Chapter 11 - Day 20

Heather sprawled across her bed in her dorm room, the newest Composure open in front of her. She knew Logan was miserable because of an article featured in the magazine. Though there wasn't anything in the tabloids about it (much to her relief). He'd joined them for family dinner on Sunday and had been moody, bouncing between edgy sarcasm, weighted silence, and (when no one was looking) haunted sadness. She'd never seen him look like that, even after what had happened with Lilly Kane the previous year. Which was why she had picked up the current issue of Composure; she had to know what Veronica said about him.

—

"I've lost a guy, and I don't know why. What went wrong? When I started writing this month's column, I wanted to commit those certain silly dating faux pas. What I didn't realize was that I was making the biggest mistake of all."

—

Heather laughed at Veronica's retelling of the ploys she'd pulled on Logan. Though from what Logan had shared with her, what Veronica described was only the vaguest details of what had actually gone on between them. And, of course, he was never mentioned by name, and Heather noticed that some details had been changed. By the end, she couldn't hold back her tears. She'd been sure during their visit that Veronica was someone special. Logan had never looked so happy. And here it was in print:

—

"We both made mistakes that night, but I think mine was the biggest one of all. Not only did I betray his trust by not telling him the truth, but I didn't give him the chance to explain. I let my hurt feelings and embarrassment prevent me from hearing out the only person I've ever been in love with. If you're reading this, I'm so sorry, and I would give anything to get to redo our final argument that night. I love you."

—

At the final words of the article, Heather almost fell off her bed. She grabbed the magazine and her purse and ran out of her room.

"Has he spoken to her?" Jackie asked, her head resting on Wallace's chest.

"No, he won't speak about her to any of us. He mopes at home, sitting on the couch with Kru—um...Christopher. He only shaved because he had a meeting with the DeLauers," Wallace said, sadness filling him. He'd never seen Logan so...lost.

"You were right. I wish I had stopped Lilly. It's not like it mattered what the bet was really about. She loves him and he loves her. I helped ruin that…" Wallace felt a hot tear hit his chest.

"I didn't stop it either. I still can't believe Lilly…I mean, she slept with his dad; wasn't that enough?"

"Want to see if there's anything we can do about it?" Jackie asked.

Wallace sat up and looked down at Jackie. "Like what?"

Logan leaned back against the elevator wall, his mind still reeling. The past week had been awful; he missed Veronica, and if it hadn't been for the tight schedule on the DeLauer account, he probably wouldn't have gotten out of bed. But then Heather had shown up at his place with that magazine. He'd almost refused to let her in until she started reading it out loud to him through the door.

A smiled tugged at his lips. Veronica loved him; she was sorry. So am I, and maybe this means it's not too late to fix this. Logan was clinging to the hope that he was right and that she'd meant what she'd said in the article.

The elevator slid open to the Composure offices. He quickly made his way over to the bullpen of cubicles, glancing in each one as he passed. He finally spotted a familiar face, Parker.

"Parker!" he called out, catching the tall blonde's attention.

"Logan? What are you doing here?" She looked perplexed by his presence, which made no sense; she had to have read the article.

"I'm looking for Veronica. Why else would I be here?"

A petite brunette appeared next to Parker. "She left, Logan. Celeste agreed to not print the original article to avoid a lawsuit and accepted Veronica's letter of resignation. That was last week."

"But the article…a lawsuit?"

"How do you think she got that printed instead of the one detailing what she did to you? Her dad's a PI. She had something on Celeste." The brunette shrugged. "She didn't want to stay after that. She's flying back to California today." She looked at her watch. "She's probably already left."

Logan felt the world fall out beneath him. Gone. He dragged his hands down his face and turned away from Veronica's friends. Too late. He wanted to punch something.

"Logan?" a gentle voice called out, bringing his attention back to the two women. "I never gave this back to you." Parker held out the three hundred dollars he'd paid for the fake therapy session.

Logan smiled. "No, keep it. That, right there, is the best money I've ever spent," he said, folding her hand back around the bills. "Oh!" he practically jumped in the air with excitement. "I'm an idiot. I'm rich!"

They stared at him like he'd gone crazy. "Okay. That's great, Logan." He saw them share a concerned look between each other.

"Sorry...context." He laughed with joy. "I can go after her. At least, I can, if you're willing to help me."

Veronica climbed out of the cab, clutching Bristow's carrier to her chest with one hand while she paid the driver with the other.

Well, another chapter of your life has come to a close, Veronica. What's next? She trudged up to her father's small house.

Her dad was away following a lead on a bail jumper, and that left her alone in her childhood home with her memories and regrets. To keep Madison's mouth shut about who Logan was Veronica had gotten a hold of a 'before' picture. Madison Sinclair had had a lot of plastic surgery but wrote articles condemning it. And Celeste had taken one look at the dirt Keith had dug up on her and had agreed to publish the other piece and accept Veronica's letter of resignation. Turns out a son with political aspirations and a secret love child made for good blackmail. Though Veronica couldn't regret the little bit of blackmail that had been necessary to prevent Celeste from publishing the original how-to article, she was sad to leave New York.

Veronica felt the tears gathering again. All these years. Being so careful. She stood abruptly and headed for the shower with no sense of how she was going to get through this.

She cranked the water to its hottest setting and was getting ready to strip off her clothes when she heard a loud knock on the door. She sighed unhappily; she was barely holding it together. Who are you kidding, Veronica? You're two minutes from a complete breakdown.

Another loud bang on the door caused her to increase her pace and gave her just enough anger to know she could give a thorough bitching out to whomever it was that had dared to interrupt her breakdown.

She swung the door wide-open and there stood— "Logan?" A sob wracked her body. "You're here."

"I'm an idiot," he said pulling her into his arms. "But I'm your idiot if you'll have me."

Day 192

A soft whine and scratch at the door woke Veronica. She carefully rolled out of bed and tiptoed to the door, grabbing her robe on the way. A quick walk and then breakfast in bed was the plan. She tripped over Bristow on her way to grab Christopher's leash. It was a pretty regular occurrence, and it never failed to fill her with a sense of home.

It was a new apartment. Their new apartment. Logan had found it just as the summer was giving way to fall colors, and Veronica could barely believe that it had been six months ago when he had shown up at her father's door in Neptune. She'd hoped he would read what she wrote, equal parts comedic story, love letter, and apology. But she had also accepted that it might not matter; she'd decided she could get over the stupid bet but that didn't guarantee that he felt the same way about her part in it and his belief that she was planning to out him to the tabloids.

Speaking of tabloids...she thought as she grabbed their mail after finishing Christopher's walk. "Little man, this looks like an early Christmas present!"

The People magazine had a note attached: Had a feeling you and Logan might enjoy this.

The smell of bacon cooking pulled Logan from the dream he was having and into the very real life he was sharing with Veronica. He sat up and grinned with excitement when he saw her appear in the doorway.

"Good, you're awake."

Logan wrapped his arm around Veronica when she crawled back in bed with a tray of food. "Breakfast in bed for little ol' me?"

"Something special for my special someone." She smiled up at him. "We got another special delivery today," she said, presenting him with a tabloid magazine.

"You shouldn't have," he said sarcastically and a little confused.

"No trust me. You're going to really like it."

Logan accepted the glossy People magazine that Veronica was holding open to a spread.

'Heiress Lilly Kane caught up in adultery scandal — Family says she's cut off'

"Ahhh...Karma." Logan tossed the magazine to the floor. "Now, on to more important things. You mentioned a special someone...any chance that's me?"

"I was actually thinking of Christopher and Bristow. You know how much they both like it when I cook."

"Not as much as they like it when I cook." Logan settled back against the headboard. Their headboard. "Speaking of, is this actually safe to eat?" he asked, eyeing the waffles and bacon.

"Pretty hard to mess this up."

"I dunno, Veronica, I think we're both pretty accomplished at messing things up." He kissed her cheek.

"Eh...maybe. Like you said, 'All is fair in love and war'," Veronica said, snuggling closer.

"No, you asked me: true or false; I just said it was true." Logan smiled against her shoulder.

"I like my version better. You better eat this before I do." Logan watched Veronica eye the breakfast she'd made him.

"Go for it. I like watching you eat." He scooted back and wrapped his arms around her waist holding her close.

"Perv," she said, taking a bite of the waffles.

Logan kissed the back of her neck softly. "Your perv."

"Better be."

"Always. Now enough of that. I was promised a day in bed with my best girl and our little family." Logan stole a piece of bacon from the plate before Veronica could stop him.

"Hey!" She playfully slapped his hand.

"I know how much you love chick flicks, so how about the new Kate Hudson movie?" he teased, trying to grab another piece of bacon.

"Oh please, you are such a girl! Hey, wasn't she in something with Matthew McConaughey? I could do with some eye candy," she said moving the bacon out of his reach.

"I think I'm offended. Aren't I enough for you?"

"So much I can barely handle it. Now go get the movie started while I eat your breakfast, farm boy."

"As you wish."

~ The End ~

Author's Note: First, thank you to starlightafterastorm for putting the Veronica Mars Holiday Gift Exchange together. I had a lot of cheerleaders while working on this. Thank you to everyone for the encouraging emails/messages you all helped keep me motivated and excited about this story. A special thank you to Marshmallowtasha for her speedy review of the story and for her suggestion to include Madison. And to Bondopoulos—my ultimate cheerleader and devoted beta. This story would not exist without her.