TPWP ch3 Title: The Price We Pay

Disclosure: Warner Brothers Television Distribution and Shoot The Moon Productions owns these characters, as well as to the writers, and actors who created and portrayed them. Generous references to the past and the events of the 4th season… I don't make any money off of this – my only reward is my personal satisfaction at having written a decent story (and the story is all mine). Oh, and any new characters that you meet along the way - those are creations from my own twisted imagination, so hands off, unless you ask for permission to play with them.

See Chapter 1 for more information on timing and all that other good stuff...

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Saturday afternoon found Jaime and Lee unpacking books in the den. Amanda had cleared out a few shelves for Lee's collection of books that he had collected in his travels and throughout his life. They worked quietly side-by-side unpacking the boxes in order – Jaime pulling books out and handing them to Lee who kept busy placing them on shelves.

Lee really enjoyed the time that he was spending with Jaime these days. They were finally starting to find common ground to talk about how things were changing all around them. Joe had called earlier in the morning to ask Amanda to lunch to discuss something with her, and she wanted to assure him that the boys were doing fine adjusting to Lee's presence. Lee was trying to adjust to having a real family for the first time in his life; Jaime was trying to adjust to having a male parent who was always around, and to a brother who seemed to resent that fact. Philip was currently over at a friend's house (he seemed to live at his different friend's houses lately) and they probably wouldn't see him until after dinner. It seemed, since the big confrontation between the two, that Philip was doing everything he could to avoid being around Lee.

Jaime finally broke the comfortable silence that had come between them as they worked. "Lee, why my mom?"

Not thinking, he replied, "Because I love her. Why else?" He looked up at his youngest stepson, to find that that couldn't have been the right answer. Jaime was looking at him quizzically with his head tilted to the side. "Um, that wasn't the question you were asking, was it?"

"No. I was asking about your jobs. You've already admitted that you deal with some government secrets and that there are people who want those secrets. It sounds like some pretty serious stuff." Jaime paused for a moment, but before Lee could speak he continued his thought. "How did my mom get a job working with government secrets? I thought it was just a simple administrative job at a film company when she started."

Lee remembered that first moment and spoke before he realized what he was saying, the words coming out of nowhere at all: "It's the Shriner's fault."

"Excuse me?"

Jaime's voice brought Lee out of his reverie. He chuckled, and continued. "Let me tell you a story about a train station and an unexpected Shriner's convention. Some people would think that your mom was in the wrong place at the wrong time. She and I don't think that – she was in the right place at the right time. I needed some help getting a package to someone on the train, and I wasn't going to be able to do it. I asked her to get on the train, and give it to the guy in the red hat. Unfortunately for her, and lucky for me, there was a Shriner's convention on the train, and she didn't know who to give it to. So she brought it home. One thing led to another, and she ended up helping me out more than I cared to admit or recognize at the time."

Jaime pondered this for a moment. "So, you didn't want Mom's help?"

"Well, I did, but I don't think I knew it at the time. Jaime, 5 years ago, I was a carefree guy who dated a different woman every week. Footloose and fancy free – on the social register all the time, at all the great parties. And here's my boss telling me that I should work with this woman – a divorced mom of two kids who's into the PTA and coaching little league. You have no idea what was going through my mind at the time, and I'm not about to insult your mom to your face by covering that ground again." Lee stopped for a minute, thinking back quickly over a few choice instances where he could have been kinder to this woman who turned his life inside-out, upside-down, and now he couldn't live without her.

"I did, and said, some pretty hurtful things, but through it all your mom stuck by me. And she turned out to be really good at her job – she didn't know anything about-" at this he caught himself before he said anything questionable, "-the business, but learned everything she could as fast as she could. I was too self-absorbed to realize how much she learned and how quickly. I didn't give her the credit she deserved. Every once in a while now, she surprises me with something new she knows or has learned. And I never knew that someone could read your mind as well as your mother reads mine." He had been looking down and working on the shelves through most of his speech, carefully wording it as he went along, but this moment he looked up at Jaime to find that the boy was watching him with an amused look on his face.

"Mom's always had a few tricks up her sleeve." He looked up at Lee with a slight smile. "She knows more than she lets on, and she always will."

"Yeah, I guess she will. Keeps me on my toes. Jaime, can I give you a piece of advice? Don't ever underestimate anyone you meet. You never know what great tricks they might have up their sleeves."

"Yeah, you're right. Hey Lee, can I ask you something else?"

Lee was amazed that Jaime could jump from one topic to another so quickly. Or so he thought. "Sure, what do you want to know?"

"What was in the package?"

"What package?"

"Duh. You're as bad as Philip sometimes. What was in the package that you asked Mom to give to the guy on the train? What else could we have been talking about?" Jaime looked over at Lee with an exasperated look on his face that reminded the older man how much this boy was like his mother.

"Oh. It was silly. It was just a music box." Lee looked up to see Jaime thinking about something very hard.

"Was it broken? A little square china music box?"

"Yeah, I think so… wait a second, how did you- oh, that's right," by this point, Lee had trailed off a bit in volume. Jaime was still pulling books out of boxes and lining them up in piles. Lee continued on, musing almost to himself, not realizing that he was speaking out loud. "You guys opened the package, and that's how we knew about Mrs. Welch."

"Mrs. Who?"

Lee was startled to be caught reminiscing about the case that brought he and Amanda together. "Oh, nothing. Let's get this done, before your mom gets home and thinks we just goofed around all afternoon, ok?" With that, Lee grabbed the nearest pile of books and set to straightening them on the shelf. Jaime just shrugged his shoulders and moved to fold up the empty cartons.

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Across the city, Amanda arrived 10 minutes late to the restaurant, to find Joe waiting patiently at their table.

"Amanda, I hope you don't mind that I already ordered. Just salads. We can get something else if you're hungry?"

"No, sweetheart. The salad is just fine. How's Carrie?"

"Carrie's fine." The waiter arrived at just that moment with their salads; Amanda dug right into hers, while Joe just picked around things.

"Joe, is something wrong?" Amanda had put down her fork, and folder her hands at the edge of the table. Figuring that it might be about Carrie judging from his short response, she wasn't sure how to handle the situation. It's one thing to talk with your ex-spouse over lunch, while it's an entirely different matter to discuss your respective new spouses.

"I guess I'll come right to the point, Amanda. What are you going to do now?"

"Joe, I don't follow you."

"What are you going to do about your job?" While Joe knew that Amanda was involved with The Agency, he wasn't quite fully aware to what extent. Nor did he know that they had lost their jobs.

"Joe, don't worry about The Agency. It doesn't matter anymore."

"What are you thinking? Of course it matters! You two work in dangerous jobs and come home to our sons. What if something happens at home? What if someone follows you home one night? What if-"

"Joe, don't you think that I've been through this over and over again? That Lee and I have covered this territory since we started seeing each other? Someone could follow me home just on the idea that I work for The Agency. But that hasn't happened yet."

"Yet. Isn't that the operative word? You haven't been working there long enough to make enemies. Lee has. How does it feel to be a moving target for your new husband?"

Amanda pulled back slightly from the table. Previously, Joe had seemed ok with the idea that she and Lee were married, but now it seemed like he'd spun around 180 degrees. The only way she thought of to be able to diffuse some of his anger was to let him in on some of the truth. "Joe, there's something I ought to tell you."

"Don't change the subject, Amanda."

"I'm not. Joe, I've been working for The Agency for almost 5 years." The clatter of his silverware against the salad plate brought a few looks from other nearby diners.

"5 years!" Joe's tone of voice and increasing volume drew a few more interested stares.

"Joe! Keep your voice down. This isn't something that I broadcast around. Yes, it's been 5 years."

"How did this happen? How'd you get involved with this place for 5 years?" Joe looked confused. And Amanda didn't really want to cover this part of sensitive ground. She took a deep breath before starting.

"Well, I was taking a friend to catch a train, and this very desperate looking waiter came up to me and asked for my help. He asked me to take a package from him and give it to a man in a red hat. That's all I had to do, and I could forget the whole incident ever happened."

"But you didn't. You had to take the package home, find out what was in the package, who it was from, and why the man in the red hat had to have it, right?" Joe knew his ex-wife's curious streak ran over two miles wide, and he smiled, knowing he was right.

"Not exactly." Amanda took a sip of water. "I did have to take the package home, but not necessarily because I wanted to."

"Excuse me?" Joe looked truly confused. "You didn't want to take the package home?"

"No. I wanted to be able to forget about the whole thing, but I couldn't give the package to the person it was intended for in the first place."

"Why not?"

Amanda was thinking about that very first moment that she met Lee, and replied, "It's the Shriner's fault." Amanda took another sip of water and a bite of her salad. While she was chewing, she watched Joe's reaction to her answer. She was completely unaware that the very same response had been given to her youngest son at the same time she gave it to her ex-husband.

Joe had become accustomed to Amanda's strange stream of consciousness way of getting to the point, but this was a little too far out in left field.

"Amanda, what are you talking about?"

"Shriner's, Joe – they wear these little hats-"

"I know. A fez. So, what does this have to have do the train and the package?"

"All the hats were red."

"So wh- oh." Joe nodded as he made the connection, looking down at his barely eaten salad. "And the desperate looking waiter was-"

"…He was Lee." Amanda finished for Joe. "I don't know why I did it. He was begging me for my help, and for some reason I just couldn't turn him down. Long story short, I ended up helping him out with what was going on related to the package, and that's when Mr. Melrose offered me some part-time work there. One thing led to another, and…" Amanda trailed off, remembering some of the things that happened in those first couple of years she worked with Lee.

"And you and Lee got involved."

"No, not right away. When I first got to know him he was the most shallow, self-centered, egotistical man I had ever met. Then I got to know him a little better, and found out some things that he admitted that he had never told anyone."

While Amanda was speaking, Joe marveled at her ability to draw conversation out of anyone, no matter how tough the subject was to discuss. He had to admit that this was probably one of her more valuable skills as an agent.

"Before I knew it, 3 years had passed. I had gotten some training along the way, made some friends, earned a little respect for my skills. I felt, in some small way, I was helping make the world a nicer place to live. Remember when you came back from Estocia and had that trouble with the Prime Minister and the EAO, and may I remind you that our sons were in that gym during that incident and it wasn't Agency related?"

"Good point. How could I forget? All that trouble I got into… And that was the first time that I'd seen you in a long time. You seemed so different."

"Well, you'd said that whatever it was that I was doing suited me. Well, it wasn't just what I was doing at The Agency, but also whom I was seeing there. That's around the same time that Lee and I started seeing each other."

"Ah. That's why I saw him at Dooley's that night." Joe admitted this and kept pushing his salad around the plate.

"You saw him there? Oh, Joe, I had no idea he was going to be there. And I didn't think you'd seen him."

"How could I not notice how distracted you'd gotten after we finished dancing? It's all right, Amanda. I pretty much knew that it was over for the two of us, but I had to ask that night. But I still don't understand how you can work with Lee and not be concerned with some of the enemies that he's made over the years."

"Joe, a lot of Lee's enemies are some of mine too. There are a few who've tried to come back for revenge and that's when they could have built a grudge against me. There are countless others that we've encountered together for the first time. But through all the situations that Lee and I have been in, we're always watching out for each other. We have been since that very first day. We're on the same wavelength sometimes, and it's comforting that he knows what I'm thinking with just a look."

Joe nodded. They had never had that kind of non-verbal communication, and he was experiencing this for the first time with Carrie. He watched Amanda take a long sip of her water and then pick her fork up again and the look on her face change to something more thoughtful and introspective. He wondered what she was thinking about, but decided not to ask as he noticed an almost imperceptible shake of her head.

If she only knew that the conversation she had been having with Joe was startlingly similar to the one Lee was having with Jaime at pretty much the same time.

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On Monday morning, Billy found himself walking around as usual, balancing the morning news, a few overstuffed file folders, a cup of coffee and a doughnut. He walked into his office to find Becca Dobson already there, comfortably sipping a cup of coffee sitting on the small couch across from his desk.

"Good morning, Billy. I know you're always busy, especially on Monday mornings, but I thought waiting for you here would be a good idea." She looked up with a smile.

"Morning, Becca. And you're right, some things never change. What do you need?"

"Something to do. Billy, I've been out of rotation for a while, and I need something to do. I've done enough milk runs in the last few days to drive even completely green rookies nuts. I need a challenge."

Billy set down his armful of paperwork while barely disturbing the coffee and doughnut. He wondered when he was going to have this conversation with Becca, and it came a lot earlier than he had expected it to.

"Becca, I thought that you'd appreciate the milk runs. After 4 years on assignment, I thought you'd want a vacation from the tough stuff. I have enough agents to cover-"

"Cut it, Billy. Remember, Francine told me all about Lee and his partner being let go. I know you're scrambling, and why waste my talents on milk runs that you could give to the first year's?" Becca had made an excellent argument, but she didn't expect the curve ball that was about to come her way.

"You're absolutely right." Billy paused to take a bite of his doughnut and watched his agent carefully. She was about to say something and then stopped to stare at him. He chewed the mouthful carefully and smiled to himself. He had been giving this some thought for a couple of days already, and figured that when Becca came to him, he'd offer the position to her. "Becca, how would you feel about taking on the Q Bureau? It would be on a temporary basis until I can get Lee and Amanda reinstated."

"Lee's office? Are you sure?" Becca wasn't thrilled about this twist in the conversation, but the Q was never boring, and she certainly could use the experience running the department.

"Yup. I need someone experienced, and I can't spare Francine. I have to be honest with you – you have some huge shoes to fill. Lee and Amanda are the best team that this Agency has ever seen, and they ran that Q Bureau very efficiently. Francine was my first choice to take it over when Lee was officially terminated, but as I said, I can't spare her. You're next in line. So, what do you say?" He knew he had his agent as soon as he looked up at her face.

"Thanks, Billy. I'll take it."

"It means paperwork, Boo, and I know you hate that more than Scarecrow does."

"No problem. I'll take anything over boring milk runs."