On Monday, the alarm rang at 6 AM. Lee rolled over and hit the snooze bar....five more minutes with his wife before life intruded. "Good morning, hon." he said to his sleepy wife. They needed to get to the Agency on time, today was a big day.
"Good morn...." Amanda started. She was then hit with an incredible wave of nausea. Lee heard her in the bathroom and got out of bed. Part of him felt very guilty about the way she felt, after all he was half the reason she was pregnant. He rubbed her back, held back her hair and spoke softly to her while she threw up. It had been a long time since he had done this and the circumstances were entirely different then. He and Dorothy had celebrated a break in the case with entirely too much toasting. Two days later, she was dead. Since then, he was careful not to allow either himself or any woman he was with to get too drunk when together. He felt that he needed to have good memories, not memories of getting sick.
Amanda almost felt too sick to notice her husband. She didn't remember it being this bad with Phillip and Jamie. When she was pregnant for the boys, she rarely vomited, and then only after eating Chinese food.....this could be a long pregnancy.
She turned to Lee and said, "I'm OK, sweetheart. Just a little nausea."
The worry in Lee's voice was palpable. "A little? Honey, you are calling you doctor today." He really could get a little "mother hennish" sometimes.
"Yes, Lee. I do need to make an appointment. I'll call from the office today. Don't worry, sweetheart, nausea is normal for me right now." Amanda could tell, however, that her attempt to reassure him wasn't working. As she turned on the shower, she turned to her husband and said, "Why don't you go start the coffee, sweetheart. I'll be down in a few minutes."
Lee turned off the alarm that was going off again, put on his robe and went downstairs to make the morning coffee. He decided on decaf, after all, caffeine was not good for the baby. It was going to be a long time until August. And, no matter what she said, sudden nausea like that just couldn't be normal.
He sat reading the morning paper and drinking his boring coffee - the bullpen's coffee pot would seeing his face more often. He could hear his sons, 'my sons...I like the thought of that', and his mother-in law (he even liked the thought of that) stirring and starting their day. After he was done reading the local news, Amanda came down the stairs. She was radiant. Lee thought that his wife glowed. What was it about pregnant women? They were all so beautiful. Of course, he didn't really noticed it until he fell in love with Amanda; but then he hadn't really given fatherhood much thought until after that day at the train station. He stood up and greeted his love with a kiss, "Good morning."
She returned his greeting and wrapped her arms around his neck. Footsteps on the stairs caused her to break their lip lock and gently bang her head against his chest. Lee quietly chuckled. The Q bureau, the field, now home. She almost regretted giving up his DC apartment, at least there they got all the privacy they could stand.
"Gross," Jamie said under his breath as he entered the kitchen. He accepted that his mother was pregnant, but still thought that it was too gross for words.
"Shut up, dorkface!" Phillip countered.
"Good morning to you, too, Jamie, Phillip. And Phillip, don't call your brother a dorkface." Lee said with a smile. He remembered, vaguely, what it was like to be Jamie's age and knew that his step-son would come around. Lee kissed Amanda and went upstairs to shower and dress for work.
With the boys off to school, Amanda and Lee settled into the 'Vette and headed to the office. Lee still missed the old 'Vette. This one was newer, faster and handled better than his last car but it still wasn't the same. Still, he survived the accident that had destroyed that car in July. A car, no matter how much he loved it, was a small price to pay to continue living this life. And he loved his life. He loved it all. His wife, his sons, the white picket fence, his mother-in-law, even the mortgage.
Amanda looked at her husband. She saw a small smile light up her husband's features. "What's making you so happy, Scarecrow?"
"You," Lee answered without missing a beat. "I love you, you know."
"And I love you, too," was Amanda's reply.
The remainder of the morning commute was spent with small talk. The boys, their grades, the upcoming baseball season and, of course, the baby were all brought up to varying degrees. Lee loved these conversations the best. He knew in his mind that he now belonged to a real family; their talks confirmed it in his heart.
The bullpen was the usual flurry of Monday morning activity. Lee's first stop was the coffee pot. The coffee was never really good but at least it kept him awake. Next stop, the Monday morning staff meeting. There it was the usual hour and a half of international news, assassination attempts and new assignments. Lee and Amanda were given an assignment in which their cover was a married couple, Mr. and Mrs. Leland Stedman, looking to adopt a child. There were suspicions that the International Child Adoption Agency was using unsuspecting potential parents to smuggle secrets out of the country. Amanda felt uncomfortable with their written cover. Adoptions, even through international channels, took months to even get rolling. It would look rather unusual for a pregnant couple to try to adopt a baby. Lee saw the panic on his wife's face and squeezed her hand. He was telling her that everything would be all right.
They left the conference room and followed Billy into his office. Francine saw them holding hands. My, my, don't they ever get enough. One would think so, especially now that she was pregnant. This was getting very old very fast. Ever since they had gotten married, or at least once everyone knew about it, those two couldn't go five minutes without touching. It really aggravated her. Though she had to admit that there was probably some jealousy in there, too. If a man looked at her once the way Lee looked at Amanda all the time, Francine Desmond could die a happy woman.
Francine was also very anxious for them to announce their "little secret". Ever since she had overheard Amanda's conversation with her doctor on Friday, Francine had been dying to spread the news. She just didn't feel like dealing with Lee or Amanda if she spread the news too early. She had already offered her congratulations to them privately, before the staff meeting. It looked like they were going to tell Billy, so soon she could let the news spread. In truth, the distain she showed for their relationship was not real. It covered the jealousy she felt.
Lee closed the office door and drew the blinds on the office window. "What's the matter, Lee?" Billy asked, concerned.
"Billy, I need a new partner for this assignment." Lee said. Billy was very confused now. They had fought Dr. Smyth to keep their partnership. There had been so much fallout from Smyth's anger, his superior had fired him. According to the official report, Smyth was a loose cannon, a threat to national security. He was "let go" and stripped of his security clearance. The truth was that the President disliked Smyth intensely and Smyth's attempts to break up the best agent team that the Agency had ever seen was the last straw. Everyone thought the DC section ran better without Smyth around. Agents were allowed their personal lives now with intrusions only when national security demanded it, not when Dr. Smyth's whims swirled. The President himself drafted the order securing the partnership of Scarecrow and Glinda. Glinda was Amanda's new code name. Lee had suggested it; she worked magic over him. Francine had all she could do to stop from gagging at the sweetness that gushed from Lee's mouth when he had explained that. Billy's mind came back to the agent-couple seated in front of them. His confused expression forced Lee to continue without prompting.
"Well, Billy, Amanda needs to come out of the field for a while and it would look strange for a pregnant woman to fill out an application for adoption." Lee continued without missing a beat.
A wide grin crept across their boss's dark features. A laugh filled the room as he shook Lee's hand and hugged Amanda. "Congratulations !! When is the great arrival?"
"August, sir." Amanda replied. "Thank you, sir, for being so happy for us"
"You know, Amanda, before you, I could see this man on a path of self destruction." Billy pointed to Lee. "Now I see nothing but good things for him, for you both."
"Thank you, sir."
"Lee, how would you feel about Francine working with you on this one? Every other female agent has already assigned and Francine has been after me to use her for more field work."
"Francine and I did always work well together." Lee said. 'Not as well as Amanda and I' he thought, but he said, "OK."
Billy called Francine into the office. The section chief filled her in on the assignment and she readily agreed; Francine genuinely liked Lee and enjoyed working with him. She also respected him....and his partner and was glad that their relationship just wasn't some kind of "backgammon game" Lee had been so good at in the past. Billy also assigned Amanda to desk duty for the duration of her pregnancy. When their meeting was over, Francine went straight to the water cooler. She was in her element, now. Francine still remembered the looks on some of the steno pool girl's faces when she let it out that the rumors were true that Lee Stetson had married his housewife. For six months, she had heard the determined voice of more than one of these girls say that Lee could be lured away from Amanda, some had been even foolish enough to try. To his credit, Lee was always polite and gentlemanly. This should stop the attempts once and for all. It didn't matter how much Lee and Amanda made her feel sticky sweet, they were the best team Francine Desmond had ever met and it bothered her that those who thought they wanted Lee, only saw the old Lee, not the man he had become. they didn't deserve that, no one did. The first person Francine saw was Lila. She was just as bad a gossip as Francine, or worse. She also had it bad for Lee. This was going to be fun.
"Hey, Lila." Francine started. "Have you heard that Lee is going to be a daddy? Amanda's pregnant."
Lila dropped her cup of water, looked pale for a second and turned on her heel back to her desk. By the end of the work day, Lee and Amanda would be having twins or triplets and getting a divorce. One thread of rumor had Lee defecting to escape the responsibilities of fatherhood. Francine would fill Amanda in on the office gossip and she would actually get revenge. Nothing too nasty, after all this was Amanda. Her favorite revenge was fattening snacks. The steno pool would be receiving lots of cookies, cakes, and fudge from now on from Amanda. This is going to be fun, thought Francine as she went back to the bullpen to create her and Lee's new covers for their assignment.