Thoughts – An ATC for Service Above and Beyond, Season 1

I don't own these characters; I just like to spend time with them. No other profit to be had.

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"Lee?" Amanda asked as the thought occurred to her.

"Yeah?" He turned back.

"How'd you get me out of there?" She asked.

Lee gave her a soft dimpled smile. "I carried you." He told her, as he turned and left.

"He carried me." Amanda's voice was full of awe and wonder at that knowledge. Though Lee Stetson, aka Scarecrow, could be demanding and rude and thoroughly confusing, he could also be sweet and charming and oh so easy to look at. How one man could do so many things to her at once, she had yet to figure out. But she knew one thing, Lee Stetson had already captured a part of her that no one man had ever been able to. Not even Joe.

"Amanda?" Her mother popped her head out of the door. "What are you doing out here? I thought you were doing dishes?"

"I am, Mother." Amanda sighed. "I just needed a breath of fresh air for a moment." Broken from her revelry, Amanda turned and followed her mother into the house, going back to her dishes.

"I swear, Amanda. If you needed air, all you had to do was open the window a little." Dotty turned a critical eye on her daughter. "You know you haven't looked like you felt too good the past couple of days. Maybe you ought to schedule a doctor's appointment. I mean you could be sick. You could…" Dotty's eyes widened. "Oh, Amanda. You don't think you could've developed some sort of disease from one of the animals you take care of, do you? I mean like the swine flu, only not the swine flu because of course you don't take care of a pig but… You don't take care of a pig, do you?"

Amanda shook her head and with a slight grin. "No, Mother. I don't take care of any pigs and I didn't catch anything from any of the animals that I do take care of. I promise you. I'm fine."

"Well, alright then." Dotty sighed. "If you're sure, then I'm going to bed. I have a date with Cary Grant."

Amanda's grin broadened. Her mother absolutely loved Cary Grant and would stay up till dawn watching any old movie she might find him in. "Good night, Mother. Tell Cary I said hi."

"I will, darling." Dotty returned the grin as she turned from the room. "Good night."

Amanda watched her mother leave the kitchen and went back to her work. But her mind was still on a certain uncover operative and the fact that he had carried her. And, though he didn't admit it, she knew he stayed with her until she'd reached the hospital and he knew for a fact she was going to be alright.

"Amanda, you're being ridiculous." She spoke out loud before she thought. Quickly she took a look behind her to make sure her mother and the boys hadn't been there to hear her talking to herself about a man, she knew, didn't give her a second thought when she wasn't around.

"Lee would never be interested in me." She whispered to herself again. "He much prefers someone like that… that… Randi. Yeah, that's the name." Shaking her head at her own silliness, she finished up the dishes and carefully hung the towel up.

Still, her thoughts kept returning to the image of her, cradled in Lee's strong arms, safe from all the evil in the world as he carried her down a wide staircase, his eyes misty as he looked down at her, his mouth twitching to kis….

"Good, Lord, Amanda." She silently chastised herself. "You are not Victoria Grenich, wealthy socialite. You are Amanda King, middle class housewife. Lee is not interested in you.

Having firmly tamped down the line of thought, Amanda turned the light off in the kitchen and trudged upstairs to her bed.

Alone.

As Lee quietly climbed into his car, he took one last look at Amanda's house before he turned and sped away, back towards his apartment. He had no idea why, and he had certainly tried hard to figure it out, but that little brunette housewife aroused feelings in him that he didn't understand.

It wasn't her looks, though she was certainly beautiful enough. With big brown expressive eyes, soft hair made for running his hands through, a full mouth made for kis… "Whoa" he said out loud to himself. "Hang on, Stetson. This is Amanda. A housewife. Not my type at all. No Sir."

As he spoke the words, he self-consciously looked around the car, irrationally expecting to see someone there laughing at him for his thoughts. Imagine, Lee Stetson, The Scarecrow, one of the top agents in the country, actually thinking of…

Shaking his head, he stopped his thoughts where they were. Amanda was nothing more to him than a co-worker at best. Not even that, actually. She was just civilian auxiliary personal. She wasn't even his type. He liked them hot and sexy. Big on hair and short on brains. A woman that looked good equally, on his arm and in his bed.

A woman like… like… Randi!

"Yeah, Randi! That's the ticket." He spoke aloud again before he realized it. "Maybe I should just give her a call. It's not too late and we could…" But for some reason he didn't want to do it. He just couldn't. Not tonight. Not while his mind was still centered on how it had felt as he held Amanda in his arms, when he came down those stairs.

Giving his head another thorough shake, he pressed a little harder on the accelerator and went home.

Alone.

The next morning, Lee drained the last of his cup of coffee, finished off his stale roll and headed to work. His thoughts from the night before, pushed firmly to the back of his mind, where he intended for them to stay. Amanda was nothing to him. Nothing. If he intended to do his job effectively, he would need to remember that and keep his thoughts on his job.

Besides, he was sure he was nothing more to Amanda than she was to him. He doubted she was even giving him a thought as she went about her busy life.

In Arlington, Amanda too, was valiantly making an effort to push her thoughts away so that she could concentrate on getting her boys up, dressed and fed. She had a long list of things to do, including dropping off the reports she'd typed for Mr. Melrose. She couldn't afford to be distracted by thoughts of a man who barely knew she existed.

She was sure he wasn't thinking of her as he went about his busy day.

Still, a thought once formed, is hard to push completely away, and though the both of them denied it, those thoughts were there.

Those pesky little thoughts.

The End