Francine entered the Agency's building with a spring in her step, excited by the fact that she had another date with Beaman tonight and that he and Lee seemed to be working well together on the Brody investigation. She couldn't help the bit of a self-satisfied smile that she'd thought of it since it really did solve two problems at once, getting Lee the help he needed and keeping Amanda out of it since she still hadn't been full cleared for field duty.
Her smile soon faded, however, when she walked into the bullpen and approached her desk outside Billy's office and could see the two men in question having a blazing screaming match in front of their section chief. She hurriedly entered the room, not bothering to knock and was regaled by the shouting between the two and gave Billy a questioning look who responded with a slight nod to her and held up one finger to indicate for her to just wait.
"Billy, you gotta' find another trainer for Amanda," Lee demanded as he jabbed a finger at the stack of files on Billy's desk. "I don't want her anywhere near him again when he's clearly incompetent!"
"Incompetent?" Beaman gaped at Lee incredulously. "Then tell me why I was the one to suggest getting in touch with the rest of your family to make sure they got out of the line of fire? You sure as hell didn't think of it."
"That has nothing to do with this. This is about Amanda! I told you to look out for her, didn't I?" Lee shouted at the trainer.
"She's an adult, Stetson! She made her own choice and insisted that she was ready and that she could handle it! I believed she could too, especially considering all the hours she's logged with her physical therapist."
"Listen, both of you," Billy tried to interject, but neither was paying attention.
"Yeah? Well, if she could handle it so well, then explain to me why she spent half the night in the infirmary and then got sent home with a dislocated shoulder after you put her through that makeup test, huh?"
"Please! That's a minor injury and she'll be healed in no time! I've seen a lot worse injuries come out of my training classes! Besides, she wouldn't have needed a makeup test if you hadn't pulled her out of class to begin with!"
Lee ignored Beaman's jibe and fired back, "If you're letting so many of your trainees get injured, then maybe you're just not cut out to be a trainer!"
"Or maybe you should keep a closer eye on your protégée and make sure she's up for an assignment before you let her just sign up for any and all training classes!"
"Okay, you two, knock it off," Billy commanded in a loud bellow to get their attention. Once they were both looking at him instead of glowering at each other, he barked, "Sit down. Both of you." When they complied, he went on, "Now, I have Amanda's report from the infirmary right here, and Beaman's right, Lee, it is a minor injury. As for her trying this exercise before she was ready, I don't believe either of you are to blame. I think we both know that neither of you has any real control when it comes to Amanda. She's very good at the job, but we all know how stubborn she can be, not to mention how anxious she is to finish her training and to get back to full active-duty status."
Lee snorted, but Francine jumped in with a calmer tone, "I have to agree with Billy on this one. Look at how many times she wrote letters begging for more training and now that Dr. Smyth approved that training and in fact, insisted on it, she's thrown herself into every class she could, going all the way back to September."
"But that was before she nearly died," Lee argued. "You weren't there, Francine. You don't know how bad it really was. I was and I watched her flat-line and watched the doctors struggle to bring her back. I can't...no, I won't let anything else happen to her on my watch." He shot a murderous look at Beaman.
"Look, it was just an accident," Beaman tried to defend himself. "She was running through the obstacle course and when she got to the climbing part, she just lost her grip. She even said it herself, that despite all her PT, she still doesn't quite have the upper arm strength that she did before her shooting."
"Then why did you let her do it?" Francine questioned. "If she told you that, why did you even let her attempt it?"
"Because she didn't tell me that until after she fell and hurt herself."
"Well, maybe you should have had the sense to check out her medical files before you put her on that course," Lee snorted.
"Lee has a point," Francine commented.
"You think I didn't?" He gaped at Francine with a scowl. "I talked to her personal doctor, the doctors here who've been keeping an eye on her progress, her personal physical therapist and the one here who's been working with her on Agency-related tasks and they all said she's making good progress since her shooting." He nodded to Billy. "You've got all that right there too, Billy."
Lee let out a sigh. "Okay, maybe you did your due diligence on that front," he conceded. "But you yourself said the other night that you were concerned about her and you let her go ahead anyway."
"I was going by the information I had and every bit of it suggested that she was up for the challenge."
"But haven't you ever just gone with your gut on something instead of relying on facts and figures? I know you're a smart guy, Beaman, but sometimes common sense comes in a lot more handy than what you can read and measure. Maybe that's why you've never been given any field time before now. You think too damn much instead of just reacting."
"Maybe you don't think enough, Scarecrow!" Beaman spat back at him.
"Now, hold on," Francine interjected. "There's no need to resort to insults here. If you two can't get along and put your differences aside, maybe I was wrong to suggest that the two of you work together on this Brody thing."
Again, Beaman frowned at her. "What are you saying?" He couldn't believe that she was taking Stetson's side in all this when he himself hadn't done anything wrong.
"Fine by me," Lee crowed triumphantly. "If I can't trust him to look after my partner in his classes, how can I trust him in the field?"
"That's not what I was saying. What I meant was-" Francine tried to explain, but was cut off by Beaman abruptly rising from his seat and shoving his way past her.
"Fine! I'm done with him anyway!" He flung the door open and stormed across the bullpen at top speed.
"Efraim, wait!" she called after him and hurried to try to catch up to him. For once, she was grateful for the slowness of the Agency's elevators because he'd had to pause to wait on the internal elevator that would take him back to his office. "Efraim..." she breathed his name as she tried to catch her breath.
"What?" he snapped.
"Why'd you take off like that without letting me finish what I had to say?"
"I think you said enough," he huffed as the elevator doors finally opened and he stepped inside. "Enough to know that you're taking your old lover's side."
She quickly stepped in behind him and fired back, "Okay, first of all, I wasn't taking sides. Second, none of anything I said in Billy's office has a damn thing to do with the fact that I once had a personal involvement with Lee. Third, when I walked into that office, you two looked like you were ready to tear each other limb from limb so it's clear to me that you can't work together."
"Right," he snorted. "So, you're just forgetting your promise to me to use your influence to help me clock some more field time."
"I never said that," she protested. "And you need to stop putting words in my mouth and assuming things that aren't true. Just because this thing with Lee didn't work out doesn't mean there aren't other things you can do. There's plenty of work to be done around this place and if anyone knows that, it's me, since I see everything that comes out of Billy's office."
"Right, like what? Some boring Spring Cleaning detail. No thanks."
"What the hell do you want from me? I went out on a limb for you, both with Billy and with Lee and it didn't work out, but that's not my fault."
"Are you saying it's mine?" he demanded as the doors opened and he stomped down the hall toward his office.
Her eyes flared in anger and she followed him into his office and slammed the door behind her. "Again, STOP putting words in my mouth! I never said it was your fault. I thought putting you two together was the perfect solution to the problem of how to get Lee the help he needed without putting Amanda at risk, but-"
"Right, because it's all about Lee and his precious Amanda. Everything in this place revolves around him, doesn't it? He's the golden boy who can do no wrong. He even skated by a treason charge a couple of years ago. When you offered to help me out, I thought maybe you were different than everyone else around here, but I guess you're just as drawn into his spell as everyone else is, especially the women around this place. But maybe you should remember that he's a married man now. I showed you the proof of it myself."
"You're jealous," she stated. "All this time I've been spending with you and you're still jealous of Lee. This is...this...it's just ridiculous. I mean, anyone with eyes can see that he only wants Amanda. What the hell do you think all the screaming was about downstairs in Billy's office? It was because Amanda got hurt on your watch. Now, I don't think-"
"You think I'm incompetent just like he does, don't you?"
"I never said that!"
"But you think it, don't you?"
"You know what? Forget this! If you're not going to give me a chance to explain and are just going to keep assuming you know what I'm thinking, I'm done here!" She flung the door open so hard that it banged against the wall behind it. She turned back to face him for a moment and spat angrily, "I trusted you to be true to your word and see more behind the mannequin like you said you did, but if you can't do that because you're so damn jealous of Lee, then you and me...we're done too."
"Fine by me!" he shouted back just in time to see her turn on her heel and storm out, hurrying back to the elevator.
As usual, she had to wait for the elevator. She had hoped that he would follow her as she had followed him when leaving Billy's office, but instead she cringed when she heard the slamming of his office door from down the corridor.
She let out a deep sigh wondering just how things had gone so wrong. Still, she had made him a promise regarding fieldwork and despite the fight they'd just had, she didn't break promises to people, especially those she cared about. Maybe, a hopeful voice sounded in her head. Maybe that will even show him that you're serious and you can work things out.