Fic: It Snows in Hell ~ R
Title: It Snows in Hell
Summary: Follow-up to The Night of the Loving Dead. Lamb's back for another Halloween with Veronica. And this year they both have a surprise for the other.
Rating: R, mild smut
Spoilers: 3x14
Word Count: 4692
Disclaimer: Veronica Mars is not owned by me, but by Rob Thomas. I’m simply borrowing these characters for non-profit entertainment.
A/N: "Night of the Loving Dead" was never meant to have a follow-up, so this will be the one and only sequel for it. Also, I once again have Lordi to thank for the title though I do not own them or the song. I also continue to deny everything if the devil OC sounds familiar.
~~
Veronica had been on her feet within seconds each time she had heard a knock on her door. Halloween night was back and through all the trick-or-treaters, she had hoped Lamb wouldn't keep her waiting.
Granted, this time a year ago she couldn't have imagined Neptune's fallen sheriff being on her doorstep, but there he'd been. Looking just as she had remembered him, smelling just like she had remembered him and feeling like she had only dreamt of.
It was almost nine and she really wasn't sure how much more anxious she could be. Okay, there was another reason she was so nervous, but she really didn't want that to be the first thing out of her mouth if and or when he finally did show up.
But then that would just be her luck. "Hey, hi, I've missed you, let's go get busy before the baby wakes up. Oh, right, yeah, baby... Remember last year?" Yeah, not how she'd envisioned telling him. Though in a way it almost had to be easier than how she had broken the news to her friends and father when she found out Lamb had left her a now not-so-little souvenir after his visit last Halloween. At least she'd had the ability to blame it on a random Hearst party hook-up. Who'd believe it was Lamb? It was one thing to tell people that her baby's father had died before he was born. But how about when said father had died before their son was even conceived? In retrospect she knew she should've known that with the way Lamb had been talking that everything of his was back in working order and he would find a way to prove to her just how real their encounter had been.
As it was now, Danny (subtle enough, she'd decided) was asleep in his crib and she knew in this case that seeing would be believing for Lamb. Only fair, really.
"Ah, Mr. Lamb," Don heard what was now a familiar voice state from behind him. "You look as though you're ready to return to where you wished to be last year."
"You could say that," he answered the tall, blonde-haired man.
Taking a puff of his cigar, the man went on, "In that case, I have a proposal for you before you venture above once again."
"No offence, but you're not my type," Lamb grinned, anxious himself to see Veronica again. He'd hoped he could turn it into a twice or three times a year thing, birthdays, his deathiversary... But no. This guy hadn't budged. Nor had he told him his name. Though with that red smoking jacket and apparent needlessness for a lighter or matches for his cigars, he was pretty sure he could guess it.
The man smiled slowly. "You enjoyed your time with your lady last year, I presume?" When Lamb didn't answer, he continued, "How would you like to be able to prolong your time with her?"
"Thought you said I couldn't." In fact, he knew he had said that. Not only because he had been standing right there those times, but because he hadn't been granted that ability yet.
"That was because it wasn't time for us to have this conversation yet. Tonight, being what it is, gives us this opportunity. Are you a gambling man, by chance, Mr. Lamb?"
He had been. But he wasn't stupid enough to make a deal with the devil. At least not knowingly. "Not anymore."
"Ah, that's a shame. You see, I am willing to grant you that which you long for the most. To give you a chance to reunite with your lady love. for, perhaps, another fifty or sixty years. But, if you cannot, or perhaps, will not rise to this challenge, I'm afraid I will have to withdraw my offer."
If his heart hadn't stopped beating almost two years previous, that would have been enough to do the trick. "What would I have to do? What would I be betting with, or need I ask?"
"I'm glad you asked," the man smiled again. "You would be granted one night, this Halloween night, just as before. Only tonight you would have to get your Veronica to admit that she loves you just as you have loved her for all this time. And that she has been in love with you since before you took your final breath, originally. This is your chance to know there is one person from the place you left that has missed you. Though to know her love is pure, you cannot tell her any of what I had told you. She cannot know this could be the last night you share."
Veronica never would. He couldn't even claim to completely blame her for it considering their past. "What'd be in it for you? When I lost that bet, as I'm sure you'd be counting on, that is?"
"If you were to fail this test, you would not return here. I have had my eye on you for some time, you could be very beneficial to me downstairs, if you will."
"Since when does someone in your department deal in the love business?" Lamb asked him, convinced this was a trick.
"Since this too is known as The Night of the Loving Dead. Since this was our original deal. After tonight, one way or another, we shall have a new deal. Your chance is fair, all you have to do is agree to take it or to not."
"And if I do agree and I fail, no more beach view purgatory, huh? No more special Halloween visits either, I guess?" The man's face revealed nothing as he took another puff of that cigar. Lamb knew there had to be a catch to all of this, really he had been waiting for this shoe to drop. And now that it had he knew that in a way he was right back to where he'd started two years ago with Veronica. He could fight and lose, again, but at least have the chance to get a proper goodbye. Or he could not even try, stay there and essentially be the same coward he was when he was alive. Or maybe, just maybe, he could fight and win and even win Veronica in the process. Alright, he knew it was a fantasy, but it sure beat any of the other possibilities swarming in his head. He decided it would at least be worth it to say goodbye.
"Aw, I know, sweetie," Veronica said as she walked into the nursery when she heard Danny crying. "I know, I want to see Daddy too. But this isn't how you want him to meet you, is it?" she asked as she picked him up and held him, rocking him gently.
The baby just cried, the loud group of kids that had just left having scared him awake.
It was twenty minutes before Veronica had gotten him settled again, in a way thankful that there hadn't been another knock on the door in that time. A glance at the clock told her why. It was almost ten, most of the kids would be heading home with their candy loot. She was even thankful Lamb hadn't shown up. Almost a year since she'd found out she was pregnant, almost three months since she'd had Danny and she still couldn't figure out how she was going to tell Lamb about it all. At least on the bright side she was mostly sure there wouldn't be a question in his mind about paternity. Sure anyone could claim their son had her eyes, but that full head of dark hair couldn't really be debated.
As Lamb made his way down the street just as he had last year, watching the costumed kids head to their homes, he got used to the sights, sounds and smells around him again. Yep, he was definitely back in Neptune. And all it was going to cost him was either his dignity or his soul or both. Though to be honest it'd felt like hell for all those years that Veronica had claimed to hate him anyway. All he could do now was hope that what had once been meant metaphorically wouldn't result in literal form.
He still couldn't get used to the fact his hand didn't go through her door when he knocked on it finally, all of it was still so surreal. But hearing the shuffling coming from the other side, hopeful it was Veronica, was both a comfort and terrifying. Funny how two so very different emotions could come together as one. Come to think of it, it was a lot like their relationship had been for a long time.
When Veronica pulled open the door, she had to stop herself from launching into his arms. This time it was definitely not a dream, her Halloween was finally about to begin. Okay, for most it was almost over, but who cared? Her reason to celebrate was back!
"Happy Night of the Loving Dead. Miss me?" he asked her, desperate to regain his full cockiness so she wouldn't catch even a hint of his nervousness.
"Just get in here," she told him with a tug on his shirt.
"Are we alone?" he asked as he closed the door after himself.
"Define alone," she told him, really hoping she could stall for at least another couple of minutes.
Ouch. "Is it just you and me?"
Crap. "Technically. Sort of."
So much for his cockiness. "Do I want to know?"
She wanted to kick something. "Why'd you have to start with that question?"
He sighed. Great. So much for always having Halloween. "It was a joke. Or so I thought anyway. So, what, you forgot? Maybe went off and got married in the last year? Couldn't get Keith to leave for the night?"
"No, but there is -"
"Another guy?" Why was he surprised? Maybe he couldn't fault her when he could only show up once a year but when it was on their night he sure as hell, and he could say that now, he could.
Veronica took his hand and started to lead him towards the hall. "I had really, you have no idea how much, I had wanted to be able to wait on this. At least for another hour or so. Maybe welcome you back a little differently first. But, as usual, you just had to wreck my surprise."
"Keith?" he asked even as he followed her slow steps down the hall.
"No, he moved out a couple months ago. It wasn't easy, but in the end he decided it was for the best. He's in the building across the street now. Anyway, there is someone you should meet."
"Why do I get the feeling this isn't going to be some great stuffed animal or sex toy surprise?"
"Because it isn't," she answered as she opened the door to the nursery, only letting the hall light suffice for light in the room. The last thing she wanted was to wake Danny again so soon. "Show is better than tell, right? Go ahead, look. Just don't turn on the light, I only just got him back down."
The security lights around the building filtering in through the window and the yellow hall light from behind him allowed for him to just be able to make out the sight of the crib against the wall. He could see a dresser too. And a chair. What the hell was going on?
"Before you ask, he's three months, as of tomorrow. I'll let you do the math."
Lamb glanced back at her before glancing back to the dim room. He? Three months? "Son of a bitch," he sighed.
"Excuse you?" That was what he said about his own son?
Lamb almost laughed. "Not you. Or him. I was thinking of someone else. An otherworldly acquaintance, you could say. So I guess this means we, uh, don't get our repeat of last year?"
Veronica shrugged. "Guess that depends on you. I've just gotten him back down for now, but I wasn't sure if you'd want to meet your son first. Though, really, I'd kind of hoped -"
"Wait. You mean to tell me that this happened -"
"Last Halloween," she nodded. "We had all night, remember? And we did pretty much take full advantage of it if I remember right. Welcome home, Daddy Don. The sleepy one over there is Danny and no, no one else knows he's yours. Couldn't really come up with how to explain it. If it'd happened before last Valentine's, then -"
"I have a son?"
"We have a son, thank you very much. I did kind of help." She had expected him to have some kind of comeback at that, but instead he just headed into what had been her father's room and stopped only when he was next to the crib.
Just like Veronica had said, he was asleep. And it was still dark, but he could see him. Their son. He wondered if that bastard knew, if that was why he'd given him this test tonight. If he couldn't get Veronica to admit she loved him then not only would he most likely never see her again, but he'd never see their child again either. He wouldn't get to see him grow up, whether every day or once every year, he wouldn't get to prove that he would never let himself become the man his own father had been, he wouldn't have the life or the family he hadn't even allowed himself to admit he still occasionally dreamed of.
"Are you okay?" Veronica asked him, realizing when she was beside him that he looked like he was crying or just on the verge of it.
"Yeah," he lied with a sharp sniffle, hoping he could fake allergies. "I just - I guess I just thought that if this was ever a possibility that it would've happened before, you know."
"How about we talk about this out there?" she asked as she pointed her thumb towards the wall, indicating to the living room on the other side of it.
Lamb agreed and let her lead him once again. Only this time it was more because he wasn't sure he could convince his legs to work properly otherwise.
"I figure, worse comes to worse, maybe if he sees you on some Halloween when he gets older we can claim that you're an uncle who comes to visit once a year. I don't know how else we could explain it."
Lamb finally let himself collapse on the sofa. This was all too much. He was a father, he'd died and had still become a father. And Veronica was the mother of his child. Of his son. This time he had to wonder if he wasn't the one dreaming.
"It was a shock for me too at first. Well, not completely, I mean, I was rather present that night and know enough about biology. But, anyway, you can feel free to talk at any time. Talk, not yell though, not unless you want to spend the next hour trying to console Danny."
Instead, Lamb did the next best thing, he leaned over and kissed her as hard as he could manage until they were both panting for air.
"I missed you too," she told him, still breathless before licking her suddenly sore lips.
"All those years," he sighed. "I never thought... I never thought you even liked me enough for that. In my more vivid dreams, sure, but not beyond those."
"Sure had me fooled last year," she chuckled.
He guessed then was as good a time as any. He had been desperate before, he wanted his life back, he wanted Veronica back. "You knew, didn't you?"
"Knew what? That you wanted me? You enjoyed seeing me in your handcuffs way too much for me to be able to ignore it. And I'd be willing to bet the others knew it too."
"How about that I loved you? Think they knew that too?"
Veronica blinked. Had he really just used that word? "You loved me? And that was how you went about proving it?"
"It wasn't like I thought you cared about me enough even to hate me. Much less love me back. Some days it was easier to be the man you thought I was. For better or worse." Here it was, her chance to tell him. Her chance to save him.
"So saying I hated you would be a compliment?"
"From you, yeah, I think so," he admitted.
"Well I'll admit that I hated you dying. We were just starting to get along again and you... did that. And then I figured Danny was basically your way of proving last Halloween really happened. Especially since he complains as much and as loudly as you ever did when he's in a mood."
Lamb almost laughed, but the pain of knowing how this night could end still outweighed his enjoyment of her little confession and commentary. "What do you plan to tell Danny about me when he's old enough?"
"I'll have to tell him what I've told the others, that same lie, that I don't even remember who his father is."
"So, no talks about how you loved his father? How his father died protecting his grandfather?"
"How would I explain it? You died before it was supposed to be possible. I would have been due around the time he was conceived. Instead you showed up out of the blue, more or less back from the dead, I didn't even know you were real at first and there was no turning back once I realized how real that night had been. And sure I could have kept everyone from finding out I was even pregnant, but I really didn't feel like it."
"What if there was a way I could come back? Permanently?"
"How?" she asked, not wanting to sound too hopeful.
"I don't know. But something was mentioned earlier that got me thinking."
"What'd you do? Make a deal with the devil?" she chuckled. Only when she looked at Lamb and saw his eyes fall to the coffee table and his face void of even a hint of a smile she felt a chill run down her spine. "You didn't - Tell me you didn't make a deal with the devil."
"There's a way I could come back. I can't tell you what it is, but if it happens then I get my life back. As for what to tell people if that happens, maybe we could say I faked my death. I know that Keith was there and so was Sacks. And you'd think that they'd know the truth. But -"
"Would they?" Veronica interjected with a raised eyebrow. "Let's be honest, you had a lot of secrets, you knew a lot of people and had quite a bit of power that you enjoyed throwing around. You also had some pretty impressive blackmailing skills if I remember correctly. Who would believe you couldn't have done it when the question is brought up?"
She had a point. "Which did I have? Open or closed casket?"
Veronica had never thought she'd be so relieved to be able to say the words, "It was a closed casket ceremony. I remember thinking it was ironic since you'd been hit in the back of the head, but for some reason it didn't matter to most of them. But then even if it'd been open it's not like they would've seen you, in an open casket, being lowered into the ground."
He smiled at the thought that this just might work. "I knew you loved me enough to go to my funeral."
"I didn't say I loved you."
Lamb closed his eyes for a moment. Normally he loved their banter, he even spent 364 days of the year missing it, but if there was ever a night he could wish for her to cut the crap, it would be tonight. His life, or his soul at least, literally depended on it for once. But he knew he couldn't tell her that. Not if he was going to get even a fraction of his old life back.
"But, if you're asking, maybe it's the absence that's made the heart grow fonder or maybe you've just got me under some kind of spell or something what with being back from the dead once a year. Or maybe there's a fourteen-year-old version of myself I have to smack for falling for you when she met the oh so crush-worthy Deputy Lamb. But yeah, I think we have a miniature testament in my dad's old room that I just might still love you after all. Of course if you repeat that -"
And before she could finish her rambling, Lamb's mouth was fused to hers once again, both of his hands to either side of her face, drawing her further in as he let his tongue glide over each contour of her hot mouth, wanting to memorize her all over again. There was a time he claimed she talked way too much without having much to say. Or at least not much he wanted to hear. But tonight all of that went out the window. Tonight he'd heard exactly what he needed.
"You have got to start warning me when you do that," Veronica panted when he finally broke their kiss what seemed an hour later.
"I just might be able to now," he told her, his smile getting just a little more broad with every breath he took. "And not that you've apparently had to wonder since last year, but I never stopped loving you either, Veronica."
Before Veronica knew it, they were back in her bedroom in minutes. Their hands, their mouths reacquainting themselves with every part of the others' body they could reach, their clothes falling to the carpeted floor piece by piece.
Veronica sighed out when he laid her down, a moan escaping her when he settled between her thighs, her body as welcoming of him as she herself had been. They continued to kiss until the soft moans and groans forced them to focus their attentions elsewhere. His mouth to her neck, her nails digging into his back, her legs once again wrapped around his hips as he thrust into her.
"Faster," she moaned as she arched her body up to his again, her head digging back into her pillow.
Faster Lamb went, deeper, happier than ever to be back in the place he wished to call home. Still, he would've stopped at the slightest hint of pain that came from her, but so far all she had wanted was more. And he was nothing if not willing to give all he could and maybe even then some.
Finally Veronica felt that all familiar light sheen of sweat break out over her body, her muscles beginning to coil around Lamb and just when she thought he was about to slow his pace again, to make her frantic with her body's need, he went as deep as he could again, his hand between them to give her that extra push over her edge.
Hearing his name in that soft cry of ecstasy was more than enough for him, her tight cunt milking his own orgasm from him. And the first conscious thought to make its way into his mind as he all but collapsed beside her was that if he really was alive again, if he really was going to be allowed to stay that way, then he wouldn't care less about never seeing that beach side purgatory again. Not if this slice of heaven was where he was getting to stay.
Epilogue:
"You really have your heart set on Chicago?" Keith asked Veronica. The day after Halloween she'd told him that she had gotten an offer from a Chicago- based newspaper in need of a photographer and that she wanted to take the job. Which of course had meant moving to Chicago right after Thanksgiving and taking Danny with her.
"Yes, but you're welcome for me managing to work it out with the boss that I was able to put off officially moving and working until now, after all the craziness of the holidays, New Year's included."
"And there's nothing I can say to change your mind? I'm an excellent baby-sitter."
"The only other job offer I had here got revoked," she told him with a knowing smile.
"You hated doing nothing more than answering the phones and I was not going to have the new mother of my grandson going after bad guys," he told her, not caring it was the fiftieth time he had gone over this with her.
She smiled. "I know. But that's why I'm taking a photographer gig. It just happens to be away from home." And away from people who look at Lamb like he's a ghost and or wish he'd stayed dead.
Keith still didn't like it, but he decided that it was better than the alternative.
A little more than five hours later Veronica was walking into her Chicago apartment, her bag slung over her shoulder, sleeping baby in his stroller and boyfriend apparently setting up the kitchen. Okay, maybe it really was The Twilight Zone.
"Hey, honey, we're home," she grinned, though trying to keep her voice down.
"Hey," Lamb smiled as he turned to face her. "I thought you wanted me to pick you two up."
"Plane was early. Didn't feel like waiting. Something about the prospect of wasting time when I could be here wasn't all that thrilling for me."
He smiled. At the very least they still had two years to make up for, never mind the three years before that when she had hated him and he hadn't given her a reason not to. Now, thanks to the county commissioner he'd been able to 'prove' that he had faked his death and his, now past, mental anguish from the attack had sent him into hiding. It wasn't like they could argue with his pulse. He also wasn't asking for his job back or for any other post within the Balboa County Sheriff's Department so needing to be cleared for duty wouldn't be an issue. Sure being considered a little crazy had never been appealing to him, but it'd been easy to fake it when the attack had been a shock to him and dying had been even more of one.
True, it would take some getting used to for Keith, Sacks and Veronica's friends to see him again. But each of them decided the proof of Lamb having still been alive in secret and Veronica being the only one in on said secret made more sense than Veronica sleeping with a random guy at a party. In their minds Veronica had clearly known all along, thus making it possible for Lamb to be the father of her child and explained why Veronica had originally lied. In turn, Veronica and Lamb had decided it best for them to go on thinking that. It was easier to believe than the truth, that much was certain.
Then there was that job offer of Veronica's that hadn't been a lie. She just may have left out the fact she went looking for said job offer instead of it finding her. As for the choice of Chicago, Veronica and Lamb had both agreed that somewhere away from Neptune where no one knew them or what had happened two years ago would be best. Lamb wasn't a ghost, people looking at him as though he were one had gotten old fast.
And as for the man in the red smoking jacket, the man most should never make a deal with... He wasn't thrilled that he had lost the man he had hoped would be a sort of protégé, but a deal was a deal and it wasn't as though there wouldn't be plenty more where Lamb had come from.
The End
Summary: Follow-up to The Night of the Loving Dead. Lamb's back for another Halloween with Veronica. And this year they both have a surprise for the other.
Rating: R, mild smut
Spoilers: 3x14
Word Count: 4692
Disclaimer: Veronica Mars is not owned by me, but by Rob Thomas. I’m simply borrowing these characters for non-profit entertainment.
A/N: "Night of the Loving Dead" was never meant to have a follow-up, so this will be the one and only sequel for it. Also, I once again have Lordi to thank for the title though I do not own them or the song. I also continue to deny everything if the devil OC sounds familiar.
~~
Veronica had been on her feet within seconds each time she had heard a knock on her door. Halloween night was back and through all the trick-or-treaters, she had hoped Lamb wouldn't keep her waiting.
Granted, this time a year ago she couldn't have imagined Neptune's fallen sheriff being on her doorstep, but there he'd been. Looking just as she had remembered him, smelling just like she had remembered him and feeling like she had only dreamt of.
It was almost nine and she really wasn't sure how much more anxious she could be. Okay, there was another reason she was so nervous, but she really didn't want that to be the first thing out of her mouth if and or when he finally did show up.
But then that would just be her luck. "Hey, hi, I've missed you, let's go get busy before the baby wakes up. Oh, right, yeah, baby... Remember last year?" Yeah, not how she'd envisioned telling him. Though in a way it almost had to be easier than how she had broken the news to her friends and father when she found out Lamb had left her a now not-so-little souvenir after his visit last Halloween. At least she'd had the ability to blame it on a random Hearst party hook-up. Who'd believe it was Lamb? It was one thing to tell people that her baby's father had died before he was born. But how about when said father had died before their son was even conceived? In retrospect she knew she should've known that with the way Lamb had been talking that everything of his was back in working order and he would find a way to prove to her just how real their encounter had been.
As it was now, Danny (subtle enough, she'd decided) was asleep in his crib and she knew in this case that seeing would be believing for Lamb. Only fair, really.
"Ah, Mr. Lamb," Don heard what was now a familiar voice state from behind him. "You look as though you're ready to return to where you wished to be last year."
"You could say that," he answered the tall, blonde-haired man.
Taking a puff of his cigar, the man went on, "In that case, I have a proposal for you before you venture above once again."
"No offence, but you're not my type," Lamb grinned, anxious himself to see Veronica again. He'd hoped he could turn it into a twice or three times a year thing, birthdays, his deathiversary... But no. This guy hadn't budged. Nor had he told him his name. Though with that red smoking jacket and apparent needlessness for a lighter or matches for his cigars, he was pretty sure he could guess it.
The man smiled slowly. "You enjoyed your time with your lady last year, I presume?" When Lamb didn't answer, he continued, "How would you like to be able to prolong your time with her?"
"Thought you said I couldn't." In fact, he knew he had said that. Not only because he had been standing right there those times, but because he hadn't been granted that ability yet.
"That was because it wasn't time for us to have this conversation yet. Tonight, being what it is, gives us this opportunity. Are you a gambling man, by chance, Mr. Lamb?"
He had been. But he wasn't stupid enough to make a deal with the devil. At least not knowingly. "Not anymore."
"Ah, that's a shame. You see, I am willing to grant you that which you long for the most. To give you a chance to reunite with your lady love. for, perhaps, another fifty or sixty years. But, if you cannot, or perhaps, will not rise to this challenge, I'm afraid I will have to withdraw my offer."
If his heart hadn't stopped beating almost two years previous, that would have been enough to do the trick. "What would I have to do? What would I be betting with, or need I ask?"
"I'm glad you asked," the man smiled again. "You would be granted one night, this Halloween night, just as before. Only tonight you would have to get your Veronica to admit that she loves you just as you have loved her for all this time. And that she has been in love with you since before you took your final breath, originally. This is your chance to know there is one person from the place you left that has missed you. Though to know her love is pure, you cannot tell her any of what I had told you. She cannot know this could be the last night you share."
Veronica never would. He couldn't even claim to completely blame her for it considering their past. "What'd be in it for you? When I lost that bet, as I'm sure you'd be counting on, that is?"
"If you were to fail this test, you would not return here. I have had my eye on you for some time, you could be very beneficial to me downstairs, if you will."
"Since when does someone in your department deal in the love business?" Lamb asked him, convinced this was a trick.
"Since this too is known as The Night of the Loving Dead. Since this was our original deal. After tonight, one way or another, we shall have a new deal. Your chance is fair, all you have to do is agree to take it or to not."
"And if I do agree and I fail, no more beach view purgatory, huh? No more special Halloween visits either, I guess?" The man's face revealed nothing as he took another puff of that cigar. Lamb knew there had to be a catch to all of this, really he had been waiting for this shoe to drop. And now that it had he knew that in a way he was right back to where he'd started two years ago with Veronica. He could fight and lose, again, but at least have the chance to get a proper goodbye. Or he could not even try, stay there and essentially be the same coward he was when he was alive. Or maybe, just maybe, he could fight and win and even win Veronica in the process. Alright, he knew it was a fantasy, but it sure beat any of the other possibilities swarming in his head. He decided it would at least be worth it to say goodbye.
"Aw, I know, sweetie," Veronica said as she walked into the nursery when she heard Danny crying. "I know, I want to see Daddy too. But this isn't how you want him to meet you, is it?" she asked as she picked him up and held him, rocking him gently.
The baby just cried, the loud group of kids that had just left having scared him awake.
It was twenty minutes before Veronica had gotten him settled again, in a way thankful that there hadn't been another knock on the door in that time. A glance at the clock told her why. It was almost ten, most of the kids would be heading home with their candy loot. She was even thankful Lamb hadn't shown up. Almost a year since she'd found out she was pregnant, almost three months since she'd had Danny and she still couldn't figure out how she was going to tell Lamb about it all. At least on the bright side she was mostly sure there wouldn't be a question in his mind about paternity. Sure anyone could claim their son had her eyes, but that full head of dark hair couldn't really be debated.
As Lamb made his way down the street just as he had last year, watching the costumed kids head to their homes, he got used to the sights, sounds and smells around him again. Yep, he was definitely back in Neptune. And all it was going to cost him was either his dignity or his soul or both. Though to be honest it'd felt like hell for all those years that Veronica had claimed to hate him anyway. All he could do now was hope that what had once been meant metaphorically wouldn't result in literal form.
He still couldn't get used to the fact his hand didn't go through her door when he knocked on it finally, all of it was still so surreal. But hearing the shuffling coming from the other side, hopeful it was Veronica, was both a comfort and terrifying. Funny how two so very different emotions could come together as one. Come to think of it, it was a lot like their relationship had been for a long time.
When Veronica pulled open the door, she had to stop herself from launching into his arms. This time it was definitely not a dream, her Halloween was finally about to begin. Okay, for most it was almost over, but who cared? Her reason to celebrate was back!
"Happy Night of the Loving Dead. Miss me?" he asked her, desperate to regain his full cockiness so she wouldn't catch even a hint of his nervousness.
"Just get in here," she told him with a tug on his shirt.
"Are we alone?" he asked as he closed the door after himself.
"Define alone," she told him, really hoping she could stall for at least another couple of minutes.
Ouch. "Is it just you and me?"
Crap. "Technically. Sort of."
So much for his cockiness. "Do I want to know?"
She wanted to kick something. "Why'd you have to start with that question?"
He sighed. Great. So much for always having Halloween. "It was a joke. Or so I thought anyway. So, what, you forgot? Maybe went off and got married in the last year? Couldn't get Keith to leave for the night?"
"No, but there is -"
"Another guy?" Why was he surprised? Maybe he couldn't fault her when he could only show up once a year but when it was on their night he sure as hell, and he could say that now, he could.
Veronica took his hand and started to lead him towards the hall. "I had really, you have no idea how much, I had wanted to be able to wait on this. At least for another hour or so. Maybe welcome you back a little differently first. But, as usual, you just had to wreck my surprise."
"Keith?" he asked even as he followed her slow steps down the hall.
"No, he moved out a couple months ago. It wasn't easy, but in the end he decided it was for the best. He's in the building across the street now. Anyway, there is someone you should meet."
"Why do I get the feeling this isn't going to be some great stuffed animal or sex toy surprise?"
"Because it isn't," she answered as she opened the door to the nursery, only letting the hall light suffice for light in the room. The last thing she wanted was to wake Danny again so soon. "Show is better than tell, right? Go ahead, look. Just don't turn on the light, I only just got him back down."
The security lights around the building filtering in through the window and the yellow hall light from behind him allowed for him to just be able to make out the sight of the crib against the wall. He could see a dresser too. And a chair. What the hell was going on?
"Before you ask, he's three months, as of tomorrow. I'll let you do the math."
Lamb glanced back at her before glancing back to the dim room. He? Three months? "Son of a bitch," he sighed.
"Excuse you?" That was what he said about his own son?
Lamb almost laughed. "Not you. Or him. I was thinking of someone else. An otherworldly acquaintance, you could say. So I guess this means we, uh, don't get our repeat of last year?"
Veronica shrugged. "Guess that depends on you. I've just gotten him back down for now, but I wasn't sure if you'd want to meet your son first. Though, really, I'd kind of hoped -"
"Wait. You mean to tell me that this happened -"
"Last Halloween," she nodded. "We had all night, remember? And we did pretty much take full advantage of it if I remember right. Welcome home, Daddy Don. The sleepy one over there is Danny and no, no one else knows he's yours. Couldn't really come up with how to explain it. If it'd happened before last Valentine's, then -"
"I have a son?"
"We have a son, thank you very much. I did kind of help." She had expected him to have some kind of comeback at that, but instead he just headed into what had been her father's room and stopped only when he was next to the crib.
Just like Veronica had said, he was asleep. And it was still dark, but he could see him. Their son. He wondered if that bastard knew, if that was why he'd given him this test tonight. If he couldn't get Veronica to admit she loved him then not only would he most likely never see her again, but he'd never see their child again either. He wouldn't get to see him grow up, whether every day or once every year, he wouldn't get to prove that he would never let himself become the man his own father had been, he wouldn't have the life or the family he hadn't even allowed himself to admit he still occasionally dreamed of.
"Are you okay?" Veronica asked him, realizing when she was beside him that he looked like he was crying or just on the verge of it.
"Yeah," he lied with a sharp sniffle, hoping he could fake allergies. "I just - I guess I just thought that if this was ever a possibility that it would've happened before, you know."
"How about we talk about this out there?" she asked as she pointed her thumb towards the wall, indicating to the living room on the other side of it.
Lamb agreed and let her lead him once again. Only this time it was more because he wasn't sure he could convince his legs to work properly otherwise.
"I figure, worse comes to worse, maybe if he sees you on some Halloween when he gets older we can claim that you're an uncle who comes to visit once a year. I don't know how else we could explain it."
Lamb finally let himself collapse on the sofa. This was all too much. He was a father, he'd died and had still become a father. And Veronica was the mother of his child. Of his son. This time he had to wonder if he wasn't the one dreaming.
"It was a shock for me too at first. Well, not completely, I mean, I was rather present that night and know enough about biology. But, anyway, you can feel free to talk at any time. Talk, not yell though, not unless you want to spend the next hour trying to console Danny."
Instead, Lamb did the next best thing, he leaned over and kissed her as hard as he could manage until they were both panting for air.
"I missed you too," she told him, still breathless before licking her suddenly sore lips.
"All those years," he sighed. "I never thought... I never thought you even liked me enough for that. In my more vivid dreams, sure, but not beyond those."
"Sure had me fooled last year," she chuckled.
He guessed then was as good a time as any. He had been desperate before, he wanted his life back, he wanted Veronica back. "You knew, didn't you?"
"Knew what? That you wanted me? You enjoyed seeing me in your handcuffs way too much for me to be able to ignore it. And I'd be willing to bet the others knew it too."
"How about that I loved you? Think they knew that too?"
Veronica blinked. Had he really just used that word? "You loved me? And that was how you went about proving it?"
"It wasn't like I thought you cared about me enough even to hate me. Much less love me back. Some days it was easier to be the man you thought I was. For better or worse." Here it was, her chance to tell him. Her chance to save him.
"So saying I hated you would be a compliment?"
"From you, yeah, I think so," he admitted.
"Well I'll admit that I hated you dying. We were just starting to get along again and you... did that. And then I figured Danny was basically your way of proving last Halloween really happened. Especially since he complains as much and as loudly as you ever did when he's in a mood."
Lamb almost laughed, but the pain of knowing how this night could end still outweighed his enjoyment of her little confession and commentary. "What do you plan to tell Danny about me when he's old enough?"
"I'll have to tell him what I've told the others, that same lie, that I don't even remember who his father is."
"So, no talks about how you loved his father? How his father died protecting his grandfather?"
"How would I explain it? You died before it was supposed to be possible. I would have been due around the time he was conceived. Instead you showed up out of the blue, more or less back from the dead, I didn't even know you were real at first and there was no turning back once I realized how real that night had been. And sure I could have kept everyone from finding out I was even pregnant, but I really didn't feel like it."
"What if there was a way I could come back? Permanently?"
"How?" she asked, not wanting to sound too hopeful.
"I don't know. But something was mentioned earlier that got me thinking."
"What'd you do? Make a deal with the devil?" she chuckled. Only when she looked at Lamb and saw his eyes fall to the coffee table and his face void of even a hint of a smile she felt a chill run down her spine. "You didn't - Tell me you didn't make a deal with the devil."
"There's a way I could come back. I can't tell you what it is, but if it happens then I get my life back. As for what to tell people if that happens, maybe we could say I faked my death. I know that Keith was there and so was Sacks. And you'd think that they'd know the truth. But -"
"Would they?" Veronica interjected with a raised eyebrow. "Let's be honest, you had a lot of secrets, you knew a lot of people and had quite a bit of power that you enjoyed throwing around. You also had some pretty impressive blackmailing skills if I remember correctly. Who would believe you couldn't have done it when the question is brought up?"
She had a point. "Which did I have? Open or closed casket?"
Veronica had never thought she'd be so relieved to be able to say the words, "It was a closed casket ceremony. I remember thinking it was ironic since you'd been hit in the back of the head, but for some reason it didn't matter to most of them. But then even if it'd been open it's not like they would've seen you, in an open casket, being lowered into the ground."
He smiled at the thought that this just might work. "I knew you loved me enough to go to my funeral."
"I didn't say I loved you."
Lamb closed his eyes for a moment. Normally he loved their banter, he even spent 364 days of the year missing it, but if there was ever a night he could wish for her to cut the crap, it would be tonight. His life, or his soul at least, literally depended on it for once. But he knew he couldn't tell her that. Not if he was going to get even a fraction of his old life back.
"But, if you're asking, maybe it's the absence that's made the heart grow fonder or maybe you've just got me under some kind of spell or something what with being back from the dead once a year. Or maybe there's a fourteen-year-old version of myself I have to smack for falling for you when she met the oh so crush-worthy Deputy Lamb. But yeah, I think we have a miniature testament in my dad's old room that I just might still love you after all. Of course if you repeat that -"
And before she could finish her rambling, Lamb's mouth was fused to hers once again, both of his hands to either side of her face, drawing her further in as he let his tongue glide over each contour of her hot mouth, wanting to memorize her all over again. There was a time he claimed she talked way too much without having much to say. Or at least not much he wanted to hear. But tonight all of that went out the window. Tonight he'd heard exactly what he needed.
"You have got to start warning me when you do that," Veronica panted when he finally broke their kiss what seemed an hour later.
"I just might be able to now," he told her, his smile getting just a little more broad with every breath he took. "And not that you've apparently had to wonder since last year, but I never stopped loving you either, Veronica."
Before Veronica knew it, they were back in her bedroom in minutes. Their hands, their mouths reacquainting themselves with every part of the others' body they could reach, their clothes falling to the carpeted floor piece by piece.
Veronica sighed out when he laid her down, a moan escaping her when he settled between her thighs, her body as welcoming of him as she herself had been. They continued to kiss until the soft moans and groans forced them to focus their attentions elsewhere. His mouth to her neck, her nails digging into his back, her legs once again wrapped around his hips as he thrust into her.
"Faster," she moaned as she arched her body up to his again, her head digging back into her pillow.
Faster Lamb went, deeper, happier than ever to be back in the place he wished to call home. Still, he would've stopped at the slightest hint of pain that came from her, but so far all she had wanted was more. And he was nothing if not willing to give all he could and maybe even then some.
Finally Veronica felt that all familiar light sheen of sweat break out over her body, her muscles beginning to coil around Lamb and just when she thought he was about to slow his pace again, to make her frantic with her body's need, he went as deep as he could again, his hand between them to give her that extra push over her edge.
Hearing his name in that soft cry of ecstasy was more than enough for him, her tight cunt milking his own orgasm from him. And the first conscious thought to make its way into his mind as he all but collapsed beside her was that if he really was alive again, if he really was going to be allowed to stay that way, then he wouldn't care less about never seeing that beach side purgatory again. Not if this slice of heaven was where he was getting to stay.
Epilogue:
"You really have your heart set on Chicago?" Keith asked Veronica. The day after Halloween she'd told him that she had gotten an offer from a Chicago- based newspaper in need of a photographer and that she wanted to take the job. Which of course had meant moving to Chicago right after Thanksgiving and taking Danny with her.
"Yes, but you're welcome for me managing to work it out with the boss that I was able to put off officially moving and working until now, after all the craziness of the holidays, New Year's included."
"And there's nothing I can say to change your mind? I'm an excellent baby-sitter."
"The only other job offer I had here got revoked," she told him with a knowing smile.
"You hated doing nothing more than answering the phones and I was not going to have the new mother of my grandson going after bad guys," he told her, not caring it was the fiftieth time he had gone over this with her.
She smiled. "I know. But that's why I'm taking a photographer gig. It just happens to be away from home." And away from people who look at Lamb like he's a ghost and or wish he'd stayed dead.
Keith still didn't like it, but he decided that it was better than the alternative.
A little more than five hours later Veronica was walking into her Chicago apartment, her bag slung over her shoulder, sleeping baby in his stroller and boyfriend apparently setting up the kitchen. Okay, maybe it really was The Twilight Zone.
"Hey, honey, we're home," she grinned, though trying to keep her voice down.
"Hey," Lamb smiled as he turned to face her. "I thought you wanted me to pick you two up."
"Plane was early. Didn't feel like waiting. Something about the prospect of wasting time when I could be here wasn't all that thrilling for me."
He smiled. At the very least they still had two years to make up for, never mind the three years before that when she had hated him and he hadn't given her a reason not to. Now, thanks to the county commissioner he'd been able to 'prove' that he had faked his death and his, now past, mental anguish from the attack had sent him into hiding. It wasn't like they could argue with his pulse. He also wasn't asking for his job back or for any other post within the Balboa County Sheriff's Department so needing to be cleared for duty wouldn't be an issue. Sure being considered a little crazy had never been appealing to him, but it'd been easy to fake it when the attack had been a shock to him and dying had been even more of one.
True, it would take some getting used to for Keith, Sacks and Veronica's friends to see him again. But each of them decided the proof of Lamb having still been alive in secret and Veronica being the only one in on said secret made more sense than Veronica sleeping with a random guy at a party. In their minds Veronica had clearly known all along, thus making it possible for Lamb to be the father of her child and explained why Veronica had originally lied. In turn, Veronica and Lamb had decided it best for them to go on thinking that. It was easier to believe than the truth, that much was certain.
Then there was that job offer of Veronica's that hadn't been a lie. She just may have left out the fact she went looking for said job offer instead of it finding her. As for the choice of Chicago, Veronica and Lamb had both agreed that somewhere away from Neptune where no one knew them or what had happened two years ago would be best. Lamb wasn't a ghost, people looking at him as though he were one had gotten old fast.
And as for the man in the red smoking jacket, the man most should never make a deal with... He wasn't thrilled that he had lost the man he had hoped would be a sort of protégé, but a deal was a deal and it wasn't as though there wouldn't be plenty more where Lamb had come from.
The End