Changed Roles, chapter 7

Amanda unlocked the door to the Q Bureau and walked in with an agitated Lee hot on her heels. Amanda turned around to face Lee and calmly took the file folders that he'd been carrying and started to spread them out on her desk while Lee crossed the room and threw himself into his chair so hard that the chair hit the wall.

Startled by the noise Amanda asked, "What's bothering you?"

"What's bothering me you ask? What's bothering ME, I found you alone with Francine and clearly upset about something, but you deny that she upset you and you refuse to tell me what you're upset about."

"I didn't refuse to tell you what I'm concerned about; I refused to discuss it with you until we were alone," Amanda tried to reason with Lee. "Francine was telling me about a situation that's troubling her and I realized that we could potentially have the same problem as Francine."

"Okay, tell me what Francine is worried about and then we can decide together if we have a problem too," Lee replied as calmly as his frayed patience would allow.

"I can't tell you exactly what's bothering Francine because she told me in confidence but we could talk in hypothetical terms once we're alone," Amanda hedged. Lee looked around the office theatrically and went so far as to look under his desk to reinforce the fact that they were indeed alone but before he could say anything there was a knock at the door. Amanda quickly got up and as soon as she opened the door Francine rushed in.

"I know that you two are on your way out to interview the senators so I was hoping that you wouldn't mind if I borrowed your office for a little while," Francine asked hopefully.

"We aren't accomplishing anything here; make yourself at home. C'mon Amanda, grab those files and let's get out of here," Lee said as he got up and strode across the room. Lee and Amanda left the office and Francine sat down at Amanda's desk and picked up the phone. Putting this off isn't going to make it any easier. Francine dialed the number for Michael's office and waited for his secretary to answer.

"Hello Linda, this is Francine Desmond, is Mr. Tanner back in the office?"

"No, he's still out of town on a diplomatic assignment," Linda replied.

"Has Mr. Tanner been calling in to pick up his messages?"

"No, I haven't spoken to him, would you like to leave another message in case he does check in?"

"No thank you," Francine responded in irritation and then hung up without saying good bye. That was a waste of time; all I can do now is leave a message on his home answering machine. Francine dialed the familiar number and waited for the beep so that she could leave her message.

"Hello Michael, this is Francine," she began but was surprised when Michael picked up the call.

"Oh, Francine, it's good to hear your voice; I've missed you," Michael enthused although Francine thought he sounded tired.

"It's good to hear your voice too; I was beginning to think that you'd dropped off the face of the earth," Francine countered. "I tried to get in touch with you through your secretary but she said that she wasn't in contact with you," Francine probed.

"I told Linda that I was taking care of State Department business but I wasn't specific and I didn't check in with her. She didn't need to know what I was really dealing with," Michael explained.

"What about me; are you going to tell me what you were really dealing with?"

"Yes, you're the only one that I feel like I can talk to about this. You have every right to be furious with me for disappearing for a week but I've found myself in a situation where I'm in over my head and I'd like to talk to you about it. Will you come to my place tonight, I'll cook dinner, please say that you'll come."

"I'll be there," Francine answered as she continued to question if she should follow her head or her heart. While Francine sat in the Q Bureau pondering whether or not to tell Billy that she'd be seeing Michael that evening Lee and Amanda arrived at his car and got in. Amanda buckled her seat belt and waited for Lee to start the car but when he sat there and didn't put the key in the ignition she glanced at him in a questioning way.

"You don't think that we're going any place until you've told me what you're worried about; do you," Lee asked stubbornly.

"Do you want to talk about it sitting in this cramped car?"

"No, I wanted to discuss it in our reasonably comfortable office but you flatly refused so we are going to discuss it here and now," Lee replied more angrily than he had intended to.

"I'm sorry," Amanda said as she looked down at her lap and began to twist the strap of her handbag. "I'm very worried about us and I was afraid to talk about it in there; who knows who might be listening?"

"Amanda," Lee began in a deliberately calmer voice," we were alone in the office; who could possibly have been listening to us?"

"They could be listening to us without being there. Francine said that the Agency periodically investigates agents; they even look into our personal lives. Dr. Smyth may know all about us and he's just waiting to use it against us when it suits him."

"What's gotten into Francine, I thought that she was okay with our being together, why did she upset you this way?"

"Francine wasn't talking about us, she has her own concerns, besides blaming Francine doesn't solve our problem," Amanda fretted.

"Okay, Francine is right to an extent, they do check up on us from time to time. You know that they checked me out thoroughly during the Stemwinder mess; I don't think they'd do it again so soon. If Dr. Smyth knew about our marriage we'd know it because the man doesn't have enough self control to have that big a weapon against us and not use it right away," Lee tried to reassure Amanda.

"I guess you're right; I feel better…mostly."

"Mostly, what else is bothering you," Lee asked as reached out and took Amanda's left hand in his.

"I'm glad that our secret is probably safe but if we were caught then we could live like normal people; maybe unemployed but normal nonetheless."

"This mystery marriage wasn't one of my brightest ideas but now isn't a good time to reveal our secret. The Agency is in a full scale scramble to get this case solved and we need to focus on that. When this case is over we can sit down and figure out what would be best for our family. How does that sound to you?"

"Our family," Amanda asked in a husky voice.

"Yes, our family," Lee replied with a warm smile and then a tender kiss.

"Let's get this case solved," Amanda said as she handed Lee the car keys.