This was just a fic inspired by my LJ community. SPOILERS FOR "SON OF MANN" and before.

ooOooo

Mary eyed the white envelope suspiciously. It had been sent to her work, not her home, which made her even more wary of opening it. Anything important would be sent her home. The fact that the return address was from New Jersey was why it had been exiled to the furthest corner of her desk, so that she could avoid touching it at all costs.

Marshall didn't pay much attention to her. He had his own work to do and Mary acting oddly wasn't exactly out of the ordinary. So it wasn't until lunch time that he noticed the mail that lay on the corner of her desk.

"What's this?" he asked, picking it up before she could stop him.

"Don't open that!" she yelled, getting up to take it from him. Marshall easily kept it out of her reach.

"Washington High School," he read as Mary futilely jumped to try and get the letter. "It's from New Jersey." He turned his back on her, still keeping the package away from her and opened it.

"Hey! It's a federal offense to open mail not addressed to you!"

"I'll keep that in mind. 'Mary Shannon,'" he read. "'You are cordially invited to Washington High School's twenty-year reunion.'" He turned and looked at her, grin plastered on his face. "Your high school reunion is coming up?"

"Yeah, so what?"

"Oh, we're TOTALLY going!" he said.

"We are not doing anything. I'm not even going."

"Come on!" he pleaded. "It'll be fun."

"Fun? When was the last time that you attended a high school reunion?"

"It was last year, remember?" He handed her back the invitation and she tossed it onto her desk, the damage done.

"I'm not going."

"Why not?"

She sat at her desk, arms crossed. "Because I hated high school. Mine wasn't like yours, Marshall. I wasn't well loved by everyone. It was miserable and the last thing that I want to do is go there, with all those people that hated me, and show them that I have no boyfriend, no husband and a job that I can't talk about."

"I'm sure it couldn't all be that bad," he said, sitting on the edge of her desk. "There had to be SOME good that came out of high school."

Mary thought about all the fights, never making friends because they all eventually wanted to see her house and the shotgun marriage she had entered into so she could escape her life. No, there was nothing that she wanted to remember about high school.

"Trust me, if High School Me had ever met High School You, you would have been mortified."

"I don't know. Has High School You ever met Grown Up You?"

"I'm still not going."

"What if I go with you? I, personally, really want to see where you went to high school. Besides, maybe if you face your demons you'll find that they're not so demonic after all."

"You're going to make me go, aren't you?" she asked.

"Even if I have to tie you up and drag you there and I swear to God, if you turn that dirty and ruin the moment I will never tell you anything ever again," he warned.

"Ruin all my fun. It's bad enough that you're making me go."

"That's what friends are for."

ooOOoo

She couldn't believe she was back in New Jersey, here of all places, in front of this building that she couldn't get away from fast enough when she was younger. She had avoided it for twenty-five years and now she was back, in heels no less. But Marshall had made her wear something decent. He knew he'd never get her in a dress but he hidden all her jeans from her.

Marshall had also dressed up, forgoing his usually cowboy attire for a suit and tie, one that actually looked new. He looked good in it as Mary let her eyes linger appreciatively.

"You look good in a suit," she said. "You should wear them more often."

Marshall looked at her like she was deranged. "Did… did you just compliment me?"

"Yeah, so what?"

"You never compliment people, Mare. Had I known Jersey was going to make you go crazy, I wouldn't have made you come."

"Shut up," she said. "Let's just get this over with, ok?" She stalked towards the door, Marshall easily keeping up. The nametags were displayed on a table in the entrance. Mary grabbed hers, pinning it to the bottom of her shirt, under her jacket. Marshall displayed his proudly on his chest.

"No one is going to know it's you if you hide your name tag," he told her. Three tall brunettes were walking towards her, one of them obviously pregnant.

"Believe me, they'll know," Mary muttered. "My luck would be too good if they didn't."

"Mary? Mary Shannon! It's soooo good to see you! I can't believe you came. I mean, we haven't seen you at any of these reunions!" The brunette in the middle came up and hugged her, much to Marshall's surprise and Mary's dismay. "And who is this fine specimen of a man?" she asked, turning towards Marshall.

"Mindy, this is Marshall, Marshall, this is Mindy, Annie and Theresa," Mary introduced, gesturing to each of the women.

"We're so glad you came," Annie, the pregnant one, said. "My husband is floating around here somewhere. Your remember Derek, right?"

Marshall watched Mary's eyes darken, remembering something he wasn't privy to.

"Yeah, I remember," Mary said.

"Well, we'll catch up with you later!" Mindy said and the three women walked away.

"Mindy?" Marshall inquired. "You were friends with a girl named Mindy?"

"No, I wasn't. Mindy was your typical popular girl, cheerleader and completely made my life miserable."

"And Annie?"

"Cheerleading captain."

"Derek?"

"No one," Mary answered. "Derek was no one."

About an hour later there was a welcome speech, the class president telling everyone in a superficial voice about ambitions and how good it was to see everyone and about aspirations for the future. Even Marshall had to admit it was a little cheesy. Dinner was served and music played. Mary said hi to a few people that she genuinely seemed to like.

"Who were they?" Marshall asked after they had eaten.

"Remember those musicals I told you about? A lot of them were either in the play or helped out with it. They were nice, even if they were a bit weird. Drama kids are always like that but always accepting of other thespians."

Marshall saw a smile tug at her lips, making him wonder about her. In the three hours he had been at her reunion, he had learned more about her than in the six years they'd been partners. He got the feeling that Mary hadn't always been her usual abrasive, closed off self. He had always thought it was her family that had caused that but now he was beginning to wonder if there was something else.

Derek made his appearance when Marshall was getting them drinks. If he had known, he would never have left her side but in the usual Mary fashion, she had bottled everything up, hiding everything that she could.

"Here alone, Shannon?" Marshall over heard as he approached. He didn't know who the guy was, but he was making Mary visibly uncomfortable.

"It's really none of your business, Derek."

"Ah, so you're paying him or," and Marshall barely caught this part, "maybe he's paying you. Didn't know that you were still in the same line of work."

Years of enforced self-control were the only thing that kept Marshall from punching Derek. He wanted to hurt the guy for saying what he had to Mary. Marshall's protective instincts kicked in and he did the only thing that he could think of that wasn't violent.

"Here's your drink, sweetheart." He handed Mary the glass of champagne then leaned over and placed a kiss on her cheek. "Play along," he whispered, too low for Derek to hear.

"Who are you?" Derek asked.

"Derek, this is Marshall, he's-"

"Her fiancé," Marshall interrupted, holding out his hand. He had at least three inches on Derek and shook the man's hand firmly. Derek eyed the couple warily.

"If you're her fiancé how come she's not wearing a ring?"

"Mary isn't really one for jewelry. Gets in the way when she's shooting her gun."

"Well… it was nice to meet you, Marshall. Mary," he said, nodding and then walked away. Mary turned on Marshall.

"What the hell was that!" she whispered harshly. "When did we suddenly decide to get married?"

"When that guy pissed me off. C'mon, Mare, just play along. It will shut your classmates up for a while and what's the harm? We both know you're never going to see them again."

She scrutinized him for a minute, pretending to be really angry. The truth was it was a relief. She didn't want to have to deal with the ridicule and whispers that came with her High School Self. Finally, she let a smile slip. "Fine, but no hanky panky."

"How about a dance?" he offered, holding out his hand.

"I'm a terrible dancer," Mary warned.

"I'm not." He didn't wait for an answer, just pulled her onto the floor for a slow dance. She could feel his hand at the small of her back, warm even through her clothes. She tried to keep a space between them but Marshall was having none of it. He pulled her close, his cheek against hers. "We're supposed to be engaged, Mary, you can't dance with me like we're in the ninth grade. I promise, no chaperone is going to come and separate us."

They sauntered back to their table after the song ended, Marshall's hand gently clasping hers. Usually she hated hand holding. Mainly, she felt constricted and it made it harder for her to pull her gun if she needed it. Marshall seemed to be conscious of all of this. He laced their fingers lightly and held her non-firing hand. He made sure there was some space between them so that if she needed to grab her gun quickly, she could. She realized that he did all this unconsciously, as if he instinctively knew what she needed. Really, there was no reason. Why would she ever need to pull a gun at her reunion? It didn't change the fact that he accommodated for these things, whether he meant to or not.

Mindy and her posse returned when the two Marshals reached their table. The three women went on and on about their lives. Annie was a stay at home mom, three kids by Derek and another on the way. Theresa was the CEO of some company Mary couldn't be bothered to remember but married for six years. Mindy had recently divorced after she had discovered her husband sleeping around… with other men.

"So, Marshall, you haven't told us anything about you," Mindy said, running her hand down his arm. It was meant to look casual but Mary saw the intent behind it.

"I'm in law enforcement," Marshall let on carefully. Obviously neither of them could give away what they really did but law enforcement was close enough.

"Ohh, a cop," Mindy said. "I bet you just look so cute in your uniform."

"He does," Mary said, sliding her arms around his waist. "I can't keep my hands off him every time he comes home."

Marshall threw her a look but didn't say anything, just put an arm around her shoulders.

"Oh… I didn't realize you two were… together," Mindy said, disdain in her voice. She had set her sights on Marshall and was less than happy to see an obstacle in her way.

"Six years," Marshall said, which was true, just not in the way Mindy thought.

"Well it was nice chatting with you," she said, walking away with the two other women. Mary saw Mindy look back at them. Mary slid her arms around Marshall's neck and pulled him down for a kiss. Marshall was stunned but played along. Mary's lips were warm against his, her tongue deliberate and enticing in his mouth. He returned the emotion eagerly, his arms pulling her close to him.

When Mindy had gotten an eyeful, Mary pulled away. "Well…," Marshall began, "I wasn't expecting that."

Mary hadn't been either, but she was tired of these people thinking they could push her aside and get what they wanted. Even after all this time they sought to crush her, to make her feel exactly as she had in high school. When Mindy had started hitting on Marshall, Mary had felt a pang of jealousy. She wasn't sure why, after all she wasn't actually engaged to Marshall, but Mindy didn't know that and had hit on Marshall anyway. Mary had just reacted.

Marshall saw her anger teeming beneath the surface and attempted to distract her. "I hear they're going to make us play games later," Marshall said.

"Like what?"

"You know, that whole match the person up with their job kind of thing. It isn't exactly my cup of tea."

"So, what, they want us to play getting to reknow you games?" She gave a short laugh. "Just what I need."

The crowd was slowly drifting toward a different room, where different events were happening. There was still a large crowd in the decorated gymnasium but it was thinning. To Marshall's dismay, Derek started towards them.

"Coming to play, Mary?" Derek asked her but there was a tone to his voice that indicated he wasn't here to start a friendly conversation.

"Wasn't planning on it," she countered. Marshall instinctively put his hand on her waist.

"Why not? I'm sure everyone would love to hear about your job." Derek lowered his voice so only Marshall and Mary could hear him. "What is the going rate for prostitution these days?"

Marshall didn't think, not that thinking would have stopped him. He punched Derek squarely in the jaw, so hard that Derek almost fell over. He stumbled backward, hand going immediately to his mouth. Marshall tried to follow up with another but Mary stepped between the two of them.

"Marshall! Stop!" She held onto him but it took most of her effort.

"What the fuck!" Derek yelled. "Let him go, Mary, or are you afraid I'll hurt your little boy toy?"

Mary glared at Derek. "No, I'm afraid that if I let him at you, you won't be able to run far enough before he kills you." She turned back to Marshall. "Let's go outside and cool off."

She managed to get him out of there but barely. She dragged him to the front of the school, out to soccer fields where they couldn't hear the party any longer. Marshall was still shaking when they got out there. "What the hell was that, Mary? How could you let him talk to you like that? If anyone else had said that to you, you would have punched them yourself."

"He's just a jerk and it appears that he hasn't changed much since high school."

Marshall saw the shadows in her face, the same ones that appeared every time this Derek character came around. He managed to calm down enough to talk to her, to get an answer from her. "What happened? What are you not telling me?" he asked her softly.

She was silent for a long time. He didn't think that she was going to answer him but then she started to talk. "I wanted to be popular, once upon a time. I know that you'd never know that now, but then… I was a kid who wanted friends. I played tough, teased the kids who were popular but secretly, or maybe not so secretly, I wanted to be accepted."

She didn't look at him when she spoke and Marshall didn't interrupt, just let her talk to the darkness. "You know what my family is like. The second I got close to anyone, they'd want to see my house which meant they'd see my drunken mother and criminal sister."

Mary wrapped her arms around her, the chill of the New Jersey night getting to her. "I should have been suspicious. I mean, Derek was the quarterback of the football team and I was just some sophomore who was only known for mouthing off. But he was nice to me, Marshall. He… he became my friend. He introduced me to other friends, even showed a romantic interest in me. So when he asked me to fuck him under the bleachers, I didn't even think twice about it."

Marshall jumped a little in surprise. He hadn't expected that. Sure, he knew Mary took men to bed, he agonized over it constantly, but he never knew she had begun so young. "Was he…" Marshall couldn't even finish the question.

"The first?" Mary supplied with a harsh, bitter laugh. "Yeah. What a waste, huh?" She turned to look at him for the first time since she had started her story. "All my self-respect and dignity gone on some stupid little bet. It was all over my school in seconds. I weathered it like I always did but eventually…" she shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe even I started to believe the stories."

Marshall didn't know what to say. He had never really thought of Mary as a person who was so easily venerable. The few times she had opened up to him had only come after years of friendship, years of building a trust that was almost impossible to break. Only then had she finally showed him that, deep down, she wasn't always tough. Now he realized why that trust was so hard earned, why this woman who he cared about so much protected her heart so fiercely. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close and giving all the comfort he had.

"I'm sorry you got dragged into all of this," she told him.

"I'm not." He leaned down to kiss her.

"Marshall," she objected. "No one's around. You don't have to pretend anymore."

"Who's pretending?" He pressed his lips to hers, softly. It was a comforting kiss with both of their emotions pouring into it. It was intense but not sexual, a new feeling for Mary, a confusing one. He broke the kiss first, but kept his arms around her, his cheek resting on the top of her head. "I think High School You really could have used a High School Me," he told her.

She laughed at him. "I told you, High School Me would have eaten High School You alive."

"I probably would have liked it," he chuckled. "Hell, Grown Up Me likes that idea and High School Me was a lot hornier."

She pushed him away with a laugh and a playful smack. "C'mon, we'd better go back in. Derek is not going to be happy with you," she warned.

"Please, I could take two Grown Up Dereks."

"That's only because they have the balls of one Adolescent Derek."

When they walked back in, Marshall's looked told the room that any word about Mary meant they would have to deal with him. Suddenly, everyone was a lot nicer to her. No one seemed to want to mess with her cop fiancé.

The fiancé story had circulated faster than she thought it would. Soon all she was asked about were wedding dates and receptions and how they met. They made things up as they went along and, by the end of the night, had even set a mythical date for June because Marshall liked warm weather and Mary wanted nice flowers.

Before they left, numbers were exchanged, addresses given and well wishes sent with the couple. Mary couldn't help but admit to herself that she liked the deception. The feeling she got when she pretended to be Marshall's fiancé was different than the one she had when she was actually engaged to Raph. She had felt scared and almost claustrophobic with Raph. With Marshall it was just comfortable.

'It's because it's not real,' she told herself. 'You don't feel smothered because you know it's not actually going to happen.' Somehow, she wasn't convinced.

Their flight the next morning was early. Marshall held her hand through the airport, keeping up the charade for the fun of it, or so he claimed.

"It will be our New Jersey thing," he said. "Every time we come back we can be something else." They both new they'd probably never be back in Jersey.

He was true to his word. When they got off in Albuquerque there was no hand holding, no kissing; he didn't even hold her luggage for her, knowing she was more than capable and probably wouldn't want him to.

They ended up at her house, tired from the early flight. She handed him a beer and he took it gratefully. It was always hard readjusting to Albuquerque heat when they went on trips up north. They talked for hours about everything. Childhood stories, both good and bad, high school, futures, all things that they had never really breached before. Marshall discovered that not everything in Mary's life was terrible (she had even let it slip that his friendship was a high point in her life but told him not to let it go to his head) and Mary discovered that not everything in Marshall's life was as perfect as he let on.

Night came, dinner was eaten and before either of them realized, it was late and time for Marshall to leave. They both hesitated at the door, knowing that this was going to be the end of the Jersey trip, the end to this intimate moment. When he walked out her front door they both knew that this spell would be broken.

"I guess I'll see you tomorrow," he said. He leaned in and kissed her cheek. "Have a good night." He opened the door, ready to leave but she stopped him.

"Marshall." She grabbed his wrist before he could cross her threshold. He looked at her, curious, and a little bit hopeful. "What… what if I don't want it to be just a New Jersey thing?"

He raised an eyebrow in question. "You… want to pretend to be getting married all the time?"

"No, I mean, I'm saying what if I don't want to pretend?"

"You actually want to get married?"

"No, I mean, yes, I mean… not right now." She wasn't sure what she meant but somehow, Marshall did.

"You want me to stay?" he asked, his voice gentle. She relaxed, smiling.

"Yeah," she said. "Grown Up Me would like that."

ooOOoo