A/N - I hope you all enjoy the second half of the poker night. As always, I really appreciate all the comments and everyone who reads my story. I haven't had as much time to write lately, so my updates might shift to being more like once a week now rather than twice, but hopefully I can keep up with at least once a week.

Disclaimer: The VM characters still belong to Rob Thomas (wish they were mine though)

Chapter 7 – High Stakes

"I'm going to go and check on Logan and Elijah," Veronica said after Weevil and Carmen left. Mac gave her a little nod and headed back to check on Leo and Emily who they'd left in the living room when they walked Carmen and Weevil to the door.

When Veronica walked into the game room, she found Logan and Elijah sitting on the floor in front of the large couch. They had all of the cars that Elijah had brought with him spread out on the coffee table and they where setting up a track to play with them on. Veronica took a seat on the floor next to Logan. He gave her an adoring smile and leaned closer and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Can I play too?" Veronica asked Elijah in as friendly of a voice as she possibly could.

He gave her an uncertain look, and then looked at Logan. Logan smiled at him and nodded. "kay," Elijah said in a tentative quiet voice.

"Thanks," Veronica replied cheerily. "Which car's your favorite?"

Elijah looked uncertainly at her, then picked up the new one Logan had just given him and held it up so she could see it.

"I really like that one too," Veronica answered trying to get Elijah to warm up to her.

Elijah gave her a very small smile, then turned back to Logan. "Juice?" Elijah asked him.

"You want to go get some juice? Sure buddy," Logan said and ruffled his hair. "I'm sure Aunt Mackie has some for you." Elijah smiled broadly at Logan and then hopped up and ran out of the room.

"I don't think he likes me," Veronica said with a little pout, reaching up to play with one of the cars. She slowly rolled it forward and back on the table.

Logan gave her a sympathetic smile, then grabbed her and pulled her into his lap. "Well I'm a big fan of yours." He gave her a kiss on the lips then tapped her nose with his finger. "He'll come around. He just takes a little time to warm up to new people." She snuggled her head against his shoulder and sighed. He kissed her forehead and tipped his head down below hers so he could see her face better. "Are you actually pouting?"

"No," she said in a slightly whiny voice. He laughed and kissed her head again. "He just likes you so much and seems afraid of me," she added with a sigh.

"Just give him time," he said with a sly smile, "plus bribery works really well too."

"You got another car hidden in one of those pockets?" She gave him a mischievous smile and started to frisk him.

He started laughing and wiggling, and then started tickling her back in return. Dick walked into the room to put some snacks on the counter for the poker game and saw the two of them laughing and wiggling around on the floor in front of the couch. "Hey, no hanky panky down there," Dick said in a teasing voice, "We just had the carpet shampooed." He chuckled to himself finding his last comment funny.

"What happened to Elijah?" Logan asked Dick since he hadn't come back with his juice yet.

"Oh, he's sitting with Emily. She's reading him one of the books that Carmen left for him."

Veronica's expression changed to disgruntled. Takes a while to warm up to new people, right.

Logan looked intently at her. He knew exactly what she was thinking. "Hey, Emily's a pediatric nurse. It's her job to get kids to trust and like her."

"I know," Veronica said with a bit of a pout. Logan helped her stand up, and then stood up himself. He gave her a quick kiss on the lips and a reassuring smile.

They followed Dick back out to the main room. The doorbell rang as they reached the hall and Dick yelled that he'd get it and went to open the door. Wallace walked in first, followed by Cora and then Piz. Dick greeted them all briefly, and then started to head back toward the kitchen again.

Veronica wasn't surprised to see Piz looked different after all these years, but hadn't quite known what to expect. His hair was cut much shorter now, but most of the rest of him looked the same, just a little older.

Wallace and Cora had already said a quick hello to Logan who had been standing closer to them than Veronica. Wallace walked closer to Veronica to give her a quick hug. Cora also said hello to Veronica, and then started walking into the living room while Logan reached out to shake Piz's hand.

"Hey Mr. Mayor, nice to see you again," Piz said to Logan in a slightly drunken slur with a slight chuckle as he spoke. Logan raised his eyebrows and glanced back at Wallace who just shook his head.

"Did we start the party a little early?" Logan teased.

Piz laughed a little harder than called for and put his hand on Logan's shoulder, "I hate to fly man, and I may have ordered a fewwwww too many drinks on the plane." He held up his fingers as though trying to count how many he may have had, but just looked confused. "Wally just picked me up at the airport before we headed over here. Time to really get this party started, right man?" He laughed a bit again to himself, though it wasn't clear what exactly he found funny.

Logan nodded. Veronica was still just standing there watching the scene in front of her, feeling a bit detached, almost like watching a strange TV show.

"What brings you back to Neptune this time?" Logan asked, clearly amused by Piz's inebriated state.

"The sun!" Piz said gleefully while pointing up to the ceiling. "Shit man, it's November in Seattle. I grew up in Oregon and they say it rains a lot there, but I haven't seen the freaking sun in weeks." He laughed again. "The radio station I work for has a sister," he laughed again, "not actually a sister you know, but a sister station in San Diego, and one of the broadcasters is going out on maternity leave and so I snagged up that temporary assignment when I heard about it if it meant getting out of the rain." He paused and then laughed again, "her position at the station not her maternity leave."

Logan nodded and couldn't quite hide his amusement.

"Veronica?" Piz said in surprise, finally realizing that was who was standing next to Wallace apparently.

Wallace shook his head, "Dude, I told you she was going to be here."

"Right, right," Piz replied. "Hey nice to see you. You look really good." He staggered slightly over toward her and leaned like he was going to give her a hug, then awkwardly held out his hand instead. Veronica reached out and shook it, glancing over his shoulder at Logan, who still had the same smirk on his face. She squeaked out a small thank you and said it was nice to see him too.

"Come on man," Wallace said grabbing his arm and shaking his head, "let's get you some water or coffee or something." He dragged him off in the direction of the kitchen.

Logan chuckled quietly as they walked off. Veronica gave him a look that clearly expressed just how awkward she was feeling. Logan walked over and wrapped his arms around her and tried to look serious. "Gosh darling, I'm all jealous over that tremendous show of affection the two of you just shared. Am I going to need to keep a close eye on you all night to be sure he doesn't sweep you off your feet and run away with you?"

She laughed and shook her head. "Somehow I think if he tried to sweep me off my feet in the state he's in, we'd end up in a mangled heap on the ground."

"Well at least he should make an easy mark for Poker tonight," he replied with a little wink then he chuckled. "Not that he was ever good even when he was sober."

Veronica gave him a slightly scolding look at first, and then laughed too. She'd actually played poker with Piz once when they were dating and he really was one of the worst players she'd ever seen. "Maybe he's just trying to hustle you. You know, pretend he's drunk and then win all your money."

Logan laughed. "Yeah, I remember how that worked out for Duncan all those years ago." Veronica smiled and nodded.

The door bell rang again and Logan yelled out that he'd get it. This time it was Luke. He said a quick hello to Logan and Veronica and then headed off to find Dick in the kitchen.

Logan and Veronica walked into the living room to join the rest of the group. Elijah was still sitting in Emily's lap listening to the story she was reading to him. He was starting to look a little sleepy. Leo was sitting on the edge of the chair they were using watching over Emily's shoulder. One of his arms was draped across her shoulder and Veronica thought they made quite the perfect pair. Cora and Mac were sitting on the couch, talking about some wedding planning things. Mac had a brochure in her hands and was talking quietly to Cora so she wouldn't interrupt the story Emily was reading. Wallace had dragged Piz into the kitchen to get him something non-alcoholic to drink and they could hear Luke and Piz talking about some band Luke had recently seen in San Diego.

"Let's get this party started," Dick announced trying to get all the guys moving toward the game room to play poker.

"You're playing with us too right?" Logan asked Veronica as he reached over and grabbed her hand with his and twirled her back toward him. He had a halfway hopeful and halfway pleading sort of expression on his face.

She shrugged and gave him an uncertain look. Mac overheard the question and saw Veronica's uncertainty. "You should play if you want to Veronica. We're just going to hang out and talk for a while until Elijah is ready for bed and then we were going to watch a movie." She glanced over at Elijah who had just yawned and was looking even sleepier.

"Why don't I take him up to bed and read him one more quick story, and then I'll join you all at the poker table." Logan said with a warm smile. "Dick can get everyone cashed in and I'll be back down in no time."

Emily had reached the end of the story and closed the book.

"Hey buddy," Logan said softly, "are you ready to go to bed?"

Elijah looked up at him with his sleepy brown eyes and nodded his head. Logan walked over and reached out his arms and Elijah reached up for him to pick him up.

"Good night sweetie," Mac said as they walked by her.

Veronica was really surprised how comfortable Logan was with Elijah. They'd talked a little bit about him during the last couple of weeks, but she hadn't expected the two of them to be so close. He gracefully carried him and scooped down to grab the overnight bag that was sitting next to the couch. Elijah had his arms tightly wrapped around Logan's neck and his head resting on his chest. Veronica was also surprised at how touching she found it.

"Need any help?" She asked softly as he walked by her.

Logan gave her a warm smile, "I'll be okay, but if you want to come too that would be great."

She returned his look with an adoring smile herself and followed them up the stairs.

"You need to brush your teeth first, buddy," Logan said stopping at the bathroom in the hall at the top of the stairs. Elijah let out a little disagreeing sound, but didn't argue. "We'll be right back out," Logan said to Veronica and disappeared with him into the bathroom. They returned a short while later with Elijah changed into pajamas with race cars on them. Logan was carrying him again and gave her a little smile as they came out. He headed to the guest room that was closest to Dick and Mac's room and helped Elijah climb under the covers. He reached into his bag and pulled another book from his bag and took a seat on the bed next to the sleepy little boy. Veronica was still standing in the doorway watching them, and he gestured to the other side of Elijah, "You can come over and sit down too if you want."

Veronica gave Elijah a quick look to be sure he seemed okay with that, and given there wasn't a verbal protest or an unhappy look on his face, she walked over and took a spot on the bed on the other side of him. The story was about a race car who had wanted more than anything to win, but then in the end found out that being a good friend and cheering on the other cars was just as important too. The story wasn't very long, and with every page, Elijah's eyes were getting heavier and heavier. He'd positioned himself as close to Logan as he could, not protesting that Veronica was sitting by him, but clearly not yet warming up much to her either. When Logan got to the end of the story, Elijah's eyes were almost closed. He sat their for a few minutes not saying anything with the last page still open and before long, Elijah had completely fallen asleep. Logan carefully climbed off the bed, and pulled the covers up before heading to the door. Veronica had also climbed off the bed, and waited for him at the door. He turned off the light and then stepped out in the hall with her and closed the door most of the way, but left it open a little bit.

"You're amazing with him," Veronica said quietly with a look of awe on her face.

Logan shrugged and smiled, "He's a really easy kid, well at least now he is." She gave him a questioning glance to which he replied, "When he was under a year old, I didn't do as much with him, and it took him a little while to get use to me too. But over the last year, we've spent more time together. He's stayed over here several times to give Carmen and Weev's a night to themselves, and I would usually stay over here too and help Mac and Dick with him."

She leaned up on her toes and gave him a quick kiss before smiling lovingly at him and heading back downstairs to play poker. He reached for her hand and pulled her back for a deeper kiss. When their mouths parted, he kept his head resting against hers for a moment. "We could sneak off to one of the other guest rooms and skip the game."

She laughed and shook her head and narrowed her eyes at him. "Are you worried I'm going to beat you again?"

He smiled deviously at her, "We'll see about that. Maybe we should make our own little wager on the side?"

She laughed a little harder, "I've seen how lucky you've been with bets lately, karaoke and diaper duty. You sure you want to risk it with me?"

"Good point," He said with a smirk, "but I'm feeling pretty lucky tonight."

She gave him a skeptical look, "Tell me what you had in mind first before I agree."

"If I win, we sneak off and have sex in one of Dick's guest rooms before we drive all the way home," he said in a low sensuous tone.

She made a small scoffing sound. "It's only like 5 minutes to drive back to our house."

"Five minutes too long," he said as he brushed his mouth along her jaw line and kissed her under her ear. "If you're so confident you'll win, then you shouldn't worry so much about what I want," he whispered in her ear after the kiss. He moved his head back so he could look at her face again. "What do you want if you win?"

She looked thoughtfully at him for a minute, "Breakfast served to me in bed for the next week."

"Deal," He said with a sly grin on his face and reached out his hand for her to shake.

She bit on her lip for a moment before reaching out and shaking his hand. "You're going down Echolls," she said playfully.

"I sure intend too," he said with a suggestive look on his face.

She shook her head and laughed as she turned to walk back down the stairs. They walked into the game room and saw Wallace standing near the door where Dick had placed some snacks on a table. Luke and Piz were already sitting by each other at the table seemingly in an argument about some band being better than some other band. Even in his drunken state, Piz was still quite passionate when it came to music. Dick and Leo weren't yet back in the room.

"Hey man," Logan said as he patted Wallace on the back. He glanced over at Piz and Luke who still hadn't seemed to notice they had come into the room. He gestured toward Piz and spoke in a low voice. "How's he doing with the divorce these days?"

Veronica was slightly behind him, and he missed her perplexed expression. Wallace shrugged and replied in an equally low voice, "I think it's getting a little better, but he really misses his daughter. Marjorie moved them back down to San Diego a couple months ago, so that was one of the reasons he was excited about this temporary assignment. I think he's hoping to find something permanent down here so he can live closer to them again."

"What?" Veronica interjected, also keeping her voice in a whisper, but obviously clueless as to what they were talking about.

Logan chuckled lightly, "I guess it's nice to know I wasn't the only ex you didn't keep in touch with."

Wallace gave them a sly grin, and shook his head, clearly not wanting to be part of this conversation anymore. He looked pointedly at Veronica before he spoke, "you were the one who didn't want to hear about anyone from Hearst, so just remember that missy." He gave her a little wink, then headed over to the poker table to make sure the quickly escalating debate Luke and Piz were having didn't get out of hand.

"And here I thought you said you two weren't buddies?" She asked quietly with her eyebrows raised.

"We're not," Logan said with a shrug, "But that doesn't mean I don't know stuff about his life."

She looked skeptically at him. "Okay then," she asked after thinking for a moment, "did you go to his wedding?"

Logan looked a bit sheepish, "Yes, but to be fair, I wasn't the one who was invited. Marjorie and Alexis were both Theta Beta's and they got married when Alexis and I were still engaged, so that was the only reason I went. Talk about a little awkward," he paused for a moment and a smirk crossed his face, "although that was definitely less awkward than a couple of the double dates we ended up on."

Veronica laughed softly for a moment, "Seriously? You double dated with Piz and two Theta Beta's?" He nodded and gave her a pained expression before she continued. "I had no idea Alexis was in a sorority, though I guess I can't say I'm surprised." Logan shrugged and gave her a half smile. "I'm also a little surprised Piz ended up marrying a Theta Beta as well." Her expression became a bit thoughtful again.

"Oh," Veronica finally said after a moment, her eyes getting a bit bigger and a slightly concerned look crossing her face. Logan noticed and gave her a questioning look in return. "Was Marjorie a year or two ahead of us and had reddish hair?" Logan nodded. "I think she was one of the girls that I felt so bad disappointing when I did that story that got their den mother in trouble."

Logan leaned in and kissed her forehead. "Hey that was a long time ago, and it's not like you'll probably ever run into her now that they are divorced."

Dick walked into the room followed by Leo. "So are you done playing Mary Poppins now so we can get this game started?" he asked as he walked by Logan. Dick sat down at the table and opened his case of poker chips. He gave Piz a curious look. "Piznarski, are you sure you're sober enough to play?"

Piz laughed and scoffed at him, "Yeah man, I play better when I'm drunk anyway."

Dick laughed at that. "Dude, I'd actually believe it because you certainly can't play any worse than you do when you're sober." Wallace and Luke laughed at that and so did Piz initially until he stopped to think about whether he should be offended or not.

"Okay gents," Dick glanced quickly at Veronica, "and lady…. You know the rules, Texas Hold'em, $100 buy in."

Logan opened his wallet and tossed two $100 bills on the table and winked at Veronica. Dick started counting out the chips and collecting the money. "Want a beer?" Logan asked Veronica as he started over to a small fridge near the snacks. She nodded and he grabbed two out and popped off the caps and handed her one. She gave him a slightly surprised look. He shrugged knowing she was surprised he was having a beer too. "It's poker night," was his only explanation. She smiled knowingly and followed him back to the table. She also smiled to herself as she saw him grab a tray of Oreo cookies and set them by himself at the table. She remembered when she busted Sean for cheating and played with them, he also had been eating the same cookies that night. She was a little surprised the stakes were so much lower too, but realized it wasn't just a group of 09ers now and it was actually nice that they all seemed to become friends no matter where they had come from.

As expected Piz was quickly losing his chips, and still being rather loud. He'd had some water when they first arrived, but then insisted he was fine and wanted another beer. Wallace had rolled his eyes, but didn't feel like playing mother hen, so let him have one.

"Hey Piznarski," Dick said after several hands had been played, "I think you're right, you are doing better than you usually do." Piz smiled and nodded happily back.

Veronica gave Logan a questioning look, to which he shrugged and nodded. She shook her head in disbelief that he could actually play worse than he currently was. She'd been biding her time trying to figure out every one's tells. Piz of course was the easiest at the table, given he couldn't help but smile and get excited if he had anything worth betting on, which had only been a couple hands, and then otherwise he'd let out a frustrated little grunt and slap his cards down before folding. Wallace, who was sitting on her left, was a bit harder, but she was starting to notice that when he had a good hand he'd start bouncing his leg up and down and when he had a bad hand he'd sigh a little when he first looked at his cards. Leo and Luke were a little harder, but she was starting to pick up little things, while Dick and Logan were really hard to read. They had probably played poker the most and had worked hard to be able to hide any tells that they had.

"So Luke," Dick said as he dealt out the next hand, "Enbom said you hooked up with some hot chick at that concert you two went to in San Diego."

Luke shook his head and a big grin spread across his face, "No man, not 'some' hot chick, 'the' hot chick." Dick gave him his best 'whatever man' face and Luke continued on. "Remember that ski trip we all took to Whistler over winter break of our sophomore year in college?" He looked back and forth between Logan and Dick a couple times. Dick seemed to be trying to remember what trip he was talking about and Logan just shook his head slowly. "Oh right man, you had a broken arm and didn't go with us," Luke said to Logan who nodded his head and then looked back at his cards.

Well that should make an interesting story for our ride home, Veronica thought as she glanced at Logan and noticed he was intently just looking at his cards and not up at her at all.

Luke continued on very enthusiastically just focusing back on Dick. "Well anyway, remember that hot blonde from SDSU that I hooked up with when we were there?"

Dick laughed, "Yeah the one who gave you a fake number so you couldn't track her down later, right? Too bad Ronnie here wasn't around then. You could have hired her to find your long lost soul mate when you got back instead of moping around for a couple of months."

Luke got a bit annoyed, "No man, I told you she didn't do it on purpose and it turns out I was right. I ran into her at the concert and at first she was a bit pissed that I never called her and I told her I tried and that I still even had her number in my phone. She's actually the one who entered it and I showed her and she realized she transposed the two numbers at the end."

Dick laughed again, "I still think she did it on purpose, man. And who keeps a chick's wrong number in their phone for what, 8 years? Dude, that's just pathetic."

Luke just shook his head. "Whatever man, it doesn't really matter now. We've been on three dates since the concert."

Luke may have gotten lucky in love, but he wasn't having any luck with his cards. He actually started losing faster than Piz, which of course everyone was teasing him about. Veronica noticed that Luke seemed to pay more attention to sending and receiving texts on his phone than the game, so wasn't surprised he was doing as poorly as he was. After a few more hands Luke ended up losing his last few chips and was out of the game. Piz was barely hanging on with only a few chips left. Veronica, Logan and Dick were winning most of the hands, and the majority of the chips were spread among the three of them. Leo and Wallace were pretty evenly matched with Wallace having slightly more chips than Leo. Veronica had beaten Dick on a couple hands, but hadn't been able to beat Logan on any that they went head to head on. He seemed pretty smug in his confidence that if it came down to the two of them at the end, he'd be able to beat her. He was having fun taunting her when no one else was paying attention by leaning over and whispering in her ear about how fun it was going to be to have his way with her up in one of the guest rooms when he won.

Piz miraculously won a fairly big pot and ended up taking Leo out of the game. Leo said he was going to go and check on Emily and headed out of the room. Piz lasted a couple more hands and then Veronica won a big hand which put him out of the game. She gave him a small apologetic look as he whined about being out. Luke and Piz moved over to play pool while the others finished the poker game. It sounded like they were doing more arguing over bands and music though than actually playing too much pool.

The next big pot Logan won and ended up taking Wallace out of the game and significantly reducing Dick's chips as well. Wallace said he was going to go check on Cora and Dick needed a quick bathroom break, so that left Logan and Veronica alone at the table with Luke and Piz arguing and playing pool. Logan pulled her chair a little closer to his and ran his hand up her thigh. "Mmmmm," he moaned quietly into her ear, "I can't wait to claim my prize in a little while."

She gave him a skeptical glare and then a mischievous smirk, "Don't be so sure there buddy. You haven't won yet."

"It's just a matter of time," He kissed her neck below her ear and made her breath hitch. For a moment she leaned into his kisses and started to get lost in the feel of his mouth on her skin, but then she realized he was probably trying to distract her for the next hand. She sat up and gave him a suspicious look. He chuckled softly and bopped her on the nose with his finger and gave her a little wink.

"Nice try there Romeo," She said and scooted her chair back to its original position and leaned slightly away from him.

Dick returned a minute later and Veronica dealt the cards. She was studying Dick's face intently and didn't think he had very good cards. He looked a little happier with the flop, but Veronica still thought he was just bluffing. She was happy with a pair of queens in her hand and so she asked how much he had left and forced him to go all in. Logan folded and left it to the two of them. Even if she lost, she knew she'd still have enough chips left to try to force him out in another hand or two. Since Dick was all in, and Logan was out, they flipped over their cards. She cringed when she saw Dick had a pair of Kings. He clearly had a very satisfied look on his face, but there were still two more cards to go. She couldn't help but blurt out a happy squeal when she flipped the turn card and it gave her a third queen. The rest of the cards had been too random to really help either of them. Dick was clearly holding his breath to see if he could get lucky on the river with a King, but as she turned it and he saw it was a two, he let out a defeated groan.

"And then there were two," Logan said with a leering grin at her. She now had more chips than he did, although he wasn't too far behind. They played a few hands, and the lead was just barely shifting back and forth. "How about we just let fate decide on the next hand?" he asked clearly fearing at this point that they would just go back and forth for a considerable amount of time since they were pretty evenly matched at knowing how best to play each other.

She chewed on her bottom lip for a few moments before answering. While she was getting a bit tired since it was getting a little late, she also didn't want to face the embarrassment of anyone finding out they'd snuck off to have sex upstairs if she lost. She was momentarily saved by a text on Logan's phone from Weevil.

"Carmen just delivered a healthy little girl, and they are all doing really well," Logan announced to those of them in the room. "They named her Natalia Leticia Navarro." They could hear Mac saying the same thing through the door from the living room where the others had congregated after finishing the movie they were watching.

Leo popped back in and said he and Emily were taking off and gave Logan a quick hand shake and said good bye to Veronica before he headed back out.

At least if I lose, there will be a smaller potential audience. It was also her turn to deal and she'd been luckier with her own deals for some reason all night, so she really hoped it would continue for one more hand. Veronica gave him a slightly annoyed look, and then simply said, "Fine, let fate decide."

"Go ahead and deal them face up then," Logan said with a sly grin on his face.

She flipped over his first card which was an ace. His grin got even larger and he waggled his eyebrows at her and then looked up at the ceiling suggestively. She flipped her first card and it was another Queen. She'd actually ended up with pairs of queens in several hands so she was really hoping it would happen again. His next card was a three, so she relaxed a bit before flipping over her second card, another queen. Her smile broadened, while his fell a bit, though he wasn't ready to feel defeated yet and pointed out that at least his ace and three were both hearts. She turned over the three cards in the flop and deflated a bit when one was an ace. The other two didn't help either of them and were not hearts, so Logan's flush was no longer a possibility, but he had the lead with his pair of aces. The turn card was a king. He smiled a bit more knowing he only had to escape one more card to win, although he hadn't had luck in the past with the river when he thought he had a hand won. She hesitated a moment, and then held her breath and flipped over the river. She jumped up out of her chair as she saw a queen looking back up at her. Logan shook his head and sighed.

"Ah, sorry honey," She said in a slightly sarcastic voice. Logan looked a bit disgruntled with a sad pout on his face. Dick had been watching, and slapped Logan on the shoulder and gave him a sympathetic look. Dick started picking up the chips and handed the $600 to Veronica. She smiled and took the bills and made a show of fanning herself with them as she leaned toward Logan who was still pouting. He shook his head at her and kept the same expression. She smiled mischievously and then sat down in his lap, wrapping her arm around his shoulders.

"I'll take pancakes and bacon tomorrow, Jeeves," Veronica whispered into his ear.

"As you wish, mi'lady," He said in a sarcastic British accent. She leaned in and gave him a firm kiss on the lips.

"You should know better than to bet against me," she said with a sly grin.

"I'll try to remember that next time," he replied as he nuzzled his head against her neck and started placing a few kisses there.

Wallace had walked back in to check on Piz and saw her on Logan's lap, "Ah man, please stop so I don't have nightmares tonight," he teased as he walked by them toward the pool table.

Veronica gave him a big smile and winked at him, "But we love giving you reasons to need therapy Papa Bear."

He visibly shuddered, "Calling me that doesn't help." Veronica chuckled and smiled deviously at him.

After saying thanks and goodbye to everyone, Logan and Veronica headed home. They'd barely gotten out of the driveway when Veronica started in on her interrogation, "So…"

Logan laughed. "I can't wait to see where this is going," he said a bit sarcastically.

She watched for his reaction as she asked the question. "How'd you break your arm Sophomore year?"

Logan shook his head, "I sort of figured it was probably going to be that, unless you wanted to cover the awkward double date topic instead."

A small smirk crossed her face, though with his eyes focused on the road he didn't see it. "While I'm sure those awkward dates were probably entertaining, I sort of know how that story turned out for both of you in the end."

Logan tapped his fingers on the wheel as he drove, but didn't answer her immediately. This story must be a bit more sordid than simply wiping out surfing if he's got to come up with a strategy for how to tell it.

"Well?" She asked after a minute of him not saying anything. "Sky diving? Base Jumping? Running with the Bulls? Sex-capade gone wrong?"

He chuckled then let out a deep sigh. "We'll be home in a couple more minutes, and then we can talk about it."

She raised her eyebrows in a questioning look, although he was intentionally keeping his focus completely on the road in front of him, not glancing at her at all.

Once they were home and in the house, he stopped in the kitchen to grab a bottle of water and leaned against the counter watching her. She hopped up on one of the stools and gave him her 'I'm waiting' look.

"Keep in mind Veronica, it happened eight years ago, so I don't want you to get mad about it," he said in a firm voice while giving her an expression that clearly matched his tone. "I want you to promise you'll just let it go and not dwell on it okay?"

She gave him a frustrated look, "How can I promise before I even know what you're going to tell me?"

"Because I'm asking you to let it go for me," he replied in a very serious tone. He walked over toward her and leaned on the counter across from her so that his hands were resting on the counter in front of her. "That no matter whose fault it was, that you'll just be satisfied with knowing what happened and then drop it. It was so long ago that it doesn't matter anymore."

Veronica raised her eyebrow at him, her voice taking on the slightest edge of annoyance, "So you're saying you won't tell me if I don't promise?" What happened to being an open book and telling me anything I wanted to know?

He shook his head, "No, I'll still tell you because I promised I wouldn't keep anything from you. But I'd like to know that you've changed too and can honor my wishes to let things go if it doesn't directly impact us now, where we are at this point in our life. It was eight years ago, Veronica, I'd rather it would have just stayed forgotten in the past, but thanks to Luke finding his long lost love, it didn't. It doesn't really have any bearing on who we are now and where we've finally gotten to."

Veronica let out a frustrated sigh and narrowed her eyes at him. "I'll try." Damn it, why is it so hard for me to agree to let things go?

Logan sighed as well and shook his head. "It was payback for the beating I gave Gory Sorokin in the cafeteria. Apparently broken arms are his own special calling card."

Domonick Desante, I should have guessed when I heard broken arm. "I'm so sorry Logan." She reached across the counter and squeezed his hand.

She opened her mouth to say it was partly her fault, but before she could get a sound out, he interrupted her. "Don't say it was your fault Veronica, because it wasn't. You told me to back off and I didn't listen, so please don't say it was your fault."

"But…" she started to protest before he cut her off again.

"No Veronica," he gave her a stern look, "It wasn't your fault. And now that you know, can you just let it go and not worry about it. It was eight years ago. I haven't thought about it for years. I certainly don't want you to have any sort of ideas about retaliating against him now, nor do I want you to feel guilty about it okay? Just let this go, okay?"

She nodded and looked sadly at him. I still feel like it was mostly my fault.

"Can we go to bed now?" Logan asked softly as he started to stroke her hand that was in front of him on the counter. "One of us has to get up early to make pancakes and bacon before work." He gave her a playful little smirk and winked.

"How about I let you off the hook for making me breakfast as repentance for getting your arm broken?" She asked with a sympathetic expression on her face.

He'd started walking around the counter toward her. He stopped behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, and then kissed her neck right above her shoulder, "I always pay my debts." He ran his hands up under the edge of her shirt along her sides, "but I'm sure I can think of other things you can do to make amends." He placed another kiss on her neck right below her ear. She moaned softly and tipped her head so he could have better access.

"Whatever you want," she said in a low sultry voice, "it's the least I can do."