A/N: I do not own In Plain Sight I am just borrowing them for my own enjoyment.

Embracing the Messy

Stan and Marshall were sitting in the hospital waiting area, for word on Mary. When she didn't come to right away, they rushed her here. It was an hour, before the Doctor came out to talk to them. Luckily it was the same Doctor who treated her before, he went straight over to them.

"She is ok. I believe she suffered an anxiety attack from all the stress. She has been through a great deal in a very brief period of time, as you are well aware."

Meanwhile, in Mary's room, a man was standing beside her bed. He stood watching him, then ran a hand over her hair and placing a kiss on her forehead. Mary could felt the kiss, assuming it was Marshall. She was shocked, when she opened her eyes to find she was wrong.

"Daddy?" Her breath caught in her throat, all of the alarms on her monitors went off as her heart rate shot up.

"Hi, baby girl." He smiled at her. "Calm down..." His voice just as she remembered.

"Calm...you killed all those people." Her panic rising, wishing Marshall was there.

"People?" He laughed. "Mary, they were out to kill you."

"That's what the law is for...you..you can't just murder people. I'm a federal agent." She looked at him, still shocked that he was here and that he really didn't get it.

"I will do anything to protect you." He turned hearing someone coming. "I'll be watching over you." He quickly left the room.

"Stop!" Mary got out of the bed, pulling out the wires, running into the hall. "STOP!" Marshall and Stan heard her shouts and went running. They found her halfway down the hall, looking very pale. "He went that way." Mary was dizzy again.

"Who?" Marshall held her, Stan next to them.

"Dad." Her voice faint. "Go!" pointing in the direction of James departure.

Marshall hesitated, looked to Stan who nodded giving him the ok and ran. He could see a man, quickly making his way through the hall to the stairwell. Marshall doubled his pace, slamming through the stairwell door and taking off down the stairs.

"James! Stop! US Marshal!" Marshall had his gun out, running down the last flight of stairs out the exit doors to the parking lot. "STOP OR I'LL SHOOT!"

James turned to look at Marshall. "You won't shoot me. You won't do that to Mary." He smiled.

"You are under arrest. Get down on the ground, hands above your head." Marshall approached slowly, gun aimed at James.

"I have watched you a long time Marshall. You are a good man for my daughter, you are...devout." Marshall eyebrow raised at his description.

"You stay away from her. You have caused her nothing, but pain." Marshall was angry, as he spit the warning at her father. "You continue to do so, and I will not permit that. Get down on the ground."

"I don't think so." James smiled. "Take care of my baby girl."

Marshall raised his gun, ready to shoot him in the leg to take him down. Suddenly feeling a blinding pain on the back of his head and fell to the ground. When he came to James Wiley Shannon was gone. "Son of a bitch..." He got up and walked back in the hospital, hand on his head.

"Marshall?" Stan spotted him down the hall. "You alright?"

"Fine." Marshall's teeth clenched. "He got away, after we had a little chat. Someone came up behind me and hit me over the head." Marshall looked at Stan. "I can honestly say that I do not like her father." Stan laughed.

"Well, Mary is fine. Doctor is going to keep her overnight, for observation to be safe."

"She agreed?" Marshall looked at Stan skeptical.

"Didn't give her a choice." Stan smiled. "Now go get your head checked. That is an order." Stan went back in to sit with Mary.

"Fine. Going." Marshall turned, walking over to the Doctor, who then dragged him for a CAT scan. A while later he walked into Mary's room. "I officially hate hospitals."

"You ok?" Mary could feel the aggravation coming off him in waves.

"Yep, a few stitches all patched up." He walked over, kissing her softly. "More importantly, how are you?"

"We're fine." Mary smiled. "He just startled me, more like freaked me out. I was expecting you not him. I still cannot believe he came here."

"Your father is very determined." Marshall's tone was distant, she could tell he was thinking hard about all the implications of this mess.

"You talked to him?"

"Briefly." Marshall looked at Stan and then to Mary. "He said, I wouldn't shoot him because of you."

"He doesn't know me very well then. You have my permission to shoot him, just don't kill him." Both Stan and Marshall looked at her surprised. "What? He is a fugitive and I am a Marshal. He has made my life a wreck, he need to be brought in. I will not jeopardize my life for him, not anymore."

"He also said that he approved of me with you and had been watching me for a long time." Mary's eyes widened. "I told him to stay away from you..." Marshall looked at her and she smiled. "also that he was under arrest. That is when someone hit me over the head."

"Huh...crazy." She took a second to think about what he said.

"While you were getting checked out, I had them check the security tapes." Stan looked at Marshall. "The system was down while he was here. Think the two of you can talk to a sketch artist, so we have an updated picture of him." Mary and Marshall both nodded. "I am going to go see if we were able to get any footage, from street cameras."

"Thanks Stan." Marshall and Mary both said it at the same time, eliciting a smile form their stressed boss.

"Thank you, for trying to protect me." Mary held Marshalls hand.

"Anytime." He smiled. "Although, I have to say...I'm not loving your father." Mary just snorted.

"Can't say I blame you...honestly I don't know how I feel about him anymore." Mary was quiet for a minute and Marshall could tell she was in deep thought about this entire situation. "Why not Brandy? Why just me?"

"She was only a baby, when he left. Maybe he didn't feel any connection to her." Marshall was wondering that himself.

"Has anyone told them what is happening? Should we warn them? If only to tell them the house is gone...oooo or we can skip that and let them think I am gone." Mary gave Marshall a mischievous tone. "Now that, is a vacation."

"For as nice as that sounds, we both know you secretly love your mom and sister." Marshall laughed.

"Spoil sport." She leaned her head back and sighed. "I am not comfortable with the knowledge, that he is pretty much stalking me. Especially now, we know what he is capable of."

"I agree." Marshall hesitated. "Another concern, I am waiting for Stan to think of is witness safety. What if he is after someone...we are meant to protect? We have no idea how closely he is following us, both of us."

"Dammit." Mary sighed frustrated. "We have no choice. We have to help bring him in."