The debrief meeting on the whole thing was just about to start. The case had ended up having so many twists and turns that Billy had decreed that everyone meet up for a brainstorming session to compare notes after doing their reports so that they could be sure all the loose ends had been tied up.

Bela had been brought in for one last witness statement since he'd been at the center of all of those strands and had bounced up out of his chair to greet Amanda with barely controlled glee.

"Ah-man-dah! Did you hear? Mr. Crandall is going to jail and I am going to Denver to play with Broncos!"

"Well, I hear it's lovely there – I'm sure you'll love it," she'd smiled at his puppy-like enthusiasm.

"I will be close to mountains, like back home!" he exclaimed. "Your Blue Ridge – it is very pretty, but it is not really mountains, you know?" He leaned forward and grabbed her by the upper arms. "So I am safe from Laszlo and I am off to new part of America and it is all because of everything you did to save me!"

He pulled her forward abruptly, dropping an enthusiastic kiss on each cheek and then, to her surprise, a third long one, right on her lips, before pulling back "We never did get to go try the bowling," he said looking up into her eyes, "But maybe you would like to come visit me in Denver? We could go on ski date instead. I am very good skier since I was tiny baby. Mountains, you know." He made a swooshing motion with his hand.

Amanda was still in shock from the unexpected kiss, and realized that Lee had just walked around the corner in time to catch it as it happened and was staring at them, slack-jawed. Then his eyes had narrowed and he began pacing toward Bela with a glint in his eye that didn't bode well. She stepped back carefully and peeled Bela's other hand from where he was still holding her arm. "Well, that's very sweet of you, Bela, but I don't think so – I have a family here and a job that keeps me very busy and you know… you should probably find a nice local girl out there that you can see as much as you like."

"You might be right – and I cannot ask you to neglect your family. Family is very important. Especially your very old mother." Bela looked momentarily disappointed, but then was immediately distracted as he noticed Lee arriving. "San-day! No, I mean Mr. Stetson! My other hero! It is so good to see you happy and healthy once more!"

To Lee's obvious horror, Bela immediately seized him too, pulling him in for a hug and then grabbed his shoulders dragging him down for an identical set of cheek kisses. Amanda watched with outright glee as Lee scrambled backward in case that third kiss turned out to be some kind of Liechtenstein tradition.

"Ah, hi Bela," he stammered. "It's good to see you too. I hear you're heading west."

"Yes, yes!" Bela nodded. "I was just asking Amanda if she would like to come visit for ski trip."

"Were you now?" Lee gave her a sideways look while Amanda schooled her expression to one of complete innocence.

"But she is too busy," went on Bela. "She says I need to find nice girl in Denver."

"That would probably be for the best," Lee agreed. "The President would be very upset if you stole one of his spies away."

Bela nodded vehemently. "Of course! You are right! I will find nice girl who is not spy. Much safer, yes?"

"Oh yes," chorused Lee and Amanda.

Francine materialized at their side. "Are you ready to go, Mr. Pravik? We have your ride to the airport waiting upstairs."

Bela nodded, then turned to hug them both again. "Thank you my friends. It was a pleasure doing the spy business with you" He turned to Francine. "Okay-dokay, I am ready to go." As he fell into step beside her, Lee and Amanda could hear his voice floating back. "Do you like to ski, Miss Desmond?"

"Why yes I do, Mr. Pravik."

"Because you know, I am going to live in Denver in Co-lo-ra-do. It is near mountains and you could come see…"

As his voice faded away, they turned to each other with identical grins.

"Poor Denver - it has no idea what's about to hit it," said Lee.

"None at all," Amanda agreed. She reached up to straighten his tie which Bela had knocked askew with his enthusiastic embrace. "How are you?" she asked, smoothing his lapels and studying him carefully. "Feeling better?"

Lee shrugged as they turned to make their way into the meeting room. "Same old, same old. I still can't remember anything except for bits and pieces from Saturday."

"Well, it'll come back or it won't – don't try and force it."

Amanda sat down at the table and Lee sat down opposite her, watching as she began glancing over the little notes she'd made in her notebook when she was still pretending to be a reporter, checking to see if she'd missed anything in there that might have any pertinence to the way the case had played out.

Since Lee's memory was still so sketchy, she'd been the one to write the formal report for Billy, covering the time from when Price's men had captured them until Lee's tackle had brought down the unwitting assassin. She felt no small satisfaction that Billy had praised that report; up until now Lee had done them all for anything she'd been involved in and she'd only helped type them, occasionally correcting or helping him amend something she'd remembered, but this one had been all hers, even if it was only for a small portion of everything that had happened. She might not be an agent, but that small task had made her feel like one, and not just "Lee's Little Helper". Her lips quirked up at the memory of that praise from Lee and his suggestion that she get more formal training. Maybe she could really do this.

Lee, for his part, was less relaxed. He was leaning back, gazing absently at Amanda, poking around mentally trying to get his brain to regurgitate those missing hours. The doctors had told him that once the concussion wore off, the memories would most likely return but it had been two days now and it was bugging him that he still couldn't summon them up. He'd read Amanda's report, and the tiny flashes of memory he was getting definitely lined up with that, but he just had a feeling there was something he was missing, something that wasn't in the report, something Amanda had left out. That can't be right, he thought. Even if she'd done something embarrassing, she wouldn't leave it out; Amanda is the most details-oriented partner I've ever had. He shifted uncomfortably in his chair as he thought about her in that role. He'd sworn never to have another partner, but she'd wormed her way in, and although he'd encouraged her, now, as he continued to deal with an injury he couldn't shake, he was beginning to have second thoughts about the danger she could be in. There was something about this case, something that he couldn't put his finger on, something that was making him feel more protective than usual – and he didn't think it was Bela's clumsy dating techniques.

He got stuck on the thought and as he did so, Amanda leaned forward to scribble something down, then lightly lick her lips. He found himself staring at her mouth, as he tried to pin down his buzzing thoughts. Amanda glanced up and caught him watching her. Her eyes crinkled as she gave him a soft smile before returning to her perusal of her notes. Something in the open affection of her smile had his brain sparking furiously, trying to fix on something that was so tantalizingly close he could almost taste it, but again it skittered just out of reach of his mental fingertips.

"Ugh!" Francine had returned from walking Bela out and had flopped down in the chair beside him, further distracting him. "I ate something spicy at lunch and now I can't get rid of these stupid hiccups!"

Lee snorted with laughter, and looked across at Amanda who had lifted her head at Francine's pronouncement to laugh as well.

"Oh Lee's got a foolproof method of dealing with those," she teased. "Don't you, Lee?"

"I do?" His brows knit together as he tried to think which one she meant.

"Oh yeah – how could you forget?" He could tell she was laughing at him – her eyes had that expression of conspiratorial glee that always made him grin in return and her lips had pressed together in that way she did when she was pretending to be serious.

Lips, laughing, eyes… Not even after we…

Oh my God. He sat bolt upright, seeing her eyes widen and her mouth drop open as she realized he'd remembered. He couldn't help grinning as she blushed scarlet and immediately dropped her head to look down at her notes.

Bet that stopped your hiccups.

"How could I forget?" he repeated.

"So what is it?" asked Francine, bringing his attention back to her. "Your foolproof method?"

"Well, uh, I have a few… Maybe my partner would like to tell us her favorite?" he teased her with a challenging look.

At the head of the table, Billy perked up and leaned forward to catch the rest of the conversation.

Amanda lifted her head and met his dancing eyes, blushing again as his grin broadened, then letting her own shy smile emerge. "Oh you know, I couldn't possibly say which one was my favorite," she replied in an innocent tone as she pushed her glass of ice water toward him and an unsuspecting Francine. "Why don't you surprise me?"