Author's note: Special thanks to MegManning (thank you!), JMS529, BrittanyLS, and JJ2008 for the reviews!
QUOTE PROMPT #139 – MARY/BRANDI
"And you say that I've changed. And you're right. But, I mean, I went kicking and screaming. And if you think that anything of any value in this world comes at an easier price, you're wrong."
Brandi walked into the darkened living room to find Mary sitting on the couch, staring out of the window. Brandi sat down on the other end of the couch. "Everything okay?"
Mary tore her eyes away from the window to look at her sister. "Everything's fine. I just couldn't sleep. Why are you up?"
"I just got done feeding Jaxon. I was going to grab a drink from the kitchen when I saw you sitting here." Brandi was quiet for a few moments. "Are you sure everything's okay? It's not like you to sit here in the dark."
"I just have a lot of things on my mind," Mary explained.
Brandi took a deep breath. "You've been different since you went away on vacation. You've been quieter, more withdrawn. Did something happen?"
Mary hesitated. "I didn't go on vacation alone."
"Who did you go with?" Brandi asked, shocked. The last she had heard, it was just Mary and Norah on vacation.
"Marshall," she admitted in a hushed tone.
Brandi's eyes grew wide. "That's where he disappeared to after wedding? No one had any idea!"
Mary shrugged. "He needed a place to go, to recover after Abigail dumped him so I invited him to come with us."
"Did something go wrong? Did you not have fun?"
"Nothing went wrong," Mary told her. "We had a wonderful, amazing week."
Brandi tilted her head in confusion. "I don't understand why that makes you sad."
Mary gave her a sad smile. "I'm not suppose to have that good of a time, not with Marshall. I'm not suppose to have these... feelings that are other than friendship. I'm not suppose to miss him when I come home, to wonder what it would be like to wake up in his arms."
"Why not?" Brandi asked, frankly. "Why aren't you suppose to fall in love with Marshall?" Brandi sighed when Mary just shrugged. "Mary, do you know what the hardest thing in my life has been? It's realizing that I deserve to love and be loved. It took me a long time to realize it and I had done it sooner, I may not have hurt Peter as badly as I did. But I deserve to be loved and so do you, and even if you can't believe that right now, fake it for Norah until you do."
"I think about it," Mary said, her walls closing up now that she had said too much.
Brandi patted Mary's arm as she stood. "I'm going to get some sleep before Jaxon's next feeding. Just think about what I said."
Mary nodded while Brandi headed back to her bedroom. She resumed her staring out the window. Brandi's thoughts now entered the hurricane of her mind. It was going to be a long night.
QUOTE PROMPT #140 – MARY/MARSHALL
"I'd be funny and you'd have a good time. And when I took you home at like 3am, and I tried to kiss you goodnight, and I think I'd be successful. In fact, I know it. And I can't believe none of that's ever gonna happen 'cause once there was a time you married an idiot"
"Why are you doing this?" Mary asked him, sniffing.
His arms tightened around her as he replied, "You know why."
Mary shook her head, her nose buried in his neck. "You shouldn't. You should go marry her, have a nice life."
"I don't want that," Marshall said, his voice hoarse. He kissed the top of her ear. "I only want you. And I know you think you have all this baggage and I know you think you're bad at relationships, but you're not. As long as you stick with me, we'll make it."
"You can't promise me that." Mary tried to pull away from him, but he wouldn't let her go.
Marshall tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. "Do you trust me?" She hesitated before nodding. "Then trust that we'll make it. Trust that I will treat you better than all the guys from your past. Trust that I know you better than anyone else on this Earth. Trust me with your heart."
Mary licked her lips. "I'll trust you."
QUOTE PROMPT #141 – MARY/MARSHALL/NORAH
"You can't rewrite history. Not one line."
"Your mom kissed me first," Marshall told Norah.
Norah turned to her mother, her mouth hung open. "Mama, you kissed Marshall first? You?"
Mary frowned. "I did not. Don't fill her head with stories. You were the one that kissed me first. We were out celebrating your liberation from Abigail-"
"-commiserating that she dumped me by hooking up with your sister-" Marshall corrected.
"-and you made me do shots of tequila-"
Marshall rolled his eyes. "You ordered the shots of whiskey."
Norah pulled on Marshall's arm. "What's tequila?"
"A very bad drink for adults," he told her.
"You went to stand to go the bathroom and 'fell' into me," Mary continued.
Marshall sighed. "I was pushed into you by the rowdy frat guys."
Mary shook her head. "And you leaned down in kissed me."
"That part is true," Marshall admitted. "I figured life couldn't get much worse so I might as well go for it."
"So, then, why are you telling our kid that I kissed you first?" she demanded.
Marshall smirked. "Because on June 15, 2008, in a smelly barn, you kissed me first under the guise of smearing lipstick."
Mary opened and closed her mouth several times. "That doesn't count! We were with a, um, on a case!"
"It was at that moment that I knew I was yours," he said with a shrug. Marshall shot her a sheepish grin.
Taking a deep breath, Mary turned to Norah. "Yep, Bug, I kissed Marshall first."
