DISCLAIMER: I don't own Veronica Mars.

A/N This story was originally written together with WickedWitchVictoria, but she decided to stop writing due to lack of time. I've finally decided to continue. These first already written chapters haven't changed much, I've simply tried to minimize some of the grammar errors, but if I've missed some, please let me know. I hope you'll enjoy this "old" beginning.

Prologue

"Push, honey, push!"

"Drop dead, you are not popping watermelons through your nostrils here! I swear I'll kill you if you don't get away from me!"

Keith Mars looked lovingly down his panting and sweating wife, Lianne Mars, and caressed her forehead as though she hadn't just told him to get the hell out of her personal space and Lianne soon got other things to worry about, as the first of her daughters were about to enter the world.

"Aaaand here she is!"

The doctor held up a screaming lump of something utterly gross and bloody. At least that was what Lianne first thought at the sight of her firstborn.

Keith on the other hand was smiling wide and almost cut of his own fingers in excitement when he was allowed to cut the umbilical cord.

Lianne looked tiredly at him and thought dejectedly, how did I end up like this - with him? Do I really want to be trapped as a sheriff's wife and never use my own talents again?

Suddenly another contraction ended Lianne's chain of thought and she started moaning in agony again. She didn't take pain well - she had a very low threshold for pain. Fortunately for the doctor and Keith, they didn't have to listen to Lianne's complaints and pleas for drugs much longer because only ten minutes later, Lianne's second daughter entered the world.

Is that what's been in my womb for all this time - is that it? Lianne mentally asked herself and looked at her husband of several years, who was once again making a complete fool of himself by grinning like an oaf while cutting the umbilical cord.

Keith didn't notice his wife's gloomy looks. He was so caught up in the emotions of finally becoming a parent. The doctor took their twins and checked their health and to Keith's joy nothing was wrong with them except their petite sizes. Well, one was very petite and the other was quite normal.

Keith turned to Lianne as they waited and asked gently, "Don't you want to hold them honey?"

Lianne sighed inside herself and with tremendous effort; she managed to turn on a fake smile. "Off course love, but let's get them cleaned up a bit and make sure they are healthy."

Keith thankfully agreed and Lianne had a chance to think for herself as he couldn't contain his eagerness and followed his children's examination intently with his eyes and left Lianne alone a moment later.

Lianne sighed out loud this time and leaned back into the pillows. She was so disappointed that she almost cried. She had truly hoped that the birth of her children would give her some clear sense of what to do next. How am I gonna keep my secrets and my lover with those gross sucking machines? Lianne tried to get comfortable on the tiny bed that those damn nurses hadn't even tried to clean yet and asked herself: Would Jake try for a paternity test? No, Lianne answered her own question with a headshake, but his dear wife Celeste might try.

Lianne rolled her eyes and looked out the window and thoughts of her past began creeping through her head. She had always been an A student with a popular circle of friends. People liked her and asked for help with a lot of stuff. And when Lianne had begun dating the pretty jock Jake Kane they had become the royal couple to follow.

Well, until Celeste showed her true colors of bitchness, Lianne added to with an internal growl. Now here I am; an underpaid secretary at the Sheriff's department. Married to the boss and as of today I'm nothing more than his breeding cow. What did I do to deserve this? Lianne closed her eyes and an inch of fear crawled under her skin, if Keith ever finds out there's even a chance that the girls aren't his, I'll be ruined. And that's only if he never finds out about the whole "Jake Kane might be the true father" thing as well.

Just as the fear of her husband, whom she knew had a dangerous streak beneath all the politeness, was getting too much for Lianne to handle, Keith walked back into the room with a giant bouquet of flowers and a happy smile.

It was in that exact moment that Lianne knew she was going to leave him and her children behind as soon as possible.

"Congratulations honey and well done too!" Keith saluted and leaned down to give Lianne a quick peck on the lips.

Lianne was too exhausted to fake a smile this time and simply said, "Likewise Keith. So have you seen them?"

Keith nodded and a wave of fatherly love entered his entire face as he described them to perfection. He had memorized every little detail about them.

"The firstborn is the biggest. She's got beautiful dark hair and a round and healthy face. Her grip is firm and she seems to be very calm for an infant, because she didn't even give a cry as the nurses changed her." Keith sighed happily at his memory and then his grin widened even more.

"And the other one looks a lot like you, honey. She's very petite and blond. Her grip is strong too though, and I think she'll be a handful. She screamed and acted like a little diva and made all the other babies cry as well -- except her sister. They are wonderful."

Lianne tried to feel happy, she really did, but nothing of what Keith told her gave her an itchy feeling to storm out of the bed to see the twins for herself - on the contrary, she felt even more pressured to leave town as quickly as possible. What's wrong with me? Lianne thought a bit afraid of her own dark thoughts for one brief moment.

Keith, like before, was oblivious to his wife's internal struggle and sat down beside her and looked so lovingly at her, that Lianne almost had to look away."So, what are we gonna call them?" He asked.

Lianne didn't have a clue and looked puzzled for a moment. She was named after her mother, but didn't want to repeat that - especially since she'd decided to leave town in search of greener pastures. "You name one and I'll name the other?" Keith suggested and looked proud of his own idea.

Lianne sighed again and threw out the first name she remembered. "How about Nicole?"

Keith lit up in another smile. "That's pretty, where's that from?"

Lianne told the truth, part of it anyway, "I had a half brother once and his wife was named Nicole - she was really nice and ordinary and well, I like the name."

Keith stood up again and said, "Nicole it is then and as for the little one. She was herself back there and she looked so pure too – like a little angel." Keith looked away with a sheepish smile for a second before he continued. "Don't laugh okay? I always liked the bible story about a legendary saint who wiped Jesus' face and then found an image imprinted on it and me being a semi good detective I like to find things true image, so how about Veronica - true image?"

Lianne almost laughed at her husband's rambling and as the name thing didn't matter to her one bit she agreed to his choice.

Late at night after Keith had returned home to rest up after a very long nine months of having a pregnant wife, Lianne stood out in the hallway at the hospital, looking down at her children. "Why don't I love you like I should?" Lianne mumbled to the drowsy infants.

The big one - Nicole didn't respond to her mother's voice, but the little one, Veronica opened her eyes and didn't look away. Lianne suddenly felt pierced by that look and stood immobile for several minutes.

Then Veronica smiled a toothless smile and something in Lianne's heart finally melted just a little bit. "Well…when I leave," she told her tiny daughter and ignored the now sleeping twin beside Veronica, "I'll take you with me. I promise."

After making that oath, the mother turned around and walked back to her bed to start hatching a plan - Keith Mars was a brilliant man, but Lianne thought herself to be a lot smarter.

I guess I'll need to ask Jake for some cash…

TBC…

A/N2 So, I hope you'll check out my other "new" story and then take my poll, so I can see which one you'll prefer to read first. I will alternate in case of writer's block, but I will try to respect the decision.

This is an AU story, in case you haven't guessed it.

Please review ;)

Ditte Mai