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Disclaimer: Scarecrow and Mrs. King and its characters are the property of Warner Brothers and Shoot the Moon Productions. The plot of the following story was co-conspired. My thanks to Amy for the story idea and the inspiration to this sequel. Enjoy the read.

The story is a sequel to "I Would Never Cause You Pain". This deals with the aftermath of a drugged Lee beating Amanda.

Good Intentions

Amanda sat next to Lee in his car. Billy had brought it back to Lee's apartment later that day after finding it several miles from the apartment building. Billy also ordered that Amanda take a few days off and go to her doctor appointment on Monday. She and Lee decided to hold off on that weekend of lousy skiing until Amanda was 100% and could really enjoy it. Now they were headed to her house. Amanda was dreading explaining to her mother why she disappeared last night. She also needed to play the cover up game to hide her new bruises and pain. Pulling into her driveway Lee helped her out and inside. Dotty met them immediately.

"Oh thank God! Amanda I was so worried." She exclaimed and hugged her gently. "Are you okay? Where were you?" She asked.

"Mother I'm fine. I was having some pain and Lee took me in to see the doctor. You know how it is there. You wait and wait and loose all track of time and before I knew it; it was almost morning. Anyway, Lee's apartment was closer so he took me there and I was so tired I fell asleep and woke up an hour ago. I should have called but I didn't want to worry you. I guess you did anyway." Amanda blurted out not giving her mother any time to reply. She slowly inched her way to the stairs and began to walk toward her room. "I really just want to soak in a hot bath and go to bed. Are the boys sleeping? They better be it's after 11 and I don't care if it's not a school night. Thanks for taking care of me Lee. I'll see you later." She said desperate to change the subject.

Lee couldn't help but smile. Amanda had Dotty completely confused and speechless, which was quite an accomplishment. He began to understand why Amanda was so good at talking herself out of trouble. She practiced everyday. "I'll be by Monday to take you to your follow up." He answered back as Amanda was almost to the top of the stairs.

Dotty shook her head as if coming out of a trance. "That girl can talk her way out of anything." She said to herself.

"You don't know the half of it." Lee answered. Dotty turned to him having forgotten he was still there. "She's fine. They gave her some different medication and checked her over again. They said to expect the pain to get worse before it gets better. She just needs to rest." He informed her as he too slipped out the door before he faced any questions.

"And I see where she gets it from." Dotty commented to no one and walked up to her room.

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Monday morning Amanda struggled with her bra. Everything hurt ten times worse. The bruises looked even more menacing having settled on their shade of purple. She needed to go to her appointment and knew Lee would be there any minute. She was so wrapped up in her task she didn't hear the door open until it was too late. Her mother gasped. Amanda whirled around too fast and sunk slowly to the bed catching her breath.

"Amanda…" Dotty trailed off not sure what to say. She had never seen anything like her daughters bruises before.

"Mother it looks worse then it really is. Honest." She tried to assure her mother as she sunk down to eye level with her daughter. "I'm okay. Can you help me with my sweat shirt?" She asked thinking that giving her mother something to do would help. It didn't.

Dotty began to cry as she assisted Amanda's shirt over her head. "Did they catch this monster?" She asked quietly but forcefully.

"Yes mother. He's in jail right now." She half lied. Hearing her mother call the person who caused her bruises a monster made her wince. Lee was not a monster. Armon was the monster and Armon was behind bars. Dotty put Amanda's socks and shoes on and looked up at her. Trying to lighten the mood, "It's been a while since you had to tie my shoes."

"Let's hope this will be the last time." Dotty finished and stood up. "Amanda…"

"Mother I'm fine." She reassured her and took her mother's offered hand. "Lee's going to be here any minute to take me to my doctor's appointment." Amanda explained and headed downstairs with her mother right behind. As she entered the kitchen there was a familiar rap at the back door and Amanda smiled. "Old habits," she said under her breath and was happy that Lee could knock on that door while her family was home and not sneak around in the garden until everyone was in bed. 'I'm sure mother's happy about the new found safety of her flowers as well' she thought. Opening the door she met Lee's concerned face.

"How are you feeling this morning?" He asked giving her a gentle hug. And ushered her out to her car.

"Mother I'm leaving," she called out and didn't wait for an answer. "I'm okay. It hurts a lot more today." She said honestly.

Lee opened the car door, "I'm so sorry Amanda. I'll never hurt you again."

"Come on Lee. We agreed you'd forgive yourself." She complained getting in.

Lee kneeled down to her eye level. "It's not just that I hurt you. I beat you. Those are the worst bruises you've ever had." Lee answered seriously.

Amanda was so into the conversation she didn't notice her mother listening from the patio. "Lee I forgive you. I never blamed you. I know this won't happen again. Now get in the car, I want to get this over with and spend some of my time off of work letting you make this up to me." She teased.

He smiled, "I thought you forgave me." He said and kissed her tenderly.

"Yeah well you seem to need to do some penance to feel better." She answered.

Dotty watched as Lee closed the door and got in the driver's seat. They weren't even out of the driveway before she was dialing Joe's number. She was fuming when she got his answering machine. 'Damn' she thought and began talking, "Joe it's Dotty. I need you to come here a soon as possible. It's Amanda. She's… I think she's in an abu..." Dotty couldn't make herself say it. "Her boss Lee Stetson is beating her. Joe you'd never believe her bruises. They're horrible. She's always coming home with bruises and cuts she never explains or has unbelievable stories. It all started when she got that job at IFF. Joe you need to get here. I'm calling the police."

To be continued…