Service Above and Beyond - tagalogue

Written by Peter Lefcourt (excerpts from the episode belong to him)

Amanda looked up at the tapping sounds on the window. She saw Lee gesture for her to come outside and was thankful the sounds of the TV prevented anyone else from hearing. She wiped her hands on the dish towel and quietly opened the back door to step outside and join Lee.

She smiled a little shyly when she saw Lee. "Hi."

"Hi."

"You're getting awfully good at knocking on my kitchen window." She gestured vaguely at the windows to her right as she continued to dry her hands on the dish towel.

He glanced at them briefly and turned his back to them. "Yeah," he sighed with a slight lift of his eyebrows and a smile. Then, he turned to face Amanda and stood straight again. "Am I interrupting anything?"

"Supper dishes," she replied with a laugh.

"Oh."

"Victoria Grenich may not have to do them, but Amanda King has a sinkful," she said as she tossed the dish towel over her shoulder.

"Yeah," he sighed with a smile, then gave her a knowing look. "You're going to miss her, aren't you?"

"Yeah, a little bit," she admitted with a nostalgic sigh. They both became quiet, neither one really knowing what to say, but Amanda broke the awkward silence. "So, what are you doing in my garden at seven-thirty at night?"

"Uh, just checking," he replied with a nervous grin. "I wanted to see if you were all right."

"I'm...I'm fine...yeah." She turned to stare into space as she gathered her thoughts. "Listen, you know, there's something that's been bothering me, all day long, and I just," she began, not noticing Lee's worried expression. "Now, I know they give you...uh...sedatives and things in the ambulance and uh...and I just wondered...uh...did you say something nice to me?" She pinned him with a questioning gaze.

"Like what?" He forced his face into a neutral appearance, so as not to give away anything.

"I was dreaming. Sedatives," she replied, waving her left hand vaguely in front of her face, "does things to your mind."

"Yeah." He leaned back against the windowsill and crossed his arms across his chest.

"I better go back inside," she suddenly announced, raising her shoulders slightly before continuing, "and help Jamie with his fractions."

"Uh, I'll just let myself out." He stood straight and uncrossed his arms, then pointed towards the gate where he had entered.

"Oh, right. Night."

"See you around," he said as he walked towards the fence.

* * * * *

Amanda turned towards the door, but paused. "Oh, Lee?"

He stopped his progress and turned around again to face her. "Yeah?"

"How'd you get me outta there?"

"I carried you," he said simply with a glint in his eyes, turning and giving her one last look and smile before he reached for the gate.

Amanda rolled her eyes. "He carried me," she whispered, unable to keep her mind from conjuring up an image of the situation. It wasn't hard to imagine what it would be like to be held in his strong arms, and a part of her wished she had been conscious and able to remember it. A tiny smile formed on her lips at the thought of her head resting against his shoulder, her arms draped...

"Makes for a real interesting picture, doesn't it?"

She turned at his voice again, jolted out of her thoughts and surprised to see him still there. "Ohh, well, you know," she stammered, a little embarrassed that he had caught her obviously thinking about him. She was thankful for the cover of the night to hide the telltale blush that crept into her face.

"Look, Amanda..." he began as he walked back to where she was standing, "about the ambulance..."

"Yes?"

"I was worried about you and did say a few things..."

"Oh?"

He cleared his throat, then steeled his features and looked at her. "Well, I said this assignment got a little rough this time. You did one hell of a job and didn't deserve to have to go through that."

"Oh. Well, Lee, you've often said it's a dirty business. Things happen." She tried to brush it off as unimportant with a wave of her hand.

"Yeah, but not to you," he stated, revealing a little of what he felt when he saw Amanda lying there helpless after being drugged.

The tone in his voice caused Amanda to look him in the eyes, and as she did, a foggy voice in her mind replayed something she wasn't certain she'd actually heard. "You may even make a good agent, one day." Was that what he had said to her or was it just her overactive imagination playing tricks on her again? He looked away before she had a chance to analyze anything further, so she leaned back against the windowsill and clasped her hands in front of her.

"I meant what I said," he suddenly announced as he moved to lean back against the windowsill beside her. "You did do one hell of a job with this one. You almost had me believing you really were Victoria Grenich. Certainly did look the part," he added, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye.

"Well, thank you," she replied, very pleased at his remark. "It was fun for a little while, playing someone else," she admitted.

"Yeah, your instincts paid off well with this one. Billy even said he was impressed."

"Really?"

"He said you were good at thinking on your feet." He turned to face her. "How did you come up with all of that, anyway?"

"Well, being a mother, you have to be ready for a lot of different things. You never know what you're going to find from day to day, so learning to think quick on your feet is a daily occurrence," she admitted candidly. Hearing a call from inside, she immediately stood straight. "I should get back inside. Thank you for checking on me."

"No problem," Lee quickly stated and shrugged his shoulders, not wanting to appear like it was anything out of the ordinary. "I'll, uh, let myself out....again." He smiled and walked towards the gate. When he reached it, he turned and caught Amanda just about to enter the house. "Amanda?"

"Yes?" She paused with her hand on the doorknob and turned to face him.

"Where did you come up with the stories for Victoria Grenich?"

"From my childhood fantasies," she replied with a teasing grin as she opened the door and disappeared inside.

Lee stood there staring after her and watched through the window as she went to stand beside Jamie. He shook his head, unable to identify what he was feeling as admiration or something more. One thing was certain. The woman he watched was made of more guts than most of the people he worked with on a daily basis.

(THE END)

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