Mommy Dearest

By Lanie Sparks

Lee Stetson sat upright in bed, shaking. He had just had the most horrible nightmare. He had cried out in his dream, but what he wondered is if his cry had carried over into the real world. He glanced down at the sleeping figure next to him. 'I guess not' He thought. 'Amanda's a light sleeper. If I'd cried out, she'd be awake now.' He smiled as he gazed longingly at his sleeping wife. He couldn't wait until tomorrow when Amanda had her pospartum check-up. He missed making love to her and he knew she missed it too. He quietly slipped out of bed. When she was sure he was out of sight, Amanda slipped out after him and followed him as he walked to the nursery. He walked in and saw the two cribs side by side and glanced first at one, then the other. He noticed that his tiny daughter, Jenny was awake and walked over to her crib and picked her up before she had a chance to cry and wake her twin brother, Matt. He walked to the rocking chair sitting in the middle of the room and rocked gently with her in his arms, his nightmare forgotten for the moment. He couldn't believe the miracle that unfolded before him everytime he looked at his children. His life was so full now. He had a beautiful, loving wife, two great teenage stepsons, two beautiful six-week-old babies, and a career that he loved. The only thing he wished is that his parents could have lived to see their grandchildren. It wasn't fair. They were taken so young. They didn't really have much of a chance to live before they were killed. 'Damn Blackthorn!' he thought, cursing the man who had taken his parents from him when he was only five. 'No wonder I'm having nightmares again. All I can think about is how my mom and dad weren't able to be there for me when I was growing up. I just worry so much that that's one day going to happen with my own children.'

"Don't worry, Jenny. I'm going to be here to watch you grow up." Amanda nodded, having heard what she needed to hear and went back to bed.

The following morning, in a secret CIA office, Jennifer Hamilton Stetson sat staring in disbelief at what she'd just been told. She stood up and slammed her fist on the desk.

"What do you mean, Thomas Blackthorn's been dead for two years?" She exclaimed. "I should have been told about this! You mean I've been hiding form him all this time when I could have spent that time looking for my son! I haven't seen him since he was five years old!" The man on the other side of the desk turned pale.

"I...I...I'm sorry, Ma'am. " he stammered. "We just got this information today. It came from a top secret government agency. They guard their records than anybody else."

"So, what you're telling me is that your branch of the government doesn't communicate with their branch of the government?"

"Bascially. All we really know is that some agent codenamed Scarecrow is the one who killed him. There was something about him hiring a hitman to kill a politcal officail and this agent shot him in self-defense."

"I see. And I don't suppose you've kept up on where my son is like you promised you would."

"Um..." He hesitated. "Well...All we really have is this picture of him. It was taken about a year and a half ago at a DC restaurant called Emelio's." He hands her a picture of Lee sitting at the bar. Her heart leaped as she looked at the picture of Lee and saw her dead husband.

"He looks just like Matthew."

"Well, I don't know about that, Ma'am. I did talk to the bartender and he said that Mr. Stetson and his wife are regulars there."

"Lee's married?" 'Of course he is, you bloody idiot.' she told herself. 'He's not the child you left behind. He's thirty-eight years old. He's probably been married for years.'

"Accoridng to the bartender, he is. Also, if you want to find out any information on the Blackthorn case, I suggest you contact this man." He said as he handed her a business card. She took it and looked at it.

"William Melrose?"

"Yes. He's the head of thar Scarecrow guy's wouldn't tell me Scarecrow's name or anything though. Just a bunch of bull about national security and all that jazz."

"You didn't tell him why you were asking about Blackthorn, did you?"

"Of course not. That might have jeopardized your safety."

"This means I'm free to go now, right? The threat to me is over and I can safely try to find my son?"

"That's what it means. I wish you well, Mrs. Stetson.

Amanda Stetson sat at the bar of Emelio's, waiting for her husband. She kept looking at her watch and glancing at the door expectantly. Norman, the bartender, saw her nervousness and walked over.

"Relax, Amanda. He'll be here." He said, trying to ease her mind.

"I'm just a little concerned. I'm ten minutes late and he's still not here." She said, ready to panic if he didn't get there soon. The life of an agent was always unpredictable. She'd worried about him even more since she'd been on maternity leave and couldn't be there in the field with him. She couldn't wait to go back to work tomorrow. Tonight was just for her and Lee. Her mother had agreed to watch the twins for the night. She'd just gotten a release from her doctor today. She was so lost in her thoughts, she didn't notice the woman who who was sitting beside her.

"He probably just got stuck in traffic or something." The phone rang. Norman answered it. "Emelio's, Norman speaking...Yeah, Lee, she's right here...hold on. Oh, Mrs. Stetson." He called out jokingly to Amanda. The woman beside Amanda looked up from her drink at that. "There's someone who'd like to talk to you."

"Who?"

"Mr. Stetson." He handed her the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Sweetheart. I'm sorry I'm late. I got wrapped up in something at work and lost track on time. I'm in the car on the way over there right now."

"Good. I was worried about you. I love you."

"I love you too." He said. "See you soon." She handed Norman the phone.

"Feel better, Amanda?"

"Yes. Thanks, Norman."

"Anytime. I've got to go check on these guys down at the end of the bar."

"OK." Amanda noticed that the woman next to her was staring at her. This annoyed her to no end. She was beginning to become paranoid when strangers stared at her because she never knew who she could trust. "Can I help you?" Amanda asked crisply.

"I'm sorry. I just overheard the bartender calling you Mrs. Stetson and I was thinking what an incredible coincindence it is."

"Really?" Amanda said sharply. "How is that?"

"I'm a Mrs. Stetson too. Maybe there's some connection."

"I really don't think so. My husband's an orphan."

"Well, maybe a distant relative then."

"I'm sorry to disappoint you, but the only family my husband has, besides me and our children, is an uncle and he's not a Stetson." 'Children?' she thought. 'Am I a grandmother? No, probably not. That man probably didn't know what he was talking about when he said Lee comes here.'

"Hmmm. Sorry to have bothered you." She said as she made her way to the door, looking utterly defeated.

Later that evening, Lee and Amanda are sitting in their favorite booth, drinking coffee, dinner long over with.

"So, did Norman keep you entertained while you waited for me?"

"A little bit. It's the strangest thing. There was this woman here tonight, about maybe 60 years old or so, who heard him call me Mrs. Stetson and insisted that we had to be related somehow. She seemed so...I don't know...almost heartbroken when I told her that you don't have any family."

"Sure, I do." He teased. "I have you and Phillip and Jamie and the twins."

"I meant besides us." She said exasperated.

"I know you did." He winked at her.

"I'm glad you think this is so amusing. You didn't see this woman tonight. She acted like she was searching for something or someone."

"She's probably just a lonely woman with no family left, who's looking for some kind of compnionship."

"You're probably right. I just wish you could have seen her face. She looked so lost."

"That's one of the things I love about you. You always feel the need to take care of people, even perfect strangers." He leaned across the table and kissed her gently.

"So, are you ready to go back to work tomorrow."

"Yes and no. I miss the agency, but I'm not sure I'm ready to leave Matt and Jenny alome."

"They won't be alone. They have the most doting grandmother I've ever seen."

"It's too bad your parents didn't live long enough to see their grandchildren. I'm sure they'd have been tickled pink."

"Yeah."

"I bet they'd be thrilled to see the fine man you've become." He nodded sadly.

"Amanda, why are you bringing this up?"

"I know you've been having nightmares again."

"Nightmares?" He said, innocently as he took a sip of his coffee.

"Don't try to deny it. You've woken up in the middle of the night, shaking the past two nights."

"I thought you were still asleep."

"I know you did. I was hoping you'd confide in me on your own. You can trust me, remember?" She reached for his hand and squeezed it gently.

"I know. It's just hard to talk about."

"That's what I'm here for."

"It just goes back to an old daydream of mine when I was a kid."

"You want to tell me about it?"

"Why? It's silly, really."

"Because something is causing you to have those nightmares. It might help to talk about it."

"Well, when I was a kid, I used to have this fantasy that my parents weren't really dead, but that they were out there somewhere hiding from the bad guys and that they were going to come back for me one day and we'd be a real family. Crazy, huh?"

"Not at all."

"You didn't know you married such a fruitcake, did you?" He asked her as he hung his head. She picked up his chin and looked deeply into his eyes.

"I don't think you're a fruitcake, Sweetheart. I think you just had the kind of daydreams that any kid in your circumstances would have had."

"It's just that since the twins were born, I keep having this fear od history repeating itself. That with you and I both being agents like my parents were that we'll someday leave the twins to be raised by someone else, just like what happened to me."

"That's no going to happen to us."

"How can you be so sure? We deal with a bunch of nuts out there."

"How many times have you heard Billy say that you and I are the best agent team he's got?"

"I don't know. How many cases have we solved together over the last five years?"

"Hundreds."

"Then there you go. That's how many times Billy's said it. But just because he says it, doesn't mean I believe it. I just have this terrible feeling that something is going to happen and it has something to do with my parents."

"Well, You're not going to do anybosy any good if all you do is worry. Wht don't we go home? I went shopping today and I think I've got just the thing to cheer you up."

"Really?" He asked, rasing a curious eyebrow.

"Really." She said with a mischievous grin. "Now. Come on."