Marshall headed home trying to think of what he would do with all his free time the next day. This was the first day he had taken off in 6 years except one time when he he got sick from accidentally inhaling the exhaust from the luge prototype he created for Sydney. And then there was the time he knocked himself unconscious for 24 hours while experimenting with a tranquilizer in powder form that he stirred into his coffee when he mistook it for sweet and low. Man, that hangover really bit the big one. Ever since then he always put in his special artificial caffeine in his coffee for the Marshall Special Blend. So, what to do with this free day? Too bad he hadn't gotten the time off two weeks ago when the Star Trek convention was in LA. Then he would've known how to spend the day. But now he wasn't sure.

He thought about projects he could finish in his house. Marshall had hundreds of devices he had invented to make housework easier and some just lay unfinished waiting for the final tweak to get them up and running. He thought about his laundry system. After much thought and planning, Marshall had built a basketball net in the corner of his room for laundry. When he got undressed every night he took his dirty clothing and tossed it into the basketball hoop. Each piece of clothing was then scanned to determine if it belonged with whites or colors in the laundry. It was sent down the appropriate chute into the basket until the built in sensor detected that the basket was full. Then the laundry was sent automatically into the washer with the appropriate amount of detergent, fabric softener and color safe bleach. Now the dryer was really amazing. Marshall had solved the age old problem of lost socks by putting a liquid tracer (that actually worked!) into the elastic of every sock which kept track of where it was and matched it to its pair automatically after the clothes were dry. But maybe he could spend part of the day tomorrow building the pulley system that would carry the dry clothes back to his room. And the folding machine that would get the wrinkles out and fold and hang the clothing in his closet. He had the plans all drawn out on his desk at home but he just hadn't had the time to actually built it yet. Well, hello free time. Bye bye folding laundry!

He pulled his car into the driveway and pressed his index finger on the fingerprint scanner that he installed beside his front door. After losing his keys for the millionth time last year he made the scanner and got rid of the traditional lock and key. When the scanner beeped in recognition of his prints, he opened the door and was greeted by a seductive voice that was just the tiniest bit electronic sounding.

"Hello Marshall. Welcome home. Can I get you a drink?" He had built this computer back when he was in school earning his doctorate. He had programmed it to have a sexy woman's voice and to be activated by his fingerprint scanner when he entered his house.

"Hi Mona. Hot chocolate with lots of whipped cream, please." He had named the computer after his favorite DaVinci painting in deference to his role model, the first true Renaissance man. He liked to think of himself as a jack of all trades, too. He was suave and cool, right? He could work hard and play hard and the ladies loved him. Well, at least Mona did.

He walked to the automatic drink dispenser and watched as the last swirls of whipped cream were added to the top of his steaming drink. Mmmmm. Tasted great. No one makes hot chocolate like my Mona, he thought happily. He was starting to feel less upset about being forced into a day off as he sipped the creamy drink.

"Marshall, don't forget to call your mother," Mona the computer reminded him. He had dozens of messages programmed in to help him remember to do things and he always wondered how other people could manage their lives without a Mona to help them along. He wished he could bring her to work, but the hardware was about as large as a refrigerator and he couldn't fit it into his small office space. Besides, he didn't think the world was ready for Mona yet. Some people might even think it was weird that he had such a close relationship with a machine that he built. They just didn't understand.

"Dial mom," Marshall called out. The phone started dialing and soon he heard his mother's sweet voice.

"Hello?"

"Hi mom, it's me."

"Hello darling! How's everything at the bank? Your dad says the market went up so you must be so busy there. You know we are so proud of you Marshy."

Marshall felt bad that he couldn't tell his parents that he really worked for a covert branch of the CIA. He knew they would be even prouder than they were now, but he would never ever tell them the truth. Especially not after he saw what Sloane did to Sydney's fiancé last year. And then there were those rumors about Sloane's wife. Better to let his family think he was a computer tech at Credit Dauphine.

"Everything's fine, mom. Is dad there? I wanted to ask his advice about a pulley I was gonna build."

"Your dad's out in the shed tinkering around with the lawn mower. He wants to make it run on solar power instead of gas. You know how the Flinkman men love to fiddle around with their gadgets."

"You're right, mom," Marshall agreed.

"I'll tell him to call you later, okay Marshy?"

****

Marshall worked late into the night on his laundry transporter and his dad helped him fine tune the design for the pulley. He fell asleep at half past 2 in the morning thinking that he didn't have to get up early the next morning for work.

Unfortunately he forgot to reset Mona to cancel the alarm. At 6:45 AM sharp Mona began speaking to him in one of her 365 randomly chosen wake up messages that he had programmed in.

"Good morning, Marshall. You look great today. Those pajamas are very sexy. Have you been working out?"

Marshall looked down at his body clad in adult footsie pajamas and replied, "Why thank you Mona, I did start taking the stairs at work instead of the elevator. I'm glad you noticed," he joked.

The bed began to tilt vertically to help him slide out more easily. He unzipped his footsies and rubbed his eyes as he walked to the bathroom to relieve himself. He flushed and got undressed. Then he stepped into the showermatic he had built. It spanned the length of the long bathroom he had specially designed for this device. He boarded the treadmill floor of the shower and was transported through a series of shower heads that blasted him with perfectly warmed water in six positions measured specifically for his body. First it wet him, then shampooed and massaged his scalp, then the rinse and obligatory repeat, and finally the soap and scrub. He stepped out of the showermatic and was blown dry by the blow heater aimed at his body. Thirty short seconds later he was completely dry and wrapped in a big white fluffy hooded bathrobe with long pink bunny ears on top. When he entered his closet, Mona told him the weather report. "It's chilly out there today with a high of 52 and a low of 37. Wind chill factor will make it feel closer to 32 and there is a 40% chance of rain. Choose a heavy sweater, long johns and warm pants."

Marshall knew what was coming next. The driving report which would calculate exactly what time he needed to leave the house to arrive at the office at 8AM sharp. He loved being there exactly on time, not a moment too soon and certainly not late. Mona took into account the weather, traffic report and traffic lights to determine the amount of time it took to drive from home to his parking spot and then added 2 extra minutes so he could get from the car to his office. He had actually switched it to 3 extra minutes since he started taking the stairs. "23 minutes until departure from home to get there on time. Have a nice day," Mona said.

"Actually I'm going to spend the day here with you Mo." Marshall took his time shaving and getting dressed. He remembered his horrible experience with the shavematic he invented a few months earlier. That had been a painful mistake. Ouch.

Marshall headed downstairs to the kitchen and opened up his pantry door. About 50 different sugar cereals were lined up in the closet. He chose Fruity Pebbles and took a he disposable bowl and plastic spoon from the dispenser. He poured in some milk and sat down at the table with 6 different national and international daily newspapers. 'This is the life,' Marshall thought as he scooped a spoonful into his mouth and read the comics, ignoring the actual news.

Four bowls of cereal later, Marshall grabbed his sunglasses and keys and headed for the door. "Bye, Mona. I'm going out to have some fun."

He drove straight to his favorite store, The Sharper Image. As he got closer to the doors he noticed that it looked empty inside. And dark. He checked his watch. 8:22. Damn, the sign on the door said it didn't open until 10. What to do for an hour and a half? He could go back home and read some comic books. He was so proud of his collection that he had started in grade school. He was up to about 21,000 comic books now and counting. Or he could work on his new pop up book that he was making from the hundreds of pizza boxes he had stored in his recycling bin. Or he could -

"Hi. Is the store open yet?" The most adorable woman Marshall had ever seen was talking to him. She had shoulder length light blonde hair and black glasses. She looked at him waiting for an answer.

"Uh, no. No, it's not open for another hour and a half," he said pointing to the sign on the door.

The woman slapped her hand on her forehead and said, "I can't believe it! It's my first day off in 2 years and I've blown it already."

"Hey, me too. I mean, it's my day off, too. And I did the same thing. Came here too early because my al-"

"Alarm went off at the regular time?" she finished for him.

"Yeah," he smiled widely. "You, too?"

She nodded sheepishly at him and held out her hand. "I'm Mimi. Workaholic and hopelessly geeky tech lover."

Marshall took her hand and shook it as he introduced himself. "I'm Marshall. Geek lover.. I mean...tech lover and uh, dying for some coffee. Care to uh, join me, Mimi?"

She smiled and followed his lead toward the Starbuck's.

'Well, this might be a great day off after all,' Marshall thought to himself. 'If she's really lucky maybe I'll share my special coffee blend with her.'

*************

A/N Marshall deserves some lovin' too, right? Please review, I love feedback. Thanks.