Chapter Text
A cruel ringing of the phone woke Gaby up. There was a forest and juggling bear in her dream and now it all vanished to the dark room like a steam. The phone rang again and Gaby grabbed it with difficulty.
“Hello,” she mumbled into the phone.
“Is Jimmy there?” a voice from the other end of the line asked.
“There’s no Jimmy here,” Gaby said apologetically and turned the bedside lamp on.
“I must have the wrong number,” the voice said, “I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay,” Gaby reassured and put the phone down. Then she pushed the blanket away and pulled her striped dressing gown over her pajamas. She rushed to yank her shoes on, grabbed her keys and ran out of the apartment.
Brisk wind waved her dressing gown and penetrated her skin through the thin pajamas. But Gaby didn’t have time to worry about that. Jimmy meant urgent. She rushed down the stairs to the street and started to run. She ran to the end of the street, then turned left, next right, another one right and then straight ahead. Her mouth tasted like iron and she could hear the phone ringing. Gaby rushed to the phone booth on the dark street and picked up the shaking phone.
“Autumn is late this year,” a woman’s voice said on the phone.
“It doesn’t matter,” Gaby panted, “because I like summer.” Gaby heard the low rattle when the line was connecting again. Then a familiar voice spoke in her ear.
“So sorry about the time, Gaby,” Waverly apologized, “But there is a matter of two misplaced agents, and you are in the right place and qualified to handle the job.”
“Yes,” Gaby sighed and tried to calm her breath. “What’s happened?”
“Well it’s the Frauthberg case. I sent two agents to check this factory where there might be some trafficking happening. And then, unfortunately, there were quite a few more people there than our original inquiry showed. So there was some hassle and now our friends have disappeared somewhere. I have no doubt that they are just fine, but we really can’t find them. There are no working trackers and I really don’t know how they think or where they would head in that sort of a situation.”
“How will I know?” Gaby asked. ”Who did you send?”
“I sent our friends from other agencies, Solo and Kuryakin,” Waverly said. “I thought I’d already told you that. Maybe I just assume that you would know who I was talking about. “
“Right,” Gaby muttered. It was so like Napoleon and Illya to get in trouble just when she had some days off. She wedged the phone between her cheek and shoulder and pulled the dressing gown tight around her. She was freezing. She really did like summer more.
“So your team is somewhere lost and I need you kindly retreat them to home safely,” Waverly said. “I will contact you in the morning.”
“Yes,” Gaby huffed.
“I do find it strange that the CIA’s finest and KGB’s best are always giving me troubles,” Waverly pondered on the phone. ”And I will of course reimburse your days off.”
“Thank you,” Gaby said. Waverly gave her the address to the factory. It was up to her to find Napoleon and Solo based on that. Gaby ended the call and hurried home. She didn’t run anymore. Illya and Napoleon just had to survive without her running.
She threw her dressing gown on an armchair and yanked her red coat on instead. She wrapped a scarf around her neck and checked that her gloves were in her coat pockets. She grabbed an apple and car keys and ran out again.
Gaby rushed down the street, but slowed down when she reached her car. She slid her fingers against its shiny and smooth bonnet. It was so cold. Gaby smiled and sighed as her hand moved along the rough surface in the canvas ceiling. She loved her car. Her lovely red Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider. She got it cheap and badly kept, but after pouring her love to it, it was magnificent. Gaby glanced around, and because the street was still deserted while everybody was peacefully sleeping, she pressed herself against her car, opened her arms and hugged it.
“I love you,” Gaby whispered and pressed her lips gently to the cold surface of her Spider. Smiling she pushed herself away and stepped in. She stroked the black leather interior slowly, like there was no rush. Finally Gaby pushed the key in and the Spider growled alive. She drove slowly so that the neighbours wouldn’t wake up. A few roads further she changed to a new gear and let her car run the streets. Gaby drove out of the city and raced happily when dirt road started under her Spider. She let it slide into the curves.
“Good girl,” Gaby praised the car and sped on. Closer to the factory she stopped to look the map. Now where would those two go after escaping the factory, Gaby pondered. She assumed they would be heading east, but not towards the main road. It would be too obvious. No, they would head to the smaller roads nearby, making their way to civilization, covered by the forest. Gaby turned her Spider towards the area where she hoped to find her stupid boys. She turned the head lights off, there was enough moonlight to see by and stay in the road, but now she didn’t pull so much attention.
Somewhere in a small dirt road she stopped again. She checked the map to see where she actually was. Then she stepped out of to the car. She didn’t close the door all the way, because of the noise and walked few steps along the road. The problem was that she didn’t know if she was thinking like Napoleon and Illya. And if she was, was she still in a right place or at the right time? She didn’t want to attract too much attention, but she needed to do something to signal that she was there. Maybe they could find her. Then Gaby got an idea. She climbed back to her car, close the door gently and turn it on. She kept the lights out but opened the radio. She flipped through the stations in search of music she would like to dance to. Finally she founded a song that made her leg tap. This was good. It was music she would dance to in a hotel room, while Illya would get annoyed. It was perfect. She turned the volume up higher and rolled the windows open. Then she took her gun out of the glovebox and the apple out of her pocket. Now she would have to only wait.
It took almost twenty minutes before something happened. Gaby heard a branch breaking in the woods. She grabbed her gun and turned the music off. Gaby stepped out of the car and glanced at the forest around her. There were three choices; it could be someone who didn’t mind that she could hear them coming; there was somebody who just couldn’t move silently; or there was an animal of some sort.
Gaby hoped that it wouldn’t be an animal. She had really liked the juggling bear but she didn’t want to meet it here in the dark. And someone who couldn’t move quietly wasn’t a problem either. She could handle that.
A new snap made Gaby turn around and pointing her gun in the dark woods. She could see someone moving.
”We could hear the music and Peril immediately didn’t like it,” Napoleon said as he was stepping over small bush. “So I knew it had to be you.”
Gaby huffed and lowered her gun.
“So good to see you,” Napoleon said as he got to the road.
“Waverly called,” Gaby told. “Apparently you have been causing some trouble and gray hair to him.”
“It’s good to know we can keep Waverly in his toes,” Napoleon said, smiling.
Illya stepped onto the road and just nodded in Gaby’s direction.
“Get in the car, I’m freezing,” Gaby said and stepped in. She rolled her window up and rubbed her hands against each other. Solo climbed to back seat and Illya sat next to Gaby in front. He looked bigger than usual in Gaby’s compact car.
She started the engine on and drove slowly and quietly, head lights still turned off. For a few kilometers they drove in silence. Then Gaby turned the lights on and sped up. It was like permission to start to talk and move. Solo turned sideways in the back seat and Illya pushed his seat as far back as it would go to get more room for his legs.
“Your car is small,” Illya said.
Gaby glanced at him quickly. “It’s just the right size, thank you.”
“To you,” Illya said. “To others, too small.”
Gaby hit the brakes and the Spider stopped, screeching. She turned to Illya and Napoleon and lifted her index finder up to make a point. “Let’s get this straight. There will be no saying my car is too small or wrong shaped or anything, there will be no mocking of the car, no breaking the car, no making me break my car,” Gaby pointed this to Napoleon who was smart enough to make a little apologetic expression. “You are here because of my good grace. If you don’t like the rules, you can stay here and walk. I have no trouble telling Waverly that I was forced to leave you behind because there was a problem. And we all know I’m his favorite, so there will be no doubt that he would believe me,” Gaby stopped to inhale. “Is this clear?”
“I’m sorry,” Napoleon said politely. ”We are grateful to you and your car.”
“Illya?” Gaby asked.
“Yes,” he said.
Gaby changed the gear and they were off again. The Spider speeded away from the forest and towards to London.
“Where are we going?” Solo asked when they were driving along sleepy streets.
“My place,” Gaby said. “I promised Waverly I would take you in. He is contacting me tomorrow.”
She parked the car and hurried Illya and Napoleon inside. She didn’t want the neighbors to see them. She didn’t want to get a reputation as the girl whose house was full of male callers.
“I would say to be as you would at home,” Gaby sighed when the door closed after them, “But I can just imagine what you do in your homes, so please do try to act nice.”
Napoleon crashed on Gaby’s couch and looked around. “It looks like you, here.”
“It that a complement?” Gaby asked.
“Of course,” Napoleon assured.
Gaby smiled back and then glanced at Illya. He was standing still, looking around, but he didn’t say anything. Gaby couldn’t read his face. She couldn’t tell if he hated it or liked it or something between.
To Illya, Gaby’s apartment was like her. He could smell her there and see her there. It wasn’t big, but there was everything necessary; living-room with a comfortable looking blue-gray couch, coffee table made of teak, small television, record player in a narrow table by the window, bookcase, two different kinds of armchair, footstool and some colourful pillows. The carpet was soft, there were melted candles in a saucer on the coffee table and a used cup. He could see a round table in the open kitchen, a sink full of dirty dishes and a very ill looking plant on the windowsill. There was a door behind him, most probably a bedroom and a door near the front door, probably bathroom. Illya would like to peek both of them. There was a warm and cozy atmosphere in the apartment. He could see Gaby there, playing records and pouring herself a drink, flipping through a magazine on a couch, her legs lifted on the coffee table, standing in the kitchen her hands on her hips, looking at the dying plant and wondering why it didn’t like her. She was there in the morning, her hair all messy, making coffee in her pajamas and in the evening taking her clothes off before a bath.
Illya’s face tightened and he changed his posture. Maybe it wasn’t appropriate to think Gaby taking her clothes off.
“See there, Peril loves it,” Napoleon said.
“Really?” Gaby asked. She wasn’t so sure.
”It is small,” he said. Illya didn’t mean anything bad by it. It was just a more proper thing to say than that it made him think of her getting ready for a bath or picking a dress from a wardrobe in just her underwear.
Gaby rolled her eyes and Napoleon smirked his colleague’s way to impress his feelings.
“Are you wearing pajamas?” Illya noticed suddenly.
Gaby looked down. “Yes,” she said and shrugged her shoulders. ”Waverly called at two am, where did you think I would be at that time?”
Napoleon had a few suggestions. But he was tired and it was quite nice to be there, and everything he would say just would make Illya weirdly jealous.
“I get dragged up in the middle of sleep and you have not slept at all, so maybe we should go to bed,” Gaby suggested.
“I second that,” Napoleon said. “I will take the couch.”
Gaby knew Napoleon would do that. He liked to push her and Illya together for some reason.
“I will sleep on the floor,” Illya said.
“Don’t be stupid,” Gaby said even though some part of her was just fine to let Illya sleep in the floor. “You fitted the bed just fine.”
“Floor is enough,” Illya reassured.
“I am not going to let you sleep in the floor,” Gaby said firmly. “We both fit in just fine.”
“You are not going to win that fight,” Napoleon smirked and Illya’s brows frowned.
Gaby picked up chair in the kitchen and carried it to the hall. She climbed on to it and opened the cabinet above the wardrobe. She grabbed a gray blanket and tried to yank it out. It didn’t move so Gaby pulled harder. The blanket gave in and Gaby lost her balance. For a spit second she knew she was going to fall. But then Ilya’s hand stopped her and restored her balance.
“Thanks,” Gaby said and handed the blanket to Illya. Then she yanked two pillows and climbed down
Solo made himself drink from the bottles next to Gaby’s record player and Gaby made the bed on the couch. She then slipped into her bedroom. Quickly she picked a pile of dirty clothes off the green armchair and dropped them behind it. Then she opened the cabinet on her bed side table and pushed all the dirty cups in there to hide. She didn’t know what kind of a place Illya called home, but she was quite sure that there weren’t dirty cups everywhere and dying plants.
Illya followed Gaby. The bed looked like Gaby just got up there, yawning and probably annoyed.
“Which side?” Gaby asked her hands in her hips.
“What?”
“Which side do you sleep?” Gaby asked.
“It does not matter,” Illya said.
Gaby nodded. “Then you can be in the window side. If someone breaks in, you can protect me.”
“Are you expecting burglars?” Illya asked quite amused.
“No, but you can never know,” Gaby said. She crawled back into the bed she had been raised from more than three hours ago.
Illya removed his jacked and put it in a chair. He sat on the side of the bed a little while before lying next to Gaby.
Gaby covered herself in her blanket. She was a little nervous, and in her mind the blanket was protecting her.
Illya wiggled himself a bit. There was something weird about the bed. “Your bed,” he started.
“What about it?” Gaby asked. ”Can I guess? Is it too small? Have you even considered that maybe everything isn’t small, but just the right size, and maybe you are just too big?”
“No,” Illya said and pushed his hand under the pillow. He pulled out of there a wrench the size of a Gaby’s arm. He lifted his brows. “Why do you have a wrench in bed?”
Gabby grabber the wrench from Illya little embarrassed. “Just because,” she huffed. ”You never know when you need one.”
“Have you needed it so far?” Illya asked gently.
“No. Not yet,” Gaby confessed. “But it’s my problem. Now I don’t come to you place and sleep in your bed and then criticize if there are tools in there.”
“I do not,” Illya assured.
“But if there were, I wouldn’t point that out,” Gaby said, only because she wanted the final say and her eyelids were already closing.
“Are you going to come to sleep in my bed?” Illya asked in the dark.
“What are you talking about?” Gaby muttered. She was so tired. She just wanted to sleep. She turned on her side toward Illya and yanked the wrench underneath her. Gaby pressed it against her chest like a child would do with her favored teddy bear. “Do you think bears can juggle?” she muttered.
Illya smiled to her a bit. ”I do not think that. Why do you ask?”
“It would be nice,” Gaby sighed.
“I can juggle,” Illya confessed quietly.
Gaby made a noise. It may have been a word or even a whole sentence, but it remained just a little funny nonsense as she fell asleep, holding her wrench, Illya smiling at her.