The couple abruptly pulled apart and started fumbling for their scattered clothing. The knocking on the door of the conference room became more insistent as Lee and Amanda hurried to wriggle back into their clothes. "Crap, crap, crap," Lee muttered.

"I thought you said this room was sound-proof, " Amanda barked accusingly while pulling her jeans on.

"It IS!" he stated adamantly.

"Then how can we hear them knocking from the other side of the door," she questioned as she pulled her sweatshirt back over her head, then bent to reach for her shoes.

"It's not THAT sound-proof," he barked back. "Are you decent yet?"

"Check," Amanda answered breathlessly.

"Good," Lee nodded and took a calming breath as he unlocked the door.

"What the hell is going on in here?" Francine demanded as she pushed her way through the door. She glanced from one to the other, noting their heavy breathing and upon seeing the disheveled appearance of their clothing and the flushed tinge of their skin, she amended, "Never mind. Don't answer that. I KNOW what's been going on in here."

"I don't know what you THINK has been going on here," Lee began just as Amanda argued, "It's not what it looks like…"

"We were just talking," the newlyweds finished together.

Francine nodded. "Talking…right. Well, I hope you were practicing safe…talking." She grinned salaciously and laughed when both of them rolled their eyes at her thereby confirming her suspicions. "Now, if you don't mind, SOME of us still have work to do." She waved them toward the door with the file she held. "I have a briefing to get ready for that you two are not a part of since you're on your…your little...honeymoon." Her voice oozed with disdain on the last word.

"I wouldn't exactly call it a honeymoon," Lee protested, "It's not like we planned to get married." He nodded to his bride. "Right, Amanda?"

Amanda turned her exasperated expression on him and retorted, "Right. I mean, speaking as someone who had a REAL honeymoon, this pales in comparison." She couldn't believe his nerve. After the talk they'd just had in which she'd poured her heart out to him and she believed he'd been doing the same, now he was acting as if none of it meant anything, even after she'd more or less told him that she'd be willing to have his baby if that was what he wanted. Okay, so she hadn't said it in those exact words, but the fact that she was willing to have unprotected sex with him and had pretty much told him that if it happened, it happened; she thought that would have been a pretty big clue for even a clueless man like Scarecrow. She snorted. Such an appropriate code name for him.

Francine couldn't help noticing the look that crossed Lee's face at Amanda's comments. It was the look of wounded male pride. Score one for the housewife! Not that she'd tell her that. "Well, you're divorced now, so I guess we all know how THAT turned out," Francine spat back caustically instead.

Amanda's brow furrowed as she bit back a scathing reply and pushed past the other two with a clipped, "Excuse me," as she stormed off.

Francine fixed Lee with an arched eyebrow, "Trouble in paradise already? Apparently, your new misses doesn't believe you're living up to your reputation. What's the matter, Lee? Having trouble performing your husbandly duties?"

"Go to hell, Francine," Lee growled at her before taking off after Amanda and calling her name desperately. "Amanda!" He sprinted through the bullpen and just barely caught sight of her just outside power-walking her way down the corridor. He flung open the glass door and called out to her again, "Amanda, stop!" but she continued going. He finally caught up with her when she had to pause to wait for the elevator. He reached for her arm in an attempt to turn her in his direction.

"Don't touch me," she hissed at him as she wrenched her arm from his grasp and kept facing the elevator. "Come on..." she muttered at the doors.

"Amanda, what the hell is wrong with you?"

"Nothing. Nothing at all," she denied as the doors finally opened and she stepped inside, turned around and shook her finger at him in warning. "Do NOT follow me in here!"

Lee ignored her order and did so anyway, pushing the button for the ground floor. "Oh, no, we're going to deal with this right now!"

"Then I'll wait for the next one," she snapped as she scrambled for the doors to get away from him, but he grabbed her arm and pulled her firmly back just as the doors closed.

Again she yanked her arm from his grip and narrowed her eyes at him. "Just what the hell do you think you're doing?"

"I could ask you the same thing!" he challenged her as the stood nose to nose. "What the hell was that 'honeymoon' crack about?"

"I think it was perfectly plain," she answered hotly.

"So, what are you saying," he asked in a lower, much more self-conscious tone, as ran a hand along the back of his neck. "You don't mean...?"

"Don't mean what?" she prodded as she folded her arms across her chest and fixed him with a stern, but questioning gaze, daring him to finish his thought.

"No, it's not possible," Lee turned from her intense gaze and faced the front of the car. "You couldn't have meant what it sounded like you meant."

"Oh, couldn't I? It's not like I've never been there before, Sweetheart." When Lee turned to gape at her, she gave him a self-satisfied smirk.

"Well, listen, Darling," he fired back. "This isn't exactly my first trip to the rodeo either."

"Oh, I know that, but the thing about rodeos..." She paused for emphasis. "They're mostly about the show, all flash and dazzle, but no real...substance."

"Well, I haven't heard you complain once about my..." as the elevators doors opened, he paused knowing they were now in earshot of Mrs. Marston and then lowered his voice, leaned in and in just above a whisper, continued, "...substance."

"See? That's exactly why I made the comments that I did. That's all that's on your mind." She strode out of the elevator, lobbed her guest pass at Mrs. Marston and headed for the door. Upon hearing Lee behind her as she stepped outside the door, she whipped around and ordered, "Don't follow me!"

"You're not getting off that easily." He responded, then let out a dry chuckle. "Of course, that's part of the problem, isn't it?" He grasped both of her hands and pulled her roughly to him. "You do get off that easily." Knowing that that was the only way he could seem to get through to her, he crushed her mouth under his and ground against her. He inwardly gloated as he heard her moaning against him. It seemed to him that the only way they really communicated their feelings was like this. Of course, there was also that nagging pinch of his ego that needed to prove to her that he was better than her ex. He cheered inwardly as he felt her softening against him, but his victory only lasted a moment when she pulled away from him and he felt the resounding crack of her hand across his face.

"Don't ever do that again," she spat as she turned on her heel and began sprinting toward the parking lot.

"Amanda!" he called after her and started to follow, but then stopped, torn on what to do while he rubbed his face where she'd slapped him. Dotty's words to him about fighting for her kept ringing through his head, but so did Amanda's about how hard she'd fought for her first marriage, yet it had still failed. Was that why she didn't seem to want to fight for him or for their marriage? Did she believe that they were doomed to failure too? "Oh, what's the use?" he muttered, but then he perked up a bit as he saw Amanda walking toward him.

"You ready to talk things out now?"

"I forgot I didn't bring my car," she replied sheepishly. "I took a cab so Mother could have the car in case she needed it. I...um...I'm just gonna' go inside and have Mrs. Marston call me a cab."

She attempted to move past him, but his gentle touch on her arm, and his soft, "Amanda..." stopped her.

"What?" She gave him a questioning look and took a chance of meeting his eyes, hoping she'd see what she wanted to see in them.

"Don't call a cab. There's no need. I've got my car here. Let me drive you home."

She shook her head. "I'm starting to think that maybe my first idea of us taking some time apart to think was the better idea."

"If that's really what you want, fine. I won't pressure you for more, no matter how much I might want it, but let me at least take you home. I owe you that much." When she still seemed to be hesitating, he added, in a hoarse whisper, "Please?"

Finally, with a nod, she acquiesced and they began walking toward the 'vette. "Yeah, okay, but just a ride." Lee chuckled and grinned at her. "Not that kind of ride," she added quickly and blushed furiously.

So much for not making her blush, he thought as he opened her door for her.

They rode in silence through the D.C. traffic, neither sure what to say, until Amanda, in a panicked voice, urged, "Pull over."

"What? You told me you'd at least let-"

"I'm gonna' be sick. Pull over now!" she cut him off.

Following her instructions, he pulled over abruptly and jumped out of the car, paying no heed to the honking of the drivers he'd pissed off by doing so. He made his way to her side of the car to find her already hunched over, retching violently. He pulled her hair back away from her face and softly rubbed her back while she emptied the contents of her stomach. When she was finished, they knelt there together for a long moment, the awkward silence still between them. Not knowing what else to say, he lamely asked her, "Are you okay?"

She nodded. "Yeah...I...um...I feel better." She didn't. Her emotions were in a complete upheaval. After all they'd shared in the conference room and their lovemaking that had followed, how could he be so cavalier about their marriage now?

"Are you sure? You don't look so good," Lee's voice was filled with genuine concern.

Unable to bear the intensity of his gaze, she forced a smile and nodded. "Fine. Thank you. We should go." She nodded to his still open door. "We're making other drivers mad."

The rest of the way home, she couldn't help thinking of his words to her in her bathroom earlier, how he's said he wanted to be the only one to ever... She sighed. Had he really meant those things or were they just said because she'd told him that she wanted to cool down their seemingly uncontrollable need to possess each other?

At hearing Amanda's sigh, Lee cast a sideways glance at her. He knew he'd hurt her by acting nonchalant in front of Francine, but it had become habit so many years of trying to protect his heart that the words had come out of his mouth before he'd really thought about what he was saying. He knew he had to find a way to make up for it and to get back into her good graces if he wanted to stay married to her.

All too soon, he was pulling his car into her driveway. "Well...uh...here we are."

"Yep, home sweet home," she nodded, but made no move to get out of the car right away.

"So, I...uh...I guess this is..." He shook his head as he thought, Screw this, as he turned the car off, flung his door open, got out and began to saunter toward the house.

Amanda hurried after him. "What do you think you're doing?" she demanded as she stepped in front of him just before he got to the door. "You said you were just going to give me a ride home; that you were okay with letting me have some space for a while so that we can both think." She seriously needed some thinking time without him being near enough to touch. His touch made all rational thought fly out of her head and then she'd start forgetting all the comments he'd made about how much he wanted her; wanted her, not loved her.

As if sensing her thoughts, he gave her a mischievous grin. "And if that's what you really want, I will, but your mother invited me for dinner and I wouldn't want to disappoint her." He paused, flashed her his dimples and then added, "Unless perhaps...you'd like to explain to her why I'm not staying for dinner."

"Fine, fine, fine," she grumbled. "You can stay for dinner." When he moved closer to her, she jabbed a finger into his chest. "But just so we're clear, don't think you're staying for...dessert." She then turned and walked into the house leaving him to stare after her.

He shook his head and with a wide grin, mused to himself as he glanced down at his wedding band, "We'll see, Mrs. Stetson."