Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow
By smkukfan
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Rating: PG
Summary: While Lee is on assignment, Amanda must team up with a new partner. Then her mother is taken hostage.
Timeline: July 1987.
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.
Thanks: Just Browsing and Not Exactly being my betas on this story, SMK720 and moosemonger for the encouragement and MayBSleepy for the inspiration in the first place.
Notes: This is a sequel to my story Secrets and Lies which can be found here at www.fanfic.net. While this one can stand alone, it may help to read that one first – then you'll know who knows what and how. If you can't be bothered, then you should know the marriage is known to everyone, the spy stuff is not…until now…
Feedback: Yes please, good or bad to smkukfan@yahoo.co.uk
Archive: At www.smkfiction.com and www.fanfiction.net only. Please don't archive this anywhere else without my permission.
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CHAPTER ONE
Tuesday 21 July 1987, 5:00am
Dotty stepped out of her bedroom and into the hall. Her daughter's bedroom door stood open and she could see that, despite the morning's early hour, the bed was empty…again. Dotty went downstairs to the kitchen and prepared a pot of coffee. Pouring a cup for Amanda, she took it out into the garden where, since Lee had been gone, Amanda was spending a lot of her time.
"Here." Dotty held out the coffee.
"Huh?" A distracted Amanda was surprised to find the mug in front of her face. "Oh, thanks Mother."
Dotty looked down at the pale and drawn face of her daughter. Amanda's eyes had none of their usual sparkle. "Couldn't sleep?"
"No."
"Can I sit down?" Amanda nodded. "Amanda. Please tell me what's going on. You've been like this since Lee left. Is there a problem between the two of you?"
"What? Oh, no, we're fine." She wanted to assure her mother that it wasn't anything like that, but they were not fine. At least, she wasn't. She missed her husband terribly and since he'd gone on his contact-zero case to Columbia, she had no idea what was happening to him. She certainly couldn't tell her mother that. Dotty thought they were filmmakers for the government production house International Federal Film, or IFF. Security needs of the Agency required that they did not disillusion her, but this time it had been really hard. This was the first time since Lee and Amanda had revealed their secret marriage a few weeks ago that Lee had gone on a solo mission. Amanda had heard nothing for two weeks, the grapevine was silent and Francine and Billy had no clue. She believed he was alive but had no way of proving it. She was convinced that she would feel it if something happened to him, they were that close. He must be alive. What she didn't know was when he would come home to her. Amanda let out a sigh.
Dotty put her arm around her daughter and drew her closer. She took the mug from Amanda's hand and placed it on the bench beside her. Like a little girl, Amanda reached out to hug her mother, seeking the comfort of her mother's arms. Although Amanda didn't say anything, she felt safer being held. Dotty stroked her daughter's hair. "I know there's something you're not telling me," Dotty said quietly.
"What?" Amanda's eyes opened wide and she tensed, but she didn't move from her mother's embrace.
"There's something about you and Lee that you're not telling the rest of us."
Amanda didn't look up. She didn't think she'd be able to look into her mother's eyes and continue to suppress the truth. She always had a really hard time lying to her mother. "What? No. Why would you think that? What wouldn't we…? What on earth are you talking about?"
"It's all right," Dotty interrupted. "I know you'll tell me when you feel you can."
"But, Mother," Amanda protested, "I don't know what you're talking about." Amanda sat up and looked into her mother's eyes. Immediately, Amanda knew she shouldn't have done that; her eyes betrayed the fact that she did indeed have a secret. "I don't want to lie to you, Mother."
"Then don't. I'm not asking you anything, so there's no need to lie to me."
"I wish I could tell you, Mother, I really do, but I promised someone that I wouldn't…so I can't…." Amanda's voice faded away, as she could think of nothing she could say to explain.
~~SMK~~
Tuesday 7 July, 2:15pm – Two weeks earlier
Amanda was working at her desk in the Q-Bureau when her husband walked in. She could tell from his expression that the meeting with Billy hadn't been a good one.
"I'm going to Columbia." He looked down at her sitting at her desk. As she looked into his beautiful hazel eyes, she could see the sorrow he felt at leaving.
"How soon?"
"Twenty minutes. It's contact-zero, but I told Billy there was no way I was going anywhere without talking to you first." She jumped up and came around to him, embracing him with her arms around his neck. He wrapped his strong arms around her and they just held onto each other, like drowning people clutching their life jackets. That's what she is, thought Lee, as they stood silently in each other's arms. He spoke into her hair, "Thank you, Amanda."
"For what?"
"For rescuing me. I was lost before you came into my life. It's funny that Billy could see that but I couldn't. I'm just sorry it took so long to realize it." He sighed. "We…I've already wasted so much time."
Amanda leaned back in his arms to look at him. "It wasn't wasted, it was a foundation. That's why we're as strong as we are now, because we laid the proper foundations."
"I love you."
She reached up to touch his face. "I love you, too, Scarecrow. Remember that." She reached up and claimed his lips with her own. When the oxygen stores were virtually empty they came up for air, but they didn't move apart, just stood silently with their foreheads pressed together, staring into each other's eyes.
Amanda reached up to caress her husband's face. "I'm gonna miss this, you know."
"My cheek?"
"Your cheek." She nodded, then reached up and kissed it. "Your ear." She traced small kisses along his face around to his ear before nibbling on his earlobe. "Your neck." Her kissing trail continued across his face to his chin. "Your chin." Then up around the other side of his face to the other ear. "This ear's pretty good, too."
Lee reveled in the attention. His past experiences with all those women hadn't prepared him for the feeling of being kissed by Amanda. He was amazed at how a simple look or touch from his beloved wife could make him feel. Suddenly, Amanda trailed her tongue over a particularly sensitive area on his neck and he felt his knees turn to jelly. "A-man-da!"
She stopped what she was doing and looked up at him, and donned her most innocent expression. "Problem, Stetson?" she asked, knowing full well the effect she was having on him.
"No, no problem, Mrs. Stetson…well," he cleared his throat, "er…well, nothing I couldn't ordinarily handle…it's just that…" He choked as Amanda returned to what she had been doing. "Amanda, the door's not locked, you know."
"So?" came Amanda's voice, muffled due to being directed into his neck. Amanda laughed and stopped what she was doing. She snuggled against his chest. "Can't stand the heat, huh?"
"It's not the heat, Amanda, it's the fact that any second now Billy is going to come through that door and drag me off. I'm not sure he's quite ready for what he would've walked in on if you'd carried on much longer."
"Coward." Amanda didn't look up at him as she spoke.
"Coward, am I?" he said. "See how you like it." He reached down so that his lips were covering hers. He gave her a kiss that he figured would make her toes curl.
As they gasped for air, Amanda asked, "Is that the best you can do?" Despite her attempts at visible resistance, he could see her breathing had quickened as her chest rose and fell rapidly.
"Well, there's this." He tried again. Placing his arms around her, his hands on her back, he pulled her tightly toward him. Meanwhile she entwined her hands in his hair at the base of his neck, pulling his lips even more firmly onto her own. This time when they separated, Amanda's face was flushed pink and her breathing had become ragged.
"Not bad," Amanda whispered.
This was war. Lee reached down and swept Amanda up into his arms and gave it his best shot – at least, his best shot for someone who was standing in the middle of an office with an unlocked door.
As they began to get swept away with their emotions, Lee turned around with Amanda in his arms and caught his desk lamp with her feet. It crashed to the floor, drowning out the sound of the urgent cry of "Lee!"
"Amanda!" Lee called back as he placed her onto his desk, maintaining his close proximity to her. Abruptly, he stopped. He leaned his head to the side and looked quizzically at Amanda.
"Lee!!" It wasn't Amanda's voice he heard. It was that of his boss, Billy, from the other side of the Q-Bureau door.
"Thank God!" Lee stood upright, and pulled Amanda back on her feet. "I thought I was having a nightmare for a second." They collapsed into hysterical laughter, hugging each other.
There was a tentative tap on the door. "Lee? Amanda?"
Lee stepped away from Amanda and crossed the Q-Bureau to open the door. "Billy," Lee said. "Sorry, we didn't hear you, we were…er…" Lee looked across and smirked at Amanda.
"That's okay, Lee," said Billy. "I don't think I want to know what you were, er…" He smiled, intending to be the soul of discretion. "Amanda." He nodded in her direction.
"Hello, Billy," she replied. "We were…er…just working on the outstanding case files." Her face flushed again.
"So I see." He laughed as he bent down and picked up the lamp and a couple of files that had fallen to the floor. Turning to Lee, he asked, "So, you ready to go?"
"No," Lee said, honestly. He instinctively reached his arm around Amanda's waist and pulled her to him.
"One minute," said Billy. "I'll wait outside." He made a strategic withdrawal.
Lee drew Amanda around in front of him, and they held onto each other tightly. Looking directly into the eyes of her husband, Amanda spoke quietly, "You will be careful, won't you?"
Somberly he promised, "I will." He rested his chin on the top of her head.
"We've only just become a family, Lee, we're not ready to lose you." There was a catch in her voice.
"Don't worry, 'Manda. Wild horses couldn't stop me from coming back to you."
"It's not the horses that worry me." Lee felt a lump form in his throat as she spoke. "It's the guns."
"I know, but, hey." He placed his finger under her chin, making her look at him, "I'm one of the top agents in the country, remember?" He laughed, trying to lighten the mood, picturing himself and Amanda tied up in an amusement arcade closet.
Forcing herself to put on a brave face, she stepped back, and tapped his chest lightly with her finger. "And don't you forget it." Once again, she pulled him to her and they held each other.
Suddenly, there was a bang at the door of the Q-Bureau. "Time to go, Scarecrow!" Billy called. "Clock's ticking."
Lee bent forwards and kissed his wife again, a long lingering kiss. They parted and as he started to leave, he said, "Tell the boys I'm sorry about the baseball tournament. I'll make it up to them. I love you, Amanda."
He walked down the corridor, and Amanda followed to the doorway of the Bureau. She watched him and their Section Chief walk to the top of the Georgetown foyer staircase. At the door to the stairs, Lee looked back one last time to see his Amanda. "I love you too, Lee. Look after yourself." Lee smiled his most disarming smile, then turned and was gone.
About half a minute later, Amanda was still standing in the doorway, gazing where she had last seen her husband, when Francine appeared at the top of the stairs. Reaching around Amanda, she pulled the door to the Q-Bureau closed and locked it. "Come on, Amanda. We're going to lunch." Smiling, she said, "You'll never believe what I heard about Charleston in Purchasing."
Amanda didn't say anything, but allowed Francine to lead her away. She attempted a half-smile at Francine's efforts to keep her spirits up, then sighed. Mentally she pulled herself together and forced a wider smile. Expressing a brightness she didn't really feel, she asked, "Not about him and Kelley from Scenarios and Ciphers?"
"Oh, no. That was last week. The story I've got for you now is so much better…"
Since then, Francine and Amanda had been to lunch together almost every day.
~~SMK~~
For the first week of Lee's absence, Amanda had mostly worked alone in the Q-Bureau, occasionally popping into the bullpen to bring or collect a file. Although she was trying to put on a professional face for her colleagues, they could tell she was missing her partner and husband, the great Scarecrow. When he and Amanda had announced their secret marriage a short while ago, the news had spread through the Agency like wildfire. Lee Stetson was off the market once and for all and many of the Agency's female staff had been inconsolable.
Some, however, were happy about of the announcement. Many of the Agency's staff had developed a fondness for Amanda King over the years. She had started out as a civilian auxiliary but after three years had been given full agent status and officially partnered with Agent Scarecrow, acknowledged as one of the Agency's best. Even as a member of the Agency's hot-shot duo, she still found time for everyone, stopping to talk about their children and Little League, or she'd bring in an extra one of her now Agency-famous poppyseed cakes, 'left over' from a PTA bake sale, she'd say. She'd gained in confidence during her time there and it showed by the sparkle that could be seen in her eyes. In Lee's absence, the sparkle had gone. Collectively, they sought to make her time without him a little easier.
No one had acted more surprisingly than Francine. For years Francine had sniped at Amanda and Amanda had given as good as she got. An outsider would have thought that these two women were at each other's throats, but there was an underlying respect between them. In Lee's absence, Francine had taken Amanda under her wing and Amanda was grateful for the attention. Francine's persistent gossiping about people in the Agency allowed something other than Lee's absence to occupy her thoughts, to save her from dwelling on the void she felt.
Before the couple had gone public, they had caught moments together when they could. They were unaccustomed to being together day and night, but this time she felt his absence from her daily life so much more keenly. Although she still had her boys to occupy her, they were increasingly involved with their friends and didn't want to spend as much time playing games with their mom - although they still appreciated her taxi-driving skills. However, it was in the lonely hours of the night when she really missed Lee. Lying in bed thinking about him just made matters worse. She had taken to spending many of the late-night hours sitting out in the gazebo, thinking of all the times he had unexpectedly popped up in her garden over the years.
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