Here you go...I've missed you guys! A little Halloween something for you guys...it should've been posted sooner, earlier this week...but...yes the infamous BUT! lol...RL and then some...enjoy!

Briskly walking into the office, knowing she was already late – not the first time either – Mary noticed Marshall in Stan's office. Her eyes locked on his desk, trying to figure out what she could do to prank her partner; best friend. With an evil smile she moved around his desk looking up to make sure he was still pre-occupied with Stan.

Still looking for what to do to his desk or even better something of personal use that would make him regret leaving his desk unattended, but something caught her attention. Mary is about to sit on Marshall's chair when she pushed the mouse, waking his computer from sleep. She stares in horror at what she sees. Halloween Party invitation! Groaning, she jumps up and practically runs to her desk.

"Damn it Marshall, you and your stupid parties with Nancy Drew," she mutters under her breath as she whips around and runs towards her desk, praying silently that he was too busy to notice her on his desk.

To her relief and curiosity Marshall and Stan don't come out of his office for a good half hour, which means his computer went back into hibernation.

"Hey Mare, didn't see you come in," he nervously looks over at his desk and doesn't spot anything unusual, frowning he looks back at her. Odd, I'm sure there's something wrong.

Narrowing his eyes he walks around to his desk and still doesn't spot anything unusual. Which has his gut clenching at what precisely was the prank, as well as he knows her, he knows that something is not right

Mary tries to ignore the looks Marshall keeps shooting her way. She had to get out of there, she's getting frustrated and finally snaps to her usual emotion, annoyance. "Will you stop looking at me!"

"I would, but…what did you do?" he frowns and swivels around his chair, looking at all his things with a scared look.

She looks up frowning and stares at him a moment confused, "What do you mean?"

"I was busy with Stan, in his office…I don't see anything unusual on my desk"

Narrowing her eyes, trying to cover up her nerves, "What is that supposed to mean?"

"You always mess with my stuff when I'm busy with Stan," he shrugs like it should be obvious.

"Well, be lucky that my mind's pre-occupied today!" She gets up and walks around her desk, "I gotta check on a witness, tell Stan!"

Marshall leans back and stares at Mary's retreating form. When the elevator doors closed he turned to look around his desk again. Nothing.

Later that afternoon Mary comes back and Marshall is gone. When she frowns at his desk Stan comes out of his office saying, "Hey Mary, how was the witness?"

"Marcia was fine, she just needs help finding another job."

"What's wrong with the one she has?

"Well, she feels she could make more money elsewhere."

She turns to go around her desk and stops, "Hey Stan, do you think I can take some time off?"

Stan was in the process of going back to his office and froze, slowly turning back to Mary. She never asked for time off. Frowning he asks, "Is something the matter?"

"No, nothing like that. Kenny sorta wants to take me…um…away for a few days," she finished really fast.

"Away?! As in a vacation, away? You? Are you sure you're ok?" with hands on waist he looks at Mary with narrowed eyes, suspiciously.

Groaning she rolls her eyes, "Of course I'm fine! Can't my guy friend whisk me away for a long weekend?"

"How long do you need this weekend to be?"

Mary ran her fingers through her hair before she rested her hands on her hips and shrugged, "I'll let you know in a few"

"Fine"

Sitting on her chair behind her desk she looks at the calendar. Halloween fell on Thursday, which only gave her two days to disappear. She got up and walked over to Stan's office, "Hey Chief, mind if I start my long weekend tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow?" he asks incredulously.

"That's what I just said," she snaps back.

"Fine"

Mary started to walk to her desk and debated, if I leave now, I don't have to talk or explain anything to Marshall.

"Hey Chief? Mind if I just take off now?" she asked with a blush.

Frowning Stan leans back on his chair and scrutinizes Mary's expression. She looked panicked. What has got you panicked, Inspector? The witness? No, not the witness, something deeper. He shrugged inwardly and nods.

"I don't see why not. Have a great time, enjoy your long weekend!" he had to shout the last part since Mary had briskly walked back to her desk and was on her way out.

"Hey Stan, did Mary ever come back from her witness visit?" asked a concerned Marshall as he stared at his partner's desk with a frown.

Stan looks up and frowns, "Yeah, she did. By the way, she won't be back for the rest of the week."

Startled Marshall looks at his boss and frowns, "What do you mean? What happened? Is Norah okay? A witness transfer I didn't know about? Something wrong?"

"Marshall! Stop, everything's fine…uh…apparently Kenny is whisking your partner off on a long weekend," he couldn't help himself and watched Marshall like a hawk, trying to see what emotions this Inspector would give away.

"What? Mary willingly took time off? Damn, I hadn't had the chance to invite her to my Halloween party, thought if I gave her the invitation last minute, she wouldn't have a reason to decline and she'd come," he murmured.

Marshall was shocked and just continued to stare at her desk, he didn't like it one bit,since when does Mary go on long weekends? Is she getting serious with this Kenny character? I thought he was just another cowboy.

As the Halloween preparations continued, Marshall and Abigail decided to meet at the Halloween store after each was off from work, being that they had both worked late. Walking down from one aisle to another until they reached their destination, last minute shopping was always a drag for Marshall. He was always very organized with his planning and this fell into disarray for him, Abigail on the other hand, preferred the last minute shopping than planning. She told him that it was the fun part of having a party. Now here they were, it was the day of the event and they still didn't have costumes.

"Sugar Plum, I think you should go as Prince Charming!"

Marshall grinned down at his fiancée, "You only want me to be Prince Charming so you can be a princess. But in that case, I'll go as Eric and you should be Ariel."

They both grinned and were about to keep walking towards the costumes when Marshall caught sight of Kenny!

Looking around for Mary, he couldn't pass the opportunity to tease her for being in a Halloween store, but she was nowhere to be seen. Turning back to Kenny he noticed that his companion was practically climbing him. The woman was a petite brunette, definitely not his partner.

TBC...ooohhh, where's Mary if she's not with Kenny? :/