A/N: Another chapter for you. Some citrusy treats are in the bucket this time for those of you who have a ...craving....
On Hallowe'en the thing
you must do
Is pretend that nothing
can frighten you
An' if somethin' scares you
and you want to run
Jus' let on like
it's Hallowe'en fun.
- - - from an Early Nineteenth Century Halloween Postcard
The entire meal consisted of awkward conversation and even more excruciating pauses. Each of them had the sense that "a big conversation" was in the offing, but neither of them was able to bring themselves to actually address the huge "white elephant" in the room. Frustration was growing again. They were sitting in the living room. Mary didn't miss that Marshall had very carefully taken a chair tonight instead of his usual perch as close to her as possible on the couch. It was a small thing, but she felt it like a direct stab to the heart.
Finally, unable to take it anymore, Mary did what she did best. She took a deep, deep breath, looked down at the pattern on the couch arm, reached out, took the proverbial bull by his horns, and wrestled him clean to the floor. "Look, Marshall, about last night....I guess I came on too strong. I do that sometimes, and if I did something you weren't comfortable with, I apologize. I know you didn't want to kiss me, well, not for real, anyway, and I shouldn't have kept going like that. I...just...don't want us to have another day like today tomorrow. Okay?" She said all of this very fast, never looking up until the very end. When she did, Marshall could see her whole heart in the eyes that met his own, and he felt his heart turn over in response.
Is this what she's been angry about all day long? Is that what she thinks? Oh, Mary.... His anger and hurt faded to a dull ache, and his characteristic offbeat humor started to prick tiny holes through it. We've been like characters in a farce all day, sniping at each other over the wrong things. He chuckled, and then laughed outright when her eyes narrowed in that dangerous way.
He stood and crossed over to take his customary place next to her on the couch. He took her hand in his and squeezed gently. She continued to glare at him with mistrust, but she allowed the gesture.
"Do you know why I've been upset today?" he asked, tone filled with soft humor.
Her answering tone was suspicious and frustrated. "Yes. That's why I'm apologizing, you ass. Marshall..."
"No.... Mary.... That's what I'm trying to tell you. You're right about my feeling but wrong about the cause. "Mary, to be professionals who are trained to notice details and use those details to form hypotheses and solve crime, sometimes we're fairly oblivious. You think I've been upset because I didn't want to kiss you? Because you tricked me or waylaid me? Are you crazy? Who wouldn't want to kiss you, Mare? What sane, breathing man would turn you down?""
She looked up at him with confusion. "What are you trying to say?"
He sighed and ran his free hand through his hair. "Mary, it wasn't that you kissed me last night. It was what you said about it this morning."
Has he lost his mind? What the living hell is he talking about? What I said in this morning.... She ran her mind over the conversation in the conference room. "What? The only thing I said was some joke about being tired because I was making out with some lame guy..." Her voice trailed off. "Oh..."
"Yeah. 'Oh.'"
"Well, hell, Marshall, we were just messing around like we always do. I didn't mean it. You know that, don't you?"
The part of him that had been dancing last night sighed in relief and did a giddy little two-step, but the rational part of his brain gave it a sharp, vicious kick and a harsh warning. "No, Mare." His voice was quiet. "Now I know last night to you was just something silly that got a little out of hand, " we won't get into what it was to me, "but I also know that you have a lot more...experience...with these things than I do, so when I heard you say that this morning, I sort of felt a little..." His voice trailed off, and he squeezed her hand, started again. "But if you didn't mean it and if I didn't mean it, then we should probably just forget the whole thing, right?" He forced a smile and looked up at her, determined to get their friendship back on what passed for an even keel for them.
Mary had been thinking about last night all day. Some of the worst moments of the day had been caused by the fact that kissing Marshall had been so very, very good and that he had apparently found it somehow wrong or disgusting. Apparently this was not the case. He just said that he wanted to kiss me. Ha! And I SO want to kiss him, want much more than kisses, if I'm honest, and nobody anywhere can say that Mary Shannon is ever anything less than honest....
She'd also heard the bone-deep hurt she'd caused him by accident with her casual insult that morning, and she regretted it in every way she could. This was the one person in her life who never hurt her, never betrayed her, never took from her just because he could. And he thinks I found him lacking. Lacking. Hell, the only thing I found lacking was enough time and courage to get enough of him last night.... She looked at the face of the man sitting there so close to her, and she made a decision.
She slipped her hand from his, and his smile wavered. "No, Marshall. I don't think we can or should just forget it." His smile fell completely, and she saw sadness flare in his blue eyes for just a moment. Then she reached out and laid her hand on his cheek. "I think this is far too important to just forget." And she leaned in and pressed her mouth against his gently, tenderly. She felt the shock run through him, felt a shiver slide through him, and she leaned back just a little.
His eyes fluttered open, met hers, searched hers. She saw the heat she remembered from the night before rising in them. "Mary," he whispered huskily, "what....are you..." She placed a finger over his lips and murmured, "Shh...." before replacing her finger with her lips, a longer kiss, but still a fairly passive one. She was waiting. Make your choice, Marshall. You decide. It's up to you. Push me away or pull me in, but decide.
Marshall pulled back from her, and she felt a sadness blossom in her heart. Well, you knew that would be a possibility when you did this, right? Now you start the cleanup. He was looking at her face, his expression blank, still, unreadable, and she felt a most-unMary blush coming up. "It's okay, Marshall. I understand. You really don't want to do this. It's fine. Sorry. My mistake." She started to get up when he caught her hand and tugged, tumbling her down across him on the couch. She looked up into his eyes in surprise.
"Marshall, what the hell?"
In response, he lowered his head and took her mouth with his. There was nothing gentle about this kiss, nothing tentative or hesitant, and it rocked Mary's mind back on its figurative heels. Holy shit. Wow. And yes. And may I have some more, please. Her hands slid up his chest around his neck, and she made a soft little sound of happiness as his tongue opened her lips to slide slickly in and explore.
Her hands curled in his hair as he changed the angle of the kiss, took it somehow deeper, made it more intense, and she felt heat curling up from low in her belly. His hands slid down to her hips and at his urging, she shifted her position until she was sitting astride his lap. Oh yes, much better. Very much better. Good idea, that. Her mind practically purred as she settled herself more fully against the growing bulge she felt pressing against her through Marshall's jeans. Hello, partner. Mmm... you're supposed to put your weapon away at the end of the day...
She brought her hands down to the buttons of his shirt, suddenly longing to know the feel of the strong body beneath her. She worked the fastenings with the ease of long practice, flicking them open with one hand to run her hand over his muscular chest while one of his hands came up to cup her neck and the back of her head. She felt his other hand slide up from her hip to find the edge of her own cotton top and pulling it up to slide beneath across the bare skin of her back, pulling her against him hard. She curled her short nails into his chest slightly, skimmed them down his abdomen, a flexing of cat claws, and his answering groan and the instinctive shift of his hips beneath her made her ache. Oh Marshall, beautiful, beautiful Marshall...the things you make me want to do to you... If you could read my mind, if you knew what I was thinking, I wonder if you'd run or if you'd stay... She nipped his bottom lip gently just to hear him make that sound again, smiled against his mouth as he did.
She urged him to strip his shirt off, and he fought for a moment to get out of the button-down with her pinning him to the couch before he was revealed for her gaze. Oh, and look...he's lovely. She'd seen Marshall naked and nearly naked before, but there was a difference now, now that he was hers to touch, hers to glide hands over, to watch the skin and muscle shiver in delighted response as she circled her fingertip around his flat nipple, as she discovered the sensitive places along his neck and shoulders that make him sigh. He caught her hand and pulled it to his lips for a kiss in the palm before laying it on his shoulder.
He ran both hands up her torso under her top to cup the weight of her breasts in his palms. His thumbs slowly traced the peaks of her taut nipples through the fabric of her bra. It was her turn to groan, and her head fell back with pleasure as he pushed the satin up to touch her flesh to flesh. He took advantage of her exposed throat to press hot, open-mouthed kisses there, and she felt a rush of heat and weakness go tingling through her. She leaned back a moment and quickly took off the longsleeved top and bra. She could feel the hot azure of his eyes raking over her newly exposed flesh like a physical caress, and she held away from him a moment, proud of her physical beauty as she had never been before.
His gaze on her was an extra layer of arousal for her, and she shifted her hips against his erection to feel the friction. Ah, Marshall, you're ready for me. And, oh, Marshall, I am so ready for you. He was huge pressed against her, another unexpected surprise from this surprising night, this surprising man. "Marshall," she murmured, need lacing the name as it fell from her lips.
His eyes snapped to hers and she saw a tiny little smile. One of his large hands came up to cup her breast while his other arm wrapped around her waist. He held her captive with the intent in his eyes as he lowered his head, and then... Oh God, I'm on fire, fire.... She was writhing against him, falling back over his arm as he suckled her, devoured her. She moaned, hand clutching at his shoulders, then sliding into his hair as she first felt his teeth graze the aching peak, then felt his hot tongue swirl over her again and again, languorously lapping. He pulled away from her breast with a final loving kiss to return to her lips, and she frantically met his mouth with her own. As he kissed her, he turned her so they were lying on the couch with her beneath him. She murmured in satisfaction as he turned his attentions to her other breast. Yeess...Just like that...don't stop....Marshall... so damn good... She arched and purred as he continued to drive her higher and higher with his hands and mouth.
His husky laughter as he returned to her lips once again let her know her thoughts had become words, but she didn't care. "Don't stop, hmmm?" he said against her lips. "You keep underestimating me, Mare. I have no intention of stopping...." His hand slipped down between them, between her legs, and she sighed at the pressure of his hand through the denim of her jeans. She was kissing his neck and searching for the spots that made him shiver as his fingertips teased the zipper of her jeans down inch by inch, her hands running freely over the lean muscles of his broad shoulders.
Then, of course, as was so often the case in their lives, their job intruded on their personal world. Mary's BlackBerry began to buzz. Since her phone was still in her hip holster, and her hip holster was pressed very firmly into some very tender and sensitive anatomy currently, both Mary and Marshall jumped as though they'd been stuck with a pin.
"Shit!" growled Mary, and she and Marshall scrambled inelegantly to find the ringing phone pinned as it was. After a moment, Marshall found it and handed it to her still lying on top of her, his amused smile and arched brow firmly in place. She took it with a wry grin of her own and pressed the answer button. Marshall simply laid his head on her abdomen and watched her with intent eyes, fingers making dangerous circles on her ribcage. She stared right back.
"This is Mary. What is it, and it had damned well better be an emergency of biblical proportions."
"Mary, it's Stan, and I need you to get Marshall and come in right away. We've got a problem with a witness that is going to require both of you immediately. I think we can get it put to bed tonight, but he's going to have to be transferred before morning."
Marshall had started drawing intricate patterns on the bare skin of her breast with the tip of his index finger, coming close to the nipple but never quite touching. It was, to say the least, a bit distracting. She swatted at his hand sharply. "You're sure this can't wait until morning?"
"Mary, look, I know you must have had some kind of plans tonight, but you know I wouldn't have called if it could have waited. You know I am always respectful your private time when I can be. Don't give me crap about this."
Marshall was now wetting the tip of his finger in his mouth and using the damp digit to circle just outside her nipple slowly. His eyes were watching the effects of his work on her body as her nipple reacted, tightened for him. Her breath hitched as she watched him watch her, felt the sensations of his touch. She grabbed his hand to make him stop. His eyes snapped back up to hers, hot, aroused, wicked, and amused.
"Stan, look, I...." Marshall slid forward ever so slightly, leaned up above her sliding his hand from hers, pressed a closed-mouth kiss almost chastely to the side of her breast, nuzzled at the nipple, then slipped the peak between his lips to flick his tongue against her. Words fled her as she grabbed at his hair. She didn't know now whether she was trying to stop him or trying to hold him to her. An inarticulate little noise escaped her between her clenched teeth.
"Look, can you or can you not find Marshall for me and get over here in about thirty minutes?"
She forced her mind to string together coherent sentences. "I...I should be able to lay hands on him, yeah." Marshall was now suckling her slowly, lusciously, luxuriously, as if he intended to feast on her all night long. As she spoke, she felt him smile against her breast, but his only other response was to draw her sensitive flesh more deeply into his hot mouth. She felt the moan building in the back of her throat as he slid his a hand back down to her unzipped jeans, unhurriedly slipped inside them to rest teasingly against her underwear, fingers flexing in mind-altering little circles that moved lower and lower by micrometers only, never quite coming in contact with where she most needed him.
"Then I'll see you soon." Stan hung up, and Mary let the phone tumble out of her hands and she reached for Marshall, growling as she flipped him over on the couch. He was laughing, eyes still filled with heat and fire as she rose up over him to pin those wayward hands above his head.
"Problem?"
"You are pure evil, Marshall Mann."
"Yup," he said smugly. "Can be sometimes. Like I said, problem?" His gaze dropped back down to her lips, and she felt him shift his hips against her, felt the press of his need against her, felt it intensify her own.
"Oh no," she purred. "You know me. Pure evil is right up my street." She leaned down over him, pressing her breasts against him as she hungrily kissed him, attempting to release some of the frustration he'd created while she'd been on the phone..
"How long do we have?" he asked when she pulled her mouth away from his a few moments later, panting slightly.
"Not nearly long enough for what I have in mind. Not even the fast and dirty version."
He laughed, and it was a choked sound close to a groan. "God, the fast and dirty version...I don't know. As keyed up as you've got me...."
She released his hands and slipped one hand between them to slide it appraisingly, slowly along the rigid length of him through the jeans. He shuddered and pressed his face against her neck, hips arching helplessly into her caress, a needy noise coming from deep inside him that made Mary want to strip him naked and take him there on the couch, immediate and sweaty, despite the fact that Stan was waiting on them. She leaned down and whispered in his ear, "Ah, Marshall, don't tell me this won't be good for the ride...."
"Mmm... Mary...what you do to me..." His voice broke, and he reached up and pulled her down, his mouth hungry, desperate.
They clung to one another for a few moments more, and then Marshall heard his own phone ringing from the kitchen counter where he'd laid it with his keys when he'd come home. Mary sighed, and they stilled, panting. After the second ring, she slid off him and retrieved the phone for him, carefully sitting at the other end of the couch from him as she returned. Marshall sat up and took the phone call, his eyes continuing to devour her. He beckoned with his hand while he listened and responded, and she smiled wickedly and shook her head. He made a face at her and lunged for her, so she retreated to the chair, laughing softly as he watched her go with narrowed eyes.
She listened to his side of the phone call, his words terse, brief with his frustration, and she knew it was Stan. She didn't understand the way his lips quirked up at the end, and when he closed the phone, she crossed to sit next to him again, leaned against him, and asked, "What?"
"It was Stan."
"Yeah. That much I got."
"He was worried about you. Said he'd called you and you sounded distracted, even a little addled, not at all like yourself. He wanted me to go take care of you and make sure you were okay."
"Ha! That's rich! When you were the source of the problem to start with!"
"Yeah, that might have been just a little too much information for old Stan."
She laughed trying to imagine Stan's reaction. "I could have just said, 'Stan, Marshall and I won't be able to come in tonight because we're about to be fucking like bunnies on his couch. See you bright and early tomorrow." They both fell over laughing.
"Bunnies? You found something rabbit-like about my performance? I need to start all over again, then, and see if you get a different impression this time...." He pulled her gently and she came willingly into his arms.
She stroked her hands over his cheekbones. Under the joking tone, she heard the echoes of the same worries that had caused problems earlier. Gonna put this to bed now. Enough. She leaned over and pressed her mouth to his, let her hands slide down to embrace him. "No rabbits. Rabbits are way too tame for what just happened here. I mean, damn, Marshall..." She sat back and looked into his eyes. "I don't know how often a four-alarm blaze like that happens for you, but...." her voice trailed off, suddenly uncertain of how to end the sentence she'd begun to reassure him, suddenly longing for a little reassurance of her own.
A beautiful smile appeared on Marshall's face, and he kissed her lips, took her face between his hands and tilted it down to kiss her forehead. "Only with you, Mare. Only with you. Haven't you figured it out yet? You are the fire."
Inside her, the thing that had begun to unfurl and grow the day his lips had first touched her own burst into bright blossoms, flowered with fragrant petals, and she felt the tendrils of it creeping out tenaciously to climb and grow. And this is my partner, my best friend. This man who just ran all my bells is also the man I trust to have my back when I go through the door in a firefight. This is...this is Marshall! The wonder of it shimmered inside her, new and precious.
She was, of course, completely unable to articulate any of this, so she simply slipped her hand into his and squeezed, looking deeply into his eyes and praying he could somehow see the depth of her feeling. Then she sighed. "Come on, then. Otherwise, Stan will come looking for us, and if he finds us like this, I think there will be a mountain of paperwork. And if that happens, slick, you will be filling it out."
Marshall grinned and watched her rise, watched her efficiently pull on her bra and top, tried not to mourn too greatly the loss of her breasts. "Harsh, so harsh, but I have to admit.... the paperwork would almost be worth it..." He wiggled his brows lasciviously at her, dodged the expected swipe and rolled to his own feet and began to set his own clothing to rights in preparation for their nighttime emergency. He was well aware there were more things that needed to be said, but he was equally sure Mary wasn't ready yet to say then. He could wait. There was time. He had had more that night than he ever expected to have, after all.
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