Chapter 21

Christmas Eve Cheer

Christmas Eve was upon them. Lee and Amanda had just wrapped up an assignment at Titan Toys and now they had the holiday off as Lee promised he would stay off the duty roster. Lee was spending at least three nights a week at Amanda's place, usually more. Weekends had been dedicated to repair plans so they could place the house on the market to sell. If all worked out right, they could get the house sold shortly after returning from their honeymoon and get into a new home. They had hired a realtor to do some legwork to find a larger home in the area where the boys at least may stand a chance of staying in the same school.

Life seemed to be moving along fairly smoothly, so Lee knew something had to pop up. Billy called Lee into his office. News broke that four professional style hits had taken place near Pasadena, CA, similar to those several weeks ago in the DC area. One target was an IFF operative and the other three were research assistants at Caltech. The IFF operative was investigating stolen research by three separate Caltech professors. He found evidence the stolen research was hitting the black market. Lee knew that Brody had been quiet here in the DC area as of late. Was he operating in California now? This whole scenario seemed to be indicative of his work.

"Lee, I see you're off the duty roster this holiday. Good." Billy said.

"Yeah, Amanda would kill me if I were not there this year for our first official holiday as a family." Lee told him. "Don't you dare tell her I said this, but she's very hormonal right now, she's tired and the morning sickness hasn't subsided yet. I'm not crossing her right now. I think pregnant women need to come with warning labels."

"I agree," Billy chuckled. "Jeannie was the same way. We should start looking at this right after the holiday."

"Thanks, I appreciate that." Lee thought to himself he'd not told Amanda about Brody. He realized now not telling her about Brody earlier was probably a mistake. However, he'd wait until after the holiday to talk about it with her. In the meantime, the holiday party was starting in the bullpen. The two men headed out where the festivities had started. Lee saw Amanda entering the bullpen with several plates of Christmas cookies. She walked up and gave Lee a kiss. It was met with an "aaaaawww" by the other agents. Apparently, they were still water cooler news. He and Amanda grinned, red faced.

Kristen walked up to Lee and Amanda laughing. "Just can't take you two anywhere." She said.

"What are your plans for Christmas?" Amanda asked. "You are always welcome to come to our house."

"Thank you, but if my luck holds I'm on a flight to California this evening. I hope to spend a couple days with my family. I packed my suitcase and brought it with me. Beamon warned me that life for a Freshman agent can get tricky around the holidays."

"He's right,"Lee said. "I'm off the duty roster this year, so I don't know who they're getting."

"Well, so far I'm off it. I took Thanksgiving weekend to get a better shot for Christmas.." She said. "I really want to see my family. I need some Mom time and if everything works out, my brother, Alex will pick up tonight so I can surprise her."

"Well, we can't let your mom down." Lee said. "I promise I will do what I can to make certain you get there."

"Thanks., I appreciate that."

"Oh God. Beamon's drunk again." Lee said as he saw him hanging on Francine and trying to hold mistletoe over her head.

"Ah," Kristen said. "The whole Beamon can't hold his liquor thing is making sense now."

"We'd better go rescue Francine," Amanda said as she and Kristen walked over to the punch table.

When the day was winding down, Lee could see people trying to find their way off the duty roster. He tracked down Kristen.

"You want to make sure you make it to California?" He whispered to her.

"Yeah," she said. "What's up.?"

"This is the time of day when people start mysteriously dropping from the duty roster. Come with me, I'll get you to the airport." He said. Kristen quietly grabbed her bag and followed Lee out. As they were walking to his car, Lee explained. "When holidays come up, it can end up as the last man standing gets the duty roster. I used to take it, but Amanda would kill me if I ended up on it this year.'

"Yeah, she would." Kristen laughed. "Thanks for the tip and the ride."

SMKSMKSMKSMKSMKSMKSMKSMK

Christmas Eve came with Amanda trying to keep Dotty and Aunt Lillian from killing each other. Joe arrived at the house and brought the boys a gift of an electric keyboard. He was then working outside with Phillip on some sort of project.

Lee arrived a couple hours later after dropping off Kristen at the airport and picking up a couple extra items. Kristen told him that, as her significant other, he needed to make certain Amanda's stocking was filled. So, he stopped by and picked up some lotion she liked, her favorite lipstick and some other fun little items. As he arrived home, Joe and Phillip were bringing something into the house.

"Mom," Phillip call, "look what I made you!" He stood proudly in front of a some large wooden shelves. "Dad had to help me with the legs, it kept falling over."

Joe leaned over and whispered "It's a spice rack."

"Oh, thank you,Phillip." She smiled, "I guess we've never run out of the spices."

"I kind of like working with wood. Think I'll take woodworking in high school." Phillip replied. Shortly after that, Aunt Lillian brought down a gift for Dotty: a beautiful homemade apron. Thereafter, the two made up. At least for now.

The family spent the evening celebrating. Lee was a little overwhelmed by all the merriment, but enjoyed how excited the boys were. He never experienced this before as he was always alone on Christmas with guacamole, watching football. At first, he felt a little out of place, but then when the boys complained their dad made them learn the Marine Corps Hymn on the keyboard, Lee sneaked in Led Zeppelin"s Stairway to Heaven which the boys enjoyed much more..

After a time, Joe left and the house wound down. As everyone went to bed, Lee took Amanda by the hand, and led her to the bedroom. Ananda had been feeling badly about her self image and Lee was ready to show her she was still incredibly sexy to him.