Lee was really looking forward to meeting his daughter. He hoped she would like him. It bothered him a little that they weren't going to be able to tell her that he was her father. It was alright at least he would still be her uncle.

He smiled at his wife, "So, when she gets home. Do you want to just bring her downstairs to meet me?"

Amanda looked at him with a serious look "No, I want to have a talk with her first about you.I can't just spring some uncle she never heard of on her. I think tomorrow morning it would be easier. As for the rest of you. We need to call him Michael in front of her. He is her Uncle Michael. Got it?"

Everyone in the room nodded. "You and Matty both need to get some rest. Matty, do you want to stay down here with your Daddy? Or you can go upstairs into my room and lie down for a little while. I need to call Doc McJohn too. See if he will come to the house and take a look at you, sweet boy. Make sure you are healing up properly."

Matty tapped on Lee and he interpreted, 'He wants to stay down here with me."

His mom kissed the top of Matty's head and squeezed Lee's hand. She left the room and Matty snuggled into him. It felt so good to be home and have his son with him.

Lee tapped on his son, "We are finally home, kid."

Matty tapped back, "This is our home now isn't dad? We are never going back to the estate are we? I have to go to a new school. Nobody cares about soccer in America. Not like back home. It's a good thing you have me calling it soccer instead of football. Even though they give me such a hard time about it at school. I guess we don't have to worry about me going to that soccer camp for prospective students at the London academy anymore."

Lee felt bad. He knew Matty would have liked that. Maybe he could still go just for the experience. He would talk to Amanda about it but he wasn't sure Matty's broken arm would be healed up enough in time, "I'm sorry kiddo. They have lots of sports in Arlington you can play. There's the Junior Trailblazers too. I taught you the handshake. We will have to talk to your Mom about all of that. This is where you should have been growing up the whole time. Believe me nobody knows better than me that it takes a little bit of an adjustment living here, but you are going to love it here. It's a whole different world living in the suburbs but long as we have your mom navigating the way for us. We will survive it. "

Matty tapped on him, "Mom wants to give me Jamie's side of the room upstairs. I guess I would have to share with Phillip. I really like Phillip but if you live down in the basement now. Can I just share with you instead?"

Lee wasn't sure how to answer that question. He knew him being down in the basement was just temporary while he recovered. He had not really talked to Amanda about living arrangements yet. He wasn't going to tell Matty that he probably wouldn't be living there with him. Not yet. Not until he figured out where he was going to live. Maybe Dottie could move into the basement and he could take the loft above the garage. No he couldn't do that to Dottie. He had designed that place just for her. She loved her loft above the garage. There was time to figure it all out. He didn't have to worry about where he was going to go tonight.

Lee looked at his son, "No kid. I mean yes for now while Jamie's home but I think it's better if you share with Phillip upstairs when Jamie goes back to NYC. Phillip is an adult so I am guessing you want have to share with him for long. It will be just your room eventually. I'm sorry about all of this but this is your home now. It always was. We will go back to the estate to visit just probably not for a little while until things settle down here. That reminds me. I have to call Tony. Tell him we are both okay. He's probably worried out of his mind about us. Damn it. I guess I have to get out of bed and search the country codes on the computer in the office to dial from the US to the UK."

Matty smiled and tapped. "Its 44."

"That photographic memory of yours sure does come in handy sometimes, kid."

Lee picked up the phone and dialed the number. "Hey Tony, it's me."

Lee could here the relief in Tony's voice as he spoke "Thank Christ. You are completely bonkers leaving the hospital like that. Please tell me you made it and I don't have to go come pick you up in an alley or ditch somewhere."

Lee wished Tony would leave London but he knew he wouldn't. He was going to miss that kid. "Yes, I am aware of how bonkers it was for me to leave the hospital like that. Yeah, I made it. Matty's just fine. He is next to me right now. He did good but there was a little trouble. He hurt his arm but he's alright. Matty & I are at the Maplewood house. Can you tell Irene to call the number for Phillip King in my book when she gets back from holiday? That should be tomorrow morning."

"Sorry mate, I don't think I can do that. Irene is a person of interest in your shooting. I think she's done a runner. The coppers have a warrant out for her arrest. They think she was out for Matty's inheritance. That she hired her brothers to shoot you so that she could control the money."

Lee was getting annoyed. He was going to have to figure out a way to help her. She had done so much to help him and Matty when they were in London. There was no way she was behind doing this to them. "WHAT? Why? She is not responsible for shooting me. If she wanted the inheritance. She could have gotten it so much easier than shooting me. She already controls the money. She will until Matty's 25. That's almost fifteen more years she will have access to everything. I have no idea what I'm doing with the money stuff."

Tony sighed, "I don't believe it was her either, mate. She loves you and sunshine. But Scotland Yard has already pulled me in a couple of times. MI5 just interviewed me as well. Some big shots too. Some old bird came out of retirement just for this. Told me that Lee Stetson was her favorite nephew. That if I didn't talk she had ways of making it so I'd never see the light of day again."

Lee smiled, "Was her name Emily Farnsworth?"

"Yeah mate. That was her name. She was not happy with your grandfather. She knew him. She was more mad at herself for skipping his funeral. But she said the only reason was that he had skipped yours. That she didn't like the way he had treated you all those years. She knew Lee's wife too. Didn't like the way he had treated her either. She told me something about Lee's wife. Is it true? "

Lee sighed, "Don't say what it is, kid. Not on the phone. I'll call you later from a secure line. Tell you that part. If Emily reaches out again. Have her call the number for Phillip King."

Tony spoke, "Yeah mate. No problem. A woman named Francine Desmond called me from America as well. She was a tough one as well. These ladies are none too happy with Michael Winthrope right now, Mate. Watch yourself. Think your going to get visits from both the Agency and MI5 very soon if you haven't already. You be careful over there in the States. Tell Sunshine I miss him and I'm real proud of him for doing what he done. Tell him when he's up for it we will have to play some games over the computer. I miss you wankers already."

Lee laughed. Lee was going to miss him as well. He would have to plan a family trip over there when things settled down. He knew Tony would never leave the country. Phillip and Jamie were going to love Tony.

"Yeah, I know. Alright yeah, I'll tell him. And Tony thanks again for everything. Keep an eye on the estate for us? You and your mother are welcome to stay there if you want. We are going to miss you too."

Lee hung up the phone and turned to his son. "Tony says he's really proud of you and misses his sunshine."

Matty looked at him like he was confused "Why didn't you tell him about Mom?"

"His phone might be tapped he gave me the signal."

Matty looked worried "They think Irene shot you, Dad? Those were two men that did that"

Lee ran his hand through his hair "Yeah I know. But it sounds like it was her family that shot me. Her idiot twin brothers."

Lee needed Phillip to run interference "Do me a favor kid? Go upstairs and get Phillip. I need to talk to him. Just him though."

Matty nodded and got out of the bed and disappeared upstairs for a minute. Lee waited a couple of minutes. Phillip and Matty came back into the room.

Phillip came in looking worried. "Hey Lee? What's up? Are you alright?"

Lee nodded "Yeah Chief, I'm fine. It's just some Agency business. I know your mom is still in a little hot water with them. I just called a friend of mine in London. Their #1 suspect for shooting me is Irene Hamilton."

Phillip gave him a serious look. "You want me to use my agency connections to help nail her?"

His dad ran his hand through his hair "No Chief. I want you to use your agency connections to help clear her. There is no way she is behind shooting me. Look I know she looks horrible on paper."

Phillip looked confused. ""Do they have evidence now that she shot you? You don't think she did it? Dude, money is a powerful motivator even with people you think are generally good people. Matty inherited almost a billion dollars."

Lee needed to convince him. "It doesn't make sense. If she wanted the money, she already has access to the money. She runs Matty's trust with me. She could have easily taken as much money as she wanted. I don't pay attention to that stuff. I have my own money. Not as much because I split it three ways with you and Jamie. If she wanted it. She is smart. She could have just exposed me. Irene knows who Matty & I really are. It would have been much cleaner to just expose my secret so that Matty & I would flee if she wanted the money. She knows I would have just taken him and run off again."

Phillip nodded. "Yeah alright. I'll use the computer in the office to see what Interpol says. They want me in the office first thing tomorrow morning anyway. If Dr. Smyth doesn't scooch me first thing in the morning. I'll look into it. I know Francine is already investigating all of this. I can call her if you want. But Francine will come here. You know that, right?"

"Believe me I can handle Francine." Lee said with a little smile. It would be so good to see her again too. There was a good chance she was going to kill him though when she realized who he was. It might be hard to fool her. She had been one of his closest friends. There was a very good chance she was going to figure out exactly who he really was.

Phillip said, "Well you two better get some rest. You both really do look exhausted." Phillip left the room.

Matty & Lee were alone again.

"Phillip will get Irene off won't he dad? Do you think she can come live here with us too? She doesn't really have anybody but us. I know Tony can't leave his mother, but she could come." Matty asked.

Lee pulled Matty closer to him "I think your Uncle Joe is going to have to help her get out of this one. If he can't, we are going to have to help her disappear. Irene's real smart though, kid. I wouldn't be surprised if she already used grandfather's network to disappear."

Matty looked sad, "I don't want her to disappear. She would like Mom. I want her to meet Mom. I want to tell her that I have a sister now too. She would like that. I hope we get to see her at least one more time. I want to say goodbye and thank you to her for everything she's done for us."

Lee felt the same way, "I sure hope so too. I know she'd like your mother. She would like everybody. Well she is part of the family too even if none of them have met her yet."

Matty put his head on Lee's chest and snuggled into him. It felt so good to have his son back. Lee was tired and he fell asleep quickly. He wasn't sure how long he had been asleep for but he woke up to the sensation that someone was watching him. He sat up quickly. Matty, was reading next to him. He tapped on him, "There's someone out in the hallway."

There was movement again in the hallway and Lee saw little hazel eyes peering into the doorway and then pull back again when she realized she'd been caught. Lee grinned. That had to be his daughter. It was the girl in the picture. He was going to get to meet his daughter tonight after all.

Lee was excited to meet her "Hey, it's alright. You can come in. I don't bite."

Leann came in the room slowly. She looked like she had been caught doing something wrong. He looked at his daughter for the first time. Oh wow she really looked like him but was a girl. He and Amanda really made good looking kids. She was the prettiest little girl he had ever seen in his life.

Lee really liked that she had snuck down to the basement to see him. He would have done the same thing when he was a boy. In fact he was pretty sure he had done exactly the same thing with his own parents when he was her age multiple times. He smiled at the memories of his own parents chiding him. He loved this girl already.

She seemed so nervous as she spoke "I'm sorry Mr. Winthrope"

He didn't want her to be scared of him, "Hey its okay, Junior. I don't mind. I was looking forward to meeting you. Your mom told me what an amazing kid you were."

She smiled at him, "Really? But Mommy said to leave you alone. Not to disturb you. I just wanted to see what you looked like. I didn't mean to wake you up. Mommy's going to be so mad."

He knew Amanda wasn't going to be that mad at her, Leann was just going to get an eye roll from Amanda. "It's okay. I really don't mind. I know your Mommy. She won't be that mad. You are very pretty like your Mommy."

She smiled at him. "Thank you Mr. Winthrope."

His daughter was being so polite, "Call me Uncle Mike. Okay Junior? Is it okay if I call you Junior?"

She looked at him quizzically. "Why?"

He smiled at her. "Because you were named after your dad. So, you're a Junior"

Leann thought about it for a second nodded and said. "That makes sense. I like it."

Then Leann hopped up on the edge of the bed. Matty moved his legs to give her more room.
She turned and smiled at Matty and said, "Hi Matty"

He smiled and waved to her. Matty looked very amused and fascinated with her at her. Lee could tell his son already really liked his sister. He looked at both of his children. His kids were just so much better looking than regular children.

Then Leann turned her attention back to Lee and started staring at him intently. "Is your beard real?"

Lee laughed. "What?"

Leann made a face kind that reminded him of Amanda, "Your beard it looks a little like one of those fake beards that the imposter Santas at the mall wear at Christmastime. Mommy said I'm not allowed to pull their beards off anymore. That it isn't a very nice thing to do."

Lee laughed. She was cute. "Well why don't you pull on mine and find out. I won't tell your mother."

Leann pulled on his beard "Ouch" his dad said smiling.

Just then Amanda walked into the room. "Leann Jennifer Stetson! I told you not to bother them. They need to rest. Also we talked about pulling on strange men's beards."

She looked at their mother. "He told me I could. I'm sorry Mommy. I just came down because I wanted to see what my new uncle looked like. I was going to sneak back upstairs but he called me into the room. He wanted to meet me. Uncle Mike is really nice. He gave me permission. I swear, Mommy."

Lee was beaming. He really liked his daughter "Amanda, its fine. I did give her permission to come in and pull my beard. She can stay and she can pull on my beard as much as she wants. I think she's really nice too."

Amanda smiled at him and walked over to Matty's side of the bed, sat down and put her arm around Matty. Lee knew she would not actually be angry. Amanda signaled to them both they could continue.

Leann gave him a very serious look. "Uncle Mike? You knew my Daddy?"

He smiled. "Yes. I knew your Daddy. He was my nephew."

She looked down and said, "Do you think he would have liked me?"

His dad touched Leann's hair and then her face. "No Junior. He wouldn't just like you. He would have loved you."

Leann then said, "Uncle Mike will you play Barbies with me?"

Lee already knew that anything this little girl asked of him he would do. "Yeah of course, Junior. I'll play whatever you want with you."

Amanda cleared her throat, "Leann, sweetheart. Uncle Mike is sick. He needs to rest. You can play Barbies with him later when he feels a little better. Not tonight, alright?"

Leann nodded in understanding. "I'm sorry you're sick. But being sick here means Mommy will let you watch whatever you want on tv and you can also eat all the junk food you want unless you have a tummy ache. The bad men hurt you trying to get Matty again, right? That's why you are both home so Mommy and Phillip can protect you. Mommy said I'm safe because I'm a girl. They only take boys. But I don't want them to take Matty again and my cousin Joey is a boy too. I don't want them to take either one of them."

Wow she could talk fast. It was adorable. She looked so much like him but he could see so much of Amanda in her. He wanted so much to tell her that he was her father.

Lee grabbed her and hugged his daughter. It felt so good to hold his daughter. He felt such a strong connection with her already. He didn't want anyone to ever hurt her. He had failed Matty but he wasn't going to fail this girl. He would die before he let anyone every hurt either one of his children ever again.

Lee let go of her, "Hey all that is true. They do only take boys. But I'm not going to let the bad men near us. Okay? I won't let anything bad happen to you or Matty. I'll protect Joey too. I promise."

Leann smiled at him, "Why haven't you ever come to visit us before? Mommy told me I had a grandfather in England but he didn't like us. He was mean to my Daddy. I know about Uncle Bob but he gets really sad every time he sees me. Mommy says he gets sad because I look too much like my Daddy. Uncle Bob is nice though. He always brings me presents. Is Uncle Bob your brother?"

She was asking him really good questions, "No, I'm your other grandmother's brother."

Leann looked at him, "How come you aren't old? I mean you're old, but Mommy old, not Grandma old."

How do you explain a one night stand to a five year old? Lee looked at her, "My mother had an affair with my father. They weren't married."

Leann looked at him, "So it was a one-nighter. My Grandma has a lot of those. It must be an old people thing. Probably because you can't have babies anymore when you get old."

Amanda got red, "Sorry she spends a lot of time with Mother. Leann it's not polite to talk about one-nighters."

Leann made a face, "Uncle Mike started it. Not me."

Lee laughed. His daughter was great.

Amanda spoke, "How about I change the subject? Mike & Matty, are you hungry? We did have dinner already. I made you both plates if you want me to heat them up. Mother made spaghetti & meatballs."

Matty nodded yes. Lee smiled at his wife, he wasn't going to turn down a home cooked meal from Dottie, "That sounds great. Thank you. You don't have to kids away from the basement tonight. If the kids want to watch tv in the game room or play video games tonight It won't bother me, Amanda. It will be nice hearing them again. Believe it or not I did miss all the noise of this house."

It would be nice to hear all his kids again. He wasn't kidding he had really missed all of the noise. It had driven him crazy when he lived here before but when it was gone. The quiet was worse. It had always been too quiet at the estate. He wanted the noise back because the noise meant all of his kids were home and happy. He really wanted to hear that again.

Amanda smiled gently at him. "Neither Phillip or Jamie are home right now. Jamie went to see some of his old friends from school. I think Phillip went to see Francine. They called him in to work tomorrow on a Sunday. I think he wants to find out if he still has a job. I'm guessing we might be seeing Francine at the house tomorrow morning. After she finds out that you are here and Mother went back to her loft above the garage."

"Well, when the boys come home later tonight. If they want to come down here and play video games or watch tv. It won't bother me. And Matty won't be able to hear them anyway. You don't have to make the basement off limits to the boys."

Amanda looked at him lovingly. "Okay, but you asked for it."

Then Amanda touched his beard again and started playing with it. He really wanted to grab her right then and just kiss her. Next time they were alone. He was going to ask if kissing was off limits. Maybe instead of asking he would just kiss her first and then ask. He could make the argument that she used to kiss Joe after they split until he and Carrie had teamed up to get that to stop. Although if he started kissing her again, he wasn't sure he was going to be able to ever stop. When he felt better, he'd make a move. In the meantime, he would play it her way. Lee had brought it all of this on himself. She had told him a long time ago that when it comes to love you had to be patient. Patience was not his strong suit but for her he could be patient.

Amanda kissed the top of both Matty & Leann's heads and left the room. He watched her leave the room. She really was even more beautiful than he remembered.

Leann started staring at him, "You are related to Mommy just by marriage, right?"

Why was she looking at him like that? "Yeah Junior. Why?"

Leann smiled knowingly at him, "Well then, it's alright."

Had he missed something? "What's alright?"

Leann's smile got wider and she spoke at super speed.

"When I watch Grandma's stories with her. She says that it's okay for relatives to date as long as they are just related by marriage. If they are blood related it is not okay. Nurse Vanessa and Doctor Tad, they fell in love with each other. But they could not be together because they thought they were half siblings by blood. But it ended up being alright because Roger Thorndike was not Nurse Vanessa's real father. Her real father was Victor Covington. Which meant they could be together because that turned them into cousins by marriage not by blood. So, if you want to be with my Mommy, it's, okay because you are just blood related to my Daddy and related to my Mommy through her being married to my Daddy."

His dad was looking at her amazed, "Oh wow you said all that without taking a breath. You are most definitely Amanda's daughter. Why do you think I want to date your Mommy?"

Leann smiled at him. "The way you were just looking at Mommy. You like her. Like really like her. And you seem nice, you are better looking than the other guys and you smell better. Mommy gets lonely sometimes. And the guys she's been dating are so lame. You don't seem like you are lame at all. I'm okay with it if you want to date Mommy."

Lee started laughing, "Well um thanks Junior but I am pretty sure your Mommy does not want to date me. Tell me more about these lame guys she has been dating though."
Amanda came in the room with two plates. "Oh my gosh, what are you two talking about? Leann, do not tell him about the lame guys. They are not lame. Some of them were very nice actually."

Lee really wanted to know about these guys. He was not sure he could watch Amanda date. It had been bad enough the first time and they weren't even together back then. Yeah, he was going to have to make a move. He would wait until he was healed up a little bit more and then maybe ask her out on a date. They could go slowly. Get to know each other again. He was pretty sure he could win her back if he just went slowly. That had worked the first time except they had gone a little too slowly. Hopefully it wouldn't take three years this time.

She handed Matty his plate first and then she handed his father the other plate. Then she disappeared in the other room and came back with some juice for both of them. Lee wished the juice was scotch but the food was incredible. He had missed Dottie's cooking.

Lee was enjoying the meal when all of the sudden he heard a beeping noise coming from the office which indicated that someone had pulled up into the driveway.

Notes:

Don't worry Lee. You aren't going to have to wait three years to get Amanda back. You only have to wait about 3-5 more chapters.

Next chapter: Francine comes to the house. She questions Lee. She and Amanda have a private conversation.