#ACOC2

[grasslandgirl]

blah blah “fantasy high junior year!” blah blah “tuc3!” SHUT THE FUCK UP. ACOC2. MANIFESTING

[nicemom93]

Logan & Veronica AU Week – Day 2 – Canon Divergence

For most of 2016, I posted my first long fan fic, A Change of Circumstance, where Veronica stopped Lynn from jumping off the Coronado Bridge. For 47 chapters, I rewrote the canon events of their Junior year, tweaked by the changes that arose from Veronica saving Logan’s mom. 

I’ve been planning to do a sequel covering Senior year events, impacted by all the changed events of the prior year,  but it’s been slow coming. I do have the first chapter, so thought I would share that for LV AU Week’s Second Day.

Logan rapped on the apartment door, then used his key to let himself in. Keith stood at the kitchen island, a slice of toast in his hand.

"Hey kid, I wasn't expecting you this morning."

Logan heaved a sigh and looked up at the ceiling in exasperation. "She left already?"

"Umm, yeah, she did." Keith frowned. "Wallace came by about twenty minutes ago and she left with him. I figured it was the plan."

"If it was, I wasn't in on it." Logan shook his head, then took a step back toward the door, not wanting to be involved in any speculation about Veronica ditching him first thing in the morning. “Okay, well, I'm gonna get going. The first day of senior year waits for no man."

"Are you two fighting again?" Keith asked. 

"Not that I know of. And fighting is too harsh a word. We just don't agree about the Kanes. You've heard it plenty of times." Logan shrugged. "We've agreed to disagree."

"If she's leaving you hanging like this, maybe you don't have quite the agreement you think you do." Keith took a swallow from his coffee cup. "And, in my experience, yelling and door slamming usually qualifies as fighting. Or a 10-16, domestic disturbance." He smiled ruefully. "Anyway, you already know how I feel about that particular difference of opinion."

You might feel differently if you knew the whole story, Logan thought bitterly. Out loud, he replied, "Yeah, I know. You've made it abundantly clear. But it was my mom's choice, and I don't think it's my place to mess it up. It's not like making Aaron a conspirator, in addition to being a murderer, hurts my feelings."

"I just don't like Jake and Celeste getting off the hook because of it. They interfered with the investigation and bribed a man onto death row, and your mom is letting them sneak away without paying for that. That doesn't sit right with me." Keith's coffee cup thumped hard against the counter.

"Yeah, and they pretty much ruined your life while they were at it, don't think I'm not well aware of that little detail." Keith shook his head like that part didn't matter, but Logan knew better. "I don't really like it either. You deserve a public apology and this town begging you to come back to be Sheriff, but the Kanes agreed not to sue Aaron's estate in exchange for Mom not disputing their claim that Aaron's the one who bribed Abel Koontz." And they agreed to stay out of Neptune, and keep Duncan out too. That's the part I care about. Logan shook his head. "She's okay with letting Aaron take another posthumous reputation hit if it means she doesn't lose out on all the bank accounts she inherited."

"I guess." Keith turned toward the sink, rinsing out his cup. "I still think it's surprising they've gone back to Napa. They're in the clear now, why not just keep up the status quo and stay in town?"

Because I demanded it as a condition of the agreement. "Who knows. Maybe it's just hard to be in the house with all the memories of Lilly."

Keith scoffed. "It was okay for the first year and a half but now it's too painful?"

"I don't know, Keith. Maybe Celeste just thinks Napa is higher up the social ladder than Neptune. I'm just glad it's over." Logan slapped his hand on the island counter. "I'm outta here, gonna be late. I'll see you soon."

Veronica felt Logan walk up beside her and looked up from the notes she was taking as Wallace talked. 

"Morning. Sorry I didn't text you I was getting a ride in with Wallace. Did you go by the apartment?" At Logan's pained look, she frowned. "What's the matter?"

"Of course I went by the apartment. Where your dad decided we must be fighting since you took off without telling me. He had me convinced of it before I left the place." He threw his back pack on the free bench and sat down next to Veronica. "He's elevated us to a domestic disturbance code now." He wrapped his arm around her waist and kissed her temple. 

Veronica turned to face him, scrunching up her nose at his words. "What do you mean, still fighting?" A rude snort came out of Wallace, followed by loud laughter.

"Pumpkin," Logan said slowly, and Veronica rolled her eyes, "as the trained investigator mentioned to me this morning, we walked into the apartment yesterday with you yelling at me, and then you went in your room and slammed the door. He's not wrong that, in most countries, that is a sign of fighting."

"I got over that. I invited you into my room later, didn’t I?" She looked up at him innocently. She knew he was right, but it was more fun to keep playing along.

"Yeah, but thankfully, he’d left to pick Alicia up for dinner by then," Logan said. The stressed out look he'd had when she first looked at him was gone. "The loud noises and slamming sounds at that point wouldn't have been possible with him in the building." He bent his head and kissed behind her ear, making her giggle at the tickling sensation.

Wallace's laughter ended abruptly, replaced with a gagging sound. "You two better knock it off. I'm gonna sic Clemmons on you."

Logan raised his head, looking past Veronica to their friend. "Your own fault, dude. If you would have left her at home, I coulda picked her up and gotten this out of my system before you had to witness it." He ducked down and nuzzled Veronica's neck again. She tipped her head back to give him more room, looking back over her shoulder at Wallace at the same time.

"Guess you should think these emergencies out more thoroughly, hmm?"

Wallace stood and leaned back to reach behind Veronica and slap Logan in the head. "Like this shit is ever outta your system. Now get offa her. I need her right now." Logan sat up straight, rubbing his head, and looking balefully at Wallace.

"What the hell?"

"Wallace has a problem, Snookums—" if he could use stupid petnames, so could she "—which is why he picked me up this morning." She twined her fingers through Logan's, then turned back toward Wallace who was seated again. "Look, I'll talk to the other people who've gotten kicked off their teams and see what I can find out. Okay? I know for sure that neither you nor Meg should have had positive drug tests; let me see if the others should've been clean or not, and then we'll figure this out. I promise."

"You've gotta." His voice was pleading. "If my mom hears about this..."

"Your mom's not gonna think this is true anymore than I do, so stop worrying about that. It'll be easier to poke around though if she's not making a fuss in the principal's office. Just chill. Basketball season doesn't start for another two months; we'll definitely have this figured out by then."

"We start conditioning right away, and I'm out of that until we figure this out. I don't want to lose a starting spot because I get out of shape."

"Oh geez, they run and lift weights," she said dryly. "You can run on your own and you can lift weights at Logan's. Stop stressing out." She turned to Logan. "Walk me to my locker?"

"Sure." He smiled at her for a moment, then looked at Wallace. "When did you find out about this?"

"Last night. I got a call from Coach, telling me that my annual drug screen came back positive and I'm off the team." He grinned, for the first time that morning. "He was practically crying."

Veronica stood up, stepping over the bench and grabbing her bag. "So he's not involved. Good to know." She patted Wallace's shoulder. "Don't worry, okay? We've got this." She turned and looked at Logan. "Come on, I don't want to be late."

Logan was back at the lunch table, picking at his Chinese food as he halfway listened to Mac and Carrie arguing about a band he didn't care about, while watching Veronica make her way through the people who'd had positive drug tests. Wallace had been trailing along behind her for a while, but it appeared that he'd gotten sidetracked at the table where most of the basketball team sat.

"Yo, Earth to Echolls." Carrie punched him in the arm and he jerked around to glare at her.

"Why are you hitting me? You're getting mean, Bishop."

Both girls scoffed. "Nothing else was getting your attention," Mac said. "You should be glad all she did was sock you. She was ready to pour her water bottle in your lap."

Carrie gave an evil laugh. "The way he's staring at Veronica, he's gonna need cold water in his lap when it's time to go to class."

He raised his eyebrows at her. "I can look at my girlfriend without needing a cold shower."

"Uh huh."

"Whatever. So, did you want something? Or were you just feeling violent?" He glanced back at Veronica and saw she was talking to Meg. He ducked his head and turned to face Carrie. "You have my full and undivided attention. So spit out whatever you wanted to say before I decide not to talk to you at all."

"Yeah, right." She studied him for a moment, then grinned, shame-faced. "I don't remember; it took so long to get your attention."

Mac snorted out a laugh and shook her head. "You wanted to know if everyone's coming over to his place on Saturday. First party of the school year."

"We had the last party of the summer three days ago. You're ready for another one already?" Logan's voice was teasing, but truthfully, he had no reservations about another gathering at his house. It gave him an excuse to have Veronica spend the night with him. 

"Of course. You're an excellent host." Carrie's face grew serious. "Honestly, I'm looking for a way to get Susan out of the house again. She's so depressed since she—" her voice dropped to a whisper "—gave the baby up, and she had fun with us last weekend. I just thought, maybe another party might cheer her up. I'm just worried about her, ya know?"

Mac nodded, a sympathetic look on her face. "She won't come back to school? Seems like she needs to get out of her house more, get back into life."

"She won't," Carrie answered. "She's convinced everyone knows and will laugh at her. She still wants to do the home school thing."

"Well, then, yeah, Logan's having a party." He looked at Mac with surprise, but then shrugged since he'd been fine with the idea all along. "We'll convince her that she's totally missing out by not being here."

Logan spoke up. "I've got no problem with a party, you all know that. I'm just not sure what she's missing out on. It's high school, not The Grand Tour."

"All of us! Senior year stuff! Graduation! Whatever BS we think of between now and Saturday to make Neptune High seem like the place to be." Mac looked at Carrie. "Whaddaya think?"

"Might work." Carrie nodded thoughtfully, just as Veronica slid onto the bench next to Logan. 

"You saved me some lunch, didn't you?" She looked pointedly around the table. "Where are my eggrolls?"

"Don't worry, Logan's got your lunch," Carrie answered. "No one here would get between you and your eggrolls." She rolled her eyes and stood up. "So, party at Logan's on Saturday. I'll let Susan know."

Logan tipped a finger off his brow as he slid the take-out boxes toward Veronica, who opened them eagerly. "Got it. I'm not responsible for making high school alluring though. I'll provide the location and the food. You guys are going to have to convince her on your own."

Veronica sat silently chewing an egg roll, her eyes on Carrie as she walked away. She swallowed, then looked back at Logan and Mac. "Someone's going to make high school alluring? How's that supposed to work?"

Mac spoke up before Logan could think of any reasonable answer for that question. "Carrie's worried about Susan. She wants to cheer her up and I said we should try to convince her to come back to school."

Veronica nodded and reached for another container. "You think coming back to school is going to cheer someone up? That seems...unlikely." 

"Like you don't enjoy coming to school every day. Get to hang out with all of us, spend time with Mr. Smoosh over there—"

"Hey," Logan said indignantly.

"—and set your life up to kick the world's ass. You like school just fine." Mac grinned over at Logan. "And you, don't pretend you're not totally smooshy. Around her at least."

"Okay, I see the point of dragging her back into the world, even if it is only high school. This may involve some kicking and screaming though." Veronica smirked at Mac, then pointed at Logan with her chopsticks. "And she's right. You're totally smooshy."

"I'm rock hard, and you should know that better than anyone." 

Mac groaned. "Nope, I'm not sticking around for that conversation. Talk to y'all later." She stood up, grabbed her garbage and her bag, and disappeared into the crowd of students.

Veronica took another bite of Mongolian Beef, then leaned into Logan's side. "You do know how to clear a room," she said. "You know you can't say things like that in front of Mac and Wallace."

"Yeah, I try to save those statements for when I want some alone time with you."

"Ahh, now I understand. It's deliberate." She dipped her last eggroll into the sweet and sour, then held it up for Logan to take a bite. "As long as you avoid statements like that in front of Carrie. She just insults you. Actually, it's probably better to avoid that kind of talk at school at all."

He laughed around his mouthful, nodding as she popped the final bite into her own mouth. "You're so right about Carrie. She says things to me that most people would never dare."

"Except Weevil."

He nodded again, sobering. "He and I have a different dynamic than pretty much anyone else. Hey, maybe we need to invite him on Saturday. He could use some pulling back into the world."

"I doubt he'll show, but we can try." She began to gather up the empty containers. "On top of the medical stuff, he's having a hard time without Felix. Personally, I think he's a lot better off without the PCHers but with Felix gone, he's pretty much all alone."

"It had to be done," Logan said in a low voice. "Felix’s choice of true love was going to end up getting him dead if he stuck around. He may not be here to play hopscotch with Weevil, but at least he's alive and well."

"And, he even managed to skip town with that ill-chosen true love. Look, you don't have to try to convince me; I know he and Molly are better off out of Neptune as well as you do." She stood up and rested her hand against the back of his neck. "Weevil knows it too. It just sucks that he's so on his own now." She leaned down and kissed the top of Logan's head.

"He doesn't have to be. He's just too stubborn to hang out with us."

"If your situations were reversed, would you be accepting invitations to hang out at Casa Navarro?" Her raised eyebrows made it pretty clear she knew the answer to her question and he nodded his agreement.

"You're right. And honestly, for all we know, the house might be a trigger for him too. He did almost die there." Logan stood up and gathered the rest of their belongings, following Veronica to the trashcan and then out of the lunch area.

"If that's true, he's hiding it pretty well," Veronica responded. She took her bag back from Logan and slid her hand into his, lacing their fingers together. "He says he doesn't really remember any of what happened that night and he's been by your house plenty of times. He's just not really into the group scene now that his crew is running without him."

"He's better off without those shitheads anyway.” Logan shrugged as Veronica laughed. He knew it probably was weird for him to end up being Weevil Navarro’s biggest advocate, but he owed him, and what the PCHers had pulled while Weevil had been hospitalized was beyond shitty, even for a bunch of loser low-lifes.

“True, but even when your friends are jerks, it can be hard to get used to being on the outside when you used to be in.” Her voice was mild but Logan felt her words like a blow. As good as things were between them, he knew that he'd always regret how he’d treated her in the year after Lilly died, and how he’d let others treat her.

He’d continued to walk with her without hesitation, but Veronica must have felt something change between them because she stopped and turned to grasp both of his hands in hers.

“Logan, stop. The guilty moping has got to stop.” She raised her eyebrows at him. “Look, I heard what I said as soon as it was out of my mouth, and I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to say something that would upset you. But I can’t always be on eggshells with you, trying not to trigger a guilt trip.”

He shuffled closer to her, tipping his head to rest his face against her hair. “It’s not your responsibility to have to guard your words so my feelings don’t get hurt."

"Maybe not, but it's also not your responsibility to constantly rake yourself over the coals about things you did almost two years ago. Especially not when you've been trying like crazy for the last eight months to make up for everything."

"I can never make all of that up to you," he answered sadly. "We'll be old and gray, and I am still going to feel as bad about what I did to you as I do right now."

Veronica straightened and took a step back. He didn’t have the top of her head to rest against any longer and he tucked his chin down into his chest so he could continue to avoid her gaze.

“Logan,” she growled, irritation in her tone. Her fingers pinched at his chin. “Look at me.”

He sighed and raised his head, but kept his eyes downcast. “Don’t tell me I shouldn’t feel bad, Veronica. I can’t help how I feel.”

“I wasn’t planning on it. You can feel bad forever if that’s what you want to do.”

That statement got his attention and he looked up at her in surprise. She sighed behind a tight-lipped smile, as she shook her head at him. "I'd prefer that you didn't do that, but I can't do anything about how you choose to feel. But, I would appreciate it if you could stop reminding me of things that I'm over and done with. I don't want to be old and gray and still have to be thinking about a really, really bad party that I went to sophomore year of high school. Because that's what your self-inflicted guilt trips do...they remind me of one of the worst nights of my life. I don't think that's your intent, but that's what you do."

Logan groaned and pulled his hands out of hers, moving away from her to a low concrete wall that bordered the path they stood on. He slumped down onto it and leaned his elbows onto his knees, hiding his face in his hands. "Oh God, I suck."

He felt her sit down and lean into his side. "No sexy talk at school; didn't we just talk about that?"

Despite himself, he snorted a laugh. "That's your rule, not mine." He sat up and put his arm around her. "I'm sorry, Veronica. I never thought about how I was still hurting you by bringing up the shitty things I've done in the past. I'll keep it to myself."

"Okay, if you must. I just wish you'd work a little harder at forgiving yourself. I've forgiven you. And think about it this way...do you really want to be old and gray, with me there with you, and be wasting our few remaining moments together thinking about something bad that happened a long time ago, that you've more than made up for since then? I know that I'd rather that you were thinking about a way to get in my pants."

He gaped at her smirking face. "Now who's breaking the rules?"

She shrugged. "I just need you to get past this old stuff. You've gonna do so many other dumb things in the next seventy years. If you never let go of any of them...it just sounds depressing."

"I am never going to do anything as dumb, or hurtful, as what I did that night. Never." He pressed his lips to her forehead. "I will never hurt you like that again."

"I know," she said in a matter-of-fact tone. "But you will hurt me, and I’ll hurt you. I don't think we'll mean to, but shit happens sometimes. The important thing is that we recognize when we've messed up, and we fix it." She rested her hand on his cheek and he closed his eyes, nestling into her hand. "Do you hear me, Logan?"  He nodded. "Okay, then, come on, we don't have much time before lunch is over."

"Where are we going?"

"Girls bathroom. It's a new year; I wanna see if you've got any new moves."

He let her tug him upright and pull him toward the bathroom. "When exactly do you think I learned any new moves? I'm pretty sure I've used all of my moves on you at least once."

"You've got a very dirty imagination. You surprise me all the time." She laughed back over her shoulder at him and he did have a sudden thought of pressing up behind her at the bathroom counter while she urged him on over her shoulder. He shivered at the picture in his head, and sped his pace slightly.

"Hey, isn't this conversation banned anyway?" 

"You believed me about that?"