To Get To You
Summary: This story came to me in the middle of a trip to Europe. I had watched (to my husband's amusement)
part of an episode of SMK in Spanish (which I don't speak). In the Metro a few minutes later this song
was playing and the story just sort of took shape.
Timeframe: Each of the four scenes is set in a subsequent season.
Disclaimer: All characters are the property of Warner Brothers and Shoot the
Moon Productions. The song is the
property of Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly.
This story, however, is mine. Please don't archive it without my permission.
Rating: G
Note: This story, while it doesn't
include the song in full, was inspired by the song "I Drove All Night" by Billy
Steinberg and Tom Kelly.
I am still working on "Just a Lifetime Too Early", but this story has been on my mind since I got back on-line after a long vacation away, so I had to work on it first.
February 1984
Lee turned to his date with clear intent in his eyes. He leaned forward, his lips slightly parted, when a shrill ringing sound filled his apartment. Exasperated, he sighed. "Sorry, Kelli, I need to get that."
He got up from the couch and made his way to the phone. As he picked it up, he turned to Kelli with a sly smile. "Don't go anywhere," he said, as he winked at her. Then turning his full attention to the phone, he barked, "Stetson here," already annoyed at the caller.
A sigh of apology came over the phone. "Lee, I'm really sorry," came Billy's tired voice. "I don't want to interrupt your plans, but I need you to run a small rescue."
Stealing a sidelong glance at Kelli, Lee saw that she had indeed gotten up and moved to the kitchen. He was glad she had ignored his plea to stay put as it turned out he needed the privacy for this conversation.
"Is there an agent in trouble, Billy?" he asked, concern clear in his voice.
Billy hesitated before answering, knowing Lee would not be pleased to hear the news. "Not an agent, exactly."
"Who am I supposed to be rescuing then?" Lee asked, perplexed.
"Well…" again, Billy hemmed and hawed a bit, already hearing the explosion in his mind. "It's Amanda."
"Amanda!" came Lee's predictable reply, a mixture of surprise, annoyance, and concern.
"I sent her on what was supposed to be a simple courier assignment. But you know Amanda. She gets a bit … overexcited." Billy paused while he heard another sigh of annoyance from Lee. "It seems she got the package to her contact alright, but was then apprehended by a policeman who saw the exchange and thought it looked suspicious. She's told them that she was on Agency business and they've called and confirmed it with me, but don't seem completely convinced. The policeman said something about her cover being too convincing."
"What was her cover?" Lee asked.
"She didn't have one. She was simply making the drop in a coffee shop. However, the officer thinks that while she may be an agent posing as a housewife, more likely she's a housewife caught up in something she shouldn't be."
Billy paused as Lee muttered, "Well, he's on the mark there."
"Be nice, Lee. I think the problem is simply as she doesn't have ID. Anyway, I thought if you went to get her they'd let her go once they see your badge."
Giving one last exasperated sigh, Lee replied, "Okay, I'll get her. Where is she?"
Another long silence from Billy, before finally, "Well… the drop-off was in New York, she's at the Fifth Precinct."
Completely forgetting to remain quiet as Kelli was still in the kitchen, Lee exploded, "New York! You want me to go to New York tonight!"
"One small glitch," Billy started, before Lee cut him off.
"What?" he asked, annoyance clear in his voice, any previous hint of concern about Amanda long gone.
"Well, there are no more flights available tonight. You'll need…" again, Lee cut him off.
"You want me to drive up to New York tonight! Come on, Billy!"
"Do you want Amanda to spend the night in a holding cell?" Billy asked, his fingers crossed that Lee wouldn't answer yes.
There was a pause, before Lee, his tone resigned, said, "I'll drop Amanda off for her debriefing when we get back."
Hanging up the phone, Lee groaned inwardly one more time. It didn't take him long to usher Kelli out the door and make his way towards the I-95. He flipped through the radio stations trying to find a station with music that would calm him down. He was trying very hard not to be angry at Amanda, but he knew that it was probably her enthusiasm that caught the officer's attention. If she had simply remained calm, like any real agent, the drop would have been easy and she would probably already be home.
Lee spent the 4 hours on the drive to New York going over in his mind all of the reasons why this was clearly Amanda's fault and she was completely to blame for ruining his date. It was early morning before he actually arrived, and nearly brimming with rage by now, he burst into the precinct.
It didn't take long to convince the staff that Amanda was indeed, a member of the Agency, and he was led to her holding cell. She was sitting on her cot holding the edges of the bed tightly and it was clear she had not slept at all. Upon seeing Lee, she stood up and ran towards him, and in usual fashion a stream of words burst from her mouth. "Oh, Lee. Thank goodness you're here. I tried to convince them that I worked for the Agency, but they wouldn't believe me and so they kept me here. I had to use my one call to call Mr. Melrose and so I couldn't call Mother and she and the boys must be so worried, I was supposed to be home hours ago."
Amanda paused to take a breath, and Lee's rage completely dissipated. He had completely forgotten about her mother and children. In his rage, Lee had focused on the fact that Amanda's non-Agent status had led her here, and forgotten – it wasn't her fault that she wasn't an Agent, besides her enthusiasm was slightly endearing…sometimes. Now that he saw her, he realized how stressful this must have been for her. She was handling it better than he would have expected.
He took her hand as she came out of the holding cell, trying to make the rest of this a little bit easier. "Billy called your Mother last night," he told her, "She thinks you missed your flight." He had to fight not to grin at the slight grimace she made at this. He knew she hated to lie to her mother, but also knew she would go along with this lie as there was no way they could tell her mother where she had really been.
Once settled in his car, Lee turned to Amanda with a gentle smile. "You should try to get some rest. When we get back to D.C. you'll need to be debriefed, so it may be awhile before you get home."
Amanda smiled in thanks at him, her eyes already starting to close.
The ride home seemed easier somehow, perhaps because he was less upset now. It wasn't more than a half hour later that Amanda's eyes opened in surprise. "Lee, did you drive all night to pick me up?"
Glancing at her quickly, he smiled, "Yeah, you didn't want to stay in there any longer, did you?"
Amanda placed a warm hand on Lee's cheek. "Thank you," she whispered as she fell back to sleep.
"Not a problem," Lee replied, surprised to realize that it really wasn't.
***************************************************
June 1985
Marci was pinned between a rock and a hard place. Well, sort of. Not that she was complaining. While the door at her back wasn't the most
comfortable in the world, the man pushing her into it was making her forget
about the door knob digging into her side.
Her hands were in his hair and she could feel his hands on her. Involuntarily, she let herself moan softly,
and she could feel him smiling against her lips.
And then, suddenly, he pulled away. Raking his hands through his hair, he reached around her for the door knob. She looked at him quizzically as she moved out of his way, but he didn't notice. Opening the door, he rushed inside and it was only then that she heard the ringing phone. She tried not to get too upset that he hadn't just let it ring as she watched him take the phone from the cradle and place it to his ear. She forgave him slightly when he said "Stetson!" a little more harshly than he should have.
"Good evening, Stetson," came back the voice of Lee's least favorite person.
Not even bothering to hide his annoyance, Lee replied, "What do you want, Smyth?"
Chuckling a little, the reply came, "It seems our little housewife-turned-agent has gotten herself into a pickle. Melrose thought she was ready for something on her own, but was clearly overestimating her."
Lee bit his tongue. While, of course, he thought Smyth was right, he had this strong urge to defend Amanda just to spite Smyth. "What happened?" he asked, instead.
"Something went wrong where she and the informant were meeting and shots were fired." Lee felt his knees weaken beneath him. "Mrs. King was hit in the arm. As a non-Agent, the NEST team there won't release her without an Agency escort who can vouch for her."
"I'll take the next flight," Lee said, still in shock.
"Haste makes waste," Smyth shot back, "I'm afraid there is no room in your discretionary budget for a last minute flight. I'm feeling generous, so I'll allow you to rent a car instead of using your own."
"You want me to drive to Columbus, Ohio tonight?" Lee asked in disbelief. Amanda was alone and injured and she was going to need to wait for him to make a seven hour drive?
"Well, don't dilly-dally, Lee. You'd best be on your way."
With a sigh of annoyance, Lee hung up the phone and turned to Marci with a grim smile. "Date's over?" she asked, trying to determine if she was upset or not. It wasn't like she and Lee were close. What did she care if he had to make a long drive to Ohio tonight? On the other hand, she was eager to take up where they had left off moments ago.
"Sorry. I need to go get a co-worker. She's stuck in Ohio," Lee tried to look apologetic, but failed. His mind was half on the long drive ahead of him. Besides, he wanted to leave soon so he could get back in time to take a nap. He had a date tomorrow night with Lydia and wanted to be fully rested for that. Marci was nice, but Lydia … well, Lydia required a well rested man.
Pulling out of the Avis lot a half hour later, Lee looked over the maps they had given him that would guide to Ohio. Heading toward the I-70, he flicked through the radio stations looking for something upbeat that would keep him awake for the next several hours.
Finding a station he was happy with, he smiled. He suddenly remembered doing this a year ago. Driving at night to New York to pick up Amanda. He remembered that his anger then had fueled him on the whole way, and then brought on guilt the whole way back. He was glad he wasn't angry at her now.
Well, not very angry anyway. How had she been shot? Didn't she get out of the way when shots started going off? She didn't even have a gun to defend herself and even if she'd found one she didn't know how to use it. She really shouldn't have been anywhere near shots being fired. The instant she heard the first shot, she should have run.
Thoughts like this kept creeping up on Lee despite his best attempts to remain calm and he arrived at the hospital in Columbus only slightly less angry than he'd been when he'd arrived at the police station more than a year ago.
Upon being taken to Amanda's room, however, his anger was immediately replaced with concern. Her back was to him and surrounded by the hospital walls, she looked like a child. It hit Lee with a force that surprised him that she could have been seriously injured. She had been shot. What if the bullet had hit her chest instead of her arm?
Walking quietly toward her, he placed a hand on her shoulder. "Amanda?" he whispered.
When she turned to him, Lee bit his tongue to keep from gasping. Tears were streaming down her face and her eyes were full of sorrow. "I'm sorry," she said softly.
Sitting besides her, Lee took her in his arms. "Sorry for what?" he questioned.
"I don't know what happened, Lee. Everything was going fine. I had just entered the office building where I was meeting the Musicman. I could hear him singing, just as Mr. Melrose said he would be and when he saw me, he stopped. He smiled and called out to me and so I started to approach him. I didn't even see the other man until I felt it."
She paused to shake her head trying to make sense of it all. Trying to prod her on, Lee asked, "Felt what?"
"The pain. The burning sensation in my arm. I didn't know what to do, I didn't even know what it was at first, so I ran. I turned back before going down the stairs and the Musicman was on the ground, the puddle of blood at his head growing so quickly. I was so scared," she finished quietly.
"Sh…" Lee whispered, stroking her hair while he held her. The fact that the first thing she had done was run was not lost on him. Some small corner of his mind was aware that he was in for another long car ride home full of guilt.
Leaning away from him, Amanda frowned, "I really am sorry, Lee."
"For what?" he repeated.
"I know Mr. Smyth made you drive here. You had to drive all night to pick me up just because…"
Lee cut her off before she could continue. "Just to make sure you were okay for myself. Don't be sorry. I'm just glad that you're okay."
**********************
May 1986
Lee sat on the couch in his apartment, the sounds of the television in the background. He could hear Arnold Schwarzenegger speaking but was regretting having rented The Terminator as he couldn't keep his mind on it. Instead, he found himself recalling the events of last week in his mind. Trying to make sense of it.
After nearly a year of fighting it, Lee had finally had the nerve to admit that the fond feelings and close friendship he shared with Amanda was not enough for him anymore. While he had struggled with what to tell her, he had finally decided to play up his strengths. He wasn't good at conversations, he was good at actions. So, in the Q-Bureau a week ago, he had taken her into his arms and kissed her. A moment before, Billy had tried to interrupt them, but Lee and Amanda had resolutely ignored his knocking on the door.
However, a few moments later, Billy must have gotten anxious, as he called the office and despite wanting to ignore the ringing phone, Lee knew he had to answer it and so he had. Billy had called him down to the bullpen, and with an impish grin at Amanda he had gone.
If asked to guess what Billy had in store for him downstairs, he would have guessed nearly everything else except for the actual request.
Billy had a need for an agent in Atlanta, Georgia. It was a simple case. There was some suspicious activity going on by some members of Byplastics Tech. Money laundering was the most dangerous charge on record, and so Billy was reluctant to put a high salaried agent on it. So, it occurred to him that it might make a good training exercise for Amanda. It would require a couple of weeks spent down there, interviewing employees of the firm, but should be relatively safe and so the only issue would be her being away from her family for that long.
However, he thought he should run the idea by Lee first.
Lee wasn't sure what to say. He agreed, it was the perfect opportunity for her. And yet, Amanda had this habit of falling into cases that seemed perfectly safe and turned out to be perfectly anything but. And of course, there was the simple fact that he wasn't ready for her to go. They had just shared their first kiss less than five minutes ago, and now she may leave for two weeks?
He tried, however, to take the emotion out of the decision, and so here he was a full week later by himself wondering how she was doing.
Smyth, who must have been clairvoyant and looking for new and creative ways to make Lee's life miserable, had decided that if this was going to be a training exercise, it should be done properly. So, despite the relative mundaneness of the case, Amanda was on contact zero. Of course, Billy let Lee know that she had made all her check-ins, but he hadn't spoken to her since the night she left.
He had driven her to the airport, but the ride had been awkward and silent, neither knowing what to say. In awkwardness they had stared at each other as they waited for her to board the plane, and finally, Amanda had leaned in, placed a lingering kiss on his cheek, squeezed his hand, and left.
So, he was left wondering what she had decided. Had she spent the last week realizing what a mistake this was? Realizing how bad an idea it was to get involved with him?
The glass in his hand went flying across the room and Lee seemed almost surprised. He hadn't meant to throw it. He was just so frustrated with not knowing what she thought.
Staring at the place in the carpet where the broken glass was, he finally dragged himself up and got the vacuum. Running it mindlessly over the area where the glass had been, he found himself on autopilot. Putting the vacuum away, he grabbed his keys and moved to the car.
It wasn't until he hit the I-95 that he realized what he was doing. Glancing at the clock he saw that it was already 9pm. He wouldn't reach Atlanta until nearly 7 the following morning. At least it was a Friday, so Billy wasn't expecting him to be in the next morning.
He didn't bother with the radio as he drove, his mind was already reeling with questions. His palms were sweaty and his heart beating a bit erratically, it was like being a school boy again.
As he had calculated, it was a quarter to seven when he arrived at Amanda's hotel. He said a small prayer of thanks to Billy for telling him which hotel it was and even letting it slip which room she was in, even though he shouldn't have known.
Lee wondered if she'd be awake already or not. When he knocked and no one answered, he tried again, louder, hoping to wake her. He felt badly about it, but really needed to talk to her. Again, no one answered, and Lee, suddenly out of energy, found himself sliding down the door to the floor.
The next hour passed in a haze, with Lee nearly asleep in the hotel corridor, images of Amanda shaking her head at him and walking away passing before his blurry eyes. When he felt her hand on his arm, or her worried, "Lee?" he was sure he was still dreaming.
Blinking his eyes rapidly, though, he realized that she was real. "Lee?" she asked again, her eyebrows furrowed in concern.
Lee smiled slightly, struggling to stand up. "You're here," he said, placing a hand on the doorknob to steady himself.
Amanda ushered him inside so he could sit down. "Is everything okay?" she asked. "Is something wrong?"
"Do you think we're a mistake?" he asked.
"What?" Amanda looked at Lee confused.
"Us. Together. Do you think it's a mistake?"
Amanda's eyes got round. "Um… do you think it's a mistake? Is that what you came here for?"
"No!" Lee replied with more force than necessary. "No," he repeated more softly. "I don't."
Amanda sighed, "My neither."
Lee smiled at her, taking her hand in his, and Amanda leaned toward him, looking anxious and nervous as her lips met his. It was different than last week, slower, less deliberate and when they broke apart, Amanda looked at Lee quizzically, "Did you drive all night to ask me that?"
Shrugging his shoulders in embarrassment, Lee smiled, "I needed to know."
**********************
April 1987
Amanda shared a cup of tea with her mother, staring out the window. Some small part of her wished she'd see Lee's head pop out of the bushes, but she knew it was unlikely. As much as she wished her husband was nearby, he was not. He was stuck on a case in Boston. Trying to remain optimistic, Amanda realized that at least they could talk on the phone every night, even if it had been three weeks since they'd last seen each other.
"Amanda!" Dotty's voice brought Amanda back to the conversation.
"Sorry, Mother, I guess I was distracted," Amanda apologized.
"Yes, dear. I could see that. Is everything alright?" her mother looked at her in concern. Then as though a lightbulb had gone on above her head, she added, "Is it Mr. Stetson? He hasn't been by in a few weeks."
Amanda smiled weakly at her mother's perceptiveness. "Yes, but he's away on business for IFF. I just miss him." A small part of her sighed in relief. It was nice to be able to tell her mother at least this much. While she was still sorry that her mother couldn't know that she and Lee were married, at least she could know they were dating.
"Well," Dotty said as she stood up and leaned over to place a warm hand on Amanda's, "I've seen the way that man looks at you, Amanda, so I know he's missing you, too."
With a smile, Dotty headed upstairs to take a bath, and Amanda sat at the breakfast bar, thinking about what she had said.
Lost in thought, an hour passed, and noticing that it was nearly 11pm, Amanda got up and washed the tea cups. She was on the way upstairs to head for bed, when she had another idea. Heading back to the kitchen to leave a note for her mother, she grabbed her purse and ran out the door.
It was 6am when Amanda reached Boston, and she knew that Lee would still be asleep. Luckily, she was able to convince the hotel clerk that she was Lee's wife and secure an additional key (which made her question the safety of staying here, even while she was grateful for the laxness).
She slipped into the room quietly and smiled when Lee's soft snores greeted her. "Some agent he is," she thought.
She watched him sleeping for a moment, trying to decide how to wake him without startling him. Finally, unable to control her excitement at seeing him again after so long, she slipped into bed beside him. Lee moaned softly, but didn't awaken.
Amanda leaned over and placed her lips on his, kissing him softly. Sleepily, Lee pulled away, smiling, "'Manda?" he whispered as if he was talking in his sleep. She replied by kissing him again.
Lee's eyes shot open in alarm as he pushed her away from him. Then waking completely, he pulled her back toward him. "Amanda!" he exclaimed, now clearly awake. "What are you doing here?" he asked.
"I missed you," she said simply.
Lee's face broke into a smile, "I missed you, too. So much," he whispered as he brought her in for another kiss.
Turning toward the clock for a second he registered how early it was. "Amanda?" he asked again, "Did you drive all night to get here?"
She smiled at him slightly, "Well, I thought it was my turn."
Lee laughed pulling her toward him once more, kissing her again.
I Drove All Night
I had to escape
The city was sticky and cruel
Maybe I should have called you first
But I was dying to get to you
I was dreaming while I drove
The long straight road ahead, uh, huh
Could taste your sweet kisses
Your arms open wide
This fever for you is just burning me up inside
I drove all night to get to you
Is that alright
I drove all night
Crept in your room
Woke you from your sleep
To make love to you
Is that alright
I drove all night
What in this world
Keeps us from falling apart
No matter where I go I hear
The beating of our one heart
I think about you
When the night is cold and dark
No one can move me
The way that you do
Nothing erases this feeling between me and you
I drove all night to get to you
Is that alright
I drove all night
Crept in your room
Woke you from your sleep
To make love to you
Is that alright
I drove all night
Could taste your sweet kisses
Your arms open wide
This fever for you is just burning me up inside
I drove all night to get to you
Is that alright
I drove all night
Crept in your room
Is that alright
I drove all night
I drove all night to get to you
Is that alright
I drove all night
Crept in your room
Woke you from your sleep