"Lee!" The stage-whispered call was accompanied by a light tap at the bedroom door. Lee groaned and rolled over, looking at the clock. Six a.m.. "Lee!" Reaching over, he turned the doorknob and let the door open slightly.
"Jamie?" Lee squinted up at his stepson who had somehow metamorphosed into a shorter version of Lee. His hair was combed back and instead of the usual polo shirt, he was wearing a dress shirt and v-neck sweater with trousers instead of jeans. He was even wearing boat shoes instead of running shoes.
"I just wanted you to know that I'll be waiting for you downstairs. I don't want to make you late." Jamie whispered. Lee refrained from pointing out that they didn't need to leave for another hour and a half.
"Good plan. I'll shower and shave and be down soon."
"Ok." Jamie's efforts to be quiet were somewhat mitigated as he thumped down the stairs. How a single boy could make as much noise as a herd of buffalo was beyond Lee. Lee gently pushed the door shut and rolled over. Smiling, he dropped a kiss on Amanda's bare shoulder before getting up. Reaching down, he picked her nightgown off the floor and draped it over the end of the bed. It was a shame that he wouldn't be there when she woke up. He loved the way that waking up naked beside him brought a pink tinge to her cheeks. It wasn't as if she was shy or prudish in bed, but in the stark light of day she was always a little bit embarrassed. Lee grinned. He was going to add that to the list of reasons he loved her.
Lee had to make a real effort to control the smile that seemed to have taken permanent residence on his face. He had been completely unprepared for the happiness that came from living with Amanda, Dotty, and the boys. The worries he'd had hadn't materialised. The boys didn't resent him, Dotty had quickly started mothering him, and Amanda still managed to give him her attention even when they weren't alone. It turned out that Dotty and the boys had busy social lives of their own and he and Amanda got plenty of alone time.
Returning to the bedroom, he dressed quickly. Pulling on a pair of chinos and a rugby shirt, Lee slipped on a pair of boat shoes before stopping once more to drop a kiss on his wife's head. When she mumbled and wiggled in her sleep, Lee patted her bottom affectionately and left the room.
Jamie had two cups of coffee waiting when Lee came down the stairs. "Nice try, buddy." Lee said, pouring Jamie's coffee down the drain and refilling his cup with milk. Jamie grinned as Lee poured a splash of milk into his cup. "So what are we doing today?" Jamie asked.
"Well, IFF will be working on a training film for the FBI this weekend. So we need to go to different locations on the parade route to for places to set up cameras." Lee explained. He'd spent an hour with the guys in scenarios yesterday getting all the details sorted.
"Cool! Do you do a lot of that kind of thing?"
"Yeah, most of the films IFF makes are for various government departments. You're lucky, a few weeks ago we were doing a film about septic tanks."
"Eew."
"Yeah. It's not all glamour and intrigue, you know."
"Guess not. But it's still pretty cool that you get to work with the FBI. Have you ever met any of federal agents? That'd be so cool!"
"Yeah, I've met a few." Lee admitted, sipping his coffee.
"Come on, we should go."
Driving up in front of IFF, Lee parked the Wagoneer in the usual spot. It was one of the real perks of having the responsibility for the Q-Bureau. The two spaces right in front of the Georgetown lobby were reserved for him and Amanda.
Walking up the path, Lee belatedly remembered the day's password: pachyderm. Lee made a mental note to get even with Billy for this one. How was he supposed to drop that casually in conversation? "Good morning, Mrs. Marsden. May I present my stepson, Jamie."
"Mr. King." Mrs. Marsden greeted in a tone that bordered on welcoming.
"Hello Mrs. Marsden. I'm very pleased to meet you. Do you know my mom?"
"She sure does!" Lee quickly intervened. Mrs. Marsden looked at him rather pointedly, waiting for him to slip the password into the conversation. Lee knew that she wouldn't let them by until he did. "Say, did I ever tell you that I once did a film about the grieving behaviours of pachyderms?" Mrs. Marsden nodded in acknowledgement and reached into her desk for Lee's IFF ID and an IFF visitor pass for Jamie.
"No. I really like elephants. Maybe we can watch one of your movies some time. It'd be really cool to see a movie with you and mom in the credits. Do you have a copy here?"
"Uhm, somewhere, but we really can't be spending a lot of time here today, unfortunately. I'll see if I can find you one of the films that's not classified material. The one about elephants is." Lee said as he shepherded Jamie up the stairs.
"Why?" Lee scrambled to think of a reason.
"I don't know, actually. It's weird how much stuff the government likes to keep under wraps." Not for the first time, Lee reflected that he had somehow married into a family of world class interrogators. Jamie had him fumbling for answers and it wasn't even eight o'clock! Opening the Q-Bureau, Lee almost groaned as he saw Amanda's study guides piled on her desk. Introduction to Reconnaissance and Basic Sabotage were hardly innocuous sounding.
"This is mom's desk and that's yours." Jamie correctly announced, sitting in Amanda's chair.
"How do you know?" Lee asked, scooping up the booklets.
"Easy. You said you and mom share an office – and this desk has a picture of me, Phillip, and grandma on it." Jamie explained. "Besides, it's a lot neater than the other one."
"Very good observations, Sherlock." Lee praised. Looking at the two desks, he was impressed at his stepson's quick eye. He clearly had the same innate ability that his mother had. Lee briefly wondered what Amanda would think if Jamie ended up going into this line of work.
Collecting the map and camera off his desk, Lee guided Jamie back out before he could notice anything else, like the Certificate of Valour signed by the POTUS that they'd finally been able to hang up in the Q-Bureau. Lee had been bursting with pride when he'd written up the commendation for Amanda's file after that one. He smiled remembering the box of mementoes he'd hidden away in Amanda's garage. Someday he'd tell her that he'd kept that cardigan and the blue curtains from their second case.
Driving out to the first location on his list, Lee introduced himself to the security guard and showed his IFF credentials. Francine and Amanda had made all the arrangements the day before, so Lee knew they'd be expected at each venue. "I can't believe that the head of security is going to personally show us around." Jamie said as he waited with Lee for the man to join them. Lee grinned down at his stepson. If he thought this was cool, it would blow his mind to know what Lee and Amanda really did.
"Listen up, people. Today is a surveillance practicum." Ephraim Beaman announced to his freshman class. "You've each been assigned a senior agent as a target. You will perform a full surveillance of that person between 10 am and 3pm today. You will report back here by 4 pm with your films and preliminary reports. Full reports are due by 4pm Monday. Your reports will be matched to those submitted by the Agents for that day."
Amanda exchanged smiles with her fellows. Surveillance practicums were a time honoured tradition at the Agency. It allowed freshmen agents to practice surveillance techniques and gave senior agents a chance to practice their skills at evading surveillance. It was a point of pride for both sides to defeat the other. "Malone and Jeffries, you've got Fred Fielder." The two young agents groaned. Everyone knew that Fred tended to stay out of the field as much as possible. Watching him would be a matter of finding excuses to be in the bullpen most of the day. "Anderson and Fitzpatrick, you've got Francine Desmond." The two men grinned at each other, clearly enjoying the prospect of watching a pretty blond all day. "Stetson and Wilson," Ephraim paused. "You've got Scarecrow." While Wilson looked blank, everyone else laughed at the challenge Amanda faced. Though she had the most field experience of any freshman, Lee was undefeated when it came to this game. He'd spotted every practicum candidate ever thrown at him.
"Scarecrow is the Agency's top operative." Ephraim explained to the bewildered new agent.
"He's also my husband." Amanda clarified. "Don't worry, Chris. He taught me everything he knows."
"Yes, but he'll be able to spot you in a crowd of thousands." Ephraim reminded. "You'll need to factor that into any strategy you choose. Extra points if you can come back with a report of what your target ate for lunch. You must provide photographs of everyone they meet with and a route of everywhere they went in the course of the day. Once the exercise is complete, the target Agent will review your reports and confirm that it is accurate and complete. Go."
"Come on, Chris, I have an idea." Amanda suggested. She and Francine had spent the day before in Tactics and Operations, laying out the points that Lee would need to evaluate and calling ahead to ensure he could gain access without showing his real credentials. She knew exactly where he'd be and what time. Leading the more junior agent to Leatherneck's office, she introduced him to the Agency's in-house magician.
"'Morning, Mrs. Ace." Leatherneck greeted. "What can I do for you?"
"Hi Leatherneck. We're doing our SP today." No one ever knew when it would happen, but it was a right of passage that they were all eager for. The senior agents were good sports about it so it was great fun.
"Cool. Enjoy it. Who's your target?"
"Scarecrow." Leatherneck laughed. It had recently become Agency tradition that an SP target got to codename the new agent if they passed. Amanda wondered just what Lee would choose if she pulled this off. Ever since he'd announced their marriage, everyone had been suggesting she should be codenamed Wonderful.
"That's priceless. Beaman's got an evil sense of humour."
"Yeah, he does." Amanda agreed. Ephraim was actually quite a nice and funny guy, but no one ever seemed to notice that. He wasn't as showy as Lee was, but he had his own style. Assigning her to trail Lee was genius. Regardless of who won, he'd have scored major points in the Agency pecking order. Lee would either have to admit to being outclassed by one of the freshmen in Beaman's class or he'd have to give up the chance to give Amanda a codename. Even if he saw her, he'd have only twenty-four hours to declare and prove that he knew what she was up to. "Leatherneck, can you set us up with a set of coveralls for my partner here?" Amanda asked.
"Sure. What about you?"
"Nope. There's a good chance Lee will spot me at some point. If I'm wearing overalls, he'll bust me and I'll never hear the end of it. But if I'm wearing regular clothes, if he does see me, I can just say I wanted to see how things were going today with Jamie."
"Good one."
"In fact, I think I'm going to score the extra points by sitting down to lunch with him." Amanda smirked. It had worked brilliantly with Alan Chamberlain. What better cover could there be than meeting up with her son and husband for lunch? Lee would never see it coming.
Amanda couldn't tell anyone, but she had something to prove. It wasn't the first time that she'd been assigned to spy on Lee and he had known it the last time. She meant to win this time. When Harry V. Thornton had asked her to do it, she'd been much less experienced. Two years on, she'd improved considerably.
Once Chris was kitted out in overalls and a toolbox, they headed to the carpool. She wouldn't have a chance of going undetected if she was driving Lee's Corvette. Choosing the most unassuming car she could, Amanda drove straight downtown. "Lee is going to be up on the roof of each of these buildings. He's got a zigzag pattern all the way down to Dupont Circle." Amanda told Keith. You go up on the roof and do your best not to be seen. He'll spot you for sure if you turn up on every building he's looking at but if he only someone on a few roofs, he probably won't even realise it's the same person." At least Amanda hoped so. "I'll cover lobbies."
"This is so cool!" Jamie repeated. Lee wasn't sure but it may well have been for the hundredth time in an hour. It was the fifth building they'd checked out. He'd explained to Jamie what they needed to do. Get pictures the whole length of the parade route so that Lee, as a director, could then go into a meeting and show his camera men where he wanted them to set up. In fact, he would go into a meeting with sharpshooters and security experts. It wouldn't be cameras that the team would be shooting with if it came down to that.
It was definitely a rookie gig and well below Lee's pay grade but he was enjoying the simple task and getting to spend time with Jamie. Wandering off, he looked over at the other nearby buildings. There was nothing worrying in any of them. From this vantage point, the sharpshooters would be able to take out anything on the three buildings across the way and the two on either side.
"Hungry?" Lee asked, checking his watch. It was coming up on noon and Lee's first lesson in The Care and Feeding of Teenage Stepsons had been that they were always hungry.
"Yeah."
"Tell you what, why don't I take you to a place I know near the office? Maybe you'll get to meet a few people."
"Sure, but Lee… look at that guy over there." Jamie pointed to a man in overalls on the roof across the street. He seemed to be doing something but it wasn't clear what. Looking up at them, he saw Lee and Jamie pointing and immediately packed up and disappeared.
"What about him?" Lee asked.
"I'm pretty sure I saw him a few buildings ago. And he didn't look like he was doing much there either." Lee frowned. If Amanda's ability to find trouble was genetic, they might just have stumbled onto a problem. Looking down at his step son, Lee considered his next move. He could hardly go chasing after bad guys with a child in tow. On the other hand, if Jamie was right then it was very suspicious. Looking down at street level, he waited until he recognised the overalls on a man hurrying out of the building and into a completely unremarkable car that pulled away quickly.
"He made me." Chris told Amanda as he jumped into the car. Amanda pulled into traffic. If Lee was watching, it would look like the car had left. She could circle back around and easily find the Wagoneer but the Agency car was unlikely to stand out.
"Made you, how?" Amanda asked.
"The kid pointed me out so I picked up and ran." Amanda rolled her eyes. She supposed she'd he once been that obvious too.
"You should have stayed in place." She explained. "Running looks very suspicious in a case like this. I'll need to take over. You'll need to go back to the Agency and change your clothes."
"Where are you going?"
"I'm pretty sure I can guess where Lee will take Jamie for lunch. We'll follow them there and then I'll just go in as if I just happened to go there for lunch. You can take this car back to the Agency."
"Are you really going to go eat with the target?"
"Yes. Ask Leatherneck to get you a security guard uniform. You'll be hanging out in building lobbies. You'll have an hour or so while we have lunch. I'll stall as long as I can. Oh, and get a different car."
"Why change cars? This one is pretty inconspicuous."
"Because if Lee saw you climb in, and sees me in it, he'll call it. There's no way I'm failing my SP." Amanda insisted. Getting the best of her husband was an occasion she didn't mean to let go.
As Amanda had expected, they followed Lee and Jamie to Nedlinger's. Hanging back, Amanda waited until they'd parked and headed into the restaurant before getting out of the car. "Come back in an hour." Amanda told her young partner. "I'll meet you here." Watching him drive away, she waited a few minutes and headed inside.
Pretending not to see them at first, Amanda smiled as Jamie waved desperately at her and called her across the room. A few other agents were there and smiled at her as she headed to join her men. "Hi Sweetheart." She said, kissing Lee before sitting down beside Jamie and giving him a quick hug. "How's your day been so far?"
"Cool!"
"Tell me what you've been doing."
"Lee's taking me around to look for camera locations for a training film. I think I saw an assassin!" Lee rolled his eyes at that.
"An assassin, huh?"
"Yeah, there was a guy on the roof – but it was the same guy, twice!" Amanda smiled at her son's excitement. So, they'd only seen Chris twice. He'd gotten pictures of Lee and Jamie on at least five roofs.
"So, what's on the plan for this afternoon?"
"Street level surveys." Lee said. "We need to check out the alleys along the route."
"Like in case a crazed killer is hiding there?" Jamie asked. Amanda knew that was a bit too close to the real reason that they were doing this surveying. There were murmurs that there was an attack in the works for the parade.
"Sounds great, guys. I forgot my lunch this morning so I thought I'd just pop over here and eat and then get back to class."
"Booooring." Jamie told her. Amanda smiled across the table at Lee. "It's too bad that you're locked up in class and Lee gets to do all the cool stuff, mom. I wish you could come with us."
"Oh sweetheart, I do too. But you know, it's actually kind of nice that you two are getting to know each other better.
"Who's this handsome young man?" The waitress asked as she came to take their order.
"My name's Lee." Lee teased, making a show of puffing up. Everyone rolled their eyes at his attempt to steal the complement.
"Tia," Amanda greeted. "This handsome young man is my son, Jamie."
"Nice to meet you, Jamie. What are you going to have for lunch?"
"Uhm… Lee, what are you having?" Amanda looked away from Jamie to hide her smile. She'd noticed that her sons were developing a serious case of hero worship where Lee was concerned. Jamie wanted Lee to order first so he could order the same thing. Being a good sport, Lee ordered the burger and fries. Tia said nothing as she took their orders.
"I'll have the BLT please." Amanda requested. They ordered a pitcher of ice-tea for the table and Tia walked away.
"She's pretty." Jamie breathed, gazing adoringly at the retreating girl. It was Lee's turn to bite back a smile. Not so long ago, he'd have noticed how pretty Tia was without needing someone else to point it out. As far as he was concerned, there wasn't a woman in the world more beautiful than the one across from him.
"Hey, come on buddy. We should go wash our hands before the food gets here." Amanda slipped out of the booth and they walked to the men's room. As soon as they were gone, she pulled out the pen camera Leatherneck had given her. To her delight, the food arrived before the guys returned. In an instant, she'd taken a picture of Lee's lunch and returned the camera to her purse.
Jamie opted to sit on the other side of the table, leaving Lee to scoot in beside Amanda. As the guys took big bites out of their burgers, Amanda felt her gorge rise. Desperately swallowing back the bile, she looked away as a dollop of bbq sauce dropped onto Jamie's plate. Looking at her own lunch, she felt too queasy to eat. "What's wrong?" Lee asked quietly.
"I'm feeling a bit queasy all of a sudden." Amanda admitted. Taking apart her sandwich, she picked at the lettuce. The bacon went down okay but the tomato felt slimy and Amanda was immediately pushing Lee to his feet. Fleeing to the ladies room, she closed her eyes rather than renew her acquaintanceship with the lettuce or the bacon. She wondered if maybe it had just been too warm in the car and she'd developed a touch of sun-stroke. Gasping, she tried to catch her breath. She had to tail Lee for another three hours, and then deliver her film and preliminary report within an hour after that. She couldn't be sick during her SP trial!
Stepping up to a sink, she rinsed out her mouth and fixed her makeup. She looked deathly pale but otherwise fine. She felt much better too. Maybe not hungry, but she thought she could manage the bread from her sandwich without another visit to the restroom. "Amanda?" The knock at the door didn't surprise her one bit. Opening the door she smiled at Lee who frowned back. "Are you okay, partner?"
"Yep. Just fine." Amanda told him. "I think maybe I had a bad muffin this morning." Lee looked down at her with what she privately thought of as his concerned husband look.
"You should go home. I'll spring you from class this afternoon."
"No, you won't. And I'm fine, Lee. I promise."
"Amanda, I'm going to be out all afternoon with Jamie. I don't want you getting sick when you're by yourself."
"I won't be by myself. I'm in class, remember?" Lee sighed but nodded. "I want you to wait for me after you're done. I'll come back and pick you up. We can leave my car at the Agency overnight."
"Lee! I'm fine." Amanda chided, slipping her arm around his waist and tugging him back towards the table.
"You okay, mom?"
"Yes sweetheart. Just ate something that didn't agree with me."
Lee, Jamie, and Amanda walked out of Nedlinger's together. The Wagoneer was parked right out front and Amanda opened the door for Jamie as Lee walked around to get in the driver's seat. "You take it easy today, you hear?"
"Yes Lee."
"Maybe I should call McJohn…"
"Lee, for crying out loud! It was nothing. I love you, I appreciate the concern, and I'm fine. Now go!" Amanda ordered, laughing.
"Alright… but we're not done talking about this."
"Okay. Have fun boys." Amanda watched them pull away and immediately hurried around the corner. Thankfully, Chris was ready and waiting. Sliding into the passenger side, Amanda directed them to the next building on Lee's list.
Lee looked in the rear-view mirror. He was almost sure that he'd seen the same car a few times today. It wasn't outright following him, but it was too much of a coincidence that it was going to the same places in the same order that he was. Glancing over at Jamie who was fiddling with the camera settings, Lee considered his options. If it was just him, he'd double back and try to figure out what the driver wanted. He wasn't even armed today. There had been no reason to be. A little bit of light recon was much lower risk than having to explain to his curious. In most cases, he could manage with hand-to-hand combat, but that would also get Jamie to ask too many questions. Besides, he didn't want his stepsons to be exposed to the kind of violence that was routine for him. A few quick turns and he was hiding in an alley as the other car drove by. When it came around again a few minutes later, Lee knew he had to shake the tail. Driving to the next building on his list, he parked in the underground lot instead of on the street. They took the elevator straight to the security offices on the third floor.
This time, there was no one on surrounding roofs. Looking down, Lee couldn't spot the car he'd been worried about. Relieved, he glanced at his watch. It was nearing two o'clock and there were only three more buildings to check. As they headed back down, Lee punched the lobby level. Looking around before letting Jamie step out, Lee looked for anything out of place. "Jamie, can you give me the camera for a minute and wait here please?" Lee asked. "I just want to see something." As Lee approached the door, one of the guards made a sharp waving motion and the car that had been idling pulled away. Lee hurried out but couldn't get a clear view of the license plate. Lee debated about what to do. Deciding that he couldn't take any risks with Jamie, he walked over to the security desk and flashed his Agency credentials. "I need a phone." He told the guard who waved him into a small office behind the counter.
Keeping an eye on Jamie as he dialled the Agency, Lee wondered about what was going on. "International Federal Film."
"This is Scarecrow. Put me through to Francine Desmond, please."
"Sir, Agent Desmond is in the field at the moment. Can I get you another agent?" Lee thought for a moment. If Amanda came and collected Jamie and bring him his side-arm, he could back track on whoever was following him. "Put me through to Amanda Stetson then."
"Sir, Mrs. Stetson is currently unavailable." Lee consciously unclenched his jaw. Of course, Amanda was in class. She wouldn't be given a standard message unless there was a suitable priority and she'd need that to get out of class right away.
"This is a Delta Three message. Patch me through." He waited as the call was routed to the conference room where Ephraim was teaching. To his surprise, it was Ephraim who answered. "Beaman, I need to talk to my wife."
"Sorry Scarecrow. Mrs. Stetson's working on a simulation. I can't pull her at the moment." Lee swore softly. "Is there a message?"
"No." Just as he was about to hang up, Lee remembered how unwell Amanda had been at lunch time. "Is she feeling better? She was unwell over lunch." Beaman hesitated but answered.
"I didn't know that. She seems fine now. Hasn't said anything."
"Okay. Remind her I'll pick her up at the Agency around four o'clock." Worried, Lee hung up. He couldn't lead a tail back to the Agency and he certainly wasn't going home with possible enemy agents on his tail! Heading out to Jamie, he ruffled his hair. "Come on, we'll leave the car here and do the last three buildings on foot."
"Do you think he spotted us?" Chris asked Amanda as he joined her in the lobby of the next building.
"He knows he's under surveillance, but I don't think he knows it's us." As long as Lee didn't specifically make them, they won the SP challenge. He had until three o'clock tomorrow to declare who he had seen and where. Anything less would not count.
Amanda could tell that he was aware of something. She recognised his defensive measures. He kept his body between Jamie and them. He'd stashed the car underground in a parking lot with multiple exits. If they didn't know exactly where he was going, they would need to split up to keep an eye on the car and him. Amanda knew he was unarmed, but she could also see he was starting to get quite tense. There was only another thirty minutes and they could leave them alone.
Amanda couldn't wait for it to be over. Chris had been recruited based on an Honours degree in Political Science and Comparative Theology but had no aptitude at all for the physical side of the job. Amanda remembered Lee's frustration when they'd first worked together and supposed that she'd been just as terrifyingly inept as Chris was proving to be. She'd gotten better thanks to Lee's training but Chris would not be chained to a desk in analysis fast enough. They followed Lee until precisely three o'clock and returned to the Agency to file their reports and delivered the films.
"Keep out of Scarecrow's sight until Monday." She told Chris. "I don't think he knows you yet, but if he spots you between now and then, he'll put two-and-two together and we'll fail our SP."
"Ok. I'll head down to analytics to prepare my report. How about you?"
"Oh, I can sit in the bullpen or up in the Q-Bureau. That won't raise any flags for him."
At 3:52, Amanda hand delivered her report to Ephraim Beaman. "How'd it go?"
"Pretty good. I don't think Lee made me. He probably spotted Chris a few times, but as they've never met at the Agency, I don't think he'll figure it out. At least I hope not."
"Good show, Amanda. I really hope you win."
"Thanks." Smiling she returned up to the Q-Bureau. Feeling suddenly tired, she happily sat down at her desk and flipped through a magazine as she waited for Lee and Jamie.
She was asleep at her desk when Jamie barrelled into the office. "Mom!" Jamie called, squeezing her in an enthusiastic hug. "It was so cool!" Lee frowned at her.
"Hi guys. We should probably head home. Phillip will be home from his day too."
"Yeah, okay." Jamie said, clearly disappointed that his day was at an end. "How was your class, mom?"
"Long." Amanda admitted. Standing up, she saw stars. It took her a moment to become aware of Lee's hands on her shoulders, keeping her upright.
"A-man-da." Lee told her in his best senior partner voice. "What's wrong with you? First lunch, then you're asleep at your desk, now this."
"Oh, I'm probably just hungry. I didn't end up eating much at lunch time. Hopefully mother's made dinner for us." Lee glanced at Jamie and decided to keep his own council for the moment.
Dotty had gotten everything ready for supper; but with the good weather she'd opted for burgers on the BBQ. The sight of the raw meat was precisely what Amanda didn't need. Racing up the stairs, she gagged despite her empty stomach. Staggering to her feet, she found Lee watching her.
"You're sick." He accused. Amanda shook her head. She might be the only person in the world who recognised when Lee was beginning to panic. He just couldn't deal well with any kind of worry about her. It had been one thing before Birol and the shooting, but now he went from 0 to full blown terror in the blink of an eye. Amanda used the bathroom wall for support and quickly brushed her teeth. "I want you in bed, now. I'll bring you up a cup of tea and a piece of toast in a few minutes."
"Lee, it's not even six o'clock."
"Bed, now, Amanda." Shrugging, she relented. She could understand his need to fuss, even if she was fine. Still, a short nap would be very welcome. Letting Lee guide her to their bedroom, she protested as he helped her out of her top and trousers. Taking off her bra, he pulled back the covers. "Get in."
"Lee –"
"Amanda, please. I'm worried about you. It'll make me feel better if you rest for a while. Okay?" Smiling, she kissed him and got into bed.
The sheer pleasure of being horizontal came as a surprise. It was as if every cell in her body just melted into the mattress. Rolling onto her side, nuzzling Lee's pillow, she closed her eyes and promptly dozed off.
When Amanda woke up, she felt like a new woman. On the bedside table, there was a cup of tea and some toast. When she reached for the cup, it was cold. Looking out at the window, she saw it was dark. At this time of year, that meant that Lee had let her sleep at least four hours! Stretching, she contemplated just staying in bed and reading for a bit. Ruefully reflecting that grown women did not hide in their beds when they had children and husbands to take care of; Amanda quickly pulled on a pair of track pants and a t-shirt. Making her way downstairs, she found her family in the dining room playing a board game. "Hi everyone." She greeted, wrapping her arms around Lee's shoulders. When he looked up at her, she dropped a quick kiss on his lips.
"How are you feeling?"
"Hungry. I think that hot toast will be just the thing." Looking at the board, she smiled. RISK. Lee had told her he wanted to teach the boys to play the strategy game.
"Sit down, dear. I'll get your toast." Dotty offered.
"That's okay, Mother. You keep playing."
"Well, we've pretty much all lost the Napoleonic Wars." Phillip said. Amanda laughed and returned to the kitchen while the family started putting away the game.
Soon after, Dotty and the boys headed up their beds. Amanda realised she'd slept closer to 6 hours than four. She figured she'd probably end up sitting up reading most of the night. She thought of the thriller that Lee had bought for her. It might be nice to have a few hours when the house was quiet and she could read.
Taking her fresh tea and toast over to the breakfast nook, she smiled as Lee joined her, wrapping an arm and pulling her against his side.
"You scared me today." He told her quietly.
"I'm sorry. I don't know what that was all about. My lunch just didn't agree with me."
"I know. But did you happen to notice that you were up in the Q-Bureau and you didn't lock the door? You know security is light up there."
"Oh. Sorry Lee." Kissing the side of her head, he nudged her toast closer.
"Eat up, wife. I want to make sure you've had something to eat today."