DO I LOVE HIM?

BY

MELINDA G. LIGHT

                                                                                                                 

Disclaimer:  As much as I wish Lee and Amanda were mine, they officially belong to WB and Shoot the Moon Enterprises.

Warning:  There really is no need for a warning. 

Timeline:   End of second season or the beginning of third.

Summary:  I've always wondered when Amanda began to realize how she felt about Lee.  Here is what I think could have happened to make her start to realize.

Rating:  PG-13

Archive:  Yes, Just let me know where.  I would like to know what everybody thinks of this story.

Monday morning at the Agency:

"Good Morning, Mrs. Marsten." Amanda greets the woman at the desk as she comes through the door, "I believe the word is Rattlesnake."

Mrs. Marsten hands her badge to her and says that Mr. Melrose wanted to see her as soon as she got here.

Amanda heads to the elevator then turns back to Mrs. Marsten and asks, "Has Mr. Stetson come in yet?"

"No, Mrs. King, but I'll let him know you are looking for him if he does."  Mrs. Marsten states as Amanda moves into the elevator.

"Thank you, Mrs. Marsten."  Amanda nods.

Amanda looks down at her watch and thinks, "That is strange. He said last night that he was going to be coming in at 8 and it is going on 10:30 now."

As the elevator doors open, Amanda steps out and heads to the bullpen and Billy's office.  She opens the door to his office when he answers her knock with a "Come in."

"Hello, sir.  You wanted to see me?" Amanda asks.  She suddenly gets a very bad feeling that something was wrong.

Billy looked up at her and smiled, "Yes, Mrs. King."  He looks down again at the paper in front of him and then back up and asks, "Do you have any idea where Lee could be?  He told me Friday he would be here at eight this morning.  Nobody has seen or heard from him today."

"Well, I talked to him Friday night when he brought me the tapes he needed typed up.  He told me the same thing."  She then handed the work to him. "Would you like for me to call his apartment?"

"Actually I've already had Francine call.  There was no answer.  Why don't you and Francine head over there and see if there is anything wrong?"

"Yes, sir." Amanda turns around and heads out the door. "Francine, Mr. Melrose wants you and I to go over to Lee's apartment and see if we can find him there."

"Let's go."  Francine said as she picked up her purse.

Same day in an abandoned hotel just down the street from Lee's apartment:

"Hey, Albert.  Have we heard from Kolson?"  Roberto asked as he entered the room.

In the same room all tied up and sitting in a chair was a badly beaten Lee Stetson.  The only sound coming from him was mumbling.

"No, Roberto.  He said he'd call and check on our progress at 12."  He turned to Albert as he said, "But I'm afraid he's not going to be too happy.  We've been unable to get any information out of this guy.  He just keeps mumbling the same words over and over.  Some kind of poem."

Albert frowned and said, "I guess we need to find another way of getting him to talk."

"Roberto, two ladies just showed up at Stetson's apartment.  One of them is the lady in the picture taken the other day."

"Albert, you and Thomas go and see if you can grab her.  If you have to, grab them both."  Roberto ordered.

Both men head out of the room.

Roberto looks at Stetson and grabs his hair and pulls his face up to look in his eyes.

"So you will not talk to save your life, but maybe you will to save someone else." Roberto said.  He sees a flash of something in Stetson's eyes and then there was nothing.  He thinks, "Well, Well, I do believe I have figured out how to get you talking.  So Scarecrow is actually human after all."

    _________________________________________________________

  

    Back at Lee's apartment:

Amanda and Francine arrive at the apartment to find the door standing wide open.  After getting off the phone with Mr. Melrose, they both start searching his apartment. 

When Amanda past by the window she looked out and said, "Francine, look at this."

Francine walked over to the window and looks down at the street.

"Watch those two men.  They just came out of the abandoned building down the street.  Didn't that use to be a hotel?"  Amanda stated as both of them watch Albert and Thomas head toward them.

"I think you are right but they could have just been thinking of buying the building."  Francine answered.

Then they notice the guys stop at the door of the apartment building.  One of them pulls out a gun. The other one pulled out the picture of Lee and Amanda to show the other guy.

Francine grabbed her cell-phone and called Billy for backup.

"Francine, stay here and don't leave for about 10 minutes."  Amanda heads out the door.

"Amanda, what?"  Francine tried to stop her but she wasn't able to because she was out the door before she could.

Going back to the window, she sees Amanda step outside to her car, acting like she didn't know the guys were there.  As Amanda reached out to open the door, the guys come up behind her with the gun.

"Come with us, please." Thomas stated.

Francine watched as all three started walking toward the hotel.  She realized what Amanda was doing and just shook her head.  Heading down stairs, out the door of the building, she sees Billy pulling up in front. 

First words out of Billy's mouth was, "Francine, where's Amanda?"

"She just found out where Lee is?  The thing is she purposely put herself in a position of danger to find out."

"What do you mean?"  Billy frowned.

Francine tells him what happened and pointed at the hotel.

"They just went in when you pulled up."  Francine says.

"Okay, let's see about getting her and maybe Lee out of there."  Billy answered.  "Fielder, you and Johnson go to the back.  Christopher to the right side, where the fire escape is, Beaman, you are with him. Peterson, you and Marshal get the fire escape on the left side.  Francine, you are with me, we'll go through the front."

Inside the hotel:

"Hello, Mrs. King.  You are probably wondering why we've brought you here." Roberto says, as he looks her up and down.  Thinking to himself, "Maybe I can have some fun after all.  She is beautiful."

Amanda sees the look in his eyes and tenses up.  She just continues looking him straight in the eyes.

"Come with me."  Roberto heads to the door of the room holding Stetson.  "Hey, Stetson, we brought someone to keep you company through this ordeal.  As long as you cooperate nothing will happen to her.  I'll leave you alone with her to make up your mind.  Thomas, tie her to that chair."

Albert follows Roberto out the door.  Thomas finished tying Amanda up and headed out the door.

"Lee, Lee, are you alright?"  Amanda asks.  She realized that Thomas didn't tie her feet so she stood up and moved the chair over to Lee.  "Lee?"

"Amanda, sorry you got involved in this.  Don't want to see you hurt?"  Lee seems to be in a daze or drugged. 

Amanda just realized that she would have to get them loose.  She tested the ropes and discovered that with a little bit of work they could be made loose enough for her to slip out of them. 

After a few minutes she was successful, mumbling to herself, "They must be amateurs."  "Okay, Lee, let me get you untied."  All of sudden she hears gunfire.  "Lee, I need you to wake up.  Come on now."  She gets him untied. 

As she gets Lee standing, the door to the room flies open.  Roberto is standing there with the gun pointed right at them.  Amanda sets Lee back in the chair, and puts herself between the gun and Lee.

"I was going to save you for the end, because I've got definite plans for you."  Roberto sneers.

"You will have to kill me to get to Lee."  Amanda sees Francine and Billy sneaking up behind Roberto.  She decides to keep him distracted.

"I'll make you a deal.  If you let him go, you can have me.  You can have me and do whatever you want as long as you let him go."  Amanda seductively smiled.

"He means that much to you, does he?  No deal. Why should I make a deal when I already have you and him?"  Roberto stated as he puts out his other hand to grab her jaw.

"Drop the gun."  Billy shouts.

Roberto lets go of Amanda for only a second.  He suddenly whirls toward Lee and starts to pull the trigger.

Amanda throws herself on top of Lee, shielding him with her body.  All of sudden there is a gunshot, followed by another. 

She turns her head and sees Roberto slide down to the floor.  Francine was standing there with a smoking gun. 

"Amanda, are you alright?"  Billy asks.

"Yes, sir, but Lee needs to get to a hospital."  Amanda answers as she tries helping Lee to stand up.  "My car is just down the street.  I'll take him."

"That is fine, Amanda.  Oh by the way good job."  Billy goes over to help her move Lee to her car.

"Thank you, sir."  Amanda says.  "Sir, what happened to the second bullet?  I heard two gunshots."

"Roberto was able to get a shot off but the impact of Francine's bullet caused him to jerk sending the bullet just pass your head into the wall."

"Amanda, I think you better let the doctor take a look at your wrists."  Francine said as she came up to them after giving orders to the others.

Amanda looked down at her wrists and discovered that she had such bad rope burns that there was some cuts that were bleeding.  "Thanks, Francine.  I didn't even realize.  I just knew I had to get out of those ropes."

They finally got Lee to her car.  Billy noticed that Amanda was a little pale.

"Hey, Fielder."  Billy hollered.

"Yes, sir."  Fielder comes up to him.

"I want you to drive Mrs. King and Lee to the hospital.  And make sure Nest takes a look at both of them."

"That is not necessary, sir."  Amanda starts to say.

"Amanda, for my peace of mind, will you please let Fred drive?  You are very pale right now."

"O.K."  Amanda nods.  She gets in the front seat after she helps Lee lie down on the back seat.

She lays her head back against the seat and closes her eyes.

All of sudden everything that happened was going through her mind. 

She remembers the question Roberto asked her.  "Does he really mean that much to you?"  And when she threw herself in front of Lee, the thought that she would not be able to live if she lost him came to mind.

A sigh escaped her mouth.  Amanda's hand was lying on the side of the seat.

When all of the sudden she felt someone's hand laying on top of it.  She knows whose hand it was.  She'd recognize that hand and touch anywhere. Opening her eyes she turns her head toward the back and looks at Lee.  His eyes were open and he was holding her hand.

She smiled and gave his hand a squeeze.  Lee tried to smile and then closed his eyes. 

Amanda kept a hold of his hand and laid her head back and fell asleep.

Even in her sleep she knew, "She loved this man and would die for him.  Maybe one day he would feel the same about her." 

Fielder smiled as he heard Amanda whisper in her sleep, "Maybe one day."  He'd seen the whole scene just now and knew that Scarecrow was definitely hooked. "Mrs. King, that day is sooner than you know."

 

The End.

(Please let me know what you think.)