Martin watched the woman in the elegant deep blue pant suit as she glided into the bullpen. Her long raven hair was allowed to flow down between her shoulder blades, restrained only at her temples, and her smile lit up her bright blue eyes when she walked into the bullpen. He stood up and lowered his voice. "Hi, Tiger Lily."

"Hi there, Secret Agent Man." She smiled and watched his blue eyes sparkle. "Are you free for lunch?"

"I actually do not have a case right now so I think I can take my fiancé to lunch." Grabbing his suit coat, he straightened his tie and held his arm out to her.

She gladly linked her arm with his. "How did you get so lucky not to have a case?"

"We just found a husband who ran off with his mistress. What brings you to New York without a phone call to me?"

She laughed as they walked, wrapping her arm around his bicep. "What else would bring me up here?"

"Work had you talking to Vivian?" He held the door to the restaurant. "What kind of case has you talking to Viv?"

"One I can't talk about." Suddenly her cell phone rang and she smiled. "Saved by the bell." That smile was gone when she answered, though. "Hi Mrs. Fitzgerald. Yes, I see that you sent an email, but I haven't had a chance to look at it yet. I just got out of a meeting."

Martin watched as his beautiful fiancé sighed and prepared to do battle with his mother. Reaching for the phone, he nodded at her silent attempt to protest, and took the receiver. "Hi Mom."

"You didn't have to do that. I've become rather skilled at dealing with her." Lily smiled when he handed her back her phone ten minutes later.

"So I heard." He smiled and watched her laugh, her brilliant blue eyes turning bright and sparkling in the soft sunlight streaming in the restaurant windows. "No, I think you've got enough on your plate. Why don't you let me deal with my mother and you deal with yours?"

"I think that is a deal I can live with.'

"So, what sort of case brings you to New York?" He smirked as she laughed again. "And, yes, I am going to hound you until you tell me." She just smiled at him and shook her head. "OK," he brushed a lock of her raven hair out of her face, "I guess I'll just have to ask Vivian." Again, she laughed and he leaned over and kissed her.

The next morning, Lily awoke to an empty bed and the sound of her cell phone. Martin was getting too good at leaving without waking her up. "This is Lily."

"Yes, Lily, this is Agent Vivian Johnson. I wanted to call to let you know that I've accepted the position."

"That is the best news I've heard all day." She smiled. "Thank you. I look forward to working with you."

"Same here." She paused. "I'll be conducting the interviews today. Would you care to sit in?"

"It's best that I don't, but thank you for the offer."

Later that same morning, Martin was called into a small conference room one floor below the bullpen and handed a file by Vivian. As he read the details of the position she was interviewing for, he knew immediately why she hadn't wanted to talk about why she was in New York unannounced and why she had stayed at a hotel the night before, not that it made any difference, they still spent the night together, but she was attempting to shield the fact that she was recruiting for her DHS team. "Hey, Tiger Lily, ducking my calls isn't going to change the fact that we need to talk, and I don't mean about the wedding." He smiled as he left his third message an hour after meeting with Vivian, but it faded. "Please, Lil, just call me back."

That afternoon, Lily arrived back at her office. "Hi Diane, any calls?" The brown haired woman handed her a stack of messages. "Martin called six times? In four hours? That must be a record." She laughed.

"It sounded urgent. He said you weren't picking up your cell."

"Because I was on the phone with Senator Hathaway for most of the trip down." She laughed again. "I guess he's talked to Agent Johnson."

"Speaking of Agent Johnson, she called as well. It seems that she has made her decision."

"Intriguing." Quickly, she scanned through the paper until she saw Vivian's message, and her smile was suddenly gone. "Diane, get me Agent Johnson on the phone now!"

Lily's tone was gruff, business-like, highly unusual for her, and Diane knew that her boss had seen Agent Johnson's choice. "Yes, Ma'am."

"No," she shook her head, "wait." Taking a deep breath, she took control of her temper. "Bring me the personnel files for Agents Fitzgerald, Spade, and Taylor."

"They're on your desk."

"This is why you can never quit, Diane. You anticipate my every move. Thank you." Locking herself in her office, Lily quickly cleared her whiteboard, rolled up her sleeves, and began getting down to the business of evaluating Agent Johnson's pick for her team.

"Director Fitzgerald is on line two for you, Lily." Diane's voice came through the intercom twenty minutes later. "Should I tell him you're busy?"

"No, thanks. I'll take it."

"Lily, I thought we had an arrangement?" Victor's voice quivered with anger. He was livid, incensed by the decision his future daughter-in-law had made. "Martin was not supposed to be on the short list."

"Yeah, I know, but I was steering enough by removing Agents Malone and Delgado from the mix. I couldn't have sat there in the process and told Agent Johnson that Martin's name was on the list just for show. It was bad enough I could only give her three names to choose from, Victor. Believe me, this is not the ideal situation I envisioned. I never believed that Agent Johnson was going to choose Martin."

"See that she changes her mind, Lily."

"Or else what? What are you going to do that hasn't already been done to this office before, Victor? My position was created by people higher than you. I've had my budget threatened to be slashed, almost brought up on federal charges for doing my job, but getting kidnapped for my trouble, and I'm still here. Please don't think that threatening me is going to accomplish anything." She was very adept at playing the political game. "If I say anything to Agent Johnson, it looks like I am steering and that Martin needs his daddy to look out for him. It won't work and you know it."

"This is much too dangerous a position. I won't approve the transfer."

Lily rolled her eyes. "It's not up to you or about you or even me for that matter, Victor. Realize that right now." She sighed. "Look, I'm not happy about this either, but I have to live with it, and so do you. I've gone back over the personnel files and I'm afraid that Agent Johnson made the right decision. Even if I had made the decision blind like I usually do, I would have ended up picking Martin. His intellect and skill do set him apart. Agent Taylor is a bit of a hothead with authority issues. Agent Spade," she thought how to phrase her statement politely.

"Is a good agent, but will sleep with anything in pants? Yeah, I know." Victor sighed. "Agents Delgado and Malone are much too risky for a position this delicate so I guess Martin is it." He shook his head.

"I'm guessing you are regretting limiting Agent Johnson's choices to the Missing Persons Squad right about now."

"Don't rub it in, Lily. No one likes being told I told you so."

"Sometimes it's necessary so they don't make the same mistake twice."

"This is my son we're talking about. I will protect him at all costs."

"Victor, the summer session has more time off than anything else. Besides, he's a very capable agent and man. He'll be fine." Her private line began blinking and Diane mouthed that Martin was calling when she stepped into the office. "I've got to go. I'm sure we'll discuss this subject later."

"I see you finally made it back to D.C." Martin's voice was laced with sarcasm. "I was beginning to worry."

"Martin, Honey," she took a deep breath, "can you come down here tonight? We need to talk and not over the phone."

"I'd say. I just talked to Viv."

"That's what we need to discuss before this goes any further."

"I'm on the next train."