Bonnets and Booties
Disclaimer: Not Mine, anything pertaining to the show belongs to Rob Thomas and the networks.
Chapter Ten: Advice From Cliff
AN: I apologise to you all for taking so long to update I have been so sick for the past two weeks basically, Glandular Fever not fun. Today is the first time I have been able to sit up and type. Hopefully I can update more regularly now, but until I'm completely better and things are normal please bear with me.
When the door shut Logan turned to Veronica who hadn't said anything but had 'that' look on her face.
"You don't believe her?" he questioned
"I don't know" she admitted honestly, it just seems too farfetched.
"I don't think she's lying Veronica, I know her and she's basically you pre Lilly leaving, or Meg, she has to be telling the truth" he stated picking up a few of Noah's things that were lying around.
"Meg? Me? Oh she has to be telling the truth then, look how well things turned out with us" she retorted referring to her now tainted views of the world and Meg's deception with her pregnancy, which resulted in Duncan going on the run with their daughter.
"Look Veronica, I don't want to fight I'm just saying we should sit for a while and wait for the DNA results, we can take it from there once we know, I'm pretty confident though that it all fits." Annie had explained things as far as he was concerned and he was just waiting on the official results from tests to confirm what he already felt, Noah was his biological son.
"Fine, as long as you know what you're doing" she agreed reluctantly. She would let Logan believe what he wanted but she knew there was more to this story than Annie had let on. She had stayed at the Grande long enough to know that shift change was eleven pm and they weren't far off that now. If she was quick enough she could get to her car and wait by the employee entrance and follow Annie.
"I'll stop by tomorrow, I promised dad I'd help him with a case tonight, get a money shot or two" Lying came so easy to her now it was scary.
"Ok." Logan studied her "But Veronica, promise me that you won't interfere, do anything to make her run?" he quite figured out exactly what to do about the situation yet, but if for some reason she was lying to him he didn't want to make her nervous and bolt before things were sorted out. Noah had been left with him for a reason, and he had promised himself to do what was right for both Annie and Noah.
Veronica nodded. "I'll see you later ok?" she gathered up her things and left.
It was only after she was out the door that Logan realised she hadn't actually said that she promised like he had asked her to.
Veronica didn't have to wait long for the shift change and had only been sitting in her car at the back of the car park for about fifteen minutes when the staff only door opened and the employees that had finished for the night started to stream out.
She spotted Annie towards the middle of the group chatting with one of the girls Veronica recognised from the front desk.
Veronica watched them stand to the side chatting for another few minutes before Annie headed to her own car, a beaten up maroon sedan, and got it pulling out of the car park.
Slowly pulling put after her Veronica made sure to stay far enough back to not be noticed. Usually she would have stuck a GPS tracker somewhere on the car but she hadn't had enough time tonight to find out which was Annie's car before putting her plan into motion.
If Annie was going to bolt after spilling to Logan then it would most likely be tonight, in her experience Veronica had learned that if people weren't planning on sticking around then they left sooner than later.
They crossed the Coronado bridge and headed into the neighbourhood where Weevil used to live with his grandmother.
Annie pulled into a rundown weatherboard cottage and turned the car off, with a quick glance around out of habit she headed to the front door and let herself in. Veronica snapped a few photo's until Annie was out of site then settled in to wait for awhile.
Even though Noah was sleeping peacefully, Logan wasn't. His mind was occupied with the events of the evening running over and over again. The way Annie had explained things seemed cut and dried. She couldn't look after him so she gave him to Logan who could. It still didn't sit right though. Logan's parents had been far from stellar examples of perfect parents but could a young mother really just give up her baby without a second thought? He didn't think so.
He had decided to call his lawyers first thing in the morning to draw up custody papers for his son, it was the first step in the right direction he felt. Originally he was going to wait but now he decided to move on it sooner than later. He couldn't deny that he was getting attached to Noah and as he watched his son sleep in his snuggle bed Logan finally felt a peace within himself that he hadn't known in a very long time.
The next Morning
Logan strapped Noah into his car seat and picked up the nappy bag, they had quite a big morning ahead of them. Earlier he had made an appointment with Cliff to see him regarding custody and that was first up, then he wanted to view a couple of houses he had found for sale on a web site this morning. Sometime during the four am feeding with Noah when the usual sounds of the hotel had begun to drive him crazy he had decided to finally buy a house of his own, something he had tried to put off for quite awhile.
The more he thought about it the more excited he became at the prospect of making a real family for himself and Noah and was in a great mood by the time he entered Cliff's office.
"Mr Echolls" Cliff greeted him "I heard you had procreated and now I see it with my own eyes there's no denying it" He gestured for Logan to head into his office. He signed the last of the papers the secretary had and followed him in.
"I'm guessing you know why I'm here then" Logan smiled at him
"You want to make it official" Cliff confirmed.
"I assume you can handle that?" Logan unstrapped Noah who was fussing and settled him on his knee. Cliff watched Logan for a minute before answering him.
"Of course I can handle it Logan but I must be honest I'm not sure that filing for official custody is the best idea until you get the DNA results." He told him cautiously "I know you're becoming attached to him but as your attorney it's my professional opinion that you should wait, especially for someone of your stature."
"My stature?" Logan wasn't exactly sure what he was referring to, whether it was his fame or his tainted past.
"Let me be straight Logan, you have money, lots of it and fame, are you sure this isn't just a ploy to con you out of your millions? I really think it best you wait for the results" Cliff stated.
Logan took a deep breath before speaking, he understood where Cliff was coming from but if he refused to help him he had others that would. "Are you saying you won't help me because-"he was cut off by Cliff. "I'm not saying I won't help you Logan I'm just urging you to use caution and perhaps wait awhile, but ultimately you pay me to do what you want so if this is what you want then I'll start the ball rolling"
After Cliff had agreed to work for Logan they had gone over the details that Cliff would need in order to file for custody of Noah and they had left. Logan had stopped briefly at a park to feed Noah and thankfully there were no photographers there, it seemed he wasn't that interesting today which was a good sign.
Once Noah was fed and changed they had continued on and the real estate agent had shown Logan three houses, two were close to the beach and one was just up the road from the vacant block of land his old house had stood on. He wasn't exactly sure yet but he really like the second one, it had six bedrooms and a lot of living space as well as a separate quarters for staff, which would come in really handy when he got around to hiring Noah a nanny.
He told the agent he would sleep on it then view them again tomorrow; he wanted to bring Veronica along. Although they weren't together Logan was playing a fun little game in his head of 'happy families' in which Veronica featured as his wife and Noah's mother.
He was back in the suite now flipping through a surfing magazine while thinking through his options. His phone rang interrupting his thoughts.
"Hello" he answered it not recognising the caller id.
"Hello is this Logan Echolls?" a man's voice asked.
"Yes, it is" he replied slowly thinking it was a mistake answering an unknown number and praying it wasn't some sort of entertainment rag.
"Logan this is Doctor Roger's from Neptune Memorial, I have the results of the DNA test here and I was wondering if you would come in and see me?"
They had come back sooner than expected and Logan's heart gave a little jump.
"Sure I can be there in thirty minutes" he answered.
"Thank you Mr Echolls my office is in the back, ask at reception and they will direct you." he instructed before ending the call.
Logan hurried to gather up a few things for Noah, and Noah himself before heading to the hospital to see Dr Roger's, his heart beating faster with nervousness the whole time.
Hope it wasn't too bad, it really hurt my head to write this.