Author's Note: I want to thank everyone who had been reading and reviewing for their kind words and for continuing to follow my somewhat derailed thought train. I have replied to say thanks personally to those who've left their usernames and allow PMs and for those who don't or are logged in as guests, thanks to you as well.

On an additional note, the flashback of Matt and Jennie Stetson's first meeting contained in this chapter is from the original script. The scene was a little longer in the script than what was actually filmed and I thought it added an interesting twist so I'm including it. Also, I am writing this as if the events of "Unfinished Business" happened before "Stemwinder" as they were written instead of the reverse order in which CBS originally aired them. Hope you enjoy.

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Jennie re-entered the dining room to find Lee and the boys laughing and joking, the tension of the earlier conversation seeming to have dissipated. "So, there we were surrounded by Russians on Christmas Eve who are trying to kill us and your mother not only gets them to call a truce, but has us all singing Christmas carols together by the time it's all said and done," Lee finished. Phillip and Jamie were laughing uproariously as Lee finished.

Jennie took a deep breath resumed her seat and said, "That sounds like quite the adventure."

"Well, Amanda and I have had our share of them," He said with a smile.

Jennie saw her opportunity and seized it. "So, how did the two of you meet?"

"Actually, if the letter you wrote to me in your diary is accurate, it's very similar to how you and Dad met," Lee said.

"Really?" She said curiously "Why don't you tell me about it."

Lee launched into the story about their initial meeting at the train station his mother and the boys hanging on every word. "So, then when I finally figured out who she was there I am dressed in the ridiculous pirate outfit trying to chase down her station wagon as she peels out of there like a bat out of hell and I'm yelling for her to call me like I'm some spurned lover or something."

"So, did you ever get the package back," Jennie said.

"No, but we did get the information out of it, courtesy of Phillip here," Lee said with a nod to his stepson. "You didn't know at the time, Chief, but you ended up being responsible for saving my life."

"Me?" Phillip said "How did I help?"

"By opening the package and telling your mom what was in it," He said. "And the way your mom told it, in a way Jamie helped too by tattling on you for opening it."

"I helped save your life too?" Jamie said wide-eyed.

"You sure did, Kiddo," Lee answered with a warm smile. "I wouldn't be here today if it hadn't been for your mom coming in to save me and she couldn't have done that without both of you."

"Wow," Jamie said.

"So, if she knew to come after you, she must have figured out that you were an intelligence operative by then," Jennie surmised.

"Oh, yeah, that's another story," Lee said. "When I finally got her to agree to meet me to try to get the package back, it was at a costume party. I figured in a crowd of people, she'd feel more comfortable and I figured is she was some undercover Russian spy or something, she couldn't try anything. So, we tried to blend in to the crowd on the dance floor, she asked me how I found her, and I just told her in typical spy fashion that we have our ways. Then she said that she thought only Nazis and spies said that..."

"To which he replied in a very smart-alecky tone, "Well, I'm not a Nazi," Amanda finished for him as she stepped into the room causing them both to laugh at the memories. She kissed him softly as she took her seat. "You know, it just occurred to me, I told you that day that one day we'd look back on the whole thing and laugh and here we are."

"Yes, you did," Lee said with an affectionate smile. "Although, if anyone would have told me then that we'd someday end up where we are today, I'd have told them they needed to have their heads examined." He then turned his attention back to his mother and said, "You know, when Amanda read me your letter and I heard that you and Dad had met under the same circumstances that was when I really started to believe in fate. I never did before. I just kept thinking of all the things that had to happen, all the events that had to line up just right in order for me and Amanda to meet that day, and it all started with you meeting Dad."

"Well, there is one little detail that I left out of that first meeting with your father," Jennie said.

"Oh?" Lee said.

"Yes," she said. "It wasn't something that I felt I should include in a letter to a child, but you're grown now..." she paused and glanced at Amanda with a smile remembering her advice. "It was just before those terrible bombings began in London."

London, May 7, 1941

Jennie Hamilton walked down a crowded street. Matt catching up with her from down the block, wearing a U.S. Army Lieutenant's uniform. Matt glanced over his shoulder and saw two men, wearing leather coats and hoinburg hats, searching the crowd for him. He hurried forward, annoying the people he elbowed past, came abreast of Jennie and physically turned her to face him.

"Excuse me, Miss," He said desperately.

"I beg your pardon!" Jennie said in annoyance as she tried to wriggle free of his grasp and return the way she had come.

"Look, I'm an American..."

"Really," She said sarcastically as if that should be obvious while she looked him up and down.

"I'm being followed. I'm in trouble. Just walk with me," He pleaded.

"No, I will not," she said finally freeing herself from him and turning away.

He grabbed her again before she could take two steps and said, "Please. I'm in trouble. Please," he said flashing a charming smile at her.

At seeing that smile and the pleading look in his eyes, Jennie's reservations melted. "All right, what do you want me to do?"

Matt pulled a letter from inside his coat and said, "It's urgent that this letter be delivered to the Prime Minister immediately. It's life and death. He pressed the letter into her hands.

"Really, now, this is absurd," Jennie began while over his shoulder, Matt spotted his pursuers catching up with him.

Matt grabbed Jennie abruptly and kissed her firmly, and then as he broke the kiss looked at her with a rakish grin and asked, "What's your name?"

"I don't think that's any of your business," she said too stunned to think of anything else."

As his pursuers were almost on him, Matt said urgently, "Deliver my letter. Just deliver it," as he ran as fast as his feet would carry him his pursuers hot on his heels, leaving a shocked Jennie in their wake watching in disbelief.

"Can this be happening?" she said softly to herself as she lightly brushed her fingertips over her lips that were still tingling from the kiss. She winced, gasping in dismay as she watched the men who'd been chasing Matt, catch up to him and begin pummeling him. She shoved the letter into her purse and hurried off the other direction losing herself in the crowd.

"He kissed you," Amanda said her eyes dancing in amusement.

"He did, indeed," Jennie said. "I was only twenty at the time and didn't have a lot of experience with men, particularly roguish American soldiers. I was so thrown by it, and that absolutely charming, albeit annoying, smile of his how could I say no."

"I know what you mean, "Amanda said with a glance at her husband, "I've had a little experience with that charming Stetson smile myself."

"You look very like your father, you know," Jennie said wistfully.

"So, I've been told," Lee said before becoming silent again clearly lost in thought.

Amanda not missing a beat asked, "What's on your mind, Sweetheart?"

He grinned at her and said, "Just wondering why I didn't think of that that day in the train station."

Jamie having finished his dinner asked, "May I be excused? I want to get down to the dark room and work on my yearbook photos."

"Yeah, go ahead," Lee said. "You too, Phillip, since you look like you're done too. You're still on dish detail and I'm sure you've got homework to do."

"Yeah," Phillip replied.

They all rose from the table and as they began to clear the dishes from it to take them into the kitchen, Lee said, "So, now I'm wondering how you would have reacted if I'd kissed you that day," picking up their conversation.

"I doubt you'd have gotten the same reaction as your father," Amanda said. "I was not twenty and not inexperienced with men. I was almost thirty-three when we met and a divorced mother of two with a boyfriend, no less."

"Who, that weatherman? He was no match for the Stetson charm," Lee teased.

"Charm? Is that what you call it? More like arrogance. I'll never forget that costume party and how close you danced to me for someone you'd just met."

"I had to do something to keep you from running away again, didn't I," He fired back.

"You know, when your father found me again, that's exactly the reason he gave for kissing me like that," Jennie said.

Amanda glad to see that her idea to get Lee and his mother talking had been successful said, "Listen, why don't I make some coffee and we can continue this conversation in the living room?"

"Sounds good," Lee said.

"Great," Amanda said with a smile. "Why don't you two go on in there and I'll meet you there when I've got the coffee done."

"Ok," Lee replied. He leaned in, kissed her softly, and then whispered in her ear, "Thank you." Amanda's only response was a bright smile and a nod of her head toward her mother-in-law. Lee turned to his mother and said, "Shall we?"

"Lead the way," Jennie replied. As they entered the living room and Lee gestured toward the couch, she took a seat, her son sitting beside her to face her. "So, I have a question for you."

"Shoot," Lee said.

"You told Phillip earlier that you've been in this business for fifteen years, so why did it take you so long to close the case on Blackthorne?"

"To be honest, I thought about it for years," Lee said a little uncomfortably, "But it brought up too many painful memories so I just kept pushing it aside and telling myself that it didn't matter because it wouldn't have brought you back to me."

"So, what changed your mind," she probed.

"Amanda," He replied with a smile.

"She encouraged you to investigate?"

"No, she didn't even know I was doing it until after the fact when she went snooping through the CIA files. It was all my decision, but I made that decision because of her. Once I finally stopped trying to deny the fact that I was crazy in love with her and realized that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her; that was what pushed me to do it. I hadn't even told her yet how I felt about her, but I knew that I couldn't very well do that until I dealt with my personal demons. How could I ask her to spend her life with me when so much of my life was unsettled?"

"I think I understand," Jennie said.

"It turned out to be one of the best decisions I ever made. Amanda and I were married just five months later," Lee said as he rose and indicated a framed photograph on the wall.

"And quite happily, it seems," Jennie said as she also rose and glanced at the photo he'd indicated. "Your wedding day, I presume?"

"Yeah," He answered with a smile.

"She was a lovely bride," she said.

"Yes, she was," he replied. "I'll never forget that day. She was holed up in the ladies room forever and I kept worrying that she'd changed her mind about marrying me, but then when she stepped out of that room I swear stopped breathing for a minute when I saw her. She was so beautiful, I..." his voice trailed off unable to find the right words. "Of course, she's still beautiful, although, I sometimes have a hard time convincing her of that. She thinks that since she hasn't lost all the weight she gained from carrying the twins that I don't find her as attractive when the truth is, she's never been more beautiful to me. She's got these curves now that she didn't have before and sometimes all I can think about is..." Lee paused realizing the direction his thoughts were going, blushed slightly and said, "...Never mind, too much information."

Jennie glanced at the wedding photo to the left of Lee and Amanda's and asked, "Is this her mum and dad," in an effort to change the subject.

"Yeah, and I'm sure you recognize the one to the right of it," Lee said with a nod of his head.

"Yes," she said softly her voice tinged with sadness as she gazed at her own wedding photo. "Your father always did look so dashing in his uniform."

"I'm sorry," Lee said. "For the way I spoke to you earlier. I was just so shocked to hear your voice, to see you standing in my kitchen, I never thought about what it's been like for you. You lost your husband and you've been dealing with this all alone. I don't know what I'd do if that happened to me, if I lost Amanda." His voice became choked with emotion as he recalled how close he had come to losing her on their honeymoon.

"Oh, my dear son, I'm sorry too, for all the pain you've endured," Jennie said as she embraced him tightly. "I love you so much."

Lee didn't pull back as she expected him to; instead, he returned her embrace and said, "I love you, too...Mom."