The doctor and Marshall talked in more detail a bit about the procedure they were going to try to use to repair the damage to Mary's body. He both thanked and cursed his medical knowledge. It was definitely going to be risky, but he was glad he understood what she was in for. If it worked, she should be able to eventually make a full recovery. If not…well, he didn't want to think about it.
"Do you have any questions or can I clarify anything for you?" the doctor asked.
"No, I think I got it. She always tells me my head is full of useless information. Unfortunately, it's not so useless right now. A blessing and a curse, I guess." Marshall said, rubbing his forehead. He took the pen the doctor offered and started signing.
"Well, we really do have a bit of time before we need the documents for the file. Do yourself a favor and take a couple of hours or so to sleep and eat. I think her family is going to be wanting to ask lots of questions when you get back. If I'm not available, you can give them to the nurse here and she'll make the necessary copies."
"Thanks. I'll be back soon." With that Marshall took one last look through the door's window at the group huddled together in the waiting room and sighed deeply. He turned away and headed for home.
***********
Marshall called Stan while he drove to update him and to see if there was any news on the shooter. There were no new leads, but APD was running the blood and shell casings through the system to see if anything popped up. In the mean time, he was doing a quick threat assessment on Mary's witnesses and took the opportunity to pick Marshall's brain to see if he had any thoughts for suspects that didn't involve the neighborhood badasses. They promised to keep each other updated and hung up as Marshall pulled into his driveway.
He dropped his keys, wallet and phone on the coffee table and headed into the kitchen. He grabbed a beer from the fridge and upon opening it, took a long pull from it. Looking through the fridge, he found some leftovers and set them in the toaster oven to heat up while he took a shower. As he headed to the bedroom, he finished emptying his pockets and in his suit jacket he found Mary's badge. The discovery rocked him back on his heels. It must have been in her pocket because she purposely wasn't wearing it while in that neighborhood. Bobby had her gun in evidence and Stan took the empty holster and extra ammo mag she had. He thought hard, but couldn't remember how he'd ended up with her badge. He ran his fingers over it, then put it on the nightstand with his own and his weapons. He'd make sure it got back to its rightful owner he told himself.
The hot water of the shower washed over him like a tidal wave, but it couldn't wash away the dispair he felt. He stood under the water, drinking his beer and contemplating just how he was going to explain to Jinx and Raph why he, and not they, was making Mary's life and death decisions. Truth is, they made life and death decisions for each other every time they went into a hostile situation. But this was different. He couldn't think or strategize their way out of this one; couldn't rely on his aim or quick reflexes. This time, with the stroke of a pen, he had told the doctors to let her go if things went bad. He'd rather be in that damn abandoned gas station again with a hole in his chest than standing there holding that pen with a hole in his heart.
He got dressed, put all his gear back on and looked again at Mary's badge. Picking it up, he vaguely remembered Stan asking him to hold it for safekeeping. Stan must have thought it would make a good substitute for a security blanket for him. He smiled at the thought, running his fingers over it again then slipped it into the inside pocket of his jacket. His bed looked so comfortable, but he felt he really needed to get back. The doctor was right, there would be a million questions when he got back and he really didn't want to make them wait any longer than necessary.
The documents were in the fire-rated file cabinet he kept in his home office. When he filed them away there, in the back of the bottom drawer, he never expected to need them. If anything, he expected her to have the power of attorney changed to Raph and was kind of surprised that she hadn't done it already. Knowing Mary though, she probably hadn't given the papers any thought since she signed them. He looked them over as he ate, absorbing the details under which he would be letting her go. He actually knew the details quite well, as they were the same as in the papers he signed on the same day.