Chapter Four
[A few weeks later.]
"Uh, hi, one coffee, with cream, please."
"For here or to go?"
"Here." It was eight AM, and there was little that Logan hated more than having to be up at an ungodly hour just to find out his math class had been canceled. He'd showered before heading out, and his hair was still damp and tousled from it. His clothes carefully chosen to suit the dreary weather outside. It was damp, and chilly, now that the fall had set in. Logan was dressed in jeans, and his favorite brown jacket over a plain, grey t-shirt.
The people behind the counter were just putting the lid onto his coffee cup when his phone buzzed in his pocket, prompting him to pull it out and glance down at it. He smiled, and caught the barista's attention. "Hey sorry, can you throw in a raspberry tart, please?"
"Absolutely, Mr. Echolls." She quickly pulled one out of the clear display case in front of him and placed it into a bag, passing the pastry and the coffee across the counter. "$5.75, please."
He paid and took the bag and coffee to sit at one of the tables in the small coffeehouse. The tart was left alone, instead, Logan just picked up the hot beverage to take a sip. Someone had left the morning paper near him on the next chair, and he picked it up, just to see if there were anything inside worth killing some time reading. Flipped through, pausing as he glanced over a classmate's engagement announcement.
"I hope you're not thinking of throwing a bachelor party, I put my foot down at indoor keggers," The voice jerked him from wherever his mind had taken him, and Logan smiled up at her as he folded the paper back up. Stood to lean and kiss her softly, automatically pulling the chair near her out to let her sit.
"Only the outdoor kind, trust me. I'm not big on the fees they charge to have vomit scrubbed out of the rug (at the Grand)." Once she was seated, he took his seat again and slid the little white bag with the baked treat in it over toward her. "How're you feeling?"
"Like I could sleep for an entire week if left undisturbed," Tess eyed the bag he was offering her, a brow quirked curiously. She tried to hold out just watching him but quickly caved and opened the bag to reveal the little tart. "God Bless you, Logan Echolls."
Logan looked up at her with an amused smile on his face. "Well that's something not many people bother saying, I could probably use some good mojo like that, thanks."
She laughed partially at that, licking raspberry from her thumb. "We could all use some good mojo. I'm twelve weeks away from expelling a human from my body."
He winced. "Touche, maybe I shoulda gotten you a donut."
"Eh, it's nice that you're thinking of my health," They shared smirks at that and he sat back against his chair, feet lifting from the ground, one stretching to the chair opposite him, the other wriggling from his flip flop to lift to her lap, toes rubbing her swollen body through her top.
"So what did the doc say?"
"Everything's fine. Good even. Everyone is growing at a healthy rate, there haven't been any spontaneous extra fetuses, so we know for sure naked sex is safe," Another exchange of smirks, this time Logan nearly laughed.
"And did you cave and snoop for any genitalia?"
"I would never!" But her face was telling a whole different story, and his jaw dropped.
"You are so weak! I didn't even ask the doc!"
"Would you like to know?"
"No, surprise, remember? It's supposed to be something they announce when he or she comes out! Then I can call people and surprise them too so don't you go telling anyone!"
By the time he was finished, his finger was raised high in the air mid-wag. Logan stared at it a moment and slowly lowered it. "I. . .wow. I've become my mother."
Tess giggled lightly, pinching off a piece of the pastry. "You haven't mentioned her much." Lifted her eyes, studied the twitch to the corner of his mouth, his sad eyes and instantly regretted saying it, but Logan seemed to be able to read her just as well.
"It's ok, Mom. ..mom was a good mom. She was. When she wasn't blitzed. I learned that word pretty young. She had her clear days and weeks and then my Dad would make her feel like shit and she'd binge." His smile turned wry. "Sometimes I still think she's shacked up on a beach in South America somewhere, y'know? All that personality, there's no way she's just dead."
"That makes sense," She told him earnestly, reaching to pat his hand. "If she is in South America, and not the African Sahara, chances are she'll be able to see the baby online, when it comes."
Logan smiled a little, dimples curving in as he thought about what Lynn's reaction would be. He nodded. "She'd be so thrilled, we'd probably get boxes of designer baby clothes overnight. We'll know they're from her because of the lack of return address."
Tess smiled at that, swallowed a bit of pastry before responding. "Then we have that to look forward to too, right?" Logan didn't answer her right away. He knew better, after Aaron had been killed, to hope for such a thing and be disappointed but Tess' optimism could be so infectious, he just nodded.
"Absolutely. Let's go out, I have a few hours before I have a class. We can do some wild and spontaneous stuff before we have to be calm, cool parents." He stood and offered her his hand and she watched it briefly. Tess did that sometimes, she sat and watched him with a sadness in her eyes that he didn't understand. A sadness that seemed like she knew something that he didn't. It always made something tighten in Logan's gut and now he found himself struggling for something to say. He took her hand for himself and pulled her to her feet. Embraced her tightly, the swell of the Bump rigid against his own body.
And they were quiet and surrounded by the chaos that sometimes caught up with them, almost college grads expecting a very unexpected kid, and Tess would probably throw herself to the lions still, if he asked her to. Tess was easy to love because she let him love her the way he needed to, and at his own pace. That thought frequently crossed his mind when he held her like this, and this morning, he bent his head to kiss the shell of her ear gently. "I love you."
It was only the second time he had had the cajones to tell her and the corners of her mouth lifted instantly, making her eyes twinkle and her face flush with warmth, Logan instantly brightening at her reaction. "Good, good, how about my wild and crazy adventure then?" He lifted her hands to his mouth. "We'll go away for a couple of days, get some rest away from this dump."
She nodded, took a breath before quirking her head. "Well I hope you plan on bringing Dick. You're gonna get bored watching me lay in the sun all day."
He grinned at that. "I do plan to bring dick, just not the one you're suggesting." As he wrapped his arm around her shoulders she tried swatting him away, laughing as he lead her outside.
"Veronica, is that you?"
"Yeah, hi Dad." Veronica heaved a sigh as she set her things down on a chair near the kitchen island, picking up the mail from the counter to sift through, pausing when she came across an envelope from a testing facility. 'Weird'. She thought, turning it over in her hand to check the seal before she broke it and took the sheet of paper out.
Dear Miss Mars,
On behalf of our mutual friend, Shawn Spencer, we're enclosing the results of a urinalysis test performed last week on a miss Parker Lee. The results list any drugs, legal or otherwise in her system as well as any conditions she may have that would be marked in her urine sample. We hope this information is helpful to you in investigating whatever matter you are looking in to.
Sincerely,
P. Poreign, PhD.
Veronica couldn't fathom where Shawn had gotten a sample of Parker's pee, but the thought made her chuckle lightly before she slid the paper under the other sheet enclosed. 'Let's see what Parker had in her tinkle.'
Proteins normal, no sign of pyuria or hematuria in the urine so both her tract and kidneys were healthy. Small amounts of acetaminophen, and enough tranqs to rule out Shawn's theory of Parker being off her meds. Reading that, Veronica was ready to put the paper down and thank him for sending her a useless form when she spotted it, toward the bottom of the list, but so very clearly there.
HCG: 219,000 mIU/ml.
Veronica took a seat on one of the stools just as Keith was coming down the hall, newly dressed in his civilian threads. He saw the look on Veronica's face and almost immediately reached for the paper in her hand, which she released voluntarily.
"What's this?"
"Tess's brother…"
"Oh," He scanned it. "Says she's on her meds, sweetheart."
"Yeah, yeah it does." She said softly, looking up at Keith. "And it also says that Parker is pregnant. There's enough hCG on there…"
"Ohhh," Keith handed the paper back. "Do you think maybe…Logan?"
She shook her head. "Logan's afraid of Parker and he's been with Tess for the past seven months, he'd never fool around on her and jeopardize his future with the baby." She was quiet a moment, looked at him. "Dad, I know it's Logan but he's really crazy about her. It makes it pretty hard to just hate her."
Keith listened, gently rubbed her shoulder with his palm. "Sounds like something that should be looked in to, do you think Parker would talk to you about it?"
"I really hope so, I don't think she'll talk to you first," Veronica stood, picking her bag back up. "I'll try to be home in the next couple of hours." She said, moving to kiss his cheek. "I'll keep you updated."
"I know you will, honey."
Veronica had knocked on the door twice before it opened and Parker, donning reading glasses and a scrunchie answered, raising her eyes from the textbook in her hands to look at Veronica. Her smile was worn, but polite. A lot friendlier than it had ever been when She had just broken up with Logan. "Hi, come on in."
"Uh, thanks." Veronica walked awkwardly into the room, one hand holding the strap of her bag, her eyes moving around for any booby traps or hidden persons.
"What can I do for ya, Veronica?" Parker set the book on her bed and took the glasses off, that creepily sweet smile ever present on her nearly lip-sticked lips.
Veronica didn't want to beat around the bush with the 'how are you's', pulled the paper from her bag to hand it to Logan's old flame. "Parker, I know…I have my share of explaining to do but, I hope you can explain what this paper says."
Parker frowned as she looked it over, shrugged as she lifted her head. "It says a lot of things…What am I explaining?"
"Your hCG, it's what they test for to find out if you're pregnant."
"Ah." She paused a moment as she read the paper through and then passed it to Veronica. "Well, that's an easy answer then, Vee. Because I am pregnant. Logan and I are going to have a baby."