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A Lamb/Veronica fic.
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Disclaimer: If I owned Veronica Mars, Lamb would have been shirtless a lot more ... as in, all the time. There may have been a bow tie involved ...
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A/N: I got the inspiration for this fic after reading one where they were making out against a car ... yeah, the process my mind goes through can sometimes be scary ...
Anyway, in this fic, our favorite Sheriff and P.I. have to go under cover as an engaged couple to expose a wedding planner who is taking advantage of his "clients". For all intents and purposes, the wedding planner either isn't from Neptune, or whatever you can think of that means he doesn't recognise Lamb ... lol. I love writing lol ... it looks like a lopsided hamburger ... anywhoo.
Takes place during season three, after she has her P.I. license, but Lamb didn't die, and she's not dating Piz ... or Logan, as much as I love them both. I think this will also be set during sprink break, so that Veronica doesn't have to worry about her classes while she's under cover.
And I'll be adding a slight twist into the fic, see if you catch it in this chapter ... well, it is pretty obvious, i'm not good at writing subtle hints ...
Okay, enough backround info?
Good ... on with the story!
As always, please read and review, I live for feedback!
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Don Lamb tried to remember how he had gotten into this situation ... he had to strain his overworked brain to bring himself back to that fateful day, when Veronica Mars had showed up in his office, threw a file down on his desk, and told him she was going to give him one of the biggest cases of his carreer. All he had to do was go under cover with her.
He had looked at her with amused and skeptical eyes, almost admiring the fact that she hadn't changed when she'd went to college; she still stuck her nose in where it didn't belong.
(flashback)
The door to his office swung open, and he only needed two guess to tell who would enter his sanctum without knocking. It was the smaller, more annoying one.
"Manners, Mars. Now, go out and try that again," he said, condescendingly.
She brushed him off. "Get over it. I have a case for you."
"Really? For me? How lucky am I?" he said. "Not interested."
Veronica put one hand on her hip, cocking it sideways. He hated when she did that.
"You might actually want to read the file before you make that decision."
"Hmm ... I probaby don't, but thanks for the offer."
Veronica gritted her teeth. "Look ... I'm ..." She shook her head, apparently trying to knock some sense into herself. It didn't work. "Look, I'm asking for your help, okay? Just look at the file!"
Lamb smirked at her desperation. He picked up the folder, opening it in his fingers and skimming through the info. 'Yes, Veronica, I can read', he thought.
He hated to admit it, but it actually did look interesting. As he scanned through a list of names at the bottom, he found a pair he recognised.
"Emily and Carl Duvall?" he said aloud.
She nodded. "They hired me."
Emily and Carl had been some of the first people in Neptune to welcome him when he'd moved here. Even back then, the rich and the poor separated themselves, but Emily and Carl had been different. They'd been dating back then, and they would always come with him to see Veronica's soccer matches, or pep squad try-outs, or have lunch together just to chat ... this was back when he'd still been friends with Veronica, of course.
Emily and Carl had gotten married a few months ago, but he didn't keep in touch with them as much as he would have liked to.
He made up his mind. "What do you need?"
"I'm going under cover, I need you to be my fiancé," she said simply.
He almost choked on the coffee he was drinking.
"You're not serious?" he concluded, convinced she was screwing with him.
"Em and Carl asked for you. They want us both to work this case ... and out of Vinnie Van Lowe, and my college friends ... you're probably the most ..."
He eyed her. "The most what?"
She sighed deeply. "Competent."
His smile went all the way to his eyes. "Well, when you put it that way, Mars, how can I refuse?"
(end flashback)
And that was why he was now sitting with his fingers entwined with Veronica's, as the wedding planner read their fake files.
"And did you want a long or short engagement?" he asked them, sitting down at his desk.
Lamb wanted to scream 'short!', but Veronica beat him to the answer. "We're willing to wait as long as it takes for it to be perfect."
Lamb nodded, putting on his best 'in love' smile. "Nothing but the best for my girl."
Veronica smiled back at him, squeezing his hand a little too hard, as thought reminding him not to over-sell it.
"Well, Mr and soon-to-be Mrs Dove, I would be glad to take you on as clients," he told them.
"Oh, thank you so much!" Veronica fawned, smiling at her 'fiancé'. "But please, call us Kristen and Michael. I mean, we are going to be working very close for the next ... oh, who knows how long!"
Lamb wanted to gag, but he put on a chipper smile.
"Yes, we're looking forward to meeting with you again. How's wednesday?" he asked the man.
He checked his schedule. "I'm clear at 2:00."
Lamb nodded. "2:00 it is. See you then. Come on, Honey, your parents are waiting for us."
They shook hands with Fred and Lamb put his arm around Veronica's waist as they left the office.
Lamb at least waited until they left the building to groan his displeasure.
"We're willing to wait as long as it takes?" he asked her.
Veronica replied, "Look, we don't want to rush this guy, we might spook him. We need him to make us the same offer he made Em and Carl, and catch him on tape. Other wise this will all have been a waste of time."
"Yes, Mars, I know that," he said, glancing up at the window of the office they had just come out of. "We have an audience."
"What?"
But before Veronica could check out the window, he dropped his face down to hers. "Go with it."
She felt her heart stop as he pressed his lips to hers, and his hands slid around her hips to pull her to him.
Veronica gasped as he felt his tongue tip onto her lip, and he used to opportunity to slide his tongue into her mouth, tasting all of her. He slid his hand up her back to rest in her hair the other securing its fingers in her belt loops, and she brought her hands around his back, gripping his shoulder blades.
Caught up in the moment, Lamb didn't know how long he'd been kissing her when the sound of traffic broke him from his trace, and he removed his tongue from her mouth with one last, soft kiss.
"Mars," he whispered, causing her to open her dazed eyes.
"Yeah?" she asked breathily.
"Try and act as though we've done this before?" he suggested.
She shook her head a little, bringing herself back from Cloud 9. "Right ... sorry. You just caught me off-guard."
She leaned in and gave him a quick kiss on the lips, surprising Lamb, before she opened the door to "their" car, got in and closed it, taking a few steadying breaths.
I just made out with Lamb ... with Sheriff Don Lamb ... and it wasn't horrible.
Lamb was thinking the same thing about her, but didn't stand around on the sidewalk thinking about it, he moved to the driver's side and slid into the car, starting the engine and pulling out of his parking space, making his way to "their" apartment in silence.
He thought Veronica might be overthinking things, as usual, but eventually he had decided that if this guy was cheating people out of their money, he would probably know enough to have them under surveillance.
Plus, he got to use the Sheriff's Department funds to rent them the apartment, so he wasn't complaining about the space, just the company.
Come on, Don, this will probably only take a couple weeks at the most, then you can bust the bad guy, and get back to your normal life.
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Veronica had gone shopping the day before, filling the house with healthy food, junk food, and alcohol. She happily ignored Lamb's look of surprise that she had actually bought alcohol.
"You do realize I'm the Sheriff? And you're flaunting your illegal activities right in front of me?" he told her.
"You shut down the bars serving minors, and I'll stop using my fake IDs for alcohol," she replied, grabbing a coke out of the fridge and settling down on the couch to watch a movie.
Lamb was fishing through the cabinets, looking for something edible, when familiar music came from the living room.
No way.
But as he walked into the living room, standing behind Veronica, he saw it was, indeed, way.
"You have High Plains Drifter?" he asked her, sitting down on the couch next to her.
She nodded, smiling at the memories the movie brought forth. She and Lamb used to watch this movie incessantly just to make her parents leave the room, sometimes the house, and then they would have junk-food food-fights, or dress up like cowboys, and basically just goof around. Veronica couldn't remember the last time they'd done that.
Lamb got up from the couch, putting popcorn in the microwave while the opening credits were playing.
Walking back into the living room, he noticed the movie was paused, and Veronica was no longer on the couch, but he heard the tap running in the bathroom, so he went back into the kitchen, pouring the bag into two separate bowls.
He sat down on the couch, waiting for Veronica to come back from the bathroom.
He was just about to call for her to hurry up when the bathroom door opened, and Veronica walked out, looking slightly pale.
"You alright?" he asked with the slightest hint of worry.
"Oh, you wanna talk about my time of the month? I didn't think we were that close," Veronica replied, though her heart wasn't in it. She plopped down on the couch next to him, sipping her coke.
They spent the rest of the movie in silence, not even laughing like they used to about the girl who kept saying how much she didn't like him, and then ended up sleeping with him anyway.
After it was over, Veronica clicked the tv off, standing up to go to her room, but then she got dizzy all of a sudden, and had to sit back down.
"Okay, serious Mars, what's wrong?" Lamb wanted to know. Aside from his gentlemanly concern for her well-being, he didn't want this undercover operation screwed because she was sick.
"Nothing, I just stood up too fast," she placated, standing up again. "I'm fine."
He sat back down, shrugging his shoulders. "See you tomorrow, Mars."
"I'm counting the hours," she replied sarcastically, walking to her room and closing the door, leaning against it.
This can't be happening ... she told herself, refusing to believe it. Just focus on the case, Veronica.
She stared down at the fake engagement ring on her finger, sighing deeply.
Marriage ... yeah, that's probably never gonna happen. The only guy who could ever take me on long-term was Duncan and he's off with his illegitimate love child. Me and Logan are definitely over ... especially after everything that happened with Mercer and Moe. He never did forgive me for going after him alone like that ... maybe Logan's right. I'll never be in a successful relationship, 'cause I can never let the guy take the reins. I always have to be in control ... well, look how far that got me ...
She sighed, moving over to her bed and sliding into the new material, pulling just the sheet over her.
Tomorrow's gonna be a long day.
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Okay, end of chapter one.
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Until next time ...!