Sinclair had been taken away by the agents Billy had brought with him to Lee's apartment. It was hard to see who had been more surprised by Lee rising from the dead, the agents or his doorman. Mr. Fellers had looked around at the bomb squad who were busy dismantling the web of TNT decorating the apartment and had gone away muttering under his breath, no doubt wondering if anything could top the craziness of this day.

Billy had apologized to the Colonel profusely, realizing that his was the source of the angry phone message he'd been studying just a few hours earlier. "You see, Colonel, we didn't think to contact you since nothing had actually happened to him. Rest assured, as next of kin, you'd be our first call under normal circumstances. Circumstances we hope never happen," he'd added after realizing that he'd made it sound inevitable.

The Colonel had made a noise that suggested either disbelief or annoyance; it was always difficult to decide which, Lee had thought.

Billy turned to Lee. "Take the rest of the day off and get your life back in order, but I expect you back in the office tomorrow to do a full debrief and written report. I'll make sure Amanda is assigned to help you. I'm sure you'll need help with everyone coming to congratulate you for this."

"Maybe we should have a cake to celebrate you not being dead," said Francine in a saccharine tone. "Because that's what's important and not all the work the girls in the steno pool did to figure it out before any of you big strong men."

"Francine," Billy began, but Lee interrupted him.

"No, Billy, she's right. Half this block would have been levelled by now if those ladies hadn't figured it out. They deserve to get all the recognition, not me. I'll get you that report, but maybe I should lay low for a while – keep out of sight until this blows over."

Billy nodded, suddenly thoughtful. "That's a good idea. I'll see what there is for out-of-town assignments coming up."

Only Lee heard the sigh of disappointment that Amanda gave out at that, one that he mentally echoed.

"But not before you come in and apologize for putting everyone through that," ordered Francine. "Necessary or not, it was cruel."

"Yes ma'am," said Lee.

She narrowed her eyes trying to decide if he was mocking her, but deciding he wasn't, she turned to Billy. "And I think you should consider whether any of those women would be good agent candidates. They did in five days what a battalion of trained men couldn't do."

"It's a good idea," he acknowledged. "I'll put out an open call for interest in Station One."

"Station One?" Amanda queried.

"I'll explain later," said Lee. "But you're not going there."

So now, everyone was gone except the two of them and the Colonel.

"Well, I guess if you're alive, my work here is done," said the Colonel. "I'll head off to the Officer's Club to find some rations and a bed for the night."

"Oh no!" said Amanda. "I mean, I can't put you up because we only have a pull-out sofa bed to spare, but you must let me get you dinner! It's the least I can do after I accidentally made you fly all the way here!"

The Colonel gave her a long look. "Well, that would be nice, but I can't let a lady buy me dinner. How about you both come to the Club with me."

"Oh my gosh! I didn't mean that either," said Amanda. "I meant, you should both come home with me and I'll make dinner."

"Amanda," began Lee.

"That would be lovely, Mrs. King," said the Colonel, cutting him off.

"Oh, you must call me Amanda," she said. "After all, you're f-" she hiccupped to a stop. "F-f-finally here for a visit," she ended.

Colonel Clayton looked back and forth between the two of them. Amanda scarlet with embarrassment and Lee looking half annoyed, half as if he wanted to laugh.

"I will do that, Amanda, on one condition," he said.

"Here we go," muttered Lee.

"Alright," she replied.

"What was so important that you had to call and ask to speak with me about it?"

Oh," said Amanda. "Ah. Well…I just wanted you to know that, um, I thought very highly of Lee and I wanted to give you my condolences in person."

"Over the phone?" he asked.

"Oh! Well yes, but I didn't want to leave them on the answering machine."

Lee recognized the skeptical look on his uncle's face from the many times he'd faced it down while trying to wriggle out of something. "Give us a minute," he ordered his uncle, then led Amanda into the bedroom.

"Well, Stanley, here's another fine mess you've gotten me into," he said after closing the door.

"I thought you were dead!" hissed Amanda. "If I recall correctly, you were the one who got us into this mess!"

"I'm only kidding," he said, taking her hands and giving her a kiss. "I should have known you'd reach out to my family, it's what you do. However, now that you've opened that Pandora's box a little, how do you plan to get through dinner with your mother who knows we're married and my uncle who doesn't?"

"Oh! I hadn't thought of that," admitted Amanda. "But don't you think…?" She stopped and chewed her lip.

"Don't I think… we should tell him?" Lee completed her thought.

Amanda looked up into his eyes. "Well… yes?"

Lee heaved a sigh. "I think we have to."

"It's ridiculous that my family knows – or at least my mother does – and your family doesn't. And I mean, what if this happens again? What if-"

"What if I really died?"

"And he only found out then that we'd been lying this whole time? It would be awful."

Lee nodded and sighed again. "Yeah. You'd get all the yelling he'd want to be doing to me."

"And besides, he's your only family. Don't you want him to know?" she wheedled.

"We've managed to stay out of each other's lives pretty well up until now," said Lee. "Do I really want to ruin a good thing?" He caught the look of hurt that flitted across Amanda's face. "Hey, no, I didn't mean it like that! You're a good thing – he'll like you once he gets to know you. It's just all the speeches I'm going to get for being stupid enough to get drunk and married in Vegas – he's going to be a miserable SOB about this, I can guarantee it. Just another thing I've done in a long list of disappointments for the Colonel."

"Well, I'll be with you, so maybe he won't be so bad," Amanda consoled him.

"Maybe," Lee agreed. "Or maybe he'll treat you like family and yell at you too."

"I'm a big girl, I can take it," said Amanda smiling as she wrapped her arms around his waist and giving him a squeeze. "Do you want me to tell him and then it can be my fault?"

Lee shuddered. "And have him think I'm hiding behind a girl? That would be worse. Okay then," he stepped back and took her hand. "Let's go face the music."

They stepped back out of the bedroom, Lee's face stern and Amanda's slightly apprehensive.

"Got your story straight?" asked his uncle.

Lee looked at Amanda with a "see what I mean?" expression. She smiled and gave his hand a squeeze.

"Yes Sir, we do," Lee said. "But it's going to take some explaining, so how about we sit down."

The Colonel waited for Amanda to sit down on the sofa, Lee beside her, holding her hand, before he sat down in the chair opposite. "Okay, Skip, out with it."

Lee audibly ground his teeth at the Colonel's tone before beginning. "Well Sir, I told you I've only known Amanda a few months and while that's true, what is also true is-" He paused and sucked in another breath. "She's my wife."

The Colonel leaned back in his chair and stared at them both, both blushing, Amanda still clutching Lee's hand like an errant teenager.

"Your what?"

"My wife," Lee said firmly.

"Since when?"

"Since the day we met."

The Colonel was momentarily struck speechless, before finally looking at Amanda and saying "That's what you wanted to tell me?"

"Yes Sir," she nodded. She gave Lee a quick look and he squeezed her hand. "Not because I was after anything – I was fine before we got married and I didn't need anything from him, but I wanted you to know that I, well, that I loved him, I guess. I thought you should know."

"But why didn't you tell me before now?" he asked Lee.

"No one knows, just us."

"And my mother," admitted Amanda guiltily. "She kind of caught us."

"I think I need to hear the whole story, Skip." The Colonel settled back in his chair and waited.

"Okay, so, remember when you asked why we were in the trunk of a car? Well, here's the whole story."

Lee explained everything about how they'd found themselves married, with Amanda adding helpful interjections and explanations along the way. The Colonel sat silent and stony-faced throughout, although if they'd been looking, they might have seen a hastily bit back smile at Lee's description of Dotty finding out. He managed to control himself though until Lee got to the part about deciding to put off the annulment and date for a while, at which point he gave off an involuntary bark of laughter.

"My mother reacted the same way," said Amanda, heartened by that glimpse of humor from her new in-law. "She thinks we're crazy."

"But your boss, that Mr. Melrose, he doesn't know?" asked the Colonel.

"No Sir, no one knows except Dotty – that's Amanda's mother," said Lee. "We figured if no one knew – especially Phillip and Jamie – then if it didn't work out, there'd be less mess to clean up. We'd just get an annulment and go our separate ways."

"And how's that working out for you?" he asked.

Lee shot a sideways smile at Amanda. "Pretty well, actually."

"So why haven't you come clean?"

"To be honest, we haven't figured how to yet. I'm not sure about whether the Agency would let us keep working together if they knew and in my line of work, the fewer people know about my connection to Amanda's family, the better."

"And how is it working for you?" he asked Amanda.

She gave a shy smile. "Well, like Lee said, pretty well. And since we love each other, we'll just make it work."

The Colonel hurrumphed. "My God, Skip, I knew you were just like your father, but you've managed to put a whole new twist on it."

"What do you mean?" Lee bristled.

"Oh, calm down," his uncle said. "I meant about getting married like this. Hang on a second," he paused and stared at Lee. "Didn't I ever tell you about your parents?"

"Not a lot, no," said Lee. "Except when you were saying things like 'you're just like your father' in that tone of voice."

The Colonel had the grace to look abashed. "I suppose that's true. But let me make up for some of that now. What do you know about how they met?"

"That Mom was British and they met after the war, during the signing of the NATO Pact in '49."

His uncle grinned. "Well, that was what they told everybody."

Lee sat up. "What do you mean?"

"They actually met in 1943 in London, during the war," said his uncle. "He was in Army Intelligence and he accidentally dragged her into an operation he was running."

"That does sound familiar," Amanda teased Lee, squeezing his hand.

"He sent me a letter saying he'd met a girl he was going to marry – and then he did, a week later."

"A week?" Lee exclaimed.

His uncle chuckled. "It was the war, I think. People married at the drop of a hat, just in case. No one was ever sure when they might get sent over to fight and they just jumped straight into it. Not that it mattered with Matt and Jennie – I've never seen two people more in love than your parents."

"Why didn't anyone know about it?" asked Amanda.

"Matt was in Intelligence," Colonel Clayton explained. "And then Jennie joined MI6."

"My mother was a spy?" asked Lee in astonishment.

The Colonel nodded. "She was. And although I don't think there was a rule about marriage, with a war on, they probably thought it was safer if no one knew. He didn't even tell me her name in those letters because the censors read everything; I only met her long after the war."

"They kept it secret for eight years?" asked Lee, incredulous.

"Oh, I'm sure there were people who knew," said his uncle. "And they remarried over here after the NATO pact meetings. Most people thought they'd just had a whirlwind romance. Which they did, I guess, just earlier than most people knew."

Lee fell back on the sofa cushions, stunned. "I can't believe it."

"He was always impulsive," said his uncle. "But he was lucky too – most things worked out for him. That's usually what I meant when I said you were just like him." The Colonel paused. "I envied him for that. He could light up a room just by walking into it, charming the women and making friends with every man there. And there I was, the dull younger tagalong brother, struggling to be like him." He gave himself a shake. "But it seems like you did manage to turn out like him – and that's a good thing." He looked at Amanda. "And lucky just like him too."

"No," said Lee, taking her hand and lifting it to his lips. "I'm just smart enough to know a good thing when I see it."

"Maybe I was the one who was smart enough," teased Amanda. "Neither of us knows what happened that night."

"You're sure you're really married?" asked his uncle.

"Oh yeah," Lee confessed. "Confirmed it with a county clerk first thing. We're definitely married."

"Well, good for you," said his uncle. "And welcome to the family, Amanda. You're an admirable addition."

"That's it?" said Lee, disbelieving. "No yelling? No lectures? Nothing?"

The Colonel turned a steely gaze on him. "From what I can see, on a scale from one to ten, this young lady is an eleven and you think I should be scolding you?"

"Not having a good reason has never stopped you before!" responded Lee.

Amanda stood up. "Since we're all family now, how about we have a ceasefire and I'll call my mother and let hew know you'll both be there for supper?"

Lee and the Colonel had both stood up as soon as Amanda did.

"That would be very nice, Amanda," said Colonel Clayton. "I look forward to meeting your family."

"Not as much as my mother will be thrilled to meet you," said Amanda with an impish smile. "She'll want to know all about Lee."

"Oh no," said Lee.

"Oh yes," said Amanda.

Lee groaned as his uncle put Amanda's arm and led her out of the apartment. "Now young lady, as a member of the Air Force, I think we need to talk about you learning to fly properly…"