***See Part 1 for disclaimers.***
Epilogue
Lee was sitting in
his car across the street from the familiar house
on Maplewood
Drive. He had seen the family return a short while
ago, and
thought he would go around to the back of the house to get
Amanda's
attention. A tap at the kitchen window soon produced the
desired
response, and he waited on the porch for her to join him.
"Hi
Lee," she greeted him in an enthusiastic whisper.
"Did
everything turn out all right this weekend? The agent
who was
assigned to us managed to get me a message when I was
alone, and
tell me everything was taken care of. But I couldn`t
get any
details out of him."
"Yeah, we caught the
fake Amanda, and Gordon Redding too, the man
who was bankrolling
her. It seems he was trying to pay me back for
the death of his
brother. I had to shoot him when I was
apprehending them on a case
a few years back, and Gordon was looking
for revenge."
"What
about my double?" she asked, shuddering at the very thought
of
someone who looked enough like her to be able to take her
place.
"Well, she wasn't so lucky. She was shot before we
could take her
into custody. She didn't make it. She died in the
ambulance on the
way to the hospital," he said gently, trying
to gauge her
reaction. That was one reason he was out here, so she
could find
out from him personally, instead of second or third
hand at the
office. Their workplace was abuzz, after it became
general
knowledge that a doppelganger Amanda had been running
around,
killing agents. It was supposed to be "need to know",
but enough
people had seen the counterfeit Amanda during Redding`s
arrest, that
it had become common knowledge.
"She's dead?" Amanda asked, aghast.
"Yes, Billy and
Francine shot her. They didn't have a choice. She
was aiming at me
when they took her down."
She folded her arms, and seemed
to draw inward upon herself. "Well,
at least I won't have to
worry about her trying to replace me
somewhere down the road,"
she said, looking down at the ground.
"Amanda, don't
close yourself off," he said, his hands going to her
arms to
comfort her. "None of this is your fault."
"I know Lee, but what if it had been me?."
"What?" he asked, puzzled.
"You said that Mr. Melrose and
Francine shot her. Well, how did
they know it wasn't really me, if
she looked that much like me?" she
asked.
"They
knew it wasn't you, because Karen, that's what Redding told us
her
name was, was in the process of trying to shoot me when they
fired
on her. They knew that was something you would never do. I
do
think it shook them both up though, after they had shot her,
seeing
how much she looked like you."
"And you?" she
questioned further, her arms reaching around him to
steady
herself.
"I knew it wasn't you. She told me after she was
wounded. I think
I would have figured it out soon anyway. But I
didn't see her gun,
and I couldn't have shot her, not knowing for
sure. Amanda, the
important thing to remember is that it wasn`t
you. That you`re
right here. That you`re not replaceable."
"Well, when you put it that way. . ." she began.
"I do.
Amanda King, I'm very glad that you're OK, and that they
didn't
try to harm you."
He kissed her on the forehead, then
quickly released her, moving
away toward the side of the
house.
"I'll see you on Monday?" he called out
quietly, turning back
toward her before he disappeared.
"Sure
thing. First thing Monday morning, Lee," she answered
him.
"And Lee?" she added, causing him to turn around
again.
"Yes?" he questioned.
After a pause,
she finally said, "I'm glad you weren't hurt. Glad
that
everything worked out," she said, letting out a big sigh.
"Me too, Amanda. I'll see you Monday."
With that, he left,
and headed back to his car, happy that his
friend was back - the
one that he knew so well, who would never let
him down.
The End
Author end notes: Scenes, characters, and dialogue
may have been
borrowed from the episodes, "Odds On A Dead
Pigeon" and "Delirious
on Arrival". I got the idea
for this story from a challenge posted
by Kara on smkfanfic
archive page (however, at the time, I didn't
think it was a story
that could be pulled off). Months later, the
idea of how to do
this came to me.
Did I have you fooled before part 3?