Fic: Like the Sky is Running (Logan/Veronica) PG-13
Title: “Like the Sky is Running”
Author: em2mb
Pairing/Character: Logan/Veronica.
Word Count: 1,376
Rating: PG-13
Summary: She matter-of-factly informs him he knows as well as she does this isn’t over. It’s almost as though they take turns walking out on each other.
Spoilers: Season three relationship arch for Logan/Veronica
Warnings: Lacks optimism.
Author's Notes: The characters might belong to Rob Thomas, but I’ll require their use if my claim is accepted at 100_situations. Prompt: repeat. Thanks to lazaefair for the quick across-the-room edit!
They’re seventeen, he’s out of control, and he’s yelling.
It should make it easy for her, the storm brewing behind his eyes and the fact that he breaks the lamp. But secretly, she’s relieved when her father bursts in and pins Logan to the wall.
When he is expelled from the apartment and her father’s holding her as she sobs, she tells herself the tears falling are ones of relief. She tells herself she would have let Logan go even if Keith hadn’t been there to kick him out.
It’s a lie she wills herself to tell so she won’t break in the aftermath. For three days, she has a stomachache from hiccoughing when the tears won’t subside, and she cries herself to sleep. She’ll never tell Logan she feels just as lonely without him.
* * *
They’re nineteen, he’s slept with Madison, and she’s yelling.
She knows she’s lying when she tells him she can’t forgive him, not for this. Angry words tumble from her mouth-can’t he see what he’s done to her? However unwitting a role Madison played in her rape, Veronica can’t forget.
And she’s not ready to forgive. So she tells Logan what’s done is done. He’s lost her.
The words feel harsh and unnatural on her tongue. He hasn’t lost her, not really. She’s left him broken, but she’s broken, too. And as she flees the Neptune Grand, she feels empty, but she knows the storm will pass. She’s only done for now.
* * *
They’re twenty, they’ve been caught, and Parker is yelling.
She demands an explanation. She wants to know why they aren’t trying to defend themselves. Veronica knows why she isn’t saying anything. She’s as guilty as charged. Casting a sidelong glance at Logan, she sees he’s tugging his sleeves over his hands nervously.
Veronica feels bad. She really does. Her cheeks burn, and she hates the tears streaming down Parker’s cheeks. She hates Logan’s silence as his girlfriend yells. She remembers the night before, when he told her he couldn’t, he had to end things with Parker first.
But she hadn’t been able to wait, so they’d tumbled onto high thread count streets and laughed into each others’ mouths without a backwards glance. Parker came with the sunrise, bursting into the suite with Veronica’s old keycard.
Parker slams the door on the way out, and Logan starts yelling. So she’s alone and miserable again, but she knows this time not for long.
Never for long.
* * *
They’re twenty-three, she should’ve listened to him, and he’s yelling.
Veronica sees anger glimmering beneath the fear in his eyes, but he’s there and he’s holding her, and it’s all she can think about. She’s still bleeding, but she’s not alone.
Their fight earlier had been a standoff, a silent war fought in the living room of their apartment. She had been adamant at the time, angry at his suggestion that she finally let go of Mars Investigations. So she didn’t tell him when she went out on reconnaissance, and she was alone when the Fitzpatricks trapped her into a very real standoff.
With a gun.
Now he’s begging her to stay with him, and it kills Veronica to know that even if she sees dawn, she’s going to lose him.
* * *
They’re twenty-six, he’s living two thousand miles from Neptune, and she’s yelling.
Logan says he won’t come home, but Veronica knows better. She came to get him back, and she’s not leaving without him. It’s funny. He might be trying to make it on his own in Chicago, but he’s doing it in a penthouse suite of the same hotel chain that owns the Neptune Grand. She throws the irony back in his face. He throws a bottle of Jack Daniels at hers.
He misses, of course, but the glass shatters on the wall behind her and still catches her cheek. She hardly notices, but the blood shocks him. He’s drunk and stumbling madly towards her, bawling an apology. He tells her he’s sorry for leaving when she was still in the hospital. She says he didn’t owe her anything.
But he must feel like he does because he follows her back to California the next morning and checks into rehab when he gets there.
* * *
They’re twenty-seven, she’s breaking the news, and Keith is yelling.
She tells him he’s just mad that he missed the ceremony. He tells her she’s wrong. He’s mad because at twenty-seven, his daughter is acting seventeen and running off to Vegas to marry a boy hell-bent on destroying himself and bringing her down with him.
Veronica flips her hair and tells her father she doesn’t care. She’s angry, not just because of his harsh words, but because he had the audacity to throw them at her with Logan in the room. Logan grabs her hand-the one with the new wedding ring on it-and tells her to stop and think about what she’s saying.
It’s not the first time she’s fought with her dad about him. But this time it sticks, and Veronica doesn’t talk to Keith for six months. Logan stays sober and holds her when she cries at night. He traces the bullet scars on her stomach when he makes promises.
Her estrangement from her father causes real tension in their relationship, and this time, she’s the one that flees.
* * *
They’re thirty-two, she’s finally putting her degree to use, and he’s yelling.
He followed her to Washington, where she’s teaching criminology at Georgetown. Sitting in on her introductory course, she spots him in the first ten minutes but doesn’t lose her composure. When the class clears, he gives her a standing ovation and serves her with divorce papers.
They’ve been legally separated since the last time he tracked her down, three years before. At the time, they could have divorced, but things had been amiable when he’d come, and it just seemed easier to stay married.
She stares at him when he asks her to sign. She asks why. His laughter is bitter. He tells her he’s wasted years on her already. They fight, she refuses, he starts to storm off, and she relents.
Veronica signs with a flourish, but she matter-of-factly informs him he knows as well as she does this isn’t over.
* * *
They’re thirty-three, he’s getting married, and she’s yelling.
She tells him he’ll regret this. He tells her he can’t possibly regret it more than he does her. For a second, she thinks he’s dismissing their frantic sixteen years of on and off. But then his lips crash into hers and she realizes he regrets the endings, but not the beginnings.
This time, they catch themselves before things escalate. He shoves his hands in his pockets and asks her if she wants him to leave his fiancée. She shakes her head. This time, Veronica’s convinced she can walk away. She’s sure the sun’s finally set on them.
But Logan breaks things off with Julie anyway.
* * *
They’re thirty-seven, they’re giving in, and no one’s yelling.
Keith has cancer, and he has long since taken back what he said about a decade earlier. He has welcomed Logan into the family, and he wants to see his daughter properly hitched to the love of her life. This time, there’s a real ceremony, with a white dress and flowers, with a minister and without Elvis.
It’s strangely comforting to walk down the aisle and know it’s already ended in betrayal and bullet holes, alcoholism and divorce. There’s nowhere to go but up. Logan’s her past, but he’s always been her future, too.
Veronica kisses her father’s cheek at the end of the aisle, eyes shining. She hasn’t been his to give away in years, but it’s a tradition, and she’s set in her ways, so it seems appropriate.
There’s a storm brewing between them before they even leave the reception that night, even if he doesn’t know yet she saw him sneak two drinks. Veronica’s worried, but it’s out of her control whether or not this will stick. She takes Logan’s hand in spite of everything and escapes under handfuls of birdseed to the limo.
Author: em2mb
Pairing/Character: Logan/Veronica.
Word Count: 1,376
Rating: PG-13
Summary: She matter-of-factly informs him he knows as well as she does this isn’t over. It’s almost as though they take turns walking out on each other.
Spoilers: Season three relationship arch for Logan/Veronica
Warnings: Lacks optimism.
Author's Notes: The characters might belong to Rob Thomas, but I’ll require their use if my claim is accepted at 100_situations. Prompt: repeat. Thanks to lazaefair for the quick across-the-room edit!
They’re seventeen, he’s out of control, and he’s yelling.
It should make it easy for her, the storm brewing behind his eyes and the fact that he breaks the lamp. But secretly, she’s relieved when her father bursts in and pins Logan to the wall.
When he is expelled from the apartment and her father’s holding her as she sobs, she tells herself the tears falling are ones of relief. She tells herself she would have let Logan go even if Keith hadn’t been there to kick him out.
It’s a lie she wills herself to tell so she won’t break in the aftermath. For three days, she has a stomachache from hiccoughing when the tears won’t subside, and she cries herself to sleep. She’ll never tell Logan she feels just as lonely without him.
* * *
They’re nineteen, he’s slept with Madison, and she’s yelling.
She knows she’s lying when she tells him she can’t forgive him, not for this. Angry words tumble from her mouth-can’t he see what he’s done to her? However unwitting a role Madison played in her rape, Veronica can’t forget.
And she’s not ready to forgive. So she tells Logan what’s done is done. He’s lost her.
The words feel harsh and unnatural on her tongue. He hasn’t lost her, not really. She’s left him broken, but she’s broken, too. And as she flees the Neptune Grand, she feels empty, but she knows the storm will pass. She’s only done for now.
* * *
They’re twenty, they’ve been caught, and Parker is yelling.
She demands an explanation. She wants to know why they aren’t trying to defend themselves. Veronica knows why she isn’t saying anything. She’s as guilty as charged. Casting a sidelong glance at Logan, she sees he’s tugging his sleeves over his hands nervously.
Veronica feels bad. She really does. Her cheeks burn, and she hates the tears streaming down Parker’s cheeks. She hates Logan’s silence as his girlfriend yells. She remembers the night before, when he told her he couldn’t, he had to end things with Parker first.
But she hadn’t been able to wait, so they’d tumbled onto high thread count streets and laughed into each others’ mouths without a backwards glance. Parker came with the sunrise, bursting into the suite with Veronica’s old keycard.
Parker slams the door on the way out, and Logan starts yelling. So she’s alone and miserable again, but she knows this time not for long.
Never for long.
* * *
They’re twenty-three, she should’ve listened to him, and he’s yelling.
Veronica sees anger glimmering beneath the fear in his eyes, but he’s there and he’s holding her, and it’s all she can think about. She’s still bleeding, but she’s not alone.
Their fight earlier had been a standoff, a silent war fought in the living room of their apartment. She had been adamant at the time, angry at his suggestion that she finally let go of Mars Investigations. So she didn’t tell him when she went out on reconnaissance, and she was alone when the Fitzpatricks trapped her into a very real standoff.
With a gun.
Now he’s begging her to stay with him, and it kills Veronica to know that even if she sees dawn, she’s going to lose him.
* * *
They’re twenty-six, he’s living two thousand miles from Neptune, and she’s yelling.
Logan says he won’t come home, but Veronica knows better. She came to get him back, and she’s not leaving without him. It’s funny. He might be trying to make it on his own in Chicago, but he’s doing it in a penthouse suite of the same hotel chain that owns the Neptune Grand. She throws the irony back in his face. He throws a bottle of Jack Daniels at hers.
He misses, of course, but the glass shatters on the wall behind her and still catches her cheek. She hardly notices, but the blood shocks him. He’s drunk and stumbling madly towards her, bawling an apology. He tells her he’s sorry for leaving when she was still in the hospital. She says he didn’t owe her anything.
But he must feel like he does because he follows her back to California the next morning and checks into rehab when he gets there.
* * *
They’re twenty-seven, she’s breaking the news, and Keith is yelling.
She tells him he’s just mad that he missed the ceremony. He tells her she’s wrong. He’s mad because at twenty-seven, his daughter is acting seventeen and running off to Vegas to marry a boy hell-bent on destroying himself and bringing her down with him.
Veronica flips her hair and tells her father she doesn’t care. She’s angry, not just because of his harsh words, but because he had the audacity to throw them at her with Logan in the room. Logan grabs her hand-the one with the new wedding ring on it-and tells her to stop and think about what she’s saying.
It’s not the first time she’s fought with her dad about him. But this time it sticks, and Veronica doesn’t talk to Keith for six months. Logan stays sober and holds her when she cries at night. He traces the bullet scars on her stomach when he makes promises.
Her estrangement from her father causes real tension in their relationship, and this time, she’s the one that flees.
* * *
They’re thirty-two, she’s finally putting her degree to use, and he’s yelling.
He followed her to Washington, where she’s teaching criminology at Georgetown. Sitting in on her introductory course, she spots him in the first ten minutes but doesn’t lose her composure. When the class clears, he gives her a standing ovation and serves her with divorce papers.
They’ve been legally separated since the last time he tracked her down, three years before. At the time, they could have divorced, but things had been amiable when he’d come, and it just seemed easier to stay married.
She stares at him when he asks her to sign. She asks why. His laughter is bitter. He tells her he’s wasted years on her already. They fight, she refuses, he starts to storm off, and she relents.
Veronica signs with a flourish, but she matter-of-factly informs him he knows as well as she does this isn’t over.
* * *
They’re thirty-three, he’s getting married, and she’s yelling.
She tells him he’ll regret this. He tells her he can’t possibly regret it more than he does her. For a second, she thinks he’s dismissing their frantic sixteen years of on and off. But then his lips crash into hers and she realizes he regrets the endings, but not the beginnings.
This time, they catch themselves before things escalate. He shoves his hands in his pockets and asks her if she wants him to leave his fiancée. She shakes her head. This time, Veronica’s convinced she can walk away. She’s sure the sun’s finally set on them.
But Logan breaks things off with Julie anyway.
* * *
They’re thirty-seven, they’re giving in, and no one’s yelling.
Keith has cancer, and he has long since taken back what he said about a decade earlier. He has welcomed Logan into the family, and he wants to see his daughter properly hitched to the love of her life. This time, there’s a real ceremony, with a white dress and flowers, with a minister and without Elvis.
It’s strangely comforting to walk down the aisle and know it’s already ended in betrayal and bullet holes, alcoholism and divorce. There’s nowhere to go but up. Logan’s her past, but he’s always been her future, too.
Veronica kisses her father’s cheek at the end of the aisle, eyes shining. She hasn’t been his to give away in years, but it’s a tradition, and she’s set in her ways, so it seems appropriate.
There’s a storm brewing between them before they even leave the reception that night, even if he doesn’t know yet she saw him sneak two drinks. Veronica’s worried, but it’s out of her control whether or not this will stick. She takes Logan’s hand in spite of everything and escapes under handfuls of birdseed to the limo.