Chapter 71-Maybe Someday

"It's In the Water"

Author's Note: For this one, much of the beginning dialogue comes from the episode itself and/or an unfilmed extended version of the scene expanding on the "A little romance can complicate things," comment of Lee's. As for the love scene, given where I decided to take this, it seemed that the best place for it was as a filler between them being shot at and the scene when they are devising a plan to stop the baddies since they did change clothes between scenes. I hope you like my interpretation of this episode.

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"What happened?" Lee inquired impatiently of Amanda after she'd left Sally.

"I think I got to her," she told him.

"And?"

"She's in love with Carmine," Amanda explained simply.

"Well, so what?"

"So...she's not gonna tell us where he is."

"It's amazing how a little romance can complicate things," he teased as he put an arm around her and pulled her to him as they walked together. While she smiled at first, Lee became concerned when she pulled away with a worried look on her face. There was an awkward silence between them for a moment and then he felt he had to say something to ease her mind. "I wasn't talking about us."

"I know," she nodded in acknowledgement, but the wariness in her dark eyes belied that statement; combined with the fact that she wouldn't look at him. There was another long moment of silence until she just stopped walking and he was forced to stop with her. Once they'd stilled, she looked up at him and pondered, "Do you think we've complicated things?"

"It got complicated the first time I laid eyes on you." he answered honestly.

She rolled her eyes. She knew he was trying to be romantic, but she wasn't in the mood for him to stretch the truth. "You were out of breath, running from a couple of Russian agents the first time I saw you," she pointed out.

"Okay, the second time I saw you," he amended "And the third...and the fourth...The more I saw you and the closer I got to you...and when I touched you...the more complicated it got."

"It didn't have to get complicated," she pointed out, still looking a bit hurt.

"Amanda, I'm a spy...I've always been a spy. While you were having children, I was dodging bullets in Taipei. We're from different worlds and it's not very easy to bring them together." He reached to take both of her hands in his. "But it's worth it."

"Every single minute," she eagerly agreed.

He raised one hand to caress her face, smoothing her hair as he did so. "As complicated as it is...I love you, Amanda." Their relationship might be complicated, but it didn't change the way he felt about her or the fact that he was now more determined than ever to move forward with their life together.

She smiled and squeezed his hand tighter."So, what do we do now?"

"Kiss passionately," he suggested with a devilish smirk.

"Lee..." She gave him a withering look, the one that reminded him that they still had work to do.

His mind back on the real word, he nodded and replied, "I wanna check in and see if the lab boys have come up with anything from Carmine's dissertation notes."

"Sounds good." She nodded. "One other thing." When he gave her a questioning look, she continued, "When we get to the car, can we still kiss passionately?"

He chuckled and answered, "Why wait until we get to the car?" He edged closer to her, the hand on her face he now used to trace her lips with his thumb.

"Lee..." she sighed and then his lips were on hers in a mind-numbing, fierce kiss, his tongue delving into her mouth as he gripped her hand tighter.

"Get a room, you old farts," they heard one of the students yelling from the quad and they broke apart reluctantly.

"Maybe the car was a better idea after all," Lee commented with a chuckle as he took Amanda's hand and they resumed their walk back to the 'vette.

A short time later after ducking bullets, calling the agency to pick up his car and calling a cab, Lee and Amanda walked into his apartment, still picking glass shards out of their clothes. "I don't believe this," Lee grumbled as they headed toward his bedroom to change clothes, him going to the closet and her to the overnight bag she'd begun leaving there. He cringed as it hit him that he still hadn't begun his intended project of clearing some real space for her. "We were that close to getting to Carmine before the bad guys and we lost him."

"It's frustrating, I know," she tried to console him as she sat down on the bed, kicked off her shoes and worked on removing her shredded pantyhose.

"It's more than frustrating," Lee groused. "It's damned infuriating," He tossed his tie into the closet in frustration, not caring where it landed.

Tossing her hose into the wastebasket beside the bed, Amanda stood and closed the distance between them, placing her hands on his shoulders for comfort. "Look, we just have to keep working and hope for the best; hope that we can find them again before they do something to the water supply."

"Got any ideas on how we're supposed to do that?"

"No, but getting upset or angry about it isn't going to help you think of anything either."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." He had to admit that she was right. She always had that uncanny knack of calming him down when he needed it. "You know, Billy said it's going to be awhile before they can send someone to pick us up since Francine was attacked too." He slid his hands to her waist.

"Well, we were getting undressed anyway," she nodded to his partially-bared chest from where he'd begun opening his dress shirt and then lowered her lips to the exposed skin.

"Mmm..." he sighed as he slipped his hands under her skirt and yanked on her panties. "And we did just have a very close call today. What if they succeed next time and we never-" He stopped speaking abruptly as his ministrations with his hands had caused Amanda to cry out. He lifted her up and pressed her lithe body against the other closet door as he lowered his lips to her neck while she worked on freeing him from his pants. "Amanda..." he gasped as she gripped him firmly and guided him inside her. While he hadn't finished the thought, he still couldn't help completing it mentally. What if they were never able to have this again? Or worse; what if he were never able to give her the ring that he'd so meticulously picked out for her; never got to marry her or to even ask her to marry him so that she'd know that was what he wanted?

"Lee..." she whispered his name reverently as she locked her hands behind his neck and her legs around his waist. The way they fit together so seamlessly always amazed her. What if they hadn't ducked in time today and had never had the chance to find out if they could blend their very different lives just as seamlessly? He wasn't wrong earlier in what he'd said about them being from different worlds, but the more time they spent together, the more those worlds melded rather than colliding as they had in the beginning.

"Yes," he hissed through gritted teeth as he drove up into her just as she pushed her back against the door to meet him. "I can't...hold on...for long," he panted.

"Don't try," she replied as she continued to press her body against his to urge him deeper into her. They'd very nearly died today and both were still running on adrenaline and pure, raw need to feel alive again. "LEE!" she screeched as she felt him reaching that spot deep inside that always sent her over the edge while his pelvis pounded against her center, the dual sensations bringing her to her peak just as he called out her name and emptied himself into her.

Breathing heavily, they clung to each other for a long moment until the jarring sound of the phone ringing intruded and brought them back to reality. As Lee lowered her to the ground, she surmised, "Probably Billy."

"Yeah, to let us know someone's on the way." Lee completed her sentence.

"We should finish changing then." Amanda picked up the ruined underwear that he'd yanked off of her and shook her head. "Well, saying 'I love you' didn't change some things," she commented as she lobbed them into the trashcan with her ruined hosiery.

"Go without them," he smirked as he reached for the phone.

"It's just lucky for you that I have an extra pair in my bag."

As Lee answered the phone and listened to Billy, he couldn't help thinking that if he'd get off his ass and clean out his apartment, she'd have room to keep all the stuff she wanted there without having to live out of her bag. Still the thought of her going without underwear made him smile, so maybe he'd wait just a bit longer.

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"Well, you never know...maybe one day..." Lee questioned Amanda with just a hint of mischief in his eyes. He had a feeling that he knew what it was about since she'd just been speaking to Sally about her engagement, but couldn't resist feeling her out about it since he still had her ring burning a hole in his pocket. After nearly being killed and such a close call with the water, he didn't want to waste anymore time in asking her to be his wife, perfect moment or not. He reflected back on their conversation of a couple of days ago and his talking about dodging bullets. Then that very day, only a few minutes later, they'd been dodging bullets together. So maybe it's not so complicated, after all, he mused. Not if she's willing to dodge bullets with me.

"What?" Amanda looked at him curiously.

"Well, That's what you said on the phone."

"Oh...yeah." She flushed slightly, not sure that she should say anything that might make him uncomfortable since they hadn't even come close to talking about marriage. The probing expression on his face, however, told her that he wouldn't let up unless he knew, so she nervously explained all in a rush, "Well, she asked me if I thought I'd ever get married again and I said, 'You never know. Maybe someday."

Lee beamed at her, gave her a wink and leaned in for a kiss just as Billy burst in demanding his report.

After he'd left with Billy, Amanda's smile shifted from one of nervousness to one of pure happiness as she reflected on Lee's exuberant smile; him flashing those adorable dimples at her and...the wink. "Maybe someday soon," she spoke aloud as she contemplated the possibilities.