"Okay! Ground rules – " Veronica declared, holding up her index finger towards her children, while pressing her back against the door to Mars Investigations.
"No touching stuff," Linc called out, moving side to side on the balls of his feet trying to channel his excitement.
"Correct," Veronica said and raised another finger in the air. "Number two –"
"Inside voices," Lexie said with a smile.
"Right. And number three?" Veronica looked down at Jack.
"No playing with the water," the little boy said, his eyes darting to the floor.
"Yes," Veronica said. "Let's try and keep the water in the water dispenser this time, and not all over the floor. Okay?"
Logan nodded along with his children – a crooked grin across his lips - as they all listened intently to Veronica's instructions.
The couple had arrived home too late in the morning – after sleeping through their cell phone alarm at the motel – to take any of the kids to their scheduled activities. So it was agreed that today would be the day the kids were allowed to come to the office. Mac had spent her time with them that evening regaling the kids with stories from Veronica's tamer cases – dog-nappings, stolen guitars, and lost loves – so they were primed for the adventure. Veronica thought it less of an adventure and more of a bandage-being-ripped-off-arm-hair situation, but nevertheless, decided they should just get it over with. Logan opted to stay relatively quiet, knowing that it was probably in his best interests to do so, since he was the one who got them to this point in the first place.
With a resigned sigh, Veronica opened the old wooden door and released her children into the office space.
"You're here!" squealed Kayte with delight, clapping her hands and jumping out of her chair. She scampered around her desk, stopping directly in front of the kids. "I haven't seen the twins since they were very, very little!"
"Hi Kayte!" Jack said, waving his hand excitedly at her. "I brought Linc and Lexie with me to see you!"
"And I'm so glad you did." Kayte rumpled the little boy's hair and he blushed happily.
Logan closed the door behind the group and paused, leaning against the frame, watching the scene play out in front of him. Linc and Lexie had their mouths pursed in fine lines, their eyes narrowed as they scanned the room. Veronica stood, arms crossed over her belly, in front of them, her eyes darting back and forth between all the kids.
"This is it?" Lexie sighed with a small frown.
Logan let out a small snort-laugh at the sound of her disappointment.
"Yep. This is the big, mysterious detective agency," Veronica stated, sweeping one hand in the air. "Kayte works the phones and front desk and down the hall are mine, Dad's, and Aunty Mac's offices. Why? What were you expecting?"
Lexie shrugged. "I don't know. Like 'wanted' posters for bad guys you needed to track."
"And big white boards with lists of clues and things," added Linc. "Maybe a telescope or binoculars in the window so you could watch out for people on the street."
"Sorry to disappoint you, buddy," Logan said, walking over to his son and ruffling his hair. "Most of our work is done on computers now."
"Yeah, like right now, I'm going through lists of purchases on someone's credit cards on the computer," Kayte said, gesturing her long red manicured fingers towards her desk. "And before that, I was running some checks on someone's phone records."
The kids looked at Kayte with blank stares; Veronica could tell this was not the exciting information they had been hoping to hear.
"Come on and see Aunty Mac's office. She let me watch movies on her computers," Jack said and darted past Veronica, down the hall and straight to Mac's door.
Knowing Mac was at home today, Jack flung open the door and raced in. When his family caught up, he was happily spinning around and around in Mac's office chair and squealing.
"Woah! Now this is cool!" Linc said as he approached Mac's large computer screens.
Veronica stepped around everyone to gently stop Jack's chair from spinning. He wobbled slightly and covered his mouth.
"A lot of what we do is online investigating," Veronica explained, turning her attention to the twins. "Every time you pay for something with a credit card or debit card, the bank tracks it. There are cameras at intersections, tracking cars for the police. People post information on things like Facebook about themselves and others. Cell phones have phone numbers and texts that are saved and can be tracked. They also have GPS which allows people to find where their phones are – and can show us where a person carrying that phone is."
All the kids were staring at Veronica, their mouths slightly open, trying to comprehend what she was saying.
"What Mom means," Logan added, stepping closer to her. "Is that we can find out a lot about a person and what they do or don't do just based on what we find online. That how a lot of our investigating is done."
"So –" Lexie began, her voice dropping. "You're like spies?"
Logan and Veronica both burst out in a laugh and looked at each other.
"Not really," Logan said. "Spies usually work for a government. And they don't usually tell people they're spies."
"I know, it's kind of hard to understand, sweetheart," Veronica said, crouching to look Lexie and Linc in the eyes. "That's why we wanted to wait until you were older to explain."
Linc frowned. "So, you don't even have a magnifying glass?"
Veronica shook her head. "Nope. Sorry."
As Veronica rose, the kids took another glance around the office. Bookshelves. Windows. Couch. Desk. Nothing out of the ordinary to catch their excitement.
"Can we get ice cream now?" Jack asked, hopping off the chair and walking over to take Logan's hand. "I'm hungry."
Logan looked down and affectionately squeezed Jack's hand. "We sure can. Unless your brother and sister want to stay a little longer."
Lexie bit her lip, her eyes darting between her parents with suspicion; Logan couldn't help but smile at how much she reminded him of Veronica at that moment.
"What about your offices?" she asked.
Veronica shrugged. "Just more of the same. You can see them if you want, but they're nothing special. We don't even have any pictures of you guys in them."
"Why not?" asked Linc.
Veronica let out another sigh and glanced towards Logan. "In case someone gets mad at us for giving them bad news. Bad news they asked us to find. We don't want them to know that we have a family."
"Is that also why you and Dad aren't married?" Lexie said, folding her arms exactly like her mom's.
"And why Dad's last name is different from ours?" Linc added.
Veronica reached up and rubbed her eyes, trying to keep her patience with her inquisitive children.
"Your Dad and I love each other; we don't need an expensive wedding or jewelry to prove it to the world. We know we love each other and you know we love each other and that's all we need," she said.
"As for your last name –" Veronica took another deep inhale. Did she really want this to become a conversation about Aaron?
"Because Mars is just a way cooler name than Echolls," Logan interjected. He tossed a wink in Veronica's direction and she exhaled with relief.
"But boys and girls need to be married to have babies," Jack stated. "Teacher says so at school."
"No you don't," Lexie snapped at her little brother. "Cynthia at school has two moms and they aren't married."
A thick silence fell in the room and Veronica closed her eyes, hoping beyond hope that Kayte would come in and interrupt this conversation. Jack's lower lip began to quiver in response to his sister's admonishment.
"No, Jack, you don't need to be married to have babies. And boys can love boys and girls can love girls, too," Logan said, bending down to lift the boy up on his hip and kissing him gently on the forehead. "But we'll talk about all that tonight at bath time; just you and me. And Lexie, every morning, I wake up more in love with your Mom than the day before. Like she said, we don't need a wedding to prove that we love each other to anyone."
Veronica opened her eyes, feeling them glisten with tears as she caught Logan's dark eyes sparkling back at her. Taking a few steps around the twins, she pressed her palms against Logan's chest, rising on her toes to kiss him gently on his grinning lips.
"Me too!" cried out Jack from Logan's side.
Veronica kissed the tip of Jack's nose and he giggled. Turning back towards the twins, she took a step and knelt to their height. Instantly, they scurried to her, wrapping her in a big hug. She kissed each of them on the cheek and wrapped her arms around them both.
"You know you guys can talk to us about anything," Veronica stated, glancing between them. "But let's talk about all these things at home. Okay?"
"Okay Mom," Linc said.
"Okay Mom," Lexie said.
"Good. Because I need ice cream too," she said with a small laugh before releasing them to stand up again.
"Last one to the front door is a rotten egg!" Linc called out before bolting out the office door.
"No fair!" Lexie squealed before running after her brother down the long hallway towards Kayte's desk.
Veronica rolled her eyes at Logan. "So much for 'inside voices'."
"I'll be quiet," Jack whispered, placing his finger up against his lips.
"Thanks buddy," Veronica said with a smile and started walking down the hallway after her two eldest children.
Pony barked happily, bounding after a tennis ball as it skipped across the grass. After an early dinner, and an early bath., the family headed out into the back yard - the kids in their pajamas and sweaters - to enjoy the crisp evening air.
Jack, Linc, and Lexie were playing pirates on the gigantic wooden play structure which took up a good part of their large backyard. When Logan came back from his final deployment - when the twins were still small - he immediately set about to over-compensate for his absence. Veronica came home from work one day to find a crew of workmen erecting the monolithic structure in their back yard. Boasting three slides, four swings, and two "floors" in the tall climbing turret, Veronica was positive it was larger than their first apartment.
On this evening, Veronica and Logan sat on the back step of their deck, drinking iced tea, throwing the ball for Pony, and watching to make sure no small pirates fell out of the "ship."
"So, have you had time to formulate a plan for the Fitzpatricks?" Veronica asked quietly, keeping her eyes still fixed on the kids.
"Yeah," Logan answered quietly, tossing the ball a little further for Pony. "I was going to talk to you about it on Monday."
"Now's as good a time as any," she said. "Shoot."
Logan rubbed the back of his neck and stretched, arching his back dramatically. "I think I need to go under cover. Find a crappy motel. Hide out. Get a disguise and fake identity going - start asking around about running some drugs for cash and see if they take the bait."
"Then what?" she said, shifting nervously on the step. "What's your end game?"
"I want to talk to Liam. I think that if I can talk to him, I can get a better read on things."
Veronica shook her head. "Too risky. It's all too risky."
Logan let out a deep sigh. Picking up Pony's ball dropped near his feet, he hurled it haphazardly towards a bunch of bushes around the edge of the back yard. Pony gleefully crashed through the plants in pursuit.
"Shit, then I don't know," Logan said. "You got something better?"
"Yeah. I think so," she began. "If Sean and Dick were chummy with Liam – sending business his way and all – then Dick probably has his number in his contacts so he can get product directly from him. I'll just finesse Leo a bit and get access to Dick's phone – which was probably confiscated at the time of his arrest. Then Mac can hack Liam's number for any texts that may connect him to the girl's murders."
There was a short silence as Logan contemplated her idea. "When you say 'finesse' –"
"Just a blow job. No kissing."
"Veronica – "
"I'm kidding," she said with a giggle, knocking her shoulder into his. "I'll explain to Leo that my illegal investigation could help point his legal investigation in the right direction. That's all."
Logan crossed his arms, his shoulders hunched as he avoided Veronica's eyes. "I still can't believe your dad let you date him."
"He was probably just glad I wasn't dating you," Veronica shot back, her irritation at Logan's jealous streak growing. "And I'm sorry – how old were you when you and Kendall were...you know...whatever-ing?"
"Not the same," Logan muttered.
"What? Because I'm a girl?" she snarked, her leg beginning to bounce as her blood pressure rose.
"Those girls – Emily and Chantel – I can't help thinking about the fact that if we had a kid, back in college, our daughter or son could have been one of their friends," Logan said slowly. "Did they think that getting involved with these older guys was supposed to be fun? And what happens when Lexie is that age? Would you allow her to date someone in their twenties like you did?"
Veronica felt the bile turn in her stomach. Logan did have a very worrisome point.
"Dad probably figured I was 'safe' dating a cop," she replied quietly, turning to look at him as he kept his eye fixed on the play structure. "But if it was Lexie I think I would try and stop her. I will admit, I did feel more mature, more worldly, maybe even safer dating Leo when I was younger, but there was no way I would have let it go further."
"And by the way," she continued, wagging her finger in Logan's direction. "If Linc were to do the same, I would try and stop him too. Don't think you and Kendall were any better."
Veronica listened to the sound of the kids' laughter, her eyes focusing on the ground.
"We have to stop projecting our childhoods on the kids though, Logan. They'll make mistakes. They'll get hurt. We just have to teach them to make better choices, and let them know we will be there for them, no matter what."
Logan let out a sigh and Veronica placed her hand on his. "Should I cancel the orders for the giant hamster balls then?"
"Yes," Veronica said and kissed the side of his head.
Logan turned towards her, and reciprocated, planting a soft kiss on her lips, ending with a small smile.
"Mom!" Lexie's voice carried across the backyard from the top lookout of the play structure. "Pony has something in the bushes!"
Veronica's hands flew up to cover her mouth as she and Logan stood quickly.
"Oh my God, please don't let it be another baby bunny," she gasped. "You go and see!"
Logan jogged down the steps and across the backyard to the shrubs at the end of the garden. As he approached, he saw Pony's backside wriggling around outside the foliage, but her face was obscured from view.
"Pony! Heel!" he commanded and the dog jumped slightly before coming out of the bushes and sitting near Logan's feet.
He bent down and cupped the dog's face with his hands. Her breath stunk like rotten food and there was something brown along the edge of her mouth.
"What is it Dad?" Linc called from above.
"I don't know," Logan answered loud enough so they could hear.
Dropping onto his hands, Logan crawled into the space left by Pony in the hedge, silently praying he would not have to clean up the remains of another dead baby bunny. There was a little sigh of relief when Logan found a tennis ball with a hole in it among the dirt. Grabbing it, he crawled out and sat on his heels to inspect the object. There was a deep crack in the ball and when he pushed the sides together, it popped open, revealing scraps of bloody, rotting meat inside.
His nose wrinkled at the stench and he shook his head in disgust. Turning the ball upside down, he dumped the contents on the grass. Scattered in amongst the bloody meat were many dots of brown.
"What the –" Logan said and picked up one of the brown dots. He cut the object in half with his nail and let out a gasp.
"Fuck. Chocolate."
As if sensing her cue, Pony puked violently onto the grass. The kids began screaming at the sight and Logan looked up to see Veronica running across the lawn. Moving quickly, Logan stood and ran towards her.
"Get the kids in the house, now," he said, stopping for a moment as they met on the grass. "Someone poisoned Pony with chocolate."
Veronica's eyes grew wide, but she nodded her understanding without a word. Continuing her run, she yelled out to the kids.
"Everyone! Into the house! Now!"
The three children paused, small looks of horror crossing their faces as they stared at their mother, then at their puking dog, then back to Veronica. Linc was the first one to realize the gravity of the situation and he grabbed Jack's arm to lead him to their escape slide to the bottom. Veronica met them as, one by one, they exited the slide, stopping to stare at Pony, who was lying on the ground, panting for breath.
Logan ran back outside with a large blanket in one hand and the tennis ball – now held in a Ziploc bag – in the other. The family watched as he rolled Pony up in the blanket and hoisted her in his arms.
"I'm taking her to the Emergency Vet Clinic downtown," he stated, his eyes cold and hard as he focused on what needed to be done, and not the sad faces staring back at him.
"Okay," Veronica said, her voice cracking with emotion as she watched Logan turn and quickly walk off with their first 'baby'.
Silence fell in the backyard as Veronica fought to stay strong for her children, the muscles in her jaw twitching to keep her lips from quivering with sadness.
"Mama? Who would want to make Pony get sick," Jack's tiny voice said from beside her.
She turned and scooped him up in her arms and he wrapped his body around hers, his head on her shoulder, as Lexie and Linc wrapped thwir arms around her waist.
"I don't know, sweetheart," she whispered. "I don't know."
Just after midnight, Veronica awoke from her slumber on the living room couch to the sound of Logan coming in the door. His head hung low and he didn't make eye contact with Veronica, focusing instead on slowly taking of his shoes.
"Hey," she said softly, rubbing her eyes.
"Hey," he muttered.
Veronica stood and walked over to Logan, wrapping her arms around his waist, burying her face in his chest. Logan wrapped his arms around her tightly and dropped his face into her hair, breathing deeply. They stayed like this for a minute, neither one making a move to separate.
"Thanks for texting me an update," Veronica finally said. "I was able to tell the kids before they fell asleep."
"Well, she's not out of the woods yet," Logan said, his hand reaching up to stroke Veronica's hair. "But when they pumped her stomach they figured she hadn't consumed enough to kill her – just make her sick. The rancid meat was probably what made her throw a lot of it up."
"Did you file a police report?" she asked gently.
"Yeah. They said they get at least one incident of this kind of thing every few months. Because there are some sadistic fuckers around town," Logan said through clenched teeth. "Tomorrow, I'll go talk to the neighbors and see if anyone saw anything, and warn them to check their gardens too. Just in case."
Veronica nodded into Logan's chest, shifting her weight so her tiny belly wasn't pressed into him so hard.
"The kids are all still asleep in our bed," she said. "I didn't have the heart to move them. They were all so sad and scared and confused."
Logan kissed the top of her head before pressing his cheek on her crown.
"We'll let them stay with us tonight. I know I'll sleep better if they are within arms reach."
Veronica bit her lip and closed her eyes. "Logan, you don't think –"
" – that this was an isolated incident? I don't know. The police think it is, but my gut is telling me something different."
"Mine too," she said softly. "I can't shake this feeling. Dad always said that you need to go with your gut on a case, and my gut is telling me there is more to this than some dog-hating sociopath."
"So what do we do now?" he said, his hand stopping mid-stroke to cradle Veronica's head in his palm.
"We go to sleep," Veronica said. "And in the morning, we start looking at the people who may want to send us a very strong message."
Logan's response was to pull her closer and close his eyes, breathing in the scent of her, helping him calm his nerves. He knew she was right, but for now, he hoped beyond hope that maybe, she could be wrong.
