FIC: Paternity (Veronica/Logan) (22/?) (R) (WIP)

[vanessagalore]

TITLE: Paternity (22/?)
AUTHOR:

vanessagalore
CHARACTERS: Veronica, Logan, Keith
WORD COUNT: 4,585
RATING: R for this chapter
SUMMARY: Sometimes it's best to just get the hell out of Dodge. Set right after 'The Bitch Is Back'.
SPOILERS: Spoilers for the whole series, especially season 3.
WARNINGS: Cursing.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own any rights to Veronica Mars. This story is written as a tribute only. Beta'd by zaftig_darling and celtic_flicka. All remaining errors are my responsibility.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thanks for your patience. Sorry about the delay in updating. I'm hoping to start posting regularly again.

 

1~Precipitation 2~Precarious 3~Paranoia 4~Prevarication 5~Probation 6~Predicament 7~Paradox 8~Please 9~Perilous 10~Palpitation 11~Precipice 12~Perspiration 13~Peregrination 14~Pursuit 15~Plexus 16~Pier 17~Perception 18~Phantasm 19~Phantasm 20~Pyromania 21~Prognosis

Click here to read a summary of the whole story from the beginning.

And for just the last time on 'Precipitation': (Highlight to read ~OR~ click here to skip directly to the new chapter)

Veronica discloses to her dad about being roofied and rape and subsequently experiences a dissociative crisis during the ensuing argument between Keith and Logan. The next morning, Veronica and Logan discuss their issues, but Veronica's tentativeness and fear overwhelms her desire to be intimate with Logan, and they narrowly avoid fighting again.

Keith has a surprise for Veronica: he has decided that what she needs is a fun day at a "game center", where they manage to forget everything for a few hours. On the way home, they stop and she finally tells her father everything she's hidden from him in the past, including the details of her rape and her investigation of it. Her dad tells Veronica that she's going to need to confide in him because she doesn't have a best girlfriend any more. Squirming, Veronica says that it feels like Logan is always asking her to prove that she loves him.

Back in the apartment, Logan announces that he's been working on a plan to flee the country by sailboat to the Caribbean. Keith seems interested, but Veronica is too upset at the thought of one of them getting hurt to consider the idea seriously. She presses again to be allowed to use the Internet, using the excuse that it will help with the sailboat plan, and her dad reluctantly agrees. They surf to the Neptune Register web site and are shocked by the headlines.

 

---

The three of us scan the headline blaring across the top of the Neptune Register web site.

TWO DEAD, ELEVEN INJURED IN THIRD GANG CLASH IN TWO WEEKS.

Death toll reaches five in Neptune's gang violence epidemic. Racial tensions at their highest level in years as murder charges are filed against two members of the PCH Bike Club.

The article goes on to detail that an additional eight Latino suspects were arrested on charges ranging from assault to attempted murder, while fifteen men with suspiciously Irish names were merely detained and released on misdemeanor charges such as weapons possession and criminal trespass. A demonstration at City Hall by Latino residents protesting the arrests was broken up by sheriff's deputies, with ten citizens treated and released at Neptune Memorial for minor injuries.

I notice Dad picking at the skin on his thumb again; he's upset, but clearly trying to hide it. To keep me—fragile Veronica—from losing it, I'm guessing. He clears his throat and breaks the silence. "It's a power vacuum. The Fitzpatricks are taking the opportunity to solidify their grip on Neptune, making sure they control all the drugs going in and out. Meanwhile, I wouldn't be surprised if the Mexican mafia has the same idea. Balboa County will be a battle zone. And whichever side wins, Neptune's going to become the main gateway for drugs to come into the U.S. from Tijuana."

In a sidebar, a statement from Vinnie twists the knife. 'Interim Sheriff Mars allowed this criminal element to establish a foothold in our fair town by focusing his efforts on lifestyle issues such as underage drinking. Crime statistics make it clear that burglary and assault rates began to rise during the Mars administration. The sheriff's department is working 24/7 to rectify the mistakes made by the previous administration. Our priority now is the safety of all the residents of Neptune as we work to rid ourselves of these interlopers.'

I feel sick at the injustice of it, that Dad's being blamed for all this. "What an asshole. What d'you wanna bet all the deputies are being deployed in the 90909 zip code?"

"Actually, I'm betting most of the wealthy residents have engaged their own security." Dad points at a prominent ad for Safehouse Security. "Vinnie has a 'relationship' with Safehouse. I'm sure he's steering a lot of business to them."

"So he allows the crime rate to skyrocket and then gets a commission when nervous 09ers hire private security."

"No, I'm sure it's even more scandalous than that." Dad looks incredibly weary, with the toll of the last few weeks of stress etched on his face. "Vinnie spent a fortune on this campaign, a surprisingly large amount for a guy paying three alimonies who never even had a single campaign fundraiser. I suspected that the Fitzpatricks were backing Vinnie for sheriff, with money and a coordinated effort to make me look incompetent. That's the reason the burglary rate skyrocketed before the election. And now, Vinnie's being paid to look the other way as Liam's crew pillages Neptune. If our new sheriff is selectively prosecuting the PCHers, as it appears, the Fitzpatricks will soon have a complete stranglehold on the town."

New information that I'd never had, but of course it makes sense. Everything is rigged in Neptune, from Aaron's trial all the way down to the meter maids who skip over BMWs in favor of rustbuckets with Spanish bumperstickers. "Liam bankrolled Vinnie's campaign? You didn't tell me that. Dad, why didn't you—"

"I didn't want to worry you, Veronica." Dad's eyes slide away from me. He was always trying to protect me. What else didn't he tell me?

"But won't Vinnie get tossed out on his ass on the next election?" Logan asks.

Dad sighs. "In four years of a Van Lowe administration, Neptune will be destroyed. Vinnie will have lined his pockets, probably to the tune of millions. As long as he doesn't do anything to trigger a recall election, he's all set for life."

"That's if he's not stupid enough to double-cross Liam," I say.

"You know it's possible that Liam presented this to Vinnie as an offer he couldn't refuse." Dad scrolls the screen down, looking at other articles.

"Remember the good old days, when all we had to worry about was the Vinnie special?" Logan looks confused, so I explain. "If a suspicious wife hired Vinnie to get pictures of her cheating husband, Vinnie would get the money shot and sell it to the husband for double instead."

Dad pauses his scrolling, skimming an article about the Sharks baseball team, who are tearing it up in their first complete season post-Woody Goodman. "You know, this whole last year, whenever I was working a case where the Fitzpatricks were involved, Vinnie would always turn up as well."

I flash back to finding Vinnie at the River Stix, looking very 'at home' back in November when I was helping Meryl. I'd thought he was on a routine case, but maybe he was just checking in with the boss.

Dad continues, "As Vinnie got in deeper and deeper with Liam, he might not have been able to refuse when Liam announced that Vinnie should run for sheriff. My gut tells me that the Fitzpatricks were providing all the money that was being pumped into the sheriff's election—the attack ads and billboards, the phone campaign. The numbers were trending very badly the last two weeks before the election."

"They were? You told me that everything was fine." I see a familiar name as Dad scrolls. "Wait, go back." 'The sheriff's department has released a statement that the fire at Navarro Auto Wrecking on May 18th has been deemed arson.' My heart pounds...can't be, can't be, please don't be— "That's Weevil's uncle." The article states that Angel Navarro suffered minor burns during the fire and authorities had cleared him of involvement in the incident. There's no mention of Weevil, but I can't shake an image of him flailing in a smoke-filled room, flames licking at his feet as he tries to run.

"A fire? More gang fighting?" Logan asks.

Dad shakes his head. "To what purpose? Why burn a junkyard?"

"No...I think it was Gory. May 18 was two days after we left. They were trying to make Weevil tell them what car we were driving. Jesus, what if Weevil had been at the junkyard when they set the fire—" My stomach heaves, and I make it to the bathroom just in time before I throw up.

Hot dogs and nacho chips aren't nearly as nice on the way up.

*****
Dad gets to me first, and as he helps clean me up, he keeps murmuring, "It's not your fault, honey." He closes the toilet, setting me down on the lid and washing my face with a washcloth as if I were a toddler. Logan looks on, hovering. Dad says, "With everything going on in Neptune now, you can't assume that it was Gory who set the fire. You just don't know."

I'm trembly and lightheaded as I picture Gory torturing poor Weevil because of me. "I do know it was Gory. And I don't believe you about the pre-election polling. I think it was what I did that lost the election. So all this gang violence? I'm responsible for that too. Five dead, eighteen injured, the paper said, all since the election."

"Veronica, I swear to you...honey, listen to me. The polls were bad. I'm certain Liam was backing Vinnie's campaign. I'm not lying to you."

Logan stops wavering from foot to foot and sits down on the edge of the tub. I can't stand his look of concern and my eyes screw shut. I heave a sigh, and he murmurs, "Do you want me to leave you alone?"

"No, it's all right...just...don't look at me like you're so worried." It's taking every bit of self-control not to burst into tears and he's not helping.

"I'm sorry—"

"Just...god, I don't know what I want." I concentrate on my breathing again and that lump of concrete in my chest dissolves a little. Under teary lashes, I see Dad hunkering down onto the tile floor next to the commode. "Dad, don't...your back...you won't be able to get up. I'll be all right, let's go back out to the living room."

Drawing his legs up to get comfortable, he pats my knee. "You guys will help me up. Just breathe and relax. Everything's going to be fine."

Here we are, in my porcelain sanctuary. It's claustrophobic and ridiculous. It's crazy the way they're letting me off the hook. Forgiveness and understanding and...and just plain love. Dad's hand strokes my knee, a definite presence, a reassuring gesture that he's there, he's always going to be there.

"You swear you're telling the truth about the poll numbers?" I whisper.

"It's the absolute truth, Veronica. I started putting two and two together about Liam's involvement in the campaign long before the incident with the video. Leo alerted me to it; it's one of the reasons I rehired him. I'd hoped the polls were wrong, because I gotta tell you, it would have felt good to win that election. But one of the reasons I was so willing to—" He sighs. "I had no problem degaussing that video because I was pretty sure I wouldn't have that job after the vote, and it was a no-brainer to have my last official act be to protect you."

He's never put exactly what he'd done in words before. We've alluded to it, but he's never said it.

Dad sighs again and rests his forehead on his palm. "You know, if Jake Kane hadn't been pushing, there's no way that the investigation would have come to a head before the election. He forced my hand."

"Do you regret it?" I hate the quiver in my voice.

"It was the right decision at the time, Veronica."

"But now? Now that we've had to go on the run?"

Dad muses, "I thought it would be a slap on the wrist. It's not unheard of for evidence to get misfiled or damaged. And all I did was put a speaker next to the DVR. I updated the evidence logs, switching some filing numbers around, so that it looked like it was just a coincidence. The evidence room was a mess while Lamb was in charge, and I'd done a lot of work to clean it up, so I thought there was a good chance it'd fly."

"You're lucky it worked at all," I say. "A speaker magnet isn't a very reliable way to erase a DVR."

Logan clears his throat. "Maybe it didn't work, and if we show up in Neptune again, it'll be waiting for us."

"It doesn't matter," Dad replies. "The homeowner saw the recording when I took possession. Cliff indicated that the rumor mill said there was a witness. It has to be him. Your face couldn't be seen, but petite, long blonde hair—" He shrugs. "There aren't too many suspects who fit that description. And of course...." His voice trails off. But we all know what he means: El Dorado means we can never go home.

I'll never understand why Dad did what he did in Arkansas. Why do people always help me, the same people that I treat like crap all the time— "Oh my god. What about Mac and Wallace?" I ask, my voice trembling. "We've got to make sure they're all right! Maybe Gory went after them too." I rush out of the bathroom and hurry back to the laptop. By the time Logan's helped Dad up off the floor and they've joined me in the living room, I've pulled up a news story from a week ago.

A photo shows Mac and Wallace, accompanied by Cliff and their parents, leaving the sheriff's department. A short blurb announces that the sheriff was questioning associates of Veronica and Keith Mars to assist him in tracking down the fugitive ex-sheriff. "No stone will be left overturned to gather any moss in this investigation," Sheriff Van Lowe declared. "I won't rest until Keith Mars is behind bars for sullying the reputation of our fair city once again."

"Mac and Wallace were supposed to go to the FBI," I say, distressed. "So that they'd be safe."

"Maybe they did," Dad says. "Maybe no one believed them after Arkansas hit the news."

"Yeah, because we've been latent desperadoes all this time, just waiting for a chance to shoot off our guns and despoil evidence."

"Told you it wouldn't be good for your reputation to hang out with me," Logan observes. "I've obviously ruined you for life."

A flash of old snarky Logan, and it helps. I snort under my breath.

"Vinnie could be trying to pursue obstruction of justice charges," Dad says. He sees my look of horror and rushes to add, "But he probably won't succeed.There's very little evidence that Mac and Wallace did anything illegal, and I can't imagine the D.A. would pursue them.  It's just harassment.  The D.A. is just hoping that they have some useful information."

"What about Mac cracking the encryption on Jake's hard drive? They've got to know that I had help with that." I start to wonder if Mac's activities on the Hearst supercomputer could be reconstructed, and I feel panicky again.

Dad shakes his head. "Jake isn't going to let the contents of that hard drive become public—there's too many people in high places with too much to lose. Without the original hard drive, it would be difficult to reconstruct how the computer hacking occurred. It's pretty clear that this is an attempt by Vinnie to flush us out. With the hard drive back in Jake Kane's possession, and knowing that you probably kept a copy, I bet he and the rest of The Castle would prefer that this whole thing went away. Wallace and Mac are safe, Veronica. It's going to be okay."

"They were safe when this photo was taken," I reply. Suddenly I'm exhausted. We're going around in circles, and there's no possible solution. I don't even remember what I thought I would accomplish by running an Internet investigation. I sigh in defeat, too tired to argue with Dad about it. "I suppose the publicity they're getting might hinder Gory's efforts to intimidate them."

Dad nods thoughtfully. "You know, we could try to get in contact with Cliff again. Tell him to encourage Mac and Wallace to go to the FBI and ask for protection."

I push at my bangs wearily, the palm of my hand grinding into my forehead. "I don't know. I don't know anymore."

Dad is silent, obviously turning over the possibilities in his head. "You know, even if Gory was able to obtain the type of car we used by intimidating Weevil's uncle, it's clear that we've abandoned it now and made new plans. Our getaway vehicle was in all the news reports about Arkansas. As long as we don't contact anyone in Neptune, I think they're safe. What good would it do Gory to pressure Mac or Weevil about our whereabouts at this point?"

"I suppose you're right," I concede, feeling only slightly better about the situation.

"I vote we don't contact anyone in Neptune," Logan says.

"I want to look up the Sorokins. I want to know..." What they're capable of. What they've done to witnesses. "I want to see what we're up against."

"It's getting late. Let's sleep on it," Dad suggests. "You've had a long day. You can research the Russian mafia some more in the morning."

I shake my head. "I'm not going to be able to sleep worrying about it."

"Honey," Dad replies.

I avoid looking at his worried face and type "Sorokin Russian mafia" into Google. The first result resembles a fan site for Russian mobsters, with a head shot and brief bio for each man. Sergei Sorokin (b. 1952) and Lev Sorokin (b. 1955) are listed as members of a criminal syndicate ("Kuruskaya Bratva") located near St. Petersburg, with offshoots in New York City and Los Angeles.

There's nothing very surprising about their lurid histories, but reading their biographies makes me feel a little nauseated again. They were brutal men, hardened into sociopaths by the Soviet gulag system. After a youth filled with petty crime that gradually worsened to outright murder by the time he was sixteen, Sergei Sorokin was imprisoned from 1970 to 1974 and again from 1978 to 1985. He was released from the gulags and granted refugee status under the guise of the Russian-Jewish refugee program.

After a short period living in Israel, Sergei relocated to Los Angeles in 1987, where he married Ulyana Grabianko and bore two sons, Gorya and Maxim. Since moving to the U.S., he has amassed a chain of dry cleaning establishments and several restaurants in the greater Los Angeles area.

His younger brother Lev Sorokin, convicted of numerous charges of assault, organized prostitution, and murder, was also incarcerated in the gulags at an early age but did not pursue refugee status when he was released in 1984. In the late eighties, when the restrictions on privately owned companies were eased under Gorbachev, Lev was believed to have created a lucrative enterprise that was a front for organized prostitution and money laundering. After the Soviet Union's collapse, Lev was the mastermind behind a scheme of large-scale manipulation of fuel prices that made him a multimillionaire.

Lev emigrated to the United States in 1995 and settled in San Francisco, where he used his vast wealth to establish a large import-export conglomerate that is estimated to have earnings in the millions each year. I scroll the page down and up again, but there's no more information about the brothers.

"That's it? What about after they moved to the U.S.?" Logan asks. "You can't really think they went legit after they came here."

"Except for dumping a body in a lake, of course." I type in the URL for the California criminal records database Dad usually uses. I look over my shoulder, and Dad nods his assent, so I hit return and begin pulling up records on the two Sorokins, focusing on Sergei, Gory's father, first.

"A bunch of arrests. No convictions until 2006..." Dad begins.

"Sergei served eighteen months at Lompoc for money laundering and tax evasion. He was released a couple months ago." I google again and look up the press coverage of Sergei Sorokin's trial. "Whoa. 'Lev Sorokin, convicted last year of the murder of Niccolo Giardano, testified against his brother Sergei today to reduce his own sentence from life without parole to twenty-five years, eligible for parole in fifteen with good behavior. Lev ("The Lion") Sorokin detailed Sergei's numerous financial transactions that violated federal money laundering statutes.'"

I open another tab and pull up the top result for 'murder Niccolo Giordano' and skim the article until I encounter the sentence, 'The dismembered body of Giordano was found encased in garbage bags in a lake adjacent to a Marin county property owned by Lev Sorokin.' "Oh my god. Holy shit. This is it. Dismembered body, this is what Gory was talking about in the video."

Dad's face is grim as he leafs through the notes on the confessions that Logan has been transcribing. "Gory was in the pledge class of 2004. So by 2005, Lev had been convicted of that crime. Based on what Gory said on the tape, it sounds like Lev took the rap alone. But according to this, a year later Lev decided to cut his sentence and took down his brother Sergei."

"So what the hell?" Logan asks. He's been quiet, watching us work and content to let us use our expertise without his usual snark. "If someone's already been convicted of that crime, why do they care so much if we know about it?"

While he's talking, I switch back to the criminal records database and pull up Lev's record. "Lev died. He was knifed in prison in November of 2006."

"Was anyone convicted of that murder?" Dad asks.

They watch intently as I search for five minutes. Although I locate a few articles about Lev's death, I can't find a record of anyone being charged in connection with the knifing.

"It was his brother," Logan mutters. "Had to be. Sergei paid him back for ratting."

"Probably not Sergei himself—he was at a different prison. But yeah, I think you're right, Sergei ordered the hit," Dad says. "Russian thieves have a code called 'Vory v Zakone'. You don't rat out anyone. They aren't ever supposed to cooperate with authorities, not even the military. The bond among thieves is even stronger than family."

I nod. Logan's words come back to me. 'What are you going to do if you find something, Veronica, blackmail the mob?' I thought I'd feel a little more in control with some good old investigating, but the truth is that the world is whirling more crazily out of control by the second.

*****
After another hour spinning our wheels trying to investigate the Sorokins, we give up and head to bed, no closer to a solution than when we started. While Logan is in the bathroom, I sit in front of the crackled mirror and brush my hair. I try different hairstyles, hating them all, along with the annoying color I'd adopted in Chicago.

And my mind races, playing the rewind game. If only I'd aimed when I shot at the Russian mobster in Chicago. If I hadn't stolen the hard drive from Jake Kane. If I'd let it go when the video surfaced. Or further back, if I hadn't gotten naked with Piz that day. Or even further, if I hadn't broken up with Logan over Madison. What the hell...I could have just said we needed a little time apart while I processed it.

What's true is that I couldn't care less about that drunken hookup now, and that's a really odd feeling, to forgive and forget. A little perspective does wonders. Be honest, Veronica...what if you'd trusted Logan this past year, instead of looking for his faults and sins?

Logan approaches over my shoulder and I shake myself out of my fog. "What are you thinking about?" he asks.

"The rewind game. You know, thinking about what I should have done. How I should have let it go when the video was going around. How I shouldn't have broken up with you." I can't quite say 'I should have trusted you.' Yet.

He rubs my shoulders, our eyes meeting in the mirror. "I know that game really well. I feel like I've been playing it for the last three years. If I hadn't broken up with Lilly, she wouldn't have been with my father that day."

"Logan, no—"

"And then if I hadn't slept with Madison, you and I wouldn't have broken up either. So..." He shrugs. "All my fault, all of it."

"You're ridiculous."

"Yeah, we are. Come on, let's at least pretend to sleep." His hand on my shoulder encourages me over to the bed. Lying down, he pulls me into his arms and rubs my back. "Was it hard talking to your dad today?"

Four hours ago we were parked in a mall parking lot talking about all my secrets—it seems a long time ago that I spilled my guts to dad. There's nothing like the Russian mafia to teach you what's really important. I probe those old memories and obfuscations, and I think about how I swore I'd never tell my dad what happened, that I wouldn't have been able to bear it and—

Logan breaks my silence. "You don't have to talk about it. I'm sorry I brought it up."

"No, it's okay. I'm just, well, I guess I'm figuring out how I feel about it. I don't understand why I was so scared to tell him. I feel better, I think. It's weird not to have the weight of that between us, that huge thing that I could never tell him. I even told Dad about how I investigated my own rape, that I'd suspected you at first."

He stays silent and just keeps rubbing my back.

"That feels good." I stifle a yawn. "Can we not talk about this stuff right now?"

"Did you have any fun at all today?"

"Are you kidding? It was a blast." I tell him about the go-karts and the batting cages in detail, and then, noticing that his breathing is steady and his eyelids have fallen shut, I stop talking and just bathe in his nearness. The rhythm of my breaths begins to synchronize with his, and I tumble into that nebulous space between awake and asleep.

...it's going to be okay...I wish I'd known, because I also would've tried to make it a little easier for you...I killed a man...I'll try not to push you away like I always do...don't you dare call it sex, you couldn't give consent...What are you going to do if you find something, Veronica, blackmail the mob?...I can't tell my dad, he'll never look at me the same...if I hadn't slept with Madison...if I hadn't stolen the hard drive...you really think Jake Kane would send mobsters across the country to gun us down?...I'm having a rough day, and you're pissing me off...I can't exist hiding in a basement apartment...if only I'd taken the time to aim...I fought for you, goddammit, doesn't that mean anything?...Was it hard talking to your dad today?...I don't understand why I was so scared to tell him...you know what we want. what did you do with the hard drive?...I don't understand why I was so scared to tell him...that huge thing that I could never tell him...I don't understand why I was so scared to tell him....

"Gory," I breathe, my eyelids fluttering open. "Gory was scared that his father would find out what he did." I shake Logan awake. "I figured it out." Without waiting for him, I rush to the living room, where Dad is snoring on the sleeper sofa. "Dad...Dad!"

"What's wrong?!" He's clearly on alert almost before his eyes are completely open. Dad throws off the blankets and scans the apartment, an instinctive reaction.

"I figured it out. Gory is terrified that his father will find out that he spilled his guts on a video. He's not worried we'll go to the feds; he's scared that his dad will find out."

It takes Dad a second to catch up, and then he nods. "Yeah. Especially for something as frivolous as a fraternity."

"Didn't you say something about the Russian code dictating that you must never cooperate with an authority?" Logan asks. "Imagine if Sergei found out that Gory cooperated with a bullshit authority like The Castle. If Sergei would kill his own brother..."

Dad says, "Yeah, the code says that loyalty to other thieves is higher than family."

"It might even be worse that that. Maybe someone in The Castle who had access to the confessions leaked Gory's confession to the feds, and that's why his Uncle Lev was convicted and turned informant on his dad," I say. "Gory's a dead man if his father finds out about this video."

Continue reading...Premeditation

Comments

Finally!!

[zmdr]

A new chapter!! Vinnie seems to be quite an ass. I'm guessing V's going to have quite a dilemma about what to do with Gory's confessional: blackmail him and risk blowing their cover? Would she even consider causing the death of someone, even if it's Gory? Will her experiences with the mobster she accidentally killed affect her decision?

It's great to see that you've finally uploaded this chapter. During the break, I was wondering about what happened in Neptune... alien invasion? Nuclear explosion? Well what you have here is quite satisfying without being overly implausible. Class warfare and corruption. There's no place like Neptune.

Great work as always and I'm eagerly awaiting the next chapter.

Re: Finally!!

[vanessagalore]

It's good to see that someone is still reading this story after such a long break. Although my writing goes way over the top at times, I do try to plot from taking the threads of what has happened and spinning them to logical conclusions, and we have seen Neptune to be a place where corruption and class warfare are always simmering under the surface. With the Fitzpatricks stirring the pot and maneuvering behind the scenes, I think it's possible that things might go crazy as a result of a new incompetent and corrupt sheriff.

Thanks for commenting.

[schuylerjo]

Hi Vanessa! Good to see you again! I really liked the stream of consciousness thoughts that led Veronica to clarify Gory's motivations.

Also, the way Logan takes on her "it's all my fault" attitude...

I feel like there might be more info Keith is hiding? I'm not sure.

Thanks for the chapter!

[vanessagalore]

Hmm. Interesting. You thought Keith was still hiding something? It's always very cool to see what people get out it.

I've been leading up to that connection between Veronica and her dad and Gory and his father for a very long time. It always feels like I've been really transparent when I do something like that.

Thanks for commenting!

[(Anonymous)]

Yes!! I've been checking once a week for an update to this story. I was dying to find out what was happening back in Neptune. Keep it coming!

[vanessagalore]

Hmm. I missed this comment too. WTH is wrong with VanessaGalore?? Thanks for reading!

Woah!

[(Anonymous)]

I had just finished the series and was going through serious with drawl and then I found this. I read it all in one day. Your story is amazing! I am honestly in awe of your writing and where you're going with their story. Thank you, thank you, thank you for writing it. Please continue!

Re: Woah!

[vanessagalore]

Thank you very much! It's amazing that people are still discovering VM and VM fanfics. I'm hoping to update regularly once we get into summer.

[(Anonymous)]

Omg, this is PERFECT. I love the Veronica, Logan, and Keith on the run together, and I LOVE the realism you injected into this. I always wondered how Logan got away with all the fighting and destroying cop cars. I'm a little concerned about Veronica's mental state, but not because it doesn't make sense. I kind of want Duncan to show up and then they can all be on the run TOGETHER! Though obviously that couldn't go on forever, because going on the run-not as fun as it sounds. As your fic clearly illustrates. I was a little surprised that Veronica told Keith about her rape, because usually I have a real hard time seeing her ever do that, but you made it believable. And while I wish that Logan and Veronica would be all rainbows and bunnies, it wouldn't be at all realistic considering the circumstances and if there's anything I can appreciate, it's realism.

Anyway, to wind up this stream-of-consciousness review before it really gets (even more) ridiculous, please update soon!

[vanessagalore]

Sorry, I missed this comment in my inbox!

I seem to have a thing for stressing out Veronica so that her rape becomes an issue, I guess because the show sort of ignored the emotional consequences most of the time. I really appreciate your comments about the realism of this fic, because it's a bear to write, to try to keep it real when canon makes it all soooo hard.

I'm hoping to have another chapter soon. It's 3/4 done. Thanks for reading and commenting.

[(Anonymous)]

Its Medjunkie,

Its been so long can't remember how to log on, need to change my password. I really like this, pleased to see that you are still doing it. I like the exploration of Vinnie going over to the dark side which was very broadly hinted at by the show.
Also think it's clever the way you play on the fact that Gory's confessing a crime to join even an elite club, seems odd in light of his gang connections.
I also like the way you are gradually building a more equal relationship between Logan and Veronica, you have done this well in your other fics too, but you manage to let Logan demonstrate his perceptiveness and intelligence.
Thanks for writing, hope you are okay in general.

[vanessagalore]

I'm sorry, I thought I replied to this.

I'm okay, still slogging along. Maybe one of these days I will be able to report that I'm doing a lot better.

Thank you for noticing my little twists on canon. It's probably the aspect of fanfic that I enjoy the most. As far as Logan, one of the main reasons to write future fic as far as I'm concerned is to let him (and Veronica) grow up.

Thank you for still reading, and I'm sorry I've been so lax about updating.