Author's Note: Special thanks to JMS529 and JJ2008 for the reviews and to Hannanball13 and BravoExpressions for the catch-up reviews!
QUOTE PROMPT #106 – MARY/MARSHALL
"We are not laughing about this. This is not gonna be some funny story that we're gonna be telling in a couple of months."
"Shut up."
Marshall looked at her with a goofy grin on his face. "Come on, Mare. It's funny."
Mary pointed a finger at him. "It's not funny. Now, shut up about it."
"I can't wait to put this in the baby book," Marshall told her.
"It does not go in the baby book." She glared at him. "If you value your life at all, you will not put it in the baby book. You will not mention it to anyone. You will put it out of your mind completely."
Marshall stroked his chin in thought. "I don't know. I think it might be worth the risk to see the expressions of joy on everyone's faces when I tell them this story. I'm pretty sure you won't actually go through with killing me."
Mary sighed. "You're right. That would just leave me with the little monster on my own." She paused before standing real close to him, her lips millimeters from his. "How about this? If you ever hope to me naked again, you're going to forget all about this little... incident."
Marshall gulped. "Forgot what?"
"Good boy."
QUOTE PROMPT #107 – MARY/MARSHALL
"My father used to say that the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. I laid the first stone right there. I'd committed myself. I'd pay any price; go to any lengths because my cause was righteous. My… intentions were good. In the beginning, that seemed like enough."
The thunder clapped and lightening lit up the sky when Mary opened the front door to her apartment late at night. It wasn't so late that she was asleep, but then again, she hadn't taken to sleeping much these last few nights, even after her nephew learned to sleep through the night. Still, Mary was affronted that anyone had the gall to show up at that time of night, especially since she barely knew anyone in Albany.
"You are a surprisingly hard person to track down, Mary Shannon," Marshall growled, causing her to jump.
"What are you doing here?" she demanded, going on the offensive when his appearance knocked her off-balance.
Running his hands through his hair to shake out the raindrops, he replied, "Looking for you. How could you just leave? Leave your job? Leave Albuquerque? Leave me?"
Mary's eyes widened. "I left you my resignation. I did what I had to so I could keep my promise. I did it for you."
"For me?" Marshall stepped towards her, causing her to step back. "Do you have any idea the hell that my life has been the last six months and thirteen days?" Mary paused at his exact number. "I barely eat, barely sleep. They finally put me on administrative leave last week and I have spent every second since then looking for you!"
"Who asked you to?" Mary shot back. "I sure didn't. You told me to let you go. I let you go! Did you honestly think that I could stand around and watch you build your perfect little life with her?" Without realizing how, Mary found he had backed her against the wall. His spicy sent threatened to overwhelm her as she realized how much she had missed it, missed him, but her anger dug her heels in. "I made my choice and you made yours. What do you want from me?"
"I want you," he told her before forcibly capturing her lips. She fought him for all of two seconds before his tongue invaded her mouth. The flood gates opened and Mary poured all of her fury and misery in the kiss. Within minutes, they were ripping each other's clothes off as they were bouncing off the walls towards her bedroom.
Later, when they were both sated and the wrath had gone from their lovemaking, Marshall gathered her close to his chest, afraid that if he left her go she would disappear. "I'm sorry. I never should have made you promise that. I was weak to do it. I somehow managed to convince myself that it was best for everyone."
Mary snuggled into him. "I'm sorry, too. If I had just been honest with you, we could have avoided all of this."
"Honest about what?" His voice was strained.
"I love you, Marshall." She raised her head to look him in the eye. "I am so in love with you."
Marshall released a shaky breath. "I am so in love with you, too."
QUOTE PROMPT #108 – MARY/MARK/ETC
"The one thing I could always tell myself, no matter how shitty my life was, I did my job properly."
"Seriously, Mark?" Mary hissed into the phone. "You should have been here an hour ago and you're just calling now to tell us that you're not going to make it? What am I suppose to tell our kid?"
"Tell her that Daddy had to work," he replied. "She'll understand."
Mary let out a haughty laugh. "The only thing that she'll understand is that her father is once again breaking a promise to her. Do you really want her growing up thinking that she can't depend on you?"
Mark sighed, his attention already drawn away from the phone. "What do you want me to do? If I can hook this fish, I'll be able to take a few weeks off in a couple of months. I'll be able to spend it all with her. Maybe we'll go on a vacation or something."
"Sure," she agreed, too use to his empty words to argue. "Good luck with your fish."
"Daddy's not coming?" Five-year-old Norah asked, standing in the doorway of the kitchen.
Mary grimaced, wondering how long she had been there. Mary shook her head, but smiled. "No, he has to work. He got called away last minute."
Marshall walked in, carrying towels and four-year-old Alyssa. "Everything okay?"
"My dad isn't coming," Norah replied, forlornly.
"I'm sorry, Princess," Marshall touched her shoulder, "but you know what that means, right?" Norah shook her head. "It means that you get to take a bubble bath with us in the baby pool."
Norah broke into a wide grin. Her step-father was always coming up with odd activities for them to do that were loads of fun. "Really?"
Marshall nodded. "Go get your swimsuit on and meet us in the backyard."
"I help, Norah!" Alyssa shouted, wiggling until Marshall put her down.
Mary kissed him lightly when the two little girls ran down the hall. "Thank you. I don't know how you manage to do it, but I'm willing to bet that in an hour, she forgets that she should have gone with her dad today at today."
Marshall kissed her forehead. "My pleasure." He took a step back and slapped her butt, playfully. "Now, go get your suit on, too! That'll be for my pleasure, too."