Shattered, Forgotten & Treasured

Chapter 24:Sorrow

Dick

I am having a hard time believing that my little brother is behind so much destruction all because of Woody Goodman. Why did he have to become the person he is? I mean didn't Beaver, no Cassidy know he had people who would listen to him if he asked for help. I might not have been the best brother in the world, but if he had come to me I would have done everything in my power to see that justice was served.

"Are you okay?" Mac asks as I lean my head on her shoulder in the SUV. We had just gotten through the media frenzy that was waiting for us. Leo had called a few guys to help us out since Lamb was doing nothing but being a jackass to us.

"Not really," I mutter as I tried to focus on anything other than the whimpering sobs coming from Veronica. It killed me to know my brother was the one who hurt her, but more so that he killed her father. I don't know how she could ever look at me again. It killed me that I would probably lose Logan as a friend out of this whole thing.

"What the hell?" I heard Logan mutter as I looked out the window as we pulled up to the gate outside of the house. There were several news vans and reporters everywhere. I pulled Mac closer to me as I watched Logan do the same with Veronica.

"Move out of the way," Leo muttered as he honked the horn several times. We seemed to be getting nowhere as the reports began to get closer to the SUV. I was getting nervous when someone banged on the door. I was about to get out to beat some sense into them when we all jumped as two gun shots were fired and several motorcycles could be heard coming closer. I looked out the back window to see the short bald kid get off his bike while his friends did the same.

"It's alright Bobcat," Logan murmured to Veronica as she looked up just as the kid moved closer to the SUV. Leo took the distraction to move into the now open gate.

"Come on Mac," I said as I closed the front door after watching Logan carry Veronica into the house and up the stairs.

"I feel so bad for Vee," I heard Wallace say once I sat down on the sofa.

"Where were you man?" I grumbled as he just looked at me.

"I was getting it on with some girl. We were just about to head to our room when there was an explosion, she freaked and took off. I decided to just come back here since I knew my mom was here," he says as I see Logan walking into the living room. He looked like hell.

"Dude, I'm sorry about Keith," I say as he looks up at me and slowly nods his head.

"Yeah," he mutters as if he was lost in his thoughts.

"I'll make sure to be gone before Veronica wakes," I say as I head toward the stairs to pack, but I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Logan questions as I try to look anywhere but at him.

"Veronica! Why would she want me in her life after everything Bea… Cassidy did to her?" I asked loudly as I watched his eyes cloud over before he moved closer to me. I thought for sure he was going to beat the crap out of me.

"That isn't your fault. How the hell do you even think you are at fault for what he did? Did you hold his hand as he pushed the button on the phone, or when he did what he did to Veronica? Dick you had nothing to do with that man," he mutters running his hands through his hair.

"I was a…" I don't get to finish my thought as we all hear a loud scream and Logan runs up that stairs taking tow at a time.

***LoVe***

Veronica

Where am I? Oh my god he's really dead! I think as I finally find my voice and scream. I don't know what's killing me more knowing that someone I thought was my friend had killed so many innocent people to keep a secret or that I wished he was dead.

"Veronica," I vaguely hear someone say as I begin a new round of crying letting the night come back to me. "I'm so sorry," I hear as I am pulled closer to the voice.

"Logan," I cry as I turn around in his grip and cling to him. I had just lost my dad and the only person I could totally be honest with was him. I couldn't believe one stupid person could hurt so many people and leave so many lives ruined.

"How is she?" I hear a soft woman's voice.

"I don't know mom. Veronica is the strongest person I know, but I feel this might have broken her," Logan mutters still rubbing my back.

"We'll all keep her grounded. You need to be strong for her. I know Keith was a good man, a great dad, just keep reminding her how much you love her. I'm not going to say it's going to be easy, but things will get better," she says as I feel the bed move. I reach out my hand on instinct opening my eyes to make sure Logan wasn't leaving.

"I was going to get Gracelynn," he says softly as I look from him to Lynn.

"She's fine," I whisper as I struggle to get up as banging begins downstairs like someone was pounding on the front door. I flinched at the noise.

"You two stay here. Call Jake," Lynn says as she leaves the two of us alone. I watch as Logan calls Jake and speaks to him. I wasn't as sure what was being said, but I could see his burning hatred in his eyes.

"No, doubt," Logan mutters as I look to our door as it is pushed open. "Yeah, I'll make sure she knows that. Thanks," he says hanging up.

"You have some nerve barging into our home like you just did," Dick yells from the outside of our room.

"Don't worry Cassablancas! I'm here for you as well," Lamb sneers as he turns back to look at us.

"What the hell do you think you are doing?" Logan snaps getting up from the bed as I move to get up with him. He holds onto me pushing me behind him.

"I told you kids I would see you in the morning. It's 9 and I want statements from all of you before you have time to make up stories," he snaps as I go to move, but can't find the energy to do so.

"Do you even think about other people? My wife lost her father last night and all you are worried about is getting some damn statements," Logan yells as I get worried I might lose him too.

"Stop," I yell not even knowing I was doing it until I had said the word.

"Shh!" Logan says pulling me closer.

"Let's go. Sacs round up all the kids and load them up," Lamb snaps barking out more orders as I follow Logan out the door and down the stairs. I see Lynn talking with Leo who looked murderous. She was shaking as he spoke to her. We are led to a patrol car and pushed into it. Lamb gets in and makes his way to the gate. I must have phased out because next thing I knew we were at the station.

I walked dumbly into the station looking around as I saw all the reporters snapping photo after photo as well as other people just looking at me. Logan though never let go of me through the whole time. Once we were inside Lamb barked out more orders as I felt someone grabbing my arm, pulling me away.

"No, no," I scream clinging to Logan as much as I could, but I felt like I couldn't hold on anymore as I began to feel his shirt material slipping through my fingers. I don't know what happened, but I began lashing out at who ever just ripped me away from my husband.

***LoVe***

Logan

I was pissed off as I watched some asphat pulling my wife from me. I was holding onto her as much as I could, but Lamb was jerking me the opposite way. The moment I felt her hand slip I watched as she began to attack the Deputy who had her. I quickly jerked out of Lamb's grasp and pulled Veronica into my arms. She was crying and gasping for air.

"What the hell just happened?" Jake Kanes snapped as I looked up at him. He made his way toward us and crouched down moving some of Veronica's hair out of her face.

"I was separating them to question them," Lamb snaps as if he was better than anyone else.

"Veronica, shh!" I whispered into her ear as I tried to sooth her crying. I wanted nothing more than to beat the crap out of Lamb for what he just did, but right now I was needed where I was. "It's going to be alright," I say softly moving her blonde tresses out of her eyes as she looked up at me. Her eyes were so sad looking that I just wanted to wrap my arms around her and bolt, but I knew Lamb would just haul the two of us back in here.

"I want to go home," she groans as I can see Jake from the corner of my eye moving closer to us.

"Deputy, I think I'll come in with Veronica and Logan during their statement," he says as I slowly move to stand still clutching Veronica to me.

"I don't care who you are Kane, but in here I am in charge," Lamb sneers at Jake.

"That may be true, but questioning a minor without his or her parents is unlawful and evidence collected could be inadmissible in court," he quickly replies as I watch Lamb lose some of his cockiness.

"Well I hate to break it for you Kane, but you aren't Veronica's or Logan's parent, so you can't go in," he throws back as I see a small smile form on Jake's lips.

"Keith made me Veronica's legal guardian in case something like this might happen," Jake retorts as he pulls a file folder out of a brief case. "Logan's mom couldn't be here due to trying to keep things normal, so she made sure I was on file for Logan as well," he smirks toward Lamb as he hands him the two sheets of paper.

I watched the horrified expression appear on Lamb's face as he looks over the papers. Jake also said the two of us would be spoken to at the same time since he observed the breakdown, and didn't want Veronica to fall apart. I knew deep down that it was more or less to rub Lamb's face into what a screw up he was. Veronica barely spoke only giving simple answers to Lamb's questions as I tried to give the details. I don't know how long we were in the small interrogation room, but I was getting tried of the repeated questions and stupid digs at Keith.

"I think the kids have answered your questions," Jake finally says as I felt myself let go of the breath I was holding to keep myself in my chair holding onto Veronica.

"I still have several questions," he mutters to Jake, but Jake had already motioned for us to get up.

"If you need to speak to any of the kids again, call my head of security. I am going to ask the judge to keep you as far away from them as possible," Jake says as he opens the door for us. I thought he was following behind us when I heard him speak again. "Don't think I have forgotten how you treated Veronica when she reported her rape! I plan on filing a motion for her as soon as we find out about Keith," he snaps as I see Veronica lift her head slightly. I knew she heard the anger in his voice just like I did because I felt her shudder.

I saw Mac and Dick sitting on one of the benches outside of the main hallway near the vending machine. Mac had looked like she had been crying while Dick was rubbing her back. I saw a tall black man talking with Leo right behind them.

"Clarence, I need you to escort the kids back to their house. Meg and Duncan should be there packing their things. I don't want you to leave the house until I get there," Jake says as he looks back toward Lamb who was staring at us.

"Yes, Sir," the man says as I pull the hood over Veronica's head as we are led out the front doors to the media circus. I held Veronica as tightly as I could to keep her safe. We were just about to get into the SUV when someone through red liquid one us. Clarence pushed us into the SUV while Leo burned rubber. It was silent on the way back to the house. I tried to sit still to keep from smearing the red paint. I thought at first it was blood, but no it was paint. Dick was muttering under his breath as Mac huddled into him.

"What happened to you guys?" my mom asked the moment we walked into the kitchen. I led Veronica into the laundry room helping her out of her painted clothing. I looked in the dryer to find a long t-shirt for her to put on. I could vaguely hear Dick telling my mom what happened. I couldn't care less right now in anything but what I was currently doing.

"Clinton, we are live in Neptune, California where chaos has happened over night. It has been less than a week since Action Star Aaron Echolls was convicted of hurting Lilly Kane as well as his own son and daughter-in-law, Lynn Echolls came forward as being alive and not dead, but right now the most shocking story of this little town is one of murder, bombings, and an explosive molestation case.

Last night a plane with the Mayor Woody Goodman was blown up as it was getting ready to land. Woody Goodman was accused of molesting several of his little league boys when they played for his team. One of the boys took it a little too far when several of the other boys wanted to come clean about the matter. The bus crashed that killed 7 people and injuring 3 others was to cover up what had happened.

The culprit behind this ordeal is a 17 year old Neptune High School boy who tried to attempt suicide when he was confronted by classmates. He in turn blew the plane up to get his revenge on Woody Goodman, but he also murdered the once beloved Sheriff Keith Mars who had went after the Mayor to bring him back to face charges. It is rumored that Veronica Mars-Echolls and Logan Echolls were both on the roof of the Grand confronting the boy. It was the boys own brother who kept him from jumping and ending his life. We will bring you breaking news on this story as soon as we get it," the reporter says as I look over to see Veronica staring at the TV.

"Keith could still be alive," I say as she looks up at me.

"Logan he was on the plane. He didn't answer his phone. I didn't even get to say goodbye," she says as I see the tears in Dick's eyes. He was beating himself up over this whole thing even though it wasn't his fault.

"Yes, but he could have been lucky," I say as she gives me a weak smile.

"I wish it were true, but with an explosion like what we saw it's unlikely that he did," she whispers as I pull her into my arms. I know she's right, but I just don't want it to be true. Once Jake got to the house he helped us get statements written up and made sure we were safe before he left. Veronica broke down once more when she found out Meg had decided to go with Duncan to Napa for the summer. Meg wanted Lilly to bond with Duncan and the ice queen.

Veronica was waiting for me in our bed after everyone left. I made sure to feed Gracelynn and my mom decided to keep her with Wyatt and her for the night. I went into the bathroom to shower and brush my teeth. As I was pulling on a shirt I heard Veronica click off the TV.

"Nothing on," I questioned as she looked toward me.

"No, it was all about dad and Cassidy," she says as I get on the bed.

"I know things look bad right now, but I promise you things are going to get better. We will grow stronger form this," I say as she snuggles into my side.

"I know, but it was my dad," she cries as I wrap my arms around her. I knew Keith was everything to her, but I was hoping that as we started the next chapter of our lives we could make sure he didn't die for no reason. All I wanted to see right now was Cassidy getting his just deserts.

***LoVe***

UPoV

I couldn't believe we had a severe burn victim. It was hard to tell who he was because he was so badly burned, but hopefully as he healed we would find out his identity. We had called the Sheriff's department, but Don Lamb told us to keep it under wraps in case this was a murder for hire. I really didn't think that, but who was I to argue with the law.

I only found it strange that the man was found unresponsive in a swimming pool in the 09er neighborhood. He wasn't a missing person so who was he and why was Lamb hiding him.

888LoVe888

A/N: I hate to see this story come to an end, but this is the end for now. I plan to write a sequel to this going over the college year and Logan meeting his other siblings as well as Lianne confronting Veronica. There is more to this story, but I am going to take a small break to brainstorm. See you all soon!