Lee entered her room, and seeing the tubes and the beeping of the machines, he closed his eyes for a moment, trying to understand why this had happened to her.

'This should be you Stetson, not her…if you hadn't been such a pigheaded fool she wouldn't be laying there. You knew she was right, but you just had to push her away by not listening to her. By letting her go off on her own so you could hurt her by going on a date.'

Trying to silence the voice in his head, he walked over to her bed and picked up her hand. Gently kissing her fingertips he apologized for not being there for her and for his biggest transgression of doing things these past few weeks that he knew deliberately hurt her.

Joe entered the room hoping to spend time with Amanda he wanted his face to be the first one she saw when she woke up. He hoped that this would be his way to show how much he cared for her. He needed her and he needed her to need him. When he saw Lee standing there apologizing to her he couldn't contain his anger. Why couldn't this man just stay away from his Amanda ?

"You should be sorry. This is your fault! Because of you she's built up some silly fantasy life and look where it's gotten her."

Lee turned around and saw Joe standing there. It took him a moment before he could find his voice. Joe was right this was his fault, but not in the way Joe meant. He walked over to Joe his anger rising with each step.

"What do you mean by that?"

"You know perfectly well what I mean Stetson. She's a simple secretary, but you've played into her fantasies and..."

"You don't know Amanda at all!"

"Gentlemen!"

Both Lee and Joe turned to see a very annoyed Francine walking into the room and head towards Amanda. Neither had realized Amanda had woken up. Francine could see her struggling to get out of bed. Knowing how Amanda's mind worked she knew she was going to try and play peace maker.

"Oh no you don't Amanda. I'll take care of these two."

Amanda was to dizzy and tired to argue she simply nodded her head at Francine before drifting back to sleep.

"I don't know what's wrong with you two, but I suggest you work out your problems outside!" She shoved them both out the door and then turned her attention back to Amanda.

"I have a funny feeling your ex is is in for a few surprises."

Lee and Joe stood outside the hospital and stared at each other waiting for the other to make the first move. Lee knew Amanda would kill him if he physically hurt Joe, but at this moment all he really wanted to do was punch Joe in the face.

"Mr. Stetson do you care to tell me how Amanda ended up here?"

"She was doing her job, Mr. King..."

"Her job? Oh come on. You make it sound like she's an agent, and Amanda's...well Amanda's just not cut out for that type of work."

"Not only is she cut out for it, but she's damn good at. She's my partner has been for three years and she's the best partner I've ever had."

Joe stared at Lee for a moment, "Three years?"

"Yes, Joe, three years, and she's good really good."

"I... I don't believe you. Amanda's good at baking cookies and helping the PTA, but chasing down bad guys in the world of espionage? I don't think so."

"Well you better believe it! I can't believe Amanda was ever married to you! You know absolutely nothing about her. You don't know how smart she is, and how creative she can be. She's brave too, the bravest person I know."

Joe narrowed his eyes at Lee he couldn't reconcile what Lee was telling him about his ex wife with the woman he had been married to. Had she really changed that much since he'd been gone. He also recognized something in Lee's eyes. He recognized it because he knew it was a look he'd had in his eyes. Lee was in love with Amanda. He finally realized that he had in fact lost her. Realizing this only made him angrier at the man in front of him balling his hand in to a fist he swung at Lee connecting with his left eye.

Lee hadn't seen the punch coming because while Joe was coming to his realization Lee himself was also coming to a realization. He now fully understood Amanda would never take Joe back. She had changed to much over the last few years and would never be happy going back to a man who didn't allow her to spread her wings.

"What aren't you going to fight back tough guy?"

"You're not worth it Joe. Go home I have something ... no, I have someone more important to take care of."

Lee turned away and walked back into the hospital leaving Joe and all his fears about Joe stealing Amanda away behind him. His only thought at the moment was how to apologize to Amanda for the last few weeks.

Pausing before entering her room Lee wondered if once again Amanda could forgive him, or if he had finally pushed her away for good. He hoped he hadn't lost his best friend, but knew that if he had, he would have no one to blame but himself.

Francine turned her head towards the door when Lee walked in. She noticed the red mark by his eye that promised to turn into nice shiner. Raising an eyebrow and shaking her head a bit, she looked back at Amanda, squeezed her hand then she quietly left.

He looked at her noticing how small and vulnerable she looked. He saw the bruising around her eyes he knew that it was typical with her type of injury, but it tore at his heart knowing if he had been with her like he should have been he might have been able to prevent this from happening to her. Pulling a chair over he sat down and lifted her hand into his. If he couldn't make things right between the two of them this might be his last chance to hold her.

Amanda woke up trying to remember why she was in the hospital. She blinked her eyes trying to clear the blurriness from her eyes. She could feel someone holding her hand and without even looking she knew it was Lee. She turned her head slightly and saw him sleeping in a chair. She drifted back to sleep with a small smile on her face.

A few hours later, Lee woke up, and stood up to check on Amanda. He brushed her hair away from her eyes and kissed her forehead. Feeling her stir he gave her a shy smile.

"Hi there"

"Hi" Her response barely more then a whisper.

"How are you feeling?"

"A little dizzy, but better then the last time I woke up. Have you been here the whole time?

"Most of it. I left when your Mother and Joe were here, all though, Joe came back."

"Oh"

The two of them just looked at each other for a few moment, neither really knowing what to say. Lee knew it was up to him to make things right again and he hoped he wouldn't screw it up.

"Amanda, I could say I'm sorry, and I am, but it seems like that's all I've been saying to you lately."

She watched as he started to pace and run his hand through his hair. She knew he did this when he was worried or scared.

"Lee..."

"No, you need to hear me out. Please."

Nodding she waited for him to go on.

He smiled at her before continuing.

"I've been scared since Joe came back. I knew he wanted you back, and I kept seeing my best friend walking out of my life. I didn't want to lose you, but I couldn't see how to stop it."

"Lee..."

"You promised you'd let me finish. That means no interrupting Mrs. King." He picked up her hand and kissed her fingers.

"Okay"

"I thought if I pushed you away ... well, if I pushed you away, then when you finally left me it wouldn't hurt as much. I now realize how stupid I was being."

Amanda couldn't help letting a small laugh escape from her lips.

"I didn't say it made sense, but I didn't know what else to do."

The two were silent Lee just looked at her hoping she was able to understand what he was telling her. He'd known for some time that he was falling in love with her, but he was too scared to admit it.

She reached up and traced his black eye with her finger tips while she thought about what he'd just said. She was still confused, and she needed to know what changed his mind, because she couldn't go through what happened the last few weeks again.

"Lee ... what made you. I mean well, how did you figure out how stupid you were being."

Raising an eyebrow at her it was his turn to laugh a little.

"Joe and I had a conversation."

Placing her fingers back on his black eye. "I see."

"No, I realized I was being stupid before this happened. He doesn't know who you are now. I'm not sure he really ever knew you. He has no idea how special you really are. He can't see past his own idea of who you are, and you're so much more then he can ever understand."

Amanda could feel the tears starting to fall and she wanted nothing more than to pull him into a hug, but she held back. She still was feeling unsure about the last few weeks she could understand the why he pushed her away, but she was still having issues with the methods he used.

"Lee I wish you had talked to me. I would have told you I didn't want Joe."

"I should have. I know that now…can you find it in your heart to forgive me?"

"I want to, but Lee these last few weeks you've hurt me. I mean really hurt me more then I think you even understand. How can I be sure it won't happen again?"

"I'm so sorry Amanda. You didn't deserve any of the pain and hurt I caused. All I can do is promise to be more open with you and not let my fears get in the way."

Amanda could feel her eyes getting heavy. She just couldn't sort everything out in her head at the moment.

"Lee, I need time to sort this all out."

Lee watched as she closed her eyes and fell asleep. He kissed her forehead once more and swallowed back his tears.

"I love you, Amanda King."