Disclaimer: "Scarecrow and Mrs. King" is copyrighted to Warner Brothers and Shoot the Moon Productions. This story is meant for enjoyment purposes only. No infringement is intended.

Author's Note: This is my version of a SMK "Christmas Carol." I'm taking one tiny little liberty with the timeline and adding a desk for Amanda in the Q Bureau at a time before she had one, but other than that, this fits within show canon up until this point in the series and will become AU from there.

Timeline: Season 3, Christmas Eve, 1985

At his desk in the Q Bureau, Lee awoke with a start at the feel of a hand on the back of his neck. He sat up abruptly, shaking off the dream he'd just been having and looked up to find Amanda hovering over him. He couldn't help smiling at seeing her bright, cheery face as she questioned, "Have you been here all night?"

Lee looked down at the files piled on his desk and nodded, "Yeah, I guess I lost track of the time. It's this weapons smuggling case. I'm so close to nailing down who's behind it. The answer's right here and I just know I'm missing something in all these surveillance photos and background checks."

"Here, why don't you let me help you," she offered as she edged closer to take a look at what he was working on.

"No, Amanda, it's not your problem, it's mine. You're not even supposed to be here today. It's Christmas Eve. You should be decking the halls."

Amanda laughed and replied, "The halls are already decked. I just came in to spread a little Christmas cheer." She nodded toward the stack of Christmas cookie-filled plates that she'd set on her desk after she'd found Lee asleep at his. "Besides, you're my partner. That means your problems are my problems."

"Amanda, no, I don't want to get you involved in all of this, not on Christmas Eve, not when you should be with your kids."

"You know, you could be there too," she reminded him. "I did invite you to join us for Christmas Eve dinner and I really wish you'd reconsider it. Put this case on hold for another day or two. It'll keep. Joe's going to be making his famous rum punch. I'll just bet you'd get a big kick out of that." She smiled at him warmly.

"Joe's gonna' be there?" Lee questioned warily, a painful stab of jealousy running through him like a knife.

"Of course, he is. He's only been back in town for a couple of weeks and he hasn't spent a Christmas with the boys in years."

"Oh, right, of course he'd be there," Lee moaned, disheartened at the thought of Amanda's ex being welcomed back into her home so easily when he wasn't even allowed to cross the threshold unless no one was at home. "I mean, I...I guess that makes sense. He is that father of your children, after all," he tried to reason, but still couldn't help the painful thoughts that crossed his mind of Amanda having a family Christmas dinner with her ex-husband included.

"You could be there too," Amanda said hopefully. "I...I really want you to be there."

"No, Amanda, I mean, how would it look? They don't even know me. What are they going to think of you just bringing some stranger home for Christmas dinner? I mean, they don't even know that I exist, do they?"

"Well, in a way they do," Amanda informed him as she sat on the edge of his desk and took his hand in hers. "I've told them about a special friend that I have at work and that I invited that special friend for dinner. I was planning to introduce you to them as that special friend."

"Special friend, huh?" Lee responded with a smile.

"Yeah," Amanda said as she used her free hand to smooth his sleep-rumpled hair away from his face. "You do know how special you are to me, don't you?"

Lee's heart leapt at her words. Did he mean what he was hoping she did? "Yeah?"

"Yeah, and I think it's long past time that my family met you. I mean, after all, we've been dating for a couple of months now, haven't we?"

"Dating, is that what you think we've been doing?" Lee said in surprise. He thought of it that way, but wasn't sure that she did. He'd been hoping that she realized that that's what all his dinner invitations to her had been about, but he wasn't really sure that she felt the same way about it, especially now that her ex-husband was back in the picture.

"You mean, it's not?" Amanda was startled by the shock in his voice as she abruptly pulled her hand from his as if scalded quickly making her way back to her desk and snatching up her cookies. "I...uh...guess I...um...mistook your intentions all those times you asked me out."

"Amanda, that's not what I-" his words were cut off by Amanda's harsh voice.

"You know, I think you're right after all. I should go home. I have a lot to do before dinner tonight. So, I'm just gonna' go downstairs and deliver these cookies and be on my way." Without giving him a chance to respond, she slung her purse over her shoulder, yanked the door open, then as an afterthought, gave him a half-hearted, "Merry Christmas," as she hurried out the door before the tears that were now stinging her eyes could fall in his presence.

"Amanda!' Lee called after her desperately wanting to stop her, to tell her how he really felt, to tell her that she'd misunderstood and that it had indeed been his intention to date her. "Oh, what's the use?" he moaned pitifully as he dropped his head down to his desk in sheer frustration that he and Amanda were continually playing this dance. Who was he kidding in thinking that he could live like a normal person and have a normal relationship with a normal woman?

"What's the use, Scarecrow, is that what you said?" A new voice said startling him. Lee raised his head and jumped out of his seat as if he'd seen a ghost. As if reading his thoughts, his former partner answered, "Yes, you are seeing a ghost."

"A...a ghost," Lee stammered. "Yeah, of course you're a ghost, Andy. You...you're dead. I...I watched you take a bullet to the head," he reminded him, indicating the gaping wound on the ghost's head. For me, he added mentally.

"No, not for you, Lee and you need to get that thought out of your head right now," the apparition argued, reading his thoughts again. "I didn't take that bullet for you. I took it for my country, for my belief that we could make this world a little bit safer and you should know there's nothing you could have done to stop it. It was meant to happen. Yes, you were there and yes, I took a bullet that was meant for you because I was trying to stop them from killing you, but that's just what a partner does. You'd do the same for Amanda, just as she'd do the same for you."

"Andy, I'm...I'm..." Lee swallowed hard unable to form a coherent thought as the guilt washed over him.

"Lee, don't apologize to me. There's no need for it. I'm okay with what happened to me. It was what was meant to happen. I was supposed to be there to save your life because you have a future waiting for you that you're supposed to get to. I didn't, so you need to stop blaming yourself, get over the guilt and move on with your life or you're never going to get to that future that I sacrificed my life for. Now, I don't have much time. I'm only a messenger of things to come. You're going to be visited by three spirits..."

"Oh, okay, I know this drill," Lee replied sardonically as he rose from his seat and held up a hand to stop the speech he was sure was coming. "Let me guess, the ghost of Christmas past, the ghost of Christmas present, and the ghost of Christmas yet-to-come. Nice try. Somebody's screwing with me. It's Amanda, right? Trying her damndest to get me into the Christmas spirit again? No, no wait...this is more a Francine kind of prank, a little payback for the feather duster gag. I admit, it's a clever bit using Dickens."

"It's not a prank, a gag or anybody screwing with you," Andy replied. "Dickens was telling a real story, granted, based on a fictional character. Haven't you ever heard that old saw for writers about writing what you know? You think Dickens could have just made something this elaborate up? It really happened to him, as it's happened to many people over the years. You're just the latest in a long line of people who needed a little guidance in the right direction."

"So, you're here to give me that guidance?"Lee scoffed skeptically.

"Nope," Andy replied with a shake of his head. "That's up to them. Like I said, I'm just the messenger."

"Right," Lee said. "You're Jacob Marley. So, where are your chains? Aren't you supposed to be tortured for all eternity and tell me about it in excruciating detail as an ominous warning to me to make me see the error of my ways?"

"Get your head out of the novel, already," Andy snapped. "What each person sees is different based on their different circumstances. This..." He indicated the bullet wound to his head, "...this is what you see because you've been torturing yourself with guilt over it for years and that needs to stop."

"That's easy for you to say, you're dead. Your pain is over," Lee retorted.

"No, no it's not and it never will be until you get your head out of your ass and start living the life you're supposed to live, the life that mine was given to enable. Our time is up here. Remember what I said. Let of the guilt." With that last warning, Andy was gone.

Lee sank back down in his seat, shaking his head. "Let go of the guilt," he said. "Like it's that easy." He once again dropped his head to his desk."What's the use?" he repeated.

"What's the use, Son?" an eerily familiar gruff male voice said startling him. "Is that what you said?" echoing Andy's words.

Lee looked up with a start to find his mother and father staring him down from the other side of his desk. "What? I...what..." Lee shook his head. He had to be dreaming.