Disclaimer: I do not own the characters within. All rights and much respect go to the creators, writers and producers of "Scarecrow and Mrs. King" including CBS, Shoot the Moon Productions, B&E and Warner Bros. A special shout out to Brad Buckner and Eugenie Ross-Leming who created this show and wrote one of my favorite episodes, "There Goes The Neighborhood". You inspired me to write and I'm not a writer! Just having some creative fun with the episode and my take on a missing scene. There is actual dialogue from the episode to bring fans back to the moments I'm referring to.
Author's note:
Lee's perspective during "There Goes the Neighborhood". What happened between Lee turning Amanda down to work for him and then storming into her interview at Honeycutt Typewriter? He could have called her instead.
T rating thanks to Mr. Davenport (innuendo).
Agency Foyer, Lee's perspective
"So...do you need me?" Amanda asks with a twinkle in her eyes.
"Uh-uh"
"Oh."
That twinkle is gone now and replaced with disappointment in her eyes. Good, Lee thought, it's for best she stays away. But why do I feel bad?
"Well then I guess I'm free to consider other offers, very attractive offers," Amanda said.
"Sure." Is she trying to make me jealous?
"Oh. So I should call Warren Davenport."
"Warren Davenport?" The name sounded familiar but he couldn't place it.
"Warren Davenport at 'Honeycutt Typewriter'. He's the head of personnel. He wants to interview me for a position."
"Great! And listen, I'm sure that Billy would write you a letter of recommendation."
"No, no, no, that won't be necessary. My skills speak for themselves. I type 90 words a minute."
Lee began to step inside, "I'm sure you'd be much happier in an air conditioned office than casing some dive with me," I hope she gets the hint, he thought, she's better off not involved in this business.
"No doubt. As far as I can see, espionage is highly overrated." Amanda said as she pushed Lee into the closet.
"Well..." he began but was cut off as she pushed him in further and closed the door in his face.
"They don't even pay overtime." He heard Amada say through the closed door.
"Highly overrated!?" Lee scoffed, he was outraged. "Who does she think she is?"
"I cannot believe her!" He said to himself once he got off the elevator. He passed Mrs. Marsten coming out of the ladies room, "Ah, did you see Mrs. King?"
Lee snorted, "Yes, thank you," as he walked passed her and continued toward the bullpen.
His mind went to Amanda, 'I certainly saw her...especially those gorgeous brown eyes. One minute they sparkled at me and the next I disappointed her', he thought and felt his annoyance lessen. He quickly shook his head to get her off his mind and he headed toward his desk, "It's for the best, she cares too much," he muttered to himself.
"What was that, Scarecrow?" Fiedler asked, but Lee just fixed him with a glare. Fielder simply held his hands up in surrender and returned to his work.
"Scarecrow!" Billy bellowed from his office doorway, "My office, now!"
Lee rolled his eyes, took a deep breath and walked in, "What is it?"
"Close the door!"
"Why did you turn down Mrs. King? We have talked about using more civilians."
"You were listening?" Lee asked incredulously.
"Of course I was listening," Billy said as he gestured to the video monitor. "I've been a spy since you were in diapers, remember?"
Lee closed his eyes and let out a frustrated sigh as he flopped down onto a chair.
"Billy she doesn't belong here! She's a civilian, an innocent woman!"
"Kind, smart...beautiful..." Billy interrupted him testing the waters.
"Well sure she is..." Lee agreed.
Billy bit back a smile as he returned to his desk.
Lee continued, "But she's not cut out for this kind of work! She should be running her boys' little league, not getting herself into precarious situations with me."
Billy held up a hand, "She is looking for work and we could really use her help, everyone wins!"
"Billy! Come on, she's not trained! She had no idea what to do when the going got rough out there!" Lee argued.
"I beg to differ! You said yourself in your field report that she distracted the opposition and disabled a car with sugar. Need I remind you that SHE IS THE ONE who figured out Mrs. Welch's recipes which cracked the case? She has good sense and a sharp, logical mind, Lee! She has great instincts and a lot of potential."
Lee grumbled at that, Billy was right but he would never admit it.
"She brings something...special," Billy continued with a bit of whimsy in his tone. He stole a glance at Lee and noted his face had softened a bit with that comment too.
Lee had to agree, there was something special about Amanda King. She had this ability to drive him crazy yet that mixed with her beauty and an air of innocence, really got to him. Well, she can't be that innocent if she's a mother of two, Lee thought with a slight smirk. He had to rub his hands over his face briefly to get his mind out of the gutter and shake off the thoughts of Amanda King...again. That had been happening a lot since he met her despite his best efforts. One minute she really irritated him, the next he felt drawn to her.
Billy returned to his desk and sighed, "Well it's a shame, we could have used her for your next assignment; a stakeout in the neighborhood. With you two posing as husband and wife, Mrs. King would have helped you fit right into suburbia."
"Yeah well there's always Francine or someone from the steno pool," Lee countered.
"I've already assigned Francine to head over to the neighborhood to check things out, remember? Besides, she would never pass for a housewife and you know it."
Lee sighed and nodded.
"Looks like the steno pool will have to do. Maybe try the new girl, Marcy." Billy said with a knowing smile, "Oh, here she is now," Billy said as he gestured for her to enter the office.
"You wanted to see me, Mr. Melrose?"
Lee stood to shake her hand, "Uh hi, I'm Lee Stetson".
"Marcy McGuire, nice to meet you," she shook his hand then nervously adjusted her glasses.
Lee gave Billy a confused look. It was evident that Marcy was a somewhat meek and quite awkward. She was certainly unlike anyone else the agency had used in the past from steno.
"Marcy, we would like to discuss a field job that we may need you to do with Lee here."
"Ah, wait a minute," Lee interrupted with a slight laugh as he gestured for Marcy to sit down. He took a seat next to her, "Um, Marcy, what experience do you have in this line of work?" He looked over at Billy who just simply folded his hands and awaited her response.
Marcy cleared her throat, "Um, well I don't have any experience in field work but I can type 70 or so words a minute and well...I'm a whiz at computer software."
Lee ran his hand through his hair, this was not going to work. He put his head down and pinched the bridge of his nose, he felt a slight headache coming on.
"There's a first time for everything, Marcy." Billy encouraged her, "Besides, I'm sure this is way better than your last job at 'Honeycutt Typewriter', hmm?"
At that Lee's head snapped up in alarm, "What?"
"Oh, yes sir! Everyone here has been so nice and respectful," Marcy said before she turned to Lee. "My last boss, Warren Davenport, was such a creep! He was downright disgusting with his...his desires. He was constantly making comments and fondling women in the office, it was awful!"
Lee suddenly bolted to his feet with a look of panic, but he recovered quickly.
Billy and Marcy stared at him in surprise.
"Uh, I just realized the time! Excuse me, but I have to meet an informant."
Billy just smiled, "Of course."
Lee took off out of the room and barked to one of the secretaries to look up the exact address for 'Honeycutt Typewriter'. He realized now why that name Warren Davenport sounded familiar when Amanda mentioned it earlier. He recently overheard some of the steno pool ladies in the breakroom discussing their experiences working for that slime ball. Since he was the head of HR, there was no one to report him to. We will have to change that, Lee thought. He was not going to allow Amanda to be treated that way, she's a good decent person, a mom for goodness sake, he reasoned, and beautiful too! Suddenly his mind was whirling with visions of what could happen to Amanda.
"Come on, come on!" He implored the secretary to work faster.
Billy watched Lee through his office window and moved to open the door for Marcy, "Thank you for your latest report, Marcy. I don't think we will need you for the assignment after all. Keep up the good work!"
"OK! Thank you, sir!" Marcy said as she walked out.
Ten minutes later, Lee found himself walking faster and faster down the street as he approached 'Honeycutt Typewriter'. If Davenport tried anything with Amanda he'd regret it!
He reached the front door of the place and stopped suddenly, 'What am I doing?' He wondered. 'What is it about this woman? Why do I care?'
She took the package when she didn't have to at the train station, he recalled. She later tried to help save my career and she even helped save my life, Lee realized. Amanda has even shown that she cares about you and she hardly knows you. The fact that she is beautiful and smart doesn't hurt either. Lee realized it was all of those things as well as the sense of naiveté or innocence, whatever you want to call it, that made him want to protect her even if he didn't understand why.
Lee took a deep breath and ran a hand through his hair. He wondered what Amanda was going to say, especially after he dismissed her about a half hour ago. How would he explain this to her? He could just say it was a 'need to know' and not explain his actions. The irony that she would be safer with him, than with Davenport was not lost on him.
He suddenly realized he was wasting his time out here as his imagination went wild with thoughts of what 'position' Davenport had in mind for Amanda. His brow furrowed even more and he clenched his jaw tightly before he declared, "Aw, hell! I'll just blame it on Billy!" He then stormed into the building intent to find Davenport and Amanda.
He quickly made it to the right floor and immediately found the man's secretary. Unsure of what he would come upon behind that closed door, Lee decided to put on his best Stetson smile and charm. No matter what she said, he was going to just steam roll right past her.
"Hi! I'm Mr. King, I need to see Mr. Davenport...NOW." Lee told the secretary and continued toward Davenport's office door. He did his best to keep his tone light but forceful.
The secretary jumped up and ran over to try to block Lee, "I'm sorry, Mr. Davenport is in a conference."
Lee did his best to be gentle with the older woman but he was on a rescue mission, "Look he won't mind if I just open the door, I'll just take a peek."
"No, no you simply can't go in there, Mr. King!"
But Lee pushed the door open and a wave of relief washed over him when he saw Amanda was safe and sound. The only thing on his mind was to get her out of there as quickly as possible.
"Well!" He laughed slightly as he walked in and reached for her. "There you are you slyboots!"
You know the rest! ;)