Disclaimer: "Scarecrow and Mrs. King" is copyrighted to Warner Brothers and Shoot the Moon Productions. The plot is mine, but not the characters. This story is meant for enjoyment purposes only. No infringement is intended.

Author's Note: This is number 14 in the FF series for the episode, "The Triumvirate." Many thanks to our resident Francine-expert, Khell, for the feedback on this one.

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Lee paused outside Francine's door, a vase of flowers in his hand. He tapped lightly and when he heard her voice calling to have him come in, he entered.

"You didn't have to knock, you know," she told him as he set the vase on the table and sat beside her hospital bed.

"Well, I...uh...I didn't know if you were...you know...decent," he sputtered awkwardly.

Francine laughed and retorted, "My, how times have changed. I seem to recall a time when that wouldn't have bothered you in the slightest."

"Well, like you said, times have changed." He looked down at his hands, trying to hide the flush he knew was in his cheeks.

She nodded to the vase he'd brought in. "Nice flowers. Orchids."

"Your favorite," he replied blandly as he tried to figure out how to get to the point of his visit without it sounding as stupid as it did in his head.

"I'm surprised you remembered. I mean, especially with how things ended between us." Of course, she also knew of his disdain for roses and wondered if that was the real reason behind his choice of flowers.

"You're still my friend and you know...friends do things for each other...remember little things about each other..." Nope, still stupid, he chided himself. "So...uh...how's the leg?" He gestured to her bandaged and propped-up injured extremity.

"A bullet passed through it. How do you think it is?" She rolled her eyes.

"Come on, Francine."

The pleading look in his eyes stopped her sarcasm in its tracks. "Painful," she answered honestly. "But bearable with the morphine drip they've got me on." She held up her arm to show him her IV.

"Thank you," he blurted out lamely. Idiot!

"For what?" She stared at him blankly.

"What do you mean for what? You saved Amanda's life. Y-you took a bullet for her," he stammered nervously. Why the hell was this so hard?

"Oh, that!" she snorted with a wave of her hand as if it were nothing.

"Yes, that." Lee was beginning to get annoyed with Francine. Here he was trying to express his gratitude and she was blowing it off as if it didn't matter. "That was a big thing you did...huge, even. Amanda's alive now because of you."

Francine shook her head. "Well, don't you think I owed it to her after nearly getting her killed?" When Lee looked at her in confusion, she explained, "I was the one who sent her to that store to shop for a dress, remember?"

"Oh, come on, Francine. How were you supposed to know that those goons would go after her there? I didn't even know how far this stupid thing went until after the fact so how could you?" He shook his head. "I should never have let Amanda use her own computer clearance-"

"Hey, now stop that." She recognized that look of the self-imposed guilt trip on his face all too well.

"Look who's talking. Didn't you just say that you felt responsible for her being jumped at that store? Why don't you stop it?"

"I will if you will," she challenged.

"Okay, okay. I didn't send them after Amanda and neither did you." He let out a deep sigh. "It's just...if she'd been killed, it would have been my fault in the long run anyway because I'm the one who got her into this business."

"But did you twist her arm to make her stay in?"

He reflected back on the conversation he'd had with Amanda the night before when he'd asked her why she'd stayed and replied honestly, "No."

"Look, you and I both know how stubborn she is, so chances are if you'd used your clearance and you were the one targeted instead, she might have been in just as much danger because she'd never let you handle it alone. That's what partners do, isn't it?"

He stared at her, surprise evident on his face. "Partner? You? You're actually acknowledging her as my partner?"

"Well, isn't she?"

"Of course she is, but I never thought I'd ever here you admit it," he teased.

"Look, she's one of the gang now, okay? Besides, for all of your sputtering and trying to thank me for saving her...if the truth were told, I owed it to her."

"How do you figure?"

She began counting off on her fingers. "She saved me from being Mrs. Welch's pawn, she backed me up to help rescue you and Billy with that whole Private Party mess, not to mention she's saved your life more times than I can count. That makes her okay in my book."

"I suppose it doesn't hurt that she knows about your love for expensive, imported chocolates," he teased.

Her eyes widened. "She told you about that? Forget saving her life. I'm gonna kill her."

"Relax, Francine, she didn't tell me anything that went on during that time you were trapped in the freezer together, just that she was the one who bought you the chocolates which I'd pretty much already figured out anyway by the look on your face...and hers."

"Oh." She relaxed a little.

"So...what did you two talk about that day?" He grinned at her, but he really was burning with curiosity because Amanda wouldn't talk about that day either.

"That's classified information, Scarecrow."

"Really? Come on! How long have we been friends?"

"Nope." She shook her head. "That would be betraying a friend's confidence."

Lee shook with laughter. "Friends? You and Amanda?"

"Okay...maybe not friends...friendly," she amended. She let out a sigh and looked down at her hands. "Okay, maybe not that either, but she at least doesn't annoy me the way that she used to." She looked back up at him. "What about you and Amanda?"

He glowered at her and folded his arms across his chest. "What about me and Amanda?"

She couldn't help noticing that he immediately went on the defensive at her question. "Really, Lee? I may have been teasing the two of you about how cozy you looked in that room, but there was some truth to it too...wasn't there?"

He rose abruptly. "You know, I...um...I gotta go."

"Go?" She smirked knowing she'd gotten to him. "You just got here."

"Yeah, well, I...uh...I just came to...you know, thank you for putting your ass on the line to save Amanda and I did that...so now I'm gonna'-" He gesture to the door anxious to get away from her scrutinizing gaze.

"Hmmm...say, isn't Amanda's reunion tonight?"

He shrugged. "I guess. Why do you ask?"

"Well, she didn't seem all that gung-ho about going, but maybe if she had a date...say, some dashing, handsome, charming spy to go with..."

"Stop it," he barked.

She laughed, but then stopped abruptly and said, "Ouch," when her laughter jostled her injured leg.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, it hurts to laugh," she admitted, but then smiled at him and added, "But if feels good to laugh too."

"I get that," he acknowledged.

"So, Amanda's reunion?" She gave him a questioning eyebrow, unwilling to let a little pain stop her from making her point. "You can't let her go alone or skip it entirely. I mean, she bought a dress and everything. Can't let that go to waste."

He shook his head, let out a little chuckle and answered, "No, I guess I can't." He smiled back at her and nodded to her injured leg. "You take care of yourself, okay?"

"Yeah, I will." As Lee made his way to the door, she called after him. "You just better tell me all about it tomorrow."