A/N: Thank you again SO much for everyone who has pestered me in the past 6 months to update this story. And thank you to everyone who has found and favorited this story during that time. The end is in sight - and if it's been awhile since you've read this fic, please read at least the previous chapter so you know what's going on! ;) Enjoy!
The buzzing phone woke Kirk from his light doze and he answered before it had a chance to go to voicemail.
"It's me."
Kirk slipped out of bed, careful not to wake Julie, and stepped into the bathroom, closing the door behind him. "What did you find out?"
"I picked the suspect up at the hotel bar and followed her onto the #9 city bus. She got off at 2nd and Pine, walked for approximately half a mile until she reached her house and went inside. About twenty minutes later, she came back out, wearing jeans and a sweatshirt, and leading a small poodle on a leash. She took the dog on a fifteen-minute walk before returning to her house. The lights have been off for over an hour now, so I think I can safely say that the suspect has gone to bed for the night."
Kirk leaned his head against the bathroom wall. "She never made you?"
"No. I followed the bus in my car, and once she got off the bus I made sure she never saw me since you already knew where she lived. I didn't follow her when she walked her dog – I didn't think that was necessary-"
"It wasn't. I just needed confirmation of where the woman lives."
"Well, you've got it. Do you need me to stay on the job?"
"No, your job is done. Bill me for tonight's work – you did an excellent job, as always."
"No problem, boss. Call me if you need anything else."
Kirk disconnected the call and scrubbed a hand down his face as he yanked open the bathroom door, only to come face to face with a bewildered, sleepy Julie.
"Why are you shut in the bathroom in the middle of the night?"
Kirk immediately went on the defensive. "I'm not feeling well. Why are you up?"
Julie's hand rubbed her belly. "The baby's on my bladder – I have to pee, again."
"Oh, sorry."
Her eyes narrowed at his apology and she watched suspiciously as he darted out of the bathroom, noticing the phone in his hand. "Did someone call?"
"You know I can't talk about work, Jules-"
She held up her hands. "Forget I said anything-"
"No problem." He slammed the door, leaving her alone, wondering what the hell was going on.
When Brandi woke up, the first thing she noticed was how still and quiet the house was – too still, too quiet. She had woken a few hours before to feed PM and had heard the low murmurs of Mary talking on her phone, and she had heard her sister say Marshall's name. The very fact that her sister was now in a place where she could call Marshall when she had a bad night, without any outside prompting, was huge. It made Brandi smile and have hope that perhaps, everything would turn out all right in the end.
But now, the house was eerily silent. The only sound Brandi heard was PM's breathing, and that was because he was in a pillow cocoon right beside her on the bed. Before the panic could set in, her cell phone began to chirp on the nightstand, and she scooped it up eagerly.
"Hello? Mary?"
"Squish? How'd you know it was me?"
"I was hoping – I just woke up and the house was so still and-" Brandi hiccupped.
"Take a deep breath, Squish. You're going to give yourself a panic attack. Come on now, in, out, in, out. Just like I showed you when we were kids, remember?"
Brandi closed her eyes and focused on her breathing, focused on taking deep, slow breaths and the hiccups slowed, then stopped.
"Better?"
Brandi nodded. "Yes, how do you always know how to do that?"
"It's a sister thing, I guess."
"Mary, where are you?"
"I needed a day to myself. I'm driving up into the hills to Marshall's thinking spot."
"You don't do self-reflection."
Mary laughed. "I do today."
Brandi frowned. "Are you all right? You're not running, are you?"
"No, I'm not. For the first time in my life, I know what I want. I just don't know if it's possible-"
Brandi waited for Mary to finish but when she didn't, Brandi added softly. "Because of the trial, or your own baggage?"
"Stop it, Squish! I have to figure this out on my own."
"Ok, ok, sheesh, I'm sorry."
"I just wanted to let you know I'm ok, that I'll be back late, and that cell service is sketchy up here, so I'll be unreachable by phone."
"Thanks for calling."
"Don't worry about me. I'll be fine! You on the other hand- if you have another panic attack, I want you to call Marshall or Peter, okay?"
"I can take care of myself."
"Right. Listen to your big sister, Squish. I know how stressful it is to take care of a baby all by yourself – Peter loves you. He didn't mean to upset you yesterday. He knows Marshall is innocent. Call him."
"I'll think about it."
"Don't take too long. I love you, Squish."
"I love you too."
Norah let Marshall sleep until five-thirty.
He had fallen asleep in an awkward position on his couch after his middle of the night talk with Mary, and it felt like only a few minutes had passed before Norah's ear splitting shrieks pierced the air and he shot to his feet.
"Hang on, lady bug, I'm coming."
He shuffled over to the freezer to get the wash rag before going to his room to collect Norah. The sight that met his eyes broke his heart. She was standing up, holding onto the side of the pac-n-play, tears streaming down her face. As soon as she saw him, she reached out for him.
"Dada! Dada!" she screamed.
"Oh, buttercup," he crooned as he scooped her up, placing the cold wash rag in her mouth, bouncing her gently. "Your daddy had to go back to work. He's not here. But I'm here – Sha Sha is here."
Norah's screams were reduced to whimpers by the cold rag and soon she was happily chomping on it, drool running down her chin and onto Marshall's fingers.
"Let's see it the teething gel will help today, ok?"
The combination of sleep, a cold rag, and teething gel seemed to work, as an hour later Norah was back to her easy going self. He fed her an applesauce and cracker snack, and armed with a sippy cup, strapped her into the heavy duty jogging stroller he kept at his place. Mary had laughed when he bought it during her pregnancy but he insisted that it was a necessary purchase. As her uncle, he had argued that he would be watching her overnight from time to time and she would love to go with him in the mornings when he jogged. Now, Marshall grinned and began to whistle, "I'm right, you're wrong" as he wheeled Norah out the front door and then jogged down the sidewalk.
Brandi called while he was running. She was still a bit upset and sleep deprived, but he could interpret Brandi-speak and gather that Mary had gone up to his thinking spot for the day and would he please keep Norah until tomorrow morning? He said he had no problem keeping Norah and Brandi nearly started crying in gratitude.
When he and Norah got back to the house, Stan was already there, and breakfast was in the works.
"Paw Paw!" Norah screamed, and Stan came to lift Norah from the stroller.
"What are you doing here so early, Stan?"
"What do you think? I came to see my favorite little lady!" Stan cuddled and kissed Norah.
Marshall grinned and shook his head. "No fiery eggs for her, Paw Paw Stan."
Stan shot him a dark look. "I do know how to make pancakes, Son."
Marshall laughed as he went to put the stroller away and take a quick shower before breakfast.
Mary Shannon didn't do self-reflection.
Mary Shannon was action, bullets flying, no holds barred, shoot first and ask questions later.
Mary Shannon didn't get herself into situations that she couldn't shoot her way out of, didn't lay down and die, and never, ever let her guard down enough to let someone take advantage of her.
Until that night in June when someone she had been dating managed to slip through a chink in the wall of her defenses and nearly make her a statistic.
Mary Shannon would never be a statistic.
Mary sat on a big rock, deep in the Sandia Crest park, looking down on the valley. She took a deep breath of mountain air and closed her eyes, lifting her face to the sun. She may not be one for self-reflection, but she loved to lie in the sun – that was something she could do all day.
This spot was incredibly peaceful. It was Marshall's special spot – it was where he went to decompress over the years of their partnership and after his mother's death. He had shared this spot with her after one especially tough case where both of their witnesses had died, but she hadn't been ready to appreciate it. She couldn't handle the stillness, hadn't been able to sit still and just be by his side like he needed her to be. They had spent hours hiking into this spot and once they got here, she couldn't relax and enjoy it.
This time it would be different.
Mary had come prepared. She had water and snacks, as well as a small notebook and pen. She had slaked her thirst and eaten a few cashews, and now was looking out over the valley, wondering what she should do next.
You can't move forward until you admit what Kenny did to you.
Mary's eyes flew shut as her therapist's words echoed in her head. Running was something else that she was very good at – if she didn't want to deal with the problem– fewer complications, less mess. She could stay in control.
Control.
Mary shivered, even though the sunshine was keeping her warm. That was the root of the problem, wasn't it? She needed to be in control all the time. She needed to say when, where, and who. Her greatest fear was not being in control of herself or her actions and that's what Kenny had taken from her that night – he had taken control, dominated her to the point where she had been powerless. There had only been one other time in her life where she had felt that powerless – the day she had been kidnapped by Chuck and his minions. But still, she had had some control, she had made the choice to use her body as a weapon to get free. With Kenny, he had drugged her, stripped her of her senses, leaving her completely open and vulnerable to being-
A victim.
With shaking fingers, Mary opened her notebook and wrote the words: Kenny violated me. She stared down at the words she had written, words that she hadn't even been able to say out loud. Seeing them there, in black and white, made her shake even harder. Ripping the page out of the notebook, she gripped the sheet in her hand. "Yes, you violated me," she whispered. "But you will not continue to torment me. You don't get that power over me. No matter how long it takes, I have someone in my life who will wait for me – who has been waiting for me – and for the first time, I want to look toward the future and not the past. So yes, you violated me, but I will not live my life as a statistic."
Tears were streaming down Mary's face as ripped the paper into tiny pieces and threw them over the side of the trail. She smiled as she heard Marshall's whisper in her mind:
That's my girl.
"Marshall! Over here!"
Marshall weaved his way through the lunch rush crowd at Mama Sofia's to the two-seater on the patio where Sugar was waiting. She jumped up and gave him a hug before reclaiming her seat and waiting for Marshall to fold himself into the small chair.
"Thanks for meeting me – I know you must have a million things to do today."
Marshall shook his head as he sipped his lemon water. "Not really, just trying to lay low and avoid the press." He glanced over his shoulder and saw that two or three reporters were clustered at the front door but Lorenzo, the owner was shaking his head and making shooing motions with his hands. "I'm glad you choose Sofia's – small place, busy time."
Sugar curled her lip and sipped her cappuccino. "Vultures – I saw the papers this morning. Do they really have nothing better to do than follow you and Mary around?"
"Well, I am a law enforcement officer on trial for murder one – so unless a bigger story breaks, I guess I'm getting the top bill in the local press." A shadow fell over their table and Marshall looked up to see Lorenzo standing over their table. "Lori, you're not going to ask me to leave, are you?"
"What? Kick my oldest friend and best customer out on the street? Bah! I am not afraid of the press!" He pulled Marshall to his feet and kissed him on both cheeks, in the European way. "You want your usual, yes?"
"Unless it is too early for gnocchi-"
"For you, no. And for the lady?" Lorenzo turned his attention to Sugar.
"I'll just have a chicken chopped salad – I'm not very hungry."
"Hmf," Lorenzo sniffed and raised a disapproving eyebrow as he turned back to Marshall. "Next time, you bring Mary. Now there's a woman with a healthy appetite!"
Marshall chuckled as Lorenzo swept away amid curious stares from other tables, only to return less than five minutes later to place a small cup of espresso at Marshall's elbow and a basket of breadsticks on the table.
"I would join you but as you see – full house today."
"It's fine. This is actually a business lunch, Lori."
"Ah, that explains much." And Lorenzo was gone again, off to wait on other tables.
"Explains what?" Sugar frowned.
Marshall sipped his espresso, smiling at the smooth, rich, dark flavor. "Lori is an excellent observer of people. He noticed that you are nervous, and of course, that I am here without Mary. My comment that this is a business lunch satisfies his curiosity."
"Am I that transparent?"
"You have a good poker face, Sugar, but you haven't stopped fidgeting with the salt shaker since I sat down."
Sugar's right hand immediately dropped the shaker and fell to her lap, her face flushed. "It's probably nothing – well, I think it's nothing. I mean, it could be nothing. I don't want you to get your hopes up but I felt that you had a right to know, you know? Since you are on trial for your life and – and everything. So I thought I should tell you in case it could be something."
Marshall waited a full minute before speaking. He found that waiting often allowed witnesses to gather their thoughts as well as calm themselves down. Sugar was obviously flustered and wanted to help him – Mary had even teased him once or twice that the girl had a bit of a crush on him. As he studied her now, he didn't see any of that in her demeanor. But he did see hero worship – and that was the last thing he needed. He didn't want to be up on anyone's pedestal. If the last six months had taught him anything, it was that he was only human and had made as many if not more mistakes than anyone else.
"Why don't you tell me what happened?"
Before Sugar could reply, a waitress came and set their entrees down in front of them. After the girl left, Sugar encouraged Marshall to eat as she told him about the woman she had seen in the hotel bar last night.
"And you're sure that she had been seeing Kenny?" Marshall pressed her.
"Positive. I've seen her leaving his house in various states of dress – or rather, undress."
Marshall nodded in understanding. "And you don't know who she is?"
Sugar fiddled with her fork. "I didn't back then – last night I heard the other woman call her Julie. And then she had an intense conversation with a man who must have been her husband."
"What makes you say that?"
"The way they interacted with each other – and the fact that they were wearing matching wedding bands."
"You said intense conversation – what does that mean?"
"At one point, he grabbed her by the arms and shook her. Marshall," Sugar sighed. "If I hadn't been in the room, I think he might have hit her."
Marshall didn't ask Sugar how she knew – Sugar had experience with abusive relationships, something from her past life that he was determined would stay in the past.
"While this is interesting, I don't see how it could help me-"
"Marshall, you didn't let me finish. This woman, this Julie, she's pregnant. And she's the police commissioner's wife."
His fork clattered to the plate. "Kenny was having an affair with the police commissioner's wife? How did they even know each other?"
"Remember – oh wait, you don't remember. Okay, the night Kenny died and you came over to see him, you and I talked. I told you he had friends in high places. Kenny went to high school with the police commissioner and Stephen, that guy that's running for city council."
Marshall's mind was echoing the phrase friends in high places over and over – and suddenly he saw quick film cuts in his head:
Mary, leaning against his doorway, face bruised and clothing torn.
Mary, curled into a ball on his bed, begging him to hold her.
Kenny, leering at him and saying that Mary had wanted it.
Kenny, holding his nose and howling that it was broken.
Sugar, talking about Kenny having friends in high places.
Sugar, promising to finish her walk and go straight home.
"MARSHALL!"
He jumped and met the worried eyes of Sugar across the table. "What?"
"Where did you go? I've been trying to get your attention for five minutes now."
"I think it's time to call my lawyer."
"Why?"
Marshall held up his hand to signal for the check. "Because we both have information we need to share with her."
A/N: Hmm, is Marshall's memory back? Are the pieces finally coming together? Reviews are L-O-V-E!
