Disclaimer: I do not own of these characters; they are the property of Shoot the Moon Enterprises and Warner Bros. Television. I acknowledge gratefully the hard work of the creators of the series who brought to life characters we like so much we can't let them go.

BORN IN A TRUNK

Chapter 1. Hyde and Seek

"I remember you, you know."

Nothing Elisa could have said could have startled Amanda more. She almost dropped the champagne flute Elisa had handed her the moment they'd disappeared into the hospital room, leaving Lee stranded outside.

"You what?"

"I remember you. You were Amanda West then, of course, but I still remember you. I hadn't made the connection but I recognized you the moment I saw you in the hallway just now."

Amanda sat back in the comfortable arm chair, one of a pair that Elisa had obviously had brought in for visitors and stared at her uncertainly. "Well, you have an advantage on me then. I haven't been Amanda West for a long time, and I'm sure I'd remember meeting you."

"Oh good lord, you never met me," chuckled Elisa. "I just hero-worshipped you from afar. I'm not surprised you don't remember me though; I was in two years behind you at Falls Church Middle School."

"You were what?" Amanda was stunned. "How could I not know that?"

"It doesn't exactly form a major part of my biography on the social pages," replied Elisa impishly. "For one thing, I've managed to destroy almost all the evidence of those years when I was all braces and frizzy brown hair."

"But you're Elisa Danton," stammered Amanda, still trying to wrap her head around the idea that their paths had ever crossed.

Elisa burst out laughing at that. "I wasn't then. I was just plain Ellie Hyde in those days. I didn't become Elisa Danton until after my mother remarried when I was in 16. Suddenly I went from a perfectly normal life as the daughter of the late lamented James Hyde, White House lawyer to being the stepdaughter of the most famous Virginia senator of his generation. It was just easier to take his name."

"And you remember me? Why would you remember me? That was almost 25 years ago."

"You were kind to me," shrugged Elisa. "I was shy and mousy and I had this insane orthodontic device that wrapped around my head, but you always smiled at me in the hall."

"I can't believe just smiling at someone is enough to make you remember me."

"Sometimes that's all it takes. I was so miserable when I started at that school. My dad had just died, and we'd just moved so I was the new ugly duckling at the worst possible age. But you - you were Amanda West, the most popular girl in school – everyone knew you, because you were the President of Student Council and you were so nice."

Amanda couldn't help laughing. "It was Grade 9 – President of the Student Council just meant I was in charge of organizing the bake sales and helping sell tickets to the band concerts."

Elisa shrugged. "Well, all I know is that I used to walk down the hallways at FC trying not to look miserable and lost, which I was, and you would always make eye contact and you would always smile." She paused and smiled at Amanda over the rim of her champagne glass. "I know it sounds crazy but it was like I had a friend, even though you didn't know me from Adam. Have you ever just met a total stranger and looked in their eyes and felt like you could trust them?"

Amanda was hard-pressed not to laugh out loud. "I have."

"Well, I was so shy then, but every day I used to take a detour on my way to class just to watch you for a minute or two." She stopped at Amanda's expression. "I know I sound like a stalker, but it wasn't really anything more than a schoolgirl crush. You were so confident and happy and I used to watch you to see if I could figure out how you did it – how you walked, how you smiled. And then I would go to class and pretend to be you and day by day, people started to believe that person was me and I started to make friends. And then one day, glory be, my braces came off, and everything in my life was better. I got a better haircut, boys – and some girls – started to pay attention, and by the time my mom married Robert Danton, I was a whole new person. By the time I finished college, my mother was ill and I had taken over all the hostess duties for my stepfather's parties. I could never have done it without those smiles from you when I was 13." Her eyes sparkled at Amanda over the edge of her glass.

"This is pretty weird," admitted Amanda. "It's hard to picture you as a shy seventh-grader when I've read about you for years in the papers and to be honest, the last couple of days, I've been hearing nothing but the gossip."

"Oh yes, I'll bet you have – it's the fallout of an interesting life. But what did Lee tell you?"

"That you were once close. That he considers you a friend. That you're really quite a sweet person under the society persona." Amanda lips twitched at Elsa's look of disbelief. "What did you think he'd say?"

"I'm not really sure what I thought. That he'd deny it all, that he'd convince you nothing happened between us or that if it had, I was just a regret from a past life."

"Lee's a very loyal person. You should know that," Amanda smiled mildly at her. She knew Elisa had tried to pick up where she and Lee had left off and been miffed at his gentle refusal. "He might have a lot of regrets in his life, but he obviously doesn't count you as one from the way he talks about you. Now I'm not going to lie and say the office gossips weren't dying to try and fill in the blanks but Lee never denied anything because I never asked."

"You didn't ask?" Elisa couldn't hide her disbelief at that thought.

"I never ask. His past isn't part of our relationship. Our partnership is built on other things."

"Your partnership? That's what you have with Lee?" Amanda could see Elisa's confusion as she tried to figure them out. It reminded her of the looks Francine used to give them.

What a useful word 'partnership' is Amanda thought to herself before answering. "Yes, that's what we have – we have to trust each other implicitly in our job, and for that to really work, we have to trust each other implicitly in everything else as well."

Elisa eyes narrowed as she studied Amanda's open expression. "But he's in love with you."

Amanda shrugged lightly and went with her usual distraction technique. "Does that seem likely to you? When I'm not at work, I'm a divorcée with two young sons at home and a live-in mother in the suburbs. Not really Lee's style, am I?"

"Not when you describe it that way, no." Elisa leaned forward and refilled her glass. "And I might have believed you except Billy Melrose thinks the same." She waved a hand languidly at Amanda's raised eyebrow. "Oh, he wouldn't confirm it was you but he made it clear he thought Lee was involved with someone and that he approved of it and I can't imagine him approving of anyone more than you. He's so paternal, he wouldn't want anyone but you for his boy."

Amanda leaned forward and pointed a finger at Elisa. "You've been digging for information about us?" she asked accusingly.

Elisa shrugged. "Not that I got any – spies are so annoyingly good at keeping secrets. I said I hadn't heard enough about you and I wasn't kidding. But seriously, how could I resist? The one that got away wanders back into my life and won't look twice at me – and as if that's not bad enough, now I find it's because he's in love with the other one that got away."

Even knowing what she did of Elisa's predilections, Amanda was thrown for a loop by this last statement. "The other one?

"Oh Amanda, I counted the days through the rest of middle school until I'd see you again at high school. By then, I'd figured out what I liked," she paused and flicked her gaze down at Amanda's hands now tightly grasped together on her knees and then back up to her face, "and I hoped maybe there was more to those smiles. Imagine my disappointment when my stepfather insisted I go to a private school instead."

She stopped again, eyeing Amanda before apparently coming to some kind of decision before plunging on. "You know, I'm going to leave town while they repair all the fire damage and I was thinking maybe New York, since I'll need to replace my entire wardrobe. I don't suppose I could tempt you to come with me? I'm sure we'd have…fun… getting to know each other better."

Amanda opened her mouth to respond to that and then noticed something about Elisa's expression that reminded her of Lee, back in the day, and knew she had to tread carefully. It was kind of wistful but shuttered, as if she was simultaneously hoping for something but girding herself for the inevitable rejection. Amanda's heart ached for that lonely seventh-grader who'd lost everything and rebuilt it on the friendly smile of a stranger.

"Well, I'm flattered," she began.

"But…" finished Elisa, brittle now.

"But I think you've built me up into something I'm not. I'm just someone who smiled at you."

"And then grew up to be an intelligence agent. I think you're so much more that I built you up to be, actually."

"Well, thank you for that, but I'm still not…"

"Inclined that way?" guessed Elisa, disappointed

"Inclined that way," confirmed Amanda. "It's nothing personal - I'm happy to get to know you better but not that way."

"Pity," murmured Elisa. She looked up at Amanda the, her expression suddenly one of pure mischief. "But if you ever want to re-test that theory, we could invite Lee along as well."

Amanda couldn't help the chuckle that bubbled up. "I'm sure he'd like me to say yes, but no."

All of a sudden it hit her; the thought that after all the months of jokes she had just turned down Lee's best opportunity for a threesome caused Amanda to dissolve into helpless laughter. Somehow Elisa understood that it was not directed at her and started to laugh as well, laughter that became even more out of control when Lee stuck his head in the door with a concerned expression, drawn by the shrieks from both women.