A/N: I have not given up on this story yet! In fact, I've been particularly inspired for this story in the past few days. I finished writing this chapter and I have chapter twelve written but not yet typed. Thirteen shouldn't be too far behind either. All together it will probably amount to sixteen chapters in total. I'm trying to get this and the rest of my multi-chaptered stories all complete before I start any more. Anyway, enjoy, and vote in my new poll if you get a chance. R&R! Thanks! –Mac

Disclaimer: I don't own.

Chapter Eleven

These Problems That Lack Solutions

Veronica stirred as the haze of sleep faded away. She blinked open her eyes and then immediately clenched them closed again as the sunlight coming through the window assaulted her senses. As her head cleared away the fog, she assessed her surroundings. Logan was sleeping on his stomach with his face buried in the pillows of her hotel bed. She was curled against his side with her head resting on his back. She thought back to the night before and mentally counted all the drinks Logan had gotten her to drink. She suppressed a groan and pulled back the arm she had draped over Logan's back, to massage her temple.

Veronica pulled away from Logan and slowly shifted into a sitting position. Logan began to wake up. He turned his head to look up at her and then rubbed at his eyes with one hand.

"Damn," Logan said. "We fell asleep."

"Morning," Veronica yawned slightly and stretched her arms. "How are you feeling?"

"I feel great," Logan breathed out as he rolled onto his back. "Best night of sleep I've had in a long time. Sorry I hogged your bed."

"It's okay, I made do," Veronica said. "You make a good pillow."

"I'm happy to oblige."

Logan patted the bed beside him and opened his arms for Veronica to lie next to him. She hesitated, unsure of how comfortable she was with the proximity, but eventually she gave in. She settled down next to Logan and rested her head on his chest. He wrapped an arm around her waist and held her close. They laid that way together for a few quiet minutes until Logan spoke again.

"So what exciting things should we do today?"

"I think we should just take it slow today. Just relax, you know?" Veronica answered.

"I think we could use a day like that," Logan agreed. "Let's get breakfast and then just see where it goes."

They ate breakfast at a twenty-four hour diner. Not talking much, they just settled in the noisy chatter of the other customers seated around them. There was an elderly couple, holding hands across the table as they smiled at each other over their coffee and toast. A woman was feeding pieces of fruit to a baby boy that was strapped into a high chair, while her older, not-yet-school-age daughter colored vigorously on her child's menu with the crayons provided by the diner. The one thing everyone in the diner had in common, Veronica noticed, was that they all looked happy. And the best part, of her realization of that fact, was that Logan and she looked like they fit right in with the smiling, carefree locals. If someone had taken the Veronica and Logan of a week ago and dropped them into the same scene, the two would have stuck out like a sore thumb00with their sad eyes and forced smiles. Now, the short time they had spent on their own had changed them, began to heal them. Veronica hoped that change would be permanent. She didn't think she could go back to watching Logan break to pieces—it would break her heart twice over to watch him feel that pain again.

"What are you thinking about?" Logan asked, stopping his fork full of eyes before it reached his mouth.

"You," Veronica answered honestly.

"Me?" Logan looked surprised, putting his fork down altogether. His brow crinkled together as he looked at her more closely. "What about me?"

"I don't want to see you hurting the way you were before ever again," Veronica stared down at her plate as she spoke, unable to meet his eyes. "I want you to be happy, but I'm afraid that when we go back—"

"I'm afraid of that too, but that's not today. We'll get through that when the time comes. Until then I want to enjoy this deliciously mediocre breakfast, and then spend the rest of the day with you," Logan said, reaching over to tilt her chin up so she would look at him as he said it.

"Okay," Veronica nodded. "You're right."

After breakfast, there was a short debate over what they should do with the rest of their day. Logan's idea won, for once and he wrapped up the left over toast from their breakfast before they left the diner. It took him a while to find their destination, and he was beginning to think he should have asked someone for directions before trying to find the place, he only vaguely remembered passing the night before, when he found it. The park with the large duck pond at the center was even prettier in the middle of the day than it was when he passed by on the way to the store. Logan parked in the mostly empty parking lot and Veronica voiced that he had been right to suggest a day at the park.

They fed the ducks for awhile with bits of toast out of Logan's pocket. Veronica ran away when a couple geese started to chase her and she refused to go back over again. Logan pushed Veronica on the swings like they were kids until they were laughing harder than they had in years and the few people around the playground were looking at the two of them strangely. Eventually, Logan and Veronica settled down on a blanket, taken from the back of Logan's car, laid out on the grassy slopes of the park.

"I want to talk about it," Veronica said suddenly. She was sitting with her legs crossed and staring off into the distance across the park.

Logan flopped down to lay on his back and dropped his head into Veronica's lap, "Talk about what?"

One of Veronica's hands moved to stroke through Logan's hair instinctively, "Everything."

"Veronica, I thought we said—"

"—that there wasn't anything else to say," Veronica finished before he could. "I was wrong. You said earlier that we'll get through it when we come to it…but I think if we don't talk about it now, we might not be able to change things when we go back. And if we don't change things when we go back, then we'll just fall back into the same patterns, and all this will have been for nothing."

"I don't know what you want me to say here, Veronica," Logan said quietly. "You want me to say I'm gonna stand up to Daddy next time he feels like playing human punching bag? It's not that simple Ronnie. Words don't stop him, and if he doesn't have me to take it out on, who's to say he won't go after my Mom or Trina? I'd never forgive myself if that happened."

"I want you to tell someone," Veronica responded, "Someone who can make it stop."

"Who, Veronica?" Logan sat up, shaking her hand loose of his hair. "My Mom? She already knows. She hides it, pretends it doesn't exist, just like your Dad does with your Mom's drinking. Who else is there to tell? Your Dad? He's the Sheriff. The last think I want to do is to get the law involved."

"It wouldn't have to be—"

"Keith Mars would never allow it to be anything else," Logan shook his head.

"Then there must be something I can do to stop him," Veronica replied, ideas of schemes and set ups already forming in her head.

"No," Logan's eyes shot up. He placed his hands firmly on Veronica's shoulders. "You'll do no such thing. He's a dangerous man. I can take what he deals out. I can take it and I'll move on. I can survive. But I can't do it without you. So you have to promise me you'll never put yourself in the middle of it. Promise me."

"Logan."

"Promise me," Logan squeezed tighter on her shoulders.

"Logan, I don't want him to hurt you anymore."

"But if stopping him meant you or someone else I care about getting hurt instead, I'd rather he never stop," Logan said. "So promise me."

"I'll promise you that I won't do anything, if you promise to tell someone," Veronica said. "I'm going to talk to my Dad about my Mom. See if we can get her help together. I don't want to go back to Neptune without some kind of solution to our problems in mind. I don't ever want it to be as bad as it was before we left. Is it a deal?"

Logan was silent for a long moment, before he finally said, "It's a promise."

Veronica nodded and then impulsively threw her arms around Logan's neck. She hugged him tightly, burying her face in his neck. Letting his arms go around her waist, Logan held her close. He dropped his head to rest on her shoulder.

Logan's voice was quiet, but Veronica felt the vibration of his speech from where he was pressed against her. "Let's stay one more day. I think I need…just one more day before we even start heading back."

"Okay," Veronica murmured, "one more day."