Author's Note: Thanks to all who have been faithfully following this story that turned out to be much longer than I had anticipated. I greatly appreciate the support from all of my readers, those on the site who've posted reviews and those making the very thoughtful comments in the fanfiction group on Facebook, as well as those anonymous guest reviewers that I am unable to reply to. You're all great! There is one bit of dialogue in this chapter that was inspired by a scene in one of my favorite movies, "Steel Magnolias" in which Julia Roberts' character, Shelby, tells her mother not to talk about her like she's not there. I thought it fit this chapter with what's been going on with Amanda and how she's been getting tired of people treating her as if she's lost all her faculties. Hope you all like it.

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Lee immediately rushed to Amanda's side at seeing the look on her face and enveloped her in his arms to comfort her, but she shrank back from him and hissed, "Don't touch me!" but Lee didn't let go.

"Amanda," Lee said soothingly, "It's me, Lee," thinking she was having another of her flashes as they seemed to hit when she was confronted with something unpleasant.

She pushed on his chest in an attempt to get out of his tight embrace and countered, "I know it's you, I'm not delusional this time. I-I-I know it's you and-and now, I know you lied to me." She struggled against him, but he held her fast and when he did, she began beating her fists in frustration against his chest.

"Amanda, come on, talk to me," Lee pleaded. "How did I lie to you?"

"Let me go," She cried as tears streamed down her face, still pounding her fists futilely against the solid wall of his chest. At hearing the commotion, Francine darted into the room prepared to jump in if necessary should Amanda become violent again, but was halted in her tracks by a shake of Lee's head.

Lee released his hold on Amanda as he reached for her hands, bringing both of them to his lips, kissing them softly. He then reached out with one hand to caress her face tenderly, the pain in his eyes evident as he said, "Amanda, please..." When Amanda reached out as if to slap him, he expertly caught her hand in his, now holding both her hands again, and questioned, "You wanna' hurt me? Why? What is it that you think that I did?"

"Y-y-you l-l-lied to me," she sputtered. "M-m-made me think ev-everything was o-o-" Amanda's voice faltered as she felt her knees buckling beneath her.

Lee didn't hesitate a second as he scooped her into his arms and carried her to the couch and sat down with her on his lap, cradled against him. He held her tightly to him as she sobbed against his shoulder in misery, her words muffled in his collar. "Shh, let it out," Lee whispered as he stroked her hair.

Dotty looked at him questioningly, her eyes full of worry for her daughter, for her unborn grandchild. When Lee only shrugged slightly, unsure of what had brought this new wave of Amanda's pain on, she asked, "Is this why you didn't want to tell me what was going on at first? This is what you've been dealing with."

"You don't know the half of it," Francine replied as she sank wearily into the unoccupied armchair across from Dotty.

Amanda pulled her head from Lee's shoulder, took a shuddering breath and said, "Stop talking about it me like I'm not here. I can hear you, you know."

"Ah, there," Lee replied with a warm smile as he brushed a lock of hair from her face, wiping stray tears from her face as he did so. "Now, you're starting to make some sense again." He paused for a beat and then continued, "Now, you wanna' tell me what I supposedly lied to you about, hmm?"

Amanda sniffed, brushed the remaining tears from her face and in a clearer tone, trying to regain her composure. "You...you..." She trailed off, blinking back the tears that were forming in her eyes again, took a deep breath and tried again. "You told me the baby was safe. Why would you do that if it isn't true? Why didn't you tell me that there was a danger that I might lose the baby?"

Lee sighed, clasped her hand in his, idly fiddling with the diamond in her ring and answered, "First of all, the baby is safe from any further harm now that Birol can't get to you anymore. As far as not telling you, I thought you knew there was a risk when I heard you talking to Dr. Kelford about how your pregnancy with Jamie was." He let out a deep breath and continued. "You've been harping on me about babying you, but why do you think that I've been doing it? Kelford gave me a ton of instructions for your care to make sure that that wouldn't happen. Why do you think that I refused to let them give you the antidote to counteract the drugs Birol pumped into you or the neutralizer to the zap gas? They told me those things could hurt our baby. While we're on the subject, I don't want to hear anymore talk about you losing the baby. If that happened, we would be losing the baby. This is my baby too, remember?"

"Of course, I remember, Lee," Amanda answered softly as she squeezed his hand.

"Good. Don't you forget it either," He stated firmly. "I haven't stopped thinking about the possibility since the first time we-" He broke off abruptly, remembering that they were not alone.

"I know," Amanda replied as she lovingly caressed his face. She then gave him a seductive smile and added, "I was there too. In fact, if I recall, I was the one who instigated things since you were taking so long to make up your mind."

"Perhaps we should let you two have a little privacy," Dotty suggested with a nod to Francine.

"You know, I should actually get going anyway," Francine interjected as she stood. "I've already stayed a lot longer than I planned on when I really only came by to bring you guys breakfast."

Lee looked at her a bit helplessly as he didn't want to let go of his fiancee' just yet. Dotty immediately caught on and she, too, stood, saying, "Why don't I walk Miss Desmond to her car so the two of you can talk in private?"

Amanda nodded. "Thank you, Mother and Francine, thanks again, for everything. I owe you."

"Oh, believe me, I'll get paid back the day that I see you dragging his butt down the aisle," Francine quipped as she and Dotty made their way out the door.

Lee laughed and shook his head, "So, are you okay?" he asked more seriously.

"I really wish people would quit asking me that," Amanda answered in irritation. "I've been going through a rough time, but you know something? Having you here with me and Francine and Mother, people that I care about, it helps."

"You care about Francine?" Lee joked.

Amanda rolled her eyes and replied, "We may not be the best of friends, but we have been through a lot together and I-I-I don't know. I guess I trust her now more than I did a couple of years ago. She put her life on the line for me and I'll never forget that or what she's done today to help me, help us."

"She's a good friend," Lee acknowledged. "She went through a lot to help me get you back and I don't mean just from Birol."

"I know, but Lee..." She shifted positions on his lap to face him, leaning her forehead against his, looking into his eyes. "I really am okay." She sighed. "The nightmares probably won't go away for a while, but as long as I've got you beside me to help chase them away, I'll be just fine. There's just this one thing that I can't figure out."

"What's that?" he asked as he held her and idly ran a hand down her back.

"If Dr. Kelford and Dr. Quidd both knew that there was a risk that we might lose the baby, why didn't they answer my questions when I asked if the baby was okay?"

"You asked them about the baby?" Lee questioned.

Amanda nodded. "Until I heard you and Dr. Kelford talking, I didn't even know for sure that I hadn't already miscarried. I-' She paused, swallowed hard, took a deep breath before continuing with, "After what happened to me, what...what Birol did to me...I-I-I was so afraid that I the baby was gone before you ever knew that there was one and now..."

"Shh, don't worry," He whispered and then placed a tender kiss to her lips. "We are going to do everything that we can to make sure that you're healthy so that our baby will be healthy too. I'm sorry, Amanda, if I'd known that you didn't know there was a risk, I'd have told you right away."

"Would you?" she asked skeptically. "Or is that one of those things that you would have kept from me in the name of protecting me?"

"No, I definitely would have told you." He chuckled softly, gave her a mischievous grin and added, "Maybe if I had, you wouldn't have been so pissed at me for trying to take care of you. I...I...Aw, hell, Amanda, I don't know. All I know is that I want you to be better so we can move forward with our plans for the future."

"I am better," Amanda insisted. When Lee looked at her dubiously, she stated, "I am! Look, Dr. Kelford did say that all it might take to clear my head is to let the drugs clear out of my system, get some good solid rest and some real food and to be around people who love me and I...Well, I think he was right, especially about the people-who-love me part." She leaned in and lightly brushed her lips to his.

"I do love you, Amanda," Lee replied softly as he pulled her head down to his for another kiss this one more lingering than the last. Amanda slid her hands into his hair tugging on his head to deepen their connection moaning softly against him as the familiar desire she felt for him began to build.

"Ahem," Dotty's voice sounded from the doorway causing the pair to break their passionate kiss, but still held onto one another as they turned to face her. "I'm sorry. Maybe I should have knocked when I came back up."

"No, Dotty," Lee argued. "I invited you here, so that's not necessary. We...um...we were just..." He looked to Amanda for help who simply smiled at him and shook her head, "Um...making up? You know, from our argument."

"So, I see," Dotty responded dryly. She then turned her attention to Amanda and inquired, "So, is this where you've been spending all of your "work" weekends?"

"Mother," Amanda replied with a roll of her eyes.

"What?" Dotty said impatiently. "It's not such an unreasonable question to ask, is it? Now that I know for sure that you're expecting." She looked around and added, "Not that I can blame you. For an apartment, this is a very lovely place. Very homey."

"Well, A lot of that has to do with Amanda," Lee said. "To be honest, before I met Amanda, I never really gave much thought to where I lived because I wasn't much of a homebody, but now..." He smiled affectionately at Amanda. "Now, I find I like being at home since I have someone to share it with."

"I hope that's still true once the two of you get married," Dotty said as she resumed her seat across from them in the armchair she'd vacated earlier. "With two boys and a baby on the way, you're going to have a very full house."

"Speaking of which, I'm going to need a lot of help from you to make plans," Amanda told her mother. "Wedding plans, I mean. After all, the wedding's going to have to be pretty soon if I don't want to look like a whale on our wedding day."

"I had a thought about that," Lee interjected. "Since this is November first and it's next month is..."

"Maybe a Christmas wedding," Amanda completed his thought for him.

"That's my girl," Lee laughed, amazed that with all she'd been through, she was still so attuned to his thoughts.

"I think that's a lovely idea," Dotty exclaimed, "And you know, I'll just bet that Reverend Mills would fit you in between Christmas services. I'm going to call him right now. That is, if you don't mind me using your phone."

"No, not at all," Lee answered, shaking his head at Dotty's exuberance.

As Dotty picked up the phone, Amanda said to him, "Don't give me that look. You're the one who invited her here."

"I'm glad that I did. I think having her here was just what you needed."

"Having you here too helped a lot," Amanda added, "And even Francine. I just can't believe that my mother knew all this time about the agency and never said a word. She's better at keeping secrets than I thought."

"And with her interrogation skills, she's make a hell of an agent," Lee jested earning him a resounding smack from Amanda.

"Don't you even think about recruiting my mother! Two spies in the family is quite enough."

"Listen, when I talked to Billy on the phone, he's giving both of us the next week off, one, to give you time to recover and two, to give us some time to make some concrete plans."

As she glanced at her mother on the phone, she chuckled and replied, "I don't know about that one. I think mother will make all the plans without any help from us."

"You know what? Let her," Lee said as he wrapped his arms tightly around her. "I don't care as long as we make it to our wedding day."

Dotty returned, having finished her phone call and said, "Well, you've got your date. He couldn't do it on Christmas day, but how does Christmas Eve sound?"

Lee and Amanda looked at one another and then back at Dotty and answered in unison, "Perfect,"

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The following Friday after Amanda had had a few sessions with Claudia who'd determined that she was recovering nicely from her mental distress followed by an appointment with her own obstetrician who'd declared that contrary to Dr. Quidd's pooh-poohing, Dr Kelford's original assessment had been correct that the baby was just fine, Lee strode purposefully through the bullpen, whistling jauntily, a small stack of thick envelopes in his hand. He walked into Billy's office to find him there with Dr. Quidd who was saying, "It's about time."

Lee looked at Billy curiously who answered his look with, "Dr. Quidd will be returning to work on Monday now that Amanda's on the road to recovery."

"Ahh," Lee said.

"That's good news," Quidd said to Lee with a sheepish look.

Lee nodded at Quidd's attempt to bury the hatchet, then turned to Billy, "More good news," he said as he handed he boss one of the envelopes, "For you and Jeannie." Billy smiled in response.

"What's that," Quidd asked with a nod toward the envelopes still in Lee's hand.

"Wedding invitation," Lee answered tersely then added with a devilish grin as he waved the remaining invitations in his face, "And just so we're clear, you're not getting one of these." He then turned back to Billy and asked, "Have you seen Francine?"

"Down in crypto," Billy answered. He paused for a moment and said, "By the way, Amanda's been approved to come back to work on Monday."

"Good," Lee replied.

Billy held up his invitation proudly and said, "As for this, I wouldn't miss it for anything in the world. It's been a long time coming."

"Yeah, it has," Lee answered. Too damn long, he thought as he recalled all of his thwarted attempts to ask Amanda to marry him, but found that he couldn't stop smiling now that they were finally on their way to being the "regulars' that Norman had once called them. "I should go find Francine and give her her invitation. Even though she's Amanda's maid of honor, she'll still be pissed if she doesn't get a personal invitation."

Billy chuckled and said, "Well, we'll just keep it between us that you gave me mine first then."

Lee gave Quidd a mock salute as he walked out the door, happier than he'd been in a long time.