Fic: Pride - VM (R) Logan/Veronica, Wallace
Title: Pride
Author: Bedsidekibbles
Summary: Pride has been the cause of four turning points in Veronica's life (Future fic)
Pairing/Characters: Veronica/Logan, Wallace
Rating: R
Word Count: 2432
Spoilers/Warnings: probably nothing after 2.13 at the latest/ None, except maybe the random f-word.
Author's Note: Written for the 7sins 7virtues challenge. Please, please review.
Pride had gotten her to where she was. It really was the main reason that she was camped out in the plains of Africa, alone with her camera and two guides who spoke very limited English. Pride was the reason for a lot of the circumstances in her life. At times, her pride had been a gift, and at others, it had been a curse. Looking back, Veronica could think of four turning points in her life, all which related back to pride.
Pride: n. A sense of one's own proper dignity or value; self-respect.
After graduation, when everything had finally quieted down, the ones responsible for the bus crash and Felix's murder safely behind bars, Aaron Echolls sentenced to life in prison, and college decisions made, Veronica finally had the chance to just breathe. But when she finally had the chance to take a look back at her life over the previous year, she started to come to some realizations. The first realization was that she had made a lot of mistakes. But her biggest had been the way she had dealt with Logan. She had broken up with him the previous summer, hoping her leaving would make him realize the gravity of what he was doing. She should have known that that wasn't the best way to deal with Logan. Even after she had broken up with him, she had continued to screw up when it came to him. She had so immersed herself into her "normal" life that she had almost convinced herself that it was Duncan she wanted to be with. That had been her second mistake. Duncan was a friend, and she had loved him as that, but their getting into a relationship had been a mistake, if only because she didn't love him the way he wanted her too. In the end, it hadn't mattered though, because Duncan had left, despite claiming his love for her, just like those she loved tended to.
Beyond those two mistakes, her other mistakes paled in comparison, but they were numerous, if not lasting.
That summer, her and Logan had finally reached a place where they could be friends, could hang out, and things would seem familiar, though it was impossible to go back to how things had once been, a lifetime before. Every day, she debated telling Logan that she still loved him, that she wanted to try again, but every day she hesitated. Until the day she received a sign.
They had been watching TV, talking a little bit between commercials. Veronica couldn't even honestly say what they had been watching, as she had been watching Logan more than she had been watching the TV. And that was when Logan would utter the one sentence that would change her entire life.
"Ronnie, you're my best friend."
That had been it. It had come out of nowhere, and she hadn't responded, hadn't known how to respond, and it was never really brought up again. But once she heard that, Veronica had known that there was no chance for her and Logan anymore. Logan had so few real friends, she knew neither of them would want to jeopardize her place in his life by attempting a relationship that had already failed once.
Looking back, she often kicked herself for not having done more. For not having at least tried to get him back. She could have begged, she could have cried, she could have simply brought up the subject of them trying it again. But she hadn't done any of those things. She had simply been too proud to speak.
Pride: n. Pleasure or satisfaction taken in an achievement, possession, or association
Wallace had been the instigator of her next turning point. Looking back, she never knew why that had been a turning point in her life, it just was a time that always came up. Something in her life had changed back then, even if she still didn't know what.
Wallace had gone onto UCLA after high school, on a basketball scholarship, and ended up leading the school to four March Madness championships. He was a starter all four of his college years, and he never lost a game. Professional teams were lined up outside his door by the beginning of his junior year, but he had insisted that he was going to finish college before he even thought about going pro. He often told the sports reporters that the reason he refused to go pro before finishing school was that he was afraid of what his mother would do if he quit school without a degree, but Veronica knew differently. While her step-mother would kill Wallace if he even thought of quitting school, she knew it was really Wallace that wanted the degree. He majored in criminal justice, much to Keith's pleasure, and had graduated very near the top of his class. But, on the same day he received his diploma, he also signed to play for the LA Lakers, and his career in law enforcement was put on the back burner indefinitely.
Veronica found herself incredibly proud of her stepbrother and best friend. While she had changed her major three times in college, and had taken two breaks to "figure things out," Wallace had made a commitment, and he had followed through. He hadn't just quit as soon as something better came along. Veronica had found herself having trouble committing to anything, feeling out of place no matter where she went. She was in and out of relationships, looking for something but she didn't know what.
It had been Wallace, and her pride in him, that had finally inspired her to settle on a major and finish school, graduating at the top of her class, only two years late.
Pride: n. An excessively high opinion of oneself; conceit.
Having graduated college at 25, Veronica was a bit late getting into the world of work. Her first photography jobs were often free lance, and barely paid the bills on her tiny New York apartment. Her first steady job offer came from a tabloid, and that was when the shit hit the fan.
She had turned down the job immediately, on principle, and had since been continuing to struggle to find a steady job. Somehow, her family found out about the tabloid job, and the fact that she had turned it down, and that she was struggling to pay the bills. They all had offered help in some way, and all of them were turned down. Relations between Veronica and the rest of her family got steadily worse, with them trying to help, and her continually shooting them down. It finally go to the point where Veronica didn't even come home for holidays, usually sending a card, brief and to the point.
She should have known something was up when Logan showed up at her apartment one cold afternoon during her second January in New York. They had kept in touch, but hadn't actually seen each other in almost a year and a half at that point. They were still friends, though both had moved on, and Veronica was finally able to lie to herself that it didn't hurt to think about what could have been with the one guy she had ever really loved.
They stayed up late talking and Logan finally got to the point of why he was there. He had been talking to Wallace (Veronica was surprised to hear that the two had even kept in touch).
"...So, he told me about your job situation."
Immediately Veronica was on the defensive. "What job situation, and how is it any of your business? Or his for that matter?"
"Ronnie, they're your family and they care about you. I care about you too. They understand why you didn't take the tabloid job, even if they don't agree with you, and they just want to help you, just until you can..."
"Fuck that Logan. I don't need help. I'm an adult and I can take care of myself. And fuck the tabloid job, I'm not working for them. Not after the shit I, not to mention you, had to put up with because of people like that in high school. I refuse to stoop that low."
"Veronica, sometimes adults have to ask for help too. I know Wallace offered you a loan, why don't you take that, and pay him back when you can. Hell, I'll give you a loan."
"No. Logan, I'm not taking your money, or theirs. And I'm not working for some worthless tabloid."
"Then you're stupid. Because, yes, you may be better than some worthless tabloid, but you're not worth more than accepting help from people who care about you. If you weren't so god damned conceited, you would see that people are worried about you. This place is a dump Veronica. You admitted yourself that you don't feel safe here. You need more money so you can live somewhere at least halfway descent. If that means working for a tabloid for awhile, then that's the right thing to do. And if you can't see that, then you're not the person I thought you were."
Logan left after that, and Veronica sat up all night thinking about what he had said.
She took the tabloid job the next day.
A year later, she was signing a contract with National Geographic.
And that was what had brought her to Africa the first time. That had been six months before.
Pride. n. A company of lions
She had been assigned to get pictures of lions in Africa to go with the cover story about how they were being poached to the brink of extinction. She had been on safari for a couple of days, when she saw for herself some of the poachers. She had started taking pictures without thinking, not knowing that one of the poachers had seen her. She heard a gun blast, and before she could see what lion had been hit, everything went black.
When she woke up she was in a hospital in Johannesburg. She had been out for almost two weeks. Her family was there as well as Logan, having been contacted by Wallace. After being fawned over for almost two hours, the nurse came in, insisting that the patient need her rest. Her family left, promising to be back the next morning. Logan had been silent the entire time, and still didn't say anything before leaving. Veronica found herself confused, and a little hurt, that Logan was refusing to talk to her. But she was also exhausted and soon fell asleep.
She woke up in the middle of the night to find Logan at her bedside, crying silently.
"Logan, what are you doing here?"
His head snapped up at the sound of her voice. It appeared for a minute that he was going to attempt to hide that be had been crying, but he didn't. "I had to see you. To see that you really are going to be okay."
"Why? You didn't seem to care when you were here before. You didn't say a single word to me Logan."
"I know and I'm sorry. But Veronica, I have never been so terrified in my life. When Wallace called and told me what had happened, it was like my world had ended. I don't think I could..."
"What Logan, what can't you do?"
"Ronnie, I told you once that you were my best friend. That was a lie." Before Veronica could interrupt, he continued. "You're more than just my best friend. I'm in love with you, and I have been for years. I think a part of me always believed that we would somehow end up together, but when Wallace called... I knew that I couldn't wait for you anymore. If I left it up to you, we'd be old and gray before we finally admitted how we felt about each other."
"Logan..."
"No Veronica. We love each other and there is no reason for us not to be together. And, you need to start thinking of other people before going off and almost getting yourself killed."
"Logan, if you would let me speak..."
"If I let you speak you would just go off into some tangent about how you're an adult and you don't need anyone's help, and how you don't owe anyone anything. But you do. Everyone needs help sometimes. And you do owe people. You owe your family because they love you. And you owe me. Because if something happened to you I don't think I could take it. I don't know what I would do. So you owe it to me to be okay."
"Logan. What I've been trying to say is that you're right."
"Veronica, I don't know how many times - what?"
"I said you're right. Sometimes I need help. I have people to think about besides myself. And I love you too. I won't agree that I always knew that we'd end up together, because I didn't, but I did...I won't say hope because that was always... too much to hope for. I figured that I'd had my chance with you and had thrown it away. I figured I wouldn't get another one."
Logan smiled. "And when exactly did you do all this figuring?"
"The summer after we graduated high school."
Logan's jaw dropped. "Veronica that was, like, eight years ago." She nodded. "Why didn't you ever say anything?"
"That entire summer I wanted to. I had finally gotten to the point where I almost had enough nerve, when you told me that I was your best friend. After you said that, I just couldn't. We had finally gotten to be friends again, and I didn't want to ruin it. Besides, I figured that if I was your best friend you didn't have those feelings for me. I wasn't going to sacrifice my pride when I was so sure that you had already moved on."
Smiling, Logan leaned so his lips were only millimeters from her own. "You and your stupid pride." Before she could respond, he silenced her with a kiss.
Now, six months later, Veronica was back on the African safari, finally taking the pictures she had originally set out too. Watching the pride, she smiled. Her wedding was in three weeks. And really, she owed it all to pride. Just not the type of pride that had been so prevalent through most of her life.
Pride may be a sin... but this pride, would always be something she cherished.
Author: Bedsidekibbles
Summary: Pride has been the cause of four turning points in Veronica's life (Future fic)
Pairing/Characters: Veronica/Logan, Wallace
Rating: R
Word Count: 2432
Spoilers/Warnings: probably nothing after 2.13 at the latest/ None, except maybe the random f-word.
Author's Note: Written for the 7sins 7virtues challenge. Please, please review.
Pride had gotten her to where she was. It really was the main reason that she was camped out in the plains of Africa, alone with her camera and two guides who spoke very limited English. Pride was the reason for a lot of the circumstances in her life. At times, her pride had been a gift, and at others, it had been a curse. Looking back, Veronica could think of four turning points in her life, all which related back to pride.
Pride: n. A sense of one's own proper dignity or value; self-respect.
After graduation, when everything had finally quieted down, the ones responsible for the bus crash and Felix's murder safely behind bars, Aaron Echolls sentenced to life in prison, and college decisions made, Veronica finally had the chance to just breathe. But when she finally had the chance to take a look back at her life over the previous year, she started to come to some realizations. The first realization was that she had made a lot of mistakes. But her biggest had been the way she had dealt with Logan. She had broken up with him the previous summer, hoping her leaving would make him realize the gravity of what he was doing. She should have known that that wasn't the best way to deal with Logan. Even after she had broken up with him, she had continued to screw up when it came to him. She had so immersed herself into her "normal" life that she had almost convinced herself that it was Duncan she wanted to be with. That had been her second mistake. Duncan was a friend, and she had loved him as that, but their getting into a relationship had been a mistake, if only because she didn't love him the way he wanted her too. In the end, it hadn't mattered though, because Duncan had left, despite claiming his love for her, just like those she loved tended to.
Beyond those two mistakes, her other mistakes paled in comparison, but they were numerous, if not lasting.
That summer, her and Logan had finally reached a place where they could be friends, could hang out, and things would seem familiar, though it was impossible to go back to how things had once been, a lifetime before. Every day, she debated telling Logan that she still loved him, that she wanted to try again, but every day she hesitated. Until the day she received a sign.
They had been watching TV, talking a little bit between commercials. Veronica couldn't even honestly say what they had been watching, as she had been watching Logan more than she had been watching the TV. And that was when Logan would utter the one sentence that would change her entire life.
"Ronnie, you're my best friend."
That had been it. It had come out of nowhere, and she hadn't responded, hadn't known how to respond, and it was never really brought up again. But once she heard that, Veronica had known that there was no chance for her and Logan anymore. Logan had so few real friends, she knew neither of them would want to jeopardize her place in his life by attempting a relationship that had already failed once.
Looking back, she often kicked herself for not having done more. For not having at least tried to get him back. She could have begged, she could have cried, she could have simply brought up the subject of them trying it again. But she hadn't done any of those things. She had simply been too proud to speak.
Pride: n. Pleasure or satisfaction taken in an achievement, possession, or association
Wallace had been the instigator of her next turning point. Looking back, she never knew why that had been a turning point in her life, it just was a time that always came up. Something in her life had changed back then, even if she still didn't know what.
Wallace had gone onto UCLA after high school, on a basketball scholarship, and ended up leading the school to four March Madness championships. He was a starter all four of his college years, and he never lost a game. Professional teams were lined up outside his door by the beginning of his junior year, but he had insisted that he was going to finish college before he even thought about going pro. He often told the sports reporters that the reason he refused to go pro before finishing school was that he was afraid of what his mother would do if he quit school without a degree, but Veronica knew differently. While her step-mother would kill Wallace if he even thought of quitting school, she knew it was really Wallace that wanted the degree. He majored in criminal justice, much to Keith's pleasure, and had graduated very near the top of his class. But, on the same day he received his diploma, he also signed to play for the LA Lakers, and his career in law enforcement was put on the back burner indefinitely.
Veronica found herself incredibly proud of her stepbrother and best friend. While she had changed her major three times in college, and had taken two breaks to "figure things out," Wallace had made a commitment, and he had followed through. He hadn't just quit as soon as something better came along. Veronica had found herself having trouble committing to anything, feeling out of place no matter where she went. She was in and out of relationships, looking for something but she didn't know what.
It had been Wallace, and her pride in him, that had finally inspired her to settle on a major and finish school, graduating at the top of her class, only two years late.
Pride: n. An excessively high opinion of oneself; conceit.
Having graduated college at 25, Veronica was a bit late getting into the world of work. Her first photography jobs were often free lance, and barely paid the bills on her tiny New York apartment. Her first steady job offer came from a tabloid, and that was when the shit hit the fan.
She had turned down the job immediately, on principle, and had since been continuing to struggle to find a steady job. Somehow, her family found out about the tabloid job, and the fact that she had turned it down, and that she was struggling to pay the bills. They all had offered help in some way, and all of them were turned down. Relations between Veronica and the rest of her family got steadily worse, with them trying to help, and her continually shooting them down. It finally go to the point where Veronica didn't even come home for holidays, usually sending a card, brief and to the point.
She should have known something was up when Logan showed up at her apartment one cold afternoon during her second January in New York. They had kept in touch, but hadn't actually seen each other in almost a year and a half at that point. They were still friends, though both had moved on, and Veronica was finally able to lie to herself that it didn't hurt to think about what could have been with the one guy she had ever really loved.
They stayed up late talking and Logan finally got to the point of why he was there. He had been talking to Wallace (Veronica was surprised to hear that the two had even kept in touch).
"...So, he told me about your job situation."
Immediately Veronica was on the defensive. "What job situation, and how is it any of your business? Or his for that matter?"
"Ronnie, they're your family and they care about you. I care about you too. They understand why you didn't take the tabloid job, even if they don't agree with you, and they just want to help you, just until you can..."
"Fuck that Logan. I don't need help. I'm an adult and I can take care of myself. And fuck the tabloid job, I'm not working for them. Not after the shit I, not to mention you, had to put up with because of people like that in high school. I refuse to stoop that low."
"Veronica, sometimes adults have to ask for help too. I know Wallace offered you a loan, why don't you take that, and pay him back when you can. Hell, I'll give you a loan."
"No. Logan, I'm not taking your money, or theirs. And I'm not working for some worthless tabloid."
"Then you're stupid. Because, yes, you may be better than some worthless tabloid, but you're not worth more than accepting help from people who care about you. If you weren't so god damned conceited, you would see that people are worried about you. This place is a dump Veronica. You admitted yourself that you don't feel safe here. You need more money so you can live somewhere at least halfway descent. If that means working for a tabloid for awhile, then that's the right thing to do. And if you can't see that, then you're not the person I thought you were."
Logan left after that, and Veronica sat up all night thinking about what he had said.
She took the tabloid job the next day.
A year later, she was signing a contract with National Geographic.
And that was what had brought her to Africa the first time. That had been six months before.
Pride. n. A company of lions
She had been assigned to get pictures of lions in Africa to go with the cover story about how they were being poached to the brink of extinction. She had been on safari for a couple of days, when she saw for herself some of the poachers. She had started taking pictures without thinking, not knowing that one of the poachers had seen her. She heard a gun blast, and before she could see what lion had been hit, everything went black.
When she woke up she was in a hospital in Johannesburg. She had been out for almost two weeks. Her family was there as well as Logan, having been contacted by Wallace. After being fawned over for almost two hours, the nurse came in, insisting that the patient need her rest. Her family left, promising to be back the next morning. Logan had been silent the entire time, and still didn't say anything before leaving. Veronica found herself confused, and a little hurt, that Logan was refusing to talk to her. But she was also exhausted and soon fell asleep.
She woke up in the middle of the night to find Logan at her bedside, crying silently.
"Logan, what are you doing here?"
His head snapped up at the sound of her voice. It appeared for a minute that he was going to attempt to hide that be had been crying, but he didn't. "I had to see you. To see that you really are going to be okay."
"Why? You didn't seem to care when you were here before. You didn't say a single word to me Logan."
"I know and I'm sorry. But Veronica, I have never been so terrified in my life. When Wallace called and told me what had happened, it was like my world had ended. I don't think I could..."
"What Logan, what can't you do?"
"Ronnie, I told you once that you were my best friend. That was a lie." Before Veronica could interrupt, he continued. "You're more than just my best friend. I'm in love with you, and I have been for years. I think a part of me always believed that we would somehow end up together, but when Wallace called... I knew that I couldn't wait for you anymore. If I left it up to you, we'd be old and gray before we finally admitted how we felt about each other."
"Logan..."
"No Veronica. We love each other and there is no reason for us not to be together. And, you need to start thinking of other people before going off and almost getting yourself killed."
"Logan, if you would let me speak..."
"If I let you speak you would just go off into some tangent about how you're an adult and you don't need anyone's help, and how you don't owe anyone anything. But you do. Everyone needs help sometimes. And you do owe people. You owe your family because they love you. And you owe me. Because if something happened to you I don't think I could take it. I don't know what I would do. So you owe it to me to be okay."
"Logan. What I've been trying to say is that you're right."
"Veronica, I don't know how many times - what?"
"I said you're right. Sometimes I need help. I have people to think about besides myself. And I love you too. I won't agree that I always knew that we'd end up together, because I didn't, but I did...I won't say hope because that was always... too much to hope for. I figured that I'd had my chance with you and had thrown it away. I figured I wouldn't get another one."
Logan smiled. "And when exactly did you do all this figuring?"
"The summer after we graduated high school."
Logan's jaw dropped. "Veronica that was, like, eight years ago." She nodded. "Why didn't you ever say anything?"
"That entire summer I wanted to. I had finally gotten to the point where I almost had enough nerve, when you told me that I was your best friend. After you said that, I just couldn't. We had finally gotten to be friends again, and I didn't want to ruin it. Besides, I figured that if I was your best friend you didn't have those feelings for me. I wasn't going to sacrifice my pride when I was so sure that you had already moved on."
Smiling, Logan leaned so his lips were only millimeters from her own. "You and your stupid pride." Before she could respond, he silenced her with a kiss.
Now, six months later, Veronica was back on the African safari, finally taking the pictures she had originally set out too. Watching the pride, she smiled. Her wedding was in three weeks. And really, she owed it all to pride. Just not the type of pride that had been so prevalent through most of her life.
Pride may be a sin... but this pride, would always be something she cherished.