Chapter 2 - Dawning Realilzation
Not exactly
Amanda hadn't been certain what she'd been thinking when she'd shot those two words back at Lee when he started his usual post-mission just-friends spiel. It wasn't like he was going to suddenly see her in some new light like Cinderella in her ball gown, was it? She might love him but she had absolutely no expectation that it was reciprocated. It was just that she was tired and dirty and honestly, just completely fed up with him and that increasingly tiresome speech where he assumed she was some starry-eyed steno pool girl who was going to expect him to fall madly in love with her just because they'd spent the night in each other's arms.
She knew he cared about her – she'd never doubted that, not even in their darkest moments but why couldn't he just accept the fact that she knew it was never going to be anything more than that and stop with the Fortress of Solitude nonsense?
It had been unfortunate that Francine had been standing nearby when the medic had asked about the marks on their wrists and Amanda had answered honestly without thinking.
"Shackles?" Francine had started to laugh. "What? The two of you were shackled up on the run like an old chain gang movie? That must have been cozy."
Amanda knew the crack hid the relief on Francine's part that they were safe, but she had still flushed and started to answer her before Lee's voice had cut like ice across the conversation.
"You can quit those jokes right now, Francine." He'd sounded angry enough that both women had looked at him with startled expressions. "Of course we weren't. I wouldn't be much of an agent if I couldn't pick a simple lock, would I? They had us chained, we escaped, I picked the lock, we kept running. End of story." He'd leaned closer to the blonde and dropped his voice. "The last thing we need is that kind of stupid rumour circulating around the office, okay? It's bad enough we've spent the last day being hunted like animals without you turning it into some sort of hilarious sex farce for the amusement of the bullpen!"
Francine stared into his dark stormy eyes for a moment, then down at the tell-tale marks on his wrist that told the true story of how long they'd been manacled together, before taking a step back nervously and saying "Okay, I get it. Not funny." She'd glanced apologetically at Amanda before adding "I guess it's a reflex to make jokes, I'm sorry."
"It's ok," Amanda had smiled softly at her. "We're both just really tired and it's too early to see the humor in it yet."
Lee had stepped back and sat down beside Amanda on the ambulance seat, never leaving her side until they were back at the Agency. He'd briefed Billy in her hearing, repeating the version of events he'd told Francine and sat back to listen to hers, which was really nothing more than saying she had nothing to add to his. It wasn't until Billy had stood up and told them to go home that his expression had lightened and he'd even smiled when she'd picked up the phone to call home. He'd waited until she'd picked up the picnic basket – still full of all the food they'd never had a chance to eat – and joked with her down the hall, both of them almost giddy with having survived the last day. Finally, unable to contain her curiosity any longer at why he'd insisted on that version of events, she'd stopped and turned to him.
"Lee? About last night…"
She should have phrased it better, she knew that, but even so, after all they'd been through together, she almost hadn't been able to believe it when he'd started up with the old nonsense about it just being something that happened on a mission and from force of habit she'd found herself reciting it along with him, trying to hurry him along to the end so she could ask him properly about why they'd just lied to Billy in a briefing. But then the most extraordinary thing had happened – he'd gotten to the end and he'd looked at her and added, "Right?"
She hadn't understood at first what had happened. It wasn't his usual lecturing tone – she'd stopped to stare at him, head tilted, considering. It had taken another moment to dawn on her – he wanted her to agree with him, he wanted her to say there had been nothing between them, he wanted her to let him off the hook. She'd stared into his eyes, seeing the same light of longing that had been there the night before and in her state of exhaustion, it had suddenly struck her as so funny that he was frightened that she might make him admit he cared, that all thought of their lies flew out of her head and she'd found herself blurting out those two little words.
Not exactly.
His expression had been so priceless – such a mix of confusion and hope - that a surge of euphoria had overcome her and she'd had to turn away before she could kiss it right off his face in the Agency hallway. She was still laughing when she got to her car.
It seemed like everything had changed after that. She had first noticed it when Francine had flounced past her desk with some kind of muttered comment about going from swamps to mansions like the Beverley Hillbillies, followed a few moments later by a chuckling Lee.
"What have I done now?" she asked, eyes following the blonde as she left the bullpen.
"Not a darn thing," said Lee, "She's mad that Billy wants us to go hang out with high society and she doesn't get to go." He was grinning like a cat that had swallowed the canary.
"High society?" She couldn't help matching his smile. "I'm not getting Victoria Greenwich out of storage, am I?"
"No, no, nothing like that," he answered, the slightest shadow passing over his expression before he perched on the edge of her desk and leaned closer. "We get to go check out a very posh charity auction and all in the name of national security!"
"Ooohhh," she said drawing out the syllable thoughtfully. "And you want me to drive because of what happened the last time we went to a charity auction?"
It hadn't seemed possible that Lee's dimples could get deeper but they definitely did when his grin broadened.
"Nah – there isn't a single cliff between here and the Potomac Community Services Club – we can take mine." He stood up and cocked an elbow at her. "Ready to go?"
She reached up to take his arm with a laugh and let him lead her outside. The next few days had flown by and she couldn't help but notice that it was almost as if they were still tied together – Lee's arm slipped around her waist, or his hand wrapped around hers at every opportunity, thumb absentmindedly rubbing against the fading scars on her wrist. He was rushing to help her out of the car – sometimes so quickly he'd forget the keys in the ignition. When he'd moved behind her when Jill Halsman approached them at the club, she'd thought at first he was just letting her take the lead – until she'd seen the hangdog expression on his face as Jill's talons had gripped "Doctor" Stetson's arm and dragged him away – he'd looked so unusually miserable on the arm of a sexy blonde that she'd had to pretend to be studying the clipboard so she didn't laugh out loud.
When he'd pulled out the wedding rings for their cover, there'd been none of the usual edgy embarrassment to his tone – he'd simply held them up, eyes alight with humor and said "Ready to get shackled again?", chuckling along with her when she'd instantly replied, "Of course! My mother always wanted me to marry a doctor!"
They'd laughed together after leaving the White House too, Lee carefully placing the poisoned bottle in the trunk of the Corvette.
"What a waste of a '45 Chateau Monet", he'd said in a mournful tone as he stared at the bottle, but then he'd looked up and smiled. "Only California wines? Seriously? Can you believe that?"
"Well, what about that California Chardonnay that won all the prizes in Europe a few years back? There are some excellent vintages you're forgetting about."
He hadn't been able to hide his shock when she'd dropped that bit of trivia and she hadn't been able to contain her amusement at his expression. "I did some research for our cover when you said we were playing wine snobs."
He'd shaken his head, laughing at himself ruefully. "I have got to learn not to underestimate you, Amanda King. You're turning into a really good agent, you know that? And you know what else? You should try the Level One Operative test – if you passed that, Billy would have no problem putting you back through Station One – for real this time."
She'd blushed under the compliment, and he'd reached out absently to take her hand.
"Can I buy you a drink before you head home? We've been talking wine all week and haven't really gotten to enjoy any without wearing it." He'd sounded oddly wistful as if he was trying to make the evening last longer and so she'd accepted, wondering if there'd ever be a day when that shadow would leave his eyes.
They'd spent a completely relaxed few hours together, Lee explaining the finer points of wine tasting to her and Amanda explaining why her street currently looked like the set of a prison riot movie. Lee had been so intrigued by her tales of Buck that she hadn't been surprised when he'd shown up to check out the party for himself. What she'd been less certain of was how long he'd been hiding out at Buck's and drinking before getting up the nerve to come knock on her door. He hadn't seemed drunk exactly, but he'd been relaxed and in a bit of a silly mood as if he had a secret he was dying to tell her.
"What's so important you had to come by when you know my mother is here?" she'd asked, trying to look serious, which was difficult in the face of the way he was gently rocking back and forth like a Jack in the Box that had just popped up.
"Ah well, I, uh, I stopped to visit Penny today before she left to go back to school," he'd started to say then stopped with a sudden look of embarrassment as if he wasn't sure he should be telling her something.
"Well, that was nice of you," she'd replied. "Is she doing okay?"
"Um, yeah, she's fine." Another pause and then all in a rush, "She asked me to give you something. From her." The rocking had stopped and he was leaning back on his heels now looking almost nervous.
"Really? That's sweet of her." She'd looked down at his hands which were hanging by his sides. "So did you bring it with you?"
"Uh, yeah." He'd licked his lips nervously and she'd suddenly been certain where this was going.
"Lee?" She'd leaned in trying to catch his suddenly lowered gaze. "What did she ask you to give me?"
His eyes had finally come up to meet hers and she caught her breath, seeing the same look of uncertainty she'd seen the week before.
"A hug and a kiss." The words had come out in a hoarse rush. He hadn't broken eye contact and Amanda had given him an encouraging smile.
"Oh well,"she'd said, "If it's from Penny…" She'd lifted her hands to his chest and moved closer, watching as he'd slowly rocked forward, leaning towards her, eyes wide open as if he couldn't quite believe it was happening.
He'd been right, of course; it hadn't happened. Her mother's interruption and scandalized expression had sent him scurrying back out of the garden with Penny's gift undelivered.
There'd been no time in the following weeks to see if she could tease him further out into the open. He'd made good on that promise and arranged with Billy for her to do the Operative training - without having to be reminded – but then Billy had disappeared and they'd been running on fumes trying to find him before the two-day time limit Lee had been given ran out.
She'd bulldozed her way into making him let her help. No, maybe bulldozed wasn't the right word. It was more like pulling the carpet out from under him. When he'd started up with "This could be dangerous and I'm supposed to be unofficial", she hadn't waited for him to finish trotting out all the other reasons; she'd simply said "Well, who could be more unofficial than me?" before pushing her way into the elevator and waiting for him to join her.
By the time they got to the car though, he'd regrouped a bit and tried again. "Amanda." She'd seen his lips twitch when she rolled her eyes and waited for the inevitable. "Amanda, if we don't find Billy and if Smyth or Francine find out you've been helping me, it's going to be the end of your Agency career before it even starts. You'll be in more trouble than you can imagine and I'll be too neck deep in trouble myself to help you."
"Lee, stop!" She turned in the seat to face him full on. "Look, Billy's my friend too – you don't have a monopoly on him. You only have two days and you know perfectly well you need my help." She stopped and looked at him challengingly before adding the clincher. "Besides, if we don't find Billy, Francine isn't going to let me stay around anyway, is she? Look at the way she was acting this morning - she may be better at tolerating me, but she still doesn't think I'm going to stick around, does she?"
"No," he'd admitted. "But she couldn't be more wrong!" he'd added quickly, earning himself a bright smile. He reached over to squeeze her hand. "Alright, Partner, ready to go?"
Working together those few days had never seemed so fluid. Once he'd agreed to let her help, Lee hadn't held anything back, from handing her his computer key card for research to letting her take the lead on distracting the guard. She remembered what it had been about her journalism degree that had appealed to her, digging around in the computer with pure dogged research until she had found the evidence of the missing floor in that office tower and actually putting her research into effect to save Billy. It had been worth putting up with Francine's stress-induced snarkiness to get to be on the receiving end of Billy's compliments - and an automatic pass on her test - when it was all done.
The only fly in the ointment had come when Billy had called Lee shortly after their return to the office. Lee had gone pale and hung up, looking across the room at Amanda with an unreadable expression.
"What?" she'd asked, really concerned at the look on his face.
"Have you seen Francine since we got back?" he asked.
"Not yet… why?"
"Apparently as well as screwing up half the admin paperwork, she found time to get a locksmith to open the filing cabinets in Billy's office." He paused and she quirked a brow at him.
"Well, it's probably standard procedure when someone goes rogue – what's the problem?"
Lee had a hunted look now. "It's where he keeps all his staff files. The ones Personnel doesn't know about. The stuff he has to keep documented but for his eyes only."
"Ohhhh," she'd breathed out as she took in what he was saying. "Did she read them?"
"He didn't say – but he wants to see me right away." He looked at her with an anxious expression. "What if she did?"
"What if she didn't?" asked Amanda reasonably. "You'll know the minute you see her – she's not going to hold back if she thinks she's got something over you."
"She won't think she has something over me – she will have something over me!"
Amanda held out her hand. "Well, c'mon Cowboy. Let's go find out."
"Amanda, you don't have to-"
"Lee Stetson, if you are about to say I don't have to come with you, Francine is going to be the least of your problems! I'm not letting you go down there alone! Now – ready to go?"
Walking into the bullpen, he'd stopped dead in the open door when they spotted Francine. She could feel his body tensing up beside hers, wondering what he was going to be met with and for the first time, really took in what it had cost him over the years to keep himself hidden from people he considered friends. She felt his hand come up to the small of her back and knew he was finding some form of comfort in her presence. It occurred to her for the first time to really wonder how often he had walked into situations like this alone since Andy's death and was suddenly very glad she'd come with him.
"Well, Francine!" he'd said in a tone of false brightness, stepping through the doors at last. Francine had looked up at them and Amanda could feel him relaxing the split second she'd greeted them listlessly and looked back at her pile of paperwork. She wondered if he'd realized his hand had slid further around her waist and he'd drawn her in closer as Francine had started to list off all the problems she'd caused during her brief tenure. He'd given her slight squeezes as she'd made sympathetic noises and she knew he was trying not to laugh.
"Desmond!" Billy's voice had bellowed across the bullpen and all three of them had looked at him with startled expressions. He'd studied them for a moment before continuing to bellow. "My office! On the double!"
As Francine had walked away from them, she'd seen Lee in her peripheral vision, giving Billy the slightest head nod. There'd been no acknowledgement from him until Francine was safely in his office and then he'd given them a huge grin and a wink before closing the door.
Lee's hand had slipped off her waist but without a pause, he had slipped it down to tuck her hand on his arm as they turned and walked out of the bullpen.
"You know, Dr. Smyth was apparently pretty impressed with the rookie agent."
"He was?" She was surprised either Lee or Billy had even mentioned her involvement.
"Mmm-hmm. He even said you should get some kind of recognition for your efforts. Unofficial, of course."
"Of course."
"How about a quiet lunch for two at Emilio's?"
"Oh I don't know, Lee. I don't think I'd be comfortable with something that… intimate." She grinned up at his confused expression. "I haven't even met the man."
It had been a learning experience for both of them trying to hunt down Nick Cross. There'd been something about this one that really got under Lee's skin and Captain Ronson must have been able to sense it behind the professional exterior because he'd put himself fully in their hands – a remarkable thing in a man used to commanding situations, not sitting idly by.
For Amanda's part, her sympathy had all been with Agnes, a woman so desperate for even a tiny slice of happiness in her life that she'd refused to believe the evidence until it had been overwhelming. She couldn't help but recall her own feelings when everyone else had thought Lee was a burnt out agent – she had fought tooth and nail to prove that everyone else was wrong and she hadn't even been in love with him. Not then she added with an inward sigh, but she had been distraught at the idea that someone she trusted with her life had become someone who was betraying everything she knew he stood for.
When she'd gone to comfort a sobbing Agnes in the car after Cross' capture, it had been like looking into a mirror of her own past. Lee would never know how she'd left Nedlinger's that day and gone to sit in her car, crying for almost an hour while she waited for the red mark to fade so that Billy wouldn't see it. She'd seen the frustration building in him when she'd tried to get him away from Jack Harris, and although she'd never seen the physical blow coming, the emotional blow had been so much longer lasting. At least, unlike Agnes, she'd been able to see the dawning horror on his face in that instant; she had still been able to see the Lee she thought she knew somewhere behind that mask, but Agnes had no such balm for her soul. Nick Cross had been like a man possessed at the end – crazed with greed and some kind of maniacal schadenfreude at the idea of how many lives he could ruin – and Agnes had been cannon fodder to his cruel plan.
It had been an odd end of a case, leaning against the hood of the Corvette at the city dump, staring at the vast piles of trash that contained the Hoover files, already being buried by backhoes in vast trenches.
"I'm sorry we couldn't find them in time," she'd said finally.
"I'm not," had come the surprising answer.
"Really? After everything we've done the last few days to try and track them down? Doesn't it feel like we didn't finish the job?"
Lee had still been staring across the compound watching the heavy machinery with a kind of fascination. "Ronson's daughter is safe. All the people whose secrets Cross would have exposed are safe. I think we did alright."
"But we never found the files. Wasn't that the point of all this?"
Lee nodded his head towards the heaps of garbage. "It's better that they ended up here. Information like that is ammunition in the wrong hands, Amanda. Hoover knew that – haven't you ever heard any of the rumours about him? That he was a cross-dresser, or that the Deputy Director was his lover for 30 years?"
"I've heard some, but nothing's been proven, has it?"
"No, but for years, not even his worst enemies were willing to pursue those rumours because they knew that was out there, waiting like a powder keg. Hoover may have had his own secrets but he made damn sure he knew worse about everyone else." He turned to look at her. "Can you imagine what could happen if someone like Dr. Smyth knew where that kind of information was? Just one leak about a teenage stunt twenty years ago almost ruined the lives of a dozen highly regarded men this week. Now just think what else might be in there." He nodded decisively. "No, it's better that it all gets buried – literally this time."
Hearing the tone in his voice, Amanda realized why this case had seemed so personal. No wonder he'd been so sympathetic with how Ronson was feeling. In a world full of secrets, it was sometimes all too easy to forget the costs to normal people of what they did. Suddenly the guilt she was still feeling over missing Jamie's play the other week began to lighten – she might never be able to explain it to him, but at least she knew that what she'd be doing had been important, that she had been protecting other people's children as well as her own.
She'd let the silence go on for a few minutes before going on. "I guess it should be enough that we stopped Cross, but we didn't stop him from ruining Agnes' life" she'd said sadly.
"No," Lee had agreed, echoing the sigh in her voice.
"You know what she told me? It all started because she used to drop by Kelsey's just to be around people because she was so lonely."
"Better to be lonely in a crowd than alone?" Lee's voice was rough with emotion. 'I remember those days." That gave her pause, wondering if those days were behind him.
"She was so desperate for human contact – and look where it got her," she went on. "She thought he really loved her. That's the worst part – she's been so betrayed, thinking she'd found someone who really cared for her and then finding out he was just using her." She sighed deeply, saddened by what someone's greed could do to someone else's life. "Thank you for being kind to her. I think it helped her fight him in the car and at least she'll have that to remember instead of just being his victim."
"Well, we've all been there," Lee muttered.
"Alan Squires", Amanda nodded.
"I'll see your burglar and raise you a Soviet spy," said Lee, sardonically.
"Well, when you put it that way," drawled Amanda, smiling when she saw the corners of his mouth start to go up. "I keep thinking of that poem about love and patience– you know the one?" He shook his head and she scrunched up her face trying to recall it. "You'd think I remember better since it was part of my wedding vows. It's the one that starts 'love is patient, love is kind' and then there's some other stuff but near the end it says 'it keeps no record of wrongs'. I always thought that was the most important line, you know? That love isn't about keeping score or holding onto old hurts."
"You sound like you think she should forgive him," Lee replied, confusion evident in his voice.
"Oh no, I mean I hope she forgives herself. If she doesn't do that, she'll never let herself be open to real love when it comes along."
"You sound pretty sure it'll come along." He'd turned to look at her with a quizzical look.
"Oh I think love's a lot like spy work – no place for a pessimist." She was smiling at him now. She turned and watched as the last of the dumpster's contents vanished into a trench and the bulldozers began to bury it. "We're going to lie to Billy again, aren't we?" she'd sighed.
"Yep."
When Francine had first beckoned over to her desk with an evil-looking grin, she'd braced herself for some kind of putdown, but to her surprise, Francine had simply handed her a file folder.
"Look what I just found at the bottom of my desk drawer. I'd completely forgotten about it. Talk about the Hoover files!"
Amanda flipped open the folder and gasped with laughter. "What on earth?"
"It's from the Christmas party three years ago. Lee lost a bet with Andy…" she paused and glanced up as if to confirm Amanda knew who that was, and then continued, "and he had to walk down M Street from his apartment to the office like that."
"I thought Lee never went to the office Christmas party?" She couldn't stop giggling, staring at the photo of a Lee she'd rarely seen.
"Well he stopped after that one!" Francine chortled. Her expression had softened, looking at how ridiculous Lee looked with the fruit basket hat balanced on his head. "That was one of the last times I remember him like his old self since-." She stopped abruptly and looked up at Amanda. "That was a bad year," she finished, sadly. She looked up at Amanda with a rueful expression. "You know, I will never understand how you do it, but your unerring ability to end up in trouble has done wonders to distract him the last few years. He's … better."
Amanda stared down at the photo, the germ of an idea forming in her mind and a smile playing on her lips. "Francine, can I borrow this?"
Francine looked at her speculatively for a moment, then obviously came to a decision and reached into the desk drawer. "You can keep it if you want." She pulled a small envelope out of the depths and waved it at Amanda. "And if you promise to bring me brownies next week and not let anyone else in here know it, you can have the negative too."
"Deal." The two women smiled at each other in a rare moment of complicit understanding. She'd picked up the folder and tucked it against her body. As she turned away, Francine called her back. "Amanda, you do know this doesn't mean I'm not still going to get even with you for that 'personal experience' crack, right?" Her voice was stern and her eyes had gone back to their usual bland expression but Amanda knew better by now.
"Oh, I know. I'll look forward to it." Francine had rolled her eyes with annoyance and turned away, but not before Amanda had seen the beginnings of a smile flit across her lips.
She had headed upstairs with a vague idea of teasing away some of the melancholy that had been lingering in Lee since the last case had wrapped. There had been something about the intersection of a threat to national security and to the day-to-day lives of 'regular people' that had continued to get under his skin even after watching the files get buried. When she'd opened the door and found Captain Ronson already there, her heart had sunk a bit, worried that he'd come to tell them his personal life had been exposed despite their efforts, but then both men had greeted her with broad smiles and she'd released her breath with a silent whoosh.
"Well, how do you like that?" Lee had said after Ronson had left, thanking them again. She could sense that something about seeing that they had kept him and his daughter safe from harm had lifted some of the sombre mood he'd been in all week.
She'd made agreeing noises and waited for his attention to return to her, finally noticing the folder she was carrying, but somehow missing the smile on her face.
"What have you got there? New case?"
"Uh no, this is a little something from the Francine Desmond files," she'd grinned, only to see the look of panic cross his face.
"Let me see it." He was so serious, she was taken aback, until she realized what he thought it was – that Francine had found something during those days in Billy's office and that this was the ax falling.
She purposely broadened her smile and waited until he lifted his eyes from the folder in her hands to look at her. When he finally took in her expression, he'd visibly relaxed – though not for long. When she'd flipped the photo around, he'd gone to grab it with a growl and she'd had to dance slightly back out of his reach. "Oh no, you can look, but you can't touch!"
"Amanda!" He'd begun to stammer out explanations before finally going on the attack, trying to appeal to her sense of decency. "That's not a very nice thing to show people – they might misunderstand."
"Misunderstand this? I don't think so!" She'd begun to giggle and he had finally, finally begun to understand that she was up to something.
"What do you want for it?" He still wasn't certain what the game was but it was clear he was going to trust her enough to at least try and find out.
"This? Oh this you can have." She'd handed it to him – or rather she'd let him snatch it out of her hand – before adding "It's the negative that's going to cost you." She knew she couldn't look at him without uncontrollable laughter so she crossed her arms and stared at the desk. There had been a beat and then she'd watched the folder get carefully laid aside, and he'd leaned across towards her.
She'd been so mesmerized by the way his hands with those long tapered fingers were resting on the blotter that she almost missed it when he'd growled, "How much?"
Her eyes had flown up to meet his at last and she'd seen the tell-tale sign of the dimple starting to peek out even as he tried to maintain a straight face. She knew now that, unlike her with his sneak attack with the opera tickets, he could sense something was coming and was just waiting for the reveal.
"Well, we'll probably start with dinner at Spencer's and take it from there." His eyes were dancing now and she'd felt herself leaning nearer, watching as the dimples deepened with every inch she got closer.
Suddenly his hand had whipped out and grabbed the envelope with the negative that had been sticking out of her jeans front pocket. "Orrrr," he'd drawled out and she'd met his eyes, wondering if he was seriously about to try and wriggle out of it. "You could make me dinner and I won't tell Francine about that time the Italian ambassador stood on the hem of your dress and you face-planted in the middle of the dance floor."
"Ohhhh," she'd breathed out indignantly. "I cannot believe you just did that!"
"I can't believe you just tried to blackmail me! I thought we'd established that blackmailing people isn't very nice, Amanda," he finished virtuously.
"Neither is stealing, but you just mugged me!"
"All's fair in love and war, Mrs. King. You should know that by now." He leaned closer again, hazel eyes almost blue now the way they always were when he was in a good mood. "Wanna fight me for it?" he'd taunted.
He was grinning triumphantly now but he was still leaning on the desk and she knew he was underestimating her as usual. She leaned in too, stared deeply into his eyes and slowly wet her lips. The moment his gaze dropped to watch her tongue, she had reached out and snatched the envelope back out of his hand, then whirled towards the door.
To his credit, Lee has shouted with laughter, "One of these days, Alice!" he mockingly waved a fist at her. "One of these days – right in the kisser!"
She stopped in the doorway to look back with a wink. "Promises, promises!" she'd laughed, over her shoulder, delighted to see that same shocked, hopeful expression cross his face that she'd seen weeks before.