This is my favorite chapter, so I hope that everyone enjoys it. Thanks so much to my Beta, Ladymars. She makes sure that I don't make silly, silly mistakes!

Marshall couldn't believe he had convinced her to go on a date. Ok, she didn't know it was a date, so maybe it didn't count, but he had still managed to get her to agree. It also wasn't going to be anything too fancy, not that he would have chosen that if he could. No, taking Mary somewhere upscale and romantic might tip her off that she was dating someone. If she realized that before she was ready, she would go running in the other direction.

He looked at himself in the mirror again, making sure he looked good without looking too dressed up. The outfit wasn't much different than what he wore to work: jeans, collared shirt with the collar open, and a jacket. He had taken a shower and styled his hair, but no more than usual. He was sure he looked about the same that he did every other day of the week. But the shirt color made his eyes look bluer and the coat he wore was one of the few he had had tailored. He had even polished his boots. Mary wouldn't think he was dressed any differently than usual, but he still managed to look good.

He was just about to grab his keys to go get Mary when the doorbell rang. Mary stood at his door, jeans and a t-shirt, just like she promised. The only difference was her hair was pulled back, half up in a ponytail.

"Did you dress up just for me?" he teased her. She made a face at him.

"Are you ready to go or what?"

"I'm driving."

"What for?"

"Because I know where we're going and you don't."

"You could tell me."

Marshall locked his front door and headed towards his car. "I could but I'm not going to."

She waited by the door, hands on her hips. Marshall stood by his car, waiting for her to give in. Mary was stubborn but she usually knew when to give up. She threw her hands up and stalked to the car.

"Fine! But this is only because I get free food."

They were quiet on the drive there. Mary was just trying to be difficult, he knew. She was mad that he refused to tell her but he hoped she would get over it. He pulled into what essentially looked like a dirt parking lot. Other cars were lined up around them and there was a huge screen at the front of the lot. Mary looked at him like he had really lost it this time.

"You're taking me to a drive in movie?"

"You said that I could go anywhere. I wanted entertainment while I ate." He looked at her, crooked smile on his face. "Not that your table manners aren't their own form of entertainment."

"The promise of food is only going to allow you to get away with so much. And I was expecting real dinner. What do they serve at the drive in other than popcorn?"

"Not much," he conceded. "Which is why…" He reached behind her seat and pulled out a bag of Chinese food.

"Mushu Pork?"

"An entire pint just for you."

"Good. I can forgive you for this stupid movie idea." She dug through the bag, pulling out all the food she wanted. After half the bag was missing, Marshall dug out his portion of food. He handed Mary chopsticks and they watch the movie while they ate. Marshall had been prepared. The movie was an action flick: lots of things blowing up but not a lot in the way of a plot line. Mary propped her feet up on the dashboard, eating straight from the carton. She'd smile at the funny parts and seemed to be genuinely enjoying herself. As the credits were rolling, she started sifting through the bags.

"Where are the fortune cookies?"

Marshall grabbed two from his pocket and handed one to her. They tore open the packages and then split their cookies in half. "You first," she told him.

"'Life can be dangerous; tread carefully.'"

"That's kind of lame. 'Today, you will have new and exciting adventures.'"

Marshall choked on his Lo Mein he was laughing so hard. It took him a few minutes to be able to compose himself enough to breathe normally. "That's a good fortune."

"I didn't think it was that great. Pretty generic for a fortune." She raised an eyebrow slightly and Marshall realized she didn't understand why it was so funny.

"Never mind." The weird look didn't stop, but, after a minute, she turned back to her food. Marshall put the car in gear and drove back to his house where Mary's car was waiting.

She said goodnight, telling him she'd see him at work the next day and drove home. Brandi was sitting at the island, books open in front of her.

"Test tomorrow, Squish?"

"Yup. In a subject I hate. If I do well on this test, though, I'll be good for the semester."

Mary sat down across from her, looking at all of the math problems. "Why do you need to take advanced statistics for a fashion major?"

"Because it's helpful when trying to learn about your competitors and the market." Brandi looked up from the notebook that she was scribbling in. "Where were you tonight anyway?"

"Drive-in movie."

Brandi snorted, laughing at her older sister. "You went to a drive in movie? Willingly?"

"Not completely. I was bribed by Marshall with free food."

"You went on a date with Marshall?"

"What? No, we just went to see a movie and ate some Chinese."

"Dinner and a movie? Sounds like a date to me-e."

"I did not go on a… that sneaky little bastard."

"Finally figured out it was a date?" Brandi asked as she wrote notes down.

"How did I miss that?"

"You're kind of oblivious sometimes, Mary."

"Maybe you can answer something for me. Marshall started laughing hysterically after I read him my fortune."

"What did it say?"

Mary pulled the piece of paper out of her pocket and read it to her sister, who was holding her sides she was laughing so hard. Mary was still baffled as to why it was funny.

"Oh, come on, you honestly don't know?" Brandi asked her.

"Would I be asking you if I knew?"

"Don't you know that you're supposed to add 'in bed' to every fortune cookie?"

Mary scrutinized the paper again and couldn't help but smile. If that's what Marshall was thinking, it was a wonder he contained himself as much as he did. "We've gotten Chinese food a million times and he's never laughed before."

Brandi just shrugged and began to close her text books. "Maybe he was laughing, just not out loud. Besides, things are just slightly different between you two now."

"What do you mean?"

"You kissed him right? You guys are like, dating?"

"How the hell did you know we kissed?"

"Mary, I'm not stupid. I've never seen you be so tolerable in my life, but you're not quite happy enough to have gotten laid. Either you won the lottery or you kissed Marshall."

"Wow, that's impressive."

"I know. It's a gift." She put all of her books in a pile and hefted them into her arms. "Goodnight, Mary."

Mary gave her a half-hearted wave and continued to look at the fortune in her hand. Brandi was right; things were different between Marshall and her. Not that it was a bad different, just not the same relationship that they had. She had changed that relationship forever and she only hoped that it was for the better. He had laughed at the fortune but what that meant was a little bit of a mystery to her. Did he like the idea? Mary closed her eyes and rubbed them. It was too much for her to think about tonight. In the morning she would make the attempt to figure out what she had really done by kissing Marshall.

There was a bouquet on her desk. Of course, it wasn't the typical bouquet. Most people didn't get bunches of fortune cookies. She stood in front of her desk, hands on her hips before looking over at Marshall. He shrugged like he had no idea what it was but Mary knew better. He had done it. She reached forward and plucked one of the cookies off of its stem. Cracking it open she read, "Tonight, you life will be shaken up, in bed." She blinked a couple of times before she realized that she wasn't imagining the 'in bed,' it was actually printed on the paper. She grabbed another one. "Things will soon get very hard, in bed." Every single one had a fortune that wasn't inappropriate until the 'in bed' was added onto it. When she had opened all of the cookies, she opened the card. "I had fun last night in… well, you get the idea. –Marshall."

She spent the morning taping the small papers to her desk. They were on her monitor, her desk calendar, file cabinets. You couldn't look at Mary's desk without seeing something inappropriate. At random points during the day, she would chuckle and you would know she found one she hadn't read in awhile.

Stan and Eleanor tried all day to figure out who had sent it, but they never got her to tell. Marshall was also tight-lipped. Dating between partners wasn't exactly encouraged. It was pretty much forbidden, but Mary was worth the risk. His job wasn't really worth it without her around anyway.

Marshall went to lunch and when he came back, there was a note tucked under his desk calendar. He slid it out when no one was looking and flipped open the folded paper. "My house is empty for the weekend. We should do dinner, in… well, we'll figure that out when you get there. –Mary." Marshall fought to keep his face impassive. A sexually aggressive Mary was something he knew existed but had never dealt with first hand. It had definitely never been directed at him.

Marshall opened the same drawer that Mary had found the engagement ring, pulling the folders forward and slipping the note into the furthest folder back. He wore a smirk on his the rest of the day as Mary antagonized him with ridiculous sexual glances. At one point she wiggled her eyebrows at him. Later on she checked him out and gave him the nod. Marshall wasn't sure whether he should laugh or drag her back to his house. He settled for chuckling to himself. If he made too much noise, Eleanor would want to know what was so funny. Mary had managed her glances when no one else was watching.

She left before he did, giving Stan some excuse about her sister. Marshall knew it was bull. She had already told him that no one was going to be around. He wondered what she was planning. Knowing Mary, she was going to do something to retaliate for the bouquet of fortune cookies that he sent her.

"Mary?" he called as he let himself into her house. "Are you here?"

"In here!" came the answer. Marshall made his way into the kitchen to see smoke and Mary trying to stir something. Seconds later the smoke alarm went off, a piercing noise in Marshall's ears. Mary took whatever she was burning off the stove. Marshall walked to her smoke alarm, reaching up and pressing the off button.

"What are you trying to do, Mare, burn down your house?" He opened her window, hoping to air out some of the smoke.

"Worse, trying to cook." She dumped a black lump in her sink and turned on the hot water. Steam rose up from the jumbled mess that Marshall could only assume was once something edible.

"Why? Did you know that kitchen fires are one of the first causes of home fires?" He took the pan from her hands and rinsed it out in the sink. He took some rice out of her cabinet and the few vegetables she had in her fridge. "Do you have any chicken?"

"I might have some beef." She pushed him out of the way, opened the bottom drawer and pulled out some pork.

"Mary, that's not beef."

"It's what I have."

Marshall shrugged and took it from her, cutting it up and putting it in a separate pan than the one the vegetables and rice were simmering in. Mary sat at the island in her kitchen, staying out of his way as he skillfully cooked, taking spices out of her cabinet that she wasn't aware that she even had. She got the feeling that, after the numerous times not having anything he could cook with, Marshall had stocked her cupboards without her knowing. She pulled two beers out of her fridge.

"The white wine," Marshall said to her without turning around.

"Marshall, I don't have any white wine."

"Yes you do; check the back of your fridge."

Mary could smell everything cooking. The smell was almost intoxicating and smelled about a hundred times better than the mess she had been trying to put together. She pushed aside a few beers, a bottle of OJ and an expired carton of milk. Sure enough, there was a bottle of Riesling sitting in the back of her fridge. She pulled it out, along with two wine glasses, and poured both of them a glass. She pulled out plates and silverware next, needing to feel helpful. A few minutes later, Marshall was dividing the food onto their plates.

"How is it that I cook for a half hour and all I get is a black lump, but when you cook for fifteen, you get an amazing meal?" She stabbed her food, taking a huge bite. She savored the flavors, letting the delicious tastes permeate her mouth.

"I'm a ninja. So, why exactly were you trying to cook?" he asked her, taking a sip of the wine. It complimented the food perfectly, just like he knew it would. Mary just shrugged, taking another bite.

"I was hungry."

"So you decided to actually try and cook?" He raised an eyebrow. "I don't believe you."

"I'm not allowed to cook? How do you think I eat, Marshall?"

"Take out or you finagle me into cooking for you."

She thought about it a minute and realized he was right. There wasn't a whole lot of cooking that happened in her life. "Well, I thought maybe it was about time I learned."

Marshall just stared at her.

"What?"

"You were trying to cook for me," he said, stunned. "You were actually trying to cook for me."

"I was not. I was just trying to cook period, doofus."

"Ok," but the smirk on his face told her that he didn't believe a word that was coming out of her mouth.

Their night was no different than any other. They watched TV, teased each other, ate some more, teased each other, drank, teased each other. It was pretty typical of their time together. Before he knew it, Marshall saw that the clock read eleven.

"I should go."

"What for?" She flipped off the TV and propped her feet up on the coffee table.

"It's late and I have work tomorrow. So do you."

"You're no fun."

Marshall stood up and stretched, grabbing his jacket off the back of the couch. "I know but one of us has to be the serious, goal-oriented one."

"You're actually leaving?" She sat up, taking her feet off the table.

"Yeah, I'm actually leaving." He searched his pockets looking for keys and found them in his left one.

"I just thought that you might want to stay."

Marshall smiled inwardly. It was nice to know that Mary was just as human as the rest of the world. She was just as vulnerable, just better at hiding it than most. He leaned down and kissed her as long as she would allow.

"I'll see you tomorrow," he murmured to her. He kissed her one last time, not being able to resist, before leaving for the night.