After leaving the hospital, weaving through DC's rush hour traffic, waiting what seemed like forever for their pizza order to be completed, Lee and Dotty finally sat in the den, the remnants of their dinner in front of them.
"So, knowing what I know now, the events of the past couple of years, finally start to make some sense," Dotty commented.
"I know," Lee said with a sigh. "I know all of the crazy things that have happened over the past four years have to have been very confusing for you."
"Four years?"Dotty questioned. "I thought that Amanda only started working for IFF or wherever it is that you really work for three years."
Oops, Lee thought, then shook his head and thought, Oh, well, the cat's out of the bag now, might as well let it all out. "Yeah," Lee answered. "It's been four years as of about two weeks ago."
"Is that why that Agent Beaman said she was up for review, because she just hit an anniversary mark?"
"No, Dotty, you see, Amanda has only been a full-time agent for a year now, but she's been my partner for the entire time she's worked there, unofficially, of course since she was just sort of...a...um...a civilian helper." He paused for a moment as he wondered just how much Dotty could handle. He took a deep breath and plunged onward, figuring she might as well know as much as he could tell her without violating his oath of secrecy. "You remember a little over a year ago when you first met Billy? Amanda and I were on the run and we had the entire agency hunting us down."
"How could I forget?" Dotty said sarcastically.
"Well, that happened because an old enemy of mine set us up to make it look as if we'd switched over to the other side, joined forces with the KGB. Amanda was so brave, so resourceful in helping to clear our names, that Dr. Smyth, who you met today, offered her a full-time job."
"She was that good, huh?" Dotty said, feeling a swell of pride in her daughter.
"God, she was amazing. She even nabbed one of the KGB's top female agents all by herself and that was before she'd officially joined the agent-training program. Man, was I proud of her. Then, a couple of months later, she had this class assignment to do a security review and that's what led her to us getting the jump on this guy, Williamson, who's the one behind hurting her."
"At the agency, you said something about it starting with her noticing how much floor was they ordered." Before Lee could answer, a thought struck her, "Oh, wait, I remember...I came home one night and she was right in there waxing the kitchen floor as if that were the most normal thing in the world to be doing on a Saturday night. She made up some silly story about you guys doing a documentary on how much wax people use on their kitchen floors. Of course, I thought it was ridiculous. I mean, why on earth would a government documentary film company even care how much was people use, but I've learned in the past couple of years that when she makes up these crazy tales, it's best not to question her too much since it's not as though she'd give me the real story anyway."
"I know she'd told you a lot of lies over the years and I'm partially to blame for that," Lee said. "I'm sor-"
"You bet your sweet butt you are!" Dotty said as it started to hit her just how many lies her daughter had told her. "You dragged her into all of this...this...craziness!" She rose from her seat and began pacing, pausing for a moment to point her finger at him. "Not only that, but you had this whole personal relationship with her that I knew nothing about! If you've been married since February, then you've obviously been involved for a lot longer than that. How long, exactly?"
"I thought you didn't want to talk about that until Amanda could join us," Lee said.
"Well, I'm over that, I want answers! How long, Lee? Tell me! How long was this love affair between you going on before I knew about it? I mean, I suspected for a while that she was involved with someone at the office before I ever met you. Has it been going on from the beginning? Is that why she ended things with Dean McGuire?"
"Not from the beginning, no," Lee answered. "Although, looking back on it, there was always this crazy attraction between us from the start. It wasn't until about two years later though that I was ready to admit to myself that she was the only one for me, and I asked her out for the first time then. It wasn't until another year had passed though that I told her that I loved her. After three years of trying to hide how I felt about her, it was only a little over a month after that that I asked her to marry me. That was right after I met you face to face for the first time."
"God," Dotty said as she sank back down onto the couch and buried her face in her hands.
Lee reached for her hands and gently nudged on them to get her to face him. When she turned her attention back to him, he said, "What do you want me to do here, Dotty? We can't go back and change it or undo what we did." When Dotty just glared at him, he said, "Look, nothing's really changed here. I'm still the same guy who's crazy about your daughter. The only difference is that now you know all the secrets that we've been keeping from you."
"No, Lee," Dotty finally replied. "You're not the same man, at least not the man that I thought you were. How you could encourage my daughter to lie to me for years is beyond me."
"I get that you're hurt, Dotty, but one thing that hasn't changed is that I love Amanda with all my heart. I love Phillip; I love Jamie...and you. You've been the closest thing that I've had to a mother since I was five years old." He smiled warmly at her.
"Don't you try to butter me up with that charming smile of yours, Lee Stetson; I'm so angry, so angry with both of you right now that I..."
"You what?" Lee probed.
"God, I don't know. I just don't know. On one hand, I'm absolutely thrilled to know that you and Amanda are married, that you make her happy and that she's not going to be sad or lonely anymore. But on the other hand, the way you two went about it, all the lying and sneaking, I just...I just...I hate it."
"I know. I do too. Amanda and I both do. That's what we were fighting about last night just before she was attacked. That's part of why the cops thought that I hurt her. My next-door neighbor heard us arguing and... God, all I wanted was one morning that I could wake up next to my wife; one night to fall asleep with her in my arms. Being married, but not really being together has been tearing us both apart."
"I imagine it has been, but really you two have no one to blame but yourselves for that," Dotty said pointedly.
"Listen, rehashing this over and over again isn't going to do either of us any good,"
Lee said as he rose from his seat, picked up the empty pizza box and walked into the kitchen to discard it. After doing so, he leaned against the counter facing toward the den and said to his mother-in-law's back, "So, I suggest that we stick to the original plan and try to get some rest."
Dotty sighed once again, rose from the couch and replied, "You're right. Of course, you're right. I...um...I just have to figure out how to accept this and move on."
"Yeah," Lee said as he crossed the staircase landing toward the front door.
"Where are you going?"Dotty queried as she gazed at him from the other side of the landing.
"I...um...I've got a suitcase in my car. I'm just going to go get it, so I'll have something to change into later."
"While you're doing that, I guess I'll just finish cleaning this up," Dotty said with a gesture toward the wine glasses they'd been drinking from. Dotty was just finishing up in the kitchen when Lee returned a few minutes later and set his suitcase down on the sofa. She switched off the kitchen light, nodded toward the suitcase and said, "Were you planning on taking a trip?"
"Hmmm?" Lee said, a little startled until it hit him why she was asking. "Oh, you mean this? No, I just always keep a bag packed because in this job, you just never know when you might need it. Sometimes this job takes us out of town with no notice."
"Oh, right," Dotty said as she reflected back on how many times her daughter had told her at the last minute that she was needed at the office or had to leave town for work unexpectedly.
"We...uh...we should turn in," Lee said awkwardly.
"Yeah, you're right," Dotty said as she headed for the stairs but paused as she realized Lee wasn't moving. She nodded toward the couch and said, "You're not planning on sleeping down here, are you?"
"Yeah, why?" Lee said with a shrug.
"No, absolutely not! You'll never get proper rest down here," Dotty said as she grabbed his suitcase and hurried up the stairs with it.
"Dotty," Lee said as he followed her and caught up with her just as she reached Amanda's room.
"You'll be much more comfortable in here," Dotty said as she dropped his suitcase on the bed. She then added with a grin, "Besides, it's not as if you haven't slept in my daughter's bed before," before exiting for her own room.
Lee shook his head, chuckling slightly at his mother-in-law's revolving moods today. He supposed he couldn't blame her. She'd had a lot dumped on her in less than a day. He just hoped that he and Amanda would be able to make it right with her.