A/N: I do not own In Plain Sight I am just borrowing them for my own enjoyment. Thank you for alerts and reviews.

Embracing the Messy

Marshall sat by Mary's bedside, watching her sleep. The steady beatings of her monitor lulling him, reassurance that she was indeed here and alive, finally letting himself relax with that knowledge. 'Too many close calls...'

She had been asleep a few hours, Marshall hadn't slept at all. He just continued to watch her, tensing if he heard anyone near the room. Panic, straightforward answer to how he felt each time someone entered the room. He was bordering paranoia, waiting for something to go wrong, destroying the sense of security he was feeling from when she had first drifted to sleep.

"Marshall?" Stan's voice startled him, even though it seemed Marshall was staring straight at him.

"Stan, sorry I'm a little edgy." Stan stared at his Marshal, knowing he needed to push for his own good.

"You need rest." Marshall shook his head at Stan, about to open his mouth to protest. "I will stay with her."

"No, I promised not to leave." Marshall refused to leave, he felt guilty enough that she was here, he wasn't leaving.

"Fine." Stan pursed his lips and walked back out to the nurses station. Ten minutes later he came in, along with an orderly carrying a cot. "Thank you." The orderly nodded and left. "Now, you sleep." Stan pointed to the cot. "You aren't leaving, as promised, I will still sit with her." Marshall looked to Mary's sleeping form and back at Stan, debating. "That is an order Marshall. You are no good to her, if you are dead on your feet." Marshall nodded, vacated the seat he had been glued to, laying down on the cot. Stan took Marshall's seat and within a few minutes, he could tell Marshall was out cold. He smiled and shook his head looking over his two Marshals. 'Both of them are going to put me in an early grave.'

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Eleanor walked into Mary's room and had to smile at the sight before her. Marshall was asleep, his legs hanging far over the edge of the small cot. Stan was sagged in the chair beside the bed; his neck craned at what she knew would be painful when he awoke. Mary was still asleep and from what she could see on the monitors, improving. Since her husbands death, she abhorred hospitals. Knowing far too much about how the equipment worked and what the readings on the monitors meant. She would never admit it to the sleeping woman, but she had grown fond of her. Their personalities were similar in ways, neither woman would ever admit to. She knew Mary liked her, she could tell when they bantered in the office. They both enjoyed pushing the others buttons. She just stood watching over their strangely assembled family. A nurse pulled her from her musings.

"Sorry, but the Doctor is coming in to check Ms. Shannon."

"Need to get them out of here?" Eleanor smiled at the two sleeping Marshals.

"Just the gentleman in the chair...is in the way." The nurse smiled. "Also he is going to need a hospital, if he sleeps like that much longer." The both grinned knowing it was true. Eleanor walked over and put her hand on Stan's shoulder.

"Stan? Wake up." His eyes opened, as soon as he moved his head he groaned in pain. "You should have known better." Stan just shot her a look.

"What's wrong?" The doctor walked in and was speaking with the nurse.

"Doctor needs the room and you are in the way." Eleanor watched as he stood, hearing the clicks and cracks as moved. "Let's take a walk, get you a coffee and asprin. We can bring something back for Marshall."

"Ms. Shannon?" The doctor spoke trying to wake Mary, but ended up waking Marshall.

"Everything alright?" The Doctor turned to see a disheveled Marshall, sitting up on the cot looking concerned.

"I need to examine her." Marshall stared at the doctor, knowing there was more. "Honestly, I am concerned that she is sleeping too much. She has been incoherent when awake. I want to ensure, we aren't missing anything."

"Understandable." Marshall stood, trying to be level headed, like she needed him to be right now. "Let me try." He walked over to the opposite side of the bed and grabbed her hand. "Mare?" Marshall gave her hand a squeeze and she didn't respond. "Marshall Shannon, time to wake up." His voice took more of an authorative tone. She stirred, half opening her eyes. "Wake up, Mare." Her eye's opened and she looked at Marshall, but her eyelids were half closed a second later. Marshall looked at the doctors concerned.

"Do you know if she has any, adverse reactions to medications?" The doctor was trying to weed out the reasons for her lethargic state, knowing the injury would not cause this degree of lethargy.

"She has a low tolerance for pain medication." Marshall remembered her hesitation, when she was shot before. The Doctor was flipping through her chart.

"I am going to have her pain medication changed out to a lower dose. We are going to take her down for an MRI, to ensure everything is alright." The nurse was unhooking the iv bag from the hook and the wires from the machines.

"Now?" Marshall looked to the nurse and doctor. "Should I be concerned?"

"No, just a precaution. We will bring her right back, after the scan is complete." They rolled Mary out of the room, leaving Marshall there wondering what the hell was going on now.

"Where's Mary?" Stan asked him as he walked in with Eleanor. He could tell from the look on his inspectors face that something had happened. "Marshall?"

"Doctor took Mare for a MRI, they are changing her medications. He is concerned with how lethargic she has been."

"Isn't that to be expected from a gunshot wound?" Eleanor looked to Stan and Marshall, hoping for a positive response. Neither responded, so she decided distracting them both was better. "Marshall, we grabbed you a coffee and pastry from the cafeteria."

"Thank you." Marshall took them from her, even though he wasn't hungry, he ate the pastry. They all sat there silently sipping their coffee, when the doctor came back without Mary. Marshall immediately knew something was wrong. "What did you find?"

"There appears to be minor internal bleeding. She is being prepped for surgery now, I will know more once I get in there." The Doctor hated to give them bad news without more details, but at the moment that couldn't be helped. There was really nothing any of them could say. Marshall gave the Doctor a nod and then resigned himself to the fact that she wasn't safe yet.

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"Please state your name for the record." The court officer asked the witness as they swore him in. Bobby was sitting in the front row behind the prosecutor.

"Sam Mathers." The man looked fearful over at the defendents table, where Monetti was staring intently at him.

"Do you swear to tell, the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you god." Court officer held the bible for the witness to place his hand.

"I do."

"Please have a seat." The court officer walked away and the prosecution attorney stood beginning his questioning.

"Mr. Mathers, were you hired to kill a witness...that was expected to testify at this trial yesterday?"

"Yes."

"Who hired you?"

"Monetti." The courtroom erupted and the jurors looked uncomfortably at the defendant.

"Did he contact you directly?"

"Yes, myself and my partner Jacob."

"How were you paid?" The prosecutor was good, covering all possible defense questions to avoid any question of the testimony's veracity.

"Wire transfer into bank account." As Sam testified, the prosecutor walked over and handed him a piece of paper.

"Is that your account, showing the $500,000 payment?"

"Yes."

"Please accept this as exhibit 11a and for the record shows payment in witnesss account, as well as proof of originating funds from the defendants account."

"So noted." The judge affirmed the evidence and it was handed off to the court officer.

"Not further questions." The prosecutor sat down and the defense started in.

"Mr. Mathers did you actually shoot anyone yesterday?"

"No."

"So, you never actually carried out the supposed hit."

"No."

"We are well aware shots were fired yesterday, who did that?"

"My partner Jacob."

"Ah I see, so how do we know you are not, fabricating this testimony."

"I have no reason to."

"No further questions."

"Redirect your honor." Prosecutor stood up. "Mr. Mathers, what happened to Jacob?"

"He was killed, after firing at Sara."

"What did you when he went to take the shot?"

"I saw the blond Marshal, yell and pull out her gun. After I saw him get hit, I tried to escape."

"So you didn't think you should finish the job you were paid for?"

"I was afraid and knew it wasn't possible."

"Is your life in danger testifying here today?"

"Yes, Monetti doesn't handle betrayal well. Anyone who has ever betrayed him, either goes missing or ends up dead. He will come after me. He doesn't like loose ends. Sam shifted uncomfortably from the stand.

"What is going to happen to you when you leave here?"

"I will be in witness protection, so that he can't find me."

"Thank you for your honesty Mr. Mathers." The prosecution went back and sat down. "I am finished with this witness and ask that additional charges be considered for this trial."

"Please clear the courtroom." The judge ordered from the bench. After a few minutes, only the judge, attorneys and the defendant remained. "Mr. Monetti, based upon the testimony we just heard, additional charges are to be made against you, attempted murder of a witness and a Federal Marshal. I would suggest you discuss a plea. If no plea is reached, trial will resume tomorrow and additional charges will be added." The judge banged the gavel and Monetti was escorted out of the courtroom with his attorney following close behind. Bobby immediately pulled out his cell, dialing Stan.

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"We may have a problem...can't go into detail now, will see you shortly." Bobby hung up giving Stan a cryptic message, concerned with who could hear him. He quickly exited the Courthouse, the entire drive to the hospital he watched his rearview, to ensure nobody was following him. He walked into Mary s ICU room to find Stan, Eleanor and Marshall but no Mary. "Where is Mary?"

"Surgery...they found additional bleeding." Stan had been pacing since Bobby's call. "What is going on?"

"Sam testified today. I have a feeling Mary may be in danger." Marshall immediately stiffened. "He said that Monetti really didn't like loose ends...took betrayal pretty serious. Even though Mary didn't betray, since she wasn't on his team, he might think of her as a loose end. She stopped his plan to take out Sara." Bobby was looking between Stan and Marshall waiting on one of them to say something. "Maybe I am being paranoid..."

"No. No, I don't think you are. Even if you are with Mary's luck lately...let's go on the side of caution." Stan was pacing again. "We need to clear her record out of the hospital computers and put her under an alias, until she can be moved." Marshall hadn't said a word. He stood there mulling everything Bobby and Stan said.

"Too many people know she is here. News coverage was there the day of the shooting. It is known a Marshal was hurt. She can't stay here, once she is out of surgery and we are assured all is well, we should move her." Marshall was trying to think of places to take her.

"Marshall, she isn't going to be ready to go in a few hours. We can't risk her health moving her too soon." Eleanor chimed in before Stan, seeing Marshall was slowly unraveling. Irony of timing, Mary was wheeled into the room with her doctor and nurse.

"We found a small bleed, which looked to be caused by a small fragment from the bullet. Everything looks good now. We changed out her medication and hopefully she will awake more lucid." The doctor could tell he walked in on an intense conversation.

"How soon can she be released?" Marshall was ready to carry her out now.

"Released? She just got out of a second surgery." The doctor was looking to Stan, who seemed to be the authority figure.

"We may have a problem of her safety. Barring no complications, when can we take her out of here?" Stan was calmer then Marshall, but also didn't want to see anymore harm come to Mary.

"A day or two at the earliest..." The doctor reluctantly stated.

"Alright, we need her moved to a different room, her record wiped from the computer and her in as an alias." The doctor and nurses eyes widened. "For as long as she is here, there is danger for her and everyone here. Only you two should have access to her, if we need any additional medical staff then we need to clear them first."

"What about the morgue?" All eyes looked to Marshall. "Nobody would think to look for her there. It would be an easier area to contain personnel."

"Not a bad idea..." Stan looked to the doctor. "Can you tell me, who I need to talk to in order to get this done?" The doctor nodded and Bobby and Stan left with him to get everything set up. Marshall and Eleanor looked at each other and then to Mary, both remembering their conversation in the waiting room. 'When will her luck run out?'