Fic: There and Back Again (LoVe/VD) PG-13
Title: There and Back Again
Word Count: 8,704 {chapter three only}
Rating: PG-14 {for language may change in the future}
Warnings/Spoilers: If you know that Veronica and Logan broke up, Logan asked Parker out and Cassidy Casablancas’ role in the second season, you’re more than good to go.
Summary: On the first anniversary of Aaron Echolls death, Veronica and Logan decide to finally set their issues to rest, at the Echolls’ cabin, with six of their nearest and dearest friends.
Official Disclaimer: All Veronica Mars characters and plots belong to Rob Thomas and the CW. I do not hold stock either the man or the company. Veronica Mars, Logan Echolls, and any other character featured are NOT mine.
Prologue is Here Chapter One {Part One} is Here
Chapter Two {Part One} is Here
Chapter Three:
8:21 am
Sunday, June 10th, 2007
“Damn it, Lilly!”
The in-suite bathroom door was open, giving Duncan a not so welcome view of his best friend’s naked rear end as his daughter attempted to hide behind the toilet. There was really nothing that Duncan could do but laugh, which didn’t seem to make Logan any happier. He had snatched a towel off of the top of the counter, knotting it around his waist before bending to pick the giggling blonde off of the bathroom floor. When she was deposited safely on the bed, Logan moved back to the bathroom, slamming the door and flipping the lock.
“The only word she understood was ‘Lilly.’” Duncan called out to the bathroom door. He ran a hand through his hair and leaned back onto the bed, settling his daughter on his stomach. “And the only thing yelling at her did was probably wake up Wallace.”
There was a grunt from the other side of the door before it opened again, just as Logan finished buttoning his jeans. “His lazy ass sleeps too much anyway.” Logan decided, rubbing the top of his head and face with his towel. “And it made me feel better.” Lilly giggled when his towel landed right next to her on the bed and Logan cracked a smile. “You should have just kept her away from the damn bathroom.”
“Of course, because I really thought that my eighteen month old daughter would be interested in you walking the dog in the shower.” Duncan set the book he’d been thumbing through most of the morning onto the bed next to him and glared at his friend. “When did you start not automatically locking the bathroom door anyway?”
Logan stopped. For a moment he even considered trying to get away with not acknowledging the question at all. No matter how many understanding conversations they had in their lifetime, Logan couldn’t there ever being a time when he could easily explain that leaving the bathroom door unlocked had become commonplace when a certain blonde detective that they both had dated had started to join him in the shower. His gaze ran from Duncan’s inquisitive one to the bright green curious eyes there were currently trying to read him. Or at least that was his interpretation of the way Lilly had cocked her head to the side, pulling her lip into her mouth in a way that he had only seen her namesake do.
“I just did.” He spat, grabbing for the old brown tee that was resting on the back of one of the chairs. He slid it over his shoulders and pulled it tight against his chest. “And stop looking at me like that.”
Lilly had slid off of the bed now, wandering over to the pile of toys that her father had let her dump onto the floor last night. Logan had tried to forbid it. After all, wasn’t he the one that was going to wind up on his ass after tripping on one, but Duncan had been persistent, picking Lilly up and allowing her to use the famed ‘puppy dog eyes’ to get her way. Not finding a toy to play with, she wandered back over to the chair. Her head tilted in the other direction as Logan dropped himself into the chair behind him, and she waited until he seemed comfortable before dropping her head onto his knee.
“You just did?” Duncan watched his best friend absently move his knee so Lilly could crawl into his lap and smiled. “Should I take this question downstairs?”
“Yeah, because waking Ronnie up to ask her how often she noticed me locking the bathroom door is really a good idea.” Logan toyed with Lilly’s hair and she fixed her gaze to his necklace, wrapping one chubby hand around it.
“When did you start doing that?”
Logan quirked an eyebrow and shook his head at the bed. “Start doing what?”
“Calling her Ronnie?”
“She’s always been Ronnie.” He readjusted Lilly on his lap and glanced away. “Always.”
Duncan closed his eyes and shifted the pillow behind his head. “Not always.” He said evenly. “After Lilly died she was only Ronnie when she was in front of you. Something to taunt her with. Then, after you two broke up - “
“After we broke up I was screwing Kendall Casablancas and drinking like a fish. I didn’t particularly like thinking about her at all.” He leaned back in the chair just enough to readjust the child in his lap. Lilly bounced happily at the fact that he was more or less turning his entire attention on her. He brushed her hair away from her face before sliding a hand under her bottom and pulling her up with him. “You’re turn in the shower.” He readjusted the child and headed for the door. “’Lil and I are going to forage for food.”
“Don’t teach her any new words while you’re down there.”
Logan shrugged as he started to pull the door shut behind him. “I make no promises.”
9:15 am
Sunday, June 10th 2007
What had started out as a cold cereal and fruit affair for Logan had turned into another breakfast free for all. Lilly had been fed first, with Logan’s original plan, but when he sat down to his own bowl of frosted flakes, he couldn’t help but want something with them. Which is how Mac found him, Lilly’s high chair pulled up to the bar, as he danced around the open space in front of the stove.
“At least you’re fully clothed this time.” She laughed, pulling a banana out of the fruit bowl and grabbing for a coffee mug. She held the carafe in one hand as she shared some of her banana with Lilly and then took a sip of her drink. “At least for Lilly’s sake.”
“So if she weren’t here, you’d prefer me in my underwear?” Logan’s eyes twinkled as he handed her a plate of eggs and dropped a few pieces of green pepper on top. Mac’s giggle was answer enough and he nodded to one of the barstools beside Lilly. “You want pancakes or something?” He asked, nodding to the stove.
Shaking her head, Mac grabbed a fork from the counter top. “This’ll be enough.” She decided. In truth Mac probably hadn’t eaten this well in the morning since visiting her parents one Saturday after spring break. Not that she was going to tell Logan that. His ego was large enough already. “Do you know what classes you’re taking next semester?”
Logan’s laugh could probably have been heard throughout the house. “We’re up at a multimillion dollar cabin for a week away from all things Neptune and you want to talk about schedules?” He asked incredulously, taking Lilly’s sippy cup from her to refill. “How’s Bronson?”
The shy smile that spread over Mac’s features normally would be answer enough. “He’s good.” She told him seriously, she knew that he was just waiting for the chance to point out that she’d been talking to him online for most of the trip already. “He’s with his parents in Italy.” She reminded him. “They do it every year.”
“We should start doing this every year.” Logan’s head tilted slightly as something thumped on the stairs above them and he smiled. “Maybe Bronson can come with us next time.”
“Will we still be harboring fugitives?” At Logan’s shrug Mac almost laughed. “It’s hard to believe this is our life.” She half-whispered.
“You maybe.” He said after a moment, finally taking a bite from his own plate. “I always figured one way or another my life would be this fucked up.”
“Don’t cuss around the baby.” Parker breezed into the room with less than her usual energy, grabbing for a glass and the juice from the fridge. She hadn’t been in the shower yet, which led Logan to believe that someone was already in it.
“Don’t bitch before you’ve had coffee.” Was his response, pouring her a mug to alternate with her juice. There’s definitely something to be said about the fact that he knows how every woman sleeping under the roof takes their morning caffeine fix. Mac took it black, in order to get the most out of it. Her second mug would have to have milk in it, trying to negate the bitter taste. Parker drowned hers in sugar, which, the more Logan thinks about it reflected her usual mood. He’d been happy and bouncy too if he had equal parts sugar and caffeine in his drink. Then there was the concoction he was currently glaring into. The one that Veronica would steal the second she realized that more than two people were awake in the house. It was equal parts of all three ingredients, shown to him when he was thirteen by a girl that knew a little too much about coffee and sugar side affects. He laughs about it now, earning a strange glare from the ex-girlfriend that just scooted past him to get to another fork. “Sleep well?” He smiled over at Mac as they both let Parker direct the conversation.
“Perfect.” She laughed, dropping down at the table. “Although I’m still not understanding why there’s a room big enough for two full beds in this place.”
Logan laughed again, pretending to watch Lilly shove a piece of banana into her mouth without breaking up her little conversation with the food. He and Parker had never really talked about his dad. That was one of the things that made him like her so much. She really could care less about the fact that he was the son of Aaron Echolls and Lynn Lester. On the flip side, she never fully understood why he kept insisting that his father was a sadistic son of a bitch that deserved what he got. “It’s a money thing.” He concluded, mostly to himself.
“You should see the Kane cabin.” Duncan announced his presence the only way he knew how, butting into other people’s conversations. He kissed his daughter on the top of the head, careful to avoid her wonderful mush sculpture that she still held pieces of in her hands and nodded to Mac. “Lilly’s bathroom was twice the size of the master. She said that she had to have enough room to share with her friends.”
“Even though the only friend ever allowed in there was Ronnie.” Logan poured Duncan’s coffee for him and handed it over Mac’s head. “I think I saw the inside once.” Duncan laughed and set himself down at the table. He picked the paper out of the in bowl in the center and opened it up. There was a grunt from the living room side of the kitchen and Logan laughed at the picture Wallace made, stumbling through the kitchen on his way to the fridge. “Wallace!” Logan moved to the stove again, putting together a plate and setting it on the counter for the younger man. “I didn’t expect you to be up this early.”
Wallace grunted again and pulled the milk out of the fridge as Mac handed him a coffee mug. “Logan!” He mock shrilled, planting a smile on his face for a good second. “The bastard next door to me couldn’t keep the noise down.”
“Damn.” Logan frowned and took a sip of his coffee. “I’ll call down to the Henderson’s and ask them to keep it down for you.”
Duncan’s laugh forced Logan to smile and Wallace flipped him off. “You do that.” He dead panned.
“Veronica.”
The blonde stopped at the foot of the stairs and laughed when Piz hurtled himself down them. It seemed that awkward or not, this trip was a good idea for everyone. Even Dick seemed a little more human three hundred miles from Neptune. She shook that thought from her head as she pulled her hair up into a ponytail and readjusted her tank top. “Morning Piz.” She said cheerfully, watching him attempt to readjust his own clothes. At least this morning he wasn’t in anything that may or may not have come from Duncan’s closet.
“I uh…” He ran a hand over his hair and bit his lip. “I was wondering?”
Veronica took a step closer to the kitchen and stopped, watching Piz fidget with the front of his shirt. They had known each other for a little less than a year, and it was safe to say that his shy bumbling nature around her hadn’t gotten any better. If anything it only served to annoy her slightly. “Wondering?” She prompted, turning to lean against the wall.
“Do you think we could go for a walk later?” He asked in a rush. “I mean you’ve been here before, so you know the paths, and I was hoping you could show me around. Tell me a few stories.” If it hadn’t been for her own tendency to ramble on, Veronica might not have caught a thing he had just said. “That is if you don’t mind.”
Dick picked that moment to round the corner behind them, sliding up and wrapping his arm around Veronica’s shoulders. “She promised me we could take a walk last night, dude.” He said after a second, smiling down at Piz. Whether it was joy in Wallace’s roommate’s dejection or Veronica’s confusion anyone could guess. “Maybe tomorrow.”
Veronica turned to watch Dick enter the kitchen. “I’m sorry Piz.” She said offhandedly, still trying to figure out what kind of game Dick was playing, and if he was the only one. “Maybe tomorrow.”
“Say ‘thank you Dick.’” Dick snagged a mini bottle of Sunny D out of the fridge and smiled at his best friend.
Logan shook his head. “Thank you Dick.” He said slowly. Then he stopped. “What am I thanking you for?” He asked quickly.
Dick just shrugged. “You just are.”
His coffee mug was pulled from his hand before Logan could respond to Dick, or acknowledge that Veronica and Piz had entered the room. “Dick wants to talk to me later.” She told him as she stole a piece of bacon from his plate and moved to sit next to Duncan. “And Wallace, you and I need a little BFF time.” Her frustrated grin was all it took for Logan to fully understand what Dick had done.
“What’s the matter, Ronnie?” Logan poured himself another mug of coffee and filled a plate for Veronica. He still wasn’t sure why he had been chosen as chef and waiter. “Too much togetherness?”
“You’re awfully chipper for someone who was up with Duncan until four.” She pointedly took a sip of her drink and threw a look at the Kane heir.
Duncan shifted nervously while Logan kept his smile firmly in place. “And you’re rather informed for a person who sleeps like the dead.” He deposited the plate in front of her and shook his head at Duncan. The less they told Veronica about last night’s conversation the better they all were. She wouldn’t truly appreciate the lengths they had gone that night anyway. “Do I have to schedule a little one on one time with you too? Maybe we should just sweep the place for bugs?”
Veronica’s mouth opened to reply.
“Damn!”
Everyone in the room shifted their heads in the direction of the high chair, whose occupant was now turned more than slightly around to survey everyone. Lilly was covered; nearly head to toe in bananas and Cheerios, and she was holding her cup above her head and repeated. “Damn!”
Logan was the first to start laughing. He doubled over in front of Duncan, who was caught somewhere between disbelief and irritation. Mac had set her drink down by now, trying her hardest not to smile, and Dick was almost immediately in front of her on the other side of the counter, trying to decide if a high five for the little girl would be out of line.
Finally Duncan stood, handing the paper off to Wallace and moving to the high chair. “I think it’s time for your bath, baby girl.” He said calmly, pulling one of the dish towels off of the counter to wipe her hands before he wrapped it around her waist to cover the mess and lifting her out of the chair. He spared a glare to Logan and then shook his head.
“Hey DK?” Logan caught his attention and kissed Lilly’s forehead. “Just out of curiosity, what was her first word?”
Duncan laughed, as if recalling something that happened too far in the past. “Lilly.” He said with a chuckle, looking past Logan’s shoulder to his ex-girlfriend, sharing a look.
11:58 am
Sunday, June 10th 2007
Veronica locked arms with her best female friend and allowed herself to be pulled down the path to the lake that Parker had found when they were ATV riding. “So Dick wants to talk.” Parker and Piz were happily chatting with Wallace further up the trail and Logan and Duncan were supposed to be behind them somewhere after they finished whatever it was that they were doing when the idea had been broached. The subject of discussion was almost ecstatic when they had relented and allowed him to ride one of the four wheelers down to the pond.
“Better you than me.” Mac said strongly, pulling her jean jacket closer to her body. Veronica noticed the shift in her mood and thankfully didn’t mention it.
She did, however, feel the need to continue the conversation. “Why is that?” She asked as casually as possible. Parker laughed up ahead of them and Veronica noted that her walking buddy’s eyes were glued to the back of the blonde’s head. “Mackie?”
Mac’s shoulders shook slightly, even as she slid her hands into her pockets. They shouldn’t be talking about this. Not about her, and certainly not about what Veronica obviously wanted to bring up. She had banished all of those thoughts and memories into the back of her mind long before she had started dating Bronson. Not too long after she had gone to the funeral alone. Everything even remotely related to a year ago was over to her. Gone.
“Hmm?” Her head had moved closer to her friend, but her eyes stayed glued to Parker’s back. The lei design on the girl’s hoodie was an excellent focal point. When Veronica didn’t answer, Mac finally allowed herself to look at her friend.
“I know that this weekend - “
“Don’t.” She said quickly, perhaps a little colder than she had intended. Wallace glanced behind them for a moment, probably just as startled at the harsh sound of Mac’s voice as Veronica was and when Mac looked away he turned back to whatever Piz was saying. “This is a week to relax.” She amended.
Veronica sighed and shook her head. “It’s a week to purge.” She reminded the computer specialist. “It’s not just for me and Logan and Duncan. It’s for you too.” She stopped Mac with a hand on her shoulder and almost forced the dark haired girl to turn. “What happened that night…”
“Is fine.” Mac insisted again, happy to hear the sounds of Lilly coming up the path behind them. “It happened, and now it’s over.” She ran a hand through her hair and turned just in time to see Logan and Lilly come bursting around the corner they just turned. “We move on.” Mac held her hands out for Lilly and smiled over at Logan. “I’ll take her.” She offered.
It wasn’t until Mac has increased her step to catch up with the three that were ahead of them that Veronica actually acknowledged that Logan was beside her. “She won’t talk.”
Logan blinked and ran the sentence through his brain for a moment. It was obvious that she was talking about Mac, it was the subject of the conversation that Veronica wanted to have that confused. Then he watched the group before them hit the field in front of the lake and Mac purposefully slid herself beside Wallace to keep from having to acknowledge Dick. “Not everyone feels like it’s a good idea to relive that night.” He told her simply. His pointed stare reminded her that she had been one of those people once upon a time.
“She won’t even say his name.” Veronica pointed out. Granted it had taken her two months before she could bring herself to think about that night on the roof with any form of rationality, but she at least could admit who she was up there with.
“Dick won’t either.” He reminded her, nodding to his roommate. “If it weren’t for the picture of all of us in TJ I don’t think Dick would even admit he had a brother.” They had reached the clearing, Duncan passing them to go take a whining Lilly out of Mac’s grasp and allow her to roam free in the grass
“So what do I do?”
There were many sides of Veronica that Logan would readily take on any day of the week. The one before him was not among them. “Nothing.” He responded carefully. “You let her deal with it her way.”
Veronica shook her head and watched Mac wander to the water. “And what if her way doesn’t work?” She asked quickly, wishing that Logan would agree with her about this.
“Then you be there for her.” He whispered into her ear, sliding an arm around her and pulling her into a brief hug. He stayed there beside her for a moment before nodding to Wallace and excusing himself carefully. He moved around the blanket that Parker had lain out and carefully come up behind the brunette staring out into the water. “Hundred dollars for your thoughts.”
Eyes wide, Mac had to resist the urge to spin around to confront Logan. He of all people should understand the need to be alone with your thoughts. “And here I thought you flaunted your money.” She said indifferently.
Logan shrugged, noting that she still hadn’t turned to look at him. “I was being serious.” He answered carefully. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. “Although I should be asking you for payment.”
“She wants to talk too much.” Mac didn’t even have to nod for Logan to understand who it was that she was referring to.
“She wants to make sure you’re all right.” He warned her, his tone conveying the fact that he understood his frustration but he wouldn’t allow her to attack Veronica. Logan had been there when Veronica had dumped him the summer before senior year. He understood lashing out at her because she was by far the easiest target. But she cared more about her friends than her own life most days, and Mac turning on her after everything would kill her.
“Is that why you’re here?” Mac’s voice had gone cold again. “To make sure I’m all right?”
He stepped up beside her now, looking out at the dock on the other side of the lake. “No.” He stated bluntly, watching her eyes widen a little out of surprise before she schooled her features back into a frown. “I’m here because I understand pain. I thought you could use a little company.”
“I’m not in pain.” She argued defiantly, closing herself off again by wrapping her arms around herself.
Logan nodded knowingly and pierced his lips together. “If that’s true then you never cared about Cassidy.”
At the sound of his name, Mac shivered, shrinking back into her jacket despite the summer heat. She took a step away from Logan and shook her head. “You don’t know a thing about how I felt.” She snapped, trying somewhat unsuccessfully to keep her voice down. “You didn’t even try to get to know me until after - “
“I knew him.” Logan stated calmly. It made no sense for both of them to get worked up. “And I know he loved you.” Logan pulled her into a sideways hug and rested his head on top of hers. “And I know you’re allowed to grieve.” He dropped a kiss to the top of her head and gave her a minute before pulling away. “I’m here if you need an ear.”
Part Two can be found here