Chapter 27

At the hotel, Amanda and Lee took a divide and conquer approach to getting Charlie ready for the night. As Amanda made and warmed his bottle, Lee carefully changed his diaper and clothes, putting his pajamas on him. Lee handed Charlie over to her, citing he wanted to take a quick shower while she fed him.

Not 15 minutes later, Lee exited the bathroom wearing nothing but a towel hugging low on his hips. Amanda was just putting Charlie in the portable crib when she turned around, inhaling sharply at her husband's appearance. Lee smiled, all dimples, at her reaction. "Nice to see Charlie isn't the only man to get your attention this evening," he teased.

Amanda dropped her eyes and blushed. Even though they were married, he still had that effect on her. She walked across the room to him, slowly, watching his face as she did. Stopping in front of him, she reached out and touched his chest, sliding her hand down, feeling the muscles tighten under her fingers. Lee captured her hand in his, bringing it to his lips. "Amanda, we should talk," he began.

Confused, she tilted her head to look at him. "Weren't you the one that said you wanted to get your wife back to the hotel… alone? Now you just want to talk?" she asked.

"Here, sit here with me for a minute," Lee led her to the edge of the bed. Sitting down, he held her hand still, playing with her fingers as he began to speak. "Amanda, I've been thinking about what Harry and Christina said earlier today. And I've decided we were both wrong, hiding… this… from everyone. So I have a plan."

"Lee, I…" Amanda tried to interrupt.

"No wait, hear me out. You know I love you and your boys and I don't want to do anything to put them in danger but Harry is right. And Christina too. Our jobs can be dangerous but life itself is too. There are so many things out there that can hurt the boys that have nothing to do with us. I don't want to be miles away if something does happen. I want to be there with you every morning when you wake up and every night when you go to sleep. I want to be part of the morning chaos, getting the boys ready for school, making lunches, reminding them about homework. I even want to be there when your mother is sorting out the laundry, commenting on my socks," Lee let out a deep breath.

Amanda sighed, "I want that too."

Holding her hands tightly in his, he continued, not sure of how she would react to the next part of his ramble. "Amanda, the last two days… I've come to learn something about myself I never knew before. I want to be a dad, not just to your boys either. They have their own father although at time I question Joe's … methods… but my point is… Amanda… I want…"

Amanda put her fingers to his lips to silence him. Lee didn't realize he had been looking down the whole time until their eyes connected and he could see hers filled glistening with tears. "Lee, I love you. And you're right… Harry and Christina are right. Enough is enough. I don't want to hide anything anymore. But we can't go home now and just announce we're married. That will destroy my boys. And my mother? I can't do that to them. But being here with you… and with Charlie… I thought it was just me… missing my boys being that little. You have been wonderful with Charlie, Sweetheart and well… I want that with you. It's not going to be easy but then again, nothing we've done has been easy."

Lee pulled her close to him, hugging her tightly. Softly he said, "So Mrs. Stetson, I guess the question remains. Do we want to have a baby?"

Amanda smiled as she whispered back, "With you? Yes. But I think we need to figure out what to do about our marriage first."

Lee pulled back grinning from ear to ear, his dimples deep. "I have a plan. When is Joe's wedding again?"

"September 12. If you read your invitation instead of complaining about it…" Amanda laughed.

"Yeah yeah… Ok. What day did we meet?" Lee asked knowing exactly what day they had met.

"Um, October 3rd. Why?" Amanda was trying to figure out where he was going with this.

"Do you know what day of the week that falls on this year, Mrs. Stetson?" Lee teased, playing with a lock of her hair as he did.

Amanda laughed, "No, but I bet you do and you're going to tell me aren't you."

"October 3rd just so happens to fall on a Saturday. So, how about we have a small ceremony, your family, Billy, Francine, hell, even my uncle. Nothing big, elaborate, just something for everyone to witness us exchanging our vow… again," Lee suggested.

"I would love that, Sweetheart, but how are we going to…" Amanda began.

"This weekend. We tell them we got engaged this weekend. That we don't want to wait, we don't need to wait," Lee tried, pulling her hands to his chest.

"You don't think it's too sudden for the boys?" Amanda worried.

"You said it yourself, you wanted me to start spending the night with them home. Well, now we have a solid reason. We're not just dating… we have a commitment… as far as they're concerned. Amanda, it's perfect. You're mother will even approve," Lee was trying hard to convince her. "I love you, Amanda, and I want to spend the rest of our lives living together as we should be."

"You really think it will work? We can convince everyone? No one will be suspicious?" Amanda wanted to believe it could work but that little nugget of doubt still remained.

"Convince anyone how we feel about each other? No. Convince everyone you've managed to get me to make a commitment? Well… that might take a little work on your part. Especially with Francine," Lee winked at her.

"What about Dr. Smyth? What do you think he's going to do?" Amanda worried again.

"I don't give a damn about Dr. Smyth. Amanda, we can't let all these what ifs control our lives. Look where it's gotten us so far," Lee said adamantly.

"Ok then, what about our jobs. What do we tell Mother and the boys? We have to tell them something. I'm pretty sure Mother is suspicious of what we do already," Amanda asked.

Lee took a deep breath, "Well, I was thinking about that, too. We could give them a modified version. Tell them we work for IFF, which according to our paychecks, we do, but IFF does work for the Government. We work on a regular basis with Intelligence Agents and most of what we do with them we can't talk about anyway… It's not the whole truth but parts of it are true."

Amanda let out the breath she had been holding, "I guess you're right. That's pretty close to the truth, minus the fact that we are the Agents and IFF is only a front but…"

"No buts. No more buts. What do you say? Marry me? Again," Lee pleaded.

Closing her eyes, Amanda knew the answer was in her heart, "Of course I'll marry you, Sweetheart."

Lee hugged her close, "I love you. And we are going to make this work. I promise you."

"I love you, too. I know we can make this work, I'm just nervous, that's all." Amanda admitted.

"There's nothing to be nervous about. We're going to get through this together." Lee assured her. He leaned forward to kiss her lightly. "Now let's say we start practicing on how to make our baby, shall we?"

Amanda laughed lightly, kissing him back, "I don't need practice making them. I've done that twice already."

Lee leaned back, looking at her, "Well, I think I need some practice. Or maybe we can just practice on how to keep you quiet again so the boys won't hear us."

"Now that is something we can both use practice doing. The last thing I want is my boys hearing us. Or my mother…" Amanda smiled again.

Between kisses Lee teased, "I'm sure your mother would just be jealous if she heard us."

"Well, I don't want to give her a reason to find out," Amanda said kissing him back. "So, how quiet do you think we can be?"

"Only one way to find out," Lee whispered in her ear as he pulled her shirt from her waistband of her jeans. Amanda responded by pulling the towel from his waist. Quickly he finished removing the rest of Amanda's clothes as quiet as he could, only having to shush her a few times as he teased, tickled and touched her. Laying side by side, they took their time exploring each other. They came together twice without waking Charlie, falling asleep exhausted in each other's arms.

When they did hear him begin to awaken, it was Lee who got out of bed first to get him. Amanda kissed Lee softly before heading into the bathroom to warm Charlie's bottle. Lee once again changed his diaper, without getting sprayed this time.

As Amanda fed him, Lee sat beside her, his arm around her thinking this could be their life within the next year. This could be them, with their own child. The idea brought tears to his eyes as he watched Charlie. Reaching out he played with his little feet, rubbing his legs gently. Quietly he said, "I'm gonna miss this little guy. Tomorrow he's going back to his mom where he belongs but I'm gonna miss him."

Amanda leaned forward to give him another light kiss, "Me, too. But maybe this time next year…." she just smiled at the thought. She picked Charlie up, gave him a kiss on his cheek before laying him back into the portable crib. Walking back to the bed, she climbed in beside Lee. Curling up on Lee's chest, she rubbed a line from his ribs to his waist unconsciously. Lee held her close, kissing the top of her head. Smiling she whispered, "Maybe we should practice some more. I'm not sure we've got it right yet."

Lee laughed and growled at the same time. Pulling her face to his he kissed her deeply. As they separated he teased, "Well, I believe you said not too long ago that practice makes perfect."

"Yes, I did," Amanda replied against his lips.

Charlie didn't wake up until the sun began to creep through the windows which Amanda and Lee were grateful for. When he did begin to whimper, Lee looked at the clock and silently cursed it. Amanda was still curled beside him, sound asleep, exhausted from their activities the previous night. It was a wonderful feeling, waking up with sore muscles from a long night of making love with his wife.

As Lee climbed out of the bed, Charlie was beginning to cry louder. He reached down to pick him up, quietly talking to him as he did. "Just a few more hours, buddy, then you'll be back with your Mama where you belong." Charlie quieted down almost immediately as if he understood what Lee was saying to him. Looking down at the baby, Lee smiled once again. "Let's wake up Amanda and get your breakfast going so we can meet with your Grandpa too." He climbed on the bed beside her, slipping the baby beside her. Reaching over, Lee gently rubbed her shoulder as Charlie reached up to touch her face with his chubby little hands.

Amanda woke, opening her eyes slowly. "Hey Charlie, did you sleep well?" she asked him as she touched his hands.

"Did you sleep well, Mrs. Stetson?" Lee asked Amanda.

"When I was able to, yes, quite well. But I'm not complaining. I think we are almost experts at baby making now so when we are ready…" Amanda reached up to touch Lee's face softly.

"We'll be ready. But for now, Charlie needs to be changed and a bottle before we get ready to meet Harry and Christina for breakfast," Lee explained as he got up to get a diaper for Charlie. They took the divide and conquer approach again, taking turns showering as well. They were all ready in just over an hour, with a little bit of time to spare before they met for breakfast.

Amanda packed Charlie's diaper bag, checking the hotel room several times to make sure they didn't miss anything. Lee brought the bag as well as the backpack to Lauren's car, knowing they would have to take two cars to the hospital. Returning to their room, Lee picked up Charlie, giving him a small hug, he turned to Amanda and said, "Ready?" Amanda nodded, and the three made their way down the elevator to the lobby restaurant where Harry and Christina were waiting for them.