by
Debbie Kluge
Original Posting Date: October 23, 2001
Disclaimer: See end of story.
Archiving: It will go to Fanfic.net and EmilyAnn has my permission to put it on the Archive if she'd like (I'll contact you directly about formatting). Anyone else, please ask.
Rating: PG, mainly for some language.
Timeline: Nearing the end of third season, but with definite overtones of AU.
Synopsis: An incident between Lee and Amanda causes Billy to make some changes.
Chapter 1
" . . . can't believe you!"
The raised voice from the corridor filtered into the bullpen, even through the closed doors, causing Billy Melrose to look up. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Francine Desmond roll her eyes.
"I tell you, it would have worked if you'd just . . ."
"Me?!?" the first voice replied incredulously. "You mean I was expected to DO something? I thought I was supposed to wait in the car!"
By this time, all activity in the bullpen had ceased as everyone waited eagerly for the quarreling pair to appear. Billy knew there was an office pool going on which one of the two would win the most arguments in any given month. Last he'd heard, Lee Stetson was losing pretty handily. One of the guards reached out and opened the door, allowing Scarecrow's answer to ring clearly through the room.
"Why do I even try? Getting you to do anything you should is totally pointless!"
Amanda King stormed through the door. In her dark gray coat, wool plaid skirt and soft pink sweater, she looked the perfect image of the suburban housewife. "Thank you," she said automatically to the guard, before pivoting to face the target of her ire. "Doing what I SHOULD? I'm your partner! What I should be doing is covering your back, not being relegated to the car all of the time."
Lee Stetson followed her in through the door without so much as a look at the guard. In contrast to Amanda, he was definitely worse for wear. He carried his overcoat in one hand and was moving with a decided limp. One sleeve was torn out of his suit jacket and his face and the rest of his clothing were smudged with dirt.
"If you were so determined to get in the middle of it, why did you wait so long?" he snapped unreasonably.
"Well, excuuuuse me for not coming to your rescue quickly enough. Seems I just can't do anything right, can I?"
"And that's another thing! You found my gun on the ground. Why the hell didn't you just shoot him?"
"And risk hitting you? Are you crazy??"
"Oh, but you're not afraid to hit me with a garbage can lid, are you?"
"That was an accident! And the last I looked, you were still alive! I figure that should count for something!" Turning her back on him, she stalked off toward her desk. As she passed her boss and co-worker, she nodded stiffly. "Sir. Francine."
"Are you all right, Amanda?" Billy asked in concern.
"Yes, sir. I'm fine." Looking back over her shoulder, she glared at her partner once more. "If it's all right with you, I think I'll just go upstairs to the Q Bureau to write my report. I'm sure Scarecrow can fill you in on all of the details of our assignment. After all, he's the professional."
Billy winced at the sarcasm. "Fine. Fine," he agreed hastily. He'd definitely never seen Amanda King this angry before . . . even at Lee Stetson.
"Thank you." She yanked open the bottom drawer of her desk, snatched out her purse and a large file folder, and slammed the drawer. Straightening, she glared at her partner one last time and then stalked off, muttering a dark litany under her breath all the way out of the bullpen.
"Well, sounds like you've really done it this time, Scarecrow," Leatherneck observed with a laugh, leaning lazily against Francine's desk. "She is not happy with you."
"Yeah," the lovely blonde agreed. "One more word and she probably would have slapped you silly."
Lee just snorted derisively and limped off toward Amanda's desk. Billy sighed and shook his head. "Scarecrow, in my office . . . now."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Amanda didn't remember ever being this angry at anyone. Why did he try? Well, why did she? She stopped in front of the elevator and stabbed the call button viciously. She fidgeted impatiently, wishing the elevator would arrive. She really didn't feel like talking to anyone right now and the longer she stood here, the more likely it was that she'd have to do that. For the first time since it happened, she finally had the chance to think back over the entire incident. Abruptly, she felt like she could hardly breathe and her stomach knotted painfully. I almost lost him today, she thought, and she felt herself beginning to shake. Not here, she told herself desperately, staring blindly at the floor as tears blurred her vision. Don't go to pieces here.
With a soft ping, the elevator door sighed open and Amanda lunged forward, thinking only of getting away before anyone saw how upset she really was. Her breath exploded out of her painfully as her body came into sharp contact with something. Her purse slipped from her grasp, the contents scattering in every direction as it hit the hallway floor, and the bulging file folder in her other hand quickly followed suit, adding to the mess. Focusing abruptly, she looked up . . . and up . . . and up . . . until her gaze locked with a pair of the deepest blue eyes she had ever seen.
"Oh, my gosh . . ." she gasped weakly, color flooding her face. "I – I . . ."
Strong, long-fingered hands reached out and caught her arms, steadying her as a deep baritone voice replied, "I am most frightfully sorry! Are you all right? Please, let me help you . . ."
With an effort, she wrenched her gaze from his and turned away, mumbling, "Oh no . . . no, p-please don't bother. It was all my fault." She wiped frantically at her eyes as she knelt and began shoving things back into her purse. "I wasn't paying attention. I-I'm so very sorry. My mind was somewhere else and I wasn't watching where I was going, and . . ."
"That's quite all right. I don't mind a bit. I wasn't paying attention, either," he replied, crouching down a short way from her and gathering up the papers scattered across the floor.
Using the brief reprieve to get her ragged emotions in hand, she eyed the handsome stranger out of the corner of her eye with interest. Thick blue-black hair that drooped becomingly over his forehead, blue eyes like a clear mountain lake, distinguished nose, a tall, lean body that was firmly muscled . . . yes, the man was positively gorgeous. Unable to help herself, she noted the lithe, easy way he moved.
A smile quirked the corner of his mouth as he looked at her again. "I must say I can't feel too sorry about it, however. It's given me the opportunity to meet you." As they both rose, he handed the reassembled file to her, his fingers brushing hers gently. "Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is William Randolph Windsor, IV. I'm here as part of an intelligence exchange program from Great Britain." The voice was calm and liquid, its accent flowing in a way that was very pleasing to the ear. Something about him naturally put her at ease. Amanda returned the smile spontaneously.
"I'm very pleased to meet you. My name is Amanda King." She juggled the things in her hands awkwardly and then took the hand he offered. After a moment, the name registered. "Windsor? As in . . . I mean, are you . . ." she squeaked.
"The relationship is very distant," he interrupted smoothly. Then, as though making the connection, he added, "King? As in Mrs. King? You're the legendary Scarecrow's partner?"
She nodded, her eyes falling in the face of his intense interest. She blushed again. "Well, I'm not exactly his partner," she qualified hastily. "I'm just a civilian aide . . . part time, you know . . . I work with him from time to time. When Mr. Melrose asks me to. On random things." She finally seemed to run down.
"Then, the pleasure is definitely mine. I've been looking forward to meeting both you and your Mr. Stetson. Is he here, too?"
Amanda stirred uneasily, reminded again of this morning's fiasco. "I believe he's in the bullpen with Mr. Melrose." She tugged gently trying to free her hand, which he still held in both of his. "I – it's very nice to have met you, Mr. Windsor. I'm really sorry, but I should go. I have a report to write . . ."
"William, please. I'm to be here for several months and I hope we'll have the chance to meet again, and possibly even work together." His smile was absolutely dazzling as he added hopefully, "May I call you Amanda?"
"Of course," she replied automatically, her heart stuttering uncertainly. Is he flirting with me? she wondered uneasily. Men at the Agency never flirt with me.
His fingers were warm against her skin as he raised her hand and kissed the back of it lightly. "Thank you, Amanda." Something caused her to glance up and she saw Lee and Billy standing just outside the bullpen doors staring at them. Lee's already sour expression darkened considerably and for a moment Amanda was certain that he was going to come storming down the hall to interfere with the conversation. Her earlier anger flickered to life once more and she deliberately ignored them. Turning her attention to her handsome companion again, she heard him say, "I hope we'll see each other again, then."
She smiled up at him and felt herself blush again as she replied, "I'll look forward to it. If you were looking for Mr. Melrose, he's the shorter of the two men who just stepped out of the bullpen." She gestured toward them and noticed that Billy now had a firm hand on Scarecrow's arm.
William glanced quickly up the hall and then smiled at her once again. "I was. Thank you. Until later?"
She nodded mutely and with one final light caress, he released her hand and turned away. After a moment, she turned to step into the elevator and promptly walked into the closed doors. With a martyred sigh, she reached out and punched the elevator call button once more. The last thing she saw as the doors closed behind her was Lee's annoyed expression.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
It was an hour later, as she was putting the final touches on her report, that Lee appeared in the door of the Q Bureau. During that time, her anger had faded and she had begun to worry about him again. The fight that had ensued as a result of their blown surveillance had been hard and dirty, and Lee's assailant had struck several vicious blows before she had been able to distract him sufficiently for Lee to knock him out. And it was true that she had hit Lee with a garbage can lid. It was the only weapon other than his gun that she could find, and he ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time.
"Are you all right?" she asked as he limped across the room toward her. She rose hastily from his desk and moved out of the way so he could sit down. "What did Dr. McJohn say?"
"I'm fine," he replied in a sullen tone. "I don't need to be poked and prodded by McJohn. A shower and clean clothes and I'll be as good as new."
"You really should . . ."
"I said I'm fine!" he snapped, glaring at her as he eased himself down into the desk chair gingerly.
"Okay, fine. I was just worried about you."
"Yeah, well, don't bother."
She reached out and gathered up the papers lying on the desk in front of him. Silently, she scanned the end of the report one final time, picked up a pen, signed it, and then inserted it neatly into the waiting file folder. As she turned away, he spoke again.
"I met your friend."
"What friend?" Amanda replied in confusion, looking back at him again.
"Your friend by the elevator. The Brit. You know, the one you seemed so taken with."
"You mean William?"
"William," Lee drawled in a sarcastic tone. "Yeah, that's the one."
She nodded. "He seems very nice. Said he was here on some sort of intelligence exchange program. Fostering cooperation between agencies or something, I suppose."
"Oh, I'll bet he's really good at that," Lee muttered darkly to himself.
"What?"
"Nothing. Just do me a favor, and stay away from him. I've got a really bad feeling about the guy."
She looked at him in surprise. "What kind of a bad feeling?"
Lee shrugged. "I don't know. I just don't like him, and I don't want to see you hurt."
Lee saw the anger flicker in her eyes again as she replied shortly, "I'll keep that in mind." Picking up her coat and purse from a nearby chair, she said coolly, "I'm going to take this down and turn it in to Mr. Melrose and then I'm going home. "You'd better do the same."
It took Lee a moment after the door closed behind her to realize that she hadn't wished him a good night.