"You really think that telling the boys about the baby is going to be harder than telling your mother about our involvement with the agency?"

"Well, kind of, yes. Mother had her suspicions about our involvement with the agency or something like it for a long time. I think what bothered her the most was the not knowing WHAT she didn't know, but knew something was not exactly right. You know what I mean?"

Lee sighed and thought for a minute.

"Yeah, I guess so. I am still so surprised at how well she took the news or I guess I should say took the confirmation of what she believed to be true."

Amanda laughed out loud.

"You don't really think that we've heard the last of this, do you? I know my mother. We have only just begun to hear her thoughts and opinions on the matter. Give it time. Right now, she is digesting it all. Soon the questions will come, and then some more questions and then MORE questions. And intermingled with all those questions, will be her opinion on what we do and how we should do it or how we should have told her sooner. Just wait."

Lee snuggled in closer to Amanda and put his arm around her. He began to think of endless questioning from Dotty. His jaw began to clench and his face became worried. Amanda sensed his tension and looked up at him.

"Sweetheart, it won't be that bad. The hardest part was telling her. Just like it was when we told her that we got married."

"Well as I seem to remember, Amanda, that didn't go over all that well!"

"It wasn't the fact that we got married, Lee. It was the fact that she felt left out, that I didn't include her in the ceremony. You know that!'

"Well…..it still took her a while to warm up to me. And I really love her. She is very important to me and I don't want the fact that now she knows about the agency to change how she feels about me."

Amanda scooted up to a sitting position in the bed and looked Lee straight in the eyes.

"Lee, honestly…I think the reason she IS ok with me being involved with the agency is because of YOU. She loves you, too and she knows how much you love her daughter. You have shown time and time again how important I am to you as well as Philip and Jamie and of course, Mother. She trusts you, she values you, and she definitely loves you. Sweetheart, you don't need to worry about Mother's feelings changing for you."

Lee squeezed Amanda's hands.

"Ok. I will try not to worry."

"Good!"

Amanda settled back into bed and put her head on Lee's chest.

"Lee, how do you feel about us having a baby? I know we talked about it a little yesterday but we were also both in shock. I really would like to know how you feel about all this. It's a lot to take in and we never really talked about it as a definite possibility."

Lee looked down into Amanda's eyes and tenderly yet passionately kissed her.

"Does that help explain how I feel about the baby?"

"It helps!"

"If you or anyone else had asked me two days ago if I thought we should have a baby, I probably would have said no. Or at least that we had to really think about it. But now that we know that we have one on the way, there is nothing I want more in this world that for us to have this baby. I can't explain the feeling. I can't wait to watch your stomach grow, I can't wait to feel the baby move and kick, I can't wait to tell Philip and Jamie that they are going to be big brothers! I never thought I would have this in my life, Amanda. I guess that all the years I have spent as an agent, somewhere along the way I told myself that those things-a happy marriage, a home, a family-that those are for other people, not for me. I came to accept that as my fate."

"But Lee…"

"That was until I met you, Amanda. One of the things that used to frustrate me so much about you was that you made me start to feel differently about my own life. You made me want to have those things and you never knew that you were doing it. And neither did I really. Not until I began to realize that you were more to me than someone I worked with."

"And then you realized that you couldn't live without me!" Amanda said teasingly.

"Essentially, yes. Even though it took me a long time to admit it to myself.."

"And to me." She said interrupting him.

Lee shifted so he could look Amanda in the face.

"Um, excuse me. You weren't exactly forth coming on how you felt about me, either! I seem to recall at least a few different men that asked you out on dates and you accepted."

"Me? Well what about Leslie? UN translator or something like that. And then there was Randi-baby, and let's see who else.."

Lee and Amanda stopped and looked at each other. The silliness of them being jealous of past relationships hit them and they both began to laugh. Lee held Amanda tight.

"Amanda, all I am trying to say is that, I never thought I would be this happy in my life and when we found out yesterday that you are pregnant…..well I was scared out of my mind at first. And honestly, I am still scared but so, so happy and excited. "

Amanda smiled as she looked at Lee.

"Oh, good! I am so happy, too! I never really thought I would be having another baby, but I am so glad I am-that we are."

Amanda yawned. Lee kissed her forehead.

"Hey, why don't you take a little nap. I am going to grab a shower and head down to the agency for a little bit. Francine is due back on Monday and I want to make sure she has a full report waiting for her on her new agents that so "skillfully" handled the surveillance last night."

"OK, but don't stay too long. The longer you are there, the more likely you will find other things to work on. Please?"

"You got it!"

Lee placed another kiss on Amanda's forehead.

"Can you please pick me up some ginger ale and some saltine crackers on your way home, too?"

"Absolutely. I'll give you a call on my way home to see if there is anything else you need."

SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK

Lee walked up the stairs and unlocked the door to the Q Bureau. As he looked around the room, he realized that this would soon be someone else's office. Part of him felt sad about that. It was here that he and Amanda got to spend their quality time together. They got to know each other better over casual conversation and brainstorming on cases, playful flirtations and of course, confessions of feelings.

Lee and Amanda kissed, really kissed, for the first time in this room. He gave Amanda her engagement ring right over there at her desk. Just yesterday, she told him that they were going to have a baby as she stood right there by the window.

Lee smiled as he allowed himself to experience all the memories. It would be sad not to come up here every day with her. But, they were both moving on to bigger and better things. He was happy that they would be taking this next step together.

The door to the Q Bureau opened and in walked Agent Williams. He froze in fear when he saw Lee.

"Agent Williams. So nice to see you again. Have a good night, did we?" Lee said in a sarcastic tone.

"Um…Agent Stetson. Errr….ummm. I didn't expect to see anyone in here. I was just, uh, delivering these reports for Mrs. King….I mean Mrs. Stetson."

"I just came in for a few minutes. You can leave those reports right there on her desk. Are they high priority?"

"No, I don't think so. They are for the security checks she was working on last week."

"Ok, Williams. I will see that she gets them."

Agent Williams turned to go.

"Oh, Williams. No putting calls from civilians through to my phone tonight, ok?"

Lee gave him a look that would stop a charging bull.

"Oh, no sir. Of course not…I wouldn't…I mean…yes, er um, no I won't"

Williams left in a hurry. Lee laughed out loud. He loved torturing the new agents. And Williams absolutely had it coming.

Lee flipped through the files that Williams left. On the bottom of the stack he found the report on Hagglund Industries. He decided to bring it home so he could get some more information on what Dotty could potentially be getting herself involved with.

He sat down at his desk and fed a piece of paper into the typewriter and sat down to type out his report to Francine on Hitchcock and Martin's less than stellar performance executing the code yellow surveillance. He began to type the date: October 4, 198….Lee stopped and stared at the date.

"Wow! How could I have missed this?"

Lee ripped the piece of paper out of the typewriter and headed down to Francine's desk in the bull pen. He scribbled a note for Francine on the paper.

"Francine-we need to talk about Hitchcock and Martin. Please see me ASAP.-Lee"

"I hate typing up those damned reports, anyway." He said to himself as he headed back to his car.

SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK

Amanda woke up to an overwhelming feeling of nausea.

"If I just lay still, maybe this will pass." Amanda thought to herself. "This child is definitely going to take after Lee. I can already tell. Making my stomach do flip-flops from day 1 while making me fall in love with you at the same time. Yup, definitely going to be a Stetson"

Dotty softly knocked on Amanda's bedroom door.

"You awake, sweetheart? I brought you some tea and crackers."

"Thank you, Mother. I'm not sure if I can keep anything down just now. I tell ya, this pregnancy is already so different from my other two. I am so tired and I don't remember getting morning sickness so soon with the boys."

Dotty sat on the bed with Amanda.

"Oh, well Amanda, every child is different. It is only to be expected that your pregnancies with them would be different, too. I was sick as a dog with you."

"You were?"

"Oh yes! Every morning and evening for about 2-months."

"Oh, Mother I'm sorry!"

"It was all worth it, dear. Look at the beautiful prize that I got."

Dotty gently held Amanda's face in her hands.

"I love you dearly, Amanda. I am so very happy right now. I am thrilled to be having another grandchild to look forward to, I am so happy that you found a man like Lee and married him, and I am so VERY relieved that you finally told me about your involvement with the agency."

"Really, Mother? You are? You're not mad or upset?"

"No. No I'm not. Amanda, the not knowing is far worse than the knowing. Your mind imagines all sorts of horrible things when you only are guessing. I have suspected for a while now that there was something going on with your job that you weren't telling me. When I met Lee and got to know him better, I had even more suspicions. I mean, why does someone that works for a film company need to carry a gun?"

Amanda almost spit out her tea that she was sipping.

"You saw Lee's gun?"

"Yes. Only twice. I think he realized that I might have seen it, because after the second time, I never saw it again. "

"Well, it's part of the job carrying the gun. He is very careful to not let the boys see it."

"I know. He's a good man that Lee Stetson. And he loves you so."

"He loves you, too, Mother. We were just talking about that this morning. He hopes that you knowing what he does for a living doesn't change how you feel about him. He is afraid you will think of him as a bad influence on me and our family."

"Amanda! How could he possibly think such a thing? It doesn't change how I feel about him! In fact, it may even make me love him more now that I know he's not hiding things from me. And…..I know how desperately in love he is with my daughter. I feel better knowing that you are doing this job because you have him there with you. I wouldn't want to be the one to try and threaten you. I imagine Lee would show no mercy!"

Amanda smiled and nodded.

"You are certainly right, Mother. He is very protective of me."

"Try a cracker, dear. You should try to have something in your stomach at all times. It's the empty stomach that triggers the morning sickness."

Amanda nibbled on the corner of the saltine.

"You know, Amanda. If you ever needed any extra help, I would be more than willing to help you spy! After all, where do you think you get your great instincts from?"

Dotty beamed at her daughter. Amanda began to shake her head.

"Mother! No! You are not getting mixed up in the spy business. It's bad enough that this family has two spies! We don't need three!"

"Well-all I am saying is that if you ever need some help, I am perfectly willing to put my, um…special skills to work, too! Besides, I could use a little excitement and adventure!"

Just then, the doorbell rang.

"Oh that will be Andrei! Are you ok? Need anything else before I leave?"

"No. I'm fine! Go and have a good time with Dr. Zernov. I will see you tonight. And no spying!"

Dotty kissed Amanda and went off to meet Andrei.

"Can you imagine? My MOTHER, a spy?" Amanda laughed to herself.

Amanda got up out of bed and decided that a shower would be just the thing to perk her up.

"What do you say there, baby Stetson? How about we both take a shower and finally get our day started?"

The hot shower felt good on Amanda's back. She had needed the rest, but sleeping so long left her with a crick in her neck. As she rinsed the soap out of her hair, she began to recount the last 24-hours. Her world had completely been thrown for a loop and yet she was happier than she had been in a very long time, maybe ever. She did think Lee was right about the house. It was time to start looking for a bigger one. She didn't want to upset the boys by not including them in this decision. This was the only house that they had ever known. A new house and a new brother or sister. One thing at a time.

Amanda realized what she had just said to herself. "A brother or a sister." Everything had happened so fast that she hadn't even thought about the sex of the baby. She would love to give Lee a son. Someone to carry on the Stetson name. But oh how much she would love to have a little girl. While she was married to Joe, she had hoped that they would have a third child and that it would be a girl. It was not that she didn't love her boys, because Lord knows she does. She had just always wanted a daughter. Someone with whom she could share the same type of special relationship with like she has with her mother. And she imagined that Lee would be putty in the hands of a daughter. Any boys that wanted to date Lee's daughter didn't stand a chance! Hahaha! At least not at first.

Amanda rubbed her stomach. "We will know in time, little one if you are a boy or a girl. For now, just know you are much loved."

As Amanda finished blow drying her hair, she thought she heard the front door close.

"Lee? Lee is that you?"

No answer.

"Mother?"

Amanda went downstairs and into the kitchen. There sitting on the counter was a package wrapped in brown paper with a map and a note: Amanda…bring this package to the man in the red hat. It's a matter of life or death."

To be continued….