"Lee, remember the morning of the warehouse raid? We were getting everything ready." His dad looked confused. "Yeah, you and I were arguing because you did not like the part of my plan where you had to go to the Agency to tell them I had really gone off the deep end so you would have an alibi. What does that have to do with the little girl though?"

His mom said, "No before that. When we first woke up that morning." His dad got a little smile on his face. "Oh, when we um... wait we have another one of these?" He said grabbing Matty's head and turning it towards her. His mom smiled, "Yes congratulations daddy it's a girl. Her name is Leeann Jennifer Stetson. She was born December 14th, 1994, 8lbs 2 oz. She's 4 now. She will be 5 in December "

Then his mom went into her purse and pulled out a picture from her wallet. She handed it to his dad. His dad looked at the picture and you could see his heart melt. "She's beautiful." Matty adjusted himself so he could see the picture too. The little girl in the picture had dark hair exactly like Matty's but hazel eyes and dimples exactly like his dad's.

His dad looked at his mom. "Can I have this? The picture?" His mom smiled. "Yes of course. I have more at home." Then his dad said, "What is she like?" Her mom smiled, "Well she is kind of the opposite of this little fella except she is also very smart." She patted Matty's leg.

"She is not quiet at all. She rambles like mother and me. Has your temper but it's just like you. She blows up and it blows over. She is also very smart. I don't think she has a photographic memory like Matty. But she can already read and write. Oh, and you do have to watch out. She is very good at using the Stetson charm to get her way."

Phillip laughed. "Oh yeah, wait until you meet her. She's a little firecracker. Oh, mom you are going to have to have the talk with her. That all requests need to be cleared through you. She is going to take advantage of Lee so badly."

"Yeah, one thing at a time though. I don't think we can tell her he is her daddy yet though. She's too little. She can't keep a secret like that. Speaking of secrets. Do you think he can fool anyone?" Phillip sighed. "I mean if he stays with the hippie professor look, he's got going on now. Maybe? " Lee looked at Phillip "Hippie Professor look?" "Look in the mirror, dude. Tell me I'm wrong." His dad laughed "Yeah I guess I need a trim."

"Well Lee is going to need a lawyer whether he is himself or Michael Winthrope. So, 100% dad needs to know the truth. And Jaime is too smart. He will just figure it out. Probably a lot faster than I did. Which leaves grandma. Can we trust grandma to keep the secret?"

His mom sighed, "I think so. And I did promise her unless something is classified, I would never keep secrets from her again. Besides she adores Lee. If we all band together and protect him. It could work. The only wildcard I could see would be Francine."

Phillip ran his hand through his hair. "Yeah, she might figure it out too. But we can't tell her. Billy is retiring in a couple of months. She is up for the section chief job. I know she would help us. But if she gets found out. They might go with Beaman or Fielder. I'm quitting for real if I have to report to Fred Fielder." His dad laughed at that. "That would be a disaster. Beaman would not be ideal but at least he's got a brain."

His dad spoke, "Let's leave Francine out of it for now. But I need to come up with a good story. Why I kept him so long?" His mother spoke. "Lee asked you to get Alex to safety. It was chaos after the warehouse explosion. You really did not know what to do. You were just there as an emergency backup plan. You did not even think Lee would need to use you. So, you ran to your estranged father in England and asked him for help. You didn't expect him to let you stay. It was just supposed to be temporary. But you fell in love with Alex. The longer you had him. The harder he was to give up. Especially because you never had much family of your own. And how could anyone not fall in love with Matty's cute little face? I think that might work."

His dad smiled. "I missed you. You always were good with the stories." He squeezed her hand and ran his thumb over her knuckles. "Too many years of practice. Ok Phillip, I want you to take Matty with you. Go to the house. Clean up the blood in the office if you can. Check your room too. Lee might have dripped a little in there too. Just so nobody panics when they get home. Then take him to your dad's place. Feed Mattyat some point too. We never did get a chance to have dinner." Phillip nodded. "Yeah, we can stop at Marvelous Marvins on the way to the house."

Matty tapped on his dad. "Tell her I'm not going. I want to stay with you." His dad kissed the top of his head. "Matty, it might be a good idea if you go with your brother. Just for now. Ok? I need to talk to your mom alone anyway. You will see me again tomorrow. I promise." Then he tapped "I love you" on his forehead.

Then his mom turned to him, "Matty sweetheart. Phillip is going to need your help. And with your arm. You are not going to get any rest in the hospital." Phillip smiled. "Yeah, I need your ninja skills to protect me. Lee, you need to see the footage of him. He was freaking amazing. As little as he is, he took down three grown agents." Lee looked at him. "No, I don't think I can watch that. I don't want to watch him get hurt. Plus, it's safer for whichever agent tackled him and broke his arm if I don't watch it."

Matty hugged his dad and tapped. "You promise I'll see you again tomorrow." His dad ruffled his hair. "Nothing can keep me away from you kid. Not even a couple of bullets. I promise. Now go with Phillip."

Then Matty went over to his mom and hugged her. "You be good for Phillip. Ok?" She kissed the top of his head. Then Phillip said, "Hey little dude you are going to get to meet my girl." His dad grinned "You still have Vetty?"

Phillip smiled. "Of course, dude. I'd never get rid of my girl. She's the love of my life." His dad was laughing. "I guess I gave her to the right person. It will be nice to see the old girl again too. I missed you, Chief and I really am sorry for everything."

Phillip hugged Lee. "It's ok Lee. When you're up for it. We can take Vetty to the track. She might be old, but she's still got the moves. Sorry I yelled at you before. I missed you too. There is so much we need to catch up on."

Notes:

Next chapter Matty & Phillip go to Joe's very full house.