A/N: So you say Mary and Marshall couldn't have been gotten together in the space of one episode? I beg to differ, and offer my humble suggestion for how it could have been done. Just one more agonized author joining the "not-so-fake-wake" in mourning of the untimely and unceremonious demise of In Plain Sight, in the time-honored tradition of: "Don't get mad - get fan fiction".
I whole-heartedly agree with everyone who has commented on here that Marshall would get bored with Abigail. I think he himself is too complicated a person for such a simplistic relationship. That is largely the point of this fic.
Not only was the series finale insulting to the character of Mary, imo, by short-changing her of the growth as a character that I, frankly, think she has earned, it also seemed insulting to Marshall as a character. They made it look like at the end of the day, he really is the nerdy weasely "nice guy" who doesn't quite have the stomach to hack Mary's... well, Mary-ness. Totally unfair portrayal! We, the fans, know better, right?
Well, if you still have any doubts, read on and let them be assuaged... and you may find yourself looking at Mary and Marshall in a whole new light... or a whole new darkness, for that matter...
Playlist:
"Close Enough to Perfect" Alabama (the lyrics of this song are so completely perfect for Mary – I really wish I could post them. Unfortunately, you'll have to look them up for yourself).
"Dark Side" Kelly Clarkson
"Out of My Bones" Randy Travis
"Whiskey Girl" Toby Keith
"Don't Think of Me" Dido
"Along the Way" Gary Allan
"You Don't Know Her Like I Do" Brantley Gilbert
"Dream Walkin'" Toby Keith
"Get Off On the Pain" Gary Allan
"All You Want" Dido
"Life for Rent" Dido
"You Shouldn't Kiss Me Like This" Toby Keith
"Learning How to Bend" Gary Allan
"Here With Me" Dido
"Need You Now" Lady Antebellum
"White Flag" Dido
"Somewhere with You" Kenny Chesney
"I Think I've Had Enough" Gary Allan
"This Land Is Mine" Dido
"A Wish for Something More" Amy MacDonald
"Half of My Mistakes" Gary Allan
"I'm No Angel" Dido
We all live in hiding. In one way or another, each of us conceals pieces of ourselves from the rest of the world. Some people hide because their lives depend on it, others because they don't like being seen. And then there are the special cases, the ones who hide because... because... because they just want someone to care enough to look for them.
( Wikiquote wiki/In_Plain_Sight. 5/31/12)
"Stan, before you take off for D.C, there's a personnel thing I need you to handle for me." Mary had shut the door of newly-made Deputy Director McQueen's empty-but-for-computer office tightly behind her and stood in front of his bare desk, jacket lapels folded back by hands that rested on the waistband of her jeans.
"Mary, whatever it is, I'm sure that Marshall is more than capable of handling it…" McQueen hardly bothered to glance up as he flicked through e-mails.
"No, no, I don't think so", said Mary with a hard stubbornness barely concealed by a veneer of easy-going. "I really need you to do this for me, Stan." She uttered the magic words, accompanied by the magic ingredient: genuineness.
"For Chrissake, Mary, what is it?" Stan slapped his palms down on his desk and looked up sharply into the eyes of his second-most tenured inspector.
"I want to transfer to Denver." Mary dropped the bomb and waited for the blast.
Stan's mouth tightened and hardened.
"Give me one Goddamn good reason why."
"I don't have to have a reason to request a transfer."
"But you do have to have one to get it approved by me. I worked hard to put this team together, Mary. I think this office is the best in the country. And I expected this team to be mature enough not to fall apart without me personally sitting here in Albuquerque babysitting it." She had managed to raise Stan's rarely-seen ire. She would take that as a compliment of how much he valued her professionally, and an opportunity to override his reasoning capacities and bully him into doing her bidding.
"Fine." She shot right back at him, easily re-taking the offensive. "I don't want to work under Marshall", she stated with finality. The best lies were always the ones that are almost the truth.
"You're kidding me? You two are the closest pair of partners I've ever seen in any branch of law enforcement…"
"Exactly, Stan! Exactly!" said Mary emphatically. "He got promoted, I didn't! The only way Marshall and I could ever work together was as equals. Now the power-balance is all screwed-up. Marshall and I were always way to close to begin with, you know that. Now he's my boss? Do you honestly think any office can sustain that level of kinkiness?" Mary's lips were pursed, daring Stan to challenge her.
"So you're really that jealous, hm, Mary?" Damn. He was still fighting back. "You couldn't just be happy for the guy? And I'm not just talking about the promotion, Mary…"
Jesus. I am happy for him… that's why I'm getting myself the hell out of here…
"I don't know, Stan", said Mary, artfully playing off her own weaknesses, "Maybe it's just more than I can handle all at once. Maybe I'm just not up to this. Magnanimity was never my strong suit…"
"You can say that again", said Stan angrily. He was disappointed in her. Good. Just as all his other little fledglings were spreading their wings and taking to the sky, Mary was climbing back inside her shell. As it should be. "I expected better than this of you, Mary Shannon." Boy, Stan's disappointment had him really fired up.
Mary's metaphorical fingers twitched around her metaphorical trump card. Stan was being impossible. And she was prepared to shut this conversation down.
"Marshall and I slept together." She let the words be punctuated by a ringing silence that reverberated around the empty office like a gunshot in a box canyon.
Sure. It was a bald-faced lie. A cold-blooded bluff. But it was just believable enough. And Stan wouldn't call on it – he had just promoted Marshall, and the last thing he was going to say or do right now was anything that could vaguely jeopardize Marshall's professional standing – or Stan's personal opinion of him. This was what Mary was counting on. Stand didn't have to wholly believe her – he just had to not want to learn the truth.
The silence continued unbroken as Stan fished some papers out of a satchel.
"Here's the request for transfer forms." His voice was steely as he slapped the papers to Mary across the desk. "Get them back to me by the end of the day, and your ass is on its way to Denver."
Goodby, Stan McQueen, thought Mary. He would never look at her the same way after this. She had just committed cold-blooded friendshipicide. It was more than worth it.
Screw Stan, screw this office, and screw WITSEC. It was all spitting in the ocean compared to seeing Marshall happy…
She grabbed the papers like a hobo on a Big Mac and vanished from soon-to-be-Marshall's new office.