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To The End of the Earth

In It Together

Mary looked into the rearview mirror when Marshall didn't say anything and could tell by the look on his face that he was trying to work out what was going through her mind.

"You should find somewhere to pull over…" He eventually said.

"I need to do this…" She started to say.

"Hannah will be awake soon so we need to find somewhere for dinner and somewhere to stay the night." He cut in. "Then we can talk."

"Marshall…"

"We need to take care of Hannah first." He glanced at their daughter. "Then we can discuss this properly…That was our agreement, wasn't it? That we talk everything through when it has anything to do with all this?"

"Like you talked to me about tagging along to begin with…" She muttered, not meaning for him to hear but the car wasn't all that big.

"That's not fair." He replied.

She sighed. "I'm sorry….but they're never going to just let us go without an explanation and can you honestly say that you'll feel safe wherever we go? That you won't be waiting for them to turn up again?"

"I understand what you're saying but we're in this together…You can't just decide this on your own."

"You don't have to come…I might be easier if it was just me..." She suggested. "It would just be for a couple of hours then we can get back on the road and on with the rest of our life."

"Do you really think I would allow you and our child to go without me?" He questioned. "Do you really think I would do that?"

"Hannah would stay with you." She answered.

"I wasn't talking about Hannah."

As if on cue, the baby kicked and sighed. "Right…"

"If you really want to go back and see them then that's what we do but we do it together." Marshall stated. "And we do it with a plan…that we come up with together."

"Together?" She repeated. "You're the plan man…I just go along with what you say."

He smiled a little, knowing it was her way of trying to make up. "Get us to a hotel and we'll see what we come up with."

She gave him a small smile in the mirror before turning her attention back to the road. She had no idea why she tried to do this sneakily. She knew Marshall…She knew he would have understood or have a damn good reason not to do it. Maybe there was a part of her that was sick of this life… Yes, over the last three years, since they settled down in Maine she had got used to it and was actually a lot happier; in a lot of ways she had forgotten about her old life but there was still times when she remembered they could be in danger. She hated that they didn't have complete control over what they did, where they went and what they told people. After being a Wit-sec inspector for so long, she understood in her head why they had to do it but sometimes it still got to her.

She heard Hannah starting to wake up but knew Marshall would be able to handle her until they found somewhere to stop. They both were getting good at occupying her in the car but Mary knew her daughter would eventually get tired of all their games and tricks.

She was why Mary wanted to do this…Hannah and their unborn child. She didn't want them growing up without unanswered questions…She didn't want them to ever fear that they might be in danger because of something their mother had seen years before they were even born. It was bad enough that she had dragged Marshall into it all…Although, no matter how much she protested his presence to begin with, she was incredibly glad that he didn't listen to her. There was no way she could have gotten through this was out him and as soon as she admitted that she needed him, the easier it got….

Four years earlier

She was in bathroom, wrapping a towel around her wet hair when she heard him calling her weakly. He had been sleeping all night, now it was coming up to noon and she was relieved he was awake.

She rushed out of the bathroom and saw him trying to sit up.

"Hey."

He sighed in relief when he saw her. He was beginning to think she had done a runner. "You're still here."

"Of course…" She sat beside him, helping to sit against the headboard. "You think I would leave you when you're like this?"

"I woke up and you were here…" His eyes closed for a second before reopening. "Sorry, panicked."

"No harm done." She shrugged. "So, how you feeling?"

"Like I've been shot."

"Marshall!" She glared at him. "Not funny."

"Sorry…I guess I feel okay, considering." He answered. "Tired and sore."

Mary reached and grabbed some painkillers off the side table along with a bottle of water. "Here take these."

He didn't argue and once he had swallowed them, he leaned back against the pillows again. She could see he was fighting to keep his eyes open.

"Listen, I'm going to go out." She told him and stopped when he tried to say something. "We need some food…proper food and a new car."

"But…"

"I'll be much quicker without you." She said. "I spotted a car with a for sale sign a few blocks from here…It didn't look like the greatest car but as long as it's cheap and will get us out of this state, it will do right?"

"I guess…" He sighed.

"I'll get you some soup…probably the best thing for you right now." She moved around the room, getting ready to leave; removing the towel from her head and tying her hair up before slipping on the baseball cap he had given her. "Then we can rest up for the rest of the day….leave tomorrow morning."

She turned to look at him but he was staring at her with his mouth open.

"What happened to your hair?"

"I dyed it." She shrugged as if it was no big deal. "I brought a kit from Wal-Mart last night. What do you think?"

"It's different…" He said slowly. She had picked a light brown color and it did suit her but he just wasn't used to seeing her without blonde hair.

"Different?" She rolled her eyes. "Gee, Marshall…You sure now how to make a girl feel special."

"I mean…"

"Forget it…I'll let you off this time, considering you're recovering from being shot." She moved back to the bed and sat on the edge. "I'll be as quick as I can…Try to get some sleep."

"Okay…"

"I'm coming back." She said, still seeing some uncertainty in his eyes. "Do you believe me?"

He gave her a nod. "Just be careful."

"Always." She smiled and stood up.

He sighed as she left the room and heard her lock the door behind her. He waited for a few minutes before swinging his legs over the side of the bed. He had to grip onto the covers when the room spun and waited for it to stop before reaching into one of the bags. He needed to call Nathan. They needed help and he was the only they could turn to.

Mary returned just over an hour later and found him sat up against the headboard again.

"Did you even get any sleep?"

"I called Nathan…Took longer than I planned and you were quicker than I thought you would be." He answered, rubbing his eyes. "I was just about to take a nap."

"You should probably try eating something first." Mary suggested, starting to unload the plastic bag. "While the soup is still hot."

"Yeah, okay…" He agreed although it was the last thing he wanted to do.

"So, what did your friend say?"

"He doesn't have much information… He's keeping an eye on the case, making sure not a lot of information on us get out to the media." Marshall told her. "He advised we find somewhere quick to lay low for a few days."

She rolled her eyes. "Like we didn't think of that already."

"I told him we were in Illinois but not which part…He said if we head for Detroit when he'll send a package for us to pick up at a FedEx office."

"What kind of package?"

"More money, IDs and some antibiotic…I can't really go to a doctor." He answered. "Just some stuff to keep us going for another couple of weeks without drawing too much attention to ourselves."

Mary knew it was what they needed, especially the antibiotics but she didn't like putting so much faith into someone she didn't know.

"Can we trust him?" She asked. "I mean, couldn't we just get in touch with Stan."

"Everyone is going to be watching Stan, the office and anyone connected to it." He said; even know he knew she knew it all already. "It wouldn't even be safe to get in touch with Marcus or my family…"

"But you really trust this guy?"

"I would rather not do it with anyone's help but we need someone and Nathan is a good guy…we've been through some tough times together." He explained. "And he knows how to get things done without people knowing it's him…He has a lot of contacts."

"Okay." She sighed. "If you think he's on the level then I'll go with it."

"We still need to be carefully, I don't think Nathan would do anything to put us in danger but there is always the chance someone could get wind of what he's up to." Marshall stated. "Once we're in Detroit, one of us goes in to get the package, the other stays outside and keeps an eye out."

"And if someone turns up?"

"We shot then run like hell…"

She smiled a little. "My kind of shooting."

"It'll be okay, Mare." He added softly.

"I know." She handed him a carton of soup. "Here, it's getting cold."

"Thanks."

He struggled for the first few minutes and Mary resisted the urge to take the spoon off him to help but knew how she would react if the roles were reserved. Once he settled on carefully, balancing the carton between his knees she got up and started moving around the room, tidying as she went.

"You not eating?" He questioned after a few minutes of silence.

"I'll get something later." She shrugged and looked back to see he had set the soup on the bedside table. "You done?"

"Yeah… Not really hungry."

With a quick glance she saw he had eaten almost half of it and guessed that was better than nothing. "I should change your dressings…"

"Later…" He shifted so he led down. "I'm going to have that nap now then take a shower."

"Okay…I'll be here when you wake up."

"You should sleep too…you look exhausted."

"I'm fine."

"Mare, come on…get some rest then we can plan how we're going to get to Detroit." He reached up his good arm, catching hold of her hand and tugging her closer to the bed.

"It should be me that's taking care of you…" She commented as she sat down the bed.

"We take care of each other…" He said as his eyes closed. "We're in this together."

"Yeah…" She whispered in agreement, she led down, watching him closely. "Yeah, we are."

"Mary?"

She looked back in the mirror to him. "Hmm?"

"Where did you go?" He questioned.

"Just thinking…" she replied.

"Thinking what?"

"That everything we've been through proves that whatever happens we can get through it as long as we're together."

He smiled widely. "I've been telling you that for years."

"Just….I don't know if I never thanked you…for everything that you did for me…for us."

He sat forward, so he could reach her shoulder, squeezing it gently. "There is nowhere else I would rather be…You know that."

"I do."

"So, let's find somewhere to stop for tonight and plan our return to Albuquerque."

"I cannot wait to see Stan's face…" Mary smiled. "Especially after he sees what you've done to me."

"What I've done to you?" He repeated. "You say that like you said no role in it and if I remember rightly, you played a very big role that night…"

"Alright, doofus…remember there's a child sat beside you."

Marshall looked at Hannah who still looked half asleep as she sipped on a bottle of water. He smiled a little, he could wait to see Stan too and show off his family. Maybe it will be good to go back and catch up with everyone.

TBC

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