Moaning, April slowly began the painful process of waking. Her head wasn't merely pounding - there were jackhammers inside her skull. A horrid taste was in her mouth and the sight of the morning sun starting to stream through the window made the jackhammers kick into high gear. Raising her left hand in an attempt to block the sun from her face, a glint flashed and caught her eye.
Suddenly more awake, April took a better look at her hand. That glint had been from a diamond ring. Swallowing hard, April rose enough to glance out of the window. Vegas?
It took a few minutes of staring at the view of Vegas through the window for April to get up the nerve to take in her surroundings. She was on a king sized bed in a suite that was both large and gaudily decorated. Her traitorous brain supplied the words 'Honeymoon Suite'.
Taking a deep breath, she took a good look at herself and found she was wearing black lingerie - absolutely nothing like anything she actually owned. A noise drew her attention then. Running water. Someone else was in the suite, apparently taking a shower. Her morning wasn't improving.
In deference to her throbbing head, April moved very slowly as she slid off of the bed. First order of business was to find her clothes and hopefully her weapon before whoever was in the shower finished their morning ablutions.
The strangeness of the morning continued when she opened the closet. She found stylish designer clothing of her size hanging neatly as well as coordinating shoes placed on a shoe rack, but like the lingerie, none of them were items that she had ever owned. Even the purse she found was one she'd never seen before.
"Curiouser and curiouser."
Knowing time was short before that bathroom door opened, April abandoned her search for her own things, quickly dressing in the least restrictive of the clothing options. If she had to make a run for it, she was not going to do it in lingerie if it could be avoided.
She almost jumped out of her skin when there was a knock at the door. A glance through the peephole showed her that room service had arrived with a well laden wheeled table. Letting him in, she sighed to herself. The condemned were entitled to a hearty meal, after all.
Once the door to the suite was shut again, the smell of fresh coffee coming from the carafe on the table lured April. The water was still running and she decided a hot cup of coffee would help clear the remaining wisps of fog in her head. She had no more than taken her first sip when another knock came at the door. Setting the cup down, she cautiously made her way back to the door and peered through the peephole again before flinging the door open.
"Napoleon! Illya! You don't know how good it is to see you!"
Napoleon chuckled as April grabbed him, then Illya in hugs.
"Quite the enthusiastic greeting, Mrs. Grauman. Oh good, I see the breakfast cart has already arrived."
April gave Napoleon a blank look.
"Mrs. who?"
Illya glanced over to Napoleon, who was looking concerned.
"I did warn you that the drugs the man gave her might have caused some short term memory loss."
The blond agent looked back to April.
"We have your marriage license if you would care to frame it. It is not legal, of course. He listed your name on it as your code name of Alice Danvers."
Napoleon poured coffee as Illya picked one of the pastries off the cart. April was still turning her 'marriage' over in her head.
"I'm at a loss, darlings. Why marry me?"
Amusement was clear on Napoleon's features.
"A misunderstanding of the spousal law that says one spouse can't be forced to testify against the other. Grauman thought it meant that a spouse couldn't testify against the other - period."
Illya swallowed a bite of pastry.
"He was attracted to you and thought he had a non-fatal way to insure your silence."
"Two birds, one stone?"
"Apparently."
Napoleon reached for a pastry.
"Oh well - all's well that ends well, I suppose. Say, where's Mark?"
Both Napoleon and Illya stopped at the blank look April was giving them.
"I haven't seen Mark."
"We left him here with you while we took care of Grauman."
"He could not have gone far - he was exhausted. I do not believe he even napped from the moment you missed your call-in."
April looked toward the bathroom and they all heard the faint sounds of the shower.
"How long has that been going on?"
"Ever since I woke up."
The bathroom door was locked, but hardly an obstacle. Once opened, they saw Mark crumpled on the tile floor, his jacket halfway off.
April and Napoleon hurried to his side. Not wanting to crowd them, Illya stepped around, turning off the now icy water coming from the showerhead.
"His breathing is regular, but he's unconscious."
Napoleon carefully eased the jacket the rest of the way off of Mark. April saw something drop to the floor and gingerly picked it up.
"It's a dart of some sort."
"We need to get it to the lab and Mark to Medical."
April paced in the waiting area like a caged lioness. Her tension wasn't lessened in the least by the way Napoleon and Illya entered the room to join her, exchanging glances with one another before Napoleon spoke.
"I know it might not seem like it at the moment, April, but Mark was very lucky."
"Lucky? You call that lucky?"
April snapping at Napoleon showed how tightly her nerves were stretched. Napoleon knew how he would be if it were Illya in that position and spoke gently to her.
"Considering that dart was meant to kill him? Yes, I do."
Napoleon's soft words stopped April in her tracks. Illya took over the explanation.
"It appears the dart stuck in Mark's jacket, but did not make contact until he started to take it off. The substance was a paralytic agent and took effect almost immediately. He was very lucky he did not strike his head on any of the fixtures or fall face first into the shower. He was also fortunate that the full dose of the dart did not go into his system or it would have suppressed his breathing."
"My poor Mark. Has it worn off yet?"
The look Napoleon and Illya exchanged ramped up April's worry.
"Mark will be alright - won't he?"
Napoleon answered with a soothing tone.
"The labs are trying to figure out how to counteract what's in his system. According to the doctors, he's alert, but he's a prisoner in his own body right now."
The thought of Mark being awake and not being able to communicate or move sent a shudder down April's spine.
"He must be terrified. Excuse me."
The two men moved out of her way.
"Where are you going?"
"To support my partner."
The medical team soon got used to working around April. In fact, she took over the daily non-medical tasks involved in tending to Mark as she knew him and knew he was mortified about being constantly touched by strangers.
At first, April managed to keep up a cheerful front, but as another day ended without any progress being made toward finding a cure, she sat by his side, discouraged. Taking his right hand in hers, she brought it to her face, pressing her cheek against the back of it, not bothering to stop the flow of tears dampening it.
The morning after her breakdown, April washed her face and forced a smile back on it before she began her morning routine of tending to Mark. She gently washed him with a mild soap the hospital used on newborns and then started to work on applying a good quality moisturizer that she'd had Napoleon go out and buy for her.
Her mind was wandering as she was rubbing the lotion on his feet, but then she felt something. Blinking herself back to reality, she slowly ran her fingers over Mark's foot again, this time seeing the involuntary flinch.
It took a week from that first involuntary flinch until Mark was ready to be discharged from Medical. April was practically giddy walking alongside Napoleon and Illya on her way to spring her partner.
"You know what, darlings? I have never in my life been so glad to have a ticklish partner."
"I am glad the substance wore off. We have still not found a counter that does not threaten to do more harm than good."
"At least if another agent is affected, we know if we keep them supported in Medical, then time will take care of the rest."