Drunk Logan
Chapter 9

A/N: These scenes are loosely based on the same scenes from the show. Hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think!

LOVE...LOVE...LOVE...LOVE...LOVE...LOVE...LOVE...LOVE...LOVE...LOVE

On Friday afternoon Veronica was on her way to "Game Land" to help out Wallace's special lady friend, as he referred to Georgia.

She was headed out the door and would have just enough time to get the info she needed, then come home to get ready for the memorial. She was cutting it close, but knew she could make it.

Her phone rang as she reached her car. "Hello."

"Hey, Veronica. Uh, whatcha doing?" Veronica smiled a bit at his out of the blue call.

"I'm headed to 'Game Land' on a case. Did you need something? Is something wrong with the video?" She was starting to panic, thinking of what could have gone wrong and how long it would take to fix it. She could always work on the case later, if she absolutely had to.

"No, no. It's nothing like that. Wait, are you going to miss the dedication?" Logan couldn't believe that she would miss it.

"No, but that's why I'm kind of in a hurry. I need to go take care of this and then run home and change beforehand." She wasn't really concentrating on her conversation. She was driving to 'Game Land' and thinking about what she would find there.

"Oh, good. I was hoping to show you the finished product before tonight, but I guess you can just see it at the ceremony." Logan tried to hide his disappointment. He had wanted to show her the finished product of what they'd spent so much time creating. He felt like she should see it before everyone else. Plus, it was odd, but he had missed her the last couple of days. They'd spent almost 10 hours together between their work sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday. It was like he'd gotten used to all of that contact. He'd barely seen her since then and it was really starting to bug him.

"Yeah, sorry. I would have loved to see it, too. I just really need to get some info for this case I'm working. I'll see you later, okay?" She had made it to the parking lot at the gaming club and was ready to go in.

"Yeah, see you later." Logan hung up the phone. He had been ready to show her the video. He thought over their conversation and remembered her saying something about having to change.

He laughed at the idea of her in "P.I." mode. 'It would be hilarious to see her dressed up in disguise. I wonder what she's going as...a janitor, a gaming nerd?' He couldn't really picture either.
'Why don't I just meet her over at 'Game Land'? I was planning on meeting her somewhere and just watching the video in the Xterra anyway. Plus, I get the added bonus of seeing her sneaking around in her trench coat and Sherlock Holmes hat. I wonder if she actually uses a magnifying glass to search for clues.' Logan laughed at the thought. He thought it was funny how seriously she took this whole "P.I." stuff.

When he arrived at 'Game Land,' he spotted her car immediately. He parked in the closest free spot. It was a couple of spaces down behind a van. He couldn't see her car from his SUV, so he decided he'd just wait by her car so he wouldn't miss her.

He had been leaning up against her trunk for about 20 minutes and was getting tired of waiting. He was never known for his patience. At first, he would look up every time he heard the door shut to see if Veronica had walked out, but then he started to relax. He had heard the door open and shut several times when he heard her voice.

"Logan?" She gasped. "What are you doing here?" To say that she was shocked to see him is an understatement.

When Logan looked up, his mouth went dry and he instantly knew that this had been a very, very stupid idea.

She was walking toward him dressed in a fitted white button-down shirt, a plaid tie and mini-skirt, fingerless gloves, knee-high socks and Mary Jane's. To top it off, she was wearing a black wig.

"Holy Crap! Veronica?" He wore a shocked look on his face. He didn't even try to mask his response, he couldn't even if he'd tried. He was sure that the mere sight of her had awoken every nerve ending in his body. It was electrifying an daunting at the same time.

"Look, Logan. I know what you're going to say. Something along the lines of, I look like a street walker or, oh, 'Is this where you find your clientele?' What about 'Guess you're living up to that rep of yours, huh Veronica?"

"I don't need to hear it Logan. I was on a case, nothing more, nothing less. Be a butt if you want to, though. With my reputation, no one will question it when you tell them how I was dressed." She stood there just waiting for him to respond. When he didn't, she noticed that his eyes had not actually met hers the entire time she was talking. In fact, they still hadn't.

"Logan?"

'Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap. Definitely not a janitor. Most certainly NOT a gaming nerd. Oh, geez.' He'd barely even heard her speaking to him Logan looked skyward wondering what he should do. His body was at full attention now and he had to do something to deflect the situation. Then he smirked.

"Logan? What are you looking at?" She was now looking upward, too.
He looked straight into her eyes because that was the only safe place to look. "Oh, well, I was just looking toward the heavens. Wanted to see if I could see another angel fall to Earth...or are you the only one?"

She busted up laughing. She had expected some sort of rude comment about her virtue, instead he was joking with a cheesy pick-up line.

"Logan, what are you doing here?" She still wanted to know what had brought him there.

"Well, I didn't think it was right for you to have to see the finished video with everyone else. I brought it with me, I didn't expect," He waved his arm up and down at her, "all this."

"Oh." She knew it was lame, but what was she supposed to say?

"Well, I'm here now, it'll only take 5 minutes. Then, you can go home and change for the ceremony. Unless, of course...you want to go dressed like that?" He chuckled.

"No, that's alright. I'll go home and change, if it's all the same to you. Well, you are here, lead the way." Veronica swept her arm up at him telling him to get moving.

'No, actually. It is not all the same to me.' He wondered if she had any idea the kind of effect she had on guys, on him. He started walking toward his Xterra. 'Man, of all the times I'd like to follow. Kill. me. now!'

They got into the SUV and he looked over for a moment. It was a moment too long. In her sitting position, that mini-skirt had traveled even further up her legs. 'Oh, I could do so much with that little skirt...bunched around her waist. Argh! Stop it, Logan. You don't think of Veronica Mars that way! First of all, we're enemies. Well, we were enemies. I have no idea what we are now. Plus, she was raped, you can't think of her like that. Yeah, right. If someone would just tell my body that!'

He turned on the video. He had watched it in it's finished state several times over. This time, he spent most of his time watching Veronica for her reaction.

When the music changed and Lilly came on the screen introducing herself to America, Veronica's lips tightened into a thin smile and tears slowly ran down her face. Logan knew how hard this was for her, how hard it'd been for him to watch. A little bit of the emotion is taken away when you are creating something like this because you are so focused on the technical aspect of it; the timing and length of the clip, where you should cut it, whether you should fade into another or tile a new clip on top. When all the work is done, though, you are able to see so much more of what the video actually contains...the life that it is meant to celebrate. Your emotions are allowed to run free.

He reached over and grabbed her hand, not sure how she would respond. He just wanted to bring comfort to her like she had that first day she'd offered to stay and help him work on the video. He was more than a little surprised when she didn't even look away from the screen, but squeezed his hand tightly. She needed to go through this with him, just as much as he needed her there.

Veronica continued to stare at the screen, even after it had faded to black. A few tears still escaped from her eyes and her hand still clung to Logan's.

"Ronnie?" Logan said quietly after a couple of minutes. He squeezed her hand as a way of emphasizing her name.

She came out of her trance the minute she felt him squeeze her hand. She looked down at her hand and hadn't remembered grabbing his, but knew that it was inappropriate. She was surprised he had let her touch him let alone tightly grasping his hand. She knew she had really been holding on tight because their hands were sweaty.

"Uh, sorry. I didn't mean to." She said quickly as she yanked her hand away. She smoothed down her skirt and tried to discreetly wipe the tears from her face. She couldn't believe that she had let her guard down emotionally in front of him. 'I never let him see me cry. And, now, here I am. Great, I'm sure I'll never hear the end of it.' She was really feeling uncomfortable and just wanted to get away from the situation.

"Well, thanks again. See ya tonight." She said as she grabbed the door handle to leave. She stopped when she felt his hand on hers. Then she turned when he spoke.

"Actually, I grabbed your hand. It seemed like you could use it." Logan noticed how nervous she looked when he said that, so he decided to tell her the whole truth. "Actually, I think we were both needing some comfort." He gave her a sympathetic smile and shrugged his shoulders slightly.

He seemed really sincere and before she knew it, she was opening up more to him. "Will it ever get easier, Logan? She's been gone for almost a year, now. I still miss her so much every single day. I can't tell you how many times I've dialed her number to tell her about something that has happened in my day before I realize that she won't be answering. Every time I feel a new wave of pain." She paused for a moment. "It's been a year, Logan." She whispered the last part, but Logan could still hear the crack in her voice.

"I sure hope so, Ronnie. Man, do I hope so. Sometimes I'll see a situation and think about how much she would enjoy manipulating it. Or, the times I'm bored at a party and know that if she were here, we'd never be bored." Logan planned his next words, not knowing how they would be received. "If she were here, we'd still be friends." He wasn't trying to be mean or accusatory. Things were just much better when Lilly was alive.

Although he loved her, Logan doubted that he and Lilly would've still been together. Lilly liked to play around too much and the two of them together were like a nuclear reaction...hot, but destructive.

"Yeah, probably," Veronica answered simply. She didn't know where he was coming from or why he had said that. Was he regretting the feud they'd been having? With as harsh as he'd been, she didn't think that could be it. 'Even if he is regretting it now, it's a very emotional time. Once this is all over, he'll remember that he hates me and things will go back to normal. That is, if he's forgotten how much he hates me.

"It's getting late. I've really got to get going if I'm going to make it tonight." She motioned her head toward her door, then she stepped out of the vehicle.
"See ya, Veronica." He said before she shut the door. Then he watched in his side and rearview mirrors as she walked behind his car to go to hers.

Veronica was snapping pictures as she walked through the sea of students and teachers listening to the school orchestra. She continued to take pictures as Celeste came up to the podium to speak.

Veronica almost choked when Celeste talked about how much Lilly loved the school and represented all of the good and noble things in the school motto. 'Lilly is probably laughing her butt off!' Veronica had to smirk a little.

She felt like someone was watching her so she stopped taking pictures for a moment to look around. She noticed Troy and walked over to him. They gave each other a little head nod and continued to watch Celeste as she turned toward the covered fountain.

Veronica felt someone bump into her and turned to see who it was. Logan leaned in to her, "What are you doing over here, Veronica? You should be up front. Let's go, Lilly's best friend."

He tugged on her sleeve and she walked toward the front with him. They watched as the video of Lilly played. It amazed her. Although she'd spent hours working on the video and had gotten to see the final product, seeing it on the big screen just gave it a whole new life. She was just as mesmerized by it as she had been when she watched it earlier.

When the video faded, everyone slowly started to dissipate. Logan and Veronica stood still for a moment until Logan broke the silence.

"So, I was thinking that maybe we could clean up the A/V room tomorrow? You know, that way we wouldn't have to do it Monday morning." He spoke quietly.

"Tom-" Veronica had to clear her throat. "Tomorrow I'm going to Homecoming with Troy. Aren't you going?"

"Oh, yeah. I forgot." Logan had secretly been hoping that Daddy Mars had put an end to all Homecoming plans. In fact, this week Logan had been thinking about how nice it would be if Veronica could join him at the beach. He knew that she would appreciate why he was choosing to spend his Homecoming that way.

He hadn't understood that this last year. Hating her because she hadn't loved Lilly, Duncan and him enough to side with them is what had been driving him for so long. He was blind to her pain. Now, though, he knew that he was wrong. Really, he had known all along, he'd chosen to forget for a little while.

The real question was whether she'd be able to forgive him for everything he'd done during his period of amnesia. 'Yup, that's the million dollar question.'

"I'll meet you there Monday morning, though, okay?" She looked into his eyes and could have sworn she'd seen regret. This had been a hard week on them both and she knew he was probably regretting his last break up with Lilly.

"Yeah, sure. Sounds good." Logan said as they parted.

LOVE...LOVE...LOVE...LOVE...LOVE...LOVE...LOVE

xosummerxo: Thanks! I didn't want to take anything away from Keith as "Daddy Mars, original kick-butt PI," but in the end this is a LoVe story so I had to give Logan the credit.

sarca666: Thank you so much. It was something that I was determined to do when I started writing this story initially. As a reader, I'm insatiable and I'm always looking for the next update.

Literati and naley forever: Wonderful. I'm so glad you enjoyed it. I hope you like the way it continues to develop...lots more coming!

Lorelei Candice Black: Well, all of your questions should be answered in the next chapter.

RBDFAN: Yeah, me too. Since the balcony scene at the Camelot, I don't know how anyone could think of him anyway, but a hero...and he just keeps on giving.

Adja: Well, okay...then if you are gone for a couple of weeks, you will have a lot of reading to do when you return. Oh, and don't worry. Logan will be showing his manliness soon enough! (Take that however you'd like)