There was an eerie silence in the dining room after Amanda dropped her bombshell. Lee tore his eyes away from her and looked down at the floor, unable to form words at the moment. Was he really going to be a father? He was having trouble believing it at the moment. He could practically hear his uncle's scathing voice in his head already lecturing him about his lack of responsibility. He took a deep breath to shake off that nagging thought as he reflected on the night that had led to this.

Amanda stared at Lee, not quite sure what to make of his silence or the fact that he was no longer looking at her. She knew that he often needed time to process things, but this was too much. She opened her mouth to say something more, but then clamped it shut and shook her head. What else could she say? She'd just told him she was carrying his child. The ball was in his court now. She closed her eyes as she thought back to that night in the swamp.

November 2. 1985

They both groaned as the chain was tugged in opposite directions yanking on both of their arms.

"Amanda," he grumbled and when she shushed him, he hissed through gritted teeth, "I like to sleep on my right."

"Yeah, well, I like to sleep on my left side."

Lee let out a low groan of frustration as he tried to figure out a solution because there was no way either of them was going to be able to sleep this way. He couldn't help thinking that in any other situation, it would work out perfectly that they liked to sleep on opposite sides. When that thought struck him he reached for his companion to flip her over to the other side of him.

"Hey," she protested and struggled against him a bit in her surprise. When he stopped at feeling her resisting, she questioned, "What are you doing?" She glanced around warily wondering if it were an evasive maneuver and if their pursuers had spotted them. When she realized there was no one else around, she breathed a sigh of relief that they seemed to be safe and looked back at him. Her breath hitched as she did so and she couldn't help the shiver that ran up her spine once it hit her that she was lying atop him, the memory of how close they'd been to kissing began replaying in her head.

Lee gazed into her eyes as his thoughts flitted back to their near-kiss just moments ago and how Amanda had very obviously had something more to say to him, but had hesitated. He knew that feeling all too well. He had so much he wanted to say to her, but it seemed that every time he was ready, something or someone interrupted them. Her words 'if we don't make it...' kept echoing through his mind. He'd had the same thought when he'd nearly kissed her. Screw it, he thought as he ran a hand through her hair and pulled her head down and captured her lips in a firm kiss.

"Mmm," Amand sighed at the insistent pressure of his lips on hers as she raised her free hand to caress his face. Testing the water, she lightly teased his lips with her tongue.

Lee took advantage of the opportunity she was offering him and probed her mouth with his tongue, delighted by the moan of pleasure that came from her in response. He tightened his other arm around her waist as they began to tentatively explore one another.

When they both became too breathless to continue, they broke apart and just stared at one another for a long moment. "Is that what you were doing?" she joked to ease the tension between them.

He laughed lightly and answered honestly, "No. That's not what I intended, but I'm not complaining."

"Mmm...no complaints here either," she replied as she lightly brushed her thumb across his lips. "So, if you didn't intend to kiss me like that, what were you doing?"

"Oh, I was just thinking about what you said; how you like to sleep on your left side and since I like to sleep on my right, I thought we'd have less trouble getting comfortable if we switched sides. When I grabbed you like I did, it was to flip you over to my other side."

"Without letting me know what you were doing? How very caveman of you," she teased.

"You haven't seen caveman yet," he growled as he captured her lips again in a fiery kiss, this time with no hesitation on either part as their mouths clashed and tongues dueled.

Amanda let out a little "Oh," of surprise when she felt Lee's hands drifting to her bottom. She lifted her head from his, searching his eyes for any indication that they were on the same page.

"What?" he asked in a startled tone and quickly removed his hands from her butt. "Too much?"

She shook her head slowly. "Not enough,' she answered in a husky voice as she lowered her head to nip at his neck. She whispered in his ear, "You promised me some caveman, didn't you?"

Lee let out a sigh as her teeth grazed his earlobe. "Me Tarzan, you Jane," his voice rumbled in her ear as he grasped her rear in earnest.

She let out a little giggle at his words, but it was choked off a bit by a moan when she felt the evidence of his arousal pressing against her. She tugged at his shirt in an attempt to pull it from his pants, but found herself hampered by the chain between them. She let out a groan of frustration and paused in her efforts.

He moved his hands up to cup her face. "Amanda, I-" he hesitated. He wanted to tell her how he felt about her; that he didn't want this to be just another notch on his bedpost and that he genuinely cared for her, but he couldn't quite get the words out.

"You what?" She had a feeling she knew what was on his mind because she'd nearly said the words aloud herself earlier, but had chickened out.

"I-I...uh...I just want to make sure this is what you really want."

She nodded. "I've never wanted anything...or anyone more," she confirmed as she tried to work on his shirt again.

"Let me," he suggested as he rolled her to her left side as he'd intended to do in the first place and yanked his shirt from his pants and then reached for her again to do the same with her flannel. They resumed their earlier position, their mouths meeting again as he ran his hands up under her shirt to caress the bare skin of her back while she did the same to him. their kiss was broken when he let out a hiss as he felt the cold metal of the chain's cuff against his stomach.

"Sorry," she apologized sheepishly as she sat up astride him.

"Don't be. It can't be helped," he said to put her at ease as he flicked open the button of her jeans, then moved to the zipper.

"Lee!" she gasped when his fingers slipped inside her panties to touch her intimately "Oh, yes."

He watched in delight as her facial expression reflected her pleasure at his touch, her soft sighs spurring him on. With his chained hand, he tried to push her jeans down further to give him better access to her core, but struggled due to their position.

Amanda let out a whimper of protest when he stopped what he was doing, but then quickly realized what the problem was. "I'll do it," she offered. "You're not going to get very far anyway with my boots in the way." She shifted to untie her boots and shove them off her feet one at a time.

"So much for your caveman theory," he jested.

She laughed as they both worked to help her wriggle out of her jeans and underwear. "Better?"

"Mm-hmm," he sighed as he returned to what he'd started before he'd been stopped by the constriction of her tight jeans and the chains that bound them together.

"Ohhh," she moaned as his skilled fingers stroked her and then let out a loud gasp when he slipped one finger inside her. "Need...more..." she panted as she worked to free his erection from its denim prison. Once she'd opened his jeans, she reached inside his boxers.

"Amanda..." he breathed when her hand wrapped around his swollen member. "God," he hissed as she began to stroke him, his heart racing, his breath coming in short, sharp pants.

"Need...you...inside.." One hand still holding his shaft, she shifted once more to position herself properly to complete what they'd started.

He moved his unchained hand to her hip as she guided him into her and sank down atop him, both groaning as she took him in all the way. "Yes!" she cried out. While she'd fantasized about really being with him many times, she'd never imagined it would feel like this; that he would fill her so completely.

"Shhh..." he hissed. "They might still be out there."

She nodded and sighed as she moved against him to drive him deeper, biting down on her lower lip to keep her response to him as quiet as she could so as not to alert the enemy.

Off her reaction, he gripped her hips tightly and pushed his own upward as she began to rock against him with more force. He'd often imagined what their first time together would be like and thought it would be a slow seduction because he wanted her to know how special she was to him, but this was nothing of the sort as she bucked wildly against him, increasing the pace. He couldn't help his desire to meet her movement for movement, but he knew he couldn't last at this pace and he wanted to take her with him. He moved one hand back to her center to caress the swollen nub between her legs as she rode him hard, both of them gasping until he felt her inner muscles clenching around him with her release just before he tumbled over the edge himself.

"Wow," Amanda sighed as she stilled her movements. She looked down at him and smiled. She felt a little thrill course through her when she saw a similar smile on his face.

"Yeah," he agreed. He shot her a teasing grin. "Not still cold, I hope?"

"No, not at all." She shook her head.

"Well, you might be if we don't get you dressed again," he pointed out.

"Right. Wouldn't want to get cold again." She nodded in acknowledgement, but grimaced slightly at the idea of separating so soon. She did have to admit that he was right though. She slid off him and reached for her jeans to pull them back on. After a few minutes struggle with the chain and a little help from Lee, she managed to complete the task, followed by shoving her feet back into her boots while he straightened and closed up his pants.

"But you know..." he hesitated slightly when he saw the frown on her face. "That doesn't mean we can't still try to keep each other warm...you know, share body heat."

"Oh, I think we just covered that pretty well, Tarzan," she replied flippantly as she finished tying the laces on her boots.

"That we did, but still, we do have to get some sleep too. That was the whole point of me trying to move you to this side of me."

"Yeah, it was, wasn't it?" She gave him a half smile as she moved to lie down beside him and he wrapped his arm around her as he had earlier just before she'd nearly confessed that she was in love with him. She settled into his embrace, her head on his shoulder and he planted a kiss to the top of her head. No more words were spoken between them as they drifted off to sleep together, both wondering what their future would hold now that they'd taken this step.

November 3, 1985

'You sure know how to give a girl a good time'...those words of Amanda's kept reverberating through Lee's mind as they walked out of the bullpen together. What the hell did she mean by that? Was she just being flip about their adventure in the swamp or was it about them having sex? Was she already regretting it? Or...an inner voice taunted him, was she suggesting that you weren't up to her standards sexually? By her response to him, he was pretty sure he'd satisfied her, but maybe he hadn't. Maybe she'd been faking it. He cringed when he heard her begin, "About last night..."

He quickly jumped in with talking about two people seeking a little warmth to spare her the embarrassment of admitting that she'd made a mistake. After all, they'd both thought they might not make it out and had acted solely in the heat of the moment. Besides, if she'd been left unsatisfied with it, he really didn't want to know that.

"Not exactly," she replied and hurried away, hoping to escape before he could see the disappointment etched on her face. She'd been about to suggest that they make a real plan for another go-round when they could really take the time to enjoy it, but since he was already trying to give her the brush-off, she wasn't about to humiliate herself.

Back in the present, Amanda was the first to break their stalemate. "Lee, say something...please."

Snapped out of his reminiscence by her pleading tone, he looked back at her wide-eyed and blurted out without thinking, "We'll have to get married."