The Francine And Beaman Series
Scarecrow and Mrs. King are owned by Warner Brothers and Shoot The Moon. All SMK characters remain their property. The story premise and characters created for this story are the property of the author. The author has not profited from this story.
Author's Note: September 08 This story has been updated to correct-hopefully-most of the glaring errors as well as trimming some of the unnecessary sequences.
Part One--The Courtship of Francine Desmond Published August 2, 2003
Part Two--The Wedding of Francine Desmond Published August 2004
Part Three--The Marriage of Francine Desmond Published March 2005
I have a soft spot for Beaman. Frankly, I've always adored this character, and have felt he never really got his due. And I've always thought that Francine and Beaman belonged together. The Courtship of Francine Desmond was exactly that, the budding love affair and courtship between these two wonderful characters.
Wedding continues the saga of Francine and Beaman. This time, Agency business takes them across the world to Romania in a race against time to stop a former US laser scientist from selling a breakthrough battlefield laser to a hostile county and killing the President of the United States. Oh, all of this takes place against the countdown to their wedding, a wedding being planned in their absence by their mothers. . . .
Enjoy the story -- The Wedding of Francine Desmond
Notes: While this story can certainly stand alone, I recommend reading The Courtship Of Francine Desmond, if only to give you the background and basis for this romance and many of the events that occur with these characters. Questions that are raised in the first story are answered here, as will questions arising in this story will be answered in the third installment. While I hope each is enjoyed for it's own merits, the trilogy fulfills my vision of life for Francine and Beaman.
Chapter 1 Wedding Warfare
The overhead, fluorescent lighting reflected within the facets of the engagement ring on Francine Desmond's left hand. Multicolored sparks of icy fire from the three diamonds flashed as she hung up the telephone. Watching his fiance from the door of her office, Efraim Beaman grinned when she plunked her elbows on her desk with a thud, resting her head in her hands and groaning.
"Your Mother again?" he asked, walking into the office and perching on the corner of her desk.
Francine dropped her forehead on Efraim's knee. "Why can't we just elope? It worked for Lee and Amanda."
Efraim threaded his fingers through her silky, blond hair, grinning as she shivered in response to his touch. "Because you don't want to elope," Efraim chuckled. "You're desperately trying to make your mother happy. As well as mine. You know hon, we're the only ones who need to be happy."
"Awww B!" Francine whined. "My mother has dreamed about my wedding all of my life, I can't take this away from her. And your mom is thrilled to be involved in the planning our wedding. Would you break either of their hearts by eloping?" She raised her eyes, pleading, while a slight smile tickled at the corner of her lips.
He grimaced at her coaxing tone. "Don't look at me with those eyes, Francine! You know you want this wedding as much as both of our mothers. But you need to stop worrying over every little detail. You're losing weight and you're not sleeping."
Francine closed her eyes and sat back in her chair as the telephone rang. She sighed and reached for the phone just as Efraim grabbed the receiver. "Francine Desmond's office . . .Hello Mrs. Desmond. . . No, I'm sorry, Francine isn't here right now. . . ." He turned away from Francine as she reached for the telephone. "Another engagement party? Why? We've already had one. . . . Tell them to come to the wedding, we'll be there then. . . . Oh I know you think I'm a rascal, Mrs. Desmond, but I'm not changing my mind about this. I'll tell Francine you called. Bye!" And he hung up the telephone, stealing a kiss from his fiance as he leaned across the desk.
"Oh Efraim! What have you done?"
"We don't need another engagement party, Francine. We've already had two! Your mother had a dinner party for your family to meet me. My mother did the same. Is this some kind of a test? If we survive the round of engagement parties we can move onto the bridal showers, then the wedding itself?"
"Stubborn man," Francine muttered as she opened a file on her desk.
Efraim nodded his agreement. He had been singularly stubborn when confronted with excessive wedding planning. While he tried to stay out of the trenches of wedding warfare as he called the non-stop round of planning meetings with coordinators, restaurants and the like, he would step in whenever he thought undue pressure was being placed on Francine for decisions.
"We have a tasting with the Museum chef this Saturday. Mother wants to sample the hors d'oeuvre menu."
"Are you sure she isn't looking to have free lunches between now and the wedding?"
Francine laughed. "You have to admit, B, that we've had some pretty good lunches lately!"
"Yeah, well, I didn't want to bring that up. Look, why don't we just let our mothers plan everything and we'll just show up on the big day?"
"Please tell me you don't mean that, B!" A fleeting frown passed across her face telling him she was concerned that he just might be serious.
Efraim fidgeted on the edge of the desk under Francine's stare. "Well, it sounds like a good idea."
"If we do that, I'll be wearing taffeta and a Spanish mantilla. And I don't even want to think about what they'll decide you should wear." Francine flashed a wide smile at the shiver that involuntarily crossed Efraim's shoulders.
"Okay, you may have a point there. But I'm gonna make sure you take care of yourself."
Francine placed her hand on Efraim's thigh, the darkening of her eyes conveying that her thoughts were no longer on the upcoming wedding.
"How are you gonna take care of me B?"
"I'll tell you later, hon, but right now I need those files from Los Angeles. I want to cross reference the names of those suspected Russian mafia members that were rounded up against that contact list from our overseas office."
Francine frowned as she got up to find the files Efraim was looking for. He watched her search through numerous stacks of files, pulling out several and handing them to him. Efraim grinned when she finally arched her brow in question as he continued to stare at her. He dropped the files to her desk and jumped up from the corner on the desk. He reached for her, his hands caressing her waist as he slipped them around her back to bring her up against him.
Efraim pressed his lips to hers, grinning at her swift intake of breath. "I'll take good care of you, I promise." He kissed her again, as he let his hands slowly slip from around her waist as he backed away. Efraim grabbed the files, winked at her and left; whistling as he walked across the bullpen to his office.
Francine smiled and shook her head. "He's really something else!"
Without turning, Efraim gave a small wave of his hand to let her know he'd heard her comment.
Billy Melrose stood outside Efraim's office watching as Efraim walked toward him. He shook his head as he thought about Efraim Beaman. He never would have believed that the earnest agent with a crush on his assistant would change into the man who would capture Francine Desmond's heart. Of course, Billy took all the credit for the changes in Efraim Beaman. Any good boss would! Billy had been surprised and honored when Efraim had asked him to be his best man, assuming that Efraim would have asked Lee or Dave Geiger. Billy was glad he would be there, right up front, to see these two agents married.
"Took you long enough to pick up a couple of files, Beaman." Billy said as Efraim walked past him and into his office.
"Had to take care of some wedding plans while I was there," Efraim said, sitting down at his desk and flipping open the first file.
"Right," his boss remarked. "Deciding what color lipstick Francine should wear to the ceremony?"
"Damn," he muttered as he wiped his lips, shooting the widely grinning Billy a contrite look. "You want something specific Billy?"
Billy reached over and took the stack of files from Efraim. Flipping through several of them, he finally pulled out a report, closed the file and tossed them back on Efraim's desk. "Your fiancé is getting a little absent minded these days. This is the report from the International Intelligence Symposium. I have been looking for this for the past three days."
"She's under a little stress Billy."
"I suppose getting married to you is enough to cause anyone some stress." Billy said over his shoulder as he left the office.
Efraim rolled his eyes at his retreating boss. He caught a glance of Francine as she left her office with her notebook of wedding plans under her arm. He shook his head, knowing she was headed up to the Q-Bureau to see Amanda, her matron-of-honor. Maybe he'd call Geiger and see if they could have lunch today. It seemed Francine and Amanda would be involved in discussions concerning the wedding for some time to come.
Efraim sat on the balcony of Francine's apartment trying to ignore the fourth hour of debate concerning the afternoon's hors d'oeuvre tasting at the Women's Museum. He listened as Francine once again tried to set the menu, only to have her mother disagree with the choices Francine made. As he listened, he could hear Francine's voice break. She cleared her throat and tried again to be heard above the heated discussion swirling around her.
Efraim sighed, stood up and walked into the apartment. Picking up his jacket, he put it on and went to the closet and found Francine's. Walking into the living room, he took his fiancé's hand and pulled her off the couch, grabbing her purse and drawing her along to the door with him. Mrs. Desmond and his own mother sat watching, speechless as the couple left the apartment. Efraim was satisfied when the door slammed behind them.
"Efraim, what are you doing? I have to finish this! We can't just leave!" Francine cried; her voice cracking from stress and her efforts at holding back tears.
He stopped and pulled her into his arms. "I love you. I don't care what kind of food is served at our wedding. Let the Agency cafeteria supply it for all I care. But what I don't like seeing is you under this kind of pressure, and I won't sit by and let you cry over finger food."
"Please, let me finish this."
"No. You are coming to my place where I'll make you dinner, pour you a glass of wine and see that you relax. We'll deal with this tomorrow. Together." He kissed her quickly and resumed his march to his car, her hand firmly clasped in his.
Efraim was good to his word. He made dinner for the two of them and kept the conversation light. Stretched out on the living room couch as they finished the last of their wine, Efraim massaged Francine's shoulders trying to ease away her tension. "You're too preoccupied, and you're not thinking about the right things hon. And," he said as he stalked her to a corner of the couch, climbing in front of her to block her avenue of escape, "What I need to do is show you my world famous necking skills," causing Francine to giggle. "Hard earned in high school!" he added which made Francine laugh outright at Efraim, pulling him close to her.
"Want me to show you what I learned as a cheerleader under the football bleachers?"
He waggled his eyebrows at her, nodding enthusiastically as he threw himself back on the couch, opening his arms wide for her.
"Hey!" Francine cried as she straddled his lap. "What happened to those necking skills?" She began to unbutton his shirt, running her hands on his chest, leaning down to kiss the tender skin around his nearly healed shoulder.
"I lied." She pinched him on the stomach. He retaliated by taking her in his arms and reaching up to unbutton her silk blouse. "I was a monk until I met you!"
"That's not what I've heard. And stop making excuses! I don't think unbuttoning my blouse counts as skill, Beaman."
He winked at her. "Give me a minute!" He ran his hands under her blouse, tickling her ribs as his fingers grazed by. "I'm trying to remember, hmmmm, yeah; it's starting to come back to me now." He wrapped his hand around the back of her neck, his thumb stroking her soft skin. Francine sighed as she relaxed her head on his hand. Efraim pulled her closer, nuzzling her neck, causing small sighs and moans from the pliant woman in his arms. "See? I told you it was coming back to me!"
"Mmmmm and very nice, too! You're starting to impress me. You got any more skills I should know about?" He took possession of her mouth, gently running his tongue around her lips. He was more than willing to play, but found himself caught up in his own game, and he quickly moved to take control and move things along. He pressed her into the cushions of the couch, running his hand the length of her body. She arched against him, silently begging for more contact.
"Impressed?" At her enthusiastic nod, Efraim leaned over her. "You drive me crazy, you know that?" Efraim sat back, pulling his shirt the remainder of the way off, then helped Francine's silk blouse to slide off of her shoulders; both watching as it finally settled in a golden puddle on the floor. Holding her to his chest, he unsnapped her bra, nibbling on her shoulder, blowing gently on the goose bumps that rose at his ministrations. He held her tightly as she shivered in his arms.
"I love it when you do that, Efraim."
"This?" She moaned his name as he pulled her closer, his hand sliding up the long, smooth length of her leg. "Or is it this?" His lips left a trail of fire across her body, causing her to mold herself to him, urging him on.
"Oh yes! Don't stop now!"
Efraim reached up and snapped off the lamp, leaving only the glow of the two lovers in the night.
The pounding on the door brought Efraim to wakefulness. Francine was curled beside him, her arm across his chest and her head on his shoulder. He gently moved her and climbed from bed. Grabbing his sweat pants, he pulled them on and went to answer his door.
"Porter, what are you doing here at . . . um . . . what time is it anyway?" Michael Porter was the latest agent to pull messenger duty. Efraim knew it must be pretty important for Billy to send him out at whatever time of the night it was.
"It's 1:30 in the morning, your phone is off the hook, and there's no answer at Desmond's."
Efraim ran his hand around the back of his neck, he had forgotten to put the phone back on the hook and his pager was in his pants, which were on the living room floor. "What's up?"
"You gonna invite me in?"
"No."
Porter smirked and shook his head.
"You gotta message Porter or you just out annoying people tonight?"
"Billy wants you and Desmond in, pronto. Big case going down. I'm to make sure you two get there. Now, can I come in?"
Efraim slammed the door, reopened it, told Porter no, and slammed it again. He found the phone and put it back on the receiver. He grabbed the clothes Francine and he had flung about the room earlier and went to wake her.
God, she's beautiful. He hated to wake her; she had been worrying too much over their wedding. Unfortunately, there was a rather annoyed federal agent on the other side of his living room door, and a boss that would only give them so much time and just enough rope with which to hang themselves.
He leaned on the bed, kissing her gently until she responded to him. She reached up with the back of her hand to stroke his face.
"Hon, we gotta go in. Billy sent Porter to get us. Ya hear me hon?" He chuckled as she pulled the sheets over her head; he pulled them back down, kissing her full on the lips. "Come on, Francine, time to get up."
"What does Billy want? And why did he send Porter?" Porter was on Francine's short list. Having once been on that list himself, he had some sympathy for Porter. And Porter would need it if he was still outside when Francine walked out that door.
"I'm giving him a call now. You awake?" Francine threw back the sheets and laughed at the leering expression on Efraim's face.
"I'm awake. I'm going to take a shower." She kissed him and then wandered into the bathroom, Efraim's eyes on her the entire way. "Sweetie, you were going to call Billy, remember?"
Efraim felt like he had been caught snitching cookies! He jumped and picked up the phone in the bedroom and called the Agency. "Billy, Beaman here."
"Where have you been? I've been trying to get you for hours now. Is Desmond with you? Why am I asking; of course she's with you. Look you two; get in here pronto, within the hour." Billy was in full boss mode, angry and bellowing orders left and right. Beaman reminded himself that Billy had been awakened in the middle of the night just like he and Francine had been.
"We'll be there as soon as possible. Ah, Billy? Can you call Porter off? He's not leaving, and you know Francine has it in for him. If she finds him on the doorstep when we leave. . . ."
Billy chuckled. Everyone knew that Francine and Porter didn't mix. "I'll call him now and get him back here. Had trouble getting all of my agents in tonight; he's made the rounds. Within the hour, Beaman." Beaman looked at the dead phone in his hand. With a shake of his head, he replaced the receiver and went to get ready to head into the office.
"This is Dr. Harry Quigley, Ph.D. He was picked up by Former GRU agents in Romania after delivering a lecture in Bonn over the weekend. There's been noise on the wires about an attempted coup d'état to overthrow the emerging democracy in Russia."
"Where's this Quigley come into all of this?" Francine asked; unaware of Efraim sliding down into his seat.
"Dr. Quigley works for the Federal Government in researching laser weapons technology. His team recently made an important breakthrough in the practical deployment of battlefield lasers. He and his research were taken while walking down the ramp from his flight to Bucharest, the site of his next lecture. We need to find who, where and why Quigley and his research were taken, and then get them back."
"Do we have anywhere to start?" Lee was beginning to wake up, plied with coffee that the night desk clerk was bringing in.
'Not exactly, but, we do have someone who is familiar with Dr. Quigley, someone Quigley references in his lab book as contributing to his research." At Billy's pause, everyone started looking around the table. No one noticed as Beaman sank further down into his chair.
Francine asked the obvious. "Billy, who does Quigley reference?"
"His esteemed colleague, Dr. Beaman." Everyone looked at Beaman, whose jaw was hanging open.
"Efraim?"
"Don't ask me, Francine, I have no idea."
"You studied with Dr. Quigley. In fact, in his student reports, he claims that you're a mathematical genius."
Beaman shook his head as he sat up in his seat, wanting to explain. "Look, Billy. The man was teaching a master's class in applied physics. I aced it and then he failed me!"
"Billy, what exactly does this have to do with Efraim?" Francine asked, her expression one of concern. "
"He's going to bring the papers to the next conference in Bucharest and present them."
"Uh Billy, my doctorates are in Russian and Eastern European Affairs and Foreign Service. I am not into laser quantum theories." Beaman announced. Frowning, he decided he didn't like the way that Billy was smiling at him.
"Yes, but you have an advanced masters in applied mathematics. You understand what he's talking about."
Beaman was getting annoyed. "Who said?"
"Your father."
"You're going to listen to him? Aw Billy, give me a break. Come on! The last time I saw Quigley he told me in front of the entire assembly that if he ever saw me again, he would use one of his lasers to open my chest cavity just enough to nick my heart so he could watch me slowly bleed to death." As laughter erupted in the room, Beaman was indignant. "He wasn't kidding! He explained in minute detail exactly how he would do it! Billy! I'm getting married in less than a month, come on! Gimme a break!"
"Your name is in his research as contributor."
"It's a mistake, trust me. The man despises me, it's mutual. It has to be a sick joke. Has it been to crypto?"
"Crypto is still trying to crack it, but so far, zip city." Everyone turned to watch as Dr. Smyth entered the room on a cloud of smoke. "What we want, Dr. Beaman, is for you to take those papers to Bucharest, make the presentation, and then follow whomever takes them from you to Dr. Quigley. A weeks worth of effort, then you'll be home for the blessed nuptials." He turned and left, the door almost closing behind him when he returned to the room.
"Oh, and Dr. Beaman, take the bride to be, she speaks the language. Consider it a pre-wedding honeymoon trip." The door slammed behind him, a puff of smoke all that remained of his visit. Efraim looked at Francine who was sitting wide eyed at the entire conversation.
"You leave tomorrow. Francine? You'll be his personal assistant."
"That's not too far from the truth!" Porter remarked with a sneer. He slid down in his seat, his face reddening as Francine glared at him.
"Are we finished? Amanda, we're going to need research, plenty of it and fast. And Lee, you'll need to get them up to speed on our assets in the area and who we think we might be dealing with. By the way, you're heading this one up. I want you following behind them, in front of them, beside them, all of the above, however you want to do it, but I don't want you tagged, you got me?"
Lee nodded his head in understanding. Amanda wasn't looking happy over the pronouncement of Lee going into the field without her.
"Billy, I'm gonna need all sorts of toys from Leatherneck," Efraim told him on a sigh.
Billy nodded. "He's already working on it". Billy dismissed the assembled agents and walked over to Efraim. "How's the shoulder?"
Efraim shot Billy a disgusted look. "A little late to ask me, considering Dr. Smyth has given me my marching orders, don't you think?" Billy continued to wait for his answer.
Efraim finally responded, sighing as he did so. "It's good, actually. As long as I don't take a direct hit on it, it'll be fine. Billy, I'm not an expert on this subject, I'm not even conversational on lasers. Shouldn't you be using someone who is?"
Billy snorted. "I have yet to find anything that you can't talk knowledgeably about, let alone conversationally. I know this is really about the wedding, Beaman. As much as you give the impression that you aren't concerned about the details, I know you care very much what happens because it matters to Francine."
Efraim shrugged.
"Look, you should be back without any problems," Billy told him, trying to placate him.
"Why not send someone else in my place. My Romanian's a little rusty, my Hungarian is worse. I'll make the documents myself and they'll fool my own mother and father. Billy, come on."
"Sorry, Beaman, it's you, Francine and Lee on this. Get moving!" Billy left the conference room with Efraim trailing along behind him. He went over to Francine's office and stood in the doorway watching his fiancé, trying to gauge her mood.
"Nothing short of nuclear war. . ."
He raised a questioning eyebrow at her statement and she smiled.
"I was just thinking back to something Lee said before he and Amanda ran off to get married."
"Was it just short of nuclear war?"
Francine smiled, "Just. It was just short of nuclear war."
"Well that's just great! Just great!" He sighed, blowing out the air in his lungs in frustration. He looked up to find Francine watching him; he came over and took her hands, kissing each in turn. "I promise, we'll get home as soon as we can hon. There won't be any problems with the wedding."
"Efraim, I'm not worried about the wedding."
"Dammit! I am! I don't want anything to ruin this for you, for us."
Francine leaned over, kissing him softly, and resting her cheek on his. "Thank you."
Efraim rolled his eyes. He couldn't imagine why she would be thanking him. "For what, Francine? I happen to take a graduate class with the university's looniest professor and 10 years later find out he's referenced me as a contributor to his research on a weapon grade laser system. Not only does he end up missing, I have to go find him, with my fiancé, all weeks away from our wedding. Any woman would be calling in the firing squad."
"I'm not any woman."
He found himself smiling at that, she certainly wasn't just any woman. "No, you're not. You don't need a firing squad, you can do it yourself."
She chuckled at his statement. "Thank you for worrying about my feelings in all of this. That's one of the reasons I love you." She looked up, eyes shining and full of love. He kissed her, letting her know the feeling was mutual.
They jumped at the less than discreet cough at the door. Efraim felt her stiffen in his arms, and he looked up.
"What is it now, Porter." This man was beginning to become a nuisance to Efraim's way of thinking. He didn't like him or trust his motives, whatever they might be.
Porter smirked and straightened up. "Lee's waiting for the two of you in the Q Bureau, if you're done, that is."
Efraim stood up, putting out his hand for Francine. Porter snorted as Francine took Efraim's hand. Efraim and Francine watched him closely as he walked away.
"He's a jerk. I don't know what his problem is."
"He's more than a jerk, Francine. And his problem is jealousy."
Francine's head snapped up at Efraim's pronouncement. "Why would he be jealous? There was never anything between Porter and me."
"Well, my love, first there's you. You're a beautiful woman who wants nothing to do with him. Then there's our work situation. We've been getting some high profile cases that normally would have gone to the Scarecrow. We've done very well as partners and have made our own reputation. Our success would make a man as ambitious as Porter jealous."
"Boy, they missed that on his psych profile, didn't they."
Efraim nodded his agreement.
"Efraim?"
He looked at her, raising an eyebrow in question to hers.
"Thanks again."
He smiled at her, thinking he would never understand how her mind worked. "For what?"
"For saving me from the Porter's of the world!"
He laughed, ran his hand up and down her side, giving her chills as his fingers lingered on her rib cage. "Believe me hon, the pleasure's all mine."
She stopped and turned to him, licking her lip as she looked up at him. She leaned close, resting her hand on his chest, standing just a whisper away from him. "No, Efraim, the pleasure's all ours." She blew him a kiss and turned to leave, waiting for him at the door. Grinning and with a shake of his head, he took her hand and they headed up to the Q Bureau together.
