Fic: Hazardous Working Conditions (1/1) R

TITLE: Hazardous Working Conditions
AUTHOR: Laura Smith
PAIRING: Veronica/Lamb
RATING: R
SUMMARY: Who's the Girl Scout
DISCLAIMER: Veronica Mars and all the characters therein belong to people who are not me. I make no profit from this, I just like playing with them.



“Who’s the girl scout?”

Keith looked up from the file on his desk. He didn’t have to glance over Lamb’s shoulder to the young blonde sitting in a chair and swinging her legs. He smiled. “That’s Veronica.”

“She’s cute.”

“She’s my daughter.”

Lamb held up his hands in surrender, smirking at Keith’s icy tone. “Don’t worry, Sheriff. Just looking. I wasn’t going to touch.”

Keith came around his desk and closed the distance between him and Lamb. “She’s fourteen years old. Don’t even look.”

**

“Inga!” Lamb marches out of his office and up to the front desk. “I don’t suppose you have some sort of explanation for this?” He slaps the file down on the front desk and taps it with his finger as the blonde turns around. He knows it’s not Inga, but by the time his brain catches up to his eyes, Veronica Mars is staring at him. “What the fuck are you doing at my front desk?”

“Careful, Sheriff.” She holds out a can. “You’re going to have to put a dollar in the cursing jar.”

His eyes run up and down the length of her sedate outfit. “Can I see you in my office, Miss Mars?”

“I really shouldn’t leave my post.” She leans forward and drops her voice to a loud whisper. “It’s my first day on the job all by myself. If I mess up, I’m afraid I might get fired.”

“I’ll put in a good word with your boss,” he assured her with a smirk. “My office, Mars. Now.”

He waits for her to proceed him, following too close. She glances back at him over her shoulder and gives him a smile that causes him to clench his hands into fists. He walks into his office and shuts the door.

“You want to explain this?”

She glances at his desk. “I brought you coffee and doughnuts.”

“Right. Like I’d eat anything that you gave me.” He grabs the file off his desk and holds it up. “This, Mars.”

“Okay, I’m new at this whole office thing,” she smiles widely, “but I think it’s a file.”

“I know that everyone feeds your ego, Mars, but trust me when I tell you you’re not funny. Why the fuck is this on my desk?”

“The case isn’t closed?”

“I’m going to tell you a little secret, Mars.” He closes the distance between them, his own hard smile growing as she takes an involuntary step back. “You’re here so I can keep an eye on you.”

“Should I make my skirts shorter?”

“But if I so much as catch you looking at anything I don’t expressly allow you to? I’m going to have you in a cell faster than you can say ‘I want a phone call’.” He tosses the file back on his desk. “You’re dismissed.”

**

“So, what’s up, Nancy Drew?”

Veronica blushed and shrugged, looking away from Lamb. “Is my dad here?”

“He’s out on a call.” He patted the chair next to his desk. “Have a seat.”

“I sit there and people are going to think you’re booking me.” She held out her hands. “You going to arrest me, Deputy?”

“I put you in handcuffs and your dad’s going to think I’m doing something wrong, not the other way around.” She blushed again and smiled, looking away from him. He leaned back in his chair, folding his hands behind his head. “You still 14, Mars?”

“Fifteen.” She informed him, her smiling changing, hardening slightly. “Are you still a dirty old man, Deputy?”

He leaned forward and caught her wrist in his hand, tugging it gently. “Wouldn’t you like to know.”

**

“Fuck!” He slams his fist onto his desk then grabs his wallet, tossing a dollar bill toward the door. The station is unusually silent as he tugs the headphones off his head and lets them fall onto his blotter. He doesn’t look up as the shadow crosses the edge of his desk. “Your dollar is on the floor, Mars.”

“You’re here late. I thought you’d gone home.”

“Yeah, well, you thought wrong.” He rubs his eyes and leans back in his chair, blocking the sight of her with the heels of his palms. “Why are you here?”

“Working the late shift.” He hears her try to stifle a yawn. “But this is even more boring that calculus.”

“Sorry I can’t provide a drug dealer or murderer for your benefit.” He grabs the headphones and puts them back around his neck. “Go home, Mars.”

“Is that the phone call?”

He closes his eyes and curses under his breath, shaking his head. “There’s a fifty in my wallet. Just stuff it in your jar and go home.”

“Wow, it’s a good thing everyone else is either home or out on a call because that sounded like a pick up line to me.”

“Mars, I wouldn’t touch you with a 10 foot pole.” He puts the headphones back on. “Go home, schoolgirl.”

**

“You’re cute.” Lamb looked up from his file and smiled automatically at the brazen blonde sitting in the chair next to his desk. She put her elbow on a mug shot book and leaned in. “I’m going to have to punish Veronica for keeping you all to herself.”

“Is that what she’s doing?”

“Well, she certainly isn’t sharing.” She slid her hand along his arm. “I’m Lilly.”

“I’m too old for you.”

“No one’s too old for me.” Her eyes danced and her smile widened. “What’s your name?”

“Deputy.”

“Ooh. I like a man in power.” She straightened as the Sheriff’s door opened and Veronica came out. “So, Deputy, are you going to ask Veronica to the prom?”

“Lilly!” Veronica blushed and shook her head.

“What? I figured you dad would want an armed escort for you. Right, Sheriff Mars?”

Keith’s eyes were cool as they swept across Lamb to Lilly. “I’m sure Duncan will keep her safe and sound.”

“That Duncan.” Lilly’s smile hardened slightly. “He’s a boy scout.” She turned back to Lamb as Veronica started talking to her dad. “But then, I bet you’re always prepared, aren’t you Deputy?”

“Your friend’s waiting for you.”

“She’ll want a bad boy soon enough,” Lilly assured him quietly so Veronica couldn’t hear. “You going to wait around for her?”

**

Veronica watches him warily at night now. He can feel her eyes on him as he paces his office, the damn headphones on his head. They haven’t found anything on the bus that indicates an explosion, so he keeps listening to the damn thing over and over again. Despite what Keith Mars might think, he’s a good cop. Maybe he doesn’t always dig deeper, but he always finds a bad guy – even if it’s not always the right one. The acoustics lab had singled out the sounds of the explosion, but no one seemed to be able to figure out what was exploding, though they’d ruled out a blown tire.

“Fuck.”

He tosses a dollar from his pocket onto the floor, catching the quirk of her lips out of the corner of his eye. Her curse jar is probably full enough to pay for her college education by now. He stops pacing as she stands in the door.

“What?”

She holds up a cup. “I brought you coffee.”

“Haven’t I already told you that I’ll be spending a cool day in hell before I eat or drink anything you give me?” He tosses another dollar at her.

“I don’t think hell counts. You weren’t using it in the proper context.”

“Pre-emptive strike.” He shakes his head as he looks at her. “Did you need something?”

“I told you. Coffee.” She shakes the cup slightly. “There’s a law against poisoning an officer of the law.”

“Yeah, because you’re all about being an upstanding and law-abiding citizen?” He takes her by the shoulders and turns her around so she’s facing out of his office. “Say goodnight, Mars.”

She turns around again and she’s close to him. Too close. She lifts the cup to her mouth and takes a small sip. “See? Perfectly safe.”

He pushes the cup aside and curves his hand around her cheek in one smooth motion as he lowers his mouth to hers. She gasps and drops the cup, but she doesn’t stop his tongue from sliding into her mouth even as the hot liquid splatters on his leg. She pulls back, blinking, licking her lips.

“That…that will cost you more than a dollar.”

He nods as she backs away, turning sharply as she hears someone call out her name. He watches Duncan Kane walk in and tosses another dollar on the floor, into the pool of coffee. “Fuck.”

**

He looked up as the front door opened, glancing back quickly at the gates to see if the press had arrived before looking back at Veronica. She looked shell-shocked. Her green eyes were wide with emotion and her hands shook as she nearly stumbled down the steps. Pushing off his patrol car, he walked over to her, taking her hand and helping her to her car.

Veronica looked up at him as he opened her front door and helped her sit down. “You’re not fit to drive, Mars.”

“Lilly’s dead.”

“Yeah,” he said softly. “I know.”

Tears fill her eyes and her hands flex as if she wants to grab his uniform. “Lilly’s dead.”

His voice doesn’t break a whisper. “I know.”

She sobbed and grasped at him, her hands clenching in his shirt as he pulled her toward him. Her tears were hot as they soaked the fabric, stinging his skin. He didn’t think about the feel of her or the way her mouth moved against his shoulder as she cried or how soft her hair was.

At least, not until he got home.

**

He doesn’t look up as he hears the clatter of the trash cart, knowing it’s her casting a shadow on his floor. “I’m not cursing, Mars. You’ll have to fund your college education some other way.”

“I just made a fresh pot of coffee. You want a cup?”

He glances up and meets her eyes. She looks nervous, and he smiles. He likes her nervous. “No, thanks. Not in the mood for coffee.” She edges into the office slowly and sits opposite him. He keeps his eyes on her, not letting her look away. “Was there something else you needed, Mars?”

“Have you found anything out about the explosion?”

“Do you really think,” he leans across his desk with a sly smile, “that even if I had, I’d divulge that information to you? You make work for the department, Mars, but you sure as hell don’t work for me.”

“I have a vested interest in this.”

“All the more reason for you not to have anything to do with it.” He straightens and leans his chair back, folding his hands behind his head. “Besides, you’re still something of a suspect.”

“Right. Because I threw the big biker guy over a cliff, right? And, what? Distracted the bus driver with my beauty?”

“Not likely.”

She gets to her feet and shakes her head, huffing out an incredulous sigh. “You really are a piece of work, Deputy.”

His hand strikes out and catches hers at the wrist. Her jerks her forward as he leans in, their faces almost touching. “It’s Sheriff, Mars. Get it right, or I might just have to write you up for insubordination.”

“That would imply that I’m subordinate to you, Deputy.”

“Careful, Veronica,” He laces her name with heat, “or you’re likely to get more than you’re asking for.”

“I don’t want anything from you.”

“Right.” He nods like he believes her, licking his lips, her tongue almost touching hers. She gasps and her lips part. “Nothing at all, right, Mars?”

She swallows. “Nothing.”

He releases her and lets the chair carry him back. “You know, on second thought? I’ll have some of that coffee.”

“The pot’s right over there, Deputy.” Her voice is hard, even though it shakes. “Get it yourself.”

**

He watched her the day she came to help her father clean out his office. She ignored him magnificently until she was carrying out the last box. Her dad was talking to a few of the cops, saying goodbye, even though he knew every single one of them was staying with Lamb, siding with Lamb.

“Need help there, little lady?”

“Trust me, if I needed help, the Sheriff of Neptune is the last person I’d ask for it.” She jerked so the box was out of his reach. “And trust me, you come near me or this box, you won’t mistake me for a lady.”

“Don’t worry, Mars. No one would mistake you for that.” He leaned in and dropped his voice so that only she could hear. “And no one’s going to mistake your daddy for Sheriff again, either.”

“That’s all right, Deputy,” she smirked, lacing the word with sharp malice. “No one will mistake you for Sheriff either.”

**

“You’re not pacing or cursing.” She leans against the doorjamb and crosses her arms over her chest. “Did you crack the case or did you just find some fall guy to pin it on? Oh wait, you’ve already done that.”

“Not that it’s any of your business, Mars,” Lamb doesn’t look up at her as he finishes writing in his file, “but I sent a copy of the tape off to the FBI. So don’t be surprised if the men in black come to visit you.”

“Ooh. I’ll be shaking in my boots.” She uncrosses her arms and stuffs her hands into the back pockets of her pants. “Then what?”

“Why, Veronica Mars. I thought you knew everything.” He smirks at her, his eyes flashing. “We’ve got forensics going over every inch of the bus again. We’ll find whoever did it.”

“Even if it’s me?”

He gets up from his desk and walks over to her, his stride measured and sure. He watches her sharply, noting the slight shift in her weight as she prepares to back away if she needs to. “Oh, Mars,” he leans in until he’s breathing her shivering breath, “especially if it’s you.”

“Veronica?”

She jerks back and hurries to the door of his office without looking back. He can see Duncan at the front desk. Lamb smiles as he watches her walk away from him, her hands fidgeting at her sides.

**

He knew every person at Shelly Pomeroy’s party. Those who were invited, those who weren’t, those who crashed. He knew who drank what and who did who except for who raped Veronica Mars. He couldn’t ask questions without raising suspicions and, for once, the Neptune grapevine was as silent as Lilly was dead.

He had his suspicions, but every single one of them had a rock solid get out of jail free card that smelled like money and the end of Lamb’s career if he so much as whispered Veronica’s name in their ear.

He didn’t feel bad, but he didn’t feel good either. And for a long time he stopped fantasizing about Veronica Mars at night. Until the night she came to see the wizard.

**

Veronica slams three files down on his desk and turns around, heading for the door. He smiles slowly. “What’s your rush, Mars?”

“Those are the files you asked for.”

“I didn’t ask you that.”

She turns around, her eyes flashing and her hair flying. It’s longer now, and he’s not sure if he likes it. “You lied to me.”

He folds his hands behind his head and leans back in his chair. “Did I?”

She closes his office door and stalks back over to his desk. He shifts slightly because he loves the sight of her mad, and cocks an eyebrow. She stops beside the desk and glares down at him. “You said you turned it over to the FBI. You said you were investigating.”

“And I lied?”

“Yes.”

“And how would you know that?”

“There’s no record, no notation of anything. You think you’ve got the guy, so you don’t care. Or maybe you’re being paid off by someone to make this whole thing go away.”

His hand reaches out and grabs her wrist tightly, his thumb rubbing against the throbbing pulse point. “Are you calling me a crooked cop, Mars?”

“Aaron did this,” she forces the words out, her lips pressed tightly together as she finishes the words, her eyes bright with the threat of tears. “He did this to get to me.”

“Is that why you killed Curly Moran?”

“You stupid jackass!” She jerks her hand away, attempting to pull away as he grabs the other one and forces her closer as he sits up in his seat. “I didn’t kill anyone! But someone did!”

“Mars.” She fights against his grip until he exerts force and brings her down to her knees. Her eyes flash angrily at him and she continues to try to pull away. “Mars!” He says it more sharply before grabbing her shoulders and holding her still. “Veronica.”

Her breath is high and shallow in her chest and her lashes are stuck together damply. “What?”

He breathes her in as he leans forward, sinking to his knees in front of her. “You’re the only one with a motive if Aaron was trying to do this.”

“Aaron had him killed to make it look like me to cover his tracks.”

“Covering his tracks wouldn’t have led us right to Aaron.” His hands slide up from her shoulders to her neck, fingers running over flesh and through the silky blonde strands of hair that cling to her skin. “This wasn’t about you.”

“Yes.” She nods, unable or unwilling to look away from him. “Yes it was.”

“No, Veronica.” He licks his lips and finds her mouth, fitting his over it as he whispers another no, reassurance sliding into her mouth on the tip of his tongue.

**

He expects her to pull away, to jerk back, but instead she slides her arms around him, leaning into him, into his kiss. He closes his eyes as she presses her body against his; her breasts hard and tight against his chest as she kisses him back, sucking hard at his tongue. He groans and forces a leg between both of hers, pinning her back against the desk. She whimpers and fists her hands in his short hair, releasing him from the kiss for a moment before claiming his mouth again with her own.

He lets his hands slide down her body, one wrapping around her waist as the other reaches out to the desk, gripping it tightly for support as her hands snake down his back. Her nails dig through the material of his uniform and undershirt and he can’t stop the hot gasp that the pain brings. Veronica laughs, low and sexy despite the slightly hysterical edge. He doesn’t admit to himself how much he wants this – has wanted it. He just tastes her and feels her and thrusts against her, their bodies rocking in their own rhythm.

The sound doesn’t register until she breaks the kiss, pulling back slowly. Her eyes are glazed and her mouth is swollen, and he wonders for a second how she’s going to explain it all away when Duncan picks her up in a few minutes until his brain disengages from his cock and everything falls into place as the ratcheting of the second handcuff fills the room.

Veronica pulls back, the keys to his cuffs in her hand. He glances down to where he’s now hooked to his chair and growls dangerously. “Unlock ‘em, Mars.”

She stands up on shaky legs, her breath still erratic, the scent of need clinging to her as she backs away. “No.” Her hair flies out around her face as she shakes her head. “I know someone will be here in a few hours and you’ll get out, but until then, I want you to think really hard about getting me some answers.”

“I gave you answers, Mars. You just don’t want to hear them.” He smiles and leans back against the wall, the chair moving with him. “Why don’t we talk about what you gave me.”

Her eyes dart down to his waist then back up. She swallows hard. “Just find the connection to Aaron.”

“You know, Mars, that sounds an awful lot like picking a suspect and only looking at the evidence that supports your arrest.” He smiles as she flinches. “From what I hear, that’s a pretty dangerous position to take.” She blushes and takes another step back, glancing toward the clock and then the door. “How are you going to explain your handcuffed boss to your pretty boy boyfriend when he comes in?”

She looks at the door again as her breath shudders out of her. Tossing the keys in front of him, she wraps her hand around the doorknob and shakes her head. “Just find him.” Her pause is long enough for him to let his eyes wander slowly over her, watch her hand shake and her nipples tighten. The scent of sex lingers like a promise. She’s out the door before her words make it back to him. “Whoever he is.”