Title: It's Like Poker
Author: S J Smith
Rating: Gen
Summary: Marshall just can't leave.
Disclaimer: Oh, please, I own nothing.
Note: This story follows the episode "Trojan Horst."
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A wiser man might have given up. Tossed in his hand and taken another position and left the dusty environs of Albuquerque in his rear view mirror, without even a backwards glance. Left WIPSIC, and his witnesses, and his cases, in the hands of some other poor schmoe. Left behind the boss who sometimes bungled, but always tried to do his best. Waved goodbye to the contradictory, prickly, argumentative partner, with the drama that always surrounded her like a thunderhead, with lightning just waiting to strike.
A wiser man would've chucked it in, even though he knew he was doing good for someone, even if it seemed more often than not, the someone was simply that one. He would've found something else to do, somewhere else to live, a new life to wrap around himself. He would've found himself a good woman, a family to follow, a life of children and grandchildren.
Instead, Marshall knows he remains foolish, stubborn, intent on doing what he can with the cards he's been dealt. He can't leave this job. He can't turn his back on his witnesses. He can't walk away from Albuquerque, not without leaving behind half of himself. And, despite how desperate, how foolish, how amazingly stupid he sometimes feels for it, he cannot leave Mary to rattle through her life without some sort of stability.
It's time to play another round, and let the chips fall where they may.
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