After that, Martin found himself traveling down to her apartment every chance he got, and by June, they were seeing each other every other weekend, but after clearing a case involving a small child, a child they couldn't save, Martin went right from the office to Penn Station. He hadn't seen Lily in almost three weeks, both of them working on cases that hadn't allowed them to get away, and he needed to see her smile to tell him there was good in the world.

"Morning." Lily smiled as she felt him stirring the next morning.

"Morning." He stretched. "I missed you."

"I got that."

He laughed and kissed her forehead. "It was a bad case."

"It's over now."

"And I'm here with you."

"For how long?"

He laughed again and kissed her lips. "For the weekend or until you kick me out."

It was her turn to laugh. "You will have to be here longer than a weekend for me to kick you out." He kissed her again, but she pulled away when the phone rang. "Hold that thought."

"Business before pleasure." He kissed her one last time. "I'm going to grab a shower."

"Anderson." She answered the phone with a smile as she watched Martin walk across the room, but it faded when she heard her assistant on the other end of the phone. "Diane, slow down, what's wrong?"

"Jeff's wife went into labor this morning so he's not going to be able to attend tonight's function."

"What about Kevin?"

"He took the week off to go visit his dying sister in Colorado, remember?"

She shook her head and sighed. "That's right. OK, I guess that does leave only me. Rearrange the car arrangements to be at my place by five and just stay by your phone for the next hour because I may need you to find me a tailor."

"Everything alright?" Martin asked ten minutes later.

"Not really and I really hate to ask this of you since I know you came down here to relax, but do you have a suit with you?"

"Just the one I was wearing when I came down here. Why?"

"My associate's wife went into labor early and he had to back out of a dinner event that is scheduled for tonight. Someone from my office does have to be in attendance and I'm the only one available. I really hate to ask this but,"

He kissed her. "I would be happy to be your date." She laughed. "I came down here to spend time with you. If that means that I have to subject myself to a political event, then so be it. Besides, I've never been arm candy before."

She laughed again. "Does that mean I get to introduce you as my boy toy?"

"Boy toy?" He laughed and she squealed as he climbed onto the bed, pinning her beneath him, kissing her before taking her into his arms again. "What time is this function? I may have to borrow a suit from my father."

Lily cringed. "No, we can find you a nice pair of slacks and an Oxford. I have an assistant with a pipeline to the almighty. Please, I've had enough dealings with your father in the last two weeks."

"Oh, this you haven't told me."

"His office is handling the background check on my family since Daddy is up for an ambassadorship. He seems to want to make sure that Daddy's great-great-great grandfather wasn't a British sympathizer." She rolled his eyes and he kissed her forehead. "Cocktails start at five and dinner is at six."

"Well, let me get dressed and I'll take you to breakfast before we have to go running around trying to find a one hour dry cleaner open on Saturday."

The limo picked them up at five and drove them to the Virginia estate of the senator who replaced her father as the senator from Virginia fifteen years ago. It was an estate she knew well since her father had hand selected Senator George when he decided to retire and now she returned to meet with him and his colleagues from the Judicial Subcommittee in her official capacity. It was disguised as a dinner party at the end of the term, but they were going to discuss what hearings they were going to hold during the fall session, and she was grateful that Martin was a FBI agent that didn't have to worry about the security that was going to be at the door. She had to bring a date so the press didn't stake the place out, but, because of the security check, she'd always gone in alone previous years, afraid her dates were either not going to pass or they were going to feel emasculated by the fact that she had higher clearance than they did.

Martin pulled out his credentials and smiled at the woman in the FBI signature black suit and security wand. "Inside my left ankle." He said, referencing his off duty weapon, and stood in the usual position, legs spread, arms out, waiting to get the go ahead. The agent waved the metal detector, frisked him, and scanned his fingerprint before nodding at him. "Do you have to go security like this for all dinner parties?" He whispered with a smirk as they were escorted into the expansive rear garden.

"This isn't your standard dinner party."

"What did I just walk into?"

"A meeting of the Judicial Subcommittee and that's all I can say." She squeezed his hand. "Are you going to run away screaming now?"

He laughed. "I think I'll survive."

"Good because after dinner and before dessert, I'm going to have to abandon you with all the other spouses while we go into a closed door meeting. Sorry."

Putting his arm around her shoulders, he kissed her temple. "It's fine. Business before pleasure."

"Thank you."

By eleven, they were walking back into Lily's apartment, and Martin was still smiling. It had actually been nice seeing her in her element and able to hold her own with some of the toughest political men he'd ever encountered. When they had been kids, she had hated that game, hated how phony everyone was, how they were only out for self-promotion, and they had both learned how to stay out of the way while still getting what they wanted. Now that they were adults, he couldn't get a senator to answer the phone, and she was having dinner with the Judicial Subcommittee of Congress. She'd mastered the game, but it was in her blood. Her father had been a senator from Virginia when they were growing up, her grandfather was the ambassador to England at one point in the past, he couldn't remember, and everyone had known that Lily Anderson was going to grow up to work in the political arena, even if she didn't know it herself. "That was fun."

Lily laughed. "Maybe for you since you were the most stimulating conversation those women have had in quite awhile. You were certainly better looking than most of their husbands."

"I actually was talking to Senator Childs' husband for most of the time you were in your little meeting. He works with DHS."

"Yeah, I know, I've worked with him before. He's a decent guy." She tossed her purse onto a chair and flopped down on the couch with a sigh. "I really want to go to bed, but I'm betting that our phones are going to ring simultaneously in about five minutes."

He sat next to her and took her into his arms. "Why is that?"

"Washington, even Arlington, Virginia, is a very small town, Honey. Our parents are about to be woken up to be told that we're attending political dinner parties together and are more than friends."

"Is that going to be a problem?"

"Not for me. I've learned to deal with my parents. What about for you?"

Leaning closer, he kissed her softly. "No problem here." It was so nice to finally be with a woman who wasn't afraid to make their relationship public. Samantha had been so afraid about being judged that he had been afraid to look at her. Lily was just the opposite. She was warm and open about everything. Everyone, even everyone at that the political event, knew where they stood with her. She was poised and confident and didn't concern herself with what others thought of her. She was a strong and independent woman, and always had been.

As if on queue, five minutes later, both of their phones rang, and her mother's voice came through the receiver. "Hi Mom."

"Young Lady, I have to hear from Todd George's wife that my daughter is dating, and dating the son of the deputy director of the FBI at that. Why did I hear this from Mary Lynn and not my own daughter?"

"Because we've only been dating for about three months now. I'm not hiding it, but I didn't think I needed to take out a full page ad in the Washington Post."

"Don't get smart with me, Lillian Rose."

"I didn't mean to get smart with you, Mom. I'm sorry. I just don't think that I need to run and tell my parents about every new relationship."

"If you are going to be showing up at events with him, then, yes, we do need to be kept apprised so we aren't caught unawares."

"Mom," she suddenly felt like she was sixteen again, "why do you need to be kept apprised of my social life just because I dragged him to a function with Senator George?"

"Lillian," her mother sighed, "you know how this works by now. You are a reflection on us and with your father's impending ambassadorship we have to be careful with whom we associate. Now, Director Fitzgerald's boy is a good man, I remember him from when you were younger, and he is an FBI agent in his own right, but if this doesn't work, please be more careful next time."

"Yes, Mother." She laughed as she hung up and Martin came back in from the balcony. "OK, spill. How bad did you get it?"

He laughed and sank into the couch. "I should have told him. They approve, but his office is going to have to look into my OPR file because of your father's pending appointment, and I need to be careful because your family is very powerful and if this ends badly it could interfere with my career."

She laughed. "Yes, because my father has nothing better to do than to mess with your career."

"That's what I told him. I also told him that we've only been officially dating for three months."

"Officially? Because we were unofficially dating before that?""

"Well, when we were in high school, everyone thought we were dating, and you did have a huge crush on me."

She smirked at him as he grinned. "Well, I thought the feeling was mutual, but you never did anything about it until three months ago. So, I don't think we can say that we were unofficially dating back then."

"OK, whatever." He laughed and kissed her. "What did your mother have to say?"

"That I should have cleared it with them and your father's office before we started seeing each other. You are a good man, and she approves, but if this doesn't work out, then I need to be more careful with my next choice." She rolled her eyes and he laughed again. "You'd think we were getting married."

"Not the worst idea I've ever heard."

She looked at him shocked. "Martin, we've been seeing each other for three months. We don't even live in the same city. Let's work out the logistics of our current relationship before we start talking about anything more serious."

"OK, then let's negotiate." He pulled her into his arms. "I'll come down here every two weeks, if I'm not working on a case, and you can come up to see me on the other two week intervals, provided you're not working on a case."

"Mmm, I like that." She kissed him. "I really want you to come down here every other week and I'll go to New York on the opposite weeks, but I guess that would get to be too much."

"No, that's not too much, but it might be too expensive."

"I guess. OK, since I have to be unhappy with this deal, then you do to because the summer is coming and I want to be on your arm for every state gala function that I'm invited to. I think I look good on your arm so you have to try and make as many functions as Jack will allow you to get away for."

"You do look good on my arm, but I know how those invites can add up. I would practically be commuting from here to New York."

"A good negotiation leaves all parties satisfied, but unhappy." He kissed her as she smirked. "I did say you only had to make the ones that Jack would let you out for."

"I'm suddenly getting this feeling that he's not going to allow me to get away all that often in the middle of the week." She laughed and he kissed her nose. "How about we compromise and say that I'll make two functions a month and I will never complain about attending if I'm down here anyway?"

"Then you will be getting exactly what you want and I won't get what I want."

"Tell me what you want."

"You, every weekend, either here or in New York, I don't care."

"Done." He kissed her nose again. "I can't fight you on that. I'll come down here every weekend if I only have to attend two political galas a month."

"You would have made a great lawyer." She kissed him as he laughed. "You've got a deal. I'll have my assistant draft the papers on Monday." They shared a laugh.