"Good morning sweetheart," greeted Amanda her husband as she emerged from her cabin.
"Morning Amanda," Lee replied and kissed her quickly on the lips. Part of him still felt a bit strange to be able to kiss his wife so openly knowing that his boss and co-worker were close by.
"How was your night with the other men from the resort?" asked Amanda as she led them towards the woods, intent on spending some time alone with Lee away from prying ears. Amanda was anxious to hear what had happened on the stake out the night before, while she was at the group women's meeting.
"Ahh, you know. Just us men being men. We had a bonfire and some beer. We bonded in the way that men always do." Lee replied as he walked with his hand at the small of her back.
"So I guess then you didn't miss me then now did you?" asked Amanda teasingly.
"Now I didn't say that now did I?" asked Lee. "If it wasn't for Rusnik we could be enjoying some alone time together as husband and wife, and we wouldn't need to pretend to pretend to be married. We could really be married, if you know what I mean," Lee said with a slight grin on his face as he looked longingly at wife.
"I think we have been spending too much time together," Amanda said with a giggle. "Now you're starting to sound like me!"
"When it comes to us spending time together, there is no such thing as spending too much time together. But I know what you mean, I think the lack of sleep is starting to get to me." Lee said as he rubbed the back of his neck. Once he had arrived back at his cabin from the stake out with Billy, he had tossed and turned all night. There was something that was nagging him about this case and he just couldn't put his finger on what it was.
Once they had walked far enough away from the rest of the crowd, and they could speak privately. Amanda began to question Lee as to what happened with Billy on the stake out. Lee told Amanda what little information that they had gathered on the routine of the guard and their inability to find another way over to the other campsite.
"Time is running out, and we need to find Rusnik before he goes back home!" Lee said as he paced in the small wood clearing.
"I'm sure that we'll come up with something," Amanda said as she tried to cheer up Lee. "Did you sleep at all last night? You seem to be more on edge than you normally are when you're working a case." Amanda looked carefully at Lee and took him his tired looking eyes and posture.
"I, uhhhh. You know I can't sleep properly when I'm sleeping beside my beautiful wife," Lee said with his trademark grin as he leaned in for a kiss.
"Ahh," Amanda said as she held up her hand to stop Lee from kissing her. "We sleep apart more than we sleep together, and you normally don't have a problem then. So spill it buster!"
"Did you just hear what you just said?" asked Lee still trying to distract his wife. "We sleep apart more than we sleep together. Don't you think there is something wrong with that statement?"
"Yes, but you know why we do that. We both felt it was what was best … Ha stop right there. Don't think you're fooling me by trying to change the subject." Amanda said while she looked accusingly at Lee.
Lee sighed began to pace again in the clearing. "There is just something about this case that is bothering me. Too many unknowns. We don't know if Rusnik is even here. We don't know if he really wants to defect. We don't have any idea on what information Rusnik really has, nor do we even know if it was really even him that contacted us saying that he wanted to defect. And then there is that Lana woman…" Lee said as he stared distractedly at the sky. "There is just something about her that is very familiar to me. I just can't quite figure it out just yet."
"Do you think she could have been someone you met on a previous case?" asked Amanda.
"No I don't think so." Lee said with a shake of his head.
"Maybe she is someone that you dated?" asked Amanda.
Lee responded with a slight laugh. "I may have dated a bit before we became married, but I do remember all the women that I did date. And she is definitely not one of them!"
"A bit? Four really big black books worth of dating," Amanda said teasingly as she turned to wards her husband and wrapped her arms around his waist.
"What little black books are you referring to?" Lee said as he grinned down at his wife and leaned in for a quick kiss. "You know that all women pale in comparison to you, don't you?"
"I'm not worried about any of them. You married me, and that's all that mattered," Amanda said as she smiled up at her husband and kissed him again.
Timothy spied on his sister-in-law from a distance. He had to be careful. He didn't want to risk letting her know that he was watching her. There was something very strange about her this morning. She had informed him that she had seen two men sneaking out of the woods late last night. Now he was waiting on everyone to gather and have breakfast so she could identify to two men.
He didn't understand Lana. When they had first met, she was a spitfire. She found enjoyment in everything that she did. It was one of the main reasons that he had been attracted to her. He had thought he would love her forever, but all of that had changed when they had lost their son. She changed, and so did he. Now if felt as if they had never met before. She kept him at a distance and he had solace with her sister. When they lost their son, she had lost her reason to live, and found no enjoyment now in life and what it had to give.
When Lana had told him that they had to find the men that were in the woods, he had noticed a change in her mood. It almost bordered on excitement. He knew that meant bad news. She only got excited when the idea of a kill was to take place, and he knew without asking that those men that had been in the woods, days were now numbered.
"So glad that you could join the rest of us," commented Francine as she stood in front of Amanda and Lee as they joined the line up for breakfast.
"Good morning to you too Francine." Lee said cheerfully. "Did you get up on the wrong side of someone today? Oh that's right, you're here learning how to be the perfect woman. Maybe once you perfect that you can really wake up on the right side of someone for a change."
Amanda snickered as Francine shot them both with a dirty look and grabbed her metal food tray and moved along the line.
"Good morning Amanda, Lee," said a voice from behind. Both Amanda and Lee turned around and looked at Lisa.
"Why Lisa, good morning." Asked Amanda, and Lee echoed her good morning.
"How are you and David this morning?" asked Amanda, as Lee continued along with he metal food tray.
"Oh David is fine. Just fine. He's a bit grouchy this morning though. I think the men got too excited last night though" Lisa said with a chuckle. Amanda grinned as well. They continued to chat in comfortable companionship as they moved along the food line.
"You and your husband are so cute together." Lisa said as she looked over at Lee waving to Amanda to the seats that he had picked out for them. "You both remind me of me and David when we were first married. We were so in love. Still in love," she said quickly at Amanda's questioning look. "But it took some work mind you. There was a time when I thought we weren't going to make it, but this place saved us. The things we learnt here. If they didn't send us to the other campsite to work on our marriage we would probably have been divorced by now. Now you go and sit with you husband while I go find my own." And with that Lisa walked towards her husband while Amanda just stood there watching.
