December 22, 10:00PM

"Lee, what brings you by this late?" Dotty questioned. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm delighted to see you, but I can't help wondering-I mean, you missed dinner and I'm sure the boys would have loved to see you again."

"Yeah, I'm sorry about missing dinner the last couple of nights. I was out of town for work."

"Oh, yes, I know...with another woman," Dotty replied pointedly.

"It wasn't like that," Lee explained. "It was just for work."

"I seem to recall another 'work' trip that resulted in you getting my daughter pregnant."

He flushed slightly. "Yeah, I know, but this really was just about work and couldn't be helped."

She gave him a cool look, not quite ready to let him off the hook for his recent and sudden absence from the family dinner table. "How can I be sure that Amanda isn't just signing up for more of the heartache she endured with Joe if you can also just walk away from your family obligations at a moment's notice?"

Lee let out a frustrated sigh at feeling he was being compared to Joe again and tried to explain, "Listen, you know that when I called before I left, I wanted Amanda to go with me, but she was too sick. You should also recall that I called her constantly while I was away. Did Joe ever do that?"

"Yes, I suppose you did and no, Joe never called that much. But last time you were away, you didn't call at all and that was when Amanda really needed you, you know. I mean, you should have seen the poor girl. She was absolutely-"

"And I learned my lesson on that front, believe me," he interrupted with before she could get started on a babblefest. Feeling a change of topic was needed, he sputtered, "I...um...I'm sorry to come by so late, but I saw the lights on and I was hoping Amanda was still up. I really need to see her."

Dotty nodded. "Well, she just went up to her room right before you got here, but she should still be awake." She opened the door to allow him entrance and he quickly made a beeline for the stairs.

She shook her head as she watched him taking the stairs two at a time and questioned to herself, "Why does it not surprise me that he doesn't have be told which room is hers?"

Lee lightly rapped on Amanda's door and when he heard a soft, "Come in," in response, he entered the room and closed the door behind him just as she was sitting up in bed and turning on the lamp.

"Hi," he smiled brightly at her.

"Hi," she replied, a look of surprise on her face. "Is something going on at the office? Do you need me?"

"Yes, Amanda, I need you, but not for work," he explained as he sat on the bed beside her. "I have needed you for a very long time. More than that, I love you. I've loved you for so long that I can't even remember when I didn't. And I can't be like Joe, making deals with you to spend time with my kid or being a part-time father. More importantly, I can't be in a part-time relationship with you. I want you, I want the baby, the boys, your mother, the house including the leaky roof, the dishwasher that needs a good kick from time to time, the station wagon you once tried to drive through a swamp and whatever else might go along with it."

"Just remember that you said that the first time one of the boys spills something in your "Vette," she teased, giggling when his eyes widened.

He shook his head and replied, "You know what? It doesn't matter. I'll take that too. I just...I love you and I want us to be together and for all of us to be real family."

The jesting smirk faded at the seriousness of his tone, "Lee, I...I don't know what to say except that I love you too." She smiled warmly at him, her heart turning somersaults in her chest at hearing those words from him.

He beamed as he reached into his pocket and pulled out the ring box, "Then will you marry me?"

"Oh my gosh!" She gushed as she gazed at the antique ring. "It's beautiful."

"It was my mother's," he explained to her. "If nothing else, that should show you how serious I am about wanting to be your husband. I wouldn't give this ring to anyone I didn't truly love." When she continued just silently gazing at the ring, he began to panic and pleaded, "Amanda, please say something...say you'll marry me."

"Oh, yes." She kissed him firmly. "Yes, I'll marry you. I'm so sorry. I thought I said yes already. I was just so...so...blown away when I saw this ring that I-" She shook her head. "I'm really very touched by the thought of you giving me your mother's ring, I-" She blinked back tears that had formed in her eyes. "It's such a lovely thought."

"I'm glad you like it," he replied affectionately as he took the ring from the box and slipped it on her finger and held her hand admiring it for a moment. "It looks perfect there. That's why I was a bit late getting to the office today when you were talking to Francine. I was having it resized for you. I wanted you to have it before Christmas."

"It's the perfect Christmas present. Not the ring, I mean, but you...you and me." They shared a long, lingering kiss and when it ended, she began anew, "I don't want you to think that I'm complaining because I'm not, but what made you think to do this and to finally admit how you felt about me?"

"Honestly, it was Francine, or more specifically, that trip with Francine. It really hit me during that trip just how much I hate being away from you and I don't like that feeling. I wanna' be with you all the time. Granted, I felt bad that you've been sick, but I admit part of that was selfish too because I wanted you there with me too, not her."

"I understand completely. I think I felt worse about her being with you instead of me than I actually felt from being sick. I missed you so much and I know it sounds stupid because it was only two days, but I couldn't stand it. I got so used to you being here every night this past week and when you weren't I-I just wanted you home with me."

"I wanted to be home with you," he echoed her sentiment. "I know I probably shouldn't have come here so late, but since I had to work late to make up for going in later than normal, I-" He broke off as he tried to get his thoughts together. "I just had to see you to tell you that I love you and I couldn't wait any longer to let you know that I really want to marry you because I want to be with you and not just because we're having a baby."

"I understand," she replied softly. "And I want you to understand that when I said no, it was never about not wanting to marry you. I just...I just I needed to know that...well, I think you get it now."

"I really do, but I...uh...I should go. I know you're back at work now, but you've been sick and you need your rest."

She reached for his hand to keep him there. "No, Lee...stay. You've still got that bag in your car, don't you?"

"Yeah, sure." He shrugged. "Why?"

"I think you should go get it so you can stay here tonight."

"But what about your family? Won't they ask questions about why I'm here in the morning?"

"Well, you know my mother won't since she's been dropping not-so-subtle hints about us getting married every night at dinner. As for the boys, well...they...um...they already know about the baby."

"I thought we were going to tell them together," he protested. "How could you tell them without me?"

"I didn't," she explained. "Or at least, I didn't mean to. When Joe dropped this boys off this afternoon after his weekend with them, he asked me if I was ready to tell him what was going on between us since Phillip and Jamie had spent so much time talking about you hanging around while he had them at his place."

"Ohhh...so, you told him?"

"You knew I was going to. You heard me promising to tell him that first night I told you. The trouble is that I didn't realize the boys had come back downstairs at just the wrong moment and overheard us, so then I had to explain it to them."

"So, how did they take it? Do they hate me now?" He cringed at that thought since he'd spent five nights in a row having dinner with the family and answering all the pointed questions they'd thrown at him.

"Well, just like Mother, the first thing they wanted to know was when you were going to marry me," she laughed

"As soon as damn possible," he replied firmly.

Amanda nodded and placed a hand on her stomach. "Yeah, the sooner the better, before this baby of ours starts really making his or her presence known and we have to explain it to the Agency too."

"Oh, God," Lee moaned. "What are we going to do there? They're going to think that I only married you because I got you pregnant."

"Or that I got pregnant on purpose to trap you," she pointed out. "You may not have done the math on my Joe stuff, but other people have. I've heard snippets of them talking about it when they thought I couldn't hear them."

"So...what do we do?"

"Well, you know the office Christmas party is tomorrow. Why don't we just announce our engagement then and leave the baby stuff out of it?"

"Not a bad idea, but what's going to happen when you start popping out right after our wedding?"

"We'll deal with it then, I guess." She gave him a curious look. "But do you really care what they think? You never have before when they've been talking about your reputation."

"I know, Amanda, but it's your reputation I'm worried about. You're so good to everyone and you have this wholesome mom reputation and-"

Amanda laughed and interrupted, "Oh, no, I don't. Not since Joe came back to town and all our past stuff was really out there in the open. I mean, it's always been there in my background information, but no one really paid attention to it until he became part of an Agency investigation."

"Including me," he confessed. "I just never thought much about it. I knew you'd been married and had two kids, but he was just this faceless guy who was never around and I-" He blew out a long breath. "I admit that when he first came back, I panicked, especially after seeing the four of you together in the gym looking...looking like a real family."

"Oh, speaking of which, that was another thing that had to be explained to the boys this afternoon...the gym. Since it's only been a couple of weeks, Jamie recognized you as the man who saved his life that day."

"Shit," he swore, panic rising within him again.

"No, it's okay. Joe fielded that like a pro. Remember, he was here the other night when I told you I was pregnant and Mother had been pumping him for information about you. She's known ever since Joe's case was settled that he'd already met you, but she was a...a little hurt that she hadn't." When he gave her a hurt look, she quickly added, "But that's my fault for never inviting you in and always keeping you outside. The point is, that Joe just jumped in and reminded him of what he'd said that night and that you were there to help out."

"But they don't know about what we really do for a living like your mother does?"

"I don't think Phillip did...not yet anyway, but it wouldn't take much for him to figure it out, especially since Jamie did. He's so smart. He didn't say anything, but I could see it in that wide-eyed expression of his."

"But maybe it's not such a bad idea to tell them something," he suggested. "Maybe not the whole truth, but at least enough that they understand that they can't tell people we work for the government."

"Lee, we live in a government town. Tons of kids have parents working for the government in one form or another. I hear it all the time at the PTA, but maybe we could use what happened in the gym as an example to them of what could happen if the wrong people know what we do; make sure they understand that it's IFF they should talk about if anyone asks."

"And not to talk to strangers," he added helpfully.

"Pfft." She rolled her eyes. "Lee, they've known that ever since they were old enough to be out on their own without me by their side every second."

"Right." he replied, feeling stupid again. "I have a lot to learn, don't I? I'm just going to keep screwing up, huh?"

"Oh, I don't know." She glanced down at the ring she now wore. "I think you're learning pretty fast." She held up her hand to display the ring. "This here proves that, not that I needed the ring. All I needed was to know you wanted me and not just the baby."

"Amanda, I always did want you. God, I wanted so badly to tell you that night in the swamp how I felt about you, but then I kept thinking about how you almost did and then backed off..." He let out a sigh. "So, I...uh...I thought maybe you weren't ready to hear it."

"Even after we made love that night?"

"Well, that...uh...something you said the next day did that too. You remember you made that smartass crack about showing a girl a good time?"

"Ohhh, that."

"Yeah, that. I thought you were saying maybe that you were already regretting it and to top it off, once we were alone in the hall, you began this 'about last night' stuff in this big serious tone, so I figured it was best to back off and just go back to trying to romance you slowly like I had been, but then work kept getting in the way and then Joe came back and then...the next thing I knew, you'd resigned and-"

"Well, Lee, I didn't mean that 'good time' stuff the way you took it. I...uh...I was trying to let you know that I was open to that kind of thing again, but since we were in the bullpen surrounded by people, I couldn't exactly be obvious about it and say, 'hey, Lee, I really enjoyed the sex we had last night and want to do it again the right way,' could I? That's why when we were finally alone, I started with the 'about last night' stuff, but then you made me so angry with your talk about it being just all about getting warm. I thought that you regretted it, so I didn't push it any further. After I said, 'not exactly,' I really thought you'd follow me wanting to know what I meant by that and when you didn't, I...well, I figured it was best to back off and let you take things at your own pace since I know how hard it is for you to open up."

He shook his head. "We're both stupid. All this time, we could have really been together if we hadn't kept misunderstanding each other."

She linked her fingers with his and smiled. "Well we're together now, so that's something."

"There's just one more thing that doesn't make sense to me. You told me that your mother figured out that you were pregnant on her own because she's a mom too, right?"

"That's right," she confirmed.

"Well, I was thinking...you've already got two kids yourself, so that must mean..." He paused, not quite sure how to phrase what he was thinking without it sounding like an accusation. He didn't want to blow it again now that they were finally on the same page.

"I'm listening," she probed.

"Since you've been pregnant twice before, how could you not have suspected you were pregnant before you even got it confirmed by the doctor?"

"Oh, I did," she informed him. "I started to suspect right around Thanksgiving when I was doing all my normal cooking and I started to smell everything more intensely...like last weekend with your lasagna. Plus, I was late, but I wasn't thinking so much about that because with all the intense situations we end up in, it's not uncommon these days for my period to show up late once the adrenaline gets pumping. It may sound stupid, but it was really the food thing that triggered the idea in my head before anything else."

"So, why didn't you share your suspicions with me? I could've been there with you when you went to the doctor."

"I wanted to, but it took time to schedule a doctor's appointment and I had Jamie's tenth birthday party to deal with after that, and then you were so weird when Joe came back just a few days later, especially when you started grilling me for all this information on my past with him and treating it like it was just another day on the job, that I-" She hung her head. "I thought it might really set you off if you knew what I was thinking so I decided rather than get you in a panic, it was best to wait until I knew for sure. I didn't want to get you all worked up if it turned out to be nothing."

"But it didn't turn out to be nothing."

"I know. You were right when you said we kept misunderstanding each other. That was one time that I really misunderstood you and I should have told you what I was thinking, but I was afraid. We'd been getting so close and then Joe came back and ruined everything."

He shot her an inquisitive look. "So, you're not as happy about him being back in town as you pretended to be?"

"Oh, don't get me wrong. I'm happy he's around to spend more time with the boys, but it made things really strange between you and me. When you showed up at Dooley's that night-"

"So, you did see me there," he interjected in a 'AHA' tone.

"Of course, I saw you there. I made direct eye contact with you and smiled at you, didn't I?"

"I...uh...I wasn't quite sure that was meant for me. I was hoping it was, but you were dancing with your ex, so I-"

"That was just...I don't know...kind of a farewell dance. One last hurrah to really say goodbye to our past together. He knew that I only had eyes for you. You weren't the only one who caught me looking at you, you know. The difference is that he actually said what was on his mind and asked me about it."

"Like I said, I'm stupid when it comes to you."

"No, you're not. Not anymore." She softly brushed her lips against his. "Now, go on. Go get your bag so you can get into this bed with me where you belong."