Bonnets and Booties

Disclaimer: Sadly I have not inherited Logan overnight, so I still don't own anything! All belongs to Rob Thomas and the networks obviously.

Chapter Eighteen: That's what friends are for.

Previously in BB: Logan comes home to find baby Noah on his doorstep. He steps up to the roll of fatherhood and dedicates everything to his "son". Veronica gets involved and discovers that the baby's mother turns out to be Annie, a maid from the Neptune Grand who left the baby with him as she couldn't care for him whilst trying to support her sick mother. Logan gets the results from the paternity test that say he is not Noah's dad but burns the results and decides to keep him anyway. Veronica being Veronica had secretly been listening in to Logan's conversations and is pleased the baby is not Logan's and he can "get on with his life". This leads to a big argument in which Logan kicks Veronica out and tells her to mind her own business. Logan moves into his own house and with the help of Alicia Fennel manages to go back to college. Veronica finally tracks him down and they have a chat, he tells Veronica she has a lot of things to think about and that he is not budging on his decision. As far as he is concerned he is Noah's dad and that's that. He vows to never let anyone find out about Annie's letter and that Duncan is really Noah's biological dad. Veronica gives Logan time to cool off but decides she is missing him and needs to go and talk to her dad to try and understand why Logan is doing this. Veronica finally opens up to Keith and he helps her to understand where Logan might be coming from.

It was nearing the last few days in November and life for Logan and Noah had settled into a fairly simple routine. His days revolved around caring for Noah. He never expected a baby needed so much attention but he couldn't deny he loved every minute of it, and when Noah was napping then he tried to concentrate on college thus leaving very little time for anything else. He was more thankful now than he ever had been of his wealth, once he'd taken it for granted but now he was just appreciative. He had no idea how single parent families with no money did it. Logan had hired Alicia on a full time basis as a nanny for Noah and personal assistant for him, and had also hired a full-time housekeeper. He couldn't imagine how people did the single parenting thing without help, just imagine if he was trying to work full time and provide childcare as well. This train of thought also led him to see Annie in a different light.

The first month with Noah he struggled on a daily basis to understand how any mother could give up her baby, but as he fell more in love with the little tyke he understood the desperate yearning to give him the best and do anything he needed. So now he understood. Annie knew how tough it would be as a single parent and didn't think she could give him any kind of life where as she knew Logan could provide for him financially. Sometimes very late at night when Noah had finally given in and was asleep curled up on his chest he wondered if he was doing the right thing for the baby, after all Logan had no family other than Trina whereas Noah did have grandparents. Knowing how adamant Celeste had been in giving little Lily over to the Manning's eased any guilt he may have had about not letting them into Noah's life. The secret would remain his and his alone. Annie had obviously believed he was Noah's dad, or at least really wanted him to be as she signed over all rights without any question, and when it bothered him too much he took comfort in that fact and resolved even further to do his best for Noah so that way if Annie ever did come back she would see that she made the best decision and Logan was the best dad for her son.

He had finally finished furnishing the house and making it feel homely. As homely as a bachelor and his two and a half month old son could make it. Luckily Alicia helped out with the majority of it, it was nice to have a motherly touch.

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Logan woke up to persistent pounding on the front door just after 7am. Groaning he got out of bed and looked at Noah to make sure the baby hadn't been woken by the sound. He was relieved to see him still sleeping soundly in the crib. Throwing a robe over his sleep pants he shoved his feet in some slippers and made his way downstairs. Who would be knocking this early? Alicia and the housekeeper both had keys, so it wasn't them, and only a few others had permission to come through security at the gated community.

He opened the door to see Wallace standing on the other side, a bag in each hand. "Hey man" Wallace greeted him "Whoa, you look like crap" he commented pushing past Logan and into the foyer.

"Yeah, no shit. Let's just say Noah and I had completely different ideas about sleeping last night" It had been a really rough night with the bub, he hadn't settled and then when he did it was only in very short naps of around half an hour at a time. Needless to say by the time Logan finally got him settled just after 5am he was a wreck.

"Bummer! And you've got that test today also. That's why I thought I'd bring breakfast before we head in; mom mentioned it was Fran's day off". He walked through to the kitchen and started unloading the bags on the breakfast bar. He pulled out hotcakes, juice and some big breakfast plates of sausage, egg and hash browns.

Logan's stomached grumbled and his mouth watered at the smell of the tasty food. Thinking back he realised the last time he ate was lunch yesterday. Fran had left him a plate in the oven but with Noah having a really bad night he hadn't had a chance to eat it.

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The boys scoffed their food in silence. It was still a strange friendship to Logan. Wallace had never been his biggest fan, and it was only since Alicia had started working for him that he had seen Wallace in a different light, as more than just Veronica's tag-a-long. It started one afternoon when Alicia's car was in the shop, Wallace had come to pick her up from Logan's house but she was still out running an errand with Noah in Logan's SUV. Logan had invited him in to wait and offered him a soda, Wallace had accepted to try and ease some awkwardness and Logan had returned to trying to make some headway on his assessment before Noah returned.

Wallace seated himself at the table near Logan and glanced over at his work. "Ah is that the paper for Mr Bishop? That's tough, I had him last semester took me a good few weeks to get that right" he commented "When is it due?"

"Next week" Logan answered him "but I don't get a whole lot of time these days to work on things so no more leaving things until the last minute, as you can guarantee that I won't get a last minute to do it" he grinned.

"I barely have time to get things done now between work and helping on cases, I can't imagine putting a baby in the mix" Wallace stated whilst sipping the last of his soda.

"I manage" Logan snipped defensively. He didn't know what Wallace thought of the subject but he really didn't want to get into it with him.

"Oh hey" Wallace put his hands up in surrender "I wasn't ribbing on you, I was just saying it must be tough, I don't know how you manage but I admire you man".

"Shit, sorry Wallace" Logan dragged his hand through his hair in frustration "I didn't mean to snap I'm just so used to having to defend this now that my fuse is a little short"

"No problems, bro, it's cool" Wallace replied.

Any further conversation was halted by Alicia returning with Noah. "Logan, Wallace. Sorry I kept you waiting there was a huge line at the store. Logan when you get a chance there is some more diapers and formula in the trunk. This little guy was just fussing and I didn't want to leave him in the car to carry it in" She popped Noah's carrier on the table and the baby gave a toothless grin when he spotted Logan.

"Thanks for grabbing that stuff for me Alicia, I honestly have no clue how I'd manage without you" He smiled genuinely at her.

"You'd probably still be throwing out soiled baby clothes and costing yourself a fortune" she ribbed him good naturedly.

"Probably" he agreed with her unstrapping Noah from his seat for a cuddle.

Alicia and Wallace had left not long after leaving Logan alone with Noah.

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It was just before lunch the next day when Alicia answered the door to find Wallace outside. "Hey mom, is Logan about I thought I'd drop in this research for him, make things a little easier seeing as I don't need it anymore" he walked past his mom and into the foyer.

"He is I'll just call for him" Alicia answered her son before shouting up the stairs for Logan. "I'm proud of you Wallace for extending the olive branch, Logan needs all the friends he can get right now, he is really trying". She smiled at her son.

"Yeah well I figured if you were working here full time it would be a bit uncomfortable for you if we didn't all try and get along" he answered her, uncomfortable at being called out on his attitude change towards Logan.

Logan walked into the foyer with Noah tucked under his arm.

:"Hey, I realised I still had these notes laying around and thought maybe you could use them for that paper, give you a hand, perhaps make it a bit easier" he handed the folder over to Logan.

"Thanks man" Logan smiled at him "I can use any help I can get right now, that paper is turning into a bitch to write"

"Yeah, you're not wrong there" Wallace replied "Glad it could help, I've got to get to class but I'll see ya later" he looked past Logan to his mom. "Bye mom, I'll grab Darryl after he finishes school and see you at home.

Alicia agreed and thanked her son.

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A few days later Logan was taking Noah for an afternoon walk along the path next to Dog beach when he spotted Wallace flying his plane. He was by himself.

"Look Noah" Logan tried to draw the baby's attention to the model plane "It's a plane" he pointed upwards to where the plane was flying in the sky.

Noah continued to gurgle happily whilst sucking on his fist. A recent habit Logan was trying to get him out of but wasn't having much luck.

At that point Wallace spotted them and came over. "Wanna have a go?" he asked Logan offering him the remote.

"Sure, can't be that hard if you can do it, right?" Logan smirked good naturedly at him and took the controller.

"Hey little man" Wallace bent down to talk to Noah.

Before Logan had realised he had spent over an hour chatting to Wallace and flying the plane at the beach.

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Nearly every afternoon that week Logan had ran into Wallace whilst taking Noah for a walk in the fresh air. The pair had chatted and kicked around a ball, or flew the plane. Wallace was starting to see a different side to the psychotic jackarse he knew to be Logan Echolls's and Logan was realising that Wallace was a decent guy. The afternoon meetings had led to a tentative friendship and Wallace had started to drop in on Logan and Noah. Logan still found it a bit strange and offered wondered what Veronica would say but he wasn't going to turn away what seemed like the only friend he had these days.

An: Thanks heaps for the reviews. Even the ones where people got rather upset Logan would just keep Noah. Hopefully this chapter answered a few of those issues, and of course more will come out during the story.

Next Up: Thanksgiving with the family, will Veronica offer and olive branch or will Logan spend another holiday alone?