Written for the October VMFicRecs challenge- Option 2- Picture Challenge- Blanket Fort
Disclaimer- I'm just borrowing characters.
Blanket fort:
When Veronica and Lilly were 8 and 9, respectively, they decided to build a fort in the living room at Veronica's house. They had it all setup, but when they got inside, it collapsed. Veronica's dad, Keith, came in to find them huddled under the blankets giggling. Two blonde heads emerged eventually and explained what had happened. Veronica tilted her head to the side when she looked at him and he knew he'd be building the fort with them in 30 seconds.
Keith helped them to rebuild their fort to be more stable and brought them popcorn to go with it. A few minutes later, the roof of their fort lit up like it was covered in stars. Keith had found some twinkle lights in the garage and added them to the roof of the fort.
That summer, to the chagrin of Celeste Kane, Lilly's mother, the girls spent most of their time together in the fort. It was a castle, a pyramid, a fortress and everything in between. The fort stayed built in the Mars living room until their dog, Sidekick, jumped on the girls one day when they were inside.
When Veronica was 13, she broke her ankle on the soccer field. Lilly had given up soccer the year before, but was in the stands to cheer Veronica on and to practice flirting on the boys team. Logan was there too, presumably to watch Duncan's game, but really because he wanted to flirt with Lilly and because he loved watching tiny Veronica Mars dominate people on the soccer field wearing her cute little shorts and knee socks. He saw her go down in the tangle of girls fighting for the ball and lept off the benches when he saw her stay down when she was always (ALWAYS) the first one back on her feet after a tackle. He ignored the coaches yell as he raced onto the field to where she was holding her ankle. She wasn't crying, but he could see the way she was holding her body that she was hurting. He knelt at her side and started taking off her shoe as carefully as he could. He knew they needed to get it off before the ankle swelled more. One solitary tear fell as he got her shoe off and Logan whispered sorry under his breath as he picked her up and carried her over the bench while Lilly called Keith.
Veronica was confined to bed or the sofa for a week while the swelling in her ankle went down far enough to cast. Logan, Duncan and Lilly made it their personal duty to keep the blonde in good spirits. She just wasn't used to sitting still for so long.
80's movies, musicals and South Park had run their course and Veronica was starting to get cranky. Even with Lilly. Logan just kept bringing her more ice cream and Duncan sat on the recliner and read, ignoring Lilly and Logan's attempts to cheer Veronica up.
Five days into her prescribed bed rest, Veronica was going crazy. Her dad agreed to let her spend the night at Lilly's after speaking with Celeste and guaranteeing that it was okay for the girls to sleep in the living room so that Veronica could keep her foot elevated. Lilly enlisted Logan and Duncan to help with her plan to cheer Veronica up.
Logan spent as much time at the Kane mansion as he could, especially over the summer, so he was listening when Keith helped Veronica in to the house with her bag and crutches. He grabbed his new digital camcorder off the counter where he and Duncan had left it after filming each other doing flips into the pool, and slipped ahead of Veronica into the living room where Duncan and Lilly waited.
"Yes, dad, I have my medicine. Yes, dad, I have my toothbrush. I'll call you if I can't sleep." Veronica sounded pretty annoyed still, but Logan knew that she'd soon be distracted. He grinned as she came around the corner into the room.
"Holy Guacamole!" Lilly and Logan burst into laughter at the exclamation. Only Veronica Mars would say Holy Guacamole at 13. She was such a good girl, he rolled his eyes, but her face was priceless when she took in what her friends had created in the room. Celeste had left earlier that day for a spa weekend to relax and the Kanes and Logan had quickly taken over the living room. The housekeeper was used to their antics and Jake Kane, Lilly and Duncan's dad, wouldn't bat an eyelash at the state of his living room. If he even bothered to check on them.
Lilly, Logan and Duncan had pilfered all the flat sheets from the linen closet and used them to create a fort in the room. They had attached all the sheets to the chandelier in the center of the room and it looked like a gigantic tent. Lilly had remembered Keith's lights and had strung them all around the fort as well.
"You built our fort again!" Veronica lit up at the sight. The three others grinned at each other, pleased with her reaction. "This is great!" She started to move into the room, but Logan put down his camera and grabbed her crutches stashing them out of the way and picked her up.
"Logan. You need to stop carting me around like a sack of potatoes." Veronica laughed.
"Please, Ronnie, potatoes weigh less than you do. You're such a wee thing." Logan said as he gently deposited her on the sofa.
"Hey now, no size jokes. Not all of us can grow five inches in two months. " Veronica said as she wiggled to get comfy on the couch.
"Alright boys. Out. It's our time now." Lilly said trying to shoo the boys out. Logan looked at her like she was crazy. "No way, Lil. We helped you build this thing, we're staying to reap the benefits."
"Oh? So what color are you going to paint your nails, Echolls? Which scent do you want for your face mask? Ooh, can you braid?" Lilly walked closer and closer to him as she spoke, until she was almost touching him. He looked down at her trying to decide how to play it this time. He really wanted to stay with Lilly and Veronica.
"Logan, Lets go play some XBOX. Leave the girls to their thing. " Duncan said trying to stop Lilly and Logan from arguing. Logan stepped back from Lilly and looked at Veronica. "Ronnie, text me when you get tired of the Queen here and want some real entertainment."
Veronica laughed and Lilly bounced over to her. "I've got all the new magazines and we're going to do ALL the quizzes! And I'm going to do your makeup and hair since you can't move away from me!"
"Thanks, Lilly. This is great. We had some great times in that fort!" Veronica smiled at her best friend.
Several hours later, primped and wearing more makeup than she ever had in her life, Veronica was quizzed out and ready for food and a movie. "Goonies? Moulin Rouge?" Lilly asked.
"Goonies, definitely." Said Logan as he bounded into the room.
"Who said you could join us?" Lilly asked loftily.
"You did when you asked us to help build this fort. You've kicked us out of it for long enough. I want to enjoy my hard work." Logan settled himself next to Veronica on the sofa, careful not to jostle her ankle.
"Fine, but you have to make the popcorn." Lilly said putting the movie on.
"Extra..." Veronica began.
"Extra butter and salt, I know, Veronica, I've been around long enough to know how you demand your popcorn." Logan said as he got up again. When he came back Lilly was in his spot on the sofa. "Move it, Lilly, That's my spot. You won't be able to sit still enough to not hurt Ronnie's ankle." Lilly roller her eyes, but moved to Logan's other side. Duncan wandered in and sat on the far side of the sofa next to Lilly. They all propped their feet on the ottoman Logan had dragged close to the sofa for Veronica's foot to rest on.
As the movie started, Logan stretched his arms over the back of the sofa and the girls settled in comfortably on either side of him. The menu screen was on the TV when he woke later that night. He was still on the sofa and both Lilly and Veronica were asleep on either side of him. Veronica was curled slightly in to him and it was her hair that had woken him. It was tickling his nose. He carefully brushed it out of the way, not wanting to wake either girl. The only lights were the twinkle lights in the fort made to look like stars. He glanced over at Duncan and saw him passed out as well. Logan smiled. Here was his real family. Here was who he could escape to and be himself. He closed his eyes again and snuggled his girls into him a bit more. Life was good.
He woke the next morning and Lilly was asleep on the ground and Veronica was almost on top of him. He checked out her leg to make sure it was still elevated and then shifted uncomfortably. Logan wasn't used to waking up with a girl. His body's normal reaction might make things awkward, so he tried to move Veronica without waking her up. Her eyes fluttered as he shifted her and she stretched.
"Hmm..morning. Could you grab me my crutches?"
Eager to move away from her, he popped up over the back of the couch so that he didn't step on Lilly. Grabbing her crutches he helped her up then flopped back on the sofa where she had been sitting. It was still warm from her. He stared up at the faint lights still shining through the fort as he listened to her clumping down the hall on her crutches and then closed his eyes, hoping to get a little more sleep.
Veronica walked into her living room after a long day and night tailing a cheating wife. She'd gotten the money shot and was ready for some food and sleep. She dropped the take out on the kitchen counter and went to find her boys. She had Hunter for two weeks this time and was looking forward to the next couple days of no work to catch up with him.
She followed the sound of laughter and noise to the play room and stopped in the doorway. Three boys were sprawled across the floor playing with a huge mass of cars, trucks, firetrucks, trains and planes. It was hard for her to see more than their feet, though because of the fort that they had erected in the room. She grinned at their noisy play and at the fort. She such good memories of other forts and was excited to add to her Blanket Fort Memory collection. Veronica stared at the fort trying to decide what was missing when it came to her.
Without saying anything to them (they still hadn't noticed her) she went out into the garage to look for some lights. Ever since Keith had first put lights on her and Lilly's fort, Veronica had believed that no true fort would be complete without lights. She found what she was looking for and went back into the house, glancing out the windows at the ocean to see where the sun was. Not sunset yet, so she added the lights to the fort, but didn't plug them in.
Then she dropped to her knees and crawled in to join them. She leaned over to Logan and kissed him before giving Hunter a grin and ruffling Billy's hair. "Nice fort. Can I play too?"
"Mama, you can be this firetruck. Daddy's the jet and Hunter is this truck." Billy liked to boss everyone around, not really surprising given who his parents were. They played for about ten minutes before Veronica and Hunter's stomachs gave matching growls. Logan laughed. "I think it's feeding time at the zoo! The bobcat's are my favorite, isn't that right, kitten?" He smiled slowly at her and she smiled back. "Sure is."
They ate at the table, but soon ended up back in the fort. Logan and Hunter had built it so they could be inside and still see the TV. Veronica rounded up pillows and blankets and made them all a comfortable nest on the floor. Billy requested "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, 2" and popcorn. "Extra butter and salt, I know." Logan said as he got out the air popper.
Veronica curled into Logan, Billy curled into Veronica and Hunter sprawled slightly to the side as they watched the movie. She smiled and closed her eyes. Here it was. Perfect contentment inside a blanket fort.