All Alternate Ending fics are stand alone unless otherwise noted. Therefore, posting each story individually because they are not continuations of each other.
Raph's proposal always annoyed me about this episode. The chick you are dating denies you as even being her boyfriend and you think the next logical step is to propose? And Mary racing to the airport to see him at the end? On my first viewing many years ago, I looked at the ending as the "universe" throwing up roadblocks to *prevent* Mary from going to Raph. Yay! But then he came back a couple episodes later. Eye roll. Her "running" to him was so out of character to me also. I mean, what was she really going to say when she got there? Another eye roll. And Treena's throwing back the line about Mary allowing herself the possibility of something greater? Come on. That is obviously not Raph. So anyway.
Story picks up shortly before the end, at Treena's wedding reception (without the post-wedding scene as shown in the episode). Italics at beginning is dialogue from the episode.
xxxxx
Mary: So, what was the deal with that kiss?
Marshall: What kiss?
Mary: In the barn.
Marshall: I don't know. You kissed me.
Mary: Nuh-uh! I smeared lipstick on your face. You responded like a guy who thought he was about to break himself off some.
Marshall: Nuh-uh.
Mary: With two armed assassins standing 15 feet away, you were all set to throw down with your best friend.
Marshall: What do you want me to say? I'm a guy. It's what we do.
xxxxx
Marshall was still annoyed. Three times since last night she'd teased him about the not-a-kiss they had "experienced" in the stable. The first was in the elevator when they'd briefly returned to the office after their work had concluded at the bachelorette party. "See, now Marshall, this would be a more appropriate setting to think someone was trying to kiss you and not smear lipstick on your face."
He rolled his eyes and shook his head. At the time he thought not responding would prevent any further harassment. He was wrong.
The second time was the next morning. She was unusually chipper, at least by the standards of her personality, and he was in a mood to try to stay under her radar. "Cheer up, Marshall. Do you need some lipstick smeared on your face to pep you up?"
This time his replied. "You know, you could've easily found another way to distract the perps that didn't involve trying to suck my face," he sneered, to subtly imply she wanted to kiss him. She glared at him then went to the kitchenette to make coffee.
The third time was when he politely told her she looked nice when he picked her up to head to Treena's wedding. "You gonna try to kiss me again, Marshall?" she asked with a leer. He took a long, slow inhale, then a loud, heavy release of breath, and narrowed his eyes. He had barely spoken to her since. She seemed to have conveniently forgotten that she was the one who put her lips on him.
So now he sat at Treena's wedding reception, unable to escape the sight of Mary looking both ridiculous and irresistibly gorgeous in her bridesmaid gown, just waiting for it to be over.
xxxxx
Mary was surprised at how tickled she had felt by Marshall's reaction to her "lipstick smearing" perp-distracting scheme. When she called him on it outside the stable, she wasn't even angry. She'd been having trouble keeping a smile from spreading across her face. Marshall's denial was expected, but also half-hearted. His response to her mouth on his was genuine and she wondered if this was something she should try to get to the bottom of. She knew she should just drop it, because then she wouldn't have to deal with anything, but she felt completely unable to resist the urge to tease him about it.
There had been something under the surface with Marshall for a while. It was mostly platonic… mostly. Why was she poking the bear now? Was she just trying to distract herself from Raph's inappropriate proposal? Had Treena just gotten inside her head? Did she want to go looking under the surface? What good would come from unearthing complicated feelings from either of them? Remembering how Marshall briefly sought her with his mouth sent a little thrill through her body. That right there was one reason why she couldn't just leave it alone.
Treena's wedding went off without any problems. After the ceremony, she gave Mary the papers to opt out of Witsec. Their job was done at that point, and could have left then, but naturally Treena insisted they stay to "live a little" and her subsequent words of "Maybe you should allow yourself the possibility of something greater," kept echoing in her head. Treena had been bugging Mary all week about "finding a man". Was she now implying that she should allow herself Marshall?
Not likely, as at the moment, he wasn't really even talking to her. So here she sat, ruminating, at a table with a less than sociable Marshall, and watching Stan impress a group of ladies fighting for a turn to dance with him. Not alone, but feeling like she was.
She felt her phone vibrate and saw Raph's name on the caller ID. She knew she couldn't ignore it, as she had been the one to insist he call her back. But what really was there to say? He was probably on his way to the airport. She got up from the table ignoring Marshall's questioning glance. She answered her phone when she was a few steps away. "Hey, hold on a second."
"Are you at a party?" Raph asked in response to the music and noise coming through the line.
"I'm at work," she replied.
"Why does it sound like you're at a party?" he asked accusingly.
"Because sometimes I have to work an event!" she barked, always annoyed when he questioned her job. A few more paces and she exited the banquet hall. "Okay. Thanks for calling me back."
"I'm about to get on the plane."
"Yeah, I figured," she said, but she wasn't sure what to say next. It was over and she hated the awkwardness of the 'have a nice life' chat.
"So," he poked, implying he deserved an explanation.
"So," she started, then stopped. "Look. I'm sorry. I'm just… I'm not looking to get married."
"Ever?"
Ugh. Yeah, actually. Not ever. But he made her feel like she needed to back track on her feelings, which was something else she didn't like about their relationship. "I don't know."
"How could you not want to get married?" he asked bewildered.
Man, there's another large piece of who she was that he had no idea about. It was easier to blame work, as she often did, which also was a true reason.
"I like my career. I don't want… I can't follow someone else around the country. My work is here."
"So, it's my career you don't like," he wrongly assumed.
"No, Raph. You know, maybe we should have talked about this before you rushed into asking before you left!"
"If we talked about it, how was I supposed to surprise you with a proposal?"
Mary was awe struck. All of the ways he knew nothing about her were flashing like a neon sign. "I don't like surprises. And some people talk about these things first. I'm some people!"
"So my timing was bad?" he asked, still missing the mark. But she knew another woman would have been thrilled by such a surprise proposal, and Raph was a good guy.
"Yes," she sighed in agreement, recognizing the futility of elaborating further. There was just too much.
"I need to get on my plane. I appreciate you calling and I'm sorry about the timing of my proposal. I'll be back in a few months. Maybe we can try again then," he offered half-heartedly.
"Yeah, that would be nice," she said warmly, but knowing this was probably the last time they would speak.
"Take care, Mary," he said.
"You too," she replied and hung up her phone.
Mary returned to the ballroom. As she made her way back to the table, she watched Marshall as he watched the crowd. Stoic and alert. Ever the professional. He always looked kind of sexy when he was scanning for a threat. Wait, what? She narrowed her eyes. He did though. That calm but ready to pounce aura. Like she could feel the vibration of it. But this evening he didn't seem fully there, and she hadn't been able to reach him all day. Teasing him probably wasn't helping.
He didn't acknowledge her return and his silence was suddenly very unnerving. Normally he would have checked in with her with a simple inquiry if everything was okay. His absence of spirit made her feel like she needed to reel him back in. She sat back down next to him and started picking at her cloth napkin.
"Raph proposed a few days ago," she lobbed at him, unexpectedly to both of them. When something happened in her life, she knew by now that she couldn't hold it back from him, eventually telling him almost everything. But even she couldn't predict when things would fall out of her mouth.
"Oh?" he asked casually, successfully containing a flinch. For a moment, he was angry that she'd been pushing his buttons about a "kiss" all the while she was freshly engaged. But he quickly realized her phrasing left out some information and she was baiting him into a conversation. When she didn't say more, after a few seconds he added, "And?"
She looked at him life he was an idiot and held up her naked left hand. "Really?"
"Well, you didn't clarify," he said. When she didn't continue, he gave in to her desire for him to prod. "So… You clearly have something to say about this." He gestured with his hand to say she was welcome to do that here.
"I've obviously never spent my life imagining some dream proposal, but this was the stuff of nightmares. It was so unexpected. So inappropriate. So not the next step," She spoke faster as she carried on. "He put a ring in a cupcake! Bleh! And he just kept saying it, over and over, 'Marry me, marry me', like if he said it enough, he could command it to be true, without even having my consent! Ugh! God!"
"Yikes," Marshall commiserated, inwardly cringing at the scene. Raph didn't know anything about Mary. Not that she let him. He could make a list of about a dozen things wrong with this proposal from just the small amount of information.
"But furthermore, what on earth did he think was marriage material about our relationship?"
Marshall suddenly felt a little bad for Raph. Poor guy was probably just head over heels for Mary. Just as he was…. And here he thought he had nothing in common with the ballplayer. However, he was fortunate to know Mary much better. Not that it seemed to be helping him get anywhere.
Mary continued. "I think the relationship could have gone on indefinitely as it was. Occasional dates and hook ups. But… I'm not a ballplayer's wife. That's, like, a lifestyle. That…" she trailed off. "I'm not moving to fucking Florida. I'm not going to drop my career to travel for him. There's just no future."
"I get it Mare. That's all very reasonable, and your feelings are valid." He paused, then asked, "Had you ever talked about marriage before?" He wasn't sure he wanted to think about it. He'd always considered her relationship with Raph as simply… recreational.
"No! Marshall!" she said like it was the most ridiculous thing she'd ever heard.
"What did you do when he proposed?" he asked.
"Got pissed and left!" she exclaimed.
"Yeah," Marshall nodded. There really wasn't another way he could see that having gone. "He must be leaving soon?"
She shrugged. "He called just now. Getting on the plane for Miami."
"Are you okay?" he asked, not because he didn't think she was, but just to give her the chance to express something if she needed to.
"Yeah. He said several things on the phone that drove home for me just how little he knows me," she said, sounding a little surprised, like it may be the first time she'd really noticed. She subtly shook her head.
"Not many people do."
"Yeah, well, I'm not interested in really knowing a lot of people," she said simply.
Marshall didn't reply as he wondered if she realized how well he knew her. The thought led him to relive his frustration about how far she let him in, only to push him back out again.
After a moment of silence, Mary decided to change the topic. "You know, I think Stan knows us better than we think," she suddenly went in another direction.
"Why do you say that?" he asked, slightly thrown off by the change.
"He asked me earlier what I did to piss you off," she grinned.
Marshall chuckled for a moment. "What did you say?"
"That you were pissed we didn't make out," she said with a sly smile.
Now he simply glared at her. He was fairly sure that wasn't what she'd actually said, but he was pissed anyway. It was time to fight back. "You know, you keep bringing that up, like you want me to kiss you."
"I was just using you to smear my lipstick…" she played dumb.
"That's what you keep saying,"
She leaned in. "Is that your kink Marshall? To get it on while the perps are just a few feet away."
"That's a low blow. I am a consummate professional," as soon as it came out of his mouth, he knew he'd poorly chosen his adjective.
Mary sat back in laughter. She couldn't believe he walked right into that one. "Hoo-hoo! So you're looking to consummate this relationship?"
"Mary," he whined, exasperated.
"Well, you're the one who thought there was some mind-blowing exchange of passion going on."
"I never said it was a good kiss," he said firmly, and with a clear implication, and it stopped her dead in her tracks.
Her mouth opened in shock, disbelief, and horror that any man would ever imply she was not a good kisser. "I was trying to smear lipstick!" she protested.
"And I thought it was a sloppy attempt at a well-just-in-case-we-die declaration. I was trying to make it not suck," Marshall said as he took a sip on water, pretending to seem disinterested.
"Not suck?! Are you kidding me?" she exclaimed.
"No, not at all," he said, very seriously.
Her jaw hung open in disbelief. How dare he imply that SHE wasn't a good kisser.
She stood up, pushed back her chair, and walked away in a huff. She needed to get away from Marshall's insinuation that she wanted him to kiss her; one that she feared may have some truth in it. Treena may have opted out of the program, but she still thought it would be a good idea to take a stroll outside the reception hall to sweep for anything suspicious. She grabbed Stan on the dance floor to quickly say, "I'm going to sweep outside, just in case. Be back in a bit."
"Good, good," Stand replied easily, not missing a step.
Marshall watched as she practically stomped towards the exit. He figured he'd give her a few minutes, then go check on her.
xxxxx
Mary walked around outside stewing. When Treena said she didn't start hiding herself when she became a marshal, it's just how she justified it, Mary knew she was right. She liked the excuse. When she wanted to, it was pretty easy to hide from almost anyone. However, it was becoming increasingly difficult hiding from one person. Treena's other comment, about being a coward, having the courage to stand next to someone without guile and defenseless, replayed as well. When Treena first said it, she instantly thought of her relationship with Raph, that she should feel that way for him. But she couldn't make something be that simply wasn't. She cared about Raph but she wasn't in love with him. When she was around him, she put on a personality that wasn't quite herself. And being a ballplayer's wife was not a life she desired in any way. But Treena's words were still true. And there was another man to which they could be applied.
She suddenly recognized the curious choice she'd made in putting her mouth to Marshall's to smear her lipstick. Why did she do that? She could have just tousled his hair and wiped her hand over her lips to spread the color. Transferring the color to his face didn't make the "scene" more believable to the criminal. It's what she was going for, but would she have made that choice with someone besides Marshall? Never. She had a history of inappropriately using her body to briefly mess with perps, but she'd never pulled Marshall into it before.
She had been enjoying giving him a hard time about misunderstanding her actions. Another curious choice. Normally she would have just tried to pretend the whole thing didn't happen. She wasn't mad that he responded as he did. She'd even smiled about it when she questioned him afterwards. Her brain had wandered… and wondered. Why was she so pleased by his reaction? And enjoying teasing him? She and Marshall had been so close for a while now. There had been moments where things could have easily gone off in a non-platonic direction, but they always let that moment pass, didn't acknowledge it. Work was more important and she didn't want to open up.
She realized they'd come to a place where they now had to. If she had let it go last night outside the stable, she was certain they could have ignored it. But she pushed at it. Why did she do that? She wasn't sure anything more than friendship was wise with Marshall anyway. Kiss and find out? When had that ever been a good idea?
But she truly wasn't satisfied with his earlier brush off, and now she had to know if there was more. Add to the mix that he was accusing her, not only of not being a good kisser, but that she was teasing him because she wanted it? The second part may be true, but for him to possibly think she was a bad kisser, she couldn't let that be. Ugh. She was deep in a hole and somehow the only way out seemed to be to kiss Marshall.
xxxxx
He decided to approach her gently. The kissing argument couldn't really go anywhere anyway. He'd let it go, like he always did. "Everything good, I assume?"
"Appears to be," she replied, without looking at him, then stepping towards a van marked as belonging to the venue. She bent over to inspect underneath it, knowing it would be clean, but trying to avoid eye contact. He waited silently until she stood back up.
"I came out here hoping we could just let this go," he finally said, with a sigh.
"I can let it go," she shrugged. "I'm not the one who did anything wrong," she lobbed, with her characteristic attitude.
That enraged Marshall. "Excuse me? I did not do anything wrong! And you're the one who keeps bringing it up!"
"Why would you think I was trying to kiss you?" Mary asked.
"Why would I think you were trying to smear lipstick?!" he barked.
"Work, Marshall. We were working," she threw back.
"Someone puts their mouth on yours, you think they are kissing you. Jesus, Mary!"
"I do what needs to be done for the job."
"Oh? And was that really what needed to be done? Is that what you would have done if it was Stan who was with you?" She narrowed her eyes in response. Obviously not, they both knew. Marshall took a step closer to her, and continued, this time his voice a bit deeper. "Would you not have smacked me sideways if I did that to you?"
She had no reply, because she knew he was right. All she could do was look up at him defiantly. In that moment, she realized she'd been deliberating teasing him to see how far she could push until he reacted. She held his stare, then licked her lips.
His eyes involuntarily fell to watch the tip of her tongue trace her lips. When he failed to promptly return to her eyes, she goaded, "What are you gonna do, Marshall, kiss me?"
Damn, she just wouldn't stop. That was it. Marshall knew he shouldn't, but he wasn't sure she'd stop until he really pushed back. He'd already warned her inside that it sounded like she wanted him to kiss her. Surely she wouldn't keep pushing if she absolutely didn't want him to. He took another small step closer to her, but not any further. He stared at her intensely, a mix of anger and desire.
She knew what he was about to do, and his pause was her opportunity to protest. To walk away. But it felt like a challenge, and she had a really hard time backing down from a challenge. Besides, she might as well give him the chance to show her how terrible of a kisser he was and they could move on from this.
After a few moments of glaring, he was certain she knew what was coming, so he took the last step into her space. Placing his hand against the back of her head, he pulled her mouth to his. He wasn't sure if she was going to respond so he was pleased when her lips returned a similar pressure. Moving slowly but with purpose, he took her lower lip between his and gently sucked. He could feel the tip of her tongue against his upper lip, and while he wanted to take that into his mouth too, he was going to make her wait.
His hand dropped from her head to her hip, while the other went up to hold the side of her face, and he moved his lips to now take her upper lip between his. This time he used his tongue to trace its shape. She unconsciously let out a small moan, which caused Marshall to feel an utterly satisfying rush of heat course through his body. He repositioned his mouth again, this time allowing his tongue to graze briefly against her, but not opening his mouth to fully let her in.
Breaking the kiss abruptly, he wanted to catch a glimpse of that brief, unguarded, just-kissed look on her face. He was rewarded by seeing her flushed, eyes closed, hunger evident by the way she reached forward for him with her mouth. When she didn't find his lips, she opened her eyes. She was met by desire in his. She didn't move, so he quickly captured her lips again, to reinforce the reality that this is indeed happening and they would have to deal with it.
Mary was surprised at how good he felt; surprised how quickly she was swept up in his fire. Wasn't she supposed to be proving that she was the good kisser? His lips were soft but firm and the kiss held an electricity that she was not expecting. His return to her lips sent a wave of arousal through her belly and between her legs. That's not what someone was supposed to feel in response to their work partner.
He could feel her pulse pounding in her neck under his fingers and he had to put his mouth on it. Leaving her lips, he traveled across her jaw and down her neck, trying not to devour the firm muscle under soft skin. He gave her a gentle nip before reaching her collar bone, then quickly made his way back up. He found her lips again, slipped his tongue gently inside her mouth, and gave her just a glimpse of what it could do before pulling away, kiss complete.
He stayed close enough so he could whisper in her ear. "You done mocking me now?"
She felt a shiver rush through her body, but she didn't let it show. Jesus, what the hell just happened, she wondered. She couldn't give him the satisfaction of an affirmative, but she'd been rendered speechless, and that was all the answer he needed.
Marshall took one last deep breath to inhale the scent of her skin and hair. Her breath on his neck was intoxicating, and he prayed this wouldn't be the only time he felt her this close. He stepped back and ran his fingers through his hair in a way that Mary found incredibly sexy. Funny, he'd done that countless times before and it never made her weak in the knees until now.
"Well then," he said, then gestured with his hand towards the building. "Shall we?"
She paused for a moment, then took the first step, and he followed just a half pace behind her.
They walked back into the building silently. When they reached the ballroom, Marshall held open the door for her and placed his hand on her lower back, like he had so many times previously, to guide her through the doorway. But this time, knowing no one could see his hand, as she walked into the room, he let his fingertips trace down her spine, lower than he'd ever dared to venture before. She looked up at him questioningly, but he didn't look down. He stared straight ahead into the room, chin slightly raised, exuding confidence. It was a posture he'd held many times, but again, suddenly she found it incredibly sexy. She noticed the slight upturn of the corner of his mouth, and knew he was barely containing a grin.
She felt her heart rate increase at his confidence. This definitely wasn't how she thought her day would go, but she was quite pleased by it. But, now what? She felt a surge of emotional conflict and was already troubled about possible consequences upon their work relationship.
xxxxx
She'd been silent most of the drive home, but he could feel her occasional glances. He pretended not to notice and kept his eyes on the road. As he pulled away from the last light before reaching her neighborhood, she finally spoke. "Are you gonna do that again?"
For a brief moment he thought he'd pulled out of the intersection while the light was still red, but then quickly realized that "that" did not mean anything he'd done while driving. He glanced at her. Her gaze was intense. He considered how to answer for a moment, and decided to evasively toss back, "Do you want me to?"
Her eyes narrowed, and he expected a lashing and then perhaps, that would finally be the end of it. Instead, she was quiet and looked out the window for a few moments. When she turned back, he kept looking forward, nervous about meeting her eyes. "I could be convinced," she said flatly, hiding behind the sound of indifference.
He quickly turned to her, but couldn't hold her gaze because he was about to cross through another intersection. He looked away, then back at her a second time, and a small sly smile was creeping across her face. He let his mouth form into a large grin, then he nodded. Marshall was thrilled by the turn of events, but there was a lot to sort out about what happened next. Now was not the time. Mary needed to digest. But he had to be straightforward about something. "Just to be clear here… I can't do… a serial hookup thing here. I just… I care about you too much to be… casual… about our relationship. Between work and our friendship. So, if you're okay exploring the possibility of something more serious, well… I think it could be pretty great."
She looked out the windshield and was quiet again for a few moments. In the last few hours, she'd already thought a lot about where to go from here. She was afraid of losing their friendship and partnership. He was right though; casual would be destructive. She again considered "the possibility of something greater". Here it was, staring her in the face. She looked back at him. "I could be convinced," she said again, this time with light in her eyes.
He pulled into driveway at that moment. He smiled wide and reached over to grab her hand for a second to give it a quick squeeze. "Goodnight Mare," he said softly, then let go.
"What, you're not going to come in and start convincing me?" she teased.
"I'll convince you. But not tonight," he said in a confident tone that was, again, incredibly sexy.
And again, she felt her heart rate accelerate. She figured a little anticipation would do her good. "Okayyy," she leered. "G'night," she said as she started to get out.
Marshall struggled with just letting her go. He quickly grabbed her hand again. She looked back at him. He pulled her towards him to grab her lips one more time. The kiss was brief, but full of promise of what may come. He ended it before it could heat up.
"Goodnight," he said again, with a squeeze of her hand, and she got out of the car. He watched her until she disappeared into her house, resisting the urge to follow her inside. Navigating change with Mary was never easy, but he knew she was already convinced. She just need time to slowly, but completely, seep into it.