“What are you reading?”

“Hmmm?”  He was so focused on the file in front of him he hadn’t heard her come into the office.  Looking behind him, he saw her slide by and wrap her arms around his shoulders.   “Oh, I was just reading an old case.”  He indicated the folder in his hand.  “How was your meeting with Billy?”  He hoped the change of subject would be overlooked.

“It was fine.  He’s completely updated on the case.”  Looking at him suspiciously, she lifted the file and read the front.  “The Sacker case file?  That was nearly ten years ago, sweetheart.  Why on earth would you need to read that?”  She rubbed her hand slowly up and down his back, and he closed his eyes at her soothing touch.  “Lee?”

His eyes shot open as he realized he had become too relaxed.  “Oh, um . . . just felt like reading about how we worked together in the early days.”

“Just felt like reminiscing, huh?”  Well, that was one heck of a case.”  She lifted her hand from his back and walked over to her desk, sitting on the edge.

“What do you mean?”  He was curious to get her side of things.  Maybe he could learn what wasn’t in the file. 

“Don’t you remember?  We were chained together and running for our lives in the backwoods of Virginia.”  His hopes of finding any new information were dashed.  “Then there was our near miss kiss,” she added and smiled shyly at him from her perch.

“What?”  He stared at her and held his breath.  ‘Now we’re talking.’

“Come on, like you don’t remember.  We were cuddled up together, sharing body warmth, and you faked a leg cramp, so you could pull me close to you and then our lips touched . . .”

“Then what?”

“What do you mean, then what?”  She smiled and shook her head.  “The same thing that always happened back then when we were trying to discover our personal feelings for each other.  We were interrupted.”

Why did he feel so disappointed?  He picked up another file and quickly reread it.  “What about this ‘Stemwinder’ case?” 

“What about it?”  The look in her eyes told him she had mixed feelings about it.

“How could you just leave your family behind to go on the run with me?”  He was having difficulty resolving the Amanda he knew in 1984 with the Amanda in the here and now.  She must have really trusted him to leave everything and everyone she loved behind.

“You were my partner and the man I loved.  I trusted you with my life, and I knew that you were innocent.  So I had to go with you to watch your tail.”  She smiled softly as she settled into her chair..  “I believe my exact words were ‘we work best together as a team.’  And you know what?”

“What?” 

“We do.  Always have.”  She smiled broadly at him.

“I’m beginning to realize that,” he mumbled to himself, as he picked up yet another file on the infamous ‘Scarecrow and Mrs. King’. 

They worked in silence for several hours, until Lee whispered aloud, “Oh, my God.” 

“What’s wrong, Lee?”

He hadn’t meant to startle her.  The file he was reading on ‘Karbala’ and its notorious leader Addi Berol surprised him.  The things she'd endured were unbelievable, and his stomach tightened as he read about her ordeal.  As he read about the lengths that he'd gone to in order to rescue her, he started to understand the connection they had formed.  It was as if they were two halves that made a whole. 

“Lee?  Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I was just . . .” He couldn’t continue.  It was so difficult to learn about their relationship by combing through file after file.  He wanted nothing more than to just ask Amanda about their past, but knew she would think he was crazy.

“Look, it’s almost lunchtime.  Why don’t we go grab a bite to eat, huh?”  She looked at him hopefully. 

He smiled faintly.  “That sounds good.”  She seemed to always know what he needed, just when he needed it most. 

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Later that afternoon, on his way to see Billy, Lee stopped off in the break room to grab a cup of coffee.  As he was filling his cup, he felt himself pressed to the counter.  Before he could turn around, he felt warm breath on his neck and a seductive voice whispered in his ear.

“Hi there, Lee.”

“Uh, hi, uh . . .” He turned around to face a tall voluptuous red head.

“Kimber,” she supplied.  “Don’t tell me that you forgot me when your wife slipped that ring on your finger?”

“Of course not.  How could I?”  He’d never forget a body like that.  Kimber Davis was anything but forgettable.  Lee found her long legs and thick red hair extremely alluring.  He thought back to the nights they had spent together, well before his life had changed, and smiled.  Maybe that’s what he needed, something familiar to help him relax. 

She smiled and ran her flawlessly manicured nail down his chest.  “Please tell me you’ve finally become bored with suburbia and are ready to come back to the real world?  Amanda would never have to know.”  She moved her index finger to his lips as if to silence his possible protest then pulled out a slip of paper.  After jotting down her number, she slipped it into his palm.  “Just think about it.”

Lee looked down at the note in his hand and watched the sexy woman from steno sashay out of the room.  When he heard a heavy tread, he jumped and faced his supervisor.

The look he received from Billy was one of a disappointed father.  ‘He must have caught that little conversation.’  He sighed and took a sip of his coffee.  “What’s up, Billy?  I was just on my way to see you about Senator Phillips’ case.”

“You do realize any man in his right mind would give his right arm to be with Amanda, don’t you?  She’s amazing, and you’re going to go and screw it up!”

“What?”  He tried to shake off the uncomfortable question.   

“You know exactly what I’m talking about, Lee.  You’d be crazy to ruin what you have with Amanda just for a quick romp in the hay with the pick of the week from Steno.”

Uncomfortable now, he rubbed his brow and laughed nervously.  “Relax, Billy.  No one is ruining anything.”  ‘Besides, there’s nothing to “ruin”.  It’s not like we’re really married to each other.’  He tucked the paper into his jacket pocket and followed his supervisor out of the room.

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Waking up from a fitful sleep, Lee found himself downstairs on the sofa watching television.  He threw the remote down in utter disgust at the lack of quality programming at three o’clock in the morning.  Rummaging through the collection of videotapes, he stumbled across one with the words “Our Wedding: Redux” written in Amanda’s handwriting.  Curious, he popped the tape into the VCR. 

Lee was transfixed--he had never seen Amanda look more beautiful.  She absolutely glowed.  The simple white suit she wore accentuated her feminine curves and made her look so delicate.  She wore her hair up on top of her head, and little tendrils framed her face.  He wore a tailored suit that made him look even younger than he was.  Or was that just because of the sheer joy on his face?

The happy couple kissed at the prompting of the minister, and was introduced as “Mr. and Mrs. Lee Stetson”.  There was no denying that the ‘domestic Lee’ on the tape was head over heals in love with his bride.  Rubbing his eyes with his thumb and index finger, Lee forwarded through the tape, stopping occasionally to watch.

He was suddenly bombarded with feelings of jealousy.  ‘Jealous?  How can I be jealous of myself?  His inner voice mocked him. 

He shook the thoughts from his mind as he heard her light laugh.  Gazing at the screen, he was amazed at the joy he saw between the couple that had just professed their love and devotion to one another.  Judging from the look in the groom’s eyes, he had found that one true thing--his everything. 

Was that what the man at the liquor store was trying to tell him?  Was that what he was supposed to find by coming here?

Lee pulled himself off the couch and slowly walked over to the desk.  Pulling his suit jacket from the back of the chair, he searched one pocket and then the other until he found what he was looking for.  He read the note and shook his head in disbelief when he saw she had dotted her ‘i’ with a heart.  “Why doesn’t that surprise me?” he muttered.  Giving the note one last look, he crumpled it up and threw it in the trash.  “I need to figure this all out and Kimber Davis isn’t the way to do it.”  Feeling a bit more relaxed he went back to bed.

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