I'm trying to see if IPS can reach 1K, this is the first installment to 'Butterfly Effect'. The stories won't go together, they'll be a series of different endings. Hope you enjoy! Haha, had to fix a little bit of my mistake...I got it right the first time, don't know where the heck I got Martinez from. REVISED! :)

Marshall walked alongside his fiancée, but she was too engrossed in her cell phone checking her emails to even notice his presence. He was sure if he stopped walking she would only notice him gone when she reached his car and he wasn't there to open the door.

He shrugged, at the moment it was best that she was busy with work and not drilling him about setting a date on the now, put-on-hold-for-as-long-as-possible wedding date. He looked up and almost collided with another man, he stumbled to a stop and gaped at the other man.

"Marshall?! Marshall Mann?" Marshall stared at his longtime nemesis, the one that had almost taken his best-friend away. That thought had him inwardly cursing for still feeling angst against the man.

Marshall nodded as he stretched out a hand to grasp the one Raphael Ramirez was already holding out to him, "Raphael Ramirez, in the flesh. Thought you had transferred."

"I did, I am just here to visit with some old friends," accent still pretty prominent he replied as he looked around Marshall.

He frowned as the other man continued to look behind him before turning confused eyes up at him, "Where's Mary?"

"Mary? She's probably home, I'm not sure," Marshall answered genuinely as he really didn't know her whereabouts on this Saturday afternoon.

"Marshall sweetheart, is everything okay?" Abigail had indeed kept walking way after Marshall had stopped to talk to Raphael.

Marshall remembered his manners and introduced them, "This is Abigail Chaffee, my fiancée. Abs, this is Raphael Ramirez."

Raphael looked at Abigail appraisingly and nodded, "It is very nice to meet you."

They shook hands and Abigail turned back to her cell phone when it started to vibrate against her palm, "Oh, please excuse me. I have to take this."

She walked off, leaving Marshall and Raphael staring at each other.

"So, Mary and you…I thought once I was out of the picture you would finally tell Mary how you felt," Raph said as he frowned at Abigail's form a few feet away from them.

Marshall stared at Raph incredulously, "You…thought I had feelings for my partner?"

"I did not think, I knew. I fought against it for most of my relationship with Mary. You were the third person in that relationship, to be honest with you, I guess I was the third person," Raphael explained as he crossed his arms across his muscled chest, he rubbed his chin absently.

Marshall shook his head in denial, knowing that Raphael was right, but with Abigail only a few feet away, "I'm sorry you got that impression…"

"I am not a stupid man," Raph muttered as he turned to make sure that Abigail was still talking on her cell phone. "The hold she had on you…do you realize that most of our fights were about her releasing whatever hold she had on you."

"No, I didn't know that I had anything to do with any of your fights," Marshall murmured, he looked away as he thrust his hands inside his pants pockets, fiddling with his keys and loose change.

Raph nodded solemnly and continued, "I asked her to stop hanging out with you, you know. To make me her first priority, but…"

"Yeah, Mary's first priority had always been her career, being a Marshal…" Marshall drawled when Raph trailed off, but was brusquely cut off.

"You are not a stupid man, you understand what I am trying to say, you have always been her first priority," Raph chuckled dryly at Marshall's stunned expression, "I take it back, you are a stupid man. But you say - had - what has changed?"

"Norah, her daughter is her first priority now," he said in a monotone voice, still reeling from the things Raph was putting out in plain sight for him to finally see. See what he has been missing all this time, the final puzzle piece of why Raph and Mary never worked out. It had always been him.

"Oh, yes, her daughter. I am glad she has someone to love, now that you…how should I put it? Screwed up?" Raph asked with a frown. "I must go, it was great to see you again compadre. Good luck with your…" he nodded towards Abigail, which had finally ended the call and was walking towards them again, "…life."

"Thank Raphael, good luck with your life too," Marshall and Raph shook hands.

"Ready Honey Britches?" Abigail asked as she stood on his side, arched eyebrow in question.

Marshall nodded and started to walk, Abigail trailing behind him, he couldn't help but notice that they hadn't held hands for some time now.

Early the next morning, Marshall got up, showered and dressed before leaving their bedroom. He left Abigail sleeping on her side of the bed, they didn't cuddle anymore either. He shrugged the thought off and left the room.

He was sitting on the table eating his breakfast of pancakes, eggs and bacon, when Abigail walked out of the bedroom, already in her Sunday attire of shorts and t-shirt.

"Why are you up so early on Sunday, sweetie?" she asked sweetly as she walked over to him, plucking a piece of bacon from his plate, for some reason it annoyed him when she did that. He had never minded when Mary had eaten off his plate, at times leaving him foodless.

Marshall shrugged, "I thought I'd go over to Mary's and hang out for a bit, I haven't seen Norah in quite some time. I wonder if she's walking already."

He looked up when he encountered silence, Abigail was glaring down at him in disbelief, "I thought we talked about this? I thought you agreed that it was best if you took a step back."

He frowned up at her and put down his mug with enough force to spill his coffee, "A step back is not the same as never spending time with her and Norah."

"Then what does it mean to step back to you? I thought…I thought we agreed that I would be your first priority!" she demanded.

"How in the hell me spending ONE afternoon with my best-friend, makes you my second priority?" he was seething by now, he had never had to make an excuse to hang out with anyone and all Abigail kept telling him was that it wasn't okay to hang out with his best-friend. "Would it make a difference if I went to play a game of ball with a guy friend?"

"Of course it's different," she wailed.

"How? Give me one good reason?" he challenged.

"It's just…I…" she trailed trying to come up with a good reason.

"Exactly, you don't have one. I'm leaving now, I'll see you later."

He walked out of the house, leaving an angry Abigail behind.

Mary was in the pool, wading with Norah in a floating ring, holding the little girls hands in hers as she dragged her around the pool. The 10 month old baby kept cooing and splashing the water as her mother taught her not to fear the water.

"There you go, you're such a big girl in the pool with her mother on this very hot day," Mary cooed at her daughter, she used whole sentences, baby talk had never made sense to her.

"Come on baby girl," she reach down with one hand and moved the baby's leg back and forth, causing Norah to squeal in delight, "Move your legs…there you go, just like that baby."

Marshall stood on the other side of the gate, enjoying the view, enjoying Mary being a mother. He chuckled when he heard Mary instructing the little girl how to move in the water. Surprised when the baby took direction to her instructions.

He broke the silence, "Never figured you for a swim instructor, Mare."

Mary swirled around in the pool and stared at him a surprise, she opened and closed her mouth several times, unsure how to take his visit. Immediately, she dragged Norah to the shallow side of the pool and pulled her out of the floating ring, turned to Marshall and frowned when he saw him shaking his head.

"Did something happen to a witness?" Mary asked concerned, walked over to a lounge chair and plucked a towel, wrapping a clapping Norah in it. "Mama…mama…mama…mama"

"No, no, no, I didn't come over…STOP!" they both froze and stared at Marshall. "I didn't come over to cause you any distress, just thought…I don't know, that maybe I can hang out with you two?"

Mary shifted Norah to the other side of her hip and narrowed her eyes at him in suspicion, "Why?"

"Why not?"

"Because you asked me to release you"

"I didn't mean, we couldn't hang out anymore"

"How many times have we hung out since I released you?"

"Uh…none," he murmured in remorse.

"What's changed?"

He shrugged and reached for Norah, but Mary didn't budge shaking her head, "Come on Mare, let me hold her."

"Nuh-uh, answer the question numbnuts"

"Nothing's changed, I've just had time on my hands and I thought I could come over…"

"You must really think I'm stupid," Mary stalked off into the house, with a now quiet Norah as she stared after him.

"I don't think you're stupid, what's so hard to believe that I want to hang out with my best-friend? I didn't think I needed an excuse," he jogged behind her retreating form, "Wait up!"

He reached her side and grabbed her arm, pulling her around, "Mare, why do I need an excuse to hang out with you and Norah?"

"You don't, but you've never expressed any desire to do so before. I just need to know what this means, are you going to be coming over more often? Is this whenever you have time and your fiancée is too busy to hang out with you, so you come over to your best-friend's house?" Mary gave him her concerns. "Look Marshall, I appreciate you coming out here, but if it's going to be the latter…I'd rather you didn't make the effort. I don't want Bug getting used to you coming around only for you to leave for long periods of time…"

Marshall didn't need to hear the rest as she trailed off, he understood that she didn't want Norah to get comfortable with him only for him to abandon her as her father had done with her.

"That's not my intention, Mare, if you want me to go, I will," he said morosely.

Mare sighed and thrust Norah in his general direction, she turned from them and went straight to her bedroom. Marshall sighed sadly as she walked away.

He looked down at the little girl in his arms and smiled down at her, "Hey there Norah, how's my bug doing? Let's go change you into nice clean dry clothes, hmm?"

Mary stepped into the shower and let the water wash away the tears, she wasn't even sure why she was crying. The fact that Marshall had made himself scarce since she released him could be one reason, but the fact that he made the effort to come see them could be a bigger reason. She felt like she had already lost him, knowing he was out there with Norah didn't lessen the pain.

After a quick shower, she dressed in shorts and a regular t-shirt. She walked out of her bedroom and burst out laughing.

Marshall was laying on the floor as Norah painted his face with the make-up Brandi had left behind the previous week. She was holding her belly after Marshall shot her a mock glare, she ended rolling on the floor. She suddenly stopped when she felt a hand slap her on the nose, she turned and Norah had crawled over when she had gone down.

He howled in amusement at their predicament in the hands of a toddler, "Ha! That's what you get for making fun of me."

"We'll see about that!" she launched the baby at him and they stumbled around the floor for the rest of the afternoon.

"It's late, I have to go," Marshall murmured as he got up off the sofa, night had fallen and after putting Norah to bed they had both migrated to the couch.

"Yeah…Okay, see you tomorrow"

"Yeah…tomorrow," he drawled as he moved over to the front door. "Uh, what about next weekend? You have any plans?"

Mary turned her head, looking over her shoulder and the couch at him, "What did you have in mind?"

"Have you taken Norah to the zoo?" he asked as he opened the front door.

She nodded, "Yeah, she loves the monkeys."

"Do you think she'd like going again?"

"No, I don't think she'd mind."

"Okay then, next week?"

"Definitely" she shot him a small smile.

Marshall stepped into his house and found Abigail waiting dinner for him. She glared at him and pouted, "You've been gone all day. I cooked you dinner and you never showed up."

"You shouldn't have, I told you I would spend the day with Mary and Norah," he explained as he shrugged out of his jacket.

"This is not what I signed up for, I didn't agree to marry you only for you to go off and play house with your best-friend!" she accused as she continued to glare at him, hands on her hips for full effect.

"Play house? Is that what you think I was doing? I…I…I can't do this anymore."

"Great, why don't you sit down and I'll heat up some dinner for you," she said as she stepped around him to go into the kitchen.

He stopped her, a hand on her arm, "I meant, I can't do this…" he emphasized as he moved his hand between them, "…anymore. This isn't working, I've never been told who to or not hang out in my life. By letting you dictate my life since we got engaged, I almost lost my best friend."

"Your best-friend? Is that what she really is? Did she let you sample her goods, is that why all of a sudden you need to hang out with her?" she questioned in accusation.

He release her as if she had burned him, "You're nothing like the person I thought you were if you think I would do something like that. She's my best-friend, she's not like that."

They argued throughout the night, ending their engagement. The next morning when Marshall walked into the office the next day, he sullenly walked into his office with a muttered, "Morning".

By the end of the day, Marshall was still hard at work behind closed doors, Mary had-had enough and she burst into his office, "What's wrong?"

Marshall looked up startled at her outburst, "Nothing's wrong."

"You come over and now you're moping in your office, was the Detective upset because you came over?"

She didn't need a reply, his facial expression told her all she needed to know, she nodded at him and muttered, "I knew it was a bad idea, you coming over yesterday. I think it's best if we keep our relationship strictly professional, Chief."

Mary walked out of his office and straight to her desk, glad she had already packed her bag, she reached over and plucked it from her chair. Delia looked up at her and asked, "Everything okay?"

She had seen Marshall and Mary's quick interaction through the glass and wasn't sure what had transpired, but now Mary looked as sullen as the Chief had when he walked in that morning.

"Mare! Wait…hold on!" Marshall called as she left the office and waited for the elevator. It opened and she stepped in, pushing the Lobby button, before stumping her thumb over the closed button.

Marshall was able to clear the sliding doors as he jumped into the elevator, "Damn it, Mare! Didn't you hear me?"

"What the hell are you doing?" she asked angry that she hadn't been able to get away from him.

"We broke up, and before you blame yourself, I think it was a long time coming," he confessed as he explained, his hands out pleadingly.

She stared at him and nodded, "Fine, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I think I am. I guess that must mean it's a sign that I knew it would eventually end, right?" he asked as he leaned back against the opposite wall of the elevator.

She only nodded and looked at the elevator doors, waited for them to open. As soon as the doors glided open, she fled with Marshall close behind.

"Mare, we need to talk," he started as she opened her car door.

Mary looked up at him and pushed her hair back, "I don't think that's a good idea, maybe you and the detective can work it out?"

He shook his head slowly, "No, I don't think that's going to happen, not after what I confessed."

Curious she arched an eyebrow before she shook her head, "I have to go."

"I saw Raph," he said and watched her face, watching her reaction.

She froze and turned back to him, "As in Raphael Ramirez, my ex-fiancé?"

He shrugged in answer.

"Well, then, good for you," she muttered angrily when he didn't tell her more, she climbed into her van and was about to close the door, but Marshall held on to it.

"He said some things that I needed to hear," he said as he walked around the door and stood in front of her, "he basically said I had to man up."

"Man up to what? What are you trying to say? Just spill it," she glared up at him as she thrust the key in the ignition.

"I need to see your eyes," he confessed as he stared down at her, she turned to look up at him with a passive look. "Mary Shannon, I'm in love with you."

Mary gaped up at him, she pushed him back and climbed out of the van, she paced in front of him and ran her fingers through her hair, "What the hell are you talking about?!"

"I love you, I've loved you for a really long time now, Mare," now that he had Mann'ed up to it, not pun intended, he couldn't stop saying it.

"You were engaged to another woman last night!" she wiped at a tear that had escaped.

Marshall walked up to her and held her by the shoulders, "I'm in love with you and I was trying to move on, she was my ticket to getting over you. But guess what? It didn't work, you will always and forever own my heart."

She tried to push him away, fought against his arms wrapping around her waist, until she gave up and buried her face on his chest, "I hate you…I hate you…God, I love you!"

He tightened his arms before he brought a hand up, with finger and thumb he brought her chin up and he leaned down to press a chaste kiss upon her lips.

"Mommy! Come on, you need to wake up. Marcus is up to no good," Norah squealed beside the bed, she had raised the blanket in hopes to finally waking her mother. Now at 4 years old, she was all of Mary's daughter. She was bossy and loud and at times crass.

Mary cracked open an eye and asked sleepily, "Where's your dad?"

"Daddy is outside talking to a man, Ralph or something," she said pulling the blanket down to look at her mother's face with the morning light.

She sprang up and sat up, she was about to push Norah aside when Marshall strolled into the bedroom with a one year old Marcus, "Hey Mare, she finally woke you?"

"What was Raph doing here?" she asked warily up at him.

Marshall chuckled, "Retract those claws Mare, he just dropped off some tickets to the game next week. Did you forget that I promised Stan a pair?"

She grumbled as she lay back in bed, trying to pluck the corner of the blanket from Norah's grasp. But the little bugger wouldn't budge, "No Momma! You have to get up, it's late."

"What time is it?" she asked the little girl.

She had been learning her number, looking over at the clock on the bedside table she replied, "It's time for you to get up, lazy momma."

"azy mama," cooed Marcus, "up, up, up mama"

Mary gave up the fight for the blanket and sat up again, reaching for her baby, "Come on, don't hog the little monster."

Marshall mock scowled at her, "Don't call my son a monster"

Once in her arms, he straddled her hips and lay his head against her shoulder, "Mama, up up up, 'ungie"

"You're hungry, sport?" she murmured down at the dark haired little guy. He was all of Marshall son, as much as Norah was her daughter.

Marshall sat next to her and cuddled Norah, "We're finally here; this has always been my dream Mare."

"Mine too Doofus, mine too."

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