Chapter 66-Final Dress Rehearsal

"All the World's a Stage"

AN: Here it is, after all the re-ordering of episodes, the final episode of season 3. Thanks to those who have been faithfully following this tale. I hope you all enjoy!

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"When is opening night?" Francine jibed in amusement at Lee and Amanda's "rehearsing" song and dance. Who do they think they're kidding? At seeing the murderous look in Lee's eyes aimed in her direction, she hurriedly added, "A little joke," and quickly escaped.

Lee shook his head and turned back toward Amanda. "She's getting bolder."

"Yeah," Amanda agreed. "You know, we're not fooling her a bit."

"Who cares?" He echoed his words of a few minutes ago, flipped the lock on the door, turned back to her and returned his hands to her waist, a dark look of desire in his eyes. "You know, we never did finish our rehearsal."

"Right. Where were we again?" She linked her hands behind his neck and urged him closer.

"About here," Lee answered as he captured her lips with his own, his hands moving to cup her bottom as he ground against her.

Amanda moaned into his mouth as his tongue dueled with hers and her hands began wandering. She knew that they would have to be quick because Lee was expected downstairs to look at the embassy tapes, so she made quick work of tugging on his shirttails and opening his pants, while he did the same with her shirt and jeans.

"Lee," Amanda hissed as she tore her mouth from his when she felt his fingers caressing her through her panties. She braced her hands on his shoulders as she felt her knees begin to buckle at the onslaught of sensations.

Lee paused in his exploration of her and backed up toward the sofa with her in his arms. She toed off her shoes so he could peel her jeans and panties down her legs and reached into his open pants to stroke him boldly. "Amanda," he groaned as he sank down onto the sofa and pulled her into his lap.

Amanda cried out his name again as he pushed up into her, filling her completely and his hands slipped under her shirt to grasp her breasts. God, how she loved having this man inside her, but with all their teasing about rehearsing, and Francine's words about opening night resounding in her head, she couldn't help wondering if they'd ever stop rehearsing. Wasn't it time by now to have a real premiere? She leaned in and nipped at his neck, whispering against his skin about how good he was making her feel.

"God," Lee gasped as her lips clamped down hard against his neck and she rode him just as hard. "Oh, God!" He couldn't get enough of being with her, but he'd began to feel a bit as if they'd never get to the opening night that Francine had just teased them about. He wanted a real opening with her. His thoughts were soon quashed as he felt her tightening around him and felt her biting down hard as her body began to tremble above him and then she threw her head back and cried out his name, spurring on his own release.

They sat there for a moment together, gasping and panting in the aftermath of their quickie. ""Manda," he wheezed through his sputtering breaths.

"Yeah?"

He took a deep breath to calm himself and moved both hands to cup her face before saying, "You may be the understudy in the play, but you're my leading lady."

Amanda smiled warmly and planted a quick kiss to his lips. "And you're my leading man," she replied. It wasn't exactly a confession of love, but they were getting closer. She could live with that...for now.

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Lee stood in front of the door of the Q Bureau hesitantly. "You know, you and I do have a lot to talk about." He began to approach her slowly.

"Yeah?" she questioned with a hopeful look in her eyes.

"Yeah." He nodded slightly and replied, "We have been..." He paused, not quite sure how to put it in the right words to let her know how he felt about her and their time together without making it sound as if it had been all about the sex. "Getting to know each other for what..."

Amanda gave a slight shudder at his slow, almost predatory stroll toward her as she finished with him, "Three years," just as he reached her.

"And I think..." He took her hands in his glancing down at their joined hands for a moment before meeting her eyes and continuing, "...there's a lot about you that I don't know. I'm sure gonna enjoy trying to find out." He was just leaning in to kiss her when the banging of the outside door startled them, causing them both to jump.

"Uh-oh."Amanda let out a deep sigh of frustration. It never fails, she thought disappointedly as her heart sank when Lee pulled away from her. Her pulse began to race again, however, when he marched to the door, no longer at the cat-stalking-his-prey pace and forcefully turned the deadbolt with a firm shake of his head.

"No. Not this time," he assured her as he tuned out the voices of Billy and Francine outside the door. He turned his attention solely back to Amanda. He gave her a bashful smile as he moseyed back to her, his smile only widening as her hands slid up his chest to rest on his shoulders. He let out a soft chuckle at the inviting look on her face and gave her a bit of a questioning eyebrow.

"Yeah," she answered his look with a smile of her own and an inviting head nod.

He rested his hands at her waist and gently touched his lips to hers as he'd done just last week on her patio. He pulled back for a moment to gauge her reaction and was delighted to see the same elated look in her eyes that he'd seen that night. For once, this wasn't about sex, it was just about them getting closer to one another on a much deeper level. Their lips met again, a longer, but no less sweet kiss than the first one.

Amanda sighed in contentment at the gentle pressure of Lee's mouth against hers, his tongue lightly teasing her lips, but going no further. All too soon, it was over and they gazed at one another, both grinning ear to ear, but neither speaking for fear of breaking the spell.

Lee leaned his head against hers and in an unsteady voice, whispered, "Amanda." Just her name. No attempt to reveal just yet what was in his heart. He'd tried before and had either chickened out or been interrupted. He didn't want to ruin the moment again with another of those blunders, not until he could be completely sure that they were on the same page.

"Lee," she responded in kind as she moved her hands up further to encircle his neck, content for the moment just to hold him and be held by him. She knew how he felt about her, so she didn't need the words...not yet anyway. There had been no backpedaling on Lee's part this time, no using the job as an excuse to take away their moment. She could wait a little longer. "So..." she began nervously as her fingers idly played with his hair. "You...uh...you think there's a lot about me that you don't know, huh?"

"Mm-hmm," he crooned as he lifted one hand from her waist to caress her cheek, the tips of his long fingers burying themselves in her thick hair.

"So, what's your plan for getting to know me? Interrogation?" she teased.

"Maybe," he fired back. "If it's a Class C."

"Oh?" She brushed her lips against the hand on her face. "And what's a Class C?"

"Oh, you haven't learned that one in your training classes yet?" He grinned impishly at her.

"Mm-mm," she shook her head. She had, but she was dying to see where he was going with this. "I mean, I've heard it mentioned, but not really in detail."

"Well, then maybe I should expand on it for you. After all, I'd be shirking my duty as the senior agent if I didn't arm you with all the knowledge that I could."

"Can't have that," Amanda confirmed.

"No. No, we can't. So, allow me to demonstrate." Lee began by taking one of her hands from his neck and bringing it to his lips, planting a warm kiss to her palm, then turning her hand over and running his lips along her knuckles. He looked back up at her and explained in a low voice, "You see, a Class C is the softest interrogation there is." He linked his fingers with hers and softly brushed his lips against hers again. "To really get inside your subject's head, you do a lot of hand holding." He indicated their linked hands.

She squeezed his hand in response. "Hand-holding...check."

"Sweet-talking," he added as he leaned to whisper in her ear how good she smelled.

She shivered at the goose bumps that his words caused. "Aha, sweet-talking...check," her voice came out in a throaty whisper.

"Sharing your feelings with the subject..." He continued as he moved to make eye contact with her. "You know, to get them to open up and share theirs with you."

"Sharing?" she inquired. Was this it? Was he finally going to say it?

"Yeah." He nodded. "Sharing. You give a little to encourage them to give a little."

She fully expected him to backpedal or suddenly remember something pressing that he had to do, but she decided to press her luck anyway. "Ahhh. I think I understand, but maybe you'd better demonstrate that part too...you know, just to make sure I fully grasp the concept."

He surprised her by answering, "Okay. Here is what I want to share with you." He swallowed hard. "This thing we've been doing...you and me...it means the world to me and I-" He let out a sigh. Why the hell was this so hard? "I...uh...I know we didn't start out in the traditional way, going on dates, talking, really getting to know each other..." Summoning up all his courage, he plunged on. "But I want that...with you. Real dates, real time together, not just about-" He broke off realizing how that might sound to her and shifted gears slightly. "Not that...well, not that part hasn't been enjoyable, but-"

"I understand," she assured him. "We've been all over each other from the beginning, but we need to-"

"Slow down," they said together.

"Or maybe not slow down, necessarily," Amanda amended. "But we definitely need to take more time for other things. I really want that too."

His heart soared at her response, but still afraid of revealing too much too soon, he jumped back into teasing mode. "See? That's how it's done. I shared something personal with you and-"

Placing a finger to his lips to silence him, she answered, "Easy as AB...C, but I think I might still need to put it into practice a bit more. You know, just to make sure that I have it down pat."

Lee nodded. "You free for dinner tonight?"

"Dinner?"

"So you can practice." He answered with a mischievous gleam in his eyes."I want you to get an A when you do take the class. What better way to practice? I mean, after all, you rehearsed for this play, right?"

"Good thinking." She nodded and tilted her head toward him to seal the deal with another kiss. When she pulled back, she lightly touched his face and spoke softly. "Thank you."

"Thank you?" He questioned. His eyes lit up at the utterance of their special code words from her lips.

"You know, for being so concerned about helping me with my training."

"Ahh." He nodded in understanding. "Well, thank you for wanting to learn."