Lee entered the agency's infirmary to find Billy engaged in a heated discussion with Dr. Quidd and Dr Kelford, Francine sitting in a chair opposite Amanda's room. "Billy, come on, be reasonable!" Quidd argued. "We have to do something for her and soon!"
"I already said no! The last time I checked I was still the boss and that means that I call the shots around here! We're not involving her family, not unless we absolutely have to!"
"Billy, think about it," Francine put in from her seat, in a much cooler tone that her superior. "If that's what it takes to help Amanda, maybe we should think about it."
"Hey, what the hell's going on here," Lee shouted.
Quidd began to speak, but was stopped by Dr. Kelford's hand on his shoulder. "What's going on here, Scarecrow, is that your partner's in some bad shape," he said while Quidd fixed Billy with a pointed look, "And we're going to need to contact her next of kin to make some medical decisions on her behalf."
"Why?"Lee demanded. "What's going on with her that's so bad that she can't she make her own medical decisions?"
"Do you have any idea what Birol did to her," Quidd snapped. "Her mind is such a mess that she can't even tell us what day it is."
"Of course she can't," Lee countered as he approached the psychiatrist, getting right up in his face. "Have you ever been held captive?" Without giving the other man a chance to respond. "No, you haven't, Doc! You sit in your nice big office, in your nice fat overstuffed chair with your files and your pencils, taking your little notes and you try to relate to us, but you don't know what it's really like for us. Let me tell you something! I have been held captive, several times, sometimes for days on end! When shit like that happens, you're lucky to remember your own name, let alone what day it is!"
"Scarecrow, back off," Billy bellowed as he pulled him away from Quidd and shoved him toward the row of chairs outside Amanda's room causing Lee to have to catch himself on one of the chairs to prevent him from toppling on top of Francine. "Now, sit down until you cool off!"
"Billy!"
"Do it!" At seeing that he wasn't going to win this argument, Lee flopped down into the chair next to Francine, heaving a deep sigh.
Francine gave Lee a sympathetic look as Billy turned back to Quidd, but before he could say anything, Francine stated bluntly, "You know, Lee has a point. When I was held hostage earlier this year, I didn't know which end was up. I was lucky even to remember my cover, let alone anything else. Why do you think I worked so hard to help Lee get Amanda back? I didn't want her to go through the same hell that I did."
"Thank you, Francine," Lee said in a much calmer tone, grateful for his friend's support, but worrying to death about Amanda and whatever hell Birol had put her through.
"There's more to it than that," Quidd, also in a calmer tone said. "She's still living the hallucinations that she was having while she was held captive."
"Now, just hold on," Dr Kelford chimed in, "I already told you that a big part of it could be just a result of sleep deprivation and starvation making her mind play tricks on her."
"Couldn't he be right?" Lee questioned hopefully. "Couldn't she be okay with just catching up on her sleep and getting some decent food in her?"
"Look," Francine said as she jumped to her feet, eyes flaring, "The two of you arguing over her care or her course of treatment isn't helping her. Why don't you both get over this macho pissing contest and try to do what's best for her instead of arguing over who's right or wrong?"
"I'm afraid it's not that simple," Dr. Quidd replied. "Birol used some mind-altering drugs on her-"
"Which I told you should have had very minimal impact on her, not in the doses he gave her," Kelford cut in.
"And I told you that different drugs affect people differently and this one combined with all the other stuff that was done to her could have-"
"Enough, both of you!" Francine broke in, stepping between the two men, looking from one to the other. "Don't you care about your patient at all? She's the one you should be worried about. Do whatever it takes to bring her back!"
Quidd and Kelford looked at each other worriedly. "We'd be happy to," Kelford answered. "While we may disagree on a lot, one thing that we do agree on is that we shouldn't proceed with any course of treatment without speaking to her family."
"I already told you that that's not an option," Billy interjected. "Not without exposing the agency and potentially putting them in danger." He shook his head. "I can't allow that, not when she's a mother of two young boys."
"That's part of the problem," Quidd muttered low as he folded his arms across his chest.
"What's the real problem here, Doc?" Lee questioned having heard Quidd's barely audible comment. Had Birol been telling the truth? Was Amanda pregnant? "I thought Billy said that you were having trouble counteracting the drugs he gave her, like maybe you didn't have an antidote or something or maybe didn't know what he gave her."
"No, Scarecrow," Kelford answered. "We know exactly what he gave her and we have the antidote."
"So, why aren't you giving it to her?"Francine queried with a confused look on her face. "Help her."
"There's...um...a complication..." Kelford began.
"What complication?" Billy asked.
"Well, aside from the fact that we don't know for sure that the drugs her gave her are potent enough to have done this damage to her mind," He gave Quidd a pointed look, "Giving it to her without her permission or that of someone close to her raises an ethical issue."
"How so?"
"Because the counteracting drug could harm not only her..." Kelford's voice trailed off and he looked at the group hesitantly.
"She's pregnant," Quidd stated bluntly with a glare at Kelford's sheepish expression. At those words, Lee buried his face in his hands; Francine gaped at the two doctors, a look of utter shock on her face while Billy just looked at Lee for his reaction to the news. "That's why we want to contact her next of kin."
"Giving her the drugs could cause harm to her child," Kelford added.
There was a long moment of silence to which Billy was the first to respond. "What if we could contact the baby's father instead?" he suggested. "He should be involved in a decision like that and then we could still keep her family out of it." Billy looked back at Lee to see that he'd removed his face from his hands, but was now staring silently at the floor and then turned back to the doctors. "That would be sufficient, wouldn't it?"
"Yeah," Quidd replied with a nod. "Do you know who it is?" At having seen Lee's reaction to her abduction, he had an idea as he reflected back on his conversation with Billy regarding the younger man's emotional attachment to his partner.
"I have my suspicions," Billy responded with a knowing look at Lee, wondering why he wasn't saying anything.
"I just can't believe this," Francine said when the shock had eased a little. "Amanda King, little miss wholesome..." she said in a musing tone.
As the conversation continued around him, Lee was lost in his own thoughts, the words of the others registering in his mind, but not at its forefront. He reflected back on all the times that he'd seen Amanda with her children, what a loving, doting mother she was. His agitated brain was flooded with memories, but one in particular stuck out to him more than any other.
"I may be sleepy, but I'm not dead," Amanda said as she tugged at his arm to pull him down to her for a long, lingering kiss.
When their kiss ended, Lee replied with an impish grin, "Oh? Is that so?'
"MM-hmm," Amanda murmured as she propped herself up on the arm of the couch and then leaned in a lightly brushed her lips against his.
"You feel up to some dinner," Lee asked.
"Yeah," Amanda answered as she sat up fully, stretching and yawning. "I have to try these famous frittatas of yours."
"Good." Lee beamed at her as he reached for her hand, which she readily took, and he helped her to her feet. He handed her one of the champagne glasses then picked up the other for himself as they made their way into the dining room together. He held out a chair for her, helped her ease her way into it then began to serve their late dinner. A thought struck him as he watched her sip at her champagne. "Um...Amanda...?" he said hesitantly, no sure how to broach the subject.
"Mmm?"
"Should I get you something else to drink?" He nodded toward the champagne flute in her hand. "I mean, if you...Or if we..." When Amanda looked at him quizzically, he couldn't help wondering why it was so hard for him just to spit out what he wanted to say. He sighed and blurted out, "Aw, hell, is it safe for you to be drinking when you might be pregnant?"
"Ohhh," Amanda said softly as she set her glass down. She took his hands in hers and replied, "One glass isn't going to hurt anything, but there's more than that on your mind, isn't there?"
Lee sat down next to her with a sigh and nodded. "Yeah, there is. I...I, I just wonder what we're going to do...If you are, I mean. I know we said we'd cross that bridge when we came to it, and I said that I'd stand by you and I meant that, but I guess I kind of..." Lee looked down at the floor unable to make eye contact with her.
"Lee?" When he didn't respond, she ran a hand through his hair, and then rested her hand on his face. "Lee, look at me." When he finally did, she asked, "What is it that you really want to know?"
Lee sighed again and his words came out in a rush. "I want to know what you'd want to do. Would you keep the baby? I mean, if there is one? I know that women have all kinds of options and we never really talked about this in depth, just decided to table the discussion until we knew something for sure, but, Amanda, I HAVE to know. I mean, you're already single mom to two kids and having another one would put more pressure on you and I want you to know that if you decide to keep the baby, I'll do my part, live up to my responsibility."
Amanda chuckled softly. "I know that, Lee. I never had a doubt in my mind that you would. What I can't understand is why you'd have any doubt what I'd want to do. There's no question that I'd keep the baby. I mean, you're right, women have a ton of options these days, but for me...For me there's only one option."
Lee breathed a sigh of relief and replied with a glowing smile, "Good."
"Feel better?" Lee nodded. "Good." Amanda planted a quick kiss to his lips and said, "Now, let's eat this dinner you made before I fall asleep in my plate."
Through the rest of their dinner, they chatted lightly, talking about Zhmed and his new life, and she'd told him of the big weekend Joe had planned with the boys and how it freed her up to spend the whole weekend with him. During their conversation, Lee self-consciously lowered his hand to his pocket and the ring box hidden there. He had set up this romantic evening for the two of them so that he could give it to her, but after seeing her yawn her way through dinner, he thought it better to wait awhile. Sure, enough when dinner was over and he'd finished the clean-up from it, he re-entered his living room to find Amanda sound asleep on his couch.
He shook his head, lifted her gently into his arms and carried her to the bedroom where she could sleep more comfortably. When she stirred, he helped her in her sleepy state to get undressed, then while she was drifting back to sleep, undressed himself and slid between the sheets beside her. As soon as he did, she drifted into her arms said dreamily, "You sounded like you had something else on your mind."
Lee brushed a feather-light kiss to her forehead and softly whispered, "Another time."
"Scarecrow," Dr. Kelford's voice sounded snapping Lee out of his memories.
"Hmmm?" Lee murmured while he still stared at the floor, vaguely aware that they'd been talking about contacting whoever it was that had gotten Amanda pregnant. Without looking up, he said, quietly, but firmly, "Don't give her the drugs."
"I'm afraid that's not your call. I know you're her partner, but-"
Lee rose to his feet, looked Kelford squarely in the face and countered, "Yes, it is my call. I'm more than her partner; I'm the baby's father."