Veronica Mars Alternate Universe Fan fiction

Title: A Step on the Path

Author: Moo Chapman

Spoilers: All of Season's one and two

Summery: Logan was dating Veronica when Lilly was killed. And stood with her when she stood with her dad.

Author Notes: Due to popular disbelief this story has undergone a minor edit.

The pilot Chapter One

Veronica walked from the car park to the front entrance of her school Neptune High

'This is my school. If you go here, your parents are either millionaires or your parents work for millionaires. Neptune, California, a town without a middle class. If you're in the second group, you get a job; fast food, movie theatres, mini-marts. Or you could be me. My after-school job means tailing philandering spouses or investigating false injury claims'.

A crowd had formed around the schools flag pole, and knowing Neptune high the way she did Veronica knew that, that could not be a good thing. Veronica began to push her way through them.

"Who'd that guy rat out?" A male voice asked as Veronica pushed past and because she interested to the reply she kept her ear open to hear it.

"The bikers," Another boy answered

"Why doesn't somebody cut him down?" A girl asked

the crowd's focus is on a young black man, taped to the flagpole. He was naked, although his dignity was preserved by the positioning of the tape. The misspelled word 'Snich' was painted in large letters across his chest. The crowd was ringed around him."Yeah! I'll do it. I wanna be the guy up there tomorrow!" Another young man said sarcastically

A particularly obnoxious individual stepped up to him with a cell phone camera, to take a photograph of himself with the humiliated captive.

"All right, say cheese. Smile" The obnoxious young man said holding the cell phone up and snapped the shot

Wallace swallowed hard. Veronica was unimpressed with the passivity of the crowd and with the jerk she approached them

"Move" Veronica ordered the jerk.

"Who died and made you the quee-" The jerk started but was cut off when a hand reached out and pulled the guy back

"You wanna mind what you say to my girl" Logan Echolls said and pushed the jerk back in to the crowd.

'This wasn't the first time Logan has come to my rescue, he has made quite a habit of it in the last year. I keep telling him I don't need a protector, but I'll never stop him. He needs too badly to make up for some thing that he has convinced himself is his fault' "You two ARE freaks." The Jerk said.

Veronica flashed a bright smile at her rescuer the turned to the young man and started to slice through the tape around Wallace's lower body with a knife that she had taken seemingly out of nowhere.

"You're new here, huh. Welcome to Neptune High." Veronica said looking up at the young man. Her rescuer stepped up and took off his shirt and handed it to Veronica who handed him the knife. Veronica wrapped Logan's shirt around the young mans waist. And Logan took over cutting the teen free.

The school bell rang, and the crowd began to disperse.

"Go Pirates!"Veronica said with mock enthusiasm and a sneer as they went.

"Thanks" he said from his spot on the flag pole. "I'm Wallace"

"And we're done" Veronica said as Logan stepped back and handed the knife back to Veronica.

"I'd take that off in the gym showers if I where you," Logan said and gave Wallace a salute "We gotta get to homeroom" he said and draped his arm around Veronica's shoulder. "Keep the shirt"

LoVe

"This is advanced placement. We expect more. It's called 'An Essay on Man' but what Pope's really talking about is faith. Right? Anybody?" Mrs. Murphy walked forward, most of the students looked board Veronica more so then mos, whose head was resting on her arms on the desk fast asleep "Did anybody complete the reading? Veronica? Veronica Mars!"

Veronica jerked upright. She wiped one eye, attempting to wake up. "Um-hum?"

"Congratulations, you're my volunteer. Pope. An Essay on Man. Epistle I." Mrs. Murphy announced and turned her back on Veronica and walked but to the front of the classroom.

"Hope springs eternal in the human breast;
Man never is, but always to be blest:
The soul, uneasy and confined from home,
Rests and expatiates in a life to come." Veronica quoted

"And what do you suppose Pope meant by that?" Mrs. Murphy asked

"Life's a bitch until you die." Veronica stated, the other students giggled.

"Okay, thank you Ms Mars for that succinct and somewhat inappropriate response." Veronica returned her head to the desk as Mrs. Murphy carried on.

"I think what Pope's saying is that the thing that keeps us powering through life's defeats is our faith in a better life yet to come." Veronica didn't look convinced.

LoVe

Veronica rounded the corner of the empty school corridor with successive sets of lockers on the side between classroom doors. Miscellanies of posters decorate the walls and the fronts and sides of the lockers, including a number exhorting Pirate Pride and similar themes.

'Random locker searches. It's the latest tactic the administration has adopted in their losing war on drugs except the searches aren't really random.'

Standing in front of Veronica's locker was a tall, stern looking man in a suit and a deputy. Deputy Sacks, who holds the leash of a German shepherd.

'I know when they're gonna to happen before Vice Principal Clemmons does.'

"Veronica Mars, this should be good." Deputy Sacks said

"Veronica, will you please open your locker." Clemmons ordered more then asked. As Veronica is doing so, the dog started to bark.

"Buster," Veronica scolded the dog. The dog gave a little whine and obeyed her. Deputy Sacks looked down at the dog, disappointed by its acquiescence. Veronica opened her locker. It was completely empty save for a picture on the back of the door. It was a picture of Vice Principal Clemmons framed in a heart.

"Wow. This is a little embarrassing." Veronica said and smiled defiantly at Clemmons

LoVe

Veronica and Logan sat together at one of the tables of the school's outdoor eating area. There where apart from the world around them still and quite in the rush and noise around them. Veronica was staring at a number of students sitting and standing around a table. A pizza delivery man arrived at the table.

'We used to sit there. At that table. It's not like my family met the minimum net worth requirement. My dad didn't own his own airline like John Enbom's,' John held out a gold card to the delivery man. 'Or serve as ambassador to Belgium like Shelly Pomroy's, but my dad used to be the sheriff and that had a certain cachet.' Another boy approached the table that held Veronica's attention.

'Let's be honest, though. The only reason I was allowed past the velvet ropes was Lilly and Duncan Kane.' Duncan sat down at the pizza table 'Children of software billionaire, Jake Kane, she used to be my best friend and he was Logan's' Veronica took her eyes of the table and looked over at Logan beside her 'He'd still be over there if it wasn't for me, it's where he belongs. His dad makes twenty million a picture. You probably own his action figure.'

'And let's not forget Casey Gant, Every school has an obligatory psychotic jackass. He's ours.'

Wallace sat down at hers and Logan's table and is unpacking his lunch "You okay?" he asked getting Veronica's and Logan's attention

"What?" Veronica asked

"You look, I don't know, hypnotized." He said trying to explain his question

"Did we say you could sit here?" Logan asked his instinctive reaction to an unknown element taking over

Wallace shacks his head and starts to repack his lunch, preparing to leave the table, Veronica read the look on his face, she had seen the same one on Logan's after he had tried to a approach Duncan that first time after choosing to stand beside her instead of him.

"Wait a minute. Of course you can sit here. Sit wherever you want." Veronica said

He looks over at Logan, who gives him a crocked smile and a nod, before sits back down.

"That-that was cool, what you did, cutting me off of that pole." Wallace says address both Logan and Veronica

"Well-" Veronica starts but is interrupted from behind by a head-shaven, tattooed biker Weevil,

"My bitch. Weren't you supposed to wait for me at the flagpole?" Weevil sat down next to Wallace, deliberately getting in his face "I'm not sure I could have made that any clearer." More bikers follow, standing behind Weevil.

Wallace takes a deep breath and lets out an uncomfortable laugh knowing that he can't expect his table mates to help out against. Wallace decided to bluff his way "Okay, I get it, a'right. Very funny." The bravado he was going for not completely making its way to his voice

"Yeah," Weevil not back out of the now very intimidated boys face.

"I guess we're even now. Right?" Wallace asked hopefully.

"You get what boy? You get that you're a dead man walking, is that what you get?" Weevil askedaggressively

"Leave him alone." Veronica ordered

Weevil turned his attention to Veronica, grinned and moved to stand over her, completely ignoring Logan's presence, Logan when have stood up and taken a swing at Weevil, consequences be damned, if it weren't for Veronica's hand sliding on to his leg. He understood that to be her 'let-me-handle-this' signal.

"Sister, the only time I care what a woman has to say is, is when she's riding my big old hog, but even then it's not so much words just a bunch of oohs and aahs, you know?" Weevil said

"So it's big, huh?" Veronica asked, Wallace looked from Veronica to the Bikers then to Logan, who had a smugly proud look on his face.

"Legendary," Weevil claimed

"Well let's see it. I mean if it's as big as you say, I'll be your girlfriend. I mean Logan's big, but I wouldn't call it legendary" Veronica broke off from Weevil to look over at Logan "Sorry babe"

"Hey I know when I beat," Logan replied.

"We could go to prom together," Veronica said in a breathless tone looking back up at Weevil

Veronica's refusal to be intimidated surprised and amused him, he laughed as he looked around at his fellow bikers, one of whom was Felix.

"What? What seems to be the problem? I'm on a schedule here, vato." Veronica said mock hurrying the biker along.

"Dude, Weevil. Don't let Blondie talk to you like that!" Felix said seemingly offended on his leader's behalf

"Sounds like your buddy here wants to see it too," Veronica pointed out.

"Ah, hell, I'll show you mine." Felix said Moving toward Veronica and Making to drop his pants Logan stood up at the same moment thatWeevil put out his arm to stop Felix, but in any event, he was interrupted by the arrival of the Vice Principal.

"Felix Toombs. What on God's green earth is going on here? All right gentlemen, move it along. Logan Veronica, why does trouble follow you around?" Veronica smiled blandly as Clemmons moved the bikers on, Felix through Wallace a filthy look as he went. Leaving the tables original three inhabitance alone once more

"So what did you do?" Veronica asked

"What?" Wallace asked

"Why are you a dead man walking?" Logan clarified for his girlfriend.

"I work at Sac-n-Pac. Last night I was working by myself. Couple of those guys came in." Wallace explained. "They just walked right to the back of the store and started stuffing all these forties into their pockets. So I hit the silent alarm," Wallace shrugged, he didn't want these two to think the worst of him "That's when the police came"

"We don't have police here. We have a Sheriff's Department." Veronica corrected .

"He came in and took me out to where their was this other cop with the two bikers, that came in and all the others where just standing there, so I told them that the bikers paid for the beers. The cop walked in to the Sac-n-Pac and took the security tape. Then he sniffed me and told me 'To go see the Wizard' and to 'ask him for some guts'"

"'Go see the wizard', he said that?" Veronica asked as Logan pulled her closer to him and pressed his lips to her temple

"Yeah." Wallace answered

"Congratulations, sport. In your short time here, you've already managed to piss off the motorcycle gang and the local sheriff."

Wallace shock his head realizing how truly grave of his situation really was.