Author's note: Thank you everyone so much for reading the story and reviewing! We really appreciate it! We're having a blast writing it so thank you for reading! I know it's so nail biting to watch LoVe, they def take two steps forward and three steps back, that's going to continue for awhile. Just a forewarning. Also we're glad you liked the Madi club parts! The visual is the best. Please let us know what you think! We appreciate and LoVe it.

Thank you to: irma66, ViolaFaltiba, Guest, Erin, AliLorien, LaDanaid(X2!), Dani, Scandalpants(X2!), LadyMischief, AngelPete87, NorCal91, The Scarlet Letter, Guest, irislim, viki, LoVePjandBrucasLover, jandjsalmon, & BeWitchingRedhead36!

Chapter 4: Underneath the Christmas Tree

"Hey!"

Silence.

"Hey!"

Silence.

"Hey Mac!" Dick tried again trying to get the attention of the brunette sitting on the couch reading.

"What?" Mac asked her eyes still trained on the book. There was a note of exasperation in he voice.

"Is TBSP a teaspoon or tablespoon?" Dick asked holding up the two separate measuring utensils.

"What?" Mac asked confused by the question. She was enraptured by the book and couldn't bring herself to look over at Dick. She had just gotten to the part where the heroine was about to decide between the two men who had been trying to woo her.

"Is TBSP a teaspoon or tablespoon?" Dick asked again in frustration.

Mac frowned as her brain finally processed his question. She looked up from her book and toward the kitchen doorway where Dick stood holding two measuring tools.

"Tablespoon…" Mac mumbled staring at Dick in awe. He was wearing a grin despite the frustration and an apron that had a shirtless chiseled chest on it. A loin cloth picture was at the bottom to cover the manly parts.

"What the hell are you wearing?" Mac asked momentarily distracted by the picture of the muscular chest on Dick. She wondered if that was what Dick looked like minus clothes. She shook her head, surprised by the sudden turn of her thoughts. Thoughts like that rarely popped into her head, especially where Dick Casablancas was concerned. But, after last night and their almost kiss, he was on her mind more that she'd like to admit. She wasn't ready to deal with that little tidbit though. Instead she would remain in completely in denial. What the hell was wrong with her?

"My gladiator apron, duh. I wear it when I cook." Dick said like this fact should be obvious. He turned and walked back into the kitchen to continue with whatever science experiment he was working on.

It only took six seconds for curiosity to get the better of Mac. She jumped up and followed after him, stopping dead in her tracks at the sight of the kitchen. Every visible surface was covered with pots, pans and ingredients. The refrigerator door was wide open and bowls of various sizes were strewn all over the kitchen, including the floor. Mac felt her jaw literary drop open at the sight in front of her. She turned to Dick slowly who was sloppily measuring some flour into one a mixing bowl. A naked ham sat on the counter finishing off the mess.

"Oh my god." Mac mumbled staring in horror at the state of the kitchen.

"Hey Mac, can you hand me some lemons?" Dick asked nodding at the open refrigerator.

She stared at him and then turned to the open cooler, wondering if she should even ask her next question.

"What do you need lemons for?" Mac asked stepping over some bowls on the ground and finally reaching the fridge. She stuck her head in and began to sift through the food that she and Veronica had bought the day before.

Dick turned around to reply, but his words caught in his throat as he caught sight of her bending over to search the contents of the fridge. He licked his lips as he stared at the shape of her ass and he felt his manly parts twitch in delight at the image. A mental picture of bending Mac over the counter and having his dirty way with her infiltrated his mind and he felt the sudden urge to slap himself. Where did that come from? Mac wasn't his type at all. Last night they might have made some kind of connection, but it was totally the alcohol. Dick didn't like girls. He just banged them until he grew bored.

She straightened up, giving him an expectant look. He immediately looked away, trying to appear nonchalant.

"You know…for the recipe," he belatedly remember to reply.

"What recipe?" she asked rolling her eyes and handing him one lemon.

"The one for the pie I'm making."

"You're making a pie? What type of pie is it? Lemon tart or something?"

Dick frowned and looked at the recipe. "How should I know? It just says a pinch of lemon and three tablespoons of salt."

Mac huffed and stepped over the items on the floor to reach him. "Dick…TSP is a teaspoon not a tablespoon," She said, her voice full of amusement.

Dick stared at her and then down at the yellow bowl he'd been mixing in. "So…that's not the same thing?" he clarified.

Mac sighed and shook her head before looking around the kitchen. "What exactly are you doing?" she asked slowly.

"Dinner." He said rolling his eyes at her obliviousness.

"What are you cooking?"

"Dude, you know…Christmas dinner. Ham, mashed potatoes, garlic bread, salad, stuffing, meat pies, and like a non-meat pie." He said pointing at each bowl. "Oh and a fruit salad." He added with a nod at the floor.

Mac blinked and let out a slow breath. Her Christmas dinners never consisted of anything remotely like the one Dick was planning. She wondered what type of Christmas rich people had.

"Have you ever cooked anything at all? Like ever?" She asked, running a hand through her hair. She had to keep reminding herself that it wasn't a big deal. There was more food incase Dick's cooking experiment ended badly.

Dick shrugged, "No, but how hard can it be? I went to the grocery store this morning and everything should be done by like six." He said looking down at her as if she was the slow one.

"Dick, do you know how long a ham needs to cook? Like several hours and if we're eating in four hours you can't make salad now! And what are things we are going to eat doing on the floor?" She asked exasperated.

"Because I clearly ran out of room on the counter." He said smiling slightly at the frazzled look on her face. He thought it was cute, but he wouldn't admit that out loud. Dick didn't think anything was cute. Hot, gorgeous, and bootylicious, yes, cute no.

Mac closed her eyes and counted down from ten before opening them again and looking back around the kitchen. "Why exactly are you trying to kill us again?" She asked softly, not wanting to freak out just yet.

"I figured it would be nice. Romantic you know. I don't know what happened last night, but Logan and Ronnie have been up in their rooms all day. I tried to talk to Logan earlier, but he was all mopey and sad." Dick said rolling his eyes.

"I thought it would be nice to have a Christmas Eve dinner." He added looking down at her.

Mac nodded slowly. "Ok, ok, well maybe we can still salvage some of this." She said looking at the bowl still in his hands. "First things first though, you need to throw that away and I'll make Veronica and Logan go and get a pie for dessert," she said, stepping over the items on the floor to reach the doorway.

"And get the food off the floor, Dick," She yelled over her shoulder. She missed Dick stick his tongue out at her.

Mac hurried upstairs and knocked on Veronica's door loudly. It was two in the afternoon. V couldn't possibly still be asleep, right? Mac couldn't hear anything from inside her friend's room. She pressed her ear to the door and then knocked again louder. She heard a door open down the hallway but saw Logan's head that pop out of the room instead of Veronica's.

"Hey." Mac said uncomfortably.

Logan smirked, "Mac, did you need something?"

"Where's Veronica?"

Logan looked away and shrugged. "I'm not her keeper." He said an undertone of bitterness under his breath.

"Well you and Veronica need to go get some sort of dessert for tonight." Mac said turning to knock again on Veronica's again.

"On Christmas Eve? What do I look like a miracle worker?" Logan said, stepping fully out of his room to stand next to Mac in front of Veronica's.

Mac sighed heavily and took a step back from the door. "No, but I want dessert tonight and I'm willing to bet so does Veronica. So you two need to go get something or else heads are going to roll. And it had better not come out of the freezer aisle. Find something good." She threatened before turning and walking back towards the steps.

"What happened to whatever dessert there was?" Logan called after her.

"Dick…decided to try out his cooking skills." She said heavily and then she hurried down the stairs before Dick could ruin anything else.

Logan watched her go. He waited a full minute to collect himself before he took a deep breath, closed his eyes and pounded on Veronica's door. He bit the inside of his cheek nervously as he waited for it to open. After a few seconds he was about to knock again when the door opened and a tired looking Veronica stood before him.

Logan stared at her for a moment, taking in the pajamas she was still in and the unguarded look in her eyes. When her eyes met his he watched with agonizing sadness as her walls went up. She gave him a stiff smile and moved back into the room. Logan knew her well enough to know that this was a wordless invitation for him to come in.

"Uh…Dick's trying to cook dinner so we have to get dessert," he said, scratching the back of his neck and looking everywhere but at her.

"Ok," Veronica said, going to her suitcase to find some clothes to change into.

"That's it? Ok?" he asked. He was surprised that he didn't have to convince her to come with him or, at the very least, threaten her with no dessert.

"Yeah. I mean…did you want to go alone?" She stopped shuffling through her bag and looked up at him.

He shook his head quicker than he meant to and then shrugged, "Doesn't matter."

She smiled and grabbed clothes from her suitcase before looking at him expectantly. He blinked, staring blankly back at her. She wiggled her clothes and then nodded at the door.

"This isn't a free show, Echolls," she said, throwing her clothes on the rumpled bed.

Logan blinked and cleared his throat, realizing that she had to change at the same time she dropped the hint that he should leave.

"Right, yeah. Sorry." He stammered before leaving the room and closing the door behind him. He leaned against the door and briefly shut his eyes. His mind automatically went to a naked Veronica Mars just on the other side of the door. The physical ache of how much he actually missed her hit him square in the chest. Not for the first time, he cursed himself for fleeing their relationship. He had told himself that he was just beating her to punch but he hadn't anticipated missing her so much. He took a step away from the door just as she came through it. They stared at each other before Logan made a gesture for her lead on. She hurried downstairs and stopped at the doorway of the kitchen to see Dick and Mac in the middle of a vast mess.

"Did a food bomb go off in here?" Veronica asked eyeing the various cooking tools all over the kitchen.

"Dick and I are making Christmas dinner." Mac said grabbing Dick's hand before he dumped some milk into the mashed potatoes bowl. He stared at her in confusion and she nodded at the measuring cup near the sink.

"We need to measure, Dick. Remember, we just went over that," she said as if she were talking to a five year old.

Dick rolled his eyes, but did what he was told.

Veronica raised an eyebrow and then turned around to walk back to Logan. When she spun around she didn't notice he was right behind her and she ran into his chest. She took a step back, but Logan grabbed her arm to stop her. He immediately let go of her arm when he noticed her startled look. He was desperate to say something and looked around the room for inspiration.

"Fruit salad." He said gesturing down at the floor where a bowl of half cut up fruit sat.

"Um…yeah." She said as if she always almost stepped in fruit salad.

She waved goodbye to Dick and Mac and they left the cabin and made their way out to Logan's car. She rubbed her arm where he'd touched her and tried to ignore the fire that had ignited within her at his touch.

The two got into the car and Logan looked up the nearest bakery on his phone. "I don't know if there will be anything open since it's Christmas Eve and all, but maybe we'll get lucky." Logan said turning the car on and letting it heat up before putting it in drive.

"Maybe," she said, matching his absentminded tone. She sat quietly and stared out the window as they drove down into town. They listened to Christmas music on the radio and neither of them said much. The first bakery they stopped at was closed. The next four were as well. By that time it was growing dark and neither of them had said more than a few words to each other. The grocery store they went to next thankfully was still open and a few pies and various other desserts were still on the wooden tables under the sign Baked Goods.

"What should we get?" Veronica asked her voice raspy from lack of use.

"We don't have much of a choice." Logan said looking between the last five desserts on the table.

"Well I'm vetoing chocolate chip cookies because those do not look appetizing," she mumbled, pointing at the small box of cookies that looked stale.

"Well—" Logan began.

"Oh honey! I knew this was going to be a disaster." A tiny, middle-aged blonde woman said, coming to stand beneath the sign with them. She was with a tall brunette man who didn't look very happy. She gave Veronica and Logan a soft smile and then looked up at the tall man.

"Honey, I don't know why we didn't just get something when we were still in San Francisco." She said quietly looking at the few desserts.

"Because your parents hate anything good." He said bitterly.

The blonde woman looked at Logan and Veronica and gave them an apologetic smile before turning to her companion. "They like you," she said, trying to be optimistic.

"Val, how can you even say that? They've hated me since they met me when we were in high school. Besides, I'm good…therefore they hate me. It's the law of physics." He said sounding like a petulant child.

"Well I love you so that's all that matters." She whispered, standing on her tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek.

"It'd better be the only thing that matters." He mumbled kissing her on her forehead before looking over at Logan and Veronica who were watching them with varying emotions across their face.

"See something you like?" The man snapped bringing his wife closer to him.

"Just trying to decide," Veronica said, looking down at the few desserts.

"Don't mind Lance. He just hates people," the woman chirped.

Veronica smiled despite herself and looked up at Logan. "So does this one. It must be a male thing." She said.

"Does he dislike your parents too?" the woman asked laughing.

Veronica grinned, her eyes still on Logan. It took her a second to remember that, not only did she not have parents (she had a parent), but also she and Logan weren't together.

"Look at them talking about us like we aren't even here." The man said rolling his eyes at Logan.

Logan cracked a smile. "Ronnie does that all the time. It's nothing new. Sometimes I think she even forgets I'm around." Logan said, bitterness underlining his tone.

Veronica looked back down at the desserts, her ears ringing with Logan's words. Oh she knew when he was around; she could always feel him. It was like her body finally felt alive and every molecule in her vibrated and hummed as a result of his proximity. She could never forget him being around, of that she was certain. Even if they didn't talk for years, she was positive that she would instinctively know the moment he walked into the same room as her. That thought scared her most of all.

"I don't." she said quietly.

The middle-aged couple exchanged looks and then the tiny blonde woman gave them a gentle smile. "Which dessert would you like? You guys were here first." The woman said gesturing to the small pile.

"We're trying to decide which dessert is the best." Veronica said trying to give the woman a smile.

"Where are you going?" the woman asked.

"If it's to her parents get the worst thing you can. They'll talk about how bad the food is instead of focus on how bad you are for her." The man advised Logan.

Logan smirked and looked down at Veronica who was frowning. "Her dad pretty much already hates me. I don't think choosing a terrible dessert would help either way." Logan said carelessly.

"What did you do?" the guy asked curiously.

"What did I not do is the real question." Logan said.

"Well what is it?" the guy pressed.

Logan looked back down at Veronica who was pretending to try and decide between blueberry pie and pecan. "Well, it first started when I was accused of murdering her best friend and probably escalated when I got angry and threw a lamp. But most likely he just never really liked me at all." Logan mused watching the smile on the older man's face disappear.

The middle aged couple looked in between the younger couple and then the man grinned, much to Logan's surprise.

"Ah, being young was much more fun. Especially young and in love. Val, and I met in high school. She was dating the class President, but women just can't resist a bad boy with a sad past, you know? Her parents have always hated me. I've never been accused of murder, but I have had my fair share of anger issues. Throwing shoes, dishes, toasters…you name it. If you want some advice, just enjoy being with the woman you love. Don't think about whether her parents will like you or not. You aren't going to be with her parents forever, just her." He advised.

Logan stared at the man not sure what to say when his wife piped up. "Besides, you two are too adorable together," she said.

The man rolled his eyes. "It isn't about being adorable; it's about being right. They are right together." He said shaking his head at his wife.

The wife rolled her eyes and looked at Veronica. "Dear, take the pecan, it's fresher." The woman advised.

Logan looked down at Veronica who was grasping the pies so tightly that the plastic crunching under her fingers.

"Pecan. Yeah," She mumbled, placing the blueberry down and taking a step back. "Thanks." She said robotically and began to walk away.

"Sorry about her. She's always lost in her own thoughts. I like to pretend she's too distracted by me." Logan joked before thanking the couple and walking away. He heard them mentioned how nice of a couple they were and inside he felt warm and mushy. Someone thought that that they were a great couple. It almost didn't matter that they were no longer together. As he got in line at the checkout stand behind Veronica, he noticed that she didn't look as happy; she looked completely petrified.

He didn't bring it up until they were back in the car, letting it warm up before heading back to the cabin.

"Veronica?" he said quietly looking over at her.

She stared out the window seemingly lost in thought.

"Doesn't listen to—"

"I'm sorry." She blurted out.

Logan turned fully toward her as he waited for her to continue. Veronica rarely apologized so when she did Logan made sure to give it his full attention.

When they were younger he took a great deal of pleasure from hearing her utter those two words, mostly because she rarely did anything wrong. She was the wallflower who wouldn't knowingly hurt anyone.

Now Logan took even more pleasure in her apologies than he had before. Veronica 2.0's apologies were as rare as they had been when they were kids but for a totally different reason. Veronica 2.0 never liked to admit it when she screwed up and she seemed to always hurt people. It was uncommon for her to admit that.

"Sorry?" he said watching as she played with the plastic bag.

"Yeah. About last night, I'm sorry." She said finally bringing herself to look at him.

"Ok." He said leaning back against the seat. Thinking that was the extent of her apology, Logan reached out put the car in gear.

"I'm sorry that I hurt your feelings. I'm just…you know how I am. I get defensive when I feel vulnerable and…well I made that comment without thinking. I don't mean to be a total bitch to you – at least not all the time, anyway. I'm trying to work on it, but it's like the trust thing. It doesn't come naturally." She whispered gazing at him.

Logan smiled weakly. "It's fine, Veronica. Bad boys like me don't have feelings anyway."

Without thinking she reached out to put her hand on his arm but pulled away at the last second. She matched his feeble smile and shook her head. "Sometimes I need to hurt the other person before I get hurt myself. It's just scary for me - the thought of being so…vulnerable and open with someone. It's scary how easily being vulnerable can hurt you. I just…yeah I'm sorry." She rambled, letting out a breath that made her bangs fly up.

Logan's smile widened and he nodded. "Good to know." He said reaching for the gearshift again.

"Am I forgiven?" she whispered, fear lacing her voice.

He stared at her, watching as vulnerability spread from her voice to her eyes. A slow smirk formed on his face and she scowled at him, knowing that he was teasing her by taking so long to answer. She impatiently nudged him to get a response.

"Always." He mumbled.

She nodded and turned to look out the window. A slow snowfall had started. She smiled softly all the way home wondering if maybe a tiger really can change its stripes.

(A/n: So what did you guys think? Please review! Next up is second half of christmas!)