A/N: You know... I've always thought Lucas had something dark about his character. Especially after he pushed Billy into the wall in Girl Meets Flaws. Did you see his expression?! I bet you Lucas actually is a violent delinquent type character. Lucas as a dark character sounds really fun. I'm looking forward to the reveal of his true persona on the show.

Oh, and I super ship a crack pairing you'll see in this chapter (because I actually really like them both as individual characters and would love to see them together too) ;)

Thank you for the reviews! :)

Disclaimer: I do not own GMW otherwise Maya would be kicking asses for real.

"Maya, where are you going to get a fancy dress? Much less, one similar to what the other women will wear?" Billy asked.

"I think I know who to ask." Maya responded. Her mother. No doubt, Katy had several dresses, and since Maya was somewhat the same size as her, it would make sense to ask. She'd have to see her again sometime that evening.

As Maya pondered when to dismiss herself from their meeting and find some way to go speak to Katy, a woman with long brown locks walked to their table, crouching next to Billy and running her hand along his arm. Her dress was so unbelievably small that it looked like it was pinching her half to death. Maya had seen her around before, servicing various men on occasion. Usually, she worked as a hostess. Sheriff Holstein, whenever he came, was always gawking or leering at her.

"Hey you…" she said, kissing Billy's cheek, "Heard you got arrested again. I thought I told you to be careful."

"Missy. I've been looking for you." He replied, a wide, happy grin on his face. "You don't have work today?"

"Nope. Not today. Let me buy you a drink, sweetie."

She sauntered away, and Billy tipped his hat at them in farewell before standing up from his seat and following her to the bar, smiling like a love sick fool.

Maya frowned questioningly at Lucas. He seemed unphased by the interruption.

"She seems really nice."

Lucas shook his head in disdain, "Billy's acting like an idiot."

"Who is she?"

"Missy Bradford. The love of Billy's life."

"Is she the woman he keeps talking about?"

Lucas nodded silently, watching the surrounding area as a few more people walked by. Maya took a long swig of her drink, a little nervous at being left alone in Lucas' presence. He wasn't intimidating in any way whatsoever, but no doubt, he was a little edgy, and quite frankly, unpredictable. In all the months she'd seen him working on the Matthews' horses, she had always assumed he was just a quiet, typical horse hand who spent his days working on ranches and fending off the pursuits of attracted women. She could not have been more wrong.

Clearly Lucas was someone vastly different. Someone potentially dangerous and obviously a little deranged since the only thing he could think about was revenge.

Feeling she was watching him, he turned back to her, a brow raised in question. She cleared her throat, knocking back the rest of her drink in an attempt to cover up the fact that she had been "examining the male specimen" as Riley liked to say. It unnerved her to no end how every time Lucas looked at Maya, it felt as if he knew exactly what she was thinking. Or could easily figure it out. Maya rarely became ruffled or affected by various things, but his gaze was nervewracking. Damn he pissed her off.

"What's their story?" Maya asked, distracting herself from his emerald gaze by scuffing the table with her fingernail.

"They were childhood friends. Billy wants to marry her, but her father's pawn shop went deep into debt after he took on a loan from the mayor so the old coot ran off with what was left of his money. She's been forced in this business ever since." He gestured to her clothing with his bottle, "So what's the deal with the whole get up?"

She rose a brow at him, meeting his gaze briefly, "Do you think it would be normal if an unmarried maiden was seen in a dirty saloon talking to two cowboys?"

"I guess not," he replied, leaning back in his chair, "But what I was really asking was why do you even come to this saloon? Most women wouldn't be caught dead walking out and about at dusk, much less, into a place like this."

"I'm not most women."

"So I see…"

She narrowed her eyes, unsure if he was complimenting her or insulting her. She had a feeling it was the latter though, judging by the way his eyes were dancing in mirth.

"Sometimes I just need a break from my family. It's not easy being Maya the Mistake."

"Maya the Mistake?" he snorted in amusement, and Maya glared at him in irritation.

"It's not funny. I was called that all through childhood. Do you know how long it took me to beat it out of my life?"

"Apologies, ma'am." He responded unapologetically, taking another sip of his drink.

She glowered at him, a little irritated that he was mocking her.

"So what did the mayor do to you?" she asked, "Clearly, you've got some huge beef with him if revenge is the only thing you can think about."

He set his drink down on the table and glowered at her, amusement clearly gone, "That's a personal question."

"C'mon Ranger Rick. Just tell me."

He gave her a look, definitely not amused with her impromptu nickname. "He ruined my life. He stole my family's land. He left me to die. If it hadn't been for Billy's family, I would be dead."

There was something he wasn't quite telling her, she could tell. Something that was key to figuring out just who Lucas really was. She knew he was hiding more than he let on. But she didn't mention it or comment on it. He looked like he was two seconds away from breaking the glass neck of his bottle. And an icy chill had started to settle in his eyes.

"Okay. Sorry I asked. Cool it a bit before you break your bottle."

His eyes narrowed, and he brought his gaze back to hers. "Katy's that blonde whore you were trying to help that night Billy and I got arrested, right?"

She frowned, wondering why he had so abruptly changed the subject, "…Yes, that's her."

"Why do you specifically want to save only her out of the several other women stuck here? What's your relation?"

"She's…" Maya clammed up, trepidation crawling up her spine.

Lucas watched her reaction carefully, no expression on his face. "Your mother."

Maya met his eyes in shock, blinking a few times in wonder if he really had just guessed correctly. How the hell did he know?

"…No she's not." She finally responded, several seconds too late, and way too suspiciously fast.

A smug little smirk appeared on Lucas' face, "She's your mother." He said decisively, "And you're trying to get her out of here."

Maya frowned and sat silently, breathing heavily for a few seconds and contemplating bashing her glass against his skull to give him a concussion and hopefully amnesia.

"How did you guess?" she asked lowly, hand inching toward her glass. Maybe if she threw it hard enough at his head, some of the pieces would get lodged into his stupid, gorgeous eyes, and she wouldn't feel like she was laid bare in front of him every time he looked at her.

"No one would go to such lengths to free someone unless it was because of familial relation. I've seen Katy before. She looks too old to be a sibling, so I deduced she'd be your mother." There was that smugness crawling once again into his features, "Your earlier reaction only served to prove my point."

She breathed out through her nose, leaning back in her chair with a shrug and cocked eyebrow, "Fine. You're right. Katy is my mother. And she's been trapped in this fucking whore house for who knows how long, and I just want to get her the hell out of here."

"Is Cory Matthews your father?"

Maya winced, her face twisting in discontent, "Honestly… I don't know the story behind that. But I know Katy is my mother." She nervously rubbed her hands together, as if trying to warm them. "I don't believe Papa would ever cheat on Mama, though. He acts so tough, but when he's around her, he damn near becomes putty in her hands."

Lucas knew. He had seen the man shift from being an authoritative leader and protective father to a puppy in front of his wife in a matter of seconds. It was very clear that Topanga wore the pants in their relationship. He could never cheat on her. He probably wouldn't even be physically capable of it.

"Then how do you know she's your mother?"

"I saw her. Everything about her was similar to me. You don't meet very many people like that in this region. It was either a grown woman who is basically an older version of me, or she was my mother."

"I get it. It must be nice to finally be reunited with your family."

Maya thought he was being derogatory from his tone, but when she looked up, he was smiling, albeit a little wryly. Maya was suddenly reminded of Billy's words that Lucas was actually very gentle, if not a little hardened by life. The smile didn't quite reach his eyes, yet it still managed to brighten the sea foam colour a little, to the point where he didn't look like he was perpetually brooding. She felt herself returning the smile, for the first time not feeling apprehensive around him.

She nodded, "Do you have issues with your family too?"

The small wry grin warped on his lips and became sardonic before Maya could even blink, and ice went crawling down her back. Whatever gentleness she had felt from him before, it all but disappeared and was replaced with the cold smile. His eyes took on that faraway, hardened look once again.

"You could say that…"

"…What do you mean by that?"

His eyes trailed slowly back to hers, and she felt like she was completely exposed. He wasn't trying to be particularly intimidating, but his gaze was callous and frigid. She could see the brutality and malice and ruthless dispassion swirling in the viridian hue. She hadn't been affected by their earlier standoff beforehand because at least she could see he was vibrant. His eyes had been shining. But now, they were dulled and had an empty look in them. She felt chills of actual fright. Was this even the same Lucas?

But he never got a chance to answer, because in the next moment, one of the newer, younger whores who were serving drinks, named Winny, was shoved into Maya. The drinks she held spilled all over the ground with a loud crash and noise. Winny would have tumbled to the ground as well, had Maya not been there to break her fall. The men behind Maya laughed raucously, amused at the turn of events. No doubt, they had been roughly handling her.

"I-I'm s-s-so sorry!" she cried, stooping down immediately to pick up the shards of glass. Maya frowned. She couldn't have been more than sixteen. Probably just about Riley's age.

Maya spun around and faced the asshole behind them who had knocked Winny over and yelled, "Hey! Dumbass! Haven't you ever learned to say excuse me?"

He turned around, clearly drunk and waved his hand in dismissal, as if Maya was some annoying little pest, "Quiet boy. This here's a place for men. Go back home and suck on your mama's teets."

"Oh I would. If I weren't too busy sucking your wife's every night in your bed."

"What did you just say, you little shit?" he growled. "I'll kick your ass."

"I'm sorry, you'll what?" Maya responded, a smirk on her lips, "I can't understand what you're saying. Maybe you should get my cock out of your mouth."

He and his friends stood up menacingly with low growls, slamming down their bottles and preparing to duke it out. Right on cue, the saloon grew quiet as the patrons all turned to watch the brewing turmoil around their table. Winny abandoned gathering the shards and raced out of the area. Lucas snorted in amusement and took another nonchalant sip of his beer.

"What a crude thing to say…" he said, no particular interest in the brewing fight.

She looked over her shoulder at him, a little embarrassed, and at the same time peeved that he looked like he was planning to just sit there the whole time, "Are you just going to sit there the whole time? Move. You'll get in my way."

"Looks like it." And he continued to nonchalantly drink his beer. At least that hostile Lucas was gone. Maya didn't know why it was such a relief that he was gone, but all she knew was she was glad that the other Lucas, the human seeming one, was back.

"Are you both making fun of us? I'll kill you, you little turd!"

The drunk man then lashed out and attempted to swing at Maya, but in his impaired state, he was much slower and much more sluggish in his movements, and Maya easily avoided the swing. His mates attacked her as well, trying to catch her, but she was too quick. The rest of the bar soon devolved into violent brawling, with bottles being smashed on people's heads and angry shouts rippling through the air. It was chaos exemplified.

Maya deflected a punch by one of the men and spun him around by his wrist. He ran into Maya's table next to Lucas with a loud thud. Snarling, he grabbed Lucas' bottle out of his hand in challenge and threw it against the wall. It smashed into a thousand pieces, and Lucas' smirk fell right off his face. Eyes narrowed, Lucas shot up in annoyance and decked the man under the chin. The man in question stumbled backwards with a yell until he crashed into another group of fighting, brawling men.

"That was for my beer, you moron." Lucas growled. "I was actually enjoying that."

"Get them!" Someone shouted.

And then more men began to swarm Maya and Lucas. They fought them off, avoiding drunken attacks and flying bottles and furniture. Maya knew she had to take care of her outfit for the infiltration though. She didn't have time to waste fighting drunken idiots who were barely coherent. After stooping and tossing a man over her back and crashing into the table, she dropped to the ground and crawled out of the mess of fighting people. Once out, she stood and dusted off her clothes, walking over to the bar counter.

"Get the fuck back here!" Lucas shouted, holding off one of the drunk men trying to impale him with his broken glass. "Dammit! You started this fight!"

"I think you've got it covered." Maya called out, moving to the counter, where Abby was watching the mess with a shaking of her head. Maya plopped onto one of the stools, an amused smile on her face.

Abby sighed as she watched the growing carnage. "Will this bar ever survive one day without having to have repairs for bar fight damage?"

"Doubt it."

"Well… at least there are no guns involved this time."

"Or knives. It's just a couple of idiots working off a little bit of steam."

"So I see." Abby said, before setting down the glass she had been wiping down, "So who're your friends, Maya?"

"Oh. Just people I– who work at Minkus Horse Ranch."

"You know you've always been a bad liar Maya." Abby said, "You think I don't recognize Billy? He's a regular here you know. And the other one—I'm sure—is that fugitive I heard was supposed to be hanged tonight. Care to explain that one?"

Maya held her breath for a second, once again astounded that someone was so easily able to figure her out. Was she honestly that easy to read? She prided herself on her secrecy and ability to sneak around, yet it was starting to seem like maybe she was more transparent than she let on.

"I want to tell you Abby. But the less you know, the better."

"Maya, I hope you're not getting yourself into trouble. You have so many years left in your life. Don't recklessly endanger yourself."

"I'll be fine." She muttered uncertainly, while Abby watched her in worry.

Maya shifted to the side and narrowly avoided a man who crashed into the stools beside her after Lucas gave him a particularly harsh kick in the stomach. The man gurgled quietly before he slumped forward, unconscious. Was it necessary to tell Abby about their plans? Having Abby as an ally would make things a little bit easier, but honestly, even Abby had limits to how dangerous something was. There was a good chance Abby would not agree with their dangerous plan and object to Maya's participation.

"That man of yours sure knows how to fight."

"What?" Maya frowned, snapping out of her thoughts.

"The one in the black cowboy hat."

It took Maya a few seconds to realize Abby was referring to Lucas, but when she did, she felt her cheeks grow hot.

"He's not my man." Maya said indignantly, a pronounced blush creeping up her cheeks, "He's an insufferable grump."

"Insufferable, but very handsome. I'd love to take him for a spin. If I were only a few years younger–"

"So where's Billy? I saw him come around this way with Missy." Maya quickly stated, clearing her throat and changing the subject before Abby continued with that train of thought.

She had no interest in knowing what Abigail wanted to do to him. Or with him. Especially since she was still trying to force out the image of his naked body tied to that noose out of her mind. Especially since her mind kept reminding her of the trail of dark hair leading down from his chiseled abdomen to his…

Good God…

Abby smiled knowingly, her shit-eating grin making Maya nervous. "He went outside with Missy for fresh air. I'm happy he still loves her despite her unfortunate occupation. I've seen some of these girls lose the loves of their lives after they were subjected to working here, and it just breaks my heart every time. And the other ones just don't care about their women at all and leave them here, even buying other girls in front of their women while here. But Billy's not like them. He shows up here every week or so and brings some money. He pays for many of her night wages so she rarely has to bed anyone. Says one day he'll pay all of her debt so he can marry her for real."

"How will he know when the debt is paid?" Maya asked, wondering how long he'd been paying it off. From what Lucas was saying, it sounded like it'd been quite a while since she was forced here.

"I don't know. The mayor has her contract. I don't get to keep contracts. I'm only told how much someone owes and when their debt is reduced or increased." Abby stared at Maya, who's eyes were somewhat glazed over, and she looked lost in thought. Abigail smiled and patted Maya's hand, startling her out of her daydream. Maya hopped up in her seat and looked apologetic.

"I'm sorry. I have a lot on my mind."

"She's in her room you know. No one's there." Abby said, smiling softly, "I can let you have fifteen minutes with your mother."

Maya froze and her jaw slowly slackened in shock. She wondered if maybe she hadn't heard Abby correctly, but from the knowing, secretive smile she was giving Maya, Maya was sure she had heard exactly right.

"How did you know?"

"You both don't look altogether alike, but there's something about both your spirits that was similar. I couldn't pinpoint either of your resemblances at first until you asked me to see her earlier today." Abigail nodded as she observed Maya's flabbergasted face, "After I made the connection about your similarity, I realized the resemblance was uncanny. Honestly, I don't know why I've never seen it before."

"You're not going to tell anyone are you?"

"Maya. If Katy never even told me she had a child in this town who was alive and well, then clearly she's taking every measure possible to protect you. I would never let anyone know." She crossed her arms, "And I'm not going to restrict you from seeing your mother, but that means I expect you to tell me why you are talking with those fugitives."

Maya sighed in relief, slumping slightly in fatigue in her chair. She rubbed her bandaged hand softly, knowing that Abby did deserve some explanation for all the shit Maya had put this saloon through in the past.

"Eventually. I can't tell you any details, but let's just say that the future will be brighter for you and these women."

"Are you conspiring to free all these women?" Abigail asked, no particular expression on her face.

Maya did not respond, but she knew Abigail could read right through her silence and just knew the answer to that. Abigail frowned, an apprehensive expression growing on her face.

"If you'll excuse me, I'll go see my mother now." Maya said before Abby could continue speaking.

She slid off the stool and headed around the corner towards the back, back to where she remembered her mother's room was located. She hesitated again and stared at the door for a few seconds, pondering what she would say to her. There was a lot she had to say, but who's to say Katy would want to listen? Who's to say she would even let her come in? Either way, standing outside the door would get her nowhere.

Taking a deep breath, Maya raised her fist and knocked on the door.