The silence between the partners continued as they checked into the Independence Inn and as they followed the bellboy up to their room. It wasn't until the young man had left and they were alone in their room that the tense standoff was broken by Amanda.

"Okay, I have to know something," she stated in a demanding tone as she folded her arms across her chest and glared at him. "We were having a very pleasant conversation on the way here from Hartford until I brought up my boys. Why?"

"Amanda…" He let out a deep sigh. "What do you want from me? You made that crack about you being a package deal as if I don't already know that about you. The 'Scarecrow' thing is just a codename, you know, I'm not really brainless."

"I know that, but what I don't know is why you didn't say anything." She was suddenly feeling very awkward about having agreed to share a room with him under the circumstances and couldn't help thinking it was too soon to take that big step if she didn't know that she could count on him in the long run. "Before we take things any further, I need to know if this is something you can accept. I can't risk bringing another man into my boys' lives who won't be there for them, not after Joe has been absent from their lives so much or what happened when I broke up with Dean. Why do you think I don't let my dates come to the house anymore?"

"Oh, you mean you might actually let me pick you up at the house for a real date instead of hiding me in the backyard?"

"That was your doing, not mine! You're the one who always said they couldn't know about you because it was safer that way with what you do for a living-"

"You mean what we do," he cut in. "You're every bit as involved with the Agency as I am now.

"Maybe that's true, but you're missing my point. If we're really going to do this; start seeing each other regularly like I think we both want to, I can't keep you hidden from them forever."

"Don't you think we're getting a little ahead of ourselves here? I mean, I know we've been on a few casual dates, but come on, Amanda, we've known each other for three years and just now kissed for the first time a few days ago when it was just about the two of us and not for a cover."

"Oho, you didn't seem to think we were getting ahead of ourselves at the office when I told you I was okay sharing a room with you and even hinted that I might be willing to sleep with you this weekend. That's a huge deal for me. I'm not like you. I don't sleep with just anyone, not unless I feel there's some kind of commitment and the way you talked about getting to know me more about me the other day, it sounded like that was what you wanted."

"Just what the hell is that supposed to mean? I don't sleep with just anyone either. As for a commitment, that was exactly what I meant. I am not seeing anyone else, nor do I want to. I only want you, but if you think I can't handle dealing with your kids, maybe this isn't such a good idea. This...this is why Harry always told me I should never get involved with anyone I work with."

"Maybe we shouldn't be involved then. Maybe we should keep it strictly business from now on."

"Maybe we should, but maybe-" Their argument was interrupted by a knock on the door. "We are not done talking about this," he hissed as he opened the door to find the object of their search on the other side dressed in a maid's uniform.

"Uh…hi…" While he recognized the girl from her photo in their Agency file, he scanned her nametag to avoid giving themselves away before they knew what her demeanor might be. "Uh…Lorelai…" He gestured for Amanda to join him.

"Hi," Lorelai replied cordially. "I'm going off-duty soon so I was just making my final rounds to see if anybody needed anything, extra towels, coffee for the morning, shampoo, stuff like that."

"Amanda?" He shot her a questioning look.

"Um…not at the moment since we just checked in, but if we need anything, we'll just call down to the front desk," Amanda responded with a warm smile in Lorelai's direction.

"Okay," Lorelai nodded. "I'll see you in the morning when I come by to work on your room then. Have a good evening."

Once she'd departed, Amanda commented, "Well, she seems to be more pleasant than her mother, at least."

"Or maybe she's just doing her job," Lee countered.

"Like we should be doing," she reminded him.

"Yeah. The job," he replied morosely. He'd gotten so excited about the idea of spending a whole weekend alone with Amanda, he'd only given the most fleeting thought to their investigation and had allowed his partner to really do all the investigating. He shook his head at his own stupidity for allowing that to happen when he was the senior agent and should be leading, not following. "Speaking of which, Lorelai must be working off the books," Lee surmised in an attempt to keep things to strictly business as Amanda had suggested.

"Right, just like we thought," Amanda nodded in agreement. "She said she was going off-duty soon so maybe we'll have a chance to talk to her tonight and we won't actually need to stay." She frowned at that thought because she'd really been looking forward to getting closer to her stoic partner, but now she wasn't so sure it was a good idea.

"Right. It's not that long a drive back to D.C. If we can get her to agree to contact her parents, we can wrap this up and be back on the road and you can get back to your kids just in time to say goodnight to them."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

When the door of the potting shed was opened, Amanda smiled kindly at the young girl standing there, still in her maid's uniform after finishing her shift, baby perched on her hip. "Miss Gilmore?" she inquired while Lee dug for his badge.

"Who wants to know?" Lorelai questioned as she eyed the pair suspiciously. She had just seen them less than an hour ago when checking on their room and now, here they were knocking on her door. What kind of guests were they?

Holding out his badge, Lee answered, "I'm Lee Stetson and this is Amanda King. We're here beca-"

"Oh, I know why you're here," Lorelai interrupted sullenly as she flounced across the room and put Rory in her crib, handing her a board book to keep her occupied. Once she had her daughter settled, she whipped around to face them. "You're here because good ol' Adolf Gilmore sent you after me!"

"Now, Miss Gilmore, that's not really a nice way to talk about your father," Amanda lightly scolded.

"I was talking about my mother," Lorelai replied with a sarcastic sneer.

"Miss Gilmore-" Lee tried in vain, a bit thrown that the girl who'd been so polite and courteous when calling on their room was now acting like a spoiled brat.

"Enough of this 'Miss Gilmore' crap! It's Lorelai, okay? You were fine with calling me that when I was just a maid to you, so you might as well do it now."

"Yeah, sure...Lorelai," Lee continued, "The reason we're here is that you left your parents' home pretty suddenly and they'd like to know where you are and that you and uh..." Lee hesitated at seeing the murderous look in the young woman's eyes. He nodded to the crib. "You...and your...daughter are safe."

"Don't we look safe?" She shrugged nonchalantly.

"Oh, yes," Amanda confirmed in a more pleasant tone in an attempt to soothe the young mother. "Yes, you do, but it's been five months and your mother and father...well, they haven't heard from you in all that time and they're...you know...just a little worried. I'm sure they'd like to help you too." She gestured to the uniform Lorelai wore. "Maybe so you don't have to work so hard. As a single mother myself, I know how hard it can be raising children all alone."

"Well, you can go back to them and tell them I'm just fine and that I don't need or want their help."

"Don't you think they'd prefer to hear it from you? That you're fine, I mean?"

"I don't care what they'd prefer," Lorelai responded hotly.

"Listen, Lorelai," Amanda explained in her soft, motherly tone. "As I said, I'm a mother too and all I'm saying is that as a mother, my boys are my whole world and if one of them were to disappear the way that you did, I'd be...well, I'd be very upset and I'd do just about anything to know that they were okay...that they were safe. So, if you could just...you know, call your mother...maybe talk to her-"

Lorelai folded her arms across her chest petulantly and argued, "If you're a mother then you should understand my side of things. My mother wasn't letting me even attempt to be a mother to my own daughter." She glanced with a smile at a Rory in her crib who was watching them with her big blue eyes and gave a tiny nod toward her. "She's my whole world. I had to do what was best for her and it isn't being raised by nannies and nurses like I was...never knowing if your parents really care about you or if you're just another status symbol to them."

"Clearly, they care or they wouldn't have gone to such great lengths to find you. After all, a runaway child isn't exactly our forte-" Lee attempted to reason with her.

"I'm not a child," Lorelai countered defensively. "That's what both you and my mother don't understand; I stopped being a child the moment I gave birth to a child of my own, but she still kept treating me as if I were some kid who wasn't capable of looking after my own daughter."

"Well, you're certainly acting like a kid," he argued back.

"Lee!" Amanda hissed at him. "You're not helping." She ran her hand along his arm to soothe him and when it seemed that his irritation had subsided, she turned her attention back to the runaway teenager. "Okay, we get it. You're just trying to do what you feel is best for your daughter." She smiled at the child who was now turning the pages of her book and babbling in baby talk to herself. Amanda found herself momentarily distracted by the little girl's rapt attention to the book and questioned, "She can't actually...read that, can she?"

Lorelai laughed and shook her head. "No, it's just that I've read it to her so many times, she's pretty much got it memorized." She beamed at her daughter proudly. "She's super smart...like Real Genius smart. I mean, she doesn't know all the words yet, but the way she's going, I don't think it will be long." She turned back to Lee and Amanda and inquired, "But somehow, I get the sense that wasn't what you were going to ask me."

"Oh, right, what I was saying is that I understand that you only want the best for Rory."

"I really do," Lorelai stated with a firm nod.

"We get that," Lee swept his arm around the small room Lorelai had made into a home. "But do you really believe that this is it?"

"Now, Lee, it's not so bad," Amanda chimed in. "Joe and I lived in a tiny apartment not much bigger than this when Phillip was a baby."

"And it's a hell of a lot better than how I grew up," Lorelai added. "And I won't put my kid through that. I want her to have her own life and learn to think for herself and be anything she wants to be, not be told how to dress, what to think, what she's supposed to be or do when she grows up-"

"Okay, okay," Amanda conceded. "I understand that you felt oppressed by your parents, but think about it this way. It's obvious that you love Rory very much and you'd do anything for her, right?"

"Damn straight." Lorelai nodded.

"Well, how would you feel if Rory just disappeared on you without a trace...and with no explanation."

"I wrote Richard and Emily a goodbye letter," the younger woman defended herself. "If they'd bothered to read it, they'd know why I left."

"Oh, they did." Amanda pulled the folded letter from her purse, unfolded it and handed it to Lorelai. "As you can see by the permanent creases in it, they read it many times in the hopes that it might give them some clue as to where you'd gone. I know you feel as if they don't care, but would they have really done that if they didn't?"

As she examined the letter, Lorelai couldn't help noticing something else; that it looked as if it were tear-stained as well. She let out a sigh as she gazed at her own penmanship, Dear Richard and Emily... "Okay, you made your point. I'll call my father at his office, okay? Will that make you happy?"

"We-ell," Amanda hesitated. "It's...um...it's your mother I'm more worried about. You see, we spoke to her and the poor woman broke down in tears right in front of us because she misses you so much and she's so very worried about you and your baby and she'd really like to hear from you."

"Oh, no. No, no, no," the younger woman protested. "I am NOT calling her. You've only seen one side of her, you don't know her. She's...she's evil...like Michael Myers evil...or Jason Voorhees evil - No, she's worse...she's Freddy Krueger evil because she creeps into your dreams and sucks all the life out of you. The second I call her, she'll start doing that again when I'm building a life here for myself and my kid. She'll just sink her vicious claws in and start slicing away at my dreams trying to steal my soul."

Lee couldn't help chuckling. "She can't be as bad as all that. I was raised by a career military officer, including mandatory room inspection, wardrobe inspection-"

"Sounds like Emily," the teenage mother interrupted. "You know, the more that I think about it, she's not just Freddy Krueger, or Jason Voorhees or Michael Myers, she's all three rolled into one."

"Whatever you may think of her, she's still your mother and you really should at least show her the courtesy of letting her know that you're safe and alive, don't you think?" Lee argued back. He'd have given anything to have just one more moment with his mother, yet this girl acted like she was glad to be rid of hers.

"Okay, okay. Fine! I'll call her, but I'm NOT telling her where I am."

"I'm sure that at least talking to her would make your mother very happy." Amanda beamed with pride at Lorelai and placed a hand on her shoulder. "That's all she wants."

"Yeah, I guess we'll see," Lorelai said doubtfully, but then because this woman seemed to be genuine in her concern, she added, "As for this place, believe me, I know it's not much, but for now…it's home."

"You can say that again," Lee muttered. "I grew up in Air Force barracks better than this place."

Amanda looked around the room again. "Oh, Lee, it's not so bad. Can't you see how much Lorelai here has tried to make it as homey as possible in such a small space?" She gestured to various things in the room as she spoke. "There's a vase of flowers on the table, a toy chest and bookcase in the corner for Rory, and pretty, flowery wallpaper on the walls."

Lee looked at all the things Amanda pointed at, then glanced at the babbling, smiling girl in her crib and noted to himself that she seemed perfectly happy and healthy. "I can see that," he acknowledged.

"Besides, I don't plan for us to live here forever," Lorelai explained. "I'm already saving as much money as I can so I can buy us a house in the future and I don't plan to be a maid forever either. Mia's already told me that I'm the hardest worker she's got and that as long as I keep working the way I do, I can work my way up. I know I've only worked here a few months, but I can see myself running a place of my own like this one day and I know I didn't get to go to college, but I've got my GED and now that I'm eighteen, I can enroll in some classes here and there to work on that without having to have my parents involved, maybe get a business degree so I can know what's what. It might take me awhile, but that's my goal."

"Maybe when you call your mother, you should share all of that with her," Amanda suggested with a proud smile that the girl was at least thinking and planning ahead. "I'm sure she'd love to hear that you've got some solid plans for your future."

"I doubt that since they aren't her plans," she scoffed. "But that'll have to wait 'til later. It's dinnertime and Rory hasn't been fed yet." She scooped her daughter up who was still clinging to her book and stalked toward the door.