Lee woke with a bad headache and a warm hand holding his. Painfully he opened his eyes to see Amanda sitting beside him, an anxious expression on her face. He wasn't yet sure where he was, but Amanda's presence was comforting and welcome.

"Lee?" She whispered. "You okay?"

Lee blinked hard in the harsh glare of the overhead lights. "Amanda? Where am I?"

"Parker General." She told him. "You were hurt yesterday and you were shot and I didn't know if you were going to make it and I've been sitting here waiting for so long and I, well, I was so worried that… But you're awake and well I, well, I was just so worried you know. I mean, you were hurt and the doctors wouldn't exactly say how well you were doing and I. Well, you… Oh, Lee. I was so scared but I am so happy to see you awake." She smiled happily at him.

Lee only took in half of that but he understood he was in the hospital and as his head began to clear, he remembered a strange dream he'd been having about being in a doctor's office back in the old west and Amanda was there as his wife. He even remembered the names of the people that had surrounded him there. Doc Adams and Kitty and Matt Dillon.

He rubbed his sore head just thinking about it and how real it had all seemed. He knew there was no way he could have possibly traveled back to 1870's Dodge City, Kansas, like Amanda still claimed she did the year before. It was impossible. And yet he could see the events as they transpired in his dream as though they were real. Even Mills, the double agent had put in an appearance and looked just like he did in real life.

"Mills." He groaned as he began to push the covers off of him so he could get up, while Amanda tried to hold him down.

"Lee, you can't get up. You were shot. Your leg's in bad shape." Amanda refused to allow him up. "Lee, please..."

"Amanda, I have to. I saw Victor Mills meeting with some KGB agents. I don't know what they were talking about but I need to find out."

"No, you don't, Scarecrow." Billy's voice came booming from the doorway.

"Billy," Lee protested with a glare at both him and Amanda. "I can't let Mills get away. Do you know what kind of damage he can do to us?"

"You don't have to worry about that." Billy approached the bed. "When the KGB realized who you were, they apparently thought Victor Mills was double crossing them. We found him this morning floating in the Potomac. His tongue was cut out. I don't think he'll be spilling any more secrets from now on."

Amanda winced at the description and Billy noticed. "Sorry, Amanda, I know that's a little graphic."

"That's alright, Sir." She answered solemnly. As she tried to get that image out of her head, she looked at something much more pleasing to her eyes. The face of Lee Stetson. "See!" She smiled at him. "You don't have to go anywhere and you can relax and get well."

Lee, though relieved that Mills would be able to share no more secrets with the Russians, was anything but relaxed. He hated hospitals. He hated everything about them. Especially when he was a patient in one.

But looking at the smiling face of the sometime bedside bluebell and the stern countenance of his employer, and feeling the pain of his wounded leg, Lee decided that right then, he didn't have much choice other than to just lay back and accept his fate.

"Alright, Amanda." He relaxed against the pillows behind him with a sigh. "I'll stay put, at least for now. But I want you two to know that I'm not happy about this and if I get a chance, I'm out of here." He threw that last at Billy with a glare.

It didn't faze Billy in the slightest. He wasn't concerned about Lee's escaping from the hospital before he was released by the doctor, because he'd placed guards outside Lee's door. Even the super talented and tricky Scarecrow wouldn't be able to get past these men. Or at least he hoped he wouldn't.

"Get some rest, Lee." Billy shook his head at him before looking down at Amanda. "Amanda, I'm recommending the same thing for you. You've been here most of the time since Lee was brought in and you must be exhausted."

"Oh, I'm alright, Sir." Amanda ducked her head, afraid the shadows under her eyes would give lie to her words. In truth she was tired, but it wasn't important to her. All that had mattered was that Lee was alright, although at the present he didn't seem to agree with her.

But Lee did agree with Billy. Though touched and more than a little pleased that she'd stayed with him, he, like Billy, could see how she'd neglected herself in favor of taking care of him.

"Amanda." His tone was soft and pleading. "Billy's right. You need to go home and get some rest and a good meal. You don't look like you've eaten anything either."

"No, Lee." She protested. Amanda wanted to stay with Lee. "Really, I'm fine. I've just been worried about you."

Lee reached out and took her hand, tugging on it until she raised her eyes and met his gaze. "You can stop worrying now. I'm going to be fine, Amanda. Before you know it, I'll be up and running circles around Billy. Of course I could probably do that now, but I don't want to make him feel bad."

Amanda almost smiled at Lee's attempt at humor and the look Billy gave him. But then she thought about how he'd looked yesterday when she'd gotten there to find him unconscious and seriously wounded. She wasn't sure she could stand it, if she were to leave and something more were to happen to him.

"If you're going to talk about me, the least you can do is wait until I'm out of the room, Scarecrow." Billy said grumpily.

But Lee threw him a grin and looked once more at Amanda. "Please, Amanda. Go home. I'm fine and if Billy has his way, I'll be right here for a while. Please…"

Amanda remembered another time at a train station when he'd pleaded that way and she knew then as she knew now, she couldn't tell him no. "Oh, alright, Lee." She finally sighed. "I'll go. But I'll be back this evening to check on you. Try not to escape before then, huh?"

Lee shook his head at her. "No you won't. You go home and then come back tomorrow. I promise to still be here until you return."

"I'll see to it." Billy put in as Amanda got up and started to gather her purse and sweater.

Suddenly she stopped though, and reached into the top of her purse and pulled out a faded blue ribbon. Stepping back over to the bed, she held it out to Lee. "I almost forgot, Lee. This was clutched in your hand when they brought you in. The nurse handed it to me. She said they liked to never got it away from you."

Lee accepted the ribbon and looked down at it for several moments, remembering the ribbon he'd taken from Amanda's hair in his dream, just before Doc Adams had put him out so he could work on his leg.

"What is that, Lee?" Billy came closer and looked at the strip of cloth curiously.

For several seconds, Lee didn't reply as he stared at it. But finally he looked up at Billy and then over to Amanda. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you." He answered.

Two weeks later, Lee was out of the hospital and finally home, though not back at work. Though he insisted long and loud that he was perfectly capable of resuming his job, Billy, backed up by Mr. Smythe, refused to allow him to do so. They'd even instructed Mrs. Marsden that should he come in, they were to be notified and he would taken right back out.

It irritated Lee but he knew there was nothing he could do about it except bide his time and wait, something he wasn't particulary good at. Still, he did have someone in his life that was good at waiting, or at least waiting on him. As a matter of fact, she'd been doing an awful lot of that while he was in the hospital and afterwards.

With a smile, Lee thought about the beautiful woman who'd taken his heart, even if he wasn't quite yet willing to admit it. She had been there for him even at times when no one else could stand to be around him. He owed her a lot and he determined that as soon as he could, he would find a way to show her how grateful he was to have her in his life.

Thinking of Amanda, Lee remembered the ribbon she'd handed him in the hospital. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled it out, holding it up to once again look at an impossibility. He knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that he hadn't time traveled. That was impossible. The things he saw and experienced in 1870's Dodge had merely been a dream, he was positive of that and yet it had seemed so real.

As he sat there looking intently at the ribbon, a knock came at his door. "Come in." He called, putting the piece back in his pocket where now it resided constantly.

"Lee?" It was Amanda and she looked confused, excited and worried all at once.

"Hey, Amanda." He smiled till he saw her expression. "What's wrong?"

Amanda reached in her purse and pulled out a yellowed envelope, holding it tightly. "I'm not sure anything's wrong." She answered. "But... well, I... I..."

"You what?" Lee asked. "And what's that you have there?"

Amanda dropped her purse on the coffee table and sat down beside Lee. "I was cleaning out the attic this morning." She told him, looking once again at the envelope she held. "I found a desk in the back corner that I've never seen before, well, I say desk, but it was more of a table with a drawer in it, you know like those you see in an antique store only it wasn't in an antique store it was in my attic and well anyway, it, you know, it looked really old and it was covered in dust and cobwebs and all and..."

"Amanda." Lee stopped her. "Will you get to it and tell me what that is?" He loved her but sometimes her rambling got to him.

Amanda nodded. "You're right. Well, anyway, like I said, I've never seen that desk before but since it was in my house, I figured it had to be mine, because you know, well, I mean people don't break into your house to leave stuff do they? Of course they don't so I..."

"Amanda." Lee stopped her again. "The envelope."

"I'm coming to that." She sighed. "Anyway, when I opened the drawer of the desk or table or what ever, I found this. It..." She took a deep breath as she handed it to him. "It was addressed to us."

Curiously, Lee took the extremely aged envelope, noting the one cent stamp on the outside and the return address of Dodge City, Kansas. Swallowing hard, he opened the envelope and pulled out the card inside. It was a birth announcement from Kitty and Matt Dillon announcing the arrival of their son, Matthew Dillon Jr. The note on the bottom of the card was addressed to Amanda and Lee, thanking them for all they had done not only for Dodge but for them as well.

Lee looked up at Amanda then back at the envelope, turning it over in his hands several times. Silently, he reached into his pocket and pulled out the ribbon. In his objective, perfectly logical and clear minded way, Lee put the ribbon inside the card and the card back inside the envelope, knowing he was holding something that shouldn't and couldn't be, yet was.

"What do you think, Lee?" Amanda asked with a nod toward the envelope. "I mean, I know what happened last year and I know that Kitty wasn't pregnant when we were there. And what does that mean about saving Dodge? I mean, did we go back to Dodge and I don't know about it?"

Lee handed the card back to her and shook his head. "Remember what Mr. Dillon said last year when we saw that address book and I said it couldn't be?" He asked her.

"Sure." Amanda answered. "He said you never can tell about things."

"Yeah, well, he was right." Lee sighed. "You never can."

The End