A/N: I do not own In Plain Sight and this is strictly for non-profit entertainment value. Thank you all for reviews and alerts. :)
Moving An Unmovable Object
Stan walked in to the waiting room, seeing Marshall leaned back against the wall, his eyes closed. He looked asleep. Stan quietly sat down in a chair across from him, not to disturb him.
"I'm awake." Marshall opened his eyes, looking over at Stan. "No news on her yet." Marshall paused. "Did you find the other truck?"
Stan shook his head. "We found evidence of another crash, but they were long gone." He could see Marshall was frustrated. "The package is secure."
"Good...that's good." Marshall and Stan sat in silence, waiting for news.
Six hours after Stan's arrival, a doctor came into to speak with them. "You are here for Mary Shannon." Both men nodded and the doctor motioned for them to remain seated. "Ms. Shannon is in recovery now and we will be moving her to ICU shortly. Her hip, femur and four ribs are broken all on her left side. We removed part of her large intestine. We were able to repair the damage to her kidney and lung. She suffered considerable blood loss. That is our primary concern right now, in conjunction with the head trauma she suffered. Regretfully, she is in a coma." Marshall paled. "We won't know if there is any brain damage or memory loss until she comes to."
"When will that be?" Marshall's voice was detached.
"I'm sorry, but that I cannot say. The longer she is unconscious, the less likely she will."
Marshall gripped the arms of the chair to steady himself. "You're saying...there is a possibility of her not..." Marshall's voice cracked and he couldn't bring himself to finish his question.
"I m sorry, this is always a risk with coma patients." The doctor paused. "A nurse will come and get you, when she ready for visitors in ICU." With that the doctor left, leaving Stan and Marshall quietly thinking of everything they just heard.
Less then a minute passed and Marshall was on his feet pacing. "Absolutely not..." He paced, running his fingers through his hair, clearly coming apart. "This is Mary, she will wake up. She is too stubborn to..." His voice trailed off.
"She will wake up Marshall...she will." Stan finished for him, still sitting, not trusting his legs to stand yet.
A nurse showed them to her room, a little while later. Marshall didn't hesitate. He walked right over to her bedside, leaned over and placed a kiss on her forehead. "I'm here...Mare."
Stan hesitated entering the room, taking in the sight of all the tubes and wires connected to her pale form. After the shooting over a year ago, he hoped to never see her this way again. Stan sat down in a chair near the door, away from the bed, giving Marshall some privacy with her. He watched him kiss her forehead, sit and take her hand. He knew Marshall had been in love with Mary for years. Her death would break him. He listened to Marshall telling Mary random facts, till he finally drifted to sleep.
Marshall noticed Stan fall asleep. "Mare, you're missing our boss sleeping like a baby, in a rather uncomfortable looking chair." He smiled, knowing she would tease the man. "We need to talk Mare." He brushed her hair behind her ear. "You have had a rough couple years. I get that...you need a break. But I really need you to be alright and wake up." He looked over her form, noting that her color had improved and if there were no tubes or wires, it would look like she was sleeping. "So here is the deal...you get as much rest as you need and I will be right here waiting for you to wake up."
Three days passed, Marshall kept his word and never left her side. He looked like hell, stubble on his face, hair a mess and his suit crumpled. Stan was worried and knew he needed to step in. He took a breath, before entering Mary's room. "Marshall, here is your go bag. I already cleared it, there is a staff locker room for you to use to clean up." He could see Marshall open his mouth to argue. "No. That is an order. Go. I will sit with her. When you get back, I will go pick us up some food." Marshall slumped his shoulders in resignation. "It's down this corridor on the left." Once Marshall was out of the room, Stan took over Marshall's vigil. "Mary, you need to wake up. Marshall needs you, more then you realize." Stan sighed and said more quietly. "Hell...we all do." Marshall was back less then forty minutes later. He still looked disheveled, but it was an improvement. "Better." Stan got up, letting Marshall retake his place beside Mary. "I will be back with food."
"Hey Mare...I'm back. Sorry about that, Stan forced me to step out." Marshall kissed her forehead, sat down and resumed holding her hand. "You know at some point, I will have to call Eleanor and have her fly here to take care of Stan." Marshall shook his head sadly. "We are a mess here, Mare." He looked up to her face again and was shocked to see her eyes opened. "Mare?" He hit the call button and a nurse ran in. "Her eyes are open." But when he looked back they were closed. "I swear, they were just open." The nurse knew the man hadn't slept and at first thought he was hallucinating, until she saw Mary's eyes open again.
"Ms. Shannon?" Mary blinked, looking at the nurse confused.
"Mare, it's alright." Mary's eyes held no recognition and his heart clenched. "Mare, say something?" A doctor walked in, asking questions to find her unresponsive. Her eyes fluttered closed again. Marshall was frantic. "Does this mean, she doesn't remember anything?"
"Mr. Mann, please calm down. Let's step outside." They walked out of her room as Stan approached. "This can happen with coma patients. They can have brief periods of awakenings and very little clarity. We will monitor her and evaluate as her awake periods increase in duration. Please do not take this as a bad sign."
"What the hell did I miss?" Stan was concerned, noting Marshall lost face.
"Ms. Shannon had a brief period of awakening, but had no reaction to Mr. Mann or made movement to speak. As I told Mr. Mann, this is common with coma patients. We need to wait it out, she has been though major trauma."
"Understood." Stan looked to Marshall. "Thank you Doctor." The doctor walked away and Stan grabbed Marshall's shoulders. "Marshall stop." Marshall looked at Stan, his eyes glassy. "It is too soon to think that way. I am sure you knew this from reading it somewhere, you are panicking because it's Mary. Don't give up on her yet." Marshall's head snapped at that and it was the exact reaction Stan wanted from the man.
"I will never give up on her!" Marshall was angry, his hands shook. "I could never give up on her, that would be like asking me to not breath."
Stan knew the stress of everything was wearing Marshall down, no longer hiding his feelings for his partner. "Marshall, she needs you to be you and you are unraveling on us."
Marshall nodded. "You're right, I know you are right." Marshall paused trying to convey what he was feeling. "I feel guilty." Stan looked at him surprised and confused. "She purposely put herself in harms way." Marshall's voice cracked.
"You would have done the same thing and you know it. We went over this." Stan was frustrated with Marshall, which was odd because it was usually at Mary. "She protected the witness. She ensured that you were mobile and safe to protect the witness, after she was out of the equation." Stan watched Marshall lean against the wall. "The two of you are the best team at the Marshal Service, because of just that. You know each other better then people who have been together fifty years." Marshall was looking stunned at his bosses words. "I keep waiting for you two to see it."
Marshall didn't have a response to Stan, he was processing everything he just heard. If he was completely honest with himself, he would admit, he thought he was over romanticizing his relationship with Mary. That he was seeing more to them then there was, but Stan saw it too. "Thank you."
Stan looked at Marshall confused. "For what?"
"Just...thank you." Marshall smiled briefly and went back to Mary s room, resuming his vigil.
Stan smiled, happy to have helped if only a bit. "Here is the food. You alright here, I was going to head out and check in with local office on intel."
Marshall nodded. "Yeah, I'm with Mary, right where I'm supposed to be."
Stan nodded. "Try and get some rest. I will be back to check on you again in the morning." Stan looked at the partners once more, before stepping out.
"Mare, sorry. I had a little freak out there. I'm still here, right beside you no matter what. I will help you through this." He brought her hand to his lips, kissing it softly and waited.
Over the next two days, Mary had brief periods of awakening. Each a bit longer then the last, but she still hadn't said a word. It was on the seventh day, that she awake and was staring intently at Marshall.
"Hey there, sunshine." He smiled at her, always happy to see her eyes.
She kept her eyes on him, finally speaking one word. "Marshall..."
Marshall felt like his heart was going to burst from his chest. "That's me." He grinned at her wide. Mary smiled softly, but didn't say anything else. She looked around the room, but kept glancing back at Marshall. "Still here don't worry. I am not going anywhere." He squeezed her hand. "We are at University of Colorado Hospital, you were airlifted here, seven days ago." Her eyes went wide. "Hey relax, I know you don't like the time gap but it's alright."
She relaxed a bit, reassured that he was here. "Everything is...fuzzy."
Marshall was practically giddy, hearing her talk more. "It is to be expected. Give it time."
Mary looked at him, really looked. He looked exhausted, circles under his eyes, stubble. She knew then, that she really scared him. "So how broken am I?" Her throat was dry, so her voice came out raspy.
Marshall had pushed the call button, when she first woke up and was hoping the doctor came in soon. "Let's wait for the doctor." Her heart rate went up. "No, no it's alright." Mary was staring at him, urging him to fill in the details. "You have four broken ribs. Your femur and hip are also broken. There was damage to your left lung and kidney, but the doctor repaired it." Marshall took a breath, still holding her hand. "You lost a lot of blood and took a blow to the head from the window."
"Wow..." Mary understood why Marshall was so broken looking. "Basically...I almost died...again."
Marshall pursed his lips and his eyes were glassy, as he tried to reign himself in. "Yeah, you almost did." He reached up and out of habit the last few days, brushed her hair from her face. "I thought I lost you for a bit there."
The doctor chose that moment to walk in. "Ms. Shannon, good to see you awake..." He made a few notes in her chart. "How are you feeling?"
"Fuzzy." Mary was irritated that the doctor interrupted their discussion.
"I need to ask you a few questions to test your memory." Mary gave him a brief nod. "Please tell me the year."
"2011"
"Your bosses name."
"Stan McQueen." Mary squeezed Marshall's hand a bit.
"What is the last thing you remember, clearly?"
Mary was trying to make sense of the images flashing through her head. "The veterinary office..."
The doctor looked over to Marshall. "That was just a bit before the accident, maybe a half hour."
"This is common with this type of trauma. You may regain more memories as you heal." The doctor wrote some more notes in her chart. "I will check on you again later, rest."
"Thank you." Marshall shook his hand before the doctor left. "See, it will come back."
"I remember other things, but flashes not complete." Her frustration was coming through in her tone.
"Don't force it. Please for once just relax." He gave her a lopsided smirk.
"I don't know how to relax, you said so yourself." Mary stopped realizing, she didn't know when he had said it.
"That I did." He smiled, relaxing himself for the first time in a week. "I promise, whatever you don't remember on your own, I will fill in the blanks for you."
She smiled, closing her eyes and drifting to sleep.
