Dotty's Five W's And An H

Chapter 6

Lee and Amanda came to work Monday morning separately determined to act as if Friday's discussion first with Dotty and then with each other in Amanda's driveway didn't happen.

Coming into Billy's office they sat down with Francine as Billy went over the case load for the day.

As he continued on he and Francine had noticed the two were listening, but not really there in a sense.

Billy noticed Amanda had been taking notes but he thought, I hadn't asked her to write any of this down.

Then taking notice of Lee, he had this far away look in his eyes that told Billy that something was up but he couldn't be sure what it was.

He decided to test them and looking at Amanda asked, "So, Amanda. Are you ready for the milk run I've assigned the two of you? You know exactly what to do, correct?"

Amanda jotting things down on her notepad suddenly looked up and queried, "What, Sir?"

Billy gave a slight smile and glancing at Francine rolled his eyes as he answered, "The milk run? Where is it going to be?"

Amanda then realized guiltily as she looked at Lee and then back at Billy; she really hadn't paid attention and shook her head. "I'm sorry, Sir. Could you name the place again, please?"

Lee interjected uncomfortably, "It was the Kennedy Center right, Billy?"

Billy and Francine shared a worried look and then Billy sighed defeatedly. "Meeting adjourned. Francine, you take Amanda out for a break, while I talk to Lee for a moment. Dismissed!"

As everyone got up and Amanda followed Francine out of the office Billy gestured Lee to the couch. "Start talking. What's wrong with the two of you today? You're way off on the assignment I'm sending you on."

Lee shrugged, trying to be nonchalant, answered lightly, "What do you mean? I was listening. Sort of."

Billy sighed. "Look, Man. Francine and I know how hard things must have been for you both from the Stemwinder mess. You never told me anything about your time alone other than the debriefing part of it, so if you want, I'll be your sounding board."

Lee deeply sighed. Billy was his boss but also one of his best friends. Would he understand about his relationship change with Amanda? He wasn't sure.

Thinking carefully he mused, If I tell him, would it screw up our jobs? Smyth would have a field day with it, I'm sure.

Finally deciding to go with his gut he played out the scenario to the hilt stating with a exaggerated groan, "Well, it was okay at first. You know, Amanda would get coffee ready in the morning. Then she'd make eggs. Which was fine, except I don't like breakfast other than my doughnut routine. But then she pointed out that we had to keep it simple since we were supposed to be hiding out. Then there was the bathroom stuff..."

Billy cleared his throat not sure if he wanted to hear the rest of it. "Uh, what-what kind of bathroom stuff?"

Lee gave a slight wince and cocked his head to one side. "I'm sure you remember how it was with Jeannie at first?"

Billy shrugged as Lee got up from the couch and paced saying, " C'mon! Really? Okay. Is it too much to ask that she not hang her bra and other things over the shower rod and leave them there? But what really set me on edge was my lucky comb-"

Billy smirked. "Lucky comb? Wh-What do you mean, lucky comb?"

Lee sighed and remarked, "I mean it was my lucky comb because just one tooth on it was missing. I-I forget how it happened, it was years ago but it doesn't matter. Anyway, she broke another tooth on it. Can you believe that?"

Billy swallowed in mirth. "How-How did that happen?"

Lee sighed in mock disgust. "She said something got stuck in the sink drain and she didn't have anything else to use so she "borrowed" it to fish the thing out, whatever it was. Geez!"

Billy smiled. "So even after all that, you still managed to survive that case, correct?"

Lee narrowed his eyes answering thickly, "You're making fun of me, aren't you?"

Billy shook his head chuckling. "No, of course not. But it can't be worse than what Jeannie and I endured the first night my parents came over for dinner at our new house. She made pot roast and accidentally over heated it so it was a crisp meal along with the rock hard vegetables she served. I yelled, she yelled and then it was over."

Lee shook his head confusedly. "I'm sorry. What happened?"

Billy sighed remembering. " She wound up going home to her parents place while I was stuck cleaning up everything and listening to my mother go on complaining about things saying, "You know, William, if you had just waited a bit longer she might have gotten the hang of cooking. All you had to do was call me over, Son. I would have been more than happy to help her."

Lee nodded realizing how thick of a story he had laid on Billy and commented shrugging. "Well, it wasn't all that bad. I suppose I exaggerated a bit."

Billy egging him on sighed. "I know. You two weren't gone long enough for anything that monumental. It's only one in a series of marriage tests that you won't ever have to face if you're lucky."

Lee perplexed nervously asked, "What do you mean by that?"

Billy gestured to him. "You are a confirmed bachelor, Scarecrow. There's no one trapping you into anything you aren't ready for, you know?"

Lee cleared his throat avoiding Billy's stare and replied as he went to the door, "Yeah. You're right about that. Well, I'm gonna head upstairs to the "Q". See what files I can get done. Thanks for the talk, Billy."

Billy smiled. "Any time, Lee. I'll let Amanda know when she returns. And if you two can get past your awkwardness, maybe you can finish your assignment. After all, you two are one of my best teams."

With a half smile and nod as he glanced at Billy, Lee left the office.

Meanwhile Francine had taken Amanda to the Conservatory for their talk and asked with a sigh, "Okay. So, what's up?"

Amanda shrugged. "What do you mean?"

Francine shook her head. "You two acted more like strangers in that office than you've ever acted before. What's eating you?"

Amanda sighed. "I don't know what you're talking about, Francine. I'm fine."

Francine queried slowly, "Oh, c'mon! Something happened while you were hiding out, right? Now, give. What was it that irritated you so much about him? There had to be something. People, that wind up in that close proximity for a while without meaning to tend to get on each other's nerves, you know?"

Amanda thought, She's not going to let this go. She's like a dog after a bone!

She then quickly put up her hand with a whopper of a story in mind! "Okay. Maybe I'm too sensitive because I haven't had to share a bathroom with a man since my divorce. But it's petty things."

Francine groaned. "Sometime today, can you give me a clue?"

Amanda shrugged. "Well, other than wet towels laying around, he would leave the toilet seat up."

Francine made a face sighing. "Ugh! That's certainly disgusting. I wouldn't call that one petty. Really? Why do they always do that?"

Amanda shook her head. "I know. I'm always after my boys to not do that since they share their bathroom with my mother."

Francine nodded quickly wanting to move the conversation along. "Right, right. What else?"

Amanda winced coming up with the biggest lie she could think of. "Well, he accidentally used my toothbrush-"

Francine grumbled interjecting. "Geez! Why for God's sake?!"

Amanda shrugged. "Well, the first night we were there, he said he forgot to bring his and thought I wouldn't mind since he rinsed it off-"

Francine winced. "The man is usually meticulous to a fault. What was he thinking?"

Amanda shook her head. "I just don't know. Why would he think using my toothbrush was okay? Anyway, the next morning when we did some errands, I bought a two pack of tooth brushes to make sure that never happened again."

Francine replied, "Thanks for the heads up. Guess I'll have to do the same if I get a case out of town with him or anyone again. Okay. Anything else?"

Amanda shook her head. "No, but it does help to talk about it. Thank you."

Francine half smiled. "No problem. Let's head back..."

As Amanda came back to the "Q" office she saw Lee immersed in something on the computer and sitting down at her desk asked, "Need some help there?"

Lee broke away to look at her briefly and shook his head. "No, thanks. So...you and Francine were gone a while. Anything you want to talk about?"

Amanda shook her head distractedly. "No. How about you? Billy seemed a bit upset with both of us but when he just talked to you, I was worried. Everything okay?"

Lee put down the file he was working on and offhandedly waved it off as he got up from his chair to go to her. " No, no. Everything was fine. It was just... Aw, hell. Amanda... About our talk on Friday-"

But Amanda quickly said, "Lee, I'm sorry I said what I said. It was very presumptuous of me. I know I have a bad habit of rambling when I get nervous or scared, but after that talk with Mother, I didn't know what to think and I certainly would understand if you want to end this thing with us now. Whatever it is, okay?"

Lee knelt in front of her smiling and taking her hand kissed it gently while looking deep into her eyes. "Amanda King, I meant what I said before we left town. I do love you. More than I ever thought possible and I know you feel the same. So any decisions about down the road plans we will talk through and make together soon, okay?"

They kissed tenderly and as they parted said chuckling together, "Without Mother's help."

Meanwhile, Billy and Francine met in the bullpen.

Billy asked, "So, did you find out anything?"

Francine sighed. "Nothing to call the papers about. You?"

Billy shrugged. "No. Nothing I really believe, knowing Amanda. But then Lee is trained to keep secrets."

Then a thought came to Francine and she began to giggle. "Oh, my God! Wh-why didn't I think of this before!"

Billy stared at her strangely. "Francine, what is your problem?"

Francine clearing her throat to compose herself put up her hands to gesture to him answering. "What if, in an awkward moment, they accidentally "saw" each other? And they told us those ridiculous stories to cover it up?"

Billy shook his head. "Have you been sniffing too much nail product, Desmond?"

Francine looked at her boss with disbelief. "Oh, c'mon! It's possible, isn't it? Don't tell me you bought any of what Scarecrow told you. What did he say?"

Billy smiled. "Ladies first."

Francine huffed. "Fine. Amanda said he left the toilet seat up, used her toothbrush and left towels laying around. Your turn."

Billy shook his head. "He said she left bras and other things hanging over the tub and she made breakfast which he doesn't eat."

When Francine was about to reply, Billy stopped her answering, "Look. Whatever happened while Lee and Amanda were hiding out is between them. If there's something they want us to know, they'll tell us. Let's get back to work."

But as they each went back to their duties Billy thought for a moment about Francine's wild theory and shook his head. Not in a thousand years...

The End