Authors Note: Written for Month of Mayhem over on LJ as well as 15 genres 1 prompt. Prompt "Luck" Genre "Gender/Body swap", though it's a bit of a stretch as I jsut didn't have the time to make it what I wanted. Spoilers for season 5.

You May Kiss the Bride

The last tie Mary was in a wedding she was supposed to wear a frilly fluffy dress that looked like a tulle factory had puked allover a dress form. The time before that her dress had been covered in bows and looked like something that a drag queen would wear to the prom. This time she was wearing a tux. It was an odd experience; she'd never been on this side of the aisle before. The maid of honor had been less than thrilled when she'd found out that instead of being escorted down the aisle by a hot single best man, she was being escorted by a tall slender blond woman, who was more likely to be competing for the few single men at the wedding.

When Mary had been asked to be the best man, she'd only agreed as long as there wasn't a froufrou dress involved. To his credit, Marshall had kept his promise. Mary knew that it had caused Little Miss Priss more than a little headache, but she didn't care. She actually enjoyed the notion that Abby had to tell her sorority sisters that one of the eligible bachelors that was supposed to be in Marshall's side of the wedding party was actually a bachelorette. Knowing that one of the other "bachelors" was Stan also made Mary more than a little giddy.

As she stood at the front of the church with her best friend, she couldn't help thinking that she would rather be anywhere but here. Behind her— waiting for the bride to enter—were Bobby D, Stan and Marshall's two single brothers. She saw Marshall's parents sitting with the rest of Marshall's family on the first two pews and couldn't help but think that Seth Mann didn't look the least bit happy or proud that his son was getting married. The church was filled with people from work; marshals form the court house, and officers from Albuquerque PD.

Sitting beside Marshall's family were Brandi and Jinx. They had laughed when she told them that she was going to be the best man, they'd thought she was going to boycott the wedding. Mary had denied any such thought, but deep inside she knew they were right.

It was painful to watch Abby walk down the aisle, but Mary knew she didn't have the right to say anything. She knew that the reason she was Marshall's best man and not one of the bridesmaids was because Abby wanted to make sure that she was as far removed from anything feminine and sexy as possible. Mary figured that Abby knew that Marshall had been in love with her at some point, might still be, but she wasn't a threat to them. She'd had her chance, more than once, and she'd not taken it. How easy would it have been to tell Marshall that she had been an idiot, that she was I love with him, but she hadn't.

Marshall probably shared the opinion that Mary wouldn't be here unless she was forced to be. But Marshall was her best friend, she wouldn't let him down. Even if she was being forced to play a man, even if Abby was less than thrilled—ok, that was a plus—she was going to be here. She wanted Marshall to be happy, it had taken her years to admit that, but it was true. She wanted him to have the life that she knew he wouldn't be able to get with her. If he didn't get married, where would he be? Pining away until he was old and no one wanted him anymore. Mary couldn't bare that.

So she watched as the bride cried at "to have and to hold", dutifully handed over the rings, and made a speech at the reception. Marshall was her best friend, and that would never change.