Screen Captures Courtesy of Swoopes For personal use and select distribution only © April 2002 by Amber Stockton Brunettes Are In - tagalogueWritten by Bill Froehlich and Mark Lisson (excerpts from the episode belong to them)
"Whoa!" Lee exclaimed. "It's good to get those manacles off." He breathed a sigh of relief and rubbed his wrists. Amanda turned to face him and chuckled, her hands clasped behind her back. "Yeah, well, looks like everything turned out okay, huh?" "I guess." She brought her hands from behind her back to clasp in front of her. "Yeah." It seemed that neither one of them knew what to say next. Amanda rocked a little on her heels and placed her hands in the pocket of her tweed blazer. Lee looked over his right shoulder at the activity of the federal agents who were there to wrap up the case, then glanced back at her and cleared his throat. "Amanda...uh..." "You know, I'm very proud of my job," she interrupted decisively. "And I've been doing a lot of thinking. And I really don't think that it was my fault that that microdot got stolen." "No, no, you're right," he agreed and raised his hands in a placating gesture. She nodded. "I know I'm right." "And you know that part about your, uh..." He waved his left hand in the air, uncomfortable with actually saying out loud the word he had in his mind. "Yeah...my resignation," she supplied. He felt a small amount of trepidation. "Yeah that part." "Yeah." "Amanda, I think....I think you ought to give it a little more thought." He waited in breathless anticipation for her reply. "I think you're right." She nodded, and he released his breath. "I think maybe I didn't know what it was you were really saying." He laughed and ducked his head down as he bent a little at the waist, then straightened again and looked at her. "Yeah, that was probably it, and I guess I didn't really know what you were saying." He gestured at her with both of his hands. "So, uh..." "Yeah, the only trouble is that I alr...." Amanda stopped when Lee pulled out an envelope from his jacket pocket and withdrew a blue piece of paper. "I ... uh... happened to intercept this," he began as he unfolded the paper in front of him, "this morning. It says..." There was a slight look of regret on her face, and her eyes were downcast in apparent embarrassment. "I kno..." "I ... uh ... Amanda King hereby ... resign." He read the first line and lowered the paper, then looked up to see Amanda's face turned down. He waited as she composed herself, formed her own conclusions, and was finally able to look up at him. She nodded in her head in a very decisive manner. "What should we do with it?" "Well," he replied as he lifted his eyebrows and licked his lips. Stuffing the page back into the envelope and pressing his lips into a grim line, he looked back at her with a grin and held his right hand cupped over his left that held the envelope. "How about the circular file?" A grin tugged at her lips as she nodded, and he turned to glance over his right shoulder before he performed a left hook shot over his head right into the metal waste basket. He brought his left hand down in a pumping motion when he made the shot, then turned back to face her and held out his right hand. "Partner?" He waited while she slowly reached out her right hand, then shook hands with him and smiled. That one motion lifted so much tension, he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. Their working relationship had been laid on the line with that one question. He didn't want to admit it, but when she had first mentioned resigning, an empty feeling settled in the pit of his stomach. Even after they had fought and he was on his way home, his conscience wouldn't let him drive away without a backwards glance. It was time to face the facts. She meant too much to him. "I thought you said we've never been partners." Her voice interrupted his thoughts, and he looked down to realize that their hands were still clasped in a handshake. "I thought you said that you only work alone." "Uh....well....what I meant was....that we weren't technically partners," he hedged. "That other than when we call you to help us and work with me on certain assignments, there's no other connection between us, not officially, anyway. So, according to the Agency, we aren't partners." "Oh, I see." She nodded. "So, if we're not partners officially, what are we, unofficially?" He could feel a bead of sweat form on his forehead, and all of a sudden, his necktie felt very constricting. He released her hand and gave the waistband of his pants a tug, then rested his hands on his hips. "Uh...unofficially?" he asked, hearing the trepidation in his own voice and knowing that his eyes contained a miniscule hint of panic. She nodded, and he grew more uncomfortable with each passing second. "Well, we work together on a lot of assignments, and when one of us gets into trouble, we usually rely on the other for assistance. So..." He cleared his throat. "So, we're partners," she supplied and placed her hands back into the pockets of her blazer. The expectant look in her eyes held a sense of finality, like whatever he said next would carry a lot of weight in their future working relationship. A frustrated sigh escaped his lips, and he slid his right hand into his pocket as his left combed through his hair in nervous agitation. "Yeah," he finally said. "Yeah, we're partners." "Good," she replied. "And partners don't try to get rid of each other, right?" "Right." "So, when the going gets tough, they stick together, right?" He nodded. "Yeah, I guess so." "So, the next time we have a disagreement and I say I'm going to resign, you're not going to agree, right?" He shook his head in confusion. "Wait a minute, wait a minute!" He gestured with two fingers of his left hand up in the air. "What are we talking about?" She shrugged. "Being partners." "I realize that, but what's all of this talk about you resigning? I thought we just settled that." "Oh, we did! I just wanted to clarify things so there's no misunderstandings." He chuckled. "Amanda, with you, there's always going be misunderstandings and confusion!" He smiled. "You get going on one of your rambles, and you get me wondering what I even said to begin with, let alone what I end up agreeing to by the time the matter is settled. Add that to the fact that you almost never do what you're told, and you have a perfect setup for misunderstandings to occur." "Can I help it if I understand what I'm saying, but nobody else does?" She shrugged her shoulders and grinned. "Besides, if I didn't mix things up a bit, your job wouldn't be so interesting, because I wouldn't need anyone to come to my rescue, as you so often do," she countered. He laughed and nodded. "You do have a point, there!" "Speaking of coming to my rescue, I do have one question." "What's that?" She pulled her hands from her pockets and lightly clasped her fingers together in front of her. "How did you know that those men were after me and not the microdot?" Lee cleared his throat and averted his eyes. That was the one question he had hoped she wouldn't ask, as it involved something he'd much rather forget when remembering this case. After a moment, he looked back at her to find her curious expression impossible to ignore. "Well, that guy that mugged you the first time finally cracked and gave us enough information to figure almost all of it out. He said he didn't mean any harm in going after you, then told me that they never bruise the merchandise." "Merchandise?" Amanda spoke the word with a distasteful look on her face. "Yeah, that's what tipped me off. When he said it was all business, I knew that they had actually planned to ... to..." "Sell me," Amanda finished, cringing as she lowered her head. "So, you knew then about the type of business he was in, about how they provided wealthy men with..." "Yeah," he interrupted and noticed her head still hung down, almost in shame. "Hey," he said softly, reaching out to gently lift her chin and encourage her to meet his gaze. "There was no way I was going to let that happen to you, all right. No way! Besides, none of that was your fault. I guess you just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time for them to find you." "Story of my life, it seems." "Maybe." He grinned. "But, if you hadn't been where you were, we never would have gotten to this yacht, never would have known these guys existed, and never would have been able to bag those guys and bust up their operation. So, it all worked out in the end!" He waved both of his hands in the air in an all-encompassing gesture. "Thank you, Lee. You always know how to make me feel better." He smiled. "What are partners for?" He extended his left arm towards her and nodded his head in the direction of where Billy and Francine had headed a few minutes ago. "Come on." She placed her hand in the crook of his elbow and walked with him up the dock. Looking down at her out of the corner of his eye, Lee felt very lucky to have her by his side. Not that he could admit it out loud, but he would have missed her deeply if she had left. (THE END) |
