Disclaimer: Mary and Marshall belong to David Maples. If they hadn't been misused by others I wouldn't be writing this.
Chapter 2 – Devil in the Details
Chief Inspector Marshall Mann was having a bad day. His first quarterly report as Chief is due and there were still several numbers missing. Finding them meant digging through a ton of documents. Tedious and time consuming, but Stan stressed it was necessary. Stan also said he could file an amended report if new figures come to light but Marshall's determined to submit his first formal filing as the new Chief Inspector of Albuquerque WITSEC complete and on time.
He stretches his neck to relieve the tension and catches sight of Mary bouncing into the office. He's instantly on alert. Since returning from maternity leave she dragged herself into work tired and whiny spreading grief to one and all. Today she's smiling. WTF? She stops at her desk, throws her arms wide and inhales deeply. "I love the smell of toner in the morning."
"That's not toner," Delia protests. "That's coffee. You want a cup?"
"Pass. I actually got 8 hours of sleep two nights in a row. Amazing what a difference that makes. I don't need coffee to stay awake today," she announces to the entire office.
Marshall wonders what she means then realizes that Norah must have slept through the night. Mary never talks to him about the baby. He hasn't even gotten a glimpse of Norah since Stan left. Mary must have gotten her child care situation resolved. Who does she trust to take care of Norah? There was a time when he would have known. Hell he would have helped her find the nanny. Marshall sighs and goes back to searching for the elusive statistics.
Weeks pass and Mary's good mood – well good for Mary – continues. The weather has turned warm. When Mary blows into the office, late as usual, Marshall watches her closely. He intends to rebuke her for being late. Instead he finds himself staring at the way her tank top fits. Somehow, when he wasn't looking she had dropped the baby weight and then some. Her biceps are firm, defined. Her chest, breasts, uh . . . he'd better not go there. When did that happen?
He goes to the break room, gets coffee and stops at Mary's desk. "May I speak with you in my office Inspector Shannon?"
Mary gives him her WTF look but nods, and quickly blanks her expression into one appropriate for her boss. "Sure thing Chief."
"Sit down Mary."
Mary perches on the edge of the chair, clearly uncomfortable.
She frowns at his use of her first name. "What is this about Chief?"
"Your annual PFTB." She gives him her what-language-you-speak look. "The physical fitness test battery," he explains.
In years gone by Mary would have called it the Poor Fools Totally Barf. Marshall expects sarcasm but when he doesn't get it he leans back in his chair. "Are you ready? Might as well get it over with for this year."
Mary has her elbows on her knees, hands together. She catches Marshall's eye. "Yeah, sure, why not. When? Can I do it on a weekend? Or can you schedule a lull in witness emergencies?"
Marshall coughs. "I'll see if a weekend test can be arranged. Is there any date you can't get to the test center?"
Mary tilts her head back, examining the ceiling. "No, nope. I need to get rid of this baby fat anyway. I should be able to take the test any time, if I have a couple of days warning."
"All right. I'll check and let you know."
Mary stands. "Is that it? Are we done?"
Marshall gives her a watery grin. "There's one other thing. Abigail and I are having a get together at our place on Friday. We'd like you to come."
He watches Mary's face go from shock to anger to – is that panic? "Uh, I don't think that's a good idea, Chief. Norah is my priority these days. I try to spend as much time with her as I can." She catches his eye. "You understand, right? Babies are little for such a short time. I don't want to miss any more than I have to."
Her hand is on the doorknob when Marshall says, "Bring her."
"What?" She whirls back to him.
"Bring Norah to the party. Everyone would enjoy seeing her." He really wants to see her but he knows better than to make it personal.
Mary considers for a New York minute. "Sorry Chief. Strangers mean germs. If she gets sick I'll have to be out, and you know even Delia's not up to date on my witnesses." She bites her lips. "Tell Abigail thanks for the invite though." She escapes from his office as if the fires of hell were after her.
It kills him to have her call him Chief, never Marshall. After the damned talk on the balcony when he asked her to release him everything changed. He became Chief. Mary, his best friend who had dumped her family troubles on him year after year never talks about them. She only talks about her witnesses.
Mary takes the PFTB and scores better than ever. Baby fat my ass, Marshall muses. He doesn't need the % of body fat measurement to tell him she's lean and still mean. She ran the 1.5 miles in ten minutes, did 23 pushups and 40 sit-ups well short of the allotted time. Something changed in Mary's world. Something besides Norah.
If Mary's going to be so damn standoffish she's just going to have to take the consequences. Marshall calls a staff meeting on a day when all the Inspectors are there. Only life threatening excuses accepted.
The table in the conference room has two boxes with Danish and pastries. Everyone brought their coffee. Marshall stands at the head of the table. "Help yourself." He gestures to the boxes. When everyone's mouth is full of fried dough the room falls quiet. Except for Mary who's humming a marching cadence. Marshall clears his throat and she stops.
"As you know the quarterly report has been submitted and I want to thank all of you who gathered the data for this important benchmark for this office." Mary is sitting with one elbow on the table, winding her hair around a finger. "In the future, each of you will be responsible for a specific area of the report. While I will be doing the overall composition, I will be relying on you to do your part. This team effort will ensure the accuracy and timeliness of the report."
Marshall gives Mary an odd look when she raises her hand. When did this become grade school? "Chief, who's doing what?"
"Good question, Inspector. Assignments will be handed out next week. The quarterly report deals with how the witnesses are doing, threat analyses, testimony dates and such. The bulk of it is financial – expenditures and the justification for them." Marshall hadn't even considered having Mary do any of it. Maybe witness retention? She always seems to know when a witness screws up.
"Any other questions?" This is the first meeting and everyone is testing the waters trying to figure out what it really means. "I'll be holding regular monthly staff meetings." Mary looks down the table trying to figure out who groaned. "This way we all know what issues and challenges are being handled. I expect everyone to contribute. You never know when another Inspector might have information about a threat to your witness. We need to work together to keep our witnesses and each other safe."
When it was just him, Mary and Stan they all knew what was going on. That's not exactly true. Marshall now knew Stan shielded them from a lot of political infighting. He and Mary often kept Stan in the dark about the measures they took to settle their witnesses.
Heads nod, but no one says a word. Marshall coughs into his hand hiding a smile. "Inspector Shannon. Please stand."
Mary hesitates trying to figure out what sort of hell Marshall has in store for her. It would be just like old times for him to embarrass her in front of her peers. She stands and looks at the other marshals trying to see if any of them is in on the joke.
"Inspector Shannon has completed her annual PFTB with scores of Excellent in all categories. Please give her a round of applause."
Marshall had no idea Mary could blush, and is sorry he asked for applause. Were Delia and Charlie the only two to clap?
"Can you give the rest of us the benefit of your experience?" Marshall sits and gives her the floor.
Mary glares at him.
"Tell us how you did it." That isn't too much to ask, is it? What's the matter with her?
She shifts her weight from one foot to the other, fiddles with her jacket pockets and swallows. Taking a deep breath, she stands tall and looks straight ahead. "I've been doing TACFIT. It gets you in shape without a huge time commitment. Just keep at it and you can do it too. Even better than me." She sits down and glares at Marshall. How dare he single her out?
Ah, Marshall thinks. So that's Mary's secret. They used to go running together and Marshall always had to cajole her until her competitive streak took hold. How did she do this on her own?
"Thank you, Inspector Shannon. Now are there any issues any of you would like to raise? This is not meant as punishment or a demonstration of weakness. I want to know what's going on. If there's something you'd rather not raise in this forum, my office door is always open.
Actually, Mary thinks, it's always closed. She tries not to look at Marshall in his glass fish bowl. When he's not frantically trying to fill Stan's shoes he looks lonely, sad and trapped.
A/N: Thank you Jarlsgirl, shellebelle1, Jojo78 and Meg for reviewing or following this story. The PFTB is a real.