Thirty minutes later, Amanda was wrestling Lee into his apartment amid his protests. "Amanda, I'm fine!" he snapped as he tried to shake her off.

"No, you're not fine. You're drunk and you can't even walk straight. Come on, just put your arms around me and let me help you to bed."

"I like that part..." he murmured as he conceded and gripped her tightly. "Didya' have fun tonight?"

"I did until someone decided to get in a macho measuring contest over something that didn't even matter," she responded pointedly as they entered his bedroom and she made a move to force him into bed, but he hadn't let go of her and caused her to topple onto it with her landing atop him.

With one hand, Lee reached inside her partially-open coat for one of the tiny straps at her shoulder while his other hand delved beneath it and came to rest on her bare back and mumbled, "Like your dress."

She gave an involuntary shudder at the contact and the way he was gazing at her as if he wanted to devour her whole. It would be so easy to let his overly familiar behavior overwhelm her, but she knew it was a direct result of the liquor so instead, she simply replied, "Thank you," as she pulled herself to her feet and smoothed out her dress. "But you look a mess." She nodded to his stained shirt. "Come on, let's at least get you cleaned up a bit. Can you sit up a bit?"

"Yeah," he murmured and with her help got to enough of a seated position that she could help him shrug out of his coat.

"Good. That's good," she praised him. "Now, the shirt." She swallowed hard as she watched him fumble with the buttons realizing that in his present state, he didn't have the dexterity to do it himself and she'd have to help him. As carefully as she could, she undid the buttons one by one and felt a shiver shoot up her spine at the sight of his bared torso.

She had just gotten his cufflinks undone and helped him pull his arms out of the sleeves when he reached for her again, slid his now freed hands to her waist and pulled her closer. "You're beautiful."

Amanda gasped when she felt his lips on hers again, this time much more insistent that they had been at midnight. She quickly pulled away. As much as she'd like to think he meant was he was saying, she knew in her head that it was the copious amounts of vodka he'd imbibed talking.

She glanced at his disheveled state and thought about offering to help him finish undressing for bed, but thought better of it. No sense in tempting fate. She reached for his discarded shirt and said, "Listen, I'm just gonna' got put this with the things to go to the dry cleaners and then I...uh...I should get home..."

"Stay..." he pleaded as he reached for her hands and clasped them in his, causing her to drop the shirt.

"No, I-I-I-" She stammered. She wondered if he would even remember any of this in the morning. "I want to," she replied honestly, hoping that if he did remember, he'd understand that she was definitely interested, but not under these circumstances. She gave him a gentle push to get him to lie down again. "But I...uh...I have to get home to my children and you should get some sleep. But...uh give me a call sometime tomorrow so we can go get your car, okay?"

"'Kay," he sleepily agreed as he closed his eyes.

"Happy New Year, Lee," she said and with one final glance wondering what might have been, she left the room.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

When she pulled into her driveway half an hour later, she was surprised to see that the downstairs lights were still on. As she entered the house, she was immediately greeted by Joe who demanded, "Where the hell have you been?"

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me. It's after 2AM and you're just now getting home?"

Amanda rolled her eyes. "Well, Dad, the last time I checked, I'm an adult and don't have a curfew. Plus, you already knew I'd be out late because of this party."

"Sure...the party," he snorted in disbelief.

"Joe, just stop...please," she responded in a gentler tone. "I've had about all the boorish, jealous man garbage I can deal with for one night. First from Lee and now from you."

Well, now he had his answer...it was Lee that she went out with tonight. "Oh? So, you had a fight with your boyfriend? Gee, that's too bad," he countered sarcastically.

"Okay, first of all, he's not my boyfriend, he's just a friend. Secondly, even if he were my boyfriend, I don't see how that's any of your business. And third-"

"Not my business? It becomes my business when you're neglecting our children because of it," he interrupted.

"I'm not neglecting them. I went out for one night."

"But your mother was telling me about all these other boyfriends you've had that have come and gone," he retorted. "What kind of example are you setting for the boys?"

"What?" She made a mental note to have a long talk with her mother as she continued, "I've had one boyfriend since you and I split up and yes, I've been on a few dates since then, but the boys always come first. Can you say the same thing?" Without giving him a chance to answer, she did so herself, "No, you can't because you're always running off to God knows where and-"

"Do you have any idea what it took for me to get home for the holidays?"

"No, why don't you tell me?"

"Maybe you should ask your boyfriend about it," he spat. "He was there."

"He's not my boyf-" She paused as it hit her what he'd just said. "Wait, did you say he was there...in Malta?" She hadn't even been aware that he'd left the country.

"Oh, he didn't tell you about it?" That explained the other man's insistence that he not tell the family how he'd gotten home. He clearly didn't want Amanda to know about it.

"No, he didn't, but I'll be sure to talk to him about it the next time I see him at the office." She took a deep breath to calm herself. After the way her night had ended, the last thing she needed was for them to have a loud fight and wake the boys, and then have to explain to them what was going on. "For now, why don't we just sit down in the den and talk about this? Clearly, something's bothering you and it's more than me being out late."

Joe sighed and nodded. "I'm sorry," he said as they walked into the den and he sank down onto the sofa despondently. "You're right, you know. Your private life is none of my business."

"No, it really isn't," she replied as she sat down beside him. "But what's this really all about?"

"I don't know. I just thought..." He wasn't sure how to get the words out without embarrassing himself at his impetuousness in making a date for the two of them without knowing if that's what she wanted.

"You thought what?"

"Well, the way you talked about this party to your mother, I thought it was going to be some dull, stuffy thing that you didn't really want to go to, but just felt obligated to attend."

"Ohhhhh..." Realization hit her as she recalled how disgruntled he'd sounded on the phone when she'd asked him to take care of the boys. "Joe...you um...when you said you were making plans for tonight...you didn't...I mean, you wouldn't..." At the sheepish look on his face, she concluded, "You did."

He hung his head and nodded. "I did. I thought it would be a nice surprise for you and get you out of a tedious obligatory work party, but I-"

Amanda let out a deep sigh of frustration. "I don't suppose it occurred to you to talk to me before making plans for me? I mean, this was the whole problem when we were married...you always just assumed that whatever you wanted, I'd willingly-" She clamped her mouth shut and gave her head a shake. "No, we're not going to do this again," she stated firmly.

"Maybe we should," he suggested. "Cleary, getting divorced didn't solve anything. You're right...at least this time anyway." He chuckled awkwardly."I did make an assumption that I shouldn't have."

Amanda gave him a half-smile at his willingness to admit that he was wrong and felt she needed to do that same. "To be fair to you, I wasn't entirely honest about the nature of the party, but the main reason for that is because of Mother. Ever since you and I divorced, she's been after me to get married again and every time I have a date, she gets way too enthusiastic about where it might lead so I sort of...fudged some details about this one."

"So, it was a date?"

"No, not really. I mean, it kind of was and Lee treated it like a date. But it's like I was telling you before, that was because the invitation was addressed to both of us."

"I don't really understand. You say he's not your boyfriend, but if that's true, why would you have been invited together?"

"Well, it's...uh...it's sort of complicated. The man who invited us thinks we're a couple when we're really not and we...uh...we need him to keep believing that."

"Why?" Knowing what he did about Amanda's employer, he wondered if this were some elaborate cover.

"You know that I work for IFF, right?"

"Right."

"Well, IFF is a documentary film company and sometimes when we're working...on a film, that is, people aren't always forthcoming if they know what we're doing. So, there are times that we have to pretend to be something we're not to complete our projects. In this case, the man in question already knew who we were and because we'd pretended to be a couple in the past, he mistakenly believed that we really were. Does that make sense?"

"Yeah, I guess so." What didn't make sense to him was how the woman he'd once thought he knew so well had changed so much. He couldn't believe how easily the lies rolled off her tongue now. "But if that's the case, then what was with the 'jealous man' stuff you were talking about? If he's not really your boyfriend, why would he have any reason to be jealous?"

"Hmmm...maybe jealous is the wrong word," she amended her earlier statement. "He's just very protective of me and there was this other man at the party tonight who was a little too...persistent, I guess is the right word and Lee...well, he took that protective instinct a little too far. That's part of why I was home so late. He had a little too much to drink and got in a fight and I had to drive him home."

Joe laughed. "I guess Phillip was right again. That must have been some party."

Amanda joined in his laughter. "It really was. All in all, I had a great time though...until that part anyway."

"Well, whether he's your boyfriend or not, it sounds like he's a good guy to have around." He could vouch for that since the man had saved his life.

"Sounds like you know a little something about that too. I mean, if he was there in Malta with you."

He cringed at the hinting tone in her voice since he'd now broken his promise to Lee to keep his name out of things. "Um...you know, I shouldn't have said anything. He actually asked me not to and even though I said you should ask him about it, you really shouldn't. I mean, he must have a reason for keeping it from you, right? Especially with what he really does for a living."

Amanda eyebrows shot up in alarm as she gaped at him. "Wh-what do you m-mean by that?" she stammered.

"Amanda, come on, I'm not stupid. I've travelled around the world enough to know what the Agency is."

"I see," she replied shortly. "And yet you let me go on and on about IFF...telling you those half-truths..."

"Because I figured that given the nature of that kind of work, you had to hide what you really do." He gave her an inquisitive look. "What is it that you do there?"

"Joe, if you know about the Agency, you must know that I can't talk about it. That's the other reason that I wasn't completely truthful about this party."

"I know and I understand, but whatever it is you do for them, I don't understand why it is that you're involved in that kind of work at all. How did something like that even happen?"

"I'm afraid that's something I can't really talk about in any detail either," she replied apologetically. They were both silent for a moment, until she piped up, "So, I told you all about my night. How was your night with the boys?"

"It was good. You were right. It was nice to spend time with them with just us. Jamie soundly trounced both Phillip and me in a game of Scrabble, but it was fun. It's amazing to me how smart he is."

"He really is. I just wish Phillip had half his drive for schoolwork. I worry sometimes because the older they get, the more they seem to be drifting apart. Phillip's already starting to get interested in girls...no girlfriends yet, but I have a feeling it won't be long. Jamie's just really more interested in school and he's starting to lose some of his interest in sports while Phillip is very athletic. I just don't want to see them become so different that they just don't get along at all anymore."

"Well, they seemed fine tonight," Joe assured her. "I mean, there were some tiny little squabbles and a little bit of name-calling, but just normal brother stuff. I enjoyed every minute of it, even breaking up their little spats. I haven't done nearly enough of that."

"Good. I'm glad you had this time with them. I mean, if Lee went to the trouble to help you get out of Malta..."

"I never said that's what happened," Joe protested.

"No, but you didn't have to. I know Lee. You see, he's not just protective of me, but the boys too. Even though he's never met them, he's always looking out for them and I think probably you too because of them."

Joe shook his head and laughed. "How can I compete with that?" Amanda gave him a stern look. "I'm just kidding."

"That's good because there's no competition here. I'm not a prize to be won. And this thing with Lee, I don't know where it's going..." She paused as she thought of the brief kiss they'd shared and his roaming hands at his apartment and felt a spark shoot up her back at the memories.

She shook off those thoughts because she just knew it would never work. "Or if it's even going anywhere...probably not because he's a very difficult man to get close to...but one thing I do know for sure is that I don't want you getting the wrong idea." She thought of Lee's reaction to Joe staying at the house and now that she knew Joe had had similar thoughts, she needed to quash those thoughts with him just as she had with Lee.

"No wrong ideas here. You and me...we-we're really over."

"Yeah, we really are, Joe. I love you and I always will, but it's too late to go back. But I want you to know that you're always welcome here to come and see the boys whenever you can get away from your travels."

"I appreciate that."

"I'm glad you understand and I'm glad that we cleared the air, but it's late and I really should get some sleep." She rose from the sofa and headed toward the stairs.

"Hey, Amanda?"

She turned. "Yes?"

"I'm glad you had a good time tonight. I'm really happy for you." While sad for himself, he really was happy for her.

"Thank you, Joe. Happy New Year."

"Happy New Year," he replied with a weak smile as she turned and walked up the stairs and he reflected back on the events of the past week. Clearly, his earlier thoughts that Amanda had sent Lee after him were wrong since it was obvious by her surprise when he'd mentioned it that she didn't even know anything about it. How could he have gotten things so wrong?

He pulled himself from the sofa and made his way to the pullout in the next room to get ready for bed himself. Even though he'd been disappointed, he had thoroughly enjoyed his evening with Phillip and Jamie. He hadn't been lying to Lee in Malta about how much he'd missed them, but he hadn't been fully honest about missing his ex-wife too. He only wished he'd known when he'd first met Lee what a deep connection there was between him and Amanda. While she denied it, it was obvious to him that she had strong feelings for Lee. He sighed once more as the knowledge that he'd missed his chance fully hit him, but he supposed it was no less than he deserved. He heard Amanda's scolding words about his travels echoing through his head. While the words had been said out of frustration, he knew she wasn't wrong. He'd made his choice years ago and now he was paying the price for it. He could only hope the new year that had begun would turn out better than the one that had just ended.