Title: Sushi?

Author: AnitaB

Author's note: I own nothing and nothing I do own would be worth the lawyer's fees of suing me.

Marshall and Mary are meant for each other. But before anyone, especially the writers, do something stupid to push them back apart, my Marshall and Mary decided they needed to do something to get closer. Will be shippy, but technically isn't quite there yet.

Sushi?

By AnitaB

Chapter one: Staying

It had be one hell of a month. Some of it great, some of it soul-crushing. Some of it as yet undetermined. Marshall lifted his head from the bunch of miniature origami roses he was making and reached for his beer.

In some ways he was closer to Mary than she'd let him be for a long, long time. She was opening up to him, talking to him more since she'd woken up in the hospital since before he'd been shot and promised not to leave her.

And he wouldn't. Not ever. Marshall was never leaving Mary, no matter what. He would cut off his own arm to be at her side the second she needed him. But that had made the last month an incredibly difficult tight rope walk to balance. It was hard to stay so close and not get closer. So hard to hear her thoughts, needs and doubts without telling her his own. //Again. I told her I love her. I told her I wouldn't leave her.\\

It was so hard to hold back during all those conservations on the road when he wanted to touch her, to tell her … everything. Everything she needed, everything she wanted, it was all right here. No more than three feet from her side every god-damned day. He knew, down to the depths of his soul he knew he could be everything she needed. That he could be that insane goal of that insane woman. That he could keep and protect the purest part of her heart.

Oh, they'd argue like mad because Mary couldn't breathe for too long without arguing, but there would be no doubts. It would be just right. He was the beautiful, sweet, sensitive man who adored her. The only way she could ever get him to leave her would be to kill him.

And the only way that Mary would ever manage to leave him would be if she ran harder and hid better than they ever managed for their witnesses. "Mary,"

Marshall shook his head and emptied the bottle of beer in one long swallow. Mary might never be ready for everything they could be together. And he needed to put at least some of these feelings back in their box if he was going to be there for her tomorrow without spilling his guts over her desk.

He also needed another beer and a lot more origami paper. Mary's bouquet wasn't done yet. Standing, he dropped the bottle in the trash and opened the fridge for a second, or maybe it was third, beer. His fingers curled around the cold glass in the same instant as his cell phone went off on his hip. He both hoped for and dreaded this call. //Mary,\\

She had no idea that she held his heart in her hands. "Mary?"

"Marshall. I'm starving. Sushi?"

There was… something in her voice. He couldn't say no, not that he ever really could. "I'd love some. Am I meeting you there or picking you up?" Marshall put the beer back in the fridge and headed for the living room.

"I'm already in the car. Be at your place in about five minutes."

"I'll be right here." Marshall hung up the phone and pull on a jacket. She probably had no idea just how true his words were. He would always be there for Mary. Marshall had thought about leaving once. He probably wouldn't have managed it then. And there was no way in hell he'd manage it now. Standing on his own front porch, Marshall stared up at the stars and practiced a breathing technique he'd read about. He needed his control back if he was going to give Mary what she needed.

"Hey, Doofus. What, you fall asleep standing up?"

He could feel the smile start to curve his lips before he dragged his eyes from the heavens. "No, Mare, I was just examining Ursa Major. It's a fascinating subject for study. Most people describe the constellation as 'the great bear,' hence it's name. But really, the stars within it are more closely shaped to a—"

"Marshall, shut up and get in the car." The words may have been a little cutting, but the expression on her face was relaxed with just a hint of a smile. Her voice was tinged with warmth. She could complain all she wanted about 'the down pour of idiocy he practically patented' but nothing calmed her down or cooled her off better than a little trivia.

"Yes, ma'am." Marshall was buckling his seat belt when his heart leapt and raced. Such an overwhelming physical response to such a small amount of bare skin. No engagement ring had reappeared on her finger. And she was in a car with him about to go out for dinner, not a certain Cuban baseball player. //Breathing… that's what the practice is supposed to promote.\\ Finishing the act of buckling the seatbelt, he focused on his breathing. "So, Mare, where are we going for sushi?"

"That little place off Central avenue. Unless you, in your knowledge of all things Asian, Mr. Origami master, know a better one."

"Shogun's, right off Central, is amazing. The chef was born in Kyoto."

Mary's laughter brightened every nerve in his body. "I'm not gonna ask how you know that because I, unlike you, don't want to know the chef's life story right now. Just as long as they have good beer."

"They do,"

"Great, let's go."

000

He looked tired. Really tired. But he'd smiled. And he'd started not one but two unprompted trivia strings. Mary glanced at her partner out of the corner of her eye at the first red light. She hated that her baggage and fucked up life had helped put that weight on his shoulders.

It had been a hell of a month. Fuck, it had been a hell of a year. And most of it was because of her. From her kidnapping and shooting, to the coma and the recovery, to her relationship trouble with Raf… she'd put him through so much in the last year. In the six before that it wasn't like she was the cream of the partner crop. She'd spent months insulting him, arguing with him. And yet he was always, always there for her. In this last month, he kept her from cracking wide open with a word, welcome or not, a hand, a shoulder. He had her back, made her think even when she thought she couldn't, distracted her when it all got to be too much. He watched out for her when he should be running for the hills.

"Jesus, Marshall. Why didn't you tell me I was such a bitch?" She felt his surprise fill the car with a sudden silence. But she didn't dare look over to see what he was really feeling.

"Wh—What?" His voice was soft, confused and a little warm. "Mary, you're not making sense."

"Don't lie to me, Marshall. You heard exactly what I said and you know it's true." Mary locked her eyes on the road and gripped the wheel hard. "I've been a bitch. I dump all my fucked up problems on you, make your life at work a living hell." A weird sound crawled up her throat. But she wasn't crying. Nope, not even close. Mary blinked back water and forced herself on. "Why the fuck haven't you dumped my sorry ass on the side of the road?" Her breath caught, but she still wasn't crying. "Any Witsec office in the country would snap you up in a second if you put in for a transfer. Why haven't you?"

Long fingers slid around her wrist in a gentle grip and suddenly she could hear his voice. "Mary. Mary, pull over. Pull the car over now." It sounded like he'd been trying to break in edgewise for a little while. A glance sideways showed her a weird expression on his face, one she couldn't read. "Come on, Mare."

Her teeth sank into her lower lip and her hands were shaking just a little as she guided the car into a nearby open spot. But it was Marshall's hand that threw the car into park, Marshall's grip on her arm that pulled her a little sideways in her seat. Marshall's eyes trying to catch hers. "Look at me, Mary."

She didn't know if she could. If she looked at him she might actually start crying. But Mary forgot for a moment about one the reasons Marshall had stayed her partner for seven years. He was a stubborn bastard and he wasn't about to bend an inch right now. "Mary," His other hand lifted to her chin and Mary found her eyes on his face completely against her will. "I said look at me. I don't want us to crash, but I think we need to talk." The hand at her face brushed a lock of hair behind her ear and cupped her cheek warmly before sliding away. "You're not a bitch, Mary." Her disbelieving sound brought a small, tense smile to his lips. "Well, you can be a bitch. But not to me."

"Marshall," She shook her head, but wasn't allowed to get any further.

"You're not a bitch to me, Mary. I'm telling you the truth. Scout's honor." His hand on her wrist somehow turned into her hand cradled in his. "I want you to listen to me right now. Because this is very important."

His eyes searched her face and she hurried a nod. If he kept talking maybe his eyes wouldn't feel like they were opening her up under a microscope.

"Good. I love it that you trust me enough to share your problems with me, to let me in, let me help you. Is that clear, Mare? You're my partner and my best friend. It is my job and my choice to be there for you in any way I can. If you start feeling guilty about it, you'll stop. You'll start pushing me away again. I don't want that. We've gotten closer in the last year than we've ever been. I will not lose that, not without one hell of a fight." His fingers slid through hers, squeezing tight in a desperate grip. "I'm here for you, Mary. I'm staying. Please don't push me away."

Yup, now she was crying, a harsh little sound in her throat and hot water streaking her face. Mary found herself held tight against his chest with his chin propped on her hair. Strong arms wrapped around her waist and long fingers rubbed her back. Her hands caught in the back of his shirt under his jacket, her cheek tucked against the strength of his shoulder. "Marshall,"

"I'm here, Mary, I've got you." His throat sound almost as rough as hers felt. "I'm not letting go."

//Good, don't want you to.\\ Mary tightened her grip just a little more and rubbed her face against his shirt. //It's nice here, I like it.\\ Eventually she would have to pull back, but not just yet. There was something amazing about this moment, about hearing Marshall's heartbeat under her ear, about his arms around her. But what was even better was the feel of the tension leaving his muscles. Marshall needed this hug just as badly as she did. It was her job and choice as his partner and best friend to make sure that he got what he needed too, a little more time just… like… this.

She opened her eyes to see a small damp spot on his chest. The second she lifted her head, Marshall opened his arms and moved one hand to her face. Those eyes searched her face and Mary found herself giving him a soft smile. "You know you're crazy for staying with me, for wanting to stay, right? Abso-fucking-lutely nuts."

The relief in his eyes and the curve on his lips made something deep in her back unknot, maybe for the first time in years. "I'd have to be an insane person to keep up with my crazy partner." His fingers stroked the line of her cheek before he pulled both hands from her skin. "So we're okay, right?"

It wasn't easy to pull back from the warmth of him, but it was necessary. "Yeah, Marshall, we're good. Besides, I dragged you out of the house in the middle of the night with the promise of sushi. I should deliver."

"And I've never told you the long and detailed history of Sushi."

//Damn, you're cute when you're a doofus.\\ Mary put the car back in drive, hiding a broad smile by checking out her window for traffic. "I've always thought the first person to eat raw fish must have been starving to death and not able to make fire."

"You'd be surprised then…"

000