Lee, The Protector

Disclaimer: The characters in this story belong to Warner Brothers and Shoot the Moon Productions and I claim no ownership of them and make no money from them. The story is mine.

Rating: G

Timing: after 'Your Mother Is A Very Brave Woman'

Summary: Amanda is defending Lee, second in set, others 'Your Mother Is A Very Brave woman' and 'Yes, Mother'

Feedback: Yes, all feedback is welcome and appreciated.

"It's not that bad, Mother. He protects me all the time. He always has," said Amanda.

"He does? How?"

"From the very first day he holds my hand when we are in danger so he knows where I am. He tried to talk me out of working there for months. He tried to leave me in the car or at the office. He taught me to hug the wall when he checks something out. He puts his body to cover me, to shield me from cold, danger, whatever."

"It would work better if you would stay in the car," he said.

"I can't watch your back if I stay in the car. How many times have I saved your butt because I did not stay in the car,"

"A-man-da," he protested.

"No! … he puts security around if there is the slightest hint of danger. He never took advantage any of the times we were married."

"Married?"

"Pretending to be married," Amanda amended.

"Did you do that often?"

"Not that often .. And he will hold me if I get scared."

"Let me get this straight, my daughter has been in danger since you met her," Dotty declared staring at her son-in-law.

"Well, yeah," Lee admitted.

"That's not fair," Amanda protested. "You just ask me to give that package to the man in the red hat. There is no way you could know that there were twenty-five men with red hats in that train car." She turned to her mother, "he needed help so he recruited me. I was on the train when the KGB caught him and beat him. I didn't see him escape but he found me. You have never seen a man who looks better in a tux." She turned tward her husband, "standing on the stairs, you looked great. "Looking at her boys, she said, "it was a masquerade party, one of his girlfriends thought I had come as a housewife. "Smiling at Lee, "so you asked me to dance. Later after he had explained about who he is and what he does we went into the parking garage. The bad guys had us cut off, he took my hand and we ducked out of sight. He got us safely out."

"Mother, you had mailed the package but Phillip had opened it and remembered the message. … I couldn't reach him on the phone and I couldn't let him get killed like the others."

"Killed?" "Others?"

"Nine in two weeks. Anyway, we got Mrs. Welch," concluded Mrs. Stetson.

"Amanda, baby .."

"Don't you ever call me baby!" she admonished. "You have never treated me like one of your 'babies' and you are not going to start now!"

Lee sat up straighter with his hands raised in surrender, "yes, Ma'am."

The boys laughed.

"Darling, this all sounds very dangerous," claimed Dotty.

"Not all the time, Mother. And it isn't all work related. I was helping raise money for seeing eye dogs. Lee was already angry with me so I said that I was going to quit. He left but came back in time to prevent three men from kidnapping me."

"In this house?"

"Yes, Mother, in the family room. Two of them got away but Lee took the third one in. Francine said that he was livid when he found out that they were planning to sell me."

"Sell you?"

"He came out to the estate. You remember that Gail had disappeared. They had taken me by then."

"Now, honey …"

"That was you that leaped onto that van roof while it was moving. " To her mother and sons, "It wasn't about national security. I was volunteering for charity." She looked at her beloved husband, "Or the time I was captured from your apartment. I was there to feed his fish and water his plants so he could go on vacation. Anyway Lee made an illegal trade to get me back, then we had to solve the case."

"Why would someone want to kidnap you?" asked Phillip.

"They didn't really. They wanted the Scarecrow … sorry."

"Yeah," he said. "Well they know that they can't tell anyone about any of this anyway. Don't you?" He looked deeply into the eyes of all of them. When they all nodded he turned to his wife and said, "would you like to continue?"

Amanda blew him a kiss and said, "certainly, they wanted the great Scarecrow and thought I was Scarecrow because I was there and answered his phone. You know the end was really kind of fun. I didn't have a weapon."

"Those tires you dropped on them didn't count?" questioned Lee.

"I was up on the top of some huge shelving and told them to drop their guns … and they did because the Scarecrow is merciless. Then what was his name … doesn't matter.. He told you to learn from me because I was the best," she grinned a self-satisfied grin. From across the table Lee blew her a kiss and winked at her.

"Who were they? …Amanda."

Amanda realized that she had just been staring at her handsome husband, "Oh, .. Russians, Mother." "You saved Francine and me from freezing in that freezer. You got us safely off the roof of the Co … building."

Dotty was hearing every word that was spoken but the tone her daughter was using was now soft as she told her family how wonderful her husband was. The boys hung on every word, sitting quietly as if afraid that their mother would stop if they reminder her they were there.

Amanda held Lee's hand on the table top and continued, "You saved me when I went shopping for a dress for my reunion and you saved me from staying home by escorting me to that same reunion."

"I always did wonder why you changed your mind so fast," said Dotty

Amanda looked down at her hand clasping her husband's wondering when it had happened.

Dotty said softly, "with a man like Lee around I can see why Dean was such a non-starter."

Lee smiled at his mother-in-law, that devastating smile.

"Lee has always tried to protect me." Their eyes locked as they smiled at each other unaware of the others in the room.