Epilogue

Amanda glanced about the ballroom as she let her husband guide her around the dance floor. She couldn't believe how beautiful everything was, and how elegantly dressed all the Senators, Congressman and other distinguished guests were. She felt like she was in the middle of a wonderful fairytale dream. Leaning her head against her husband's shoulder, she sighed contentedly. Everything, for the moment at least, was right with the world. She was in her husband's strong, loving arms, and John Richmond and his mother were safe. Mr. Melrose had pulled them aside, earlier in the evening, to let them know that Stoev was under twenty-four hour guard at the Agency awaiting deportation back to Bulgaria.

Mr. Melrose had told them that, after about an hour of 'persuasion', Stoev had begrudgingly divulged the location of his captives. They had been held captive in the basement of the Bulgarian Embassy. So the Agency, with the help of a contact or two within the Embassy, had gotten both mother and son out safely. Anton Stoev had also admitted that he'd been working alone, but that his threat to Steven, about selling John and Anna to the Libyans, had been true.

Amanda let out another sigh as she thought about the tragedies of life and what makes men do evil things. Apparently Anton Stoev had arranged to have his wife and daughter come to the States three months ago, but something had gone wrong with their paperwork once they had arrived at Dulles, and they had been shipped back to Bulgaria. Because of the mix-up, his wife and daughter had been escorted to prison, tried and executed as defectors. Stoev blamed the U.S. for their deaths, and figured the best revenge would be to assassinate the newly elected President as he was being sworn in, sending the country into chaos. She realized that Stoev must have jumped at the chance to use Steven's family.

What better revenge than to destroy the life and family of someone whose sole job it was to protect and serve the United States, and at the same time bring disorder into the heart of his enemy?

Amanda let her eyes wander around the room again and felt proud to be a part of this world. Sure it was a world of danger, intrigue and secrets, but it was also a place where she got the chance to help save the lives of the innocent.

Lee had been watching the pride and admiration in his wife's eyes as she glanced around the ballroom. "You know, you outclass every woman here." Her red dress was simple, but elegant, with thin spaghetti straps and a very low cut back. His hand began making tiny circles on his wife's bare back.

Amanda leaned back and smiled demurely at her husband. "You're extremely biased, you know that, right?"

Lee chuckled. "Perhaps a little, but it's true. You've caught the eye of almost every man in this room." Catching the Senator from Wisconsin eyeing his wife, he pulled her possessively closer to his body.

"Well, you don't have anything to worry about, Big Fella. I'm yours and no rich Senator is going to steal me away from you." Amanda gazed lovingly into her husband's eyes as she played with the hairs at the base of his neck.

Lee watched as Billy guided his wife, Jeannie, around the dance floor not too far away and knew that there was no time like the present. "And I think its time I let everyone know that as well." Glancing around the room, he caught sight of Francine and smiled. Remembering the long discussion he and his wife had had yesterday about the blonde agent and exactly how much she knew, he realized that what he was about to do would not be as big a shock to his friend as it would be to everyone else. He also prayed that his wife wouldn't kill him for doing what he was about to do, given the fact that he hadn't discussed it with her first. He really didn't want to ruin tonight with her being mad at him, especially since he had spent the better part of yesterday dealing with her anger once she had found out that he'd been in the van Wednesday night. He hadn't planned on telling her, in fact he had hoped to find a way to bribe Francine, Billy and Johnson into never disclosing that bit of information, but when he had brought up the subject of Francine and how much she knew about their relationship, his wife had instantly begun questioning him as to how he even knew that Francine knew. He had lied and told her that he had run into Francine back at the Agency, before coming home. She had instantly known that he was lying, since Francine had given her a ride back to the apartment after her debriefing and then had gone home herself, so there was no way he could have run into her. He had groveled for the better part of the day and really didn't want to spend tonight groveling as well. Not wanting to pass up a perfect moment, however, he decided to throw caution to the wind and, ceasing their movements on the dance floor, he reached into his tuxedo jacket.

"Lee, what are you doing?" Amanda whispered as she watched her husband curiously.

"Something I should have done a long time ago." Lee pulled the familiar blue velvet box from his pocket. He then took a step back from his wife and got down on one knee. "Amanda, would you do me the honor of spending the rest of your life with me?"

Amanda gazed down at her husband, unable to find her voice. They had discussed coming clean, telling everyone that they were married, but hadn't decided exactly where or when. Her husband proposing to her in front of hundreds of people, however, was something she hadn't been expecting at all. She could only nod as happy tears began to stream down her face.

Lee took the diamond ring out of its box and slipped it onto her finger. "This is where your engagement ring belongs, and where it's going to stay for the rest of our lives together." He rose and embraced his wife.

Amanda leaned up and placed a kiss on his lips as her arms wrapped around his neck. "I love you."

Lee gazed longingly into her eyes, ignoring the applause and congratulations being bestowed upon them by the crowd. "And I love you."

Francine's face beamed with pride as she, along with almost every other person in the ballroom, focused their full attention on the couple in the middle of the dance floor. She longed to find that kind of love and commitment for herself one day, but for now, she was content to be extremely happy for her friends. A movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention and, taking two long strides, reached out and placed a hand on the gray-haired man's arm. "I wouldn't do that if I were you, Dr. Smyth."

Dr. Smyth turned and glared down at the slender hand on his arm. "Desmond, if you value your job, you'll remove your hand immediately."

"I will remove it once I've said my piece." Francine fixed him with a hard stare. "I think you would be wise not to go over there and make a spectacle of yourself in front of the President and the First Lady, and everyone else who matters in this town."

"And why do you think I give a damn about what you think, Desmond?" Dr. Smyth took his hand and physically removed the blonde's from his arm. He then resumed his path towards the dance floor.

"Because it might interest you to know that the proposal you just witnessed, wasn't the first one." Francine watched as Dr. Smyth stopped in his tracks and turned to look at her. She took a few steps closer to the old man and continued in a low voice, "You see, Lee was actually re-proposing to his wife, Amanda Stetson. So, if you decide to try and stop them from going ahead with their public marriage, then I'll just drop a word or two in the right ears about the person who ordered a married agent to do the Peacock Dance. I have a feeling that that person will find themselves drowning in a sea of extremely hot water." She smiled cunningly and snapped her fingers. "Oh yeah, that's right, that was you wasn't it? So you should probably think twice before making any kind of threats about breaking up the team of Scarecrow and Mrs. King."

Dr. Smyth stared at the blonde disbelievingly. "Are you threatening me, Ms. Desmond?"

Francine shrugged slightly. "Take it however you want, but considering the fact that Lee and Amanda just helped save the President's life, I have a feeling he'll side with them. So go right ahead and make your little threats," she started to turn towards where President Bush was talking with the British Ambassador, "I'll just go have a nice conversation with the President."

Dr. Smyth reached out and grabbed her arm. "That won't be necessary, Desmond." He gave her a menacing glare. "I'll leave them alone…for now, but you had better warn your friends on the dance floor that if even one case goes wrong because of their marriage, I'll have their jobs." He let go of her arm and walked towards the exit to the ballroom.

Francine shook her head as she watched Dr. Smyth walk away. The man was all smoke and she knew he'd never be able to make anything stick. As long as she was around, she'd make sure that her friends' partnership remained intact. Smiling, she turned her attention back towards the couple dancing in each other's arms, with eyes only for each other, and oblivious to everyone else in the room.

The End

Authors' End Notes:

The events and circumstances of this story were created in our imaginations and any similarities to actual events are purely coincidental. Also, according to our information, the Inauguration of 1989 fell on Friday, January 20th, and while in real life, most schools do not have off, that we know of, for the occasion, in our story, they did. Writer's privilege J.

References are made to situations or dialogue that took place during the following SMK episodes

"We're Off to See the Wizard" (Season 3) – written by Whitney W. Roberson;

"The Wrong Way Home" (Season 3) - written by Nelson Costello & Robert W. Gilmer;

"Stemwinder Parts 1 & 2" (Season 4) – written by Robert W. Gilmer & George Geiger;

"Nightcrawler" (Season 4) – written by George Geiger;

"Mission of Gold" (Season 4) – written by Lynne Kelsey;

"All that Glitters"(Season 4) - written by D.C. Black