All the World's A Stage: An Alternative Ending
"And all the men and women merely players" As You Like It, Act II, Scene VII [All the world's a stage by William Shakespeare]
Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me. They belong to Shoot the Moon Enterprises and Warner Bros to whom I am eternally grateful to for the opportunity to keep their adventurous lives going and to the wonderful actors who created them. No copyright infringement intended.
Summary: A quick little rewrite of the famous 'real' first kiss to try to bring a little more romantic comedy and tension to that all important moment. Was it real or were they, as Shakespeare wrote, merely playing their roles yet again?
A/N: Since first viewing the all important first kiss in the tag of All the World's A Stage, I felt it to be a bit anticlimactic for our heroes' first 'real' kiss where they were not 'playing' a cover. As Lee enters the Q bureau, him saying to Amanda "you and I do have a lot to talk about" seemed disjointed and out of place. What did they have to talk about? The scene seemed to lack the flirty tension that was going on between them earlier in the episode and dispersed throughout Season 3. This little rewrite of that scene tries to bring back some of that romantic flirty tension from their 'rehearsal' and tie the episode together with a little rewrite from Lee, himself.
Any mistakes in grammar, spelling, and canon are completely my own.
My sincere thanks and gratitude goes out again to Clagjanet for her willingness, time and effort to proof read and edit . May the plaid be with you – always!
And as the curtain opens on our final act... On with the show...
Amanda kept playing it over and over in her head as she washed and dried the nightly dishes. Her imagination kept finishing the scene she'd been 'rehearsing' with Lee in the Q bureau when Francine had interrupted. She couldn't help but wonder if they were ever going to get a chance to finish it on their own for real. Lost in her musings, she didn't hear a word as Dotty continued to read aloud the glowing review of Parisian Intrigue.
Dotty sighed, "I really don't understand why the show closed after only one night, Amanda. You were simply wonderful in your performance."
"Mother, the production just ran out of money. It happens." Amanda replied with her rehearsed answer.
"Alright dear, I guess I can understand the producer embezzling the money to pay his gambling debts like the article says. It's just a shame." Dotty was silent for a moment, then perked up again. "Maybe you can find another production to perform in. I know you are busy with your work at IFF always editing their documentaries long into the night, but maybe you could find a community play to perform in. Maybe a Shakespearian play with star crossed lovers or a nice romantic comedy of two mismatched, unlikely people falling in love. You know, since Dean, you have not had any romance in your life. You never know, you could meet someone," Dotty finally concluded.
"Mother," Amanda emphasized the one word.
"Well, just think about it. Alright? I am going to take my warm milk upstairs, have my bubble bath, and climb into bed with a good romance novel since you don't seem interested in my suggestion."
"Good night, Mother."
"Good night, Darling." Dotty kissed Amanda on her check and headed up the stairs.
As Amanda watched Dotty's retreating back, she heard a familiar soft knocking on her window right on cue that had her smiling to herself. She turned around to see Lee's dimples smiling back at her as he motioned for her to join him.
Checking to make sure she could hear the bath running upstairs, Amanda slipped outside into the warm late spring night. Lee sat expectantly on her picnic table flipping through some papers.
"Hi," he said, softly, his smile a welcoming beacon in the darkness.
"Hi. What are you doing skulking in my backyard this time?" she teased.
"Well, I thought you might like to hear the epilogue to each of our cast of characters in this week's performance."
Lee filled in Amanda telling her what happened to Krutiov, Valentine, Tony and Maria. She expressed her hope that Tony would be getting some help for the trauma that had been done to him and Maria, but all the while, her eyes remained focused on the papers Lee was holding tightly onto.
"So what are those? Reports that I need to type up on the case tomorrow?" Amanda asked resignedly.
"Ah, no. Actually, these are a few pages from a particular scene from Parisian Intrigue that I decided to rewrite."
She recognized the glint of mischief in his eyes as his grin broadened. It was the same glint he'd had during that interrupted rehearsal which had been distracting her thoughts earlier.
"Lee, the play closed and the case is over. Why would you rewrite them?" Amanda questioned wondering what was he up to this time.
Looking at the papers in his hand, Lee responded, "Well, I was thinking of the scene we were rehearsing the other day in the Q bureau. I felt the ending, although funny in retrospect with its unintended interruption from another character, just seemed to be lacking something. So, I decided to rewrite it and see if you might want to rehearse the lines with me one more time to see if my changes give it the flair it was missing." Lee held out the papers to Amanda hopefully.
Deciding to play along with him to see where he was going with this, Amanda reluctantly grabbed the papers pretending to be put out by his request. She scanned them quickly focusing on the last lines. "Well, that's an interesting edit, " she commented. "In this scene, the Chanteuse reaches up and kisses the German soldier to make him forget." She didn't look up from the pages, fearing that the giggle that she was holding back would erupt.
"It just seemed to give the scene a bit more of a dramatic ending. Wouldn't you say?" Lee questioned, his deep baritone also barely hiding his own laughter.
Amanda continued playing along knowing now where he was headed and said, "Well, gee, I don't know. I guess we'll just have to rehearse this one and see if it does."
"Great. You can start with the line that reads 'Will wine really make you forget?'" Lee said quickly.
Amanda took an audible breath and repeated the line, reaching for Lee's shoulders as she had done before. However, this time, thankfully, there was no interruption as their embrace reached its scripted conclusion. Lee pulled back from the kiss, nervously looking for Amanda's reaction. She slowly opened her eyes to see his hazel ones anxiously staring down at her.
"So, what do you think?" he whispered.
"Well," she murmured, her hands slipping up to link around his neck. "I think... if we are going to be ready for opening night, I think... we should have a lot more rehearsals...you know, just to make sure we get this scene just right."
Lee's big bright dimpled smile lit up the night as he responded, "A lot more."