The next morning, Amanda was the first to awaken; she yawned and stretched slowly as she tried to get her bearings. In her semi-wakened state, she was slightly startled by opening her eyes to the strange surroundings and her state of undress. She glanced to her right to find Lee sleeping beside her and was hit full-force by the memories of the past two nights of sharing a bed with him, wishing fervently that she'd never have to spend a night sleeping alone again. As soon as the thought crossed her mind, she sighed, as she knew it couldn't happen. Her family had never met him and while they'd joked about the idea of moving in together, she knew that it wasn't possible. While Lee had come up with a great plan to tell her mother some semblance of the truth, how would she explain it to her children? They were only eleven and nine. What could she possibly say to them to make them understand why she'd brought a new man into their lives unexpectedly? They were better off with the dating idea, though she desperately hated the idea of lying to them when she'd always tried to teach them to be honest, she felt like a complete hypocrite.

"Penny for your thoughts," Lee murmured sleepily, echoing her words of the night before as he snaked his arm around her waist and brushed a soft kiss to her temple.

Amanda started at the unexpected contact. She'd been so focused on her own thoughts that she hadn't noticed that he was awake. She turned on her side to face him, kissed him softly and said, "I was just thinking that we're going to have to figure out what to tell my family."

"I thought we already had," Lee said. "You know, using the film cover as an explanation for our sudden marriage."

"Yeah, and it's a great idea that you had," she said beaming at him with pride in him for his ability to think on his feet. "But while that make work on my mother to explain our marriage, she's still going to have a million questions."

"Then we'll answer them," Lee said firmly, "the best that we can anyway."

"Ok, but what about the boys? Jamie just turned nine a little over a month ago and Phillip's not quite twelve. They're not going to understand suddenly having a new dad..." she paused at the startled look on Lee's face, and re-phrased, "...step-dad, I mean."

"Yeah, I hadn't thought of that," Lee said worriedly. He let out a deep breath as the thought of the overwhelming responsibility that came with his marriage to Amanda. As much as he wanted to be with her and had discovered after two mornings in a row of waking up next to her, how much he liked it, he wasn't sure that he was ready to be a full-time father-figure to two impressionable young boys. "How about we play that one by ear? We give your mom the story we talked about and we figure out what to do with the kids later. Maybe your mom can even come up with a suggestion or two for how to deal with the kids."

"Maybe," Amanda said.

Lee glanced at the clock, "Ok, it's nine o'clock now. They're in school until three, right?"

"3:45," Amanda corrected him.

"Okay, that gives us plenty of time to break the new to your mother and try to figure out what to tell them by the time they get out of school," Lee said.

"You make it sound so easy, but they've never met you," Amanda protested.

"So, we'll wing it," Lee said.

"That may work on a case, but I'm not going to 'wing it' with my children," Amanda argued.

"Well, how about this? We don't tell them that we're married, we just tell them the original plan, that we're dating."

Amanda sighed, "That means lying to them and I don't want to do that either."

"Then what do you suggest? As you said, they've never met me. You know them better than I do. What do you think they can handle?"

"If we're going to tell my mother that we're married, she won't keep it to herself for long, so we'd have to tell them too," Amanda pointed out.

"What's so wrong with that? We are married."

"But what if we don't stay married? They've already been through so much. I don't want them to witness me going through another divorce and I definitely don't want them to get attached to yet another man who may just disappear from their lives."

"You mean, like their father," Lee said hoping that it would get her talking about her ex so that he could understand why she was so reluctant to really let him in.

"Not just him, but Dean too," Amanda answered. "They were so sure that I was going to marry him and when I didn't and he was just gone, they had a hard time adjusting, especially Jamie. He was so little when Joe left for the first time and then when Dean left he...it was bad. I can't put him through that again."

"So, don't. Why are you talking about divorce again anyway?"He said his eyes flaring. "I thought we agreed to table that discussion for the time being."

"I know what we talked about last night and what you said and it was all very sweet and incredibly romantic, but let's be realistic here. While we care about each other and we're obviously attracted to each other, we are from two different worlds and it is going to take a lot of work to blend those two worlds. If you are serious about this and about trying to make this work, make us work, then you're going to have to be patient with me. I'm not like you. You don't have any attachments. I do. I have a lot of baggage that comes with me and that may be something that you decide is too much for you to deal with."

Lee hauled himself out of bed angrily, reaching for his discarded boxers and yanking them on. He then turned on her and said, "So, what? You're not even going to let me try to deal with it? Is that it? You're so damn sure that we're doomed to failure that you're not even willing to try?"

"I didn't say that," Amanda protested.

"It sure as hell sounded like it. It sounds like you're just ready to give up on us before we even have a chance to get started. What happened to what you said last night about believing in me? Don't you trust me after all we've been through?"

"Lee, I trust you with my life," Amanda said soothingly as she approached him slowly.

"Just not your kids' lives, is that it?"

"Of course, I trust you with their lives. Look at how many times you've protected them."

"Then what is it, Amanda? You don't trust me with your heart?" he asked.

Amanda pulled on her robe and placed her hands on his shoulders, kissed him softly and said, "I trust you. I...I just don't trust me, ok. I think that maybe I'm not cut out for marriage. My first one fell apart, after all."

"But why? I don't get that. Are you saying your divorce was your fault? I don't' buy that," he said his tone a little calmer now that she'd at least partially explained where her fear was coming from. He slid his arms around her waist and said, "I think he was the one not cut out for marriage if he left a woman like you behind."

"You don't know all the details," Amanda said.

"So, enlighten me," Lee said as he pulled back from her and folded his arms across his chest.

"No, Lee, there's no point in rehashing the past. I just want us to focus on the future," she said as she once again rested her arms on his shoulders. "Please, don't ask me again. I really don't want to talk about it."

"How can we focus on the future if your past is holding us back?"

"Why don't we talk about your past?"Amanda challenged him.

"Sure, what do you wanna' know?" he fired back.

"Well, you never did tell me how you got the code name, Scarecrow," Amanda reminded him.

"NO," Lee said with a shake of his head.

"Why not?"

"Because that is about work and you refusing to talk about your ex is not."

"Lee, I think you and I both know that is just not true. You have some deeply personal reason for not sharing that part of your life that has nothing to do with work."

"Ok, maybe I do, but if you want me to trust you with that, you're going to have to start trusting me with some personal stuff too."

"Which brings us back to what I said earlier," Amanda said. "That I need you to be patient with me. My divorce was very painful for me and it's not something that I can talk about easily. I get the sense that whatever happened surrounding your code name is just as painful for you, so I'll make you a deal. If you'll be patient with me on my stuff, I'll be patient with you on yours. Does that sound fair?"

"Yeah," Lee said finally dropping his arms to his sides unable to argue with her logic. He shook his head and said with a chuckle, "You and that damned logical mind of yours." He planted a quick kiss to her lips.

"You can do better than that," she said, snaking her arms around his neck to pull him in for another much deeper kiss and was tickled to feel his arms around her waist pulling her closer.

Lee groaned at the feelings kissing his bride were invoking in him and was just about to lower her to the bed when they were interrupted by a loud pounding on the door. "Crap!" Lee grumbled.

"Maybe if you ignore it, whoever it is will go away." No sooner were the words out of her mouth than there was another loud pounding on the door.

"Maybe not," Lee said testily as he made his way to the door getting madder by the minute that his time with Amanda had been interrupted. "Somebody better be dead!" He shouted as he yanked open the door.

"Nothing's dead around here, but my social life," Francine snapped as she pushed her way past him and into the apartment. Lee sighed and shut the door as Francine pointed an accusing finger at him. "And do you know why, because of you!

"Me? Francine, I haven't had anything to do with your social life in well over a year or have you forgotten?"

"Don't flatter yourself! I didn't mean it in that way. I am so over that. In fact, I was over you long before you dumped me like yesterday's garbage!"

"Then what's this all about?"

"I had the most amazing date planned last night with a senator, tickets to the Kennedy and I had to break it because I was at the agency almost all night, all because of you and your inability to put a muzzle on your libido!"

"I still don't see what this had to do with me."

"You slept with Amanda, Lee! You married her, which I get you had no choice in to maintain your cover, but how could you sleep with her?"

"You act like it's a crime to sleep with my wife," he said his eyes dancing in amusement.

"Wife? Right, like you really think of her that way."

"You see this, Francine," He said holding up his left hand displaying the wedding band he still wore. "That means that I do think of her that way."

"Oh? Then explain this?" she said gesturing to his half-undressed state. "Or how about this?" she said as she picked up a black lacy bra from the floor. "What do you think that your wholesome wife would say if she knew that just twenty-four hours after you said "I do" you were here with come cheap bimbo?"

"I'm hardly cheap, Francine," Amanda said as she entered the room, "And definitely not a bimbo."

Francine stood there in stunned silence at Amanda wearing only a robe, her eyes widening as Amanda slipped her arms around Lee from behind and planted a soft kiss to his back.

Lee turned and slid his arms to her waist, "Amanda, let me deal with this."

"You sure?" she said.

"Yeah, I'm sure. I've got it covered." He kissed her softly.

"Ok, well, I'm just going to go jump in the shower then," Amanda said.

Francine finally finding her voice said acidly, "Shower of shame?"

"No, Francine," Amanda replied coolly. "That would mean that I have something to be ashamed of and I don't."

Lee smiled at Amanda's quick reply. "You go on," Lee said before the barbs could escalate. "I'll be in there to join you in a minute." He kissed her tenderly again then turned back to Francine.

"If you don't mind, Francine, that's mine," Amanda said snatching her bra from the other woman's grasp.

"Interesting," Francine said archly. "It's not exactly your style."

"Unless you've been snooping in my lingerie drawer, you have no way of knowing what is or isn't my style," Amanda snapped as she turned on her heel and walked back to the bedroom. Lee smiled again at the dumfounded look Amanda's comments had left on Francine's face.

"My, my," Francine said. "You'd have thought it, Amanda King wearing sexy bras."

"You should see the panties that she wore with it," Lee said with an impish grin causing Francine to roll her eyes. "And for the record, it's Amanda Stetson now."

"That's the whole problem, isn't it? Billy's had me running around like crazy, finding every bit of legal stuff that's been left undone, from agents who've gotten speeding tickets on the job to agents who've been sued for wrongful death. I swear to God, he's trying to keep the legal department from doing anything but working on getting you two unhitched. Then when I asked him about getting them started on your divorce process, he said that he wanted all this other stuff done first. When I pointed out that given your history, you wouldn't want to be tied down for too long, he just said that he knew what he was doing and that you'd thank him for it one day."

Lee's smile only widened as he Francine ended her tirade. "Is that it, Francine?" he said. "That's what you got me and my wife out of bed for?"

"I think you're enjoying this just a little too much," Francine said. "I can see why. I mean everybody knows that you and Amanda have had this weird attraction from the start, but marrying her was the only way you could get her to follow through with it. What I don't get though is that the marriage wasn't supposed to be for real, so how'd you get her to give in? Get her drunk, so you could seduce her?"

"Did it ever occur to you that maybe I didn't need to seduce her? Or here's another thought for you. Maybe she seduced me," Lee said thinking back to their wedding night and Amanda boldly shedding her robe in front of him.

Francine laughed and said, "Amanda, the queen of all that is sweet and wholesome, seduced you? Yeah, that'll be the day."

"She's not as sweet or as wholesome as you think she is. Now, if you don't have anything else to say, I suggest you leave."

"Oh, I have plenty to say," Francine argued.

"Ok, let me re-phrase, leave! I know you don't have anything to say that I want to hear, so just go."

"Come on, Lee, what are you playing at here? You trying to keep yourself married to Amanda because you know she'll sleep with you now?"

Lee grabbed her by the arm and dragged her to the door, yanked it open forcefully and said, "Out! Now! I stand by what I said at the office. This is none of your damn business!" He pushed her through the doorway into the hall and slammed the door in her face before she could say another word. He took a deep breath, ran a hand through his hair, shook his head, then trotted off to join his wife in the shower.

An hour later, Lee pulled his 'vette into Amanda's driveway parking it behind her station wagon. "Well, here we are," Lee said a little awkwardly at the inquisition he knew they were about to face from his new mother-in-law as he stepped out of the case. At least he knew the kids wouldn't be home from school for a while.

"Yeah," Amanda said nervously as he opened her door for her and helped her out. She, too, was dreading having to face her mother. She nervously fiddled with the rings on her finger.

"Hey," Lee said clasping her hands in his to stop her nervous actions. "We're going to be fine. We'll get through this together." He knew he was saying it just as much for his own peace of mind as he was for hers.

"Yeah, you're right," she said. "I mean, she might just be happy about this. She's been after me to get married again pretty much since I got divorced."

"I don't know that I'd be her first choice for a son-in-law though."

"Don't say that, Lee. You're a good man. Sure, you have your faults, but who doesn't?"

"Oh? And exactly what faults do you think I have?"He asked her with an arched eyebrow.

Amanda looked at him and decided it was much too dangerous to go down that road and instead asked him," So, about these rings..." she indicated her left hand, "...how is it that you happened to have your mom and dad's rings instead of rings issued by the agency?"

Lee smiled at her obvious diversionary tactic and said, "Honestly, it was just because of time. I had a hell of a time convincing Billy to let me take this case to start with since Orlando hasn't been known to be the most reliable source. By the time I got the approval and got you to agree to go with me, there wasn't time to have fabrications make up a false identity and do all the stuff they normally do. That's why we were registered for the cruise under our real names as well."

"You know, if we'd had them give us cover identities, none of this would have happened. We wouldn't be married now, not legally anyway." She sighed as she thought about how much simpler that would have made things, but then they wouldn't have had the time together they they've had. Or would they? They would still have ended up in that hotel room together. She had to wonder if they would still have made love that first night if they hadn't been legally married. Would Lee have let his guard down then or still clung to his we're-not-involved attitude. She found that she couldn't voice those thoughts. "So, then you don't want me to have these. You never planned to give them to me to begin with."

"Amanda, don't. I may not have planned to give them to you, but that doesn't mean that I don't want you to have them. I meant what I said last night; they're yours for as long as you want to wear them."

"But I shouldn't...I mean, they family heirlooms."

"And right now, you're my family," he said. "Keep them. If a day comes that you don't want them anymore, I'll understand." He knew he wouldn't understand. He'd be devastated if she wanted to end their marriage, but since she hadn't responded when he'd told her that he loved her, he wasn't quite ready to bare his soul to her that much. He was going to try his best to do as she asked and just be patient with her.

"You would? I'm not sure that I'd be that understanding," Amanda said a little hurt by his words. Maybe the words she thought she'd heard were just a figment of her imagination as she'd originally thought.

"I didn't mean...Ok, it would hurt, but I'm not going to force you into something you don't want. If you decided that you would be happier having your freedom, I would respect that. I care too much about you to want to see you unhappy." He then cupped her face as he leaned in to kiss her. He'd intended it to be just a soft, gentle kiss, but the moment his lips touched hers and she linked her hands behind his neck again, he found himself lost in her the way that he had on their wedding night. He slid his arms to her waist and pulled her closer, their kissing quickly becoming more heated. It was not to last though, as they were interrupted by the sound of someone clearing their throat loudly.

They broke apart and turned toward the sound together to find Dotty West staring at them from the front yard, arms folded across her chest.

"Welcome home, Amanda,"' she said in a sarcastic tone as she gazed curiously at the man who'd just been in her daughter's arms.