Hey! I know I'm a horrible person! It's been 3 long years! So sorry! I made it a priority to get this out today since it's Christmas Eve. I'm also sorry if you've messaged me and I didn't respond. I turned my notifications off. I'll update you more at the bottom. So this is the last official chapter of the story. I wil do an epilogue. I already started it. I leave tonight for Christmas with my family so hopefully within the next week or so I'll get it submitted to you.

OK here's where we are: (I know you all probably hate me and will have to reread to know more) So: Veronica got her cast off, the poolhouse at Logan's house was tore down, news broke that Logan's mom was divorcing Logan's dad and his friends all found out about the abuse, and Veronica and Logan ditched school and Keith found out. Veronica also got her dad to let up on the reins with Logan. Please review but also take note. I haven't submitted anything for any story in at least 2 1/2 years so take pity on me some ;) Hope everyone has a great Christmas!

Dating Logan had been a challenge at times. Not because of his attitude but because of their relationship being hidden from everyone else. At school, they were friendly, however not as friendly as either of them wanted to be. Veronica could see through his easygoing exterior that he wished things were different. Logan couldn't lose the look in his eyes of wanting to grab her and kiss her in front of all of his friends. He respected Veronica's position on the subject though. She was still leery about the 09ers knowing they were a couple. The only thing was Logan had no idea how deep her contempt ran towards them or even the source behind it. He was too scared to ask so he did his best to ignore it…until the day reality smacked him in the face.

***3 months later***

"Mmm…" Veronica moaned against Logan's mouth as he kissed her thoroughly. They were currently stretched out in the back of his X-terra, parked at a beach about an hour north of Neptune. They spent nearly every afternoon this way, in the backseat at some desolate place, making out for hours. Veronica was relieved when he didn't push her to do more. She was well-aware he wanted to though. She had physical confirmation of that. Truth was she wanted more too. She had thought about it…too much lately actually. She would love to find out if all the things that Lilly claimed were in fact true. But she couldn't. Not yet. Not until he knew the truth about what happened to her. She still found it hard to believe that he had no clue.

Logan's tongue swept inside her mouth as Veronica's hands ran through his hair. He instinctly moaned as his hands roamed and crept up the bottom of her shirt. They didn't move any further than stroking the soft skin of her stomach. She had tensed up but she never stopped him. He continued to do this until he felt her start to relax. A few minutes later, his fingers made the daring journey up her shirt until he hit the bottom of her bra. That was when she stopped him.

"Logan…"

Logan sighed, trying to keep his voice even and not show disappointment. "Yeah, I figured you'd stop me."

"Logan…"

"It's OK, Veronica. I get it if you think we're moving too fast." He slowly moved his hand out from beneath her T-shirt.

"That's not it." She was quick to protest, tugging her shirt down. "We're not moving too fast. I wanted you to go further."

Logan stared at her bemused, "You did?"

"Yes of course."

"Then why…"

"Because…" She nervously tucked her now shoulder length hair behind her ears. "I need you to know something first."

"Should I be nervous?" He joked.

"Maybe." She told him truthfully which caused his expression to fall flat.

"What? What is it?" He couldn't help but be concerned about her anxious demeanor. It had been a long time since he had seen this look grace her face. The last time was when she was relaying the conversation she had with Aaron when he had basically held her hostage.

"Do you remember Shelly Pomroy's party last year?"

Logan's face instantly paled. "Yeah. Is this about the salt lick?"

Veronica groaned. "I remember the salt lick and I'm choosing to pretend it's one of those not real things. No, it's not about that." She hesitated going further. The SUV fell silent for roughly 30 seconds before Logan chose to break it.

"Do you trust me, Veronica?"

"Yeah, I do."

"OK." He slowly stroked her hair, noticing the tension that had crept into her body was slowly dwindling, "OK, so you know no matter what you tell me, it's never going to change how I feel about you, OK?"

Veronica slowly nodded.

"I love you, Veronica."

Her head snapped immediately over to check that she heard right. "Wh…what?"

"I love you. I'm not sure if that was the right time to say it but I want you to know I do. I love you."

"I…I love you too, Logan."

"Really?" He gasped. He wasn't expecting her to say it back just yet but was elated that she did.

"Yeah." She leaned forward and gave him a kiss. She took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. "This is hard for me to say."

"I understand. Take your time."

Nearly a minute later she quietly said, "A lot of stuff is fuzzy from that night. There are big sections of time I don't remember. The last thing I remember was passing out and the next thing I knew I woke up naked in the guest room. All that time in between is gone."

Logan turned white as a ghost. "Wait, are you telling me…"

"I was drugged and raped, Logan." She whispered. Her gaze dropped to the floor of the back seat.

"By whom?" His voice became as sharp as a steak knife.

"I…I don't know. When I woke up, I was alone."

"Oh my god."

"Can you understand now why my hatred for your friends runs as deep as it does?"

"Wait, you think that…"

Veronica's scowl spoke volumes, "Quit playing naïve, Logan. It was an 09er party. They were the only ones there."

Logan sighed in defeat. She was right; it was an exclusive 09er party. It was one of the few that Weevil and his biker buddies were unable to crash.

"Did you report it?"

"Tried to."

"What do you mean, 'tried to'?"

"He didn't believe me."

"What?" Logan roared and Veronica flinched for a brief second. He frowned that his reaction frightened her and pulled her close to him. "Sorry. I can't believe he didn't believe you."

"Oh please. Are you truly shocked by that?"

He thought for a moment then shrugged, "I guess not."

"Lamb is an ass. Always has been, always will be. If I had just handed them those tapes I doubt he would've believed me and even looked at them."

"True."

"So…"

"So…what?"

"What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking I'm so sorry that happened to you."

"I don't need your pity, Logan."

"You asked what I was thinking."

"Touche."

"I'm thinking…what happened, you know with…"

"Yeah." She instantly cut him off.

"It had to feel like a horrible déjà vu to you."

"That is certainly one way to word it." She nodded as she looked at his hand. She threaded their fingers together. "When I was trapped there and it looked like it was going to happen again, I swore to myself that I was never going to give up. I would fight like hell. I may have been unconscious the 1st time but I refused to go down without a fight."

"I hate thinking about that." Logan whispered as he stared at their hands, not her gaze. It was too hard to look her in the eye right now.

"I try not to and honestly, I wish I hadn't said anything now cause you won't even look at me…"

That jolted his head up. "No, I'm glad you told me. It's not comforting to know what one of the 09ers did to you but I'm at least content knowing what the missing piece of the animosity puzzle was. I knew…well, I hoped that you would tell me eventually."

Veronica nodded. "So how does this change things?"

Logan frowned. "I already told you, Veronica. It doesn't. This has no bearing on how I feel about you. I meant that."

"Thank you." She leaned over and gave him a kiss. She unthreaded their fingers in order to wrap her arms around his neck and pulled him down with her on the seat.

"Veronica…"

"Where were we?"

"Maybe we shouldn't, Veronica."

"I'm not having sex back here, Logan. It's too cramped for that. But I was about to have your hands on me in a place I had dreamed about…"

His eyes instantly lit up, "Really?"

"Well, yeah. Of course in the dream there was another place you had them, too."

Logan grinned devilishly, "Dirty mind, Veronica Mars."

"Are you telling me that the thought has never crossed your mind? That you haven't dreamt about it?"

"Of course I have. In my dream, it was my mouth not my hands, though."

Veronica shivered at that possibility. "I'm liking that thought too. Let's start with your hands though. I want to feel your hands on me, Logan. I need to feel them on me."

"You're sure." It was a statement, not a question.

"Of course I am. I only stopped you because I couldn't let you go any further without you knowing the truth. When we sleep together…"

Logan cocked a surprised eyebrow.

"I guess I'm assuming on the word when."

"Oh I like the word when." He smirked. "Let's keep the word when."

"I bet you do. Anyway, assuming we do, I wanted you to be prepared of my hesitancy."

"Thank you for telling me. We'll work on that, OK?"

"We will?"

"Veronica, I want you to have nothing to be afraid of. I don't want you to be scared."

She frowned, "I'm not scared."

"Yes you are and it's completely understandable. We'll take things slow, OK?"

She quickly nodded as she noticed his hands at the bottom of her t-shirt. "Can I do this?" He asked.

She gave a brief nod as he lifted the t-shirt over her head and tossed it on the floor beside her. He stared at her closely, naked from the waist up except for a pink cotton bra. His palm brushed the cup while his thumb teased her nipple until it hardened under his touch.

He grinned as she squirmed under him. "Like that?"

"Other side." Was her response.

Logan teased her other nipple as well and watched as it hardened beneath the thin fabric. He leaned forward and took the cotton clad nipple in between his lips and suckled.

"Lo-gan." She moaned as a hand ran through his hair.

"Hmm…"

"Take…take it off."

Logan obliged, unhooking the front hook and peeling it off her. He stared at her chest in awe. God, she was beautiful.

"What?" She suddenly felt very self-conscious.

"You're gorgeous." He murmured as his lips enclosed around the now naked nipple and suckled. She moaned as she watched him tease and tug at her breasts.

His fingers went to the button on her jeans. "Will you let me go further?"

"OK."

He quickly helped her slide of them, leaving her clad in only a pair of pink bikini panties. His fingers grazed the fabric between her legs and they were sopping wet. "Wow! You're drenched. I really wanted to try something but if you would rather it be my hands, just tell me."

"Hands first." She panted as he slid the underwear down. "Then mouth." She opened her legs slightly as Logan slid one finger slowly inside her, then two. She clenched for a moment.

"Relax, V."

"Trying to."

"Do you want me to stop?"

"Not on your life."

Logan chuckled as he leaned down and kissed her, his fingers creeping back inside her, teasing her while their tongues danced together. Veronica moaned against his mouth as she pressed down into his hand. His mouth then trailed down to her left breast, his teeth gently tugging on her nipple.

"Logan, I…I'm gonna come."

"Go ahead, V. Come. Let go and come."

"Oh god, oh god Logan." She panted as a wave of pleasure engulfed her.

A few seconds later, Veronica was returning from her high when she noticed Logan knelt down, removing his fingers and replacing them with his tongue.
"Oh." She sighed as she felt his tongue lick inside her. She ran her hands through his hair as she glanced down to watch him work, his tongue darting in and out of her.

"Oh god Logan that feels amazing. Keep going."

"You taste amazing V. So sweet." He admitted as he sucked on her clit before nipping at it.

"Ahh…coming again, Logan. Don't stop. God it's good." She admitted as she hit her second high.

Shortly after, Veronica sat up and put her clothes back on. "Wow!"

Logan grinned. "Like that did you?"

Veronica rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I guess you did OK."

He smirked, "Ha ha. Very funny."

She pulls down her shirt and just gazes at him pensively.

"What?"

"I'm just trying to figure out how you're doing this."

"Doing what?"

"This has got to be bothering you."

It dawns on him that she's referring not going any further. "No, it's really not."

"Oh come on Logan. It's not like I can't tell you've wanted to do more. You can tell me."

He leans forward and kisses her softly. "Listen to me. I'm willing to do this at whatever pace you want to, Veronica. Yeah, sure I'm not gonna lie. Having you here like you just were was…is a real turn on. It's even more of a turn on when you said when we sleep together not if…"

"I bet." She smirked as she threaded their fingers together.

"I love you, Veronica. I'm not going to jeopardize this by sleeping with you before you're ready."

"I know you wouldn't."

"So there's probably something I should tell you now…"

The color drained from her face. "What?"

"No, it's nothing to worry about. Not with us anyway. Look, I don't want to do anything until I know you're completely OK with it."

"I am." She insisted.

"No, Veronica. I think maybe you should see if you can find someone who was there that night and see if they can help you piece back together what happened."

"I don't want to think about it, Logan."

"It's the only way I think you're going to make peace with the past."

"You mean with the 09ers." Veronica corrected.

"No I really do mean the past. Whether you make peace with them is up to you. We're together regardless of what you do. I just think that this has to still be weighing on your mind. Especially given more recent events."

"Logan…"

"You need closure, Veronica. That way we can look towards the future."

Veronica realized he had a point. "Fine." She sighed as she climbed back into the passenger seat.

On the trip home Veronica was quiet. Logan was unable to determine if it was because of his suggestion or because she was just lost in her thoughts. Yeah, he knew it would be painful. There was a slight part of him that did regret bringing it up. He'd always wonder though if she would be truly at peace til she knew what happened.

Logan himself was cognizant enough to pay attention to the road but his mind was clearly elsewhere also. It did pain him knowing that one of his friends…so called friends…was potentially a rapist. To be completely honest and he would never admit this out loud to anyone but there were a few names that automatically came to mind. It left a bitter taste in his mouth though.

Just under an hour later, Logan parked his vehicle on the side of Veronica's building obscuring a direct view from her apartment aka the watchful eyes of her dad.

"OK thanks. I'll see you later." Veronica moved to leave but Logan caught her hand before she could.

"Logan…"

"Don't hate me, Veronica."

Veronica sighed as she slumped against the seat, "I don't hate you, Logan. I just really don't have the energy to do this."

"Start with the people who you know like you."

"None of them like me, Logan."

"Sure there are."

"Like who?" Veronica's blue eyes narrowed.

"Meg for one. She was at the party. If anybody can give you an accurate account of what they saw, it would be her."

Veronica thought pensively. Yeah, Meg was a friend and Logan was correct. She would tell her if she had asked. "OK." She gave him a peck on the cheek. "Talk to you later."

This time he let her go. He let out a dismal sigh as he watched her round the corner to her apartment. It took a few minutes before Logan finally put the vehicle in drive and left. He ultimately knew there wouldn't be a joyous outcome to this. Both of them were well aware of that. But Logan still clung to the belief that discovering the truth had to be better than the demons that could plague your mind.

"Hey dad." Veronica walked in and was immediately greeted by Backup to whom she quickly patted on his head. "Hey buddy." She studied her father as he reviewed some paperwork he was sifting through on the kitchen island. "Dad, what are you doing?"

"Just…uh…looking something over. How was school?"

Veronica shrugged. "It was school." She pursed her lips together as little tears formed in the corner of her dad's eyes. "OK you're worrying me now. What are you reading?"

He quickly wiped them away and handed her the paper. "Veronica, I am without a doubt your father."

Veronica's eyes looked bewildered as she read the paper quickly then turned joyous as she hugged her dad tightly. "Oh yeah you are!" She paused for a moment then asked, "When did you do this test?" She pulled back from him.

"Awhile back ago. Just got the results today."

"Were you worried?" Her smile faltered slightly.

"No, I actually thought you might be."

"Oh." Veronica answered quietly.

"Look honey, you have been and will always be my daughter. I didn't do the test because I doubted it. I did it to put your mind at ease. I think you've been struggling with the possibility you were Jake's daughter."

Her eyes grow huge, "I didn't think that I had been that obvious."

"To be honest, you hadn't but that night we were all in the police station together and what you said to Celeste, made me realize you knew about your mom and Jake's past."

"So you did know that?"

"I knew they had known each other when they were in school. As far as the rest it wasn't until much later that I had found out they were still seeing each other."

"How much later?" This revelation worried Veronica that her dad knew while she and Duncan were dating and chose not o say anything.

"A fight we had a couple days before she took off."

"Oh my god."

"I'm sorry, Veronica."

Her face cleared. "For what? You don't have anything to apologize for."

"Yes I do. I should've brought up how much I knew about your mom and Jake Kane."

"It wouldn't have made a difference, Dad. It might've answered the questions sooner but in the end, the result is the same. I am and will always be your daughter."

"Damn right you are." Keith pulled her back in for another hug and kissed the top of her head.

The next day, as Veronica pulled into the school parking lot, her stomach was in knots. She was not looking forward to this day at all. Any given day at this place was hell but now Logan was forcing her to associate with the demons themselves. She realized he was trying to do it in an attempt for her to get closure but that didn't make it any easier. In fact, she had stayed in her car an extra 7 minutes in order to avoid going in. It was Wallace who brought her out of her funk by knocking on her window.

"Oh hey Wallace." She cracked the door open, attempting to emerge from her LeBaron.

"Hey, what you up to, Supafly? Was wondering if you were going to come in or not."

"You were waiting for me?"

"Well, I knew you'd be coming up but uh…Logan asked me if I had seen you."

"Logan did?" Veronica cocked a curious eyebrow as she grabbed her bookbag from the backseat.

"Yeah said he saw your car but didn't see you."

"Yeah. Just working on the courage to go inside." She locked her doors and they took off toward the front entrance.

"What's going on with you?"

"I'm fine. I just…have something to do that I don't want to."

"How is that different than any other day here?" Wallace joked and Veronica cracked a smile.

"Ain't that the truth?" She grumbled as she made her way to her locker. "Me and the 09ers are going to settle this once and for all."

Wallace pursed his lips, his eyes narrowed in bemusement, "Settle what?"

"The Battle Royale that has went on for more than a year now. They're going to give me answers whether they like it or not."

"OK, V. You're worrying me now."

She glanced over at him and gave him a knowing smile. "Don't be. I'm fine. Or least I will be once I get to the bottom of this."

"This what?"

"By the end of today, I'm going to know the truth about what happened at Shelly Pomroy's party last year." She slammed her locker door shut with a smack and told Wallace she'd catch him later.

"Can we skip English today?" Meg pleaded as Veronica stood next to her locker door. Veronica took Logan's suggestion to start with her. Might as well start with someone who she knew would be honest with her without the threat of blackmail. "I have some sort of Hemingway related narcolepsy. You start talking about 'The Sun Also Rises' and I start falling asleep."

"Don't blame Papa, blame Mrs. Murphy's monotone." Veronica told her then cautiously decided to test the waters, "Hey, you were at Shelly Pomroy's end of the year party, right?"

Meg immediately froze as if she was stunned with Veronica's actual taser. "Uh, yeah. Yeah for a little while." She replied, attempting to keep her tone casual.

"Did you see me there?"

Meg finally looked her straight in the eye. "Why?"

"I just want to know. My memories are a little fuzzy about that night."

"Yep, maybe that's a good thing."

Veronica's blood ran cold in fear. "So you did see me."

"For like a second." She answered breezily. "I was with Cole and we were just leaving." Meg nervously told her about what she witnessed with the salt lick and how she wanted to do something but Cole wanted to leave and it was then that Meg noticed someone starting to help Veronica.

"So you don't know who helped me?" Veronica asked as she tried to keep up with Meg as they left her locker.

Meg quickly shook her head. "No, so that's your big high school related embarrassing moment. Everyone's got one, right? You got to let it go. You'll make yourself crazy."

Been doing that a whole year now. It ends today, Veronica silently vowed as she went into her class.

At lunch, Veronica remained a woman on a mission. Next stop, someone who actually owed her his life: Luke. Thanks to Veronica, he still had his after her help with that 'roid behemoth Hank Zigman and the steroids that had been stolen by Troy.

"Remember when I saved you from drug dealers and I said I may call upon you for a favor someday?"

Luke glanced up and saw Veronica right at his side. He frowned. "You didn't say that."

"It was implied." She informed him as she took a seat across from him.

Luke laughed nervously, "Okay, what can I do you for?"

Veronica smirked. "Nice. Uh, I heard you went to TJ with Sean and Logan and scored some GHB."

Luke's face went bland. "Wow, that was like a year ago. I don't have any now."

"I was going to spike your juice box and have my way with you."

Luke laughed uneasily.

"What'd you do with it?"

"Nothing." He quickly answered. "Honestly, I…I didn't do anything. I gave it away."

"Who'd you give it to?"

"Umm….Dick Casablancas." Luke relayed a story about Dick's inability to score with his girlfriend and how he gave Dick his dose of GHB.

"So Dick drugged Madison?"

Luke remained uneasy, "Well, he…he asked for two doses and I, so I just figured he was gonna take one and ask her to take the other one but, um…I'm pretty sure she didn't."

Veronica's eyes narrowed, "How do you know that?"

Luke turned somber, "You're not going to like this part." He then relayed a story about how Madison got out of her car and had an aerosol can in her hand and started to spray on the windshield of her car.

"As I understand it, GHB is supposed to make you nicer."

"Why would Madison do that?"

"Uh, I dunno. 'Cause she's a horrible human being?" Luke retorted and Veronica silently agreed.

It didn't take long to find where Madison was; she was doing the thing she loved most other than making people miserable: staring at herself in the mirror of the girls' room.

"You can keep asking but you're not the fairest, trust me."

Madison stared coldly at her in the mirror. "I can tell you who the pastiest is. What's the deal, can't buy bronzer with food stamps?"

"You wrote slut on my car last year at Shelly's party. Why?"

Madison finally turned and faced her. "Because whore had too many letters."

"I hadn't done anything to you then."

"Whatever, Veronica."

"Like what?" Veronica demanded.

"How bout making out with my boyfriend in front of the entire party?"

Veronica's eyes grew huge.

"I guess I shouldn't take that personally though, huh? You pretty much made out with everyone."

"I don't believe you." Veronica's gaze narrowed.

"Are you kidding?" Madison grudgingly divulged the horrific details of lip syncing to 'I touch myself' and making out with Dick and Casey.

"I made out with Dick and Casey?"

"Please. You made out with the garage door. And don't even start with the 'I was so wasted'."

"I wasn't drunk. I was drugged you bitch." Veronica's eyes were ablaze. "Someone put GHB in my drink."

Madison froze for a moment, "Yeah."

"Yeah, it's true Madison and what I'm finding out is that the GHB I probably got was really meant for you cause Dick bought it off of Luke. You count your lucky stars you didn't get it." For a brief moment, the little voice in Veronica's head piped up, "Come on, she ruined your life. You can now ruin hers. Tell the truth about her family. You know you want to."

She did want to…badly. To wipe that smug, privileged smile off her face would feel so damn good. Unfortunately, before she got the opportunity, Meg opened the door and spotted them.

She eyed them wary. "Veronica? Everything OK?"

"Just fine, Meg. Thanks." Veronica spun on her heels and left and almost collided with Logan walking down the hall.

"Whoa! Hey!"

"Hey." She told him as she attempted to sidestep around him but was unsuccessful.

"Veronica wait."

"What Logan?"

"What's going on?" He kept pace with her as she headed down the hallway.

"Not in the mood right now, Logan."

"Wait, come on."

She stopped and stared at him for a long second, "What?"

"What's wrong?"

"What's wrong?" Veronica's voice rose a notch or two. "What's wrong is everyone I'm talking to is leading me down an even more treacherous path as to what happened that night."

"Oh."

"Oh. That's all you have to say. Did you really think that your friends were all chivalrous and kind-hearted? The only ones they are ever that nice to is themselves." She paused for a moment. "There's only one who could potentially be different and I'm going to talk to him now. Later."

Veronica spotted Casey by his car in the parking lot. When she hadn't seen him in school, she decided to browse the vehicles. "Hey stranger."

Casey turned around from reaching in his car to get his bookbag out. Hmm…looks like he just got there. Wonder what that's about, she silently mused. "What's up Veronica?"

"Kind of an awkward question. Do you remember Shelly's end of the year party? I know it was awhile ago."

"Not really." Casey admitted uncomfortably as he tried to head around her. "Listen I just got back from an appointment and I gotta get some stuff done before class. See you around, OK?" He tried to speed walk but not fast enough to not hear.

"Oh yeah. I was just wondering how you've been, you know, without your grandma."

Casey stopped dead in his track and walked back to her. "I've been good. Got my priorities in check. No more throwing my family's money at strangers so I can eat S'Mores and listen to bad folk music. What was the awkward question?"

"Did I hit on you at Shelly's party?"

Casey paused for a moment, "No."

Veronica bit her lip, "Did it get ugly at Shelly's?"

"Oh yeah."

Casey then relayed details of Dick and Veronica kissing and Madison staring at them in horror. When Dick spotted Madison he shoved Veronica onto Casey.

"Well, I'm going to go drink some bleach now." Veronica told him as she pulled her bookbag tighter to her.

"You know, just a thought. If you don't remember much about that party, maybe you should leave it that way."

"Does that mean you saw something else?"

Casey hesitated telling her the story about how Dick and Sean feeding her shots and having her make out with Shelly.

"They were feeding me shots?"

Casey shrugged. "Guess they were afraid you were sobering up."

"Thanks for the info, Casey." She sped away, taking a glance at her watch, 10 minutes til lunch was over. Next on the list? That lying thief from the Christmas Poker game.

She found Sean, sitting at his desk so she decided to sit astride in the chair, her arms folded across the back of it. She gave him a cold smile.

"What?" He snapped.

"I'm just thinking of all the ways I can destroy you."

"Well you sitting there grinning is kind of torturous." He retorted.

"So Shelly Pomroy and I were thinking of getting together later for a little girl-on-girl, you wanna come with?"

Sean instantly became uncomfortable.

"Wow, you know when you're able to soil yourself, you get a little twitch right in your eye."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." He vehemently denied.

"Oh sure you do. And unless you want me to tell one of my favorite local deputies that you were the one with GHB the night of Shelly's party, I know you were feeding me drinks."

"Look, I wasn't feeding you drinks. It was Dick. He's the one that you should be talking to." Sean quickly relayed details of Dick carrying Veronica into a bedroom and Sean and Beaver stood behind him. Sean also mentioned about Dick making jokes about raping her and how she probably wouldn't even notice. Beaver looked uneasy, Sean admitted but in the end Dick convinced him that he should try and have sex with her since he wasn't thrilled with doing girls who weren't wasted.

"Your issue is with Dick and Beaver, OK? Not me." Sean insisted. "They were horrible to you."

"Well, I'm just sorry you had to witness it. That must have been just awful for you." Veronica replied icily as she left the room with the bell ringing, signaling for class to start.

She arrived at her History class with 30 seconds to spare, just enough to time take her seat next to Wallace and get out her notebook and book.

"Hey supafly. How you doing?"

"Don't ask."

"No come on, V. What's up?"

"Ever felt like you're crawling through hell inch by inch and just when you think that the pain can't get any worse you find out oh sure it can?"

"They're not telling you anything?"

"Oh no they are. And each little tidbit they're revealing is 10 times worse than the one before it."

"Why are you doing this? I mean really Veronica. What's so important that you have to know?"

She stared at her best friend's melancholy brown eyes, "What happened at Shelly Pomroy's party has haunted me for the last year. It was time that I stopped letting it. I'm the middle now. The only way I can escape is to follow through on it."

"You really think it'll help?"

Veronica pursed her lips as if contemplating a good enough answer. In the end, she was left with just a half-hearted one, "I hope so."

Dick was not pleased when he found out his baby, aka his new surfboard, was gone. He was livid when he found out it was now wedged under Veronica's front tire. The engine was idling as Veronica watched from her driver's seat as he charged towards her with a thunderous expression.

"Hi ya Dick. How's it going?"

"What the hell are you doing?"He barked.

"Umm…trying to get your attention?" Veronica scoffed.

Dick hurried to his board while Veronica revved her engine at him. It was then he saw the board was against the curb.

"Got a couple questions for ya."

"You're frickin nuts, you know that?" He spat incredulously.

"Insulting me right now seems like a good plan, how?"

Dick waved a white flag as he put his hands up in surrender. He eyed his board warily then threw her a cautious look. "What do you want?"

"Answers and quickly. Did you give me GHB the night of Shelly's party?"

"What? No. I'm not the one who even had it."

Veronica glares as she revs her engine again.

"OK I mean I got some but I didn't give any of it to you. I swear on my life."

"You know, when you say things like that it makes me hope you're lying. I know you brought me into the guest bedroom for Beaver."

"More like, I found you in the guest bedroom." He gives her a condensed version of him finding her coming onto Beaver with his brother saying he wouldn't leave her.

"Are you freaking kidding me?" She shrilled. "How 'bout reality, Dick?"

"What? I'm just telling you what I saw. I didn't drug you. Don't go blaming me because you got all wasted and slutty."

If looks could kill, Dick would've been a corpse. Veronica threw him a deathly glare before she slammed on the gas crushing Dick's baby to shards. Dick looked furious as he sped off in his vehicle. Veronica turned off her engine and sat on the trunk waiting for her next victim, aka Beaver. A few moments later, she noticed him making his way into the parking lot and glancing around.

"Your ride just left." Veronica informed with a thin smile which sent a chill down Beaver's spine. "Oh, Beaver. You don't seem happy to see me."

"How's it going, Veronica?"

"Really well!" She told him with fake enthusiasm. "I just found out that the dream I had where I was locked all alone in a bedroom with you was reality! Care to share some details, lover?"

"Nothing happened." Beaver insisted.

"Actually something did happen. And I might not remember the details, but I sure as hell remember the morning after."

"Look, I swear to God. I didn't touch you, Veronica. OK, I mean, Dick…he was all on me to and there was…there was this girl, this freshman named Cindy. She's kind of…well, she's easy, you know. Me and her, we were supposed to…I don't know. Dick…Dick he set something up OK and then…then she was all over Logan and then she left early with him."

She couldn't shake her apprehensive feeling at this new revelation. "Yeah, it sucks to be you. And?"

"And then Dick…he brought me to the guest room with you. I just wanted him to leave me alone." He told her about Dick and Sean trying to push him on her and how he eventually got them to leave. He very shortly after threw up on Carrie Bishop's shoes.

"Well, hey. Thanks for leaving me there." She slugged his arm hard then got in her car and drove away.

"God will this day ever end?" She screamed as she drove. She hoped to hell the end was near because at this point, she didn't know how much more of this convoluted story she could take.

Veronica found Carrie working at her job at the coffee shop. She gave Veronica a polite smile. Veronica wouldn't say it was sincere but it sure as hell wasn't malicious which meant one of two things: Carrie either knew nothing regarding this topic which as the queen of gossip seemed highly unlikely or she did know and would be the most willing to share. "What can I get for you?"

"I'll have a hot chocolate, crème brulee, and some answers if you can give me 2 minutes."

"I'm kind of in the weeds." Carrie admitted to her as she glanced around the packed coffee house.

"Here's the thing. Do you remember Shelly's party last year?"

"Yeah." Carrie gave her a brief nod.

"I don't. At least not between passing out in the backyard and waking up the next morning in the guest room. I think you probably saw me."

"I saw you." Carrie told her how she saw through the open guest room door that Veronica was lying on the bed with Duncan on top of her and they were getting undressed. She also told her how she made a comment about closing the door next time and did it for them this time.

"So…you saw me with Duncan?" Veronica's eyes grew huge.

"I did. Sorry Veronica. I have customers." Carrie then rushed off to tend to some new people sitting at the bar.

Veronica didn't bother with her order. She had to get out of there. OK, this ends now. Why the hell has Duncan never said anything about the party?

Veronica arrived at the Kane mansion within 10 minutes and rang the doorbell. Celeste, surprisingly, opened the door instead of her maid. "What do you want, Veronica?"

"Answers from your son."

"He's busy."

"I'm not leaving here without answers, Celeste." Veronica crossed her arms firmly across her chest. "The quicker you get him, the quicker I'll leave."

Celeste groaned and returned a few moments later with Duncan. She waited, tapping her foot, expecting Veronica to interrogate her son in front of her.

"Uh…privately? Thank you."

Celeste didn't move though.

"Mom, just go." Duncan grumbled. "I'll be fine."

Celeste sauntered off and Duncan closed the door behind her. "So what's up? You realizing you made a mistake with Logan?"

Veronica's eyes were lit ablaze instantly. "This has nothing to do with Logan. This is about you and me."

Duncan frowned, "What about you and me?"

"So I just got done having a chat with Carrie Bishop and she told me that you and I were in bed together the night of Shelly Pomroy's party last year. Care to elaborate?"

Duncan looked startled. "What? What are you talking about?"

"I want to know what happened." Veronica told him adamantly.

"Do you know how wasted I was at Shelly's party? I…I barely even remember it. The whole night's a blur."

"Carrie said she walked into the guest room and you were naked and on top of me."

"I can't believe this."

"You're the one who raped me." Veronica accused and Duncan's face grew 3 shades redder.

"Raped you! So I'm a rapist now?"

Veronica's eyes welled up as she stepped back from him. She knew he was prone to fits of rage but she was unsure whether or not she'd encounter one right now.

"What are you doing? Why are you acting like this? Why are you acting like you weren't there?"

"What?" Veronica asked incredulously.

"You were there too, you know. I…I thought we had some unspoken rule like we were never gonna talk about it but now I raped you."

"I want details…now."

Duncan sighed and relayed as much as he remembered. How he saw her in the guest room and took a seat next to her and how happy they were to be together.

"You don't remember." Duncan concluded. "It's kind of a bad feeling, huh?"

"Then why did you leave me there?" Veronica cried. "If it was so tender and loving, why did I wake up by myself searching for my underwear?"

"Because I had to get out of there!" Duncan roared back.

Veronica didn't falter though. "You had to?"

"Yes! I woke up, I…I saw you there and I realized what I did…"

"What did you realize was so bad? What did you do?"

"I slept with you!"

"But it was consensual…right?"

"Yes."

"Then what about that was so wrong?"

"Because you're my sister!" He told her exasperated. "I knew it. E…even after my mother told me, I tried to just cut you out of my life. I loved you! I tried not to but it wouldn't go away!"

"I'm not your sister, Duncan."

Duncan blinked. "What?"

"I'm not your sister." Veronica quickly wiped her tears away. "My dad had a DNA test run and it turns out, I'm not a Kane. Thank God." She told him. "Your mother can be happy now." Veronica spun around on her heels and headed back to her car.

"Hey Veronica wait."

"What Duncan?"

"So you're not my sister."

"Already told you that twice, Duncan."

"Well this changes…"

"Nothing." Veronica replied coldly. "This changes nothing, Duncan. If you think I'm going to forgive everything in the past, forget it. I may forgive it but that is for my benefit, not yours. I wanted closure and now I got it."

"Veronica…"

"No, I need to go. Goodbye Duncan." She quickly got in her LeBaron and sped away.

Veronica was still keyed up. She wasn't sure she was ready to go home yet. Then again, she didn't have an unlimited supply of gas and her bank account had been dwindling down a lot faster this month.

She parked in front of Lilly's headstone and took a seat in front of it and sighed.

"Well, I'm surprised to see you here." Lilly's voice was no higher than a whisper.

"Not more than me."

"You got the answers you wanted."

"No." Veronica pulled her legs back up to her chest. "I got the answers I needed. I sure as hell didn't want those answers."

"Regardless, you can close the book on it now."

"I'm not sure that's possible."

"Why not?"

"Too much has changed, Lilly. I hate those people even more now knowing what they did or didn't do."

"You know you won't be happy until you close it."

"Thank you Angel of Doom." Veronica retorted.

Lilly gave a somber smile. "You hate Logan too?"

"Yes, I hate him for making me do this."

"Did you really think you'd get far with him without telling him what happened?"

"No and that's why I told him."

"Hmm…did you really think that he'd let it drop there?"

Veronica sighed. OK she had a point. "If he's thinking I'm somehow going to forgive and forget what they've done, he's crazy."

"Veronica, I really think he just wanted you to find closure. He doesn't expect you to forgive and forget." After a few seconds of silence, "Are you going to tell him what you found out?"

"I don't know."

"You should consider it."

"Why?"

"So he can help you through this. I think that's part of what bothered him. He didn't know how to help."

"Yeah." She glanced at her watch. It was almost 6. "Shit, I should head home."

"Are you OK now?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"Because when you got here, I could see you still had a lot of pent up anger."

"I'm fine, Lilly."

"Good. Go find Logan and tell him what you found out."

"Yeah OK."

Lilly then disappeared into thin air.

"So you called." Logan noted as they sat on the loveseat in her apartment an hour later. When she returned to her car, she found a voicemail from her dad telling her he would be away on business overnight.

"I did."

"Did you find something out?"

"Yeah." She sighed as she looked up at him.

"Do you want to tell me about it?" He asked cautiously, fully prepared for her to say no. "I mean, you don't have to tell me. I'm just here for whatever you need."

Veronica took a deep breath in and slowly exhaled. "I was drugged but I wasn't…"

Logan kept his eyes on her, watching as her eyes dropped to the floor. He knew it couldn't be easy for her.

"I was with Duncan." She finally blurted out.

A wave of surprise overtook him.

"Apparently we ended up in the guest room and he was wasted and I was…out of it. And I guess old feelings and nature…" She drifted off.

Logan had a hard time determining how to react. He could only muster an "I'm sorry."

Veronica cracked a smile, "I'm just glad I'm with you."

"How do you feel?"

"Umm…I'm still trying to determine that. I guess OK considering I have answers that I've been looking for for the past year. Still doesn't make me think too highly of your friends after conversations with them. Don't expect me to forgive and forget, Logan."

Logan nodded. He was aware that none of them were what you could call 'choir boys'…especially Dick.

"I must admit there was a brief moment of elation given that I got to run over Dick's new little baby."

Logan's dark eyes grew wide. "You ran over his new surfboard?"

"If he would've stopped insulting me and calling me names, it would've been fine but he didn't listen when I warned him. He has no one to blame but himself."

"Wow, no wonder he looked so pissed off when we left school."

Veronica shrugged. "Maybe they'll take me a little more seriously now."

Logan cracked a smile. He'd love to say they would but he knew his friends. It probably wouldn't faze them at all. It's not like they were short on money. Dick could have another surfboard in his possession before the end of the week he was sure. He hated that this was still an uphill battle for her. He tried to do everything he possibly could to help her through it though. He wasn't giving up on her. He owed that to her, especially after everything she had done for him over the last 5 months.

"I found out the truth with my dad."

Logan blinked. He didn't realize that he had let his mind drift off. "What do you mean with your dad?"

"My dad is my dad. I'm not a Kane."

"Really? How..how do you know?" He stuttered.

"My dad had a DNA test done. He got the results yesterday."

"Wow…so congratulations are in order then?"

"I dunno." Veronica shrugged. "More like a Hallelujah. I did let Duncan know that too."

"And what was his reaction?"

"Oh he suddenly thought that changed things. I told him to forget it. It changed nothing."

"Wow." Logan mumbled. "Did he say anything to that?"

"I didn't let him. I left." How hard this news was hitting Logan surprised her. "What? What's wrong?"

"I have to tell you something."

"I think I've had all the information I can get tonight."

"No," He replied. "I need to tell you something about Shelly's party." He then detailed the salt lick.

"Didn't we already establish that I knew about the salt lick and we were going to pretend that it didn't exist?"

"There's more, Veronica."

He then confessed how Duncan pushed a guy off of her to protect her. Logan then spiked Duncan's drink in an attempt to loosen him up.

"I just wanted Duncan to have some fun." Logan told her quietly. "He had barely even smiled since Lilly…"

"You didn't know what would happen." Veronica cut him off.

"I'm the one who's responsible for what happened to you. I can't take that I hurt you like that." His voice was meek. "I can't take that I hurt you when all I want to do is protect you."

Veronica leaned over and gave him a kiss. He quickly pulled away. "I want you to trust me."

"I already told you I do."

"So you're telling me this changes nothing."

She sighed as she straddled his waist, her hands on either side of his face, making him look at her. "No it doesn't change anything, Logan. You want to know the reason?"

"Yes, please."

"Because not that long ago, I found myself in a very similar situation if you remember right."

Logan gulped. He really wished they didn't have to keep going there.

"You rescued me, Logan. You did everything you could to help me."

"Veronica…"

"No, listen to me." She stared him dead in the eye. "If I had found out this information and nothing from the last 5, 6 months had changed and you were still an obligatory jackass…"

Logan stifled a chuckle.

"You better believe I'd have a different reaction."

He stared at her pensively.

"Had the Logan from the beginning of the school year found what his friends did, he'd probably be the same as them…"

"Now wait…"

"My point is, Logan, the majority of them feel no remorse. Quite frankly I think they enjoyed watching me suffer trying to find out the truth." She looked down and threaded their fingers together. "They don't deserve a second chance. I think you do though."

"I love you, Veronica."

"I love you too." She leaned over and kissed him softly. They didn't get very far before they heard a loud bark from beside them.

Veronica sighed. "Have to love my chaperone don't you?"

Logan chuckled as she got off his lap. He rose to leave but she put her hand up.

"No don't go anywhere. I'll be right back. Backup come here."

Backup padded along behind her and a few seconds later Logan heard a door close shut.

"I only bought us about 20 minutes but hey it's 20 minutes." Veronica told him as she straddled his waist again.

"We could do a lot in 20 minutes." Logan told her as he kissed her neck.

"Not on my couch, no. Besides, I promise I'll follow through on the 'when we' vs 'if we' sleep together. I just don't want to tonight."

"No, I get it."

Veronica cracked a smile. "Thanks."

Logan didn't stay much longer. The canine alarm clock/chaperone wouldn't let him. It worked out well anyway cause he got a message from Dick saying 911. Logan sighed. He really didn't want to go; he knew the shitstorm that was upon him. Then again given the torture that Veronica went through today to find out the truth, this would be a walk in the park.

Dick was outside his mansion pacing back and forth staring at the damage of his board.

"What Dick?" Logan asked, standing behind unable to see the board.

"Would you look like this? Look what she did to it!" Dick screeched as he moved so Logan could look at it. The board had been severed into several big pieces. There was no way in hell it would be able to be repaired.

"And what did you do to deserve it?" Logan stared down at the fragments.

"What the hell you talking about? I didn't do anything to her."

"Don't give me that shit, Dick. What the hell did you tell her about Shelly's party?"

"You know about that?"

"Of course I know about that!" Logan yelled. "The girl had been drugged and was pretty sure she'd been assaulted. I told her to ask everyone who was there. So what the hell did you tell her? Must've been bad if she released this kind of fury on your 'baby'. "

"Nothing! Just told her I found her coming onto Beaver in the guest room."

Logan stifled a laugh. "Yeah even if she had been drunk that would never have happened."

"Says who? She was making out with me earlier that night."

"Then she really was drugged. What else cause that's not enough for her to do that."

"I told her quit blaming me if she was acting slutty and wasted."

"You're unbelievable." Logan turned back to his X-terra. "You deserve what happened to your board."

"I can't believe you're taking her side."

"It's not about sides, Dick! It's about being a decent human being."

"Well ain't that the pot and the kettle thing."

"It's the pot calling the kettle black and just what the hell does that mean?"

"Six months ago you couldn't stand that girl. You did stuff to her at that party too, you know."

"Yeah, and we talked about that. I was surprised she forgave me for it. A lot has happened in 6 months, Dick. In case you've forgotten my dad is currently sitting in jail thanks to multiple charges, including murdering my ex-girlfriend. He would've raped and killed Veronica had we not stopped him. She's an important part of my life, Dick. Deal with it."

Dick glared coldly at him. "She doesn't deserve you as a friend, Logan."

"Really? Cause right now I'm thinking you don't either."

Dick's mouth dropped open in shock.

"Here's what's going to happen. You either start treating Veronica nicely or we're no longer friends. You don't want to push me on this, Dick. You make me choose, you're not going to like the outcome, I warn you now." Logan jumped in his X-terra and and headed home, leaving Dick in an exasperated stupor.

The next morning, Veronica arrived at her locker to see a bill tapped to it. She pulled it off and reviewed it.

"You wanna destroy my property, you're gonna replace it." An annoying whine said from behind her.

"Go to hell, Dick. I'm not paying for anything." She crumbled the bill and threw it in his face. "Now get out of my way before you give me a reason to get out my taser."

"What's going on?" Logan glanced in between them.

"Oh Dick thinks he can get me to buy him a new surfboard."

"You learned nothing last night did you?" Logan glared at his friend. "You really want to make me choose?"

"She ruined my board. It's fair."

"Since when do you do anything fair?" Veronica retorted. "Is it fair that you threw your brother on me to have his way with me when I was drugged? Was it fair that you were going to spike Madison's drink so you could finally get laid? When you stop being an asshole then maybe I'll consider it. I'm sure Hell will freeze over before that though." Veronica grabbed her books and headed down the hall

Logan watched her go then turned back to Dick. "Why the hell did you do that?"

"Because…"

"Yeah, that's a good argument. I'll pay for your damn board. Not that you deserve it."

"I can't believe she has you fighting her battles for her. And you're doing it willingly!" Dick exclaimed. "Dude, when did you get so whipped?"

Logan couldn't help himself. He swung his right arm and clobbered Dick on his right eye. Dick fell to the ground. "I do favors for my friends, Dick. Something you no longer are. Pay for the damn board yourself."

Logan stormed past the whole stunned student body including Veronica who had been in the doorway of her classroom watching the exchange from a distance. Dick sat on the floor clutching his eye.

Veronica slowly headed back in his direction and stood in front of him, looking pathetic. She reluctantly held out her hand in an attempt to help him up. He scoffed at the gesture at first til she reminded him, "Look around, Dick. You see anyone else trying to help you?"

Dick groaned as he reached for her hand and got up.

"I'm not forgiving you for the past Dick but if you want to keep Logan in your life as your friend, you need to start playing nice and by playing nice I mean no more insults."

"That goes for you too."

"Did I not just help you up? Did I make any other mean spirited comment? No."

"Why do you even care?"

"The only reason I'm attempting this is because you're Logan's best friend. You really ready to lose his friendship?"

"He'd be back."

"You willing to risk it? I wouldn't."

"You did."

"The past is the past, Dick. You want to live there, be my guest but until you reach a truce with me, he won't be your friend."

"Why is he so important to you?"

"Are you serious?"

"Yeah, you didn't care after Lilly died. You weren't there to pick up the pieces, I was."

"Yeah, and where were you when you found out the truth that his dad killed Lilly? You weren't there. I was. Move on, Dick. Why is he so important?" She hesitated her reply but it was time to lay the cards out. "Because I love him."

A collective gasp could be heard around them. It was then that they turned and realized they had a huge audience, including Logan.

"You what?" Dick replied

"Yes, Dick. I love him. I'm not going anywhere. You need to get over it."

Logan gently pulled her to the side. "You realize what you just did, right?"

"You mean declaring my love for you in front of the whole school including the teachers? Yeah, I'm aware."

"You sure about this?"

Veronica took a moment before answering, "Yeah, I'm sure."

"OK."

Veronica waited and Logan never said anything else.

"Really? I declare my love for you and you can't even muster a response to it?"

Logan grinned, "I love you too Veronica." He leaned down and kissed her.

A few moments later, they heard Madison groaned, "Jesus, go get a room."

They broke apart and laughed.

"Oh how I wish we could." Logan chuckled as he put his arm around her to walk her to class.

And that's it! There will be an epilogue. I'm not trying to really give you excuses as to what happened but the main thing I can tell you is that writer's block happened. I painted myself into a corner as to whether or not I wanted to write this chapter (aka A Trip to the Dentist episode) I had thought about skipping it but that didn't seem right and it especially didn't seem fair to you. I knew I wanted the overall story to end with that moment Veronica admitting her feelings in front of the whole school. Anyway, I'd love to get a review from you all. I really will get the epilogue out within the next week or so. It seems like a false promise I know but I'm going to make sure I deliver on it this time. I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Happy 2019!