Darkship Prompt Meme (PG - R, each labled)
These are the the drabbles I did for the DarkShip Promt Meme. Finally finished and since are all V/Lamb I couldn't think of a better place to share. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Veronica Mars is not owned by me, but by Rob Thomas. I’m simply borrowing these characters for non-profit entertainment.
“You just burn” -
Rating: PG
Spoilers: None
Word Count: 100
“You used to be fun to torture, you know?” Veronica told Lamb from the other side of the table in Interview 2.
“You know I’m still hot when I’m angry,” he smirked to her. “I figure that’s why you go out of your way to piss me off.”
He was hot when he was angry, she had to agree. That flash in his blues when they sparred and she pushed just the right buttons. But it wasn’t like it used to be.
“You just burn,” she shrugged, missing when she was happy to be engulfed in his flames.
“So do you.”
**
“You’re bleeding”
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: None
Word Count: 150
“You’re bleeding,” Veronica stated when she saw Lamb’s shirt. He’d just saved her and that was all she could see. The glaring crimson against his khaki uniform.
“What?” He hadn’t even noticed. The last thing he knew some ape of a man had one arm around Veronica and a gun in his other hand and was pointing it at him. Being close to them and having heard the shot, he had thought it’d come form his own gun. Especially when the man fell.
Only in searching for a wound they quickly came to the same conclusion and it was Lamb to smirk.
“You were worried for me.”
“I didn’t want to be blamed,” she deflected. It was half true. She knew she couldn’t deal with having Lamb’s blood on her hands or any other part of her. But he was also right. Maybe there was something to everyone claiming she cared about him after all.
**
“Sick of you”
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Vague 3x05
Word Count: 200
Every time he turned around Lamb could only see how Veronica was making his life more difficult. They could have been on the same team, working together, he had even admitted to her that he was willing. But she just would not play by the rules and instead of him going out and arresting the actual bad guy he had to waste time in arresting her.
He started to think she was enjoying it, enjoying the spectacle of him arresting her and she in turn would accuse him of getting off on having her in his cuffs.
Neither of them were wrong, but then everyone needed their secrets, right? No sense in giving those up and owning up to those facts with more than a scoff or a headshake or a smirk.
Really, Lamb was sick of her games now. If she wanted to do his job she could. If she wanted to put in the long hours and deal with the red tape, then fine. But no. She wanted to do it her way. And that was what he was sick of. Which was exactly why he still had her in a holding cell for interfering with an investigation that could have been theirs.
**
“What a Mess You Made”
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Vague 3x05 and 3x07
Word Count: 250
A/N: There may be a Collective Soul reference in this one. I don’t own that either.
They were all around them, the shattered remains of their friendship. But of course they were both too proud to admit they missed the days when they could still call each other a friend.
Veronica had built the wall between them and Lamb hadn’t given her a reason to change her mind. Not with the insults, accusations, allegations and things just plain left unsaid.
He wondered if she knew why he was so cold after she had turned her back on him, how alike they really were. He had thought he had been protecting himself from what her venom could do to him. But her words still cut deep.
And if she did know, was that why Veronica was finding herself at the station more now? And was that why Lamb wasn’t kicking her out?
There was something to be said for professionalism, but then they had never been that professional with one another. And then their pride would appear again, stopping them from even asking themselves what was happening.
“What a mess you made,” Veronica finally told him one afternoon when another case had wrapped up.
Lamb scoffed. Him? No. “This one’s all yours, Veronica.”
In the end it didn’t matter who was to blame. Just which one of them would be brave enough to put the pieces back together.
Was it him with those smiles and willingness to listen? Her with her admittance that he wasn’t a completely ineffectual sheriff? They guessed they would find out soon enough.
**
“We’re in This Together”
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: 2x07 and 2x11
Word Count: 300
“Aiding and abetting, withholding information and evidence, obstruction, interfering with a federal investigation, I should charge you as an accessory right now. I should charge you with ever felony I can throw at you,” Lamb stated as he stood in Veronica’s living room. He hadn’t even gone back to the station after his little trip to Mexico. Why should he? The FBI would still be there and he knew exactly what had happened. He had driven Duncan across the damn border himself and he knew Veronica had to have had a hand in it.
“Is this where I’m supposed to shake in my socks?” Veronica asked as she crossed her arms over her chest. “Ask yourself if you really want to arrest me. Sure you can try to blame it all on me. Breaking into the Manning house, finding Grace, not telling anyone about you letting Duncan and me go, the earrings, allegedly helping Duncan… But guess what, you’d be under investigation for it too. You might even lose your cushy sheriff gig for letting Duncan and me go that night since it was all about you. Once again you just didn’t want to have to deal with it. The Kanes versus the Mannings? You could’ve ended up being a bigger joke then you already are.”
Nearly strangling his belt buckle, he knew she was right. Those hadn’t been the only reasons he had let them go, but they were the ones he would admit to.
“Face it, Lamb. We’re in this one together. You can deny it, but unless you really want to lose your career in law enforcement, you might want to keep this between us.
Either they both won or they both lost, he knew.
He refused to lose.
**
“Tie Me Up, Take Me Down”
Rating: R
Spoilers: None
Word Count: 350
Warnings: Bondage (handcuffs), Non-regulation use of a police baton
When your favorite nemesis is the object of your obsession and you own a pair of regulation handcuffs, the lines between business and pleasure begin to blur.
Lamb had never really been opposed to bringing his glorious sheriff toys into the bedroom as it was and Veronica sure had a knack for getting herself in trouble. The kind he was often called in to deal with.
After a while bringing her down to the station wasn’t enough, especially not with the now almost constant whispers of how much time she spent there. True most of the time it actually was work-related, whether because she was coming to him with information or visiting another friend he’d arrested, but that didn’t matter to his gossiping deputies.
Tired of the headaches, he decided on a new tactic. It wasn’t like he could make most charges stick anyway where she was concerned and Cliff would want video of the exchange, which Keith would end up killing them both over. Instead, he found a few new ways to take her down, to tie her up.
Oh, he still cuffed her and continued their usual show in public. But he wouldn’t take her to the station and put her in a cell. No, it was obvious enough why he would have the rest of the women’s holding cells empty when she was there. Here, at home, he didn’t have to worry about prying eyes or anyone but his neighbors to hear them.
“You’ve been a bad girl, haven’t you, Veronica?”
She moaned when he ran the end of his baton along her wet slit.
“Breaking and entering… You know I have to punish you,” he added, smiling slightly when he watched her tug at her restraints when he pressed just the tip into her.
Veronica’s hips twisted against the hard nylon but he held it so she couldn’t maneuver it further into herself. That was their new game. Her punishment now consisting of spankings instead of slaps on the wrist and holding back even when she begged for more. Right up until she had learned her lesson and earned her reward.
**
“Too Much/Too Rough”
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: 2x02
Word Count: 400
After the bus crash, after hearing that it had been Neptune high school students who had been on it and had died, Lamb had felt his stomach drop. The chill from the shock had hit him instantly and he almost couldn’t speak. And then when he realized he did still possess the power of speech he had to fight to hear himself over the rushing blood in his ears.
The whole drive to the cliffside was led by a glare of rolling reds and blues and long, unforgiving wails of sirens. Lamb could only be thankful he wasn’t at the front of it. Maybe he should have been as the town’s all mighty sheriff, but he couldn’t.
It was supposed to be a blessing, right? A sweet sense of serenity was supposed to fill you when you heard that your nemesis could be dead. But he didn’t feel blessed. He felt sick. It was too much. Veronica could be dead, would have to be the one to notify Keith when he came back from his book tour or wherever the hell he was. This was hell. And on some level Lamb knew it was where he belonged.
Veronica and the others who were still huddled together a few feet from the edge were each still staring down in their own shock. The steam was continuing to rise from the bus and the all too rough waves at the bottom of the cliff and they knew there was nothing they could do to help or save anyone. If anyone could even be saved.
Lamb saw the limo when the ambulances, firetrucks and other cruisers came to a stop. He also saw the small group of kids. And he could swear that his heart stopped when he saw the pixie blonde in the arms of the Kane kid.
He didn’t have to stop himself from running from his cruiser or checking to be sure she was fine before doing anything else. The situation needed to be assessed, witness statements needed to be taken, questions needed to be answered. In short, work had to be done and frankly he could use the distraction.
If nothing else at least his day had improved by knowing that no matter how many death notifications he or his deputies had to give today at least none would have to be given to Keith Mars. For that they would both live to another day themselves.
**
“Wait Your Turn”
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: Up to 3x07, to be safe
Word Count: 450
When Veronica would drop by the station in her pep squad outfit at the age of fifteen, already on the arm of Duncan Kane, all Lamb could do was tell himself, “Wait your turn.” She wasn’t even legal, he could wait the kid out. Even if their parents or no other girl came between them he was sure college would. He had time.
Then after Lilly’s murder their friendship had been obliterated, life as they knew it had changed forever. But still Lamb was convinced she would love him again. Even during the worst of it all he knew Veronica, he knew she couldn’t change her feelings - even if she wanted him to believe she didn’t have any anymore - with a flip of a switch. He just had to wait. And wait he would.
Another year passed and he saw for himself that she was getting an interest in one of his deputies. Even when he heard her tell Leo that she’d fallen for him, he refused to let it get to him. He’d been her favorite once and he was certain, somehow, he would be her favorite again. In the meantime, even as that display unfolded before his disgusted eyes, he reminded himself that he would wait his turn. Once again her age also kept him in check. She was still seventeen, he wasn’t worried.
When he found out she’d gotten involved with the Echolls brat around the time of his trial, he could admit he was on the furious side. Not with her entirely, he had just always known something wasn’t right with that kid and now he’d been getting what he had long since promised himself.
The one bright side was that Veronica didn’t seem to stay with any of the others for very long. She and D’Amato hadn’t seemed to last more than a month. Then some time during the same summer he had seen her with Echolls he saw her back with Duncan Kane.
Still, Lamb would wait his turn. He knew his time would come. Especially after he had helped rid Neptune of the Kane kid, albeit unintentionally and he would never willingly admit it for fear of being a laughing stock. And out of a job laughing stock, more specifically.
She was off and on with Logan until college and finally, after he had managed to keep her from essentially becoming an orphan, he thought he would at least get a thank you.
Of course he hadn’t, but things still began to change after that. They were better, even a little easier. He had even been inspired to be downright nice to her! Well, for him.
He had waited for his turn. He wasn’t about to chicken out now.
**
“It‘s Just Skin”
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: None
Word Count: 500
A/N: Inspiration for this one was a pain, until “Evilove” started playing on my iPod. I don’t own that either.
If he was being honest with himself, if given the chance, Lamb wanted to be Veronica’s dream date. But he knew in their twisted reality he would likely be her gentleman death. Or maybe it was more accurate to say she could be his lady death. He was sure he could handle Keith, but trouble did tend to follow Veronica around anywhere she went. With his luck they would end up at a movie and some jerk would recognize him, try to mug them and he would end up hurt or dead.
On his way to work he found himself paying a little more attention to the local florist shops then he was used to. If he wanted to be subtle he was sure he could have some flowers delivered to her. Either at Mars Investigations or her apartment. It would be worth it for the smile she would have for half a second until she realized they had come from him.
Even so he could only imagine the thorns cutting into her hands. Anything he gave her only seemed to make things worse. Hell, it was just skin, right? It’s not like her wounds wouldn’t heal.
No. He was right. She even took his compliments as a precursor to another insult. So some days he lived up to the jerk title she had given him, he knew that it was easier for her to hate. He couldn’t even blame her for it since he could relate.
Why his mind was even going here he didn’t know. But he guessed it was just because he was seeing her more and not even just in the professional capacity they had gotten so used to. Though she had been coming to him more, turning to him in a way. It was reminding him of when she had been that fifteen-year-old with a schoolgirl crush on him.
Back then he had been perfectly happy to tell himself that he would make her eighteenth birthday a very happy one. But they had never gotten that chance.
Their history would never be erased, that much was clear, but it seemed they had reached some turning point and with that he was finding that he wanted to make good on some old promises he had made to them both.
The only problem was before he could do that he had to come up with a way for her to see him as something other than the devil. Well, alright, maybe she considered him to be more like a devil’s lackey, but that still wasn’t going to help his case.
Flowers were out with the images that filled his mind when he considered them. Then when he thought of candy he could only imagine her being allergic to whatever he picked out. What else was there? Letting her off with a warning the next time he brought her in? That one almost made him laugh.
He guessed there was only one thing left.
He would have to ask her.
**
“Second Chance”
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: 3x09
Word Count: 550
Veronica hadn’t believed it was possible. But then in retrospect she had given second chances to more people then she would have ever believed. Her mother, Duncan, Logan, Dick, Weevil… Okay, some of those hadn’t worked out so well for her, but then they hadn’t been a certain blue-eyed devil with the power to literally completely ruin her life and then turned around and done nothing with it.
Sure there was still some banter and traded insults and quips and such, but he was still being his version of nice. Now, yes, of course she had been suspicious of him but then he wasn’t just being nice to her in public anymore. It couldn’t be about image or a PR stunt if it was just them.
Before long she was too confused to even wonder. There didn’t seem to be any reason for it, he was just ever so slightly seemingly morphing back into that cute deputy she used to joke with and answer the phones for when her dad wasn’t around.
After her bruises had healed from the attack, she went to see him. The fact he had been willing to take her statement against two rape suspects in the middle of the night was ironically her breaking point. Not his smiles to her in front of the dean and not when he was willing to work with her after Halloween or even when he first listened to her about Mercer.
She never would have believed it before, that one of the things that had crushed their friendship before would be what could begin to repair it.
Just a quick ‘what do you want from me‘ on our way home and that‘s it. No need to stay long enough to be seen by any possible passersby, Veronica thought to herself as she knocked on Lamb’s door that night. She had worked up a perfectly gap-filled excuse as to why she was there. Over the last hour of rehearsing and repeating it she had begun to believe it herself.
“Miss Mars, to what do I owe?” he asked with a polite, if irritated, smile.
“What do you want from me?” she blurted out, needing to know. She had never thought Lamb could scare her, but he had made it easy by being nice. Had he just been softening her up for the kill?
Lamb knew he had only had the one beer so far tonight, no way was he so messed up he didn’t know where he was. “You knocked on my door.”
“Are you just being nice to me so I’ll keep a certain secret or two? You don’t have to. I figured we’d silently agreed years ago that day and that night would stay between us.”
“You’re here and you’re upset because I’ve been nice to you?” Well there was his proof that she was crazier then he had originally believed.
“More like because of how nice you’ve been. For you anyway. What is it you’re after?”
The truth was simpler then she would believe, but he wasn’t going to admit it like this. “Maybe I’m just turning over a new leaf.”
And if that new leaf just happened to result in her liking him again and even looking at him like when he was that deputy she liked, giving him a second chance, then so much the better.
**
“Drink Up, Baby”
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: Vague S2
Word Count: 600
“I don’t see why you even bother to pretend I’m not here. I know you can hear me. That white-knuckle grip you’ve got on your beer bottle is kind of proving it. And by the way, you might not want to hold it so tight unless you want to spend your night having someone dig glass out from your hand. And then of course you’d have to tell them how it got there and I don’t think your admittance of your delusions will help your case,” Veronica went on as she sat on his coffee table and stared at him, waiting to be acknowledged.
Only it wasn’t Veronica. These visions of this cruel façade his conscience had conjured were becoming more constant. It didn’t help this Veronica was more infuriating. At least he could throw the real Veronica out of his office and he could get Real Veronica to shut up, to understand logic. This Veronica only laughed at him.
So what if he deserved it? At least he knew he could recognize that he deserved it, on some level, from the real deal. Not this figment of his imagination that was making him wonder if it was time to upgrade past a six pack a night.
“You do know she hates you, right? And why shouldn’t she when your definition of holding her all night involves a jail cell?”
Lamb turned up his TV, hoping the movie’s explosions would drown her out.
Instead Hallucination Veronica just giggled. “When has that ever worked on me? Really?”
Despite wanting to ignore her until she gave up and faded away, he glared right at her before taking another sip of whatever beer of the night it was. It didn’t matter, he was pretty sure he still had another six pack in his fridge.
“Oh, I get it! You’re watching this imagining she’s the damsel in distress, right? That you’ve got to save her from the speeding bus or a hijacked plane or something? Trying to relive the glory days of when she thought you were her hero? Seriously, that is pathetic even for you.”
That wasn’t why he had been watching it, but now he had new images to fill his mind with. Most of which as equally unwelcome as the hallucination who was now getting up to walk around to sit beside him.
“Do you think she would even spit on you if you were on fire? Of all the times you’ve helped her in the last year alone, how many times has she thanked you? How many times has she insulted you or put you down even when you weren’t asking for it? When are you going to realize it? She. Hates. You. She’d rather even be with the son of the guy who killed her best friend over you. And you’re going to sit there and pretend you don’t care? Just like you’re pretending you don’t care when you smile every time you’re able to arrest him? You could lock up everyone she’s ever met and she still wouldn’t choose you.”
No Veronica had never thanked him. But lately he had been getting the feeling from her that she might pretend to help him if anything happened to him. That was something.
“She’ll never be yours and you know it. Even your beer cases know it. So drink up, baby. Enjoy your bitter truth.”
With a smile she faded from his sight and Lamb knew some men would take some of those words to heart. Not him. He didn’t care about Hallucination Veronica’s venom. It wasn’t like it was Veronica saying those things to him.
**
“Take Everything You‘ve Got”
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: Vague 2x02
Word Count: 650
“How are we gonna do this, Veronica?” Lamb asked her as he let his handcuffs dangle from his index finger. Maybe he had been naïve, or had just deluded himself, but he had thought she would stay away for once. Instead there she was, claiming that she was doing the job he was too lazy to do.
“Are you really that desperate to have me back in your cuffs?” she all but purred up at him. “Should I assume the position? Let you pat me down to be sure I’m not concealing anything?”
Rarely was the urge more tempting. But Lamb only took his hand down and slipped the cuffs back into his belt.
“That’s what I thought. It really takes everything you’ve got, doesn’t it? To put your toys away when you’ve got me in your sights?”
“You think I like coming out here in the middle of the night because you’ve gotten yourself in trouble again?”
“Yeah. Yeah I do. How else can you be sure you’ll get to visit with me? Though you could’ve gotten to see much more of me if you’d just hired me for that receptionist job forever ago.”
“I’d have to trust you,” he smirked.
“Oh, you know you can trust me,” she smirked back. “You just can’t trust me to behave the way you like.”
“You always have liked misbehaving, haven’t you?” he asked when he took another step towards her, only just beginning to invade her personal space. “You like having someone dole out punishment, making you listen and learn, don’t you?”
Veronica licked her suddenly all too dry lips. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. Any other night he would have busted her and taken her down to the station. Now it was looking like they were about to take it out in trade.
“Don’t you?” he asked again, enjoying how he could tower over her and force her to look up at him.
“What’s gotten into you?” Had he been taking nips of Jack while on the clock again?
“I thought we were having fun. What? Not as much fun when someone’s better at the dirty repartee?”
“Your form of intimidation, if you can even call it that, doesn’t work on me.”
“Intimidation? You think that’s what I’m going for? This isn’t me being intimidating, Veronica.”
“Then what do you call it?” she asked, narrowing her eyes at him.
“Taking you up on your suggestion. I think you’re right. I think I do need to search you. Turn around.”
“Thought you’d never ask,” she grinned as she did as she was told.
Lamb only scoffed. She could be sarcastic now, but it would be his turn to celebrate when he finally got his hands on her. As it was it was dark and he hadn’t seen a car on that road in a half an hour. He wasn’t worried about an audience.
He started at her ankles, bringing his hands slowly up her slender legs, feeling the leather of her boots go up to just under her knees. Her thighs were next and he only smiled when she spread her legs wider.
Veronica smiled herself when she felt his hands slide higher over her ass and up over her waist and sides. The part of her that didn’t want to kick him for this just closed her eyes and thanked her lucky stars - if there were such things - that she had left her taser in her bag and in her car. He could feel her up all he wanted and he wouldn’t find anything but her real ID, her keys and lip gloss.
“Enjoying yourself?” Lamb asked her when she canted into his touch.
“Just waiting for you to get your show over with,” she countered, cursing her traitorous body once again as it was taking everything she had not to further prove to him just how much she was enjoying his latest hands on approach.
Disclaimer: Veronica Mars is not owned by me, but by Rob Thomas. I’m simply borrowing these characters for non-profit entertainment.
“You just burn” -
Rating: PG
Spoilers: None
Word Count: 100
“You used to be fun to torture, you know?” Veronica told Lamb from the other side of the table in Interview 2.
“You know I’m still hot when I’m angry,” he smirked to her. “I figure that’s why you go out of your way to piss me off.”
He was hot when he was angry, she had to agree. That flash in his blues when they sparred and she pushed just the right buttons. But it wasn’t like it used to be.
“You just burn,” she shrugged, missing when she was happy to be engulfed in his flames.
“So do you.”
**
“You’re bleeding”
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: None
Word Count: 150
“You’re bleeding,” Veronica stated when she saw Lamb’s shirt. He’d just saved her and that was all she could see. The glaring crimson against his khaki uniform.
“What?” He hadn’t even noticed. The last thing he knew some ape of a man had one arm around Veronica and a gun in his other hand and was pointing it at him. Being close to them and having heard the shot, he had thought it’d come form his own gun. Especially when the man fell.
Only in searching for a wound they quickly came to the same conclusion and it was Lamb to smirk.
“You were worried for me.”
“I didn’t want to be blamed,” she deflected. It was half true. She knew she couldn’t deal with having Lamb’s blood on her hands or any other part of her. But he was also right. Maybe there was something to everyone claiming she cared about him after all.
**
“Sick of you”
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Vague 3x05
Word Count: 200
Every time he turned around Lamb could only see how Veronica was making his life more difficult. They could have been on the same team, working together, he had even admitted to her that he was willing. But she just would not play by the rules and instead of him going out and arresting the actual bad guy he had to waste time in arresting her.
He started to think she was enjoying it, enjoying the spectacle of him arresting her and she in turn would accuse him of getting off on having her in his cuffs.
Neither of them were wrong, but then everyone needed their secrets, right? No sense in giving those up and owning up to those facts with more than a scoff or a headshake or a smirk.
Really, Lamb was sick of her games now. If she wanted to do his job she could. If she wanted to put in the long hours and deal with the red tape, then fine. But no. She wanted to do it her way. And that was what he was sick of. Which was exactly why he still had her in a holding cell for interfering with an investigation that could have been theirs.
**
“What a Mess You Made”
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Vague 3x05 and 3x07
Word Count: 250
A/N: There may be a Collective Soul reference in this one. I don’t own that either.
They were all around them, the shattered remains of their friendship. But of course they were both too proud to admit they missed the days when they could still call each other a friend.
Veronica had built the wall between them and Lamb hadn’t given her a reason to change her mind. Not with the insults, accusations, allegations and things just plain left unsaid.
He wondered if she knew why he was so cold after she had turned her back on him, how alike they really were. He had thought he had been protecting himself from what her venom could do to him. But her words still cut deep.
And if she did know, was that why Veronica was finding herself at the station more now? And was that why Lamb wasn’t kicking her out?
There was something to be said for professionalism, but then they had never been that professional with one another. And then their pride would appear again, stopping them from even asking themselves what was happening.
“What a mess you made,” Veronica finally told him one afternoon when another case had wrapped up.
Lamb scoffed. Him? No. “This one’s all yours, Veronica.”
In the end it didn’t matter who was to blame. Just which one of them would be brave enough to put the pieces back together.
Was it him with those smiles and willingness to listen? Her with her admittance that he wasn’t a completely ineffectual sheriff? They guessed they would find out soon enough.
**
“We’re in This Together”
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: 2x07 and 2x11
Word Count: 300
“Aiding and abetting, withholding information and evidence, obstruction, interfering with a federal investigation, I should charge you as an accessory right now. I should charge you with ever felony I can throw at you,” Lamb stated as he stood in Veronica’s living room. He hadn’t even gone back to the station after his little trip to Mexico. Why should he? The FBI would still be there and he knew exactly what had happened. He had driven Duncan across the damn border himself and he knew Veronica had to have had a hand in it.
“Is this where I’m supposed to shake in my socks?” Veronica asked as she crossed her arms over her chest. “Ask yourself if you really want to arrest me. Sure you can try to blame it all on me. Breaking into the Manning house, finding Grace, not telling anyone about you letting Duncan and me go, the earrings, allegedly helping Duncan… But guess what, you’d be under investigation for it too. You might even lose your cushy sheriff gig for letting Duncan and me go that night since it was all about you. Once again you just didn’t want to have to deal with it. The Kanes versus the Mannings? You could’ve ended up being a bigger joke then you already are.”
Nearly strangling his belt buckle, he knew she was right. Those hadn’t been the only reasons he had let them go, but they were the ones he would admit to.
“Face it, Lamb. We’re in this one together. You can deny it, but unless you really want to lose your career in law enforcement, you might want to keep this between us.
Either they both won or they both lost, he knew.
He refused to lose.
**
“Tie Me Up, Take Me Down”
Rating: R
Spoilers: None
Word Count: 350
Warnings: Bondage (handcuffs), Non-regulation use of a police baton
When your favorite nemesis is the object of your obsession and you own a pair of regulation handcuffs, the lines between business and pleasure begin to blur.
Lamb had never really been opposed to bringing his glorious sheriff toys into the bedroom as it was and Veronica sure had a knack for getting herself in trouble. The kind he was often called in to deal with.
After a while bringing her down to the station wasn’t enough, especially not with the now almost constant whispers of how much time she spent there. True most of the time it actually was work-related, whether because she was coming to him with information or visiting another friend he’d arrested, but that didn’t matter to his gossiping deputies.
Tired of the headaches, he decided on a new tactic. It wasn’t like he could make most charges stick anyway where she was concerned and Cliff would want video of the exchange, which Keith would end up killing them both over. Instead, he found a few new ways to take her down, to tie her up.
Oh, he still cuffed her and continued their usual show in public. But he wouldn’t take her to the station and put her in a cell. No, it was obvious enough why he would have the rest of the women’s holding cells empty when she was there. Here, at home, he didn’t have to worry about prying eyes or anyone but his neighbors to hear them.
“You’ve been a bad girl, haven’t you, Veronica?”
She moaned when he ran the end of his baton along her wet slit.
“Breaking and entering… You know I have to punish you,” he added, smiling slightly when he watched her tug at her restraints when he pressed just the tip into her.
Veronica’s hips twisted against the hard nylon but he held it so she couldn’t maneuver it further into herself. That was their new game. Her punishment now consisting of spankings instead of slaps on the wrist and holding back even when she begged for more. Right up until she had learned her lesson and earned her reward.
**
“Too Much/Too Rough”
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: 2x02
Word Count: 400
After the bus crash, after hearing that it had been Neptune high school students who had been on it and had died, Lamb had felt his stomach drop. The chill from the shock had hit him instantly and he almost couldn’t speak. And then when he realized he did still possess the power of speech he had to fight to hear himself over the rushing blood in his ears.
The whole drive to the cliffside was led by a glare of rolling reds and blues and long, unforgiving wails of sirens. Lamb could only be thankful he wasn’t at the front of it. Maybe he should have been as the town’s all mighty sheriff, but he couldn’t.
It was supposed to be a blessing, right? A sweet sense of serenity was supposed to fill you when you heard that your nemesis could be dead. But he didn’t feel blessed. He felt sick. It was too much. Veronica could be dead, would have to be the one to notify Keith when he came back from his book tour or wherever the hell he was. This was hell. And on some level Lamb knew it was where he belonged.
Veronica and the others who were still huddled together a few feet from the edge were each still staring down in their own shock. The steam was continuing to rise from the bus and the all too rough waves at the bottom of the cliff and they knew there was nothing they could do to help or save anyone. If anyone could even be saved.
Lamb saw the limo when the ambulances, firetrucks and other cruisers came to a stop. He also saw the small group of kids. And he could swear that his heart stopped when he saw the pixie blonde in the arms of the Kane kid.
He didn’t have to stop himself from running from his cruiser or checking to be sure she was fine before doing anything else. The situation needed to be assessed, witness statements needed to be taken, questions needed to be answered. In short, work had to be done and frankly he could use the distraction.
If nothing else at least his day had improved by knowing that no matter how many death notifications he or his deputies had to give today at least none would have to be given to Keith Mars. For that they would both live to another day themselves.
**
“Wait Your Turn”
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: Up to 3x07, to be safe
Word Count: 450
When Veronica would drop by the station in her pep squad outfit at the age of fifteen, already on the arm of Duncan Kane, all Lamb could do was tell himself, “Wait your turn.” She wasn’t even legal, he could wait the kid out. Even if their parents or no other girl came between them he was sure college would. He had time.
Then after Lilly’s murder their friendship had been obliterated, life as they knew it had changed forever. But still Lamb was convinced she would love him again. Even during the worst of it all he knew Veronica, he knew she couldn’t change her feelings - even if she wanted him to believe she didn’t have any anymore - with a flip of a switch. He just had to wait. And wait he would.
Another year passed and he saw for himself that she was getting an interest in one of his deputies. Even when he heard her tell Leo that she’d fallen for him, he refused to let it get to him. He’d been her favorite once and he was certain, somehow, he would be her favorite again. In the meantime, even as that display unfolded before his disgusted eyes, he reminded himself that he would wait his turn. Once again her age also kept him in check. She was still seventeen, he wasn’t worried.
When he found out she’d gotten involved with the Echolls brat around the time of his trial, he could admit he was on the furious side. Not with her entirely, he had just always known something wasn’t right with that kid and now he’d been getting what he had long since promised himself.
The one bright side was that Veronica didn’t seem to stay with any of the others for very long. She and D’Amato hadn’t seemed to last more than a month. Then some time during the same summer he had seen her with Echolls he saw her back with Duncan Kane.
Still, Lamb would wait his turn. He knew his time would come. Especially after he had helped rid Neptune of the Kane kid, albeit unintentionally and he would never willingly admit it for fear of being a laughing stock. And out of a job laughing stock, more specifically.
She was off and on with Logan until college and finally, after he had managed to keep her from essentially becoming an orphan, he thought he would at least get a thank you.
Of course he hadn’t, but things still began to change after that. They were better, even a little easier. He had even been inspired to be downright nice to her! Well, for him.
He had waited for his turn. He wasn’t about to chicken out now.
**
“It‘s Just Skin”
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: None
Word Count: 500
A/N: Inspiration for this one was a pain, until “Evilove” started playing on my iPod. I don’t own that either.
If he was being honest with himself, if given the chance, Lamb wanted to be Veronica’s dream date. But he knew in their twisted reality he would likely be her gentleman death. Or maybe it was more accurate to say she could be his lady death. He was sure he could handle Keith, but trouble did tend to follow Veronica around anywhere she went. With his luck they would end up at a movie and some jerk would recognize him, try to mug them and he would end up hurt or dead.
On his way to work he found himself paying a little more attention to the local florist shops then he was used to. If he wanted to be subtle he was sure he could have some flowers delivered to her. Either at Mars Investigations or her apartment. It would be worth it for the smile she would have for half a second until she realized they had come from him.
Even so he could only imagine the thorns cutting into her hands. Anything he gave her only seemed to make things worse. Hell, it was just skin, right? It’s not like her wounds wouldn’t heal.
No. He was right. She even took his compliments as a precursor to another insult. So some days he lived up to the jerk title she had given him, he knew that it was easier for her to hate. He couldn’t even blame her for it since he could relate.
Why his mind was even going here he didn’t know. But he guessed it was just because he was seeing her more and not even just in the professional capacity they had gotten so used to. Though she had been coming to him more, turning to him in a way. It was reminding him of when she had been that fifteen-year-old with a schoolgirl crush on him.
Back then he had been perfectly happy to tell himself that he would make her eighteenth birthday a very happy one. But they had never gotten that chance.
Their history would never be erased, that much was clear, but it seemed they had reached some turning point and with that he was finding that he wanted to make good on some old promises he had made to them both.
The only problem was before he could do that he had to come up with a way for her to see him as something other than the devil. Well, alright, maybe she considered him to be more like a devil’s lackey, but that still wasn’t going to help his case.
Flowers were out with the images that filled his mind when he considered them. Then when he thought of candy he could only imagine her being allergic to whatever he picked out. What else was there? Letting her off with a warning the next time he brought her in? That one almost made him laugh.
He guessed there was only one thing left.
He would have to ask her.
**
“Second Chance”
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: 3x09
Word Count: 550
Veronica hadn’t believed it was possible. But then in retrospect she had given second chances to more people then she would have ever believed. Her mother, Duncan, Logan, Dick, Weevil… Okay, some of those hadn’t worked out so well for her, but then they hadn’t been a certain blue-eyed devil with the power to literally completely ruin her life and then turned around and done nothing with it.
Sure there was still some banter and traded insults and quips and such, but he was still being his version of nice. Now, yes, of course she had been suspicious of him but then he wasn’t just being nice to her in public anymore. It couldn’t be about image or a PR stunt if it was just them.
Before long she was too confused to even wonder. There didn’t seem to be any reason for it, he was just ever so slightly seemingly morphing back into that cute deputy she used to joke with and answer the phones for when her dad wasn’t around.
After her bruises had healed from the attack, she went to see him. The fact he had been willing to take her statement against two rape suspects in the middle of the night was ironically her breaking point. Not his smiles to her in front of the dean and not when he was willing to work with her after Halloween or even when he first listened to her about Mercer.
She never would have believed it before, that one of the things that had crushed their friendship before would be what could begin to repair it.
Just a quick ‘what do you want from me‘ on our way home and that‘s it. No need to stay long enough to be seen by any possible passersby, Veronica thought to herself as she knocked on Lamb’s door that night. She had worked up a perfectly gap-filled excuse as to why she was there. Over the last hour of rehearsing and repeating it she had begun to believe it herself.
“Miss Mars, to what do I owe?” he asked with a polite, if irritated, smile.
“What do you want from me?” she blurted out, needing to know. She had never thought Lamb could scare her, but he had made it easy by being nice. Had he just been softening her up for the kill?
Lamb knew he had only had the one beer so far tonight, no way was he so messed up he didn’t know where he was. “You knocked on my door.”
“Are you just being nice to me so I’ll keep a certain secret or two? You don’t have to. I figured we’d silently agreed years ago that day and that night would stay between us.”
“You’re here and you’re upset because I’ve been nice to you?” Well there was his proof that she was crazier then he had originally believed.
“More like because of how nice you’ve been. For you anyway. What is it you’re after?”
The truth was simpler then she would believe, but he wasn’t going to admit it like this. “Maybe I’m just turning over a new leaf.”
And if that new leaf just happened to result in her liking him again and even looking at him like when he was that deputy she liked, giving him a second chance, then so much the better.
**
“Drink Up, Baby”
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: Vague S2
Word Count: 600
“I don’t see why you even bother to pretend I’m not here. I know you can hear me. That white-knuckle grip you’ve got on your beer bottle is kind of proving it. And by the way, you might not want to hold it so tight unless you want to spend your night having someone dig glass out from your hand. And then of course you’d have to tell them how it got there and I don’t think your admittance of your delusions will help your case,” Veronica went on as she sat on his coffee table and stared at him, waiting to be acknowledged.
Only it wasn’t Veronica. These visions of this cruel façade his conscience had conjured were becoming more constant. It didn’t help this Veronica was more infuriating. At least he could throw the real Veronica out of his office and he could get Real Veronica to shut up, to understand logic. This Veronica only laughed at him.
So what if he deserved it? At least he knew he could recognize that he deserved it, on some level, from the real deal. Not this figment of his imagination that was making him wonder if it was time to upgrade past a six pack a night.
“You do know she hates you, right? And why shouldn’t she when your definition of holding her all night involves a jail cell?”
Lamb turned up his TV, hoping the movie’s explosions would drown her out.
Instead Hallucination Veronica just giggled. “When has that ever worked on me? Really?”
Despite wanting to ignore her until she gave up and faded away, he glared right at her before taking another sip of whatever beer of the night it was. It didn’t matter, he was pretty sure he still had another six pack in his fridge.
“Oh, I get it! You’re watching this imagining she’s the damsel in distress, right? That you’ve got to save her from the speeding bus or a hijacked plane or something? Trying to relive the glory days of when she thought you were her hero? Seriously, that is pathetic even for you.”
That wasn’t why he had been watching it, but now he had new images to fill his mind with. Most of which as equally unwelcome as the hallucination who was now getting up to walk around to sit beside him.
“Do you think she would even spit on you if you were on fire? Of all the times you’ve helped her in the last year alone, how many times has she thanked you? How many times has she insulted you or put you down even when you weren’t asking for it? When are you going to realize it? She. Hates. You. She’d rather even be with the son of the guy who killed her best friend over you. And you’re going to sit there and pretend you don’t care? Just like you’re pretending you don’t care when you smile every time you’re able to arrest him? You could lock up everyone she’s ever met and she still wouldn’t choose you.”
No Veronica had never thanked him. But lately he had been getting the feeling from her that she might pretend to help him if anything happened to him. That was something.
“She’ll never be yours and you know it. Even your beer cases know it. So drink up, baby. Enjoy your bitter truth.”
With a smile she faded from his sight and Lamb knew some men would take some of those words to heart. Not him. He didn’t care about Hallucination Veronica’s venom. It wasn’t like it was Veronica saying those things to him.
**
“Take Everything You‘ve Got”
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: Vague 2x02
Word Count: 650
“How are we gonna do this, Veronica?” Lamb asked her as he let his handcuffs dangle from his index finger. Maybe he had been naïve, or had just deluded himself, but he had thought she would stay away for once. Instead there she was, claiming that she was doing the job he was too lazy to do.
“Are you really that desperate to have me back in your cuffs?” she all but purred up at him. “Should I assume the position? Let you pat me down to be sure I’m not concealing anything?”
Rarely was the urge more tempting. But Lamb only took his hand down and slipped the cuffs back into his belt.
“That’s what I thought. It really takes everything you’ve got, doesn’t it? To put your toys away when you’ve got me in your sights?”
“You think I like coming out here in the middle of the night because you’ve gotten yourself in trouble again?”
“Yeah. Yeah I do. How else can you be sure you’ll get to visit with me? Though you could’ve gotten to see much more of me if you’d just hired me for that receptionist job forever ago.”
“I’d have to trust you,” he smirked.
“Oh, you know you can trust me,” she smirked back. “You just can’t trust me to behave the way you like.”
“You always have liked misbehaving, haven’t you?” he asked when he took another step towards her, only just beginning to invade her personal space. “You like having someone dole out punishment, making you listen and learn, don’t you?”
Veronica licked her suddenly all too dry lips. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. Any other night he would have busted her and taken her down to the station. Now it was looking like they were about to take it out in trade.
“Don’t you?” he asked again, enjoying how he could tower over her and force her to look up at him.
“What’s gotten into you?” Had he been taking nips of Jack while on the clock again?
“I thought we were having fun. What? Not as much fun when someone’s better at the dirty repartee?”
“Your form of intimidation, if you can even call it that, doesn’t work on me.”
“Intimidation? You think that’s what I’m going for? This isn’t me being intimidating, Veronica.”
“Then what do you call it?” she asked, narrowing her eyes at him.
“Taking you up on your suggestion. I think you’re right. I think I do need to search you. Turn around.”
“Thought you’d never ask,” she grinned as she did as she was told.
Lamb only scoffed. She could be sarcastic now, but it would be his turn to celebrate when he finally got his hands on her. As it was it was dark and he hadn’t seen a car on that road in a half an hour. He wasn’t worried about an audience.
He started at her ankles, bringing his hands slowly up her slender legs, feeling the leather of her boots go up to just under her knees. Her thighs were next and he only smiled when she spread her legs wider.
Veronica smiled herself when she felt his hands slide higher over her ass and up over her waist and sides. The part of her that didn’t want to kick him for this just closed her eyes and thanked her lucky stars - if there were such things - that she had left her taser in her bag and in her car. He could feel her up all he wanted and he wouldn’t find anything but her real ID, her keys and lip gloss.
“Enjoying yourself?” Lamb asked her when she canted into his touch.
“Just waiting for you to get your show over with,” she countered, cursing her traitorous body once again as it was taking everything she had not to further prove to him just how much she was enjoying his latest hands on approach.