Dance With Me

by J. Ferguson a.k.a. Timeless A-Peel

Gambit takes a partner. Purdey finds her rhythm.

Disclaimer: I don't own The New Avengers, nor the characters of Steed, Gambit, and Purdey. They belong to The Avengers (Film and TV) Enterprises. This story is written for entertainment purposes only. No copyright infringement intended.

Timeline: Third in a series. Takes place in late February/early March, 1976, ending with the pre-credits events of the episode "Gnaws." Pre-series, with "The Eagle's Nest" taking place in April, 1976. It is recommended, but not essential, that you go back and read "Aftermath" (now updated) before reading this story.

For more information about the series, please see my profile.

Gambit awoke to the intrusive sound of a buzzer. He groaned and clamped his pillow over his ears, hoping to block the grating noise out of his dreams. No use. The persistent sound was unrelenting. Muttering a few choice words preferred among sailors, he staggered up and toward the door, eyes screwed up against the early morning light. "All right, all right. I'm coming. Don't get your knickers in a twist," he growled at his tormenter. That stopped the buzzing pounding his brain into submission, at least, although Gambit still wasn't feeling any more kindly to the visitor. He jerked the door open, with a sour look on his face. "What the devil do you want?"

Steed blinked at him in surprise. "I'm terribly sorry," he told Gambit's slightly taken-aback expression. "I know how you feel about early morning wake-up calls."

"Why, then?" Gambit asked, a little mellower now that he was awake, and the sleep-deprivation headache had hit him.

"I thought I'd come to a different address," Steed explained, frowning.

"What?" It was too early to figure these things out. And with no coffee to boot.

"Well, unless I'm horribly mistaken, you live in a block of flats, not in a basement." Gambit blinked as this information sunk into his brain. Then he looked at the door he was holding open, and the basket for collecting the mail, and the gauzy curtain. And remembered. This wasn't his flat. It was—

"What's going on?" Purdey's sleepy voice asked. She wandered over sleepily and wedged herself between Gambit and the doorframe. "Oh, hullo Steed." She had a rather advanced case of bedhead, and her slim frame was wrapped in a robe. Obviously she had woken up in the night and changed, but not enough that she'd noticed the form on her couch. She smiled tiredly. "Did you need something?"

"Perhaps I should come back later, when you've had a moment," Steed offered, looking from one to the other.

"What?" Purdey looked at Gambit, as though seeing him for the first time. "What are you doing here?"

Gambit smiled sheepishly. "I camped out on your couch. Only meant to stay a minute, but…" He shrugged pathetically, dug her keys out of his pocket and handed them over. "Sorry."

Purdey shook her head in disbelief. " 'Just one more time, Purdey' you said. 'I'm not tired,' you said. 'No stamina,' you said."

"Doesn't mean I don't wear out. And you did put a lot into that last time. I had trouble keeping up. Plus, you gave me a few bruises." He rubbed his ribs ruefully.

"Oh, yes. Sorry," Purdey said quietly, biting a lip. "But I had to get my leg from around you somehow."

"I'll just leave, shall I?" Steed was already backing away.

Purdey frowned. "Whatever for?"

"You and Gambit obviously have a lot to talk about…"

"We can discuss the obstacle course later," Purdey told him. "What did you need?"

"Obstacle course?" Steed pondered that, cycling through the last few lines of dialogue. "Ah, yes, of course."

"Come in," Purdey offered, already moving to the kitchen. "You both might as well both join me for breakfast."

"Thank you," Steed accepted, closing the door behind him and removing his bowler. "I'm glad to find you both in one place, truth be told."

"Oh? Why?" Purdey queried with a cock of the head, before gesturing impatiently at Gambit, who was still standing dazedly by the door, to come and fix the toast. He snapped to attention almost immediately, much to Steed's amusement, and did as he was told. Purdey found some eggs in the meantime, and a large mixing bowl.

"I was going to tell you first this morning, Purdey," Steed elaborated, taking a seat at the kitchen table, "so that you could make alternate arrangements as soon as possible."

"Alternate?" Purdey asked in puzzlement, whisking madly in what Steed assumed would be another of her omelet creations.

"For the course," Steed informed. "You're going to need a new partner."

Purdey looked up sharply from her whisking to meet Steed's grey eyes. "A new partner?" she repeated in disbelief, whirling on Gambit. "Mike, what's he talking about?"

Gambit raised his hands in defense. "Don't look at me. This is the first I've heard of it." He turned to Steed. "There's nothing in the rulebook that says I can't run the course with Purdey, and I'm not working on anything at the moment."

"You are now," Steed revealed, tapping the table distractedly. "McKay received a message from the Germans early this morning. There's some mopping up related to your assignment, and they'd like you to be there to assist."

Gambit leaned against the counter tiredly and rubbed his eyes. "Can't they send someone else and just get him to read the file?"

Steed shook his head in a definitive 'no.' "They specifically requested you. And McKay wants relations between our departments to stay as friendly as possible. There's no way out, I'm afraid."

"Damn," Gambit swore, dropping his hands from his face and meeting Purdey's blue eyes. "Sorry, Purdey-girl. Looks like you'll have to find a substitute."

"It's not that simple!" Purdey snapped, looking from one to the other in desperation. "Gambit and I have been training together for weeks. We're ready. We've got a rapport. We understand each other. I'm not going to find anyone else I work as well with." She paused and realized what she'd said, caught Gambit's spreading grin and the slight twinkle in his eyes. "Not in time, anyway," she added, hoping her blush wasn't too obvious to the two men. "The test is in five days. That's not enough time to break in someone new. And if I don't run it now, I'll have to wait three months for the next round. Three more months stuck just this side of agent status." She crossed her arms moodily.

"Perhaps Spence could make a special exception in your case, let you run it when Gambit comes back?" Steed suggested.

Purdey shook her head vigourously. "I don't want special treatment. The last thing I need is people saying I got an easy pass, or extra time." She scrunched her hands into fists. "And I'm not taking on someone new. We're meant to be partners after this is over. It only makes sense to run this together. Can't you explain that to McKay?"

"I've already tried," Steed told her.

"What if I went in? Talked to him myself?" Purdey suggested.

Steed shook his head. "You'd bang heads, but I doubt there'd be much progress. Tommy's stubborn when he sets his mind to it. No, Gambit's going. I was planning on telling him right after you."

Gambit, who had been taking the conversation in silently, suddenly broke in. "When am I due to leave, exactly?"

"Tomorrow," was the answer. "You're taking the 3:45 out to Berlin."

"And how long do they figure I'll be needed?"

"About four days, give or take," Steed estimated. "Depending on how sticky things get."

"Four days," Gambit murmured. He looked to Purdey, cautious optimism in his green-tinged eyes. "If I really push, don't sleep much, I could make it, just barely."

Purdey didn't even try to disguise her hope. "Do you think so? Really?"

"Really. It might be tight, and you'll have to go without me for a few days, but we're just about there in training, and you can still practice while I'm gone. Find someone else, just in case. And we've got all today and some of tomorrow to work out the kinks." He glanced at Steed. "That'd satisfy McKay and get me back here for Purdey."

"It would," Steed allowed, "but you'd be near exhaustion."

"I can handle it," Gambit said with conviction. "I've been through worse. Much worse," he added darkly, and Steed nodded slightly in agreement.

Purdey frowned. She wasn't entirely certain what to make of the comment. "You're sure?"

Gambit winked saucily at her. "Just watch me."

The next day, Purdey found herself driving Gambit to the airport. It wasn't as though she could do much training without him, and the impending test date made it hard for her to think of much else. She glanced over at Gambit, doing his best to stretch his long legs out in the confines of her MGB.

"You don't find it a bit tight in here?" he observed as casually as possible while trying to persuade the seat to slide back further.

Whoomp! Purdey grinned as his seat back went into a sudden recline, and Gambit found himself flat on his back with a very good view of the car's ceiling.

"Just be thankful I didn't ride my motorbike to work today," she told him, as Gambit struggled to return to the upright and locked position. "Then you'd be complaining about your arms getting tired."

Gambit twisted to look up at her in disbelief. "You'd make me ride in on the back?"

"My bike, my rules," Purdey told him cheerfully. "I thought you'd enjoy the idea of having your arms around my waist."

"Well, when you put it that way…" Gambit grinned up at her, then started feeling around for the elusive button that would adjust his seat. "From now on, if we're taking a car together, let's try to make it one of mine."

"Do you need any help?" Purdey asked casually, shifting gears.

"I can manage, thanks," came the grumbled reply. "Where do they hide…ah." Gambit popped back up like the world's strangest jack-in-the-box. "That's better."

"I wouldn't have thought it would be a problem after that bed of yours," Purdey commented, looking out of the corner of her eye at Gambit's slightly self-satisfied expression. "Considering how many buttons you've got on it, I expect it could do your taxes as well."

"It's not so much what it does as what you do in it," Gambit quipped, eyebrows waggling madly. "Let me know if you want a practical demonstration."

"Not particularly," Purdey retorted, trying desperately to ignore Gambit's well-shaped hand fiddling idly—no, suggestively--with the gear shift as he glanced out the window. Did he do these things on purpose to tempt her? But when she looked Gambit was still staring out the window at the passing scenery, seemingly oblivious to the effect he was having on his colleague as he drew his index finger over the surface of the knob in slow, deliberate circles. Purdey felt herself flush, her mind taking her body on a tour of past places that particular hand had visited, just as innocently, on the training course. She snapped back to reality just in time to observe a corner coming up, felt panic well up inside her as it dawned on her that she'd have to touch that hand to shift gears.

"Move your hand!" she snapped, a little desperately, and Gambit jumped in surprise, pulling back just in time for Purdey to take the corner, albeit sharply. They settled into an uneasy silence, Gambit eyeing her in bemusement, but Purdey wasn't about to explain why she couldn't take direct contact with him at that moment.

"Thanks for driving me out in any case," he said after a moment. "I could've gone out myself, you know."

Purdey giggled in relief at the welcome topic change. "And listen to you complain about the parking fees? No thank you, Mike Gambit, you're mean, mean, mean. I'd just as soon spend the petrol and save my nerves later."

"All the same, I'll take a cab back," Gambit insisted. "I'm not fighting these seats again if I can help it."

"Suit yourself," Purdey said with a shrug, secretly glad she wouldn't have to sweat thorough his hand on her gear shift again. "Just so long as you get back in time."

"I will," he promised as they pulled into the departures area. He climbed out of the car and extracted his solitary suitcase from the boot. Purdey alighted as well, stood on the curb and watched the half dozen other couples around them: wives bidding husbands good-bye, all of whom were similarly lightly packed. Purdey crossed her arms and looked down, tried not to think of the days she had seen Larry off to some overseas conference or other in much the same way as these same couples. And here she was, years later, unmarried, dropping off her colleague. Who would have guessed?

"Purdey?" She looked up. Gambit was standing before her, suitcase by his feet, looking for all the world like any of the husbands taking their leave that day. "You okay?" he asked, somewhat worriedly, taking in her pinched features.

She managed a smile for him. "Fine," she assured, reaching out to straighten his tie for something to do. It came naturally among all the other couples. "Take care of yourself, Mike Gambit. You can't very well run the course with two or three bullets in you." She watched his eyebrows quirk up in surprise. "I know all about last time," she revealed. "And I know you've a tendency to spring leaks."

"I'll do my level best to stay leak-free," he said saucily, clearly enjoying the feeling of her hands so close to his chest.

"And keep your mind on the task at hand," she went on, tapping him lightly on the nose. "There's no time to go chasing pretty young Frauleins if you're going to make it back in time." She paused, and her mouth quirked up on side. "If you didn't alienate them all on your last trip."

"No worries on that end. I promise you I've done my bit to keep British-German relations friendly," Gambit assured with a small smile.

"That's what I'm afraid of," Purdey replied wryly, tugging his tie a little harder than was strictly necessary. Gambit choked a little and ran a finger along the inside of his collar.

"Anything else you'd like to lecture me about? Don't wear the blue tie with the yellow shirt? Bring something home for the kids?"

Purdey snorted. "If you do ever have children, Mike Gambit, I pity the poor woman that brings them into the world."

"You don't mean that," Gambit teased, bending to retrieve his luggage. "See you in a few days, Purdey-girl." He took her hand and put it briefly to his lips. "Don't wait up."

And then he was gone, weaving his way through the other commuters, leaving Purdey to stand and watch his dark curly head until it disappeared in the throng. She looked down at her hand, felt the corners of her mouth twitch up involuntarily. She shook her head as she climbed back into her car. "Mike Gambit," she muttered to herself as the engine coughed to life. "You're impossible, but I do love you."