You Are My Sunshine (Marcus Pike)

Chapter 9

A/N - I apologize for the angst.

Willow knocked on Spencer's door the next morning, but there was no answer. "Open up, Spencer! I know you're home!"

The door opened and Spencer stood there in his robe.

"I need to talk to you. You weren't at Rossi's."

"Oh now you want to talk?"

Willow put her hands on her hips. "What is that supposed to mean?"

Spencer rolled his eyes. "Nothing. I'm just surprised you're not with Marcus."

"Oh? Is that's what wrong? You're jealous? Jealous that I'm spending time with someone who isn't you? Well newsflash, Spencer! I'm not a little girl anymore. I'm allowed to have friends!"

"Is that what Marcus is? Are you sure? Because that's not what I heard from Morgan."

Willow's mouth dropped open. "That is a low blow Spencer, even for you. I never said anything when you fell in love with Meave."

"That was different..."

"The hell it was! I supported you! The least you could do is do the same!"

Willow turned away from Spencer and started to walk away.

"Run to your boyfriend!"

Willow spun around and stormed up to him and shoved him. "For your information, Spencer, I'm not dating him. He's my boss."

"Well thank goodness for that. Maybe you're not the stupid little girl I thought you were."

"Fuck you, Spencer!"

Willow stormed down the stairs and burst out of the building. Tears started rolling down her face. She pulled out her phone and called Marcus.

"Hey Willow, what's going on?"

Willow started sobbing loudly into the phone. "Spen...Spencer and I had a fight and I..."

"Calm down, sweetheart. Where are you?"

"Outside my building. Please come get me."

"I'm on my way, darling. Just stay put. I'll stay on the phone with you, okay?"

"Okay." She heard Marcus get in his car and soft music started playing. As she waited for Marcus, all the vicious words and remarks that had come out of Spencer's mouth bounced around in her head and made her cry harder.

Marcus' heart was breaking for her on the other end. He pressed the gas pedal to get to her faster.

Willow saw Marcus' car driving down the street and she took off. Marcus slowed down and she got in. "Take me somewhere, Marcus. Please."

Marcus nodded. "Of course, sweetheart."

Willow reached over and took Marcus' hand in her own, pressing it to her face.

Marcus' thumb stroked her knuckles and he wanted nothing more than to replace his thumb with his lips.

Marcus took Willow to his apartment. Marcus' apartment was only slightly larger than her own with a living area, a kitchenette, and a single bedroom. It was pretty tidy and Willow briefly wondered if Marcus had been in the military.

Willow sat down on his couch and hugged her knees to her chest.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"He was so mean to me." Willow was completely aware that she sounded like a child. "The things he said... He called me a stupid little girl. My own brother."

Marcus sat down next to her and rubbed her back. "Why would he call you that?"

Willow shook her head. She couldn't tell Marcus how she felt. Part of her didn't want to give Spencer the satisfaction of being right, so she'd push her feelings down.

"Do you wanna watch a movie? We can get take-out," Marcus suggested. Willow nodded and Marcus turned on the TV. He scrolled through the channels.

"Wait. Go back," Willow told him.

Marcus scrolled back and saw Casablanca was on. "Have you seen it?"

"I love old movies. It's the one thing..." She went quiet. The one thing Spencer and I have in common.

Marcus knew how that sentence ended. "We can watch it if you want."

Willow nodded and Marcus turned it on.

His mind floated to Lisbon. She had hated old movies, but Willow loved them. She was interested in art and she was sweet. He could read her like an open book. He'd never known what Lisbon was thinking. Marcus ordered Chinese food from a place Willow recommended.

The rest of the night was spent just talking trivia and watching old movies.

Around midnight, Willow started yawning. "I should be getting back, I guess."

"Why don't you just stay?" Marcus asked her.

Willow blushed. "Marcus...I..."

"Please. We can swing by your apartment in the morning and you can change."

Willow stared into Marcus' calming brown eyes. "Okay."

Marcus gave her one of his shirts to sleep in. Willow insisted on sleeping on the couch. She told him she had trouble sleeping when she wasn't in her bed and she didn't want her shifting to keep him up.

"Goodnight Willow."

"Goodnight Marcus."

Willow laid on the couch for a good hour when she sat up. She wasn't going to be able to sleep. She got up and padded into Marcus' bedroom.

Marcus sat up. "Willow? What's wrong?" One look into her eyes told him everything he needed to know. He lifted the blanket up and she climbed in next to him.

She shuffled towards him until her head was under his chin and one of her arms was hugging him to her small body.

Marcus wrapped an arm around her and he kissed her head. "Go to sleep, sweetheart. I've got you. I'm not going anywhere."

Willow closed her eyes and fell asleep, feeling more loved than she had in a long time.