Disclaimer: Scarecrow and Mrs. King is the property of Warner Bros. and Shoot the Moon Productions. I just use them for fun
Summary: Now that would give it all away, wouldn't it? ;)
Rating: PG
Author's Comments: This is sort of a revision of my first SMK fan fic. Feedback is greatly appreciated.
"Amanda?"
"Hmmm?"
Lee Stetson ran his hand through his hair and sighed. "Are you still filing?"
"Yes."
Lee locked the door to the Q Bureau and went into the vault. Amanda was crouched on the floor, digging through files, scanning them, and laying some of them on the floor beside her. There was a growing pile beside her. He put his hands on her elbows and gently guided her up. She looked at him and smiled. She looked exhausted. Dark circles were under her eyes, and they didn't sparkle as much as usual. Lee noticed she was wearing the same clothes she had the day before.
He sighed. "You didn't go home again last night, did you?"
Amanda avoided his gaze. "It's work, Lee. I'll be fine."
Lee put his arms around her and pulled her close. This was the second time this week she had worked overnight. "Amanda, you have got to get some sleep. Come on, you're going home."
"No," Amanda protested. "Lee, I'm fine. And there is still so much work to do, and I'll just be that much farther behind if I go home. So I'll just stay here and..."
"No. Amanda, I'm not going to argue this with you." Lee looked at her sympathetically. It was true, the work load lately had been murderous to both of them. He had been overloaded with cases, and Amanda had gotten most of the paperwork from them, and from the files that still came pouring into the Q Bureau.
Amanda seemed to have consented, for the moment. She sighed. Lee kissed her forehead. "You need some help up here."
Amanda looked at him with a question in her eyes.
"I mean it. There are always some rookies looking for jobs to make a little extra cash. We can get you some help up here, so you won't be so overloaded."
"Lee, that will seriously cut down on our time alone together."
Lee nodded. "We'll just get someone part time. We'll have time alone together sometimes, and there is always my apartment on the weekends."
Amanda kissed him. This would be a big sacrifice for him. "I love you."
"I love you,too. Now I have a case to work on, but I'll drop by Billy's office on the way out, and I'll see about getting you some help."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Good idea, Lee. I'm glad you finally noticed how much Amanda needs help."
Lee smiled. "Who have you got, Billy?"
"The workload has tripled around here, so most of them are all ready working for an agent, but there are two that might be of help. Walter Strong, age 28, he's working on crumb jobs until he becomes a full time agent, but he has been caught with a bottle a few times, and Greg Jackson, age 39, works for Dr. Smyth most of the time, but we can use him here."
Lee shook his head. "No, neither of those sound right. Do we have an civilians who could help her?"
Billy sighed. "There are no civilians with a security clearance that high. We've got a lot of classified stuff up there, Lee."
"Come on Billy, there has to be somebody. Isn't there a a civilian you trust?"
Billy paused. "Well, yes. She saved my life, that's how she came to work at the agency. But Dr. Smyth would have me tarred and feathered if he found out."
"I'll take the heat from him if he finds out. Who is she?"
Billy sighed and shook his head. "Her name is Katherine MacKenzie. She's 18, and is working for us unofficially."
Lee grinned. "Sounds great. When can she start?"
"I'll get in her in here and send her up to the Q Bureau."
Lee got up and opened the door. "Thanks Billy."
Billy shook his head. He picked up his phone. "Get me Katherine MacKenzie's desk."
They patched him through. "International Federal Film."
"MacKenzie? This is Melrose."
"Yes sir. Hello sir."
"I want to see you in my office now."
"Yes sir."
A few minutes later a medium height blonde walked into the room. "Yes sir?"
"Sit down."
She did as told. Billy folded his hands and leaned forward in his chair. "Are you working on anything?"
"Not at the moment."
"Good. I want you to work with Amanda King in the Q Bureau doing some filing."
She smiled. "Yes sir."
"You start now."
She shook hands with Mr. Melrose and took the elevator down. She got off and waved at Mrs. Marsten. She went up to the Q Bureau and knocked on the door. A tall brunette answered it. She smiled and stuck out a hand. "Hi, I'm Amanda King."
She reached out her hand and shook Mrs. King's. "I'm your help. My name is Katie MacKenzie."
"Hi Katie. I would start you right now, but I'm starved. Have you had breakfast?"
Katie grinned and shook her head.
Amanda smiled. "Come on then, lets go get something to eat. We can talk about this arrangement over a meal."
They walked out of IFF to Amanda's car. Amanda took them to Lina's Cafe'. Amanda caught her staring at it and smiled. "This is a little cafe I found about a month ago. It's got great food, especially for breakfast."
They were seated at a little table in the corner, and they ordered. Amanda ordered a breakfast of eggs, toast, bacon, and coffee. Katie ordered a cup of coffee and a roll. Amanda laughed at her. "You're just like a friend of mine."
Katie laughed with her. "So Amanda, how long have you been working for IFF?"
"Five years, and I've loved every minute of it."
Katie grinned. "Yeah. It's thrilling working for spies. You read so much about it. They make it sound exciting." Katie blew a strand of hair out of her face. "But so far, it's been a lot of paperwork."
Amanda laughed. "It only gets worse as you become an agent." She gave Katie a sideways look. "You look a little young to be working for us. I know you have to be twenty to become an agent, you look about eighteen."
"Good guess. I'm doing a lot of unofficial stuff right now. I didn't really mean to become mixed up in all this. When I saw that guy being held up by two men with guns, I didn't know he was an agent." Amanda gave her a questioning glance. She shrugged. "I was walking to the store. I saw Mr. Melrose with a gun at his back, held by a short dark man. There was another man in front of him, laughing. I didn't really know if it was for real or not, but I went barging in there. I guess I sort of wanted to try out my martial arts skills, I had just earned my black belt. I ended up nearly getting shot myself. But between Mr. Melrose and I, we took them down."
Amanda laughed and told Katie how she had gotten involved with the agency, and
Katie chuckled. "So Mr. Melrose thought it was a good idea that you and Mr. Stetson worked together?"
"Yes, but Lee fought it for awhile."
Katie smiled. "I was awarded a medal by Mr. Melrose. But I didn't see any job prospects in the agency until he called me a few months later, offering me a job. I needed the money."
Amanda nodded, she had that problem many times herself. "So, what do your parents think of all of this?"
"I don't have parents."
Amanda blushed. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-""
Katie shrugged. "It's fine, really. My mom died when I was a little baby, and my dad gave me up for adoption a few months after that. I don't remember either of them."
Amanda looked at Katie sadly. She showed no emotion on her face, but Amanda had been working with spies for years. She had learned how to watch for little signs to tell how they were feeling. But Amanda saw nothing. She was suddenly filled with compassion for the girl, and it prompted her to ask a question. " Do you miss them?"
Katie looked up and caught Amanda's gaze. "How can you miss what you don't remember?"
Amanda put a hand on her arm. Katie gave her a small smile, but pulled away. Amanda's motherly heart took over. "Katie, who raised you?"
Katie gave a small laugh. "More foster families than I remember. See, my dad worked for the government. CIA or something. None of the families wanted to keep a kid that could be a danger for their families. They usually kept me for a week or two before deciding it was too dangerous to have me around."
Amanda was struck at how similar her story was to Lee's. They had both lost their parents at a a young age. They had both been moved around to different places, and neither of them had had a person they could really look to as a mother or father figure. Amanda examined Katie. She was struck at how much her eyes looked like Lee's.
Amanda's mind worked fast. Her Mother and the boys were on a camping trip. She smiled. "Katie, would you like to come to my house for dinner tonight? I have someone I'd really like you to meet."
Katie nodded. "Sure. It's been awhile since I've had a home cooked meal."
Amanda gave her her address and told her to arrive there at six o'clock. Then she drove her back to the agency. "We'll start the filing tomorrow."
Amanda went back to her car and pulled out of the agency parking lot. She called Lee on her car phone.
"Stetson here."
"Hi Lee. Are you working tonight?"
"No."
"Would you like to come over for dinner?"
"Absolutely. I've been wondering when I was going to get some time alone to spend with my wife."
"We won't be alone, not at first anyway." Amanda told Lee of her invitation to Katie.
He sighed. "You sure do get attached to people in a hurry, you know that Amanda?"
"Well, she's special. And she's been through some of the same things you went through as a kid. I thought maybe you could..you know, talk to her."
"Amanda I'm no good at that stuff. It took you years to find out some of my secrets about my parents. I can't just go talk about stuff like that to a stranger."
Amanda sighed. "At least think about it."
Lee was exasperated. "Amanda..."
He heard a tell tale click as she set the phone down. He looked at the phone and slammed it down.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Katie showed up on time. She chatted with Amanda for awhile, and finally at six thirty Lee walked in the door. Amanda turned to face him and smiled. Lee sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "Amanda, I'm sorry I'm late. I had a-"
He stopped after seeing the young girl at the sink. He could see only her back, but he knew who it was. Same sandy blonde hair, same height. Lee snapped himself back to reality. She had been dead for seventeen years. Still, he could not keep himself from seeing if it really was her. "Rebecca?"
"No Lee, this is Katie. She's the one Mr. Melrose assigned to help me in the Q Bureau."
Lee stared at her. No, this wasn't Rebecca. But she resembled her so much! The only differences between her and Rebecca were that this girl's eyes were blue green, and there was a small white scar over her left eye, and her cheekbones were slightly higher. Lee saw Amanda staring at him and snapped himself back to attention. "Uh, hi Katie. It's nice to meet you."
"You too, Mr. Stetson."
"Call me Lee."
Katie nodded. Amanda smiled. "So, are you hungry?"
Lee breathed in deeply. "You made pasta."
Amanda nodded and pointed to the set table. Lee sat down. Katie sat down across from him, and Amanda sat beside him. The pot of spaghetti was still hot. Amanda had made garlic bread and it tasted just right with it.
The conversation was light. Katie laughed along with them, but didn't seem very comfortable there. Amanda served apple pie for dessert. "Katie, who does your cooking?"
Katie blushed. "The chef at Papa Pete's."
Amanda looked at her. "You don't know how to cook?"
"No."
"You want to learn?"
Katie shrugged. "I don't know Amanda. I've all ready taken advantage of your hospitality-"
"Oh, nonsense. Katie, you are learning to cook, and I don't want to hear another word about it."
Katie looked at Lee, surprised. He laughed. "Don't argue with her. She'll just end up winning anyway."
Katie chuckled. "All right."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Nathan Andrews sighed. "I can't figure it out."
"What?" Fred Fielder came over to the young man's computer and stared at the screen.
BACKGROUND CHECK FOR:
Katherine Elizabeth MacKenzie
D.O.B. - July 7, 1970
Father's Name:
Mother's Name: Rebecca
Fred looked at Nate. "Why isn't there anything under her father's name or her mother's last name?
"Her parents were married, but her father's name and her mother's last name have been erased from her birth certificate."
Fred sighed. "Lets get someone to work on this. We need a full background check on her before she can begin any official agency training. Are there any available agents?"
Nate turned to another computer and typed something in. "No, except for Mrs. King, but she's doing a lot of heavy duty filing right now."
Fred rolled his eyes. "Filing. Send this request to Mr. Melrose and see if he can get Mrs. King on this case."
Nate nodded. He dialed up Billy's office.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"There you are Amanda."
Amanda looked up from her filing and smiled. "Hello sir."
"Lets get back into your office. I have something I need to discuss with you."
Amanda nodded. "Katie, keep filing, and I'll be back in a minute."
Katie nodded, but never looked up. Amanda walked out of the vault with Billy. "Yes sir?"
"How do you like Katie?"
"She's been a big help. Thank you sir."
Billy nodded. "Amanda, how would you like to get a break from filing for a few days and get on a real case? It's just a background check, and I'm sure you'll be able to do it. But it would give you a break from all this filing for a few days."
Amanda nodded. "That would be a relief sir, but I'd get behind-"
"Katie can stay here and keep filing."
Amanda smiled. "I'd love to."
Billy smiled. "Good. Here is the file." He handed her a manila envelope.
Amanda pulled it open. She glanced at the name and looked up at Billy. "Katie's file?"
"Yes, Amanda. We can't find her Father's name, so that part of her background is blank. We want you to find her father's name and her mother's last name, and everything you can about him."
"Yes, sir."
Billy left the office and Amanda walked back to the vault. She leaned against the door frame and watched Katie work. She was fast and efficient. She had become a friend over the past couple of days. She was easy to talk to, and they had talked about everything. As far as Amanda knew, Katie had no family.
Katie caught Amanda staring and smiled. "What's up?"
"I'm going to have to leave you working by yourself for a few days. I have a case to work on."
Katie smiled and nodded.
Amanda sighed. "I know you must be wondering what I'm doing and why I'm leaving you all alone to work on this, but it's on a-"
"Need to know basis. I've heard it before," Katie said, smiling.
Amanda nodded. "I'll see you later, Katie."
"Bye Amanda."
Amanda sighed as she walked out. She felt slightly guilty for investigating Katie's past and not telling her about it. She left her ID with Mrs. Marsten and left IFF.
She got into her jeep and drove away.
She arrived home and collapsed on her coach. She could have done this work at IFF, but she didn't want Katie to see what she was working on. She flipped open the file. She scanned quickly what they all ready had. It wasn't much. It had her physical characteristics and the list of foster families she had stayed with, what dates she had stayed with them, and notes about each one of them. There were over forty families on the list.
"Oh Katie," Amanda whispered. She hadn't been kidding. From what she could tell, she had spent most of her toddler years moving around from foster home to foster home. As she got older, the homes were less frequent. She had spent the two years living on her own.
Amanda was nearly in tears. She was so caught up in the file that she didn't even hear Lee come in. He saw his wife sitting on the couch looking very upset, and put his hands on her shoulders. She jumped, then looked up.
"Oh, hi."
"What's wrong, Amanda?"
Amanda swallowed. "I'm doing a background check on Katie. It's so sad, Lee! Her mother died somehow when she was a baby, and her dad gave her up for adoption a few months later. Can you imagine that? How could he have given her up? He must not have cared about her very much t just abandon her like that."
Lee looked at her. "It could have been that he did care about her, but thought it would be best to give her up," He said angrily. "Just because he gave her up doesn't mean he didn't love her."
Amanda looked at Lee. He had adopted the tone of voice he usually did when he was scolding her, but this time he really had no reason to get defensive. "What's wrong, Lee?"
Lee sighed and sat beside her. "Nothing. I'm sorry."
Amanda smiled. "It's okay." She leaned against him and he put his arm around her. She smiled. "Lee, have you ever thought about having a child of out own?"
Lee looked down at her, surprised. "Well, yes. But it'd be too hard. No one knows about our marriage, and if we had a baby, we'd have to reveal all."
Amanda nodded. "Still, I'd like to have one." Amanda picked up the file, then set it down again." She kissed his cheek. "I know that if we did have a child and I died, you wouldn't give it up, would you?"
Lee bit his lip. He forced a smile. "Of course not, Amanda."
Amanda smiled. "I don't know why I even asked. I know you'd never do something like that."
Lee stroked her hair and sighed. "No. No I wouldn't."
Summary: Now that would give it all away, wouldn't it? ;)
Rating: PG
Author's Comments: This is sort of a revision of my first SMK fan fic. Feedback is greatly appreciated.
"Amanda?"
"Hmmm?"
Lee Stetson ran his hand through his hair and sighed. "Are you still filing?"
"Yes."
Lee locked the door to the Q Bureau and went into the vault. Amanda was crouched on the floor, digging through files, scanning them, and laying some of them on the floor beside her. There was a growing pile beside her. He put his hands on her elbows and gently guided her up. She looked at him and smiled. She looked exhausted. Dark circles were under her eyes, and they didn't sparkle as much as usual. Lee noticed she was wearing the same clothes she had the day before.
He sighed. "You didn't go home again last night, did you?"
Amanda avoided his gaze. "It's work, Lee. I'll be fine."
Lee put his arms around her and pulled her close. This was the second time this week she had worked overnight. "Amanda, you have got to get some sleep. Come on, you're going home."
"No," Amanda protested. "Lee, I'm fine. And there is still so much work to do, and I'll just be that much farther behind if I go home. So I'll just stay here and..."
"No. Amanda, I'm not going to argue this with you." Lee looked at her sympathetically. It was true, the work load lately had been murderous to both of them. He had been overloaded with cases, and Amanda had gotten most of the paperwork from them, and from the files that still came pouring into the Q Bureau.
Amanda seemed to have consented, for the moment. She sighed. Lee kissed her forehead. "You need some help up here."
Amanda looked at him with a question in her eyes.
"I mean it. There are always some rookies looking for jobs to make a little extra cash. We can get you some help up here, so you won't be so overloaded."
"Lee, that will seriously cut down on our time alone together."
Lee nodded. "We'll just get someone part time. We'll have time alone together sometimes, and there is always my apartment on the weekends."
Amanda kissed him. This would be a big sacrifice for him. "I love you."
"I love you,too. Now I have a case to work on, but I'll drop by Billy's office on the way out, and I'll see about getting you some help."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Good idea, Lee. I'm glad you finally noticed how much Amanda needs help."
Lee smiled. "Who have you got, Billy?"
"The workload has tripled around here, so most of them are all ready working for an agent, but there are two that might be of help. Walter Strong, age 28, he's working on crumb jobs until he becomes a full time agent, but he has been caught with a bottle a few times, and Greg Jackson, age 39, works for Dr. Smyth most of the time, but we can use him here."
Lee shook his head. "No, neither of those sound right. Do we have an civilians who could help her?"
Billy sighed. "There are no civilians with a security clearance that high. We've got a lot of classified stuff up there, Lee."
"Come on Billy, there has to be somebody. Isn't there a a civilian you trust?"
Billy paused. "Well, yes. She saved my life, that's how she came to work at the agency. But Dr. Smyth would have me tarred and feathered if he found out."
"I'll take the heat from him if he finds out. Who is she?"
Billy sighed and shook his head. "Her name is Katherine MacKenzie. She's 18, and is working for us unofficially."
Lee grinned. "Sounds great. When can she start?"
"I'll get in her in here and send her up to the Q Bureau."
Lee got up and opened the door. "Thanks Billy."
Billy shook his head. He picked up his phone. "Get me Katherine MacKenzie's desk."
They patched him through. "International Federal Film."
"MacKenzie? This is Melrose."
"Yes sir. Hello sir."
"I want to see you in my office now."
"Yes sir."
A few minutes later a medium height blonde walked into the room. "Yes sir?"
"Sit down."
She did as told. Billy folded his hands and leaned forward in his chair. "Are you working on anything?"
"Not at the moment."
"Good. I want you to work with Amanda King in the Q Bureau doing some filing."
She smiled. "Yes sir."
"You start now."
She shook hands with Mr. Melrose and took the elevator down. She got off and waved at Mrs. Marsten. She went up to the Q Bureau and knocked on the door. A tall brunette answered it. She smiled and stuck out a hand. "Hi, I'm Amanda King."
She reached out her hand and shook Mrs. King's. "I'm your help. My name is Katie MacKenzie."
"Hi Katie. I would start you right now, but I'm starved. Have you had breakfast?"
Katie grinned and shook her head.
Amanda smiled. "Come on then, lets go get something to eat. We can talk about this arrangement over a meal."
They walked out of IFF to Amanda's car. Amanda took them to Lina's Cafe'. Amanda caught her staring at it and smiled. "This is a little cafe I found about a month ago. It's got great food, especially for breakfast."
They were seated at a little table in the corner, and they ordered. Amanda ordered a breakfast of eggs, toast, bacon, and coffee. Katie ordered a cup of coffee and a roll. Amanda laughed at her. "You're just like a friend of mine."
Katie laughed with her. "So Amanda, how long have you been working for IFF?"
"Five years, and I've loved every minute of it."
Katie grinned. "Yeah. It's thrilling working for spies. You read so much about it. They make it sound exciting." Katie blew a strand of hair out of her face. "But so far, it's been a lot of paperwork."
Amanda laughed. "It only gets worse as you become an agent." She gave Katie a sideways look. "You look a little young to be working for us. I know you have to be twenty to become an agent, you look about eighteen."
"Good guess. I'm doing a lot of unofficial stuff right now. I didn't really mean to become mixed up in all this. When I saw that guy being held up by two men with guns, I didn't know he was an agent." Amanda gave her a questioning glance. She shrugged. "I was walking to the store. I saw Mr. Melrose with a gun at his back, held by a short dark man. There was another man in front of him, laughing. I didn't really know if it was for real or not, but I went barging in there. I guess I sort of wanted to try out my martial arts skills, I had just earned my black belt. I ended up nearly getting shot myself. But between Mr. Melrose and I, we took them down."
Amanda laughed and told Katie how she had gotten involved with the agency, and
Katie chuckled. "So Mr. Melrose thought it was a good idea that you and Mr. Stetson worked together?"
"Yes, but Lee fought it for awhile."
Katie smiled. "I was awarded a medal by Mr. Melrose. But I didn't see any job prospects in the agency until he called me a few months later, offering me a job. I needed the money."
Amanda nodded, she had that problem many times herself. "So, what do your parents think of all of this?"
"I don't have parents."
Amanda blushed. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-""
Katie shrugged. "It's fine, really. My mom died when I was a little baby, and my dad gave me up for adoption a few months after that. I don't remember either of them."
Amanda looked at Katie sadly. She showed no emotion on her face, but Amanda had been working with spies for years. She had learned how to watch for little signs to tell how they were feeling. But Amanda saw nothing. She was suddenly filled with compassion for the girl, and it prompted her to ask a question. " Do you miss them?"
Katie looked up and caught Amanda's gaze. "How can you miss what you don't remember?"
Amanda put a hand on her arm. Katie gave her a small smile, but pulled away. Amanda's motherly heart took over. "Katie, who raised you?"
Katie gave a small laugh. "More foster families than I remember. See, my dad worked for the government. CIA or something. None of the families wanted to keep a kid that could be a danger for their families. They usually kept me for a week or two before deciding it was too dangerous to have me around."
Amanda was struck at how similar her story was to Lee's. They had both lost their parents at a a young age. They had both been moved around to different places, and neither of them had had a person they could really look to as a mother or father figure. Amanda examined Katie. She was struck at how much her eyes looked like Lee's.
Amanda's mind worked fast. Her Mother and the boys were on a camping trip. She smiled. "Katie, would you like to come to my house for dinner tonight? I have someone I'd really like you to meet."
Katie nodded. "Sure. It's been awhile since I've had a home cooked meal."
Amanda gave her her address and told her to arrive there at six o'clock. Then she drove her back to the agency. "We'll start the filing tomorrow."
Amanda went back to her car and pulled out of the agency parking lot. She called Lee on her car phone.
"Stetson here."
"Hi Lee. Are you working tonight?"
"No."
"Would you like to come over for dinner?"
"Absolutely. I've been wondering when I was going to get some time alone to spend with my wife."
"We won't be alone, not at first anyway." Amanda told Lee of her invitation to Katie.
He sighed. "You sure do get attached to people in a hurry, you know that Amanda?"
"Well, she's special. And she's been through some of the same things you went through as a kid. I thought maybe you could..you know, talk to her."
"Amanda I'm no good at that stuff. It took you years to find out some of my secrets about my parents. I can't just go talk about stuff like that to a stranger."
Amanda sighed. "At least think about it."
Lee was exasperated. "Amanda..."
He heard a tell tale click as she set the phone down. He looked at the phone and slammed it down.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Katie showed up on time. She chatted with Amanda for awhile, and finally at six thirty Lee walked in the door. Amanda turned to face him and smiled. Lee sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "Amanda, I'm sorry I'm late. I had a-"
He stopped after seeing the young girl at the sink. He could see only her back, but he knew who it was. Same sandy blonde hair, same height. Lee snapped himself back to reality. She had been dead for seventeen years. Still, he could not keep himself from seeing if it really was her. "Rebecca?"
"No Lee, this is Katie. She's the one Mr. Melrose assigned to help me in the Q Bureau."
Lee stared at her. No, this wasn't Rebecca. But she resembled her so much! The only differences between her and Rebecca were that this girl's eyes were blue green, and there was a small white scar over her left eye, and her cheekbones were slightly higher. Lee saw Amanda staring at him and snapped himself back to attention. "Uh, hi Katie. It's nice to meet you."
"You too, Mr. Stetson."
"Call me Lee."
Katie nodded. Amanda smiled. "So, are you hungry?"
Lee breathed in deeply. "You made pasta."
Amanda nodded and pointed to the set table. Lee sat down. Katie sat down across from him, and Amanda sat beside him. The pot of spaghetti was still hot. Amanda had made garlic bread and it tasted just right with it.
The conversation was light. Katie laughed along with them, but didn't seem very comfortable there. Amanda served apple pie for dessert. "Katie, who does your cooking?"
Katie blushed. "The chef at Papa Pete's."
Amanda looked at her. "You don't know how to cook?"
"No."
"You want to learn?"
Katie shrugged. "I don't know Amanda. I've all ready taken advantage of your hospitality-"
"Oh, nonsense. Katie, you are learning to cook, and I don't want to hear another word about it."
Katie looked at Lee, surprised. He laughed. "Don't argue with her. She'll just end up winning anyway."
Katie chuckled. "All right."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Nathan Andrews sighed. "I can't figure it out."
"What?" Fred Fielder came over to the young man's computer and stared at the screen.
BACKGROUND CHECK FOR:
Katherine Elizabeth MacKenzie
D.O.B. - July 7, 1970
Father's Name:
Mother's Name: Rebecca
Fred looked at Nate. "Why isn't there anything under her father's name or her mother's last name?
"Her parents were married, but her father's name and her mother's last name have been erased from her birth certificate."
Fred sighed. "Lets get someone to work on this. We need a full background check on her before she can begin any official agency training. Are there any available agents?"
Nate turned to another computer and typed something in. "No, except for Mrs. King, but she's doing a lot of heavy duty filing right now."
Fred rolled his eyes. "Filing. Send this request to Mr. Melrose and see if he can get Mrs. King on this case."
Nate nodded. He dialed up Billy's office.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"There you are Amanda."
Amanda looked up from her filing and smiled. "Hello sir."
"Lets get back into your office. I have something I need to discuss with you."
Amanda nodded. "Katie, keep filing, and I'll be back in a minute."
Katie nodded, but never looked up. Amanda walked out of the vault with Billy. "Yes sir?"
"How do you like Katie?"
"She's been a big help. Thank you sir."
Billy nodded. "Amanda, how would you like to get a break from filing for a few days and get on a real case? It's just a background check, and I'm sure you'll be able to do it. But it would give you a break from all this filing for a few days."
Amanda nodded. "That would be a relief sir, but I'd get behind-"
"Katie can stay here and keep filing."
Amanda smiled. "I'd love to."
Billy smiled. "Good. Here is the file." He handed her a manila envelope.
Amanda pulled it open. She glanced at the name and looked up at Billy. "Katie's file?"
"Yes, Amanda. We can't find her Father's name, so that part of her background is blank. We want you to find her father's name and her mother's last name, and everything you can about him."
"Yes, sir."
Billy left the office and Amanda walked back to the vault. She leaned against the door frame and watched Katie work. She was fast and efficient. She had become a friend over the past couple of days. She was easy to talk to, and they had talked about everything. As far as Amanda knew, Katie had no family.
Katie caught Amanda staring and smiled. "What's up?"
"I'm going to have to leave you working by yourself for a few days. I have a case to work on."
Katie smiled and nodded.
Amanda sighed. "I know you must be wondering what I'm doing and why I'm leaving you all alone to work on this, but it's on a-"
"Need to know basis. I've heard it before," Katie said, smiling.
Amanda nodded. "I'll see you later, Katie."
"Bye Amanda."
Amanda sighed as she walked out. She felt slightly guilty for investigating Katie's past and not telling her about it. She left her ID with Mrs. Marsten and left IFF.
She got into her jeep and drove away.
She arrived home and collapsed on her coach. She could have done this work at IFF, but she didn't want Katie to see what she was working on. She flipped open the file. She scanned quickly what they all ready had. It wasn't much. It had her physical characteristics and the list of foster families she had stayed with, what dates she had stayed with them, and notes about each one of them. There were over forty families on the list.
"Oh Katie," Amanda whispered. She hadn't been kidding. From what she could tell, she had spent most of her toddler years moving around from foster home to foster home. As she got older, the homes were less frequent. She had spent the two years living on her own.
Amanda was nearly in tears. She was so caught up in the file that she didn't even hear Lee come in. He saw his wife sitting on the couch looking very upset, and put his hands on her shoulders. She jumped, then looked up.
"Oh, hi."
"What's wrong, Amanda?"
Amanda swallowed. "I'm doing a background check on Katie. It's so sad, Lee! Her mother died somehow when she was a baby, and her dad gave her up for adoption a few months later. Can you imagine that? How could he have given her up? He must not have cared about her very much t just abandon her like that."
Lee looked at her. "It could have been that he did care about her, but thought it would be best to give her up," He said angrily. "Just because he gave her up doesn't mean he didn't love her."
Amanda looked at Lee. He had adopted the tone of voice he usually did when he was scolding her, but this time he really had no reason to get defensive. "What's wrong, Lee?"
Lee sighed and sat beside her. "Nothing. I'm sorry."
Amanda smiled. "It's okay." She leaned against him and he put his arm around her. She smiled. "Lee, have you ever thought about having a child of out own?"
Lee looked down at her, surprised. "Well, yes. But it'd be too hard. No one knows about our marriage, and if we had a baby, we'd have to reveal all."
Amanda nodded. "Still, I'd like to have one." Amanda picked up the file, then set it down again." She kissed his cheek. "I know that if we did have a child and I died, you wouldn't give it up, would you?"
Lee bit his lip. He forced a smile. "Of course not, Amanda."
Amanda smiled. "I don't know why I even asked. I know you'd never do something like that."
Lee stroked her hair and sighed. "No. No I wouldn't."