DISCLAIMER:
Scarecrow and Mrs. King belong to Warner Brothers and Shoot the Moon
Productions. I'm just taking them round the dance floor once for old times
sake.
AUTHOR: Jenny
RATING:
PG 13
SYNOPSIS:
Amanda and Lee stop dancing around the subject of their relationship and learn
that the oldies are the goodies. (Around the third season, before they start
dating seriously.)
NOTE:
This idea popped into my head while listening to an oldies radio station. It
wouldn't go away so I wrote it down. There's no plot to speak of, just good
old-fashioned romance. I guess it's a 'what if' type story. My friend read this
but I didn't really have it beta read. It's just a simple little tale for
pleasure.
AT THE SOCK HOP
Amanda
King stood in front of her kitchen window with the phone cradled against her
shoulder, listening intently. She nodded her head and spoke, "Oh yes Mrs.
Penrose, I'd be glad to help chaperone the class dance. It's this Friday night?
At the school in the gym? OK….. Oh Mrs. Penrose, is there a theme this year? Uh
Hum, sock hop, Sadie Hawkins sock hop. Bring a date, yes. Thank you good-bye
Mrs. Penrose."
Amanda
replaced the receiver on the hook and pondered the situation she found herself
in now. She had no plans for Friday night. As long as work didn't interfere she
was clear in that aspect. However the Sadie Hawkins bit might be a problem. The
only person she cared to ask would probably run scared at the thought of a gym
full of 7th graders. KGB and German terrorists were no problem but Phillip and
Jamie still scared the heck out of him.
Amanda
thought briefly of the look on Lee's face just last night when he dropped her
off after work. The boys had run down the sidewalk toward her and Lee couldn't
get out of the driveway fast enough! She turned to say good-bye and had seen
such a look of mixed fear and longing that she almost asked him in for dinner.
She didn't speak fast enough and the implacable mask he showed to the world
came down again and he was gone. The vette pulled smoothly into the street and
drove away from them.
Lately
the mask slipped quite often around her. She enjoyed the glimpses of Lee
Stetson, her friend, she got when the curtain did rise, and missed him quite
acutely when it fell back down again and he became Scarecrow, the agent. Her
musings were interrupted by a brisk tapping on the glass of her window. She
focused on the view in front of her and found herself looking into Lee's
gorgeous eyes. Her smile was automatic
and
brilliant. He responded in kind.
As
always when he smiled that smile, her mind went into overdrive and she noted
every detail about his appearance. His eyes appeared green against the light
blue of his Oxford shirt. His hair shone in the late fall sunlight. The black
leather of his jacket strained across his shoulders as he raised his hand and
beckoned for her to come out. She glanced over her shoulder and not seeing her
Mother she slipped out the back door and joined him in her back yard.
Automatically
Lee placed his hand at the small of her back and led her to the bench just out
of the line of sight of the house. As she sat, he thought about how beautiful
she looked in her pink Georgetown sweatshirt. He loved seeing her in pink. He
had recently discovered that he enjoyed seeing her in just about anything. She
always made his day brighter just by being in it.
Of
course, he blamed this strange thought on the fact that he had been so busy
lately that she was the only person he spent much time alone with. Business
related of course. He was just to tired at the end of the day to call up one of
his girls and arrange a date, right? And the fact that he found himself at her
door or window more often than really warranted was simply the Agent in him
protecting his "family". Lee Stetson had almost convinced himself,
but then he looked down into her brown eyes and his current thoughts fled to be
replaced with visions of him pulling him into her arms and kissing her into
oblivion.
Amanda
King stared up at her partner of nearly 3 years and saw his eyes narrow and
started to look behind her for the cause but she realized that he was focused
on her and she softly spoke to get his attention, "Lee, what are doing
here? Do you need something? Do we have a new case to work on?"
Scarecrow
shook off the odd mood that overcame him more and more often these days and
casually sat down next to Amanda. "No, nothing new. I just wanted to make
sure you were OK. I mean you had a pretty close call yesterday with that knife
and I just thought you might want to talk about it."
Amanda
looked into his face and thought about how much he had changed in the last
months. She felt her heart beat faster and she knew she must tread lightly lest
she reveal too much of her emotions to him. "Oh I'm fine, really. I think
I must be getting used to stuff like that."
Stetson
looked at her in disbelief and shook his head, "Amanda you don't have to
be brave now. It's just me and you, partners remember?"
His
partner smiled ruefully and shrugged her slim shoulders. "I'm OK Lee,
really. You know I'm pretty resilient. I just bounce back up and keep
going."
"Yea,
I know. Anyway, I just wanted to check on you. By the way, what are you doing
Friday night?" Lee waited expectantly for her answer.
"Oh,
I just made plans for Friday night. Do you need me for something? I can
probably cancel."
"No,
no, don't cancel, I just thought we might have dinner or something. You know
maybe catch up on paperwork afterward." Stupid Stetson, real smooth! Lee
berated himself.
Amanda
thought briefly of her conversation with Phillip's teacher earlier. It was a
Sadie Hawkins dance, maybe she should just ask him. All he could do was say no,
right? She took a deep breath and asked quickly before she changed her mind,
"Lee will you go to the dance with me?'
His
face wrinkled in puzzlement as he gazed at his quirky partner.
"What?"
Amanda
groaned and covered her face with her hands briefly before explaining. "I
just agreed to chaperone the dance at Phillip's school this Friday night. It's
a Sadie Hawkins dance. The girls ask the boys for dates, not the other way
around." Her face burned with mortification and she continued, "Never
mind Lee. It was a dumb idea. I'll ask some one else. There are other men I can
ask." She mentally tried to picture the other candidates. Her mind went
blank. She silently accepted the fact that there were no other men for her. Lee
Stetson was all she wanted.
The
usually confident man in front of her stuttered, "There are other men? Oh
I mean of course there are other men. What other men?" God he sounded
jealous even to his own ears.
Amanda
rose and walked toward her door. "Lee, I'm sorry I mentioned it. I'll see
you Monday at work."
"Amanda,
What time should I pick you up?" He shivered suddenly at the thought of
all those kids in one place but stood his ground. He just couldn't stand the
thought of Amanda with another man, dancing and holding her close.
Amanda
looked at him and said, "Are you sure?" When he nodded she replied,
"Seven o clock. She reached for the doorknob and added, "Oh it's a
sock hop. You know the 5o's. Costumes are required." She quickly ducked
into the house but not before she saw the dumbfounded look on Scarecrows face.
She giggled and went to the attic to find her poodle skirt from her own high
school sock hop. This one would be better. She was going with Lee. Maybe this
time she could tell her date how she really felt. She loved him.
Outside
Lee walked to his car and wondered what he was doing making plans to go to a
sock hop with Amanda King. When his heart beat faster just thinking about
holding her on the dance floor and he knew why he was doing it. But could he
tell her why? How could he tell her that he loved her?