A/N: Imaginary campsite coming up, details from various locations combined for our little family's pleasure.

...

7. Day out

Lee had caught Amanda looking at him from time to time, and then when he looked at her, she quickly looked away. At first he thought it was kind of funny, but after a while he began to wonder if there was something wrong. Or maybe he had missed something? He still wasn't completely used to a full house over breakfast; he wasn't even used to actually eating breakfast, let alone listen to what everyone was saying this early in the morning. The weather forecast had been accurate and the sun was already warming up the air early on Wednesday, and Lee decided to take his coffee outside and breathe in the serenity of the lake for a few minutes.

His thoughts drifted back to Amanda almost instantly. He knew she liked him. She'd told him on several occasions, in that totally disarming honest way of hers, that she thought he was a pretty special man and that she cared about what happened to him. He appreciated it more than he was willing to admit. And perhaps he reciprocated that caring a little more than he was willing to admit, too. He tried not to think about it too much but he knew he had started caring about Amanda very early on. Why else would he have risked being locked up as a traitor when he decided to trade a Russian spy for her to get her back to safety? He'd only known her for a few months then but he already couldn't imagine his life without her …

No. That couldn't have been it. She was a mother and her kids needed her. And he'd felt responsible for dragging her into the agency business in the first place. That was why he couldn't live with her death. Nothing else.

But here, now, in this cabin in the woods, there was no way around Amanda anymore. No other women to pass the time with to take his mind off of … of what, exactly? If anything, his last attempt at dating had made him think even more of Amanda. He smiled, remembering Amanda's words, and she'd been right too. Leslie had been nice. A normal person. Just like her … And Leslie had been understanding, just like her. She had basically told him to spend some time with his partner instead of with her, to show her his appreciation. To show her how much she meant to him. And it had been fun. He had to admit that spending time with one person without focusing on the challenge of getting them into his bed, had been good. Great, actually. He had felt much more relaxed. He had even enjoyed staying in and cooking again, instead of needing to get out to a restaurant and then a club. He could relax around Amanda and simply be himself.

And now they were here and there was no way around her anymore. He was being completely professional but he couldn't help thinking about the way she was looking at him sometimes. Her eyes seemed to hold an unspoken question, one he was trying not to put into words, but it was there. Maybe it had been there for a lot longer but it was being magnified now. She was wondering. Wondering about him.

He shook his head and blew out a breath, still staring out over the calm lake. She was probably wondering when he was going to get sick of being holed up with them in the cabin. Hell, he had just fled breakfast because the family was just too loud for him this early in the morning. No wonder she would ask herself when he'd snap. So he told himself. But deep down, he knew that even if she wondered about that, it wasn't the only thing she wondered about. And neither was he.

"You were right about the weather," he heard a voice say behind him, and he whipped around to see Dotty coming his way with her own cup of coffee in hand.

He nodded.

"Yeah. It's going to be a great day to be outdoors."

Dotty stood next to him and looked out over the lake with him as they drank their coffee quietly.

"I had you pegged for a city boy."

Lee chuckled.

"Can't blame you there. I usually am. But we have to think about the boys, right?"

"The boys. Yes, of course."

Lee glanced at his companion and there was a soft smile on the woman's face. She and her daughter couldn't be more different in many ways, but sometimes he did see a resemblance. And this was one of those times because the mother was definitely not saying something; just like he often thought that Amanda was not saying something that was on the tip of her tongue.

"Is there something you wanna say to me, Dotty?" Lee asked her, and Dotty seemed a little shocked at the question. But she recovered quickly and just gave him a sweet smile.

"No," she told him, still smiling. "Nothing you don't already know."

And with those words, she left him alone and headed back to the cabin to help Amanda pack for their trip.

Lee had surprised himself, being so straightforward, but maybe he was ready to get a few things straight after a few weeks at the cabin. It seemed that Dotty wasn't planning on helping him get those answers, so his thoughts went back to Amanda. Maybe they needed to have a little chat today.

…

They had taken the van out to the campsite, since it was more comfortable for the five of them. And the old thing really needed the exercise to charge the battery properly, so Lee had told them. Amanda had gotten in the back seat with the boys and they were excited about the day ahead. They had even brought their little tent to set up for the day and were looking forward to participating in the camp activities.

The adults would have some time to themselves and Amanda wondered what Lee was planning on doing. It might be fun to join some of the games. There would probably be a few for parents as well. And they were both supposed to be parents now. She smiled softly at the thought of Lee posing as the boys' father. Somehow she expected him give it his best shot and she hoped Philip would come around soon and accept him in their lives. For now, anyway, she quickly added in her mind but she knew that wasn't really what she had meant.

When they arrived at the campsite about an hour and a half later, the boys jumped out of the van and were eager to go out and explore. Amanda told them that they would stick together until they had reported in with the people in charge of the activities, and had made a general plan for the day. She didn't want to lose her boys in the crowd without at least agreeing on a meeting point where they would be able to find each other throughout the day if needed.

About thirty minutes later, the boys were happily setting up camp with several other children, under the watchful eye of a few camp staffers and most of the parents, although the parents kept a respectable distance. They had agreed to all find each other for lunch, and would have a picnic together. Amanda saw her mother chatting up one of the older guests, probably a grandfather of one of the children and rolled her eyes.

Lee, having seen the same thing, remarked,

"Your mother seems to feel right at home here already."

"Ugh," Amanda grunted, making a helpless gesture with her hands. "She's going to be talking about that man - or some other man - nonstop all the way back to the cabin tonight."

They were walking towards a bench made from tree logs and sat down to watch the children for a while.

Amanda glanced at Lee from time to time, wondering if this was really the way he liked to spend his day. He seemed to be pondering something and she wondered what was on his mind. Did he miss his life back in the city? The parties and the food? And the company? She breathed out slowly and tried to focus her attention on the boys. Her mother seemed convinced that Lee had feelings for her, and sometimes she actually thought she saw something in his eyes. But she couldn't really see him being seriously interested in someone like her.

She jumped when she suddenly felt Lee's hand brush her back.

"Hey, relax," he said softly. "We're supposed to be a married couple, remember?"

He wrapped his arm around her, resting his hand on her hip, and she tried to relax in her role. She could do this. She'd done it before, after all.

"Right. If anyone asks, we've been married for fourteen years," she confirmed, repeating what they had been told about their new identities.

"Exactly. So we should be comfortable with each other by now," Lee said with a grin, and she was beginning to wonder if he was planning to milk the situation now that they were out in public.

Her breath hitched when he leaned in and gave her a chaste kiss on the cheek, and he must have noticed. She felt herself get warm and hoped she wasn't blushing. She quickly busied herself, digging her sunglasses out of her purse, trying to ignore the feeling of Lee's hand on her hip. She found her sunglasses and a bottle of sunscreen lotion and it reminded her that they would all need to put some sunscreen on. The boys had their own bottle and she would remind them soon. She uncapped her bottle and glanced at her companion, who was watching with great interest what she was doing. Once she had put some lotion in her hand, he asked her,

"Need some help with that?"

"Uh …"

"You could do my face and I could do yours."

The little lights dancing in his eyes made her stomach flutter and she knew he was teasing her. She couldn't stop herself from smiling widely.

"Well alright. We'll do that. Just like a regular married couple," she said with a smile.

…

Lee didn't know where he'd gotten the courage to tease Amanda like this. Maybe it was because of the looks she'd been giving him, or because of Dotty's words.

Nothing you don't already know.

If he was supposed to know something, it had to be about this thing hanging between him and Amanda. He chuckled inwardly. A thing? That was what Amanda had called it the very first time they'd been forced to spend the night in the same apartment. That she felt like she was having a thing. She couldn't even say the word affair back then. And later she'd called it an oh-ho-ho. She was so cute when she felt embarrassed.

"What are you so happy about?" Amanda inquired.

Her face was very serious while she rubbed the sunscreen lotion on his face, making sure not to miss his hairline. Lee tried for a nonchalant attitude when he told her,

"Just that we're doing a great job as a couple."

"Me fussing over you is a great job?"

"Yeah. It's what I imagine we'd be like if we were really …"

He hesitated suddenly, realizing what he was saying.

Amanda's eyebrows had shot up but she quickly returned to her duty of making sure his cheeks and nose were covered, and then handed him the bottle.

"Ah, you know …" Lee stammered and the corner of her mouth tugged up.

It looked like she enjoyed it when he was embarrassed too.

"If we really what, Lee? You've been thinking about that?"

…

Amanda had felt her heart skip several beats over the past few minutes but if Lee was really admitting to something, she wanted to know. And so she'd asked him. Her tone had been quite normal, as if she'd asked him something about a case, and she felt very brave.

Lee wiggled his head while he squirted some lotion in his hand. When he started applying it gently on her cheeks and forehead, Amanda closed her eyes. She didn't want the lotion to get in her eyes and it gave her a moment to focus on her breathing while she waited for Lee's answer.

"Well, we've gotta be convincing," she heard him say. "So yeah, I've been going over a few scenarios in my head."

"Right. Of course you have," Amanda said, opening her eyes and nodding.

"Hold still," Lee said, moving one finger from her nose to her chin.

His hands were warm and her skin felt tingly. She tried to hold still but had to take a deep breath.

"There," Lee said. "All done."

Before she realized what he was doing, he rubbed his own nose against hers and grinned. Then he handed the bottle back to her and she was grateful for the distraction. She tucked the bottle back in her purse and quickly put her sunglasses on to scan the area until she located the boys. Their tent was almost up and they were chatting happily with a few other boys.

"I should go tell them to get some lotion on too," Amanda said.

She jumped up and walked over to the campsite to give the boys instructions. When she returned, she saw another couple approaching their bench and talking to Lee. He was smiling politely but even from a distance Amanda could tell that he wasn't really happy with the company.

"Here comes my wife now," she heard him say.

Lee stood up, holding out his arm, and she quickly joined him, wrapping her arm around his waist and smiling at the other couple.

"Hi. I'm Amanda."

The couple introduced themselves as Nancy and Buck and Amanda had to suppress a smile when she saw the expression on Lee's face. He most definitely did not want to talk to Nancy and Buck.

"So have you been here before?" Nancy asked cheerfully. "We come here quite regularly. Our Henry can show your boys around."

"That's great," Amanda said, smiling as politely as Lee had. "This is our first time here."

"You homeschool them too right?" Nancy chattered on while gesturing in the direction of the children. "Most parents here do. And on a perfect day like this, we're even happier that they don't have to be cooped up in a classroom all day. School work will be there tomorrow, right Lee?"

"Absolutely. Amanda's in charge of the school work. She's the boss."

"It's the same everywhere, right?" Buck chuckled, giving Lee a friendly punch in the shoulder.

"Oh, but it was Lee's idea to come here today," Amanda interjected. "He always has the best ideas. The boys were so happy when they heard about this place."

Lee pulled her a little closer to him and gave her the sweetest smile. She wondered if he wasn't overdoing things a little but when Nancy commented how wonderful it was to see another couple that was still head over heels with each other, she knew that nothing would be over the top for this particular couple. In a split second she decided to plant a quick kiss on Lee's lips, stunning him while Nancy and Buck got the message and said their temporary goodbyes.

"We'll see you later, hopefully?" Nancy said as they walked off.

Instead of replying, Lee used the opportunity to pull his 'wife' flush against him and kiss her again. His lips were soft and warm against hers and Amanda had to make an effort not to moan. When they broke apart she stared into his eyes but he quickly looked away, almost seeming a little shy.

"You wanna look around a bit? I'd like to go horseback riding if we can," he told her.

Amanda bit her lip.

"I'm allergic to horses, remember?"

Lee grinned.

"I've got you covered."

He tapped her purse and sure enough, she found a pack of her allergy pills in there.

"Oh Lee," she sighed. "That's so thoughtful of you."

He shrugged and smiled.

"Ah well. I really wanted to go horseback riding with you. So, what do you say?"

Amanda wrapped her arm around his waist again, finding that touching him was beginning to feel very natural already.

"Alright. Let's go find us some horses."

…