Disclaimer: I don't own The Man from U.N.C.L.E. I think it's a fantastic movie, and I bet the TV show was really cool! But yeah, I don't own either. ^_~
A/N: Illya and Gaby's daughter Katie is a couple months old in this one.
Sleep, Little One
Illya gasped as he jolted out of a nightmare, Katie's screams and Gaby's raw cries still echoing through his head. He immediately reached out for Gaby, his hand brushing her arm and traveling up to her shoulder and back down to rest lightly against the steady pulse in her wrist, reassuring himself that she was fine.
It was all right.
The dim moonlight caught her dark brown eyes, sleepy and concerned at the same time. "Illya?" she said, sitting up, the covers falling around her.
"Go back to sleep," he said in German, stroking her hair more for his own comfort than hers, if he was honest. She would know that.
"What's wrong?" She frowned a little, but she also laid back down. While their Katie wasn't a fussy baby, she wasn't sleeping through the night either. It meant that neither of them was particularly well-rested, and Gaby especially needed to catch up on sleep.
"Nothing," he lied, leaning over to kiss her quickly. A distraction. "I am just going to check on Katya."
Her eyes narrowed but she trusted him. He loved her for it. "All right…"
He watched as she sunk back into her pillows, but he could feel her eyes watching him as he slid out of bed and walked toward the bassinet in the corner. The wooden floorboards creaked under his heavy footsteps.
For the past few nights, he had experienced the same nightmare, one where something shadowy held his infant daughter and his wife just outside of his reach while he tried to get to them. Gaby would shout his name over and over until her voice was ragged with tears, and Katie's little sobs would turn into terrified shrieks that broke him. No matter what he did, he could never reach them. Right before he woke up, they would disappear and he would be left alone with the echoes of their screaming.
Gaby would worry if he told her about the nightmares, and she would also most likely punch him for not telling her in the first place. For now, Illya didn't want to burden her. He could handle it, and they would pass.
But he always had to check on both of them after waking up from that kind of fear.
Resting in the bassinet, her back against that silly teddy bear that Cowboy had gotten her, was the most important thing Illya had ever done with his life. So small and delicate, innocent. His and Gaby's Katerina, their baby girl.
She was awake, which was his fault. All that talking had probably woken her up, too. She wasn't fussing yet, just looking around, one hand waving in the air.
"Hello, little big eyes," he whispered in Russian, reaching down to stroke her round cheek before touching one finger to her hand. She wrapped her hand around his finger and tugged, making him smile. Reaching down, he carefully lifted her out of the bassinet and tucked her into the crook of his arm. He picked one of the soft baby blankets from a pile on the dresser and tossed it over his shoulder, letting the fabric drape over Katie so she wouldn't get cold.
Illya headed out of their bedroom and into the living room of their apartment, where a big rocking chair was sitting by one of the windows. He settled into the chair and pressed his foot against the floor to set the chair rocking. Moonlight crisscrossed the floor, coming in silver stripes through the blinds and it splashed across the two of them as he loosely wrapped Katie in the blanket and nestled her against his chest.
He hummed snatches of the lullabies he remembered his mother and father singing to him. His father had loved to sing back when Illya was a boy. He used to belt out tunes in his deep, rich baritone voice, and whether he was singing hymns or folk songs or lullabies, he always sang with everything he had. He would dance with Illya's mother around the house, or he would sing to wake Illya up in the morning before school.
Illya remembered being embarrassed by his father's singing as he got older, but now he would do almost anything to hear just one more of his songs, even if the entire world heard it too. Their house used to be filled with music, back before his father had been disgraced and taken and everything had changed. Then his mother had put away the records, and the apartment they moved to was quiet and still except for his mother's forced laughter and the rough voices of men who used to be his father's coworkers.
He wouldn't let his daughter grow up in a cold, hushed home. He wouldn't let her grow up without him or without Gaby, not if he could do anything to help it.
"I will not leave you, Katerina. Do you know that?" he whispered to Katie, resting his cheek against her downy hair for a moment. After speaking English so often nowadays, switching back to Russian was always like a tiny homecoming. "I will keep you safe. This I promise you."
Maybe he shouldn't swear to that kind of thing, not when their lives were so unpredictable, but it felt right. It was something he needed to do. He wouldn't smother her, he would let her take risks and chances, but he would be there to protect her when she needed him.
He kissed her temple gently and pressed his feet against the floor to keep them rocking. Softly, almost under his breath, he sang one of his father's old favorites and watched his girl fall asleep, her head resting against his heart.
"Sleep, my beautiful good girl, bayushki bayu. Quietly the moon is looking into your cradle. I will tell you fairy tales and sing you little songs, but you must slumber with your little eyes closed, bayushki bayu."
A/N: It became SO FLUFFY! Anyways, I changed the lyrics just a bit to fit a girl instead of a boy, but the song Illya sings is called 'Cossack Lullaby.' You can listen to it here mp3/berceuse_ 3.