Lee rushed toward Amanda's room calling her name, but was stopped by Quidd who held out both of his hands in a warning gesture. "Hold it right there, Scarecrow. You're not going in there."
"The hell I'm not," Lee retorted as he attempted to force his way past the surly psychiatrist. When Quidd wouldn't budge, Lee narrowed his eyes at him, his jaw clenched as he balled up his fists and barked, "Are you gonna' move or do I have to make you move?"
"Look, you're in no shape to see her in the state that you're in. She's needs a calm influence right now." Hearing Amanda scream Lee's name again, Quidd said, "See? Can't you hear the terror in her voice?"
"Yeah, I hear it and I also hear her calling my name, not yours, so get the hell out of my way."
"Not until you calm down. Dr. Kelford can check on her. I think you and I need to take a walk down to my office and have a talk."
"Screw you and your office," Lee fired back and finally shoved his way past the doctor and into Amanda's room to find her sitting bolt upright in her bed.
"Lee!" Amanda cried again at seeing him in the doorway. This time it was not a fearful cry, but one of relief.
"I'm here," Lee said in a soothing tone as he rushed to her side, embracing her tightly as she trembled against him, not caring that he'd heard thunderous footsteps behind him, knowing he'd been followed into her room. Feeling Amanda clinging to him tightly, he gently rocked her to ease her fear and calm her sobbing. "Shh, Honey, I'm here." He placed a tender kiss to the top of her head as he just continued to hold her until she was calmer.
The two doctors stood and watched as the tension in Amanda's body slowly drained while Francine who stood in the doorway with Billy, looked at her boss and mouthed, "Honey?" Billy just grinned back at her.
When Amanda tugged at Lee's shoulders, he pulled back a little, but didn't fully release her. He brushed her sleep-rumpled hair out of her face and at seeing silent tears slipping down her cheeks, inquired, "Hey, what's going on here?" as he tenderly brushed them away.
"I-I-I had the most awful n-n-nightmare that B-Birol killed you right in front of m-m-me," Amanda stammered her shaking somewhat lessened, but a twinge of fear still present in her eyes. "I-I-I just kept seeing him raising the gun and I-I was so afraid that all I did was hide behind you while he shot you right in the face.
"Shh," Lee whispered softly. "That never happened. He didn't kill me."
"He...he didn't try to shoot you?" Amanda asked in confusion.
"See?" Quidd crowed triumphantly.
Lee fixed Quidd with a stern look, then turned back to his fiancée' and explained, "Yes, Amanda, he did, but it was just a ploy to scare us. The chamber was empty.
Amanda closed her eyes for a brief moment as if lost in thought and then opened the. She slowly nodded, "I remember now. You tried to rush him thinking the gun was empty and he said that he did have a bullet under the hammer and then asked if you wanted it."
"That's right, Amanda," Lee confirmed. "He was just toying with us, taunting us."
"Everything's just so mixed up," Amanda said with a sigh. "I...I...I'm not sure what's real anymore."
"I'll tell you what's real," He reached up to hold her face in both hands as he had when he'd first seen her in captivity. "This is real." He lightly brushed his lips to hers. He pulled back when she winced, a look of worry in his eyes. "Amanda, what is it?"
"It's nothing, just...Um...it hurts...just a little," she stammered.
Lee gently turned her head and when he saw the bruise on her face, he growled, "Did Birol do that to you?" When Amanda simply nodded, Lee swallowed hard to contain another flare of temper as he remembered Birol taunting him about slapping her. He took a deep breath and said sheepishly, "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you."
"No, don't be. It's good," Amanda answered as she reached for his hands holding them tightly in hers. "I can actually feel you," She smiled as the memories came flooding back.
"Best hallucination yet," Lee replied with a smile of his own.
"The best," she answered back as she removed one hand from his and lightly fingered the heart-shape that rested against her chest. "Then you gave me this back."
Lee nodded, "Mm-hmm." He reached for the heart, clasping his hand around hers. "We're gonna' have to make a trip to the jeweler's to replace the clasp on it where Birol broke it." He lightly caressed her face with his other hand and added softly, "I'm just glad that he didn't break you."
"Hmph," Quidd scoffed.
"When can I get out of here?"Amanda asked Lee. She glanced around nervously and shuddered slightly at the white walls in the room, then up at the bright overhead lights, and then back at Lee. "It's...it's too bright in here. It's like...like I-I-I'm there all over again." Panic began to rise in her voice as she squeaked out, "I-I-I can't stay here. I...you have to get me out of here."
Lee glanced over at Quidd who firmly shook his head, then back to Amanda and said, "Listen, I need to talk to the doctors here, but I promise I'll be back soon, okay? Don't you worry; you're safe now. We both are." He planted a kiss to her forehead, rose from his perch on the side of her bed and then turned to face the two doctors. "We need to talk," Lee stated firmly and gestured with his head to the door. "Billy, I...Um...I don't want her to be alone. Can you...?"
"Yeah," Billy answered before Lee finished, stepping further into the room to keep an eye on Amanda for him.
"I'll stay with her, too," Francine offered.
Lee gave her a wary look and replied, "Uh-uh. Not if you're going to be your usual self."
"Look, I reacted badly to the news you gave us. I get that, but you can trust me. I helped you get her back, didn't I?"
"Yes," He conceded, "But not a word of negativity to her. You got that?"
Francine held up her hands in surrender and nodded. "Not a word of it."
"Good." Lee nodded firmly and waited for the doctors to exit, flipping off the light switch as he the room behind them, leaving the room bathed in just the softer glow of the lamp on the bedside table.
"How are you feeling, Amanda?" Billy asked as he and Francine took a seat on each side of her bed.
"I'm okay, all things considered," Amanda answered in an upbeat tone considerably calmer now that she'd seen Lee and now that she was not alone. "I just really wish I could get out of here, I-I-I wish the doctors would tell me what's going on, but they keep..." Her eyes flared with a slight twinge of anger. "They keep treating me like I'm helpless...or crazy...or fragile...but...I...I'm really okay. I ache and I'm worried and I'd kill for a big fat cheeseburger right about now, but I'm okay."
Billy chuckled at Amanda's ramble and said, "You seem okay, Amanda. Maybe when Lee gets you out of here, he can get you that cheeseburger."
Amanda shook her head and replied, "No, not for a while anyway, not until my stomach settles down a little. I...um...I haven't been able to keep down any solid food since they brought me in here last night." She held up her arm, showing them her IV. "That's why they've got me hooked up to this. I tried to tell them..." She trailed off wondering if they knew what was really going on, if they knew by now that she was pregnant, or if she even still was pregnant. The doctors had been so busy fussing over her, treating her like a china doll and arguing with each other about the best course of treatment for her that they never once bothered to ask her what she thought.
"Tell them what, Amanda?" Billy probed gently.
Instead of answering his question, Amanda asked him one, "Did they tell you anything? About me, I mean? About my condition?" She looked down at her hands as she began fiddling with them nervously.
"Are you trying to ask if we know that you're pregnant?" Francine asked with a slight smile at Amanda's obvious embarrassment. "It's okay, Amanda, we know," she said in a gentler tone as she patted her hand sympathetically and when Amanda looked up at her, she added, "We also know that Lee's the one responsible."
"No," Amanda said softly.
"What?" Francine looked more shocked than she had upon learning that they'd slept together. Lee was sure that he was her baby's father, but now Amanda was saying that he wasn't. What was going on? Was there more to Amanda that she'd thought?
"I'm confused, Amanda," Billy jumped in at seeing the look on Francine's face, not wanting to give his well-meaning, but rather tactless assistant any opportunity to jump on Amanda. "Lee told us that you've been seeing each other for some time now. Are you saying that Lee's not the baby's father?"
"Um...no...I mean, that's not what I mean. Yes, he's the baby's father, but he's not entirely responsible. I mean, I was there too. It's actually more my fault than his. I'm the one who got things started. I practically attacked him." She looked down at her hands again as the memories flooded her mind.
"Oh my God," Lee said trying to catch his breath as Amanda collapsed atop him on the rickety bed, also breathing heavily. He wrapped his arms around her plastering her face and her neck with kisses.
"Is that an "oh my God" of complaint or contentment?"She teased.
"A little of both. That was something else, but now I feel like I've been violated," he said with a devilish grin. "In all my fantasies, I never imagined you would be so..."
"So...what?" she said with an arched eyebrow.
"...so forceful, so domineering, the way you flipped me over with no warning and pinned me to the mattress."
She laughed and said," Well, I don't know why you're so surprised. After three years, you should know by now who had the real balls in this relationship."
"Hey!" he said with a playful slap to her bottom a little shocked at hearing the word "balls" come out of Amanda's mouth. "It's so good to hear you laugh," he said as he ran his fingers through her thick hair."I know with the scary situation we're in right now we may not have much to laugh about, but it's good to hear it for now."
"Yeah, I know it's scary but we'll get through it and everything will be fine," She said with her typical optimism as she shifted to lie on her side her head on his shoulder draping one arm across his chest.
"What happened to one or both of us could get killed? Or was that just a line you used so you could seduce me," He teased. He felt her shiver slightly and pulled the covers over them.
"Me? Seduce you? Mm-mm." She shook her head.
"Mm-hmm, that's what I thought," he said knowing that when she didn't want to lie to him she would just repeat the question she'd been asked.
"Do you really mind, though? You can't deny this is something that we've both wanted for a long time." As they talked, she trailed her fingers lazily down his chest, relishing the feeling of having him in her arms after years of anticipation.
"I admit that, but this isn't exactly the way I had it planned."
"Oh, you had a plan for seducing me, huh?"
"Not seducing exactly. More like romancing. I thought when we were both ready, I'd fix you a nice meal at my place and after dinner we'd relax in front of the fire, sip some champagne, maybe turn on some soft music and slow dance before I would carry you off to my bedroom and spend the rest of the night making slow, sweet love to you." He kissed her tenderly. "But that plan's shot now."
"It doesn't have to be. Just because it won't be our first time together anymore doesn't mean we can't have some romance in the future."
"You're probably right," Lee said placing a light kiss o the top of her head, "If we can get ourselves out of this mess. Speaking of which, we've got a long day ahead of us tomorrow, we should get some sleep."
"I agree," she said, kissed him softly one more time and they nestled down into the covers wrapped in each other's arms.
"So, Lee was telling the truth about you initiating things," Francine queried wide-eyed. Amanda nodded and then Francine asked, "Does that mean that he was also telling the truth when he said that he asked you to marry him?"
"He told you that he asked me to marry him?"Amanda asked. This time, it was her turn to be surprised.
"You mean, he didn't?"Billy said.
Amanda closed her eyes again as she tried to recall the painful memories of her captivity and sort out the fantasy from the reality, but all she kept seeing was Lee in a tuxedo with roses and champagne. She knew her mind was a little muddled, but she knew that wasn't real. It didn't make any kind of logical sense for him to show up in a terrorist's lair like that. She looked from Billy to Francine and back again, a confused look on her face. "I don't know," she answered honestly.