A/N: So yes, my dear readers, this universe is quite A/U - Jinx is dead and Brandi was raised by the Manns. All will be explained in due time. As for Mary being with Raph - that will be explained too - just hang on.

Ready to see how M&M met? Read on! XOXO (Flashbacks will be in italics)

Marshall was sliding the last of the eggs onto the plate when he heard his son shuffling into the kitchen behind him. "Right on time – you want to grab the juice?"

"Sure – Aunt Brandi's still asleep. Do you want me to wake her?"

He shook his head. "No, she needs the rest. I'm sure the smell of breakfast will wake her soon enough."

Liam sat down at the table and poured juice for him and his Dad. "Isn't she still working?"

Marshall nodded. "But she's just doing lunch breaks – and only for the rest of the week. Her maternity leave starts on Monday."

"She and Uncle Peter really got into it last night."

Marshall grinned. "That was nothing compared to the fights your mom and I used to have when she was pregnant with you."

Liam's eyebrows rose as he took a huge bite of his eggs. "Really?"

"Yeah – your mom was – let's just say your aunt is a much calmer version of her, OK? And where do you think you got your mouth from?"

"Damn." Liam shook his head. "So what did the two of you argue about?"

Marshall sighed. "Actually, the fights weren't all that different – she didn't want to put her life on hold-"

"And you were asking her to?"

Marshall held up his right hand defensively. "Hey, I didn't ASK your mom to do anything she didn't want to do – not when she was that hormonal and sleep deprived." He chuckled at the memories. "I had no problem with Mary doing whatever she wanted to do – but we were both so young and someone needed to stay with you – our situation was very different from your aunt and uncle's."

"But you guys wanted me, right?"

Marshall set down his fork and leveled his blue eyes at his son. "I need you to hear this, Will. You were a surprise – but we were happy when we found out we were going to have a baby. You were always wanted, OK?"

Liam played with a blob of scrambled egg on his plate. "And yet she left when I was barely six weeks old."

Marshall winced and shut his eyes against the pain he heard in his son's voice. "I know – after you were born, Mary was depressed. I didn't understand it at the time but looking back I think she had postpartum – have you ever heard of that?"

Liam shook his head.

"A lot of women get it after childbirth and your mom wasn't sleeping or eating well, and didn't feel like she was bonding with you. I couldn't seem to get through to her – we were going through a rough patch and then-" he cleared his throat. "She left."

Liam pushed his plate away. "I'm sorry, Dad."

Marshall's head shot up. "For what?"

"I've been so angry at you for keeping her whereabouts from me that I've forgotten that she left you as well as me – she abandoned both of us. I don't get it – why aren't you furious with her?"

"Who says I'm not?"

Liam's mouth fell open. "But – when you talk about her, all I hear in your voice and see in your face is pain and loss and – and love, Dad. Where's the anger?"

Marshall picked up his son's empty plate and headed for the sink. "I'm saving it for her, Will. That's a conversation for the two of us – not you and me."

Liam groaned. "Aw, come on-"

His words were cut off by a scream from the guest room and Marshall ran from the kitchen, his son on his heels. He threw open the door to see Brandi sitting up in bed, her hands clutching her swollen belly.

Marshall ran to her side. "What's wrong, Bee?"

"My water broke," she said shakily, removing one hand from her belly and reaching for him. "It's too soon – do something – help me-"

He swept her up into his arms, paying no attention to the fluid soaking the front of his clothing. "Will, call your Uncle and tell him to meet us at the hospital."

Brandi groaned as a contraction seized her and her fists tightened around his neck. Marshall made soothing sounds in her ear as he reminded her to breathe as he headed for the front door.

Liam stood transfixed in the hallway, like a deer caught in headlights.

"WILLIAM!"

His dad's bark brought him out of his trance. "On it – I'll be right behind you."

Marshall shook his head as he managed to pry one of his hands free from Brandi's grip to scoop up the keys to his truck. "No, go to school – there's nothing you can do at the hospital."

Liam's mouth hung open as the front door slammed. Like hell I'm going to school today!

"Does it always take this long?"

Marshall chuckled as he sipped his coffee. "Now you know why I told you to go to school."

Liam rolled his eyes. "It's been hours!"

"We've been here for forty-five minutes, Will. Babies take their own sweet time, trust me. Just because your Aunt's water broke, doesn't mean things will happen fast. She still has to dilate to ten centimeters which is big enough to-"

"Dad, gross! I don't want to know all that stuff!" Liam glared at his Dad as he clapped his hands over his ears. "How do you know all that stuff?"

Marshall shrugged. "I read lots of books when your mom was pregnant with you – I wanted to be prepared."

"Were you in there with her?"

"Yup – second greatest day of my life."

"What was the first?"

"Marrying your mom."

Liam was quiet for a few minutes before he whispered, "The baby's going to be OK, right? I mean, I know it's early – but it's not too early, is it?"

Marshall sighed. "I'm not a doctor, Will, or God, but Bee is at thirty-five weeks and is young and healthy. The baby should be OK – but we'll just have to wait and see."

"I wish I'd brought something to do – I'm going crazy just sitting here. How do you wait so well, Dad?"

Marshall smiled. "There's a lot of waiting in my job – you learn how to sit still and be patient."

Liam fidgeted. "I don't think I inherited the patience gene from you."

Marshall laughed. "No – you're like your mother – you want things to happen yesterday."

"Is that so bad?"

"No – but it's not the way the world works, Son."

"Tell me again how you and Mom first met."

Marshall set down his coffee cup and looked at Will in surprise. "You haven't wanted to hear that story since you were ten years old."

Liam shrugged. "So pretend I'm ten."

Marshall cocked his head to the side and waited.

"OK, I'm bored and it will pass the time."

Still Marshall waited.

Liam threw up his hands in defeat. "Fine! I'm going to be meeting her in a few months and I want to hear everything again from your point of view before I do – there, happy?"

Marshall frowned. "Why, so you can corroborate our stories?"

"No, Dad. I believe you – but you've given me more information about how and why she left and now I'd like to hear the stories again – please?"

He cleared his throat. "All right. As I'm sure you remember me telling you, we moved around quite a bit when I was growing up because of my father's job – the longest we stayed anywhere was the state of Texas. After my junior year in high school, he surprised all of us by saying we were moving to the East Coast. My mom was furious – all of her family was in the West, and she had no desire to move that far away. But like the rest of us, she had no say. So in the summer of '94, we packed up and headed for the Big Apple and stayed several weeks with my father's sister, Aunt Gina, while my folks looked for a place for us to live in between my father's jobs. The summer passed quickly and soon it was mid-August and we were still living with Aunt Gina. My mom was arguing with my father every night, saying we needed to find our own home and get settled before school started. So they started looking farther outside the city – and that's how we came to find a house in Middletown, New Jersey. Aunt Gina helped us move in and to celebrate our first night in a new house and so the women didn't have to cook, my father took us all out to eat at a fifties' diner called Jersey Joe's."

"And that's where you met Mom."

Marshall cocked an eyebrow. "Do you want to tell the story?"

Liam grinned. "No – go on."

Jersey Joe's

August 1994

"We've been sitting here for over fifteen minutes and no one's even come over to take our drink order," Seth Mann huffed into his menu.

"Well, Dad, maybe it's because they did things at a slower pace in the 'fifties," Marshall grinned.

Seth raised his finger and pointed it in his eldest son's face. "You watch your mouth, boy."

"Oh, Seth, really," Patti Mann sighed. "He was just joking-"

"It wasn't funny."

Patti rolled her eyes at Marshall, who grinned wider. "Let's drop it, OK? We're all tired from the move and hungry-"

"Which could be solved if I could only flag down a damn waitress-"

"Seth, language, please."

Mitch and Michael, Marshall's twin brothers came running back to the booth, slightly out of breath.

"This place is awesome! They have an old fashioned soda fountain-"Mitch exclaimed.

"And an authentic jukebox that plays any song for only a nickel!" Michael screamed.

"How do you know it's authentic? Is it really from the 1950's?" Marshall quipped.

"Marshall, leave your brothers alone," Patti pleaded.

"But mom, I don't think they're using the word 'authentic' correctly-"

"Oh, excuse us, Mr. Encyclopedia!"

"That's dictionary – not encyclopedia."

The twins shrugged. "What's the diff?"

Marshall sighed. "The diff is that a dictionary gives definitions of words while an encyclopedia-"

"Blah blah blah-" the twins chanted.

"Boys, enough!" Seth Mann thundered, slamming an open palm on the table top. "We're in a public restaurant for fuck's sake!"

"Seth, language!"

"Patti-"

"Good afternoon, folks, my name is Shelli and I'll be your waitress today. Can I get you started on some drinks?"

Everyone's attention shifted to the perky cheerleader type young woman in front of their table in a poodle skirt and a thousand megawatt smile.

Seth grunted. "Where have you been? I was beginning to think if I wanted anything to eat or drink I was going to have to get it myself."

Shelli shook her head. "This isn't a self serv place, Gramps. Sorry."

Seth's mouth dropped open and Marshall hide a snicker behind his hand. "I beg your pardon?"

"That's OK, I'm not offended. Now, can I get y'all some drinks?"

Gina and Patti asked for water, while Marshall and the twins ordered shakes.

"And for you, Gramps?"

Seth frowned and slapped his menu on the table. "I want to see your manager."

Shelli shook her head. "He isn't in until eight- is there a problem?"

"Yes, your attitude."

"What's wrong with my attitude?"

"Is there a problem here?"

Seth stared at the young woman who had just materialized by the table. "Yes – Stella," he read the name from her name plate. "I demand to see the manager."

"I'm sorry Ben's not in right now – but I'm the assistant manager, maybe I can help."

Seth relaxed slightly. "Yes, I want a new server."

"Seth-" Patti whispered, putting a hand on his arm. "Don't make a scene."

"I'm sorry, sir, we're rather short-handed this afternoon. Maybe a free drink-"

"No, this girl was rude. I demand a new server or my family and I will leave."

Stella sighed. "I'll see what I can do." She hooked her arm thru Shelli's and walked away.

Patti groaned. "Was that really necessary, Seth? So the girl called you 'gramps' – I get called ma'am all the time-"

Seth glared at her. "It's not at all the same thing, Patti. Young people need to be put in their place, otherwise they will just-"

Marshall knew how the rest of this speech went having been on the receiving end of it many times, so he slipped from the booth, muttering something about needing to use the bathroom. He walked past the doorway to the kitchen and saw Stella chewing out Shelli who looked like she wasn't even listening to a word the assistant manager was saying. Rolling his eyes, he pushed open the door into the bathroom and was instantly blasted by the music from the speakers.

When he came out, he noticed Stella was talking to a new girl, a blonde, who was shaking her head furiously.

"You know that I have to stay home and watch my little sister on Sunday afternoons-"

"I know, Mary, and I wouldn't have called you if it wasn't an emergency. One of Shelli's tables complained about her-"

Mary sighed. "What was it this time?"

"I don't know – but I suspended her for a week. She was high."

Marshall stepped back into the shadows of the alcove. He remembered Shelli's perkiness and the high color in her cheeks. Was she a long time user? He snapped back to the present when he realized the conversation was still continuing-

"-is always high."

"I know but this time I actually caught her with the Coke. But you and I both know I can't fire Ben's niece."

Mary shook her head. "I'll cover the shift this once but you've got to find another girl – Squish can't stay alone every Sunday."

"You're a lifesaver, Mary."

Mary grunted. "Yeah, that's me."

"Order up!"

Marshall came out of the alcove and hurried back to the table, hoping to beat the girl back to his family's table. Suddenly there was a sharp cry and a tray collided with his chest and he was showered in ice cream and sodas and ice cubes as he tumbled to the floor along with a warm body.

"FUCK! Don't you watch where you're going?"

Marshall stared up into the most mesmerizing green eyes he'd ever seen. True, they were snapping fire and looked like they were going to incinerate him on the spot, but he still thought they were-

"What's the matter with you – are you mute?"

Marshall shook his head as Mary scrambled to her feet, groaning at the sticky mess. "I don't have time to clean this up!"

"I'll do it."

She stared down at him like he'd grown two heads. "Excuse me?"

Marshall got to his feet slowly, managing not to slide on the slick ice cream. "It's my fault – let me help."

Mary's eyes narrowed. "I can't let you do that – it's my job."

"And you're way behind now because of me."

"Well-"

"Listen, why don't you go put in another drink order and clean up your work uniform," she looked down at her clothes for the first time and bit back another curse, "and I'll mop this up."

She grabbed some rags from behind the counter and threw them in his direction. "You can get a mop from Stella – I mean, our assistant manager in the kitchen."

He grinned. "Ok, thanks."

She turned to leave but paused and turned back. "Why are you doing this?"

"Because I was raised that when you make a mess, you clean it up."

Mary snorted.

He looked up from wiping. "What?"

"Nothing – I've just never heard anyone say that. What's your name, String Bean?"

"Marshall – Marshall Mann."

"You're new to town, aren't you?"

He nodded. "Just moved here – I'll be going to Middletown High North."

She smiled. "Well then, I guess I'll be seeing you around."

"Hey," he called after her. "I didn't catch your name."

She didn't answer as she was already gone back to the kitchen to place a rush drink order and wash off her uniform. Of course, he knew her first name was Mary, but even in a small town such as this, there must be a hundred Marys. It wasn't until he went back to the kitchen to retrieve the mop and bucket that he passed her carrying the new drink tray.

He stepped carefully out of her way and she bit back a grin. "Watching your step, I see."

"I usually do."

"That's good to know. Oh, Stella wants to know if you're looking for a job."

"I am."

"Stop in and see her after you've cleaned up your mess."

He stuck his tongue out at her and she laughed.

"Thanks-"

She cocked her head. "For what?"

"For putting in a good word for me, Miss – I'd like to know to whom I'm indebted, though."

"Indebted? Who talks like that?" She shook her head. "The name's Mary – Mary Shannon."

"Thanks, Mary."

"Don't mention it – Stella will work you like a dog, trust me."

Marshall watched her walk away and wondered why for the first time in his life it had been so easy to talk to a girl.

A/N Aw, sweet and still so very THEM - right? Reviews are LOVE!