"How's he doing?" Francine slipped into the room and took the empty seat across the bed. She reached across the bed to squeeze Amanda's hand, then turned to study Lee. "His color looks better."

"He is better," said Amanda, quietly. "He tried to give us a scare today, but he fought back."

"He always does," agreed Francine.

The nurses had removed the oxygen tent as Lee's vitals had gotten stronger, and although he hadn't yet regained consciousness, Amanda felt more than ever that he was close to coming around.

"He always does," she echoed. "Gosh, how many times have I sat by this man's hospital bed?"

"Too many," sympathized Francine. "But you're a very restful person to have around at times like this. If the situation was reversed, Lee would be a basket case by now and all the nurses would have quit."

"He's not that bad," Amanda protested. She met Francine's smile and couldn't help smiling back. "Well, he hasn't been in a long time."

"He hasn't been a lot of things in a long time," agreed Francine. "But he's still a fighter – and once he comes out of this, you'll have a fight on your hands getting him to take care of himself. Injuries are bad, but recovery is such a pain in the ass."

"I was thinking about that," said Amanda slowly. "I'm going to take him home."

"Well, of course you are," agreed Francine. "He can't stay out here."

"No," said Amanda. "I mean, I'm going to take him home. To my house."

Francine looked at her, astonished. "Your house? With your family?"

"He's met them," Amanda shrugged. "They like him, he likes them. He shouldn't be home alone like this. My mother already said she'd help look after him."

Francine studied her, watching the blush rise in her cheeks. "You think he'll go along with that?"

"I'm not going to give him a choice," stated Amanda. "We're partners and you and I both know Billy will back me up and make it an order." She looked down at Lee, and Francine watched as her face softened. "But yes, I think he'll go along with it."

Amanda looked back up. "So what have you found out? Don't even try to hide it – you have that look."

"You're getting good," Francine nodded approvingly. "You're right – I got Sheriff Waterhouse to loan me a deputy for some surveillance on Brockett and we got some pictures of his mystery late-night visitor. They weren't great but they were good enough for Ernie the Camera to identify him - it's Norton Scott."

Amanda closed her eyes and thought for a moment. "Wait, don't tell me – I know that name…" Her eyes flew open. "The Harper's Ferry heist!"

Francine nodded. "Yep – one of the most notorious gold heists in the country and now we know where it's gone."

"That's fantastic! Have you arrested him?"

"Not yet – he's laying too low. We know Brockett is picking up the gold from the bank tomorrow. We're going to let him lead us straight to Scott."

"You think he'll show up?"

"I don't think Scott would pull off that job and then take his eye off Brockett for a second. Brockett's nowhere near smart enough for Scott to trust him with anything except taking the fall."

"Was it Brockett or Scott that had Lee shot?" Amanda's expression had turned hard.

"We may only find that out when we get them in an interrogation room."

Amanda was quiet for a moment, watching Lee as he breathed, the rise of his chest in counterpoint to the quiet beeping of the machinery.

"I want to be there," she said finally, looking determinedly across his body at Francine. "I want to be there tomorrow when you get them."

"Are you sure?" Francine was startled. "Don't you want to stay with Lee?"

"No matter how much I want it, I can't be sure he'll even be awake tomorrow. He almost died again today," Amanda answered. "He puts his life on the line for his country every day. And then yesterday, all he did was step out of a car to visit a friend and he almost died. I need to know the person who did that is going to pay."

"Amanda, I don't know if that's a good idea."

"I want to be there," she repeated firmly. Seeing that Francine was about to protest again, she went on. "Francine, I have spent the last three years helping Lee and being trained by Lee and learning how to help people from Lee – if I am not involved in catching the people who did this… what was the point?"

There was a beat of silence, then Francine nodded. "You're right. You're not the naïve teacher's pet I thought you were when we met. I could use a partner and you deserve to be there." She held out her hand across Lee's body and Amanda shook it firmly.

"Thank you."


"I am not staying in the car, Francine!"

Despite Francine's capitulation about allowing Amanda to take part in the capture of their two suspects, she and Amanda were now standing toe-to-toe, arguing over the roles assigned.

"I'm not saying you have to stay in the car – I'm saying you need to maintain a position as a member of the observation team!"

"So staying in the van, instead of the car? That doesn't work for Lee and it's not going to work for you either!"

"Amanda," said Francine patiently. "You have spent the last several months in classes with Beaman and Zakowski and any number of other teachers to learn what exactly?"

"How to be an agent," said Amanda. "And that's what I want to be today!"

"And what else?" demanded Francine. When Amanda stared back at her, puzzled, she went on. "Procedures, Amanda. Ninety percent of what we do is procedures, right?"

Amanda nodded, unwillingly.

"You are involved in this case as an agent but also as a victim – second hand, perhaps, but you were almost a target. So we can't have anything in this takedown that suggests that you – a trainee agent – were doing anything that could be fought in court later. Right?"

Amanda nodded again, frowning now. "But I could be more help! I saw the man who shot Lee. Not for very long, but enough to identify him maybe!"

Francine sighed and stared down at the desk to control her impatience before looking back up again at Amanda's determined expression. "Are you armed?"

"Well…no," admitted Amanda.

"Do you think it's likely Norton Scott is armed?"

"Yes." Amanda was getting less argumentative as she saw where Francine was going with this.

"Do you think any of your trainers would tell you it's a good idea for an unarmed, uncertified trainee, possibly suffering from shock and likely to be seeking revenge, to be allowed to take part in the physical takedown of a dangerous suspect? Do you think Lee would think that was a good idea?"

"No." Amanda conceded in a small voice. It was so unfair for Francine to pull the Lee card on her, but she knew she was right.

"Then you can observe and help maintain communications," said Francine. "Because, believe me, it would look bad if there were two of us out there with revenge on our minds." She leaned forward confidingly. "And trust me, nobody but me wants to get them as badly as you do, except maybe Billy, and he's not here."

"Oh yes he is," said a gruff voice. The two women whirled as Billy walked into the small incident room Sheriff Waterhouse had given them for their operations. "What?" he said, off their surprised looks. "You thought I wasn't going to be here to make sure these guys get nailed?"

"I thought we were trying to lay low?" said Francine.

"We are. Brockett's crew has been picked up quietly this morning and the bank and the boat are both under observation by what appear to be tourists and fishermen. We can't afford to do anything to spook them now."

"I'm glad you're here, Sir," said Amanda, standing up.

"I wouldn't be anywhere else, Amanda," said Billy, walking forward to give her a hug. "How is he?"

"Stable but still unconscious," she answered. "Otherwise I wouldn't be here. His uncle and Barney are with him."

"I'm glad you agreed with Francine just now," nodded Billy. "I only caught the last part of it, but I wouldn't have hesitated to send you away completely if you hadn't agreed. This could be very dangerous and I can't risk anything happening to you – not when Lee is already fighting for his life."

"Yes Sir," replied Amanda. "I understand."

"Good. Now let's go, children."