"Oh no, not again" Lee screamed in his mind.

"Did you hear me, Lee? It's time for the truth."

Lee had absolutely no idea what to expect to come out of Dotty's mouth next.

"About?"

"Lee Stetson, you know very well what about. About you being the one that answered my call last night and you being the one that I saw driving around near the Paradise Club."

"Dotty, we cleared all this up last night, didn't we? I was here all night from the time I got home from work until, well now. It was not me."

"Well, you see I almost believed you and Amanda last night. That is until I was closing up the house for the night. When I turned off the front light, I noticed that your interior car light was on so I went out to fix the problem. Your driver's side door wasn't quite closed. I figured if you and Amanda were telling the truth, and your car had been there all night, it should have been stone cold, but guess what?"

Lee knew what she was going to say. He didn't need to guess. He began to shift uncomfortably.

"Warm to the touch! Almost bordering on hot-like it had JUST been driven. What do you think of that?"

Lee began to clench his jaw. He was trapped. If this had been in almost any other situation, he would have created a diversion and made a run for it. But clearly that wasn't an option in this case. Lee looked at the floor in the desperate hopes that some answer would pop into his head.

"Dotty…I.."

"Don't even try to deny it, Lee! It was you I saw and it was you that answered the phone!"

Lee looked at Dotty very unsure where to proceed. She would know that he was lying and just push him harder. If he caved, he would be betraying Amanda and that is something he wouldn't do.

"Dotty, why won't you just let this go? Is it really so important who you spoke to on the phone or if I drove my car last night or not? Huh?"

"Yes, it IS really so important and I will tell you why. For the last 5 years or so, ever since Amanda began working for IFF, funny things have been going on. Unexplained trips and wrecked cars, strange phone calls that had her dashing off with a moment's notice. She would often mention your name but it took forever to meet you. And then there was that whole security mix up that sent you and her on the run. Oh! And not to mention the fact that you two ran off and eloped! I know my daughter. We have always been close and I have known for some time now that she has been keeping things from me. It never made sense. Not until last night when my phone call to Agent Melrose was transferred to you…Agent Stetson? Lee…..you are a spy, aren't you?"

Dotty's tone had gone from frantic and frustrated to an almost loving and caring tone. It didn't seem to bother her that her son-in-law might be a spy. It was the not knowing that seemed to bother her the most.

Lee raised his gaze from the floor and found himself looking straight into Dotty's warm brown eyes.

"Dotty…I know you have a lot of questions. But I'm sorry. I just can't…"

"It's ok, Lee. I think it's time we told her." Amanda said from the threshold of the living room landing. "Our lives are about to change drastically with the baby on the way and changes at work, so we might as well bring it all out into the open. It's time."

Lee stood there frozen, looking at Amanda. Was this another rouse to divert Dotty's questions or was she serious that we were actually going to tell her the truth after all this time?

Dotty turned around and looked at Amanda.

"Finally! And don't you lie to me Amanda! You know I will know."

"Yes, I know, Mother. Why don't we all get some coffee or some tea and have a seat and we can talk. OK?"

"Fine. Yes…ok."

Amanda walked over and squeezed Lee's hand. He knew that this wasn't a rouse; they were about to reveal the truth of who they were.

Lee and Amanda sat on the couch facing Dotty as she sat in the arm chair across from them.

"Ok, Amanda, Lee…..I am ready. Let's hear it."

Lee and Amanda looked at each other, neither sure who should speak first and where the tale should begin.

"Mother, you were correct when you said that Lee was a spy."

"I never really cared for that word though, Dotty. I prefer Intelligence Operative"

"See! I knew it! I just knew it! A SPY!"

"Mother…"

"Sorry…I won't say another word until it's my turn. Please…go on."

"As I was saying, Mother, Lee is a spy…..and so am I."

Dotty looked at her daughter in disbelief.

"It's true. I am also a spy. It all began about 5 years ago. You might remember that morning that I was taking Dean to the train station and all I wore was my coat over my nightgown?"

"I thought his name was Dan." Lee chimed in with a smirk.

"No, Lee. It was Dean." Dotty corrected Lee.

"Anyway….As I was walking back to my car, a strange man in a white waiter's uniform grabbed my arm, handed me a package, told me to get on the train and give the package to the man in the red hat. Well I got on the train and ALL the men on the train had on red hats. So, I brought the package home and you accidentally mailed it for me. Lee showed up looking for the package and asking me why I didn't give it to the man in the red hat….."

"Lee was the waiter?"

Lee chuckled remembering that day. Amanda squeezed his hand as she remembered, too.

"Yes, Mother. Lee was the waiter. Well to make a long story short, the agency, well Mr. Melrose specifically, began to hire me to help them out with some tasks. Mostly pretty small stuff at first. And then I began to get asked to do some of the more difficult jobs."

"Mr. Melrose? You know Agent Melrose?"

"Yeah. He and I have worked together for over ten years now. He is a great man." Lee chimed in.

"You could say, Mother, that Mr. Melrose is responsible for Lee and I getting together. He kept asking me to help out with jobs as I said and kept having me work with Lee. And let's just say that at first, Lee wasn't too keen on having to work with a divorced mother of 2 small boys and housewife from Arlington, VA."

"And what exactly was wrong with my daughter?"

"Well….no, it wasn't quite like that, Dotty. I do admit that I didn't want to work with Amanda at first, but it's not because there was anything wrong with her", Lee said squirming, "It was more because I didn't want a partner. I had been without a partner for a while and my last partner was killed. Killed in my place. "

"Well, Lee soon grew to appreciate my special skills that I brought to the job."

"Special skills, Amanda?" Lee asked with a marked amount of skepticism.

"Yes! My intuition, my way of looking at things differently than you did. And my being a housewife from VA came in handy quite a few times, if you care to remember!" Amanda stuck her tongue out at Lee. "As it turned out, we made a pretty fantastic team. And I was made Lee's partner permanently."

Dotty sat back in her chair taking in all the information that Amanda had just given her.

"Dotty, it's not that Amanda wanted to lie to you. This is a dangerous business and the less you and the boys knew, the safer you were. It is one thing for us to be telling you. It is quite another to tell the boys. They are absolutely not to know about what Amanda and I do for a living. They are too young to understand and too young to carry that burden. And I know Amanda feels the same way."

"Yes, absolutely, Mother."

"Oh yes, of course. I won't breathe a word."

"And you can't tell anyone else either, Dotty. No matter how much you might want to, you can't say a word."

"So let me see if I understand so far. My daughter has been working as a spy for the last 5 years. And you, her spy husband, picked her out randomly off the train platform to help you deliver a package and now 5-years later, you two are married and expecting a little spy of your own?"

"Mother!"

"Well" Lee said chuckling, "I guess you could say that."

"Well, tell me about your cases? Amanda, do you carry a gun? What was the wildest case you have ever investigated?"

"Well, yes I do carry a gun sometimes. It is not my favorite thing to do, but sometimes necessary. And I am sorry, but we can't tell you anything about our cases. The less you know the better. Besides, a lot of what we do and see every day is top secret."

"Well what about you, Lee. Can't you tell me anything about being a spy? It must be so exciting!"

Amanda was quite surprised that her mother was taking the news so well. This is not at all the reaction that she thought she would have.

"No, I'm sorry, Dotty. Like Amanda said, we can't really say a whole lot more about what we do. Sure, it has its exciting moments but there are a lot of dangerous moments, too. There are a lot of bad people out in this world and it's our job to stop them and to help make the world a better place."

"So, Amanda, that time that you called me and told me you were a spy and that there was a nuclear bomb ready to explode in Washington and that I was to get myself and the boys to the train and head north, you were telling the truth?"

Amanda had forgotten about that case until just now.

"Yes, I was telling the truth. There was a bomb and Lee stopped it with 1 second left on the timer."

"And what about when Andrei and I first met and we were kidnapped. Mr. Melrose saved us….."

"Actually, that was Lee, too. Mr. Melrose helped. And I was supposed to make contact with Dr. Zernov. He was my assignment, but you beat me to his house."

"Well what about the KGB agents last night? Lee, you saved us again last night. Right?"

Lee shifted uncomfortably for a moment.

"Well….funny thing about that. Um…..when you mentioned Zernov and Hagglund Industries, I got nervous. So when you went out on your date, I had some of our agents follow you. They were supposed to be observing you only like a security detail. You weren't supposed to see them at all. But, turns out they didn't do their job very well. The men you saw following you were the men that I sent out to watch you. You were never in any danger. But I didn't know that until I ran them off the road and yanked them out of their car. I'm sorry Dotty, I didn't mean to scare you."

"But you came to my rescue, didn't you?" Dotty beamed at Lee.

Lee smiled and blushed a little. "Well, yes I did. You are my family and I always protect my family."

"So when you got shot in California, Amanda that was another agency case?"

"No", Lee interjected. "That was just a case of very bad timing. Very, very bad timing."

Lee didn't like to think of that trip. He came so close to losing Amanda. He still had nightmares about it from time to time.

"Have you ever been shot, Lee?"

"Yes I have. I don't recommend it."

"Mother, I am really very sorry that I have lied to you all these years. It really was to protect you, not to shut you out. I will be coming out of the field effective immediately now that the baby is on the way and Lee will be taking over for Mr. Melrose as head of the agency, well at least our part of the agency. We are hoping that our lives will become a little more normal now. Well at least more normal until our little spy is born."

They all smiled and laughed. Lee was surprised at how much better he felt. He looked over at Amanda whose smile had quickly vanished to a panicked look.

"Speaking of, will you excuse me?" Amanda said as she rushed out of the room.

"Amanda, where are you going? Are you ok?"

"Oh….Lee. Let her be. I think we are seeing the first signs of morning sickness."

"Morning sickness? Oh, yeah, right…"

Lee was going to have a lot to learn about her pregnancy.

Dotty moved from the armchair to the couch. She looked Lee right in the eye and said, "Lee, thank you so much for trusting me with this. I know that it could not have been easy to talk about, especially after you two have been keeping it a secret all this time. I am glad that I know. I am not too glad that you two get put in dangerous situations all the time, but I am glad that I know. And thank you for choosing my daughter that morning at the train station. I don't believe in coincidences, I believe that everything happens for a reason and just looking at the two of you together, it is obvious that the reason was that you were destined to be together."

She leaned in and gave Lee a hug, squeezing him as tight as she possibly could. She began to tear up. Lee also was overwhelmed with the emotion of the moment. He held on to Dotty and hugged her back. He imagined that this is what it would feel like to be hugged by his own mother.

Amanda came back into the room looking very pale.

"Are you ok, Amanda?"

"I'll be fine, sweetheart. It's just your child announcing his or her presence. I just need to sit here for a few minutes"

Amanda sat down on the couch. Both Lee and Dotty got up so Amanda could lie down.

The phone began to ring. Dotty answered.

"Oh good morning, Andrei! Oh, yes wonderfully. Like a log. How about you? Did you sleep well?...oh good, good. Why yes I am free this afternoon. I would love to have lunch with you….why don't you pick me up here about noon? Wonderful, I will see you then!"

Dotty hung up the phone.

"Andrei and I are going to lunch!"

"Mother, do you really think that is a good idea after last night?"

"Amanda, Lee said it himself that the men that were after us were your own spies sent to watch us."

"Surveillance team" Lee corrected her.

"Potato, Po-tah-toe! We will be just fine! Besides, I think you should get some rest today, Amanda dear. And I am sure Lee can find some things to amuse himself. So, if you'll excuse me, I am going to go take a shower and get ready for my lunch date!"

Dotty quickly disappeared up the stairs.

"You sure you're alright, Amanda? Can I do anything for you?"

"I'll be fine. Can you sit with me?"

Amanda sat up for a moment so Lee could sit down. As she lay back down, she placed her head on his lap. Lee softly and quietly ran his fingers through Amanda's hair and gently massaged her neck and shoulders.

"I hope you know how much I love you, Mrs. Stetson."

"I love you, too sweetheart. Thank you for being so understanding as to why I had to tell my mother. With the baby on the way, it is going to get harder and harder to juggle things without her knowing what's going on."

"I understand completely. Am glad we told her. I just can't believe how well she took it."

"I think she figured us out a long time ago. She is just happy that all the pieces are now in place."

Amanda got another wave of nausea and ran to the bathroom. Lee hated to see her sick. He wished there was something he could do to help her.

"Lee, I think I am going to go back to bed for a while."

"Ok, come on, I'll tuck you in."

"Hey-just so you know I am going back to bed to SLEEP! I know all too well how your tuck in's work!"

Lee smirked.

"Ok, ok-no hanky-panky. I promise. "

Lee got Amanda settled into bed. He lay down next to her and held her.

"Lee, I hope you are ready for the hardest part of this whole thing."

He tried to think of what she could possibly mean.

"I think that your mother will be ok. I don't think she will say anything to anyone."

"No, that's not what I meant. Tomorrow, we have to tell the boys about the baby."

To be continued…