Title: For the Sins of Others
Author: StarCrossdSparrow
Pairing/Characters: Logan/Veronica, ensemble
Rating: PG-13
Chapter: 4/4
Word Count: 4,893
Disclaimer: RT is the master of all things Veronica Mars. I'll put everyone back when I'm done, so please don't sue.
Spoilers: 1.22 "Leave it to Beaver"
Summary: AU from the events of 1.05 "You Think You Know Somebody." Veronica asks Logan for the details of the Tijuana trip and snark ensues.
Author's Note: If you hate when authors butcher canon for their own personal gain, don't read this, 'cause I've been cleaning my knife for weeks. BIG thanks to LJ user erin2326 for putting up with me and for her marvelous beta skills.

XxXxXxX

Logan was reclining on the living room couch three days after the Christmas party, blissfully ensconced in reruns of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, when his mom popped her head in and chirped, "Veronica is here to see you, darling."

Lynn was fairly beaming at him, the picture of domesticity in a plain white apron and wielding a wooden spoon. Mrs. Navarro was cooking something and Lynn had decided to help. Logan couldn't remember the last time his mother had cooked, but the thought made him smile. Normally at this time of day, she was three sheets to the wind and he was recovering from the previous night's bout with daddy dearest. But today, things were different, and it was partly in thanks to the blonde detective standing behind his mother.

Logan grinned and sat up. "Afternoon, Mars. What brings you? It wasn't the smell of fresh quesadillas, was it? 'Cause, if that's why you're here, you'll have to fight me for 'em."

Lynn smiled down at Veronica. "Can I get you something, dear?"

"I'm fine, thanks, Mrs. Echolls."

"Oh, honey, call me Lynn, please," she patted Veronica shoulder and smiled sincerely. She turned her smile on Logan before retreating back to the kitchen.

Logan moved over to give Veronica room to sit next to him, but she choose the smaller sofa instead. As her polite grin faded, Logan could almost taste the storm coming. He quickly recounted his latest misdeeds and came up empty. Even his night on the town with Duncan and Dick hadn't yielded anything more than a hangover. He wasn't sure what he'd done to earn Veronica's scowl this time, so he used her tactic and started asking questions until he found the right answer.

"Are you okay? What's wrong? Did you get another note or present?"

Veronica dropped her gaze to her folded hands. Everything about her was on edge. "Last year, at Shelly Pomroy's end of year party, do you remember what you did to me?"

Logan narrowed his eyes. That night had been hazy at best; it was mostly a blur until he woke up the following morning next to some freshman begging him to call her. And while he didn't remember what he'd done concerning Veronica, he had a sinking feeling that he hadn't exactly presented her with a bouquet of roses and proclaimed his undying love for her, so he waited for her to go on.

When she finally did, her voice was shaking, and she wouldn't quite meet his eyes. "Well, a little birdie told me that you arranged a few body shots for your pals. And guess who got to be the body?"

Her words sparked the memory of her prone on a lounge chair while he fed shots to anyone around. "Veronica, I... it was stupid and I'm... I'm sorry," Logan answered lamely. Of all the things for her to bring up, he hadn't been expecting that. "Who told you?"

"Does it matter?"

Realization dawned on him and he smirked. "Duncan, huh? Did he also relate how he rode up on his white horse and carried you away from my gang of ruffians? You would have appreciated it, really. Very heroic."

Her breath hitched and tears threatened, and he watched her battle them. When she regained control, her tone was ice cold. ""I was raped that night. Did you know that?"

Logan blinked. She couldn't really have said that. With his mind a jumble of horror, shock, and trepidation, he asked, "Raped? By who?"

Veronica smirked and all evidence that she'd been on the verge of tears was replaced by her anger. "You mean to tell me that you don't know? I figured it was some big joke among the 09er set. Maybe there's a trophy for whoever could emotionally and physically abuse Veronica Mars the most? Weren't you in the running for that title?"

Logan nodded his understanding, his lips pressed into a tight line. "Oh, so you're accusing me of rape. Fabulous. My day is complete. Oh, but wait, I think I can one up you." He rubbed his forehead before gathering the courage to stare her down. "Guess where I was the day Lilly was murdered?"

Veronica frowned. "You were in Tijuana with Luke and Sean."

He mimicked a game show buzzer. "Sorry, Ronnie. You lose. I was right here in Neptune, writing Lilly a sappy letter which, like the girl I am, I left in her car to find." He snorted mirthless laughter. "And to think I actually expected her to find it and come back to me." He shook his head before going on, "So, there goes my alibi. Why don't you slap murder onto my rap sheet while you've got the red ink out?"

She blinked her confusion before standing.

"I don't guess you need me to show you out?" He didn't give her a chance to respond before turning his attention back to the television. "Great. Thanks for popping by. Next time, bring the Sheriff with you so we can do this the hard way."

He waited until he was sure she'd gone to stand. He passed through the kitchen, ignoring his mother calling after him, and stalked to the pool house. As the threw himself across the bed, he heard the staccato tattoo of rain beginning to fall onto the tiles outside.

XxXxXxX

He stayed home during the rest of the Christmas vacation, right on through New Year's Eve, despite Dick's best efforts to get him to go out. Logan and Lynn toasted midnight with Aaron's most expensive champagne and he went to bed, trying very hard not to dwell on Veronica's face at the moment she'd told him she was raped.

Logan had gone through the possible suspects over and over again; the list totaled at least fifty of the guys at Neptune High. He didn't care how many there were because once school began again the following Monday, he was just going to go through the list in alphabetical order and beat the truth out of every last one of them.

He tried to remember all the details from that night, especially those pertaining to Veronica. Most of what he thought he knew, he'd heard from his friends. Apparently, Veronica made out with everything that breathed and a few things that didn't. But, try as he might, there were holes where his memory should have been.

On Sunday, however, Veronica came to him again. Or rather, he saw her sitting in her car on his street, staring at his house. He didn't know if she was trying to set it on fire using her brain power or if she was simply deciding whether or not to pull into the driveway.

He heaved a sigh of relief when she came through the gates and parked. He watched from the window in the foyer as she unbuckled her seat belt, shook her head, then made to pull it back across her lap. She changed her mind and let the belt slip through her fingers. It would have been endearing if it hadn't pained Logan so much to see her have to talk herself into seeing him.

She walked to the door and rang the bell. Logan waited a long moment before opening the door.

"We have to talk," she said without preamble.

Logan leaned against the door frame, tapping his lips as if considering. "What's even left out there for you to accuse me of? Larceny? No, I already have enough cash. Of course, everyone keeps telling me I need a new car, so maybe grand theft auto?"

"Logan, please let me in," her tone was even, but her eyes were pleading. "This is serious."

His irritated veneer crumbled a little and he stood back to admit her. He pushed the door closed and turned to face her. "What is it, Veronica?"

"It's about your dad." She handed him one small cassette. "This contains all the evidence I needed to have Aaron arrested for Lilly's murder."

He lifted an eyebrow and looked at the tape in his palm suspiciously. It looked awfully plain to him, but he waited for her to explain.

"I've already given the originals to my dad to take to Lamb. No doubt your fa- Aaron will be taken into custody sometime soon. I just wanted you to have the option of watching it if you wanted. I can stay," she swallowed hard before amending, "I i want /i to stay with you while you watch it because it's awful, but I'll understand if you don't want me here."

Logan just stood, dumbly holding the cassette in his outstretched palm.

"And, I have to apologize."

He blinked. He was suddenly sure he was dreaming. Before he could speak, she rushed on.

"Can we go someplace else? Somewhere more," she glanced around, "Private?"

Logan was now totally befuddled. "Veronica? Are you okay? You haven't so much as text messaged me in a week and now this?"

She grimaced. "I just came from Duncan's. Well, I stopped at my dad's office, but I just... Logan. Let's do this somewhere else."

He shrugged and turned to lead her up the stairs. He figured if he was going to have a dream about Veronica, she might as well end up in his bedroom.

Once inside, she closed the door behind them. Logan sat on the bed and watched her expectantly.

She stood with her back to the door, looking ready to flee if he'd so much as said 'boo.' But she started talking, anxiously twisting her fingers. "Okay. I don't know how to say this, but I went to Duncan's today. Something clicked about the letter you said you wrote. There wasn't one found in her car or her bedroom. So, I figured she must have hidden it if she didn't throw it away. It was a long shot, but I just had to look. There was only one place that none of the sheriff's deputies would have thought to look."

"The vent?" Logan guessed, remembering how Lilly had loved his own secret hiding place. She loved a secret of any kind.

Veronica nodded. She began to pace, working herself into a fervor similar to the one he'd seen when she'd exposed Sean for a fraud. "So, I went to Duncan's and after we..." She cut herself off with a shake of her head before pressing on, "I slipped into her room to look. I didn't find the note, but I did find three tapes. I consolidated them onto one tape for the copies."

Logan toyed with the cassette, refusing to meet her eyes. "Why did you go to Duncan's in the first place? To reclaim your place beside the white knight? Or was it to rehash more of my wrongdoing? I'm pretty sure you could start a club."

Veronica sat on the bed next to him, focusing her gaze on him. When she started to speak, her voice was thick with emotion. "I... I'm sorry I accused you, Logan. I knew in my heart that you could never have... you just don't have it in you. I... I just..."

He glanced up at her and finished her thought. "Needed someone to blame?" He'd meant his tone to be more guarded, but he was affected by her doleful expression.

She nodded in response and he watched as he throat worked over the emotion clogging her words. "I... I know who did it."

Logan blinked. "If you want to talk about it, I'm here."

She sucked in a ragged breath and gave him a watery smile. "You think you want to watch the tape now, or have I worn out my welcome?"

He'd almost forgotten it. He didn't know what sort of dirt Lilly had gotten on Aaron, but it couldn't be anything worse than seeing Veronica cry again. He crossed to the armoire containing the television, connected his camcorder to it, and pressed play.

He took a seat on an ottoman to watch the tape. At first, he was disoriented by the image on the screen. Lilly was kneeling on a bed, looking up at the camera. It was the bed in the pool house, the bed he normally sprawled across when he needed to escape the house. Lilly crawled off the bed and disappeared for a moment. The tape went fuzzy and the next thing he saw was the same bed with the comforter crumpled at the foot. The angle showed two people under white sheets. It cut to a head-on shot of Lilly, naked save a white bra. Logan sucked in a hard breath as the video cut back to the bird's eye view of the bed, and whoever Lilly had been on top of changed positions with her. Then there was another front angle view. And the face that appeared was no other than his own father's.

Logan sucked in a hard breath and Veronica scrambled to the armoire to stop the tape. She knelt before Logan, taking his hands in hers. Her voice was hardly a whisper when she spoke. "Logan, I'm... I'm so sorry. I just... you needed to know before the press got to it."

He nodded and he felt his already precarious resolve give completely. His face contorted as he swallowed a few hasty breaths. Nothing could stop the flood of tears that threatened and when Veronica stood and gathered him close, he let go and cried.

His cheek was pressed to her belly and from the way it was heaving slightly, he knew she was crying too. He clung to her, burying his face into her soft tee shirt before he pulled her down to sit with him. They held one another, crying for Aaron's sins, for Lilly's, and for their own.

When their last sobs subsided, she tipped her face back from his shoulder. "Duncan," she said quietly. "It was Duncan. At the party." She sniffed and more tears slid down her cheeks.

"Oh, God, Veronica. I'm... it was me."

Confusion muddled her damp features even further. "No, Duncan admitted-"

"No. The drugs. I had them that night. I gave my dose of X to Duncan that night. Did you have any of his drink?"

Veronica blinked and shook her head. "No." Her arms slipped from his waist and she scrubbed her face with her hands. "I don't know where I got my drink that night. Did you give anyone else the GHB?"

"No, but Sean and Luke had some. It doesn't matter, anyway. If I hadn't dosed Duncan, you wouldn't have ended up..." Logan closed his eyes tight to blink away the tears. "I'm sorry doesn't cover it."

She reached over and took his hand, and he opened his eyes. "It has to, because I'm sorry, too."

The held one another's gaze for a long moment before she let him gather her back into his arms.

XxXxXxX

Rumors of Aaron's philandering spread along with the news that he was going to be tried for the murder of Lilly Kane. Both stories made Entertainment Tonight the cover of People and for some reason, it was on FOX News at least three times an hour

Of course, several of Aaron's 'former flames' came out of the woodwork. Logan was sure most were lying. A few of them even had children that they attributed to his father. Logan just prayed that Aaron hadn't sown too many seeds.

Trina showed up almost immediately after the arrest. She swathed herself in black, covering her eyes with oversized shades, playing the part of the worried daughter better than any role she'd ever acted in her life. Lynn insisted she stay at the house, and for once, Logan didn't even really mind. She made herself an easy target if nothing else.

Logan managed to block it out for the most part. Being harassed by reporters, both the legitimate sort and the paparazzi, was something he'd grown used to over the years. He just continued to tell them all that he had nothing to say. He'd even started to do it with a smile, which seemed to work a lot better than smashing their cameras all over the pavement.

Duncan had started ignoring Veronica like it was his only goal in life. Logan wondered what else had gone on between them the day Veronica had found the tapes, but he knew better than to ask. His best friend walked a very fine line between mentally healthy and just plain mental some days. He didn't want to upset the easy balance that his life had become.

Meanwhile, he continued to attend classes and rule over his crowd at the lunch table. Veronica more or less avoided him, so he'd started doing the same. Apparently, shared tears did not a friendship make. Even if they had shared them in his bedroom. He just tried not to let his disappointment show when she yanked her gaze away the few times he'd caught her looking.

He was trying to give his thoughts of Veronica up for good when the weather started to warm up and his father's trial began. He'd been nursing that pipe dream for almost three months. Three very long months. Even the girls he found himself with when he partied with Dick usually tended to be short and blonde, and as soon as he realized it, he pulled himself away from them. Veronica was definitely a prominent feature in his rotation, but even that was getting old. So, along with Dick, he made a plan for the night of the lame spring dance. He figured they could do the 80s thing for an hour before heading up to LA in a limo and hitting the clubs. Project Get Laid was back on and he was actually looking forward to forgetting a certain smart-ass with a love for pastry.

When they showed up at the dance, Logan was surprised to see Veronica there. He'd figured it wasn't her thing anymore, especially in light of the fact that her father had made headlines along with Aaron. Everyone in Neptune, and some people beyond, knew that Veronica was instrumental in solving the case. It earned her some quiet respect, but it also distanced her from the rest of the school. People knew that she could find things out if she wanted to know something, and it scared them.

But there she stood, her arm linked through Meg Manning's, dressed like a mini-Madonna from the singer's Like a Virgin phase. Logan's mind filled with a sudden image of Veronica writhing around on stage in a white bridal gown. He was so ensconced in the mental image, he jumped half a foot when Duncan asked him a question.

"What, man?"

Duncan lifted an eyebrow at him. "I asked if you wanted anything to drink."

Logan nodded and followed his friends back to a table covered in bottled water and canned soda.

"I half expected an actual punch bowl," he said wryly.

"Let me guess, you wanted to spike it? Some things never change," a familiar female voice replied.

Logan turned toward the source of the reply. Veronica was uncapping a bottle of water, looking even tastier and less-virginal up close. Logan swallowed hard before replying. "Well, someone has to kick this party into high gear. How long have people actually been dancing like this?" He gestured toward the couples on the floor, most of whom where doing the sixth grade sway to "Is This Love?"

Veronica laughed. "You're right. Maybe it's all the Aqua-Net and glitter. I think when mixed together they create some sort of terrible chemical acid that kills fun. That's why people in the 80s did coke."

"Well, I left my stash in the DeLorean, but I did bring some hooch. You care for some?"

"No, thanks. But, I have to ask, did you forget your pants, too?"

Logan executed a tight turn. "I'm too sexy for pants, haven't you heard?"

Veronica laughed and nodded out at the dance floor as the first chords of "She's Like the Wind" strained through the speakers. "Look."

He followed her line of sight to see Duncan pull Meg into his arms for the dance. "Ah, so that explains the flowers he was wearing."

"Yeah, but what is the explanation for that hair? You didn't electrocute him, did you?" Veronica kept watching Meg and Duncan dancing, a small shadow of a frown on her lips.

Logan laughed, but didn't respond. He pushed his hand through his hair and gestured toward the floor. "Do you want to? I mean, this is Patrick Swayze. He has to liven the party up. We might as well be out there when the fun starts." He was rambling, and he knew it.

"You're such a girl, Logan," she responded with a laugh and walked out to the floor. He followed, trying to tone his broad grin down by a few hundred watts.

They stopped somewhere near the middle, and stared at each other for a moment. Logan made the first move and placed his hands low on her waist, careful to keep his fingers from the lacy material of her skirt. He was suddenly hyper-aware of the logistical problems of being sans-culottes.

She wrapped her arms around his neck, carefully avoiding his direct gaze. They swayed to slow tempo in silence for a moment before she spoke. "I heard that mystery Echolls number seven was just proven to be another fraud. So, congrats."

Logan nodded. "Yeah, thanks. The fewer brothers and sisters I have out there, the better."

"Less people to split the inheritance with?" she guessed.

He flinched at her assumption. "No, less people that carry the killer gene."

Veronica met his eyes. "Logan, I'm sorry. I didn't..."

"It's okay. I know you didn't."

She dropped her gaze and they stayed silent. Logan was grateful that he didn't have to talk because the way her skirt was rubbing the top of his legs and the view he had of her strapped into the tiny black top would have made him incoherent.

When the song ended, she let him go and glanced toward the door. "I should get going. I..." she cut herself off and Logan looked from her bare shoulders to the door. "My work here is done."

Logan snorted at that. She'd certainly wormed her way back into his brain and given him a new mental image for his own personal Veronica slide show. Not to mention the painful erection which made him glad he'd gone for the extra large button-down. But he didn't want her to leave, so he simply said, "Stay."

Veronica blinked up at him, surprised.

He shifted his gaze away. "Or, we could go somewhere else."

"You're not even wearing pants."

"You don't have much on yourself," he retorted, smirking down at her lace covered legs. It was a bad idea and he regretted it almost instantly. Any moment, the whole room was going to be as aware of his hard on as he was.

She laughed. "True. How about some drive through Dairy Queen?"

He grinned. "Sounds good." He glanced around and spotted Dick. "Hold on for a second, okay?"

She nodded and he walked to where his friend was trying to insinuate himself into Madison's personal space. "Hey, man. I need the limo. Think you can get a ride home?"

"But what about LA?" Dick whined. "I told Madison..."

"I wasn't going to go anyway, ass," she cut in. She smiled a broadly up at Logan. "Please take the limo. It'll cut down on the places he can try to convince me to go with him."

He nodded and rejoined Veronica at the door.

"I'm driving," she informed him, digging into her bag for keys.

"Nope," he chirped. "Neither of us are."

"What?"

As he opened the door for her, her pointed to the black limo parked near the door. "This way, not even the drive through people can see what we're wearing."

Laughing, she capitulated. "Fine. Your vehicle wins this round."

The climbed into the limo and instructed the driver to take them to the ice cream.

As Veronica tucked into her mint Oreo Blizzard, she smiled and gestured around the interior. "This kind of takes me back."

Logan nodded, smiling at the way she devoured the ice cream. "Yeah. Lilly always loved anything ostentatious.

"She would have flipped for one of the new giant Hummer limos."

"If we could have gotten one with a hot tub, she would have made us," he grinned and sipped his coffee and ice cream hybrid.

Veronica giggled and pointed at him with her spoon. "You have..."

Logan touched his nose and sure enough, his fingers came away with whipped cream on them. "Oh, I was saving it for you." He swiped it onto her nose. "I know how angry you would have been if I hadn't left you some."

She arched her eyebrows dangerously before wiping the topping away. Then she scooped ice cream onto her spoon and held it out to him. "Want a taste?"

"Oh, no. I'm not falling for that." He slid down the leather seat toward the back of the limo.

She cocked her head to the side and pouted her lower lip. "You wound me. I was just offering you some ice cream." She thrust the spoon a little closer to his mouth.

When Logan bent forward to capture the spoon between his lips, she turned it and pushed it into his face, just as he knew she would. He grinned at her, swiped the last of the whipped cream from his drink and lunged at her, smearing it across her face.

She giggled and squirmed beneath him and before either of them realized it, she was pressed onto her back under him. Her laughter died as she searched his eyes.

She looked so tempting, covered in whipped cream and her muscles relaxed from laughing. He was afraid that kissing her would beak their tentative friendship for good, but she made the choice for him, closing the distance between them and pressing her lips to his.

Her mouth was sticky with the weapons of their tussle, and she tasted of mint. He rubbed the pad of one thumb over her cheek, wiping away the cream and memorizing the texture of her warm skin. She shifted beneath him and he felt her stocking clad thigh on the inside of his bare one. He groaned and broke the kiss.

"This is dangerous," he growled.

She smiled up at him, her eyes sparkling devilishly. "But not wrong." She pulled him back to her and their lips met again. Unable to resist her, he ran his tongue over her bottom lip and along the seam of her mouth until she opened to him. She turned her head automatically to accommodate their more intimate press, her hands now pushing through his hair and across his shoulders.

He was balancing on one leg and precariously close to crushing her beneath him if the limo made too sharp a turn, so he pulled her up as he knelt backward. When they were sitting, he pushed her against the back of the seat and laid his forehead on her collarbone. "You're killing me, Veronica."

She grasped his face between her palms and forced his gaze to hers. "What's wrong?"

Logan shook his head with a uneven chuckle. "Nothing's wrong. This is all I've wanted for... well, probably since the first time I saw you. I just... I'm just... " he closed his eyes for a moment and sucked in a deep breath. "You're not going to disappear, are you?"

She turned her head to the side, questioningly. "Not unless our driver is David Copperfield and I'm part of some crazy Vegas show. Why?"

He shrugged. "I just don't want to mess this up." He touched a lock of crimped hair and the moved his hand to her cheek, caressing it with the pad of his thumb as he had before.

She smiled and turned her head to his his fingertips. "You won't. I trust you."

He returned her smile and pulled her close, laying kiss on the top of her head. "I'm glad, Veronica. I've missed you."

She wrapped her arms around him and just let him hold onto her.

XxXxXxX

Later that night, he was sprawled across the bed in his room, staring up at the ceiling. Fresh from a shower to wash the sticky residue from their ice cream battle, Logan reveled in the way his healing back felt against crisp, new sheets. And the way his lips were still swollen and tender from his marathon make out session with Veronica Mars. And the mental image of her saying goodbye to him outside of her apartment door. She'd been so cute when she demanded he come and get her early in the morning because she'd left her car in the school lot.

He intended to wake up early, swing by the bakery, and grab coffee and an assortment of donuts for her. Maybe even something that might woo Keith Mars. Something in the Danish family, perhaps?

He looked at the moon shining brightly through his window. The night was so clear, he could almost see the stars. He imagined that he saw planets if he squinted hard enough. Neptune, maybe. Hell, Mars, even! He laughed, folding his arms behind his head.

Logan finally had a few reasons to be giddy.

XxXxXxX

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