Fic: "Heat Wave" (Casey/Veronica) PG-13
“Heat Wave”
Sequel to “Hurricane Season”
By halfway2home

Disclaimer: “Veronica Mars” belongs to Rob Thomas. But I wouldn’t object if he wanted to share Casey and/or Logan with me.
Word Count: 5112.
Pairing: Casey/Veronica
Rating: PG-13 for some sexual situations.
Spoilers/Setting: Post-LitB. Sequel to “Hurricane Season.” You really do need to read that first.
Summary: “This isn’t what she had imagined.”
Author’s Note: The response to “Hurricane Season” was so overwhelming... You guys made this fic happen. Big thanks to my betas, mspooh and eolivet. You guys save me.


Most girls try to imagine what their first time will be like. Veronica tries to imagine what her first time was like. But there are too many details and feelings she can’t recover, and so, she tries to imagine what her second time will be like.
               
This isn’t what she had imagined.
               
---

A sudden heat wave hits southern California. Most people describe the weather by complaining about their shirt sticking to their skin, or the insufficient A.C. in the car, house, school, insert location of choice here. The local weatherman says it’s here to stay for at least a week, and reminds everyone to stay hydrated, especially the elderly. Alicia gives Veronica and Wallace popsicles while they study, and says it reminds her of her childhood.

“Sticky, but sweet,” Alicia says, and Veronica smiles at her.

Veronica can only describe the sudden heat as full of expectations. The air is loaded with them. They glide on heavy with the sweat on her skin, and hold on tight.

There’s no relief when Casey sits down next to her at lunch and hands her and Wallace some ice-cold water bottles. He’s full of them: expectations.

“Thanks,” she says, skimming the cold bottle against the contours of her face.
                               
“Yeah, man,” Wallace says, “it’s really cool of you to black-market ‘09er goods for the rest of us.”

“You know, this is a perfect opportunity to sue the school district for negligence,” Veronica says. She shakes her head before adding, “I can’t believe the vending machines ran out. More than that, I can’t believe I’m actually grateful for pirate points right now.”

“Yeah, we got more pirate points and money than we know what to do with over there,” Casey says, pointing to a large group of ‘09ers gathered around a watercooler. “I’m just glad I could help out.”

“My hero,” Veronica replies with a dreamy sigh, grinning up at him.

“Hey, I think I’ve got a temporary cure to this heat,” he says, looking at her. She raises an eyebrow, urging him to continue. “Picture this: big room, air-conditioned to near freezing temperature, ice cold drinks, and someone cleans up after you.”

Her lips form into a small smile, but it never reaches her eyes. She knows where this is going. The “picture this” clinched it for her.

“So what do you say? Want to catch a movie this weekend?” he asks her, smiling nervously.
                               
She feels sick to her stomach for a moment because he is so sweet and his eyes are so full of hope. There are expectations there, in his eyes, and she planted them when she told him that he just had to wait out the hurricane. For weeks, it seemed like he was willing to wait forever, and they were friends. It was enough. But... She’s not sure the hurricane has passed yet, and now, she has to tell him that he has to wait out the heat too.

“Sorry, I can’t,” she says, bowing her head down slightly. It’s easier if she doesn’t have to look at him. “I’ve got some stuff to take care of for a case.”

“Okay.” He nods with a sad smile. “Let me know if you guys need anything,” he says, before heading back to the ‘09er table.

Wallace shakes his head at her in silence once Casey is out of sight.

“What? Spill it,” she says.

“Girl, are you stupid?”

His voice is playful, and so, she only responds in mock-hurt when she says, “Hey!”

“That’s like, what, the third time he’s asked you out in the last two weeks?”

“I don’t know. I don’t count.” She’s lying. She has a mental picture of Casey’s disappointed face for every time.

“Well, you should start because every guy has a maximum humiliation tolerance level, and I think he just reached his.”

“It’s not that bad,” she replies lightly, trying to brush it off.

“He’s gonna stop asking you!” he exclaims, shaking his head once again. “Would it kill you to go out and have some fun? He’s nice, chill, good-looking, and doesn’t have a love/hate relationship with you that’s waiting to explode.”

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you want to go out with him,” she says, smiling.

Wallace just rolls his eyes, brushing off her comment, and says, “It could be normal. You know, happy and healthy and no suspected incest or GHB. Imagine that.”

“But then Neptune might explode,” she jokes, smiling sadly. “There would be an explosion from the lack of my relationship exploding.”

“Think about it, Veronica,” he says, his voice serious. “He’s not going to lay himself out as your personal, emotional yo-yo forever.”

“I know,” she says softly. “But I do have some stuff to take care of this weekend.”       

He nods. “I just think maybe it’s time you moved --”

“I know,” she finishes, her voice slightly pleading, as she looks straight at him. “I’m trying.”

---

The air conditioner gives out halfway there. She rolls down the windows with a heavy sigh, and thinks that maybe it’s a sign. After all, this is not a good idea, and she knows that. She knows there is no way that another confrontation will end any better than the last.

But she gets up early Saturday morning anyway, at an hour when most high school kids cherish their sleep. The air is already thick with heat when she gets into her car, turns on the radio and A.C., and prepares for a long drive.

She’s not sure what she hopes to get out of this trip. Maybe he’ll actually look at her this time, and say none of it matters because he forgives her. And then what, she wonders. Will she turn back to Neptune, and the hurricane will have passed? Or will the part of her that knows it’s a bad idea, but can’t help holding on win out?

She doesn’t know. She needs a sign. She supposes that’s the real reason for this trip. She needs a sign...from him.

She finds it when she reaches his modestly sized apartment, and remembers thinking the first time she was here that at least he’s not spending all his money in one place. She knocks on the door loudly, but there’s no answer.

“Hello,” she calls out, ringing the bell. She hesitates for a moment before saying, “Logan? It’s me.”

She half expects an angry, “Go away, Veronica,” but it never comes.

Using her hands to block out the sun’s shining rays, she leans in close against the front window and is greeted by the sight of a barren apartment. All his belongings are gone, not that there were many to begin with, as well as most of the furniture, save for a couch that looks like it was too large to take and too ugly to sell.

She looks away, leaning the back of her head against the window. She only lets her breath hitch for a second before she goes to the manager’s apartment, knocking repeatedly until she is met by a middle-aged woman in a bathrobe.

“Hi. Do you know what happened to the resident in apartment seven?” she asks.

“Oh yeah, he moved on,” the woman answers.

He moved on. The words ring in her head. He moved on. From Neptune. She inhales heavily. From me.

She got what she came for. She has her sign.

Maybe you just have to forgive yourself and move on, Casey’s words come back to her suddenly.

“Sorry, no forwarding address,” the woman says, breaking Veronica out of her thoughts.

“That’s okay, thanks,” Veronica replies softly. “I’m just going to move on.”

---

She thinks about driving to his house several times during the weekend, but decides against it, each time reaching the conclusion that distance makes the heart grow fonder. Wallace would tell her that she’s crazy, and that Casey’s heart is already pretty fond of her. But by Monday, she is thankful that she waited because as the weekend goes by, something happens that surprises her. She becomes anxious and giddy and nervous and about ten more emotions she can’t separate from the mess in her chest.

So when she spots him Monday morning by his locker, there’s a little flutter in her stomach and a tightness in her chest that surprises her.

“So that little, bald guy on channel seven says the heat’s going to be here for at least a couple of more days,” she says, walking up to him. She pauses as he turns his attention to her, giving her a confused look over the door of his locker, and then continues, “I was thinking a cold movie theater might be nice.”

“Yeah?” His smile is shy and disbelieving.

“Yeah. The hurricane has officially been downgraded to a tropical depression,” she says, grinning proudly.

He closes his locker and says, “That’s good to hear ‘cause I was starting to think I might have to board up and evacuate.”

“Nope, that won’t be necessary.” He’s still smiling at her, and she can’t bring herself to wipe away the silly grin on her face. “Your monkeys are staring at us.”

Casey turns to look over his shoulder at where Dick, Beaver, and Sean are standing, looking at them suspiciously and whispering. “Let them stare,” he says.

“I still don’t understand how they keep taking you back in even though you openly converse with me. I have cooties, you know, among other things,” she says, winking at him.

He laughs lightly before replying, “It’s the power vacuum ever since, you know...” He looks at her nervously, almost as if asking permission, and she swallows, nodding her head in understanding. “Since Logan left,” he continues, “there’s been a real lack of leadership.”

“So it’s a case of the missing ring leader.”

“Exactly.” He pauses for a moment, and they look at each other awkwardly, the silence thickening. “So...tomorrow? You, me, and a very cold theater?”

She nods. “A threesome to behold.”

---

“The cultist?” her dad exclaims, disbelievingly, when she tells him she has a date with Casey. “I can’t win with you, can I, Veronica?”

“Nope,” she says, a smile on her lips. “I am attracted only to Dad’s-worst-nightmare types. Possible brothers, drug dealers, older guys, and guys with enough issues to land them in therapy forever. I can’t help it. It’s chemical.”

“You forgot cultists,” Keith points out glumly, shaking his head.

“And of course, cultists. Actually, Casey may turn out to be the most normal, healthiest of my relationships.”
                               
“I shudder to think,” Keith replies jokingly, and Veronica jabs him playfully in the side.

Casey knocks on her door shortly thereafter, and Keith begins questioning him immediately about what movie they’re seeing (so Keith can check it out online, and then quiz them to make sure they actually watched the movie), when they’ll be back, and about Casey’s days in the Moon Calf Collective. Veronica rolls her eyes at the questions, and squeezes Casey’s hand reassuringly.

When it’s all over and they’re safely in the car, Casey looks at her with wide eyes, exhaling the breath that he’s been holding in for the last ten minutes. “Wow.”

“Yeah, he’s a bit protective,” she says, smiling apologetically. “At least he didn’t mention the gun in his nightstand. That’s a good sign. I think he likes you.”

“Oh, okay,” he says, laughing nervously. “So...you look really beautiful tonight. Can I say that or is he going to come after me?”

“No, you can definitely say that,” she replies, blushing slightly. “And the more you say it, the greater your reward.”

He opens every door for her, and takes her hand during the movie. The movie theater is supposed to be cold (Casey even offers her his jacket), but she’s so warm and nervous inside, the air-conditioning doesn’t make a dent in her body temperature. She never expected that she would lose her cool (literally and figuratively) to such a degree. He’s just a boy, she reminds herself, but then he smiles at her, his big, chocolate- brown eyes shining, and she thinks that maybe she still has a lot left to experience. 

At the end of the night, he kisses her, hands running through her hair as she encircles his neck with her own, pulling him closer and closer. It never seems enough. She wants more of him, and so, parts her lips, allowing tongues to slide past, a silent “thank you” for tonight, for the future.

She’s slightly breathless when they part, and thinks she could get used to this. Normal might be really nice. And hot.

They both agree to keep things quiet; no PDAs at school. They won’t deny they’re dating, but they won’t confirm it either. She knows all about the disastrous effects of an ‘09er openly admitting to dating Veronica Mars all to well, and he has a fake persona to keep up. They laugh at the absurdity of their situation before agreeing to let their classmates wonder.

“Maybe it’ll up my mystery quotient,” he says, wrapping his arms around her waist. He pauses for a moment before saying, “I don’t want to push my luck, but I’m dying to know what changed your mind about the movie.”

“It was something you said,” she answers, looking up at him.

“Cold? Oh no, wait, was it, ‘You’re certifiable?’” he jokes.

“Actually, the clincher was when you let the air out of my tires,” she says, smiling. “Seriously?” He nods, and she continues, “I took your advice. I’m moving on.”

“I am very smart,” he says, pulling her closer. She rests her cheek against his chest. “And very lucky.”

---

The rumors inevitably start a couple of weeks later. She can’t call all of them falsely founded lies; there’s some truth to them. She does look across the lunch tables sometimes, smiling at him like she has a secret.  Wallace tells her that she needs to hide that goofy look on her face better. She swats him playfully, claiming it’s not goofy, but she knows it is because sometimes she looks in the mirror and she doesn’t recognize herself.

Sometimes, she thinks Casey did something to her when he kissed her.

“Like slip you the tongue?” Wallace offers.

“No,” she answers, scrunching up her face in disgust. “I don’t know. It’s like...” she hesitates. “It’s like he reminded me that there’s still a lot of really good things left in this world for me.”

“Like making out?” That earns him another swat.

Veronica feels...good. That’s the word she decides on when her dad asks her how things with Casey are going. Definitely good.

But as good as she feels, she still winces when she overhears some girl in the hallway whisper to her friend, “Veronica Mars is a man-eater. Actually, more of an ‘09er-eater. She goes through ‘09ers like water. Hold onto your boyfriends, girls!”

“I know!” the other girl exclaims. “Logan almost killed himself, then wallowed around like the most pathetic, broken-hearted guy ever, and she’s already moved on to the next guy.”

She frowns for a second, slumping against the wall, before gathering herself together. “Hi girls,” she says, walking up to them with an overly cheery smile. “I just wanted to let you know that you’re,” a pointed look at the first girl, “number thirteen on the list, and you are,” a pointed look at the other girl, “number twelve.”

“What list?” the first girl asks, sneering at her.

“Oh, you’ll know it when you feel it,” Veronica replies, walking away.

---

They’re sitting in a small booth at a semi-casual restaurant. He wanted to take her somewhere fancy, but she insisted on low-key, reminding him of their low profile. So they ended up here, at a small restaurant that’s too subdued for partying ‘09ers on a Friday night.

He’s dragging his fork around the plate, twirling the pasta around the teeth, and then letting it fall back onto the plate.

When he sneaks a glance at her for what must be the hundredth time, she finally says, “I’m not a china doll. Whatever it is, just say it, Casey.”

“I heard some people were talking... Saying things about you,” he says awkwardly. “Are you okay?”

“I’m used to it,” she answers emotionlessly.

“But are you okay?” The concern in his voice is breaking her heart.

“I’m fine.” He looks at her disbelievingly. “I am. If I let everything they say stick to me, I’d never get out of bed. So I choose payback, and I move on.” He nods, knowing not to push the subject further. “Besides, their insults have gotten increasingly weaker. If they’d take some lessons in witty repertoire, maybe then I’d feel they were truly worthy opponents.”

“That fact doesn’t seem to be putting a cease fire in your payback scheme though,” he replies.

“No,” she says, smiling. “What are feelings? They only get in the way, especially when dealing with people who have none.”

Casey is silent for a minute, and Veronica instantly regrets her words. She never meant to discard all feeling. She never meant to imply that she doesn’t feel anything, but she knows by his silence that’s exactly where his brain went, regardless of how ridiculous and completely impossible it is.

“Casey, I...” she begins.

“Hey, imagine if all the ‘09ers went to the collective,” he interrupts with a tight smile. “They might turn out to be decent human beings yet.”

She looks at him solemnly before quickly changing into witty banter mode, thankful for the change in subject. She’s not sure that she could explain all the things going on inside of her. She has a hard enough time trying to comprehend them.

“Spoken like a true cultist,” she replies. “Isn’t trying to convert everyone like one of telltale signs of cults?”

“Ouch,” he says in mock-hurt, holding his hands over his heart. “So what does that make you, dating a cultist?”

She looks pensive for a moment, thinking it over, and then groans. “I’m Katie Holmes. Shoot me now.”

“Except in our relationship, I’m the tall one,” he says pointedly.
                               
“So maybe you’re Katie?” she replies, grinning.

“Tear up the prenup, and I will be. Gladly.”

Veronica finds herself laughing harder than she has in a long time, the kind of laugh that leaves her gasping for air and her cheeks aching. Her gaze shifts past Casey’s shoulder as she leans her head back against the booth in a wide smile. That’s when she spots him coming through the front door. He looks at her for a second, their eyes locking temporarily, before walking over to the counter.

“I’ll be right back,” she says, and Casey nods.

“Hi,” she says, walking up to him. “What are you doing here?”

“Takeout,” Duncan replies, holding up a brown bag. He looks past her at Casey. “So...you two are dating?” It doesn’t seem so much a question as an attempt to confirm the rumors and lingering suspicions.

“Um, we’re...” She pauses thoughtfully. “Yeah, we are.” It’s the first time she has openly admitted it to anyone other than Wallace or her dad, and it feels good. A part of that is probably due to the fact that Duncan seems to be handling it well. No sudden outbursts, no name calling courtesy of the ‘09ers. It’s almost...normal.

“This probably isn’t the best time to tell you this, but...” He looks around nervously as if he’s trying to decide what to do. “Logan called me last week. I figured you’d find out sooner or later, so...”

“Is he okay? Where is he?” The questions fall out of her mouth faster than she can form them. “What --”

“He’s okay,” Duncan interrupts. “He called from a pay phone on the road.”

Veronica nods in understanding. He’s on the move. He doesn’t want to be found.

“What did he say?” she asks.

Did he ask about me? That’s what she really wants to ask, and Duncan knows it because he’s giving her a sad, desperate look. She’s not sure if she wants to cry or smack that look right off his face.               

“You look -- You looked happy back there,” he says, nodding towards the booth. “Don’t let him ruin that.”

He leaves her with that, feeling like her world has been turned on its axis. Casey is talking to her back at the booth, but she doesn’t hear anything he says. The words float past her like signs on a freeway. All she can think about is where he is or what he’s doing, and why it needs to be so far away from Neptune, from her. Then, suddenly, she feels furious. She’s furious that he can do this to her, mess with her mind and heart, and her life, like this with just the mention of his name.

Across the booth, Casey is looking at her concernedly, reaching across the table for her hand, and she can’t decide whether she wants to kick Logan’s ass or go after him.

---

Veronica’s not afraid of her classmates. She can stare them down with the best of them. She’s not afraid of the police. Sheriff Lamb is the inevitable butt of a joke somewhere, somehow, right now. She’s not afraid of the truth either. She certainly proved that last year.

But there is one thing Veronica is afraid of: herself. She lets doubt eat away at her until she’s ruined some of the best things in her life. Then, she runs. It’s a repeat cycle. She’s in the midst of it again when Casey comes up to her and Wallace in the hallway and announces, “We need to talk.”

Wallace looks between them awkwardly. “And that’s my cue to leave. Later,” he says, backing away slowly.

“In here?” Casey says, pointing to the nearest classroom. Veronica nods, following him inside.

“I hope this isn’t a ploy to get in some make-out time before class,” she says, smiling. “‘Cause I don’t think you’ll be able to uphold your masculinity with lipstick all over your face.”

“What’s going on with you, Veronica?” Casey asks abruptly, and the smile on her face immediately falls. “You’ve been acting weird ever since we went out to dinner. You don’t return my calls. You pretend you don’t see me at school. I know we agreed on low-key and secret, but this is turning into practically nonexistent.”

“I know,” she says guiltily.

“Is it something Duncan said that night?” Veronica looks up surprised. “It is, isn’t it? What did he say?”

He’s starting to look angry, and Veronica knows that she’s given him the wrong impression.

“It’s not like that,” she says. “He was actually pretty...accepting about us.” Casey waves his hand in a “well then” gesture, pressing her to continue. “He told me Logan called him.”

The anger drains from his face, and is replaced by something else entirely, something that Veronica thinks looks like disappointment. He turns around, his back to her as he leans against a chair, and lets out an exasperated sigh.

“I’m falling for you, Veronica. I’m tripping over my own two feet here,” he says, facing her once again, and waving his hand between their bodies. “Hell, I’ve landed flat on my face. For you,” he adds dramatically. “You can’t keep doing this to me. You can’t tell me I have to wait, which I do, patiently, and then tell me you’re ready only to run off at the first mention of Logan’s name.”

“You’re falling for me?” she asks quietly, her eyes wide. He looks at her as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry. Be sure.”

“When Duncan told me about Logan...it threw me for a loop,” she starts, and he looks at her skeptically, wondering where this is leading. “It was the first time I had to think about you and him, against each other, since we’d started dating. And I didn’t know how to react to that, so I ran from you. I doubted us, and I shouldn’t have. You’re here. You didn’t run away, and you never have.” She takes his hand in hers, pulling him closer. “I want you, Casey. I’m sure of that.”

“Yeah?” he asks, giving her the same shy smile he did when she finally told him she wanted to go out with him.

“Yeah,” she says, burying her face in the crook of his neck. “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up.”

---

He shows up one evening on her doorstep with a bouquet of tulips, and the most glorious smile she has ever seen. She just looks at him quizzically until he says, “Happy three-month anniversary.”

Oh.

“I’m...I’m sorry, Casey. I...” she stumbles to find the words.

He shakes his head. “It’s okay. I know it’s small and stupid. I just...I wanted to do something special.”

“It’s not stupid.” She smiles, sniffing the flowers. “I just stopped counting a while ago. The moment we passed the marker on my last relationship, I pretty much considered this,” she waves between them, “a success.”

She pulls him inside, and he watches from the couch as she puts the flowers into some water. She can feel his eyes on her, and smiles to herself.

“I have a surprise for you,” he says.

“You mean besides the revelation that it’s our three-month anniversary?”

Suddenly, he is behind her, his arms wrapping themselves around her waist. “Get your coat,” he whispers against her neck, and she shivers involuntarily. “Your dad isn’t going to get mad if I take you out this late, is he?”

“No,” she shakes her head, “he’s out of town.”

On the road, as the hours pass by, she begs to know to where they’re going, but Casey maintains his restraint. She puts her detective skills to use, prodding him with questions, but he just remarks, “This isn’t a game of twenty questions. You’ll find out when we get there.”

But that doesn’t stop her from guessing. Casey just smiles, and shakes his head, “No.”

“Damn. I’m usually much better at this,” she says, flopping back against the seat defeated.

“Have I stumped the mighty Veronica Mars?” He sighs contently. “Finally. I can die happy now.”

“I wouldn’t count on it.” Casey just snickers, and Veronica smiles to herself, looking out the passenger window. Halfway there, about forty-five minutes ago, she knew. Still, an hour later, when Casey pulls into a parking lot, she puts on her best “surprised” face and smiles broadly.

It’s the diner, the one from their impromptu road trip. Veronica feels warm inside even though she could have sworn the weatherman said the heat wave was finally gone.

“Casey...” She leans over the console and kisses him deeply. She tangles her fingers in his hair, pulling him closer. He wraps his arms around her waist, his fingers grazing the open flesh between her jeans and the hem of her shirt. She gasps into his mouth at the touch.

“I take it you like your surprise,” he says when they finally break apart.

“I love my surprise,” she says, smiling broadly. They’re both silent for a minute, the air crackling between them, as they contemplate the words unspoken.

He leads her inside, and they both order breakfast for dinner in honor of the first time they were here. They spot their waitress from the last trip, who greets them, “Hey, pajama guy!” and Veronica laughs. After dessert, Casey looks at his watch and remarks that it’s late. When she casually suggests that they get a room and stay here for the night, Casey’s eyes widen momentarily.

His hand is on hers as she turns the key to the hotel room, and she turns to look at him. The air is heavy with expectations once again. They both know where this is going. But there is also fear and hesitancy in his voice when he whispers her name so quietly, she almost doesn’t hear it. She nods her head, pushing the door open behind her.

“The heat wave is finally gone,” he says, straining to fill the thick air.

“Not quite,” she says breathlessly, reaching up to kiss him.

They stumble back into the room, mouths fused, hands grasping. Casey pushes the door closed with a kick, and then slips off her jacket, letting it fall to the floor. She moans as his hands slip under the back of her shirt, the cool of his palms pressing against her warm skin.

She’s spread out beneath him on the bed, with only her bra and underwear left to hide the flush of her skin, when he breaks away abruptly from her neck.

“Have...have you done this before?” he asks softly. He brushes back her hair from her face with his right hand.

She nods, leaning into his touch. “Once. With Duncan. But we were both pretty out of it, so it wasn’t really...memorable.” Understatement of the year, she thinks to herself.

“Okay,” he says simply.

She parts her legs, letting his body fall between her thighs, and pulls his face close to hers, fingers grazing his cheeks. With a nervous smile, she says, “Okay,” and pushes up against him.

The rest of their clothes are lost quickly, and Veronica gasps as each article of clothing hits the floor. She breathes in deeply as Casey looks straight into her eyes and slowly enters her. This is it, she thinks. It’s really happening now, and this time, she’s going to remember it. She grips his shoulders tightly, and thinks that maybe she can’t save anybody else, but right now, Casey is helping her save herself.

Later that night, as she drifts off to sleep besides him, his arms and legs strewn across her body, she realizes that he’s been helping her save herself for three months now.

---

Most girls try to imagine what their first time will be like. Veronica tries to imagine what her first time was like. But there are too many details and feelings she can’t recover, and so, she tries to imagine what her second time will be like.
               
This isn’t what she had imagined.
                                       
And that’s okay.

The End