Budgeting Priorities
By RaizelinPlaid
Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me. They belong to Shoot the Moon Enterprises and Warner Bros to who I am eternally grateful for the opportunity to keep their adventurous lives going and to the wonderful actors who created them. This is for entertainment purposes only. No infringement was intended.
Summary: So, where did that idea to use Francine's wardrobe budget for Amanda's raise come from in the tag of Murder Between Friends? Well, "what if.." we threw in this scene to fill-in that burning question.
A/N: Thanks first goes out to Elizabeth Bowker who has inspired me to write again even though I said I was not planning on doing any writing. This one just kind of burst out from our fists of laughter at the image we shared talking about our mutual love of Scarecrow and Mrs. King.
Thanks also goes out to Clagjanet for another extraordinary beta job. You see things I never would have. See what happens when you get me started? Thanks for always being there on the other side of that computer just when I need you.
Finally, any grammatical, spelling, punctuation, and errors in canon are solely mine.
Chapter 1: Where's Amanda when you need her?
"Scarecrow!" The all-too-familiar bellow could be heard echoing through the bullpen. Lee's head snapped up from the report he had been trying to write for the last hour. Pages of empty boxes to fill in and all he had managed to write was two words at the top - Byron Jordan.
'I could really use Amanda right now,' Lee thought dejectedly. He shook his head as he stalked over to Billy's office carrying the unfinished report. 'This would have been typed up and submitted already,' he continued to lament to himself.
He hadn't been able to focus on the Bryon Jordon report, his mind entirely on Amanda and her current predicament. 'All she wanted to do was be able to afford a Wizard Whopper for her boys.' It surprised him that he could remember the name of the toy, but when he wanted to explain how Amanda had disarmed that security system for the report, he couldn't remember the order of the buttons she had pressed. He just blanked. Yet, despite a murder charge hanging over her head and being without a job, Amanda was able to calmly help disarm the system to allow them entrance to the house.
He had never felt so helpless as when Amanda had walked into the bullpen to tell them that she was resigning from the Agency to take the security job at double her current salary. He really admired her for asking for that raise. She, above all people, deserved it. Now, she was not only out of a job, but she was still sitting in the debriefing room giving her statement instead of at home with her family. The one thing he knew he could at least try to do for her was to get her job back at the Agency. 'Hell, I am the one who got her into this in the first place,' he thought determinedly. Taking one last look at the empty boxes on the report in his hand, he walked through Billy's open office door closing it slowly behind him anticipating what Billy wanted and resigning himself to the battle ahead.