(Dun, dun, dun! We all knew it was gonna happen friends, I just hope you enjoy reading as much as I did writing it! Two updates in one day ;) Please comment and enjoy!)

Marshall tried to shake off the events of today. Mary's slip of her tongue sent his day into a downward spiral, the car ride was absolutely awkward and Norah couldn't be silenced with her binky so naturally he ended up leaning against the driver's side door of his automobile, giving Mary the privacy to nurse in his back seat. When they finally headed into the store, a countless number of elderly women stopped them to take a look at Norah; Mary almost had an aneurism and managed to scare away the rest of the old ladies wanting a peek at her daughter. At check out, the cashier mistook Marshall as the father, and commented on how much the baby looked like him, which didn't help his already fragile mood. He knew for a fact there wouldn't be any late night calls from his partner tonight, because they had barely been able to handle standing next to each other for their short outing. Not to mention, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't look her in the face, he was afraid to. He could do nothing to stop himself from spewing the innards of his subconscious to an infant that merely looked like Mary , how was he supposed to look into the actual eyes of his partner and not regurgitate the words he had confided to her tiny daughter, the words he promised himself he would lock away?

Marshall closed the door to his home, looking up to catch the questioning gaze of Abigail.

"Where have you been?" She asked. As if she didn't know.

"Oh, umm, I had to get Mary out of the house, I don't think she's been in direct sunlight for a week…" he tried to smile, but his mind had him in an emotional hold, one he couldn't wrestle out of.

"Uh-huh…" she turned around, grabbing for a glass of wine, "Well, why don't you just relax.."

"Yeah…" he answered, partially unsure of what she had actually said, taking the glass from his girlfriend's hand.

"What's on your mind there cowboy?"

"Nothing, just work, Hey? Wanna come with me to Mary's Sunday, we're gonna have ham. You could meet Norah…"

"I thought we were having date night Sunday?" her brow furrowed as Marshall searched in his brain for when he had promised that.

"I'm sorry, I forgot…" He stated, not sorry, in fact kind of disappointed, but maybe that's what he needed, a jolt back to reality and maybe alone time with Abigail could do exactly that.

He looked back up, as if trying to coax her into continuing the conversation because he had no ambition to, but he found himself only look into her angry eyes.

"So aren't you going to reschedule?" she asked.

"Yeah I'll do that…"

"Marshall…" Abigail sighed, clearly about to lead him into an area of their relationship he couldn't handle at the moment.

"What?" His voice rose in pitch accidentally, and he knew there would be an argument.

"Does Mary always come first? Seriously Marshall! I have waited all week for date night and you go and make plans with her to have some dinner you didn't bother telling me about til now?"

"I wasn't being disrespectful Abby, we didn't plan it! I brought some doughnuts; we got to talking about ham-

"Don't change the subject Marshall Mann!"

"Believe it or not, I wasn't!" he replied defensively.

"Every night this week you have untangled me from your arms to go help her with that kid and-

"Her name is Norah! And she's a beautiful little girl, you know Mary she-

"I know Mary has done nothing but be rude to me since the day I met her, I know Mary can't stand when I have you to myself! She doesn't need help, she just wants to pull you back from having a meaningful relationship! Don't you see? You can't move on and leave her behind!"

"That's not true, and Mary, Mary doesn't like anyone!" That came out a little stronger than he had wanted and would have probably received a swift kick to his shin if Mary had heard him say that.

"She seems to get along fine with you, or at least you don't mind the horrible way she treats you and other people!"

"Abigail she's been through so much-

"I've been through so much! But you haven't taken the time to see that have you? All of this time you could have been getting to know me, you've spent ninety percent of with Mary! You work with her, at least before Norah came along you came home to me! Now I'm lucky if you do that!"

"It's just temporary…"

"I can't stand it, who's to say it's just temporary, I distinctly remember you telling me when you came home the very first night Mary called you that it was a one-time deal and she would get herself all settled into motherhood in no time! It's been three weeks and I can't do this anymore!"

"You haven't had to do anything! I have asked nothing of you! You don't ever have to join me, I let you sleep, I come home every evening and I spend it with you, not Mary!"

"That's not the point Marshall, I want to know if I wake up in the middle of the night, you'll be there and if you're not there I want it to be because of work, not because you had to stop everything and go to Mary's rescue!"

"I get you're point! I just can't believe it! You're basically telling me to choose! That's incredibly insensitive and irrational and quite frankly I'm surprised you would be the kind of person to make me choose between my girlfriend and my best friend!" Marshall sucked in huge amounts of air, wondering if this day could get any worse.

"It's not that I want you to choose! You need to choose! It was only a matter of time, and I want it to be now. Before I fall anymore in love with you, I don't want to be strung along while you fall for Mary even harder than you've already fallen. I'm done being your back up. If you truly want me, prove it."

"So, you're telling me, to stop hanging around Mary?"

"I'm not saying you have to, I'm asking, would you?"

He took no time in between the question and his answer, even if he had wanted to think it through, there was no way his mouth would have let him. His words were already beign formed and his brain wasn't in on it.

"No." Marshall stated so adamantly he could have sworn Abigail was about to fall over.

"No?" she parroted in disbelief, as if she suspected him to come to some revelation regarding how much he had neglected her, after she had just made it absolutely clear she had no desire to seek his best friend's approval that he so much wanted her to have.

He searched through his brain, doing his best to find any reason not to answer the way his heart wanted him to answer, but he could find absolutely no reason to not go with his gut. Well, there was one big reason. He knew that this decision was the difference between a steady relationship and an unorthodox one. He knew with one he got the perfect life, one any man would kill for and the other he got a mess, a beautiful mess, the mess he always wanted to be a part of. He knew with one he got a predictable fairytale, with the other he would get to experience a rollercoaster ride and a thousand adventures with a few sarcastic comments mixed in to make things interesting. Finally he had no reason to stick around when the goings got tough with Abigail, yes he loved her, but it was the kind of love you'd feel for a friend you had known forever. With Mary, he would always have Norah. Mary already had a soft spot for all things her daughter enjoyed and Marshall's company was one thing that he knew she enjoyed. Even before the mini- Mare came along, Marshall's heart was already swollen with an undeniable, unidentifiable love for his partner.

Abigail's eyes dug like daggers into his and she echoed his response back to him once more,

"No?"

"No… If I'm choosing, it will always be Mary." He felt compelled to thank her, to tell her to her face how long he had waited for someone to convince him to do what he had wanted to do for so long. He grabbed his jacket, and walked out of the home he shared with Abigail. As the cold air whipped at his face, it was the first time in a long time he had felt like he had made a decision that was going to make him happy. Maybe it was a crazy one, reckless in a sense, but he hopped into his car anyway, turning out of his driveway in the direction of his partner's home.

(I have a feeling a bunch of you were waiting for that ;) Not all, but a bunch!)