(Thank you to all of my readers I really take to heart all of your comments, I'll be honest, today was very discouraging for me, because I got my first negative comment But I love this story so much and really want to continue with it! Please Enjoy! MARSHALL IS BACK!)

"Mary?" Marshall yelled over the shrill cries of Norah.

"Marshall? Oh thank Christ! I can't do this, every time she stops, she starts again! I'm going insane!" she cried to him, matching her daughter's wails.

"Okay, calm down Mare. It's fine, let me have her." He demanded, his arms outstretching to take Norah.

"I'm surprised the neighbors haven't called the police on me. It's two in the morn- Oh Marshall, I'm sorry, I didn't-

"It's quite alright, I don't mind!" He reassured.

"But Abigail?" Marshall couldn't help but cringe at the sound of his girlfriend's name passing his partner's lips. For some reason, the mentioning by one about the other always sent his heart into his throat. He half shook his head,

"Granted, she wasn't pleased with the sound of my cell phone buzzing against the nightstand, but she rolled over and continued on in her slumber." Marshall held Norah in his arms, soothing the cranky child with a hum coming from deep in his throat, admiring how much she looked like her mother.

"I'll go get her bottle in the- what's that? You know, the cold box thingy in the kitchen…" Mary ruffled her blonde hair,

"The refrigerator?" Marshall chuckled.

"Yeah that!" She sighed, both eyes barely open as she dragged her feet across, but stopped.

"Hey Mare, I don't mean to kick while your down, but you don't look so good, maybe you wanna get some sleep?"

"Gee! I didn't think about that doofus! Thanks for enlightening me, maybe I should try that!"

"Calm down- you know I wasn't trying to insult your intelligence, I simply was stating my opinion.

"Marshall, I swear as soon as my head hits the pillow, she'll just start up with her wailing again, she may be adorable now, but don't let her fool you- she's a monster, she's a poop covered, malfunctioning alarm clock!"

"Mommy's a little grumpy, now isn't she- that's called sleep deprivation, yeah." Marshall cooed at the infant. As he glanced back up, he could have sworn he saw a smile on his partner's face. He smirked, liking the idea that there was something about this spectacle that pleased her.

"You know what?"

"What doofus?" Mary asked grumpily, finally reaching in the refrigerator for the pre-made bottle. This past week had been awful, starting when the nurse at the hospital taught her to use a breast pump, and then finding out, Norah wouldn't suckle a god damn bottle, but much preferred the full experience, which made it necessary for Mary to be there at all times. She hoped it was something that her daughter would just grow out of, but of course, it took time for someone to grow out of something and Mary was most impatient. She figured she could keep a few bottles stowed away, for moments like these, when her daughter seemed more content in someone else's arms. She could hope, couldn't she? Mary had probably gotten a whopping three hours of sleep these past three days and she thought she would be able to deal with it. After all, she had pulled all-nighters dozens of times, but she found, maybe pulling a perpetual all-nighter for the first three months of her daughter's life may be a little excessive. Her state of mind had gone from overly confident to downright run down. At first she misplaced Norah's binky a few times, always managing to find it. Then, she started to do this "fun" thing when she didn't fully velcro Norah's diaper to her tiny bottom, which resulted in her fair share of times being peed on. Although these were all mentally discouraging situations, they didn't compare to the multiple times just today she couldn't think of a word, simple words, words she used every day. She needed sleep, there was no question about it, and Mark was nowhere to be found in the wee hours of the night, when the urge to crawl into the covers of her bed gnawed at her the most. In total desperation she picked up her phone. The idea of calling Jinx passed through her jumbled brain, but her fingers seemed to glide directly passed her mother's number on the speed dial and straight to Marshall's. As she pressed number one on her blackberry she nearly prayed she hadn't actually hit "send". But now, as Marshall stood in front of her, and he was very much there, it was the best feeling she had ever felt.

"Mare, take a break. I slept for a few hours; it's your turn, go get some rest." Marshall took the bottle from his overly exhausted partner, holding it in his free hand.

"Marshall you don't have-

"But I want to." He grinned; enjoying the rare feeling of dominance in their relationship, even though it took severe sleep deprivation to knock Mary down, Marshall was willing to take full advantage of it. "Besides, it will give me an opportunity to explore the whole fatherly role, perhaps convince me babies will have a place in my future plans."

"Yeah yeah, just don't let me catch you breastfeeding her…" Mary trailed off, trying to get off the subject of Marshall and Abigail's obviously expanding relationship. Unfortunately for her partner, she most definitely couldn't see Nancy Drew giving up her pretty little Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader figure to host a mini Marshall-pedia for nine months.

Marshall observed her as she trudged down the hallway, her head looking heavy on her drooping shoulders. He was left to tend to the tiny bundle in his arms as her bedroom door closed behind her. Norah's features showed very little of Mark, he assumed she could probably pass as a tinier clone of Mary at on month old, but it's not like he would ever see old snapshots of Mary at this age, so it would have to remain a mystery. He kissed the child tenderly on her forehead, avoiding her soft spot. Norah's eyes fluttered shut and finally her eye lids rested in place as she drifted off to sleep. Around her tiny eyes were dark circles, as if she were just as run down as her mother. Marshall chuckled, wondering what other vocabulary Mary would need assistance with when she woke up. He proceeded to lay Norah on a couch cushion, surrounding her with throw pillows. He twiddled his thumbs, awaiting any small noise from the child as to escape his boredom. Finally, he found himself whispering philosophical preaching's in Norah's direction, knowing right well she was asleep, but enjoying himself anyway. His eyes widened as his cell began to buzz against his thigh. Who could it possibly be this early in the morning? He flipped open his phone, feeling slightly agitated as he caught sight of Norah's sudden restlessness over the very slight irregular noise.

"Hello?" he whispered into the phone.

"Why are you whispering? Marshall, where the hell are you?" Abigail's shrill morning voice quaked from the earpiece of his phone, her southern accent intensifying the angry inflection in her tone,

"I'm just assisting Mary with a few baby duties, she's got a belly ache or something, but I'm no pediatrician so I can't be too sure." Marshall grunted, lifting himself from the couch to grab Norah's bottle off of the end table, hoping if he could fill the space between the open air and the baby's mouth the wails wouldn't become any louder.

"Oh."

"You looked so peaceful; I didn't want to wake you up for something as simple and routine as heading over to my best friends place." He tried his best not to sound insensitive, but it being so early in the morning, no matter how gentle he made his voice, anything sounded hostile.

"You know I don't mind it when you go to Mary's Marshall, but there is absolutely nothing routine about getting up out of bed in the middle of the night and driving out of your way to keep her company!"

"Listen, what was I supposed to do let the phone call go unanswered and just leave Mary hanging, what kind of friend would that make me, she needed help Abigail and-

" She's your partner-yeah I've heard that excuse before…" she mumbled. Marshall sighed half in frustration and half out of guilt; she hadn't brought that up again… He couldn't apologize any more than he already had, of all people he felt she would be the one who understood. It was only logical that he have Mary's back, her achy, pregnant back. Abigail was as well trained as he had been, he knew she was more than capable of ducking for appropriate cover, and to be fair, Mary was closest to the witness at the time, the flying glass and a speeding bullet could have easily missed the target more than it had, Abigail was in nowhere near the danger that Mary was. Wouldn't it have been instinct of any other law enforcement agent who had worked with the same person so long? To cover that person when they were in more of a vulnerable state that they had ever been in? He hadn't seen the fault in his actions, just Abigail's unnecessary jealousy. He took a deep breath, shaking away the urge to argue about the tired topic,

"I think it's the middle of the night, we are both cranky and the last thing I want to do is fight with you." Marshall began to struggle keeping the phone to his ear as he battled with the opposing infant to make her suckle. The harder he tried, the more she fussed, "Shhh." He tried to soothe, knowing Mary with her ridiculously keen hearing wouldn't be asleep for very long if Norah had the chance to scream any louder. In auditory skills, Mary did not lack, it was just a matter of keeping her listening to whatever you had to say, but if there was ever anything you didn't want her to hear, she was all ears.

"Did you just 'shush' me?" his girlfriend questioned, a serious crescendo of intensity radiating from her dialogue. She clearly ignored Marshall's feeble attempt to prevent the potential argument.

"No, not you! The baby, she won't take the bottle- Mary probably knows that…"

"Then why isn't Mary tending to her child?" she asked.

Throughout the entirety of their relationship, Marshall had never heard Abigail respond to him with so much resentment, he did his best to write off her failure to empathize once more taking into account the time again.

"Mary is asleep for the first time in God knows how long; I'm just trying to keep it that way!" Marshall offered, hoping she would understand.

"So I guess there's no use in asking you nicely to come home, so I think I'll just go back to sleep!" Marshall held the phone to his ear even after the line had gone dead; slightly annoyed he had just been hung up on. Sure, he had been hung up on numerous times, but by crazy ex-girlfriends, an adamant Stan, but mostly by Mary. Whether she was throwing one of her usual temper tantrums or up to antics Marshall preferred not to be apart she always made a point to hit the "end" button when he wasn't saying anything she thought to be of any value to her. He appreciated it in a sense, after all, if she purposely hung up knowing Marshall wouldn't particularly like what she was doing, that spared him from the frustration of talking her out of it, which mean she cared right?

He let the phone fall to the cushion beside him to continue his struggle with the less than merciful infant.

"C'mon Norah, just take the bottle for Uncle Marshall, you'll receive the same nourishment just without the bonding time with mama… Please? I know it's great to spend time with her and all, I enjoy it myself, but you really have to give her a break…" He begged relentlessly at the cranky child, his ears twitched nervously as Norah's wails heightened to an octave Marshall hadn't known a child with formerly premature lungs to be able to reach.

He turned to meet the sound of his partner's footsteps in the hallway.

"Thanks for that cat nap doofus, it was a long shot she'd even take that thing anyway. She likes it straight from the source, and unfortunately I happen to be the only source."

"Let me just attempt one-

"No! Don't make me argue, because then I'll get angry and when I get all flustery my hormones go on an uncontrollable rampage and my boobs will do this thing where they go all leaky faucet on me!" Mary eyed him with a look that showed the last thing she was about to do was back down. He couldn't win. She had some spunk in her from her short power nap, enough to make it at least seem like she was the old Mary again. Marshall hadn't realized he had hesitated, unknowingly and mistakenly he had kept his partner waiting.

"C'MON!" she growled, making an impatient gesture for him to hand her her daughter.

"Umm Mare?"

"WHAT?"

"You seemed to have prematurely induced lactation…" Marshall blushed, looking away to prevent Mary from becoming embarrassed.

"God damn it! Why? Now I have to do laundry- when am I going to laundry? Give me my kid!" she hissed grabbing her daughter from her partner's arms, quickly softening as the baby girl was safely snuggled into her chest. Although still crying, Norah quieted down noticeably, clearly knowing sustenance was on its way.

"Want me to leave?"

"What doof? Scared to see a little boobage?" Mary snorted, "relax I'll go." She answered, leaving the room, giving him no time to say he was leaving, the last thing she wanted him to do was go and leave her feeling alone again. She rolled her eyes at herself, realizing how silly that was, she was nowhere near alone; her daughter was endless company.

Marshall huffed, bored, but glad he wouldn't have to sit awkwardly next to his partner, swaying away and struggling not to look at Mary's exposed teat. It made him blush a deeper shade of red just thinking about it. It was strange to him, breast feeding was so natural, he didn't take a second glance at any matron who shamelessly whipped out their breast to nourish their offspring in public, but for some reason Mary was different. First of all, he knew, even in the sanctity of her own home she could never shamelessly 'let her daughter eat her nipples' as she had referred to it on the few occasions it had been brought up in conversation. Marshall smiled, felling one of those bouts of random jubilance after remembering this was all real.

Mary, his Mary, was a mother… and like he had promise her a couple of months prior, he would be there in every way he could- even if it did kill him that all he would ever be was 'Uncle Marshall'.