In the days following Ivanna Kurasov's incarceration in the secure section of Medical, Illya Kuryakin stopped by to listen in on the discussions between her and the psychiatrist she'd been assigned.

Since she'd tried to kill him, he deemed there was would be no doctor-patient confidentiality at this point, as there was a need to know more about what had driven such a young girl to attempt such a heinous thing as murder. Illya also wanted to discover how she found out about the connection between her father, Solo and himself.

There was also a concern for the lives of Michael and Ann Donefield * and as a precaution the couple, since they too were involved in the original con that led to Kuraso's disgrace and eventual death. They were found living in Minneapolis, were tucked away in an UNCLE safe house in California. Donefield was unemployed at the moment, so the new scenery for them was apparently a welcome change, even though it was under dire circumstances.

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Illya stood by, quietly looking down from the observation window, seeing the girl sitting cross-legged on the padded floor, wearing a straight-jacket as she had tried to attack the first doctor assigned to her by raking her fingernails across his face and biting his arm. Medical felt it inadvisable to pump someone so young full of sedatives and decided the jacket was the next best thing to protect their staff from her violent outbursts.

The first meeting with Alexander Waverly did not go well either as Ivanna dove at the Old Man the moment she had her first chance. It was rather amazing to see him, a man of his age, sidestep her so quickly without missing a beat. She ended up falling flat on her face to the floor beside him.

"My dear, you need to learn to behave yourself and act more like a young lady," Waverly chided her without missing a beat. Quite a benign reaction to someone who wanted to kill him.

Security helped her up, shoving her into a chair at the conference table, and holding her down in place with gentle but firm pressure to her shoulders.

Apparently Ivanna Kurasov had become a ward of the State when both her parents died, and Illya was all too familiar with that situation. In a way he could understand her bitterness at suddenly losing her father and mother is such a violent fashion, having lost his own family in a murderous way as well; being a ward of the State, he knew the unpleasantness of life an orphan in the Soviet Union.

Because she was underage and her father a disgraced agent, she lost everything. Her home and possessions were confiscated and she was essentially told she was worthless. That could easily create a desire for revenge against those who caused her new lot in life, making Kuryakin and Solo her targets of choice.

Still it was that fact that ate at him...how could she have known of their involvement with her father?

Kurasov would have never discussed such a thing with her, and most likely would have kept his line of work hidden from his only child. He was a dangerous and clever man, well accustomed to the manipulations and political intrigue of the Soviet Union. He was an ambitious, yet his ambitions were his downfall. He was a man who wanted the spotlight and all accolades for himself.

Illya recalled the man Linkwood saying to Kurasov. "I ask nothing, Excellency. Let all the credit be yours!"

Quite a clever move on Linkwood's part, having the foresight to see the dangerous path Kurasov was treading upon. Laslo's ego fed right into it and that was to be part of his downfall. He was so busy looking for the glory that he never noticed the rats leaving the sinking ship, to to speak.*

Illya came from a similar background as Ivanna and that he thought might help him make a connection with her; though losing his family and his home to the ravages of war; her losses were under different circumstances. He, however, was in the State system longer than she had been, where he accepted his life, she let her anger fester and sought revenge.

Somehow she, being below the minimum age to be released from a State Orphanage, managed to escape and make her way here to the U.S...another conundrum. If she'd been released, it would have been to serve in some menial position or to work at a collective of sorts and she hould have been under close scrutiny.

For one so young...sixteen to be exact, not fourteen as Napoleon had first guessed; that would have shown great determination and creativity, something Illya wasn't quite sure she still could have managed without help.

His thought was KGB had already gotten their hands on her, turning her into a tool to be used against him.

It would have suited KGB's purposes to have her kill him, and possibly Napoleon as well. They never liked the deal the Directorate had made with UNCLE to send a Soviet representative and they were even less thrilled when said Soviet would not share secrets with them.

That put Illya on a non-existent 'hit list' of sorts, with the KBG making attempts on his life now and then.

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The doctors left her alone in the padded room, having freed her from the straight jacket and Illya remained, watching her as she wrapped her arms around her legs, curled up in a corner rocking herself and humming a familiar melody. It was not a Russian one, though it was common to many European countries. "Ring around the Rosie." Napoleon told him she'd repeatedly sung it in the cave.

It was a song sung by children for hundreds of years and related to the bubonic plague that had swept across so many countries during the Middle Ages. It reached Russia along the Crimean peninsula in 1351, but the worst of the black death happened in 1350. Still he wasn't sure of her affinity to this little rhyme.

"Kol'tso vokrug Rozi , polnyy karman buketov . Pepel , pepel , vse my padayem." He repeated it back to her in Russian, but got no reaction, and that he thought odd as well. Why had she been reciting it in English, and not in her native language?

Finally, she looked up at him, and he saw her demeanor had changed from a frighted teen to a girl seething with hatred.

"Chto oni s toboy sdelali_what have they done to you?" He called out in Russian.

She said nothing, and buried her head in her knees.

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Illya advised Alexander Waverly of his suspicions and was told to continue observing the girl until such time he might find it possible to talk to her.

After viewing a few more of Ivanna's sessions with the doctors Illya thought she might be ready, as she'd seemed to have calmed down and was actually speaking with the psychiatrist. They were a bit concerned it might cause a setback, but on Waverly's say so, Illya's visiting her would be permitted.

Perhaps their shared background might help her to trust him and understand the web of deceit she had been caught in between her family and the State...if KGB had indeed gotten their claws into her.

*The Project Strigas Affair.