It had taken them both by surprise. They had been on a mission in East Berlin that though successful, was extremely harrowing and they had barely made it back into West Berlin with their lives. Illya, as usual it seemed, had been the subject of a particularly brutal beating that had mottled his fair skin with bruises, caused swelling of his face and resulted in angry red scrapes where fists had slid across his ribs.

They had gone to UNCLE Berlin's office to hand over the microfilm, report to Mr. Waverly and at Napoleon's insistence, Illya had been checked out in Medical. The doctor found nothing broken and had prescribed aspirin and bedrest before he returned to New York. Mr. Waverly had granted Napoleon's request for a week's sick leave for Illya and personal time for himself so he could oversee his partner's recuperation.

He received the keys to a safe house located on a quiet street in Stendal and for once, Illya didn't argue when he guided him to the passenger side for the two hour drive to their temporary home. It was after nine PM when they arrived so Napoleon ordered Illya to bed while he inspected the security measures and the pantry which, as expected, was fully stocked with enough canned goods to last several weeks.

He opened three cans of soup and a sleeve of crackers to make a light meal and took it up to his partner's bedroom. He hesitated slightly at the door when he saw the Russian's closed eyes, but Illya must have smelled the food because he opened them and gingerly moved into a sitting position with his back against the headboard. Napoleon saw that Illya was grimacing.

"Soreness starting to set in?" When he got a nod in response, he pulled a chair alongside the bed and began to feed Illya. When he would think back on that moment, remembering how Illya had allowed him to take care of him, he would recognize time and again that was the moment he realized that he wanted to take care of Illya and how much Illya meant to him.

When Illya was finished, he got him a glass of water and two aspirin and then helped him lie down so that the Russian could sleep. He made himself something to eat, cleaned up the kitchen and then read for awhile. It was after eleven o'clock when he returned upstairs to get ready for bed. His original plan was to take the second bedroom, but when he looked in on Illya he, for some reason, looked so small and vulnerable that he impulsively decided he would share the bed.

He went to his room to change into his pajamas, came back and slid in quietly next to the sleeping form. They were both used to sharing a bed, thanks to the ever – thrifty UNCLE accountants, so he figured Illya would remain asleep. He had figured wrong.

"Napoleon? Why are you in here?" the Russian mumbled. "Is there something the matter with your bed?"

Feeling slightly embarrassed, Napoleon answered, "No. I just want to stay in here with you." He flipped the covers back; "I'll leave if you want me to."

"No, it is fine." When Napoleon put the covers over him again, the Russian moved so that his back touched Napoleon's side. "It feels…nice," he said before drifting back to sleep.

Illya was improving every day; it really had been "just" a severe beating with no permanent damage, but Napoleon continued to share the bed encouraged in part because there was no objection voiced. The third night, Napoleon was mildly surprised when Illya turned so that his head was resting on his chest. Napoleon wrapped his arms loosely around the smaller man and laid a light kiss on the top of his head. Illya had said nothing, but had squeezed Napoleon tightly for a second before relaxing into sleep.

The next night, Napoleon dared to place kisses on either side of Illya's face and was rewarded with a tender kiss on the lips. That led to an exploratory make out session, albeit a gentle one as Illya's healing bruises were still making him uncomfortable, but when Napoleon attempted to pull back and slow things down, Illya climbed on top of the larger man and began to grind their groins together until they both went over the edge.

Napoleon felt like his heart had almost exploded out of his chest. He laid there with his partner in his arms, hardly believing what they had done, until his breathing and heart rate were almost normal. When he felt like he could move, he went to the bathroom, relieved and cleaned himself and then returned with a warm wet washcloth and cleaned Illya. When he had finished, Illya motioned for him to lie down while he went to the bathroom.

When he got back in bed, he looked at his now lover and said, "I do not understand why this happened, but I am not sorry it did."

"Neither am I. You know you're my best friend and I love you because you are, but I don't know; seeing you and how beat up you were this affair just made me…made my feelings change. I wanted you to know what you mean to me and I was hoping a part of you would accept my affection."

"I do love you and we will have to talk about this in depth some other time when we are not in bed, but I am not ashamed to say that what we did felt right to me. We go back to New York in three days and that is the real world. We cannot continue this…whatever this is. Can we?"

"I want us to. If I could change the world, we'd be able to just be us. You would think my love is something good."

The Russian settled himself in Napoleon's arms. "I know your love is something good. I just do not know how we will be able to have a relationship." He closed his eyes when Napoleon leaned down to drop kisses on his forehead and eyelids.

"Leave that to me," Napoleon said as he started to fall asleep, "I promise you I'll work something out."

Illya was almost asleep, but was able to respond, "I believe you." And he did.

Change the World

If I could reach the stars
Pull one down for you,
Shine it on my heart
So you could see the truth:

That this love I have inside
Is everything it seems.
But for now I find
It's only in my dreams.

And I can change the world,
I will be the sunlight in your universe.
You would think my love was really something good,
Baby, if I could change the world.

If I could be king,
Even for a day,
I'd take you as my queen;
I'd have it no other way.

And our love would rule
This kingdom we had made.
'Til then I'd be a fool,
Wishing for the day...

That I can change the world,
I would be the sunlight in your universe.
You would think my love was really something good,
Baby, if I could change the world.
Baby, if I could change the world.

I could change the world,
I would be the sunlight in your universe.
You would think my love was really something good,
Baby, if I could change the world.
Baby, if I could change the world.
Baby, if I could change the world.