"Mike has a new place." Blip said, coming into Ginny's locker room. Ginny rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, right." Mike's love for his ridiculous Big Brother is watching nightmare was dwarfed only by his love for his beard. There was no way he'd given it up.

"He does." Blip said.

"There's no way he's giving it up." Ginny scoffed. "He described it as his Monticello, his Mont Vernon."

Blip's eyes narrowed. "I'm hoping you called him out on comparing himself to slave owning presidents."

"Oh definitely." Ginny said, smirking at that memory of Mike's sputtering face as he desperately tried to come up with a better analogy. Blip tilted his head and gave her a calculating look that she wasn't sure what to do with before he sad,

"Well, he's done it."

There was a knock on the door. Mike stuck his head in. "House warming, my new place. Bring booze."

"You don't have a new place."

Mike sighed. "Oh of course, I just hand out 3 million dollars for the fun of it." He shook his head. "I'll text you the address." He moved to leave.

"There's actually a house?" Ginny got up and followed him. He stopped and smirked.

"No, Baker you got me. I'm breaking into a stranger's house to throw myself a housewarming."

"Well, senility is a side affect of your advanced years." Ginny shot back. Mike threw up his hands.

"Come or don't come. Won't change the fact that I have a new house."

He had bought a house. Not just any house. Mike had bought the house. The house Ginny had been secretly jogging by 3 times a week. It was the house that she pictured living in when she started to feel like her spot on the Padres was secure. It was her dream house. She hadn't even known it was on the market...but apparently it was and Mike Lawson had bought it. Mike had bought her dream house.

"BAKER" Mike shouted from the entrance. She'd frozen to the spot on the bottom of the walkway, mesmerized by the front door. She swallowed, glaring at him.

"What?"

"See." He said, motioning to the house. "Told ya." He walked all the way to her, throwing an arm around her shoulders and tugging her inside. "Come, I'll give you the tour."

Every room was perfect. He couldn't have decorated it himself. She'd seen his old place and it had been the result of a cheap one night stand between a villain lair and a piece of modern glass sculpture. This...this was so...domestic.

"And here's the yard." He said, opening the sliding door and leading her out. "Well, what do you think?" He was looking at her eagerly. He'd pushed through all of the guests, not allowing any of them to interfere with his tour, but now...now the two of them were outside while the rest of the guys and their guests were getting trashed inside the house. Ginny bit her lip.

"It's..." She struggled to find the words. "It's not what I expected."

Mike glanced inside and put his hand on her elbow, leading her further away from the noise of the party. It was cool outside and she had a full view of the sky above their heads. "Well...I've been doing a lot of thinking lately." He said. "I'm out."

"Out." She repeated. Surely he couldn't mean...but he was nodding his head. She swallowed. "You're retiring."

He nodded. "I am. At the end of this season. The doctor said I might end up in a wheel chair if I keep pushing myself the way I do. Frankly I think he was being dramatic, but...I drove home, drank a six pack and got to thinking...I really hate my old place. Mostly I bought it because I knew it was the exact opposite of what Rachel would have liked and it's not healthy to focus on buying things because of what other people think. So I went for a drive and...I saw this place. The realtor was putting the for sale sign in the lawn and..." He was grinning, Ginny had never seen him so carefree. "So I parked the car. Walked up to her and asked how much and..." He motioned to the yard. "Here we are."

"Here we are." She echoed.

"So..." He turned to look back at her. "Do you like it?"

She shifted, unsure why his question unsettled her so much. "I thought you weren't going to pay attention to what other people think."

"You're not other people, Ginny."

It didn't escape her notice that he'd used her first name...or that he'd placed her in a different category than his ex wife. He wanted her opinion for a reason. A reason that had something to do with what had almost happened the last time he'd used her first name. A reason that they'd avoided talking about, even through her injury and rehab, her failed relationship with Noah and his second falling out with Rachel. Her opinion clearly meant something to him, which meant that he was counting her in his post retirement plans. She looked back at the house. It was fitting, she decided. Mike had made her feel secure. He'd been there for her whenever she needed him during the aftermath of her injury. It made sense that he'd bought the house that she'd wanted to call home.

"Honestly?" She whispered, acutely aware of the way he'd stepped closer and seemed to be holding his breath. "It's perfect."