26 Weeks
"Marshall where are my keys?" Mary asked, walking by him, her eyes darting every which way in search for the object.
"On the counter." He said, with a smile.
"Oh yeah- Mary shuffled to the kitchen to grab them and then turned around, her brow furrowed- umm, Marshall?"
"What Mare?" he asked, looking up from polishing his shoe he had scuffed at work today.
"Where did I put my wedding band yesterday?"
"In the case, on your dresser!" he called from the couch, still content with his cloth and black shoe polish.
"Thanks." She said, as she hurried by.
"Mare, Norah doesn't have to be picked up for like two and a half hours, what are you even doing?"
Mary walked back out,
"If I sit down, I'll get tired and I'll forget where all my crap is. I have to put the wedding band on and put my keys in my coat pocket so in a couple hours when it's time to go, I can actually go." She snipped, making her way back down the hallway in search of her ring.
Marshall looked at his, new and shining in the overhead lighting of the living room. He smiled, it was only two weeks ago they had been married. "Then carry me." The words were still fresh in his mind as if only minutes ago she had said them. He guessed she didn't expect him to take her up on that offer. Shortly after lifting her, unfortunately not with his knees, his back cracked and Mary started flailing her limbs to get down. Such an act required trust and although she trusted Marshall, the fear of falling to the hard wood floor while Norah crawled about scared her to no end. So that quickly went out the door and he had to settle for walking arm in arm to the car.
The judge married them quickly, taking only a minute or two to recite the legal jargon and then he blandly ended with, "You may kiss the bride." Which Marshall knew wasn't actually a part of it, but was grateful that the man gave him that option. With two hands on her rounding sides he pressed his lips to hers, gently, but affectionately,
"That wasn't so hard was it?" he had asked, as they let go of each other.
The wedding bands had come much later, after the feat of telling his parents and informing Jinx, Brandi and not to mention, Stan. Each of them had –had a different reaction,
"Mom, dad? I understand this may seem a little inappropriate to do over speaker phone… But Mary and I, we're married." He held his breath, waiting for an onslaught of yelling or crying or heaving, whatever his mother had felt like doing that day, but none of those came. A squeal was shrill from the other end of the line,
"OOOOHHH Marshall!- inaudible whispers could be heard, but none seemed angry to him so he shook them off, awaiting his wife to say something to let them know she was present- We're so happy for you two! We figured you'd elope- we know Mary isn't much of a people person.."
"Ahem." She finally spoke, "Yup we tied the knot and you two are the first to know so consider yourselves special." Mary scratched her head, "I have no idea how he convinced me to tell anyone." She nudged him in the side with her elbow, but a smile was on her face.
They talked for what seemed like hours after that, Mary took three breaks, two to go to the bathroom and one to change an especially ripe diaper that Norah had produced.
Brandi and Jinx were much more dramatic, how they had managed to get into their home together with Mary's approval he had yet to figure out.
"Why would you just go behind our backs and do something like that?" jinx screeched, causing Mary's hands to shift from her sides to her stomach, Jinx's voice- Marshall had noticed- always sent their child into a frenzy. He usually rested his hand on her middle when he got a chance, because he enjoyed the feeling so much. Most times, Mary would slap it away and say something along the lines of 'I'm not Buddha; don't be manhandling me for good luck.'
"Oh Mom, just relax, we both know Mary's a private person…" Surprisingly, Brandi was attempting to be the voice of reason.
"It's not fair. "She pouted like a small child, her arms crossed and her bottom lip protruding, Mary had been uncharacteristically quiet and calm during her mother's scene. Marshall had warned her it would be this way, maybe that was why she was on her best behavior even though her mother had unraveled so quickly.
"I'm sorry we went 'behind your back's', but Mare and I just wanted this to be our own memory, so that we could reflect back on it as a moment of spontaneity in our relationship."
"And you know how much I hate being spontaneous." Mary added to his sentence.
"Yeah, she even makes lists-
"I make lists." She interrupted, repeating after him, clearly hoping to sound convincing more than annoying, scaring Marshall in a way for no venom poured from her mouth, and no sarcasm or anger shot out from her tone. Mary shrugged after this keeping her hands glued to her belly, "I'm sorry if we hurt your feelings." She added softly, not making eye contact with either one of her family members.
Marshall was shocked, flabbergasted at best. Mary had just apologized? What was even happening?
Brandi broke the silent, gaping stares at her sister, by wrapping her arms around the two,
"This is so exciting! I'm here with newlyweds!" she grinned from ear to ear, her eyes dancing with delight while Jinx, cracked her own smirk,
"Congratulations you two." She finally confessed, joining them in their group embrace.
Later, Marshall had asked what had been up, trying to work around telling her outright that when she was nice it freaked him out. He didn't want to upset her. He was a little unprepared for the answer, because Mary usually took a bit of prodding before she divulged anything, to anyone.
"I know you know that she moves… a lot. But when Jinx talks, she doesn't just kick, but she really hurts. She rolls around and it just, I don't know- irks me in a way…"
Marshall chuckled,
"I understand pregnancy is uncomfortable, you have expressed such feelings before to me on multiple occasions, but shortly, she'll be so big, she won't have room to roll around anymore. Possibly next week even…" He rubbed her arm, hoping he had comforted her.
"Don't hope she gets too big, Jesus Marshall, what do you think I have a death wish? You don't have to push her out! I do!" And Mary was back. She had only left briefly. Why hadn't he enjoyed it?
Stan was much different,
"Inspectors! Those rings need to be off when you're here! I can't have partners prancing around the office wearing wedding bands! That's a conflict of interest."
Mary had stood there silent, her mouth wide open, her bulge keeping Stan far from the two of them.
"I'm sorry. I had to be your boss. I'll cover your asses, but don't let this change anything! Now I can say- Congratulations! My kids are growin up ." he joked, coming closer, hesitating forward.
"Stan, I'm not gonna break you can hug me." Mary snorted, taking a few steps toward him, causing him to sputter a bit on his mouthful of coffee.
Marshall snorted and then slipped his ring from his finger into his pocket, and took his turn to hug his boss as Mary did the same.
"Jesus Christ, where the hell did I put Norah's teething rings?"
"Why do you need those?" he asked, his eyebrows rose as he inflected his voice with confusion.
"Norah was cutting a tooth when Mark took her, so I just want to be prepared! Do you want to deal with a screeching baby in a car?" she snapped, "My GOD! Where the hell did I put those God damn vitamins!"
"Okay Mare. Just sit down. I'll get you what you need.." he soothed, putting his shoes in the closet and placing the polish on the top shelf out of anyone else's reach.
"Marshall what is going on? I feel like my brain has turned into mush!" she complained, dropping onto the sofa, her hands going directly to her back as she realized that had been a mistake.
"It's called Pregnancy brain." Marshall replied, handing her the prenatal supplements she had been looking for.
"Doofus, that's an old freakin wives tale." She spat.
"Is it? You seem to be experiencing some difficulties with your memory." He replied slyly.
"Yeah, but that's just a- a- what's that word?"
"Coincidence? Is it Mare?" he asked, twirling the teething rings he had found on his finger to show her, "I'm putting these in the freezer." He made his way to the kitchen, returning shortly,
"Shut up Marshall." Mary said, sitting up to get a better handle on her back.
"It's normal. You just have to realize you can't do everything. You need to sleep and rest when you can, no matter how hard it is for you. You're a multi-tasker, everyone is aware of that… But you're carrying a baby, our baby- you're intellectually wiped, creating human life takes special hormones that in large doses, mess with your brain power, so just hang in there. Three months to go. I know you can do it." He said, kissing the top of her head. "Now how about a back rub?" he asked, running his long fingers down her spine, causing her to practically melt under his touch as he took a seat beside her.
"How about a little more than a back rub?" she offered, throwing her leg over his lap so she was straddling him, her hands followed his torso up to his shoulders, and he was unable to speak for a few, long moments as she occupied his mouth with hers.
Marshall gently pushed her off of him,
"I'm sorry Mare, as tempting as it is. And you know how tempting it is, the doctor hasn't cleared you for sexual activity."
She adjusted herself, holding her bump as if it were necessary to hold it in place,
"You're the only man I know who can kill a mood with the term 'sexual activity' or use it all for that matter. Never mind, we don't have time for the things I was planning on doing to you anyway." She teased.
He cringed, knowing she was completely aware that- that was a low blow. He wanted it just as badly as she did. But he couldn't do it.
"I'm sorry Mare, I can't risk the welfare of our baby for my own selfish desires." He sighed, sitting back and clicking on the television.
"Yo! Marshall, I still want that back rub." She scolded, pulling the remote from his hands.
"You almost make me feel guilty for forgetting." He grinned, spreading his legs as far as he could manage for Mary to get in an acceptable position for her back to be, in fact, rubbed.
"That's what I'm here for."
Marshall laughed to himself. She had been giving him a hard time, and he didn't expect that to stop. But he hoped she would loosen up enough in the coming weeks to stop history from repeating itself. They still had a long stretch before she was safe to deliver; he just hoped this little girl wanted to cook a little longer than Norah did.
(Sorry it's been so long. I honestly didn't mean to make the updates so sporadic- as I have told you many times before! If you haven't read my new fic Her Moment of Weakness please do! I love reviews! I appreciate them soooo much! Thanks for everyone who has alerted. Sorry for keeping you waiting!)
