Author's note: Well, this is it, Folks, the final chapter of a story begun in 1999. I want to once again express all of my deep appreciation for everyone's encouragement and for faithfully reading and of course reviewing. The amazing amount of positive feedback has really kept me going the last few days while I put the ending I'd always had planned to paper. The final scene's a bit cheesy, but it's how I always envisioned it. I hope it was worth the wait.

Lanie Sullivan

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When Helfried Alfons entered the room gun barrel first, Lee had an instant flash of West Germany and chasing him down with Agent Gerald Russell by his side in 1981. He recalled vividly that he'd personally put a slug in the guy's left shoulder before taking him down entirely. This flash led to other flashes, going undercover as a waiter, the train station, grabbing Amanda and thrusting a package in her hands and pleading for her help, going undercover pretending to be married, the sinking feeling of being in the hospital, rescuing Amanda when she'd been drugged and threatening the guy who'd done it with time in a wheelchair while he carried her out of there, making an unauthorized trade for her when she'd been mistaken for him.

His thoughts whirled as image after image crossed his mind, the cruise ship wedding and the kiss they'd shared, the one he hadn't wanted to end, pretending she was his girlfriend to the Colonel and wishing it were true, asking Amanda out for the first time to the opera under the guise of teaching her how to make casual contact with a subject, their "date" that night, all the near-misses every time he tried to kiss her when they were dating, the first time he really did kiss her. Saying "I love you" for the first time, buying her an engagement ring and how he carried it around with him in his pocket for a month waiting for the perfect opportunity to give it to her, the day he finally put that ring on her finger in the office they shared, making love to her for the first time, planning their elopement, saying "I do", watching her fight for every breath in the hospital.

"Come on, Scarecrow!"Alfons said breaking into Lee's trip down memory lane. "I know you're here. It's been eight years. Let's not play this game any longer!"

"No," Lee said from his cover behind the bed. "You're right, Alfons. The time for games is long over!" Amanda looked at him with a questioning gaze. He smiled, reached to squeeze her hand briefly and nodded to her holding up one finger to indicate they needed to wait for the right moment. They both listened for the location and number of footsteps in the room and when they were sure the timing was right both rose firing straight ahead before ducking back down.

Amanda smiled at each other as they heard two separate cries of pain knowing they'd at least both made contact as bullets flew over their heads piercing the window panes behind them. "Scarecrow, come on! You can do better than that. I've got the scar to prove it," Alfons mocked indicating that they'd missed him as he fired again and again. Amanda made her move rising and pointing her gun squarely at Alfons.

"Amanda, no!" Lee cried as he rose from his crouch.

"So, you're the one who tried to hill my husband," she said icily as she walked around to the end of the bed menacingly. "I should kill you for that. You nearly destroyed my family."

"You husband," Alfons said with a chuckle as he leveled his gun at her. "Well, then maybe my revenge is best served by killing you instead and making Scarecrow watch."

"Try it," Amanda said. "I don't know how you're going to accomplish that with an empty gun. I know you've used all six shots and haven't had time to reload, whereas I've still got five left. Do you think I should use them all on you? I'd say you've earned with what you put our family through this week."

Lee smiled at Amanda and said, "I couldn't agree more, Sweetheart. I'd say let him have all five of them."

Alfons looked at the two of them out-gunning him and scrambled for his fallen comrade's gun but caught a bullet in the arm from Lee's pistol before he could, groaning in pain. He dropped to his knees and scrambled for the gun he'd been reaching for while Amanda completed her path around the bed aiming her gun at the back of his head. "Don't be stupid," she said cocking her weapon behind him.

Alfons raised his hand in surrender as he stood. He knew that he'd never make it out of there alive, not with Amanda's revolver trained at the back of his head and Lee's to his left. "Well, Scarecrow, it seems you've finally got a partner equal to your skill level, unlike poor Agent Russell. All it took was uncovering the right bit of dirt and his most trusted contact fed him false information that would be given the opportunity to put an end to Red Dawn for good. Of course, to lure you right where I wanted you I gave his contact the instructions that it would only be passed on to you. Russell fell right into my trap and played you like a fiddle. It's a pity my bomb didn't kill both of you like it was intended to."

"What can I say? I'm a survivor. I've got a lot in my life worth living for. Now, come on," Lee said with a nod of his head toward the ruined bedroom door.

Alfons making one last ditch effort, grabbed the lamp on the nightstand and flung in behind him at Amanda before tearing out the door.

"Freeze!" They heard Francine shout from the living room. Lee and Amanda looked at each other and grinned.

Amanda holstered her gun while she bent to check on the two downed men, Lee still keeping his gun pointed that direction just in case. "They're both still alive," she said.

"Lee! Amanda!" Billy called.

"In here!" Lee called back as he heard sirens outside on the street below.

Billy entered the room surveying the scene in front of him. "Francine's got Alfons cuffed and on his way out of here. Are you two ok?"

Lee holstered his gun as he crossed the room and wrapped his arms around his wife. "Yeah, we're great. What took you so long," he teased.

"Now, Sir, about that two weeks off..." Amanda said with a smile.

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Billy had indeed agreed to the two weeks off for not only Amanda, but for Lee as well explaining to Dr. Smyth that he needed time to fully recuperate from his head injury and that Amanda needed to recover from the emotional trauma she'd suffered. Dr. Smyth's only argument was that once they returned to work, Amanda be restricted to light duty due to her pregnancy, but felt there was no reason to separate the partners since they had proved by two and half years of marriage that they could still work together professionally in spite of their personal relationship.

Their time off had had to wait a few more days while they wrote up their reports on the attack at the apartment and debriefed the men behind it. The information they'd gathered from Alfons' two henchmen proved invaluable to the task force once led by Agent Russell. Alfons himself refused to budge and was quickly extradited to face the music for his crimes against West Germany. Once all of that was done, they were free of The Agency for two full weeks.

Lee and Amanda used the time to move into the house in Rockville just in time to get the boys registered in their new school district. Phillip and Jamie having already unpacked and organized their rooms had set out to explore their new neighborhood in hopes of meeting their new classmates before school started in September.

"Well, that's the last of it." Lee finished hanging an 8x10 of their wedding picture on the wall with the other family photos in their new living room. He smiled and said, "That picture kept me going more times than I can count when I didn't know who I was."

"Looks perfect," Amanda said as she slipped her arm around her husband's waist.

'You might not want to get too close," Lee said. "Look at me, I'm a mess."

"Me too," she said as she recalled the last time they'd "moved in" together and her comment that she looked messy while he still looked good. "I think we should do something about that." She took his hand to lead him up the stairs.

"You go on. I'll be up in just a minute," Lee said.

"Ok," she said as she trotted up the stairs toward the master bedroom and began running water in the oversized tub pouring in her favorite bubble bath. She had just finished undressing when Lee entered the room with a bottle and two glasses in hand.

"To celebrate the start of our new life together," Lee said as he filled the glasses.

"Lee, that's really very sweet, but I can't drink. The baby," Amanda said.

"Relax, Amanda, it's sparkling grape juice," he said as he handed her glass to her setting his own down while he undressed. Amanda set her glass down on the side of the tub as she reached to turn off the tap. She was startled slightly by her husband grabbing her from behind nuzzling her neck and wrapping his arms around her waist.

"God, don't do that," she said with a giggle.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk," Lee said with a shake of his head. "A trained agent with six years of experience and you still jump every time," he teased as he released her long enough to pick up his glass and step into the tub where she soon joined him sitting down in front of him and leaning against the strong wall of his chest.

"It feels so good to relax," Amanda said in contentment.

"Yeah, it does," he said with a sigh as the hot water soothed his tired muscles. He sipped at his drink as he wrapped his other arm around her waist lightly stroking her stomach which he knew would soon show the evidence of their burgeoning family. "You know I always teased your mother about her nightly bubble bath, but I think maybe she was onto something."

Amanda giggled and said, "Imagine the mighty Scarecrow enjoying something as simple and mundane as a bubble bath."

"You ever tell anyone and I'll deny it," he said as he nuzzled her neck.

"I won't say a word. I do keep secrets for a living," she reminded him playfully.

Lee laughed, removed his hand from her stomach and linked his left hand with hers gazing at the wedding bands that they both now proudly displayed. "Well, this is one secret I'm glad we're not keeping anymore," he said.

"Me too," Amanda said. "It's funny, I was always terrified that the boys would be angry that we'd lied to them for so long, but they both seem to have just accepted it without question."

"I never told you this, but they've both been dropping hints for over a year that they wanted me to be their stepdad. I think that has a lot to do with their acceptance. And it doesn't hurt that they've both tickled pink about having their own rooms and not having to share anymore. Your mother, on the other hand, is going to be a challenge."

"No, she'll come around. She's happy for us. She just needs some time to get over the hurt. I think knowing that she's got a new grandchild on the way will help a long way toward that," Amanda said. "I think more than anything, she was shocked by the way she heard the news. It's funny. I tried to confess and tell her everything and she didn't believe me until Billy and Francine showed up to tell me you were dead."

"We may not have gotten to break the news the way we wanted to, but what else is new? How often do things ever go the way we plan?"

"True," she said sipping her drink. "Just do me a favor. Next time you get a call from an old teammate, ignore it."

"You know that's not in my nature," Lee said.

"Ok, so maybe don't ignore it, but at least give someone a tip about what you're doing so I don't ever have to go through what I just did again."

"You got it," Lee said. "Now, no more shop talk. We're on vacation for another three days and I intend to enjoy it to the fullest."

"Oh yeah?" she said as she turned to look at him with a seductive smile. "And just what kind of enjoyment did you have in mind?"

"Well, for starters since we've pretty much lived the "for worse" part of our marriage vows, I thought it's time we started concentrating on the "for better" part," he said with a mischievous glint in his eye.

"I like the sound of that," Amanda said as she kissed him lightly. "And what was it that came after that?"

"For richer or poorer," Lee said. "Which we've got covered with the two salary-hike that goes along with an agent marrying another agent."

"Check, for richer or poorer, done," Amanda said with a laugh. "Then there was what, in sickness and in health."

"I think we've more than lived that to the fullest," Lee said.

"Check," Amanda said. "Then there was the last bit, my favorite part actually."

"For all the days of our lives," they said in unison clinking their glasses together both sipping at their drinks before sinking into each other's arms to truly celebrate the beginning of their life together.