The Bet:

It was the first game of the play-offs. They were one series into the play-offs, they made it. Now to stay the course. Ginny entered the locker room to the guys teasing each other as usual. This time the focus was on Mike. "What's old man done this time?" Ginny jumped into the conversation.

Miller responded gleefully, "Ginny doesn't know… The great Mike Lawson takes a vow of chastity if we make it to the playoffs. – Which by the way explains why he is more grumpy than normal. And when the season is over, well, he ends that vow promptly. Mike brings a party of women home to choose from. We're taking bets on how many Cap home after the last game of the playoffs." He hands her a small sheet of paper and pen, "care to wager?"

She looks at him, trying to hide the pain in her eyes, he won't look back. He's sitting in his chair and trying to down play the whole situation. Ginny had a few more dates with Noah after their drive, but stopped seeing him. She thought they had an understanding. Things had seemed to be back their normal banter.

Ginny quickly writes a number on a paper, with her name, folds it up and hands it back. "So when do you announce the winner, Tommy? I think I have this one in the bag." Mike lifts his eyes, not his head to meet her gaze.

- Last Game –

Ginny was a ball of nerves as she walked down the hall to the locker room. They were down two games in the series. Win tonight's game or the season ends and the off-season starts. She wasn't starting, so the game didn't rest on her shoulders, but she never knew if she would be called out to the mound. And if the season ended today, would they keep her for next season, or would she be sent back down? She knew damn well one of the reasons they kept her in the Majors was a way of selling seats, not because she was the best pitcher available. She worked hard to prevent management from having any reason to send her back down to the minors. But if the season ended… well…

Fast forward a few hours… game over… season over. Mike was behind home plate and felt much of the blame, even though no one on the team agreed. They played great, just not good enough.

The locker room was somber. That was until Tommy brought out a jar, with small papers on it… "Now, now Lawson, the only joy we get in losing, is seeing you win. So what will it be tonight? Start a bar with the team? Or have you already hit speed dial and meeting girls directly at your house?"

"Wouldn't you like to have any of those options, young Mr. Miller" and Mike stormed off. Ginny again did her best to disguise her pain. She went to her locker room to change and came back out. Only Blip and Duarte remained. Not much team spirit left.

"Where's Mike?" Ginny asked.

"He headed to his house. Something about meeting friends there. Hey, you never did tell me, what happened on that drive?" Blip responded.

"I thought we came to an understanding, but I guess I was wrong."

"Make sure you two are good by next season's start. It made a difference."

"You think I'll be around next season?" Ginny looked at him.

"I know it!"

"Thanks, I need to take care of something." And Ginny ran off.

About 20 minutes later, Ginny found herself pulling up to Mike's house. Full of cars. She parked along the street. She needed every ounce of courage, she'd been hiding a flask in her bag and pulled it out. Took a few swigs, sat their and let it sink in. A song played on the radio, she couldn't have told you what it was, her mind was somewhere else, Lawson. Could she do this? A few more drinks… Nope. Not there yet. Maybe a little more liquid courage. Out of the car she moved, to the front door. A chesty blonde came stumbling out pretty much at the same time. She saw Mike sitting on his couch across the room, not another male in sight. But plenty of model types to go around. He wasn't really interacting with any of them. It was almost as if they were having a party around him, and he was just a piece of furniture. She found her way to the speaker and turned the volume off. Everyone looked her way.

"Party's over. Time to leave… every one out!" The 20 something ladies looked at her, then over at Mike as if he was supposed to do something. He shrugged his shoulders and only said "you heard the lady, party's over."

Once she had ushered the last of the ladies out the door, she began to strip down to her under wear. Nothing fancy, simple, white cotton. And proceeded to jump into the pool.

Mike finally asked "Mind telling me what the hell is going on here Baker? Why you just crashed my party, and now why you are swimming in my pool nearly naked?"

She held a hand up, as to hold him off, "Can you get me some water?" then swam a few laps. He returned with a bottle of water and knelt down beside her. "Explain," he demanded holding the bottle back until she started talking.

"I had a plan and knew what I wanted to do tonight, to say. I got to your house, and almost chickened out. So I may have drank a little too much sitting in the car out front. Don't worry, I drove, then I drank. Decided to take a swim to sober up."

He gave her the water, then went over to get a towel. "Well that explains why I get to see so much of you Rook." He did an overly exaggerated up and down look at Ginny as she exited the pool, and smiled and her in just her cotton panties. "And frankly, I'm a little disappointed that's what you wear for undies. I mean you make it look good, but really?" He paused as she crank the water "So why the hell are you here?" He was leaning up against the edge of the outdoor couch.

She had now wrapped the towel around her "Season's over, and my contract is done. I don't know if I'll be part of the team next year. Which means we are technically not teammates. So I did the math after the game. We have a few months to see if we have any shot at making a relationship work, before we have to go back to working together."

"Damn it, Ginny, I told you not to say anything." The look in his eyes was excitement, but his body language said otherwise.

"Oh, shut up. I didn't want you sleeping with any of those other women, and if you really wanted to, you wouldn't have let me kick them out."

"What about Noah? He's not a ball player, smart guy, not too bad looking, I mean not Mike Lawson handsome, but…"

"What about him? We dated, it was fun." She moved closer, standing inches away from him, in just her towel. "Yeah, he's a good guy. We can hang out and talk about him for the rest of the night, but I'm not in love with him." She did it, for the first time in her life, she made the first move with a guy. She leaned in, still holding her towel with one hand, balancing herself against his should her with the other hand, and kissed him. He started to kiss her back, then pushed her away.

"We can't..." He looked at her eyes. It was almost as if she expected his rejection, and met the look with denial, as if to say just admit what we both know. She stared right back at him. "Oh, Hell" And he kissed her back. He was never letting go. He had no idea how he was going to make it work, but this was a love like he'd never known, and if he recalled, she just told him she loved him, too.

The next day Tommy texted, [So how many?]

Mike forgot about the guys bet. [Just one] Mike responded, Ginny curled up next to him on the couch watching TV.

[Srsly, Ginny won… I guess she really does know you best]

[You have no idea, buddy. See you Friday at Blips.]

"Only one? You thought I was only able to bring one girl home?" Mike turned to Ginny.

"I told you I hatched a plan, you were going to be mine, from the moment I heard of the bet at the start of play offs." And with that Mike kissed her.