A/N – I'm glad so many people liked the last chapter. This one's sort of similar to the last so I hope you all like it too. A few of the comments people mentioned are actually addressed in this one that weren't covered in Chapter 20.

As always, thanks for all the support and for continuing to read along. I'd love to know what you all think of this chapter.

Disclaimer: All original VM characters belong to Rob Thomas.

Chapter 21

Logan thought it seemed like they were almost walking on eggshells around each other the rest of the day. They'd ordered Italian food for dinner and kept up with the small talk and safe subjects if they did speak, otherwise there was a lot of slightly awkward silence. They hadn't kissed again since the patio, but she did rest her hand on his back when they were looking for plates and utensils in the kitchen once the food arrived and there were a few other moments when she was close to him and touched him almost innocently, and he noticed she could have very well chosen not to do it as well. Maybe the kiss really was just a way to say thanks for caring enough to come back when she was shot.

He decided to challenge her to a game of pool before they headed up for bed as something to do besides just sitting around feeling awkward. He tried not to stare when she would lean over a bit farther for some really hard to reach shots. She caught him a couple times though and would give him a playful scolding look. At least there was some playful banter back and forth as they taunted each other during the game which made him feel a bit more at ease. He'd caught her looking at him oddly a couple times throughout the evening, both before and during the game, biting on her lower lip nervously, but as soon as she noticed he was looking at her, she'd change her expression and smile at him instead. For some reason his earlier bravado to ask her what was going on seemed to have vanished. Maybe a part of him was holding on to the hope that finding out he'd come back for her when she was shot would magically change things and he didn't want to dash that hope yet.

They were about finished with their game and he noticed she was fidgeting with the ring that she had left on from earlier in the day. He finally sunk his last ball to win the game, much to her chagrin, and took the pool cues over to hang them back up. When he walked back over by her, he reached for her left hand and held it up so he could look at the ring again. She seemed to stiffen up slightly when he took her hand, which worried him a bit. He gently massaged the tops of her fingers with his thumb as they stood there, and she seemed to relax again.

"I was just trying to have some fun this afternoon." He said as he looked back and forth between the ring and her eyes. "If you don't want to go along with the fiancé story, that's fine too. I don't want you to feel like you have to do that just because I bought the ring." His smile became a bit sheepish, "I honestly didn't think they'd have a ring to fit your tiny little finger, but I guess fate had its own plan."

She shook her head before she replied. "No it's probably good for the cover story. We can go with it."

"Okay." He replied, still sensing something seemed a bit off with her. "Why don't you sleep on it and decide in the morning. I'll still donate it to whatever charity you choose even if you don't end up wearing it for the case." She gave him a little nod. "Or if you want to wait, we can do some grand proposal scene later. Maybe at one of our fake dinner parties, I could make some big show of proposing to you there."

"I'll think about it and let you know." She replied back, with a small smile on her face. "I guess we should head up to bed then."

She pulled her hand out of his and headed up to the master bedroom. Logan let out a frustrated sigh. How'd we go from being close this afternoon to being almost stand-offish again now?

He made sure all the doors downstairs were locked and flipped on the security system before he headed up the stairs. Given the house was very expensive and frequently rented by celebrities, it came with a fairly impressive security system as well.

He headed up to the bedroom and found her standing by the bed staring into her open suit case. There's obviously something still bothering her that she hasn't told me yet but I'm not sure how to get her to open up to me about it either. Just asking directly doesn't always work with her. Maybe she's feeling too much pressure about all of this.

"Hey, you know I was only kidding earlier about the cleaning staff finding you sleeping in another bed. They shouldn't actually come in that early, so it's okay if you'd rather not share a bed with me. Maggie said they always come in the late afternoons so they don't disturb the guests."

She turned and gave him a puzzled look. "Oh…" she paused before she continued. "… Would you prefer that?"

No of course I wouldn't prefer that. "I just want you to be comfortable here too, Veronica." Logan watched her for a moment then took a deep breath before he spoke again. Just ask her. "You still seem like something is bothering you and I don't know what it is, but I wish you'd tell me. I thought our talk this afternoon would help, but you still seem distant and troubled about something."

"It's just…" She paused and took a deep breath. She shook her head. "Which set of the dressers would you prefer? I was going to unpack my things and wasn't sure where I should put them." And we're back to deflecting serious topics again I see.

Logan took a step closer and reached for her hand. "Can you please just talk to me?" She looked intently in his eyes, but didn't say anything at all. Desperate times call for desperate measures… He leaned down and kissed her again. He moved his hand up to her head and pulled her a bit closer as he kissed her. She kissed him back for a moment, letting it be a deeper kiss than out on the patio. He stopped when he felt her hand press lightly on his chest.

She shook her head and looked at him sadly. "Logan…" she hesitated again.

"What?" he asked softly when she didn't continue. "Please Veronica, please talk to me."

"Do you still love her?" She asked softly as she stared into his eyes. Of course we're back to Gabriela aren't we?

"Veronica, I told you, she's happily married to Alex. There's nothing going on between the two of us."

Veronica shook her head. "That's not an answer to the question I asked you." She sighed and then continued. "Logan… her reaction at the party… her reaction at your hospital room years after you supposedly broke up… You can't convince me that she doesn't still love you… I also saw your reactions too. You were completely frozen in place when we ran into her in the elevator. I had to drag you on and off the elevator because you wouldn't move. At the party… the moment she appeared you removed your hand from my back… I saw you with her out on the patio." She paused and took a deep breath before she spoke again. "I'm not blind or stupid Logan. I think you're still in love with her, regardless of whether she married someone a few months after your accident." She bit her lip for a moment and then started again. "And the way you looked at the baby…"

Logan closed his eyes. Of course if anyone would pick up on everything it would be Veronica. Logan opened his eyes again, then sat down on the bed and put his elbows on his knees and put his head in his hands running his hands through his hair. He let out a deep sigh. He was surprised when he felt her sit down on the bed next to him, and run her hand across his shoulders. He slowly shook his head, but kept his gaze staring down at the floor. "I did love her, but not enough." He paused a moment. "And that really was years ago. We did break up when I told you we did, but I guess we both still have some feelings for each other. But it was never enough for us to stay together."

He heard her take a deep breath. He was still looking at the floor and not at her. "And the baby?"

He closed his eyes tightly again. She's probably going to hate me all over again if I tell her the truth, but look at what keeping things from her cost me before. He let out a deep sigh. "I don't know." She must have been holding her breath and he heard her exhale a deep breath somewhat shakily. His eyes were still closed and he felt her get up and move away from him. Fuck.

He fell back on the bed and covered his head with his arms. He didn't want to look to see if she'd left, or if she was standing there with that same angry look he'd already seen earlier today. He couldn't hear her at all in the room though, so assumed she'd left. He laid there for several minutes and then finally removed his arms. He didn't see her in the bedroom, or the bathroom so decided he should go and look for her. He wasn't sure what he was going to say, but he also didn't want to just avoid her either.

He found her standing near the French doors in the living room staring out at the moonlit ocean. He walked over and leaned against the door too, afraid to try to touch her, so he kept his distance and tipped his head down rather than looking directly at her. They stood there in silence for a few minutes.

"I'm sorry," he finally said softly as he tipped his head up slightly in her direction.

She shook her head. "You don't have to apologize for something that happened long after we were broken up Logan."

He took a deep shaky breath. Go big or go home…. "It's just… I would give anything for another chance with you Veronica… Who knows whether there was ever any chance of that happening, but right now I feel like… I feel like I've screwed up any small possibility that there may have been."

She turned her gaze from the window to look at him. Her expression seemed to be slightly surprised by what he'd just said. "Logan… I..." she paused and took a deep breath again. "I don't think either of us are the same people we used to be. How can you say something like that when you don't really even know me anymore?"

His lips turned up in the smallest of smiles and he reached out and gently cupped her cheek. "Because I can still see the same determined, brilliant, passionate woman that I used to love every time I'm around you."

She shook her head again and looked at him sadly. "I'm also more jaded and cynical than I used to be."

He gently stroked her cheek with his thumb. "Why? What happened to you Veronica?" Why are you so afraid to just talk to me?

She slowly shook her head again and leaned into his chest and wrapped her arms around his waist. He wrapped his arms around her and gently squeezed her. He tipped his head and rested his cheek on the top of her head. "You can talk to me Veronica. I really do want to know."

He felt her take a shaky breath against him. "Not tonight, okay?" she said softly.

He nodded. "Sure, whenever you're ready. Know that I'm here to listen, okay?" He felt her nod against his chest. He picked his head up and softly kissed the top of her head.

She finally took a deep breath and leaned away from him so she could look up at his face. "I don't want to send you mixed signals, and I know this situation is totally messed up for that." She let out a soft huff of air at the ridiculousness of it all. "I'm glad we talked about things earlier, but I..." She bit on her lip and gave him a worried look.

Nothing good ever follows conversations that start like that. He gave her a small smile and ran his thumb across her cheek. "Hey it's okay. There's no rush to figure out everything all at once, right? Let's just take things slow and get to know each other again."

Her lips turned up in a very small smile and she nodded. "You're right. We can just take our time to figure things out and get to know each other again." The small smile warmed his heart and filled him with just enough hope to keep all of his doubts and worries from overwhelming him again. He was so relieved that she wanted to get to know each other again too.

He nodded, and leaned down and kissed her forehead. "Ready to go to bed?"

She nodded and stepped away from him, removing her arms from his waist. He immediately felt his heart ache from the loss of contact. Neither of them said anything as they walked back up to the bedroom. He let her lead the way and he followed right behind her. He finally spoke up when they got into the room. "It really is fine if you want to sleep in one of the other bedrooms, Veronica."

"Do you want me to?" She asked a bit tentatively.

He gave her a small smile. "No, I really don't, but it's your decision to make not mine."

She gave him a small smile. "I'd actually like to stay." Her smile grew a bit larger and became a bit mischievous, "This is the nicest bed in the house after all. It hardly seems fair that you would get to use it all by yourself." He nodded and couldn't help letting a little smirk cross his face.

Twenty minutes later they had both finally changed and climbed into bed. He gave her a warm smile before he said good night. She said good night back, and he flipped off the lights and laid on his back staring at the ceiling. She scooted over to him and rested her head on his chest and wrapped an arm around his waist. He let out a deep sigh and wrapped his arm around her and kissed her softly on the head.

She was quiet for a while and then finally spoke in a low quiet voice. "So you don't know if the baby's yours but she could be?"

Warts and all… He swallowed the lump that he suddenly felt forming in his throat. He answered barely above a whisper. "Yeah, there's a slim chance she could be mine, but Gabriela insisted she's not, and wouldn't let me have a test done." He paused a moment. I'd better explain so she doesn't jump to more conclusions. "She came to see me when I first came home from the hospital and we just got swept away in the moment. She hadn't accepted Alex's proposal yet. I didn't even know they were that serious. I knew they'd been dating, but I wasn't sure how serious they were. I know that's not a very good excuse. I guess a near death experience makes you do irrational things sometimes." He let out a frustrated sigh, bracing for her reaction. He was expecting her to retreat to the other side of the bed, or just get up and leave again. But she didn't.

"But you did want to know? You said she told you that you couldn't find out?" She asked after a few minutes.

He nodded slowly before answering. "Yeah, I did want to know. She didn't want to hurt Alex so refused to let me find out. I just…" He hesitated not knowing quite how to say what he was feeling.

"You what?" She asked gently. She ran her hand soothingly across his chest. "You can tell me, it's fine."

"If she is mine, I didn't want her to find out later and think that I didn't want to be involved in her life." He took a shaky breath. "You of all people know how buried secrets have a way of resurfacing. If she is mine, there are a million reasons I'm sure that at some point it could come out that Alex isn't her dad. I just wouldn't want her to think I abandoned her. But she may not even be mine either. It kills me that I may never know though."

Veronica was silent for a few minutes, and he started to worry about what he'd just said. "You know, it only takes a strand of hair to do a DNA test. Alex and Gabriela wouldn't have to know if you just checked yourself."

He let out a relieved sigh. I thought she was quiet because she was mad about what I'd said, but instead she must have been debating about whether to help me find out. "I'll keep that in mind. I was hoping with time, maybe Gabriela would agree to let me find out. But your way sounds like a good option too." He squeezed her a little tighter and kissed the top of her head. "Thanks Veronica."

She leaned up so she could look at his face. There wasn't a lot of light coming in to the bedroom, but there were some sky lights and it was a full moon, so there was a small amount of moonlight keeping the room from being pitch black. She scooted up so her head was closer to his. "Just one kiss goodnight?" she asked in an almost breathless voice.

He nodded his head, not actually able to form any words. She was so beautiful and the way the moonlight lit up her face and the soft expression he saw staring back at him took his breath away. She leaned in and pressed her lips to his. It was a little deeper than their kisses earlier on the patio, but not overly passionate either. She finally pulled away, but kept her forehead resting against his. "Good night, Billy Deimos," she said in a playful tone.

He smiled back and kissed her one more time quickly on the lips. "Good night, Lindsey Evans."

She smiled back at him and then scooted back down so her head was resting on his chest again. He laid there listening to her breathing until he felt her finally drift off to sleep. He gently kissed her head one more time, before finally letting himself drift off to sleep too.