Disclaimer: I don't own the situations or characters portrayed herein. I'm just playing with them for a while.

Brunettes Are In

The man in the garden had said that Amanda was in the house with Mr. Sinclair, but Mr. Sinclair was getting into a van with —

His heart sank. With the two men who had been approaching Amanda when Rollo had stolen her purse.

Amanda was in that van. They had gotten her, after all.

As soon as the doors were shut, he took off, running as if his life and his future depended on it, up the hill, running, running, hesitating just the barest fraction of a second to time his flying leap correctly.

I didn't really jump onto moving vehicles too much before I met Amanda, he thought as he hit the roof of the van, almost knocking the wind out of him.

The last time he'd done this, she had been driving. She hadn't been trying to lose him like they were.

He hung on for dear life, pummeled from one side to the other, straining his wrist badly as he flipped over it, almost falling off the van.

He had just pulled himself up again, painfully, when the van screeched to a sudden halt and he felt himself flying headlong into darkness.

They kept straining on the pipe, and he was glad that even if they had to be in such a tight spot, they were at least in a tight spot together. She would be safe as long as they left her with him.

"Look, Amanda?"

She was still hanging from the pipe, desperately trying to disconnect it.

"Remember what we were talking about before?"

"Yeah."

"Maybe it's a good idea that you do leave the agency."

"Oh, no, I don't think so."

How could she still think that? This was one of the worst places, one of the worst CASES, he'd had to deal with in many years.

"Look, if you weren't working for the agency, you wouldn't be in a mess like this."

"Yeah," she argued, "but I wouldn't have you to save me either, then, would I?"

It was true.

Suppose he'd never met her, never given her that package at the train station. None of the dangerous situations she'd been placed in since then would have happened.

Except for this one. The one that would have happened regardless. It had nothing to do with the microdot or even her being at the laundromat.

She would have been a target anyway, since she would have been involved with the charity anyway.

Her involvement at the agency was the only thing that had caused her to be found at all, and now they could put a stop to this trafficking ring once and for all.

Now they just had to get out of here.

"All right, now you put that someplace where it'll be safe."

It only made sense to give the microdot to Amanda. It was her mission. It was her assignment.

"Right." She pulled a locket from under her shirt, and began to open it.

"Good." He didn't realize she had a locket. How had he not even noticed that about her?

"Close to my heart."

"Nice touch."

He knew his eyes had lingered on the locket just a fraction of a second too long, but he couldn't help it.

Whose picture did she have in there, anyway?

Never mind. He was shackled and the keys had to be here somewhere, and they had business to attend to.

He watched her face as Dagget walked by, accompanied by a grim-faced policeman. She was satisfied to see him caught, and her face said plainly that she was proud of herself for her part in his capture.

"It's good to get those manacles off. Looks like everything turned out okay, huh?"

"I guess."

He had to take the bull by the horns. "Look, Amanda —"

But she cut him off, not angry or arguing, just firm and sure. "You know, I'm, uh, very proud of my job and... and I've been doing a lot of thinking... And I really don't think that it was my fault that microdot got stolen."

"No, no you're right—"

"I - I know I'm right."

"You're right. And you know that part about your, uh..."

"Yeah, my... my resignation."

It was unthinkable that he had ever considered it a good idea. She'd been right, and he had been so, so wrong.

He struggled with putting it into words, though — the smooth-talking Scarecrow seemed to be as tongue tied as ever when it came to Amanda.

"Amanda, I think... I think you ought to give it a little more thought."

"I think you're right. I think maybe I didn't know what it was you were really saying..."

He didn't deserve her. He didn't deserve this gracious way out. Humble pie had never tasted so sweet.

He laughed a little, shamed by her generosity. "Yeah, that was probably it. And I guess I really didn't understand what you were saying…So, uh…"

"The only trouble is, I already —"

She stopped as he pulled the blue envelope from his jacket. He had stolen it from Billy's desk that morning, just in case he could persuade her to come back.

He had been glad they hadn't searched him and found that letter. It was confirmation that she was part of the agency for one thing, and, if the absolute worst had happened, if Amanda had disappeared, it was — it was something she had touched, something she had held, something to say that once upon a time they had been friends, even if it had ended badly. He would have framed it and set it on his nightstand, and he would have worked himself to death to find her every moment of the rest of his life.

"I... happened to intercept this this morning. It says..."

"I know..."

It hurt to read the words, but it hurt much less now that he knew she wanted to take them back. "'I, Amanda King, hereby resign.'"

"What should we do with it?"

He really liked the sound of we.

"Well..."

He refolded it slowly and deliberately, stowing it back in its neatly typed envelope. Giving her time to hold out her hand for it. But she just stood there expectantly, meeting his eyes with building anticipation.

"How about... the circular file?"

There was a garbage can nearby. He crumpled the letter that had once filled him with fear, and tossed it, like a schoolboy, over his shoulder. He made it! He vaguely hoped that Amanda was impressed.

Though why he, a grown man, would care if she, a grown woman, would be impressed that he, a grown man, could successfully throw away a piece of paper —

Eh, who cares.

He offered her his hand.

"Partner."

She took his hand and shook it, her grip surprisingly strong.

He knew he was grinning like a fool, and he didn't care in the least, because she was here and she was safe, and her resignation was in the trash where it belonged, and she was smiling widely back at him.