Wednesday Janet was about ready to go home when Jake strode into Sully's, "Hey how's it going?"

She turned to face him and smiled, "You tell me. I haven't seen you since Sunday. How did the game go?"

"Was a good game. I had to cut out early, but I caught the end at home," Jake explained. He walked up to her and sat down on a stool nearby. "So listen, I was wondering if you were free for a pre-date date right now."

Janet smiled, "A pre-date date," she repeated, "How does that go?"

"Well it's the preamble of a date in the form of another date," Jake explained.

"Okay," she chuckled, "Why do we need a pre-date?"

"Well for one, Friday is two whole days away and I just don't think I can wait that long," Jake said seriously.

"Has anyone ever told you that you're amazingly well equipped with words?" Janet asked smiling. Jake smiled nervously and rocked back and forth on his heels. "Okay, sure. Let's go on a pre-date." Janet felt weird even saying it.

"Great," he said taking her hand and leading them to a nearby booth.

"Here?" she asked with a face, "I work here."

"So all the better. You'll know what's good on the menu," he winked.

"Alright," she said picking up a menu, "Burgers are really good here…oh! I almost forgot, you know that. You ordered 18 of them the other day," she teased and he grinned.

He reached out for her hand across the table and she looked up at him from the menu, "There is another reason to have a pre-date. There's something you don't know about me."

Janet pulled her hand away, sat back in her seat and mumbled, "Oh here comes the bag of hair."

"The what?" Jake asked leaning in.

"Nothing. What don't I know about you?" she asked point blank.

The coolness in her voice made him nervous, "Uh, what do you say we skip dinner and I just take you and show you what I'm talking about?"

"Fine," Janet said tossing the menu on the table and getting up.

They drove for a good ten minutes before Janet asked, "Are we getting closer?"

"Just relax we're almost there," Jake said glancing at her.

"At least give me a hint," Janet said looking out of her window at a perfectly good, clean, decent neighbourhood. Her deductive reasoning kicked in and she figured that if Jake was the real world version of Patrick Bateman, he wouldn't live in a good neighbourhood like this.

"No hints," he said.

A long pause and then, "You know if you wanted to kill me, there were many dumpsters you could dispose my body off back in town," she said only half-jokingly.

"We're here," Jake said pulling up into a driveway.

"Whose place is this?" she asked looking at the beautiful home in front of her.

"Mine," he replied simply. Before another word was said, a little girl, no older than four came running out of the house, followed by a nanny-looking woman.

"Frankie get back here," the lady scolded standing akimbo at the porch.

The girl jumped into Jake's arms, "You're home! You're home!"

Jake laughed and he kissed her cheek, "Are you troubling Mirabelle again?" he asked the girl and she nodded shyly when she spotted Janet.

Janet stood still, not physically able to move a muscle, "Whose…"

"Mine," Jake responded with a smile, "Frankie, this is my friend Janet. Say hello," he instructed.

"Hello," the little girl greeted politely.

"Hi Frankie," Janet said kindly waving at her, "How old are you?"

"Four," Frankie replied holding up five fingers and Jake and Janet laughed.

"Listen, Shortcake, why don't you go back inside with Mirabelle and I'll be up there to tuck you in in a minute."

"Okay," she replied and hopped out of her father's arms and ran back up. He watched her leave, with fondness in his eyes Janet couldn't explain. Her heart tightened and suddenly she found herself more attracted to Jake than she ever did in the past week.

"You have a daughter?" she asked finally.

"Yep," Jake said sticking his hands in his pockets, "That's kind of what I wanted to tell you. My wife died about three years ago and… uh…"

Janet reached out and took his hand in hers, "And?"

"Well she was only one," Jake said quietly. Then he looked up at her and smiled ruefully, "I realised that when I asked you out I didn't tell you about her, and I just thought if you found out about her later, you might get mad at me for not telling you sooner."

"Hey, do I look upset ?" she smiled at him, rubbing her thumbs lightly on the back of his hand.

He smiled slightly, "No, but aren't you… I don't know, surprised?"

"Well yeah! I mean I wasn't expecting her, but…," she paused for a second to think of the right words to say, "Jake it doesn't bother me. In fact I happen to think that she's gorgeous," she grinned.

Jake smiled relief sweeping over his face, "So you're not mad?"

"No," she shook her head.

Jake tugged on her hand and pulled her towards him. She looked up at him as his lips descended on hers for a sweet kiss. When they pulled apart he whispered, "Thank you."

They walked along the street until the sun had finally set, they held hands and laughed about things that went on at the bar or on the site where Jake worked.

"Four. That means you were really young when you had her," Janet said glancing up at him.

He nodded, "About twenty-six."

"Wow," she said, "Frankie... it's a unique name for a girl," she said thoughtfully.

Jake laughed, "Francesca. Her mother and I liked the idea of a girl's name that had a boy nickname. I wanted a boy, she wanted a girl. When Frankie was born I wanted to name her Joe."

"No way!" Janet laughed.

"It's true. Joe DiMaggio is the best baseball player who ever lived. I wanted my daughter to bear his name."

"Why not Josephine?"

"Meh. Too common," Jake said and Janet laughed softly, shaking her head.

"So have you dated anyone else since your wife passed?" Janet asked him.

Jake inhaled sharply and looked up at the sky then back down at her, "No. Call me chicken, but I just couldn't make up my mind to bring any women into our lives."

Janet blushed, "But… but you asked me out."

Jake grinned, "Yeah…," he said teasingly, "you didn't give me much of a choice did you?" Janet looked at him quizzically, "That first day that I came into the bar… it wasn't for the stupid burgers," Janet smiled in realisation, "Don't get me wrong, those were killer burgers. But That wasn't why I came in."

"Oh," she looked down, turning red, "Why did you ask me out?"

Jake shrugged, "Free beer whenever I want." Janet swatted him in the arm and he laughed, "I don't know. I was ready, and you were… you were great. You're funny, and sweet… and you don't have any hidden agenda. I like that."

She smirked, "How do you know I don't have any hidden agenda? This could be one big rouse to get your money."

Jake chuckled, "Somehow I doubt that."

"Seriously though Jake," she said turning to him as they reached the end of the street, "Thank you for trusting me as much as you have." Jake chuckled again and looked down at his feet, "God, is it just me or is this way too intense for first date conversation?" she joked and they both laughed heartily.

"I guess we should be glad it's not a first date then huh?" He said softly.

"Right," she said smiling, "A pre-date."

"Yeah," he replied. As the stars came out one by one, and blanketed the night sky, Jake leaned in and kissed her again.

[A little too sappy for my taste but I hope you enjoyed.:) Oh yeah, sorry for all the serial killer and bag of hair scares there…:P Had to be done, I'm afraid.]