Chapter 80-You're Taken

"Rumors of My Death"

"I'll pencil you in," Amanda said dryly.

Lee shot her a scathing look and wanted to reply right away, but they were interrupted...as usual. What the hell had she meant by that comment? It was bad enough that they had to sneak around like teenagers with a curfew just to steal a few quiet moments together, now this. As he listened to Jack Coleman droning on and on about the stupid handcuffs while he helped himself to the contents of their fridge, his frustration only grew. He was only half-listening even when pulling up the file on the computer because his thoughts were so lost on what had just transpired moments before after Joe's impromptu phone call.

When Jack finally left with his disgusting sandwich in hand, Lee rose from his seat, crossed the room to lock the door and then perched on the edge of Amanda's desk where she was still reviewing her notes, "So, what gives?"

"What gives? What do you mean? I think Jack just gave us some useful information, so now, I think we finally have a direction to go. Luther Spickens."

"That's not what I mean, Amanda. I don't give a damn about the case at the moment. In fact, right now I don't give a damn if there are a hundred other Lee Stetson IDs running around of if they ground me forever because I don't plan on going anywhere again if I can't get home to you in a hurry...unlike Joe."

Amanda let out a deep sigh. "So, that's what this is about. You're still jealous of Joe."

"Damn right, I am," he retorted. "And don't I have reason to be?"

"What?" She rose from her seat to glare at him. "When have I ever given you even the slightest indication that you have any reason to be threatened by Joe?"

"How about when I was standing outside your house waiting for you, but you were too busy talking on the phone with Joe to even notice I was there. Oh, but your mother noticed, your kids noticed and your neighbors sure as hell noticed with the way they were staring out their windows at me."

"Okay, I already said I was sorry for-"

"AND..." he cut her off, his voice getting louder as he stood to meet her eyes, "How about just now when you were on the phone with him. It took you all of thirty seconds to make a lunch date with him, but it's been months, Amanda! Months since we got engaged and when I finally get you to even talk about setting a wedding date, all I get from you is 'I'll pencil you in'? What the hell is that? It's like you're not taking the idea of us planning our wedding seriously. Don't you want to marry me anymore? Or has Joe wormed his way back in?"

"How can you even ask me that? I told you already, even if he does want me back, which I doubt very much he does, but even if it's true and not just your crazy paranoia when it comes to him, I said very plainly that he can't have me because I'm taken."

"You're damn right, you're taken."

"I know I am. I knew that long before you ever even told me you loved me. I knew that the first moment I met you and you've been the only man in my heart since then. I was more sure of it than ever when you asked me to marry you and I said yes. What more do I need to prove it to you? Do I need to write 'I'm taken' 10 times on the blackboard...or 100 times...or...or...1000 times to get it through your thick head?"

"Well, that would be a damn fine start!" he shouted back. "Or maybe...just maybe you could give me just this one thing I asked for and tell Joe the truth about us so there's no doubt!" Didn't she understand that their secrecy was killing him?

"I already said I'd do that! What more do you want?"

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

Out of words as they stood toe to toe and both breathing heavily, the tension between them thicker than molasses, they fell into each other's arms in a frenzy, kissing feverishly as they tugged at one another's clothing.

He backed her up against the wall behind her desk as he reached beneath her skirt and tore at the panties she wore beneath it while she loosened his belt.

"Lee..." she scolded as she heard the fabric rip, but her tone soon changed as she her the rasp of his zipper and before she knew it, he was inside her. "Leeee..." she gasped as she pushed against him to take all of him in. Why was it that no matter how much they may fight or what they were fighting about, she could never say no to him on this? She let out a low chuckle as she thought of the 'I'm taken' argument. She really was now, in a whole different sense.

As if reading her mind, he growled low in her ear, "You really are taken now," as he pushed into her again and then again.

"Oh, yes," she readily agreed as they moved together, the pace increasing as their frustration with each other decreased until they were crying out the other's name and leaning against one another completely spent.

She kissed his lips softly and croaked, "Maybe you should get jealous of Joe more often," as she tried to catch her breath.

Pulling back from her to straighten his clothing, he shook his head. "No. I don't like the way it makes me feel. In fact, I hate it. I hate being that guy; the guy who gets jealous every time you talk to your ex. I mean, logically, I know you have to talk to him because you have kids together, but it doesn't make me feel any better when I see how he gets to be an active part of your life and I don't."

"We need to change that then. You need to start coming to the house more and not just to pick me up for work or when we go out, but just to be there."

"I thought you didn't want that," he replied skeptically.

"Well, you were right about one thing. We have been engaged for months and it has been me dragging out setting a wedding date. I admitted I was scared or did you forget that part too...you know, when I said we were chicken?"

"No, I caught that part. I guess...I guess I was just thrown by the casual way you said you'd pencil me in after you'd just made a date with Joe."

"Oh, come on, it's not a date. It's just two old friends having lunch together and catching up on what's going on in each other's lives, but if you really don't want me to go, I won't go. I'll call him back right now and tell him something came up."

"No, it's fine, go. Just remember you said you'd tell him."

"I will. I promise. And, Lee, that pencil comment, I really meant that only as a joke...you know, because we're so busy all the time. It's not because I think our wedding is unimportant and definitely not because I don't want to marry you. In fact, now that we're working toward a definite wedding date, I'm really looking forward to it. That'll prove to you once and for all that I'm..." She paused and grinned at him. "...Taken."

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After his run-in with the too-exuberant hooker and her landlady, Lee went to pick Amanda up from her lunch, his stomach tied in knots over what might have happened between them. He walked into the restaurant as they'd planned hoping against hope that Amanda had kept her promise to fill Joe in on everything. As he slowly approached their table, dread filling his heart, she leapt to her feet to greet him with a kiss and a warm, "Hi, Sweetheart. It seems congratulations are in order." When Lee raised a questioning eyebrow, she added quickly, "For Joe, that is. He just told me he's getting married."

Lee couldn't help the sigh of relief that escaped him at the news and uttered a genuine, "Congratulations, Joe," and reached to shake the other man's hand. "That's wonderful news."

"It really is," Amanda gushed enthusiastically. "And I'm glad you told me, but we really should be getting back to the office. We have a lot of work to do. But if you and Carrie aren't doing anything tonight, you should bring her by the house for dinner so we can all meet her. Lee's going to be there, aren't you, Sweetheart?"

"Umm...yeah, sure I am." When he gave her a curious look, she shook her head slightly. "It was nice to see you again, Joe and congratulations again." He took Amanda's hand and led her out to the car.

As he held open her door for her, he said tersely, "You didn't tell him, did you?"

"No," she answered in a dejected tone.

Lee sighed as he walked around to his side of the car and got in. As he pulled out into traffic, he tried to figure out what her reasoning was. "I get it. He stole your thunder with his news, right? Or maybe you decided since we're not telling anyone else, we shouldn't tell him. Or maybe since he's getting married again and the whole reason I wanted him to know was because I didn't want him coming after you so you thought he didn't need to know."

"No, Lee, it's a lot simpler than that. He was so excited about his news that I didn't have the heart to tell him." More than that, she'd felt so gut-punched by the news, she couldn't even think of what to say in response. He's really moved on, she thought sadly, but then a wave of guilt washed over her for that thought because she knew she had no right to feel that way. After all, they were divorced and she had Lee now, who she truly did love. She was so lost in her own thoughts, she just barely caught Lee's comment. "We're gonna tell him," she insisted. As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she felt guilty again because she knew part of her new desire to tell Joe the truth was to see if he had the same reaction she'd had to his news. Would it throw him as much as it had her that she too had moved on? She knew she'd been laying it on thick in the restaurant once Lee had arrived, but even if she couldn't bring herself to tell him the whole truth in that moment, she wanted Joe to know that she'd moved on as well and had been serious when she said that she wanted to go forward.

"Right," Lee nodded. "And he'll be as happy for you as you are for him," he added skeptically.

"Right." She would like to think he'd be happier for her because while she'd played it like she was, she was really just to stunned to feel much of anything but gloomy.

"Hey, are you okay?" Lee asked as he reached for her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.

"Yeah, I just..." She let out a sigh. "I just feel...I don't know...weird about all this. I mean, I've known for a long time that it was over between Joe and me, but I can't help feeling a little..."

"Hurt?" Lee supplied. "I suppose it's only natural that it would bother you that he's found someone else. I mean, you were married to the guy for ten years."

She looked at him strangely. "Hello? Who are you and what have you done with Lee Stetson?"

"No, I mean it. I know you're an understanding person, but when your ex gets married, it's bound to be unsettling. No one is that understanding. Besides, I remember all too well how it felt when Eva told me she was going to marry Angelo. I felt like I'd had my heart ripped out and I wasn't with her anywhere near as long as you were with Joe. Plus, you two have kids together, so I'd say it's pretty damn normal for you to feel weird about it."

"You never stop surprising me," she mused.

"Good, then maybe you'll never get sick of me once we're old and gray. Now, about this dinner...when did we decided I was coming over tonight?"

"Oh, that. Sorry about putting you on the spot like that, but I-"

"You wanted to put him on the spot like he did with you at lunch." He grinned mirthfully at her.

"What? No!" she denied while trying to hide the slight flush that was slowly creeping into her cheeks.

"Come on, Amanda, I know you too well. You want to tell him tonight...after dinner when the kids are doing their homework or taking their baths or whatever and drop the news on him like he dropped it on you. Tell me I'm wrong," he challenged her. His teasing grin widened, deepening his dimples.

"Maybe I just want to meet his fiancée and give the boys a chance to meet their future stepmother. Did you ever think of that?"

"Okay, maybe I'm wrong, but if that's all it is, why do you need me there?"

"So Phillip and Jamie can spend more time with their future stepfather, of course."

"Of course," he responded dryly. "And this has nothing to do with you wanting to see Joe as rattled as you were just now?" He couldn't stop smirking at seeing this vengeful side of his soon-to-be-wife.

"Nope. Mm-mm. Not a bit," she shook her head. Doing her best to paste on a more serious expression, she deadpanned, "But you're right about one thing. We should tell him tonight...after dinner while the boys are doing their homework. I'm glad you thought of it."

Lee laughed out loud for the first time in days, his heart feeling a thousand pounds lighter than it had.

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True to his prediction, that night after dinner, Amanda insisted that the two of them walk Joe and Carrie out to their car. "Carrie, thank you for coming on such short notice. It was lovely to meet you."

"Same here, Amanda. Thank you for inviting me." the other woman replied politely.

"Somehow I get the idea that's not why you wanted to walk us out," Joe chimed in.

Amanda took a deep breath and clasped Lee's hand, "No, Joe, it's not. You see, I...uh...I wasn't entirely truthful with what I said at lunch."

"You mean, you're not happy for me and Carrie?" he teased.

"Oh, of course, I am. I want you to be happy, but the thing is I want to be happy too, and...Oh, I mean, I am happy...with Lee, that is."

"Amanda, you're babbling again," Lee hissed in her ear.

"I'm getting there," she hissed back. "What I mean, Joe, is that I was lying when I said Phillip got a C in history. I mean, that was the truth, he did get a C, but that wasn't really the news I wanted to tell you. It's just that I was so surprised by your news that I-" She blew out a long breath to compose herself. "What I'm trying to say is that you're not the only one who's getting married again. I am too. I mean, Lee and I are."

"Oh, that's wonderful!" Carrie gushed. "Congratulations!"

"Right. Congratulations," Joe added almost as an afterthought with a deer-in-the-headlights look on his face. "Um...you know, Amanda, when I told you not to invite me out to lunch and just drop the news on me, I didn't mean for you to invite me to dinner instead."

Gotcha' "Oh, I know, but I've been aching to tell you since our lunch and you know, I was so understanding when you did it to me, I thought...well, maybe you'd be the same way."

"Of course, Amanda. I'm happy for you...and you too, Lee. So, why didn't you just say something during dinner instead of this big deal of walking us out?"

"Oh, well, there's that too. The boys don't know yet and we don't really want them to know yet," Lee answered. "Partly because of our jobs and partly because they just don't know me very well yet. I mean, I get you two doing things the way you did, but it's different for me. Since Amanda has physical custody of the boys, they'll end up spending most of their time with me around once we get married and you know are living together full-time."

"Laying it on a bit thick," Amanda whispered to him.

Lee grinned at her. "Well, I'm sure Joe gets my meaning. Right, Joe?"

"I do, indeed," Joe replied as he fidgeted uncomfortably. "But you know, it's getting late so Carrie and I should really be getting home. Amanda, I'll call you when we start making wedding plans. We want the boys to be included."

"I'll be looking forward to it," she replied and gave them a wave as she and Lee walked back toward the house. "Fat chance," she muttered once the other couple was out of earshot.

Lee laughed. "So, am I to understand that I'm not the only jealous one around here."

"Oh no, this is not jealousy of Joe and Carrie, but her and my boys. Did you see the obvious way she was sucking up to them tonight?"

"Hmmm...maybe I should take some lessons from her. I still don't think Jamie likes me very much."

"Well, just give him time. He's a smart, sensitive kid who doesn't trust people easily and I admit, he's a tiny bit of a mama's boy, so anyone he thinks might change that, he sees as a threat, but trust me one of these days he's going to love you as much as I do."

"How's he going to feel once he knows his best girl is taken, huh?"

"I really am taken, you know...with you."

"Good. Same here."