A/N - Again, thank you to everyone who is reading this story! This chapter marks the halfway point. As I've said several times before, this version of the main characters is much different than any other way I've ever written them before, which has made this challenging for me at times too. I realize there are going to be unhappy readers with some of the choices I've made, but I hope people stick around to see how it all unfolds in the end. Conflict and resolution are important for making people care about stories, and this story definitely contains a fair amount of conflict. I'm just hoping that when we get to the final resolution the majority of you are happy with how it all came together.

As always, thanks to Bondopoulos for doing her beta magic on this chapter.

Disclaimer: All VM characters belong to Rob Thomas.

Veronica was surprised when, after showing up three days in a row, several days went by without a word from Logan. She had been able to squeeze in some surveillance on Hannah with the information that Logan had provided at their first meeting, but she certainly hadn't discovered anything worth contacting him about yet. Veronica had been worried that Hannah might recognize her, especially considering they'd just run into each other at dinner, so she'd ended up using several different disguises so she wouldn't be noticed. Veronica had followed Hannah to a few lunch outings, but she'd just been dining with female friends or people that Hannah worked with, and Veronica hadn't noticed any odd behavior among any of them. Hannah also took Pilates classes and Veronica followed her to one of those, but she still didn't have any luck on figuring out who Hannah's mystery man might be.

It was Wednesday of the week after Logan had first come to hire her that he called Veronica to let her know that Hannah was going back to Vermont for the weekend. Apparently one of her closest friends from boarding school was having a baby shower and Hannah was flying out Friday morning to join in the festivities. Veronica could sense from Logan's tone that he hadn't been asked to go along and sounded not only a little frustrated, but suspicious as well. At the time, getting a chance to check for any proof of Hannah's affair at their house seemed like a good idea, so Veronica had arranged to meet Logan at his house Friday afternoon. She'd also gotten Hannah's flight information and told him that she would do a little reconnaissance at the airport to see if anyone else was joining Hannah on her weekend away.

Veronica had a few hours to work on her other cases after Hannah's departure that morning before she headed over to Logan's house. It was actually nice to be successful on a few other cases since her case for Logan wasn't turning up anything. She tried not to let Troy's suspicions that Logan may have made the story up just to see Veronica again affect her, but it would be easier to show him that he was wrong if she could find proof of Hannah's indiscretion.

She'd tailed Hannah from the beachfront condo where Hannah and Logan lived a few times, but hadn't been inside of it yet. She took a deep breath after she parked in the driveway and then reluctantly climbed out of the car. She really wasn't looking forward to possibly uncovering intimate things that were better just left private between Hannah and Logan. There was something unsettling about intruding into their personal space given that Logan was obviously more than just a random client. She hesitated for a moment, reminding herself again of her reason for being there before she reached out and rang the doorbell.

Logan seemed uncharacteristically nervous when he opened the door a few moments later. Veronica took a minute to take in his appearance before she walked in. The other times he'd stopped by MI to see her he'd been dressed formally, all the way down to a tie and coordinating pocket square, likely his normal work attire. He'd apparently been home long enough to change into a more casual T-shirt and boardshorts already. It certainly reminded her more of the guy she used to know rather than the unfamiliar persona she'd been seeing lately at her office. It had actually been sort of odd when she'd first seen him dressed so professionally since he'd always seemed most comfortable in casual attire and had saved the more formal outfits only for rare occasions. But now he was all grown up with a real adult job and, from their brief conversation about it during his initial visit, he seemed to genuinely enjoy it.

Logan mumbled something that sounded like 'come in' as he gestured with his hand for her to enter. He looked at her expectedly as they stood awkwardly in the entryway; it took her a moment to realize what he was likely waiting for.

"Oh, sorry..." she said with an apologetic grimace. "Hannah was alone the entire time I watched her at the airport. I even bought a cheap ticket so I could follow her through security and she boarded alone without talking to anyone there."

Logan let out a loud sigh and nodded. She wasn't actually sure if it was a sigh of relief or frustration though. She'd restrained herself before from asking one of the nagging questions that had been starting to bother her. It had troubled her more the longer she'd been tailing Hannah with no indication that she was actually having an affair. She decided to just ask it now though, regardless of whether it was any of her business.

"What if it turns out it was a one-time thing, Logan, and she just had really bad luck and got pregnant? Or maybe it did last longer, but it's over now because she realized how much she loves you? Do you love her enough to forgive her and fix things with her? To be a father to her baby?" Veronica asked with a somber expression.

"I thought you were here to investigate... not interrogate me," Logan replied defensively. He let out a frustrated breath and shook his head as he started to walk away from her. "I need a drink," he growled out. "It's not a huge condo, I'm sure you can find your way around. And I certainly have nothing to hide."

Veronica fought back the urge to fly after him and yell at him for being an asshole. Instead, she took a deep breath and counted to five before she overreacted and made things worse. The entryway opened up to a large living room with a staircase that she assumed led to a second level and bedrooms. There was also the doorway that Logan had disappeared through which she guessed was the kitchen. She heard a cabinet slam and a glass being loudly set down on the counter. She doubted that if Hannah actually did have anything to hide that it would be out in the living room, so she headed up the stairs.

When she reached the landing, she spotted what appeared to be a guest room through the first door that she came to and she took a few minutes to examine it. Besides extra blankets and pillows, there really wasn't anything else in the closet and the drawers in the dresser and nightstands were all empty as well.

She headed to the next door which opened to the master bedroom. There was a large walk-in closet and it was easy to tell it was meticulously organized and divided clearly between Logan's things and Hannah's. She focused on Hannah's side, searching through purses, shoe boxes and pockets for anything incriminating that Hannah may have left behind. Turning up nothing, she finally walked back out to the main room. She was startled to find Logan leaning against the wall by a large window staring out at the ocean.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled in a hoarse voice. "I um... I know you're just trying to do what I hired you for. None of this is your fault, so I shouldn't be an asshole to you." He was still staring out the window as he lifted the glass of what she guessed was probably scotch to his lips and took a drink.

"It's fine," she replied tersely. "You're not the first asshole client I've had and I'm sure you won't be the last." She was still a bit too angry over his reaction downstairs to play nice with him and she really didn't care at that point if her reply would piss him off or not.

She moved to a dresser across the room to check the drawers. From her angle before, she hadn't noticed the picture sitting on top of the dresser, but now she had a clear view of it. She hated how much it hurt to see it, even knowing it had happened... being the reason she was there... still, seeing the picture cut her to the core. Hannah was wearing a gorgeous white wedding dress and Logan had on what was undoubtedly a designer tux. As usual, Hannah looked absolutely in love and was smiling at Logan as if he were the only thing that mattered in the whole entire fucking world to her. While that was bad enough, it was actually Logan's expression that completely devastated Veronica. The way he was looking at Hannah in the picture had been the way he used to look at her. She realized at that moment that, no matter how hard she'd tried to deny it, she'd wanted to be the one with the white dress and for him to still look at her that way. She reached up slowly and traced her finger over the image of him, trying to stifle a sob from slipping out. The grim realization hurting so much more than she ever expected it to.

She'd nearly forgotten she wasn't alone when her thoughts were interrupted by Logan's voice from across the room behind her, and she immediately pulled her hand away from the picture. "I didn't answer your question because I don't know," he said in a soft broken tone. Even though her back was toward him, she could tell it sounded like he was facing her now. "I don't know if I love her that much," he continued in the same discouraged tone.

Veronica clenched her jaw, trying to remain objective—to not let this get personal—but that was clearly not a possibility now. She felt the tears that she didn't want to let fall, start to flow down her cheeks which only made her angrier. Somehow his admission seemed to hurt her even more. "Then why the hell did you marry her, Logan?" she yelled, spinning around to face him.

From the expression on his face, it was easy to tell that that was not the reaction he was expecting. At first he looked shocked, but then something must have occurred to him and he narrowed his eyes at her.

"Because you shut me out of your life, Veronica," he yelled back. "And I was tired of being the one that everyone abandoned." He let out a bitter laugh and shook his head. "Of being the one that no one could actually love… But look how fucking great that's turned out for me."

"I didn't..." she started to protest before he cut her off.

"No," he yelled back loudly as he slammed his glass down on the side-table near him, causing her to jump slightly. "You don't get to do that... You don't get to try to act innocent and pretend you didn't completely shut me out." He took a shaky breath before he continued. "I tried for months, Veronica... I gave you space... tried to fix things... And you..." He paused again and she thought she could see tears forming in the corner of his eyes. She suddenly wondered if he'd also bottled up all his feelings about what had happened in the past between them and not dealt with any of it either. He certainly seemed just as upset about bringing up the past as she was. "You were very clear that you wanted me out of your life. I got that message, loud and clear."

She hated that she knew he was right. She had been so angry that she'd lashed out in the worst way possible to keep him away. He'd been calling her for weeks after giving her some time to cool down after their fight. She, of course, hadn't ever answered his calls. She knew very well that cutting him out of her life completely would hurt him. He'd finally mentioned, on probably the twentieth message he'd left, that he doubted she was even listening to the messages. He had said that he was sure he was an idiot for continuing to try, but he missed her so much and just hearing her voice, even if it was just a voicemail greeting, made him feel a little better. She'd deleted his message and then immediately deleted her personalized greeting so that the next time he called it was only an automated voice that read off her cell phone number. She still remembered his broken voice saying 'message received, loud and clear,' before he disconnected and never called again.

He shook his head as he looked at her and took a deep breath. He wasn't yelling as loudly, but his tone was still bitter and angry when he continued. "I even gave you the chance to stop me before I married her... And you didn't say a thing... So no, you don't get to judge me or hold that against me now."

He looked up at the ceiling for a moment before he collapsed on to the edge of the bed and covered his face with his hands. The tears that had started falling down Veronica's face had intensified as she had been standing there, listening to him yell at her. All those feelings she'd kept locked away started surging to the surface. She'd been the one that had destroyed everything they'd had... everything that they could have been. All because of her stubbornness and anger at how he'd reacted when he'd found out she had been lying to him. He'd wanted her to get professional help before then... encouraged her to several times actually… he obviously knew that she wasn't handling her dad's death well... but she had refused to. And then later, she was so mad that he'd married Hannah, but she never had any right to be. She'd been certain to never let him know that it bothered her or that she still cared about him, at least up until now. She walked over and placed her hand on top of his head and watched his shoulders tremble as he took a shuddering breath. She gently stroked his hair for a moment before she knelt down in front of him.

"I'm sorry, Logan," she cried as she looked up at him. "I'm so sorry for what I did."

He finally moved his hands and she could clearly see the sorrow in his eyes. The pain and despair on his face made her heart ache even more. She suddenly realized that she'd caused this. This look of devastation and resignation in his eyes was all because of her. Not his unfaithful wife, but her and how she'd treated him all those years ago when all he was trying to do was help her… protect her… keep her from ending up dead like everyone else in his life. Because he was right, everyone that he'd loved had ended up dead or abandoned him. And she'd promised him once that she wouldn't do the same.

She instinctively leaned forward and kissed him. She could taste the scotch on his lips and it became even more noticeable as they deepened the kiss. It was probably about that point that she stopped listening to her brain and just let the rest of her body take over. His hands went for her waist as he pulled her urgently onto his lap. Veronica moaned as his fingers firmly grabbed her ass and pulled her tightly against him. The kissing intensified as her hands tangled into his hair and her breathing became ragged. There was no tenderness at that point, just raw, hungry emotions. Memories quickly came flooding back of every other time they'd been together and every nerve in her body screamed out for more. His mouth left a trail of wet kisses down her neck and she eagerly arched up toward him as his head moved toward her chest. She could feel him starting to quickly get hard as she rocked her hips wantonly against him. She was wearing a skirt, paired with a v-neck blouse, and it only took a second for his mouth to push away the fabric of her top and her lace bra. A few seconds later his tongue and teeth elicited another loud moan from her which only made him feel even harder against her. His hands quickly moved from her lower back to running up her bare thighs. As he reached the top of her legs, he moved his hands back to her ass, his fingers digging slightly into her bare skin. But it wasn't enough.

His board shorts were easy to shove out of the way, and before she'd even given it a second thought, she was sliding down onto him. Logan let out a surprised groan, but then lifted his head from her chest and captured her mouth again. The kisses were deep and hungry, as was the way Veronica was moving on top of him. Years of denying what they felt for each other seemed to cumulate into raw, unbridled passion. Logan's breath was ragged as he moaned her name against her mouth between ravaging kisses.

The next thing Veronica knew, he'd lifted her enough so he could flip them onto the bed. He continued to thrust into her as vigorously as the pace she'd been keeping on his lap. She reached down and pushed his shorts further down his hips, having her turn to dig her fingers into his bare skin as she thrust her own hips up in rhythm with his movements.

With the frantic pace they'd both set, it didn't take long for them both to climax, their mouths still locked together until that heated moment when they both moaned out loudly. Logan's head fell to her shoulder, and she could feel him panting heavily against her. He was somewhat supported by his forearms that were braced on either side of her on the bed, keeping his body from crushing hers.

Veronica closed her eyes and felt a wave of panic pass through her as she finally let her mind process everything that she'd just allowed to happen. "I've got to go," she said desperately as she pushed on his chest.

"Veronica?" Logan panted out weakly as he lifted his head and looked at her in confusion.

"No... get off me," she said angrily as she pushed again.

The fear and worry in his eyes were too much for her to handle, and so she looked away as she pushed again much harder. This time he rolled off of her. She didn't look at him. She couldn't. She pulled down her skirt and straightened her blouse as she headed for the door. She thought she heard him choke out a plea to wait as she bolted out of the room and slammed the door behind her.

A/N - I know this is a rough ending and a painful chapter, but as I said at the top, this chapter is only the halfway mark. I hope you'll all stick with me for the second half as well.