Disclaimer: I do not own of these characters; they are the property of Shoot the Moon Enterprises and Warner Bros. Television. I acknowledge gratefully the hard work of the creators of the series who brought to life characters we like so much we can't let them go.

Diagnosis: Mother

"A smart mother often makes a better diagnosis than a poor doctor" - Dr. August Bier

"I love you."

"I love you too."

Amanda could feel the tension in Lee's shoulders as she hugged him and his head dropped against hers with exhaustion. She moved her hands down to slip under his jacket to pull him closer and felt his warm breath against her skin. Now it was her body that tightened, but not with tension, and she turned her face towards him to gently run her tongue along the shell of his ear.

"A-man-da!" he groaned. "Stop torturing me – I have to get back to the Agency."

"Really? Is the world going to end if you're back there just a little bit later?" Her hands trailed up and down his ribs, making him twitch. She could tell he was torn between staying and leaving and was just about to begin her assault on his senses further when she heard her mother's voice in the hallway.

"Amanda? Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Mother's home?" she hissed. "Why isn't she at her flower club meeting?"

Lee shrugged. "I don't know – I only got here a few minutes ahead of you and got to watch her sort laundry." For some reason, he winced slightly as he said that. "That's probably why she wants to talk to you."

She raised a brow at him but he didn't say anything else as she walked out of the kitchen and stood at the bottom of the stairs. She looked around, finally spotting her mother at the top of the stairs, waving at her furiously to come up. She glanced back at Lee, noticing the flush rising on the back of his neck as he stared out the kitchen window. What on earth is going on now? she thought as she headed up the stairs

"What is it, Mother? Lee needs to get back to work and I want to spend some time with him. Is there something going on with you two?" She couldn't imagine there being a real problem – her mother and Lee adored each other, but something was obviously embarrassing him and it was equally obvious it was something to do with Dotty.

"I know he wants to go back to work, Dear, but that's what I want to talk to you about. He just dragged himself in here looking like Death warmed over – he needs sleep, not work. I mean, really, how important can a documentary be, that he's this worried about deadlines?"

"I can see he needs sleep, Mother, but you know what he's like when he's on a project. How many times have we worked late trying to get the perfect edit?"

Dotty looked at her with an exasperated expression. "Amanda, Darling, I cannot believe you are still trotting out that editing room story after all this time. Aren't we past that particular lie by now? You've been with Lee for months – and we both know perfectly well that the editing room is a euphemism for his apartment!"

"Mother!" Amanda was equal parts amused and horrified at her mother's usual candor. "That's not true!" she choked out. Dotty's brows went almost into her hairline and Amanda was sure Lee could hear her eyeroll all the way downstairs. "Okay, sometimes that's true – but it is the honest truth that most of the time, we really are working late, nothing more."

Dotty allowed herself only a small snort of disbelief before going on. "Well, either way, that man needs a break and he needs it now. You should be encouraging him to stay here with you, not helping him on his way back to work!"

"As much as I agree with you, I don't know how I'm supposed to keep him here! What do you want me to do – tie him down?"

Dotty's lips twitched and Amanda found her own doing the same as she read her mother's mind.

"Mother!"

"I didn't say a thing!" Dotty spread her hands wide and shrugged innocently. "I'll just say that when your father needed distracting, the two things I found worked best were starting a fight with him or…" She let her voice drift off, enjoying watching the blush of mortification rising in Amanda's cheeks.

"Mother!"

"So I'm going to go out and leave the two of you alone – and I expect you to take my advice, Young Lady!"

Amanda dropped her head into her hand, not sure whether she wanted to laugh or cry at having this conversation. Dotty patted her arm and headed down the stairs. Amanda could hear her calling goodbye to Lee as she went out the front door and paused to gather her own thoughts before turning to head down herself. Before she reached the top of the stairs however, Lee appeared out of the kitchen and stood at the bottom, looking up at her.

"Amanda, I need to go."

She made a decision in that instant. "Well, just hang on there, Big Fella. You can take five minutes to come up here while I change and explain what's going on with this case before you go." She could see the slight look of irritation on his face and it cemented her intention. "Come on, talking about it might help you clarify your thoughts – and I might be able to help too."

She'd only gotten the basic outline of what he was working on from her brief phone calls home from helping coordinate training at Station One, but she knew it involved contacts he felt responsible for – she recognized the signs of guilt eating away at him and she knew he'd feel better if he talked about it, even if she had to drag it out of him. She waited to make sure he was on his way upstairs before turning and walking into her bedroom.

Dotty had left the laundry basket on her bed and she absentmindedly began to pull things out to fold and sort while she waited for Lee to arrive. She was mystified when he blanched as he walked in and saw what she was doing.

"Don't tell me you forgot I actually am a mother and housewife who has to do stuff like this," she remarked.

Lee leaned in the doorway, watching her efficiently sorting. "No, I was just wondering if your mother had been explaining her fourth dimension theory of laundry to you."

Amanda looked up, trying to make sense of that, before going back to the laundry. "Ok, now tell me what's going on that's got you so frazzled. It's more than just the case, isn't it?"

Lee signed deeply and then the story poured out of him. "I just spent three days getting Kleiner set up to find out everything I needed to know about Brody and it turns out Kilroy was after him on a fugitive warrant so he and Beaman showed up and he ended up dead."

"Who ended up dead? Kilroy?" Amanda was completely at sea; Lee was so tired he wasn't doing his usual efficient job at summarizing.

"No, Kleiner. Beaman shot him."

Amanda's jaw dropped open with a gasp of horror. "Efraim shot him? What was he even doing there? And why would he shoot him if it was just a simple warrant job?"

Lee had the grace to look embarrassed. "It all went sideways and Brody's man Vernon opened fire. Beaman probably saved both of us – it was a clean shot." He met Amanda's inquiring expression and knew she'd read something in his voice. "It was clean but I may have lost it on him in the heat of the moment when I realized I'd lost Kleiner. Hell of a way for him to get more involved in field work – Kilroy only had him there because Billy doesn't like people to do anything without backup."

"And how does Francine feel about that?" asked Amanda, finishing the last of the sorting, still trying to read Lee's body language. Exhaustion was etched in every line in his face, but she could feel the anger radiating off him and wondered how on earth she was supposed to follow her mother's advice.

"I have no idea but she's got a whole new problem," Lee was answering. "Jonathan Stone has shown up again."

"Who's Jonathan Stone?"

Now it was Lee's turn to look surprised. "Her ex-fiancé."

"Her ex-what?" Amanda was astounded she'd never heard this little snippet about Francine.

"Fiancé," repeated Lee. "Five years ago, they were days away from getting married and he more or less left her at the alter and vanished. And now he's shown up again, asking her for dinner and she's letting him right back in. I can't believe she's being so stupid."

Dotty's words suddenly came back into Amanda's mind: What worked best was starting a fight. She bit back a smile. She couldn't, could she? She looked at Lee, seeing the dark shadows under his eyes and made up her mind that she certainly could. And should, said her mother's voice in her head.

"Wait a minute – are you upset about your surveillance going wrong or are you just upset that your old girlfriend is spending time with an old boyfriend that isn't you?"

Lee looked dumbstruck at the unexpected direction of the attack. "Amanda! What the hell is that supposed to mean? Francine is a very good and very old friend and I'm worried about her."

"It sure doesn't sound that way to me. It sounds like you're mad she's willing to see this guy. Are you really mad at Efraim over the job or because he's competing for her too?"

Lee goggled at her, trying to keep up with the turn in conversation. "Are you crazy? Where is this coming from? I'm married to you, why would I care whether Francine is dating Beaman or not?"

"Well, you certainly seem to be eager to get out of here and get back to her is all I'm saying. You're lingering in that doorway like you can't wait to get away." Amanda waited for him to stalk further into the room before beginning to walk towards him as if headed for the master bath. "You must have loved me being assigned to Station One all this week and not underfoot. I may as well just head straight back there."

Her timing was perfect to let Lee's arm shoot out to spin her around as she passed him and he gripped her arms, glaring into her eyes.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"It just seems like you're trying really hard to get out of here and back to work, and I can't believe Billy even wants you there if you're as tired as you look." She caught the guilty expression that went across his face and pounced on it. "Oh ho ho! He doesn't want you back there, does he? I knew it!"

"What do you know?" It was almost unfair picking a fight with him when he was this tired, even a fake fight, but she could see his resolve weakening and leveraged her advantage.

"That you'd rather be at the office than here with me!"

Lee glared at her for a moment trying to understand why she was baiting him before finally just pulling her towards him and kissing her forcefully. Amanda opened her mouth under his instantly, wrapping her arms around his neck to pull him in. She rubbed herself against him, feeling his growing arousal with satisfaction. She was still moaning when he pulled back from her to ask "Do you really think I'd rather be anywhere else than here?"

"Prove it," she snapped back, starting to push his jacket off. What had started as a distraction technique was rapidly becoming something else entirely as her body remembered the feel of his and the fact that it had been ten days since she'd left for the training camp. All thoughts of trying to continue to pretend she was annoyed fled as she began to undress him.

Lee was obviously in a similar state – he yanked her sweater over her head, then sprang her free of her bra so he could begin roughly kneading her breasts as he bent to kiss her again. Now full of purpose, she kept her hands moving, pulling off his tie and working on his shirt buttons even as his tongue swept the roof of her mouth and he pressed himself against her. When she finally pulled his shirt off, she wrenched her mouth from his so that she could begin to caress his chest with her tongue and lips, unable to control her own moans when his nipples responded to her touch, even as her own were doing the same as Lee flicked them gently with his fingertips.

He had been slowly forcing her backwards towards the bed the entire time, and when she felt her knees hit the edge, she dropped to a seated position, hauling him toward her by his waistband as she did so. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the basket of laundry bounce off the bed, spilling the carefully folded contents everywhere, but her attention was all on Lee. He was breathing heavily and watching her through hooded eyes as she raced to undo his belt and pants. As she began to push them down his hips, she leaned forward to gently run her tongue lightly across the tip of his erection as it came free, delighting in the animalistic groan it induced from her husband. But then, as she continued to push his clothes aside, she noticed something odd about his left pocket. Reaching in, she pulled out a single argyle sock and leaned back, unable to contain her laughter at the image it produced.

"Lee, Honey, aren't you past the age of stuffing socks in your pants to impress the girls?"

Lee couldn't hold in the bark of laughter when he saw what she had on her hand, although it was cut short when she took hold of him with the sock-free hand, caressing his full length and then gently rubbing her thumb across the lubricated slit. His hands were entangled in her hair now, caressing her scalp and it was obvious he was exerting huge self-control not to buck his hips towards her, so she decided to help him out, even as she pushed the rest of his clothes down far enough for him to kick them off easily.

"It never fools us, you know, and in your case, it's so, so, so unnecessary." She smiled up at him like a cat with the cream and leaned forward to take him in her mouth as he stopped breathing momentarily before twisting his fingers more firmly in her hair and gasping out her name.

"Oh God, Amanda, that feels so good, I love you so much."

She pleasured him that way for a minute, then reached up to continue gently stroking him, even as she let him slip from her mouth. She leaned back on her other arm and looked at him speculatively as he swayed in front of her, eyes half closed in ecstasy.

"Huh," she said finally. "Maybe you did miss me." His eyes snapped open at that and he looked down to see her quietly triumphant smile.

"Maybe I missed you?" he shot back with an incredulous look. "Maybe?"

"Well, I seem to be doing most of the work right now," she grinned cheekily at him, stroking more firmly as she did so and then slowly ran her tongue over her lips.

The grin gave way to shrieking giggles as he pushed her back on the bed and began working the button at her waist feverishly. "I'll show you 'maybe'" he muttered furiously, grunting with satisfaction when he freed her from the fastenings and started to tug the jeans off, aided by a wriggling Amanda, pushing them down herself as he pulled them over her feet.

Once she was fully naked, she scooted back on the bed and lay back, holding her arms out to him. "Come here, Big Fella" she chuckled. "You've got some catching up to do."

She'd fully expected him to launch himself at her from the look in his eye, but instead he knelt at the end of the bed and agonizingly slowly, started to lick and nibble his way up her legs, glancing up to meet her eyes with the heat of his as he drew closer to the centre of her desire. The way the hazel had darkened sent her stomach into flip-flops of anticipation and when he reached the silky flesh of her inner thighs it was all she could do to keep from screaming for him to get on with it. She did whimper though when he rubbed his thumb gently over the throbbing bud. She could see him stifling a grin, although he had no control over the way the dimples were creasing his cheeks, showing that he was amused by something. He lifted his hand as if to study it, rubbing his thumb and forefinger together so that she could see how damp he's gotten even from touching her only slightly.

"Seems like maybe you've been missing me too," he drawled. He arched a brow at her as if waiting for a riposte.

She was past caring now though and needed him too urgently not to say so. "Lee, please," she begged, not even ashamed at the way her voice was breaking with desire. "Oh God, yes!" she almost screamed as he instantly lowered his head and began to suck her firmly. His hands found their way to hers, their fingers entwining even his tongue and lips worked her to a fever pitch. She didn't even know if she was saying anything coherent anymore; the small part of her brain that was still working thought she was probably just moaning his name over and over again, but whatever she did say was all the encouragement he needed to push her higher and higher. She tensed, feeling the canyon's edge approaching, but before she could succumb to her release, Lee pulled himself up her body, covering it with his own, urging her to open to him which she did all too willingly.

"Open your eyes," he urged, and she did as he asked, looking at him through a haze of desire and wondering again how she had managed to find this man that she loved so much.

"I love you," he murmured as he slowly moved to slip inside her. They both closed their eyes then, briefly, with the relief of being joined together.

"I love you too," she answered as she began to rock against him. Neither of them wanted it to end, but he had brought her to such a high with his earlier attentions that she could feel the numbing in her fingers almost immediately as her climax approached. She couldn't help the shrieking moans as he rocked his pelvis against her, grinding his body against the centre of her aching need until she came apart beneath him, screaming his name. It was unclear whether it was those screams or the way her body clamped itself around him, but he followed soon after, calling her name as his warmth flooded into her.

She held him close, gently trailing her fingers along his back, smiling at the way he twitched under the lightest touch as if his nerve endings were overloaded by too much sensation. She held him close, listening to the way his breath finally slowed and he slipped out of her body to rest alongside her and then she held him close as he slipped into sleep, safe in her embrace.

It wasn't until she was getting ready for bed again several hours later that Amanda's toe snagged on something under the bed. Assuming it was more of the laundry that had flown out of the basket earlier, she reached down and past the sham, grabbed whatever it was and to her amusement, pulled out the pair of boxers that Lee hadn't been able to find when he got dressed again that afternoon. They must have gotten caught up in the bed covers at some point and then been kicked aside when she'd remade the bed to cover the evidence of their afternoon delight.

"I know I was wearing them when I got here," he'd grumbled, half laughing as he searched the room. "Wasn't I? I mean, I know I was tired but…" he'd looked around the room as if he expected them to let him know where they were. He half-heartedly pawed through the clean laundry they'd scooped back up off the floor.

"I'm pretty sure you were," grinned Amanda. "But honestly, I wasn't paying a lot of attention." She'd pulled him close for another kiss then added, "And it's kind of a turn-on to think of you going commando for the rest of the day back at the office."

"Good thing you're not coming back with me then," he'd laughed too, so relaxed after his long nap that he could see the humour in the situation again. "The last thing I need is knowing you're lusting for me across the room when I'm trying to work."

"Oh Sweetheart, you know I'm always lusting for you from across the room," she'd giggled at him as his lips moved across her cheek.

"Same here," he'd murmured. He'd pushed himself back with an effort and gazed down at her, love shining out of him. "But for now, I have to go back to saving the world."

She'd reached up to run her hand through his hair. "You feel better though?"

"So much better, thank you." He'd taken her hand in his and kissed her palm, then still holding it, led her from the bedroom and down the stairs. She'd kissed him goodbye, then leaned in the doorframe watching him leave.

"Lee?" she'd called after him. "Look after Francine! And call me if you think she needs someone to talk to." He'd turned in confusion at that, obviously remembering how their afternoon upstairs had begun, then nodded and got into the Corvette. She could see him still shaking his head as he drove away.

Now, hours later, she couldn't stop the giggles at the memory of that confusion, wondering if he'd ever figure out how he'd been tricked into that much needed sleep. Grinning from ear to ear, she balled up the boxers, and made a perfect overhand toss into the laundry hamper. As they landed in the wicker basket, she almost jumped out of her skin as her mother suddenly spoke from the doorway.

"So you got Lee into bed then?"

Amanda struggled to keep a straight face. "I'm sorry, what did you say, Mother?"

Dotty leaned against the doorframe, sipping her glass of milk, eyes twinkling at Amanda over the rim. "You took my advice and got him to lay down for a nap? He looked much more rested when he passed me at the end of the street heading home this afternoon."

"Um, yes. It took some persuading, but he did finally get some rest."

"And relaxation?" Dotty's eyes were brimming with mischief now and Amanda wished desperately that she could derail this particular line of questioning. Bitter experience, however, had taught her that that was unlikely to happen, not when her mother was obviously trying so hard not to laugh.

"Did you have a nice afternoon at your flower club?" she asked wildly.

"Oh yes, I've got some wonderful ideas for something hardier for that bed under the kitchen window that never seems to do well. Although maybe I just needed to give it time – it seems to be doing much better these days." Dotty paused and then smiled demurely at Amanda. "I can't believe I forgot my planting journal and had to come back for it though."

Amanda's heart stopped. "You came back for it?" she asked, annoyed that she couldn't keep her voice from squeaking.

"Oh yes. I don't think I disturbed Lee's nap though – he seemed pretty sound asleep when I went past."

"Mother!" Amanda's embarrassment levels were through the roof now. She suddenly remembered coming awake briefly feeling cold and reaching over Lee to pull the blanket up over both of them before drifting off again. She'd thought it was the chill of the air conditioning that had woken her up but now with sudden horrifying clarity, she realized it had probably been the sound of her mother creeping past the open doorway. For the second time that day, she dropped her head into her hand, unable to look her mother in the face. "Oh my gosh!"

Dotty couldn't hold in the laughter anymore. "Oh Darling, I can see what you see in him – he's definitely a 12!"

"Mother!" Amanda was laughing too now with embarrassment but also at the mental image of Lee's face if he ever heard about this. "I'm sorry you had to see that."

"Oh I'm not, believe me," grinned Dotty. "Although maybe next time, close the door just in case the boys come home early. But darling, really, anything you can do to keep that man happy and bring those dimples out is fine with me."

"Well, he was smiling when he left," Amanda was unable to resist saying as her mother turned to leave.

Dotty looked back over her shoulder with a smirk. "Oh those weren't the dimples I was talking about, Darling."