The flight was long for Marshall. In his line of work, he spent countless hours in transit. He'd long ago discovered ways to occupy his mind while moving. It was one of the main reasons why he knew all the information that Mary had deemed useless. Normally, when faced with a long, solo flight, Marshall could dive into his stores of knowledge and ponder Freud's philosophies or try to recite all of America's National Parks. But on this particular flight, his mind was jammed, stuck watching the same scene play over and over again. The only problem was that the scene he kept watching was not Mary's confession of love or the night he proposed. No, stuck on endless loop within his head, was a hallway. In his memory, the entire scene was whitewashed, the only vibrancy coming from the blood pouring from his partner's stomach. He heard the doctor's talking, communicating that Mary was unconscious and without a pulse. It was a scene both out of his nightmares and from reality. He only hoped that this time, the ending would be the same.

Stan had a car waiting for him when he landed, a good call on Stan's part, because Marshall wasn't sure he was capable of driving at this point. He watched the lights of Albuquerque fly by without really seeing anything and could formulate no responses to the words of his driver, a fellow marshal whom he'd known for years.

When the car pulled up to the hospital, Marshall barely had the presence of mind to let the vehicle come to a complete stop. He dashed into the emergency entrance, headed for the receptionist. "I'm looking for Mary Shannon."

The nurse looked up at his voice, took in his appearance, and didn't bother asking any questions. She turned back to her computer and typed in the name. "Miss Shannon is still in surgery, but it looks like they should be wrapping things up soon." Marshall let out a sigh, she was still alive. Before he could say anything further, the nurse spoke again. "Her boss is here as well, a Mr. McQueen, he's waiting in her room, if you want to join him. It's number 217."

Marshall thanked her and quickly made his way down the hall. When Mary had last been here, Marshall had spent many hours wandering these halls, whenever Raphael or Jinx wanted time alone in Mary's room. Now that he knew Mary was alive, he did not rush the journey. When he made it to the room, he looked inside to see Stan standing by the window. He opened the door slowly and stepped inside.

"I'm sorry, Marshall." He didn't turn. The driver he'd had waiting at the airport had called when he'd pulled up. He'd been expecting Marshall for ten minutes.

Marshall moved further into the room, letting the door close. "Stan, this isn't your fault."

Now Stan turned, "Yes, it is. I never should have broken you two up. I never should have allowed this to happen."

Though Marshall would rather sit alone in this room and wallow in his own fears, he knew he couldn't let Stan blame himself for this. "Neither of us blames you for splitting us up. We always knew it was a possibility, that when we told you you'd have to consider the job. It's one of the reasons we waited so long to come clean." Marshall sank into one of the chairs positioned next to the empty bed.

Stan tracked Marshall's movements with his eyes. He had known for a long time that the younger man would do anything for his partner. When Mary had been abducted, he realized that Marshall loved her, and last time she'd been shot, Stan had feared that he would lose both his marshals. He had pictured the two of them getting together more than once, he knew that they had the potential to make each other very happy. But in every scenario, he'd always figured that Mary's fear of attachment and loss would keep her from giving Marshall that last piece of herself. Yet a few hours ago, he had seen his stubborn, hot headed marshal consider the possibility that she would not make it. And in that moment, she had thought only of this man, the man she loved. Her greatest fear was being left behind, and she had sworn not to put Marshall through that. Stan moved to sit in the other chair. "Why did you risk it then? Why take the chance that you could lose each other as partners?"

Marshall thought back to that day in this very hospital when Mary had told him that she loved him. She had put everything on the line in that moment, risked their partnership, and for probably the first time in her life, completely surrendered her heart to another person. Looking in her eyes at that moment, he wouldn't have been able to deny her anything, certainly not something he wanted as badly as she did. "Because she said it was worth it. After she woke up, she was lying in one of these stupid beds, and she looked over at me, and she said she didn't want to risk missing out on being happy because she was afraid. Mary said she never could lie to me, so she didn't even want to try. The shooting had opened her eyes and she wanted to see where this could take us." Marshall smiled as he remembered that day.

"Why hide it? You could have been open from the beginning. I might have been able to deal with this better." Stan was trying to understand their reasoning.

"We weren't sure we could make it work. Mary's never been great with relationships, and I was worried it would be too much, too soon for her. We figured if we kept it low profile and things didn't work out, then we'd still be partners and everything would be fine. But it wasn't hard. All of the problems we thought would get in the way, they didn't. And then we reached a point where we weren't worried about breaking up, we were worried about being split up. That's why it took so long to come clean. We were just trying to stay together, whatever way we could."

"I've known you and Mary both for a long time now. There's nothing I want more than for the two of you to be happy. I should have never called in for new partners for you. There's a reason you two work so damn well together. This never would have happened if you'd been with her today." Stan shook his head. Both Mary and Marshall had quite a few ex partners, there were many within the service who had considered them un-pairable. So when the two of them had clicked, there was more than one surprised face in Arlington.

"You don't know that, Stan. This is hardly the first time one of us has been injured because of the job." Though he hated to admit it, Mary had been injured more than once on his watch.

"This is different. This wasn't Mary alone with a witness she couldn't control or the two of you being blindsided by a pack of gunmen trapped in the desert. This was my best marshal being out in the field with an inexperienced idiot."

"What do you mean?" Marshall's head shot up, wanting to know what exactly had gone down that ended with his fiancé getting shot.

"You know how Mary is. The reason she's one of the best is because she's so damn self sacrificing. There's almost nothing she won't do to protect her witness, and her partner. Normally, her lack of self preservation is tempered by your back up. Where Mary looks for a way to get everybody else out alive, you look for the way to get everyone out alive. It's one of the many reasons that you were so effective, because you were always paying attention to what she purposely overlooked, her own safety. While she was busy rushing head first into danger or pain, you were there with a back up plan to get her back out. And you never let her rush in alone."

Marshall felt his bile rise. "She was alone?"

Stan shook his head, "She may as well have been. Teddy follows Mary around like a puppy dog. But that's part of the problem. Mary doesn't need someone trailing along behind her, she needs someone pulling on her leash, reigning her in. Daniels is terrified of her, doesn't realize her bark is worse than her bite."

Despite the levity of the situation, Marshall couldn't stop the laugh that escaped him. He knew first hand just how bad Mary's bite could be. "Can't say I blame the kid, Stan. It's not like either of us can claim we've never been afraid of her. Hell, I'm sleeping with her and I can't even claim not to fear for my life sometimes."

Stan stood, frustrated, he moved back to the window. "But you've never let her intimidate you. When she pushes, you stand your ground. You know when to listen to her and when to take control because she's not seeing the whole picture. She told Daniels to stay in the car. And he did. She went into her jeopardized witness's house alone. And instead of assessing the situation outside, he sat in the car. He didn't secure the area, he didn't check the perimeter, he didn't even unlock the damn doors. Mary was shot because her partner left her out in the open, totally exposed, fumbling with the door handle. If he'd been doing his job, she never would have gotten hit three times."

Marshall had nothing to say to that. He couldn't imagine ever letting Mary go into a situation like that alone. He knew when to let her handle things, and he knew when she needed backup. And though it killed him to say the next few words, he did, because he knew Stan needed to hear them. "She's going to be fine, everything's going to be fine."

Stan turned, "Don't give me that bull, Marshall. I know you better than that. This isn't fine. Mary is lying in an OR somewhere in this hospital."

Hearing the words sparked a fresh wave of anger in Marshall. "You think I don't know that, Stan? You think I haven't been picturing her bleeding out on a hospital bed for the last five hours. Do you really think I need a reminder? Believe me, I have no illusions about what is going on here. But I need to believe that she will be fine, because if I don't, then I won't be able to function."

Stan hung his head, he shouldn't have pushed. "I know, I'm sorry. But I'm going to fix this, Marshall. Daniels and Royce, they're both going back. By the time Mary's done therapy, you two will be partners again."

Marshall let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Stan."

Before either Marshall or Stan could say anything more, the door opened and a nurse walked in. "Oh, excuse me, I didn't realize that anyone was in here. I just wanted to leave Miss Shannon's personal effects."

Stan stepped forward to retrieve the large brown envelope. "I'll take that, nurse. Thank you. Any word on the surgery?"

"They're just finishing up. Everything seems to have gone well. She should be up here within twenty minutes." The nurse quickly backed out of the room.

Stan crossed to the bed, opened the envelope and poured it out. Along with Mary's badge and ID, out came a thin silver chain. Stan had known Mary for a long time, she'd never been one for jewelry. He reached out and picked up the chain. It took him a moment to recognize the object on the chain for what it was. He put his finger through it and held it up. "Umm, Inspector, is this what I think it is?"

Marshall turned toward Stan, trying to focus. On Stan's right hand, lying on the knuckle of his middle finger was Mary's engagement ring, the chain dangling. Despite the situation, Marshall felt a tinge of embarrassment. "Well, I guess that would depend on what you thought it was."

"Very funny, Inspector; this is an engagement ring. And the last time I checked, the only person in a position to give Mary one of these would be you. Care to share?" Stan wasn't angry, just surprised. He hadn't expected to see another ring on Mary's hand for a good long while.

Marshall shrugged, not having the strength to dodge the question. "We wanted to give you a chance to get used to the idea of us as a couple before we sprang this on you." He reached forward and retrieved the ring from Stan's finger.

"You don't think this is a little fast, I mean it has only been…" He paused, trying to add up the numbers.

Marshall intervened, "8 years? Stan, I've known since almost the beginning that Mary was the one for me. I would have proposed that day in the hospital if I had thought she'd take me. I love her and I'm going to spend the rest of my life showing her that she deserves to be loved. And I don't have to be her partner to do that, I don't even need to be a marshal. So if that ring changes your mind about getting us reassigned, then so be it. But there is no power on this earth that will make me walk away from her."

A part of Stan wanted to roll his eyes at Marshall's theatrics, but a bigger part of him knew that the words were not for him, but for Mary. Marshall meant every word he'd just said, you could see it in his eyes. Just as Mary had chosen new partners over ending their relationship, Marshall would leave the marshal service before he left Mary. It was love, and Stan was glad his inspectors had found it. "Relax, Marshall, I'd never ask you to walk away from her. In fact, this ring might help me get you back together. Technically, reassigning you based on your choice in significant other is discrimination. To restrict your job based on your marital status opens the door to a lawsuit and a whole lot of unpleasant press. Throw in the fact that the new partner they gave her nearly got both Mary and her witness dead, and I'm pretty sure I have enough to work with."

Marshall felt slightly reassured at Stan's words. It seemed like his boss had a plan, which was good, because right now, all Marshall had was heavy heart and the strong desire to kill one of his fellow marshals. When Teddy and Royce had first arrived, Marshall had been sure that Royce would be the one to cause problems. How wrong he was.