Take Two Chapter 8 – Family Matters

For this one, I rearranged some of the dialogue. Lee needed to have some words with Magda, so felt the need to steal some of Amanda's and give it to him. I also extended the tag. Enjoy!

Dotty came down the stairs sniffling and trying to stifle the cough she knew was building up. Amanda and came up a short while ago to let her know that Lee was interviewing a refugee from Hungary since their other safe house had actually caught fire and burned down. Go figure, of all the days this could happen, and she is not feeling her best at all!

Amanda told her that because the defection was highly classified it was best if she stayed upstairs if she could. Dottie tried. She really did. But she was getting hungry, and was it was getting boring staying in bed, so she figured it wouldn't hurt to wander down….

"Amanda? I'll have that sandwich now." She paused, but decided to play along with the fact she was supposed to be in bed when she saw the refugee sitting in one of the armchairs. "Well, I'm sorry. I didn't know you had company." She promptly sat down on the couch, smiling.

Amanda knew exactly what she was up to, so let her get away with it – for now. "Yes, Mother, this is Miss Petrak." She turned to Magda. "Magda Petrak, this is my mother, Mrs. West."

By now, Dotty was comfortably seated and planning to entertain this woman who was causing her usually calm daughter to be somewhat frazzled. "Well, aren't you two having a cozy time? I hope I'm not interrupting anything." She took the plate from Amanda and her cup of tea. "Well, I hope you'll forgive my appearance. I mean I just have a head cold. I know they make you look and feel miserable. I mean, Amanda thinks that I might have dengue fever but I know it's just a cold. I was feeling absolutely wonderful yesterday and then – boom! – it just hit me last night."

"Then you are contagious," Magda stated. "You should confine yourself for the good of the others."

Dotty paused in sipping her tea. "Oh, I suppose you are right, but it so boring up there. I think I'll sit here for the moment." She made herself a bit more comfortable before she took another sip as she stared at their very unwelcome guest.

At that moment, Lee walked in the back door with Philip and Jamie, bringing in Philip's volcano science project and sat it on the table. Lee was proud of the hard work Philip had put into this project, working on it day and night for month! Philip was so excited that he barely cleared the door before giving his good news and waving his red ribbon. "Mom! I won second prize! I probably would have won first, only Bill Geisman, he always wins it - ever since preschool." He proudly showed her the ribbon. Lee stood just behind him, hands on Philip's shoulders to show how proud he was of this young man.

"Winning can only be first place." The room dropped to a dead silence. "They don't teach you that?" Magda asked. The entire family stared at her.

Amanda paused, but smiled. "We've got first place and second place. And we've got third place and runners-up, and I think this is just sensational." She gave Philip another hug.

Magda responded. "In my country, first place is winning. Everything else is losing."

Philip visibly began to wilt, and stared at his ribbon. Amanda placed her fingers under his chin and tipped his head up. "Philip. Hey, I am very proud of you. Give me a hug. Get upstairs and I'll be there in a minute."

Lee stopped Philip before he left. "Philip, I want you to know that I am also very proud of you. It was an awesome job you did on that volcano. How about, if it is okay with your mom, we go get ice cream after supper tonight to celebrate?"

"I think that is a wonderful idea, Lee," Amanda agreed, and smiled as her young son gave Lee an enthusiastic hug which was also returned with no less emotion. "Now, I need you both to run upstairs and get started on your homework. You are excused from your chores until the guest has left."

Amanda put her head down and covered her mouth thoughtfully, and waited until the boys were gone and up the stairs before she turned on Magda. "How could you say that to a little boy?"

"One has a responsibility to children," Magda defended. "They should be realists. You don't want your son to be a winner?"

Amanda chuckled, then dropped her voice into a dangerous tone. "My son is a winner. Please excuse me." She turned to Lee. "Can I speak to you for a moment?"

"Yes, in a moment." Lee turned to Magda. "Ms. Petrak, Amanda has gone above and beyond her hospitality duties to you today, opening her home to you, fed you, made more coffee than I think is healthy for any one person, and what do you do? You don't say thank you, and you insulted her son, a little boy who spent over a month working day and night on that volcano. He did a damn good job on it, and he both earned and won that second place."

Lee followed Amanda out onto the patio. "Amanda, I promise to get her out of here just as soon as we can." He was then very surprised when Amanda grabbed and hugged him fiercely. "What was that for? I know I messed up bringing her here -"

Amanda stopped him. "No, the hug was for defending Philip and our family." She smiled. "Thank you." She then smirked. "And you will be forgiven after she is gone from this house." She smiled to take the sting out of her statement.

Unfortunately, it will be several more hours later before Lee was about to make good on his promise.

It was Friday night, and as promised, Lee had escorted Amanda to an elegant embassy party. He felt he owed her a lot from having to keep Magda entertained, the way Magda had treated her family, and finally wrecking her car in the hopes of keeping the Hungarian safe. Seeing a waiter walking by, he grabbed two glasses of champagne and handed one off to Amanda, all the while trying to stifle a cough.

"Here you go, Amanda. And, I wanted to apologize, again, for the trouble Magda caused you and your family. It certainly wasn't my intention." He closed his eyes. "Especially the way she treated Philip's second place. Manda, if there is anything I can do to make up for it…."

Amanda put her fingers on his lips to silence him. "Lee, you have apologized plenty and have made it up to Philip tenfold. You are good," she smiled. She thought back earlier in the week when Lee had Philip demonstrate his volcano – all in the backyard – and how excited Philip had been to "blow it up".

She took a drink, then looked up at Lee. "So, Lee, I am slightly curious. With our relationship…..Well, with the helicopter, first you saved Magda, then you saved Francine and then almost as an afterthought, you saved me."

"It was not an afterthought," Lee said, and put his arm around her to pull her closer. "I just, you know, I felt it was the first time that you were in the clear."

"See? I knew you would explain it perfectly. How did you find us?"

Chuckling, Lee said, "I saw somebody try to drive a station wagon through a swamp." Amanda giggled back, "And you knew it was me."

Lee smiled. "I figured it'd be you, yes." He leaned down to give her a peck on the cheek, then leaned back frowning. "You're not feeling well, are you?"

"No," Amanda sighed, then took her Kleenex to wipe her nose. "This party is really nice, but I just want to go home." She frowned, and lifted her hand to touch his cheek, then graced his forehead. "And I think you are in the same boat, buster. How about we head back to my place, get some hot tea, and watch a movie. You can crash on the couch for the night."

Lee waived down another waiter and placed both of their glasses on it. "Deal." He looked around before he pulled her close once again. "If it makes you feel any better, Magda caught Dotty's cold, too."

They smiled, giggled, and coughed their way home.

After they had changed clothes, sipped their tea, they found a late, late night show on the TV and curled up next to each other on the couch. At some point, Amanda had leaned against Lee and fallen asleep. She might have been embarrassed, if only she knew that Lee was just behind her going into slumber land…..

Dottie tightened the belt on her robe as she came down the stairs, half noting that the door to her daughter's room was left ajar. She paused, looked back at the door, looked down the stairs and shrugged. Her daughter was a grown women after all.

She crossed the landing and walked partially into the kitchen when she realized that the couch in the den looked occupied. Moving back around the island and into the den, she stopped at the end of the couch.

Dottie couldn't quite hold back her grin. For on that couch was her missing daughter, wrapped up in Lee Stetson's arms. And both were quite asleep.

Dottie pulled the blanket over the two, and continued her way into the kitchen to start the coffee.

In the time it took to change her clothes and peruse her refrigerator, the coffee was done. Dottie had just poured herself a cup when she realized she was no longer the only non-sleeping member of the household. She looked over and saw both Jamie and Philip staring at the couch.

"Grandma?" Philip began in a whisper. "Did Mom and Lee sleep down here last night?" he asked quietly.

Dottie nodded, and pulled down two glasses to fill with milk. "I believe so." At that moment, she heard rustling in the den and paused. A few moments later, a sheepish looking Lee stood at the kitchen entrance, looking lost. As if it were an everyday experience, Dottie asked, "Would you like some coffee, Lee? It's fresh."

"Yes, that would be great," he responded gruffly, and sat down at the kitchen table rubbing his face and head as if to finish waking himself up. He looked up as Dottie sat the mug down in front of him and saw it already had cream. She said with a shrug, "Amanda," to explain how she knew.

Lee nodded once again, and saw both Jamie and Philip looking at him. At first, he thought he had messed up. "Hey, fellas. Look, your mom and I were real tired last night, and before we knew it – I guess we both fell asleep." He took another deep drink. He sighed, which quickly turned into a deep cough.

Dottie's mother instincts were in full force. "Sounds like you have picked up my cold, young man." She reached over and felt of his head. He tried to dodge, but could not escape the expert hands. "Yep, and unless I miss my guess, I'd say 101." She turned and left the room. Lee closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, Dottie was next to him with something in her hand. "It worked on my cold. I think it'll work on yours," as she passed him the cold medication.

Lee sat for a few moments. Even though he had been full accepted by this family, it was times like this that he was reminded that this was what families were all about. Taking care of each other. He quickly took the medication, and sat for a few moments watching Dottie bustle around the kitchen to create breakfast for the family, while making sure Lee had coffee and a glass of juice that had appeared seemingly out of nowhere. The quiet tones she used to direct Jamie, the smack of a hand when Philip tried to sneak a chocolate chip from the pancake batter she was putting together. The scents that was unique of coffee, pancakes, and something else he couldn't quite place. It all said the same thing.

He would be taken care of. Because he was home. Because he was loved.

Before long, he realized that Amanda was sitting next to him with her own cup of coffee. She smiled over the rim of her mug, then patted his hand. "This is what a normal Saturday morning looks like, Lee. Nothing special." She glance over at her mother and her boys. "But I wouldn't trade a hundred embassy parties for one of these." She placed her own hand on his face. "Yep, I think Mother is right. Right at 101." She glanced over at the family, then turned her attention back to him. "Unless you just really want to go home and rest, why don't you consider hanging out on the couch with us today? Mother and I are both still recovering ourselves. We can watch movies, play some board games, or even," she winked, "take a nap," she finished in a stage whisper.

"It's a deal," he whispered back. And I wouldn't trade a hundred embassy parties for one of these, either, he thought.