A/N: Sorry for the delay, readers. RL has been a **. On with our story!
Albuquerque Police Station
"Thank you for coming with me, Delia."
"No, thank you for calling me, Sugar. You should never have been questioned the first time without one of us present and now that Marshall's awake-"
"He's awake?" The platinum blonde interrupted the African American Marshal sitting beside her. "But this is wonderful news! Now he can clear everything up and tell the police himself what happened that night."
Delia sighed. "I'm afraid it's not that simple. You see, there's been a development-"
"Miss Hogan?"
Both women looked up as Detective Chaffee called Sugar's name from the entrance to one of the interrogation rooms. "If you wouldn't mind stepping this way, please."
Sugar got to her feet and took a step forward, smoothing down her dress uniform self-consciously as she did so. She was aware of Delia gathering up their light jackets and preparing to follow when the Detective spoke again. "If you would wait here, Delia, I'm sure we won't be very long."
"I'm afraid I can't do that, Detective."
Sugar noticed that even though the cop had used Delia's first name, Delia had not and she couldn't help but be secretly impressed. When she saw that it was Delia and not Mary who had walked into the police station in response to her call, she had to admit to a moment of disappointment. Delia was the nice one, the one who made cookies and muffins and treated everyone like a long lost relative – not that that was a bad thing. Sugar had never had a family growing up and it was nice to finally have people around who cared about her. Marshall's witnesses had been reassigned after his promotion and Mary was her inspector now and she was, well, quite different from Marshall. But how she needed that kick ass Mary today to handle this situation with the police. She wondered if Delia had enough cojones to stand up to Detective Chaffee.
"Inspector-"
"You questioned Sugar the first time without her Inspector or an attorney present-"
"She was read her rights-"
Delia continued as if Abigail hadn't spoken. "And I am here to insure that doesn't happen again. Now, you can allow me to sit in to protect my witness and her identity, or I can call the attorney we have on call and we will wait for her to arrive to begin."
Abigail stared at Delia in surprise as she had never seen this iron side of the sunny, pleasant woman before. "I wasn't aware that your office had an attorney on call."
Delia smiled. "It's one of the first changes Marshall made when he became chief. So, what's it going to be, Detective?"
Abigail gave in with grace. "After you, ladies."
Albuquerque General
Marshall's room
Marshall stared at the woman sitting next to him, shaking slightly on the bed, her eyes wide with grief and pain. He didn't know what to say to make her feel better and he inwardly cursed his loss of memory. He had no doubt that if he was in his 'right' mind, he would know what to do, what to say to help her. He had never felt more helpless in his life. He took a deep breath and opened his mouth.
"Mer-"
She gasped and pulled away from him. "Don't."
"What?" he frowned in confusion. "What's wrong? What did I say?"
She swallowed, desperately trying to reign in her emotions. "Don't call me that – 'Mer' – not until you remember. It hurts too much, all right?"
He nodded his agreement because he didn't want to cause her any more needless pain and tried again. "Mary – you didn't lose me, I'm right here. I know I'm not in my 'right' mind – that I can't remember myself but I don't for a second doubt our connection. I'm drawn to you – I was drawn to you the moment I opened my eyes. I can't explain it-"
"You were still conscious when I found you," Mary whispered, her voice so soft and low that he had to lean forward to catch it.
"You mean, after the accident?"
She nodded. "I got the passenger door open and crawled inside and you talked to me for a bit before-" she swallowed and dropped her eyes, unable to keep the intensity of his gaze.
"What did I say?"
"That you were sorry for leaving me – that you should have stayed with me – that you were sorry you couldn't stay with me now."
Marshall reared back in surprise. "I knew I was dying."
She nodded, as she lost the war and the tears dripped onto her lap. "Anyway, that might explain why you still feel connected to me since you were talking to me right before-"
"I died?"
She shuddered and clenched her fists. "Please, please, don't say it like that!" She got to her feet and began to pace. "You have no idea how close you came – you lost so much blood from that cut in your neck and-" she choked back the words.
He frowned as an image flashed through his mind: Mary lying on a gurney, pale and still, bleeding from her stomach, and him running down the hall trying desperately to catch up to her side. "I – you never had a close call? Didn't you almost die once?"
She whirled back to the bed and grabbed his hand. "You remember that?"
He swallowed hard. "I think so – you got shot? In the stomach?"
"Yes!" The word was lost in a laugh of relief. "Maybe I didn't lose you after all, Doofus."
"All right, Miss Hogan. I have here the statement you gave and signed on June 5th of this year. I just want to go over a few points with you again-"
"If you don't mind, Detective, I would like to take a look at that, please."
"Of course, Inspector."
Sugar bit the inside of her lip to keep from smiling. Everyone knew that Detective Chaffee and Marshall had been engaged up until three months ago and to see the forced politeness between the two women as if they were merely acquaintances was quite amusing.
"Now, Miss Hogan, if you could please state again for the record why you were out walking your dog in the early morning hours of June 2nd?"
Sugar darted a glance at Delia and waited for her nod before she answered. "I attend culinary school during the day and bartend at the Luxor in their main dining room until it closes at midnight. The only time I have to walk Sprinkles is in the early morning hours when I get home from work."
Abigail nodded. "And what happened on June 2nd?"
Sugar sighed. "Do we have to go over all this again? It's all there in my original statement. Besides, it's been over two months – my memory is bound to be a little rusty."
"Or you might remember something now that you didn't remember then, so yes, Miss Hogan, we have to go over it all again. So please, what happened on June 2nd when you were walking Sprinkles?"
Sugar glanced again at Delia who frowned and spoke up, "What are you fishing for, Abigail? Are you hoping to catch my witness in a lie to protect Marshall perhaps? We both know he's innocent – and Sugar can't say anything that will incriminate herself-"
"I'm not trying to catch Miss Hogan in a lie, Delia. I'm trying to get at the truth and catch a killer – whoever that may be." She turned back to Sugar. "What happened that night?"
Sugar blinked her dark eyes. "What night?"
Abigail sighed. "The night you found Kenny dead, June 2nd."
The dark eyes flashed. "He didn't do it."
"Just tell me what happened, Miss Hogan – exactly as you remember it."
Sugar sighed and closed her eyes, letting the memory of that night come back to her.
Two months ago – June 2nd, 1:05am
Street outside Kenny's house
"Are you done, Sprinkles? Are you done going number two?"
Sprinkles gave a short, sharp bark and Sugar opened the plastic bag and picked up her dog's poop and tied the bag shut, looping the handles over her wrist. "Good girl – now that you've done your business, let's do one more loop around the neighborhood and head for bed. I'm tired."
Suddenly Sprinkles yanked hard on the leash, nearly pulling Sugar off her feet. "Sprinkles! What the-"
Sprinkles wriggled free and ran down the street, barking madly with Sugar in hot pursuit, swearing at her dog to stop.
"Relax, Sugar, it's me, Marshall."
She came to an abrupt stop to see that her naughty dog had stopped at Marshall's feet and was gazing up at him adoringly.
"Marshall? What on earth are you doing here – parked outside my house at this time of night?" Sugar clipped the leash back onto Sprinkles' collar as she felt an icy dread go down her back. "I haven't been compromised, have I?"
He reached out and placed a hand on her forearm, squeezing gently. "No, you're fine, Sugar. No one knows where you are, I promise."
She relaxed but then frowned. "Then what are you doing here?"
"I had business in the neighborhood."
Sugar's eyebrows rose. "At one o'clock in the morning? Is something wrong?"
He shook his head. "It's nothing for you to worry about. I took care of it."
She recognized his no nonsense, case closed voice and backed off. "Ok then, I guess I'll take Sprinkles-"
"Hey, Marshall!"
Both of them turned to see Kenny standing in the open door of his house, swaying slightly on his feet, holding a rag of some sort to his face. "We're not finished."
Marshall took Sugar's elbow and steered her down the street. "Why don't you finish that walk now, hmm?"
"Marshall? Is that who your business was with – Kenny? He's an ass."
His jaw clenched. "I know."
"Hey, who's the pretty lady? Bring her too!"
His hand tightened on her elbow as he turned and spoke over her shoulder. "You stay away from her, Kenny! Understand?" He turned back to Sugar. "Don't accept any invitations to dinner from him, Sugar – and if he starts to bother you, I want you to let me know immediately."
"Marshall, what's going on?"
"Sugar, promise me."
"All right, Marshall. I promise."
"Good girl. Now, go finish your walk and straight to bed, hear? I'll see you later." He turned towards Kenny's house.
She grabbed his arm. "Marshall-"
"What?"
"Be careful – Kenny has powerful friends. I don't want you to get hurt."
"I'll be fine, Sugar. It's my job to protect you, not the other way around."
"Hey, it's not a crime for a girl to care, is it?"
He grinned. "Nope."
"And that was the last time you saw Marshall?"
"Yes." Sugar cocked her head to the side. "But I did hear him leave."
Abigail looked up from writing, her pen frozen over the page. "Excuse me?"
Sugar nodded. "His truck is a diesel, you know, so it's loud and has a very distinctive sound-"
"It could have been any diesel engine, Miss Hogan."
Sugar crossed her arms. "At one twenty in the morning in our quiet neighborhood? I don't think so."
"How do you know it was one twenty?"
"I had my phone with me – and I was worried about Marshall, OK? I was listening for his truck and when I heard it start, I looked at my phone to see what time it was."
"Did you call him?"
Sugar's arms dropped. "No, he was driving, why would I want to-" she flushed furiously as she realized the implication of the question. "Look, I don't have some schoolgirl crush on my old Inspector, all right? Marshall was the first person I've ever met who genuinely cared about me as a person – who looked past the big breasts and the Marilyn Monroe hair to see that I have a heart for animals and people. So yeah, I care about what happens to him and if that's a crime, lock me up."
Abigail was silent for a few moments as she stared at Sugar, knowing that many of Marshall's witnesses felt this same loyalty towards him.
"So, what made you check the house?"
Sugar started. "Excuse me?"
"When you came back around to your house, you didn't follow his instructions and go straight inside to bed, you checked on Kenny. Why?"
"It's there in my original statement. The door was open – so I thought I'd better check on him."
"Why? After Marshall had specifically told you to stay away from him did you feel the need to do the opposite?"
"So, I'm honestly remembering something? You were shot and almost died?"
Mary nodded. "It was a couple of years ago, before I had Norah. You've always blamed yourself for not being there to protect me, although I don't know what you could have done short of taking the bullet for me – and that's just crazy talk."
"It's my job to protect you."
Mary's throat went dry as the familiar words hit her like an electric shock. "Not anymore, it isn't. You're my boss, not my partner. And I can take care of myself."
"Why do I get the feeling we've had this conversation before?"
"I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about."
"Am I interrupting?"
Mary shot off the bed so fast that she nearly cannonballed into Scott's chest. "Scott! How the hell did you get here so fast?"
Scott Mann smiled. "I hitched a ride on our organ donor chopper – not exactly what they are intended for but, what the hell? When Dr. Fledgling called and said my big brother was awake and needed me I couldn't let grass grow under my feet."
Mary shook her head. "I'm glad to see you. Marshall, this is your younger brother, Scott."
"Nice to meet you."
Scott's left eyebrow twitched. "How extensive is the memory loss?"
"I've been having a flash here and there – but on the whole, I have no idea who I am."
"Tell me about the flashes – what are they about?"
"Mary."
This time Scott's eyebrow rose fully. "Fascinating."
Mary rolled her eyes. "You people watch way too much Star Trek."
"Guilty."
"I should go – let you guys catch up, or rather let Scott fill you in on things."
Scott turned back to Mary. "When is Dad going to get here?"
"Brandi said his flight gets in around five."
"Good, gives me a couple of hours alone with Marshall."
"Um, hello? I am still in the room. Could you both please stop talking over me?"
Mary crossed to the bed and took his hand. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize I was doing that. I used to hate when my doctors did that after my shooting and you always gave them hell for it."
"I did?"
"Yes, you did. Play nice with your brother and Dad."
"Will you come back later?"
"I need to check in with some of our – I mean work stuff," she glanced at Scott, but he was too busy checking Marshall's chart to notice her slip of the tongue. "And I really need to spend time with Norah. It's not fair to shuttle her off to Brandi constantly when she's eight months pregnant."
He nodded. "I understand."
"But I'll call you later."
"No, really, you don't have to."
She squeezed his hand. "But I want to."
He grinned. "OK then."
A/N: Up next, Scott fills Marshall in on their family and Papa Mann arrives. Want more? Reviews are LOVE!
