Originally posted on AO3 for A Veronica Mars Fandom Family Christmas Collection 2016. For Bondopoulos and Irma66. Enjoy :) This may get a follow-up for the VMHQ collection...we shall see!

Love was not something that came naturally to Veronica Mars. She loved her father, of course. She loved Wallace and Mac. She loved that, currently, everything in her life was of her choosing and was exactly everything she'd dreamed it could be—a life and home with Logan, whom she could freely admit she loved, without constant scrutiny and theatrics. And almost more than any of them, she loved Christmas.

The home she and Logan shared was, by his standards, over-adorned. Even Mac had commented on the living, breathing Pinterest page that was their small-ish, beachside bungalow. Veronica had just shrugged; she'd already questioned her sudden need to emblazon Christmas spirit onto every surface of their home. She'd decided that this being the first Christmas in the first house with the man she loved the most was more than enough reason to make their home look like the Christmas issue of Martha Stewart Living. Watching him wrestle their not-so-tiny dog into a jingle-belled elf sweater had just been an added bonus.

But those decisions had all been made before she and her father went to Calabasas to follow up on a case. What should have been an overnight trip turned into five days. Now it was Christmas Eve, and the nine-foot spruce that she'd meticulously—and maybe compulsively—decorated before she'd left was now adorned with shreds of Pony's sweater and a new, unapproved, addition.

"I can explain."

Veronica felt the crease between her brows deepen. She unsuccessfully tried to smooth it with her fingers as she looked up to meet Logan's eyes. They flicked to the tree, then back to hers. A nervous puff of air huffed from his mouth as he ran a hand up the back of his head. "Okay, maybe I can't explain, but I think it speaks for itself."

Her head shook and her hands found her hips. "Oh, it does. Which is why I don't understand how it made its way onto my tree."

"Look, it wasn't planned...I just happened to find—"

"One does not just find that, Logan." Her hands smacked emphatically. "That is intentional."

He held his hands up resignedly. "You're going to think whatever it is you want to anyway, Veronica. Clearly, though it was my intention to start a fight on Christmas Eve. I did this purposefully, knowing full-well how you'd react. And while it does sound like my MO—"

"It is your MO! We've talked about this, Logan. And okay, maybe not recently as in the last month, but I'm pretty sure that when I said 'not ever' you understood." Her arms wrapped around herself as he took a step nearer. She noticed the hurt flash on his face, briefly, before it hardened and his eyes steeled against her.

"You're being ridiculous." He side-stepped her, leaving her to stand in front of the tree and really take in what he had done. She couldn't help her face falling when she realized he'd left the room entirely, dog whimpering at her feet whilst pawing at the tree. Maybe she was being ridiculous. How was she really ever going to know if it was or wasn't for her if she didn't at least try it first. It seemed so silly to think about how long ago she'd made the decision and how adamant she'd been in her refusal to reconsider. When Logan had brought it up, she'd drawn the line in the sand and she thought it had been the end of it. Being faced with it, literally, made every reason she'd had so trivial and banal.

"Look—" Veronica jumped at the sound of his voice behind her. She saw Logan smirk even as he extended a steaming cup of hot chocolate in her direction. Defeated, Veronica took the cup from his grasp, letting her fingers linger on the back of his hand. "I know it's been discussed. Perhaps not as much as I would have liked, but I know where you stand on the subject. It's just that…" he set his own mug on the coffee table and spun himself onto the couch, patting the spot next to him which she quickly occupied. Logan was looking at the 'ornament', his smile was soft, his voice, unusually hushed as his eyes seemed to twinkle with the Christmas lights.

Veronica sat her mug on the table and closed her hand around his. "Logan?"

He nodded and his eyes locked back on her. "Last week you said something. Maybe you didn't mean it. Maybe it was completely off-the-cuff and you didn't even realize you'd said it, but, the second those words fell from your lips, they hit me like a goddamn torpedo." He explained, complete with gesticulated explosion.

Now she was truly perplexed; her brow furrowed as he motioned back toward the tree. "When the woman you've been in love with for half of your life says anything about expanding the family you've created together, you do what you can to facilitate."

Veronica couldn't pin it down, exactly, the moment when she knew the fight was done for good. It was probably about the same time that she knew that her entire future was tied up with a pretty little bow that was currently affixed to the previously-despised tree adornment. She smiled, her face splitting, ear to ear, as she launched herself at Logan. Their lips caught in a frenzied kiss that was quickly interrupted by Pony's excited barking.

Logan bobbed his brow at Veronica as she pulled herself off the couch. She rushed back over to the tree, reaching deep into the branches to retrieve the gift Logan had gotten for her.

He stood behind her, hands on her waist as she carefully examined what was between her hands.

"So you want to know how this happened?"

She nodded, still enthralled and adjusted to the familiar weight of Logan's head on her shoulder.

"Pony and I were on a run. There was a noise in the distance and she took off. Usain Bolt style. Like, didn't care that I was holding on to her leash and nearly took off my hand, running."

Veronica turned in his arms, clutching the small object to her chest as Logan continued. "She finally stopped when we got to this bush and started digging around: lo and behold…"

The kitten mewled as if on command. Veronica was no going back. She was now a cat owner. Fuck.

Pony nipped at the kitten's paws, whining at the lack of attention being paid her. Logan smiled broadly and scratched the dog excitedly behind her ears. Veronica held up the kitten in front of her, his yellow eyes glowing brightly in the tree's light. She then proceeded to smoosh the small black and white fluff ball to her chest with Logan's arms tightening around her. Pony's paws landed on their shoulders as she barked enthusiastically in their faces.

"You're hogging her baby," Logan chuckled into Veronica's hair. He pushed the dog off of them and pulled Veronica out of his embrace. Pony pranced in a circle as Veronica finally set the kitten on the ground. He wobbled around the living room floor, sniffing and pouncing, thoroughly terrorizing Pony and burrowing his way into her heart.

"Does he have a name? Or is it just going to be Asshole?" The ornament he knocked off the tree rolled across the floor, he jumped, startled then chased after followed closely by Pony.

"I've been calling him Bogie, but I'd consider an alternative."

Veronica giggled and laid her head against Logan's chest. "Perfect."

After just a few minutes Pony had curled up in her bed, exhausted by proxy, with Bogie filling the negative space between her legs, purring loud enough for everyone to hear.

Their family. Growing. And not at all how she planned. Maybe it was finally time to reconsider her answer to the other question she knew Logan had been dying to ask her.

"Hey, Logan…"