MAINTAINING HIS COVER

Disclaimer: Scarecrow and Mrs. King and its characters belong to WB and Shoot the Moon Productions. No infringement is intended. This is written for entertainment purposes only. Please do not redistribute or reproduce this story without my permission.

Timeline - end of the second season

Rating -Mature

Genre - Fluff/Humour

Author - Charlie

PART 1 – THE DROP

Amanda walked down the shabby street casually looking at the run down houses while she mentally inventoried her outfit. Tight, faded jeans clung to her curves and a small rip in the leg gave a tantalizing glimpse of creamy thigh. The red T-shirt was tighter and more low cut than she'd normally wear but suited the neighbourhood perfectly. Her hair was up in a perky pony-tail and her makeup was slightly over-done for the time of day.

Francine had assured her it was the perfect outfit for the job. Amanda felt just a teeny bit sleazy and said so, to which Francine had responded with a lecture on how a trained agent played whatever part was needed. Knowing the other woman was right, Amanda now tried her best to act confident and sexy as she strolled along the sidewalk.

"Hey baby, haven't seen you around before." A voice called out from one of the porches.

Amanda tossed a smile in the man's direction, not wanting to blow her cover, and continued her leisurely stroll, despite wanting to hurry her pace.

Undeterred, the man hopped down from the porch and walked towards her, stopping to lean against the pole from a street light, partly blocking Amanda's path.

"You're new around here," the man continued. "My name's Jack. How about I show you all the sights?" He said suggestively.

"Well Jack," Amanda purred. "You're a mighty fine sight but I want to do a bit of window shopping first before I pick a tour guide - if you get my meaning."

Jack laughed at her comeback and stepped aside. "Just remember who made the first offer."

"I will," she assured him and continued on her way. She could sense Jack behind her, watching her hips sway as she walked down the street.

"Neighbourhood is looking up." He called out after her.

Amanda ignored his comment and forced herself to continue on casually, but her ears were tuned to any sounds of pursuit behind her. After a few moments, she breathed a sigh of relief. Jack wasn't following her. Not that she couldn't have gotten rid of him with a well placed knee to the groin but it would make her late.

Lee had been undercover for almost a month now, posing as a member of a biker gang that was heavily involved in the drug trade. Not normally an agency concern, they were involved as a special favour to a high profile Senator. It seems the son of a friend had gotten involved with the group and his parents wanted him out, no charges laid and no publicity. For his part, the Senator wanted the group arrested - good PR for his up-coming campaign. Lee was to gather evidence, lay ground work for a sting and ensure that the young man in question was no where around when the deal went down. Before taking the case, Lee had expressed his personal opinion that the spoiled brat deserved whatever he got, but it had been pointed out that it wasn't his call to make.

Contact with the agency had been maintained through messages left on Lee's bike. A small slit in the seat provided a perfect means for exchanging information. Agents simply walked by the bike, paused to admire it and then continued on their way. To avoid suspicion, the agency had rotated who made the drops and pickups. Francine, Amanda, Fielder and even Beaman had all been involved.

Usually the exchanges occurred when Lee had his bike parked at the local strip mall but, with the sting only 1 day way, Billy couldn'twait. Lee needed to know that there had been a change in plans and so the section chief was sending Amanda to make the drop right outside the gang's house. Billy had wanted to send Francine but she'd sprained her ankle last night when Beaman had accidentally tripped her while leaving the agency.

Francine, despite her snide comments, had assured Billy that Amanda could do the job. They'd dress Amanda up, she'd walk by the house, stop to adjust the strap on her sandal and casually lean against Lee's bike, slipping the note into the tiny opening in the leather seat. It couldn't be easier!

And so, Amanda found herself walking along the seedy neighbourhood, approaching a house with 3 motorcycles parked in the front yard. All the others must be gone, she speculated and hoped Lee had stayed back. Yes, Lee's bike was there, near the sidewalk and so, according to plan, Amanda paused and placed her hand on the seat. She bent over, pretending to adjust the strap on her sandals, while her other hand carefully slipped the note into place. The plan worked without a hitch until Amanda stood up and found herself staring into a bare, tattooed chest.

"Hey! Look at what I found." The owner of the chest clamped his hands around Amanda's shoulders.

"Wow! Lester, how'd you get so lucky?" Another voice called back.

Lester grinned down at Amanda. "Hey, pretty lady, I was getting kind of bored this afternoon. You wanna help entertain me?"

Amanda's fear was tempered with relief. He hadn't noticed her making the drop so Lee's cover was still intact. Now all she had to do was maintain her cover and talk her way out of this. "Much as I'd like to help you out, Jack down the street is waiting for me." She quickly improvised while trying to wiggle her arms free.

"Jack can wait. He's got a whole string of girls to keep him company. Me, and Mike over there, we're all alone. You wouldn't want us to be lonely now, would you?" Lester had laughed and drawn Amanda closer to him. She could smell stale beer on his breath and smoke from a joint he had just finished.

"No, I really can't stay." Amanda tried again, her mind racing on how to get out of the situation. Francine had showed her several moves to escape an attacker but there were two of them. Even if she got rid of Lester, Mike was still there.

"You're not being very friendly, lady." Mike joined in the conversation and stood on the other side of her, winding his fingers through her hair, while swaying drunkenly side to side. "Maybe she doesn't know what she'll be missing if she leaves. We should give her a sample, Lester."

Apparently Lester thought this was fine idea and tried to kiss Amanda. Turning her head, she decided she'd have to try to incapacitate Lester and then take her chances with Mike. She brought her heel down on his instep and started to raise her knee sharply. Unfortunately, Mike swayed into her, knocking her off balance and she missed her target.

"You little…!" Lester yelled, grabbing her arm and slapping her across the face. Amanda cried out in pain as he twisted her arm up behind her back, effectively stopping her struggles.

In the house, Lee heard the commotion and stepped outside to find out what was going on. He momentarily froze upon seeing the situation before him. That was Amanda! Why was she making a drop at the house? She didn't belong in this sort of neighbourhood! And those Neanderthals he'd been forced to associate with for the past few weeks had their hands on her! Quickly he walked over, frantically formulating a plan that would save her but keep his cover intact.

"What's going, Lester?" He drawled, leaning casually against his bike and slipping the note from the secret opening in the seat.

"Found us a new toy, but she doesn't know how to play nice," Lester answered. "Mike and I are going to teach her a few lessons."

"You two?" Lee scoffed. "You're too drunk and doped up to do anything. Let me have her." Insolently he surveyed Amanda from head to toe, giving no sign of recognition. Amanda was staring at him as if he was a stranger and indeed, his appearance was quite different from how she was accustomed to seeing him. He was very conscious of the persona he had assumed and was constantly on guard to keep his cover in place. His usually clean shaven face sported several days' worth of growth and his neat suit had been replaced with a tight black t-shirt and faded jeans worn low on his hips. An uneducated drawl had worked its way into his speech pattern and the roughness of his voice matched the hardness of his stare, as he looked at the other two men.

"No way, we found her." Mike's face was set in a belligerent expression.

"And I'm taking her," Lee retorted, his leg kicking out and knocking the man to the ground. Lee placed his foot across the man's windpipe and pressed down slightly. "You got a problem with that?" Mike shook his head no and inched away from Lee before standing and heading into the house.

"Well, Lester?" Lee challenged. Lester looked at Amanda and then back at Lee.

"You can have her. She's too skinny for my liking anyway." Lester shoved Amanda at Lee who caught her in both arms as she stumbled up against him.

Unfortunately, Lester didn't leave and stood watching to see what Lee would do with his "prize." Keeping his cover, Lee grabbed Amanda's hair tightly and bent to kiss her roughly. "Struggle," he managed to whisper as his lips descended on hers. Momentarily stunned, Amanda just stood there, but as Lee pressed her body more fiercely to his, she quickly must have realized the role she had to play and began to fight against him.

"You like it rough, do you?' Lee growled at Amanda as she raised her hand to slap him. He easily captured her wrists behind her back and planted another fierce kiss on her lips. Glancing sideways, he noted that Lester was still there obviously enjoying the show. "Keep fighting," Lee quietly instructed Amanda. She aimed a kick at Lee who said out loud "Time I show you who's boss!" And swept her up into his arms. Lee headed into the house and called out over his shoulder, "Thanks Lester, I like em a bit wild."

Lee walked through the dingy house and into a back bedroom, Amanda still fighting in his arms. He had noted that Mike had passed out on the couch in front of the blaring TV and Lee was thankful for the noise. It would mask any sounds coming from bedroom. He didn't put it past his new "friends" to spy at the keyhole while he "had his way" with Amanda.

Kicking the bedroom door shut, Lee dropped Amanda on the bed and landed on top of her. "Keep the act up." His mouth pressed to her ear, and Amanda continued to buck and struggle under his weight, causing the bed springs to squeak loudly. Lee tried to concentrate on any sounds that might be coming from outside the bedroom door.

Sure enough, quiet footsteps could be heard coming down the hall and pausing outside the door. The door knob was slowly being turned and Lee acted without hesitation. Mumbling a quick "sorry" to Amanda, he pulled off his t-shirt and ripped hers open. , "A scream might be convincing," he prompted and a strangled cry escaped from Amanda's lips before he kissed her and oh what a kiss it was!.

The sound of the door clicking shut and fading footsteps finally penetrated the fog that had begun to invade Lee's mind and he slowly pulled away from Amanda, drawing in a shuddering breath. In the background, Lester could be heard grumbling, beer bottles clanked and then the ancient sofa creaked in protest as someone dropped down on it in front of the TV.

Lee and Amanda continued to lay together on the bed, neither making eye-contact despite their intimate position.

"We'll wait here a bit" Lee whispered. "In case we have to reprise our cover. With any luck, Lester will drink himself into a stupor and then I can sneak you out of here before the others return"

Amanda nodded in agreement but looked distinctly embarrassed by what had just happened. For his part, Lee was also becoming uncomfortable and not just from the strain of supporting his weight on his forearms to avoid crushing his partner. He eased his body off of hers to lay beside her.

Lee noticed how Amanda crossed her arms protectively across her exposed chest, shivering slightly now that the warmth of his body was gone. Quietly, he whispered an apology. "Amanda, I'm really sorry about having to do that. I just didn't know what else to do to maintain our covers." He sat up and looked around, spying his discarded T-shirt at the foot of the bed. "Here, put this on" he said.

With a look of gratitude, she took the T-shirt and slipped it over her head, Seeming to feel more confident now that she was decently covered again, Lee noted how Amanda couldn't seem to stop herself from appreciatively eyeing his own bare chest before responding to the apology.

"It's okay. Francine told me that an agent has to do whatever is needed to ensure the success of the mission. We were just doing our jobs."

"That's right," Lee quickly agreed, though if he was being completely honest with himself, he had almost forgotten during their little performance that ravishing Amanda was a 'job.' He'd done a lot of 'Peacock dances' over the past few years - establishing a relationship with a member of the opposite sex in order to gather intelligence - but he usually had no difficulty remaining detached under his cloak of supposed passion. Today, however, he had almost forgotten that Lester had been watching!

Amanda really was lovely. He'd almost become lost in the feel of her soft smooth skin, the scent of her hair, her arms wrapped around him, the taste of her mouth ... Stop right there, Scarecrow! Where was this coming from? Maybe, he reassured himself, he'd just been undercover too long. As soon as this case was wrapped up, he'd ask Billy for a week off and look up one of his lady friends.

Lee and Amanda waited until the sound of Lester's snores could be heard. Cautiously, they exited the bedroom, tiptoed down the hall and out of the house. Amanda hurried down the street, anxious to put as much distance between herself and the biker's headquarters as possible. Lee had watched her walk away and then entered the house. He pulled the message she had delivered out of his pocket. Billy had outlined the updated information on the sting, now set for tomorrow night. Lee committed it to memory and then flushed the evidence down the toilet.

The roar of bikes could be heard outside the house. Lee paused in the bathroom and stared at himself in the mirror for a moment. Traces of Amanda's lipstick could still be seen on his face and he slowly rubbed it off with his thumb, lost in thought about his sometimes 'partner.' The front door slammed and loud voices filled the house. Lee gave himself a mental shake and exited the bathroom, his mask back in place, ready to maintain his cover for a few more hours.