Rating: PG - 13
Summary: Lee spends a night thinking about Amanda. Late third season, right before ATWAS.
Disclaimer: Scarecrow and Mrs. King is the the property of Warner Brothers and Shoot the Moon enterprises. This story is for entertainment purposes only. No infringement of rights is intended.
Author's notes: This is for the letter S in the ABC songfic challenge. The song is a little played country song, titled 'I Should Be Sleeping' by Emerson Drive. The CD doesn't come out until Feb. and I've only heard the song a few times, but the second I heard it, I thought of Lee. Thanks to Lynda and Cheryl for tirelessly helping me with this story and for beta-ing for me. Also thanks to Lorna, the best beta ever, she doesn't let me get away with anything :)
Feedback: All feedback is more than welcome, bring it on :)
Archive: SMK fanfic archive, others just let me know.
***
I should be sleeping, 'stead of keeping,
these late hours, I've been keeping.
I've been pacing and retracing
every step of every move.
And even though I'm feeling so right,
I'm so happy, still I know I
should be sleeping, 'stead of dreaming about you.
***
Lee Stetson opened the door to his lonely apartment, thoughtlessly dropping his keys on the table.
Amanda...
She had saved his life, once again, that night. They had been on a stakeout, quietly watching a seemingly empty warehouse, when their simple observation run had turned into a full blown operation. He went in after the culprit and told her to stay in the car, but of course she hadn't. And when that scumbag Richardson had him cornered, Amanda had been there to cause a distraction and give him just the moment he needed to effectively take Richardson out. Unfortunately, she had punctured her arm on a rusty nail when she had jumped out of sight. Lee took her straight to the hospital. Even though she assured him she was up to date on all her vaccinations, he wasn't going to take a chance with her. Uh-uh, no way.
After he dropped her off at her car, he followed her home. Then, he waited outside her house conducting his own observation, something that had become a bit of habit with him. Only when he was sure everyone was tucked in and safe for the night, did he leave to go home.
Now in his apartment, he flicked on the light and stripped off his suit jacket, hanging it on the stand in the corner.
Amanda...
A small smile came to his lips as he allowed his mind to wander.
She had become so much more to him in the past year: more than a friend, more than someone he worked with every now and then. He couldn't deny his feelings anymore, and didn't even try. She was the most amazing woman he had ever met. Knowing there was so much more to her than what meets the eye, he was sure she had secrets he hadn't even dreamt of yet. Though he did dream, and he was looking forward to discovering each and every secret. If only he could find the time to tell her...
But now he stood in his apartment, caught in the threshold between the living room and the entryway, grinning like a fool and not knowing what to do next.
As his thoughts faded, he rubbed his hand over the rough stubble of his 5 o'clock shadow. He wasn't tired. He was too keyed up from the events of the night and his worry over Amanda's safety and welfare. Besides, it was after 11 p.m. and too late to do anything else. Well, that wasn't exactly true. There used to be plenty of meaningless things he would do well into the early hours of the morning, but none of those late night activities held any interest for him anymore. Maybe he was mellowing with age...or maybe it was Amanda.
Amanda...
He shook his head trying to clear his mind of his enigmatic brunette. He hadn't been able to keep her out of his thoughts since they had wrapped up the Sallee case...since he had kissed her. What a kiss that had been. It was a short kiss, but it was sweet and full of the promise of more to come. The problem was getting to that place, the place where there was...more. There never seemed to be a good time, and just when he would work up the nerve to say something, to kiss her, they would inevitably be interrupted.
Like tonight....They had been sitting in the Agency-issued brown sedan, his car was just too conspicuous for a stakeout, and having a wonderful time. Usually, he hated stakeouts, but with Amanda it was different. With Amanda, everything was different. They had talked about her family mostly and some other things. He couldn't really remember exactly what they had said now, but it didn't matter. And just when things had started to get serious....
His stomach rumbled in complaint and suddenly he did remember something, he hadn't eaten a thing since lunch. He took the detour to the kitchen, happy for the distraction and to be doing something productive. He yanked opened the door to his refrigerator.
Milk...old milk, a couple bottles of beer, a variety of condiments and a...well he wasn't sure what that was, but it certainly wasn't edible. His stomach grumbled again as he surveyed the meager contents of his refrigerator, 'I sure could go for some pizza,' he thought to himself, but it was almost midnight on a Tuesday. He flipped open the phone book, searching for a place with late night delivery. His eyes fell on a big ad for Papa Tony's, 'Open for lunch, dinner and late night.'
Deciding to give it a try, he picked up the phone and dialed the number listed. "Thank you for calling Papa Tony's. This is Cheryl. How can I help you?" Slightly surprised someone had actually answered, Lee ordered a large pizza and turned expectedly from his kitchen.
Spotting a large stack of mail, he picked it up, sorting the junk mail from the bills. However, one item caused him to stop: it was a Rebecca's Fantasies catalouge. Suddenly, his libido was in charge of his mind and he had to loosen his tie. Pictures of Amanda clad only in silk and lace surged through his imagination.
He decided, immediately, to abandon the mail.
Kicking off his shoes, Lee flipped through a case file, read some of a book and organized parts of his cluttered apartment, but no matter what he was doing, everything reminded him of Amanda King. He kept up the charade of switching tasks until the pizza came.
After he ate, he headed to the bedroom. Shedding his jeans and shirt, he changed into sweats and brushed his teeth, but he just wasn’t tired. He glanced at his watch as he took it off to put it on the sink. It was almost one o'clock. He had to be up in six hours and he didn't feel any closer to sleep than he did when he had come home.
Going out to the living room, he sat on the couch and picked up the remote. He flipped through the channels lazily, finally stopping on an old movie starring Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant. He remembered it had something to do with a government agent and a housewife and he was intrigued. He wasn't expecting anything worthwhile to be on since it was usually just infomercials at this time of night. As he watched the romantic thriller, he couldn't keep his mind from straying back to Amanda again.
He remembered looking at her in the car. She was laughing at something he had said. Her brown eyes sparkled and her smile lit up the dark night; he loved when she laughed. They were both so relaxed and at ease, absolutely nothing had happened. Lee was sure the night would be a bust. While she was laughing, he allowed himself the luxury of just studying her face. Eventually, he let his eyes drift to the fullness of her lips, and just when he had worked up the nerve to kiss her, all hell broke loose and their burgeoning relationship had to be put off once again.
The music swelled and Lee was broken from his memory. He focused on the movi e, surprised it was nearly over. "Oh, I love you , Adam...Alex...Peter...Brian...Whatever your name is. Oh, I love you. I hope we have a lot of boys and we can name them all after you."
Lee couldn't help but imagine Amanda and himself in place of the characters in the movie. He pictured the two of them sitting in the Q - Bureau, Amanda professing her own love for him. Then, he would take her in his arms and look deep into her eyes and kiss her like she'd never been kissed before. Cradling her head in his hand, he'd wrap his other arm securely around her waist and press his mouth to hers, softly at first. Then, he'd flick his tongue against her warm lips, tracing and teasing until she allowed him entrance, and...
Suddenly, he sat up. Shaking his head, he picked up the remote and turned off the TV, 'This is crazy,' he thought to himself. 'I'm an adult, not a teenager. I'm going to bed.
Lee paced the floor in front of his bed, stopping for a moment to glance at the clock: 3:47 a.m. He sighed and paced to the other side of the room again. 'I should've told her how I feel when I had the chance. No, no, no, what if she doesn't feel the same way? Of course she feels the same way. Have you seen the way she looks at you?' He smiled at that. He remembered the way she had looked at him when he kissed her in her back yard and his grin deepened. 'Tomorrow, I'll tell her tomorrow,' he decided. 'No, wait, not tomorrow. She has too many things to do tomorrow. She won't even notice me,' he frowned and flopped down onto his bed. 'I have to get some sleep,' he thought.
Stretching out on his bed, he closed his eyes, trying to relax his mind and body. Soon, he drifted into that place between being in a deep sleep and being awake. Anything was possible there. This was always where he had his most vivid dreams of Amanda. Though in the morning, he only remembered pieces...the feel of her body under his own, the taste of the skin on the curve of her shoulder, the smell of her hair as he would nuzzle her neck in that one perfect moment, the sound of a soft sigh when he would whisper his pleasure in her ear, the look of love and devotion in her eyes...
Buzz...buzz...buzz...buzz...
Lee hit the snooze on his alarm with a loud thud and rolled over onto his stomach. That warm feeling in his heart that came from his dreams of Amanda almost made up for the lack of sleep. He treasured those dreams, but as the alarm went off again, nagging him to get up for the day, he came to a decision. 'I have to tell her. The next time we're alone, I have to do something. I can't go on just thinking, dreaming about her all night...I should be sleeping.’ And as Lee pulled himself out of bed, he couldn’t help but look forward to the days ahead.
The End