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A/N: Did anyone else think Lee got off lightly for pretending to be dead or was it just me?

Lee was right, this had not been a good idea. He'd been wrong about why, but he'd been right to be worried.

That's what Billy had realized just a few moments after sitting Amanda down in his office to tell her about Lee's death.

He had braced himself for tears, and instead he was facing icy calm from a very pale Amanda, her hands shaking slightly but with an unnaturally expressionless demeanour.

"Oh no, that can't be right," she was informing him, earnestly. "You must be mistaken."

"Amanda, this is not the kind of thing we make a mistake about!"

Amanda shook her head in disagreement. "Oh, but you see, Lee promised."

"He promised what, Amanda?" asked Billy gently.

"He promised he'd be more careful so that I wouldn't have to go to his funeral," she answered as if this was a clinching argument.

Billy blenched. "He what?"

"We came to an agreement. He said that if I would promise to stay out of trouble, he would too," she explained firmly. "And I haven't been in trouble for weeks, you know I haven't. And well, I know that there was someone going around targeting agents, but we talked about that and he knew I was worried about him and so he couldn't possibly have done something that would have broken that promise to be careful."

"He talked to you about the murdered agents?" Bill asked, incredulous.

"He didn't have to," she said quietly, still in that overly calm voice. "Everyone at the Agency's been talking about it, And then you see, one time I'd made a joke about what spies do when they're off the clock, so the other night he took me to Monk's, just to see how boring it was, and someone came up to the table and started talking about it."

"I see."

"And Lee, well, of course, he just tried to brush it off as nothing, but he got a note that night, did you know that?"

Billy nodded.

"And there was that thing with the camera in his desk. Francine told me," she explained off Billy's raised eyebrow. "But lots of people saw it, so that's another thing that means he would have been being extra careful," continued Amanda. "I mean, he even let me drive him home and he never lets me fuss over him unless it's serious, so that just can't be right. He's much too good an agent for it to happen to him so it must be a misunderstanding. Or a misidentification. Anyway, it can't be Lee."

Billy stared at her as her ramble wound down. This really was not going according to plan at all. He'd told Lee that everyone needed to believe he was dead, and that included Amanda- until after the funeral at least. If Amanda didn't believe it, no one else would either.

"Oh come on, Billy! Can't you just ask her to stay at home for a few days? Why do we need to drag her into this?"

"That won't be enough, Scarecrow. We don't know how this man is getting his inside information or how he's getting in and out of the Agency… Everyone has to believe you're dead!"

Lee raked his hand through his hair. "I don't like it. Amanda never does what you think she'll do – this is going to come back and bite us somehow."

"You're being ridiculous, Scarecrow. Amanda is just a regular person who has regular reactions. That's the key – if Amanda believes it, everyone else will believe it."

Lee had stared at him, then finally nodded wordlessly.

"It won't be so bad, Lee – we can tell her the truth right after the funeral."

"I hope that's soon enough," Lee muttered.

Billy glanced at the closed blinds that covered his office window. He knew there was a whole bullpen of people out there – one of whom might be the killer's source – and they all knew why Amanda had been called in here. He gripped the edge of the desk he was leaning back against and stared down at his feet. He knew what he had to do, but he'd hoped it wouldn't go this far.

"Amanda," he said finally, looking up. "There's no misidentification. I was with him last night. I had just walked him to his car and so I was among the first on scene." He paused and watched her go even paler. "There's no mistake."

Amanda stared at him silently, and then suddenly shot to her feet. "I see." She held out her hand and he automatically took it. "Thank you so much for letting me know, Mr. Melrose. Will you let me know when the funeral is going to take place?"

"It's tomorrow, Amanda. Parkview Cemetery – there will be a small graveside service."

"Tomorrow?" For the first time, there was a tremor of emotion in her voice. "So soon?"

"Lee's wishes were on file. He didn't want a- "

"A fuss. He doesn't like it when I fuss over him." She took a sharp breath and corrected herself. "Didn't like it," she said, her voice breaking. "He didn't like it when I fussed over him."

Billy could see that this was when it really hit her, when she finally accepted what he was saying. Before he could say anything else, there was a sharp rap on the door and then before he could respond, it opened and Francine walked in, her red-rimmed eyes and blotchy skin testament to the fact she'd been crying. Amanda stared at her for a beat, then pushed past her and began to walk quickly through the bullpen. Without another word, Francine whirled and ran to catch up with her, wrapping an arm around shoulders that had begun to heave and they walked out together, heads huddled close.

Billy sagged and ran his hand over his face. There was no doubt the entire Agency would believe Lee was dead now, but he was already regretting the emotional cost to Amanda and Francine.

"It's just for one day," he told himself. "It will all be better tomorrow."