16My story "Mirror of Gold" where it was Lee that was shot on their honeymoon instead of Amanda, was never intended to have a sequel and yet, here we are. For story purposes, I have moved the episode "One Flew East" closer to the end of the season because no one should have been running around chasing bad guys a week after getting out of hospital. This one takes place (more or less) immediately after the last story.
Many thanks to my betas for always finding the spot to leverage an improvement.
Lee made his way slowly out the back door and into the garden, lowering himself into a garden chair with a sigh. It had been three weeks since he'd been shot in Las Palmas and one week since Amanda had overridden all his objections and brought him home to Maplewood Drive to recuperate, but he still ached if he tried to do too much.
His objections to moving in here had been short-lived, he admitted to himself. He had put up a nominal fuss about letting her family get used to him first, but once the cat was out of the bag about their elopement, it had been ludicrous to think he was going anywhere but home with his wife. And he had to be honest, it really was better to be healing under the loving ministrations of Amanda and Dotty instead of how he'd always handled his past injuries: holing himself up in his apartment, eating takeout and generally ignoring the doctor's recommendations about how long he should wait before going back to work. There was no chance of that this time – Amanda was an iron fist in a velvet glove and Billy certainly wasn't going to listen to his pleas that he felt better when his wife was saying otherwise – not to mention the fact that he was in the doghouse for even having that wife in the first place and not mentioning it to his boss. So he was stuck at home and Amanda was back at work, facing the constant teasing of co-workers who, no doubt had long suspected they were having a relationship and would want to tell her all about it. He definitely didn't envy her that part.
He shifted in the chair, trying to find a comfortable position. He also had to admit that unlike previous times, this shooting had really knocked him for a loop. Of course, the other times had been minor wounds to his shoulder and leg, not a blast to his chest, but it was taking him so much longer to recover this time. Maybe he was just getting too old to bounce back like he used to, he thought wryly. The faint sunshine that bathed the patio was getting warmer, promising that spring really was coming. He should have put on a sweater or something, he thought, having had more optimism about that sun than he should have. He'd managed to have a few visits to the hospital garden in his last few days in California, and the weather there was definitely a lot warmer, even in early March. This was home though, and that fact alone made this the place he wanted to be.
As if in answer to his thought, a blanket was dropped around his shoulders and Dotty began tucking it around him.
"You looked cold," she said. "I'd have brought you a jacket, but I know you still can't put one on easily."
"Dotty!" he said plaintively, "You don't need to mother me – I'm a grown man!"
Dotty bent a skeptical look on him. "Were you cold?"
Lee looked abashed. "Well, yes actually."
"Well, then," she said. She pulled a table closer and another chair, then disappeared around the side of the house, reappearing a moment later with a tray full of gardening materials that she put down on the table in front of him. When she disappeared again and then reappeared carrying a large bag of potting soil, Lee started to stand up to help her.
"Sit down," she ordered in a voice that brooked no argument and Lee subsided sheepishly.
"You shouldn't have to do that," he complained.
"First of all, I'm in better shape to lift this than the man with a hole in his chest and secondly, I've been gardening all my life and the day I can't heft a bag of soil by myself, you might as well put me in the ground like one of my tulip bulbs," she stated. "Are we clear?"
"Yes, ma'am," Lee knew that tone of voice from dealing with his uncle and leaned back in his chair.
"However, you're perfectly capable of helping me with the rest," she said, pushing a stack of small pots towards him.
"I'd be happy to. What are we doing?"
"I'm getting seedlings started for the garden," Dotty answered, moving a small trowel closer to him. "Just fill the pot to about two-thirds, add a seed or two and cover it up. We'll water them when everything's done."
"It's that simple?" he asked.
"Even a child can do it," Dotty teased him. "In fact, usually Phillip and Jamie help me, but you seemed like you needed something to do today. You're restless and that's not a good thing in a man who's been ordered to take it easy."
Lee was quiet for a moment as he started to work before finally saying, "It feels weird that Amanda's at work and I'm not."
"Well, if it makes you feel any better, she'd rather be here," commented Dotty.
Lee grimaced. "It doesn't really. If she was here, she'd be bothering me by hovering, and now she's at work and I'm bothered by missing the hovering." Off Dotty's look, he rushed on. "Not that I don't appreciate the way you're both looking after me, it's just- "
"That you'd rather be doing something," finished Dotty. "Amanda's father was the same way."
Lee waved a cup of dirt around. "It just feels wrong. And why did she have to come home to change clothes? She looked fine in what she was wearing."
"She looked fine for a normal day," agreed Dotty. "But if she had to go interview someone who can afford a house in Kalorama, I can see why she'd want to gussy herself up a bit."
"But why?" asked Lee. "She shouldn't have to get dressed up for anyone."
"Unless she's trying to make an impression." Dotty hid her smile as Lee scowled at the implications of that.
"Amanda's not impressed by money or power," he pointed out. "Or by the kind of people that have that kind of money and power."
"No, she isn't," Dotty agreed, hands still busy with her planting.
"So why wouldn't she tell me who she was interviewing?" he groused.
"Maybe she didn't want you to think you were missing out on something fun," mused Dotty.
In fact, not only had Amanda refused to say exactly what she was doing today, she'd actually told him, out of Dotty's hearing, that it was need to know. Her smile at his reaction had not made him feel any better about it. The kind of people he knew who lived there were rich, famous, powerful men like Blackthorne and were absolutely not to be trusted. If she wouldn't tell him, it wasn't because he'd be envious, it was almost certainly because she knew he'd worry. He jammed another seed in the dirt and glared at it.
"So, what are you planting this year?" he asked, changing the subject.
"Oh, I have a few plans," said Dotty, "but these are going to be for the bed under the kitchen window. I think I might finally get lucky and keep something growing there this year."
A guilty look went across Lee's face and he suddenly found himself very interested in making sure he was getting the seeds planted correctly. Dotty gave the top of his head a smile and let the silence draw out a little longer as she worked.
"You know," she said, finally, "it's funny how something you learn when you're young turns out to be so interesting later."
"Is it?" Lee asked, grateful that the subject had apparently been changed.
"Yes," said Dotty. "For instance, when I was young and just starting to date Carl, it was just after the war and we didn't have a lot of money, so we used to go to the beach a lot."
"And that helped you with gardening?" asked Lee in confusion.
"Oh no, Darling," chuckled Dotty. "It taught me about biology. And physiology."
Lee looked up and met her eyes, startled. "Dotty, if this is going to be the birds and the bees talk…"
Dotty let out a yelp of laughter. "Dear me, no! I think you have that all figured out. I meant that because we spent a lot of time at the beach, there were a lot of men with their shirts off and whatnot. Not that I was really looking at anyone but Carl, of course. He was the handsomest man. A real 11, if you know what I mean." Her gaze turned dreamy for a moment, lost in memories.
"Okaaay," Lee replied, still at sea.
Dotty's gaze turned back to him, then back to the gardening task in front of her. "Anyway, like I said, it was just after the war and so many men had come back by then. Not all of them, of course, but a lot of them."
Lee nodded, reaching to trowel dirt into another small pot.
"And you know," she continued, hands still busy with the seeds, "it was so commonplace to see a man who had been hurt in the war that after a while, you stopped noticing the scars and the wounds and whatnot. They were almost sort of invisible and you just saw the man."
"Oh," said Lee. "Do you think I'm worried this will bother Amanda?" He gestured to his chest.
"Oh no, Lee, Amanda would never be bothered by anything like that at all!" exclaimed her mother.
"Well then-"
"I meant that, even though I got used to seeing them, I know what it looks like on a man when he's been shot," explained Dotty. She paused in her work and looked up to meet his gaze. "And I certainly know what it looks like when it's happened more than once."
"Ah," said Lee, eyes widening.
"Ah, indeed," said Dotty. She out down her tools and leaned on crossed arms on the table and looked him in the eye. "Now, how about you explain to me why a man with an old gunshot wound on his right shoulder and another scar on his left side and who knows how many others I haven't seen, along with the fresh new hole in his chest is worried about Amanda going to interview someone for work in a nice neighborhood? Should I be worried as well?"
There was a long silence while Lee thought feverishly about what he could say. Finally, he pointed to the left side of his chest and said, "That one was a knife, actually."
"Oh, that makes me feel so much better!" scolded Dotty. "Now answer my question."
"She'll be fine," said Lee. "Billy wouldn't send her anywhere dangerous. It's Kalorama, for heaven's sake, not Kabul."
"Billy?" Dotty pressed him. "Is that your boss?"
Lee nodded. "Billy Melrose."
"Melrose," Dotty echoed. "And would that be the same Mr. Melrose that came sniffing around here after you two ran off last fall? And then helped out Harry?"
"Yes," Lee answered.
Dotty stared at him stonily for a moment, and then relaxed a little. "Well, I may not have enjoyed my run-ins with him, but I do believe he has your best interests at heart."
"He absolutely does," said Lee fervently.
"Well, alright then. Now, since we have nothing but time on our hands until Amanda comes home and refuses to tell us anything about her day, how about you tell me just how long you two have really known each other?"
"Wouldn't you rather wait until Amanda comes home and ask us together?" asked Lee weakly, knowing he was in for the interrogation of a lifetime.
Dotty picked up a pot and spooned in some dirt. "No, I don't think so. You see, once it occurred to me that you'd been shot before, a lot of things started to look very clear in hindsight and I want to know if I'm right. The boys are at school, Amanda is out and no one is around to eavesdrop. Now spill." She waved the trowel at him. "And I've been hearing Amanda fudge the truth for a long time now, and I can smell a lie, so don't even think about trying to weasel out of telling me the truth."
Lee gave up. "There's a lot of it I can't tell you," he said.
"I'm sure there is," she nodded. "And that's why I'm not going to ask for details. But since Amanda once told me she was a spy and sent me out of town claiming there was a nuclear bomb, I think you can assume I can use my imagination to fill in the details."
Lee closed his eyes and let his head drop onto his chest. "I'd forgotten that."
"So had I until I started putting the pieces together," said Dotty. "Now I'm not asking you to tell me any of that. Although…" her voice drifted off.
"What?'
"Will you still be doing things I don't want to know about when you go back to work? Will I need to worry about both of you?"
Lee opened his mouth to start the usual platitudes, then paused. "Actually, probably not," he admitted.
"Really?" she asked. "Why not?"
"A lot of reasons," he replied. "This injury being one of them. No one's going to want the guy with a recent life threatening injury running around. And I'm closer to 40 than 30 now and I really should be leaving that kind of stuff up to the younger guys…"
"And what else?" Dotty prompted him.
"And I married your daughter," he answered. "I fell in love and married her and I have a reason to want to come home every night. I want a family life along with a career. I want to see these flowers come up this year, and next year and the year after that. I've been at this long enough that a lot of my usefulness is what's up here" he tapped his head – "and not what I can do physically. So, with this and that, I'll probably be pushed closer to a desk job. And since Amanda came in a bit late to really get a lot of physical training, and her strengths are analysis and personal relations, she doesn't need to be in the field."
"Well, that's a relief." she admitted. "So I know you can't tell me anything about your work but I do want to hear how you fell in love with my daughter."
"Ah, well that was the easy part," answered Lee, his face lighting up. "Sometimes I think I started to fall in love with her the day we met…"
Dotty couldn't help smiling back at the expression on his face. "Well, then start with that."
"Well, that's a funny story," he said. "It was one morning at the train station…"
