Just a short one here: This story's set a little while after "Promises To Keep". Enjoy!

You Have Been Warned

Francine was watching them, him and Amanda. Lee was well aware of that. He had known she would be keeping an eye on them the minute Amanda had told him that she had told Francine they'd broken it off. Francine was too smart – and too suspicious, it just came with the job – to take Amanda's word for it. Thus, Lee knew they had to be careful not to give themselves away. He also knew Francine would try to catch him on his own and make him tell her his version of the break-up story.

He managed to dodge her for a full week and a half, but then she finally caught him in the elevator, down on his way to Interrogation. She didn't say anything, at first. She only kept throwing glances at him. Lee found himself not only wishing but actually praying for the elevator to either go faster or stop and for someone else to enter the cabin. It didn't. The ride down to Interrogation never had seemed so long.

Lee was just about to tell Francine to spit it out when she finally spoke.

"So ... How are things with Amanda?" she asked.

Lee looked at her. It was impossible to tell what was going through her mind. Even after working with her for years, he still was baffled occasionally by how easy it was to read Francine Desmond some times while, at other times, she seemed to be locked up tighter than Fort Knox … Like now.

"I thought she told you she broke up with me," he said, not even trying to keep the impatience out of his voice.

"Ha!" Francine shook her head. "Our dearest Amanda may possess many hidden talents but lying isn't one of them."

"You didn't buy it?"

"Of course not". She gave him a somewhat amused look. "Nice try, though."

Lee shoved his hands in his pockets. "It wasn't my idea."

He tried to convey through his tone he didn't want to discuss the topic any further.

Francine obviously got the message. She wasn't dumb, after all. And just as obviously, she wasn't willing to back off. With a sigh, she hit the stop-button. The elevator ground to a halt. The lights flickered out and were replaced by red emergency lighting.

"What the ..." Lee took his hands out of his pockets and half turned to Francine.

"Alright, we have five minutes until the alarm goes off, so we better make this quick." She folded her arms across her chest. "How serious are you about Amanda?"

"What?"

Lee stared at her. Francine looked right back at him. He knew that expression. He had seen her use that look in interrogations, with great success, too. It meant she wouldn't budge until she got an answer.

"Why do you think it's any of your business?" he countered.

A good question, really, at least he thought so. Why was she so interested in this? It wasn't like her. She never had shown more than just a fleeting interest in whom he was dating and how long he was dating them. Unless, of course, she could use the information for one of her jabs.

Well, but they all were different, weren't they?

Or rather, Amanda was different. She wasn't anything like all the other girlfriends he had ever had. She was right in a way they had never been.

Francine kept looking at him, employing another of her interrogation tactics: silence. More often than not, when you remained silent, people felt compelled to fill that silence with words. It almost worked. Almost.

"Well?" Lee asked and folded his arms across his chest mirroring Francine's stance.

Several seconds ticked by. He could actually feel them pass. He knew they both could carry on like this for ages. At least until the alarm went off and the guards came to check on the elevator. He also knew Francine was well aware of that.

That was probably why after about half a minute had passed, she sighed once more and dropped her arms.

"Fine, "she said. "But if you ever tell anyone about this conversation I'll deny everything."

Lee nodded. "Alright."

He glanced at his watch. Three minutes before the alarm would go off.

"Well, as I already asked: How serious are you about Amanda?" Francine repeated her question. "Honest answer, please. I'll know if you're lying."

This was going to take them nowhere.

Lee was about to point out – again – that this was his private business and didn't concern her in the least when a thought struck him. He frowned.

"Francine, are you jealous of Amanda? Because I'm dating her?"

"What?" Francine stared at him. "Good heavens, no!" She laughed. "That's not what this is all about."

"Then what?" Lee demanded. He was really starting to lose his patience.

"I ..."

Francine took in a deep breath.

"I don't want her to go the way all your girlfriends have gone. She's not like them – she wouldn't get over it as easily as they did. Or I. And ..."
She hesitated, then went on: "And she deserves better than that, so unless you're really serious about this, you better end it right now, before a break-up causes too much damage."

Once more, Lee found himself staring at Francine. His first thought was that she was trying to drive him and Amanda apart. Because no matter what she was saying, if she couldn't have Scarecrow then nobody else could, even though she claimed she didn't want him anymore. That would be too easy and convenient an answer, however, and if he had learned anything during the years he had been working with her it was that Francine Desmond was anything but easy. You thought you had her all figured out and then she did something you just didn't see coming until it happened.

"Why would you care?" he asked. "I always thought you don't like Amanda."

Well, they seemed to be getting along better, recently, but he wouldn't exactly call them friends.

Francine shrugged.

"No particular reason", she said.

Lee shook his head. "Sorry but I don't buy that."

Because her expression had suddenly gone from determined to carefully neutral and it was all too obvious she didn't want to tell him. But if he was to spill it about Amanda – about how serious he really was – then he would only do so if Francine told him why it mattered so much to her.

"Well, then don't. You still haven't answered my question."

"You answer mine – I answer yours." Lee checked his watch. "Two minutes."

Francine folded her arms across her chest again and remained silent. Lee kept his eyes on his watch.

"One fifty."

The seconds ticked by.

"One forty."

"Alright, fine!" Francine threw her hands in the air and rolled her eyes at him. "If you must know ... Maybe I like her. Just a tiny little bit." She glared at him. "Your turn, Scarecrow."

Lee smiled.

A-ha!

"Was that really so hard to admit?" he asked.

"Yes." Another glare hit him. "You got one minute to answer my question."

It was Lee's turn now to take in a deep breath. Clear his throat.

"Well ..."

He moved his shoulders. The muscles felt slightly stiff.

Talking about hard to admit things ...

It was one thing to confess to Amanda he loved her and admit to himself he couldn't – wouldn't – live without her. It was another thing altogether to admit as much to someone else. Because telling someone else how he felt about Amanda would make it all the more real. If he did, there was no more denying it – not to himself and not to anyone else. He didn't know if he was ready for that.

"Well?"

Francine raised her eyebrows at him.

Lee sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"I know I've had my share of girlfriends but Amanda's different," he said. "She's special. It's ... I don't know how to put it in words."

He shook his head and smiled.

"I don't even know how long I've been feeling like this. For quite a while I thought we were just friends and then, one day, I realized there was more. It's ... I didn't know how to handle it because it's never happened before. But now ... Anyways, to answer your question: I'm as serious about Amanda as I'll ever get about anyone."

He glanced at Francine. She gave him a long, thoughtful look before she pressed a button to start the elevator again – seconds before the alarm went off. The lights came back on. The cabin continued its descent to Interrogation.

Lee waited for Francine to say something. She didn't. She turned to face the door and didn't even look at him anymore. Once again, he found it impossible to guess what was going through her mind. Was she surprised? Jealous? Hurt? Angry?

In any case, she didn't react the way Lee had expected. A tirade about how Amanda wasn't right for him – that was what he had expected to hear following his confession. About how he, the great Scarecrow, could fall for a plain and simple housewife from Arlington. How this would never work out. He actually would have welcomed Francine throwing a tantrum about his and Amanda's relationship because then, he could have argued that Amanda was anything but plain and simple. That she was, in fact, perfect and that he couldn't believe how much time he had wasted already.

You couldn't argue with silence, though.

The elevator slowed down.

Francine turned to him.

"Don't mess this up, Scarecrow", she said.

Her tone was at least two thirds warning and her look contained an unspoken "Or else ..."

The elevator doors slid open and gone she was before he had a chance to reply, brushing past Billy who obviously had been waiting for the elevator. He looked after her, then at Lee, raising his eyebrows in a silent question.

Lee stepped out of the elevator and put his hands in his pockets. He wasn't quite sure what had happened. What he thought had happened was that he had just been warned by Francine not to hurt Amanda. Which really felt so surreal he was expecting the Twilight Zone theme music to start playing any moment now. No matter now much her attitude towards Amanda had changed over the past few years he never would have expected Francine to get quite so protective.

"Scarecrow?"

Billy's question interrupted his train of thoughts.

Lee shook his head.
"Do you ever get the feeling", he said, "that you don't know her at all?"

"Who?" Billy asked. "Francine?"

Lee nodded.

Billy laughed.
"All the time, Scarecrow. Sure keeps things interesting, doesn't it?"

He patted Lee on the shoulder and entered the elevator.

Lee watched the doors slide closed then continued on to Interrogation still waiting for that Twilight Zone music.