OK sorry it took so long. It's a longer chapter though. It took some thought as to how I wanted this to go. Please review and let me know what you thought.
Veronica stood in front of her full length mirror and examined the dress she was wearing. It was a silver, sleeveless sequin cowl-neck Ralph Lauren dress. She had bought it while she was still in Virginia and worn it for a work function. She had stayed with the FBI after her internship was over. Did she like the job? Yeah. Had she really been happy? No. In fact, most of the time, she had been miserable. She put up a good front and tried to make sure that her personal life did not interfere with the job. But she was so far away from her friends and family…and Logan. She had desperately missed Logan. But the thing was, with the way things were before she left, she wasn't sure he would say the same.
She had been looking for an excuse to come home. It was really sad that it took something like her dad getting cancer for it to happen though. She had really wanted to come home as soon as she heard but he told her not to worry; he was doing fine. He was doing treatments and things were going good. The truth came a little later though and Veronica found out how things really were. The fact was she had stayed mad at her dad for a good week. In the end, though, she couldn't stay mad more than that.
She did a once over on her reflection in the mirror. The dress hit right at her knees and she kept her makeup on the minimal side. Her hair was in loose waves. She slipped on her silver heels and grabbed her purse from her bed.
As she headed past her dad's room, he called to her. He had moved into his bedroom and was sitting up in bed watching TV.
"Wow!" He commented. "You look great."
Veronica blushed. "Oh, thanks. I shouldn't be too late."
"Veronica, you're over 21. Hell, you're over 25."
"I know but if you need me…"
"Honey, I'll be fine. Enjoy your time with Logan. Do some catching up."
"I will." She smiled. "Thanks dad. I'll see you later."
It was only a 10 minute drive to the Neptune Grand. She walked in and glanced around nervously. Her stomach was doing flip-flops. Logan wasn't there yet. She glanced down at her watch. Well, she was a few minutes early. She scanned the bar; it hadn't really changed since the last time she was there. There were less than two handfuls of people scattered throughout the medium sized room. She decided to pick the booth in the corner. It was the most secluded. The bartender came over a minute later to take her drink order. She decided to have a vodka martini.
Logan was only a few minutes late. Truthfully he had to stop at every stoplight between his condo and the hotel and it had pissed him off. Now the younger Logan wouldn't have even given it a second thought and would have run the stoplights. But after getting pulled over when he was 21 for not only running a stoplight but doing 75 in a 40 cost him over $250 bucks.
It didn't take him long to spot her. It also didn't take him long to tell she was nervous. Her eyes kept darting around the room. When he reached the table, he noticed that her martini was already half gone. He smiled at her.
"Thirsty?" He raised a curious eyebrow.
Veronica gave a sheepish grin. "That's one word for it." She mused.
The bartender came back and Logan ordered a beer.
"You look great." He told her as he sat down and gave her a kiss on her cheek.
Veronica was a little surprised by the gesture. "Oh, thanks. So do you."
Logan smiled. It had been really great to see her. Honestly, he was just as nervous as she was.
"So…umm…how have you been?" Veronica asked as she sipped her martini.
Logan shrugged. "Can't complain. My company's been doing really well and I have 150 people working for me."
Veronica's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Really? That's great."
"Yeah, it is. Mac is the head over the IT area and actually Dick joined the company a few months ago." The bartender delivered his beer.
"Hopefully doing nothing too strenuous." She joked but Logan didn't laugh.
"Actually Dick's changed, Veronica. You might just be amazed to know that he takes his job pretty seriously."
"Sorry. I didn't mean it to be mean. I'm sure he does."
"Being married to Mac has made him grow up. You should see them together."
"Actually I have." Veronica revealed.
Logan frowned. "You have."
"I have." She confirmed as she drained the rest of her martini and signaled for another one.
"Since when?"
"I saw them on a few prior visits and once or twice since I've been home."
Logan was trying to contain his anger. "Veronica, why is it that Lilly got a visit from you every time you were in town and now apparently so have Mac and Dick and yet I haven't?"
"It's been too hard, Logan. As far as Mac and Dick go, I'm trying to make up for not being at their wedding. You remember that?"
Of course he did. He had been disappointed that she didn't show up. Mac and Dick understood though. She was on assignment and wasn't able to get away.
"Yes, I remember." He mumbled.
Her eyes narrowed as she replayed his question in her mind. "Wait a minute. How did you know that I went and visited Lilly every time I was home?" The bartender brought her 2nd martini.
"That's not important." Logan snapped. "The important part was the fact in all this time, I was thinking you just never came home but in reality, it was just that you weren't seeing me." He took a swig of his beer.
"That's not true; I haven't seen Wallace in that time either." She took a sip of it
"Only because he lives in Chicago." Logan accused. "Nice to know that avoidance is your new version of running away."
"It is not." Veronica spat as she stared at him. "Great. This is just great. We haven't even been here 15 minutes and we're fighting already."
"I don't want to fight."
"Well, you could have fooled me." She retorted as she took another drink of it.
"OK, let's start over." He sighed. "How are things with you?"
"I'd love to say they're great but honestly things suck."
"Care to elaborate?" He raised an eyebrow and took a swig of his beer.
"My dad is sick. Really sick."
"Sick how?"
"I think you know how."
His eyebrows furrowed. "What do you mean?"
"Logan, there is only 1 person who know how often I visited Lilly and that is Lilly herself."
Logan fell quiet, unsure of what to say. Would she think he was crazy for thinking he saw Lilly? That really wasn't possible was it?
"Did you see her?"
"Well, I…"
"My guess is you've seen her too." Veronica cut him off.
Wait, did she say too? His eyes grew wide in surprise. "You've seen her?"
Veronica nodded as she drained the 2nd martini. "Seen her and have had conversations with her too."
"She answers you?"
Veronica nodded again. Logan thought for a moment then cleared his throat. "I thought I was dreaming or hallucinating or something."
"Thought I was too at first. Over time she's become my conscience."
Logan cracked a smile. "Your conscience, huh?" He polished off his beer then and signaled to the bartender for another round.
"Yeah, she's helped me a lot with issues in the past." Her eyes stared at the table in front of her. "But she can't help me save my dad." She whispered.
"So tell me what's really going on with your dad."
"She didn't tell you?" Veronica frowned.
"I'd rather hear it from you."
She sighed. "Well, dad is in stage 3 of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Have you heard of it?"
Logan gave her a quick nod. "I have."
"He's…" Veronica's eyes started to well up. "He's hanging on. He keeps fighting but none of the drugs are working. It's a losing battle."
The bartender brought their next round.
"You can't lose hope, Veronica."
"I'm trying not to but it gets so hard. I mean, I get my hopes up with these drugs only to find out that they failed yet again."
"And what does your 'conscience' tell you to do?" Logan asked.
Veronica sighed. "She tells me to stop trying to be a superhero."
"Really?" Logan took a drink of his beer while Veronica downed 1/3 of her martini. "Are you going to listen to her?"
"I'm going to try." She cracked a smile. "So…" She swirled her martini glass around. "Can I ask you a question?"
"Sure."
"Was that message aimed at me?"
Logan smirked. "Is there any reason you should think it was aimed at you?"
"Logan…" She groaned.
"No, Veronica I had put the message actually on before I saw you."
Veronica just nodded as she took another drink. She was getting close to being done with her 3rd drink. Two things were running through Logan's mind right then: 1) Veronica was starting to act like she was drunk and 2) there was a very good chance that she was drinking on an empty stomach.
"Have you eaten anything?"
Veronica shook her head as she stared at her nearly empty martini glass.
"OK we should order something otherwise you'll be sicker than a dog tonight."
"No, I won't." She protested.
"Veronica, for once, just trust me on this."
Her blue eyes glanced up to meet his chocolate brown ones. "I do trust you." She admitted. She did actually mean that too.
Logan cracked a smile. That was nice to hear but he was pretty sure she was not going to remember saying it come tomorrow morning. He handed her one of the menus on the table and looked at another one himself. He was going to get prime rib. It had been a long time since he had ate there. Veronica decided she would get the same thing and she got another drink.
Once their order was placed, Logan excused himself to go to the bathroom. When he rounded the corner, he whipped out his cell phone and punched in a number. Three rings later, someone answered. "Hello?"
"Mr. Mars, it's Logan Echolls."
"Logan…long time, no talk to." Veronica's dad mused. "Something wrong? Is Veronica OK?"
Logan glanced from the hallway. "She's fine except she's a little tipsy."
"Oh no." Keith sighed.
"When I got here she was almost done with her 1st drink and I was no more than 3 minutes late."
"She's been nervous."
"Yeah, I know. Me too. Listen, don't expect her home tonight. I'm going to check her into a room here so she can sleep it off."
"Logan…"
"Mr. Mars, I plan on checking her in then heading home. You don't have to worry."
There was silence. "OK. I'm sure things have changed since the last time you guys were together but you can understand my concern."
"No, I do but I wouldn't try anything. We've got quite a ways to go before I would consider that. I'm hoping we'll be friends again though."
"That's good. It would be nice to see that honestly. She needs someone right now."
Logan solemnly nodded. "Well, I better get back. Veronica had just ordered another drink when I headed for the bathroom."
"OK. Thanks for the heads up, Logan. I'll see her tomorrow and Logan?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm trusting you with my daughter. Don't let me down."
"I won't. I promise." Just before he hung up, Logan said. "Mr. Mars?"
"Yes?"
"I'm really sorry to hear about the cancer. I hope things work out for you."
"Thank you, Logan. I appreciate that. Goodbye."
"Bye." Logan sighed as he headed back to the table.
"What took you so long?" Veronica looked up at him.
"Nothing. I just had to make a call real quick." He told her as he sat back down. He watched her as she swirled her martini glass around. A little bit of it spilled onto the table so she grabbed a napkin to clean it up. He reached over and grabbed her hand. Veronica was a little startled by this. She looked up to meet his gaze.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing." Veronica shook her head. "Just thinking."
"Dangerous thing to do when you're drunk." Logan noted.
"I am not drunk!" She insisted and he gave her a knowing look.
"Veronica, you just had 3 drinks in an hour. It's a rarity but I have seen you drunk before."
Their food arrived and they ate quietly. They occasionally looked over at each other. The silence was beginning to get to Veronica. She finally blurted out:
"When did everything get so fucked up for us, Logan?"
Logan stared at her for a moment, surprised by her bluntness. "I've been trying to figure that out for the last 7 years, Veronica."
She nodded.
"Things just unraveled after the rapes at Hearst. Plus there was also the fact that you didn't trust me." He told her as he ate a bite of his prime rib.
"It wasn't you, Logan. I've always had a hard time trusting people. You've known that for the last 9 years." She sighed.
"And you still have problems with it?"
"I'd love to say no but yes."
"You're going to have to try to trust somebody eventually, you know."
"It's hard because everyone I've trusted lies to me." She told him sadly as she ate her prime rib.
It was now Logan's turn to ask. "Is that aimed at me?"
"That's aimed at everyone, Logan including my dad. He had been sick for a long time before he told me."
"I'm sure he was just trying to…"
"Don't make excuses for him, Logan. I wish everyone would stop trying to protect me. I'm a big girl; I can handle it."
Logan didn't say anything. He just nodded as he ate. He held in a smile. He knew that was a lie. She couldn't handle everything.
"What is with that look?" She groaned a she took a bite out of her baked potato.
"Nothing." He told her.
"Come on, Logan. Let's hear the rebuttal. I know you want to."
"Fine. Let's say…" He took a drink of his beer, "I had told you it was Madison I slept with when you asked. Would that have made a difference if I had been completely honest with you?"
Veronica opened her mouth then quickly closed it. Logan smirked.
"Yeah, that's what I thought. I rest my case. People hide things to protect you, Veronica. You have high expectations of everyone, especially me. It is very hard to live up to it." He admitted and she got quiet. "I'm not saying that to be mean but that's why it's sometimes hard to tell you everything. I'd love to erase that night in Aspen with her. Hell, I'd love to erase that whole damn winter break considering I spent most of it drunk. I don't remember huge chunks of time there and the ones I do are still fuzzy." He polished off his beer. Thankfully Veronica really hadn't touched her 4th drink yet.
"Just answer me one thing." Veronica said quietly as she ate her food.
Logan sighed. Please don't let this lead to a screaming match he silently pleaded. "OK."
"Why her? Out of all the people you could have possibly slept with, why the one you knew would piss me off the most? Did you do it to get back at me?"
He let out a heavy sigh this time. "Veronica, I told you this before and I swear to God I meant it then and I mean it now…it honestly had nothing to do with you. I was so drunk I couldn't see straight. You know what a manipulative bitch she is, Veronica. I was drunk and lonely and depressed over my breakup with you and she used it to her advantage."
Veronica nodded as she took a big drink of her martini.
"OK." Logan signaled for another beer. "I answered your question and now I would like you to answer mine."
"OK." She finished drink #4 and Logan groaned internally.
"Can we move past this now? Please?"
She stared at him for a few moments. "Part of me knows I have no valid reason to be mad at you because we weren't even together when it happened."
Logan sat quietly and listened.
"I want nothing more than to move past this but with everything that happened with us in the past…"
"Forget the past." Logan told her.
"I don't want to forget the past!" She huffed which caused him to frown. "If we forget the past, we erase the good memories too and I don't want that." She explained as her eyes were kept on her plate.
OK so that was a good point. "So where are we then?"
"And you think I'm drunk." Veronica retorted.
Logan groaned. "I didn't mean the physical location, Veronica. I meant where are we?"
She gazed up at him. She thought for a moment. "Friends, I guess."
"You guess?" He raised an eyebrow.
"Well, yeah. Right now we're starting as fresh as we can given the past and friends would be a good place to start." She decided.
"OK." He nodded.
Veronica frowned at his expression. It was somewhat unreadable. "Something wrong with that?"
"No, not at all."
"Because if you were thinking more than that…"
He cut her off. "I wasn't." He waited for a second then added. "You're right. We need to start as friends and go from there."
She nodded. "We need to go slow."
"Going slow will benefit both of us."
"How do you figure?"
"Well, for you, it will show you that you can trust me and for me, it will show how you're not going to run away any time a situation gets too hard."
"I do not…"
"Yes, you do." He insisted. "Every time. Should I list a few? I was stranded on my dad's boat. I came back to an empty pool house at my fake birthday party. Prom night was another one and that's just high school. Want me to go on?"
"I have no intention of running away anymore, Logan." She confirmed.
"OF course you won't. The main reason for that is your dad."
"Why does it matter? The point is I'm staying." Veronica insisted then sighed. "Besides the conclusion I've learned the hard way is that running away doesn't solve anything."
"Really? You just learned that?"
"I said learned the hard way. I've known it for quite awhile." She signaled for another drink.
"Veronica, why don't you slow down on the drinks, huh?"
"Why? You already called my dad and told him not to expect me home didn't you?"
He stared in disbelief at her which caused her to smirk.
"How did you know that?"
"You just told me." She smiled sweetly at him. "I'm not stupid though. I knew when you went to the bathroom, that's more than likely what you were really doing."
By the time 10 o'clock rolled around, Veronica had finished 6 drinks and Logan had finished 4 respectively. He had paced himself better than her. He was pretty sure he would be able to drive but as soon as he got up from the table, he felt a little bit woozy. He didn't think he had been drunk but he also didn't want to take any chances. He wasn't going to drive tonight.
This left a little dilemma. Luckily the presidential suite at the Neptune Grand was available. As he booked the room at the front desk, Veronica looked around, confused.
"I thought we were going to your place."
Logan blinked. He stifled a laugh. "Where did you get an idea like that?" He took the room keys from the concierge and handed one of them to her. "I never said that. Besides I really don't think it's smart to be driving tonight."
Veronica wasn't going to argue.
The ride to the suite was quiet…mainly because Veronica was falling asleep.
"Veronica…come on." He grabbed her hands and led her down the hallway. As soon as the door was open, he glanced at her. She was barely awake. He sighed as he swept her up in his arms, swung the door shut with his foot which jolted her awake.
She squinted then looked down. "What are you doing?"
"What does it look like?" He told her as he set her down on the bed.
"It looks like you were carrying me over a threshold."
"We're not married though." He pointed out.
"I know that." Veronica yawned then noticed Logan heading for the door. "Hey, where are you going?"
"To bed in other bedroom."
"Why? Just sleep in here. We can share a bed, Logan. We've done it before."
"Not just as friends."
"Well, there's a first time for everything." Veronica yawned again as she climbed under the covers. "Come on."
Logan shut the door and glanced over at her. Her eyes were closed. She was asleep. Since she was asleep, Logan undressed down to his boxers. Granted if she was awake he probably wouldn't have but since she was asleep.
"Goodnight Veronica." He whispered.
"Night Logan." She sighed as she drifted back off to sleep.
At two-seventeen, Veronica woke up startled. She turned over and looked at Logan who was sleeping beside her. She could tell he was naked from the waist up. She looked at herself then. She was still in her dress. She slid quietly out of the bed and unzipped the dress. She slid it down and threw it over a chair. She was left in a black bra and panties. She slowly climbed back into bed. This then woke up Logan.
His eyes cracked open. "What are you doing?"
"I don't want to ruin my dress so I took it off."
"You feeling OK?"
Veronica nodded. "Yeah." She yawned as she stared at the ceiling. "My head's throbbing but I'll live."
"Want me to get you something?"
Veronica sighed. "I have Tylenol in my purse. Can you just hand me that and get me a glass of water?"
Logan nodded. "Sure. Be back in a second."
He came back with a glass of water and grabbed her purse from the desk. "Here you go."
She dug around in her purse until she found the Tylenol. She found a couple pills and swallowed them. "Thank you." She told him as she set both the water and her purse on the nightstand.
"You're welcome." He responded as he watched her fall back into bed. He closed his eyes for a few seconds then reopened them. She was staring at the ceiling. "Aren't you going back to sleep?"
"Not yet." She told him. "But don't let me stop you. Go back to sleep."
He turned towards her. "What's on your mind?"
"You really want to know?"
"I wouldn't have asked if I didn't."
The words were barely out of his mouth when she leaned over and kissed him. He was surprised but he did kiss her back. It lasted all of about three seconds before Logan pulled away.
"Veronica…"
"It's been 7 years, Logan. I was just curious if it was still as good as I remember."
"And?"
"Of course it was. Then again I never really doubted it."
Logan cracked a smile. "Yeah, I never really doubted it either."
By three o'clock they were both sleep; this time though they were facing each other. It was just after 9 when Veronica woke up. She still felt kind of groggy. She remembered last night with Logan and remembered why they were in the hotel room together but she glanced down at herself in the bra and panties and was trying to remember what happened with her dress.
When Logan woke up a few seconds later, he caught her panicked expression. "What, did you really think that we were going to sleep together with as drunk as you were?"
She stared down at him.
"You took off your dress in the middle of the night." He told her as he sat up. "You said something about not getting it ruined."
"Oh, right." She nodded as she got out of bed to put it back on.
"Wait."
She turned around to face him. "What?"
"Let's order room service first. There's no need to be rushing back is there?"
"Well, my dad…"
"Will be fine for another hour, hour and a half, I'm sure."
Veronica sighed. This was a losing battle. "OK, yeah sure."
He headed for the bathroom. He came out a second later and threw one of the robes to her. "Here. OK I'll be right back and we can order room service.""
"Oh. Thanks." She quickly wrapped it around herself.
"Sure." He disappeared back into the bathroom and Veronica plopped down on the bed. OK so her head was still pounding some so she reached for her purse and grabbed her Tylenol. She took it with the warm water and let it slide down.
Logan returned a few minutes later wearing the other bath robe. "You doing OK?"
"Yeah, fine."
"Your head hurting?"
"A little."
"I'm honestly surprised with as much as you drank that you didn't get sick last night." He told her as he sat down next to her.
"Yeah, I'm kind of surprised too."
She stared at him for a second and he asked. "What?"
"Did you kiss me last night?"
Logan had to hold back a laugh. "Ahh…no. You kissed me."
"I did not."
"Yes you did and after about three seconds I put a stop to it." He informed her as he pulled out the room service menu. "As nice as it was and it was nice, we can't…"
"No, I know."
He looked at her for a few moments and then glanced at the menu again. "I'd really like to eventually…"
"Let's not go there."
He frowned. "Why not?"
"Because you're just saying that because you feel you have to."
"No, I'm not." Logan insisted. "Veronica…" He turned her head to look at him. "I've known since I was 17 years old that it was you I was supposed to be with."
She stared at him.
"But it's been 7 years since the last time we saw each other and we had hurt each other a lot back then…"
"You can say that again."
"We need to take things slow. We have to rebuild our friendship and especially our trust in each other."
"Yeah, I know."
"Because honestly, I don't know if I can take you running away from me again."
Veronica groaned. "I already told you last night…"
"That you're not going to." He finished. "I know but some proof would greatly back this up."
She thought for a moment. "Yeah, OK."
"So…we OK?"
"Yeah, we're OK." She nodded quietly.
"So what will it be…pancakes or waffles?"
Not the greatest ending but honestly this was going on about three weeks since I had released a chapter I think. I just wanted it out. Not sure what the next chapter will be about. What would you like them to do? Give me some ideas. And review please!
