A/N: For those that asked.

Chapter 12

They ate their food in companionable silence, every so often catching one another's eye and smiling. The words didn't need to flow; it seemed that they just required each other's presence for that moment of time. It had been so long; too many years to put into words, and neither wanted to disrupt the air that had settled down upon them.

Soon they were gathering their plates and utensils, taking the empty containers and placing them back into the delivery bag, bringing it all into the kitchen. After so many minutes in silence, Veronica was reluctant to break it, but she felt compelled to ask, "So, what's your plan? You should be cleared soon, tomorrow or the next day. You can get back to your regularly scheduled life." She paused, turning to look at him as he set their dishes next to the sink. "What's your regularly scheduled life?"

He slowly met her gaze, a look of hesitancy in his eyes. "Well, the Navy was hoping for good news in my case and basically left my schedule the same, so….I'm slated to deploy in two weeks."

She dropped her eyes from his, feeling her stomach drop. "Right. The Navy."

He stepped closer to her and then stopped. "I'll be gone six months."

Veronica's eyes flew back to his, her mouth opening and closing in shock, unsure of what to say. Finally, she said weakly, "Good thing you don't get seasick, that'd be one long boat ride." She blew out a breath. "Why is nothing ever easy? Why couldn't you be going back to work at, say, Dick's shop?" He was silent, so she continued, "Seriously, though, you must love it, the Navy. The Logan I knew would never conform easily to rules and structure for anything less, rarely even then."

He seemed to choose his words carefully as he replied, ""I do. It's something that I never imagined loving, but I do. I love the freedom the sky brings; it's like nothing I've ever experienced before. And who says I've conformed easily?"

She laughed lightly. She ached to ask him why he had ever enlisted, what brought him to that point in his life. But she felt that it might be too soon for that much probing, and so she let the question die on her lips. She was unwilling to bring up any old wounds tonight, things that might cause arguments or unhappiness between them.

She was silent instead, and so Logan teased, "We could have held on to the evidence for a few weeks, just long enough for the Navy to change my deployment date."

Her emotions bubbling over, she gave a watery laugh, ""I think I'll take your deployment over your imprisonment. Somehow I don't think the obstruction of justice to further my love life would have impressed the government much."

Logan reached out to touch her cheek, forcing her to meet his eyes. "Is that what this is? Your love life?"

She searched his face, looking for all the honesty he used to wear there when they were younger. She could see a vulnerable hunger is eyes, similar to what she was sure he could see reflected in hers. It was a wonderful revelation, she thought, that the feelings they experienced were still echoed in the other. Veronica pressed her face into his open palm and said, "Come on, Logan, you know I'm not into one stands."

Swallowing, he teased, "Well, yeah, I used to know that. How do I know what you're like now? You could have a new dude every night, I wouldn't know."

She hit him softly with her fist. "You are awful."

He grinned, but turned serious as he continued, "Well, I wasn't sure what to think. It's not like we've been dating this past week." He tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear, his fingers skimming her jawline. "Although, you know surveillance has always turned me on."

Veronica sighed as he leaned in, touching his lips to hers, his hands gently framing her face. She kissed him back, her tongue tracing his lips, then pulling the bottom one into her mouth to nip it lightly. She put her hands up to his chest, up to his neck, and pulled her mouth away from his, resting her forehead against his chin. "Logan…"

He stepped closer to her, pushing her up against the counter, lifting her and setting her down onto the cool granite. His lips found hers and she drew his tongue into the cool warmth of her mouth. His hands began to move restlessly, dropping to her waist, inching down to cup her ass when her legs hooked around his. She relinquished control of his tongue; her head falling back as his lips trailed down her neck and into the V between her breasts, his hands traveling up her back, resting them at her shoulder blades. He slowly trailed a kiss back up to her jawline, and then gradually brought his head back away from her neck to meet her eyes, which were dilated with arousal.

A smile tugged at his lips when a pout formed on hers. "Can't resist me, huh?"

She was confused at why he stopped. Her eyes popped wide open as his hands encircled her waist and he helped her down off the counter. Taking her hand in his, he led her out of the kitchen, into the hallway and into the guest room that had become hers over the past few days. He paused at the edge of the hide-a-bed, a look of hesitation in his eyes as he turned to face her. "I thought maybe we could do this the old-fashioned way." He then sat down on the made-out bed, pulling her down on top of him, so that she straddled him.

Her fingers pulled at the buttons of his shirt, taking deliberate care to undo each button tonight. She ran her fingers down his chest, against his taut muscles, marveling at the leanness of him. Logan had always been fit; but the Navy had obviously toned his body into a sharper, trimmer version of himself. Together they worked to discard his shirt, and immediately she tipped her mouth down to taste the cool skin of his chest, planting a firm kiss above his heart, raising her eyes to see the heat pooling in his. His breathing became choppy as she rubbed her hands down to his belt buckle, pausing there while she straightened to look at him. "I never really thought this would ever happen again, you and me, here, like this."

Logan's hands caught hers, and he brought them up to his lips, kissing the fingertips. "Yeah, me neither. I thought last night might have been a momentary lapse in your judgment." He saw her pause, and he stopped, worried. "Was it a momentary lapse in judgment?"

Huskily, she laughed. "Last night was…wonderful. I'm not sorry it happened. I'm ready for a repeat."

He watched her, his eyes full of warmth and understanding. "I know what last night was about. What is tonight about?"

She stared at him for a beat, and then softly whispered, "Starting over."

Logan didn't hold back after that. As he kissed her lips, he lay down, pulling her with him onto the mattress and then rolling her onto her back, pulling back to smile at her in surprised wonder. The most he could have ever asked for had just been given to him in two simple words, words that he had given up hope of ever hearing cross her lips. This wasn't about comfort or release tonight; it was about making up for lost time. He felt it in her touch, the way her breath caught as he trailed his fingers beneath her shirt to unclasp her bra, the way she was allowing him to set the speed. He wanted to make love to her tonight, the way he had been wanting to for so long, to show her how much he needed her and wanted this chance to be with her again.

He helped her remove her shirt and bra, pulling back briefly to let her see how the sight of her affected him, and then his hands were on her, gently kneading her breasts while his mouth dipped down to take one into his mouth. Her body responded immediately to his touch, bucking fiercely beneath him, and as he kept the rhythmic circling of his tongue on her nipple, his hand drifted down to the button of her jeans, neatly unfastening and unzipping in one fluid motion. She lifted her hips so he could ease the jeans down and then off, pulling her panties along with them.

He sat up and regarded her, his eyes sweeping over her slowly. She opened her eyes and watched him apprehensively. Tentatively, he heard her say, "I hope you're not disappointed."

He shook his head in amusement. "Are you kidding?" Leaning back down, he traced the smooth skin beneath her breasts with his thumbs, his fingers running along her rib cage and to her hips. He brought his lips to hers, kissing her deeply, trying to express how very not disappointed he was. Just to be sure the message was clear; he let the whole weight of him rest on her for a moment, pressing his erection into her hip.

She began arching up into him, her breasts pressing into his chest, the skin on skin contact tantalizing and erotic, hands reaching for the snap on his jeans. He pulled away long enough to discard all of his remaining clothes then lay back on her, arms on either side of her, to support himself as his knee nudged her thighs apart so he could rest between them. He could feel her liquid heat, enticing him. She stared into his eyes, and he could see so much of the words that they had yet to say: longing, happiness, love. He had been wanting to prolong this moment, to give her as much satisfaction that he could, but her expression pushed him past his restraint, and he entered her, slowly, so that they could enjoy the feeling of their coupling for as long as possible, pressing deeply before setting a steady rhythm that she matched stroke for stroke.

The night was spent with little sleep. They both felt like they had to make the most of the time that was theirs; now that the flood gates were opened it was as if they couldn't get enough of each other. The midnight air was filled with their laughter and cries of pleasure, whispers of love, things that were best said in the security of darkness. Veronica had forgotten what it was like, the intense way that Logan made love; the two of them fitting perfectly to each other, it had never been this way with anyone else. The years had made him a more proficient lover, which surprised her because he had been pretty good at it when he was younger. He took even more time to please her and it made her want to return the favor, which she did, on several occasions.

As the light streamed in through the window early the next morning, Veronica was nestled into him, dozing. She watched as the room got lighter and lighter, wishing that she could hold on to the darkness for just a little longer. Real life was creeping back in with the light, and it felt heavy as it began to nag at her, to where she couldn't keep still. Slowly she sat up, wincing as her eyes adjusted to the light.

Logan groaned, his hands reaching out to half-heartedly try and pull her back to him, but she smiled down at him and stayed upright. "Rise and shine."

His eyes popped open, and he replied gloomily, "Reality bites."

"Yeah, and Neptune has sharp teeth." She swung her legs over the edge of the bed. "Time to go face it."

He followed her out of the bed. "Can I at least take you to breakfast first? After maybe a nice couples shower?"

His eyes were shining with mischief, and she laughed. "You make a compelling case to put off the inevitable."

Eventually, they ended up at a café not far from her dad's place, where they lounged over coffee and eggs benedict. They sat by a window that overlooked the beach, and Veronica stared out over the ocean as she sipped her coffee.

Finally, she set the cup down, looking at Logan intensely. "Can I ask you about Carrie?"

Logan swallowed his bite of eggs, set his fork down. "Will this be from the list of Veronica's one hundred and one awkward questions?"

She looked at him pointedly, a small smirk forming around her mouth. "Condensed version, twenty tops. I promise I'll keep the awkwardness to a minimum."

Quirking his eyebrows at her, he nodded. "Go ahead."

"I know you weren't dating when she died, but I just wondered, you know, if you wanted her back? I mean, you were with her for two years, according to the tabloids." She cleared her throat.

Logan watched as Veronica played with her coffee cup, nervously twisting her fingers around the handle. He felt a little nauseous. "Are you asking if you're the rebound?"

Her eyes shot up to meet his and then quickly dropped down to stare at her plate. "No! No, I just, realize that you had a relationship with someone for a long time and that you naturally could be missing her."

He reached out to still her hands, and entwined her fingers with his. "Veronica."

Blowing out a sigh, she continued, "Well, you asked me about Piz…"

He slowly nodded. "That's true." He searched his mind, "I knew Carrie and I were over a while ago. But with my schedule and hers…well, it just was easier to stay together. She was on tour a lot this past year, and when I found out about Sean…I wasn't surprised, or hurt or jealous. We kind of had already drifted apart by then. That first leaked video didn't tell the whole story about why I was angry. Honestly, if Gia and Cobb would have staged a suicide, I wouldn't have questioned it. That's where she was headed anyway."

Veronica murmured, "Now you know why."

He paused and stared out the window, not saying anything for a few minutes. Finally, he said, "I didn't want her back, not in the way you're asking. But I wasn't ready to just walk away from her, to let her deal with her demons on her own. She would have let them eat her alive, and I wasn't willing to walk away knowing that about her." He looked back at her. "Do you understand what I mean?"

Searching his face, she responded with a smile, "I know you. I can see why you would have felt it was your duty to help her, especially since no one else seemed to want to. Her closest friend plotted to murder her."

He nodded in agreement. "Yeah, exactly."

Softly, she said, "Carrie was lucky to have you, Logan." She leaned back in her chair, reaching to grab her purse. "I also am glad to know that I don't have to live up to those standards. You sure like being the knight."

"I just like how shiny the armor is." He stood, pulling out some cash to lay on the table. He waited as she stood, holding his hand out to take hers. "Where to now, milady?"

She cocked her head to the side, a gleam in her eye. "TMZ?"

A/N: This was a tricky chapter for me to write. I hope you enjoyed it! It's coming down to the wire with this one, probably just one more you for all the reviews and followings/favorites!