Author's Note: Special thanks to JMS529, BrittanyLS, Jayne Leigh, and JJ2008 for the reviews! I am so glad that you are enjoying these enough to review!
QUOTE PROMPT #034 – JINX/MARY
"Alright fine, you want to know why? You're just like me. You're scared because you feel like you haven't accomplished anything with your life. But instead of running a triathlon you're pushing forward with a guy you don't belong with, and you know as well as I do that one of these days he's going to open up a bottle of white wine for you when you really prefer red except you never told him that and you wanna know why? Because he's not right for you."
"Mary, sweetheart, we need to talk," Jinx said, sitting down next to her daughter on the couch.
"How much do you need this time?" Mary sighed.
Jinx chuckled as she rolled her eyes. None of Mary's quips stuck to her. "I don't need anything. Well, that's not quite true. I do need one thing."
Mary folded her arms. "Well?"
"I need you to be happy."
"I am happy," Mary replied automatically.
Jinx shook her head. "No, you're not. You're settling."
Mary flinched. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"You think I don't know about settling? I settled my entire life," Jinx told her. She grabbed Mary's hands and held them in her own. "Mary, why are you with Kenny? Why are settling for the guy that goes through all the motions of being a good guy instead of grabbing the one that actually is a good guy?"
"I don't..." Mary's voice trailed off when she see that she wasn't fooling Jinx a bit. "He's married."
Jinx squeezed Mary's hand. "Not yet."
"In a week."
"There's still time."
"He loves her."
"Not like he loves you." Jinx cupped her cheek. "Sweetie, go to him. You deserve it. He deserves it. Neither of you should settle."
Mary paused before giving her mother a single nod. Mary kissed Jinx's cheek before heading out. She paused briefly at the door. "Thanks, Mom."
QUOTE PROMPT #035 – MARSHALL/ABIGAIL
"So... I lied. I cheated. I bribed men to cover the crimes of other men. I am an accessory to murder. But the most damning thing of all... I think I can live with it. And if I had to do it all over again - I would."
"Daddy, can we go home?" six-year-old Alyssa Mann begged, hurrying towards him.
"Don't you want to say good-bye to your mom?" Marshall asked, glancing at Abigail, whose expression hung somewhere between guilt, anger, and satisfaction. She stood out of earshot of them.
Alyssa shook her head, hugging her dad's waist tightly. "I just wanna go home and see Mary and Norah. I don't wanna visit with Mommy anymore. She tells lies."
Marshall stiffened. "What did Mommy tell you?"
"Mommy said that you never loved her, that you only married her because Mary didn't love you. She said that you and Mommy aren't married anymore because Mary decided that she wanted to be your wife instead of Mommy and that Mary didn't care if you were already married or not. She said that you and Mary had an affair." Alyssa sniffled. "I don't know what that is, but I don't think it's good. She said Mary is a bad person and that she doesn't love me. Mommy said that it's Mary's fault that she doesn't live here anymore. Is it true?"
"Alyssa, I want you to go wait in the car." Marshall held a finger up when she protested. "Go. I need to talk to your mother." Marshall waited until Alyssa was in the car before marching over to Abigail. "What the hell did you say to her?"
Abigail smirked. "I told her the truth about why we're not together anymore. I told her about the affair that you and Mary had behind my back."
Marshall's nostrils flared in anger. He clenched his fist to keep from striking. "Mary and I may have gotten together before our marriage was officially offer, but let's not forget who had the affair first."
"Oh, please!" Abigail shouted. "You may not have slept with Mary, but you were always more involved with her than you were with me! I never had a chance! We never had a chance!"
"We have been divorced for over four years!" Marshall shot back. "How can you be so callous as to use our daughter to get back at me? Grow up, Abigail! We both made mistakes. How can you take them out on that little girl? All she does is love you."
She flinched and glanced away. "Do you know what she talks about when she's with me? How much she misses Mary, what her and Mary have done lately, how much she loves Mary. Do you know what that's like for me to listen to? I gave birth to her. I breastfed her. I got up in the middle of the night with her. And yet, it's Mary that she wants."
"You're also the one that walked away." Marshall sighed when she began to tear up. "She was really looking forward to this visit, to you, and you've destroyed that. We're going to have to have a long talk before you take her again."
"Marshall-"
"Good-bye, Abigail. I have to go console our daughter."
QUOTE PROMPT #036 – MARY/MARSHALL
"But in the end it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come, and when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you, that meant something, even if you were too small to understand why."
"... and they lived happily ever after," Marshall whispered, closing the book in his hands. He kissed the top of a sleeping Norah's head before glancing up to see Mary standing in the doorway. "How'd it go?"
"She's gone," Mary replied with a shrugged in an attempt to cover up her real feelings. "She packed everything up; covered her tracks. No one's heard from her or has any idea where she would have gone."
"Mary-"
She folded her arms. "Jinx is going to keep Janie overnight, but she can't keep her full time. I've already talked to Joanna and she's agreed to watch her along with Norah. I'll move her stuff here tomorrow."
Marshall stood, placing Norah into her crib. "I can help-"
"No," Mary told him, emphatically. "I've already asked you to do more than I should have. Mark will be back in town tomorrow. He'll help. I am going to need a few days off, though. Chief."
"Mary, let me help. Please. I'm still your friend."
Mary turned from him. "Sure."
Marshall took a shaky breath. Throwing all caution out the window, he swiftly stepped over to her, wrapping his arms around her from behind. He tightened his grip when he felt her stiffen.
"What-"
"I am still your friend," he whispered in her ear, making her shiver. "I never meant to imply otherwise. Whatever you need, I'm here for you and for Norah and Janie."
Mary slumped into him. "Everything's a mess. Brandi's gone. Mark's moving away. Kenny cheated on me. You're getting married. I'm going to be raising two little girls on my own. And the worst part? I just want to fall into your arms and let you make everything okay. But I can't. Because I screwed everything up."
It was Marshall's turn to stiffen. "Screwed everything up how?"
"I love you, Marshall," she admitted, a tear falling down her cheek as all of her walls came tumbling down. "I think I have since almost the beginning."
Marshall took a step back and spun her around. He grabbed her face before lowering his lips to hers. He wasted no time in claiming every inch of her mouth. He backed her against the wall, covering her body with his own.
Mary broke the kiss when she felt Marshall's hand on her breast. "Wait. We can't do this. You're engaged."
"Not anymore," he confessed.
"What? When?"
Marshall cringed. "This morning."
Mary sighed. "After I called?"
"Yes, but it's not your fault!" he told her, quickly. "The thing is Mary, it's always been you. I have been in love with you since the first time you opened your mouth. I was an idiot to ever think I could move on. You are the only that I want."
"Okay," she said after a few moments.
"Okay?"
Mary nodded. "I'm ready for my happy ending."
