A/N

sorry for taking so long to update. This is the final chapter so I hope it was worth the wait.

/

Lee dropped down onto the mat and rolled onto his back looking up at Amanda. She looked a little 'deer in the headlights' and Lee smiled holding out his hand. "Come on Amanda," he encouraged. "I won't bite you."

Amanda smiled nervously as she dropped to her knees beside him.

After she had several attempts to place her hands on the mat around him, Lee rolled his eyes and reached out to grab her sweatshirt pulling her down onto him.

"Oh!" She exclaimed as she landed heavily, her face only inches from his.

"You're meant to be following through on your attack now I'm on the ground remember?"

"Yes I remember," she breathed. "We only discussed it a few minutes ago. I'm just not entirely sure what I'm supposed to be learning in this position..."

Lee looked down at how they were positioned on the mat and supposed he could see her point. Then he frowned, unsure whether she was implying that he was somehow taking advantage of her. "I'm getting to it," he said defensively.

Amanda just continued to look at him.

"Grab hold of me as tight as you can and don't let go even when I push against you," he ordered her. When he felt her tense against him he tried to push her off of him.

Amanda did as he said and held on as hard as she could. It was taking quite a bit of effort, but she managed to keep her grip on his shirt and arms.

Lee relaxed back against the mat. "I'm stronger than you and I couldn't push you off of me when you were determined to hold on..."

"Right. So in other words if I end up in this position I'm in a lot of trouble."

"Exactly," Lee agreed. "Now let go and move back to your knees."

Amanda did as she was told and moved so that she was once again kneeling next to Lee on the mat.

"Now move over me again, but slowly." As Amanda moved Lee brought his knees up so that his legs were positioned between them this time. "Grab a hold like you did before."

Again Amanda did as she was told and grabbed a hold of Lee as hard as she could.

"Now I'm going to try to push you off of me again. Ready?"

"Yep."

Lee pushed upwards with his legs and Amanda's grip broke almost immediately as she was propelled upwards away from him. "You can see what I'm trying to teach you here right?"

Amanda nodded. "Get my legs up and in between me and my attacker if I can."

"That's right," Lee agreed. "If you get in this position and don't manage to get your legs up...well your chances of getting back up again are pretty slim." Then he smiled. "Your turn."

They had been practicing from the point where Amanda was already on the ground so that all she had to do was get her knees up before Lee managed to get a hold of her. She was doing pretty well with that, so they had decided to move on to where Lee dropped her on the mat and moved to attack her before she had time to ready herself for it.

Amanda blinked when Lee landed on top of her.

For a moment he looked as startled as she felt, though he quickly recovered. "You have to be quicker than that Amanda," he explained as he removed his weight from her.

Amanda got herself up onto her elbows. "I didn't think you'd drop me that fast."

Lee looked at her lying there on the gym mats and swallowed before he uttered his next sentence.

"Let's go again huh?"

She nodded and he held out a hand to help her up. The frisson that ran up her arm from the contact was so much more than anything she had felt with Brad over the last week. So much more than anything she had ever felt in her life if she was honest with herself. But she wasn't ready to be that honest just yet.

Lee knew he held onto her hand for longer than he needed to, but it was just so damned hard to let go. He let her go and cleared his throat.

"The last place you want to be is on the ground in front of an enemy," Lee continued, trying to get back some semblance of a training atmosphere. Remember why you're here...to teach her how to survive against an enemy agent, not an unwanted come on. Although...both could be very useful...

"Try to get your legs or knees up between us this time."

Amanda nodded, even though the last thing she wanted to do was to have anything between them.

He took hold of her hands again and dropped her to the mat. Instead of dropping straight down on top of her like he had last time he dropped to his knees next to her, then moved over her.

Amanda lifted her knees so that when Lee moved over her they were blocking him, stopping him from being able to move over her completely as he had last time.

"Good," Lee said as he let his weight rest on her upraised legs. "You have my entire weight on you. See how easy it is to hold me up off of you with your legs? Where you'd have no chance with your arms. You just need to get quicker at it."

Amanda nodded, understanding how vital this bit of knowledge could be some day. Though she was still not able to ignore his proximity.

Once again he moved off of her, but stayed kneeling. "These are your strongest muscles," he said as he patted her on the thigh. "Use them."

Lee didn't seem to notice what he'd done, he was all business again now he was teaching her how to survive. But Amanda was all too aware of it as he jumped quickly to his feet ready to go again.

They ran through the exercise a few more times, increasing their pace as they had done with every other maneuvre he had taught her, until he finally tried again at full speed...

...and ended up nose to nose with her, her arms wrapped around him...

Lee swallowed as he looked into her wide brown eyes, but this time he didn't jump back from her as if he'd been scalded.

Amanda could feel her breathing and her heart rate increase as she looked at Lee. He's not moving...why isn't he moving?

"Lee?" She queried, her voice breaking.

He felt the whisper of her breath on his face and couldn't stop what happened next.

Lee didn't answer Amanda's question, just continued to stare at her. Her eyes widened even more as he moved his head towards her. She felt his breath on her lips, his arms tighten around her and her eyes closed just before she felt his soft lips touch hers...

And then his welcome weight and warmth was gone...

Amanda opened her eyes and looked up to see Lee on his feet.

"Well this looks ominous..." Billy said, a smile on his face as he entered the gym. "I hope you're teaching her well Scarecrow."

Lee looked from Billy to Amanda where she still lay on the mat.

Amanda realised that Lee must have heard Billy coming and that's why he jumped up and away from her so quickly. But she was unable to read the expression on his face as he looked down at her. Then he held out a hand to help her up. As she came up quickly she stumbled slightly into his arms and he smiled at her. Amanda let out the breath she'd been holding, not realising she'd been so worried for that moment that Lee had thought he'd made a mistake by kissing her.

Lee turned back to Billy. "She's doing really well Billy."

"Well good," Billy enthused.

"In fact," Lee continued, turning back to Amanda. "I was thinking that she was doing so well that this would probably be our last training session..." Lee's heart leapt when he saw the disappointment in Amanda's eyes at his statement. I can't ignore what I feel anymore...and she feels the same way, he realised.

"I'll let you be the judge of that Scarecrow," Billy replied.

Lee let his eyes rest on Amanda's for a moment longer before he turned back to Billy. "Well that's what I was thinking up until this session anyway."

"Oh?" The older man queried.

Lee shook his head sadly, his hands on his hips. "She just can't seem to be able to stay away from me."

Amanda noticed the small smirk that quirked his perfect perfect lips. Oh boy...

Then she noticed the slightly confused look on Mr. Melrose face and she recovered her composure. "What Lee means Sir, is that he's trying to teach me a move and I'm having trouble evading him."

Billy grinned nodding. "Yes, well the Scarecrow certainly has some moves."

Amanda smiled nervously wringing her hands slightly as she looked at Lee. "Oh yes, I'm finding that out Sir..."

Lee's small smirk broke out into an all out grin.

"Well keep at it you two," Billy said as he turned to leave. "Scarecrow, come and see me when you're done. I can see you have your hands full right now."

"Okay Billy," Lee agreed as he watched his boss and friend leave the gym.

When the coast was clear he moved over to Amanda.

"Lee," Amanda whispered as he placed his hands lightly on her hips pulling her towards him. "What are you doing?" He smiled at her again, though Amanda could tell the smile looked a little less assured now.

He searched her eyes for a moment, making a decision. "This," he finally replied softly as he leaned into her.

Amanda let her eyes drift closed as his lips made contact with hers once again, one last thought flitting through her mind before she gave herself over completely to his kiss. The kiss she realised she'd been waiting for forever.

I'm really really glad I asked Mr. Melrose...shouldn't I know how to hit...

/

well thanks for reading everyone I hope you all enjoyed the story.

Thanks so much for all the wonderful reviews throughout the story and to all the guest reviewers who I couldn't reply to individually.