For personal use and select distribution only © April 2002 by Amber Stockton Legend of Das Geisterschloss - tagalogueWritten by Stephen Hattman (excerpts from the episode belong to him)
"Oh, I almost forgot!" Emily remarked as she reached down into her handbag and withdrew a sketch book. "A little memento of your trip. Personalized," she said and handed it to Amanda. "Oooh! Oh, look!" she exclaimed as she opened the sketch book. "Emily," Lee remarked as he looked at a beautiful drawing of him and Amanda, both shown from the upper torso with Amanda in front of him and his arms crossed behind her. The background was a simple mountain with trees dotted across the landscape. "That's an A. That's an A in the tree," Amanda stated, pointing to a spot on the drawing. "No, no, no, isn't that an L?" Lee asked, his finger on a spot next to the drawing of his face. "And that's a G." "An L," he stated with determination. "There's a G." "No, it's an L." "That's not an L," she argued. "No, no, that's an N. It's a..." Lee gave her an exasperated look, and she paused to look at him, then smiled. "Gosh," she said, seemingly embarrassed at how silly it was to argue over the letters that were hidden in the drawing. They all shared a laugh at the humorous situation, and when their laughter subsided a moment later, Amanda cleared her throat. "Well, Mrs. Farnsworth, what letters are in this one?" "First, we're going to get one thing straight," she said and imitated her most stern voice. Lee smiled at the surprised look on Amanda's face, but he could tell that Emily was only teasing. When Emily smiled to soften her words, it was obvious Amanda realized it, too. "I would like you to call me Emily. This 'Mrs. Farnsworth' stuff is no longer necessary," she told Amanda with a sweeping motion of her hand. "Lee is a very good friend, and since you are working with him, I'd like to count you as a friend, as well." "Oh, you can certainly do that, Mrs....Emily," Amanda immediately corrected. "Wonderful!" Emily exclaimed. "Now, secondly, I'm not going to tell you all of the letters in my sketch. It would spoil the fun the two of you will have trying to figure them all out." She smiled conspiratorially at them both, then scooted back her chair and stood. "Now, if you'll both excuse me for a moment, I'm going to pay a visit to the water closet." Lee and Amanda watched Emily leave, and in silent agreement, immediately turned their attention back to the sketch, their mutual curiosity getting the better of them. "Look, I think that's a T!" "And that looks like an E," Lee added. Then, he moved his finger a little to the right. "There's another G." "Yes, and that looks another E," Amanda added. "Yeah, yeah, I think you're right." Lee nodded, and they both fell silent as their eyes carefully scanned the sketch for any other letters. "Oh!" Amanda exclaimed, and Lee almost lost his hold on the pad. "I see another A, right there on your shoulder." She pointed and gave him a cheeky grin. "And right there, in your hair, is that N you said was my L earlier," he retorted with a smug grin. "So, did you figure out all of the letters?" Emily inquired as the returned to their little table. "Well, I don't know. We've found a lot of letters, but how are we going to know if we have them all, if you don't tell us what they are?" Amanda's logical mind pointed out. "I still won't tell you what they were, but I never said I wouldn't tell you how many," Emily replied. "I hid a total of ten letters in that sketch, and when you rearrange them, those letters form two words. That's all I'm going to tell you. You'll have to figure out the rest on your own." She leaned forward in her chair and reached out a hand to lay on Amanda's arm. "So, how are you enjoying Salzburg?" "Oh! I'm loving it so very much!" Amanda exclaimed, her attention diverted from the sketch. "I've been to so many wonderful places here in Europe in the past few weeks, and I'm always amazed at how preserved it all is, even after hundreds and sometimes thousands of years of history. There's so much to see and do, I know I'll never see it all, but I'm just glad for the opportunity!" "What have you seen so far? You couldn't possibly have been doing nothing but looking for me this entire time, could you?" "Almost," Lee replied, not looking up from the sketch. "Oh, no, not the entire time," Amanda added. "We did everything we could, but the final clue at the café with Marianna had to wait an extra day, so we went to visit Hohensalzburg fortress and the cathedral." "Our flight back is the day after tomorrow, so we're going to visit the Salzgammergut Lake district," Lee informed Emily. "And see the famous Wolfgangsee Lake, near the towns of St. Wolfgang, St. Gilgen and Strobl. Oh, and Lee also promised to humor me by taking the Sound of Music tour. It's my absolute favorite movie, and I just would never forgive myself if I left Salzburg without seeing some of the filming locations of that movie. Did you know..." Lee's attention shifted as Amanda rambled about the tour and the movie and what they would see. She had already gone through all of that with him yesterday when he had promised to take her on the tour. So, instead of pretending to listen, he focused his mind back on the sketch. Emily had said she had hidden ten letters in the sketch, and if their findings were correct, they had found them all. Now, the trick was to arrange them. At first, he tried going by the order in which they had found them, but that only produced a jumble of letters that spelled out 'aglntegean.' Even the best code book in the world couldn't crack that one! So, he thought about what Emily had said about there being two words, and he realized they had two each of the letters A, G, E, and N. Then, there was an extra T and L. Mentally, he took one set of the duplicate letters to form the word 'agen,' but when he added the extra letter of T to it, he had 'agent.' As he thought about the reason they were all together, he knew that had to be one of the words. Well, that left 'agenl.' If he knew Emily as well as he did, she was using two words to describe the two people she had drawn, him and Amanda. Since it was obvious he was the agent, that would make her the ... He finally saw it! Angel! Those last five letters spelled out 'angel.' He cast a quick glance at Emily, and his success must have been spelled out on his face, because she gave him an almost imperceptible wink and nod to silently communicate to him that he was right. He smiled and was very pleased with himself that he had been able to figure it out, and this time without Amanda's help. When he came down off of his self-built pedestal, his thoughts turned immediately to the other person in the sketch, and his eyes sought her out of their own accord. She was still involved in conversation with Emily, so he felt safe to take a moment and leisurely peruse her features. She certainly had been very helpful with this most recent case. If it hadn't been for her remembering that Emily had sketched everything during their tour of D.C. last year, there was no telling how long it would have taken them to figure out where she was. As they had poured all of their attention into the sketches they had found in Emily's hotel room, Lee had found himself constantly looking around, making certain that no one was around. He had also found himself continually finding ways to stay in contact with Amanda, whether it was a hand placed at the small of her back, an arm around her waist, a brief clasp of her hand to get her to follow him, or a comforting hug. He had no trouble recalling the pleasant feelings that coursed through him at the knowledge that he was protecting her, many times by just being there to offer her his strength. That's just what all of that was. Protection. At least, that's what he told himself, even if his mind tried to tell him otherwise. However, there were also several times when Amanda had reached out to touch him, and although he had reacted somewhat in irritation, that was only to cover up the confusion he felt when she was near. Even now, he could vividly recall each moment. They had been at the puppet show in the square when she had tugged on his arm to pull him away from several people. Although she rambled as she normally did, he was actually surprised to realize that her ramblings were starting to make sense to him. While that could be good for their assignments, the implications that he was starting to understand her went far deeper. He wasn't about to pursue those thoughts, so he forced his mind to focus back on the next moment when he had felt something pass between them. They had been sitting at the café and he had accused her of reading too many spy novels when she had suggested that Emily had hidden something in her sketches. Funny thing was, she had been right. That wasn't the hardest thing to grasp about that moment, though. It was when he had confessed how much Emily meant to him, telling her that Emily was a friend in a business that didn't have many. She had reassured him by taking hold of his fingers in her hers, promising that they would find Emily. That moment, he had definitely felt a current between them, and when she had nervously explained to Dr. Hanover that they weren't a couple, he knew she had been just as flustered as he. No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't find a reasonable explanation for it. Perhaps it was her unquestioning trust in him that brought out this protective nature, this need to be close to her. Perhaps it was instinct that had him looking out for her. Then again, perhaps it was ... No, there was no way it could be that. He wouldn't even let himself think about that, not even when his mind kept replaying how easily he would reach out to comfort her or keep her near him, or how natural it felt to reach for her hand or put an arm around her. When she had first arrived, she had said that being there in Salzburg was just like a fantasy, and as he gazed at her, he could very easily agree. There was something about being in the beautiful cities of Europe with Amanda that just seemed to make him forget that they were there on assignment. Sometimes, I think I'm living one, he had said. Yes, 'angel' certainly was the perfect word to describe her. "Don't you agree?" "Lee?" He suddenly realized that Emily and Amanda were expecting an answer from him, and he had no idea what the question was. His hand came up to run haphazardly through his hair, and he flashed his most disarming smile at them both. "I'm sorry, my mind was on other things." "Well, that's obvious!" Amanda intoned sarcastically. Lee cast a quick scowl in her direction, then looked back at Emily. "What did you say?" "Amanda and I were discussing the beauty of Mozart's wonderful musical pieces, and we thought it would be a marvelous idea if the three of us could enjoy an evening at the Stiftskeller St. Peter restaurant, and take in a concert by the Amadeus Consort Salzburg chamber orchestra. We could also visit the Baroque Hall of St. Peter's Monastery. Either way, we'll be treated to a truly delightful evening, and I can't think of a better way to spend an evening than with dear friends. Don't you agree?" "You certainly have a way with words, Emily. How could I possibly say no to two such charming ladies?" He reached out both his hands to take one of each of theirs, then raised them both to his lips at the same time and grinned. Emily immediately withdrew her hand and playfully swatted him on the arm. "Oh, you are still the smooth-talker you always were, Lee!" She laughed, then Lee saw her eyes glance down at the table where Lee still held Amanda's hand in his, his thumb absentmindedly stroking the backs of her fingers. Amanda quickly pulled back her hand, and Lee jerked his back to the edge of the table as he cleared his throat. "Yes, well, shall we head back to the hotel and get ready for our evening?" Lee suggested. "Yes, that's a ... that's a good idea. I think we should ... yes, let's," Amanda agreed hastily as she pushed back her chair and stood to her feet, obviously flustered. Lee and Emily exchanged a private look, then they both rose as well. Lee left a tip on the table, making certain to put it under one of the glasses so Amanda wouldn't chastise him about it blowing away, and offered an arm to them both. As they began to walk, Amanda tugged slightly on his arm. He glanced down at her with a questioning look in his eyes. "Lee, we never did figure out the letters in the sketch." "Sure we did," he answered. "No, we didn't. We only had a jumble of letters," she corrected him. "How many letters did you find, Amanda?" Emily asked. "Ten," Amanda replied, leaning forward to glance across Lee at Emily. "But, that's as far as we got." "No, I actually figured it out while you were talking with Emily about the tour tomorrow." "Well, what does it say?" she asked anxiously. "The two words are agent and angel," he replied with a grin. "Agent and ang..." she repeated, but stopped herself short. Lee glanced down and saw a small grin form on her lips. She looked first over at Emily then up at him as she realized what Emily had done. Lee just smiled and gave her wink before he turned his attention forward to lead them back to the hotel. (THE END) |
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