Title: Honey, I'm Home

Prompt by: southrnbygrace

Rating: PG-13

Setting: AU post-series

Word Count: 658

Prompt: an embarrassing situation between Logan and Sheriff Mars regarding Veronica.

Keith Mars was tired, beyond tired actually, and oh so glad to be home! Sure, going out catching bail jumpers before they hit the border was a good thing for the cash it brought, but it was hard, tiring work that he was starting to think he might be too old for. He really should have gotten a hotel for tonight, in fact he told Veronica he wouldn't be home until tomorrow, but the idea of his own bed appealed and the drive hadn't seemed so very long. Maybe he had been wrong about that last part, but here he

was now, late in the evening, just glad to see his own house and...

There was music playing. Music that didn't sound like something Veronica would have blaring from the stereo in his absence. Keith frowned as he dropped his bag in the living room and headed towards the hallway. There was a corkscrew with a cork attached on the kitchen counter, and he thought he could smell flowers or maybe scented candle, it was hard to tell.

With his brain on a go-slow and not expecting anyone but Veronica to be home, Keith got somewhat of a shock when he advanced towards her room and found the door wide open... with a naked man laying on his daughter's bed.

"Good evening, Logan," he said flatly.

A sea of curse words flew out of the teenagers mouth as he scrambled to his feet, snatching the comforter off the bed to cover his pride. Rose petals fell to the carpet like confetti, as Logan started apologising at a mile a minute.

As mad as Keith ought to be about this, he found there was a terrible knot of laughter rising in his throat and he made a big deal of turning his back on Logan as he turned off the romantic music coming from Veronica's CD player.

"Really, sir, it's not what it looks like..." the younger guy was still insisting when he looked back at him.

"It's not?" Keith checked, as he pulled up the desk chair and sat down, "Because it looks like you were waiting here to seduce my daughter," he said, waiting curiously to see what poor Logan would answer.

Romantic music, rose petals, candles, and a serious amount of naked, and he really expected Veronica's PI father to believe he was here for homework study?

Logan floundered as he tried to come up with an explanation, then caught the smirk on Keith's lips that he could no longer hide and realised he was playing him for a fool on purpose.

"Well, sir," he started over, sitting down on the edge of the bed and crossing his legs, forcing himself to rearrange the blanket covering him so nothing showed, "Veronica and I, it's kind of an anniversary," he explained, "And she told me you were away until tomorrow so..."

"So you kids planned a romantic night in?" he guessed, "Where is Veronica anyway?"

"Actually, the plan was all me," Logan admitted, "A surprise for our favourite girl."

"Well, apparently you worked a two for one deal," Keith teased him as he got to his feet, "Your ingenuity certainly surprised me," he confirmed with a nod as he headed for the door at last.

Logan breathed a sigh of relief that he hadn't decided to kill him. Sure, it was all legal and decent. He and Veronica were both well on the way to being twenty-one and were completely committed to each other this time around. Mr Mars couldn't really object to them doing what came natural, but being caught like that was not in the least bit fun.

"Oh, and son," said Keith as he stuck his head back around the door and caused Logan to jump again, "A word of advice," he told him in a distinctly fatherly way. "Next time you do something like this, do it in your own home, not mine!"