Mary flew down the road to get to the building; the only thing she could hear in her head was Dante telling them Marshall would die before they found him.

Stan finally couldn't take the silence any longer. "How'd we not know?"

Mary looked at him briefly. "I don't know but it's not like this happens every day. We knew he was behaving oddly but his clothes were the same, the gestures were the same, everything he had screamed Marshall except for the anger and attitude. Dante must have studied Marshall for quite some time to pull that off."

"I guess you're right." Stan shrugged not happy with the answer. "The failure in performance should have triggered more of a reaction from me. You're right Marshall would never freeze up in a gun battle. I should've talked to him sooner maybe than we could've figured it out."

"Stan I know Marshall better than any of us and I knew something was wrong but this wouldn't have crossed my mind. The only thing I'm grateful for is that Dershowitz shot Dante, even knowing he wasn't Marshall; I'm not sure I could've pulled the trigger" Mary admitted.

"To protect Eleanor you would've however I think it will be awhile before that image ever gets out of our minds." Stan stated knowingly.

"I was thinking the same thing earlier." Mary admitted. "Think Dershowitz will be okay?" She looked in the rearview mirror seeing Dershowitz car behind them.

"In time." Stan answered. "We'll help him if he wants it."

"There it is." Mary saw the building and floored the gas pedal. Pulling in front of the building she barely had the car in park before jumping out. Dershowitz pulled up beside them and they headed towards the door.

Seeing the lock on it, Mary fired to get it off. Slowly but carefully they began to make their way through the building making sure there wasn't any unexpected company. They had a feeling Dante was working alone but since they couldn't confirm it they needed to proceed with caution.

Marshall woke when he heard the gunfire; hoping it was Mary he wanted to call out but decided not to take the chance in case it was Dante in a worse mood than yesterday. He wasn't up for being used as a punching bag or target practice.

Listening intently Marshall heard three sets of footsteps coming closer and felt his hope rise. Instinctively he knew she was here. "Mare!" He called out weakly and a few seconds later he called again. "Mare!"

Mary, Stan, and Dershowitz all stopped at the first call. They heard the second call and Mary smiled before calling back. "Are the bears home?"

Marshall managed a weak smirk before answering. "All's clear Goldilocks."

"What kind of code is that?" Dershowitz looked at Mary puzzled.

Stan just laughed. "Something only those two would use." They all moved towards where they heard Marshall's voice.

All smiles faded as soon as he came into view; his body bloody, beaten and they saw the cloth around his leg and knew that had to be covering a wound.

"Jesus." Mary slipped out as she got closer to Marshall.

"No, not quite." Marshall forced a smirk. "I'm not that good."

Mary passed Dershowitz the key to unlock the handcuffs while she and Stan supported his weight. Marshall looked towards Stan.

"Sorry about the virus but it was the only thing I could come up with that didn't let Dante know what I did." Marshall's voice was becoming raspy.

"I don't mind under the circumstances plus you made it easy for IT; now be quiet and conserve your energy. Eleanor has an ambulance coming." Stan admonished.

"You realize who you're asking to be quiet?" Mary teased lightly to hide her concern.

"I'm still here you know." Marshall deadpanned just as Bobby D released the cuffs and his hands came down and his body gave out on him.

"Easy partner, easy." Mary stated as her and Stan caught him and lowered him to the ground.

"What took so long?" Marshall questioned trying to hide the pain.

"Which part of be quiet don't you understand?" Mary rolled her eyes. "It took awhile to determine it wasn't you. With that attitude you should be grateful or I would've been forced to shoot you. What hurts?"

"Dante took care of the shooting part anyways; I think the list of what doesn't hurt is shorter." Marshall croaked out. "Thirsty."

Bobby D got up. "I have bottled water in my car." He ran out to get it.

Mary gently brushed Marshall's hair back and on her second time through it she drifter her hand down towards his forehead and felt the heat radiating off of it. "He's got a fever, Stan."

Stan noticed the glossy eyes and the sweat. "I know." He whispered back as he began to look his inspector over thoroughly.

Mary and Stan both lifted his shirt up and noticed the bruising underneath; Mary moved the shirt up higher and gently ran her hand over the scar on his chest her eyes beginning to tear up.

Marshall moved his hand to hers and squeezed it gently while trying to lighten her mood. "Stan she's feeling me up; aren't there rules about that."

"Shut up Doofus. I'm just making sure your scar is there." Mary stated but noticed him looking worse if possible. "What's wrong?" Stan looked to Marshall's face when he heard Mary's concern.

"Just feel like crap and want out of here." Marshall got out as Bobby came back with the water. "Ambulance is coming down the road; I'm going to lead them in."

Mary nodded and undid the cap. "Slow sips." She stated bringing the fluid to his lips.

Marshall couldn't recall water tasting that good. "Stan?"

"Yeah Marshall."

"Who was he? I need to know if what he said was true." Marshall was getting agitated. "Don't tell my parents about this; please."

"Marshall, we don't know who he is." Stan answered. "I won't tell your parents." He'd tell Marshall whatever he wanted to hear as long as it kept him calm.

"In jail?" Marshall questioned.

Mary didn't want to answer but knew he'd get upset either way. "Dershowitz had to shoot him; he was going to shoot Eleanor to stop her from tracing your truck."

Marshall's eyes filled with tears and he began to thrash his head back and forth. "Don't tell them they already buried him once; please don't put them through that again. It'll be my fault he's dead; please don't tell them. Don't hurt them again not like that please."

Mary grabbed his face to try and get him to stop thrashing. "Marshall! Marshall, look at me!" Mary demanded. Once his glazed eyes did she knew the fever was causing the emotions to overwhelm him. "No one is going to say anything to your parents; we don't even know if it's really him. I promise we'll find out but until then you need to calm down. I need you to stay calm. Can you do that for me?" When he nodded she swiped the tears from his face.

Dershowitz came back with the paramedics; after checking him and hooking him up to IV fluids they put him on the gurney and began to wheel him out of the building. Mary tossed Stan the keys and climbed into the ambulance after Marshall was loaded holding his hand the entire trip to the hospital.


Mary waited impatiently in the private room they set her up in; to blow off some of her nervous energy she'd begun to pace back and forth. Her pacing was interrupted as the door opened up and Eleanor walked in.

"How's Marshall?" Eleanor asked.

"I'm still waiting for them to get done with him; it could take awhile he was a mess when we found him." Mary stated.

"He was conscious though right?" Eleanor asked.

"Yeah but he was really agitated before the paramedics arrived. Marshall's scared to death of his parents finding out Dante was killed again if that's who he was." Mary told her.

"I've pulled a few strings to get some answers; a friend of mine is getting copies of the files for what happened to Marshall's brother, another one is getting me whatever they can find on the Jenkins and their family; and I had someone put a rush order on the DNA results for the lab. They should get those back in three days instead of the normal five to ten." Eleanor informed.

"Thanks Eleanor." Mary gave her a half smile.

"Marshall will be fine; he's strong and has a great support system." Eleanor hated watching when something happened to either of the inspectors as it was so painful to see the other one struggle to cope.

They looked up as the door opened and Stan walked in. "Anything?" They both shook their head and settled into the seats.