"You know, it's been years since I've come down to see the White House Christmas tree lighting," said Dotty as they joined the throng of people making their way down the Mall toward the Ellipse. "I guess it's handy to have government contacts when it comes to tickets for things like this."

"You came with us at least once when the boys were tiny," replied Amanda. "But it wasn't for the opening ceremony, I think. Didn't we just come down to look at it?"

"Oh yes! And it was so cold that we swore we'd never come again," laughed Dotty.

"That's right," Amanda chuckled. "We bought hot chocolate for the boys and Phillip tried to stick his whole hand into it to get his fingers warm."

"Did it work?" asked Lee, tousling Phillip's hair as they walked.

"No, because then he licked it all off and then he had a wet sticky hand that was even colder and he'd spilled most of his drink!"

"Gee, Mom, that's not an embarrassing story at all," commented Jamie. "Thanks for sharing."

"Shut up, Ralphie," muttered Phillip.

"I'd rather be Ralphie than Flick," answered Jamie, barely rising to the bait. "At least I still have all my taste buds, unlike some people."

"We'll watch it later," Amanda said, seeing Lee's look of confusion. "It's tradition – you'll understand then."

"Another tradition?" Lee shook his head with a laugh. "How do normal people remember all these things?"

"Is there a bigger crowd than normal or has something happened?" Dotty craned her neck to see as the mass of people in front of them slowed almost to a stop.

"No, it's all the security barricades," answered Lee, who could see better over all the heads with the advantage of height. "They're making everyone slow down to get through."

"Why ever would a Christmas tree need security?" asked Dotty. "It's not like the President is even going to be here – they said he was lighting it from the White House portico again this year."

"It's not security for the tree, Mother," Amanda explained. "They just have it all set up for tomorrow because Mr. Gorbachev is arriving. That's why the ceremony is so early this year – they wanted to have it lit before his summit visit."

"If they wanted him to see it, how come didn't they wait for him to get here so he could do the lighting, Mom?" Jamie asked.

The adults exchanged a speaking look. "That's a good question, Sweetheart – probably because the Soviet Union doesn't celebrate Christmas and they don't want to embarrass him."

"Huh. Not getting to have Christmas must suck."

As the boys pushed ahead, Lee reached over to lace his fingers with Amanda's. "This is nice – it's good to have a bit of down time before the next few days."

Amanda gave a quick glance to make sure Dotty was far enough ahead to be out of earshot. "Well, at least we're not too heavily involved in summit security. If I never have to read another file about dissidents that may or may not be in the DC area, it'll be too soon."

"I hear ya," agreed Lee. "I thought Spring Cleaning was bad, but my eyes have gone buggy from going over that many hours of video of the Arrivals area at Dulles."

"We won't get dragged into anything active, will we?" asked Amanda, slightly worried. "I have so many things left to do to get ready for Christmas, I just want everything to stay calm this year."

"No nests of killers, Amanda? Are you losing your sense of adventure?" he teased.

"Hey, you promised no spies, no killers, and no Grinches this year!" she retorted. "I have a house full of people coming for Christmas Day and no way do I want to spend it tied up somewhere!"

Are you sure?" Lee gave her a light hip check as they walked. "Done correctly, it can be a lot of fun as I recall."

"Why else do you think I keep all those scarves you've given me?" Amanda hip checked him back as he laughed. "But this year you're on duty as a member of the family and nothing else, capisce?"

"Capisce," he agreed. "Jamie, Phillip!" he called out to them as they pressed ahead of the adults. "Make for that food cart over there!"

"You cannot possibly be hungry again! We just ate dinner!" exclaimed Dotty.

"No, but I can see a sign that says he has hot apple cider and who doesn't want a warm drink with their tree lighting?"

Dotty and Amanda agreed with enthusiasm and the family made their way to the cart. Lee was right – unlike most of the vendors lining the streets nearby, this one had made an effort to get into the holiday spirit, offering apple cider, hot chocolate and soft gingerbread cookies kept warm suspended in a mesh basket above the steamer section where he would normally have hot dogs.

"Well, this is just lovely!" Amanda complimented him. "This is so different from the normal things you find at events like this!"

"Thank you, Madam," said the vendor, bowing slightly. "I hoped bringing something unique would make me stand out."

"Well, you certainly got my attention," added Lee. "This warm gingerbread reminds me of the Christmas markets in Germany."

The vendor beamed. "Well, that is where I am from originally! I hope you will enjoy it!"

"I'm sure we will," replied Amanda with a friendly smile, as she passed out the drinks and cookies to her family, then turned back to collect extra napkins. It was that slight delay that meant she was still standing by the cart when the next customer stepped up.

"Dobriy vyecher" he began. "U vas yest' dokumenty?"

Amanda sighed. To almost anyone else, it would have sounded like a simple question about the menu, but as Lee had once told Beaman, she'd been around enough bad guys to know Russian when she heard it. She paused as if she was looking for something else among the cream and sugar and surveyed the man out of the corner of her eye. The vendor had completely changed demeanor after he'd been spoken to, glancing around nervously as if afraid they might be being watched. She definitely didn't know the vendor but the customer was familiar enough – Andrei Sapovsky, a known Russian agitator, and a face she'd studied in more than one file in the last few weeks leading up to this summit.

She turned and made sure her family was far enough ahead of them before calling out in a light voice. "Oh Sweetheart! Honestly, with your hair sticking up like that, you look just like a scarecrow!"

Lee paused mid-step and stiffened, before casually turning around as if he was looking for her. She gazed back blandly, pointing casually to the man next to her as she pretended to adjust her gloves. She could see the same look of resignation go across Lee's face at the seemingly inevitable interruption to their family time – he recognized Sapovsky as well.

"Need help carrying anything, Darling?" he asked, walking back toward the cart.

"Oh, no, just getting extra napkins. You know how messy the boys get with food. Remember that time at Milo's?" she said brightly.

Lee nodded his understanding. Sapovsky is getting something passed to him with his food. He watched with appreciation as Amanda stepped forward and pretended to trip, falling against Sapovsky as he turned away from the cart with his order.

"Oh my Gosh! I am so sorry!" she exclaimed as she sent him reeling back against Lee. She began dabbing at him with her fistful of napkins. "I'm so, so sorry – my foot just got caught on a tuft of grass and now your drink has spilled on you! Oh, and your cookie too! Please let me buy you a new one!" she said holding out the cookie and its mass of napkins.

"Nyet! No! Is fine!" he muttered. "I do not mind." He snatched it from her and hurried off into the darkness, lost almost instantly in the crowd.

"Did you get it?" Amanda asked almost conversationally as they turned to walk to where the family was waiting.

"Yeah, safe in my pocket. I only caught a glimpse but I think it's a map of all the security routes for the motorcades tomorrow," replied Lee, smiling down at her. "I'll make an excuse for why we have to drop into work for five minutes on our way home and give it to the guys on duty."

"Should we have let him leave? Maybe one of us should follow him."

Lee shrugged and shook his head. "Nah, the tree lighting is going to start in a minute or two and that's what we came to enjoy. And we intercepted the drop and that's what matters. Besides, he'll probably come back here as soon as he realizes he's lost it somewhere so I'll just alert one of the Park Police to call our guys and they can pick him up."

"Thank you, Sweetheart."

Lee lifted an eyebrow inquiringly.

"Thank you for not letting this interfere with our evening with our family." She tugged his arm until he leaned down to kiss her.

"Our family – I like the sound of that," he smiled, before leaning in again.

"Oh, come on you two!" Jamie shouted, while Phillip made kissing sounds loudly. "You're going to miss the whole thing! It's going to be the 4th of July fireworks all over again!"

"You sure about that?" Amanda teased as they broke apart and turned to join the family.

Dotty reached out to link her arm with Lee's as they approached and pulled him in close for warmth. "That's better," she beamed.

Lee gave Amanda a sideways grin. "I'm sure."