Summary: Veronica comes home to the apartment to find a sick Logan.

Safe Place

It was a welcome surprise to find the BMW convertible parked outside her apartment at that hour of the day, signalling that her boyfriend had - for once - been let off duty early. Even home from deployment he spent his days and sometimes into the nights down at the base in San Diego running test flights. Between that and her caseload they had been missing each other for the past week. One of them was asleep when the other got home and he was always out before she was awake. Unless she was out all night, which had been the case the night before.

But he was there and her case had wrapped up. Maybe, just maybe, they could steal a few minutes for themselves.

Veronica took the steps two at a time, her excitement building as she unlocked the front door and hoped he wasn't catching a few waves on his afternoon off. The sound of the shower running was a good sign, though, and she toed her boots off, ready to start stripping layers to offer to join him.

She had her shirt halfway over her head when she was startled by the wracking cough that came from the other side of the closed bathroom door. She tugged her shirt back into place and inched forward to listen. The water was still running, but it couldn't quite drown the sound out. She tapped on the door. "Logan? You okay, babe?"

The coughing stopped for a half a moment before it started back up again. Between the gasping breaths it sounded like he confirmed that he was, but it was anything but convincing. "Coming in," she warned and pushed the door open, grateful to find it unlocked at least.

Steam poured out of the newly opened door and she could see his silhouette on the other side of the shower curtain. "I'll be out in a sec," he offered, and while his voice sounded a little hoarse, the mere act of pulling in a breath to speak didn't send him coughing. She let it be. For now.

Veronica left the door cracked a little as she turned back towards the kitchen. She rummaged, undecided on the various ingredients that all seemed to require more effort than she was willing to put into it to make a late lunch or early dinner. Maybe it was a pizza kind of evening. She could live with that.

The water shut off in the bathroom and she listened to the sounds of Logan shuffling and cursing as he dropped something that clattered loudly to the bathroom floor. A small smile tugged at her lips. She hadn't been sure what it'd be like to have him there regularly after so long apart, but so far it had been… nice. They stumbled around each other from time to time, but he was always willing to listen to a vague rant about a case and she'd forgotten how good it felt to fall asleep curled up against him, even on the nights when one of them came in so much later than the other. There was never any need to try to figure out what "normal" was with him. They had seen each other at some of the best and worst moments in life. Where others knew pieces, she felt like he might be the one to know most of her. Maybe even all of her.

"I'm thinking takeout," Veronica called as she heard the door to the bathroom creak the rest of the way open. "Your call: pizza or Chinese? I'm leaning towards pizza, but if you can argue the point, I might be persuaded."

She waited a long moment without an answer and turned, finding the living room empty. Blonde brows drew together and she padded her way back to the bedroom where she found Logan flopped back on the bed in his boxers and a white t-shirt. He looked like he'd taken a seat on the edge and then just fallen back. His eyes were squeezed closed and the lines on his face deepened a little as he drew in careful, intentional breaths. He didn't seem to notice that she was there.

"Hey," she greeted softly so she wouldn't spook him.

A pair of soft, brown eyes pried open sluggishly. "Hey," he answered back, his voice raspy, the small word almost lost to a cough. He swallowed it though, struggling to breathe through it rather than give in. The whole exercise looked more painful than it was worth.

Veronica reached forward, pressing the back of her hand against his forehead before sliding down and flipping so her palm was against his warm cheek. He leaned into her touch and she frowned a little. "Sent you home sick, huh?"

Logan snorted softly and pulled away just a little. "I'm fine."

"Oh yeah, you look it. Peak physical condition there." She grinned at him and pressed a kiss to his warm forehead.

"I don't get sick." He curled his long legs up and rolled to his side so his back was to her.

"Then what do you call this?" she asked lightly.

He huffed and she rolled her eyes a little. Men were such babies when they got sick and she imagined this was just the tip of the iceberg with Logan Echolls. Now that she thought about it, in all the years she'd known him she didn't think she'd seen him sick. Hungover, definitely, and even injured, but never ill.

"It's just allergies," he grumbled into the bedspread, pulling her out of her thoughts.

"Decide to get adventurous and have crab cakes for lunch?"

"That would have ended in a trip to the ER."

"Well that's the only allergies I've ever heard you talk about and I've known you since we were twelve. Wanna try again?"

She had been teasing, her tone playful, but he shot her a sharp, frustrated look. "Can't you just leave it?"

The snap caught her even more off guard and suddenly she felt her own walls going firmly into place. "Well, excuse me for worrying about you."

There was a flash of remorse in his eyes and he looked like he might say something, but pulled back last second, mumbling something she couldn't quite make out. She felt her temper flare. "Fine. Be an asshole about it."

Veronica turned on her heel. She was going to go pick up dinner. She needed a walk.

Logan wasn't sure exactly how long he slept, just that he somehow felt worse when he coughed himself awake. The sun was dipping low outside of the bedroom window and he looked around, trying to pull together his blurry day.

When he had driven down to the base earlier that morning he'd been dragging, but considering the hours he'd put in that week it hadn't been a complete surprise. The final test flights were set for that afternoon, but by the time they were ready for him he was coughing and sneezing, his ears stopped up, and there was no way anyone with half a brain cell was going to put him in the cockpit of a multi-billion dollar aircraft. They'd sent him home and rescheduled for Monday.

Getting back to Neptune was kind of a blur. He remembered parking, he thought, and maybe a shower? Then Veronica had come home. That was right. He'd been a grade-a cranky asshole. He should probably apologize for that. Maybe do some groveling. He couldn't remember how bad it had been.

Logan sat up slowly, swinging his legs over the side of the bed he hadn't even bothered to turn down before he'd fallen asleep. He stood carefully and tried to keep his balance as he eased himself over to the drawer that Veronica had given him right after she'd moved in. He didn't technically live here, even if he spent every night with her while he was in town, so the fact that he'd shown up just to snap at her and fall asleep probably hadn't won him any points.

He found a set of pajama pants and just about lost his balance trying to put them on. It left him winded and wanting to crawl right back into bed, but he steeled himself to follow the sound of the TV filtering in from the living room.

Veronica was stretched out on the couch in running shorts and a t-shirt, her hair pulled back and her makeup washed off. Balanced on one knee was a bowl of half eaten ice cream.

"Hey," he called out softly, the single word feeling like sandpaper against his throat.

She looked back at him. "Oh, I'm sorry, are we talking now? I got the craziest impression you just wanted to be left alone."

Logan cringed at her tone. "I'm kinda blurry on what I said, but I probably deserve that, huh?"

"Yep."

"Sorry. I'm kind of a dick when I'm sick."

"Oh, are you sick?"

He ducked his head a little and she relented, scooting over to open up some space on the couch. "If you promise not to sneeze in my ice cream I'll forgive you this once."

"Promise," he answered and shuffled over to sit heavily next to her. He couldn't get over how much energy getting from the bedroom to the couch seemed to expend.

Veronica nudged his leg with a bare foot. "You better be glad you're cute or it'd be easier to stay pissed at you."

"You've managed before," he chuckled, coughing hoarsely into the crook of his elbow.

When she didn't toss one back at him he looked over to find those clever blue eyes studying him. She tilted her head a little before leaning forward, depositing her bowl onto the coffee table and grabbing a pillow for her lap. "C'mere," she said, patting it.

"I don't want to get you sick too," he managed, even if the only thing he wanted to do was to curl up in her lap right then and there.

"I don't know if you've noticed, but we share a 600 square foot apartment. You've already left your germs everywhere."

He huffed a laugh and gave in. As he sank into the pillow and Veronica's fingers started brushing idly through his shortly cropped hair, he finally felt himself start to relax.

"So what was all of that?" she asked after a long moment.

Brown eyes blinked heavily open. He hadn't even realized they'd closed. "Of what?"

"The whole I'm not sick bullshit."

He made a small sound and pushed back on the natural inclination to bury his reasons under anything that would distract from them. This was Veronica. She was safe. He trusted her. "I, uh-" he cleared his throat- "it's kinda stupid."

"So I'll tease you mercilessly for it. Just another Friday night at the Mars-Echolls household."

He tried to ignore the flutter he always felt in his chest when she referred to the apartment as theirs in any way. "When I was little Aaron had this big premiere. Lots of press that was expecting his perfect family to be there. Smiling and supportive," he sing-songed the last words with a flippant wave of his hand. Veronica continues running her fingers through his hair. "I got the flu. He told me I was faking it and that he wasn't going to let me get out of going. I threw up all over the limo right before they opened the door."

Veronica made a small sound. "Bet he didn't think you were faking it then."

"Yeah he did," Logan answered softly and he could practically feel the amusement drain from her.

"So you just push through it."

"Good thing is I don't get sick very often, but yeah. That's my go-to."

"I'm sorry."

"Why? Not your fault."

"No, but I'm sorry you went through that. That he did that to you, that he…" She leaned down and pressed a kiss to his temple. "I knew, but I never told my dad. I should have."

"We were kids. Not your fault." He reached for her hand, pulling it around so he could press a kiss to it with chapped lips. "What're we watching?"

"The Big Lebowski," she answered, doing her best The Dude voice.

"You gonna quote the whole thing?"

"Wouldn't you be worried about me if I didn't?"

He smiled at that and settled in, her fingers still held between his own. It was strange, the idea that someone was not just willing but wanted to be there for him when he was sick. To do what they could to help him feel better. It made him vulnerable, he knew, but he trusted Veronica. She was his safe place, and he'd never loved anyone more than he loved her.

Notes: I was already working on this story with the idea that Logan doesn't like to admit or accept help when he's sick because of something Aaron did when he was little when I ended up in a really interesting conversation over on a VM discord channel about the fact that both Duncan and Veronica knew that Aaron was abusing Logan and neither said anything to an adult. Was it their fault or was it not? Super interesting conversation and it's something that's been weighing on my mind for a couple of days, so it fit nicely into this story.

I kid you not, though, I started this thing maybe three different times and almost deleted the majority of what ended up staying. At the end, I feel like it came together nicely so I'm glad I didn't nuke it. Hope you guys enjoy!