***Final chapter. I hope it goes the way you wanted it to. Reviews welcomed. ***

Chapter 3

Marshall may be a bad-ass lawman now, but he wasn't always a bad-ass with a best friend like Mary. He desperately wants things to progress in their relationship, but he's scared. He wasn't scared when it seemed hypothetical, or something that was still a long time coming. But now? She's in his house and she wants to talk. Really, that should be Talk with a capital T. And he's scared.

Scared that she will change her mind. Scared that she'll decide Marshall the boyfriend is not as good as Marshall the friend. And scared that if something goes wrong, he'll lose his best friend. His only friend. Partners at work are replaceable, to some degree, but best friends are not.

He watches her eat, and he pushes his food around on his plate, like a kid trying to make it seem like he's eating something when he actually isn't. He's not really that hungry anyways. He wonders if he should say something, get the ball rolling, so to speak. On the other hand, what do you say to the girl of your dreams after she's called you and told you she's ready? There's no script for this conversation. Not sure where to start, he decides to go with his old stand-by – random knowledge gleaned from whatever source caught his fancy today.

"Did you know that Seattle has the highest percentage of college and university graduates of any city in the nation? Over 50% of the population holds a bachelor's degree or higher. That's nearly double the national average."

Mary recognized what Marshall was doing, and she smiled. "Marshall, shut up. I don't want to talk about Seattle's educated population."

"I know. I just figured it would alleviate some of the slightly awkward silence."

"I'm sorry. I don't know how to say this. I don't even know what to say."

"Why don't you tell me about your day?"

"Ok. So Lewis and I were talking during the flight up to Seattle. He was, I don't know, sort of mourning the loss of his partnership with Harrison Locke. Our relationship, yours and mine, came up. More accurately, he asked me what I would do if you broke the law, I guess to see if the answer would be different than it was when Locke was around."

"And was it?"

"No, of course not. You know that Marshall. First of all, the likelihood of you doing something criminal is pretty remote. The only reason you would do it…"

"Is to protect you."

Shit, Mary thought. This conversation was going a little too quickly. "Marshall, I don't need to be protected."

"Not from the outside world, maybe. You can definitely handle yourself in that regard."

Crap, crap, crap. Mary started to panic. Marshall knew her too well. It was like he was reading her mind.

Marshall could see her mind starting to work through this last statement. "Mary, can I tell you something?"

Desperate to get the attention off of her, Mary agreed. "Sure."

"You're my best friend. What we have is good, really good. We look out for each other, not just professionally, but personally. We're human, we make mistakes, we get hurt, we hurt people. Shit, sometimes we hurt ourselves. What I need from you, and what I hope you need from me, is love."

"Marshall, you're such a Hallmark card. You need love? That's not helpful."

"You didn't let me finish. You know how much I love you, as my best friend." He took a deep breath, and decided to go for it. It was time. Go big or go home. "I want more. If you can't give me more, I understand. I'll always be here for you. But I want more. I want to be not only your best friend, and your partner, but your life partner. I want to be there at night when you're feeling abandoned and scared, because I know you have those feelings. And I want you to be there at night when I'm feeling insecure and anxious." He paused, hoping she'd say something.

Mary swallowed hard. She hadn't really expected him to make this declaration. But she was a little relieved. "Yes."

"Yes what?"

"Yes I want those things too. I want you, my best friend, to be more than my best friend. I don't know what that will look like or how it will work, but I know I want it."

Marshall smiled. He was a little stunned at how…forthright Mary was being. Usually he had to drag things like this out of her. He reached over and took her hand.

"We'll figure it out. In the meantime, let's hit the hay. I'm tired, you're tired. No need to solve the world's problems tonight."

"Marshall, are you asking me to sleep with you?" Mary raised an eyebrow and smirked at him.

"Only in the purest sense of the world. Tonight we sleep, tomorrow..." his voice trailed off.

Mary got out of her chair, walked the few steps towards Marshall, and put her arms around him, pulling him into a long hug. He leaned down and kissed her gently, a promise of more to come.

"Come on, bedtime."

"Marshall, I need a shower and I have nothing to sleep in. And no, you are not getting me naked tonight."

"You know where the shower is, and I'll get you a pair of pajama pants."

"Ok but not the cowboy ones!"

"Deal."

Marshall smiled as he watched Mary walk into the bathroom. He was still scared. They both were. But really, a little fear was a good thing when it came to love, he decided. Kept you on your toes and all that.

Love. He couldn't believe it. He'd told her how he felt, and she reciprocated. He knew this day would come. He just didn't expect it to have come so soon.