Disclaimer: unfortunately i don't own it but if i could i'd definitely have Logan.
Author's note: So this by far my longest fic so far, i couldn't stop writing once i started. I hope you all enjoy it and it all makes sense. I apologize for any grammatical errors, punctuation has never been my strong point. Please read and review, i'd love to know what everyone thinks and it really does help inspire me to write more. I might write a Veronica birthday story as a companion if people like this one. Oh and for the sake of this story please ignore the fact that Hannah made Logan a cake in series 2. Thanks.
Best Birthday Present Ever!
The elevator pinged and the doors slide open in a noisy rush. Veronica stepped out of the elevator clutching the pink cake box in her arms, her shoulder bag slung casually over her shoulder. She made her way down the familiar hallway, nodding at a hotel staff member she vaguely recognized as she passed him. She hesitated outside Logan's door, uncertain how to proceed. She considered using the keycard he'd given her so long ago but that felt intrusive to her now. She and Logan were no longer in that place and she was reluctant to disturb the delicate balance of their friendship by barging into his suite unannounced.
She decided on the knocking option. Veronica shifted the box in her arms, cradling it precariously against her chest as she raised her right fist to knock on the door. She smoothed her hair back from her eyes and tapped her foot a little impatiently as she waited. Maybe she should've checked that he was in before coming all the way over here? He could be out partying with Dick for all she knew. She considered leaving the cake outside his door but she really wanted to see Logan's face when he lifted the lid. She had spent all night practically trying to make the perfect cake for him, one that didn't tilt to the left like they usually did. She had a half dozen rejected versions sitting on her kitchen counter back home, she really hoped her dad was in a chocolate cake mood for a while.
The door opened abruptly, interrupting her musings, to reveal the shaggy blonde, perpetually confused features of Logan's dopey roommate Dick who smiled down at her and greeted her with his obligatory 'Dude.'
'What's up Ronster? Is that for me?' he asked gesturing at the box in her hands. 'Babe, you shouldn't have.'
Veronica forced a thin lipped smile at him, 'I didn't and call me babe one more time and I'll make sure you regret it.' She shook her head at the ridiculous names he had for her and in answer to his question. Luckily Dick recognized the dangerous tone in her voice and knew when to shut his mouth. She'd trained him well.
'Is Logan here?' she asked stepping past him into the apartment without waiting for his reply. She had poorly concealed dislike for the guy, which had more to do with her history with his brother than Dick himself, but she always made an effort to be civil to him if only for Logan's sake. At least Dick had his usefulness sometimes. He gave her a verbal punch bag to practice all her snide remarks on. It was how she kept her wit fresh she firmly believed.
'Dude's in his room,' Dick responded gesturing, unnecessarily, towards the closed door at the opposite end of the suite. 'I'm sure he'll appreciate the booty call. He's been weirdly mopey today' He frowned. 'You didn't break up with him again did ya?'
'We're not a couple anymore Dick,' Veronica reminded him. 'So no, we haven't broken up again.'
'That's a relief,' Dick was cheerful. 'Dude was so whipped when you were together. It's not good for a guy's pride ya know.' He shook his head in exaggerated emphasis before waving a DVD in her face. 'Can't chat, have a hot date with Jessica Alba. Wanna join me?' an optimistically hopeful expression spread across his face. Veronica rolled her eyes. The boy never learns.
She wrinkled her nose at him and shook her head. 'As unbelievably tempting as that offer is, I'm gonna have to say no,' she placed her hand over her heart, feigning disappointment. 'But it was a really tough decision to make.'
Dick gave a small sad sigh. 'Oh well, your loss is my reward. Make your pretty self at home Ronnie. I'm gonna spend some quality alone time with Jessica,' he wandered back into his own room to do something she never wanted to think about.
'That's too much information and please god, close the door!' she yelled after him disgusted and repulsed by the blatant innuendo in his words. Don't think about that Veronica, she told herself, trying to push all disturbing thoughts of Dick and his activities out of her mind.
She made her way across the living area, carefully sidestepping the Xbox controllers strewn carelessly across the floor. Boys and their fancy toys. She had a fair idea why Logan would be feeling so down today. It didn't surprise her that Dick would've forgotten but she was determined to give Logan a good memory today, she would make this day special no matter what it took.
She managed to reach Logan's door without incident and once again shifted the box to one arm so she could announce her presence. Logan's response was immediate and angry, reaching her audibly through the wood. 'Go away Dick! I told you I'm not interested.'
'I gotta say I'm relieved to hear that,' Veronica responded wryly. 'I admit, sometimes I have wondered, what with you two living together and being so closely joined to the hip and all. Thanks for clearing that up for me though.' She paused. 'So you gonna let me in or do I have to stand out here all day talking to the door?'
There was movement inside the room and an instant later the door swung open to reveal a shirtless and dishevelled Logan blinking down at her, looking as if he'd just rolled out of bed which she guessed he just had.
'Surprise,' she waved the box at him grinning broadly. 'Happy Birthday Logan.'
He grunted unenthusiastically and walked back into his room, leaving the door open for her and flopping back down on his messy bed.
'Somebody's not in the birthday spirit' Veronica pouted, stating the obvious as she followed him into his room. Logan didn't bother responding. She placed the birthday cake down on a side table before closing the door firmly behind her and taking in the clean, hotel room before her. Aside from a few personal knick knacks littered about the room and Logan's state of the art laptop on the desk you could never tell that this place had been Logan's home for the last two years. It was kind of sad, she thought, to live somewhere for so long and it not feel like home even two years later. She couldn't imagine it herself but she supposed Logan must be used to it by now. Besides his former home hadn't been that homey when he'd lived there either. Veronica couldn't help the rush of sympathy she felt for him. She could imagine how lonely it must be for him.
She returned her attention to the man on the bed, stepping closer to him. Veronica suddenly felt inexplicably nervous. Logan was laying outstretched, arms behind his head, staring at the ceiling as if it were the most fascinating thing in the world. His bare chest rose and fell with each breath he took and she couldn't help but stare at his clearly defined abs and the fine smattering of brown hair that trailed down his abdomen. Sudden naked, sweaty images of Logan raced through her mind which automatically led to images of herself naked and wrapped around him satisfied and satiated after a long night of passion in his arms. She swallowed. She shouldn't be thinking about things like that anymore but that didn't stop the rush of heat flooding throughout her body. Bad, bad Veronica! She internally scolded herself.
To distract herself from the vivid memories Veronica rummaged through her shoulder bag searching for the card she'd made for him with a little help from Photoshop. She located the silver envelope and extracted it triumphantly from its hiding spot, pulling it out with an elaborate flourish. 'Ta da!'
Logan was watching her movements with quiet disinterest, appearing distinctly unimpressed by her actions. 'What's that?' He asked dully.
'Geez try a little more enthusiasm would ya.' She said. 'This my dear Mr. Echolls is, shockingly enough, an envelope. Isn't it pretty?' Veronica held the envelope out to the side with her left hand and gestured to it like one of those models with prizes on a game show. 'Aren't you excited for your present?' She pouted again giving him sad puppy dog eyes.
'I'm ecstatic.' He responded snarkily.
'I'm not quite hearing the enthusiasm Logan. I don't think you deserve your gift after all.' She gave a mocking sigh. 'And after all the trouble and effort I went through too! I'm feeling very unappreciated right now.' She screwed her face up in mock sadness. 'Oh well, I guess I can always sell it on eBay.'
'Did someone switch you over to the annoyingly chipper button by accident?' Logan groused, irritated by her unflinching peppiness. Veronica tilted her head to the side, eyes wide with exaggerated confusion. 'I am a robot. Does not compute,' she intoned moving her body in stiff, jerky movement to mimic the robot.
Logan groaned loudly, lifting his pillow over his head in an effort to block out her presence. 'Can't a guy wallow in peace?' his muffled voice demanded.
Veronica rolled her eyes. If he thought that was enough to stop her, he was grossly mistaken! She kicked off her shoes, dropped the envelope beside them and leapt up on the bed, bouncing up and down like a five year old on a bouncy castle. 'I'm not going anywhere till you stop acting like a sulky teenager and at least pretend to enjoy your birthday,' she told him with each bounce. Never let it be said that she wasn't in touch with her inner child.
She suddenly felt Logan's hand clamp around her ankle before tugging her foot out from under her. She fell backwards on the bed with a dizzying thump which knocked the breath out of her lungs. She was barely aware of what was happening before Logan had rolled on top of her, clamping down her limbs with firm but gentle pressure. As she recovered from the surprise attack she was very aware of just how close their proximity was to each other. This was familiar intimacy she'd denied for so long. The mood between them seemed to shift from friendly and playful to awkward and uncomfortable in an instant. His brown eyes bored into hers, catching her breath in her throat. Her heartbeat was thumping so loudly in her chest that she felt sure he must be able to hear it. The moment hung between them as Logan tenderly smoothed a strand of blonde hair away from her eyes.
'I know what you're trying to do Veronica but it's not necessary,' he told her softly 'It's not that big a deal.'
She had to swallow the lump in her throat before she could reply. 'Every birthday should be a big deal Logan.' Her gaze was earnest, deadly serious in her conviction. It was his twentieth birthday, not the usual age one would associate with people wanting to forget their birthday, that seemed to occurs much later in life. But with Logan she could understand why he would want to forget. With both parents dead and a flighty, self-absorbed sister there wasn't much reason to celebrate but she refused to let him ignore another birthday. He deserved some happy memories for once.
Logan sighed, realizing she wasn't going to let this go. He rolled away from her releasing her body from his weight, sitting on the edge of the bed. Veronica instantly felt a rush of emptiness within her, an odd feeling of dissatisfaction as she missed the warmth of his body immediately. She sat up and attempted to regain her composure by pointlessly smoothing the wrinkles from her clothes and the tangles from her hair. Logan had picked up the envelope she had dropped and was examining it as if he could see the contents through the stiff paper.
'You know, it might help if you actually opened the thing,' Veronica pointed out, maneuvering herself so she was sitting next to him. He flashed her a mocking grin. 'Really? That's interesting. You learn new things everyday,' he responded, sarcasm dripping from his voice.
Veronica responded by sticking her tongue out at him. 'Just open it already!' She was practically bouncing with the anticipation. He had to laugh at her childish excitement as he ripped open the silver paper and carefully pulled out the small, home-made card decorated by her own hand. The photo on the card had taken forever for her to choose as she had attempted to find the perfect photo of the two of them together, one that conveyed the importance of their friendship to her. Finally she had settled upon a picture that had been taken last year at a fancy dress party. She had dressed up as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and he had dressed as Spike. She remembered insisting that he be Angel instead but Logan had flatly refused, stating that Spike's character was more fitting with his own personality and she had to admit that the sight of him in the black leather trench coat and bleached blonde hair had suited him. She still smiled to herself as she remembered how hysterically funny she'd found him in that blonde wig. Every time she'd looked at him that night she'd burst out laughing uncontrollably. It had been such great night and one of the first moments she had realized they were really friends.
In the photo itself Logan was pretending to bite her neck and she was holding a wooden stake to his chest. The words 'Happy 20th Birthday' were embossed in gold underneath the picture and she had used glitter to decorate the borders. All in all it was a good effort she'd thought and she was relieved to see that Logan seemed to appreciate it. He was smiling down at the image, tracing the outlines with his fingers, clearly remembering the night as she had done. He opened the card and two blue tickets tumbled to the floor. He bent down and retrieved them, examining them in surprise.
'Concert tickets to see Muse?' he asked. 'Where did you find these? I thought they were sold out.'
Veronica shrugged. 'I have connections.' She teased. In reality it had taken a lot of time and effort to track down those two tickets. It was a good thing she could be so persuasive or else she'd of had to pay an extortionate amount of cash for them. Luckily she'd gotten a good deal; thank god the guy had been too distracted by her feminine wiles to realize just how expensive the tickets were. She almost felt bad for tricking the poor guy, almost.
'One of those bad boys has my name on it, just so you know,' she said watching as Logan folded them away into his top drawer. 'If you take Dick I won't be responsible for my actions. One of you will have to die,' She warned him.
He smiled down at her. 'I'm absolutely terrified,' he teased. 'I think you'd make my life miserable if I did anyway.'
'Damn straight!' she responded laughing.
'You happy now?' he asked her as he placed the card down on his bedside table, next to the single remaining photo of his mother and another picture of the two of them together back when they were a couple. 'Did I fulfill your cheerful birthday requirement yet?'
'Not quite.' Veronica stood up and reclaimed the cake from the side table where she'd left it. 'You forgot this,' she said handing him the pink box before sitting back down on the bed so she could watch him open it.
'Veronica, you didn't need to do all this.' He was shaking his head, disbelieving. 'I would've been happy with just a simple card, you know.'
'I know.' She made no apologizes though. She had wanted him to have a memorable birthday, regardless of the cost.
He opened the box and stared down at the home-made chocolate cake she'd worked so hard to perfect. 'Happy birthday' was scrawled across the top in swirly dark chocolate icing and dozens of small round chocolates perched in a perfect circle around the edges. The effort she had put into the cake was obvious and touched him deeply.
Logan placed the cake gently back down on the table, his expression carefully blank but Veronica noticed the brief spark of emotion glinting in the depths of his eyes.
'What's wrong?' Veronica asked confused by his silence. 'Don't you like it?'
Logan shook his head slightly, his gaze still focused on the cake as he struggled to conceal the whirl of emotion he was feeling at Veronica's generosity. He'd never felt so touched by a person's kindness before, it amazed him again that she could care so much after everything that had happened between them.
'It's not that. It's…I mean…' He was struggling to form the right words. 'Nobody ever took the trouble to bake me a proper birthday cake before,' he explained, refusing to meet her eyes. 'They were always cater made by the best chefs in Neptune. Best money could buy.' He mocked. 'They were nice, gorgeous in fact, but they always felt so impersonal to me. I'd always wished growing up that, just once, my mom would've made me one herself, like a normal mom did. It's silly isn't it?' He was a little embarrassed by the admittance.
Veronica was astonished by the confession and overwhelmed once more with sympathy for him. She made a mental note to make Logan more home-made confectionery in the future, it was the least she could do for him. She stood up from the bed and walked over to him. He still wouldn't look at her so she reached out to cup his cheek in her palm and gently tilted his face down to look him in the eyes. His expression was so unbearably sad that it made Veronica's heart ache to see it. She did the only thing she could think of, she hugged him, nestling her head against the warmth of his chest. She could feel his heartbeat drumming beneath her ear. It was wonderfully soothing. She wished she could hug away his pain, take away the bitter memories of his childhood.
Almost unconsciously Logan slipped his arms around her waist; she was so small his arms fit easily around her. He buried his face in her hair, inhaling the scent of her apple blossom shampoo. She'd always had a calming effect on him, he vaguely recalled that day in the hotel when he'd realized his mum was really gone and Veronica had been the one to hold him and comfort him as he cried. Even then, when she'd barely even liked him she'd been there for him when he needed it. It was something he'd never really appreciated until now.
'Thank you Veronica' he whispered into her hair.
Eventually they pulled apart and Veronica stared up into his soft brown eyes peering down at her with such gentleness. She was overwhelmed with the sudden impulse to kiss him, much like that first time they'd kissed outside the Camelot after he'd rescued her from that crazy ATF guy, the start of their very complicated relationship. Before reason could destroy the mood she pushed herself onto the tips of her toes and met his mouth with hers in a soft, chaste kiss.
'Happy birthday,' she breathed against his lips before stepping away from him towards the door. She didn't want to push things between them right now no matter how much her body wanted her to.
And much like that first kiss, Logan caught her arm before she had even taken two steps and pulled her back against him, meeting her mouth hungrily with his in barely restrained passion. Veronica promptly succumbed to the desire coursing through her body, forgetting all her reservations in that moment, and she wrapped her arms around his neck as he pulled her flush against his body. Once again they'd come full circle, from friends to enemies to lovers and back again, as inevitable as the sun rising every morning. Veronica allowed herself to trace the outline of the muscles in his chest lightly with her fingertips and Logan groaned against her mouth, his body trembling with the strength of the feelings she sparked within him, before deepening the kiss in response.
They stumbled backwards toward the bed and he sat on the edge as Veronica straddled his waist, clinging to him. She could feel his arousal pressing urgently against her and she moaned softly against his throat as he tangled the long curls of her hair tightly in his hand and trailed burning kisses down the curve of her neck. His free hand slide beneath the thin fabric of her shirt, needing to feel the smooth softness of her skin beneath his fingers. She gasped at the familiar sensation as he traced the curve of her spine, heat pooling in the pit of her stomach. She needed him with a desperation that astounded her and as she felt him lift her shirt further up her body, seeking more naked flesh, she pulled away from him and lifted her arms above her head in silent acquiescence. Logan met her eyes with his, questioningly, and she kissed him gently in response, her answer clear in her actions. She wanted this as much as he did. Logan carefully pulled her shirt up her body and over her head leaving her clothed simply in a bra and her jeans. He threw her shirt across the room, forgotten in an instant, as he fell back against the bed, pulling her down on top of him. He cradled her head tenderly in his hands as he resumed kissing her and the outside world seemed to float away in the pleasure of the moment.
Much later as the darkness from the growing evening outside deepened the light in the bedroom Logan and Veronica lay twined in each others arms, snuggled beneath the covers, happy and content after their passionate reunion. Her head was resting against the pillows, her hair splayed around her like a golden halo as Logan peppered small kisses down the smooth planes of her stomach.
'Best birthday present, ever,' he breathed against her flesh and Veronica giggled at the sensation of his lips and fingertips tracing patterns on her skin.
'Wow. You're easily pleased.' She laughed giddily. 'Remind me to just wrap myself as your gift next year.'
Logan lifted his head eagerly, 'You promise?' his eyes were bright with warmth and humour. Maybe it was the implication in her words of them still being together for his next birthday or the highly erotic imagery in his mind of slowly un-wrapping a naked Veronica, but those words filled him with delightful sensations and other parts of his body responded accordingly.
Veronica grinned at him as she felt his body's response, a playful smirk on her lips. 'Well it's all dependant upon how good you are but I'm sure something can be arranged.' Her expression became suddenly serious. 'Of course you'll have to do something special for me in return.'
Logan looked at her warily. 'What do you have in mind?' he asked cautiously.
Veronica reached for him, pulling him level with her face so she could look him in the eyes. She smiled up at him impishly. 'I have a few ideas.' She told him before pulling him down into a prolonged kiss.