Disclaimer see chapter one

Chapter 13

Lee and Amanda woke in each other's arms, both realizing how wonderful it felt, how safe and warm they were. Lee got up showered, shaved and then helped Amanda out of bed and to the bathroom to get her shower before they headed to the Agency for their appointments. Lee was in the kitchen fixing an omelet and drinking a cup of coffee., when Amanda came out of the bedroom and into the kitchen he looked up and smiled, "you look beautiful!" Amanda replied, "I wouldn't go that far, at least I am not so scary looking, the bruises are healing good." Lee walked over to her, put one arm around her waist and lifted her chin with his finger so she could look at him, "Amanda King, you listen to me and you listen good, you ARE beautiful, the bruises are fading but no matter if they weren't you are so beautiful to me, and don't you forget that, you hear me." Amanda shyly smiled back at him and shook her head, "yea, I hear you, I think you may need your eyes examined but I hear you, thanks." Changing the subject, "Is that breakfast I smell, it smells wonderful?" "It is, come on (as he held out his arm for her to take, which she happily did) breakfast is served for my best girl. Ham, mushroom and cheese omelet, croissants, juice and coffee just for you" as he leaned over and gave her a gentle kiss. They sat together and talked of their plans, of their appointments for the day, Amanda would see Doc Kelford first then Pfaff, while Lee would see Pfaff and then pick up a few files to go over when he got home, nothing much since his job was Amanda until her family was home and she was well enough to join them. When Amanda was almost finished with her breakfast, Lee handed her 2 pain pills, "Lee I am fine, I really don't need them." Lee pleaded, "Please take them, we have a lot to do today, doctor visits, riding around I really think you should take them or you will be really uncomfortable later." "I will be fine, I am so much better now, and anyway they make me woozy." Lee relented, under his better judgement he let her go without them. They cleaned up from breakfast and walked out of Lee's apartment hand in hand.

Lee was very quiet on the way to the Agency, Amanda was beginning to worry. She reached over and took his hand and played with his fingers on the gear shift, "hey, are you OK? You have barely said a word since we left your house." He pulled his hand out from under hers, took it and kissed her fingers, "I am OK, I just have a lot going through my head, wondering how the case is coming, what Paolillo was really up to, how my partner really is, she means the world to me and I don't want to lose her, someone has got to watch my tail." He said as he turned and gave her a brilliant smile. Amanda smiled back, not really believing that was all going on, "Lee it is over, we caught Paolillo, he is in jail. We are both OK, or we will be." "You are right Amanda, so what do you want to do tonight? Anything your heart desires, it's yours." Knowing she may never speak to him again after what he plans to tell Pfaff during his session with the quack, but it had to be done. If he knew Amanda right and he was pretty sure he did she wouldn't say a thing about the nightmares. He just hoped that the closeness they have now wouldn't be ruined, that he would still have a chance with her, but he cared too much for her to let it slide.

Lee and Amanda arrived at the Agency, told Mrs. Marsden the password and retrieved their badges. "Oh! Mrs. King, your mother called and left you a message to call her at Lillian's." Amanda smiled at the Agency's watchdog, "Thank you Mrs. Marsden, I'll call her now, I have a few minutes before my appointment." Amanda told Lee she would meet him later, to go on to his appointment, she turned and walked up the stairs to the Q Bureau to make her call. Lee noticed she was taking the stairs somewhat slower than she usually would, this worried him some but he made a mental note to check up on her between her appointments to make sure she was OK. When she got to the top of the stairs she turned to see Lee watching her and she gave him a weak smile and continued on to make that call, hoping everything was OK.

Lee went to his appointment with Pfaff, Pfaff asked him, "so Lee how are you dealing with your partner's injury?' Lee replied, as he ran his fingers through his hair, "I am doing fine, I am just worried about my partner, how she is dealing with everything and how she is healing. She was hurt pretty bad and not once but twice that mad man got a hold of her." Pfaff was writing everything down, so you think she let herself get caught?" Lee jumped up and started pacing, and yelled, "I didn't say she let herself get caught, she didn't, she fought like hell. I said that man got her twice." "Calm down Lee, I didn't mean anything by that, I was just talking. Trying to get you to tell me how you feel." Lee slammed his hand down on the desk, "I'll tell you how I feel, I am damn worried about Amanda, she is having nightmares, she is afraid but won't tell me why, she doesn't want to be alone, she has me really worried. I need her to be OK, I am afraid she won't be." At that Lee fell to his knees and buried his face in his hands. Pfaff quietly walked out of the room to give the agent a few minutes to compose himself. After a few minutes, Lee stepped out of the office, gave a nod to Pfaff, who nodded back and replied, "Scarecrow, I would like to see you again, maybe in two days." "Yea, whatever" replied Lee, as he headed toward Kelford's office to check on Amanda before her appointment with Pfaff, then he was going to see Billy to see if they had been able to get any information from Paolillo, if they haven't maybe he could and Paolillo wouldn't like how he planned to try, to be honest Billy probably wouldn't either, a reprimand in his file would be just fine if he could get some information.

He got to Kelford's office just as Amanda was walking out, she took one look at him and knew something was wrong, she took his hand and made her look at him, there was something in his eyes that made her want to cry or take him in her arms. "Lee are you OK?" He took her other hand, and looked at her, she looked tired and like she was holding something back, "I'm fine Amanda, you know Pfaff trying to turn your words around, he just makes me so mad. Hey how are you? What did your mom want? Is everything OK?" Amanda laughed, "you sound like me Lee, Mother is fine, she decided to stay with Lillian a while longer, seems Lillian fell and broke her ankle. So until she can get around better Mother is going to stay, maybe two more weeks. Sha also said Joe was trying to get a hold of me, so I called him too. Seems him and the boys are having such a great time they want to stay another two weeks, I couldn't say no, Joe really is trying these days and the boys need to know their father. Anyway, I don't know if I am up to keeping up with them just yet. Well I better get to Pfaff's, I'll see you in a little while." She gave him a smile and he returned the smile with a gentle squeeze to her hand. With that she turned to leave and almost stumbled, Lee reached out to steady her, she groaned and her breathing quickened, she laid her head on his shoulder until her breathing returned to normal. Lee lifted her chin, "are you sure you are OK?" with a worried look in his eyes. Amanda shook her head, placed her palm against his cheek, he leaned into it and placed a gentle kiss on her palm, not caring about who may see. "I have got to see Billy and grab some files, I will meet you outside Pfaff's in about an hour." The both turned and went their separate ways, each worried about the other.