Chapter Eleven: Dinner

A loud crash awoke Lamb and Veronica. Lamb lazily lifted his head off the pillow and looked around. He felt Veronica stirring. He kissed the top of her head and gently moved her head off his chest to a pillow.

"I'll check it out," he said. He was getting out of bed when her arm snaked around his waist and pulled him back down. She buried her face in his neck.

"Stay," she muttered, her breath hot against his neck.

"Babe, it could be a burglar."

A knock came at the door.

Veronica lifted her head. "Burglars knock?"

"Oh ha ha."

"You two awake?" It was Melissa Lamb.

"Come in Mom." The door opened and Melissa appeared with a smile on her face. She was carrying Levi.

"Karen and Jessica have Liam and Tony."

"How'd you get in?"

She blushed. "Um…spare key."

Veronica and Lamb shared a look.

"We don't have a spare key," Veronica stated.

"Oh? Well blame Greg."

The couple laughed as Lamb pulled both of them into a sitting position. Veronica held her arms out and Melissa handed the baby over with a smile. Lamb wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Levi cooed happily as Lamb let the baby play with his fingers.

"We made breakfast," Melissa announced. "Well, Nathan did. We wanted to celebrate."

"You did-"

"Yes we did." Melissa put her hands on her hips. "My baby boy is finally getting married."

Veronica kissed Lamb's neck. "I gotta check on the others." With that, she got out of bed and followed Melissa downstairs. With a groan, Lamb was following them.

Liam and Tony cooed when they saw their parents. Lamb grinned and gathered Tony in his arms. He smothered the boy's face in kisses, making Tony giggle. Veronica handed Levi back to Melissa before taking Liam into her arms. Karen was reading a book at the table, an empty plate in front of her. Greg and Jessica were looking at something on Jessica's phone. When she saw them, Karen hopped up and clapped.

"My brother is finally getting married," she announced.

Lamb rolled his eyes. Of course she'd bring that up. He sighed and turned to Veronica. "When is your father coming over?"

She shrugged. "Later." She stole a glance toward Karen, who nodded. "I was going to go dress shopping around noon with the girls."

Lamb about choked on the coffee he was drinking. "Dress shopping?"

"Not a wedding dress," Veronica said, smacking his shoulder. "Just a dress. My father wanted to meet somewhere fancy." She leaned up to kiss him quickly and gently. "Don't worry. We don't even have to start thinking about dates yet."

"What about this one?" Karen asked, holding out a puffy pink dress. Veronica couldn't hide the look of disgust.

"Sorry, Karen," she said, "but that isn't my style."

Karen shrugged. "Didn't know if you wanted to branch out."

Veronica smiled. "Thanks, but I think I'll stick with what I know."

"When'd you two meet?" Jessica suddenly asked. Her head popped up from the other side of the rack. She crossed her arms on the rack to lean over it slightly. "He told us you'd known each other for a long time, but he was never specific."

"Oh, we met long ago." She paused to look at her fiancée's family. "I can see why he wouldn't say. When we tell it, it makes him sound…creepy in a way."

"Oh?" Melissa chimed in. "How so?"

"Well, he first came to Neptune when he was twenty-three, right?" Melissa nodded. "Well…Did he ever tell you how old I am now?"

"Not exactly," Jessica replied.

"But we never asked," Karen quickly added.

"He just said you were younger," Melissa told the petite blonde.

Veronica nodded. "Alright, well we met when he was twenty-three and I was…thirteen."

Thirteen year old Veronica Mars was spinning around in her father's chair. He was out on patrol with Deputy Sacks (who was insisting on growing a mustache), and had promised to bring back lunch. For now, she was sitting in his office, bored. She would've gone out to explore the station (even though she knew she could walk it with her hands tied behind her back and blindfolded) or bugged some of the deputies, but her father had been one step ahead of her. As soon as school let out, Deputy Jones picked her up and brought her to the station. He left her in the office with a note from her father that said the deputies were told to keep her in the office, much to her annoyance. The only way she could leave was when he'd gotten back to keep an eye on her, not that Keith Mars didn't trust his deputies. It was just that his daughter was manipulative, persuasive, and very good at getting what she wanted.

Veronica had finished her homework and was now flipping through some of her father's files. When someone knocked at the door, Veronica was able to flip the files closed and straighten the desk like it was originally. Deputy Wilson opened the door with a soft smile on his face.

"Mini Mars," he boomed, "need your help."

Veronica loved helping out around the station, especially Inga. "With what?"

Wilson nodded toward outside the office. "New guy's here early. See any paperwork that needs to be done?"

"What file?" She dragged the files in front of her."

"Should be marked Lamb."

She flipped through until she found it. "Got it." She held it out to him, but he shook his head.

"I have work to do. Mind taking care of this?"

Must people wouldn't trust a thirteen year old, but Veronica had been "training" newbies since she could talk and write. "Send him in," she finally said. Wilson nodded and left the office. A man walked in after Wilson left. He had brown hair and striking blue eyes. He wore a lopsided grin.

"You don't look like Keith Mars," he said when he saw the young girl.

"I'm Veronica, his daughter."

"Don Lamb."

Veronica sat up in the chair and handed him the file. "Fill out any blank papers."

He looked at her curiously as he took the file. "How old are you?"

"Don't worry about it, Deputy Lamb." She handed him a pen. "My father trusts me to do this stuff."

Lamb's blue eyes twinkled. "Well that's fortunate." He started filling out papers. "So, how old are you?"

"Thirteen."

Lamb glanced at her. "You're smart for your age."

Veronica smiled fondly. "Thank you, Deputy."

Don smiled at her. He could see himself being friends with this girl. Despite being the boss' daughter, he could tell she caused trouble. She was either going to be his friend or his nightmare.

"Did he actually say that?" Melissa asked once Veronica stopped talking.

Veronica smiled. "More or less." She slid a hand over a pink dress. "But he did mention that he thought we'd be friends sooner or later."

"So you were thirteen?" Karen questioned.

Veronica nodded. "Yeah, but don't worry. Nothing happened until I was eighteen…mostly."

"What do you mean by 'mostly'?" Jessica asked.

"Well…I kissed him once on my fifteenth birthday. After that, things went downhill for a while."

"Ooh!" Karen cried from another rack. The other three women turned to her. She was looking at blue dress that had a ruffled skirt and a lace strap that covered one shoulder. She picked it up and said, "Matches Don's eyes, doesn't it?"

Veronica smiled softly at the dress. She took it in her hands. "Yeah," she agreed, "it does."

Lamb tugged nervously at the hem of his shirt. Veronica noticed his nervousness and took his hand her in hers. Dinner had started thirty minutes ago, and the couple had yet to tell Keith the news. They both knew Keith already suspected, but neither were completely sure.

"Can you hand me the rice, sweetheart?" Keith asked Veronica. All night he had been asking her to give him something. She knew he was trying to get a glimpse at her hand.

Veronica handed him the bowl with her left hand.

Finally, when Greg brought cake out, Lamb took Veronica's hand in his. He squeezed gently.

Veronica cleared her throat, grabbing her father's attention. "Dad," she said. For the next minute, she tried to form a sentence, but couldn't. Instead, she stuck out her hand. The table was silent as Keith silently grabbed his daughter's hand and inspected the ring.

"Nice cut," he finally said. Veronica's face broke out into a smile. Keith noticed and smiled back. He dropped his hand and lifted his wine glass. "Congratulations sweetheart." He lifted the glass toward Lamb. "You too Don."

The corners of Lamb's mouth twitched upward. Veronica leaned back in her chair and Lamb wrapped an arm around her waist.

"It's about time," Keith said.

"What do you mean?" Melissa questioned.

"I mean, they already have kids. The next logical step was marriage."

Lamb and Veronica glanced at each other and smiled. While their parents started telling stories about Lamb and Veronica has trouble-making kids and Lamb's siblings and their spouses got into their own discussion, Veronica and Lamb talked quietly to themselves, like they were in their own world.

"I think we should get married in the spring," Veronica said.

Lamb smiled and took her hand. "That's months away. Look, I don't care when we get married, but I don't want to wait a year to marry you. I say we get married in the winter. That way it's still a few months away, but it's not quite a year."

Veronica pecked his lips. "I agree. I love you."

Lamb smiled. "I love you too."