Sour Grapes - tagalogue

Written by Lee Maddux (excerpts from the episode belong to him)

"Anyway," Lee began and tugged on the bottom of his leather jacket, "the reason I came over here is ... uh ... I just dropped in to see Penny and she's doing fine. She's going back to school, and she asked me to give you something, personally." He placed his hands behind his back, then tilted his head and grinned. "She made me promise!" Amanda smiled, and Lee glanced down at Amanda's lips before leaning forward.

"Amanda, have you seen...." Dotty called and opened the back door. Lee and Amanda immediately broke apart, and Lee quickly pulled the W.C. Fields mask down over his face as they both turned to face Dotty. "Amanda!"

Lee lifted his left hand and wiggled his fingers at Amanda's mother, his right arm still around Amanda's waist and her left around his. Relieved that the mask hid the disappointment he knew showed on his face, Lee tried not to sigh, but he did sneak a glance from under the mask down at Amanda to see the guilty expression on her face. It never failed. They always seemed to get interrupted at the most inopportune moments, and it was usually her mother, at least when they were at Amanda's house.

"Uh ... Mother," he heard her begin to explain, "you really should hurry and get dressed so we can get over to the party. Buck is probably wondering where we are, and..."

"Buck?" Dotty interrupted, then pointed at Lee. "But I thought he was Buck."

"No, Mother." Amanda stepped away from him and approached Dotty. "This is another neighbor who borrowed Buck's mask and came over to ask us why we weren't at the party. His mask slipped, and I was helping him straighten it."

"Oh." Dotty turned to go back inside and looked like she was going to accept that explanation, but then she paused and turned back to face Amanda. "Well, aren't you going to introduce me to this neighbor of..."

"Not right now, Mother." Amanda reached out to gently but forcefully turn her mother around and give her a little push into the house. She lowered her voice, and Lee had to strain to hear. "He's a little shy and isn't very comfortable with how he looks, but he'll be at the party, so I'll introduce you to him, then."

"Promise?"

"Promise," Amanda replied, louder this time.

"Well, all right." Dotty lifted her right hand and vaguely waved it in their direction. "I'll leave the two of you to straightening masks while I go in and finish getting dressed. After all, we can't allow Mae West to get the upper hand!" she added with a smile, then disappeared into the kitchen.

Lee watched Amanda follow her mother's movements through the house and reach to pull the back door closed before she turned to face him. He lifted the mask once again and began to close the distance between them. "Shy, am I?" He gave her a crooked smile. "Uncomfortable with how I look?" One eyebrow lifted.

Amanda took one step backward with every step he took forward, and he grinned when she bumped into the corner of the house by the back door. "Well, what would you rather have had me say? I couldn't tell her you were Buck. You're much taller than him and built differently, and she would have known right away. I also couldn't introduce you, or she would have seen your face, and if that happened, I'd never hear the end of it!"

"Oh?" he asked, intrigued. "And why's that?" He stepped closer until the toes of their shoes were just about touching, but kept his hands behind his back. Not a very easy feat, but he was determined to play this out exactly as planned. She was doing a pretty good job of schooling her features and didn't miss a beat with her reply.

"Whenever Mother sees an attractive and handsome man, she always tries to encourage me to get involved with him." She shrugged. "She's concerned that I don't have enough of a social life, that I'm always stuck at work or in the editing room and never get out."

"If only she knew!" Lee replied with a smile that quickly turned into a crooked grin. "So, I'm handsome and attractive, huh?"

"Oh, don't give me that innocent routine!" she retorted. "You know you are!"

She playfully swatted his chest, and he reached up to catch her right hand in his left, then held it against his chest as he became serious. She took a deep, shuddering breath, and he fought the grin that tugged at the corners of his mouth at her obvious reaction to him being so near.

He lowered his voice to a husky timbre. "I ... uh ... believe I was about to fulfill a promise when we were interrupted a moment ago."

Slipping his right hand around her waist, he watched her eyes darken, the porch lamp and moon casting a soft glow across her features. A tiny grin teased his lips as he slowly leaned down and closed the distance between their faces. Amanda's eyes fluttered closed, but not before he caught the eager yet uncertain expression in them.

Just before their lips met, Lee shifted to the right and placed a lingering kiss at the corner of her mouth, then pulled her into his embrace. Her left hand slid to his chest, and his right moved from her waist to the back of her neck as he inhaled her sweet perfume. He didn't know why he hadn't just kissed her, but something in her eyes just before they closed caused him to hesitate.

After several moments, he pulled back, but kept his hand at her back and his other hand holding hers at his chest. "That was from Penny."

She swallowed and licked her lips, then swallowed again. "I'll ... I'll have to thank her the next time I talk to her," she rasped.

Lee felt like someone had kicked him in the gut as he gazed at the crestfallen look on her face, but her eyes held a tiny hint of appreciation, and it gave him some comfort to know that she wasn't completely disappointed.

"So, is everything wrapped up with the Chateau Monet case and McNeil, Stargate and Holdman's murders?"

"Uh ... yeah," he replied, clearing his throat, not for the first time amazed at Amanda's resiliency. "We took Cecelia into custody, as you saw after the auction, and Jean-Pierre was implicated as being guilty of arranging for the transport of heroine into the States. McNeil's name has been cleared of all charges against him, so Penny is free to finish school with no concern for further investigations."

"Good, I'm glad." Amanda nodded. "You know, I was really concerned about her with all of this. I know how it feels to lose a father, but at least I had some warning when Daddy died." She lowered her head and glanced downward.

"Hey," Lee said softly, releasing her hand and reaching out to gently raise her chin to look into her eyes. "You did a real good job helping Penny the way you did. She really appreciated you being there, just to listen and offer her the support she needed."

"Well, she certainly wasn't getting it from anyone else, and it was obvious she was very upset about it all."

"Yeah, and like always, you knew just the right touch that was needed."

She started to duck her head in embarrassment, but Lee held firm to her chin. His eyes darted down to glance at her lips, and she licked them once more, as if silently asking him to do what every fiber in his being wanted to do. A strong battle waged within him as he weighed the ramifications of such an action, but at the inviting look in her eyes, he couldn't resist.

"I fulfilled my promise to Penny. Now, this is from me," he said before pressing his lips to hers in a soft kiss.

He pulled back much sooner than he really wanted, then glanced through the windows of her house. When he brought his gaze back to her, he found her eyes on him. The soft smile on her lips brought an answering one to his own as he began to step away. She reached out and grasped his arms to halt his progress. He drew his eyebrows together and silently asked her to explain her action.

She took her time answering, and once again licked her lips, then took several breaths before opening her mouth to reply. "You're not getting away that easily, Stetson. I promised Mother than I'd introduce you at the party."

"But..." he started to protest.

"You don't want to make me out to be a liar, do you?" She held up a hand, and he stayed the reply on his lips. "Look, you only have to show up for a few minutes, just so I can introduce you to Mother. You won't even have to say anything, and you won't have to remove the mask. Just make an appearance, meet Mother, then disappear." She grinned. "You're already good at that, so it shouldn't be a problem."

He shook his head at her teasing. "Who am I going to be?"

She shrugged. "I'll just introduce you as Mr. Sampson. She won't know that you're no longer renting Mrs. Cooperman's home, but I could tell her that you have to move out of that home and wanted to stop by the party to say goodbye to everyone."

Her plan sounded perfectly logical, but there was one problem. "Amanda." He sighed. "I don't really want to go to that party."

"Well, that's just too bad, Stetson, because you owe me, remember?" She paused and a grin formed once more on her lips. "And speaking of that," she tapped her cheek several times, "pay up!"

"If I do, does that mean I can get out of going to the party?"

"No way, bucko!" she retorted. "You owe me big, and like I said before, I intend to collect on what's due me!" She tilted her cheek towards him and once again tapped her cheek with her index finger. "Well?"

Lee chuckled, then lightly clasped her chin in his hand and leaned down to place a lingering kiss on her cheek. He fought the desire to turn her face so he could kiss her soft lips once again, but he didn't want to push his luck. Things were still very tenuous between them, and he didn't want to jeopardize anything. As he pulled away, he grinned, and she smiled, then he stepped back and held out his arm, slipping the mask down over his face once more. "Shall we?"

She linked her arm through his and walked with him towards Buck's house. Oh, how he hoped her mother would make her appearance very soon.

(THE END)

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