Saturday 2:45 am
The two inspectors debriefed at the command wagon and headed back to their SUV. Both looking forward to showers and a few hours of sleep before driving back to Albuquerque tomorrow. The souveniers included an ice pack for Mary's face and a bandage for Marshall's thigh. About ten feet from their truck, Marshall stopped. Mary looked up at him and saw pain flash across his face.
"What's wrong?" she asked quickly, worried he had an injury she didn't know about.
He turned to her quickly and enveloped her in a strong embrace, his head buried in her hair. She stiffened on relex, then relaxed as she understood exactly why he was holding her so fiercely. She had felt the same way before about him. Once you almost lose something that makes your life worth living, you treasure it all the more because you've experienced that frightening grip of emptiness too closely. After that, when a situation arises that threatens that treasure, the only way to truly know you've not lost it again is to hold it close to your heart and feel it in your arms. She wrapped her arms around him and breathed in his scent, feeling the pounding of his heart against her ear. "I'm O.k." she whispered. "Me too" he whispered back.
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A few minutes later, she was buckling her seat belt when Marshall excitedly said, "Oh! Look what time it is!" holding his arm in front of her face and pointing at his watch.
"Yeah," said Mary, unimpressed "it's three in the morning. Is something special going to happen, Cinderella?"
"I won the bet!" He exclaimed, happily shaking his clasped hands high in victory.
"What?!" she yelped, trying to bat at his hands. "You can't be serious?! We were shooting people, for Chrissake!"
"Let's see" he mused, "we rendezvoused at our positions at 12:30, had a plan of attack by 12:40 and then we were in the thick of things until 1:35 when the place was finally cleaned out. Since the timer started at 11:15" he was trying to show her the time set on his watch but she kept slapping his hand away, "I can safely say there was a complete absence of trivia and/or drivel for 2 hours." He smiled at her triumphantly and she pondered walking home.
He continued to talk excitedly. "The next class is Tuesday night at 8 o'clock. I can pick you up around 7:30 so you'll have time to meet the instructor." He looked at her stricken face, almost feeling a smidge of remorse, but stuffing it down successfully. "Do you even own a skirt?" He asked, chuckling.
She glared at him, grabbed her coat and covered her head with it while turning in the seat to get comfortable enough to doze. "I hate you more every day." she growled from under the coat.
Marshall threw his head back and laughed hard as he steered the SUV into the street. His laughs became giggles and Mary couldn't help but smile under her coat. "I love him more every day." She thought as she finally closed her eyes to sleep.
*** That was fun! Let me know if you liked it, thanks! ***
