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...
I apologize for all the delays in getting more parts of this story to you all - and I spent quite a bit of time writing and polishing this holiday weekend - not to tease you, but I have the next 3 parts written... and I'm going to dole them out in pieces (believe me, I need the time to write part 12, 'cuz you're going to hate me if I post 11 and don't have 12 ready quickly after...), but until then, without further ado, here's part 9....
~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK
The morning sunlight streamed into the windows and as the sun slowly shifted, one beam fell directly into Lee's face. He slowly blinked in an attempt to become accustomed to the light, and found that he felt sluggish and unable to move. The primary cause of both of these feelings was fairly obvious after a disoriented second: Amanda had kept him quite awake for most of the night, and the upper half of her body was still lying across his. He attempted to stifle the yawn that was building up, but couldn't; the resulting sound and movement woke Amanda up. "Sorry," he whispered.
Amanda tried to move away, but Lee's arms found their way around her back and kept her in place. "You don't seem *that* sorry," she teased.
"No. Guess not. It's bright in here. What time is it anyway?" Lee lifted his head and turned toward the clock radio. He looked from one side of the bed to the other. It wasn't on either side table. It was on Amanda's side when they had come upstairs; at least he thought it had been. "Amanda, where's the clock?"
"What do you mean, where's the clock?" Amanda sat up, the covers falling away from her. She leaned over Lee to look on the floor on his side of the bed, then away from him to look over the other side. As she sat up and leaned over the other side, Lee sat up as well. "It's here. On the floor." She picked it up from its upside-down position, looked at it, and groaned. The clock had fallen so that it was resting on the snooze button - had they drawn the blinds tightly, they would never have woken up. "It's 8:35, Lee."
Lee leaned his head back towards the headboard. "The staff meeting is at 9. We're never going to make it on time. I'll call Billy-"
"And tell him what?" Amanda sat at the edge of the bed and smiled at her husband, her 'I-have-a-secret-and-you-don't' type of smile. "How our clock ended up being upside-down on the floor next to the bed for the entire night and we didn't notice? And exactly how," at this she arched an eyebrow at him, "are we going to explain how *your* feet knocked the clock off the table?"
"Good point. We'll just 'get stuck in traffic' on our way in. And how are you so sure that it was *my* feet that knocked the clock off the table. It could have been you." Lee got up, and grabbed for his boxers on the floor next to the bed. He dug around and then reached just under the bed and found them before heading into the bathroom. Sitting on the bed, Amanda watched him walk into the bathroom, musing on how attractive he was with and without clothes on.
"Yes, sweetheart, it could have just as easily been me, and how would we explain *that* to Mr. Melrose?"
He partially closed the door after smiling coyly at his wife, and Amanda got up to pull out something to wear for the day ahead. After hearing the toilet flush and the shower come on, Amanda sauntered into the bathroom and firmly shut the door with nothing on but a smile and a greeting: "Hi there, Big Fella…"
The 'traffic' they were to encounter on the way into work had just gotten a little more intense.
~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK
An hour and 15 minutes later they were rushing into the Georgetown foyer to the curious gaze of Mrs. Marsten. "Mr. Melrose is expecting you two, and he's not pleased." She looked over her glasses at Amanda, and then turned to glare at Lee.
"Sorry, traffic," Lee mumbled as he attached his badge.
"Good morning, Mrs. Marsten. It was really, um, complicated trying to get in here today." Amanda smiled as brightly as possible, hoping that the older woman would stop glaring and release the elevator for the underground levels. Her luck held, as she heard the elevator come to the foyer level.
"I'm sure it was, Mrs. King. I'm sure it was." She smiled after the two agents as they got into the elevator. It was a nice embellishment that Amanda had put on the explanation, but it only took one look at Scarecrow and Mrs. King to know what really happened. And from what they looked like, Virginia Marsten would have given anything at that moment to be 25 years younger, and as lucky as Amanda King-Stetson had been that morning.
~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK
All heads turned at the two agents who walked in late. Billy stopped his speech and watched while they took the remaining two seats at the table. "I hate to repeat myself, people, so next time could you try to make it to the meeting on time?"
"Sorry, Billy. We got stuck in traffic. The commute in from Arlington wasn't pretty." Amanda simply nodded her agreement with Lee's comments, as he squeezed her hand under the table.
"I'm sure it was, Scarecrow. Now let's get back to the business at hand…" Billy's voice drifted off into the background as Lee looked at Amanda and recalled moments from the night before, of that morning in the shower, and of staff meetings long ago where she would sit across the table from him, and it would be just sheer torture that he couldn't touch her, couldn't tell her how he was feeling, couldn't tell the world that he loved her. It was very uplifting and freeing to Lee that they didn't have to hide anything from the world anymore. There were, of course, things that put dampers on everything however, and Becca trying to lean against him during the meeting was one of those things. Lee just kept inching forward in his seat until he was practically sitting on Amanda's chair.
~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK
As soon as the meeting had ended, Becca took off out of the conference room as quickly as possible. Lee lingered back for a couple of minutes to avoid the elevator ride up to the Q with Becca, and to have one more cup of coffee with Amanda. They parted ways for the morning with a quick kiss and a promise to have lunch together. He left her at her desk, and made his way out of the bullpen. She sat for a moment before starting in on the files and assorted paperwork that had made it to her desk. A half hour later she had made great progress in the piles, reassigning the administrative works to the steno pool, and the Embassy assignments to the various agents who specialized in those particular countries, when she ran across a plain envelope stamped 'Confidential' and with her name typed across its front. She set it aside for a moment to finish prepping some work that would head for Effram Beeman's latest rookie class, before turning her attention back to it. After a moment of looking at it from all angles, she opened it. It was another of those mysterious letters she had been receiving at home.
'He's a watcher, as we all are, but why would he want to watch you?' Another typewritten taunt. A taunt that confirmed that this had to be originating from someone who worked for The Agency - not only for what it said, but the fact that it was found on her desk. Amanda got up from her desk, with the letter in hand, and walked towards Billy's office, knocked and walked in. As soon as he saw the look on her face, Billy got up and started shutting the blinds that lined his office windows. Amanda moved to sit on the couch and held out the letter for Billy to read, waiting for him to take it before placing her head down on her knees and wrapping her arms around herself.
The next thing she knew, Billy was yelling into the phone at someone - to pull any surveillance tapes that they might have, to put a head on a platter for this abuse, to have Lee get down from the Q right away. He put down the phone softly, realizing that what Amanda has said earlier in the week had to be true - this had to be the work of someone inside The Agency - someone close. 'But who?' he thought, as he beat his fist into his opposite hand. As he placed his hands down at the edge of his desk, supporting him before he leaned against it.
"Amanda, I'm going to recommend that you and Lee pack your things up and work at home. I can get you two all the equipment that you need, and having the two of you together means that I can place a couple of shadows with you." Billy looked down towards Amanda who was nodding into her knees. He wasn't sure, but it seemed that Amanda was shaking slightly. To try and draw Amanda's attention away from what was going on, he decided to ask about manpower. "You know, we should have someone at the house with you who is familiar with the Q and its current caseload. How about Becca?"
Amanda suddenly looked up and straight towards Billy. "No! Not Becca. I've almost cleared my desk down here, and I wasn't really doing anything that important. Lee can get me up to speed on the Q and I can be his assistance at home." Amanda looked up at the blinds as if she could see the bullpen outside. "If it's all right with you, Mr. Melrose, Lee and I can work together again - it'll be in secret, but we'll be together."
"I thought you two didn't want any more secrets," Billy chuckled. "I guess one more won't make a difference. Amanda, why don't you want Becca to come with you?"
"I don't know. There's something about Boo that I don't trust, that can't be trusted. I don't know why, it's just a feeling." Amanda looked up to meet Billy's eyes.
"O.K. No Becca. We'll have to run this past Lee, though, so that you're both all right with your idea that Boo isn't to be trusted?" As Amanda nodded, Billy began to ponder a thought, but didn't have time to finish it as Dr. Smyth walked into the office. Both adults turned at the older man's sharp voice.
"Gee, and I wonder if it's Scarecrow who can really be trusted. Mrs. King - shouldn't that be Mrs. Stetson, Billy?" A puff of smoke came from the ever-present cigarette holder that Smyth always carried. "I heard the end of your conversation and just wondered if we can really trust the Scarecrow?"
Billy was enraged with the older man and his sniping comments. "Smyth! You've never had an agent who has been more loyal than Stetson! I'm surprised he still puts up with you after Stemwinder, and that mess with T.P. Aquinas. You've never had a better agent. If I were he, I would have picked up and left by now. Now, will you stop being a bitter old man, and tell us why you're in my office!"
"I just thought I would stop by and see how things were moving along, but it seems that I've come at a bad time."
"That's not why you're here, is it?" Amanda raised her head, and looked straight at Dr. Smyth. "And you meant every word of what you said about questioning Lee's loyalty to The Agency. You may not like my husband, and you may not like me, but that's no reason to treat us like traitors or suspect us every time you feel like picking on someone." Amanda stopped to take a breath, and a thought struck her. She spoke aloud, without realizing she was doing so. "Makes me wonder if you're responsible for those notes. Then again, that social status of yours would prohibit you from doing anything scandalous."
"You're right on that point, King." Dr. Smyth took another puff on his cigarette, shot a look at Billy and left the office. As he left he brushed back Lee, who was out of breath and looked like he'd run the whole way from the Q Bureau.
The younger agent stopped in his tracks at the sight of his wife, her head slowly lifting from where she had placed it once again on her arms after Smyth left. She looked tired, beaten, and frightened half to death. "It was on my desk, Lee. On my desk." In her voice he could hear the resignation that said she was right about it being someone inside The Agency who was responsible for this harassment, and she wasn't happy at all about being right. She placed her head back on her arms.
"Lee, take Amanda home. And before you give me any reason not to," at this, Billy held up a hand, "you'll have shadows following you, and I can clear you both to work at home. Lee, would you like to have some extra assistance in Arlington?"
Lee was busy crouching down next to Amanda, holding her hands and trying to get her to look him in the eye. She simply stared down at her shoes.
"Lee?" Billy's voice brought him out of his focus on Amanda. "Would you like some help in Arlington?"
"Yeah, sure Billy. Whatever you want." He turned back to Amanda, and Billy knew that Lee's focus was going to be shot for a couple of days.
"Amanda doesn't want Becca to be you shadow, although she's most familiar with your cases."
"Whatever Amanda wants, Billy. Anything." Lee hadn't stopped staring towards Amanda, willing her to look him in the eye.
"Well then, if there's one thing I've learned in the last few years, Amanda-" Lee cut Billy off to finish his sentence.
"-It's to trust *your* instincts, Mrs. King." Lee smiled at Amanda and placed his forehead to hers. "Remember the blue wire," he whispered. Amanda smiled and he pulled her into a hug. A thought struck him, and he looked back at Billy. "What did the old man want, Billy?"
"Nothing."
"Nothing but your head on a platter again." Amanda turned her head and focused back on her husband. "He was in here asking if we could trust you."
Lee turned away, a look of disgust on his face. As he looked to Amanda, he buried his head into the curve of her neck, and she started whispering into his ear to not listen to Smyth, the man was all smoke and no substance. Billy suspected that the words were as much for her as they were for Lee. Lee sighed loudly as he shifted his weight back onto the couch, Amanda leaning into his shoulder as he did so. "Billy, will he ever let up?"
Billy shook his head. "Not likely. Not until they pry that cigarette holder from his cold, dead hands."
Lee chuckled; Amanda held back a smile as much as possible. "I don't understand it, Mr. Melrose. I know that I didn't come into The Agency in the most conventional of means, but is this the price I have to pay?"
"The price we pay, Amanda." Lee placed a finger under her chin and turned her head so that she was looking straight at him. "Me? I pay for recruiting you, the humble housewife, and you pay for sticking around, and we pay for getting involved with each other. It's really my fault."
"No, Lee, it's not. It's my tail too."
"Stop it, both of you! It's as much my fault as it is Lee's. I kept bringing Amanda in to work with you, Lee; she was good for you. She *is* good for you. Now go home, and don't worry about anything." Billy smiled down at his two agents.
They looked at each other and nodded. Amanda spoke softly to Lee, "Yeah, it's his fault we're together." The two agents chuckled softly at her statement, and Billy nodded, trying not to laugh.
"Billy, Becca's got the Q handled, but I want you to keep an eye on her. She files things so that I can't find them anymore, and some of the ways she's doing this don't make any sense."
"No problem, Lee. I'll send Francine up there later to 'drop in and say hi'. Now go home!"
Lee helped Amanda up, and placed his hand on her elbow to guide her out of the office. Billy followed them and watched them walk out of the bullpen. As they progressed towards the doors, so did their movements toward each other. Lee's arm had moved to wrap around Amanda's waist, and her head was resting on his shoulder as they slowly walked away. Billy closed his office door and leaned against it. 'Why does life have to be so hard for these two?' Knowing that the question wouldn't be easily answered that moment, he sat down at his desk and started reviewing the latest version of the morning news before calling Francine into his office.
TBC
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...
I apologize for all the delays in getting more parts of this story to you all - and I spent quite a bit of time writing and polishing this holiday weekend - not to tease you, but I have the next 3 parts written... and I'm going to dole them out in pieces (believe me, I need the time to write part 12, 'cuz you're going to hate me if I post 11 and don't have 12 ready quickly after...), but until then, without further ado, here's part 9....
~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK
The morning sunlight streamed into the windows and as the sun slowly shifted, one beam fell directly into Lee's face. He slowly blinked in an attempt to become accustomed to the light, and found that he felt sluggish and unable to move. The primary cause of both of these feelings was fairly obvious after a disoriented second: Amanda had kept him quite awake for most of the night, and the upper half of her body was still lying across his. He attempted to stifle the yawn that was building up, but couldn't; the resulting sound and movement woke Amanda up. "Sorry," he whispered.
Amanda tried to move away, but Lee's arms found their way around her back and kept her in place. "You don't seem *that* sorry," she teased.
"No. Guess not. It's bright in here. What time is it anyway?" Lee lifted his head and turned toward the clock radio. He looked from one side of the bed to the other. It wasn't on either side table. It was on Amanda's side when they had come upstairs; at least he thought it had been. "Amanda, where's the clock?"
"What do you mean, where's the clock?" Amanda sat up, the covers falling away from her. She leaned over Lee to look on the floor on his side of the bed, then away from him to look over the other side. As she sat up and leaned over the other side, Lee sat up as well. "It's here. On the floor." She picked it up from its upside-down position, looked at it, and groaned. The clock had fallen so that it was resting on the snooze button - had they drawn the blinds tightly, they would never have woken up. "It's 8:35, Lee."
Lee leaned his head back towards the headboard. "The staff meeting is at 9. We're never going to make it on time. I'll call Billy-"
"And tell him what?" Amanda sat at the edge of the bed and smiled at her husband, her 'I-have-a-secret-and-you-don't' type of smile. "How our clock ended up being upside-down on the floor next to the bed for the entire night and we didn't notice? And exactly how," at this she arched an eyebrow at him, "are we going to explain how *your* feet knocked the clock off the table?"
"Good point. We'll just 'get stuck in traffic' on our way in. And how are you so sure that it was *my* feet that knocked the clock off the table. It could have been you." Lee got up, and grabbed for his boxers on the floor next to the bed. He dug around and then reached just under the bed and found them before heading into the bathroom. Sitting on the bed, Amanda watched him walk into the bathroom, musing on how attractive he was with and without clothes on.
"Yes, sweetheart, it could have just as easily been me, and how would we explain *that* to Mr. Melrose?"
He partially closed the door after smiling coyly at his wife, and Amanda got up to pull out something to wear for the day ahead. After hearing the toilet flush and the shower come on, Amanda sauntered into the bathroom and firmly shut the door with nothing on but a smile and a greeting: "Hi there, Big Fella…"
The 'traffic' they were to encounter on the way into work had just gotten a little more intense.
~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK
An hour and 15 minutes later they were rushing into the Georgetown foyer to the curious gaze of Mrs. Marsten. "Mr. Melrose is expecting you two, and he's not pleased." She looked over her glasses at Amanda, and then turned to glare at Lee.
"Sorry, traffic," Lee mumbled as he attached his badge.
"Good morning, Mrs. Marsten. It was really, um, complicated trying to get in here today." Amanda smiled as brightly as possible, hoping that the older woman would stop glaring and release the elevator for the underground levels. Her luck held, as she heard the elevator come to the foyer level.
"I'm sure it was, Mrs. King. I'm sure it was." She smiled after the two agents as they got into the elevator. It was a nice embellishment that Amanda had put on the explanation, but it only took one look at Scarecrow and Mrs. King to know what really happened. And from what they looked like, Virginia Marsten would have given anything at that moment to be 25 years younger, and as lucky as Amanda King-Stetson had been that morning.
~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK
All heads turned at the two agents who walked in late. Billy stopped his speech and watched while they took the remaining two seats at the table. "I hate to repeat myself, people, so next time could you try to make it to the meeting on time?"
"Sorry, Billy. We got stuck in traffic. The commute in from Arlington wasn't pretty." Amanda simply nodded her agreement with Lee's comments, as he squeezed her hand under the table.
"I'm sure it was, Scarecrow. Now let's get back to the business at hand…" Billy's voice drifted off into the background as Lee looked at Amanda and recalled moments from the night before, of that morning in the shower, and of staff meetings long ago where she would sit across the table from him, and it would be just sheer torture that he couldn't touch her, couldn't tell her how he was feeling, couldn't tell the world that he loved her. It was very uplifting and freeing to Lee that they didn't have to hide anything from the world anymore. There were, of course, things that put dampers on everything however, and Becca trying to lean against him during the meeting was one of those things. Lee just kept inching forward in his seat until he was practically sitting on Amanda's chair.
~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK~~~SMK
As soon as the meeting had ended, Becca took off out of the conference room as quickly as possible. Lee lingered back for a couple of minutes to avoid the elevator ride up to the Q with Becca, and to have one more cup of coffee with Amanda. They parted ways for the morning with a quick kiss and a promise to have lunch together. He left her at her desk, and made his way out of the bullpen. She sat for a moment before starting in on the files and assorted paperwork that had made it to her desk. A half hour later she had made great progress in the piles, reassigning the administrative works to the steno pool, and the Embassy assignments to the various agents who specialized in those particular countries, when she ran across a plain envelope stamped 'Confidential' and with her name typed across its front. She set it aside for a moment to finish prepping some work that would head for Effram Beeman's latest rookie class, before turning her attention back to it. After a moment of looking at it from all angles, she opened it. It was another of those mysterious letters she had been receiving at home.
'He's a watcher, as we all are, but why would he want to watch you?' Another typewritten taunt. A taunt that confirmed that this had to be originating from someone who worked for The Agency - not only for what it said, but the fact that it was found on her desk. Amanda got up from her desk, with the letter in hand, and walked towards Billy's office, knocked and walked in. As soon as he saw the look on her face, Billy got up and started shutting the blinds that lined his office windows. Amanda moved to sit on the couch and held out the letter for Billy to read, waiting for him to take it before placing her head down on her knees and wrapping her arms around herself.
The next thing she knew, Billy was yelling into the phone at someone - to pull any surveillance tapes that they might have, to put a head on a platter for this abuse, to have Lee get down from the Q right away. He put down the phone softly, realizing that what Amanda has said earlier in the week had to be true - this had to be the work of someone inside The Agency - someone close. 'But who?' he thought, as he beat his fist into his opposite hand. As he placed his hands down at the edge of his desk, supporting him before he leaned against it.
"Amanda, I'm going to recommend that you and Lee pack your things up and work at home. I can get you two all the equipment that you need, and having the two of you together means that I can place a couple of shadows with you." Billy looked down towards Amanda who was nodding into her knees. He wasn't sure, but it seemed that Amanda was shaking slightly. To try and draw Amanda's attention away from what was going on, he decided to ask about manpower. "You know, we should have someone at the house with you who is familiar with the Q and its current caseload. How about Becca?"
Amanda suddenly looked up and straight towards Billy. "No! Not Becca. I've almost cleared my desk down here, and I wasn't really doing anything that important. Lee can get me up to speed on the Q and I can be his assistance at home." Amanda looked up at the blinds as if she could see the bullpen outside. "If it's all right with you, Mr. Melrose, Lee and I can work together again - it'll be in secret, but we'll be together."
"I thought you two didn't want any more secrets," Billy chuckled. "I guess one more won't make a difference. Amanda, why don't you want Becca to come with you?"
"I don't know. There's something about Boo that I don't trust, that can't be trusted. I don't know why, it's just a feeling." Amanda looked up to meet Billy's eyes.
"O.K. No Becca. We'll have to run this past Lee, though, so that you're both all right with your idea that Boo isn't to be trusted?" As Amanda nodded, Billy began to ponder a thought, but didn't have time to finish it as Dr. Smyth walked into the office. Both adults turned at the older man's sharp voice.
"Gee, and I wonder if it's Scarecrow who can really be trusted. Mrs. King - shouldn't that be Mrs. Stetson, Billy?" A puff of smoke came from the ever-present cigarette holder that Smyth always carried. "I heard the end of your conversation and just wondered if we can really trust the Scarecrow?"
Billy was enraged with the older man and his sniping comments. "Smyth! You've never had an agent who has been more loyal than Stetson! I'm surprised he still puts up with you after Stemwinder, and that mess with T.P. Aquinas. You've never had a better agent. If I were he, I would have picked up and left by now. Now, will you stop being a bitter old man, and tell us why you're in my office!"
"I just thought I would stop by and see how things were moving along, but it seems that I've come at a bad time."
"That's not why you're here, is it?" Amanda raised her head, and looked straight at Dr. Smyth. "And you meant every word of what you said about questioning Lee's loyalty to The Agency. You may not like my husband, and you may not like me, but that's no reason to treat us like traitors or suspect us every time you feel like picking on someone." Amanda stopped to take a breath, and a thought struck her. She spoke aloud, without realizing she was doing so. "Makes me wonder if you're responsible for those notes. Then again, that social status of yours would prohibit you from doing anything scandalous."
"You're right on that point, King." Dr. Smyth took another puff on his cigarette, shot a look at Billy and left the office. As he left he brushed back Lee, who was out of breath and looked like he'd run the whole way from the Q Bureau.
The younger agent stopped in his tracks at the sight of his wife, her head slowly lifting from where she had placed it once again on her arms after Smyth left. She looked tired, beaten, and frightened half to death. "It was on my desk, Lee. On my desk." In her voice he could hear the resignation that said she was right about it being someone inside The Agency who was responsible for this harassment, and she wasn't happy at all about being right. She placed her head back on her arms.
"Lee, take Amanda home. And before you give me any reason not to," at this, Billy held up a hand, "you'll have shadows following you, and I can clear you both to work at home. Lee, would you like to have some extra assistance in Arlington?"
Lee was busy crouching down next to Amanda, holding her hands and trying to get her to look him in the eye. She simply stared down at her shoes.
"Lee?" Billy's voice brought him out of his focus on Amanda. "Would you like some help in Arlington?"
"Yeah, sure Billy. Whatever you want." He turned back to Amanda, and Billy knew that Lee's focus was going to be shot for a couple of days.
"Amanda doesn't want Becca to be you shadow, although she's most familiar with your cases."
"Whatever Amanda wants, Billy. Anything." Lee hadn't stopped staring towards Amanda, willing her to look him in the eye.
"Well then, if there's one thing I've learned in the last few years, Amanda-" Lee cut Billy off to finish his sentence.
"-It's to trust *your* instincts, Mrs. King." Lee smiled at Amanda and placed his forehead to hers. "Remember the blue wire," he whispered. Amanda smiled and he pulled her into a hug. A thought struck him, and he looked back at Billy. "What did the old man want, Billy?"
"Nothing."
"Nothing but your head on a platter again." Amanda turned her head and focused back on her husband. "He was in here asking if we could trust you."
Lee turned away, a look of disgust on his face. As he looked to Amanda, he buried his head into the curve of her neck, and she started whispering into his ear to not listen to Smyth, the man was all smoke and no substance. Billy suspected that the words were as much for her as they were for Lee. Lee sighed loudly as he shifted his weight back onto the couch, Amanda leaning into his shoulder as he did so. "Billy, will he ever let up?"
Billy shook his head. "Not likely. Not until they pry that cigarette holder from his cold, dead hands."
Lee chuckled; Amanda held back a smile as much as possible. "I don't understand it, Mr. Melrose. I know that I didn't come into The Agency in the most conventional of means, but is this the price I have to pay?"
"The price we pay, Amanda." Lee placed a finger under her chin and turned her head so that she was looking straight at him. "Me? I pay for recruiting you, the humble housewife, and you pay for sticking around, and we pay for getting involved with each other. It's really my fault."
"No, Lee, it's not. It's my tail too."
"Stop it, both of you! It's as much my fault as it is Lee's. I kept bringing Amanda in to work with you, Lee; she was good for you. She *is* good for you. Now go home, and don't worry about anything." Billy smiled down at his two agents.
They looked at each other and nodded. Amanda spoke softly to Lee, "Yeah, it's his fault we're together." The two agents chuckled softly at her statement, and Billy nodded, trying not to laugh.
"Billy, Becca's got the Q handled, but I want you to keep an eye on her. She files things so that I can't find them anymore, and some of the ways she's doing this don't make any sense."
"No problem, Lee. I'll send Francine up there later to 'drop in and say hi'. Now go home!"
Lee helped Amanda up, and placed his hand on her elbow to guide her out of the office. Billy followed them and watched them walk out of the bullpen. As they progressed towards the doors, so did their movements toward each other. Lee's arm had moved to wrap around Amanda's waist, and her head was resting on his shoulder as they slowly walked away. Billy closed his office door and leaned against it. 'Why does life have to be so hard for these two?' Knowing that the question wouldn't be easily answered that moment, he sat down at his desk and started reviewing the latest version of the morning news before calling Francine into his office.
TBC
