They'd stayed past the allotted one hour Jane had given them, of course, but not by much because Francine's eyes kept drifting closed, exhausted by the injury and woozy from the medications. Since it was still far too early to go home without raising Dotty's suspicions, Amanda suggested pie and coffee at a diner she knew about in Rosslyn.

It had become so easy, spending time like together, so different from when they'd first met and spent their time squabbling over how to decorate a kitchen or other things 'regular' people do. Lee had to shake his head and laugh thinking about it; from the first day he'd met her, Amanda had never failed to call him on the more ridiculous things in his life, the things he'd let take over and substitute for life when he couldn't cope with the grief.

These people are your friends?

She'd been wary that first day – and rightfully so, given the way he'd popped up in her life so bizarrely but even then, the skeptical look she'd given him hadn't hidden the laugh in her eyes. He'd looked around at the people at that party – the crazy costumes, the vapid expressions – he'd seen what she'd seen and grimaced inwardly but that day he thought he'd never see her again, so he'd just nodded and taken her by the arm to lead her further down the rabbit hole. Boy, if he'd known then what he knew now…

"Nice place," he commented as they slid into a booth opposite each other. "They don't make 'em like this anymore."

"Yeah," she agreed.

"Amanda?" The waitress had appeared at their booth. "I thought it was you. Long time, no see."

"Hi Eileen. Yeah, I don't get to this part of town as much as I used to." Amanda's smile didn't quite reach her eyes, but only Lee would have noticed.

"What can I get you? You still like apple pie?"

"Fancy you remembering that." Amanda's smile was a little brighter now but Lee could still sense something was off. "Yes please, and a decaf coffee."

"And you must be that long-lost husband she used to tell us about, back from Africa at last! What can I get you?"

"I'll have the same," Lee smiled at the pretty brunette without bothering to correct her. Eileen smiled back at him and whisked away to get their order.

He turned back to look at Amanda who was idly shredding a napkin and staring at the table. She sensed his gaze and looked up to meet the concerned look in his eyes.

"I used to come here a lot," she explained. "The AIDS hospice –J.C.'s hospice – it's just down the road from here and I used to come and you know, change gears before going home to the boys."

"Oh!" he said with sudden understanding. "Bad memories."

"Oh no, not really. I mean, actually this was kind of an oasis back then, you know? Nobody knew me here except as Apple Pie Amanda. Eileen has a little boy the same age as Jamie – we used to talk about them and commiserate about normal every day stuff." She stopped again, staring at the shredded napkin. "It was my place to be normal. I had to be cheerful for J.C, and then I'd have to go home and act like nothing was wrong for Phillip and Jamie, but nobody but me and Mother knew what was really going on. I couldn't talk about it with my friends or the neighbors, or Joe. It was like this huge dark secret hanging over me."

"That's why you hate lying to your mother," he stated, grimly.

"Yeah," she smiled softly at him. "I've always known why I needed to, and it's for a good reason, but it's why I hate to do it – we've always been each other's secret keepers. Anyway, this place was where I was just normal Amanda with two little boys. No secrets, no lies, just half an hour of pie and no thinking about anything."

"And that's why you didn't want to go to the reunion tonight," he said. "When you said you didn't want to spend the night lying to people, that's why." When she nodded, he went on, "Why didn't you ever tell me how much you hate it?"

She reached out and laid her hand over his. "Oh Lee, I don't hate it exactly. I mean, I do, but I know it's for a good reason, that it's important that she doesn't know what I do. But I didn't want to spend an evening with people lying for no reason – it's exhausting and I would have had a horrible time."

"Well, I'd have been with you," he said defensively. "Wouldn't that have made it better?"

She squeezed his hand and smiled warmly at him. "That would have been the only part that was good," before adding more seriously, "Lee, if you'd had a reunion before…" She paused, looking for the right words. "You know… before… would you have had any fun if you'd had to go without Andy? Spending the whole time lying to people about the best part of your life when you could have just stayed home with him and not been on edge all night?"

She could see when it clicked for him, what she meant about how tiring it was for her too, this life of covers, secrets, half-truths… lies.

"I guess not," he said finally, but then went on, still protesting, "But it's not the same! Nobody would have thought twice about you showing up with me!"

"Not that part, no, but I don't want to have to lie about you and pretend I'm dating some mediocre government film producer when I'm obviously capable of doing so much better." She patted his hand to show she was teasing and waited until he smiled back. "And," she went on firmly, "I'd have had to worry about how it was going to get back to my mother about how I showed up at the reunion with a ridiculously handsome date that she knew nothing about."

"Well, I can see where that would be a problem," he agreed, grinning.

"And besides, Francine needed the company," she went on. "I don't think she has many real friends other than you and Billy."

"And you," said Lee.

"And me," agreed Amanda. "But that's a pretty recent development. I don't think she'd consider me part of her inner circle. "

"Really?" Lee was honestly surprised. "I think she does."

Amanda tilted her head and considered that, considered everything Francine had said yesterday in the aftermath of the secret she'd blurted out. "Yeah, maybe she does," she said finally. "She did share her chocolate with me."

"Ah well, there's your proof," Lee smiled. "You know her biggest secrets, you must be her friend."

"Is that what makes someone a friend? Knowing their secrets?" asked Amanda.

"Well, you know most of mine and we're still friends," he joked, until he saw the fretful furrow in her brow. He twisted his hand to lace his fingers with hers. "But that's not what I meant. You know them because she told you – and if she trusts you, you're her friend. Francine is a complicated woman but that's a simple fact."

Amanda stared at the way his fingers were intertwined with hers, his thumb moving in a lazy circle across the top of hers. They'd come such a long way, the two of them, from those early days when she'd still distrusted his motives; since then, those hands had reached out to save her, to comfort her, to soothe her more times than she could count.

"Do you think…" she began slowly, before pausing to gather her thoughts. His fingers tightened slightly as if to encourage her. "Do you think we'd stop being friends if we kept things from each other?"

Lee's free hand reached out to seize her other hand. "Amanda," he said, then again more firmly until she looked up. "Amanda, there is nothing you could tell me that would change how I feel about you." He held his breath, willing her silently to confide in him.

How I feel about you? Amanda searched his eyes, distracted momentarily as she so often was by how expressive they were and right now they were bright with concern and something else she couldn't read.

Partners shouldn't have secrets.

"Lee, I –"

"Aw, aren't you two cute, still holding hands like newlyweds! Sorry that took so long. I had to brew a new pot," said Eileen, cheerfully, placing coffee cups at their elbows, followed by the plates of pie. "I threw some ice cream on there, free of charge since it took so long. I know you always used to get it with ice cream when you were having a bad day," she rattled on, completely oblivious to the mood she'd broken at the table. "You have any pictures of your boys? It's been forever since you've been in and shown me any! They must be so big now!"

Lee leaned back with a sigh and picked up his fork, stabbing at the pie with a resigned expression.