A/N – Sort of like my first story, this chapter has another song in it. The part with the song will probably be more interesting if you hear the song first. It's Faster by Matt Nathanson. There are several youtube versions of it, either with him singing or just lyric versions.
Thanks to everyone who's been reading along and leaving comments. I appreciate them all!
Disclaimer: The VM characters still belong to Rob Thomas (wish they were mine though)
Update: OldLace kindly left this comment and I wanted to share it with everyone else too:
"Public Service Advisory: if you don't already know, Zooey Magazine released their Men To Watch feature, a video of which can be seen on youtube; Jason Dohring is included (at 2:20)."
I'd completely forgotten that Faster was the song in that behind the scenes video. If you search for Zooey Magazine on YouTube, it's the first video listed on their Videos tab.
Chapter 4 - Faster
Veronica arrived home before Logan and flopped down on the couch to just rest her eyes for a little while before she went up to change for dinner. She didn't mean to fall asleep, but apparently had. Logan's couches were large and extremely comfortable and she just couldn't help herself once she started feeling sleepy. She felt a warm set of lips pressing against hers as she started to wake up.
"Prince Charming?" She asked in a sleepy voice without opening her eyes. She heard Logan chuckle softly and brush some hair off her face then felt his warm breath on her cheek before his lips pressed into hers again, with a much deeper kiss than before.
As he pulled his mouth away from hers, she smiled and took a deep breath. "Mmmm, best way to wake up." She slowly opened her eyes and saw him smiling back at her.
"Good thing I was here to awaken you from that sleeping curse, my dear princess." He said with a loving smile as he gracefully hopped over her to sink in between her and the back of the couch. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer to him. "As a rule, I like to end every work day with a hot blonde waiting for me on my couch."
She turned so she could wrap her arms around him as well and placed another quick kiss on his lips. "Me too," she said with a mischievous smirk on her face.
"I'm not even going to dignify that with a response," he said with a matching smirk. She laughed softly and pressed her head to his chest.
He nuzzled his face into her hair, kissing her head. "So how was your day, honey?" He asked in a playful tone as he ran a hand up and down her back.
She quickly filled him in on the new jewelry theft. She shared how there still weren't any apparent connections between all of the cases. "I'm planning to talk with Mac when we go to poker at their house tomorrow night about how easy it would be to override those types of electronic safes."
"I'm not positive we're having poker there tomorrow night," He replied and as he saw her confused look he continued, "Speedy didn't seem all that 'speedy' when she stopped by City Hall this morning to do some work. I think she might be coming down with something from how she looked." He thought for another moment, "Well she seemed to be speedy when she ran to the restroom. Dick hasn't called it off yet, but given how she looked this morning, I wouldn't be surprised if he did." Veronica's expression changed to a suspiciously thoughtful look. "What's that look for Miss Mars?" Logan asked her with his eyebrows furrowed.
"I saw her this afternoon when she stopped by the Sheriff's office to fix a few of our computers, and she seemed perfectly fine." Logan gave her a confused look, to which she gave him an expression that suggested he should know what she was talking about.
"Well that's good?" He replied in an unsure tone, realizing he still wasn't actually getting what she was trying to imply. He still had a befuddled look on his face.
"You didn't notice that at the BBQ and on Halloween, she didn't have any alcohol to drink, and now she seems to be sick in the 'morning' only?" Veronica asked, looking at him in disbelief that he didn't piece it together already himself.
Logan's forehead crinkled as he was listening to her, then his eyes grew wide once she finished. "You think she's pregnant?" His mouth remained open after he said it, clearly not quite believing it could be true.
Veronica shrugged and nodded. "Plus they moved their wedding up from the summer to December now."
Logan ran the hand that wasn't under her through his hair, clearly having a tough time imaging it. "Dick as a dad?"
"I know, scary thought isn't it." Veronica said with an exaggerated shudder. "I sort of hinted about it at the BBQ and Mac wouldn't admit it though, so don't say anything until they are ready to share it, okay?"
Logan nodded silently, obviously still trying to wrap his head around the possibility.
"So," Veronica asked with a questioning expression. "What's the plan for dinner with Heather? Are we meeting her at the restaurant?"
"What?" Logan asked, apparently still in shock over the possibility of the impending Dick offspring.
Veronica laughed, "Dinner? What's the plan, Stan?"
Logan rolled his eyes and then smiled, "Heather is meeting us here and then we'll drive to dinner."
After snuggling on the couch for a short while longer, they decided they'd better go up and change out of their work clothes and into something more casual for dinner. As Logan sat up, he suddenly remember something he'd forgotten. Veronica had just stood up, and he grabbed her wrist gently. "Hey, hold on a second. I almost forgot that I got you something."
She turned to sit back down and gave him a slightly scolding look. "Logan, unless it's a pony, you really need to stop getting me things."
He smiled and reached for his suit jacket that he'd put at the end of the couch before he'd woken her up. He pulled out a jewelry box.
"That must be a very small pony," she joked once she saw it. "Seriously though, you don't need to get me things."
"Ooooh come on V'ronica," he pleaded with a slight pout on his face. She'd noticed sometimes he would say her name in a way that seemed to leave out the 'e', especially when he was trying to cajole her into something. She wasn't sure exactly when he started doing it, but it always made her grin when he said it that way. "Consider it a belated birthday present."
She gave him a skeptical look, "Logan, you don't have to buy belated birthday presents for someone you weren't with on their birthday."
"Just humor me and open it, okay?" He changed from a pout to sad puppy dog eyes as he tipped his head down.
"Fine," she sighed and took the box from his hands. When she opened it, her eyes lit up. "It's beautiful Logan, but I told you this morning that I didn't want expensive jewelry that I wouldn't really get to wear very often."
"I know," he said with a smile. "I listened. This isn't actually that expensive. I thought it would be something you could wear any day you'd like. Of course the light green stones are Peridots and then there are a few small diamonds too."
"My birthstone," she said softly as she ran her fingers gently over the necklace. "It really is beautiful, Logan. Is it one of Sylvia's?"
He nodded and smiled as he watched her carefully take the necklace out of the box.
"How well do you know her?" Veronica asked as she looked up from the necklace to Logan. She was thinking if they were fairly good friends, maybe she'd be a good person to talk with about her case. He looked momentarily away from her and she thought she saw a worried look cross his face. Not another ex-girlfriend, she couldn't help but think.
He turned back to her and smiled a bit sadly. "I know her really well. She was really good friends with my mom."
Well I read that look wrong. She gave him a loving smile, and squeezed his hand gently. "Do you think she'd be willing to talk to me about the stolen jewelry? I thought talking to one of the jewelers might give me some insight that I've been missing."
"Yeah, I'm sure she'd be more than happy to talk to you about it. And I know she'd really like to meet you too." The sadness that had been there a moment ago was gone, replaced by the more relaxed and loving expression he'd had when he'd first given her the necklace. "She was really excited to make the necklace for you."
"She made it just for me?" She asked in a quieter voice with amazement in her eyes.
Logan nodded. "Yesterday when I stopped in to borrow the other necklace she asked all about you and when your birthday was so she could make you a special piece."
Veronica gave him a truly grateful smile and leaned in and hugged him. "Thank you Logan. And I'll be sure to thank her too when I meet her."
He helped her put on the necklace, then they headed up the stairs to change. She'd taken to wearing pieces of her lawyer attire for work at the Sheriff's office, though opting for slacks more often than when she was at the DA's office. Today was no exception and she was looking forward to changing into some more comfortable clothes for the evening. She still wanted to look nice to meet Heather for the first time, so chose one of the less formal dresses that she'd bought when she first came back to Neptune. The neckline showed off the necklace very well and it even had some light green in it that matched the Periodot. Logan gave her a smile and loving kiss after she had changed into the dress. He'd also changed out of his business suit into a nicely fitting pair of jeans and a button down green shirt. After they were both changed, they went back down stairs to wait for Heather.
"Oh, I ran into Emily again today at the hospital," Veronica mentioned as she took a seat on the couch downstairs.
Logan gave her a slightly puzzled look, "Why were you at the hospital?" Veronica hadn't mentioned that they'd gone there to talk with Dr. Taylor about the jewelry case and explained that to him.
"She said I should try to come down sometime to volunteer with the kids." Veronica added after filling him in on why her and Norris were there in the first place.
Logan smiled and nodded. "You should, they'd love it I'm sure. I haven't done it for a while either and really should do it again. Maybe we could even go together one afternoon?"
She smiled and nodded. "That would be nice. Have you done it alot?"
Logan shrugged, "On occasion, actually that's how I first met Emily. Felicia had suggested I try it and the first time I went she was one of the nurses on duty. She really has a knack for dealing with kids and you can tell she loves taking care of them."
Veronica laughed, "Well that explains why she was willing to put up with you for a while."
"Hey," Logan protested with a fake pout on his lips when he caught on to her quip. She giggled as he quickly moved his hands around her waist and pushed her back so he could pin her down on the couch cushions. "Do I need to show you how much I'm not a child?" He moved his mouth to her neck and started alternating between deep kisses and lightly biting her.
She moaned lightly as he continued his ministrations on her neck. "I'll let you prove it to me tonight after dinner," she said in a sultry tone. She let him continue for another few seconds, then pushed him away slightly with her hand. "We're expecting company anytime, don't forget."
He sighed and rolled on to his side and gave her one more kiss to the side of her head. "You started it," he replied in a petulant voice.
She laughed, "Yeah, that doesn't sound childish at all." She rolled so she could face him and gave him a smirk.
He smiled back and winked, then ran his hands along her hair. His expression became a bit more serious as he looked deeply into her eyes. "I'm really glad you're finally meeting Heather. She means a lot to me too, so I hope you two like each other."
Veronica gave him a slightly puzzled expression, "Has she not gotten along with some of your past girlfriends?"
He shrugged slightly. "Well obviously she didn't care much for Alexis by the time we called off the engagement. They got along okay prior to that, though I wouldn't say she was ever a huge fan. And given most of the others didn't last very long, she didn't actually meet them all. She did meet Emily and they got along well."
Veronica gave him a knowing smile, "I find it hard to imagine anyone not getting along well with Emily. Although I suppose there could be the possibility of sweetness overload, like a giant piece of really rich chocolate cake. Maybe better in small doses."
Logan gave her an adoring smile and kissed her again. He was relieved that she didn't seem to feel threatened at all by Emily and that they could talk about her so easily. He had been a little concerned when they ran into her at Hearst as to how it was going to play out given they'd had so many challenges dealing with his past relationship with Alexis. He was glad to see Veronica's confidence in the two of them seemed to be growing and that Emily wasn't a difficult topic for them to discuss. If Emily was getting serious with Leo, she may be around even more and having it not be awkward between the four of them would be best.
Logan had left the security gate open when he came home so Heather wouldn't have to punch in the code. They were still snuggled together on the couch when the doorbell rang. Logan's expression became puzzled as he got up and went to answer the door. Veronica could still hear him from the living room as he opened the door.
"Since when do you ring the bell?" Logan asked as he let Heather into the house.
"Since you have a girlfriend living here," She quickly replied and then teased, "I'd hate to interrupt something you know."
Veronica heard Logan chuckle as their footsteps approached the living room. She stood up to meet Heather.
"Heather, Veronica," Logan said as he gestured between the two women.
Heather had almost that same silly grin that she'd had in the elevator at the Grand on her face as she beamed at Veronica. "It's so wonderful to officially meet you," she said quickly as she reached out and gave Veronica a tight squeeze. Logan smirked as he saw the surprise on Veronica's face.
Heather let go and took a step back, but still had the same overly excited expression on her face.
"It's great to meet you too," Veronica said in a voice that Logan recognized as her being a bit freaked out by Heather's enthusiasm. He tried really hard not to laugh, but couldn't help but have a goofy smile on his own face watching the two of them. "Logan's told me a lot about you." Veronica turned and looked at Logan, then back at Heather, who was still staring at her.
"Okay, you two are seriously freaking me out!" Veronica said a moment later as their matching grins were just too much for her to handle any longer.
"I'm sorry," Heather quickly blurt out. "It's just so surreal to actually see you again after so many years, and here with Logan, it's just so… I don't know." She paused and looked between them, "it's just like an epic love story from a movie or something."
Veronica gave Logan a questioning glance, and he quickly shook his head. "I never told her about that." He quickly replied.
"Told me what?" Heather asked as her eyes grew big with curiosity.
Veronica smiled and shook her head. "It was just something Logan said at the fake prom he threw when we were seniors in high school." She bit at her lip to keep the cheesy grin infection from spreading to her as well.
"Well now you have to tell me what it was!" Heather said looking back and forth between the other two. "Wait, it wasn't one of those stupid quotes he's always spouting out was it?"
"Hey," Logan said in protest, "I don't do that as much any more. And most people find them intriguing, not stupid."
Heather rolled her eyes at him and looked back at Veronica.
Veronica shook her head and then her smile grew a bit more, "He said we were Epic. Spanning years and continents, lives ruined, bloodshed, epic."
"Oh my gawd!" Heather blurted out. "You two really are, aren't you? And I always knew Logan was just a big mushy romantic under that tough guy façade." She reached over and poked him in the stomach.
"Stop, you're gonna ruin my street cred!" Logan teased back. He wrapped his arms around Veronica and gave her a kiss on the top of the head.
"Of course we'll leave out the non-romantic morning after story," Veronica said with a slightly annoyed look on her face as she turned and looked at Logan.
Heather looked confused, and Logan shook his head and looked apologetically at Veronica. "No one writes songs about the ones that come easy," he said in a soft loving voice. Her look softened and she leaned up and kissed him.
"So sushi?" Veronica said looking back at Heather with a friendly smile, one of her arms still wrapped around Logan's waist. Heather nodded and smiled back. Her smile was still a bit on the overly excited side, but it was starting to shrink a bit.
Logan led them out to the garage so they could climb into the Range Rover to go to dinner.
"Nice car," Heather exclaimed as she saw the new Benz. "Too bad it doesn't have a back seat so we could take it."
Logan smiled and nodded proudly. "Thanks, we went to get a new car for Veronica and I fell in love with this one. She's the very best girlfriend in the entire world and has let me drive it and she's driving the BMW."
Veronica laughed, "Well they are still both your cars. Like I'm going to complain about driving the BMW. But I'll give you bonus points for saying I'm the very best girlfriend in the entire world."
As they pulled out of the garage, Veronica noticed the fancy Mini Cooper in the driveway that Heather had driven over in. She raised her eyebrow at Logan and he shrugged realizing immediately what her look was about. "You got a new car for your high school graduation too," he said a bit sheepishly.
"And people say I'm a marshmallow," she teasingly replied.
They spent most of dinner talking about the classes Heather was taking at Hearst. She was planning to major in journalism, and was working for the school paper. Veronica shared the story of how she'd tried working for the paper when she went there, and how that didn't exactly work out well for her. She jokingly added that if Heather ever needed to find anything in the library though, she'd be happy to direct her to the right floor.
As they were finishing up their meal, Heather gave Logan a mischievous look. "We're going to karaoke next you know."
Logan had a concerned look on his face and shook his head. "I don't think Veronica wants to go listen to karaoke tonight," looking at her for reassurance.
But before Veronica could say anything, Heather looked eagerly at her and nodded her head with a large grin on her face, "Oh yes, Veronica really wants to go to karaoke." Emphasizing the word really, and nodding her head vigorously.
"I do?" Veronica asked with a puzzled expression.
"Yes, yes you do!" Heather responded very enthusiastically.
Veronica looked back at Logan, who was shaking his head no, with the concerned look replaced by a pleading one.
"Come on, old man," Heather taunted, "A bet is a bet and you have to pay up since you lost."
Veronica's interest was piqued. "Tell me more of this debt?" She said with a sly grin, looking at Heather intently.
Heather leaned a bit closer to Veronica and explained, "He lost at our last video game tournament, so he has to sing karaoke." Veronica smiled at Heather, and then looked at Logan for a moment, then back at Heather. "And I get to pick the song," Heather added, and then she turned back to Logan, "Hey, at least it's a Wednesday night and the place shouldn't be too packed."
A little later they were sitting at a table at a place near Hearst that reminded Veronica of the Java Hut, with coffee, desserts and karaoke. Heather had gone over to sign Logan up and hadn't returned yet. A waitress had just stopped by and took their drink and dessert orders before Heather had left the table.
"Thanks for backing me up there at dinner," Logan said sarcastically after the waitress left, giving Veronica a scowl. "I'm going to remember this you know."
She smiled gleefully at him, "And I'm sure I'm going to remember this too! Do they have rules about video taping it with our phones?" Veronica started looking around the room for any posted signs. She smiled deviously and got her phone out of her purse and snapped a quick picture of Logan sitting there with a pout on his face.
Heather returned a moment later and sat down smiling at the two of them. "You're up in two more songs." She announced gleefully.
Logan sighed and shook his head. "Did you at least pick a song that I know? And hopefully one that matches my own gender this time."
Heather smiled a bit more deviously and nodded, "Yep, I'm pretty sure I've caught you singing to this in the car before." Logan cringed and covered his face with his hands. "And you know the rules, if you don't sing enthusiastically and get a genuine applause from the crowd, you have to keep singing until you do."
Veronica chuckled to herself and made an internal note not to make any bets with Heather in the foreseeable future. "So have you ever had to sing?" she asked Heather curiously.
Heather looked thoughtful for a minute, "Yeah, once, or wait twice, but poor old gramps here has lost 7 times before this."
"8," Logan corrected and shook his head sadly. "I swear you cheat when we have those tournaments. You totally hustle me and then convince me to bet on it and crush me. Plus you shouldn't be playing video games so much now that you're in college."
Both Heather and Veronica laughed. "Like you didn't play video games in college?" Heather blurted out. "Dude, that's when I met you and we started our weekly gaming competitions."
Logan looked like a convict waiting to be lead to death row as the song before his was wrapping up. "Don't forget the rules," Heather said in a sing-song voice as they called his name and he trudged up to the stage, giving her a bit of a death glare.
"Knock 'em dead," Veronica chimed in as well in a chipper voice.
He didn't know what the song was until he got on the stage. Once he saw it he smirked and gave Heather an amused look as he shook his head.
Veronica held up her phone to record him singing. Heather had insisted that they get a table as close to the stage as possible when they arrived, which Veronica was more than happy to agree to.
The name of the song and artist came up on the little monitor for the audience to see too: 'Faster', by Matt Nathanson. Veronica wasn't sure what the song was, but smiled when she realized his dedication song to her was by the same artist.
Logan's scowl turned into a much friendly grin, as he was obviously trying to work the crowd. I see he's following the rules so he doesn't have to go back up there, Veronica thought to herself. She was even more impressed when he started moving his hips and shoulders a little to the beat of the song. She felt her pulse speed up for some reason as he started to sing, and it didn't help that he was staring right at her as he sang.
"You're so delicious, you're so soft, sweet on the tip of my tongue." He stuck his tongue out a little ways and bit it slightly after he sang the line.
"You taste like sunlight, and strawberry bubble gum." He gave her a little smirk before continuing.
"You bite my lip." He bit his lip slightly and smiled slyly at her.
"You spike my blood, you make my heart beat faster." She was practically swooning when he pointed to her when he said 'you' and then put his hand over his heart, patting against his chest like a heart beat. She laughed and shook her head at him. The song sped up a bit and he had loosened up a little more and was moving more to the beat.
"Only you own, and rattle my bones, you turn me over and over, 'till I can't control myself, make me a liar, one big disaster, you make my heart beat faster." She laughed as he did the patting over his heart again and did little circles with his hands when he sang 'over and over'. There were also quite a few cheers from the audience. Then the tune slowed down and he looked more intently at her again.
"It's the way you swell, slow, pushing right out your seams, it's the way you smile, baby, when you've got me on my knees." He winked and smiled seductively at her.
"Your all night noise, your siren's howl," Veronica about jumped as a large number of people in the audience, mostly women, howled after that line, making Logan laugh.
"You make my heart, beat, faster, only you own, and rattle my bones, you turn me over and over, 'till I can't control myself, make me a liar, one big disaster, you make my heart beat faster."
"Cause I jump, I crash, I crawl, I beg, I steal, I fall Ooooh," Veronica couldn't help but be impressed by the way he seemed to change his tune to be a bit higher and sped up, apparently follow the original song. There were several cheers from the audience after that section before the lyrics started again.
"Yeah, you own me, you make my heart beat faster, I can't get enough, 'cause it's gone, like, I guess this world is over to me." She laughed and shook her head at him again as he gave her another seductive leer.
"Only you own, and rattle my bones, you turn me over and over, 'till I can't control myself, make me a liar, one big disaster, you make my heart beat faster."
Veronica and Heather, as well as most of the audience cheered for him as he finished and took a bow. There was definitely a tinge of blush on his cheeks as he made his way back to the table.
"Debt settled?" He asked a bit breathlessly to Heather. She nodded enthusiastically.
"That was…" Veronica started to say. His expression took on a worried look when she didn't complete her sentence right away. She gave him a reassuring smile. "That was very hot." She said and then leaned in and gave him a deep kiss.
They stayed for a few more songs and had some desserts, before they decided to call it a night. Logan tried to coax one of them to go up and sing too, but they both declined. Veronica noticed a few women that walked by gave Logan suggestive glances, however he either didn't notice or was doing an excellent job of pretending not to notice. He mostly just kept his eyes on her with the exception of when he was listening to something Heather was saying. While she had never been a fan of karaoke, likely from some of the horrible singers when she worked at the Hut, she actually was having a fun time there with Logan and Heather.
After Heather had said her good byes and left for the night, they headed up to their bedroom. "You're not going to show that video to anyone, right?" He asked with a bit of a worried expression on his face.
She smiled deviously at him, "Hmmm, I guess that depends."
"On?" He asked as he gave her a predatory look and moved closer to her.
"How happy you keep me." She said with a sly grin.
"Oh, I'll be sure to keep you very, very happy then," he replied as he pressed his body against hers and his lips crashed into hers. His warm fingers slipped under her dress and slowly ran up her thighs as he started to move them toward the bed.
"Mmmmm," she moaned back against his mouth, "I'm sure you will." She gave him a deep kiss then added, "now lets see about making your heart beat faster."