Thanks for the reviews! This is almost it...

Mary was struggling against the chains, she pulled and twisted back and forth. They wouldn't budge. She finally opened her eyes and she was in the basement again. Looked around for something to help her get the chains off, turned one way, but when she turned back, she was in a church, tied to a cross. Marshall and Abigail were facing each other, holding hands and exchanging vows.

"NO! STOP!" Mary screamed, but no one noticed her. Tears were running down her face, she didn't want to lose him, she struggled against the chains again. Nothing, they wouldn't budge. "Please Marshall, don't do it!

Everyone she knew was sitting in the church, but in the front pew sat her father, Raph, Faber and Chuck. They all looked at her, but they wouldn't move. Just sat there looking at her struggle with the chains.

Her father moved first, he looked exactly how he did when he left her. Coming over to her he stood there, hands in pocket looking down at her. "Hey princess, I would've thought you'd understand you can never be happy. Didn't I teach you to never trust with your heart?"

Mary watched him go, she didn't care. She looked over at Marshall again, he was smiling, he looked happy. It killed her, she pulled again and it felt like the chains kept getting tighter and tighter.

Looked over when she saw Raph stand up. He folded his hands over his chest and smirked, "You never learned, you kicked me to the curb and now Querida, you are getting kicked to the curb. I mean, this..." he waved his hands up and down her body "..must be how I felt."

As he moved away she turned to look at Marshall yet again. "Marshall! Please, help me!"

Marshall didn't even acknowledge her presence, she thought she'd die from the pain. The pain of watching him getting tied to another woman.

When she turned back again Faber was standing there, hands on hips and smiling, "Kitten, why the tears? You don't like commitment, remember? Why don't you and I..." he shrugged

Se was about to turn to watch Marshall when suddenly Chuck got up and walked over to her, he pulled out a gun. Pointed the gun straight at her.

"Marshall! Help me, please!" but he was smiling at his bride. Marshall still wouldn't acknowledge her presence.

"You're too late. You're just as bad as your sister when it comes time to keeping time." Chuck sneered at her.

"Chuck, please. Don't shoot me. Help me, please!" Mary pleaded

Chuck snickered, "Help you? Like you helped me?"

Mary turned again to look at Marshall and he was leaning down to kiss Abigail. Suddenly Mary's chains were no longer keeping her prisoner; she jumped up and ran towards Marshall. As fast as she ran, she couldn't reach him. It seemed like he was moving farther and farther away.

She saw her father get up and pull out a gun, pointing the gun towards Marshall. Mary ran faster, and then her father took the shot. Looking down, she saw Marshall lying on the ground, "NOOOOO!"

Mary jumped up and yelped in pain. Immediately she grabbed onto the arm, and looked around. Marshall wasn't lying next to her, he wasn't even in the room. It had been a dream. I can't believe it. Just a damn dream!

She collapse back on the hospital bed and turned to her side, sobbing into her pillow. A damn dream! He's probably married by now. Her sobs shook her, causing pain to shoot down her arm. She pulled her arm closer, trying not to hurt it more. She wasn't sure what she was going to do. She really didn't want to work near Marshall again. How can I? I love him so damn much. And now, he belongs to another. Damn it Shannon! How could you have left him go? You should've fought harder for him. All these years keeping him at arms length, because you were afraid to lose him, afraid you weren't enough for him. And you still lost him.

Marshall was standing outside the room, talking to a nurse about the release paperwork when he heard Mary crying. He opened the door and walked in, he wasn't sure what was wrong. She was crying so hard, the sobs that racked her shook her body. Immediately he moved closer to her.

He sat at the edge of the bed behind her, rubbing her back. Mary jumped at the contact, she didn't want her partner to see her like this. But the pain of losing Marshall was too strong to hold her together, she was coming apart and the one person she wanted to see belonged to another.

But Marshall kept rubbing her back, even though she had tensed at the feel of his hand on her back. He rubbed harder, not knowing what to do.

So he leaned over and kissed her head, whispering, "Shh…it was just a dream, Mare. It was just a bad dream. Come on, come back to me"

At his voice, Mary froze clutching the pillow to her face. Marshall! No, it can't be him. Damn it Ben, go away!

If possible, she sobbed harder and shuddered trying to suppress the tears.

Marshall tried to pull the pillow away from her face, she was sweating profusely from the exertion. And she kept clutching at her injured arm as she held the pillow. "Mary! What's wrong? Are you in pain? Sweetheart, what's the matter?"

Mary jumped when she heard his voice again, no, it's not Ben. God can't be so cruel as to play these types of tricks on me, is he? She pulled the pillow away and looked over her shoulder, ready to pull the pillow back to her face if it was Ben.

"Marshall?" she croaked before finally releasing the pillow and turning around to face him. Forgetting her injured arm again, she rolled onto it, causing her to yell in pain.

"Careful, Mare." He helped her sit up and she threw her good arm around his neck and brought him close, pressed her lips to his.

Marshall immediately responded to the kiss, he opened his mouth and she pressed her tongue into his mouth. He deepened the kiss as she crawled into his lap. He held her with his hands on either side of her head, tilting her head a fraction to deepen the kiss further.

Mary moaned into his mouth then sucked on his tongue, pulling it deeper into her mouth. She held his head close, but released his lips to catch her breath.

Looking into her aroused green eyes, his blue almost black from his own need, she leaned over again and kissed his jaw. Down to his neck, to suckle the skin, leaving her mark on him. He followed suit by kissing down to neck and leaving his own mark on her.

Moving away from him, she looks at his eyes and smiles with unshed tears. "I thought I lost you"

"Never" he leaned over again, and pressed a kiss to each eye.

"What happened?"

He frowned, "You don't remember earlier? When you woke up?"

She started to shake her head, and then it all came back. "Oh, y-yeah. I remember, I…thought it was…part of my…uh…dream"

Shaking his head, "No, it was real. I'm real. This is real. We are real"

She wrapped her good arm around him and burrowed her head into the crook of his neck. "I missed you so much"

Marshall released a shaky breath, murmuring, "You have no idea, what having you close and yet so far away. I don't know how I've survived this long"

Mary kissed his neck again and leaned back, "Does Abigail know you're here?"

"Abigail and I are finished, I thought you knew. I thought you'd understand that me being here, meant that we're going somewhere. Together" he tried as best he could to explain

Grinning, "Oh Marshall, you have no idea how I've wanted us to be together"

Chuckling, "Try 10 years"

Mary jumped off his lap and winced at the pain radiating from her injured limb. "Damn it, I got to stop jumping."

"Let me call a nurse, you need some meds"

"No, not yet. We still have a lot to talk about and I don't want the meds to interrupt, they'll just put me to sleep"

"Mare, we can talk later. You're going to be release in an hour. Let them give you something so you're not in pain on our drive home."

Mary smiled at the word. Home. Home is where the heart is, anywhere this man, her Mann was, would be Home

"Ok, get me the meds so that we can go home"

Marshall smiled and his heart did a flip at the word coming from her lips. Home.

A week after their uneventful drive back home, they were sitting on the sofa. After their return, Mary had offered Marshall her spare bedroom. Now that she had him, she didn't want to lose him. At this moment, Mary was sitting between Marshall's legs, back against his front. He had one hand wrapped around her waist with a fork in the other. She had her hands full, one hand holding a plate with pie and the other a fork.

They were eating pie and watching TV, enjoying the moment when Mary let out a sigh, "I think it's time we had that talk. Don't you think?"

Marshall leaned his chin to her right shoulder nodding, "Yeah, I think we've put it off this long."

"You want to start?" she murmured quietly.

He shrugged, "I don't mind starting"

"No, I have to stop. You're always giving me a way out. I think maybe I should start meeting you in the middle, don't you think?" she grumbled

Marshall heart threatened to pound out of his chest, the love he felt for her was so intense, it hurt. He could feel the tears prick the back of his eyes. "God Mare, I've waited so long for you. I love you so much"

Trying hard to hold the tears at bay, Mary croaked, "Oh Marshall, I love you so much too."

"Then that's all we need to talk about."

Mary shook her head, "No babe, we need to discuss this. We need to lay everything on the table."

"Babe?" Marshall chuckled and took the empty plate from her hand, wrapping both hands around her waist.

Leaning away and turning half around she looked at him and rolled her eyes, "Keep that up Doofus!"

They spoke for hours, about when he had fallen for her. Why he never came out and told her, about how afraid he was to lose her. She cried into his chest when she talked about why she ran off with Faber to Mexico. How much she wanted to be with him, but afraid to break his heart. Because that's all she did, break hearts. He told her she would never break his, because he believed in them. Why she didn't tell him how she felt when he started dating Abigail. All she wanted for him was happiness, and her pregnant with her ex-husband's child. She felt he deserved way better then that. He frowned and reprimanded her for thinking that Norah would ever be an obstacle. She cried and apologized for letting him get so far as to get engaged and almost married. He apologized for being a chicken shit and not coming out and telling her how he felt before he became too serious with Abigail. Then they both cried for putting Abigail through the ringer with their insecurities.

By the end of the night, Marshall was laying over Mary, leaning between her legs and making out. Hands holding her head close to him as their kisses deepened. Rocking their hips against each other. Her hands under his shirt pulling him closer.

"I love you Mare" he whispered against her lips

"I love you so much Marshall" she whispered against his lips.

TBC