ANI: I own nothing but the mistakes of which I'm sure are many. I wrote this while trying to cook dinner and bathe children. The idea just wouldn't leave me alone. Please review it would make my day!

It was a dusky indigo outside, the last vestiges of the dwindling sunlight fading into the encroaching shadows, as Logan considered Veronica's earlier question. It still was unanswered.

It would be a perfect time for Veronica to go, thought Logan. She could get her clothes, leave, maybe time and distance would help him come up with a plan for throwing the tiny blond one off his trail. He'd get her out of his business, out of his life again, do away with this weird truce they seemed to have going on. He opened his mouth to tell her just that. Except what he really said went a little more like this.

"Hey, Ronnie. How about pizza, get some real food here." She looked just as shocked as Logan did, staring at him across the chasm of broken trust and shattered friendships.

"Ahhh, sure," she stammered, still looking at him like he was a really interesting puzzle she was trying to figure out.

Maybe she had expected him to fight harder to get rid of her. Logan kind of did too, except it was so freakin lonely in the big house, and his body was still a raging crescendo of swelling white hot pain. Snarking with Veronica made it easier to forget.

He ought to know, he'd employed the same tactic after Lily had died and Veronica had betrayed them all to stand by her lying accusing father.

She swung her bare legs, delicate feet hitting the counter, before she jumped lightly down. The soft cotton of her borrowed tee-shirt flared up with her sudden movement, swirling dangerously close to her hips. It was like they were frozen, standing less than a foot from each other, both in various states of awkward undress. Logan felt his breathing quicken and his pupils dilate in way that they hadn't since his first time with Lily. It didn't help when Veronica's pink tongue snaked out and moistened her lips. Suddenly his sweat pants felt way too tight.

Veronica was the first to break the heated stare. Her pale skin was flushed a delicate shade of rose. At least he wasn't the only one affected by this really weird standoff and the thought made Logan feel marginally better.

Until she grabbed his hand in hers and tugged him out of the kitchen towards his bedroom. "What the…" he trailed off sounding nothing like his usual eloquent cocky self.

"Relax Logan, I just want to put more salve on your back, grab some more aspirin. Then I guess we can order a pizza. I mean, if you want too. Plus I gotta put my clothes in the wash, I can't keep wearing your shirt forever," she remarked as she briskly led him up the stairs, her hips swaying in from of him like the most delicious metronome he'd ever seen.

He shook his head. What the hell Logan, he told himself, this is Veronica Mars. Enemy, white trash, betrayer of all things fab four. She turned and smiled at him, soft and tentatively as if she could sense the direction his thoughts were going in. Logan forgot to be upset and let himself be pulled into the bathroom.

The bathroom was large, beautifully tiled, with an ornate mirror above the duel pedestal sinks. Veronica backed him up until he felt the cool porcelain of the toilet hit his legs. He sat down, turning sideways, and laying his head down against his crossed arms folded on top of the sink.

Neither of them spoke, the moment too intimate and raw. He felt her touch against his abraded skin as Veronica gently applied the cool cream to his cuts and welts. A hiss escaped between his pressed lips and he flinched slightly.

"Sorry," Veronica murmured, her voice soft and sad as she continued in her ministrations.

He couldn't tell her that it wasn't the pain that caused him to flinch. Sure, it hurt, but pain he could handle. He'd been schooled in it from an early age. It was her touch. It was soft and caring. Logan had been with many women, been touched by many, in all different kinds of ways. But never quite so innocently and gentle. Even Lily had been sure and confident, using him however she felt like. He wasn't complaining, Logan was just as teenage and hormonal as the rest of the male population. But, Veronica's touch was different. He wasn't quite sure how to interpret it. No one touched him without wanting something in return.

"All done, Logan," spoke Veronica. Turning she put away the cream and wiped her hands on the hand towel. She left the bathroom and Logan trailed after her, still lost in his thoughts. Veronica padded lightly along the carpet into Logan's room, stepping gingerly around piles of clothes, books, and the discarded alcohol bottle. "I'll just go throw these in the wash and your order the pizza okay?"

"Alright," he answered. He needed to get back on kilter, needed to find his sarcastic defense mechanisms again. Jesus, she was going to have him eating chocolate and painting his toe nails pretty soon. He needed to hit something, drink something, or fuck something. Unfortunately he was locked in a house with Veronica Mars and he was still wearing Aaron's badge of horror. It didn't leave him with many options.

Shrugging his shoulders, ignoring the way it pulled his still healing skin, Logan ordered the pizza. He settled in to wait for Nancy Drew to make it back from her hired help pilgrimage, ankles crossed comfortably as he sat on the bed. Logan put on the radio, anxious for anything to fill the suddenly oppressive silence, and let the low bluesy guitar and soft subtle beats carry him away.

He really wanted to know what secrets little miss secret finder was keeping. What was Ronnie referring to earlier about being damaged? Logan would bet his black amex card that he'd never get her to tell though. Unless he had something she wanted in return, a secret for a secret maybe? Veronica popped back in, head peakinghesitantly around the door frame, before she came all the way into his bedroom.

"Ohh, The Black Keys, somehow I wouldn't have taken you for a fan," she said as she perched on the edge of the bed opposite from where Logan sat.

"Why, only tortured heartbroken people can enjoy the blues, think I'm too much of a jackass to appreciate great rock and roll when I hear it? Now who's stereotyping who?"

"Shut up, Logan. Don't get your panties in a twist, I just didn't think we'd have anything in common anymore. Not your usual style if I remember correctly."

"Well people change," he murmured softly, meeting her eyes briefly.

"Some people do, and maybe some people you never really knew at all," Veronica shot back reminding Logan why she was his favorite verbal sparring partner. She fiddled with her hair before asking, "Is the pizza coming?"

"Yes, Ronnie. I ordered enough to feed a small army, otherwise known as you. How else are we gonna make sure your birthing hips stay in shape for all those rugrats you're going to raise in a double wide someday?"

"Well, I'm such a gold digging ho, maybe I'll raise them in your pool house instead." The banter was back but the bite was missing. Veronica's eyes were glowing, almost as if she appreciated the return to a shade of their normalcy as much as Logan did.

"Wanna play a game," asked Logan.

"Seriously, like hungry hungry hippo or something."

"Chill out V, the pizza's coming. No, I was thinking more like a question for a question. You only get 5 questions, and one pass. And you have to tell the truth."

"Why," asked Veronica warily, even as she was practically salivating at getting some answers out of Logan?

"I'm bored."

"Bullshit."

"Ohh Veronica, so lady like." Logan fluttered his eye lashes and pretended to swoon.

"Okay, say I play your game. Nothing leaves this room, and nothing can be used against the other person."

Logan hemmed and hawed, secretly thrilled to have her right where he wanted her. "Deal," he spoke, thrusting his hand out. "Man up, shake on it Veronica."

She rolled her eyes but shook his hand anyway. "Only 5 questions huh…."

"Lady's first," intoned Logan with a saccharine smile willing to play the gentleman to a point.

"What happened to you to give you those welts and bruises?" Logan sucked in a harsh breath at her direct approach then blew it out slowly. It's not like he wasn't expecting her to ask that and he needed to lure her in so he could find out what happened to her. She sort of already knew anyway.

"My dad. He was angry at something I did and he took it upon himself to teach me a lesson."

Veronica blanched at having her suspicions confirmed. "Why," she asked.

"Nahh uhh, my turn now. Why did you betray me and DK after Lily's murder?" He didn't think she could get any paler, but she did. He wasn't lying, he really did want to know. Besides, he didn't think he could start out with the heaviest question. He had to get her to use her pass first.

"He's my dad, Logan. My family. The whole town turned against him, even my own mother. I had to make a choice and at the end of the day, he's my dad Logan." No, Logan didn't know, he'd never felt that way about Aaron. He knew Keith used to be pretty cool, always seemed interested in Veronica's life, helping with homework, and showing up to her school functions. He decided he would think about it.

"Shoot," he said and braced himself.

"What did you do, this particular time, to incur Aaron's lesson?" Damn she was good at being specific with her questions. All in Echolls, he thought grimly. She already hates you.

"I had a threesome with my father's accountant and agent in his bed. I didn't know the accountant taped it, she contacted my dad and threatened to go public unless he paid her off."

"But Logan, you're underage. She's an adult and taping it, that's sexual abuse Logan. Surely he couldn't blame you for grown women mistreating you?"

"He would have applauded me actually had it not cost him money and threatened exposure. And that was your third question." Logan smirked as her jaw locked but she didn't argue with his logic. She gestured to him with her hand.

"Go," she said.

"Who's the first person you had sex with?" He hadn't expected it to be a hard question, he naturally assumed it would be Duncan. Instead her eyes misted and she looked down.

"I don't know," she answered through gritted teeth.

"Why don't you know," he shot back feeling his voice harden with misplaced anger on her behalf. Anger and protectiveness he hadn't felt in a while, had thought it had dissipated actually. Instead, it had been laying dormant, waiting for a tiny blond pixie to light it up.

"Pass," she shot back just as vehemently. "And that's your third question." Just then the bell at the gate rang, signaling the arrival of the pizza.

"I don't want to play anymore," shouted Veronica as she stood up sharply. Her features were oddly stoic and she held her body stiff and contained.

Well, there went that plan, thought Logan. He looked up. "I never took you for a coward, Mars," he said. But she had already left and he was talking to an empty room. Hurting her just didn't seem to feel as good as it used to.

AN II: Please review, I would love to hear your thoughts. What would you guys like to see it this story? Let me know. And thanks again for reading!