Chapter 4: Lee Wakes up

Lee drifted in and out of consciousness. He'd swore he'd heard a key in his apartment door, but Amanda was the only one that had one; he'd given it to her when he had the foot injury and he'd never asked for it back. And now, it was the most natural thing in the world to have her use it. But after their fight, she wouldn't be there, or would she?

Earlier in the day, Amanda had went to run an errand for a project she had to work on with Jamie for history. Lee himself had gone to pick up the ring from the jeweler's. When he returned and had just parked his car, he saw Amanda standing just a few feet away from IFF. Seeing Lee there, she'd smiled and headed towards him. But just then, someone called out her name. He watched as Amanda turned around to face the tall, blonde gentleman that appeared to be a few years younger than himself and Amanda. "Amanda, Amanda King or are you going by your maiden name now?" Lee heard him say and then ask, "How are you?"

Before Amanda could even speak, he had reached out and touched her hand and had grabbed her in a hug and kissed her on the cheek. Ignoring his first question, Amanda had responded "I'm fine."

Lee had walked up to where they were standing.

"Oh, hi Lee!" She said as she released herself from the blonde man's embrace.

The two stood there for a moment, before Amanda must've realized that she hadn't introduced them. "Oh, forgive me! Lee Stetson, Jim Saarinen."

Saarinen raised an eyebrow. "Lee and I work together," she'd said hesitantly.

Damn! Ouch! And Damn! Lee thought to himself. Work together?

"And, Amanda, Jim is?" Lee asked.

"Oh, he is-"

"An old acquaintance," Saarinen finished for Lee.

"Oh, I see-well, Amanda, I'll see you inside," Lee had said and turned, but then called over his shoulder. "Remember you have your training in 15 minutes."

"I remembered," Amanda had retorted back.

To say that he was taken aback by Amanda's response earlier would be quite an understatement. It was only a few minutes later before she'd returned to work and had gone to her training. And Lee himself had been in back-to-back meetings. He thought that by dinner, they would be able to talk about who Jim was.

Once, they'd ordered dinner, Lee had broached the subject. "So, Amanda, what was that all about this afternoon?

"What do you mean?" She asked, as her whole body stiffened. "Oh, my comment about us working together? "

"Well, yes, Amanda!"

"Well, Lee, we do work together," she'd said lightly.

He'd attempted to take her hand, "Amanda, I would say, we did a lot more than work together."

She'd smiled, stiffly; then replied, "Yeah, I guess we do."

"Who exactly is Saarinen?"

"Just someone I used to know."

"How well did you know him?" He'd pursued further.

"Lee, look! Why are you so jealous?"

"Amanda, I'm not jealous."

"Well, you sound like it to me."

"Amanda, I—"

"Can we just drop it? In fact, maybe dinner tonight was a mistake!"

And with that, she'd left him there alone.

Lee groaned as his head began to throb; throbbing too much and he had to pee to boot; got up slowly and started towards the kitchen to get some water, but as he did so, he saw two feet hanging over the sofa. Moving closer, he saw Amanda's brunette hair cascading over the sofa.

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He couldn't help but smile to himself as he watched her sleep. She did come—that made his heart lighten a bit. He reached out to touch her hair, but thought better of it—he didn't want to wake her. He then went to the bathroom and lay back down. They'd talk in the morning.

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