Lee heard the staccato of her heels on the hallway's wood floor as she made her way to their shared office and got up to pour himself a coffee when he heard the jingle of the door handle. He kept his back to her but could feel her eyes burning into him.

"Lee . . ."

"You better get started on your assignment," he called out coldly.

"Lee—"

"Aristov is high profile. You'll need to make sure everything is perfect," he continued undeterred. He heard her deep sigh and the rolling of her chair as she pulled it out to sit down. He went back to his desk and attempted to read the morning's status report for the fourth time, still no closer to comprehending it.

Amanda stood and moved over to the vault in search of something. Lee took the opportunity to watch her, noticing her shoulders were slightly slumped and she was blinking rapidly. His stomach twisted, he hated to see her upset, but at the same time he wanted her to feel as horribly as he did. When she returned to the outer room a few minutes later, he glanced away not wanting to be caught watching her.

With determination, she marched over to his desk and leaned her hip against the edge. He glanced up and saw a look of resoluteness on her face. She stared at him, not saying a word.

"Did you need something?" he asked coolly.

"Yes, for you to talk to me, Lee. I need you to understand wh—"

"We have work to do," he interrupted, giving her a no-nonsense scowl.

"I know you're upset, Lee but please talk to me. Don't shut me out."

He made the mistake of making eye contact and quickly regretted it when her eyes pleaded with his. "I feel like I don't even know you."

She picked up his hand off the desk and brought it to her cheek. "It's me. The same person you've always known."

"But I don't know you, Amanda. You proved that on Saturday. For all I know . . ." his jaw tensed and let out a puff of air, shaking his head.

"For all you know . . . what?" Amanda waited expectantly.

"For all I know . . ." he pulled his hand from her cheek. "For all I know, you seduced me like you did Caputo to insinuate yourself into my life." He avoided eye contact. Part of him was ashamed of himself for even voicing the thought, the other part, well he wondered if there was a chance he was being played.

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If he'd socked her in the stomach it wouldn't have hurt as much as what he'd just said. Amanda grasped his hand tighter between hers and groaned at the sound of the abrupt knock at the door behind her.

Francine popped her head in, "Billy wants . . . well, well, well. Sorry to intrude," she sneered with an arched brow.

Lee snatched his hand back and cleared his throat. For once he was relieved for the other agent's intrusion.

At Amanda's frustrated sigh, Francine continued, "Billy wants to see you, Lee."

"Yeah," he jumped up from his chair and pushed his way past the blonde, "I'm heading there now."

"Lee!" Amanda pleaded to the back of his head and she couldn't stop the glare that she threw at Francine, her frustration at the situation finally bubbling over.

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"I don't know, Billy." Lee rubbed the back of his neck as he paced the small space of his supervisor's office. "There was nothing in her background checks that would indicate her working for the FBI." He stopped and stared out the window into the bullpen. 'Did I enter some type of fifth dimension? In what world does Amanda King have history with the FBI?'

"Lee?" his boss called out to him. Judging by the furrowed brow on the older man, he'd called him more than once.

"Sorry, Billy. What did you say?"

"Sit down, Son," he indicated the empty chairs to Lee's left.

He slumped into the one closest to the window and waited for Billy to continue.

Billy stood from behind his desk and grabbed a manila folder before walking around and sitting on the edge of his government-issued desk. "I was able to call in a favor at the Bureau to get her file using the codename she told me this morning." Lee immediately held out his hand to grasp the folder but Billy pulled it back to his chest. "First, let's discuss the ground rules, Scarecrow."

"Come on, Billy. Let me see it!" His impatience was obvious.

"Not until you agree to a few things first." At his reluctant nod, his supervisor continued. "Rule number 1, you do not repeat any of what you read in this file."

"Yeah, yeah." Lee reached again for the folder.

"Rule number 2, you do not use this against her in some ill-conceived plan to get her to break her oath. And finally, Rule number 3," Lee let out a sigh of frustration. Billy raised his brow in indignation at the young agent's annoyance. "Three . . . You will deny ever reading what is contained in this file. We could both get scootched for reading this. Understand?"

"Yeah, I got it. Now let me see it." He snatched the file from Billy's grasp.

Billy moved back behind his desk and watched his best agent devour the information before him.

Except for a few groans and gasps, Lee sat quietly absorbing the file until there was nothing left to read. "Jesus, Billy!" He threw the file down on his supervisor's desk. "That car bomb nearly killed her!"

"I know, Lee." He looked on somberly.

"A few minor injuries!" he scoffed. Off Billy's look of confusion, he explained. "She told me she escaped the car bomb with just a few minor injuries. A collapsed lung, a ruptured eardrum, and several broken bones are not minor, Billy! She's lucky she wasn't killed!" He slammed his palm on the desk in frustration. He wasn't sure if he was angry at the men who hurt her or Amanda herself for getting mixed up in it all. "Where's the rest of it?" At Billy's look of unease, he pressed on. "Come on, Billy. That was her medical file from the Bureau. Where's her jacket"

"That's all I was able to uncover so far. I was lucky to get that," Billy indicated the file Lee had tossed back onto his desk. "You have to admit, Lee. She's pretty amazing." He couldn't help but smile in pride.

"Well, of course she is. I already knew that!" Lee hadn't meant to admit that at least not to his supervisor.

"I'm glad you're finally admitting that, Scarecrow." Billy smiled and winked. "In light of the recent revelations . . . I'm going to push Amanda through the advanced agent training. She'll have full-agent status in a matter of a few we–"

"Billy, she's not ready—"

"You just read the file, Man! She's more than qualified. At this point it's just a technicality."

"She won't even carry a gun!" He jumped up and marched over to the door and clutched the handle in his hand.

"So, help her. Get her ready," he goaded. "She's your partner, Scarecrow."

Lee sighed and turned his eyes to the ceiling before looking back at the older man in all sincerity, "She lied to me, Billy."

"You know damn well she couldn't tell you anything – need to know, Scarecrow."

"Screw 'need to know' and the FBI," he growled as he whipped the door open and stomped off.