Disclaimer: "Scarecrow and Mrs. King" is copyrighted to Warner Brothers and Shoot the Moon Productions. The plot is mine, but not the characters. This story is meant for enjoyment purposes only. No infringement is intended.
AN: This is in response to the challenge to begin a fic with one character saying, "I thought I saw/heard..." with another character telling them they're being ridiculous. Takes place the following day after the tag of "A Matter of Choice."
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"I thought I saw Lee," Dotty commented as she and Amanda waited to be seated for lunch after a morning of shopping. She immediately clamped her mouth shut when she took a closer look as they passed by the man in question while being led to their table by the hostess.
"Where?" Amanda questioned as she looked around for the familiar face of her secret husband.
"Never mind, I don't think it was him after all," her mother replied unconvincingly. "Not with what I saw."
"What did you see?" Amanda glanced around, but was grabbed by her mother and forced back around.
"Amanda, didn't I teach you that it's not polite to stare?" She took her seat, setting her shopping bags down into the vacant seat beside her and picked up a menu. "Now, let's see what looks good to eat," she changed the subject as she put on her glasses and began to peruse the menu.
"Mother, you're being awfully evasive," Amanda scolded her mother as she sat across from her and set her own bags down in the other vacant chair. "What is it you're not telling me?" Every instinct she had was telling her that her mother was being less than truthful. "Whatever it is, you can tell me."
"Okay, fine. You should know anyway," Dotty responded with barely contained fury. "I thought I saw your boyfriend over there, laughing it up with another woman."
Amanda laughed. "Oh, Mother, I'm sure you're being ridiculous."
"I know what I saw, Amanda, just like I know what I've seen in all the years you've been working for IFF; all the things that you've told me I couldn't possibly have seen, things I suppose that I'm not supposed to see, but I know that I have."
Amanda shifted nervously in her seat and steered her mother back on topic. "Why would Lee be here with another woman when he's supposed to be at work?"
"You tell me." She gave her daughter a pointed look as she wondered yet again exactly what kind of work they did. "Did the two of you have a fight that I'm not aware of?"
"No, Mother. In fact, he's been so attentive since I was shot that we're closer now than we ever have been." She couldn't exactly tell her mother the real reason that they were closer than ever.
"Then why is he cheating on you?"
"Mother! Stop! You're being silly. I have no reason to think that Lee's cheating."
"Or maybe he doesn't consider it cheating," Dotty continued as if Amanda hadn't spoken. "I mean, after all, it's not as if the two of you are married."
Amanda rolled her eyes. "Oh, here we go."
"Why aren't you married yet? Or at the very least, engaged?"
"Well, you know that we-"
"And don't hand me that, 'we've only been seeing each other a few months' thing again. Don't you think that I'm smart enough to have figured out that the two of you were seeing each other long before you ever bothered to introduce him to the family?"
"Mother!" Amanda let out an exasperated sigh.
"But what changed? Was it your shooting? Can he not handle the fact that you're scarred now? I mean, here you are, just recovering from a shooting that nearly killed you and he was so supportive during that time when you were in the hospital. And then just last night, he was at the house for dinner and the two of you seemed so close, but now...now, there he is with some blonde and having a high time-"
"Blonde?" Amanda began laughing again and rose from her seat. "Mother, I'm going to settle this right now." She began walking back the way they'd come, scanning the restaurant until she spotted her targets and began walking toward them.
Dotty hurried behind her and hissed, "What are you doing?"
"I told you, we're going to get this settled once and for all. Then we can sit back down and have a nice lunch."
"I think you're making a mistake, Amanda," Dotty warned, but followed her anyway.
Amanda approached the table across the room that had caught her attention and greeted the laughing pair that sat there with a cheery, "Hello."
Lee stood abruptly and greeted his wife with a light kiss. Amanda gazed at him in surprise, and then glanced sideways at Francine, but before she could say anything, the blonde chimed in, "Please! As if the two of you really fooled me with your phony break-up story."
"That's what we were just laughing about, to tell you the truth," Lee explained.
"Francine, what are you doing here?" Amanda inquired.
"Well, hello to you too," Francine replied archly.
"I...um...I didn't mean that the way it sounded. I just meant, I thought you were supposed to be on your way to Paris with Jonathan." At Amanda's comment, the other two started laughing again. "Did I miss something?"
"What's going on here?" Dotty questioned as she joined her daughter.
"Mother, you remember Francine Desmond. You met her once before," Amanda chimed in. "She works with Lee and me at IFF."
"Oh, she's a co-worker." Dotty's eyes lit up at the revelation, but she still eyed Francine warily, not at all sure she liked the way she was laughing with her daughter's boyfriend. "Miss Desmond," she nodded politely to her. She did indeed remember her, but not from when Amanda was working at IFF or so her daughter had told her then.
Francine finally composed herself and suggested, "Why don't you two join us for lunch? We haven't even ordered yet. Lee just picked me up from the airport and I offered to buy him lunch for being my white knight."
Amanda giggled at the term "white knight" as she reflected back on their long-ago freezer conversation.
"That would be lovely," Dotty crowed. "I'll just go grab our things." She hurried away, grateful for the opportunity to find out more about this mystery woman and how she fit in with Lee and Amanda.
"The airport?" Amanda asked as she sat in the seat to Lee's right.
"Yes, you know that big place where airplanes land and take off-" Francine began, but was cut off by Amanda.
"Yes, I know what the airport is. I just meant, that you were supposed to be getting on one of those airplanes...weren't you?"
"Here we are." Dotty returned with their shopping bags.
"Here, let me help you with those," Lee offered as he took the bags from his mother-in-law and stowed them under the table before helping Dotty into her seat and then taking his own.
"Thank you, Lee. You're such a gentleman."
"Lee? A gentleman? That'll be the day," Francine snorted, laughter bubbling up again. "He may have rescued me today, but I can assure you that he's no gentleman."
"Hey!" Lee protested.
"Francine, your trip," Amanda reminded her before a round of verbal ping-pong could start between the pair.
"Oh, right. The trip...the plane I was supposed to be on...Well, that was the plan, but we'd no more than started unloading our luggage when Wonder Boy decided that if we were going to make a go of it and actually get married like we planned to five years ago, my job had to go."
"He didn't?"
"Yes, he did. So, I asked him who even said anything about marriage because one thing's for sure, I'm not the same person that I was then and if he wanted a shot with me, he had to get to know me as I am now before we even discuss getting that serious."
"I bet he took that well," Lee responded dryly.
"He did not, as you can imagine. He pouted like a spoiled child when I refused to agree right then and there to quit my job and that's when it hit me, that while I have changed a lot in five years, he hasn't. Not one bit. He's still the same childish, cowardly, spineless little boy he was when he ran out on me five years ago."
"How awful for you, Miss Desmond," Dotty interjected sympathetically. At seeing the way the other three interacted, how it appeared that her relationship with Lee was more fraternal than anything else and how comfortable Amanda seemed to be with her, she began to relax a bit.
"Awful? Hardly. It's really the best thing that ever happened to me. For five years, I've been wondering what I did wrong to chase him away, why I could never keep a relationship together and if finally hit me; the problem's not with me doing anything wrong at all...other than picking the wrong men, that is." She gave Lee a pointed look. "The real problem is men who can't handle a strong woman who can take care of herself."
"This is what led us to the break-up conversation," Lee explained to Amanda, disregarding Francine's jibe. "She was just starting to tell me what happened, but then I suggested you might be a better person to talk to if she needed a shoulder to cry on..."
"Then that started me laughing because that's the last thing I need. This is one break-up I'm not going to cry over. I did all the crying I can do over it five years ago."
"Then before she got to tell me what she just told you, she jumped on me for pretending that you and I broke up and told me that we must think she's as brain-dead as Jonathan was about her being willing to quit her job if we actually thought she believed it."
"You never believed it?" Amanda gave Francine a questioning look.
"Please, Amanda."
"Oh, come on! Then what was with all the questioning me about what happened and how you wanted to get all the juicy details."
"Okay, maybe I believed it for about five minutes, but really, you're much too honest a person to be a truly convincing liar."
This comment set Dotty off into her own peals of laughter. "Mother!" Amanda looked affronted.
"Well, it's true, My Darling! I can't believe some of the whoppers you've told since you began working at IFF. It's like I was telling you earlier, that you weren't fooling me a bit when you tried to sell me on the same thing; that you and Lee were just friends." She paused for a moment and then added, "Especially since I was the one who found his underwear in your laundry basket."
Francine laughed at Dotty's input to the conversation. "See? What did I tell you? NOT a gentleman." She turned her attention back to Lee "I see some things never change, Lee," she crowed gleefully.
Lee blushed furiously and reached for Amanda's hand. "But some things have."
Francine make a gagging sound and glanced at Amanda. "You know this break-up is your fault, don't you?"
"My fault? I never even met Jonathan. How is it my fault? Maybe you should blame the man who was practically stalking the two of you." She gave Lee a withering gaze.
"I was just looking out for my friend," Lee protested. "That's what friends do, remember? You taught me that."
"Oh, no, I blame both of you," Francine laughed, but then her expression turned more serious. "Seeing the two of you every day and what you have, how you make it work even though you're so different; it made me realize that I want that too and that I could never be happy with a guy like Jonathan. I need someone who can accept me for me and not try to change me."
"Well, you know, Francine, you've got a guy like that at the office," Amanda reminded her. "Which reminds me..." She turned to Lee. "You owe Beaman an apology for the way you treated him over the whole Brody thing."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," he grumbled.
"Come on, now, you know what happened wasn't his fault, plus you were running on zero sleep and the whole thing had you agitated and you even admitted that he was helpful to you-"
"Okay, okay, if it'll make you happy, I'll apologize to Beaman when I get back to the office, but you can't seriously think he's a good match for Francine."
"Why not?" She grinned. "You just have to make sure to lock up the liquor cabinet first."
"Oh, trust me," Francine assured her friends. "After what happened with Jonathan, I'm not drinking around any guy for a good long while so that's not even an issue."
"Well, it really sounds like everything worked out for the best, Miss Desmond," Dotty surmised from what she knew of the facts. She couldn't help the sneaking suspicion that she was missing something, though she had a good idea that she knew what it was. "If a man can't accept and respect you for who you are, then he's not the right man for you." One thing that she was sure of was that Miss Desmond was no threat to Amanda's relationship with Lee. She could clearly see how supportive she was of the two of them and in the way Lee gazed at her daughter, it was apparent that he was deeply in love with her.
"It did," Francine nodded in confirmation. "Especially since I've got good friends who'll come pick me up at the airport on the spur of the moment."
"Glad I could help." Lee nodded to her, but still avoided making eye contact with his mother-in-law.
"Maybe you could help me too by making sure you pick up all your clothes next time you sneak out of my daughter's bedroom," Dotty quipped.
"Mother, really," Amanda let out a sigh.
Dotty laughed and replied, "Well, I suppose it could be worse. It could have been one of the boys who found them. That would have taken some explaining."
Lee picked up his menu and in a desperate attempt to change the subject, suggested, "How about we order, huh? I don't know about anyone else, but I'm starving."
"Me too," Amanda concurred. "We worked up quite the appetite with our shopping."
Lee glanced at the bags under the table. "I can see why. Looks like you bought out half the mall."
"Well, I had to have some new clothes. Some of the things I have just don't look right anymore now that I've got the big scars. I needed a new dress for the embassy party this weekend and while I was at it, I just thought..."
"A-man-da," Lee shook his head.
"See?" Francine chimed in. "We're not so different, after all. One thing all women have in common is shopping. Better get used to it, Lee."
"Especially if the two of you plan to take your relationship further down the road." She still couldn't help wondering why the pair was dragging their feet on moving forward. In the way he'd looked after her following her shooting and since then, she was sure that they had a deep connection, so what was the problem? She guessed that it could only be their jobs.
"The salmon looks good," Amanda mused as she picked up her menu, ignoring the not-so-subtle hint from her mother. "What does everyone else think?"
Dotty sighed and picked up her menu as she realized she wouldn't get any further with her stubborn daughter.
"I don't know about anyone else, but I'm dying for a thick, juicy steak. One more reason I'm glad to be rid of Jonathan. I never felt that I could be myself around him and eat what I wanted."
"So, this break-up really is a good thing then?" Dotty inquired.
"What's even better is that this time I got to be the one to walk away." As she perused her own menu, her eyes lit up, "Ooh, they have chocolate mousse here."
"And black forest cake," Amanda added with a smile to Francine.
"You know, if you like chocolate," Dotty interjected, "Amanda makes the best brownies."
"Oh, I know. She's brought them to the office before," Francine acknowledged. "One thing I can always count on from Amanda is knowing just where to go if I need a good chocolate fix."
Lee shook his head as the three women continued yammering about chocolate, feeling vastly out-numbered. "So, when I do apologize to Beaman, I'll have to make sure to let him know chocolate is the real way to get your attention," he teased his friend.
"Don't you dare!" Francine warned him. "Remember, I know a few of your secrets too."
Lee laughed and replied, "I was just thinking what better way to apologize to the guy than to give him some pointers on how to get on your good side?"
"She has a good side?" Amanda jested.
"Well, she must," Dotty chimed in with a chuckle. "I mean, with her pet chimpanzee and all. Anyone who loves animals must have a good side."
Lee howled with laughter at that one. "Chimpanzee?" Francine and Amanda soon joined in the merriment.
"Like I said, whoppers," Dotty laughed. She glanced from one face to another and when their laughter subsided a bit, asked, "So, anyone wanna' tell me what you really do at IFF?"
Lee cleared his throat loudly. "You know, we really should order. I have to get back to the office."
"Right," Amanda nodded. "And we need to get home and put all our stuff away from our shopping trip before the boys get home from school."
"And I need to get home and unpack all the stuff I packed for the trip I'm not going to be taking now."
Dotty shook her head in amusement as it seemed that it wasn't just her daughter who was good at evasion tactics, but at least she was reassured that Lee only had eyes for Amanda. She couldn't help leaving them with one final parting shot though as she picked up her menu. "You know, I thought I 'spied' a delicious-looking pasta dish on the menu."