The Pilot and the PI (A LoVe FanFiction)

Chapter 1

"Rise and shine, blondie!" Logan yelled as he tore open the curtains. The bright morning light came streaming in to the room, waking Veronica up even more.

As she stood up to put on her slippers, she breathed in the delicious smell of frenchtoast and bacon wafting from the kitchen. Veronica slowly trudged toward the kitchen to grab plates and silver ware and glasses.

Since Logan had been home, she'd had to get used to his crazy routine. He got up every morning at 5:30, went for a run with Pony, and then came back with donuts or the ingredients for a delicious breakfast.

When she got to the kitchen, she just looked over at Logan for a minute. He had the same devilish grin he'd had when he was the obligatory jackass at Neptune High. Only now, it was a little less harsh and more caring.

He looked up to see her smiling at him and went and put his arms around her. If only it could always be as great as this she thought. They broke apart and Logan went back to making breakfast.

"Do you think Mac would mind if I played hooky today? We could hang around here, relax and rejuvenate..." Veronica said.

He brought over two plates piled with bacon, eggs, and pancakes.

"As great as that sounds, you have to go in to organize all the case notes. Plus, I'm going out with Dick." He said with a smile.

"If only you had put "a" in front of his name," she said with a grin, "where are you going?"

"Out. He figured i needed to raise some hell here before I went back. You know, for old time's sake."

They both smiled and dug right in to their breakfast.

An hour later, Veronica was in the Mars Investigations office. There were papers everywhere, covering every surface except a small part of the floor where she and Mac were sitting. They were organizing various notes and evidence from previous cases. Veronica sifted through various papers from years ago and memories came flooding back. There was a copy of the fake drug test that Wallace had failed their senior year when a group of parents tried to get a group of kids kicked off sports teams. A high school prom photo of her mother and Jake Kane. Various documents from the real estate company that Cassidy Casablancas had started.

Her eyes lingered a moment on a thick manila folder labeled, "Lilly Kane." She picked it up and opened it, the folder was filled with thorough and organized notes and documents of Lilly's murder investigation. T\here were sections on Duncan, Logan, Mr. Kane, Celeste Kane, etc. Some of the papers were official police papers, statements from students and her parents. Others were in Veronicas own handwriting, notes to follow leads and new suspects.

Veronica thought of Lilly all the time. She thought mostly about how different her life would be if she'd hadn't died. Veronica would still have been and 09er, maybe she and Duncan would've stayed together. It was safe to say her life would've been much easier, but there would've been so many things that wouldn't have happened. She never would've been friends with Wallace or Mac. Veronica probably wouldn't have gone to Hearst. She wouldn't be with Logan.

Veronica closed the folder and put it away in a desk drawer. She couldn't bear to deal with what-ifs right now.

"I have so many papercuts and I've already gone through four boxes of band-aids." Mac groaned across the room.

"You know how it is at Mars Investigations. We work you to the bone for next to no pay. You're lucky i haven't started cracking the whip, then we'd really be in business."

"You should be using that whip to keep all these clients at bay. Everyone wants the Veronica Mars to catch their cheating spouse or prove their employee is committing identity fraud."

They worked for awhile talking about everyday things. Mac and Veronica had grown to be like sisters over the years. In a way, Veronica liked having Mac as a best friend better than Lilly. She trusted Mac with her life and vice versa. Plus with Lilly, Veronica was always in Lilly's shadow. With Mac, the two of them were equals.

After a few more hours, they had gotten through all the files except for a few small piles on the floor. They decided to call it a night and went home.

During the drive, Veronica thought abput what Mac had said. It was true, everyone and their mother wanted her to take their case. But there were so many. She'd given some cases to her dad, but most of the clients insisted on havign her handle their case.

She got home and found dinner already set on the table.

"Hey." He said as he walked in.

He took her jacket off and helped her in to her chair. There was chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy and a few other things.

"You made dinner? If I'd known you could cook something other than breakfast food, we wouldn't be eating take-out every night."

"No, I didnt make this. But I did have to order it! And looking through menu and talking on a phone can be very strenuous." He said.

They talked about everything. Everytime the conversation stopped, one of them would bring up something else. It was as if neither one of them wanted to stop, to hear the silence.

They cleared the table when they finshed and Logan brought over two pieces of cheesecake.

"I have to tell you something, Veronica." He said in a serious tone.

She looked up, startled at the change in his manner.

"I have to go back. I have orders to go back on duty one last time. Then I'll be permanently stationed in San Diego."

"Okay."

"What? What do you mean okay?"

"I mean that this is what you signed up to do. I've really been trying to come to terms with that, Logan. It's not I want you to go back.d kill for you to stay and be safe. But you accepted the risks of my job and I think it's finally time for me to accept the risks of yours."

He looked at her, and then got up and left the room. Logan quickly came back and seemed nervous.

"Please, before you say anything, let me finish my whole thing? I've practiced this about a hundred times. I love you. We aren't perfect and we are never going to be. But maybe that's just how we are. Maybe how different we are is why we're together. You are the one person that I need in my life."

He paused.

"No mention about how epic our story is?" she asked.

"I thought it was a little over-used. But there is something else."

He bent down on one knee and said, "I was going to bake this in to the cake, but it seemed a little cheesy..."

They both laughed quietly.

"Veronica Mars, will you marry me?"