Chapter Text
Father and daughter sit side by side in uncomfortable silence, both lost to their own individual thoughts, which focus on the implications of the nondescript manila envelope lying innocuously on the coffee table of the Mars tiny apartment.
Veronica’s usually keen blue eyes, now slightly blurred, judge the A4 rectangle; her mind churning with the implications for her case alongside the unsettled feeling that some unknown person felt entitled to intrude on what should have been a private, intimate moment.
She wants to feel anger, possibly frustration, but she’s also processing her dad's very real observation – doing just that is what pays their rent.
Veronica’s not sure how she feels about that and isn’t sure she wants to delve any deeper into her consternation, after all, she quite likes having a roof over her head.
Keith Mars sits quietly, discreetly side eyeing his little girl, trying to gauge what’s going on in that brilliant mind, all the while pondering the ‘Logan Issue’ as he’s come to think of it.
He’d gently confronted Veronica when she arrived home, offering her the information that’d been delivered anonymously, giving her the opportunity to tell her side of the story.
Veronica had fumed and ranted at the very thought that someone had invaded her privacy, actually taken photos of her at the Neptune Women’s Clinic and sent them to her dad along with a note insinuating she was pregnant.
Her outrage had been quite convincing enough in Keith’s relieved eyes, but he’d still asked, the PI in him needed all the answers… “Did this have anything to do with the breakup with Logan?” He’d queried.
“No.” Had been the emphatic answer, “Not now, never have been pregnant.” Is what his daughter had said.
While Keith would have preferred a suitably decorous, “No daddy, that’s impossible, I’m waiting for marriage!” implying that his teenage daughter’s relationship with her notorious now ex boyfriend had been as chaste as any protective father could wish, Keith’s no idiot and he’ll happily settle for his only child not being pregnant to a borderline alcoholic, self destructive trust fund kid with a death wish!
Before Keith can probe any further, a knock at the door interrupts both PI’s musings.
Raising an enquiring eye at his daughter, silently asking if she’s expecting anyone at this late hour, he only gets a shrug and a head shake from the girl, who hoists herself off the couch and makes her way to answer the summons.
From his vantage point across the room, Keith can clearly see the late-night caller over Veronica’s shoulder
Logan Echolls.
And if body language is anything to go by, this isn’t a social call Logan looks like he wants to make, thinks Keith. Standing on the doorstep, the kid looks nervous, pensive and contrite.
Mind you, Veronica’s body language isn’t much better, he decides sadly, easily clocking the way her body stiffens and tenses.
Logan’s speaking quietly, quietly, Keith can only just make out his words.
“Veronica, can we talk, please?”
“I’ve got nothing to say, Logan,” Veronica responds, also quiet, but bluntly, hurt and anger bubbling just under her voice.
“I’ve been sent something,” Logan responds, proffering an identical folder to the one Keith Mars found in his mail this evening.
Time seems to stop for a moment, as Veronica processes the evidence of her eyes, then as quickly as it stops, it starts again.
Veronica swiftly steps past Logan, fluidly closing the door behind her, taking her private business out onto the landing, away from prying parental eyes.
Tempted as he is, Keith restrains himself from moving to the door for a better vantage point, keeping his curious ass firmly planted on the couch.
An action he’s rewarded for two minutes later when the door opens, and a stormy-faced Veronica returns to her place on the couch.
“Logan gone?”
“Yep.” The answer is succinct and doesn’t invite additional comment.
“You okay, honey?” As her dad, he has the right to ask that, doesn’t he?
“Yeah, I’m good,” Veronica says, looking up at him, a sad, forced smile that he’s come to think of as her ‘nothing to see here’ expression.
“How about some popcorn?” He says jovially, moving off to the kitchen to rustle some up.
“Sure, why not?” Veronica’s always happy to play along with any form of avoidance.
Moving about the small kitchen, Keith covertly observes Veronica. She’s distracted and sad.
Sad, not angry, he notes.
God only knows how the Echolls kid has reacted to the information and what took place out on the landing. All Keith knows is that his little girl is hurting, and he doesn’t know how to fix it.
In his experience, entitled teenage 09er boys don’t react well to unexpected pregnancies, no matter how mythical they might be.
The microwave pings, and Keith deposits the steaming bowl on the coffee table next to his version of the envelope.
Chancing his hand, Keith presses, “So, I take it Logan got a copy of this information as well?”
“Yep.”
“And that’s what he wanted to talk about?”
Not bothering to dignify that with an answer, Veronica merely shoots him a ‘captain obvious’ look as she nabs a handful of popcorn.
“So, how’d he take it?” Keith asks gently.
Sighing deeply, Veronica says flatly, “In typical Logan fashion.”
“With an offer of cash to ‘take care of things’?” The former Sheriff poses wryly but unsurprised.
He’s taken aback by a headshake and a soft, sad look.
“Nope.” Veronica says, letting out a low, sad sigh, “With a ring and a promise to be a better dad than his.”
Keith Mars is momentarily lost for words, allowing Veronica time to add dryly, “Mind you, he did admit that was pretty low bar.”
“Oh, honey…” Keith starts consoling and is swiftly cut off by Veronica interjecting abruptly.
Standing suddenly, she says, “You know what, it’s been a long day and I’ve kind of lost my appetite, the popcorn is all yours, daddio! I’m off to bed.” Quickly departs the room, leaving Keith in stunned silence to contemplate what he’s just learned.
Pulling the still full bowl onto his lap and pointing the remote at the TV, which springs dutifully to life, Keith glances thoughtfully at his daughter’s closed door before turning his attention to the rerun of Matlock he’s just found, leaving the complicated web that is Veronica’s relationship as something to deal with another day.