A/N
As usual - I don't own SMK, Lee (sighs wistfully...if only!) or Amanda
this one will be a few chapters long. Hopefully I can hold onto the plot & stop it spiralling away - that happens sometimes :)
set towards the end of season 1.
hope you enjoy
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Amanda stood in her backyard and stared at Lee. "You want me to what!?" she asked, her voice rising an octave or two, incredulous at Lee's request.
Lee rolled his eyes. Why did it always seem to take so much to get through to her? "I need you to come on an assignment with me Amanda," Lee repeated. "It's as simple as that."
"An assignment is one thing," Amanda argued. "This is something else altogether."
"Why?"
"It really is no use with you is it?" Amanda replied shaking her head. "Why can't Francine do it?"
Lee laughed out loud at the thought. "Oh yeah right," he replied. "I can just see Francine all grunged up in runners, old blue jeans and a t-shirt."
Amanda looked down at herself, well aware that Lee had just described exactly what she was wearing.
Lee, too late, noticed the same thing. "Ah, well you know what I mean Amanda," he tried. "Even if we could get her into them she wouldn't seem at all comfortable."
"And I am?" she asked.
Lee furrowed his eyebrows, shrugged his shoulders and lifted his hands palm up giving her a look as if to say 'Well obviously…'
Amanda let out an annoyed huff. "And how do you think you'll manage then?" Amanda asked eyeing Lee's standard uniform of suit and tie.
"Hey," Lee protested. "I am completely comfortable in jeans and a t-shirt!"
Amanda snorted. "Yeah as long as they have the right designer label on them!"
Lee gave her an annoyed look.
Amanda shook her head. "And the hair…" she said rather disparagingly.
Now Lee looked downright offended. He reached up to touch his beloved hair. "What about it?"
"Well you never have one hair out of place," Amanda observed. "I sometimes think you must have each individual hair numbered or something it always looks so perfect."
"I like to look well groomed! Unlike some," Lee replied a little snarkily, pointedly staring at Amanda's hair.
"Just like every rock n roll die hard I've ever met…" Amanda replied letting her point sink in.
Lee looked even more annoyed now knowing that Amanda had a point about that. "Okay," he conceded. "I'll do something about the hair. But I'll have you know I do have old runners and jeans that are not designer items. The jeans even have some tears in them."
Amanda smiled as she replied earnestly. "Well you're covered then."
After a moment of silence she continued. "Okay," she agreed, "so I may be comfortable wearing the clothes, but I have no musical talent. I can't play an instrument or even sing that well. Everyone there's gonna know that I'm not comfortable doing those things."
Lee shook his head to assuage Amanda's fears. "That's part of the reason people pay so much to goto these things Amanda," he argued. "If any of them were really good they'd be real rock stars themselves, not paying tens of thousands of dollars to goto a rock camp to be able to pretend to be one."
"Tens of thousands of dollars?" Amanda squeaked shaking her head. "Now I know I can't go," she stated emphatically. "I can't waste the Agency's money like that!"
"Amanda…"
"Wait," Amanda cut in looking hard at Lee As a thought occurred to her. "For tens of thousands of dollars for one single spot at this camp...who's running this thing?"
"A company by the name of Buzz Events runs the camp," Lee replied. "It's owned by Walter Wolford. Apparently he used to be some big shot producer back in the day so he manages to get some pretty impressive talent to provide the coaching sessions."
"So who has he got for the camp we're supposed to be going to?" she asked.
"Would it make a difference to whether you'll come or not?" asked Lee, seeing the spark of interest in Amanda's eyes.
"No!" She replied. Maybe, she thought.
Lee took a deep breath, relishing the information he was about to deliver. "The Rolling Stones."
Amanda's eyes widened. "The Rolling Stones!?"
Lee smiled, knowing he'd hooked her now. "Yep. I told you this guy had some pretty good connections."
"The best I'd say!" Amanda replied unable to hide her excitement.
Lee's smile widened into a full blown grin. "So you'll come?"
Amanda still made a show of having to think about it, but a free pass to a rock camp with the Rolling Stones…she wasn't a crazy person…no way would she miss this.
Lee decided to push the advantage. "Think of how cool your boys will think their mom is getting guitar lessons from Keith Richards, drumming lessons from Charlie Watts and vocal coaching from none other than Mick Jagger himself!"
Amanda seemed to come back to the real world at the mention of the boys. "How am I supposed to explain to my family that I'm going to a rock camp that costs tens of thousands of dollars for gosh knows how long…"
"A week," Lee cut in.
"A week?" Amanda exclaimed. "I can't be away for a week! Lee, the boys have soccer practice, a junior trailblazers jamboree I have to get ready for, not to mention the PTA…"
Lee interrupted again. "Soccer practice is at the park on the next corner, so your mother can take them. The junior trailblazers jamboree isn't for another month so you'll have plenty of time to practice your killick hitch! And the PTA doesn't have so much as a carnival, casino night or bake sale planned for the next three weeks!"
Amanda just looked at him. "How did you know…"
Lee smiled that smile that could charm the stockings off Santa Clause...or more likely Mrs. Clause. "I've told you before Amanda…we have our ways…"
Amanda crossed her arms and chewed her bottom lip, looking for some excuse to say no, even though she really would love to have singing lessons from Mick Jagger. The guitar lessons? Maybe not so much…Keith Richards kinda scared her a little. Then it struck her.
"How am I supposed to be able to justify spending that much money on this? Mother's not going to believe a rock n roll camp with the Rolling Stones is going to be cheap."
Lee thought about that for a moment before snapping his fingers. "We could arrange for you to win a competition."
Amanda shook her head. "This has never really been my thing. Mother would never believe that I entered a competition to win a trip to a rock n roll camp."
Lee shrugged. "That's easy enough," he replied. "It could be a competition that you were automatically entered in when you bought something…a tin of coffee maybe?"
Amanda thought about this for a moment. "I suppose that could work," she conceded.
"Great!" Lee exclaimed. "So it's agreed, you'll do it. I'll let Billy know and he can finalise everything."
"Wait," Amanda stopped Lee as he was heading for her side gate. "You never told me why we need to goto a rock camp, or why you need me to go with you."
Lee looked impatient to leave now he'd talked Amanda into agreeing to come on the assignment with him.
"There have been some death threats against members of the Rolling Stones if they come over here to attend this rock camp…"
"Really!?" Amanda cut in eyes wide.
Lee rolled his eyes, not able to believe that Amanda still hadn't gotten over this stage of their assignments. "Yes Amanda, really!"
"But why would anyone want to hurt the Rolling Stones?" she questioned. "And just for coming here to goto a rock camp of all things?"
"Apparently some people out there don't like the material they perform or the way they perform it," Lee replied. "They've always received some crackpot threats when they come here to perform, but they've never paid much attention before and it's never mounted to anything."
Amanda's brows furrowed. "So what makes this time any different?"
Lee shook his head. "We're not really sure," he admitted. "But their manager refused to book them for the camp if there wasn't some serious security there for them."
"Well couldn't they have hired some security guards or something?" Amanda asked. "I mean the Agency seems like a bit of overkill doesn't it?"
Lee shrugged. "The state department is taking this threat seriously, and they don't want something as internationally damaging as the murder of Mick Jagger on American soil."
Amanda nodded at this, understanding that no country would want that on their hands.
"And the director of the Agency is a huge Stones fan," Lee added. "Who just so happens to be booked into this very camp himself, so it really was a no brainer which department got the assignment. As far as you're concerned, I need another set of eyes and ears around the camp in case any of the attendees happens to be the one who's making these threats. And as there'll be a few women attending Billy thought you'd be a good choice."
Amanda tossed her head in that self deprecating way she had. "Oh, so it was Billy's idea that I come along?"
"Of course," Lee replied, giving her a look. "This setup isn't exactly my ideal either you know Amanda."
"No of course not," Amanda replied, getting more than annoyed at the way the Scarecrow always seemed to do this. "God forbid I would be anyone's first choice of a partner."
Lee knew he'd put his foot in it again. "Well I have to go and talk to Billy, so I'll see you later." He was just about through Amanda's side gate when he heard her call out to him again.
"Lee…"
He closed his eyes before plastering on a smile and turning back to her. "Yes Amanda?"
"When is this camp supposed to be taking place?" she asked.
"Starts on Saturday."
"This Saturday?" Amanda asked her eyebrows raised.
"Yeah," Lee replied. "This Saturday."
"But its Wednesday now…" she let that statement hang.
Lee just looked at her. "So?"
"Never mind," she said shaking her head. By now she knew she should know better than to expect Lee Stetson to comprehend what it was like to have responsibilities outside this job, and not be able to drop everything at moment's notice to goto a rock camp of all things.
Lee sighed and looked at his watch again. "Listen, Amanda…"
Amanda put her hands up shooing him away. "Just go Lee!"
"Amanda!" he protested, as she turned him and pushed him in the back so he nearly stumbled through the open gate.
She shut the gate in his face. Leaning up against the back side of it, she closed her eyes shaking her head wondering how she managed to let herself get talked into these things. She could practically hear her mother's voice now when she found out about it. And this Saturday!
"Amanda…" Lee's voice coming from over the top of the gate cut through her thoughts.
She looked up to see him hanging from the top of the gate peering down at her.
"I'll pick you up at six on Saturday morning," he stated before dropping back to the ground and walking off.
"Great," she muttered before crossing the yard to the back door. She was inside no more than a minute before she heard the front door open.
"Amanda, I'm home," her mother called coming through entryway.
As her mother entered the kitchen, Amanda plastered on a big grin. "Mother!" She exclaimed, trying to sound truly convincingly thrilled with the news she was about to deliver. "You'll never guess what!"
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okay, so there's chapter one. hope you've enjoyed it so far & didn't think it was too far of a stretch to have the Rolling Stones coaching at a rock n roll camp. I didn't think so not if the rich people attending were paying that much for it. Plus - this is fiction after all :)
Reviews are love :) and they very much inspire to write more
