Didn't mean to leave this update so long. I hope it was worth the wait! Please review and let me know what you think!

Enjoy!

Different Road, Same Journey

Mary hadn't known what to say to Marshall during the drive to the hospital, it normally took 15 minutes from her apartment but with Marshall driving it was just a little over 5 minutes. After parking the car, Mary struggled to keep up with him as he ran towards the ER department. When she reached the admittance, a nurse was already pointing Marshall in the right direction.

"Marshall, wait…" Mary reached out and managed to grab onto the back of the back of his t-shirt.

He turned, fear still in his eyes. "I've got to get to her…"

"I know." Her other hand tightened around his hand, stopping him going any further. "But just wait a second…"

"Mary…"

"Just take a breath." She suggested. "She's probably scared and just wants her Dad but you're going to freak her out even more if you go in there like this."

Marshall stared at her for a few seconds before nodding. He closed his eyes and ran his free hand through his hair as he took a deep shaky breath.

"She's in the best place." Mary added softly. "The doctors will take good care of her…"

"Yeah." He agreed, looking down at her and squeezed her hand. "Thanks."

She gave him a small smile and let go of his hand. "No worries….I'll hang around here for a bit before going home, just in case you need anything."

"Come with me." He took her hand again.

"No, I shouldn't…"

"Mary, please." He squeezed her hand again.

She sighed. "I don't want to make things more stressful."

"Mare, it's the middle of the night and we're both tired…Just come with me." He tugged her closer to him. "Please."

"Fine but just for a little while." She relented and allowed him to pull her along with him.

The second he stepped into the small examination room which the nurse had directed him to, he dropped Mary's hand and quickened his pace towards the side of the bed.

"Daddy!" Ava cried, spotting him first and holding her arms up to him.

"Hey Princess…" He said softly, sitting on the edge of the bed and pulled her onto his lap.

"Thank god you're here." Jack stood up, running a shaky hand through his hair.

"What happened?" Marshall questioned.

"The doctor said it's an ear infection." Jack informed them. "He said it made her temperature rise which caused the seizure."

Marshall nodded a little, pulling Ava a closer and kissed her forehead immediately noticing how hot her flesh was.

"You feel pretty crummy, Princess?" He murmured quietly, pushing her hair behind her hair.

Ava only nodded her head and buried closer into his in reply.

"Why don't you lie back down?" Marshall suggested, pulling back slightly; worried she would get overheated again.

"Don't go…" She cried.

"I'm not going anywhere." He promised as he helped to her lie on the bed. "But you need to get some sleep, Princess…It'll make you feel better."

"You promise to stay?" Her bottom lips trembled slightly.

"I'm promise." He placed another kiss on her forehead. "I'll be right here."

He sat on the edge of the bed, stroking her head until she finally drifted off to sleep. When he looked across the room, he noticed how concerned his brother looked.

"Jack, she's going to be okay." He told him.

"I just….she said she didn't feel well earlier but I didn't realize it was this bad." He stuttered a little.

Marshall realized that this was the first time Jack had experience Ava having a seizure. Her health had been relatively good since they arrived in New Jersey.

"The doctor said she has an ear infection, right?" Marshall queried quietly and Jack nodded. "Well, they'll give her some fluids and some antibiotics then she'll be back to wrapping you around her little finger…"

"So, this has happened before?" Mary asked, keeping her voice low so not to disturb Ava.

"Twice before…" Marshall nodded. "The seizures always scare the hell out of me but you got her to the right place quickly and that's what's important."

"I guess…" Jack let out a breath, willing himself to relax a little.

"Why don't you head home?" Marshall suggested. "One of us should be able to get some sleep."

"Nah, I think I'll stick around for a bit." Jack replied. "Just in case…"

Marshall gave him a small smile. "If that's what you want…"

"Yeah but I'm going to give Kelly a call…Let her know what's happening." Jack moved towards the door. "I'll be right back."

Mary watched him leave before turning her attention back to Marshall, whose eyes were again on Ava.

"You okay?" She asked quietly, stepping over to the bed and ran her hands over his still tense shoulders.

"Yeah, I will be…We've been through this before and I know that once the antibiotics kick in she'll be better but when I got that call, I couldn't help but think…" His voice trailed off, unable to finish the sentence.

"She didn't…she's okay…You said yourself that she's in the best place." Mary tried to reassure him, squeezing his shoulders.

"I know." He leaned into her touch and tilted his head backwards to look up, sending her a small smile. "Thanks."

"I haven't done anything."

He reached up to cover one of her hands with his. "You're here, that helps."

Mary couldn't see how her presence would make any difference but there was a part of her that was happy that she was somehow able to comfort him.

"Why don't I go get us all some coffee?" She gave his shoulders another squeeze before stepping back. "I have a feeling we're going to need it tonight."

"I know I asked you to stay earlier but you really don't have to if you don't want to." Marshall stood up and turned to face her.

"What if I do want to stay?"

"Do you?"

She shrugged a little. "Someone's got to make sure you don't drive the nursing staff nuts with all the trivia you have stuck in your head."

A smile started to spread across his face. "Well, I guess you better stick around then…"

She returned his smile with a small one of her own. "So, coffee?"

"Yeah, that would be great." He nodded, leaning forward and kissing her cheek. "Thanks, Mare."

"Daddy?" Ava whimpered and Marshall returned to her side while Mary left the room.

"Shh, it's okay." He soothed and he relieved that she hadn't woken up. "I'm here…you're okay."

He settled on the edge of the bed, stroking her hair and just watched her sleep.

XxXxX

As Marshall predicted, the next morning Ava had been well enough to go home with a prescription of antibiotics and directions to return immediately if her temperature rose again. Even though she felt better, she was still wasn't her cheerful self.

"I'm going to put her to bed…" Marshall whispered to Mary as he carried his daughter from the car. She had fallen asleep on the way home and Marshall knew she was going to need plenty of rest to get over the infection.

"Oh, okay…"

Mary stood in the hallway for a few minutes, wondering what she should do. She sighed and looked around, remembering the last time she had been there. She could still hear the pain and hatred in Alexis' voice when she thought someone was replacing her mom. She knew better than anyone what it was like to miss a parent and couldn't blame her for her reaction. The last thing she wanted to do was to make things worse now that Ava was sick.

She glanced at her watch and decided she could hang around for an hour or so. She could make Marshall some breakfast to pay back all the time he had cooked for her the morning he had stayed at hers.

She wasn't a great cook but she knew the basics. She knew Marshall's favorite was pancakes but she was disappointed not to find any ready mix pancake batter in his cupboards. Next she pulled opened the fridge, wondering if could make scrambled eggs without burning them like last time when she heard the front door opening and closing.

She froze, staying where she was and listened to footsteps walking towards the kitchen.

"Mary?" Kelly appeared in the doorway. "Hi."

"Hey…" She closed the fridge door and turned to face the other woman.

"I'm just dropping Alexis off." Kelly informed her. "And I wanted to check up on Ava…"

"Marshall is just putting her to bed…she fell asleep on the way home." Mary told her. "She's going to be fine in a few days….so the doctor says anyway."

"Yeah, that's what Jack told me." Kelly smiled at her kindly. "I'm going to go up and see her before I leave."

"I was just going to make some breakfast for Marshall before I get going." Mary didn't know why she felt the need to explain.

"I'm sure he'll appreciate that." Kelly replied. "Well, it was nice to see you again."

"Yeah, you too."

Once again Mary opened the fridge and wondered why she had announced she was going to make breakfast instead of doing what she wanted to do and that was to get out of there as soon as possible.

When she heard someone enter the kitchen again, she thought it was going to Marshall and turned around, ready to tell him she had leave but was surprised to Alexis stood watching her.

"Uh, hi…" Mary said. "Your Dad is just upstairs with Ava."

Alexis nodded, chewing on her bottom lip and looked down at the floor briefly before back up at Mary. "Is he mad at me?"

"Who? Marshall?" Mary frowned a little. "No. Why would he be?"

"Because I didn't take care of Ava…"

"She had an ear infection." Mary told her. "There was nothing you could have done…"

"But I'm her big sister!" Alexis claimed.

"Well, unless you're also a doctor then you couldn't have stopped it." Mary replied and couldn't help but smile at the protectiveness of the six year old. "Look, I know you don't really know me but I've been spending some time with your Dad and I know the last thing he would want right now is for you to think you did something wrong…"

"But…"

"Trust me on this, kid…" Mary cut her off. "You can ask him yourself when he comes down but I'm telling you, I'm right…"

"I'm meant to take care of her when Dad is at work."

"That's not true." Mary found herself saying. Her mind screaming at her to leave it alone before she said or does something that would be crossing the line but words just kept coming out of her mouth. "Your Dad has told me himself that he doesn't want you to feel like that. He wants you to have fun…"

Alexis began chewing on her lip again and Mary could tell she wasn't buying what she was saying.

"I don't think your Dad would have told you this but my Dad left when I was about your age."

Alexis looked up at her. "Where did he go?"

Mary shrugged. "Don't know…He just disappeared on me, my mom and sister."

"You have a sister?"

"Yeah, Brandi…She was just a baby when he left so she doesn't remember him." Mary told her. "But before he left he told me I had to take care of my mom and my sister and protect them…The thing is, Alexis he shouldn't have said that…I was just a little girl and it wasn't my job to protect anyone and your Dad doesn't want you to…He wants to protect you and take care of both you and Ava."

"But my Mom left and Daddy has to go to work…"

"Well, that's why you stay with your Uncle and Aunt." Mary pointed out. "He knows they will take good care of you both."

Alexis opened her mouth and Mary prepared herself to be told she was wrong or that it was all her fault that her Dad wasn't around more but she was surprised to see Alexis nodding a little.

"Daddy likes pancakes…"

Mary stared at her for a second, thrown by the change in conversation. "What?"

"You told Aunt Kelly you wanted to make breakfast." Alexis explained. "Daddy likes pancakes best."

"Oh…I know but you don't have any pancake mix."

"He doesn't use the mix…He makes them from scratch."

"Well, I'm not very good at making them from scratch…"

"I can help." Alexis announced, walking across the kitchen, pulling a chair from the table over to the cupboard.

Mary's eyes widened slightly, not expecting any of this and really wasn't sure how to proceed. "Oh…okay."

XxXxX

"Daddy?!"

Marshall rushed into Ava's room and saw her sat up in bed, still looking sleepy.

"Hey, Princess." He sat beside her. "Do you feel better?"

"I'm hungry." She crawled on to his lap and buried her face into his chest.

He ran a hand up and down her back; Ava had always been quite an affectionate child but she got clingier when she was sick.

"Well, why don't we go and get some breakfast." He suggested, standing up with her in his arms. "Aunt Kelly has brought Alexis home so she's probably waiting for us."

His sister-in-law had just left, after drilling Marshall for all the information the doctor has given him even though he pretty sure Jack had already gone through it all with her. He assumed that Mary had left when Kelly and Alexis turned up and he felt guilty for being busy with Ava to really thank her for being there with him all night. He definitely needed to do something to make it up to her. She was always claiming that she didn't know how to be a good girlfriend but to Marshall, she was best…She was incredibly understanding when it came to the girls and his job.

"Lexis not going to school?" Ava asked.

"Nope, I thought we could hang out." Marshall knew his eldest wouldn't have got a lot of sleep, knowing her little sister was at the hospital. "We can have a pajama and DVD day."

"Yeah!" Ava agreed as they headed downstairs.

Marshall frowned a little when he could smell something cooking. He had heard the front door closing behind Kelly so knew it wouldn't be her. He quickened his pace, hoping Alexis hadn't decided to try and cook breakfast by herself.

"Alexis?" He called out as he stepped into the kitchen but then froze at the sight in front of him.

"She's showing me how to make pancakes." Mary explained.

"They're nearly ready." Alexis announced, glancing over her shoulder at them. "Sit at the table?"

Marshall raised his eyebrows in a silent question but Mary just gave him a small smile and nodded her head to the table.

"Okay, come on then princess." He did as he was told and carried Ava towards the table, sitting down with her in his lap, knowing she wouldn't sit on her own chair. "They smell good."

"We made blueberry ones and chocolate chip ones." Alexis told him as she held a plate out so Mary could slide the pancakes from the pan. "And we put extra chocolate in because Mary said its better with more chocolate."

Marshall couldn't help but grin. "Mary does love her chocolate…"

"And me." Ava piped up, lifting her head off of Marshall's chest.

"Well, its good thing we made a lot of them then." Mary commented, as she followed Alexis over to the table, each of them carrying a plate stacked with pancakes.

They took a seat either side Marshall and after he cut up a chocolate chip pancake for Ava, he looked across at Mary. He reached out, covering one of her hand with his and mouthed 'thank you.' She just smiled back, turning her hand in his and squeezing it gently.

"Dad, do you want blueberry or chocolate?" Alexis asked.

"I think I better stick with blueberry and leave the chocolate for you three." Marshall held out a plate so Alexis could put two pancakes on it.

Marshall was relieved that Ava was able to most of her pancake and a small glass of juice. Considering the night they had had, she looked like she was on the mend.

"Daddy said we can have a pajama and DVD day!" Ava told her sister.

"Do we get hot chocolate with marshmallows?" Alexis looked at Marshall.

"Of course, it wouldn't be a pajama and DVD day without it." Marshall answered. "Why don't you go up and change while we pick out our first movie."

"I should get going…" Mary stated, following them and getting to her feet.

They all turned to look at her. Marshall looked both disappointed and like he understood.

"You're not staying?" Ava just looked confused.

"Uh, you don't want me hanging around…."

"Yeah, huh!" Ava protested.

"Princess, Mary is probably busy." Marshall tried to explain.

"But it's pajama and DVD!"

"Well, I don't have any pajamas here, so…"

"You can borrow some of Daddy's!" Ava suggested excitedly. "Right, Daddy?"

"Uh, well…"

"They're pretty dorky but I bet they'd fit." Alexis added, causing both Mary and Marshall to look at her in surprise. "You should stay… It'll be fun."

They both knew that this was Alexis' way of saying it was okay and while Marshall wondered what had happened to make Alexis change her mind, he was overjoyed that maybe there was a chance his daughter was accepting his relationship with Mary.

"Just how dorky are we talking about?" Mary asked jokingly.

"Pretty dorky." Alexis grinned. "But no one else will see you."

"Hey! They're not dorky."

"They are pretty dorky, Dad." Alexis told him seriously.

"I like my pajamas."

"Oh well that means they're definitely going to be dorky." Mary claimed, causing both girls to giggle.

"So, now you're ganging up on me?" Marshall said in mock offensive.

"Love you, Daddy!" Ava wrapped her arms around his legs causing him to laugh.

"I love you too, Princess…" He laughed, stroking her hair. "Why don't you go find a movie while I get Mary some pajamas and Alexis gets changed?"

"Okay…" She agreed and followed her sister out of the kitchen.

"You sure you want to stay?" Marshall asked Mary once they were alone.

"How can I turn down a pajamas and DVD day with hot chocolate and marshmallows?"

He smiled and leaned forwards, pressing his lips against hers. His arms snaked around her waist and pulled her closer to him. When he pulled back, he rested his forehead against hers. "I can't believe I get to spend the day with all three of you…"

"I'm glad that I get to spend some time with you all too…" Mary admitted, shyly "For kids, your girls seem pretty cool…"

"Just like their Dad?"

"Yeah, you wish…" She laughed, taking hold of his hand and pulled him out of the kitchen. "Come on, I was promised some pajamas."

By the time 3pm came around, they were on their 3rd movie…another Disney cartoon. They had only paused for lunch; Marshall making some soup with cheese toasted sandwiches. Now, Mary looked across and saw the other three were fast asleep. Ava had been sat on Marshall's lap pretty much all day and was now sleeping against his chest. Alexis was curled up on the other side of him, her head resting just below his shoulder with his arm loosely around her. Mary knew that he would probably be some pain later after sleeping sat up, his head hanging backwards, resting on the back of the couch but she didn't have the heart to wake him.

She had never thought she would date a man with children. Even after Marshall had come along and she found herself starting to care for him, she could envision a future with him and his girls but after spending the day with them, she was beginning to think that it might not be so bad.

She smiled to herself as she turned the volume of the TV down and reached to pick up the blanket that had fallen to the floor. When she covered the three of them with it, Marshall's arm that had been resting against Ava's back moved to pull her closer to him. She looked up, worried she had woken him but saw he still asleep, his arm holding her tight. She tried to pull away but stopped when she noticed Ava shifting, snuggling closer to Marshall. Sighing, she decided to just stay there. She led her head down on his shoulder and let her eyes slowly shut.

Pajama and DVD day, hot chocolate with marshmallow and an afternoon nap….yeah, she might just be able to get to use to this.

TBC

Alexis is beginning to come around…I'm sure a lot of you saw Mary being able to relate to Alexis coming (especially Megan). I could leave it there…but I won't…

A whole lot more drama to come!

Please review and let me know what you think.