Opening line: It was a trip of a lifetime, and yet

It was a trip of a lifetime, and yet Veronica couldn’t bring herself to be excited about it. Logan had planned the entire trip, seven days in Scotland, seven days she could guarantee that Logan wouldn’t be called away to some unnamed part of the Middle East or South American country. Mac and Wallace were even going to spend the first half of the trip with them before they hopped on a train over to Istanbul or Croatia or where ever their hearts took them for their honeymoon. (Not that Veronica and Logan were crashing their honeymoon or anything weird. They had all set up the trip months ago; Mac and Wallace had just chosen to take advantage of the trip by getting married at City Hall the day before.)
There was even a chance that they would meet up with Duncan and Lily for a day. There really wasn’t anything missing from this trip.
So why was Veronica so hesitant to take this trip?
“Mars Investigations,” she said distractedly as she answered the office phone. “Detective Mars speaking.”
“Detective Mars should be halfway on her way home,” a woman’s voice said through the phone. Veronica smiled, leaning back in her chair.
“Well, well, if it is not the newly married woman who lives in the apartment below me,” Veronica said. “Already bored of that husband of yours? Has his true colors come out, his gambling problem you need help proving before he takes all your money? Has he asked you to hack into the local basketball team’s stats to give a boost?”
“You have no idea what you’re saying, do you?” Mac laughed.
“Well the gambling I can help with. The hacking stats to help the gambling problem….no that got a bit away from me. I know I’m running late; I’m about to head out the door.”
“Uh huh,” Mac said dryly. Veronica heard her moving around her apartment, Wallace talking lowly in the background. “”Your boyfriend sent me a text to inform you that your flight is in five hours and that we are to make sure you are on it, no matter what conmen or cheating scoundrels may be lurking around Neptune.”
Veronica smiled at this, though it didn’t quite meet her eyes. Mac had somehow on hit the multiple reasons she was dreading this trip. Of course Logan would realize this. “No, no, I can trust my old man to take pictures of the cheating scum bag of Neptune. But the conmen….my inheritance is on the line here. Seriously, Mac, I am walking out the door now. I need to get Pony over to my dad’s anyways, and you know that’s going to require so many treats and kisses.” She looked at the massive dog sleeping in the middle of the office, in front of the window’s rays.
“Okay, I’ll have Wallace call and remind you to get your ass out of your chair in half an hour. See you soon, V!”
Veronica scoffed at the idea that she would need a second reminder, then opened her laptop and checked her emails again. She hadn’t heard from Duncan in a few days, which shouldn’t worry her as Logan was with him. After fifteen years of being on the run, Logan had secretly tracked them down with the help of his government sources after Veronica started having a row of irrationally bad dreams in which Lily, Duncan’s now teenage daughter, was in danger. Veronica wasn’t one to believe in prophecies or anything ridiculous like that, but she did believe in her gut when it was telling her something was bad.
Sighing, she grabbed Pony’s harness and leash, unable to delay the inevitable anymore. She needed to get to Keith and Alicia’s house and take Pony for a walk before heading to the airport. Thankfully she had put her bags in her car before her side trip to work, or she really would be worried about catching the flight on time.
“Oh ew,” she said, as a thought struck her. She opened her phone and clicked on a group chat containing Mac, Wallace, and Logan, and typed “no joining the mile high club, you two. Maybe I should hop on a later flight?”
Wallace responded almost immediately, “Don’t be gross, V,” which was shortly followed by Mac’s “can’t join what you’re already a member of,” making Veronica laugh. She really was happy for the two of them finally tying the knot after three years of dating. Especially if it meant she could include how she had found them making out in the closet at the high school reunion in her speech. A speech hat both Mac and Wallace had sworn was unnecessary as there wasn’t a traditional wedding or party afterwards.
That didn’t stop Veronica from standing up in the middle of Lobster Charlie’s and giving the speech to an entire room of strangers.
Pony tugged on his leash, bringing Veronica back to the real world. He sniffed at the door frame, doing a step that Veronica knew well. “Oh no you don’t,” she said, pulling him out the door and locking the office. “Dad will kill me if you mark the door again. It has your scent, Pony. No evil cats will venture in here without seriously thinking about it first.”
She let him pee on the tree outside the office and sniff around a little bit before talking him into the car and heading over to her dad’s house. Wallace’s younger brother was supposed to be home from grad school this weekend, and he loved to take Pony on his runs.