Disclaimer: I don't own Veronica Mars and don't claim to, just this story about it...so don't try to sue or anything.

The beach is cold as she walks along the edge of the water alone. It's December and surprisingly cold for Neptune. There's some boats fishing nearby, but she doesn't notice them or much of anything else anymore. Why bother? Everything important is gone and there is no point in being smart or tough or really anything now. Still, she had to get out of there. It had been worse than smothering or choking to death and if she had stayed in the Kane mansion where she was now being forced to live for a second longer surely she would have died from it.

What had she ever done to have this kind karma? She had always tried to be a good person and had never hurt anyone else on purpose, so why was everything important to her gone? First Lilly, then her father losing his job, then everyone in school turning against her, then her family losing their house, then her mom walking out. But none of that could have compared to losing her daddy. The only person who really loved and cared about her was dead and she had no one. At forty five Keith Mars died of a stroke…or so she was told by the autopsy report. Whether she really believed that or not was something she kept to herself.

The water came up farther this time and wet the bottom of her jeans and sneakers. She didn't mind, even if it was freezing outside. She would happy choose to freeze to death before going back to the Kanes'.

"Sick of the lifestyles of the rich and famous already? And here I thought you'd be cozying up to daddy." A familiar male voice taunted from behind.

Veronica whipped around having to mentally hold herself back from trying to kill him. "Jake Kane is not my father!" She screamed at him.

He was actually intimidated with the way she looked at him. He had never seen such a hate filled glare from her before…spiteful yes, sarcastic yes, but hate filled no. He briefly wondered if maybe he should shut up before continuing. "Oh, really, that's not what the DNA test said, was it? Because I had heard that it said that Jake Kane was your real father and that you dated your own brother!"

The next thing he knew, her fist connected with his nose and blood was spewing down his chin onto his shirt. He looked up to find the tiny blond that had packed the rather impressive punch, but she was nowhere to be seen. Oddly, this bothered him. Not that she had punched him so much, because in the back of his head he knew that he undoubtedly deserved that one, but because she was gone. They were both alone and he needed to torment her to make himself feel better… at least for the moment. How else was he supposed to talk to her? They weren't friends.

Veronica got into her beaten up old car and turned the radio on. Anything to avoid thinking about what had happened in the last few weeks. She had come home and her dad was just dead. Not shot, not stabbed, not in any way she knew how to handle at all, just dead sitting up on the couch with his eyes wide open and the tv still glaring. She had barely gotten out of the funeral when the Kanes' lawyer approached her.

"The Kanes' have filed for custody of you. It has been determined that you are the biological daughter of Jake Kane. There will be a court hearing that you will need to be at in two weeks and they have requested that you move in with them immediately."

Before all this she would have thought up a way to get Logan for what he had said, but now the prospect didn't give her anything to look forward to. Keith Mars was her daddy, she didn't care about Jake Kane. Keith Mars was the one that taught her everything she knew, raised her, and stood by her no matter what. He was the parent that really cared. Jake Kane just donated some DNA by having an affair with her mother.

She saw Logan walk behind her, as if he wanted to bother her some more as she began to back up, and briefly she considered running him over. Being in jail would probably be more pleasant than her current residence. She dismissed the idea, however, at the thought of the orange jumpsuit she would have to wear. Orange was not her color.

"If you don't want to be road kill I suggest you move now." She said in a no nonsense tone.

Logan interpreted that as a kindly invitation to get in the passenger seat. "So, we going back to your place so you can open more Christmas presents from mommy and daddy? What did they get you? Some new spy equipment?" He asked sarcastically.

She shot him another 'drop dead' glare. "Get out Logan."

Logan smiled. "Umm…no. I feel like spending some nice bonding time with my favorite orphaned spy today."

She huffed a breath. "Whatever."

Had she just given into him? Wow, that was enough to get his attention and even worry him somewhat. After all, they used to be friends, once upon a time. He took a second to examine the tired expression on her face and, to him, what he saw was not Veronica Mars. When they had been friends she was sweet and innocent. He had thought she was cute and had a secret crush on her. When they were enemies she was sarcastic and tough. He loved to hate her and she turned him more than anyone else he'd ever met. This didn't seem like either one. This was just like a dead shell. The real Veronica was to depressed to bother anymore. He didn't like it. He might of enjoyed making fun of her and even be a jerk to her, he didn't really want anything horrible to happen to the little blonde. If she gave up who would he fight with?

He looked over to see her resting the back of her head on the seat. "Maybe things u'll get better." He offered.

She didn't act like she even heard. He tried to think of something else to say that might console her, but finally just gave up and got out of the car.