Disclaimer: "Scarecrow and Mrs. King" is the property of Warner Bros. and Shoot the Moon Productions. I enjoy borrowing their characters for entertainment purposes.

Author's note: This my second response to Lanie's excellent holiday challenge. I hope you all enjoy it.

He prided himself on being well organized. A place for everything, and everything in its place. He firmly believed that was the only way to live, especially since he moved around so frequently.

"Where the hell could it be?" Colonel Robert Clayton slammed one drawer shut and opened another. He'd already spent nearly an hour searching for an index card that contained two secure phone numbers. Annoyed with himself for having been too mentally lazy to commit the numbers to memory, he stalked across his quarters to search the small lockbox that he carried with him from one posting to another.

As frustrated as he felt, he took some comfort in the fact that he wasn't hunting for these numbers in an emergency situation. The call that he was planning to place had become an annual tradition, it wasn't a call that he had to make, but he always felt better after he did. He wondered if it was strange that he'd come to look forward to conversations with a man that he'd never met face to face.

Locating the elusive card with the name William Melrose scrawled on it, memories of the first time that he'd spoken to the man came rushing back. Their first conversation had been tense to say the least. Years later, Clayton was willing to admit to himself that he'd been responsible for the acrimonious tone of that first call. He'd been on a secret mission in a very remote location in Africa when a garbled message reached him from the States. His nephew, Lee, had been rushed to the hospital after being shot in the line of duty. His prognosis appeared dire, but the long distance connection had failed before Clayton's subordinate had been able to garner any further details.

It had taken him several hours to return to his temporary base of operations, from which he'd be able to phone DC more easily. With each passing hour, he'd grown more convinced that Lee was dead, after all burying those he loved seemed to be his lot in life. When he'd gotten through to the Agency, he was transferred from one person to another, with each successive speaker telling him that they weren't at liberty to provide him with any information about Lee's condition. His call was transferred to Melrose as his temper and his composure were fraying.

"Hello, this is William Melrose. How may I help you?"

"You can give me some straight answers, unless that's above your paper pushing bureaucratic pay grade. If it is, I demand that you connect me with someone in authority immediately."

"I don't know who YOU are, but I assure you that I'm not a bureaucrat, I'm the head of Field Section."

"I'm Colonel Robert Clayton, my nephew is…" He was desperately hoping that Lee was still hanging on and his voice faltered momentarily.

"You're Lee's uncle, good grief, we've been trying to contact you for the past forty-eight hours."

"Do you spooks make a habit of notifying people of their next of kin's death over the phone? In the military-"

"Calm down!"

"Don't you dare tell me to 'calm down', my nephew is-"

"Recovering nicely in the hospital, although he'd prefer to be recuperating anyplace but there. I'll give you the phone number for his room so that you can speak to him yourself."

"Thank you, but that won't be necessary," an immensely relieved Colonel stated in a much more civil tone of voice.

"Won't be necessary? A minute ago you were mourning his death, and now you don't even want to speak to him." Billy rubbed his brow and leaned back in his office chair.

"We have a very complicated relationship. He's not an easy person to deal with, surely you've noticed that yourself."

"He's a good man…he simply requires patience and special handling. I've come to care a great deal about him."

"Maybe you've seen a side of him that I haven't?"

"Perhaps, I have, let me tell you a little bit about the man that I've gotten to know."

Their conversation ended with Billy giving the Colonel two phone numbers so that he could reach him directly in the future. Clayton called him a few days later to apologize for his rude behavior and to thank Billy for his insights about Lee. Realizing that they had more in common than their shared concern for Lee, they agreed to keep in touch. The Colonel phoned Billy every Christmas to wish him a happy holiday and hear about his nephew's latest exploits.