A/N: I have readers! A big hug and thanks to everyone who read (and even bigger hugs to the kind reviewers). This story might not follow canon. I'm in school. I spend 20 hours a day studying, so I have probably only seen three episodes this season. That being said, pretend it's AU, and you'll be fine. I can't find anywhere what state Marshall is actually from, so I decided he's a Texan. It's be best state in the union for a reason (don't hate). Anyway. Thanks to the reviewers and readers. Here's chapter three.

Mary was always happy to see the weekend finally roll around, and this weekend was shaping up to be an especially good one. There were no transfers planned, and all of her witnesses were behaving surprisingly well. The week had been quiet, overall, and she'd even managed to get caught up on all her paperwork. That was something she usually procrastinated doing. Boring, busywork bothered her. The tedious minutia grated on her nerves in contrast to her partner, who thrived on details. Mary was more of an in your face kind of gal. She preferred to kick ass and take names later. Marshall, she reflected, was more cautious, calculating. He preferred to weigh the risks and benefits, all possible outcomes of any given decision or maneuver before acting. Mary just plain preferred acting. She'd deal with the consequences later. Paperwork, though, could not be ignored forever, and since she'd run out of excuses to put if off earlier in the week, by the time that Friday came around she found herself begrudgingly muddling through piles of papers.

Her activities for the day did not go unnoticed by her partner, who had made a sort of hobby out of observing her. With each packet of papers completed, her frustration grew louder and more evident. Marshall kept his head down and watched as she slammed her palm down on the completed pile with a huff and a barely concealed string of obscenities.

"Problems, Mare?" He was smiling. She hated it when she upset and he smiled that annoying "I told you so" grin of his.

"Don't start with me." She warned him, raising her hand with index finger extended and shaking it at him. "I'm not in the mood."

"When ARE you in the mood?" He questioned silently. "Can I get you anything?" He asked sweetly, rather than voice his thoughts and risk being manually emasculated on the spot. She could do it, too. He had no doubt.

"Yeah." She rubbed her temples wearily. "A secretary."

"They're calling themselves "administrative assistants" now, remember?" He reminded her of the PC training they'd had to sit through a few months back.

She grunted disdainfully at that and threw her pen across the room in anger.

"Mary, would you like me to help you fill out some of the forms?" He knew she'd never ask, and may not even accept the offer, but he wouldn't be Marshall if he didn't try.

"No." She was predictable sometimes. "They're my witnesses. I'll do it." She grumbled.

He watched her outright for a few moments before turning his attentions back to his own work, which wasn't really work at all. He'd been researching apartments for Katie. She'd mentioned something over dinner one evening that she'd been apartment hunting, but she wasn't sure of some of the neighborhoods. Mary had said something about looking it up, but Marshall was betting that she hadn't had the time. His research had turned up a few promising places, but he was secretly hoping that she'd stay with Mary a while longer. He worried less about Mary now that she had someone to look after her. He knew she'd be fed well, there was someone around to listen to her, just be with her. Be kind to her. Plus, Katie had the pleasant habit of cooking rather large quantities of food and inviting Marshall to dine with them. He found he rather enjoyed the dinners. Mary visibly relaxed around her younger cousin, opening up and shedding some of the many layered defenses she carried around with her. She was still a mystery to him sometimes, but he felt like he was finally getting to know the real Mary Shannon. Plus, Katie was a hoot by herself. He genuinely enjoyed her company as well, and the lively conversations around the dinner table and after reminded him of time spent with his own family. Living alone, he sometimes yearned for that togetherness. A bachelor lifestyle did not afford one many opportunities to engage in such activities often, and he was pleasantly surprised at the degree to which he found himself anticipating these occasions. He felt less alone, and sometimes, even he needed a little companionship. He wasn't a monk, after all. Yet. Although it had been a while.

"Katie invited you to dinner tonight."

Mary's voice broke through his thoughts, and for a moment he was worried that he'd been thinking out loud. He'd noticed that he was developing Mary's habit of not censoring his thoughts. It had gotten him in trouble when he was a child, and he prayed that the annoying tic wasn't creeping into his life again.

"What?"

"Katie." Mary repeated. "She's making dinner tonight. She invited you." Mary paused. "Actually she just said she was cooking, and insinuated that there'd be enough if you wanted to stay." Katie was far too much of a lady to actually invite Mary's partner over herself. She was very careful to leave the act of extending the invitation to Mary.

"Okay." He didn't miss Mary's frown at his response.

"So?" She shook her head and shot him the look he knew too well.

"So, what?"

"So are you staying for dinner?" Mary spat at him. If only Katie had actually asked him to come. She was much more at ease relaying invitations than extending them herself. Even to Marshall. She had no similar reservations regarding inviting herself to Marshall's house, though, and he had learned when to expect her, or at least how to hide his surprise when she showed up on his doorstop unannounced. He could read the signs now. The subtle shift in her attitude toward going home at the end of the day. The extended overtime without too much protest. If Mary showed too much interest in asking what his plans were for the evening, he knew to put an extra pot of coffee on and cook something real for dinner, or at the very least, pick up two orders of kung pao.

"Do you want me to?" He challenged.

"Marshall, just yes or no, okay." She stood suddenly, her desk chair rolling quickly away from her as it hit the back of her knees, in no mood for his games.

"It's a simple question." He knew he was playing with fire now. "Do you want me to come?"

She was agitated and working her way towards angry now. He had pushed too far.

"I don't want to intrude on all your time with your cousin." He extended an olive branch, praying she'd see reason, even if it wasn't truth. He HAD been spending an inordinate amount of time at Mary's house of late. He didn't mind, but he was hoping that she did not, either.

"You're always welcome, Doofus." He heard her mutter as she stalked to the coffee machine. The growl she emitted upon discovering the pot was empty was at a higher decibel level, and Marshall was grateful for her distraction. It kept her from noticing the goofy grin he knew she'd give him endless crap for if she'd seen. He was always welcome. In her home. It was a place to start. Right?

"Oh, good." Katie glanced up and greeted her cousin as she walked in the kitchen. "You brought Marshall." She stooped and grabbed a pan from the oven. "I made a ton of food tonight." Her voice was strained with the weight of the baking dish and its contents.

"Hey, Katie." Marshall strolled leisurely into the kitchen, following his nose and the sound of pleasant conversation. "What'd ya make tonight?"

"Lasagne." She pointed to the casserole cooling on the trivet.

"Do I smell bread?"

"Resting over there." She nodded to the counter on her left as she tossed a salad, then moved to stir something on the stove.

"Can I do something?" He didn't mind helping, and felt a little guilty about eating at Mary's house all the time now. He'd been here nearly daily for the past two weeks, and while he'd never been better fed, he felt he should contribute something.

"Over there." She motioned to a bowl of suspicious brown substance. "Can you put that in the pan beside it?" He followed her gaze and saw a pan with a suspiciously homemade looking pie crust in it, already baked to near perfection.

Mary watched the exchange quietly from her perch beside the doorway. Marshall and Katie got along well. She as glad the two most important people to her were friends, but something about it gnawed at her insides.

"Mary, could you finish setting the table for me?" Katie broke into her thoughts. "I started, but then I got distracted."

Mary jumped at the chance to leave the kitchen. How close were they, she wondered. Was Katie interested in Marshall? More importantly, was he interested in her? She liked being the only woman in Marshall's life, and the thought of her little cousin worming her way into his world distressed Mary more than she would like to admit.

"This is crazy." She muttered to herself as she set out three place settings. Katie had always been the nurturing one. She could pick out a lonely soul in a crowd, and would invariably set about ensuring that individual was properly socialized. Maybe she thought Marshall was lonely. Maybe she was just being nice. Maybe…crap.

"Is this homemade?" Marshall was asking when Mary reentered the kitchen. He was cutting the bread into slices and arranging it on a cookie sheet, then smearing the slices with something.

"It's not hard." Katie deflected. "Just mixing and waiting, really."

He wanted to ask her where she learned to cook, but it didn't seem appropriate.

She'd really gone all out tonight, and Mary had a suspicion that it was for a reason. She had yet to deduce what the cause was, but she wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth. Katie was a talented cook, and Mary could not for the life of her remember there ever being homemade bread or pie in her house. Jinx cooked sometimes, but that as usually something from a box, and Brandi had inherited her mother's domesticity. She'd been uncharacteristically quiet through dinner, so when Katie excused herself to clean up the kitchen, she took the opportunity to interrogate Marshall.

"So, what do you think of her?" Sometimes, Mary had all of the finesse of a bull.

"Katie?" Marshall immediately saw through the façade, and understood what he was truly being asked. "She's a sweet kid." Mary visibly relaxed at his response. The use of the term "kid," while affectionate, did not denote a romantic interest of any kind on his part. And this was Marshall. She could read him if he was lying or trying to conceal something from her. His face was plain and open, and she knew she had nothing to worry about on his end.

"Hell of a cook." He continued.

"Hmm?" Mary looked up, surprised. "Oh. Yeah."

"How'd she learn to cook?" He'd been aching to ask for two weeks now, and that was as long as Marshall could go without knowing anything.

"TV." Mary answered honestly.

"TV?"

"PBS had cooking shows." Mary shrugged. "I think it was self preservation on her part. She's the only one in the whole family that can cook." Marshall understood her full meaning, and took correctly to mean that Katie was a singularity in her entire extended family when it came to culinary prowess.

"She was so cute." Mary was continued, unbidden, and uncharacteristically uninhibited about sharing something from her childhood. "She'd cook for us all the time, trying out one recipe or another. Some of her meals were more successful than others." She wrinkled her nose at the memory of Katie's failed first attempt at using real garlic. "She didn't know the difference in a clove and a bulb," she continued, furthering Marshall's surprise. "I don't know what the recipe called for, but she threw in the whole thing."

He found himself laughing at the though.

"It was so bad. Brandi tried to eat it, but no one could swallow. It was so bad. We all smelled like garlic for days." Marshall watched as Mary's face softened and smiled wistfully at the memory. "I think the lady that lived next door to her may have taught her some stuff. Baking, and such, you know."

Silence descended on the pair for a moment, and both sat, absorbed; one in thoughts of the past, the other more immediate. Katie interrupted their moment of comfortable silence as she whirled in to clean up the last of the dishes from the table and give it a good wiping. Marshall still felt awkward about not helping her clean up. He'd tried to every day for a week, but she shooed him out of the kitchen every day, citing that it was her rent, and if he helped, then she'd have to take on additional duties to make up for it.

"Do you guys mind if I use the table for homework?" Katie poked her head into the dining area, arms laden with books and papers from school. She'd started classes earlier this week, and the summer session was proving to be challenging.

Marshall followed Mary out into the living room and settled beside her on the sofa, their routine now familiar after repeating a similar pattern for the better part of two weeks now. The partners watched television in companionable silence, breaking the stillness in the living room only to mock the producers of the standard television show for their predictability. Marshall saw Mary yawn, and was about to stand up and announce that it was time for him to go when he heard a frustrated growl from the dining area. Another sound followed, then the sound of papers shuffling, and a book being set down heavily on the table.

"Everything okay?" He asked quietly as he dodged a flying pencil, startling Katie who hadn't heard him enter. "Sorry." He murmured when she jumped at the sound of his voice. Apparently the tendency to launch writing implements as projectiles when aggrevated was yet another trait that she shared with his partner. Years of working with Mary had honed his reflexes, so he was ready should an eraser follow the pencil's path.

"It's fine." She sighed, although he could tell things obviously weren't fine at all.

"What are you studying?" He retrieved the offending pencil and stood beside her and looked from her textbook to her paper that she'd been working on before he interrupted her.

"Stats." Katie motioned angrily to the last problem on her page. "I have no idea how to do these. I can't get the answer right." She hated statistics. It wasn't even science, she raged inside. Not math. Not science. Not even soft science. Now she knew she'd made the right decision in putting this class off for this long.

Marshall pointed to the textbook and caught her eye. "May I?" He asked permission before taking it.

"Go ahead." She pushed the book toward him as he took a seat at the table and engrossed himself in a subject that he hadn't thought about since his days as an undergrad. Katie stood and stretched, peering into her mug to check for fluids.

"I'm going to make some tea, would you like anything?"

"Tea's fine." He nodded, glancing up momentarily. "If you're making it anyway."

Katie put the water on to boil, then rejoined the tall man in the living room who was pouring over her text book, frantically scribbling something on her dry erase board.

"What's going on?" Mary was amused. Katie looked ready to scream or throw things, a feeling Mary understood quite well, and Marshall was writing something in his oddly neat handwriting. She squinted at his work and groaned. "Seriously, Marshall, you actually remember that stuff?" He really was a power nerd.

"Not quite, but I've almost got it." His voice sounded distracted as he used his index finger to erase his last calculation and replace it with another value.

"There." He sat down the board and smiled at Katie encouragingly. "I can help you with this."

"You can?" Katie's voice was one of disbelief. "Seriously?"

"Here." He pointed to where she'd gotten mixed up in the calculation. "You should have used the mean squared weighted deviation, not the standard deviation from the mean." Katie stared at him in awe, and Mary sat down with an annoyed huff. She watched while her cousin erased part of her work, and started over with the new value, gaining a new respect for her partner and friend as the smile on her cousin's face grew.

Katie checked her new answer with the value in the back of the book and laughed out loud. "I've been working on that problem for an hour now! How'd you do that?"

Mary fielded that one before Marshall had a chance to respond. "He sits at home by himself editing Wikipedia just in case someone ever has an urgent statistics situation." She ribbed him, but she was secretly impressed and a little jealous of her partner's intellectual abilities.

"Thank you!" Katie gushed gratefully.

"It's no problem." He deflected. "You got it from here?"

"Yeah, thanks." Her head was already back in her books, and Marshall knew from experience that she wouldn't surface again until she was finished with her assignment.

"I'm gonna take off." He made a show of looking at his watch for Mary's benefit. "I'll be by early tomorrow. Are you coming with us?" He was, of course, referring to his plans to take Katie to the farmer's market early Saturday morning.

"Get up early on my day off, get dressed up, and spend the morning picking out celery? No thanks." She was more than willing to sit this one out.

"Alright." He slipped his feet into his boots and pulled them on with a heave. "I'll see you later tomorrow, then." He suddenly felt awkward. Mary was standing close to him, probably unaware of her own proximity, but he wasn't. He was very aware of her presence, and the look on her face was one he couldn't discern. He could feel every hair standing on end with the electricity of desire. Rather than give in, though, he consoled himself with a friendly pat on the shoulder as he tossed his goodbye's over his shoulder. He steeled himself against looking back to see if she was still standing in the doorway until his truck was out of the driveway and in drive again. He could see her form, silhouetted in the light of her house watching him drive away. Marshall felt a pang of regret as he realized that it was probably a familiar role for her.

"I'll be back tomorrow." He knew it was foolish. He wasn't leaving her. He wasn't walking out on her. He was going home. Still, he saw the emptiness in her eyes now. The place that she had gamely tried to let Raph fill was once again hollow in his absence, and even Katie's bubbly personality could do nothing to fill the void. "I'll be back tomorrow." He repeated to himself over again as he drove the familiar roads back to his home. "I'll be back tomorrow."

More as the studies permit.