The Challenge: This week’s challenge – use the following words - keys, umbrella, sheets, frame, massage.

OK – this one ended up not quite being what I originally thought, but hey, I gotta do what Zena says or else she might run away. She’s been know to do that, and for long periods of time. I still think that’s when she’s hanging out with Elmo, but so far, surveillance has turned up nothing.

This one is set between Season 3 and Season 4.

Hope you enjoy!

The summer of 1986 heralded in quite a few changes for Lee Stetson. The first of which was yet another change of address. Now, in Lee’s life there had been more than a few of those address changes. He’d seen numerous of them while being raised by his uncle and then a few more after becoming an agent. The moves during his childhood had been necessitated by his uncle’s career in the military. The ones as an adult were because of his own career, even though a very young Lee Stetson had vowed not to follow in any of his uncle’s footsteps.

It was a little ironic then that Lee hardly stayed in one place for more than a year but as a Federal agent, it made only good sense to do just that. It was safer that way and besides, it prevented boredom.

Lee had never really liked the feeling of being settled and had never aspired to put roots down anywhere. He didn’t feel the need for permanent commitments of any sort, not where he lived and not in his personal relations with other people. Making commitments was something that normal everyday people did and Scarecrow had never wanted any part of that normal world.

He had liked his life just the way it was, unbalanced and unpredictable, dangerous and exciting, filled with circumstances that called for spontaneity and making up the rules as he went.

Once upon a time that’s how he used to like it.

With the arrival of summer, a whole new era in his life was being ushered in, whether he wanted it or not.

The first change had to do with his apartment that he was currently residing in. The former landlord had sold it to another and the new owner was jacking up the rent considerably. This notification had found Lee fuming and pacing the Q-Bureau one morning until Amanda had gently suggested that he move.

He’d grumbled at first, trying to tell her that it would take weeks to find a place and that it couldn’t be just any place. It had to have location, it had to have a certain style, and of course, it had to fit within his budget. After all, Lee had teased her, being a Federal agent might lead to guts and glory scenarios as far as national security was concerned but the pay was far from glorious. And besides, he had argued that he only had until the end of the month to let the new landlord know if he would be continuing to lease his apartment.

Amanda, in all of her infinite patience and wisdom had simply told him that it would all work out, but Lee, ever the skeptic, had scoffed at the notion of anything playing out that smoothly. However, in the end Amanda had been right and it had been amazing to see how well everything had actually proceeded.

Everything about his new apartment far exceeded his stipulations. The location couldn’t have been better, the rent was very reasonable, and the actual move had gone off without so much as one hitch.

So, that was the first of the changes that occurred for Lee Stetson during the summer of 1986 and, while he might have thought that it was good, the other change was far better. For while the first change had involved a physical change of address for the Scarecrow, the second had more of an emotional and personal impact upon the former lone-wolf agent.

Lee Stetson now had a girlfriend.

She wasn’t a bimbo, her name didn’t end in an "i", and she was most certainly expecting a lot more than just a one-night stand.

All of which couldn’t have pleased Lee any more than it already did for it was his beautiful, intelligent, funny and wonderful partner that had replaced all of that old nonsense. And to think, she had been under his nose the whole time and it had taken him far too long to realize it. Okay, so he had been an idiot but his Amanda hadn’t seemed to mind. Patience was a virtue and therefor, in Lee’s mind Amanda had to be the most virtuous person he’d ever met.

And today, he and Amanda were going shopping for his new apartment. Shopping, something that Lee didn’t really like to do and something only normal couples would do, but now, considering all the changes in his life, Lee Stetson was actually looking forward to it.

Their Saturday morning shopping expedition had gone rather well. It hadn’t taken long for Amanda to find a new set of sheets and a new comforter set that not only was bargain priced but would look wonderful in Lee’s new bedroom. With her eye for color and budget-minded savvy, they’d also been able to get color-coordinated items for in his new bathroom and still stay within the allotted amount that Lee had wanted to spend.

Their next stop was to get additional keys for the new apartment made and then they headed to a quaint little café for a relaxing lunch, both content to enjoy their time together without any worries. The food was excellent and they chatted about nothing and everything, as they had been prone to do lately.

While they were inside enjoying their lunch, the overcast skies finally gave in to the rain that had been predicted for that afternoon.

"Oh no," Amanda groaned as she watched the rain come down in buckets.

"What’s the matter?" Lee asked.

"I forgot to bring my umbrella," she told him.

Lee just smiled.

"I don’t think we’ll melt," he replied as he watched her from across the table, suddenly finding himself very fascinated with how beautiful she looked today.

Her dark hair was pulled up, a few stray tendrils working their way loose to give it a casual look that he found quite refreshing after the fresh from the beauty salon, heavily hair sprayed and perfectly coifed ladies that he had used to date.

Lee had the sudden urge to unclip Amanda’s hair so that it could tumble free and he could run his fingers through it.

While he had been gazing at her, his hand had found hers across the table. His fingers had caressed over hers, the pleasant sensation caused by the light massage and of the skin to skin contact spreading throughout his entire body.

Suddenly the restaurant was becoming rather warm and suffocating and Lee wanted nothing more than to escape its close confines and head back to his apartment, with Amanda.

Once they had gotten back to his new apartment, Amanda insisted on putting the new sheets and comforter set on his bed so that she could reassure herself that they did indeed look as good as what they had hoped while in the store.

Far be it from Lee to deny her anything, so he told her to go right ahead, that he had something he needed to do.

Amanda set about her task and soon had it finished. She was standing back from the bed, admiring how nice it looked when she sensed his presence. She turned around and found him standing in the frame of the door, wearing that sexy smile that just melted her resistance to him. And to think, she had once found him to be nothing more than a pesky annoyance.

How could any man look that good and how could any woman be expected to resist him, she thought to herself. Dressed as he was in faded old jeans and a tight fitting tee, standing there barefoot and holding a small box in his hand, well, of course she was going to melt.

"What’s that?" she asked as she eyed the box curiously.

"This?"

He looked down at it.

"Oh, it’s nothing."

"Come on, what is it?" she asked as she moved closer to him.

Lee chuckled, he’d known it wouldn’t take her long to notice it.

He handed it to her.

"It’s for you," he told her.

Surprise surfaced in her eyes. She hadn’t been expecting anything from him. After all, it was not any special day that she was aware of and as a mother she was certainly aware of every holiday on the calendar.

Her interest piqued, she quickly opened it.

When she saw what was in it she exhaled softly.

"Keys," she whispered as she took the shiny objects out of the box.

"One for the Vette and one for the apartment. I, ah," Lee stammered a bit. "Well, you know, you should have a set as well," he tried to explain, obviously looking a bit awkward.

Amanda knew that this was a very big step for her partner and she moved in to him, closing off any distance between them. Then she stood up on her tiptoes and kissed him gently on the cheek.

When she pulled away, she saw the pleased grin that he was wearing upon his handsome face and that told her far more than his awkward words could.

"Lee, you didn’t have to do this," she said softly.

"Amanda, these past few weeks have been wonderful. I’ve been enjoying getting to know you and I think you’ve been enjoying it as well. You’ve been such a help with all of this," he told her as he waved one hand around in the air to indicate the apartment. "I just wanted to let you know that you are welcome anytime, all of the time."

"Oh Lee," Amanda whispered as she moved to give him an almost innocent kiss.

A kiss that at one time would have been far more than Lee would have expected and would have served perfectly fine for reciprocation but at this moment, innocent wasn’t exactly what Lee had in mind.

Lee’s only question was this – what exactly did Amanda have in mind?