"Is there a reason you decided not to interview Senator Greene?" Billy watched as Amanda tried to compose an answer that wouldn't put herself or Lee in a bad light.

"Well sir, the other two seemed like better candidates. I did find something a little odd in his financials, but Lee thought maybe the agency accountants would have better luck sifting through that then us."

"Do you agree with Lee?"

Amanda closed her eyes for a brief moment before looking at her boss.

"Not completely, sir. I think we should talk to him."

Billy opened his door and yelled for Scarecrow to get in his office.

Billy saw a look of worry cross over Amanda's face. He had a feeling this wasn't going to be pretty. He reached for his bottle of antacids and watched Lee cross the bullpen towards his office.

"You wanted to see me, Billy?"

"Yes."

It didn't get past Billy that for the second day in a row Amanda barely glanced at Lee.

"Yes, I would like you and Amanda to go talk to Senator Greene."

"Amanda, I thought we agreed that it would be a waste of time."

"No, we didn't agree and you know it." Amanda's voice was barely above a whisper she really didn't want to make Lee mad at her again, but she didn't want to completely back down, either.

"We'll, let's go get this over with…"

Amanda silently followed Lee out of the office, preparing herself for Lee's anger.

"I can't believe you went to Billy about this!"

"I didn't, Lee. He asked why we hadn't talked to him."

"But you agreed with him, didn't you?"

"Look, Lee, it's obvious you think this is a waste of time, so I'll just go talk to him myself."

"Fine you go do that!"

"Fine! I'm sure your new little girlfriend in the steno pool would be thrilled to be taken out to lunch!"

"Thanks for the suggestion; maybe I'll just to do that!"

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

Lee spun around and stormed off.

Amanda punched at the button for the elevator wishing it would just get there faster so she wouldn't have to watch him cozy up to his new toy.

Amanda looked over at Senator Greene; he had taken the news of someone possibly wanting to kill him pretty well. He reminded her of a lovable grandfather.

"Well this might be the most exciting thing that has happened to me in years!"

"Senator Greene we really aren't sure which one of you is the target which is why I'm talking to you now. Have you noticed anything unusual or have you received any threats?"

"No, but I'm retiring after my term is over, so most of my constituents have already moved on to the people they hope will replace me."

"I see. I hate to ask sir, but while were trying to figure this all out I noticed something a bit odd…"

"Ah, Mrs. King I assume you looked into some of my financials. I wondered when you might ask me about that. I'm really starting to look forward to a more private life where not everything I do is put under a magnifying glass."

"I can only imagine how that must feel."

"Well I assure you it's nothing sinister. I received a settlement a few years ago and those are the payments, but I really don't need the money, so I donate it to some of my favorite charities."

"I had hoped it would be something like that, but I did have to check."

"No worries, Mrs. King, we all have our jobs to do. Now, my dear, would you like some cake?"

"Excuse me?

"Cake-you know: flour, sugar, eggs and lots and lots of yummy frosting."

Amanda laughed. "I understand what cake is. I'm just a little confused." She couldn't keep the amusement from her voice.

"Oh! Right I guess I should explain. It's a surprise really. You see Senator Rose is turning 90. So we are throwing him a surprise party. Hope we don't give the old man a heart attack. Anyway, if you come with me I'll have the best looking date in the room!"

"I'd be delighted to accompany you, sir, but you have to promise not to tell my boys I had cake for lunch."

"Your secret is safe with me."

"Thank you." Amanda paused for a moment before continuing "Sir, will all the senators be attending this party?"

Amanda smiled. She didn't want to worry the man in front of her, but her instincts were sending her warning signals.

"Well a few senators had things to deal with on the home front, but yes, most of us will be there."

"I see. Do you have a phone I could use? I need to call my boss and check in."

"Of course, right this way. I'll just wait for you in my office."

Billy hung up with Amanda, assuring her that she did the right thing, and that he would send over some back up.

"Francine, can you come in for a minute?"

"What's up, Billy?"

"I need you and Johnson to head over to the capitol and back Amanda up. It might be nothing, but there's a big surprise party for Senator Rose; most of the Senators will be there. It's possible the assassin might strike."

"Okay, I'm on it."

Billy picked up the phone and called up to the Q-Bureau, but no one answered. Sighing a bit, he called Mrs. Marsten and asked her to send Scarecrow down to see him as soon as he came back.

Amanda looked around the room trying to keep an eye on the three potential targets while trying to see if anyone was acting suspicious. She had acknowledged Francine and Johnson when they walked in with a simple nod of her head.

She smiled at Senator Greene as he handed her a slice of cake and that's when she saw the flash of a gun in the corner of her eye. She looked over to Francine, but it was too late: if she didn't take action now Senator Greene wouldn't live to enjoy his retirement.

Amanda shoved the Senator to the ground and lunged towards the man with the gun, startling him, and causing him to fire into the air before dropping the gun. Screams could be heard throughout the whole room, and she could see both Francine and Johnson running towards her as she tried to restrain the gunman. Just as they reached her Amanda felt her body being lifted and hurled across the room she felt her head hit something hard.

The Senator ran to her side. "Hang on dear, hang on. You don't get to save this old man's life and then leave me!"

She looked up into Senator Greene's eye as he took her hand, as he told her to hang on that help was coming, and then everything went black.

Francine told Johnson to take care of the gunman and she ran over to where Amanda laid motionless against the wall. Kneeling down beside her she took Amanda's other hand.

"Don't you dare leave us! You hear me Amanda King! Don't you dare..." Francine's voice was barely above a whisper.

The senator looked over at Francine, and watched as a tear escaped down her cheek. He looked back at Amanda: he'd only known her for a few hours and already he knew how special she was, but seeing the stricken look on Francine's face told him that she was perhaps even more special then he realized.

Both the senator and Francine moved out of the way when the paramedics arrived.

"Where will you take her?"

"Galilee General."

Francine nodded and asked the Senator if there was a phone nearby she could use to call her boss and inform him of the situation.

Hanging up the phone Billy rubbed his eyes, wondering if this day could get any worse. He got his answer a few minutes later when he watched Scarecrow walk into the bullpen with one of the women from the steno pool draped over his arm.

Lee breathed a small sigh of relief that Amanda wasn't there-he couldn't stand to see the hurt in her eyes again. The whole lunch had been a disaster, although his date didn't seem to think so, it seemed. Trying to disentangle himself from his lunch date, he couldn't believe this was the type of woman that he used jump into bed with at the drop of a hat.

"Lee, I really enjoyed lunch, but I hope our dinner tonight is even more enjoyable."

Before Lee could respond, his head was jerked in the direction of Billy's office.

"SCARECROW, MY OFFICE NOW!"

Lee walked into Billy's office "You yelled?"

"I'm in no mood, Scarecrow. Sit!"

"Okay, okay Billy, what's got you so wound up?"

"An agent I care very much about has ended up in the hospital after stopping an assassination attempt on a senator's life."

Billy watched Lee as he processed what he had just told him.

Lee felt his heart sink "Amanda?" closing his eyes hoping Billy would correct him, but he knew it was her. His partner had needed him and what had he been doing? Pushing her away? Trying to make her feel jealous? He wasn't even sure himself anymore.

"Would you care to tell me where you were instead of doing the job I assigned you?"

"We... I got mad and fought with her again, and I let her go off on her own." Lee stood up and ran his hands through his hair. "I really screwed up this time."

"Dammit Lee! I'm sorry, but I really have no choice one week unpaid suspension. I hope you use this time to think things through. If you can't figure out your problem, I'll assign Amanda a new partner. I'll also assign you a new partner, and I'm not sure you'll be pleased with my choice."

Lee walked towards the door and paused "Billy, how is she?"

Billy could hear the pain in Lee's voice.

"I don't know. C'mon, I'll drive."

Francine greeted both Billy and Lee when they arrived, but wasn't able to tell them much other than Dr. MacJohn was one of the NEST doctors on call and he was working on her.

"I received a call that my daughter was here. Can I see her? Can you tell me what happened?"

"I'm sorry, ma'am the doctor will be out and..."

"Is there anyone here who can tell me what happened? Or how my daughter is doing. I just don't understand how she ended up in the hospital."

Lee turned his head when he heard Dotty, wishing there was some way he could put her mind at ease, but when he heard the next voice his heart sank.

"Dotty let's go wait over there. Someone will be out soon to tell us what is happening."

"I guess Joe. I...I just don't understand why my baby is in the hospital."

"I know Dotty, I know." Joe stated throwing an accusatory glance towards the three agents.

Francine whispered to Billy that Dr. MacJohn had her call Mrs. West. Billy nodded, understanding that the doctor must have been pretty worried about Amanda for him to have Dotty notified. Billy looked over at Joe and then at Lee and realized why Lee had been pushing Amanda away.

Dr. MacJohn appeared, and walked towards Dotty.

"Mrs. West?"

"Yes"

"I'm your daughter's doctor."

"Is she okay? Can I see her?"

"You can go in and see her for a few minutes. I'm afraid she has a basilar skull fracture, and I'm a bit worried that she hasn't woken up yet."

"What does that mean? How did it happen? Will she be okay?"

"It means we need to keep a close eye on her. Right now, her injury is manageable without surgery, but if she doesn't wake up soon we may need to look into surgery."

Dotty nodded trying to process everything. She felt Joe take hold of her hand, trying to reassure her.

"Do you know how this happened, doctor? The person who called me told me very little."

MacJohn glanced at Billy briefly before speaking again.

"I was told she was speaking to a senator about an upcoming film project. I'm sorry Mrs. West that's all I really know. Would you like to see her now?"

"Yes, please"

The three agents watched them head towards Amanda's room before turning to look at each other again.

"I should have been with her…"

Billy laid a hand on Lee's shoulder. "Lee, Amanda's a fighter-you know that. Go home, get cleaned up, and come back after her mother and Joe leave."

Lee nodded at Billy. "Yea, I'll umm..." not really knowing what to say, he turned and left.

"Francine, I'll need a report from both you and Johnson, but it can wait until tomorrow. Go on home there is nothing we can do here. MacJohn will call me if her condition changes."

"Billy, we just couldn't get to her in time..."

Billy gave a small smile to Francine, knowing how much trouble she had admitting how much she cared about Amanda. "I understand Francine. She'll be okay."

"She did good Billy... she did really good."