A/N: Many thanks to ABetterNinjaThanDanCahill/Ninja for beta-ing this piece. This is my entry for Syberian Quest's Monthly Prompt contest. The topic for July is friendship. Hope you enjoy reading!
Because of a Teddy Bear
Irina Spasky, former KGB spy, groaned as she watched the rest of the family "socializing" at the annual Cahill reunion. It was all an act, people pretending that they were actually friends and getting along. Like that would ever happen. Just a week ago, Eisenhower had thrown a dinner plate at Alistair's head, and now they were chatting about some new TV show where people were stranded on a deserted island. She could hear their conversation over everyone else's voices. "There's no way that wimp's gonna win!" "So? She has a great strategic game. " "But . . ." She looked down at her hands and wished she could scratch those morons with her poison fingernails. Suddenly she felt someone tugging at her pant legs.
"Excuse me?" a little boy with dark blond hair and jade green eyes asked, "Have you seen my teddy bear?"
She realized who it was, Grace Cahill's grandson.
"No. Now would you please let go of my pants?"
"But it's my ninja teddy bear. And we need to go kill the mean guy who stole my cookie. Please. Can you help me look for him?"
Irina wanted to kick him off, maybe scratch him in the process, but his words reminded her of another little boy from so long ago.
"Mommy! I can't find my lion!"
Irina groaned. She was running behind, and Isabel Kabra would not be pleased if she was late to another Lucian branch meeting. "Nikolai, go ask Anna to help you look for it. Mommy has to go to work."
"But Mommy!" he whined. "Me and Lion need to go on a spy mission! Dr. Evil stole our candy and we have to get it back!" He put on a puppy dog face. "Besides, I'm sick!"
"I can't. I'm already running behind, and my boss will kill me if I'm late."
"Please . . ."
Nikolai began to pout and looked like he was going to cry.
"Nikolai, I'm sorry but I can't!"
"NO! I want you to stay and help me find Lion!" Tears began streaming down his face. "It's not fair! You always leave me!"
Her son was hysterical, refusing to let her go. Finally, after what seemed like hours of tears, screaming, and a promise for a stuffed monkey, Irina finally left him, an angelic little boy, plagued by a disease for months, full of regret.
This incident always came back to haunt her. At that meeting, she had to leave for her next assignment. Unwillingly, she left for the mission, and when she finally returned, Nikolai was dead, killed by the illness. She left her son, crying because she wouldn't help him find his stuffed animal, and when she returned, he was dead.
She couldn't say no. Not after what happened with Nikolai. She turned to the little boy.
"Where did you leave your teddy?" she asked.
"I don't know! One minute he was here and now he's gone!"
"Well, let's think for a minute. If you were your teddy bear, where would you go?" The words tasted bitter to Irina's mouth. The last time she was this nice was with Nikolai, years ago.
"I would go to Japan. To see all the ninjas." Dan replied, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"So how will we get to Japan to find your bear?"
"No silly, he wouldn't go to Japan without me. We do everything together. Even go to Red Sox games. 'cept I got mustard on his shirt." Dan frowned
"Of course he did," Irina thought as he noticed the chocolate pudding all over his face "His clothes are probably full of stains." She berated herself "So was Nikolai, remember? Anna would spend hours grumbling about the impossible stains in his clothes."
"Did you leave him in your room?" Irina asked, thinking of how Nikolai would always bring his Lion to sleep with him at night, and then forget him under the covers.
Dan scrunched up his face and thought for a minute. "No, I couldn't have. I live with Aunt Beatrice and Amy, and she won't let us come back 'till the weekend's over. Maybe it's in the library. Wanna come?"
Irina agreed. She told herself it was because she wanted to spy on Grace, and see how she was doing in the Clue Hunt, but in her heart she knew it was because she had a soft spot for little boys.
They walked through the freshly mowed lawn, avoiding the increasing tension between Alistair and Eisenhower and went inside.
Dan led Irina through the long and bright halls of Grace's mansion. The walls were littered with knick knacks, like amulets from Egypt and photos of villages in Haiti. Irina noticed a giant map plastered in a room. It was covered with crayon scribbles and red, blue, yellow, and green dots. Wait. Lucian, Tomas, Ekat, Janus. Was this related to the Clue Hunt? She stepped into the doorway, peering in for a closer look, when a voice interrupted her.
"C'mon!" Dan shouted, jumping up and down. "We need to go to the library to find my teddy! Hurry!"
Irina grumbled. "What did you have for breakfast? A bowl of sugar?"
Dan looked at her with surprise. "No, silly! That was lunch!"
"A six-year-old and a bowl of sugar for lunch," Irina thought. "Kudos, Grace. What a brilliant idea."
After running through the hallways, nearly colliding with a butler, and quite nearly destroying a lamp, they were greeted by the sight of glass French doors.
Dan cautiously opened the door. "We can't disturb Amy," he said solemnly. "Or else she'll get mad."
They walked inside and Irina marveled not only at the countless rows of books, but also at the fact that Grace actually let her grandchildren read in here. The Kabras refused to let Ian and Natalie inside their library, although they probably had enough money to build them their own.
"There he is!" Dan shouted with delight. He ran over to a battered old sofa where a teddy bear was sitting, as if it were waiting for Dan. He picked up the bear and gave it a big hug. "Oh, Bushido, I missed you so much!"
"Bushido?" Irina inquired.
"Yeah. Amy named him after some code samurai's follow. Or was it . . . oh, look!" He pointed at a book lying on a mahogany table. "Can you read this book to me?"
Irina stared at the cover. "Marty Becomes a Ninja by Benjamin Sheppard. You want me to read to you that book?"
He nodded.
Irina sighed. "First helping him finding his teddy, then reading him a story. Irina Spaskya, you better not be growing soft!" she thought.
"Fine," she said, grabbing the book. She sat on the sofa, and waited as Dan climbed beside her.
She began to read aloud.
"One day Marty was being bullied by a classmate. He decided to go to karate class to learn how to defend himself."
Dan interrupted her. "I was going to take karate," he said. "But them Mommy and Daddy died in the accident."
Irina felt like someone had stabbed her in the heart when she noticed the look on the boy's face. Here was this boy who lost his parents to the Clue Hunt, and, as a result, grew up orphaned because his family refused to obey Isabel's orders.
Dan must have sensed that she was feeling sympathetic. "Don't be sad," he told her. "I still have Amy and Grace. And my friends. You're my friend, right?"
Irina didn't know how to respond. She had enjoyed the last hours she spent with him, but, at the same time, she was Irina Nikolaievna Spaskya, a former KGB agent. She wasn't friends with little boys. Well except for one special boy, but that was different. So she responded plainly with a "Mmmm."
Dan seemed satisfied. "Okay, now finish the story!"
They continued to read the story until Dan fell asleep on her lap. As she stroked his dark blond hair, she hoped that for her sake, nothing bad would ever happen to the innocent little boy lying on her lap.
-(*)-
Irina watched Dan as he ran away from Amy in China, climbed the statue in Jamaica, entered the gauntlet in Ireland. He was no longer the boy who she had once, long ago, read a story to. Irina was gone from the world. She was dead. She had sacrificed her life so Dan and Amy could live. Even though she was a Lucian and in the Clue Hunt the stakes were high, she felt the need to protect him. Dan had his whole life in front of him, unlike her who always knew she could die soon because of her notorious branch. He wanted to honor his parents who died – both people knocked down because of the 39 Clues. Perhaps one of the reasons why she vowed to protect him was because he reminded her of the boy Nikolai could have been. But she knew that one reason why she protected him by sacrificing her life was because he was her friend.
A/N: Yay! You finished reading the story! I've always wanted to write a story with Dan and Irina, and I think I did okay. The story Irina reads to Dan is purely a figment of my imagination. The name Marty is because I was listening to a Back to the Future podcast while writing this, and the name of the author is a combination of being named after Ben "Coach" Wade and Phillip Sheppard. Survivor references, anyone? The story was originally going to be called Ninja Slays a Dragon. Ahem, anyways, moving on. When Dan mentions that he almost was going to go to a karate class, it was a reference to an upcoming one-shot of mine. Anyways, please review! In fact, those who do will get a shout out in my next story, as long as the review is written before I publish it. So yeah, review and thanks a million for reading!
-TheLastGoodUsername
A note from the "beta"~
Hey, everyone. I made up the title/summary, so if you don't like it, blame me.
kkthxbai,
ABetterNinjaThanDanCahill