Just for the record, as much as I wish that I owned In Plain Sight, I don't.
This story starts out eight months before Mary gets shot. Then it forwards to two months after.
~*~
Sometimes the cards we are dealt are not always fair.
However you must keep smiling & moving on.
Tom Jackson
~*~
Eight Months Ago
Morning is always one of Marshall's favorite parts of the day. He could come into the office, grab a cup of coffee and just sit in the silence for a while. Just being. It was a nice change from the chaos he knew would ensue once his fierce blond graced their little corner of the world with her presence. He knew that there was a new high priority witness coming in today, being escorted by some CIA agent. While the transfer was not exactly normal, it was not anything that Marshall felt a need to worry about. Sometimes agencies preferred to hand deliver a witness, even if the witness was then moved later for security reasons. No, what struck Marshall as odd was that CIA headquarters practically demanded that this new witness come to their office. Something about if just didn't sit right with him. Filing it away for later, he just reminded himself that he'd have Mary's back no matter what; even if she threatened to shoot him. Smiling at the thought, he set about his day by attacking some of the overflowing paperwork.
**
Mary cursed the luck she was having that morning; yet again no coffee in the house, and her piece of shit car that stubbornly refused to start. Now she was waiting impatiently for the elevator in the lobby. Arms crossed, foot tapping, and a scowl on her face. She was already late and this damn elevator wasn't helping matters at all.
Finally, she heard the ding that announced its arrival. She just knew that Marshall was going to give her hell for being late. Getting out on her floor, she swiped her card to get into the office, but the only person that she could see was Eleanor. She went to her desk and set her bag down, noticing that Stan had Marshall in his office with some other guy that she didn't recognize. Stan, catching sigh of her, waved her in.
"And this is Marshal Mary Shannon." Stan looked over to Mary and said, "Mary, this is Gary Colman of the CIA. He escorted your newest witness to us today."
Shaking the agent's hand, Mary looked between Marshall and Stan. "Do I have to stay with this one around the clock?"
Agent Colman smiled, "Nothing of the sort, I'm glad to report. Sophia is very capable of taking care of herself should the need arise. We just needed to stash her away from the world till the threat against her as been taken care of."
"And just what interest does the CIA have in a prostitute from Miami?" Marshall asked.
"She is the key holder to some very sensitive information about an ongoing investigation. She allowed us to build a very nice case against a drug cartel in Miami that she used to work for. We had to pull her out when she was discovered gathering some information on a human trafficking ring within the cartel. With her cover blown, we got her out of there and to you for safe keeping."
"Since when does the CIA get involved with drug cartels, prostitution rings, and human trafficking?"
Colman gave Marshall a good long look, never losing his smile. "And that is exactly the reason that I picked your office to handle this case. I'm guessing, Marshal Mann, that not much passes by you or your partner. You'll need that skill to keep an eye on Sophia. She's been through a lot while helping us on this and she needs time to recover."
Leaning against the wall, Mary bit out, "You didn't answer his question."
"No, I didn't, did I? Call it a personal favor, I suppose." Turning to Stan, who had been watching the whole event with interest, Colman nodded. "Is there anything else that you need to know, Stan?"
Stan looked at his marshals then back at Colman. "No, Gary, I think that's about it. If we need to get a hold of you?"
"Here's my card. Just give me a call." Handing the card over, Colman again nodded to everyone in the room and left to say his farewells to Sophia.
"I don't like this, Stan. It reeks a mile long," Mary remarked, watching Colman with her new witness. Long, brown hair that was pulled in a haphazard ponytail and light skin peppered with freckles. She was looking out the window, not paying any attention to the man in the room who was talking to her. Lips chapped but full, Mary figured that most guys would consider her pretty. She wondered if Marshall did. Turning to him, she asked Marshall what he thought.
"I'm with you on this one, but I don't think the stench is coming from her. She's a real mess at the moment, it seems. Colman was adamant that she needs to attend therapy, and that it has to come from the State Department. Apparently it was part of her deal for entrance into the program. Though, I get the feeling that she doesn't want to be here."
Storing the information away for later use, Mary asked, "What gave you that idea?"
"Just a feeling."
Unhappy with his answer, but letting it go, she turned her attention back to Sophia. She was still ignoring Colman. "Okay. Do we have any idea what we're dealing with? What's up with the department therapy?"
"Usually, therapy orders are the result of a trauma to the witness during the event that got them placed into the program. Given her background, and her role in the investigation, I'd guess there was some sort of sexual assault or physical abuse. They're worried about PTSD negatively affecting her testimony, I'm sure." Marshall drawled.
"You got all that by just looking at her?"
Marshall looked over to Stan for help, unsure how to answer.
Stan, sighing, sat in his seat and ran a hand over his bald head. "When she arrived, she tripped and Marshall tried to help her. Instead of accepting, she over corrected so that she wouldn't have to touch Marshall. Eleanor had to escort her to the tank."
Taking it all in, Mary turned to Stan and Marshall. "And the idiots have a man escort her here alone."
Stan, looked like he agreed with Mary but said, "Gary's a good guy. I've known him for a long time. He knows how to handle himself around a rape victim."
Marshall snorted and pointed to the office. "I believe that our witness would disagree."
Mary looked over to see what Marshall was pointing at to find that Sophia had Colman pinned to the table, one arm twisted behind his back. Eleanor was already running towards the crisis in the making. Stan shot out of the office after her.
Smiling, Mary looked to Marshall. "Well, at least we know that she can defend herself." Marshall just shook his head as he walked out the door, Mary following behind.
When they got into the room, Sophia had let go of Colman and looked like she didn't know whether she should be proud that she took down a man twice her size or horrified that she reacted so drastically. Instead she opted to go to the wall and slowly slide down to sit on the floor.
"Are you alright?" Eleanor asked Agent Coleman while helping him up.
Mary was about to yell at her for directing her concern to Coleman when he had clearly upset her witness, but then, when he replied with a shaky yes, Eleanor started to scold him like he was a child.
"I must say, Agent Colman, that I am extremely disappointed that a officer of your status -"
Colman jumped quickly to his own defense, "She wasn't replying! I just touched her shoulder!" The two continued arguing for a moment, with the marshals watching all the occupants of the room. Mary had made her way over to Sophia.
"Eleanor, thank you, but that is enough." Sophia's voice was soft and she was talking to her legs, but her words were firm enough to capture the audience of the room. "Agent Colman, I thank you for your assistance and I apologize for my poor reaction, but your presence here is no longer needed. I am now in the care of Marshal Shannon and Marshal Mann and I trust that they can handle the situation."
With the obvious dismissal, Gary Colman picked himself up, nodded his head and left with Stan as his escort. Eleanor looked at Sophia and Mary for a minute, as though she wanted to say something, but Marshall laid a hand on her elbow, whispered something in her ear, and together they left the room and shut the door. Sitting down next to Sophia, Mary thanked whatever greater Being that may exist that she had been given such an observant partner.
They sat in silence for a while until Sophia broke it, "Isn't your partner coming back in? To go ever the MoU?"
"Nah, I think he thought that it would be better if it were just the two of us for a while. Besides, you wouldn't want him in here anyway. He'd just start talking about useless facts that would bore you to death."
Sophia smiled for a moment then sighed, "I owe him, and the rest of your office, an apology. It seems that I can't help but react poorly to everything at the moment."
Mary turned her head back to her witness and just looked at her for a moment. "I wouldn't worry about it too much. It goes with the territory."
Sophia turned her head to face Mary. "Is this the part that you tell me that you know what I'm going through and try to build a rapport with me? No offense, but I'm not in the mood to swim through bullshit at the moment."
Mary smiled and replied, "No bullshit, got it." Turning away from Sophia, Mary's eyes sought out Marshall's in the other room, and as if he could feel her looking at him, Marshall looked up from his computer and held her stare.
"There was an incident that I was involved in a little while ago. I was kidnapped and nearly raped. Ended up shooting the guy after I got loose. Almost hit my partner and boss with a shovel when they came down the stairs to rescue me. I thought they were the guy's partner.
"Funny thing is, I can still smell the blood. I remember the way it looked as it sprayed out of the bullet wound. I remember not caring that it was another person that I was shooting. Only that I was scared and I wanted him to stop." Mary could feel Sophia's calculating hazel eyes on her and turned to look at her. "So no, I don't know what you're going through, but I can take a guess."
They sat like that for a moment, just watching each other.
"There were six of them. They surprised me and got the upper hand. I must have been screaming and yelling pretty loud because Tony, one of Jerry's boys, came in. Next thing I know, I hear a gun go off. He killed two of them with the first shot, put four of them in the hospital or so I was told."
"Did the fifth one get away?"
"No," she said looking away. "He tried to run at Tony, and Tony wasn't paying attention. I grabbed a gun off one of the bodies, Dex I think, and shot.
"Tony called the cops. He handed me over to Gary who in turn, handed me over to you. Guess that he thought that I needed to be hid away or something. " Sophia smiled like she knew a secret that Mary didn't. "He said you were one of the best at what you so, so I shouldn't try to run back to Miami any time soon. Otherwise you'd hunt me down and drag me back."
They sat in silence long enough for a couple of heartbeats when Sophia, standing up, asked if they could start going over the rule book because she was tired and wanted to go to bed.
"Yea, sure, I'll be right back." Getting up to leave, Mary hesitated when she got to the door. "Do you want a water or something?"
Sophia looked at Mary and smiled, understanding her unspoken words. "Water would be fine, thank you. Marshal Mann can come in if he would like. I promise that I'll try to refrain from pinning him to the furniture."
Mary walked out of the room with a smile on her face and the thought of Marshall being pinned to the table in her mind.
Present Day
"Mom, I'm not having this fight with you." It was morning and Mary was trying to enjoy her breakfast. 'Trying' being the key word.
"I just don't understand why you can't tell me... us... what you do! What could be so important that you think it's worth getting shot? That you would be willing to put this family through all that worry and heartbreak again!" Mary's rebuttal to her mother was taking another bite of the french toast that Raph had made her for breakfast that morning. "That's right Mary. Just ignore me and the problem. Just go on as if this doesn't affect anyone but you."
"Jesus, Mom! Give it a rest, will you."
Jinx just added this as fuel to her righteous fire and turned to Raph saying, "You agree with me, don't you, Raph? Don't you want to know what Mary thinks is so important that she would be selfish enough to put us all through something like that again?"
Raph froze mid drink and looked at Mary and then Jinx. Deciding that he didn't want any part of this fight he took his cup to the sink, poured the rest of his coffee out, and placed in the dishwasher. Jinx tried, again, to get a reply from him but he just shook his head, kissed Mary's cheek, told her to have a good day, and left for work.
**
Mary came back from checking in on her witnesses to stumble upon Marshall talking to Eleanor about the newest girl he was dating. A flash of possessiveness and hurt overtook her with such ferocity that it almost knocked her to the ground. Not really wanting to think about the meaning behind those feelings, she walked up to Marshall and punched him in the arm and proceeded over to her desk to sit down.
"Ouch! What was that for?" Marshall turned to look at Mary sitting at her desk, the perfect picture of innocence. "As innocent as Lucifer himself," he thought.
"For not telling me about your date. So, who was she?"
"A woman that I met at an art opening a couple of weekends ago."
"And how many dates have you been on?"
"Does it really matter?" Marshall asked. "Tread very, very carefully, Mann."
"Not really, I guess." Mary said in that deceptively sweet voice. "That must mean that she smartened up and dumped you already."
"I really don't see-" Marshall started but was then cut off by Eleanor.
"I have an idea!" Marshall, thinking that Eleanor was throwing him a life preserver, jumped at the chance for a change in topic.
"Yes?"
Eleanor smiled sweetly at Marshall then turned her attention to Mary. "Mary, isn't it your and Marshall's day off tomorrow?"
Mary cringed at the thought. "Yea. Mom, Brandi, and I are saposta start looking at wedding dresses. Why?"
If Marshall felt any discomfort at Mary's words, it didn't show and was quickly replaced by worry at Eleanor's next few sentences.
"Well, why don't you invite Marshall and his new lady friend over for the afternoon? Do a grill out or something."
The two women smiled at each other. "Why Eleanor, that sounds like a splendid idea! Marshall, how about 6:30?"
Marshall, knowing that he was on the losing side of the battle, just said, "Let me see if she's free."
*Oh! Just what is Eleanor planning? Who is this mystery girl that our dear Marshall has been seeing? Tune in next time to find out!
P.s. review?