Greatly Exaggerated

Chapter 10 Tuesday and Wednesday:

Tuesday:

Tuesday morning started much the same as Monday morning. Veronica woke Logan up before the children, and he made pancakes for breakfast.

Although Lo still wasn't ready for hugs or kisses, his scowls and sneers had retreated. The pancakes were helping. Apparently, the way to Lo's heart might be through his stomach.

Veronica had an assignment tailing a trophy wife. She asked Logan if he could get the kids off the school bus.

"Absolutely." Logan said. "But I have to go out for a bit, do you have an extra house key?"

Veronica handed Logan her key. "Can you make a copy while you're out?"

Logan agreed and Veronica kissed him goodbye.

Trophy wife, Tiffany's day consisted of working out, a mani/pedi, shopping at the mall, lunch with her girlfriends, and as if the first time wasn't enough, a second shopping trip to the mall, before heading back to her posh mansion. There were no recognizable signs of an affair. Veronica arrived home weary.

"I'm home." She called out.

"I be in th' mess hall." Logan called back.

Veronica stopped at the doorway of the kitchen, staring. Logan was wearing tight black pants, black leather fold-over boots, a black silk billowy shirt and a black scarf tied around his head.

"Logan? Why are you wearing tights?" Veronica asked for lack of anything better to say.

"They're not tights!" He said indignantly. "They have a zipper." He turned around.

Veronica let out a snort of laughter. He was wearing a mask and the front of his shirt had freaking laces.

"Oh My God!" Veronica snorted in laughter. "Having fun, Zorro?"

Logan sighed. "I be not Zorro. I be Dread Pirate Roberts." He gave her a quick hello kiss.

"Inconceivable!" Veronica said, shaking her head. "Something smells good."

"Burgers on the grill." Logan said.

"We don't have a grill." Veronica said.

"We do now." Logan said.

Veronica crossed to the kitchen window that looked out to the back yard. Logan braced himself.

"Logan?"

"Yes Buttercup?"

"There seems to be a monstrosity in the back yard. Have any idea where it came from?"

"That thar' would be a pirate ship, me Lovely."

"And why is there a pirate ship in the back yard?"

"Because the twins both like pirates. I saw it on the internet a long time ago, and thought that if I ever had a kid... Then the other day when they said the only thing they had in common was a love for pirates, well…I made a phone call. They delivered and assembled it today."

"And what exactly are they going to do with a pirate ship?"

"Well, it's a clubhouse. It's a jungle gym, it has a cargo net, and a crow's nest. And it's something they can play with together."

"It's way too expensive!"

"Well, I have missed their past five birthdays." Logan said.

"It takes up half the backyard!"

"We could get a bigger house."

Veronica gave Logan a warning look.

"Or not. This is a great backyard!"

Just then, the twins ran in to greet their mother.

"Argh! I be the scurvy Captain Blackbeard." Lo said. He wore black fold-over boots like Logan's, brown pants, a billowy white shirt belted with a red-striped scarf, a fake beard and mustache, an eye patch, and a pirate hat. He held a plastic cutlass in his hand.

"I be Captain Morgan!" Morgan said. She wore a red mid-calf length skirt, a black and white striped scarf was tied diagonally over one hip, another black and white striped scarf was tied around her head. She wore a black vest over a billowy white shirt.

"Captain Morgan?" Veronica asked turning to Logan.

"Are you suddenly craving a Piña Colada like I am?" Logan asked. "Come on outside."

Logan checked the new grill, and found that the burgers were just about done. Assembling all of the cheeseburgers onto paper plates, Logan added a half ear of corn to each and a sprinkling of potato chips. He called to Veronica to get drinks and then walked over to the pirate ship.

"Permission to board?" He called up to the twins.

"Come aboard, ye olde scallywags!" Lo called down from the crow's nest. Laden with the tray of food, Logan took the staircase instead of the cargo net ladder.

Logan and Veronica sat cross-legged on the deck, eating their burgers and Morgan sat to Logan's right. Lo had begged to take his dinner up to the crow's nest, so Logan had handed the plate up, saying: "Try to keep yer vittles out of yer beard."

"I'm dealing with the tights, Logan." Veronica said. "But can you at least take the mask off? I can't take you seriously."

"Wench, we be eatin' t' vittles on a ship in th' backyard. Where does serious fit into this scenario?"

She gave him a look.

"As you wish." He said, smiling as he took his mask off.

After the twins were in bed for the night, Veronica modeled the pirate costume Logan had brought home for her: for about three and a half minutes. But he let her keep the boots on.

Wednesday:

Wednesday morning, Logan switched things up. He didn't want to overplay his hand with the pancakes, so he went with French toast and bacon. As he expected, Lo ate every bite and asked for seconds. Morgan didn't love the French toast, but had extra bacon. Veronica sipped her coffee from the new Keurig, and smiled at Logan. He caught her stare, and smiled back.

"Everything is so different with you here." She said, after the twins left for school. "We're lingering over breakfast instead of rushing through it. Oh, and I think I saw Lo actually smile at you, earlier."

"Did he?" Logan asked, smiling. "I'm trying not to push him."

"Well, you're doing something right." Veronica said.

They spent the day in companionable silence in Veronica's office, stopping only twice for sex. She worked on her cases, and Logan worked on his laptop from the leather chair.

"I've been thinking." Veronica said after they'd been quiet for an hour. "It feels like life is almost perfect now."

Logan looked up from his laptop, a smile in his eyes.

"The only thing missing is my dad." She continued.

"So you're going to try to work things out with him?" Logan asked.

"Yeah, I think so." Veronica said.

"I'm happy to hear that." Logan said sincerely.

"I'll email him. See if he wants to have a father/daughter day tomorrow while you take the twins to the boardwalk."

Logan stood up and kissed her on the forehead. "I'm proud of you." He said. "But do me a favor, and don't let your dad convince you that I'm bad news." He smirked.

"Everybody knows your bad news. I don't need my father to tell me that." Veronica teased.

Wednesday evening, they needed to make a trip to the grocery store.

"It doesn't require four people to grocery shop." Veronica had teased Logan. "You could stay home."

"I know, but I'm still learning how to be a family." He said. "Don't you have any grocery shopping tips to teach me? I might have to do it on my own someday."

Veronica just shook her head.

Logan was feeling great. They were laughing and happy. Morgan held his hand while Veronica pushed the cart. Lo was in a good mood as well. The sullen child from before had started to disappear. He helped his mother find items on her list, and had begun to answer Logan in words instead of shrugs.

Of course, it was too good to be true.

As they approached the checkout, Lo was telling his mother a funny story about school. A moment later, he was silently staring at Logan. His face wasn't scowling or sneering. It was pure anger, with a hint of betrayal.

"Logan?" Logan started to say.

"Mom! You kissed dad!" Morgan said giggling.

"No I didn't. I'm nowhere near him." Veronica said, looking at her daughter strangely.

Logan turned to look at Morgan, who then turned and pointed at a tabloid on the magazine rack near the checkout.

The headline in big block letters read "Logan Echolls Alive!" Below in smaller letters: "Tragic death a cruel hoax?"

The headline photo clearly featured Veronica and Logan on the picnic table at the farmer's market. Veronica was leaning down and kissing Logan, and both faces were clearly visible.

Oh crap! Just when things were looking up with Lo.

Logan reached for the magazine, flipping through until he found the article. There were several pictures of the entire family at the farmer's market. Logan with Veronica, both smiling, her hand on the back of his neck - captioned 'Echolls with long-time girlfriend Veronica Mars'. Logan holding Morgan's hand. The entire family on the picnic table eating cannoli.

The article identified Veronica and the twins by name, and rehashed Logan and Veronica's connections to Lilly Kane, Aaron Echolls, Cassidy Casablancas, and Mercer Hayes. It concluded with speculation around where Logan had been all these years and whose body had been found in Logan's burned Range Rover. There didn't seem to be any question about the paternity of the twins. The photo of Logan and Morgan made it obvious.

He turned back to his family. Lo looked accusatory. Morgan was delighted, and Veronica only looked resigned.

"I am so sorry that this happened." Logan said.

"It was bound to come out eventually." Veronica said.

"Logan…" Logan said, turning to his son, but Lo turned away and walked over to Veronica, refusing to look at his father.

Morgan didn't seem to understand that there was a problem. She was babbling excitedly about romance and having a real family. Logan tossed the magazine on the checkout.

"You're going to buy that trash?" Veronica asked.

Logan picked up the magazine, turned it to the article, and handed it to Veronica.

"I like the pictures." He said, shrugging.

Veronica looked at him knowingly.

Instead of cooking dinner, they picked up a pizza one the way home, and ate it on the couch.

"I am very sorry that you guys found out about your dad and me this way." Veronica started. "We should've been the ones to tell you."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Morgan asked.

Veronica thought about it for a moment. "I guess mostly we wanted to make sure it was going to last before we disrupted your lives."

"Did you make sure?" Morgan asked.

"Not 100%, but I'm pretty sure it's going to last." Veronica said, looking at Logan, who nodded.

"Yes, I'm going to do everything I can to make it last." Logan said.

"Have you kissed other times?" Morgan asked giggling.

Veronica started to speak, but Morgan interrupted. "I want him to answer. He tells me the truth."

"Morgan, I tell you the truth…" Veronica started.

"So dad was really choking the other morning?"

Veronica closed her mouth, and Morgan turned to Logan.

"Have you kissed other times?"

Logan looked at Veronica helplessly. She gave him a little nod.

"Yes, we've kissed other times. Grown-ups like to kiss sometimes. Like when they say goodbye, or hello, or sometimes for no reason at all. But it's a private thing, so we probably shouldn't talk about it so much."

Morgan giggled.

Lo blew up. "I don't want to talk about kissing ever. I don't want you kissing my mom, and I don't want you to stay here in our house."

"Logan." Veronica said, sighing. "I understand that this is difficult for you. It's a lot of change for you to deal with in a small amount of time. It's going to take a little while for you to get used to it."

"I don't want to get used to it." Lo said. "I just want it to stop."

"Logan, you were starting to get used to having your father around. Does anything really change just because we're together? I love your father very much, and he loves me. Being with your father makes me very happy."

"Then why do you always look so sad when you talk about him?" Lo asked. "Why do you cry sometimes when you look at his picture?"

"Logan…" Veronica said, pulling the little boy into her arms and squeezing him tightly.

"Logan." She said breathing in the scent of the little boy's shampoo. "I was very sad because your father wasn't here with me. It always felt like something was missing. Now that he's back, I'm very happy."

"I'm very happy too." Morgan said.

"But what if he leaves again and you're sad again?" Lo asked.

Logan leaned forward to look into the child's eyes. "I'm not going away again, Logan. I'm going to make things work out with your mother. And I'm going to make things work with you and your sister."

Lo tried to turn his face away, but Veronica gently nudged him to pay attention.

"Logan, I am committed to this family. Do you know what a commitment is?" Logan asked.

The little boy shook his head.

"A commitment is like a promise. I'm promising to stick around and be part of this family for good, and I would never make a promise that I didn't intend to keep."

"Can I go to my room now?" Lo asked.

Veronica started to protest, but Logan's eyes told her to let him go.

"Veronica, pushing him will only make him resist harder. He's just like I was as a kid."

Veronica looked worried, so Logan pulled her into his arms pressing her head against his chest.

"We were getting there, Veronica." He said. "I think he'll come back around again. Just give it time."

"So are you going to kiss now?" Morgan asked.

"Morgan!" Veronica said.

"You want me to kiss your mother?" Logan asked.

Morgan nodded enthusiastically.

Logan put on his most romantic face, looked down into Veronica's eyes, reached out dramatically and touched her face, tilted her chin, and kissed her for a moment in as romantic a manner as possible.

Morgan clapped and giggled.

"So are you happy now?" Logan asked. "We'll never have to have the kissing discussion again?"

"I'm happy now." Morgan said.

"Good." Logan said leaning back onto the couch and putting his feet up on the ottoman.

Morgan climbed up on his lap and got comfortable. "So when are you and mom getting married?"