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Story Notes:
Disclaimers: Scarecrow and Mrs. King is copyrighted to Warner Brothers and Shoot
the Moon Production Company. This story, however, is copyrighted to the
mentioned author. This story is for entertainment purposes ONLY. If you would
like to add it to an archive, please just let me know.

Time Frame: Post Series. Takes place shortly after "Miracle at 4247 Maplewood
Avenue" written by myself and Jan Goldstein (The Yank and the Brit). The
marriage is no longer secret and Lee and Amanda have a little baby girl.

Author's Notes: This story is the result of a suggestion made after Miracle at
4247 Maplewood was written. We'd mentioned the picture that Emily had made of
Lee and Amanda after wrapping up the Das Geisterschloss case and one of our
readers requested that a story be written to describe exactly what message Emily
had hidden inside the drawing. In our story, Miracle, Emily shared the secret
message with Dotty and made Dotty promise to find out if Lee and Amanda had ever
figured out what it was. This is my take of what she might have hidden, and how
Dotty finds out if Lee and Amanda had figured it out.

The Legend of Das Geisterschloss was written by Steve Hattman.

And last but not least, a huge thank you goes to my beta and writing partner,
Jan for helping make this story all it could be.
Dotty stepped down off the landing and entered the kitchen. The first
thing she noticed was the hush that had fallen over the room. Her daughter was
preparing some bottles for her one-month old granddaughter, and her son-in-law
was standing next to Amanda, with a sleeping Jenna cradled in his arms. They
were the perfect picture.



Dotty watched as her daughter gazed at her husband, and it seemed that
they were sharing a thought, because they both smiled and then Amanda went back
to her task. The silent communication she had just witnessed wasn't the first
time she'd seen this happen. She had walked into any number of rooms in this
house many times since the truth of Lee had moved in with them, only to find the
pair staring at each other, almost as if they were having a whole conversation
that no one else could hear.



Looking at them now Dotty was suddenly reminded of something Emily
Farnsworth had told her, and she realized that the British lady was, indeed,
correct. Emily had confided in her the secret message hidden in the beautiful
picture she had drawn of Lee and Amanda that was now hanging in the upstairs
hallway. She had been a little surprised to find out just how long that picture
had been around but had enjoyed hearing from Emily how it had come to be. The
story of Amanda and Lee going to Austria to rescue their friend had seemed like
something from one of her spy novels, only better.



"Dotty?" Lee asked with concern in his voice as he made his way to
where his mother-in-law was standing. Aside from the fact that she was blocking
his path upstairs, she seemed to have a kind of lost expression on her face.
Clearing his throat, he tried again to get his mother-in-law's attention.



Dotty had been so lost in thought that she didn't realize that her
son-in-law was no longer standing beside his wife, until she heard his voice
directly in front of her. "Oh, Lee, I'm sorry, did you need to get past?" She
spoke quietly, so as not to wake her sleeping granddaughter.



Lee nodded. "Yes, but that can wait. Is everything okay? You seemed a
million miles away just now."



Dotty chuckled softly. "Yes, I'm fine. Just thinking about something
Emily told me once." She stepped aside to let Lee pass. "I can see from the
curious look on your face that you'd love to know what it is." She smiled when
her son-in-law nodded. "Go put my granddaughter in her crib, and when you come
back, I'll share my thoughts with you."



"Okay," Lee glanced back towards his wife, who, based on her own
curious expression, he knew had heard the exchange between Dotty and himself.
Anxious to know what could have transpired between Dotty and Emily, he carefully
made his way upstairs to put his sleeping daughter in her room.



Dotty smiled and made her way into the living room. Taking a seat in
the arm chair, she waited for her daughter and son-in-law to join her so that
she could finally fulfill the promise she'd made to Emily. Emily had told her
the story behind the picture on the night Jenna had been born. The family
friend had made her promise to find out if Lee and Amanda had ever figured out
what it was that she had hidden inside the drawing.



However, ever since Jenna's birth, things had been way too crazy for
Dotty to find a moment to begin to accomplish the task that had been set upon
her. After the blizzard on Christmas Eve had subsided, the ambulance arrived
and took Amanda and Jenna to the hospital. They stayed there for the better
part of the week, and when they came home again, they all had to adjust to new
schedules. Then a few days later it had been New Year's Eve, and now, almost
exactly one month to the day she'd made the promise, she was finally able to
find out if her daughter and son-in-law had any clue as to what the message
Emily had hidden in the picture really was.



Amanda finished putting the pre-made bottles in the refrigerator and
then made her way into the living room. She glanced at her mother and couldn't
help but notice that her mother looked like one of the boys at Christmas,
waiting for her to open one of their presents. "What are you up to, Mother?"
She asked, eyeing her mother skeptically.



Dotty put on her best innocent face. "I'm not up to anything, dear."



Amanda narrowed her eyes slightly. "Why don't I believe you?"



Dotty laughed. "Relax, Amanda, I have a question to ask you, but it
has to wait until Lee comes back."



Amanda started thinking about the events of the last few weeks and
couldn't begin to guess what it was her mother wanted to ask her and Lee.
Letting out a breath, she glanced towards the stairs, willing her husband to
show his face. Then, as if sensing her silent plea, she heard Lee's footsteps
on the last few steps. The moment he stepped down off the landing, she
anxiously patted the cushion next to her.



Lee quickly made his way over to the couch and sat down beside Amanda.
"Any clue what this is about?" he leaned over and whispered to his wife.



Amanda shrugged and then looked over towards her mother. "Okay, Mother,
Lee's here, now can you tell us what this is all about?"



Dotty smiled. "You make it sound so serious, Amanda, and I assure it's
nothing more than idle curiosity."



"Mo-th-er," Amanda let out an exasperated breath.



"All right, all right." Dotty laughed. "I made a promise to Emily the
night Jenna was born. "



"Emily?" Lee's tone was concerned. "This has to do with Emily? Is she
okay?"



Dotty nodded. "Relax, Lee, it's nothing serious. It has to do with the
picture she drew of the two of you. the one hanging upstairs." Watching as both
her daughter and son-in-law visibly relaxed, but still wore quizzical
expressions, she continued, "she told me how the picture came to be and she
wondered if you two ever figured out the message she'd hidden within the
drawing." Sitting further back in the arm chair, she gazed at the couple. "So,
the question I have to ask you both is, did you figure out the message?"



Amanda turned and gazed at her husband with a thoughtful expression as
she pondered the question and realized that while she had attempted several
times to find the hidden letters, she'd never found more than a few. She
remembered staring at it once or twice after it had been hung in the hallway,
but never long enough to find what Emily had hidden. Which, she had admitted to
herself, was quite surprising now that she stopped to think about it, because
she loved a good puzzle and was shockingly amazed at how long she'd let this one
go unsolved. "I hate to admit it, but unless you discovered something I
didn't," she looked over at her mother, "then no, we never did."



Lee shook his head. "I never did. In fact the last time I even thought
about it was that morning in that café when Emily gave us the picture. I
remember that we couldn't agree on what we saw and finally we both just gave
up."



"Right." Amanda nodded. "And then it spent the next two years rolled up
in the back of your closet."



"And another six months in the back of yours." Lee raised his eyebrows
knowingly towards his wife. He didn't need to voice what he was thinking, and
from the returning look she was giving him, he knew she understood. Amanda had
come across the picture, rolled up in his closet the day they were cleaning it
out. It was probably one of the very few things he'd hidden in there that he
hadn't minded her finding, since it related to her. She had been overjoyed to
find it and said it didn't belong hiding in his closet. She had planned on
taking it home and getting it framed to hang in her room, because it wouldn't
matter if her mother or the boys saw it, since they knew the two of them were
dating. However, life had interrupted and it had never gotten framed, but
instead had been pushed into the back of her closet until Dotty had come across
it and took it upon herself to have it framed.



Dotty cleared her throat. Lee and Amanda were doing it again; having
that silent conversation. She cleared her throat once more and this time got
their attention. "Well, I think that it's high time you two figured out the
message Emily left for you." She shook her head in amusement as the pair just
stared at her. "Lee, why don't you go up and take the picture off the wall, and
bring it on down?"



Amanda smiled politely at her mother. She really wouldn't mind taking
the time, but right now time was one thing she didn't have enough of these days.
"I would really love to, but I still have things to take care of, and Jenna
could wake up at any moment."



"Then I'll go get her if she does wake up." Dotty smiled. "And I'll
even get the laundry started." She turned her attention towards her son-in-law.
"And I won't take any excuses from you either, young man."



Lee glanced once at his wife, who shrugged her shoulders helplessly,
before rising from the couch. "I'll just be a minute then."



As her husband made his way to the stairs, Amanda looked directly at
her daughter's grandmother. "Mother," she began using the no-nonsense tone she
used with the boys, "why is it so important that we figure out what Emily hid in
the picture, and does it have to be right now?"



"Yes, it has to be now, because who knows when the next opportunity
will arise. And," Dotty's expression turned serious, "because, I made a promise
to someone and I always keep my promises. I assure you that it's nothing more
sinister than that."



"How do you want to do this?" Lee asked as he re-entered the room
carrying the picture. "Or more importantly, where?"



Amanda shrugged. "Right here on the couch is fine. We'll just hold it
up between us and point things out as we see them."



Dotty jumped up from her seat. "I'll go grab a pad and a pen." At the
questioning gaze she received from Lee, she smiled. "To write down the letters
you find. It'll make it easier for you to unscramble the message that way."



Amanda shook her head and chuckled. "I don't think I've seen her this
excited since we told her she was going to be a grandmother again."



Lee leaned closer to his wife and whispered, "Did she give you any clue
as to why this is so important to her?"



"She said it had to do with fulfilling a promise to Emily, and that's
all it is." Amanda gave a half shrug and then focused on the picture.



"Do you even remember any of the letters we found before?" Lee turned
his attention to the picture as well and began scanning it.



Amanda closed her eyes and tried to remember back to that day in the
café. She remembered being overjoyed at the present and then sadly realized
that the picture was going to find a home in a dusty corner somewhere, most
likely in one of Lee's closets. She knew it would have to go home with Lee
because she couldn't chance bringing it into her house, just in case her mother
found it and she knew that there was no way that Lee, at the time, was going to
hang it up. Opening her eyes, she focused on the trees. "I remember I found an
'A', right about here." She reached out and pointed to the letter in the trees.



"Right and I'd found an 'L', though I can't remember for the life of
me where that 'L' is." Lee snapped his fingers and instantly he looked over at
his mother-in-law who was now seated back in the arm chair. "This is a breeze. I
don't know why we didn't realize it before. The message isn't a message, it's
our names. I bet if we look long enough we'll find all the letters to spell out
Lee and Amanda."



Dotty shook her head. "You're quite wrong Lee."



Lee watched with instant chagrin as his wife shook her head as well.
"I'll accept a no from your mother, but how could you possibly know that Emily
hadn't spelled out our names?"



"Because," Amanda stated matter-of-factly, "if you think hard enough,
you'll remember that the 'L' you thought you saw as actually an 'M' not an 'L',
and add to that the fact that I clearly remember finding a 'T' over here," she
pointed to a portion of the picture. "And here's the 'G' I'd discovered that
day, too. So, unless I'm mistaken, there's no 'T' or 'G' in either one of our
names."



Lee looked closer at the letter his wife thought was a 'G'. "Amanda,
that's not a 'G'," he commented pointing to the letter. "That's an 'O'. And if
memory serves me correctly, you said that my 'L' was an 'N' not an 'M'."



Amanda rolled her eyes and shook her head. "No, I said it was an 'M',
you just misunderstood me. You did that a lot back then."



Lee stared incredulously at his wife. "I did not."



Amanda patted her husband's arm affectionately. "Yes, sweetheart, you
did." Then seeing the obstinate look on his face she sighed. "Okay, so maybe
misunderstood is the wrong word, but you have to admit you didn't always listen
to me. In fact, after awhile I think you sort of tuned me out."



"I never tuned you out, but you're right, I suppose I did kind of
'ignore' some of the things you said back then." Lee leaned forward and placed a
quick but tender kiss on her lips. "I'm sorry."



Amanda returned the kiss and then gently laid her head against his
forehead. "It's all right, love, you've more than made up for that in recent
years."



"Hmm-hmmm." Dotty smiled as the two looked over in her direction. "This
is all very touching and fascinating, but you have work to do." She tapped the
pad gently with the pen. "I can confirm that you have correctly found the
following letters: an 'A', an 'O'."



"See told you that 'G' was an 'O'." Lee smiled smugly as he pointed to
the aforementioned letter.



Amanda stared closer at the image. "It still looks like a 'G' to me."



Lee shook his head. "No, look closer. What you think is the line of the
'G' is actually a tree branch. If you look close enough you'll see that the
letter is a fully closed 'O'."



"Hmm." Amanda watched as Lee's finger followed the path of the letter.
"You're right. Okay, so that's an 'O'." She turned towards her mother. "What
other letters did we find?"



"Well, I might be giving something away since I don't know what letter
you're referring to, but you're both correct, there is an 'M' and an 'L'." Dotty
glanced at the couple. "And lastly, I can confirm that you are correct in the
'T' you found. But," she pointed to the back of the picture, "you still have a
few more letters to find."



"Can you give us a hint, Mom?" Lee asked doing his best to butter his
mother-in-law up. He knew she loved it when he called her 'mom' and frankly, as
much as he enjoyed a good walk down memory lane, there was a lot of stuff he had
to do, and trying to find an old message Emily had hidden, wasn't really on his
list.



Dotty shook her head and smiled. "Nice try, Lee, but buttering me up
isn't going to work. I'm not going to give you any clues as to what the message
is."



Lee glanced at her with his best innocent expression. "I was only going
to ask if you could tell us how many more letters we have to find."



Dotty scrunched her face in mock thought. "I'll think about it, but
let's see how you two do on your own first."



"Lee," Amanda excitedly elbowed her husband's side. "I just found two
more letters."



Lee returned his attention to the picture. "Where?"



"Right here," Amanda pointed to a curl in her hair, "Emily drew an
'S'." She glanced over the top of the picture and watched as her mother wrote
the letter down, confirming the fact that she'd correctly found a letter.



Lee nodded. "You're right. Okay, so where's the other one?"



"Here." Amanda pointed to a spot just above Lee's head. "It's a 'U'."



"Good eyes." Lee smiled lovingly at his wife. "I don't think I would
have found either one of those."



Amanda glanced over the picture. "Mother, can I see that pad please."



Lee watched his wife curiously. "Do you think we have enough letters?"



"I don't know," Amanda shrugged as she accepted the paper from her
mother. "I just want to take a look at what we have so far and see if I can make
any kind of sense of the letters." She turned her attention back towards her
husband. "While I do this, why don't you see if you can find any other letters
we haven't found?"



"Sure." Lee nodded and then, holding the picture with both hands so his
wife could try and turn the letters they had into a word or words, he turned his
attention back onto the drawing.



Amanda stared long and hard at the letters. She didn't need her mother
to give them any kind of clue to know that there was only one word hidden in the
picture. Emily had confided in her the first time they'd met and she'd given
Emily the grand tour of D.C., that as much fun as it was to hide the letters, it
was way too complicated to try and hide more than one word in each of her
drawings.



Amanda counted the letters they had so far and came up with seven.
What was Emily trying to tell them? She rewrote the letters a few times until
she came up with two separate words: 'soul' and 'mat' and her eyes grew wide
with understanding. They may not have found all the letters, but she didn't
need them. She knew exactly what the word was. "Soulmates," she stated proudly
and glanced over at her mother for confirmation.



Dotty nodded and smiled. "Excellent, darling. Emily's going to be so
happy to know you finally figured it out."



Lee glanced at the pad of paper. "How did you come up with that so
fast?"



Amanda shrugged. "You know me, I love a good puzzle, and once I got the
letters rearranged enough, I knew exactly what it had to be. Emily obviously
saw in an instant what it took us years to figure out."



Lifting the picture up, Lee gently lifted it over the arm of the couch
and leaned it against the side of the sofa. He then turned towards his wife. "I
always said that Emily was much smarter than me."



Amanda laughed lovingly. "Knowing that you would never admit that
anyone was smarter than you, I believe what you always told me was that Emily
always knew best."



"See I knew one day you'd finally admit that you actually listen to
me." Lee grinned playfully at his wife.



Amanda rolled her eyes and chuckled. "Well, listening and agreeing are
two entirely different things, my love."



Lee placed his hands tenderly on either side of his wife's face. "You
are, you know." At his wife's slightly raised brow, he lowered his voice and
spoke in a more tender tone. "You're my love, my life and my soulmate."



"And you're mine." Amanda leaned forward and lovingly placed a kiss on
her husband's lips. As Lee placed more pressure on hers, she slipped her arms
around his shoulder and put her heart and soul into the embrace.



Dotty quietly rose from her seat and, picking the picture up, quickly
made her way out of the room. She was going to return the drawing to its
rightful place and give the two soulmates some much-needed private time. As she
began ascending the stairs, she looked at the couple depicted in the sketch and
couldn't help but think that both Lee and Amanda were right; Emily Farnsworth
really did know best.




The End



End Notes:



The tag from the "Das Gleisterschloss" episode has the following dialogue (I
couldn't find a transcript so I can't confirm what my ear heard as I replayed
the tag a few dozen times, and the original script is somewhat different).



Tag as transcripted from playing the program back:



Amanda: "Look there's an 'A' in the tree and there's a 'G'"



Lee points out "and there's an 'L'


Amanda shakes her head. "No, that's not an 'L', that's an 'N' (or 'M' hard to
tell what she says) and there's a 'T'.



I took writer's liberty and changed the 'G' to an 'O' for the sake of this
story. And while in the script (as you'll see below) it's clearly their names,
I can't imagine them actually having to hunt for all the letters that make up
Amanda King and Lee Stetson, that's a lot of letters to hide in one picture.





Tag as written in the original script:



Lee and Amanda laugh and admire the sketch. Suddenly Lee points at something
in the picture.

AMANDA

Hey, isn't that a letter 'A' in the mountain?



LEE

Here's an 'L' in the castle!



Mrs. Farnsworth smiles as Lee and Amanda, like two ex­cited children, continue
to hunt for their names. They both point at the sketch at the same time and we
FREEZE FRAME
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