"I don't think I've ever had champagne at midnight when it wasn't New Year's Eve." Veronica raised her tall glass stem to Logan and touched the rim of his glass gently, the sound of the fine crystal sending as high, sharp tone reverberating through the room.

"Think of it as making up for all those times I wasn't around to kiss you at midnight." Taking a long sip of champagne, he kept his eyes glued to her over his glass.

Adjusting the thick white robe around her, Veronica sat on one end of the couch, stretching her feet up onto the glass coffee table. Although they said they were going to talk when they got back to the hotel, a blissful hour of no talking in bed began within seconds of the door closing behind them. The coffee had its desired effect and when Veronica started to get a little too jittery; Logan suggested a luxurious soak in the tub together, where they could finally relax and talk. And talk they did – about everything they could think to discuss about their lives during the in between of then and now. They finally left the warm Jacuzzi tub when they both began to prune and Veronica started to make suggestions that more food would be nice. That was when Logan called down to room service for sustenance - champagne, an assortment of cheeses, and fruit – in an effort to keep them content for the rest of the night.

Walking around the back of the couch, Logan paused to kiss the top of Veronica's head before continuing his trek, finding his place right beside her. Stretching his arm around her shoulder, he pulled her closer to him as his legs stretched next to hers onto the table. Resting her head near his exposed collar bone, Veronica took a deep breath, trying to hold the scent of him deep inside of her.

"So, when do you have to go tomorrow?" Logan murmured, placing another kiss on her head.

A deep prickle of sadness rose through Veronica's chest. He had tried to start this conversation while they were lounging in the tub, but Veronica had asked that they bookmark the discussion to return to later. As the clock continued to count down the hours until her departure, she realized they couldn't put it off any longer.

"When I planned to stay with my dad, I was thinking of leaving around 10ish. After morning traffic, but it would still give me time to take a good chunk out of writing my story at home before I have to go into the office tomorrow."

A low hum of acknowledgement vibrated in Logan's chest. "I have a breakfast meeting at 8 a.m. downstairs with my team. But I got my assistant to cancel my meetings yesterday by telling her I had food poisoning, so if I'm a little late, there's already an excuse in place."

Sitting up to look at him, Veronica chuckled. "You told them you had food poisoning?"

"Yep – I sent her a text asking her to cancel everything on my schedule for the rest of the day when we were taking the elevator up to my room." The corner of Logan's mouth twitched up into a wicked smile before he took another quick sip of his drink. "Not that I thought that we were going to have sex – I just wanted to try and talk to you for longer than the 45 minutes my assistant had allotted you. And fake food poisoning seemed the quickest way to keep people from trying to talk me out of it."

Taking the last sip of her champagne, Veronica placed the glass on the table, shaking her head. "Well, I'm glad that you made the time for me – however you managed it, Mr. Mayor."

"Yes, well, tomorrow will suck for many reasons; the first being that I currently have 137 unanswered emails and around 40 unanswered text messages to go through." Finishing his champagne in his glass, he placed his stem beside Veronica's on the table before returning to her, taking her hands gently in his. "The second is that I still don't know when we'll get to see each other again."

Veronica inhaled a deep, shaky breath. She wanted so much to stay and be with him – her life in L.A. be damned – but the thought of giving it all up to jump into this unknown still gave her pause.

"I…I don't know either."

Nodding, Logan averted his eyes from hers, his hands releasing hers as he scratched his beard in thought. A heavy silence fell between them as the wheels in Veronica's head turned, trying to think of a way for them to keep their lives, but be together.

"I suppose moving Neptune closer to L.A. is impossible." Logan stated with a small laugh.

Pursing her lips, Veronica wrinkled her nose up at him. "Hmmmmm…don't think that's viable."

Reaching for her hand again, Logan opened her palm to him, gently tracing her hand with the tip of his index finger and a shiver of excitement ran through Veronica.

"Do the long distance thing? I can fly you out when you're not working. I can fly out when I get a day off."

"Do you get a day off?" She asked, arching her eyebrow at him.

"No, not really. And if I keep faking food poisoning someone may get suspicious." Flipping her hand over, he continued to trace the top of her hand, pausing at the tip of each red manicured nail.

A gentle silence spread between them as Veronica watched Logan's fingers moving along her skin. "I mean, I could go back to free-lance work. L.A. Now was just a means to an end – it isn't what I actually love doing. But I would have to go back to using my alias, and now that people in some dangerous circles already know who I really am…"

"Marry me." Logan blurted, his hand stopping on Veronica's ring finger.

Gasping, Veronica's body flushed red hot with surprise. "What?"

"That's the answer. Just marry me." For a moment Veronica thought he was kidding but when she looked deep into his eyes, she saw just how serious he was.

"I….I…" Veronica's brain kicked into overtime trying to put all the pieces of what was happening together as quickly as possible to continue the conversation.

"No. Really. Hear me out. If you marry me, then you can come back to Neptune and keep writing your investigative pieces. I have access to security – I just haven't needed it up to this point – through the County Sherriff's department. If we were married, that would extend to you too. Plus, I still have enough money to buy us a house with private security as well."

Veronica was feeling dizzy – from the alcohol, from the lack of sleep, from the marriage proposal. Blinking rapidly, she continued to try and process what Logan was really saying.

"If I marry you, I can't file my story about the election." The random thought whipped through her brain, falling from her lips before she could stop it.

Shrugging, Logan held her hands in his once more and she felt him shake slightly in the excitement of the moment.

"So file the story and we'll get married after it's published. We'll just say we reconnected because of the story and decided to get married after. It'll be fine."

A little, ironic chuckle rose in Veronica. "It may disqualify me for the Pulitzer."

"Pulitzer, schmulitzer." He scoffed, waving his hand in the air. "When you go back to investigative reporting, you'll win one for an even bigger, better story."

Letting go of her hands, Logan slipped his hands around her body, clutching her buttocks and he lifted her up, moving her towards him. With a squeal of delight, she spread her legs, landing straddled across his lap, facing him. Pressing his forehead to hers, he kissed her happily, and she responded, wrapping her arms around his head, deepening their kiss for a moment before pulling away.

"This is ludicrous." Her nose playfully brushed his before she planted another quick kiss on his lips, her hands slipping to cup his furry cheeks. "We can't just reconnect after all this time and get married. I mean, who does that?"

"We do." Logan chuckled, squeezing her bottom through the thick terry-towel. "Who cares what other people do. We've never been like other people – why should we care about that now."

Sliding down on his lap, Veronica's exposed sex pressed against him, sending a shiver of pleasure through her. This wasn't helping her decision making ability, but it was still too hard to resist.

"Just think about it…" He began, shifting his grasp on her to under her robe, his hands warm on her cool skin. "Coming home at from work to this. Talking about our day. Sharing each other's achievements. Making love at all hours of the night. Doesn't that sound more than just a little appealing?"

Letting out a heavy sigh, Veronica closed her eyes, visions connecting with Logan's words floating through her mind. She had long given up the thought of making a life with someone – having searched in vain for what she had with Logan with others and never finding it. But here it was, again. She could try and rationalize it all she wanted – think about it for days and weeks on end as she once did – but it wouldn't change the fact that when she was with him, he just felt like she was home.

Opening her eyes, a wide grin spread across Veronica's face, her eyes lighting up with excitement. Arching his eyebrow, Logan returned her grin, pressing his forehead against hers.

"So. Is that a yes?"