A/N: I don't own them. I don't own anything but my car, and while it's nicer than the Probe, it's not worth suing me. No infringement was intended here. I'm not getting paid. I'm not stealing the characters. I'm borrowing them for my own purposes. I'll give them back when I'm done. Keep your pants on.

"Jennifer," Mary sighed with frustration. "Try to calm down." She hated dealing with emotional witnesses. Or emotions, for that matter. Emotions clouded your head. Emotions caused attachment. Attachment caused heartache. It was always a better idea to maintain a respectable distance and risk being called cold or calculating than end up in pieces. Again.

As her witness rapidly spiraled towards hysteria despite her calming words, Mary pinched the bridge of her nose. This needed to stop. So many things in her life needed to stop.

Changing tactics, she sharpened her tone and raised the volume a few decibels. "Jennifer, breathe." Mary commanded, snapping her fingers in front of the woman's face a few times. It worked. Mary finally had her attention, and when Jennifer finally brought her tearstained eyes to meet her own, she felt a twinge of guilt about being so blunt. She knew that this kind of change was hard on most people, and someone who had just lost as much as Jennifer had lost was bound to be a tad distraught. Just because it was Mary's deepest, most secret dream to move away and start all over fresh didn't mean that the average person walking in off the street could be expected to feel the same way. Most people would have some trouble cutting all ties with their identities and beginning anew. To Mary, it sounded like panacea. "Marshall would be so proud if he heard me say that." She thought to herself. But reality was calling louder than ever, and it's voice was reaching a feverish wail. Hadn't she just put a stop to this? It was to be expected, but that didn't mean that she had time to sit around and weep. That could be done later, but right now, Mary had more important matters to deal with.

"Jennifer, the Indiana office told me that you have no family left, is that right?" She paused and waited for confirmation. A slight nod and a hiccup where all the response the frazzled young woman could muster. "Okay." Mary softened her tone, at once understanding just exactly what it is like to feel all alone in the world. "Well, if you're going to be here by yourself, then that will really just make the transition a bit faster. Less paperwork, too. Let's get this filled out and set you up in your new digs, okay?" She feigned a cheerful tone, not actually expecting it to help lift the girl's spirits, but trying valiantly all the same. As she slid a stack of papers toward Jennifer and started to explain the rules and regulations, her cell phone vibrated on her hip.

"Excuse me, I'm sorry. I have to take this." Mary stood and strode to a corner of the office, keeping an eye on her sobbing witness who was struggling to pull herself together long enough to focus on the paperwork in front of her.

"Hello." She answered, recognizing the number on the display. She chuckled a little as she remembered one of Marshall's speeches about how amazing an LCD display really is. He had spent a good ten minutes describing the exact way light and charge and photons or whatever all worked together to make the pretty, pretty colors. She hadn't been paying attention all that closely, to tell the truth, and she had no real burning desire to know the inner workings of her cellular phone, but the excitement in his voice belied his own interest. Plus, it was kind of cute, she admitted to herself later. Not that she'd ever tell him that. Mary turned her attention back to the speaker on the other end of the line.

Marshall looked up from his seat at his desk when he heard his partner slap her forehead with the heel of her hand and mutter something that sounded inexplicably like "Oh, crap." "Jinx, again." He thought to himself. Or Brandi. Yes, they were her family, and Marshall was a man that understood the importance of family, but sometimes, he worried that those two would be the death of his fair haired partner. She needed a break. A vacation. A reprieve from the very people upon whom she was supposed to be able to depend once in a while. He frowned as he contemplated the dynamics of Mary's relationship with her mother and sister, a subject on which he had spent no small amount of time attempting to decipher.

"Yeah, yeah. No, I remember." Mary was shaking her head, eyes turned up toward the heavens. "I can't right now, I'm sorry. I…" She paused, obviously listening to the response of the person to whom she was speaking. "Are you sure?"

She looked relieved at whatever reply the mysterious person had offered, and Marshall's current level of interest ratcheted up from curious to confused. Brandi or Jinx would just insist and badger if they wanted Mary to do something, not understand and let it go this easily. Was a guilt trip in short order? He waited, but none appeared to be forthcoming. Marshall idly wondered who she was talking to as he turned his attentions back to filling out the last of his forms for the day.

"Yeah. I'm sorry, babe." Marshall felt his ears physically perk up at this familiar moniker. "Babe?" He wondered, a lump catching in the back of his throat. Mary was not the type of girl who readily bestowed such a term of endearment. Her name for him was "Doofus," and while he had grown to understand that she used it with a sort of affection, it grated him that someone else got "Babe" while he was seemingly forever stuck being "Doofus."

"I might be a few hours, I'm sorry." Marshall's brow knit together when he heard Mary apologizing. Mary didn't apologize.

"Are you sure you don't mind waiting?" Her facial expression relaxed visibly, and Marshall could almost feel the tension drain from her shoulders from across the room.

"Yeah. I'm sorry. It might be a few hours before I finish up here. What time do you land?"

A friend from out of town. Marshall was intrigued, and a bit apprehensive.

"Okay. I'll try to get away, but you understand, I might no t be exactly on time." She smiled, and Marshall noted that the smile was genuine, and then took mental inventory of all of Mary's actions the previous week. She had seemed a bit off. A little more relaxed. Almost excited about something, but he'd just chalked it up to relief about ending her relationship with Raphael. Then again, perhaps he was transferring HIS feelings regarding the breakup.

"Everything all right?" He drawled, almost hesitant to intervene. Mary did not characteristically appreciate people intruding on her private business. But then again, he also knew that she didn't necessarily view him as just "people." He smiled a smidgen at the thought. "I've gotta get outside my head." He admonished himself, and focused on Mary.

"Huh?" She turned to him distractedly. "Oh, yeah. Sure."

"You need something?" He took a stab. "Brandi lose her keys?" It was a safe bet, he reminded himself, but he knew the truth. He was fishing for information.

"No, Brandi's still in Miami." Mary frowned and glanced at her watch. She was going to be hours longer. She'd just gotten back from picking up her witness, and now she had hours of paperwork left, then she knew she'd have to spend a while getting Jennifer settled in, go grocery shopping with her, etcetera. Never let it be said that Mary Shannon isn't dedicated to her job. She'd spend whatever time it takes to ensure her witnesses are comfortable, or as least as much so as possible. "I just forgot that I need to pick someone up from the airport today."

"Do you need me finish this up for you?" He offered, still interested in discovering the identity of the mystery individual, but more interested in helping out Mary. Not that he expected her to let him, but he wouldn't be the gentleman his mother raised him to be if he didn't at least try.

"No." Mary shook her head ruefully. "She's not ready to deal with another person today. It's getting to be too much for her as it is. I should finish this." She glanced inside the glass-windowed room to see that her witness had actually calmed down enough to start writing. "It's a start." Mary thought to herself with relief.

Mary's capacity for compassion and ability to understand exactly what her witnesses needed from her was uncanny to Marshall. For a woman who had so little insight into her own behavior, she was extraordinarily intuitive regarding the needs of those around her. So long as they weren't named Mary, that is. Marshall wondered if she had ever given five seconds thought to figuring out what she wanted. What she needed. She voiced it often enough in a fit of pent up rage and anger at the world and her life in general, but he doubted that any of it ever went beyond just that. It wouldn't be like Mary to be terribly self-serving. He wondered if her tendency for self-neglect was born of a childhood of parental neglect.

"Could you do me a huge favor, though?" Mary's voice was tentative and unsure. She hated asking for favors.

Marshall opened his eyes wide at this, forehead wrinkling a little as he wracked his brain to remember the last time Mary had openly asked him for a favor. No beating around the bush here, she needed something from him, and he would move heaven and earth to ensure that she got it.

"Shoot." He leaned back in his desk chair and tried to look nonchalant.

"Can you pick someone up at the airport for me?" She was scribbling something down on a scrap sheet of paper, and thrust it at him. "She said she'd wait, but you know…it blows to be stuck at the airport."

"Of course." He glanced at the name she'd written. Kathleen Jasper. There was a time, too, but no terminal. "Where should I take her?" HE called after Mary as she rushed back into the private room where her witness was waiting.

"My place." She called over her shoulder, only furthering Marshall's confusion.

Filing away his notes, he logged off the computer, tidied up his desk, gathered his things and poked his head into the room where Mary was working with Jennifer.

"Hey, sorry to interrupt." He apologized. "Any idea what terminal?"

"Nope." Came Mary's customary short reply.

"Airline?"

"Maybe Delta?" She seemed to think about it for a moment. "Or United? "

"I'll figure it out." He had an arrival time, a badge, and an ID. He shouldn't have too much trouble cajoling some airport official into giving him the proper information. There were times when the job did have perks, he thought dryly as he sauntered out the door to pick up Mary's mystery guest.

Marshall occupied his thoughts while he maneuvered his truck across town, all the while attempting to decipher who exactly he was transporting. He knew Mary's family, so it wasn't her sister or her mother. It could be a friend from college, he mused, as he eased his truck into a space in short-term parking. Maybe a friend from the Marshal service back in New Jersey. A childhood friend? That one he ruled out fairly quickly. Mary wasn't the type of sentimental person to hang on to childhood friends. From what Marshall could determine, Mary had tried to make as clean a break as possible with her childhood and her past when she'd made the move to New Mexico. Her mother and sister showing up on her doorstep shortly thereafter had put an obvious kink in her plans, but Mary being Mary, she couldn't just send them away. Her sense of loyalty and protectiveness would override her own desire for independence and solitude every time. And when she was in dire need of solitude, she would show up on Marshall's doorstep with a bottle of tequila in hand, and the two of them would drink in comfortable silence until Mary exploded with bottled up emotion and frustration. He grabbed the cardboard he'd swiped from beside the trash bin at the office, and painstakingly scribed "Kathleen Jasper" in thick black Sharpie. Tossing the marker back in the glove box, he locked his truck and hustled into the arrival terminal.

The airport wasn't as packed as it usually was when he flew. Apparently arriving at eight o'clock pm on a Thursday meant you didn't have to jostle with big crowds. Making his way to a security guard, he whipped out his ID, and asked for direction to someone who could give him flight information. The guard assumed, as Marshall was willing to allow, that he was on official US Marshal business, and quickly whisked him away to a counter, where a middle-aged woman flirted her best with him while looking up the flight info.

"I have a Kathleen Jasper booked on flight 849 out of Minneapolis, hon." She batted her eyelashes at him hopefully, and Marshall graced her with a tight smile. He wasn't really in the mood to be toyed with, but he appreciated her assistance all the same. Plus, she wasn't his type. He had developed a penchant for hot tempered blondes recently.

"It's due to land any moment now." The overly-coiffured attendant cooed at him.

"That's her." The arrival times matched, so he truly prayed that it was the right person. Mary could be a bit testy if he brought home the wrong houseguest. "What terminal?"

Marshall found a beam to lean against and waited just past the TSA checkpoint outside the terminal. There were already faces appearing, coming through the gates, and he searched each one for familiarity. Not certain of what he was looking for, he held up the sign, feeling a little dopey about being one of those people. Marshall was used to feeling a little dopey, but he didn't relish the idea of his first introduction to Mary's mystery guest to be one of shame. First impressions are lasting, he reminded himself, but they could change. He and Mary had taken an immediate dislike to each other, but that changed into professional respect, and later friendship. Mary reminded him of his apparent lack of cool almost daily, and although he knew she did it jokingly, he couldn't help but wonder if he really was as out of touch with her world as she made it seem. Then again, when things got tough and hairy, Marshall knew that he was the person Mary most depended on, and that thought settled him somewhat.

"Excuse me?" A timid voice brought him out of his reverie. He'd been so caught up in his own world that he'd forgotten to look for…whomever he was looking for. "I'm Kathleen Jasper."

She said it as more of a question, and Marshall took a split second to look her over. She was tiny. Far shorter than Mary, and probably a foot shorter than he. He judged her to be maybe five feet tall. Five one, tops. She was smartly dressed. Dark jeans, casual flats. A simple shirt underneath a smart, tailored jacket. She had dusty green eyes, and a smile that reminded him of…Mary.

"Umm." She started nervously. "I'm looking for my cousin. Mary Shannon."

"Right." Marshall snapped back to reality. "Mary couldn't make it. I'm Marshall Mann. I work with Mary. She asked me to come pick you up." He studied her face and noted the flash of her green eyes.

"What do you mean, "she couldn't make it?"" Kathleen inquired sternly. "Is she hurt? What happened? Where is she?" Kathleen craned her neck around, checking behind him and all around. Was this a joke?

Realizing that his vagueness had caused her concern, Marshall hurried to allay her fears. "No. Nothing like that. She just got caught up on something at work and couldn't get away. She's fine."

"She's not in the hospital, then? Because I'm O-negative. I can donate blood if she's hurt. I think, I can, anyway. I was in Mexico a few months ago, but I didn't drink the water, or anything. Does that disqualify me?" She held her left arm out, palm side up as if to offer her veins and very blood to Mary, should she require it. It would seem as though the ability to babble was genetic.

"She's not in the hospital." Marshall quirked an eyebrow. This was new. "She's perfectly healthy, I promise." He smiled reassuringly at the shorter woman in front of him. "You said Mary's your cousin?" Marshall had yet to meet a family member of Mary's who was actually concerned about her well-being. He had expected the young woman to be upset that Mary wasn't there to greet her personally, but this was not the reaction he had anticipated. Kathleen, it appeared, was breaking all kinds of stereotypes that Marshall had built up regarding the Shannon family.

"Our mothers are sisters." She confirmed. "I'm sorry. I forgot your name. I'm horrible with names. I thought…" She left her sentence hanging, and Marshall understood that she had been genuinely frightened for her cousin. Real, genuine concern.

"Marshall Mann." He extended his hand, and warmly shook hers when she reciprocated.

"Right. Marshall." Kathleen nodded. "Mary's mentioned you. It's nice to meet you."

"Really?" Again with the eyebrow. "Well it's nice to meet you, too, Kathleen."

"Please, it's Katie." She rolled her eyes in a way that only one of Mary's relatives could, and Marshall started to wonder if it was genetic or a learned behavior. "Can I take your bags?" She was dwarfed by what looked to be a very heavy carry-on, and the backpack she carried appeared to weight nearly as much as she.

"I've got them, but thanks." Katie declined politely and pointed to the sign for baggage claim. "I have to get my checked stuff." She gestured toward the line of people moving in the direction of the sign.

"After you." Marshall made a sweeping movement that made Katie smile a little as she walked a bit in front of him.

There was already a crowd of people forming a wall around the baggage carousel, and Katie amused Marshall by the way that she slipped her way through the crowd. As small as she was, he had half expected her to be timid and stand back, but she had no problem elbowing her way to the front. Clearly there were at least a few traits she shared with Mary. He followed closely behind her, noting the way she shifted the bags she was carrying ever so often, stretched, took a deep breath, and settled them back on her shoulders. They were heavy, that he could plainly see, and he knew that she was struggling under their weight. However, so like Mary would, she bore it as inconspicuously as possible, finally dropping her carry-on to the ground at her feet when it became obvious that the wait would be a long one.

"I'm so sorry." She kept apologizing. "I didn't know it would take this long. I should have told her my plane was landing later."

Finally, the carousel started moving, and she perked up to watch for her suitcase. Ten minutes had passed, and Marshall had almost given up hope, when she jumped a little and started toward a green duffel bag. She heaved it off the line, and it fell with a thud to the ground. He watched with a grin as she adjusted the backpack that had formerly been on her back to carry on her chest like a pregnant kangaroo, grabbed what looked like a military-issue duffel bag, and settled it on her shoulders, heaving it up with a quiet grunt. When she bent over to pick up her carry-on, the extra weight on her torso unsettled her, and she nearly fell forward onto her face, but for Marshall's quick action. He grasped her shoulders and righted her as she fixed him with a sheepish grin.

"I'm a little top heavy. Thanks." She bent at the knees to grab her bag, but Marshall was too quick for her.

"Give me this one." He demanded gently, easing the straps of the duffel off her shoulders. The weight of it shocked him. It had to be close to half her body weight.

"I can get it!" She protested, but he silenced her with a raised hand and a shake of the head.

"Now what will I tell Mary if she asked if I helped you with your bags?" This seemed to appeal to her sense of logic, so she acquiesced and picked up the carry-on, only to have that, too, slipped from her grasp. Marshall was puzzled. All of her bags were heavy.

"What do you have in these?" He asked her only half joking. "Bricks? Cinder blocks? Kitchen sink?"

"Books." She stated simply, as if he should have known. "And clothes." Katie adjusted the pack to its rightful place on her back, and stood still waiting for direction.

"I'm parked out this way." Marshall pointed with his free hand toward the exit and the two started on their way.

"Thank you so much, by the way." Katie continued once they were in the relative quiet of the parking lot. "I know it's an inconvenience for you, but I really appreciate all your help."

This was so unlike a Shannon, that Marshall did a double take just to make sure he'd picked up the right girl. "It's not problem." He shrugged. It really wasn't. He didn't have any plans for the evening, and he got to help out a friend. A good friend. It was really no problem at all.

"It is." She insisted. "And I can't thank you enough for all your help. It's so generous of you to drive her everywhere while I'm here. It has to be out of your way."

Now Marshall was just confused. "Excuse me?"

"The car?" Katie tried to remind him, except he clearly had no idea to what he was referring. "Mary said you're picking her up for work and stuff for a while while I'm here so I can have her car."

"Oh." This was news. "Right."

"She didn't ask you?" He shook his head slowly in response. "Oh." Her mouth formed an "o" as she realized her faux pas. "She said she had talked to you. Or that she was going to talk to you." Katie tried to remember the exact words. "It's okay. I can take a bus or something." She squared her shoulders, and Marshall wondered, not for the first time, if she, Brandi, and Jinx were really related. No argument. No persuasion. No attempt to beg or plead him to chauffer her cousin around for the foreseeable future. Just acceptance and a new plan, and nothing else.

"No, no." Marshall lied. "I just forgot, that's all. How long are you staying?" Not that he minded a little extra Mary time, although she wasn't at her most cheerful early in the morning. He'd have to remember to bring coffee. And bagels.

Katie wasn't buying it. She could tell he had no idea what she was talking about. "Just until I find an apartment." She offered hesitantly.

"You're moving here?" Curiouser and curiouser, these things were.

"I just got accepted to UNM…" She trailed off, and Marshall got the idea that there was more to the story, but refrained from prying any further. If she wanted to share more, he reasoned, she would. Maybe he could get the skinny from Mary, anyway, although she would probably be loathe to divulge anything that she deemed personal. Mary was nothing if not trustworthy.

Screw being considerate. The ride was getting uncomfortably silent, and he dared to pry. "What are you studying?"

"Physics."

This had Marshall's interest. Smart and considerate. This girl was quiet different than he had expected, and he didn't miss the way her eyes lit up when she said it.

"Physics?"

"Unless I hate it and change my major to sociology or art history or something." Her reply had an air of levity, but something in her manner led him to believe that she more than doubted her ability to tackle the subject.

Marshall nodded approvingly as he placed her bags in the bed of his truck. "Bachelors?" He pried for details.

"Yeah." Katie nodded slowly.

"That's nice." He realized how foolish he must sound. Nice was rarely a good thing.

"Yup." She smiled, and threw him a bone. "I like their astronomy program." She explained. "And Mary said she can help me get residency so I can get the in-state tuition rate."

"You know," Marshall launched into a discussion of the VLA, not realizing that the young girl in his truck was more than an expert on the subject. "It's just about two hour from here." He finished up, feeling a little sorry he'd begun that particular line of conversation in the first place. Mary was always giving him crap about his verbal diarrhea, and here he was, going on like a crazy person about a telescope.

Rather than chastise him, Katie just smiled and bounced in her seat a little. "I know! I can't wait to see it. I'm hoping to get into a class that spends a few nights collecting data there, and at another observatory in New Mexico. It's so much better here than back east!" She gushed excitedly. "All the good telescopes are in the desert."

Marshall loved her enthusiasm, and he realized that he longed to see Mary this excited about something. Making a mental note to figure out what would make his partner half this happy, he focused his attention partially back to the road.

"Are you and Mary close?" He'd never heard mention of anyone named Katie, so he didn't imagine that they were. Then again, she was very concerned when Mary didn't appear herself to pick her up, and Mary was letting this girl stay with her, so…perhaps he was wrong.

"Are you kidding me?" Katie scoffed. "She practically raised me. I spent as much time at her house as I did mine. Maybe more."

Marshall was having trouble picturing a life where Jinx's house would be the preferable choice, but then again, he was discovering that there was more he didn't know about his partner than he would have ever dreamed.

"Did she?" Was the only reply he could muster.

"Yeah." Katie sobered and glanced out the window briefly in a fashion so very like Mary. "She was always there when I needed her." Her voice was quieter now, and Marshall could tell there was a story there. Probably more than one.

"And you just decided to come to Albuquerque to catch up and do research?" He was just fishing now, but he sensed there was more to the truth than she was telling him.

"Not really." Katie said softly. "Initially I was going to help with the wedding plans and stuff, you know. Do the whole "bridesmaid" thing. Now I'm just glad I can be here to make sure she's okay."

That was definitely not the response Marshall had expected. Make sure she's okay. Someone related to Mary actually had her best interest in mind. He immediately decided to like this long-lost cousin.

"And go to school." He prompted.

"Right." She nodded determinedly. "And go to school."

"Is she?" Katie queried, steering the conversation back in a more comfortable direction. "Okay, I mean."

"Mary's…Mary." Marshall didn't quite feel at ease discussing his partner with a veritable stranger, but it couldn't hurt to divulge a few things, right? "She's stoic. She's…"

"She's Mary." Katie finished for him with a nod, understanding his meaning.

"Right." He took a deep breath. "I'm not sure how she's really doing." He confessed, and the truth of it bit him in the flesh. "She doesn't like to talk about her personal life. She's…private."

"Yeah. She's a tough one."

"You have no idea." Marshall thought to himself, and then wondered if he was the one who didn't know.

"Are you from Albuquerque originally?" Katie's soft voice broke into her contemplation.

"No." His mouth quirked up on one side as he shook his head and glanced at her briefly. "I grew up in north Texas."

"Don't mess with Texas." Katie nodded, jokingly using what had become a sort of slogan of his home state.

"You know that was originally an anti-litter campaign? "

Her bemused smile told him that she had not been aware. " How about you?" He reciprocated the gesture. "Are you from New Jersey?"

"Yeah." Her voice was quiet, a bit wistful. "A few miles from Mary. I'd get home from school and ride my bike to her house, or she and Brandi would come to mine once Brandi was old enough. People thought we were all sisters for a long time."

"You're older than Brandi?" This surprised him. She didn't look a day over twenty.

"By quite a few years, but I'm going to take that as a complement, thank you." Her voice was devoid of any malice or irritation. "I'm three years younger than Mary." She offered up, watching while Marshall did the calculation quietly.

Deciding that this line of questioning was rapidly edging toward dangerous territory, Marshall steered the conversation in a safer direction. "You must have some interesting stories, then." He imagined that Mary had been a…spirited…child.

"Are you kidding me?" Katie laughed. "Did she ever tell you about the time she set the house on fire?"

"What?" He couldn't believe what he was hearing. His Mary? A pyro?

"Yeah. She must have been, oh, I don't know, twelve or something." She smiled at the memory of her favorite cousin. "Anyway, Jinx was being, you know Jinx."

"Drunk." He interjected, acutely aware of his partner's mothers affinity for the bottle.

"Right. Anyway, Mary had just cleaned up the house, and she comes home from school and finds the place is a mess. Her mom was having some sort of party or something, so she has us gather up all the bottles after everyone either passed out or left, and then she pours them out, all over the front yard, and lit a match. I don't think she knew quite what would happen, but it was fall, and it hadn't rained in weeks, so the yard…whoosh!" Marshall could only imagine. "So the entire front yard is on fire, and Brandi's freaking out, so she runs inside, but she didn't close the door, and you know flames and wind. So the living room catches on fire where someone had spilled booze on the floor, and Mary's running around trying to find the garden hose, but of course there isn't one. Finally one of the neighbors comes running over with a fire extinguisher and puts out the fire in the house, and the fire department put out the yard." She paused and let out a long breath. "We got in so much trouble. I honestly thought we were all going to go to juvy because of it, but Mary tried to convince the cops that one of the drunks had done it. They totally didn't buy it, but no one was going to lock up three little girls, and Brandi was still crying hysterically, Jinx was screaming bloody murder. They let us go, but boy, I thought for sure we were in for it."

Marshall laughed at the story of their childhood antics, but his heart clenched a little with this painful glimpse into Mary's troubled childhood.

"Why did you ask me if she was in the hospital earlier?" He was dying to know.

"She's a US Marshal, right? I'm aware of what the Marshals do, and I imagine that it occasionally involved the exchange of gunfire and chases. The criminal element rarely takes kindly to being eliminated from the streets."

He accepted her explanation in stunned silence. So Mary did have a relative that she liked. Hell, she had a relative that HE liked. Not that he didn't like Brandi, she was a sweet kid, but Katie was the kind of family that Mary actually needed. Katie didn't seem like she needed Mary to take care of her. She seemed interested in taking care of Mary. He hoped that she would be allowed to do just that. And perhaps Katie would be able to find whatever she needed here in Albuquerque, too. It was a good place to start over, after all.

So, what's up Katie's sleeve?