Disclaimer: I don't own Veronica Mars, sadly. I'm just peeing in Rob Thomas's pool.

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With one blunt nail, Veronica traced the line of the white scar as it sliced across his back downwards over his right butt cheek. "Why do you think it took us this long?"

Duncan leaned over Logan's back and pressed his lips gently to hers. Even that light touched hurt a bit. Their little sexual free-for-all had left her feeling bruised in all sorts of interesting places.

At least she hadn't completely zonked out like Logan had. She could practically see the drool spot forming on the pillow beneath his mouth.

"I mean it, seriously. Why now?"

Duncan sighed and sank back into the nest of pillows that had somehow managed to stay on the bed. His parents' bed, she had to add. Thank God, the Kanes were in Acapulco for the long Labor Day weekend, trying to patch up their fraying marriage. Propping himself up on one elbow, Duncan joined her in tracing the faint scars that crisscrossed Logan's back. "Because of Lilly."

Veronica frowned and scooted down until she too was reclining, folding her hands over her stomach. The Kanes had placed their bed directly under an air vent, and the cold air whispered over her skin, raising little goosebumps. "Did she push us together or pull us apart?"

"Probably both," he answered quietly, "At the same time."

They both chuckled. "Yeah," Veronica murmured, "She was like that."

"I mean, we three were the ones who loved her the most. When she was alive, we were two couples—her and Logan, me and you. Safe, ordinary."

"As much as anything involving Lilly was ordinary."

He nodded at the truth in that but kept going. This was the most confessional he'd been…ever. She and Logan, when Lilly had died, they'd hidden themselves behind walls of sarcasm and occasional cruelty. It was Duncan who had completely shut down, stopped functioning as he grieved for his sister. Now, after the past couple of days, it looked as if he might be coming back to them. "Lilly's death drove us all away from each other."

"Nice theory, but if I remember correctly, you broke up with me before Lilly died because your mom told you that I was your half-sister, and you and Logan were still BFFs while I was completely ostracized."

Damn, that had come out a lot harsher than she'd meant it to. Curse her and her razor tongue. A time like this, all wrapped up in three hundred count Egyptian cotton sheets and post-sex afterglow, she should be the proverbial marshmallow. Instead, she was scratching at old wounds like she wanted to pull the scabs off again when, really, all she wanted to do was heal.

Duncan, at least, had the courtesy to look uncomfortable. "Yeah, we treated you pretty rottenly." Veronica bit her tongue. "And then, when you and Logan started seeing each other…and then you broke up, and we got back together…"

"We were both jealous bastards, and you were a snarky bitch," Logan mumbled into the pillow. "Yadda, yadda, yadda."

Veronica looked across his back at Duncan, arching one eyebrow loftily. "It speaks."

"But it doesn't move."

"Guess that means it's not dead."

"Darn," Duncan teased, snapping his fingers in mock-disappointment, "And here I was hoping I'd get to poke it and find out."

Veronica laughed. "Still sounds like a plan to me."