AN: Since this chapter is for the wedding episode and there have been just so many stories written about the wedding night, I wanted to do something different for this chapter and fill in a different scene of the episode. Aside from that, I just did a rather mushy scene for the prior chapter and wanted this one to be just fun. I hope you like the direction I chose for this. Thank you for reading!

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Chapter 82-Big Fish Stories

"Do You Take This Spy?"

"I wonder if he'll catch something," Dotty mused dryly while staring at her daughter in disbelief.

"Fish," Amanda replied without missing a beat.

Dotty shook her head at Amanda's lame attempt to hide the fact that her upcoming vacation was, in fact, a lovers' getaway with her incredibly sexy gentleman friend. "Amanda, you don't really expect me to believe that, do you?"

"Oh, Mother," Amanda sighed, but still not budging an inch on her cover story.

As luck would have it, the man himself picked just the wrong time to tap on her back door. "Speak of the devil," Dotty crowed with a gloating grin. "You know, it's getting late. I think I'll just turn in for the night and give you two some privacy." She rose and made a big show of stretching, but then added as she walked toward the stairs, "But don't think we're done discussing this, Missy."

Amanda chuckled softly as she stood and walked toward the door to let him in. "Subtle, as always," she teased her soon-to-be husband.

He shrugged. "I just figured it wouldn't be that big a deal since I've been hanging around the house more lately." He smirked at her. "Besides how could I resist when I heard you two talking about me?"

"Eavesdropping again?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Sorry," he said sheepishly. "Years of habit."

Amanda rolled her eyes. "Well, if you would come to the front door like a normal person instead of lurking in at the back door like some kind of stalker, you could break that little habit. Normal people don't spy on other normal people."

He couldn't help laughing. "Oh, I don't know, you're a normal person and you've gotten pretty good at spying on other seemingly normal people, including your own mother when she's accidentally gotten mixed up in Agency business."

"Okay, okay," Amanda nodded realizing she wasn't going to win this round. She gave him a quick kiss and held the door wider for him. "Since you've already exposed yourself to Mother, you might as well come on in."

Lee burst out laughing as he entered the room and teased, "I exposed myself to your mother?" He gestured to his clothing. "I don't think so. Everything's still right where it's supposed to be."

Amanda shook her head and retorted, "You know perfectly well that's not what I meant."

Still lightly chuckling, he replied, "I certainly hope not." He reached for her, pulled her close and whispered low in her ear, "You're the only one I want to expose myself to."

A shiver of anticipation shot up her spine at the husky tone of his voice. "Is that what you came here for tonight?"

"No," he answered honestly. "But now that you bring it up…' He brushed his lips lightly against hers.

Amanda linked her arms behind his neck and melted into his kiss, the low fluttering of desire beginning in her belly. When they separated slightly to catch their breath, she commented, "Actually, I didn't bring it up. You started it by turning my innocent comment into a dirty joke."

He sighed and leaned his head against hers. "I'm just anxious to finally be alone with you…" A heady grin formed on his face as he added, "As my wife."

She smiled back at him. "I know. I am too. I just wish we didn't have to lie to everyone about it. I don't know how much you heard, but it wasn't pretty dodging my mother's questions tonight."

"Oh, I heard it all. Fishing, huh?"

"Well, I had to tell her something, didn't I? I couldn't exactly tell I'm running off to get married without telling her about it, could I?" She blew out a long breath. "But the way she just kept fishing for information is what made me think of it."

He nodded, but then couldn't resist teasing her a bit more, "Are you sure you weren't just confusing me with your ex-boyfriend and his big fish? He did ask you to marry him too, after all."

"But I told him no." She pressed herself closer to him and in a sultry tone added, "I prefer Moby Dick to Mr. Limpet," as she ground herself against the slight bulge in his pants.

"So he really didn't have a big…" He paused for a moment and waggled his eyebrows at her. "…fish?"

"Oh, stop," she lowered her hands and slapped playfully at his chest. "It wasn't like that. Things with him just…well, they just weren't very exciting." She ran her hands back up the wall of his chest to rest on his shoulders and added, "But you, on the other hand; it's been nothing but excitement since the day we met."

"Why am I sensing a 'but" coming?" he queried with an arched eyebrow.

"It's like I was telling Mother; I need a little R&R. The excitement may be a big thrill even though it's sometimes scary, but it's nice to also calm down and relax a little." She smiled at him affectionately. "Especially with someone you love. So, you see, I didn't completely lie to her."

"The way I see it, you didn't lie to her much at all." He lowered his lips to her neck and murmured against her, "I do plan on doing some fishing while we're gone." He ran his hands up her back under her top, caressing the bare skin there.

"Mmmm…" She sighed as she pulled the tails of his shirt from his pants.

His hands moved upward to work the buttons loose on her blouse while trailing light kisses down her throat toward the newly exposed skin. "I plan to catch something too," he continued in that same low voice. "After all, I can't let my future mother-in-law down. Can't start off on the wrong foot with her."

"No." She tilted her head back to allow him easier access. "We wouldn't want that." Growing impatient with his teasing, she gave him a push toward the chair in the breakfast nook that she'd just vacated.

Once he followed her lead and sat down, she bent just enough to open his pants and he quipped, "Seems like you're in the mood for a little fishing too."

"Mmm-hmmm. And I plan to catch the big one," she replied, her raspy voice dripping with hunger for him as she freed him from his pants.

"Ohhh, you already have," he groaned as her hand wrapped around him.

"Not quite yet." She grinned as she paused long enough to toe off her sneakers. She was about to return to her task when he grabbed her by the waist and she let out a little "Ooh," of surprise mingled with delight as he then lowered his hands to pop open the button of her jeans and slowly slide the zipper down.

Amanda gasped when he slipped one hand inside her pants. She threw her head back, closed her eyes and bit down on her lip to keep from crying out, knowing that her mother was probably still awake upstairs. As he found her most intimate region with ease from his years of practice, she couldn't help feeling amazed that mere days before they were to become an old married couple, he could still bring out the most primal need in her just as he had when they'd first met. "Leeeeee…" she breathed, drawing out his name in a nearly-silent trancelike state as his touch overwhelmed her.

"I love you," he whispered reverently as he stopped what he was doing long enough to yank her pants down, along with her underwear.

"I love you," she responded in kind as she moved to sit on his lap astride him. They share a long, lingering kiss as he pushed up into her and then locked eyes, smiling at their renewed connection. Amanda braced herself on his shoulders as they moved against one another slowly, savoring every moment. "See? This is how you reel in the big one." She grinned as she rose and fell in time with his slow upward thrusts, drawing him deeper inside.

"So, I see." He grunted as he pushed up into her again and again, his breathing growing more labored as his heart pounded against hers.

The held tightly to each other, keeping the same pace going, stealing soft kisses in between nipping at each other's necks as their passion for each other built to a crescendo and they were finally both spent.

Lee cradled his fiancée in his lap, his arms around her as their breathing slowed. "I love you," he repeated. While he knew now that those words didn't need to be said anymore because they were both finally on the same page in regards to their feelings for each other, he still felt the overwhelming urge to say it again since they'd once again come so close to losing one another just a couple of days ago. "I'm so glad I picked you out of the train station that day and I can't wait until you're my wife."

She smiled, gave him a soft, gentle kiss and instead of responding in a similar fashion, she teased, "Me too because now I'm the one who's caught the big fish."

He shook his head, but couldn't help laughing. "Really?" He replied in mock outrage. "I'm pouring my heart out and that's what you have to say in response?"

She laughed lightly and reminded him, "Well, the girls in the Steno Pool do call you the white whale, you know."

"Don't remind me," he complained as they reluctantly pulled apart and began to straighten their clothing.

The mood having shifted, Amanda said sadly, "Yeah. I just wish I could tell them all that I'm the Ahab to your Moby Dick; only in this case I caught the one I was after."

"I wouldn't be too sure about that," he informed her in an equally melancholy tone.

"What?" Her downcast eyes suddenly widened in surprise. "You just said you can't wait. Surely, you haven't changed your mind already; not after everything we've been through?"

He took her hands in his to reassure her. "No, Honey, I haven't changed my mind at all." He gave her hands a squeeze. "But this stupid job may have."

"Since when do you think the job is stupid?" She cocked her head to the side with a curious look.

"Since it keeps getting in the way of us having a real life together," he answered. "That's what I came by to talk to you about. It's that damned Nick Grant thing you were working on this morning. Just as I was leaving the office, Billy called me about it and asked me to stop by his office in the morning so we could discuss dealing with it."

"Didn't you say this morning that you were overreacting about it?"

"Okay, yes, I did, but, Amanda, you don't know Nick Grant the way I do and I-"

"Listen, I know you're worried about him interfering with our wedding plans, but really, it's up to you to decide which is more important to you…" She frowned. "I mean, if you think we should postpone our plans…"

"NO!"

"Good," she breathed a sigh of relief.

"I'm just worried the Agency and Nick Grant will do it for us," he moaned.

"Well, we just won't let them," she told him with a resolute nod.

"Right," he blew out a long breath, her usual fiercely determined spirit calming his worries a bit. "After all, we didn't let that thing this weekend put a halt to things, right?"

"Right," she repeated. "And that was a lot more serious when you could've died from that."

"Yeah, you're right. So, what am I so worried about?"

"You know, I think we're back to the fishing thing," she teased, trying to lighten the mood again.

"You lost me."

"Well, some fish are easily caught because they fall prey to the bait that's laid out for them, even the artificial lures, and they get reeled in quickly, but others…well, there are other fish…carp, for example, that need a real enticement. Nothing fake will get their attention." She stepped closer to him again. "Nothing fake will do, but here's the thing…if they sense they're getting close to getting caught, they get more nervous and any disruption to their natural habitat, even tiny ripples in the water, will scare them. You have to sort of…sneak up on them so that they're caught before they know they're caught."

"So, you're saying that in the past, my relationships didn't work because they were fake and now that I'm so close to being reeled in by real, enticing bait, I'm just getting nervous?"

"Close enough."

"You, Amanda King, caused more than tiny ripples in the water. If I recall. It was more like a giant tidal wave in the beginning with the way you dived right in."

"True, but I soon realized that to really get your attention, I needed to sneak up on you, just like with carp, but my real point in all that was that I think you've just got a bit of the pre-wedding jitters and since I know just how good you are about admitting how you feel about things, it seems to me that you're making this Nick Grant thing a much bigger deal than it really is, but, Sweetheart, those kind of feelings are perfectly normal."

"Yeah, I guess you'd know since you've been caught before," he retorted with a bit of an edge in his voice. "So, I guess this is no big deal to you."

"Oh, come on! I can't help that I've been married before any more than you can help that you haven't, but just because this isn't my first marriage, that doesn't mean that I don't have the same feelings about it that you do…because I want it to be my last and I believe it will be because I not only use the right bait this time, but I also found the right catch." She pressed her lips against his once more, letting them linger until he responded.

Finally, he smiled back at her. "Okay, okay, I get your point, but can we stop with the fishing jokes?"

"Just one more…" She glanced down his body and then back up to meet his eyes again. "Thank you for giving me the catch of the day." They shared a laugh as they once again melted into a long, sweet kiss.