Chapter 9

"Well surely you don't think you can work someplace for almost twenty years and not have your co-workers throw you a going away party," she said brightly.

He groaned, she just laughed as she skipped out. He grabbed the box she had been filling and looked through the items, most of them didn't make sense. He was surprised to see a Russian medal of honor with the crest of the house of Valosky on it and a certificate of Valor signed by Reagan among the items in the box. He shook his head, Amanda King was a mystery to him- Stetson- he told himself. Amanda Stetson, his wife. The mother of his two children.

He sighed and wondered if any of the old case files would help. He read about a royal couple from the Middle East that was targeted by an assassin and an international jewel thief trying to steal plans for the missile defense system and Amanda's involvement in both cases seemed to be pivotal. He furrowed his brows in concentration reading about a human trafficking operation that tried to have Amanda kidnapped and about a heroin laced case of wine.

He found a file on the 'Spider web' operation that originally brought him back in the first place. Opening it quickly he learned that she was both at the embassy and buying supplies at the hobby shop for projects her sons were working on. Not unlike the case he was investigating in his other life. The ten thousand was an insurance claim. He wondered how the circumstances were different in the other universe, as he noticed this file was dated January nineteen eighty five, and Billy called him in to investigate in nineteen ninety three. He wondered how the timeline of their lives had been altered by his staying at the agency all those years ago.

He wondered what wasn't in these files, how he and Amanda got close and how they fell in love. He picked up the last folder and read through the reports of them as traitors, how he went missing and their subsequent time on the run and eventually clearing their names. Whatever happened during that time resulted in Amanda's full time agent status despite her name being listed next to his on most of these files.

He didn't know how much time had passed. He was so lost in thought he didn't notice the door opening. "Hey," Amanda said startling him, "have you been sitting here this whole time?" She looked around the room, "Lee, you haven't done anything," she said with a laugh though she was clearly a little miffed.

He looked up at her in alarm, "I…well I got all of these done," he held up the stack of files, "I uh…I guess I got caught up in the memories," he said trying to smooth things over, it must have done the trick because she smiled softly at him.

"Mm-hm," she hummed, "well throw the rest of that stuff in these boxes and let's get down stairs before Billy sends up a posse," she tossed the last of the items on her desk into her box. He grabbed the things he thought belonged to him and tossed them into the box she had handed him. He looked around the office then asked, "You going to miss it up here? We've been up here what…" he shrugged trying to wheedle the information out of her.

She sighed, "Oh probably, five years or so...maybe closer to six," she looked around, "seems strange doesn't it?" she continued when he just hummed in return, "leaving, we admitted how we felt about each other, got married, had our children all while we were up here," she spoke softly, "we should head back down. I'm sure Francine is blow a gasket if we are late."

With Amanda by his side, he stepped into the bullpen, he smiled and shook hands uncomfortably at everyone that congratulated him on his new job as he made his way to the coffee station. Some people he recognized and some he didn't. Somewhere along the way he and Amanda split up. Grabbing a Styrofoam cup, he started to pour himself some.

"Hi Lee," he heard a voice purr from behind him.

He turned slowly toward it, a smile crawling across his face, "well hello…" he didn't know if he knew the woman's name. He completely forgot he had a 'wife' across the room.

She licked her lips, "Peggy," she provided seductively.

"Well, hello Peggy," he said with a charming smile, leaning against the counter, "how are you this afternoon?" his eye raked over her body. Now this was the kind of woman he usually went for.

"I'm well," she bit her lip before she continued, "I could be better," she said huskily.

"Oh?" he said in mock surprise, "is there anything I can do to help?" he asked raking his eyes down her body a second time. To him, both her offer and his felt empty.

"I could think of a few things you could do, "she said stepping closer and placing a hand on his arm.

"Really well," he set his drink down and leaned closer to her and quietly said, "Why don't you-"

"Don't you have to be downstairs?" An angry voice said behind them, he turned to see Francine standing behind them. The two women sized each other up but Lee knew no matter what universe he would be in Francine had the sharpest claws. The two women glared at each other for a moment then Peggy ran her eyes up and down him one last time before she sauntered off. Her hips swaying seductively as she went.

"Wow," he muttered to himself.

"What are you doing?" He turned to see a furious Francine standing behind him, she looked ready to claw his eyes out.