Author's Note: "William Henry" takes place just following the events in "I Spy Returns" and harkens back to the third season episode "Home To Judgement". I would've loved to set it earlier in Kelly's and Scotty's careers, but that "It's been twenty-five years!" canon from the reunion movie hamstrung me!

William Henry

By

Dough Hubler

"S'ancient history, m'dear," Kelly Robinson replied easily as he took another tiny sip from his martini.

The state banquet was long over and the dance floor sparsely populated, so he casually pulled loose one end of his black tie and undid the neck button of his starched, stiff, dress shirt.

"Kelly, come on, I'm serious!" she cooed, placing a gentle hand on his arm. Nancy Young, in a form-fitting formal gown of gold, was as stunningly beautiful now as she had been twenty-five years earlier when she had first met a disarmingly handsome Kelly Robinson. They now sat alone at a table that had hours earlier hosted three other couples and the evening grew drowsy and melancholy.

Robinson placed his drink on the table and slid it arm's length away from him, grinned shyly and said, "I don't know what happened to me with the martinis, I really don't! I've turned into such a lightweight! I remember when I could drink half of Asia under….."

He paused a moment, took one, long, slow breath in through his nose and added, "Just nineteen, twenty minutes ago, tops, I was thirty-two years old. Now, suddenly….."

"Now, you're the director of field operations and about to finally marry the girl of your dreams," Nancy concluded as she brought his hand to her lips and lovingly kissed it.

Kelly's mind meandered back to a moment decades past, when he, as a young SSA agent, stood on a dark and lonely beach with a man he loved like a brother. "Scotty," he had said to his dark-skinned partner just before climbing into a boat and rowing to uncertain death. "If I don't make it, tell Nancy my last thoughts were of her."

Scotty.

Alexander Scott.

Dr. Alexander Scott.

Partner, conscience, brother, right arm, he had been all those things and so much more. They had circled the globe together time and time again in the secret service of their country, posing as a professional tennis player and his trainer, saving that country among many others from their own shortsightedness and arrogance.

"It was the Sixties, my darling," she probed again, leaning in and placing a perfectly coiffed head against his shoulder.

"Well, you know what they say about the Sixties," Kelly replied, leaning his own head over to rest lightly upon hers. "If you can remember 'em, then you weren't really there!"

"It was the Sixties," she repeated pointedly. "And a very combustible time socially, politically… racially. And there the two of you were – Scotty, a man of color, traveling the world with….."

"The whitest man you've ever seen in all your born days?" Kelly grinned.

"There had to be some very difficult times, especially in this country," Nancy continued, having long ago adjusted to her fiancé's habit of interjection. "Yet the two of you have never mentioned it in all the time I've known you, never really seemed to notice it! So tell me, my dearest old love," she said softly, wrapping both of her arms around one of his and snuggling into it. "How did the product of World War Two mentality become so racially aware?"

Kelly Robinson realized two things at that moment… first, that he had never once spoken openly and aloud of this and, two, that it was about time that he did.

"I was, uh, born and raised in the Midwest," he started quietly, almost as if telling a bedtime story to a drowsing toddler. "But, how Ohio can be considered the 'Midwest' is beyond me!"

"I suppose the name 'Middle East' was already taken," she quipped quietly.

"I'm tellin' ya right now," Kelly smiled in mock reproach. "You spend way too much time in the company of wise-guys!"

"True, true," replied Nancy, nestling in and quieting down.

Kelly leaned into her softness and continued, saying, "I was raised by my mom, but I spent a lot of my summers on the farm with my Uncle Harry and my Aunt Alta."

Nancy wisely remained silent, ably fighting the overwhelming urge to ask, "Farm? The international playboy slash master espionage agent Kelly Robinson, a farm boy?"

"They were like a second set of parents to me, even more so than Scotty's mom is." He stopped and smiled warmly at a long-forgotten memory of tilting at windmills. "Y'know, he never did understand why I'd get so excited when his mom would send me a jar of chitlins… they reminded me of those summers on the farm."

"What are 'chitlins'?" she asked dreamily.

"Don't ask." came the simple reply. "My Uncle Harry had a best friend named William Henry, and that's what everybody called him… never just 'Bill' or even 'William'… 'William Henry'! He was at the farm all the time and they were closer than brothers, so when my uncle decided to start a little painting business on the side, he naturally asked William Henry to partner up with him."

"Painting?" asked Nancy. "Portraits?"

"Barns." corrected Kelly. "Houses, fences, anything that required less than two colors! It was only part-time and they never brought in a lot of income, but that's not what they were about. They both loved the time that they were able to spend together and I lived for those moments when they would bring me into the fold. You think Scotty and I have an act going, you should'a seen the two of them when they were really cookin'!"

Kelly's voice softened a few degrees further as old memories laid claim to him. "I remember that they would come back to the farmhouse every day for lunch. My Aunt Alta would bring their milk and sandwiches out to the front porch and they'd sit there and eat, joke, laugh… then, my uncle Harry would go inside, wash up, and they'd get back to work. William Henry never once set foot inside my uncle's house, never even thought to ask, because William Henry, my uncle's best friend in life, was black."

Kelly sat quietly for a moment, lost in reflection, as he reached for his water glass and drained the last few, warm inches.

"I was just a kid. It never occurred to me that something like 'racial inequality' even existed… but, it did. In those days of my childhood innocence, I was pretty much insulated from it, but people like my aunt and uncle had to deal with it all of their lives. By the time I realized what was going on with William Henry, my summers on the farm were over and I was off to prep school."

Robinson's face turned somber, stoic as he spoke. "In my stupid, uninformed and naïve arrogance, I always wanted to ask my uncle why he'd never had the courage to even invite his best friend into his house and let the public opinion be damned. Then, I remembered something he'd told me as a child. He said that there was never a question as to whether the world would force a situation on you… it was gonna happen, maybe every day of your life. The only real question was, do you get the best of the situation or do you let it get the best of you?"

Kelly eyes moved about the great hall and watched as one, lone couple refused to relinquish the dance floor, moving in harmony with each other to an old Eartha Kitt melody.

"As much as I loved my Uncle Harry and his best friend and partner, William Henry, I seldom thought much about either of them in the years that followed until my uncle's funeral. Aunt Alta had already passed not too long after that time Scotty and I hid out at the farm, and I'm glad, really glad that they all got a chance to meet each other… kinda sorry 'bout blowing up half the house to do it, but still….."

The last remaining dancing couple finally released the hostaged orchestra and stood applauding its musical expertise.

"I was at the farmhouse, Uncle Harry's house, helping with the funeral arrangements when the phone rang. It was William Henry… still alive, still sounding hale and hearty, still just as witty as ever. He told me how sorry he was for the loss to both of us and how much he loved my uncle… and then, he asked for my permission… asked if he could be allowed to attend the funeral. Even after all these years, in this more 'enlightened' age….."

The long sequestered memories finally began to sting Kelly's eyes and he dabbed at them with his napkin.

"I loved my Uncle Harry like a father and my earliest memories, my best memories, are of him and his best friend, William Henry. So," he concluded, once again erecting the façade of controlled coolness. "That is how a product of 'double'ya, double'ya dos' mentality becomes so racially aware!"

The dark-skinned couple crossed the empty dance floor and walked hand in hand towards Kelly's table and he marveled at the unshielded, unequivocal love that Dr. and Mrs. Scott openly displayed for each other. "And here I always thought I was the cool one," he mused.

"You were doin' some fancy rug-cuttin' out there, Duke!" Kelly grinned at his best friend.

Scotty puffed up his chest and tilted his head back in a broad, tight-lipped smile.

"Well, what can I say?" he agreed. "I move with all the grace and style of a feline!"

"Catlike!" offered Kelly. "I was just gonna say 'catlike'!"

"And," Lily Scott added, patting her husband's arm. "I hardly even flinch anymore when he tramples my toes!"

Scotty looked down into her beautiful hazel eyes and said, "You cut me, m'dear… you cut me right to the quick! Now, I gotta go through the rest'a my life with a cut quick!"

Kelly nodded sagely, saying, "And you can't get replacement parts for a model that old anymore, either!"

Scott nodded towards Nancy and asked, "How long has she been out?"

Kelly started slightly, suddenly realizing that his fiancé had made no comment to his narrative for quite some time. He leaned his head forward and saw that she was indeed dozing.

"I dunno!" he answered. "I was just sitting here, telling her about….."

"Bored her into a coma, didn't'cha?" Dr. Scott grinned. "Launched into yet another 'glory story' from the Robinson library and knocked her right out!"

"I guess so," Kelly agreed, realizing that the tale he'd never before told, the story no one knew, still retained that singular distinction. He then turned back to gaze at his former partner and smiled decisively, saying, "It was one'a my better efforts, though, I gotta say! Remind me to tell it to you someday."

Scotty shrugged off the suggestion and said, "You wanna rouse the future Mrs. Robinson and join us for a late supper…" He glanced at his watch. "… early breakfast? The night is young and so are we!"

Lily playfully punched her husband's arm and replied, "The night is VERY old….."

"Don't!" cautioned Dr. Scott. "Don't even finish that thought!"

"Nah," Kelly smiled softly. "I think I'll just sit here and hold her for awhile longer… remind myself of how lucky I am."

Lily Scott retrieved her small clutch purse from the table and placed a gentle hand against Kelly's cheek, saying, "You're a good man, Charlie Brown."

"And we don't even care what everybody else says about you behind your back anymore!" Scotty added as he turned his wife towards the door. He continued talking to no one in particular as they both made their way from the large banquet room, saying, "Oh, we used to go along with it, but from now on, we're backing you up! I don't care how many friends we lose….."

Kelly Robinson slid down slightly in his seat and hugged his lovely fiancé closer. As he watched the Scotts disappear through the far door, he smiled and softly said, "Yeah, I think you might like this one."