The Route to Evil
A/N: Good afternoon, everyone. As I promised several people in this group, I have finally written my very first SMK story. Most of you know I have written several other stories for the Criminal Minds Fandom. I definitely believe in HEA's. My goals with this story were to try and remain canon and I hope my characterizations were pretty close to our favorite spies. I hope I succeeded with both. I welcome feedback and would appreciate it, immensely. I also self-beta, so any and all mistakes are mine.
Now onnnn with the showww… I hope you all enjoy it!
Amanda crossed her arms and placed them on her chest, while her foot tapped on the floor of the Q Bureau. She was completely shocked, flustered and taken aback. She couldn't believe what she'd managed to overhear downstairs. "I don't know what to say. I can't believe it, Lee. Omigosh, how could you?"
Lee perched himself on the edge of his desk and undid the buttons on his suit jacket. He immediately ran his fingers through his hair as he shook his head. Before he spoke out he thought to himself: How could she possibly believe that? I thought she knew me better than that? I haven't thought about that in at least four years.
He looked up when he heard her grab her purse and began to head to the door. He blurted out, "A-mannn-da, wait!" She stopped dead in her tracks, but refused to turn around. She didn't want him to see the tears in her eyes. Lee quickly jumped down from the desk and hurriedly made his way over to her.
Amanda stiffened and shuddered as soon as she felt his hand on her shoulder. His heart began to hurt as he noticed her immediate reaction. "Amanda, how could you believe that without talking to me first. You know I wouldn't do that. Unbelievable, I thought we went over this—"
Amanda abruptly cut him off without turning around. "Don't you get indignant with me, Buster! This is my fault for trusting you. I thought I knew you better than this. You know what, I need to get out of here and do some thinking."
Lee refused to let go of her shoulder, shook his head in defeat and rasped out. "Amanda, please don't go. We really need to talk about this, together." Amanda gruffly pulled away and sobbed. "Not now, Lee! I can't deal with this!" With that she ran out the door and slammed it shut leaving Lee with a feeling of dread.
After her abrupt departure, Lee decided not to go after her and allow her some time alone to think. Lee headed to his desk and sat down and immediately put his head in his hands and ran his fingers threw his hair again. He couldn't stand the thought of her hurting or that he was the cause of her being hurt. He knew deep down that he loved her, yet he was still afraid to admit to himself let alone her about his true feelings.
As he continued to sit there and ruminate, he couldn't get the look of disappointment or hurt on her face off his mind. He wanted to strangle both Francine and Sheila for the crap and the lies that they'd been spreading. He was so angry, but decided he would deal with them once he straightened things out with his Amanda.
After charging out of the Q Bureau, Amanda ran downstairs, handed Mrs. Marston her pass and ran out of the door. She quickly made it to her car and she tried to unlock the door. She ended up trying to wipe away as many of her tears as she could, in order to unlock the car. Finally, she managed to get the door open, threw her purse over to the passenger seat and plopped herself down. She sat there for several minutes as she continued to sob. How could he do this to her? She really thought they had something special going on. She felt so betrayed.
Earlier that day, she'd been using the ladies room when she heard two women laughing as they entered. Right away she'd surmised that the ladies were Francine and Sheila from the secretarial pool. Amanda remained quiet and her ears perked up when she heard them talking about Lee. They carried on about some of Lee's past exploits, and one specifically was mentioned. They'd implied that it was in more recent times, before they headed out the door.
After slightly calming herself down, she knew she didn't want Lee to find her there, in case he decided to come looking for her. Amanda started up her car, placed her seatbelt on, checked her mirrors and started to back out of her space. She put the station wagon into drive and took off out of the garage. While Amanda drove and continued to cry, she'd made the decision that she would head over to Rock Creek Park. That beautiful park held some memories for her and always seemed to calm her down and allow her to sort through her troubles.
While enroute to her destination she was to say the least, distracted. Which is why, she didn't notice the upcoming stop sign. She started to breeze right through it, when suddenly, there was the sound a loud airhorn and screeching brakes. She quickly turned in the direction from where the noise came from and with a shocked look on her face she found the source. She instinctually tried to gun her gas pedal to avoid the oncoming truck. She was screaming "Omigosh" over and over when she realized it was too late. The truck struck the passenger side of the station wagon head-on. It hit with such force, that it pushed the wagon into the oncoming lane and spun it around three whole cycles. It finally came to rest at the opposite curb. Amanda was knocked unconscious instantly.
Witnesses tried to check on both drivers, but they'd found them both unresponsive covered in their own blood. The police, fire department and ambulances were called and they responded very quickly. Upon their arrival, it was found that the driver of the truck was DOA and Amanda was alive and needed to be literally cut out of her car. She was immediately rushed to Galilee General Hospital.
The officers on the scene found Amanda's purse with her identification. They quickly left the scene headed to the address that was found on her driver's license. Upon their arrival, after several minutes of ringing the doorbell and knocking on the door they received no answer, much to their dismay. They headed back to their vehicle when, they were both approached by Mrs. Lombardo. She informed them she was their neighbor, and that Dotty and the boys were on a camping trip for a week in the woods with the Junior Trailblazers. She was, however, able to tell them that Amanda worked for IFF and she gave the phone number she'd kept in case of emergency to them. They thanked her, jumped into their vehicle and picked up their car phone to notify her immediate supervisor.
Across town, Billy was being notified about Amanda's accident, her injuries and where she 'd been taken to. As soon as he hung up, he grabbed his coat and weapon and ran out of his office. "DESMOND! Grab your things and follow me," he bellowed out. Francine jumped up and ran behind him. "What's up, sir?" He scowled at her. "Let's go and I will fill you in when we get Lee," he growled out.
They both rushed to the closet elevator to head up to the lobby and then to the Q Bureau. When they exited the elevator, they ran into Lee who'd decided to leave to find Amanda. Little did expect the news he was about to receive.
They all stopped in front of Mrs. Marston's desk. "Ohh Scarecrow, we were just coming to get you, I need to tell you something and we have to go," Billy nervously said. Lee huffed out in complete annoyance, "Not now, Billy! I gotta run. I need to go find Amanda we had a terrible disagreement. I need to—" Billy interrupted his grousing, "Scarecrow." Lee kept going. "Scarecrow." Lee still tried to talk over Billy. He finally screamed out, "SCARECROW, SHUT UP!", that completely stopped Lee dead in tracks.
Billy stared at him while he bore his eyes into Lee. Billy inhaled sharply and tried to collect himself before he'd have to break the bad news to his best agent and good friend. "Lee, that will have to wait we need to head to Galilee General." Lee visibly gulped and his heart plummeted. He tried to steel himself for what he suspected Billy was getting ready to tell him. "Lee, Amanda was taken there. She was involved in a really serious car accident," Francine gasped and Lee steadied himself. "Oh my god, is she alright? Is, is she dead?" Lee stuttered out.
Billy was having a hard time controlling his own emotions as he began to explain to him what he knew so far. "Try and calm yourself Lee, I will tell you what I know. Her car was T-boned on the passenger side by a truck. Apparently according to witnesses, Amanda blew a stop sign and once her wagon was hit, the truck pushed her into the oncoming lane and it spun around three times. The truck driver was killed instantly and Amanda was unconscious, cut out of her car and transported that way to Galilee. The officers tried to reach Dotty, but they were unable to and that's when they called me."
"Damn it, this is all my fault. I shouldn't have let her leave here so upset. Stupid, stupid, stupid! Billy, we gotta go!" Billy and Francine nodded in agreement. They all removed their passes and ran out the door. Billy decided to take his agency vehicle, as Lee was much too upset to drive the Vette.
TBC
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