Hey, thank you so much to everyone who reviewed! It means a lot! This is a bit of a longer chapter, I hope you like it! Please let me know what you think!
Enjoy!
Different Road, Same Journey
Mary walked into her kitchen to find Marshall stood at the stove making breakfast, wearing just boxer shorts and an undershirt.
"I could get used to this…" She commented, peering over his shoulder to see him making scrambled eggs. "I had eggs in my fridge?"
"Well, it was the only thing you had in there other than beer…Do you ever do any food shopping?" He questioned as he turned and saw she was wearing his shirt, his eyebrows rose, taking her in.
"What's the point when I can order takeout?" She reached out to lift his chin with her finger. "My eyes are up here, buddy."
He smirked. "Yeah, but your legs are down there."
She shoved his shoulder and rolled her eyes. "Your eggs are burning."
"Actually, they're for you." He stated as he turned back to the stove.
"Really, cowboy? Running out on before breakfast?" She teased, moving to sit on the counter to watch him.
"My brother is dropping the girls at my house in about an hour so as much as I would love to stay, I haven't got time." He glanced at her. "I'm sorry."
"You decided to cook breakfast for me before leaving?" She asked in surprise.
He smiled and pulled a plate out of the cupboard, grabbing the toast from the toaster. "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day."
"So, why are you skipping out on it then?" She questioned.
"I'll have something later." He handed her the plate of scrambled eggs on toast and kissed her forehead. "Eat your eggs, I'm going jump in the shower."
Mary watched him leaving the kitchen before looking down at the food. She thought back to six weeks ago when she wasn't sure about starting a relationship with him and this was the reason why. She wasn't used to this kind of relationship, the ones where there was more to it than physical attraction but what surprised her most was how easy it was. Most of the time she was torn between sticking it out and running but before she had chance to run, he would say or do something to distracted her and before she knew it, the moment had passed.
She knew she overthought everything and still dreaded the day when she had to meet his family. Even though he insisted that there was no rush and not to worry about it, she couldn't help but think he had too high expectation for her. She didn't like kids…hardly had any experience with them and could remember how she felt about the guys her mother brought home after her Dad had left. She didn't want to do anything to come between Marshall and his daughters and she didn't want the girls to think was trying to.
She couldn't envision them having future because she had never wanted to have a future with a guy in the past. She had never thought she would want to spend more than a few weeks with the same man but now she could see herself staying with Marshall and being happy….It was just the children that she was struggling to get over.
She sighed and placed her plate onto the counter before jumping down. She decided that she was having too much fun being with Marshall right now that any other decisions could wait.
When she entered the bedroom, she found him pulling on his jeans. She smiled as she walked up behind him, running a hand over his bareback.
"How are you always so quick in the shower?" She questioned, wrapping her arms around his waist and dropped little kiss between his shoulder blades.
He laughed lightly. "When you're a single parent, you don't tend to get a lot of time to yourself."
"Well, there are no kids here…" She reminded him, reaching out and taking the t-shirt he had just picked up out of his hand.
"Mare…" He moaned softly and turned to face her. "What you doing?"
"Distracting you." She leaned up to kiss his neck.
"Hmm, well as much as I would love to stay, I really should get home…" He took his t-shirt back.
"You should…doesn't mean you have to." She responded, tried to grab the shirt again but he held it up above his head to stop her.
"Mare, come on…" He laughed as she tried to climb his body to get the shirt. "You're not playing fair."
"I never play fair." She teased, standing on the bed to tower over him and she got hold of the shirt again.
Marshall watched it fly across the room before it hit the floor and slid along the wooden floorboards then out of the room. Before he hand chance to say or do anything, Mary placed her hands on his cheeks and turned his face so he was looking up at her before kissing him deeply.
Marshall moaned against her lips and automatically moved his hands to her hips.
"We could be quick." She smiled suggestively at him when they broke apart. "You said you were good at being quick…"
"I was talking about the shower." He told her leaning his forehead against her shoulder. "Quick is not good when it comes to this…"
"Sometimes it is…" She ran her fingers through his still wet hair. "If it helps, I'm not wearing anything under this shirt so that will speed up the process, right?"
He lifted his head quickly and saw her smirking down at him. Glancing down towards her legs, he slowly inched his hands under the shirt and moved them up over her hips, his eyebrows rising when he didn't come into contact with any underwear.
"Told you."
The next thing Mary knew, Marshall's hands moved down her legs quickly to the backs of her knees before pulling her forwards, causing her to fall back on the bed.
She yelped as she bounced lightly while Marshall knelt on the mattress between her legs and pinned her hands above her head.
"You, Mary Shannon are going to get me into trouble." He leaned over her.
"You love it." She shot back.
He didn't answer but instead started to trail kisses down her neck.
"Marshall…." She moaned, arching her body up towards his and struggled to get her hands free.
Once he reached where the shirt was buttoned so she was showing just the right amount of cleavage, he started to make his way back to her lips. When she tried to deepen the kiss he pulled back, using one hand to keep ahold of her wrists, he moved the other to stroke her cheek gently.
"I would love to stay all day long in bed with but sometimes it's worth the wait…" He whispered into her ear. "And I promise you, next time I will make sure it's worth it."
"What? Marshall!"
He pushed himself back to his feet as she propped herself up on her elbows.
"You can't stop there!" She exclaimed.
"Hey, you started it…I told you I didn't have time." He picked up his cell phone which he had placed on the nightstand the night before. "Besides, it'll give you a reason to see me again in a few days…"
"A few days?" She questioned, jumping to her feet and followed him out of the room. "You want me to wait a few days?!"
"Call me." He grinned at her. "We'll set up a date…"
"What about your shirt?" She asked as she started to unbutton it. "Don't you want to take it?"
He knew what she was doing and it took all his willpower not to drag her back into the bedroom.
He forced himself to turn away and bent down to pick up his t-shirt. "Keep it… it looks better on you anyway."
"I think it might look better off…." She stated as she undid the last button.
Before Marshall could reply they heard someone clearing their throat causing them both to turn quickly.
"Are we interrupting?" Brandi asked with a smirk.
"My god! Don't you ever knock?!" Mary exclaimed as she wrapped the shirt back around herself, glaring at her mother and sister.
"We have a key…" Jinx answered.
"I really should get going…" Marshall pulled his t-shirt on then leaned forward to kiss Mary's cheek. "I am sorry but I promised Alexis I would help her with her math homework."
"Right, of course…" She replied, suddenly feeling guilty to trying to cut into his time with his daughters.
"I'll call you later." He promised. "Brandi, Mrs. Shannon...It's nice to see you again."
"Huh-uh…" Brandi said teasingly, her eyes following him as he walked past them to the door.
"Bye." He said again before stepped out and closing the door.
"You're still seeing him?!" Jinx stared at Mary.
"Mom, don't start…" Mary rubbed her eyes. "What are you even doing here?"
"We thought we could hang out…" Brandi shrugged but then continued when Mary just looked her. "And my electricity is out…"
"Brandi…" Mary moaned.
"I've already paid the bill... it's just going to take a while for it to be re-connected." She argued.
"How long as this been going on?" Jinx asked.
"Only since last night…" Brandi answered.
"Not that." She rolled her eyes and then gestured to Mary. "How long have you been sleeping with that cop?!"
"He's a marshal!" Mary snapped. "And I'm not just sleeping with him…"
"What does that mean?" Jinx questioned.
"It means….I don't know what it means." Mary turned and went back into the bedroom. "It means we're together…In a relationship."
"Wow and it only took you six weeks to admit that…" Brandi said sarcastically and followed Jinx who stalked into the bedroom behind Mary.
"Six week?!"
"Hey, do you mind?" Mary glared at them.
"You have had a boyfriend for six weeks and you didn't tell me?"
"What the point?" Mary asked. "You weren't exactly welcoming the times he was over before…"
"He was trying to get your sister in trouble…"
"Actually, he helped me." Brandi cut in. "It was that FBI jerk that that was after me."
"Can you both get out of my room so I can get dressed, please?"
"But Mary…" Jinx started up again but her eldest daughter held up a hand.
"You've made it perfectly clear how you feel." Mary stated. "This relationship is complicated enough without you making worse."
"It's only complicated because you're making it complicated." Brandi replied.
Mary sighed. "Can you just go and let me get changed."
Jinx threw her hands in the air dramatically before spinning on her heels and walking out.
"You like him, Mare and you said yourself he's a good guy…I never seen you as happy as you've been the six weeks ever." Brandi claimed and paused to glance back at her from the doorway. "Don't throw it away just because you're scared."
XxXxX
"Hello?" Marshall called out when he opened the front door after seeing his brother's car in the driveway.
"Daddy!" Ava ran out of the kitchen and down the hallway, throwing herself into his arms.
"Hey, Princess!" He hugged her tightly. "How's my baby?"
"I'm good." She led her head on his shoulder.
"I missed you so much…" He pulled back and planted kisses all over her face causing her laugh loudly.
"Dada…" She squirmed in his arms as she giggled. "Daddy, stop."
"Stop?" He asked, looking down at her. "You don't like my kisses?"
"Tickles…" She explained.
"Ah, okay…I'll tell the tickle monster to stop." He laughed lightly, giving her one more kiss on the forehead. "Where are your sister and uncle?"
"In the kitchen." She pointed and clung onto him tightly to stop him from placing her on the floor.
He stood up back straight. "Okay, let's go find them."
When he entered the kitchen, he saw Alexis sat at the table with her school books spread out in front of her while Jack was stood at the counter looking at something on his cell phone while drinking a soda.
"Hey." He bent down and kissed the top of Alexis' head.
"I thought you had work until tonight?" She looked up at him.
"We finished a day early." He told her.
"How come you weren't here when we got home then?"
"I stayed at a friend's last night." He explained ignoring the smirk he could see on his brother's face. "How's the math going?"
Alexis sighed. "I suck at it."
"You don't suck at it." He told her, looking over her shoulder to see she was working on subtractions. "You just have to work a little harder at it but you still get good grades."
"Will you help me?"
"Of course I will." He laid a hand on her hair. "Let me get Ava settled with a DVD first."
"I want Finding Nemo!" Ava exclaimed.
"Of course you do." Marshall laughed, knowing it was her favorite movie. "You guys had breakfast?"
"You think we don't feed them when they're with us?" Jack asked.
"Aunt Kelly made us some pancakes." Alexis answered.
"Well, princess do you want a snack to have while you watch your movie?" Marshall asked, Ava.
"Soda and candy?"
"Uh, I don't think so." He shook his head. "What about juice and I'll cut you up some fruit?"
She sighed dramatically. "Okay."
"Good girl." He sat on the counter. "Alexis? What about you? A bit of brain food?"
"What's brain food?" Ava questioned.
"Well, there's fish oil…"
"Ewww!"
"I'll just take a banana." Alexis cut in.
"Good choice." Marshall replied, setting Ava on the counter and reached for the fruit bowl.
"Can I have some soda, Uncle Jack?" Ava asked him sweetly.
"Jack, don't you dare." Marshall looked at him warningly.
"There's only a little left…" Jack reasoned but received a glare from his brother.
"Ava, you can have juice, water or nothing." Marshall told her.
"But I want soda." She pouted and folded her arms.
"Princess, you know you're not allowed too much soda." Marshall told her, moving Jack's soda can further away.
"How can you tell her no?" Jack looked between the two of them when he realized his brother wasn't going to back down.
"Because I know how hyper she gets after she drinks that stuff." Marshall replied, pulling open the fridge and taking out a carton of juice. "And you should know by now too."
"Oh, I do know but how can you resist those eyes?"
"A lot of practice." Marshall answered, handing the drink to his youngest daughter. "No wonder you like hanging out with Uncle Jack, you have him wrapped around your little finger."
"Hey!" Jack protested.
"You're a US Marshal with kids of your own…You should know better."
Jack hung his head a little. "It's the eyes and the pout…I don't know what happened to me."
"Do you need some help with that?" Marshall asked Ava, seeing her trying to get the plastic straw into the juice box.
"I can do it." She claimed, as she focused on the straw.
"Well, I'm going to get out here." Jack finished his soda and dropped the can in the recycling box.
"Thanks, man…I really appreciate it."
"Any time," Jack reached over and stole a slice of apple.
"What do you say to your uncle, girls?"
"Thank you, Uncle Jack!" Ava threw her arms around his neck.
"You're welcome." He dropped a kiss on the top of her head before pulling and placing a finger under her chin to make her look up at him. "Don't do or say anything else to get me into trouble with your dad."
She giggled. "Okay…"
"See you later, Kiddo." Jack said to Alexis as he passed her, holding his hand up for a high five.
Marshall paused for a moment, wondering when his daughter got too old for hugs and kisses from her uncle.
"Dad?" Alexis called, breaking his train of thought. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing…" He grabbed a banana from the bowl and handed it to her. "Here"
"Thanks." She took it but kept looking over at him while he finished cutting up fruit for both him and Ava.
XxXxX
That night, Mary paced in front of Marshall's front door, debating whether she should knock or just leave and go home. She kept turning over Brandi's words from earlier in her mind; wondering if she was actually thinking there was complication when there wasn't really. She knew in her mind that she wanted to keep spending time with Marshall but what she wasn't sure about was if she was just looking for problems because of how much she liked him.
"Get it together, Shannon." She whispered to herself and knocked on the door before she could talk herself out of it.
Marshall pulled open the door a few minutes later and stared at her in surprised at first before smiling. "Hey, what you doing here?"
"I found this." She held up his wallet. "Figured you might need it."
"Ah, that would have been awkward when the pizza guy turned up." He replied. "Thanks for bring it over."
"No worries." She shrugged but when she handed it to him, he pulled her in for a kiss.
"Sorry I couldn't stick around this morning."
"Yeah, you had a lucky escape." She commented. "I really need to change my locks."
"You okay?" He asked, with a little frown.
"Sure. Why?"
"I don't know…It seems like you got something on your mind."
She sighed. "It's nothing…Don't worry."
"Mary?"
"Honestly, Marshall…" She shook her head. "What about your day? Did you get the math homework done?"
"Yeah, Alexis isn't as bad at as she think she is." He sighed a little. "She's too hard on herself sometimes."
"At least she's making an effort to get better at it, right?"
"I guess…but…"
"But what?"
"I don't know, she's so good at everything else…Already a grade higher for English and Science but with Math, she is right where she should be for her age and for some reason, she think she needs to be better at it." He explained. "I can't help but wonder whether I have pushed her to do better at English and Science because I enjoy those subjects and now she thinks she has to be perfect at them all."
"Hmmm…"
"What?" He frowned again.
"Nothing, just you're stood here telling me that you're worried she thinks she needs to be perfect while you're worrying you're not the perfect parent." She answered. "As far as I can see, you're doing a great job…I mean, if her trying harder at Math is what you're worried about then I think you're doing fine…"
"Is the pizza here?" Kelly entered the hallway but stopped when she saw Mary. "Oh, hello."
"Uh, hey…" she shot Marshall a quick look.
"Mary, right?" Kelly joined them at the door, holding her hand. "I'm Kelly…"
"Hi, nice to meet you." Mary shook her hand.
"Are you joining us for dinner?"
"Oh, I wouldn't want to impose."
"You wouldn't be…It's only pizza but we always order too much so you're welcome to stay." Kelly claimed, giving a reassuring smile. "I'll give you guys a minute to discuss it."
"Yeah, thanks, Kell…" Marshall rolled his eyes at her lack of tack.
"She seems nice." Mary commented once they were alone again.
"She is…she's great." Marshall replied. "You don't have to stay…I mean, unless you want to…"
Mary was about to come up with some excuse about work or that her sister was waiting for her but something stopped her.
"Do you want me to stay?" She asked.
"Do you want to?" Marshall responded.
She sighed. "I don't know…Is it too soon?"
He shrugged a little. "Well, like Kelly said…It's just pizza so it's no big deal…but I don't want to rush you."
"So, you want me to?"
"Mary." He laughed. "Of course I would like you to stay…I love spending time with you but it's your choice."
"Okay…" She took a deep breath. "I guess I could, for a little while at least."
He grinned widely. "Okay, great…"
Mary hesitated slightly before stepping into the house and Marshall reached out to squeeze her hand. "If it gets too much then just tell me…."
"It's no big deal….Just meeting some new people, right?"
"Right." He nodded. "And maybe one night, we could go out to dinner with your sister and mom."
"Oh god no…I wouldn't inflict that on anyone."
Marshall laughed. "Come on, they can't be that bad."
"Oh they can." She claimed.
"We talk about it later." He told her, tugging on her hand. "Come on, let meet everyone."
"Okay, I can do this…" She muttered to herself.
He squeezed her hand once more before leading her into the living room. "Hey guys, Mary is going to join us for dinner."
The room fell silent and everyone turned to look at them.
"Hi, Mary…It's nice to finally meet you." Jack jumped up from the couch to greet her.
"This is Jack my brother…" Marshall introduced. "And you already met Kelly…"
"Hi." Kelly waved from her spot on the floor.
"And their kids, Tom and Lizzie." Marshall pointed to the two teenagers sat on the couch. Lizzie looked up and smiled but Tom was too busy playing with his cell phone until Kelly reached up and slapped his knee.
"What?" He looked up, startled. "Oh, hi…"
Mary smiled a little. "Hey."
"I'm Ava!" The youngest announced as she scrambled to her feet, where had been doing some drawing on the coffee table and ran over to them, wrapping her arms around Marshall's legs until he picked her up.
"Yes, Mary this is my youngest daughter, Ava." Marshall laughed lightly.
"I'm three." Ava added, wrapping her arms around Marshall's neck.
Mary glanced at him first, a little unsure before looking back to Ava. "Well, it's nice to meet you."
"Alexis, can you say hi?" Marshall called across to his other daughter who was curled up in the arm chair, reading.
She looked up, studying Mary for a few seconds before finally speaking. "Hi."
"Hey…" Mary didn't know what to make of the look she was getting from the six year old.
"I'll get you a drink." Marshall placed Ava back on the floor. "Take a seat."
"Come and do some coloring with me!" Ava grabbed her hand and pulled her over to the coffee table before she could protest.
"Uh okay…" Mary knelt down the floor.
"Daddy drawed me a doggy and I'm coloring him in." Ava held up the paper. "Look."
"Drew." Alexis corrected. "Daddy drew you a dog..."
"Daddy drew me a doggy…" Ava repeated.
"Wow, that's really good." Mary commented as Marshall returned with some drinks. "I didn't realize your dad was an artist too…"
"I'm a man of many talents." Marshall replied, knowing she was teasing him.
"Yeah, right…" She laughed.
"Mary, color his collar purple." Ava handed her a crayon.
"Hey, you, don't be so bossy." Marshall told her.
"Sorry…Mary, can you please his collar purple for me, pretty please?"
"See!" Jack cut in. "How can you deny her anything when she gives you that look?"
"Admit it, Jack…You're a weak, weak man." Marshall replied just as the doorbell rang.
"For that, you can buy the pizza." Jack told him.
Marshall rolled his eyes but got to his feet anywhere. Mary thought about following him but deciding against it. Focusing back on the picture, she decided this wasn't too bad. While she didn't feel completely comfortable, it was going okay.
"Right, Ava, let's get this cleared away while we eat." Kelly started to gather up the paper spread across the table.
"I wasn't finished…" She pouted.
"But where are we going to put the pizza if there is no room on the table?" Kelly questioned.
"Oh yeah…" She started to put her crayons away. "Do you like pizza, Mary?"
"Uh sure, I love pizza…" Mary answered.
"Me too…" She told her. "Daddy, Mary loves pizza too!"
"I know, she does." He replied, placing two pizza boxes on the table. "Be careful, don't touch it, it's hot."
"Okay."
Mary stayed out the way while the family went about dishing out the food. She noticed that Alexis still hadn't move from her seat or lowered her book.
"You okay?" Marshall sat beside her, handing her a plate.
"Yeah, I'm fine…"
"Sorry about Ava…She likes to talk a lot."
"It's okay…" She smiled a little. "She's….sweet."
"Sweet?" He raised an eyebrow.
"What?"
"Nothing, just didn't realize sweet was in your vocabulary." He teased.
"It's not but I was trying something new…"
"Well, thank you…I really appreciate it."
"Mary?" Ava spoke again.
"Yeah?"
"Are you daddy's girlfriend?"
Marshall almost choked on his pizza and glared at his brother when he laughed loudly.
"Uh…well…" Mary looked from her to Marshall then back to her. "Yes, I guess I am…"
"Oh." Ava took another bite of her pizza before continuing. "Does that mean you're going to be our new mommy?"
Silent fell over the room as no one knew what to say and Mary had never wanted to run away more in her life.
"Shut up!" Alexis was the first to react.
"Alex…" Marshall looked at her in surprise.
"You're so stupid!" She jumped to her feet. "We already have a Mom…"
"I don't…" Ava shook her head in confusion.
"You do, you idiot!"
"Alexis Joan!" Marshall stood up, moving across to her.
"If it wasn't for you, she wouldn't have left!"
"Stop it!" Marshall told her, taking hold of her arm and turning her to face him. "What has gotten into you?"
"I hate you!" She cried and hit him. "I hate you and hate being here…I want to go home…I want my Mom!"
"Alexis…" He reached out for her but she pushed him and ran from the room.
"I hate you!" She shouted again.
Marshall stared after her for a few seconds in utter shock but when he went to go after her, he felt Ava's arms around his legs.
"Daddy!" She cried, trying to pull herself up his body.
"Ava, come here, sweetie." Jack tried to pick her up but she just screamed louder.
"No! Daddy!"
Marshall sighed, reached down and picked her up before carrying her out of the room and up the stairs to find Alexis.
"I'm sorry, Mary…" Kelly started once he had disappeared from sight. "I don't know what just happened…"
"It's fine…" Mary tried to force a smile. "I should go…"
"No, stay." Jack told her. "I'm sure Marshall will be back down in a minute..."
"Nah, I'll only get in the way." She got to her feet. "But it was nice meeting you all…"
"Are you sure?" Jack followed her to the door. "I'm sure this is just a big misunderstanding…."
"It's fine." She said against, opening the door. "Bye."
She quickly closed it behind her before he had chance to say anymore. She was right from the beginning…She should have stayed well clear of Marshall and his kids.
TBC
Well, you didn't think it would go smoothly, did you? Please review and let me know what you think!