Passageway

Chapter 2

Lee stepped off the elevator and headed toward Billy's office somberly. He never thought in a million years since he met his beautiful brunette bride that they'd ever go through something like this.

As he reached the office he saw Billy on the phone but Billy had seen him out of the corner of his eye and waved him in.

Lee strode in and sat on the chair in front of Billy's desk and waited for his superior to finish the call trying to think of how to address the situation he found himself in with his partner/wife.

Meanwhile Amanda was in her family room going through the same dilemma. Dotty waiting for Amanda to start finally stated, "Well, maybe I should try calling Lee at the office. It might be easier with him here to get the ball rolling, hmm?"

Amanda sighed shaking her head as she replied, "No, Mother. I'm just trying to get my thoughts together, all right? After all, you do want an explanation, so-"

Dotty brought up Amanda's chin so that her eyes met hers and remarked in a serious tone, "Yes. I feel I deserve that much but I want it understood Young Lady, that I don't want any ridiculous tales that you've told me over the years since starting this IFF job. Do you understand me?"

Amanda nodded slowly and Dotty sighed commenting, "We've never had a problem communicating before, Dear. I don't quite understand what could be so burdening to you that you can't share it with your own mother. I mean for heaven's sake, have I done something to make you feel that I can't be trusted after all these years?"

Amanda swallowing hard responded quietly, "Mother, I was raped..."

At the Agency Billy had hung up his phone and looked at Lee. The young man looked troubled by something and not in the usual way as with a case.

He commented, "Something on your mind, Scarecrow?"

Lee nodded and responded, "Yeah. I guess I should have come to you after the case was wrapped up but there was so much going on that-"

Billy confused held up a hand and remarked, "Whoa.. start this again. At the beginning, please. What's wrong?"

Lee cleared his throat and answered, "Okay. First of all, it's about the case in Monterey. You know the facts from the reports and the debriefing that Amanda and I gave you when we got back. But what I'm going to tell you is the reason Amanda now has to let her mother in on our jobs."

Billy was thrown but nodded replying, "I see. Well, I knew that something had occurred between the two of you within the last few months after the case. Look, whatever you share here stays in this office, okay?"

Lee swallowed and commented, "Thanks, Billy. Well, Amanda's got an appointment with Bridget Stevens but she'll be in later. Um, the other thing is that I moved out of the house today..."

Billy quietly responded, "The case was a hard one but I can't believe you split up over it-"

Lee shook his head and groaned answering, "No, no! We aren't getting a divorce. But we decided to give each other space until we can work through this whole thing-"

Billy cut in remarking, "But shouldn't you be working it out together? You've always managed to get through anything you were faced with."

Lee sighed and stated, "You'd think that, wouldn't you? Well, there's the bond of trust that's been broken here from both our ends and we just can't figure out how to make it right again."

Billy remarked earnestly, "That's where talking with each other comes in. You've been with therapists-"

Lee cocked his head at Billy and answered, "If you mean Pfaff, that might be stretching it a bit wouldn't you say?"

Billy sighed and commented, "Okay, so the man talks in riddles and eats ice cream but he does have a degree and does his work effectively here. What's your point?"

Lee answered simply, "The point is trust. Amanda doesn't always stay where I tell her to avoid trouble and I just learned recently that she feels I can't be depended on suddenly-"

Billy shook his head remarking, "Oh that's ridiculous! You've always been there-"

Lee scoffed and commented, "Yeah, well not when that bastard Turner was violating her I wasn't!"

Billy swallowed hard and responded, "I read the report. You were chained up in-"

Lee yelled, "Exactly! The next room! But I heard everything! The walls were pretty thin and believe me, if I had been able to I would've been there to stop it, Billy!"

Lee got up and began to pace as he ran a hand through his hair and continued stating, "But the whole thing could have been avoided if Amanda had just stayed at the hotel and waited for me to come back. I told her I was going to check Turner's hideout-"

Billy responded incredulously, "C'mon, Man! She was doing what a partner is supposed to do! She was watching your back-"

Lee shot him a look and seethed, "I told her how unhinged the guy was! if she had only listened to me-"

Billy quietly stated, "So, that's it."

Lee shrugged and answered, "What?"

Billy sternly remarked, "After all these years you still don't think she can cut it here-"

Lee groaned commenting, "Of course I think she can! But she still doesn't like using guns and there are a lot of whack jobs out there who can't be taken care of by her rambling to confuse the situation."

Billy replied, "But she stayed in the car when her shooting happened. Is that her fault?"

Lee swallowed as he recalled the horror of seeing her blood come through her sweater and shook his head stating hoarsely, "No. That was all on me. That time, she should've been out of the car... I dunno. If we hadn't been there to begin with-"

Billy nodded seeing the pain in Lee's eyes and commented simply, "So this attack you blame on her?"

Lee shakily replied, "Yeah. No! I don't know. But the fact that I wasn't there to stop it has her filled with doubt about me."

Billy responded, "But don't you think she feels guilt as well? About not only the attack but the pregnancy and subsequent miscarriage she went through?"

Lee sat down finally and nodded sadly stating, "Yeah. If I could erase that time from our lives, It'd be gone completely. But we've been talking nonstop since it happened and we keep coming up with no answer on how to get past it all. So we both thought space was the answer which is why I moved out."

Billy replied, "But you still love each other. That's at least something."

Lee sighed, "Yeah, but is it enough to sustain the relationship?"

TBC