20"You doing anything tonight?"
Francine lifted her head and stared at Lee as he lounged against the edge of her desk.
"Why are you asking?" she asked, her eyes narrowing in suspicion. "Because if you've got another drop down on 14th Street and need me to play hooker, you can just forget it! You can take your new partner with you – let her see this business isn't all fun and games."
Lee's expression turned to irritated. "Okay, for one thing, Amanda King is not my partner! You know I don't do partners anymore. She was an emergency and then she was helpful making a cover seem authentic, but she is not now, nor will she ever be, my partner, okay?"
If Lee seemed a little overemphatic about the denial, neither of them seemed to notice.
"And secondly, I was not asking for a professional reason, I am asking you, as a friend, if you felt like going out for dinner tonight."
"Why?" Francine pressed him. "What do you need?"
"I don't need anything," he shot back. "I just thought it might be nice to have a pleasant meal out with a beautiful woman without having to pretend to be someone I'm not."
"Just nice?" She arched a brow at him.
"Fine, if you don't want to…" he straightened up and turned to leave.
"No, no, I want to," she said hastily. "What time?"
"Pick you up at 7? The Blue Fox?"
"That's my favorite," she exclaimed. "But how on earth did you get a reservation?"
Lee tapped his nose. "I have my ways."
"Of course you do. I'll see you at 7."
Francine lifted a forkful of the restaurant's specialty dessert, the Tall, Dark and Handsome chocolate cake, then placed it in her mouth with a sound somewhere between reverent and sexual.
"I'm sorry, do you two need to be alone?" Lee asked, as he toyed with his glass of brandy.
Francine ignored him for a moment, letting the dessert swirl across her tongue, before swallowing, almost reluctantly, and lifting her eyes to meet his twinkling ones.
"You may be a pleasant diversion to spend an evening with, Lee, but unlike men, chocolate has never let me down." She turned her attention back to the cake and missed the glimmer of regret that went across Lee's face.
"Like I did?" he asked.
"What?" Francine looked up, startled enough to momentarily forget her dessert.
Lee grimaced and put his glass down carefully. "I let you down."
"What are you talking about?" she asked incredulously. "Our little affair is hardly worth that note of self-loathing,"
"Is that all it was to you?" he asked, curious. "A little affair?"
"Wasn't it that to you?" she countered. "You were quick enough to end it."
Her voice didn't change but he didn't miss the flicker of annoyance that went across her face.
"Yeah, I was," he hedged. "But I didn't have to be –"
"Such a jerk about it?" she completed his sentence. "Well, it's not like we were planning a big future together. Don't worry about it – it's no big deal," she waved it off.
"That's what I mean," he persisted. "I was a jerk, wasn't I?"
Francine put down her fork and leaned forward on crossed arms. "Even if you were, why is it suddenly bothering you now?" she asked.
Lee gave off a short laugh. "I guess I'm feeling like I need to make amends this week."
"Amends?" she lifted a quizzical brow. "You doing some kind of program I should know about, Scarecrow?"
"No, I, uh…" he paused and ran his hand over his head. "Do you remember what we were talking about right before I left with Billy for that speech the other day?"
Her brow wrinkled as she cast her mind back. "No – was it important?"
"Amanda had just called me – trying to warn me about Glaser and I brushed her off."
Francine's eyes widened as she remembered that call. "I teased you about how she needed to realize that you didn't need your Bedside Bluebell," she said.
"Yeah," he nodded. "And I let you – because that's what we do, isn't? we kind of snipe at each other about things like that, you know?"
Francine nodded, still not sure where he was going with this.
"But it's friendly, right? You don't think I mean any of it, right? You don't think I'm still trying to score points because we broke up?"
"Of course, I don't," she answered. "Not any more than you believe that I mean it."
"I guess, I just…" he trailed off. "The thing is, do you ever worry we're letting the whole thing go a little too far?"
"What do you mean, too far?"
"When Dirk called me on the carpet that day in his office after I handed that package to Amanda, you defended me," he said.
"Of course, I did," she said. "Unlike Dirk, you're expected to think outside the box to get the job done and you did. And none of what happened was your fault," she grimaced. "It was mine."
"It wasn't yours either," he contradicted her, leaning forward to lay his hand over hers where it rested on the table. He gave it a comforting squeeze. "You were the victim of a very well laid trap. But I've been wondering if I didn't set you up for that."
Francine stared at him. "What are you talking about? You didn't set me up with Mrs. Welch. I did that all on my own."
"Yeah, but I'm always teasing you about how the only thing you can make is a grilled cheese sandwich and how at least you shoot better than you cook, and I wondered if subconsciously…"
"You think I wanted to learn to cook for you?" she snorted. "Don't flatter yourself."
"No, I didn't think that. I'm not explaining this very well," he sighed. "I just wondered if I teased you too much and made you doubt yourself. You and me, we tease each other because we're friends right? And I'm just starting to think that maybe, sometimes we forget the being friends part, and we're just being…"
"Mean?" she supplied.
"Yeah," he agreed. "What if we're getting so used to trying to be agents all the time that we're forgetting to be friends?"
"What's brought on all the psychoanalysis, Scarecrow?" she asked, trying to lighten the mood.
"Other than almost assassinating Billy?" he asked with a wry look. "I guess, it's kind of Amanda's fault."
"What's she done now?" asked Francine with an eye roll.
"She hasn't done anything," he answered defensively. "She's just nice."
"Isn't nice just another word for naïve?"
"Sometimes she's that too, but that's not what I mean. She's…" he searched for the word. "Kind," he finally said.
"Kind of-" Francine started but stopped when he held up a hand.
"Don't," he instructed. "Don't go for some cheap shot, okay?" Lee leaned back in his chair and surveyed his dinner companion. "Look, I'm not saying I'm innocent in this either, but being around a regular person like Amanda has made me notice that maybe, sometimes, you and me… sometimes we're not very nice to other people."
"Wow, what has that housewife done to you?" Francine asked.
"She saved Billy's life," he shot back. "From me." He tapped his chest for emphasis. "From me!"
Francine blinked. "Well, that's true, I guess."
"There's no guessing here, Francine," he responded, sounding annoyed. "She figured out Glaser's plan, she tried to warn me and then she talked me down out of a psychotic episode without a thought for herself. And do you know how she talked me down? She was nice. She was kind. She told me I was a good person and that I didn't want to hurt my friend."
"Billy said if he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he wouldn't have believed it," agreed Francine, softly. "That's really getting to you isn't it? Have you talked to Pfaff or one of those guys?"
The last people I want to talk to right now is one of those guys!" Lee snarled. "But yeah, I was ordered to."
"And they've got you making amends?" she prodded. "As part of the therapy?"
"No, no," he waved his hand to dismiss that idea. "They could care less as long as I'm not responding to cartoon animals telling me what to do." He paused for a moment to get his thoughts straight. "The thing is – Amanda is always like that – she's nice to people she likes, she's kind, she tells you when you're doing a good job…"
"It's annoying," Francine nodded. "Every time she compliments me on something, I'm always waiting for the other she to drop and it never does."
Lee barked out a laugh. "I know what you mean," he agreed. "Her SOP is always to be nice, but she gets this look on her face when I'm being a jerk…"
"You must get that look a lot," Francine quipped.
"I do," he sighed.
"It bothers you," she said, with sudden insight.
"It does. I thought I was over worrying about disappointing people when I could never please my uncle, but with her, it's like I've kicked a puppy." He fiddled with the cloth napkin beside his plate before looking up to meet her look of concern. "Do you remember when I made that joke about the stamina of the American housewife? You knew I hadn't really gone to bed with her, right?"
She nodded. "She's hardly your type, with all that Donna Reed glow to her."
Lee straightened up and pointed a finger at her. "Now see? That's what I mean. You and I, we make jokes about that kind of stuff all the time – about each other. But now we're doing it to other people – people who don't deserve it and we're doing it when they aren't there to defend themselves."
"So you did want to go to bed with her?" Francine asked, brow raised. "Kinky."
"Stop that!" Lee said plaintively. "No, I didn't, but that's not what I'm trying to say. Amanda is a kind decent person and I shouldn't make jokes like that that make you think less of her. That thing you said the other day? About her complete lack of everything? Why did you say that?"
Francine sat back, nonplussed. "I don't know. I mean she's nice enough, but she's hardly agent material no matter how eager she is. She's just a housewife."
"Just a housewife who- " Lee held up his hand and began counting off his fingers, "figured out how to infiltrate Mrs. Welch's compound with no training and then flew a helicopter to get us out of there, held a man's hand while he was dying and didn't run screaming for the hills, stole an ambulance to drive across town to stop me assassinating Billy…"
"Okay, okay, I get it – you think she's going to be a fabulous agent," Francine interrupted him.
"No, I don't," Lee countered. "But I do think we both need to cut the jokes about what she can and can't do because she's managed to surprise us every time."
"Well, okay, yes she has," Francine conceded. "But doesn't it drive you crazy when she's so…" - she hunted for the perfect word - "perky?"
Lee grinned. "Yeah, but I think I'm getting used to it."
"You really think she's going to stick around long enough for you to get used to it?"
Lee nodded. "Honestly? I do. It's only been a month and I've already learned she can be pretty stubborn."
"And if she does, you expect me to be nice to her?"
"No, I couldn't possibly expect that," Lee teased, his grin lighting up his face. "But maybe we could both tone it down a little?"
"Fine," she said, grumpily. "I'll try but I'm not making any promises."
Lee reached for his wallet and pulled out a credit card to lay on top of the bill the waiter had dropped at the table.
Francine straightened up. "This wasn't a date – let me pay my half."
Lee moved the leather case out of her reach. "No, I invited you. I'm paying." He waved the waiter to take the bill.
She could tell from the glint in his eyes that it was non-negotiable. "Fine, I'll get it next time. Then we have a reason to come back for another one of those desserts," she promised. "Not that I ever need an excuse to come here." She looked around at the restaurant, every table full and her gaze narrowed. "How did you get a table here tonight anyway? It's packed."
Lee shrugged. "I booked it a few weeks ago. I just wanted to surprise you."
"Surprise me? But why?" she asked, in confusion.
"That day you stood up for me with Dirk. You said I owed you dinner and you were right."
"I was kidding! And besides, you'd do the same for me."
"Yes, I would, but that's not the point. I take your friendship for granted sometimes and I wanted to make it up to you."
"Well, I'm touched. No, really," she added hurriedly when his brow went up. "This was very nice of you." An arrested expression went across her face. "Oh no! This is what happens from hanging out with Amanda! She's turning you soft and taking me down with you!"
"Don't worry, I won't tell a soul," Lee chuckled. He signed off on the credit card slip the waiter had returned with and stood up, offering her a hand to help her up. "Except Amanda, of course." he teased with a wink.
Francine stopped in her tracks. "You wouldn't!"
Lee chuckled as he slid his hand to her back and began to guide her forward again. "No, I wouldn't. We're friends and I owe you too much for that."
