A/N – Thanks for all the feedback so far! Please be sure to leave a review and let me know what you think!

Disclaimer: All original VM characters belong to Rob Thomas.

Chapter 12

Veronica was in a better mood as she headed to the station on Friday morning. Spending some time with Logan the night before had made her feel much better about things, even if they were headed more in the direction of friends for now. It was still nice to feel like they were finally starting to connect on some level again.

Their shifts were slightly staggered, so she and Norris started an hour before Logan and Doug. She got started on the McDade case again, asking Norris to do a few more checks for her. The first hour went by quickly as she focused on going through more of the accounting records for the firm. Logan arrived a few minutes before Doug and placed a coffee from the Hut on her desk. "The office coffee can be pretty crappy, so thought I'd pick one up for you when I got mine," he said with a warm smile as he continued on to his own desk with his own coffee.

"Thanks, jackass," Norris grumbled under his breath and Logan just gave him a smirk and shrugged.

"So how was pie?" Logan asked Norris as he waggled his eyebrows at him and accentuated the last word.

Norris blushed slightly and shook his head. "Delicious," he snapped back and Veronica thought she heard him grumble jackass under his breath again.

"I'm sure it was," Logan answered with a smirk.

Veronica had gotten a text from Mac before she went to sleep making sure she made it home okay and checking that everything was alright since she hadn't wanted to go to get dessert with them. She'd called her back and they'd talked for a little while and it sounded like she'd had a good time with Norris too. Of course she'd mentioned that Brandon was definitely disappointed that Veronica hadn't come along, but that he hadn't come right out and said anything about it either. Veronica was thankful that Mac hadn't really pushed her too hard on why she wouldn't go with them and also that she didn't give her a bad time about hanging around with Logan. Mac did say she was really looking forward to spending the following Saturday with Norris at the Japanese Art Exhibit at Hearst.

A few minutes after Logan had sat down, Leo popped his head out of his office and looked around at them. "I know you all have your stupid little game, but I wanted Veronica to focus on the McDade case, so no dumping calls on her today, okay? If we get short handed, she could go, or I could fill in, but don't just load her up with other stuff. Got it?"

"Sure," Logan replied as Norris nodded his head too.

"Thanks," Leo said, then turned and went back into his office.

The next hour was pretty quiet, with Doug arriving shortly after Logan and the four of them mostly just working on things at their desks. Selma finally walked over and let them know there was a burglary call that they needed to go out for. Logan asked Norris if he wanted to go with Doug, or he could go if he didn't want to.

"Nah, I'll go. You know I hate sitting at my desk pretending to have shit to do anyway," Norris said as he stood up and grabbed his jacket. "Come on Devlin, let's go."

"Hey, if I can help with anything, let me know okay?" Logan said to her with a small lopsided grin before he turned back toward his desk.

"Thanks, I will," she replied and then started looking through the records again. This is so much better than yesterday.

About twenty minutes later Veronica glanced over toward Logan's desk as she heard his cell phone ring. She quickly looked back at her laptop though because she didn't want to look like she was eavesdropping. Of course with a practically empty station it was hard not to hear everything he said.

"Hey babe," Logan said in a jovial tone as he answered the call. He let out a half laugh half huff sort of sound. "Well it's not the first time one of your photographers has been stuck in traffic... So what ensemble are you in today?" She heard him make a low moan as he shifted slightly in his chair. "That one sounds extremely sexy. You've got to send me a picture of that one." There was a pause then out of the corner of her eye she saw him pull the phone away obviously looking at the photo Bex had just sent him. "That one's definitely hotter than the one you were in yesterday... yeah I guess the red and black one was hot too, but this one definitely accentuates your assets much better." She heard him let out a deep chuckle at whatever Bex's reply was. "You've got to bring that one home with you... Mmm hmm... Me too... Tell Sienna she did an amazing job on your hair and make-up..." He was quiet for a minute and she wondered if he'd ended the call, so she glanced over as discretely as she could and saw he was still listening. "Of course they're going to offer you the lingerie shoots over her… Well for one your tits are way nicer." He let out a mischievous laugh. "Well she was half naked yesterday when I was watching your shoot so of course I noticed... Blondes are hotter too... No your abs are way toner than hers… Mmm hmm… I betcha could… Come on, wouldn't you rather be doing lingerie shoots than boring department store ads? ... Then stop bitching about it..." He let out a frustrated sigh. "I told you I have to work this weekend. When does the new shoot start? ... Are you still flying out next Sunday for Paris? ... We'll still have at least 4 days together." There was another stretch of silence and then a frustrated sigh. "I told you I can't take that much time off to go to Paris... I promise I'll make it up to you though, especially if you sneak home that number you've got on right now." She heard another low deep chuckle followed by a low moan and a few more slow mmm-hm's again.

Well this is great fucking fun... listening to Logan and Bex discussing lingerie and practically having phone sex. She tried to focus back on the information on her screen but couldn't ignore the jealous feeling coursing through her even though she knew she didn't really have any right to feel jealous. Her desk phone rang and she realized it was just her regular line and not the general department line.

"Hello?" She hoped her annoyance didn't come through in her tone.

"You like Chinese food right?" Veronica smiled as she recognized Sebastian's voice.

"Yes..."

"I don't have time for a long lunch, but I was going to run out and pick up a to-go order and thought I'd see if I could drop something off for you too."

Veronica glanced at Logan's desk and could see he was still wrapped up in his call with Bex. The smug predatory expression on his face made it clear they were probably still talking about how great her tits were or how amazing her ass looked in her lacy thong. "Sounds great," Veronica replied, trying to keep the spite out of her tone.

"Egg rolls or pot stickers?"

"Mmmm... definitely egg rolls."

He laughed softly at her reply. She gave him the rest of her order and said she'd see him soon.

When she hung up the phone she noticed Logan was off his phone too and gave her a small smile before turning back to his paper work. Oh sure Logan, act like you think I didn't over hear that phone call. This isn't awkward at all... She let out a deep sigh. Come on Veronica, you can't really be mad at him for just talking to his girlfriend... regardless of the subject matter it's still none of your business. She focused back on the McDade information on her screen and tried to erase his call with Bex from her mind.

About 20 minutes later Sebastian walked into the station carrying a bag of the take out food. He gave her a friendly smile as he walked toward her desk. She caught Logan looking their way out of the corner of her eye and heard him let out a loud annoyed huff.

"Your lunch has arrived," Sebastian said softly as he stopped in front of her desk. "Um... I got a message while I was picking up the food that my next appointment had to reschedule, so I have a bit more time than I expected if you'd like to eat together. But if you're swamped I understand." She couldn't help but notice the hopeful expression on his face. She waved her hand at the empty chair in front of her desk and he smiled and took a seat.

They started taking containers out of the bag and she grabbed a pair of chopsticks. She caught Logan's eye over Sebastian's shoulder for a second and it was easy to tell he wasn't thrilled to see him there. You did sort of agree to this just because you were jealous of his call with Bex. "Want an egg roll?" She asked in a friendly tone hoping to soften his mood and alleviate a bit of her own guilt.

"Nope," he replied sharply as he turned back toward his desk again.

Sebastian gave her a grim look and then turned toward Logan. Veronica cringed but wasn't sure what she should say or do. "You don't need to be an asshole to her. She was just trying to be nice."

Veronica immediately felt her chest tighten.

Logan spun around quickly and glared at Sebastian. "Ah, but you should know being an asshole is my specialty."

Sebastian shook his head. "Yeah, I guess I should." He turned back to Veronica with an apologetic look on his face. "Sorry, maybe I should go."

"Oh no," Logan interrupted loudly. Veronica took a sharp breath as she recognized the look on his face. His dangerous malicious glare. This isn't going to end well. "Don't leave on my account. I certainly don't want to cause an issue between the two of you. In fact I hope things really work out for the two of you... because I'm looking forward to nailing your ass to the wall when I get to tell Chapman that you've been banging one of the arresting officers on one of your cases again."

Logan picked up the file he was working on and stood up from his desk. He gave them a smug smirk as he walked past them and went into Leo's office, closing the door behind him.

"I'm sorry," Veronica said softly, though she wasn't exactly sure what she was apologizing for. I haven't really done anything wrong other than agreeing to have lunch with Sebastian again. Logan could at least show a little restraint even if he does hate the guy.

"You absolutely don't need to apologize," Sebastian replied with a grim expression. "Echolls being a jerk is not your fault." He took a deep breath. "And about what he said. I'm not working on any criminal cases with the sheriff's department, besides the guy Echolls arrested a few days ago. I've been working litigation cases mostly these days."

She nodded in understanding. "And the case before?"

Sebastian gave her a sheepish look. "I was hoping you might not have caught that with the rest of his tirade, but yeah, about a year ago I dated another deputy. We had an amicable breakup when she decided to move to New York to be closer to her family, but before that there was one case that came up and of course Echolls was quick to point out the conflict of interest before I could get taken off the case. I had intended to when I found out though. He just happily beat me to reporting it. Of course he was the other arresting officer and knew the two of us were dating, so as soon as he found out I'd been assigned the case he reported it to the D.A."

Veronica nodded again. The fact Logan may have had a female partner that had been dating a guy he despised didn't go unnoticed either.

"I can go if you want. I'm the one who's sorry about that little scene. It's certainly not your fault." Sebastian offered with a concerned look.

She shook her head. "It's fine. I actually went to high school with him, so him being a jackass is just like old times." She took another bite of her lunch. Too much like old times damn it.

Sebastian gave her an understanding smile and nodded. He was about to take another bite of his food when his cell phone chimed. He glanced at his phone and then gave her a disappointed look. "Sorry. Duty calls. It's one if the senior partners, so I'd better get back."

"I feel bad that you've bought me lunch twice now. Next time it's my treat. Okay?" Veronica replied with a bright expression on her face.

He smiled broadly and nodded. "Sounds good. Here." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a business card. "This has my cell number on it."

She gave him a warm smile as she took it. "Thanks. I'll call you soon."

He smiled back and winked as he stood up to go. She helped put his boxes back into the bag and thanked him again before he left. She let out a frustrated sigh after she sat back down. She couldn't believe what an ass Logan had been. So much for him being more mature after all these years.

She'd just taken another egg roll out as the door to Leo's office opened and Logan walked back out. He had a sullen expression on his face when she glanced in his direction. "Sorry," he mumbled as he walked by her desk, not making eye contact with her at all.

"You should be," she said in an annoyed tone.

Before they had a chance to say anything else Selma walked over. "We just got a call from a security company about a break-in in progress. Clayton and Devlin are on their way there, but asked for backup."

"Mars?" Logan asked a bit reluctantly. She nodded and stood up. "Let them know we're on our way" he told Selma who nodded and handed him the address.

They walked in silence to his car as he was typing the address into his phone's GPS. They climbed in and he started the engine. "I really am sorry Veronica," he said again with a sigh. "I just really don't like him."

"Obviously," Veronica answered curtly as she crossed her arms over her chest.

Logan let out a frustrated sigh and didn't say anything else as he drove them to the address. Norris and Doug were waiting for them when they arrived. Doug was watching the back entrance while Norris was in the front. Norris said that he didn't think the suspect realized they were there yet and so they were waiting for backup before going in. Logan said he'd go around to the back with Doug and then signal when they were ready to go in. Norris was about to open the front door on Logan's signal when there was a gun shot.

Veronica's chest felt tight and she could barely breathe as she heard it. The gun shot came from the back of the residence, not the front by where they were. For a split second she thought about how absolutely devastated she'd be if Logan was killed when the last thing they'd done was fight again.

Norris nodded to her and forced open the front door and went in with his gun drawn. Doug's voice came over their radios a moment later that they had the guy already and that they didn't think there was anyone else with him. Veronica let out a relieved breath, but then quickly reminded herself that Logan had still been a total ass earlier. Norris and Veronica did a quick sweep of the house and didn't find anyone else, so went back toward where Logan and Doug had the guy cuffed on the ground in the back of the house.

"Who fired?" Norris asked as he looked back and forth at Logan and Doug. Logan gestured to the guy on the ground and Doug held up a small hand gun that he'd put in an evidence bag.

"He was a shitty aim luckily," Logan commented as he pulled the guy to his feet. He started pushing him back through the house toward the cars in the front. Someone from the security company had arrived and they exchanged information for the home owner. After they were done with the security guy, Logan locked the suspect in the back of the squad car and looked at Veronica for a moment.

"I'll ride back with Norris," she said abruptly and started walking to the other car. She still wasn't ready to just forgive him for how he acted with Sebastian.

"Come on D," Logan said to Doug as Veronica heard the car doors open and close.

Norris caught up to her and gave her a questioning look as they climbed in. "What's going on?" he asked as they were fastening their seat belts.

Veronica shook her head and let out a frustrated breath. "Logan was an ass when Sebastian brought me some lunch."

"Oh…" He paused a moment before continuing. "Sorry but I can't really blame him," Norris replied a bit hesitantly.

Veronica turned and stared at him. "Why?" Even though she figured she probably knew the answer, based on what Sebastian had told her, that was still only one side of the story, and neither Logan nor Norris had actually told her their version of it. She was already mad at Logan for how he acted, and before she got mad at Norris too, she thought she'd at least give him a chance to explain it.

Norris took a deep breath. "That's Logan's story to tell, not mine. Logan's my friend and Townsend pretty much screwed him over, so I'm siding with Logan on this."

"Was it the suspension then?" Veronica asked.

"Yeah, mostly that. And some of the other cases he's worked on."

She knew cops and defense lawyers rarely got along. She wasn't really surprised neither of them liked him, and who knows if given time she wouldn't either, but right now it was nice having someone who wasn't so much like Piz who was interested in spending time with her. Of course she tried to tell herself that Logan having a girlfriend was not a factor in that. They'd really had such a great time at lunch the day before. She decided she'd be better off just not seeing him at the station at least.

The two of them rode back to the station in silence just like her ride there with Logan. When Norris was parking, Veronica finally spoke up. "I'll be sure not to have him stop by the station to see me again."

Norris quirked an eyebrow at her. "Does that mean you'll just see him away from the station?" She shrugged and let out a sigh.

Norris nodded and didn't say anything else. They were about to the back door of the station when Norris asked how the McDade case was going. She started filling him in on a few suspicious employees as they continued inside.

Logan and Doug arrived a few minutes after they did, with Logan escorting the suspect back to the holding cells. He pretty much ignored Veronica the rest of the afternoon dealing with the break-in report. At first she was happy not to have to deal with him, but after almost two hours she started to be bothered by his blatant behavior. He did try to apologize and you just snapped right back. Are you really mad about his comment to Sebastian or more about the call with his girlfriend? She is his girlfriend and you really don't have any right to get upset about what he says to her.

A call came in while Logan was in talking with Leo, so Norris and Doug took it again. She could tell Logan was a bit put out when he came back out and realized he'd been left alone with her again. Leo had followed him out of his office and said he was headed home for the night, but that they could call him if anything major happened that they needed him for. Logan's cell phone rang a few minutes after he'd sat down at his desk.

"Hey," he answered, decidedly less chipper than he'd been earlier when Bex had called so she wondered if it was someone else this time. "Yeah, I saw your other picture, but it's been a hectic afternoon..." She heard a soft laugh and then another sigh. "Of course you looked beautiful in that babe... Yeah I liked the black one better too... No I haven't... Yeah, that's probably it. I'll scrounge up something soon... Mmmm... yeah we don't get food catered here..." She thought she heard a slight annoyance to his tone in his last comment. She could imagine he was thinking about her lunch delivery at that point. "Are you at Sydney's now? ... Tell her I said hi... have fun, but not too much fun." He let out a more light hearted laugh. "I'm sure you'll forget later but I appreciate the thought... Bye Bex."

She glanced over and saw he was looking down at the papers on his desk. She knew he used to get even more moody when he went too long with out eating. Norris and Doug said they'd grabbed something before the break in call, but she didn't think Logan had eaten anything yet at all. She wasn't sure he'd eat what Sebastian had brought for her, but decided to extend an olive branch and offer anyway. "Selma put my leftover food in the fridge if you're hungry."

"You should eat it," he replied, still looking at the papers on his desk.

"There's plenty if you want some too. I'm not really hungry."

He finally turned and gave her a tentative look, and then a small smirk crossed his face. "Veronica Mars not hungry? What sort of imposter are you?"

She smiled slightly and rolled her eyes. "Just eat it."

"Oh wait, there's the bossy... definitely not an imposter," he replied with a faint smile.

She shook her head and pointed toward the break area. He let out a huff and stood up from his desk. "Thanks," he said softly as he walked by.

She nodded and went back to looking through the records again. He came back out a few minutes later with a container and plastic fork. "I left the egg rolls for you."

"Smart man," she said with a smirk as he went back to his desk.

"Any luck?" he asked as he spun around to face her and pointed to her files with his fork.

"Sort of," she said with a grimaced expression. "I think I found the account that has been siphoning off the funds."

"That's good," Logan responded though looking at her obviously confused as to why she wasn't happy about it. He took another bite of food as he waited for her to explain.

"The employee that the account belongs to has been dead for 2 years. They just never actually went in and deleted his login information." Veronica explained as she rubbed her temple.

"Someone discovered the active account then?"

Veronica nodded. "Yep, so that's going to be harder to figure out. Although the funds had to have gone somewhere."

"I'm sure you'll figure it out," he said with an encouraging look on his face.

Veronica took a deep breath. "Hey, I'm sorry too…" He quirked his eyebrows at her in a questioning expression. "I knew you didn't like Sebastian and I still had him bring me lunch. I just never expected…" she waved her hands around in front of her. "I didn't realize you hated him that much."

Logan let out a frustrated sigh and stared down into his food. "He's not really that nice of a guy Veronica." He laughed bitterly and then shook his head. "Though I'm not either, so I'm not one to talk." And he's back to putting himself down again, damn it. Although after today's little scene it is a little hard to really argue with him.

She let out a frustrated sigh. "I just thought… I thought we were starting to figure out how to be friends again, and then this…"

"Even friends get mad at each other sometimes Veronica," he said after glancing up at her for a second and then back at his food. "What's important is apologizing." She thought she noticed a more distressed expression when he looked back down but with the angle of his head, she couldn't exactly tell.

A minute later Norris and Doug walked back in with an overly drunken man that Doug escorted back to the holding cells and Logan swung back around to face his desk. Norris was working on the paperwork for the guy when Doug came back out and another call came in. Logan had answered the phone and was getting the information as Doug sat down at his desk.

"Hey Devlin," Logan said after he hung up, earning a loud groan from Doug. "Can you head down to Neptune Memorial to take a statement?"

"Rock, paper, scissor?" Doug asked with a hopeful smile.

Logan laughed. "How about we flip a coin? I'll let you call it."

"Sounds fair," Doug said as Logan dug a coin out of his pocket. "I'll let Veronica call for me," Doug added with a flirty smile at her. "I'm guessing she's luckier than I am."

"Um… tails." Veronica said with a smile at Doug. Logan tossed the coin up and let it land on Veronica's desk.

"Fuck," Doug said quietly as the coin landed heads side up on her desk.

"Sorry," she whispered to him.

"It's not your fault," Doug replied with a chipper smile. He gave her a little wave as he headed out of the station.

Veronica glanced at the time on her laptop screen and noticed they only had another hour left until their shift was over. She reached up and stretched her arms, tipping her head from side to side. She was positive the account for the dead man was how someone had been accessing and stealing the money, but the question was who knew his log-in and password. She wondered if Todd might know who was close to the guy to check their accounts. She hoped he didn't give the login information to someone outside the company, although they should be able to check all remote access to the system to validate the accounts coming in from outside the building.

Fifteen minutes after Doug had left, the department phones rang. Logan and Norris both answered at about the same time, and it took Veronica a minute to realize that there must have been two separate calls because they both kept talking. They hung up about the same time and Logan gestured for Norris to go first. "Domestic Disturbance call." Norris said as he looked at Logan.

"Same," Logan replied as he stood up with the paper in his hand. "Zip?"

Norris glanced quickly at Veronica, then back at Logan. "02".

Logan held his paper out to Norris, who shook his head. "No, Devlin's not here." Norris replied firmly.

"I'll call him and have him meet me at the address." Logan said, still holding his paper up for Norris. Norris shook his head again and looked more determined than before. "Give me the fucking address Clayton," Logan said with a scowl on his face. When Norris didn't budge Logan looked even more angry. "You know the rules. You're not taking someone who's been here less than a week to that address." Logan was close enough now to grab the paper out of Norris's hand and put his there instead. He grabbed his coat off the back of his chair as he quickly walked out of the station.

Norris let out a frustrated sigh. "Ready?" he asked Veronica, who nodded and grabbed her own jacket to follow him out to the car. Their address was in the 07 neighborhood, so decidedly better than the area Logan had headed to.

"Can you get Devlin on the radio and make sure Logan called him?" Norris asked as they climbed into the squad car. Logan had already pulled out of the parking lot before they'd gotten out of the building.

Veronica called Doug and he said Logan did call and that he'd be catching up with him in just a few minutes. "Is there really a rule about taking new deputies to certain zip codes?" Veronica asked curiously. "I do have prior experience, so it's not like I'm exactly a rookie."

Norris shrugged and let out a sigh. She couldn't help but wonder if it was more about Logan keeping her away from dangerous calls than about there being an actual rule. "I did go through training in San Francisco. I can handle myself." Veronica replied with an annoyed tone in her voice. Norris just shrugged again, but didn't have much else to say.

Norris and Veronica's call didn't turn out to be much of anything. A couple had been arguing loudly when the neighbors called, mostly because they were annoyed that it was disrupting a dinner party they were hosting, but there really wasn't anything that required them to get involved with once they got there. When they got back to the station, Logan and Doug were still gone, but the night shift team was there, one of them of course being Deputy Bridges. He gave her a less than friendly greeting. Apparently Deputy Bridges doesn't really like to share. The other guy was an older Deputy named Bob Coleman who had worked at the station even when her dad was there. He at least gave her a warm greeting and welcomed her back to Neptune.

"Any word from Echolls and Devlin?" Norris asked the other two.

"Yeah, Echolls called in and said he needed to stop by the hospital before he headed back." Coleman answered.

"Do you want us to stick around until they get here?" Norris asked after glancing at the clock on the wall. Their shift had ended about 15 minutes before they made it back.

"No, Devlin was going to head back over here since they had two cars while Echolls finished up things at the hospital."

Veronica packed up her laptop and files, and then went in and grabbed the rest of the leftovers to take home to finish off before she went to bed. She said good night to Norris and the other deputies before she headed out to her car. She sort of wished Logan had made it back before she left, but at least they seemed to smooth things over a little bit before the last calls came in. Regardless of that, she really wasn't expecting a coffee from him again in the morning. One step forward, two steps back… is that ever going to change for us?

A/N – I do feel a bit bad after all the wonderful reviews on the prior chapter about how great the LoVe connection was going in that one to have them stumble again now. But it is LoVe, and in trying to be true to that I couldn't make it too easy for them. Please let me know what you thought of this new chapter, even if you want to yell at me about it. They don't write songs about the ones that come easy!