Chapter 9: Come Monday Morning!

Monday morning was a new day and when Lee walked into IFF, he was dressed in one of his blue suits; Amanda was always saying how good she thought he looked in blue. His shoes were shined and he was ready for anything that came his way that day; from paperwork to Agency work to dealing with the awkwardness of his relationship with Amanda right now. He greeted Mrs. Martsen with a friendly smile and hello as he gave her the password and watched the expression on her face, assuming it was a look of surprise at being so early. "Good morning, Mrs. Martsen!"

"Good morning Mr. Stetson!"

"Billy in yet?"

"No, it is pretty quiet right now."

"What about Mrs. King?"

"No," she raised an eyebrow at his question. "She usually gets in around 8:30."

"Thank you!"

As he entered his office, he gave himself a pat on the back for managing to get to the office before both Billy and Amanda. He placed a single rose on Amanda's desk, made some coffee and then sat down at his desk and got to work on some follow-up paperwork.

Shortly there was a knock and then the doorknob turned.

"Well, I see that you got here bright and early," Billy said.

"Yelp."

"Did you talk to Amanda's mother?"

"I called her yesterday in the afternoon. I knew that Amanda would be taking a nap. She usually does on Sunday's after she's finished the laundry, made sure all the homework is done…"

Hilarious! Lee doing a pretty good job of an Amanda ramble. "Man, well—then what?"

"Sorry. I suppose I'm nervous. We are going to meet for lunch today. Amanda has some training so I should be able to do it without her getting suspicious."

"Wonderful. Well, let me know if you need any help."

"Thanks Billy!"

"Just let me know when you want me to work on that other stuff you needed."

"Okay!"

/

Amanda walked into the Q-Bureau and she released an "Oh my gosh!" when she saw Lee sitting there at his desk.

"Good morning Amanda! I'm sorry; I didn't mean to startle you!"

"I didn't expect you in…in this early."

She looked as beautiful as ever, even though he could tell from the bags under her eyes that she hadn't slept much.

"Yeah, I know," he said and stood up and walked over to her. Good morning!" He kissed her on the cheek and then reached behind her and picked up the single rose. "This is for you!"

"Good morning, thanks, the rose is beautiful." She said quietly. Well, he had certainly thrown her for a loop.

"Here let me help you!" He took her lunch bag from out of her hands and took her purse. "Go ahead and get settled."

"Okay!" Amanda did as Lee instructed, sat down and got situated as Lee put her things away and then sat back down at his desk.

Amanda was really surprised to find Lee there so early. She'd hoped to have a few minutes of alone time to think about the other day. Well, here goes nothing, she thought to herself. "Lee—we should probably talk about…"

"Hmm, what was that?" Lee looked up, almost absentmindedly.

"I was saying that we should probably talk about Saturday morning."

"What about Saturday morning? Oh, the ring?"

"Yeah, about the ring…." Amanda began.

"It's okay; you can take as long as you want to think about things."

Oh okay, she thought to herself. He seemed to give up too easily.

He stood up and walked over to her desk and sat on the edge of it. "I do need to ask you something though."

"What is it?"

"You do love me, don't you?" He asked as he reached out and caressed her cheek as he held her eyes with his.

"Yes, of course I do," she replied very simply, nearly a whisper.

"Good, because I love you, too," he replied back then tenderly kissed her lips. He then quickly pulled back and stood up.

"I have some paperwork to finish up and you have that training today, don't you?"

"Okay and yes I do have that training today. I have some filing I'd like to complete myself before I go."

As Lee returned to his desk, Amanda tried to focus on the few pieces of filing but she found herself looking over at Lee several times. Hmm, just what was he up to? Amanda thought to herself, but she went on and continued filing.

Just before 9 o'clock Amanda had finished most of the filing. She placed the remaining two files to be filed on her desk, grabbed her purse and a folder and headed towards the door. "See you later, Lee!"

"Okay," he looked up and then turned back to his files but then called out, "Amanda?"

"Yes, Lee?"

"Do you have plans for lunch?"

"No, I brought a sandwich."

"That's right. Okay, well see you later."

She waited a moment for him to say more but when he didn't, she pulled her purse close to her and left the room.

Lee couldn't help but to smile to himself as he saw the look of confusion upon Amanda's face. Now, if things go well with Amanda's mother later that day.