"Five miles? You want me to run five miles?" John couldn't believe
his ears. "That's the length of the station!"

"You will be handsomely rewarded when you complete your mission."
Delenn caressed his cheek.

"What kind of reward?"

"I'll think of something appropriate." Her hand slid down his chest
to his crotch.

"Five miles. No problem. I can do it standing on my head."

"On your feet will be fine." Delenn kissed him.

John got on the treadmill and began to run. Faster and faster. He
had a reward to collect. He hoped he wouldn't be exhausted in the
end.

"Five miles? You want me to run five miles? Are you insane!" Francine
screamed at her trainer.

But it wasn't his fault.

She really should be screaming at Amanda. After all, she's the one who gave
her the De Verona chocolates. So, it was all Amanda's fault.

Francine picked up her water bottle, draped a towel around her neck and
headed down the trail. All the while plotting her revenge.

"Five miles? You want me to run five miles?"

Billy was already feeling out of breath, just from repeating the
ludicrous new physical stipulation back to Dr Smith.

"Why yes William, five miles. It shouldn't be too much of an ask now
should it?"

Billy choose to ignore the sarcasm in the older man's voice, far
better to work out why this was now being asked of him.
"Of course it's not to much of an ask, I was just wondering, when did
section chiefs suddenly get new physhical requirements?"

Smith smiled in response to Billy's question, the kind of smile a
cheshire cat would be envious of. "You can thank the resident boy
wonder for the new athletic code. Ever since we found out about
Scarecrow's tendency to duck his yearly physhicals, we decided to
enforce a new set of iron clad rules to assure fitness in our agents,
we wouldn't want any of our boys and girls being out of shape would
we?"

Billy groaned at the sing-song quality in Smith's voice.
Smith flashed another grin then drew a long draw of the ever present
cigarette.

"To be completed by everyone William, and I do mean everyone. Do pass
on my regards to Scarecrow when you break the news."
With a puff of smoke and one last quip, Smith left Billy's office.
Billy looked down at the doughnut resting on his desk, it had looked
so appealing ten minutes ago, now it just sat there, mocking him with
it's sugary goodness.

An idea suddenly worked it's way into Billy's brain.

Billy smiled as he hung the phone up twenty minutes later. He would
have to run the newly required five miles, that was unfortunately
clear and there was nothing to be happy about in that respect. What
was making the smile take form was the thought of the look on Dr
Smith's face when Harry Thornton visited and made it clear that
*everyone* really did mean everyone.

Or maybe the look on Scarecrow's face when Billy told him about the
new orders that even boy wonder couldn't get out of, running, ten
whole miles . . .

"Five miles? You want me to run five miles?"

The look of shock on Amanda's face when she blurted the request back
to Scarecrow had been all he hoped for, and more.

*Serves her right* Lee thought, as he slammed his locker door shut
and bent down to do a last minute check of his running shoe laces.
If she wanted to keep on insisting that she tag along after him and
do things that a partner would do, she'd have to do the five mile run
that he had to do as well.

*At least this year I know it's only five miles* he thought, still
not finding anything funny in Billy's little joke from last year.
He'd only found out after he finished the run.

Voices and laughter suddenly filled the silent locker room, a bunch
of male agents had walked in and started opening their lockers,
directly behind Lee's.

"So Scarecrow's little housewife is going to be running the whole
five miles?" One voice drifted over the din to Lee's ears, "just to
prove a point or what?"

Lee suddenly straightened, and leaned towards the noise, curious as
to why Amanda's name had been brought up.

"Oh yeah, the whole thing, she looked pretty determined when she
accepted the challenge apparently."

"She gets kinda cute when she's in that mood don't cha' think?"

The dis-embodied compliment made Lee's blood run cold.

*Cute?* Who was this loser and why was he wondering if his
partn . . . why was he wondering if Amanda was cute or not?

He leaned forward, eager to learn more.

"I don't know about cute, but I'm sure going to enjoy running behind
that ass, that's for sure!" laughed a voice that Lee instantly
recognised as belonging to Davis, the smug lothario from crypto.

The laughter floated away as the men left the room, leaving Lee's
mind in a whirl.
Anger slowly built up as he imagined leering faces lusting after
Amanda.

Amanda in a small pair of running shorts, her body all sweaty from
running . . .

Lee shook his head, where had that thought come from? Obviously he
was imaganing what Amanda would look like in the minds of the pigs
he'd just overheard, that's it, he'd only been thinking of how Amanda
would look in *their* eyes.

Sure, he thought of her as a pest but she may hold some appeal to
another guy he supposed, if you were attracted to that type.
The plan became clear as he jogged onto the running track. He'd just
have to do the run with her, every step of the way, to guard her
against any opportunistic slugs that might try something. It was the
only way, he'd didn't want to spend anymore time with her than he had
to, he was only doing it for her protection.

By the third mile, Lee was wishing for the impossible, he was wishing
that he could hear Amanda King talk. Even a ramble would be better
than this silence.
Amanda had been pleased that Lee was going to do the run with her, at
first.

That was until she had seen Lee assume a position behind her,
scowling at anyone that happen to be running behind her.
Her heart sunk as she realised the reason he was running with her at
all, not as a small sign she was beginning to be accepted, as a
friendly gesture, no, he was running behind her as some sort of self
appointed guardian. Protecting the civilian, not his partner, the
civilian he was responsible for.

The fourth mile came and he could stand it no longer. He picked up
the pace until he was matching her long, even running style.

"It's not so bad, nearly finished hey?"

Silence.

Lee sighed, "Amanda, look, I don't want you to be angry with me. I
just overheard some guys talking and they, well . . . ahh shoot
Amanda, take it from me, guys can be -- well not all guys but some
can be real . . ."

Amanda smiled to herself listening to his scrambled attempt at a
truce, *given the right situation even the mighty Scarecrow can
ramble* she decided to mercifully end her brooding silent treatment.

"What guys Lee?"

The relief was instantaneous, *she's okay now, she's talking again,
well, not alot by Amanda standards but it's a start*.
He decided to come clean, almost.

"I overheard some guys, real bozo's, talking before and they were
laughing at how I challenged you to run the five miles. I just felt
bad, the way they were, ummm, talking about it that's all."

Silence.

"And I felt bad that I yelled at you the other day okay? I shouldn't
have done it, you just are always there when something goes wrong and
sometimes I take it out on you I guess." He stopped for a breath and
when he straightened he was glad to see that Amanda had stopped as
well.

"Sorry?" He stuck his hand out, hoping for a response, any response
but silence.

Amanda grinned as she shook his outstretched hand. She didn't want
him to feel this bad, he was trying to make amends after all.

Lee was relieved, things were right again.
He looked Amanda up and down from the corner of his eye, she did look
very trim and in shape, he could still picture Davis though, the
slimy creep, taking any chance he could get. He owed it to Amanda to
warn her, now that she was talking to him and all.

"Amanda . . . he began, as they rounded the last curve of the track.
He cleared his voice and started again. "Amanda, you really have to
watch out for some of the people here at the agency you know, not
everybody is nice and willing to help."

"Really, came the drowl sounding reply, "You mean Francine can get
worse?"

He ignored her barb and gamely continued on, "I'm serious, take
Davis, the guy from crypto who passed by awhile back." Lee
remembered alright, remembered the red face on Davis and how quickly
he'd run passed them when he saw what was standing between him and a
good few of Amanda's ah, particulars.

"Especially the guys Amanda, some of them are real joys. They'd
think nothing of making unwanted passes. Male agents are always
hanging around with lust in their hearts, trust me."
They had come to the end of the run as it dawned on him what he had
said. It sounded like he was being a . . .

"Just be careful okay Amanda?"

At her careful nod he rushed off, yelling over his shoulder, "I'll
see you later, I'm headed for the showers, you did good."
She watched his retreating form for a moment then plopped onto the
ground, tired but deciding to stretch before she hit the showers
herself.

She didn't understand most of what had just happened, but one thing
was clear, Lee didn't like arguing any more than she did, and he had
told her she did a good job, that would do, for now.
She got up and headed for the female showers, who would have thought
that running could actually get you closer to the real Lee Stetson?

"Five miles? You want me to run five miles?"

Amanda laughed, Beamen's shocked and nervous outburst to Billy
reminded her of the tone Lee's voice took on when imitating her much
put upon Agency class teacher.

Beamen turned quickly to face his freshman class. The small, snort
like laughter had stopped, making it impossible to say with any
certainty who had found his current predicament funny.
He knew the sound however, it had to be Amanda King. She was picking
up way too many habits from that Scarecrow, she was almost beginning
to sound like him.

Feeling powerless to stand up and argue against the physhical rules,
Beamen did the one thing he knew he could do, share the joy with his
class.

Amanda bent one last time and checked the laces of her running
shoes. She really shouldn't have laughed like that in class, it had
just slipped out. That little slip had resulted in her entire class,
herself included, being *invited* to join the five mile run
requirements that fully qualified agents had to complete to pass
their yearly physhical.

Agency rumour had it that something Lee had done or said a few years
ago was the reason behind the run being implemented but nobody could
confirm or deny it.

*If anybody could be behind it, leave it to him*.
As soon as thought of her foot-in-mouth partner entered her head,
Amanda smiled.

The past few weeks after the Stemwinder case had been wonderful.
Since admitting that their feelings toward each other were much more
than friendly, Lee and Amanda had been slowly exploring their new
found situation. Things were going so well, she was even looking
forward to starting this five mile run, having made plans to meet
with Lee afterwards for a small, intimate dinner at his place.

Slowly, after about the first two miles, Amanda's daydreams ceased
and she became aware of heavy, running footsteps behind her. Turning
to see who she was sharing her run with, she was shocked to see Lee
picking up pace to join her.
She smiled as he settled into a steady run beside her.

"I thought I was meeting you at your place after my run?"
Lee grinned, "Yeah, well, I thought I'd keep you company that's all,
you don't mind do you?"

Amanda smiled back, trying not to laugh at the sudden oh so innocent
tone in her partners voice.

"No, I don't mind, I was just wondering why you wanted to do your
annual five mile twice that's all."

Amanda enjoyed seeing the momentary surprise flash across Scarecrow's
face.
She had heard that he had completed his physhical last week, when she
had taken the day off to spend with Jamie at his school's open house
day.

Lee recovered quickly, *I'm not able to get away with anything lately
am I*, surprised to find he kind of liked the idea of being an open
book to the wonderful woman beside him.
They duo ran silently for a few more moments before memories of
previous years runs made their way into Amanda's thoughts.

"Your not still trying to protect me from, what was it again? She
pursed her lips and pretended to be remembering, "ah yes, unwanted
passes from male agents with lust in their hearts."
Lee grinned as he caught on, dropping a few paces back so he could
mimic the run from years earlier.

He smiled happily as he watched the muscle play from undearneath the
brief running shorts his partner now wore, at least this year he
could enjoy the view without having to concoct stories to cover his
feelings.

"Oh yeah, there's still lust in their hearts, this time though I'm
the one getting to make the passes. Not unwanted I hope?"

"Well, how about we start with dinner and take it from there?"
Lee shook off his shocked expression to go and catch up with his now
speeding, and laughing partner. He'd never dreamed being the one
chasing could turn out to be so much fun.

The young man looked down at the gravel which had been freshly impacted.
What was once his favorite place in this park to spend in solitude had been
transformed into a jogging path. As he pondered this predicament, his hand
automatically adjusted the glasses on the brim of his nose.

"Five miles? You want me to run five miles?"

"Yes, Wormbrain!Haven't you heard the girls on the bus talking about this
new trail? It's a perfect plan!"

Jamie King started to jog beside his brother. "I don't care much about what
the dumb girls do. But when Phillip looks like he is a contender in the
sweatiest kid contest, I'll be right there to hear what their reaction is. Oh
my gosh, I wish that I had my camera!'

There was no escaping it, the car was out of gas. Dotty West eased the car
off onto the side of the road and when it stopped she laid her head on the
steering wheel.

A drowsy Jamie lifted his head from the back of the car. "Grandma, are we
there yet?"

Dotty looked back to see Phillip raising his head from the back of the
station wagon as well. "This doesn't look like the campground."

Dotty banged her head gently on the steering wheel. Now she knew what she
had forgotten to do that had been nagging at the back of her mind all
afternoon. Fill the gas tank. Such an important thing and she had
forgotten.

"Boys, it seems as if we are going to have to go get help. We've run out of
gas."

Phillip hopped over the seat next to his brother. "How far will we have to
go?"

"I'm not sure. Let's lock up the car and start walking." She eased out of
the car and grabbed her purse from the seat. "We could have a long trip
ahead of us to find a gas station."

Dotty and the boys started walking along the rural road. She was familiar
with many parts of Virginia, but she had made the mistake of trying a
shortcut. She had no idea what was on this road other than what she could
see on her map.

She tucked the map into her purse when she saw that they were coming up on a
road sign. The boys hurried along the side of the road and stopped in front
of the sign to wait for her.

"Grandma, it says Greenville five miles." Phillip said. "I bet if we ran
we could get there really fast."

"I bet I can beat you," Jamie replied. "Come'on Grandma we can't let him
win." With that Phillip and Jamie took off.

"Five miles? You want me to run five miles?" Dotty shouted incredulously.
But the boys couldn't hear her, they were already too far ahead.

She tucked her purse tightly under her arm and muttered, "I am getting too
old for this nonsense."

"Boys! Boys!" She shouted as she started running behind them.

Amanda King could do little more than allow her usually unwilling
partner to hold her hand and guide her through the darkened house.
She tried to tiptoe quietly, but in high heels that was rather hard
to do.

She was thankful that the electricity had gone out, thanks to a
quickly closing in thunderstorm. They had really needed a diversion
and Mother Nature had come to their rescue.

Her thoughts were interrupted as her partner suddenly stopped, and,
as usual, she rammed right into his backside. Now, it wasn't that
Amanda didn't appreciate the attributes of the mighty Scarecrow. She
was, afterall, a woman and what living breathing woman on the planet
could resist his charms, especially the way he had looked earlier in
the night.

She felt him leave go of her hand and could hear him touching
something in front of them.

"Ah ha," he whispered.

That's when she heard the click of a door being opened and they
slipped quickly like thieves in the night.

It took them a few moments to go round the large house and then down
through the back yard. A few more and they had slipped under the
fence that led to the field behind. Unfortunately, Amanda had heard
a few rips of fabric as they'd both crawled under the fence.

Regretfully she knew that she would be throwing this gown away once,
and if, they made it out of this one.

Once she had stood up on the other side of the fence, Lee spoke,
still in hushed tones, though she was almost positive that they had
not been followed through the house by the bad guys. Yes, she was
almost sure of it because they had most certainly been bad and mean
and they seemed to have a thing for waving their guns around in the
air as a demonstration of their superiority over the two agents who
had once again found their way into the midst of a brewing hotspot of
national intrigue in the charming old mansion in the Virginia
countryside.

"We'll have to make our way out to the highway where the backup team
is parked," he told her as he took her hand and they began walking
away from the still very dark house.

Amanda nodded.

"How far?" she asked.

Lee was about to answer her when the lights flickered on and off a
few times in the house that was slowly getting further and further.
They stayed off for awhile but Lee was already cussing under his
breath.

"Forget walking Amandas. We may not have that much time. If the
electricity comes back on and stays on and they realize that we've
gotten outside,"

She quickly hushed him by putting her fingers on his mouth.

"How far?"

Even as they walked both had an eye on the house behind them. The
lights came on and stayed on.

Lee grabbed her hand and began pulling her away.

"Five miles," he told her as he began pulling her through the high
wet grass as rain drops pelted down upon them.

"Five miles? You want me to run five miles?" she practically shrieked
at him.

There go the shoes too, she lamented as she forced herself to match
pace with his long legs.

This job was really getting to be rather expensive as far as her
wardrobe went. Maybe she could get Lee to talk to Mr. Melrose about
this. Afterall, she'd helped Billy out many times with the expense
reports and she knew what Francine's allowance limit was towards
these sort of things.

Not that she'd ever replace her ruined and tattered clothes by
shopping at the places that the snooty blonde agent did, but still.
It only seemed fair to Amanda.

Amanda groaned as Lee slid on the wet grass and managed to pull her
down onto the now muddy ground beside him.

"How many more miles?" she hissed at him as she tried to pull herself
up.

"Ah," he tried to give her one of those charming grins, but even in
the brief flashes of light from the storm, she could see how
dishelved he was and it just wasn't as effective coming from a man
whose tuxedo shirt was torn and whose hair was plastered around his
face.

"Maybe four and a half?" he asked her.

Amanda's blood was boiling at the nerve of this man, this man she
thought was beginning to trust her and believe in her abilities.
But then she heard those words coming out of his mouth.

"Come on Billy! She can't do it. There is no way Amanda will be
able to pull this off."

"Really Billy this is a pretty high profile assignment. Do you
really think our little housewife is going to be able to pull it
off?" Francine chimes in, which only fuels the fire in Amanda's
belly even more.

"Both of you just stop this nonsense! Why don't you ask Amanda if
she can handle the assignment instead of berating her, and further
more do you think I would give Amanda this assignment if I didn't
think she could handle it?" Billy was loosing his cool.

Amanda finally has had enough listening to this argument over her
assignment, and speaks up "Five miles!"

With that everyone in the room turns to Amanda. "Five miles! You
want me to run five miles! Will that prove to you that I am worthy
to enter you little triathlon? Or do you want me to jump in the
pool and get on a bike also? Mr. Melrose gave me this assignment
and you two can just butt out. For you information I am
qualified." She threw down the file Billy had just given her on the
table in front of Lee and Francine, and stormed out the room.

Lee picked up the file and started to flip through it.

"Oh, boy" were the only words to escape his lips as he handed the
file to Francine.

Billy just stood there with a smug look on his face.

"I guess I better go find her." With that Lee left.

"She used to race in triathlons? I can't believe this." Francine
just stood shocked while Billy's laugh echoed.

"Five miles...you want me to run five miles? You're kidding, right?"
Lee questioned his Swiss trainer.

"No, I'm not kidding. Since you've only been here once in the last
year, I figured five miles was a good place to start."

"But, but..." Lee stammered thinking of how grueling a five mile run
through the Alps would be.

"Care to explain why I've been seeing less and less of you, my
friend? You used to love coming here a few times a year and spending
time with all the beautiful locals."

With that question, the smile and rich brown eyes of his partner
popped into his head, and he happily began his run. 'Anything to get
back to Amanda', Lee thought.

"Five miles? You want me to run five miles?"

"Sure, why not?" David inquired, smiling up at his father. The
family sat around the intimate, family dining table, munching on
dessert. Cream puffs sat on a tray, waiting to be dipped in melted
chocolate.

"Your dad isn't as young as he used to be." John demurred.

"Young?" the boy looked to Delenn with a quirked eyebrow.

"I think what your father means is that he is not as fit as he used
to be." The Entil'zha put emphasis on the word `fit' and eyed her
husband.

John had been munching a cream puff and swallowed, "Now, wait just a
minute! I'm plenty fit, and I will run those five miles in no time,
flat!"

"Really, you will?" The seven-year-old's voice went up a happy
octave.

"Abso-fraggin-lutely!"

"Great, I am gonna go tell my friends!" David ran off, leaving his
father holding the assignment sheet.

John looked more closely at the paper. His mouth then gaped open,
it wasn't an assignment, it was a class challenge for all the
fathers. John looked down the list and cringed.

"What is it?" Delenn asked as she watched her husband's expression
change multiple times. She borrowed the paper from him and began to
chuckle.

"This is not funny," John gave her a piercing stare but she only
laughed harder.

"Are you...going to...give up...before you get there?" Delenn
managed to ask him.

"Of course not, but, some of the fathers are...well, one's a Minbari
and one's a Drazi. It's not exactly a fair race."

"John, you can do this. You don't want to let down your son, do
you?"

"Of course not." He took another cream puff and was going to dip it
when Delenn took it away.

"No more of these. The race is in two weeks, you better head to the
gym. Perhaps, hold meetings there. You can listen and run at the
same time, can you not?"

"Delenn, I have a far better idea than the gym," he leaned in and
gave her a kiss to see if he could turn her to his plans.

"That will be fine, too. After the gym." She stood and sashayed
from the room. He could only enjoy watching her go. John Sheridan
had learned a long time ago not to truly argue with his wife.

The End