Disclaimer: "Scarecrow and Mrs. King" is copyrighted to Warner Brothers and Shoot the Moon Productions. We retain rights to the plot, but not the characters. This story is meant for enjoyment purposes only. No infringement is intended.

Author's Note: We're taking a fun AU journey. I've always been a little disappointed with Season 4. While there were some great episodes, the plot for Lee & Amanda's relationship never really made much sense, and don't even get me started with the whole divisive "mystery message" scenario. So, I had some fun reimagining the 4th season with a couple new characters that will help Lee and Amanda along their journey.

The story starts after "Stemwinder Part II" and "Unfinished Business" when Amanda is starting her training. We'll be making brief stops in "No Thanks for the Memory," a little extra perspective to "Night Crawler" and the villain (Nathanial Brody) from "A Matter of Choice" and "The Eyes Have It" from Season 3 will make appearances throughout the storyline. I've also thrown in a few Easter eggs from other episodes for the fun of it. I created a new character, Kristen Adler, a new Freshman Agent in Amanda's training class. This story idea with the new character first came to me during a morning power walk and became a bit of an obsession. Then during a conference call on career progression, another epiphany hit me that rounded out the plot. I loved it so much, I set it up for sequels.

Casting: As this is based on a TV series, I thought about who I would cast the new characters in the series. As I was writing it, these were the actors I imagined in their place:.

Kristen Adler: Rachel McAdams: (The Notebook/2004 era but of course with a little 80's flare)

Ryan Butler: John Krasinski: When I watched the series "Jack Ryan" on Prime I found my muse for this character, just a little younger (mid to late 20's - so think Krasinski as seen in The Office).

Chapter 1

Amanda King left home early that morning to get into the office. As she driving toward the Key Bridge into Georgetown she felt the butterflies in her stomach starting to flutter. It was her first day of actual practical agent field training and while she was excited to become a full time agent, there was a bit of trepidation for this new journey she was undertaking. She would not have Lee to help her, but would have to rely only on herself.

Lee. That was a whole other complication in her life, albeit a wonderful one. Explaining to her mother and her sons why she'd run off with him whilst federal agents were chasing them, swarming their home and treating them like common criminals was a bit like pulling a rabbit out of a hat while riding a unicycle. The accusations of treason levied against Amanda terrified and confused her entire family After she returned home, she explained that it was all a mistake that occurred while they were working on a particularly sensitive project that involved government secrets. When her mother brought up Mr. Melrose, Amanda explained that while Mr. Melrose was a federal agent, she worked with him a great deal and considered him a friend. Even though Mother dropped the issue, Amanda knew she was not satisfied with the explanation. Now as to her relationship with Lee, how would she explain that this strange man she ran off with alone was actually the man she loved, the man with whom she wanted to spend the rest of her life. Relationship. She felt she needed to pinch herself sometimes to convince herself it was real. She was in a romantic relationship with Lee Stetson. She wanted a future with him but there were so many hoops and hurdles in their path. Would Mother and the boys ever be able to trust him? Could the boys, maybe someday, accept him, maybe eventually as a stepfather?

Stop. Don't go there yet, Amanda. She thought to herself. They'd only been seriously dating for a few months. One step at a time, Amanda.

On the somewhat bright side, it was clear that Lee cared for her entire family as he always took steps to make certain they were safe. She only recently learned of all the agents that had been posted outside her house at various times, during different assignments, that she never knew were there. Not to mention the times when Lee himself watched over them. She knew he had protected her family because they were an extension of her, but still, it was clear he cared for all of them. Despite his protection from afar, Lee had essentially no experience with children. Except for his time with Alexi Kalnikov, which let's face it, didn't count. Would he be able to take on two boys entering their teens? She knew that unless he took that step to become a part of her entire family, there was no path forward for them.

Snap out of it. She said to herself. We can worry about Lee later. For now, let's concentrate on the work ahead. She wanted to prove to everyone that she was capable of becoming an agent in her own right, not just an extension of Lee. She wanted to be recognized as a true partner and it all started here. She pulled into the parking lot, parked her car, got out, and took a deep breath. Let's do this, she gave herself some encouragement.

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Kristen Adler winded her way through the busy halls of IFF to the training room. It was all still a bit surreal, she was an actual federal agent in training. Just five months ago she graduated from UCLA at the top of her class in Political Science and Government. She was smaller in stature that most of the other female candidates, with big blue eyes and soft features. She always felt she needed to fight against the "dumb blonde" stereotype. For that reason, she never lightened her blonde hair but kept the warm amber undertones as she felt it would make others take her more seriously. In preparing for what would be a very physical job, she took up kick boxing, Taekwondo and had been running cross country since middle school. She became so accomplished at running, she actually earned a Cross Country scholarship all four years on UCLA's first women's Cross Country team. She ran marathons once a year and hoped to one day take on an Iron Man competition. She was toned, athletic and not afraid to show off her black belt if the situation called for it.

These skills worked to her advantage at Station One. She outpaced the other women and even some of the men on the obstacle course. Dodge City was formidable but she performed well. So much so, a misogynistic ass of a candidate named Todd Jacobsen tried to belittle her with a "you belong in the kitchen" comment. In response Kristen kicked him in the groin so hard he vomited and required medical attention. Fortunately, one of the trainers in Dodge City, a guy by the name of Leatherneck, who looked more like a country singer than someone working in counter intelligence, found the incident hilarious. He told the other instructors Kristen was showing the type ingenuity and moxie necessary in the field, and he even gave her a better score because of the incident.

The skills that turned out to be most beneficial were those from her grandparents. Both had immigrated from Russia shortly after World War II and as a rule only spoke Russian while in the home. She had been speaking Russian with them since she was a baby. She was fully bilingual, trilingual if you counted Spanish, understood the Russian culture and history and she was confident she could easily fit in as a Russian in any situation. As a foreign language, other than Russian, was necessary for high school she decided to take on a third beneficial language, Spanish. She used it frequently in Southern California whenever she had the opportunity. She became so fluent she tutored both Spanish as well as Russian for extra money in college.

She took pride in the fact that she worked so hard to get here. When she mentioned shortly after high school she wanted to work for the CIA or FBI both her mother and her father were less than enthusiastic about the idea given the inherent dangers. They were both relieved when she was hired by a film company in DC after graduation. Little did they know that not only was she becoming an agent, she was doing so for an agency that technically didn't exist.

Not that it mattered what her father though. He destroyed their family when she was ten years old by having an affair. As if that was not bad enough, the woman was only twelve years older than Kristen and nine years older than her sister. Disgusting. In the years since the divorce the relationship with her father had been strained. Since high school she refused to visit her father if "the home wrecker" was going to be there. She worked diligently to get enough scholarships to pay for college as she did not want her father to pay for any of it. She did not want to by indebted to him for anything. A year ago her father divorced his second wife and was trying to salvage his relationship with her. So far, not much had changed, for now she wanted to focus on her budding career.

The only person who had any sort of clue as to her plan was her stepfather, Hank. Her mother met Hank two years after the divorce when she auditioned to play at a dueling piano bar down near the harbor in Newport Beach. Her mother was an amazing musician and when some men made lewd comments during her audition, Hank, a hulking man of 6'5", told the men they could either be respectful or he'd teach them respect. She learned then that Hank was part owner of the bar, and he hired her on the spot. He was so different from Kristen's attorney father and he and her mother fell in love almost immediately. In the years since Hank became Kristen's biggest champion and she'd become closer to him than her own biological father. When she was leaving for her move to D.C, Hank whispered in her ear, "Go kick some ass" with a wink of his eye.

Amanda entered the training room and immediately felt a bit like a fish out of water. She saw nothing but fresh, young faces. One particularly athletic looking man, likely in his early twenties, gave her a look up and down and shook his head.. He turned to the young woman next to him and whispered into her ear. She looked up and snickered. Yep, this may be awkward, but she knew she was there for a reason. She was then brought back to her cheerleading and sorority days at UVA. Yeah, this may be a little karma coming back to bite her.

She took a seat and pulled out a notebook with a pen and pencil to take notes. She looked up to see a pretty girl in her early 20's taking the seat next to her. She had a rather cool, slightly bohemian look to her, but still a bit trendy. She could not help but notice that while so many other women were teasing their hair into poofy, exaggerated styles popular at the time, this girl's long, dark blonde hair was a bit more understated with soft waves flowing down framing her face. It was clear she was trying to make a good first impression. The look on her face was that of a tough young woman ready to take on the intelligence community, but Amanda's years of experience as a mother allowed her to recognize nervousness that lay right below the surface. The girl sat down silently and readied herself for the class ahead.

Kristen found her way into the classroom. Todd Jacobsen spotted her and immediately put his head down and looked away while a couple others who had witnessed the incident at Station One giggled under their breath. She did not want to sit near that jerk so she decided to take a seat closer to the front. There was an open spot next to a woman who was older than the other recruits and frankly looked like she belonged at school board meeting rather than training for intelligence operatives. Kristen's first thought was, what, are they hiring agents from scout jamborees now? No matter, she took a seat and prepared herself for the first class.

Suddenly, Kristen was overcome with nervousness and self-doubt. Deep inside she knew she could do this job, but negative thoughts were creeping in. While she maintained that toughness and an unparalleled drive to succeed, she did battle with the self-doubt that plagued most women her age. She embraced her duality between her strength both physically and mentally and her softer side. She was empathetic, witty, and enjoyed laughing and spending time with others. Her close friends knew as the girl who loved karaoke, screamed in horror movies, enjoyed tutoring Spanish and Russian, adored kids and animals, and spent two summers after high school working at Disneyland and relished every sweet minute of it. In fact, she felt a little guilty when Todd was puking into a trash can. Was he right? Did she belong in the kitchen? No! She belonged here. Leatherneck was right, she had the skills to be an excellent agent. With that last thought in mind, she took a deep breath and forged ahead.

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Down in the training room, Efraim Beamon was preparing to instruct a new group of freshman agents to prepare them for field training. He had worked so hard to make his way up to a field agent and felt so proud to have been moved to a supervisory role. However, supervising new agents was more misery than glory. While other agents were sent to Moscow, Paris, Geneva and other exotic locations, it seemed he rarely left D.C. Still, it garnered him at least a little more respect.

Efraim arrived at 7:30 to prepare the training room. Another group of freshman candidates. Just great. He poured himself a second cup of coffee to help to motivate himself. His entire life he'd always been overlooked. His older brother, David, was always the golden child. Efraim came in second place in the All State Spelling Bee, but David won first place the County Science Fair. Efraim headed up the debate team, David was Valedictorian of his graduating class and captain of the rugby team. Efraim graduated from Cornell, David graduated from MIT. David was an engineer for an aerospace company, while their parents thought Efraim was just a director at some low level government film company. David was married with two children who would likely cure cancer or sit on the Supreme Court, meanwhile Efraim was single with no prospects.. What they failed to see was that while David was off playing with rockets, Efraim was saving his country. What he did was IMPORTANT. But they'll never know as he decided to take a job with IFF rather than the CIA. Who gives a shit anyway.

Worst yet, Amanda King was in this group. What the hell? Why was some room mom being made into a full time agent? On top of that, she and Stetson were just accused of treason and on the run. But of course, that jock, womanizing, egotistical Lee Stetson came out as a hero AGAIN. What an ass!

He also suspected that he and Amanda were more than just friends. He saw the glances they gave each other when they thought no one was looking. Seriously, why does Lee get all the beautiful women? While Efraim had been dating a few women here and there, he found that getting a second date was nearly impossible. He was a leper alone on an island where no even noticed he existed. Let's not even talk about sex. It has been so long the last time felt like a fleeting memory. He even totally blew it with Francine at last year's Christmas party when he got drunk, tried to give her his car and asked her to run off to Greece to raise goats. What the hell was he thinking?

Time for another class. Let's see which one of these new candidates gets promoted above him next.

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Lee Stetson unlocked the door to the Q Bureau but upon entering was saddened by the fact that Amanda was not there, but rather would be in practical field training for the next couple weeks. He would be on his own for a bit, which felt so strange and a bit lonely. He recalled a time shortly after Amanda was recruited that he found her odd and frankly, annoying. Before that fateful moment at the train station he had become accustomed to, and actually enjoyed, a solo existence. It had now been over three years and that solitary existence now seemed so dreary and disconnected. He actually felt excited about the future. He smiled to himself and settled behind his desk to finish a couple outstanding reports before heading down for the morning meeting.

Life was slowly getting back to normal after the whole Stemwinder misadventure. While it was perilous and nothing he would ever want to experience again, the ordeal made him realize how much he truly loved her. It excited and terrified him that he was crossing into a place he'd never been before - an actual adult relationship. He used to pity the poor idiots with wives, children, mortgages and responsibilities, He relished his freedom to go wherever he wanted, date anyone he wanted and live a worry free life. What he realized now was that existence was missing a very important element - something to live for. He was actually happy to be in a relationship with a "normal" person.

Over the last few days, he'd been haunted by his past. Most importantly, learning that Thomas Blackthorne had been responsible for the death of his parents. For this first time in his life, he opened up to someone about his horrific loss at such a young age. Seeing Amanda with her boys over the last few years made him ache for the loss of his own mother and father. It was because of Amanda, he knew he had to come to terms with that loss and decided to look into their deaths. It was Amanda who supported him and guided him through it. Over the last three years she had changed him and made him into a man his parents would have been proud to call their son.

His mind then drifted back to the rendezvous in her backyard a little over a week ago after Amanda's ex, Joe, had left. He had some to share the good news that she was being made a full agent. He thought of the passionate kisses they shared that night. Thinking about it now made him miss her again.

Ok, Stetson he laughed to himself, time to get back to work.