Hi, Everybody! This is a piece I wrote over on LJ for '12 days' and as usual, it's developed into something more. sigh I don't think the muses and I are capable of writing one-shots! This is only Part One - never fear, more is coming! This series will be written in first person, from Marshall's POV. It starts on the 4th of July and in my universe, the episode "Rolling Stones" and its events happen before that holiday. . . .

Throw someone a curve: (1) to pitch a curve in baseball, (2) to surprise someone with something that is tricky, unpleasant, or difficult to deal with.

"Hell no."

I met my partner's eyes across the room, so full of jade fire, and I tried not to smile. "Come on, Mer. I know it's going to kill you not to play this year but the team really needs you to be there."

Mary leaned back in her chair and grimaced as she stretched her back and rubbed one hand across her stomach, over the child that was growing inside. "To do what? Sit on the sidelines and do the wave and be some perky knocked up cheerleader?"

I nearly choked on the sip of coffee I was trying to swallow at the picture her words painted. "You were a cheerleader?" I asked, cocking my head to one side.

Mary blew a spit wad at me, which I easily dodged. "Brandi was the cheerleader, doofus."

"Now that I can totally picture."

"Don't change the subject – I'm not coming. End of story." Mary turned back to her keyboard and began to furiously peck at the keys.

I scrubbed a hand wearily through my hair, knowing that I was going to have to pull out all the stops. Setting my mug on my desk, I walked over to hers, watching as she tensed the closer I got. Finally I perched on the edge of her desk and folded my hands across my chest and waited for her to look up at me. Unlike Mary, I was not afraid of silence and was perfectly content to wait her out. She always broke first because she wasn't able to stand the stillness.

"What?" she finally yelled, slamming her hands on the desk top, her eyes looking up at me in defiance.

"Why won't you come, Mer? Are you really afraid of what people will think, what they might say?" I said gently, my eyes flitting down briefly to her belly.

"You bastard," she hissed at me. "I can't believe you went there! You know me better than that – I'm not afraid of what those yahoos think or say about me."

I reached out and covered one of her hands with mine. "Then what is it?"

"Marshall, you know how competitive I am. We've lost the last two years – and I wanted to beat them so badly this year! To go and sit on the sidelines and not be able to play-" she shrugged and gave me a weak smile.

I raised my eyebrows. "And you're sure that's all it is?"

She blew out a breath in exasperation. "Fine! You win!" she paused to hit my shoulder at my triumphant grin. "Yes, it's because of the talk but not like you think. I'll be trapped on the sidelines with everyone wanting to touch my stomach and talking about due dates and breast feeding and colors for the nursery and on and on until I'll be forced to pull out my glock-"

I held up my hand. "I get it, Mer. It was selfish of me to ask you – but I do hope you'll come to the barbeque at my house afterwards."

She looked at me suspiciously. "You're not staying for the big one at the park?"

I shook my head. "No, Abigail and I wanted to have our own this year." I chose to ignore her eye roll at the mention of my girlfriend. "Don't worry; it will be just the three of us, Stan, and Delia. Oh, and I invited Brandi and Peter too."

"Good God, why?"

"Because I know you turned down an invitation to her barbeque, claiming you already had a work party." I grinned as her mouth dropped open. "Now I've saved you from saying a bunch of 'Hail Mary's' for your lie since it will be true if you come to mine."

"That's blackmail!"

"Oh, come on. It won't be that bad. I'm making ribs and picking up apple pies from Helen's bakery." I laughed as her face lit up at the menu.

"What time?"

"You guys don't have a prayer this year without Shannon. Sure you don't want to forfeit and we can just start the barbecue early?"

I looked into the arrogant face of detective Casey and tried not to grit my teeth. It was at times like these that I really missed Bobby D. He seemed to have been the only one who had been able to keep the sexist, chauvinistic man in check.

"You hungry already, Casey? Forget breakfast this morning? My coworker Delia has some muffins that I'm sure she'd be happy to share with you," I smiled.

As if she had a sixth sense, Delia appeared by my side holding a Tupperware container. "Did I hear Marshall say you missed breakfast, Detective? Please have a muffin – I made plenty."

"Uh-" Casey cleared his throat, not sure what to say to the perky, petite woman in front of him who was thrusting muffins in his face.

"Hey, Casey! Try the bran ones – they'll really fill you up." I grinned and headed for the dugout to warm up.

Halfway through the fourth inning I noticed Mary's car parked across the street. When I stepped up to the plate, I saw her sitting under a tree watching the game through high powered binoculars. Knowing that she had been unable to stay away and had in fact come to cheer us on in her own way thrilled me. It also distracted me to the point that I struck out in a very spectacular fashion to the groans of my team and the delight of our opponents.

It was the bottom of the ninth, and amazingly enough, the score was tied. As our team was coming in from the field, I noticed that there was a stir of activity by the bleachers and I saw that Mary was now sitting in the front row.

"Well, look who's here, boys and girls!" Casey shouted. "Shannon, I heard you were out sick today – but instead I guess the rumors I've been hearing about you the past few months are true." He looked between Mary and me before grinning wildly. "Is it Marshall's?"

I don't even remember moving, but suddenly I had Casey's shirt front in my hands. Casey swung a fist at my head and I ducked before I began swinging myself. We fell into the dirt, fists flying, and some part of me distantly heard Mary and Abigail calling my name. Someone pulled me off Casey and another teammate grabbed him. Casey's face was pretty cut up and heaven only knew what my own face looked like.

Stan swung me around to face him.

"What the hell are you doing, Marshall? Do you want to get written up again?"

My eyes fluttered closed briefly as I struggled to control my breathing. "Didn't you hear him, Stan? He's such a-"

"Marshall!" Stan barked and I stopped.

"If you two are done with your pissing match, can we play ball now?" Delia smirked.

The tension seemed to break with that and the game continued. I was the third batter and unfortunately both batters in front of me struck out. Bottom of the ninth, two out, tie score – this was my worst nightmare. My palms were sweating when I stepped up to the plate. I've never been the best athlete but under Mary's tutelage and this yearly baseball game on the 4th of July against APD, my skills had slowly been improving. But I had no idea if it would be enough to hold up under pressure – or if I could even hit a home run.

First pitch – swing and a miss. Strike one.

Second pitch – low and outside, ball one.

Third pitch – swing and a miss. Strike two.

"Come here, doofus."

"Time," I called as I stepped back from the batter's box to the chain link backdrop.

Mary pressed her face to the chain link and whispered. "His next pitch is going to be a curve ball, low, over the plate."

I looked at her in confusion. "How do you know?"

She rolled her eyes. "Because that's how Thor finishes off the batters – trust me. I've been watching him the whole game. Look for it – curve ball, low."

I nodded and stepped back to the plate, seeing out of the corner of my eye that Mary stayed behind the backdrop. I raised my bat and waited for the pitch, watched as it left the glove, watched as it curved.

Fourth pitch – curve ball, low and over the plate.

CRACK!

I didn't even wait to see how far it was flying. I just heard my bat connect with the ball, heard the roar of my team, Mary's shout, and I was off for first base, legs pumping. I could hear Mary screaming at me to slide as I rounded third base and I knew it was going to be close. Thanking God for my long legs, I slid into home feet first and waited for the call.

"Safe!" the umpire cried.

I leapt to my feet as Mary reached me and I grabbed her in a fierce hug.

"We won!" she cried.

Pulling back so I could see her face, I said, "Thanks, coach!"

Mary's smile lit her entire face as I picked her up and swung her around in a victory hug as our team swarmed around us.

When I stepped out of the shower and got the first look at my face in the mirror, I groaned. I had felt the soreness and stiffness growing on the way home from the game, but Abigail had refused to tell me how bad the damage was. Now as I looked at my slightly swollen jaw and the black eye that was forming, I could only hope that I had gotten Casey as good as he had gotten me.

Stepping out onto the deck, I was nearly knocked over by Oscar. I leaned down and scratched him behind the ears. "I don't recall your name being on the guest list, boy."

"He's part of my entourage now, remember?" Mary called from the pool, where she was sitting on the steps, her legs underwater.

Before I could reply, Brandi appeared and gave me a quick hug. "Thanks for inviting us, Marshall." She pulled back and gasped. "What happened to you?"

Abigail laughed. "He was being a knight in shining armor again, defending your sister's honor." She linked her arm through mine. "Or was it your own honor you were defending, sugar bug?"

"I can fight my own battles," Mary protested.

"Not for the next few months, you can't," I shot back.

"Knock it off you two," Stan barked. "Can we just relax and enjoy the 4th of July?"

"And our victory!" Delia added. "Stan told me that this ends our two year losing streak!"

"What does she mean 'our'?" I heard Mary mutter. "The woman's only been here a few months for crying out loud."

I cleared my throat. "So, can I get anyone something to drink?"

Unfortunately, as much as the alcohol would have mellowed Mary out, I couldn't in good conscious let her have any. But the virgin daiquiris seemed to do the trick as well; the cold fruity drinks and the pool water relaxed her. She also stayed far away from Delia, Abigail, and Brandi who had congregated on one side of the deck when they discovered they had a love of cooking in common. When they began to swap recipes and talk about their favorite TV food chefs, I made my escape to get the ribs started. Stan and Peter ended up talking about sports and the upcoming wedding. As I grilled, I kept my eye on Mary, who hadn't moved from the pool. Oscar was curled up by her side, panting in the sun. It bothered me that even now, at a small party with people she was comfortable being around, she continued to isolate herself. Asking Stan to watch the ribs, I made my way over to her.

Mary looked up when my shadow fell over her. "Hey."

"Hey, yourself." I lowered myself to the pavement, letting my legs dangle over the edge into the pool water. "What are you thinking about over here all by yourself?"

"I'm wondering what dog tastes like."

My eyebrows rose in disbelief and she laughed. "Seriously, Marshall, I'm starving! When do we eat?"

I shook my head at her. "Another five minutes or so – think you can hold off that long or do I need to relocate Oscar for his own safety?"

She narrowed her eyes in thought. "Nah – I guess I can make it. He's a lucky dog."

"How are things going with you two?"

She shrugged. "Okay, I guess. I never thought I'd have a dog – but then I never thought I'd be pregnant either. Guess I can think of it as sort of a dry run."

I felt my heart beat pick up a little at her words. "What do you mean?"

She shrugged again. "Well, dogs are so damn needy – just like a baby. You have to feed 'em, and clean up after 'em, and take 'em for walks. I practically can't leave Oscar alone because he gets in all kinds of trouble and chews up my things. Then he throws them up all over the house." She paused to blow out a breath.

"In other words, Oscar requires a lot of care just like-" I let the sentence hang in the air between us.

She nodded. "Yeah."

I cleared my throat. "I thought you'd decided on adoption, Mer."

"I had – but then Brandi comes to me last week and says-"

"The ribs are ready! Let's eat!" Abigail called across the yard.

For a few seconds I waited for her to go on but the spell was broken. "What did Brandi say, Mer?" I encouraged.

"To be continued, doofus. I'm starving, remember?"

I stood and held out my hand. "How could I forget?"

She knocked my hand aside and gripped the hand rail of the pool. "I'm not a porcelain doll, Marshall. I can get up myself."

I turned away with a shrug as she began to get to her feet. Suddenly I heard a splash behind me and Brandi screamed from the deck.

"MARY!"

I whirled around to see Mary floating face down in the shallow water, unconscious. It took less than a minute to reach her and pull her to me but I still felt like I was wasting too much time. Everyone crowded around as I stepped back onto the pavement with her cradled in my arms. I laid Mary gently on the concrete and began rescue breathing.

"Oh my God, Peter, she's bleeding!"

"Brandi, please calm down. Marshall's doing everything he can to help her."

I felt like I couldn't breathe myself until the moment Mary began coughing up water. She sat up, her hands gripping my wet T-shirt.

"What happened?" she gasped.

"I'm not sure."

"Mary, you fainted," Brandi cried.

"That's ridiculous. I-" Mary suddenly doubled over, one hand clutching her stomach.

"What is it, Mer? Is it the baby?" I asked, one of my hands covering hers. My eyes widened as I felt the contraction grip her abdomen.

"I'm not sure. I think I should-" Mary said, trying to pull away from me and stand up.

I copied her movements, keeping her within the circle of my arms. "I don't think it's such a good idea for you to stand up right now."

"Really, I feel-" her hands tightened on my arms suddenly as she fainted again.

I swung her up into my arms. "We need to get her to the hospital now. Can someone drive us?"

"I will. I have my portable light," Abigail spoke up from behind me. "It'll be faster if we use it."

"Thank you," I said, my eyes never leaving Mary's face. I moved towards the driveway, calling over my shoulder. "We'll meet you all there."

Mary didn't regain consciousness on the way to the hospital and even with the use of Abigail's police siren, I thought we would never get there. I held Mary in my lap and cradled her head against my shoulder, silently thankful that she was breathing and yet very worried that she was so still.

Abigail dropped me off at the emergency room entrance and I ran inside, still holding Mary in my arms. I'm sure it was the sudden appearance of two soaking wet people, one of them unconscious and pregnant that made everyone jump to action as quickly as they did. The nurses wanted me to wait outside but I wasn't about to step aside like I did the night she was shot.

"Are you the father?" the nurse asked me, her eyebrow quirked in a question mark.

"Yes." I didn't even take the time to think about the consequences of that statement; the word was out of my mouth before I thought about it.

"Come on then," the nurse grunted.

Mary regained consciousness as they were transferring her to a bed and she called out for me in confusion. When I moved into her line of sight, our eyes locked and I saw her visibly relax against the pillows and let the examination begin. She was being hooked up to a fetal heart monitor when another contraction seized her body.

"Son of a bitch!" she hissed.

"Please try to relax, Miss Shannon," the nurse said soothingly.

Mary glared at her. "You try to relax when it feels like your insides are trying to be squeezed out through something the size of a keyhole!"

I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from smiling as Mary's doctor walked into the room.

"Well, Mary, what's going on? Did you decide to provide your own kind of fireworks for the 4th?"

Mary snorted. "It wasn't my idea, believe me. Talk to the rug rat." She poked a finger towards her stomach. "And not that I'm not glad to see you, Helen, but where's Dr. Reese?"

"She's out of town on vacation this week. I've put a call into her and hopefully I'll hear back so we can consult about your case. So, can you tell me what happened?"

Mary shrugged. "I don't know."

Helen turned to me. "Marshall?"

"She fainted when she stood up and fell into my pool, hitting her head somehow, probably on the metal stair rail. I had to give her a few rescue breaths when I pulled her out," I paused to take a deep breath as the enormity of what could have happened began to hit me. "She seemed to be all right but then she had a contraction and passed out again when she tried to stand up afterwards."

"You're making it sound worse than it was, doofus."

Helen frowned at Mary. "It doesn't sound good. Ok, Marshall, why don't you step outside for a few minutes while I examine Mary and see what's up."

While Mary was getting checked over by Helen, one of the nurses gave me some clean, dry scrubs to replace my wet clothing. After I changed clothes, I was back in Mary's room in time to hold her hand while she got six stitches just above her left temple. Her contractions continued every fifteen to twenty minutes for the next three hours, and then finally stopped once the medication Helen had prescribed took its full effect and Mary's body began to relax in exhaustion.

I had actually lost track of how long we had been in the ER when Helen eventually poked her head back into the room. Mary was dozing by this time, and Helen motioned for me to come out into the hallway so we could talk and not disturb her yet.

"I heard back from Dr. Reese a little while ago and we talked about Mary's results and treatment."

"What's wrong with her?"

Helen motioned to a small sitting area. "Let's sit down."

I sank into the chair. "That bad, huh?"

Helen shook her head. "Not if we can get Mary to slow down and take care of herself."

My eyebrows rose in disbelief. "Helen, have you met Mary?"

Helen smiled. "Yes, unfortunately. Marshall, Mary is suffering from toxemia, or pregnancy induced hypertension."

I nodded. "High blood pressure – in our line of work and the stresses we face on a daily basis, I'm surprised we don't all have hypertension."

Helen agreed. "Mary's case is severe, however. She's experiencing extremely high blood pressure and today her body tried to go into premature labor."

I swallowed heavily. "It's way too soon – the baby wouldn't survive."

"No, he wouldn't."

My startled eyes met Helen's. "It's a boy?" I said hoarsely.

"You didn't know?"

Wordlessly, I shook my head.

"I shouldn't have told you, Marshall." Helen frowned. "Perhaps Mary doesn't even know."

"She won't hear it from me."

"Thank you. Now, I'd like to tell you about the treatment plan Dr. Reese and I have devised because I have a feeling I'm going to need your help to talk Mary into following it."

"Hell no."

I bit back my laughter as I met the fiery jade eyes of my partner.

"Mer, it won't be so bad."

"Are you both out of your minds?" She swung her gaze between Helen and me. "Bed rest for two weeks?"

"And a low salt, low fat diet for the remainder of your pregnancy," Helen added.

Mary shot her another death glare.

"Why don't you give us a minute," I suggested and Helen nodded, grateful for the opportunity to escape. I chuckled as I sat next to Mary on the bed.

Mary collapsed back against the pillows. "When did my life get so fucked up?"

I opened my mouth to respond but her hand shot out and covered my lips.

"Don't answer that, doofus, it was a rhetorical question!" she moaned as she ran her hands through her hair, being careful to avoid the stitches on the left side of her head. "Do you have any idea what will happen as soon as Jinx and Brandi hear about this? They will be convinced that I am incapable of taking care of myself and one or the other or both will move back in with me before I can blink! And don't you believe it will only be for the two weeks of bed rest! Oh no! They'll stay until I deliver this rug rat!"

I watched as her heart rate increased on the monitor and I could only imagine what it was doing to her blood pressure. "Mer, you've got to calm down. This stress isn't good for the baby, remember?"

"And you think living with my mother and Brandi will be?" she snapped at me. "What is that going to do for my blood pressure? Ouch, damn it!" she doubled over as a contraction hit her.

"Breathe, Mer, breathe," I soothed, one hand going around her shoulders, the other rubbing her stomach gently in circles.

Mary panted her way through the contraction and when it was over, she collapsed against my side, resting her head on my shoulder. My hand continued to rub her belly and I smiled when I felt a soft kick under my fingers.

"I'm scared, Marshall," she whispered.

I held her closer against my side. "I know, Mer, but it's going to be ok. I'm here and I'll take care of you, both of you, all right?"

She shifted slightly so she could look into my eyes. "You mean-"

I nodded. "I'll stay with you for the two weeks to make sure you behave and follow the doctor's orders to the letter, ok? And also to make sure Jinx and Brandi don't move back in and drive you crazy." I felt her slump against me in relief.

From outside I heard the popping of fireworks and the sound surprised me as I had totally forgotten it was the 4th of July. I looked down to see that Mary was almost asleep on my shoulder. She didn't stir until I had settled her on her left side per Helen's instructions and I was just about to leave the room.

"Are you leaving?" she whispered, her eyes still closed.

I leaned back down to brush some hair out of her face. "Just for a little while. I need to let everyone know how you are and you need to sleep."

She made a contented sound deep in her throat and snuggled into her pillow. I straightened up only to have her say my name again.

"What?" I asked, leaning down once more.

She grasped the front of the scrubs and pulled me down to her. With the lightest of touches, her lips brushed against mine before she released me and buried her face once more in the pillow.

"Thank you," she sighed.

I walked out the door and down the hall in a daze. Thank you? For what? For saving her life? For saying I'd move in with her for two weeks and take care of her when I had-

Shit. Abigail.

How in the world could I ever explain this to Abigail in a way that would make her understand? And if she didn't, would that change my mind? Would that make me renege on my promise to Mary?

I loved Abigail, I did. But Mary –

I stopped in the hallway and looked back towards her room, my lips still tingling from that brief contact with hers, and wondered when my own life had gotten so messed up.

"Marshall!"

I turned to see Abigail at the end of the hallway outside of the waiting room, balancing the pie boxes from Helen's bakery. She waited as I covered the short distance between us.

"Here, let me take those," I said as I reached out and relieved her of the pies.

"Thanks, sugar bug." She smiled up at me, leaned over and kissed my cheek. "So, how's Mary?"

I sighed. "She's resting now – I was just on my way to give everyone an update."

Abigail frowned, as she was always good at picking up on the worry in my voice. "But she's going to be all right – the baby too?"

"If she follows her doctor's directions, she should be just fine." Wanting to change the subject, I asked, "Why'd you go pick up the pies?"

"Oh, I thought it would help pass the time and we could still have a mini 4th of July celebration here in the waiting room. Besides," she smiled at me, "Don't you always say that pie makes everything better?"

"That's right," I said weakly.

But even as I said the words, all I could think of was Mary's lips against mine and the fact that I had given my word to move in with her for the next two weeks.

And I had a bad feeling that all the pie in the world couldn't fix the mess I had gotten myself into this time.

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