A/N: Well here we are at the end of this little tale. I hope you enjoyed it. I swore after my other story that I wouldn't write another one and this time I mean it. At least not until the next season hiatus because real life needs my attention right now. Thanks to sfchemist for encouraging me to write this and going her beta best as usual. Thanks to BuJyo for giving me the kick in the pants to get the story finished and helping out on the last few chapters. Happy Season 3 everyone!

Epilogue: Home is Where the Heart is

Albuquerque: 1 year later

Mary set the box down and collapsed onto the couch.

"I swear to God if I ever have to move again, I'm just buying all new stuff," she swore as she wiped the sweat from her brow.

"Well," Marshall said, handing her a cold bottle of water and sitting down next to her, "then I guess it's a good thing you'll never have to." Putting his arm around her, he guided her shoulders back so she leaned against him and placed a kiss on the top of her head.

"Damn straight. You're stuck with me, bub." She took his hand and looked up over her shoulder at him, adding, "And don't you ever forget it."

He leaned down and kissed her. Hearing the small moan that escaped her throat, he pulled back with a smile, delighting in the fact that he could still elicit such a response from her with only a kiss.

"Where do you think you're going, Mister? You're not done here," she said, grabbing at the neck of his t-shirt.

"Easy there, tiger, we still have a lot of boxes to unpack."

"Boxes, shmoxes, they're not going anywhere," she said, pulling him down for a quick, hard kiss. "Besides, haven't you ever heard that it's bad luck not to christen all the rooms before moving in?"

"Well," he said, leaning over to kiss the nape of her neck, "who am I to argue with logic like that?" He continued to place soft kisses along her neck as he worked his way toward her ear, whispering, "We wouldn't want to do anything to cause bad luck, would we?"

"Uh, uh," was all she could muster in reply as his breath tickled her ear, sending a shiver down her spine.

"Then we better get busy because we're almost moved in and there are quite a few rooms requiring our attention."

"Mmm, hmm," she moaned, turning her body around so she was straddling him.

They spent the afternoon making the most of each room in the house. From the top of the washing machine to the nautilus in the spare room and the floor of the "bullet" room to the granite countertops in the kitchen, they made love and pleasured each other with abandon.

As she lay back on the cool granite, satiated, Mary was glad they had decided to look for a place on the outskirts of town. She remembered the look she got from the Realtor when she explained they were looking for a place that was quiet and fairly secluded, but had to be easily defendable. She had no idea at the time just how nice all the privacy would be and smiled at what kind of look they would earn if the woman knew how they'd just spent the afternoon.

"No, Mare, please, just a little rest," he begged, seeing the devilish grin on her face as his slick, sweaty body sank down half on top of hers.

"I thought you said you could handle anything, stud?" she teased, gliding her fingertips along his muscular back.

"Oh, I think I've more than proven myself," he responded into her chest, not even able to lift his head due to exhaustion. "And I didn't say I was done. Let's just consider this a time out."

Mary wriggled underneath him, trying to free herself.

"Where are you going?" Marshall groaned as she slid out from under him and off the countertop.

"Water," she stated.

"Yes, please," he responded, even though she hadn't posed a question. He sat up as he watched her walk across the kitchen to the fridge and smiled in contentment before hopping down. He sidled over and bent to place a kiss on the back of her shoulder before reaching around and taking the bottle of water.

"I thought you needed a time out?" she asked sarcastically as she turned to face him. Taking the cap off her own water and holding it up, she continued, "Need a little help cooling off?"

"As lovely as that sounds, there's something I need to do first."

Curious, green eyes followed him as he found his discarded jeans and pulled them on before heading out the front door with them still unbuttoned, no shirt or shoes. Following in his footsteps, she picked up his t-shirt and put it on, then walked to the window. Her breath caught as she admired his lean, muscular form in the bright, afternoon sunshine.

It was in moments like these that she found it impossible to believe it had taken her so long to see what had been right in front of her all these years. She refused to dwell on it, though, and knew that it was because of all those years of partnership and friendship that she could now let herself love and be loved free of fear. He was still here and wasn't going anywhere, at least not without her.

He had a small bag in his hand as he closed up the truck and she laughed at the face he made as he attempted to navigate the stones of the driveway to retrieve the mail from the mailbox. Looking up, he met her gaze and she shook her head at him as he grinned foolishly, proud of his accomplishment.

"Hey, Doofus, you have shoes for a reason," she said as he came into the room.

"Well, I wasn't planning on getting the mail. I didn't even think about it until I was out there," he shrugged.

"Because there's no way all that junk mail couldn't wait until later, right?"

"Maybe it could have, but this couldn't," he said, handing her the small bag and tossing the mail onto the coffee table.

"What's this?" she questioned, staring at him.

"Consider it a little housewarming gift."

"Housewarmings are just another excuse for people to spend money on cards and presents people will never use," she ranted. "Honestly, was anyone's home life ever truly made better by a chip and dip set or a plant?"

"Oookay, in that case consider it a welcome home present," Marshall drawled, leaning in to kiss her in order to distract her from her social commentary. As he broke away, he whispered, "Just open it, Mary."

She gave him a little smirk and shrugged as she looked in the bag and saw two small boxes, too large for jewelry and too small for much else. Eyeing Marshall warily, she took them out and opened them to reveal two matching glass display cases. As she gazed into them, she saw they each contained a single bullet, along with each of their names engraved onto plaques across the wooden bases.

"For the bullet room," he said softly, "from our service weapons."

A tear fell from the corner of her eye as she looked from the boxes to Marshall. "Thank you, it's perfect. The house is perfect. And you…you're not so bad either, Marshall Mann." Smiling coyly, she stood on her tips toes and kissed him as if it was the first time all over again.

"You know," Marshall said as he reached down and slid his hands under the t-shirt, kissing her along her neck as he spoke each word, "I think we skipped the bathrooms earlier."

"So I guess this means the time out is over," she teased, nipping at his earlobe, eliciting a sound from the back of his throat that made her start to ache in all the right places. "Then why don't you go make sure there's hot water."

"Mmm and you?" he managed to say as he pulled back to look at her.

"I'll be right behind you," she answered, "I'm just going to grab some towels; if I can find them."

"Well don't take too long," he ordered as he headed for the bathroom.

Mary smiled, a genuine smile of happiness, as she took one last look at the bullets before placing them on the table next to the mail and she froze. It was partially obscured, but she'd know that handwriting anywhere. Extracting it from the pile, she stared at her name and address on the plain, white envelope with no return address.

Heading into the kitchen, she took one last look before discarding it into the garbage can and walking away. She stripped herself of the t-shirt as she entered the bathroom. Then slipping into the shower, she snaked her arms around Marshall, the one man to put her before all else and the only man she truly ever needed. She embraced her present and future with fervor, washing herself clean of the past.