It seemed to work. Every Friday night Martin showed up at her apartment and she hung beautifully on his arm for several functions that he had so graciously agreed to attend with her. By July, they had decided to switch and Lily began going up to New York every weekend, but in August, their arrangement hit a snag, and Lily paced her living room one Thursday afternoon. "Martin, Honey, where are you?"

"I got caught on a case. I have to catch a later train. I'll still be there tonight. I promise, Tiger Lily."

"Martin, you promised me you'd be down here this afternoon. You know how much these events mean to my family and me. If this were a regular garden party, I wouldn't care, but this is my father's swearing in as the Ambassador to Britain."

"I know and the ceremony isn't until tomorrow. I'll be there." He was getting annoyed with why she was nagging on him about something he had already promised her he'd be there for over a month ago.

"Yeah, but the dinner with the former ambassador is tonight, remember? Eight o'clock sharp."

Martin groaned. "Damn, Honey, I'm sorry. I completely forgot."

"Go." Danny had been waiting to talk to him and heard the conversation. "I'll cover for you. Go."

"Lil, I'm leaving now. I'll see you in about three hours. I'm sorry." Hanging up, he grabbed his suitcase. "Thanks, Danny, I owe you."

"Yeah, you do, but I won't collect just yet."

Three and a half hours later, and Martin was letting himself into Lily's apartment. "The car will be here in forty-five minutes." She said as she finished putting on her makeup.

"Plenty of time to grab a shower and get dressed." He kissed her exposed shoulder as he dropped his bag. "I'm so sorry, Tiger Lily."

"We'll talk about it when you get done."

"Lil," Martin began as he dressed fifteen minutes later, "I know how important this is to you, and there is no excuse for my absentmindedness. My only defense is that I got wrapped up in a case."

"I know and I shouldn't be mad, but I am. It just seems like we both have our separate lives and then we have our together life that happens only on the weekends. Even when we are together during the week, we aren't fully together. Martin," she sat down on the bed in front of him, "I love you. I think I've loved you for as long as I've known you and I don't want to lose you again, but I'm suddenly scared that this thing we have isn't going to work the way we wanted it to."

"Lily, I know I have loved you from the moment I laid eyes on you back in junior high and I am willing to make this work. Maybe only seeing each other on weekends isn't working. Maybe we need to have one night a week or I need to think about commuting from down here. We'll make it work, you have my word, Sweetheart." She smiled softly and he handed her a tissue. "Don't cry. You don't want your makeup to run. We only have fifteen minutes until the car arrives." They shared a slight laugh, her blue eyes sparkling again. "That's better."

That night, Lily actually found herself enjoying herself among all the diplomats and politicos, but she could tell that Martin wasn't, and as they danced, she smiled up at him. "I'm sorry for dragging you here, but I thank you for coming."

"Tiger Lily, I'm here for you. There is no where else that I would rather be."

"Stop laying a line on me, Martin Fitzgerald." She laughed as he grinned. "I've always been able to read you like a book. Don't you remember? Especially being this close to you. You would rather be anywhere else, including the dentist getting a root canal."

"And there was a time when you would have agreed with me."

"I do agree with you. I just know all of these people so it's a little more bearable. Plus, it is my father being honored so I'm something of a princess tonight."

"You are my princess every night, Lil."

She laughed again as he did. "OK, this is what I was afraid of, Secret Agent Man. You are more concerned with flirting with me, and using really bad lines on me, than having an actual conversation."

He leaned down and kissed her. "Conversation is nice, but not when we're dancing the night away."

"You do know that you just made every woman in this room envious of me, right?"

"No, I didn't know that, but I did know that I made your father give me a rather dirty look."

"I'm old enough to have a little fun. This isn't my debutante ball."

Martin laughed as the music stopped and they walked back to their table. "Do you remember that night? I wanted to kiss you so badly."

"You should have."

"I would still be grounded, but you looked so beautiful in your white dress with your hair done up kind of how it is now. Lil, I dreamed about you descending those stairs and onto my arm for years after that."

She laughed loudly, but quickly silenced herself. "And what kind of dreams were those, Secret Agent Man?"

"The kind that teenage boys have about beautiful girls." He smirked. "I would have acted on them, but I didn't think I had a chance."

A few minutes later, her father placed his hand on her shoulder. "You need to stop having such a good time, Angel." She just smiled up at him. "May I borrow my daughter, Martin?"

"As long as you don't mind if I have the last dance, Ambassador." They had spoken on the phone numerous times and had actually come to a comfortable arrangement. Martin was sure that no one was going to be good enough for Lily in her father's eyes, but Charles Anderson had accepted that Martin treated her well and made her happy, and that was all that mattered to him.

"I wouldn't have it any other way." He smiled and led his daughter to the dance floor. "You seem to be happier than the last time we spoke."

"Yeah, well, this afternoon was a stressful time, Daddy."

"You were afraid that Martin wasn't going to make it?" She was silent, not wanting to make disparaging remarks about her lover. "Trust me, if I had to send the jet up for him, you would have been on his arm tonight. No one stands my daughter up."

She laughed. "Don't worry about me, Daddy. This night is all about you."

"Soon enough it'll be about you, Angel, don't you think?"

Her smile faded. "I don't know. I love him. I would love to be married to him, but there's a lot of logistics that have to be worked out."

"You'll work them out. Your mother and I lived on different coasts and we made it work."

"Does this mean you're giving your blessing?"

"It does, Angel. I would have liked you to choose someone with a little more standing, but he is a solid man and he makes you happy."

"He does and he is very good at what he does."

"And you two have been sweet on each other since he first showed up at your school." Charles laughed at his daughter's reaction. "Don't think that I didn't notice what my only child was up to just because I was in the Senate."

"I would never think of putting anything by you, Daddy." She kissed his cheek as the music stopped. "I love you, Daddy, thank you."

"Don't thank me. Just think about it, Angel. There's a regime change that will be taking place next November. It's why I took the ambassadorship now. You might want to think about what that means for your position as well." They walked back to the table and he placed his hand on Martin's shoulder. "She is all yours again. Treat her well."

"I promise I will."

Lily smiled and took her best friend's hand. "Come for a walk with me."

"That wasn't just a dance, was it?"

"When is a dance with my father ever just a dance? He is the king of multi-tasking. Where do you think I learned it?" He laughed and they walked out onto the patio. "Martin, what would you say if said that I wanted to commute from New York?"

"I'd say that we would have to find a bigger place, but you are welcome anytime, and then I'd ask if you were sure."

"No, I'm not sure, but I'm thinking about it. Anything has to be better than just seeing each other on weekends and talking on the phone every night."

He kissed her. "What about if I transfer to DHS?"

"No, Honey, don't do that. You wouldn't be happy and we both know it."

"I would be happy. I'd be with you. I might even be working with you." He smiled.

"Yeah, but you'd be back under the shadow of your father. Believe me, I know how hard it is to get out from under that. I've worked for five years to prove that I am more than a senator's daughter." She touched his face. "You don't have to endure that for me."

He took her hand in his and kissed it. "I wouldn't be enduring anything. I would be with the woman I love."

She shook her head. "Enough lines, Martin." He smiled softly and held her against his chest. "I love you."

"I love you, Tiger Lily."

The next evening, Ambassador Charles Anderson stood silently behind Martin Fitzgerald and watched as he gazed at his daughter across the room. "Do you love her? I mean do you really love her? Would you lay down your life in order to safe hers?"

"I would, Ambassador. I love her more than that."

The younger man had spoken with hesitation and without taking his eyes off Lily. "Then you have my blessing." He placed his hand on Martin's shoulder before he walked away.

Returning to her apartment at the end of the night, Martin smiled as he took her into his arms, finally able to hold her close without her pulling away, worried more about her outfit than her pleasure, and he kissed her neck. "How does it feel to be an ambassador's daughter?" She laughed the light and airy laugh that he'd come to love and treasure. It was the sound that could melt all of his troubles away. "You looked beautiful and absolutely radiant." He laid soft caresses against her skin and felt her sigh, her knees going slightly weak as her head lay against his shoulder. "Lily," he unzipped her dress, watching it fall in a heap at her feet, her voluptuous body standing before him begging to be touched, kissed, "I love you."

Kissing his lips, her hands making quick work of his bowtie, she began unbuttoning his shirt before she spoke. "Martin, I love you more than I have ever loved any man." As she kissed a trail down his exposed chest, she listened to his breath come quicker and he led her to her bedroom where it was his turn to caress her bare skin. His touch was like an electric charge that shocked her body with each carefully positioned pulse, making her feel more alive than she had ever felt before. It had to work between them, she vowed as she felt a moan escape, because she had never felt more connected to anyone than she did to Martin Fitzgerald.

He established their rhythm, her body moving in time with his like a perfectly tuned violin, so gentle and delicate. Their music was elegant, like a beautiful symphony, all the parts playing in perfect harmony, and the finale came when she called out for him. His name floating on the night air as she reached her peak and hers followed not long after as he achieved a climax like none he had ever experienced before. The woman who slept in his arms that night was the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with, he knew that finally. He'd waited too long and wasted too much time trying to find what he'd always had and never noticed. They connected on an intellectual level, on an emotional level, and on a physical level. One way or another, he was going to make their relationship work, he wasn't about to lose Lily Anderson again.