Title: Facing the Flames
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Written for vmfic_gameon on LJ. Lamb's brothers arrive for an impromptu reunion following the murder of their father. From the prompt: "Everybody Dies".
Spoilers: 2x07
Warnings: Mentions child abuse and language
Characters: Lamb, Veronica, OFCs
Word Count: 2714
Disclaimer: Veronica Mars is not owned by me, but by Rob Thomas. I'm simply borrowing these characters for non-profit entertainment. Well, aside from Jack and Eric, they're mine.
A/N: Just one of my takes on why Lamb let Duncan and Veronica go after the incident at the Manning's. As for his brothers, I admit fully to my fangirling. On with the fic.

His team was winning. He had a Saturday night off for the first time in he didn't know how long. So why did Don Lamb have such a bad feeling about tonight?

He had solved another case without help from either Mars, he had won the election, the press was off his back for the time being, nothing seemed out of place. But he just couldn't shake the nagging feeling that something was coming.

An hour later his cell phone rang. Lamb scoffed with a shake of his head. So this is what the other shoe dropping sounded like.

"Hello?"

"Don?" the man on the other end asked.

"Who's asking?" Not many people called him by his first name. To most of Neptune he was 'Sheriff' or 'Boss.' To anyone else he was simply 'Lamb.' To telemarketers or bill collectors he was 'Mr. Lamb.' With just that one name he knew that he knew this man and from the voice he could tell it wasn't Keith or Sacks.

"It's Jack."

His brother. Fuck. "What do you want?" he asked lowly. He hadn't heard from him in almost ten years. He didn't want to know what was so special about tonight.

"There's something you need to know. Have you got a minute?"

"What is it?" He could tell from Jack's tone he wasn't going to like it. The fact he was calling at all meant it was something important, he just wanted to get it over with.

"It's about Dad."

Lamb took a deep breath. For years part of him had been wanting this phone call. But now that it seemed to be here he was ready to hang up on his older brother and not even for the usual reasons he would or had in the past.

"Dad died last night," Jack told him as carefully as he could. He didn't expect Don to be upset exactly, but he also didn't expect him to burst into song. Just talking about the man brought up memories none of the Lamb brothers enjoyed.

"And you're calling because it's a police matter?" Their abusive, alcoholic father was finally dead after years of Don already considering the man to be. Why should he give a shit now?

"Actually it is, but it's out of your jurisdiction. Anyway, just thought you'd like to know," Jack sighed. He hadn't been there when it happened but he had gotten the phone call from the rat trap their father had been living in (the joys of being the eldest son). Jack couldn't help but agree that even that was too good for the man they had grown up with who had given them countless bruises and broken bones throughout their childhoods.

"And Eric's MIA as usual?"

"Uh, no. He's in California too."

"So we're doing this oldest to youngest? I'm the last to find out?"

Guilty as charged. Jack suddenly regretted admitting he had talked to their brother. "Yeah."

**

The next day Don had gone through his usual routine, or so he thought. He had been angrier than usual, snapping at anyone who even looked at him. It wasn't as though he was the nicest guy around even on a good day so he doubted anyone would notice. But of course one had. Because she just couldn't keep her pointy little nose out of anything that was supposed to be solely his business.

He wasn't grieving. Yet he couldn't fully deny that he cared the man was dead. Only the reason he cared was that he wished he had been the one to do the job. Maybe he wasn't the older brother, maybe he wasn't the one who had been considered the adult between them when they had been left on their own for days at a time. But he was a sheriff. And any time he had been called in to take care of child abuse cases his mind had gone back to those days and nights.

Jack had done what he could, being six years older it wasn't that much of a stretch. But things had gotten worse for Don when Jack took off. Worse again when Eric followed their older brother's lead. That had been the main reason for their falling out.

Not an hour after he had gotten home that night there was a knock at his door. He didn't have to look to know who it was. Not after the phone call the night before.

"Did I invite you two?"

"Hi to you too, baby brother," Jack smirked. "There are some things we need to take care of."

Don looked between his older brothers. "Fresh out of heart to hearts today. Maybe in another ten or twenty years," he grinned tightly.

Jack gave a single nod. If there was one person who could take Don's sarcasm, it was the man he had learned it from. "There are some things Dad left that we should…" Jack went on. He wasn't proud of what he had done, but he also knew what he would have done to their father if he had stayed. He was seventeen then, he couldn't have taken care of his brothers like that, not then. So instead of rendering them orphans he had instead taken off to save himself from a prison sentence. The fact Don had gone on to be a sheriff and Eric had gone on to seemingly shuck whatever responsibilities came his way wasn't a surprise.

Don leaned into his brothers and brought his voice down. "You two can have it all," he nodded.

"It's not that easy," Eric sighed.

"Of course not. Never is. Be my guests," Don went on as he motioned for his brothers to come into his apartment when he realized they weren't leaving. The Lamb stubbornness, yet another trait they shared - right up there with being over 6 feet tall, the short brown hair and piercing blue eyes. He couldn't help but be thankful he had left his gun in his bedroom. Tonight was not the night for this kind of reunion.

The three talked for hours, going on about how the old house was still in their father's name, the things that were still there, how they wanted to go about disposing of the things in the house as well as the house itself and what to do about the debt he had left behind. It was difficult, but not for the reasons it should have been.

All three brothers were almost relieved to hear the sharp knock on the door that came after almost another hour. It had to be after midnight but it was obvious by the relentless knocking that whoever it was wasn't leaving.

"Hi," Veronica smiled uneasily when Lamb pulled open his door, realizing then she should have been surprised to see he was still dressed in jeans and a t-shirt as opposed to boxers. She was thankful, yet still, unable to muster surprise. He did look tired, but not as though he had been sleeping. For that she was also thankful, Don was hardly a man anyone wanted to wake up like this. Even his deputies were scared to call him into the station in the middle of the night no matter how important the case.

"Not now, Veronica," he stated in a tone colder than his usual.

"As much as I hope I'm not interrupting anything, I'm here for a reason."

"And I just happen to not give a shit."

She was almost taken aback by his words and vacant gaze. She was used to him being a jerk, especially to her, but this time he seemed as though he would have said that to anyone who had shown up tonight. For that she added, "This isn't easy, okay? How often do I drop by your place? Especially in the middle of the night? I need to ask you something."

"No, I'm not going to arrest someone just because you're pointing your finger at them. And definitely not at this time of night. There, I've answered you. Now go." With that he was about to slam the door in her face.

"I have a question Iand/I something you need to see then.

"Veronica." It was a warning. There was little control left within him. He didn't want to do something stupid and put his fist through the wall and lose his security deposit but at the same time his brothers were clear across the room and reaching Jack's jaw would be a physical impossibility then. But Veronica was right there and on his last nerve. He never wanted to think himself capable of hitting a woman, not even her, short of a literal life or death situation. But too many memories were coming back, he was furious and he couldn't know how far he would go tonight.

Veronica, beginning to realize something was very off, asked, "Lamb, are you -" Why she cared she couldn't be sure. But he just didn't look or sound right.

"Just go back home to Daddy or your boy toy of the week, just anywhere that isn't here." he stated with his teeth clenched so tightly they were both wondering how his words were coming out as intelligible.

She caught a glimpse of movement and peered around the sheriff. "Oh." She couldn't help but notice the resemblance when the man came into a better light. Aside from slightly longer hair that he styled forward as opposed to Don's spiked strands, a slightly more square jaw and less angular frame the resemblance was uncanny.

"You must be the girlfriend," Jack half-smiled when he caught her staring.

"Because there's no one else I could be," Veronica replied before looking back to Don.

"Look, if it's really that important to you, come by my office tomorrow. I'll play your fucked up games then. In the meantime go home."

"As much as I hate to break up what I'm guessing is a family reunion here, this is serious. And if you find out tomorrow it could be too late, plus I don't think this is something you want in your office."

Don glanced back to his brothers who were watching his exchange with Veronica.

"It's about your father," she told him, her voice just above a whisper.

"I don't know how you found out, I don't care how you found out -"

"Lamb, I came to you with this. Not because you're the sheriff but because he was your father."

"And so you could rub it in?" He couldn't hide his anger, but right then he didn't care to.

Veronica handed him the file. "So no one else would have to know and you could do with this what you will."

She had to be setting him up. Destroying evidence? She was up to something. Since when did she let him off the hook that easily for a case he wanted to bury and forget? They both knew he wouldn't do this for her if it had been Lianne. But still there she stood. Maybe she wanted to use it as future leverage. Yeah. That made sense.

"Trying to set me up, Mars? Have a camera or a bug somewhere here? Anything that'll pick up on me shredding this thing?"

"Right, because I'd want to see or hear what you do here," she shuddered.

With that Don stepped outside with her and closed the door, not wanting Jack or Eric to hear any more than they already had. "What the fuck, Mars?"

"I know what it's like to want certain things to stay buried. Some secrets that are better left unknown. Seeing you like this lets me know this is one of those for you. I'm not setting you up, not this time. Not when he treated you like he did."

"How the hell -"

"A woman came in a few days ago, looking for a man going by the name of Tom Bradford. It took some digging but not only did I find him, I also found that name was an alias. His arrest record came up when I found his real name. The names of the wife he was suspected of having killed and the sons he abused were there too. Last night the woman called me, thanking me for helping her to do what she said someone should have done a long time ago."

"So a woman hired a private investigator to track the bastard down so she could kill him?"

She nodded. "That's what it looks like."

"And you're here to make sure I don't arrest you as an accessory?"

"I wanted to give you the file so no one would have to know what you and your brothers grew up with."

"Out of the goodness of your heart?" he smirked. He still couldn't believe she wasn't doing this to blackmail him.

"I finally get why you let Duncan and me go that night. Consider this my thank you. For what it's worth, even you didn't deserve what he did to you."

"Veronica," he called when she turned to head back to her car. When she turned back to him, he continued, "Anyone else know about this?"

She shook her head. "That's why I'm here now. I had to wait for Dad to go to bed so he wouldn't ask where I was going or why. And I may have a friend who knows a thing or two about computers. What's in your hand is the last known connection you and your brothers have to the man who was recently killed and who killed him."

The sheriff in him knew that friend should be arrested for hacking into and tampering with government files and should find out who the killer was and arrest her as well. The vengeful man in him knew that he would let said friend go. Even if it was Echolls, he didn't care. However he did want the name of the woman. At the very least he felt he owed her a drink.

Without another word he watched Veronica climb into her car. She had told him why she had given him the file, as way of thanking him for the one time he had let her go, but he still couldn't believe it. He had never been good at facing the past, not like this. Now he knew he didn't have a choice.

"Trouble in paradise?" Eric cracked.

"Kitchen, both of you," Don told them as he turned the corner.

Both men crossed the threshold just as Don picked up a matchbook.

"I've got a file here that tells everything Dad did to us. It's the last of the records, the other apparently, mysteriously disappeared in the system. Anyone not want this torched?"

Eric almost laughed. "Next best thing to torching Dad, I'm in."

"So how are we going to do this? We all hold the match?" Jack asked as he moved to Don's right.

"Light a match, count to three and drop them onto the file," he answered as he stared at the manila folder in his sink.

"To forgetting," Jack stated as he lit his.

"To looking out for each other," Eric followed.

"Thank you, Veronica," Don sighed as he dropped his lit match first.

When the papers were burnt to a crisp, the three men glanced to one another. Maybe the past wouldn't be as easy to forget, but each felt a sense of peace they hadn't felt in decades. None had been looking forward to this little family reunion and certainly not for this reason, but it had gone better than they had imagined.

"You're welcome, Lamb," Veronica whispered as she laid down for bed when she got home. Part of her was still convinced they would never be even for all they had done one another in the last two years but now that she had some understanding as to why he was like he was she did feel a sense of relief. And now that they shared yet another secret she couldn't help but feel a little closer to the man she couldn't still bring herself to call her enemy. Not with this new chink in his armor and what she had done for him without a second thought.

The End