VERY MUCH TAKEN

VERY MUCH TAKEN

BY

MELINDA G. LIGHT

DISCLAIMER: As much as, I wish that Lee and Amanda were mine, they belong to WB and Shoot the Moon Productions.

RATING: PG-13

SUMMARY: Someone is unsure of the relationship. Jealousy for a stranger pops up. This is the ABC story for the letter V. Lee and Amanda are on an assignment. Just a little bit after the two started dating. This is an assignment that's completely off canon.

WARNINGS: I really do not think there is any need for a warning, but just in case, here it is. Watch out for Lee's temper.

FEEDBACK: Yes, please.

ARCHIVE: If you would like, just let me know where.

________________________________________________________________

Russian Embassy, New Year's Eve:

Lee Stetson stood at the window watching the crowd around him. It was always the same with him; he had to be aware of his surroundings, and who was there. Francine watched all this from across the room. Suddenly, he seemed to tense up, then smile. She turned to where he was looking and saw what caught his eye.

"Amanda King. I should have known." Francine muttered to herself. She turned back to look at Lee and heard him say that the bogey was two steps down from Station 1. Francine realized he was talking to her. She slowly turned toward where Lee had indicated and saw him.

"I see him. Waiting for the queen to make her move." Francine countered.

Amanda slowly moved toward the suspect, by the name of Timothy Lester. She was supposed to distract him and lure him outside. He was trying to sell secret government alarm plans to the Russians. Those plans would allow anybody to get past several of the security alarms, in several restricted areas, for example, the White House.

Lee and Francine both had to admit that Amanda looked great. She wore a short, strapless black dress, with high-heeled black pumps. She wore her hair down and it brushed against her shoulders. Completing the outfit, was a pearl necklace and earrings she'd received from Leatherneck. The necklace included a microphone.

Stepping up to Lester, Amanda asked, "Care to buy a girl a glass of vodka?"

He knew he was supposed to be meeting someone to receive the information that he would be purchasing. Taking a good long look at the beautiful woman in front of him he said, "Vodka is a little strong for a lady like you, don't you think?"

"It all depends on what you want to do." Amanda had stepped nearer to him to whisper in his ear.

Lee watched and listened to this whole exchange. He started to get that green-eyed bug again. Jealousy was common when it came to his partner. When she stepped closer to Lester, he almost went over there, and pulled her away from him.

Francine watched everything as it was happening, which included watching Lee. She knew that look and thought to herself, "Well, well, Amanda, I do believe you have been successful in doing something no other woman has. You've captured Lee Stetson's heart."

All of a sudden, Lester put his arm around Amanda and headed out the glass door to the balcony. Lee went out the other door, and Francine made contact with the rest of the group.

"The fox has taken the bait. Be ready to take the shot." Francine said.

She then moved to stand just inside the window.

"Do you have the information?" Lester asked. He had kept his arm around her waist.

"Of course, why do you think I'm here?" Amanda stated as she stepped back. "Let me see the dough first."

He pulled the envelope out of his breast pocket, and handed it to her. She smiled as she opened it. Quietly she slipped the envelope into her purse.

"Here you go." Amanda said as she stepped close to him. She slipped the envelope into his pocket as he slipped his hands around her waist. All of sudden, he started kissing her.

Lee watched the whole scene and he immediately became close to the boiling point.

Amanda quickly pulled away and listened as Lester suggested they go back to his place.

She calmly looked at him, "Sorry, but I'm already taken." In addition, she walked back through the window and heard Lee and the other agents arrest Timothy Lester.

"Great job, Amanda." Francine said.

"Thanks, Francine. Listen, here is the money and the tape player. If you don't mind I am going to grab myself something to drink."

"Go on ahead. Billy said we don't have to file our reports until morning. Oh, by the way, you might want to talk to Lee." Smiling to herself, Francine watched Amanda.

"About what Francine?" Slowly she turned back around.

"About how you are very much taken." Francine snidely said and left.

Shaking her head, Amanda grabbed some wine off a nearby tray. Then, she started looking for Lee.

"Mrs. King?" Fred Fielder said as he stopped by her.

"Yes, Fred." Amanda asked.

"Scarecrow asked me to give this note to you. I have no idea what it says." Fred had an idea, though, from the way Scarecrow was acting.

"Thanks, Fred. Goodnight." Amanda moved into a corner and opened the note.

It read, "If you are as very much taken with me, as I am with you, come to the fountain outside the study."

Lee was very nervous, and hoping that he didn't make a mistake with that note he'd sent Amanda. He started pacing up and down the pathway, in front of the fountain. All of a sudden, he looked up, and there she was.

"Lee?" Amanda whispered. She watched his eyes as he moved toward her.

"Amanda, that comment you made to Lester about being taken…uh, um." Lee stopped when Amanda placed her finger on his mouth.

"Yes, I was talking about you. I'm very much taken by you." Amanda whispered next to his lips.

Lee pulled her into his arms as he started kissing her. The electricity the contact made ran up and down his spine. He was so tempted to take her back to his place and make her really his, but he loved Amanda too much to rush their relationship.

After he pulled away, he gently hugged her and put his mouth right next to her ear, "Amanda, I'm very much taken by you, too."

He pulled away to see her response. Slowly, Amanda reached up, and kissed him with a passion that took both of them by surprise.

They broke apart and smiled at each other. What they didn't realize was that they had an audience. If they had looked into the shadows, they would have seen the blond hair of a Francine Desmond.

"Well, it looks like you both are very much taken off the market. Good luck." Francine says this in her mind. "You are going to need it."

She watches them for a few more minutes as they sit down on the bench near the fountain. Francine had always wished she could find what they had obviously found.

Quietly, she went back into the room and headed home.

The end.