Chapter 6 : Feet on the ground (first part)

Logan grabbed his bag and put it on his shoulder, he was the last one to come out of the cabin, he inspected the place one last time and closed the door. His comrades were already on the base, surrounded by their families. No one was waiting for him on the dock. From the gangwway, he saw children running, wives who warmly welcomed their husband. He crossed the crowd and entered a hangar. Alongside Roundboy stood a small redhead with generous curves.

- Mouth, thank you for taking care of my man and bringing him back to me, Jenny said quickly.

- All in all, I realized that I mihgt need my copilot for another deployment, so I decided to give him a second chance, Logan said.

- Take care of yourself Mouth and don't be a stranger, Roundboy replied.

- I promised ! Good homecoming and don't do anything crazy, I don't know if our world is ready to host a roundjunior. See you two soon.

- Bye !

Logan walked a good kilometer, enjoying the stability of the good old continental soil, before reaching a modest-sized house just outside the base. He rented this place because it was convenient, it was his home, his refuge away from the sunlights of LA and Neptune, he came to meditate when needed and he could meet his colleagues in the Navy.

He looked at his clothes for a long time, took a casual outfit, get changed and went to the terrace with a book. He needed some time to adapt before returning to his civilian life. He spent a few hours alone, in piece. Too soon he heard the ringing "suck my dick", Dick had himself attributed this ringtone for his calls and Logan didn't have the heart to change it, rather amused by the antics of his friend.

- Dude!

- Hi Dick!

- Where's your pretty little ass?

- You know where, you got my email.

-I can't believe it, six months at sea and you already ruin your first night.

- I'll see you tomorrow.

- Great evening guy, get ready, the dickster is at its peak ... you ... me ... all the girls will come rushing to our feet.

- Carrie will be happy to hear it.

- It will stay between us, 19h at home and sleep because tomorrow will be a sleepless night. Yeah baby!

And he hung up without waiting for the answer.

"Show must go on", Logan returned to his room, filling a suitcase with various clothes and a toiletry kit. He entered the garage, caressed with his palm the blue body of his convertible, inserted the suitcase in the trunk, sat down and switched on the ignition. With the remote control, he opened the garage door and a few minutes later, pedal to the medal and wind in his hair, Logan was heading to Neptune.

- Break-


The stress level was at its peak, Veronica split her time between the end-of-term exams, the revisions and her internship. The weekend with Wallace had allowed her to be distracted but the return to reality had been brutal.

The DA was driven by a new case, it was a robbery. Josh had been working on it for two days.

- Hi ! How went your test this morning? asked Josh.

- Do contextual ads conflict with copyright? A piece of cake. Veronica said, sitting down at a desk.

- I see, intellectual property law.

- You knew that by typing "Gone with the wind" on your search engine, an advertisement for the Best Buy opened on your screen.

She laughed and then continued:

- Do you have news for the robbery?

- The cameras in the supermarket show two young people, we see them leave the store, then it's like they had vanished. There are cameras on all access roads but no trace of them.

- There must be an accomplice, they could hide in the trunk of a car.

- That's the problem. There is a camera too on the parking lot and we don't see them.

- We must look for a blind spot and understand how they could disappear. The best thing would be to go out there and interview the employees.

- That's why we invented a police force, I think.

- If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself! But in the meantime, we can trace all their movements, until their disappearance.

- Break-


Logan typed in the alarm code and climbed the stairs. Carrying two boxes of pizza, he opened the door of the room. She slept on the bed, the sheets were undone. The noise woke her up:

- Hey! She said shyly and still asleep.

Logan stepped forward and put the boxes on the edge of the bed. He went to join Carrie and the pizzas were quickly forgotten.

- Break-


- They are getting the money from the cash register, the biggest one holds the bag and the gun while the second picks up the money. They didn't take the main exit at the end of the checkout but they turn right in front of the shops and finally they exit through the west gate. Look here, they turn right again, opposite the customer parking lot and disappear from the camera. The cops watched all the footage from the other cameras but they didn't notice anything significant, Josh explained as he watched the video sent by the police.

- I know what we'll do tonight, and we'll ask Céline to help us, she owes us a favor since the hike.

- A crazy night watching surveillance videos? You were not thinking about a threesome ?

- Nope, sorry!

- Break-


- Veronica, Veronica, wake up! Céline cried.

- Five more minutes. Veronica moaned.

- Josh ! She tried shaking his arm.

- What ... ho ... we fell asleep, he finally say recovering his mind and understanding where he was.

The trio spent part of the night watching the surveillance videos without finding any additional clues about the robbers.

- Coffee ? Veronica asked, finally determined to get up.

- I'm going to need it, I have a test in less than two hours, added Celine.

- It's a real pain ! Veronica cursed.

- I would do everything to have a shower and a changing outfit before going to the office. Josh groaned.

- It's a girl dorm, you can't access it. But I must have a shirt your size somewhere.

She came out of her room and gave him a Ralph Lauren green polo shirt.

- Thank you, I'll return it to you later, Casey will want to get it back.

- It's not Casey and you can keep it, the friend it belongs to doesn't have any use of it, believe me! It's all yours.

-Break-


They had spent the day in bed. Enjoying each other, few words had been exchanged, each lost in his own world.

Yet it was necessary to surface, Dick was waiting for them. Logan took a shower and get dressed, he was waiting for Carrie in the living room watching TV.

- Ready to catch up with the mass? She asked as she descended the stairs.

- No, I'd rather stay here, but if we don't show up in the next hour, Dick will send troops to kidnap me and force me to go to all the strip clubs in the city.

They got into the car and covered the short distance to the bungalow. When they arrived, a banner greeted them: "Welcome home Dude".

Barely had he crossed the threshold than a blonde and incoherent tornado rolled in, it was a mixture of dude, alive, girls, miss you, booze, fuck, night, ... Dick was over-excited, he had apparently started the party too early and was already drunk.

In spite of himself, Logan ended up with a beer in his hand and he coul hardly pronounce a few sentences because his friend monopolize the conversation.

Other acquaintances began to approach the hero to congratulate him and celebrate his homecoming.

- Welcome to Neptune, happy to see you again, Luke said.

- Thank you. So that's it, you left New York?

- Almost, I still have a pied-à-terre there, but I'm thinking of moving here permanently , my father is a congressman and he offered me a job on his team.

- It's not easy to make a career change !

- No, baseball is the only thing that has really mattered since high school. Suddenly everything stops, you have to move on and start from scratch. I think I will accept his proposal and give politics a chance. And you, what's new for the future?

Casey joined them.

- In the immediate future, enjoy my return, get back to surfing and maybe traveling a bit with Carrie, once her tour is over.

- Hallelujah, you're back, Dick was driving us crazy, he's completely confused when you leave, we'll hand you other the baby, Casey announced.

- I'll send you my babysitting fees, Logan replied.

- Dude, where were you? interrupted Dick. You missed Shelly's feat, she just slipped into the pool. Water ... girls ... let the party begin, Cheers !

- And you Casey, how is the publishing world going? said Logan.

- Work is progressing well , I met a new author very promising, I don't know if Carrie has spoken to you about it but you are invited to his reading, it's just before Christmas, at the Neptune Grand. For us, it's an important event, I really wish you were there.

- If Carrie has nothing planned that night, you can count on us. Speaking of Carrie, where is she? I have not seen her in a while.

- She's talking to Gia and Stu, Luke explained.

- Your move is over? Casey asked, turning to Luke.

- Yes, It is. I managed to make room for myself in Gia's closets, not easy, considering the number of dresses she has.

- You look pretty serious, Casey said.

- Living together is a major step, and a good test for the future. And you, what's going on with the petite blonde?

Logan clenched his hand on his glass, nobody had dared to pronounce her name out loud. He was caught between escape and curiosity, he decided to stay to hear Casey's answer.

- Things are progressing nicely, I will see her again for Christmas, she will come to Neptune.

Logan couldn't help but notice that Casey used the same words to talk about his work and his relationship with Veronica.

- A blonde with big boobs, I hope! Dick shouted.

- No, but I think they have gained volume since high school.

- She was at Neptune High and blonde, it's necessarily one of my ex, so which one ?

- Uh Dick, no, believe me, she's not one of your ex! exclaimed Luke.

- Needless to say ... she was ugly!

- No, she was pretty cute and still is ! Casey said.

- A blonde from Neptune High, cute and with whom I didn't go out.

He thought and continued:

- You will have to introduce us, once she has seen the Dick, sorry Cas but you'll be out!

- No need to make presentations, you already know her.

Some neurons managed to connect in the middle of a bath of alcohol.

- No, no ... It can't be the fuck..

Luke put a finger to his friend's lips.

- Given your reaction, I think you understand. Luke laughed.

- Dude, run away while there's still time, Veronica fucking Mars, she is like kryptonite for rich guys, she'll ruin you, look what she did to Kane, Logan and even that

- Dick! threatened Logan.

- I thought she was gone from Neptune to another part of the world to do one of her things, and to blame no one knows who for god knows what reason.

- Listen, Veronica is not the devil himself, she is cute, bright and funny. Casey said.

- You're not serious ?

- Very serious, I appreciate her.

- Okay, where does she live anyway ? Dick asked, curiosity getting the better of him.

- She's in New York, a law student at Columbia, I met her by accident. I was going to see Luke's last game with the Mets, I was late and I hit a young woman in front of me who was crushing a cockroach. It was Veronica.

Logan was not surprised, as soon as she saw a cockroach, she crushed it. It was a game between her and Lilly, he was not surprised that she would keep the memory of her best friend alive. He kept this thought to himself, it was between them, a reminiscence of the fab four and nobody else could understand the symbolic.

- Who would have thought an insect was going to throw me into the arms of a pretty blonde? Casey finished with a smile on his face.


Editor's note : I was forced to change the end of the chapter, french puns couldn't be translated.

Dick says : You're not serious. After saving private Logan, this girl is an iron hand in a "Glove" of velvet. High five !

A glove in french is "un gant", in reference to Casey.

Thank you for reading.