VM Fic: What’s So Great About Living, Pt. 2/3 (Logan, Dick, Veronica, and many others) NC-17
Title: What’s So Great About Living, Pt. 2/3
Pairing/Character: Logan, Dick, Veronica, other past and present Neptune residents
Word Count: ~11,500 total
Rating: NC-17 (sex, violence, language, this one’s got it all, baby!)
Summary: Logan’s past haunts him, but his present may be better than he realizes…
Spoilers: Season 3
Disclaimer: If Rob Thomas lets me borrow them, they will be returned in their current pristine condition.
Notes: This fic starts just after the food court fight in 3.20: The Bitch is Back. Many thanks to angst_driven and clevermonikerr for beta-ing, and helping me out with some tough spots. Feedback is always appreciated!
Part 1 can be found here.
Happy birthday again, love_is_epic!
A figure in white stood in the distance. Logan squinted to see who it was. He moved closer and her short, dark hair came into focus.
“Mom?” he whispered. He tried to run to her, but couldn’t get any closer.
She turned to face him. “Hi, honey,” she said breathily, not really looking at him.
His voice caught in his throat. “Mom, I’ve missed you so much.” He stretched his arms toward her, desperately wanting her to hold him again, but she was just out of his reach.
His mother didn’t respond.
“Mom, please,” he whispered. “Why did you do it? Why did you leave me?” He took a few slow steps in her direction but couldn’t seem to close the space between them. “Why did you leave me…with him?”
“You tried to tell me what he was doing to you,” she said distractedly. “I think I knew…”
“You did know! You saw what he did. Didn’t you know how bad it would be after you were gone?” He swallowed hard. “It was so much worse, Mom. It still is-I miss you.”
She looked off into the distance. “I love you, sweetheart,” she said, her eyes not meeting his. “But I didn’t love you enough to stay and take care of you.”
Logan couldn’t breathe. His knees buckled beneath him. “Mom…” he choked out.
“It’s not your fault,” she continued. “I just couldn’t be there anymore. You weren’t enough.”
“So why are you here?”
“I don’t know…”
Tears began to spill down his cheeks. “I loved you, Mom. I loved you so much, and I still do. Didn’t you…?”
“I’m sorry, honey.” She smiled sweetly. “I have to go.”
“Mom!” he cried. “Wait! Please! Mom!” He stood and tried to follow her, but he couldn’t get close enough.
As he watched her fade into the distance, he felt a woman’s hand stroking his hair…
Logan awakened but kept his eyes closed, savoring the feel of someone combing their fingers through his hair, just as his mother used to do when he was a boy and woke up from a nightmare. The insistent beeping of the monitors dragged him back into reality and he slowly opened his eyes. Before he had a chance to adjust to the bright light in the room, a sheet of red hair whipped past his face.
He blinked. “Treen?”
His sister landed in the chair across from him. “They said I should let you sleep, but you seemed like you were having a bad dream,” Trina said. “I didn’t mean to wake you, I just thought…maybe it would calm you down. You know, like when you were little. Sorry.”
“No, it was nice,” Logan admitted. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and felt the wetness on his face; he wiped it off with his hand, careful not to scratch himself with the pulse monitor clipped to his finger. “I think the morphine or something they’ve got me on is giving me some seriously fucked-up dreams.”
“Yeah, I remember that from when I had my nose done,” she said sympathetically.
Logan rolled his eyes. “So, what are you doing here?” Between his fatigue and his sore throat, the question came out sharper than he meant it. Logan thought she actually looked hurt for a split-second, but then her smirky demeanor returned.
“My baby brother almost gets taken out by the mob and I shouldn’t visit?” she said, throwing her arms wide in a gesture that always reminded him of Aaron.
“Um, you didn’t make it into town for my mother’s funeral,” Logan noted sarcastically. “Or for our father’s murder trial. Or for my murder trial for that matter. When we discovered we had another brother, that didn’t even rate a phone call. Shall I go on?”
He thought he saw her lips tremble momentarily before she bit down on them and her expression hardened again.
“You’re right-I’m a terrible sister,” Trina said as she stood and threw her Gucci bag over her shoulder. She turned to leave. “I don’t know why I even came here when I have other places to be.”
Her face betrayed nothing but her voice quavered, and Logan knew his sister wasn’t that good an actress.
“Trina,” he said suddenly, provoking a coughing fit. She turned around and hurried to get him some water.
“Thanks,” Logan said, after he had a sip and could breathe normally again. “Treen, I want you to stay. You might as well-there aren’t any red carpet events this early in the day.”
Her lips pursed as she tried not to smile. “Fine. Someone has to keep you from hacking up your lungs. You need to keep the organs you have left.” She sat back in the chair, but held her bag tensely on her lap.
After a few moments of silence, Logan asked gently, “So why are you here?”
She looked around the room uncomfortably. “I found out what happened to you when a reporter called my agent to get a comment from me.”
“So what did you say?”
“That’s not the point-God, you’re an idiot.” Trina tried to laugh but it came out as a sob. “Logan, you almost died and I didn’t even know it was happening!”
“Not to ruin this Lifetime movie moment, but you never seemed all that concerned about me before,” Logan muttered. “This is hardly my first hospital visit. Why is this different? Are the paparazzi still outside? You haven’t been in the tabloids much lately.”
Trina narrowed her eyes. “They’re not there anymore. Britney got out of rehab again last week so you’re old news. That reminds me-I need to call her for a lunch date.” She pulled out her Blackberry to make a note.
“Trina…” he said irritatedly.
“Sorry.” She dropped her phone back into her bag and looked down at her lap. “Even though I didn’t come to Dad’s trial, I watched it on Court TV. I really wanted to believe him, Logan. I didn’t want to think our dad could do that.”
Logan watched her in silence.
“But then I watched his testimony, and…goddamnit, he was acting!” she continued, her voice rising. “I could see all his little tricks, the techniques he tried to teach me, the mannerisms he uses when he’s pretending to be someone else. I just knew everything he was saying was part of an act. I don’t care what the jury said-that smarmy bastard killed Lilly.”
Her brother nodded knowingly.
Trina nervously pulled the ends of her sleeves down over her hands. “And when you took the stand, I just knew that you weren’t lying.”
“How could you be so sure?”
“You couldn’t fake that,” she said with a half-smile and a sniffle. “You’re not that good an actor.”
Logan grinned. “Guess I’ll have to stay out of the family business then.”
Trina stopped smiling and bit her lip. “So if you were telling the truth about Dad then…” She burst into tears. “I should have believed you before. You tried to tell me what he was doing to you.”
He shrugged and picked at the edge of the sheet. “Yeah, well…”
“I kind of knew he was hard on you, but…” She swallowed hard and looked up at him. “Logan, when you were first brought in here, they took a bunch of x-rays to check for other injuries. One of the doctors took me aside and asked me about your medical history, because the x-rays showed so many healed broken bones. He said it looked like your nose had been broken at least three times!”
“Four,” Logan said quietly. “I think. So what did you say?”
Trina dabbed at her eyes with a tissue. “I told him the truth,” she said firmly. “I said that our father was a monster who used to beat you.”
A lump formed in Logan’s throat. “You know, it actually feels good to hear you say that,” he said with a hoarse chuckle. “How fucked up is that?”
She laughed softly. “I just wish I hadn’t waited until you got mortally wounded to tell you I believed you. I felt like such an ass for believing in Dad all that time. I thought…I thought you hated me.”
“Treen, I never hated you. I didn’t like you a lot of the time,” he replied with a teasing grin. “But…I’m glad you came.”
She fidgeted with the damp tissue in her hands. “Me too.”
After a few quiet moments, Logan reached for his water and his sister jumped up to help him. “Thanks, I think I can do it myself,” he said. “It’s not much, but it feels like a major accomplishment. I’ve been practicing.”
“You should be very proud,” Trina said with a faux-serious nod.
“So-” he said in an effort to change the subject. “I like the longer hair. You haven’t worn it like that in a long time.”
She gave her hair a dramatic flip. “I decided to keep it after I had to grow it out for a part.”
“You mean the inspiring college professor on Gilmore Girls?”
“You watch Gilmore Girls?” she asked with a smirk.
“Just those four episodes,” he said. Her face brightened. “But when you got fired for having an affair with a student, I stopped watching. How could you disillusion Rory like that?”
Trina laughed. “You’d be surprised at how many people were seriously upset about that! I’m quite despised in some Internet circles.”
“You should be very proud,” Logan said, imitating her earlier nod.
“Next month, I’m doing a guest spot on Scrubs. I’m pretty sure my character lives.”
“Cool, I like that show!” Logan said, sincerely excited. “You should do more comedy. You’re good at it.”
She smiled shyly. “Thanks.”
“There’s my lovely bride!” Logan and Trina looked toward the door as Dick burst through it. He came up behind Trina and squeezed her shoulders affectionately.
“Dick,” she said with a deep sigh.
Dick looked at Logan. “I think the little woman is getting bored with me already. I think I need to get some ‘special’ toys to spice things up.”
Logan grimaced. “Dude! That’s my sister!”
His friend’s voice dropped to a whisper. “You remember that this is just pretend, right? I’m not really married to Trina.”
“I don’t have a head injury, Dick.”
“Ah, good. Just checking,” Dick said with a broad grin. “So, what’s going on, Echolls kids?”
“Actually, I should go,” Trina said, looking at her watch. “I’m meeting bio-mom for lunch. Make sure he eats something today, Dick.”
“Yes, dear.”
She stepped toward her brother and patted his shoulder awkwardly. “Treen,” he offered, stretching out his non-injured arm slightly.
As she leaned in to hug him, Logan realized he’d never really hugged his sister, except when forced to for family portraits. He squeezed her more tightly and he heard her sniffle again.
“I’ll be back tomorrow, but Dick and Veronica and Keith all have my new number in case you need anything before that,” Trina said as she stepped back and gathered herself.
“See you tomorrow,” Logan replied.
“Bye, honey! See you at home!” Dick yelled as she walked out the door. “Ah, the old ball and chain,” he said to Logan as he plunked into the chair vacated by Trina. “She acts annoyed, but I think she’s got a secret crush on the Dickster.”
“You think so?” Logan asked, amused.
“This little arrangement was her idea,” Dick explained. “When they were going to finally let us in to see you, the ICU nurse was like, ‘Family only.’ So Trina was like, ‘Oh, he’s my husband.’ Pretty cool, huh?”
“Yeah,” Logan said. “She’s been here the whole time?”
“Just about,” Dick said. “You know, she’s all right. I didn’t really know her when we were in high school, since the only time I saw her was when she came to pick up your drunk ass. Hey, remember that time you puked in her car?” He suddenly guffawed and clapped his hands together loudly. “Ha! That was classic. I don’t know why she still kept coming to get you all the time after you did that.”
“Huh,” Logan responded thoughtfully.
“So I talked to Ronnie, and she’s coming by in a few hours, so if you need another marathon nap, you’d better do it now,” Dick warned. “If she misses you again, she’s gonna take it out on me.”
“I’m going to try and have some lunch first,” Logan said. “I don’t want to give her another reason to be mad at the nurses.”
“Cool,” Dick said. “Can I have your pudding cup?”
*~*~*~*
On to Part 3...