Author's Note: Special thanks to Adelled, JMS529, BrittanyLS, Loves-to-Read09 (welcome!), JJ2008, and Jayne Leigh for the reviews!
QUOTE PROMPT #170 – MARY/MARSHALL
"To love oneself is to have a lifelong romance."
"What are you talking about?" Mary challenged. "I do love myself."
"No, you don't," Marshall told her. He was more honest than he had ever been with her. "Not really. Sure, you put on a good show and you can convince a lot of people, but not me. I know you too well."
Grinding her teeth, Mary glared at him. "You think you know me?"
He nodded. "Room renting, remember? Mary, if you really loved yourself, you wouldn't let your family walk all over you the way that you do. You wouldn't go through this plethora of guys that are no good for you. Mary, if you really loved yourself, you would be happy and you're not."
"I'm happy." She huffed when he just stared at her. "Okay, I'm not happy. So what? Who really is happy? Are you?"
"No."
Mary looked startled. "You're not happy?"
He repeated, "No."
"W-why?" she whispered.
"Because I'm in love you and you have never looked at me that way once," Marshall replied, honestly.
Mary's eyes widened. She swallowed hard. "I wouldn't be so sure about that."
Marshall froze. "Which part?"
"That I'm not in love with you, too." She frowned. "Maybe, it's just that I don't know how to show you."
"Are you in love with me?" he asked in a hushed tone, stepping towards her.
Mary nodded. "Will you help me to show it?"
Marshall pulled her into his arms. "God, yes!" He leaned down and cupped her face. "I love you, Mary."
"I love you, too."
QUOTE PROMPT #171 – MARY/MARSHALL
"There is literally no-one in the world I don't hate right now"
"Go away, Mary!" Marshall yelled. He had been sitting on the floor of his kitchen when she burst into his home after a few dozen unanswered phone calls and five minutes beating down his door.
"What is wrong with you?" she demanded. "You always pick up your phone! Always!"
Marshall snorted. "Well, not tonight! Tonight, the rest of the world can go to hell and you along with it."
Mary put her hands on her hips. "What the hell did I do?"
"You know exactly what you did and if you don't, you're a moron." Somewhere in his drunken haze, Marshall realized he had probably gone a bit too far with the name calling, but quickly decided he didn't care. "This is all your fault."
"How is this my fault?" Mary's voice was calm, but inside, she was seething.
Marshall huffed. "If you hadn't run from me, if you had just talked to me and not run away to that FBI jackass, I never would have looked around for the first thing that caught my eye that I knew where irritate you."
Mary cocked her head to the side. "Huh?"
"I never would have dated Abigail if you hadn't run off with Faber. If you hadn't gotten pregnant, I never would have gotten engaged. If I hadn't gotten engaged, she wouldn't have broken it off in front of all of my family and friends at the wedding. It's all your fault!" His head fell forward as tears welled up in his eyes. "I just don't understand why you don't love me. I love you." He pulled his legs to his chest. "Go away, Mary. I don't want to deal with you anymore. Not tonight. Possibly, not ever."
"Marshall," she whispered. Mary ran her hand through his hair and sat down next to him. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything."
He laid his head on Mary's shoulder. "You're never sorry for anything."
Mary leaned against his head. "I'm sorry for this. You are the one person in the world that I never wanted to hurt, Marshall, and it seems that you're the one person that I've hurt the most. I'm going to make this right."
"I don't want your pity, Mary."
"Not pity, Marshall. I don't know what it is, but it's not that," she replied, honestly.
Marshall looked up at her. "But it's not love, either."
Mary shot him half a smile. "What I know is this: you are the only person that I can't live without; the only person that loves me for me. I know that when I pick up the phone, you're the first one I call, no matter what the reason. I know that when I think about my life thirty years from now, you're by side. I don't know what that is, but it's what I know."
"It sounds like love to me, Mare," he said, quietly.
"Maybe you're right."
QUOTE PROMPT #172 – MARY/MARSHALL
"This is my daydream, you go away."
Marshall shifted in the lounge chair. He took a long sip of his margarita as his wife stepped outside. She shook her head, her long, blond locks shimmering in the sunlight. As she took a step forward, her hands came up to her swollen stomach. Marshall grinned at the memory of the night that they had made that little miracle.
He had come in late from work, an issue with one of Delia's witnesses. He was surprised to find the house quiet as Mary usually waited up for him when he came home late. He was more stunned when he discovered a plate waiting for him in the microwave. Marshall inhaled the food quickly; he hadn't eaten since breakfast. He went to check on the kids, but found their beds empty. Curious, he headed to his bedroom. What he found in there shocked him.
"About time you showed up," Mary told him, her voice husky. She was sprawled over the bed wearing nothing but one of his white dress shirts with only the bottom two buttons closed and a pair of glasses. Her hair was piled in a messy bun on top of her head.
"I, uh, I-" he stumbled for words.
Mary spread her legs a little further, confirming that she was wearing nothing underneath. "Cat got your tongue?"
Marshall grinned slowly. "Not yet, my sexy little kitten, but you will soon." She laughed heartily as he pounced.
"I know what you're thinking about and you need to stop," Mary sighed, pulling Marshall from his memory. "That's the last time I do anything playful for you." She gestured to her stomach. "Look at what it got me!"
"Oh, I'm looking," he assured her. "And it looks good on you. In fact, I think that's what I'm going to daydream about next."
Mary rolled her eyes. "Yeah, well, I'm going to daydream about cutting off your-"
