Prologue

Logan was sprawled across his living room couch sucking at Call of Duty when the pounding on his suite door began. In his gut he knew it was Veronica making the sound even though he hadn't heard from or seen her since he beat up Gory Sorokin two weeks earlier. Pushing pause on the game, he thought about pretending that he wasn't there but then he remembered that she still had a card key to the room; sooner or later she would use it to try opening the door and would find out that he hadn't changed the code after they had broken up in January. Resigned, he tossed his controller down on the seat beside him and made his way to the front door. Taking a deep breath, Logan opened the door. Before he could say anything, Veronica stormed past him into the living room and stopped at the far end of his couch.

"God, Logan! What didn't you understand when I told you Gory was connected?"

"Yeah. Sure. Come on in, Veronica," he said sarcastically to the empty doorway. He closed the door then turned around, "I understood you fine; I just didn't care. Like I've told you before, all I want to do is protect you."

Veronica gave a huff. "I don't need you to protect me, Logan."

Logan took a step away from the door which made Veronica take a step back. He held out his hand with his palm facing Veronica as if she was a spooked animal and he was reassuring it that there was nothing to worry about. Slowly made his way to the opposite end of the couch from her.

"I know that, Veronica. You've proved that time and time again," he said when he stopped. Bringing down his hand he added, "The key words in what I said was 'all I want'. I don't do it because it's what you need. I do it because it's what I need!"

Veronica looked at him as if he had grown a second head. "That's insane!" she hissed.

Logan gave out a bitter laugh, "Yeah, but you want to know what's even more insane? More insane is the fact that even when I have ruined things for good between us, I get so sick that I have to physically vomit when I hear that someone hurt you. I literally cannot breathe." Suddenly all the energy left Logan's body and he had sit down on the arm of the couch. "Don't you get it Veronica, I love you so much that it hurts."

"Logan," Veronica began, her voice had lost some of its hard edge.

"You had your say two weeks ago. It's my turn to talk, Veronica," Logan interrupted. Veronica pursed lips together but gave a nod in agreement.

"I know you don't want me in your life and I promise that once you exit that door that I will leave you alone. I'll pretend not to know you if that's what you really want, but you have to know that I'm not going to stop loving you. I've tried to stop, but I always end up hurting other people. I…"

Logan's words were stopped when Veronica closed the distance between them, took his face in her hands, and crashed her lips onto his. It wasn't until Veronica's tongue had sneaked out from between her lips and tried to coax Logan to open his that he registered what was happening. He pulled his head back, leaving Veronica confused.

"What about Piz?" he asked, looking her directly in the eye.

Veronica dropped her hands from his face and her eyes darted to the side. "We broke up."

"What? Why?" Logan said, his voice full of concern. He may not have liked Piz for the way he had passively-aggressively gone after Veronica all year, but he hoped his actions hadn't forced Piz to dump her.

"He saw how I looked at you after your fight with Gory." She paused before adding, "He asked me to never see you again, and I couldn't tell him yes."

A small smile crept up onto Logan's face. At that moment that was the best thing he had ever heard. He reached forward and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into him. As he returned his lips to hers he whispered, "I love you." Veronica in turn nipped at his lips with her teeth and moved her hands to underneath his shirt. It didn't take long for them to tear off each other's clothes and become a pile of tangled arms and legs. Thankfully Dick had already moved out to a rental beach house with his dad so Logan didn't expect any interruptions.

That night he made love to her three times. The first time was on the living room sofa and he let Veronica set the pace. Everything felt fast, hard, and desperate. As she positioned herself on his lap she dug her finger nails into his back, leaving long red marks among the pale white scars left by his father. The second time, Logan had thrown Veronica over his shoulder and carried her into his room. He tossed her down on the bed and then using only his mouth brought her to an orgasm that left her body loose as jelly and a smile about a mile wide on her face. The third time was slow and tender and they kept their eyes locked together the entire time. When they were done, Veronica wrapped Logan's arm around her waist and snuggled into him before falling asleep. Feeling her steady breathing, he placed a kiss on the back of her head and fell asleep as well.

He woke up a few hours later to find the bed empty. Alarmed, he lifted his head and looked around the room but she wasn't in there. "Veronica?" he called out groggily.

A moment later Veronica poked her head in from the doorway of the living room. "Hey."

"What time is it?" he asked.

"It's only 5:30. You should go back to sleep." Veronica replied as she stepped inside the room. Logan noticed that her hair was wet from taking a shower and that she had put all her clothes back on except for her socks and shoes.

Logan frowned in confusion. "I know it's been awhile, but I think you got our roles reversed. I'm usually the one out of bed early to go catch some waves, you stay in bed and order coffee from room service."

Veronica padded over to the bed and sat down on the edge. "I have to go, Logan."

"Why?"

Veronica sighed. "You remember that FBI internship my criminology professor wanted me to apply for?"

"Yeah," he croaked.

"I got it. My plane for DC leaves at 10. Dad's dropping me off at the airport but he wants to stop for breakfast first," she explained. She reached out and ran her fingers through the front of his hair.

Logan pushed himself up so he was sitting against the bed's headboard. "That's great!" he said, trying to muster as much enthusiasm as possible. "That's really great."

"Thanks," Veronica said.

They both remained silent. Since he wasn't wearing a shirt, Logan started to pull at the edge of the top sheet nervously with his fingers. Finally he asked uncertainly, "So was last night…just a booty call?"

"No," Veronica quickly replied, placing one of her hands on top of his. His hands immediately stilled. "I came over because I wanted to tell you to be careful before I left. I know that's not what it sounded like with me yelling at you, but sometimes I feel like that is the only way I can get through to you."

Logan nodded, "Consider it message received. I'll try to stay out of trouble while you're gone." He paused and then asked, "So, ummm, where does that leave us?"

Veronica looked away again and gave an uncertain shrug. "I don't know. Part of me is still really upset about what you did to Piz, but then another part of me…" Veronica words trailed off. A tiny, blissful smile emerged on her face and her eyes softened a bit; it didn't take a PI to tell Logan that she was thinking about last night. Finally she returned her eyes to his and she suggested, "Maybe we take the 12 weeks I'm gone and give each other some space and time to think. We can talk about it when I get back?"

"Ok," Logan said, trying to keep his voice neutral even though for the first time in a long time he felt a little hope.

Veronica leaned over and gave Logan a quick kiss on the forehead. When she pulled back, Logan noticed her glancing at his alarm clock.

"I really have to go, Logan," she said. "Do you think you can stay in here until I leave? I really suck at formal good-byes."

"Yeah, sure," he said, bringing his hands to the sides of his head and making him almost look like a small kid. "It's not a good-bye anyways."

"Yeah, you're right," Veronica agreed as she stood back up and headed out. She stopped at the bedroom door and turned to Logan. "I'll see you in 12 weeks."

Logan stayed in his bed for over an hour after she left, any sooner and he probably would have chased her down and begged her not to go.

That summer he did as he promised Veronica and stayed out of trouble. He spent his time surfing with Dick, going to summer classes, playing video games with Heather, and working with Mac on upgrading the "grade my ass" website. In terms of thinking about what he wanted, he didn't need to think long or hard to know that all he wanted was another chance with Veronica. When she gave him that chance, he was going to do everything in his power not to screw it up.

Approximately 12 weeks and 5 days after he last spoke to Veronica, Logan was in the school bookstore trying to find all his textbooks for the upcoming semester when he ran into Wallace and Mac in the history section.

"Oh hey, Mac. Fennel." Logan greeted them. Given Wallace's friendship with Piz, Logan wasn't surprised to only get a curt "'sup," from Wallace; however Mac appeared almost nervous as she chirped "hey." This confused Logan since he had spent a fair amount of time working with her over the summer.

"I wish I had known I was going to run into you here." Logan said trying to break the ice. "My accountant just sent over our first profit checks from the website,"

"Really? How'd we do?" Mac's face loosened as if she was relieved to only be talking about the website.

"Well enough that I think you could upgrade that car of yours," Logan replied.

"Not everybody wants a gas-guzzling SUV, Logan. I love my little Beetle, thank you very much," Mac defended her car, but then added enthusiastically "But still. Yay!" Mac held up her hand and Logan gave it a high five.

Seeing Mac more relaxed, Logan decided to make his move. "So, where's the third musketeer?" he asked. Mac's body stiffened and her smile faded from her face. Logan shifted his attention to Wallace who was suddenly finding his shoes extremely interesting. Sobering up at their reaction to his question, he clarified, "Where's Veronica? I thought she was coming back to Neptune this week."

Without looking up Wallace gave a grunt. "She's already been back and gone, man."

Logan stepped back as if he had been pushed. "What do you mean she's 'been back and gone'?"

Wallace straightened up and said matter-of-factly, "She's going to study Criminal Justice at George Washington in DC. She came home last week for just a couple of days to pack."

Logan could feel a sickening knot build in the pit of his stomach. "I don't understand."

Mac took a step towards him and put a sympathetic hand on his arm. "Veronica left Hearst. She's not coming back to Neptune."

Author's Note - I started this story years ago and got through the first act but then fell into Writer's Block. Somehow the energy surrounding the movie has renewed my motivation to continue this story and begin to share it with the Marshmallow community. Anything that happened during Season 1-3 can be considered canon, but it diverges from there (although there are elements from the S4 FBI pilot and the movie that I have brought in). I'm posting the prologue and the first 3 chapters today (3/20/14), and starting next week posting 1 chapter a week. Thanks to all my Betas! Hope you enjoy.