DISCLAIMER: The characters in the story and the show Scarecrow and Mrs. King are owned by Warner Brothers and Shoot the Moon Productions. This story is owned by the author and is purely for entertainment purposes.

Written: August/September 2000
By: Holly Caldwell


The Past Comes Back



Her patent leather heels clicked loudly as she walked down the long narrow hallway leading to the gate where she would board the plane that would finally take her home to Virginia. She had been working for the agency overseas for the past six years. The deep cover case was finally over and she was finally returning home to the man she hadn't been in contact with for four long years. The man she looked up to and loved with all of her heart. Would he understand why she hadn't written, couldn't have written him in fact. A simple phone call would have jeopardized the entire case as well as several lives. Yes, in her heart she knew he would understand. She also knew that the agency would at least let him know she was still alive, even though she couldn't be contacted. The plane ride home seemed to last an eternity, but by the time it touched ground in Washington, she was ready to face him with all of his questions. Lee Stetson was about to get the surprise of his life.
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It was a day like any other, but Lee couldn't help but feel a certain electricity in the air. As if something was about to happen and he wasn't sure whether it was good or bad. Amanda was riding next to him as they headed off to work and he could tell she felt it too. They were both quiet, abnormally so for Amanda and Lee finally had to break the silence.

"You shouldn't be nervous you know." He said as he lightly brushed her hand with his.

"I'm not nervous," she stammered back.

"I just thought that this being your first real day back on the job, your first case since you've fully recovered from the incident with the shooting..."

"Lee," Amanda began reassuringly, "I'm ok. I'm not nervous, I'm just anxious to get back to work. I really missed working with you."

"I really missed you too Amanda."

The closer they got to the agency, the more apprehensive Lee felt. He was beginning to get concerned. All the years with the agency had sharply tuned his instincts, so he generally knew when something was going to happen. They stepped out of the elevator and with one last loving look at each other; they headed to Billy's office. Billy met them outside his office. He had a strange look on his face that Lee wasn't sure he liked.

"Lee, can I see you privately for a minute?" It was a statement more than a question but Lee didn't feel Amanda should be excluded from anything.

"No, Billy I think Amanda can hear whatever you have to say."

Billy glanced uneasily around the office, avoiding Amanda's face. "Juliann is back."

Lee's face turned white as he choked, "Where is she?"

"She's in my office but..." Billy didn't get to finish his sentence. Lee has already burst through the door and to Amanda's astonishment was in the arms of a beautiful brunette. They held each other so tightly, as if they were afraid they'd lose one another if they let go. Lee lifted her up and spun her around and in doing so, caught the look on Amanda's face. He promptly put the woman down and dragged her by the hand to meet Amanda.

"Amanda, this is Juliann." Lee said with a huge grin on his face.

"So I gathered," Amanda said somewhat sourly; then, remembering her manners she added as she held her hand out to her "It's a pleasure to meet you."

Juliann looked up at Lee questioningly and shook Amanda's hand.

"Amanda, I've mentioned Juliann to you before, haven't I?"

"No, Lee, you have never mentioned her to me before, but I'm sure you will now."

"Oh, geez Amanda. I'm sorry, what this must look like!"

"Lee, let me explain, it seems you've already bungled it enough!" And in one fluid movement, Juliann elbowed Lee out of the way and ushered Amanda to a chair. Sitting directly across from her, Juliann began to explain to Amanda about her past with Lee.

"First Amanda, let me just say that I'm so glad to finally meet you! I've been working overseas for the agency for the last six years, but I've managed to stay clued in on Lee's life. She looked at the two of them as if she shared a secret with them and left it at that. Amanda was a little unnerved at this point and shifted in her chair. Juliann took note and continued on. "Lee and I have known each other since I was a baby."

"I use to change her diapers." Lee interjected

"Lee, why must you always tell people that?" Then, looking at Amanda, "Usually he prefaces that with 'I've seen her naked'" At that point, Amanda was getting impatient, her foot was tapping and she was doing her best not to look jealous, but Juliann noted every movement and thought it best to finish the story.

"My parents and Lee's Uncle are very close. When I was born, Lee...you must have been what fifteen - sixteen at the time? ...Anyway, they would bring me over to Lee's all of the time and disappear with Uncle...that's what I call Lee's Uncle...and Lee would be left to baby-sit sweet little ol' me. I grew up with him and since I am an only child so Lee has always been like my big brother and I couldn't love him more if we were blood relatives."

Amanda eased back into her chair and Juliann could tell the situation had been eased.

"Anyway, I just got back into town, and for the moment anyway, I'm being assigned to the agency here. In fact, they think I need a little baby-sitting from Lee still since this will be my first case back on American soil and they are assigning me to work this next case with you and Lee, isn't that great?"

Contrary to her initial response to Juliann, Amanda liked her. She seemed to overflow with energy and the room seemed to light up with her mere presence. Not the type of person Amanda would have pegged for an agent, but then again, neither was she. Yes, Amanda liked her a great deal.

"Well, Juliann" Amanda said to break the silence, "we should get together for dinner tonight and you and Lee can catch up on everything that has been happening over the past few years."

"I would love to! I have to stop in and see my parents after I leave here...they celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary last year!" Then turning to Lee, "You never did meet my parents did you?"

"No, they always seemed to leave before I could see them. I'd love to meet them though."

An alarm went off in Amanda's head but she dismissed it, not quite sure of the reason for it's presence. She sat for a couple of minutes and watched Lee and Juliann talk about old times.

"Well, Lee, I will bring a picture of my parents from their anniversary party, you can at least see what they look like...we were never much for picture taking while I was growing up. In fact, I don't think I have many pictures of them at all; I'm surprised I have this one from the party. It was sent to me in a care package, it's packed away in my luggage, but I'll bring it tonight. Oh, shoot.... well, I can't stay too long tonight; I am meeting an informant for our new case. We're meeting at a warehouse down in the old district, but that's not until later so I will see you two around six for dinner." Juliann shook Amanda's hand again and bounced out of the office.

Amanda thought to herself how uncanny it was that if you looked at the two of them together how much alike they looked...the alarm went off in her head again and this time she didn't dismiss it.
************************************************************************

Juliann appeared promptly at six with a bottle of wine in her hand.
"I see you share Lee's love of wines." Amanda noted.
"He practically raised me. I share a lot of his habits...the agency being another good example." She replied with the pride of a little sister.

The three of them enjoyed their dinner and Juliann filled them in on everything she had been doing during her absence. Then without warning she said, "I guess I should have brought you two a wedding gift from overseas!"

Lee and Amanda glanced at each other with a startled look. Juliann laughed and said, "Come on Lee, after all these years, do you really think you could keep something like that a secret from me?"

"How did you..." Lee began.
"An agent never reveals her sources!" Juliann replied slyly. "Don't worry, I haven't said anything to anyone, I realize you've been keeping it a secret."
"Obviously we haven't done very well at that if you found out from across the ocean!" Lee shot back playfully.
"I'm so happy for the two of you. And speaking of weddings, Lee, I brought the picture of my parents at their 50th wedding anniversary party." Juliann pulled a photo from her purse and handed it to Amanda, who was closest to her.

"Fifty years! That's so wonderful. Not many couples last that long any..."Amanda stopped suddenly as she looked at the photograph she now held in her hands.

Lee and Juliann watched her expectantly for several seconds.
"Amanda, are you alright?" Lee asked with a note of concern. "Maybe you should sit down, this has been quite an eventful day for you."
"Really Amanda, you look as though you have seen a ghost." Juliann added.

Amanda looked up at the two of them and back down at the picture. Then she replied, "I'm alright, please just excuse me for a moment, I'll be right back." Amanda disappeared upstairs leaving a stunned and confused Lee and Juliann behind. It didn't take long for her to return and she brought a picture frame with her. She stood there for a minute staring at the two pictures, than looked up at Lee with a pained expression.

"Amanda, what gives?" Lee finally pressed when the silence had begun to hang in the air like a thick fog.

"I'm not quite sure how to say this, and maybe I'm seeing things but, well...here..." Amanda handed Lee the photo Juliann had given her and Juliann the photo she had brought from upstairs. Lee staggered back into the chair behind him, his face white as a sheet. Juliann stood there confused for a moment than broke the silence.

"Where did you get this photo? I have the same one at home, my parents gave it to me when I moved away from home. They said they didn't want me to forget them." She stood anxiously for a moment before she received a reply.

"What are you talking about? This is a photo of my parents taken just before they died. These people are dead." Lee said with great intensity.

"No, Lee. These are my parents when they were much younger. In fact it was taken just before their young son, the brother I never knew, was killed in a car acid..."

"Juliann, what kind of game are you playing with me! These are my parents, this photo was taken before they were killed in a car accident!"

Juliann sat down quite shaken. Amanda sat down next to Lee and put her hand on his shoulder.

"How can this be? My parents are dead, yet this is definitely a photo of them taken last year...they've been dead for more than forty years..." Lee went on like this for several minutes.

"Lee, do you know what this means?" Juliann was now excited. "You really are my brother, this is wonderful! I always knew in my heart...I mean, I saw the resemblance between you and my father, I just always assumed you were a cousin or something. That would explain why we moved everywhere you did and why they constantly brought me over to your house to spend time with you."

Juliann stopped suddenly at the icy look she received from Lee.
"This is not happening. My parents are dead." Lee uttered full of rage and pain.

"Lee, I'll call them right now and we'll straighten this out." Juliann was no longer sure that this was such great news and her heart was breaking for Lee, she could see how much pain he was in. She picked up the phone and dialed with a shaky hand.

"Hi, it's me...No, I'm at Lee's...Not very well...Mom, listen to me. We've just been comparing photos of our parents and..." Juliann stood there shaking as she put the phone back in its cradle. She turned towards Lee and Amanda. "They said they'd be here in fifteen minutes."

They sat waiting in silence. Lee couldn't take his eyes away from the two photos. How could this be? If they are his parents, why did they leave him, let him believe they were dead? They certainly were not the people he thought he'd remembered.

Amanda watched Lee and Juliann as they shifted uncomfortably, sitting in silence until the doorbell finally rang. Neither one of them made a move for the door so Amanda got up to meet her new guests. She opened the door and the three of them just stood there staring at each other for a brief moment.

"Hello, I'm Amanda...you must be Mr. And Mrs. Stetson."

"Well, actually, we go by the name Stimson these days, but please, call us Jennifer and Mathew." Replied the elderly woman standing in front of Amanda. "I can't tell you how wonderful it is to finally meet you Amanda," Jennifer continued, "I only wish it were under different circumstances."

"Well, Jennifer...Mathew, please come in. Juliann and Lee are right through there. I think that I should leave you all alone to talk..."

"NO!" a voice boomed from behind Amanda. Lee was standing in the hallway. "Amanda, I want you here, this involves you too after all." With not so much as a glance at the elderly couple in the doorway, Lee spun around and walked back into the living room.

Amanda gestured reassuringly to the man and woman to follow Lee, and somewhat hesitantly, the three of them walked into the living room.

Jennifer was the first to break the silence. "Lee, please give us a chance to explain."

"Who's stopping you?" Lee replied tersely.

"It's a long story, but you deserve to hear it all. By now you know that your father and I were agents like you and Juliann."

"You are nothing like me." Lee spat.

Her eyes full of pain, Jennifer continued on, "We were working on a case and stumbled into something bigger than we ever could have imagined possible. The people we were mixed up with had the power not only to kill us all, but also to erase our existence completely without so much as a question about our whereabouts from anyone."

"There was no one for you to turn to?" Amanda asked politely.

"No, the only person we could trust was Mathew's brother, Lee's Uncle. Together, the three of us decided it would be best to fake our own deaths and beat them to the punch." She stopped and looked at Amanda, Lee's face held too much justifiable pain and anger for her to look at him. She choked quietly as she tried to begin again.

"Jennifer, would you like some water or tea?" Amanda felt sorry for her. She could feel Lee's anger and understood it, she was angry with them herself, but as a mother, she couldn't just sit and watch Jennifer fumbling the way she was.

"Yes, water please. Thank you Amanda." Jennifer replied gratefully.

The family sat in silence until Amanda returned with a tray of water and set it on the table. Jennifer took a sop before she continued.

"Uncle found someone that he trusted that helped put everything together for us. We were on a time constraint...we found out that they were on to us and were coming to kill us. You were at a birthday party that day Lee."

"I remember, that's where they told me you were dead."

"We couldn't get to you in time and if we'd tried, we would have jeopardized all of our lives and we couldn't live with ourselves if something had happened to you." Mathew interjected.

"So you faked your own deaths and left your five year old son alone and grieving for his parents." Lee said in a voice full of pain and rage.

Mathew looked down at his hands and then back at Lee, "We never meant for that to happen Lee. Your Uncle agreed to care for you and we've been following you around your whole life...we were never far from you."

"No, you were dead to me." Lee said in anger.

"You have a right to feel..."

"You're damn right I do. What did you expect, to walk in here and for me to run into your open arms? I'm not the five year old you abandoned."

"Lee," Amanda touched his arm but he jerked it away and jumped to his feet.

"You are not now, nor will you ever be my family. Amanda and her boys are all the family I need. I don't want anything to do with any of you." The last comment was directed toward Juliann, who was in tears at this point.

"Lee, you can't mean that. I've loved you all my life as a brother, please." She ran to him but stopped short at the look on his face.

"You bet I mean it. I don't want anything to do with you, you are not my sister, and are no longer a part of my life." He stormed upstairs and slammed the bedroom door behind him.

Amanda had never seen him like this and it frightened her. Juliann was crying hysterically and suddenly whirled around to face her parents.

"This is all your fault! How could you have lied to us both? You've succeeded in taking away the only brother I ever knew." She started towards the door, but Jennifer stopped her.

"Please don't leave like this."

"I have to go anyway. I have to go meet an informant." Juliann stormed out of the house and got into her car. She sat there crying for a few minutes before she drove off.

Lee watched her from the upstairs window. It was killing him to see her like that. She was his baby sister and he'd always loved her. It wasn't her fault and he had no right to say those things to her. His eyes began to tear up as Amanda came up behind him. He turned and they held each other for a few minutes quietly.

"Lee, I know this has all been a shock for you, but your parents are very upset."

"They're upset? They have no right to be upset."

"I know, but they are afraid for Juliann." Amanda continued.

"Why?" Lee wasn't sure where this was going.

"She left to meet the informant on our new case. They're afraid that in the state of mind she's in right now that something might happen."

"They're right, she shouldn't have left." Lee looked down into Amanda's eyes. Then kissing her gently on her forehead he said, "I'll go after her."

"Please be careful, and take the phone with you and call as soon as you find her."

"Ok, I love you Amanda."

"I love you too Lee. Please..."

"I know, be careful." Lee smiled down at Amanda and left to find his sister.

Amanda sat with Jennifer and Mathew and the three of them had a pleasant conversation. While she wasn't sure she could forgive them for what they had done to Lee, she was beginning to understand and actually found herself liking them immensely.

Juliann pulled alongside the warehouse and looked around from inside her car. Through the open door of the warehouse she saw a lot of boxes. Not good she thought, plenty of places to hide. She heard a popping sound that she recognized immediately and took her gun from her purse. Just as she opened her car door, the informant ran to her.

"Please, save me. They followed me!"

"Who?" more gunshots, this time one of the bullets flattened one of her tires. "Get in the car and lay low." Juliann ran to the warehouse and stepped inside.

Lee's instincts suddenly went into overdrive and he floored the gas pedal. When he pulled up next to her car, he saw the flat tire ran over to it. He saw a man crouching low inside and ripped the door open and yanked him out.

"Where is she?"

"She went into the warehouse."

Lee heard gunshots and made a dash for the open warehouse door. Hiding behind boxes as he moved through the building, he desperately searched for Juliann. He spotted her and at that point everything seemed to move in slow motion.

Juliann stood to shoot at the suspect and from out of nowhere a shot rang out. She never heard it. The bullet tore into her chest and she slumped backward against the boxes.

Lee ran towards her like a mad man firing his gun at the men he spotted, killing both of them. He reached Juliann in time to cradle her as she slumped to the floor.

"Jules...Jules" Lee cried frantically.

"Lee," she said in a thready voice.

Lee sat there rocking her, crying and talking to her.

"Jules...I'm so sorry. I didn't mean what I said back there. You know that, I love you. You're my baby sister and I always want you in my life."

"Lee, sshhhhh...it's ok. I know. I love you." And with that, Juliann slipped out of consciousness.

Lee grabbed the phone and called 911, and then he called Amanda and told her to meet him at the hospital. He was still holding Juliann as the ambulance pulled up.

Lee paced in the corridor of the O.R., waiting for news. Amanda and his parents burst through the door and Amanda ran to Lee.

"Are you all right, how is Juliann?"

"I don't know how she is, she's still in surgery. I'm fine." He saw the look on her face and for the first time looked at himself. He was covered in Juliann's blood. His hands, his clothes, and his face...it didn't seem there was an inch of him that wasn't soaked. That's when he realized it was a miracle she was still alive at all.

"Oh god." He staggered and Amanda put her arms around him.

"Lee, let's go get some coffee and get you cleaned up."

"No, I don't what to leave, I need to know how she is."

Jennifer stepped forward, "Lee, we will be here, please go get some coffee and take care of yourself."

"How do I know you'll be here, you never were before?" He regretted the words as soon as he said them, but he couldn't take them back.

"Lee, I know you're upset, but our daughter is in there fighting for her life and we are not going anywhere." Mathew said hotly, "We never left you when you were in these situations, we stayed at the hospital until we knew you were ok."

Lee considered him briefly with the look of a child in awe. "I'm not going anywhere, this is all my fault."

"No, Lee," Amanda said, "It's nobody's fault. Juliann wouldn't want you to feel that way. Why don't you sit here, and I'll bring all of us some coffee and I'll find you something clean to put on, OK?"

"I'll go with you," added Jennifer. The two of them left in search of coffee.

Lee began to pace again and Mathew watched him for a few minutes. He stopped when he felt his father's hand on his shoulder.

"Lee, can we please talk. I don't care what we talk about, I just want to talk."

Lee sat down and Mathew sat next to him. It was painfully obvious that Lee wasn't going to begin the conversation, so Mathew spoke first.

"Can you tell me what happened?"

Lee took a deep breath and gritted his teeth as he considered his father's request. Then he looked down at his hands as he wrung them together.

"I drove up and heard gunshots. I ran into the warehouse and just as I spotted her she was shot in the chest. She was focused on the man in front of her, she never even saw the second man standing above her in the rafters. He was the first one I shot." Lee looked up at Mathew with eyes full of questions. "How could you leave me behind?"

"Are you sure you want to talk about this now?"

"I don't think there will ever be a good time, do you?" Lee replied.

Mathew considered his words carefully then he said, "We never wanted to leave you. You need to know that, although this may be hard for you to understand."

Lee nodded his head and looked back down at his hands.

"As your mother said, we couldn't get to you. We were being followed and if we had stopped for you, we would have put not only you, but also everyone at that party in danger. We didn't expect it to go down so suddenly, otherwise you would have been with us."

Lee looked into his eyes and new he was being truthful to him. Lee was struggling with his feelings. He wanted to hate these people, but he couldn't. As angry as he was, he just couldn't hate them. All of his life he wanted to see his parents just one more time. To talk to them, to hold them...he never thought he'd ever get the chance and here they were. He understood from an agent's perspective why they did what they did. His father was obviously hurting for himself and maybe even for Lee. He put his hand on Mathew's knee and patted it.

"I guess you did what you had to do."

"If we had it to do over again, we would have done anything and everything to get to you."

"I believe you would. What did you mean earlier when you said you'd never left me when I was in situations like Juliann's?"

"We have followed you all your life. We've seen you through everything. Graduations, your first day with the agency...When you were hurt, we were at the hospital keeping an eye on you."

"It's been over forty years. Couldn't you have come to me before now?"

"We had every intention of doing just that, but as the years wore on, it got harder. We didn't know if we should...you had gotten over our deaths as best you could and we didn't want to spring this on you and open that all up again."

"I guess I can see where it would have been a difficult thing for you to do." Lee replied, trying to understand.

The two men looked at each other and both had tears in their eyes.

"Mr. Stetson"

"Yes" they said in unison as they jumped up to see what the Doctor had to say.

"She made it through the surgery. She lost a lot of blood and that made her very weak. She's slipped into a coma."

"What? How long...will she be ok?" Lee asked desperately.

"It's not unusual for patients like Juliann to go into a coma. It's just her body's way of taking time out to recuperate from the trauma it has been through. She needs the rest. I think she'll be just fine, all of her vitals are good. I don't expect her comatose state to last more than a day or two."

"Thank you Doctor" Mathew said as he shook the Doctor's hand.

Lee and his father turned and hugged each other at first lightly, and then Lee squeezed him harder until they were hanging on to each other as if their lives depended on it. Tears were streaming down both men's faces.

Amanda and Jennifer had purposely stayed away longer than necessary to give the men time to talk. Now, coming back to see them embracing, they were glad they did. They stood quietly, afraid to break the long overdue bonding moment between father and son. Lee finally let go of his father somewhat reluctantly. He felt a little foolish.

"Lee?" Amanda's voice came from behind. "How is Juliann?"

"She is going to be just fine. The Doctor said she is in a coma, but he doesn't think it will last long."

"That's wonderful" Amanda said as Jennifer and Mathew embraced. "The only thing I could find were these scrubs if you want to put them on."

"I think I'll go in and see Jules, then I'll run home to shower and change." Lee said sounding more at ease than he had in the last several hours.

Amanda nodded in agreement, "I'll go with you if you'd like."

"I'd like that" Lee replied taking his wife's hand.

After they saw Juliann the four of them went back to Amanda's house for coffee. Unbeknownst to any of them, they were being closely observed the whole time in the hospital, and right as they left, a man slipped quietly into Juliann's room

He went over and sat next to her bed. As he talked to her, he held her hand. Her eyes fluttered and she squeezed his hand lightly, but she did not wake up. He set something on her bedside table and left as unobtrusively as he had come in.

At Amanda's house, they were enjoying their coffee and talking about all that had happened.

"Mom...that seems so strange to say. I haven't had a chance to say it to anyone in over forty years."

"I know Lee, I'm so sorry for...." Jennifer interrupted.

"I can't apologize for what I said earlier, it was what I felt. I can promise you though that I will give you both a chance...it will take a long time, but I think we can work this out." Lee looked at both his parents as he spoke and when he finished the three of them embraced for several minutes until the phone rang.

Amanda answered it. "Hello...yes this is...she is?...ok...ok...we'll be right there!" She hung up the phone and smiled as she announced, "Juliann is awake, she's asking for you Lee."

They hurried down the hallway to the intensive care unit. The Doctor told them to please only go in one at a time and Lee went first.

Juliann was lying there with her eyes closed as he approached her. Then, without warning, she said in a weak voice, "It's about time Stetson."

"Hey Jules, how ya feeling?"

"You have to ask?" she smiled up at him.

Lee looked down at her and smiled back, "I guess not. I'm so sorry, I should have protected you...I never should have..."

"Lee" Juliann interrupted, "You have nothing to apologize for. You received the shock of your life and reacted to it the only way you could."

"No, I should never have said those things to you."

"I didn't ask for you so you could apologize to me." Juliann took a slow unsteady breath. "Have you seen anyone hanging around my room?"

"No, why?" Lee asked concerned.

"Just curious." She seemed a little sad at his answer, but Lee couldn't tell. "Lee, please...I know what they did was unforgivable but you must try to give mom and dad a chance." Juliann said changing the subject.

"Juliann.."

"I mean, they did what they felt they had to and..."

"Juliann!"

"Yes?"

"We've talked. It will be a long road, but we're going to try to work thing out." Lee took her hand and squeezed it lightly.

"That's wonderful!" She said with a sort of tired vibrance.

"Hey, what's this?" Lee asked.

"What?" Juliann turned her head towards the bedside table where Lee was looking.

"This wasn't here before." Lee picked up a gold charm from the table. "It's a sun." Lee said puzzled.

Juliann took the charm into her hand and smiled as she held it close to her heart. "Maybe I'll explain it to you someday."