Billy’s Case Files
By Ermintrude
See part 1 for disclaimers
Part 36
AN—So far I’ve worked hard to stay within canon. However—nobody can recover from an injury like Amanda sustained and be back at full strength in a week. It would take months. Even though One Flew East aired Feb 27th—a week after Mission of Gold—I am placing it in a ‘more real’ timeline as April 30th—two months later. And that is short—but we can believe that date more than we can a week. So read the interim entries—and know One Flew East will be coming—just on April 30th over 11 weeks after she was shot, which is a lot more reasonable. E
February 24, 1987
Billy called Lee at Barney’s.
“Good evening, Scarecrow.”
“Hi Billy, how are things going back there?”
“It’s been a scramble rearranging the duty roster to account for your and Amanda’s absences. How’s she doing?”
“She’s doing well—the doctors are astounded. She is able to get to and from the bathroom on her own. They say she can start physical therapy tomorrow. Maybe get back to Arlington weekend after next if she keeps up this pace.”
“That’s great. I knew she had it in her. Of course she has a whole lot to fight for.” Billy left the leading statement out there hoping Lee would offer the information that he and Amanda had gotten married on the 13th.
“Yeah.” Lee was silent for a few beats. “She sure does—her mother is a great help and her boys miss her a whole lot. They talk twice a day.”
Billy was disappointed. But he’d keep trying. “That’s very good. I trust the gifts and cards arrived OK.”
“Yeah—we sent some of the flowers down to other patients—the room was beginning to look like a greenhouse! Dotty has been wonderful in getting all the thank-you cards out. I wasn’t aware you needed to send thank-you cards in situations like this…”
Billy chuckled inwardly. ‘He’s getting his education in normal family life, all right.’ “It’s a custom in polite society.” He replied dryly. Then he changed the subject. “I have an assignment for you.”
“What? I thought I had more vacation here…”
“You’ve gotten two extra days. Be happy with that. Besides, I think you’ll appreciate the assignments I’ve lined up for you for the next week and a half.”
Lee sighed heavily. “What is it?”
“Our LA bureau operates pretty autonomously. But every so often I like to send someone out there. For the rest of the week—I need you to go there and check the place out. Talk to whoever you need to—noodle around in their files—get to know as many of the agents as possible. I want a field agent’s perspective on the place with an eye to how things might be improved—for efficiency and better use of personnel. Think you can manage that, Scarecrow?”
“Yeah—sure! Thanks Billy—I’ll do whatever it takes. I really appreciate it!”
“Don’t get too enthusiastic until you hear what I have in store for next week— I will have your itinerary sent to LA. Monday and Tuesday you’ll be in San Francisco—I want you to check out a few places there. Then Wednesday through Friday you’ll be in Seattle doing the same thing. There are a few companies I want you to pay close attention to. I need your expertise and perspective out there.”
“San Francisco and Seattle. I can manage that.” Lee sounded positive about the assignments.
“I thought you might. Then after that you’ll return to DC.”
“Thanks for this Billy—I really appreciate it. I can stay with Barney while I’m working in LA. And I can come back to Las Palmas after I’m finished in Seattle.”
“What you do with your spare time isn’t my business—unless you’re up to something I should know about.”
“Just watching out for my partner. Making sure she’s getting the best care.”
“Your … partner. That’s commendable, Scarecrow. Anything else you think I need to know while you’re at it?” Billy gave the man one last chance to come clean.
“Not that I can think of. I’ll tell Amanda you said hello. And she’ll be happy that I can be around for the rest of the week.”
“I imagine she will be. Keep me posted on her progress and when she’ll be coming back to DC. We can have a car pick you all up at the airport.”
“Thanks—will do.” They ended their call.
Billy sat back. ‘He’s going to keep their marriage a secret for the time being, I guess. I had hoped he’d tell me so I could help them openly. Now I have to be covert about it. Apart from a brief status report Smyth hasn’t asked about Amanda at all. Once it became clear she would survive he went on to other things. Which is for the best. I don’t need him nosing around in her life at all. Keeping Scarecrow out on the West coast took a bit of ingenuity—but it’s high time someone checked up on LA and having him visit a few of the more sensitive businesses out there won’t hurt either. I’d be happier if I had both of them doing this—but Scarecrow is a competent agent—and he needs to ramp things down a bit until his partner recovers. He won’t be getting a lot of sleep in the next week and a half, but he’ll be in the same time zone and they can talk to their heart’s content. Plus he’ll be with her for the weekends. It’s the best I can do—and they deserve a break.’
March 7th, 1987
Billy answered his phone on a Saturday evening. “Melrose here.”
“Hey Billy!” It was Scarecrow.
“Scarecrow! How is your partner doing?”
“We’re coming home tomorrow. We’ll arrive at 3:42pm at Dulles.”
“That’s great. I’ll have a car and driver waiting for you all.”
“Thanks. The doctors say Amanda’s doing very well. She’s healing really fast. Of course it will be another couple months until she’s ready to go back in the field. But she’ll be at home—and she sure misses her boys.”
“I imagine she does. See if you can get her in to see our doctors on Monday or Tuesday. They can evaluate her condition and design a physical therapy regimen for her.”
“That might be a bit difficult, Billy.” Lee sounded wary.
“Why?”
“Dotty has a bunch of doctors all lined up for her in Arlington—her doctor at home and friends recommended them and she plans to be with Amanda every step of the way. I don’t think you want Dotty coming down to IFF while Amanda gets checked out by our people.”
Billy sighed. “No I don’t. Can you get me their names? Hopefully we can arrange a few consults and our people can go there to her ‘regular’ appointments as colleagues. But we do need to have her checked out by our people.”
“I know, Billy. I’ll give a list to the driver. I’ll talk to Amanda about it. Maybe she can think of something. She’s got a lot more experience dealing with Dotty than I have.”
“Yes she does. OK, when I get the list I’ll have Doc Kelford coordinate what we can.”
“Thanks Billy—see you Monday morning.”
“See you then, Melrose out.”
Billy hung up the phone. ‘Amanda has to see our people to get her physical therapy regimen. Maybe we can persuade some of her other doctors to send her our way. We can steer her to the NEST team—usually they only deal with acute care—but they can help consult and recommend good people for her to work with who might mutually deal with her other doctors.’
‘This would be so much easier if everyone knew they were married. Then Lee could step in and see Amanda got the care she needs. And Dotty would probably be all too happy to let him. Instead we have to do a tap dance with consults and recommendations. If we work it as a requirement for her insurance through IFF—we can probably manage more that way. I’ll have Francine and Kelford coordinate all that.’
‘At least I’ll have Scarecrow back in DC. I’ll have him write up reports on his last week and a half of assignments and put him up as available for light duties as well. He can pick up the slack if anyone needs help. But he won’t be leading any cases for the time being. He’ll be too distracted until his partner—and wife—is back by his side. Hopefully they will see fit to tell me about their marriage after she’s settled back in at home. Maybe I can manage to visit some evening, when Dotty and her boys are out.’
March 13, 1987
Doc Kelford and Francine were in Billy’s office reporting on Amanda’s first week back at home after she had been shot out in California.
“We managed to get her to our people after forcefully working the insurance angle with Mrs. West. That woman is a pit bull when it comes to the welfare of her daughter.” Francine sounded exasperated.
“She’s concerned for her—as we all are Francine.” Billy tried to smooth things over for his prickly assistant. He turned to the Agency doctor. “What’s her prognosis, doc?”
Dr. Kelford held up a copy of Amanda’s chart but spoke from memory. “She was very lucky. Her surgeon in California is a genius. How someone with that level of skill is wasting away in a little place like Las Palmas is beyond me—but he definitely saved her life. She is healing remarkably well. He used a few advanced techniques that should minimize the scar and also allow her to heal faster. The bullet pierced the pericardium, but her heart and lungs were not damaged. That’s working in her favor. And she was in excellent health when it happened. She’s strongly determined to work hard at the physical therapy and recover quickly. I worry she may be pushing herself a bit much—but it seems she’s doing OK—so I’m happy with her progress.”
“When can we expect her to be able to return to work?” Billy asked.
“At the rate she’s going it could be the beginning of May—which is remarkable. Usually I’d say it would be three months at least—but she was lucky and is working very hard. I expect she could be cleared for light duties a week or two before that.”
“That’s good. She can do paperwork to get back into the swing of things and then go back in the field once she’s fully cleared.”
“What about her training classes, Billy?” Francine asked.
“How far had she gotten before she got shot?”
Francine consulted a list. “Beaman said she’s only got a few written tests left. The rest of her class has graduated already.”
Billy nodded. “We can get her to take those tests sometime between now and when she’s cleared for light duties. We’ll have a graduation ceremony when she returns.”
“If she passes.” Francine added.
“She’ll pass, Francine. Have you seen her marks? She’s gotten the highest scores of any freshman agent trainee since you went through the course.”
“But I’ll still have the all-time high grades there.” Francine preened.
Billy shook his head. “She certainly hasn’t had what anyone would call a normal progression through the ranks here. OK, keep monitoring her progress you two, and let me know if there’s anything I need to do.”
Francine and Dr. Kelford left Billy’s office. ‘May. That’s a remarkably short time. But Amanda’s one stubborn woman—and she worries if Lee’s out there without her to watch his back. I think I’ll plan a nice graduation party up in the Q Bureau to celebrate her return. She got her training in an unorthodox way—and she’s graduating on her own. Well, now she’ll be a full agent. And she’s definitely earned it. It only took over three and a half years…’
March 15, 1987
Billy rang Amanda’s doorbell. He was not surprised to see Lee open the door.
“Billy! What are you doing here?”
“I came to see how Amanda’s doing while her family is out.”
“Yeah—Dotty took the boys to the movies so Amanda could have a bit of quiet time.”
“I won’t stay long, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“Lee—who is it?” Amanda called from the family room.
Billy and Lee came in to see Amanda stretched out on the couch.
“Hello Amanda.” Billy greeted her.
“Billy—it’s good to see you! Thank you for stopping by.” Amanda made to get up, and Billy waved her back down.
“I won’t be here long. I waited until your family was out to come visit.” He handed her a bunch of flowers.
“These are beautiful—thank you sir.” She smiled broadly at him. Lee took the flowers and busied himself getting a vase and water. Billy noted he knew where everything was.
Billy saw Amanda still looked pale and she had lost weight—which was not good on her small frame. But her smile was bright and she seemed in good spirits. “I also brought a few things pertaining to your training classes.” He handed her a folder. “There are the last few tests you have to take. Once you’ve completed them—you can graduate and become a fully-fledged field agent.”
“Don’t you mean once I’ve passed the tests?”
“I know you’ll pass. Anyhow—take them whenever you think you’re ready. And Lee can bring them back to be scored.”
“I missed the graduation ceremony. It was last week, right?”
“Yes—the rest of your class had their graduation ceremony last week. They will start their new assignments this week.”
Amanda nodded sadly. “I guess I messed things up, getting shot.”
“A—man—da!” Lee sounded exasperated—like they had this argument several times already. “Getting shot was a fluke—and definitely not your fault. It happens—so we just get you well again, and life will go on like it was before.”
Amanda looked up at Lee and looked like she was going to say something—then she just smiled at him and took his hand. “Right.” She turned to her boss. “I’m working hard at all the exercises they’ve given me. I appreciate having the Agency people helping with this. I tried to get mother to agree to them in the beginning, but I couldn’t do a lot without blowing the Agency’s cover.”
“Fortunately we had Francine to help with that.” Billy smiled in reply.
Amanda shook her head. “I hope she’ll forgive me for it.”
Billy sat across from Amanda and Lee sat next to her on the couch.
“I talked with Doc Kelford Friday. He says you’re making a remarkable recovery.”
“Am I? It feels like its taking forever.”
“It always does, Amanda.” Lee replied. They had been over this as well.
Billy continued. “Yes. I’m glad you’re working hard—but I would hope that you’re also taking time to rest. You need to rest just as much as you need to work on the exercises you’ve been given.”
“I know—but I just worry about Lee being out in the field without me to watch his back.”
“Scarecrow was doing reports for most of the week.”
“Except for that courier job you gave him on Thursday.” She gave Lee a look.
“That went down fine—the information got exchanged and nobody ended up dead.” Lee sounded defensive.
“But you were shot at.” She gave him a stern look.
“But I wasn’t hit—that guy couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn!”
Billy jumped in. “Be that as it may—everything turned out fine. So you have nothing to worry about.”
Amanda shrugged. “I still worry.”
“Hopefully you will concentrate on getting well—and then you’ll be back in the field before you know it.” Billy smiled reassuringly.
“Did Doc Kelford say when I could get back?” Amanda sounded a bit fearful about it.
“Let’s worry about your getting better, first. I think you will be cleared for light duties before you’re cleared to go back in the field. And your … partner is piling up a mountain of paperwork for you to get through—not to mention all the rest of the things I have for you to do. The place hasn’t been the same without you, Amanda. We’re all very glad you pulled through.”
“Thank you, sir. The flowers and cards and gifts were very nice. It helped to know people back home were pulling for me.”
“We all were. It’s a shame you missed your vacation—but you still have the accrued time—as you were shot Monday morning you were on sick leave all week. So you didn’t use any vacation time at all. Hopefully you managed to do something fun over that weekend?” Billy laid out the leading statement hoping his best team would be forthcoming about their marriage.
Lee and Amanda exchanged a look. Then she replied. “I got to do a little sightseeing so the trip wasn’t a total waste.” She smiled a bit too brightly after her statement.
Billy nodded. “I see. Well. I should be going.” He stood. “You need your rest and I’ve got to be getting back home. Jeannie’s planning a big Sunday dinner. Don’t get up, Amanda. I’ll keep in touch.”
“Thank you sir. Goodbye.” She waved at him from the couch.
Lee escorted Billy out. Once they were out on the front step, Lee asked a question. “Billy—did Doc Kelford say anything definite about her return to work? Will she be able to get cleared for field duty again?”
“Yes he did—he thinks she’ll be able to be cleared and be back in the field—hopefully in May.”
“May!”
“Yes—but I want her to take it at the pace the doctors set. Doc Kelford’s worried she’s trying a bit too hard. It’s only been a month since she was shot. And we almost lost her. So please, try to get her to rest now and again.”
“Yeah—you try to get her to rest. She’s so stubborn…” He ran his hand through his hair.
“Like someone else I know. You two are a pair! Now you know what she goes through every time you end up in the hospital.”
“Yeah, I get the point, Billy.”
“You two both get some rest. She’s doing fine—and neither of you need to worry.”
“Thanks Billy.”
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.