Mary almost gasped when she saw Marshall's face. His one eye was swollen shut, his lip was swollen and there was blood near the side of his mouth. She wanted to run out and go get him now, but Stan had grabbed her arm when her instinct to protect Marshall kicked in.

They listened as Lenny provided the cover story they'd given him and sighed in relief as Angelo started to leave the warehouse with Lenny. It was the entrance of the other man that had her worried. He looked like he'd won the jackpot and that didn't bode well.

Victor looked at what was handed to him and it was if he transformed into an even greater evil than he'd been before. The look on his face was one of pure hatred. The words spoken sent a chill down her spine.

/\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

Victor couldn't believe it. Haley Fisher has a son. That meant he was Carson's son and that past and present had just collided. All he could think about now was a son for a son. It didn't matter that Carson was already dead. There would be no legacy for Carson to leave behind.

"Well, the Marshal here is no other than Haley Fisher's son. That would make your father Carson. He killed my son in cold blood and now I can complete the circle by taking your life. I knew I'd seen that look, but couldn't remember where. Carson kept Haley in the dark, but I'd seen her once before. You have her eyes and smile. I have the proof right here," Victor said stepping into the light and moving towards Marshall with a gun pointed at him.

/\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

Seth heard Victor's announcement and knew that he would have to act quickly. Touching the pocket of his shirt, he was grateful that he brought it with him.

"U.S. Marshal. Victor Conti if I were you I'd step away from my son before I kill you," Seth warned venomously.

Victor turned at the announcement and Seth knew he had caught him off guard.

"Who are you?" Victor demanded.

"U.S. Marshal Seth Mann, the father of the person that you're currently pointing a gun at. His name is Marshall Mann. He's mine and Haley's son."

"You lie! He's Haley and Carson's son."

"Carson never had a son. Him and Haley spent the last year of their marriage in seperate rooms. I have DNA proof from an accredited lab by the American Association of Blood Banks showing that he's mine," Seth said, reaching in his pocket to lift the document.

"You're going to get once chance to let go of my son before all hell reigns down on you. Do I make myself perfectly clear?"

/\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

Stan had to bite back the curse wanting to escape his lips as Seth moved out into the open. While he was talking to Victor the rest of them began to move into place. It was time to end this and bring Marshall home.

Stan signaled to Mary who relayed it through several of the other Marshals that they'd brought with. In return they passed it on to Neal and Danny and the men they had with them.

"U.S. Marshal's, nobody move," Stan called out as the rest of them came out of their locations.

The marshals filled the room surrounding the Conti's and their people. They were completely outnumbered and Stan was hoping for an easy take down. He should know that nothing is ever as simple as it looks when Mary or Marshall were involved.

/\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

Mary wanted to curse as things hit the fan. Marshall was stuck in the middle of the room. Angelo pulled his gun and went to shoot her partner. Seth and Mary both ran toward the chair to get him out of the line of fire.

Gunfire erupted throughout the warehouse. Mary was doing her best to keep Marshall covered while providing cover fire. She noticed Angelo go down and most of Victor's men had been shot or incapacitated shortly after. The only person she didn't see was Victor, as she scanned the room before moving to free Marshall.

She quickly untied Marshall, but he hadn't said a thing and that scared her.

"Marshall, come on buddy. You need to help me out just a little here. Please, I need you to move, so we can get you to a safer location and get checked out."

"Mare?"

"It's me. Don't talk, Marshall. You're going to need to save that voice for later when Stan, Seth, Danny, Neal and I decide to lecture you on taking this trip alone. In the meantime, let's see if you can walk."

"I'm motivated enough to run if asked," Marshall replied.

The two had turned and headed for the back door where Mary and Stan had entered from.

It was the click of the gun that caught her attention followed by the sound of Seth's voice that caused her to snap her head around. Victor was pointing his gun at Marshall and Seth had his trained on Victor.

"You're not killing my son, Victor. I won't let you hurt any more innocent people. Your son's killer is dead. You got your justice, but it didn't bring you the comfort you thought it would. I have no problem pulling this trigger to save my son," Seth warned as he noticed Mary's eyes look at the two of them.

"A son for a son."

"Carson doesn't have a son you idiot. How many times does he have to explain that to you?" Mary asked, pointing at Seth to emphasize the he.

"He's old enough to be Carson's son," Victor said.

"Yeah, but he's not."

"It doesn't matter anymore. You killed my grandson and Carson killed my son. Carson or your son must die," Victor's finger pulled the trigger as Mary and Seth both shot.

Mary didn't get a chance to see what happened as she felt herself pushed to the ground.

Marshall saw Mary step into the path of the bullet and responded by shoving her to the ground trying desperately to make sure she didn't get shot again. He couldn't go through it another time. As his body fell shielding Mary's, he felt a searing pain go through his shoulder before colliding with the ground and everything going black.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\/

"Mary, Marshall," Stan called out.

Mary pushed herself up off the floor and saw Marshall lying face down on the concrete.

"Marshall," Mary said, hoping to hear a reply. When she didn't receive one she quickly moved to his side and with Stan's help turned him over.

"Get an ambulance," Stan called out over his shoulder, before pulling his jacket off and placing pressure on the wound.

"Marshall, come on partner open your eyes. Marshall, open your damn eyes," Mary said feeling the panic and fear seize her heart.

"Seth, are you alright?" Stan asked, not seeing the man anywhere.

/\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

Seth had been staring at Victor's dead body and nothing else. It was like past and present had collided and for the first time since he and Haley married they didn't have to look over their shoulders and always be afraid that Marshall would be in danger.

It was the last thought that finally snapped him back to reality. Danny and Neal were looking at him worried, but before they could say anything Stan yelled for the ambulance and then called out to Seth.

"Marshall," Seth called noticing Stan applying pressure on his shoulder.

"Danny or Neal, can you go check on the ambulance?" Stan asked, never releasing the pressure or looking at the two men.

"On it," Danny replied, rushing out of the warehouse.

"How bad?" Seth asked.

"He took a bullet to the shoulder, but after that he's going to need x-rays to see what kind of a job those goons did on him," Mary replied.

"Ow," Marshall moaned out.

"Seriously, that is the first thing you say to us now that you decided to rejoin us?" Mary asked

"What happened?" Marshall said deciding to ignore Mary's remark.

"You were shot, Doofus," Mary replied, trying to shake the memory of the last time she said those words to him. "What is with you and abandoned buildings?"

"How do you feel, Marshall?" Stan asked, before Mary and Marshall started in on one of their arguments.

"Hurts."

"What hurts, So…, Marshall?" Seth hesitated, not sure how Marshall would reply to being called son.

"Dad?"

"I'm right here, Marshall. Just try and relax and keep your eyes open for us. The ambulance is here."

"I want to go home," Marshall replied.

"After the doctor checks you over and let us know if it's okay then we'll get you home. We need to know that you're alright to fly."

Marshall was about to say something when Mary covered his mouth.

"No talking, just stay awake."

"Bossy," Marshall whispered.

"Damn straight, now stop talking," Mary said, before moving away from Marshall to let the paramedics in.

Marshall's dad and brothers stood back with Stan and Mary watching as the paramedics worked on him. As they finally had him ready to move, Mary looked to Stan.

"Go ahead. We've got things covered here. We'll meet you at the hospital. Seth, you go with and get checked over. I want to make sure you didn't hurt yourself again," Stan said, knowing the two of them needed to be with Marshall.

/\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

Seth walked into the waiting room to see Mary pacing the length of the floor.

"I take it there's no word on Marshall?"

"Of course not. Heaven forbid they come and tell you something so that you don't have to play all of the worse case scenarios in your head. What the hell was he thinking? If I hadn't been talking to him on the phone, we never would've known something was wrong."

"Haley and I threw him for one hell of a loop. It caught him off guard and he did what he felt he had to with all of us trying to convince him to wait and let Haley and I explain. He was hurting and people react strangely to being hurt. I know you're angry, but you can't take it out on him. He needs a friend and someone he feels he can trust. Right now there are only two people who qualify. You and Stan are the only people he will talk to. He might not even open up to the two of you until he can grasp what he's learned."

"What was that piece of paper you had that said it was the proof that Marshall was yours?"

Seth pulled the piece of paper out of his pocket and showed it to Mary.

Mary grabbed it and opened it. She realized it was the test results that Seth had tampered with.

"You kept it?"

"I know you think I'm a hard ass where Marshall is concerned. It's how I treated him growing up. My plan was to toughen him up to survive in case Conti found us somehow. I was there for his first ultrasound, went with Haley to all of her Lamaze classes, cut the umbilical cord, held him first, fed him his first bottle and changed his first diaper. He's my son in every way that counts. I kept the paper because it was an official document that showed he was my son. I know it wasn't the truth, but it felt good to see it on something other than his birth certificate. We put it on that document; this was an official place putting it on paper. It made me feel so damn proud that I couldn't part with it."

"You're going to need to explain all of this to Marshall when he's ready to talk to you," Mary reminded.

"He called me Dad in the warehouse. I know it was a slip because he was hurting, but it felt good to hear that word again."

"Marshall, will be calling you that again. It will take time and a whole lot of talking. You'll get there again. The one thing I will warn you, is if you ever hurt him again like you and Haley have recently; then you will be answer to me. I don't like seeing him in pain. I don't care if it's physical, mental or emotional. Do you understand me?"

Seth could tell Mary was serious.

"I have no intention of ever doing anything like this to him again."

"Good, because I would hate to have to hurt you," Mary replied, as the door opened and Stan, Neal and Danny entered.

"Any word yet?" Danny asked.

Mary shook her head no.

"I know Marshall wants to go home and depending what the doctor says I've arranged for the leer jet to be ready to take us back," Stan said.

The door opened up and the doctor came in.

"Family of Marshall Mann?"

"Yes, we are," Mary replied.

"We removed the bullet from his shoulder. Mr. Mann was lucky, the wound wasn't very deep. We've cleaned it out and patched it up. The beating he took left him with several bruised ribs and a couple fractured ribs. The fractured ribs should heal in six weeks. He's obviously been beaten and the bruises and swelling will also go down with time. We have him putting ice on his eye for twenty minutes every hour on the hour for twenty-four hours to help decrease the swelling."

"How soon before he can leave the hospital?" Neal asked.

"I would like to keep him overnight for observation," the doctor replied.

"Can we see him?" Mary asked.

"I'll have the nurse come get you when he's settled."

/\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

The nurse finally came to get them and they all headed into the room. Marshall was sound asleep. The nurse went and got them a couple of extra chairs.

Mary reached over and grabbed Marshall's hand. She wanted some connection to him right now. Knowing they could've lost him so easily today had her in full protection mode.

After several hours and a whole lot of yawning going on in the room, Stan finally decide it was time to make this gathering a lot smaller.

"Danny and Neal, why don't you take Seth and get a hotel room for the night? Seth, don't even think about arguing with me. You're still recovering from your injuries. You two make sure that your father stays put. Mary and I will stay with Marshall. Come back in the morning and we'll get Marshall discharged and head home."

Seth wanted to argue, but he was sore and wasn't sure if Marshall would still want him around when he woke up. Reluctantly, he stood up and followed Danny and Neal out of the room. He stopped at the door and turned around.

"We'll call you if anything changes," Mary said.

"Take care of him for me."

"Always," Mary said, pushing a loose strand of hair off Marshall's forehead.

/\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

Seth waited for Neal and Danny to fall asleep. Once they did he pulled out his cell phone and called Haley.

"Seth, how's Marshall?"

Seth relayed the information that the doctor said and then let her know about Victor and Angelo.

"Is it finally over?" Haley asked.

"Victor and Angelo are the only Conti's left. They're the only ones who had a reason for wanting revenge against Carson. I doubt whoever takes over will want to pursue Victor's revenge. They think Marshall's my son anyways. I made sure to tell Victor he was."

"Where do we go from here?"

"That depends on Marshall. I have every intention of staying in Albuquerque and talking to him before we head home. This time we're going to have to do this on Marshall's terms. When he's ready to talk to us he will, and if he needs more time and space from us then we're going to have to give it to him. This is going to be hard, Haley. We betrayed his trust and that isn't something that is easily gained back."

"Promise me that at some point things will be okay again."

"I wish I could, but we need to make it so everything is better than okay."

"You're right. I'm not used to him not talking to me. It hurts, Seth."

"We hurt him deeply and that takes time to heal. Marshall hasn't even been able to absorb all of the facts."

"Time heals all wounds," Haley whispered.

"I hope so, Haley. For our sakes, I really hope so."

/\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

Marshall woke to see Stan and Mary sleeping in the chairs next to his bed. He needed to know what happened. Everything was kind of fuzzy right now. Feeling a hand in his and seeing that Stan had his arms crossed over his chest, Marshall squeezed her fingers.

Mary was dreaming, but something was calling her attention. It was as she continued to argue with herself about opening her eyes she felt her hand squeezed. Opening her eyes she woke up to see one blue eye staring at her. The other was still swollen shut.

"Hey partner. Welcome back to the land of the living."

"Mare, what happened? I thought my…"

"Dad was here," Mary said finishing his thought. "He is, but he's still recovering from his injuries and Dad number two decided to send Seth to a hotel with your brothers to keep an eye on him," Mary replied, pointing at Stan.

"He's not though, Mare."

"Marshall, Seth may not have contributed his gene pool to you, but he's been a father to you from the time your mother told him about you. He could've walked away from her and left the two of you, but he didn't. The one thing I do know is that as far as he's concerned you are his son. Always have been and will always be. Just because you don't share the same bloodline doesn't mean he's not your father."

Marshall looked away from her and started to fidget with the sheet.

"Talk to me, Marshall. I know you're confused. You have every right to be, but there's a whole long complicated story to your life and your parents did what they thought was right. Doesn't make it okay, but it does prove they were willing to go out of their way to protect you."

"You know their side of the story."

Mary saw the hurt in his eyes.

"Marshall, they planned a meeting with the WITSEC inspector that had your Mom's case from the beginning. You had already taken off on your 'vacation' and Stan and I made them tell us what was going on since we were worried about the impact it would have on you. They were expecting you to be there. We covered for you, but wanted answers. The secrecy was making us worried."

"Are you mad?"

"It's kind of hard to be mad when you look so pathetic in the hospital bed. I get why you needed to know. I just wish you would've taken armed back up and not Samuel. I should've been here with you and not Samuel."

"Had I known what I was getting into I would've brought you along. Won't happen again," Marshall replied, yawning.

"I'm holding you to that. Now get some sleep. We have a plane to catch tomorrow."

Marshall nodded the best he could before letting sleep claim him. Mary watched him until the nurse came in with an ice pack for his eye.

"I'll take care of that," Mary said, taking the ice pack from the nurse.

"You did a good job of talking to him," Stan whispered.

Mary smiled. She heard the pride in Stan's voice.

"We have a long ways to go."

"Yes, we do. Marshall is going to be just fine."

"We'll make sure of that," Mary said, making sure the towel was over the pack before applying it to Marshall's eye.

/\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

Marshall had been back for a week now and still hadn't talked to his parents. He was actually starting to accept the fact that Seth would always be considered his Dad. His brother asked him what it meant to be a father and Marshall had done some serious thinking about it. Every thing he qualified as a factor in being a good Dad, Seth had passed. He wasn't perfect, but then again who was.

It was the hurt an anger he was struggling with the most. He still felt a little lost, but with Mary's help he'd been able to start planting his feet firmly on the ground again. He had questions and knew the only way that he would get his answers was to talk to his parents.

He'd been talking to Mary every night and sometimes sitting down with Stan to run by his thoughts and theories. He had been grateful for both their input and ideas on how to see things more clearly. It had helped and now he found himself waiting for his parents to arrive.

Knowing that at some point in this conversation that he and his Dad were going to need to talk about the issues they had over the years made him the most nervous. A part of him was scared that his greatest fears would be realized after this conversation. Mary had even volunteered to come over and act as a buffer, but he opted to do this on his own. That meant Mary would be stopping by later tonight to make sure he was okay. She was still in overprotective mode and probably would be for awhile.

His thoughts were interrupted by the ringing of the doorbell.