Amanda looked up at the sound of Lee's voice.  She thought that she was hallucinating.  'He's come back to me.  After all these years, he's come back to me!' Before her was a man that had a long beard and hair and was wearing a trench coat that was dirty and patched.  It was the twinkle in his eye, though, that told her that her best friend, lover and husband was standing before her with a bottle of wine and a picnic basket.  "Lee?" she asked softly not trusting herself completely.

"Yes, Amanda.  It's me."  Lee placed the things in his hands on the bench and reached out to her.  Amanda took his hand and stood up.  "It's really me, Amanda."

"Oh. Lee."  Amanda's voice cracked when she said his name.  She hugged him and cried.  Her search was over. Lee was standing before her and was alive and well. Last month she had heard that the Chinese had an agent in one of their prisons.  She had set up a sting operation to rescue that agent. Her leads in the search for Lee had all fizzled out until she heard of the activity in northern China.  They were looking for something or someone.  The only information she managed to get was that the Chinese had been holding an agent for nearly five years and that the agent had recently escaped.  "Lee, I heard that an agent escaped from one of the prisons in China.  Was that you?"  She had to know.  She had to know if her gut feeling had been right when she heard the news.

Lee looked at her surprised and then smiled as it dawned on him that his Amanda never left the Agency and had probably spent the last nine years looking for him.  "Yes, that was me.  I never stopped trying to get out of there.  I had a promise to keep."  Amanda started to cry again.  Lee held her close to him, tears threatening to flow from his own eyes.

"It's been so long.  I've never given up hope that you were alive.  It's been so hard for me to just live without telling anyone my secret."

"Don't cry, Love.  I'm here, where I belong."  Lee continued to hold Amanda.  He didn't know what else to do.  "I read your book."

Amanda looked at him with wide eyes.  "You read my book?"

"Yeah.  Linda gave me the first book you wrote earlier this morning.  It's good."

"This morning?  When did you get in?"

"Amanda, could we sit and eat for a bit.  I'll tell you everything."

"Oh.  Yes, of course.  You must be starved."  They sat down on the bench and opened the picnic basket and began to eat.  Amanda brought out a tape recorder and set it between them.  "We might as well make this official.  I don't want to hear this story twice in one week."

"Make this official?  Amanda, why would I want to make this version my official story?  I'll tell Billy when I go to the Agency tomorrow."

"Well, that would be hard to do since I'm Section Chief.  Billy retired a little over five years ago and Francine is the head of the New York office, which left me as the most likely candidate for Section Chief in DC."  Amanda rambled having gotten over the initial shock of seeing Lee for the first time in so many years.  "Of course, since I am on vacation, I'll do the written report and turn it in to Dr. Smyth when I get in next week."

"Slow down, Amanda.  You're Section Chief?  How did this happen?" Lee asked shocked.

"Oh, I'm sorry.  I didn't mean to just dump this information on you, Lee.  You know how I get when I'm excited."

"Yeah, I do," Lee smiled remembering all the times that she could just ramble on about almost everything at the drop of the hat.  "How about you tell me about everything that has happened and how much you know  and when we get back to the house, I'll fill you in on what happened to me nine years ago."

"OK."  Amanda opened the bottle of wine and poured both of them a glass before filling Lee in on what happened since his disappearance.

Inside the coffee shop, Linda watched as the strange man and the woman that she knew as Mrs. Cumberland held onto each other for a long time, then sit down and talk like old friends.  'I guess he really did know her.'  Linda shook her head and poured a cup of coffee for a customer. Five hours later, Linda was closing up shop and Lee and Amanda were still sitting on the bench.  Amanda had tired herself out talking and was now content to sit with his arms around her.

"Uh, Mrs. Cumberland?" Linda asked not sure if she should disturb her and Lee.

Amanda raised her head off of Lee's shoulder and looked at Linda.  "Yes, Linda.  Is there something I could help you with?"

"No, I, uh, I just wanted to give you this and say thank you for being a great customer."  Linda held out a package to her wrapped in red paper.  Lee smiled when he saw the paper remembering when he first met her.

Amanda opened the gift to reveal a metallic blue thermos with the names of the two main characters of her books engraved in red and gold on it.  "Oh, Linda, this is beautiful.  Thank you."  Amanda started to tear up.  This was the best anniversary she'd had in a long time.

"You're welcome, Mrs. Cumberland.  I'll see ya next year?"

"I don't know.  Maybe."  Amanda wiped away the few tears that were on her face as she cast Lee a questioning look.  Lee gave her a small smile and nodded his head.  He couldn't think of a better way to spend an anniversary than with his wife at the place they first met.  "Yes, I do think I'll be here next year, Linda."

"Okay.  Take care of yourself, Lee, Mrs. Cumberland." Linda went on to her car.  In the nine years that she had known Amanda, she had never seen her as happy as she was now sitting beside a total stranger.

"Amanda, it's getting late.  Why don't we go home?  I'll drive."  Lee held out his hand for the keys to her jeep.

"Sure, but I'll drive."  They got up and walked to Amanda's car arm in arm.  Amanda turned onto the beltway going the opposite direction than what Lee was expecting.

"Amanda, I know I've been gone for a while, but isn't your place back there?"

"Oh.  I forgot to tell you that I moved."

"You moved?"  Lee was puzzled.  Amanda had told him a lot of what happened at the Agency, but she didn't tell him much of what happened to her.  'Well, that explains why the house was dark last night.' he thought.

"Yeah.  Lee, can I tell you about it when we get home?  I would rather be sitting on my couch telling you than in the car. Please?"

"Sure."  Lee placed his hand on her's and squeezed it lightly.  They remained that way for the rest of the trip.  When they reached the gate to the ranch, Jerry, Amanda's security guard that the Agency insisted she get a few years ago, walked over to her car.

"Ma'am.  Ms. Desmond is at the house waiting for you. She's been here for a few hours."

"Thank you, Jerry."  Amanda looked at Lee trying to decide how she would handle the situation.  This was a rare occurrence.  Everyone knew that Amanda was not to be disturbed on her vacation unless it was life threatening or, now that she was Section Chief, if something happened on the international scene.  "Uh, Jerry, could you escort Mr. Steadman to your place?  I'll come down when I conclude my business with Francine."

"Of course, Mrs. King.  Sir?"  Lee opened his mouth to protest when Amanda cut him off.

"Lee, if you come in with me, I'll never get rid of Francine.  I want some time with you alone before the Agency gets involved and if she sees you, Francine will make sure that agents get down here to take you for a debriefing.  Understand?"  All Lee could do was nod his acceptance.  This was, a new side of her, a professional side that came only after years of hard work.  Before he got out of the car, Amanda put her hand on his arm to stop him.  He looked down at her hand then at her.  In her eyes he saw the regret and the love that she had for him.  He knew that more than anything she wanted him to come in with her, but he understood that she needed to keep Francine and the Agency in the dark as long as she could.

"I love you," he whispered as leaned over to her and gave her a light kiss.  He got out of the car and walked over to where Jerry was standing.  They shook hands and started to head for Jerry's cabin.  Lee looked back at Amanda and saw her mouth "I love you too."

Amanda drove through the open gate and steeled herself to face Francine.  Although Francine and Amanda never became the best of friends, Francine knew Amanda well enough to know when something was up.  Amanda wanted to be ready for anything that may happen.