This chapter probably has more detailed smut than any of the other chapters. It's not smut-a-thon-worthy but I thought I should probably include a warning so no one is caught off guard.
Veronica heard the knock on the front door and hurried to open it. "I like dinner guests who actually bring the dinner," she said with a welcoming grin.
Dick and Cole stood in the doorway, Cole with two pizza boxes and Dick with a carryout bag that she assumed contained cheesecake eggrolls. "We just do what we're told, Ronnie," Dick said as she stood back to usher them inside. "Logan wanted pizza from Cho's so we got pizza from Cho's."
"I was joking when I told you that, you know. You really didn't have to bring the food," Veronica said. "I could have stopped on the way home from the office." She led the way into the apartment.
"You guys both slaved away at work all day. We didn't go anywhere until it was time to come over here. It was no problem to pick up some pizza," Dick replied. He placed the bag on the island counter and Cole put the pizzas on the table.
"So restriction's still going strong, huh?" Veronica asked Cole. "Otherwise, I'd expect you to be at the beach or the skate park all day."
"Yes," Cole huffed. "Everyone's still on restriction, pretty much until the end of the summer. Callie can go to work and that's it, and her parents drive her. Trevor can't go anywhere. Dad won't even let me go outside and surf."
"Yes, that's pretty much how it works," Veronica said. She patted Dick on the back. "Good job, Dad."
"Thanks, Ronnie." He looked around the apartment. "Where's Logan and the princess?"
"He took her out for a walk when he got home from work. She's so hyper from being inside all day and Dad said that a little tired but not exhausted would make her more...pliable to the process, I guess. He thought it sounded like she was showing a lot of progress." Under Keith's direction, they'd been working on desensitizing Pony to her aversion to Cole for the last two weeks. Tiny bits of exposure, five minutes at a time to start with, increasing to ten minutes in the second week, with rewards from Logan or Veronica after every encounter. "He also said that we can start trying to get her to take the reward treat from Cole, if she'll get close enough."
"That'd be awesome," Cole said. "She can't stay mad at me forever. I didn't even do anything."
"Yeah, well, once we're done with this bit of training, we're gonna start on her English lessons, so we can just explain this kind of thing to her next time." Cole pouted at Veronica's sarcastic words but Dick laughed.
"She's coming along," Dick said in a reassuring voice. "You just have to be patient."
The sound of the front door opening interrupted any further soothing platitudes. "Cole, sit down at the table so you don't startle her," Veronica said as she turned toward the door. Logan walked in with Pony right beside him, the leash held at a short length, keeping her close.
"Hi there. Did you guys have a good walk?" Veronica moved to meet them, stretching up to greet Logan with a kiss before leaning down to stroke Pony's head.
"Yeah, and she should be in a good mood," Logan replied. "We passed a family with ice cream cones down near the boardwalk and one of the kids lost a scoop off the top pretty much right as we passed. Even on three legs, your dog barely even slowed down; she just sucked that ice cream up off the ground in one bite and kept on going."
"My dog? Why is she my dog?" Veronica asked indignantly and both Dick and Logan laughed.
"Chip off the old block," Dick said.
Veronica sneered at them both, then took Pony's leash from Logan. "I've got her bed in our room so she can stay in there while we all have dinner." She led the dog at heel to where her bed was set up, far enough away from the dining table that Cole's presence shouldn't agitate her. With Pony comfortably stashed away, Veronica walked back to the dining table and joined the rest of the group for dinner.
"I thought Mac was coming with you guys," she said between bites. "She said she'd see me later when she left the office."
"She had to go to her mom and dad's for dinner," Dick answered. "She called right when we were about to leave and said she wouldn't be able to join us. She'll be at your dad's tomorrow though, for his First of July party."
Cole looked at Veronica quizzically. "I don't understand a First of July party. Is that a thing he does?"
"No, it's just that the Fourth is on a Tuesday," Veronica replied. "We're gonna close for the day but Logan's working so if we were going to have a barbecue he could go to, it had to be either the first or the second. First of July rolls off the tongue better. And we can stay out later on a Saturday night."
Cole laughed. "Yeah, that makes sense." He looked at Logan. "Bummer you have to work."
"Yeah, but it's all holiday related stuff and I'm getting to fly so it's all good. Flyovers at a parade in the morning, a ball game in the early afternoon, and then over a festival at the Marina in the early evening."
"That's cool." Cole turned to Dick. "Maybe we can go to one of those things and see Logan fly?"
"That would be fun. Maybe Ronnie and Mac can come along." Dick looked at Veronica who shrugged and nodded.
"Sure, check with her and maybe we'll do that."
When dinner and dessert were finished and cleaned up, they got ready for Pony to join them. Cole sat on the couch, the bag of dog treats beside him, while Logan went in to get Pony.
"Okay, Pony girl, let's go see your good buddy, Cole." Veronica could hear Logan chatting with Pony as they came toward the living room. "I was mad at him too, for a while, but we were wrong and I got over it so you need to too." Veronica ducked her head to hide her chuckle at Logan trying to reason with the dog. "He's sad that you're mad at him and he wants you to be his friend again so I wanna see some real effort here tonight." She couldn't hide her amusement as he segued to a pep talk and snorted a laugh as they came into the room. Pony was not on the leash so she made her three-legged way over to where Dick sat, nosing into him.
"Hey, lil mutt. I'm not the one you're supposed to be cozying up to." He scratched her neck. "I'll pet you but if you want a treat, you gotta go see the kid." Pony flopped on the ground beside him, rolling over to expose her belly. Her casted leg waved as he scratched his foot across her exposed stomach and chest.
"I never did get to sign this thing but it's coming off soon, isn't it?"
"Probably at her next appointment," Veronica said. "Come here, Pony." She patted the side of her leg to get the dog's attention and she scrambled up and came over, immediately collapsing into the same belly-up pose. Veronica complied with what she wanted at first, but then she stood.
"Come on, missy, let's go over to the couch." She moved over and sat beside Cole. Pony followed her, sitting beside her legs on the opposite side from where Cole sat, resting her muzzle on Veronica's knee. She'd stopped growling at Cole after the first week but she still wasn't approaching him.
"Cole? Can I have a treat please?" Veronica held out one hand to him while scratching Pony's head with the other. Cole laid a treat in her palm. "Thanks." She leaned down, getting closer to Pony. "Wanna treat, Pone?" The dog's tail thumped on the ground. "Okay, here you go." She sat back, putting the chewy snack on her leg next to Pony's muzzle. The dog rocked her head to the side to scarf down the treat.
"Mmm, was that yummy?" Pony's tail continued to thump. "Well, if you want more..." Veronica turned her head slightly toward Cole and spoke in a lower tone. "Open the bag, in a way she notices, rattle it around when you do it. Then take out a treat, make sure she sees it, and lay it on your leg like I did. Then lean back a little so you don't seem as big to her."
Cole nodded and did as instructed. Pony's head raised off Veronica's leg as he opened the bag with a rattling flourish. He pulled out a treat and held it between his fingers, moving his hand in circles that Pony's eyes followed. After a moment, he placed the snack on his leg as Veronica had and leaned back.
Veronica watched Pony try to decide what to do. Her eyes flicked back and forth between the treat on Cole's leg and Veronica, then she whimpered and nudged Veronica's leg.
"Hey, I'm all out," Veronica said, holding up her empty hands. "You want a treat, there it is." She poked at Cole's knee, then grimaced. "Sorry," she whispered.
He chuckled and whispered back, "S'okay."
Pony whined, then stood and moved slowly around Veronica's legs to where Cole sat. Her head darted forward and she snatched the treat off Cole's knee, then retreated behind Veronica again.
"Good job, Pony girl," Veronica praised, stroking the dog's head. "You remember Cole; he's your friend. He's not going to hurt you. And, look, he's got all the treats, so if you want more, you're gonna have to be his friend again." She looked sideways at Cole. "Try sitting on the floor and giving her another treat. Maybe that'll be less intimidating."
Cole again did as instructed, sliding onto the ground, his legs spread out in front of him. He took another dog snack out of the bag and set it on his leg. With only a moment's hesitation, Pony was next to him again, whisking the treat off his leg. She only took a step back this time, before settling onto her haunches, her eyes fixed on him.
"Hey, Pony," Cole said in a low, wheedling voice. Her ears twitched forwards. "You remember me, right? Your buddy, Cole? I sure miss having you hang out with me at my house. Wanna 'nother treat?" He held the chew out to her in the palm of his hand this time.
Veronica didn't want to laugh and startle the dog, but it was hard to keep it inside as she watched Pony try to decide what to do. Her doggie eyebrows rose and fell in an alternating pattern as she studied Cole.
"Come on, girl, I'm not gonna hurt you," Cole coaxed again and she stood up and stepped closer to him, then lipped the treat out of his hand. She didn't move away this time and Cole turned his hand to stroke her neck. She looked at him, then stepped closer and lay down next to his leg.
"All right," Dick said in a low voice. "Balance has been restored to the universe."
Veronica looked up at Logan, watching as he smiled fondly at Cole and Pony. "It looks like it."
Logan held the door open and Veronica ducked under his arm to step into her dad's house. They were both weighed down with their contributions to the First of July barbecue.
"It's about time you guys showed up," Mac chastised from the kitchen where she was working on what looked like some kind of dip. "Wallace has been whining about where his snickerdoodles are since he got here."
"Let's tell him Logan ate them all," Veronica said in a teasing voice, even as she dropped the large box filled with cookies on the counter.
"No, you better not. Do not involve me in your BFF shenanigans. He only started tolerating me in the last few months; I don't want you messing that up for me just for a joke." Logan set the soft-sided cooler he was carrying on the counter and started pulling containers out of it.
"You ate some of them," Veronica retorted.
"Of course I ate some, but you made like ten dozen. Wallace can spare a few." Logan pulled the last bowl out of the cooler and moved it off the counter. "Is he outside? I can take him the container."
"No way, he'll eat them all. Leave 'em in here with the other desserts." Veronica carried the box to a table in the corner that held a plate of chocolate chip cookies and two pies. "Who brought the chocolate pie? It looks awesome."
"Wallace's mom brought both pies," Mac said but Veronica had whirled on her before all the words were even out of her mouth.
"Alicia's here?" The grin on her face made Logan smile. "No one told me she was coming." She put the bowl of potato salad in the fridge. "Are they outside? I'm gonna find them. He must be ready to come clean about them dating again." A gleeful laugh erupted from her and she looked at Logan. "Come on, let's go find 'em."
"You go ahead. I'll be out shortly." He shook his head as she practically skipped out the back door.
"That's a girl who wants a stepmom," Mac said, one eyebrow raised. "She must not have been paying attention during Cinderella."
"Or Snow White," Logan added. "I'm not sure it's as much about wanting a stepmom as wanting the news out so she doesn't have to pretend she doesn't know about them anymore."
"It's more than that. I hear them harassing each other at work all day. It's also about having something to tease him with." Mac began to scoop her concoction out of the mixing bowl into a smaller serving dish.
"What is that?" Logan asked.
"It's a vegan-friendly sweet dip, like Cool Whip and strawberry jam mixed together. For dipping fruit." She put the now-empty mixing bowl in the sink and ran water in it. "I hope you're not like Veronica and refuse to eat anything vegan. It's very good."
"Don't tell her it's vegan. She'll eat it." They laughed. "So, if this is Keith and Alicia's coming out party, what about you and Dick?"
Mac closed her eyes and sighed. "What's he told you?"
"Umm, let's see." Logan sat on one of bar stools, leaning back and holding up his fingers to tick off Dick's multitude of statements about Mac. "You're awesome. You're brilliant. You're smokin' hot. You're hilarious. You're kind. You're supportive. You're amazing with Cole." He stopped and smirked at her embarrassed look.
"Apparently you guys are back to normal," Mac said sarcastically. "He's certainly telling you enough."
"It's safe to talk about you," Logan said. "We're still tiptoeing around certain things but he doesn't have any reservations about talking about you. I don't think this is really going to come as a surprise to you, but he's smitten."
Mac's cheeks turned pink. "I do like him, I do, but I'm nervous about where this is going. He acts like he wants something big and permanent, and I'm still trying to decide what I think about that idea. I really am more of a casual dater; it's easier." She frowned at him. "It's weird talking to you about this."
Logan leaned against the counter. "You don't have to, you know, but if you're good with it, so am I."
"It's probably better to talk to you than Veronica. I think she's actually friends with him now, but she still gets a weird look in her eyes when I mention anything about dating him."
Logan laughed and nodded. "That's not a huge surprise. I think there's some stuff she's still adjusting to. But as far as Dick goes, just tell him that you want to slow things down. Even if you decide you want to keep things platonic, he'll be okay with that. He'd rather do that if it means he still gets to be your friend."
"I don't know why he can't just be satisfied with a friends with benefits deal," Mac said and Logan's shocked laugh nearly choked him. "Sorry, TMI, I suppose."
"Maybe a little." He pushed himself off the stool. "Are you done in here? I've gotta go check on Veronica, make sure she's not torturing Keith and Alicia."
Mac chuckled and handed him the bowl of fruit dip. "Yeah, good idea." She turned and picked up a platter of fruit. "Okay, come on then, let's go see what's up."
Veronica's eyes fluttered open as she stretched, her arms over her head and her toes pointed to the bottom of the bed. She rolled onto her stomach toward Logan, or where Logan should be, but he wasn't there. She patted the mattress next to her but the sheet was cool to the touch so she scooted into the space, snuggling into his pillow and closing her eyes again.
She'd drifted back to sleep, but was wakened again when the mattress dipped beside her. "Up and at 'em, sleepyhead."
"Why? It's still the weekend. Why aren't you still in here with me?" She turned her head to look at him. "Ugh, you're dressed." She flopped onto her back. "Look, not dressed. It's so much better this way."
He laughed and leaned down to kiss her shoulder. "I agree with you, but I get a lot of weird attention when I take the dog outside without getting dressed first."
"Yeah, good call. I don't want to have to take out any of the neighbors for ogling you." She squirmed to an upright position, leaning against the headboard, pulling the sheet up to cover herself. "So why are you waking me up?"
"Your breakfast is ready. So you need to get up, put something on, and come out to have breakfast with me."
Veronica narrowed her eyes at him. "Why do I have to get up to have breakfast? Can't you just bring it in here and we'll have breakfast in bed?"
"Nope, I want to have a conversation and it's too hard to do when we're in here and not dressed. You distract me when things get too—"
"Too what?"
He chuckled and sat down beside her. "Just too." He shrugged. "Too sensitive. Too complicated. Too heavy. Too personal. If we get to a point in a discussion where you don't want to continue, it's way too easy for you to wriggle away from the conversation if we're in bed."
"Like you've never played that card before." She knew exactly what he was saying, and she knew he was right, but she wasn't going to let him get away without acknowledging that he was guilty of the same tactic.
"I'm not claiming that," he said with a smirk. "We have remarkably similar distraction techniques, at least where each other are concerned." He leaned forward to kiss her forehead. "So now that we've reached an understanding about how we manipulate each other, can you just do what I'm asking? I realized some things yesterday at your dad's party, and I wanted to talk to you about them. Without getting sidetracked." He kissed her again, then stood and walked to the bedroom door. As he stepped into the hallway, he looked back at her with a teasing grin. "Get up or I'm eating all the breakfast."
Veronica stared at the empty doorway for a minute after he'd disappeared. He wasn't overly serious, so it didn't seem like he had anything bad to talk about, but he seemed pretty sure that whatever the conversation was about, she was going to want a way out of it before they were done.
"Bacon's getting cold," Logan called and she smiled as she got out of bed. If he wanted to talk bad enough that he'd try to ply her with bacon, then she'd talk. And eat bacon.
"Coffee?"
Logan held up a mug as Veronica entered the room. She nodded and came to stand next to him, wrapping her arms around his waist.
"Thanks for doing this. Everything smells great." She rose on her toes to kiss his cheek. "Dressed Veronica, reporting for conversation. And bacon."
He laughed and caught her chin, pulling her mouth to his for an actual kiss. "Don't worry, you'll get to eat. This isn't supposed to be a painful conversation, just one I'd like us to actually finish before anyone's shirt comes back off."
She tilted her head, studying his face. "But when we're done, shirts will be coming off? How about pants?"
Logan lifted one shoulder in a shrug. "Maybe. We'll see." He leaned down for another quick peck on the lips. "Right now, go sit down. I'll be right there."
She nodded and went to the table, sitting down and watching as he pulled something out of the oven. "I smell bacon, but I don't see any. I don't actually see anything. What are you feeding me?"
He moved around the island with a serving platter in his hands. "Scrambled eggs and bacon." He placed the dish on the table, then turned back to the kitchen. "And, the finishing touch—" he reached into the oven again and held up a baking dish "—cinnamon rolls."
"You baked?" she said, incredulous. He carried the dish over and placed it next to the platter.
"Yeah, in a manner of speaking, I guess. They're just the refrigerator ones. The hardest part was getting the tube open without gouging up the rolls inside." Veronica laughed.
"That's true. They look good though. Nice frosting distribution." She smirked up at him. "Poppin' Fresh would be proud."
"We'll see." He sat down beside her. "Let's see how they taste."
"You can't mess 'em up, unless you burned them." She frowned. "You didn't burn them, did you?"
He laughed and shook his head as he dished out the eggs. "I don't think so. Bigger risk is that they're still gooey."
"That's okay." She took a sip of coffee. "They're good gooey."
"We should be fine then." He put a roll on each of their plates. "Want one or two?"
"What do you think?" He laughed again and put another roll on her plate, then a tangle of bacon. "Looks good, Logan."
"Thanks." He sat back in his chair and lifted his mug. "Shall we make a toast?"
"Sure." She raised her mug to tap gently against his. "To the Pillsbury Doughboy. Making fancy breakfast possible for spoiled rich boys everywhere."
Logan scoffed but drank anyway. "I was thinking of something slightly more personal, but I guess that works."
She raised her mug again. "Okay, go ahead. Hit me."
"That's all right, just eat before everything gets cold."
Veronica nodded and dug in. He'd done a great job. The eggs were moist and cheesy, the bacon was the right amount of crispy without being hard and crunchy, and the rolls were just right. "Everything's great, Logan," she said between mouthfuls. "Thank you for the wonderful breakfast."
"You're welcome. Glad it worked out." He took a bite of eggs, then rested his fork on his plate. "So, you seemed pretty happy when your dad and Alicia finally came clean yesterday." He took another sip of coffee.
She nodded, smiling with her lips pressed together as she finished her bite of cinnamon roll. "I was. I am. He's been alone so long. I'm glad he's got someone to be with again." She reached out to stroke Logan's arm. "I just want him to be happy with someone, like we are. I know it's important to be happy with yourself first; I think we both know that you can't really be a good partner unless you're happy on your own too, but I think that he is, and I'm glad he's able to share his life with someone again."
Logan nodded. "I agree with you. So many of our problems, especially that year at Hearst, were because we were still trying to figure out who we wanted to be, and how to live with all the curve balls life had been throwing at us for years."
"Yeah, the curve balls had some lasting effects that we didn't really deal with all that well."
"More like, didn't deal with at all. We just wanted them to go away so we could move on, but major, life-changing traumas don't always cooperate." He caught her hand in his and raised it to his mouth to kiss the back of it. "I think we've done a good job of figuring out our stuff now though. I'm not saying everything's perfect, but I don't think we should be putting our lives on hold waiting for that perfection. We might wait forever if we try doing that."
Veronica placed her fork carefully on her plate and turned toward him. She could feel the intensity coming off him in waves and realized the 'too' conversation had begun without her realizing it. "I don't think we've been on hold. We're happy in our lives together, aren't we? We're engaged, we're living together, we've got a dog. This feels like a life to me. What do you think we're waiting for?"
"I think we should get married," he said. She straightened in surprise, but he didn't release her hand. Instead he traced his finger around her engagement ring. "I mean, that's what getting engaged is about, right? But we haven't even talked about a date. I don't want to just be engaged anymore; I want to be married to you. I want to introduce you as my wife. I want to wake up in the morning and see you next to me and think 'wife'. I know that sounds stupid, but I don't want to wait anymore."
"You don't have plane tickets to Vegas booked already, do you?" Veronica asked, scooting her chair closer to his. "Getting married by Elvis does have a tiny bit of guilty pleasure appeal, but I think it would mean a little more if we maybe did it on the beach?" She laughed as Logan's shock showed on his face: mouth ajar with raised eyebrows and slow, deliberate blinks.
"You're willing to get married? Soon?"
"Logan, do you not remember that I asked you?" She reached out to stroke his face. "And the proposal, if we can actually call it that, came about when I was talking about what our wedding should be like. Of course I'm willing."
"Before your birthday." He had seemed hesitant before, but now his voice was determined. "Would that work for you?"
"That gives us about six weeks but that should be enough time. For me at least. Would you be able get leave to get married and go on a honeymoon in that time? I would expect you to take me someplace exotic, for a couple of weeks at least. There needs to be a benefit to marrying someone filthy rich."
He laughed and pulled her into his lap. "I think I can make the necessary arrangements." He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her against him securely as he nuzzled into her hair. "Geez, that was so much easier than I had expected it to be."
"You thought I was going to refuse? If you thought that, what prompted you to go on the offensive all of a sudden?"
"Not refuse, just have a lot of reasons why there was no hurry. Your dad said something yesterday about wasting time. He was looking at Alicia, but it made me think of all the time we lost, and I didn't want to lose anymore."
She sat back so she could look at his face. "I don't feel like we've been losing time. No, we're not married but that doesn't change how we feel. This time isn't wasted, not as far as I'm concerned. Do you think it is?"
"No, no, that's not what I mean. But it is time I could be married to you and I'm not." He looked at her earnestly. "I just want us to be married."
She smiled and cupped her hand around the back of his neck, pulling him closer. "Then let's get married, Logan."
They were both smiling as their mouths came together, and the kiss felt light and happy at first, but it quickly transformed into something deeper and more serious. When Logan's arms moved to lift her in a bridal carry, she tightened her arms around his neck as he stood, but didn't stop kissing him. She could feel that they were nearly to their bedroom when he stopped walking and pulled his mouth from hers.
"Dammit, I wasn't done talking."
She laughed up at him. "So much for that plan. We can get totally dressed, but once we start kissing, it's just a matter of time."
He sighed and shook his head as he started to head toward the bedroom again. "Okay, well, I'll just tell you what else I wanted to talk about. Maybe it'll go as smoothly as the first topic." They entered the bedroom and he set her on the end of the bed. "I want us to buy a house. This apartment is fine but we need more space. And I'd really like something nearer the beach. Another benefit of marrying the filthy rich...we can afford someplace nice."
"Not up in your old neighborhood. That's more than I think I'd be comfortable with." He sat next to her, nodding.
"No, I'm not talking about that level of monstrosity. More like one of the neighborhoods like Dick's. I'd love to have beach access like that, and those houses aren't too gigantic."
Veronica raised an eyebrow at him. "If you move this real estate thing along fast enough, maybe we can get married on our own beach." His mouth dropped open again.
"Really?"
She shrugged. "Why not? That's probably cutting it pretty tight, time wise, but even if escrow isn't closed yet, maybe the seller will agr—" He cut her off with another kiss. She climbed into his lap on her own this time, her knees against the mattress as she straddled him. She pressed down into him, feeling him hard against her, and let her head fall to the side as he kissed down to the crook of her neck.
They rocked together as the kissing went on as it had since they were seventeen. Veronica had a surprisingly coherent thought as Logan lifted his head long enough to pull her tee shirt off. After all this time, how does he still make me feel like this? Then he cupped her breasts and dropped his head back down to mouth at her collarbone, and the thought floated away as she pressed her hips against his.
When Logan moved his hands from where they'd been teasing her nipples and grabbed her ass to flip her onto her back, she was more than ready to move to the next level. She scooted up toward the head of the bed on her elbows as she watched him undress. He followed her up the mattress, stopping to pull her yoga pants and panties off, then stretching out beside her, his arm bent to rest his head against his hands as he gazed down at her.
"I should have known we couldn't get through this conversation without getting naked again," he said as he ran his fingers from the hollow of her throat, between her breasts and down her stomach. He twirled his fingers around her naval, then slipped down into her wet folds. His mouth closed over her breast as his fingers slid inside her.
"What are you talking about?" she asked, trying not to sound breathless. "We've nearly picked a wedding date and I agreed to let you buy the house you want." She whimpered as her pelvis jerked involuntarily into the ministrations of his hand. His other hand combed into her hair and he raised his head from her breast and moved up to brush a soft kiss across her lips.
"Kids. I want us to have kids." He continued to slide his fingers inside her as he stroked her with his thumb. "I've been avoiding the topic because I was afraid you'd say no and I didn't want to hear that. But you surprised me with your response to the other two topics so I want to get this one out in the open also. In case we're not as far apart on the subject as I've been thinking."
"And you broach it while doing your best to make me very agreeable," she gasped. "Tricky, Echolls, very tricky."
"I can stop," he said with a smirk, stilling his hand, but she huffed in irritation and pressed hard against him.
"Not if you know what's good for you." He obliged her, fingers moving against her again and she reached up, grasping his shoulder to pull his mouth back down to hers. "That's better."
Logan woke with a start, feeling eyes on him. His cheek was pressed against the mattress and he could feel Veronica partially beneath him, their legs tangled together, and his arm resting across her body, his hand gripping hers tightly, their fingers laced together. He opened the eye not crushed against the mattress and saw her looking over at him with an amused smile.
"Is this what I have to look forward to now that I've actually agreed to this married life? You barely finish and you pass out before you even climb off me?" He raised his head and started to apologize, but she lifted her free hand to cover his mouth. "I'm kidding. You outdid yourself there. If you needed a two minute nap after that kind of performance, you can have it. Whatever it takes to encourage more of that."
"Two minutes?" He knew he still wasn't entirely conscious, but he could finally feel his other arm and he used it to prop himself onto his side as he continued to assess himself and his surroundings.
"Uh huh, I don't think it was much more than that. Long enough for my heart rate to get mostly back to normal. I'm not surprised. With the lack of blood and oxygen getting to your brain, it's not all that surprising that you shut down for a minute." She maneuvered her legs, still wrapped around his, and pushed her hand against his chest, somehow managing to roll him onto his back, moving with him so she ended up stretched on top of him, her forearms bracing her so she was looking down at him.
"You've got a little something..." He brushed his thumb over a dark smudge high on her breast. She looked down and rolled her eyes.
"Probably not the only one." She shifted to straddle him again, pulling her knees to rest against his sides and pushing herself upright. As predicted, there was another hickey to the lower left of one nipple and another on the upper right of the other.
"It's almost like parentheses," he said, squinting as he curved his hands in the air. "I don't think I did that on purpose, but the pattern is remarkably symmetrical."
She snorted a laugh. "I guess I should be glad you didn't chew your initials into me." She raised her hands to lift her hair off her neck. "No marks up here, I hope."
He peered up at her, enjoying the view. "Nope. Only marks on you can be covered adequately with clothing."
"Good thing. I do not need to listen to Dad or Wallace, or Dick for that matter, on this subject. Do we understand each other?"
"Whatever it takes to not have to talk about your Dad or Wallace or Dick at a time like this." He rested his hands on her hips and she lowered her hands, tracing them along the planes of his abs. "So, my brain's still a little fuzzy, but I'm pretty sure we agreed to get married sometime in the next six weeks, whenever I can arrange enough leave for a good honeymoon."
She nodded, her lips pressed together tightly, but with one corner raised enough for him to know she wasn't upset by the discussion. "That is pretty much what we agreed to, yes."
"And you also agreed to a house, on the beach, not in the exclusive 09'er neighborhoods, and that if we can move fast enough on that, maybe we can get married there."
"Fuzzy or not, your brain seems to have all the details right."
"And I brought up one more topic."
She raised one eyebrow. "Did you? I don't really remember any other discussion."
"There wasn't any discussion yet; you threatened my life if I didn't continue with my future husbandly duties."
"Ohh, yes, I do remember that." Her cheeks colored slightly and he could see she was struggling not to smile. "You did an outstanding job there. You seem quite ready to be a future husband."
"I'm inspired by my future wife." She chuckled and stretched her palms flat against his torso. "So, how about it? We've got the future husband and wife thing dialed. What do you think about future mom and dad?"
Her thumbs rubbed back and forth across his skin. "That one's a little scarier."
"Yeah, but I think it would be worth it." He sat up and shifted them up on the bed so he could lean against the headboard and look directly into her eyes. "I think we need to be conscientious about timing and wait until after my next deployment. I don't want to miss anything if I don't have to and I don't want to leave you to rely on other people to go with you to appointments, or help you breathe, or whatever else there is that I want to be doing with you. But once I'm home..."
"Once you're home." She broke their gaze, staring down at his chest. Logan waited, not wanting to pressure her. After a moment, she looked up again. "Okay. When you leave for the next deployment, I'll go off the birth control and by the time you're back, it should be out of my system. Then we can...see what happens."
"Really?" He couldn't contain his grin. "You're agreeing? That in about a year, when I'm back home again, we'll start trying to have a baby. Really?"
"I said I would," she said, voice a little peevish this time. "I don't go back on my promises."
"I would never suggest any such thing." He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her tightly against him. "Thank you. For agreeing...to everything today. I was so nervous. I want all these things with you, but I'm never sure—"
"I want all these things with you too. I never did want them, before, but being back with you, and making it work this time, I think...hey, maybe I can have them after all." She squirmed and he loosened his arms to give her the space he knew she wanted. "So? Should we get dressed and go look for houses for sale? Maybe you can convince Dick's next-door-neighbor to move."
"No, not that neighborhood, there's another one a little further toward town that's got a better beach. If anything, if we move there, he'll probably try to get our next-door-neighbors to move." He tucked her hair behind her ear. "And I'm not quite ready to go out yet. We practiced our future husband and wifing already, but maybe a little more practice for when we get down to baby-making." He rolled to the side, stretching out on the mattress again as he hovered above her.
"Pretty sure those are all the same things," Veronica said in a scornful tone, but she rocked up to meet him and wrapped her legs around his hips as he slid inside her.
"Context is everything," he said. "At some point, we should practice quickies for when we've managed to get the kids distracted and have a spare moment to ourselves."
"This will not be that time."
He laughed and rolled onto his back, smiling in appreciation as he watched her move deliberately above him, eyes closed and brow furrowed in concentration.
"Whatever makes you happy is fine with me. I love you."
Her eyes popped open and she leaned over to kiss him. "I love you, too."
So that's a wrap on this story. I've got a couple of epilogue thoughts rattling around in my head that might make a (probably) short chapter for next week so I'm not putting the conclusion mark on this one quite yet.
However, since the story itself is done, I want to make sure to thank KMD0107 for everything she's done for me over the course of this story and over the last 2 years that I've been writing VM fanfic. This chapter is my 97th week of posting in a row and she has been a big factor in making it possible for me to stay on my crazy self-imposed schedule. I appreciate her more than I can possibly express.
I'd also like to shout out to Kayte76, who has become my biggest cheerleader in the last year or so. She also keeps me going, with moral support and encouragement, and has become a great friend.
Thanks to everyone else who has read and commented. You make this craziness worthwhile.