For personal use and select distribution only © February 2002 by Amber Stockton Need to Know - tagalogueWritten by Joan Brooker & Nancy Eddo (excerpts from the episode belong to them)
Charlie groaned, getting up from the booth and reaching for his crutch. He stood then stopped and half-turned to face them both. "Oh, and congratulations." "On what?" Lee asked. "I'm a reporter," Charlie replied. "I got a keen sense for big stories." He grinned and winked, then used his crutch to go take his phone call. Lee glanced at Amanda out of the corner of his eye and smiled. Amanda ducked her head in embarrassment, playing with the coaster under her cup. She turned her head and sighed with a slight chuckle as she looked at him. He laughed too, moving his fingers back and forth on his glass. "Hmm, big stories," Lee began after a moment's pause. "Is that sort of like being regulars?" Amanda laughed. "I guess it is. You know, Lee, I had no idea we were so obvious. I thought we were doing a pretty good job of keeping our feelings and our engagement a secret." She looked at him with a hint of concern in her eyes. "You don't think others know, do you? I know what you said about the danger we could be in if it were discovered that we..." Lee moved his arm to place his hand over Amanda's, his fingers absentmindedly stroking the backs of hers. "Hey, you heard what Charlie said. He's a reporter. He's got a nose for stuff like this. Just like you got a nose for trouble!" He grinned. "Besides, if we weren't doing a good job, don't you think your mother would know about us?" "Yeah, I guess you're right." Amanda turned her hand over to intertwine her fingers with his. "So, do you still want us to keep our secrets?" Amanda's immediate grin showed she picked up on his tone and played right along. "I think it's best, considering." "Oh, you do, do you?" Lee gave her hand a tug, pulling her a little closer to him in the process. He opened up her hand and began drawing lazy circles in her palm, then moved up to caress the exposed skin of her lower arm, just below the cuff of her blouse. "You think it's best that we not show how we feel, huh?" Amanda was obviously fighting hard to not show how much his touch was affecting her. He watched her take a calming breath. "Yes, I do," she rasped. "It's like you said. We never know who might be watching, and if we," she paused as he slid his hand up her arm to begin caressing her neck below her ear, "if we aren't careful, we might get ... caught," she finished in a whisper. Lee smiled at Amanda's attempt to ignore his touch, then leaned forward until he was only inches from her face. "How very practical of you." He lowered his voice so she would be the only one to hear. "Except when we're alone..." Lee let his sentence dangle as he moved forward and placed a brief, but tender kiss on her lips. "Mmm!" Amanda sighed against his lips. "I think we should make sure we're alone more often." Lee chuckled. "I think we can arrange that." She smiled. "You sound pretty sure of yourself." "Give me one reason why I shouldn't be!" For once, Amanda didn't come up with a quick retort. "Ah-hah! Didn't think so." Amanda smiled. She gave him a quick kiss, before turning her attention back to her drink. At least, that's what she attempted. Her quick glances at him out of the corner of her eye proved otherwise. He grinned and gave her a little nudge. She nudged him back and they both smiled. "Now, about secrets..." She turned and flashed him a sly grin. "Oh no!" Lee protested. "You just said we weren't going to share those." "I said it was best if we keep our feelings for each other a secret," she countered. "I never said anything about our pasts." She gloated and smiled. "Besides, you lost the coin toss, so start talking!" Lee stared at her, dumbfounded, then caught the teasing look in her eye. He lowered his voice and leaned in close to her ear, his hand once again holding hers. "I think I'll save those secrets for when we're alone," he promised, nibbling a little on her ear. "Mmm, I can hardly wait!" "And the two of you acted innocent when I congratulated you!" Charlie remarked from in front of their booth. Lee backed away. Amanda stiffened. She tried to extract her hand from his, but he held tight. He glanced up to see Charlie roll his eyes and smile. "Well, we figured since you knew, there was no sense in denying it." "Not that you could, anyway. It's written all over your faces!" Amanda inhaled a sharp breath. Lee squeezed her hand to reassure her, then grinned at Charlie. "Charlie, you know the only reason you knew was because you can't keep your nose out of everyone's business!" The reporter nodded. "Yeah, you're right, Lee. Guess it comes with the territory, and why I am what I am. Just can't get enough of the gossip and news. I got a nose for it!" Knowing how important it was to reassure Amanda about their ability to keep their relationship a secret, Lee gave Charlie a silent look. With an almost imperceptible nod, the reporter showed he understood. "But you two, you're good. If I hadn't really looked hard, I'd never have been able to tell. You do that whole 'partners working on a case together' real well." Amanda released a quiet sigh. Lsee nodded his thanks to Charlie. It was bad enough that Amanda was worried about them being too obvious, especially when they had agreed it was best to keep things under wraps for now. To have a reporter tell them they weren't doing a very good job at hiding anything was not something either one of them needed to hear. Lee knew Charlie was just very observant and knew him well, but he was still grateful when Charlie jumped in to reassure them. "How long the two of you been involved, anyway?" "Seven months." "Almost two years." Lee's reply came out first, but Amanda's followed a second later. They ended up answering at the same time. Amanda ducked her head when both men gave her a surprised look. "Well, we've been working together for three-and-a-half, but it took us a while to get to the same place in our relationship," she amended and raised her head again. "I don't have a hard time believing that one!" Charlie remarked. "What I do find hard to believe is how you actually managed to rope this guy." He jerked his thumb towards Lee. "I remember times when..." "That's enough, Charlie!" Lee forced a warning tone into his voice. His friend could get him in even more hot water than he'd been when Amanda found the incriminating items in his apartment. "Yeah, I guess you're right." He sighed. "Anyway, I'll let you two get back to what you were doing. You certainly don't need an old guy like me getting in the way," he said with a wink. "Catch you later!" Lee nodded. "Yeah." "Goodbye, Charlie!" "Well," Lee exclaimed as soon as Charlie walked away. Amanda's right hand still in his left, he lowered it to the booth between them and encouraged her to turn toward him. Then, he reached out to place his other hand over her left, drawing it closer. "Now that he's gone, why don't we get back to what we were discussing a moment ago?" "I think that's a wonderful idea! I believe you were about to tell me some of your secrets, maybe some of the ones Charlie seems to know about you?" Lee looked at her one raised eyebrow and pursed lips. He nervousely cleared his throat. "Amanda, can't we just agree that there's certain things about our pasts that are better left unsaid?" Her hand slid out from under his on the table and began to play with his fingers. She removed her other hand from his and placed it on his thigh under the table, tantalizing him with her feather-light touches. One corner of her mouth turned up in a seductive grin. "But, that wouldn't be as much fun!" He grabbed her hand and held it still on his leg. Despite how innocent she may pretend to be, Lee knew otherwise. She may have others fooled. The way she acted around him had him convinced that she knew exactly what she was doing. The twinkle in her eyes and grin on her lips only affirmed that conclusion. Never one to resist the chance to engage in a little flirtation, he returned her smile. "On the contrary," he said, lowering his voice. "I think each of us having one or two secrets is fun, and I think it's best if we keep it that way." He leaned forward and placed a quick kiss on her nose to punctuate his statement. "Okay." Her immediate acquiescence set off warning bells in Lee's head. Somehow, the answer she gave wasn't what she meant, and he knew it. "Okay?" "Okay," she said again, sliding her hand away from his to return to her side of the table. "Care to explain what that means?" She extracted her right hand from his and lifted it from underneath the table to run her index finger around the rim of her glass. "It means that I have ways of finding out what you're hiding, and only some of them are pleasant." Her obvious use of a line Francine would use caused him to grin. He chuckled at her antics, then shook his head. "Somehow, I have a feeling this is one interrogation I'm going to thoroughly enjoy!" "You won't hear any arguments from me!" "So, how about we bag this joint and head back to my place?" "To set up the interrogation?" Lee grinned mischievously. "Or whatever else may happen once we get there!" "Sounds like a good idea." She nodded, then slid out of the booth and stood. "There's still a lot of things we need to go through to clean out your closets." Lee slid out and joined her, then leaned down to place his lips next to her ear, his voice a suggestive whisper. "Cleaning wasn't exactly what I had in mind!" "It never is!" she retorted, then stepped away from him and headed for the door. Lee sighed as he watched her leave, then reached into his pocket for a few bills toss on the table. He'd never had this much trouble with any other woman he knew. Then again, no relationship of his had ever lasted this long, either. Somehow, despite the frustrations, she kept him coming back for more. That was something he knew would always be a pleasurable experience. (THE END) |
