Marshall arrived home thirty minutes later and the rain was still unforgiving. He quickly parked in side the garage, beside the Lamborghini and walked in through the back garage door.
"Allison?" Marshall happily called out. "Hey baby?" He asked as he walked into the living room and saw the television running. He looked over the back of the couch and saw his girlfriend curled up, asleep. "Allison." He whispered as he gently shook her awake.
"Hey." She groggily smiled as she sat up and stretched her arms.
"Hi." He quietly answered back. "Whatchya doin'?" He asked as he sat beside her and cuddled her up against him.
"I was watching the news…" She smiled as she picked up the remote and muted the volume. ",but I guess I fell asleep." She laughed as Marshall kissed her forehead.
"Well, this weather sucks. I was going to go take you somewhere tonight." He smiled and Alli looked up at him.
"Like where?" She asked, smiling and biting the corner of her lip.
"I can't tell you, I'm still planning on taking you." He smiled.
"So what are we going to do tonight?" She asked as she crawled onto his lap.
"Well-" Marshall started just as someone knocked on the door. "Who the hell?" He mumbled as he got up off the couch and went to open the front door. "Ms. Lyon? Is- Is everything alright? I see you brought Jessie." Marshall immediately began to worry and looked out on the street for an ambulance but there wasn't one.
"Everything is fine." She smiled but then frowned when the dog whined. "But Jessie is having a fit about this storm, and neither Mr. Richards nor I can get her to calm down. And I'm afraid, with his condition, that she'll accidentally hurt him. I was wondering if I could drop her off here for the night?" She asked and Marshall looked at her surprised.
He had never known Jessie to have a track record of having an irrational fear of storms or being too much for the old man to handle.
"Uh, sure." He smiled as he took the leash and the big box of things she had sitting beside her.
"Thank you, son." She smiled as she thanked him and turned around ready to dash back to Mr. Richards.
"Lisa!" Marshall yelled, stopping the short, round, black woman.
"Hmm?" She asked, turning back around with her umbrella propped against her shoulder.
"How much longer do you think he has?" Marshall asked in a low voice.
"It's hard to tell right now. Could be a year, could be a week. The doctor is coming over tomorrow morning, we'll have a better answer then." She sympathetically smiled. "I'm so sorry, sweet heart." She said as she hugged the young man, turned around, and hurried back to the house.
Marshall finally slammed the door shut, locked it and flopped back down on the couch with Alli and watched the weather report while Jessie calmly walked over to the couple and flopped down at their feet.
"They think it's run off from the tropical storm that just missed us." Alli said and Marshall looked over at her.
He stared at her for a good minute until she looked over at him and smiled.
"What?" She asked and Marshal quickly swooped her up, and threw her over his shoulder and spun her around as Jessie excitedly barked and spun around them.
"Marshall!" She squealed in between laughs.
Finally he set her down and kissed her. "You hungry?" He asked and she nodded. "Good! Then let's make spaghetti." He smiled as he picked her back up and carried her into the kitchen.
"Are the noodles ready yet?" Marshall asked as he opened a bottle of wine.
Alli stood over the pot, with her back to him and grinned.
"Alli?" He asked as he went to put his hand on her shoulder and she spun around and flicked a couple noodles at him.
"Hey!" He laughed as he jumped back and Jessie dove in to eat them off the floor.
"Come here you!" He smiled as he chased her around the island until he finally caught her and tickled her.
"Marshall! Marshall! Stop! Stop!" She screamed, laughing.
"Never!" He laughed until finally there was a flash of lightning and a crack of thunder and the power went out.
"Shit we forgot to put candles out." He suddenly realized as they stood there in the dark and Allison started cackling with laughter.
"What's so funny?" He asked, smiling. He could barely make her face out in the night-light.
"Your face was." She snickered, as she looked at his blue-silhouetted face. They stood there, listening to the dog in the kitchen slurp up the floor noodles and they both broke into laughter.
"I'll go get the candles." He finally said.
"And I'll get the matches." Alli sweetly replied as they both went in search of what they needed before they returned to the same place, lit the candles, ate dinner, and finally curled up in front of the fire place in a nest of blankets.
"You're beautiful, you know that?" Marshall whispered as he brushed a piece of her hair back.
"Thanks." She bashfully answered, slightly hiding her face.
"No, Alli, like really beautiful." He said with a serious face.
"I can't be that great." She smirked and Marshall stared at her.
"How could you ever say that?" He asked, sounding as if her comment about herself had hurt him.
"I don't know." She shrugged. "I just- not everything about me is great, you know?"
"No, I don't. Because when I look at you I see this independent, strong, brave woman that continues on no matter what life throws in your direction! You're perfect."
"That's just it though! I'm not! I'm not perfect! I'm am so screwed up in so many ways!" She screamed, sitting up. "I hadn't talked to my parents in years, up until a few weeks ago! I watched my best friend die! I watched my brother die! And the most screwed up part was, I was with a man for… I don't even remember how many months, that I wasn't in love with!" Alli screamed and Marshall felt his stomach drop a little. "I was in love with him because I didn't know what it felt like to be loved by a person!" She let out a heavy breath.
"Do you love me?" Marshall asked, a little scared of what her answer would be.
"What?" She asked, turning around and looking at him.
"I asked do you love me?" He repeated as his heart raced a little.
"Marshall!" She said as she threw herself towards him and started crying. "Of course! Of course I love you! I haven't ever loved anyone as much as I love you. I love you so much, that loosing you would be like loosing half of me. You have been able to fix all the holes in my heart by loving me! I'm not depressed anymore; I don't have that terrible nightmare of watching my brother die every night, anymore. And that's because of you! Because of your live and kindness towards me!" She cried as she looked into his eyes.
"I love you, Allison." Marshall said as she hugged his head and he buried his face into her ribcage, slightly crying. "I've waited a whole lifetime to find someone like you!" His muffled voice carried out into the air.
Allison let go and lied down beside him and smiled as she wiped away tears.
"You're still so perfect to me." He whispered as he wrapped his arms around her and cuddled against her.
Allison let out a happy little sigh as they laid there, listening to the rain as she put her arms around Jessie and the three fell asleep.