Chapter Eleven - Rock Creek Park - Late afternoon of the last day

By the time Lee made it back to the Vette Amanda's anger towards Francine was gone. She smiled at him and he knew everything was forgotten. He jogged the last few feet towards her and dropped the picnic basket on the ground next to the car. He scooped her into his arms and swung her around. She quietly squealed his name as he twirled her around. He stopped and held her close. He leaned down and kissed her passionately. She wrapped her arms around his neck and played with his hair as he kissed her. When they broke apart Lee looked down at her and said "Are you okay? I love you."

Amanda nodded and said " I love you too…. And yes, my temper tantrum is over. I am so sorry I lost my temper back there. Francine…she just…."

Lee kissed her on her nose and said "Hey, I get it. She's really sorry about it. If that makes you feel any better. We had a nice long talk while you went for your walk. She understands and she's on our side. Really. She wants to make it up to us. She offered to pay for dinner for us. She's making the reservations for us now. At Emilio's."

Amanda smiled "Well, that's very nice of her to pay for dinner. I guess I owe her a bit of an apology for the way I acted."

"No honey, she owes you one. She said she will talk to you on Monday. So in the meantime let's get all dressed up tonight and have a wonderful dinner. Whatcha say?"

Amanda leaned up to kiss him and said "I'd love to sweetheart. But I have nothing nice to wear at your place."

Lee frowned and said "Is your mother or the boys home?" Amanda looked at her watch, scrunched her face and shook her head. "Nope they shouldn't be for at least another few hours. Since Joe canceled on them for the weekend, Phillip decided that he didn't want to miss his basketball game right after school. Mother and Jamie were going to go watch it then she was going to take them out for pizza since they have been so good while I was away."

Lee picked up the basket and took her hand. "Well, let's quickly stop by so you can pick up something and then we shall go to dinner. Just us tonight. Then tomorrow we have a good old fashioned normal family dinner where I am introduced to everyone."

Amanda hugged him and said "That sounds really wonderful sweetheart. Thank you."

Last night - Lee's apartment

Lee stood in his living room pacing. He was wearing his tuxedo. He wanted tonight to be special. Not only for Amanda but himself as well. They had come so far in their relationship and he knew they would come out stronger. He laughed at himself as he remembers grumbling about being stuck at home for a week. But thinking about all the time he rested and spent with Amanda, it was all worth it. He was becoming a bit normal and it didn't bother him one bit. He wanted a future with Amanda and that included her mother and the boys. He was nervous about meeting them. He was glad that Joe canceled the plans he made with the boys over the weekend. He knew that the boys were disappointed and Amanda was a bit put off on Joe canceling. Joe was still a sticky subject when it came to Amanda. Lee knew that when Amanda was ready she would talk about her ex husband. But the boys… He knew that he had to make a good impression with them and that he wasn't going anywhere. This weekend was his chance to do that. Amanda was a package deal so he had to make it work. He had to let the boys see the real him and then they could work on being a family. A family. That sounds good. Lee's thoughts were interrupted by Amanda opening the French doors to his bedroom.

Lee looked up and stared at her. She was a vision. He chuckled as he realized she had picked the black velvet dress with the pearl buttons down the back. The one he had asked her about months ago when he was seeing Leslie. That was when he realized he was in fact in love with Amanda. He didn't want an imposter Amanda. Or one that dressed like her. He wanted the real Amanda.

Lee couldn't even say anything as Amanda walked up to him. She smiled at him with her eyes sparkling at him. "Thank you sweetheart. You look very handsome." She reached up and gave him a kiss on his cheek. He shook his head and chuckled "Manda…You look….wow. I mean ….oh shoot. I can't even seem to get the words out. I am sorry. You look beautiful. I mean it." He pulled her close and kissed her ever so softly. Lee whispered to her "I am not taking my eyes off of you all night. Nice dress Mrs. King." He winked at her as she walked to get her wrap and clutch. She looked over at him and shrugged her shoulders. "You do like this one…don't you? I don't remember." Lee knew that she was teasing. He walked over to her and draped her wrap over her shoulders. He stood very close to her and Amanda could hear her heart beating. She gasped as he leaned close to her ear and whispered "You know exactly how much I love you in this dress Mrs. King. I probably deserve this. I was so stupid to even ask you about it. Living up to my code name again"

Amanda turned around and he slipped his arms around her. She rested her hands on his chest. "Lee…I am just teasing you about the dress. I know that this is the one you asked me about when you were seeing Leslie. But you did tell me I looked beautiful in it so…"

Lee leaned in and gave her a scorching kiss. When they parted he said "You look gorgeous Amanda. I don't think I ever apologized about that whole thing. It was really awful of me to ask you about a dress so I could give it to another woman."

Amanda chuckled. "Oh I know you were sorry. It's okay. I kind of have a confession….something that happened a few weeks after our first real dinner. The one where you took me out instead of going to the Russian Embassy with Leslie."

"What are you talking about?' Lee gave her a questioning look. She continued. "Okay sweetheart…I was so nervous and excited when you asked me to dinner that night. I knew that something had changed between us….well I was of course hoping. Anyway, that night I had a wonderful time talking to you and spending time with you. When you gave me a sweet kiss goodbye it really threw me for a loop. I wasn't expecting you to actually have feelings for me! I mean I was hoping you did" She took a much needed breath and went on with her story. "So a few weeks after the dinner I noticed that you were paying a lot more attention to me and we were growing closer."

Lee nodded and gave her a chaste kiss. "I knew that I had to slowly let you know that you were the one for me."

"Exactly. I just waited patiently. Then one day I stopped in the grocery store that's close to the Agency. I normally never go there but I was in a hurry to get home and had to stop. As I was walking around I heard someone call my name. I turned around and there was Leslie. She was very sweet and asked how I was and of course how you were. She asked if you and I were seeing one another. I didn't really know how to answer her. I mentioned that we had dinner some nights. And do you know what she said?"

Lee started to get a funny feeling in his stomach. He didn't have any clue what Amanda was about to tell him. He shook his head and said "I am almost afraid to ask honey. What?"

Amanda laughed and finished "Lee…. She said to me that she knew she didn't have a chance in hell with you….because you were in love with me!"

Lee blushed and looked down. Amanda reached up and hooked her finger under his chin to have him look at her. "She even told me that you called her Amanda. Is that true?" Lee sighed and nodded " I sure did. I think that was the moment that I knew that I was actually in love with you." He wrapped his arms around her and gave her another passionate kiss. He looked down at her and smirked "So...all this time you knew that I was in love with you and you never said a word. How come?"

"Oh Sweetheart. I needed you to come to grips with it. I know how hard getting close to someone is for you. I was of course dying inside waiting for you to say those three little words but I knew you had to do it on your own time. I am glad that this week gave us the courage to actually say them."

Lee agreed with her. "I am finally glad I pulled the straw out of my head and told you. Now we can move forward. I think it's gonna be a great future."

Amanda smiled as she remembered telling Joe that exact same thing when he asked her about the future. She gave Lee another quick kiss and said "Let's go to dinner and spend some of Francine's hard earned money….it's only fair."

Lee laughed as they went out the door of his apartment and off to Emilios.