DISCLAIMER: The characters are the property of Warner Brothers and Shoot The Moon Productions. No infringement is intended.

Title: Waiting for The Last One
Timeframe : After NightCrawler
Spoiler: Over the Limit & NightCrawler

This is my first attempt at fanfiction, feedback would be great but please be kind.

He lay on his tummy, elbows tucked at his ribs supporting the upper half of his body off the bed he turned his head to face his new lover and watched as she lightly kissed his upper arm and shoulder, all the while running her hand along his back, sometimes up and down his spine and sometimes back and forth across his shoulder blades, at the moment he was feeling the light feather touches of her fingertips dipping to his buttocks and dropping to curve around one of them and then he felt her move back up to his neck, he could have stayed that way forever.

He smiled to himself, and closed his eyes and allowed himself to shut out the rest of the world and just be. Just be in that moment, etching the emotion and feelings into his mind, where he could recall them when he needed them.

He wanted to speak to her, he needed to be sure she understood, she had to know she just had to, considering what they had just done to each other surely now she knew, he needed her in his life as sure as he needed oxygen to breathe. He showed her, showed her as best he could.

He loved her. God how he loved her, he loved her so much he ached for her and she was right beside him, touching him, reminding him of her presence with those magic fingers of hers gliding across his body. Of course he had told her this, many times in fact, but he needed to make sure she understood it wasn’t a line, he had never used THAT line to get any woman into his bed, did she know he had only said it to one other woman, as he was sure she had only said it to one other man.

“Manda..,. “he started

“Mmmm?,” she replied, she had leaned into his shoulder and was biting, tiny bites across his form, not marking him just nibbling gently

“Manda, please I need to talk to you..,” he moved slightly away from her so she was forced to look at him, she pouted like a child who had just had their favourite toy taken from them,

“ I was hoping to do more than talking,” she ushered the words slowly and in a tone of voice he was sure he would never get tired of hearing, she did however roll onto her back and snuggled closer to him so he was now looking down at her from his side, her face was tucked into his chest and he felt her breath on him as she spoke “ ok sweetheart, what’s up?”

“ it’s taken us a while to get here, to get to this,” he gestured around the bed to indicate what he meant, “ and don’t get me wrong Manda I would have waited twice as long if that’s what it took, I just need to be sure that you know how much you mean to me, what this means to me,” he stated, “ it took over a year for us, for me I mean to get here, waiting is a bitch isn’t it, waiting for something you think is never gonna happen, waiting, waiting, waiting all the time wondering when? How? If? I wondered sometimes if it bothered you as much as it did me? “, he asked.

She gave him a quizzical look, that was not what she thought he was going to say, “Well that depends on what you’re talking about doesn’t it? , I mean are we discussing waiting for a bus in the rain?, or how long it would take to persuade Francine to wear off the rack clothing? Or even to get her to go on a date with Beaman? Although I think he would be waiting a lifetime for.....” ,

“Manda, none of those things” he interrupted, “ I was thinking of it being a long time for me, a long time to wait” he finished,

“Wait? Wait for what?” she inquired

“Wait for this”, he said, gesturing between them to indicate he meant the intimate act of love making they had only recently returned to earth from.

Amanda moved away from him as she began to speak, , “Really Scarecrow, you’ve been counting the days since your last conquest, well I am happy I was around to clear up the dry spell you obviously found yourself in” she wore a hurt expression and her eyes were already filling up with tears she would not allow him to see, at this stage she was off the bed with a sheet held tightly around her petite frame, picking up her clothes from the various positions on the floor,

“I’m so happy I was available to help you out again, yes good ole Amanda, reliable Amanda, always at the end of the phone, maybe I’m supposed to be grateful you found another use for me that doesn’t include your filing or completing your reports, nobody is ever going to say I didn’t take one for the team” she continued, desperately trying to get some distance between her and Lee, lest he see how upset she was.

As fast as she moved he was faster, he positioned himself between her and the doorway, grasping her by the shoulders before she could dart past him.

“No, no, no, no no..... that’s not it Amada, that’s not what I’m talking about, maybe it came out wrong, your wrong in your assumptions, that’s not what I meant at all, please listen to me and let me finish” he pleaded, he moved his arms around her and enveloped her in a bear hug, he dug his face into her hair near the top of the ear so he could repeat his pleading with her to calm and listen to him. In her arms she clung to her clothing, her hands were keeping a death grip on the sheet protecting her from exposure.

She stiffened in his embrace, her thoughts reeling, silently berating herself for having succumbed to his charms, stupid, stupid, stupid Amanda¸he got you hook, line and sinker and you lapped it up, believing everything he said, falling for his tricks and now that he had gotten you into his bed...... Oh God it’s never gonna happen again is it, I’m never going to feel the way he made me feel again, the wonder of his hands on her, the way his fingers touched her, his lips becoming intimate with every curve, his breath on her neck..

“Amanda?”

“Amanda, look at me..” he asked

His voice broke through her thoughts and doubts, “Let me go” she stated, even surprising herself with the level calm she heard in her voice.

Without releasing her, Lee moved to look at her directly, “No, I will not let you go, you will listen to me Amanda, if you still want to leave when I’ve said my piece then I won’t stop you, but please if I mean anything to you, if what we’ve shared here today means anything to you then you will allow me to finish what I intended to say to you, i’m sorry it came out wrong, i’m sorry i’ve ruined what should be,,, what I wanted to be the most perfect time for us, please listen to me Amanda. Please?” His voice was quivering by the time he’d finished his ramble, his own fears rising to the surface, she couldn’t leave him, not now, not ever. He wouldn’t recover from her withdrawing herself, withdrawing her love from him.

Amanda sighed deeply, refusing to look him in the face but stared straight ahead at a spot on the wall over his shoulder, her eyes remained fixed and open, she knew if she blinked those tears she was desperately willing back into her head, would fall.

“Amanda?” he asked

Not sure she could listen to another speech about how they were just friends again, no, he couldn’t possible expect her to believe that any longer especially following this evening activities, maybe he’s going to change it to friends with benefits she thought, I have to get out of here and quickly, she thought to herself.

“Amanda? Amanda please answer me, say something please” he dipped his knees slightly to catch her eye in an attempt to communicate with her.

She dropped her gaze and shut her eyes when she realised he was naked before her, naked and pleading with her to stay, God the days she had dreamt of this scenario, got to be more careful of what I wish for I guess she thought silently.

“Will you at least sit and listen to what I have to say?, You don’t have to say anything if you don’t want to but I really need you to hear me out on this one Manda, you’ve got the wrong end of the stick here and I need to clarify what I have been trying to say” he pleaded with her.

She didn’t respond at all, not a movement, not even an acknowledgement that she even heard him, he decided to continue speaking, hoping to get through to her,

“ Manda I meant it’s been that long since I realised I needed you in my life, ever since that Save the Bay case I’ve known that I couldn’t live without you, when Billy phoned me and told me about that explosion that day I couldn’t get there fast enough, I couldn’t get to you fast enough, until I saw you with my own eyes and held you in my arms I wouldn’t believe you were safe.”

“ It made me realise what a big part of my life you had become, and all I wanted was for that part to grow bigger until it consumed us, until both of us realised what we meant to each other, I didn’t know then how you felt about me, I mean I was hopeful but I convinced myself to take it slowly with you Manda, more slowly than I had ever done before with anyone else. I decided to try a romantic courtship because I had to make you realise how seriously I was taking our relationship, I had to re-invent my approach, the great Scarecrow hand book on how to woo a woman was no use to me with you Manda because I knew you were different, you would be for keeps and I couldn’t mess it up."

“ You told me once that when dealing with love you have to be patient, I so hoped you held some of the same feelings for me as I did you, and I took that advice and I worked so damn hard to lose the old tactics, to change my ways all in the name of an attempt to be worthy of you. When you said those words to me I started to believe we could be together forever that we were meant to be.

“Amanda King I love you, I love you do you hear me? I only said that to one other woman In my life Amanda so please understand I do not do this lightly, It’s taken me all that time to get us here, to finally make to completely mine, my Manda”,

Lee had manovered Amanda back to the bed, when she felt it along the back of her legs she sat down, Lee kneeled down in front of her and removed her clothes from her clutches, he covered her hands with his own and gently rubbed his thumbs across her knuckles, he dipped his head to kiss them, he raised his head to look at her, he leaned toward her and rested his forehead against hers, one hand slowly caressing the side of her face and the other slowly moving around her neck to settle at the nape of her neck, his fingers gently rubbing her silky flesh there, he tilted her head so she had to look at him, the hurt he saw before was subsiding as if his words were slowly penetrating her brain and sinking in, she blinked and inhaled and looked like she was about to say something but Lee covered her lips with his fingers, “ let me finish” he said quietly,

“ I suppose what I mean is that when I realised you were the one for me, when I finally admitted that to myself, I hatched a plan to make you mine, I wasn’t sure of your feelings for me and I was so scared to express mine until I was sure you wanted me as much as I did you. I mean it Amanda, you are the one for me, the only woman I will ever want, the only woman I will ever need, I’m sorry my past is what it is, but that’s all it is, the past, you may not be the first woman I’ve slept with Amanda King but I promise you, you will be last”.

He spoke with such conviction, such determination almost sternly but there was a pleading about his tone that got through to her. “ Don’t leave me, I couldn’t bear it if you left, I love you so much, Manda, I ache for you when you’re not with me, and when you are I can never get enough of you, don’t you understand I couldn’t and wouldn’t allow Scarecrow to take you to bed, that had to be me, the man in front of you, the man you know as well as you know yourself, me, Lee, God Amanda why did you agree to marry me if you don’t believe me? Why did....?”

“Sshh.... “ she began to interrupt him,

She reached up and removed his fingers from her lips, she held his hand lightly in her lap intertwining their fingers. His words were so sincere, the pleading in his voice was genuine, and the love that shone from him bore into her very soul she was sure of it, she had misunderstood, she had allowed his past conquests to come between them, she allowed her own insecurities to rise to the surface and question his intentions,

“ Even I couldn’t top that ramble Lee.. give a girl a chance to get a word in huh?” daring to glance into his eyes she continued, “That long eh, over a year?” she asked, “ you know all you had to do was ask me and you could have saved both of us a lot of anguish and a lot of lonely nights, i’m sorry I doubted you sweetheart, i’m sorry I allowed my insecurities to threaten what we have created here, I love you too, i’m so sorry to have ruined what you tried so hard to make perfect for me, for us”

“You haven’t” he said, “you didn’t ruin anything Amanda, it was me I never meant to hurt you, I would never intentionally.... ,”

“ I know that Lee, I know sweetheart,” she interrupted, “ So I’m to be your last then,” she was teasing him now, needing to lighten the mood, “ I should hope so Stetson, I fully intend for you to be my last too, my one and only for the rest of time,” she leaned into him and released the sheet to wrap her arms around his neck and pull him to her, she gently kissed him, brief gentle pecks on his lips, “ you know,” she continued kissing his face and neck, “ I don’t think....... I ever came.....last at anything...... before ....maybe it’s not such...... a bad position ......to be in at all...... especially when we ......can be last together,” .

THE END