"You know," Veronica began as she dabbed the grease off of her pizza slice. "I always thought I would be that mom that fed her kids nothing but organic food, bread made from scratch, and all that stuff."
"But then reality set in?" Logan responded over the thundering noise at Chuck E. Cheese.
"Remember when the twins were little and I spent the day making homemade organic apple sauce?" she sighed, taking a bite of her dinner.
"Remember how they hated it and we had to throw it all out after a few days?" Logan countered. "Our kids are happy and healthy. Pizza after soccer practice won't kill them."
"Says the man who spent three years eating hotel food," Veronica smiled.
Lexie, Linc, and Jack ran past the table, screaming, pursued by some random kids they had met on the game floor.
"It gives us time to talk," Logan said with a chuckle. "Plus, Jack usually sleeps in his bed all night, when we do this, and not in ours."
"True," Veronica said, dropping her crust on her plate and picking up a raw carrot to eat. "So, what do you want to talk about?"
"Dick," Logan replied, wiping his hands and tossing the napkin in an empty pop cup.
"Still thinking about our conversation in the car?" she asked.
"Dick doesn't seem to think anyone was out to frame him," Logan said.
"But if he didn't do it, it's the only logical explanation," Veronica began. "And it just seems like too much of a coincidence that the girls went to Neptune High."
"I'm surprised Leo managed to keep that out of the media," Logan said. "You still planning on calling Principal Fennel tomorrow?"
Veronica giggled. "I still can't believe Wallace is a Principal. It seems so grown up for someone who still eats Mac and Cheese from a box, for dinner."
"But so much easier to get your hands on someone's permanent file, isn't it?" Logan smiled.
"I'll get those, and I'll spend some time talking to their friends," Veronica said. "I don't know if Leo is actually going to investigate the girls."
"It didn't sound like it," Logan muttered. "I think he's pretty convinced Dick did it."
Veronica looked across the table at Logan's hard eyes. Reaching out, she covered his hand with hers.
"How about this…if you put the kids to bed, I'll call Wallace tonight," she offered. "That should speed things up a bit."
Logan nodded in agreement, his lips forming a tight line.
"What's wrong?" Veronica asked.
"Think there'll be another memorial fountain erected for these girls?" Logan said, his eyes looking down at their joined hands.
Veronica took in a sharp breath. Lilly Kane. Another murdered Neptune High student. Her best friend. Logan's girlfriend. The dedication video Logan made for the fountain's unveiling was what began to break the cold, cold ice between Veronica and Logan. 20 years, 3 kids, and 1 dog later, here they were, together.
"Depends on how much money their parents have," she said dryly.
"Terrible, but true," Logan replied as the kids ran back to their table, out of breath.
"Dad, we need your help," Linc gasped. "There's some big kid at the video shooting game that won't leave until someone beats his score, so you need to go beat his score so we can play!"
Logan quirked his eyebrow at them, conspiratorially. Standing, he unbuttoned the cuffs to his sleeves and rolled them up to his elbows, in preparation to go into battle.
"Come on, kids. Let's put all of dad's expensive military training to work, shall we?"
His little crew cheered for their hero as they marched off to go defeat the bad guy with them. Veronica just shook her head and smiled, her hand dropping down to her belly.
"Any wonder why I wanted another one with you," she said to herself, rubbing her protruding baby bump happily.
Veronica stood under the giant rain-showerhead in their bathroom, her eyes closed, savoring the time alone.
It took some time to convince Wallace to make copies of the girls' files for her, and even more time to get him to agree to let her talk to their friends.
Principle Fennel was deeply protective of his students and was devastated to hear that two of them may have been murdered by Dick, of all people. He even chided Veronica for helping Logan find out who 'really' did it, convinced that Dick was to blame.
The door to the bathroom opened and shut, and Veronica glanced through the glass to see Logan standing by the sink, his hands already working to undo the buttons of his shirt. She smiled and closed her eyes again, letting the water wash over her.
The click of the shower door made her eyes open again and she let out a deep breath as Logan came up behind her, pressing his naked body against hers, his hands grasping her hips. He kissed the nape of her neck and she let out a sigh of contentment.
Turning to face him, she placed her hands on his muscular chest. "Are the kids asleep?"
"Out like a light," he replied with a grin, giving her a quick peck on the lips.
"Doors are locked?" she asked.
"Downstairs doors are locked and the alarm is on," he said, kissing her ear, letting his lips lingered for a moment. "As are our bedroom door and the bathroom door."
Veronica bit her bottom lip in anticipation. "Well then, as you were," she instructed.
Logan's kisses continued from her ear and down her neck, his hands guiding her back against the tile wall. She gasped as he lifted her, her legs coming up around his waist in a move they had perfected years ago, his body pressing hers against the cool tiles.
For a while, nothing mattered but them, as they hid from everyone else in the world. Just Veronica and Logan – not mom or dad or boss or friend - for a small time, just the two of them, together.
Later, as Logan pulled a fresh t-shirt out of his dresser, he broke their one rule in the bedroom.
"What did Wallace say?" he asked as he pulled the white shirt over his head.
"No talking about work in the bedroom," she said, pulling on a pair of sleep shorts under one of his old t-shirts.
"Two orgasms doesn't buy me some rule-breaking?" he teased.
"Should have tried for three," she replied and climbed onto her side of their king-size bed.
Logan rolled his eyes and slipped into bed on his side, shimmying along under the blankets until he was next to her.
"Come on, this is important," he said, his face growing hard and serious.
Veronica rubbed her eyes with her palms. "Fine. Wallace will do it, but he's not happy about it."
"Did he give you their names?" Logan asked, since Leo would not release that information even to them.
"Yeah. Chantel Peters and Emily Johnson," she said quietly, thinking for a moment about their families.
"Did he say anything about them?" Logan prodded.
She shrugged. "Guess they were kind of wild kids. All sorts of rumours were flying around the school about them today."
"Like what?"
"Wallace said they were false, but kids were saying that they liked to party with a lot of interesting people," Veronica stated. "Like bikers and such. Some girls were saying they heard that the girls turned tricks on the weekends to make extra cash."
"If that's true, then they could have been hired to target Dick," Logan hypothesized.
Veronica placed her hand on Logan's cheek, gently. "It's just a rumour, Logan. Wait until we have more facts before you start drawing your conclusions."
Logan dropped his gaze from hers. He was about to speak when there was a small knock at the door. Veronica smiled and crawled out of bed to answer it.
Jack and Pony stood in the hallway, the small boy rubbing his eyes with one hand while hugging a big stuffed bunny in the other.
"I had a bad dream," Jack whimpered.
Veronica let out a sigh and picked up her son, carrying him to the big bed. Logan smiled and pulled back the covers.
"Rough night, little man?" he said and turned off the lamp on his bedside table.
"Yeah," the boy murmured as Veronica placed him on the bed.
Maneuvering herself near Logan, Veronica lay on her side as Jack snuggled into her arms. Behind her, Logan tossed the blanket over them both before curling his body around Veronica's, his arm reaching over her to place his hand on Jack's stomach.
"I love you," Logan said softly next to Veronica's ear.
"I love you too," Veronica replied.
"I love you too," Jack whispered.
Pony jumped up to the foot of the bed and made herself cozy in the rest of the blankets. Within minutes, the entire house was asleep.