Heellllooo! Hope some of you are off school today! As requested from DG and Reed I'm doing a Marly (Marcus/Carly) story for R. I'm also using one of the prompts that they supplied for me. I haven't done a disclaimer in a while (ah!): I do not own Bloodlines or it's character…or Cold Stone. Enjoy!

Reasons

Carly leaned against the doorframe in such a way it made it impossible for Marcus to pass through. He didn't seem to care though, just rocked back onto his heels and stuck his hands in his pockets. "Go out with me."

"No." Marcus raised a brow.

"You didn't even think about it!"

"I know guys like you, I know how it'll end. My answer is no." Marcus' face softened.

"I'm not one to take advantage of people. I've had enough of that in my own life, I don't need to add it to other people's." Carly scoffed.

"Fine, give me ten reasons why I should trust you and I'll go out with you. I choose the place though." Marcus smiled.

"Challenge accepted, may we drink to this?"

"Fine." Carly finally moved and let him in. It looked the same as the last time he'd been there, except without the crowd of girls. The memory gave him reason one, but he could be patient. He would wait until they'd drunk to it before announcing it. Carly poured water for the two of them and they drank on three. Marcus rubbed his hands together with a grin.

"Reason one, I got Sydney out of reeducation." Carly's lips pursed.

"Sounds like she should be the one you're asking out then." Marcus laughed lightly, unaffected by her words.

"She already has a hu–boyfriend. Who, for the record, would punch me if I came onto her…he packs a strong one too."

"Poor baby. Tell me why you stuttered over boyfriend." Marcus nearly kept quiet for the sake of Sydney and Adrian, but reasons two and three had practically been presented to him on a silver platter and he couldn't resist.

"Reason two, I would never betray your sister or you. Thankfully, she never told me to keep quiet about this particular subject. Reason three, I'm telling you Sydney got married."–Marcus' grin widened at Carly's shocked expression.–"I'll tell you who for reason four. His name: His Highness Lord Adrian Ivashkov. The truth on everything I've said so far. Call and ask if you don't believe me." Carly's jaw literally dropped before snapping shut with a click.

"I should've seen that with the way he was acting when you two came. His…both…of your breed of men like looking at women, complimenting them, wooing them, and he did none of that. All he was focused on was getting information from Keith for Sydney. A Moroi…god."

"Mhm. She's at court right now. Reason five, I'm willing to risk ass to get you to her. It's summer, I'm betting you don't have classes. It'd be a private jet." Carly looked over him cautiously.

"I'm good, thanks."

"Reason six, I'm extremely anti-Alchemist slash anti-oppression." Carly just wiggled four fingers in the air. "I can pull strings and get Zoe away from the Alchemists in a heartbeat. If Sydney wasn't so damn in love she wouldn't have ended up in Re-ed."

"You can do that?"

"If you lower a finger." In truth, if either sister asked, he'd remove Zoe without thinking twice. A finger went down and his eyes narrowed on the remaining three.

"Nothing left, lover boy?"

"You and your sisters are quite remarkable…or Sydney and you. You two are the only girls to resist my charm."

"Noted."

"Reason eight, I'll let you drive." Another finger went down, slower than the last one.

"Still got two left." Marcus felt panicked and looked around. The first eight had been easy, stuff he didn't need to dig to find out. Stuff he would've done anyway. The weight of his gun settled like a lead ball in its holster and he brightened.

"Nine, I'll give you my gun."–Carly looked him over as if he were a rabid dog.–"Most people don't look at the back." Another finger and he handed over the entire holster. Holding his hands together he pressed them to his lips.

"Give up?" He was about to say yes, he really was, but he spotted a poster and he had it.

"Ten, I'll speak at one of your events." Carly froze at that. It was unexpected. Most guys shied away from that stuff for various reasons and here was one offering to be in the center of it. She nodded.

"Okay…but I want to talk to Sydney before we go." Marcus pulled out a phone so she could program the number and watched as she dialed. "Hello…Syd? Oh my god, Sydney! You're okay, I thought…I dunno. You're really married! Jesus, no…no I'm fine."–A laugh here.–"I promise. Call mom okay? I told her what was going on and…well, she didn't take it well. Oh, Syd, you don't have to bring us up…aand you aren't taking a no. Okay then, see you Saturday. Love you, bye." Carly hung up looking slightly shell-shocked.

"Ready?"

"Yeah, let me grab my bag…we're going to get ice cream!" Marcus sighed and his shoulders dropped. Not what he meant when he asked and he was pretty sure she knew that. Despite the trickery he handed over the keys and let her drive to Cold Stone. They walked by the water as they ate their ice cream and Marcus didn't push, not once. After they'd thrown out the cones Carly squinted up at him. "I'm not letting you kiss me." He smiled and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

"I'll take what I can get." Gently tugging on the strand he released it and let her drive back to the dorms. Saluting her he walked backwards until the door was out of sight. Smirking, he pulled out his phone and double checked to make sure the new contact was still there. It was.

Suffice to say, it took another hundred reasons to get Carly to agree to a real date. After that, it was only a matter of time.

Hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it! I discovered while writing this that there are a million and ten ways to go with a Marly pairing, especially with their different personalities.

R&R

Ciao