Lee caught up with Amanda just as she was ready to step into the internal elevator, grabbed her by the arm and steered her toward the one that led to the lobby. "We need to talk...now," he hissed.

"But, Lee," she protested. "I'm supposed to be down at the firing range in ten minutes."

"To hell with the firing range," he barked as he forcefully jabbed the elevator button while keeping a firm grip on her arm to prevent her from bolting. "We're talking about this...now."

"Talking about what?" she questioned as he prodded her into the elevator.

"I'll tell you as soon as we're upstairs where there are no cameras," he answered in a clipped tone. "The last thing we need is the gossip hounds spreading it all over the place that we're fighting already."

"Are we fighting? I didn't think we were fighting. Is there some fight going that I don't know about?"

"Oh, I'm pretty sure you already know what this is all about," he retorted with a scowl as the elevator opened and he marched her up the stairs toward their shared office.

Once inside with the door closed, she whirled on him. "Okay, so what is so important that you're making me miss my slot at the firing range?"

Lee strode to his desk and picked up the letter he'd been given and thrust it toward her. "This, Amanda," he snapped.

"What is it?" She reached for it, but he kept a tight hold on it.

"You don't know? You should." He tapped the paper with on hand while holding it with the other. "This is a collections letter from the Agency Credit Union."

"Oh," she responded meekly.

"Oh? That's all you have to say about this?" He began pacing as his irritation grew. "Well, I get it now, why you've been busting your ass to get back to full-time status and the full salary that goes along with it."

"Lee, I'm sorry. I never meant to let you down and when you agreed to co-sign that loan for me, I never intended to get behind on it. I promise, I'll take care of it."

"Do you really think that's what this is about? I don't give a damn about you taking care of it or that fact that I was accosted by Andrea from the credit union!" He blew up. "Answer a question for me; why the hell did you want to end our secrecy and have me move in with you if it wasn't to be a real part of the family?"

"Lee, you ARE a real part of the family," Amanda countered. "One thing has nothing to do with the other."

"The hell it doesn't!" he shouted, getting angrier by the minute. "Dammit, Amanda, I'm your husband! That means I have a responsibility to you and to the kids, but how can I live up to that responsibility if you don't let me in on what's going on?"

"That's your uncle talking, not you," she fired back.

"Maybe so, but no matter what beefs I may have with The Colonel, he did teach me a sense of duty and I fully intend to live up to that."

"Oh, is that what we are to you...a duty?"

"No, of course not. You know I didn't mean it that way. But I knew going in when I asked you to marry me that I was signing up for a package deal, you the kids, the house, the mortgage - all of it, but I can't be a part of that if you don't let me."

"But, Lee, the debts that I incurred before we were a couple aren't your responsibility. They're mine and mine alone. Why can't you understand that?"

"Why can't you understand that I need to be a part of this if I'm going to live up to my obligations as a husband and father?"

"But it's NOT your obligation! I mean, I know you co-signed that loan and I'm sorry that it makes you look bad that I'm late on the payments, but it was MY-"

"Amanda, stop! Just...stop!" He cut her off before she could get started again with the same argument. "Stop saying that because you're very wrong about that!" He let out a frustrated sigh as he waved around the letter. "Look, we can argue until the cows come home about what is or isn't my responsibility, but it doesn't change the fact that you LIED to me! Do you really think that I'm just pissed because you're late on the loan payment that I co-signed for? I'm more pissed that you kept this from me and I had to hear about it from someone I barely know at the Agency Credit Union instead of my own wife. When we decided to come clean about our marriage, didn't we agree that secrets are bad?"

"I'm sorry," she replied sheepishly as she looked down at the floor. "You're right. I shouldn't have kept this from you, but since I made the decision to take out that loan on my own, I really thought that I should take care of it on my own. I didn't want to get you involved since you weren't living there then."

"Well, I am now," he retorted. "I get it. You didn't think I should have to pay the loan because it was your loan before we were really a serious couple, but what about the property taxes for this year, huh? I could've helped when they came due if you would have just talked to me about it. Then you wouldn't have been late on the loan payment trying to do both at once."

"But, Lee, you weren't living there when the tax bill came either. Why should you have to help with a bill that happened before you moved in?"

"No, you're right, I wasn't living there then, but we were still married then, Amanda, which still means I should've helped. Besides, it's mostly my fault that we weren't living together then because the stupid mystery marriage was my idea."

"But I agreed to it," she threw in.

"Yes, but either way, I was still your husband when you got that bill and therefore, I still should have been supporting my family and you should've let me. You can keep arguing all you like, but this is one argument you're not going to win."

Lee-" she began to protest again, but stopped when she saw him shaking his head.

"No, Amanda, I mean it!" He shook the letter at her again. "I'm taking care of this and that's final!"

"Oh, so you think now that you're my husband, you can just bark orders at me and expect me to obey? That didn't work with Joe and it won't work with you. Besides, I don't recall that being included in our marriage vows anywhere!"

"This isn't about me expecting you to obey me; this is about doing what's right for our family! AND since you brought up Joe, I might add that that's something he never seemed to worry much about when he was off to God knows where all the time while he had a family at home!"

"Don't start in on Joe again!"

"Hey, you're the one who brought him into this, not me!" he retorted hotly, his anger flaring again. "But while we're on the subject, why did you have to take out that loan in the first place to pay last year's taxes? Why the hell didn't he offer to help since this is the house his kids live in?"

"Because he didn't know about it. I mean, if he had, I'm sure he would have offered to help, but I-" She hedged as she tried to explain her thought process at the time.

"But you what, Amanda?"

"I didn't want him to know, okay? He already pays child support every month and since his name is no longer on the house, I didn't feel like he should be responsible for the expenses that go with it."

"But you were perfectly fine asking me for help?" he questioned.

"If you recall, I didn't ask you for help other than a ride to the bank since my car was in the shop, which you failed to do, by the way."

"Oh, I know. I remember exactly how pissed you were at me over it."

"Yes, and then you offered to co-sign a loan for me at the Agency Credit Union, which I never asked you to do."

"But you had no trouble accepting it," he fired back. "And that's what I really don't get. You were perfectly fine with my co-signing your loan for you when we were just dating and now that we're married, you act like it's the most awful thing in the world to accept my help. I offered to help you because I knew even then that we were going somewhere; that I wanted a real future with you, so why are you acting as if I'm not part of the equation here?"

"Because it's not-"

"My responsibility," he finished for her. "You keep saying that, but you're wrong, dead wrong so would you for once just stop being so damned stubborn?" He let out a long breath as he tried to calm himself. "Look, no more arguing, okay? It's a moot point anyway because I already wrote a check to pay off the whole damned thing. It's a done deal."

"Lee...I wish you hadn't done that." She hung her head. How could she make him understand that despite everything, she still wanted to have some semblance of independence?

As if reading her mind, he hooked a finger under her chin to get her to look at him again, "Look, I know you've been doing everything by yourself for so long that you've just gotten used to taking on the whole burden and handling it, but you have me now and I want to help. I should help and I'm not Joe. You don't have to put all this stress on yourself because you think you can't count on me."

"Lee, that's not what I was doing. I know I can count on you," she assured him.

"Do you?"

"Yes!" she insisted.

"The way you cut me out of this, it sure as hell doesn't feel like it."

"I never mean to make you feel that way and I'm sorry if I did. I just wanted...I just..." She sighed. "I don't know what I wanted for sure anymore. I just know that when I was married to Joe, I - well, I hid what I really wanted for a long time to make him happy and I felt like I'd lost something of myself along the way, but with you, I can be me again. I don't have to hide anything from you about what I want out of life."

"So, why'd you hide this?"

"Because I knew you'd do just what you did; step in and take care of it and I didn't want that - not because I don't want you to be a part of the family or because I don't want your help - but because I didn't want to get sucked into that trap again of losing myself."

"Amanda, it's just a loan. How does that equal losing yourself?"

"Because like you said, I've been doing it alone for so long that I've become...sort of...independent, you know, relying only on myself to get things done and I thought...I don't know...that if I let you help with something that happened before we were married, I'd be right back in that same boat, slowly giving up my independence and a bit of myself in the process. And I know that sounds silly since this loan is just a small thing, but small things lead to big things and-"

"Amanda, I've never asked you to give up your independence. I fell in love with the strong, capable woman that you are and I'd never want to change that, but I also don't like being shut out. We need to start doing things together. That doesn't mean giving up who you are; it just means now you have someone to help share the load and you need to let me start sharing it and stop trying to work yourself to death."

"But I-"

"Amanda, please, I'm not just asking for me, but for the kids too. They'd like to have their mom home for dinner more often. And your mother, I know she misses you too. You're already piling me with the burden of having to explain to them where you are when you're gone, but if you'd share the rest of it with me, it wouldn't have to be that way."

"Yeah, okay," she finally conceded. "I guess I have been a little unfair to you in all this."

"A little?"

"Okay, a lot, but it's only because I love you and I don't want you to have to take on more than you should. Family life is so new to you and I don't want to overwhelm you."

"Well, there's something we can finally agree on. I don't want you taking on more than you should either and that includes the job stuff, so how about we agree to do things together from now on, huh?"

"Yeah." She smiled at him then and said, "Speaking of things to do together, with all this extra work I've been doing, we've been missing out on one of the things we do pretty well together." She edged closer to him to test the waters.

"Oh? And what might that be?" he teased.

"Well, it involves just the two of us and with the way I've been working like crazy, I could certainly use the relaxation that comes with it." Since he no longer seemed as angry, she closed the gap between them and rest her hands on his chest.

"And it would fulfill your physical activity requirement, wouldn't it?" he replied as he slid his hands to her waist.

"Oh, yes," she answered just before their lips met in a searing kiss.