Hidden from Sight by Betty Bokor
Mary/Marshall. Mary wakes up after the shooting and everything starts to change.
Spoilers: All episodes, including Second Season Finale.
Disclaimer: The In Plain Sight original characters belong to USA Network and Universal Media Studios (UMS). This was written strictly for the purpose of entertainment. No attempt at copyright infringement has been made.
Hidden from Sight
Chapter 28
A.N. Warning for language.
Marshall was amazed by the power she had over him. He was back kissing her, enjoying her taste, her touch, her whole body flush against his…
How could he? How could he love this woman so much that his brain could erase in two seconds weeks of pain and regrets? How could he forget what she had taken from him?
They had to talk about the baby. She had to explain why she had not even bothered to ask his opinion. Was he so unimportant that she would do as she pleased without even asking? He had not been expecting her to do his will, but to give him a chance to fight for the baby, to negotiate if necessary…
Every touch of Mary increased Marshall's guilt. He was mad at himself for being so weak; he was mad at her for not feeling at fault. She had said she would give him anything he wanted, but what he wanted was not possible anymore.
When Mary slid her hand just a couple of centimeters below the elastic of his pajama pants, he regained control of himself. It was as if alarm bells were ringing all over his body.
"Stop, Mar, stop," he said as he broke their embrace and walked backwards keeping her away from him with his hands on her shoulders.
Mary was confused. "What? What's wrong?"
He was looking down, avoiding eye contact.
"What the heck is going on? What's your problem?" she asked starting to feel upset. She was offering anything he wanted. What could be wrong?
He let her go and slid down with his back on the dresser. He sat on the floor and looked down.
"Marshall! What the hell is wrong with you?
He took a deep breath to calm himself. "It's too soon; it's too recent," he pointed out the obvious, in his mind at least.
She was not sure she understood. She kneeled in front of him to try and look at his eyes. "What?"
"I don't want to do this… and even if it weren't so soon after what happened, I'm not sure I'll ever do it again without protection. I'm not taking that risk another time."
Mary tried to understand. That meant he did want to do it, but… Suddenly she started to comprehend what he was talking about. He believed that she was not pregnant anymore.
Well, she had threatened to do it in front of Raph. It was logical that he would have told Marshall.
She was about to correct him, when she realized that he was willing to take her back even under the belief that she had killed his child.
It was like a revelation. Goodness, he loved her. He really loved her. With all her defects and quirks and with her all-around-charming attitude… That was why they worked together so well; that was why they made love so fabulously. How could she match that? Nothing she could do would repay that kind of love.
Nobody had ever loved her that way…
"I want to keep talking before we make any decisions," he continued when he got no answer from her. "I want you to tell me about the baby."
She felt the magnitude of his pain for the first time. All of a sudden, Marshall Mann stopped being a mystery. She saw what he needed and what he wanted and she promised herself that she would really, really do anything he wanted. There were so many things she could have said before that would have healed him, that would have helped him come out of the dark place where she could see him lost right now. She had to fix it at once.
"Okay. The baby," she said as she got closer to him and held his bandaged hand. She stroked the fingers coming out of the bandages. "Raph probably told you I found out I was pregnant last Saturday and it was a very big surprise, to say the least."
Marshall nodded softly.
"The doctor surmised that taking penicillin at the time I restarted taking the pill had some negative result on its effectiveness, thus allowing for the pregnancy to occur…"
Marshall raised his head to look at her. She sounded like she was channeling him.
"But we shouldn't dwell on the past. I apologize for having betrayed the trust you put on me that night, albeit unintentionally."
"Are you okay?" he worried. "You don't sound like yourself." His distress about the baby almost disappeared when he figured out something was wrong with her.
She looked at him and he immediately recognized her annoyance expression. "Shut up, doofus. I'm trying to do the right thing here and it's kind of hard."
He smiled, in spite of it all. That was Mary. She was fine. "Okay, go on."
She seemed to be organizing her thoughts before talking again. "Alright. I've been a good girl and drank milk and stopped having coffee and any form of alcohol…" she gestured with her hand, "and all that crap, you know…"
He smiled again. That sounded more like her, but, also, it sounded as if-
"We're entering the sixth week, so we would be able to hear his ─or her─ heartbeat, if we had a stethoscope… I read that in the internet this morning," she added.
He turned his whole body towards her. "You're still pregnant?"
He was looking at her, his eyes open wide, so hopeful that it made Mary feel guilty for every second he had spent doubting it.
She smiled at him. "Duh… I never said I wasn't."
"But you never said a word about the baby and-"
"What did you expect? Let's have some pie and, oh, by the way, you knocked me up two weeks ago?
"Yeah," he replied, unable to keep the smile off his face.
"Well, you did. Happy now?"
He smiled openly; then he looked at her with a serious expression. "You always tell me everything. What changed?"
She shrugged. "It was my fault; I didn't want you to think I did it on purpose-"
"Mar, I trust you. I know you didn't want to get pregnant, I know you weren't careless either. You thought we were covered, but something went wrong… or right, if you ask me."
"Well, now you know."
He had tears in his eyes; he grabbed her hand and squeezed it with affection.
She felt like crying again. Ugh… Hormones! She closed her eyes. "I'm becoming a stick of butter," she said without thinking.
"What? He asked amused.
"Ready to melt at any sign of warmth."
He chuckled. "I like that," he said and he hugged her tightly.
She felt the hug was far more intense than the ones he had given her since she had arrived to the hotel.
"I have a stethoscope," he said happily as he let her go.
"No, you don't," she said with heavy skepticism.
"I do. In the first aid kit," he assured her.
"First aid? That would be second or third, if you think about it," she said looking at him with a stunned expression.
"It pays to be prepared," he replied with a smile.
She shook her head and stood up. She walked to where he had left her bags and searched for something in a pocket. In a few seconds she found it.
She took out the small baby booties and showed them to him. "I can't believe you threw away a perfectly good pair of shoes," she joked. "If this is a girl," she said touching her belly, "she'll never forgive you."
He was surprised that she had them. He approached her and looked at the baby shoes. He touched them cautiously, as if the baby were already wearing them. Then, he looked at her. "Seriously, Mar, how do you feel about the pregnancy?"
She smirked. "Freaking scared?"
"You do want to keep the baby or you're doing it for me?" he wanted to make sure.
"Both."
Her answer made him feel joyful. "You know you won't do this alone, don't you?"
She nodded. "Still, it's kind of huge."
"Huge good," he said.
She slowly nodded again.
"You still don't want to marry me?" he tried.
"If that's a proposal, it really sucks, Mann," she said with a sarcastic smile.
"No; it's not. You said you didn't want to marry me and I believed you. I was just checking if you changed your mind."
"Because I'm pregnant? I'd never marry anyone just because I'm pregnant. I can deal with this on my own."
"I know that, but you don't have to. I want you to let me be a part of this."
"Fine. That's fine with me. You're officially in charge of the father's role. Good enough?"
"Very good," he said with an approving gesture, "but you know what I really want. However," he paused, "I'm not asking. You said you'd give me anything I wanted, but I've already been granted one of the two most important wishes I had, so, if you ever feel like marrying me, you'll have to propose yourself."
"That would just prove one more time that I'm the one wearing the pants in this relationship," she teased.
"As long as we are in a relationship, I don't mind if I have to go naked."
"There, you see? That's a good idea. Why don't we try that? You interrupted me in the middle of something important before."
"The baby was more important."
"Yeah, but that doesn't take away the value of sex. I like sex. It's important, too," she looked at his expression, "of course, not as important as the baby, but-"
He embraced her. "Now you shut up."
A.N. There is enough left for one more section, unless anyone is interested in what happens next. One of my Literature professors at the University used to say that nobody cares what happens to Cinderella and the prince after they ride off into the sunset, but my students these days are curious about the aftermath. Let me know either way. Finally, thank you, so much, for all the kindness in the reviews. This has been a great experience.
