Author's Note: I want to apologize for the delay in updates, not only to this story, but my others as well. I have every intention to update a few days ago, but that was before my illness got worse. I had to leave work and pay a visit to my doctor where I found that what I thought was a cold turned out to be a viral infection. He then ordered me to stay home from work and prescribed me a steroid and cough syrup with codeine, which has kept me in bed for the better part of this week. I'm not 100% yet, but I finally feel well enough to catch up on my writing. I thank you all for your patience.

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Francine and Efraim walked up the driveway to their cabin both covered head to toe in dirt; Efraim's arm firmly locked around Francine's to maintain their cover as other couples were also trickling back. Francine smiled and waved at some of the others but was eager to get inside, not only to get cleaned up, but also to get clear of her temporary partner's advances. Efraim, however, was in no hurry to see their cover end, although he was eager to share the information they'd discovered during the scavenger hunt about their suspects. He was also silently fuming that Lee and Amanda hadn't bothered to show up and wondered what they were up to. If they were shirking their responsibility to the job, he'd definitely have to say something.

"Well, you two look like you're getting along better," Jim Patterson said from the next cabin over as he nodded at Efraim's arm around Francine.

Efraim couldn't resist playing along a little more. "Oh, yes," he said as he pulled Francine closer. "I think this trip is just what the doctor ordered." He then stunned Francine by grasping her waist with both hands and kissing her firmly. "It's made us realize just how much we've missed each other. Right, Honey?" he said with a wink when he pulled back.

Francine smiled sweetly and said in the sultry voice she usually used for "happy hooker" routine, "Yes, Sweetie, but maybe we should save it until we get and I'll show you just how much I've missed you," then leaned in close and whispered in his ear, "You're really pushing it, Buddy." She smiled and waved at the Pattersons as she hustled Efraim up to the porch of the cabin.

"I wonder what Lee and Amanda have been up to," Efraim said once they were out of earshot of the Pattersons. "I thought they might have gotten hung up at the office, but his car's here."

As they entered the cabin and saw the scattered clothing just inside the door, Francine said with a grin, "Well, I think this answers your question." She closed the door behind them and quickly extracted herself from Efraim's grip.

"Well, it seems they're having no trouble playing their "cover," He said with a scowl.

"And you're having a little too much fun playing ours," Francine hissed.

"Well, somebody should say something to them," Efraim grumbled. "They're acting completely unprofessionally."

"You've said quite enough to them," Francine countered. "We all have to work together until this case is wrapped up and it's not going to do any of us any good if you keep antagonizing them, especially Lee. You know how his temper is. While we're on the subject of acting unprofessionally, just what the hell did you think you were doing out there?"Francine said with a wild gesture toward the door.

"Everything ok in here?"Amanda said as she entered the main room of the cabin still attired in her robe.

"Fine," Francine said with a glare at Efraim.

"Peachy," Efraim answered sarcastically at the same time.

'Ohhh-kay," Amanda said dubiously. "Do I need to separate you two like I do with my boys when they're fighting," she teased as she stepped into the kitchen to start a pot of coffee.

"It seems to me that you two are the ones who need to be separated," Efraim fired back hotly. "Maybe then you could keep your minds on the job."

"No, thank you, Efraim," Lee said as he entered the room. "We've had more than enough of being separated since we've been married." He then slipped his arms around his wife from behind. "Right?"

"Absolutely," Amanda said with a firm nod, feeling calmer now that she and Lee had really talked and she'd gotten her real fears out in the open.

"I guess I don't have to ask what you've been doing," Efraim said as he gestured at the piles of clothing on the floor, "While we," Efraim then gestured to himself and Francine, "have been busting our asses investigating.

"We've been investigating," Lee said with a grin, "Just an entirely different type of investigating." He leaned into to nuzzle Amanda's neck.

"Hey, you've had just about enough of that kind of investigating," Amanda teased shrugging him off her as she gestured toward the scattered garments in the living room. "As for the actual investigation, you should take a look at what I found on the computer," Amanda said.

"The computer," Efraim questioned. "I thought there was no phone service in here."

"There is no phone, but there is an active phone line that I was able to plug into," Amanda said.

"Before we do anything else, I am in dire need of a hot shower," Francine said. When Efraim looked at her with an arched eyebrow, she added with an icy stare, "alone."

"Too bad, Frannie, that shower could be a lot hotter," Efraim quipped.

"I don't think so," she countered. "The idea of showering with you is cooling me right off." She then turned on her heel and stormed into the room she shared with him, slamming the door and locking it behind her.

Lee laughed uproariously and said, "She is definitely a wildcat..." He then winked at Efraim and added, "in more ways than one." He then bent to start retrieving his and Amanda's discarded clothes.

"Hey, I heard that," Amanda said as she stepped in from the kitchen.

"The problem with wildcats is that they have claws," Lee said trying to dig himself out of the hole he'd just put himself in.

"Oh, is that right," Amanda said as she entered the living area.

"The good thing is that I have my own wildcat and I don't mind the claws at all," He said with a wink at his wife as he reached for her.

"Mm-hmm," Amanda said as she sidestepped her husband's reach. She began to help him gather up their discarded clothing. "Speaking of wild, you're going to have to take it a little easier or I won't have any underwear left," she said as she held up her ruined panties.

"That really wouldn't be a problem for me," Lee countered with a rakish grin. "Besides, it's not like you have any room to talk. Take a look at this." He held up his shirt. "You ripped two buttons of my shirt."

"Well, the difference is that buttons can be sewn back on and you have a wife who knows how to sew," Amanda replied then once again remnants of her lacy underwear. "These, however, are beyond repair no matter how skilled I am with a needle."

"Well, it wasn't your skills with a needle that I was thinking about at the time," He quipped taking the ruined item from her hands shoving it into the pocket of his robe before shifting his bundle to one arm and sliding the other around her waist.

"Alright, you two, knock it off," Efraim said disgustedly. "This is getting really old. Have you both forgotten that we have work to do?"

"No, Efraim, we haven't," Amanda said as she escaped her husband's grasp. "In fact, that's part of what I came in for." She picked up the bag containing the files she'd brought from the agency while Lee walked back toward the bedroom with their clothing. "Wait, Lee, don't forget this," she said tossing her discarded bra his way.

He tried to catch it, but missed and dropped the other clothes in the process causing Amanda to laugh heartily. "You think this is funny," He growled.

Amanda glanced at the mock scowl on her husband's face then the actual scowl on Efraim's and just laughed harder saying, "As a matter of fact, yes."

Lee couldn't help but laugh too. He had to admit the absurdity of the situation was funny. With his history, it wasn't the first time that he'd been caught with his pants down; however, it was the first time with his wife. He'd had every intention of cleaning up the evidence of their afternoon delight before Francine and Efraim had returned, but Amanda's breakdown and his attempt to reassure her had led to one more round of lovemaking. Even though he was the butt of the joke that she found so amusing, it was good to hear his wife's laughter again after the tears of earlier in the day. "You're right," He said as he gathered up their fallen clothing again and finally made it into the bedroom.

There was an awkward silence in the room. Amanda seated herself on the couch and began pulling her files from the bag. As she did so, she could feel Efraim's eyes boring a hole in the back of her skull. She turned to him and said, "Efraim, you might as well say whatever's on your mind or get that judgmental look off your face. As I told you last night, I'm not going to let you make me feel guilty or ashamed for making love with my husband."

Efraim laughed sardonically and said, "Making love? Come one, Amanda, don't you think you're romanticizing things a little bit? Do you honestly think that a guy like him with as many notches as he's carved in his bedpost thinks of it that way?"

"As a matter of fact, I do," Amanda said pointedly. "He's a different person than he was then and why is everyone at the agency so convinced that I'm just some naive inexperienced neophyte? I was a mother of two long before I ever me Lee."

"Which is exactly why people worry about the two of you together," Efraim pointed out. "We all know how dedicated you are to your children. Isn't that why you said that you were hospitalized, because you ran yourself down taking care of your sick kids?"

"So, by your way of thinking, a dedicated mother can't also have needs and desires of her own," Amanda questioned.

"No, that's not what I'm saying. It's just the idea of you and him together is like oil and water. He's got a reputation for playing the field and you're known for putting your kids ahead of everything else and you have this image that that had made you, I don't know, kind of repressed, sexually, I mean."

"Efraim, if that were true, I wouldn't have my children to begin with. Did you ever think of that?" When Efraim didn't reply, she said, "If you ask me, you're the one who's repressed."

"Me? Repressed? Hardly," He said with a look of annoyance on his face.

"Think about it, Efraim. Everybody knows that you've been nuts about Francine forever, but the only time you've ever had the courage to show it is when you've had a few drinks or in a situation like now on an undercover assignment."

"You don't know what you're talking about," Efraim said looking away from her.

"I think I do. The problem is that you waited too long. Now, that Jonathan's back in her life, it's too late. She's in love with him."

"No, you don't know that."

"Yes, I do," Amanda replied.

"You don't even know the guy. How can you possibly be so sure?"

"I don't have to know him," She answered. "I know Francine and I know what I see on her face when she talks about him. Being a woman in love myself, I know what that looks like. I saw it in myself when Lee and I were making our wedding plans. I wouldn't be surprised if sometime in the near future, they start making wedding plans of their own."

"No, you're wrong," Efraim said turning back to face Amanda. "She couldn't possibly still have those kinds of feelings for a guy who broke her heart."

"She's not wrong," Francine said as she re-entered the room dressed in clean clothes and freshly showered. "At least not about the way I feel about Jonathan. As far as wedding plans go, well, that's something that we're just taking one day at a time."

"You can't be serious," Efraim said the hurt evident in his eyes.

"I am," Francine said. "But none of this is any of your business any more that Lee and Amanda's marriage is any of your business."

"You're right," Efraim conceded. "It's just Lee and marriage don't seem to go together and Amanda is my responsibility."

"No, she's not," Lee said returning to the living room dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt. "She's mine. You're only responsible for her training. As her husband and her partner, everything else is my responsibility. It's a responsibility that I fully intend to live up to from this point forward. I admit I've been lax about it since we've been married."

"Sweetheart, that's not true," Amanda argued. "It's mostly been my fault."

"No, Amanda," Lee said firmly. "We've both been to blame, but that's going to change now that we're getting everything out in the open."

"Yeah, you're right," she agreed. "Listen, I should get dressed too and the four of us can compare notes on what we've gotten done today." Amanda left the room leaving.

"And I should go get cleaned up," Efraim said indicating the disarray he was in from the scavenger hunt as he too left the room.

Once the door was closed behind him, Francine looked at Lee and asked, "So, have you and Amanda figured out when you're going to actually get everything out in the open?"

"Francine, I appreciate that you're being supportive now, but this is something that's between me and Amanda."

"I know and I'm not trying to pry into your business-"

"Since when?"Lee countered cutting her off.

Francine ignored his interruption and continued, "But her pregnancy is not something that you're going to be able to hide for very long like you hid your marriage."

"I'm aware of that, Francine and we don't plan on hiding it for very long, but we want to wrap up this case before we drop that bomb, especially since Phillip and Jamie don't even know that we're married yet, let alone the fact that they've got a new sibling on the way."

"How exactly do you plan to drop that little bomb," She inquired.

Lee ran a hand through his hair shook his head. "I don't know, but we'll figure it out," he said determinedly. Once this case was done, he wasn't about to continue living without his family.