Author's Notes:
Is you Is or is you Ain't?
Sequel to "Canary on a Landmine" - It had been a long week for Marshals Shannon and Mann and from the looks of things they were going to be dealing with the fallout for months to come. Story includes Marshall with an OC (the series will end being M/M but that is a ways down the line.)
Disclaimer time: I do not own, nor pretend to own the characters of In Plain Sight. This work is not intended to contest said ownership and no profit is being made from the telling of this tale. (I'm just having too much fun to stop)
Isn't/Fake Is/Emergency backup Is/Agent Elder on the other hand is mine, and ... it's complicated.
If you haven't read Cannary on a Landmine, you don't have to to understand the story, but it does give you a lot more background and it explains why Mary and Marshall are a apart - consider it the second part of a two parter (and to be honest its the second in a series)
Mary woke to the feeling of a gun pressing into her hip and froze. She could hear something moving around in another room but there was no sign of anyone close to her.
But then there was the matter of the gun.
She forced herself to remain still while she tried to piece together what had happened. She heard one of the neighbor's dogs barking, followed by the all too familiar yell of "shut up Peanut".
She was at home.
The pillow against her face was rough, so she wasn't in bed... the couch.
'I was tired,' she thought, vaguely remembering coming home and collapsing on the couch. That meant that the hard object pressing against her hip was most likely her own weapon.
'Did I lock the door?'
She vaguely remembered stumbling into the house and putting the keys on the end table. Habit would have meant she'd locked the door before putting them down, but habit also had her locking her gun away if she was secure, placing it under her pillow if she weren't.
'My gun is in its holster, still on my belt,' she thought thinking her way through what had happened. At least she was armed. She tensed her leg slightly and felt the familiar weight of her ankle holster. 'Duty weapon and hold out,' she corrected, a small smile graced her lips.
The smile faded when she again heard something moving in one of the back rooms. She opened her eyes. It was well after sunset, but she could make out her surroundings through the light filtering through from the street lights.
When she was sure she wasn't being watched she sat up quietly and drew her pistol. She got up and verified that the door was locked before moving deeper into the house.
Part of her knew she should call the police, but she was a U.S. Marshal for Christ's sake. She couldn't draw that kind of attention to herself every time she heard a sound in her house.
She bit back the thought that shooting someone in her own home would draw attention, and moved on...
By the time she reached the back room, the one that had been Jinx's the movement had become more frantic. Mary rushed the room and threw on the light. She had enough time to register 'cat' before a black blur of fur rushed past her and barreled for the door.
Since she knew she didn't have a cat, Mary followed, pretty sure the animal had gotten caught inside somehow and now just wanted to escape.
As she neared the front door the cat bristled and hissed at her.
"Hey, Doofus," she scolded the cat. "You're the one who got yourself into this mess. This is my house..."
She reached the door and quickly unlocked it.
The cat looked from her to the door and back again. It tensed, seemed to shrink in size before launching itself at the now open door.
There was a blur of movement and then the cat was gone.
Mary closed and locked the door again, and then began searching for an explanation of how the cat got in there in the first place.
When they entered the room, they found that Leigh was not alone. A man stood to the side, studying O'Conner.
Leigh closed her eyes as if drawing strength, effectively cutting off Marshall non-verbal apology.
"Agent O'Conner," she said wearily before focusing on him. "The man standing next to me is Agent Alvarez. He is the closest thing we have to a lawyer on this detail and he has OPR on speed dial.
Agent Alvarez simply smiled, allowing Leigh to continue.
"If you even think of pulling that kind of stunt again, this interview will end and he will use it." She locked eyes with him, her expression unyielding. "Are we clear?"
"Do you really think that threats..."
Leigh tilted her head and scowled.
It was enough to stop O'Conner in his tracks.
The look was close enough to 'Surly-Neo-Pun-Isn't' that Marshall had to suppress a smirk. O'Conner didn't stand a chance
"OPR will be in on this soon enough," he threatened.
"Then perhaps we should wait for them," Leigh offered reasonably, but Marshall could sense the effort she was exerting to maintain that air of reason. He also didn't miss the way Alvarez seemed to offer her quiet solace.
"Which will it be?"
O'Conner clenched his teeth together, obviously not happy but finally he nodded.
"Now, we can talk." Leigh told him.
Mary continued the sweep of the house checking every window and door, but everything was secure. There was no sign of how the cat had gotten into her house.
She eyed her bedroom and realized that the evening's little adrenalin rush had left her on edge. She poured herself three fingers of whiskey, downed the shot and headed for the shower.
It was going to be a very long night.
"Mrs. Elder..." O'Conner began.
"Agent Elder," Leigh corrected him, a little anger creeping into her tone.
Marshall tilted his head, analyzing the situation. This was a side of Leigh he hadn't met before, but he knew instinctively that he was getting a good view of the ultra professional side of Leigh. He could tell from Agent Alvarez's expression that it did not come out too often but when it did, no one was happy.
She wore it like armor, keeping O'Conner at bay, keeping him from approaching her on a personal level. She was keeping everyone at a distance.
He'd seen Mary do it often enough, although Mary usually went for acerbic and caustic as a way to keep people at bay. Either way, it was the posture of a person who didn't want to get hurt... again.
"Agent Elder..." O'Conner corrected himself when he noticed Agent Alvarez had shifted forward slightly.
"Are you sure someone else couldn't have gotten a hold of the picture?"
Leigh thought for a moment then held out her hand. to Alvarez. "Can I borrow the phone?"
O'Conner started to object, but Leigh shook her head and held up her index finger in the universal gesture for 'Wait a minute'
Marshall watched as she dialed a number and waited.
He tried to give her some semblance of privacy but his curiosity was piqued who would she be calling at eight o'clock at night.
"Ange?"
There was a pause as the person on the other end spoke. Marshall looked up as O'Conner started going through his notes, obviously trying to identify 'Ange.'
"Yeah... I'm still having dizzy spells..How's Andy?" She nodded as she listened. "Good... sorry to call like this... No... I'm fine... "
There was another pause as the person on the other end was obviously contradicting her answer.
"Yes, Mom, I'm fine...geez... I need you to take the picture on the night stand... fax it to..."
She paused looking up at O'Conner, waving her hand to get his attention. "Fax Number?"
He seemed startled but as he read the numbers she relayed them to the person on the other end of the line.
"Thanks... yeah... it may have something to do with the investigation... no, you don't need my shrink on speed dial... I'll be okay... Yeah. Tell Mike I'm fine. Love to the girls."
She hung up and looked at O'Conner.
"Ange... " He began.
"Angela Danvers, my partner's wife. I've asked her to fax my copy of the picture to your office."
"I thought you said it was on your nightstand..."
Leigh sighed and forced herself to relax. Marshall realized that the contact with friends, people she knew and cared about, people who, in turn, cared about her was helping her relax.
"I've pretty much camped out in their guest room over the last year or four," she admitted finally. "To the point their girls call it 'Aunt Leigh's room.'"
"And Andy?"
Leigh blushed slightly and turned to Agent Alvarez but he offered her no support whatsoever.
"It's my nick name for my partner... when he's being especially overly nice and cheerful."
"But... Andy?"
"Andy Griffith...Mayberry... down home all American good natured cop? You'd have to see him in action to get it."
She looked over at Alvarez who was trying to suppress a smirk.
"Do you know any reason anyone would want to kill you?"
Marshall relaxed slightly as O'Conner changed the direction of his questioning. At least he wasn't trying to break her any more.
This seemed to relax Leigh more as well and as she dropped the ultra professional persona. He smiled as he and O'Conner were given another serving of Leigh's humor.
"Do you want the list alphabetically or chronologically?"
