The next fifteen minutes felt like hours for Marshall, as he sat, waiting for the staff to bring Mary up from the OR. It had been two days since he'd seen her, and in that time, she'd lost enough blood to satisfy Count Dracula and gained three new bullet wounds. He wanted nothing more than to sit next to her, holding her hand, until she was discharged but he knew she wouldn't let him. He also knew that he had work that needed to be done. He would only have tonight with her. Tomorrow, he would have to go into the office and face the partner who had almost gotten her killed and the one he'd left behind in order to be at her side. It wouldn't be a pleasant day. Of course, it would all be worth it when she was released and there were two fewer desks in the office once again.
Finally, Marshall heard the sounds of a gurney being moved down the hallway. Two orderlies brought her into the room, followed by a nurse. She looked at the two men already occupying the space, and rather than ask them to leave, simply asked them to stand against the wall while she got Mary situated. Marshall watched as Mary was moved into her new bed by the two men. She was still out of it from the drugs. The nurse attached the EKG leads and the IV bag was hung on the stationary pole next to the bed. The nurse took a moment to make sure the tubes had not become tangled during the transfer and then took the bag of plasma that the orderly was offering her. She efficiently inserted the needle into Mary's arm and removed the clamp, beginning the downward flow.
When she was finished, she turned to Marshall and Stan. "Now I'm assuming you two are family, and that's why you're in here. But I don't really care. This woman needs rest. Either of you start causing problems that keep her from getting it, I'll have you thrown out. Now, the surgery went fine. The bullet to her arm didn't do any real damage, tore through some muscle is all. She'll be having some therapy for that, but with the other two holes, she won't hardly notice. The second entered her right shoulder and collided with her scapula. Again, no real damage done, course that one'll probably be the most painful when it comes to the therapy, not that that matters, she'll still be working it. The last bullet is what had the doctors worried. Because it entered just above her kidney, they wanted to be as sure as possible that no damage was done to it, or any of the surrounding organs. There wasn't any. But, with three GSWs, that's a lot of blood loss. We waited to give her this last unit till after surgery so that we could work and not risk her losing any of her newly acquired stores. She should be waking up in about an hour or so, but chances are, she'll be in a world of pain. That being the case, page me and I'll come in and see to her. But I didn't want to give her another dose just yet. One of the other nurses says she knows Miss Shannon and that she has a very high tolerance for pain, and a very low one for drugs, and that the marshal waiting in her room would assure me it was the right call." The nurse looked between the two men, hoping for some kind of response.
Marshall stepped forward, his hand extended, "Sorry, that would be me; I'm Marshall, Mary's fiancé. And it's true, Mary has a very low tolerance for drugs, she'll appreciate you not doping her up, even if it's not the smartest decision when it comes to her health. Of course, I appreciate you waiting as well, I'd really like to see her open her eyes."
The nurse looked Marshall up and down, nodding in approval. "I'm Elizabeth. Don't worry, she'll be waking up, but I promise you, she won't be happy about it. She's going to be in a lot of pain for the next couple of days, due mainly to that second bullet. She'd going to have to get over that aversion to painkillers real quick."
Marshall didn't bother explaining Mary's mindset to the nurse, she'd find out soon enough on her own. But Marshall was willing to bet, Mary would not be willingly taking any more of their drugs. In fact, he wouldn't be surprised if one of the first things she tried to do was remove the IV. Just wanting some time alone with his fiancé, he kept that to himself. "Thank you, Elizabeth. I'll be sure to page you when she wakes."
Knowing a dismissal when she heard one, the nurse, turned and left the room. Stan, too, could sense that Marshall just wanted to be alone. Figuring that he had driven enough of a wedge between the couple, and wanting to give them what he could, Stan stood. "Listen, I've got to go check on Whitney, and after that, Daniels and I are going to have a nice long conversation. Give me a call, let me know when she wakes up."
Marshall's eyes did not leave his fiancé's face. "I will." Now that Mary was in front of him, he had no time for small talk or soothing other's feelings. He wanted nothing more than to sit with her, hold her hand, talk to her. He sat back in the chair, moving it beside her bed so that he could hold her hand. He entwined his fingers with hers.
Stan watched for a moment, giving Marshall a chance to say anything further, but after a few seconds, he realized that the younger man had already dismissed him. Not wanting to disturb the young couple, Stan backed out of the room. He knew that once Marshall had had a chance to speak to Mary, he'd be able to think clearly again.
Marshall barely registered the exits of his companions, so focused was he on Mary. He didn't know if he could go through this again, sitting by her bedside, hoping she'd wake up soon. It had been hard enough the first time, a year ago, when she was only his partner. But now she was his everything, and he knew, without a doubt, that he could not lose her. And despite the reassurances from the nurses, he wouldn't be able to accept her prognosis until she'd told him herself, in her exasperated 'stop hovering, or I'll kill you' way, that she was fine.
He gently raised her hand, bringing it to his lips. "Mare, I know you can hear me and I need you to listen. A year ago, you told me you wanted to take this step. We sat here, in this very hospital, and you said you were willing to bet on me. I took that bet, Mare. I've put everything I am into this relationship. There is nothing I wouldn't do for you. You wouldn't let me go, what makes you think you're allowed? I need you to come back to me, sweetheart. I can't do this without you." Marshall kept his eyes on Mary's face, trying to block out the wires and tubes attached to her and the sound of the EKG machine. He didn't want to see her this way, hurt and vulnerable. He'd known Mary for a long time, and seeing her vulnerable always broke his heart. Mary was strong and self-sufficient. She was courageous and determined. No matter what obstacles were thrown in her way, he'd never seen her fail to overcome them. He had to believe that this time would be no different. Watching her like this, with machines and tubes, it wasn't his Mary.
Time seemed to slow down. The tick of the clock was replaced by the comforting beep of Mary's heart monitor. Marshall did not know if he had been sitting by her bed for 5 minutes or five days. Trapped in a weird time warp, reminded of the last time they'd been in this particular position, he couldn't bring himself to move. When she'd woken up the last time, she'd said she was disappointed he wasn't at her side. He fully intended to be there this time, regardless of how long it took for her to open her eyes.
He felt her fingers flex first, just a gentle tightening of her hand clasped in his. He hadn't even realized how shallow his breaths were until he felt her fingers move. Her movements lifted a weight off his chest and he breathed deeply for the first time since Stan had called him in Miami. "Mare, honey, can you hear me? "
For a moment there was no response. And then, "Of course I can hear you, doofus. I'm shot, not deaf." She opened her eyes and turned her head, wanting to see Marshall. She heard the pain in his voice, so similar to the pain she'd heard a year ago, before they meant everything to each other. Finding him, she let out a sigh. Hoping to ease the tension in his eyes, she did her best to make a joke. "I don't remember déjà vu ever being this painful."
Her words had the desired effect; the pain in his eyes was quickly washed away and replaced with something new, anger. "This isn't funny." He wasn't mad at her, but the whole situation had him upset. Hearing her making jokes, knowing she was going to sweep the whole episode under the rug, still recovering from the fear of hearing she'd been shot, the words had just slipped out.
A part of her felt bad for making the joke, but a bigger part of her just wanted to put off the drama that was coming. She knew Marshall had every right to be upset, hell she was upset. But right now, she wanted nothing more than to hold his hand and relish in the fact that they were both alright. Hoping she could make that happen, she tried again. "I'm fine, Marsh. I mean, I'm going to be alright. Can we just focus on that for a minute, before we start pointing fingers over what happened?"
He should have expected her desire to put it all off, should have anticipated her need to have a moment before she had to think about it all. She'd been like that all the time he'd known her, able to deal with everyone else's problems without preamble, but needing time to analyze her own before facing them. He should have seen that coming and known to give it to her. But he was on edge and not thinking clearly. He should have just been happy to see her awake. Instead, he started the conversation he thought she was avoiding. "What happened, Mare? What happened is your partner wasn't where he was supposed to be when you needed him."
Mary's heart stopped. The anger in Marshall's eyes mixed with the words he'd uttered, the derision when he said the word partner, scared her. Her exhausted mind and drug-altered senses jumped to a conclusion that scared her more than the prospect of Marshall leaving her ever had. It never happened. The last year, us being together, him proposing, none of it happened. It was all a stupid, perfect, horrible dream, and now I'm awake. Raphael is in some waiting room down the hall and the reason I'm in the hospital is because I was protecting Francesca, not Whitney. Her mind fought to reject the conclusion even as her heartbeat sped up. "No, you weren't supposed to be there. You aren't supposed to be here. This is wrong. This is all wrong." She looked at her left hand, hoping to see a modest claddagh given to her in an upscale restaurant, and not a stupid rock fished out of a pocket in her own kitchen. But her hand was empty. "My ring, where's my ring?"
Marshall watched Mary go from completely calm to full on panic in three seconds. Instead of pulling her ring out of the pocket he'd placed it in for safe keeping, he stood and tried to calm her. "Mare, relax, it's safe, okay. Just calm down; tell me what's wrong."
As he spoke, Elizabeth, Mary's nurse entered the room. "What did I tell you? I gave you specific instructions not to upset my patient. She's not awake five minutes and already her stats are all over the place. I'm gonna have to ask you to leave. I don't care who you are."
Elizabeth took a step toward the bed, syringe in hand to sedate her patient. Mary, seeing the drugs, tried to move away. "No, no drugs. I don't want them." She turned to her partner, her fiancé, her everything, whether he knew it or not, "Marshall, please, don't let her. I don't want to sleep again."
Hearing the plea in her voice, a quality he'd only ever heard there when Mary was truly at her most desperate, like when she'd woken with nightmares after her abduction, Marshall quickly moved to action. He stepped around the bed and placed himself between the nurse and Mary's IV. "She's fine. It was just the shock of waking up, she wasn't sure where she was for a minute. Her stats will even out in a second, she just needs a moment to breath." He hoped Elizabeth would listen, because he didn't want to go to extremes, but there was no way he was letting the nurse administer that dose. Not when Mary had begged.
As if to back up his words, Mary began taking deep breaths, trying to even out her heart rate, hoping the nurse would leave. She needed to talk to Marshall, needed to tell him…everything. Her will power proving stronger than her panic attack, the spikes on the EKG read out began to spread out, returning to an even rhythm. The nurse saw the change, and begrudgingly recapped the syringe. "Alright, but I see another spike, and I'm sedating her. She can't recover if her heart's being stressed." She turned around and exited, muttering to herself as she went.
When the door finally clicked closed, Marshall turned to Mary. He saw that though her heart had returned to a normal pace, there were tears in her eyes, another rarity for his tough-as-nails partner. Without another thought, he sat next to her, pulling her close. "Hey, relax, I'm sorry I scared you, I shouldn't have pushed. We don't have to talk about what happened, that can wait. You're right, you're okay, and that's what matters."
Feeling his arms around her, whether their relationship was all a figment of her relationship or not, calmed her. So what if it's all a dream. Doesn't mean it can't all happen. It'll just be easier this time, I know we can make it. She took a deep breath, stealing herself for what was coming, just in case it didn't go the way it had in her dream. "I love you, Marsh."
Marshall pulled back and caught Mary's eyes. He'd never felt for anyone the depth of love he felt for the stubborn blonde in his arms. He leaned forward and captured her lips. Careful not to upset the monitors, and thus bring the nurse back, he pulled back after a moment. "I love you too, Mare, more than I ever thought possible."
It was his kiss that opened her eyes. She felt like an idiot for a moment, realizing that the last year had in fact happened. Stan must have told Marshall Teddy fucked up. That explained the anger at her partner. She let out a sigh, glad she wouldn't have to start their relationship from scratch when she was so ready to be his wife in this moment. She placed her head on his shoulder, reaching for his hand. "Call Stan, tell him you proposed and let's get married, right now."
Marshall let out a small chuckle. "Stan knows." He reached into his pocket for her engagement ring. He held it out for her. "They gave him your personal effects. He saw this and called me on it. Though he never actually congratulated us, I'm pretty sure he meant too. He said he's going to get us back together."
Mary tried not to get her hopes up, "Partners?"
Nodding, Marshall slipped the ring back onto her finger, "Yup. He said we'd be reassigned before you were done rehab. And once you are, we'll have our wedding. No sense getting married when you can't enjoy the honeymoon. Besides, having a wedding to plan will give you something to do while you're on bed rest."
She didn't argue, or even scoff. Instead she smiled. The prospect of planning a wedding to Marshall appealing to her in a way one to Raphael never had, especially when coupled with the thought of a honeymoon with him and the chance to be in the field together again. After a moment, she broke the silence, "Speaking of partners, where are they?"
"Royce is still in Miami. I left him there with my witness when I got Stan's call. I couldn't wait for the flight home tomorrow, I needed to be here." He gave her a slight squeeze, hoping she'd understand how important being by her side was. "Stan sent Daniels back to the office as soon as he got here, so I figure he's still there. I'm pretty sure Stan plans on making him do all Whitney's relocation paperwork by himself."
Mary nodded. If Stan had been here, he would have made sure that Whitney was checked out and then moved to a safe location. She let herself relax against Marshall. Her arm burned, her shoulder hurt, and her abdomen felt like someone was drawing on it with a hot poker. But she wasn't about to ask for drugs.
Unfortunately, Marshall knew that, knew her. "I'm gonna call your nurse back. You need to rest, and you can't do that if you're in pain." Off the fear in her eyes, he placed a kiss to her forehead. "I'll stay, I'll keep you safe." He settled them back against the pillows before pressing the call button. Elizabeth made no comment about him being in Mary's bed, simply administered the drugs and disappeared. Mary leaned against her fiancé and allowed her body to relax. While ten minutes ago she had been terrified to sleep, she knew now that Marshall would still be the one beside her when she woke.
