Day Two - Vail Lodge

The lodge's generous breakfast buffet had prepped the group well for what was turning out to be a marathon shopping excursion.

"Now that you're back on the market, Amanda, you need to show off that fantastic figure of yours," Jodie said, tugging on her cousin's sleeve.

"I'm not 'on the market.'" Amanda reflexively chafed against the metaphor. She'd come all too close to being sold in that creep Sinclair's very real 'market.' "I'm just not married any more."

"I'd say that's the definition of on the market!" Kathy interjected.

Janet added encouragement. "Amanda, if I end up looking half as good as you do after having kids, I'm going to buy myself the sexiest wardrobe anyone's ever seen."

Joyce and Darlene had been silently scrutinizing Amanda's figure and turned in tandem to sift through the racks to find the right sizes as they pulled down hangar after hangar.

Amanda wasn't opposed to meeting someone. There'd been Dean after all, and a few nice dates here and there. Though finding the right someone had started to seem more like a far-away fantasy. It was hard enough balancing responsibilities at home, raising the boys, and her work and training with the Agency. When would she have time to meet and seriously date anyone? Not to mention the added complexity of lying about her job to yet another person in her life.

Outfits and separates were handed over or under the dressing room door for Amanda to try on and model. Being the center of attention wasn't her favorite thing but it'd been years since she'd indulged in a shopping excursion like this. She found the light-hearted enthusiasm of the younger women to be contagious. Besides, maybe she could stand to be a little more sultry and a little less suburban. Not sultry exactly, but less staid anyway.

Each ensemble the gals picked out was progressively more snug, revealing, and/or gaudy than the last. Through gales of laughter all around, Amanda drew the line at the gold spandex leggings and black leather halter top. Eventually, she decided on a black and white v-striped halter top - backless, but in a soft cotton - and a pair of tighter-than-her-usual jeans as a treat for herself. "Not that I have anyplace to wear these things," she said, putting the receipt in her purse and taking the shopping bag from the clerk.

"Don't forget, we're going out dancing tomorrow night!" Jodie reminded.

Brash and bossy Kathy may have been somewhat irritating, but the sleigh ride she'd booked for the afternoon was magical. The sunny weather and woolen lap blankets kept them warm on the outside. Hot chocolates and Irish coffees kept them internally toasty. The horses' jingling bells and a route through a stand of trees completed the atmosphere. Had it been December instead of February, they'd have been belting out carols.

Dinner in one of the local restaurants and a stop into a souvenir shop capped off their day in town. As Amanda exited the store to wait for the rest of the group, she spotted Wally across the street.

She'd just stepped off the curb to say hello when a tall, broad man approached Wally. His imposing size shadowed over the smaller man. Amanda couldn't hear what he was saying, but there was no mistaking it for anything close to friendly.

Wally's eyes widened and he held up his hands in a defensive posture, waiving them back and forth as he spoke. As she approached, Amanda could hear that they were speaking German. The man and Wally were so wrapped up in their disagreement that she had to announce her presence with a gregarious "Hello!"

The men startled and jerked their heads toward her, angry expressions on their faces. Wally used Amanda's interruption to take a step back from his companion.

"Amanda! What a surprise!" His voice pitched up and was far from steady.

"Hi, Wally. Everything okay?"

"Oh, yeah. Sure. I was just, uh… giving directions to, uh, Mr. Smith here. He's lost."

Amanda was sure Mr. Smith was more than just a lost tourist and that 'Smith' wasn't his name. Her 'friendly and helpful' spiel usually worked wonders to distract or deter in suspicious situations, so she went with that. "I've got a map in my purse somewhere. Where are you trying to go, Mr. Smith?"

The man only tightened the belt on his trench coat and looked impatiently from Amanda to Wally.

"He doesn't speak English. Just German."

"Oh! Can you translate? It sounded like you were speaking German before."

"Uh, sure." Wally agreed.

The other man uttered what sounded like a threatening growl. Wally's eyes darted around quickly and he shuffled his feet.

"Can you ask Mr. Smith where he's trying to go?"

While Amanda dug out the map from her purse, Wally dutifully asked and translated back the answer. "He wants to go to a supermarket."

Amanda found the village market on the map and began to give directions. "It looks like there's just one market in town. You'll need to go back to the intersection of this main street and Alpine Drive. Then, even though it looks like it's right there on the map, it's really not, because of the inset they used to show the downtown. Oh, wait. Are you walking? In that case, you can take this shortcut path over the creek. Hang on. It might not be open in the winter. Better not try. Are you going to be buying a lot? I'm not sure where you're staying or how you're planning to get back. They must have payphones at the market, you can call a cab. But if you can't speak English… Wally, maybe you'd better write down some key phrases for Mr. Smith."

The cold temperature and chilly mountain breeze didn't help Wally as he sweated his way through translating Amanda's overly complex directions into German, then got Mr. Smith's one-syllable answers, and translated them into English for Amanda. Neither he nor Mr. Smith looked the slightest bit grateful or even interested in what she was saying.

When Amanda finally concluded her ramble, Mr. Smith ground out a stiff "Danke" and walked off in the opposite direction of the route she'd described.

"He doesn't seem to be having much fun." Amanda observed.

"Uh, no." Wally let out a breath and laughed stiffly.

"Good thing he ran into you! How many people in Vail speak fluent German?"

Wally shrugged and hastily excused himself into the ski shop they were standing in front of.

Later in the evening back at the lodge, Jodie's gang - and Wally - again settled into their spot in the bar by the fireplace. It was a much more subdued evening than the night before. A long day of shopping and the sleigh ride, plus a rich dinner at the French bistro in town had them sated and pleasantly tired. Even frazzled Wally was at ease again, perhaps owing to Kathy's hand caressing higher and higher on his thigh, and being deep into his second scotch.

Amanda sipped her wine and listened to the twins and Janet pepper Jodie with marital advice. The practical and well-grounded nuggets they dispensed disabused her of any assumptions about their youthful inexperience. She let her mind wander to Phillip and Jamie, and her mother. She missed them but hadn't had a 'girls' getaway' in ages and found it to be a welcome respite. It hadn't been since the divorce… since Joe had gone to Africa… since Jamie was born… since Phillip was born… since Joe started law school… Amanda thought back farther and farther and could barely remember when she'd had a time like this. College, probably.

Amanda was nothing if not practical, and she refused to have any regrets. It was regrettable that she and Joe had divorced, but she didn't regret the family they'd created or the decision they'd made in the end… or the path her life had taken since then.

Dating Dean had been a learning experience, and not just about warm and cold fronts or forecasting models that told you there'd be a 30% chance of rain. He'd given Amanda and the boys attention they'd been missing from Joe. She'd assumed that simple, steady companionship was what she wanted after the years and months of Joe being overseas. It's what the Amanda of ten years prior would have yearned for.

Marriage, kids, creating a stable home for a newly graduated lawyer, followed quickly by being left to raise those children on her own and realizing her marriage was all but over, had changed what she wanted.

Dean - or even Joe - might've said that Lee Stetson and her involvement with the Agency had changed her. They wouldn't realize that the essential parts of her hadn't changed at all. They'd just been brought into the light and nurtured into bloom.

That germinal chance encounter with Lee had been a catalyst. As she worked with him - and the Agency - Amanda began to see herself through a new lens. Her own lens. Something in her had ignited and she liked the fire that'd been lit within.

LEE

During the stomach-churning approach and landing into Denver, the plane had felt like it was at the mercy of an irate wind god. Grateful that he hadn't eaten on the plane, Lee was happy to have nabbed a window seat for the curvy shuttle ride up to Vail Lodge.

"Lee Steadman." He gave his name to the hotel clerk and looked around the lobby to get a sense of the place and its patrons.

After tossing his luggage onto the bed in his room, Lee filled and drained three glasses of water. The last thing he needed was to be dehydrated at 8,000 feet. He put on a down vest over his button up shirt and returned to the lobby.

As he sauntered into the bar, Lee recognized Kathy Bennington right away. Distinctive waves of strawberry blonde hair fell across her shoulders, standing out against the purple of her turtleneck. She was perched on a bar stool and appeared to be alone. Lee ran a hand through his hair and squared his shoulders.

"Hi," he said, giving Kathy his best thousand-watt smile, leaning his elbow on the bar.

"Hello…" She swept her eyes up and down his body.

Lee interpreted the look and her tone as 'interested.' "You don't seem to have a drink yet - can I buy you one?"

"Oh, that's really very nice, but my date's right over there." She turned and waggled her fingers at Wally. "I'm getting drinks for my table."

"Too bad." Damn. He mentally sifted through ideas for a Plan B.

Kathy's eyes flicked over Lee's shoulder, toward the back of the bar. "But…" she looked at him brightly. "I do have a friend who's more your age anyway."

Ouch!

"Amanda!" Kathy leaned around Lee and beckoned.

Lee closed his eyes briefly before turning to see a very familiar figure walking their way. Amanda looked right at home in the ski lodge with a cream colored Irish knit sweater, jeans, and suede boots with furry trim at the top.

When she got near, Kathy pulled Amanda closer. "Amanda, this is… sorry, I didn't get your name."

"Lee. Lee Steadman."

"Lee Steadman, meet Amanda King," Kathy said with a self-congratulatory tone.

"Hello." Amanda's voice and smile were friendly enough. But with a couple of years' practice under his belt, Lee read the contradicting glare in her eyes loud and clear. 'What are you doing here?!'

So much for having a bit of fun with the surprise. Lee shook her hand and tried to telegraph that he'd explain it all later and for her to keep playing along. "Very nice to meet you, Amanda."

"Lee offered to buy me a drink, but I told him I'd already been spoken for. I thought he might want to buy one for you." She leaned in to Amanda and stage-whispered, "Seemed a little more age-appropriate, too."

Amanda barely stifled a guffaw.

The bartender slid a tray of drinks onto the bar, but before Amanda could claim hers, Kathy grabbed the tray and sped away.

"Surprise?" Lee said, turning to face Amanda.

"What are you doing here?" Amanda hissed and looked around the bar, scanning the other patrons as if one of them would have the answer.

"Buying you a drink. What do you want?"

"A hot chocolate," she said, turning to Lee again.

"Hot chocolate?"

"Yes. With marshmallows."

"Really?"

This was a bar, was she serious? Of course she was, this was Amanda. After the long day he'd had, Lee felt an unexpected comfort in the familiarity of their banter.

"Yes. I've already had two glasses of wine. With the altitude, I don't want to risk a hangover."

He couldn't fault her reasoning. Lee gestured to the bartender and ordered two hot chocolates with marshmallows. Amanda's expression was triumphant, but he held a stern look before laughing. "You're not wrong about the altitude and after the landing we had in Denver, I don't think alcohol would be a good idea."

She hopped up on a bar stool. "So, what are you doing here?"

"I was supposed to get close to Kathy Bennington." Lee looked over to the bridal party table. They were all staring right back at him.

Amanda looked too and they raised their hands to waive wanly at their audience. "Bit too late for that… and she obviously thinks you're a bit, um… old for her."

"So I was told - on both counts. But this'll work… I just need to stick close to you."

"Me?"

Lee put an arm around her shoulder and swiveled her back to the bar. "Yes, you… and the bridal party. Where's your room?"

"My room?"

"Yes, your room. Where is it?" Nevermind the comfortable banter. She exhausted him sometimes. Why couldn't she just get with the program?

"Why?"

"Amanda- " he said sharply, on the verge of starting a lecture.

"Lee, look, you're the one who just turned up here, unannounced."

He took a breath and ruffled his fingers through his hair. Lee knew he'd sounded impatient and annoyed - which he was. But she was right, he was intruding on her time off. Jaw determinedly clenched, he met her eyes and gave an earnest apology. "I'm sorry about that."

Amanda bobbed her head. "Let me guess… it's a matter of national security."

"That is what I - we - do."

"I just like to be included in the plans when I'm being asked to do something. That may not mean a lot to you, but it means a lot to me."

The bartender plunked down their mugs of hot chocolate and Lee put down a $10 bill. "Keep the change."

Turning to face her, Lee clasped her hands in his. "Let's try this again." He took a deep breath. "Amanda, a matter of national security has unexpectedly made my presence here necessary. In connection with that, can you tell me if your room is near Kathy Bennington's?"

"Yes, I'm right next door."

"Perfect!" Lee let her hands go and reached for his cocoa.

"You know," Amanda began as she stirred the melting marshmallows into her hot chocolate. "This was supposed to be a vacation for me."

"It still is. You don't have to do anything except be nice to me. I even have my own room." Catching her eye, he winked as he tipped the mug to his lips.

Amanda laughed and blew on her hot chocolate before taking a sip. As she did, Jodie walked up.

"Amanda, who's your gentleman friend?" she asked in a sing-songy voice.

"Jodie, this is Lee Steadman. He was sweet enough to buy me a hot chocolate. Lee, this is my cousin, Jodie Palmer, the bride"

"Very nice to meet you, Lee. If you're staying a few days and are at loose ends, we'd be happy to have you join our little party - which seems to keep expanding," Jodie said, nodding back toward Kathy and Wally.

"Only if Amanda thinks I pass muster." Lee was surprised that Jodie would openly make the suggestion without knowing him - or knowing what Amanda wanted. Was she close enough with Amanda to have read the familiarity between them?

"I think that would be nice," Amanda affirmed.

Lee was grateful she was handling what could've been an awkward situation like a pro; she really was turning into a solid partner.

"Great!" Jodie smiled at Lee and gave Amanda a quick side hug. "I'm headed to bed. Janet already went up. See you both in the morning!"

"See, that wasn't that so hard, was it?" Lee said, eyebrows raised.

"Well, you can be kind of charming when you want to."

She winked this time and a warmth buzzed through him at the sparkle in her eyes.

The moment didn't last as Amanda shifted back to business. "Now that that's settled, what are you doing here? And why the interest in Kathy?"

"We have intel that she'll be making a drop to an Easter Bloc operative while she's here. The gambling debts her father's racked up made her a prime target. She's probably getting a nice downpayment on what he owes for the information she's passing."

"What kind of information?!"

Lee shushed her quickly and looked around to be sure they weren't being overheard. "Amanda," he said as he leaned closer and tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear. "You need to look at least a little more delighted with my company if my cover's going to fly."

"Oh." There was just the barest falter in her voice before she looked at him through her lashes and played with the hair he'd just put in place. "Okay."

"Kathy's research unit at Lawrence Livermore Lab just finished testing some cutting edge laser ignition technology." Lee took her hand and played with her fingers in the way that'd become their 'usual' when posting as a couple.

"Jodie will be devastated."

He stopped fluttering his fingers and shifted to hold her hand fully in his. "Yeah. Sorry about that. Are you two close?" It was easy to forget that even when people were committing treason, they still had family and friends.

"We spent a lot of time together as kids. I'm a few years older so I kept an eye on her during family vacations. And we've stayed close through the years."

"She seems to have a lot of affection for you." Lee said before probing for more information about Kathy. "Who's the Aryan adonis that Kathy's with? Who, by the way, is not that much younger than I am!"

Amanda chuckled and patted his hand. "That's Wally Richter. She picked him up here at the bar last night, but there's something off about him. And they seem awfully touchy for having just met." Amanda shrugged. "Maybe that's what people do these days. It's what we're supposedly doing." They looked down at their joined hands and self-consciously slid them apart. "Do you think he could be her contact?" Amanda asked as she busied her hands with stirring her mug of chocolate again.

She had what some - okay, he - would call old fashioned ideas about how people met and coupled. A quick look at Wally and Kathy, however, easily made her case for 'too much too fast.' Kathy was practically giving Wally a lapdance, and who knew where his hands were.

"It's possible. I'll call Francine with the name and description to see what the computer can tell us. So, what's the plan for tomorrow?"

"My plan or yours?" came her wry retort.

"Ours. Jodie very nicely invited me to join you, if you recall."

"Sometimes, I can't believe my life." Amanda sighed and shook her head even though she was smiling. "We're meeting for breakfast at 8:30 and then spending the day skiing."

Lee nodded and swirled his mug around to re-mix the last half-inch of hot chocolate.

"Do you ski?" she asked, then immediately raised her hand to halt a reply. "No wait, let me guess. Randy's got a ski cabin in New Hampshire."

Lee gave her a cranky look. "No. And it was Gillian who had a lodge in the Poconos."

"Mmm-hmm."

He hated when she did that. Sounded all judgy about his personal life. What did she care what women he went out with? As quickly as the defensiveness had bubbled up, it was simmered down by the memory of how he'd initially introduced her to the colonel as his girlfriend. There was no way he could've taken Randy or Gillian to dinner with him. Let alone trusted them to spend time alone together.

"I was on the ski team in high school when the colonel was stationed in Colorado Springs. I learned when we were in Germany. What about you?" he asked.

With a quirk of her head, she replied, "Oh, I've done some here and there. I prefer cross country skiing. You can appreciate so much more of the scenery that way."

"Maybe we can give that a try."

"That'd be nice."

Sometime in the last minute or two, Lee had taken her hand again. The way Amanda was backlit by the golden glow of the fireplace gave her an angelic look. Any reflection on that observation was curtailed when Darlene and Joyce, along with Kathy and Wally, passed by waving. "See you tomorrow!"

Lee hastily put an arm around Amanda and waived back.

"Invite me to your room," he said through his smile.

"I can't take you to my room!"

"Why not?" Lee puzzled as he looked down and smoothed his free hand over his vest. He couldn't figure out what the issue was.

"One of them might see us, and they'll tell Jodie. Then Jodie will go giggling the news to my mother. And my mother will think I'm easy."

Lee snorted. "That, you definitely are not."

"I could be," Amanda said defiantly.

"Really?" Lee was very familiar with Amanda's contrarian streak, but was confident she'd never actually go through with bucking that particular presumption.

"Yes. No! Never mind." She shook her head back and forth quickly. "Come to my room in 10 minutes - it's 356. And don't let anyone see you!"

She was up and gone before he could say anything else. He watched Amanda retreat, and was amused and pleasantly distracted by how cute she looked in those fuzzy snow boots. Strictly for his cover, he told himself.

At hair past the requisite 10 minutes, Lee knocked on the door of room 356 and leaned against the jamb.

"Lee? Is that you?" came Amada's voice through the door.

"Yes, Amanda. It's me."

She opened the door and let him in. He waited until the door was shut to ask, "Who else would it be?"

"Well, that's the point, isn't it? I was expecting you, but what if it wasn't you?"

Lee shook his head. "Which way's Kathy's room?"

Amanda pointed left, to the wall that held the room's low bureau.

"Good, we'll be able to get close. Any action so far?"

"No, just some quiet talking. Wally's voice is deeper, so you can hear him more, but it's easier to understand what Kathy's saying."

Lee had his ear against the wall but couldn't hear anything. "What's she been saying?"

Amanda looked down and away. "Oh, you know…"

"Huh?" he asked, straightening up again.

"Just... romantic stuff. Nothing to do with espionage. But it's been quiet for a few minutes now."

He thought there was relief in her expression that he hadn't insisted she repeat any of the sweet-nothings between Wally and Kathy. "You said earlier that you didn't like Wally."

Amanda held up a finger and corrected him. "No, I said there was something off about him."

"Okay, 'off,'" he conceded while rolling his hand in circles to get her to tell him why she felt that way.

"I ran into him when we were in town today. He was talking to a man - in German." She paused, a serious expression on her face. "Lee, the man was wearing a trenchcoat." She raised her eyebrows and let the word hang between them.

Lee raised his brows back at her. "You know, Amanda, spies don't always-"

"Intelligence agents."

He couldn't help but laugh. "Yes, intelligence agents. What were they saying?"

"I don't know… just that it wasn't about edelweiss."

"We've got to get you some language training." Lee shook his head, thinking it also would've been extremely handy when she was picked up in Munich for passing counterfeit American bills.

"Anyway, when I came up they looked surprised and very annoyed. Wally said the man was asking directions. Oh, and he called the man 'Mr. Smith.' At first I thought he was just a rude stranger, but something wasn't right. So I pulled out my map and made Wally translate. The man wanted to go to the supermarket. Who goes to the supermarket at night? Well, some people do, but not in Vail, in the winter. At least it didn't seem like something a tourist would do. Anyway, I had Wally relay some complicated directions to see how they'd react. The trenchcoat man got angrier and angrier. And when he left, he walked in the wrong direction."

"You're getting pretty good at this, you know?"

Amanda's instincts had always been sharp. Lately she'd been combining them with her experience from their work together in the field.

Voices began to rise from next door. Lee and Amanda both put their ears flat against the wall, facing each other. They couldn't make out any words, though, because Wally and Kathy weren't really using actual words.

They looked wide-eyed at each other, then darted their eyes quickly away. The moans and calling out of names got louder and louder, along with some thumping of furniture, until there was silence. And soon after, snoring.

Amanda stepped away from the wall. "I don't think you're going to learn anything here tonight."

"Not from that performance." Lee couldn't imagine it'd been satisfying - or even much fun - for Kathy. And snoring within about a minute? That was just tacky.

Lee walked to the door and put his hand on the knob. "Sorry I crashed your vacation. Think you can pretend to be interested in me for the rest of the trip?"

"Well, you can be a bit difficult…"

Lee looked back and started to defend himself. "Aman-"

"I'm just teasing! Go on and get some sleep. Big day of skiing tomorrow!"

They laughed together as Lee stepped into the hallway. Abruptly silent, he turned around and pulled her close. "Darlene's coming, or maybe Joyce. Follow my lead."

Nose nuzzled to her neck, Lee's mouth was barely an inch from what he instantaneously and irrefutably knew would be the softest, smoothest, sweetest skin if he were to kiss it. Following his lead as instructed, Amanda ran her hands over his shoulders and hugged him even closer. A spike of annoyance pulsed through Lee at how easily he was being physically distracted by her - their - performance.

A slow, deep breath in… and out should've rebalanced him. Instead, he could only register the way her skin was radiating a flushed heat back at him, which he could feel on his lips. And dammit, she smelled good too.

Darlene - or Joyce - approached and then passed, while sputtering a giggle. The footsteps receded and a key opening a door could be heard. Finally, the door shut and they were free from observers again.

Stock still and barely breathing, Lee didn't move. His pleasantly distracted brain wanted him to stay right where he was.

"She's gone," Amanda whispered.

"Oh, uh, yeah." Lee stepped back, ran a hand through his hair, and looked down the empty hallway. "Right. I'll see you in the morning."

Amanda stepped into her room and shut the door, leaving Lee in the hall, dazed and more than a bit confused.