Screen Captures Courtesy of Swoopes For personal use and select distribution only © March 2002 by Amber Stockton The Artful Dodger - tagalogueWritten by Pamela Chais (excerpts from the episode belong to her)
Amanda watched Lee, who was sitting across the table from her at the Triangle, a very expensive restaurant. It was the same restaurant where Alan had taken her on their date and where he had, for all intents and purposes, planted the bug on her which helped him steal the pliofilms the revealed the missile defense system of the United States. She was grateful that she sat with Lee this evening, an evening which would help replace the unpleasant memories of Alan, and she leaned towards him as she lowered her voice. "Is, um, is this sort of, you know ... an apology?" He looked at her in confusion. "An apology?" "Well, for, you know, anything that you might have said, sort of, in the heat of the moment, and so you invited me to dinner to ... ... I'm only trying to say that if it is an apology, it isn't necessary. ... ... I just want you to know that I understand and I would think that would be ... really nice." Lee grinned. "Good." "Does that mean it is?" "Is what?" He tried to act innocent, but she had his intentions pretty well figured out. She wasn't about to let it drop until he admitted his ulterior motive to asking her to dinner. "An apology." Lee sighed. "Okay, if you want to put it like that, yes. It was an apology." "Thank you." Lee chuckled and shook his head, then attempted another sip of his soup. Amanda watched him painstakingly try to get the soup into his mouth without touching his swollen lip, and she couldn't help but ask, "Would you like your Jell-O, now?" He cast a derisive glance at the soup on his spoon, then put it back in his bowl and sighed. "You just can't give it up, can you?" "Give what up?" "Making a big deal out of my predicament." He gestured towards his lip and the soup he had been forced to order when he realized he wouldn't be able to eat anything else. "Oh, Lee," she began in an apologetic voice, "I didn't mean to make it sound like I was making a big deal. I just feel bad with my steak when you can't even manage eating your soup with a spoon. I told you that you didn't have to bring me here. I do appreciate your attempt to apologize, but you didn't have to do this much to show me you were sorry for what you said." "Amanda..." Lee groaned, warning her that they had already gone over the apology issue. "I know, I know, we've already covered that, so how about this?" She gestured towards their food and continued. "We ask the waiter to box this up and we head back to my place for some smoothies?" She grinned with a twinkle in her eyes. "I may even be able to dig up a little something to add to them to take away the pain." Lee started to smile, then winced. Instead, he grinned slightly as he replied. "Amanda, are you suggesting a nightcap at your place?" She could tell he was teasing, but she couldn't stop the instant flutter in her chest at his grin. Trying hard to sound unaffected, she replied, "No, I'm suggesting an alternative to sitting here and watching you suffer through the meal while I dine on prime choice steak." She leaned back in her chair and primly folded her hands on the edge of the table. "I just can't enjoy your apology if you're miserable." Lee rolled his eyes then sighed. "All right. I can see it's pointless to argue, so let's get this stuff boxed." Amanda smiled and signaled the waiter. "Um, my," she fumbled for a word, "partner is not feeling well. Would it be possible for us to have this food boxed to take with us? It's absolutely delicious, don't misunderstand me, but you see, he isn't able to enjoy it as much as he would like, and we don't want to miss out on such wonderful food..." She felt a light kick on her shin and stopped, then ducked her head in embarrassment before glancing back up at the waiter with a small smile. "Would you just box this for us and bring our bill, please?" "Of course, madam." The waiter nodded. Amanda watched as the waiter lifted both of their plates from the table and turned to leave. "I shall return with these momentarily." As soon as the waiter left, Amanda exchanged a bemused grin with Lee, who shook his head. * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * "So, where are your mother and the boys?" Lee asked as Amanda finished making their drinks and poured the mixture from the blender into two tall glasses. She reached into the drawer to produce two straws, one for each glass. "Mother had a date tonight, and the boys are spending the night at their friend's house down the street. We made arrangements when I knew I wouldn't be home ... or at least thought I wouldn't be home." She placed his drink in front of him on the counter. He tentatively placed the straw between his lips and began to sip the cold drink. After a couple of sips, he exclaimed, "Mmm, this is delicious, Amanda! What's in it?" "Well, it's called a Highland Smoothie, and it has a little bit of banana, strawberry, orange juice, vitamin C, and ice. The vitamin C keeps your skin healthy and helps it heal faster, so it's good for your lip. It also keeps your hair healthy, and we both know how important that is to you!" Lee rolled his eyes. "Are you sure there's nothing else in these?" He gave her a knowing look. Amanda looked down at her drink and blushed. "Well, I did manage to find a small bottle of rum that Mother had from her date the other night. For medicinal purposes, of course," she hastily added and looked up at him. "Oh, of course!" She saw the grin that tugged at his lips, but he fought it and took another drink. Amanda sipped hers then became very pensive. "You know, now that I look back on this case, I realize I should have been a little more suspicious of Alan's actions." Lee looked at her with curiousity and took another sip. "Oh? How so?" "Well, we had only known each other for two weeks when he gave me that ring, and he was asking all sorts of questions about other men in my life." "What's so unusual about that? He was smitten." A slight note of sarcasm was in his voice. "But after just two weeks?" She mentally chastised herself for being fooled by a guy like him, but realized there was nothing she could do now. "Oh, and do you know what he said when I had to break our date for that night when we went to the P-WAC?" Lee shook his head. "He told me he wanted me to keep my seven-thirty appointment strictly business." Lee chuckled in derision. "Oh, great!" He dropped the straw from his mouth and lightly dabbed at his lip to remove any drops of the smoothie. "Not only does he feed you a line and give you a ring, but he gets possessive, too. And you went for it!" Amanda blanched a little at his accusations, but quickly recovered. "I should have been a little more aware of things, especially when he did everything he could to make certain I kept wearing that ring." Lee finished his drink and pushed it away from him, then sighed and leaned back a little from the counter where they sat. "Just goes to show you that you just can't trust a guy who feeds you a line." His smug self-assurance was almost too much for her. "Oh? And just what do you do when you're picking up some of your girlfriends?" "What do I do?" "Yes." She crossed her arms and waited for his answer. Lee leaned forward and stared intently at her. "Well, you can bet I don't use something I've used dozens of times before! At least I'm original when I'm asking women out!" He winced a little at the pain in his lip from his outburst. "Well, how about you tell me what you do that seems to work so well. You must do something right to end up with not one, not two, but four black books full of names." She uncrossed her arms and leaned forward, resting her right arm on the counter and her left hand on her hip as she faced him. "Is this before or after we've already been introduced and know each other?" "After." Lee relaxed his stiff pose and dropped one leg to the floor as he shifted positions to perch himself on the edge of the stool. "Well, in the middle of our conversation, I would probably take her hand and say something like this..." He grinned, and was obviously careful not to aggravate his lip, then reached over to lightly hold Amanda's hand in his, rubbing his thumb across her the backs of her fingers with feather-like strokes. His voice lowered to a very husky timbre, and he looked deeply into her eyes. "Have I told you how beautiful I think you look tonight? I don't know what it is about you, but I find you absolutely breathtaking, and I can't keep my eyes off of you. Your face, your hair, your dress, the way you talk and smile. I am putty in your hands to do with as you please." He slowly lifted her hand to the right side of his lips and placed a light kiss on it, his gaze focused intently on her. Amanda had lost all feeling of time and space and found herself lost in the depths of his hazel stare. His words, his eyes, the touch of his hand, and the feathery kiss to her fingers all had a profound effect on her. For several moments, neither one said a word. All of a sudden, the sound of a car door closing startled them both and broke the trance. Amanda immediately jumped up from the stool and grabbed the two glasses as she rushed to place them in the sink. "Come on, come on!" She gestured towards him. "You've got to go. Mother's home!" She ran over and grabbed his jacket and haphazardly tossed it at him as she ushered him towards to the back door. "It's a good thing you didn't park out front!" Lee increased his pace and hurried for the door. As soon as he was outside, he turned around to say something to Amanda, but she cut him off. "Oh, and I heard better lines in high school. I also still expect another apology dinner when your lip isn't so swollen, so take good care of it!" She grinned and shut the door just as she heard the front door open. "Amanda! I'm home!" her mother called. Amanda cast one glance outside at Lee and frantically waved him away, then turned to face her mother with a smile as she went towards the sink to clean the blender and the cups before Dotty got suspicious. As Dotty talked about her evening, Amanda's mind was on Lee and how she had felt a moment ago. Her heart was still beating rather fast and she couldn't keep the telltale grin from her lips. * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * Outside, Lee stood in the dark and shook his head to clear it. What exactly had happened between him and Amanda a moment ago? He stepped back into the shadows of her yard and peered through the windows into the kitchen. He watched Dotty talk in her typical animated manner, then shifted his eyes to watch Amanda as she washed the two glasses and blender. He thought he saw a trace of a grin on her face, but he wasn't sure if it was from what her mother was telling her or from what had happened before her mother arrived. He wanted to think it was the latter, and for a moment, he allowed that to be the reality. He still didn't know what had gotten into him, and he didn't want to analyze it either. She had asked him what sorts of words he used on the women he dated, and he had obliged. The real question was whether those words he told her were something he pulled from his mind or if there was some grain of truth to them. Brushing aside those thoughts and not wanting to dig any deeper into the driving force behind what he had said to her, he chuckled as he thought of Amanda's reaction. She may never admit it and may have recovered very well as soon as she knew her mother was home, but he knew that she had been affected. He grinned as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a coin, then tossed it into the air and caught it. It was nice to know he hadn't lost his touch. (THE END) |
