Two Weeks Earlier
Amanda was pacing in the Q Bureau, a worry line etched deep between her brows, when Lee entered.
"Hi," she greeted him before he even had a chance to sit down. "We gotta problem."
"Oh?" He slipped out of his jacket and sat. "What is it?"
She bit her lips and worked her mouth for a moment before saying, "People's Drug sold you some defective goods."
At his obvious confusion she clarified, "I had my physical with Doc Kelford yesterday. I'm pregnant."
Lee's face lit as he jumped from his chair, ready to embrace her. "Amanda that's . . ." he paused. "You're not happy."
"I am." She forced a smile. "It's just . . . unexpected . . . I mean, I'm finally starting to make a name for myself – a career at The Agency – and Phillip's in high school and Jamie's not that far behind . . . I hadn't planned on . . . especially not when . . ." She looked up at him, her face a mixture of emotions. "And all I'm thinking about is myself, here . . . of course, you'd be happy about this. Your first baby!"
"I am," he said and kissed her, "very happy." Taking her by the hand, he led her to the divan. "But we're a team, right?" Off her silent nod, he smiled again, supportively. "So we'll figure out this out together."
She smiled with a little bit more certainty this time, happy for the moment to surrender just a little bit of control. "Who else knows?" he asked after a moment.
"Doc Kelford," she answered. "He said that he only had to pass on results that would render me unfit for field duty, and that I wasn't so far along to be unfit and that when I was, it would be obvious to everyone and that anything that happened between now and then was none of his business."
A shadow crossed Lee's face at the meaning buried under the doctor's words. "I see, that's good, I guess."
Oblivious to the shift in his mood, Amanda continued, "He gave me the name of a clinic up in Rockville – said they'd helped other female agents . . ." After a beat she added, "of course I'd never . . ."
"Of course --" Lee echoed. "Y'know, there's a reason I never trusted either him or Pfaff as far as I could throw them."
Without warning, she began to cry – hormones and months of accumulated stress taking their toll on her reserve of calm and self control – and she wiped the tears angrily away. "Lee," she aired his name like a lifeline hoping that he'd grab it and draw her back in. "Lee," she repeated.
He softened, wrapping an arm around her. "We'll work this out."
Present
Amanda was pacing in the Q Bureau, a worry line etched between her brows when Lee entered.
"Hi!" she greeted him immediately. "Francine knows."
"Oh!" he said, blankly. "How much."
"She saw me at the clinic the other day, and today Billy called to let me know that she'd been in his office. She got a copy of my medical record."
"How did . . ." Lee began and then stopped. "Never mind . . . what'd Billy say?"
"To tell you to use your discretion . . ." Amanda relayed, "but that may not be so easy. She was pretty upset at lunch."
"You had lunch with Francine?"
Amanda nodded. "Yesterday. I woulda told you earlier but you were out when I got back, and . . ." she let the thought trail off. He was as aware as she of how very little they saw of each other. "I told her it was none of her business."
Lee grimaced. "You didn't."
She shrugged. "It's not."
"Francine doesn't like being shut out. Couldn't you have denied it or something."
"I tried that," she answered in frustration. "She knows she saw me."
He sighed. "This isn't likely to get taken care of quickly; is it?"
She shook her head. "I have a follow-up appointment tomorrow, and then the operation should take place next week."
"I still wish you would reconsider. I'm sure we can find another way . . ."
"No." She shook her head. "Billy's right. I should see this through."
She'd sat down on the edge of his desk and he let his fingers drift to the outside of her thigh. "If anything were to happen as a result. . ."
"It won't!" she cut him short. "It'll all be done next week, and we can get back to spending the rest of our lives together."
TBC