After Lee had departed, Francine stood staring open-mouthed after him for a moment before Billy caught her attention, saying, "Was there something you wanted, Francine?"

"Well, yes," She answered. "Jan from Legal called up here a few minutes ago and wanted to know what we were doing about getting Lee and Amanda divorced. That's something I'd kind of like to know too. I mean, you've had me running around since yesterday afternoon working on anything legal-related except this."

"Well, since neither of them has told me that they want the divorce proceedings filed yet, I think we should hold off," Billy answered.

"But, Sir, weren't you just telling Lee that it's going to take six months to get it finalized? The longer you wait, the longer this is going to drag on," She protested. When Billy just smiled, it hit her just what he was up to. "I see. You don't want them to get a divorce, do you?"

"Do you see any reason why they should?" He nodded toward the bullpen where Lee and Amanda were talking. "Look at them, the way that they look at each other. Whether they're ready to admit it or not, there's something between them." He then turned back to her and grinned. "Surely as skilled an agent as you are, that hasn't escaped your attention?"

"Okay, yes, I admit it. I've noticed this weird attraction between them, which obviously they've acted on, but how long can that possibly last with Lee's history? You and I have both seen the way that he is with women. He's never had any relationship that's lasted six months. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen him have one that last three months," Francine explained worriedly. "And Amanda is not one of those ladies who will take a rejection like that well."

"Exactly!"

"What does that mean?"

"Amanda is one who won't let Lee close himself down and hide from his feelings for her. Haven't you ever noticed that Lee usually ends a relationship before it can get too serious?"

"Yeah, I'm living proof of that," she said bitterly.

"There you go and when Lee broke up with you, what did you do? You pretended that you could care less and moved on. I guarantee Amanda won't do that. If she really wants him, she'll fight tooth and nail to keep him, even if that means fighting him. There was a reason that I hired her, Francine. I saw from the beginning, how even though they'd just met, she had this sway over him."

"I thought you said it was to keep him from being so reckless," Francine countered.

"It was...You saw how he was after Andy died, throwing himself blindly into one dangerous situation after another, refusing to work with a partner..."

"And purposely pissing off any partner you assigned to him to the point that they refused to work with him again," Francine finished.

"Don't think I don't know how bitter you've been that I've been giving Amanda all the field assignments that I would normally give to someone with more training."

"I haven-' She began to protest, but Billy stopped her with a stern look.

"Look, Lee needed someone to work with who wouldn't put up with his temper tantrums-"

"When have I ever put up with-"

"Let me finish," Billy barked. "Not only that, but someone that he could rely on to always be there, someone he could learn to trust in order to get him out of his shell. Haven't you noticed the positive change in him since Amanda's been around?" When Francine just looked down at the floor, he continued, "Come on, Francine, I know you have. Just like I know that's why you've been so nasty to Amanda. You've been Lee's friend for a long time and she was able to reach a part of him that you never could and a lot of that comes from the fact that she's a mother and has that motherly, nurturing instinct. The first time I saw them together, I saw how that instinct of hers could be used to make him a real person again instead of the hollow shell he'd become after so many losses in his life."

"Maybe..." Francine replied wistfully. She looked back up at him and asked, "So, is that why you're prolonging their divorce?" When Billy only answered with a smile, she gave him a look of concern, "But what if you're wrong? What if these six months go by, assuming you ever get it started, that is? What if six months pass and they still go through with the divorce? Won't that just make it worse, make Lee retreat into his shell again?"

"No, I don't think Amanda will let that happen any more than she'd let one of her children do that. Have you ever noticed how well-adjusted her boys are even with the absence of their father?" Francine nodded. "So, just give it time. I think Amanda will do the same for Lee if we let her."

"But what if six months isn't enough time after all the losses he's suffered?"

"Well, there's one thing that I didn't tell Lee about that six months thing," Billy answered with a devilish smirk.

"Oh?" She questioned with an arched eyebrow.

"Not only do six months have to pass, but they have to prove that they haven't shared bed or board for those six months."

Francine laughed and shook her head. "And knowing Lee, he's not likely to be willing to go without for six months..."

"And I highly doubt that Amanda would put up with him being unfaithful to her, even if they didn't intend to get married. Not that I think it would be an issue anyway. I think Lee takes marriage a whole lot more seriously than he lets on."

"Yeah," Francine conceded as she thought of Lee's comment to her about being serious. She began to head for the door, but was stopped by Billy saying, "And Francine?'

"Yes?" she turned back to face him.

"You might try being a little nicer to Amanda once in a while," he suggested.

She shook her head. "Not a chance. I can't have her thinking that I like her or something."

Billy laughed and said, "No, we wouldn't want that, would we?" As Francine exited, he had a thought that he just might have to give Francine a new field assignment or two, maybe with Amanda, just so she could see that there was more to the housewife than meets the eye.

Lee took Amanda's hand and led her toward the conference room where they'd have some privacy. Once he'd drawn the shades and locked the door he leaned against the table and said, "So…uh…you wanted to talk too, huh?"

"I think we need to, don't you?" Amanda gave him a pointed look.

"Yeah, I think we both said some things we didn't mean," Lee replied with a heavy sigh. "I'm sorry that I said what I did about your first marriage. I…Uh…I wasn't there so I don't know what happened. What the hell do I know about marriage anyway?"

"You weren't entirely wrong," Amanda responded with a hint of sadness in her voice. "Maybe if I knew more about it, I-." She broke off abruptly as she quickly ducked her head to avoid meeting Lee's eyes.

"He left you, didn't he?"

Amanda sighed and looked down at the floor. "Well, yes and no. The truth is that I let him, repeatedly." She explained to him Joe's desire to work for the EAO and how it required constant travel. "It…um…the being apart all the time, it…it just got to be too much. You said once that you admired how I was able to raise two boys by myself, but the truth is, even when Joe and I were married, I was pretty much raising them by myself, even before he took the job. He was so busy with law school and he tried, but-" She let out a deep sigh. "I feel a little uncomfortable talking about this. He's a good guy and his heart is in the right place..." her voice trailed off and she began fiddling nervously with her hands.

Lee took her hands in his, smiling slightly when he noticed that she'd put the rings back on. "No, Amanda, it's not. He may be noble in wanting to save the world, but if his heart were really in the right place, he'd have been with you. He would have seen what a truly amazing woman you are. How he could have left you like that, I just...I don't understand."

"Don't, Lee," she said. "Don't make him the bad guy. It's just as much my fault for letting him, for not standing up to him when I should have, for not doing everything I could to make him stay here and be a husband and father."

"You can't MAKE someone do something that they don't want to do," Lee pointed out. "In my opinion, if he'd wanted to be here, he would have. I can't imagine why he wouldn't want to be, but-" He looked deeply into her eyes and unable to help himself, brushed a soft kiss to her lips. "I-I-" He sighed again. "I...uh...I haven't had a lot of luck with real commitment either."

"I know...Eva..." she said softly.

"No...No, not Eva..." He searched her eyes for a sign that he could really trust her with his heart. He knew without a doubt that he could trust her with his life, but how could he know what her reaction would be to his first real relationship failure?

"Lee…?" she said questioningly seeing the flicker of an old pain in his eyes tinged with a dollop of guilt.

He was silent for a long moment, then taking a deep breath to calm himself, he answered finally, "Her name was Dorothy and she's dead because of me."

"Lee, I'm sure that's not true," Amanda gave his hands a reassuring squeeze.

"No, Amanda, it is. You weren't there. You don't know. I...I...I could have stopped it. I should have, should have stopped her." He launched into the story of the OZ Network; how he'd gotten his codename and how the network had fallen apart after Dorothy's death. "I loved her so much and I-" He looked down at their joined hands not wanting her to see the tears that had formed in his eyes. Looking down, he said softly, "Why do you think I baby you so much in the field even though I know you hate met for it?"

"I could never hate you," Amanda replied gently as she pulled one of her hands from his and used it to caress his face tenderly, then reached to wipe the unshed tears from his eyes, and lightly touched her lips to his.

Lee snaked his free arm around the back of her neck and deepened the kiss, released her other hand from his and used it to pull her closer, needing her comforting embrace.

They kissed longingly and held each other close both taking comfort in each other from the pain of their pasts and soon their kisses turned from ones of comfort to ones of raw need. Lee slipped one hand under her sweatshirt while she tugged at his tee, desperate to feel his skin beneath her fingers again.

"'Manda," Lee murmured against her lips as he broke their kiss. As soon as he did, Amanda's lips slid to his neck as she ran her hands up his chest underneath his shirt. "Amanda, we should stop."

"Right," she said with a nod. "We are at work."

"I don't care about that," Lee replied in a hoarse whisper. "I'd like nothing better than to take you right here on this table, but I- We shouldn't, not when we're not...um...prepared." He took a step away from her in an attempt to cool his passion for her. "I...um...I don't know if you thought about this, but the last two times, we haven't...we haven't been careful and I-"

"Oh," Amanda responded. "I know we haven't, but I don't care about that."

"You don't?"

She shook her head. "No...I've been thinking a lot about it and if it happens, well...it happens. If it does happen, maybe it was meant to." She approached him and resumed her task, pushing his tee up and kissing his stomach, dipping her tongue into his navel before traveling upward to place a tender kiss on the teeth marks she'd left on him earlier before taking his nipple into her mouth.

""Manda," he groaned, giving in and raising his arms to allow her to pull the shirt over his head. Once his shirt had been tossed aside, he tugged at her sweatshirt and yanked it over her head before capturing her lips and a fiery open-mouthed kiss.

The next few minutes were a blur of intense sensations for both of them as they kissed and touched and teased, undressing each other until there were no longer any barriers between them. Lee paused to gaze at her for a moment, finding himself once again awed by her slender figure and how perfect it seemed for a woman who'd given birth twice. He couldn't help imagining what she would look like carrying his child. He reached for her and spun them both around so that she was the one leaning against the table as slipped one hand between them, parted her legs and began stroking her as his lips crashed down on hers again. He then lowered his lips to her neck where he'd left his mark earlier, tenderly laving the spot with his tongue.

"Lee," she hissed. "I need you...now."

That was all the invitation he needed. Looking deeply into her eyes, he slowly guided himself into her, delighting in watching her facial expression change as they were joined together. Just as he thought it, he thought that they really were joined tougher, not just physically, but emotionally, and yes, legally since they were married, but it was so much more than that. He leaned her back against the table as she hooked her legs around him, once again kissing her feverishly, moaning loudly as he began to move within her.

Breaking their kiss, Amanda whispered, "Shhh, someone will hear us."

"No, they won't," Lee shook his head and grinned at her. "This room is sound-proof." He then thrust into her again and let out another moan as she clasped his rear to urge him on. He wasted no time in complying. There would be other times when they could take their time as they had in their morning shower, but now...now he just needed to feel the completion he could only feel with her and by her reactions, he knew she felt the same.

"LEE!" Amanda cried out as a powerful climax gripped her.

"Ohhh, Amanda," Lee responded in kind as her trembling body beneath his, her walls closing around him, sent him over the edge with her and he filled her completely. As he tried to get his breathing back under control, he laughed and teasingly said, "And you were telling me to be quiet."

She laughed in return, slapped at him playfully and fired back, "Well, you did say the room was sound-proof."

They shared a warm laugh still holding onto one another until they were startled by a knock on the door.