Acceptable Risks, chapter 3

When Rose moved Lee's hospital gown to the side so that she could examine the bandage over his chest wound he began to stir. Lee opened his eyes; realized where he was and blurted out the first thought that came to his mind.

"Ah hell, another hospital room, I thought I'd bought it for sure this time", Lee said in his surliest tone.

"Better luck next time, Scarecrow", an exhausted and emotionally overwrought Amanda replied from the doorway and then walked off leaving a stunned Lee staring after her.

"Amanda, come back here", Lee attempted to shout while trying to sit up in bed but he found that he didn't have the strength to do either. "I can't believe she's just getting here now to see me and then she takes off without even staying to visit", Lee groused.

"You've gone too far this time, Mr. Stetson, I don't usually speak to patients this way but I can't stand by and say nothing in this instance", Rose said to a petulant Lee. "Do you have any idea what time it is", she questioned Lee.

"No, I don't, what difference does that make? I'm sure that they must have brought me in here several hours ago and she's first showing up now", Lee responded.

"It's 3 AM and I was told that Mrs. King hadn't left your bedside since you were brought into this room this afternoon. A few minutes ago I insisted that she go get something to eat and she was only willing to go as far as the vending machine down the hall. She rushed back here in time to hear you complaining about not being dead; how do you think that made her feel", Rose demanded of a chastened Lee.

"I, I didn't mean for Amanda to hear that. I'd never intentionally upset her; she's-", Lee stopped himself from actually acknowledging his feelings for Amanda to a relative stranger. "Could you please see if Mrs. King stopped in the waiting area? I don't want her driving home when she's upset and exhausted", Lee asked Rose.

"I'll go check on Mrs. King but I expect you to lie still in the bed. I won't have you making your injury worse on my watch", Rose scolded Lee and then rushed off to try to catch up to Amanda. Rose spotted Amanda coming out of the ladies room at the end of the hall and as she got closer to her it became apparent that she'd been crying. "Mrs. King, can we sit down and talk for a few minutes", Rose asked when they were a few feet apart.

"Yes, I'd like that, there are so few people that I can talk to about Lee", Amanda responded as they walked over to two chairs in the empty waiting room. "You must think that I'm crazy; Lee's going to be okay and here I was crying."

"I don't think that you're crazy. You're involved with a man who can be extremely difficult to deal with", Rose said with a sympathetic smile on her face.

"Lee and I aren't involved, we're good friends, he's not interested in me that way", Amanda explained as she blushed slightly. "I don't know why he's behaving this way; it's been a long time since he's acted so self destructively."

"I find that men are often at their most self destructive when they are afraid that they are going to lose something or someone that is terribly important to them. Does Mr. Stetson have any reason to feel that way", Rose asked. "Have there been any major changes in either of your lives recently?"

"I don't think anything major is going on in Lee's personal life. The last couple of weeks he has thrown himself into his work; he's talked to me about little else lately", Amanda observed.

"What about your life; anything change recently", Rose inquired.

"My ex-husband who'd been living and working abroad has moved back here. Our sons are happy that he's back but they aren't totally comfortable with him yet because he's been gone for so long. I've been spending most of my free time with them lately." Is that what set Lee off? Could he really be more interested in me than he'll admit? He did seem very interested in why Joe and I broke up. I think I need to have a very blunt conversation with that man. "Rose, I think that you may be on the right track about what's bothering Lee. Thank you for being so kind to both of us. I'm going to go have a talk with him if you think he's up to it."

"You can see him after the doctor gives him a quick exam. Don't let him give you any guff; he's put you through enough today", Rose said as she and Amanda stood up.

"He's the one that's going to get an earful if he almost got himself killed when he could have simply told me how he was feeling", Amanda said with new resolve.

Author's note: Stay tuned for Amanda's confrontation with Lee in the next chapter!