean, one day they will leave us for college or to go and travel or to have a family of their own. I guess we just have to try and make every day the best day we can until the day when we have to set them free. And then we can look back without regret...just love. And hope they feel the same way." She kissed the top of her husband's head. "All I know is if you show our kids half the love you show me, then they will be the most loved children on the planet."

Logan let out a sigh. "Good answer."

Veronica laughed. "That's it? That's all you have to say to my amazing universal wisdom?"

He made a claw with his hand and tickled her stomach. "Oh, great and brilliant wife! You are extraordinary! You have convinced me! Let's make so many babies that I will keep you knocked up every nine-months for the rest of your life!" Veronica screamed with laughter. Logan released her and drew her up into a deep kiss. "Okay. You have somewhat convinced me that maybe we can possibly try for one. In a few months. Or a year. Just, see what the doctor says first though before we both get our hopes up again."

Veronica sat up and looked into her husband's big brown eyes and smiled. "Alright. I won't get ahead of myself. We'll wait and see what the doctor says before anymore talk of babies. And maybe we'll see a counsellor first." She got up and went to her dresser, her back to her husband. Opening the top drawer, she pulled the summer dress over her head revealing she was wearing nothing underneath.

Logan gasped. "You were commando this whole time and I didn't know?"

Not turning around, she stepped into a pair of beige lace panties and began strapping on the matching bra. "I was in that other underwear for almost a day and a half. I threw it out and decided to go au natural." She turned around when she was done, blowing a kiss at her husband. "Four weeks!"

He lay down, spread eagle on the bed. "This is worse than when we were teenagers. Back then, I could just IMAGINE how good it would be to have sex with you. Now I KNOW how absolutely, fucking amazing it is and it's killing me."

She came over and leaned across the bed. "Well, work will distract you from your hard-on. Get dressed!" And kissed him on the nose, then pulled back and wandered over to her armoire to get dressed.

Logan let out a frustrated sigh. After their make-out session in the Hummer last night, he realized there were going to be a lot of cold showers in his future.

Keith was ready for bed. It had been a long day, even with Wallace coming over to take a few hours of surveillance so Keith could find the tracking device on Veronica's car.

He had hoped that Duncan would be going to sleep soon when a knock came on his bedroom door.

"Come in!" Called out Duncan's voice.

"You said to come and see you now?" Said a young voice with an Australian accent.

"Yes, Lilly. Right on time. Come here."

The door closed and there was shuffling sounds. All the hairs on Keith's body stood on end.

"It looks like you will have to do this for a little while longer, Lilly. Veronica can't take over yet, so it's up to you to kept Daddy happy, alright."

Keith covered his mouth with his hands. This couldn't be happening. He was going to be sick.

"Alright, Daddy." Came the teenager's voice, small and scared.

There was a pause. "You look so much like your mother. She was so beautiful too."

There was the sound of kissing and Keith became frantic. There must be some way to stop this and save the girl. Phone the police? Phone the mansion? Someone needed to stop this monster.

The sound of a door knocking made everything freeze. "Mr. Kane? Is Lilly in there? I went to check on her and I can't seem to find her." Weidmen's muffled voice came over the computer.

Keith exhaled. "Please, god, make him stop." He said out loud.

Duncan's voice was angry. "Yes! She is in here." There was a pause. "We are making plans for surfing this weekend."

Weidmen's voice was still muffled. "I promised Lilly today that I would help her with her homework on the U.S. government structure. I was looking for her so we could get it done for her test tomorrow."

There was another moment of silence that lasted forever and then shuffling. "Go." He said out loud.

There was more shuffling and them the door opening. "Thank you for your help, C.W.!" Came Lilly's voice frantically.

Weidmen's voice was clearer. "My pleasure. Good night, Mr. Kane." He said and the door shut.

Keith colapsed back in his chair. "Wiedman knows." He said, shocked. He began pressing buttons on the computer until he found their voices in Lilly's bedroom. She was crying.

"I promised you in Australia that I wouldn't let him touch you anymore and I will make good on the that promise." Wiedman's voice was low but strong.

Lilly choked on her words. "He said that he would stop when he had Veronica."

"That's not going to happen. And even if he has her, it doesn't mean he will forget about you. Your father is a very sick man. I had hoped if I brought you here with him, Jake would have dealt with him, but now I'm not sure what to do."

Lilly began to cry again. "Thank you for protecting me. I don't know what I would do without you."

"I will protect you. If I have to sleep on your floor every night, I will protect you."

Keith took off his headphones and covered his face for a moment, absorbing everything. Letting out a deep sigh, he realized what he had to do. "I may be able to help you protect Lilly, C.W...and Veronica too." He said out loud and turned off the computer for the night.