A Matter of Trust, part 6

Amanda walked into the Georgetown foyer of the agency.

"Good morning, Mrs. Marston." She said, putting on a facade of cheerfulness.

"Is it a good morning for you, Amanda?" Mrs. Marston asked as she handed Amanda her ID.

"As good as it can be, I guess, with all that's happened." She noticed that there was a large vase full of long-stemmed roses sitting on her desk. "Who got flowers?" She asked curiously.

"You did." she said matter-of-factly.

"Me?" She asked surprised.

"You're the only Amanda in the building."

"Oh my gosh!" She picked up the card and read it to herself with Mrs. Marston looking on eagerly.

"Well?"

"Well, what?"

"The flowers?"

"They're from Lee, of course." She said as she picked up the vase and walked up the stairs with it. As she walked into the Q Bureau, Lee's face lit up when he saw that she'd gotten his flowers.

"Hi, " he said.

"Hello." she said coolly.

"I see you got the flowers." He said, trying to figure out how to approach her.

"I could hardly miss them. They were right out there in plaind sight on Mrs. Marstons' desk."

"Yeah." He said, not knowing what else to say. 'She's still mad at me.'

"Do you think that's supposed to make up for you not trusting me?"

"I trust you." He said unconvincingly.

"So, is this your way of saying that you believe me now about Joe?"

"Actually, Joe came to see me at the crack of dawn."

"Oh?"

"He told me the real reason you went to see him."

"Did he now?"She asked, trying to regain some composure.

"Yes. Why didn't you tell me?'

"When did you give me a chance? You were so busy flinging accusations at me, I didn't even have a chance to think, let alone say anything in my own defense!"

"I'm sorry for all of that. I wasn't thinking clearly."

"Sorry? That's all you can say? You hurt me more than you will ever know!" She said as she started out the door, the vase still in her hand. Lee followed her. He caught up to her as she reached the top of the stairs. Francine was just coming out of the elevator and stopped short when she saw the scene in front of her.

"Hurt? You wanna' talk about hurt? How hurt do you think I was to find out that you lied to me?" He said angrily as he started down the stairs.

"All right. I admit it. I made a mistake! But you did too, by not trusting me!"

"What reason did you give me to trust you after what you did to me?" Lee reached the bottom of the stairs, oblivious to Francine's presence.

"If you love me, you should trust me too. After all, I'm your wife, not your floozie!" She said gesturing towards Francine.

"What?" Francine said obviously put out over Amanda's comment. "Are you calling me a floozie?"

"If t he shoe fits!"

"You've got a lot of nerve, Amanda!" Lee said. "Yelling at me about trusting you when you don't trust me."

"Just go back to your old lifestyle and leave me alone! And you can take these and shove them where the sun doesn't shine!" She said as threw the vase at his head. He ducked just under it. It crashed to the floor. As it shattered, Lee felt hie heart shatter as well. Amanda opened the door at the top of the stairs.

"So, what are you saying? You want a divorce?" She turned around and stared at him, stunned that he would even think such a thing. 'What's the point?' She thought.

"Yeah, Maybe I do."

"And what about the baby?" Francinme and Mrs. Marston both looked at Amanda at that.

"I've raised two boys practically by myself. I think I can handle one more."

"But that's not good enough. That is my child you're carrying!"

"Are you sure about that?" she said icily. "You were so sure I cheated on you, what makes you think I haven't done it before?" She ran back into the Q bureau and slammed the door. Lee started to follow her, but Francine stopped him.

"Don't." She said. "Let me talk to her. You'll only make it worse if you chase after her." Lee nodded in agreement. Francine went after Amanda. She walked into the Q Bureau to find Amanda sitting at her desk crying. "Amanda?"

"Go away!" She snapped.

"Amanda.." She said as she placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. Amanda shook her off and stood up.

"Did you hear me? I said go away!" Francine backed up a little. She'd never seen Amanda this angry before.

"Amanda, we have to talk."

"There's nothing to talk about. If you want Lee, you've got him."

"I don't want Lee. I want to be your friend, Amanda. I want to help." She said as she reached out to Amanda again. Amanda pushed her ahdn away and slapped Francine across the face with all the force she could muster. Francine stood still, reeling from the shock of what Amanda had just done. That was about the last thing she'd expected from Amanda, of all people. She rubbed her sore face.

"What you want is to help yourself to my husband!" Amanda sat down, feeling shaky. She was not a violent person by nature. She couldn't believe she'd just slapped Francine.

"Look, Amanda. I can overlook the floozie comment downstairs. I can even overlook this little attack here."

"Why can't you just leave me alone?" Amanda pleaded.

"Becuase I want to help you. And..." she hesitated, not sure she should bring it up. "...I really need your help."

"You don't seem to need any help in getting what you want. You wanted Lee and now you've got him."

"I don't want Lee, OK! I want Jonathan!"

"Jonathan?" She asked, confused. 'Have I just been blowing this whole thing out of proportion, like Lee did with my meeting with Joe?'

"Yes, but I despereately need advice."

"You? Need advice from me? Ha!"

"Yes. Well, you know what it's like to be left behind. Your ex left you to raise two kids by yourself. I know it's not exactly the same thing as what happened to me, but I was devastated when Jonathan left me and I..."

"...Don't know if you can trust him." Amanda finished for her. She realized Lee was having the same trouble trusting her after she lied to him.

"Yes. " she admitted. "As far as this thing with Lee, I was just trying to be his friend. I swear to you, whatever feelings I had for Lee are long gone. I haven't thought about him that way in years."

"I believe you, Francine. "

"You do?"

"Yes. I've just not been thinking clearly. I guess it's the raging hormones." She smiled and lightly stroked her stomach.

"So, what Lee said downstairs was true?"

"Yes, it's true. I'm pregnant. That's what I wanted to talk to Joe about. Until this whole thing blew up, he was the only one who knew about our marriage and the agency and everything. I needed advice from an objective person."

"That's one of the reasons I wanted to talk to you."

"What's the problem exactly?"

"Well, Jonathan asked me to marry him again."

"That's a problem?"

"Yes! I mean, I want to marry him, but how can I be sure that I can trust him not to leave me again when the urge strikes him. He ledt me standing at the altar before."

"Well, if you love someone, you have to trust them." 'But why didn't I take some of my own advice? I didn't trust Lee and now I don't know what's going to happen.'

"Well, you and Lee seem to have a few unresolved trust issues too."

"I know." she said sadly. She changed the subject. "My advice to you would be to just tell Jonathan how you feel."

"I tried that and he left my place in a huff. He's angry because I don't trust him."

"Let me ask you something."

"Shoot."

"Do you love Jonathan?"

"I never stopped loving him, even the five years we were apart, I still loved him."

"Do you believe that he loves you?'

"Yes."

"And you just said you want to marry him and he obviously wants to marry you if he asked you again."

"Yes..." she said. "But..."

"I think you just answered your own question. Maybe you should call Jonathan." 'And maybe I should go find Lee.' She thought.

"Thanks, Amanda. You're right." She started to walk out the door, then had a thought and paused. "I hope you and Lee get things worked out."

"Thanks."

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