1 A Little Push

by matahari2

Summary / Disclaimer, Etc.: See Chapter One.

Chapter Seven - Next Steps

Lee's emotions were in turmoil, after his failed evening with Leslie, and then Emily practically forcing him to confront his feelings for Amanda. A part of him wanted very much to rush over to Arlington and tell Amanda exactly how he felt about her, but what would he say? And how would she react? Truth be told, Emily had been right, he feared losing their close friendship...and he wasn't prepared for the rejection that might come. So, no, it wouldn't be tonight. How in heaven's name would he face her in the morning? With all of these thoughts spinning through his mind, he knew that sleep would be extremely hard to come by.

He was right about that; it was after 3:00 a.m. when he finally fell into a restless sleep, and after a short while his recurring dream began. On this occasion, there were two beautiful dark-haired women vying for his attention, one in a black dress, the other in the red dress from the first occurrence of the dream. Each of them was lovely in her own way, but only one of the two caught his attention, his 'lady in red', and they danced, and laughed, and had a wonderful time, but this time, when the music stopped, the dream didn't end. This time, he took her hand in his and they strolled out onto the terrace. He looked into her sparkling, almond-shaped, chocolate-colored eyes, and saw the reassurance he needed. He wrapped his arms around her slim waist, and kissed her lips tenderly. Just then, the dream was interrupted by an awful buzzing sound. Lee Stetson punched off the raucous alarm buzzer (could it possibly be any louder?!?), but somehow, he knew now who this 'mystery woman' was, and that he could trust her with his heart. Still, it would have to be business-as-usual for today...maybe tomorrow, after their current assignments were completed, they could begin to discuss 'other aspects' of their relationship.

At 8:30 a.m. when Lee Stetson entered the Georgetown foyer of IFF, Mrs. Marston greeted him, saying, "Good morning, Mr. Stetson. Mr. Melrose wants to see you immediately."

"All right, thank you, Mrs. Marston. Has Mrs. King arrived?"

"Yes. She's upstairs in the Q Bureau...she had taken a few tape cassettes with her, about half an hour ago."

"I see. Thank you," Lee said as he entered the elevator to descend to the third underground level.

Lee went straight to Billy Melrose's office. "Morning, Scarecrow," his boss started, "as it turns out, we did pick up some more radio transmissions last night, and Amanda's already started on those. Stevenson and Jenkins, who were watching young Mr. Necci and his friends at the Benjamin Franklin Hotel last night, spotted Aldo leaving the hotel and tailed him to the Lambda Chi fraternity house near the Georgetown campus. He didn't go inside the house, just seemed to be 'casing' the place. From there, he went to a bar and grill called 'Dooley's'. Stevenson said it didn't appear to be a meeting, but the guy did seem to be listening in on a few other conversations from his seat at the bar, and then he left and went back to the hotel about an hour later. That's as much as they saw."

"Okay, Billy, so it's possible that one or more of the students living in the Lambda Chi house may be targeted for one of those stolen ID badges that Amanda talked about a couple of days ago," Lee stated. "If that's true, those students could be in danger. We know these Red February guys won't hesitate to harm someone to get what they want."

"Right, Lee," said Billy, "that's official. Come in, Amanda," Billy called in response to her knocking and waving at the window.

"Good morning again, Sir. Good morning, Lee," she said with a cheery smile, then continued, "Sir, here are the transcriptions from last night. The only news that I heard on these tapes was that the Lambda Chi house was the residence of at least one of the students targeted for replacement, and that one of the people they planned to 'replace' was a wheelchair-bound student by the name of Larry Calcagno."

Billy Melrose said, "Thank you, Amanda. Lee, get a list of the students living in the Lambda Chi house, and get over there right away and let them know to be on their guard. I'll put some of our people on the frat house as well. This still may not cover all the bases, but at least we'll be protecting everyone we know about."

As Lee and Amanda exited Billy's office and headed for the elevator to the Georgetown foyer, Amanda had a pensive look, and Lee simply asked, "What?"

"Oh, it's nothing, Lee. I just seem to remember that my neighbor, you know, Jimmy Gianetti, the one I mentioned the other day? Well, anyway, I think I heard Mother say something about him pledging the Lambda Chi fraternity last fall. So I guess he could be in danger, too, that's all."

Lee smiled as he guided her into the elevator and said, "Well, Amanda, we're doing whatever we can to minimize that danger, right? So hopefully, everything will come out all right. Don't worry."

The two partners crossed the foyer with a goodbye to Mrs. Marston as they relinquished their ID badges and left on their errand. Lee helped Amanda into the low Corvette, and they drove toward the fraternity house.

Amanda, making friendly conversation, had to ask the inevitable question, "So how was your evening with...Leslie?"

Somehow, he just knew this would happen. Okay Stetson, better tell her at least part of the truth. "I've had better. Leslie and I sort of, well...parted company last night," he pieced it out, hesitantly.

"Why?" Amanda asked, before she could find a way to stop herself. Then she thought better of it, and continued, "Oh! I'm so sorry, Lee. Never mind. I had no right to ask that question...it's none of my business, really."

"Don't be sorry, Amanda," he said with a rueful smile, with his eyes fixed firmly on the road in front of him. "Remember, I've already told you that it's important to me that you care. It's just that I'm not sure I'm ready to open up to anyone with the complete answer to the 'why' question right now. Let's just say that the phrase 'conflict of interest' enters into the equation." He turned to her to say, "And most of the blame falls on me, for stupid things I've said and done."

At her incredulous look, he went on, "Seems I've told you once before, sometimes, I'm really bad at 'these things'."

"And I agreed with you on that, but only after you kept insisting it was true, over and over again, and wouldn't believe otherwise," Amanda reminded him. "There's no need to be so hard on yourself. Sometimes things just don't work out, that's all."

She couldn't quite figure his mood this morning. He seemed disgusted with himself, and more than a little nervous, but he didn't seem to show sadness or remorse over the breakup with Leslie, and that was kind of a surprise. He'd seemed so determined to 'fix things' with her just yesterday.

They arrived at the Lambda Chi house to find only the 'house mother', a young man named David Johnson, and the student whose name Amanda had heard on the tape, Larry Calcagno. Larry's Thursday classes didn't start until 1:00 p.m., so he hadn't left yet. Lee introduced himself and Amanda to the two young men, and explained the situation as they knew it. He told them that the Agency was providing additional protection, but that they and any other residents of the house should be on the alert for the next couple of days.

After their visit to fraternity row, Lee and Amanda drove back to the IFF building, and headed up to the Q Bureau. Just as they entered the office, Lee's phone rang. "Q Bureau. Stetson here...oh, hello, Emily."

"Hello, Lee. I was just calling to see if I could interest you in going out to lunch today, " Emily proposed.

"Well, I'm sorry, Emily, but I have a meeting at 1:00 this afternoon, so that would make it tough for today," Lee answered.

Emily countered, "Is your lovely partner about? Perhaps she might be interested in lunch with an old friend."

"Why, yes, she's right here," Lee said. Then he handed Amanda the receiver, whispering, "Emily wants to talk to you."

Amanda smiled brightly, and exclaimed, "Hello, Emily! How nice to hear your voice!"

"Amanda, dear, are you free for lunch today? We missed seeing each other a few days ago and I really would like to spend some time with you before I return to the UK on Saturday. I'm at the Jefferson Hotel. Would you mind coming here first? We can have a friendly visit over lunch at a nearby restaurant, if you like."

"Emily, I'd be glad to have lunch with you today. Just let me check my schedule..." at which point Amanda exchanged glances with Lee, and he gave her an 'OK' sign to let her know there was nothing pressing that she needed to hurry back for. Amanda continued, "Emily? Okay, it looks like my schedule is pretty much clear for this afternoon, so I'll come to your hotel right around noon, and we'll decide where to go, all right?"

Even though she had initially invited Lee, Emily was glad she would get to have a nice visit with Amanda, alone. Emily might not be able to take the next step for Lee...he'd have to do that for himself. But at least she could test the waters, to see which way Amanda's feelings might lean.

TO BE CONTINUED