A/N – Finally a new chapter for this story! I mentioned this in my other story update, but I lost about half of this chapter because of a synch issue between my laptop and phone and was completely devastated by that! I think most of the second half of this chapter is pretty similar to the first version, but anyone who writes knows how impossible that is to completely get back. I've had some losses like that before, but usually it's just a paragraph or two and not over 3000 words! Needless to say, that didn't help with my already limited time for writing.

Please let me know what you think of this one with a review! I really do appreciate every review I get. I was blown away by all the reviews on FF on the last chapter of Wildest Dreams. I'd love to get the same number here, but realize that was a doozy of a chapter over there!

Disclaimer: All original VM characters belong to Rob Thomas.

Chapter 27 – Family Bonds

Veronica had been swamped since returning to work on Monday trying to help sort out the case against Liam. Fortunately the Fitzpatrick's weren't the brightest group of criminals and some of the bodies actually still had their wallets in their pockets, so identifying those particular victims was easy. The other bodies were pending dental or fingerprint matching if they hadn't been able to identify them any other way yet. Several of the deputies including Veronica, as well as a few investigators from the FBI, were all working on trying to build connections between the victims and the Fitzpatricks. She discovered that a couple had been PCH bikers who had probably gotten themselves into trouble not abiding by the rules Liam had tried to enforce on them when he was making them deal drugs for the Fitzpatrick's. While putting Liam behind bars should certainly help with some of the crime and drugs in Neptune, there would certainly be other players trying to take his place once he permanently went away to prison. They were currently holding him without bail but, as expected, he had lawyers trying to get him out.

Veronica was deep in concentration researching the latest victim from the stack of files when there was a soft knock on her door. She looked up from her desk and was surprised to see a hesitant looking Alexis standing in her doorway. Thinking back to when she'd first seen Alexis at the masquerade ball so many months ago, it was quite a contrast to the woman standing in front of her now. She even still had a small bandage on her forehead from where Emily had hit her. "May I come in?" Alexis asked hesitantly.

"Yeah, sure," Veronica replied as she stood up from her desk to lean against it. She didn't really want to have Alexis get too comfortable in one of the chairs. "What can I do for you?"

"Actually I came to apologize… for my... behavior putting you into danger," Alexis said almost reluctantly.

Veronica nodded and studied her carefully. "Thanks, although I don't think Emily would have really hurt me." Alexis nodded and shifted her gaze away from Veronica. Veronica was trying to interpret what was going on with her and thought she may have figured it out. "I take it you talked to Logan?"

Alexis nodded again. "Yeah… he's pretty upset with me… which I can understand… I just wish that he wasn't."

You made your bed… Veronica shrugged. "It was certainly a lot for him to deal with."

"I know… I told him, and of course Leo too… but wanted you to know as well… that I'm not going to press any charges against Emily. We argued, and things got out of hand, but she didn't mean to hurt me that badly."

"So have you gotten all your memories back then?" Veronica asked as she continued to study Alexis carefully.

Alexis looked a bit dismayed and nodded. "Yeah I think I have... a majority of them anyway. After hearing that it was Emily that had attacked me, I remembered that night and then everything else started coming back too. Which is how I know it wasn't premeditated on her part because I also remembered all the things I said to her as well."

Veronica nodded and walked over toward her bag where she still had the thumb drive in a side pocket. She'd copied the files on Emily off of it already because she was still hoping to help her. Veronica pulled out the thumb drive and handed it to Alexis. "I'm sure Emily was just terrified that you were going to expose her secret."

Alexis gave her a look of regret and nodded as she took the thumb drive. "So you know?" Alexis asked after slipping it into her pocket.

Veronica nodded. "But I don't plan on telling anyone."

Alexis looked down for a moment. "I told Logan that I was hoping you might be able to find her. To let her know she doesn't have to keep looking over her shoulder and running." Veronica gave Alexis a slightly skeptical look as she listened to her. "I guess almost dying sort of puts your life in a different perspective. I know I can't make up for everything I've done, but maybe if I start making some changes, I can repair some of the damage." Veronica took a deep breath. She really hoped that Alexis didn't think she was going to get Logan back by doing something like that. "Maybe I'll be able to earn some forgiveness eventually."

"How about Casey? Have you forgiven him?" Veronica figured if Alexis had her memories back, she probably remembered the big fall-out they'd had too.

Alexis gave her a demure smile and nodded. "Yeah… we actually had dinner last night. It was good. He's going to come visit me when I get settled on Catalina."

"Casey's a good guy. I hope your new outlook on life involves treating him a little better too." Veronica knew that Casey had seemed to be totally cool with the relationship he had with Alexis before their huge fight, but Veronica really thought he deserved better.

Alexis nodded in understanding. "Well I should be going. Again… I'm sorry that Emily attacked you because of what happened between her and I… Oh… and congratulations on the engagement."

Veronica nodded but felt a small alarmed sensation pass through her, wondering if Alexis was sincere or about to turn vicious as she had other times before. "Thanks," Veronica replied cautiously, but Alexis only turned and headed back out the door with a quick goodbye before she disappeared out of sight.

Veronica went back over to her desk and pulled the file up on her laptop that she'd been putting together to try to track down Emily. She'd been going through Emily's social media interactions, trying to see if there might be close friends that she might still be in contact with. She'd also asked Mac to see if she could find any electronic traces of her. So far though, Mac hadn't been able to get any leads on her. It's not like Emily was a hardened criminal, but she had successfully changed identities before, so it was likely that she'd easily do it again. Emily had been smart and withdrew a sizeable amount of cash before she disappeared, so it could be quite sometime before she'd need to resurface. In her digging, Veronica had discovered that Emily had ended up in the foster system after her parents had both died in a car accident, because she didn't have any other living relatives. She actually had a substantial inheritance left to her, and Veronica wasn't sure how no one had ever investigated "Tina Martin" accessing it after she had ran away and disappeared, although at the time no one may have been looking for her either. Veronica had decided that was how Emily had been able to afford to go to UCLA and perhaps paid for whatever it may have taken to get a new identity and stay hidden. After browsing through the data for about fifteen minutes she decided she'd better get back to the cases she was actually being paid to work on. She hadn't told Leo that she had been trying to find Emily. She wasn't sure how he'd actually feel about her doing it and whether he thought he could get past what Emily had done. Knowing that Alexis wasn't going to press charges fueled Veronica's quest to find Emily even more though.

Veronica reluctantly shifted gears and opened one of the other victim's folders from her desk. She'd been buried in that for at least thirty minutes when someone abruptly entered her office, causing her to nearly jump out of her seat from the unexpected intrusion.

"I did it!" Mac announced ecstatically.

"You found Emily?" Veronica asked in surprise.

Mac gave her a confused look for a second and then shook her head. "Sorry, no... I broke through that little shit head's security program!"

"You rock!" Veronica replied enthusiastically. "Have you been able to capture their video again?"

Mac shook her head. "Not theirs, but his with another buddy, which I couldn't see before so I know my code works."

"That's great. We may need to put some more pressure on them to see if we can catch them talking about it." Veronica said thoughtfully. "Although I've started talking with an agent from the insurance company and they have an office in Paris. I let them know that we suspect Stephanie was stealing them and sending them to Jake in France. They are starting to talk with law enforcement there to see what they need to put together to search his apartment."

"I bet it's killing you to be so far away. You'd probably pull some scheme to get in there if you could," Mac offered with a mischievous grin.

Veronica chuckled and nodded her head. "I'm half way tempted to ask Logan if we can just fly over there, but I know he'd have no qualms about saying yes. That's a bit extreme just to bust them really. I'll try to let the authorities over there handle it with the insurance company. But if we can get any proof for them that would be fantastic."

"Well I for one think you should go. I'm sure Logan would love to take you to France. I'm sure you'd have an absolutely romantic time... After the jewelry thief busting of course."

Veronica laughed and shook her head again. "He's still trying to catch up with work from everything that happened last week with Alexis. He can't play hooky from being the Mayor for too long."

Mac scoffed and rolled her eyes. "What would happen? Really? I'm pretty sure Neptune would keep on ticking along without him here."

Veronica shrugged and glanced balefully at the stack of file folders on her desk. "Well I'm sure he must do something important. At least that's what he keeps trying to tell me. Not to mention I'm up to my eyeballs on the Fitzpatrick case."

Mac shook her head at her friend. "You two had better not turn into workaholics… at least he could eventually be voted out of office, although I think he's actually done a lot of great things for the town... shockingly enough... and even more shocking is that people seem to really like him as their Mayor."

"What's not to like?" Veronica asked with a devious smile.

Mac laughed and shook her head. "I'm still secretly hoping for that double wedding. There's still time you know... Or my other idea of Dick just marrying you in Mexico... or sooner if you'd like. We're free this weekend... "

Veronica scoffed at Mac. "Not happening my dear. There is no way on earth that we're being married by Dick! Sorry... no offense of course."

"None taken," Mac replied with a big grin. "Logan didn't tell you about the bet did he?"

Veronica's eyes opened wide. Of course she already knew about the diaper changing bet, so was terrified there may have been some Dick wedding officiating bet too.

Mac grinned deviously at her. "Well I'm certainly not going to be the one to break it to you," she replied smugly with a wink.

Veronica studied her for a moment. "I think you're bluffing."

Mac shrugged and gave her an innocent look.

"You're enjoying this too much... I think you're just trying to freak me out for kicks."

"Well I should let you get back to your case files, Bond," she replied with a devious smile. "Say hello to your fiancé for me."

Veronica rolled her eyes as Mac headed to the door. She really did think Mac was just messing with her now. "Thanks for the news on the case Mac," she called out as Mac gave her a little wave and headed out the door.

After Mac left, Veronica started thinking more about Stephanie and Jake and how best to smoke them out. She glanced at her watch and saw that it was early enough for school still to be in session. She got up and walked over to Leo's office.

"What's our procedure for high school locker searches?" Veronica asked Leo as she took a seat in the chair in front of his desk.

"Probable cause?"

"Jewelry theft?" Veronica replied with a hopeful smile. "Mac's broken through Jake's encryption. Thought we could rattle Stephanie's cage a bit to maybe get them talking about it."

Leo nodded. "Sure, why don't you and Norris head over there and I'll call the high school office to let them know you're coming."

Fifteen minutes later Norris and Veronica were parking in the visitor lot at the high school. "Ah our old alma mater," Veronica said with sarcastic glee.

"Yeah, remember the time I got arrested by the FBI right there?" Norris asked with a smirk as he pointed to that particular spot in the parking lot. "Good times."

Veronica nodded and couldn't help but remember what else happened the day before that. A nostalgic smile crossed her lips thinking back to that very first kiss with Logan.

They headed into the school office where a middle aged woman said the principle would be right with them. The two of them gave each other an amused smirk as they waited in front of the counter. A minute later the principle's office door opened and Mr. Clemmons walked out.

"Nice to see you Van," Norris said as he extended his hand to shake the older man's. Veronica could tell Clemmons was not thrilled about the use of his first name from a former student, but there wasn't much he could do about it now either.

Clemmons let out a sigh as he looked at Veronica. "Miss Mars, I wasn't sure if Sheriff D'Amato was being serious or not when he said you were on your way over."

"Lucky you," Veronica replied with a chipper smile.

Clemmons clearly looked less than amused. "Nora, can you please call Stephanie Whitman to the office."

The woman behind the desk nodded and picked up the phone. "So working for the sheriff's department now?" Clemmons asked Veronica as they stood waiting for Stephanie.

Veronica nodded and gave him a sly smile. "Yep, finally joined the dark side."

Clemmons shook his head slightly and gave her a small smile. "Well I'm sure they're happy to have you. You always seemed to do a better job at solving things than they did anyway."

Veronica was slightly surprised by the compliment and gave him a thankful smile in return. A moment later Stephanie walked into the office and looked a bit caught off guard to see the two of them at first, but quickly recovered with an innocent smile.

"Deputy Clayton and Investigator Mars would like to look in your locker Stephanie," Clemmons explained as he started toward the hallway.

"Still looking for your missing jewelry?" Stephanie asked almost gleefully as she fell in step behind Clemmons. Veronica nodded as Stephanie shot her a quick look over her shoulder.

Once they reached her locker, Stephanie happily did the combination and stood to the side so they could search it. Veronica saw that she had a few pictures of her and Jake hanging in it and really hoped this little visit would encourage her to talk to him about the burglaries. They searched through her backpack as well as her coat pockets, not actually expecting to find anything, but hoping to shake her at least a little. When they were finished they thanked her for her cooperation and Mr. Clemmons sent her back to class.

Mr. Clemmons gave Veronica a curious smile right before she and Norris were about to head back to their car. "I get the feeling you weren't actually expecting to find anything were you?" He asked with a discerning expression.

Veronica shrugged and gave him a grin. "That would have been icing on the cake, but still hoping this wasn't a wasted trip. Thanks for your help, Mr. C," she replied.

He nodded slightly before he gave them a quick farewell and headed back to his office. Veronica pulled out her cell and sent Mac a quick text to be on the look out for a call between the two of them now that they hopefully had rattled Stephanie's cage a little.

By the time Veronica made it home, she was exhausted from her long day at work. After returning from the high school, she went back to digging into records of more of the deceased victims found at the church cemetery. She started walking into the kitchen and was immediately suspicious of the eerie quiet in the house. Logan's car was already in the garage, and Heather's was still in the driveway so she expected them to all be there. Heather was watching Abby that afternoon, so Veronica wasn't surprised that she would still be at the house, but was surprised that she couldn't hear any of them in the house or out by the pool. Veronica finally noticed that there was a piece of paper on the counter with Logan's definitive scrawl on it. Just the word 'beach' was written on it. She was thankful that he seemed to have gotten past most of the angst of the prior week and at least acted like he was getting back to normal. She couldn't help but wonder though how his visit today from Alexis might have affected him.

After changing into beach appropriate clothing, she made her way out the back of the house and along the path to find Logan and the girls. She could hear voices before she saw any of them. It sounded like they were playing Frisbee and she could smell the grill going as she got closer, causing her mouth to start watering. She wasn't expecting to see one dark haired guy at the grill and a second one in the sand playing Frisbee with Heather and Abigail though.

"Hey you," Logan said as he spotted her. He gave her a huge smile and stepped away from the grill to give her a big welcoming kiss. Veronica gave him a puzzled look as she gestured out toward the beach with her head. His smile became even larger. "Would you like to meet my brother?"

Veronica was definitely surprised to learn that Logan's brother was the mysterious dark haired stranger on the beach. Charlie's back had been toward her as she'd walked down the path, so she hadn't seen his face yet and she certainly had never expected him to be there. Logan gave her a knowing smile as he took in her reaction. "I guess he's been traveling around to more remote locations in Africa trying to take care of some things before he headed back to the US, so his internet and cell phone connections were even worse than usual. He didn't realize that none of his messages were getting through, nor how many he was missing from us here. I guess he's been working on finding a replacement to take over his position there so he could relocate back to the US. He had no idea that Cassie was in Europe or that we had Abby with us until he finally landed in LA earlier today. Once he was off the plane, he was finally able to reach Cassie and found out what was going on, so then he called me and had a car service drop him off here," Logan explained as he glanced between Veronica and the other three down on the sand. "Come on," he said as he took her hand and started pulling her down toward the others.

"Hey Charlie," Logan called out as they were about to where he was. He turned and gave them both a warm smile. "I'd like to officially introduce you to the love of my live, my fiancé, Veronica Mars."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Charlie said as he reached out to shake Veronica's hand. She wondered if he might remember talking to her briefly from all those years ago, but didn't detect any sense of recognition in his eyes. She couldn't help but notice similarities in his and Logan's expressions as he shook her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. "Logan's mentioned you several times over the years. Congratulations on the engagement," he commented with a warm smile.

Veronica was a little surprised that Logan had talked about her during all their years apart, but of course he'd come to see her graduate and tried to see her in Massachusetts, so perhaps he'd mentioned those trips to Charlie. "It's wonderful to finally meet you too, Charlie. I have to say that it's been great getting to know Abby as well. She's a terrific little girl, although I do feel bad about how crazy everything has been since she arrived." After Veronica spoke, she worried for a moment about whether Logan had filled Charlie in on everything that had been happening lately with them.

Charlie nodded and gave her a knowing look. Obviously he was up to speed on the recent events. "Yeah, I still can't believe everything that Logan told me actually happened." He shook his head slightly with a disbelieving expression. "But I know Abby has still had a great time with you two. She seems quite taken by you in fact. She was gushing about getting to visit you at the sheriff's station and how you get to solve mysteries."

Veronica smiled and nodded. She was a little surprised that Abby had been impressed enough by that to share it already with Charlie, but considering her infatuation with Scooby Doo mysteries, it wasn't actually that hard to imagine.

"Dinner's about ready if you want to round up the girls," Logan said to Charlie before he gave Veronica a tender smile and they turned to walk back up to the gazebo. Logan asked if it was okay with her to have Charlie and Abby stay the night before they drove back to Cassandra's place in San Diego, which of course she whole heartedly agreed with.

They spent most of dinner listening to Charlie tell stories about things that had happened to him in Africa since the last time he'd been back to the US. Veronica couldn't help but notice how Charlie, Logan and Heather all interacted. It was heartwarming to Veronica to see how even though none of them had been raised as siblings, the three of them seemed to have still developed that same sort of familiar and comfortable bond over the years that they had been together. It was comforting to her to know that Logan was able to find that sort of camaraderie with them given how challenging things had been for him growing up. He certainly never seemed to have the same type of relationship with Trina, even if they were raised together. It was also evident in watching Charlie with Abby how much he loved her and how hard it must have been for him to be away from her for as long as he was. They both looked ecstatic to be back together and as they sat next to each other eating their dinner, Veronica saw Charlie tenderly fawn over her as he helped her with her food and checked that everything was just right for her.

After they were done eating, Abby and Heather went back down on the sand to play more Frisbee as the other three cleaned up all of the dinner dishes and packed up the leftovers to take back up to the main house. Logan had asked Charlie what his plans were now that he was back on a more permanent basis as they worked on cleaning everything up.

"I've applied for teaching positions at a few places close to Cassie's in San Diego. She offered to let me stay at the house with her and Abby until I can get a place of my own worked out." Charlie explained as he rinsed the last of the plates and loaded it into the dishwasher. Veronica noticed Logan had a peculiar expression as Charlie answered him, but she wasn't going to ask about it right then. A minute later Abby ran up from the beach and asked Charlie to come back and play with them too.

"Go ahead. We've got the rest of this," Logan assured him. Charlie gave him a grateful smile and then took Abby's hand and headed back down to the sand.

"So…" Veronica started with a suspicious expression. "What was the look you made when Charlie mentioned working and living in San Diego all about?"

Logan gave her a little smirk and nodded. "Caught that did ya?" She nodded with a delightful grin in reply. "He'll probably not be thrilled if he finds out I told anyone this," he said as he pulled her a little closer to him and lowered his voice. "…but he got a little cozy with Cassie again the last time he was home."

Veronica gave him her best scandalized expression. "No… you don't say?" she replied playfully.

Logan smiled and nodded. "Yeah… usually he would stay at a hotel near them, but the last time he was home, she'd suggested he just stay at the house with them so he could spend more time with Abby. And well… I guess absence makes the heart grow fonder," Logan replied as he pulled her in even closer against his chest. "I know it was certainly true in our case." Veronica looked up at him with an affectionate smile and nodded before he continued. Logan really was a hopeless romantic, and not just about the two of them. "I think being apart all that time… they were able to work through some of the issues that led to their divorce. I know he really loves Abby, but part of me wonders if he didn't decide to come back because of Cassie too," Logan explained as he glanced out toward Charlie on the beach.

"Well if he's anything like his brother, Cassie would be a fool to let him get away again," Veronica replied lovingly. Logan nodded and then leaned down to sweetly kiss the tip of her nose.

Once they had everything cleaned up from dinner, Logan and Veronica walked down to the sand to join the rest of them. After a little bit more Frisbee throwing, Heather announced that she needed to go home since she had an early class and an assignment to finish up before the next day. They collected all the leftovers and other things that they had brought down to the gazebo and headed back up to the house.

After Heather said her goodbyes to everyone, Abby asked if they could all watch one of the new Scooby Doo movies together that Charlie hadn't seen yet. Once they all made it to the game room, Abby pulled out the case for Scooby Doo Frankencreepy and Logan put it in the player for her. The movie was just a little over an hour long, and by the time it was almost over, Abby had actually fallen asleep with her head on Charlie's leg.

"I see her enthusiasm for Scooby Doo hasn't diminished since the last time I was home," Charlie whispered as Logan shut off the TV. Both Logan and Veronica shook their heads at him in unison.

"Thanks again for all your help with her. Both Cassie and I really appreciate it," Charlie said softly as he looked down at Abby and brushed some of her hair back away from her face.

"Of course," Logan replied with a tender smile. "That's what families are for, right?"

Charlie nodded before he spoke again. "Yeah, well, I think you've gone beyond what would normally be expected and I really appreciate it. I know it was tough on Cassie when I first decided to go to Africa… I don't regret going, but lately… it just hasn't felt the same being there. I missed being here way too much to stay any longer. Maybe I'll go back in a few years again, or wait until Abby's a lot older and doesn't need me around as much. For now though, I really want to stick around and be a part of her life on a regular basis."

"I'm sure they're both happy that you've decided to come back," Logan replied with a knowing smile.

Charlie shrugged and Veronica caught a slight blush cross his cheeks. She knew it was hard to embarrass Logan enough to make him blush, and wondered if normally it was the same for Charlie. He seemed a little more introverted than Logan, but listening to all his stories about his time in Africa during dinner, she realized that he was maybe more like Logan than she originally thought.

"Yeah… we'll see how Cassie really feels about it after I've been here a few months. It's easy to say you're glad someone's back when everything is fresh and new again, but whether that lasts, is yet to be seen," Charlie said with a contemplative look on his face. He paused a moment and then looked slightly concerned at the two of them. "I didn't mean that in your case though of course."

"Of course," Veronica replied with a sly grin. "How could anyone get tired of this though," she said playfully as she patted Logan gently on the cheek.

"I'm too perfect for that," Logan teased back as he placed a kiss on Veronica's temple.

"And he's super modest too," Veronica added with a smirk.

"Well, I should probably carry her up to bed. I'm actually surprised I'm even still awake, although I did sleep on some of my flights. The area I was in last was a 9 hour time difference to here though, so it would be around 6am there."

Charlie carefully picked up Abby without waking her up and the four of them headed up stairs together. When they got to the top of the stairs, Logan pointed to the room that Abby was staying in and let Charlie know he could use the room across the hall. Logan had grabbed Charlie's main suitcase from the closet by the front door on the way up and set it in on the bed for him. They said a quick good night, and then Logan and Veronica headed into their own room.

After getting changed into a pair of sleep shorts and a tank top, Veronica went into the bathroom to brush her teeth. She was just finishing up with that when Logan walked in behind her, changed into only a pair of sleep pants, and wrapped his arms around her waist. The way his hand landed on her abdomen made her think about Dick and Mac, which reminded her of the earlier conversation she'd had with Mac.

"So I heard something interesting from Mac today," she said as she watched his reflection carefully in the mirror.

"Hmm?" was all he responded as he kissed her bare shoulder and then started making his way up her neck with his lips, grazing his teeth slightly along her skin.

"Mm hmm," she replied, momentarily distracted by the feel of his hot mouth on her. "She um… she said something about a bet involving Dick officiating our wedding."

Logan froze in place and let out a slight huff of air. Veronica turned in his arms and narrowed her eyes at him.

"Please tell me you did not take a bet that would result in Dick marrying us?" she asked sternly.

"Well, no… I didn't take it… not yet anyway," he answered sheepishly.

She narrowed her eyes even more. "You should know of course that if you ever were to take a bet like that, there wouldn't actually be a wedding right?"

He gave her a sorrowful look and nodded. "Yeah… but it was such a great bet," when she gave him a questioning look, he continued to explain. "It was double or nothing, if I won, I would get out of the diaper changing bet and if he won, well you know… he'd get to officiate our wedding."

"Why would he even suggest that bet?" Veronica asked a bit surprised Dick would come up with that.

Logan shrugged. "I think maybe Mac suggested it."

Veronica shook her head. "Of course she did!"

"Dick suggested that we could have it as a side bet at our next poker night," Logan continued to explain. With everything going on recently, Veronica had completely forgotten about the Thursday night poker tradition.

"I thought… well I thought maybe you could help me win it. Because I'm not really looking forward to paying up that particular debt… there will be diapers filled with all sorts of grossness," he started to whine until he saw her expression change and must have realized his mistake. "Of course if it was our baby, I'd gladly deal with it… but this Casablancas offspring is in no way my fault."

Veronica chuckled softly and shook her head. "You just really need to learn to make better bets, or not lose. I'm sorry, but maybe this will teach you a lesson," she teased back at him.

"But what if it was a sure thing? I'm sure you could help me come up with something that I was guaranteed not to lose at. Or you could take the bet to save me. I'm sure you could easily beat Dick at poker," Logan continued to plead.

Veronica shook her head again. "No way. Neither one of us is taking that bet. You'll just have to think of some other way to get out of diaper duty… not involving Dick officiating our wedding," she replied adamantly.

Logan sighed again and shook his head. "You know I'm completely bewitched by you, so I'll do whatever you say." He put his hands on her waist and lifted her up so she was sitting on the edge of the bathroom counter. "Now where was I," he said salaciously as he went back to kissing her neck and ran his hands up and down her thighs. She let out a soft sigh, quickly forgetting what they were even talking about as he continued his ministrations on her body. He moved one hand so he could pull her even closer to the edge and thrust slightly against her, hitting her in a spot that made her moan a little louder than she intended. "Shhhh…" he whispered softly into her ear as he sucked on her neck again. "We have guests remember."

"Mm hmm…" Veronica answered as she tipped her head so he could have better access to her neck. He moved a hand between them and touched her again, causing another moan to almost escape. She bit down on her lip instead and sucked in a deep breath, pushing against his hand as she enjoyed the friction he was creating.

"So… wanna help me win that bet now?" Logan purred in her ear as he ran his other hand over the curve of her ass.

"Wait... what?" she asked, finally catching on to the game he was playing. "No of course not… you made your bed, and now you have to lie in it."

"Fine," he replied petulantly. He took a step away from her, leaving her nearly aching due to the loss of contact. "Good night, my love," he said quickly as he turned and walked back into their bedroom.

She shook her head and laughed to herself as she watched his retreating figure. After a minute, she hopped off of the counter and followed him into their bedroom. He had already crawled into bed and was sitting there leaning against the headboard.

"I'd like it noted, that I'm lying in the bed I made," he said with a sarcastic smirk.

"The one day you make the bed…" she replied with exasperation as she shook her head. She quickly changed her expression and gave him a lascivious look before she crawled on to his lap, straddling him. "What happened to you being bewitched by me and doing whatever I wanted?" she asked as she rocked slightly against him.

He put his hands on her hips and stopped her movement. He bit on his lip a moment and gave her an apologetic look. He tipped his head down slightly before he spoke. "How about we wait until my brother isn't in the room next door, and then I'll do whatever you ask of me."

She let out a disappointed sigh as she nodded. "I suppose that might be better." She gave him a lingering kiss. It was actually a bit endearing that he cared enough about what his brother might overhear to have enough restraint. "We could be really quiet?" she suggested seductively.

He sighed and shook his head. "Please don't make this any harder than it is…" he paused and smirked at her. "And I do mean that both ways."

She chuckled softly and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. "So is there a poker game tomorrow night then?" she asked as she scooted off of him and climbed under the covers as well.

He slid down next to her, so he could play with her hair, and run his fingers along her shoulder. "No one has set anything up yet… I was thinking though…"

"I'm still not helping you with that bet," she interrupted.

He shook his head and chuckled. "No… not about that… I was thinking since Abby is going back to San Diego tomorrow with Charlie… and I'd already planned to take Friday off to spend with her… that I could use my authority as Mayor to give you the day off Friday too and we could go spend a long weekend at the Beach house."

Veronica thought that actually sounded like a fabulous idea, given everything that had been going on with them lately. Leo had mentioned a couple times that week that she should take a little extra time off. And it's not like the case files wouldn't still be there on Monday anyway. There was definitely less urgency working on cases like these where the murders had taken place so long ago. "That sounds wonderful," she answered with a smile.

Logan let out a contented sigh and placed a lingering kiss on her lips. "It will feel so good to just get away from everything… just the two of us…" he replied as he traced his fingers along her hairline. "No work… no worries…" he said before he kissed her again.

She squished up her face slightly after the kiss. "Hmmm… that's not the expression I wanted to see just now…" Logan said as he quirked an eyebrow at her. "You're not actually planning on bringing work along with you are you?"

"Not official work… but I've been doing a little on-the-side investigating…" she said with a slightly apologetic expression.

He let out a sigh and stroked his hand along her head again. "Alexis came to see me today," he admitted softly. "She wanted me to ask you to look for Emily to let her know she wasn't going to press charges… is that the unofficial work you speak of?"

She nodded slowly in reply. "Alexis actually stopped by to see me today too… after she saw you. She basically said the same thing… although I had been trying to find Emily even before she stopped by."

Logan looked at her with a mild level of anxiety on his face. "Do you think Emily could be dangerous though?"

Veronica shook her head. "I'm sure she's not. I just got in the way of her wanting to say goodbye to Leo. She's a trained nurse and knew exactly what she was doing when she gave me that sedative."

Logan nodded a bit reluctantly. "Did you find out what Alexis was blackmailing her about?" he asked next.

Veronica nodded slowly. "Yeah, I stumbled across it. Did Alexis tell you?"

Logan shook his head. "No… is it better that I don't know?"

"I think Emily had a legitimate reason for what she did that Alexis found out about, although I don't know the entire story. If you want to know, I'll tell you what it was," Veronica replied as she reached up and ran her fingers along his cheek and into his hair.

Logan studied her for a moment. "Maybe it would be better to just keep that to yourself… as long as it's not something that would put you in danger though. I'm guessing if it was something illegal, it might be better for me not to know."

Veronica thought about it for a moment before answering. "You might be right, and no, I don't think the secret would put me in any danger. I think her attacking Alexis was more about feeling frustrated about having her world fall apart again, and less about what she was hiding. And I'm sure that whatever Alexis said to her right before she attacked her was probably not very nice." I do know exactly how that feels.

Logan nodded. "Do you have any leads?"

Veronica shook her head. "Nothing concrete yet."

"I suppose I can approve of a small amount of investigating while we are there, as long as the majority of the time you're focused on me," he replied with a leering grin before he nudge her nose with his own.

"I'm sure that can be arranged," she said before leaning forward so she could kiss him.

After the kiss, he pulled her against his chest and kissed her tenderly on the top of the head. "I love you Veronica," he said softly as he gently rubbed his hands up and down her back.

"I love you too," she replied. She took a deep breath and started listening to the rhythmic beating of his heart. After the extremely long day that she'd had, the sudden stillness, combined with the warm bed and his heartbeat made her feel even more sleepy. She tried to fight dozing off to keep enjoying the feel of him under her, but after a few minutes she lost that battle and fell fast asleep.