Her heart leapt into her throat. She could do this. She'd practiced
for hours to get to this level.

Her hand settled on her stomach willing the butterflies to go away.

She looked out at the blue expanse in front of her.

She gulped and stood ramrod straight.

Courage.

A voice sounded from behind. "Are you sure? It's a long way down."

She nodded and stepped closer to the edge.

She turned her head and gave her partner the thumbs up sign.

The wind hit her face as she leaned forward.

Then Dotty West jumped out of the plane. She screamed "Oh My Gosh!"
All the way down till she landed perfectly.

As she walked from the landing site her family ran up to her.

"You did it grandma." Phillip and Jamie high fived her.

"I knew you could do it mother." Amanda kissed her cheek.

A few minutes later her son-in-law joined them.

"I knew you could it."

He'd been the last of the family to make the sky diving jump.

"Let's do it again!" She looked up into the sky and smiled.

Come on Amanda, their gaining on us. We have to move quicker, hollered Lee as
he grabbed her hand.

I'm trying Lee, Amanda replied in frustration. You try running through deep
snow in an evening gown.

The two spies ran as fast as they could up the steep slippery hill, but when
they reached the top they realized they were at the edge of a large cliff.

Lee what are we going to do? Amanda fearfully asked her partner.

We have no choice, we have to jump. Lee replied.

Amanda started to shake. As she looked over the edge, she didn't think they
could pull this off without getting seriously injured or worse. "Are you sure?
It's a long way down" she asked.

Amanda we have to. We can't let these goons get the microdot and we don't have
any way to defend ourselves. Take my hand and on my count we go.
One-two-three-jump!! They closed their eyes and took the long plunge to the
bottom.

Are you ok Amanda? Lee asked as he helped her up and started checking her for
injuries.

I'm fine. Are you hurt? she asked.

I'm alright, he said as he pulled her tightly to him grateful they were alive.
Thank god we landed in this huge snowbank. It cushioned our fall.

They brushed the snow off their clothes and looked at their surroundings. Lee
noticed some lights up ahead. Let's go and find a phone so we can call Billy and
tell him to send someone out here to get us, he told her.

Lead the way. I can't wait to get out of this wet gown and into a hot shower.

I like the sound of that, Lee grinned as he put his arm around her waist.

Oh you! she playfully swatted his chest, and they began to walk towards the
lights that would lead them safely home.

She stood trembling. Hanging on to the handrails with all her might. She
took a deep breath and let it out slowly before turning around and looking at
the strong face of the man behind her.

"You can do it, sweetheart. I know you can," he gently encouraged her.

"Are you sure? It's a long way down."

He nodded and winked at her.

Tentatively, she walked to the edge of the platform, craning her neck to see
over the edge. With one last look over her shoulder, she took a deep breath,
pinched her nose shut with two fingers and jumped.

A few seconds later, she surfaced from the water, looked up at the proud
face of her father and waved. "I did it, Daddy. I did it."

He waved back. "You sure did, Panda." He then pinched his nose shut and
imitated his daughters first dive off the high board perfectly.

The End

Amanda Stetson turned to her husband and partner. "Lee, the NPS Rangers are
off duty, and who knows if the Park Police will do a random security check
inside during the night."

"Amanda, it looks like we will have to take the stairs."

Amanda looked her husband over from head to toe. He had been a little
roughed up in a fight with a Russian man. "Are you sure? It's a long way down."

"It will only take us a matter of minutes. Believe me. I'm not letting that
bozo get too far away from us. There will be hell to pay when we catch him."

"Okay, Sweetheart, we'll get him. Let's concentrate on getting out of here."

"Move away, Amanda. I'm going to shoot the lock off of this door."

Amanda moved away. This predicament had put them in a unique position
professionally and physically. As she walked, she observed the White House to
the north, the National Mall to the east, the Jefferson Memorial to the south, and
the Arlington National Cemetery to the west. After she heard the gunshots
which gave them access to the stairwell, Amanda returned to her husband. She
grasped his hand and moved toward the stairs.

She hoped that this would be the last time for a while that a romantic
midnight rendevous on the mall would be interrupted by chasing a known
terrorist into the Washington Monument.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"You can do it, Emily!!" Lee told his daughter. The little girl,
looking very scared, climbed the last step at the top of the sliding
board. "Daddy will catch you, Em" encouraged Amanda, who was
watching from her seat on the nearby park bench. Lee looked over at
his very beautiful, very pregnant wife and smiled lovingly at
her. "Poor Amanda", Lee thought. The last few weeks of the
pregnancy had been so uncomfortable for her. He knew she would
rather be right there beside him helping encourage Emily to go down
the sliding board for the very first time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unbeknownst to Lee, his family was being observed by two pairs of
watchful eyes. From the observers' vantage point, the Stetsons
seemed to be a very normal, happy family without a care in the
world. The two were taking the whole scene in, observing every move
the Stetson family made.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Daddy??" Emily asked, "Are you sure? It's a long way down." "Yes,
sweetheart, I will catch you," Lee encouraged her. "Wave to Mommy,"
he said. Still looking rather frightened, Emily waved at Amanda.
Amanda snapped her photo with the digital camera wanting to preserve
the moment. "Ok, here I go!" Emily shouted as she finally slid down
the shiny surface for the first time and into Lee's arms. "Good job,
Emily!" Lee said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The beautiful pair of Cardinals in the old oak tree just above the
slide looked at one another, and then at their three tiny hatchlings
snuggled down in the nest. They wondered how long it would be
before they heard those very same words from their youngsters, "Are
you sure? It's a long way down." With three tiny mouths to feed,
they had little time to contemplate it further and took flight in
search of food. Right out of the tree and over Emily's and Lee's
heads they sailed. "Daddy!" Emily exclaimed. "Look at the pretty red
birds!" Lee looked at the birds as they soared away and said, "Yes,
they are beautiful, just like you and your mommy!" He carried Emily
over to the bench where Amanda was waiting and asked if she was ready
to go home. Lee said, "It's lunchtime, and I bet our little munchkin
here is hungry!"

The End.

“Are you sure? It’s a long way down.” Jamie questioned his brother, Philip, as
they stood at the top of the stairs. The tricycle they had hauled up the
stairs was standing between them.

“Of course I’m sure worm brain. All you need to do is hang on and you’ll be
at the bottom in no time. Mom’s gone and grandma’s outside and it’s the perfect
time to try this. I’m too big so you have to be the one to do it.” Philip
explained as only a big brother could.

“Alright, but if this doesn’t work, I’m telling mom.” Jamie lamented.

“It’ll work, trust me” Philip calmly replied. And with that Jamie jumped on
the tricycle and went for the ride of his young life. The ride only lasted a
few seconds, and as he bounced down the stairs he could hear Philip yelling,
“And there he goes...”

As he got to the bottom, Jamie realized they hadn’t thought about the stopping
part and screamed, “Now what???”

“I don’t know, jump!” Philip yelled as he raced down the stairs after his
little brother, thinking the whole time about how much trouble he was about to
be in.


Now for my version: When I was about 3 or 4 years old, my parents put my kid
sister in her walker and told me to watch her. I watched her head right for the
basement stairs and took a very bumpy ride down. As she went, I yelled, "And
there she goes..." She stayed in the walker the whole ride down and crashed
into the support post at the bottom of our stairs. To this day, my parents love
to remind me of my kid sister’s little stair ride.

"Are you sure? It's a long way down."

"I'm sure, Dad. I'm the only one who can do it," David pleaded.

John looked around to the Rangers but none of them were close enough
to hear the conversation. Everyone knew the situation was dire.
John nodded, "All right. I'll be here the whole time."

"Thanks, Dad. I won't let you down." The nine-year-old turned to
the Minbari with the harness, who had been awaiting the decision.
John monitored from the distance as his son's straps were attached.

The situation was an accident, unforeseeable by anyone. David and
his friend, Jadier, had gone with the Ranger bodyguards for some fun
on snow-covered ice. They found an embankment that was not too far
a walk. What they did not know, or see, was the crevice on the walk
back up the hill. Jadier had simply disappeared from David's side.

Jadier was a Minbari of David's age. His father was of the warrior
caste and his mother, the religious. Jadier's father decided to
transfer to the Rangers a few years before. When David and Jadier
met at a Ranger function, they had become fast friends. It was a
relief for John that his son had a best friend. The youngster had
many other friends, but no one with whom he was as close.

When John heard about what happened, he had immediately left for the
scene. Several worker caste Minbari, engineers, had also been
alerted and were taking measurements, doing their best to rescue the
youngster. Enlarging the hole had been out of the question, the
embankment developed a long, horizontal crack that threatened to
cave in, forever entombing Jadier.

The young Minbari had been in the hole for two hours. Blankets had
been tossed down to him but he was still cold in the subfreezing
temperatures. He was on an ice shelf, and it was beginning to
crack, but the crack was still too small for him to fall through.
As time passed, the danger increased.

John and David had been watching, off to the side. Delenn would
have been there, too, had she not been offworld. She was also
completely out of reach, something about a solar flare and some
asteroids. On being approached by the Minbari workers for David's
help, John had been so hesitant. The plan could fail, or something
could further go wrong and they might lose both boys.

It was his son's determined voice that convinced John, so like
Delenn's. Not a waver from the treble voice, just a promise. He
knew he would have to cut the strings and let go of his son some
day, but he wasn't counting on that day being today.

Twenty minutes after David's descent, there was no news, John began
to worry. He had to keep his distance for the stability of the
ice. "Oh God," he groaned to any deity that might be
listening, "Please. Please help him do this. Please keep both
those boys safe."

He turned and waved over Ranger Mitch Baldwin. "Yes, sir?"

"Let me have your radio, would you? I don't know why I didn't think
of that before."

"Of course, sir." Ranger Baldwin reconfigured his radio and set up
the President, even though he was sure Sheridan could do it himself.

Finally, over the radio was heard, "We have them, repeat, we have
them, both juveniles are above ground and on the safetyzone."

John had seen the boys lifted out of the hole and it was hard as
Hell not to move a muscle, crawling over the ice to get to his son.
He wouldn't risk it, for all the need that was in him, he was going
to make sure not to endanger anyone else. Followed closely by
Ranger Baldwin, he made his way around the circumference of the ice
to his son, thanking God the entire way.

"Hi, Dad. See? I did it." David smiled.

"Oh, you sure did. I am proud of you, as always." John hugged David
to him. He saw Jadier being embraced by his parents, also, and
hugged his son still tighter.

"I think I'm ready to go home." David said.

"Don't you want to say good night to Jadier?" John offered.

"I did. On the way up. We agreed though, he has to be with his
parents tonight, same as I have got to be with you. Maybe we could
have something good when we get home?" The boy asked.

"Sure, what?"

"Ice cream." David began laughing at his father's expression as
they walked back to the Compound hand in hand.

The End

"Jump!"

"Are you sure?"

"Jump!"

"It's a long ways down," he said to the voice in his head. He knew
the voice was Kosh's and that the Vorlon was trying to help him out
in some way. Yet looking down he knew there was no way in the
universe that he would survive the jump.

He had two choices. Die or live and be influenced by the Shadows.
He would choose death before he would become subservient to them. He
looked one last time into the face of his now enemy once lover. John
Sheridan jumped and fell into the abyss making his choice.

"Are we really going to do this?"

The tension mounted as the daring spy duo prepared for the
infiltration of the heavily guarded fortress.

Lee adjusted the belt on his black jumpsuit (hey, my story so I
choose for Lee to be in the scrumptious black get up we saw on air,
hubba ubba). Amanda looked nervous to his trained, analytical mind's
eye.

"It's going to fine okay? Just don't think about, hey, we've done
tougher jobs than this in the past."

Amanda nodded as best she could, appreciating her partners attempts
to allay her fears and make her smile. She still felt nervous
whenever she thought of what lay before them.

This job could get dangerous, there was no accounting for the type of
person they might meet during the mission.

She still could not help but seek further reassurance form the
tightly clad man at her side (still my story so yeah, going with
tight, woo-hoo).

"Are you sure? It's a long way down."

Lee flashed her his famous mega-watt grin as they descended down the
steep secret entrance of the establishment.

"I'm sure, we just go in, mingle abit, gather as much information
about the people that we can and then we make a run for it."

Amanda gripped his hand as they continued down the ultra secret
entrance.

Besides, when all was said and done, how dangerous and exciting could
a Wicky Gutter function really be?

She looked at her partners fine form as she stood silently behind him.

Today had been rough and thrawt with tension.

Soon they would be home and they could relax like she had wanted to
relax with her super hunky guy from the beginning, since this whole
day had begun.

Wicked thoughts swirled around her tired brain as she continued
looking at her partners body.

Looking back she was never really sure what prompted her to actually
be bold enough to do part of what she was thinking.

Maybe it was his fine profile when he turned his head slightly and
looked at the scenery as they both descended.

If she made the day more fun it would fly by, she so desperatley
wanted to go home she was willing to try just about anyhting at this
point.

She took a deep breath, fortune favoured the brave, go for it, as her
friend Jan would say.

Kris started slowly rubbing Jame's fine posterior. Feeling embolded
she started adding a squeeze here and there, no one could see.

She playful leant over her beloved's shoulder and whispered
suggestivley in his ear.

"First time being fondeled on a city escalator?"

James turned and grinned suggestively back at her.

"If you do that you might start something we need to finish, are you
sure? It's a long way down."

He pointed down the steep escalator, indicating what would happen if
their passion over took them and they fell, right there on Flinder's
Street station amongst the startled public.

"Hey, he laughed, I'm all for it though. Just think, we could have
something saucy for you to share with your Yahoo Group, you know the
cool one, the one that deals with Lee and Amanda from Scarecrow And
Mrs. King. Wicky, that's it, yeah, share with Wicky, they will love
that."

Kris thought about it, could it lead to more escapades once they were
home?

She slowly stretched forth a trembling hand . . .

The babies look at each other as they entered the birth canal.
Jennifer looked at her brother and was skeptical at first. Matthew
looked at her and said, "Come on Jennifer, our mommy and daddy are
waiting at end of this tunnel. You can do it."

"Are you sure? It's a long way down. I don't know if I can do it."

As Lee held Amanda's hand she pushed one last time. At last Jennifer
and Matthew Stetson were born.