Author's Note: Here's another short little one-shot based on one of my favorite scenes from the third season.

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

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Amanda was about to leave the Q Bureau with her report on William Towne in hand when she was stopped by Lee's voice.

"Oh, Amanda," he said with just a hint of mischief in his tone.

"Yeah?" Amanda replied as she turned toward him finding herself a little disconcerted by the impish dimpled smile on his face.

"Hypothetically speaking, how would you rate me?" He asked his smile widening.

Amanda paused for only a second as she thought of what to say to wipe that smirk off his face. "I wouldn't," she replied, paused for a beat, grinned and him and added in a saucy tone, "Not yet." As soon as she said it, she hastily made her way out the door, smiling smugly as she'd seen his smile disappear just before exiting, insanely happy that she'd gotten one over on him. There, she thought with a firm nod of her head. Let him stew about that one for a while the he makes me stew with his flirting. See how he likes it.

Alone in the Q Bureau, Lee shook his head, a puzzled look on his face, and said, "Not yet? What the hell is that supposed to mean?" With the look on her face when she'd said it, he almost thought she was talking about...NO, Lee thought to himself, trying to quash that idea right away. But what the hell else would she be talking about? He shook his head again. No, this is Amanda King we're talking about, wholesome, suburban mother of two. He frowned as another thought crossed his mind, How do you think she became a mother, you idiot? He argued with himself.

"I have got to stop thinking about this," he said aloud as he tried to focus on the investigation in front of him. The Russians didn't have Bob Abernathy, so who did they have? He stared at the file in front of him, but it made even less sense to him than it had before. Maybe Amanda could take a look at it for him. She was really good at spotting things that other people missed. That thought brought him back to his disturbing thoughts of what she meant by the comment she made as she hustled out the door. She couldn't possibly have meant what it sounded like, could she? If she did then she was basically saying, "Come and get it" As much as he might like to, he wasn't sure that they were ready for that. Sure, they'd been out a few times and he already knew there was no one else that he wanted to be with besides her, but taking that next step... He decided that he had to find out.

Lee bolted from his chair hastily the force of it knocking the chair backward with a loud thunk. He was not deterred by it though as he made his way out of the office, trotted down the hall and practically jumped down the stairs. Seeing the matriarch at the front desk, he stopped and asked, "Mrs. Marston, did you see where Amanda went?"

"Elevator," Mrs. Marston answered with a nod of her head toward the closet door that hid the elevator leading to the bowels of the agency. "She said she had to see Mr. Melrose."

"Good," Lee said breathing a sigh of relief that she hadn't left the building. "Thanks," he added almost as an afterthought as he opened the door to get into the elevator. "Come on," he said impatiently, fidgeting nervously as he began what felt like the slowest elevator descent in history. When the elevator stopped on the desired floor, he barreled out of it and toward the bullpen nearly knocking over Fred Fielder who was just exiting through the glass doors.

"Whoa, Scarecrow, where's the fire," Fred said.

"Sorry, Fred. Man on a mission," Lee said as he moved past him only letting the collision stop him for mere seconds as he marched resolutely through the bullpen toward Billy's office. He was about to enter when the door opened and the object of his mission appeared with a smile on her face.

"This is really excellent work, Amanda," Billy said indicating the thick folder in his hands with a proud smile as he held opened the door of his office for her.

"Thank you very much, Sir," she said as she smiled back at him.

"Did you need something, Scarecrow?"

"I was...uh...I was...uh...just looking for Amanda, actually," he stammered nervously.

"Okay," Billy said with a knowing smile as he closed the door behind them.

"You were looking for me?" Amanda said her eyes dancing in amusement. Gotcha, she thought.

"Uh...yeah...What are you doing right now?"

"I was actually just heading out for the day. Billy told me now that I've got my report on Mr. Towne turned in that I could take off. Why? What's up? Do you need me?" She smiled at him sweetly awaiting his response.

God, yes, he thought. He took a deep breath and said, "I...uh...was just hoping that we could...you know...talk...I mean...If you have a minute. But if you have to go home, we can do it another time."

"Well, I do have to get home to help Jamie with his science project..." Lee's face fell at her words. Amanda couldn't help but smile at knowing that she'd gotten to him, but she decided to reward him for at least making an effort. "...But you could walk me to my car. We could talk on the way."

"Okay," he said smiling again as he took her hand in his and led her out of the bullpen.

When they reached the corridor and paused to wait for the elevator, Amanda asked, "So, what did you want to talk about?"

"Well, when you left the office, you...uh...you said...um...that you wouldn't rate me yet." The elevator doors opened then, giving Lee a much-needed moment to compose himself as they stepped into it.

"And?" Amanda probed as the elevator doors closed, her amusement at his discomfort growing.

"What exactly did you mean by that?"

"What did I mean by that?"Amanda asked knowing it made him crazy when she answered his questions by repeating the question.

Lee glared at her and said, "Why do you always do that?"

"Why do I always do what?" Amanda replied innocently.

"Damn it, Amanda. You know damn good and well what I'm talking about! Why can't you just simply answer a question?"

The doors opened and Amanda said, "Oh, look, this is my stop." She stepped out and walked through the Georgetown foyer toward the door.

Lee quickly caught up with her, grabbed her arm and spun her around to face him, then growled, "Amanda King, you are the most maddening, the most infuriating and the most stubborn woman I have ever met in my life!"

"Me? Stubborn? No," Amanda said with a flirty smile.

Mrs. Marston peered at them over her glasses and said, "Do you two mind taking your little lovers' quarrel somewhere else?"

"We're not lovers," Lee said, just as Amanda said, "This isn't a quarrel."

Mrs. Marston didn't miss a beat and replied, "Whether you are or aren't, take it someplace else."

Lee nodded with his head toward the door. Amanda took his cue and they both stepped through it and began walking toward where her car was parked. "So, are you going to answer my question or not?"

"Which question? You've asked me several," she said with a mischievous grin, thoroughly enjoying the flustered expression on his face.

"A-MAN-da," he said in an exasperated tone just as they reached her car.

"Yes?" she said flashing him another innocent-looking smile.

Lee sighed in frustration. "Look, I just want to know what you meant by that crack you made upstairs."

"What crack?"She said obtusely.

"I give up. I just give up," Lee said running a hand through his hair.

"Okay, look," she said placing a calming hand on his arm. "You really want to know what I meant by it?"

"Yes!"

"Well, what I meant is that even though we've been seeing each other for a few months now, there are still a lot of things..." she paused and gave him an alluring smile, "...that I don't know about you and until I do, I wouldn't be able to give you a fair rating,"

"What kind of things?"Lee said as he inched closer to her that smile of hers driving him crazy.

"I think you know," she said, kissed him quickly on the cheek and got into her car.

"What? That's it," Lee said throwing his hands up in the air.

Amanda rolled down the car window, poked her head through and said, "You're a spy. You're supposed to be good at investigating, so think of this as just another investigation."

Lee couldn't help but laugh at the thought of "investigating" Amanda. "So, are we still on for dinner Friday night?"

"Pick me up at seven," Amanda said as she backed her station wagon out of its space.

Lee watched as she drove out of sight, shaking his head, but unable to stop the grin that had spread across his face.