Fic: Blind Date for the Blind
Title: Blind Date for the Blind
Rating: PG-13 (for language)
Summary: AU, future fic. It was official. Everyone could see that Veronica and Lamb were made for each other. Everyone except Veronica and Lamb of course. But then that’s what friends are for.
Spoilers: Vague 3x14 reference
Disclaimer: Veronica Mars is not owned by me, but by Rob Thomas. I’m simply borrowing these characters for non-profit entertainment.
~~
“That son of a bitch!” Veronica cried out as she threw her bag down onto the sofa, her roommate nearly jumping as the messenger bag nearly hit her head.
“You okay, Veronica?” Mac asked her. Rhetorical question, but she had to say something.
“You wouldn’t happen to own a baseball bat, would you?” she asked with an angry grin.
“No. My little brother does though. Why?” Usually her friend was more willing to destroy people in other ways. Nasty rumors, jail time. The punishment typically fit the crime. When she wanted to inflict bodily harm or destroy personal property it was usually something pretty bad. And more often than not involved only one person.
“Because I feel the need to finish the job that Steven Bontando didn’t.”
“What’d Lamb do this time?”
“Turns out the new secretary was skimming straight from the safe. Complete with video footage! And yet I’m the one who gets cuffed and led out of the building and interrogated by guess who for an hour!”
“But hasn’t it been like a month since the last time he did that to you?” Mac asked. Lamb seemed to have a sense of humor about arresting her that had continued over the years. Some people showed up at others’ work when they wanted to say ‘hi,’ Lamb would ‘arrest’ Veronica, handcuff her and take her down to the station.
“Your point?” Veronica asked as she sank onto the sofa.
Mac almost laughed.. She and the others had been watching them do this dance for too long. “He missed you.”
Veronica rolled her blues. “He’s an asshole.”
“An asshole who seems to have a pretty serious crush that he’s too proud to admit to,” she smirked.
“For that he’d have to have a heart. And a brain. Lamb doesn’t have either.”
“He hasn’t even arrested Weevil in years and yet he still has yet to tire of getting you into handcuffs every few weeks. His way of spending time with you is when he takes you to the station. When are you going to finally realize that man is completely in love with you?”
“Say what?” she blinked. Lamb? Capable of love? Capable of having feelings? Had Mac met him?
“More importantly, when are you going to admit that you love him too? You could have left Neptune, leaving him behind, but you didn’t. Come on, Veronica. It’s not like you’ve had a date in a year and I’ve heard your reasons why. Really it comes down to one thing. They’re not Lamb.”
Veronica could see her friend’s lips moving, she could hear her voice. But she couldn’t understand a word she was saying. Was it even English? She understood Mac’s techno babble more easily!
~~
“Sacks! You find that file yet?” Lamb called from his office.
“Just now,” he answered as he stepped in and handed it to him. But not before catching a glimpse of another file on his friend’s desk. “That Veronica’s? Shouldn’t someone have filed it away by now? She was released about an hour ago, wasn’t she?”
Lamb cleared his throat. “Yeah, I was just looking it over again, making sure everything was still there.”
“Is it?” Sacks asked cautiously.
“Yeah, here, take it,” he told him as he extended the file to his deputy. He wanted it off his desk, he wanted her out of his head. Yeah, like that would ever happen. At least he could focus on the actual criminal for a few hours instead of staring at Veronica’s file on his desk and having to ignore the images his mind forced him to see. Like Veronica on his desk in place of her file. No. Not again. Not images he needed when there was work that needed to be done. Or even when there wasn’t, he quickly mentally amended.
“Last chance. Sure you don’t want me to leave it out in case you think of something else to arrest her on in a few hours?” A few years ago he never would have made a comment like that, but like Mac, he knew this had gone on long enough.
Lamb sat back in his chair, momentarily surprised by Sacks’ comment. “I’m sure.” Did he really arrest her that often? It had been a month since the last time. And it was just as deserved then. And two weeks before that. And the month before that!
Okay, maybe he had never officially charged her because he never could but every time he had arrested her had brought her in for questioning there had been a verifiable reason. And not because he wanted to see her! Where would someone get an idea like that? Alright, maybe he had gotten used to her bringing Keith his lunch when she was a teenager. And when she would show up to help her friends beat a rap back in their high school and collage days. Fine, aside from his assistance she was rarely there anymore. Still didn’t mean he missed her. And it certainly didn’t mean that he wanted her. The reason he stayed behind his desk when she was there was because he was lazy. Nothing more.
~~
“Hi,” Mac smiled as she walked into the sheriff’s station the next afternoon.
“Hello,” an officer smiled in return. “How can I help you?”
“Is Deputy Sacks around? There’s something I need to talk to him about.”
“It is an emergency? Or is he expecting you?”
“Neither, really. But it’s still kind of important.”
Mac was told she would have to wait since he was in the field, but she didn’t care. It was almost time for their suffering to end. And not just theirs, really they were saving the town here.
“Deputy Sacks!” she called out when she saw him almost twenty minutes later.
He turned. “Yes?”
“Is there somewhere we could talk?”
“Do you need to file a report?”
“No, there’s just something I need to ask you and it should probably be away from -” she nodded towards the sheriff who had his back to them.
“You’re a friend of Veronica’s, aren’t you?” he couldn’t help but ask, he recognized her. Sort of.
“Exactly,” she smiled with a nod.
“This way,” he sighed in relief as he led her into an interview room. He hoped she was thinking the same thing he was.
Once seated, Mac spoke first. “Here’s what I was thinking. Either we sign them both up for an internet dating site that I could start -”
“That wouldn’t work. Don would swear he’s too busy.”
“And doesn’t need help and is single because he chooses to be,” she knowingly grinned. Sacks seemed surprised that she knew what he had been told repeatedly. “They really are just alike,” she sighed.
“What else?”
“There are other ways of tricking them. I mean, I know they’re them and always suspicious, but we could have them think there’s something going on at an upscale restaurant and sort of force them into working together. Once they realize there’s nothing going on maybe they’d agree to eating in the same building. It’d be a start at least.”
“Or set up a fake meeting,” Sacks suggested, knowing how likely it would be that Veronica and Lamb would storm off of a case before they would work together even partially willingly. Of course that would just result in both trying to solve it before the other and Veronica ‘winning.’ That wouldn’t work for what Mac and Sacks were hoping for. Not so much to create a love match, but to finally know some peace by their friends finally getting over themselves and given in to what they had obviously been wanting for over ten years.
“That could work,” Mac smiled. “That could definitely work. Now we just need to think of a place they would both willingly go.”
“Provolone’s.” the deputy nearly blurted out. “They’ve both had cases there before. It’s perfect.”
“Okay. Friday night, say, seven o’clock,” Mac smiled.
“It’s a date,” Sacks laughed.
Of course now Mac would have to convince Veronica and Sacks would have to convince Lamb and this would only work if their friends didn’t have any other appointments come up in the meantime. Still it was worth a shot. And they were desperate.
~~
“What kind of meeting happens at Provolone’s?” Veronica asked Mac as she finished dressing. Not quite how she would for what she knew was a date but close enough, Mac decided. “Never once have I had a client who wanted to meet me there.”
“All I know is he said it had to be tonight at seven at Provolone’s. That’s all I know,” she lied flawlessly. Maybe it was because Veronica was applying her mascara in the mirror as opposed to looking to her. Still, she was thankful. Explaining to her who she was really meeting tonight wouldn’t be a help to the situation.
Truth be told she and Sacks had almost wished for a way to put up a partition between them at the restaurant so they could talk to one another without fully knowing who the other was. Grow to like each other that way, giving them a sort of fresh start. But then without some sort of voice altering device the idea wasn’t even worth entertaining.
~~
“This had better be worth it,” Don muttered as he looked to his reflection. Sacks had told him he was meeting a prominent agent. The fact the meeting was at Provolone’s told him that despite it not being for business in the sense that he had to be in uniform, that he still needed to dress up a bit.
In all black, his suit jacket currently lying on his bed. He wasn’t sure if he would needed it but he wanted to have it just in case. It was also the first time in he didn’t know how long he was wearing a real tie as opposed to his usual clip on.
He didn’t even know what this meeting was about but Sacks had made it sound important. Or course the name of the person he was suppose to be meeting would have helped but so much for that too.
~~
Veronica groaned as she watched Lamb stride into the restaurant. Couldn’t she get just one night away from him? At least he was out of uniform, she noted. With any luck he wasn’t there to arrest her and his clothes were nice. Just loose enough, leaving far more to the imagination than his uniform did.
Okay, where the hell did that come from? It wasn’t like she ever noticed Lamb’s all too well fitting uniform. Damn it! Fine, he had a really nice ass. And it was like she really looked because she wanted to. He was always putting it out there. There had also been at least once that she had been sitting when he cuffed her and he was right there. Yeah, eye level to Lamb’s cock, definitely a proud moment for her. Especially when there were so many witnesses. Still, her mind might have briefly drifted to wonder just how much of that bulge was really him. And just maybe how much was because of her. He was cuffing her after all and he always really did seem to enjoy it.
“Veronica Mars,” he stated at the sight of her sitting alone at a table.
His voice and mild irritation within as he said her name was enough to shake her from her disturbingly heated thoughts. She was both relived and disgusted. Relieved to be distracted. Disgusted that it was thanks to him. “Lamb,” she replied with a sigh that proved she still felt she had to ready herself before speaking to him.
“Here by your lonesome?”
“Not that it’s any of your business, but I’m meeting someone. A client.”
He nodded. “Meeting for me too.”
“Here? Dressed like that?”
“You don’t like it?” he nearly pouted as he smoothed his tie and shirt with his left hand.
“Leave it to you to go for shiny black fabrics.”
He laughed and pulled out the chair across from her. The host had told him that there was only one guest so far waiting to meet someone there so he figured he had time to chat while he waited for his would-be companion to appear.
“I don’t remember inviting you to sit. And I’m pretty sure my client will be here soon.”
“I’ll leave when they get here then,” he shrugged as he leaned back in the chair. “So how’s work?”
“You should know. You come to see me often enough,” she bitterly grinned.
“Just keeping an eye on my favorite P.I.,” he smiled.
That was scary. His smile looked freakishly genuine. If she had understood a word of it, some of Mac’s gibberish from the other day might have been coming back to her.
“How about you? Moved on to catching real criminals yet or is that just too much work?” she shot back. There was no reason this was supposed to be so comfortable, but it did. God, it almost felt like they were on a date.
He smirked as he thought of a comeback, but instead he decided to play nice. Just this once. It had nothing to do with the fact she was actually smiling back at him, he just felt like it. “You know me, Mars. I like to mix it up, keep people guessing.”
“Guessing? I’m always the one who ends up in your cuffs. No guessing in that.”
He chuckled. He really did get off on being able to restrain that wild creature inside of her and hearing her say it was even better. Her in his cuffs. His Veronica Mars in his cuffs. His Veronica Mars? Okay, maybe he really did need some time away from her. Later. He was having fun now.
“And never once have you complained,” he sighed appreciatively as he sat forward. “In fact, I remember a good few times you held out your wrists to me.”
“I was kidding. You never could tell when I was or not.” She flinched slightly once the words had fallen from her mouth. She hadn’t meant it the way he seemed to have taken it, but it was too late now.
“I think I’ve gotten better,” he sighed, his eyes sweeping over to his right. Twenty minutes in and only one knife to the chest thus far. Not bad, he decided. Not given their history.
“That’s not what I meant,” she tried to recover.
“So, when were you supposed to meet this client of yours?”
“She looked to her watch.” About a half an hour ago. When were you supposed to meet yours?”
“Same time,” he scoffed. He really wasn’t as dumb as most tried to make him out to be. He knew something was up.
Sacks had mentioned this. Sacks hadn’t given him the name of the agent he was supposed to be meeting. Even told him, more or less, how to dress. “More dress than casual, not your uniform.” He walks in and finds Veronica, also waiting for someone.
Son of a bitch.
“Say, you didn’t happen to actually talk to this client, did you? When you set up the meeting?”
“What do you mean?”
“Sacks didn’t mention this meeting to you? Didn’t say you were supposed to be meeting someone here tonight, at seven?”
“No. Mac did,” she replied. And the second she did her thoughts mirrored his. “I’ll kill her.”
“And I’d let you off,” he almost laughed.
“I should have known.” With that Veronica’s forehead was in her palm. This was mortifying. She was on a date with Lamb. At least he was as surprised by it as she was. That was at least some comfort.
“I should’ve too. Sacks didn’t even give me a name.”
“And you still showed up?” she asked, her head still in her hand. She still couldn’t look at him.
“It’s not the first time he’s forgotten to mention something so obvious.”
“I don’t believe her. First she comes up with this ridiculous idea and now - I’m just -” With that she was standing and grabbing her purse.
“Hey, Veronica, come on,” Don said as he stood and took hold of her wrist absentmindedly. “We’re both here, we both should have already eaten. Let’s just have dinner and kill them with full stomachs.”
“You want to have dinner with me?” she asked, looking at him as though he had completely lost his mind.
“We’ve gotten along well so far,” he smiled.
The man had a point. “You can let me go now, I’ve stopped walking.”
His smile grew as he looked to her tiny wrist in his hand. “I could. If I wanted to let you go.”
“Is this where you’re gonna cuff me so I’ll have dinner with you?” she quipped, though partially feared it wouldn’t be a joke to him.
He laughed. “If that’s what it takes for you to say yes.”
Her heart did not skip a beat at that. And it wasn’t on the verge of racing now as she looked up into his incredible, almost too blue eyes. Don Lamb was not flirting with her and she was not enjoying it.
“You won’t make me pay, will you?” Something had to be ‘normal’ about this. May as well be her.
“No, Veronica. You’re my date now.” He released his hold then. And it should not have been that difficult to let go of her. For years he hadn’t even wanted to touch her and now, for the last few years, well now there didn’t seem to be anything else he wanted to do.
~~
“I’m not gonna invite you in,” Veronica smiled as Don walked her to her door. For once she wasn’t wondering why her hand was still in his. She was finally beginning to realize she liked it.
He laughed. “And even after I bought you dinner.”
She smirked and moved close. “Maybe I don’t wanna let you off the hook that easily. Maybe I want to leave you wanting more.”
“I’ve known you for fifteen years, Mars. That’s something you’ve never failed to do.”
His voice was low, almost seductive. And she was reacting. “I have to admit, I kind of like that you’re making Sacks get my car from the restaurant.”
“I’ll think of a better way to pay him back later,” he stated as he moved close enough for his lips to brush Veronica’s, “for now I have better things to think of.”
“Don’t hurt yourself, Deputy,” she giggled before pressing forward and slipping his lower lip between her own.
“Speaking of pain,” he sighed between kisses, “Keith still has his shotgun, doesn’t he?”
“He has two,” came Veronica’s soft reply.
“I should go before I give him reason to use ‘em then.” Lamb was finally pulling away from her and the fact she was trying to hold on was just too surreal. He had never imagined she would want to hold onto him, but then neither had ever thought they would be in this position either. Having enjoyed a dinner together, having been able to talk without fighting or killing each other. Instead kissing each other on her doorstep.
“Later, Sheriff,” she smirked before heading inside with a laugh of disbelief. She had really enjoyed this, far more than she decided she was supposed to have. Though now that she was home and Don was leaving she had to remember the maiming that was in order. Okay, maybe she liked him now but she had still been tricked.
“So imagine my surprise when my mythical client never showed and I instead found myself talking to our neighborhood sheriff,” Veronica stated in Mac’s open doorway, seeing her on her laptop.
“Have fun?” Mac smiled. Yes, she was quite pleased with herself. It was almost eleven and she could see that most of her friend’s lip gloss was gone and her lips were still swollen just enough from, what she assumed to be, Lamb’s kisses.
“You tricked me into a date with Lamb.”
“We had to! You two were never going to do it on your own and from what I could see from the window when you got back you and he should be thanking us, not complaining.”
And here Veronica had thought she didn’t have to worry about being spied on after dates since moving out of her father’s apartment. “So he’s right? It was a joint effort?”
Mac only smiled. “I’m still waiting for my thank you.”
“You’ll be waiting a while,” Veronica replied before heading to her room down the hall. She still wasn’t ready to admit it, not even fully to herself. She’d had fun tonight, she was glad they had been tricked into their first date and as she settled into bed minutes later she could almost swear that she could still feel Don’s lips against hers. For that she fell asleep with a smile like she hadn’t had in years.
Across town Don’s thoughts were much the same. Maybe he would double up Sacks’ paperwork for the next week, but he knew he wouldn’t be too much worse. After all he had unknowingly given Don what he had wanted since even before he was technically allowed to want it. His Veronica Mars.
The End
Rating: PG-13 (for language)
Summary: AU, future fic. It was official. Everyone could see that Veronica and Lamb were made for each other. Everyone except Veronica and Lamb of course. But then that’s what friends are for.
Spoilers: Vague 3x14 reference
Disclaimer: Veronica Mars is not owned by me, but by Rob Thomas. I’m simply borrowing these characters for non-profit entertainment.
~~
“That son of a bitch!” Veronica cried out as she threw her bag down onto the sofa, her roommate nearly jumping as the messenger bag nearly hit her head.
“You okay, Veronica?” Mac asked her. Rhetorical question, but she had to say something.
“You wouldn’t happen to own a baseball bat, would you?” she asked with an angry grin.
“No. My little brother does though. Why?” Usually her friend was more willing to destroy people in other ways. Nasty rumors, jail time. The punishment typically fit the crime. When she wanted to inflict bodily harm or destroy personal property it was usually something pretty bad. And more often than not involved only one person.
“Because I feel the need to finish the job that Steven Bontando didn’t.”
“What’d Lamb do this time?”
“Turns out the new secretary was skimming straight from the safe. Complete with video footage! And yet I’m the one who gets cuffed and led out of the building and interrogated by guess who for an hour!”
“But hasn’t it been like a month since the last time he did that to you?” Mac asked. Lamb seemed to have a sense of humor about arresting her that had continued over the years. Some people showed up at others’ work when they wanted to say ‘hi,’ Lamb would ‘arrest’ Veronica, handcuff her and take her down to the station.
“Your point?” Veronica asked as she sank onto the sofa.
Mac almost laughed.. She and the others had been watching them do this dance for too long. “He missed you.”
Veronica rolled her blues. “He’s an asshole.”
“An asshole who seems to have a pretty serious crush that he’s too proud to admit to,” she smirked.
“For that he’d have to have a heart. And a brain. Lamb doesn’t have either.”
“He hasn’t even arrested Weevil in years and yet he still has yet to tire of getting you into handcuffs every few weeks. His way of spending time with you is when he takes you to the station. When are you going to finally realize that man is completely in love with you?”
“Say what?” she blinked. Lamb? Capable of love? Capable of having feelings? Had Mac met him?
“More importantly, when are you going to admit that you love him too? You could have left Neptune, leaving him behind, but you didn’t. Come on, Veronica. It’s not like you’ve had a date in a year and I’ve heard your reasons why. Really it comes down to one thing. They’re not Lamb.”
Veronica could see her friend’s lips moving, she could hear her voice. But she couldn’t understand a word she was saying. Was it even English? She understood Mac’s techno babble more easily!
~~
“Sacks! You find that file yet?” Lamb called from his office.
“Just now,” he answered as he stepped in and handed it to him. But not before catching a glimpse of another file on his friend’s desk. “That Veronica’s? Shouldn’t someone have filed it away by now? She was released about an hour ago, wasn’t she?”
Lamb cleared his throat. “Yeah, I was just looking it over again, making sure everything was still there.”
“Is it?” Sacks asked cautiously.
“Yeah, here, take it,” he told him as he extended the file to his deputy. He wanted it off his desk, he wanted her out of his head. Yeah, like that would ever happen. At least he could focus on the actual criminal for a few hours instead of staring at Veronica’s file on his desk and having to ignore the images his mind forced him to see. Like Veronica on his desk in place of her file. No. Not again. Not images he needed when there was work that needed to be done. Or even when there wasn’t, he quickly mentally amended.
“Last chance. Sure you don’t want me to leave it out in case you think of something else to arrest her on in a few hours?” A few years ago he never would have made a comment like that, but like Mac, he knew this had gone on long enough.
Lamb sat back in his chair, momentarily surprised by Sacks’ comment. “I’m sure.” Did he really arrest her that often? It had been a month since the last time. And it was just as deserved then. And two weeks before that. And the month before that!
Okay, maybe he had never officially charged her because he never could but every time he had arrested her had brought her in for questioning there had been a verifiable reason. And not because he wanted to see her! Where would someone get an idea like that? Alright, maybe he had gotten used to her bringing Keith his lunch when she was a teenager. And when she would show up to help her friends beat a rap back in their high school and collage days. Fine, aside from his assistance she was rarely there anymore. Still didn’t mean he missed her. And it certainly didn’t mean that he wanted her. The reason he stayed behind his desk when she was there was because he was lazy. Nothing more.
~~
“Hi,” Mac smiled as she walked into the sheriff’s station the next afternoon.
“Hello,” an officer smiled in return. “How can I help you?”
“Is Deputy Sacks around? There’s something I need to talk to him about.”
“It is an emergency? Or is he expecting you?”
“Neither, really. But it’s still kind of important.”
Mac was told she would have to wait since he was in the field, but she didn’t care. It was almost time for their suffering to end. And not just theirs, really they were saving the town here.
“Deputy Sacks!” she called out when she saw him almost twenty minutes later.
He turned. “Yes?”
“Is there somewhere we could talk?”
“Do you need to file a report?”
“No, there’s just something I need to ask you and it should probably be away from -” she nodded towards the sheriff who had his back to them.
“You’re a friend of Veronica’s, aren’t you?” he couldn’t help but ask, he recognized her. Sort of.
“Exactly,” she smiled with a nod.
“This way,” he sighed in relief as he led her into an interview room. He hoped she was thinking the same thing he was.
Once seated, Mac spoke first. “Here’s what I was thinking. Either we sign them both up for an internet dating site that I could start -”
“That wouldn’t work. Don would swear he’s too busy.”
“And doesn’t need help and is single because he chooses to be,” she knowingly grinned. Sacks seemed surprised that she knew what he had been told repeatedly. “They really are just alike,” she sighed.
“What else?”
“There are other ways of tricking them. I mean, I know they’re them and always suspicious, but we could have them think there’s something going on at an upscale restaurant and sort of force them into working together. Once they realize there’s nothing going on maybe they’d agree to eating in the same building. It’d be a start at least.”
“Or set up a fake meeting,” Sacks suggested, knowing how likely it would be that Veronica and Lamb would storm off of a case before they would work together even partially willingly. Of course that would just result in both trying to solve it before the other and Veronica ‘winning.’ That wouldn’t work for what Mac and Sacks were hoping for. Not so much to create a love match, but to finally know some peace by their friends finally getting over themselves and given in to what they had obviously been wanting for over ten years.
“That could work,” Mac smiled. “That could definitely work. Now we just need to think of a place they would both willingly go.”
“Provolone’s.” the deputy nearly blurted out. “They’ve both had cases there before. It’s perfect.”
“Okay. Friday night, say, seven o’clock,” Mac smiled.
“It’s a date,” Sacks laughed.
Of course now Mac would have to convince Veronica and Sacks would have to convince Lamb and this would only work if their friends didn’t have any other appointments come up in the meantime. Still it was worth a shot. And they were desperate.
~~
“What kind of meeting happens at Provolone’s?” Veronica asked Mac as she finished dressing. Not quite how she would for what she knew was a date but close enough, Mac decided. “Never once have I had a client who wanted to meet me there.”
“All I know is he said it had to be tonight at seven at Provolone’s. That’s all I know,” she lied flawlessly. Maybe it was because Veronica was applying her mascara in the mirror as opposed to looking to her. Still, she was thankful. Explaining to her who she was really meeting tonight wouldn’t be a help to the situation.
Truth be told she and Sacks had almost wished for a way to put up a partition between them at the restaurant so they could talk to one another without fully knowing who the other was. Grow to like each other that way, giving them a sort of fresh start. But then without some sort of voice altering device the idea wasn’t even worth entertaining.
~~
“This had better be worth it,” Don muttered as he looked to his reflection. Sacks had told him he was meeting a prominent agent. The fact the meeting was at Provolone’s told him that despite it not being for business in the sense that he had to be in uniform, that he still needed to dress up a bit.
In all black, his suit jacket currently lying on his bed. He wasn’t sure if he would needed it but he wanted to have it just in case. It was also the first time in he didn’t know how long he was wearing a real tie as opposed to his usual clip on.
He didn’t even know what this meeting was about but Sacks had made it sound important. Or course the name of the person he was suppose to be meeting would have helped but so much for that too.
~~
Veronica groaned as she watched Lamb stride into the restaurant. Couldn’t she get just one night away from him? At least he was out of uniform, she noted. With any luck he wasn’t there to arrest her and his clothes were nice. Just loose enough, leaving far more to the imagination than his uniform did.
Okay, where the hell did that come from? It wasn’t like she ever noticed Lamb’s all too well fitting uniform. Damn it! Fine, he had a really nice ass. And it was like she really looked because she wanted to. He was always putting it out there. There had also been at least once that she had been sitting when he cuffed her and he was right there. Yeah, eye level to Lamb’s cock, definitely a proud moment for her. Especially when there were so many witnesses. Still, her mind might have briefly drifted to wonder just how much of that bulge was really him. And just maybe how much was because of her. He was cuffing her after all and he always really did seem to enjoy it.
“Veronica Mars,” he stated at the sight of her sitting alone at a table.
His voice and mild irritation within as he said her name was enough to shake her from her disturbingly heated thoughts. She was both relived and disgusted. Relieved to be distracted. Disgusted that it was thanks to him. “Lamb,” she replied with a sigh that proved she still felt she had to ready herself before speaking to him.
“Here by your lonesome?”
“Not that it’s any of your business, but I’m meeting someone. A client.”
He nodded. “Meeting for me too.”
“Here? Dressed like that?”
“You don’t like it?” he nearly pouted as he smoothed his tie and shirt with his left hand.
“Leave it to you to go for shiny black fabrics.”
He laughed and pulled out the chair across from her. The host had told him that there was only one guest so far waiting to meet someone there so he figured he had time to chat while he waited for his would-be companion to appear.
“I don’t remember inviting you to sit. And I’m pretty sure my client will be here soon.”
“I’ll leave when they get here then,” he shrugged as he leaned back in the chair. “So how’s work?”
“You should know. You come to see me often enough,” she bitterly grinned.
“Just keeping an eye on my favorite P.I.,” he smiled.
That was scary. His smile looked freakishly genuine. If she had understood a word of it, some of Mac’s gibberish from the other day might have been coming back to her.
“How about you? Moved on to catching real criminals yet or is that just too much work?” she shot back. There was no reason this was supposed to be so comfortable, but it did. God, it almost felt like they were on a date.
He smirked as he thought of a comeback, but instead he decided to play nice. Just this once. It had nothing to do with the fact she was actually smiling back at him, he just felt like it. “You know me, Mars. I like to mix it up, keep people guessing.”
“Guessing? I’m always the one who ends up in your cuffs. No guessing in that.”
He chuckled. He really did get off on being able to restrain that wild creature inside of her and hearing her say it was even better. Her in his cuffs. His Veronica Mars in his cuffs. His Veronica Mars? Okay, maybe he really did need some time away from her. Later. He was having fun now.
“And never once have you complained,” he sighed appreciatively as he sat forward. “In fact, I remember a good few times you held out your wrists to me.”
“I was kidding. You never could tell when I was or not.” She flinched slightly once the words had fallen from her mouth. She hadn’t meant it the way he seemed to have taken it, but it was too late now.
“I think I’ve gotten better,” he sighed, his eyes sweeping over to his right. Twenty minutes in and only one knife to the chest thus far. Not bad, he decided. Not given their history.
“That’s not what I meant,” she tried to recover.
“So, when were you supposed to meet this client of yours?”
“She looked to her watch.” About a half an hour ago. When were you supposed to meet yours?”
“Same time,” he scoffed. He really wasn’t as dumb as most tried to make him out to be. He knew something was up.
Sacks had mentioned this. Sacks hadn’t given him the name of the agent he was supposed to be meeting. Even told him, more or less, how to dress. “More dress than casual, not your uniform.” He walks in and finds Veronica, also waiting for someone.
Son of a bitch.
“Say, you didn’t happen to actually talk to this client, did you? When you set up the meeting?”
“What do you mean?”
“Sacks didn’t mention this meeting to you? Didn’t say you were supposed to be meeting someone here tonight, at seven?”
“No. Mac did,” she replied. And the second she did her thoughts mirrored his. “I’ll kill her.”
“And I’d let you off,” he almost laughed.
“I should have known.” With that Veronica’s forehead was in her palm. This was mortifying. She was on a date with Lamb. At least he was as surprised by it as she was. That was at least some comfort.
“I should’ve too. Sacks didn’t even give me a name.”
“And you still showed up?” she asked, her head still in her hand. She still couldn’t look at him.
“It’s not the first time he’s forgotten to mention something so obvious.”
“I don’t believe her. First she comes up with this ridiculous idea and now - I’m just -” With that she was standing and grabbing her purse.
“Hey, Veronica, come on,” Don said as he stood and took hold of her wrist absentmindedly. “We’re both here, we both should have already eaten. Let’s just have dinner and kill them with full stomachs.”
“You want to have dinner with me?” she asked, looking at him as though he had completely lost his mind.
“We’ve gotten along well so far,” he smiled.
The man had a point. “You can let me go now, I’ve stopped walking.”
His smile grew as he looked to her tiny wrist in his hand. “I could. If I wanted to let you go.”
“Is this where you’re gonna cuff me so I’ll have dinner with you?” she quipped, though partially feared it wouldn’t be a joke to him.
He laughed. “If that’s what it takes for you to say yes.”
Her heart did not skip a beat at that. And it wasn’t on the verge of racing now as she looked up into his incredible, almost too blue eyes. Don Lamb was not flirting with her and she was not enjoying it.
“You won’t make me pay, will you?” Something had to be ‘normal’ about this. May as well be her.
“No, Veronica. You’re my date now.” He released his hold then. And it should not have been that difficult to let go of her. For years he hadn’t even wanted to touch her and now, for the last few years, well now there didn’t seem to be anything else he wanted to do.
~~
“I’m not gonna invite you in,” Veronica smiled as Don walked her to her door. For once she wasn’t wondering why her hand was still in his. She was finally beginning to realize she liked it.
He laughed. “And even after I bought you dinner.”
She smirked and moved close. “Maybe I don’t wanna let you off the hook that easily. Maybe I want to leave you wanting more.”
“I’ve known you for fifteen years, Mars. That’s something you’ve never failed to do.”
His voice was low, almost seductive. And she was reacting. “I have to admit, I kind of like that you’re making Sacks get my car from the restaurant.”
“I’ll think of a better way to pay him back later,” he stated as he moved close enough for his lips to brush Veronica’s, “for now I have better things to think of.”
“Don’t hurt yourself, Deputy,” she giggled before pressing forward and slipping his lower lip between her own.
“Speaking of pain,” he sighed between kisses, “Keith still has his shotgun, doesn’t he?”
“He has two,” came Veronica’s soft reply.
“I should go before I give him reason to use ‘em then.” Lamb was finally pulling away from her and the fact she was trying to hold on was just too surreal. He had never imagined she would want to hold onto him, but then neither had ever thought they would be in this position either. Having enjoyed a dinner together, having been able to talk without fighting or killing each other. Instead kissing each other on her doorstep.
“Later, Sheriff,” she smirked before heading inside with a laugh of disbelief. She had really enjoyed this, far more than she decided she was supposed to have. Though now that she was home and Don was leaving she had to remember the maiming that was in order. Okay, maybe she liked him now but she had still been tricked.
“So imagine my surprise when my mythical client never showed and I instead found myself talking to our neighborhood sheriff,” Veronica stated in Mac’s open doorway, seeing her on her laptop.
“Have fun?” Mac smiled. Yes, she was quite pleased with herself. It was almost eleven and she could see that most of her friend’s lip gloss was gone and her lips were still swollen just enough from, what she assumed to be, Lamb’s kisses.
“You tricked me into a date with Lamb.”
“We had to! You two were never going to do it on your own and from what I could see from the window when you got back you and he should be thanking us, not complaining.”
And here Veronica had thought she didn’t have to worry about being spied on after dates since moving out of her father’s apartment. “So he’s right? It was a joint effort?”
Mac only smiled. “I’m still waiting for my thank you.”
“You’ll be waiting a while,” Veronica replied before heading to her room down the hall. She still wasn’t ready to admit it, not even fully to herself. She’d had fun tonight, she was glad they had been tricked into their first date and as she settled into bed minutes later she could almost swear that she could still feel Don’s lips against hers. For that she fell asleep with a smile like she hadn’t had in years.
Across town Don’s thoughts were much the same. Maybe he would double up Sacks’ paperwork for the next week, but he knew he wouldn’t be too much worse. After all he had unknowingly given Don what he had wanted since even before he was technically allowed to want it. His Veronica Mars.
The End