Amanda came out of the Q Bureau and headed down the stairs to the foyer. She glanced over Mrs. Marston's shoulder at the small video monitor she has hidden beside her desk, and stopped dead as the camera swept the bullpen, floors below them. Mrs. Marston looked up to see why she'd stopped but Amanda had already turned and run back upstairs. She re-appeared a few seconds later carrying her purse and headed for the door.

"I completely forgot I had a doctor's appointment" she said as she dropped her badge into Mrs. Marston's outstretched hand. "I'll see you tomorrow!"

"Good night Mrs. King. See you then."

It was no more than twenty minutes later when the elevator door opened and Lee Stetson stepped out. "Good afternoon Mr. Stetson, when did you get back?"

"About ten o'clock last night but thanks to Chernobyl, Dr. McJohn's had me quarantined since then, checking to see if I was radioactive. The only good part about it was that I got to sleep through most of it." Lee's tone of disgust said everything about how he felt about the enforced stay. Mrs. Marston tried not to smile, knowing she'd hear all about it from the medical centre staff soon enough. Lee jogged up the stairs and disappeared towards his office. A few moments later, he reappeared, sticking his head out the door on the landing. "Mrs. Marston?"

"Mrs. King left several minutes ago for a medical appointment." With her back to him, she allowed herself a small smile.

"Ah. Thank you." There was a short pause. "Did she say what kind of medical appointment?"

Mrs. Marston turned now to look at him, straight face back in place. "No, but it can't be anything serious since she said she'd almost forgotten it before she ran out of here."

"Huh. Ok thank you."

Lee returned to the office and dropped into the chair behind his desk and leaned back, staring at the ceiling. He had really been counting on finding Amanda here, not off on errands, and he couldn't believe he'd missed her by only minutes. He'd been gone a month and the last time he'd seen her ten days ago, they certainly hadn't had the kind of conversation that would tell him where she'd be today. He smiled, thinking about that unexpectedly erotic evening, when their separate missions had collided on a dark street in Brussels. However, wonderful as it had been, he really just wanted to see her now and he had no idea when that would happen.

It struck him suddenly what an odd feeling it was not to know what Philip and Jamie were up to or who Dotty was seeing. He'd become accustomed to this strange shadow existence at the edge of Amanda's family and was surprised to find he missed it. He straightened up and noticed that there was a new item on his desk, in a frame. He picked it up to take a closer look; it was a New Yorker cartoon, showing Gomez and Morticia Addams locked in an embrace. In neat print along the bottom of it was "I know it drives you crazy when I speak French to you, my love. MA."

A weight he hadn't known was there lifted off him. She was at least in the same city and amazingly, she seemed to have chosen him. Standing up and grabbing his backpack, he swung out of his office and headed home.

Half an hour later, he opened his apartment door, and closed his eyes at the rush of emotion he felt, hearing the radio playing and the smell of cooking coming from the kitchen. He'd spent so many years coming home to empty places and was still adjusting to having welcoming places and people to come home to instead.

"Hi honey, I'm home!" he called out, dropping the bag by the door.

"What took you so long?" came the laughing reply. His breath caught at the sight of her as Amanda stepped around the corner and into his arms. Even in his fantasies, he always forgot how beautiful she was with that look of love on her face.

"I thought I had no reason to rush. Mrs. Marston said you'd gone to a doctor's appointment."

"Well, welcome home Dr. Stetson. I'm your next appointment"

He hugged her tighter, laughing into her hair. "How did you know I was back? I thought I was going to surprise you at the office."

"I saw you on the security cam at Mrs. Marston's desk." She was now running light kisses down his jaw and across the dimples that had deepened in his cheeks at her answer.

"And that inspired you to leave?"

"Have you forgotten what it's like in our office? I've seen you once in the last month and we would not be doing this without interruption there."

"I cannot fault your logic, sweetheart." He lifted her off her feet and walked to the sofa, kissing her as he walked. He sat down, leaning back against the cushions, pulling her onto his lap. They didn't speak for some time, simply content to hold each other, hands and lips roaming and rediscovering each other in the manner of all lovers parted for a long time. Eventually, he was lying full length on the sofa, Amanda on top of him, chin resting on his chest, grinning lazily at him.

"I always forget how annoying it is that your eyelashes are so much longer than mine," she remarked.

"And I always forget how completely random conversations with you can be. Now tell me everything you've been up to while I've been gone."

"The usual. Filing, transcribing, surveillance, bugging Francine."

"Not that stuff, tell me the real stuff." He laughed when she stared at him uncomprehendingly. "Tell me what weird thing your mother is into this week. What are the boys doing on their summer vacation? That stuff."

"You're kidding, right?"

"I am absolutely serious. I want to lie here and listen to you tell me all the minutiae I've missed for the last month." Amanda stared at him for a moment before he explained. "When I got to our office today and you weren't there. I realized it was the first time in three years I had no idea where you were. You could have been anywhere from a softball game to the motorpool."

Amanda considered that for a moment, seemingly trying to gauge if he meant it. "Ok then, so a little more conversation, a little less action it is" She lay back down on his chest enjoying the rumble of laughter her comment had caused and started to describe all the daily moments he'd missed hearing about. He closed his eyes and let her voice wash over him, laughing at her descriptions of Dotty and her flying lessons and asking the occasional question about the boys. Eventually she ran out of things to say and asked "Are you hungry?"

Lee couldn't help laughing. "I knew eventually we'd get to that question. I'm not yet but what smells so good?"

"There's soup in a crockpot. It's just being kept warm so you can eat it later. Your fridge is pretty empty otherwise. That's why you didn't get offered the usual sandwich. Okay, your turn. What have you been doing for the last month?"

"Mostly it was just like a bad version of Planes, Trains and Automobiles. Stetson and Beaman as the new Crosby and Hope on the road, chasing paper trails and bad guys with reckless abandon."

"I see you get top billing in that movie."

"Senior agent always gets top billing."

"And the bed"

"And the bed. Speaking of which," he paused and looked at Amanda through half-open eyes and she grinned back at him. "I have a confession to make."

She hadn't expected that. "Oh really?"

"I may have been unfaithful to you"

"You may have been? You're not sure?"

"Well, Beaman and I saved this gorgeous redhead in Brussels and one thing led to another, and she demonstrated her gratitude in a very specific, irresistible way."

"So you're telling me you and Beaman had a three-way with a redheaded Belgian woman? It's like I don't even know you, Scarecrow"

Her response was so unexpected that she only just managed to keep herself from rolling off his chest as he convulsed laughing. "A-man-da! Oh god, there's an image I'm not getting out of my head any time soon!"

"I'm sure I can think of something to help you with that," she said, shimmying up his chest to kiss him deeply. When they came up for breath, she put on a mock serious face and added, "I do have one question about your redhead though."

His lips twitched, bracing for whatever was going to come next.

"Did the carpets match the drapes?" This time, nothing could save her from being bounced off his chest by the force of his laughter. Almost before she hit the floor beside the couch, he had rolled off after her, scooping her up and carrying her off towards the bedroom.

"I didn't take the time to look. I'll let you know next time."

"NEXT TIME? There better not be a next time, Stetson!" She was still laughing when she hit the bed and didn't stop until his lips met hers.

As they lay sated in each other's arms later, Amanda rested her face against his chest and said "Well, I guess that answers that question." Lee's laughter was contagious as his arms tightened around her.

"I'm afraid to ask which question you mean."

"Voulez-vous coucher avec moi ce soir?" she answered promptly.

"Oh Morticia, you know what that does to me when you speak French." She lifted her head to smile at him. "Yes, I saw it. By the way, what does the MA at the end stand for?"

"I figured I needed to put something in case Billy or Francine asked who gave it to you, but I haven't decided if it's Morticia Addams because that makes sense with the cartoon or Marie-Antoinette because that would make Billy laugh the hardest."

"I know what it stands for and it's not either of those"

"Really? What does it stand for then, big fella?"

He pulled her closer into his arms and murmured softly in her ear. "My Amanda"