This story begins in Season 1, Episode 21, "Waiting for Godorsky". Lee and Amanda have been invited to lunch with the Russian Princess Sophia Valosky. FYI - In this story, Lee moves a lot quicker with his relationship with Amanda than he does in the actual television series. I also took some things that happened in Season 4 when Amanda was shot and used it in this episode.
Chapter 1 – You Can't Leave Me Yet
At Amanda's house…
Dotty and Amanda are chatting about having lunch with the Princess. Dotty seems to be more enthusiastic than Amanda is.
Dotty tells Amanda to let her know how the lunch with the Princess goes. Amanda exits the kitchen, and her mother is puzzled by the food the Princess is serving since Amanda mentions meatloaf.
At the Princess's home…
Lee, Amanda, the Princess and all her guests are seated around an enormous wooden table while lunch is being served.
As Amanda is fumbling over her words on whether to speak or not to speak to the Princess, Lee looks at her from across the table with much gratitude. Amanda looks back at Lee and gives him a quick grin.
"I have very little regard for protocol. I believe one should speak when one has something to say as I have now."
As the Princess glances out at her guests, she offers a toast, raising her clear martini glass towards her guests at the table.
"A toast please. To a man whose leadership will enable us to help the oppressed people within our beloved country, Leonid Godorsky."
As all the guests in the room drink from their glasses, Amanda hears the "schlurper" in the room. Amanda grasps this is the man she had been searching for. She tries to give Lee a look as they drink for the toast, but he doesn't recognize it.
"Tomorrow, I meet with the Senate Committee to plead his case."
The Princess beams at her guests.
Lee speaks up.
"Oh, well, that's wonderful."
The Princess agrees with Lee.
"It is a plea I believe will be listened to and acted upon."
At that moment, the bell tolls and the doorbell rings and the Princess tells Mikhail she wishes not to be disturbed.
Before anyone realizes, a man dressed in dark brown pants, a blue t-shirt, and a dark brown jacket walks in carrying a bouquet of flowers for the Princess.
Lee instantly recognizes him as the shooter, and he abruptly yells at everyone.
"Get down!"
Lee jumps up and does a dive across the table to protect the Princess as the man with the bouquet of flowers yanks out a shotgun under the bouquet of flowers, points it towards the crowd and begins violently shooting at the guests and the table.
The food, glasses, wine, and pretty much everything on the table is destroyed at the shooter's firing as the shotgun blasts continue.
Lee jumps up off the floor and slams the door in front of the shooter so his shots will stop.
The shooter makes his retreat and Lee turns around to gather his breath and scan the room for anyone wounded.
He notices an elderly lady who seems to have a superficial wound from the shooting.
As he continues scanning the room, his eyes land on Amanda. She is lying on the floor, motionless.
As his breath catches in his throat, he slowly scrambles over to Amanda, looking down at her as the noise in the room becomes silent and he holds his breath out of terror.
As he pulls her back towards him, she turns over on the floor, breathing slightly, eyes closed, pulse weak.
"Amanda… I need an ambulance here now! Hurry!"
He notices a bright red blood stain on her white shirt.
"Hang on, Amanda! We're getting you an ambulance!"
As Lee continued to wait for the ambulance to arrive, he never averted his gaze off Amanda, whose eyes were still shut, and her breathing had slowed considerably.
Lee was getting fed up with the time it was taking the paramedics to arrive. Seconds seemed like hours.
"Where's that ambulance?!"
Moments later, the paramedics entered the room and shoved Lee aside to get towards Amanda. Her pulse was faint, and her breathing was uneven, but she was alive, barely.
As the paramedics placed her on the gurney and wheeled her to the ambulance, Lee never second guessed himself. He hopped in the ambulance with her and gripped her hand, unwilling to let go.
Lee held Amanda's hand firmly as the ambulance raced down the road towards the hospital.
At the hospital…
As the hospital staff rushed Amanda into surgery to save her life, Lee stood back as the double doors swung closed gradually in front of him, leaving him in the eerily silent waiting room.
He staggered back towards the chairs in the waiting room, placing his head in his hands and trying to calm his fear of Amanda dying. She couldn't die. He had too much to tell her.
As he peeked up, he realized he needed to call Billy and check in and he also needed to inform Amanda's mother, Dotty, of what had happened.
Lee stood sluggishly, unwilling to allow the tears that were developing to spill out of his eyes. His thoughts were dark, and he pushed them hastily out of his mind. He had to be strong for Amanda. She was going to make it. She had to.
Lee walked towards the pay phones in the corner and yanked some change out of his pocket, shoving them in the slot and pressing the numbers on the phone. He called Billy first and gave him his report, telling him what had occurred and that he was going to be at the hospital for a while. Billy understood and told Lee to take all the time he needed. He wished Amanda well.
The next phone call was difficult. Lee had asked Billy for the number to Amanda's house, as Lee didn't know it offhand. As the phone rang, his heart was thumping piercingly in his chest. How could he tell Dotty about Amanda?
"Hello?" Dotty sang joyfully at the other end.
"Mrs. West?"
"Yes?"
"Uh, you don't know me, but I work with Amanda. I'm… I'm afraid there's been an accident."
"An accident? Amanda? Is she alright?"
"She's at the hospital right now. She's in surgery. Can you come down here and I can tell you about it?"
"Yes, yes! I'm on my way now!"
With that, Dotty and Lee hung up and Dotty rushed out of the house as quickly as she could.
Lee went back to waiting until Dotty showed up. His mind consumed his thoughts again. Amanda couldn't die, she just couldn't. He had to tell her what she meant to him. He had been struggling with the thoughts for months since he met her and always tried to force them out of his mind, but with these new events that occurred, he quickly realized he didn't need to delay it any longer. No one was guaranteed the next day, and he would take advantage of showing Amanda how he felt about her if she lived.
As he looked up at the ceiling to try and calm his fears, tears fell from his eyes, and he broke down into a deep cry.