In the Q Bureau, Efraim was poking through files in the vault while Candice was looking through the ones that had been neatly piled on Amanda's desk, sipping on yet another glass of scotch from a bottle she'd found hidden in Lee's bottom desk drawer. She slammed down the folder she'd been looking through in frustration, knocking over a framed photograph. She picked it up to glance at it and saw that it was a picture of Lee with a boy with glasses in a baseball uniform, the word, Bombers emblazoned on it and that Lee was wearing a matching shirt his arm across the boy's shoulder. One of Amanda's brats, she supposed as she opened the frame and pulled the photo from it and turned it over. She found that it was dated just two months ago and in Lee's familiar handwriting were the words, Look, who's a Bombers' father now. She assumed that this must be some private joke between the two of them.

She sighed as she re-framed the photo. As she put it back in its place, her eyes fell on another file with a post-it stuck to it with the name, Efraim and a question mark. Making sure that Efraim was still occupied in the vault, she perused the folder. As she delved into it, she found that it was a compilation of all of the phony IDs that he had created during his two years working in fabrications. There was another post-it on the inside that looked like Amanda had written a reminder to herself to cross-reference them with the IDs that she'd had sent to her while she was on the run. She, however, didn't need to cross-reference, as she knew the fake names on all of them. She scanned the list quickly looking for anything familiar.

"Did you find anything?" Efraim asked as he exited the vault.

"As a matter of fact, I did," Candice, said with a smug grin. She hadn't found what she'd been looking for, but she'd found something equally good.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

At the King house, the party was in full swing. People were talking and getting to know one another. Lee was hamming it up like a kid, enjoying the moment playing, a game of touch football with the kids along with Joe and Carrie. He and the boys had become so close lately but he knew everything would change once they told their secrets. After everyone had eaten, Amanda had tucked herself away at the corner of the house by the back door to hide where she could still see everything what was going one, yet keep to herself in an attempt to figure out how to break the news to all the people she loved. Not only was she keeping secrets from her mother and the boys but also from Lee. She absently stroked her abdomen and thought of her doctor's appointment of the day before and how she'd had to make an excuse to Lee about doing some legwork on their investigation. She glanced at Francine who sat at the picnic table with her fiancé', Billy, Jeannie and her mother and recalled how true to her word, she had insisted on going with her. They'd had a blazing argument about it because the doctor had warned her about the adverse effects that stress could have on her baby and Francine had tried to make good on her threat to go straight to Lee and tell him about her pregnancy. Amanda had talked her out of it and begged her to give her just one more day as she desperately hoped that having everything out in the open would alleviate a lot of the stress that she'd been under lately. Francine had reluctantly agreed, but told her in no uncertain terms that if she didn't tell him by the end of the day, she would do it herself. Francine caught Amanda looking at her and turning her head from her companions, mouthed, "Tell him," with a nod to where Lee was playing with the kids.

Amanda nodded and turned her attention to the game in progress. As she watched Lee and Phillip chasing Leah, who had the football and was running away from them as fast as her little legs could carry her; she smiled but had to wonder how things would be after today. What would Candice decide? The deadline on her ultimatum was fast approaching. How would her children react to her marriage and to the fact that this little girl was their stepsister? She and Lee had told them simply that she was a relative of Lee's, which was true. They just hadn't elaborated yet on how she was related to him. How would Lee react to the news that he was going to be a dad again? He'd seemed very gun-ho about them having a baby together to unite their family, but would he still feel the same way in knowing that the baby he said he wanted was going to arrive sooner than he planned on?

She glanced back toward the picnic table where her mother sat chatting with Billy and Jeannie as well as Jonathan and Francine, true to her promise to Lee; she was being nice and trying to get to know Billy. How would her mother take the revelation of why they'd kept their marriage under wraps? She couldn't help but chuckle a little at the snippets of conversation going on as her mother was giving wedding planning tips to Francine who'd opted out of the invitation to join in the game, which didn't really surprise her all that much. She chuckled softly to herself as she recalled the case they'd worked together when they were undercover as maids and how much Francine hated to get her hands dirty. Billy and Jeannie jumped in with tales from their own wedding while Dotty related stories of helping Amanda plan her wedding to Joe.

Hearing her mother talk about that long-ago day, her gaze then shifted to Joe, who was in the thick of the game and was embroiled in something of a wrestling match with Jamie who now had the ball, while his wife Carrie, was attempting to defend her younger son. She'd told him on the phone that they planned to tell the boys everything and he'd seemed supportive during that conversation, but would that change once he knew that she was pregnant and that she and Lee had talked about selling the house that had once been his home and shop for a bigger one for their rapidly growing family? Of course, Lee didn't yet know that their family would be growing sooner than expected, he was just anticipating that they would someday have a baby of their own. She watched in amusement as little Leah snuck in surprising Jamie by running between his legs causing him to drop the ball.

Dotty noticed that her daughter, who was usually in the thick of all the action at birthday celebrations, had withdrawn and seemed to be lost in her own thoughts, oblivious to the action all around her. The time had come to find out what exactly was going on. She approached her daughter."Are you ok, Dear?" She was concerned.

"Sure. I'm fine. I'm just glad Lee's enjoying his party."

Dotty glanced at the football game and said, "Yes, he certainly is enjoying it. You don't seem to be having a good time, though."

"I've just got a lot on my mind. Hey, since everyone's about done eating, why don't we bring the cake out?" She said, quickly changing the subject. She wasn't ready to talk about everything yet. She started to head for the kitchen, but her mother's voice stopped her.

"Lee still doesn't know yet, does he?"

"Know what?"Amanda asked innocently.

"About the baby," Dotty said in a hushed tone. When she saw that her daughter was about to protest, she continued with, "And don't even try to deny it. I can tell by the way he was talking in the kitchen this morning about having a baby that you haven't told him."

"Well, isn't this nice?" Candice snorted. She'd just hobbled in through the back gate, Efraim behind her.

"What are you doing here?" Amanda demanded. Dotty looked at Amanda worriedly.

"Well, I thought the real mother of Lee's daughter had a right to be at his birthday party," she said with an icy glare at Amanda before glancing to Lee who'd just grasped his daughter by the waist to wrest the football from her tiny grasp.. When he put Leah down, the little girl excitedly ran to her mother.

"Mommy, Mommy, Mommy!" She cried as she flung herself at Candice nearly knocking her off-balance.

Lee walked over to them, picked Leah up and looked around to try to gauge everyone's reaction to the bombshell. Phillip and Jamie were dumbstruck and staring at Leah and Lee. He could tell they were both confused and a little hurt. Joe immediately came to their side. Billy made his way over to Amanda placing a comforting arm on her shoulders. Lee himself looked a little confused at that gesture. While he knew that Billy liked Amanda, he had seemed more nurturing than usual today. Was something wrong with Amanda that he was missing?

"What a nice party. Everyone's here, but the person who should have been invited." Candice said.

Francine walked toward her, knowing from the slight slur in her speech that Candice had continued drinking after she left. Damn Efraim, he was supposed to be there to Candice-sit and make sure she was okay, not bring her here. "Efraim, what the hell are you doing? Why did you bring her here?"

"I...uh...I..." Efraim stammered not sure what to say as Candice had blackmailed him into it since she'd figured out that he was her mysterious benefactor. He hastily made a retreat back the way he'd come.

Francine sighed in frustration. She felt sorry for Candice after all that she'd been through but doing this here and now was in no one's best interest, especially Leah's. As Leah's godmother, it was Francine's job to look out for her and in this past week, Francine had grown very fond of the little girl whose life ambition was to grow up and be just like her Auntie Francine. She also remembered what the doctor had told Amanda yesterday when she'd gone to her doctor's appointment with her. When Lee found out that she had helped Amanda keep this from him she was going to be in enough trouble. She didn't even want to think of what Lee would do to her if he something happened to the baby. "Candice, I don't think this is a good idea... why don't you let me take you home?"

"Home," she said incredulously "HOME, did you say. I don't have a home...SHE..." Candice pointed an accusing finger at Amanda as she spewed out her venom, "...took my only chance at a home...she took everything away from me..." Francine took Candice's arm "Don't you even try it, Francine." Candice jerked violently away from Francine almost losing her balance in the process, "You knew all about this and you could have told me, but you decided to side with your new best friend." She gestured toward Amanda again. "You seem to forget everything that you and I went through together before she ever joined The Agency. I was your partner, remember?"

"The Agency?" Dotty asked surprised. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh, precious, can-never-do-any-wrong Amanda, still hasn't come clean with all the secrets she's keeping?"

"Candice, don't do this," Amanda said in a warning tone, challenging the other woman with a fiery look in her eyes. "You're only going to hurt yourself and everyone else in the long run."

"And why not? What have you ever done for me, except take everything I ever loved from me? You've got the only man I've ever loved, you've turned my best friend against me. You even have my daughter's affection. What else is left for me? Did you tell everyone here how you plan to take my little Leah from me permanently?"

Lee put Leah down and walked over to Candice. "Candice, let's-" he began but was cut off by his vengeful ex-girlfriend.

"I don't suppose you've told your precious boys the truth either, have you, Lee? You didn't tell them that you went off and secretly married their mother without their knowledge and it's obvious that they don't know what you really do for a living. How you make your living by spying on people. Oh, and your perfect angel who rescued you from the likes of me has a secret for you too, Lee. Little miss squeaky clean has a little dirt she's been keeping from everyone." She then hobbled over to Amanda and stared her down. "Amanda, Dearie, I'm just betting that you haven't told your precious husband the good news yet."

It was Lee's turn to look puzzled. "Amanda...What's she talking about?" He looked at her. Amanda turned her head. She couldn't look him in the eye.

Candice laughed. "No, I can see you haven't. Well, Lee, this week is just full of surprises, isn't it? Not only do you learn that you have a daughter you never knew about, but also that you're going to be a father again. Isn't that right, Amanda?" Candice sneered.

"Why couldn't you just take my offer and leave us alone?" Amanda fired back. "I gave you an out. You could have made this a whole lot easier on all of us."

"An out? Is that what you're calling it? You threatened me and gave me an ultimatum, telling me my only OUT was giving up my daughter. I'll see you dead before I will ever let that happen."

"Okay, Candice I think that's quite enough," Billy said. He had heard more than enough. "You're going home with Francine and Jonathan now and drink some strong black coffee."

"I don't have to follow your orders. You're not my boss anymore," she fired at Billy turning his direction teetering precariously on her crutches.

"I suggest you do as I say unless you want to spend the rest of the time we're investigating your case in an agency holding cell," he said as he grabbed her arm.

"NO!" Candice shouted as she wrenched her arm from Billy's grasp and finally did lose her balance, toppling onto the grass.

Amanda couldn't help but feel a little sorry for Candice as she felt responsible for the predicament she was in now by her blackmail attempt. "Listen, there's coffee already made in the kitchen," she said. "Why don't you take her in there and try to get some of it in her to sober her up?"

Jonathan and Billy helped Candice to her feet, each keeping a firm grasp on her arms to corral her as they led her into the house, followed by Francine and Jeannie.

Lee glanced at his wife and wondered if what Candice said was true. Was he going to be a father again? He had to know. "Amanda, is that true? Is that why you've been getting sick and missing meetings and..." He broke off. He couldn't believe that Amanda would keep something like this from him.

Amanda nodded. "I'm pregnant. I wanted to tell you...I really did. It's just with Candice and Leah and trying to tell mother and the boys the truth about everything...and we've never really talked about having a baby until the past couple of days and...I...I did tell you the other night, but you fell asleep..."

"You guys are really spies? That is just so cool!" Phillip piped in.

"Oh, so it's alright with you that he's been lying to us since the day he came here?"Jamie argued.

"Get over it, Worm Brain... it has nothing to do with us. I think it's cool that Lee's our stepdad."

"Nothing to do with us? You don't lie to people that you love and what about his little girl?"

Joe jumped in before the dispute between his sons could escalate further. "I suggest that we all go inside and sit down and let your mom and Lee explain before we jump to any conclusions," and with that he herded the boys toward the house with the help of his wife.

"We'll be there in just a minute. I need to speak to Amanda alone for a second." Lee hadn't taken his eyes off his wife since Candice dropped the bombshell. She, however, had yet to look at him. She'd just stared at the ground wringing her hands.

"Mother, do you mind looking after Leah for a minute?"Amanda asked still avoiding eye contact with Lee.

"Of course, darling," Dotty said as she scooped up a thoroughly confused four-year-old, then said, "Don't be too long I can't wait to hear you explanation for this, Amanda Jean Stetson," just before she carried Leah into the house.

Lee hesitantly closed the gap between him and his wife "Oh boy, are we in trouble, she even used your middle name," Lee said in an attempt to lighten the mood.

"I'm glad you find this whole situation so humorous," Amanda said looking downward as she kicked wildly at a clump of grass in frustration.

"Hey," He said as he cupped her chin and tilted her face upwards forcing her to look at him for the first time since all the secrets were laid on the line "It's going to be okay. We'll get through this together."

"You mean you aren't mad at me?" she asked in surprise.

"I didn't say that. I can't believe you felt you could tell Candice and not me."

"Well, that was just another one of those things that came out in the heat of the moment when we had our fight the other day. She was just so...so...smug and so sure that she was going to get you to leave me just because she has your child."

Lee nodded in understanding and said, "So, you thought you'd retaliate by letting her know that you were carrying my child?"

"Yeah," Amanda said.

"I can't believe that you took all this extra stress on yourself but right now, we have a family in there that needs answers. Am I angry? Yes, and hurt...but I know that deep down you were just doing that mother thing that you do. You were trying to protect me and find just the right time to tell me. So...will I get over it? Yes, because in spite of the hurt, the news does make me happy."

"You are?"She said with a smile.

He smiled back and said, "Yes, Amanda, why would you think that I wouldn't be when I've been telling you for days that I wish you were the mother of my child? Anything else we need to talk about can wait until after we pull ourselves out of the mess with Dotty and the boys."

"No," Amanda said,. She thought for a moment about telling him what had really sparked Candice's reckless behavior, but thought better of it. That was a long conversation and there were more pressing needs right now as the boys were in the house, awaiting an explanation.

"Come on, Amanda, something made Candice pick today to have her tantrum. She said something about you threatening her," he probed.

Amanda nodded and said, "That's true too. I found out something very disturbing about her that I need to talk to you about, too. It's important that you know about it, but it's nothing that can't wait. It's going to take a long time to explain it to and the family is waiting for us."

"Amanda, what could be so disturbing that you felt you couldn't tell me about it?"Lee questioned, not willing to let it go.

"Please, Lee, just trust me. I promise that I will tell you everything when we get done talking to the boys."

"I'm gonna' hold you to that," Lee said.

She kissed him softly and said, "I love you."

"I love you, too," he replied as he kissed her back.

"Come on, Sweetheart, let's go face the firing squad," Amanda said.

Lee chuckled and said dryly," I'm thinking that a firing squad might be easier on us that what we're about to face as he took her hand and they headed toward the house together.