Dinner proved to be very interesting for Marshall and Mary. They had gotten a lot of information on what everyone was doing. Marshall was going to take care of the Logan and Mary had Tyler covered.

While the family moved into the living room, Marshall sneaked into his Dad's office and took care of Logan's while Mary sneaked off to Tyler's room to take care of her end. They would compare notes when they got back to the hotel.

Marshall figured his Dad knew the two of them were up to something, but he didn't say anything. Olivia popped out of the kitchen.

"Mary, could I borrow you for a moment?"

"Sure." Mary stood up and followed Olivia into the kitchen. "What can I do for you?"

"I was wondering if you'd help me dry the dishes," Olivia said, wanting a chance to ask Mary some questions.

Mary nodded, she knew this moment was coming from the minute they arrived at the hotel. Marshall's Mom was about to grill her.

"What would you like to know?" Mary asked, cutting to the chase.

"I didn't think I'd fool you," Olivia smiled. "I care about my son and want what's best for him. I just want to know what your intentions are towards my son."

"You don't waste time. Marshall is my best friend and partner. I would never do anything to hurt him on purpose."

"You care about him more than you're willing to admit," Olivia said. "I've seen the way you bristled when his brothers pick on him, and the two of you are planning retaliation."

"I promise no permanent damage at least on my end. Not sure yet what Marshall did," Mary replied.

"You avoided my question about your feelings for my son," Olivia pointed out.

"I care a great deal about Marshall. That's what I know about my feelings for him," Mary said, honestly.

"He cares about you deeply. Please don't break his heart," Olivia said.

"I would never knowingly do that to Marshall. That I can guarantee you." Mary replied.

"Good enough. So do I need a camera for anything you two planned for Logan or Tyler?" Olivia asked, trying to lighten the mood.

"A video camera would be better. Sound is a much better thing for some pranks," Mary shrugged.

"I like you, Mary."

"Thank you," Mary said, pleased for some reason.

/\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

Mary and Marshall showered and changed before comparing notes on what they did to each of the brothers.

"What did you do to Tyler?" Marshall asked.

"I swapped his shaving cream bottle with a whip cream bottle. I cut the label off the shaving cream and super glued it to the whip cream canister. He'll have a sticky situation tomorrow," Mary said, laughing. "What did you do?"

"Logan needs to work on his report tomorrow. He's a hen and peck typist. I popped a couple of the keys out of the keyboard and swapped their locations. He's going to also have fun with the mouse. I switched the primary and secondary functions on it," Marshall smiled.

"Oh, we should so do the keyboard thing to Stan. It would drive him nuts," Mary said, giggling. She was actually enjoying herself, which she didn't think she would be.

"What did Mom drill you on? Do I need to apologize for her behavior?" Marshall asked, his checks turning red.

"She likes me," Mary smiled. "She just wanted to make sure I wasn't going to chew you up and spit you out."

"Like that would ever happen. Who'd do your paperwork?"

"Goodnight, Mare."

"Goodnight, Marshall."

Mary listened to Marshall's breathing as it evened out in sleep. Turning on her side she studied him, while he slept. His mother's words playing in the back of her mind. She knew she loved Marshall as a friend and partner, but she wasn't sure if she was in love with Marshall. Her fling with Faber nearly destroyed them, and if she was honest it felt like she was cheating on someone. At the time she thought it was Raph, but she realized the only person she thought of on vacation was Marshall. She damn near called Faber Marshall once in the throes of passion. Lately she'd been more aware of Marshall also. His hands, face, eyes, and his ass had caught her attention. The thoughts she'd been having were anything but pure. To add to it, Brandi's question about why the dress mattered to her was playing in her head. The answer she gave was a lie. She wanted his Mom to like her because she was important to Marshall. She wanted Marshall to like what she looked like in the dress. She had fallen for her partner. Looking at his face while she slept she couldn't help but think that it wasn't a bad thing.

/\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

Olivia was in the kitchen smiling. She had been comforted by her conversation with Mary yesterday. Now she was looking forward to seeing what the two of them cooked up for her oldest sons. She had a feeling this morning was going to be interesting.

Seth entered the kitchen to see the smile on Olivia's face.

"Good morning, beautiful." Seth said, placing a kiss on her cheek.

"Good morning, sweetie," Olivia replied.

"Why do you look like the cat that swallowed the canary?" Seth asked. "What did Mary and Marshall do?" He had a feeling they were up to something last night.

"I don't know exactly, but we should be finding out soon," Olivia replied, just as the door bell rang.

"Speaking of the dynamic duo," Seth said, going to answer the door. "You two are up early."

"Thought a fresh start to the day would be good," Mary said, beaming.

"Right, you're not this happy unless you're up to something or had several cups of coffee," Seth said, recalling Operation Falcon. "Come on into the kitchen for breakfast."

They had sat down at the table with Dani and Gail when the pranks were being found. Tyler and Logan came storming into the kitchen.

"Dad, what's wrong with your computer?" Logan demanded.

"Who the hell thought it was funny to switch my shaving cream for cool whip? My face is all sticky," Tyler asked.

"What do you mean what's wrong with my computer?" Seth glared quickly at Marshall and rolled his eyes. Him and Mary were about to burst at the seams with laughter.

Dani and Gail noticed the pair looking away from each other while trying not to laugh. They were watching the pair amused waiting to see who would lose it first when Mary snorted while trying to not laugh and Marshall lost it right after the snort.

Olivia and Seth watched Mary and Marshall as they dissolved into a fit of laughter. Neither had seen Marshall that happy in a long time.

"Marshall," Tyler said, heatedly.

"Not me," Marshall replied, trying to curb the laughter which sent Mary into a bigger fit of laughter. The tears were rolling down the two's faces.

"No way, when did you two have time to do anything?" Logan asked.

"Last night. You really should be more observant," Seth said. "Marshall, what did you do to my computer?"

"Nothing that can't be fixed," Marshall said, composing himself.

"Such as?" Seth asked, trying to hide his amusement.

Marshall explained what he did and Gail and Dani started to laugh.

"How's that report coming, honey?" Dani asked. "Marshall, you need to show me how to do that."

"Any time," Marshall replied, as his brothers turned and left the room.

/\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

They stayed till late afternoon before heading back to the hotel. Mary called dibs on the shower first. Walking back into the room she saw Marshall lounging on the bed watching the sci fy channel.

"Marshall, can you zip me up?" Mary asked

Marshall stood up mesmerized by the sight in front of him. Mary was in a black sheath dress with a mesh bodice and a boucle skirt. Walking up behind her his fingers found the zipper and he began to pull it up.

Mary felt the warmth of his fingers as they touched her back while trying to get the zipper. Her breath caught at the feel of those long fingers against her bare skin.

"There you go. You look stunning," Marshall whispered near her ear.

The feel of his breath on her ear had her legs feeling weak and she felt the pull of desire. She wanted to turn around and kiss him, but he'd already stepped away and headed into the shower.

Marshall emerged from the shower dressed in black suit with a blue shirt and tie. The shirt brought out the color in his eyes. How the hell had she missed how hot her partner was the last seven years? Walking up to him she grabbed his tie and straightened it for him.

"Why is it we're in Texas and it's the first time you don't wear a western suit?" Mary asked, trying to get her thoughts out of the gutter.

"Special events require special suits," Marshall said, the phrase he'd heard so often in his youth.

"Grandma and Grandpa Mann's rule?" Mary asked.

"Good guess. Ready to go?"

They drove in silence the short distance to the venue. Marshall opened the door for Mary and she hooked her arm through his offered one. They entered to find his Mom and Dad greeting everyone at the door.

"Mary, you look beautiful," Olivia said.

"Thank you," Mary said, feeling oddly self conscious.

"Marshall, handsome as ever. Honey, there's a table for the family towards the front. Dinner won't be served for an hour. Cocktails are at the bar and hors d'oeurvres are being served till dinner. Go help yourself and mingle some," Olivia said.

Dani and Gail came and rescued them from some of the people that had known Marshall since he was little. They could tell the two were getting flustered by the, is this your wife comments.

They were finally called to settle into their seat for dinner. Marshall almost laughed when he saw Mary's eyes after seeing the ribs. The staff began to clear off the tables when his Mom grabbed a microphone.

"I wanted to thank all of you for coming here tonight. It means a lot to my family and to Seth. We've made such wonderful friends throughout the years. It's hard to believe enough time has passed for Seth to be retiring. We put together a little tribute to Seth and his service with the U.S. Marshal Service. I know some of you will remember some of these photos from years gone by."

Mary watched the slides with interest. In some of the photos she could see mannerisms that Marshall used. It was odd to actually see the similarities in the two men. She was so used to seeing the differences. Marshall was definitely a mix of both his parents. She could see it from the younger photos of Seth and the ones of him and Olivia together at various functions.

"Are you okay?" Marshall asked softly. He was worried the pictures would make Mary feel bad about her youth. Her silence through the pictures reiterated his concern.

"Fine, just noticing the few similarities you have to your Dad. I'd never seen them before," Mary whispered.

"I really didn't think there were any," Marshall admitted.

"You have some of his mannerisms."

Seth stood up as soon as the pictures had finished.

"I wanted to also thank everyone for coming. I'd like to thank my beautiful wife, Olivia for putting this all together. This will probably be the longest speech any of you've ever heard me say. I can honestly say that I've seen a lot in my years of service, but it wasn't until recently that I realized I missed a lot too. People often ask what your greatest accomplishment was and what your greatest regret was. The first one I always knew. My greatest accomplishment is my family. I always thought I'd say I had no regrets. My last Operation Falcon proved me wrong. We in the FTF see the worst of the worst. We catch the bad guys and slap cuffs on them and whisk them away. There was a young boy on one of the manhunts that tried to help his girlfriend turn her life around the same way and extraordinary young marshal had done for him. I of course did our usual routine. Try and force them to talk. Treat them like the criminal they are. This was a kid who had been dealt a raw deal and was trying to get out of the mess and start fresh. She hated me and refused to talk to me. This extraordinary marshal came in and talked to her like a human being which was all she needed. She wanted to be understood. Somewhere along the line we forget that, especially in the FTF. All we care about is that they're arrested. My goal in retirement is to learn to understand those that I haven't before and those I should've a long time ago. Thank you again for coming."

Mary reached for Marshall's hand when his Dad started talking. She squeezed in reassurance and didn't argue when he tightened his grip. Mary and Marshall knew he was making a promise to know his son and that message was received loud and clear.

"So who was the marshal?" Logan asked, trying to absorb all that his Dad said. He knew there was a hidden message for someone in this room.

Seth smiled. "Marshall was that marshal. Now let's hit the dance floor." Seth stood up and extended his hand to Olivia.

Mary rubbed Marshall's back while his brother's took it all in. Their wives grabbed their hands and took them onto the dance floor. They intended to enjoy their children less night.

"Are you okay?" Mary asked.

"Yeah, just wasn't expecting that at all," Marshall replied, flabbergasted.

Mary watched as Marshall danced with his Grandma Rose, Mom, Gail and Dani. He finally returned to the table, but was stopped by Mary.

"I do believe you owe me the next several dances, buster."

"You don't like to dance," Marshall reminded.

"For you, I'll make an exception."

"I'd be honored to dance with you." Marshall led her out to the dance floor as a slow song played. Laying her head against his chest they swayed back and forth to the music.

At the end of the night they said their goodbyes to Marshall's family and headed back to the hotel. Once in the room Marshall made to head to the bathroom, but Mary caught his arm and pulled him back to her.

"What? Did I forget something?"

"Just this," Mary said putting her hand on his neck and pulling his face towards her. She kissed him tenderly before pulling back to see his reaction.

"Mare?" Marshall asked, confused.

"I think I'm ready to try messy, but only if messy is with you," Mary replied, confidently.

"Mary, I need you to know it for sure. Once we start this, I can't go back," Marshall said.

"You are the only person that makes me happy. I wanted to make a good impression on your family. I've never cared before what anyone thought of me. I wanted you to like me in my dress. I've been having feelings for you for a long time now. It's part of the reason I did the unthinkable in Mexico. It nearly destroyed us and I felt like I was cheating on someone the entire time I was there. At first I thought it was Raph, but he never even crossed my mind until I got home and saw something he'd left behind. The only person I ever thought of was you. I finally understand what I want. It took a long time, but I know what I want. What I want is you."

Marshall caressed her lips with his before pulling back again.

"I want you, but we need to take this slow. I don't want to destroy us in the process."

"As long as kissing is involved, I'm good for now."

"That can definitely be arranged," Marshall said, pulling her closer and kissing her with all the love he'd felt for Mary over the past years.