Setting of this story is near the end of season 3, after "The Eyes Have It" and before "The Boy Who Would be King". I just can't get over how they were sitting at the concert at the end of "The Boy Who Would be King". Something had definitely changed between them then!

...

1. Compromised

It had been a very ordinary Tuesday.

Philip and Jamie were in their rooms doing their homework while Dotty and Amanda were sitting down for a cup of coffee in front of the TV after they had cleaned after up dinner. They were each curled up in a corner of the couch.

"So," Dotty said, and Amanda already knew what was coming next. "Are you ever going to tell me why you stopped seeing Dean?"

Amanda sighed.

"I already told you that, mother."

"Well, then I guess that I just still don't get it."

"And I guess you're right about that," Amanda said.

She didn't really feel like going into this again with her mother. There really hadn't been anything wrong with Dean and they both knew it. She had just missed the magic, as she called it. That spark that made her jump up whenever she saw him; that made her heart beat faster whenever she thought of him; that made her long for him whenever he touched her and that made her want to rush home after work to spend time with him. It made her sad to know that Dean actually missed her boys now that they weren't together anymore, but the fact that she didn't miss Dean at all, really told her all she needed to know.

That, and perhaps the fact that there was another man that made her heart beat faster whenever she thought of him these days.

For the longest time she hadn't wanted to acknowledge that at all - and since this particular man infuriated her to no end very regularly, she had hidden her feelings for him behind a general sense of annoyment for quite a while. It was ironic that she was forced to face those feelings each time her mother brought Dean back up, or the fact that she'd had no meaningful dates since breaking up with him, because that was where her thoughts drifted instantly at the mere mention of dating.

Lee Stetson …

"I just can't help thinking there must be someone else," Dotty continued and Amanda rolled her eyes. "For a while, I was convinced that it had to be someone at IFF. Maybe that dashing Mr. Steadman."

Amanda choked on her coffee and Dotty looked at her triumphantly.

"Aha!" she exclaimed, and Amanda made an attempt to shake her head while still coughing and patting her own chest.

"You can deny it all you want but one of these days I'm just going to ask Mr. Steadman himself."

"You will do no such thing!" Amanda said vehemently, setting her coffee down on the table before she'd spill it on herself.

She felt her face flush at the mere thought of her mother confronting Lee about a possible relationship between the two of them. She had already embarrassed herself enough the morning after their night in the swamp. She had opened a door for him and he hadn't made a single effort to use it since. She wasn't going to go there again. It was up to Lee now, not her. And most definitely not her mother!

"Well, why not?" Dotty asked innocently. "He's so handsome and kind. I think he'd be a great catch."

Amanda sighed again and decided to be honest with her mother for once.

"Mother, he has a new girl on his arm each weekend. He's not interested in a suburban housewife with two kids. We just work together, that's all."

"Well, he doesn't know what he's missing out on," Dotty declared.

"Mother …"

"It's true, Amanda. You're a very beautiful woman and there's nothing wrong with giving a man some stability. At his age, maybe that's what he should be looking for."

That made Amanda laugh out loud.

"At his age? What does that even mean?" she chuckled.

"Well," Dotty shrugged. "He's probably closer to forty than thirty by now, and so are you."

"Only just," Amanda countered.

"I'm just saying, if the man wants to start a family, he shouldn't wait very much longer."

...

And then suddenly, everything changed.

The doorbell rang, followed by a few loud, very impatient bangs on the door.

"Yeah yeah, hold your horses," Amanda mumbled as she stood up to go to the door.

She was glad that their uncomfortable conversation had been cut short, but she didn't appreciate the ruckus. She opened the front door and before she could even utter a word, Lee Stetson came storming in, gun in hand, and walked straight into the living room.

"Lee!" Amanda yelled, following on his heels. "What are you doing?!"

Dotty jumped to her feet when she saw her daughter's handsome, yet currently quite alarming coworker come in. Why on earth did that man have a gun in his hand?

"Where are the boys?" Lee barked.

"Ah … upstairs," Dotty gasped, never taking her eyes off the weapon in Mr. Steadman's hand.

"Lee!" Amanda called again, and then he finally turned to look at her.

She saw great concern in his eyes and he seemed to scan her body to make sure she was alright before he finally answered,

"Your family and this address have been compromised."

…

The boys had rushed down the stairs, attracted by all the commotion in the house, and Lee tucked his gun away quickly. He was satisfied that the family was safe for now, but measures had to be taken quickly to make sure they stayed that way. But first, he needed to make Amanda understand why he was blowing their covers to smithereens.

Dotty wanted answers too and he understood that. He couldn't suppress a small smile when he watched Amanda expertly calm her mother down before she ducked in the kitchen with him.

Amanda may have seemed to compose herself on the outside, but on the inside she was reeling. Lee was destroying their carefully crafted charade in one fell swoop and she didn't know what to think of it. And what did he mean, that her family had been compromised?

"You better explain yourself, and fast Mister!" she hurled at Lee. "What makes you think you can barge in here and point a gun at my mother!"

"I didn't point it at your mother," Lee huffed. "Just … just hear me out, alright?"

"Maybe you should start at the beginning. That's usually a good place to start," Amanda rambled. "And maybe you should have done that in the first place. Now my family is all upset and frankly, so am I!"

She was counting on Lee to be calm and reasonable now, and reassure her. But that wasn't what she was seeing in his eyes at all when he reached for her and rubbed her upper arms.

"Amanda, I'm sorry. I let my concern get the best of me. It's just that …"

He scrubbed a hand down his face and took a deep breath. This wasn't going to go over well.

"I've been received threats for a while now, Amanda."

"What?!"

"From a Russian group that we think is targeting our agency."

"Why wasn't I notified of this, Lee? And if they're threatening you, why didn't you tell me?" Amanda asked, punching his chest with her index finger each time she said 'you'.

"I …"

He didn't want to say that her security clearance simply didn't allow it. They were partners and friends and maybe he should have told her sooner. But there was no way around telling her now, so he continued as he stepped away from her and began to pace restlessly.

"We didn't see the need to alarm everyone at first. I mean, the Russians have been on to several of us for a while now, including you. But then we got these pictures at the bureau. We intercepted a few packages from the KGB and we found pictures. We're pretty sure we were supposed to find them."

"Pictures of what, Lee? You're beginning to scare me."

Lee seemed so agitated; so worried, and it was contagious.

"Photos. Of you. Of us. And of your mother and the boys."

He reached inside his jacket then and pulled out a small stack of photos.

"Look."

Amanda took the photos from his hand and flipped through them quickly before spreading them out on the kitchen counter. They were indeed of her, her family and of her with Lee, in black and white and taken from some distance, but they were still very recognizable.

"Who took these?" she asked, studying a picture of her and Lee where they were standing close together, smiling at each other, her hand resting on Lee's arm.

"The KGB, or someone working for them. Amanda, they're onto us. To you. They know I'm an agent. And they know who you are and who your family is, and that you're working for us and they're threatening to kill you all if I don't work with them."

"Oh my gosh."

"Yeah, I know," Lee nodded.

While both he and Amanda had been recognized by the KGB before, they had never gone after her family before. Until now.

They stood together in silence for a few moments and then Amanda said softly,

"Lee?"

Lee looked at her and she told him with wide eyes,

"I'm scared."

Lee took her hands in his own and rubbed the backs of her hands gently with his thumbs.

"I know, Amanda."

"This isn't just about me anymore. My boys …"

She let out a shuddering sigh and Lee had to suppress the urge to pull her close to him. He had never wanted this for Amanda or her family. And while Amanda had always maintained she knew the risks, he didn't think she really had understood; until now. This was the exact reason why most of the operatives at the agency didn't have a family. They knew that any adversary would try to find their weak spots, and family definitely was exactly that. And while this wasn't his own family, he did feel responsible for it. He tried not to think too deeply about why he felt that way, but he was determined to act on that feeling and get the entire family out of harm's way as quickly as possible.

"We have to get you out of here. All of you. Tonight," Lee told Amanda.

"But where will we go? And for how long? You said they know where we live."

Panic was rising in Amanda's voice and Lee grabbed her hands a little tighter.

"A place has already been arranged. I'm here to take you there."

"Now?"

"Yeah, now. We can't afford to wait. I have an unmarked van outside and an escort out of town."

Amanda opened her mouth again but no sound came out and she turned away from him to look around her, as if trying to decide what to bring.

"What about the house? What about our things? I mean …"

Her lower lip began to tremble and Lee wished he could turn back time to prevent this life-changing turn of events for the King family.

"We will have to explain things to the others first," Lee reminded her, "and then you will have to pack."

…

The silence in the living room was deafening after Lee and Amanda dropped the news of their imminent departure, as well as the reason why they had to leave immediately.

And then the room erupted and everyone started talking simultaneously.

"Mom, are you saying you're a spy?!" Philip exclaimed.

"And Mr. Steadman too?" Jamie added.

The boys were stunned, but there was also a bit of pride in their eyes, and excitement.

"Amanda, I can't believe this," Dotty said. "This is all a big joke, right? You made this all up together with Mr. Steadman to get back at me; to get a rise out of me for all my wild theories about why you were gone so often. Right?"

"It's not a joke, Mrs. West," Lee assured her. "And the name's Stetson. I'm a federal agent, and your daughter is my partner. She's an agent in training."

"It's the truth, mother. I'm sorry I could never tell you but that's the point of being a secret agent. It has to be a secret."

"Cool!" "This is awesome!" the boys said almost simultaneously. "Way to go mom!"

"Well, it's not so awesome that the KGB is after us, boys," Amanda responded as calmly as she could manage. "So it's very important that we now do exactly what Mr. Stetson says."

"I still don't believe any of this," Dotty muttered, but when both Lee and Amanda continued to urge her to pack her bags, she finally stood up to get everyone's suitcases.

"But we are going to have a long talk about this before this day is over, young lady," she told Amanda sternly before trudging up the stairs.

Amanda and Lee looked at each other and Lee blew out a breath while Amanda sighed.

"I'd better go help the boys."

"Yeah. Go on up. I'll wait here," Lee said.

Once Amanda had gone upstairs as well, Lee plopped down on the couch and closed his eyes. It still all felt like a bad dream to him so he could only imagine how Amanda and her family were feeling. He wasn't sure if they could ever return home, or even to Arlington. They needed to find out who knew about the family first. Chances were that the KGB had had their sights on Amanda for a while now, after finding out he had obtained sensitive information about several KGB operations in the US. He felt responsible. He was responsible. He hadn't even told Amanda yet that the people who were making the threats, assumed that they were lovers. He was going to do whatever it took to keep Amanda and her loved ones safe. He wondered briefly about Amanda's ex-husband, Joe King. But they could worry about him later. The one thing on his mind right now was to get the five of them to safety, himself included.

...

"Nobody except Billy knows where we're going," Lee told Amanda once they were underway, all their luggage stacked up in the back of the old van Lee had brought. After they had crossed the Arlington county line safely without being followed, their escort had left the 66 and they were on their own now.

"Not even Francine?"

"Not even Francine."

"She's not going to like being kept out of the loop again," Amanda mused, and Lee chuckled.

"Who are Billy and Francine?" Dotty piped up from the backseat, squished between her two grandsons.

"Our section chief and a fellow agent," Lee explained.

"A fellow agent. Of course. A fellow agent," Dotty said emphatically.

"I'm sorry mother," Amanda apologized again. "It's been so hard keeping the truth from you. You know I'm a horrible liar because I hate lying so much."

"And I used to be able to see right through you," Dotty complained. "How long has this been going on anyway?"

Lee and Amanda looked at each other, both trying to remember how long they had been working together now.

"Well, I'd say about two and a half years," Lee said.

"Two years and five months," Amanda corrected him.

"And ten days," Lee added softly, and the fact that he'd been keeping count like she had and the look in his eyes made her stomach flutter.

She glanced behind her and caught her mother just when Dotty opened her mouth to say something. Amanda quickly put up an index finger to silence her mother. She shook her head slowly and hoped that the look in her eyes was threatening enough to shut her mother up. It meant something to her that Lee would remember to the day when they had first started working together, but she didn't need her mother making a comment about it to him.

Both women had a brief wordless conversation with each other, their faces communicating exactly where they stood, and Amanda knew she would have to watch her mother closely if Lee was going to be around for a while. Was he going to be around for a while?

"Lee?"

"Yes?"

"This place where you're taking us … will you be staying there too?" Amanda asked him.

"For the time being, Billy wants all of us off the grid, including me. So yes, I'm afraid you're stuck with me for a while, Amanda."

"Oww, that's not a burden Lee," she told him reassuringly, patting his arm. "I've always said it would be good for you to spend some time with normal people."

They both heard Dotty let out a huff in the backseat and glanced at each other, both trying to suppress a knowing smile.

Lee loved how Amanda's dark eyes sparkled when they shared an inside joke. She often looked so innocent, naive even, but there was a very intelligent as well as funny woman hidden behind that beautiful, innocent face. And if he was completely honest with himself, he had come to enjoy her nurturing, homemaking side a lot. While he still pretended to be a man of the world, going from restaurant to club and back again, he was finding that the times he could truly relax these days, were the quiet moments with Amanda. It didn't matter if they were at her place or his, at a hotel on a case or even at the Q bureau, as long as it was just the two of them. Wel, the two of them when they were not in immediate danger. Despite the unsettling circumstances, part of him actually looked forward to spending some time with her and her family at the cabin.

He expected Dotty to adjust soon. He wasn't sure about Amanda's sons though. For now, they were impressed with all the secrecy and intrigue, not realizing yet that they had just been ripped away from everything that was familiar to them for a long time; possibly forever. He decided that he would try to talk to the boys soon. It was the least he could do for them.

"So, where are we going?" Amanda asked him.

"A cabin in the woods in West-Virginia, about a two hour drive from here. It's near a little town called Romney. We're pretty sure that there hasn't ever been a spy to Romney and we should be safe there. The agency owns the cabin under a different name and it's at a small lake that isn't on any map, it's that secluded. The only connection we'll have to DC will be this car phone," he said, pointing at the clearly newly installed device, that really stood out in the old van.

"Isn't that a little conspicuous?" Amanda asked.

"Sure is. So we're parking the van at the cabin and we'll use a different car to get to town. It's already there."

Amanda wondered if Lee had ever spent time at this cabin before but she didn't want to ask. If he'd ever taken any of his lady friends there, she didn't really want to know. She took a deep breath and breathed it out slowly. She missed her home already. Would they ever see it again?

…

To be continued