A/N –I do feel badly that it's taken me so long to get time to do an update on this story. I know many of you read my other two stories, so at least you have something more frequently updated to read, but for those you might not, I'm sorry for making you wait so long for an update. Also a heads up for those reading the other two, they may be a bit later than their normal update since I worked on this one during my free time, which of course is never as much as I'd like!
Please let me know what you think of this one with a review!
Disclaimer: All original VM characters belong to Rob Thomas.
Chapter 26 – Go for the Gold
When Veronica woke up Sunday morning, Logan was leaning on his elbow staring at her with a huge smile. It felt like she hadn't seen him look that happy in weeks, although it was probably just because the last week had been so difficult with Alexis's attack, not to mention her own.
"Good morning," Veronica said with a blissful smile. Once they finally made it out of the bathtub the night before, Logan had carried her to bed and had her rest while he'd gone down stairs to make her some dinner. He seemed to be on cloud nine every since she'd asked about the proposal and said yes. Of course they hadn't quite agreed on when to tell everyone about it. He was, as expected, very eager to announce it to everyone, while she was worried about it taking attention away from Mac and Dick's upcoming nuptials. He'd eventually convinced her that Mac and Dick would be thrilled for them, but she still thought they should maybe wait to tell everyone until he at least had a chance to get a ring. "You know if people see you smiling at me like that they're either going to know I agreed to marry you… or think I'm pregnant," she couldn't help but say as the moony smile remained on his face.
"Hmm… maybe we should start working on the second one too," he said with a leering smile as he leaned in to kiss her.
"Slow down there mister," she countered back as she put her fingers up to his mouth to halt his advance. "One out of two is a pretty big deal."
He laughed and nodded as he kissed her fingers. "Of course I was just kidding… well mostly kidding." She quirked her eyebrows at him with a questioning glare, which didn't affect the gigantic smile on his face. "What? Maybe we should just practice… you know… so we're prepared when we're ready."
She laughed and shook her head at him.
"Practice does not make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect," he said in the tone he used when he was saying a quote.
She gave him a quizzical look. "Was that a sports quote?"
He laughed and shrugged. "Maybe… but sex with you should definitely qualify as a sport… of Olympic proportions. And I love going for the gold…"
She laughed and shook her head at him. "You're impossible."
He gave her an amused smile and started speaking in his quote tone again. "Nothing's impossible, the word itself says 'I'm possible'."
She laughed and covered his lips with her hand. "Stop!" she said playfully. "What's with all the quotes this morning? And was that last one Audrey Hepburn?"
He nodded behind her hand and she could still see the happy smile all the way up to his eyes.
"I love you," he mumbled from behind her hand. She laughed and pulled her hand away.
"I love you too," she said with an adoring smile, letting him lean in to press his lips to hers finally.
"Should we try a replay of the failed BBQ from yesterday? You're not working today right?" His expression was normal, but she could sense a small amount of anxiety in his tone as he gently brushed some strands of hair out of her face.
"Nope, I'm not planning to work today… and yes, having a Sunday afternoon BBQ sounds perfect after the week from hell we've both had."
His lips quirked up into an uncontrolled smile, "Well not all parts of the week were bad… especially not last night in the bathtub."
She laughed softly and nodded. "You're trying to use the BBQ as an excuse to tell them all aren't you?"
"What?" he asked innocently. "I hadn't even thought of that… but that's a brilliant idea. You always have the most brilliant ideas you know."
She narrowed her eyes at him. "I thought we were at least going to wait until you were able to get a ring?"
"Hmm… I'm not sure if I actually agreed to that… I do recall you mentioning it though… but hazy on the rest and not sure I actually accepted that suggestion."
Perhaps it's better to just tell everyone, than have them guessing at other reasons for the perma-grin that's unlikely to vanish from his lips. "Let me think about it okay? I still would love to have everyone over today though."
He nodded and gave her another quick kiss. The exuberance in his expression was impossible to miss. It really warmed her heart to see how happy he was and of course she was happy too. With all the ups and downs, really bad downs, the week had thrown at them, seeing him this jovial was definitely a relief. Of course she sort of doubted the entire Alexis/Emily ordeal was entirely behind them. For one, Emily was still missing, and two, she wasn't sure he'd fully dealt with everything that Alexis had done. Of course she'd told him all she knew at the hospital, but with everything that was going on, she didn't think he'd really fully processed it yet. For today though, she was going to do whatever she could to ensure they had a stress-free reprieve from all the complications in their lives, and she decided there was no better time than the present to enjoy that blissful happiness together.
She smiled at him with a provocative look in her eye as she reached up and stroked his cheek. "What was it you were saying about practice a few minutes ago?" He didn't need any further encouragement as his hand moved quickly to her hip and his lips to hers. Not long after that, he was rolling on to his back, with both hands firmly grasping her ass and rocking her against him. It was definitely good that they were kid-free again with how loud they both ended up getting. Every time with him was always amazing, but she couldn't help but notice that this time he seemed to have even more exuberance than he normally did.
After they'd spent a few minutes stretched out sweaty and spent, recovering from their practice, he'd carried her into the shower where they had planned on getting clean, and eventually did, but there may have been a bit more practice there as well. As he had her pressed against the tile walls enjoying the sensation of both his body and the hot stream of water, it occurred to her that they still had Abby for two more weeks, so savored the alone time with him while she had it. They took their time getting dressed, with wandering hands and soft kisses, before they were finally ready to head down for breakfast.
As they were eating, Logan's cell phone chimed from an incoming text. She noticed a slight anxious expression cross his face before he pulled it out and looked at it. She took another bite of the omelet he'd made for her while she tried to figure out who it might have been from his expression. He sat the phone down and stared intensely at his coffee mug for a moment before looking back up at her. "It was Nessa… just asking if I would be at the hospital today. She said that her and Tyler were checking out of the hotel today to head back to Catalina since she has a doctor's appointment tomorrow… she just wanted to say good bye in person before they left."
Veronica gave him an understanding smile and nodded. She watched him poke at his eggs with his fork, a bit disheartened that the enthusiasm from earlier seemed to have slipped away.
"I don't want to go to the hospital though. I'll just see her next time she's in town."
Veronica reached over and squeezed his hand. "You could invite her and Tyler over here?" He looked up at her with a conflicted expression on his face. "Vanessa didn't do anything Logan. You shouldn't let your frustration with Alexis impact your relationship with her sister."
Logan nodded and gave her a grateful look in return. "You're right." He picked up her hand and kissed the back of it. "I'll suggest it."
Veronica nodded and gave him an understanding smile. They finished eating and started calling their friends to see who would be available for a spur of the moment BBQ later that afternoon. They added her Dad, Alicia and Daryl this time, as well as Wallace and Cora, to Dick, Mac and Heather, who had planned to come over the day before. They checked with Weevil and Carmen, but they already had plans to get together with her family since they hadn't been out much yet with the new baby.
Logan decided with the extra company, he would need to get a little more food than he'd picked up the day before, so he ran to the store, while Veronica did a few things around the house. She was putting some clothes away in their closet, when she picked up one of the jackets she'd been wearing earlier in the week to hang it back up and realized there was something in the pocket. She reached in and felt the flash drive that she'd taken from the box in the guest room closet that had Alexis's things in it. She pulled it out and held it in her fingers, debating what to do with it. She knew Logan had gotten rid of the box, although she wasn't sure exactly where he'd taken it, so returning it to the box wasn't really an option. She could just throw it away, but that intrinsic propensity of hers to investigate things wouldn't allow her to do that. She walked out of the closet and grabbed her laptop out of her bag that was sitting next to the bed. A small voice in her head tried to tell her not to look, that she shouldn't risk seeing something that would ruin that blissful mood she'd been in all morning with Logan, but another part of her couldn't shake wanting to see what was on the drive.
She took a deep breath and clicked on the folder to look at the files on the drive. The first folder was labeled 1TB and she clicked to open it, holding her breath as picture files started appearing on the screen. She exhaled as she noticed they were obviously Theta Beta pictures. She saw a few with Alexis and Marjorie, as well as other girls she remembered meeting during her short time at the sorority house at Hearst. She scrolled down through the pictures and realized they were sorted in opposite date order, so after a while she was back at UCLA and Emily was in several of the pictures. If only she'd checked the drive the day she'd found it, she could have put that connection together sooner. Several of the pictures had David in them as well, obviously taken when Alexis had just joined the sorority and before she'd stolen David from Emily. David had his arms wrapped around Emily and they both looked genuinely happy together then. She clicked up to the main level again to look at the other folders on the drive. The next folder was filled with family pictures with Alexis, Vanessa and Jackson as they were growing up. Her parents were also in a number of those pictures. She could tell most of them were probably scanned from original photographs, versus being originally digital images.
The last folder she clicked on set off an alarm bell in her head as the images started to appear. The files in the folder seemed to be more scanned documents than photographs of people. As she enlarged the documents she realized some of them were newspaper articles. She scanned through the documents and realized exactly what they were. Her initial reaction was to wish that she'd just destroyed the drive and not actually looked. From what she could tell from the various files, Emily wasn't who she had said she was. She had stolen someone else's identity, which of course immediately made her think of Kendall, but Emily's situation seemed to be entirely different. From what she could gather from the information on the drive it seemed Emily was trying to hide from something, or maybe more appropriately, someone. There were records of a Tina Martin that had been in the foster system in Alabama and Veronica would be willing to bet Emily was actually Tina. There were later articles that the husband in a specific foster family there had been arrested for abusing kids in his care. Tina's name wasn't listed in the article, but based on the date of that article, Emily would have already been working on her second year at UCLA, so she would have already been using a stolen identity for quite some time. She wondered if Emily/Tina had actually even graduated from high school, or if she'd used the stolen identity to get into UCLA. She was clearly intelligent enough to pass all of her college classes and the nursing program though. Vanessa had thought Emily and David had been high school sweethearts, but she could have been wrong about that. Maybe they did meet before they started going to UCLA together though. No wonder Emily was terrified of Alexis spilling her secret considering all she had to lose if it was discovered, not to mention the criminal charges she would likely face.
Veronica closed the files and pulled the drive out. She stared at it for a moment, completely conflicted about what to do. Her initial reaction was to feel sorry for Emily. She'd escaped from an abusive environment, thinking she'd finally created a safe new life for herself, and then Alexis had blown that completely apart. She sat on the bed still just staring at the drive. Maybe I should just destroy it now. There was no sense in letting it fall back into Alexis's hands, although the original documents would still all exist. Of course seeing the family pictures with Jackson, made her second guess that decision. She was about to put the drive back in and just delete the folder with the information about Emily, but then thought that maybe there could be a clue as to where she might be now in some of the information. She heard the chirp of the security system go off and realized Logan was back, so she put the drive in a small pocket in her bag as she returned the laptop to the bag as well.
She found him placing grocery bags on the counter in the kitchen and saw the elated smile from before breakfast was back on his face. She pushed thoughts of what she'd found out about Emily out of her mind because she didn't want to ruin their day with that topic and gave him a loving smile as she walked over toward him. She started to look into one of the bags to help him put things away when he grabbed her hand.
"Wait… I have something for you…" he said almost nervously. She cocked her brow at him and gave him in inquisitive look. He reached into his pocket and then immediately dropped down to one knee. She chuckled and shook her head, still feeling a little apprehensive even though technically they were already engaged. He opened the box and inside there was a gorgeous ring with a relatively large center diamond surrounded by small light green Peridots, just like the necklace Sylvia had made for her.
"Logan?" she whispered as she looked at it in disbelief. She really hadn't expected him to have a ring already.
"I may have asked Sylvia to make a ring for you after she made the necklace," he explained seeing the questioning look on her face. "I wasn't sure when I'd need it, but absolutely planned to ask you at some point. So when I said I didn't have a ring yet, I just meant I didn't have it with me… not that I hadn't already had her working on one. Luckily she'd finished it already and was able to meet me after I picked up the groceries."
Her hand was shaking as she reached out and gently touched the stones with her fingertips. "It's… it's beautiful Logan," she said a little breathlessly.
He pulled it out of the box and took her hand, slipping it onto her ring finger. "It might be a little big, but Sylvia was hoping it would be close. She's pretty good at guessing sizes from just seeing people's hands." He was right that it was a little bigger than she'd probably need, but not loose enough that it would easily slip off. "We can go see her tomorrow and get it properly sized… but I thought… well... you know what I thought."
She took a deep breath and nodded. "That 'not having a ring' wouldn't be an excuse to not tell everyone now…" she replied softly as he nodded in reply.
"But if you're not ready yet, we can wait… I know this is huge for you… for us… and I'll support whatever you decide you want to do," he told her with an understanding tone.
Her gaze was fixated on her hand and the ring. It almost had an antique look to it, and was definitely something she wouldn't feel awkward wearing. She'd been a little worried that he might get her some giant diamond that she'd be self conscious about, but this ring was perfect. Of course now that she didn't have the ring excuse any longer she had to face the real reason she was so hesitant to tell everyone. She didn't have any reservations about saying yes, but she was worried that her dad may think this was way too sudden. She'd only been back in Neptune for a couple of months and even though he was extremely supportive of her and Logan, his expression at the hospital, even though they were only joking then, had her worried.
She was so focused on staring at the ring that she hadn't realized Logan had stood up until his voice came from higher than he'd been when kneeling and she felt him gently stroke the side of her head with his hand. "And I did ask your dad's permission," he said quietly. She finally looked up at him with a surprised look on her face. "I asked him yesterday when I dropped of Abby. I thought I should since we'd talked about it and I was really hoping it wouldn't take you a year to say yes."
Veronica's eyes opened wide as she stared at him with a slightly concerned look on her face. "Did he freak out?" she asked before she bit on her lower lip.
"Um… I wouldn't say he freaked out per say. He was a little surprised I think, but did thank me for actually asking," he explained, apparently thinking back to what had happened when they spoke. She gave him a puzzled look and he shrugged, perhaps because he wasn't sure what else she was expecting.
"Well… did he give you permission?" she asked looking at him anxiously.
"Of course… he loves me," he said with a smug smile. She laughed softly and shook her head. "Sooooo…" he continued looking at her with a bit more scrutiny. "Is that what you were worried about? How your dad would react?"
She shrugged, and then nodded slowly. "Maybe… just a little."
"Well asking for permission, and actually telling him you said yes, are two very different things… Maybe I'll hide out down at the beach until you tell me it's safe to come back," he said with a sheepish grin.
"Oh no! No way mister… you're going to be standing right next to me when we tell him," she said sternly.
He laughed and pulled her in so he could kiss her on the forehead. "You know I was only kidding. I'd never make you do that on your own. Since I'm the mayor, I could always request protection from the sheriff's department if you think it might be necessary. Maybe we should invite Norris over too and he can bring his sidearm." She laughed and shook her head at him.
They discussed strategy as they put the groceries away. Their final plan was that she'd put the ring in her pocket and then after everyone was there and sitting down to eat they'd make their big announcement. She wasn't convinced that given the ear to ear grin that he was still sporting, that everyone wouldn't figure it out before hand, but she could always hope the plan would work. When she finally headed up to change clothes before everyone arrived, she picked a sun dress with pockets that had light green in the pattern and put on the necklace that Sylvia had made for her as well.
Dick, Mac and Abby were the first to arrive and it was evident that Abby was happy to be back with them again. Veronica was sure this entire visit was probably more stressful on her than her prior ones had been with everything going on and having to shuttle her between people as often as they had. She seemed to stay pretty tightly glued to Logan, trying to help him carry things out to the grill to cook and then sitting near him, watching him work. Mac ended up helping Veronica in the kitchen and after Logan had made several trips in to get things he needed, she gave Veronica a questioning look.
"What's up with him?" Mac asked. Veronica shrugged and tried to feign innocence. Mac narrowed her eyes more closely at Veronica. "There's something going on isn't there?"
"What makes you say that?" Veronica asked, still trying to not give anything away.
"Because I haven't seen him smile like that since… I don't know when I've seen him smile like that. It's totally a cat who ate the canary smile," She looked intently at Veronica. "And you can't tell me that Investigator Mars hasn't noticed." Veronica shrugged again, causing Mac to raise her eyebrows at her. "Mm hmm… I totally don't believe you. But if you're not ready to tell anyone yet, that's fine. But don't think you're going to get anything by your dad when he gets here, not with Logan grinning like he's the Cheshire cat."
"That ate a canary?" Veronica asked with a playful grin on her face. Mac laughed and nodded in reply.
Luckily, her dad, Daryl and Alicia were the last ones to arrive, so she didn't have to worry too much about him figuring it out before they were ready to tell everyone. They were just finishing up the food when they arrived, so they had everyone sit around the large table on the patio to eat. Vanessa had texted a little earlier that they may not be able to make it over, but would definitely let him know before they left on the ferry, so they weren't expecting them to be there for when they shared their big news.
"We'd like to make a quick announcement before we eat," Logan said as he stood at the head of the table with Veronica by his side. Of course everyone stopped whatever they were doing and all stared intently at them. Veronica quickly glanced around the table and saw that Mac had a very smug look on her face, obviously already sure of what the announcement was. Her dad looked a bit wary, but she could tell he was trying to keep his cool as much as possible. She figured he probably had a pretty good idea what the announcement was as well, and was likely surprised it came so soon after Logan had talked with him. Daryl, Wallace, Cora, Dick, Abby and Heather didn't seem to have any clue based on their expressions, but she thought Alicia looked as if she might. She noticed Alicia reached over and squeezed her dad's hand, probably trying to keep him from reacting too rashly when they shared their news. Veronica had slipped the ring on her finger in her pocket and was waiting for Logan to continue before pulling it out.
"So… we wanted to share with all of you that we're engaged," Logan said with the same exuberant smile that he'd had most of the day.
Veronica heard Heather let out a delighted squeal, and saw Abby, who was sitting by Dick, ask him what that meant. She glanced at her dad and saw a grim smile on his face, though at least it wasn't unbridled rage. She gave him a tentative smile, hoping that he really would be okay with all of this. She felt her heart speed up as her dad stood up from his seat. She sucked in a sharp breath of air, but then let it out when she saw him pick up his glass and hold it up in the air.
"Congratulations," he said looking at both of them. "I couldn't imagine anyone else who's had such a profound impact on my daughter's life and I know you love her with all your heart. Cheers, to you both," he said as he lifted his glass a bit higher.
The others around the table lifted their glasses as well and all yelled cheers. She happened a glance at Mac again who was clearly giving her an 'I knew it', look in return.
"You know there's still time to plan a double wedding," Mac announced with a sly smile on her face.
Veronica shook her head quickly and shot her a small glare, though she wasn't terribly surprised that she'd said it. "Thanks, but no thanks. That dubious day is all yours," Veronica promptly replied. "We're also not sure how quickly we'll be headed down the aisle. But we are so happy to have the support of our friends and family." Logan pulled her closer and kissed her on the top of the head.
"Can we eat now?" Abby asked, clearly not quite grasping the significance of the announcement and causing quite a few chuckles around the table. Logan and Veronica nodded at her and everyone went about serving themselves and starting to eat.
Veronica walked over behind her dad and wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Thanks for saying that pops. I really do appreciate it."
He nodded and turned so he could kiss her cheek in return. "I just want you to be happy honey, and I can see how much in love the two of you are. Of course I'm thrilled about you taking your time to actually head to the alter, but would still support you regardless of what you decide to do."
Alicia gave her a warm smile and stood up so she could give her a proper hug. "I'm so happy for you sweetheart," Alicia said softly as they hugged. "Logan's grown up to be such a wonderful man. It's easy for anyone to see how much he truly loves you." Veronica gave her a tender smile in return and nodded. "Let's see that ring now," she said with a playful smile on her face as she pulled up Veronica's hand. "Oh it's beautiful Veronica. Are those your birthstones?" Veronica nodded and thanked her.
She walked over to Mac next, who was still giving her a slightly admonishing look. "For the record, I knew that's what was going on," she said as she also took Veronica's hand to look at the ring. "It's beautiful, Veronica."
Wallace stood up and walked over to give her a hug as well. "Congratulations," he whispered to her as he hugged her. "I guess I'll be able to manage having him as a brother-in-law," he added with a mischievous wink.
Veronica glanced over toward Logan and saw that he was talking with Dick and Abby. He gave her a loving smile as their eyes met and she saw him say something to the two of them before walking over toward her. He wrapped his arms around her waist and then gave her a slow kiss on the cheek. "You doing okay?" he asked with a questioning look.
She smiled back and nodded. "Yeah, better than okay," she replied and then gave him a quick kiss on the lips. "Thank you," she said softly as she stared into his warm brown eyes.
"For what?" he asked as he stared intently back at her.
"For loving me," she replied back as she reached up and gently stroked his cheek.
"Always," he said back softly and leaned forward so he could kiss her chastely again.
As they were finishing up eating, they heard the door bell and Logan went to answer it. He returned a few minutes later with Vanessa and Tyler. Vanessa bee-lined directly to Veronica and gave her a huge hug. Veronica laughed as Vanessa stood back and gave her a radiant smile. "I guess he told you?" Veronica asked with an amused expression on her face. Vanessa nodded back and reached for her hand.
"I'm so happy for the two of you," Vanessa replied giddily. "He really deserves someone who makes him happy, and it's easy to see that you do."
The rest of the afternoon they spent time visiting with everyone and enjoying the day. Her dad, Alicia and Daryl were the first to leave, followed by Vanessa and Tyler who needed to head back to Catalina. At some point they decided to head down to the beach to build a fire and watch the sunset. Abby and Heather had fun playing with a Frisbee they found in one of the cabinets in the gazebo, with Dick and Wallace joining in a bit too. After the sun had gone down, they all ended up just sitting around the fire talking and watching the flames dance in the fire pit. Abby was getting sleepy and had curled up on the opposite side of Logan, with the hypnotic rhythm of the fire eventually putting her to sleep. Logan carefully moved her off of him, and retrieved one of the blankets from the cabinet to wrap her in so she wouldn't get too cold.
Heather reluctantly said she'd better get going since she had class in the morning and congratulated them again as she gave them both a hug goodbye. "I'm so happy for you both. You really do have an epic love story," she said with a sentimental expression.
"Yeah we do," Logan replied as he kissed Veronica tenderly on the top of the head.
The remaining three couples sat around, mostly discussing the latest developments in Mac and Dick's upcoming wedding until Mac yawned very loudly and Dick announced that he'd better get her home to bed. Veronica saw him gently rub his hand over her belly and wondered how much longer they were going to be able to keep that little secret themselves. Wallace and Cora didn't seem to catch it though and they also decided to leave at the same time as Mac and Dick did.
Logan and Veronica stayed behind and sat cuddle together on one of the lounge chairs watching the fire and listening to the ocean. He placed soft kisses along her neck, but with Abby sleeping on the lounge chair across from them, she could tell he was trying to behave. She couldn't help but find herself staring at her ring at several points through out the day and was doing it again as she watched the light from the fire bounce off the gemstones. She still couldn't quite believe that they were engaged, but she had no doubt in her mind that it was what she really did want. They'd both changed quite a bit from the reckless and damaged teens that they used to be, but all the parts that they'd loved about each other were still there and they fit together so much better now than they ever had before. She finally let out a loud yawn and he squeezed her a little tighter and kissed her cheek.
"We'd better head back up to the house before I have two sleepy girls to carry back," Logan said after he kissed her. She nodded and stood up, helping him tidy up everything before he carefully scooped up Abby. The young girl must have been completely exhausted and didn't even stir as he carried her back to the house. Veronica said she'd lock up everything downstairs, while he put her to bed.
He was leaning in the doorway to their room when Veronica made it to the top of the stairs. He still had such a look of elated contentment on his face. He gave her a loving smile as she walked toward him and then wrapped her arms around him and placed a kiss to his chest. He kissed the top of her head, and then scooped her up and carefully closed and locked the door behind him. She gave him a questioning look and he returned it with a lascivious grin. "I really want to make love to my fiancé," he said as he pressed his lips to hers.
"Mmmm… fiancé…" she said in a wistful tone. "You're fiancé would really like that."
He took a deep breath and carried her over to the bed where he sat her down. He picked up her left hand and stared at the ring for a moment before looking up into her eyes again. "I don't even know how to tell you how happy I am that you said yes," he said as he looked at her with an expression of amazement.
She smiled in return and nodded slowly. "Well if you don't know how to tell me, why don't you show me," she said as she gave him a seductive smile.
He ran his fingers through her hair and kissed her deeply. He then reached around the back of her and unzipped her sun dress, gently pushing the straps down the sides of her arms. He placed soft kisses along her neck and then down her shoulders, as he slipped the dress completely off of her. He gave her a wondrous smile as he saw that she was wearing a bra and thong set that nearly matched the green in her ring and necklace perfectly.
"Mmm… while I love you in black and red, this is absolutely perfect for tonight," he said in a husky voice as he took her in.
"I thought you might appreciate it," Veronica purred back to him as she reached up and started to unbutton his shirt.
He went back to placing kisses along her clavicle and shoulders as she worked on his shirt. Once she had it completely unbuttoned, she pushed it off his body and he moved his mouth to kiss her through the lace of her bra. She moaned and arched up toward him, the slight roughness of the lace being pressed against her with his tongue sending shivers through her body. She reached down to help him get out of his pants, although concentrating on that while he was working his tongue so expertly on her body made it practically impossible. He helped her out with his pants and in no time he was completely naked and sliding her body farther up the bed so she could stretch out under him. She still had on her lacy bra and thong, as well as the necklace and ring.
"You're so beautiful," he said softly as he leaned up to kiss her lips again. "I can't wait until I get to make love to you as my wife," he whispered into her ear as he ran his fingers slowly down her body sending waves of desire through her. She shifted so she could kiss him passionately on the lips, wrapping her legs around him to urge him even closer to her. He took his time pleasuring her several times before finally giving in to his own desires. When they were finished and exhausted, Veronica rolled over on to her side and Logan molded himself around her from behind, placing gentle kisses on her shoulder and encompassing her small body in his strong protective arms. She was so blissfully relaxed that she could barely find the energy to speak, but whispered out a soft I love you, before drifting off to sleep.
With a new week starting for them, Logan had been able to work out a schedule between himself, Mac and Heather for watching Abby and allowing him to get back into the office to take care of some pressing matters and to reschedule some of the meetings he'd had to postpone. Veronica was trying to watch her some as well, but she had been fairly busy at the sheriff's office helping to build the case against Liam and Ciaran. With all the bodies that had been recovered at the cemetery, there was a lot of work to try to identify them all and then build connections back to Liam or other members of the Fitzpatrick family.
It was Wednesday afternoon, and Logan had just finished up a meeting and was reading through some emails when he heard the familiar click of high heels enter his office. His whole body tensed up and he instinctively clenched his jaw tightly. He let out an angry sigh before turning his attention away from his laptop screen to see Alexis standing in front of his desk with a hesitant expression on her face. Felicia had mentioned that she'd heard from Alexis's assistant that she'd been released from the hospital the day before.
"Hi," she said softly as she watched him cautiously. He stared at her for a moment without replying, his jaw set in a hard line. "I just wanted to stop by and apologize," Alexis continued as she nervously fidgeted with the strap on her purse.
Logan had tried to deal with the revelation of everything Alexis had done, but had only ended up more furious with her the more he thought about it. "Apologize?" he replied incredulously. "You put Veronica in life threatening danger, Alexis. You blackmailed Emily. Those aren't things you can just apologize for."
She looked down at his desk for a moment before looking back up at him. "I know… I wish I could go back and change things…"
"Bull shit Alexis. You're only saying that now because things went the way they did. I don't believe you'd actually do anything differently if the truth hadn't come out," he replied angrily.
"I almost died Logan…" she said in a broken tone.
"Because of your own damned actions Alexis… I can't even imagine how many other horrible things you've done given what I now know."
She took a deep breath. "I really am sorry Logan. I know that may not mean anything to you, but I am. I just wanted to try to make things better between us before I leave."
"There's no way you can fix this Alexis. Emily could have killed Veronica and it would have been all your fault."
"Emily's not a murderer though… she wouldn't have…"
"She tried to kill you Alexis, there's no way you could know that she wouldn't have done the same thing to Veronica."
Alexis let out a deep sigh. "I don't think she ever meant to kill me though… we were just arguing… and I was being a horrible bitch as usual…" she shook her head in despair. "I realize now that I almost died, how many terrible mistakes I've made." He noticed a few tears roll down her cheeks and she took a deep breath before she continued. "This may not matter to you, but I'm not pressing charges against Emily. I don't really think she meant to hurt me if I hadn't pushed her as far as I did. I know she's disappeared, but maybe she'll hear some how that I'm not."
Logan gave her a disbelieving look. "You fucking ruined her life already Alexis. Who knows where the hell she is. You destroyed her relationship with Leo and sent her running for her life. God… who knows what she may have done…"
Alexis's expression became even more distraught. "I know and I really am sorry. I know you may not believe me, but it's true. If…" she took a deep breath. "I know Veronica used to be good at finding people… if she can find her… she could let her know that I'm not pressing charges and that I promise I'll keep her secret so she won't have to worry about that again either."
Logan shook his head as he continued to look angrily at her. "Until when… until the next time it's to your advantage to use whatever you have on her against her again?"
Alexis shook her head and a few more tears fell down her cheeks. "No, I mean it."
"You'll understand if I have hard time believing anything you say now," Logan spat back tersely. He finally stood up from his desk and walked over to a set of shelves along the wall. He picked up the box he'd brought from his house and carried it toward her. She gave him a confused look as he thrust it out at her. "Here's everything you left behind at my house. I'd like to say I hope I never see you again, but I don't plan on cutting Vanessa out of my life, so unfortunately I'm sure our paths will cross again."
"Logan, please…" she pleaded as she looked sadly at him. "Please tell me what I can do to make things better?"
Logan shook his head as he clenched his jaw again. "Just stay out of my life Alexis."
She swallowed hard and nodded. "I really hope that in time you'll forgive me Logan." She took the box and turned to walk back to the door, but stopped right before she reached it. "Nessa told me the news… Congratulations… I'm sure the two of you will be very happy together. I really do regret that I realized too late what I was throwing away." And with that she turned quickly and left, letting the door close softly behind her.