Lee felt the sharp sting of a slap across his face as Sonja hissed, "Get your hands off of me!"

While startled, Lee didn't let that stop him. Keeping a firm grasp on her arm as he forcibly steered her away from the crowd. "Not until we've had a little chat. I'm not letting you disappear on me like you did ten years ago forcing me to run from my own people."

"I said, get your filthy hands off me!" She reached with her free hand to slap him again, but this time he caught her wrist firmly with his other hand, now gripping both of her arms tightly.

"Funny, I don't seem to recall you having a problem with my "filthy" hands being all over you ten years ago."

"Then you're not remembering correctly." Mustering all the force she could, she finally wrenched her arms free and snarled, "God, you're disgusting!" She then glared at him ferociously. "You really think you're God's gift, don't you? Well, I've got news for you! Not every woman in the world swoons over that flashy smile of yours!"

"No? It didn't seem that way to me back when you thought you were so clever in trying to seduce me!" Lee countered.

"Please, that was a job and a job that I never wanted to do in the first place!"

"It's not like I did either! I had Amanda and she's all that ever wanted!"

"You think you were the only one who had someone?"

"What?" Lee questioned in surprise.

"That's right," she replied triumphantly at the stunned look on his face. "I was engaged before Rostov recruited me. He threatened my fiancé's life if I didn't cooperate."

"I don't believe it. You're lying," Lee accused her.

"Look it up," Sonja fired back. "His name was Rudolf Orlov. When I failed in my mission, Rostov's replacement shot him between the eyes." She crossed her arms as she blinked back the tears that had started to form and tried not to show any weakness, she continued, "So when your government offered me a deal, I was only too happy to turn in the people I knew had been involved in his death."

"For revenge," Lee replied, a statement, not a question.

"For justice," She shook her head. "Wouldn't you do the same if that had happened to Amanda?"

"Is that what Phillip is too? Revenge against Amanda and me by seducing our son? You're way too old for him. Did you even think about the fact that when you were playing your little games with me, he was only thirteen?"

Sonja chuckled and retorted, "And I was only twenty-two. Did you even think about the fact that he's closer to my age than you are? You're what, fifty now?"

"Forty-six," Lee answered tersely.

"And I just turned thirty-three last November. God, just the memory of you touching me makes me sick!"

"You sure had a damn funny way of showing it," Lee retorted.

"Think back, Lee. You remember that night in my old apartment, what you said." Mimicking him, she said, "It's what we both want..." She shuddered slightly before continuing, "Don't you remember how quickly I pulled away from you and bolted from the sofa?" When it was clear by the expression on his face that he was trying to put the pieces of memory together. "No, of course, you don't. I don't know why I'm surprised. You were so moony over your precious Amanda and wanted to get me out of your life as quickly as possible, that was the only thing on your mind. Well, guess what? I wanted just as badly to get you out of mine! God, that night that I ran from there, all I wanted to keep running, away from Rostov, away from my grandfather and back to Rudy."

"Ooh, Rudy, huh?"

She slapped him again and spat, "Go to hell!"

"Oh, I'm sure I'll see you there someday," He countered. He sighed and said, "I don't get it. If you wanted to run so badly, why didn't you?"

"I should have," She admitted, "But I was terrified. Rostov wanted your defection so badly; I knew that he'd kill Rudy if I didn't finish it out. Not to mention, there was my grandfather... Did you know he died in prison, not long after you arrested him?"

"Not planning to weep over that one anytime soon," Lee replied caustically.

"Truthfully, I won't either. He spent so much of my life locked up in the Gulag, I didn't really know him until all that happened." She paused for a beat. "Did you know that he threatened to kill me too? I took him to another location instead of the one where you'd arranged to meet Rostov. I thought that if I proved my loyalty to Rostov, he'd let me out, let me have Rudy back..."

"Surely, you weren't that naive..." Lee scoffed.

"Not naive, hopeful," she corrected. "That hope was the only thing that I had going for me. I even turned on my grandfather, but then he turned on me."

"Funny how that happens," Lee commented dryly.

Sonja shook her head. "He knew how your mind worked so well, he knew the place I took him to was wrong. He threatened to kill me, put a knife to my throat and told me he didn't care if we were family..." her voice trailed off as tears stung her eyes.

"Oh, now you're gonna' get all weepy?" When she didn't respond, Lee shook his head, folded his arms across his chest, fixing her with a steely gaze and demanded, "And Phillip? You never did answer me. Come on, you gotta' admit that your relationship with him-"

"Is none of your business!" she retorted hotly, her anger flaring again.

"The hell it isn't! This is my son we're talking about!"

"No, he's not...is he? I met his real father today when Amanda showed up on our doorstep with him," she challenged him. "Though I can see that he learned some things from you. His way with the ladies, for example..." She then smirked at him. "He told me all about his exploits with the sorority girls he used to run around with, said he wanted to put the past behind him."

"Oh, and I'm sure you were just as honest with him about your past," Lee responded sarcastically, though he couldn't help wondering why Amanda was with Joe when she'd confronted Phillip. Just what the hell was going on there? Between Amie's crack at the office and now Sonja, he feared now that maybe his ruse had driven his wife back into the arms of her ex. He cringed at that thought. No, he thought, not my Amanda. She'd never do that, but he was having a hard time convincing himself of that. He'd given her every reason to do just what...and whom she wanted to do. What if his treatment of her caused her to turn to Joe for comfort... Stop it, Stetson, he barked at himself in his head.

"I was," Sonja answered. "Even the parts that I'm not proud of. He knows everything there is to know about me."

"Except what your end game is," Lee replied, his stern look never faltering.

"I don't have any end game except to finish my law degree and try to have a normal life," she argued. "I don't expect you to believe me, but it's the truth."

"Do you even know the meaning of that word?"

"Do you?" she dared him. "You've spent your whole adult life spinning tale after tale, telling lie after lie-"

"And you haven't?"

"No, not after I was arrested by your darling Amanda. The time I spent in prison, as rough as it was, it was actually a welcome change from all the secrets, from playing both sides between Rostov and my grandfather. How would you feel if you were in that position, having to choose between duty and love?" She grinned victoriously as she realized by the change in his facial expression to one of guilt that she'd struck a nerve. "If you don't mind, I've got a class to get to." She then walked away and Lee, lost in his own thoughts, didn't stop her.

Lee reflected on her words and wondered if maybe, just maybe, she was being sincere. After all, he himself was torn between his loyalty to the agency and his loyalty to his family. "No," he said aloud to no one as he slowly walked back toward his car, shaking his head all the way thinking of his brief liaison with her. Was Sonja right? Was he so focused on Amanda at the time that he'd never noticed that she was in just as much pain over their situation as he had been? It wouldn't be the first time he'd misread a woman's true feelings. His mind drifted back to the night that he and Amanda had reconciled after the closing of the case that had truly brought them together.

September 27, 1986

Lee couldn't help the feeling of euphoria that washed over him as he held Amanda tightly to him on the bare living room floor in his empty apartment. pulled back for a moment to look at her and at seeing the nervousness in her eyes, he inwardly kicked himself and said, "God, Amanda, I'm sorry," with a guilty look on his face, made even worse by seeing her face fall.

"You...you're sorry...? She questioned with a hurt look on her face. "I-I I..." Lee cringed when he saw her trying to blink back tears, but didn't quite know what to say to stop them as she continued, "Are you sorry that we made love? I-I-I thought you wanted this as much as I did." She attempted to pull away from him, but he held her fast.

"I did," He said firmly as he gently caressed her face. "I did, really and I'm not sorry that it happened...more for...for the way it happened. I never..." He let out a deep sigh. "I didn't invite you over here tonight for this. I didn't want our first time together to be this...this..."

"Oh, I see," Amanda looked away from him, attempted to reach for her clothes and in a barely audible voice said, "You're disappointed."

"NO!" He reached for her and turned her to face him, "Amanda, no! God, no! It was amazing! I just..." He sighed again. "I just...I don't know...I wanted to romance you a bit, take our time and instead, I..." He looked at her with an expression of remorse on his face. "I've wanted you so much for so long that when you said we'd waited too long, when you started touching me, I-I-I couldn't stop. I...I acted like some kind of wild animal."

Amanda sat up and stared down at him incredulously, "Lee, I'm an adult. I could've stopped you at any time, could've asked you to slow down. I didn't. I have wanted you for a very long time too. You said you're not disappointed, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, neither am I. There'll be other times when we can take our time." She then grinned at him seductively and added, "You know, when I said that I was free for the next two days, I didn't just mean for furniture shopping. I have two whole days for...whatever."

"Yeah?" Lee said with a grin as he propped himself up on his elbows to look her in the eye.

"Yeah," she replied as she lowered herself above him and planted a firm kiss to his lips.

Lee broke the kiss and said, "Wait a minute! If you weren't having regrets or if I...If it wasn't something I did, then what was that look on your face all about?"

"I...um...I don't know..."

"Amanda..." He said sternly.

"I...look, I just...I guess I was...I don't know...a little worried that you...I mean, I know I'm not glamorous or exotic...or..."

He hushed her with a finger to her lips and replied softly, "Stop. This may have escaped your attention, but those glamorous, exotic women of my past..." He hesitated, not quite sure how to put his thoughts into the right words to reassure her. "Well, let's just say, there's a reason that they're part of my past. When I said that I wanted a fresh start, I meant that I wanted that fresh start with you. I don't know what more I can do to convince you of that and this..." He gestured to their discarded clothes that had been flung everywhere in their haste to consummate their relationship. "This means more to me than you will ever know; YOU mean more to me than you will ever know."

"Really?"

"Really. I think we're long past denying that this is something that we've both wanted for...well...forever. I just...I wanted for once in my life, to do this right...to make you understand that...understand just how much you mean to me." He ran both of his hands through her thick hair and pulled her down to him for a long, lingering kiss. "I love you, Amanda," he whispered softly. "I...uh...I just never knew how to tell you..." He was grateful that Sonja's treachery had forced him to finally say the words to her aloud, but felt that those words were completely inadequate to describe how he felt about the woman in his arms.

As if sensing his thoughts, Amanda replied, "Well, how about you show me instead?"

Lee smiled warmly at her and proceeded to do just that.

Arriving at Leah's school, Lee shook his head once again as he walked toward the football field where he knew his daughter's practice should just about be wrapping up. He scanned the group of junior varsity cheerleaders looking for the familiar wild blond curls and when he didn't spot them, slowly approached the coach and asked, "Mrs. Travers, where's Leah?"

"Well, Mr. Stetson," she answered. "I was hoping you could tell me. She never showed up for practice. You know that really isn't like her."

"No, no it's not," Lee concurred, worry flooding his mind as he reflected back on the fight he and Amanda had had on Thursday night. What if Amanda was right? What if Leah was turning into a miniature of her birth mother? He shuddered slightly at that thought.

"She usually lets me know if she's going to be late or not able to make it or at least lets one of the other girls know so they can let me know." She nodded toward her charges. "Even Deidre doesn't know where she is."

That worried Lee even more since Dee and Leah were like peas in a pod. "I'll get to the bottom of this, I assure you, Mrs. Travers." As he walked away to set out on a search for his daughter, an even scarier thought crossed his mind. What if Amanda was wrong and this wasn't about Leah becoming a replica of her mother? What if it was something else entirely? What if his most terrifying nightmare had come true and the danger of the job had finally found one of their children?