A/N: I had so much fun reading your reviews yesterday! Many of you didn't see that twist coming. Many of you don't understand some of their choices, but as another reviewer pointed out...humans are messy. Hang in there.

So those of up upset that Jake went on a date, hang on...this is his date. I TOLD you it would get worse before it gets better!


"I'm so glad we finally did this, Jake. I've been flirting with you for months. And I don't flirt," Maggie said as we walked along the raised boardwalk. The trees formed a beautiful canopy that shielded us from the sun, but also made the breeze a little chillier. Maggie looked much more relaxed in her black leggings and long sweater. She always wore nice suits to work and it was nice to see her in a different mode.

"I am too," I said. I wanted to get away from the Casinos and that was about all there was to do in Lake Charles. Casinos and golf. We'd decided to walk around the state park. The trees reminded me of home and I felt a little more at ease. She'd driven because I would have had to check the company car out and she didn't want to deal with the paperwork. That was her job and she thought this would be easier. I happily agreed.

We walked for a little while, enjoying the beauty of southern Louisiana. Maggie pointed out the grunting of the alligators. "My father and brother used to think it was funny to grunt them up. It calls them. They got about five of them to come towards us one day. When I asked them if they were scared they were going to attack, you know what my dumbass brother said? I'll tell you what he said, 'I run faster than so I a'int scared.' Dumbass. That's when I started running as a hobby."

"You're a runner?" I asked. She was walking a few paces in front of me and would turn slightly to the side when she spoke.

"Well, I'm not very good, or very fast, but I can beat that dumbass now," she stated matter-of-factly. She reminded me of Rachel a little bit. "You're a runner, too. I've seen you on the treadmill a few times. You're fast." She must have seen that before we began renting apartments in the different cities. I hadn't used the resort gyms in a few years.

"Well, I set goals for myself. It keeps me sharp. It's also a release." We walked down the boardwalk path that cut through the trees and over the marshy land and stopped to lean on the railing, our arms touching. It was a bit chilly for Louisiana, but it was November.

"So what made you finally ask me?" she asked. Her eyes were bright and inquisitive and she had a hint of a smirk on her face. She was clever and snarky and I knew Rachel would like her.

"Well, my trainer made a deal with me. He's been crazy about this woman he works with, but was too chicken shit to ask her out so I said I'd ask someone out as well. You're the only one who seemed interesting," I answered honestly.

"And why did you have to make a deal with someone? Who broke your heart, Jake?" she asked. She turned to the side and placed her hand on my forearm. It was nice. She was warm, funny, and candid. I caught myself making the mental list and stopped myself. I needed to relax.

"I did. I broke up with my high school girlfriend when she went to college because I was scared she'd find someone better. I've never really gotten over her. And it's my fault."

Her eyes panned mine and she nodded. "So I'm not a rebound, I'm a choice?" she asked. I chuckled.

"I've had plenty of rebounds. I'm tired of rebounds," I said.

"Okay, then," she said. She smirked at me and then walked away. I watched as she headed down the elevated trail. She was attractive and she knew it. She was giving me an opportunity to appreciate her. Her hair swung as she peered over her shoulder and smirked at me. I followed her.

We reached the end of the board walk in silence. She stopped and I stepped down one step and turned to face her. She was taller than most women I've dated, or seen, or whatever you want to call it. She looked into my eyes and bit her lip. I smiled at her and kissed her. Right as our lips touched I thought about how much I liked it when Bella bit her lip. I quickly pushed that to the back of my mind. I was trying to get over Bella, not think about her when I was kissing another woman.

Her arms wrapped around my neck and mine around her waist. She was warm and soft and tasted like peppermint. I deepened the kiss at her gentle insistence and she pressed herself into me. Maggie nipped at my bottom lip and the sucked it in to her mouth. That was a new one for me and I liked it. A. Lot. She was bold without being pushy. She sighed as my tongue stroked hers and I liked that she was patient and appreciative of the moment. As we continued to kiss I could tell she wasn't just out for roll in the hay, she was enjoying the moment of two people attracted to each other.

Two kids ran by giggling and we broke apart. I leaned my forehead on hers and she sighed again. The little boy had stopped the girl, telling her to wait for their parents. I peered over at the kids who were now looking at us. I winked at the little girl who giggled again.

"Uncle Buck says that's a silly thing to do during flu season," she said. Her brother hit her in the arm.

"That's rude!" he chastised her.

"No, she's right," I replied. "And it is flu season. But she's worth the risk." Maggie's hands were resting on my shoulders and her fingers squeezed a little. The sounds of footsteps on the boardwalk signaled the approach of the kids' parents.

"I'm sorry if they bothered you," the mom said.

"No bother at all," Maggie returned with a smile. I didn't move away from her, just turned a little and wrapped my arm around her waist. The parents shuffled their gregarious daughter and protective son down the path and out of sight.

"So, you like kids," Maggie said with a slight smile.

"I do," I replied. "My sister just found out she's pregnant and I am very excited to be an uncle." I'd been thinking about it a lot, actually. I looked down at her and she looked worried.

"Jake, there is something I need to tell you," Maggie said as she pulled away from me. I immediately felt the loss of her heat and was sorry for it. She sat down on the step she was standing on. I peered down the boardwalk and saw no one else was coming so I sat down next to her, blocking the path.

"What is it?" I asked, concerned.

"I don't talk about it much, because I don't want it to interfere with my work. But you've stated that you're kind of done with the casual dating thing, so I assume that you're looking for something a little more serious, and I want to be completely honest with you. Is my assumption correct, or should I just stop now?" she asked.

"Well, your assumption is correct, but I think you should tell me either way, because you have totally peaked my interest," I replied. She looked at me and smiled. The worried look on her face morphed into a determined one.

"I have a son. He's just turned twelve last week," she said and then stopped waiting for my reaction.

"You mean Frankie?" I asked with a chuckle. "That kid is awesome!"

"How did you know?" she whispered, looking totally shocked.

"Who do you think suggested we put in the shoe shine booth for the weekends? Embry overheard you talking on the phone one day when you couldn't find a sitter. He was concerned that we might lose you, so I told him we had to figure out a way he could be with you and earn some money, too," I confessed.

"Jacob Black! That was you!" she gasped and pushed my shoulder. I allowed her shove to move me as I chuckled. "And you knew and still asked me out!" She stopped, her eyes panning mine again, and placed her hands on either side of my face and kissed me hard. It took my breath away. It didn't last long, but it was intense. I could feel all the relief and gratitude and desire in that heated kiss.

"Wow," I sighed. "So the shoe shine stand was a good idea."

"How are you so wonderful?" she asked.

"My sister asks the same thing," I smiled back, but then frowned. "Tell me, why were you so worried about telling me that?"

"Well, I had Frankie when I was sixteen. Most employers see that as a risk. 'Will she be completely committed to the job? She has no self-control. How much is she going to be gone for a sick kid or school activities?'" Maggie did a funny impression of a male voice while she used air quotes to describe what male managers would say.

"Maggie, when we bought that casino, we did a background check on all the managers. All the properties we bought were going under and it was our job to figure out why. We had to figure out who in management was viable and who were the liabilities. We've known about Frankie since we took over four years ago. After our assessment, we concluded that you were one of the biggest reasons the Casino was still afloat. Why would we get rid of you for having a child?"

"I should have known," she said with another smile. She picked up a pebble from the step and threw it.

"Should have known what?" I asked. I grabbed her hand and entwined our fingers.

"When you guys first took over, a lot of people were scared. And they should have been. But when you were finished with the reorganization and I saw who was left, I should have known I didn't have to keep Frankie a secret. You guys took away all the stress of my job after the reorganization. James used to use Frankie against me. He knew how much I needed the job to support him and…" she shuddered and stopped.

"James is an evil motherfucker!" I hissed. "Did he ever," I stopped and turned my body towards her. I took her other hand in mine to comfort her because I needed her to know she could trust me. "Did he ever pressure you for sex?" I asked.

She tried to pull her hands away, and I wouldn't let her. She also wouldn't look at me.

"Maggie?" I asked. I wanted her eyes. I needed to look in her eyes. But she kept them averted. "You can trust me, Maggie. I have attorneys here in Louisiana working on a suit against him from three other women who worked in the casino." Her head shot up.

"Who?" she asked.

"I'm not at liberty to say, unless you are a part of the suit. But we're gonna nail him to the wall. Did he do that to you?" I asked again. She hesitated. I squeezed her hands reassuringly and she looked up.

"Yes," she finally whispered. "But he said since I consented it wasn't rape."

"Did he do it on company property?" I asked. Again, she tried to pull away, the shame rolling off her. I pulled her under my arm and squeezed her reassuringly. "Tell me, you're in no danger from me."

"Yes. He said that why I could never tell because I'd be fired."

"Maggie, you're too valuable of an employee to fire for any reason. Well, if you start stealing from us, but I don't see that happening," I amended. "If you want to be included in this lawsuit, I can make that happen. But I won't lie, they're going to dig up any dirt on you. The way sexual harassment and rape cases are prosecuted in this country is completely backward. We focus too much on the victims' history and not enough on the accused. It might be rough. But we almost have enough where we think he'll settle instead of going to trial."

"Can I think about it?" she asked. She looked at me, her eyes full of pain and confusion.

"Yes. And I think you should talk to Frankie about it, too. He's old enough to understand and he is a bright and inquisitive kid. It's not something you should keep from him."

"He told me you're a regular at his stand. He's the one who told me to start flirting with you. He likes you a lot," she said. "I can't believe you've known the whole time." She shook her head, but she was smiling. "Whew! That was an unexpected turn of a date!"

"Still not bad, though, right?" I asked. She pulled away from me and I let her go.

"Not at all. Just strange." She stood and brushed the back of her legs off.

"Hungry?" I asked, standing up.

"Famished. I get dinner, too?" she asked, but then wrapped her arms around my waist in a tight hug. I wrapped my arms around her and held her. She was sobbing which was completely understandable. I'd just helped her confess something she'd probably bottled up for a very long time. "Thank you," she whispered.

"For what?" I asked, gently.

"For not judging me. For knowing all my secrets and liking me anyway."

I didn't know what to say to that. When she was ready, we walked back to her car. I didn't let go of her hand. She'd just admitted to some very personal things and I wanted to make sure she knew that only increased what I already felt for her.

In the end, we went through a drive thru for food. She admitted that all she could think about was the lawsuit and she needed to go talk to Frankie. I said that was probably a good idea and she drove me back to my apartment.

"So, I didn't scare you away?" Maggie asked after she put the car in park.

"Quite the contrary," I said. I leaned across the consul and placed a chaste peck on her lips and then her nose. "You're an amazing woman, Maggie. You keep doing you and to hell with the bastards in the world."

"You're sister is right about you being a wonder guy." She brought her hand up to cup my cheek. "You control your demons and that's better than not having them at all. Thank you, Jake."

"See you soon," I said. I pressed my lips to hers one more time and exited the car.

That was so not how I envisioned the date going, but it was still good. I threw my keys in the bowl by the door and sat down at my computer. I pulled up the information about the lawsuit and read over my notes again. If Maggie decided to press charges, too, we'd have enough to press for a deal without going to trial. I didn't want to pressure her, though. I wanted this to be her decision.

I pulled out my phone and texted Bella.

Date went well. Ended early, but that was a good thing, too. Don't want to do old stupid Jake shit.

I decided to call Emmett and report to him.

"Hey man!" Emmett's booming voice rang through the room. I'd put him on speaker. "Tell me you finally asked her out!"

"I did. I just got back. She's…well…pretty great," I admitted.

"See, man, you just have to give someone a try," he said. He sounded very happy.

"So what about you? Did you finally aske Rosalie out?" I asked, knowing the answer from the sound of his voice.

"Yeah! And she is AMAAAAZING! She said she admitted she was so mean to me because I never gave her the time of day and that made her angry. When I told her I was just too scared to ask her so I avoided her she just laughed. We've been inseparable ever since. Dude, I'm gonna marry her!" he gushed. "And since you're the reason I finally approached her, I want you to be my best man. Can you be in Vegas in a week?"

"What?" I asked. "You're getting married in a week?"

"When you know, you know. And we both know and we don't want to wait. So, can you make it?" he asked excitedly.

"Emmett, I wouldn't miss this for the world. But would you consider coming here to Lake Charles for your wedding. I'll handle all the arrangements, and it's just as easy to get married here as it is in Vegas. Let me do this for you."

"Man, I can't ask you to do that!" he said.

"You're not asking, I'm offering. And you always said you wanted to go to New Orleans. You can have your honeymoon there. What do you say? Come on? I'll even get the jet to come pick you up and bring you." I really wanted to do this for him. He'd pushed me to be better in so many ways, it was the least I could do.

If Emmett hadn't challenged me to ask Maggie out, I wouldn't have found out about James using her. And I also wanted to stay close if she decided to press charges. I didn't want to leave her hanging after she'd made such an intimate confession.

"Really, man, I—" I cut him off.

"If you have no other objections than not wanting me to pay, shut the fuck up. I have some sensitive business I'd rather stick around here for. I'll be honest about that. I will go to Vegas if your or Rosalie's heart are set on it. But I get the feeling you just want to get married. So let me have my people work some magic I can be close to take care of this issue, and you and Rosalie can spend some time in the Big Easy fucking and eating Beignets."

"Well, you make a compelling argument," he said laughing. "Okay. Let me run it by Rosie just to be sure," he said.

"See, already you have me convinced you're ready for marriage." Emmett laughed.

"Tell me about this Maggie," he urged.

"Well, she's one of the few managers we kept after the reorganization. She's been flirting with me for about the past year. She has a twelve year old son she finally told me about tonight, though I knew who he was since we decided to keep her on staff. She bright and gives me a run for my money. I like her a lot," I relayed.

"Tell me you haven't bedded her yet," Emmett said.

"Dude! Fuck you! Why would you ask that?" I asked, confused.

"Because it's an indicator of your intentions. If you haven't pushed that boundary yet, it shows that your respect her. That's all I'm saying."

Truth was, I hadn't even thought about it. I really enjoyed kissing her, but then the nature of our discussion afterwards had completely shifted the focus. And it occurred to me that if she wanted to add her name to the law suit, we'd have to hold off until it's settled. I wasn't the one bringing the suit, I wasn't licensed in Louisiana, but it would still be unethical.

"Don't worry, man. I already care for her a great deal. I don't want to fuck anything up," I promised. Not to mention I compared everything she did to Bella. I might have to see a therapist to unpack all that shit.

"And you don't mind that she already has a kid?" he asked.

"Why would I mind? He's a great kid!" Where were all these questions coming from?

"I don't know. Some men are just weird about the evidence of where some other man has been. I didn't think that would be you, I was just asking," he added quickly. "Do you think you'll get along with him?"

"He's the one who told her to flirt with me," I explained. "I'll take that as a good sign."

"So you already know him?" he asked.

"Yeah," I started, but he cut me off.

"Hey Rosie!" I heard him call. "Man, Rose is here. I gotta go. I'll let you know soon about the Lake Charles wedding thing."

"Cool! I can't wait to meet her, whether it's here or in Vegas," I said. "Talk to you soon!"

"Bye, man!" he said and then he was gone.

I spent some time taking care of other business, I was actually all caught up. I thought about watching some Netflix as it occurred to me that maybe I needed to buy another Casino to give me something more to do. Then my phone rang.

"Jake?" Maggie's voice sounded troubled.

"Yeah, Maggs. You okay?" I asked.

"I've decided that I want to press charges against James. Frankie and I discussed and it turns out he already knew. He thought I was dating James and he was so relieved when I told him," she explained.

"Why did he think you were dating?" I asked, hoping that it was just a misconception. I pulled my yellow legal pad.

"Well, he saw us after one of the…ah…incidents and that's what James told him. Jake, I only ever agreed to do anything with James because he threatened my job or to tell Frankie. Please know that."

"Maggie, I believe you. How did James know who Frankie was?" I asked, scribbling down information.

"I used to bring him to the Casino to eat dinner and then my mom would pick him up when she got off work. He was only about five at the time. I quit bringing him there when I saw how much he didn't like James." I jotted all this down.

"Good, Maggie. This is really going to help. We're working on both a criminal and a civil case, but I don't think you'll see much money if we win the latter." I was still scribbling my thoughts on my pad.

"I don't care about the money. I don't want him to be able to do this to anyone ever again," she said. I heard her take a deep breath.

"This might put a kink into our dating since I am helping with the case. Can you be patient?" I asked.

"Yes. I mean, I'm disappointed, but yes. What I told you tonight erased years of anxiety, Jake. I can't thank you enough for that. Your reaction to everything was…well, it was perfect. And, you're a great kisser," she added for good measure. I could hear the smile in her voice and that was a good thing.

"You're not so bad yourself," I replied. "You taught me something new."

"What was that?" she asked a little surprised.

"I'll show you the next time I'm able," I replied. "It will give us something to look forward to."

"Deal," she said. "Thanks again, Jake. Frankie was right. Your coming to Lake Charles was a good thing. Good night."

"Good night," was all I managed to say before he hung up.

I was feeling pretty good—until I got the text from Rachel.

Bella may be in trouble. I can't say anything more yet. But I knew you'd be pissed if I didn't give you a heads up. Here's your heads up. Please don't ask me more because I suck at keeping secrets and I promised Bella. I love you both which is why I'm sending this message, but I'll crack if you press me. Please PLEASE DON'T PRESS ME!

Fuck. I knew what she was talking about. Rachel did suck at keeping secrets. The fact that she was trying to keep it was a good thing. And she was trying to warn me about something. I'd noticed that Bella hadn't texted me back. I was trying not to over react to that. In fact I was grateful because I was able to concentrate on Maggie. I shot her a text back.

Okay, Rach. Thanks for the head up. My date went well btw. Love you and I want the low down as soon as you can give it to me!

I got ready for bed and checked my phone one more time.

Thanks Bro. And, I'm really happy for you. Came from Rachel.

Headed back to Seattle for a few days. Came from Bella.

I dialed my phone as fast as my thumbs would allow me.

"Jake, what's up?" Jay Jenks' voice said.

"Where are we with the Cullen information?" I asked.

"Compiling the report now. You'll have it in about an hour. I'll encrypt it and sent it to your secondary email address," he said.

"Thanks, Jay. You deserve a raise," I said.

"Another Christmas bonus will be fine, thank you."

"You got it." And I hung up.


Thoughts?