A/N - Here goes my second story in this AU series, well also my second ever FF too. I hope everyone who reads it will enjoy it as much as the first. I won't be updating as quickly as I did with the first one, but hopefully will still get a new chapter out at least once a week. I love to get your comments, whether good or bad, so please let me know what you think. Maybe more comments will keep me motivated to get the new chapters done faster. I'll also be posting this over on AO3.
Disclaimer: Only borrowing these wonderful characters from Rob Thomas. I sadly own nothing, but wish I did. (Okay - I guess I could claim owning Alexis, but given how much people loved to hate her in the first story, not sure I want to - haha )
Chapter 1 – New Beginnings
It had been a little over two weeks since Keith had returned from his cruise and Veronica had let him know of the decisions she'd made to stay in Neptune, move in with Logan, and take a position with the Sheriff's Department as a consultant. The first week after Keith had returned, she spent most of her days catching up with him and still helping out at Mars Investigations while she waited for the official approval for the position at the Sheriff's department to go through. Of course she spent all of her evenings and nights with Logan, continuing to get reacquainted after eight long years apart.
Logan had assured her that he wasn't purposely delaying the new position, but needed to get it approved with the next city budget proposal that was going through. Luckily they had just finished putting the latest proposal together and he was able to make the change prior to the meeting that was coming up at the end of that first week. He of course had still taken advantage of doing her that favor and used it as leverage to get her to agree to a few things that week. The biggest was her agreeing to let him buy a new car for her to drive. Initially he had offered to let her drive either the BMW or the Range Rover, but one of them would be driving the Range Rover every day, which she pointed out wasn't really the most economical idea. Of course Logan had scoffed a bit at that, but his eyes lit up at the idea of going shopping for a new car.
Logan had taken an afternoon off and they drove down to San Diego to visit his favorite dealership there. She had argued on the way there that they should just get something practical and that he didn't need to spend a fortune on another car when he already had the other two, but her words were definitely wasted on him once he sat behind the wheel of the latest Mercedes-Benz GT AMG. She was pretty sure the car was not actually going to be for her once she saw that gleam in his eye. She was of course more than happy to just drive the BMW, since it was a convertible after all, but she was still thrilled to have something to give him a bad time about.
"I'm not sure I really like it," she said in the most neutral voice she could manage as she stood next to the opened door and looked in at him. He had been intently running his hands along the steering wheel and glancing across the dash at all the controls. As soon as she spoke his attention whipped to her and his expression changed to utter disbelief.
He quickly climbed out, wrapping his hands around her shoulders and gently shoved her toward the drivers seat. She gave him a slightly annoyed look, which he clearly ignored and started to adjust the seat for her once she was in the car.
"Whoa, there buddy," she said with a bit of exasperation in her tone, "what do you think you're doing?"
"You've got to take it for a test drive and then I'm sure you'll love it." He had such an eager expression on his face that she had a hard time not laughing at him. Once he had her situated, he wandered over to talk to a sales guy then came back with the key fob a few minutes later. She shook her head with an amused expression on her face as he climbed into the passenger seat and leaned over and started the car. She drove it for a little while then asked if he wanted a turn. She had to laugh at the way he practically skipped around the car to take his turn behind the wheel. She tried coming up with reasons she didn't think they should get it, but knew it was a pointless exercise as she watched Logan practically drooling over it.
She had insisted on being the one to drive the Benz home from San Diego once he'd taken care of all the paperwork. She couldn't help but notice his immediately deflated look as she had said it, but he also didn't object. He'd insisted on following behind her as they left the dealership and she couldn't help but wonder how badly he was pouting back there to himself in the BMW as she merged onto the freeway. She smiled mischievously as she pulled off at the first rest area just outside of San Diego and then gave him a loving look as she tossed him the key fob to the Benz when he got out to see what was wrong. She was looking forward to her reward for that all the way back to Neptune and wasn't disappointed at all once they returned home. He had been really sweet every morning asking which car she wanted to drive before she finally told him she'd just use the BMW and he could stop asking.
When Veronica was able to officially start working at the Sheriff's department, she was happy to see a few familiar faces. A few of the better deputies that had been there when her dad was sheriff were still on the staff, including Jerry Sacks. She was also taken by surprise to see that Norris Clayton had become a Sheriff's deputy as well. He gave her a shy smile when he saw her, not sure she'd remember him from so many years before and if she did apparently worried about her impression from then. She of course did remember him, and quickly tried to put him at ease. He was one of the newer recruits in the department, and didn't have a formal partner yet, so Leo had told her they would most likely be sent out together on cases. Even though he was a bit of a rookie, Leo was really pleased with his performance and knew he'd keep Veronica safe and that he could learn to be a better detective from working with her.
Leo had her start with a couple of simple robbery cases, which given her investigative skills, she was able to easily solve in a couple of days. There was also a more complicated robbery case that Leo had been having little luck with over the past few weeks that he also asked her to work on.
The complicated case was a string of jewelry thefts, all at 09er residences. Leo hadn't been able to find a common thread yet between the families, but the M.O. of the robberies seemed to be the same. The items stolen were mostly very expensive necklaces, all of which had been insured, so the families that had been robbed were less concerned about the loss of their jewelry than the hassle of having to file the reports for their insurance claims. None of the stolen merchandise had shown up in any local pawn shops, or any shops that they'd contacted in neighboring areas. But considering the type of jewelry that had been stolen, it really wasn't surprising that no one was trying to just pawn them. Given how expensive the necklaces were, they were always kept locked in a safe in the owner's homes, and that resulted in them not having much luck determining the exact time that the jewelry had been taken. Typically the wives would recall the last event they'd worn the necklace to and then usually weeks later, when they went to retrieve either the necklace or something else from the safe, they would notice that they were gone. There never appeared to be any other signs of a break in, and even if there were other items of value in the safe, there was generally only the one item taken. There were a couple of exceptions where a matching pair of earrings had been taken as well.
While it wasn't a case to help take down the Fitzpatrick's, Veronica still found it quite fascinating and jumped into the notes in the file to see what they'd found already to determine what angle she wanted to pursue next. Logan of course was thrilled that Leo seemed to be having her work on burglary cases, and that there weren't any gruesome murder cases or pursuit of drug dealers for her to get wrapped up in yet.
It was a Monday night and the two of them were sitting at their kitchen table eating dinner. Veronica was poking at her plate, obviously thinking of something other than what she was eating. She'd been fairly quiet through out most of the meal and had a far away look on her face. Logan watched her for a few minutes as she moved the same small piece of chicken around in her plate. "You're still able to go to the event at Hearst tomorrow night with me, right?" He asked as he stabbed a piece of asparagus with his fork and started twirling it around in front of himself.
"Mmmm hmmm," she replied still just focusing on her plate. She obviously wasn't actually listening to him and was lost in her own thoughts.
"Great, don't forget clothing is optional since it's a college art exhibit. They encouraged nudity in the invite." He smirked at her waiting for the moment her brain started processing what he'd said.
"Okay..." she replied, then her face contorted in confusion, "what?" She looked up at him, and then rolled her eyes as she caught his smirk turn into a bigger grin and he waggled his eyebrows at her.
"Seriously though," Logan continued, "do you have time to stop by Monique's for a new dress tomorrow or would you rather she just send a few over to the house and you can pick one you like?"
"Do I really need a new dress for every event?" She whined giving him a slightly put out look.
Logan feigned complete shock. "I can't believe you'd even ask that." His voice took on a mocking tone. "You surely don't want to end up in the gossip pages in the same dress twice, do you?"
She chuckled at his reaction and shook her head. "Oh, I'd hate to embarrass the Mayor." She gave him a little half smile, "I'll find some time to stop by tomorrow afternoon."
He tipped his head down and looked back up at her through his lashes. "You do know I'd never be embarrassed by you."
She laughed in a mischievous way. "Oh I bet if I tried hard enough I could find a way."
He smiled broader and shook his head. "Doubtful, but don't take it as a challenge either."
She smiled slyly and nodded back. She went back to poking food on her plate and he saw her expression shift back to being deep in thought again. He was wondering what it was that she was contemplating so deeply. He was debating about asking what she was thinking so intensely about, but before he could get the words out she looked up and broke the silence.
"When you were with Alexis, did you ever buy her really expensive jewelry?"
Logan cocked his brow up and studied her more closely. Even though he had tried really hard since she'd been back not to fall back into old habits, his mind still screamed 'mine field' at him as she asked. He looked at her a bit cautiously before he spoke. "Do you mind if I ask why before I answer?" His voice had taken on a worried, tentative tone. She shot him an annoyed look. His reaction was to shrug back. "I'll answer either way, but thought I could work on my defense strategy with a bit more Intel."
Veronica rolled her eyes. "It's for a case."
He looked at her skeptically still wondering how this was going to work out for him. "Yes."
"Like the kind you'd insure because it was that expensive." He nodded in reply. "She didn't happen to leave any with you did she?" she asked with a quizzical look on her face.
Logan's expression became confused and he chucked nervously. "Um no, I'm pretty positive there aren't any valuable pieces of jewelry in the cardboard box tossed in the back of one of our closets."
"Okay," she replied then went back to torturing her food.
He shook his head with a disbelieving expression on his face. That wasn't exactly the reaction he'd expected, so he pressed her for more. "Care to elaborate on that?"
She just provided him with a shrug as her only answer. He pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes to think for a moment. The past two weeks had been mostly free of any Alexis issues. Veronica had been pretty busy with her dad and getting started at the Sheriff's Office, so the two women hadn't really run into each other and his interactions with Alexis had been limited to City Hall. There was one brief run in with both of them Halloween night at Growlers, but once Logan and Veronica had arrived, Alexis had left to go down to The Clover with Tommy. He couldn't really imagine where this question came from, and against his better judgment he decided to press on. "Okay. What would the response have been if I'd said that she had left something?"
"I was going to ask if I could borrow it." She paused thoughtfully for a moment, and then asked, "Do you think Mac would have some?"
He felt like he had clearly missed some part of where this conversation had come from as well as where it was going. He squished his face up in confusion. "Are you hinting that you'd like me to buy you some expensive jewelry?"
She'd returned to her internal thoughts again and it took her a moment to register what he'd just asked. "What?... Oh… no." She laughed upon seeing his terribly confused expression. "It really is for a case I'm working on, high end jewelry theft."
Logan raised his eyebrows at her. "And you were hoping to lure the thief to steal yours, well hers?"
She laughed, "I guess so. Although when you say it like that it doesn't sound as good, especially given our house is more protected than Fort Knox."
He laughed and then his expression became thoughtful. "Actually I do remember a couple weeks ago when we were out golfing, one of the other lawyers from Roger's office mentioned that his wife had a necklace stolen."
Veronica perked up and set down her fork. "Roger must pay much better than the DA in Massachusetts."
Logan laughed, "His wife is the daughter of one of the programmers that worked with Jake back when he first started Kane Software. I'm pretty sure it wasn't Dave's salary that paid for it."
"David Jenkins?" Veronica asked looking more interested in the conversation than a few minutes earlier. Logan nodded in reply. "I remember reading their information in the case file." She debated about what to say next, "I had thought a bit about insurance fraud, but there have just been too many cases for it to seem plausible. And I suppose if his wife is wealthy, that seems even less likely."
"So you haven't found any connection yet between the victims?" Logan asked before finally taking a bite of the piece of asparagus he'd stabbed earlier.
She shrugged. "Of course they are all 09er zip code residences. All had the jewelry locked in a safe and noticed at some point later they were gone. No sign really of a noticeable break-in at any of the residences, so it seems more like an inside job."
"Ah, a'la Jack MacLean." Logan said in reply. She gave him a confused look. "Secrets of a Superthief?" He asked, to which she still looked confused. "He stole over $100 million worth of jewelry in Florida in the 70's and 80's before he was caught. The robberies were so well done that people frequently accused their own family members. He wrote a book while he was in prison. I think I have a copy of it at the beach house."
A faint smile started slowly appearing on her lips. "Perhaps we need to make a trip there soon for research purposes then."
He gave her a knowing smile back and nodded. "And I'm sure you've crossed checked any staff they have employed," he asked still curious about her case.
She nodded, "Yeah, a couple of the families use the same house cleaning service, but several don't actually even use a service."
Logan gasped in feign shock. "09er's without maids? Say it isn't so?"
She shook her head and gave him an annoyed look. "Not everyone needs to have a cleaning service or a maid Logan."
He smiled slyly at her. "Are you saying I should fire Rosa and you'll start keeping the house clean instead?"
She laughed and rolled her eyes, "No, I'm not saying that."
He knew she would probably happily keep the house clean, but he also knew Veronica adored Rosa and would feel horrible if they were to fire her. He'd come home a couple times to the two women chatting away in the kitchen and baking cookies together. He winked at her and continued asking about the case, "So no other employee connections?"
"A couple families have used the same pool service, but again, that's pretty sporadic and not a constant in any of the cases." He nodded in understanding.
"The only other consistent thing is the Insurance Company and Agent."
Logan nodded, asking, "Grant Whitman?"
She nodded back and looked at him a little surprised. "How'd you know that?"
"Well he's the main guy in town for those types of policies. He's a pretty good salesman too. He frequently attends all the high society events to be sure any new wealthy individuals have met him and generally convinces people to switch to using him even if they had another agent to begin with. I also think most all of the jewelers in town recommend him when they sell expensive jewelry."
Veronica cocked an eyebrow at him, "How many different jewelers have you bought expensive jewelry from?"
And here this had been going so well, until I got a little too helpful, Logan thought as he grimaced to himself. He let out a small sigh, "A couple."
Veronica narrowed her eyes for a moment then exhaled and tried to let that go. I started this so I need to be grateful for his help and not get upset about him buying expensive jewelry for Alexis when she was his girlfriend or fiancé, she thought to herself as she tried to force a smile back on her face.
After her slight glare, Logan figured his best option was to move the topic back to her case again. "Was there a connection through the jewelers?"
Veronica shook her head, "No, and that seems pretty unlikely for how they'd get them out of the safes." She squished up her face, "That's not a common rich person thing is it? Invite the jeweler over to take them in for servicing or something is it?"
Logan shrugged, "I know we never did that at least."
Veronica tried not to react to the 'we' in that reply. Hearing Logan refer to himself and Alexis as 'we' definitely sent a wave of insecurity through her though. She had brought the topic up and knew that she shouldn't let that bother her, but this thing between them was still so new and she still had her concerns about Alexis's role in his life. While he had told her several times she was more important to him than Alexis was, the truth was that he'd spent seven of the last eight years as either her friend or lover and there was probably more history between the two of them than she actually had with him. Logan and Alexis had been a formal couple for almost four years, while the two of them had been off and on so frequently, the 'on' time had probably amounted to less than 6 months if you added it all together and really stretched it. This time will be different. This time we can make it work. Logan had looked back at his plate as he had answered and at least he'd missed any reaction on her face if there had been one.
Logan realized all of a sudden she seemed to get quiet again, so he looked back up at her to see if she'd gotten lost in her thoughts again. This time though she was staring at him with an expression he couldn't quite read though. He gave her a warm smile before speaking again. "I'd seriously buy you something nice if you'd let me."
She reached over and squeezed his hand that was resting on the table and gave him a loving smile. "I know, but it's really not necessary."
He nodded and looked down at his plate again. He started playing with another piece of asparagus on his fork. She hoped he wasn't actually upset about her response since he should know that she had never been one for wanting to wear expensive jewelry. It took him a few minutes to start talking again. "Did you ask your Dad for any suggestions?"
She shook her head, "No, it's my first big case and I'm trying to solve it on my own."
He smiled lovingly back at her, "Thanks for bouncing ideas off of me then."
She gave him a warm smile and nodded. She really did like being able to talk to him about this sort of thing. And the life style of the rich and famous was something she definitely didn't know all about, just the things she'd learned from living on the fringes of it with him and the Kanes as they were growing up. Super expensive jewelry had not been on her radar back in those days. Although she and Lilly had certainly snuck into Celeste's jewelry a time or two, but they never discussed the boring parts like insurance or routine cleanings.
Logan seemed to remember something else all of a sudden and his expression changed. "Oh yeah, Heather texted me earlier today and wondered if we'd be free Wednesday night for dinner. She's still dying to officially meet you."
"That sounds great. I'd like to officially meet her too."
"I still owe her a dinner at the new Sushi place that we didn't make it to the night I ran into you and Casey when you first got back to Neptune," Logan said a bit apologetically.
Veronica gave him a knowing smile. "Ah yes, back when you were stalking me. Good times." She gave him a little wink as he shook his head at her. He stood up and started carrying their dishes to the kitchen. She grabbed what he couldn't carry and followed behind him. He quickly rinsed them and put them in the dishwasher. She loved how he was so compulsive about it, and would never dare just leave them in the sink to do later.
"So what's for dessert?" She asked giving him a seductive smile.
"I thought we'd take a walk on the beach." He gave her a quick kiss on the forehead and then walked to the closet to grab a light jacket for her. The weather had gotten noticeably cooler since it was now early November, and he knew she'd complain about going for a walk if she wasn't warm enough.
She stood there with a slight pout on her face. Ok, that wasn't the 'dessert' I had in mind, she thought to herself as he brought her jacket to her and kissed her on the forehead again.
She sighed and put her arms through the jacket that he was holding out for her. "Fine, but I'd rather have sex or chocolate… or sex and chocolate." she said in a sultry tone.
He laughed and shook his head, then grabbed her hand and led her to the back door. He turned on the path lights when they reached the path to the beach. He saw a little smile creep across her lips as the lights came on. No matter how many times she'd seen them, she still got the same little sparkle in her eyes when they first lit up the path. It was like there was something magical about it and he loved that blissful look when it spread across her face. They walked hand in hand toward the gazebo. The closer they got, the louder the crashing waves became. The moon was full and it reflected off the ocean, illuminating the beach as well.
She expected to continue out to the sand to walk along the shoreline, but he pulled her toward the gazebo instead. He kissed her quickly on the lips, and then pulled out one of the chairs at the table for her. She cocked her eyebrow at him, as she took a seat. She hadn't noticed the candle in a glass hurricane vase until after she was seated. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a lighter to quickly light the candle. She smiled sweetly up at him, wondering what he was up to. He gave her a quick kiss on the head then walked over to the fridge and came back with a large dish of chocolate mousse and two spoons.
"Chocolate first, then sex, okay?" He teased with a little wink. Since it was a little chilly, he also went over and started a fire in the fire pit for them to stay a little warmer. She'd already taken a couple bites of the mousse as he came back over and sat down. She looked up at him lovingly and held out a spoonful for him to take a bite too.
"Mmmmm," he moaned softly as he sucked the mousse off the spoon. He kept his eyes locked on hers as he closed his lips tightly around the spoon and she pulled it back away from his mouth. He could see her eyes getting even darker with lust and her skin became a bit flushed as well. He waggled his eyebrows at her. "More please," he asked in a low sexy voice. She took another spoonful of the mousse, and started to lift it toward his mouth, then at the last moment, pulled back her hand and put it in her mouth instead. He gave her a sad pout to which she couldn't help but smile. She took another spoonful and held it out for him. He grabbed her wrist this time, and sucked the mousse off the spoon again, taking longer to suck it off than the time before using his tongue more than his lips this time. Once he swallowed the mousse, he ran his tongue over his lips, and then started placing kisses on her wrist, moving farther down her arm with each kiss. He could feel her body practically melt under his lips and heard her take a deep breath of air. He released her wrist and looked at her intently.
"Your turn?" he asked in a sensuous tone. She nodded and he picked up his spoon and took a spoonful of the mousse and held it up to her lips. She was as slow and deliberate at sucking the mousse off the spoon as he had been. She heard a low moan escape his lips as he watched her. She smiled seductively and held up another spoonful for him to eat. He ate the mousse off the spoon, then pulled her chair closer to him and started placing kisses along her neck starting down by her shoulder and moving up to her ear. He sucked on her earlobe, causing her to drop the spoon on the table. She wrapped her arms around his neck and ran her fingers through the hair at the nape of his neck. He sucked lightly on the skin under her ear, causing her to moan and lean into him more. He brought his head back away from her neck so he could press his lips to hers and kissed her deeply.
"More mousse?" He asked as he tilted his head so their foreheads were still touching.
She shook her head, and answered breathlessly, "I think I'm ready for the next course please."
He picked her up and carried her over to the lounge chair that was closest to the fire pit. The main lights were off in the gazebo, so the only glow was from the candle and the fire. He laid her gently down and then sat next to her, laying on his side so he could watch her. The fire reflected off of her eyes, as she gazed lustfully at him. He ran his hand over her hair, pushing a few strands that had blown into her face back behind her ear. He gave her a deep kiss, and then paused to look at her again. "If it's too chilly, we could head back up to the house." he offered in a soft voice.
She shook her head. With the fire and his hot body next to her, she wasn't worried about being too cold. The gazebo sat far enough back on the beach and the spot where the lounge chair was had a low wall in front of it, so she wasn't really worried about anyone seeing them either. Plus with the time of night and their secluded location, there was little chance that anyone would be walking by. He quickly removed her jacket, and rubbed his warm hands up and down her arms making sure she wasn't too cold. She tugged on his shirt, and he helped her pull it over his head, before removing hers. He smiled at the red lacy bra she was wearing. Closing his mouth over the lacy fabric and feeling her through it. "Mmm, red… my favorite," he moaned against her skin.
Soon they had removed the rest of their clothing, and their bodies were pressed together. Sometimes when they were together like this, Logan still had a hard time believing it was real and not just one of the dreams he'd had during the years she was gone. He loved watching her as they moved together. It was as if they couldn't help but set their pace to match the waves crashing on the shore, at least initially. Once her moans and gasps would increase he'd lose focus on the waves and could only react to her warm body trembling beneath him.
After they were done making love, they laid naked on the lounge chair with their bodies intertwined together. He was still placing soft kisses on her neck, while she was catching her breath. "Mmmm, thanks for dessert." She said in a soft breathless voice. "You know it's my favorite."
He laughed softly and nodded against her neck. "You can never go wrong with sex and chocolate," he replied softly as the ocean waves crashed against the beach in the distance.