Title : All You Need Is LoVe
Rating : PG - some swearing, some sexual content
Length : 6/6
Summary : A ideal reunion for LoVe – Then on to who killed the Dean.
Spoilers: Everything up to 'Spit and Eggs'.
Disclaimer: The characters depicted in this fanfiction belong to Rob Thomas and his creative team at The C.W./U.P.N. The story is my own creative work and my intention is to pay homage to the universe they created, not to profit from it.
Author's Note: I am in the process of re-edting this story. I hate the way the program here strips the font - it took away all the breaks I had between scenes and I find it annoying to read!! So I guess I'll have to use their editor to add the breaks ... sigh ... this could take awhile ...
Logan sat in the corner of the interrogation room. Flexing his hand, he studied the bruises that had started to appear. He smiled despite himself - he could still hear Mercer begging.
He looked up when he heard a key turn in the lock. The door opened and with it brought Lamb.
"Well, since Someone couldn't seem to play nice with the other children ..." Lamb was saying to Cliff, who appeared in the door behind him, "I had to give him a time out." Lamb smirked at Logan.
"Sent him to the corner?" Cliff asked, his tone a bit mocking, "Wow, you're strict."
Lamb didn't respond, he just walked out of the room leaving the door open behind him.
"Young Mr.Echolls, here we are again. You know, I so treasure our times together." Cliff greeted Logan, dropped his briefcase on the table and popped it open.
"I suppose I shouldn't be surprised - I haven't made a phone call and yet, here I have a lawyer?" Logan asked with a little smile slowly getting to his feet.
"What can I say, Logan, you have friends in high places." Cliff glanced at the file he had just opened. "What have we now? Vandalizing police property?" He looked to Logan as if truly disappointed, "For shame!"
"I needed to be arrested." Logan said simply with a shrug.
Cliff nodded. He had seen Logan's handy work when he had first arrived. Mercer Hayes was being wheeled out handcuffed to a gurney on his way to the hospital. He looked plenty worked over. Cliff knew it was still better than he deserved.
"Well, my favorite defendant, not only do you have friends from on high, but you have a few from below as well." Cliff looked out the door at to the figure of Lamb - who stood chatting up some young woman at the front desk. "Seems the Sheriff is willing to let you go, right after you pay for the damages to the car and a 'small' fine."
Logan couldn't help but look a little shocked. He had been prepared for whatever punishment was to come after this stunt, because he knew that whatever the punishment would be - it was totally worth it.
"Just like that? What about what I did in lock up?"
Cliff faked a look of puzzlement, "In lock up? Lamb did mention that a prisoner had had a terrible fall. Very tragic. Though, he didn't look that broken up about it."
Logan grinned, "I thought it was odd how he had 'misplaced' the key to the cell door. It gave me a few extra minutes."
They shared a knowing look.
"You have your credit card on you, right?" Cliff asked as he motioned towards the door.
The sunlight was bright as Logan came out of the station. He had been locked in that interrogation room for what seemed like a week - though it was only a day. Rubbing his eyes to adjust, when he refocused he saw the small blond figure of Veronica sitting on the hood of her car.
"Ah, and there's your connection from on high." Cliff said as he walked past Logan towards Veronica. Logan followed slowly.
"Thanks, Cliffy." Veronica said as he past her.
Cliff placed a hand on her shoulder and gave a little squeeze, "Anything for you, of course. Tell your father to call me and tell him he's not as funny as he thinks he is!" She could hear a trace of annoyance in his voice, but it was mostly in jest. He walked off smiling, leaving Logan and Veronica alone.
With her sitting on the hood, they were almost face to face. The first thing Logan noticed was the ugly bruise above her eye. The second was the look in her eyes - Relief and Love? For a few silent moments they just looked at each other.
He was trying to think what to say, but there was so much that it all ran together in his head. All he wanted to do was reach out to her. Slowly he did do so, lightly brushing her hair off her forehead and gently examining the bruise.
She saw how the corners of his eyes crinkled and he looked for a moment like he might cry.
"I ..." he started, but was stopped - Veronica had suddenly moved forward on the hood and almost knocked him over with her hug. He wrapped his arms around her tightly and breathed in - the familiar scent and her safe in his arms - it felt like home.
Pulling apart slightly, but not letting go, they faced each other. He, again, sweetly brushed her hair off her forehead and followed his instinct to kiss it. As he cupped her face in his hands, Veronica noticed his knuckles. She took his hands in hers and studied them; she could also see the slight mark of where a punch might have landed above his eye as well..
"Would you look at the two of us?" Veronica spoke softly, an attempted humorous tone to her voice. "You know most couples, now a days, just get matching tattoos."
"Yeah, well, who wants to follow in the footsteps of the masses anyway." He gave a quick grin before it was replaced by a look of concern, "Are you okay?"
"A little roughed up, but nothing that won't fade with time. How are you?" Veronica touched the top of his hand.
Logan shrugged off her question about himself, "It's nothing. I'm fine. I'm just glad that you're okay."
Veronica looked at him, deep into his eyes. As usual, there was a storm of emotion raging, "What happened in there? Are you really okay?"
Logan took a long look at her, trying to hold back some, but the storm always won out.
"I just feel so stupid, Veronica!" Logan gestered wildly with his hands, as if to illustrate how helpless he felt. "There he was the entire time, right under my nose! I trusted him, I helped him, I expressed to him how worried I was about your involvement. He knew how terrified I was you'd be attacked again. And it was him the whole time!" Logan's anger was shining through now. "That's why I had to get in there – to get at him. He was my friend and look what he did to you! Look what he did to those girls!"
Veronica reached over and stroked his hair, calming him some.
"I just kept thinking about what if something worse happened to you? What if Parker hadn't heard the whistle … I can't stand the idea of you being hurt. It pains me to see this ..." he motioned to her eye, "Too many people from my past, whom I loved, died and left me. I've made it through, but you, I wouldn't survive that ..." Logan's voice cracked, his eyes shining.
"I'm sorry, Logan. I take too many chances and I have been lucky this far - You have always been there to save me. This time, laying there on Moe's floor, I thought that I was ..." Her voice broke and she took a breath. "I knew you were with Wallace, Piz and Mac were still at the party ..." she trailed off again, tears welling in her eyes; he waited because he could sense that she wasn't done.
"You were right about so many things and I promise to work on them! I want to work on them, but you were wrong about one thing, the most important thing. You said that I never needed anything and that's wrong - because I need you. I love you and that scares me, but not as much as the thought of losing you." Her tears spilled over her cheeks, "It would never be a bearable amount of pain."
Logan pulled her into his chest again and held her as she cried; his own tears coming fast, "Shh ..." He stroked her back and whispered softly, "You never lost me. You never really could."
"...yeah Dad, everything went fine. Cliff was great and Logan's out - he had to pay for the damages and a not-so-small, small fine. I have no doubt that the Neptune Police Christmas party will be well funded this year."
Back at the Neptune Grand, Veronica sat on the couch talking to her father on the phone, "Call Cliff, by the way. I think he's still sore you took his money last week. I told you to stop sending him all the 'Keith is Poker King' text messages!"
She looked up as Logan entered into the room, shirtless, fresh from the shower.
"Okay Dad, I gotta go. I'll be here late. We're ... working it out. Be careful tonight. I love you too." She hung up the phone as Logan dropped down beside her.
"Well, you certainly smell better." Veronica good-naturally teased.
"Yeah, the facilities at the NPD have really gone down hill since my last stay." Logan answered with a slight raise of his brow and a lop-sided smile, "I'll never book a room with them again."
"Amen to that!" Veronica smiled back.
They fell into silence again, just looking at each other. Close, but not touching. Both unsure what to say next, where to begin. Both knowing that there was no where else they'd rather be.
Veronica turned to face Logan, he shifted the same. She started slowly.
"Logan, It's important you know you are not a disappointment to me. You may ... from time to time ... 'bend' a few of the 'lesser' laws, but in the end you do what's right. You follow your heart and despite all that you have gone through growing up, you have such a great heart! You have so much potential and I would just like to see a little more direction. You also need to know that I do trust you."
She reached over to him as she spoke, just needing to touch him in some way. He reached for her as well and they intertwined their fingers. Veronica continued.
"I think that you're amazing every day and I don't want a day to go by without you in my life. You probably won't remember this, you'd had a lot to drink, but you once called our story Epic."
Logan looked down and his cheeks flushed some. He knew the night she spoke of and it was a blur, but he did remember moments of when he drunkenly poured his heart out to her at the Prom.
What he remembered more was the next morning when she showed up, discovering Kendall there. The look on her face as the elevator door closed. It had been a bitter-sweet moment for him. He had realized two things at once: That Veronica loved him and that he just hurt her more than he could bear.
"I remember." He managed to mumble through a wave of past guilt.
"That word sounded really scary to me at the time, but it got me thinking." She moved in a little closer to him and angled to see his downcast eyes, "And I concluded that Epic wasn't so scary when it was with you."
Logan met her eyes and saw them shining back at him. His smile was automatic as Veronica lovingly traced the side of his face, "Let's just try and cut down on the amount of bloodshed?" he suggested.
Veronica smiled and nodded quickly, "Agreed. Whatever it takes. This is where I want to be."
"We have to make some compromises. I will focus more on direction and a little less on bending any laws." He couldn't help a little mischievous smile.
"I'll trade those if you take less risks. I love the passion you have to right the wrongs, protect the innocent and punish the evildoer. It's who you are and I don't want to change that about you." Logan looked down to their meshed hands. The contrast in size a reminder that despite her fearless, tough exterior, she was more delicate than she'd ever admit, "It's just that the dangerous situations you've already been exposed to ... so many times lucky, but luck can turn."
Veronica listened to him and more importantly, she watched how every word he said played out in the urgent expression on his face. His brown eyes pleading. The overwhelming love she saw there mixed with his incredible fear only flared her love for him even more.
"All I'm asking is that you are extra careful. If a case is leading you towards anything potentially risky, take me with you. Or take your father, Wallace, Backup ... even that Piz guyཀ As long as you're not alone."
Veronica nodded, "I can do that." She smiled at him, "I will do that." she reaffirmed. "I'll even sign us up for self-defense classes."
A broad, sweet smile came to Logan's lips. Veronica's heart jumped at the sight of it and she giggled out loud. Logan caressed the side of her face tenderly, his finger tips softly grazing her chin. It sent a tingle down her spin and she leaned her head into his hand, kissing his open palm.
With his other hand, Logan gathered her by the waist and pulled her effortlessly into his lap. He brought his lips to the nape of her neck and planted a series of quick kisses and nibbles. Her breath caught as he did so and a smile of delight her crossed lips. Her body yelded to him, her hands moving up his bare back and into his hair, cradling his head.
He was working on the other side of her neck when in one quick moment Veronica pushed him back on the couch and straddled him. Her lips found his for a hungry kiss.
Veronica awoke, warm and safe in Logan's arms a few hours later. The room was faintly aglow with candle light. Her head rested on Logan's chest, it rose and fell with his deep breaths. She looked up and gazed at his sleeping face, a smile across his lips.
VVO: The Beatles once sang that all you need is love. I have to admit, they've made a believer out of me.