Thanks for the reviews! Well, possibly two more chapters. Hopefully (crossing fingers) I get to finish this story within the week or so. No promises though, work and all (yes, boring stuff), but I'll try real hard.

Las Vegas, NV

The seedy motel was not only dusty and musky, but abandoned as well. Marshall walked in, back against the puke green dusty wall, Glock in his hands as he walked into the abandoned motel. He came around the bend and saw movement through the corner of his eye, he swerved his blue gaze over and saw a shadow go into a room to his right. There were toppled sofas and chairs all over the foyer, trash all over.

Marshall looked behind him and Stan stood behind him, frown in place, looking up expectantly at his Senior Inspector, "See anything?"

"I couldn't see who it was, but they went into the room on the right. Stay behind me, don't want to scare the witness," Marshall advised.

Stan rolled his eyes at him and pointed his Glock towards the room, "Let's go then."

Marshall closed his eyes at his attitude, remembering another with a similar attitude. He had left Mary Shannon nude under her blankets in a cold bed, a bed he had to abandon to come find a squirrelly witness. Even after a few days, he couldn't get the feel of her body close to his. Groaning inwardly he shook his head and went back to Marshal mode.

As one the Chief and Inspector walked towards the door in which the shadow had disappeared. Marshall signaled Stan to stand by the door as he leaned against the other side of the door, he pointed to the room and counted to three on his fingers.

On three, he kicked the door open and walked in, Glock drawn up in front of him, looking around to spot any movement.

Stan saw his inspector go into Marshal mode and shivered at the way the man could turn his profession on and off. He noticed a confident gait since his return from Texas, he could only assume it had to do with Mary Shannon, his former inspector. He missed her, maybe not as much as his Senior Inspector, but she had been a valuable Marshal and a challenge to work with, kept him on his toes.

"Freeze!" Marshall bellowed as the witness tried to escape via a back window.

Carl stopped with a foot on the sill and turned to see his inspector, he sighed in relief stuttering, "Mar-Marshall?"

"Damn it, Carl! What the hell are you doing?" Marshall dropped his weapon to his side and holstered it. He walked over to the witness and grabbed his arm, pulling him away from the window. He looked out the window as he moved the witness away from it, he saw a glint of a shotgun's laser coming through the window pane.

"Gun!" he yelled shots were fired and Marshall pushed Carl down, pulling him closer towards the wall. After a few dozen shots rang towards them, the fire seized. Taking inventory Marshall didn't feel like he was shot, he moved to the witness, he was unharmed. When he looked back to Stan he noticed he didn't move, crawling towards his boss he saw the blood on the side of his shirt. He pulled off his jacket and took off his shirt, he used it to press the wound to prevent any more blood loss.

"Don't move," he snarled at a sobbing Carl, he was lying on his side against the wall. Marshall growled as he took out his cell phone, "We need a BUS! The Chief's been shot."

Within minutes there were paramedics carrying Stan away, Marshall turned back to the witness and pulled him up roughly, "Get up!"

After Marshall secured the witness with a couple of inspectors from Las Vegas a few hours later, he borrowed a truck and drove to the hospital trying not to break any speed limits. He hadn't wanted to leave Stan, but knew the Chief would expect him to secure the witness first. If nothing else, Stan was about priorities and the witness was his.

Once at the hospital, he was led to the hospital room where the Chief was, he learned that the Chief was still under heavy sedation because of the injury.

"I want to speak to his doctor as soon as possible," Marshall informed the nurse.

"Sir, he's busy with other patients," the nurse nervously looked back to the nurses' station.

"I don't care, you call the doctor and tell him I need to see him yesterday," he growled making the nervous nurse run off to the nurses' station.

He could hear her on the phone, "Can you tell Dr. McMorris that the policeman are looking for him? Yes, please. Thank you."

Marshall walked back into the room and sat next to Stan's bed in the ICU. He didn't like the fact that Stan had been there, he needed to be in the office behind his safe desk. The ache in his chest intensified, reaching for his cell phone he dialed a number that had now become permanently etched in his mind.

"This is Mary," came the answer after a second ring.

He had called Mary every day since he left, more than once throughout the search of his witness, something he was grateful to look forward to. In this precise moment he wished she was sitting right next to him, in his arms.

"Mare," he sobbed as he saw his mentor laying on a bed, full of tubes and wires coming out of practically every orifice of his upper body.

Dallas, TX

"Marshall? What's wrong?" Mary jumped up from behind her desk when she heard Marshall, not even when he was leaving to look for his witness did he sound so distraught.

She could hear him breathing on the other side of the phone, "Tell me, what happened?"

"Stan…" he broke off, reigning in his emotion.

"What happened to Stan? Marshall?" she walked around her desk and into an empty conference room, the same room in which they had sparred a few weeks ago. She ran her fingers through her hair, afraid something had happened to Stan.

"He was shot, I'm waiting for the doctor right now. Wish you were here, I'm sure the doctor would've come sooner," he tried to lighten the mood, didn't want to sound so somber.

"Damn it! The witness?" Mary questioned, she wanted the man alive so she could skin him alive herself.

Marshall chuckled, "Down, ma Cherie, he's with a pair of inspectors. You'll have to go through me first."

"It's not funny Marshall, were you…there?" she asked hesitantly.

"Yeah"

"You want me to come?" she asked nervously.

"Yes and no."

"Huh? That doesn't make sense Marshall."

"I want you here with me, didn't I practically beg for you to come?"

Mary sat on a chair in the conference room and rested her head against the headrest, eyes closed as she rubbed them, "I know, I wanted to come with you, but…"

He cut her off, "I know too, look I have to go. The doctor's here and I need him to brief me about Stan."

"Call me back?"

"I will. I love you."

"I love you too, Doofus."

Mary hung up and stood up, trying to shoot at someone or something. She walked out the room and found herself walking towards her boss' office. Chief Reese had returned on Monday morning from his family emergency leave. Now, it was time to set her plan in motion.

"Hey Chief, a moment?" she walked in and closed the door behind her.

"What can I do for you, Shannon?" Chief Reese asked as he waved towards a chair across from him, for her to sit.

She shrugged and said, "I would like to transfer back to Albuquerque, New Mexico."

He sat back and contemplated before nodding, "Have you spoken to Stan?"

"No, but I will."

Nodding again he looked at her pensively, "What made you decide to go back to Albuquerque?"

"Do I have to have a reason?" she asked frowning. "I don't recall giving Stan a reason for leaving."

"No, you're right. I just want to make sure it's for the right reasons," he advised trying to gauge her mood.

"I've been thinking quite a bit for the past few weeks, I...I need to go back home," she murmured at the end.

"Was it because of Stevens? Because he's been suspended pending further evaluation, I might have made a bad judgment call when I hired him. He put you at risk more than once since you got partnered with him," he said, sounding detached, angry at himself for putting a great inspector with a rookie.

"Yeah, maybe I should've been harder on him, I don't know," she finished and stood up. "I...I would like to take a few days off."

Chief Reese sat looking up at her and nodded, "Fine, sign a vacation form and drop it off. I'll make sure to sign it and send it on up."

"Thanks."

Mary walked stiffly back to her desk, she had debated whether she should go back to Albuquerque or not, and now with Stan being shot. She knew she would go back, she needed to be by Marshall more than anything else in that moment. She opened a vacation form on her computer and filled it out in a few minutes, leaving it on his IN basket. Leaving the office she went to The B Place. She would buy some ribs for her trip to Vegas that would take her back into Marshall's arms. She had missed him miserably since he left a few days before.

She walked into the place, it was packed full of patrons, walking to her spot on the counter she yelled, "Two of my usual Larry!"

"Shannon, I've missed your lovely face around here sugar," said the big burly man with a mock hurt look.

Mary blushed and shook her head smiling at him, "Been busy. Can I get my order to go?"

"Will do Sugar!" he bellowed as he walked back into the kitchen.

She sat there going through her emails when someone sat beside her, looking over to see who it was she was caught by light brown eyes. Caring, mothering eyes, something she would never mistake Jinx to have. She tried to break eye contact, but the woman continued staring at her.

Then suddenly she remembered her, she had been sitting at a table across from her a few weeks back. She had been the woman that had disappeared, making her believe she had never been there.

Mary blinked and looked away, towards the kitchen, silently begging Larry to hurry up. Then the woman tapped her shoulder, she scowled and looked back at her, "What?"

"You're Mary Shannon, right?" the woman asked cautiously.

She nodded realizing that it was important to know this woman, something about her made her feel comforted, "And you are?"

The woman smiled brightly and it hit her, she immediately knew who she was, "You're Marshall's mother."

"Yes, I'm Alice Mann," she grinned and nodded.

"Nice to meet you Mrs. Mann," Mary said with a crooked smile. She couldn't believe she finally met her, the woman Marshall loved more than her.

"You can call me Alice, dear."

Mary nodded, "OK, Alice, I'm sure you're here for a reason. What can I do for you?"

Alice Mann's smile grew even wider and chuckled, "Yes, you are exactly what Marshall said you were. To the point, huh?"

"No other way to live."

"Well, I need a favor. Marshall and I haven't spoken since he found out you were here a few weeks ago," the smile slipping from her face.

"Huh, was it because of me?" she asked worried she had caused a rift between mother and son.

"No, no. Well, not you per se, but because Seth knew you were here and didn't tell him, even after he asked his father for help finding you," Alice spoke in one breath, afraid that if she didn't catch her attention she wouldn't hear her out.

"Oh Marshall," she murmured. "How can I help?"

Alice stared at her green eyes and her soft eyes compelled her to understand her, "The relationship between Marshall and his father was holding on by a really thin thread and he feels betrayed by his father for not telling him you were here."

Mary shook her head feeling guilty for causing the rift to widen to no extent.

"I need you to help me convince Marshall to forgive his father," the older woman pleaded.

"I'll see what I can do Alice, but Marshall is a very stubborn man, it won't be easy," she warned.

Las Vegas, NV

To her eyes, every hospital looked the same, sad and depressing. She stopped in the entrance and got a pass to go to Stan's hospital room. She hadn't called Marshall back to let him know she was here, she wanted to surprise him.

Mary found the room and walked in, Marshall sat in a chair in the far corner, arms folded over his stomach, long legs stretched out in front of him. His breathing evened out, a sign that he was in deep sleep.

She stepped into the room and set the ribs on the only table in the room, she walked closer and stood beside him, she brushed a rogue lock of hair away from his face and traced down to his unshaven jaw. She leaned down and pressed a light kiss to the top of his head.

"Mare," he mumbled in sleep, then he blinked and gasped when he saw her. Marshall couldn't believe his eyes, Mary, his Mary was standing right next to him, it was a thing of his dreams. He pulled her onto his lap and slanted his head to kiss her deeply, deepening the kiss as she wrapped her arms around him, her nails scratching the nape of his neck.

He groaned and pulled her impossibly closer, she moaned into his mouth when his hand found and palmed her breast.

TBC...Thinking of doing some one-shots, any ideas, PM me!