Lee parked his car down the block from the house, his destination in sight. He got out of the car and snuck to the back of the house to try and gain a view of Amanda and the boys inside. The yard was unkempt and overgrown. An old rusty gate squealed as he swung it open. Lee winced at the sound and hoped that it didn't make his presence known. Upon first examination of the house, there didn't seem a way that Lee could immediately see inside. All the windows to the living area of the house were too high up and would require some climbing. As he stood under one of the windows, he could hear voices. He soon realized that they were the voices of Philip and Jamie. "Thank God they're still alive" ,he thought to himself.
"It's gonna be OK, Jamie! Mom and Dad are professional spies! I bet they do this stuff all the time. Try not to be scared."
"Aren't you scared, Philip? I mean, they have guns. What if they shoot us? And Mom is tied up….that lady hit her!"
Lee became instantly enraged upon hearing that one of the women hit Amanda. He had to concentrate on controlling his anger and pushing the emotions aside. He had just gained some valuable information from the boys: there are multiple guns involved and Amanda is tied up.
"Nah, I'm not scared….well, maybe a little scared but you heard what Mom said. Dad will be here soon. He'll fix everything. He's been doing this a lot longer than mom and from what we heard Francine say to Sam that time, Dad is the best spy there is! Remember? She said there's no one better!"
"Yeah, I remember. I just wish I knew what was going on and that Mom was OK."
Lee could hear the fear in both of the boys' voices. He continued to move about the back of the house looking for a way in. There was none that he could find. He quickly returned to his car and drove up to the house. In his rearview mirror, he could see the team that Francine had assembled turn down the road and park. Lee checked his gun and exited his car. He could see shadows moving past the large picture window. As he approached the front door, he could hear a woman's voice but couldn't make out what she was saying. "it's now or never", he said to himself as he rang the bell.
"Tasha! You will open the door! But wait for me." Ekaterina barked at her daughter. Tasha walked to the door and placed her hand on the knob. Ekaterina grabbed Jamie by the arm and dragged him with her to the front door. Jamie struggled beneath his captor's grip; this made Ekaterina squeeze harder on his arm forcing Jamie to let out a yelp of pain.
"Mr. Stetson! We are going to open the door. You will walk through with your hands in the air. If you do not, I will shoot your son, Jamie. He is standing right here beside me!"
Ekaterina squeezed Jamie's arm again much harder than before causing him to yell again.
"Ow! Stop! You're hurting me!"
"STOP!", Amanda yelled from across the room. "Leave him alone!"
Lee could hear both Jamie and Amanda through the door.
"OK, OK! I will do what you say. Just leave Jamie alone!"
Ekaterina nodded to Tasha who then slowly opened the door. Lee stepped inside, both hands in the air.
"Lee!" Amanda called out to him.
Natasha frisked Lee and removed his gun from its holster. She handed it to her mother. Ekaterina shoved the blindfolded Jamie towards Lee as she pointed both guns at them both. Lee hugged Jamie with all his might and removed his blindfold. Jamie smiled when he saw Lee and began to cry. His hands were still tied and couldn't hug Lee but felt safe in his embrace.
"Uh-uh, Mr. Stetson. I didn't say you could remove the blindfold. Put it back on." She gestured with the gun to help accentuate her point.
"Sorry, Kiddo. It will be OK, I promise. I'll get you out of this. Just do as I say, OK?" Lee calmly whispered into Jamie's ear as he replaced the blindfold. He then made his way over to Philip making sure that he was ok, too. He hugged his son and told him to be strong, it would all be ok. Philip nodded his head as he tried to stifle the tears that were now free flowing. As Lee hugged Philip, he made eye contact with Amanda across the room. She gave him a half smile as she was glad to see him. Her eyes, however were laden with fear. Lee returned the smile and gave her a nod. He could see the cut on her cheek that was now encrusted with dried blood. Lee inhaled deeply and stood up, facing Ekaterina.
"Why don't you let Amanda and the boys go? Your issue is with me, not them. I am the one that killed your husband and son all those years ago. They have done nothing to hurt you."
Ekaterina was not prepared for the overwhelming emotions that she was feeling seeing Lee again. Memories of that fateful day came flooding into her mind in vivid detail. It was almost too much to handle. Her hands began to shake as she looked into Lee's sorrowful eyes. Sensing her uneasiness, he slowly began to step towards her. If he could catch her off guard, perhaps he could get the upper hand. But what if she began to get frightened and just began shooting. He couldn't live with himself if one of the boys got hurt, or Amanda.
"Please", he begged, "Let them go. You can have me. I am sorry about what happened all those years ago. No one was supposed to die. It was a terrible accident. Your husband moved quickly in front of the bullets from my gun. "
Tasha stood beside her mother. She had an almost sympathetic look to her as she listened to Lee. Ekaterina began to sob. She sat heavily into the winged back chair and placed Lee's gun on the end table beside the chair. Lee tried not to be obvious as he eyed the pistol. He slowly crept forward toward Ekaterina and more importantly, his gun.
"Mama, please….", Natasha began. Suddenly, Ekaterina sprang up from the chair, grabbing Lee's gun as she went.
"NYET! NYET! I will not let them go! YOU MUST SUFFER, LEE STETSON! SUFFER AS I HAVE!"
Lee froze in his tracks. Amanda and the boys jumped at her sudden tirade.
"You killed my husband and my baby! My Nicholai!"
"It was an accident! I….."
"NYET!", Ekaterina pointed her gun directly at Lee. "It was not an accident! You broke into my home and you shot them! You ruined my life! My life was over that day! I had nothing left to live for, and now…you will know the same pain!"
Ekaterina quickly grabbed Philip and held him against her, gun pointed directly at his head.
"NO! NO! Don't hurt him! Philip, stay still. No sudden movements!" Lee screamed out. Amanda was frozen in fear at the sight of her son being held at gun point.
"You left me with nothing, and now I will leave you with nothing! I am going to kill your family just like you killed mine. Philip will be first, then Jamie….we will leave your unborn child for last. And of course, Amanda, your beautiful wife."
Lee began to panic. He didn't know how to get out of this one. Natasha looked at Lee and then at Philip.
"Mama! Stop! You don't need to do this!" she pleaded.
Ekaterina looked at her daughter in utter shock. "What? Don't need to do this? This man ruined my life! He took everything from me! He must be made to feel my pain!"
"No, he didn't take everything from you, Mama. You still had me. You always had me, but I wasn't ever enough for you, was I? You should have died that day, too, Mama, because from that day on you were never there for me." Natasha was becoming more and more agitated as she spoke to her mother. "You forgot about me, Mama. You never loved me the same. I felt like a burden to you. What about me, Mama? What about me? I lost my brother and my Papa that say, too. But it was always about how much you were hurting. You never included me in your grief. We could have mourned together. Instead, you pushed me away and abandoned me emotionally." Natasha was crying uncontrollably by this point. Lee began to inch closer to Ekaterina. He was waiting for the right moment to snatch Philip from her grip and hopefully get his gun back in the same motion.
Ekaterina began to yell back at her daughter. "What do you mean I abandoned you? I was always there for you! I sent you to dance lessons so you could become a ballerina. I married that horrible man, Alezczeck so that you would have a roof over your head and food on the table! How dare you tell me to stop my plan! How dare you! Lee Stetson ruined your life, too!"
"No, Mama. YOU ruined my life. And now, I can't let you hurt anyone else." Natasha pointed her gun at her mother. "Let the boy go!"
Ekaterina pulled Philip closer to her and pressed the barrel of the gun flush against his skull. Her hands were shaking and tears began to fill her eyes. Her voice however remained eerily calm. "I will not let the boy go. Instead, I think I will make a slight adjustment to my plan."
Everyone in the room jumped at the loud pop of a single bullet being fired. Jamie screamed. Lee looked on in horror and Natasha fell to the floor, shot by her own mother-a single shot to the head. Blood oozed all around Natasha's head. Lee was very thankful that the boys were blindfolded. Ekaterina looked coldly down at her dead daughter. Her face was void of emotion. Lee was now more certain than ever that he needed to make a move to get Philip away from Ekaterina. She began to stroke Philip's hair with the barrel of the gun.
"You see, Mr. Stetson….NOTHING is going to get in my way of carrying out my revenge on you. Not even my own daughter! Say good-bye to your son!"
"No!" Lee cried out. Philip screamed as he felt the gun being pressed further into his temple.
Three gun shots were heard in rapid succession. Philip fell forward into Lee's waiting arms as Ekaterina crumpled to the floor. Behind her stood Amanda, freed from her chair prison-her gun still smoking from the shots she just fired into Ekaterina. Lee looked at Amanda amazed at what just happened. Amanda stood there frozen, her gun still aimed straight ahead. Lee quickly grabbed the guns away from Ekaterina's body and checked for a pulse. She was dead. He rushed over to Philip to ensure he was ok.
"Are you OK, Philip? Are you hurt?" Lee said as he grabbed the boy by the shoulders.
Philip didn't answer. Lee shook Philip. "Are you ok?"
"Yeah, yeah I'm ok." Philip answered through his tears.
Just then, Francine burst into the house with a team of agents. "Oh my God!" she exclaimed when she saw the scene before her.
"Francine! Get the boys out of here! Don't take off their blindfolds till they get outside!" Lee ordered.
Francine and another agent quickly rushed to Philip and Jamie's side. The other agents lead them out of the room quickly and out to the waiting van. Francine looked at Amanda, holding her gun. She figured out quickly what must have happened when she saw the two dead bodies on the floor. She knew Amanda had never fired her weapon at anyone. She also knew that Amanda's sincerest hope was that she never would have to.
"Lee, I…."
"It's ok, Francine. Please go tend to the boys. I will help Amanda."
She nodded and walked out the door.
Lee slowly walked over to Amanda and gently took the gun from her hand.
"Amanda? Are you ok? Did they hurt you?"
Amanda looked at Lee, tears beginning to well up in her eyes.
"Lee, she was hurting my children. I had to stop her."
"Yes, you did. You did the right thing, Amanda. It's ok."
"It's not ok…she was hurting my boys. I shot her!"
Fat tears rolled down Amanda's cheeks, her brown eyes full of pain and confusion. Lee pulled Amanda into an embrace. He held her tightly. He could feel her whole body shaking.
"Shh! It's ok, Amanda. It's ok.."
"I could have shot Philip or Jamie or you! I just had to stop her! She was going to kill Philip!"
"Come on, Amanda. Let's get out of here and go see the boys. I am sure they want to make sure you are ok, too."
Lee took Amanda's hand and led her out of the house. A team of agents began to enter as they exited to survey the situation.
"MOM!" Philip and Jamie shouted in unison as they ran towards Amanda. She dropped to her knees and pulled them both into a long, long embrace. The three of them held each other and cried. Amanda took a few moments inspecting each of them to make sure they were indeed, ok. Jamie had a good sized bruise on his arm from where Ekaterina grabbed him. Philip was not physically harmed in anyway, but was very shaken up from having a gun at his head. Both boys were spared seeing the horrific scene that was the inside of the house.
Lee stood back and watched Amanda and the boys. This one was way too close for comfort. Francine handed Lee his gun back. One of the agents had retrieved it from the house.
"Thanks….."
"Lee, I think that Amanda and the boys should be checked out by the NEST team, just to make sure everything is OK….both physically and psychologically."
Lee looked at Francine and nodded.
"I think you are absolutely correct, Francine."
"Good. I am glad you agree. Rosenberg is waiting to drive them to the agency med center."
"Ok, I will tell Amanda and follow them in my car. Thanks, Francine."
"You bet!"
Lee walked over to his family.
"Come on everyone. We need to go have the agency doctors look you over to make sure you are ok. Agent Rosenberg is going to drive you and I will follow in my car, ok?"
Amanda stood with her arms around the boys.
"Yes, Lee. I think that is a good idea."
SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK
"Do either of you boys want any more pizza?" Lee asked as he prepared to clear the kitchen table.
"Nah, I'm good." Jamie answered.
"Yeah! I'll take one more piece!" Philip said as he shoveled the food into his mouth.
"You know boys, I am real proud of you for how you handled yourself today. You went through something really scary and you acted like a couple of pros! The situation could have been really a lot worse if you didn't listen to me."
Philip and Jamie listened to Lee, very happy to be home in their own house after the long, stressful day.
"It was good that you talked to the doctors afterwards, too. They told me that they would like to see you both again the day after tomorrow. You OK with that?"
"Yeah, the Dr. was nice….gave me ice cream!" Jamie said. "Besides, he seemed to be a good listener."
"Philip, you ok about going to see Dr. Pfaff again, too?"
"Yeah, sure. Do we have to go to school tomorrow?"
Lee chuckled at Philip's question.
"Well, I think given the circumstances, we can talk about it. I'm fine with it, but we had better ask your mother, too!"
"Yeah, good idea! Jamie, let's go shoot some hoops!"
Jamie and Philip put their dishes in the sink and headed out the door to play basketball in the driveway. Lee took a plate with 2 pieces of pizza up to Amanda who hadn't come out of their room since they got home. Lee softly knocked on the bedroom door as he pushed it open. Amanda was lying on their bed staring at the ceiling.
"I brought you some dinner." Lee said as he climbed in bed next to her.
"I'm not hungry." She replied.
"Come on…..just a few bites? I had to fight Philip for these last two pieces!"
Amanda continued to look at the ceiling. Lee put the plate on the night stand and then pulled Amanda close to him, her head resting on his chest. As he rubbed her back lightly, he tried to speak some words of comfort to her.
"Amanda, I know how you must be feeling. I know how much you hate guns and vowed never to use one if at all possible. You did the right thing….."
Lee could feel his shirt beginning to get damp from the tears that Amanda was shedding. She listened as he continued to talk to her.
"You shouldn't feel guilty for what you did."
"I don't." Amanda lifted her head and looked Lee in the eyes. She began to cry harder. "I don't feel guilty….at all. And THAT is what upsets me! Lee, I took a person's LIFE and I don't feel any remorse! She was going to kill my child and something in me snapped. I got free of the ropes, got my gun out of my purse and shot her. I wasn't trying to wound her…..I wanted her dead….and I killed her! I killed another human being and I feel glad. Do you know what that makes me?"
Amanda was now sitting up in bed, her face buried in her hands as she sobbed. Lee looked at his wife and gently took ahold of her wrists.
"Amanda, look at me…."
She looked at him with pain written all across her face.
"What that makes you is human. You were protecting your family. Make no bones about it, Amanda….I saw her face. Ekaterina WAS going to kill Philip and if you hadn't have done what you did, we would probably not be here right now. I know for sure Philip wouldn't be. You are not some evil, horrible person because you stopped someone from killing your child. You did what you had to do and given the same situation, you would do it again. So would I."
Amanda lowered her head and slowly nodded. She knew he was right.
"Did you talk to Dr. Pfaff? The boys seemed to actually like him! Can you believe that!"
Amanda chuckled. She looked up at Lee and began to wipe the tears away from her eyes.
"I did talk to him. Believe it or not, it actually helped a bit. I am going back tomorrow to chat some more."
"Good!"
"How did the boys seem tonight?"
"Uh…a little quieter than usual, but I think ok. They are out playing basketball in the driveway. They asked if they can stay home from school tomorrow."
"What did you tell them?"
"I said that it was ok by me….but we had to ask you…"
"Good answer! Lee….what if I never feel like myself again? What if this changes me forever?"
"Amanda…this HAS changed you forever. But it doesn't mean that the good is gone. This is something that is now part of your past and we will find a way to live with that. It will all be ok, I promise."
"How do you know that for sure?"
Lee pulled Amanda back down onto his chest and held her close.
"Well, I can't give away all my secrets! There are some things that I still have to keep a mystery! But I can tell you this…we have each other and a wonderful family. And let's not forget baby Stetson who seems to be getting bigger by the day! You're the most amazing person I have ever known, Amanda and your heart is the purest of anyone. It is going to take some time, but you'll see, you will be ok. And just know, that I am going to be with you every step of the way…and all the steps afterwards, too."
Amanda lay silently on Lee's chest and thought about what he just said to her.
"So, you think I am getting bigger by the day, Scarecrow?"
Lee rolled Amanda over onto her back and rubbed her stomach.
"Look at this thing! It's HUGE!"
Amanda slapped him on the arm.
"Hey! It's your fault that my stomach looks this way, you know!"
Lee leaned down and kissed Amanda tenderly on the lips.
"I know and it's the best thing I have ever done in my life! When do I finally get to feel him kick?"
"Him? Nope. It's definitely a her. And it should be very soon. I can feel little kicks inside but I don't think you can feel them."
"Her? A girl? Me with a daughter?"
Lee thought for a moment about the prospect. A huge grin slowly began to spread across his face.
"You're right. I think it is a her! And I hope she looks just like her mother."
"I love you, Lee! Thank you for being there for me."
"I love you, too. And you're never getting rid of me."
"I think I'll take some of that pizza now. Your daughter seems to be hungry."
Lee smiled as he handed Amanda the plate with the pizza. He laughed as she used her stomach as a table for her plate. The boys came bounding up the stairs and said their good nights. The last 48 hours had been hellish. Lee was relieved that it was all over.
"What do you say after you finish your pizza, Mrs. Stetson, we go to bed?"
"Once again, you read my mind, Mr. Stetson."