Meanwhile, Tara had gone to Steed's flat and found once more that he was not at home. Steed hadn't left a note as to where he was, and though Tara guessed he was visiting Mrs. Peel, she remained at his flat in case her assumption was wrong. Making herself at home, Tara went to Steed's personal bar and took out a new bottle of champagne. She popped the cork but did it with such force that it flew across the room and landed in Mrs. Gale's abandoned cup of tea from the morning.
She bent to grab the cork and realised there was a small jewelry box with a note attached to it in a handwriting she didn't recognise. It read, "Steed, I was able to recover this item from your personal files. Hope it illuminates you -Cathy."
She knew it wasn't for her, but what sort of agent would she be if she turned down a lead that was dropped in her lap? As she opened the box, a glistening diamond ring met her eyes. Well, it wasn't really glistening, for several years of neglect had tarnished the band. She put it up to the light and could barely make out an inscription, which read All My Love, J. S.
"Steed, you were married?" Tara asked in alarm. She pocketed the strange bobble and immediately left, her champagne still sitting on the table, untouched.
Tara selfishly prayed that if Steed had ever been married, his wife was now dead or divorced from him. She sped to Mrs. Peel's apartment complex, wondering if Steed was there. Soon she barged into Mrs. Peel's flat in such a way that Emma was sure it was Avery returning to kidnap her.
Mrs. Peel was more than relieved when she saw Tara standing in the doorway, but she was also puzzled as to why the agent was visiting her. "Miss King, what are you doing here?"
"I must see Steed, and I thought he might be here." Tara scanned the flat and was disappointed to note he was nowhere in sight.
"You just missed him, but if you like, you can stay for lunch."
"No, that's all right. I must see him immediately." Tara clutched the ring and dashed to the door, but Emma checked her.
"Please, at least stay for a cup of tea, and I can tell you all that Steed and I have discovered today concerning the mystery."
Tara reluctantly complied with Mrs. Peel's request and sat stiffly on the sofa. She gazed at the large photo that was leaning face forward into the wall and asked, "What is that?"
Emma explained everything about the photo to Tara, except she omitted her suspicions that the subject of the picture might be Steed. She didn't want to inadvertently spread a falsehood just because she had a silly notion. After Emma finished her explanation, an uncomfortable silence ensued. Emma leaned on the counter and idly swung her locket by its silver chain.
The sterling silver trinket caught Tara's attention, and she asked curiously, "That's the locket with the picture of your husband, isn't it?" When Emma nodded in response, Tara got up from her perch on the settee and walked over to her. She examined it closely, entranced by its beauty. "May I hold it, please?"
Emma, being the genial host that she was, handed over her prized possession to the eager Tara. Tara clasped it firmly in her hands, barely acknowledging Mrs. Peel's conversation. "It was a wedding present from Peter's mother. She was quite ecstatic about her son getting married, because he had been a bit of a rover in his early life, a bachelor like...Steed." Tara and she each began thinking of the handsome man in the bowler hat and dashing suit.
Emma snapped out of her reverie and continued, "The locket was almost destroyed in the fire that destroyed all of my pictures." Mrs. Peel flipped the locket over and pointed to the melted back. "It had my initials engraved into them; E for Emma, K for Knight, and P for Peel. But now it's rather indistinct."
Tara didn't want to admit it, but she could barely make out the initials. In fact, the E looked like an F, and the P looked more like an R or S to her. She merely said, "How lovely."
Emma mused for a moment and added, "It's funny, but the fire inspector wanted me to throw it away. He said it was too damaged. I had to retrieve it from the rubbish bin. That wasn't his call to make, was it?" She smiled sadly and went to get some tea.
Tara stayed for a cuppa and then headed back towards Steed's flat. Halfway there a worrying thought hit her. What would Steed's reaction be when he saw the engagement ring? Wouldn't it be better to be absolutely sure that the ring belonged to him before telling him her suspicions?
Tara turned her own Lotus in the direction of ministry headquarters. Mother would have all the information that she needed, and if Tara knew Mother, it would be hidden in that off limits room.
Tara didn't think about the fact that she hadn't been able to find Emma's real file, so why would she be able to find Steed's? She also didn't think about the probability that Mother was keeping a good eye on that verboten room ever since Tara's break-in. All she knew was she wanted to find out if Steed was married, where Mr. Peel was, and what on earth did Mother have to do with all of it.
If Mrs. Gale was happy to see Steed on her doorstep, she made no comment. She merely ushered him inside and fixed him a brandy and soda. "I take it you found the gift I left you."
"Eh?" Steed stared at her in confusion. "No, I'm afraid not. I was with Mrs. Peel, and the confoundest thing happened. She couldn't remember anything about her husband and started insisting that the one picture she has of him is actually of me!" He gratefully accepted the proffered brandy snifter and took a sip.
Cathy was quiet for a moment, weighing her response. "Do you remember when you met Emma for the first time?"
"I didn't take you for the nostalgic type."
"Just answer the question."
Steed's entire mien relaxed as the brandy did its job. "Well, let's see. I first met Mrs. Peel before she was married when she was Emma Knight. She was a fresh-faced corporate magnate, took over her father's company at 21, and had revolutionised the industry in just a few short years. We met whilst I was working a case with Dr. Keel. We hit it off, and became…erm, good friends. Nigh inseparable, you might say."
Cathy nodded, as pleased with his answer as a teacher would be with a student reciting sums. "Right. That's what I've been told, too. Do you remember what happened after that?"
Steed felt his heart rate accelerate unnaturally, and it was as if a cloud had settled over his vision. "What do you think happened? She married that Peel chap. Funny, she never mentioned him while we were…not that we had ever said we were exclusive, mind you, but it would have been nice to have a bit of warning."
Mrs. Gale nodded. "That doesn't seem like something Emma would do, does it?"
His answer was calculated. "I suppose not, but do women ever behave rationally when they are in love?"
Mrs. Gale gave him a guarded look. "Depends on the woman. When did you see her again?"
"I met her again in 1964. I was between partners. You had slipped off on a holiday and conveniently forgot to mention you weren't coming back."
Cathy grinned. "How careless of me."
"But you had mentioned you would be in town for a wine tasting at the British Museum, so we planned to meet up again. You didn't make it—"
"But Emma did," Mrs. Gale prompted.
"There she was, as gorgeous as a Greek goddess from the Parthenon. It was fortunate she was standing near the Rosetta Stone, so she could translate my babbling. She said she had sold her shares in her father's company, lost her husband in the Amazon, and was looking for something fun to do. So I offered to let her help me work on some cases."
"Let me guess: the ministry was very resistant."
"Yes, they were, which was odd, since they'd always been very open to you, Venus Smith, and the good doctors." Steed felt his heart rate going up again.
"Steed, I planned that meeting for you and Emma. I knew she would be there. We were both on the museum board for a while, she for her philanthropic contributions to the collection, and I for my intellectual contributions."
"I didn't take you as a matchmaker."
"I was trying to right a wrong. You two should have never been separated."
Steed's head was pounding now, his breathing laboured.
"Steed, are you all right?" The concern was noticeable in Mrs. Gale's gorgeous face. "Maybe we ought to stop. It's clear the brainwashing is affecting you physiologically as well as mentally."
"You have...an overactive...imagination," he panted.
Cathy surveyed him shrewdly. "You used that exact phrase earlier. It must be one of the self-hypnotic phrases you've been taught to dismiss any conflicting information between reality and the programmed version."
Steed gritted his teeth and managed to spit out, "Mrs. Peel was using the same phrase earlier." The empty brandy glass fell from his hand. "Cathy, help me!"
Glancing each way before she moved, Tara deftly crept through the halls at the agency. Soon she arrived at the room with the myriad of personnel files, and barely breathing, she picked the lock once more. Tara tiptoed stealthily to the S files and gingerly opened the first drawer. Being that there were so many S names, the ST names were not catalogued until the second drawer.
Soon she found the spot where Steed's file should be, but there was no folder in sight.
Suddenly, the door slammed, and it's echo reverberated through the entire building. Tara glanced up from her investigation, her whole body besieged with terror. Mr. Smyth glared at her with such wrath in his eyes that she was certain he would have killed her right then if it wasn't for the fact that Mother and Rhonda were next to him.
"We caught you snooping again, Miss King, and you can be sure that this time you'll face the consequences." Smyth advanced towards Tara, looking ready to pounce on the contumacious agent.
Tara ran to Mother for refuge, even though he looked as infuriated as Smyth. "Why can't I find Steed's file? Is it because he's married, and you didn't want anyone finding out?" With this last comment, Tara produced the engagement ring.
"Where did you find this?" Mother asked, successfully evading her question.
Tara didn't want to get Mrs. Gale in trouble."I found it in his flat," she answered truthfully. She stared pitifully at Mother, her dreams of marrying Steed quickly disintegrating.
"How did this item get out of storage?" Mother turned his contemptuous glare onto Smyth.
"It wasn't my job; it was Mitchell's." Smyth was now whinging in a very childish manner.
Tara interrupted their quibbling. "Please tell me what's going on!"
Smyth and Mother exchanged simultaneous glances, and then Smyth lifted Tara off her feet, dragging her into Mother's office. "Now it's time for a precious bedtime story," Smyth explained maliciously.
"You must swear not to tell a living soul about this information, for as soon as you do, we will find you and brainwash you to forget." Mother stared at her solemnly before continuing, "Do you understand, Tara?"
Tara managed to nod in response, but really she still had no idea of what was going on. All she knew was that Steed was probably married and she was miserable. She listened intently to Mother's tale, not wishing to miss a single word.
Mother cleared his throat and stared at the ceiling, as if that would help him narrate the story better. "Once there was an intelligent, handsome, young man by the name of John Wickham Gascoyne Berresford Steed. To use an oxymoron, he was a roguish gentleman. He could never get through the day without…well, flirting, but he did it with such a respectable manner hardly anyone ever minded, especially the ladies.
"Steed was part of a spy agency, and he was extremely good at his profession. One day he was assigned to a particularly difficult case: businessmen were disappearing after being stalked, and no one knew who was the kidnapper. All they knew was these businessmen were staying at a fancy resort near Derbyshire, and that it was imperative that Steed hurry on over with one of his partners. I don't remember which partner it was, either King or Keel. You see, I wasn't the head of the ministry at this time, so I'm just relaying the information that was given to me at the time of my initiation. Anyway, Steed and, whichever man it was, sleuthed and eventually completed the case.
"While on this mission, Steed had meant an attractive young woman, and being what kind of a man he was, Steed had been trying to win her affections. However, this woman was Steed's counterpart in almost every way. She would not fall so easily for the charming Steed, and for once, Steed was at a loss. He did everything humanly possible to get her to love him. I don't know how or when it happened, but this woman eventually fell desperately in love with him."
"I can tell you how it happened, Mother," Tara interrupted him quietly. "Steed is just so very wonderful at everything that it's natural for every woman to fall in love with him."
Mother muttered some sort of agreement and then continued, "Steed, knowing how difficult it had been to get this woman to love him, realised it would be indecent just to end the relationship, but what else was there to do? He thought and he thought, and finally, he made a rather startling discovery. He, John Steed, renowned agent and bachelor, had for the first time in his thirty odd years of existence fallen in love."
A nauseated feeling entered Tara's stomach at the thought of Steed being in love with a woman who was not her. She plucked up enough courage to ask, "What did Steed do? Marry her?"
"He proposed to her, and they became engaged, spending all of their time together, a terrible thing to do to such an independent woman and to such an accomplished agent."
"But they were in love," Tara protested, "and if I know Steed, he did everything he could to make her happy."
"Of course he did. Steed and his beloved both worked, him as an operative, her as a businesswoman. They both found the arrangement admirable. Then the inevitable occurred, and Steed was faced with a new challenge. His fiancée was—"
"In the family way?" Tara shrieked in alarm.
"No, she was getting tired of the business world and wanted to join the ministry as an amatuer spy. Steed thought it was a simple enough request. She was a very talented young woman and could easily be trained. But One-ten, who was the head of the ministry at the time, disagreed, and I can see why. If his fiancée, soon to be bride, was his work partner, Steed was liable to get distracted from his work. They would put their own lives above the mission, which could lead to criminals getting away.
"Soon Steed was taking off more days to spend with his bride-to-be, and so One-ten became panicky. What if this was Steed's way of letting the ministry know that he wanted to quit? So One-ten did the only thing he could think of: he brainwashed Steed to forget that he had ever been engaged, and he brainwashed his fiancée to think she was a widow of a man named Mr. Peter Peel. One-ten programmed them to think they had been former lovers that had moved on. That way, if they ever met again, they would remember their past, but not in its entirety. It would be too much of a strain on the mind to totally erase each other from their memories.
"Unfortunately, the two of them did meet again, which I'm still working out how, and they became worryingly close again. So I hired an actor to carry Mrs. Peel away from Steed before he became careless. Richard Thoms was supposed to keep her distracted long enough to ask for a divorce, and Steed would be given a professional partner."
Tara let out a gasp of utter shock. Then her feelings all spilled out like rain in a torrential downpour. "You had no right to do that to Steed! He was happy, and you didn't have any proof that he wanted to quit the ministry! Mrs. Peel—I mean, Miss Knight—had every right to work with her fiancé, and that's a stupid reason as to why she couldn't join the ministry!"
Mother looked indignantly at her. "You should be grateful that One-ten programmed them and glad that I and every other head of the ministry has had the wisdom to keep them brainwashed for all these years. We could have lost one of the country's leading agents and for what? A marriage that wouldn't have worked out."
"Steed would never divorce; it's not dignified to do such a thing. Besides, from the way you described it, he seemed ecstatic about his relationship." Tara buried her head in her hands. "Oh, Steed, I wish you knew the truth—oh no, I don't!" Tara shook her head as she murmured, "I'm most seriously confused."
"Well, don't worry about a thing, Miss King," Smyth said with all the consolation of an oily salesman. "You can't ever tell him, because if you do, you'll break Steed's psyche. Only a deprogramming from our agency can bring his memories back without permanent damage."
"And you wouldn't want to experience the brainwashing yourself, now would you?" Mother added ominously.
Tara gazed in horror at the solemn men before, and with an unexpected surge of courage, she stood up and proclaimed, "I learned several things in the classes I took in being an agent. Try to brainwash me and Steed, but remember, you're the ones who taught us everything we know. We can fight dirty, and I mean dirty."
Tara noted their nervous glances and added, "Don't worry about my revealing everything to Steed, gentlemen. I couldn't bring myself to tell the man I love that he's in love with someone else. Your secret is safe with me, but if Steed ever shows any sign of being in love with Mrs. Peel, you can be sure he'll find out the truth." Tara marched confidently out of the building, but as soon as she was safe from any prying eyes, she broke down.
John Steed, the love of her relatively short life, was in love with a woman she had always suspected he fancied the most. When she thought of the many witty comments and tender glances Steed and Emma had exchanged, her heart seemed to writhe with pain.
No, she would never tell Steed the truth. Let him rue the day he ever met "Mrs. Peel," flirt with scads of girls, even kiss other women. She would be resolute in her decision, as resolute as Mother and Mr. Smyth.
Tara chuckled maniacally, pure jealousy attacking her heart, soul, and mind. Mother was right to have kept them brainwashed, but then he had to be right. For as the old adage goes, "Mother knows best."
When Steed came to, he was lying across Mrs. Gale's sofa with a wet cloth on his brow, Cathy frowning down at him with concern. "You doing better?" she asked.
"I think so." He gingerly sat up and scrambled to locate his bowler.
Mrs. Gale kindly handed it back to him. "Let's not push it any further for today. Why don't you go home and rest up?"
"I shall, but I also have a dinner engagement with Mrs. Peel. I already broke it once. I don't want to do it again."
"If you're sure you're up to it…"
But Steed was already out the door. "Thank you, Mrs. Gale," he called back over his shoulder.
After a change of clothes, Steed made his way over to Mrs. Peel's apartment. He pressed her doorbell with the handle of his black brolly and waited. When Emma finally opened the door, Steed seemed to go into a speechless stupor.
She was dressed in a slinky black dress, complete with a revealing split in the side. Her hair had been curled and then piled onto her head in a hairstyle that Steed did not often see on the attractive lady. She smiled provocatively and said, "I hope this isn't too formal for the restaurant you chose."
Steed regained his composure and replied, "I said it was an expensive restaurant, and that black tie was imperative."
Emma smiled and admitted Steed into her home. "I thought we'd have a glass of sherry before we left, if that's all right with you."
Steed glanced at his watch as he did the maths. "Our reservation isn't until eight o'clock, so that leaves us with ten minutes for aperitifs and fifteen minutes to drive to the restaurant."
"I gather this place you're taking me isn't the little French Cafe I've heard you praise so often." Emma Peel poured two glasses of their favourite sherry wine and handed one to Steed.
"No, it's better than the French Cafe and for several reasons. First of all, it has tables in dark corners, so I will be able to hide my black eye fairly well." Steed grinned with pleasure, but Emma merely raised her eyebrows suspiciously.
"Are you sure that's the reason you like the dark corners?" She didn't wait for a response but asked, "By the way, how is your eye?"
"It's doing much better thanks to the capable nursing of a certain charming woman." Steed raised his glass as a gesture of gratitude.
"Don't flatter me too much. As I recall, I did absolutely nothing." Emma poured herself some more sherry and strolled over to her window. She looked up to the sky and exclaimed, "What a lovely night!"
Steed wandered over to the window to see what she meant. "I ordered the evening just for you, my dear."
"I can't see the stars too well. Either I'm going blind, or they're too far away to be seen clearly."
Steed gazed into her brown eyes, outlined by long lashes. "What a pity; they're so beautiful… the stars, that is."
Emma turned around and collided with Steed. They stared at each other for several seconds as if wondering what to do. This would have been the most opportune time to kiss if it weren't for the fact that Mrs. Peel was married, or so they both thought.
Finally Emma snapped out of the spell like state and hurried over to her personal bar. With a giant, lamentable sigh, she poured herself some more wine.
"Don't get tipsy, Emm—er—Mrs. Peel," Steed warned, concern noticeable in his voice.
Emma tried to collect herself, but she was having great difficulty. This was the second time in 24 hours that she had had the insatiable impulse to kiss Steed. There had been a few times when she had been working as a talented amatuer that they had toed the line between friendship and romance, but there had always been a niggling reminder in the back of their minds that Peter Peel might not be dead. If I were a widow, I'd kiss Steed as if there was no tomorrow, Emma thought. Being married seemed to be a greater burden than it should be, and she was at a loss as to what she should do. She took another sip of sherry and, feigning a smile, turned to Steed. "It's about time to leave, don't you think?"
Steed responded by draping a fur boa around Mrs. Peel and escorting her out the door. As he drove her to the restaurant, a silence seemed to cover them like a dark pall. Steed realised he had almost kissed Emma, and this concerned him. According to Mrs. Gale, he was programmed to avoid long term relationships and stick to flirtations. He didn't want to use Emma Peel the same way he used everyone else. She was too special to him.
Without a single word, the two mutually ignored the strange incident and began to look forward to the exquisite dinner that awaited them...
Later that evening, Steed ushered an extremely inebriated Emma Peel to her flat. It seemed she had tried to submerse herself in the champagne to forget her troubles. Emma swaggered into her flat, humming softly to herself. She dropped her wrap on the floor and sat down on her sofa, kicking her shoes off to add to the tipsy movements. "That was a lovely dinner, Steed. We should do it more often; don't you agree?"
"You realise when your husband returns home you won't be able to see me in that capacity. It wouldn't be proper for a gentleman to be calling on a married woman for dinner."
Emma startled at this piece of information and exclaimed vehemently, "Then I hope he never returns home." She hiccoughed, shattering the romantic yet awkward atmosphere. She stumbled to her feet but then immediately sat down again. Steed was about to make his departure when Emma said, "You know what I'm going to do tomorrow?"
Steed really wasn't prepared for that sort of question, so he merely shrugged and muttered several indistinguishable words. This seemed to be an adequate answer for Emma, because she continued, "I'm going over to the old furniture warehouse down on Brighton Lane, and I'm going to investigate the area."
Steed raised an eyebrow, questioning Mrs. Peel's sobriety. "Why would you go to that dangerous area of London?"
"I'll tell you why." Emma smiled a strange, intoxicated smile before commencing her explanation. "When Avery came to kidnap me, he told me in strictest confidence that he and Baccarat were going to take me to the old warehouse. They are probably hiding out there, for why else would Avery say he was going to take me there?"
"Why else indeed?" Steed didn't know whether he should believe her or not, so he decided to go with his instincts. He listened to Mrs. Peel as if she was sober and sane. "Did it occur to you that they may have moved since Avery revealed their location?"
"Oh, bother it all. Why are villains so sneaky?" Emma stood up once more and began to sloppily take out her hairdo. "Steed, what are you going to do tomorrow?"
"I think I'll see why Mother is acting like an ol' stick in the mud." Smiling, Steed steadied his tipsy companion by taking hold of her shoulders. "Now, you get some sleep, and I'll see you in the morning. And lock the door behind me." Steed sauntered to the door. "I'll be over bright and early with my secret recipe for a stinger. It'll be sure to clear your hangover in half an hour." With that last remark, Steed quit the apartment.
She gazed adoringly at her closed front door, as if hoping Steed would appear again. As she did so, she made a surprising discovery. I'm in love with John Steed! Emma Peel was in the worst predicament of her life. She was married to a man she didn't love, who may or may not be alive, and in love with a man who was certainly alive, but she wasn't married to. She hiccoughed again and shook her head to clear her muddled thoughts. She stumbled to her bedroom, barely making it to her bed.
If only I hadn't gone to the reunion party two days ago, she thought remorsefully. Then I wouldn't have realised my true feelings for Steed, and I would have just thought our relationship was just one of those flirtations that spins off into oblivion. Well, I know now, and there's nothing I can do about it. My husband is still MIA, so I can't ask for a divorce. And even if he did divorce me, Steed still wouldn't want me! He's not made for a long-term relationship. It's why I married Peter Peel in the first place. Wasn't it?
Her head started to pound even louder, and it wasn't from the alcohol. As she went back into the recesses of her mind, she fought to make sense of the why and wherefores of her relationship with Peter. Had she met Peter before or after Steed? Was she attracted to Steed because he reminded her of Peter, or was she attracted to Peter because he reminded her of Steed?
Emma would have continued with her circuitous brooding if an unexpected knock hadn't come from her bedroom door. Thinking it might be Steed returning, she ran to the door and answered it. Avery and Baccarat smiled evilly at her, and Baccarat pointed a gun at her slender frame.
Emma stared at the two intruders, gaped at the gun, and made a dash for her living room. In her haste, she knocked over a lamp, sending it shattering to the ground in a myriad of fragments.
Baccarat aimed his gun at her, but Avery checked him, saying, "We want the bird alive and in one piece when we take her." Baccarat sighed and lowered his weapon.
Emma dizzily searched for the revolver Avery had left in her flat. Unfortunately, Avery spotted it first and snatched it up from its resting place on her coffee table. "Now come peaceably, wifey." Avery said the name with such disdain that Emma cringed.
Wishing she hadn't drunk quite as much and that she wasn't wearing a dress, Emma faced her nemesis. She dove at Avery, but he deftly evaded her move. "I've been taking lessons in self defense ever since we last met." Avery joked mockingly.
Emma gave an unruly hiccup in response, and her secret was instantly revealed. "She's drunk! Well, this will make our job easier!" Baccarat exclaimed gleefully. He grabbed the inebriated lady, who tried in vain to lose his strong grip.
Avery grinned wickedly and advanced towards the two of them. He held up a white handkerchief that was heavily doused in chloroform, placing it over Emma's nose and mouth. Emma fought the poisoning smell, but it was fruitless. As she slipped into unconsciousness, Emma gave one last look at her now swirling surroundings, and then she knew no more.
Author's Note: My backstory for Emma and Steed comes from two sources. First, it's based on Patrick Macnee and Diana Rigg's own idea for their characters. They decided to play Emma and Steed as if they were former lovers who had amicably broken up and were now friends (possibly FWB; you decide based on those looks!). Mrs. Peel and Mrs. Gale were both created as widowed women because of some antiquated idea about a single bachelor like Steed spending all of his spare time with a single woman. Apparently, two single people would naturally have to be "together" if they were spending all of their time with one another. But a widowed woman would be too busy mourning her husband's death to get involved? Don't ask. By the time Tara became Steed's partner, the sexual revolution had started and no one cared about these conventions anymore.