(Trying to take my time, and make every chapter better and entertaining, which is why it has taken me longer than usual to post a new chapter. Please Enjoy, I LOVE your comments, thanks to everyone who did so, and those readers who alerted as well! Much appreciated!)

-Hannanball13

"I don't believe you when you say don't come around here no more, I won't pretend to not love you at all…"

I don't believe you "Pink"

Mary pushed the stroller at a pace that allowed for her daughter to explore the park with her big dark caramel colored eyes as she happily slurped on her bottle of juice. She only had Norah to thank for her sanity at this point; Brandi was Brandi and Jinx was certainly giving Mary a run for her money about Kenny.

"When are you going to see Kenny again?" Every time Jinx called, texted, showed up, it was that same question that spewed from her mouth and sometimes good ole mom would even throw in a remark about her 'frumpy apparel' to close the exchange. She craved actual repartee, not an interrogation from her mother or her sister for that matter, who always had to cross examine her whenever she so much as grimaced lately.

She only had herself to blame she supposed, knowing she had let that oddly disheartening call to Marshall get to her exponentially more than she anticipated. She would want flowers at her wedding if that time ever came and it was possible a phone call interrupting exploration of this hypothetical perennial would tick her off too. If she really tried she could understand, but if she was being honest with herself, then by no means could she perceive reacting to Marshall in that same way. Then again, she couldn't really ever see herself tying the knot and if she ever did, she knew it wouldn't be with someone like Kenny. Sometimes, when she closed her eyes and squinted hard enough, she could see the man she wanted to marry, he was tall, handsome in a dorky way and in a manner she couldn't even begin to comprehend, understood her better than she did herself at times. Mary shook her head, knowing she couldn't possibly be thinking straight, it must have been the warmth of the sun or the overwhelming adjustments being made at the office. It had to be anything other than what it actually was.

It was time to fess up, Marshall was moving on, leaving her choking on the dust he had left behind and she needed to do the same. Mary only needed to trust herself to step in the right direction, unfortunately for several years her partner had been her go to guy for advice on which way to step and whether she should stomp or tiptoe.

The night before she had texted him, sending a picture of Norah wearing an outfit he had bought for her two months prior, like she had promised the day he had presented it to her at work. After a good amount of time had passed, Mary called it quits, no longer anticipating a response she decided to turn her phone off for an evening, an unusual occurrence because she was normally more than willing to be on call for her witnesses. But not lately, Mary still loved work, but she preferred home nowadays, even though it was where her overly sensitive sibling dwelled.

She had so much time, so much to just burst wide open, to ruin everything for him. She didn't trust herself, if she ever got more than two seconds alone with him she knew she would shatter and tell him everything that had been on her mind. Then again, maybe he deserved it, maybe the bastard deserved a hysterical lecture from his now subordinate, a disquisition that she literally hoped would make him feel as guilty as she felt crazy and all over the place. God forbid she get a moment alone with him because she knew she would explode, she knew every half thought that had passed through her mind would come spewing out of her mouth and sit in a cloud around them. And she knew exactly what Marshall would say once it had cleared,

"You're my best friend."

Those words used to be satisfying, so satisfying to her that it was sickening, but now they just stung, they caused her heart to ache and her cheeks to burn with jealousy and resentment. Yes, she resented him now. He was just another person that was going to leave; pretty soon he would sport a silver band around his left ring finger that would forever pull him away from her, snap the very last string that still connected them, take away the only person from her that had truly ever been there.

At the same time, she knew that part of her that was beginning to loathe him for doing what he did would never be a dominate slice of herself, it was just now, inside of her own head that it was so overpowering. It seemed nearly impossible that he was having no problem just letting Nancy Drew slowly push Mary away from him. It wasn't egotistical to her, because she knew him well enough to know he didn't use the term "indefinable" lightly. That had to mean even he couldn't figure out some aspects of their relationship, maybe those aspects were the ones that made him so uneasy around her lately? There were some dark corners of their friendship that were in fact, "indefinable", but for Marshall to throw around such vocabulary? A man so content and immaculately at peace with himself? A man so sure and put together as Marshall Mannnever exploited stark terminology because it threw off his very nature, offset his impeccable equilibrium and undoubtedly made it obvious that he didn't have a sufficient grasp on the exact reason why he was attempting to define their friendship. Then again, there was more than a possibility Mary could be overthinking things a little. She liked to assume that no one knew her partner better, but as time progressed and Abigail pulled him even further away she was beginning to find him less and less predictable, which was, if she was being honest, terrifying to her.

Sometimes, when she found herself lost in her mind or drowning in a sea of self-pity, it was still Marshall who rescued her from the gloomy depths of her psyche. Every now and then she would catch sight of his face just long enough to see a slight and meager tinge of apprehension, which would only send her spiraling into curiosity, giving her chills of fear for her only friend, causing her to wonder why he hid so much sadness within his charming eyes. Mary noticed, he doesn't smile the way he used to, yes he'll greet everyone in the morning with a weak smirk and head on into his office, he even referred to her as "Inspector" quite a few times, those days being his unhappiest, but that could be just her imagination. Mary wondered what kind of ultimatum Abigail gave him. She wondered what could have possibly made him say what he said and ruin what they had. It was a beautiful thing, a wonderful unorthodox way about their friendship that worked, or she had thought worked, until now.

Now there were times, where simply being in the same room with him made her blood turn ice cold and the sense of understanding would be replaced by bitterness and the idea that they were breathing the same air made her incredibly angry. Why did she lie to him? She wasn't happy, and there were days where it was clear he wasn't either.

Occasionally, she caught Marshall peering over his computer, out the window of his new office at her, a familiar expression of wonder engulfing his visage as if she were some amazing creature he could only look at through glass. She yearned for his voice at these exact moments, the smooth, steady graceful roughness of his thoughts being put into words, the same thing she used to tiptoe around, the same thing she used to do everything to "spare" herself from.

Finally, she remembered the promises. Or the promise. The one big promise. One that was silent, and a few times spoken at their most vulnerable. That they were to never be apart, that neither would leave the other. Even though, she had agreed to "let him go", she knew Marshall couldn't possibly believe that that broke the impenetrable pact of their promise to each other. She saw the same hurt she felt taking similar jabs at him, she knew that he missed her, he couldn't deny it, not only did he have no right, he had no way of affirming such a lie. That was a definite thing Marshall Mann didn't do. Lie. Which made her wonder, why hadn't she just asked him? Maybe hearing it from him would make her believe what she already knew to be true, those words he said on the balcony were not ones he wished to say, and that "I love you" was too strong to be paired with the phrase "You're my best friend". For the first time ever, she didn't believe what Marshall had told her,

He loved her.

She loved him.

They just had to quit pretending.