A/N All mistakes are my own, I'm just having fun in RT sandbox
"Welcome to parenthood." Ms. Hauser says showing the class a realistic doll.
She is currently sitting by herself thanks to the odd number of students, she exchanges a smile with Meg, who is currently living with Duncan at the Grande while Lamb looks into everything that her dad had given him.
Who knew that Lamb actually had a heart. Hell must have frozen over or something.
"For the next five days, you.. moms and dads will be caring for your very own Baby Think-It-Over."
She wrinkles her nose when Ms. Hauser holds the baby by its ankle and lets it hang in the air. The sound of a crying baby fills the room.
"Some tips. Your babies are equipped with very sophisticated sensors. They will know when they want to be held, fed..." she goes through everything about the care of the 'baby'. "Most important, they have a good memory. So if you want to pass this class...make sure to give junior some TLC." She tells them while giving the 'baby' a bottle and burping it. "Find a partner and pick a baby."
She waits until everyone has partnered up before going up by herself. She would have teamed up with Hector but he was already partnered up with Carmen.
"Single motherhood, Ms. Mars." Ms. Hauser asks watching as she collects the last baby, which she doesn't want to admit reminds her a little of Ophelia but lighter.
"At least this way, I know I'm the only one screwing the kid up." she jokes. She's surprised to see a small smile on her teacher's face. She collects everything that she's going to need and waits for class to end.
"Ms. Mars, come with me." Clemmons says when she exits her last class of the day.
She follows him to his office.
"Your keys, please." he says holding out his hand the instant they walk in.
She places the baby, in the carrier that Ms. Hauser provided everyone, down on the floor and pulls her keys out of her purse.
"All of them." he says not moving his hand.
Swallowing, she takes out another key ring and watches as Clemmons tries them on his door. Of course he gets to the one key unlocks the door.
"I have a really funny story..." she tries to start.
"Don't bother. The district's new security system keeps track of all after-hour visits. This means you will be suspended."
"Nonono...if you suspend me, I won't..."
"Be eligible for the Kane Scholarship..Hmmm, maybe I could be inclined to let you off with detention...This time."
"I'll take whatever you got." she says sighing.
"Hmmm, follow me.. I have a little project for you." Clemmons says with a smirk, leading her out of the office, she makes sure to grab her bag and the baby carrier.
"Some other exciting news. Open auditions for 'Hamlet' will be open all week.~ Moorehead announces as they pass him ~I am proud to announce that this year's special celebrity director will be none other than Miss Trina Echolls
Oh joy..Trina is in town.
Clemmons leads her into the basement. Which is filled with filing boxes and cabinets.
"The janitor had a little mishap with the dolly last week while moving the permanent records. Your detention is finished when these files find their way, in alphabetical order, to those cabinets."
"Oh..joy. Is magic allowed?" she jokes.
Clemmons smirks and leaves. She places her bag and carrier next to the cabinets and gets to work.
She's on her next to last pile when one folder jumps out at her.
Lianne Susan Reynolds...mom?
Slowly she opens it, sitting down on the floor, leaning against one of the cabinets.
Before mom started throwing them back like a rock star about to go into rehab, she told me that high school is something you had to get through...I think I get what she meant now. I wonder if I would have liked Lianne the teenager. Miss Reynolds...suspended for three days for spreading false and malicious rumors...shared hearing with one Deborah Philipina Drummond...
"Any relation to one Deborah Philipina Hauser?" she said softly.
"Miss Mars...this is going to take you a extremely long time if you read each file." Clemmons says entering the room.
She quickly gets to her feet, "I was..."
Clemmons just raises an eyebrow at her before turning and leaving the room, shutting the door behind him.
She places her mom's file on top of her bag and goes to take care of the rest of the files. Every so often her eyes stray back to the file.
He's working on a customers car, thinking the sooner he gets this done the sooner he can head home and clean up before going to see if V wants to rent a movie or something, when the power goes out.
"Hey!" he yells out trying to get the attention of the other guy still there. "Jaun! You tripped the breaker!"
Frustrated at zero response, he all but slams the tools he was using down and heads to the fuse box. He restores power and turns only to have a fist in his face.
Fuck
He can feel multiple hands holds him down.
"Heard your lights were out." he hears Logan snark before he feels a kick to the head and everything goes dark.
"Hey..what happened to you last night? Thought you were coming over after you did some work? Call me." she leaves what is more than like the millionth message on Weevil's voicemail as she sits in the parking lot of school the next morning. She gets out of the car and starts undoing the car seat that her 'baby' is in.
"You know, there's these things called genetics? Well thanks to my mom, your 'grandma', there's a fifty-fifty chance of me becoming an alkie which means you have a little less of chance. Sorry kid." she mutters picking up the baby. She's hoping that getting to school earlier than normal that she'll catch Ms. Hauser to see if she was the same girl that was at the hearing with her.
She catches a break when she sees her walking past.
"Ms. Hauser!? Got a minute?" she calls arranging her stuff to chase after her without dropping anything.
"Ask at your own risk, Miss Mars. I haven't had coffee yet this morning." Ms. Hauser tells her when she catches up.
"You knew my mom? Lianne Reynolds?"
"I remember Lianne. I'm embarrassed I ever listened to her gossip, or repeat it. A lot of people got hurt because of your mother's mouth." she tells her before walking off.
"Dammit." she mutters when the 'baby' starts crying. She surprises herself when she is able to get it to calm down within seconds. She starts heading to the entrance, happy that she has a while before anyone else shows up.
"Well, that explains it." she mutters seeing the sight in front of her. Her boyfriend, duct-taped to the flagpole. Bruises visibly and the fact that he's nearly naked, or is, under the duct-tape is noticeable. "Well now I know why you didn't show up last night." she says coming up to stand next to him.
"Got ambushed. Trust me I would rather have been with you than here." he tells her.
She drops her bag and places the baby on top of it. She reaches into her back pocket and pulls out her switchblade.
"I'm having the strongest feeling of deja-vu. Only it wasn't you I was cutting down." she says with a smirk.
"Enjoy it baby. I've seen that you have been calling me most of the night. Were you worried?" he tries to get her mind off this by nodding his head towards the pile of his clothes, his phone on top.
"You're not going to tell me who did this, are you?" she asks already knowing the answer.
"Let me deal with it, V...please." he says catching her eye.
She nods. Two days, vato, then it's my turn.
"I am so glad that you're here early today." he says when she finishes cutting him down.
"You staying or heading home?" she asks while he grabs his clothes, duct-tape sticking to his body. He throws on his jeans.
"Home...want to come with, help me remove the hard to reach pieces." he says huskily coming within a breath away from her.
"Tempting...but I got a mystery to figure out." she says kissing him quickly before grabbing her stuff and leaving him standing there. Stopping a few feet away she turns and comes back to him. "Changed my mind. I'll bring you home, maybe stay and help." she says biting her lip with a smile.
"Tell me about this mystery." he says as he wraps an arm around her shoulders and walks to her car.
"So...something you need to tell me?" he says when they pull out of the parking lot.
"What do you mean?" she asks with a smirk, knowing he is talking about the baby.
"Why do you have a baby that looks like a lighter Ophelia?"
"Health class. Baby think it over." she tells him.
"So, you picked a baby that somewhat could pass as our kid?" he asks staring at her.
She smirks and doesn't answer.
At a stop light, he grabs her hand and entwines their fingers so that for the rest of the car ride they are holding hands.
She pulls to a stop in front of his house.
"You coming in?" he says with a smirk and a nod.
She nods and grabs her stuff. She follows him to his bedroom.
"I'll be out in a few." he says dropping a kiss on her mouth as she sits down. Waiting for him, she gives the baby its bottle when it starts to fuss.
"Is it wrong that you look good like that?" he asks coming into the room with just a towel wrapped around his waist to see her sitting in the middle of his bed, holding a 'baby' while reading.
She smiles and places the baby in its carrier watching as he slips a pair of boxers on underneath the towel. "Get all of it?"
"Luckily...cheap tape was used." he says with a smirk letting the towel drop and grabs a pair of jeans.
She just watches him, "I think I love you." she says it so softly that he's not sure if she said it or he imagined it.
"What?" he asks looking at her.
She swallows and looks down before meeting his eyes, "I said I think I love you."
He drops the shirt that he was about to put on and joins her on the bed, "I think.. I love you, too." he says before covering her mouth with his.
She lays back and he follows.
She doesn't feel a little guilty heading into school a few hours late.
They might not have done anything that they hadn't already done but it feels like the two of them have gone further than she has ever gone before. She's proud of herself for admitting that she is falling for him.
"Veronica? Where have you been?" Meg asks when they bump into each other.
"Around." she says trying not to let her face get red. "So, this helping?" she asks to the baby that Meg is holding.
"A little. It's getting us ready for the real thing. Luckily, we still have months before the real one gets here." Meg says with a smile as her hand moves to her stomach.
"Any news, parents wise?"
"Still being investigated. My dad is trying to claim that everything was faked by Duncan, due to his medical problems."
"I'm sorry. I have multiple swear words going through my head about your father right now."
"Me, too." Meg says frowning.
They walk the hall together both thinking about different things.
That afternoon, she walks into Clemmons office.
"So any idea what my mom did her senior year to get suspended?" she asks standing in front of him, holding her baby correctly.
Clemmons glares at her.
"Please, sooner I know the sooner I'll get back to alphabetizing." she justifies.
"I was only a science teacher back then. I wouldn't know. I'm sure there is a report." he tells her trying to wave her off.
"With all the good stuff blacked out. Who else was here at that time?"
"Mrs. Hauser was a student. Mr. Moorehead was the vice principal and Mary Mooney was a student. That's all."
"Who's Mary Mooney?"
"Check the cafe."
She looks around the cafe and notices a woman clearing the tables.
"Mary Mooney?" she calls out.
The woman ignores her.
"Excuse me?" she says a little louder.
She still doesn't turn around.
"Doesn't matter how loud you go..." some skater calls to her, "She's like deaf or something."
Okay been a while but I think I might remember the alphabet
She tapes Mary on the shoulder. Mary turns and looks at her.
"Sorry, did you know a L-I-A-N-N-E R-E-Y-N-O-L-D-S?" she says and spells out slowly.
Mary watches her and shakes her head no.
"Okay." she says softly and turns to walk away.
She's a few feet away when Mary taps her shoulder and starts signing fast.
"Slowly, please."
Mary starts again slower.
"Lianne was a...fiend?"
Mary smiles and nods.
Swallowing hard she nods and walks away.
Knowing that someone has to know she hits up her next source.
"Principal Moorehead?" she calls out when she finds him walking the hall.
"Miss Mars. I see the Clemmons is failing his job." he mutters.
"Really, what's that?"
"Keeping you away from me." he says still walking.
"You were vice principal here in the eighties, right?" she asks.
"Yes."
"Do you remember suspending my mom for spreading a false and malicious rumor?"
"Who was your mother?"
"Lianne Reynolds."
Moorehead starts laughing, "Yes I remember her. I don't remember the rumor though."
"Oh." she says following him hoping he could tell her a little more about her mom.
"Veronica!" Trina calls out.
She had followed Moorehead right to Trina.
"Take five everyone." Trina calls out. "Alan, how's my favorite principal?"
Moorehead chuckles taking Trina's hands in his.
"Trina, it's good to have you back." he says.
Trina smiles even when another student calls for Moorehead.
"You look amazing." Trina say coming over to her. "How are you?"
"Good, good." she says nervously.
"I've been meaning to call you. Big news. Evan Rachel Wood..she's gonna play you in the movie. There will be a name change but she'll play you."
"Great." she says trying to find a way out of this conversation.
"We'll catch up. Call me." Trina says with a dramatic turn and heads back to the stage.
She quickly escapes.
It took a while but after searching mom's yearbook I was able to find an interesting inscription from one Patty Wilson.
Looking around the room of the Hut, she finds who she is looking for.
"Patty?" she asks placing the baby carrier on the floor next to a couch.
"Yes, you must be Veronica. You look so much like your mom." the woman says holding out her hand. She sits down across from her waiting for their drinks to arrive.
"You know we were lap partners. We would just sit in the back of class and gossip. Your mom always had the best gossip. The best ones though were your mom's love life." Patty reminisces.
"Like what?"
"Well... at the time, your mom and Jake Kane were on-again, off-again during the summer by Homecoming they were the IT couple and never gonna break up again. At least that's what Lianne thought."
"What happened?" she asks sitting forward sure this might be part of the reason she was suspended.
"The spiteful little thing that he dated when he wasn't with your mom told him that she was pregnant." Patty says with a huge smile.
"Jake Kane got a girl pregnant?" she was in shock. And he's mad at Duncan for standing by Meg during her pregnancy.
"Some thought so but your mom was positive that Celeste was lying through her teeth."
"Celeste? Celeste Kane?"
"Well she was Conothan back then. Her family was moving out of the district, I think she just wanted to break Jake and Lianne up for good. She spent the rest of Senior year at Pan..but she was at Neptune for Prom."
"Not knocked up anymore." she says shaking her head.
"Bingo. The baby had magically disappeared."
They talk for a little while longer before Patty needs to leave for work. She slowly heads to her car.
So mom was dumped because Celeste was pregnant or she said Celeste was pregnant cause she got dumped.
"Hey." she said walking through the door, holding the baby in its carrier.
"Nearly missed my chili surprise." her dad says with a smile moving away from the stove.
She drops her bag next to the couch and sits down, taking the baby out of the carrier and grabs a bottle to feed it before it even starts to cry.
He looks over and sees that she is deep in thought.
"Something on your mind?" he asks.
"Could I ask you something about mom?"
"Sure." he says sitting on one of the stools.
"When you first met mom, she was cool right?"
"She married me didn't she?" he tries to joke. "Why?"
"Ummm..I found out that Mom was suspended during her senior year for more than likely spreading a rumor that Celeste Kane was knocked up." she tells him.
"I see."
"Is there any way to find out if she was telling the truth?" she asks suddenly hopeful.
"Veronica..."
"I just need to know that she wasn't like all those girls that I hate." she mumbles.
"Veronica, who she was in high school shouldn't matter. She loved you and you loved her." he tells her.
She sits with Meg and Mac in the journalism classroom.
"How did you get out of this?" she asks Mac since she doesn't have a baby.
"Talent." Mac says with a grin. Meg's baby starts crying and she can tell that Meg looks she is about to burst into tears herself.
"Meg?" she asks as Meg picks up the baby and starts digging through her bag only for it to fall on the floor.
"I'm sorry..." waving her hand in front of her, she and Mac start picking everything up. "The court wants me to go to counseling with the rest of my family."
"What?!" she and Mac exclaim.
Meg gets out of saying anything else when people start running past the door.
"FIGHT!" someone screams.
"ECHOLLS AND WEEVIL ARE KILLING EACH OTHER!" another yells as they go past.
"Watch my kid!" she yells at Mac before tearing out of the room.
Meg smiles, "Is it bad that I'm thankful her boyfriend and ex got into it at this moment."
"That might have distracted her but you still have me to deal with." Mac says.
"I didn't even mean to say a thing." Meg says grabbing her stuff and leaves the room quickly, going in the opposite direction of the crowd.
He slams open the door to the bathroom, smirking when he sees that Logan is there. He makes sure to put the door stopper under the door and does a quick check of the stalls.
"So any chaffing from removing all that tape." Logan says with a smirk.
"Give me one reason why I should let you live after that play." he snarls.
Logan glares at him, "Let's see..you blasted a shotgun through my car window while I... and Veronica were inside."
"That wasn't me." he starts.
"You torched my house and had some of your crew play Russian roulette with my hand. According to my math, you still owe me."
"I thought you killed Felix!" he yells.
"Well, I didn't."
He scoffs, "Yeah, I know that know."
"Where's my apology?" Logan snarks.
"Keep waiting, but now we have something in common.."
"You mean besides locking lips with certain blondes."
"Let's leave V out of this."
"I can if she let's you."
He smirks for a moment, "Good point.. we have to find out who killed Felix."
"So what now? I get to ride shotgun?" Logan snarks.
Rubbing a hand over his face to keep from smacking him, "Maybe. The thing is I can't let you leave this room lookin' the way you did when you walked in. I really don't want to be relying on my woman for a ride."
"She actually lets you call her that." Logan mutters before looking at him. "I'm not going to stand here and take it."
"Wouldn't be much fun if you did." he says smirking.
"Alright, so who's gonna throw the first..."
He doesn't even let him finish the sentence before he punches him in the face, sending him backwards. He keeps punching until he has Logan backed against the wall.
Logan grabs something and hits him in the head with it.
He falls back and it gives Logan time to right himself. Pissed, he rams Logan into the wall, punching him in the ribs.
Logan grabs a hold of his jacket and runs him into the opposite wall. Unfortunately, Logan gets in a couple of good punches.
Somehow he ends up on the floor and Echolls gets a few good kicks into his ribs. He grabs a hold of the leg not kicking him and brings him down to his level.
They roll on the floor, both still throwing body punches.
Over the roar of blood rushing to his ears, he can hear Clemmons at the door.
Somehow Clemmons forces the door open, he and some security guards burst in.
After nearly being hit a few times they are able to separate the two of them.
"Okay boys..break it up." Clemmons says as the guards force them to their feet. "Let's go."
Clemmons turns and the guards follow, each with good holds on the them.
She gets there just as Clemmons and two guards pass, each holding one of the guys.
She can tell that Weevil got in more hits than Logan.
"Break it up people. Move along." Clemmons says as he goes. "You wouldn't know anything about this now would you, Veronica?" he asks when he notices her.
She doesn't say a word just notices that neither guy will look at her.
I'm going to kill both of them and no one will ever find the bodies.
Why am I doing this again? Oh yeah, torturing myself for journalism plus it gets me away from those files.
She adjusts the camera settings and takes a photo of the actor playing Hamlet.
At the moment, his voice just sounds like white noise since she has yet to talk to Weevil since seeing him and Logan being led away. She swears if he is ignoring her texts on purpose there will be hell to pay.
Her 'baby' chooses, right in the middle of Hamlet's monologue, to start crying.
"Sorry…" she says with a slight grin, going over to the baby and giving it a bottle. She sits and watches Trinia try to teach the guy how to say his lines with better emotion. Unfortunately, she steps off the stage backwards, falling and hitting her head on the floor.
"Is she okay?" numerous students ask as they all rush over to her.
"Get the nurse!" someone yells as she reaches Trinia.
She sits at the desk, staring at her phone.
"What are you doing?" her dad asks when he enters the office.
"Seeing if my powers have finally come in. I'm telling my boyfriend to call me with my mind. Nope still no powers."
"Problem?" he asks trying not to look happy.
"Just him and Logan getting into it once again and suddenly my texts get ignored."
"Well, I have something that might get your mind off boy trouble. There wasn't a baby born under the last name of Kane or Conothan in 1980."
She scoffs, "So Celeste lied. Why am I not surprised?" she mutters.
"Or she had an abortion." he says.
"Thanks for looking." she says leaning her head back.
"Why is this so important to you?"
"I just want to know that mom wasn't one of them."
"Them who?"
"One of those girls that makes everyone else's high school experience a living hell."
"Okay just wanted to be sure before I showed you this." he says pulling a piece of paper out of his pocket and handing it to her. "A baby Jane Doe showed up at Balboa County Hospital on May eighth, nineteen eighty."
"Showed up?" she asks taking the paper.
"Yeah, little girl was found in the girl's bathroom during Neptune High's Prom."
"Okay, this takes my mind off boyfriend troubles." she says turning to her computer to see what else she can find out about the 'Prom baby'.
Her dad smiles and enters his office to let her work.
After some searching, she finds one of the foster parents that had taken in the 'Prom baby'.
"Hi, Mrs. Mahnovski?" she asks hopeful that she got the right person.
"Yes." the woman on the other end of the line says.
She gives the woman a little song and is able to get her to talk to her.
"I see from our records that you and your husband have taken in a number of children over the years."
"Yes we have." she could hear the pride in the woman's voice.
"I was wondering if you could remember a baby girl that was in your care for a short time in the early eighties? She was found…."
"In the high school. I could never forget her. She was the 'Prom baby'." the woman says with a slight laugh.
"I see. Well my clients think that she might be their daughter."
"My goodness…."
"They don't want a lot of publicity but they are quite wealthy and would like to take care of her financially. Would you be able to point me in the right direction….?" she leaves the question open.
"I doubt that she would need their money." she says laughing.
"Really?"
"Yes, she was placed into a wealthy home...however they have had some bad karma this past year. What with her mother committing suicide and father being placed in jail."
You have got to be kidding me…..
"You know, I'm getting a little tired of talking to your voicemail….call me." she says leaving Weevil another message as she paces in front of the hospital, debating what to do.
Forget it..my conscious isn't answering.
She turns and enters the hospital, going right to Trina's room.
"Hey Trina." she says entering the room. "How are you doing?"
"I'm fine. Just a little exhaustion." Trina says brushing it off.
"Okay...I came in here to pretend to do a scene and record it so I could send it out to guilt an admission...but I can't do it. I'm not that person. Trina, you were left in a bathroom at Neptune during prom twenty five years ago."
Trina rolls her eyes and smiles, "Very funny, Veronica. Who put you up to this?"
"I'm not joking. You were found on Prom night in a girl's bathroom at Neptune."
"This isn't funny." Trina says.
"I know." she says.
"So my mom...was what? One of those trashy sluts that dumped me in a garbage can so she could go party?"
"No...I'm kinda sure that your mom is Celeste Kane."
Trina's frown suddenly turns into a smile. "You should have started with that. Now what were you going to have me do?" she asks.
"I was going to record you with a fake audition tape saying that you are sick and send it off to the tabloids. Try to shame her into admitting it." she says shrugging.
"Alright, start recording." Trina says with a grin. "If we get it done fast enough I can send it to 'Entertainment News'."
"Oh...okay." she says pulling the script out of her bag and hands it to Trina.
A wonderful night of no response from the boyfriend.
She growls softly as she heads towards the drama room where she knows that Trina is practicing, her 'daughter' in a arm sling and a stack of magazines in her hand.
"Take five everyone." Trina calls out when she enters the room and quickly makes her way over. Trina takes the magazines from her, giggling as she reads the headlines.
She feels someone tapping on her shoulder and turns to find Mary Mooney signing quickly.
"I'm not that good..could you go slower." she says.
"Oh it's you. She was always nice to me when I was her. Use to sneak me an extra slice of cake." Trina says watching.
Mary signs slowly slightly but clearly emotional as tears start to form in her eyes.
"Help?" she says slowly understand the words that she is signing.
Mary nods looking at Trina hopeful.
"Oh.." Trina laughs softly. "It's a student production. No outside help allowed."
Mary shakes her head 'no' and makes the motions of a pregnant belly, points at Trina then pats her chest.
"What...what is she saying?" Trina asks becoming upset.
Mary continues signing.
"Veronica?" Trina breathes.
"She wants to give you...she's your mom." she says.
Mary, tears running down her face, wraps her arms around Trina.
Trina doesn't respond for a moment but starts crying herself and returns the hug.
I'm sorry I'm being an ass….we'll talk soon. I have some stuff that I need to figure out.
E.
She looks at the two sentence text and sighs. Shaking her head, she sits up when Mary sits down next to her. She opens her laptop and brings up WORD.
"Trina is your daughter?" she types as she speaks.
Mary pats her chest and nods.
"So Trina was the Prom baby?"
Mary nods again.
"How did my mom hurt you?"
Mary shakes her head and types. "She was my friend."
Oh...Friend not fiend. What a difference one letter makes.
"Lianne could sign. She would sit with me most of the time. She was the sweetest and coolest girl in school….and she was my friend."
"So..can I ask what got you into this? I know it wasn't to help me." Trina asks as they walk to her car during lunch.
"Twenty-five years ago, Mary told my mom that she was involved with someone on the staff. Mom made the mistake of asking one of her friend's for advice. Who spread it around the entire school and they were called into the principal's' office."
"Did that make mystery dad lose his job?" Trina asks.
"Mom recanted...claimed that she made the whole thing up because Mary begged her not to tell."
"Your mom protected the guy?" she asks shocked.
"No, your mom was pregnant with you and scared. She protected Mary."
"Who dumped me at prom?" Trina says with slight venom in her tone.
"No." she says stopping. "She left you on your father's doorstep. He was the one that dumped you at prom knowing it would be assumed you belonged to a student.
"What happened to him?" Trina asked.
She humps and smirks at Trina. "He moved up."
Trina looks at her confused.
"Went from vice principal to principal." she tells her.
Trina's eyes go wide in confusion and slowly turns to a glare as understanding hits her. She watches as Trina whirls around and stalks back to the building.
Do you need help?
V.
Not yet baby.
E.
Okay….no more of this disappearing act.
V.
"Sorry…" Weevil says as he stands in the doorway of the office.
She looks up at him, torn between kissing and strangling him.
"You going to tell me what's going on?" she asks slowly standing up as he enters the office.
"Soon." he tells her as they sit down on the couch.
"For us to work….you ignoring…" she starts shockingly uneasy.
"I know." he says brushing a strand of hair behind her ear.
"Does whatever you are dealing with have anything to do with getting into a fight with Logan?" she asks trying not to lean into him.
He laughs, "Somewhat."
She sighs and breaks down leaning into him as he wraps an arm around her waist.
"You mad?" he asks softly.
"Slightly...but you swear? No more disappearing boyfriend?" she asks sitting up and looking at him.
"I was in hell. I am here and accounted for. No more disappearing act." he promises moving a stray hair out of her face.
He leans in to kiss her as her dad walks in.
"None of that. This is a place of business." he says with a slight smile on his face that he quickly hides.
She rolls her eyes and leans against Weevil.
"Either of you eat yet?" he asks placing his stuff on the desk.
"You know..it's interesting that you ask that." she says slowly standing and heading into the small kitchen. "I was looking for a snack and found this." she pulls a rat, in a plastic bag out of the freezer.
"Shit." Keith mutters under his breath.
"Care to explain?" she asks with a smirk.
"I found it on the bus." he tells the two of them.
Weevil sits up straighter, suddenly worried.
"You checked the bus?" she asks placing the bag back into the freezer and sitting back down next to Weevil.
Her dad nods, "It was duct-taped under one of the seats."
"Was it a message to her or someone else?" Weevil asks pulling her closer.
"I don't know...I honestly don't know. You were right kiddo. I should've won that election and taken over this case." he says reaching out and holding her hand.
She's happy that her dad let Weevil stay with her all night, even if they were on the couch. She was still uneasy about the rat and what it meant but having both her dad and boyfriend had helped.
It was driving her crazy not to bug him about what was going on but she knew that if he needed help he would ask her.
Smirking, she entered Clemmons office during her free period.
"You sneaky fox." she says to him. Clemmons doesn't even look up from his work.
"Your detention is over Miss Mars. Unless there was something else you wanted to atone for?"
"Figuring out that I had a key to your office, now that was clever. You had to figure out a way to stick me in detention. That way, you could be sure I would find my way into my mom's permanent file." she says still smirking at him.
"I have no idea what you talking about." Clemmons said leaning back in his chair to look at her.
"You read Machiavelli this summer, didn't you?" she asks with a laugh.
He just looks at her, not revealing anything. "A very imaginative theory, Veronica. But if you'll excuse me, I've got a lot of paperwork." he says looking back down at his paperwork.
"Badass." she whispers with a smile and leaves.
She's almost at the computer room when her phone starts going off.
Adjusting so that she still has a good hold on the baby, she pulls it out of her pocket.
"Hello?" she asks not recognizing the number.
"Miss Mars, this is the Neptune Memorial Hospital regarding Abel Koontz's belongings?"
"Yes?"
"Mr. Koontz has you listed as his emergency contact and seeing how he has no living relatives, we need to know what to do with his personal effects."
"I'll pick them up today after school." she says softly as she feels an arm wrap around her shoulders.
She smiles at Weevil as she leans into him.
"We'll see you then." the woman says before hanging up.
"Anything good?" he asks.
"Not really... That was the hospital. I was listed as Koontz emergency contact..so I get his stuff." she says softly.
"Want me to go with you after school?" he asks.
"Yeah.." she says leaning into him for a few moments before heading into class.
"This seems wrong." she says looking at the box that Weevil was holding.
"I get what you mean." he says.
All of Abel Koontz belongs were in one small cardboard box.
"VERONICA!" a voice screams out from behind them. They turn to see Duncan running towards them.
"Duncan?" she says confused.
"I need your help. They're trying to get rid of the baby." he says scared out of his mind.