Could This Be Happening? Part 32
Title: Could This Be Happening? Part 32
Author: christykq
Rating: M for language and innuendos mostly, some sex
Characters/Pairings: LoVe, ensemble
Word Count: 3801
Spoilers: Begins with 3.05 and goes through S3.
Disclaimer: I own nothing in the VM universe, it all belongs to the master RT. I also do not earn a profit from any one of the many brand names named in my story and no copyright infringement is intended. Transcripts from Indigo Mantoya at twiztv dot com.
A/N: Character’s thoughts are italic.
Part 32
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[During 3.16 Un-American Graffiti]
[Mid April 2007: 28 weeks pregnant]
“What can I get you?” The coffee barista asks Logan.
“Uh, two decafs with cream.” Logan answers.
Logan looks back at Veronica leaning on her arm, sitting at the closest table to the coffee shop in the Hearst food court. Poor thing is so tired she’s practically asleep sitting at the table.
“Thank you.” Logan says politely and turns to join Veronica at the table before going to their morning classes.
“Here.” Logan slides the coffee on the table toward his dozing wife.
“Huh? Oh. Sorry.” She takes a big sip of her coffee. “This is decaf, isn’t it?” Veronica turns her nose up at her coffee.
“Yes, it’s decaf and we’ve been through this before.” Logan tilts his head to emphasize his point.
“Danke.” Veronica fake smiles and takes another sip from her cup. “Come on, we got learnin’ to do.” Veronica rises from her seat and the couple walks through the food court to their classes.
“It’s 8 a.m., remind me again, why I’m not in a wet suit somewhere?” Logan questions, breaking the comfortable silence.
“Early poly sci?”
“Oh right. Did you know they make these amazing pens that accent text in neon colors?” Logan deadpans.
Veronica gasps exaggeratedly.
“Why didn’t you tell me about this advancement in technology, Sugarpuss?”
Veronica shrugs. “I’m not looking forward to Violence in Early Adolescence this morning. It touches a little too close to home. You know what I mean?” She smiles sympathetically at Logan and squeezes his hand softly.
Logan smirks. “Need me to autograph your textbook?” He winks at his wife.
Parker approaches the couple overly excited. “Hey guys. How are you feeling Veronica?”
Veronica groans and ignores Parker’s question.
“Oh, hey, Parker. How you doing this morning?” Logan asks nicely.
“I’m just getting some coffee. I wanted to let you know that G is throwing me a birthday party this weekend. So, if you’re not busy, I would really like it if you guys could be there. We both would. Think about it. See ya.” Parker flutters off to get coffee, leaving the Echolls in a whirlwind.
Logan groans at the mention of Gory.
Veronica stares after Parker. “Geez, I wish I had half the energy she has.” Veronica blows a breath of air out her mouth.
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Logan sprinkles fish food into Keith’s fish tank, replaces the lid on the food and walks around Keith’s desk, sinking into the client’s chair with a loud sigh.
Veronica’s eyes shift up to her husband’s face and back to the paperwork she’s working on, ignoring his boredom.
Logan turns in his chair when he hears footsteps in the other office.
An attractive Arab woman appears at the office door. “Is Mr. Mars in?” She asks softly.
Logan smiles and looks to his wife.
“No, sorry. We’ve shut down for a while.” Veronica answers. She studies the woman closely. “You own Babylon Gardens, don’t you?”
The possible client nods yes.
“My husband and I get takeout there all the time. We went to high school with your daughter.”
“We did?” Logan’s brow furrows with confusion.
Veronica gives Logan a disappointing look. “Yes, Amira Krimani was a year ahead of us.”
Logan shrugs accepting Veronica’s word, not remembering any student at Neptune High with that name. She must not of been that hot.
“I’m Sabirah Krimani and our restaurant was vandalized. Rocks through our window and they spray-painted ‘Terrorist’ on our door. Is there someone who can help us?”
Veronica’s eyes sparkle and she smiles at Logan, then back at Mrs. Krimani. “I believe there is.”
Logan sighs loudly, knowing he’s not going to be able to stop his wife from investigating. Don’t listen to me, I’m just the concerned husband.
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“Oh man, that was good.” Veronica says as he wipes her mouth with her napkin. “I think I’m too full even for dessert.” She chuckles.
Logan mockingly shakes his head to the side, hitting his palm to his ear. “Say again. I thought I heard you say you weren’t having dessert.” He cups his hand to his ear, signaling Veronica to repeat her sentence again.
“Hardy-har-har. You’re funny…” She smirks and pauses for effect. “…looking.”
“That’s why you married me.” He nods to the waitress as she clears their table.
“Anything else?” The waitress asks, looking from Logan to Veronica and back to Logan again. Logan looks to Veronica for confirmation and she nods no.
“I guess that’s everything. Thanks. Just the check.”
Over Logan’s shoulder, Veronica watches Sibirah flip the ‘We’re Open’ sign on the door to ‘Sorry, We’re Closed’. She turns around and approaches Veronica and Logan’s table.
Veronica anticipates the restaurant owner’s question and answers her before she is able to ask. “We’re going to set up surveillance cameras before we leave and tonight I’m going to do an old-fashioned stake-out.” Logan groans at the thought of sitting in the car for hours at a time.
“Oh, okay. Good.” Mrs. Krimani says, surprised with Veronica’s professional plan in such a short amount of time.
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Logan is kissing Veronica’s neck, stretching his body across the Benz’s center console. She moans with excitement. “Mmm.”
Logan jumps slightly at the soft knock on the passenger side window. Veronica pushes him back into his seat and dabs at her smeared lipgloss. Logan smiles as he adjusts his shirt to cover his erection and pushes the button to lower his window. “Yes?” He smiles enthusiastically.
The intruder leans on the car door. “Logan Echolls?”
“Yeah. How can I help you?”
“Amira, long time, no see.” Veronica cuts Logan off and smiles brightly.
“Veronica Mars?” Amira looks past Logan at the driver and smiles just as bright as Veronica. “Yeah, like since my senior year, when you made my Pirate Points worthless.”
“Wow, good memory… and it’s Echolls now.”
Logan watches silently as the two women banter back and forth with mild hatred.
“I heard you were at Hearst, but I haven’t seen ya.” Veronica chirps happily.
“Yeah, different circles, I guess. What are you doing out here… besides getting busy?” Amira looks at Logan then Veronica again.
“Your mom hired me to watch the place in case there are any more… um… incidents.” Veronica answers.
“And you?”
Logan’s eyes widen with surprise. “Me? I’m just along for the ride.”
“Uh huh.” Amira laughs in disbelief. “My mom hired you?”
Veronica nods. “Yep.”
“Well, have a blast.” Amira laughs and walks into her family’s restaurant.
Veronica pushes the button to raise the window and Logan resumes his position attached to her neck with his lips. “Now, where was I before we were so rudely interrupted?” He says into her neck.
“Mmm.” Veronica moans as Logan’s right hand caresses her breast and his lips kiss her neck. “Honey?”
“Hmm.” He moves to her collarbone and sucks her skin lightly at the base of her neck.
She stretches her neck, toward the driver’s door, to encourage Logan and runs her fingers through his hair. “I… I think… um… we need to…”
“…move to the backseat.” Logan finishes her sentence and works his way down her chest, pausing to unfasten the top button of her shirt.
Veronica shuts her eyes and focuses on Logan’s advances as she begins to peel his jacket off his shoulders.
“Oh! My! God!” Veronica yells when she opens her eyes and finds herself looking right into Mr. Kirmani’s face.
“I didn’t even get to the good part yet, Honey.” Logan says against her skin.
She opened her eyes a split-second before Rashad Kirmani, Amira’s father, knocked on the driver’s side window of the Echolls’ Mercedes.
“Holy Crap!” She pushes Logan’s weight off of her and struggles to close her shirt while Logan comes out of his Veronica-induced haze and resumes his seat on the passenger’s side, adjusting his clothing.
“What is with this family and their interruptions?” Logan mumbles as Veronica opens her window.
Veronica puts the window down slowly as she dabs at her lips with her fingertips. “Um, hi.”
Rashad concentrates his intimidating look on Veronica’s eyes. “You can go home now. We will pay for the time that you put in.” He waves his hand dismissing the private investigator.
“But… no…” Veronica tries to protest.
“But I can handle it myself. It was a mistake for my wife to hire you.” Rashad says sternly.
“It was not a mistake.” Sabirah Kirmani says over Rashad’s shoulder.
Veronica and Logan watch uncomfortably as the Arab couple bicker.
In the distance a loud engine approaches the group. As the truck nears Babylon Gardens a spray of multi-color paintballs hit the front of the restaurant. Rashad, Sabirah and Amira cower together into the side of Mercedes to avoid the truck and it’s occupants’ rifles.
Veronica and Logan instinctively duck in their car seats. As the truck barrels past the car, Veronica twists around to memorize any identifying marks on the vehicle carrying the restaurant vandals. She whips back to her forward position and vocalizes her findings quietly, organizing her thoughts. “Red baseball hat on driver, two people in back, no passenger, license plate covered…”
“…yellow, ’04 or ’05 Ford F-150 pick-up with a black stripe on the tailgate…” Logan continues her train of thought out loud.
She glances at her husband and smiles, continuing their list. “…Honor student in Neptune Middle.”
Logan nods and returns her smile with a wink. Their eyes lock for a moment until Logan opens his door and gets out of the car. “You guys alright? They only aimed at the restaurant, right?”
Rashad and Amira nod yes as Sabirah cuddles close to her husband, obviously shaken.
Logan looks in to the car at his wife. “Come on.” He stands and walks around the front of the car as he speaks. “Let’s go check the damage. Maybe the cameras picked up something.”
Logan holds out his arm while Veronica climbs out of the Benz and grabs his hand, following the Krimanis across the street to their restaurant. Amira disappears in the restaurant while Rashad, Sabirah, Logan and Veronica examine the vandalism quickly and enter the restaurant to discuss their plan to catch the delinquents.
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Veronica walks up the sidewalk in front of a small house with a yellow Ford pick-up truck in it’s driveway. She pauses when she hears laughing and follows the voices to the side of the garage. She peeks through the window of the door and sees a group of teenagers playing video games and an array of paintball guns hanging on the wall.
The teenagers don’t notice Veronica enter the room until she hits the TV screen with a splotch of yellow paint from a paintball gun.
The video game players swirl around and see pint-size Veronica with a paintball gun in her hand.
“Yo, Bitch. What up?” The dark haired kid yells and steps toward Veronica.
“Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?” Logan appears over Veronica’s shoulder, standing in the door, out of breath. He steps closer to his wife. “I told you to stay in my view at all times.” Logan says quietly through his clenched teeth in Veronica’s direction.
“I had it under control.” Veronica says quietly without breaking eye contact with the mouthy teenager. “I’ve got some bad news for you boys. I’m close with the local sheriff and he simply hates hate crimes.”
The teenagers look at Veronica with blood-shot eyes, totally confused.
“Spray painting the front of Babylon Gardens? Ringing any bells?” Logan asks.
“What?” The dark haired boy asks.
Veronica shots the only kid in the room that, apparently, can speak, in the shoulder with a paint pellet.
“Ow!” The kid complains as he lifts his hand to touch the blob of paint on his shirt. “Someone wrote ‘terrorist’ at Babylon Gardens? We didn’t do anything like that!”
Veronica aims at the talker again, ready to shoot.
He raises his hands in defense. “I can prove it.” He plays a DVD of their paintball attacks on random people, of all races, including a pretty good hit on Mr. Clemmons, Neptune High’s Principle.
After the video finishes playing, the main talker turns to the couple. “Do I look like someone who would spray paint ‘terrorist’ on a Middle Eastern restaurant?”
Veronica glares at the boys. “Fine. Give me the DVD. Anymore drive-bys and this finds its way back to the sheriff. Now, everyone grab your Visine, we have an appointment. You’re the newest clean-up crew at Babylon Gardens.” She puts the DVD in her pocket and escorts the four teens outside with the aid of the paintball gun. Logan is right on her heels.
“Damn, did you see that sweet hit on Clemmons?” Logan whispers in her ear and chuckles.
She nods.
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Logan walks into the living room and sees Dick sitting at the coffee table working on his computer. “Dude, you have your own house, you know.” Logan plops down on the couch behind Dick.
“Check it out. Two hot chicks I met on MySpace. Both in play, both eager to meet the Dickster face-to-face. Question: And I need you to dig deep here, which one do I invite?” Dick scrolls through their pages online.
Logan leans toward the computer to get a better look at the screen. “Um… hmm. Lazy eye might work to your advantage.”
“Ha! Trick question. Just goes to show how whipped you are. The correct answer is both.”
He looks at Dick ogling the web pages. “You’re really going to go to Parker’s party?”
“Yeah, why not? You’re not going?”
“I fuckin’ hate that guy Gory.” Logan pauses. “What if both girls show?”
“Then I do a quick heat check. Whichever’s engine’s running hotter gets Dick.”
“You mean ‘whomever’s’?” Logan corrects.
“Whatever.”
“What if Mac shows up?” Logan teases.
“Dude, I gotta see her to make-out with her. She’s so fuckin’ busy.” Dick turns to look at Logan sitting on the sofa behind him. “She always has to study. Dude, college is partyin’ not studyin’.”
Veronica comes into the living room with her laptop in her hand and sits with Logan on the sofa, extending her feet onto his lap. “Let’s see how Babylon Gardens survived the night without us.” She says to no one in particular.
“I love that place. You want to get take-out from there tonight?” Dick asks as he turns back to his computer.
Veronica pulls up the video from the surveillance camera as Logan begins to rub her feet. She fast-forwards the video to a point that shows a figure standing at the restaurant’s front window. She adjusts the footage to normal speed. Who’s this guy and what’s he doing skulking around? The man in the video loiters outside the restaurant for a few minutes. He’s wearing a shirt with a number eleven on the back and ‘Sneed Batmen’ printed on the front.
Veronica pauses the picture. “Have you ever heard of Sneed Batmen?” Logan nods no and Dick looks up from his web search. “Isn’t that a frat or something on campus?”
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Logan is nipping at Veronica’s ear, softly. “Why don’t we take this to a more private place?”
“No, I can’t.” Veronica whines. “I can’t skip my class.” She moves away from his advances. “…and neither should you.”
He grunts in frustration and sips the last of his soda. “You ready. We can offer them our table.” Logan points with his chin to Mac and Parker approaching their table in the crowded foot court.
“Sure.” Veronica waves her friends over to their table.
“Hey, you guys. Thanks for the table. We weren’t interrupting anything, were we?” Parker says with extra enthusiasm.
“It takes me back to high school, remember Logan?” Mac says with a mischievous glimmer in her eye as she and Parker sit and Logan and Veronica stand. “We sat at the same lunch table and made fun of all the fat kids.”
Logan tilts his head, pondering Mac’s warped recognition. “I’m sorry. We went to the same high school?”
“Uh, yeah. We ran over that fisherman and promised to take the secret to our graves.” She deadpans. Logan raises his finger to his mouth, thinking. Veronica remains quiet, looking from Mac to Logan to Mac to Logan, like a tennis match. Parker follows Mac’s story with interest.
“I remember the fisherman.” Logan plays along.
“Remember?” Mac wiggles her eyebrows seductively at Logan. “You bet your friends you could turn me into a super hot prom date as a joke, but you ended up falling in love with me?”
Logan thinks for a second and takes a deep breath as if to respond. “Nope. Lost it.”
“Please stop.” Veronica says quietly. Logan grins and kisses the top of her head as they turn to leave the eating area.
“Hey, my birthday party. You guys can come, right?”
Logan takes a deep breath and Veronica smiles softly as they turn back to Parker and Mac. “You know us, if there’s a birthday party, we’re wearing pointy hats.”
Logan forces a polite smile as they walk away. “You had to say we were going to be there.” Logan questions his wife. Veronica dumps the garbage on their tray in the trashcan.
“I couldn’t exactly say ‘you’re boyfriend is a disgusting drug dealer and we hate him, so sorry, maybe next year.’ Could I?”
“Well, you could of made up some other excuse, like ‘I’m having my teeth pulled, so sorry, I won’t be able to eat cake’…”
“…sorry, joining the circus that day, got animals to wrangle.” Veronica adds.
“Exactly. Now we’re stuck and we have to go.” Logan whines.
“At least you can drink you’re way through it. I have to suffer sober.” She makes a big, cheesy, fake smile. “Oh joy.”
Logan throws his arm over her shoulders and pulls her closer to him. “I know. Only a few more months, Honey.” He kisses her temple softly.
“Oh look, a guy with a Sneed Batmen shirt on.” Veronica says as she quickens her pace to catch up with the student wearing said shirt. Logan follows close behind.
She approaches the guy. “Sorry to bother you. Sneed Batmen, what is that?” She points to his shirt.
“Sneed Hall. It’s the chemistry building. The Batmen are the intramural softball team.” The student explains.
Veronica nods. “Um… do you have any idea who wears number eleven?”
“Sure, Jason Cohen.”
Veronica nods in appreciation as she and Logan turn to walk in the opposite direction as the softball player.
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Keith knocks on Veronica and Logan’s front door and waits for his daughter or son-in-law to answer the door. He can hear footsteps on the other side of the thick wood door.
Logan swings the front door open and sees Keith standing on the front porch, with a long face.
“Hey, Keith, you know you can just walk in. You don’t have to wait for us to open the door, right?” Logan welcomes his father-in-law into his home with a grand sweeping arm.
“Yeah… okay.” Keith mumbles, deep in thought.
Veronica meets Keith at the end of the entranceway with her arms open wide. “Hey, Daddy-o. How you’ve been?”
Keith hugs his daughter without answering her question and continues into the kitchen. Veronica looks at Logan with a questioning look. Logan shrugs and they follow Keith to the kitchen.
Keith’s newspaper is spread out on the kitchen island. “Look at these ads.” He says with disgust.
Veronica and Logan walk arm-in-arm to the counter and look at the ads Keith is pointing out.
“Two for Tuesday, It’s Raining Gin, Dollar Shots Night…”
“If you haven’t noticed, I’m pregnant, Dad. I haven’t been partying for a few months now.” Veronica states trying to guess where Keith is going with this conversation and surprise visit.
Keith looks at Veronica and Logan. “It’s a college paper. Only a quarter of the students at Hearst are twenty-one.”
“I’m not sure where this rant is going.” Veronica says softly. Logan stands close by quietly.
“A nineteen-year-old kid was drinking at the bar called The Break tonight with a gumball-level ID. He stumbled out and a car hit him. It looks like he’ll never walk again.” Keith says in a Sheriff-like tone. He glances at the newspaper. “Bucket ‘O Beer Bonanza… you have any idea if they’re known for underage drinking?” He studies Logan and Veronica’s faces.
Veronica laughs. Logan smiles and says, “Famous for is more like it. It’s nicknamed The Cake for how easy it is to get in but most of the campus area bars are pretty lax.” Logan chuckles but notices Keith is not amused. “From what I’ve heard, ‘cause the only buckets we order are original and extra crispy.” His smile fades.
“I’m not joking around, Logan. I’m not stupid. I know you both drink and I’m not even going to ask you about what happened in Las Vegas.” Keith gives Logan and Veronica a pointed look.
“What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.” Veronica says under breath, trying to lighten the mood.
“Veronica, I’m serious!” He yells and throws Wallace and Piz’s fake IDs on the kitchen counter. “You recognize the work?”
Logan rolls his eyes, knowing his wife is in for it now. Veronica sighs.
“Out of thirty-seven citations, yours truly wrote in six campus area bars last night, no fake ID could hold a candle to your standards. You may not want to believe this, Honey, but there are mistakes you can’t take back. What if they’d gotten drunk and stumbled into the street like that kid, Jim Wilson? Would you want to explain that to their parents?” Keith clenches his jaw, looks both silent nineteen-year-olds in the eyes and walks out of their kitchen quietly.
A second later, Keith pops his head into the kitchen again. “Your friend Stosh looked like he was pretty high on something when I picked him and Wallace up. I decided to turn a blind eye, this time. Wallace better not be getting into drugs. Alicia will kill him.” Keith barks as he turns and leaves the Echolls’ house.
Veronica looks at Logan. “Piz is a coke head, huh?”
“Sure looks that way.” Logan replies and hugs his wife tightly.
Part 33
Author: christykq
Rating: M for language and innuendos mostly, some sex
Characters/Pairings: LoVe, ensemble
Word Count: 3801
Spoilers: Begins with 3.05 and goes through S3.
Disclaimer: I own nothing in the VM universe, it all belongs to the master RT. I also do not earn a profit from any one of the many brand names named in my story and no copyright infringement is intended. Transcripts from Indigo Mantoya at twiztv dot com.
A/N: Character’s thoughts are italic.
Part 32
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[During 3.16 Un-American Graffiti]
[Mid April 2007: 28 weeks pregnant]
“What can I get you?” The coffee barista asks Logan.
“Uh, two decafs with cream.” Logan answers.
Logan looks back at Veronica leaning on her arm, sitting at the closest table to the coffee shop in the Hearst food court. Poor thing is so tired she’s practically asleep sitting at the table.
“Thank you.” Logan says politely and turns to join Veronica at the table before going to their morning classes.
“Here.” Logan slides the coffee on the table toward his dozing wife.
“Huh? Oh. Sorry.” She takes a big sip of her coffee. “This is decaf, isn’t it?” Veronica turns her nose up at her coffee.
“Yes, it’s decaf and we’ve been through this before.” Logan tilts his head to emphasize his point.
“Danke.” Veronica fake smiles and takes another sip from her cup. “Come on, we got learnin’ to do.” Veronica rises from her seat and the couple walks through the food court to their classes.
“It’s 8 a.m., remind me again, why I’m not in a wet suit somewhere?” Logan questions, breaking the comfortable silence.
“Early poly sci?”
“Oh right. Did you know they make these amazing pens that accent text in neon colors?” Logan deadpans.
Veronica gasps exaggeratedly.
“Why didn’t you tell me about this advancement in technology, Sugarpuss?”
Veronica shrugs. “I’m not looking forward to Violence in Early Adolescence this morning. It touches a little too close to home. You know what I mean?” She smiles sympathetically at Logan and squeezes his hand softly.
Logan smirks. “Need me to autograph your textbook?” He winks at his wife.
Parker approaches the couple overly excited. “Hey guys. How are you feeling Veronica?”
Veronica groans and ignores Parker’s question.
“Oh, hey, Parker. How you doing this morning?” Logan asks nicely.
“I’m just getting some coffee. I wanted to let you know that G is throwing me a birthday party this weekend. So, if you’re not busy, I would really like it if you guys could be there. We both would. Think about it. See ya.” Parker flutters off to get coffee, leaving the Echolls in a whirlwind.
Logan groans at the mention of Gory.
Veronica stares after Parker. “Geez, I wish I had half the energy she has.” Veronica blows a breath of air out her mouth.
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Logan sprinkles fish food into Keith’s fish tank, replaces the lid on the food and walks around Keith’s desk, sinking into the client’s chair with a loud sigh.
Veronica’s eyes shift up to her husband’s face and back to the paperwork she’s working on, ignoring his boredom.
Logan turns in his chair when he hears footsteps in the other office.
An attractive Arab woman appears at the office door. “Is Mr. Mars in?” She asks softly.
Logan smiles and looks to his wife.
“No, sorry. We’ve shut down for a while.” Veronica answers. She studies the woman closely. “You own Babylon Gardens, don’t you?”
The possible client nods yes.
“My husband and I get takeout there all the time. We went to high school with your daughter.”
“We did?” Logan’s brow furrows with confusion.
Veronica gives Logan a disappointing look. “Yes, Amira Krimani was a year ahead of us.”
Logan shrugs accepting Veronica’s word, not remembering any student at Neptune High with that name. She must not of been that hot.
“I’m Sabirah Krimani and our restaurant was vandalized. Rocks through our window and they spray-painted ‘Terrorist’ on our door. Is there someone who can help us?”
Veronica’s eyes sparkle and she smiles at Logan, then back at Mrs. Krimani. “I believe there is.”
Logan sighs loudly, knowing he’s not going to be able to stop his wife from investigating. Don’t listen to me, I’m just the concerned husband.
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“Oh man, that was good.” Veronica says as he wipes her mouth with her napkin. “I think I’m too full even for dessert.” She chuckles.
Logan mockingly shakes his head to the side, hitting his palm to his ear. “Say again. I thought I heard you say you weren’t having dessert.” He cups his hand to his ear, signaling Veronica to repeat her sentence again.
“Hardy-har-har. You’re funny…” She smirks and pauses for effect. “…looking.”
“That’s why you married me.” He nods to the waitress as she clears their table.
“Anything else?” The waitress asks, looking from Logan to Veronica and back to Logan again. Logan looks to Veronica for confirmation and she nods no.
“I guess that’s everything. Thanks. Just the check.”
Over Logan’s shoulder, Veronica watches Sibirah flip the ‘We’re Open’ sign on the door to ‘Sorry, We’re Closed’. She turns around and approaches Veronica and Logan’s table.
Veronica anticipates the restaurant owner’s question and answers her before she is able to ask. “We’re going to set up surveillance cameras before we leave and tonight I’m going to do an old-fashioned stake-out.” Logan groans at the thought of sitting in the car for hours at a time.
“Oh, okay. Good.” Mrs. Krimani says, surprised with Veronica’s professional plan in such a short amount of time.
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Logan is kissing Veronica’s neck, stretching his body across the Benz’s center console. She moans with excitement. “Mmm.”
Logan jumps slightly at the soft knock on the passenger side window. Veronica pushes him back into his seat and dabs at her smeared lipgloss. Logan smiles as he adjusts his shirt to cover his erection and pushes the button to lower his window. “Yes?” He smiles enthusiastically.
The intruder leans on the car door. “Logan Echolls?”
“Yeah. How can I help you?”
“Amira, long time, no see.” Veronica cuts Logan off and smiles brightly.
“Veronica Mars?” Amira looks past Logan at the driver and smiles just as bright as Veronica. “Yeah, like since my senior year, when you made my Pirate Points worthless.”
“Wow, good memory… and it’s Echolls now.”
Logan watches silently as the two women banter back and forth with mild hatred.
“I heard you were at Hearst, but I haven’t seen ya.” Veronica chirps happily.
“Yeah, different circles, I guess. What are you doing out here… besides getting busy?” Amira looks at Logan then Veronica again.
“Your mom hired me to watch the place in case there are any more… um… incidents.” Veronica answers.
“And you?”
Logan’s eyes widen with surprise. “Me? I’m just along for the ride.”
“Uh huh.” Amira laughs in disbelief. “My mom hired you?”
Veronica nods. “Yep.”
“Well, have a blast.” Amira laughs and walks into her family’s restaurant.
Veronica pushes the button to raise the window and Logan resumes his position attached to her neck with his lips. “Now, where was I before we were so rudely interrupted?” He says into her neck.
“Mmm.” Veronica moans as Logan’s right hand caresses her breast and his lips kiss her neck. “Honey?”
“Hmm.” He moves to her collarbone and sucks her skin lightly at the base of her neck.
She stretches her neck, toward the driver’s door, to encourage Logan and runs her fingers through his hair. “I… I think… um… we need to…”
“…move to the backseat.” Logan finishes her sentence and works his way down her chest, pausing to unfasten the top button of her shirt.
Veronica shuts her eyes and focuses on Logan’s advances as she begins to peel his jacket off his shoulders.
“Oh! My! God!” Veronica yells when she opens her eyes and finds herself looking right into Mr. Kirmani’s face.
“I didn’t even get to the good part yet, Honey.” Logan says against her skin.
She opened her eyes a split-second before Rashad Kirmani, Amira’s father, knocked on the driver’s side window of the Echolls’ Mercedes.
“Holy Crap!” She pushes Logan’s weight off of her and struggles to close her shirt while Logan comes out of his Veronica-induced haze and resumes his seat on the passenger’s side, adjusting his clothing.
“What is with this family and their interruptions?” Logan mumbles as Veronica opens her window.
Veronica puts the window down slowly as she dabs at her lips with her fingertips. “Um, hi.”
Rashad concentrates his intimidating look on Veronica’s eyes. “You can go home now. We will pay for the time that you put in.” He waves his hand dismissing the private investigator.
“But… no…” Veronica tries to protest.
“But I can handle it myself. It was a mistake for my wife to hire you.” Rashad says sternly.
“It was not a mistake.” Sabirah Kirmani says over Rashad’s shoulder.
Veronica and Logan watch uncomfortably as the Arab couple bicker.
In the distance a loud engine approaches the group. As the truck nears Babylon Gardens a spray of multi-color paintballs hit the front of the restaurant. Rashad, Sabirah and Amira cower together into the side of Mercedes to avoid the truck and it’s occupants’ rifles.
Veronica and Logan instinctively duck in their car seats. As the truck barrels past the car, Veronica twists around to memorize any identifying marks on the vehicle carrying the restaurant vandals. She whips back to her forward position and vocalizes her findings quietly, organizing her thoughts. “Red baseball hat on driver, two people in back, no passenger, license plate covered…”
“…yellow, ’04 or ’05 Ford F-150 pick-up with a black stripe on the tailgate…” Logan continues her train of thought out loud.
She glances at her husband and smiles, continuing their list. “…Honor student in Neptune Middle.”
Logan nods and returns her smile with a wink. Their eyes lock for a moment until Logan opens his door and gets out of the car. “You guys alright? They only aimed at the restaurant, right?”
Rashad and Amira nod yes as Sabirah cuddles close to her husband, obviously shaken.
Logan looks in to the car at his wife. “Come on.” He stands and walks around the front of the car as he speaks. “Let’s go check the damage. Maybe the cameras picked up something.”
Logan holds out his arm while Veronica climbs out of the Benz and grabs his hand, following the Krimanis across the street to their restaurant. Amira disappears in the restaurant while Rashad, Sabirah, Logan and Veronica examine the vandalism quickly and enter the restaurant to discuss their plan to catch the delinquents.
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Veronica walks up the sidewalk in front of a small house with a yellow Ford pick-up truck in it’s driveway. She pauses when she hears laughing and follows the voices to the side of the garage. She peeks through the window of the door and sees a group of teenagers playing video games and an array of paintball guns hanging on the wall.
The teenagers don’t notice Veronica enter the room until she hits the TV screen with a splotch of yellow paint from a paintball gun.
The video game players swirl around and see pint-size Veronica with a paintball gun in her hand.
“Yo, Bitch. What up?” The dark haired kid yells and steps toward Veronica.
“Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?” Logan appears over Veronica’s shoulder, standing in the door, out of breath. He steps closer to his wife. “I told you to stay in my view at all times.” Logan says quietly through his clenched teeth in Veronica’s direction.
“I had it under control.” Veronica says quietly without breaking eye contact with the mouthy teenager. “I’ve got some bad news for you boys. I’m close with the local sheriff and he simply hates hate crimes.”
The teenagers look at Veronica with blood-shot eyes, totally confused.
“Spray painting the front of Babylon Gardens? Ringing any bells?” Logan asks.
“What?” The dark haired boy asks.
Veronica shots the only kid in the room that, apparently, can speak, in the shoulder with a paint pellet.
“Ow!” The kid complains as he lifts his hand to touch the blob of paint on his shirt. “Someone wrote ‘terrorist’ at Babylon Gardens? We didn’t do anything like that!”
Veronica aims at the talker again, ready to shoot.
He raises his hands in defense. “I can prove it.” He plays a DVD of their paintball attacks on random people, of all races, including a pretty good hit on Mr. Clemmons, Neptune High’s Principle.
After the video finishes playing, the main talker turns to the couple. “Do I look like someone who would spray paint ‘terrorist’ on a Middle Eastern restaurant?”
Veronica glares at the boys. “Fine. Give me the DVD. Anymore drive-bys and this finds its way back to the sheriff. Now, everyone grab your Visine, we have an appointment. You’re the newest clean-up crew at Babylon Gardens.” She puts the DVD in her pocket and escorts the four teens outside with the aid of the paintball gun. Logan is right on her heels.
“Damn, did you see that sweet hit on Clemmons?” Logan whispers in her ear and chuckles.
She nods.
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Logan walks into the living room and sees Dick sitting at the coffee table working on his computer. “Dude, you have your own house, you know.” Logan plops down on the couch behind Dick.
“Check it out. Two hot chicks I met on MySpace. Both in play, both eager to meet the Dickster face-to-face. Question: And I need you to dig deep here, which one do I invite?” Dick scrolls through their pages online.
Logan leans toward the computer to get a better look at the screen. “Um… hmm. Lazy eye might work to your advantage.”
“Ha! Trick question. Just goes to show how whipped you are. The correct answer is both.”
He looks at Dick ogling the web pages. “You’re really going to go to Parker’s party?”
“Yeah, why not? You’re not going?”
“I fuckin’ hate that guy Gory.” Logan pauses. “What if both girls show?”
“Then I do a quick heat check. Whichever’s engine’s running hotter gets Dick.”
“You mean ‘whomever’s’?” Logan corrects.
“Whatever.”
“What if Mac shows up?” Logan teases.
“Dude, I gotta see her to make-out with her. She’s so fuckin’ busy.” Dick turns to look at Logan sitting on the sofa behind him. “She always has to study. Dude, college is partyin’ not studyin’.”
Veronica comes into the living room with her laptop in her hand and sits with Logan on the sofa, extending her feet onto his lap. “Let’s see how Babylon Gardens survived the night without us.” She says to no one in particular.
“I love that place. You want to get take-out from there tonight?” Dick asks as he turns back to his computer.
Veronica pulls up the video from the surveillance camera as Logan begins to rub her feet. She fast-forwards the video to a point that shows a figure standing at the restaurant’s front window. She adjusts the footage to normal speed. Who’s this guy and what’s he doing skulking around? The man in the video loiters outside the restaurant for a few minutes. He’s wearing a shirt with a number eleven on the back and ‘Sneed Batmen’ printed on the front.
Veronica pauses the picture. “Have you ever heard of Sneed Batmen?” Logan nods no and Dick looks up from his web search. “Isn’t that a frat or something on campus?”
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Logan is nipping at Veronica’s ear, softly. “Why don’t we take this to a more private place?”
“No, I can’t.” Veronica whines. “I can’t skip my class.” She moves away from his advances. “…and neither should you.”
He grunts in frustration and sips the last of his soda. “You ready. We can offer them our table.” Logan points with his chin to Mac and Parker approaching their table in the crowded foot court.
“Sure.” Veronica waves her friends over to their table.
“Hey, you guys. Thanks for the table. We weren’t interrupting anything, were we?” Parker says with extra enthusiasm.
“It takes me back to high school, remember Logan?” Mac says with a mischievous glimmer in her eye as she and Parker sit and Logan and Veronica stand. “We sat at the same lunch table and made fun of all the fat kids.”
Logan tilts his head, pondering Mac’s warped recognition. “I’m sorry. We went to the same high school?”
“Uh, yeah. We ran over that fisherman and promised to take the secret to our graves.” She deadpans. Logan raises his finger to his mouth, thinking. Veronica remains quiet, looking from Mac to Logan to Mac to Logan, like a tennis match. Parker follows Mac’s story with interest.
“I remember the fisherman.” Logan plays along.
“Remember?” Mac wiggles her eyebrows seductively at Logan. “You bet your friends you could turn me into a super hot prom date as a joke, but you ended up falling in love with me?”
Logan thinks for a second and takes a deep breath as if to respond. “Nope. Lost it.”
“Please stop.” Veronica says quietly. Logan grins and kisses the top of her head as they turn to leave the eating area.
“Hey, my birthday party. You guys can come, right?”
Logan takes a deep breath and Veronica smiles softly as they turn back to Parker and Mac. “You know us, if there’s a birthday party, we’re wearing pointy hats.”
Logan forces a polite smile as they walk away. “You had to say we were going to be there.” Logan questions his wife. Veronica dumps the garbage on their tray in the trashcan.
“I couldn’t exactly say ‘you’re boyfriend is a disgusting drug dealer and we hate him, so sorry, maybe next year.’ Could I?”
“Well, you could of made up some other excuse, like ‘I’m having my teeth pulled, so sorry, I won’t be able to eat cake’…”
“…sorry, joining the circus that day, got animals to wrangle.” Veronica adds.
“Exactly. Now we’re stuck and we have to go.” Logan whines.
“At least you can drink you’re way through it. I have to suffer sober.” She makes a big, cheesy, fake smile. “Oh joy.”
Logan throws his arm over her shoulders and pulls her closer to him. “I know. Only a few more months, Honey.” He kisses her temple softly.
“Oh look, a guy with a Sneed Batmen shirt on.” Veronica says as she quickens her pace to catch up with the student wearing said shirt. Logan follows close behind.
She approaches the guy. “Sorry to bother you. Sneed Batmen, what is that?” She points to his shirt.
“Sneed Hall. It’s the chemistry building. The Batmen are the intramural softball team.” The student explains.
Veronica nods. “Um… do you have any idea who wears number eleven?”
“Sure, Jason Cohen.”
Veronica nods in appreciation as she and Logan turn to walk in the opposite direction as the softball player.
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Keith knocks on Veronica and Logan’s front door and waits for his daughter or son-in-law to answer the door. He can hear footsteps on the other side of the thick wood door.
Logan swings the front door open and sees Keith standing on the front porch, with a long face.
“Hey, Keith, you know you can just walk in. You don’t have to wait for us to open the door, right?” Logan welcomes his father-in-law into his home with a grand sweeping arm.
“Yeah… okay.” Keith mumbles, deep in thought.
Veronica meets Keith at the end of the entranceway with her arms open wide. “Hey, Daddy-o. How you’ve been?”
Keith hugs his daughter without answering her question and continues into the kitchen. Veronica looks at Logan with a questioning look. Logan shrugs and they follow Keith to the kitchen.
Keith’s newspaper is spread out on the kitchen island. “Look at these ads.” He says with disgust.
Veronica and Logan walk arm-in-arm to the counter and look at the ads Keith is pointing out.
“Two for Tuesday, It’s Raining Gin, Dollar Shots Night…”
“If you haven’t noticed, I’m pregnant, Dad. I haven’t been partying for a few months now.” Veronica states trying to guess where Keith is going with this conversation and surprise visit.
Keith looks at Veronica and Logan. “It’s a college paper. Only a quarter of the students at Hearst are twenty-one.”
“I’m not sure where this rant is going.” Veronica says softly. Logan stands close by quietly.
“A nineteen-year-old kid was drinking at the bar called The Break tonight with a gumball-level ID. He stumbled out and a car hit him. It looks like he’ll never walk again.” Keith says in a Sheriff-like tone. He glances at the newspaper. “Bucket ‘O Beer Bonanza… you have any idea if they’re known for underage drinking?” He studies Logan and Veronica’s faces.
Veronica laughs. Logan smiles and says, “Famous for is more like it. It’s nicknamed The Cake for how easy it is to get in but most of the campus area bars are pretty lax.” Logan chuckles but notices Keith is not amused. “From what I’ve heard, ‘cause the only buckets we order are original and extra crispy.” His smile fades.
“I’m not joking around, Logan. I’m not stupid. I know you both drink and I’m not even going to ask you about what happened in Las Vegas.” Keith gives Logan and Veronica a pointed look.
“What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.” Veronica says under breath, trying to lighten the mood.
“Veronica, I’m serious!” He yells and throws Wallace and Piz’s fake IDs on the kitchen counter. “You recognize the work?”
Logan rolls his eyes, knowing his wife is in for it now. Veronica sighs.
“Out of thirty-seven citations, yours truly wrote in six campus area bars last night, no fake ID could hold a candle to your standards. You may not want to believe this, Honey, but there are mistakes you can’t take back. What if they’d gotten drunk and stumbled into the street like that kid, Jim Wilson? Would you want to explain that to their parents?” Keith clenches his jaw, looks both silent nineteen-year-olds in the eyes and walks out of their kitchen quietly.
A second later, Keith pops his head into the kitchen again. “Your friend Stosh looked like he was pretty high on something when I picked him and Wallace up. I decided to turn a blind eye, this time. Wallace better not be getting into drugs. Alicia will kill him.” Keith barks as he turns and leaves the Echolls’ house.
Veronica looks at Logan. “Piz is a coke head, huh?”
“Sure looks that way.” Logan replies and hugs his wife tightly.
Part 33