LAST DANCE - CONCLUSION

The following Friday, Amanda sat in Billy's office with Francine and Leatherneck, finishing up the final report on the Soviet Embassy incident. After she and Francine had sped off to the hospital with Lee, it had been rather tense at the Embassy. Leatherneck had had to coordinate the return of the intended kidnap victim, still thankfully unconscious, to her room in the Embassy. The Agency agents had quickly and quietly placed Koba's body in the room with her. Then they had cleaned up all traces of Lee's blood in Tasha's room, leaving the groggy woman on her bed, oblivious to all that had happened. Finally, with Alex Johnson's help, they had gotten the film crew and the legitimate caterers out just before the alarm was raised and the Embassy was locked down.

Billy had been afraid that the Soviets might demand that the film crew and the caterers be interrogated, but luckily, apparent due to the fact that the Embassy being infiltrated by one of their own Mafia was too much of an embarrassment to the Security, they were more than willing to sweep the whole thing under the rug. The only contact that they had with IFF was to demand the film footage, which they then imperiously confiscated.

With a flourish, Billy signed his name to the bottom of the report and slapped the file shut with a grin. "Thank God, that's over," he exclaimed. He looked up at the faces of his agents, all smiling with relief. Amanda was already collecting her notes and files, preparing to leave.

Francine caught her urgency and asked, "Is Lee coming home today?"

Amanda beamed at her. "Yes. As soon as we're finished up here, I'm supposed to go and pick him up from the hospital." She looked inquiringly at Billy, who nodded.

"Yes, by all means, go. If I know Scarecrow, he'll be chomping at the bit."

Leatherneck laughed, "And the nurses probably had him packed up and ready to go at the crack of dawn, happy to see the back of him."

"I never could understand that about our beloved Scarecrow," an unwelcome voice broke in. The agents turned to see Dr Smyth standing at the door, the lit cigarette in its ever-present holder. "Being the ladies man that he is, I would have thought Scarecrow would be happy to be in a place surrounded by fawning women." He breezed in and saw the closed file on Billy's desk, ignoring the silence his sudden appearance caused. "Ahhh, is that the final report?"

Billy picked it up and passed it to the Agency director, who flipped quickly through it, not really reading it. "Good, it looks very complete. There's only one thing to add." He turned and glared at Amanda. "I want an official reprimand for Mrs Scarecrow here for putting the operation in jeopardy by having her son present."

The colour drained out of Amanda's face as Francine and Leatherneck stood with their mouths open. Billy started to object vehemently, but Dr Smyth cut him off with a negligent wave of his hand and continued. "And I want Phillip King hauled in here. There may be some legal action needed. Have two of your agents go to the school and ..."

"No!"

Dr Smyth looked up in shock as Amanda interrupted him. "What did you say?"

"I said no! You are not arresting my son and you are not putting any reprimand in my file. Or Lee's."

Dr Smyth smiled nastily. "Do you know who you are talking to, Mrs King?"

Amanda walked right up to the older man, with such an expression of fury on her face that he actually took a step back in fear. "Absolutely! And it's Mrs Stetson. Not Mrs King! Not Mrs Scarecrow! Mrs Lee Stetson! I'm talking to the man who ordered my husband into a Peacock Dance that made him very uncomfortable and nearly destroyed his relationship with my son! I'm talking to the man who ordered the switchboard to put calls through from the wife of the Soviet attaché to my home! I'm talking to the man who hasn't even had the decency to inquire after the health of one of his agents who very nearly died while on duty!"

Dr Smyth's face turned beet red with fury. "Now listen here ...!"

But Amanda would not be stopped. Outside the Bullpen had fallen quiet as the raised voice of the usually even-tempered Amanda could be clearly heard through the door that Dr Smyth had left open. "No, you listen to me! These people here put their lives on the line, day after day, for their country. They sacrifice everything for this job -- relationships, family, any hope of leading a normal life, and sometimes, even their lives. And all you can do is breeze in here occasionally and criticize them. Well, it stops here! You should be in here apologizing to me and my family but instead you want to cause us more grief. Well, no more, buster! And if you don't like what I'm saying to you, I'm sure the CIA or the FBI or the NSA would snap up an agent with Lee Stetson's skill and track record in a minute! And since I've been here, my record isn't too shabby either. I'm sure I could find another job. Of course, that would mean your Agency's success rate would drop, if you lost a pair of your best agents. And I'm sure there would be a lot of questions as to why? Mr Melrose, could Lee and I count on you for letters of recommendation?"

Billy grinned. "Absolutely!"

Amanda turned back to the stunned Dr Smyth. "So what is it to be, Dr Smyth? Do you set aside this personal vendetta that you have against Lee and myself, or do we walk?"

When he didn't immediately answer, Amanda turned and headed for the door.

"No, wait!" Dr Smyth called her back. "Mrs Stetson, I'm sorry. I really do appreciate the lengths you and your husband, and everyone here goes to on behalf of this Agency. I'm very sorry if you all feel that I don't express it enough." He looked up at the faces of the other agents in the room, then back to Amanda. "I will try to turn over a new leaf, starting by having the President give Lee a commendation for his good work and willingness to risk his life on this last case. Will that help?"

Amanda smiled weakly. "It's a start."

"Good! Then I can count on you being here on Monday?"

At Amanda's stunned nod, he exclaimed, "Excellent!" Dr Smyth smiled and raised the file in his hand. "On second thought, Billy, I believe this report is complete." Back to his old self, hiding the shock he was feeling with several puffs on his cigarette, he made his exit through the silent bullpen. "Ta ta, kiddies."

He was just about out the door when he paused at the sound of enthusiastic applause for Amanda who slumped in the doorway of Billy's office shaking with the aftermath of her outburst. He didn't turn around but continued on out the doors being held open by the determinedly stoic guardsmen.

When the applause died down, Leatherneck whistled. "Man, remind me never to cause Lee or Amanda or any of their family any grief! Whew!"

Billy walked over to the shaking Amanda and put a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Are you all right?"

Amanda smiled weakly. "Yeah. I'm sorry, sir. I don't know what came over me."

Billy smiled. "Don't apologise. You didn't say anything that the rest of us haven't been wanting to say for a very long time now. I don't imagine things will change too much, but at least Dr Smyth might think twice about the way he treats the people in this Agency." He patted her shoulder comfortingly. "Now you better get going. Lee will be wondering where you are."

Amanda smiled weakly. "He may need another week when I tell him I just threatened to quit the Agency on his behalf."

***************

Later that night, Lee sat on the sofa in the den with his eyes closed, waiting impatiently for his oldest stepson to give him permission to open his eyes. Phillip had been beaming when he introduced a shy Ashley Cartwright to his stepfather then hustled her upstairs to where his mother waited with their costumes for the Halloween dance. Jamie had been bursting all day to tell Lee what Phillip had decided on, and Dotty had been dropping broad hints. Lee had laughed out loud then groaned with pain as Nick Johnson came in dressed in a dark suit, dark glasses with a trenchcoat over top of it and a fedora on his head. He even had a very poorly hidden microphone in the large carnation pinned to his lapel and a earphone in his ear. To top it all off, he reached into his pocket and suddenly the strains of 'Secret Agent Man' blared from the concealed tape player. Without a word, Nick grinned at the shared joke, unable to say more, despite the confused glances from his 'Princess Leia'-clad date, or his sister Allie, dressed as a Parisian artist

Alex Johnson, who was driving the kids to the school dance and chaperoning, walked in and went to shake hands with Lee. When Dotty ushered the kids into the kitchen for cider, he said quietly, "Mr Stetson, how are you?"

"I'm going to be just fine, and it's Lee." Lee smiled at the other man. "How are you?"

Alex smiled weakly. "Well, I have to report in with the Agency every six months or so. And I have to be extremely careful that some of Koba's associates don't come after me, but I think, with him dead, the gang will be less likely to try to expand their operations into the States. And the Soviet government will be particularly vigilant."

"That's good to hear. How's Nick handling it?"

Alex smiled. "He's fine. He and I had a talk about my past and what happened and we're doing well."

"And the catering business?"

Alex smiled ruefully, "We may have lost the Soviet Embassy as a client, but we'll manage."

Lee smiled again. "That's great to hear."

Suddenly, Phillip's voice drifted down from upstairs. "Okay, Lee, we're ready. Close your eyes!"

Lee rolled his eyes at Alex and settled back on the couch, with his eyes firmly shut.

"Are your eyes closed?"

Lee heard Dotty, Jamie and Nick giggling behind him. "Yup!" Then there were the sounds of footsteps on the stairs.

"Okay, open them!"

Lee opened his eyes and then a large guffaw escaped him, followed by another groan of pain. In front of him, stood a grinning Phillip, in a perfect copy of the Scarecrow costume from The Wizard of Oz. Ashley stood behind him as Dorothy, authentic right down the small stuffed Toto. Amanda stood on the stairs, wiping the joyful tears from her eyes.

Lee got painfully to his feet and walked over to Phillip. "You look great." then he bent closer to whisper, "Thanks for the compliment." Phillip went to give him a hug but stopped, in danger of losing some of his carefully stuffed straw. So he settled for a handshake.

Later, after the party-goers had been ushered out to Alex Johnson's waiting van, Lee and Amanda sat on the couch in front of the fire. Amanda snuggled carefully against her husband's uninjured side. Jamie sat on the floor with a cup of warm cider. Dotty came in with a trayful of mugs of mulled wine for her daughter and Lee. Then she grabbed one for herself and sat on the back of the couch staring at the fire.

"Scarecrow, huh?" she mused.

Lee grinned ruefully, knowing what was coming. "Yeah."

She sipped her drink, "From The Wizard of Oz?"

"Yeah," Lee sighed. "It was a team I used to belong to. All the codenames were from The Wizard of Oz." Amanda ran her hand over Lee's cheek, knowing how painful the topic was to him and hoping her family would not force the issue.

However, Dotty had another thought in mind. "And you were Scarecrow?"

Lee frowned in confusion. "Yeah?"

"The one without the brain," Dotty commented. She took another sip of her wine.

Lee winced, "Yeah."

"Hmmm," Dotty said. Then she got up from the couch to refill her mug. "He was always my favourite," was all she said.

Amanda looked up at her husband with a grin. He bent and stole a quick kiss. From the floor, Jamie piped up, "What's your codename, Mom?"

"I don't have one, sweetheart."

"Why not?" Jamie persisted.

Amanda looked up at her husband with a frown. "Yeah, why not?"

Lee grinned down and kissed her again. "I think we should correct that little oversight right now." Amanda groaned. "What do you think your Mom's codename should be? Dorothy, Tin Man, and Wizard are all taken. And I don't think your Mom's a Cowardly Lion!" He ignored his wife's rueful "Thanks!"

"How about Toto?" Jamie offered.

Amanda grimaced, "I'm a dog, am I, Jamie? You're grounded until you graduate from college!" Jamie laughed.

"How about Glenda?" Dotty called from the kitchen. "You know, I almost named you Glenda, after your Uncle Glen."

Amanda groaned again. Lee grinned, enjoying teasing her. "Munchkin?"

"How about Auntie Em?"

Lee smirked, "Hey, I like that!" Amanda refrained from hitting him, mindful of his injury.

"Let's get off The Wizard of Oz!"

Lee laughed. "Okay, we need something that describes Amanda."

Jamie and Dotty proceeded to warm up to the game, much to Amanda's chagrin. "Homemaker! Slugger! Coach! Cookie! Poppy-seed! PTA! Station Wagon!"

"Oh my gosh!"

Lee looked down at his wife and pulled her close. "Come here!" He covered her mouth with his, and as Dotty and Jamie continued to throw out more and more outrageous names, the pair was soon lost in a passionate kiss.

FIN

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