She hears him complaining out loud all the way from the bedroom door, and she walks inside to find him fussing over his tie, undoing the slightly askew bow tie with so much strength Amanda is afraid she's going to hear the sound of ripped fabric next.
She walks towards him, turning him with hands on his shoulders and making him face her. She busies herself with his tie whilst Lee just looks down at her, a sort of far away look in his eyes.
"What's wrong?" she asks knowingly, and Lee shifts on his feet slightly.
"Nothing," comes the tiny reply, and Amanda cocks an eyebrow at him.
"Hm-hm."
Lee stays quiet only one more moment, enough to allow Amanda to finish with his bow tie. He doesn't step back though, instead takes a tiny step forward, wrapping his arms around her waist. Her hands move to his broad shoulders without much thought on her part.
"I was just hoping I'd get to spend Friday night with you and the boys," he says, lips pursing slightly. "Honestly, Billy could have sent any other agent. This is a damn milk run."
Amanda chuckles.
"What's so funny about your husband running off to spend the night with another woman, uh?"
"Nothing, I just never thought I'd hear Lee Stetson complain about going to a fancy party with someone like Francine."
Lee looks sheepish for a moment. "Yeah, well, I'd rather be going with you."
"I know, sweetheart, but someone has to stay with Jamie. I know it's just the flu, but I still wouldn't feel comfortable going out when he's ill."
Lee pulls back slightly, one hand mussing his hair as he lets out a little huff.
"And you think I like it? I should be right alongside you. That's what fathers are supposed to do, aren't they? Sometimes I think I get all the good stuff about being the boys' step-dad and none of the bad stuff. That always seems to be your job."
Sometimes Lee still surprises her, even after a year of marriage, and she prays that the day will come when he will so readily accept diaper duty. Of course a baby is nonviable right now, when noone but the two of them knows about their marriage, and the subject has become kind of a tender one.
"You'll get to do all that stuff once everything is out in the open, you know that. "
"Yeah, whenever that happens."
His last words are accompanied with a snort, and an uneasy silence follows it. Amanda is just as frustrated as Lee is. The further they got into this mystery marriage business, the worse the idea became, but after a year, the lies to their friends, to Amanda's kids, the excuses she has told her mother about why Lee and her haven't advanced in their relationship, they all seem to ball up, and now they are both terrified about what revealing they have been married in secret for over a year will do to their family.
Amanda breaks the silence in a conciliatory tone, reaching for the lapels of his jacket and smoothing them down.
"You know, it's been a while since I've seen you in a tuxedo."
Lee's lips turn up in a little smile. He did seem to wear them less and less often these days.
"Yeah, the trousers are a bit snug, actually."
"Uh, are they?" She can't help the smile that curls her lips.
"And what is that look supposed to mean?" His tone is teasing, and his hands curl around her sides, his touch almost ticklish.
"Nothing, nothing."
"You don't think I'm putting on weight, do you?"
Amanda keeps silent at that, because she doesn't want to lie to Lee, and because it is about time he realizes he is aging, just like everyone else on Earth. He's closer to forty than he is to thirty, and although Amanda knows he's aware of that, she's not sure he quite understand what that entails.
"You do?"
Amanda sighs, placing her hands on his cheeks, thumbs tracing circles over his cheekbones.
"Well, maybe you're a little fuller than when we started dating."
Lee's expression goes from concern to full on dismay.
"A little fuller? Amanda..."
She shuts him up like she knows best, with a soft kiss, and her next words are firm, to make sure they get through that thick, worrying head of his.
"I like you this way."
Lee's demeanor changes, and he was so conceited back when she met him, still is, to some degree, that she finds it completely adorable that he can get flustered by simple compliments like that.
"Ah, so you've been fattening me up, huh?"
Amanda can't help but chuckle at that. Lee has such a sweet tooth. She had discovered that a few weeks into dating him, and it wasn't her fault if his whole face lit up whenever she baked something, as much as it wasn't his fault that she loved his excitement so much.
"Oh, just go, or you'll be late. You still have to go pick up Francine, right?"
He disentangles himself from her begrudgingly.
"Yeah."
"Come on! You'll have fun."
"Yeah, as soon as I finish the assignment."
His tone is sour, and she shakes her head at him. Moments like these she's almost glad Francine still thinks they have broken up. She could imagine her teasing if she knew of their marriage. 'You are positively smitten, Scarecrow.' Heaven knows how Lee would react.
Which didn't take away from the fact that he was, indeed smitten, just as much as she was.
He walks towards the kitchen, Amanda following him closely, only to see him take the last two brownies from the plate she had brought to his apartment this morning - the dozen or so sweets now reduced to a few crumbs.
"Two, Stetson?"
He winks at her, half a brownie already in his mouth, and swallows before beaming at her.
"One for the road."
She shakes her head and he leans in for one last kiss, pulling back before her hand on his nape brings him close for another, longer kiss.
He pulls back and cocks an eyebrow at her, and she shrugs.
"One for the road."
His smile is dazzling, and he's halfway out of his apartment door before he turns back to her again, slurring around a mouthful of brownies.
"Get your mind out of the gutter, Mrs. Stetson."