Title: Elevator Intervention
Rating: T
Pairing(s)/Character(s): Logan/Veronica
Warnings: None
Disclaimer: Don't own 'em - not making any money off 'em. Dern it.
Word Count: 1,941
Summary: When Veronica decided to have sex with Duncan, she gets into the elevator at the same time as Logan, who's meeting Kendall. Things go AU.

Prompt: Don't panic! / As you wish

You know the charge that goes up your spine at moment of epiphany? It just hit me. I'm not gonna let the list of things I want to do before I die turn into a list of regrets.

Veronica stepped onto the elevator. She pushed the button for the top floor, but before the door could close, a hand stopped it.

Her eyes met Logan's as he stepped on the elevator.

"Top floor?" she asked monotonously.

He nodded.

"Are you visiting Duncan?"

"No, but I guess you are," he snarked.

Veronica nodded, tapping her foot and wishing the elevator would go faster. She ignored the painful clenching of her stomach and tried to not think about why he was going to the top floor of the Neptune Grand if he wasn't there to see Duncan. It wasn't any of her business, and she truly didn't want to know who he was meeting.

"How is the golden couple doing nowadays?" he asked, his voice full of anger.

Veronica chose not to answer; she wouldn't let him bait her.

"No answer? How unlike Miss Veronica Mars," he drawled.

She clenched her hands into fists and felt her nails dig into her palms.

Suddenly, there was a whirling noise, and the elevator jolted, sending Veronica falling to the ground. Well, at least she would have hit the ground if Logan hadn't used his fast reflexes and caught her.

Her breathing became shallower as she realized the elevator was still and the doors weren't opening. The lights flickered a bit as Logan steadied her.

He pressed the emergency door open button but nothing happened.

'Don't panic,' she thought. She closed her eyes as a voice came on over the intercom. "Is there anyone in there?"

She opened her eyes to see Logan press a button. "Two of us."

"Okay, stay calm. We're working to get you out."

Logan looked at her and then quickly pressed the intercom button again. "Hurry up. The girl I'm with gets claustrophobic if she's in an enclosed space for too long."

"We're working as fast as possible. Just try to keep her calm."

"Right," he muttered to himself.

Veronica stared at the floor. She wasn't sure why she was that surprised that he remembered. One didn't forget about their girlfriend, or ex-girlfriend, become claustrophobic after she was locked inside a burning refrigerator by his homicidal father, after all.

He rubbed her shoulder blades and lightly pushed her to the ground. He knelt in front of her. "Just try to take deep breaths. Thankfully, this is the Neptune Grand so the elevators aren't tiny."

"Thankfully," Veronica echoed, letting her head rest against the wall, as her breathing evened out a bit.

"Are you doing okay?"

"Yeah."

There was an uncomfortable silence, and Veronica couldn't take it. She looked at Logan and noticed the change he seemed to have gone through. He looked thinner, his eyes shadowed, and she felt a bit guilty. She knew he felt as if she abandoned hir, left him like everyone else in his life did, but she hadn't meant to.

She never wanted to break up with him; she had just wanted him to stop taking risks, stop getting into fights. She had been so scared that she would get a call about his body being found. Their talk went haywire, though, and then she never got to fix the misunderstanding because her dad came home and threw Logan out of the house.
She thought about going to him after they had time to cool off, but she had been scared that he would turn away from her. And then there was Duncan, always there. Good, faithful, loyal Duncan. He seemed so much easier, so much safer. When he gave her the fortune cookie, her first thought was of Logan, but she stomped it down and instead, she ran to Duncan, telling herself that she had made the right decision.

Now, though, being close to him for the first time in weeks, she wasn't so sure. "How have you been?" she asked.

"Living," he gruffly answered.

"Can you talk to me? Distract me? Please?" she asked. She knew it was low blow, using her fear against him, but she wanted to hear his voice.

He sighed and before her very eyes, when he looked at her, his eyes softened. "What do you want me to talk about?"

"Anything."

"Um, okay. I was cleaning up some stuff, and I found some of Lilly's things. Clothes, jewelry, things like that."

"Did you keep them?"

He nodded. "They're in a box, you can go through it if you want. Although I can't imagine you in Lilly's clothes, there might be something else you're interested in having."

She smirked. "Lilly always said I had to stop being a yellow cotton dress. She said I was strapless red satin, which I like to think I became. Maybe Lilly's clothes would be more my style now."

He chuckled. "You might be strapless red satin now, but I think Lilly's style still might be too much for you."

"Maybe," she conceded. They lulled into another silence, and Veronica swallowed, straightening her spine. "You know... I never wanted to break up with you that night."

He stiffened. "Sure you didn't."

She narrowed her eyes at his clear dismissal. "I didn't. I wanted us to talk like adults, but then you jumped to conclusions, my dad came home, and things got screwed up."

He glared at her. "You had more than enough time to fix it, though. As far as I knew, you were done with me. If you had wanted to fix things, you could have. Instead, you ran to perfect Prince Duncan. And I wasn't even surprised. When he started hanging around Java the Hut, I knew it was only a matter of time."

"I hadn't been interested in Duncan at all."

"Yet, here you are dating him. You actually expect me to believe you?"

Her chin was raised, and she looked into his eyes so there couldn't be any doubt. "Yes, I do. I didn't think you wanted to fix things. When I saw you, you wouldn't even look at me, so I figured you were done with me. Maybe you even replaced me. After all, you are at a hotel, probably meeting your newest friend."

"Don't get all high and mighty with me," Logan growled. "I gave into my newest friend, the day I found out about you and Duncan. Before then, no matter how much she tried to seduce me, I rejected her. I was waiting, hoping for a sign that you wanted to make up. I got my sign when Dick told me about seeing you and Duncan kissing, so I did what I had to in order to forget about you. And you have no right to be angry about it. You walked away first!"

Her breath caught in her throat. She wanted to yell back but realized he was right. She did walk away and allowed her fear to rule her, so she never went to him to talk about things. "Maybe I made a mistake."

"Fixed!" the intercom voice interrupted the tense stare-off just as the elevator jolted and began rising again.

When it got to the top floor, it opened, and they both stepped off of it. She remembered her epiphany about never wanting a list of regrets, and suddenly, she really did know what she had to do.

"Veronica –"

"I need to talk to Duncan."

His expression closed off. "As you wish."

He turned to go to a hotel room, and her only thought was to stop him. She grabbed his arm. "Wait! Don't go meet your friend. I'll be back. Just wait for me. Please." It was the closest to begging she ever came to.
He looked at her. "How long will you be?"

"I'm not sure, but I'm not done with you. Please, wait for me."

He nodded and leaned against the wall.

She walked to the door she had spent a lot of time in recently and knocked.

Duncan opened it with a grin. "You came."

He moved to pull her in his arms, but conscious of Logan not far away, she evaded his embrace. "We need to talk."

In the end, Duncan did not take her breaking up with him well. And when he accused her of it being because of Logan, and she didn't deny it, he really got angry, especially when she admitted she felt as if she settled for him during the summer.

She feared he might have a fit and attack her, so she escaped his hotel room as fast as possible. Even with the drama, she was glad she had broken up with him. She was even gladder when she saw Logan still waiting for her.

"Hi," she waved, walking up to him.

"Hi," he returned. He looked at the door she had just come through, and she knew what he wanted to ask.

She offered the information voluntarily. "I broke up with him."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

He cupped her cheek and leaned down, gently kissing her. He nibbled her bottom lip, and she opened her mouth. They partook in the familiar dance as if they never stopped.

When she needed to breathe, she gently pushed him away. "We still need to talk," she gasped.

"I know," he murmured, his lips once again sealing over hers.

She sighed into the kiss, wrapping her arms around his neck.

She heard a door open, but she didn't care enough to break the kiss. If it was Duncan, maybe he would see this and understand why Veronica did what she had to do.

"My, my, my. This is why you're late?" A voice, a very female voice, asked.

Logan reluctantly separated and glared over Veronica's shoulder. "Something better came along."

Veronica looked and saw a woman standing there, and with a start, she realized this was who Logan had been meeting. She tried to not feel inferior when compared to the gorgeous brunette, but she could see what had Logan so attracted to the unknown woman. She swallowed, and Veronica wondered how she could possibly measure up in Logan's eyes.

"Better?" the woman inelegantly scoffed.

Logan pulled Veronica tighter against his body. "Much better. In every way."

And before she could ponder his words, Logan pulled her towards the elevator. She briefly thought about not stepping inside—not because of not wanting to go with Logan but because she feared it getting stuck again—but she shook her head at the ridiculous notion. This was a five-star hotel. It wouldn't get stuck twice within the span of fifteen minutes.

When the elevator door slid open, they stepped inside, and Logan pressed the button for the ground floor. He claimed her lips again as the door closed.

Veronica eagerly returned the kiss, until a sudden jolt had her falling against his body as he grunted at the effort of keeping them both standing.

Veronica looked around and closed her eyes. She knew what happened. She should have gone with her gut instinct and avoided the elevator all together.

He chuckled at their predicament once again.

"I'm glad you find this funny," she muttered, pushing away from him and crossing her arms over her chest.

"It's not that I find it funny, but I'm glad I have a much better way to distract you now instead of simply arguing with you." He grabbed her arm and pulled her into another devouring kiss that made Veronica weak in the knees.

Logan had a point. This was a much better distraction.