A/N: Hello Everyone! My goodness this story is being received much better then I thought it would! Sorry my update has taken so long, but the holidays killed me. My s/o and I had his mum over for dinner on Christmas day, speaking of the little blue box hidden in our tree was an adorable turtle necklace that made me day! And then I had hour cuts at work which meant catching up on my house work in preparation for school at the end of the month. And just now I finally got this chapter finished. It's not as long as I had hoped it would be but it covers Jon and Maddie's first date, and it gets the baggage out of the way. So enjoy fair readers!

Disclaimer: Don't own, wish I did but I don't. Just borrowed the characters from the adorable Joseph Gordon Levitt!

"So Jon, tell me about yourself." Maddie said taking a sip of her wine with a small smile on her face.

"Not much to tell really," I mused in reply, now that I've got her here I don't know what to talk about, or what to say, even with the hottest dames I've never had this problem, I would just turn on the charm and boom!

"Well, going by my girls you've got quite the reputation for being a ladies man. I'm just curious, are you one now?" There was that damn eyebrow again, raising with the amused smile on her face.

"You really cut to the chase don't you?" I asked with a laugh and a scratch at the back of my head, this went from an uncomfortable moment to an extremely awkward one, "I uh, yeah I used to be. But I met someone that turned that around for me, she uh, she taught me how to love." Well, cats out of the bag now, especially considering the shocked expression that crossed Maddie's beautiful features before being schooled back into place.

"Where is she now? Surely she isn't okay with you being here with me." She replied in a defensive tone.

"That's a long story."

"Trust me, I've got time." She replied scooting her chair over next to mine and making herself comfortable, something that's usually frowned upon in most restaurants but luckily this one is a little more lenient.

"You asked for it," So this was it, I told her the whole story about Barbara and Esther, she laughed and smiled in the right spots and when I told her that Esther took her life, I apparently looked very sad about this because Maddie pulled me in for a hug and a mumbled 'my condolences'. But unlike a lot of other people, including my boys, she wasn't put off from the fact that, yes I was still grieving.

"I'm so sorry Jon. I truly am. Don't listen to anyone when they say that you've been grieving too long. It can take years to get over a loss like that, and everyone grieves differently." She smiled at me as she sat back in her chair.

"Thank you Maddie." I smiled at her, "everyday hurts a little less, but I know it's a pain that will never fully go away."

"It truly wont, because there's always a place in your heart for the people you've lost. But the key to lessening the pain is remembering the happy times, the times that make you smile and laugh and think to yourself 'that person was truly special'." She patted my shoulder as she finished and smiled at me.

"She was a special woman, damaged, but special."

"Jon I'm gonna tell you something. Everyone is damaged, everyone has baggage, the key is accepting it and loving that person, damage and baggage included."

There's just something about her. We talked until well into the wee hours of the morning, and when the restaurant kicked us out because they had to close, we simply walked and talked. Until I felt the need to ask her what her baggage and damage was.

"Jon, you can't ask that." She said looking down at her feet and stopping.

"I can. I've told you mine. Maddie I want to know you, all about you. As a friend, I want to know." I replied, and it was true she knew more then even my own parents did.

"I guess you've got me there Jon. Where can I start. There's a lot to cover, so I'll just give you the summed up version. When I was 14, my mom and dad separated, she found out he'd been having an affair. They split custody of my brother and I, he was only six at the time, so he didn't understand what exactly was going on. Now a few years later, my parents thought they worked out their issues and get back together. My brother and I couldn't have been happier, Mom and Dad were back together ya know? What kid wouldn't be happy?" She sighed and shook her head.

"On my eighteenth birthday, I walked in the house, and," she sighed again and sniffled, "I caught my dad with another woman, I dropped my backpack loudly and screamed and ran out the door. Now by this point I had ran and hidden. He called my mom, said I had run away and they needed to find me. He didn't tell her why I had ran away obviously.

"Now, I didn't run away, I just hid. There was this library near by and I went there, it was my sanctuary. Well in their search for me, they crashed their car, Mom died at the hospital, Dad died on impact, my little brother was severly injured, he's never been the same since." She sighed, "and that's my baggage, I don't blame you if you want to run away now."

"Why would I run? It's tragic yeah. But it's not your fault." I smiled at her putting a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"I know it isn't. But sometimes, I feel like it is. If I hadn't have run, if I would've been an adult and faced my problems head on, they wouldn't be gone." She sniffled, then smiled up at me. "Thanks Jon. Very few people stick around when they hear about my baggage."

"Eh, like you said everyone is damaged and has baggage. You accept mine, I accept yours. That makes us friends."

"Friends. I like the idea of that. Well Jon, this is me." She said pointing at the building behind her.

"Wait, Maddie. Can we do this again sometime? I rather enjoyed it."

"Sure Jon. Here's my number," she said writing her number down on a piece of paper and handing it to me, "call me sometime and we'll do this again."

"Will do." Just as I said this she leaned in and kissed my cheek then quickly climbed the steps to her building before grabbing her keys and unlocking the door before smiling at waving at me and then slipping inside.

Ending A/N: Awww poor Maddie. It's a bit of a cliche but I wanted to show that she's got a fair amount of damage. I feel damaged characters are easier to relate to than a perfect character. So leave me your thoughts in a review! You know you wanna hit that button down there. I'm off to take some cold medicine (not sick but have hellish allergies, according the the S/O I am sick but I stick my tongue out at that) and make a grocery list then head off to sleep. Love you guys!