Chapter Text
"What's this?" Billy asked Amanda, taking the paper she handed to him across his desk.
"It's Dr. Scardelli's instructions for Lee," she answered.
Billy tried to decipher the surgeon's scrawl; he could just about make out that it prescribed five days of bedrest.
Amanda continued to explain, "But you see, sir, he left it behind in the hospital. I don't think he's going to pay it any mind at all. And, well, I thought, maybe…"
"You thought maybe I could knock some sense into him?" Billy finished for her.
Amanda nodded. "You know how he is," she agreed with a shrug.
Billy considered the note in his hands. It was almost a gift. Scarecrow took less vacation than he used to. He suspected the reason why was sitting across from him, since most of the time off requests used to be for long weekend getaways with lady friends. But if Lee was doing anything else to relax these days, Billy hadn't seen any evidence of it. Lee needed a break from the job; Billy could use a break from Lee. Oh, Scarecrow was one of the best, of course, and a good friend to boot. But all his best agents were bad for his blood pressure. They caused too much trouble. He used to be able to count on Scarecrow to volunteer for a few missions abroad every year to give him a reprieve. Lee would still go, if there was a good reason for it, but he'd wrangle to stay in DC if he could. Billy felt that Amanda was to blame for that, too.
Well, if Mrs. King was the reason Scarecrow stopped going out of town, then she could be the reason he stayed out of the office for a week.
"I'll take care of it," Billy assured her.
He handed the paper back across his desk with a smile. Scarecrow wouldn't follow the doctor's orders or Billy's without supervision, and he had just the right idea to keep his agent in line.
"Let's go get him," Billy said. "You give that back to him, and leave the rest to me."
Yes, a temporary promotion for Mrs. King to AOS-16 - exactly high enough to give Lee orders - would be just the thing. It was hard not to laugh.