Chapter 73-Long Lost Weekend

"Billy's Lost Weekend"

When Amanda bustled down the stairs with more than her usual morning cheeriness, Dotty tilted her head as she looked at her and inquired, "So, what's got you in such a good mood today?'

"What, Mother?" Amanda replied with a touch of annoyance in her tone as she poured her coffee. "You know me. I'm just an upbeat morning person."

"Pollyanna was never that upbeat," Dotty responded dryly. She then grinned at her daughter. "Could it have anything to do with this 'work' trip you're taking with your Mr. Stetson this weekend?"

Amanda rolled her eyes as she stirred her normal sugar into her coffee. "Don't say MY Mr. Stetson, Mother. I told you we're just..."

"Friends," they finished together, and then Dotty continued with, "Well, it didn't seem that way to me when I finally met him last week."

Amanda tossed her spoon into the sink and let out a sigh and how pointedly her mother had said, "finally." She'd known this was coming ever since Lee had told her in Addi Birol's lair that he'd been to the house. She took a deep breath and tried to play it cool. "By the way, this trip IS a work trip," she stated adamantly.

"Of course it is, Darling," her mother nodded. "A work trip that just happens to fall on a weekend that Joe has the boys and you just happen to be so excited about going to work today when...coincidentally, Joe also happens to have the boys for the whole week."

"Oh, Mother, really." She let out another sigh and rolled her eyes.

"But if you say it's work, it must be work, right?" Dotty handed her a plate. "Here's your breakfast."

"Thank you."

"I was just hoping that Mr. Stetson would have taken the advice I gave him," her mother continued with a dramatic sigh.

"Oh, and what advice was that?" Amanda inquired curiously as she sat down at the breakfast table. Lee had told her all about her mother's probing questions regarding their jobs, their relationship, and about their running off together during the Stemwinder fiasco while she'd been in The Agency's infirmary. Was there something else that Lee hadn't told her about?

"That's between him and me. What I want to know is what's going on between him and you."

"Mother!"

"Amanda, I'm just concerned for you, Darling. I mean this love affair has been going on for three years now and you don't seem to be any closer to-"

"Mother, stop!" her daughter cut her off.

"Okay, okay. It's your life." Dotty sat down across from her with her own plate. "At least I got to meet him...finally."

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That evening, the mood shifted drastically between her and her mother when Amanda arrived home unexpectedly. "Hello, Mother. You're really cooking," she teased.

It was Dotty's turn to roll her eyes, "Captain Curt and I were just...talking."

"Oh, no, I know. I meant...cooking...cooking in the kitchen." Amanda's eyes danced with amusement at the chagrined look on her mother's face, tickled that for once, the shoe was on the other foot.

"Of course you meant in the kitchen," her mother replied dryly. "It was just an impromptu dinner. The captain brought me this..." She indicated the shawl she wore as she wrapped it around herself with a flourish. "...and some records." As she heard the music change in the den, she called to her date, "Not a samba...a tango," then turned back to her daughter. "I didn't think you'd be home because...uh...the boys are with their father." In truth, she had thought that her daughter would be spending every possible moment with her own gentleman friend since she didn't have the children to worry about for a change.

Taking her mother's meaning, Amanda agreed, "I shouldn't be. I should be at the office working. I could get a lot more done." She twirled her keys in her hand. "You're right, Mother. You're absolutely right. I shouldn't be at home. I'm sorry." She really was too. If anyone understood how irksome it was to have a romantic evening interrupted, she did.

"Amanda, don't be silly," Dotty scolded.

"Mother, I'm not being silly," she argued.

"Of course you're being silly and you think I'm being silly too."

"No, I don't," Amanda stated adamantly. She thought it was nice that things were going well for her mother with her new beau.

Dotty tried to distract herself by focusing on the salsa and found herself taking a moment to get lost in the music before catching herself, clearing her throat loudly, "Maybe...maybe it would be better if you did your 'work' at the office."

Amanda gave her mother a smile and a nod. "Probably so."

Apprehensively, Dotty asked her daughter in a hushed tone. "Amanda...? Do you think I'm being silly?"

"Mother!" Amanda rolled her eyes in exasperation, and then in a gentler tone assured her, "No-o."

"He's being a perfect gentleman."

She wasn't sure if that made her mother happy or disappointed that he was being such a gentleman, so she said dramatically, "Now, look...uh...I've got a lot of work to do, so..." She let out a deep sigh. "...Oh, gee, I'll probably be home real late...not before, I don't know, one...maybe...two o'clock." At seeing her mother's slightly embarrassed smile, she added, "Not that it makes any difference," to let her mother know that she approved before she danced out the back door.

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Arriving at Lee's door, a short while later, she was pleased that he seemed happy to see her as he greeted her with a kiss. She was beginning to really enjoy things like that, especially the fact that he no longer seemed shy or embarrassed about showing her little displays of affection.

She was just making herself comfortable on his sofa when he said the words that made her cringe a bit, "Amanda, I wanna talk to you about something."

"What?" She gave him an apprehensive look.

"I didn't change any plans, but you got me thinking this morning. I really forced you into this ski trip."

"You didn't force me into it," she began talking over him. After a few more minutes at cross-purposes with him throwing multiple options at her, she finally said, firmly, "I'm gonna' have the best possible time that I can have on a vacation, just because I'm with you." Didn't he get that yet? Didn't he understand that she wasn't like the women of his past and that he didn't need to come up with some extravagant vacation trip to make her happy? "I don't need all these choices. I don't want all of these choices; I don't wanna' have to make a choice. I wanna' go skiing." She saw the hesitation still on his face, but before she could continue, there was a knock on the door.

"Are you sure?" He'd come up with the whole idea of this trip simply to give them some time together away from the pressures of work where they could celebrate their engagement and give her some much needed down time to mentally recover from her unwelcome time spent with Addi Birol.

"I'm sure," she reassured him as he went to get the door.

As luck would have it, Billy's arrival had halted any further conversation about it and he'd swept out the door with their boss in his infiltration gear.

Arriving home two hours later, exhausted, frustrated and sweaty after their excursion at the Estoccian embassy, Lee perked right up when he walked into his bedroom to find his fiancée' sound asleep in his bed. He smiled as he approached her side of the bed and knelt to brush a soft kiss to her lips, trying not to wake her in the process. Just the fact that she had a "her" side of the bed in his home made him smile. It had taken a lot of time...and a lot of arguments to get to that point. They'd discovered when shackled together in the swamp that she liked to sleep on her left side while he preferred sleeping on his right and though they had argued about it then, they now found it was perfect because it made it easy for them to fall asleep in one another's arms.

He stood and just watched her at slumber for a moment, thinking to himself just how much he was looking forward to coming home to her every night. He let out a soft chuckle as the thought of that long-ago night in the swamp and how he grumbled about being shackled to her. What a difference a year made. He sometimes found it hard to believe that it had only been a year because now he knew that he couldn't wait to be shackled to her for the rest of his life. With those thoughts still running through his mind, he silently stripped out of the clothes that were now sticking to him and made his way to the bathroom to take a quick shower before joining her in their bed.

The water was just beginning to heat up when he heard the bathroom door creak open and before he had a chance to say anything, Amanda had stepped into the shower behind him and was gently kneading his tense shoulders. "Ahhh..." he let out at contented sigh. "How is it that you always know just what I need?" he mused rhetorically. He only wished that he could be as good at knowing what she needed. He'd thought that by giving her more options for their trip, he was doing the right thing by her. He'd always been so selfish in relationships before...he knew it and he was trying so hard to put her needs before his, but she'd made it clear that she didn't need that from him. So, what did she need? "Amanda..." He turned to face her, but was unable to say another word as she pressed her lips to his and wrapped her arms around him.

Amanda let out a low moan as she felt the arms of her fiance' enveloping her waist, one of his hands sliding downward to cup her rear. She began to trail light kisses along his jaw, his throat and to the sensitive spot on the lower part of his neck that she'd long ago found got him revved up. "I love you," she breathed against his skin as she ran her hands down the hard plains of his chest, delighting in the sounds of approval he was making.

"Mmm...I love you," he responded in kind as her touch began stirring the flames of desire. Before things could get too carried away, he stopped her by holding her head in both of his hands and looking her straight in the eye. "Are you sure?" he asked her hesitantly, much as he had before he'd left with Billy. They hadn't made love since he'd rescued her from Birol, wanting to make damn sure that she was recovered enough from her ordeal to be certain that he wasn't going to add to the trauma she'd suffered at the terrorist's hands. He'd noticed her being a bit quieter than normal and the couple of nights she'd spent with him right afterward to recover from the exhaustion of sleep deprivation, she'd awoken several times in the middle of the night due to having nightmares. She'd brushed if off as simply her mind still trying to sort out the reality from the hallucinations, but he couldn't help worrying.

"I need you, Lee," she whispered hoarsely, her voice ragged with desire. She squealed in delight when her fiancé again grabbed her hips and kissed her passionately, plundering her mouth with his tongue as he pressed his erection against her. She moaned against him as he lowered his head to trail kisses down her neck, her chest, and her stomach before reaching his final destination. "Oh, Lee," she cried out as he caressed her with his tongue. She braced herself against the shower wall as the sensations he was creating were making her weak in the knees.

Lee grasped her bottom to steady her and keep her from losing her balance as he devoured her, delighted in the sounds she was making. He increased the pressure with his tongue, using her cries as a guide and moved one hand to slip a finger inside her. When he felt her shuddering above him, heard her joyous cries of release, he was sure he'd fulfilled the raw need he'd seen in her eyes. Removing his finger from her, he ran his hands from her bottom to her back as he stood and tenderly kissed her again before pulling back to look into her passion-glazed eyes. "Lee..." she whispered in a pleading tone as she reached to stroke him, still needing more of him.

"Amanda..." he began in a warning tone, not wanting to push her too far when he knew that she still had issues to work through.

"Please," she whimpered as she gripped him harder, her thumb sliding over the tip of him to entice him.

Unable to resist her pleas any longer, he grasped her hips again, propped one of her legs up on his hip and pushed himself into her gently, searching her eyes for any signs of hesitation. When she only pushed her back against the wall to urge him deeper into her, he lifted her up and drove into her in earnest, her cries spurring him on as she wrapped her arms around him. He knew that with as long as it had been, he couldn't hold on for long taking great care to hold her steady with one arm, he slipped the other hand between them to stroke the already-swollen sensitive nub at her center and when he heard her screaming his name in release again, he thrust into her harder, his own release soon following. "I love you, I love you, I love you," he chanted as he emptied himself into her.

They stayed locked together like that for a long moment as they held each other until Amanda's breathing had slowed enough to softly whisper, "I love you," as she planted her feet back on the floor of the shower. "And thank you."

Lee let out a chuckle as he brushed one more kiss to her lips. "No...thank you."

"I'll let you finish your shower now." She nodded as she turned to exit the shower, reached for a fluffy bath towel and wrapped herself in it.

"Huh," Lee shook his head. As much as he loved her, he still just couldn't get over just how much of a mystery she was to him. He was glad he'd have the rest of his life to unravel that particular mystery.

As he slipped into bed beside her a while later, she moved immediately into his arms nestling herself against him. "I love you," she murmured.

"I love you, too," he replied as he draped an arm around her. As she drifted off to sleep against him, he couldn't help wondering what was going on in her mind. She'd been through so much in the past couple of weeks, between what Addi Birol had done to her and the intense therapy sessions she'd been going through as a result.

He'd noticed that while her normal heart necklace was being repaired, she'd switched to wearing a cross. He'd been wanting to ask her about it, but wasn't sure that he should. Was she wearing it for comfort because of all that had happened to her? Was it a coping mechanism? Or was it simply a convenient choice while the one that had previously been her favorite was in the shop? If that was the case, why that one? He'd seen her wearing other necklaces before such as the simple diamond solitaire pendant. He'd like to think that that was all it was; a matter of convenience and that she was still the strong, resilient woman he'd always believed her to be who didn't need faith in an unseen higher power to make it through. They'd never even discussed church or religion, so was this something she really believed in or was she simply using it as a crutch to get by? He knew that he'd never taken much stock in that sort of thing with all the losses he'd suffered and all that he'd seen, but how much did he really know about the inner workings of her mind? Every time he thought he knew everything about her, something new would surprise him. He had asked Billy about it a few days ago and had expressed his thoughts and worries, who'd simply replied that Lee should know better than anyone and that Amanda was strong. He knew she was, but was she as strong as he believed that she was?

"Yeah, right," he muttered. Now, was not the time to broach that subject with Billy again though, not with everything he was going through himself.

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Lee felt quite a bit more reassured two days later when seeing Amanda in action and how she just dove right into capturing the bad guys and recovering the Kalahari List with him and Billy.

"She's gonna' be fine, Lee. Just fine." Billy beamed proudly as he nodded at Lee.

"I know," Lee nodded back and the two men exchanged a quick glance, both acknowledging that they were speaking of more than her progress as a field agent.

That night, Lee felt even better after Billy had left and informed them that he'd taken them off the duty roster for the next day. After Billy's words of praise on Amanda and him voicing his approval of their relationship, his heart felt lighter than it had since before capturing Birol. He had even leapt in his exuberance and gotten Amanda laughing as he'd nearly tripped over the coffee table in doing so. "It's so good to hear you laugh," he gushed without thinking and then looked at her sheepishly as he gauged her reaction. He'd become more worried about her in seeing how fiercely she'd argued with Claudia Joyce against retiring Billy. He knew that she'd also in a way been arguing for herself because if she weren't deemed to have made a full recovery from her torture at Birol's hands, she could easily be booted as well.

"It feels good to laugh again," Amanda acknowledged, giving him a knowing look. "I'm okay, Lee, really." She'd seen the terrified look in his eyes; had seen how he'd been walking on eggshells around her, and how he'd treated her as if she'd break down as easily as a two-hundred dollar car if he made the wrong move.

"Good." He breathed a sigh of relief. "By the way, I have something for you." He reached into his desk drawer for the jeweler's box he'd stowed there earlier in the day. He sat back down beside her with it and handed it to her.

Her eyes widened in delight as she opened it to find her favorite necklace nestled inside. "My necklace!" She lifted it gently from its velvet housing. "Put it on for me," she insisted as she handed it to him and turned to give him access to the one she currently wore.

"My pleasure," Lee responded as he unclasped the cross necklace she wore and replaced it with the heart. Amanda turned back to face him and he smiled at her. "Looks good."

"Good." She nodded as she took the other one from him and put it in the box. "Now, I can give this one back to Mother." She set the box on the coffee table.

"That one is your mother's?" he questioned.

"Yep," she replied with another nod. "Well, you had told her such a great cover story about an accident and an equipment disaster to explain my absence and I HAD to explain what happened to my necklace too, so I just tied it in with your cover story and told her it had gotten broken in the process and that that's how I'd gotten the bruise on my face. She was so concerned that she insisted on lending me that one to wear for luck while mine was being repaired. She said she hoped having it would help prevent any more disasters like that. I tried to argue that I have plenty of other necklaces, but she wouldn't take no for an answer. You know how my mother can be."

"Yeah, I know." Lee laughed at her story as he thought back to Dotty West's loud hinting that he should marry her daughter. While he laughed on the outside, on the inside he breathed another sigh of relief that that had been Amanda's only reason for wearing the cross and not that she was still harboring some deep-seated trauma.

"On that note," she added. "Now, that she's met you, you're expected to come to dinner some time."

"I think we can work something out." He smiled and gave her a quick peck on the lips, before adding, "But after our long weekend."

Amanda swung her legs across his lap and linked her hands behind his neck, resuming their earlier position before Billy's untimely knock on the door had interrupted them. "So, I have to ask you a question."

"Shoot." he replied eagerly.

"Mother told me that she gave you some advice, but she wouldn't tell me what is was. So, I'm just dying to know, what was it?"

"Hmm...advice..." He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer. "I can't think of any advice that she gave me." He leaned in to kiss her, but she stopped him with a finger in his chest.

"Lee, come on!"

"No, really, the only advice she gave me was for you."

"For me?"

"Mm-hmm," he crooned as he leaned in to nuzzle her neck.

"Lee..."

"Hmm?" He pulled back to look at her questioningly, an impish grin on his face.

"Don't give me that look. Tell me what she said!"

"Oh, yeah, right." He shook his head. "It's funny, you know, because you've always told me that your mother's advice to you bordered on the insane, but it seemed like pretty sound advice to me."

"Lee," she scolded. "What was it?"

He laughed good-naturedly at the perturbed look on his fiancée's face. "Mm-mm. That's between her and me."

"That's what she said."

"Well, there you go." He grinned at her. "But here's the thing, Amanda, I already passed on her advice to you and you happily agreed."

"You did?" She blinked in confusion. "I did?"

"Mm-hmm," he murmured as he moved his lips back to the tender pulse point at her neck.

"She told you to marry me, didn't she?" Amanda blurted out and the couple shared a warm laugh.

"You didn't hear that from me."

"I didn't hear a word," Amanda confirmed as she tugged on the back of his neck to pull him to her for a long, lingering kiss.