Title Crashing Into You
Chapter 8/8 Teflon Marshmallows
Author Devylish
Pairing DiVe, Dick/Veronica
Rating NC17
Warnings sex and language
Words 2100
Spoilers None
Disclaimer All publicly recognizable characters, settings, plot, etc. are the property of the creators of the TV show Veronica Mars. Any original characters, settings and plots are the property of devylish. devylish is in no way associated with the TV show Veronica Mars and no copyright infringement is intended. This work is an amateur fan effort and no profit is being made.
AN unbeta'd

(())

"Coffee?"

She glared at him.

Chuckling he sat down next to her and waved the cup in front of her. "Carmel. Latte. Extra whip on top."

"Seriously, when I get out of this bed, I'm going to waddle after you and when I catch you, I'm going to sit on you."

Dick laughed. "... like the 20 lbs you've gained are enough to hold me down."

"19 pounds. It's 19 pounds! And did I mention the taser, I'll be waddling after you with my taser. And by the way, where the hell did you hide my taser!"

Dick leaned to the side and kissed Veronica's cheek. "Not tellin'. And, Dude, do you really think I'd do that to you?" He held the coffee back out to her, "One) you're scarey," he paused and amended, "Scarier than normal when you're caffeinated, and two) I know the caffeine isn't good for little High Five." He waved the cup in front of her, "It's decaf Babe."

Veronica's eyes welled up, "It's decaf?"

"It's decaf."

Grabbing on to the cup as if it were a life preserver, Veronica lifted it to her nose and inhaled the aroma. "I know you're just a poor, fake, substitute for the caffeinated riddled version, but you smell so good, I think I love you."

Dick leaned back against the headboard and watched his very pregnant girlfriend bask in the aroma, and then the taste, of her favorite beverage; a treat she hadn't had in nearly half a year, not since they found out they were pregnant. When she took a second sip and made her 'sex is good' face, he chuckled, "that good huh?"

"Oh you have noooo idea." She closed her eyes and sunk a little lower against her pile of pillows, "Oh, and don't think I missed your use of 'Hang Five'; we are not, I reiterate, NOT naming any child of ours 'Hang Five'."

"Ron..."

"Richard."

His first name. She'd whipped out his full first name. She only did that when she was tired. Or when she was dead serious. Both of which had been happening with more frequency since she'd been relegated to bed rest a few weeks ago. He tried again anyway. "How about -"

"No. We're not naming a baby High Five. We're not naming a baby anything that has anything to do with surfing. Not High Five, not Choka, not Bodhi, not Rip, and definitely," she peered at him, "not Booger."

Keeping her unstressed while carrying the twins was one of the reasons why Veronica had been assigned to bed rest. And the name topic was apparently stressing her a bit. He placated her, "I promise we won't name either of the babies Booger."

She opened one of her eyes and studied him, searching for sincerity in his visage... And seeing none. She cursed inwardly, why did he have to be so damn cute? Taking a deep breath and releasing it she closed her eye again and concentrated on the bliss that was her cup of coffee.

Her cup of decaf coffee that her loving, idiotic, boyfriend had provided her.

"Ronnie?" Dick slunk lower in the bed, resting his lanky frame as he leaned his head next to Veronica's neck. "Baby?"

She shivered with pleasure despite her eight month girth and her righteous indignation over Dick's quest to name one or more of their children after a sport.

He apparently took her shiver as a sign to continue. "Ronnie, baby?"

She sighed, "Yes."

"Marry me?"

Veronica groaned. They'd been through this. They'd been through this a lot. Dick had asked her to marry him at least once a month since they'd gotten pregnant.

She kept saying no, but he kept asking.

Before she could open her mouth to issue her standard 'no', Dick announced, "Dude, I'm going to win at least one of these arguments." His voice dropped to a suggestive octave, "as you know, I can be very single-minded." He shrugged and added, "It's your choice as to whether you give in on the name argument or the marriage argument."

"Wait a minute, you know what 'single-minded' means?"

Dick grinned against Veronica's neck, delivered a kiss to the soft skin there, and lifted his hand to her belly. "Yes, it means I'm going to get something I want. I'm either giving our babies a name, or I'm giving you my last name."

"Dick, marriage is-"

He mimicked her oft heard speech, "an antiquated tradition that means little more than that a man has laid claim to the woman of his choosing. " He air quoted the rest of Veronica's rant, "'And I refuse to be owned'." He kissed her neck again. "Dude, I don't want to own you, I want to be owned BY you,... I mean, fuck yeah, - OW!" He rubbed the bicep she'd bopped in response to his swearing, "I mean, 'heck yeah' I want the world to know you're mine," He hurried on as he felt her body tense, "but Babe, I want them all to know that I belong to you too. You know, kinda like you're the Yin to my Yang."

Veronica snorted, "Yin is masculine, Yang is feminine."

"Yeah,well, whatever, I want you to be my curly one-eyed sperm looking thing, and I'll be yours."

"You do know you just insulted a whole culture with that description; don't you have any respect for anything?"

"Surfing. And you. I respect surfing and you. Not necessarily in that order."

Veronica smiled lightly at the implication that Dick weighed her above surfing. Changing the topic, she asked, "How did the meeting with Arbor and Smith go?"

"Good. Really good. They say 'hi' by the way." He rubbed his hand over the babies, "We're ready to take on Florida now and we're starting serious market research on Australia in January."

Veronica teased proudly, "Aww, my little man is doing market research!"

"Little man?"

"Oh please, my worshiping at the foot of the alter of your physique is what got us into this," she placed her hand on his atop her stomach, "situation in the first place. You know you're hot, I'm not going to feed into your ego anymore. Especially when I look like a beached freakin' whale."

"Dude, you know you're hot. You've always been hot. You're still totally hot," He had never found pregnant women sexy before, but now... Veronica, getting a little bigger each day, with his babies? Yeah... sexy. He let his hand drop down her belly to the edge of her pants, "I'll do you right now and enjoy every moment of it."

"Dick!" Her eyes flew open and she trapped his hand in place.

"What?" He lifted his eyes and stared at her. "You do know I'd totally do you."

She couldn't stop the smile that slid across her face. His declaration wasn't sweet by most of society's standards, but for Dick... and to her when she was feeling her least sexiest ever..., it was sweet. She lifted her hand to his jaw and let her thumb pass over his cheek. "Why are you so adorable?"

He stared at her and with his voice low and serious he asked her again, "Veronica Mars, Baby, will you marry me? Be mine and totally let me be yours?"

She slowly moved her thumb along Dick's lower lip; she kept her gaze on his lips, intent on avoiding his eyes. "You want me to be that girl huh? The girl who gets married because she's knocked-up."

Dipping his head slightly, Dick kissed Veronica's thumb. "Not fair Ronnie." The first time he'd asked her to marry him had been a year and a half ago, six months after their fateful airplane crash. If he hadn't seen the fear, hadn't heard the panic in her voice when she said 'no' that first time, he would have been crushed. As it was he'd been badly bruised. But after licking his wounds he'd glued himself back to her side. He'd stuck with Veronica.

So yeah, he'd asked her to marry him after being together for six months and she'd freaked... as much as Veronica Mars could freak about anything. There'd been snark. And iciness and then there'd been hot sex..

He'd asked her to marry him at their one year anniversary, and this time she didn't freak; this time, she delivered 'the speech' for the first time. The 'just an antiquated tradition' and 'women shouldn't be thought of as possessions' speech. He'd been bruised again, but it had been less painful this time. Less scary. This time he knew she loved him. She'd even said it a few unguarded times in the previous months.

And then he'd asked her to marry him six months ago. A year and a half into their relationship. She'd looked at him, blinked, spat out 'the speech' and tacked on a hurried, "And by the way I'm pregnant" at the end.

Literally Dude, that's how she'd announced she was pregnant.

After he'd woken up from his faint, Dick had asked her to marry him again.

She'd said no again.

He'd been asking her to marry him pretty much every 2-4 weeks since then.

And she'd been saying 'no'.

Using 'the speech' to say no.

His skin had toughened, he didn't bruise, much, anymore when she said no. And that was because And he knew, KNEW Veronica Mars loved him.

It's just that she was scared. A scared, soft, vulnerable, marshmallow.

Surrounded by a layer of teflon.

Surrounded by a layer of iron.

And he was pretty certain the iron was surrounded by something else too, but he was breaking through. It was just taking a little longer than he'd anticipated.

"Not fair Ronnie."

"Yeah well all's fair in love and war?"

"And you love me, don't you?" he asked the words in a sing-songy tone. A tone that would have pissed the hell out of her two years ago, but now, she just found to be irritatingly/adorably Dickian.

He pressed his lips against hers fleetingly, "Don't you Ronnie?"

She was tired. And scared. And in love. And tired... so she gave in, just for a little bit. "What did that ring look like again?"

He'd stopped presenting the ring with his proposals after the second refusal. But he still had it.

Rolling onto his back and trying not to hyperventilate about what her request to see the ring might mean, Dick opened the bedside table drawer and pulled out the velvet box. He turned back to face Veronica and flipped the top up.

She stared at the ring for a few seconds before holding out her hand. They were both proud to note that her fingers barely shook. She tried to keep her tone light, "Maybe I'll just try it on for size."

Dick shimmied the ring out of its box, took Veronica's hand and as he slid it on he asserted, "Sorry dude, once it goes on, it doesn't come off."

She held her hand up and studied her new accessory as Dick, grin splitting his face, laid back down next to Veronica – head at her shoulder, hand on her stomach. "Is that the relationship rule version of 'you break it, you buy it?"

"Yup."

"You do know that if I'm going to have to wear one of these non-take-offable things, so are you."

"Mmm hmm."

She remained silent for a few more seconds before asking: "Are you going to wipe that smug smile off of your face anytime soon?"

"In a little while." He rubbed her stomach soothingly then teased, "Hey Ronnie?"

"Hey Dickie?"

"Are you sure you don't want to reconsider Booger? Booger Casablancas has a definite ring to it."