She had just stepped out of the shower and was towelling herself off, when there was a light tap on the bathroom door.

"Amanda?" Francine called. "The Colonel and Barney are here. I'm going to take them to my room to talk while you get dressed, okay?"

"Thank you, Francine," she called back. "I'll be five minutes."

"Take your time. The hospital says Lee is still sedated and I need to find out everything Barney knows. Room 108 when you're ready."

Taking Francine at her word, Amanda took the time to dry her hair and apply light makeup before walking out onto the sunshine and tapping on Francine's door.

"That was quick," Francine complimented her, as she waved her in. "And you look much better."

"I'll feel better when I get back to the hospital and see Lee," she replied.

"I can imagine," Francine nodded. "So here's the deal: Colonel Clayton and Barney know my cover story, and yours. The elopement, I mean," she clarified as Amanda looked confused. "Barney pointed out that it was probably less suspicious at this point if we just let the hospital continue thinking you're Lee's wife."

Amanda looked at Barney gratefully. "Alright, but only if the Colonel is fine with it."

"I am – and you should probably start calling me Uncle Robert, now that we're family." Colonel Clayton reached to squeeze her hand when Amanda gave a quiet gasp. "Covers aside, you and Francine are both family. Right, Barney?"

"Yessir," agreed Barney.

"Okay, so Barney is going to drive you and Colonel Clayton to the hospital then he and I are going to go see his friend Gus. The sooner we start figuring this out, the happier everyone will be."

"Do you need me?" Amanda couldn't help asking.

"No, Lee needs you more right now and this is just getting background from Gus. I'll come by the hospital as soon as we're done and let you know what's going on – just don't forget my cover, okay?"

"I don't think any of us are likely to forget it – and I can't wait to see you explain it to Lee when he wakes up" Amanda smiled at Francine – it seemed incongruous but somehow, more than anyone else, having Francine there made it seem like everything was going to be alright.

Francine seemed to catch some of her mood and smirked back. "Oh, I think he'll have a lot more explaining to do than I will – won't he?"

"That definitely sounds like our boy, doesn't it, Barney?" interjected Uncle Robert. "Stuck in bed and still trying to explain his way out of a situation with two women."

There was a pause and then the small room rocked with laughter.


It was considerably quieter in Lee's hospital room a few hours later.

Amanda had her hand curled around Lee's holding it while she watched his face for any signs of coming around. She knew it was unlikely – the doctor had made it clear that they were keeping him lightly sedated to help him heal, but this stillness was disconcerting. She kept seeing hope in the smallest things – a decrease in his pallor, the smallest twitch of his fingers under hers – they all fed that tiny flicker of hope she was clutching. She breathed in and out in tandem with the rise and fall of his chest.

A hand gripped her shoulder and Francine slid into the seat next to her.

"How is he?" she asked.

"No change," sighed Amanda.

She rolled her neck, trying to relieve some of the stiffness. She turned to look at Francine, then did a double take as she took in the brunette wig. "What on earth?" she exclaimed.

"Like it?" Francine lifted her fingers to tug the wig into a more comfortable spot. "You should see it with the glasses - I spent my morning playing Marion the Librarian with Gus."

"Do I want to know what that means?" Amanda said in a voice tinged with doubt. "I thought you were just going to talk to him."

"Well, Gus has an interesting theory on that gold Brockett is bringing up but we needed to get a closer look, so I paid the bank manager a little visit."

"Why the bank manager?"

"Oh sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself. Brockett's been storing the gold at the Las Palmas Bank – I flashed a little bit of badge and asked to do an audit on behalf of the Treasury Department. Then I played a little three card monte with the coins and Gus has gone off to do some research with it."

"Francine! What if you'd gotten caught?"

"What if I had? I'm investigating an attack on a federal agent."

"But you robbed a bank! I don't think Dr. Smyth would condone that, even for an investigation."

Francine grinned. "Oh no, the bank still has all the coins – I just did some fancy moves with a wax impression kit."

"So what do we do next?" asked Amanda.

"We?" Francine looked at her with a raised brow and Amanda sagged in her chair.

"I can't stand this," she confessed. "You know, if the situation was reversed, Lee would be doing something. It would make him just as crazy to sit around here doing nothing as it is me. I can't make him any better by sitting here staring at him, and it were me, he'd probably be out throwing guys around until he got some answers!"

"Well, maybe you should go do some of that," said Uncle Robert from the doorway.

As Amanda looked at him guiltily, he walked further into the room, carefully setting down the two cups of coffee he'd gone to fetch. When she opened her mouth to protest, he stopped her with a raised hand.

"No, Amanda, hear me out. You're right. Lee would be out there, not in here – not because he doesn't love you, but because he'd feel like it was the only thing he could do for you at the moment." He took her hand between his. "He could never sit still; his whole life, he's been in perpetual motion, bouncing from one thing to another. Until he met you that is – you brought him a kind of peace, a purpose and he's finally slowed down enough to smell the roses." Robert leaned in and gave her a grin. "But I think maybe he might have had the opposite effect on you, hmm? He blew into your life and now, I think, you're not quite as happy to let things happen around you, are you?"

Amanda looked up at him soundlessly. It was so tempting – to go out and find the men who'd done this, and she knew Lee would have leapt at the opportunity.

"Come on, Amanda," said Francine, watching her wavering. "I could use another pair of eyes this afternoon. We'll be back before Lee even wakes up, and you can tell him all about how I'm a much better partner than he is."

Amanda choked back a laugh. "That would wake him up," she said as she turned to look back at Lee longingly. "But I don't know…"

"Yes, you do," said Uncle Robert encouragingly. "You've been here for hours and it could be hours more. Get out there and help find the bad guys. For Lee."

"You two aren't playing fair," she muttered, but stood up anyway. "Okay, Francine, where are we headed?"

"First back to the hotel – I need to go from Marion to Marlena," smiled Francine, also standing up. "I think treasure hunters and happy hookers go together pretty well, don't you?"

"You don't think I-" Amanda began to say as the Colonel visibly fought not to laugh.

"Oh no, you can be the Mary-Ann to my Ginger," said Francine. "Come on, let's go."

Amanda started to follow her from the room, then stopped and looked back at Lee. When Francine stopped as well, she waved her on. "I'll just be a second."

Francine nodded with understanding, and stepped outside.

Amanda moved back to the bed, and leaned over Lee, caressing his face gently. "I'm just going out for a little bit, Sweetheart, because I just can't stay in the car any longer, okay. I promise to come right back, so don't you go anywhere, you hear me?" She leaned to kiss his cheek and dropped her voice to a whisper, her lips close to his ear. "Wife's orders, Mr. Stetson." Another moment to press her lips against his, then she turned and left the room.

"Okay, Francine, let's go get these guys," she said in a grim voice.