Tyger, Tyger-Chapter 3
Title: Tyger, Tyger
Author: mm_thibault
Rating: NC-17 Let's just assume language and sexxoring, as well as adult situations.
Spoilers: Season 3 with drabbles of other seasons, too
Summary: Marshall meets an interesting woman who changes up his whole life, and who will lead him to find the love of his life, or at least, act on it.
Pairing: Mary/Marshall
Shoutout: To Bujyo for her endless help and putting up with Keith Richards
(Chapter 1) (Chapter 2)
Chapter 3-Tempted
“Tempted by the fruit of another
Tempted but the truth was discovered
What’s been going on
While you’ve been gone
There’s no other…”-Squeeze
Marshall awoke alone in her room, the first time in two days. TL’s stuff was still there, well, everything except her guns, which told him she wasn’t coming back anytime soon. He swung his legs over the side of the bed and braced his elbows on his knees, trying to shake off the vestiges of sleep. He hadn’t intended on spending the night, but he’d found himself caught up again in the moment after dinner when they were drinking scotch and playing strip chess on her bed. Who travels with a wooden chessboard in their luggage? Just another in a long line of firsts for him.
It had been an exhausting weekend, so far from his norm of Dr Who and Star Trek reruns and laundry, and yet he felt refreshed, if not rejuvenated. It was mind-boggling, he’d just spent the weekend with a woman that he barely knew, and yet, knew a disturbingly great deal. Her favorite artistic movement: the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, found out when they’d gone to the exhibit after finally emerging from bed on Saturday (and a brief stop at his house to change clothes, she’d opted to stay in the car), leading to the subsequent discovery of her favorite food (Tex-Mex) and favorite hobby (salsa dancing). The last of which had landed them back in bed for the duration of Sunday, with the occasional break for room service. He’d had more sex in the last two days than he’d had in the last year, easy, maybe two. They hadn’t made it all the way through her strip of condoms, but damn if he hadn’t made a concerted effort.
As far as forgetting his problems went, it hadn’t been the best idea in the world, but Lily had been able to make him put his personal drama aside for a little while. She was very focused on being in the moment, had even remarked on the Zen-themed direction her life appeared to be taking. He could relate. She was running from something, too. Running fast and far, if her demeanor with him was any indication, but she accepted his non-answer to her questions and in return, asked none of his own. Probably best for all involved.
“I don’t even know her last name,” he marveled to himself as he reached over to the nightstand to retrieve his cell phone. And then he saw the time. “Hell.”
***
“Tobias Russell speaks highly of you. Says you’re a real go-getter. Very diligent, hardworking.”
TL sat back in her chair and smiled. “Tobey, he’s good people. Good family man. I enjoy working for him.” She considered the small man across from her, bald, maybe her dad’s age, in a serviceable button down shirt and a decently matching gunmetal grey tie. His demeanor was laid back, befitting the sunny Albuquerque locale, but she had no doubt he could throw down if the need arose. It was the hint of Brooklyn in his tone.
“He asked for you to stay two weeks. Was that his idea or yours?”
She sighed deeply. Tobias Russell was a lot of things to her, above all else, a boss and a friend. When her witness had been attacked, her partner shot in the exchange, and TL had to kill not one, but three people, one with her bare hands, he’d been firm, but abundantly understanding. He’d seen to it that her administrative leave and accompanying psych trauma eval hadn’t been too painful, and mindful of her stress levels upon her return, thought she could do with some time in the sun. Away from the scene of the crime, as it were.
She’d been cleared of wrongdoing in the deaths of the three men from the East Coast, and her witness had been relocated to parts best left unknown. She was a samurai with no master, at the moment. A ronin. But this man in front of her, Stan, he didn’t seem like bad people and she would bet good money, he knew the whole score. So, she answered truthfully, “I’d say it was both, actually.”
Stan closed the folder in front of him and steepled his fingers over it. “It took you a minute to answer that, Inspector. Are you sure that you’re ready to be back in the field? I mean, I can see from your file that you don’t take vacations, so it’s not like you can’t take a little more time… ”
TL sucked on her upper lip for a moment. His unsolicited kindness unnerved her. “Yeah, I’m ready. The time off has been interesting…” she let the statement hang for a moment as she tried out the taste of the word, “but I really need to get back out there. Do some work.”
Her answer seemed to please him, because he stood up and offered his hand. She came to her feet and shook it firmly. “Welcome to the team, Inspector Thibodaux. Let’s go get you introduced.”
***
Nothing had gone right for Marshall since he’d bolted out of the hotel. He’d dropped his keys trying to get in his front door, had to change clothes after getting toothpaste on his shirt, and the bakery he usually favored was out of Mary’s favorite: doughnut holes. He took a deep cleansing breath as he rode the elevator upstairs, centering himself, unsure what the emotional impact of walking back into the office with Mary there would be.
As soon as the elevator doors opened, he saw her sitting at her desk, typing away on the computer and talking on the phone and was grateful for the extra moment to collect himself. She looked amazing, her long blonde hair, just a hint lighter in places and skin just a little more sun-kissed. Box of glazed yeast held up like a shield between him and his clearly prurient thoughts about his partner, he swiped his keycard and stepped inside.
“Yeah, he just got in, I’ll ask him.” She tossed her hair over her shoulder as she put her hand over the mouthpiece. “You feel like grabbing lunch with Bobby D?”
Odd that their usual connection with local law enforcement would suddenly pop up with an offer of sustenance. Even stranger that she seemed eager to have company, like she didn’t want to be alone with him. “What’s the catch?”
Mary pursed her lips at him and walked around her desk to stretch over to his and steal a doughnut from the box. “Yes, we’ll be there. See ya soon.” She hung up her phone and turned around to lean against the desk. “What’s your problem? Cable go out in the middle of a Red Dwarf marathon?”
Amused that she’d gone out of her way for the obscure reference, he smiled. He waited until she’d subdued the doughnut, its defensive wounds evident around her mouth and on her fingers, which she proceeded to torment him by licking. “Far from it. Just curious as to why he would suddenly appear with the promise of lunch. Seems a little suspect.”
She snagged another sweet treat and returned to her desk. “Maybe. Maybe he just wants to make nice, who knows?”
Marshall stared at her a good minute before answering a question he knew she meant to be rhetorical. “Who are you and what have you done with my overly-suspicious, conspiracy theory-prone partner? Did that Mexican tan bake that part of you out or what?”
And there it was, the giant pink elephant in the room. He’d promised himself he wasn’t going to ask, allude to, or otherwise bring it up, but within five minutes of seeing her, he just couldn’t help himself. Distantly he processed the sound of Stan’s door opening, but didn’t turn away from her. He’d needed to know, maybe even had a right, considering.
To her credit, the fact that she didn’t lambast him or fillet him where he stood said a great deal. “Marshall, I think we need to-“
“Kids, we have a guest.”
Marshall turned to see Stan’s silent question and shook his head slightly. This was not something he was going to get into today, and definitely not with the boss. Really. And then he saw her and it was like all the air had been sucked out of the room by his shock. Her. She, who had spent the better part of the last two days teasing his brain, draining him physically, and left him alone, dehydrated, in her room this morning. Her, standing next to Stan looking like she’d stepped out of Vogue pictorial spread. The fall of straight black hair was down and though she looked deceptively casual in her fitted black cotton shirt, jeans and boots, he knew that everything she owned had a designer label on it. Right down to the noticeably absent shoulder holsters. She looked at him without even a hint of recognition, a somewhat disappointing prospect, even if it was completely necessary.
“This is Inspector TL Thibodaux from the New Orleans office. TL, these are Inspectors Marshall Mann and Mary Shannon.” He looked directly at Mary with his next statement. “She will be our guest for the next two weeks, so play nice.” His desk phone rang and he retreated to his office with no further preamble.
TL looked over her shoulder at the now closed door, no help there. So, she walked over to Mary’s desk and held out her hand to shake. “Nice to meet you, Inspector Shannon.”
Mary took her hand, though it didn’t look like she had been entirely willing. They’d talk about her manners later. “It’s Mary. So, who’d you piss off?”
Oh sweet jesus. Well, he supposed it was best to just get this territorial display out of the way right out of the gate so that they could actually work for the two weeks instead of a constant battle, the outcome of which he shuddered to contemplate. They would fight it out, shed some blood like a rite of passage and hopefully have all their beef worked out before anyone had to come up with a sacrificial offering to either of them.
TL’s laconic laugh raised the hair on the back of his neck. It was the same laugh she had right before she’d declared a checkmate and beaten him out of the last of his clothes. Two ultra-competitive alpha females, oh the carnage, oh the humanity. “God, apparently, but I’m sure we’ll work it out in arbitration. He tends to run a little short on lawyers where He is.”
He watched Mary size her up and could practically hear her ruminating over her answer. “You’ll do.” She nodded her head over toward Eleanor’s abandoned desk directly across from them. “That one’s empty if you need a place to put your stuff.”
TL nodded at the concession. “Wasn’t aware I needed your stamp of approval, but I’m grateful all the same, chère. As soon as he’s off the phone, I’ll get my things.”
Mary shrugged her ambivalence and went back to whatever she had going on her computer, which in Marshall’s mind was greatly preferable to her default setting of outright antipathy, and TL turned his way. He could feel every step she took in his direction, his pulse pounding the rhythm in his ears. It was a sexy walk, any way he cut it, long legs and hips, both of which he knew intimately. He couldn’t help his furtive glances over to his partner’s desk, knowing that she would know about them in an instant if he didn’t play this right. He stood up, as was polite, and shook her hand. “It’s very good to meet you, Inspector Thibodaux.” Her last name tasted strange on his tongue, since it was used to addressing her as Lily.
Her full lips stretched into a secretive grin that made him swallow audibly. With her back to his partner, she looked at him and he knew, just knew, she was picturing him naked. “You can call me TL, almost everyone does.”
God, her voice, that honeyed tone that spoke of old southern money, it made him hot. He couldn’t help it. Marshall cleared his throat before he spoke, making sure with a glance that Mary hadn’t noticed his nervous demeanor. “Looking forward to working with you, TL.” It took a second to realize their hands were still joined, and he took his back quickly, alarmed at the possibility of the appearance of impropriety.
“Likewise.” She turned around and walked back to Stan’s office, the door now open, and retrieved her belongings, including her extra weapons.
The rest of the morning was spent on paperwork, finalizing TL’s temporary assignment to their office, a stray form or two on his desk, and whatever Mary had going. Charlie came and left several times, bearing work-ups on the several people over the next few days.
Mary stood and stretched at 11 and wandered over to his desk, perching on the edge quietly, waiting for him to acknowledge her. “We gonna go or what?”
Marshall raised an eyebrow and looked pointedly in TL’s direction. She was busy reading over a dossier and paying them no mind at all.
Mary shrugged and stood. “Come on,” she tossed over her shoulder as she walked out. “Let’s go get some lunch. He’s buying.” To Marshall, “I’ll meet you at the truck.” And then she was gone, leaving him to make nice, smooth over whatever slight she’d left in her wake. The usual fare.
“So are you coming, Lily?”
TL chuckled and looked down the hallway towards Charlie’s apparent domain, making sure they were alone. “She needn’t feel obligated, and neither should you, cher. C’est d’accord, vraiment.”
Another thing he’d learned over the weekend was that French was her first language, with English being kissing cousin second, and that she switched between the two freely, especially with those she was close to. “Viens. Come on already. A hungry Mary is an evil Mary.”
She pondered it a moment longer and then stood up and shrugged into her holster and then her jacket. Again it was black, fine leather and tailored to make her look like she sat in front of a camera for a living. It was a bit warm, but they were more than a bit conspicuous, so she made the trade. TL nodded her thanks as Marshall held the door for her as they left the office. “It’s crazy, non?” she asked as she stepped into the elevator.
He followed closely behind her and pressed the button for the ground floor. He made sure to stand on the other side of the elevator from her, considering their last few encounters in a confined space. “What is?”
“You, me, us… our weekend… meeting up here, of all places. And her, oh no, can’t forget her.” She broke off her thought on a private chuckle that had him reaching over to pinch her side in an effort to bring her back to the topic.
“What the hell are you talking about?” he demanded. The longer she laughed, the more uptight it made him. Her normally sexy laugh had him ready to crawl out of his skin in anxiety.
“Let’s you know that Sartre, smart man, that one.”
A gnawing worry in the pit of his stomach only got worse. “How so?”The elevator came to a halt and she stepped out into the lobby ahead of him. He was shamelessly watching her ass as she walked, and wasn’t even sorry when she caught him. As they walked out to his truck, Mary was already inside with it running, looking pointedly at them and her watch. Right as TL touched the door handle to climb in back, he stopped her. “What did you mean by that? What you said about Sartre.”
She favored him with an enigmatic grin as she nodded slightly towards Mary and then climbed inside the vehicle. Right before she closed the door, she answered, “Hell truly is other people.”
Mary, knowing nothing of their previous conversation, turned around with an approving smile. “Amen, sister.”
TL and Marshall’s eyes met in the rearview mirror. She winked at him. It was going to be a long, long two weeks.