Wednesday evening, Lee rang the doorbell at 4247 Maplewood Drive uneasily. He'd been coming to the front door for a few months and still found it slightly unnerving, but it was knowing Amanda's ex-husband was the current occupant that was making him antsy now. He knew Joe had moved over without hesitation when Dotty had called him after the accident, but this would be the first time Lee had talked to him since Christmas.

Once Amanda had been moved out of ICU, she had talked to the boys every night at their bedtime, and usually Joe as well, answering questions about the boys' routines or getting the stories the boys wouldn't tell her. He could tell the calls were equally joyful and painful to her. She was so happy to hear the boys' voices but wanted so badly to be at home with Jamie and Phillip that it usually took the efforts of both him and Dotty to bring her spirits up again after the calls ended. He wondered what Joe had been dealing with at this end or how he felt about Lee's involvement in it. He knew Amanda had given Joe only the sketchiest details of the accident and wasn't sure what reception he was about to get when the door opened and he found himself face to face with his wife's ex-husband.

"Lee! Good to see you! Come on in! Amanda said you'd be coming by." Joe had greeted him with his usual calm smile and a firm handshake then ushered him inside. It wasn't at all the welcome Lee had expected – he'd been certain he was going to be greeted with anger and accusations or frigid politeness at best.

"Uh, hi Joe. Thanks. I wasn't sure you'd be all that happy to see me, to be honest," he answered, shifting slightly from foot to foot with embarrassment.

"Hey, if you're here that tells me Amanda must really be better or you'd still be there right?" Joe had turned towards the kitchen and called out, "Honey? Lee's here!" and Lee watched as a petite blonde came up the steps from the back of the house. "Lee, this is my fiancée, Carrie; Honey, this is Lee Stetson, Amanda's boyfriend. Carrie's been helping me keep the boys fed – if it was up to me, we'd probably be living on pizza." Lee realized he could smell something delicious cooking in the kitchen.

Carrie had walked forward with a warm smile to shake his hand, then stepped back to link her arm through Joe's. "It's so nice to meet you. I've heard a lot about you from Phillip – or at least, I've heard a lot about your car." She had dark eyes, a lot like Amanda's and they were twinkling up at him now with humour, relaxing him instantly.

"I just bet you have," he answered, smiling. "I'm pretty sure it's the only reason Phillip lets me date his mother."

"Well, I wish I had a secret weapon like that. I'm having to get by on my cooking and I'm fairly certain they don't like mine as much as their mother's," Carrie laughed while Joe looked at her affectionately. "Now why are we standing around in the hall? Come through and have a coffee or something. Can you stay for dinner? There's plenty."

It was a strange sensation to be invited into Amanda's kitchen by Joe and Carrie but really there was nothing about this situation that was normal. As he stopped to take off his jacket and throw it over the banister, he glanced into the living room and realized the fold-out sofa was open. Joe noticed and stopped to explain. "I thought it would be better to sleep down here," he confided. "The boys were so worried about their mother that it seemed like if I slept upstairs, it would make it look like I wasn't expecting her to come back. I'm pretty sure they've been taking turns sleeping in her room anyway."

Lee blenched at the thought of Joe sleeping upstairs and realized it hadn't occurred to him before now to wonder about the domestic arrangements. "So, has Carrie been staying here as well?" He wondered what Amanda would have to say about that.

"No, she's here every evening but our apartment is closer to her job so she goes home to sleep. For some reason, I can't seem to tempt her with the luxury of a lumpy pull-out mattress." Joe slid his arm around Carrie's waist as they entered the kitchen and kissed her cheek where the blush was rising.

"Joe! Don't make it sound like we didn't agree that was the best arrangement until the boys gets used to me."

"How are the boys?" asked Lee, reaching out to accept the mug Carrie offered him. "And where are the boys?" He looked around realizing for the first time how quiet the house was.

"Basketball tournament at the school. They'll be home any minute now. As for how they are, that's a good question," Joe sighed. "It's been better since Amanda started being able to talk to them every day but it's still been a struggle for them. Phillip seems to have bounced back in his usual rubber-ball way which will probably mean trouble later, but Jamie…" he paused and blew out his breath.

"Is Jamie," finished Lee, thoughtfully. "He's been bottling it all up, I bet? He and Amanda have always been so close, this had to have hit him hard."

"Yeah," agreed Joe. "Look, Lee, before the boys come back, I have to ask – what the hell really happened on that job anyway? Dotty didn't know when she flew out of here and it seems like the boys thought Amanda was out there on vacation. They seemed surprised you were there."

Lee looked at him, startled. "It wasn't work, Joe – we really were out just there for our ho – a holiday," he caught himself just in time. "She didn't tell the boys she was going with me because they're just getting used to me too." He glanced at Carrie, who had gone into the laundry room to move things from the washer to the dryer. "She didn't tell her mother either but it was pretty obvious that little ploy hadn't worked on her. Not much gets past Dotty." He gave a wry smile at Joe's bark of laughter at that. "Anyway, we were literally in the wrong place at the wrong time. We drove into the marina to visit my friend Barney and ended up under fire. You probably read about it in the papers – all those fake gold doubloons sure made front page news out in California."

"I guess I assumed the boys had just gotten that part wrong," admitted Joe. "But you caught the guy that did it?" He looked at Lee with one brow raised enquiringly.

"Oh yeah," agreed Lee with satisfaction. "I made him pay. And he'll even go to jail as well."

"Ah," said Joe in a tone that told Lee he'd understood. "Glad to hear it." Just at that moment, the back door had burst open and Phillip had come tearing onto the kitchen.

"Lee's car is out front! Are they back? Where's Mom?" He'd skidded to a stop in front of the adults, looking around expectantly.

"Sorry, Champ, it's just me and the 'vette this time. Your mom's still not able to come home yet." Lee reached out to squeeze his shoulder as Phillip slumped in front of him. "But she's feeling a lot better and it shouldn't be long before we get her back here where she belongs." He looked up to see Jamie trailing more slowly into the house. "Hey, Jamie, how are you?"

"Fine, I guess," Jamie answered expressionlessly. "I'd be better if Mom was here." He looked accusingly at Lee.

"Yeah, I know," answered Lee. "But she's working really hard to make that happen soon." Jamie just pushed his glasses back up his nose and made a disbelieving sound.

"So why are you here then? Since Mom's not, I mean?"

"I had to come back to Washington and your mom asked me to come by and check in with you guys, make sure you were doing okay, that kind of stuff."

"Well, you've seen us now and we're fine." Jamie stared at him stone-faced, as if daring him to call him out on his attitude.

"How about you boys go wash up? Dinner's almost ready and we've invited Lee to stay," said Carrie brightly, trying to break the mood.

"Awesome!" said Phillip, racing out of the room followed more slowly by a still silent Jamie.

"Hoo boy," Lee breathed out. "I'm in the doghouse big time, aren't I?"

"I'm afraid Jamie does tend to shoot the messenger," said Joe before wincing as he realized what he'd said. "I'm sorry, that was a really poor choice of words."

"Don't worry about it," Lee waved off his apology. "I remember what it was like when my parents died. He needs somebody to be mad at and I guess I'm it. But do you really think I should stay for dinner? Won't it just upset him more?"

"No," said Carrie firmly. "He needs to talk to you and get it out of his head that you're to blame just because you were there."

"I don't get the feeling that's going to happen any time soon, but you're probably right," agreed Lee.

"Haven't you figured out yet the wife is always right?" asked Joe, turning away and thus not noticing when Lee choked on his coffee. "I'll get Phillip to bring down that suitcase for Dotty. I got Carrie to pull it together, so she can't blame either of us if it's the wrong stuff."

"Good thinking, Batman!" grinned Lee while Carrie rolled her eyes. "I'm just glad I didn't have to do it – from what Amanda tells me, I'm pretty sure there's stuff from the Rebecca's Fantasies catalogue in her closet I don't ever want to see."

The boys arrived back to find all three adults shouting with laughter. Phillip looked relieved to find them all in such good humour but Jamie just glared at them. Lee and Joe exchanged a sympathetic look. They both knew only one thing was going to make Jamie feel better and there wasn't a damn thing either of them could do about it.

Joe and Carrie came to the door to wave Lee off after dinner, standing with their arms around each other's waist as they watched the Corvette drive off down the street.

"I had no idea documentary filmmakers could be so interesting," remarked Carrie, turning back into the house. "But I guess it's a good thing that his job's going to come in so handy with Jamie."

"What do you mean?" asked Joe, smiling as he wondered what Carrie would think if he told her what Lee and Amanda really did for a living.

"Well, all that stuff he was saying about patiently waiting for a buffalo to do something interesting. He's going to need that kind of patience if Jamie keeps up the current cold shoulder act."

"I'm sure he'll be fine once he's got Amanda back and then he'll have to suck it up because I don't think Lee's planning on going anywhere."

"He's really crazy about her, isn't he?"

"Oh yeah, he's got it bad," said Joe. "Almost as bad as I do for you."