Tuesday, August 4th
11:48AM
Orphanage
Moscow
Amanda awoke to sunshine falling across her face. In all the confusion and excitement of the previous days, she wasn't sure what time or even what day it really was. But the sunshine was a welcome change from the rain of the past week. She was lying with her back to Lee, and his arms were wrapped tightly around her waist. Hearing his deep, even breathing, Amanda assumed he was still asleep. As little sleep as she'd had in the last few days, Lee had gotten even less.
After realizing the night before that they were too tired to discuss anything, they had taken Nikolai and put him to bed in his crib. Amanda hadn't wanted to leave him, but Lee and Elena had both insisted he would sleep better there. Lee had guided her back to the tiny room they had been given and they collapsed on the single bed together, both falling asleep instantly.
Amanda carefully wiggled herself onto her back and looked up into Lee's face to find him smiling at her.
"Morning," he whispered, "sleep well?"
"How long . . . oh, never mind. I should have known you were already awake."
Lee grinned sheepishly at her, "I can't help it. It's habit. You know how we 'spies' are." He kissed her nose and grinned.
Amanda stretched and yawned; desperately wishing they had their toothbrushes. "No matter how long we're in the field, I will never get used to not being able to brush my teeth," she stuck her tongue out and wrinkled her nose. "Yuck."
Lee chuckled, releasing his hold on her waist. "We've got bigger problems today than not being able to brush our teeth, Mrs. Stetson." He sat up, rubbing his hand over his face. "We slept all morning, it's almost noon, and I'm starving. Let's go find some food and I'll see if Billy called while we were sleeping. I have to get to the Embassy -- we'll need an immigrant visa application -- and get an appointment for a court date so we can take Nikolai home with us." Lee stood, stretching, and headed to the door. He stopped short and turned to smile at her, eyebrows raised. "We should think about getting a twin bed," his eyes twinkled mischievously, "I like having to hold on to you all night long."
Amanda laughed at him as she straightened her clothes. "Not on your life, Stetson."
"Come on, you need to eat," he said softly. "You didn't touch your dinner last night."
Amanda stood and followed Lee as he headed for the door. She knew she had to eat but wasn't sure her nerves were going to comply. Lee stopped right outside their door and Amanda ran into his back as she came into the hallway.
"Oofh – Lee wh . . ?"
She started to ask what was wrong when she heard the reason he wasn't moving. Muffled voices were coming from downstairs and they didn't sound friendly. At least it sounded like they were speaking English. But from down the hall to their right, both could hear the heart-wrenching cries of a baby. Lee turned to Amanda, placed a kiss on her forehead and smiled, "You take care of Nikolai, I'll go see what's happening downstairs. Give him a kiss for me," Lee said with a smile and a quick squeeze.
"Be careful, Lee."
"Always." And he was gone.
Amanda headed down the hall toward the nursery, keeping one ear trained on what was happening downstairs. It wasn't easy, as the crying got noticeably louder and more frantic. Opening the door and stepping into the room, her fears were confirmed. It was Nikolai, giving Elena quite a hard time as she was changing his diaper.
Hearing the door, Elena turned, her face registering relief at the sight of Amanda. "Oh, Mrs. Stetson, I am so glad to see you. Maybe you can get Nicky to calm down. He has had a very bad morning. He never gives us this much trouble. I fed him his lunch but he would not take his bottle from me. I am not sure what is wrong but here, you try." She stepped aside and Amanda approached the changing table. Nicky was lying there in only a diaper, screaming at the top of his lungs. If Amanda had thought that the emotions she felt the night before were just a product of lack of sleep and adrenaline, she'd been sadly mistaken. But, she hadn't thought that for a minute and as soon as she saw Nikolai again, she was flooded with the intense feelings she had experienced last night. "Shhh, Nicky, it's okay. Let's get you dressed, shall we?" Amanda spoke softly to him. At the sound of her voice, Nicky opened his eyes and crying changed to sounds of quiet protest. After focusing on her face, his protests ceased and he hiccuped, giving Amanda a huge grin and squealing in delight. "Well, Nikolai, it seems you know who I am." Amanda pulled a shirt over his head and he giggled at her 'Boo' as his head popped through the opening. "There, much better," Amanda finished dressing him and smiled as he continued to hiccup. "See where screaming will get you?"
From the other side of the room, Elena gave Amanda a wide smile. "He knows you already. Look how happy he is. It was you he wanted, not me. He knows you are his mother." Elena ducked her head, "I'm sorry if I am being too bold. I watched you and your husband last night with Nicky. He feels as you do. I could see it. I have seen it before." She hesitated slightly before continuing. "You know how I feel about why you are here. I'm not sure who you are, or why you are being chased through Moscow but I don't think that is important. This is not the way we usually do things, but I want you to know that we all will help you with everything we can to send Nicky home, with you . . . where he belongs."
Amanda had retrieved a bottle from the table and was feeding Nikolai as Elena spoke. She looked up at the young woman and smiled, "Thank you Elena. You're right . . . about everything. I wish I could tell you why we're here but I can't. I *can* tell you that we're with the American government. We have a whole lot of friends who will be helping us to get Nicky back to the States as soon as we can." She looked down at the baby, who was sucking lazily on his bottle, seeming more contented to be in her arms than to be eating lunch. "We would appreciate any help and advice you can give us. I . . . we've . . . never done anything like this before. We have no idea what we need to do."
Elena crossed the room to stand beside Amanda, putting her hand on her shoulder. "We will do everything we can to help."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
While Amanda was tending to Nikolai, Lee had headed for the main floor of the orphanage, praying that the heated discussion he could barely discern didn't concern him and Amanda. Reaching the bottom of the stairs, he came face-to-face with two agents from the American Embassy.
"Scarecrow!" The older of the two men looked relieved to see him. "You're a sight for sore eyes. We're not getting anywhere with your 'protectors' here. Mind filling me in on what the heck is going on? Where's Mrs. Stetson?"
"McCarty, Draper." Lee acknowledged both agents with a nod of his head. "Nice to see you fellas, too. Amanda is up stairs. We heard about Butsayev; is that all straightened out?"
The two other agents looked around nervously, their confusion evident. "Shouldn't we, uh . . . " McCarty started, motioning to Nadya, who still stood next to Lee and the other agents.
"Oh, sorry, yeah." Turning to Nadya he placed his hand on her shoulder, "Sister Nadya, these are colleagues of mine and Mrs. Stetson's. They are here to escort us back to the embassy. Is there anywhere we can go to talk privately? I'm sorry, but some of the things we need to discuss are . . . sensitive."
McCarty and Draper exchanged confused looks as Scarecrow talked with the Russian nun. Lee watched them out of the corner of his eye. He could only imagine what they were thinking. The last time he had worked with either of them was before he and Amanda had been married. He was a completely different agent than he'd been then. He had finished talking to Sister Nadya and turned to the two men. "Gentlemen?" Lee gestured up the stairs. "We can use the office upstairs. We'll need the phone and there are chairs and a desk we can use."
"Great. Let's get up there." McCarty answered.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Three hours later, Lee sat in the office with the other two agents; they had discussed the unexpected conclusion of the case that had them here in the first place and everyone was satisfied with the outcome.
He and Amanda would need to get to the Embassy for formal debriefing soon. Now, though, they were going over adoption procedures and plans for the last time. Lee hadn't been sure of what to expect when he presented their dilemma to his fellow agents and was pleasantly surprised to find that he had willing accomplices.
"You'll take care of the Immigrant Visa for Nikolai, the court appointment, and our transportation home once this is taken care of. We don't need to go through the Ministry of Education because we've already found Nikolai. If they give us a hard time, you'll handle that, right?"
"You bet, Scarecrow. I know a few people there; they won't have any problems with this. Makes their job a lot easier," Draper answered, jotting down more notes in the notebook he carried.
"Great. As soon as the Agency faxes over our paperwork, you can bring it back here. If you can find anyone at the Embassy who has an idea of what we're up against, please, get them in touch with us." Lee stood, offering his hand to first McCarty, then Draper. "I can't thank you two enough. I know this is a very unusual request but . . . " Lee broke off.
"Hey, man," McCarty slapped him on the back with a smile, "I've got four kids of my own; you really don't need to explain."
"Yeah, thanks. Amanda and I are going to owe you big. Both of you. We'll talk to you soon, right?"
"You'll hear from us as soon as everything is set up. We'll coordinate with Mr. Melrose, too. The two of you should be fine to travel around the city now, also. Just keep your eyes open. The KGB knows you're here and they were informed of your involvement in the Butsayev case. Remarkably, things have gone very smoothly and no one has stepped on any toes." McCarty shook his head, "The times they are a changin', huh? Get this; they wanted to thank you personally for your help in their little 'problem'. And not the way they would have a year or so ago, either. They were legitimately grateful. I guess this whole little incident may have been an embarrassment to the government. But, we told them you were 'held up' for a while. With things changing around here the way they are, this could work to your advantage. We'll check with them if need be. Anything comes up or you need us, just call. Here's the number. Take care, Scarecrow. We'll be in touch. Tell Mrs. Stetson we said hello." With that, the agents left.
Lee sat alone in the office, still slightly shell-shocked at the direction their lives had taken just twenty-four hours ago. Suddenly, he realized how long the whole meeting had taken. It had been almost three hours since he had seen Amanda and he still hadn't gotten lunch or seen Nikolai. He gathered his notes and headed out the door, his heartbeat quickening in anticipation.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Amanda was sitting on the floor of the nursery with Nikolai, Sergei, and Maxim crawling around her. The afternoon had flown by; raising Phillip and Jamie had been a physically demanding job, but this was incredible. Chasing after the babies all afternoon had worn her out quicker than one of her training courses. She didn't think the babies got out of their cribs much; when they were first placed on the floor, they had acted like they didn't know what to do. They had quickly made up for that. Amanda pulled herself up off the floor and flopped into one of the rockers. Nikolai army-crawled over to her. As she leaned to pick him up, he squealed with excitement at something he saw over her shoulder.
"Hey buddy! How ya doing today?" Nikolai was squirming frantically in Amanda's lap at Lee's greeting, arms and legs waving in anticipation.
Amanda stood. "I think someone wants you." She passed the wiggling baby to Lee and smiled. "Seems Nikolai has adopted us. He hasn't let me out of his sight all afternoon. That was him screaming earlier. As soon as I talked to him, he . . . " Amanda stopped talking. She had never seen the look on Lee's face that was there now. Nikolai had snuggled in to Lee's shoulder and was gurgling quietly, pulling on the buttons of his shirt. Lee had his eyes closed but was absolutely beaming. She didn't think he'd heard a word she said. Slowly, he opened his eyes and looked at Amanda, shaking his head.
"This is amazing, Amanda." He leaned in and kissed her. "How did everything go?"
"I had forgotten what a workout taking care of an active baby can be," she sighed, leaning into Lee's chest. Nikolai reached down and poked Amanda's eye. "Ow! And a health hazard!" She took Nikolai's hand, kissing it before returning it to Lee's chest. "Who was downstairs?"
"Dan McCarty and Mike Draper. They were here to 'rescue' us." Lee laughed. "They were a bit confused by the situation at first. I think they thought I was losing it. I'm glad it was them, though. They each have a house full of kids and really understood where we were coming from. They'll be the best help to us. Hopefully we'll know something in a few hours. They have considerable connections around Moscow and seem to think our involvement in the Butsayev case will help our chances of getting Nikolai home. But we still have a lot to tackle here. Did you find out anything from Elena about what we have to do?"
Amanda moved to the rocking chair again and sat down, exhausted. "We have probably as much to do on this end. Did you know that nothing here is Nikolai's? We need to get him clothes, bottles, blankets, diapers, everything, before we leave the building. We can't take anything with us. He has one blanket he was brought in with, and that's it." Amanda pointed at the blanket across her lap. "Elena said she knows where we can get a few things, but we're going to have to see if there's anything the Embassy people can do. For that matter, I could use some different clothes, too," she looked at Lee wrinkling her nose. "And so could you."
Lee nodded, "We should get back to the hotel to shower and change. Draper mentioned we should be fine out on the streets. We'll still have to be on our toes, but going back there will be fine."
"Should we just stay there at night? We can't take Nikolai anywhere until the court makes the adoption legal. Did you know we might have a ten-day waiting period before we can take him home? Hopefully they'll waive that. I don't know what I'd do here for ten days, Lee. I'm already too attached to these babies. I can't imagine what'll happen if I have to spend more than a week with the rest of them, too. Daria is the sweetest girl." She lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "Is it legal in the US to arrange international marriages?"
Lee laughed out loud. "I don't think the boys would appreciate having their mother arrange a marriage for them. Phillip is quite capable of finding his own dates, that's been pretty obvious lately. Although, she seems very sweet, maybe she'd be more Jamie's type?" They both laughed.
"You've lost him," Amanda pointed to Lee's shoulder with a smile. "He's snoring. Here, let me put him down, we really need to get cleaned up and eat something." She took the baby from Lee, who gave him up reluctantly. "You can come back later. I'm sure they can use some help at feeding time." She winked at him, laying the baby down in his crib and covering him up with a blanket. Leaning on the crib rail, she stroked his head softly.
"I still can't believe this is happening to us." Lee smiled as he moved behind Amanda, wrapping his arms around her waist and resting his chin on her shoulder. "You, I can believe; this is your area of expertise. But me? This type of thing never crossed my mind. I always figured that if we had a baby at least I'd have a few months to get used to the idea. This is a little sudden. Any suggestions, here? Because I'm at a loss."
"He's a baby, Lee," she teased. "You handle two teenage boys by yourself and you're afraid of a little baby?"
"Scarecrow, afraid?" Lee teased back. "No way. I said I'm at a loss. I remember my teenage years. I know exactly what those boys are thinking. Well, Phillip, anyway. I tried it all and got away with most of it. I don't remember being a baby." He grinned at her mischievously. "Of course, I have a great teacher. I can learn by watching you." He kissed her nose.
"And the flattery begins. You seem to have that down pretty well. I did the last two by myself, Stetson; you're not getting out of anything. No amount of nose-kissing will get you out of midnight diaper duty, buster," Amanda whispered.
Lee sighed. "I have no intentions of 'getting out' of anything, Amanda. This is something I don't plan on letting slip away. You and the boys are stuck with me whether you like it or not. I saw what you went through with Joe not being around. And that was after the boys were older. I can't imagine what it was like for you, and them, when they were babies. I'm very thankful I had my parents full attention at least as long as I did."
Amanda turned, grabbing his hand. "I'm gonna hold you to that, you know. Especially at three in the morning." She squeezed his hand and smiled. "Come on, let's get going so we don't miss his dinnertime."
"Yeah, okay."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
11:48AM
Orphanage
Moscow
Amanda awoke to sunshine falling across her face. In all the confusion and excitement of the previous days, she wasn't sure what time or even what day it really was. But the sunshine was a welcome change from the rain of the past week. She was lying with her back to Lee, and his arms were wrapped tightly around her waist. Hearing his deep, even breathing, Amanda assumed he was still asleep. As little sleep as she'd had in the last few days, Lee had gotten even less.
After realizing the night before that they were too tired to discuss anything, they had taken Nikolai and put him to bed in his crib. Amanda hadn't wanted to leave him, but Lee and Elena had both insisted he would sleep better there. Lee had guided her back to the tiny room they had been given and they collapsed on the single bed together, both falling asleep instantly.
Amanda carefully wiggled herself onto her back and looked up into Lee's face to find him smiling at her.
"Morning," he whispered, "sleep well?"
"How long . . . oh, never mind. I should have known you were already awake."
Lee grinned sheepishly at her, "I can't help it. It's habit. You know how we 'spies' are." He kissed her nose and grinned.
Amanda stretched and yawned; desperately wishing they had their toothbrushes. "No matter how long we're in the field, I will never get used to not being able to brush my teeth," she stuck her tongue out and wrinkled her nose. "Yuck."
Lee chuckled, releasing his hold on her waist. "We've got bigger problems today than not being able to brush our teeth, Mrs. Stetson." He sat up, rubbing his hand over his face. "We slept all morning, it's almost noon, and I'm starving. Let's go find some food and I'll see if Billy called while we were sleeping. I have to get to the Embassy -- we'll need an immigrant visa application -- and get an appointment for a court date so we can take Nikolai home with us." Lee stood, stretching, and headed to the door. He stopped short and turned to smile at her, eyebrows raised. "We should think about getting a twin bed," his eyes twinkled mischievously, "I like having to hold on to you all night long."
Amanda laughed at him as she straightened her clothes. "Not on your life, Stetson."
"Come on, you need to eat," he said softly. "You didn't touch your dinner last night."
Amanda stood and followed Lee as he headed for the door. She knew she had to eat but wasn't sure her nerves were going to comply. Lee stopped right outside their door and Amanda ran into his back as she came into the hallway.
"Oofh – Lee wh . . ?"
She started to ask what was wrong when she heard the reason he wasn't moving. Muffled voices were coming from downstairs and they didn't sound friendly. At least it sounded like they were speaking English. But from down the hall to their right, both could hear the heart-wrenching cries of a baby. Lee turned to Amanda, placed a kiss on her forehead and smiled, "You take care of Nikolai, I'll go see what's happening downstairs. Give him a kiss for me," Lee said with a smile and a quick squeeze.
"Be careful, Lee."
"Always." And he was gone.
Amanda headed down the hall toward the nursery, keeping one ear trained on what was happening downstairs. It wasn't easy, as the crying got noticeably louder and more frantic. Opening the door and stepping into the room, her fears were confirmed. It was Nikolai, giving Elena quite a hard time as she was changing his diaper.
Hearing the door, Elena turned, her face registering relief at the sight of Amanda. "Oh, Mrs. Stetson, I am so glad to see you. Maybe you can get Nicky to calm down. He has had a very bad morning. He never gives us this much trouble. I fed him his lunch but he would not take his bottle from me. I am not sure what is wrong but here, you try." She stepped aside and Amanda approached the changing table. Nicky was lying there in only a diaper, screaming at the top of his lungs. If Amanda had thought that the emotions she felt the night before were just a product of lack of sleep and adrenaline, she'd been sadly mistaken. But, she hadn't thought that for a minute and as soon as she saw Nikolai again, she was flooded with the intense feelings she had experienced last night. "Shhh, Nicky, it's okay. Let's get you dressed, shall we?" Amanda spoke softly to him. At the sound of her voice, Nicky opened his eyes and crying changed to sounds of quiet protest. After focusing on her face, his protests ceased and he hiccuped, giving Amanda a huge grin and squealing in delight. "Well, Nikolai, it seems you know who I am." Amanda pulled a shirt over his head and he giggled at her 'Boo' as his head popped through the opening. "There, much better," Amanda finished dressing him and smiled as he continued to hiccup. "See where screaming will get you?"
From the other side of the room, Elena gave Amanda a wide smile. "He knows you already. Look how happy he is. It was you he wanted, not me. He knows you are his mother." Elena ducked her head, "I'm sorry if I am being too bold. I watched you and your husband last night with Nicky. He feels as you do. I could see it. I have seen it before." She hesitated slightly before continuing. "You know how I feel about why you are here. I'm not sure who you are, or why you are being chased through Moscow but I don't think that is important. This is not the way we usually do things, but I want you to know that we all will help you with everything we can to send Nicky home, with you . . . where he belongs."
Amanda had retrieved a bottle from the table and was feeding Nikolai as Elena spoke. She looked up at the young woman and smiled, "Thank you Elena. You're right . . . about everything. I wish I could tell you why we're here but I can't. I *can* tell you that we're with the American government. We have a whole lot of friends who will be helping us to get Nicky back to the States as soon as we can." She looked down at the baby, who was sucking lazily on his bottle, seeming more contented to be in her arms than to be eating lunch. "We would appreciate any help and advice you can give us. I . . . we've . . . never done anything like this before. We have no idea what we need to do."
Elena crossed the room to stand beside Amanda, putting her hand on her shoulder. "We will do everything we can to help."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
While Amanda was tending to Nikolai, Lee had headed for the main floor of the orphanage, praying that the heated discussion he could barely discern didn't concern him and Amanda. Reaching the bottom of the stairs, he came face-to-face with two agents from the American Embassy.
"Scarecrow!" The older of the two men looked relieved to see him. "You're a sight for sore eyes. We're not getting anywhere with your 'protectors' here. Mind filling me in on what the heck is going on? Where's Mrs. Stetson?"
"McCarty, Draper." Lee acknowledged both agents with a nod of his head. "Nice to see you fellas, too. Amanda is up stairs. We heard about Butsayev; is that all straightened out?"
The two other agents looked around nervously, their confusion evident. "Shouldn't we, uh . . . " McCarty started, motioning to Nadya, who still stood next to Lee and the other agents.
"Oh, sorry, yeah." Turning to Nadya he placed his hand on her shoulder, "Sister Nadya, these are colleagues of mine and Mrs. Stetson's. They are here to escort us back to the embassy. Is there anywhere we can go to talk privately? I'm sorry, but some of the things we need to discuss are . . . sensitive."
McCarty and Draper exchanged confused looks as Scarecrow talked with the Russian nun. Lee watched them out of the corner of his eye. He could only imagine what they were thinking. The last time he had worked with either of them was before he and Amanda had been married. He was a completely different agent than he'd been then. He had finished talking to Sister Nadya and turned to the two men. "Gentlemen?" Lee gestured up the stairs. "We can use the office upstairs. We'll need the phone and there are chairs and a desk we can use."
"Great. Let's get up there." McCarty answered.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Three hours later, Lee sat in the office with the other two agents; they had discussed the unexpected conclusion of the case that had them here in the first place and everyone was satisfied with the outcome.
He and Amanda would need to get to the Embassy for formal debriefing soon. Now, though, they were going over adoption procedures and plans for the last time. Lee hadn't been sure of what to expect when he presented their dilemma to his fellow agents and was pleasantly surprised to find that he had willing accomplices.
"You'll take care of the Immigrant Visa for Nikolai, the court appointment, and our transportation home once this is taken care of. We don't need to go through the Ministry of Education because we've already found Nikolai. If they give us a hard time, you'll handle that, right?"
"You bet, Scarecrow. I know a few people there; they won't have any problems with this. Makes their job a lot easier," Draper answered, jotting down more notes in the notebook he carried.
"Great. As soon as the Agency faxes over our paperwork, you can bring it back here. If you can find anyone at the Embassy who has an idea of what we're up against, please, get them in touch with us." Lee stood, offering his hand to first McCarty, then Draper. "I can't thank you two enough. I know this is a very unusual request but . . . " Lee broke off.
"Hey, man," McCarty slapped him on the back with a smile, "I've got four kids of my own; you really don't need to explain."
"Yeah, thanks. Amanda and I are going to owe you big. Both of you. We'll talk to you soon, right?"
"You'll hear from us as soon as everything is set up. We'll coordinate with Mr. Melrose, too. The two of you should be fine to travel around the city now, also. Just keep your eyes open. The KGB knows you're here and they were informed of your involvement in the Butsayev case. Remarkably, things have gone very smoothly and no one has stepped on any toes." McCarty shook his head, "The times they are a changin', huh? Get this; they wanted to thank you personally for your help in their little 'problem'. And not the way they would have a year or so ago, either. They were legitimately grateful. I guess this whole little incident may have been an embarrassment to the government. But, we told them you were 'held up' for a while. With things changing around here the way they are, this could work to your advantage. We'll check with them if need be. Anything comes up or you need us, just call. Here's the number. Take care, Scarecrow. We'll be in touch. Tell Mrs. Stetson we said hello." With that, the agents left.
Lee sat alone in the office, still slightly shell-shocked at the direction their lives had taken just twenty-four hours ago. Suddenly, he realized how long the whole meeting had taken. It had been almost three hours since he had seen Amanda and he still hadn't gotten lunch or seen Nikolai. He gathered his notes and headed out the door, his heartbeat quickening in anticipation.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Amanda was sitting on the floor of the nursery with Nikolai, Sergei, and Maxim crawling around her. The afternoon had flown by; raising Phillip and Jamie had been a physically demanding job, but this was incredible. Chasing after the babies all afternoon had worn her out quicker than one of her training courses. She didn't think the babies got out of their cribs much; when they were first placed on the floor, they had acted like they didn't know what to do. They had quickly made up for that. Amanda pulled herself up off the floor and flopped into one of the rockers. Nikolai army-crawled over to her. As she leaned to pick him up, he squealed with excitement at something he saw over her shoulder.
"Hey buddy! How ya doing today?" Nikolai was squirming frantically in Amanda's lap at Lee's greeting, arms and legs waving in anticipation.
Amanda stood. "I think someone wants you." She passed the wiggling baby to Lee and smiled. "Seems Nikolai has adopted us. He hasn't let me out of his sight all afternoon. That was him screaming earlier. As soon as I talked to him, he . . . " Amanda stopped talking. She had never seen the look on Lee's face that was there now. Nikolai had snuggled in to Lee's shoulder and was gurgling quietly, pulling on the buttons of his shirt. Lee had his eyes closed but was absolutely beaming. She didn't think he'd heard a word she said. Slowly, he opened his eyes and looked at Amanda, shaking his head.
"This is amazing, Amanda." He leaned in and kissed her. "How did everything go?"
"I had forgotten what a workout taking care of an active baby can be," she sighed, leaning into Lee's chest. Nikolai reached down and poked Amanda's eye. "Ow! And a health hazard!" She took Nikolai's hand, kissing it before returning it to Lee's chest. "Who was downstairs?"
"Dan McCarty and Mike Draper. They were here to 'rescue' us." Lee laughed. "They were a bit confused by the situation at first. I think they thought I was losing it. I'm glad it was them, though. They each have a house full of kids and really understood where we were coming from. They'll be the best help to us. Hopefully we'll know something in a few hours. They have considerable connections around Moscow and seem to think our involvement in the Butsayev case will help our chances of getting Nikolai home. But we still have a lot to tackle here. Did you find out anything from Elena about what we have to do?"
Amanda moved to the rocking chair again and sat down, exhausted. "We have probably as much to do on this end. Did you know that nothing here is Nikolai's? We need to get him clothes, bottles, blankets, diapers, everything, before we leave the building. We can't take anything with us. He has one blanket he was brought in with, and that's it." Amanda pointed at the blanket across her lap. "Elena said she knows where we can get a few things, but we're going to have to see if there's anything the Embassy people can do. For that matter, I could use some different clothes, too," she looked at Lee wrinkling her nose. "And so could you."
Lee nodded, "We should get back to the hotel to shower and change. Draper mentioned we should be fine out on the streets. We'll still have to be on our toes, but going back there will be fine."
"Should we just stay there at night? We can't take Nikolai anywhere until the court makes the adoption legal. Did you know we might have a ten-day waiting period before we can take him home? Hopefully they'll waive that. I don't know what I'd do here for ten days, Lee. I'm already too attached to these babies. I can't imagine what'll happen if I have to spend more than a week with the rest of them, too. Daria is the sweetest girl." She lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "Is it legal in the US to arrange international marriages?"
Lee laughed out loud. "I don't think the boys would appreciate having their mother arrange a marriage for them. Phillip is quite capable of finding his own dates, that's been pretty obvious lately. Although, she seems very sweet, maybe she'd be more Jamie's type?" They both laughed.
"You've lost him," Amanda pointed to Lee's shoulder with a smile. "He's snoring. Here, let me put him down, we really need to get cleaned up and eat something." She took the baby from Lee, who gave him up reluctantly. "You can come back later. I'm sure they can use some help at feeding time." She winked at him, laying the baby down in his crib and covering him up with a blanket. Leaning on the crib rail, she stroked his head softly.
"I still can't believe this is happening to us." Lee smiled as he moved behind Amanda, wrapping his arms around her waist and resting his chin on her shoulder. "You, I can believe; this is your area of expertise. But me? This type of thing never crossed my mind. I always figured that if we had a baby at least I'd have a few months to get used to the idea. This is a little sudden. Any suggestions, here? Because I'm at a loss."
"He's a baby, Lee," she teased. "You handle two teenage boys by yourself and you're afraid of a little baby?"
"Scarecrow, afraid?" Lee teased back. "No way. I said I'm at a loss. I remember my teenage years. I know exactly what those boys are thinking. Well, Phillip, anyway. I tried it all and got away with most of it. I don't remember being a baby." He grinned at her mischievously. "Of course, I have a great teacher. I can learn by watching you." He kissed her nose.
"And the flattery begins. You seem to have that down pretty well. I did the last two by myself, Stetson; you're not getting out of anything. No amount of nose-kissing will get you out of midnight diaper duty, buster," Amanda whispered.
Lee sighed. "I have no intentions of 'getting out' of anything, Amanda. This is something I don't plan on letting slip away. You and the boys are stuck with me whether you like it or not. I saw what you went through with Joe not being around. And that was after the boys were older. I can't imagine what it was like for you, and them, when they were babies. I'm very thankful I had my parents full attention at least as long as I did."
Amanda turned, grabbing his hand. "I'm gonna hold you to that, you know. Especially at three in the morning." She squeezed his hand and smiled. "Come on, let's get going so we don't miss his dinnertime."
"Yeah, okay."
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