Title: Mutual
Author: Brendan/brencon
Pairings/Characters: Logan/Veronica, ensemble
Word Count: 2,506
Rating: PG-13, so far.
Summary: What if Logan and Veronica got together before everything went to hell?
Spoilers: Set pre-series, but will include some season one stuff later.
Warnings: Swearing.
Disclaimer: Veronica Mars belongs to Rob Thomas and the nice people at the CW
Author's Note: Thanks to Nikita for the beta. Italics represent Veronica's thoughts and/or voiceovers. Obviously, I've fudged up the timeline, but not by much.
That night, Logan and Veronica were cuddling on her bed. She, Logan and Yolanda had gone over every detail of their revenge tactics and had already started the first two phases.
Having her own part to play in operation: Lilly Takedown, Yolanda had headed home at around seven thirty to figure out exactly how to do it. Saying goodbye to her best friend and her close friend, Yolanda rushed home leaving the couple laughing happily at their little game.
"So, you like the plan?" Veronica asked, once they had both caught their breath.
"I love it," Logan said, kissing her cheek, "Who knew the sheriff's daughter would do something so…tawdry, to an ex-best friend, is beyond me."
"You see a lot when you hang around the sheriff's office…"
"I guess you do."
The slow, soft piano music of 'Same' by Snow Patrol echoed through out the room as the two fell quiet. They often did this. Just sit in each others company, enjoying the romance of their relationship, not having to say anything to get their thoughts and feelings across.
Logan found it incredibly sincere that neither needed to say anything, just holding each other to feel close.
"Your parents home yet?" Veronica asked, breaking the silence.
"As of this afternoon, Mom had an appointment with her stylist. Apparently she needs a change," Logan said, hoping not to have given too much away to his girlfriend. But with his girlfriend being Veronica, he knew instantly that she knew his reason for not wanting to leave.
I always knew that Logan didn't get on well with his dad, but after last night at his pool, it was too hard to ignore all the scars and dark bruises that covered his skin. Everything suddenly clicked for me…why Logan wore long-slieved shirts even when it's 100 degrees even in the shade, why he always had antiseptic in his locker…all the little things that hadn't made sense before suddenly did.
But I didn't say anything to him, and I won't. I know he'll tell me when he's ready. Now all I have to do is wait.
"Thanks for using your money for this plan of action," Veronica said, sitting up on her bed and facing him.
"Hey, its Dad's money, what else could it is used for? Anyway, it's paying for the repairs to my car, which will definitely be in the thousands, and it needs to do something bad now."
"It does, does it?" Veronica said, leaning close to Logan so much that their noses touched gently every so often, "Did it tell you this itself?"
"No silly, I just know 'cause it's like me. I did good, repairing my car, and needed to act out my anger on something, so of course paying for certain services would be the bad."
"Ah, but that's the thing," Veronica said, pressing a quick kiss to Logan's mouth before continuing, "You really have this warm, gooey centre inside. That whole bad boy thing? Total cover."
"Is that a fact?" Logan asked, kissing the corner of Veronica's mouth.
"Definitely."
He kissed her harder this time, stroking the seam of her lips with his tongue for mere seconds before drawing back, eliciting a moan of need from Veronica's lips.
"Well then, maybe I should show my true inner gooeyness," he said, pulling back and drawing his feet under him, so that he was sitting Indian style on her bed.
"Ready for this?" he asked her. She nodded her head slowly, a look of curiosity playing on her features. "Okay then, here goes it – I love you. I'm madly, deeply, painfully in love with you. You make my heart beat like a samba bassline. You make me nervous, excited, and thrilled all in the same moment. I can't stop thinking about you. When I sleep, I dream only of you. When I wake, my first thought is you. I love you."
Her mouth was open, and her hand was over her heart. Her watering eyes were locked onto his and she couldn't stop her heart bouncing in her chest, no matter how slowly she breathed. She crashed her mouth to his, thrust her tongue into his mouth and fought for control of the kiss.
Winning out, Veronica forced Logan to fall back on the bed as she sat on his lap, still kissing him hard. Feeling his arousal from his jeans, Veronica felt herself blush. But a different feeling spread warmth through out her body – pride.
Pride that she was the one causing his excitement. Pride that she could such an effect on him like this. All of this caused her to shove her tongue further into his mouth. Having retold the story of their first kiss to Yolanda at lunch, Veronica realised that the strong taste or, in fact, any traces of alcohol had vanished from Logan's kisses.
Pulling back, Logan dropped his head to Veronica's pillow and sighed contentedly. He pulled Veronica down on top him, resting her head against his chest as he kissed her hair.
"I love you," he said again, his words reaching her heart and sending it into a samba once more.
"I love you too, Logan. It's something…actually, it's the only thing I'm sure of right now."
Mom is still drinking and passing out, Dad is still making excuses for not being home a lot, and their arguments are getting longer. Logan's the only thing that keeps me grounded right now, and I'm so glad to have him in my life right now, as my own.
"Everything okay here?" Logan asked, breaking her thoughts.
"It's just that… Mom and Dad only talk when they're arguing but both keep telling me the same things, everything's fine, we're working it out. They think I don't know the truth."
"And what's the truth?" Logan asked, knotting their fingers.
"Dad filed for divorce. The papers came by yesterday when he was at work. I left them on his desk before dinner yesterday evening."
"Why didn't you tell me this when you came over last night?"
"I wanted to spend some time with just you, none of these problems swimming around in my head. But that didn't really matter, 'cause Lilly showed up and was a bitch."
"Are you okay?"
"I…I've known it was coming for a long time, but just holding the actual papers in my hands, knowing what it all meant…it really gave me a shock," Veronica said, looking at the picture of herself standing before her mother and father hung on her bedroom wall.
Before, it would've been surrounded with pictures of Veronica and Lilly, and herself and Duncan and the Fab Four. Now, all that was beside it was a picture of herself and Logan and a new one, of her and Yolanda, that she had taken at the start of the week.
"Are you going to be okay?"
"Yeah, I think so. I hope so."
The moment was then broken by an incessant rock song, which Veronica soon realised was 'Who Are You' by the Who. Laughing at the irony of Logan's choice of ring tone, Veronica moved out of his way as he reached for the ringing phone on her bedside table.
"Hello? Hiya Mom. I'm at Veronica's," Logan said. He paused for a moment, and then sighed heavily, "Fine, I'll be home in a few, okay? Bye," The line clicked.
He forced his phone back into his pocket and took both Veronica's hands in his and kissing her on each cheek. He got off her bed and retook her hands in his, kissing her hard. He placed her down on the bed and then kissed her again.
"I gotta go," he said sadly, kissing her again. "I'll pick you up tomorrow."
"How? The Xterra is in the shop."
"I'll have Dad's driver collect us."
"Limo ride? Nice! It'll go well with our devious plot!"
Laughing, he chastely kissed her. "I thought it might."
"What?"
"You really are just after my money!"
"And your looks, don't forget that," Veronica snarked, kissing him again.
"Yeah, I won't." Logan stroked her cheek lovingly as he stared in the pools of her eyes.
"You sure you'll be okay with putting the cards up on your own?"
"With a taser, a big burly dog and a car with four wheels and an engine! I think I'll be safe."
"Good," Logan said, kissing her again, leaning his forehead against hers. He pulled back and kissed her forehead.
"See ya tomorrow."
"Bye."
Smiling contently, Veronica got to her feet and moved to her desk. She opened her messenger bag and retrieved her English book.
Being an evil genius is great an' all, but a girl can't give up the study. I'll get some study done before heading out in the Le Baron to commence another part of phase one.
-----
The first call came at five thirty in the morning. And again, on and off, every fifteen minutes afterwards. After what felt like the sixth call, Lilly Kane turned off her cell and rolled over, trying to catch as many z's as she could before she had to go to school.
That's when the calls to the house started. They came in a quicker succession, nearly one every ten minutes. Lilly threw her hands in the air, exasperated by the constant ringing that echoed throughout the quiet mansion. Flipping her pillow over her head, Lilly grunted loudly.
A half hour later, the ringing hadn't stopped, and she could hear the hired help arriving. They spoke rapidly in Spanish at the constant ringing, and then slowly spoke in English. Lilly could hear her own mother and father in kitchen. They must've done something, as the ringing finally stopped.
Getting up and out of bed was her only option now. She grabbed her pep squad outfit and moved to her bathroom. Showering, brushing her teeth and fixing her hair and make-up, Lilly checked herself in the mirror. Running her fingers through her golden locks, she smirked at her reflection in the mirror.
"I'm too hot for this lil' sleepy town!"
Wanting to quench the hunger she was feeling, Lilly entered the kitchen to find her mother and father sat at the breakfast bar. Both were still in the bedclothes, with dressing gowns drawn around their bodies. Her mother held a cup of coffee, her father the newspaper.
"What's up, pops?" Lilly said, bouncing up to her father and kissing his cheek. She sneered at her mother and moved to the fridge to get some orange juice. She then got a glass and filled it full of orange nectar.
"Lilly, sit down."
Her father's voice was forceful, not at all like she was used to. That tone she always expected to hear from her mother's voice was now embodied by her father. Knowing there was no point in trying to fob her way out of this, whatever she had done, and sat before them both.
"What seems to be the problem, chief?" Lilly joked, trying to lighten the mood.
"This," Jake Kane said, opening the newspaper on a certain page and slid it in front of his daughter. He pointed to the specific part that was causing himself and his wife so much trouble.
"Care to explain this?"
Lilly just sat there in shock. What the hell is a picture of her fine self and both the house number and her cell number doing on a sex phone line? It was a picture of her in her bathing suit from the summer just gone by, leaning down so that her breasts were almost falling out of her bra. Below it was the headline 'Call anytime and get off, no matter how naughty…no matter how nasty your kink.'
"For God's sake, say something, Lilly!" Jake shouted.
"I dunno!"
"You 'dunno'? That's it? That's all you can say?" Celeste questioned, shaking her head in disgust.
"I can explain the picture, but that's it, I swear!" Seeing the look her mother gave her, Lilly continued, "It's from this summer. Me, Logan, Duncan and Veronica were at the beach, as usual Veronica had her camera. Logan stole it. I did a few poses. This…this is one of the results."
"You wouldn't by any chance know who put the house number and your cell number in the ad?"
"No!" Lilly quickly answered. Her brother then entered the kitchen. Her mother threw an annoyed look at Lilly before moving to the medicine cabinet and getting Duncan's pills. She placed them on the counter, before retrieving a glass and filling it with water.
Grabbing a breakfast bar, Duncan ate it quickly, then took his tablets under the careful watch of his mother.
"Go to school, then come straight home. In the meantime, I'll sort this out." Her father instructed.
"Whatever!" Lilly mumbled, "Let's go, Donut," she said, grabbing her brother and taking him out of the kitchen.
"Celeste, find the number of a private detective for me," Jake ordered.
As Lilly started the engine to her silver SUV, she threw a look at her brother before gunning the engine.
"We need to have another confrontation with Mars and her toyboy."
"What did they do now?" Duncan asked, looking out the window at the passing scenery.
"Didn't you hear all the phone calls?" she asked, quirking an eyebrow.
"I was out cold."
------
Logan handed over the five twenties to a stoner-looking dude, Corny, he thinks is his name, and smiled down at his hot blonde girlfriend.
"Why exactly am I paying some random guy a hundred bucks in twenties?"
"Makes it feel like I have more money," the boy said, sliding the cash into his jacket pocket. He then high-fived with Veronica before exiting the computer lab.
"So, the major part of phase one should already have taken place this morning, and phase two is already in full swing and I have the final phase, phase three, marked as a work-in-progress, thanks to our good friend Yolanda."
"Only three parts to this plan?"
"Not enough for ya, big boy?" Veronica said, smirking.
"As long as they're just evil enough, I think I'll be okay."
"Do'ya wanna see the next part then?"
"Sure, lead the way," Logan said, taking a marching pose.
Taking his hand in hers, Veronica practically dragged Logan out into the corridor and down to the locker area that was set aside for the juniors. Already a crowd was surrounding a portion of the lockers.
Forcing her way through the crowd, Veronica stood before Corny's masterpiece. It was a picture of an almost naked Lilly, draped across the laps of three different guys, with the words 'slut', 'whore' and 'bitch' circling the image.
Logan laughed loudly at the image for a number of minutes before he felt Veronica's hand dragging him away once again.
"Where are we goin'?" he asked as they turned the corner.
"Away from the scene of the crime, obviously."
Smirking, Logan slowed Veronica's escape.
"I guess you can learn a lot from hanging around a sheriff's office."