The Plan
Amanda Stetson, known to everyone else still, as Amanda King,
received a call from her mother earlier in the day at work.
She had been occupied all week with getting things current,
knowing that Dotty was planning a long weekend with Captain Kurt.
Amanda wanted to make sure there were no reasons to come in this
weekend.
She wanted a few days away from the agency and now seemed like a
good time. There were no active cases and they were just cleaning up
old paper work ....
The phone rang, breaking the silence that had been suspended over the
Q-Bureau. Amanda and Lee both deep in concentration, jumped at the
shrilling sound.
"Amanda," her mother said quite agitatedly. "I finally discovered
which of our appliances decided to make a suicide pack with the
dishwasher. Can't anything ever break down one piece at time in
this house!"
Amanda listened intently, knowing that her mother sometimes did
over reacted to situations-- a quality Amanda finally seemed to learn
to control. An asset acquired as she became more and more confident
in her own choices and decisions.
" What's the problem mother?"
"It's the Air conditioner, now it's not working! It absolutely
refuses to turn on, I called the repair-man but he said there is no
way he can get out here until Monday morning. Something about being
too busy today. I tried to convince him that it was urgent. After all
we have two young children here and…."
Amanda broke in at this point. "Mother, first of all, the boys are
not that young any more I think they can handle a little discomfort.
Second, you're leaving for the weekend any way.."
"I know, sweetheart, but the weatherman is predicting the temperature
to go into the high 90's and I just wouldn't feel right going and
leaving you all here to be so uncomfortable. I was thinking, that
maybe if a man, say Lee, were to try to call and reason with these
people, maybe he could convince them to come out today. After all
you know how these companies respond to a male authority over
women. "
Amanda let out a deep sigh, looking over from her desk to Lee who,
up till now, was deep in thought and had managed to block out the
whole conversation-- a quality he was starting to develop and hone
since he had gotten to know Dotty better. Lee had learned if Amanda
needed his help she would ask, but not to get between her and her
Mother's conversation. It normally resulted in a headache for him.
Amanda knew with her next words the walls would be broken, and his
attention, as well as curiosity would definitely be in high gear.
"Mother, this is not his problem. We will deal with it. If they
cannot repair the Air conditioner until Monday, then they can't. "
Then, a light went on as Amanda had a wonderful thought...."Maybe
I'll call Joe and see if he wants to take the boys this weekend, then
they won't have to be so uncomfortable."
"That might be a good idea for the boys, but then what are you going
to do...? "
Dotty waited for her reply "Amanda...?" Her mother asked,
suspiciously wondering exactly what her daughter had planned for
herself this weekend.
"Don't worry about me mother I can handle the heat for a
couple of days. Besides, I could use a few days of R & R, it's been
kind of a hectic week." With that statement, Lee's attention was
firmly removed from the reports he was reading and fixated on his
wife.
" With Lee no doubt," her mother responded. "Well sweetheart,
it would be nice for the two of you to have some quality time alone.
You haven't seemed to have much of that lately."
"Let me call Joe Mother. Don't worry about a thing, just go with the
Captain and have a wonderful weekend. I love you, Bye…."
With that Amanda hung up the phone, hesitating to look up knowing
the exact expression that was waiting for her on her husband's
face.
Lee, his attention now intently focused on Amanda was wondering what
exactly was going on and what she was up too. Time alone for them
had been in limited quantities.
The unfortunate demise of their honeymoon back in February... and
then once returning to D.C…they both realized that other aspects
of their marriage had to be put on hold. Partly due to Amanda's
recovery.
The gunshot wound she sustained had come dangerously close to her
heart. The Doctors almost lost her when they were in California.
They were taking no risks with her health and neither was Lee.
He had resolved himself when he first started seeing Amanda to
waiting patiently for her. He never wanted her to feel like she
wasn't special.
That, maybe, she was just another notch on "The Scarecrow's belt".
In time, they both determined that they wanted to wait for their
wedding night to make love, to make their first time together
special. Their wedding night was just that, special, romantic. It had
been a night of exploration and intimate release. Finally, in that
cozy room of the Crystal Springs Inn, they consummated what they had
both felt for so long.
They left for California the next morning. Their second day in
California Amanda was shot. At that point their happiness was
shattered .
Now, five months later, if waiting again was what was necessary to
insure his wife's health and well being, then patiently waiting was
what he would do. The only problem with waiting this time was, now
knew what a wonderful lover his wife was, how sensual and passionate
she truly was. He knew exactly what he was missing and the waiting
was becoming unbearable
Unbeknownst to Lee, the Doctors had given Amanda the all clear
about three weeks ago, a little detail which she choose not to tell
her husband.
With the anticipation growing stronger every day between them,
Amanda was determined to make their first night together again
special.
At least that was her thought when she got the news from her Doctor.
Little did she know just how difficult finding this time alone was
going to be. Every time they had tried to get away, alone, something
had come up.
Joe had cancelled taking the boys for the weekend twice, due to his
and Carrie's wedding plans. Another time, it was work related.
One weekend her mother was going to watch the boys while she was
"out of town" on business, or so she told her mother, but of course
something came up at the Agency then too, and they really had to go
away. Francine went on assignment with them making it almost
impossible to be alone.
Amanda truly believed that by telling Lee before she could find a way
for them to be alone would just add more pressure to what was
already becoming an intolerable situation. They were both becoming
very frustrated. On the other hand, she was starting to think her
"Intelligence Operative" seasoned trained husband just may be a little
more astute about creating a diversion for a weekend, after all,
all her attempt's seem to be failing miserably
All these little interruptions were also causing Amanda to re-think
their mystery marriage idea. `What were we thinking when we
agreed to this? Lee had never been married, so he really didn't know
what he would be in for. Me, I knew better, I knew how hard it was
going to be. We can't even find time alone. It is more than hard, it
is complicated and we haven't even been married a year!'
The situation with the air conditioner, to Amanda, seemed
to create the perfect camouflage to an immediate problem,
'How to be alone with your husband.'
Amanda felt with everyone away, this would be the perfect
weekend to rekindle the feelings that they had already started to
discover on their short-lived Honeymoon.
Suddenly Lee pulled Amanda out of her revere, she hadn't even realized
with her planning that she was so far off in thought that she hadn't
heard him calling her. "Amanda...where were you just now?"
Lee asked "Is everything O.K. at home?"
"Well sort of, " Amanda replied sheepishly, knowing the secret that
she was keeping from her husband. "I was just thinking about my
conversation with Mother. It never fails for something to go wrong
in the house!"
After explaining everything to Lee, leaving a few minor, little
details out--such as her illicit plans for this weekend --Amanda made
the call to Joe, who, after a few minutes of hemming and hawing
finally agreed to take the boys for the weekend.
He had felt bad about being so busy the last few weeks,
he realized that this would give him the opportunity to
make some of it up to them.
"Lee, you didn't have any plans for this weekend did you?" Amanda
asked,very nonchalantly.
"Not specifically, at least not any plans that don't include my wife
and family,I hope. Why? You have something specific in mind? " Lee
asked, wiggling his eyebrows up and down, intrigued and curious at
what his wife may be planning.
He had already suspected she was up to something by her phone
conversations, first with Dotty, then with Joe.
"Well, with Mother and the boys both being away, I was wondering if
you would want to stay at my house for a change, with me this
weekend. I mean, I know that the air conditioner isn't working right
but I still have so much to do around the house, this way I could get
it all done and still have time with you.… I'll even entice you
with a good meal, a nice bottle of wine, and some relaxing, enjoyable
company so, what do you say?"
Amanda looked up at Lee giving him the biggest, most beautiful smile
she could muster. When he looked into her big brown eyes, he could
never say no to her. It still never ceased to amaze him that this
wonderful women who sat before him could say so much in one sentence
without ever taking a breath.
Lee rose from his desk and made his way across the room, over to his
Amanda. Seating himself on the corner of her desk and taking her hand
in his, he slowly lifted them to his lips and kissed her fingertips
ever so gently.
"I don't need to be enticed to spend time with my wife, I could care
less where we are, what we're doing or the conditions, as long as we
are together. Just tell me what time and what to bring, and I'll be
there.... " replied Lee as he smiled and gave Amanda that special
wink that she loved so much.
With the details agreed upon Lee returned to his desk to finish up the
reports he had been working on. He would go over to his apartment
after work, pick up a few things for the weekend and meet Amanda at
her house around 7:00 pm.
At this point neither one of them really had their mind on the tasks
before them. About an hour later, Lee realized that neither one of
them were really accomplishing anything anyway. He suggested that
they just call it quits for the day. Amanda agreed wholeheartedly,
grateful for the extra time to put her little plan into motion.
She grabbed her keys and purse kissed Lee goodbye and left while Lee
went down to check out with Billy before leaving for the weekend.
Everything was set, and whether they realized it or not both of them
were definitely on the same page.
TBC
Story Notes:
Disclaimer:
Scarecrow and Mrs. King are the property of Warner Bros. and Shoot
the Moon Productions. I have just borrowed them for a little while to
let them play. I promise to return them unharmed.
Scarecrow and Mrs. King are the property of Warner Bros. and Shoot
the Moon Productions. I have just borrowed them for a little while to
let them play. I promise to return them unharmed.