He pressed his moist lips to her, pudgy hands roaming her body as if he owned it.
"Oh yuck", thought Lady Aramintha as she struggled to escape his embrace.
"Oh yuck, indeed," muttered Amanda, as she gave up and tossed aside the Harlequin paperback that one of the nurses had loaned her to pass the time. "Since when does an English countess sound like one of my kids?"
"I know they're terrible," Allie had quipped as she'd handed it to Amanda with a grin. "But when you're in the middle of third shift and struggling to stay awake, they're just mindless enough to cope with."
Amanda stretched and yawned, then checked her watch. Just past midnight and she could feel herself starting to get cold as her body temperature dropped as she got tired. She was just thinking about going to ask the nurses if there was a spare blanket she could use to wrap herself up in, when she realized there were signs of Francine regaining consciousness, something in the way she took in a deep breath and released it, the slight flutter of her eyes.
"Francine?" Amanda said softly.
Francine's lids flew open, ice-blue eyes pinned on Amanda instantly, then a beat later, she was sitting upright, gaze sweeping the room as she pushed back the covers, and tried to get out of the bed.
"No, don't!" Amanda shrieked, holding her hands out in front of her. "Your IV is still in!"
Francine glanced down at the IV, yanked it out efficiently, then slid off the bed and backed up against a wall, pawing at the blood pressure cuff until it also came off. "Where the hell am I?"
"The Agency," Amanda sputtered out. She looked over at the buzzer that would call the nurse, but after Lee's comment about Stanley upstairs, she wasn't willing to take on whatever defensive moves an irrational Francine might have. She could only hope the nurses were monitoring the medical equipment somewhere.
"And who the hell are you?" asked Francine, only slightly less tense, eyes still sweeping the room.
"Amanda King… we met the other day in the lobby. Well, not really met, I mean, you just happened to pass through while I was-"
Francine's eyes narrowed and she stopped swaying for a moment. Her gaze fixed on the bruises that were visible up and down Amanda's arms. "You're Lee's friend…"
"Yes, that's right," said Amanda in a soothing voice.
"And why are you here? For that matter, why am I here?" Francine looked down and scanned herself, going as far as to lift the neck of her robe to stare down her front. "I wasn't in the field tonight. Was I? Why can't I remember?" She looked suddenly defenseless as she tried to recall anything at all of the last few hours.
"Well, no, not exactly…" Amanda stopped, sure she wasn't supposed to say anything.
"Not exactly?" Francine was about to press further when the door swung open and the nurse rushed in, stopping dead and looking relieved when she saw Francine upright.
"God damn it, Francine. What have you done to that IV? It's like you want another scar!"
"Allie?" For the first time since she'd come to, the blonde relaxed when she recognized the nurse, finally convinced she was in a safe space. "Why am I here?"
"Same reason you're always here," said Allie, taking her by the arm and leading her back to the bed. "Run-in with a bad guy."
"What kind of bad guy?" asked Francine, shaking her head, trying to clear it of the fuzzy feeling that clogged it. "Why can't I remember?"
"I'll let the doctor and Mr. Melrose explain, okay?" said Allie, tucking the blankets back around her. "Now, you just sit tight here and Amanda will keep you company while I go fetch them, alright?" She waited for Francine to nod before giving Amanda a quick encouraging smile and whisking back out.
Francine turned to look at her and Amanda, feeling foolish still just standing in the middle of the room, sank back into a chair and looked back. "How are you feeling?" she asked in a feeble attempt to break the ice.
"Why are you here?" asked Francine.
"Well… I was with Lee, or he was with me, I guess, when we figured…" Amanda started then stopped when she realized she couldn't really give Francine an explanation without telling her what had happened. "Well, Mr. Melrose can explain it better than I can."
"Huh." Francine gazed back suspiciously and a heavy silence fell. "So in the meantime, you're just going to sit there looking at me like I'm on my way to the guillotine?" she said finally.
"Oh, I'm not!" protested Amanda. "I mean I'm nowhere near as crafty as Madame Defarge, for one thing. And you're not in trouble – Lee just asked me to keep you company."
Francine gave a slight smile at the reference. "But I can't be left alone? And you got stuck with guard duty?"
"I'm not guarding you, I'm just keeping you company," repeated Amanda. "Because Lee asked… Look, I'm just trying to help out in any way I can and I just sort of ended up in this but as a regular person, there's not really a lot I can do, is there? And Lee asked if I'd sit with you since he was worried about you but he can't be here because he's- Would you like a glass of water or something?" she changed tack abruptly, noticing Francine was licking her lips. She stood up and crossed to the small table where a jug of water was sitting.
"That would be nice, actually," Francine admitted. "I have a weird taste in my mouth."
"That'll be from-" Amanda started, then faltered. "Being asleep for so long," she finished lamely as she handed Francine the glass.
"Probably" said Francine, in a tone that she said she didn't believe it was any such thing. She drained the glass slowly, and let Amanda refill it, surveying her the whole time as Amanda went to sit back down again. "So, if you made it past the dragon in the lobby, you must be more than just a "regular person"."
"Oh no," said Amanda. "I'm just here by accident really…"
"Like you ended up in Lee's hotel room the other week by accident?" asked Francine with a perfectly arched brow.
"Not exactly," admitted Amanda.
"Really?" said Francine. "Well, I look forward to hearing all about how I was not exactly in the filed and you were not exactly anywhere you were supposed to be – but you're not going to tell me, are you?" Amanda shook her head. "Well then, since you won't tell me why I'm here, or why you're really here, I guess we'll just have to fall back on my mother's answer to everything."
Amanda lifted her own brows in silent question.
"Polite conversation," Francine went on. "So, Dear," she cooed in a voice that positively dripped with disinterest. "What is it you do? When you're not somewhere 'by accident'?"
"Well," Amanda replied, carefully. "I'm a mother. And I'm a den mother. I'm looking for work. Actually, I do a lot…"
"That's sweet. I just bet you do," said Francine. "And what were you 'doing' when you ended up here by accident?"
Amanda considered the question carefully, trying to decide if answering it would be a problem. Tell the truth but not too much, she could hear Lee's voice in her head. "I was having dinner with Lee when he figured out something about his case and he just, ummm… brought me along."
"Hmph." Francine looked her over. "Lee took you out to dinner dressed like that?"
Amanda looked down at her slacks and blouse – perfectly reasonable for a family dinner at home- and opened her mouth to try and make some kind of reply but Francine was already talking again.
"I mean, when I make Lee take me out for a thank-you dinner, at least I make sure he takes me somewhere nice."
Amanda found her voice. "Actually, it was somewhere nice – it was my house. With my family," she said in acid tones.
Francine's mouth dropped open slightly and she stiffened as she looked her over again in a new light, almost as if Amanda was some new species she'd never seen before.
Fortunately at that moment, the door opened and the doctor swept in, followed closely by Billy.
"Well, well, you're awake!" said the smiling doctor. "Good news, we narrowed down the drug-"
"Drug? What drug?" Francine's voice began to rise.
"Whoa, whoa," said Billy, holding out a soothing hand. "We're getting a little ahead of ourselves, I think, Doctor." He turned to Amanda. "Amanda? Could you..?"
She leapt to her feet and headed for the door. "Absolutely, Sir." She walked out the door just in time to find Lee coming down the hall towards her.
"How is she?"
"Just woke up – Billy and the doctor are with her now." She held out a hand to stop him as he tried to go past. "They're just about to tell her what happened so give them a few minutes." She looked him over, noting the shadows under his eyes. "How are you?"
"Better now that we've cut off the pipeline of information being sent east," Lee answered, attention still half on the door beyond, but obeying her for the moment and going no further. His eyes came back to look at her properly, seeing the same shadows on her face. "But you know what? You shouldn't still be here – you should be home in bed."
"Is that an order or an offer?" Amanda teased, pleased that this brought a lighter look to his face.
"This time? An order," he answered, slipping his hand to the small of her back and guiding her to the elevator. "I'll come up with you and see you into a cab and then tomorrow maybe I can get that my piece of that peach puff thingy?"
"I'd like that," she answered, stepping into the small space as the door opened. "Would you like me to make something else though?"
"Oh no," he said firmly. "The look on Mrs. Welch's face when she found out a simple family dinner had taken her entire operation down was priceless – and I am going to enjoy every bite of that dessert with a big ole dollop of spite-flavored whipped cream."
"Good," said Amanda as they stepped out into the lobby. "Now, you don't need to wait with me," she turned to him. "I'm sure Stanley can get me safely into a cab, and I know you want to get back and check on Francine."
After getting a look of agreement from Stanley, Lee sighed and nodded. "Fine, but call me when you get there so I know you made it."
"Scarecrow, do you honestly think I won't call one of my old army pals to see a lady home at this time of night?" scoffed Stanley. "And she'll be safer with them than with a rascal like you," he added, making both of them laugh.
Lee maneuvered Amanda across the foyer before stopping and giving the guard a quick grin. "Out of security camera range," he explained, before drawing her in for a kiss. "And you never saw a thing," he added, pointing a finger at Stanley who whistled tunelessly and stared at the ceiling. "Good night," he murmured.
"'Night, Sweetheart," she whispered back. "I'll see you tomorrow."
Lee gave her another light kiss, then turned to walk across the lobby and back into the elevator, giving her one last wave before he closed the door. He waited until the elevator was moving to give into the broad grin he'd been suppressing.
Sweetheart. He gave a little whistle and bounced on his toes. She called me Sweetheart.
They took advantage of the continuing Indian summer evenings to take their after-dinner coffee out to the gazebo after the boys had gone to bed.
"The boys seem pretty laid back about me appearing two nights in a row," he ventured.
"Well, they like you – you don't talk down to them like Dean sometimes did." When Lee gave a smug look, she added, "And of course, they see you as a sure bet on the getting-a-dog thing," reaching out to squeeze his hand when he looked a little concerned. "To say nothing of the cool car," she went on, using her coffee cup to hide the giggle threatening.
He was still looking nonplussed, so she put down the cup and took his hand between hers. "Lee, I'm teasing. Of course, they like you – what's not to like?"
"I don't have any experience with kids," he groaned. "They'll find something eventually."
"I doubt that," she smiled, reaching up to run her thumb down his cheek. "Now, how about you tell me how Francine is?"
"Almost back to her regular self," he replied. "But I'll know she's back when she starts insulting me again. Can't happen soon enough," he added making a face. "She's kind of … well, depressed is the best word, I guess."
"Well, it's been less than a day and it must be quite a shock to wake up in hospital and find out you did what she did."
"What she was forced to do," Lee corrected her, grimly.
"Well, yes, but I don't get the feeling Francine is the type to be impressed by the difference right now," said Amanda. "Is she?"
"No," Lee admitted. "But you turned out to be a good distraction – she practically had me in thumbscrews trying to find out why you were there. And then, when Billy chimed in and said he was thinking of hiring you…." He paused, as a memory struck him. "Although I never did find out why she kept making jokes about you knitting."
"Just a bit of gallows humour," quipped Amanda. "Anyway, about the job thing-"
"You've changed your mind?" he asked, shooting her a worried look.
"No, no, not at all," she rushed to answer. "I mean, I have a second interview at Honeycutt Typewriters this week, so it might not matter but even if that falls through... well, I just don't think I could do it."
"Why not?" Lee asked. "We could come clean – it's not the end of the world."
"Oh no, that's not why." She paused to gather her thoughts. "The thing is, when we were in Vegas, it was awful and crazy and scary, but nothing like that had ever happened to me before, you know and once we were safe, I kind of put it behind me, I guess? And when you called the other night to get rescued from those guys, it was just kind of an adventure. I mean, I saw their guns for a second, but the adrenaline was going and I wasn't thinking clearly… well anyway, I guess it wasn't until I was sitting in Billy's office listening to you last night that I realized," she took a breath. "That's what your life is like all the time."
"Not all the time," he protested.
"Okay, maybe not, but when that gun went off… it was scary – scarier than when we were in the middle of it all because I didn't know who'd fired or who was hurt or…"
"Well, you shouldn't have been in there to start with," he said reasonably, "But why would that stop you from taking a simple secretarial job?"
"Because I'd be around that all the time," she answered. "Hearing it second hand, knowing when you were out of the building maybe, but not knowing why. Getting to know other people like Francine and worrying about them too and feeling helpless like I did last night."
"Are you saying you don't want a job or are you saying you don't want me either? Because if we stay together, you're going to worry anyway, aren't you?" he cocked his head and watched her carefully.
"Well, of course I will!" she said. "It's just, well, I guess it's a bit like being married to a policeman or a fireman, isn't it? Their wives worry about them while they're at work, of course, but their wives don't work at the station, do they? Waving their husbands off into danger every day, knowing where they're going?" She twisted her fingers together. "I guess, it's just that it would be one thing to know what you do and another to have to see it every day. Does that make sense?"
"Perfect sense," he said, taking her hand and lifting to kiss her palm. "So you're still willing to keep seeing each other?"
She didn't answer immediately, just wrapped her free hand around his head and drew him in for a long kiss. "I think I just might," she answered softly.