Lee struggled against the apparition who held his throat tightly constricting his airways. He reached for the hand on his throat with both of his, his attention drawn to the Ouroboros tattoo on the back of it as he pried the fingers loose. When he was finally able to breathe again, he said, "Okay, Pal, if you've got something to show me too, show me already. Trying to choke the life out of me is not the way to get my attention."

The newest apparition then grabbed him by the back of the neck and in a whoosh, the office then disappeared and he was then dropped unceremoniously to the ground, his head striking a hard surface with a resounding crack. Lee struggled to maintain consciousness as he sat up, gingerly touching the fresh bump on his head. "That's not a great thing to do either, " he grumbled as he slowly pulled himself to his feet. "How can I see whatever it is that I'm supposed to see if I'm...oh, say...unconscious!" When the spirit was eerily silent, he tried again. "Come on, Pal, what exactly is it that I'm supposed to see?" Lee glanced around to get his bearings and realized that he was in Arlington National Cemetery. He sighed. "Well, that explains what I hit my head on," he said as he looked over the sea of headstones.

The apparition then pointed behind him, "Yeah, yeah, I get it," Lee said without turning around.. "It's a headstone. What is it, my mom's?" The spirit shook his head. "My dad's?" Another headshake. "Andy's?" Again the spirit shook it's head. Lee swallowed hard and in a choked voice questioned, "Dorothy's?" With yet another headshake from the sprit, Lee said angrily. "So, what is it, Pal? If I'm not supposed to be here to get all weepy over one of the many people I've lost, then just what the hell is this all about?"

The spirit then turned and indicated the woman walking toward their location. As she drew closer, Lee realized it was Amanda and that she carried a poinsettia in her arms. As she reached them, she knelt in front of him, oblivious to his presence and said, "Hi, Lee," as she set the plant down in front of the headstone. "I...uh...know that you always thought poinsettias were pretty stupid when you were alive, but...um...it's Christmas and I...uh thought...that even though I was never able to get you into the Christmas spirit when you were still with me. I...thought...maybe being a spirit yourself now...I might have some better luck."

At hearing Amanda's words, Lee turned and finally looked at the headstone and gasped as he read the words engraved on it.

Lee Matthew Stetson

June 17, 1950-December 24, 1985

Dorothy's words when they'd watched him get shot, "He's not you, not yet," struck him, her meaning now clear. His thought of Dorothy was interrupted by Amanda.

"Damn you, Lee Stetson!" she cried as tears of grief poured down her cheeks. "Why didn't you let me help you with that case? Why'd you have to go to that warehouse all by yourself? You know that breaks just about every rule in the book! You could still be alive and with me if you just hadn't been too damn stubborn to let me in a little, but no, Mr. Loner, Mr. I don't-need-anyone-but-me had to try to be the big strapping hero again. Only this time it cost you your life. God, I'm so angry with you! I'm so angry that you did that! That was a stupid thing to do! I'm angry that you left me all alone! I can't even walk into our office without bursting into tears and it's been a year! I'm angry that I trusted you with my heart and you broke it by leaving me! I'm angry that you died without ever giving me the chance to tell you how much I love you."

"Oh, Amanda, I love you, too," Lee whispered as he knelt beside her.

"No, that's not true," Amanda amended in a softer tone as she sniffled softly. "I'm angrier at myself for that one, for never having the courage to tell you when I had the chance and I had a lot of chances. I wanted to tell you so many times, especially that night in the swamp when we were being chased by Sacker's men and again when we were undercover at the Marvelous Marvin's convention, that night I invited you into my room. I was so irritated with you for booking us as brother and sister. I'd been thinking it was going to be another case where we pretended to be a couple and we'd be sharing a room. I know I acted weird about it when we first started working together, but the closer we got, the more I thought...well, the more I thought about us being a couple for real and that night..." She trailed off, "When I invited you in for coffee, I had more than coffee on my mind." She then screamed in frustration, "How could you be so smart when it comes to espionage and yet, so dumb when it comes to love? Why couldn't you see how much I loved you? How much I wanted you? That night, I wanted nothing more than to tell you how I really felt and to have you tell me the same and then take me in your arms and make love to me."

Lee rocked to the core by the brutal honesty of her words, said, "Amanda, I'm sorry that I was so dumb. I...I... I never knew. God, if I'd known, I would have done something about it. I've loved you for so long. I...I just never thought that a woman like you could ever love someone as damaged as me. If I'd known..."

Amanda wiped the tears from her eyes, then blew a kiss toward the headstone and said, "I have to go. Your friend, Bernie called the office in some kind of trouble, something about Titan Toys and I promised I'd look into it for him. It's hard sometimes to continue in this job without you, since you're the one who got me started, but I...I owe it to you to stick with it. Seeya' later."

Lee turned to watch her walk away, but before she was out of sight, was once again grabbed by the brutish apparition and with another whoosh was plopped down into the den of Amanda's home. He glanced around and saw a lopsided homemade shelf of some kind, Dotty puttering around in the kitchen, the boys shaking and poking packages under the tree while Joe poured himself a cup of eggnog from a bowl on the kitchen counter. Everyone was there...except Amanda. "Hey, you!" He shouted at the spirit who'd dropped him there. "Where is she? Where's Amanda?"he demanded.

The spirit merely pointed toward the direction of the front door, at which there was a sounding of the doorbell a few seconds later. "I'll get it, Dotty," Joe said. "Maybe Amanda forgot her key." Lee watched as Joe exited the room, only to return a moment later, his boss with him.

"Billy," Lee said softly.

"Mrs. West," Billy said somberly as he flashed his ID at her. "My name is William Melrose, I'm a federal agent. I need to speak with you in private for a moment if I could. It's about your daughter. It's probably best if you sit down."

Dotty looked at him worriedly and said, "What's going on?"as she sat at the kitchen table.

Once they'd moved to the table, Lee could no longer hear very clearly what was being said as they were now on the other side of the kitchen from him causing the sound of their conversation to be muffled. He quickly entered the breakfast nook to hear Billy saying, "Her body was found in a downtown alley. I'm so very sorry for your loss, Mrs. West."

"NO!" Lee cried. "NOOOOOO!" He then turned to the phantom behind him lodging a left hook toward the beast, but hit nothing but air. He was then grabbed from behind and forcibly turned back around to face the scene at the table.

"I...I don't understand," Dotty said as she sobbed uncontrollably while Joe held her tightly. "She said she just had to work late. What would she have been doing that could have caused this?"

"Mrs. West, I shouldn't be telling you this, but as her friend, I feel that I owe you the truth. Amanda wasn't a filmmaker. She was also a federal agent. I am...I was her supervisor," Billy explained in a sorrowful voice. "I know that it's no consolation in your time of grief, especially with this happening at Christmas time, but your daughter was one of the bravest women that I ever met and she died in service to her country."

Lee unable to bear listening to anymore, left the kitchen and was surprised to find that he had not been stopped by the thuggish ghost of Christmas-yet-to-come. He stepped back into the den to find Phillip and Jamie still at their game at the Christmas tree, trying to guess what was in each package, oblivious to the fact that their mother wasn't coming home.

Billy, Joe and Dotty entered the room with Joe saying in a hushed tone, "I don't understand. She was smarter than to go in without any back-up," while Dotty sank numbly to the couch.

Billy nodded and said, "Yes, she was, but losing Lee last year has made it really difficult for her to work with anyone else unless it was absolutely necessary and I don't think in this case, she realized that anything that dangerous would be happening at a toy factory. Listen, I should go. I'm truly sorry," Billy offered sympathetically as he shook Joe's hand before making his exit.

After Billy left, Joe let out a deep sigh and joined his sons on the floor, saying, "Hey, Fellas', stop what you're doing, okay? I have something serious to talk to you about." Lee watched with a pained look on his face as Joe delivered the news to his children that they were now motherless and his heart broke at seeing the two boys and their reactions as their father held them to comfort them.

Lee then felt himself being hurtled back to the office. When he was dropped at this desk, he beat futilely at the phantom's chest screaming, "WHY! WHY? I get me, but, she was a mother for god's sake! Why'd you have to take her?"

The spirit abruptly departed and he heard an all-too-familiar voice behind him. "He didn't take her, you know." Lee whipped around to find himself face to face with Andy again. "You did."

"What? How could I have taken her? I saw my own headstone. How could I be responsible for her death if I was dead myself?"

"Because you were supposed to be with her at Titan Toys and you would have been if you hadn't been so damned stubborn and refused her help on this case," Andy said indicating the files on his desk. "You're a good guy, Lee, and you've still got a lot that you're meant to do. That's why you're being given a second chance to do it right. Not too many people get that chance. So, get it right this time."