Disclaimer: none of these characters belong to me; they belong to Shoot the Moon Enterprises and Warner Bros to whom I am eternally grateful for the opportunity to take them out for a spin and bit of light humour.

Author's Note: This is a continuation of my AU Sundance series which began with a writing prompt "What If?" and has taken on a life of its own. Might make more sense if you've read the others but probably not necessary - although that is becoming less true the longer this craziness goes on.

This story was made incomparably better by the efforts of my partner in crime and beta extraordinaire - thank you so much.

"You look great," said Francine as Amanda limped into the Georgetown lobby, decked out for her evening with Lee at the Quickie Chickie reception.

"Oh yeah – the cast really sets off my eyes," deadpanned Amanda.

"Do you really still need to be wearing that?" asked Francine. "Seems like it's been a long time for a simple twisted ankle. I feel like my broken cheekbone is healing faster than your ankle."

"Well, I wouldn't still be wearing it if I hadn't gotten cocky and re-injured it showing the boys how to do a hook slide again. And I really don't need it most of the time, but I still can't wear heels , so at least it explains to people why I'm wearing flats with this dress," explained Amanda. "As it is, I had to tell my mother I was working as a hostess for a film reception tonight because there was no way I'd get away with dressing up this nicely without her expecting royalty again." She looked around the lobby. "Have you seen Lee? He's supposed to be…" She was interrupted by the door to the elevator swinging open and Lee stepping out. There was a beat while they surveyed each other and then:

"You look nice," they said at exact same time, then stopped and smiled at each other as they realized.

Oh my God, how did I forget what she looked like in that dress? thought Lee. I'll have the prettiest date there.

Oh my gosh, how did I not think about how cute he'd be in a tux? thought Amanda. Mother would die if she could see my date for the evening. Not a date, she corrected herself, an escort. She tried not to laugh out loud picturing what her mother would say if she'd ever said she was going out as an escort tonight.

Lee's breath caught as Amanda went from pretty to beautiful as her face lit up with some secret joke. How does that song go? he thought She can turn the world on with her smile?

"Nice?" interrupted Francine. "Geez you two! Without me and Efraim there to bump up the bell curve, you'll be the cutest couple there."

"We're not a couple," Lee and Amanda said in unison again, both blushing when Francine crowed with laughter.

"Sure you are," she smirked. "You're Mr. and Mrs. Cassidy, Butch and his lovely wife, Hopalong!"

Amanda groaned at the terrible joke and Lee extended his arm, crooking his elbow and gesturing to the door. "Let's get out of here before she really gets going," he said.

"Come back tomorrow! Try the meatloaf!" Francine called after them. "I'll be here all week!"

"Pretty sure they'll only be offering chicken tonight!" Lee shot back as they headed out onto the street. "But if you're lucky, we'll bring the K9 squad a doggy bag!"

"Finally figured that one out, huh?" Amanda smiled as Francine hooted with laughter behind them.

"No," Lee admitted in a rueful tone. "Beaman had to clue me in." He opened the passenger door to the Porsche and helped her in. "You really do look nice," he added.

"So do you," she answered. "I'll bet the girls fall all over you at black tie events like this!"

"I do alright," he grinned, then hastily added, "But I'm working tonight, so don't worry!"

"Well I wasn't worried until you said that!" she teased him. "But since you literally can't dance with the girl that brung ya, don't let me stop you enjoying yourself!"

"You know, I don't think I've ever had somebody encourage me to shop around during a date before," he grinned back at her.

"Well, I'm not a date, am I?" she pointed out comfortably, then turned to look at him. "But that reminds me - what am I, actually?"

"Window dressing," he answered, laughing when she made an annoyed face. "Okay, first off, you're here because I thought you'd enjoy it but honestly, it's also a lot less noticeable if I walk in with a date. And if you want to keep your eyes and ears open while I meet my contact, that could be useful but other than that, you really do just get to enjoy yourself. Have a few drinks, enjoy the hors d'ouevres, light up the dance floor with a cha-cha… oh yeah," he stopped when she rolled her eyes. "Maybe not the dancing. But you can mingle, socialize…"

"Flirt with handsome men in tuxes?" Amanda interrupted.

"Um, yeah, sure," replied Lee. "If you really want to," he added, a tinge of doubt in his voice. "Just don't tell them who you really are, Kid - this is supposed to be a party for movers and shakers, not agents and -"

"Housewives from the steno pool? Okay," she answered. "I doubt there's much chance of any of that anyway. Dean looked like an overstuffed telethon announcer when he wore a tux at the last station event; I imagine Washington parties are probably pretty much the same in that department."

"Pretty much," agreed Lee, carefully ignoring the small pang of relief he felt at her easy dismissal of the likely dating pool. "It'll probably be a lot of middle-aged balding men and their trophy wives."

"No princes this time? No millionaires?" she asked, shaking her head dolefully in mock disappointment. "What a dump."

"Well, our host fills the millionaire bill," said Lee. "James Delano, the guy who owns Quickie Chickie, is supposedly making some kind of big expansion announcement tonight."

"Oh well, in that case, he's probably not a millionaire right now," said Amanda. Lee cocked an eye at her and she went on. "Expansion is expensive in the short run so all his money is probably tied up at the moment, although if it goes well, it won't be long until he's a millionaire again."

"Didn't you do your degree in American Lit?" asked Lee in confusion. "How do you know so much about business?"

"My Ladies Investment Club," she explained, then forged on when he didn't look any less baffled. "We have a neighborhood moms' group fund that looks for stocks to invest in and before we can suggest a stock, we have to research them to make sure it's safe. We're not trying to get really rich, we just need some extra money since we're mostly single mothers, you know? So we mostly look at blue chip stuff because we may not expect to get rich, but we can't really afford to lose a lot either."

"That's… amazing," said Lee shaking his head. "Once again, suburban moms are way more savvy than I thought! Any chance you've done any research in Quickie Chickie?" he asked.

"No, I think they might be privately owned," Amanda answered. "We do like to invest where we shop, so I feel like someone would have tried. Then again, we have 500 shares in Marvellous Marvin's Burgers, so maybe we're already invested in enough fast food."

"Well, keep your ears open tonight then. Maybe your stock smarts will let you hear something that'll turn out to be useful."

"Well, being useful sounds like more fun than being window dressing."

Lee looked at her and replied in a serious tone. "Well this evening is all about having fun. You know, since we never have any."

"Oh Lee, you know I was teasing when I said that," Amanda sighed. "Besides," she went on, "I've already lowered my expectations where that's concerned."

"Oh really, how so?" Somehow, he knew she was up to something… there was just something mischievous in her voice.

"Well, I've decided that from now on, any evening where my clothes stay intact and you're still on your feet qualifies as a fun evening."

There was a long silence before Lee looked over accusingly. "Okay, you did that on purpose that time."

Amanda tried her best to look innocent but didn't manage for long before she began to laugh. "Hey, a girl has to get her fun somewhere on a night out with you."

Lee gave an overly theatrical eye roll."Tell you what – I'll aim for those two and you aim for staying out of trouble. Deal?"

"Deal."