A Little Push
by matahari2
Summary: An old friend gives Lee a little push toward recognizing and admitting his growing feelings for Amanda.
Timeframe: Early 3rd season
Disclaimer: These great characters are the property of Warner Brothers and Shoot the Moon Productions, they don't belong to me, nor will I get one dime for writing this story. The story, however, is mine.This story is to be archived at the SMK Fanfic Archive and at www.fanfiction.ws. All others, please ask.
Rating: PG
Feedback: Please. Read and review.
Author's Notes: This story contains some references to the episodes "A Lovely Little Affair" , "Over the Limit", and "Legend of das Geisterschloss". This is my second story (and first full-length story), hope you like it—if you don't, oh, well, life is hard...
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Chapter One – Constant Frustration
It had already turned into a long, frustrating day. Billy Melrose, Lee Stetson, and a handful of senior agents had been in an all-day strategy session, working on preventing the terrorist group Red February from disrupting public events during the upcoming papal visit to Washington, DC. A few of the members of Red February had been arrested just two weeks earlier, in connection with the Alan Chamberlain case, but none of them were talking.
When the strategy session ended for the day, Lee headed for the interrogation room, to try one more time to get whatever information he could squeeze out of Franco Necci about the target, the timing, and the method of the anticipated "disruption". But either Necci was just giving a very good impression of a clam, or he really didn't know about Red February's plans. In any event, they had no new leads and by this time it was well after 8:00 p.m.
"Great. Just great," Lee groused to the now empty room. Not only were they getting nowhere on the case, but he was supposed to have had a date with Leslie O'Connor, dinner at L'Ornate at 7:00. He couldn't blame her if she never wanted to see him again. After all, this was the third time in a row. Oh, well, all he could do now was to try and apologize. Again. And promise to make it up to her somehow. When he dialed the number for her hotel room, the phone rang, and rang, and rang. He counted ten rings before the desk clerk answered.
"I'm sorry, Ms. O'Connor is unavailable to take your call at this time. Would you like to leave a message for her?" she asked politely.
"No, no, thank you, I'll just try again some other time, " he said, barely managing a civil tone of voice. "Why me?!?" he shouted, palms lifted toward the ceiling, after hanging up the phone in frustration.
He wanted desperately to forget everything and get a decent night's sleep, but no, that wouldn't happen either. And in his few, fitful moments of sleep, he would have The Dream. He'd been having variations of this same dream for the last week. There was a tall, beautiful brunette with lovely, almond-shaped eyes. They seemed to be at a fancy dress party: she was wearing a red ball gown with spaghetti straps, a form-fitting bodice and a long flowing skirt...he couldn't take his eyes off of her. The two of them danced and laughed, and had a wonderful time together. Then the music would stop and the dream would end. And he would wake up, remembering how terrific this woman was, but not quite remembering her face. He'd tried to convince himself that the woman in his dream must be Leslie, but he just couldn't be sure. The identity of this mystery woman remained just beyond his grasp. "Oh, good. Something else to be frustrated about!" he shouted to no one in particular, just before the clock radio alarm shrieked. "Arrrrgh!"
When Lee Stetson stormed into the Q-Bureau, he failed to notice that Amanda King was already there. She had just brought up some closed case files from the bullpen for storage in the vault, so she couldn't help overhearing Lee's phone conversation with Leslie.
"Hello, Leslie? Look, I'm really sorry about last night. We had a full day of meetings that ran into night, and I just couldn't get away. I did try to call, but apparently you'd already left to meet me at the restaurant, and I wasn't able to catch you later in the evening, and I didn't want to apologize to the desk clerk. I thought you deserved a personal apology...I know, I know, this was the third time in a row, but please give me one more chance. Do you have any plans for tomorrow evening? ...Okay, then, how about I pick you up at your hotel at 7:00, and we'll go to Spencer's? ...Good. Can't wait to see you, either. Bye."
It wasn't until he'd hung up the phone that Lee saw the vault door was slightly ajar. He circled around from behind his desk, crossed the small room and flung the door open, and shouted, "Amanda! What are you doing in here? And how long have you been here, anyway?!?"
"Oh, excuse me for interrupting your social life!" Amanda huffed.
"My soc-?" Lee attempted to ask, only to be cut off by the continuation of Amanda's heated response.
"I've been here filing closed case files from Mr. Melrose's office for the last hour, if you must know! And besides what's got you so bent out of shape?!?"
Lee stuffed one hand in his pocket and ran the other through his hair, and began his apology with a half-smile. "Sorry, Amanda. Yesterday was a really bad day. The Red February strategy sessions are all smoke and mirrors, for what they're worth, and my 'social life' as you call it, keeps getting put off by Agency business, and I've been having trouble getting any sleep lately besides. But that's no excuse for giving you a hard time. I really am sorry. Forgive me?"
"Of course I'll forgive you. We're friends, right?" Amanda asked.
Lee answered, "You bet. Good friends. The best. "
Amanda smiled, "Okay. Well, you'd better let your 'friend' get back to this filing, or I'll still be at it when you come in tomorrow!"
"All right," Lee said. "I guess I'd better get on down to Billy's office and see if there's any news on Red February's plans. See you later." Turning back to Amanda before leaving the Q-Bureau, he asked, "Hey, if both of us can catch a break later, how about lunch at Nedlinger's?"
"Sure. That'll be fine. I'll either be right here or down in the bullpen. See you later!"
To Be Continued
by matahari2
Summary: An old friend gives Lee a little push toward recognizing and admitting his growing feelings for Amanda.
Timeframe: Early 3rd season
Disclaimer: These great characters are the property of Warner Brothers and Shoot the Moon Productions, they don't belong to me, nor will I get one dime for writing this story. The story, however, is mine.This story is to be archived at the SMK Fanfic Archive and at www.fanfiction.ws. All others, please ask.
Rating: PG
Feedback: Please. Read and review.
Author's Notes: This story contains some references to the episodes "A Lovely Little Affair" , "Over the Limit", and "Legend of das Geisterschloss". This is my second story (and first full-length story), hope you like it—if you don't, oh, well, life is hard...
******************************
Chapter One – Constant Frustration
It had already turned into a long, frustrating day. Billy Melrose, Lee Stetson, and a handful of senior agents had been in an all-day strategy session, working on preventing the terrorist group Red February from disrupting public events during the upcoming papal visit to Washington, DC. A few of the members of Red February had been arrested just two weeks earlier, in connection with the Alan Chamberlain case, but none of them were talking.
When the strategy session ended for the day, Lee headed for the interrogation room, to try one more time to get whatever information he could squeeze out of Franco Necci about the target, the timing, and the method of the anticipated "disruption". But either Necci was just giving a very good impression of a clam, or he really didn't know about Red February's plans. In any event, they had no new leads and by this time it was well after 8:00 p.m.
"Great. Just great," Lee groused to the now empty room. Not only were they getting nowhere on the case, but he was supposed to have had a date with Leslie O'Connor, dinner at L'Ornate at 7:00. He couldn't blame her if she never wanted to see him again. After all, this was the third time in a row. Oh, well, all he could do now was to try and apologize. Again. And promise to make it up to her somehow. When he dialed the number for her hotel room, the phone rang, and rang, and rang. He counted ten rings before the desk clerk answered.
"I'm sorry, Ms. O'Connor is unavailable to take your call at this time. Would you like to leave a message for her?" she asked politely.
"No, no, thank you, I'll just try again some other time, " he said, barely managing a civil tone of voice. "Why me?!?" he shouted, palms lifted toward the ceiling, after hanging up the phone in frustration.
He wanted desperately to forget everything and get a decent night's sleep, but no, that wouldn't happen either. And in his few, fitful moments of sleep, he would have The Dream. He'd been having variations of this same dream for the last week. There was a tall, beautiful brunette with lovely, almond-shaped eyes. They seemed to be at a fancy dress party: she was wearing a red ball gown with spaghetti straps, a form-fitting bodice and a long flowing skirt...he couldn't take his eyes off of her. The two of them danced and laughed, and had a wonderful time together. Then the music would stop and the dream would end. And he would wake up, remembering how terrific this woman was, but not quite remembering her face. He'd tried to convince himself that the woman in his dream must be Leslie, but he just couldn't be sure. The identity of this mystery woman remained just beyond his grasp. "Oh, good. Something else to be frustrated about!" he shouted to no one in particular, just before the clock radio alarm shrieked. "Arrrrgh!"
When Lee Stetson stormed into the Q-Bureau, he failed to notice that Amanda King was already there. She had just brought up some closed case files from the bullpen for storage in the vault, so she couldn't help overhearing Lee's phone conversation with Leslie.
"Hello, Leslie? Look, I'm really sorry about last night. We had a full day of meetings that ran into night, and I just couldn't get away. I did try to call, but apparently you'd already left to meet me at the restaurant, and I wasn't able to catch you later in the evening, and I didn't want to apologize to the desk clerk. I thought you deserved a personal apology...I know, I know, this was the third time in a row, but please give me one more chance. Do you have any plans for tomorrow evening? ...Okay, then, how about I pick you up at your hotel at 7:00, and we'll go to Spencer's? ...Good. Can't wait to see you, either. Bye."
It wasn't until he'd hung up the phone that Lee saw the vault door was slightly ajar. He circled around from behind his desk, crossed the small room and flung the door open, and shouted, "Amanda! What are you doing in here? And how long have you been here, anyway?!?"
"Oh, excuse me for interrupting your social life!" Amanda huffed.
"My soc-?" Lee attempted to ask, only to be cut off by the continuation of Amanda's heated response.
"I've been here filing closed case files from Mr. Melrose's office for the last hour, if you must know! And besides what's got you so bent out of shape?!?"
Lee stuffed one hand in his pocket and ran the other through his hair, and began his apology with a half-smile. "Sorry, Amanda. Yesterday was a really bad day. The Red February strategy sessions are all smoke and mirrors, for what they're worth, and my 'social life' as you call it, keeps getting put off by Agency business, and I've been having trouble getting any sleep lately besides. But that's no excuse for giving you a hard time. I really am sorry. Forgive me?"
"Of course I'll forgive you. We're friends, right?" Amanda asked.
Lee answered, "You bet. Good friends. The best. "
Amanda smiled, "Okay. Well, you'd better let your 'friend' get back to this filing, or I'll still be at it when you come in tomorrow!"
"All right," Lee said. "I guess I'd better get on down to Billy's office and see if there's any news on Red February's plans. See you later." Turning back to Amanda before leaving the Q-Bureau, he asked, "Hey, if both of us can catch a break later, how about lunch at Nedlinger's?"
"Sure. That'll be fine. I'll either be right here or down in the bullpen. See you later!"
To Be Continued