After leaving the bar, Lee and Amanda were in his room discussing the case, both avoiding discussing anything personal, as well as avoiding making eye contact. Lee paced restlessly while Amanda idly flipped through a magazine trying to pretend she was interested in a four-year-old article and photo spread on the splashy wedding of Charles and Diana. They really need to update their magazine selection, she couldn't help thinking. The idea of weddings tore at her heart.

When they had both run out of things to say regarding the case, she finally glanced up at him. One of them had to be the first to break the ice and she knew that he would never do so. "Lee..."

"Hmm?" He turned to face her.

"Don't you think it's time we talked about...things?" She gave him a pointed look.

"I thought that's what we were just doing," he responded obtusely.

"Don't do that, Lee. Don't pretend that you think I'm talking about work. You know very well what I'm talking about."

"Okay, fine! You wanna' talk about it. Here's what I have to say on the subject," he barked angrily, all the emotion he'd been feeling over the past week pouring out at once. "You said you wanted a future with me, said that you wanted to 'go forward.' You practically threw yourself at me, begged for me to make love to you and then you...you." His voice trailed off as he began pacing again. "For God's sake, Amanda, I poured my heart out to you, told you that I love you; that I HAVE loved you for a long time and you never once...not one time...said it in return." He halted in his pacing and glowered at her. "Then, you...you just left. No note, no explanation. How the hell is a guy supposed to feel about that, huh? Do you know the last time I said 'I love you' to a woman? NEVER! That's not an easy thing for me to do and for you to be all, 'oh, that's nice' but never...never say it back-"

"I did say it back," Amanda argued as she rose from her seat and met his glare with one of her own.

"No, you didn't!"

"I most certainly did!" Did he think that she was the kind of woman who'd just jump into bed with a man that she didn't love? Didn't he know anything about her at all?

"No, Amanda, you most definitely did not! If the woman I love had said those words, I'd have remembered something like that." He crossed his arms tightly as he tried to get a grip on his emotions.

"I did. I'm sure I did!" When he continued his stare, she questioned, "I didn't?" He shook his head and she began to reflect on the events of that night. "I didn't," she confirmed in a soft voice as it hit her that she really hadn't; that she'd been so caught up in the euphoria of the moment, of finally being in his arms that the words had never come out as she'd intended. "Lee, I-I-I don't know what to say."

"What can you say? If you don't feel it, you don't feel it." He shrugged as if it no longer mattered to him.

"Lee..." She approached him and lightly touched his folded arms, but he didn't budge. "I do feel it."

"You do?" He gazed at her questioningly, hope rising in him at the sincere expression on her lovely face. He dropped his arms to his sides.

"Yes, I do." She reached for his hand and linked her fingers with his reassuringly. "I love you, Lee. I have loved you for so long that it's hard for me to remember a time that I didn't love you. That's why it was so hard for me to share all that stuff with you about Joe...about why our marriage ended. I-I-I was scared. I thought if you knew that he...that he chose his job over me, that you'd-" She let out a deep sigh. "I didn't think there'd be a chance that you'd want me if you knew that even the father of my children didn't; a man who vowed to love me forever. The words aren't easy for me to say either because of that." She hung her head guiltily.

Lee hooked a finger under her chin to get her to face him, and then ran his hand down her face, tenderly caressing her cheek. "Joe King is an idiot for leaving a woman like you behind." He searched her eyes and saw traces of pain in them. "Does that mean..." He shook his head. "Never mind."

"No, what?" She squeezed his hand tighter to keep him from pulling away from her as he had a tendency to do.

"I...um...I was just thinking about that crack you made downstairs. 'Married once, cured forever.' Is that how you really feel?"

"Yes..." When his face fell, she added, "...and no. It was how I felt when Joe and I were first divorced. It's like you said once, I feel very strongly about marriage. It's supposed to be forever and it...it wasn't. Now, if I ever thought about getting married again, I guess...I mean, I think I'd want to make sure that it will be forever."

"So, you think..." He paused and took a deep breath to steel himself, not sure he wanted to hear her answer, but needing to know. "Do you think that it could be...forever, I mean... with me?"

"I do," she answered instantly.

With his heart feeling a thousand pounds lighter, he leaned in to kiss her but before he made contact, they were interrupted by a knock on the door.

Knowing that it was probably Francine, Lee shifted back into work mode with a frustrated sigh, and as he walked to the door said, "This is a perfect chance to work Metz. Get inside his head; see what makes him tick."

Amanda sank back down into her chair dejectedly and resumed the pretense of being interested in the magazine just as Lee opened the door to admit Francine. She rolled her eyes at the blond agent's "cozy," comment and told her sharply, "My room's down the hall." Unfortunately, she mentally added.

The night only went downhill from there as she and Lee seemed to be back to their old selves, teasing and flirting about "field experience" and she'd tried to reassure him further by inviting him into her room, but as luck would have it, Francine again showed up to ruin things. She was at least a bit reassured herself that he'd seemed open to it and that the unbearable tension between them had lifted.

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Once the case had been wrapped up, Lee had delivered on his promise for dinner and a very special bottle of wine. After dinner, they sat and relaxed together on his sofa, Lee's arm draped loosely across her shoulders. "This is nice," he sighed in contentment.

"It really is," she agreed as she basked in the attention he'd been showing her all night. She gave a dramatic shudder, "Except..."

"Except?" he questioned, his eyes dancing in anticipation.

"Well, you know, after being stuck in the freezer, I think I'm still a little cold." She draped her legs across his lap and linked her arms around his neck.

"I did promise to warm you up, didn't I?" He responded with a light brush of his lips against hers.

"Yes. Yes, you did." She nodded, but as he leaned toward her to kiss her again, she placed a finger to his lips. "One thing first..." He gave her a questioning look. "I love you, Lee."

"I know that now," he replied warmly. The uncertainty he'd felt after their first night together was now a distant memory. "And I love you."

"Just wanted to get it out there, so there's no more confusion." She tugged on the back of his head to pull him to her for a searing kiss. When they parted, both breathless, she added, "And I want you to know that I meant what I said about wanting us to have a future together."

"Good." He smiled affectionately at her. "What kind of future did you have in mind?"

"We'll figure out some kind of a compromise that's comfortable for both of us," she repeated her words from the motel parking lot. "For now, I think in the immediate future..." She gave him a seductive grin. "Now, that we've had dinner, I think I'd very much like some dessert."

"Oh, dessert, huh?" He nuzzled her neck and in a low voice, crooned into her ear, "What kind of dessert did you have in mind?"

"You know," she replied with a sigh at his touch.

"I think I do, but you'd better say it just to make sure that we don't have any more misunderstandings."

She clasped his face in both of her hands, looked him straight in the eyes and with no trace of hesitation in her voice, told him bluntly, "I want to make love with you."

"Me too...with you, I mean...just you from now on, but only if you promise me that you'll still be here for breakfast in the morning."

Amanda nodded. "As long as you promise to eat it with me. You don't eat right, you know."

"I promise."

"See? Compromising already." She rose, took his hand in hers and they walked to the bedroom together unhurriedly. She beamed at him when she noticed that the window was cracked 'just about that much.' "You remembered," she squealed in delight.

"Mm-hmm," he murmured against her as he wrapped his arms around her. "And for the record, I like to shower in the evening and I'm not one for reading the paper in the bathroom."

She laughed heartily. "That's good to know, but suppose that we want to shower together one of these days?"

"Then we can figure out some kind of a compromise that's comfortable for both of us," he echoed her words back to her as he backed her up toward his bed. "In fact, I think we need to do that more often...don't you?"

"Mm-hmm...I think-"

Lee cut off her words with his lips on hers. "No more thinking," he insisted as it occurred to him just how many times the two of them had used that phrase during the course of this conversation. "We've done too much of that and not enough doing."

"You're right. So more doing in the future...and more talking," she added.

"But for now..." He grinned impishly at her. "Dessert?"

"Dessert," she confirmed with a nod. "And breakfast tomorrow."

"Tomorrow." He nodded back with a dimpled smile and them finally kissed her with all the love in his heart, as they both looked forward to many future tomorrows together.