Chapter 41-You Know You're Well-Liked

"You Only Die Twice"

"Lee, are you sure you wanna' do this," Billy said in concern for his charge placing a comforting hand on his arm at seeing the pained expression on the younger man's face as they were about to enter the morgue. "You don't have to, you know. I can make the identification myself."

Lee took a deep breath, shook of his friend's hand and said firmly, "No, Billy, if that is Amanda in there, I...I have to see it with my own eyes. I...I..." his voice became choked with emotion and he couldn't continue.

"I know," Billy said with a knowing nod. "Come on, let's get in there," he said as he turned to enter the room filled with dread at what they might find when they got there. Billy whipping out his ID, introduced himself to the attending medical examiner and he and Lee were led to the body in question.

Lee sucked in a breath as he watched the ME pull back the sheet on the dead woman's body, only releasing it when it was revealed that the body belonged to Sylvia Samson and not Amanda. "Thank God," he said his whole body relaxing. When Billy gaped at him, he said, "I mean, it's...I feel bad for Sylvia, but I...I'm glad it's not..."

"Yeah," Billy said as he looked at the relief evident on Lee's face before turning his attention back to business. "How did it happen?" he asked the ME while Lee just stood there in a numb silence, his mind working overtime as he wondered what would have happened if it had actually been Amanda on that slab. He shook his head as if to shake off that disturbing thought and joined Billy in asking questions about Sylvia's death in an attempt to get his mind off of that very depressing thought.

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As Dotty finally hung up from one of the many phone calls that had plagued the house since the obituary had been printed, she shook her head at her daughter working on thank you cards at the kitchen counter. She stepped into the kitchen and glanced over Amanda's shoulder and said, "You're going to get writer's cramp doing all of those."

"Well, you know, Mother, it is the polite thing to do," Amanda said without looking up from her task.

"Oh, I know, I know, it was very thoughtful of all of these people to send flowers and sympathy wishes." She paused for a beat and then said, "So...um...there are so many of these that I really haven't had time to look at all of them." She picked up one of the cards from the counter and shook her head. "Which one of them is from you gentleman friend, Lee?"

This finally caught Amanda's attention and her head snapped up. "None of them is from Lee," she answered abruptly.

"Well, now isn't that just sad," Dotty said with another shake of her head. "Here you are, you've been willingly giving yourself to this man for the better part of two years and he can't even be bothered to send flowers to your family upon your death? I mean, what kind of man is he. Well, I suppose that since he can't be bothered to come around and meet the family, I shouldn't be surprised by this."

"Okay, Mother, first of all, I'm not dead as you well know. I'm right here in front of you and second, Lee knew that I wasn't dead from the beginning because I saw him at the office right after the obituary was printed."

"Oh, right, of course," Dotty said. "You did go into the office, didn't you? I guess that explains it then. He wouldn't send flowers because he'd know that it wouldn't be necessary. That makes perfect sense." Dotty then wandered back into the den, picked up another arrangement and said, "You know, I'm so hungry, I could eat one of these flowers."

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Lee groaned as he set the grocery bags down on Amanda's countertop wondering just how she did this on a regular basis, though as they continued their conversation, he couldn't help reflecting on the events of the past day, how relaxed he'd felt with her after their first shopping trip as they shared a bag of popcorn. He'd never have imagined that sharing something so simple with a woman could have such meaning. It hadn't been a particularly romantic moment in the traditional sense. They'd just been discussing Sylvia's investigation that had led to the mix-up while munching on popcorn as they stood between their two cars. They had joked a little about Amanda not being dead anymore the interaction ending with him, just out of habit opening her car door for her making sure that she was safely inside before heading for his own car with a "seeya' later." He recalled how it had struck him in that moment that contrary to how he'd felt almost two years ago when he'd first teamed up with her, that he this time, he really did intend to see her later, instead of trying to chase her off.

Lee also reflected on his intense moment of panic at Teldar when he knew for sure that the guys who'd murdered Sylvia were planning the same for Amanda. Their mad dash for the helicopter under a rain of bullets had brought back vivid memories of that first case together in which he'd tried to teach Amanda how to fly a helicopter and the first time that they'd...

"Can you reincarnate me at a higher salary?" Amanda joked, snapping his mind back to the present and he couldn't help laughing.

"Here, let me help you put this stuff away," Lee said with a chuckle as he nodded at the grocery bags.

"Sure, thanks," Amanda said as she bustled around the kitchen gesturing to Lee where to put things.

While they worked to put her groceries away, Lee couldn't help noticing the assortment of flower arrangements scattered around her kitchen and den and it filled him with a moment of sadness at the thought of her actually dying. After he neatly folded the paper bag he'd just finished emptying and put it away, he stood stock-still and watched her, a sense of wonder filled him at just how comfortable he'd felt in the last few minutes helping her with such a mundane domestic task, feeling for a fleeting moment as if he belonged there, a part of her family.

When she turned toward him, having finished off the last of the second bag, he shook off that thought, knowing that it would never happen, cleared his throat loudly, gestured to the flowers and said, "So, I...um...I guess you really are well-liked."

"Yeah," Amanda said with a soft chuckle as she scooted by him to put away the empty bag, "I've got flowers here from the mailman, all my neighbors, my minister, the principal and teachers from the boys' school...just about everybody I know."

"Not...um...everybody you know," Lee said as he reached for her hand, linking it with his.

Her conversation with her mother replayed in Amanda's mind at his words and she replied, "Ah, well, but you knew that I wasn't really dead, so I wouldn't have expected you to send flowers."

"But I would have, you know, if...if...you know, if I didn't already know that it was a computer mix-up," Lee said as thought of how much he liked the idea of sending her flowers, making actually romancing her for once.

"You would?" Amanda said with a delighted smile on her face.

"Sure, I mean, we're...um..." What? he asked himself. What are we, really?

"...partners," Lee and Amanda said simultaneously, their eyes locked with one another's as they moved into each other's arms, gripping each other in a fiery embrace, the mouths crashing together as Lee backed her up against the island, pressing his body to hers.

It was stupid because Lee knew she wasn't dead, but he'd been so gripped by fear that night in the morgue, fear that she was really gone, that he'd never hear her raspy voice or be graced with one of her beautiful smiles again that he needed to reassure himself that she was really alive. Never breaking his contact with her mouth, he lifted her up onto the counter, then tugged at the hem of her sweatshirt to pull it over her head, her bra soon following it. He pulled back from their kiss to look into her eyes again and said, "You are well liked, you know."

"Yeah?' she said shivering slightly at the intensity of his eyes locked with hers.

"Yeah," Lee said as he kissed her again, softly this time, before trailing kisses down her throat while she pushed his leather jacket off of his shoulders and began working the buttons of his shirt loose.

"Plaid again," she said with a giggle as she pulled his shirttails from his pants.

"You're never gonna' let me forget that, are you?" Lee said with a laugh as he pulled back again to look at her.

"Mm-mm," she said with a shake of her head. "Not any more than you'll let me forget about the sexy nightgown."

"I'll be perfectly happy to let the sexy nightgown thing go...once I finally see you in one," Lee fired back. "I don't know though, like you said, it can be better without the sexy nightgown." He bent his head to her chest, taking one nipple in his mouth, tugging at it with his teeth delighting in the gaps it elicited in her before raising his head again and adding, "And you're damn sexy without it."

"Glad you think so," Amanda said as she toed off her white sneakers and reached for Lee's belt.

"Not just yet," Lee said as he stopped her with a hand on hers. "You first." He then reached for the button on her jeans, flicking it open, then the zipper.

Amanda raised her hips up to allow him to peel the tight jeans down her legs, followed by her panties. Lee then grabbed one of the stools, perched himself on it as he rained soft kisses on her stomach, her hips, down to the tops of her thighs, then the inside of her thighs before burying himself in the already-damp curls between them, wanting to taste her again. As he lapped at her, he began to feel as if he were high as the musky scent of her arousal, mixed with the sweet scent of the lilacs, tulips and other assorted flowers in the room, combined with the feeling of her hands in his hair urging him on and the sound of her cries of pleasure overloaded his senses.

"Lee!' Amanda cried, throwing her head back and gripping his hair tightly as her climax ripped through her leaving her trembling and gasping for breath. She then heard the loud thud of the stool hitting the floor, the hiss of his zipper, and had just opened her eyes again, when she felt him penetrating her, completing her in a way that only he could. "Lee," she hissed at the sensations that filled her senses the way that he filled her body, as he wasted no time beginning to move within her. She locked her legs behind his and gripped his butt firmly to drive him on, needing to feel alive after fighting the idea of being dead.

"OH, God," Lee cried knowing that with the furious pace he'd set he wouldn't, couldn't last long. He'd known it when they'd begun which was why he'd insisted on taking care of her first. He gripped her hips, pulling her to the very edge of the island as the need to be as deep within her as possible spurred him on. "Amanda!" He cried as his release hit him full force and he exploded inside her, continuing to pump his essence into her until he has nothing left and sagged wearily against her, grateful that the island was there to hold him up as his body twitched and his knees threatened to buckle beneath him.

Amanda gripped Lee tightly to her, his ragged breathing in her ear and, "I guess I am well liked."

Lee looked at her and they laughed together for a moment before his expression turned more serious. he lightly caressed her face and said, "More than you know. Amanda, I-" His words were halted by the sound of tires squealing outside. "Shit!" Lee said as he pulled back from her and they both scrambled for their clothes, dressing as quickly as they could, as they heard the sounds of Amanda's car doors slamming in the driveway and the boys' chatter heading toward the French doors in the den.

"Okay, they're coming in that way, so you go out this way," Amanda said hurriedly pushing on his back with one hand while she tugged at her sweatshirt with the other.

"It's just a good thing you're mother's still a shaky driver," Lee said with a smirk as he hastened out the back door, just as Dotty and the boys entered through the French doors leading into the den.

Dotty, entering the kitchen with a carryout bag in her hand, looked at the overturned flower baskets on the counter and said to her grandchildren, "Boys, why don't you go on upstairs and work on your homework." Grumbling a little, Phillip and Jamie obeyed their grandmother, trotting up the stairs. Once they were out of earshot, she held up the bag and said to her daughter, "I brought you some dinner, but it seems that you already started with dessert." She then grinned at her.

"Mother, I don't know what you're talking about," Amanda said evasively as she began to straighten the flower arrangements to avoid her mother's piercing gaze.

"No?" Dotty said as set the bag down, reached toward one of the bouquets and plucked her daughter's bra from it, holding it up for her to see and said, "Hmm, then what's this all about?'

"Oh, come on, Mother, you're a woman. You know how it is. Sometimes, those things just get to pinching or poking you in the wrong place and you just can't wait to take them off. You know, like in Flashdance," Amanda said as she snatched her bra from her mother's hand. "I'll...uh...just put it away in a minute."

"Uh-huh, and this has nothing to do with the fact that when I drove down the street, I saw that silver Chevrolet parked around the corner again? It's funny, I've seen that car around the neighborhood a lot lately."

"Well, Mother, Lee just gave me a ride home from the office," Amanda said as she made a hasty escape up the stairs.

"Huh," Dotty said with a shake of her head, knowing just what kind of "ride" Lee had given her daughter.