Chapter 22 – "Not Pictured"

Graduation. Finally, the day Veronica had been waiting for. She walked out of her room, grinning, to find Keith making banana pancakes.

"Morning sweetpea," he greeted as she sat down at the counter. He flipped some pancakes on the plate and set it down in front of her.

"Nicely done, Pops. They're not even a little bit charred," teased Veronica as she dug in.

"You should've seen the first two batches," sighed Keith, fixing himself a plate and sitting across from her, "So big day."

Veronica's face broke out into another grin, "Big day indeed. No more Neptune High, 09ers, pep rallies…This may be the most glorious day of my entire life. Hands down."

Veronica met up with Logan outside of school. He was already wearing his cap and gown and fiddling with his tassel. He leaned down and kissed her softly, "Happy graduation."

"You look so…academic," commented Veronica, pulling on her gown.

Logan grabbed her cap from her and settled it onto her head, grinning, "May I say that if anyone can look sexy in a cardboard hat, it's you."

Wallace and Mac joined them as they wandered into the gym.

"Well kids, this is it," said Veronica, "MacKenzie? Shall we find the other M's?"

"Lead the way Mars," replied Mac, rolling her eyes and following Veronica. Logan and Wallace headed for the E's and F's.

"I don't think I've ever seen V this happy before," muttered Wallace, shaking his head, "What happened to bitter, sarcastic Veronica Mars?"

"She's a marshmallow," smirked Logan.

Logan and Veronica met up with Keith after the ceremony. Veronica was still in shock over the reception she had received from the rest of the senior class.

"Congratulations," said Keith, hugging Veronica and shaking Logan's hand.

He handed envelopes to both of them. Surprise crossed Logan's face as Veronica shook her envelope, "A pony?!"

Veronica opened her card to find a ticket to NYC. Keith pulled out his ticket from his pocket and then turned to Logan, "Well?"

Logan smiled slightly and tore open his envelope. Inside was a graduation card and a third ticket to NYC, "Mr. Mars, I really can't…"

Keith interrupted him, "It's a present Logan. Besides if you didn't come, Veronica would just be calling you the entire time and using up valuable minutes."

"Thanks," said Logan, at a loss for words for once in his life, "I didn't…thanks."

Veronica looked at her two favorite men as they stared awkwardly at each other. After a few seconds, she sighed and pulled them both into a bear hug, "Big Apple here we come!"

Veronica couldn't believe it. As the pieces finally fell in place, a wave of nausea hit and she dashed into the restaurant's bathroom.

After she had composed herself and splashed water on her face, she pulled out her cell phone and called Mac.

She left a voicemail and then called Logan. No luck.

"Doesn't anybody answer their phones anymore?" asked Veronica as she jumped into her car and headed to the Neptune Grand.

Once there she located Dick right away at the post-graduation party, "Where's Beaver?"

"Upstairs, boning that computer chick," slurred Dick, wrapping an arm around Veronica's shoulders.

Veronica pushed his arm away, "What room are they in?"

"No idea," replied Dick as he chugged his beer.

"Have you seen Logan?" asked Veronica.

"Look Ronnie, I'm not here to play 20 questions or to keep dibs on nerds and boyfriends," muttered Dick as he turned away from her, "I'm here to partaaaay!"

Cheers erupted all around them. Veronica shoved Dick out of her way and headed for the reception desk. The receptionist was zero help, so Veronica frantically sent Mac a text.

Just then Logan finally called her back, "What's the emergency babe? You called me like 10 times."

"Where are you?" asked Veronica quickly.

"In my room, grabbing some more beer. Veronica, what's wrong?"

She opened her mouth to respond when a text message beeped through. It was from Mac, thank God.

"I can't explain right now. I have to go meet Mac on the roof."

"Wait…" started Logan as she hung up the phone and headed for the elevators.

Logan tossed his phone in his back pocket and shut the refrigerator's door. He went to pick up the beers and paused. Something about Veronica's tone worried him. She was meeting Mac, but he had a bad feeling.

"Screw it," he muttered, leaving the beers and heading for the elevator.

He had just made it up to the roof when he heard Veronica cry out, "You raped me."

As he furiously rounded the corner he heard a familiar laugh and froze in shock when he realized it was Beaver.

"And Dick still thinks I'm a virgin," scoffed Beaver, "See I know how to keep a secret."

"That's what this is all about isn't it? Keeping your secret? Well it's over, it's out. I know," said Veronica, her voice shaking.

Logan quietly continued around the corner to see Beaver pointing a gun at Veronica. His entire body tensed and his mind raced as he tried to figure out how to get the gun away from Beaver. He heard Cassidy mention something about a bomb on a plane as he pulled out a phone from his pocket.

Veronica was crying as she frantically called Keith. Suddenly there was an explosion behind her. She turned and watched the fire in the sky before collapsing to the ground. Beaver's attention was entirely on the destruction he had wreaked.

Logan steeled himself and made a mad dash, tackling Beaver to the ground and sending his gun flying. As they wrestled on the ground, Veronica picked up the gun. Logan managed to wrench Cassidy's arms behind his back.

"What the hell is going on?" he asked Veronica.

Veronica pointed the gun at Beaver, "Move away from him Logan."

Logan let Beaver go and stepped towards her, "Give me the gun, Veronica…"

"He killed my father. He killed everyone on the bus. He raped me," she cried, holding the gun steady.

"Shouldn't he get the same justice my father just did? Life in jail, V. It's what he deserves," said Logan softly as he moved slowly towards her, "You're not like them. You're not a killer."

Veronica collapsed into Logan's arms sobbing. Beaver made his way to the edge of the roof.

Later that night, after answering the police's many questions, Logan managed to get Veronica home. She hadn't say a word to him since the roof but her grip on his hand never loosened. He sat down on the couch and pulled her into his lap, stroking her hair and murmuring comforting words.

When she finally fell asleep, he carried her into her room and put her in bed, lying down next to her and wrapping his arms around her. He kissed her brow and whispered, "I love you."

The next morning he woke up in extreme pain. It seemed to be stemming from his ear. He opened his eyes to find Keith standing over him with a tight grip on his ear.

"Wha…" started Logan.

"What the hell do you think you're doing in my daughter's bed?" roared Keith, yanking Logan to his feet.

"We thought…"

"You are dead meat kid," shouted Keith.

The commotion woke Veronica up and she stared at her father in complete disbelief, "You're alive. I thought you were dead."

She jumped out of bed and into Keith's arms, "I love you so much."

"Will someone please explain to me what is going on?" asked Keith, bewildered.

Later that summer, things had finally gotten back to normal. Or as normal as Neptune could be. A few weeks into his sentence, Aaron Echolls was killed by another inmate. Logan didn't attend his funeral.

Veronica and Logan were taking their physical relationship slowly. Veronica was still reeling from Beaver's revelations on the roof about Shelley Pomroy's party.

Mac fluctuated between being horrified and depressed. Veronica tried to spend as much time as possible with her. Dick had disappeared. No one had seen hide nor hair of him since Cassidy's funeral.

Wallace was finally moving on from Jackie and was stoked for college women. He, Logan, Mac, and Veronica were all headed to Hearst in a few weeks.

Veronica and Logan sat on the beach, watching the sun set. She rested her head against his shoulder, "Do you think college is going to be any easier than high school?"

"Well, I'm hoping that you've fulfilled your quota of psychopathic murderers for life," teased Logan.

"Knock on wood," sighed Veronica as the sun dipped below the horizon.

Logan turned to Veronica and softly kissed her, "I love you Veronica Mars."

"I love you too Logan Echolls."

AN: So that's it! The End. I hope you guys enjoyed it. I can't thank you enough for all of your wonderful reviews. I'm hoping to start up a new story sometime soon. I'm thinking a future LoVe fic set sometime after Veronica's gone through FBI training, we'll see! And remember, LoVe is all you need.