**Disclaimer**
Scarecrow and Mrs King is copyrighted to Warner Brothers and Shoot the Moon
Production Company. The story however, is copyrighted to the author. This story
is for entertainment purposes only and cannot be redistributed without the
permission of the author.
As I always
welcome any and all comments. Good, bad and the like.
Thanks to my
WONDERFUL beta readers. Ann, Amber and Kate. You guys are the best.
Here we go.
Enjoy!
Synopsis-This
is a filler for the episode "The Kruschiev List"
Author-Mary Elaine
Rating-G
THE
LIST
Amanda
couldn't believe what she was reading. She had been cleaning up the apartment
when she ran across the list on the desk. She knew she probably shouldn't have
been reading it, but after all, it was about her!
When Lee
suggested that they should each write a list of the quirks that bothered them
about each other, she'd thought that it was a good idea. After all, Lee didn't
have a lot of quirks that bothered her that much. Sure he left things lying
around, but she had two boys, so she was used to that. Her list had a grand
total of six items and most of those were work related.
But his list
was six pages long!
She knew she
was far from perfect, but a lot of this stuff was really petty. The more she
read, the more hurt she became and with each new "quirk" that Lee had
listed, the angrier she got.
He knew what
she was like when they'd married. Granted they hadn't been living together, but
he'd seen her with the boys, so it shouldn't have been a complete surprise.
She put the
list down, tears streaming down her face. She quickly picked it back up, hoping
she'd misinterpreted what she'd read.
Number 1 on
the list started out saying she was to much of a mother hen and then number 16
said she babbled on and on sometimes. Sure, when she got nervous she would
babble, but she thought that that was part of what Lee loved about her. Number
24 on the list went on to say that she would put Lee's stuff where he couldn't
find it and number 32 said she never stayed put when he told her to. Of course
he didn't put the times she'd saved his butt, by NOT staying put. She read on.
Number 36 really got to her. The reason she called Mr Melrose, Mr Melrose was
that he was her boss and deserved her respect. That was the way her mother had
taught her. She would never feel comfortable calling him Billy. And the thing
with the window, well it got stuffy in his apartment at night. After all they
were on the fifth floor. "Heat rises ya know," she said to the empty
room. And number 45, the thing about breakfast, didn't he realize that
breakfast was the most important meal of the day. She only did what she thought
was best for Lee. As she continued to read she had to shake her head at the one
about obeying all traffic laws. She was an upstanding citizen and worked for
the government. Why wouldn't she obey the laws? As for the last one on the
list, the one about being stubborn, she wasn't the only one who could be
stubborn.
Amanda was at
a loss for words. She couldn't think of anythng beyond gathering all of her
stuff from Lee's apartment and going to her home. Her mother and the boys
wouldn't be back for a day or two. She needed the time to be alone and try to
sort things out.
As she started
to gather her things, the phone rang. She let the machine pick it up.
"You
never know when it might be someone from the Agency that doesn't need to know
I'm here," she said in hurt voice, "And if it's Lee I don't really
think I want to talk to him right now."
"Amanda,
it's me pick up!" She heard Lee's voice. "Come on, I know you're
there."
Against her
better judgement she went ahead and picked up the phone. "Lee, what do you
want?" Amanda asked. Lee could tell something was wrong by her voice. It
sounded like she'd been crying.
"Amanda,
is everything alright? You sound like you've been crying," Lee asked,
concern masking his voice.
"Oh,
yeah, I'm just fine, Lee. I just found your six page list of complaints about
me. You knew how I was when you married me. I thought that was part of what you
loved about me," Amanda finished.
"Amanda,
listen to me, will you? I thought if we both made lists of each other's quirks,
we could sit down and talk everything out. You know, with reason, rationally.
The list was a rough draft. I didn't expect you to read it," he said.
"Six
pages, Lee? Am I that horrible?" she asked with tears in her voice.
"OK, OK.
Six pages of quirks is a bit petty but I didn't..." A dial tone was the
only reply Lee got. "She hung up on me," he thought as he shook his
head.
Amanda had
never hung up on Lee before, but she realized the conversation was going
nowhere fast.
Amanda pulled
out a piece of paper and began to write, knowing she wouldn't be here when Lee
got home.
"Lee,"
the note began, "I'm sorry I don't measure up to what you want me to be. I
love being your wife and I was just trying to be the best wife I knew how. But,
if in doing that I'm making your life miserable, maybe I should leave."
Amanda paused
as she thought about her life over the last four years. She remembered how
she'd met Lee and how dashing, handsome and exciting she had thought he was.
She thought back to how she'd become involved with the Agency and how she'd
finally found a job she was good at and really enjoyed.
Her thoughts
drifted to when she and Lee had finally kissed for the first time. After so
many near misses she thought that she'd never have the chance to kiss him. But
that day in the Q-bureau when Lee had locked Billy and Francine out, and then
turned to her saying, "Not this time", her heart had leapt for joy.
"He does love me," she'd thought, even if it did take them both being
chased by the Agency during the Stemwinder fiasco for him to admit it to her.
She remembered
when Lee had proposed to her while they both were prisoners of Addi Birol.
She'd been pumped full of so many drugs that she wasn't sure she could trust
what she was seeing. She had experienced two previous hallucinations about Lee
coming to save her, only to realize that he wasn't there at all. She hadn't
been able to believe that he had finally found her until she'd actually touched
him. Then he proposed to her, telling her she was the bravest, most beautiful
woman he'd ever known and assuring her that he loved her.
And their
wedding; it had been so simple and beautiful, even if it was in the office of
the Justice of the Peace. She couldn't remember ever being so happy. Sure,
she'd been happy with Joe and she'd always love him. After all, he was the
father of her boys. But with Lee, it was different, she'd found her soulmate.
"Oh, Lee,
where did I go wrong?" she thought to herself.
===============//==================
Lee knew he'd
hurt Amanda terribly. It had never been his intention. So now it was time to do
something to make it right. Thirty minutes later he was done. He hoped what
he'd written would start to mend some fences he'd broken between himself and
Amanda.
He decided it
was time to go home, but he had one stop to make first. It needed to be a quick
one though because he wanted to get home before Amanda decided to leave.
==============//===================
Amanda heard
Lee's key unlock the door. She forced herself to stay in her seat and not even
look at him when he came in. She heard his keys hit the table by the door.
After a second of silence, she heard footsteps enter the living room.
"Hi."
When he got no response he continued speaking, "Ah, I just saw Harry. He's
being discharged from the hospital, he looks great." He waited for a reply
but all he got what was a nod from Amanda. "What are you doing?"
"I'm
writing you a note," Amanda answered much more calmly than she felt.
"Uh,
Amanda...I realize that making that list was a very stupid thing to do.
Everybody does silly little things that bothers the other person," Lee
tried to explain.
"Do you
have flowers behind your back?" Amanda had given Lee her attention when
he'd started talking about the confounded list and she noticed he was carefully
keeping one had out of sight. "If he thinks flowers will make this better
he's got another thing coming," she thought to herself.
"No,"
Lee said as he brought the notebook from behind his back.
"More
complaints?" Amanda asked bitingly as he came towards her.
"No, It's
a list of all the things I...LOVE about you," Lee told her as he reached
in for a kiss.
"Aw,"
Amanda said before she kissed him. "Better be a looong list."
Lee smiled at
her and bent to kiss her again.
After they
broke apart, Lee handed Amanda the notebook with the new list. He watched her
face carefully, looking for a sign of forgiveness as she read it.
Amanda scanned
the list quickly. Some of items really tugged at her heart and brought tears to
her eyes. Number 10 said that she was the bravest women he'd ever known and
number 18 said that she was his best friend. The further into the list she got
the better she felt. The list went onto say how she'd go to the ends of the
earth to protect Lee and that she loved him with all her heart which was all
true and she was glad that he had included that on his revised list. He had
even mentioned what a great Mom she was to Philip and Jaime. With all the sexy
desirable women Lee had known it made her feel even more wanted and cherished
when he'd put on the list that SHE was the sexiest, most desirable women he'd
ever known. He'd even finally put it in writing that she was the best partner
he'd ever had.
After Amanda's
had read the list, she walked over to Lee and clung tightly to him.
"I'm
sorry, Amanda. That list was a stupid idea and I never should have suggested
it. Can you please forgive me?" Lee asked his wife.
"Of
course I forgive you, but it might take a couple of hours for me to forget that
list ever existed," Amanda said with a smile that told Lee everything.
"When are
your mother and the boys going to be home?" Lee asked as he trailed down
her neck with kisses.
"Well,
Mother called and said that the weather was so beautiful that she and the boys
were going to stay an extra day," Amanda said breathlessly.
"Good,
because I know you and I think it might take more than a couple of hours to
help you forget that blasted list. Might take all night or even longer,"
Lee said with a smile as he picked her up and carried her into their bedroom.
============The End===============
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