Author's Note: Special thanks to JMS529 for the review! Guessing the last few prompts weren't too popularly. LOL!
QUOTE PROMPT #049 – MARSHALL/OC NIECE
"It's too big a world to be in competition with everyone. The only person who I have to be better than is myself."
"Hey, Princess," Marshall said, sitting down on the porch next to his seven-year-old niece, Katy. He pulled gently on one of her pigtails.
Katy gave him half a smile. "Hi, Uncle Marshall."
Marshall frowned, following her gaze to the yard where Norah was playing soccer with a few of the neighborhood kids. "How come you aren't playing with Norah and the other kids?"
Katy sighed and shrugged. "I can't play like soccer like Norah can. I'm not as good."
"Says who?"
"Uncle Marshall," she replied, dramatically, "I can't kick the ball past Norah. Everyone knows that Norah is the best soccer player ever!"
Marshall covered a smile. His step-daughter was, in fact, known for her soccer playing, much to the chagrin of her mother, who had to drive her to practices and games. "What about Michael? Can you get the ball past Michael?"
Katy rolled her eyes. "Yeah. I'm way better than Michael."
"What about Olivia and Jayden?"
"Yep," she replied, boastfully.
Marshall grinned at her. "Could you do it last year?" Katy shook her head. "But you can do it now?"
She nodded. "I practiced lots and lots."
"Well, there, you go. You just have to keep practicing and maybe one day, you'll be better than Norah, but even if you're not, you will always be better than you were before," Marshall told her. He gave her a hug. "Now, go play."
"Thanks!" Katy shouted as she ran off.
"You're pretty good at that advice thing," Mary told him, walking up behind him.
Marshall looked up at her, suspicious of the compliment. "Thanks."
Mary smirked. "You know, you could change a pretty mean diaper yesterday, but I bet if you keep practicing, you'll become the best diaper changer in the world."
"You could just ask me to change Thomas' diaper," Marshall grumbled as he passed her.
"Where's the fun in that?"
QUOTE PROMPT #050 – MARY/MARSHALL
"Ooh, good thing I have you to protect me"
"I could have taken him."
"Let it go, Marshall," Mary sighed as she followed him into the WitSec office.
Marshall frowned. "I'm just saying. If you had given me a little bit of time, I could have gotten out of it."
Mary rolled her eyes as she tossed her bag on her chair. "He had you pinned. You didn't have anywhere to go. Would you rather I hadn't come to your aid? What kind of partner would I be?"
"The kind of partner that wouldn't leave me looking like an idiot," Marshall muttered, sitting in his chair.
"I think I liked you better when you were my boss," Mary retorted.
Marshall rose, slowly, a gleam in his eyes. He stalked over to her, caging her in her chair. He leaned down close to her face. "You know, that could be arranged."
"Huh?"
"I'm just saying that if you want to go back to be boss and employee, that can be arranged. Of course," he blew gently across her ear, "it would come with some drawbacks."
Mary gulped. "Drawbacks?"
"Mm-hm. For instance, I wouldn't be able to do this." He captured her earlobe between his teeth, smiling when she inhaled suddenly. "Or this." Marshall kissed the spot just below her ear that always made her shudder. "And I definitely shouldn't do this." Marshall captured her lips in a searing kiss that had her panting.
"Okay, you win!" Mary gasped. "The next time a bee's coming after you, I'll let you handle it!"
QUOTE PROMPT #051 – MARY/MARSHALL/NORAH
"There is nothing there. It's over and gone and you all blame me."
"Norah!" Mary called out from the kitchen. "Did you eat the last fudgesicle?"
"No!" Norah yelled back, her eyes never leaving the television.
Mary waddled into the living room, her nearly eight month along stomach in front of her. "I was really looking forward to that fudgesicle."
Norah sighed, turning to her mother. "I didn't eat it, Mommy! I can't even reach the freezer since you took the stool away."
"Marshall!" Mary shouted, satisfied with Norah's answer.
"Yes?" Marshall replied, popping his head out from the nursery.
Mary put her hands on her hips. "Did you eat my last fudgesicle? There was one in there earlier and now there's not!"
Marshall's eyes grew wide. "Definitely not!"
"Dammit! All I want is a fudgesicle pop and I can't even get that!" Mary ranted in frustration, stomping her foot. "Oh, wait! Jinx was here earlier. Where's my phone?"
"Mary, wait! I'll just run to the store and get you more," Marshall offered, rushing from the room to prevent Mary from calling her mom. The nutty buddy incident from last month still weighed heavily on the family.
Inside the closet in her bedroom, Mary's niece, Aislinn, smiled as she ate the last of the fudgesicle, aware of the commotion going on outside. No suspected her; they never did. She was the baby, at least until Owen came along. All she had to do was flash her baby blues and they believed anything she said.
And the fudgesicle and nutty buddy never tasted so good.
