Lee and Amanda lay contentedly in each other's arms exchanging soft kisses as they basked in the afterglow of their lovemaking, neither wanting to move, but knowing that they had to. Lee lightly stroked his wife's stomach. Ever since she'd told him she was pregnant, he found he didn't want to stop touching her. As he held her, he couldn't help but think about how their baby had been conceived.

"What's that smile about, Scarecrow or should I even ask?"she said with a mischievous grin.

"No," he said with a chuckle. "As amazing as it was. That's not what I was thinking about. I was just thinking that our baby was made here."

"Not necessarily, It could have been in the shower or on the living room floor," She'd already figured out just like Lee had that the day they'd made up from their "quirks" fight was the day that their baby had been conceived. It was the only time they'd ever been reckless about taking preventative measures.

"I didn't just mean the bed. I meant the apartment. You and I have a lot of memories here. Ever since we got married I've been thinking of this place more as ours than just mine. You do know you're the only woman who's been here with me? I mean, I moved into this place shortly after I decided I only wanted to be with you. I didn't want my time with you tarnished by memories of my past."

"I know that, Lee."

"If we do figure out a way to make this work, it'll be hard to give up all the memories we have here."

"Lee, Sweetheart, we won't be giving up anything, it's just an apartment, the memories will stay with us forever. Giving up the apartment doesn't mean giving up what we shared here. Besides, we're going to have a permanent reminder of this place," she said as she laid her hand over his on her stomach.

"You're right, we are," He said with a smile. He placed a light kiss to her stomach and said, "Hi Baby Stetson, I'm your daddy and I love you."

"You know the baby's not big enough to hear your voice yet?"

"I don't care. I'll say it as many times as I need to until the baby can hear me. I don't want our child to ever feel like Phillip and Jamie have. I want this baby to know from the start that he has a father who loves him."

"The baby may not be a "he"," Amanda said. "And it's way too early to know the baby's gender."

"I was speaking in the general sense, not really meaning that the baby's a boy. Besides, I'm not one of those ego-centric guys who has to have a son. I'd love this baby just as much if it were a girl, especially if she inherited her mother's beauty," he said as he kissed his wife again finding that once he started kissing her he didn't want to stop. He continued to kiss her pressing against her, feeling his desire for her growing again. He shifted his lips to her neck saying, 'I can't get enough of you."

Amanda moaned as his assaulted her skin, "Lee," she sighed. "Lee, as good as this feels, we have to stop," she said, but didn't make a move to stop him. Instead she urged him on, calling out his name, opening her legs to allow him entrance, hooking one leg over his back when she felt him enter her again driving him deeper inside her causing him to cry out her name. She grasped his buttocks with both hands trying to pull him in even farther. He'd said he couldn't get enough of her, but she was the one who felt she couldn't get enough of him, of how he made her feel, how incredible he felt moving inside her. She cried out his name again and again as his movements brought to an intense climax. From the low throaty moans she heard coming from him, she knew he was close too. She raised her hips up to meet him clenching her muscles around him until he was calling out her name and telling her again how much he loved her while he erupted inside her.

'What were you saying about stopping," he said breathlessly with a saucy grin which earned him a firm slap on the rear from his wife.

"Why, Mrs. Stetson, " he said mirthfully, "I never knew you were so kinky."

Amanda laughed heartily. "There are all kinds of things you don't know about me yet, but we've got the rest of our lives for you to find them out." She kissed him lightly. "As much as I would love to stay here, just like this, we really should get the packing done and go."

"Yeah, I know," he said as he reluctantly extracted himself from his wife's arms who whimpered slightly at the loss of him.."We should get this done." He reached for her hand, pulling her up. They quickly dressed and Lee chuckled as he saw the mess they'd made. His suitcase was on its side, its contents spilling out on the floor. He picked it up and began work to get it packed as quickly as they could so that Dotty wouldn't be any more upset than she already was. It was then that he noticed the pile of photographs that Amanda had picked up. "Amanda, what are you doing with those?"

"I thought I'd take them back to the house with us. I had a thought that if Mother could see how happy we were the day we got married, that it might, I don't know, help her ease up a little. Dumb idea?"

"No, not dumb. I'm just not sure it's enough," he said as he reached for his badge that lay on the desk and slipped into his jacket pocket. He then went to the closet and pulled out a box from the top shelf. "I know you want to keep her out of the agency part of it to protect her, but we may have no choice but to tell her the whole truth."

"I know," she said as she began pulling items from the dresser. "Part of me wants to. You know how much I've hated lying to her all these years, but the other part of me, the part that wants to protect my family is screaming at me to keep her in the dark for her own safety no matter how mad she is."

"You're conflicted, I know," he said as he opened the box and retrieved the extra clips for his gun, stowing them in his suitcase. "I get that, but if we're going to have a real shot at making this family life work, that may be the only option we have. With your dad gone and my parents...She's going to be the only grandparent our child will have and I don't want our son or daughter not to have that."

"Do you really think you need that many extra clips?" Amanda said gesturing with her head as she added the t-shirts and underwear she'd pulled from the dresser to the suitcase.

"Well, if there really turns out to be a weapons exchange going down, it's better to be safe than sorry."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," she said as she grabbed the overnight bag and headed to the bathroom to pack Lee's toiletries. "You don't really think Mother would distance herself from her grandchild just because she's mad at us, do you?"

"I don't know, Amanda, but I don't want to take that chance. She was pretty damned mad," He said while closing his suitcase.

"Well, still, I don't think she'd take her anger at us out on an innocent child."

"You're probably right, but still I don't want the damage this has caused to your relationship with her to be permanent either. I know how important family is to you and how much it hurts you that you and your mother haven't been as close as you used to be because of all the secrets you've been forced to keep. I feel like it's my fault. If I'd never dragged you into this crazy business..."

"Now, stop!" Amanda said as she returned to the bedroom, overnight back in hand. She reached into the dresser drawer he'd cleaned out for her and threw a few more items in the bag before zipping it up. "You may have initiated my introduction into this life, but I'm the one who chose to stay in this life. I chose to keep doing it because I felt it was worth doing even though I knew it meant keeping secrets from the people I love. And I knew deep down that there would be a time that I'd eventually have to come clean with my mother."

"That time may be today," Lee said.

"I know, and I was really hoping to avoid it. Knowing our secret is going to change her life forever."

"But not knowing it may change your relationship with her forever."

"So, what are we going to do?"

"For now, I say we just keep up what we've been doing, keep playing the hidden relationship angle and see where it takes us. If we can convince her that's all it was about them we've dodged a bullet for another day."

"If not?"

"Let's just play it by ear. If we have to tell her everything, then we tell her everything. Whatever happens, I want you to know that I am not leaving your side again. I will be with you through this whole thing," he said as he gently stroked her face and kissed her softly.

"I know," she said. "Come on, let's go get this over with," she said as slung the overnight back over her shoulder and picking up the wedding photos as her husband hoisted up his suitcase leaving the apartment for what they both hoped would be the last time before returning to pack it up for good.

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Joe King stood outside the front door of his former home fidgeting nervously as he waited for the door to be answered. He couldn't help thinking that what Lee had said was true, that this never really had been his home. He'd never spent enough time in it for it to ever really feel like home. Lee's assessment that he'd spent more time in it was probably right. He and Amanda had bought the house about a month before Jamie has been born and he'd left shortly after his younger son's birth. He'd only really lived in it with his family for three months and had been back so infrequently since then that it had really only ever been Amanda's. When they'd divorced, his name had been removed from it entirely, just like his presence in it had years before.

"Hello, Joe," Dotty said coolly as she opened the door to him then walked away to head back into the kitchen.

Joe sighed as he entered the house closing the door behind him following his ex-mother-in-law. "Where are the boys?"

"Upstairs in their room," Dotty answered distractedly as she absently stirred the contents of a stockpot on the stove.

"Dotty, are you ok?"

"No, Joe, I'm not ok. I've just discovered some disturbing news about my daughter that makes me realize that she's not the person that I thought she was. Not to mention that the man I was fully willing to embrace as a son-in-law is not the man I thought he was either." She reached into a drawer and pulled out a cutting board, picking up a sharp knife from the counter and began slicing carrots that she'd already washed a peeled earlier for the salad she planned on having with dinner.

Joe glanced at the stairs making sure the boys weren't in earshot before saying, "Is this about Amanda's pregnancy?"

"You know about that?"Dotty asked as she continued to work to keep her hands busy tossing a handful of the carrot slices into a salad bowl on top of the lettuce already in it.. Then it hit her. She'd been so angry with Lee and Amanda that she'd temporarily forgotten that she was going to be a grandmother again. She smiled slightly at the thought, but it didn't ease her discomfort at the fact that her daughter had been lying to her for years.

"Yeah, I found out last night when I went to see Jamie at the hospital."

"Ah," she said in understanding. "And no, Joe, this is not because she's pregnant. I was handling that bit of news just fine. It's their other bit of surprise news that's got me rattled." She looked at Joe for any sign on his face that he knew what she was talking about as she paused in her task.

Joe shifted uncomfortably at Dotty's scrutiny. "What surprise news is that?"he said trying to sound nonchalant.

"Nice try at casual, Joe. You know, don't you?" When Joe just looked down to avoid making eye contact with her, she said, "I knew it! You know. You know that they ran off and got married without telling anyone and judging by the look on your face, you've known all along, haven't you?"

"Yes," he admitted.

"How could you? You and I were family at one time. How could you have helped her keep a secret of this magnitude from me, from your own children!"

"I didn't want to! I had no choice!"

"You always have a choice, Joe." Dotty said waving her arms frantically in frustration forgetting for a moment that she still had the knife in her hand until Joe jumped back hurriedly to avoid it's sharp blade.

"No, I really didn't. Amanda dropped this bomb on me a week before the wedding, then swore me to secrecy. I didn't want to keep this secret. I didn't even want to know what she was doing in the first place. The second she asked me to keep it a secret, I wished she'd never told me she was getting married."

"If you didn't want to keep their secret, then why did you?"Dotty demanded slamming the knife down on the counter.

"Because there are reasons they kept the secrets they did. That's all I can tell you."

"Reasons? That's not good enough! Amanda won't tell me what's really going on and neither will Lee, so you'd better come clean with me. What is this big secret that has kept my daughter lying to me for four years?"

"I can't tell you that, Dotty. It's not my secret to tell."

"That is simply unacceptable! There has to be a reasonable explanation for this level of deception and I insist that you tell me what it is."

"There is a reasonable explanation for it, but I can't explain it to you. You'll have to ask Amanda."

"Don't you think I have?" she said as she resumed her salad preparations turning her back on him.

"And what did she tell you?"

"She told me some cockamamie story about how she and Lee had been dating long before the children and I met him."

'That's true. They were dating when I came back from Africa. I was a little disappointed actually. I thought that maybe Amanda and I might have had another shot if I stayed here in DC, but as soon as I saw her with Lee for the first time, I knew that it was too late. I could see by the way she looked at him that she was crazy about him. We were married for ten years and I never saw her look at me that way."

"Now, come on, Joe, you know that she loved you."

"She did, she still does, but I don't think that she was ever truly in love with me. Not the way a wife should be, not like she is with Lee. I think she thought she was, but the more we were apart, the more it became clear that she wasn't."

"Now, Joe, you know that simply isn't true," she said as turned back to face him.

"It is, Dotty. If she'd truly been in love with me, she'd have traveled with me so we could be together instead of apart. Look at all the military wives that do it on a daily basis to support their husband's careers. She told me that she filed for divorce because the distance had made us grow apart, but the real reason is that she just didn't love me enough to fight anymore for our marriage. With Lee, it's different, she's fought tooth and nail to be with him and make their marriage work even though they live apart. Think about it, Dotty. Think about how many times in the past four months since they've been married that she's suddenly had to work late or go out of town on business? How many weekends lately I've had the boys even though it wasn't my scheduled weekend with them? All those times were so she could spend a little time with her husband. She loves him enough to fight for their marriage when she never did with me."

"Maybe you're right, but none of that matters. It still doesn't explain why they kept this hidden to begin with."

"And I've already told you that I'm not the one who can explain it to you. Don't you think that if they kept a secret this huge from you and the kids and the people they work with that they had a damn good reason for doing so?"

"What on earth could that reason be? What possible justification could my daughter have for not only hiding her marriage, but her entire courtship with Lee from me? I just..." she sighed trying to calm herself. "I just don't understand it. If I could just have some reason that makes sense, I think I could start accepting it."

"Dotty, trust me, you don't want to understand it. I don't want to know the things I do about Amanda, but I have no choice! I can't un-know all the things I do or pretend that I don't know. I guarantee you, if you get your answers, they're not going to give you the peace of mind you're looking for. You're going to feel the same way I do. You'll wish you didn't know."

"What is going on that could possibly be so awful? Is there another woman? Was he married when they met or something? Kids? House?" She couldn't help but wonder what that Miss Desmond had meant with her comments last night. Lee had told her that it was due to them having a prior relationship, but what if there was more to it?

Joe chuckled ironically with a shake of his head. "I wish it were that simple, Dotty, but it's not. Maybe you should think about accepting that there are things about her life that just can't tell you for your own good. Trust me when I tell you that Amanda's not being malicious in lying to you. She's trying to keep you and the boys safe. That is the only reason that I have put up with helping her keep her secrets, to keep my children safe."

"Keep them safe? What on earth would Lee and Amanda's marriage have to do with keeping the children safe?"

"I can't, Dotty, I just can't. Knowing what I know already puts me at risk. I'm not going to expose you to that same risk. Amanda would never forgive me it something happened to you because I couldn't keep my mouth shut. I've already said too much as it is."

"Does this have anything to do with what happened to you when you came back from Estoccia?"

"No, not directly anyway. That's how I found out what I know, but that's all there is to it. I'm sorry, Dotty, but if you want all the answers you're going to have to get them from Amanda. Now, I should get the boys and go."

"Yeah, I think that's a good idea," she said as she turned back to the salad still fuming, now not only at Lee and Amanda's duplicity, but Joe's as well. She couldn't help but wonder who else was in on this secret. Was she the only one who didn't know? She heard the front door open and turned at the sound to see her daughter enter the kitchen.

"Something smells good in here," Amanda said cheerfully trying to break the ice with her mother.

"Homemade beef stew. I thought you could use something hearty since you were so run down from not eating properly," Dotty said in a monotone. "Where's Lee?"

"He went to take his bags upstairs to put with mine, so we'll be ready to leave tomorrow."

"I see," Dotty said. "Dinner should be ready soon."

Amanda sighed frustrated that he mother wouldn't even make eye contact with her. She was about to say something when her thoughts were interrupted by sound of her children barreling down the stairs and Joe's voice telling them to slow down before they hurt themselves. "Hey, Fellas', you all ready to go?" she said to her sons.

"Yep," Phillip said unenthusiastically.

"Well, listen, you guys be good for your dad. You're gonna' have a great time and I'll see you Sunday night when we get back." She reached for them kissing both of them. "Mother, did you give Joe Jamie's prescription?"

"No, I forgot."

"I got it," she said as she reached for the pharmacy bag on the other side of the kitchen island that contained two prescriptions, one for her son and one for herself. She pulled out Jamie's and handed it to Joe. "Here's the antibiotic the doctor prescribed for him. He's already taken one today. He'll need another one before bedtime and you'll need to make sure he takes it twice a day until it's all gone."

"Ugh, Mom," Jamie whined. "I feel fine."

"You may feel better than you did yesterday and your fever may be down, but that doesn't mean the infections is gone so no arguments. I don't want your dad to have to take you back to the hospital." She kissed him on the top of the head. Dotty watched this interaction and realized that no matter what she thought of her daughter right now, she was still a wonderfully caring mother.

"Fellas, why don't you head on out to the car and load your stuff up and I'll be out there in a minute," Joe said. The boys did as they were told and Joe turned his attention to Amanda just as Lee descended the stairs behind him. "So, have you two figured out when you're going to tell them the truth?"

"Yeah," Lee said as he entered the kitchen. "We discussed it at the hospital. We thought once we wrapped up this assignment we'd take the boys on a little vacation. We've both got some time off coming up."

"I think that's a good idea. The sooner, the better. You know I never liked the idea of all the secrecy."

"Joe, you know why we did what we did," Amanda said.

"I know," Joe said squeezing her hand to reassure her that even though he didn't like it, he understood. As he did, he couldn't help noticing the rings there. "Does this mean you're going to start living out in the open like a normal couple?" indicating the rings.

"That's the plan," Lee said as he wrapped his arm around his wife's waist possessively with a glare a Joe King. They may have cleared the air, but he still didn't like the other man touching his wife. Joe immediately released Amanda's hand. Lee nodded slightly at Joe acknowledging that he'd taken the hint. "We want everyone to know. We just haven't quite figured out how much truth to tell."

"God!"Dotty said once again slamming her knife down on the counter. "Would you just stop talking in riddles?"

"I should go," Joe said. "Let you guys deal with this."

"Yeah," Lee said. "Thanks, Joe." He shook the other man's hand before Joe made his exit.

"All right, now it's just us," Dotty said. "I want to know what's really going on. Joe told me he's known about your marriage since before you got married and that he knows the real reason that you kept it from me and I demand to know too!"

"Mother, we already told you-"

"No! I do not accept that it was just because we didn't know Lee that well. If you want me to accept this, you need to give me a real explanation. You owe me that!"

Lee and Amanda exchanged a glance and without saying a word, both reached into their jacket pockets pulling out their badges, holding them up for her to see as they would when Identifying themselves as federal agents during an interview.