Changed Roles, chapter 5
After breezing past an irritated Lee Francine walked briskly towards the bullpen with an unreadable expression on her face. So Billy isn't happy with me; I'm not too pleased with him at the moment. The nerve of him, sending Lee after me, as though I'm a naughty child that he plans to reprimand for bad behavior. Why am I rushing to his office; for years I've been dropping everything whenever Billy needs me and where has it gotten me? Francine slowed her pace as she continued her trip to Billy's office and stopped completely when she reached the doors to the bullpen. The blinds on the windows of Billy's office were drawn; always a sign that Billy planned to have an intense conversation with his next visitor. Francine squared her shoulders, walked through the double doors, and walked straight to the door to Billy's office without looking at her fellow agents whose eyes she could feel watching her.
"Come in", Billy shouted in response to Francine's perfunctory knock on the door. Francine walked in and proceeded to stand in front of him doing her best imitation of Lee standing at military attention.
"You wanted to see me, Sir", Francine questioned stiffly, determined not to give into the discomfit that she was starting to feel.
"Sir", Billy challenged as he and Francine had long since dispensed with the use of such formalities except for when they were in the presence of others. "What's bothering you lately, Francine; your moods have been all over the place for the last couple of weeks?"
"I hope you didn't send for me to talk about my moods. You wouldn't call a male agent into your office to discuss his moods", Francine challenged.
"A male agent wouldn't have launched a catty public attack against a pair of fellow agents in the middle of the bullpen", Billy countered.
"Oh, so that's what this is really about, you will protect Lee and Amanda's relationship at all costs but the rest of us are on our own", Francine said bitterly.
"I didn't call you in here to talk about Lee and Amanda. You make a good point about my not generally questioning a male agent about moodiness; although Lee's intense moodiness over the years has been an exception. I apologize for crossing that professional boundary but I want you to know that I'm talking to you now as a friend not merely a subordinate. If I didn't care about you personally I could have simply written you up for your disruptive outburst and missing the staff meeting. Am I understood?"
"Yes", a slightly chastened Francine replied while continuing to stand stiffly in front of Billy.
"Would you like to sit down so that we can have a calm conversation about whatever is troubling you? You wouldn't fly off the handle at Lee the way you did unless something was already upsetting you. I know that you enjoyed working in the field with Lee while Amanda was recuperating from her shooting and I'm sorry that I haven't been able to get you out in the field more lately. I thought that you would jump at the chance to put your special skills to work with the assignment I just gave you."
"Using my special skills; is that how you describe the Agency taking advantage of my connection to a man to advance a case? Are seducing men and doing cracker jack clerical work the only skills that you think that I have to offer", Francine asked angrily.
"Certainly not; you wouldn't be my executive assistant if I didn't know how intelligent, hard working and eminently trustworthy you are. You've always volunteered for this kind of assignment in the past; what's changed-", Billy halted abruptly as he began to suspect what was truly bothering Francine. "Michael Tanner means something to you personally; doesn't he?"
"Would it matter; aren't we all chess pieces on a board Dr. Smyth manipulates to advance his own warped agenda", Francine asked as she debated whether or not to confide in Billy.