Lee, despite Amanda's protests, had stayed with her until she'd fallen back to sleep. He then decided to stop by Jamie's hospital room to check on him one more time before going back to the house. When he walked in he found Joe King sitting by his son's bedside watching him sleep. "Hi," he said from the doorway.

Joe turned. "Hi, come on in."

Lee walked into the room and said, "I'm surprised you're still here."

Joe sighed. "I get what you must think of me and you're probably not wrong to feel that way. I haven't exactly been a dedicated family man."

"Joe, I didn't come up here to busy your chops. I just came to check on Jamie. I'm not planning on staying long. I promised Dotty I'd go back to the house and check on Phillip too." He paused for a moment as he thought of Joe's insecurity about his ability to look after his sick child and said, "If it makes you feel any better, I don't know what I'm doing either. This fatherhood thing is completely new to me to and terrifying. It's funny, I can handle a KGB agent with a gun to my head and know exactly what to do but when it comes to kids, I'm completely flying blind." Joe chuckled a little.

"Did Phillip really say he wished you were his dad?"

"Yeah, he did. I didn't ask for anything like that and I sure as hell didn't expect it, but one thing I've learned about Phillip is that he's brutally honest just like his mother. If it's on his mind, he just blurts it out."

"Yeah, he definitely gets that from Amanda. Jamie's more like me, more reserved, holds things in."

"Yeah, I noticed. It took a long time for him to trust me. Sometimes, I'm still not sure he completely trusts me. I know that when Amanda told you about what Phillip said to me earlier had to be hard for you to hear, but Amanda only heard about it second-hand. She doesn't know everything that happened. What she didn't tell you is that Phillip fought me twice when I was trying to get him to eat his broth to keep him hydrated."

"Really?"Joe said with a bemused expression.

"I had to threaten him with bringing him to the hospital and making them stick an IV in him as an alternative before he would cooperate. I don't know if that was the right way to approach it, but I had to try something. That boy has definitely inherited his mother's stubbornness. Amanda fought me too when I tried to convince her that she needed a doctor. I had to physically carry her out of the house and put her in the car to get her to come here."

There was a long silence before either man spoke again while Joe pondered Lee's words and the events of the evening. "Look, you should know I didn't mean what I said earlier. I don't still think of Amanda as my wife. I have Carrie and I really love her. I mean, we're getting married in less than a month. But I do still think of Amanda as family because she's the mother of my children. I'd be lying if I said it doesn't bother me to see another man caring for my family and doing it better than me. It's not about you personally. I think I would feel the same way if it were any other guy. You've been really good for Amanda. You've given her what I couldn't and she needs that, but it doesn't make it bother me any less or feel like less of a failure."

"I get that. I know that the fact that you have children together is something that will connect the two of you for life, but would you rather have her be married to a man who didn't give a crap about this kids.."

"Knowing Amanda, I don't think she could have ever married someone who wouldn't love the boys too."

"You're right about that. That's when I realized how much I wanted to marry her, I started spending more time at the house to get to know them. I knew that if I wanted her, I had to embrace them too. And the more time I spend with them, the more I fall in love with them the same way I fell in love with her. I love them so much it's painful sometimes, especially today with seeing them both sick. I wanted so much to be able to just take their pain away."

Joe nodded in understanding. "Wait until you have your own."

"I don't think it will make a difference. I love them as if they were my own and I don't think that I could love my own child anymore that I do them. With that in mind. I think you should know that I'm not trying to take your place or trying to take anything away from you. No matter how much I love them, I accept that you're their father and I'm not, but I'm not going to shirk my responsibility to them as their stepfather or my responsibility to Amanda to share the parenting duties. They may not know that I'm their stepfather yet, but I know it and that means I have to act like it."

"So, with a baby on the way, I imagine you're not going to be keeping it a secret from them much longer."

"No, Amanda and I are just trying to figure out the best way to approach the situation. I would appreciate it if you would keep this to yourself for a little while until we have a chance to figure it out."

"I've kept your marriage a secret for four months, haven't I? You can trust me to keep this one too. Just keep in mind, a pregnancy is not something you're going to be able to hide for long."

"I don't plan on letting it stay hidden for long. Listen, I should get going before it gets too late."

"Before you go, you should know that Jamie's temperature is back to normal. A nurse came in and took his vitals about an hour ago and things are looking up."

"Good. Thanks, Joe, " Lee said turning to leave before he was stopped by Joe's voice again.

"Hey," Joe said

"Yeah?"Lee said turning back again.

"Thanks for looking after my family."

"They're my family now too," Lee said before making his way out the door to go see how his other stepson was doing. On his way out, he stopped at the phone again to call the office, hoping Billy would still be there working late as he often was on Mondays playing catch-up from the weekend. "Hey, Billy."

"Lee, what's going on? I was just on my way out the door."

"Well, I'm glad I caught you then. Something's come up. I think you're going to need to get someone else on this undercover assignment or just let Francine and Beaman handle it alone."

"You and Amanda still fighting? Is that why you want off this assignment because you two still have another full day off that you could work it out."

"No, that's not it, Billy," Lee said unsure how much he should tell his section chief. He didn't want to tell him about their marriage or their baby without Amanda. "We're sorting things out on that front."

"Good," Billy said with a smile. "I had a feeling you would. I knew in pairing the two of you up, there would be occasional friction because you're both very spirited people and you're both too damn stubborn for your own good, but I also know that the two of you are the most efficient team I've got."

"Thanks for that, Billy."

"So, what's going on? You're going to have to give me a damn good reason to get out of this one. Dr. Smyth is insisting on having two teams go in since there are over sixty couples registered for this thing and we don't really know how many of them are involved with this weapons deal and how many are just there for the retreat. And those orders are coming straight from the White House. They don't want to take the chance that the impact of the president's brilliant speech will be undone by a bunch of radicals."

"Billy, Amanda's in the hospital."

"Is she ok? What's wrong with her?"

"Severe fatigue and malnutrition mostly. She hasn't eaten a decent meal since lunch yesterday and since we were working all weekend combined with looking after sick kids since last night, I don't think she's had more than six hours of sleep in the last three days."

"Those are things that are easily corrected with some rest and proper nutrition. She should be just fine in time for you to start your assignment."

"But Billy, she's..." Lee hesitated. No, he said to himself. He couldn't tell him about Amanda's pregnancy without her being involved in that conversation because that would bring up the whole subject of their hidden marriage. "...she's so weak right now."

"Well, what do the doctors say?"

"They say she should be fine once she gets some sleep and some nutrients in her and they'll probably let her go home tomorrow, but that doesn't stop me from worrying about her. You said at this retreat, they put people to the test. What if that stuff is too much for her with what she's just been going through?"

"I get that you're worried, Lee, and not just as her partner, but if the doctors say she's going to be fine, I can't justify pulling you off this assignment. We've already got the two of you registered for the retreat and it's too late to get a replacement team. Look, Amanda's smart. I'm sure she'd tell me if this assignment were going to be too much for her to handle."

"Billy, have you met Amanda?"

Billy couldn't help but chuckle. "Look, all I know is that this is already set. Having Amanda there on a couple's retreat will help a lot. She sees things that other agents don't when it comes to how people interact with each other. She may be the first to spot something not right with the couples that are going to be at this thing."

"You're right about that," Lee said recalling the case they'd worked pretending to be an engaged couple on that marriage cruise and how easily she'd picked out which couples had secrets.

"Just keep me posted once you get there and if you see that it's too much for her, we'll get her out of there and think of something else."

"But, Billy, she's..." Lee stopped himself again.

"She's what, Lee? Is there something else going on that I don't know about?"

Lee was silent for a long moment debating on whether or not he should tell his friend the whole truth. He knew if he did, that Billy wouldn't allow Amanda on this assignment and he could feel secure that his wife and unborn child would be safe, but he wasn't sure how secure his marriage would be if he dropped that bomb without talking to Amanda first, especially since she'd just arranged for Joe to take the boys so they could work this assignment. He sighed. "No, there isn't," he said feeling horribly guilty for telling yet another lie.

"Good, then I'll expect you to check in at the retreat as planned Wednesday afternoon. Think about it this way, this cover as a married couple could be a good opportunity for you and Amanda to get some practice for the real thing," he said with a grin knowing that Lee had been thinking about marrying Amanda for some time now. His first thought when he'd seen the way they were fighting was that he'd finally gotten up the courage to propose and she'd turned him down. Then he'd changed his opinion when he'd seen Amanda pull the chain from her neck. He hadn't seen clearly what it was, but he could have sworn that he saw the sparkle of a diamond ring, making him wonder if they weren't already engaged and that Amanda was dragging her feet on making it public. He knew she'd been hurt by her divorce and was probably a little gun-shy about getting married again. "Right?"

"Maybe," he said as he hung up the phone. Billy's statement led to another idea. Since they were going to be a married couple at the retreat, maybe that would be a good test run for being publicly married.

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As Lee pulled into the driveway on Maplewood drive, he noticed that the lights in the den and the kitchen were still on. He walked in through the French doors to find his mother-in-law asleep on the couch and open book lying across her chest her reading glasses cockeyed on her face. He hated to wake her because he knew she had to be worn out from the day's events, but he also felt she would be more comfortable in her own bed. He bent and gently extracted the book from her hand causing her to stir.

Dotty opened her eyes to see Lee standing over her. "Hi, Lee," she said as she sat up and removed her glasses.

"Hi," he said as he set her book on the coffee table behind him. "You should go on up to bed. You'll wake up stiff as a board if you sleep on this couch."

"I will, but I think we should have a talk first. Have a seat," she said indicating the empty spot on the couch where she'd just been stretched out.

"Dotty, we can talk another time. You need to get some rest."

"You're not getting out of this that easily, Lee. You and I need to have a serious talk about your future with Amanda. Now, sit!"

Lee sighed and complied. What was it about the West women that could intimidate him more than any terrorist? "Look, Dotty, I know that Amanda's pregnancy came as a surprise to you. It came as a surprise to me too, but not an unpleasant one."

"That's the thing, Lee. It didn't come as a surprise to me at all. I've suspected it for a couple of weeks now."

"A couple of weeks?" He questioned. "It's only been a month."

"That just shows how little you know about pregnancy. Some signs, like fatigue can manifest within a week of conception. I've noticed Amanda's been seeming more tired lately, that combined with the fact that the she hasn't depleted any of her supply of tampons in at least six weeks tells me that she hasn't had a period this month. Then when you told me she got sick today, that pretty much confirmed it for me even before you took her to the hospital."

"Huh," Lee said with a shake of his head. He could definitely see that Amanda's observant nature came from her mother.

"What did surprise me is that Amanda let thing happen again. I thought she'd have learned her lesson the first time around. Did you know that she was already expecting Phillip when she married Joe?"

"Yeah, I did. Listen, Dotty, I want you to know that I'm not going anywhere. I have every intention of living up to my responsibility both to Amanda and to our unborn child."

"I have absolutely no doubt that that's your intention, but you may have trouble convincing my stubborn daughter of that. I mean, Joe took off before Jamie was even two months old and Phillip wasn't quite three. She'd never admit it because she tried to be a supportive wife, but it broke her heart that first time he left. She and Joe may not have divorced for another six and half years, but that was really the end of her marriage. While she pretended she was ok with it, I don't think she ever forgave Joe for leaving her alone with two babies and not living up to his obligation to his family."

"I know," he said.

"That's where you need to be completely unrelenting in this. It's absolutely imperative that you convince her that you're not going to do the same thing. You have to get her to trust you."

"Believe me, I've been working on it. That's what prompted our fight yesterday. I've been getting really frustrated by this whole situation. Not being able to see her when I want to, going home to an empty, lonely apartment when I'd rather be coming home to her. I have to admit I'm the one who started the fight yesterday and I made a bit of an ass of myself, but I couldn't get her to have a real conversation about it so that I could tell her how I've been feeling."

"Why doesn't that surprise me?"Dotty said with a shake of her head. "Well, if anyone can persuade my daughter to move forward, it's you."

"Maybe you and I should work on her together," he suggested. Even though he'd desperately tried to convince his wife that now that they knew they have a baby on the way, they should just stop their charade, he still wasn't sure that she would cooperate. "I could sure use an ally in this."

"I don't know that it'll do any good, but I'll give it my best shot."

"Good. Now, that that's settled, you should get some sleep. Do you mind if I look in on Phillip before I go?"

"Of course not, Lee. Now, that I think about it though, you should stay here tonight rather than driving back to the city. You look exhausted."

"I don't think that's a good idea. What kind of impression would that make on Phillip to have me here when he wakes up."

"That'll be something he'll have to get used to if you end up getting your way with his mother. I won't take no for an answer, Lee. I still have your car keys, remember?"

Lee chuckled at the determined look on her face. "I wasn't really prepared to spend the night here. I don't have a change of clothes or anything," he said with a gesture to the rumpled suit he was wearing.

"Now, I know that's not true. Amanda told me once that you always keep an overnight bag in your car for those times that you get sent out of town for a film project at a moment's notice."

"Ok, yes, but you'd have to relinquish my car keys for me to go get it," he said holding his hand out.

"Uh-uh. I'm not going to give you the chance to bolt. You won't do Amanda any good if you fall asleep at the wheel and get in a wreck. You go check on Phillip and I'll go get your bag."

Lee sighed and resigned himself to the fact that his mother-in-law was just as stubborn as his wife. "Ok, fine, you win."

Lee went upstairs to the room the boys shared and found Philip sleeping peacefully. He gingerly knelt beside his bed, not wanting to wake him, placing his hand to his stepsons forehead to make sure that he wasn't running a fever. He knelt there listening to the sound of his breathing for a few minutes. Satisfied that his older stepson was on the mend, he made his way out of the room quietly closing the door behind him and was about to descend the stairs when Dotty voice stopped him from the other end of the hall.

"I put your bag in Amanda's room."

"Oh, well, um," He said awkwardly. "I...uh.. thought I'd just sleep downstairs on the couch."

"Lee, what did you just say to me downstairs? That I should sleep up here or I'd wake up stiff as a board if I slept on the couch. The same goes for you. You'll be much more comfortable sleeping in Amanda's room since she's not going to be using it. Besides," She said with a grin, "Given the fact that she's carrying your child, it's not as if you haven't slept in her bed before."

Lee blushed slightly and said. "You make a good point."

"Good-night, Lee," she said as she walked into her room leaving him no choice but to go to Amanda's He shook his head and thought how much more interesting his would be once he became a permanent part of this family.