Albuquerque, we have a problem

Chapter 3 – Aikido? Aiki-don't!

Mary stared blankly out at the Albuquerque land marks as they flashed past the window of the SUV. What had she been thinking agreeing to let Marshall pretend they were engaged? She replayed the conversation they had had over and over until she could pinpoint the moment she had caved.

"I'd willingly take a bullet if you asked."

Yeap, there it was. It was amazing what residual guilt could do.

Marshall was normally happy to drive in silence but today he felt guilty about asking Mary to do something she was clearly uncomfortable with.

"It's not like I planned it, or anything."

He looked over at his partner, who was still staring out the window as he drove.

"And I do appreciate it, Mare. You know if I had any other friends, I'd've ask them." He glanced over at her again. No response. "It was just chance that you happened to be there and have an engagement ring on you. Pure chance. Coincidence."

Still no response. He indicated as he made a left turn into his witness' drive.

He carried on regardless, "Although some may say fate had a hand in it. I don't. It was just a fluke. A happy accident. It's not the universe's way of conspiring against you."

"Wanna bet?" Mary muttered as she undid her seatbelt.

"Well, that would require the admission that there is a higher power. And that He hates you but seems to like me."

Mary narrowed her eyes in annoyance as she got out the car and walked up the path to the witness' house.

Marshall followed a couple of paces behind her, chanting in a sing-song voice, "I'm God's favourite. Na Na Na Na-na!"

xxx

Amy (real name Addison) watched the two US Marshals walk up the path, she smiled as she saw Mary reach behind and slap Marshall on the arm without looking at him or breaking stride. Amy wondered what he had done to deserve that punishment as she watched him rub his arm in mock pain.

Amy reached the front door before the Marshals and threw it open to greet them. Mary ran the last few steps and blocked Amy with her body, just in case.

"Amy, how many times do I have to tell you, not to open the door without checking who it is?" Mary asked the young woman as she hustled her back into the house.

"But I saw you coming up the drive," she pouted at Mary while she simultaneously contorted to smile at Marshall as he trailed behind the two women.

"That's not the point," Mary sighed.

It was going to be a long day.

xxx

Mary sat in the passenger seat of the SUV as Marshall drove down Route 84 toward Lubbock, their designated lunch stop. Amy was sat in the back, although she was sitting so far forward, she may as well have been in the front with them. That was just one more thing that was grating on Mary's nerves this morning. The main problem, though, was that Amy was laughing and chatting with Marshall as he described some of the pranks he and his sister had got up to as children.

Mary pretended disinterest in the conversation that had begun as Marshall's attempt to calm the nerves of their young witness as they drove her back to Houston and the leaders of the prostitution ring that Amy had agreed to testify against.

Really, Mary was fascinated by this glimpse into Marshall's childhood. She still didn't know why he had never told her that he had a sister. She wanted to ask but stubbornly refused to, too hurt by Marshall's willingness to tell their witness, a relative stranger, all the details that she secretly longed to hear.

"So you're going to pretend to be married?" Amy asked, turning to Mary and drawing her out of her introspection.

"What? No! Geez, Marshall did you have to tell her...?"

"I think it's sweet. It's like a love story," Amy broke in, excited at the prospect of a romance between her two WITSEC inspectors.

Mary stared at the woman, who was bouncing up and down in excitement. How could a woman that had done the things she had done, seen the things she had seen, be so innocent? Why wasn't she as jaded as Mary when it came to relationships? And did she just say 'married'?

"We're not pretending to be married. I never agreed to that," Mary told Marshall, "All I said was you didn't have to tell your sister the truth. I didn't agree to any role playing." She grimaced at her choice of words, fully expecting her partner to twist them.

"Ah...Come on, Mare. It could be fun," Marshall grinned at Mary. "Plus, it'd be good practise for when you're married to Raph."

"No."

"Suit yourself," Marshall shrugged.

"And I don't need to practise being married to Raph. We're living together. That's enough practise. I certainly don't need to practise with you!"

"Me thinks the lady doth protest too much." Marshall flicked his eyes toward Mary.

"What?" Mary all but squeaked. "What do you mean by that?" she demanded.

Marshall glanced at Mary before returning his attention to the road and proclaiming, "I believe it was Morihei Ueshiba that said 'We never attack. An attack is proof that one is out of control.'"

"Oh God! Now what have you read?" Mary muttered.

"Morrie who?" Amy asked, confused.

"Morihei Ueshiba, the founder of Aikido," he told Amy over his shoulder before adding as an aside to Mary, "It was in 'The Art of Peace'."

"Oh." Amy lost interest in what Marshall was talking about, more interested in the previous topic. She turned to Mary, "So what happens if you just happen to run into his sister? Will you pretend to be married then?"

"She only thinks we're engaged, Amy."

"Yeah, but what will you do? How far will you go to convince her? Will you hold hands? Will you kiss? Oh, oh! Will it be like in Green Card? You know, when they keep testing each other on their likes and dislikes and then they fall in love for real at the end?"

"No, it's really not going to be like that. For a start, there won't be any kissing! And I don't need to learn Marshall's likes and dislikes, he's my best friend!"

"Did you hear that, Marshall? She didn't rule out holding hands!" Amy clapped like an excited five year old.

"I'm more interested in the fact that she thinks she knows me well enough to convince my sister that we're a couple," Marshall told Amy with a knowing smile.

"What? You don't think I know you well enough to pass as your fiancée?"

"No, I do not."

"No?"

"No!"

There was silence as they stared at each other for a moment before Marshall had to break eye contact to focus on the road.

"Wanna bet?" Mary asked, desperate to get the last word in.

Marshall stared at the road, turning the idea over in his mind. A slow smile crept across his face.

"Sure, why not?"