A/N Thank you so much for all of the reviews, follows, and favs. They are what definitely keeps me writing. I am currently looking for a beta to bounce ideas off of, so if anyone is interested, please pm me. Thanks again. Much LoVe to all of my readers.

Disclaimer: I have never nor will ever own any of the characters. They belong to Rob Thomas. If I did own them, I would never have done what he did.

Chapter Fifteen

Veronica's POV

"Logan, what are you looking for?" I say as I walk into the bathroom.

We should have already left, but we are running late and he is still in there trying to get ready. We are all supposed to be meeting at Dick's for a belated celebration of our marriage. The party has also turned into a "Welcome home/Glad you aren't dead/Congrats on your discharge party." Everyone is supposed to be there and I am honestly excited to see them all.

It has been three weeks since our emotional reunion on the beach and there are times when it still doesn't seem real that this is my life. It has been beyond amazing to be able to just enjoy our time with each other without there being a deadline on our time together.

In the three weeks since Logan has been home, we have spent as much time together as we possibly could. Sure, I worked, finishing up the few cases that I had when he returned, but deciding to take a little time off and not take any new ones for a couple of weeks.

Logan of course had to go to the base to complete all of his paperwork for his discharge and even managed to convince them to put a rush on it, so his career with the Navy officially ended two days ago. To say that a giant weight was lifted off of my shoulders is an understatement.

While we did have to spend a little time apart, dealing with our own jobs, most of our time was simply spent enjoying being "newlyweds."

We would spend hours making love, it was like we were teenagers all over again, never seeming to get enough of each other. I fell even more in love with Logan than I already was during that time, not because of the love making, that has never been a problem, but because of the times in between when we would spend hours just talking to each other.

It was during those times that Logan opened up about as many of the details from our year apart as he was allowed to give me. It wasn't the who or the where, that was important, because he couldn't tell me, but it was him opening up about how he felt about everything that he had to do. I knew that the year had created emotional scars, but it felt like him opening up to me was the beginning of him being able to heal and hopefully let go of some of the guilt that he was carrying around as a result.

It was also during those times when I got a true appreciation for just how strong Logan really is. Not physical strength, although he is certainly not lacking in that area either, but emotional strength. I know he would argue and say I am the strong one, but he would fall asleep and I would lie awake, looking at him and think about every time life had seemed to deal him, for lack of a better term, "the shit end of the stick," and how he always seemed to make it through and come out a better person because of it.

Life had dealt him a lot of things that would break someone else. His girlfriend was murdered at sixteen by his abusive father, who she was having an affair with, his mother committed suicide, he was framed for the murder of Felix, then years later, Carrie, and I walked out on him so many times that I don't know why he would even want to be a part of my life, but he loved me through all of it.

It was then I realized I was strong because he gave me the strength to be. He was always pushing me to be a better version of myself and I seemed to always push against it, but it never stopped him from trying.

We spent lots of time on the beach as well. Sometimes we would play with Pony, others we would simply sit on the beach and enjoy a sunrise or a sunset. Logan would sit in the sand and I would sit between his legs, leaning back and resting on his chest while his arms wrapped protectively around me. There were other times where Pony and I would sit alone and watch Logan as he surfed. He seemed to find peace while out in the ocean and I felt content just to watch him as he floated across the water.

It was the announcement that Logan's honorable discharge had gone through which prompted our friends to insist on throwing us a party to celebrate, a party that quickly turned into a time to praise all of the things we had yet to celebrate. The same party that we are currently running late for.

"Logan?" I question again as I stand in the doorway of the bathroom looking at him as he stands holding something in his hand.

"I was looking for shaving cream," he says, "but I found this instead."

He turns the small rectangular box towards me that he was staring at and I realize what he is holding.

"Is there something that we need to talk about?" Logan asks, handing the box that clearly says First Response Pregnancy Test on it.

"No, Logan it is not what you are thinking," I start to explain. "I'm not pregnant."

"But you thought you might be? There is a test missing, so I know you took one," he says.

"Not recently," I quietly murmur, hoping that he will just drop it and not make me explain further.

"What is that supposed to mean, Veronica?"

"I really don't want to talk about it. Can we please just go? We are late already. We should have left ten minutes ago," I plead, trying to beg him with my eyes to just drop it. However, one look at him let's me know we won't be leaving until I explain why it was in the cabinet in our bathroom.

I grab his hand and walk out of the bathroom, pulling him behind and pushing him to sit down on the couch. We are not going to have this conversation in the bathroom. Instead of sitting with him, I choose to pace in front of him. I wish he had never found the stupid box. This isn't something I wanted to discuss with him and I had honestly forgotten I had thrown the unused test that came in the two pack, down there.

"It was three, maybe four weeks after our wedding day, I'm not really sure how long exactly," I start to explain, still pacing and not making eye contact with him. "Time all seemed to blur together then, so I'm not sure exactly how long it had been. I was having a particularly bad day, and I had broken a picture of the two of us when I threw it against the wall. I was in the bathroom looking for those small garbage bags you always bought for the garbage can in the bathroom, so I could sweep the glass into one and take it outside. It was while I was looking for the bags that I came across a box of tampons under the sink."

I walk over to the couch and sit next to him. I'm trying to not get emotional as I remember the day and tell him the story. He places a comforting hand on the small of my back, his thumb making small circles, and I continue my story.

"The box completely threw me off. I hadn't even thought about my period, it just never occurred to me to think about how long it had been since I even needed them, but when I saw the box and I thought about it, I realized it had been at least six weeks since my last one. I panicked, I literally just sat on the bathroom floor and stared at the box in my hands, the glass and the broken picture frame mess completely forgotten."

"You thought you might be pregnant?"

"I was never late, so it was the only thing that kept playing through my mind. My thoughts were all over the place. I never wanted kids. I had a horrible excuse for a mother and I never wanted to turn into her, so not having children to disappoint was the easiest way for that to happen. I used to watch you with Noah and I would internally freak. I could tell just by watching you it was something you wanted and at the time, it just felt like, if you were to ask me about kids, it would just be one more thing for me to tell you no about, just like your initial proposal."

"Veronica, I…"

"No, Logan. Please just let me finish. I was angry about the whole situation. I had lost you and now I might be pregnant and if I was, then I was going to have to raise the baby as a single widow. I just sat there for who knows how long, but after a while I went and bought the tests. I was on autopilot at that point, I couldn't even tell you where I bought them from or how much time passed, but before I knew it, the test was sitting on the counter, and I was waiting for the result. I set a timer and just left it sitting on the counter. It was while I was waiting for the dreaded result when all of the sudden another thought came to mind, if I was pregnant then it would be a part of you. I don't know why it took me so long to think about that, but once I did, it was all I could think about. In that short three-minute time frame, I became excited, even though you were gone, I might be growing a small piece of you. I imagined a little brown eyed boy, who looked so much like you and it gave me a sense of peace. I knew it wouldn't be easy, this constant reminder of you and everything I had lost, but it was, in my mind, your final gift to me. It felt like it was your way of making sure I wasn't alone, but the timer went off and the test was negative. I just felt so empty once again. All I could do was lay down on the bathroom floor and cry. I cried myself to sleep on the rug on the cold bathroom floor, grieving something that never was, but more importantly, something that could never be."

I finished recounting the story behind the little pink box Logan had found in the bathroom, impressed I had managed to make it through the whole thing without even shedding a tear.

"So, what happened? Why were you late?" Logan hesitantly asks me.

"Who knows. Stress probably. It didn't really matter to me at that point. Eventually I started and I didn't really care about the facts behind the "why" of why I was late."

"Veronica, I don't even know what to say. I feel like I have overused I'm sorry at this point. You shouldn't have had to go through that alone."

He pulls me into his lap and I happily curl up against him, enjoying the comfort that his arms provide as I lay my head on his chest. We sit in silence for a few minutes, just holding each other, but Logan is the first one to break the silence.

"What about now?" he asks. "Are kids something you want now?"

"I had a lot of time to think about everything while you were gone and while the idea of kids is still scary to me, it's not something that I don't want anymore. I'm still worried about what kind of mom I would be, but the idea of sharing that with you, makes me know that we would be able to figure it out together. If it's something that you want. I sound like a damn Hallmark card," I scoff. "However, I just got you back and I'm not really ready to share you just yet, so it's not something that I would want to start on right now. If that makes sense."

"That makes sense." He hugs me tighter and kisses my temple.

I turn and kiss him on his lips, allowing myself to get a little carried away with the kiss. He starts to laugh, his lips still pressed against mine.

"We are so late now," he says, still chuckling against my lips.

At that moment both of our phones chime, letting us know we have a new text message. "It's my dad," I tell him. "He says that we better get there soon. Apparently, Dick keeps coming up with lots of dirty reasons why we might be running late and he is about to remind Dick he still carries a gun."

Logan laughs again. "Mine is from Dick. His exact words are 'Dude, you and Ronnie better get here soon because Mr. Mars keeps giving me dirty looks and putting his hand on his holster. I don't think he likes me."

I stand up, grab both of his hands in mine and pull him up to standing. I drop one of his hands and start to walk, pulling him behind me saying, "Come on lover boy. We better go save my dad and your best friend."

"I thought you said that he was your friend too."

"I refuse to claim him when he is acting like an idiot."

"If that is the case, then you probably never claim him."

"Exactly," I say. "Pony let's go girl."

We make our way to the door, but Logan stops me and pulls me into a hug. He places both hands on my face, bringing his lips to mine.

"I know that we didn't get to finish our discussion, and we definitely will, but I just wanted to tell you that I love you," he says, kissing me one more time.

"I love you too."

We head out the door to go and meet our crazy "family" and celebrate the fact that we still have Logan and things that we all thought could never happen are still a possibility.