Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own

Chapter Seven: The Wrong Name

Veronica – Day Two – Carriage Motel – Eloy Arizona

6:27 AM: Veronica slapped the snooze button on top of the clock for the third time. Why was it going off so early? She didn't need to be at school until 8:30 AM, and she'd barely slept at all the night before. She was having this great dream where she was being snuggled - back to chest, legs aligned, a hand softly resting on her abdomen. Warm. Toasty. Safe. She covered the hand with her own, pulling it closer. She had almost fallen asleep again when her brain decided to function.

Snuggling? With Logan?

She was off the bed instantly.

"Come back," Logan mumbled. "Comfy."

"What the hell, Logan. You said you wouldn't touch me!"

He opened his eyes partially. "Hmm?" Lifted an eyebrow.

Veronica bit her lip to keep from showing any amusement. Logan looked about 12 years old. Sleepy, confused, and with his hair sticking up in all different directions. He was kind of cute in the morning.

The confusion cleared from Logan's eyes, and he sat up. "Hey, don't blame me. You were at the bottom of the bed when I fell asleep. You came up to sleep by me."

Cute, but annoying.

"You had your arm around me."

"You crawled right into my arms. And you're the one who kept hitting the snooze button."

"I was sleeping!" She yelled, walking away and hoping to get the last word.

Or not.

"So was I! Hey! At least I didn't call you by the wrong name this time."

Veronica froze, and then whirled back to Logan, her eyes blazing with fury.

Logan stood up and stepped into her personal space, staring her down. His eyes danced with delight at her loss of composure.

Veronica wanted to punch him, put him in his place, call him names, something. Instead, she just stood there sputtering ineffectively until finally, she spun on her heel, heading towards the bathroom.

"Shower" She announced.

"I'd love to, but shouldn't we go on a date first?" Logan called out.

"Argh!" Veronica yelled, frustrated.

"Wait! Duncan needs a shower more than you do."

"FINE!"

"Fine!"

Veronica returned to the bed she'd vacated, dropping down in annoyance and frustration.

She watched Logan eye the motel room in distaste. The room was even shabbier in the morning light – if that were at all possible.

"Get over it, Logan. The kind of places that let you pay cash don't typically have four stars."

"Did I say a word?"

"Your sneer says it all. Didn't your mom ever warn you your face would freeze that way?"

"Didn't your mom ever warn you…?" Logan trailed off, remembering Veronica's heartbreak of the previous evening. "Hey. Didn't we see a 24-hour drugstore when we were pulling in last night?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"I need you to make a drugstore run while I get Duncan showered."

"I haven't showered. My hair is…like this!" Veronica said, pointing to the tangled mess on her head. She hadn't seen a mirror yet, but it had to be bad.

Logan eyed Veronica's hair critically. "Maybe if you tried brushing it? Or slapping on a wig? One of us needs to go to the drugstore, and one of us needs to shower Duncan, and I wish we could trade places, but the situation is a bit…delicate." Logan said.

"Delicate? I hadn't noticed."

"I mean you and D.K. are broken up."

"Are we? Wow. I must have missed the actual breakup. So that's why he doesn't pick me up for school anymore!"

"You know what I mean," Logan smirked. "I don't want to shower him, but I can't really let you do it either. He might be weirded out."

Logan dug through a duffel and came up with a shower pouf on a long plastic handle. The kind made for washing backs. "Voila! Found this at Target. At least with this thing I don't have to stand too close."

"Go shower with your friend, Logan." Veronica smirked.

"I swear to God, if you ever tell anybody about this, I will make your life a living hell!" Logan said.

"Wait, did I miss the part where you stopped making my life a living hell?"

"Yesterday." Logan said. "But it already feels like something's missing in my life."

Veronica – Day Two – CVS – Eloy Arizona

Veronica felt a headache coming on as she searched the aisle signs at CVS. There seemed to be an unwritten rule in these stores that the fluorescent lights must be cranked up to the level of blinding.

As she passed an end cap full of cheesy romantic greeting cards, Logan's words from last night came back to her. Was it inevitable that she and Duncan would get back together at some point?

To be honest, she hadn't really thought about it.

Once upon a time, she might have thought about him. Back in those days, when Duncan was out of her sight, he was never far from her thoughts. She'd think of him upon waking. She'd think of him upon going to bed. However, that was a different time and place.

Veronica had loved five people in her life. Within a four-month period, four of them had abandoned her. One had slipped out in the middle of the night. One had slipped off her mortal coil. One had slipped into a stupor. And the fourth had simply become an asshole.

Since then, Veronica had no room in her headspace for romance, hopes, or dreams. Some things in life you have no control over, such as the way other people feel about you. She chose to focus on those things she could control, devoting her energy to her schoolwork and her casework. Stray thoughts of Duncan were quickly ejected. Sure, she sometimes wished that she could heal her relationships with both Duncan and Logan. She wanted her family back. And sure, she had woken from a dream about Duncan two nights earlier, but she could admit to herself that the dream was much steamier than their relationship had ever been.

She stopped to grab a bottle of Visene before continuing her search.

In one aspect, she thought of Duncan often. Why had he abandoned her? For that matter, all four abandonments were great mysteries in her life. What had driven off her mother? Who murdered Lilly? Why had Logan really turned against her? She intended to resolve at least two of those mysteries now that she had 24/7 access to the boys. Eventually, each of them would need something from her, and her price would be the truth. As for Lilly's murder, she wasn't counting that one out either. Two weeks ago, she'd found the Lilly Kane case-file in her father's safe. Positive that her father would change the safe combination the moment he realized that she'd discovered it, Veronica had spent the following week scanning every document and photo in that file – front and back – onto her laptop. She'd taken the audio cassettes to a contact to have them digitized, and imported those onto her laptop as well. Maybe her enforced inactivity would give her the time necessary to really analyze those documents.

She located the aisle she had been searching for and scanned the products, reading the packages and comparing the prices. Finally, she made a selection and headed back to the front of the store.

Logan's assumption that her reunion with Duncan was inevitable had caught her off guard. She could not deny that she still loved him. She probably always would. They'd had a very good relationship before the breakup. They'd never argued. He had been affectionate, considerate, and loving. He had always put her first, and he had planned for a future with her. They had been the Golden Couple of Neptune High. Destined for Prom Queen and King.

Only one cash register was open. Two people waited in line before her, while a bored, Goth-looking girl of around 20 rang up their purchases.

In the negative column, there was, of course, his abandonment without explanation. Then there was the way he'd stood idly by while Logan and the 09er population had attacked and ridiculed her. If anybody were able to put a stop to it – other than Logan himself – it would have been Duncan. She had never done anything to hurt him. He should have extended the same courtesy to her. Then there was the vague lack of…passion she'd felt for him. She'd felt as if something were missing. As if she had needed something that she wasn't getting. She had liked kissing him, but her attempts to increase the intensity had always been met with gentle resistance by Duncan. He had wanted only tenderness. Could she ever reunite with him knowing that she might never achieve that passion that had been missing from her life?

But these thoughts were pointless. Duncan wasn't on bended knee begging for forgiveness.

Finally her turn, Veronica placed her items on the cash register.

"For my grandfather." Veronica said when the cashier – her nametag read Amerantha – raised a many-pierced eyebrow.

One thing was for sure. Back when they had been the Golden Couple, gazing into each other's eyes at the lunch table, nothing could have convinced her that less than one year later, she would be buying Duncan a package of adult diapers.

Them's the breaks.

Logan – Day Two – Carriage Motel – Eloy, AZ

Logan came out of the bathroom with a long towel wrapped around his waist, and parked himself in front of the mirror. Veronica was sitting cross-legged on the bed wearing yoga pants and a tank top, her hair pulled back into two pigtails at the nape of her neck. She had worn her hair that way the day he met her, except that it had been much much longer then. It was funny how the exact same placement of her hair could have made her look so innocent back then and so spunky now.

"Did you get 'em?" He asked, applying his deodorant.

"I'm back, aren't I? Can you put on some clothes?"

Why is she always worrying about what I'm wearing?

"Don't act so pissy. You only had to buy them; I'm the one who has to put one on him. Which is worse?"

Veronica shot him a glare in the mirror.

Logan towel-dried his hair and applied some product. He noticed Veronica's eyes on his hands as he spiked his hair in a well-practiced routine. "I bought some temporary hair color. I'll dye it tonight, at the next motel," he told her.

"Please tell me you're not going all blonde."

"No, I just thought I should go all one color. Cover the lighter tips. I don't suppose you grabbed us some coffee while you were out?" Logan asked.

"That would have required planning, and who can plan before they've had their morning coffee? Chicken/Egg thing?"

"OK, there's that truck-stop next store. Once I've gotten myself and Duncan dressed, I'll go grab us some coffee while you're in the shower." Logan offered. "Still take cream and sugar?"

"Yeah."

As Veronica rose to head to the bathroom, Logan could have sworn that she checked out his ass.

"That's not one of the motel towels, is it?" she asked.

Or maybe not.

"I bought some towels from Target. You didn't think I'd use the cheap towels that came with the room, did you?"

Veronica looked at him disdainfully. Once again inferring that he was a snob.

She was closing the bathroom door when Logan caught it. "Hey, wait."

She opened the door in annoyance. "What?"

"Here you go." He said, holding out a super-plush, folded towel like a present.

Veronica eyed the towel.

"It's softer." Logan said with a small smile.

"Thank you." She sighed, biting her lip, taking the towel and closing the door.

Why did you try so hard not to smile, Veronica?

Logan – Day Two – Truck Stop – Eloy, AZ

It took about three minutes to walk to the truck stop. Although it was a straight shot from their motel room, the truck stop's parking lot was huge.

He thought about the Duncan issue while he walked. When should he start worrying? Duncan had been out of it for at least four days last October, between Lilly's murder and her funeral. It may have been longer, but he had not seen Duncan in the days directly after Lilly's funeral - he hadn't seen anybody except for Jack Daniels. So should they give it four days – or five – before concluding that Duncan was not going to simply snap out of it?

Logan opened the door and stepped into the cool air-conditioned truck stop. It was surprisingly immense on the inside. He wandered aimlessly for a moment, belatedly realizing that he had forgotten his glasses and baseball cap. Luckily, nobody seemed to be paying him any attention. That would probably change once the police discovered the body, and their faces were plastered all over the news.

The Kanes had resources that he and Veronica didn't have. The Kanes could hire a nurse to take care of Duncan. To make sure that all of his nutritional needs were met. To change his freaking diaper – or to catheterize him. He and Veronica were on their own.

Logan found the coffee counter and began fixing two cups. One cream for him, three for Veronica. She had always liked her coffee pale. He added sugar, stirred, and snapped lids on the top of each cup. He tucked both into a cup holder, and then looked around for something they could eat for breakfast.

Five days, he decided. If Duncan wasn't functional by the fifth day, they would take him to the hospital. The question was, could he dump his best friend and run? If they stuck around, they would all end up dead, but he couldn't see himself leaving Duncan behind either.

He found a self-serve case of Krispy Kremes, and smiled, remembering weekend mornings at the Kane house when Celeste was out of town and they'd had sleepovers. Jake would always run out early to pick up a dozen donuts before the kids woke. Duncan only liked the cake donuts. Logan could never understand why. Eating a cake donut was like swallowing a rock. You could feel it all heavy in your belly an hour later. Lilly's favorites were the chocolate frosted peanuts, a better choice, but still a little boring. Logan and Veronica were both morning-haters. They would rise last and fight over the Boston Creams. As if he'd ever stood a chance against her. Standing up against Veronica when it came to food was like a blade of grass standing up to a lawnmower.

Logan spent a moment assembling a box and then filled it with six Boston Creams. He had a feeling the division would still be unequal, but at least now he stood a fighting chance.

At the checkout, he had to forcefully remind himself to use cash. He was so used to whipping out the Amex. Luckily, he had buried the thing at the bottom of his duffel bag. He should have destroyed it, but the idea made him cringe.

Logan made a left out of the truck stop and began the diagonal walk to the hotel room holding the drink holder in one hand and the donut box in the other. He smiled, picturing Veronica's furious face from earlier. He hadn't seen a perfect reaction like that from her in ages. He'd touched a nerve. Even more surprising was that this particular Achilles heel was all about him.

You think you're the only one who can tell people apart in the dark, Veronica? Like I really couldn't tell the difference between you and Lilly? One smelled like sin. The other like redemption.

I never did have any impulse control. By the time my brain caught up, calling you Lilly was the only way to get out of it.

So, I'm an asshole. What else is new?

He was almost at the edge of the truck stop parking lot when he heard a voice.

"Logan Echolls?"

He turned to find a man pointing a gun at him.

Duncan – Day Two – LaLaLand

There is a knock on his bedroom door – a courtesy knock, since the door is wide open. Duncan doesn't look up. There was only one person it could be.

"Come in, Logan."

"Hey…" Logan says, coming to sit on the edge of the bed. "How you doing?"

Duncan shrugs and resumes his examination of the ceiling.

"So...uh...you coming back to school this week?" Logan asks.

Duncan shrugs. "What's the point? Lilly's gone."

"But you're still here, Duncan. You have to keep going."

"Why?"

"For me."

Duncan looks at Logan. "I don't see the connection."

Logan shrugs. "I need a project. Keeping you sane and functional will keep me sane."

"You've never been sane. Why start now?"

"Because you need me. I'm all you have."

"Veronica…"

Pain crosses Logan's face. "No."

"Why are you so angry at Veronica, Logan?"

"I don't want to talk about it. Why are you?"

"I'm not."

"Then why'd you break up with her?"

"I don't want to talk about it." Duncan answers. "So what exactly do you need from me?"

"I need you to shower and come back to school. I need you to lead."

"They all follow you, Logan. Why do you always make me pretend to lead?"

"Because they shouldn't be following me. I'm too fucked up. I can only lead them down a dark path."

"I'm not feeling very light right now, either. Since Veronica…"

He is in the hallway at school, forehead pressed to his locker. A shadow falls on the neighboring locker, and Logan is there.

"Hey, Buddy," he says quietly, a hand on Duncan's shoulder.

"I keep forgetting where I'm supposed to be, Logan."

"Don't worry. I've got you, Duncan. You're supposed to be heading to English right now."

"OK." Duncan says, pulling back so that he can open his locker. He fumbles distractedly with his books until Logan reaches in and plucks out his English book.

When Duncan turns around, Veronica is standing there with a pained smile on her face.

"Hi." She says. "Welcome back."

Duncan wants to reach out and stroke her beautiful long blonde hair. He wants to pull her into his arms and whisper how much he loves her.

"Thanks," he says.

He looks to Logan for guidance, but Logan is studiously avoiding looking at Veronica.

"Are you OK, Duncan?" Veronica asks, concerned.

Duncan nods. "Logan's helping."

Veronica puts a hand on Logan's arm. "How about you, Logan? I haven't seen you around lately."

Logan still will not look at Veronica. "You need to go, Veronica. Duncan's barely holding on, and you're making it worse."

Veronica looks as if she has been slapped. She turns to Duncan for confirmation, but he looks down at the floor.

"Oh…" She says. "OK...well I guess I'll see you around."

Duncan sees her eyes well up with tears, and wants to stop her. He wants to pull her close, but she spins on her heel and walks briskly to the right. He knows that the only thing stopping her from breaking into a run is her pride.

"You made her cry." He turns to accuse Logan. Logan is looking at the floor, but as he looks up in the direction in which Veronica just left, something captures his attention.

Duncan turns back and sees another blond girl approaching from the other direction, passing the fleeing Veronica without a glance. Upon further examination, he sees that it is also Veronica, but not. Her long hair has been shorn off, and she's dressed funny. He looks back to see if Logan is seeing this, but Logan's eyes are locked onto this new Veronica. He is watching her so intensely that he doesn't notice when Duncan touches his shoulder.

As not!Veronica draws even with them, her eyes lock with Logan's and a tiny smirk graces her face. Duncan's eyes switch to Logan, who has a matching smirk on his own face. Although both smirks are filled with malice, there is something strangely intimate about it, as if they were the only two people in the world. Duncan watches Logan's eyes follow Veronica until she turns a corner. He seems to shake himself off and turns back to Duncan.

"So...English class." He hands Duncan his English book, and slams Duncan's locker. Duncan almost trips over a dead body when he turns around. It looks as if it's been stabbed multiple times. He squeezes his eyes shut. He does not want to see this. When he opens them back up, he finds the entire hallway littered with bodies. He will not look at them. Logan's hand on his shoulder leads him around the obstacles.

He finds his voice. "We should all be together right now."

Logan is surprised. "You want to get back together with Veronica?"

"No. I can't. But I need her. You need her. She needs us. Why aren't we getting through this together?"

"I DO NOT need Veronica." Logan says. Duncan is surprised at the vehemence in his voice.

The blood from the bodies is starting to run together. It is getting harder and harder to avoid stepping in it.

"But I just saw you staring at her. You sure looked like you needed her."

"Her? Yeah. I need her. But that's a different girl than the one you're talking about. That one is mine."

"Yours?"

"Just forget I said it. Here's your class." Logan guides Duncan into the classroom and straight to a desk near the back. "I'll be waiting for you after class. If you need anything before then - anything at all- send me a text, OK?" Logan reaches into Duncan's jacket pocket and pulls out his cell, setting it on top of Duncan's English book.

Logan hasn't been gone thirty seconds before Duncan fires off a text: Yours?

Logan's response is immediate. "She's not the same girl."

Veronica – Day Two – Carriage Motel – Eloy, AZ

Logan was still gone when Veronica got out of the shower. That was odd. He had said he was going to get coffee. He should have been back by now.

After getting dressed, she stood in front of the mirror drying her hair and applying her makeup.

She was still annoyed about the way that she had woken up. Not because she had been in his arms. Accidents happen, and his point was valid – she was the one who had been at the bottom of the bed. What annoyed her was the fact that she had liked it so much. Not in the Logan-Echolls-is-so-cute-omigod! way. Rather, it was how the warm cocoon of his arms had made her feel safer and more at peace than she had felt since Lilly's death, and in that way led madness. No matter how warm and comfortable he was, he was still Logan Echolls, and if she had learned one thing in the past year, it was that Logan Echolls liked to lash out, and she was his favorite target.

Of course, as he'd so obnoxiously pointed out earlier, it wasn't the first time she'd woken in Logan's arms. That humiliating moment had occurred the summer before their freshman year. Weeks before Duncan had asked her out for the first time.

Flashback – Veronica – August 2002 – Logan's bedroom

Veronica wakes suddenly at the soft kiss to the back of her neck. It's dark, but she knows it's Logan. They're in Logan's bedroom and her back is pressed up against him. His thumb has slipped under the hem of her shirt and is randomly drawing semi-circles on her belly.

When he presses a second kiss to the place where her neck meets her shoulder, it feels as if she's touched a live wire. Every nerve in her body is electrified. She lets out a sharp breath, and of its own volition, her neck arches back. She's not sure why, but it just seems like the right thing to do. His entire hand slips under her shirt, sliding to her waist, so that she can feel four fingers caressing her stomach, while his thumb stretches around to her back, still drawing semi-circles on her skin. His right knee presses into the back of hers, easing it forward and taking its place atop her bent left leg. Three more soft kisses climb her neck, until she can feel his breath warm on her ear. She presses back against him, feeling a type of 'need' that she can't explain, and Logan's breath catches, his hand squeezing her waist reflexively. His hand pauses in its movements for a moment, before resuming its trajectory.

"Lilly…" He whispers in her ear.

Veronica freezes for a second, stunned, and then scrambles up and out of his arms. By the time he's turned the lights on, she's sitting with her back against the headboard and her knees pulled up to her chest. She buries her face in her hands.

How has this happened? The last thing she remembers before dozing off was her and Lilly, laying on their stomachs at the bottom of the bed watching a movie. Logan and Duncan sat at the top of the bed against the headboard passing a bottle back and forth.

"Veronica…" Logan says. She doesn't look up.

"I am so sorry." He says. "Truly."

Veronica doesn't respond.

"Ronnie, it was dark. I've never woken up with anybody besides Lilly before. It was just a misunderstanding. I promise it will never happen again."

Silence.

"Veronica will you please look at me?"

Veronica lowers her hands from her face but still will not meet his eyes.

Logan rises to his knees to face Veronica and gently lifts her chin. When her eyes meet his, he's confused. He's not seeing the recrimination he was expecting to see on her face.

"I'm sorry." He whispers again.

"What do you have to be sorry about?" Veronica asks, her eyes slipping away from his again. "You thought I was Lilly. I'm the one who should be sorry."

"For what?"

"Because I don't have an excuse, OK? I didn't think you were anybody else." She examines her fingernails, the ceiling, the TV – still displaying the DVD menu screen, anything to avoid looking at Logan.

Logan's having none of that. He lifts her chin again. As he looks in her eyes, a tiny smile of realization comes over his face. "You liked it." He teases.

"Logan!" Veronica covers her face in her hands again, and Logan pulls them away.

"Trust me, Veronica. If you hadn't liked it, I would have worried about you. I'm told I have a very talented mouth."

"LOGAN!" She shoves him away from her, but she's laughing now.

Veronica's eyes fall on a folded piece of paper on the nightstand. "What's that?"

Logan glances over, picks up the note, and reads it out loud.

Sleeping Beauties,

Celeste on the warpath. Wants me and The Donut home in fifteen minutes or she's taking away the Amex. Make sure Veronica gets home safely.

-Lilly

Veronica is racked with guilt all over again. Logan notices.

"Veronica, will you quit feeling guilty? You didn't do anything wrong."

"But Lilly…"

"Lilly dumped me. I don't owe her anything."

"But I do. She's my best friend."

"You didn't do anything. You didn't kiss me, and you didn't touch me."

"I didn't push you away."

Logan sighs. He lays back down, head on the pillow and pats the bed next to him. "Come here."

Veronica reluctantly lays down facing him.

"Veronica, don't feel guilty. It's natural to lose your head when something feels good. Plus, it's new to you, and you were probably overwhelmed. You still haven't even kissed anybody yet, have you?"

Veronica shakes her head, embarrassed. Logan looks almost relieved. Something changes in his eyes, and he's looking at Veronica consideringly. His hand rises to touch her cheek.

Veronica's feels a sort of whoosh in her belly and her heart begins pounding out of her chest. Her eyes lock onto Logan's, and she's sure he's going to kiss her. Her eyelids feel as if they're made out of lead, and without any conscious effort, they close as she waits for his lips to meet hers.
It never happens.

When she opens her eyes and looks into his, she doesn't see the rejection she fears, but regret. He reaches for her hand, circles his pinky around hers and squeezes.This is the second time he's done that instead of kissing her. She thinks maybe it is a type of kiss. Their own secret kiss.

Logan tries to lighten the mood. "I'll have to tell Duncan to kiss you right here," he says, touching the junction of her neck and shoulder.

"You'll tell no one!" Veronica yells, shoving at his chest, playfully. "Wait, what does Duncan have to do with anything?"

"Oh come on." Logan says. "He's crazy about you. He has been ever since he met you."

"What? Duncan barely pays me any attention."

"Because he has a crush on you. He's shy. He doesn't know how to ask you out."

"Really?" Veronica asks.

"You can't tell me you've never considered dating him."

"Well of course I've considered it. He's a great looking guy. He's smart, kind, considerate. Who wouldn't consider dating him?"

Logan looks away. Was that jealousy? Would he make up his mind already?

"How long have you known about this so-called crush Duncan has on me." Veronica asks suspiciously.

"Since right after I met you the first time." Logan answers, not meeting her eyes.

Suddenly, Veronica is pissed. "So, what? He called dibs on me? I didn't get a say in the matter?"

What she doesn't say hangs heavily in the air.

"It didn't go down anything like that. I swear."

He looks back into Veronica's eyes and an unspoken communication passes between them. She knows he's telling her the truth, and that he's sorry.

Logan sighs, reaches out, and pulls Veronica into his arms. She presses her cheek against his chest and listens to his heartbeat until she drifts off to sleep again.

The second time Veronica wakes, she's laying on her back with her right side pressed against Logan, who lays on his left side, elbow on the bed propping his head up. His right arm drapes across her body, hand resting possessively on her left hip.

When she opens her eyes, Logan senses she's awake and looks down at her.

Her first thought at the expression in his eyes, inexplicably, is: "He loves me." She almost chokes at the ridiculousness of the idea.

"Hey, you're awake. This show should be over in a few minutes, and then I'll give you a ride home."

"How are you going to give me a ride home? You're only fourteen."

"Yeah, but the Beemer doesn't know that." He grins down at her.

When Logan pulls up to her house, he shuts off the car and turns to face Veronica. He stares at her for a long moment before holding out his pinky. She sighs, and holds out her own. Whether because of Duncan's feelings for her, or Logan's for Lilly, this is all they will ever be: stolen secret pinky kisses.

Surprisingly, things don't become weird between them. By the end of the week, Logan and Lilly have reconciled for the umpteenth time. Weeks later, right before school begins, Duncan finally gets around to asking Veronica out. She and Logan pretend it never happened. And truly, what exactly was it? The kisses had been chaste. It was her reaction that hadn't been.

Veronica – Day Two – Carriage Motel – Eloy, AZ

Veronica sighed. One more for the negative column with Duncan. He'd never made her feel like she'd touched a live wire. The fact that Logan had? She wouldn't be dwelling on that anytime soon.

Veronica intended to clean-up the motel room while she waited, so that they could be ready to check-out as soon as Logan returned, but found that there wasn't much to clean. She was surprised to notice that Logan had brought in all of the bags from Target, removed all of the tags and packaging, and repacked.

She found all of her new clothing neatly folded into perfectly flat squares and packed in a brand new duffel bag. Logan must have had the foresight to pick up new bags while they were at Target. Her face burned for a moment at the idea of Logan handling her new underwear and bras. Thankfully, she had never worn them yet.

She found his new game systems packed up in carrying cases. His games in game wallets. A plastic bin with a flip-up lid stored all of their food. The exclusive salon products Logan used on his hair and skin were rolled up in a grooming bag each contained in an elastic loop.

Inside of a rectangular canvas bag, she found all of their new shoes, each in a cubby with divider. A large drawstring bag contained all of their laundry.

Logan had packed a separate small tote bag with hats and shades. Fedoras! The glasses she had picked out for him yesterday were in the bag as well as the "porn 'stache." It appeared he had created his own Bag O' Disguises, much like her Box O' Disguises.

Logan had added a small tray to the nightstand, where his watch and the keys to the Explorer now waited. She imagined that his Pookah shell necklace would be resting there, had he not left it behind.

Why had she never noticed that Logan had these crazy organizational skills? He had always kept his car and his bedroom immaculate, but she had thought it was the maids doing the work.

It was almost endearing – as if Logan used his little organizing containers as a way of exerting a small level of control over his universe.

So, what was taking him so long? Should she be worried?

A/N: Much thanks to Debbieja for her fantastic beta-ing,

A/N2: I need your help! I'm coming up blank on what the press would nickname our characters. "The Neptune Three" is completely uninspired. I slightly prefer "The Three Tritons", since the press wouldn't know about the secret society. Still, doesn't quite work for me. Anybody have any creative ideas? They're going to be referred to a lot in the press. I need a good catchy name. Thanks in advance.

A/N3: I'm floored by all of the reviews for the last chapter. You readers are amazing! Love you guys!