Disclaimer: Scarecrow and Mrs. King is the property of Warner Brothers and
Shoot the Moon Productions. This story is the property of my own imagination
and is for entertainment purposes only! I retain the right to the plot, not the characters! No copyright infringement is intended!
Feedback is always welcome. Have fun!
Special thanks to Lanie who offered me her help right from the start to be my beta-reader.
Title: Dancing into May – April showers bring May flowers
Author: Chrissie-Charlotte 1981
Rated: K
Timeframe: Third Season
Summary: Lee has a surprise for Amanda that he once experienced on an assignment in Germany before she joined the Agency
Author's notes: The Soundtrack and the album to the Movie "Top Gun" were released after my one-shot took place so the Movie was. Therefore I decided to use the Soundtrack since it wasn´t unrealistic to release a Soundtrack before the Movie came out.
May 1, 1986 in this one-shot happened to be on a Friday since I decided it will be more realistic for my following interlude. However the research revealed May 1, 1986 was a Thursday.
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Friday, April 30th 1986, 4247 Maplewood Drive
Amanda King sat comfortably on the sofa in her living room. Snuggled under her favorite self-made blanket she was reading one of her mother´s romance novels. She was alone at home. It was not that often that she had the house to herself. When her boys were in school, her mother was at home or the boys were home and her mother wasn´t. This time it was different. It was Friday. Phillip and Jamie spent their regular weekend at Joe´s, wouldn´t coming home before Sunday afternoon, and neither would her mother. Dotty was visiting her old youth friend, Claire, out of town. This weekend seemed to be the best she would have in a long time since she was off from the Agency too. Amanda really loved her family more than anything else, but when she has a full weekend to herself she would enjoy it.
Deeply engrossed in her novel, Amanda didn´t notice the light tap at her kitchen window. When the tap turned into a louder knock she started, sending her book flying over the back of the sofa onto the floor.
"What?" she gasped, rose and slid into her slippers, rounding the sofa and picked up her book with a sigh.
Who could this be at…; she checked her watch, almost midnight? She thought. She hoped it wouldn´t be Lee with the message that her off weekend was all over before it even started. But he would have called her in that case wouldn´t he? With a quick glance at her telephone, she noticed the receiver sat on its place where it belonged. `So no busy line, ´ she thought. It was knocking again. She was sure it only could be Lee. Who else was used to sneaking around her backyard at the oddest times? Amanda sighed again and made her way through the living room to the backdoor of the den, which led to the backyard of the house, her novel still in hand.
She unlocked the door, opened it, poked her head around the doorframe and came face to face with her handsome partner Lee Stetson.
"Hi," he greeted her with his charming smile.
Instead of greeting him back, like Amanda normally would do she just looked at him, saying in a scolding but whispering tone.
"Please stop doing that!"
"Doing what? Tabbing at your kitchen window like I always do to get your attention?" he asked, a little startled by her behavior in not greeting him. Normally it was him who was supposed to do that.
"Lee. You weren´t just tapping, you were knocking," she corrected him.
"I was forced to," he smiled. "Amanda, I was tapping three or four times at your kitchen window but you didn´t hear me. So I decided to knock. And what can I say? It helped," he grinned at her.
"You are right, Lee. I´m sorry," she apologized and explained, "I was so engrossed in reading that I didn´t hear a thing. Please don´t tell me you are here to cancel my weekend off," she said, pointing at his clothing. He was clad in casual deep blue jeans, black sneakers, and a fitted shirt combined with a light dark leather jacket, so far as Amanda could see from the dimmed light shining out from inside her house in the backyard. The perfect outfit for surveillance by night, she thought. Oh, oh, she hoped that was not the reason for his late night visit.
"No, no! Your weekend off is still safe and sound, Amanda," he reassured her, aware of the fact that she would be all alone at home this weekend.
She breathed a sigh of relief. "But what is it that brings you here at twenty minutes before midnight then?" she asked confused. "I was curled up on my sofa reading until you scared me so much that I sent my book flying over the back of the sofa. Thanks to you, now I don´t know any more what page I was on" she pouted.
Lee chuckled about her ramble. And he had to confess that she looked darn cute when she was pouting. He studied her since she was fully stepped into the doorframe, blocking the way inside her house. He had expected that she would be wearing one of her granny cotton gowns at this time. After all, it was close to midnight. Instead, she wore one of her well fitting dark blue jeans combined with a pink flannel sweater. Her hair was in a ponytail. Thin tendrils were roaming her beautiful face. And then there had been those ridiculous slippers she was wearing in a fluffy matching pink to her sweater with two capital letters on each side.
The R stood for right and an L for left. How clever is that? He thought and tried not to burst out into laugher. Concentration, Stetson! He reminded himself mentally.
"I´m sorry," he apologized. „I hope the book is worth it for letting me waiting that long," he asked with a mischievous grin, pointing to the book she was still holding in her left hand. Amanda, exactly knowing "that grin" from her partner´s face all too well, instinctively clutched the novel tightly to her chest just in time before he could reach out to grab it. That was not a good idea…
In her hurry, she had clutched the book with the title side away from her chest and now the title was nearly jumping right into Lee´s face even though he was looking against the light that coming from inside. His eyes widened and he read the title aloud "Hot Nights of Pleasure and Fulfillments"?
"AMANDA!" He exclaimed in a mock shocked voice. Amanda, by indicating him to be silence with a finger on her lips, could feel the heat creeping up her face inch by inch. She blushed furiously. She may have forgotten on which page she was when she sent the book flying but she definitely remembered every single detail of its content.
Her blushing didn´t go unnoticed by Lee and he couldn´t resist teasing her a little bit more for let him waiting so long outside and for not invading him in her house.
"You know," he said, closing the gap between them by inching closer to her, without touching her with his hands, he pushed her gently backwards into her house and closed the door behind him as he did so. His mouth now inches from her right ear; he whispered seductively "I can tell you things you will never find in any of these books."
Amanda didn´t dare to move. She couldn´t move. She was frozen. His hot breath tickled her ear. She felt the heat creeping up again but this time not only in her face. Her imagination was running wild. The nearness of her partner made her weak in the knees and he wasn´t even touching her yet. This happened in the past more than she could handle. She wasn´t sure where their friendship would lead. What she knew was both had been very close friends for a long time and the "flirting moments" became more and more dominant. And she kind of liked it!
It must have been the spring but she could tell if he would "show" her the things she would never find in her mother´s books, by having his way with her right here, she would all but stop him.
Feeling that Amanda was still standing frozen like a Popsicle slowly melting in the afternoon sun in front of him, Lee stepped back to allow her some private space. He needed the space too. If he would be honest to himself, he would have admitted that he was turned on a little by his own words to her but there was more to it, much more. His heart and body have known for a long time but his brain wasn´t ready for the next step. Not yet…
He could hear her taking a deep breath due to the space he had given both of them and then she sent her book again to the floor for the second time in less than half an hour. The loud thud brought both back from their train of thought.
Clearing her throat, Amanda picked up the book, lay it aside and made a beeline for her kitchen.
"Do you want some coffee?" she asked and without waiting for his response, she busied herself with preparing.
"Later, Amanda," he said in a much more business tone as he had intended and apologized immediately at seeing her disappointed look on her face.
"Coffee sounds fine. But first I have a little surprise for you," he smiled. "We have to hurry up a little. It´s close to midnight," he explained. With that he turned on his heel, reached for the doorknob and stepped out for a few seconds and came back with a stereo cassette recorder in hand he had parked at her picnic table and a cable dangling out of it.
"What´s that for?" she asked, pointing at it.
He held it up for her so she could fully see it. "This is my stereo cassette recorder," he explained.
"Well I can see that but what do you want with it"?
"What do I want with it?" he repeated her question, smiling all the way.
"Well," he began. "You can listen to the music or to the daily news if you like or simply listen to the music and just dance to it. But I prefer the last," he said still smiling.
"Just dance to the music, huh?" Amanda looked at him quizzically, hands on her hips.
"Alright Stetson!" She fixed him with a curios look. "What are you really up to at close to midnight at my house on my weekend off with a stereo cassette player in hand?"
"I want to dance into May. With you, Amanda," he simply said and scanned the area for the next free available socket which he found near the kitchen sink.
Amanda, still not sure what this was all about eyed him skeptically as he strolled over to her sink inserted the plug into the socket and then searched for an appropriate music channel. Lee then turned around and grinned at her proudly.
"Oh my Gosh! You really want to dance, do you?" she whispered with her hand on her lips, obviously touched by his intention that he really wanted to dance with her here in her house in the middle of her kitchen.
"Yeah," he said softly. "I want to explain the meaning of it while we are dancing. We only have a few minutes left until midnight," he smiled warmly at her and held out his right hand. "May I have this dance, Mrs. King?"
"Yes" was her simply answer coming out in a whisper as she accepted happily his extended hand and stepped into his waiting arms. That was a wonderful feeling and unfortunately they hadn´t often had the opportunity to dance with each other. The last time they had been dancing not in the line of duty was at the New Year´s Embassy Party.
"Don´t step on my slippers," she joked and shot him a knowing look as they swayed to the music. Of course, she had noticed his face as he studied her earlier in the doorframe.
"I won´t," he promised as he pulled her closer to his chest. His left hand wandered instinctively down to the all too familiar spot at the small of her back. Both were sighing in contentment at the comforting contact.
"Now I will tell you about the meaning of this special dance," he said as he closed his eyes and brought his cheek in contact with hers.
"Hmmmm," was her only response as their cheeks met. Amanda felt a shiver of excitement running down her spine.
"When I was on an assignment in Germany in the spring back in 1983, I learned about that traditional dance for the first time. In Germany and Europe, they are doing this every year from the night April 30th into the night of the May 1st. That is why it is called Dance into May. In some parts of Germany, it is also called "Walpurgisnacht."
Lee paused to look at her face.
At the loss of his warmth, Amanda opened her eyes and blinked into the hazel eyes of her very talented dance partner. "Go on. I want to know more about it," she said with one of her warming smiles which always warming him up from the inside.
He pulled her back closer and continued with his explanation as they were moving cheek to cheek to the music.
"In Bavaria and Austria they setting up a birch tree, called "May Tree". They also have so called "May fires".
The celebrations are diverse from country to country. The more countryside, the more traditional the celebrations can be. And they drink a lot of alcohol too," he chuckled first then cleared his throat at the not so pleasant memory of his hangover the day after and hoped Amanda would not poke deeper into that wound.
Amanda must have read his mind and asked him sympathetically. "That bad, huh? What about all the others who are celebrating. Do they have to go to work the day after?" she asked imagining how awful that would be.
"Well I did have worse. It was all but pleasant I can tell you. And no, luckily the 1st May is a legal day in Germany and Europe," Lee said.
"Promise me something," Amanda whispered.
"Anything," Lee whispered back.
"If we ever made it to Germany again, at the right time, I want to dance with you into May all night long."
"I promise. But only on one condition," he grinned at her.
"What do you want?" she asked in a flirting voice, her eyes sparkling with anticipation.
They locked eyes and he whispered, "Dance with me through this night, Amanda."
"You can bet your cute butt on it, Stetson!" Amanda said and winked at him.
"Hey! I´m cute too," he stated with a cocky grin on his face.
Both chuckling at the same time and without any further words danced in comfortable silence to the song "Take My Breath Away" by Berlin. Each one lost in own thoughts…
Watching every motion in my foolish lover's game
On this endless ocean finally lovers know no shame
Turning and returning to some secret place inside
Watching in slow motion as you turn around and say
Take my breath away
Watching I keep waiting still anticipating love
Never hesitating to become the fated ones
Turning and returning to some secret place to hide
Watching in slow motion as you turn to me and say
Take my breath away
Through the hourglass I saw you, in time you slipped away
When the mirror crashed I called you, and turned to hear you say
If only for today I am unafraid
Take my breath away
Watching every motion in this foolish lover's game
Haunted by the notion somewhere there's a love in flames
Turning and returning to some secret place inside
Watching in slow motion as you turn to me and say
Take my breath away
My love, take my breath away...
