Amanda let the hot water wash over her face and down her body. She wasn't sure what her prominent emotion was at the time. She was so angry at Lee for the double standard he was presenting her with on the Pierce case. It was to be a simple meet. She'd give him the fake launch codes and Pierce would give her the money. Nothing more. Did he really think she couldn't handle herself?

Amanda turned off the water and stepped out into the steamy bathroom. Grabbing the soft, fluffy towel she had waiting for her on the vanity, she began to dry herself.

"Why doesn't he believe in me?" she asked herself. This made her switch from anger to hurt. She knew she had worked hard over the last 4 years into becoming a pretty good agent. Billy must think so or he wouldn't have offered her the assignment. Amanda could feel the knot in her stomach tighten. She knew she needed to stop thinking about this and try to get some sleep. She could talk more about this with Lee in the morning.

"And that's another thing" she said to herself. "Why hasn't he called me?"

She couldn't remember the last time that they had gone to bed mad at each other. It had to have been since before they got married. Amanda pulled on Lee's old Georgetown t-shirt and slipped into bed. Her mother had left her a nice steaming cup of chamomile tea on her nightstand while she was taking a shower. Amanda picked it up and gingerly sipped the soothing liquid.

She sat propped up on the pillows and covered herself with the cozy quilt on her bed. Amanda held the warm mug between both hands and stared at the wall.

"This is silly, Amanda. Just better get some sleep."

She put the mug back on the nightstand and clicked off the light. Scrunching up the pillow to fit comfortably under her neck and shoulder, Amanda turned on her left side and attempted to get comfortable. She shut her eyes for a few minutes and tried to relax. Finding this unsuccessful, she flopped over onto her right side. There she found herself being eye to eye with the soft red glow of her alarm clock- 10:38pm. Amanda let out a heavy sigh, sat up and clicked the light back on. As she sat there, she found herself staring at the white phone nestled beside the alarm clock. Why hadn't he called?

"OK enough of this" she said as she picked up the receiver and checked for a dial tone. Before she talked herself out of it, Amanda quickly dialed Lee's number and waited. After a few clicking sounds, the call began to ring through. Amanda slowly let out her breath that she didn't realize she had been holding. 3….4…..5 rings and then the answering machine picked up. Amanda listened to Lee's outgoing message and then hung up before leaving a message. She clicked off the light and squirmed under the covers once again and tried to find a comfortable position in which to fall asleep. This time, she was more successful. After tossing and turning only twice, Amanda managed to drift off to sleep grasping the covers up tightly under her chin.

"Grasshopper" Amanda said to Mrs. Marston as she entered the IFF Georgetown lobby. Mrs. Marston nodded and let Amanda pass.

As Amanda waited for the elevator, she had the distinct feeling that she was being watched. She looked around and saw no one except for Mrs. Marston, but now she was holding Harry Thornton's orange cat, Ike. Ike narrowed his eyes at Amanda and let out a low growl.

"Mrs. Marston, were you holding that cat a minute ago?"

"Your elevator is here, Mrs. King. Hurry up or you'll be late." Mrs. Marston said as she gestured toward the opening closet door.

"Late for what?" Amanda asked.

"Ah, Mrs. King! We've been waiting for you" Billy said as he pulled her onto the elevator.

"You have?"

"Of course, we have! Today is the big day!"

The elevator doors closed, and she felt the elevator move. Amanda watched as Billy put on a black top hat and white gloves.

"Here, Amanda. You're going to need this." He said handing her a hot pink gun covered with sparkles.

"What is this" she said trying not to take it from Billy.

"It matches your uniform" he said forcing it into her hand.

Amanda looked down to see herself dressed in a rhinestone covered hot pink leotard with turquoise polka dots. In her right hand she held the gun. As the elevator opened, Amanda found herself on a platform looking out over a crowd of people in a big circus tent. The red and yellow stripped canvas tent was about 15 feet above her head. She was very high up and the platform was very rickety.

"Go on!" Billy said. "Grab the trapeze and swing out!"

Amanda looked at her left hand that was now holding a trapeze bar. Her eyes grew wide as she looked at Billy in what she now realized was a ring master's uniform.

"Trapeze? SWING OUT!? Are you CRAZY?"

"Amanda, you've been waiting for this. It's time to go solo. Go ahead, swing out on your own. Lee will catch you."

"Lee?" Amanda questioned.

"Amanda! Out here! Swing out to me." Lee called to her as he swung hanging upside down from his knees on his own trapeze bar.

"Lee?!" she shouted, "I can't swing out there!"

"That's what I've been telling you all along!" he said as he swung further away from her.

"Better hurry! Soon he will be too far out of your reach." Billy said as he began to nudge her off the platform.

Amanda began to dig her feet in and push back against the force about to cause her to plunge off the platform.

"Stop!" she yelled.

"Grab the bar and swing out!" Lee shouted from even further away.

Amanda grabbed the bar with one hand and tried to give the gun to Billy.

"No, no, Mrs. King. You need to take the gun"

"But I need to use both hands. I can't hold onto the bar and the gun at the same time!"

"A good agent does both, Mrs. King" Billy said as he pushed her from the platform.

Amanda felt her body lurch forward as she desperately tried to hold onto the trapeze bar with one hand. She made one swing out towards Lee, but he was too far away. She strained to hold on, but she could feel herself slipping. Suddenly, she lost her grip and began plummeting to the ground. She could hear Lee calling her name.

Amanda felt herself falling, faster and faster until…

Amanda's eye snapped open as she lay pressed flat against her mattress, trying to catch her breath. Her heart was pounding in her chest, so loudly she could hear it in her ears. As she took a few more shallow breaths trying to get her bearings, the lamp on the nightstand clicked on.

"Hey…..hey, Amanda. It's ok. It was only a dream." a baritone voice said.

"Lee?" she said snapping her head in his direction. He was seated on the bed, holding her hand, running his thumb over her knuckles as he spoke in soothing tones to her.

"Yeah," he said as he brushed a lock of hair out of her face. "I just came in and you were thrashing back and forth, mumbling something…I couldn't make it out."

"Lee?" she said again, this time more awake. She sat up and looked at him, still holding her hand. "What are you doing here?"

Lee covered their hands with his free hand and gazed at it. His shoulders slumped slightly as he let out a strained breath. Finally, he lifted his head and looked at her.

"Amanda, I didn't like how we left things this afternoon. It's all I have been able to think about all night."

He began stroking the back of her hand lightly with his fingertips.

"I've been stuck in Billy's office with him and Dr. Smyth all night!"

"Since you left the Q-Bureau with Billy?" she questioned.

"Yeah! Can you believe it! ALL damned night! I came over here as soon as I could. I figured it was too late to call."

Amanda looked at the clock and saw it was now 11:54pm.

"How did you get in?"

Lee looked at Amanda with a crooked smirk on his face.

"Lock pick, standard issue" they said together in unison.

Lee stared into Amanda's eyes for a long moment, all the while still rubbing her hand with his thumb. Amanda could see that he felt as troubled as she did. She began to open her mouth to speak when Lee spoke first.

"Amanda…..I didn't like what happened today. I didn't like that we fought and…I didn't like how I acted."

"Lee….." Amanda began but he cut her off.

"You were right…..I had no business saying that because I am your husband that I have some sort of right to veto what assignments you can and can't take at the agency."

Again, Amanda tried to speak.

"Amanda, just let me finish saying this…You have become a great agent over these last 4-years, and I have every confidence that you will do a great job with getting information from Pierce and closing the case. I didn't mean to let you think that I felt otherwise. I just know Pierce and know that he is one of the biggest slimeballs to walk this planet. I don't trust him. I've seen him double cross people before, some of them women. I just don't want you to get hurt."

Lee's voice began to get slightly agitated. Amanda shushed him to keep his voice down. He nodded knowingly and looked at the mattress. After taking a few deep breaths he continued his thought.

"You are all that I could think about tonight. Don't ask me what I talked about with Billy and Dr. Smyth because I don't even know."

Amanda smiled with the corner of her mouth as she listened.

"We knew that this day would eventually come."

"What day" she asked.

"The day when you would be put on your own assignment and be asked to, well….use your charms and beauty to get some information out of someone, just like you've been doing with Pierce."

"We did? I didn't know that" she said in a confused tone.

Lee chuckled a bit. "Well, I sure did. How could Billy not ask you? You're a good agent, with good instincts and.." Lee looked deeply into her eyes as he traced the line of her jaw with his finger. "Drop dead gorgeous."

Amanda smiled at this.

"I guess I was hoping it would never come….or that I had more time. I just was caught off guard today."

Amanda looked at him and waited to see if he had more to say. Feeling it was now ok to talk, she proceeded.

"Lee, I wish you had told me all this this afternoon rather than exploding at me."

Lee nodded. "I know. I guess I didn't understand until later why I was getting so agitated. I just…"

Lee paused.

Amanda looked at him waiting for him to finish his thought.

"I want to be there with you and protect you if something should go wrong…..and it's not your abilities I doubt at all. I just don't want him to…"

Lee was getting agitated again. Amanda scooted closer to him.

"Hey, hey, hey! Stop!" she said. "Lee, let's just stop. We will take this a day at a time. I've had plenty of training. You should know that. You've been the one training me. I wish you were going to be beside me, too. But we both know that there will be assignments for both of us that will be solo."

Lee swallowed hard and nodded.

"You're right. I'm sorry, Amanda. I hate when we fight."

"I'm sorry, too" she said as she leaned in to kiss him again and then plopped back on her pillows.

Lee drank in the site of his wife in bed, hair in a ponytail, half smile on her face, dressed in nothing but..

"Hey! That's my Georgetown t-shirt! I've been looking for that!" he exclaimed!

Amanda quickly pulled the covers back over her.

"T-shirt?" she said playfully. "I don't have your t-shirt!"

Lee ripped back the covers exposing the navy-blue t-shirt with the fading bulldog emblem.

"Uh-huh. Mrs. Stetson, I do believe I have caught you red-handed in possession of stolen property."

"You left it here. I didn't steal it! And don't they say that possession is 9/10 of the law, or something like that?"

"Uh-huh. So how can I regain possession of my own shirt?"

"Well…..I guess…you'll just have to take it back" she said with a flirtatious tone.

"Oh, I intend to" Lee said as he clicked off the light.