Part 2

Lee let himself into his apartment and slammed the door shut behind him. The slow moving traffic he'd encountered on the drive home had only added to his already annoyed state, giving him ample time to replay the day's events in his mind. 'Why is it always me?' he wondered to himself. 'For once, why couldn't someone else be on the wrong end of Amanda King's mess-up's?'

Fresh anger flowed through him, knowing that the two agents who witnessed the argument would waste no time in relaying the details to all who would listen at the Agency.

He tossed his car keys onto the small table by the door, then strode through his lounge into the bedroom. He took off his jacket and tie, throwing them onto his bed before entering the bathroom to tend to his injury.

Staring at his reflection in the bathroom mirror, Lee leaned forward to scrutinise the cut and the multi-coloured bruising surrounding it. 'Well, Amanda, I think I can safely say you do know how to hit,' he mused to himself, recalling her worries of a couple of months before when a Princess had visited the U.S.

The cut wasn't very deep and he made short work of cleaning it up with the already diluted antiseptic that he kept in his bathroom cabinet. Years in the business had taught him to be prepared for just this type of situation, although usually it was an opposing agent who was the cause, not one of their own.

Lee stopped cleaning the wound mid-stroke. Where had that come from? Since when did he consider Amanda as one of 'them'? A strange tingling feeling crept up his spine and he shivered inadvertently. 'No, Lee,' he told himself sternly. 'Don't start thinking like that or you'll never get rid of her. She's done nothing but cause you trouble since the first time you met and don't you forget it.'

The self-reprimand administered, and satisfied that the wound was clean, he left the bathroom in search of a bandage. He knew he had a pack somewhere but they weren't in the cabinet as he'd thought. He entered the kitchen and put the kettle on to boil for some coffee, then began rifling through the kitchen drawers in an effort to locate the bandages.

After a fruitless five minute search, Lee angrily slammed shut the last of the drawers and automatically ran a hand roughly through his hair in exasperation. He drew in a sharp breath as his hand brushed over the cut, his eyes briefly closing at the dart of pain. This just wasn't a good day.

The kettle clicked off announcing the fact that it had boiled and Lee opened up one of the cabinets above the worktop to retrieve a cup. As he pulled it out, the pack of bandages he'd been searching for moments before toppled out as well. He picked up the box, then, with a shake of his head, placed the cup down on the counter and headed back to the bathroom.

After choosing the right-sized dressing, Lee faced the mirror. He had just covered his cut when a loud knocking at his front door caused him to jump in surprise. The jolt of his body caused his fingers to slip and once again brush over his wound. He grimaced in pain and threw away the dressing that had somehow got stuck together when his hand had moved. Muttering a curse upon whoever was standing outside his door, he stalked out of the bathroom.

Amanda stood nervously in front of Lee's apartment door, half hoping he wasn't at home. She moved her head closer to the door and tensed slightly when she heard the sound of movement inside. After a few seconds the door was flung open to reveal an unhappy looking Lee standing there holding a pack of bandages in his hand.

"I might have known…I thought I told you to go home," he remarked coldly upon seeing his visitor.

Trying to appear unfazed by his greeting, she boldly replied, "You did, but I wanted to talk to you."

"I don't have the time right now, Amanda, I have to get back to the Agency," he rebuffed and started to close the door.

"No!" Amanda objected and placed her hand on the door to stop him from shutting it. "Please, I'd like to talk."

Lee stared at her pleading eyes and felt himself relent slightly. What harm would talking do? With a nod of his head he stood aside for her to enter. Once she'd walked by, he closed the door and turned to look at her.

Amanda came to a halt in the middle of the lounge and turned to see him still standing by the door with his arms folded and an 'I'm waiting' look on his face.

She sighed, suddenly not sure what to say. "How's your head?" she eventually asked.

"How does it look?" he answered mockingly.

"Painful," she replied dryly, eyeing the cut in distaste.

Lee nodded slightly in response then bent his head and studied the box in his hand. "So, is that it, Amanda?" He again found the size of bandage he needed. He pulled it out and began unwrapping it as he looked back over at her. "I don't really have a lot of time and if you just wanted to know whether my head was OK, then I've really got to go."

Unsure of what to say to him next, Amanda went into mothering mode and walked quickly over to him with her hand outstretched for the bandage. "I'll do that for you," she offered with a smile.

Realising her intent, Lee held out his arm in an effort to ward her off. "No, it's OK, Amanda, I can do it."

"But, it'll be easier if I just…"

"Amanda, I said no," he repeated loudly, his anger at her beginning to rise again. "I think you've helped me more than enough today."

Amanda stopped in her tracks and quietly watched him move past her and go into his bathroom. A few seconds later he re-emerged with his cut covered and pointed to it saying mockingly, "See, all better. Now, if that's it…" He gestured towards the door but Amanda stayed where she was.

"Lee, can't we just talk about what happened?"

"Amanda, there's nothing to talk about," he replied shortly. "You disobeyed an order and I suffered as a result. There's nothing unusual here that we need to 'talk' about."

"But if I could just explain…" she pleaded.

"Amanda…" Lee said in exasperation. He was rapidly losing the battle with his temper.

"Look Lee," she interrupted. "It wasn't long ago that I thought you'd been killed and I'd lost a good friend. When I heard that you'd been hurt today, all those feelings came back. It's not something I'm used to dealing with…"

"Well, you'd better get used to dealing with it, Amanda, because it's a way of life in this business," he snapped harshly, his battle finally lost. "If you can't, then you'd better get out now before it's too late." He turned his back on her and walked across the lounge to stare out of the window as he tried to gain control of his temper.

Amanda stared at his rigid back, totally stunned. Was he really telling her to leave the Agency? "But Lee," she began hesitantly. "I don't want to leave the Agency. I like what I do and I thought that after all this time working together we were finally becoming friends and…"

"Friends, Amanda?" Lee repeated derisively as he turned around and faced her. "How many times have I told you? There's no room in this job for friends. You're just someone I happen to work with every now and then and believe me, once I've spoken to Billy about today's little fiasco, it'll be more then than now."

Silence fell over the room as Lee's angry look clashed with Amanda's hurt and shocked one. She could see he was furious. The dismissive thought that he didn't really mean what he'd said fleetingly passed through her mind, until she rejected it with a mental shake of her head. 'No, he meant it,' she acknowledged sadly. She could see it in the way he looked at her.

Without uttering another word, she gave his unrelenting face one last glance then turned and walked out of his apartment, shutting the door quietly behind her.

END CHAPTER 2