Title: Consequences of our Actions
Disclosure:
Warner Brothers Television Distribution and Shoot The Moon Productions owns
these characters, as well as to the writers, and actors who created and
portrayed them. I am just a humble
author who wanted to breathe a little life back into them in an effort to be
entertaining.
Timing and
assumptions: Just after series
ended. Obviously, no one knows about
the marriage, Lee and Amanda are still sneaking around to get time together,
and all those who were peeping toms into their lives want to know how it all
ended up. Generous references to the
past and the events of the 4th season… and occasionally you might
see a character utter a familiar line…
Author: WhizGidget
Written: Dec 2000-Jan 2001
Rating: PG-ish…
probably more accurate as a G, but this allows for one's mind to wander…
Archive: here at
fanfiction.net, but if you wish to elsewhere, please email me…
Comments? I'd love to see 'em. Encouragement to continue? I'd love that too. Flames? Sure, why not, I need something to roast marshmallows by…
The agent crept as
silently as possible through the warehouse behind dozens of large crates. Voices drifted through the boxes, and a
sharp slapping sound resounded through the space. She drew the gun up hesitantly as she moved, hoping not to be
discovered, hoping to not need that gun. Peeking through a space, she could see her partner, on his knees, with a
gun to his head by a man she did not recognize. Her partner had a trickle of blood from the right side of his
mouth – he was the recipient of the slap she had heard – but could still speak
and addressed his captor as Sims. One
of his contacts, Fritz, was in a similar position, with his feet and hands
tied, gun to his head by Williams, the thief they had been following for the
past couple of days, and who had been seen with Fritz earlier in the
night.
She decided to
move around the boxes to get back to the car and call for backup. As she moved, she jostled a box, and
distracted everyone. Her partner took
advantage of the disturbance, and punched Sims in the midsection. He then quickly moved into a position where
he could sweep his leg around and Sims, who had managed for fire a round, lost
his balance and came off his feet.
In the chaos,
Fritz ended up being grazed by that wild shot. Williams stood stock still, not fully realizing what was going on, until
he saw Sims go down. Williams turned
and pointed his gun at the agent who was quickly ensuring that Sims wasn't
going to be up anytime soon. The
female agent realized what was going on, raised her gun, and fired off a shot,
not fully sure where it would land, as her partner, realizing what was
happening, launched himself towards the nearest pile of crates for cover.
She had shot
Williams in the chest before he was able to fire off a round.
Fritz lay
perfectly still, unconscious from hitting his head on the floor.
Her partner, from
the cover of crates, looked back towards where she was.
Williams hit the
floor on his back, and the result of what she had done was visibly apparent on
the white dress shirt he had been wearing.
The gun in her
hands dropped to the floor just seconds before she did.
A thin ray of
sunlight started to filter through the drapes, and woke up one of the sleeping
agents.
Lee Stetson was facing
his beloved wife; his arm slung over her waist, hand in the small of her back
where it often rested when they were out together. He smiled to himself, as they often woke together this way – she
always slept on her right, he always on his left – and as a result, the first
thing they saw when they went to sleep and woke up was each other. "Which doesn't happen often enough to suit
me," Lee thought wryly.
Amanda looked
exhausted, and rightly so considering the events of the previous night, but she
had slept the entire night through without difficulty. Lee, however, had woken up regularly to
check on her, worried that she would be suffering from nightmares or
sleeplessness. He was lucky to have
convinced Billy that they could debrief in the morning so that they both could
get some rest. Lee just wondered when
they would be required to come in to go over the whole thing again.
As if on cue, Lee
heard the phone ring in the living room. That had to be Billy. He had turned the ringer off in the bedroom,
as he often did when he and Amanda could sneak a night together, so that they
were not disturbed. He moved slightly
and reached to pick up the phone on the bedside table.
"Yeah,
Billy. I'm awake. What do you want?" Lee smiled as he heard his boss laugh in the phone.
He was often
right when his phone rang lately – it was either Amanda, or Billy, or some
other innocuous caller. Not like the
days when he didn't know who would be calling due to all the women who had
paraded in and out of his apartment, bed, and life. The Playboy edition of Lee Stetson's life was out of circulation,
and he was a happier man for it.
"Lee, it's time
to bring Amanda in and go through the paces."
"I know. I
know. But what would it hurt to let her
sleep in a little more? It's going to
be a beautiful Sunday morning, and she's probably having a nice dream in her
comfortable bed—"
"Lee, I know
she's at your place. Dr. Smyth sent out
the order last night to have agents follow her home, and they tell me that she never
left your place last night. In fact, we
know—"
"WHAT?!! What's Smyth thinking now? That's she's a threat to national
security? Ok Billy, yes, we never
headed for her house last night. She
didn't want to go home. She needed to
de-compress, and I didn't think that it would be a good idea for her to go home
in the condition she was in. What would
her mother think?" Lee took a deep breath. He had to remind himself to speak in a low voice so that he wouldn't
wake up Amanda, but that didn't seem like a concern – she had moaned and turned
over, still sleeping, dead to the world from exhaustion. "So she came over
here. Come on, Billy, how many times
have you already gone looking for one of us at the other's house? What's the big deal? She's stayed over here before after a rough
assignment. That's what friends do—"
"Cut it,
Scarecrow." Billy sounded irritated. "You're getting too defensive. Remember, whatever your relationship with Amanda is it's fine with me." Billy sighed, and smiled to himself. He knew that Lee and Amanda had a taken a
very serious turn in their relationship, although how serious it went, neither
agent was admitting. But there was a
time, place and purpose for every conversation, and now was not the time for
this one. "She's still asleep,
huh? Did she rest well?" Billy's concern was apparent in his voice.
"Yeah, she was
fine. She was almost asleep on her feet
when we got here, so we settled on the bed. She didn't want to be left alone." Lee slowly got up off the bed and looked over at Amanda. Not an outright lie – she had been tired
when they arrived at the apartment, and he had carried her over to the bed, but
they had held each other until she fell asleep. He didn't like lying to Billy – his boss, his friend for many
years. "She might want to go home to
change before we come in, Billy. She
slept in what she was wearing, and might want to freshen up a little. And check in on the boys." Also not a lie—no matter how infrequently
they had stayed together or were out for a night because of an assignment,
Amanda usually headed home right before work to change clothes at her home and
to check on the boys.
"Good. I want you both in the debriefing rooms by
7:30. After you're done, Amanda's got
one on one time with Dr. Pfaff to talk through this…" Billy braced himself for
the torrents to follow.
"Oh, come on,
Billy, Pfaff? She doesn't need a head
shrinker. She's fine. I know I'm not an
expert, but I've seen enough agents with first time deadly force, and I've gone
through it myself to know. No apparent
nightmares. No shock. She doesn't need the one on one. Maybe some time off for good behavior…"
"She'll get that
too Lee, but I stand firm. She's going
in to Pfaff, and you're both taking time off." Authority was starting to creep into Billy's voice, and if it came to
it, he would force the order down Lee's throat.
"Come on, Billy,
you know as well as I do that Pfaff's useless. I mean, what kind of shrink is effective when he's got an oral fixation
and lies down on the couch during sessions? He's always sucking on those ice cream bars whenever I've seen him,
talking about how we feel—"
"That's his job,
Lee. Besides, you haven't had need to
see him in a while – he's given up the ice cream bars. Doc McJohn told him to get his cholesterol
down." Billy smiled. That would keep Lee at bay for a few
minutes.
"Yeah, he's
probably using lollipop's to satisfy himself now, right? Billy, what's so funny?" Lee knew he was
right. "He is, isn't he? Oh god, don't put Amanda through all
that. She's been through enough. Let her get through debriefing and take the
time off, and let her figure out if she needs Pfaff. Besides, we'll both be off, and I have to plans to go anywhere,
so if she needs someone to talk to, she can come and talk to me." Lee thought quickly about whether they could
pick up and leave or if there was anything going on with the boys that would
keep Amanda at home for the next few days while they were off duty. He couldn't think of anything. He knew Philip and Jaime's schedules almost
as well as Amanda since they had let her family know that they were seeing each
other. It would be good for the both
of them to get away for a while – just the two of them. They hadn't really had any time together
since their ill-fated honeymoon.
It would be
different if the two boys knew about the elopement that had taken place in
February, but Lee firmly believed that that knowledge would put the whole
family at risk. If the great and
fearsome Scarecrow moved to suburbia, the rumors would fly – he'd gotten soft,
there were weaknesses, he was leaving the business. It was bad enough with the rumors around the office about he and
Amanda, but that hadn't weakened anyone's opinion about them – they were the
most effective and successful team The Agency had, and no one could
second-guess them. Even rookies were
impressed when they found out that Amanda had been a divorced stay at home mom
from Arlington and had been in the right place at the right time when she was
picked up as a random civilian courier in a train station. Lee looked over at his wife's still
form. Now she was the partner of the
infamous Scarecrow – the once self-proclaimed lone wolf, a dangerous agent, now
a husband and stepfather. If only they
knew…
Billy raising his
voice broke his reverie, "…not qualified and that's that. She's seeing Pfaff. I'm shutting down the Q-Bureau today once
you give me a run-down of what's going on up there. You can use the time while Amanda's in with Pfaff to finish any
outstanding reports and write any updates you need to. Get Francine up there with you so that she
knows what's going on in case anything you've got becomes a powder keg." Obviously while Lee tuned out, Billy was
giving him the "you're not a qualified shrink" talk again. He'd supported Amanda (whether Billy knew it
or not) over the previous 4 years since they'd met, and she had brought him
into the land of the living. Of
course, he was qualified. But he gave
in. There was going to be no changing
of Billy's mind today.
"Ok Billy, we'll
see you when we get there. I'll stay
with her the whole way. But do me this
favor, please? Call the dogs off -
she'll spot them when we're in her neighborhood, and you know that as well as I
do. And why does she have a
tail?"
"Sorry, Lee. Smyth's orders. All I know is that Smyth wanted them to stay on her until she
debriefs. I don't understand it either
– this was a routine stakeout for the both of you, and it shouldn't have
escalated to this level. And before you
start," Billy said, cutting off the beginning of Lee's protest, "I know she
wouldn't do anything to compromise herself or The Agency, but you know how
Smyth feels about her. Just stay with
her, let her know we trust her, and get the both of you in here." Billy hung up on Lee, and sighed. This was going to be a tough day, and
Scarecrow wasn't going to make it any easier by attempting to be Amanda's
protector. Internal Affairs had called
that morning, and let him know that they were going through the motions of
doing their background checks on agents. Lee and Amanda's names came up as going through the wringer. Billy sighed. Well, maybe, for once, Scarecrow hadn't done anything that would
bring two tons of paperwork onto his desk.
At his end, Lee
sighed and hung up the phone, shook his head and wondered how much Billy
knew. And with Smyth assigning agents
to watch Amanda's whereabouts through the night, he wondered if he should do
his own sweep of the apartment for bugs while they had some time off. Usually The Agency did regular sweeps, but
with Smyth ordering a watch on Amanda, that last sweep could also have been to
plant some of their own bugs. Perhaps
he should spend a little of their time off doing a little extermination work of
his own. Besides, Amanda could stand
to learn how to look for those kinds of things. He smiled to himself – always trying to teach her something new if
he could. Smyth was right – she was his
protégé. But she was a damn good agent
too, and the instincts and reactions that she had were hers and hers
alone. "No one can teach you that kind
of stuff," Lee muttered aloud.
"You can teach me
anything you want, Scarecrow," Amanda turned over and looked at her
husband. He looked so concerned, and
surprised that she was awake. "Does Mr.
Melrose have you cornered with reports again while I go through
debriefing?"
"Sorry,
Manda. Did I wake you?" Lee sat down on the bed, leaned over and
kissed her on the forehead.
"I've been awake
since I heard the phone ring in the other room. So, what's Dr. Smyth trying to pin on me now? I heard you ask to have the dogs called
off. Are there people outside?" Amanda looked amused at this. She had never felt comfortable around Dr.
Smyth, and figured that he must have something new up his sleeve about
her.
"You've been
awake – why does that not surprise me? I guess I should have figured that when
you turned over you weren't sleeping. You rarely turn over in your sleep, and you didn't have that little
smile you always seem to have. I blamed
that on last night, but I underestimated you, huh?" Lee ran a finger down the side of her cheek as she sat up. "Yeah, Smyth's got the watchers outside the
building. I was so worried and relieved
last night that I didn't think about watching if there was anyone behind
us. That and there were so many of us
leaving at the same time…" Lee trailed off, thinking about his conversation
with Billy. Something didn't add
up. "Amanda, Billy's scheduled time with
Pfaff for you today.
"I know, standard
procedure, I heard you two on the phone. He's just looking out for me, Lee, that's his job. You know as well as I do that if one of us
goes south, we'd drag the other down. You're my partner, and you're the best man The Agency has. Ugh," Amanda stretched and got up off the
bed, and caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. "I look horrible. Lee,
how could you let me sleep in these clothes? I've got to go home and change; I don't have any—Oh, no, Mother. What am I going to tell her this time? Wait a minute, did you say Dr. Smyth had us
followed last night?" She stopped at
the look on Lee's face and his finger to his mouth. What was bothering him finally came to light - something Billy
had tried to say before he cut him off came back to him: "In fact, we know…"
What did they know? Did they know about
their marriage, or just that they were involved in more than an Agency
partnership? And how did Billy know
whatever it was that he knew? He was
positive at this point that there were Agency bugs in his place.
"Amanda, you were
tired, and you headed straight for the bed last night. And you wanted a little comfort, so we
talked and happened to fall asleep. I
called your mother and told her that we got caught up in some paperwork, and
you fell asleep here. I knew that you
didn't want her to worry. I didn't want
to wake you up and all my sweats are in the wash." Lee bent down by the window and started looking under a
table. "By the way, how's your
head? You hit the ground pretty hard
last night…"
"My head's
fine. I still have a little bit of a
headache, but otherwise I'm ok. I
think." Amanda winced slightly at Lee
opening the drapes to let a little more light in. "Maybe I should grab some aspirin."
"I'll get you
that aspirin. Oh, and could you give me
a few minutes to get cleaned up and I'll take you home so you can change? Billy wants us in debriefing by 8:30, so
we've got a little time. Why don't I
go get some coffee started? Interested?" Lee held up a wire
that he had just found tucked under the edge of the carpet. He also found a small circular microphone
that was secured just behind a table lamp. Lee raised an eyebrow and handed it over to her.
"Yeah, I'm very
interested. But let me make the coffee,
since I pretty much forced you to let me stay here last night and unwind." Amanda nodded her head, understanding. They didn't know how long the bug had been
there, and she didn't know what possessed Lee into looking for things out of
the ordinary, but she was glad that their conversation last night hadn't tipped
any clues about their relationship, or anything about what happened last night
other than the fact that she had been very scared, and confused when it was
over. She absently pulled at the
diamond heart necklace she usually wore.
Lee started
pulling back the edges of the carpet some more, and didn't find any more wire,
but kept hunting for more bugs. Someone had definitely been there, and been busy because there were all
sorts of loose sections on the edges of the carpet. Near the door to the bedroom, Lee found yet another piece of
wire anchored out of the way – antenna wire. Amanda had gone into the kitchen by then and started the coffee
brewing. She pulled out the utility
shears that she had put in the kitchen a few months ago, and handed them over
to Lee. He grabbed them and headed back
into the bedroom and started clipping in half the wires he found.
Amanda started
doing a quick search of the living room. Almost immediately she found a small microphone on the back of a photo
on the sofa table of the two of them that had been taken a couple of years ago
at a Christmas party. Amanda handled
the frame carefully – she had been surprised the first time that she saw the
photo in Lee's apartment shortly after it was taken, and even more surprised
that he had kept it in such a prominent spot in the living room.
Amanda called out
"Lee, coffee's ready!" and he came out of the bedroom on his hands and knees,
still following the molding, looking for more loose carpet edge. She plucked the mic off the frame, and
headed for the kitchen. The two mics found
their way down the garbage disposal as Lee looked opened the window in time to
hear a scream from one of the agents in a car down below.
"Good morning
guys! Eddington, is that you? You always did scream like a girl in Dr.
Pain's sessions. I don't know how many
more bugs you've got up here, but Amanda's doing some exterminating work, and
she's not too happy. You must be
slipping if the housewife found some of your work," at this point Lee was hit
from behind with a large sofa cushion, "– that or she's better than you care to
admit. Remember, she's taking the same
courses you guys did long ago – and now she's got Leatherneck working with her
too… Oh, just so you know, we're going
to finish our coffee, head for her place, and then head into the office. Let Smyth know that we're on our way." Lee closed the window and smiled.
To be continued…