Magic Bus - tagalogue

Written by Brad Buckner & Eugenie Ross-Leming (excerpts from the episode belong to them)

Amanda finished wrapping Lee's injured leg. "There!" he exclaimed. "Now, let's see," he said, standing to his feet and testing out his leg by walking on it. "Ahh, good as new!"

"Good! You know, I could sew those pants up..."

"No, no, no. Thank you. Look uh, they'll be giving you a ride home." He gestured vaguely towards the government cars surrounding the Vigilante. "I guess I'll be seeing you...maybe. But, then again, maybe I won't. You know."

Amanda pivoted on the log where she sat to fully face him and gave him a look of disbelief, as if she wondered how he could be so blasé about it all. "Yeah, well, just in case you don't, do you think could say something nice about my work? I mean, after all, I do think I did contribute something..." She nodded as if encouraging him to agree.

He partially nodded and appeared to be struggling to come up with something to say. "Okaayy," he began slowly. "Your work was...not bad," he finished with a smile.

"Not bad?" she asked incredulously.

"Yeah."

"Not bad," she repeated, shaking her head.

"Well, you think my legs are just 'okay,' so I think your work was just 'not bad'."

She glanced down at the ground then stood to her feet, bracing herself with a hand against the Vigilante as she leaned in close. "That is so petty."

Giving her a very intent look, he lowered his voice. "Care to change *your* opinion," he said raising his eyebrows to punctuate his statement.

Amanda's eyes widened at his indirect challenge, and he could have sworn he saw her take a breath before replying. "Change *my* opinion?"

"Yeah."

"Why would I change *my* opinion?"

"Oh, I get it," he said with a smug smile. "It's like not being able to admit your interest in this line of work, isn't it? You just can't bring yourself to admit the truth."

"That's ridiculous!" she retorted, starting to turn away.

"Is it?" he continued to press.

She faced him directly, sparks leaping to her eyes. "Yes, it is! One thing has absolutely nothing to do with the other!" she stated vehemently, gesturing with her arms in a scissor-like fashion to illustrate her point. "You ask me what I think of your legs. I suppose you want me to tell you that I think they're very nice or very attractive. Well, I'm sorry, but I'm not here to laud the praises of your physical attributes. You can find one of your friends from the Steno pool for that. As for admitting this work is exciting? Fine, I admit it. Now, are you happy?"

"Yes," he replied simply, unable to hide his grin at their verbal battle. It was actually something he had come to expect when dealing with her.

"Good." She turned away and muttered under her breath, "I still won't admit that your legs are very nice."

"What was that?" He had heard her, but he wanted to hear her admit it.

"I said you might want to help that injury with some ice."

It was obvious she had quickly invented something that sounded like what she had said while also being plausible, and he tried not to sound disappointed that she wouldn't repeat what she had actually said. "Oh. For a minute I thought you said..." He trailed off.

"What?" she interrupted, her voice and the look in her eyes daring him to voice his thoughts.

"Nothing," he muttered, looking away.

"Didn't think so," she retorted with a grin.

Now it was Lee's turn to look at Amanda incredulously. He opened his mouth to speak, but Billy interrupted.

"So, are you two ready to get this thing on the road?"

"You two, Billy?" Lee repeated. "Surely you're not suggesting that..."

"That's exactly what I'm suggesting, Lee," he replied.

"But, Billy!"

"Look, I just heard that it was Amanda who was responsible for that fancy driving, and that she saved your skin when you were shot. Seems to me she could come in handy on a cross-country trip, maybe help you think first before acting?" he added, smiling at Amanda. "So, what do you say, Mrs. King? Would you be able to get away to help us with this?"

"Oh, I don't know, Sir," she began, hesitantly. "I suppose I could tell Mother that I was going on a week-long retreat..."

"Wonderful," Billy agreed. "I'm sure you and Scarecrow could get the Vigilante to Arizona and be back in less time. You'll be traveling with an unmarked and armed escort, and we'll fly you back from there."

Lee continued his attempts to dissuade the section chief. "Billy, this is a top secret mission. I've had years of training for something like this. How can you suggest that a civilian like Amanda would be able to handle what's involved?"

"She handled herself just fine when you were disarming the Vigilante and trying to avoid the Army. Are you saying she didn't?"

"No..."

"Good. I don't think it'll be a problem," he stated with assurance, then walked away to return to the matter of securing the vehicle for transport.

Amanda grinned at the praise from Billy, and Lee rolled his eyes. She took a step towards him again, and he raised an eyebrow. "Now see? That wasn't so hard to admit, was it?" She tossed out the parting comment, tapped him on the chest with her fingertips and sauntered past him with what appeared to be a satisfied smile on her face.

Lee just groaned and ran his fingers through his hair. This was going to be a very long week!

(THE END)

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