Author's Note: Special thanks to KeiraCassidy, JJ2008, Adelled, Meg, Guest, BrittanyLS, pandorabox82, Jayne Leigh, and BravoExpressions for the reviews!

Nightmare on Mary's Street

It was nearly one in the morning when the skies opened up with a roll of thunder, a crack of lightening, and a blood-curling scream. Mary burst into the den where Marshall and Owen were staying, her gun drawn in front of her. She found Marshall sitting on the bed trying to comfort a wide-eyed, crying Owen.

"Mary!" Marshall gasped, momentarily distracted from Owen's wails by the sight of Mary standing in the doorway, gun in hand, wearing a pair of boxers and a tank top.

"Everything okay?" she asked, slowly lowering her gun, her eyes searching the room.

Marshall nodded, swallowing. "Owen just had a nightmare. He wakes up in the middle of the night, screaming. This one was a bad one."

Mary knelt down in front of Owen. His cries had subdued as he stared at Mary in awe. "You okay, buddy?"

"Y-yeah," Owen stuttered in response. He sniffed.

"Do you want to tell me about your dream?" she asked. Mary gave him a reassuring smile when he shook his head. "Are you sure? I know a trick to get bad dreams to stay away, but I have to know what the dream is for it to work."

Owen studied her skeptically for a few moments before turning to Marshall. Marshall nodded encouragingly and Owen looked back at Mary. "There's a monster."

Mary touched his arm when he fell silent. "What does the monster look like?"

"I don't know. I can't see him." He took a deep breath. "He chases me. He chases me everywhere. I keep yelling for Uncle Marshall, but I can't find him. I falled down and the monster almost getted me when I woke up."

"Oh," Mary breathed out. "Well, that's a pretty big one, but I think we can get rid of it. Now, I want you to close your eyes." She waited until his eyes where shut tight before continuing. "And I want you to think about that monster."

Marshall tensed up. "Mare..."

She shook her head to quiet him. "Is the monster making any noises?"

"He's growling and it's really scary," Owen replied, a slight bit of panic in his voice. "I don't wanna think about him anymore!"

"Ssh, ssh," Mary soothed. "Listen. He's not growling. He's laughing. Can you hear him laughing, Owen?"

Eyes still closed, Owen nodded. "I can hear him. He's laughing really hard."

She smiled. "Can you see him getting close?" Again, Owen nodded. "He's going to reach out and touch your shoulder."

"He's got me!" Owen shrieked.

"It's okay! It's okay!" Mary reassured him, stroking his hair. "It's not a monster. Just turn around and look at him. It's-"

"Uncle Marshall!" Owen exclaimed. He opened his eyes, wonder filling his baby blues. "It was Uncle Marshall coming to tickle me!"

Mary nodded. "See, not so scary."

Owen turned to Marshall. "Uncle Marshall, why did you scare-d me?"

"I, uh," Marshall chuckled to himself. He glanced briefly at Mary. "I'm sorry, buddy. I'll try not to do it again."

"So, what do you say, Owen? Are you ready to go back to sleep?" Mary asked the small boy, who yawned. "I'm going to take that as a yes. Just remember the next time you have a dream about the monster that it's really Uncle Marshall coming to tickle you." Mary tickled his side slightly.

Owen threw his arms around Mary. "Thank you, Mary!"

Kissing the top of his head, she replied, "You're welcome. Good night."

"Mary," Marshall called out, quietly as she reached the doorway. "Thank you."

Mary gave him a brief nod before heading back to bed herself.

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The rain that had started in the night continued throughout the day, delaying any plans to go to the park that Mary had fixed in her head. Instead, she and Marshall spent the day entertaining the kids indoors. She briefly harbored the idea of taking them to the kids' museum or a play place, but with the rain, she was sure that all of those places would be packed. While she loved and adored her girls and was even coming to appreciate Owen, scores of children were not high on her list of fun things.

They spent the morning building blocks, which were immediately knocked down by Teagan, crashing cars off of couches, chairs, walls, and each other, and playing with the toy kitchen set that Jinx bought the girls last Christmas. Owen complained loudly at the last activity, but it didn't fail either Mary or Marshall's notice that he was the first one to pretend to eat the food that Norah made.

After lunch, Jinx laid down with Teagan for a nap, leaving Mary and Marshall alone with Norah and Owen. Afraid that any play would be loud enough to disturb Teagan, Mary used the dining room chairs and a blanket to create a tent in the living room. She set Norah and Owen up with pillows and juice boxes underneath it and put on a movie. Leaving Marshall in charge, she cleaned up the mess from lunch before returning.

"Hey," Marshall said, wandering to the back of the living room where Mary stood watching the kids.

"Hey," she replied. She nodded towards the kids. "Everything good?"

Marshall nodded. "Surprisingly, yes. Owen is almost like a completely different kid since we've been here."

Mary gave him a brief smile. "It's probably just a honeymoon period."

"Even still," Marshall countered, amused that she was refusing to give herself even a little bit of credit for Owen's improved behavior, "these last couple of days have given me hope that things can get better with Owen. I don't think I can thank you enough for that." Marshall grinned when she waved him off, blushing profusely. He tried to remember if he had ever been able to make her blush before. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure." Her voice was calm, but she looked at him warily.

Marshall shot a quick glance at the kids to make sure they weren't paying attention. "How did you know that trick about the monster?"

Mary half-shrugged. "Norah doesn't... see Mark very often. He loves her; he just doesn't know how to be a father in another city. Plus, he has a new wife and a step-son and a job where he travels a lot."

"Mary, you don't have to defend Mark to me," Marshall interrupted. "It's not any of my business."

"Right. I guess it's just a reflex after living with Jinx for so long." Mary took a deep breath. "Anyway, every time he does see her and then leaves again, she ends up with these nightmares where terrible things happen to him. I can't stop her from having those dreams, but getting her to change the ending seems to have helped more than anything."

Marshall grabbed her hand as she pushed herself off of the wall to walk away. He intertwined their fingers, ignoring both her look of surprise and the jolt of electricity he felt when he did so. "I always knew you'd be a good mother, Mary."

She gave off a shaky huff. "I don't know about that. I just... make do."

"No," he said, emphatically. "I just make do. You're amazing. I'm just sorry I wasn't around to watch you transform into this."

"Yeah. I'm sorry, too." Mary pulled away from him without a glimpse and headed to sit with the kids. Marshall remained in the back, mulling over whether her response was positive or negative for their friendship. He realized after a few minutes that he was getting nowhere and joined the kids in their tent.

A/N2: Probably another chapter of happiness before throwing some angst in...