Catch that Bat! (March 31, 2000)
 At the hunting lodge, Alex is leaping around the room with a tennis racquet while an unseen bat screeches overhead. Alex has a sheet draped over her shoulder and is waving the racquet wildly in the air. Edmund then arrives to find the whole living room dark.

Edmund (entering without knocking): "Alex, you here?"

Alexandra (turns, whispering harshly): "No. Close the door... quick!"

Edmund (stumbling towards her in the darkness): "Where are you?"

Alexandra: "Here."

Edmund: "Where?"

Alexandra: "Here."

Edmund (bumping into the couch): "Ow. Oh, man. Can we let some light in here?"

Alexandra (quickly): "No. They like the dark. Here. You're going to need this." (She hands him the tennis racquet.) "Okay, you take that corner, and I'll take this. And then when he comes out, we throw the sheet over him and we shoo him out."

Edmund: "Shoo who?"

Alexandra: "The bat. He flew down the chimney, and now he won't leave."

Edmund (smiles, finally catching on): "Did you invite him for a Bloody Mary? No wonder you're raising a racket."

Alexandra (not amused): "Oh, that's so funny."

Edmund: "It's just a rat with wings. Unless you're afraid of a flying rat." (He tickles the back of her head with his hand, causing her to scream and cringe as she thinks it was the bat.)

Alexandra (realizing it was Edmund, who's laughing): "I'm a doctor. I don't need this. Okay. Come on." (She holds her head down and blindly swings the racquet above her head as the bat flies overhead. Edmund's laughing again. Alex starts hyperventilating.)

Edmund: "Alex, breathe." (He jumps around with the sheet trying to catch the bat. Alex screams when the bat flies by again.) Okay, okay, okay. All right, all right. All right, I got him. I see him. Here... grab... grab an end of the sheet. We'll herd him out, all right? Grab an end. Alex?" (She's still blindly swinging the racquet and ducking, ignoring Edmund. He glances over and is amused.) "You're a big help." (He goes off trying to catch the bat. She finally looks up and backs up while swinging the racquet before her.)

Alexandra (breathless): "All right, where is he?" (She backs up almost to Edmund's back and grabs his coat tail with one hand while swinging the racquet with the other hand.)

The scene fades out, then returns. The front door's wide open. Alex is swinging the racquet about, while Edmund's gone. She runs across the room, swings, and ends up smashing two glass decanteurs instead of the bat. Edmund walks in just then.
Edmund (teasing): "Nice backhand."

Alexandra: "Where the hell have you been?"

Edmund (who's holding a net): "You want to catch a bat, you need the right equipment."

Alexandra (aggravated): "I don't want to catch it. I want to get rid of it." (They look at one another, nod heads and start circulating around the room trying to get the bat.)

Edmund (joking): "Well, maybe if it's a boy bat, we could get a girl bat to lure it out."

Alexandra: "If it's a fruit bat..."

Edmund (referring to her joke): "Don't go there."

Alexandra (thinking he's talking about the bat's location): "Where?"

Edmund: "There."

Alexandra (glancing about for the bat): "Where?"

Edmund: "There." (Alex mouthes "Where?" The bat screeches again and they turn towards the door.) "There!" (He moves towards it with the net.)


Alexandra (gasps, pointing with the racquet): "Oh. Don't let it get away." (Edmund stops, confused.) "I mean let it get away." (They start chasing it again.) "Shoo, shoo. Shoo, shoo, shoo, shoo, shoo!" (The bat circles back, Alex screams "Ah!" and ducks to the floor. Edmund ducks too.)

Edmund (as the bat flies out the door): "He's going, he's going. He's gone!" (He shuts the door and Alex breathes in relief. He laughs at her.) "Chicken." (He drops the net and turns to her. She holds up her racquet to against his throat and he walks backwards, hands out in surrender, amused by her attempt at a threat. He says in a Jack Nichols imitation, quoting from The Shining) "Give me the bat, Wendy. Give me the bat, Wendy. I'm not going to hurt you. I'm just going to..." (He grabs her hand and pulls her into his arms laughing.)

The scene fades out, then returns later. Guy is sitting alone in the barn office, holding a cup, and reflecting on his previous conversations with Alex.
Guy: "The horse have a name?"

Alexandra: "No. No, we didn't name him yet. I don't know... we've been... well, I was thinking maybe we could call him Maximillian after this horse that we both loved, but it doesn't seem right."

Guy: "Something happen to Maximillian?"

Alexandra: "Yeah, he got injured... had to be put down."

Guy: "Oh, that's a shame. So, what's your second choice?"

Alexandra: "Scorpio. Yeah."

Guy reflects on another scene. Here, he's whistling Waltzing Matilda.
Alexandra: "What's that song? 

Guy then reflects on another scene.
Alexandra: "You said, "I can see you just want to get on with your life."

Guy: "Correct. What's your response?"

Alexandra (furious): "Who the hell are you?" (Guy stops reflecting on these past events when he notices that an response to his email is appearing on the laptop- "Message subject: A Devane, Request to terminate... delayed. Attempt to regain trust. If attempt fails, termination may be necessary." Guy closes the laptop, grabs his coat, and leaves.

The scene fades out, then returns back to the lodge. Alex is still in Edmund's arms, though they move away from each other a little bit. 
Edmund: "You're a paradox, you know that?"

Alexandra (smiling): "Don't be rude."

Edmund: "You take down a man in a mall with a gun, but a little bat just drives you crazy."

Alexandra (puckers her lips and moves the racquet in front of her face): "I was absent the day they taught Bat Tai Bo. I guess it's not funny, really."

Edmund (taps her nose lightly wit his finger and then lets her out of his arms): "You know, when Dimitri and I were in the aqueduct and it was filling up with water... it was up to my neck... you know what he did? He cracked jokes, nonstop. I thought I was going to drown from laughing."

Alexandra: "But you're here nonetheless."

Edmund: "Yes, I am. And someday we're all going to laugh about this, too."

Alexandra: "Thank you for rescuing me."

Edmund: "My pleasure, ma'am."

Alexandra (sighs and puts the racquet down): "Guess we'd better tidy this place up."

Edmund: "I would say." (He begins tying back the curtains as she starts picking up the mess. Someone knocks on the door.)

Alexandra (staring at the door, teases): "He's back."

Edmund (moving to answer the door): "Bats don't knock. Do they?"

Alexandra (laughs): "I don't know."

Guy: "Ah, hey." (He stops, surprised by the mess.) "Am I interrupting?"

Alexandra: "No, come in."

Guy (looking around): "You got burgled?"

Alexandra: "Oh."

Edmund: "Bat wrangling."

Alexandra: "Yeah. It gets really messy."

Edmund: "Yeah."

Alexandra: "Don't try it."

Guy: "You want a hand?"

Edmund: "I tell you what... I'm glad you came because..." (He goes over, opens a drawer, and pulls out a brush and dust pan.) "...you can have guano patrol."

Guy: "Just like back in the army. Ooh. Look at this." (He moves off to clean up.)

Alexandra (to Guy): "Sorry it's a bit of a mess." (The phone rings.)
 
Edmund: "Here. Give me that."

Alexandra (answers the phone): "I got it. Hello. Oh, hi, Jackson. Yeah, I'm going to be here for the next couple of hours. Edmund, are you around?" (Edmund stops and listens to her conversation.)

Edmund: "Yeah, sure."

Alexandra: "Yeah, sure, come by. All right."

Edmund (rubbing his hands together): "What did Jack want?"

Alexandra (arms crossed): "It's about the Bryn Wydd Sanatorium in Wales." (Guy pretends to be cleaning off his brush while he's actually eavesdropping on their conversation.)

The scene fades out, then returns later. There's a knock on the lodge door as Guy is dumping broken glass into a trash can.
Alexandra (rushing over to open the door): "I think this is Jackson. Hi."

Jackson (who heard Alex's comment as she was opening the door): "I think you're right. Hello, Alex. How are you? Edmund. Hope this isn't a bad time."

Edmund: "Jack."

Alexandra: "Well, that really depends on what you've got."

Jackson (who's not yet noticed Guy): "Well, what I've got..."

Edmund (interrupts him to let Jack know that Guy is in the room. To Guy): "Have you met Jack? Guy Donahue, our new stable manager, Jackson Montgomery."

Jackson (holding his hand out to shake Guy's hand): "Hi. Nice to meet you."

Guy (holds his hands up defensively): "Plea... I'm a little guanoed up here."

Jackson: "Well, then let's do this later."

Guy (to Alex): "Do you mind if I wash up?"

Alexandra (points the way): "No, right through there. Go ahead."

Guy: "Yeah. Oh... thanks." (He walks into the hallway, stops and eavesdrops on their conversation.)

Edmund: "Jack?"

Jackson: "I got a hold of my contact at the British State Department, see if I could expedite the release of your medical files."

Edmund: "And?" (Alex moves over to stand next to Edmund.)

Jackson: "I also asked him to look into the details surrounding the death of Sir Geoffrey Ashford."

Alexandra: "What did you find out?"

Jackson: "I found out that somebody, Alex, is lying." (Camera pans to Guy, who's listening intently.)

The scene fades out, then back later.
Jackson: "My contact tells me her Majesty's government never issued an order to seal your medical records."

Edmund: "Then who sealed them?"

Jackson: "Well, now, that's a very good question."

Edmund: "Well, then why did the Bryn Wydd Sanatorium tell us otherwise?"

Alexandra: "What do my records have to do with Geoffrey Ashford's death, anyway?"

Jackson: "They're all very good questions. Unfortunately, I don't have any very good answers for you. And believe me, I poked and I prodded. I even called an old friend of mine who's a barrister at the Old Bailey to see what he could find out."

Alexandra: "What did he say?"

Jackson: "Well, all he could find out was that evidently the details surrounding the demise of Ashford are the British equivalent to our area 51."

Alexandra: "Is my name affiliated in any way?"

Jackson: "Well, that's the interesting..." (He stops when Guy walks into the room.)

Guy (pointing to the spot he was cleaning up before): "I'll just finish up."

Edmund: "That's all right, Guy. You can go. No, don't worry about it."

Alexandra: "I'll be down to the stables later."

Guy: "Okay." (To Jack) "Nice meeting you, Gov."

Jackson: "Nice to meet you." (The trio don't say anything until Guy leaves. Edmund opens the door and looks out, making sure that Guy's gone, then closes the door again and rejoins the conversation.) "Alex, the fact is your name was never mentioned in connection with Geoffrey Ashford or pertaining to his death or in any official dispatches that the British government deemed classified. So whoever it was at Bryn Wydd that told you that your medical records were sealed, frankly, they were lying to you."

Alexandra: "Why would they do that?"

Jackson: "I wouldn't even care to speculate."

Edmund: "Maybe there's one way to clear this up."

Jackson: "What's that?"

Edmund: "Dr. Griffith heads the sanitarium. Just fire off an e-mail to him." (To Alex) "You game?"

Alexandra (motions to her laptop): "Please. Go right ahead." (Edmund goes over and noisly types away on the laptop.)

The scene fades out, then returns later. Jack and Alex are seated on the couch, watching Edmund who's typing on the laptop.
Edmund: "Five to ten we get an answer from Griffith."

Alexandra: "He may not tell us why he lied about my records being sealed, though."

Jackson: "Yeah, but there's always other avenues we can go down, so ..."

Edmund: "Absolutely. We're going to get to the bottom of this. Don't you worry."

Alexandra (to Jack): "You know what? While we're waiting, do you want to go down to the stables, see our new horse?"

Jackson: "I'd love to get some air, even at the stables." (They stand up.)

Alexandra: "Okay."

Jackson: "Oh... hey, listen, speaking of horses, I just got a new picture sent to me by my daughter Lily." (He pulls out a photo from his coat pocket.) "There she is astride a horse. Now, that doesn't mean anything to you, but my daughter's autistic and she used to be scared to death of animals, all animals. Now they've put her in this program where they put autistic kids with an animal. Now they can't get her off this horse's back. She's terrific, Alex. She's beautiful."

Alexandra (looking at the photo that Jack's given her): "She's gorgeous. She's a good rider."

Jackson (taking the photo back from Alex): "Yeah, yeah. She's here in a few weeks for a short visit, and, frankly, I'm counting the seconds."

Edmund: "Bring her down to the stables. We'll have her ride."

Jackson: "That's very nice of you. She'd, she'd absolutely love that."

Edmund (hearing the computer whirling): "Hello." (He turns back to the computer which beeps and then announces in a metalic tone "Abort the search. Repeat... abort the search." Edmund leans back, confused by the message, then turns round to look at Alex, who's squinting hard, staring at the computer.)