8:20  am
Saturday, June 16th, 2007

All Duncan could do was smile when he wandered into Veronica’s room to get his daughter ready for the day. When he had first gotten up to take his shower, he noticed that Logan wasn’t in the bedroom that the boys had been sharing. Unlike the night before, he couldn’t blame it on the fact that he had left the older boy asleep in another part of the house. He had shrugged it off though, it wasn’t the first time that Logan had come in after he’d been asleep and been the first awake the next morning. That led Duncan into Veronica’s room, and the scene before him.

Logan was sprawled across the bed on his stomach, a habit that had grown from years of Aaron’s belts to his back, the comforter covering him snuggly from the waist down. Curled into his side, almost to the point of being pinned down, was Veronica. Her hair was down, something that Duncan had never gotten used to, and one hand was clutching where his met her hip. If it weren’t for the fact that Veronica’s yoga pants were visible from underneath the sheet and that she was in one of his hoodies, Duncan would have thought that he would have to have a discussion with his two best friends about things that shouldn’t be done with his daughter in the room.

The second Lilly cleared the side of the sleeper on the other side of the room, Duncan knew that Logan was awake. He turned, bouncing his daughter on his hip, and smiled over at Logan. “Do I have to ask?”

“I’d feel a hell of a lot better if you didn’t.” The blonde returned, letting go of Veronica’s hip and shifting to pull his legs out from underneath hers without waking her up. Despite what she claimed, Veronica could probably sleep through a riot. “Anyone else up?”

“I heard the shower running on my way down.” He bounced slightly to keep Lilly focused more on the movement then the fact that she still hadn’t been removed from a room where she was supposed to be quiet. “All of the doors were closed though, so I’m not sure who it was.”

Once he extracted himself from the tiny blonde on the bed, Logan readjusted his crumpled track pants and grabbed his shirt from the floor. He honestly didn’t remember when in the night he’d taken if off, but Veronica being fully clothed meant that he had done it himself. “My money’s on Mac.” He tucked the blankets back in around Veronica and didn’t look back on his way to the door.

 

When they hit the kitchen, Logan headed straight to the coffee pot, pulling a filter out of the cabinet above it and retrieving the coffee from the freezer. He pulled three mugs out of the cabinet when he set the pot to drip and grabbed two glasses while Duncan pulled the grapefruit juice out of the fridge. “Two more days.” He threw out, pouring the juice into the cups and handing Logan the milk for Lilly’s sippy cup. “Two more days before we’re back to civilization and what passes for our lives.”

 

“I’ll talk to Ronnie when before she goes to DC.” Logan wasn’t looking at his best friend as he shuffled around the kitchen, trying his hardest to stay focused on breakfast. “Maybe we can meet up again before school starts up again.”

 

“Can we leave the roommates at home?” Duncan asked with a quirk of his eyebrow. “Don’t get me wrong, Parker’s not at all what I expected her to be, and I don’t mind the fact that she’s more hyper-happy then Lilly used to be, and you know I love Wallace, but – “

 

“It’s Piz.” Logan cut him off, pulling another glass out of the cabinet to his right and tried to force a smile for Wallace’s roommate. He watched Piz pull the orange juice out of the fridge and smile back. “How’d you sleep man?”

 

Piz shrugged, capping the juice and mumbling something akin to the word ‘fine,’ as he shuffled back out of the room.

 

“As I was saying,” Duncan grabbed a banana off of the table and cut it in half before he peeled it, setting it down onto the top of Lilly’s high chair. “I’d prefer it if it were just us.” He finished.

 

“Shouldn’t be a problem.” Logan said after a moment, pulling the eggs from the fridge. “Dick’s going to be spending the end of summer in Catalina before Big Dick goes to jail. Wallace is going to Africa with Invisible Children until the week before school starts.” He ran a count of everyone else in the cabin. “Veronica’s only supposed to be gone for eight weeks, so I’ll go through the schedules and see what we can come up with.” He turned toward the stove and pulled the mixing bowl out of the cabinet. “You, me, Ronnie and ‘Lil Lilly, you just have to pick the locale.”

 

“I don’t get to come on secret missions anymore?” Mac seemed to appear out of nowhere, kissing Lilly on the top of the head and pulling her wet hair out of her eyes. She thought about going back up stairs to get her hair clip, but shook the thought out of her head when Logan’s eyebrows rose.

 

He dropped some of the bell peppers that he had started to fry up for her in lieu of bacon in the skillet and bumped his chin to the top of her head. “And what is Bronson going to think about us jetting you off to some place in the south of France for a week or so?” Mac rolled her eyes and Duncan laughed as she scooted by him to be the first to the coffee pot. “Or your parents?”

 

“And how are you planning on explaining to Keith that you and his daughter are going somewhere in the south of France for a week?” She prompted, running a hand through her hair and cocked an eyebrow. “If you thought he was going to get suspicious over this little trip you ain’t seen nothing yet.” She snagged a piece of pepper off of the plate next to Logan’s elbow and headed over to the table, taking the business section out of Duncan’s hand on her way.

 

“Are you trying to tell me that Veronica and I can’t convince Keith that we’re just taking a friendly vacation together?” For a split second, Logan looked hurt.

 

“I’m trying to tell you that Dick and I happen to lend a little credibility to whatever crazy story that you tell to Sheriff Mars.” She paused for a moment and then looked over at Lilly. “And I just used ‘Dick’ and ‘credibility’ in the same sentence, didn’t I”

 

Duncan laughed, “It sounded good too.”

 

She toyed with the top of Lilly’s head and sighed. “Does this mean I get to go?”

 

“This means we’ll talk about it.”

 

Even if Logan hadn’t confirmed it, Mac knew a victory when she saw one.

 

 

 

2:49 pm
Saturday, June 16th, 2007

Logan stood in the middle of the group on the front porch and turned in a circle to make sure everyone could see him. “The rules to this are simple. Everything you say must be a question, and you must ask the question to a specific person.” Before Veronica could raise her hand he turned and pointed at her. “And not the person who just asked you something. You have ten seconds to respond, and you can never actually answer a question, just keep them going.” He looked to Duncan and then to Mac. “Anyone have a problem with this?”

Mac shook her head and turned to Duncan. “Aren’t you supposed to be in Australia?”

Duncan nodded, looked to Logan and laughed. “Didn’t you give me VD?”

The entire porch laughed as Veronica clapped. In all actuality, if someone had given Duncan an STD chances were pretty high that it had been her. And the sad part was Duncan was probably one of the only two people out there that didn’t know where it had come from. “Are you happy?” Logan had turned to Veronica and she didn’t hesitate before turning to Parker.

“What do you want to be when you grow up?”

Parker paused and coughed, and when Logan started laughing she knew she was out. “You always think you’re going to be so good at this sort of thing until you’re called on.” She told the group. “Who’s next?”

“I’ll take it.” Dick took a swig of his beer and turned to Mac. “If we aren’t supposed to eat animals, why are they made of meat?”

Mac snorted, turning to Veronica. “What am I, flypaper for freaks?”

Veronica fixed her gaze on Logan and when his smiled turned cocky, hers only got wider. Their banter had been harsh over the years, but over the last week, she and Logan had gotten back to the sweetness that they had had long before Lilly had been gone. Granted they were a bit more physical then they had been back then. Her eyes cut to Duncan and then back to her target. “Do you want to kiss me?”

He swallowed, leaning back against the railing and turning to Piz. “Did I miss something?” He asked smoothly, trying to resist the urge to readjust the necklace at his throat.

Piz laughed, nodding to Veronica in a subtle applaud to the way she had come so close to rendering Logan speechless. He looked at Wallace and shrugged. “Do you think I’m pretty?”

“Can a man help a brotha out?” Wallace asked Duncan, taking the chips away from Dick and shoving a handful into his mouth.

“What in God’s name am I doing here?” He asked Logan.

“Can I borrow thirty grand?”

Mac stumbled, almost physically as her eyes widened at the absurdity of Logan needing money from her. She coughed and then cursed. “Two down.” She said as she took a swallow of her water. “Would playing drunk have any affect on the outcome?”

“Probably not.” Logan told her, hopping up onto the railing and bracing his feet on the side. He watched as Mac and Parker shifted so Veronica could take her feet off of the porch swing and Duncan handed Lilly another hideously fat crayon for her coloring in her playpen. “Although we haven’t decided what the winner of this little thing’ll get.”

“Winner’s choice.” Veronica told him carefully, and then she looked over at Piz. She had quickly learned that it wasn’t so much delivery as shock value when it came to getting opponents out of the game. Parker had lost to a simple question, and Mac to something unreasonable. She smiled and focused on Wallace’s roommate. “Would you bail me out of jail?”

Without thinking Piz nodded. “Yeah.”

“Loser!” Wallace pointed to his best friend and then ran a hand over his hair. “That was just mean.”

“It’s a free for all Wally.” Veronica frowned unapologetically at Piz. Then she set her sights on Dick. “Do I look like a people person?”

Without missing a beat, Dick turned to Wallace. “Who does she think she’s fooling?”

Wallace looked over at Logan. “Guess who used to be a stoner?”

“Why’s the sky blue?”

“Haven’t I said that before?” Duncan shot over to Veronica, watching her falter just a little before she took a swig of her drink and looked over at her best friend.

“Did you say you wanted a banana?”

“Are you my Zen Master?” Wallace asked Duncan.

For a second Duncan actually looked shocked. “What am I missing?” He asked Logan.

This game is taking too long. Logan thought to himself, turning to Wallace. “You ever seen your best friend naked?” He asked with a wink. When Wallace blinked, he laughed. “You want to?”

“Oh My God Man!” Wallace relieved Logan of his beer and drained the bottle. “That was beyond wrong.”

“I happen to agree with Wallace on that one.” Duncan popped the top on another Corona and handed it to Logan.

“I’m in it to win.” Logan said honestly. “And now there are four.”

“You can’t let him win.” Mac told Veronica quickly. “He’s gotten two of your best friends out, you can’t let him win.”

“Logan’s got nothing on me.” She took another sip of her drink and swallowed tightly. She knew she had rattled him when she asked about him kissing her. It was only a matter of time before she could find something that he wouldn’t be able to bounce back from. “How you feel there, big guy?”

Logan noticed the way her shoulders squared and he couldn’t help but laugh. “Can you believe her?”

From his place on the floor near Lilly, Duncan shook his head, looking back at his ex. “Where the hell have you been?”

Veronica turned to Dick. “Do you speak drunk?”

“What’d you do to the rug, dude?”

Duncan’s composure faltered and he looked at Logan. “That stain will never come out you know?”

“Are you asking my advice, or having a soliloquy?” He asked Veronica with a chuckle.

She glanced at Duncan. “Was it good for you?”

The water he had just put in his mouth wound up on the other side of the deck and Duncan choked, knowing he was out. Leave it to Veronica to find the most inappropriate thing to say to get him laughing. “Keep it going.” He told Dick, laughing again when the surfer realized he was only one of three left in the game.

“Aren’t you ashamed of yourself?” Dick asked Veronica with a grin.

The smile she returned seemed to warn him he was next and Veronica turned to Logan. “Do you know how to keep your pants on?”

He took a breath and watched the look on Dick’s face. As long as he kept his eyes off of Veronica he could handle almost anything that she had to say. His focus was on Dick, and getting Dick to mess up. “Dude, where’s my car?”

“Who let the dogs out?”

Veronica stood and quirked an eyebrow. “What if I said I needed you?”

“Did you mean to sleep with that goat?”

“What?”

Veronica and Logan looked at each other even as Duncan nodded. “It’s good.” He decided, looking to Mac and Parker for confirmation. Piz was too busy watching the rapid fire of the three from Neptune to even notice that there had been a slight break in the action.

“Are you a virgin?”

Logan’s face went slack as he shook off Veronica’s question and bit his lip. The sooner he got his friend out of the game the sooner he could focus on Veronica. His next one was going to be a low blow and he knew it. “How’s the family?”

There wasn’t a second before a comment came to Dick’s mind, but he watched Logan glance back at Veronica and nodded. He took a sip of his drink and then shrugged. “I’m out.” He told the group.

“Aren’t you going to say you’re sorry?” Veronica shot out before Logan had a chance.

“Who said I had a choice?” He asked after a moment.

“When are you gonna get a real job?”

“Do you ever wait to hear what the subject is before you take sides against me?”

Veronica paused and tried her hardest to keep her smile. This game was turning out to be harder then she thought it would be playing against Logan alone. At least when the assault was coming from someone else she had a million other things she could say. Watching her ex look her up and down, she couldn’t think of a single comeback. “Where are we going and why are we in this hand basket?”

Mac’s smile grew as she watched Logan’s eyes light up. This was going to be point one for team Logan, it was a shame that her best friend was faltering. “Do you want to settle for a spark or do you want to set the world on fire?”

He was directly in front of her now, and Veronica swallowed back the retort that she would have said. He had her. He knew he did. Her only hope was to try to throw him off kilter first. “Did you mean to fall asleep in my bed last night?”

Logan winked at her. He was going all in on his last question and if he didn’t get her he’d just give up. “Did you know I love you?”

Veronica froze. She looked at Logan, and then spun to where Duncan and Wallace were on the floor, sharing the bowl of popcorn. She’d had the perfect retort in the back of her mind, and standing there looking at the way her exes eye bore into hers, she couldn’t remember her own last name. She swallowed, and dropped back onto the bench.


Part Two Is Here