Chapter 1

"Napoleon, I have to run down to the records for a few minutes." Illya said as he stood up and went out the door. "Be back in a while."

It didn’t take a genius to figure out that something was up. The phone had rung and Illya had been on it only ten seconds again, before leaving, again. Napoleon knew his partner too well not to have noticed all the trips he was making to the Records Department lately. And it was time to find out exactly what was going on. He waited five minutes before getting up and following Illya.

Napoleon told himself, after all this was his partner. If there was a problem, he needed to know about it and if Illya was working on some new project, he probably could use some help. And with THRUSH seemingly taking a sabbatical lately, Napoleon was bored.

He opened the door to the Records Department very slowly and slipped quietly into the room. There didn’t appear to be anyone there, so he walked quietly to the back of the room, behind the shelves of files. Turning the corner behind the files, he stopped dead in his tracks, in shock.

There was his very reserved, quiet partner wrapped up in the arms of some female, bestowing the most passionate kiss he had seen any time recently. If he hadn’t been so bored lately, Napoleon might have left but this was too tempting. "Hey kids, should I get you a room?" he quipped loudly.

The reaction was instantaneous. His partner broke the clinch and protectively moved the female behind him, while swinging around to glare at his partner.

"Napoleon, don’t you have anything better to do with your time?" Illya actually had a scowl on his face.

Napoleon knew that look though, his friend was embarrassed. "Wouldn’t you like to introduce me to your friend?" Napoleon ignored the look and walked towards them. "Hi there, I don’t believe we’ve met, I’m this gentleman’s partner and supposed best friend."

"Napoleon…."

Illya was cut off by one of the most musical voices Napoleon had ever heard. "Hi Napoleon, I’m Miranda, Miranda Martin." She stepped out from behind Illya and he saw that she was as beautiful as her voice was pretty. "I’ve heard a lot about you."

"That’s funny Miranda, you don’t mind if I call you Miranda do you? I’ve heard absolutely nothing about you." Napoleon was joking with her but Illya could see the hurt look on his face.

Just then both Napoleon and Illya’s communicator pens went off. They looked at each other for a second and Napoleon reached in to open his. "Solo here."

"Mr. Solo," Mr. Waverly’s voice was calm, "Exactly where is here?"

"Illya and I are in the Records Department sir, checking something out." Napoleon winked at Miranda. "Did you need us?"

"Yes Mr. Solo, could you both report to my office immediately."

"Yes sir, we’ll be right there." Napoleon closed his pen. "Well, it was nice meeting you Miranda, how would you and your friend here like to be my guests at dinner tonight. I’d like to learn more about you?"

Illya and Miranda looked at each other before Illya replied, "There’s no point in arguing with him, I never win." With a look of defiance on his face, Illya leaned back over to Miranda and gave her another kiss, not quite as passionate but just as effective before turning around and pushing his partner towards the door. "I’ll pick you up at your house at 6:00 okay?"

Napoleon heard Miranda say yes as the door was opened and he was pushed through it by his partner who closed it firmly after them.

"Illya…." Napoleon started.

"Not now Napoleon, we’ll talk after our meeting with Mr. Waverly, okay?" Illya just continued walking so his partner had no choice but to walk with him.

They arrived at Mr. Waverly’s office together, knocked and went in. He was sitting at his desk and one of his chairs was already occupied. "Gentlemen, please come in and have a seat. Do either of you know Doctor Howard?"

Napoleon and Illya looked at each other and both shook their heads. "No sir, we don’t," replied Napoleon.

Mr. Waverly continued, "Doctor Howard is the foremost chemist in England, and has recently relocated to New York. He will be working for U.N.C.L.E. occasionally, when he is needed for special analyses. We seem to need his assistance right now; it seems that THRUSH is back from their little vacation. The word is out that they’ve come up with a new drug, which they use for hypnosis. The problem is that unlike normal hypnosis, this drug allows people to do things they wouldn’t normally do."

"In other words, if someone wouldn’t normally kill, THRUSH can make them kill with this drug?"

"That is correct Mr. Kuryakin," was Waverly’s reply. "As far as we’ve been able to determine, the drug is still in it’s testing stages and your job is going to be to get us a sample. Doctor Howard has agreed to be on standby to analyze the drug and he will work up an antidote."

"Do we have any idea who or where THRUSH is developing this drug?" Napoleon was leaning forward, "Or do you want us to start beating the bush looking?"

"The only information we have so far Mr. Solo is that a new chemist is set up in the Warehouse District. I have the Research Department looking up property ownership and rental agreements, they’ve promised to have the information by morning. You gentlemen will start first thing tomorrow." Mr. Waverly finished. "That will be all for now gentlemen, enjoy your evening, you may be busy for a while."

Napoleon and Illya stood up, shook hands with Doctor Howard and left the room together. "Well thank goodness for that, I was afraid we were going to miss our date." Napoleon said with a smile on his face. Okay Tovarisch, give."

Illya gave him a withering look; "Can we at least get back to our office first?" He just continued walking giving Napoleon no opportunity to continue.

Illya opened the door of their office, walked over to his chair and sank down in it with an air of being ready for an interrogation. Napoleon casually strolled over to his chair, slid it around to face Illya and sat down.

"She seems very special," he said quietly, "Have you been seeing her very long?"

Illya looked at him strangely; this wasn’t what he had been expecting. "You’re not angry with me?"

"Why would I be angry with you?" Napoleon answered very calmly, "Aren’t you entitled to your private life? We’re partners you don’t owe me anything." He was trying very hard not to make Illya feel bad.

"Napoleon," Illya looked at the floor then met his friend’s eyes. "I met Miranda about four months ago. We were only friends talking poetry and novels until last month. Something just clicked between us. I didn’t quite know what to tell you about her."

"Well, tell me now," Napoleon questioned gently, "I don’t think I really need to ask this question but do you love her?"

"Why don’t you think you have to ask?" Illya looked at him questioningly.

"Illya, in all the years I’ve known you, I’ve never walked into any room and found you in any kind of romantic embrace. For you to forget about work and risk being caught, it has to be serious."

"I love her Napoleon," Illya’s voice was quiet but very forceful, "For the first time in my life nothing else really matters but her."

"Well, I’m happy for you," Napoleon responded, "I can’t wait for tonight to tell her all your little quirks." Illya threw him a dirty look, "Just kidding Tovarisch, would you rather be alone tonight?"

"No Napoleon, I think I’d like you to get to know her too." Illya got quiet again, "I’ve been considering marriage lately, I know my job isn’t conducive to a good marriage. She works for U.N.C.L.E., she knows my hours and she wants to be around me in spite of it. We’ve discussed my job before, she claims she could handle it. I would appreciate your opinion."

"Okay Tovarisch, I’ll make reservations, and no argument, dinner is on me. We’re celebrating, but after dinner I’m going to have an emergency so you can have dessert on your own, deal?" Napoleon’s voice was such that there was no way Illya could argue with him.

"Thank you Napoleon," Illya reached over and touched his arm, "I’m going to get out of here now, I want to get cleaned up before dinner and I have some shopping to do." He stood up and walked toward the door. "We’ll meet you at the restaurant at 6:30."

Chapter 2

Napoleon was waiting in their office the next morning when Illya walked in, or more descriptively floated in. "I take it the evening went well after I left Tovarisch?"

Illya finally looked at him, "Good morning Napoleon. And yes, the evening went fantastic."

"I like your girl," Napoleon was smiling at him "Did you get any sleep at all last night or should I be asking if you have any announcements this morning?"

"No announcements yet Napoleon," Illya was still grinning, "I’m going to meet her brother tomorrow. She lives with him and wants me to meet him first. I feel like a kid being taken home to meet the girls papa."

Napoleon had to laugh at that, "I wouldn’t know about that friend, I never get to meet the fathers unless they’re holding shotguns. I suppose we should get to work. Research has come up with four recent rentals and two recent purchases in the Warehouse District. I suppose we’re lucky we only have six places to check out."

"Do we have a plan?" Illya was totally down to business now.

"I figured we’d just go to each place, depending on what their business is, we find a way inside. If they won’t let us in, we’ll just have to come back later and get in on our own."

"Sounds good to me, let’s go."

Checking out the first four places on the list only took two hours. The first two rentals were brand new businesses the names on the rental agreements were the same names as the people operating the business and they were able to talk with them in person. The third rental and the first purchase were large unoccupied warehouses. They had managed to open windows and slip inside to check them out. They made notes to themselves to recheck them if none of the others panned out.

When they got to the third rental on the list, they discovered a lot of people coming and going carrying a great many big boxes.

Illya turned to Napoleon," I think I’ll go over and see if they’re hiring, I just can’t see you as a dock worker in that suit." He slipped quickly out of the car and strolled over to one of the men carrying a box into the building, who pointed him towards a large man standing on the loading dock.

Napoleon saw him talk to that man for about thirty seconds, before walking inside the warehouse. He was only inside about four minutes when Napoleon saw him being carried out the door between two large men. He was slumped over as though he was unconscious and the two men were headed for the edge of the pier. Not wanting the men at the warehouse to know they were being watched, Napoleon had to sneak out of the car. Staying against the buildings for cover he followed along behind waiting for the opportunity to help his partner. When suddenly the men stopped and threw Illya off the pier into the water. They turned back to the warehouse without even looking in his direction.

Napoleon waited until they went past and swiftly ran over to the edge of the pier, diving in to find his partner floating on the top of the water. He quickly lifted his head out of the water and reached over to his neck to find a strong pulse. He was alive, just unconscious. Treading water for a second he managed to flip Illya over, put his arm around him and swim with him back to the pier. Pushing him up before climbing up beside him. He slapped him gently on his cheeks until Illya started to stir.

Illya’s blue eyes opened up and look at him. Napoleon had to laugh, "Well, I take it that means they’re not hiring."

"Napoleon," Illya said quietly, "What happened?"

"Well," his friend replied, "I don’t know what happened inside the warehouse but outside the warehouse, they threw you in ocean. Did you see anything at all inside?"

"I didn’t get to see very much," Illya answered, "But I did see that they are setting up some kind of lab. There were two men standing over beside a bunch of chemical equipment."

"Did you recognize either one of them?" Napoleon questioned.

"I didn’t know them, but I will be able to recognize them if I see them again, the problem is they saw me too.

"You know Tovarisch, you’re going to have to be a little more careful," Napoleon was laughing again, "Because if you get yourself killed, I’m the one who’s going to have to explain to Miranda what happened."

Illya just glared at him. "Okay, well so much for Plan A, do we have a Plan B?"

Napoleon looked at him. "I think first we should get rid of these wet clothes, then I think we should arrange for a night time visit back to this warehouse. But I think we should run it all by Mr. Waverly first." He helped his partner up, walking him slowly back to the car and drove back to U.N.C.L.E. headquarters.

They had sent a message to Mr. Waverly that they had had some results so he was waiting for them in his office when they finished getting cleaned up. "Yes Gentlemen, I understand you found something?"

They explained to him what happened at the warehouse and their plan for returning that night to check it out.

"Would you gentlemen like some back up tonight," Mr. Waverly asked.

Napoleon looked at Illya, who shook his head, "Let me discuss that with Illya sir and I’ll get back to you." Illya looked at him as if he were nuts.

The stood up and left Mr. Waverly’s office together. They went straight back to their office; Napoleon nodded to his secretary as they walked by. He had barely closed the door before Illya stopped him, "What was that all about, we don’t need any help tonight?"

"I thought it might be better if you took tonight off, Tovarisch," Napoleon said walking over to his desk and sitting down. "After your injury this morning, it might be better if you rested."

"Napoleon, have you lost your mind?" Illya was angry now he was leaning over Napoleon’s desk, "What in the hell is going on with you? Does this have something to do with Miranda?"

"Illya, you are my friend I care about you and I just want to make sure you get your shot at happiness. Take a little time off and enjoy life. It won’t hurt anything here if someone else helps me tonight. You could have died today!"

This was about as emotional as Illya had ever seen Napoleon or heard him talk. "Napoleon, look," suddenly he was extremely calm. "I love you for what you’re trying to do, but both Miranda and I have discussed this. My life is going to continue on just as it always has and no one, this includes you, is going to try to change it. Okay?"

"Okay friend, I had to try." Napoleon took a quick breath, "What’s the plan for tonight?"

They sat down to plan the evening’s raid. Suddenly there was a gentle tapping on the office door. Napoleon stood up with an air of expecting somebody, walked over and opened up the door. It was Miranda. He greeted her with a kiss on the cheek, "Hello Miranda."

She kissed him back, "Thank you for the call Napoleon, I appreciate any time at all I can get with your partner," she said quietly.

Illya gave his partner a funny look.

"I figured you wouldn’t take the night off," Napoleon said, "But, I also figured I could get you out of here for a little while to at least spend some time with this lovely lady. Besides, if you don’t want to go, I’m always available." He laughed.

Illya looked at him again," Has anyone ever told you you’re a hopeless romantic?" He walked over and put his arm lovingly around Miranda’s waist. "We’ll be back in a couple of hours. Thank you." They walked out the door.

The trip to the warehouse that night was a total waste. They managed to break into the building with no problem, but discovered that the entire warehouse had been stripped. It was totally empty.

"Well, I guess we’re back to square one," Napoleon said. "I’ll put Research onto tracking down the owner’s name in the morning, we’ll see if we can’t find out where they’ve gone to. Oh, by the way, did you have a nice afternoon off?" he asked with a laugh.

Illya looked at him with the biggest smile on his face Napoleon had ever seen. He’d seen more emotion on the young Russian’s face in the last two days than he had seen in all of their time together.

"Yes, we had a wonderful afternoon," Illya replied, "We’ve decided we are going to get married. As soon as I talk to her brother tomorrow, we’re going to set a date."

Napoleon slapped him on the back. "That is the best news I’ve ever heard. Come on, let’s get out of here and celebrate, there’s nothing else we can do here tonight."

The following morning they were back to walking the streets, trying to find out where THRUSH might have moved the warehouse to. They had no luck at all and had to report back to Mr. Waverly that the entire day had been a total flop.

He had recommended they quit for the night and allow Research time to check things out and hope for more information from their sources. They walked back to their office together.

"What time are you meeting Miranda and her brother?" Napoleon asked Illya.

"We’re having dinner over at their house at 7:00." Illya replied, "How would you like to meet us afterwards for a drink so we can celebrate and you can meet Mark too?

His partner looked at him; "I’d like that very much. I’ll be at my place, just give me a call and I’ll meet you wherever you want. I’ll buy you guys the biggest bottle of champagne you’ve ever seen."

It was just beginning to get dark when Illya knocked on the door of Miranda’s house. She answered the door quickly and threw herself into his arms. "Hi there stranger," she said. "I missed you!"

"I missed you too," Illya replied before kissing her thoroughly. He put his arm around her waist and they walked through the door together. "Where’s your brother?" he asked.

"Oh he’ll be home anytime, he called to say he was held up at the lab." Miranda replied leaning over to kiss him again.

"At the lab?" he asked.

"Oh, didn’t I tell you, my brother’s a Chemical Engineer."

"No, we hadn’t ever gotten around to what he did for a living. Maybe there’s some way we can get him some work at U.N.C.L.E. sometime."

"Has anyone ever told you you’re very sweet…" Miranda was cut off as Illya pulled her into another clinch. "We’re going to have dinner out if that’s all right with you."

"That sounds perfect to me," he said nuzzling her neck, "I did tell Napoleon about our plans, he’d like to meet us later to celebrate." Walking with Miranda into the living room, they sat together on the couch.

"That would be wonderful," she replied breathing deeply, "I like your friend. I think I can count on him to always bring you home to me."

Illya leaned over to kiss her again as they heard the front door opening, but he wasn’t about to be interrupted, until they heard a voice from the doorway. "Well children…"

Illya looked up and stopped, trying to control the look of horror appearing on his face. It was one of the two chemists from the lab.

Miranda stood up, "Illya, I’d like you to meet my brother Mark. Mark, this is Illya."

Mark looked at him strangely as though he thought he should know him. But, he walked over with his hand out to shake Illya’s hand. Illya coming out of his momentary fog, reached out to take the man’s hand.

"It’s nice to finally meet you," Mark said, "I’ve heard a lot about you." He paused again as he got closer to Illya, looking at him strangely. "If you guys will excuse me for a few minutes, I want to get cleaned up before we leave for dinner."

Miranda looked at the both of them, feeling that there was something wrong, but not able to put her finger on it. "No problem."

Mark looked at his sister, "Miranda honey, why don’t you go fix us a drink while I get cleaned up, Illya here can help you." He walked out of the room.

Illya, looking calmly at Miranda said, "Mandy, where’s your restroom, then I’ll meet you in the kitchen, okay?"

She pointed him to the restroom and walked into the kitchen.

Illya walked into the restroom, closing the door swiftly and whipping out his communicator. "Open Channel D."

Mr. Waverly’s voice came back, "Yes, Mr. Kuryakin?"

"I need you to get a message to Napoleon as soon as possible, I’m at Miranda’s…"

Suddenly the door flew open. Mark was standing in the doorway, pointing a gun right at Illya’s head. "I’d put that down if I were you." He said with venom in his voice. "I knew I recognized you."

Illya lowered his communicator and set it on the counter being careful not to make any sudden moves and raised his hands over his head. "What in the hell is this all about?" he asked, putting as much anger in his voice as he could, hoping he could bluff his way out.

Mark laughed, "I don’t think I need to explain it to you, I thought we had finished our explanations to you at the warehouse yesterday. Now come on out of here and don’t make any funny moves, I know how to use this."

Illya walked into the living room, Mark right behind him with the gun shoved against the back of his neck.

Miranda was just coming back into the room, carrying a tray of drinks. "Mark," you could hear the shock in her voice, "What are you doing?" The tray of drinks fell to the floor.

Her brother looked at her, "Miranda, I need you to do something for me. Illya and I have a problem to solve just between us. I need you to get out of here for a while."

Miranda looked at her brother in shock, "I don’t know what you think you’re doing, but there is absolutely no way I’m going anywhere without Illya. Would you please put that gun down and tell me what is going on."

"Miranda," Mark said, "I’m your brother, "If you’ve ever loved me, you have to leave right now!"

His voice had an urgency to it that made Illya realize what was going on. "Mandy, hone, Mark’s right, you need to leave right now."

She looked at Illya; she was scared now because she knew something terrible must be happening for him to want her gone.

"Miranda, there are people coming here that you can’t see or meet." Mark looked her right in the eyes; "You need to be gone, now."

Illya turned to Miranda, "Please lyubovnik (lover), go now!"

"Illya, I won’t leave you," she turned to Mark, "Mark, we’re going to be married, I don’t know what you’ve done, but it’s nothing we can’t help you get out of. Now put that gun down and we’ll all get out of here together."

"Miranda," Mark said, "It’s too late for that, I can’t." Mark backed up to the corner of the living room where he had put some rope. Picking it up he tossed it to his sister, "Miranda, tie him to that chair and do it right because I’m going to check it."

She looked at him like he’d lost his mind, "Mark are you crazy, I’m not going to do that."

"Look Miranda," he said, "you have two choices, you either time him up to that chair right now, or I’m going to put a bullet in his head."

Illya solved the whole problem by sitting in the chair, "Mandy, do what he says. Honey, your brother works for THRUSH. They’re probably on their way here now to get me. He’s been working on a new hypnosis formula for them, that’s the case Napoleon and I have been working on." He put his hands behind the chair and she slowly began tying him up. Illya knew they had one chance, Napoleon would have gotten a message from Mr. Waverly by now and would be on his way. He just had to keep the situation calm until Napoleon got here and pray he got here before THRUSH.

When Miranda finished tying Illya to the chair, she knelt in front of him, laying her head against his chest. "Illya, what’s going to happen?"

"I’m not sure," he said, leaning his head on hers, "But no matter what, I want you to promise me you’ll stay out of it. Mark should be able to keep you safe, you’re his sister."

She looked back at him with tears in her eyes; "I’m not going to let anything happen to you." She stood up and went to face her brother. "How could you work for THRUSH? Don’t you know what they’re like?"

Mark looked at her, "Miranda, for once in my life, I’m working with people that appreciate me and I’m doing something I want to do. You stay out of it. If you hadn’t started dating an Enforcement Agent we wouldn’t have any problems now."

"We’re not dating Mark, Illya’s asked me to marry him and I said yes. I love him!" she practically screamed at him. "You can’t do this to us."

"You know Miranda, it’s finally come down to a choice."

"A choice?" she looked at him strangely, "What do you mean?"

"A choice between him or me," Mark said softly, "Only one of us is going to leave this room alive, it’s your choice Miranda."

"Don’t make me make that choice Mark, you’re not going to like the answer." Miranda looked at her brother with a look of loathing on her face. "I told you, I love Illya. Now that I know what you could do for a living and that you could kill the man I love, do you really think I give a damn about you?"

You could see the shocked look on his face. He hadn’t expected that response.

Suddenly there was a noise at the front door. "Well," said Mark, "It looks like it didn’t matter what choice you made. My friends are here, now get out of the way. They won’t hurt you." He pushed her away.

Miranda walked back over to stand beside Illya, as the front door was thrown open. It was Napoleon, "Freeze," he said, pointing his gun at Mark. But it was a standoff because Mark had his gun pointed at Illya’s head.

"Miranda, move out of the way lyubov, just get down on the floor," Illya pleaded with her. While Mark’s attention had been on Napoleon, Illya had managed to loosen his hands, he was waiting for his opportunity, but he had to Miranda out of the way. "Miranda, baby please move. Just stay out of this."

Miranda was watching her brother intently, not even hearing Illya. She saw his finger beginning to tighten on the trigger.

Illya’s arms came up, just as Miranda dove across him, throwing her arms around his neck and covering his body with hers. Mark pulled the trigger twice, both bullets going into Miranda’s back, just as Napoleon fired once, putting a bullet in his brain.

"Miranda," Illya’s scream was anguished. He caught her as she fell, lifting her up and carrying her over to the couch, holding her tightly. "Miranda….."

Napoleon had checked Mark to be sure he was dead, before running over to his friend. He knelt down in front of them, lifting up the back of Miranda’s shirt to check her wounds.

Illya saw the answer in his eyes before he shook his head. He continued to hold her tenderly, "Mandy."

She opened her eyes slowly, looking up at him and smiled.

"Miranda, why, why couldn’t you do what I said?" Illya’s voice broke.

"Because, my Illyusha," she said quietly, "The world is a much better place with you in it and I love you." She turned her head just a little, looking up at Napoleon, "Napoleon, please take care of him for me. He’s going to need you for a while and he won’t admit it." She looked back towards Illya; he leaned down to gently kiss her on the lips as her eyes closed.

Illya held her to himself, not making a sound, just gently rocking her. Napoleon looked at him for a minute then walked towards the front door, getting his communicator out to call for backup.

Napoleon walked up to the door of Illya’s apartment twenty-four hours later. He didn’t bother to knock because he knew he’d get no response. Just using his emergency key and letting himself in. He found his friend sitting at the kitchen table, staring at an open untouched bottle of vodka. There was an engagement ring sitting beside the bottle, still sitting in its box.

Illya looked up as his partner walked into the room. "Napoleon," he said quietly, "I’m not in the mood for company."

Napoleon just looked at him and walked over, setting a bag of fast food in front of him. "I’m not here for company, I brought you lunch. Also, you needed to know, we found the formula for the hypnosis drug at Mark’s, it’s over. He walked over to a chair in the far corner of the room and sat down.

Illya looked at him strangely, "What are you doing?"

"I’m not doing anything," his friend replied, "I’m here. You don’t have to talk to me; you don’t even have to acknowledge I’m here. But, if you need somebody, just let me know."

Illya walked over and stood in front of his friend. Napoleon stood up. "I loved her you know." Illya said.

"I know," Napoleon answered, "What’s more important, she knew."

Illya leaned forward and lay his head on his friend. Napoleon put his arms around his friend’s shoulders and held him as he finally cried for what he had lost.

The End
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