Pushed Too Far,

Chapter 26:

Mary Shannon stared at the man cowering before her, taking immense pleasure in the look of abject terror on his face as she leaned across the table, ready for another go at him.

The man had killed her witness, and for that he would pay. He had also cost her naked time with Marshall, and for that he would suffer...

It was over all too soon, the suspect willing to cop to anything just to get away from her. While she was mildly disappointed it had been so easy – she was rather enjoying taking her frustrations out him – she knew that the sooner they wrapped this up, the sooner she could get back to Marshall.

Naked.

In her bed.

She walked out of the interrogation room, grinning widely as she mentally reviewed exactly what she was going to do to her partner once she got him out of his clothes. Speaking of Marshall... "Was that good for you?" she asked when she found him right outside the door, an amused expression on his face.

"You know it always is," he answered with a chuckle. "What about you guys?" he asked, turning to the two local Marshals, who were staring at her with undisguised awe. "Was that good for you?"

"Is she always like this?" Ramirez asked.

"Yep," Marshall said, nodding. "My partner is very good at getting a man to beg for release," he confirmed, causing the mouthful of coffee she'd just swiped from his cup to spray out of her nose. "Now, if you don't mind" he continued, unsuccessfully trying to hide his glee at her reaction, "we need to leave. We have a plane to catch."

After the requisite thank-yous and good-byes were exchanged, they were in the elevator, slowly making their way down to the ground floor.

"Good going back there," she told him with a smile, "telling them we had a plane to catch so we could get out in a hurry." She threw a side glance at the elevator's other passengers as she edged closer to him, confirming the two gossiping young women weren't paying them any attention. "So," she whispered as she leaned in close, "I say we haul ass to the airport Ramada, check in, and don't leave the room – make that the bed! - until some time tomorrow. How does that sound?"

"Like we wouldn't get our deposit back," he replied with a smirk. "As lovely as that sounds, I wasn't just making excuses; we do have a flight to catch."

"What do you mean?" she asked, brow knit in confusion. "I thought the plane wasn't available until tomorrow."

"It's not," he confirmed as the elevator doors dinged open, letting them out into the lobby. "I booked us onto a commercial flight to Dallas. I told Stan I needed to visit my mother, and that you were coming along for the ride. He very wisely chose not to ask why you were coming home with me instead of going straight back to Albuquerque."

"Do you think he knows?" she asked, frowning slightly.

"I'm pretty sure Stan's known for quite a while," he answered, holding the door open for her. "Why?"

"Well, he is our boss," she pointed out, sighing as she noticed it had started drizzling again. Never again would she complain about the ever-present sun in New Mexico... "He might object to his top two inspectors sleeping together."

"Is that what we're doing?" he asked, voice deceptively calm. "Sleeping together?"

"You know what I mean, Marshall... Whether we're in love or just screwing, the end result's the same; we're fraternizing. All I'm saying is that there are rules against this, and Stan might feel the need to enforce those rules."

"He thinks of us as family, you know that. If he has to choose between the rules and us being happy, he's going to choose us."

"You don't know that--"

"Yeah, I do know that, and you know it too."

"Marshall--"

"Look, Mare, if you've changed your mind--"

"Marshall, stop!" she cried out loudly enough to draw attention from passers-by. "You can't go jumping to conclusions every time I make a comment like that," she told him, grabbing a hold of his arm so he'd stop walking and pay attention. "You're just going to make yourself crazy doing that... Look, I know I don't have a great track record, and that you have no real reason to believe me, but I am not having second thoughts. And I am not going to change my mind," she added softly, searching his face for any indication that he believed her. "I'm in this for the long haul, Marshall. You're not getting rid of me any time soon."

"Okay," he said after a few seconds, the relief in his voice unmistakable.

"Okay," she repeated, quite proud of how she'd handled the situation. Maybe there was hope for her after all... "I think I deserve a reward for handling that so maturely, what with the expressing of feelings and all that," she quipped, pulling him in for a kiss.

Her partner didn't argue the point, looping an arm around her waist to draw her closer as they stood on the busy sidewalk, getting drenched in the now-steady rain, oblivious to everything but each other. "We better get going if we're going to make our flight," he eventually said, reluctantly pulling away from her.

"All right," she sighed, stepping out of his embrace, "but I'm telling you right now, Marshall... We're paying that airplane bathroom a visit this time!" she warned as she hailed down a cab. "We are going to finish what we started this morning..."