A/N: Thanx for the reviewage, reader peops - so cool to have you sticking with me on this odd AU adventure ;-)

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 3

Veronica was beyond tired as she got up to the motel room and let herself inside. She headed straight for the bed, dumping her bag at the end of it and rifling through to find her nightwear. It took just a couple of minutes before she realised that Logan was stood just inside the doorway staring at her strangely. The thought occurred then that he might find it weird sharing a room with a woman, after all it was unlikely he'd done such a thing before. At just eighteen, as she knew he was, the guy would have hormones aplenty but probably little or no chance to act on them, locked up in his ivory tower as Veronica knew he had been. She wasn't the type to randomly sleep around herself, but there had been guys, she knew the score, and she wasn't at all embarrassed about the prospect of sharing a room for the night with a person of the opposite sex, even if Logan was.

"Are you okay?" she asked him when he continued to look awkward, glancing around at the peeling paper on every wall and the dust-covered light shade above their heads.

"Yeah, sure" he nodded after a moment, just now considering what he was going to sleep in since he had bolted from the movie premiere with nothing but the suit he'd been dressed in and a wallet holding little actual cash.

For a moment, Logan thought perhaps he never should've done this, jumped into a car with a stranger and let her drive him wherever she pleased. His own bed at home did appeal, but everything that came with it did not the more Logan considered it. Parents who didn't care, staff that would barely talk to him, no friends and no fun to speak of. This place might be kind of a dive, but he wasn't alone and he was free to do whatever he wanted, for a while at least.

Glancing over at Veronica, he watched her remove her jacket and top, revealing a vest-top underneath. She kicked her shoes off next and reached down to push her pants off her legs, at which point Logan had the good grace to turn around, sitting on the edge of the bed that was apparently to be his for the night. Veronica knew he had been staring. She also knew he looked away when she got down to her underwear which made her smile. Either he was a gentleman or he was easily embarrassed, and that made him quite sweet, whichever of the two options were true.

"Veronica?" he said as she climbed into bed, "Why'd you offer me a ride last night?" he asked her curiously as he slid the borrowed sweatshirt over his head and unbuckled his belt.

The blonde kept her back to him a moment as she thought fast, knowing that telling him the truth world ruin this whole thing. A few seconds passed before she turned over, propping herself up on her elbow and looking over at him.

"Because you looked like you could use a friend" she said eventually, a partial lie but also true at the same time.

He really had looked kind of lost and not just last night, running from whatever trouble had started at the movie premiere he was attending, but every time she had seen him in a picture or on the news. He was kept in the background but visible occasionally to the trained eye, and Veronica had noticed him, noticed how lonely he always looked. She understood that feeling because she'd felt it often enough herself over the years.

"So now I have a friend" he smiled cheekily, "One who offered to sleep with me on the first night" he joked, making Veronica open her mouth in protest only to close it again when she realised what he meant.

"Sleep, yes, very clever" she rolled her eyes before turning over and trying to get that rest she'd been talking about this whole time.

Logan sat up in the other bed, staring across at the young woman who was, to all intents and purposes, his saviour. That kind of made it sound like she'd prevented his death or something, but in a way he supposed she had. He was dying on the inside, being kept in a virtual prison for most of his eighteen years. Sure, that prison contained all kinds of luxury, but it wasn't the same as having the freedom to roam.

Sleep wasn't going to come easy, after all, he'd already spent most of the car journey catching up on his Zs. Of course, Veronica would need to sleep, he probably kept her up all night having her play chauffeur to his great escape, but he'd find a way to repay her for that. She was the strangest woman he ever met, but one of the most straight-forward perhaps. She didn't seem to be working an angle or care why he was here. She asked very few questions, she just wanted to help him out. That was kind of amazing to Logan, who so far in his life only really recalled meeting the rich and pointless, and those who were out to make a quick buck off his family's name and fortune.

If Logan was going to have this adventure that he seemed to be starting right now, Veronica seemed like a good person to share it with. Though he doubted she was much older than him, she exuded this worldly wisdom that he found interesting and somewhat comforting now he was out in the big scary world. Going home was still an option of course, but his Dad would probably have his ass for what he'd done last night. At least he could make his escape worth the punishment if he got the freedom he wanted first.

"Veronica?" he called across to her, and though she sounded sleepy she did answer.

"Uh-huh" she sighed.

"Where are you going from here?" he checked, wondering if she had a plan at all.

"I don't know" she told him, turning over to glance at him, "I'm on vacation right now, so I guess... wherever I want" she shrugged, "Why?"

"You want a roadtrip buddy a while longer?" he asked her, glad to see a smile spread across her lips at the sound of those words.

"Sure" she agreed, "but only on one condition" she added, looking more serious and pointing a finger at him, "Let me sleep" she begged him and with a smirk he couldn't help, Logan nodded his agreement.

"Goodnight, Veronica" he said as he too laid down and attempted to get some shut eye.

"Goodnight, Logan" she replied in kind, glad to finally be getting some peace before their real adventure began tomorrow.

Veronica woke up sharply as the midday sun streaked across her face. Squinting against the too bright light, her brain fought to catch up with where she was and why, then the memories started hitting her one after the other till her head ached. She'd taken on a fool's mission, at least she was pretty sure most people would see it that way. She was voluntarily baby-sitting a rich teenage boy with a yen for freedom, all without payment and without him really knowing who she was.

'Why do I get myself into these stupid situations?' thought Veronica as she pulled herself up to a sitting position, rubbing her eyes til they cleared.

Glancing across at the bed beside hers, the blonde was suddenly very awake when she realised that Logan Echolls, her impromptu travel buddy and guy she was supposed to be keeping an eye on and protecting from harm, was gone!

Running all kinds of scenarios through her head, Veronica grabbed up her cell that flashed with an unread message which must've come in whilst she slept. On automatic, she opened the text and felt vaguely relieved yet at the same time annoyed to realise the back up had arrived. Just a few doors down the hall, Sachs and D'Amata were holed up together, waiting for Veronica and Logan to go on the move. Of course, that thought led to the one that reminded the Private Investigator that her precious commodity of a travel partner was missing!

"Damn!" she cursed, just about to swing her legs out of the bed and get dressed when the door flew open and in strolled Logan himself, the very picture of innocence.

"Hey" he said with a smile that faded fast when he saw the look on Veronica's face, "You okay?" he asked with genuine concern, though his eyes had drifted a little from her worried eyes to her chest that was clad only in a lacy bra and no longer covered by the bedclothes.

"I'm fine" she waved away his concern, "I just... had kind of a nightmare" she covered, only a half-lie since losing him would have been quite the crisis in all kinds of ways, "Where've you been?" she asked curiously, trying to breathe evenly and not sound angry, after all, it wasn't exactly Logan's fault he nearly gave her a heart attack!

"Just down to the front desk" he explained, showing her the folded paper in his hands, "Picked up a map of the area, looking for places to go" he said as he sat down on the edge of the bed with his back to her as Veronica made it clear she was getting out of bed now.

She was dressed inside a minute and climbed onto the bed behind Logan, peering over his shoulder at the map he'd laid out across his lap. It had occurred to him last night that he was alone in a hotel room with a beautiful young woman, but the thought came crashing back to him with a vengeance now she was close enough to feel the warmth of her body, and on a bed no less.

"So, are you a city girl or a beach girl?" he asked, trying to concentrate on the task at hand and not on the closeness of Veronica.

"City, I guess" she said with a shrug of her shoulders, "but only because it's been so long since I've actually seen a beach close up" she sighed.

"You wanna go?" he asked, turning to look at her and wishing he hadn't when he found her still impossibly close to him.

She noticed too and quickly backed up off the bed, trying not to be too obvious in doing so. The last thing she needed was for the cute little rich boy to fall for her, she told herself, immediately angry at her own thought process when she realised she had just called him cute, albeit inside her own head.

"Sure, we can do that" she nodded, wandering back across the room and picking up her things from the nightstand - watch, wallet, sunglasses, cell phone, and car keys, "You wanna drive?" she asked dangling said keys from her fingers.

"Are you serious? he asked with a grin and eyes as wide as saucers - like her Chrysler LeBaron was really such a dream car!

"Assuming you have a licence" she checked, at which he nodded, "Then sure. I could use a break from being behind the wheel" she said as she handed him the keys and stretched out her body.

Logan tried not to stare for about the third time already today, as Veronica's shirt parted company with her pants. He'd seen more real-life female flesh in the past twenty four hours than he'd seen in the past few weeks locked in his ivory tower, not that her body was the only thing he liked about Veronica. She seemed fun and interesting, and she didn't recognise who he was, which pleased Logan to end. More than that, she wanted to help him and give him the adventure he'd been wanting too long. For that he was always going to think she was the coolest woman he ever met in his life.

To Be Continued...