Lee walked into his apartment. The morning sun was starting to illuminate the empty living room. The placed seemed extra empty to him today. It never used to bother him to come home to an empty apartment. In fact, most days he looked forward to it. He could be alone and recharge with no one putting expectations upon him. But lately, he didn't like the silence and the solitude as much, and he knew why. He missed Amanda….he missed his wife.

Lee walked into his bedroom and placed his keys in the special compartment on his desk. As he plopped them into their special spot, he noticed that a few of Amanda's hair elastics and mascara had also taken up residency on the desk. He liked finding her things in the apartment. He wished that he found her more often in his home rather than just her things.

Lee pulled open the top drawer of his chest of drawers and took out the black velvet ring box stored within. He opened it to reveal his gold wedding band. Looking at it for a moment, he took it out of the box and put it on the ring finger on his left hand. Wearing his wedding band made him feel closer to Amanda. As much as he understood her reasonings for wanting to keep their marriage a secret, this mystery marriage was proving to be much more difficult to live by. He wanted to wear that ring all the time, and not just when he was here in the apartment. He wanted to wake up every morning with his wife by his side. He wanted to stop sneaking around to spend time together hoping no one would find out.

Lee kicked off his shoes and got undressed. He would have about an hour to rest before he had to get into the shower and head over to the agency. He pulled back the covers and climbed into his bed. He ran his thumb over his ring and felt the cool metal against his skin. Closing his eyes, he tried not to think about their upcoming assignment, or should he say, Amanda's upcoming assignment. He knew she could do the assignment…..and do it very well. There was no doubt in his mind that Pierce would take the bait. There also was no doubt in his mind it was a very strong possibility that Amanda could get hurt. Pierce didn't play by anyone's rules but his own.

Lee tossed and turned over in his bed, punching down the pillow next to him. He ran his hand through his hair as he gritted his teeth, making the muscles on his temple begin to dance. Lee flipped over once again and stared at the ceiling. It was becoming blatantly obvious that he was not going to get any additional rest this morning.

"There's no reason I can't be there when Amanda is with Pierce" Lee said out loud to himself. "Yeah, of course! I'm sure I can figure out how to make this happen."

Lee began to settle back down into his bed, letting his neck and shoulders relax against the pillow. He felt much calmer and at ease now that there was an option on the proverbial table. He shut his eyes and let out his breath slowly, allowing his body to sink into the support of the mattress. For the first time in the last 12-hours, the knot in his stomach was starting to untie.

RING….RING…RING

Lee jolted out of his semi-relaxed state and answered the phone.

"Hello" he said with a tone bordering on bring curt.

"Lee", Billy said. "I need you to pick up Amanda and meet us at the Aqua Turf Club in one hour."

"An hour?" Lee said incredulously.

"Yes, ONE HOUR! Pierce is moving faster than we thought and we've got to get Amanda on this NOW. I want to brief you both before we send her in. I've already called her. She will be expecting you."

"What? No. No way. We were supposed to have all day to prepare for this."

"And now you've got an hour. Get a move on, Scarecrow."

Billy hung up the phone without any further words. Lee flew out of bed and slammed down the phone.

"Damn it!"

Lee ran his hand through his hair and paced back and forth for a brief moment before resigning himself to the fact that he had better jump in the shower now if he was going to go pick up Amanda and be at the Aqua Turf Club in one hour.