Take Two – Chapter Ten – Fitting In

Author notes: Peaks around the corner, sheepishly waves. Uhmmm – hi?

I am SOOOO sorry. I had three more chapters written around the same time I uploaded chapter 9. My only defense is that RL interfered once again. I was in a bad job situation that was a lose-lose situation. Silver lining – a director in another department knew I was very unhappy and offered me a position in her department and I took it. I have been very happy since; however, it also became very busy. Next thing I knew, I get a review this past week asking if I planned more chapters. To my surprise, it had been a year since my last update.

Hopefully, this one will help make up for the lost time, and I will post chapter 11 next Sunday (already written – just needs the dust knocked off first). Enjoy!

Francine walked up to Lee's desk in the bullpen. "Where's Amanda today? Shopping for the latest Housewives are Us specials? Exchanging recipe ideas of what to do with ground chuck?"

Lee thought the world of Francine, but sometimes wondered why Francine had such a hard time accepting Amanda. It just didn't make any sense, especially after the two of them got together and helped Lee out when Amanda was about to be traded to the Russians. "If you must know, Francine, Amanda took a personal day to take her mother shopping for Philip's birthday party. It's this Saturday, and since Dottie doesn't drive it makes it hard for her to run errands for a big event like this. So, Amanda took the day off." He looked at her as if to see what she would say next.

"Huh." Francine plopped down in the chair next to him.

"What?" he asked, leaning away from her with a suspicious look on his face.

Francine shrugged. "I thought you would have found it tiresome by now hanging out with the housewife, but it seems that instead of getting bored you are really settling in." She gave him a scrutinizing look. "And if there is anything to be said of your relationship with her, I would have to say she has also made you a better person."

Lee stopped what he was doing to give her his full attention. "Really, Francine? For months now, you have done nothing but discourage her, insult her, make her feel as if he doesn't have a right to be here. What's changed your mind?"

"Really? It was just the little things," she explained, then paused. She wanted to get this right. "Before Amanda came into the picture, you were reckless, impatient. Now, you stop and think through things. You are not as impulsive as you once were. You also take the time to explain things to our junior agents when it appears that they are not getting it." She tilted her head. "Not only has she made you a better person, she has made you a better agent." She patted his arm and stood to leave. "However, if you say anything about this to Amanda, I'll deny it."

He frowned. "Then why…?"

Francine smile. "Why the 'hate speeches', the 'insults'? It's to keep her on her toes. And see what kind of spirit she has." She leaned in. "It won't last much longer. I'll start backing off soon." She then pulled herself to her full height. "Oh, and Billy wants to see you. Something about Hadj and a body found in a book store ….."

"You were what?" Lee jumped up from the edge of the desk he had been sitting on.

"I was mugged," Amanda repeated. "I was shopping for Phillip's birthday presents downtown, and this guy came out of nowhere, tried to pull my shopping bags away, and then shoved me in the street." She took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, I'm just slightly ratted. When I was shoved into the street, I was almost hit by a car."

Lee tightened his hands around her arms and vaguely heard Francine. "You know the same thing happened to me last week." When Amanda asked her what she did, she responded. "I spiked his instep, thumbed his eye sockets, pressed my forearm against his larynx and brought up my knee in a lifting motion." She walked off.

After he was reassured that she was fine, they talked about Lee's current case and how the counter agent he was tracking was found dead. Lee glanced down and saw Amanda's pant leg. "Amanda, did that happen when you were mugged."

Amanda also looked down. "Yeah, I haven't been home yet. I've got Mother sitting in the car upstairs watching the packages so I could run down here with your expense report."

"You came straight here? What about the police report?" as he took the expense report from her and placed it on his desk.

Amanda shrugged and started to walk out the door. "I didn't file one. Oh, look," when she saw that he was about to argue, "I mean, I didn't have a license number and I'm not sure I could positively identify him." Now that they were out in the hall, she turned back to him. "Other than my new pants, and my ego, I'm fine. Really, Lee."

"You're sure you are really okay?" He asked. When she nodded, he continued. "Okay. I want you to go home now – now, no arguing," he smiled. "And take some time to finish getting stuff ready for Philp's party. I'll be by later this evening. And, I'll bring pizza so you two ladies don't have to do any more cooking. Is that a deal?"

"It's a deal. See you tonight."

"Amanda!" Lee shouted as he practically ran in the back door.

A voice drifted in from the foyer. "In here, Lee." He followed the voice of Dottie as she watched Amanda pull the remains of the closet out and sort it on the floor. Dottie looked up at him as he entered the foyer. "Thank you for coming so quickly, dear. It was just awful! One minute I am running upstairs to hide some of Philip's presents, the next I hear Amanda screaming and came down just in time to see a man run out the door." She took a deep breath and tossed a grateful look at Lee as he pulled her into a one-arm hug.

"It was the same man as the one who tried to mug me earlier today," Amanda stated as she pulled the last of the coats out of the closet and over to the couch in the colonel style living room. Lee noticed that she was still wearing the torn pants. Amanda straightened up and shoved her hands into her pockets. "I just don't understand why he is after Philip's presents." She turned to look at both Lee and her mother. "Lee, I don't think this is tied to Philip's birthday. I think this is Agency related somehow."

Lee stood straighter. Dottie felt him tighten his arm around her. "Amanda, you haven't been tied to anything that could cause anyone to come after you." He paused. "Unless they've seen us together. Which means, I've put your family in danger." He dropped his arm from Dottie and turned toward the dining room. "How could I have been so stupid?!"

Amanda started to speak, but her mother beat her to the punch. "Don't you even go there, Lee Stetson." Dottie stalked over to Lee and pointed her finger in his face. "You did not bring this on this family. It is just a coincidence." Her voice softened. "You've made more of a positive impact on his home, than negative. Even if this is Agency related, there has to be a logical reason for this, right?"

Lee froze. He had faced down armed Russians, terrorists, and mad bombers. But Dottie West? That was a whole other ball game. He stood and reflected on what she had said. "Okay, it might be Agency related, and for some reason, this person is fixated on the shopping." He looked at both of the women. "Alright, here's what we need to do. I need everything that you bought before the mugging and bring it down here for us to look through. The boys aren't due back from school for another," he glanced at his watch, "hour. So we have time to look them over and see what needs to be taken in for more in-depth analysis and what can be kept here for the party." He glanced at the closet. "And tonight, when we are done with the pizza, I can help put the closet back together."

Fifteen minutes later, they discovered what it was. The book Dottie had been so excited for, Sky Chief Rides Again, was not in the packages, but another book, The Drought Cycles of Burma. "That's not what I bought," Dottie exclaimed as she picked up the book.

Lee quickly took it from her and started to flip through the pages. "It looks like it is in code. I need to get this to crypto to see what was so important that men have been killed over it. Dottie, where did you get this book." Dottie's eyes went wide and answered that it was Keene Bookstore, and Lee instantly regretted his words. "Sorry, Dottie. But unfortunately, several men have been killed over this book." She blanched as she remembered the man who had stumbled into her at that same bookstore. Looking back, she remembered that the man not only stumbled but had fallen to the ground. Which means….she quickly put that thought away.

Lee stood up and shrugged his jacket back on. "I'll be back in a bit with the pizza." He glanced over at Amanda as she was looking upset at another box. "Amanda? What's wrong?"

"It's broken." Amanda held up the Captain Galaxy figure. "It was the last one, and it took us four days to find this one. And we need it by 2pm tomorrow. It was the one thing Philip asked for." She looked lost for a moment. "Lee, what do I tell him? I am not going to be able to find one in time."

Lee looked at his watch once again. "I have an idea. Let me see what I can do, and I'll let you know if I can get this done, okay?" Amanda nodded. "Okay, go ahead and put this stuff away, and I'll be back soon."

Lee was late. He knew he was late, but there was a very good reason he was late. He decided to sneak in the back door and wait for the opportune time to pass along the good news.

Dottie was busy passing out cake and ice cream, while Amanda stepped back into the kitchen for another pitcher of lemonade. She had just pulled it out of the refrigerator when she saw him sneak in. "Hey, stranger!" she called. She also saw he had two presents in his hands. "Is that….?"

"Yes, Captain Galaxy and Sky Chief Rides Again." He handed both presents to her and took the pitcher from her. While she was distracted, he carried the lemonade into the family room. She heard Philip's excited "Hey, Lee's here!" and quickly carried the two presents into the room with her.

After the party was over, and the guests had left, the boys had excused themselves to Philip's room to check out his new Captain Galaxy. It meant a great deal to him that his family was able to get this for his birthday.

Amanda carried the coffee server into the now cleaned and put back together family room. As she poured the coffee, she found she couldn't resist asking the question. "So, how were you able to pull this off? There is not another Captain Galaxy anywhere in this tri-state area. I should know!"

Lee took the mug and slid back into the seat cushions. He saw Dottie also take her mug and settle in, waiting for the answer. "Well, it wasn't really anything major. I checked out the manufacturer of the action figure, which is in Taiwan. I don't know if I shared this before, but I was in the Marines and am still listed in the reserves." He took a careful drink. Those were some dark days…. "Anyways, I've got some buddies at the Naval station there and had them go and track it down for me, and then had it shipped to Naval Air Station in Guam. I then called my uncle, who is currently stationed in Arizona, to see if he could get it to be transported and he had it brought to Bolling Air Base. The rest was easy." He shrugged, and didn't dare look at either of the women.

"The rest was easy," Amanda stated. "Geez, next birthday party I'm letting you handle all the hard presents." The group looked at each other and shared a laugh.

Yes, Lee was definitely fitting in with Amanda's family.