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Unlikely Friendship

Marshall led Brandi into his house and they were immediately greeted by Oscar. After pointing her in the right direction for the bathroom so she could change Joey's diaper, he bent down to give the dog a fuss. He suddenly felt guilty for neglecting him over the last couple of weeks.

"I'm sorry, boy…" He crouched down. "You're the only one I truly trust right now, you know that?"

As if on cue, Oscar nudged Marshall's chin with his head causing him to laugh. He stood up and opened the back door so Oscar to get out into the yard and noticed his answering machine blinking.

"Marshall? It's Dad…" Marshall rolled his eyes, wondering why his father felt the need to tell him who he was every time he called, as if he wouldn't recognize his voice. "I just called to say happy birthday for yesterday…Your mother did call but couldn't get hold of you…She's worried about you…"

Marshall closed his eyes, gripping the counter as his Dad trailed off.

"Listen I've been thinking, you should come home for a while…You've had a rough time and I think you should be here what with your Mom being…"

There was another pause and Marshall knew what it was his Dad couldn't say.

"Stan will let you have the time off…I can talk to him for you if you want."

Marshall ran a hand through his hair. It must be bad if his Dad was willing to pull some strings for him.

"Well, anyway call me back."

The machine beeped again, telling him it was the end of the message.

"It was your birthday yesterday?"

He spun around and saw Brandi stood with Joey in her arms.

"Uh, yeah…" Marshall reached out and pressed the delete button.

"Mary never said…" Brandi frowned, knowing that Marshall liked to celebrate his birthday every year by going out for a meal with his friends and family. Even last year, Mary had made an effort even though she was pregnant and obviously felt uncomfortable around Abigail.

"It's no big deal." Marshall told her. "I wasn't in the mood to celebrate this year…"

"Because of Abigail?" She questioned and then hesitated. "Or your Mom…"

"Brandi." He cut her off. "I really don't want to talk about it."

"Okay." She shrugged.

"So, what happened with Mary?" Marshall asked, turning the conversation back to her.

Brandi sighed and followed him over to the couch. "Things just got out of hand…I guess, we both said some things we didn't mean or rather I said some things that I didn't mean, I don't know about her….She probably meant them."

"What things?"

"I told her that I got in contact with Joey's father." Brandi looked down and ran a hand through Joseph's blonde hair. "He doesn't want anything to do with us… I got upset."

"That's understandable…I'm sorry, Brandi."

"I just wanted Joey to have a dad…I didn't want him to be like me." She continued. "Always wondering."

"Well, sadly there are certainly enough children is this world who are fatherless…It's not unreasonable that you wanted you son to be one of the lucky ones." Marshall assured her. "What did Mary say?"

"She wasn't all that surprised and told me I shouldn't have been either…To be honest, I wasn't but I was still hoping…" She trailed off and then shook her head. "Then I said something about Mark and Dad…She kinda lost it then."

Marshall frowned, knowing that their father was still a very raw subject for Mary. "What kind of things?"

"Just that she was lucky because Mark is a good dad and she also has Joanna and you to help out….I didn't mean to cause trouble but she's been in such a crappy mood all week and she started ranting about how hard it was to be a Marshal and a Mom…Maybe I hurt her feelings because she has been great and I don't really need a guy around because I have Mary…"

"But?" Marshall prompted.

"I grew up without a dad…without even a memory of one and Mary very rarely talked about him and some of the stuff Mom says about him isn't that nice." She chewed her bottom lip. "He was a bastard…Everyone says so…Except Mary and Lauran and Scott…Which makes me think he was a good Dad...I missed out on that."

"'I've heard Mary call him a lot worse than a bastard in the past." Marshall added.

She looked to him. "And did you ever belief she meant it?"

He paused for a second before shaking his head. "No."

"She really lost it when I brought him up…Then I asked about when he died." She mumbled. "I shouldn't have said anything."

"She's still dealing with everything that happened…She's been waiting since she was seven years old for him to come back into her life and he finally did only to leave again."

Brandi nodded understandingly and cradled a now sleeping Joey closer to her chest. "You were there, right? When he was shot?"

"Yes."

"What happened?"

"There's not a lot I can tell you…There were some guys after him and they caught up with him…Mary was with him at the time and we were just too late to protect him." Marshall told her. "From all reports, he covered Mary…Stopped her from being hurt."

Brandi stared at him, she hadn't known that. "Really? Good…I'm glad."

"Me too." Marshall agreed.

"Do you think….?" She started to ask but then stopped, her eyes dropping back down to her son.

"What?"

"Nothing…"

"Brandi?"

She looked up at him. "Do you think he loved me?"

"He was your father, Brandi…"

"Doesn't mean a thing…" She shook her head. "Stephen is Joey's father and he doesn't give a damn."

"He didn't leave because of you…" He assured, guessing she had similar hang ups to her sister. "He left because staying would put you all in danger."

"So, now he's a hero? He saved us by abandoning us?"

"In a way, yes." Marshall shrugged. "I'm not condoning what he did…What he put you through but I cannot see how it would have worked out better if he'd had stayed or taken you with him, regardless whether his actions were selfish or not."

"Did you get to talk to him?" Brandi questioned. "Did he explain why he did what he did?"

Marshall sighed. "He said he did it to protect you all…and the same for the Griffins…He left when they were threatened."

"I just….I wish he didn't have this hold over us." She continued. "Mary has never got over him leaving and Scott was killed because of him…And even knowing all that, I still wished I had the chance to meet him and to get to know him."

"In some ways, you're lucky that you didn't know him." Marshall stated. "Like you said, Mary finds it difficult moving on from what happened…That guy that was there for her up until she was seven was different to the guy the FBI were after…The same goes with Lauren and Scott….Even when he came back, after all this time she still couldn't help but think of him as the man who used to tell her stories and take her on late night drives for ice cream."

"You think it's good I never had that?"

"You didn't have him placed on a pedestal that he constantly fell from…It is up to you, how you think of him because there is no memory of what may or may not have happened when you were young." Marshall said softly.

"I guess, that makes sense." Brandi nodded a little. "He could never disappoint me because I have no expectations of him."

Marshall smiled a little. "Exactly."

"I never thought about it that way…" She told him. "Are you close with your dad?"

He hesitated before answering. "We're closer than we both think we are…."

"What does that mean?"

"Mom always said we were so much alike even though in a lot of ways we're completely opposites." He explained. "Mom says that we both have the same goals, ambitions and ethics….We've just got different methods of achieving them."

Brandi noticed the frown on his face and how he looked away from he mentioned his mom. "Is she sick?"

"Cancer…" He mumbled. "She beat it ten years…It returned about eight months ago."

"I'm sorry, Marshall." She whispered, placing a hand on his arm.

"There's nothing more the doctors can do." He shrugged but had to swallow the lump that rose in his throat and blinked a few times to keep the tears away.

"Why are you here?" She asked. "Why aren't you with her?"

"I can't…"

"Why not?"

"Everything has fallen apart…I'm holding on by the tips of my fingers…" He admitted, his voice rough with emotion. "I can't see her…Not like that."

"What happened with Abigail?" Brandi questioned, feeling confident now that he had opened up a little. "What did she do to you?"

"She had been seeing someone else." He ran hand through his hair. "A guy who she used to work with before she got transferred here….They have history."

"She's a bitch, Marshall." Brandi stated. "She doesn't deserve you."

"She told me she was pregnant…" He whispered, finding it hard to keep quiet now he had started talking. "We didn't tell everyone because it was the first few weeks…but then…"

"What?"

"She told me she had a miscarriage but she never, she.…" He swiped a hand across his eyes. "She let me grieve for a child knowing that it might not even have been mine and that she was the one that killed it."

"Marshall, I don't know what to say…" Brandi knew she had done some terrible things in her life, she had hurt people she cared about and people that cared about her but she could not imagine putting someone through this.

"You want to know the really pathetic thing?" He sat forward, resting his head on his hands. "I beg her to stay…after she admitted it…I promised her I would do anything if she stayed…I even sat in front of the door, so she couldn't get past."

"Oh Marshall…"

"I just…My mom was so happy when I told her I was getting married…I didn't want to let her down."

"It wasn't your fault." Brandi tried to reason.

"I gave up everything for her…I pulled away from Mary…I looked into transferring to a different office…I even offered to quit my job." He pushed himself to his feet and started to pace. "I would have given her the world because I wanted to marry her…I wanted her to be my wife but it wasn't enough…I wasn't enough."

"Marshall…" Brandi quickly led Joey on the couch and stood also. She wanted to tell him that he was wrong and it was Abigail fault but she couldn't think of the right words that he would believe, so instead she hugged him.

He tensed when he felt her arms around him. He didn't hug back but he didn't pull either. His eyes closed and he tried to concentrate on breathing to get his heart rate to return to normal. When Brandi pulled back slightly to look up at him, he found it difficult to think properly but for the past three weeks he had been trying his hardest not to think at all. Before he realized what he was doing, he was leaning down towards her. When his lips were millimeters away from hers, Brandi stepped back and looked away.

Marshall stared at her as she bent down to see if Joey was still sleeping. He wondered whether she hadn't realized he had been seconds away from kissing her or if she was just pretending she hadn't noticed.

"I can't believe how late it's got." Brandi commented.

"Yeah…" Marshall shook his head, trying to clear it, suddenly realizing what a giant mistake he had just been about to make. "Sorry about that…"

Brandi only glanced at him before gathering Joey into her arms.

"Keeping you talking, I mean…" He stuttered a little. "I guess I needed to talk about it more than I thought I did."

"It's fine, Marshall…" She assured him. "I'm happy to listen…You're a good guy and been a good friend lately."

"You could stay here…" He offered, realizing she was getting ready to leave. "It's late and Joey's already asleep."

"I don't know…"

"The guest bedroom doesn't have a bed but you could take my room…"

"Where are you going to sleep?"

"Same place I've slept for the past three weeks." He nodded his head to the couch. "Honestly, I insist…"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes." He replied. "It'll be nice to not be alone for a change."

Brandi thought about it for a few seconds before nodding once. "Okay."

Later that night, Brandi tiptoed down the hallway to get a glass of water, trying to be as quiet as possible so she didn't disturb Marshall. When she glanced into the living room, she was surprised to see him still awake. It was almost 4am and he was sat, staring blankly at the muted TV, a glass of scotch in his hand. She debated with herself whether she should go talk to him or not then decided against it. Although he had opened up to her tonight, it didn't feel right. She wasn't the one that could help him and she had a feeling that if she tried to comfort him, they would end up doing something they both regretted.

Marshall was a good guy and any girl would be lucky to have him but she knew that if anything happened between them, it would only be because they were both seeking comfort. There was no way they were suited for each other and although she was tempted, she knew it wasn't worth the risk.

Mary would never forgive her… She remembered her reaction to her friendship with Raph and she knew Marshall meant a lot more to her then him.

The old Brandi might not have cared about any of that. In the past, she had never set out to hurt anyone but also didn't give much thought about what damage her actions could cause.

She was different now…She had to change because she was a mom now. She wanted to be a better person…A better sister and a better friend.

As she crept back to bed, she thought about Marshall and she thought about Joey. What would she do if he was in the situation Marshall was? She didn't want to break his trust in her but she was beginning to see just how close to the edge he really was. She knew he was unsure about telling Mary all this and she wonder if it might be a good idea if she said something to her sister before it was too late.

TBC

Okay, so a bit more of a closer look to what's been happening with Marshall. I hope I showed how much Brandi has and is trying to grow. Abigail's action might be a little extreme but honestly, how much did we really know about her? I hope they both weren't too out of character. Anyway, please review and let me know what you think!