Hey everyone! LoVe is here! I'm gonna make this A/N extra long today so that you'd hate me a little more… of course I'm sure you'll just be all 'oh screw this' and just skip it, but I'm hoping you'll get back to it after you read the chapter…
First off, welcome back to my beta reader wildhorses! I was starting to get worried about her. secondly, thanks to y'all who still REVIEWS my stories, I love you!
Oh fine, I'll be done now. I just wanted to say that I hope you enjoy this chapter. I wanted to try and make a little different reunion thing-y… plus, that's kinda how I think they would react after everything… I hope you're not too angry about the rather tamed LoVe, but if you are, just know that the next 2 chapters are ALL about them. Seriously! Anyways, have fun?
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Oh, finally.
By the time everyone (else) turned around to face the door, Logan had already teleported himself over to Veronica's bed and practically tackled her.
Lying there, wrapped in Logan's surprisingly strong (ouch, ouch, ouch!) arms, Veronica thought she had never quite been as happy before as she was right then. She could feel Logan's tears on her shoulder, dampening her hair. And of course, she began to cry as well.
The others exchanged looks, silently thinking 'Wasn't he supposed to bring some coffee with him?'
Kidding, kidding! They all seemed really quite touched by the moment (yes, even Duncan), and they almost forgot that that was their queue to kind of sort of LEAVE THE ROOM.
"Coffee's outside," Logan's muffled, but pointed voice called out from somewhere in Veronica's shoulder.
The three jerked back to reality (especially Meg, who was already tilting her head to the side and tearing up) and left the room, looking kind of embarrassed.
Logan and Veronica remained exactly where they were for a very, very long time. They were silent, content just with each other's presence. And just when Veronica thought her shoulder might never be dry again, Logan pulled back from her, sighing heavily. The loss of contact strangely caused her even more pain than the bone-crushing embrace. She needed something to hold on to. Thankfully, Logan seemed as though he was afraid that if he stopped touching her, she might just slip away again, so he kept doing things like tucking her hair behind her ears or stroking her shoulders and hands.
They were going to have to say something to each other, eventually.
Any minute now.
No, really.
No, really.
Veronica opened her mouth to say something (oh, anything) but Logan suddenly pressed his lips to hers in what might have been the most passionate kiss they had ever shared – with anyone. And given their past histories, that was saying a LOT.
Logan's mouth tasted like coffee and desperation. She never thought desperation had a taste, but there you have it. She wondered what she tasted like – relief? Loss? Emptiness?
She has just lost the essence of her life, after all. That ought to taste like something.
"Ronnie," Logan murmured desperately, inches from her mouth and it was so intoxicating, Veronica almost forgot she had an IV needle stuck in her arm and that tearing Logan's clothes off in the middle of the hospital room might not be such a good idea.
Keith cleared his throat all of a sudden. Yeah, definitely not a good idea, Veronica concluded. Keith and Lianne were standing at the door, looking pretty displeased with the scene in front of them.
Logan jumped back as if a particularly powerful bolt of lighting had struck him. He wiped his eyes violently before turning around. "Mr. Mars," he said, voice cracking with every syllable.
"Logan," Keith greeted back, using his I-might-just-shoot-you-yet voice, only it sounded much more deadly than usual.
Lianne sent him a wondering look, shook her head and turned back to her daughter, "Are you feeling any better, sweetie?" Apparently ignoring the situation (or problem, depending on who you asked) at hand was what Lianne did best.
Veronica nodded tentatively.
Keith shifted from one foot to another before finally gathering the guts to ask hopefully, "Didn't you guys break up?"
Logan straightened determinedly, "Not technically, no."
Veronica, who up until then had been gaping at her father with pure horror, passed her gaze back to Logan and grinned slightly.
"What happened?" she asked, mostly to diffuse the tension in the room, "anything new?"
Lianne shook her head, "They're gonna set the date for the first court appearance next week."
"Yes, well, I don't think either of you should be dating anyone right now," Keith spat out. It took him a beat to realize that he had just uttered the words out loud and he sighed, angry with himself for not having an ounce of self control to save his life.
Veronica could see Logan's hands clenching into fists. She wished there was a mirror on the wall beside the door so that she could enjoy Logan's patented smirk. She really missed that obnoxious smirk, damnit.
"Well, your advice's greatly appreciated Sheriff Mars, I'm just sorry I don't have my notebook here," he sneered.
"It's good to see a crisis brings out the best in you," Keith retaliated.
"Alright!" Lianne snapped, "Logan," she said sternly, "say you're sorry."
Logan rolled his eyes all the way over to Alaska, "Sorry Mr. Mars," he cooed.
"Keith?"
Keith folded his arms like a five year old and pouted. His face softened, though, as he heard his daughter faint giggle.
"You look so stupid," she said weakly.
Keith let out something between a wry sigh and a chuckle, "I was going for 'determined'."
Veronica's only response was a lively laugh.
"Good," Lianne nodded. She felt a strange urge to say something, remind Keith and Veronica that she still existed and that she was part of the family too. "Now Keith," she said sternly, "say goodbye."
"Huh?" he asked incredulously.
Lianne smiled sadistically as she saw Veronica smiling at her. She wondered if they would always be competing for their daughter's attention from now on. Nevertheless, she answered, "Say goodbye and let your daughter have a moment with her boyfriend."
Keith winced at the term 'boyfriend', "Fine."
He turned to leave and Logan and Lianne exchanged one last conspiratorial grin before she followed him to the hall.
"Welcome to the family," Veronica murmured with a smile.
He shook his head and sat back next to her, taking a hold of her hand. "How are you feeling?"
She smiled reassuringly, "Okay, I think. I don't actually know what my condition is…"
"You sprained your ankle," he said way too quickly, as if the information was imprinted in his mind and he was just dying to let it out, "Some burns, broken ribs, smoke inhalation, bruises… also, you had some internal bleeding when you were brought here, I guess it's fixed now. Oh, and…" he swallowed hard and gently touched the swollen, red bruise under her eye which was totally a punch mark.
Plans for next week: ask Mr. Slimey Lawyer to arrange a visitation. Go see daddy. Let him shift and smile and lie. Tell him I (will never) forgive him. Move closer, let him open his arms. Stab him right in the heart. Tell him I'll see him in hell.
Veronica touched his cheek and shook her head, "It's not all from him. Most of it was my fault…"
"None of this is your fault," Logan snapped quietly, not looking at her.
"No, seriously, I was the one who crashed myself into a telephone pole, or whatever it was," she insisted.
Logan bit his lower lip, "What were you thinking, leaving the Kane's houseby yourself?" he asked quietly, finally raising his eyes to her.
Veronica smiled, "I know, I should have listened to you when you said things were gonna get bad."
He chuckled humorlessly, "Yeah, who ever thought I'd turn out to be psychic…"
"Plus," she continued matter-of-factly, still playing with his fingers, "I was thinking about what you said to me yesterday on the beach. You know, when we were breaking up…"
He smiled coyly and she could swear he was even blushing slightly. "Hum, yeah, about that…"
But she didn't let him continue, "… and I thought to myself, 'wait a minute, I may be short and everything, but I can't fit in the oven!' so I had to find some other way to fry myself…"
Her remark was cold, and harsh and kind of painful. Logan thought he should probably wince or shudder or apologize like mad. But all he managed was a half-assed "So not funny," before breaking into an almost hysterical laugh and burying his head in her lap.
Veronica smiled, relief washing herand joined him.
It just occured to her, for the first time, that she may really love this boy. It was never an option until now... they were just... well, something (having a fling? Hanging out?) and Veronica never associated the smile that always took over her face whenever she thought of Logan with love.
Suddenly she found herself thinking that thank God she was hurt really bad, otherwise he might not have forgiven her. Ever.
This is really bad.
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"Yeah, yeah, V's awake and we're all very happy about that. But what bugs me (Wallace, by the way, Basketball star and general Nice Guy) is that it wasn't what you guys are even happy about! I bet all you're thinking about is "awww, finally, some LoVe…" but hey! Come on! Veronica woke up a whole chapter ago!
"Dear lord, it's like talking to walls… I should know, I'm stuck in a basement here with a LoVe freak… though it works kinda nicely for me because it means she tortures me less (poor Logan, though, I'll tell ya, no man should even to suffer like that…) although now that I'm getting a little more attention on the show she suddenly remembered that she "always liked me too…" and then she smiled this totally scary smile, so I immediately volunteered to do this week's REVIEW plea. Because, you know, whoever writes gets off the hook until the next chapter. And after seeing poor Logan being forcedly married to that crazy writer (not crazy! Great! Awesome!)… no, thank you, you know? I'm having enough girl trouble these days…
"Where was I? Oh, yeah, anyway, what is it about LoVe that drives y'all so crazy? Duncan and Veronica are actually kinda nice together, you know! (Oh man, there's gonna be some pain over that, I think she's planning to tape me on the flagpole and write 'BLIND' or 'IDIOT' or 'LoVe HATER' or something on my chest…) but whatever, why are we talking about them? Let's talk about me a little!
"First of all, why oh why can't I have me a normal girlfriend? Seriously, yo, I'm being mistreated here! First I had a girlfriend who just evaporated after one week (she left a message on my cell telling me she wasn't getting anymore screentime, ever) and now I get a bitchy drug-addict? Why? What did I do? Remember last year when a cute girl called Nadine was all 'hi Wallace' at me? Where did she go?
"Oh, also, there's this little thing about my dad, but our time is up… anyways, this story is awesome! (Hey, gotta compensate for that LoVe thing…) and you should totally REVIEW! This was Wallace telling you to MAYBE WRITE SOME WALLACE FANFICS? WOULD IT KILL YOU? And also, bye!"
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fyreangel5: I'm glad you liked the chapter and the dream! Yay!I had to have some closure... and yes, Logan's timing couldn't be worse if it tried... good for you for guessing it was Weevil immediatly! I was afraid he wasn't written well enough... and I love Meg! Come back please?
moirariordan: Heehee, I love that word too, I've been looking for an excuse to write it somewhere... I'm sorry for all the evilness, I guess I was the only one who really enjoyed it... though let me add that if you were disappointed by this chapter, I'm already writing the big stuff, so don't hate me? Flauntering is just so muchfun...
Woody-Bennet: Well, you give them weird looks right back! And wow! I actually made someone Laugh Out Loud with my writing? I think the room is spinning...
Arianda: Sure, have all you want!
Shelly: Ouch! I do read the reviews! Why do you think I'd be begging for them if I didn't?
Underscored: Welcome! I hope you won't get off the boat...