Lee walked in to the bullpen and glanced over at Amanda's desk. She had headphones on, busy transcribing some tapes for Billy. That was a good enough excuse for Lee to head straight to his own desk and not make the detour to hers to say hello like he normally would. Usually he would head over to see her no matter what she was doing, but he was putting off seeing her this morning. As he sank down into his chair he admitted to himself it was because he didn't know what to say to her.

He was embarrassed at how he'd acted last night. And for some reason he couldn't really understand, he had the almost overwhelming need to tell her that he'd come to her house later in the evening. And he really really didn't want to have that conversation, so he thought it better to avoid her until that absurd notion disappeared.

"And what exactly did you get up to last night?" Francine asked as she stopped in front of his desk.

Lee broke from his thoughts to look up at her. "I don't know wh..."

"Duck!" Francine hissed.

"Wha?"

"Now!" She ordered.

Lee had been on enough missions with Francine to know when she was being serious, so he quickly ducked under his desk pulling the chair towards him.

"Well!?" He heard a woman's voice, demanding as much as questioning.

Francine smiled. "Sorry Anna," she replied. "Scarecrow's still not here."

Anna huffed crossing her arms over her chest. "He should have been here by now," she complained.

"You know I think I heard Billy on the phone to him a little while ago," Francine bluffed. "Didn't sound like he was going to be in anytime soon. Sounded like he was in Buffalo."

"Buffalo?"

"Buffalo!"

"Well I can't wait any longer, I need to get to the airport."

"I'll let Lee know that you waited as long as you could," Francine assured her. "Any message?"

Anna levelled her gaze at Francine. "Yes," she said, her voice like ice. "You can tell him $&*€£¥..."

Francine's just stared after Anna as she stormed out of the bullpen towards the outside elevator. After she was sure the other agent was gone she turned back to Lee's desk. "The coast is clear," she said to the top of his desk. "You can come out now."

"Are you sure?" Came the muffled reply from underneath.

"Get out here you coward!"

Lee peered cautiously out from under his desk before he rose slowly to his feet. "Thanks Francine, I owe you one."

Francine looked at him for a moment. "Well you could start by telling me exactly what you did last night to deserve that little performance?"

"Let's just say that the evening didn't turn out quite the way Ms. Sinclair had in mind." He shot a quick glance in Amanda's direction. She continued to type away, blissfully unaware of the events of the last few minutes. Apparently the headphones she was wearing had insulated her from Anna's little tirade. He was thankful for that at least.

Francine followed his gaze and her eyebrows rose. "Ahhh...now I understand..."

Lee looked back at her then back at Amanda. "What? No, you don't. It has nothing to do with Amanda..."

"Uh huh," Francine said as she moved away. "You just keep telling yourself that Scarecrow."

Lee got coffee and slumped back in his chair. He knew Francine was on to something, just not what she thought she was onto. He cared for Amanda...how could he not, having been the one to get her involved in this business in the first place. But he wasn't prepared to let it go past that. Anything that seemed like it was going to go past that was to be folded up and placed neatly in a little box with a very big padlock on it!

Just then Brad Matthews walked into the room and headed towards Amanda. Lee bristled as he touched her lightly on the shoulder to make her aware of his presence. He watched her look up from her work and remove her headphones when she saw it was Blitzen. He also noticed the look on her face, which was not what it had been yesterday.

"Hello Brad," Amanda said quietly.

"Good morning," Brad beamed back at her as he perched on the side of her desk.

Amanda's heart pounded in her chest. She had something she had to say to Brad Matthews that she didn't think he was going to like very much, and she hated to do it as he was really a very nice man. But she hadn't slept at all last night after he had left, her mind a whirlwind of activity. And early this morning she had come to a decision and knew what she needed to do.

"I had a really nice time last night Amanda," he said when she didn't speak. He could see the emotions crossing her face and hoped this wasn't leading where he thought it was.

Amanda smiled weakly. "Brad, I really do like you very much..."

Brad took a deep breath before nodding his head slowly. "You don't have to say it Amanda."

"But Brad, I really do think I owe you an explanation," she tried.

He smiled then and looked over at Lee Stetson sitting at his desk.

Lee looked away, but he knew Matthews had seen him watching them. Even from half way across the room he could tell what was going on. He just wished he didn't feel so damned elated about it.

Amanda followed Brad's gaze and was surprised to see Lee sitting at his desk. Then she realised what Brad must be thinking. That she didn't want to see him anymore because of Lee.

"This has nothing to do with Lee," she assured him, although she was fairly sure he didn't believe her. She pressed on anyway. "I've only recently broken up with someone. And it wasn't too long before that I separated from my husband."

Brad watched her intently.

"I think it was a mistake to get involved with someone so soon after my divorce and..."

"And you don't want to make the same mistake again?" Brad finished for her.

"I'm sorry Brad," she replied. "I realised after you left last night...that I'm just not ready for a serious relationship."

Brad gave her a small smile. He was upset, but he wasn't angry. "That's okay Amanda," he assured her. "I understand."

Amanda smiled back feeling like a weight had been lifted from her. "I'm glad."

He lent in a gave her a chaste kiss on the cheek. "I've enjoyed the last few days getting to know you a little better," he said as he stood up. "You take care Amanda King." And with that he was gone.

Amanda sighed and turned to look over at Lee where he still sat at his desk.

Lee looked up when he sensed Amanda stop in front of him.

"Good morning," she said.

"Hi."

"I didn't realise you were here yet."

"Well, you looked busy," Lee replied, gesturing to his ears with his hands.

Amanda nodded.

Lee sat for a moment without saying anything, then, "Tough morning huh?"

Amanda shrugged. "It was too soon after Dean. And Dean really was too soon after Joe..."

Now it was Lee's turn to nod.

Amanda smiled slightly. "Seems as though you had a pretty rough morning yourself."

Lee blanched. "You heard that?"

Now Amanda grinned. "Headphones don't keep out that much noise."

Lee laughed despite the situation. He felt better, as though he and Amanda were back to where they should be. "Hey," he said after a moment. "You feel like doing some training this morning?"

Amanda looked over to her desk, knowing she should really get back to the transcripts she had been doing. But somehow she felt that expending some energy downstairs in the gym was a much better prospect right now than sitting at a desk.

"I'd like that very much..."

Lee sobered a little as he looked at her. "So would I."

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A/N

One last training session to go. Thanks to everyone that's been following the story and thanks as always for all the reviews :)