Maya awoke with a start. She grabbed at her clock and saw that it was just past midnight. She wasn't quite sure what exactly it was that woke her but whatever it was it was ill timed.

She had been absorbed in a dream about a particular douchey skirt-chaser from the office. Sure he was an ass but damn he was good looking and she hadn't gotten laid in 6-years.

She got pulled out of her thoughts once more by the distinctive sound of something getting knocked over and then Fiona's muffled scream. And it wasn't the scream that worried her. Fiona was plagued with nightmares, so she has woken up screaming more than one time. The fact that the scream was muffled and barely audible, like someone was covering her mouth chilled Maya to the core.

Maya sprang into action, she untangled her legs from the blankets that had wrapped and wound their way around her ankles so that she was leg locked. Once that was taken care of she grabbed the bat that she stashed under her bed. Quickly and quietly, due to her small size, she made her way to her daughter's room. She swung the door open violently to see a grown man's figure hunched over her daughter's bed with his hand over her mouth telling her to be quiet.

"Oh shit." The intruder mumbled as he let go of Fiona and backed towards the window.

Maya let out a loud scream and ran towards the man. He tried to climb out of the window, but she pounced on him before he could make it and brought the bat down as hard as she could on his back.

"Fiona get out now!" Maya screamed. Fiona looked horrified but nonetheless she obeyed her mother and scrambled from her bed and out of the door.

Maya continued to hit the man even though it had almost no effect. She was, as previously said, really small and she was trying to remain stably on his side despite his squirming. Her weak swings only really stopped him from leaving; they did not seem to hurt him.

"Stop stop stop!" The man called. "This is all just a misunderstanding!" She didn't tend to trust people who intruded into her home but she was too tired to keep up her swinging and he sounded somewhat genuine. She unwrapped her legs from the man's torso and dropped to the soft carpet of her daughter's room.

"So what's the misunderstanding here?" She held the bat at the ready in case he decided it wasn't a misunderstanding.

"Well-Wait," he stopped for a second obviously confused and then he moved closer, "Ms. Hart is that you?" She instantly knew who it was and held the bat a little tighter.

"Mr. Friar what the hell are you doing here! Are you stalking me now!" She spoke in sharp hushed tones. She was mad and scared, however she didn't want to let Fiona hear this conversation.

"No I'm not stalking you Ms. Hart!" He replied in the same tone, he figured if she was speaking quietly there was a reason so he should too.

"Now that you've broken into my house I believe we're on first name basis Lucas."

"Fine, I'm sorry Maya I did not know that this was your apartment. "

"Then why are you in it you creep! Were you trying to rob a house and it being my house was just an unfortunate accident." She kept the bat at her shoulder ready to swing if he got any closer to her.

"No, no my friend lives in this building and his front door is broken so he told me to go up the fire escape. And he said it was the one right above the dumpsters-,"

"Which is this fire escape." Maya interrupted.

"Exactly!" He proclaimed. "And then I swear he said 7th floor but-,"

"That is this floor. And I can assure you that my front door is not broken, and that I have no men living with me."

"Well yeah. I must have gotten confused somehow?"

"Are you sure he said 7th floor, and not go up 7 flights? Because the fire escapes don't start until floor two."

"Oh shit maybe he did! I had to jump up on top of the dumpsters and then pull down the ladder to get on the fire escape. It didn't connect in my head that getting up on the fire escape put me on level two!"

Maya chuckled and dropped the bat. "Ok so you're just an idiot, not a robber." He laughed and he seemed to bow his head in shame.

"I'm so sorry about this, really."

"It's ok Lucas." She reached over and turned on Fiona's fairy lamp to illuminate the room. "Now that you're here you might as well come in. I don't want you breaking in to anyone else's apartment." She looked up at him and caught him scanning her body. Suddenly she was very self-conscious of her exposed legs and partially visible breasts. He gulped deeply and ran his hand through hair. As he raised his arm his biceps visibly flexed showing off his impressive arm muscles.

"Ok, but aren't I already in your house?" They both chuckled. She bent down and picked up the bat. His eyes widened in horror, clearly he thought she was about to whack him upside the head.

"Stand down solider. I just don't trust Fiona with a bat in her room." He nodded in understanding and shook his head, like he was trying to shake the idiocy out. She smiled up at him, "And can you please close the window I don't want her climbing out, or catching frostbite." Lucas turned his back to her to shut the window.

This gave her a brief chance to examine him. He was wearing a distressed loose black t-shirt and jeans that sagged a little on his hips showing off his red and white striped boxers. His shirt rode up a little exposing the taut muscle of his lower back, and as he bent down she shamelessly stared at his perfect ass. Holy shit did I step back into my dream world.

"There you go now where are we headed?" She stared at him open mouthed for a second gaping like a fish. "Maya you ok?" She swallowed and nodded her head.

"Yeah sorry just thinking about how my daughter could have been kidnapped." Which was a lie, but she sure as hell couldn't say that she was checking him out and was shocked into silence by his attractiveness.

"Oh no I'm so sorry Maya! I had no intention to make you worry I'm so sorry!" Lucas was beginning to get flustered as he thought that he had upset her.

"Its fine Lucas, just come on." She grabbed his hand and led the man out of her daughter's room. "Go into the living the room and shout if Fiona is there. But she's probably in my room and I don't want you to scare her." He nodded and looked around confused for the living room until he spotted the open doorway. She rolled her eyes and placed the bat down on a table that sat in the hallway. Slowly she started towards her bedroom, once she reached her room she carefully cracked open her door.

"Fiona are you in there sweetie?" There was no response, but Maya could hear the faint sniffles that she knew were coming from Fiona.

"Baby it's your mama. I know you're in there." Maya peeked her head into her room and saw Fiona pop out from beside her bed. The little girl sobbed and ran to her mother. Maya threw the door open and leaned down to pick up her child.

"Oh mama are you ok?" Fiona grasped Maya close to her, like she was afraid she was going to slip away. Maya nodded and just held her.

"I'm just fine baby, but it's time to go back to bed now." Fiona nodded into the crook of her neck and nuzzled her mother's hair. Maya began to carry the child back to her room and prayed that she didn't spot Lucas lurking in the living room. Lucas was easily 6'4 so not spotting him wasn't an easy feat but with a combination of stroking Fiona's hair and awkward sideway-walking Fiona had no idea he was in the house. Slowly Maya eased her way into her child's room. She set her back onto her bed and kissed her forehead.

"I love you sweetie, are you going to be ok in here?" Fiona nodded and seeing as her eyes were already mostly shut Maya believed the child would soon fall asleep.

"Good night angel." She gently tucked her under the pale pink covers and kissed her on the head again.

"Good night mama." Fiona's response was quiet almost whispered as she drifted off to sleep. Maya sat there watching her until she was sure she was truly asleep, and then slowly snuck out of the room. Maya slowly shut the door and breathed a sigh of relief as she heard the door click shut.

"Thank God!" She mumbled as she stepped away from the small room. She had almost forgotten about Lucas until she was headed back to her room to sleep and saw his blonde head and broad shoulders sticking up from above her couch. She smiled sweetly to herself and then headed into the living room.

"Hey!" She said softly as she crept into the living room to be right behind him. He jumped slightly at the sudden appearance of another human's voice.

"Hey!" He smiled up at her from his seat at the couch.

"So what is your friends name? Maybe I know them and can tell you what apartment they're in." She walked around and settled next to Lucas on the couch.

"Well it's my best friend since elementary school. His name is Isaiah. Zay-"

"-Babineaux!" She interrupted eagerly and shot up so that she was sitting on her knees.

"Yeah? How do you know him?" He looked mildly concerned and very confused.

"Well Zay lives right upstairs he's one of my very best friends!" Lucas began to smile.

"Of course he is." He chuckled and combed his hands through his hair again; it seemed to be a nervous tick of his.

"I know his number by heart I'll call it right now." She raced into the kitchen to get the landline and once she got it she ran back into the living room and sort of cannon balled onto the couch. Lucas began to chuckle as she excitedly dialed the number. She clicked it on to speakerphone so that Lucas could also hear the conversation. The dial tone filled the otherwise quiet apartment.

"Heyllo?" She smiled at Zay's voice, and his goofy greeting. Lucas hadn't heard that greeting in a long time and suddenly he was overwhelmed with joy at getting to possibly see his best friend.

"Hunkalicious you will never guess who I have sitting next to me on the couch!" Lucas stiffened at Maya's nickname for Zay but she thought nothing of it.

"Who gorgeous?" Lucas somehow got even stiffer at Zay's flirty reply and she sent him an odd glance.

"Guess!" Maya was now hopping up and down on the couch on her knees as Lucas stared at her.

"Baby girl I don't have time for this!"

"Fine you killjoy! Your very bestest oldest friend Mr. Lucas friar!"

"What?" His tone switched to confused and despite Lucas's slight jealousy he couldn't help but chuckle.

"Yes he got confused and entered my apartment instead of yours."

"But isn't the fire escape on Fi's room?" He sounded quite concerned now, still a little confused, but mostly concerned.

"Yes, yes it is. Scared the pants off of us both!" Both Lucas and Maya were chortling quietly.

"Ok," he said skeptically, "ok sorry 'bout that beautiful. You can send him on up!" Maya looked at Lucas slyly.

"Zay just come down here! Fi is asleep and you know she sleeps like a rock! Plus now that I know you and Lucas would be upstairs partying I want to join!"

"Fine darling I'll be down in a minute!"

"Can you not take the fire escape?" Maya didn't want Fion to be scared again, even though it was only Zay she had been through a lot in the past 10 minutes. Zay let out a crackled huff.

"Fine, I'll figure something out."

"Yay," Maya cheered victoriously, " thank you Zay! See you soon?"

"Yeah, see you soon gorgeous!"

"See yah Zay!" She hung up the phone and chucked it into a nearby chair.

"I thought that you didn't have a boyfriend Maya?" Lucas said awkwardly.

"Oh. No I don't. Why would you think that?" She shook her head and got up off the couch and went straight towards the kitchen again. This time Lucas followed her.

"Well, because Zay and you were-," Maya interrupted him, "- Ew Me and Zay? Zay is like a Brother to me! Gross." She shook her head and stuck her tongue out in disgust. It shocked him that she could have this conversation so casually. She was searching through various cabinets and removing bottles of what he assumed to be alcohol.

"Help me carry these would yah." She shoved a few bottle into his arms and sent him back to the living room. Soon after he was sent away she appeared in the living room with an armful of half empty bottles.

"With a six year old around the house I have very few opportunities to drink. So I have A LOT of alcohol. For some reason people love to give alcohol as a present so now I have about 5 bottles of half finished Gin, all of it from about 10 years ago." She began to arrange the bottles on the coffee table in front of her so that the emptiest ones were up front.

"Aren't you glad that I climbed in your window then to help you with your oh so hard life of having way too much alcohol." Maya laughed and shook her head in embarrassment.

"Oh you know it! Whenever Zay comes over we hang out with the kid and then he helps with household chores. Same goes for my best friend Riley, we go out to eat sometimes, but we never drink here. So having all this alcohol here really is such a waste." The two of them were just getting into a rhythm when there was a knock at the door that they knew was Zay. Maya sprung off the couch and opened the door to reveal a giddy Zay. As usual when he saw her he scooped her into his arms and gave her a huge bear hug. Lucas watched as his best friend picked up the petite girl with barely there clothes and she seemed pretty into it since she wrapped her legs around his torso and arms around his neck. He averted his eyes because he knew it would make him pissed to look at for much longer.

"Good to see you too gorgeous." Zay chuckled as he set her back onto the ground.

"Lucas come here man!" Lucas stood with a smile and embraced his life long friend.

"Good to see you man!" Lucas clapped him on the back and released as he felt Zay pull away.

"Hell yeah it is! It's been like 5 years!"

"Probably more than 5 years Zay!"

"Damn you right!" Maya watched as the two best friends were pulled into reminiscing, and a little bit of sadness at not seeing each other for so long.

"Ok boys as sweet as this little reunion is mama hasn't gotten drunk in 3 years!" The boys stopped and stared at her shockingly.

"Maya you haven't gotten drunk since you turned 21? Isn't it supposed to be the other way around?" Zay was always one to point out irony. She shrugged and handed out the plastic cups that she seemingly pulled from nowhere.

"I only drank then because it was Riley's birthday. I have a 6 year old guys when do I have time to drink!" She stared at the boys like they were idiots. When it became evident that they had no rebuttal she grabbed a mostly empty bottle of vodka and emptied it into her cup.

"Boys it's time to drink!" She grabbed both of their cups and filled them to the brim with gin.

"Cheers!" Zay shouted quietly and the three of them raised their glasses.

"To happy accidents." Maya proposed with a smile on her face.

"To happy accidents!" The boys repeated. Lucas smirked at her as their glasses met in the middle.

For the next few hours the new friend group drank cup after cup of weird concoctions getting more and more drunk as the night went on.

"Truth or dare!" Maya screeched at Lucas who was lying on the ground wasted off his ass.

"Truth." He managed to slur out after a moment of hard concentration.

"Ok ok. Zay help." Maya draped herself across Zay's lap and they started whispering in each other's ears. They whispered loud enough so that Lucas knew they were just mumbling random words, but for some reason he was still worried about what was being said.

"Zay noooo you can't help! You know all my secrets!"

"Not all of 'em Lukey, you been off my radar for a few years bud." Lucas huffed and sat up.

"Fine but still! Don't help that takes out all the fun!" Zay nodded in agreement and helped a giggling Maya off of his lap.

"Ok, ok, ok." Maya mumbled all of them detached from each other.

"I think I got it guys! Luke if you could sleep with one guy in our office who would it be?" She slurred out and started giggling even more. Lucas groaned out at the difficulty of the question.

"That is a loaded question my friend!" He refilled his cup and took a long full sip of whatever he had put in his cup. "I gotta say Mr. Franklin cause if I'm gonna be fucking a dude might as well get a raise and some job security from it." At that Maya started rolling around on her couch while cackling, and even though it wasn't that funny she ended up sprawled out on the ground.

"Wait," Zay interrupted the jovial laughter, "you two work together?" Zay slurred out confusedly.

"Yeah man! Maya is the lady who sits behind the front desk, and looks cute while answering the phones." Lucas explained like Zay should have already known this while waving his arms like a maniac. Maya nodded awkwardly since her body was perched partially on the couch, partially on the ground, and partially on the coffee table.

"Yup, and Lucas works in an office and he's a lawyer it's cool!" She confirmed.

"Ok Lucas on that note it's your turn to ask buddy!" Zay excitedly stated from where he was trying to hoist Maya back up on to the couch.

"Maya truth or dare!" Lucas said a little too quickly. He began to stare down the delusional drunk girl. Maya pushed Zay off of her and placed her elbows on the coffee table. She still had that rebel spirit in her so she easily met Lucas's stare.

"Dare." She confidentially proclaimed with a little hint of the devil in her expression.

"Down girl." Zay tried to pull Maya away from the challenge, but the girl had enough will left in her to push her friend away and somehow get tantalizingly close to Lucas. He took a gulp because he could clearly see down her shirt, and he knew he wasn't doing a great job at hiding where his eyes were drawn too. She snapped her fingers in front of his face sassily and sat back on her heels.

"So what's my dare?" She watched as Lucas sat confused for a few seconds or a few minutes (who really knew, she was drunk) and then got a devious look on his face.

"I dare you to take off your shirt!" Zay started whooping and Maya sat there with her mouth wide open. Soon it too melted into a devious look so the two adults were locked into a stare off.

"Lucas sweetie, I'm not wearing a bra would that really be appropriate?" Honestly none of this was appropriate their company had very strict sexual conduct policies, and for a good reason. This encounter probably broke every rule in the book except for actually sleeping together, but with the growing tension it was becoming a serious possibility.

Lucas had been under company review before for sexual misconduct in the workplace and he didn't want to put Maya through that but damn. He knew that seeing your secretary half naked was definitely against the rules and frankly his alcohol-influenced mind did not care one bit. Maya knew that removing her shirt because her boss asked her to opened both of them up to a world of lawsuits, and probably being fired but she didn't really care either. The two just stared into each other's eyes. Neither knew if it was out of passion or competition, but they couldn't pull their eyes away.

"Okay let's see some tits or Maya you better get chugging!" Zay slurred out the okay to show that even in his state he could see the sexual tension between the two of them.

"Okay, okay Zay calm down." Maya knew that stripping out of her tank top was not a smart decision, so she motioned to Zay to fill up her cup. He put his hands up in defeat and filled her cup to the brim with vodka. She held it up to her lips and nodded at them to start the countdown.

The two boys alternated counting, "5", "4", "3", "2", "1", and then in unison they shouted "Chug!"

She speedily downed the glass of vodka, ignoring the burning sensation that filled her mouth and throat. She slammed the glass on the coffee table and raised her arms over her head in victory.

"Oh my God that fucking burned." She made a face of disgust and slouched back onto couch to catch her breath.

"You are a champion my friend." Zay leaned over kissed her on the head and slowly stood up. "As much as I hate to be that guy, It's almost 4 AM and I have work in 2 hours." He slowly stretched and made his way to the door.

"Noooo!" Maya crooned and half crawled half threw her body at his legs in an effort to make him stop.

"Oof- Maya don't be like that!"

"But Zay I don't even know this guy," she motioned toward Lucas, "what if he takes advantage of me, and you're not here to stop it." Zay chuckled and easily lifted the woman from the ground and set her on her feet.

He held her by the shoulders and hunched over to stare her in the eye, " I highly doubt that Maya." She giggled childishly and wrapped her arms around her best friends neck.

"Ok fine. Goodbye hunkalicious see you tomorrow at 3:10." He hugged her and laughed as his drunk friend slumped into his arms. "Don't forget Isaiah!"

"I won't Maya I promise!" Zay motioned for Lucas to stand up and come towards him.

The blonde stood up and slowly moved towards his best friend. Zay lifted her slightly so that Maya wasn't solely leaning on him, and Lucas opened his arms so that Zay could smoothly deposit her into his arms and make his exit.

"No Lucas let go! You gotta make sure Zay gets home ok." She started to squirm in the strong man's arms.

"He'll be fine yah weirdo." He said slightly slurred. He slowly waddled his way back to the couch with the slumped blonde who had essentially gone boneless.

Zay had been the most sober of the 3 of them so Lucas and Maya had no moral compass or rational thought now. The two adults cuddled on the couch until Maya had a sudden burst of energy. She leapt out of Lucas's arms and ran into the kitchen.

"Lucas," she shouted, "do you want a grilled cheese!" She sounded so excited about it that the drunk man couldn't say no.

"Of course I do!" He slurred from his spot on the couch.

"Well then come on!" Maya ran back into the living room, grabbed his hand and attempted to drag him off the couch.

The small woman yanked on her friends arm to the point where she could probably dislocate it. Finally he stopped resisting and used his other arm to push himself off the couch. She continued to yank his arm, which gave him the message that he was to follow her wherever she was going.

She led the groggy man into her kitchen where she had pulled out all the bread in her home and most of the cheese.

" Let's do this!" In a matter of minutes the two were flying around the small kitchen putting together the 'perfect blend' of cheeses for a grilled cheese. Lucas stood at the counter hunched over so that he could see the counter-space between the two sets of cabinets. In front of him was a makeshift cutting board, which was covered in American cheese, and some odd gouda that Maya had picked up at fresh market. Maya was perched on top of the island in the middle of the room grating a hard block of cheddar cheese.

"Ow!" Maya yelped and dropped the grater to the ground with all of her cheese.

"Maya?" Lucas set down his knife and whipped around to look at the blonde. She was sitting cross-legged on the counter and was closely inspecting one finger.

"I cut myself Lucas." She pouted and showed him the bleeding gash going across her pointer finger. He rushed to her side and picked up her hand in his own. He grabbed a paper towel that was sitting beside her and dabbed at it the cut to stop the bleeding. Once it stopped bleeding he lifted the finger up to his mouth and left a soft kiss at the previously bleeding spot.

Maya raised her head and her blue eyes locked with his green ones. He pressed his lips to her finger again. She looked at him from under her long lashes as he continued to kiss his way down her arm. She sat there stuck in her place until he hit the crook of her elbow and was basically leaning into her lap. She reached out with her other arm, grabbed him by the chin and tilted his head up until their foreheads were pressed together. He let go of her hand and wrapped his arms around her waist.

In that moment Maya forgot about everything. She was no longer a 24-year-old mom of a 6 year old. She wasn't working two jobs just to support her family. She didn't live in the slums, she didn't have to sleep with a bat in her room, she didn't need to coerce her landlord to fix simple problems, and she wasn't utterly alone. She was just a woman who was with a man.

Lucas moved his head forward and slowly his lips and Maya's met. The second their lips touched it was like a spark inside of them was ignited. Maya wrapped her legs around Lucas's waist and he grasped her back trying to pull her closer to him. She whimpered softly into his mouth and deepened the kiss. Maya hadn't been kissed like this in ages; probably ever considering every guy she had been with was a high school boy or college drop out. He slid his arms down her sides and rested his hands on the top of her ass giving it a light squeeze. Maya tightened her hold on the man and slid her tongue in his mouth to fight for dominance of the situation. When he felt his control slipping he smoothly lifted her off the counter and hugged her body to his so that he could keep her elevated. He spun them around a few times until he saw an empty spot on the wall and slammed her back up against it. Slowly he lifted his knee and wedged his thigh between her legs. As soon as he settled her on his thigh she whimpered at the sudden contact and tried to shimmy closer to him. Regretfully he broke the kiss and began moved his lips to the column of her neck where he nibbled, sucked, and pecked until her neck was covered in multi-color spots.

"Lucas, bedroom please." Maya panted out as he continued to cover her neck and shoulders with kisses. He chuckled at her insistence and moved his hands from the walls beside her to under her ass. He hoisted her up so she was around his waist and slid his knee out.

She started to kiss and lick up and down his neck as he moved them out of the kitchen and towards where he assumed her room was.

"Maya as much as I really, really don't want you to stop, I have no idea where I'm going." She groaned and jumped out his arms. She grabbed his hand and led him to her room. When she reached the door she turned around gave him possibly the sexiest look he's ever seen and slowly pulled him into the dark room.

He stood right inside the closed room in the pitch dark while Maya pattered around trying to turn on the light. After a minute a dim lamp in the corner slowly lit up her room.

She had a sultry playful grin on her face as she crossed the room until she was standing right in front of him. She looked up at him with wide doe eyes and slowly lifted her shirt over her head.

"You ready cowboy?"