DISCLAIMER: All the characters belong to Warner Brothers and Shoot the Moon Enterprises. I don't own them and have no rights regarding them. This story is partially based on the script 'The Wrong Way Home' written by George Geiger and contains segments from that script. The fillers and extension are just figments of my imagination that flowed out through my fingertips.

AUTHORS NOTE: A special thank you to my beta readers: Emily and Mikki. Thank you both for your corrections, your wisdom and your insight. It was a delight working with you.

SYNOPSIS: Picks up near the end of ‘The Wrong Way Home' where all the action is centered in the middle school gym and continues the story for the remainder of the day.

RATING: PG

All ROADS LEAD TO HOME

Early morning around 7:50 a.m. in the gymnasium at the middle school. (Recap)

Entering the gym from the outside door, Lee, along with the Prime Minister of Estocia, and Joe King, arrived in time to see Darrell Prescott holding Jamie at gunpoint. Philip was immobile beside them. In the opposite doorway, Amanda and the Principal were standing frozen in place, afraid to move for fear of what might happen. Prescott's attention was on the women, and so he didn't see the men entering behind him. Seizing the opportunity, Lee acted quickly, tackling him from behind, sending the gun flying. Shoving Lee out of the way, Prescott looked around frantically for his gun, finally spotting it on the floor a few feet away. Noticing the direction of Prescott's glance, Joe made a dive for the gun, knocking it out of the way and ended up getting decked in the process. Pulling the attacker off Joe, Lee resumed his struggle with Prescott, while the Prime Minister rescued the boys, guiding them over to Amanda. Picking himself up, Joe headed for his sons. In the meantime, Lee had managed to knock out the would-be kidnapper.

After receiving congratulations from the Prime Minister, Lee turned, and glanced across the gym to where Amanda was standing with her arms wrapped tightly around Jamie, while Philip clung to his Father. Amanda and Joe were sharing a warm look of relief. They looked like a picture book family.

Taking out his phone, Lee dialed and spoke into it "Francine move in on Foster. Prescott's been nailed."

"Roger," came Francine's efficient voice from the phone.

Keeping his eyes half on Amanda, Philip, and Jamie, Lee cuffed Prescott and dragged him to his feet.

With a gentle squeeze of reassurance to Amanda's shoulder, Joe disengaged himself from his son and strode across the gym towards Lee.

"Mr. Stetson, I can't thank you enough for all your help. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have been able to prove my innocence, and my family. . ." his out swept arm included both Amanda and the boys, "well, my family would still be in danger or worse. I don't know how we can ever express our gratitude."

Taking Joe's outstretched hand in a firm shake, Lee eyes sought out Amanda. She was occupied explaining things to the principal beside her. She still hadn't let go of her youngest boy.

"Yeah, well . . . that's my job." Lee responded, trying to keep his voice and manner professional. "I'm just glad things worked out the way they did. You understand that we'll need you to come with us and answer some questions, as well as turn over the evidence that you brought with you."

"Yeah, I know." concurred Joe. "That won't be a problem, what with the Prime Minister's records and mine, along with all this," he gestured around him. "We should have enough to put them away for a long time. Hopefully, all this won't hamper the effectiveness of the EAO."

Joe followed as Lee pushed the handcuffed man towards the door. Glancing at the three people waiting for him by the doorway, Joe hesitated for a moment. " Listen. . . tell your people I'll be there as soon as I take care of my family. Amanda and the kids are still pretty upset. I'm going to take them home first. I think they've had enough excitement for one day."

Glancing at the trio, still clinging somewhat together, Lee reluctantly nodded his agreement. "Yeah, you're probably right. We can send someone over to get their statements," he added, knowing this would be easier on Amanda. "I'll have one of our men follow you to the house and give you a lift down to the Agency."

"That would be fine, Mr. Stetson," agreed Joe. Turning, he headed over to place one arm around Philip. The other he placed around Amanda's shoulders, turning her towards the exit talking softly. Lee watched as the four of them left. The way they all leaned into each other reminding him of other families he had watched so many times before. He knew that Amanda was still shaken up about her children being held at gunpoint. Her reluctance to let loose of the younger boy proved that.

He'd liked to have gone to her, but he couldn't. It wasn't his place. Yet, somehow, it just didn't seem right that Joe King should be the one allowed to do so.

***

The hall outside one of the interrogation rooms at the Agency.

A couple of hours later at the Agency, Joe had finally finished answering all questions and turned over all the evidence he had brought with him. Billy and Lee escorted him down the long corridor towards the exit.

"Thank you for coming down, Mr. King." Billy said, flashing Joe a courtesy smile. "We appreciate all your cooperation."

"Yeah, well, I appreciate the Agency's help as well, believe me." Joe responded warmly. "When I headed for the states I wasn't sure what the best way to proceed would be. I just knew that until I could get this cleared up, it would be dangerous for my family to be around me. I never dreamed they might be used to get to me. I can't thank you enough. It's because of you that this has been cleared up so quickly and my family is safe again."

"Well, we were glad to be of service," stated Billy, formally, before adding with a bit more warmth, "And we're very glad that Mrs. King and the boys are safe. One of our agents went out to her house and got their statements while you were being debriefed. So we're finished with them. They won't be needed at the trial."

Then, getting back to business, he continued, "However, you will be needed, not only to testify, but to clear up any further questions that may arise during the rest of our investigation into Foster's activities. From what we can ascertain, these thefts have been going on for several months now and weren't contained to just Estocia. It will take quite a while to sort it all out."

At this, Lee's eyes snapped quickly from Billy to Joe, in dismay. He had forgotten that Joe would need to stick around for the investigation and trial.

"No problem," replied Joe, "I was planning on hanging around for a while anyway. I have some things to clear up in my office over at EAO. And some decisions to make. Besides, there's Amanda and the boys. I've been away for far too long, and I need to make up some lost time with them." He shrugged, sheepishly shaking his head, "Sometimes you plan your life all out. Doing what you think is the right thing to do. Then, out of nowhere, something happens that makes you realize where your true priorities should be. It's not everyone who gets a second chance." he commented with a wry grin. "I don't plan on blowing mine."

Billy held the door open for him to go through. "Well, good luck. Mr. King." A guard was waiting on the other side, and Billy motioned him towards Joe. "Carter, will you see that Mr. King gets to wherever he's going." With a handshake and a quick nod goodbye, Joe followed after the guard.

Billy turned to Lee. "You did a good job on this Lee. Why don't you tie up loose ends down here and then go home and get some sleep? I know you didn't get much last night." Billy hesitated giving Lee a searching, rather knowing look, before turning and heading back down the hallway. Lee could him shaking his head slightly back and forth as if amused by something. "You really did handle yourself well on this one," Billy tossed back over his shoulder with what sounded suspiciously like a chuckle. "I have to admit, I was impressed Scarecrow."

Lee stared after him, unsure of just what Billy meant by that last crack. Surely Billy couldn't possibly know how this particular assignment had been affecting him, or could he. Lee found the thought unsettling.

***

Amanda's House - early evening, that same day.

Dotty and Amanda were just finishing up a late afternoon task of repotting some plants when the sounds of whooping and cheering filled the air. "The boys are home!" Dotty stated the obvious, tossing Amanda a grin. The boys had been ecstatic earlier in the day when Joe had shown them the baseball tickets.

"Well, I think we can safely say that the game has taken their minds off the trouble this morning," laughed Amanda, turning to watch the oncoming trio.

"Well, well, well...How was the game" she questioned, enjoying their excitement and already knowing the answer.

"It was fantastic," hollered Philip. "The Orioles won and it was close!"

Jamie jumped in to add, "Dad said it was a moral victory."

"It was rad!" yelled Philip, cutting him off.

Removing the baseball cap he was wearing Joe shoved it down on Jamie's head with affection. "Thanks for letting me use your hat."

Stripping off her gloves, Dotty began herding the boys toward the door. " I'm going to keep up the theme, we're going to have hotdogs for dinner," she informed them, drawing another chorus of cheers from the boys.

"Thank you Mother," Amanda tossed over her shoulder not taking her eyes off the smiling man in front of her.

As Dotty turned to follow the boys inside, she glanced back over her shoulder, thinking how right it looked to see the couple standing there

together. 'Just maybe' she thought to herself before shutting the door behind her, leaving the pair alone.

"Well, you had a good time," observed Amanda warmly, seeing the fact on his face.

Joe nodded his agreement, "I sure did."

"Good." Amanda was truly glad that he and the boys had such a great afternoon.

Joe looked over at Amanda, enjoying the pleasure sparkling from her face. In the time he'd been gone, she seemed to have come into her own. He smiled over at her shyly, somewhat unsure of himself. "How about you and me going for a pizza?" he asked, holding his breath as he waited for her answer.

It was quick in coming. "I would love to," she smiled her agreement as she brushed off her hands and turned towards the door to clean up a bit.

***

Short time later.

"How about Dooley's?" Joe asked as he guided Amanda to his rental car.

"Sure. It'll kinda be like old times." Amanda laughed in agreement.

As they talked about the ball game and how much the boys enjoyed it, Amanda noticed that Joe seemed somewhat nervous. He kept glancing sideways at her as if he just couldn't figure her out. For her part, she felt completely comfortable in his presence. It had been a long time since they'd had a chance to just relax and enjoy each other's company. 'Life sure was funny,' she thought.

Arriving at Dooley's, Joe escorted Amanda to one of the tables that they use to sit at back when they were dating and ordered a plain cheese pizza. It was the same kind they had always ordered back when money had been so lacking. Watching him as he asked questions about her and the boys lives, Amanda was reminded of all the times they had sat here just like this and discussed their day, and their plans and their dreams. It had been so incredibly long ago. Actually, it had been another lifetime ago. As Joe continued to talk, he turned the subject to old times. Amanda let him, willing to be drawn into his reminiscing for a while. They had so many shared memories. Yet, even as they laughed and remembered the distant past, Amanda couldn't keep her mind from meandering back to the here and now.

Eventually, the talk dwindled down to a comfortable silence. Setting aside her unfinished plate, Amanda smiled in amusement as Joe just toyed around with his last piece. Obviously, he had something distracting his thoughts. Finally, he glanced up at her, flashing one of his boyish smiles. "Well I guess I'm just going to have to face it," he finally said, his eyes warm and twinkling.

Amanda glanced up at him questioningly. "What?"

"You're not the woman I married. You're not even the woman I divorced." Amanda smiled back in total agreement, and couldn't help being slightly amused. Had he really expected her to remain stagnant in his absence. "You've changed Amanda King." Joe continued.

"That's an understatement," Amanda thought still slightly amused. "Well I just developed some outside interests," she informed him with sparkling eyes and a secret smile.

"Well whatever they are, they suit you." Joe paused for just a moment looking at her quizzically. "You mean you don't want to go back?" he questioned gently, taking her hand in his.

Amanda looked into his eyes, shaking her head slightly, some of the answers to questions she didn't even know she had, finally falling into place. "No, I want to go forward. It's going to be a great future," she stated with absolute conviction, realizing that it was true. She didn't want to go back. She wasn't sure what the future held for her. She just knew that she was looking forward to each day and whatever it might bring.

Joe just nodded in agreement, not quite sure how to take her statement. She really had come into her own, he admitted to himself, watching her. She was still just as charming, just as caring and just as beautiful as she had always been, but there was a new awareness, a new confidence about her. She just seemed to glow with an inner light.

"How about some music?" He asked, rising to his feet. He allowed his hand to slowly slide from hers, unwilling to break the contact. Amanda nodded her agreement, smiling at the slight caress of his hand on hers.

After selecting a song, he turned and held out his arms to Amanda, who had already risen to her feet in anticipation. Amanda rested her softer form against his frame, allowing him to pull her close. She closed her eyes as they began to dance, allowing the enjoyment of being with him to wash over her.

As she rested her head on his shoulder, she smiled gently, mostly to herself, glad to have had this opportunity. If he had never returned to the States with this trouble, if they hadn't agreed to go out, and if they hadn't chosen this place of special memories, she would never know what she knew now. She loved Joe and she probably always would. They shared some great memories and two wonderful sons. When he held her close, she could feel all the gentleness of his spirit surround her.

She loved him.