A/N: I'm baaa-aaack! Here's the sequel you've been promised. This picks up the day after the end of "Of Pain and Reassurance" so if you haven't read that, I strongly advise that you do before reading this.
Mary had left Marshall's before he did that morning and went straight to work. She walked off the elevator and swiped her card through the reader next to the door and entered the office. Everything seemed normal.
"Good, nothing's changed" Mary thought to herself.
She put her bag down at her desk and went to Stan's office to find him.
"Morning, Stan, what's on the agenda today?" she asked, leaning against the doorway of his office.
"Ah, well, I have WitSec files to review, a budget to evaluate, more filing to do..." rambled Stan, avoiding her actual question.
"Not you, me. I don't care how many desks you plan on polishing or how many papers you're going to shuffle and of what importance they are, I just want to work!" Mary complained loudly, making erratic hand gestures.
"Well if it isn't my favourite patient, Marshal Mary Shannon, so good to see you!" said Shelley Finkle from the main door.
Mary turned on her heel and headed in the direction of the voice.
"Shelley, what a lovely surprise!" Mary said with fake enthusiasm and an equally fake smile to match while shaking Shelley's hand. "Now can I get back to work?" she asked, turning to Stan.
"Yes, at your desk" he replied, fully prepared for Mary's onslaught.
"What? Stan, no! Not again!" groaned Mary, getting in a defensive stance with her arms crossed.
"Mary, I've let you slip past so many rules and regulations in the past, but this time, for your safety, ours, the witnesses and the general public, but not this time. You'll be riding the desk until Doctor Finkle thinks you're fit for full duty" said Stan sternly.
"If you think that desks get me off, then you're sadly mistaken" scowled Mary, plopping into her desk chair and burying her head in her arms.
Stan shook his head at her inappropriate comment and retreated to his office.
Shelley, at a loss of what to do, shrugged her shoulders and pulled up a chair to Mary's desk.
"Mary, the sooner you start therapy, the sooner I can get you back into the field, but you have to be willing" advised Shelley.
Mary pulled her head up off the desk and glared at Shelley.
"How soon are we talking?" she questioned.
"What's good for you? My schedule for this week isn't very crowded" replied Shelley.
"Well, considering I'm going to be so busy having fun with my desk and all its glorious paperwork that it has to offer..." Mary trailed off sarcastically "What about Wednesday?" she finished, getting straight to the point.
"Wednesday's good for me" agreed Shelley.
Mary spent the rest of the day doing paperwork and grumbling about how much she hated protocol when it came to traumatic events, and of course, insisted she was fine. Marshall brought her coffee during the day and produced a burger and fries from her favourite diner at lunch time, which she secretly appreciated.
6pm rolled around and her stack of paperwork had finally decreased and she found herself wondering what to do once it was gone. Finishing one of her witness reports, she decided to pack it in for the day and head home.
She drove her battered Probe back to her house and parked in the street and just sat there. Did she really want to see Jinx, Brandi and Raph just yet, and be smothered with their intent of comforting, then being forced to explain what happened, and of course, her absence last night. Deciding against going inside, she turned the car around and headed to Marshall's instead, where she wouldn't have to explain anything that she didn't want to, hell, she wouldn't have to talk if she didn't want to.
She pulled the car into his driveway and walked up the path to his house, and before she had the chance to raise her hand to knock, the door swung open and presented Marshall, wearing a ridiculous apron that says "May the Food be with You".
"I've been expecting you" Marshall said, holding up his spatula.
"Yeah, me too" laughed Mary, pushing past Marshall and making a beeline for the bar stool at his island bench.
"Couldn't go home?" asked Marshall after returning to the kitchen to stir their dinner.
"Not tonight" replied Mary, shaking her head. "Brandi would cry, Jinx would try to be supportive... then make it about her, and Raph, god, I don't even know, Marshall. I left things in a pile of crap on Saturday night. He hit me, I hit him back and kicked him out of my bed and left before he woke up the next morning" sighed Mary, leaning her head in her palm.
"He hit you? What were you arguing about?" asked Marshall, his anger boiling at the thought of Raph touching Mary that way.
"Wedding plans" said Mary, rolling her eyes.
"How long has this been happening for?" probed Marshall, stirring the food with more force than necessary.
"Us arguing about wedding plans? Pretty much since we got engaged. Him hitting me? One off thing, never happened before" said Mary honestly.
"I see. How are things with Raph anyway, really?" asked Marshall while serving their dinner, concern still evident.
Mary sighed.
"I don't know, Marshall. Sometimes I think to myself that things will be great once we get past all this wedding crap, but most days, I know that I'll be miserable, he'll complain about my job, nag me for kids and insist I iron his underwear" replied Mary, stabbing at her food with her fork.
"Not for you" Marshall whispered, causing Mary to look up at him.
"No" she matched his tone "But I'll be damned if I can work it out, because I can already see the ending, and it isn't pretty" she smiled sadly.