The day had started as so many of his did.

Lee had woken up tangled in sheets, and with a head that pounded a lot less than he knew he deserved, given the previous night's activities celebrating the successful wrap-up of the case. Still, long experience had taught him that in his current state of hangover, it was best to do a general health check before trying to open his eyes so he began the standard routine: quick finger and toe flex, all still there, general body stretch, nothing that made him wince, quick swirl of the tongue around his mouth, teeth all accounted for – so far so good. He became aware that he was incredibly thirsty and knew with a sigh, that pounding head or not, he was going to have to move from the bed to deal with it. He could already tell it was going to be bad because even though he wasn't moving yet, the bed was moving and dipping as if he was. And then it got worse.

A warm hand slipped around his and squeezed it gently.

"Ummm, excuse me? Are you going to wake up soon? Because I really need to go and I'm pretty sure I've already missed my flight home and I don't know how I'm going to explain that to my mother. And my sorority sisters are probably tearing the hotel apart trying to find me when I didn't come back last night. Unless they ended up doing what we did but probably not because no matter what people say about how sorority girls are, we're really not and gosh, I just really need you to wake up, please."

Lee froze and considered momentarily pretending to be dead or at least pretending to stay asleep until this girl left of her own accord. His brain scrambled trying to remember what had happened last night, and how desperate he must have been to have picked up a child who was probably here on Spring Break. Well, no it can't be that because Spring Break doesn't happen in October and… he forced himself to take a deep breath and open his eyes.

The woman sitting beside him on the bed, wrapped loosely in the sheet and with her knees pulled up to her chin and with huge dark eyes observing him worriedly was so obviously not the college student he'd been expecting that he couldn't help grinning in relief.

"Do you always talk so much in the morning?" he couldn't help asking.

The woman – thank God it was a fully-grown woman – suddenly relaxed with a husky chuckle. "Yes, I do. I'm sorry - I'm a morning person even when I'm hung over."

"Well, I'm not," he declared. His eyes trailed over her, the tousled bed head hair, the creamy skin, the gentle curve at the side of the breast he could just see peeking out from where she had the sheet pulled up in some semblance of modesty. "Except for one thing," he added, reaching out with his free hand to try and pull the sheet off her again.

"Oooh!" she squeaked, tightening her grip on it and suddenly looking panicked again. "Please don't!"

"Looks like I already did," he smirked, still pulling inexorably on the sheet. "Why so shy now?"

"Oh my gosh, please don't remind me! But we were drunk then and we're sober now and I really have to go!"

"It's usually even better when we're both sober," he teased. "Don't you want to find out? If you've already missed your flight, you're in no hurry, right?"

To his delight, the woman actually dimpled in amusement at his clumsy seduction techniques. "That's the least of my problems, Mister…uh."

"Lee."

"Mister Lee?" she said, nose wrinkling in confusion. "That doesn't seem right. I thought it was Simpson or something."

"No, my first name is Lee," he answered, carefully not providing his last name. The last thing he needed was for some crazy one-night stand being able to track him down later.

Her face cleared as if puzzle pieces had fallen into place. "Okay, Lee then. But I need to go!"

She clearly wanted to leave but kept tugging on his hand where it was still wrapped in hers. For some reason, he was really disappointed that she was so determined to get out of his bed and his life so quickly. "So go already!" he scowled at her. "I'm not stopping you!"

"You kinda are," she said drily, lifting up her hand and by extension, his and for the first time he realized the problem.

"Why are we handcuffed to each other?" he asked, mind racing. "I haven't arrested you, have I?" Oh God, he wouldn't have slept with a suspect, would he?

"Is that why you had them?" she asked obviously diverted. "Are you a police officer? I thought you said you were in movies or something. I assumed they were a prop." She gave another one of those deep chuckles that seemed to make his heart beat faster. "Anyway, no – I have a vague recollection that there was another reason for these." The blush that went over her face – over her whole body actually as far as he could tell – made her impossibly more adorable. "But I think you might also have swallowed the key for some reason that seemed like a good idea at the time but right now, I need you to come to the bathroom with me because I need to go before we have a lot more to explain to housekeeping."

"Oh!" It was all clear now. "You meant you have to go."

"Yes!" she answered tugging in his hand again. "So please, please, please get up because as embarrassing as this is going to be, it's going to be more embarrassing in about thirty seconds."

"Hang on." He rolled and reached down the side of the bed with his left arm, pulling her slightly toward him with the movement. "I'll get it unlocked in a second."

"What are you doing? I told you, you swallowed the key!"

Lee rolled back triumphantly, key between his fingers. "Old magic trick – palmed it and made you think I'd swallowed it."

"Oh thank goodness!" She held out her cuffed wrist, twitching while he quickly released her and then she shot off across the room, all modesty forgotten in her hurry, so that he was left holding an empty sheet and enjoying the flash of her long back and bare buttocks before she disappeared into the bathroom.

When she re-emerged a few minutes later, looking considerably less stressed, he was surprisingly disappointed to see she'd found a robe on the back of the door. "Feel better?" he asked in a teasing tone from where he'd pulled himself up to lean back against the headboard.

"Much," she smiled back at him shyly, pulling the robe tighter around herself as that blush spread again.

"Maybe it's time to get re-introduced?" he grinned at her, holding out a hand. "I'm Lee."

There was only the slightest hesitation before she crossed the room and took it in hers, shaking it carefully. "Amanda."

A vague memory filtered through his head through the drunken snapshots. "A-man-da." He sounded out the syllables carefully. "Latin for lovable."

Those expressive eyes flew up to meet his. "Yes."

"We talked about that last night," he hazarded a guess.

"Um, yes, I think we did," she conceded.

Lee realized her hand was still in his and taking advantage of her distraction, pulled her forcefully onto his lap. "What else did we discuss last night?" he asked, nuzzling that beautiful long neck and that collarbone that showed just enough without making her look too skinny. There was a brief moment where she melted into his embrace but when his arms tightened instinctively around her, she began to struggle. "What's your hurry to leave, beautiful, lovable Amanda?" He held up his wrist with the handcuffs still dangling off it. "Do I need to restrain you again?"

"Oh please don't," she whispered, still trying to pull away. He released her immediately, sensing her growing panic. She didn't run, which he half expected, just slipped off his lap to sit leaning on the edge of the bed, breathing fast. "Sorry," he said. "I guess I got carried away."

Freed of his arms, she permitted herself another tremulous smile. "Apparently that's a theme with us." Her smile widened when he gave a snort of laughter. "And much as I'd like to stay…" - to his amusement, her eyes travelled involuntarily back to the bed beyond him – "I really need to go and figure out how I'm going to get home. My mother is looking after my boys and I need to get back."

"You're married?" Lee couldn't help feeling disappointed in himself – married women were a strict no-no in his books. He might play around but betrayal of anyone else's relationship was strictly taboo.

"Oh gosh no! I mean, I was, but I'm divorced now," she exclaimed, apparently as appalled as he was at the idea of infidelity. "And I'm really not like this. I know that's a bit hard to believe right now and I know divorced women have a reputation, but this is not like me at all. I don't know what I was thinking!"

"I see," he answered trying to keep his voice as neutral as possible since she seemed skittish. "Well, I've missed my flight too, so maybe we could go down to the travel agent in the lobby together and rebook at the same time. The least I can do is buy you a new ticket since it looks like I caused this."

Amanda leapt to her feet and began rapidly collecting her clothes from the floor, her flustered demeanour increasing when she had to disentangle her bra from a lamp. "Oh my gosh, no! I mean, that's fine – you don't owe me anything!"

"Amanda!" His voice cut through her babbling like a knife as he sat up and swung his legs off the side of the bed. "I was not suggesting it as some kind of payment!" he spat out. "I don't think you're some kind of hooker!"

She'd hunched over defensively the instant he'd said her name, but now, in the face of his outraged expression, she looked immediately apologetic. "Oh no, of course you don't," she said in her best soothing voice. "It's just this is all so embarrassing and not at all like me and I just want to get home and really if anybody owes anybody anything, I owe you, not the other way around!"

For some reason her convoluted ramble struck his funny bone and he began to laugh. "Wait – do you think I'm some kind of a male escort?"

Amanda paused in the middle of pulling her clothes back on and stared at him, then gave a gasping laugh of her own. "Of course not!" she laughed.

He raised an eyebrow and waited.

"It's just that – well, I came on this weekend with my girlfriends from my old sorority because one of them is getting married next month, and my boyfriend has been using it as an excuse to keep telling me we should get married too. And I'd been considering it, really, really thinking about it, you know?" She cocked an eye at him and he nodded to show he was still paying attention. "But when I woke up this morning and I was... and you were… and we'd obviously… well, I realized I'd been looking for excuses not to marry him."

Lee put his hand over his heart, lips twitching when he noticed the way the movement drew her eyes to his chest. "Way to hurt a guy, Amanda – so you're just going to use me for my body and throw me away?" He had no idea what it was about this woman that was making him behave like this; normally he couldn't chivy his one-night stands out of his life quickly enough but Amanda –she was different and suddenly he was desperate for her not to leave. "Because if that's true, you can at least buy me breakfast."

"I'm pretty sure breakfast is included with the room," she shot back right away, her dark eyes sparkling.

He reached for his boxers and jeans off the floor, not missing the way she snuck a quick look as he stood up and started to pull them on. "If you knew me better, you'd understand what a sacrifice it is for me to even offer to eat breakfast," he answered, trying to press his advantage.

"I don't think we should get to know each other any better," she said, suddenly turning serious. "I mean, last night was fun, I think. I mean, I'm sure," she rushed on when he made another mock wounded expression. "But I have a life back in… back home and you have a life somewhere and we should probably just agree that it's been fun and leave it at that, okay?" She'd finished dressing and held out her hand again, obviously intent on getting the hell out of his life as quickly as possible. He reached out to take it and she grinned at the handcuffs still dangling from his wrist. "You can probably take those off now."

He quickly flipped his hand and grabbed her wrist. "Are you sure?" he asked, only half joking. "It's not too late for me to try and keep you here."

She stilled but didn't pull away, eyes searching his before she gave a sad smile. "I'm sure. This was a fun little fantasy, but it's time to find another pumpkin to get me home and turn back into Phillip and Jamie's mom."

He felt the last little bit of hope fade out of him and let her hand drop. "Okay."

Suddenly as if giving into impulse, she stepped into his arms, pulling his head down for a long kiss. He let his arms wrap around her and felt hers tighten across his back, and then just as suddenly, she'd stepped back, wiping suspiciously bright eyes on her sleeve.

"Thank you for a lovely evening, Lee" she choked out before whirling and running out of the room.

"Amanda!" Lee tried calling her back but the door was already swinging shut behind her. He sagged back against the bed, feeling drained as if all colour had just left the room. What was it about that woman? He was never like this, not over women he'd picked up in a bar. Sighing he turned to search the bedside table again for the handcuff key when he noticed the folded sheet of vellum under his wallet. He stared at it for moment, unable to explain his feeling of dread before he picked it up and carefully unfolded it.

"Oh my God."

He looked wildly at the closed hotel room door, then shot forward to whip it open and scan the hallway but Amanda was already gone. He walked back to the bed, leaning down to pick up the paper where it had fallen and read it again, hoping he'd misread it, but nope, it definitely still said it in crisp Gothic print.

"State of Nevada Certificate of Marriage."

His eyes dropped to where their names were printed in the careful handwriting of the Clark County Clerk. "Well, Amanda King, I don't think we'll be leaving it at that."