Disclaimer: I own nothing.
AN: I took the liberty of making Rory a White House Correspodent. WHich would explain why she is at the nation's capital most of the time and also why she still lives in New Haven. Anyway, on with the story.
"Yeah, I love it. It makes me feel like I'm doing something." Rory responded enthusiastically.
"I bet you're good at what you do." Jess commented.
"I hope I am. I like being in the newsroom, the time crunch in the studio makes it even more exciting."
"I bet."
"How about you, are you still writing? I haven't seen a sequel to the 'Subsect', I have been watching out for any books you might have written." Rory inquired in turn.
"Actually yes, but I'm using a penname, J.M. Reynolds." Jess smiled sheepishly.
"You're J.M. Reynolds. I love those books." She commented excitedly.
"Thanks. I try." Jess smiled warmly at Rory's excitement.
"So, why J.M. Reynolds?" she asked him warily.
"Jess Mariano, Reynolds was Veronica's mom's maiden name. Seemed like a good idea." He shrugged as he answered.
The two remained quiet for awhile. They've been talking for the last half-hour, but neither one really seemed anxious to bring up anything personal.
"So Veronica?" Rory began
"Yeah…"
"She's great."
"I think so too."
"The first time I saw her I remembered Shane."
"Who?" Jess looked puzzled.
"You know Shane…the girl you dated before we got together."
"Oh, her name is Shane. I can barely remember her." He stated with a frown. Then his face expressed a look of understanding as he vaguely remembered a girl he dated just to make Rory jealous while she was with Dean.
"Yes, that Shane."
"Why did you think of her when you saw Veronica?" he was honestly at a loss.
"Because you know… Shane was blonde too." Rory answered hesitantly.
"She was blonde. Oh yeah, she was, wasn't she? And not all there." he gestured towards his head.
"She was okay I guess."
"But why would you think of Shane and Veronica? The two cannot be more different, besides I think Shane is what people call bottle blonde. Veronica is a natural blonde, all American girl all the way." He grumbled.
"How did you and Veronica meet?" Rory wisely switched topics at the disgruntled look on his face.
"Funny story, really. It was their sophomore year. I was visiting Addy and scoping out locations for business. Anyway, Addy asked me to meet her in this sleazy motel, The Camelot. When I got there she rented out a room and opened all the blinds of the windows and the door. She told me she was being followed and she had to teach her boyfriend a lesson. Then she told me to act like I was going to attack her. She released a piercing scream and Veronica came into the room and used her taser on me." Jess replied with a smile on his face, as if he was remembering also.
"She attacked you?" Rory asked incredulously.
"She thought Addy was in danger. Turns out Logan thought Addy was seeing someone else, so he had Veronica follow her and find out whom. Both Logan and Addy were both very sorry with the end result of their stupid ideas. And Veronica was so ashamed with what happened I had to resort to practically stalking her to get her to talk to me."
"Why did you do that?"
"Addy liked her." As if that was a good enough answer.
"And?" she prompted.
"I liked her the moment I saw her, not everyone would do what she did, even if it wasn't for real. She was this petite girl who had an action hero complex. So even after a week of following her all over Neptune she finally talked to me."
"And that's it, you guys became a couple and now you're going to have a happily ever after?" she looked unconvinced at his narrative.
For a second a flicker of sadness crossed his face, but it was gone so fast that Rory thought she imagined it.
"No it wasn't that easy. We had our moments of incredible stupidity, but we managed to overcome them and then yes here we are."
"Jess…"
"Yes Rory."
"About what happened five years ago…" Rory finally gathered the courage to the subject that had been torturing her since she came to Neptune.
"Forget about it Rory, it was no big deal." Jess pronounced, trying to dismiss the subject altogether.
"No I can't. I treated you badly. I was-"
"You are in love, and from what I've heard you are still with the same guy, seems you made the right decision." He looked away from her and at the door hoping that Veronica would miraculously materialize behind it.
"I'm sorry." A humbled Rory replied.
"No need to be sorry. You did the right thing. Besides, alls well, ends well."
"Did it really?" a depressed Rory asked mournfully.
"I'm happy Rory. Now I'm sorry if life is not working out for you as well, but don't use me as an excuse. I don't deserve that, just as I didn't deserve to be used five years ago, to get back on your cheating boyfriend." He stated in a matter of fact tone.
"I-"Rory was cut off by the opening of the door, revealing one disgruntled Logan Echolls.
"Dude, you have got to get out there. That fiancée of yours is getting on my nerves." Logan dramatically announced.
"Why, what did she do now?" Jess focusing his attention on him, relieved at the interruption.
"She refused to accept my input on what we should be eating while we have that marathon of ours."
"I'm out of that. You guys are the only ones who consistently fight over what to eat. Besides, she's my girl, she wouldn't let me down." Jess confidently announced. Rory was still trying to cover up her previous vulnerability.
"Just because you're sleeping with her doesn't mean she'll get what you want. Don't forget this is Veronica Mars we're talking about. The girl likes to be mean." Logan finished somewhat confused by the glare that Jess sent his way; he in turn gave him a questioning look. Jess gestured his head towards Rory whose eyes widened at the mention of Jess and Veronica's sex life.
"Look man, all I'm saying is Rory and I deserve some consideration in the decision making." Logan put his arm around Rory's shoulder, not taking it off despite the tension he felt when he put it there.
"Whatever Echolls." Jess dismissed him entirely and started for the door to find his mean fiancée.
"What! No fancy repartee, no witty come back, just a whatever Echolls, where is the real Jess?" Logan uttered sorrowfully with the shake of his head.
Jess did not bother looking back but merely flashed Logan his middle finger. With a slam of the door he was gone.
Logan guffawed at his action and then removed his arm around Rory's shoulders.
"So…" Logan looked at Rory awkwardly.
Rory gave him a weak smile and then headed for the door, leaving Logan by himself.
Logan shrugged to himself at her strange behavior. He did not have enough time to contemplate her actions because his phone rang; he smiled when he saw the caller ID.
"So, how's my favorite girl?"
"Girl, I see no girl here."
"Retract claws Addy. I'm merely trying to find out how you're doing." Logan replied, trying to tease away the tension that he could hear in her voice.
"I'm sorry Logan. I'm just a little tired. Jess picked the worst time to get married. And it's so crowded here in San Francisco." Addy apologized tiredly.
"It's cool. So when are you coming back here?" he was already looking forward to having alone time with her.
"I'll be there at eleven tonight. This publishing gig is too stressful; I don't know how Jess does it."
"Well, it's probably easier for him since he doesn't hate doing it." Logan stated simply.
"Probably. So I was thinking we could skip the entire Catalina thing and fly out to somewhere exotic, where no one can follow us." Her tone changed to cajoling.
"And where would that be?" Logan grinned in anticipation.
"Baja, California, not too far that we can make it back when they make it back from Catalina, what do you think?" Addy answered excitedly.
"That would be awesome. If only I didn't have the feeling that our presence is incredibly required in Catalina." Logan felt awful at having to decline the invite, particularly since he wanted to spend some time alone with his quasi-girlfriend.
"Why would our presence be so required?" Addy sounded forlorn at his statement.
"For one thing Veronica is still waiting for the other shoe to drop, she thought if you liked Rory, Jess would call the whole thing off. Then there's the matter of Rory secretly pining for Jess. And then-"
"Okay, I get it. But why would we want to be there, can't we just escape all the drama and figure things out?" Addy cut Logan off and mournfully pleaded with him.
"Bell, seriously it's not like you to run. Besides, I'm pretty sure that Jess would need his best friend to back him up." Logan logically explained.
"Fine. I'll be the best friend and go to that stupid trip to Catalina." Addy grumbled. Logan laughed at her reply.
"Hey, when you said figure things out, were you talking about figuring our relationship out?" the thought just came to him.
"Duh, but I guess we'll just have to postpone it in favor of being there for Jess and Veronica." Addy laughingly teased him.
"We could always figure us out tonight, or even when we go to Catalina.' He suggested hopefully.
"Nah, I can multi-task but I'm not really good at it."
"Come on Townie, I promise I'll be nice." Logan pouted through the phone.
"You're never nice Echolls, so don't make any promises. I'll see you tonight, try and get better at sneaking out. Wallace told me he saw you walking around two nights ago."
"Whatever, Veronica told me that everyone already knows I'm sneaking out, why bother hiding it?"
"Well, at least use the front door, security is being tightened at the house; we wouldn't want Eli busting you for breaking and entering?"
"No we don't. I don't want Weevil to have reasons to take me away." Logan wholeheartedly agreed.
"Okay, I have to go. I have a dinner meeting with this jackass author. The competition is doing a dance routine as well so we have to raise the stakes even more. I'll see you tonight."
"See you tonight. Oh and Bell…"
"I know Logan, likewise."
With those final words Addy hung up and Logan had a huge grin plastered on his face. He should have said yes to the Baja getaway. He shook his head in regret, but then thought that maybe they can have the talk tonight.
"Okay, so Logan came in complaining about your lack of cooperation in the ordering business. Now I told him I had nothing to worry about since you're my girl and all." Jess said in greeting as he entered the kitchen, where Veronica was looking at all the take out menus.
"I already ordered your Kung pao chicken, beef and broccoli and an entire pizza with cheese only." Veronica replied.
Jess walked up to her and wrapped his arms around her waist; she in turn leaned on him and continued to peruse the menus.
"I knew you won't let me down." He murmured into her hair. She turned around and smiled up at him; he tightened his hold on her and rested his chin on her head.
"So, how did it go?" Veronica asked once the moment was over.
"Okay at first, then sucked after awhile." Jess replied as he released her from his grasp.
"Aw…poor baby." She cradled Jess face in her hands mockingly.
"I'm serious Veronica. She even compared you to Shane." Jess shook his head in amazement.
"Shane…wait a minute, did I hear that name before?"
"Yes, she was the bimbo I hooked up with when I was in high school."
"Oh, the bimbo, the one before Rory. Why would she compare me with that girl?" Veronica frowned as she asked Jess.
"Because she was a blonde too apparently." Jess answered tartly.
"Oh you mean, like just because we were both like blondes that we are like the same?" Veronica used her Valley girl tone.
Jess can't help but smile at her and she smiled back.
"So no progress?" she asked as she turned back to the menus.
"She tried apologizing for the past and then Logan came in." Jess sighed.
"Hmm…that Logan has impeccable timing."
"I was actually relieved. But that means there's going to be a part two."
"Well, just hear her out. Maybe the apology was the only thing bugging her."
"I don't think so. We talked about our careers first; it's obvious she loves her job. But I don't think she's happy with the rest of the aspects of her life."
"Why do you think that?" Veronica gave Jess an inquiring look.
"She barely talked about her relationship with the guy she's seeing. And from what I know about her job she spends most of her time in DC than at her house."
"Oh…Logan said her presence here may not have anything to do with you at all." She contributed. Jess gave her a skeptical look.
"He talked to Addy?" Veronica nodded at his question.
"Once she was done ranting over Rory being here, she told me that she doesn't think Rory is here to sweep me off my feet."
"She doesn't?"
"No, she thought it has more to do with the fact that Rory is just unhappy."
"She does seem a little sad; since she's been here she mostly stares at you."
"But maybe she's not really seeing me. Because if she did then…" Jess trailed off.
"She'd head for the opposite direction." She smiled teasingly.
"You think you're so funny, don't you Mars"
"I'd like to think so." Veronica gave him a dazzling smile.
"Ha freaking ha then."
"Come on, finish that thought of yours." She prompted.
"Fine, as I was saying, before I was rudely interrupted," Jess gave her a meaningful look, "if Rory could actually see me, and in turn see me with you, then she'd know that she has no chance whatsoever to try and come between us. After all we did have to overcome 'epic'."
"Now who's the comedian?" she shot him an annoyed look.
"So you can give it but you can't take it?" he teased.
Veronica just ignored him in favor of the menus. Jess pulled her him but she kept to her reading. He hooked his fingers to her belt loops and tugged to get her closer. He then wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her off her feet. The menus dropped from her hands and she wrapped her arms around his neck. The two shared many a heated kisses, and were completely absorbed in each other.
"Geez! Dude, making out in the kitchen, that's just not right." Logan proclaimed loudly as he saw the two going at it. The two merely looked up but did not separate.
"Seriously, I'll have to gouge my eyes out after seeing you guys. Man, what if it had been Keith and not me walking in on you two?" Logan wagged his finger at them disapprovingly.
Veronica giggled as Jess nuzzled her neck, neither one of them paying any attention to Logan.
"Break it up. No more of that disgusting display. We'll head to the family room and watch movies. The two of you will be sitting at the opposite sides of the room." Logan walked towards them as if he was going to actually separate them himself.
Jess looked at him and finally disentangled himself from Veronica, but kept his arm around her waist.
"For that we're definitely watching your first movie ever." Jess shot off.
"Whatever dude, anything to keep you two from groping each other in front of me." Logan smirked in return.
"The food's going to be here soon, where are the movies?" Veronica asked Logan.
"It's in the family room already, I set everything up. By the way I'll be taking off at eleven."
"Addy's coming home?" Jess asked Logan.
"Yes finally. I felt like I haven't seen her at all since we got here." Logan sighed dramatically.
"Oh you mean aside from all the times that you sneaked out to spend the night with her." Jess smirked at him.
"Or during the first night everyone got here and the two of you were late for dinner. Good call in coming in separately by the way." Veronica contributed.
"You two really deserve each other. Mocking me like that, when the two of you actually get to act all lovey-dovey." Logan shot the two an annoyed look.
"We do not act all lovey-dovey." Veronica returned crossly.
"You're lucky she even spends time with you at all." Jess commented cryptically.
"Now what do you mean by that?" Logan retorted a little defensively.
"What he means is that since Jess was off work for the rest of the month Addy got stuck with the publishing job, which we all know she positively despises; that and the fact that the fiercest competitor of the company is trying to arrange a meeting with the head. Jess agreed to do it didn't you Jess?" Veronica looked at Jess expectantly.
"But apparently I'm not the owner that they wanted to meet. I think they are actually resorting to hiring Vinnie to find out if Addy is here." Jess looked thoughtful as he said this.
"I know all that. Why do you think Addy and Weevil came in together last Sunday's dinner? Addy tells me these things too. The security back at the house is being tightened already. But I didn't know the Vinnie part." He admitted quietly.
"Keith just told me about that possibility, thus the security. I told Addy that I would handle it but she told me she has it under control."
"Why doesn't she just meet the competition anyway?" Veronica can't help but ask.
'The competition is the family that the Townsends' have a feud with." Jess explained curtly.
"Ah…the rich and their feuds, you think theirs is a Romeo and Juliet kind?" Veronica jokingly asked.
"Do you know about that feud?" Logan inquired trying to get it out of Jess.
"I do. But it's not my place to discuss it." He replied tersely.
The three got quiet after Jess' answer.
"Why don't we get this night started?" Veronica suggested brightly.
The two men exchanged amused looks and both nodded at her suggestion. The door bell rang and Veronica ordered the two to answer it while she fetched Rory so the festivities could begin.
AN2: Hope you enjoyed reading. Now I've thought about this a lot. The plot of this story is basically about Jess and Veronica. But I have decided tha this will be a Rogan as well, Rory and Logan...Echolls, blame LoVe23 for that btw. I kept turning the idea over and over in my head and I really started to like it. So I figured I might as well inform anyone who's reading this fic of the newest pairing. Kudos to LoVe23 for that.
