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Home Sweet…Mess

Mary absently stirred her coffee, staring straight ahead in the hospital cafeteria. It had been four days since Marshall had been admitted into hospital and he seemed to be getting better. He was eating properly and rest well…He was beginning to become his old self again.

The only problem was he was still insisting he was quitting the Marshal Service.

She could accept that if she truly thought it was what he wanted but she believed that it was because of what happened in Austin. They still hadn't managed to find much out about it. She was meeting Stan now to get an update on the digging he had been doing.

"Mary, how's he doing?" Stan arrived, taking a seat opposite her.

"The doctor said he could be released today." She replied. "But has advised he continues to talks to a psychiatrist."

"What has Marshall said about that?"

"He agreed…Said he just wants to get out of here and get on with his life." Mary sighed, rubbing her eyes.

"You look exhausted…Are you getting any rest yourself?"

"A bit but between coming here and taking care of Jackson….He's unsettled without Marshall being around." Mary told him, wrapping both her hands around the coffee mug. "I'll just be glad when he's home…"

"Has he said anymore about work?"

"Just that he's not returning." She told him. "Have you found out anything about Austin?"

"Everyone is being pretty tight lipped about it, which makes me wonder if this officer is a local guy and they're trying to protect him." Stan answered.

"And the hell with Marshall, who almost got killed because of them?" Mary exclaimed.

"From what we've been told, Marshall asked them to keep quiet so maybe they think they're doing him a favor." Stan glanced around to make sure no one was paying attention to them after her outburst.

"Why would he want to protect him?"

"If this guy made a mistake by accident, maybe Marshall feels responsible or if he was rogue cop, he could blame himself for not noticing."

"Shelley suggested that." Mary replied. "What do you think happened?"

"Well, I think if it was a rogue cop, he would be custody by now and I don't think so many people would be willing to help them." Stan stated. "I was also able to find out that the investigation has been held up due to the fact that he has been admitted to a Psychiatric hospital."

"He had a break down?"

"Either that or he's using it as a cover for his screw up." Stan shrugged. "But it would make sense…If this guy had trouble coping with the pressure of the job; Marshall may feel bad for not noticing."

"But why isn't anyone telling us anything?" Mary wondered. "If that was the case then why not just say that…"

"I don't know." Stan replied. "I talked to Seth, asked him to do some digging as well."

"You think he'll be able to help?"

"Well, Marshall somehow managed to pull some strings to get people to keep their mouths shut…It's possible he called in some favors from friends of Seth's."

"I can't see Marshall doing that." Mary told him. "He never wanted any help with his career from his Dad before."

"I just thought it was worth a shot….I'm running out of ideas myself, so until Marshall, his team or Allison Pearson start talking then we've got nothing."

"Allison still not giving anything away?"

"Just that it's been looked into and the person responsible will be dealt with."

"It still doesn't feel right, Stan." Mary sighed. "I don't think this is just about the job…"

"What do you mean?"

"He's worried that I'll leave him and take Jack away from him."

"Have you asked him why?"

"He just says he's not ready to tell me."

Stan reached over and squeezed her hand. "We'll work all this out…"

"I hope so."

"It's good that he's agreed to talk to someone and maybe in a few days he'll be willing to open up to us."

"I'm just scared about what we'll find out."

"Whatever it is…We'll deal with together."

xXxXx

"Are you coming to bed?"

Marshall turned around and saw Mary stood in the doorway. He had got home from the hospital that afternoon and while he was glad to be out, he didn't know what to say to Mary or his family, who had come over for dinner. He had slipped away to check on Jack before dessert and had not returned. He glanced at the clock and saw that almost two hours had passed.

"I didn't realize the time." He said weakly.

She gave him a small smile. "Don't worry about it…I saved you some pie."

"My family gone?"

"Yeah, they asked me to tell you goodnight."

He sighed. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be." She told him, taking his hand and leading him out of Jackson's bedroom and to their room. "You've had a hard couple of days….Months."

He sat down of the edge of the bed and covered his face with his hands. "My head feels like it's going to explode."

She knelled on the bed behind him and massaged his shoulders gently. "Talk to me."

She remembered what Shelly had said about not pushing him but she had to at least try. She wasn't the most patient person in the world and wanted to shake him until some information fell out but knew that approach wouldn't work with him.

He stayed silent and Mary decided that it was a good thing he didn't tell her no. She ran her hands over his shoulders and down his chest, resting her cheek on the top of his head.

"Marshall…" She said softly. "Why won't you tell me what happened?"

"Because I can't explain it." He whispered. "I can't explain why it happened, why I let it happen or why I've reacted to it like this…I don't want you to get the wrong idea."

She frowned. "I don't understand…What wrong idea?"

"That I don't love you enough." He admitted. "But I do, Mary…You and Jack are everything to me and I would die a thousand times over and kill a million people for you both but just because I'm willing to, don't mean it still doesn't hurt."

"Marshall, I know you love me…And I know how it feels to have to take someone else's life." She tightened her hold onto him, hoping he would get the message. "What I don't know, is how this all connected…Why would I leave you because you protected yourself from being killed?"

"Can we talk about it another time?" He asked.

She opened her mouth to protest but Shelly's words came back to her again. "If that's what you want…."

"I'm sorry, Mare…" He shifted a little so he could face her. "I just want to get it clear in my head first so I can explain it to you."

"I understood." She lied and climbed off the bed.

She stood in front of him and pulled him to his feet before putting her hands behind his neck and bringing him down for a kiss. He kissed back, circling his own arms around her waist but pulled back when she tried to remove his t-shirt.

"What are you doing?"

"I can respect that you're not ready to talk about whatever happened… That's fine, I'm willing to wait." She told him, dropping the shirt to the floor. "But while I do wait, I'm going to make sure I show you how much I do love you…How much I need you."

"Mary…"

She undid his belt and shoved his jeans down, then moved him so he stepped out of them before pushing back down onto the bed. She climbed on top of him and kissed him again.

"Let me do this for you." She whispered, her lips moving down his neck. "Let me love you."

He let out a shaky breath and closed his eyes, moaning quietly in agreement.

XxXxX

Seth hung up his cell phone and leaned back in his chair. After making calls all day at Stan's request, he finally thinks he managed to get to the bottom of his son's problem. He had called all his friends, asking questions but none of them had answers. He had given up for the night when they headed over to Mary and Marshall's for dinner but halfway through the meal, he remembered a conversation he had with Marshall almost a year ago. At the time, he had not really been paying attention to what was being said but remembered Austin being brought up.

So once they were back in the hotel and Sarah had gone to take a shower, he picked up the phone and called a man, who had every right to hang up on him. Instead, the guy wasn't surprised at all to get the phone call from Seth and was more than willing to help.

Everything fell into place. He now understood Marshall's strong reaction to his brothers and Mother doubting his relationship with Mary. Why he took a sudden turn for the worst after everything that happened with Danny and that gang. Why he felt he wasn't capable of being a Marshal anymore.

"Seth?" Sarah placed a hand on his arm, causing him to jump. "Are you okay? I called your name three times…"

He ran a hand over his face. "Sorry, I got lost in thought."

"What's wrong? What's happened?"

"Nothing…Don't worry." He stood up and kissed the top of her head. "I'll be right back."

"Where are you going?"

"I just need to talk to Danny about something."

Chris, Nathan and Danny were all sharing the hotel room next to theirs and when Seth knocked, Nathan answered, rubbing sleep out of his eyes.

"Dad?" He squinted against the light. "What's up?"

"Nothing, I just need to talk to Danny about something…"

"What's going on?" Chris appeared, being woken by the knocking.

"Dad needs to talk to Danny…"

"He's asleep."

"Wake him…It's important."

Chris and Nathan glanced at each other. "It's can't wait till morning?"

"No."

Chris sighed. "Come in…"

"I'll make some coffee." Nathan added.

Seth watched as Chris shook Danny awake and he did feel a little guilty for not leaving it until the morning but he wanted to get all the fact straight before he talked to Marshall.

"Grandpa?" Danny looked at him curiously.

"I'm sorry to wake you, kiddo but there some questions I need to ask you." Seth said, sitting on the edge of the bed.

"What questions?"

"What happened that night Uncle Marshall got hurt?"

Danny frowned. "I've already told you..."

"You said he came in and Jase knocked him to the floor then the rest of the gang attacked him."

"Yeah…" Danny nodded. "That's pretty much it."

"So, as soon as he was on the floor, he was hit?"

"No….They talked for a bit…Jase and Uncle Marshall…"

"Talked?"

"Jase something about him being in trouble and then asked him if he was scared…"

"And Marshall stayed down on the floor?" Chris questioned, frowning.

"Yeah."

"He didn't try and fight back?"

"No because Jase pulled a gun."

"A gun?" Seth repeated.

"Yeah, he put it to Uncle Marshall's head." Danny admitted. "I thought he was going to shoot him."

Chris cursed quietly, having no idea it had been that serious. He couldn't help but feel guilty for not appreciating what his brother had gone through for his son.

"What happened next?"

"Uncle Marshall told him he was just hiding behind his weapons and that if it was a fair fight, he would win." Danny explained. "Jase put the gun away and started kicking him then before he could defend himself, the others got involved."

"How did you get out of there?"

"Jase started to taunt us…asking what Dad would do when he found Uncle Marshall dead…He went to hit him around the head with a baseball bat but Uncle Marshall somehow managed to get back up…" Danny told them. "I don't know how but the next thing I know, Jase is against the wall with the bat pressed against his throat and Uncle Marshall is aiming his gun at the others."

"Then you left?"

"Uncle Marshall told Jase that if he came near any of us again, he would go back…"

Seth sighed. "Okay, thanks Danny…Go back to sleep."

"Is Uncle Marshall going to be okay?"

"Of course." Seth assured him, hoping he was right. "I'll see you in the morning."

Chris and Nathan followed Seth to the door.

"Dad, what's going on?" Nathan asked.

"What's all this got to do with Danny?" Chris asked. "I thought Marshall's problem started a few months back…"

"I think we just found the trigger that caused him to flashback to whatever it was that happened in Austin." Seth told them. "Look, don't worry about it now…get some sleep."

"Wait." Nathan stopped him. "Do you know what happened?"

"I have a hunch, yeah."

"Are you going to share it with us?" Chris asked impatiently.

"Not yet, no." He shook his head. "I'll see you in the morning."

TBC

The plot thickens! Seth to the rescue? Please review and let me know what you think!