4 4. Love in the heart

NOTE

★ Initiative: This story participates in the "Tana Libera Fill WEEK" event by We are out for prompt

★ Prompt / Track: LoVe. "He looks at her from afar. He's eager to tell her he's alive. But he can't. Not until he's undercover." By Tania Desideri

Logan waited in the waiting room in his upright and rigid position, while absentmindedly smoothing his hands on his camouflage uniform and staring into space.

Not far from there he could hear a murmur of a voice, he saw several uniforms pass by like his or above to which he greeted; he was happy to be alive, obviously he would never have thanked them enough for saving his life, but that would not have happened so easily.

He was waiting for the answer, but he was well aware of what it means, of the great sacrifice they were about to ask him and he turned his gaze elsewhere.

Logan got lost in the meanders of his mind and although he had promised himself not to, he let himself go to the only happy moment of those last times, obviously besides all the times he had held Veronica in his arms, to their kisses of fire and that complicity that distinguished them.

Keith and Wallace were looking at Veronica, asking her where Logan was and she shrugged immediately after looking at the phone for a message.

The justice of the peace looked at the girl in front of him, waited, and when she was about to ask one more time what she should do, she saw Logan approach.

"I'm on my way, let's do it," he said holding the flaps of his jacket and then smiling at the beautiful woman in front of him.

The look of bewilderment in their eyes was clear, Veronica brought her phone in front of her face, where the message said only the word "Sorry" and Logan hastened to say it was Siri's fault. A moment of panic that passed quickly, even though in their expressions he still echoed her delay and the fear that he might leave her.

"I'm here now, there's nowhere, where I'd rather be," Logan said taking her hands and looking at her, while her eyes lit up and a sincere smile appeared on her face.

The judge invited them to follow them, no one paused on them, but they both looked at each other realizing, perhaps only then, the gesture they were about to make.

"Maybe you can tell me later why Principal Clements was on the radio, describing me as a hero, even though I couldn't hear everything," Logan asked, sliding his arm to his side and taking Veronica's hand as Keith and Wallace followed.

"Oh yes, maybe," she admitted shrugging and continuing to walk, overshadowing that information.

The justice of the peace positioned himself in front of them, Veronica and Logan found themselves facing each other, she in a beautiful, simple and short white dress and he in a simple but elegant dress leaving open the jacket that showed the his sculpted chest and the muscles that were wrapped in the white shirt.

"Logan do you want to take Veronica as your rightful wife?" the judge asked, asking the usual question, addressing the young man.

"I do," he confirmed smiling, squeezing Veronica's hands and not taking her gaze from her blue eyes.

"You Veronica want to take Logan as your rightful husband?" and he asked her the question he had asked Logan before her, just clearing her throat.

Veronica stood looking at Logan, she swallowed imperceptibly, decided to memorize that moment, to trace the contours of Logan's face in her mind, to remember her smiling lips and shining eyes.

"Yes, why not," she replied amused, shaking her head and smiling, knowing that that moment would have bound them forever.

"By the power conferred on me by the state of California, I declare you husband and wife," said the judge, smiling and looking at them once again for that loving and happy expression painted on their faces.

Logan and Veronica looked at each other, trembling and smiling in their simple attire, intimate ceremony and frenzy to unite and make it forever.

"This is kiss time," Logan suggested to the happy judge, but he shrugged saying he was just a civil servant.

"It's your call," Veronica warned him, wrinkling her nose and inviting him to seal that moment with a kiss, one of which she would always remember.

"Excuse me if I'm not traditional," Logan admitted with a crooked smile as he approached his body as Veronica simultaneously leaned towards him.

And so, between the applause of his father, his best friend, the two hugged each other in a kiss that had the flavor of promises and a future that belonged only to them.

Oh, at least that was how it was supposed to go.

Logan was called back to reality with a strong brutality, the same one that exuded the voice of the lieutenant who was giving him his name.

"Logan Echolls," she called a second time and, even though he didn't want to, he stood up and ran a hand quickly over the uniform.

"Here I am, I'm coming," he whispered, but the sound that came out of his voice was higher than he would have liked, so as he walked in his direction, the footsteps took him even further away from Veronica and before entering the room with the superiors he wore his best fake smile.

The door closed behind him with the knowledge that everything would change that day.

It had been several months, the news of Logan's death was just a whisper in the wind, but if the city had somehow been able to forget it Veronica certainly hadn't.

His life had changed so many times that he had lost count, yet shrugging his shoulders, shifting his weight from one leg to the other, he raised the camera in front of his face and started taking some photos.

He had given her everything, but at the same time it had been ripped from him and ... it was no use investigating, there were no leads to start, points to rely on, it was like ... it was as if Logan Echolls was never existed.

She knew that it was not so, his heart still in pieces was proof of it, but even if she wanted to go forward with her whole body, this time her head in agreement with her heart would not allow it.

Logan had returned to Neptune after months of absence, he had now learned to be invisible, to hide from the eyes of people and to observe from afar. He made no difference doing it now, in his city, even if the emotions they felt set him apart from his work. He observed how her always sunny and smiling face hid behind a mask of sadness, how her way of seeing the world had died out behind automatic gestures and she saw that, once again, of that strong and determined girl he remembered, there is no it was more trace. He looked at her from a distance, he was eager to tell her that he was alive, that everything he was going through would soon be over, but even he did not know how soon it was that he was convinced to affirm. He was still well hidden when he saw Keith Mars come out of her and call her daughter back into her house, when her father's arms surrounded her aware that she was lost again in the memories and pain of that day . Her hands quivered with the desire to do the same, her legs couldn't stay still and all he wanted was to go to her, but he couldn't.

No, she couldn't do that until he was undercover and, what was killing her was slowly happening with Logan too.

What made him resist? Just the thought of her protecting her, that all those sacrifices would go to keep her safe, even though she couldn't know that. He looked at her one last time, imprisoned her gestures, her facial expressions and every little detail of her in her mind, she turned and retraced her steps.

He would be free again and then ... only then would they love each other without any time limits and without haste, living every moment of that great epic love story.