Disclaimer: I don't own the situations or characters portrayed herein. I'm just playing with them for a while.


Do You Take This Spy? Part 2

What was it with Nick and married women? Was it so impossible to fall in love with a single woman? A divorced woman? A widow? An elderly spinster with only cats for company? Even a no-name wife of a no-name man would do in a pinch. Literally anyone but the daughter-in-law of a high-profile friend of the president.

But bad habits are hard to break, and Nick Grant's bad habits seemed to be made of tempered steel. Those damnable habits were giving Lee the headache of the century. Even if he did believe that the slippery scuzzball was genuinely in love with Felicia McMasters, that still didn't explain away the sixteen million dollars' worth of priceless oils that had been stolen from the house. Someone knew Nick's reputation and had used it against him to stunning effect.

The timing alone could not have been worse. Did Fate get a cup of coffee, pull out its calendar, and intentionally decide to destroy Lee Stetson's wedding plans in payment for all the times he'd tempted it? It sure seemed like it, as he sat in Billy's office listening to his boss give him orders that almost certainly would make it impossible for him to get married the next day.

Francine's chipper comments did nothing to soothe his frantic feeling of trapped desperation.

"Oh, boy, that's tough luck, huh? You got your vacation all set and then here you are up to your hind end in big-time crime."

He had to get out of here before he did something or said something he would regret. He rose to his feet and crossed to the door.

Apparently Francine couldn't scent danger; she kept right on jabbing and digging at him. "I suppose Amanda could go out there first and you could — you could go later. I mean, you're not inseparable, are you?"

She finally faltered, seeing the expression on his face. He had no idea what it looked like. Possibly it was a mixture of disgust, pain, and murderous rage. Her eyes were opened wide in surprise, so it was clearly not something she was used to seeing.

He had so much he wanted to say that he could not say a word. He just stared at her, his jaw working furiously, until he could not bear it anymore. He just limped out the door, his side aching from the bullet wound, and headed off to meet Amanda.


He hated this. He hated Nick Grant's preternatural ability to land him in the middle of a web of lies, bullets, adultery, and theft. He hated Jason McMasters Jr. for his violence toward his wife, and he hated Jason McMasters Sr. for dismissing it. Mostly he hated himself for ever getting involved with Nick Grant in the first place all those years ago. He hated that he was, objectively, the one who knew Nick best and could predict his next move.

But no matter how much he despised the man and wished he wouldn't keep showing up like a bad penny, he wasn't going to let Nick dictate his future. Come hell or high water, they were going to get married tomorrow.

Whether that meant that Nick Grant got extradited to Turkey or McMasters ever got his precious art collection back didn't matter to him in the least. They probably had about an hour before the Virginia police would let them talk to McMasters again, and he fully intended to make the most of that hour. After all, the Justice of the Peace was only twelve miles away from the McMasters' place.

He might have thanked Nick Grant for providing such a serendipitous way for them to meet with the Justice of the Peace, if he hadn't wanted to throttle him so badly.