"So you got all the bad guys in one fell swoop?" Amanda was lying in her bed in Parker General, still pale but definitely much happier looking than she'd been scant hours ago.

"Every one of them – and they've turned in a few we didn't know about, looking for leniency," Lee answered.

Lee knew exactly how much better she looked because he hadn't left her side all night; Billy had come down to the hospital not just to check on her but to get Lee's report, knowing that he wouldn't budge until she'd regained consciousness. It had only been when the doctor had threatened to make him undergo his own check-up that he'd left to go home for a shower and a change of clothes. Even so, it had only been a few hours before he'd been back, seemingly unwilling to believe she might not have a relapse of some kind without constant supervision.

"And my red-haired man was the real Leland Cassidy?"

"Apparently," laughed Lee. "Billy says that after Harry talked to him, he wanted to come see for himself what was going on, and nobody tells a billionaire he can't do whatever he wants."

"I imagine they don't," smiled Amanda, the softness of her voice telling the tale of how exhausted she still was from her ordeal. "Maybe he's always wanted to be Bruce Wayne - you know, billionaire by day, crime fighter by night."

"Maybe," laughed Lee. "I'm just glad he was there. Delano might have gotten away if he hadn't been there."

"Not for long," said Amanda comfortably, reaching out to pat his hand. "You would have stopped him."

"I had other things on my mind," admitted Lee, still unable to hide the shudder when he thought back to the events of the previous night. "But thank you for the faith in me. Anyway, Billy says he and Commoran are singing like birds."

"And Hollander?" she asked carefully. Lee knew she'd be having nightmares from that source for some time.

"He's going to prison," he answered, in clipped tones. "He'll never get out of there with what we have on him - even the East German Embassy has cut him loose and aren't trying to help him. So who are all these flowers from already? You've barely been here five minutes and it's already a florist shop." he asked, abruptly, hoping to change the subject since he wasn't sure what she remembered about him shooting Hollander and he certainly didn't want her to know Hollander was somewhere in this same building under heavy guard. "Guess I hardly even needed to bring any, you have so many already."

Amanda paused a beat, knowing what he was trying to do but feeling uneasy and hazy about why. She wished she could remember more of the previous evening but it was still just a fog of pain and noise. "Oh, they're just from people at the office. Francine came by while you were gone and brought them. No one at home knows I'm in here, except Mother."

"And what did you tell her?" asked Lee. "To explain why you're even here?"

"That I got food poisoning from some awful Japanese seafood dish that the set caterer made," Amanda smiled tiredly at him.

"Amanda!" His face lit up with real laughter for the first time in hours.

Amanda grinned at him, delighted to see the regular Lee creeping back and that shade of worry gone from his expression. "It was the obvious solution," she explained. "It explains all the IVs and why all the charts are about being poisoned and I couldn't tell her it was an allergy attack! Not so soon after last time!"

Lee sighed, his smile dimming somewhat. "Remember back when the biggest problem was always sending you home with ruined clothes instead of hospital charts?"

"Hey, at least I don't have to pay the hospital bills the way I did the clothes," she quipped, trying to keep him cheerful. "And this time, it wasn't even my own clothes that got ruined, so that's even better! Francine will just be happy it wasn't the Mugler – she loved that dress."

"You are the queen of silver linings, Kid," he couldn't help smiling at the look of mischief on her face.

"Maybe that's why it was my turn to be the one to end up flat on the floor - to enjoy the rest. I don't know why you don't like hospitals – this is great! I get to spend all day in bed, off my ankle, doing nothing, which I never get to do at home. And someone brings me room service regularly and even if the food is terrible, at least I'm not the one having to make it," she went on, ticking off all the points she was making on her fingers. "Honestly, I'm always so relaxed after one of these visits. It's like a spa day."

Lee chuckled. "You're crazy, you know that? When I need a vacation, I'm not headed anywhere but the beach. Sun, sand, liquor and nobody waking you up to take your temperature all night."

"Maybe you should go have a beach vacation soon then," said Amanda, seriously. She didn't like the shadow in his eyes even though he was doing his best to look cheerful. "You deserve a break – especially after being stuck in Georgetown with me and no real social life for so long."

"Yeah, maybe I should," he agreed. "Not that our down time in Georgetown was so bad," he rushed to add. "It was kind of fun, really, except for the way it ended up."

"I think it ended up pretty well," Amanda said gently. "You caught the bad guys."

"We caught the bad guys," he corrected her.

"Yeah, maybe I'll make it as an agent one day yet," she quipped, then looked confused as if she was trying to figure out where that thought had come from.

"Oh, I'm not sure that's in your future," answered Lee smoothly, then changed the subject quickly. "But for now, I should probably get out of here before Hurricane Dotty blows in."

"Yeah, you probably should," she agreed. "She already caught a glimpse of you last time – you might be hard to explain a second time, especially if she already thinks I have a billionaire husband somewhere."

"Okay." Lee got to his feet and leaned down to drop a kiss on her forehead. "If they haven't released you, I'll check in with you tomorrow – outside of visiting hours when she definitely won't see me."

"You can do that?" Amanda smiled up at him.

"Are you kidding? The nurses here love me," he said with an almost straight face.

"Oh right, I forgot," she chuckled. "See you tomorrow then."

"Yeah. Good night, Kid." He walked to the door, pausing to turn as he reached for the handle. "Amanda, you're okay, right?"

"I'm fine, Lee," she said firmly. "Really. But-" She paused and he lifted a brow inquiringly. "Lee, I forgot to ask – how did you get me out of there?"

"Oh well, no big deal. I just…."

The door suddenly opened and they both heard Dotty's voice.

"Oh there you are at last, Darling! We've had the worst time trying to find out what room you were in! Honestly, it's almost like the FBI or someone is trying to keep your whereabouts a secret! Maybe they think you're that billionaire's wife too!"

Amanda watched with glee as Lee dove behind the opening door and flattened himself against the wall. As Dotty came further into the room, trailed by the boys, and still talking a mile a minute, he grinned and winked, then pirouetted around the slowly closing door with a jaunty wave goodbye.

"Well that's a big smile, Darling! You must be feeling better already!"

"I really am, Mother. And I'm even better now that I see you, Fellas! Come here and give me a big hug!" she laughed as the boys ran into her outstretched arms.

Eventually even Dotty had run out of chatter and taken the boys home, leaving Amanda elated and exhausted all at the same time. It was going to be good to get home again – it couldn't happen fast enough for her. But first, there was something else she had to deal with.

"Everybody's gone, Sir. If that's what you're waiting for," said Amanda sleepily.

A chuckle came from the nurses' intercom beside her bed. "How long have you known I was listening?" asked the voice of Blue Leader.

"Well, I've been here most of a day now and it's the first time I've heard the intercom breathing," she laughed.

"Note to self: hold breath while eavesdropping," said the voice.

"Was there something I could help you with, Sir?" she asked. "Not that I can do much from here."

"No, Mrs. King, I was just checking in to make sure you really are on the road to recovery. As I told Scarecrow a few days ago, I'd prefer if we didn't let things like this happen to civilians on our watch."

"I'm fine, Sir, honestly. Just achy from everything. And I hope you're not going to blame Lee for any of this – I should never have followed Hollander by myself."

"No you shouldn't." agreed the voice. "But from what I've seen, asking you not to do these things is like Canute trying to stop the tide."

"I really am sorry for all the trouble I caused," Amanda apologized again.

"You have nothing to apologize for, Mrs. King. You performed heroically in the interests of your country. I'm just glad you're on our side. I can only imagine the chaos the Russians could inflict on us if they had you as a weapon."

Amanda laughed sheepishly. "I guess that is a silver lining, Sir."

"Well, I'll let you get back to resting. But before I go, is there anything I can do for you, Mrs. King?"

"Other than call me Amanda?" she laughed softly again. "No, there's nothing I need, but, um… may I ask you something?"

"Of course, Amanda."

"Have we met?"

There was a long pause and then Blue Leader asked, "Now why on earth would you think that?"

Amanda took a deep breath and rushed into it. "Well, this is going to sound really silly if I'm wrong but I've been reading this Australian history book that Francine gave Lee as a joke when we started this cover and it mentioned that James Cook discovered Australia but there was also this chapter on slang and when we spoke the first time, you made a comment about Leland Cassidy living beyond the black stump which is a term in the book, and it also said that people with red hair in Australia are usually nicknamed Bluey which made me think of Blue Leader. And so I thought maybe, well, that you're Leland Cassidy. The real one. And that's why you were really at the party."

The pause this time was much longer and then the voice spoke again, laughter evident this time. "You really are a wonder, Amanda. Billy Melrose is right about you."

"And from what Lee will tell me, you really were an angel last night, Mr. Cassidy," she replied softly. "Not just for that accident with the wine, but everything else. Thank you for that."

"It was my pleasure, Amanda, although I trust you won't share this with anyone? Not even Scarecrow?"

"Oh no, Sir. Need to know all the way, Sir."

"Thank you. Oh, but Amanda?"

"Yes Sir?"

"Bruce Wayne? Really? I'm much more Tony Stark from Iron Man. You know – the whole billionaire inventor thing? Charming, handsome, a way with the ladies? Actually, scratch that last part – the real Mrs. Cassidy would disagree."

Amanda couldn't help the giggles at the mental image, but abruptly stopped at his next words.

"But if you're looking for the lonely orphan taking on the world in revenge for his parents' death, you don't need to look any further than your partner."

There was a long silence then, before Amanda spoke again "Lee is a very private person and I've always tried to respect that," she said carefully. "Won't he be upset if he finds out you told me that?"

"Probably – but since he hasn't, I think you should have some idea what you're dealing with," Cassidy admitted. "Even Melrose says Stetson was well on his way to burning out from losing his partner before you came along. I don't want his reticence to interfere in what seems to be a positive influence."

"I'm just Lee's friend," she protested. "I'm not trying to influence him!"

"That's all I'm asking, Amanda. Like the song says, he gets by with a little help from his friends and maybe it's a mother's intuition, but you seem to understand him better than most. I'm not asking you to interfere with him, just be there to serve as a reminder why we do this."

"Well, that's ridiculous! He doesn't need reminding," Amanda defended Lee hotly, sitting upright and waving her arms as if he could see her. "He is your best agent and he fights the worst kind of people for you every day!"

"That's exactly what I mean, Amanda," said Cassidy quietly. "Stetson may always know what he's fighting against, but that's not enough – we have to remember what we're fighting for. Believe me, it's far too easy to forget that in this job, but I'll tell you something – the look on his face when he carried you out of that room? He remembers why he's fighting now."

"Oh." Amanda fell back against the pillow and considered that. "I think I understand now, Sir."

"Good. I'll keep an eye on you both. Reading between the lines in Stetson's case notes has always been entertaining but I feel like it will be even more so now that I've met you. And Amanda? If you ever need anything, that was my real private number I wrote on that napkin so don't lose it. Good night, Amanda."

"Good night, Sir." Amanda heard the intercom click off and sighed. She looked over at the bouquet of bright yellow flowers Lee had brought with him and smiled contentedly. "He carried me."