"Alright Napoleon," said Max." You're done here. I want you gone for the day, understand me?"
"May I please have a few more words with Illya before I go." he felt as though he were being brushed aside, but in truth he knew that the doctor was right in doing it. "in private, please if you don't mind?"
"Fine. I have a few other patients to check in on anyway; but you better be gone when I get back. I need to think more about what might be causing this problem with your partner."
Illya had closed his eyes again, apparently searching his mind for any hint as to what had happened to him. "Napoleon I have no memory of it at all?"
"What's the last thing that you remember?"
"I was annoyed at the rookies, specifically one of them for making some remarks about me when he thought I was out of earshot. Nothing such as what was spouted from the lips of Anderson, but harsh enough words enough to make me stop and question myself. I do not understand why so many people take a dislike to me? Am I a pompous know it all?"
"Well tovarisch, you are very knowledgeable, efficient and to the point with your methods and that could be be misconstrued at the times. But that's because they don't know you like I do." he smiled.
"So I am a know it all?"
"Sometimes you can come across that way."
Illya shook his head, " And I suppose pompous as well?"
"No you're not and as I said already, you're very knowledgeable."
He found it strange that Illya did not seem perturbed by his unexplained pain. "Aren't you concerned about what's happening with you?"
"Of course I am, but until Dr. Schneider contiues his poking, prodding and tests, what is the point in worrying? I feel fine, unless I am touched by someone. It is a very interesting positon I have been put into; I wonder what sort of compound Thrush has come up with this time to annoy me? I wish I could go to my lab?"
Napoleon shook his head at his partner's statements. "Only Illya" he thought to himself.
"Stop being the scientist for a minute and get back to the matter at hand, which is what happened to you? What's the last thing you actually remember?"
"I left the two rookies at the surveillance site to fetch some lunch for the three of us. I walked into the deli across the street. I do not remember anything after that?"
"Nothing"
"Not a thing."
"Do you think we need to take a look those two section III agents?"
"No I do not think that is necessary; they would not had have the wherewithal, nor the motive to have done anything against me?"
"We have Anderson in custody, do you think he could have done this to you?"
"Napoleon I have no idea." He began rubbing his temple.
"Are you in pain again?"
"No, I am fine."
"Do you have any idea why you were speaking Russian when you woke up?"
"I was dreaming I was back in the gulag again. I was confused as I am at the moment. And please do not try to touch me right now as it is becoming most unpleasant. Napoleon are Elliott and Demya alright? Are they aware that I was missing?"
"Elliott is still in Japan and doesn't have a clue, she thinks you were on a mission as does your son. He's with Bella at your house by the way, she and I have been taking care of him."
"Olga was called to England, her sister fell ill. Illya he's been acting up a bit, having nightmares about you. He was upset that you left without saying good bye and is convinced that something happend to you. Perhaps a phone call to him from you will help while your laid up here will help?"
"Thank you Napoleon, I knew we made you his guardian for a good reason." he smiled.
"I've told you I'll always have your back, that extends to your family too. I have to say your son has been a good influence on me." Napoleon stopped himself before he began to gush with sentimentality. "Now let me go get that telephone."
Napoleon dialed the number for the house; Bella answered.
"Good morning."
"Napoleon?" she yawned."everything alright?"
"Getting better. Illya is conscious, but not without issues. He'd like to talk to Demmy. Is he awake?"
"Oh yeah. The Kuryakin tornado is on the move. God I wish I had half his energy? I'm glad Illya's O.K."
"Not really, but we'll talk when I get home."
He listened as she called the boy to the phone. "Demmy, there's a telephone call for you...some one special to speak to you."
He handed the receiver to Illya."Hello Demyachka," he tried speaking cheerfully.
"Papa! I was very worried about you. Why didn't you say good bye, you said you would be home every night. Why didn't you come home? Papa please come home now!"
"Demya, calm down. Uspokoit' sya moy syn. U menya vse prekarasno_Calm down my son, I am fine."
"Kogda vy idete domoy_when are you coming home?" Illya could hear in his voice that he getting ready to cry.
"No tears. I am not ...Ne, a ya boyus'_not coming home for a while I am afraid. Vy ne dolzhny rasstraivat' sya i bespokoit' sya obo me_you should not get upset and worry about me? I am fine, I am speaking to you now, do I not sound fine? Demayachka I need you to give me your word that you will behave for Uncle Napoleon and Aunt Bella. Please do this for me?"
"Yes papa I will."
"Spacibo moy syn. Now I have to go. I promise I will be coming home...I just do not know when alright?"
"Da papa. Ya lyublyu tebya."
"I love you too Demayachka." Illya handed the phone back to Napoleon with a sigh, being careful not to touch his partner's hand.
"Demmy tell Aunt Bella I will be there soon please?"
"Yes Uncle Napoleon. And thank you for helping my papa." he whispered.
Napoleon was surprised at those words but said nothing to his partner about it.
"Napoleon Solo," said Nurse Walsh, "Dr. Schneider told me if you were still here, to kick your sorry butt out and to tell you to go home and get some sleep. That is now offically doctor's orders or else? needs to rest."
"I do not need to rest," Illya said, "I feel fine."
"No you are not fine. Now out Napoleon chop-chop!"
"O.K. O.K...now which one are you?" he smiled
"Out!"
"Napoleon, listen to the yebla bol' zadnitse_fucking pain in the ass."
"Depends on which one it is," he smiled as backed out the door to the room.
"What does that mean?"
"Another story for another day. See you later tovarisch."
Nurse Walsh clicked her tongue then after putting on a pair of latex gloves, readied to disconnect Illya from the heart monitor.
"I am hungry, when is breakfast?"
"I'll have to ask the doctor if you can eat just yet."
She placed her hand on Illya's chest as she started to remove the lead and he suddenly arched his back, crying out in pain.
"Illya, what's wrong?"
He gasped, catching his breath for a moment. "It hurt where you touched me with your hand."
"But I was wearing a glove?"
She went immediately to fetch Dr. Schneider. And again he ran the same painful tests with the Russian, but now wearing the latex gloves made no difference. And the pain was increasing in intensity.
The strange thing was that Illya felt no pain when in contact with inanimate objects, such as his hospital gown, the bedding, medical instruments. It seemed that human contact or more specific limted human contact was causing his discomfort.
As Napoleon rode the elevator downstairs; suddenly remembering that he had left Mike Anderson sitting in the interrogation room all night.
Perhaps the experience had indeed softened him up a bit. But even though he suspected Anderson wasn't involved in Illya's disappearance now; he still wanted to know why the man was still so evasive about where he had gone for the last three days.
He hit the button for the security level heading directly to the room, finding Anderson with his head resting on his arms, laying on the table.
"Wake up sunshine!" he called, startling he man.
"You look like crap? So you going to tell me what the hell this is all about? Am I a prisoner or not, I have a right to know?"
"Just tell me where you were for those three days?"
Anderson sat for a moment, grinding his teeth. "Alright! I was in Washington, Langley to be precise as I was applying for a job with the C.I.A. and if you don't believe me call Bill Klein."
"Thank you Mike. That wasn't so hard was it?" Napoleon was hoping Anderson was the guilty party but with this answer; he now doubted it, though he still needed to verify his alibi. " O.K. once your story checks out with Klein, then you'll be sent for deprogram."
Anderson's story was as indeed as he had admitted; leaving Napoleon without a prime suspect. Anderson was released to Security for the next step in processing as a former agent. Through the use of special hypnosis and drugs; all of his memories work with and about the organization were wiped from his mind.
Napoleon brought Agents Spavento and Mannion in for questioning in spite of Illya's assurances, but they too proved to be guilt free. He had to resolve to himself that it was more than likely Thrush's doing; but then why did they dump Illya off at headquarters, why not just keep him or kill him for that matter? None of this made sense.
Schneider ordered a full neurological workup, and a CAT scan. And though he knew it would upset the Russian, he would as a last resort call Dr. Dennison in for a psychological consult.
Four days later there were still no answers as to what was causing Illya Kuryakin's mysterious pain that was increasing in intensity, but again only when he came into human contact.
"Knock knock," Dr. Dennison said as he walked into Kuryakin's room.
"How are we feeling today."
"Are we referring to our mental, emotional or physical status?" Illya answered sarcastically as he proceeded to cross his arms in front of his chest in a defensive posture.
"Starting already I see."
"There is nothing wrong in my head...or should I say with my mind. If I could just be released from here; things would be fine. I can manage. I need to get to my lab."
"Well Illya given that all your medical results come up normal. We have had to come to the conclusion that you are having psychological problems. You just went through a major emotional and physical trauma less than two months ago."
"You were tortured and nearly starved to death it would stand to reason that you still have some underlying issues and given that you were unaccounted for three days during which you were injected with some inidentifyable substance; I would suspect some of those issues have resurface in the form of this psycho-somatic condtion."
"We can find no correlation between your mystery pain and the substance, the fact that you were is a very stressful situation for six weeks... what I'm trying to say is that this pain you're experiencing is in..."
"Is not in my head! It is real!" Illya turned his head away from Dennison.
"Illya, you are imagining the pain; reacting to human touch because your past hurts were inflicted upon you by human hands."
Kuryakin closed his eyes, rolling over on his side with his back to the doctor surrepticiously ending the conversation.
"Mr. Kuryakin do not ignore me."
"Poshyol ty'_fuck you!"
Dennison walked out in a huff. He had made a point of learning of few Russian phrases, as Kuryakin had thrown them at him in the past, and knew exactly what he had just been told.
"He's not getting his way this time." he said to Max Schneider. "he has to admit that it's in his head. If he doesn't accept and resolve this; then I'll recommend him for mandatory retirement.
Elliott Kuryakin's flight from Tokyo left her tired and cranky. She had left her partner at the airport as he waited for his flight to Israel as he had a weeks vaction coming to him. "Lucky bastard," she thought to herself.
She was looking forward to getting home for at least a day or two, maybe Waverly would be merciful and not send her out on a long assignment like this one had been. The ambassador's teenage daughter had them running in circles thinking she was kidnapped from under their noses at one point, only to find she was off on a romantic rendezvous with the son of the prime minister of Japan.
"That girl was going to be a problem, but better theirs than ours." Elliott said to herself, as the security staff from the embassy finally took over the babysitting service once it was dicovered there was no real kidnapping threat.
Elliott was worried about her Demmy, he seemed very whingy to her the last few time she had spoken to him. It was a rare occasion that she had been able to call him so frequently when on a mission. He repeatedly asked when she was coming home, each time they spoke. Then he started looking for his father, nearly to the point of hysteria.
He was intellectually beyond his physical years and maybe that was making the absence of his parents becoming harder to deal with. Intelligent or not, he was still a three year old boy.
He was very much his father's son and Elliott wondered for a second if the boy had inherited the 'gift' that Illya said ran in his gypsy side of the family. The boy had gypsy blood from both of them, maybe it was possible?
Illya was off on an assignment and hoped that he was alright, thinking that Demya's upset over his father was nothing more that him missing Illya.
The taxi pulled up in front of the familiar facade of Del Floria's and Elliott entered the building with a tired smile, waving to Del as he hit the steam press. She entered the dressing room, pulled the clothes hook, opening the hidden door.
"Hi Wanda," she said the the agent at the desk.
"Welcome home Elliott. Mr. Waverly wants to see you in his office immediately."
"Will do" she smiled as she pinned her badge to her blouse. The Old Man wasn't giving her a moments break was he?
Elliott found a very tired looking Napoleon seated at the conference table with Waverly; both quite grave in their appearance.
"Please don't tell me something has happened? Ye both have that sort of look on yer faces."
"Welcome home my dear, please sit down."
Elliott seated herself next to Napoleon, looking him in the eye asking a silent question of 'what's going on' with her look.
"Unfortunately you have surmised correctly. Five days ago while on a training session with several section III agents Mr. Kuryakin disappeared."
"What? Again?"
"Then was unceremoniously dumped back on our doorstep. He was unconscious and seemily injury free, except for multiple needle marks in both his arms. He was missing for three days and is uable to account for his where abouts."
Elliott allowed herself to relax. " So he's alright then?"
"Mr. Solo, would you be so kind as to continue."
"Elliott, he's alright, but not quite."
"Meaning from what he was injected with?"
At first he said nothing, making Elliott just a little anxious.
"Will ye tell me what the hell is going on, what's happened ta my husband?"
"They can't isolate exactly what it was he was injected with, Schneider said the lab...well to make a long story short. He can't be touched."
"What do ye mean he can't be touched? I don't understand."
"He is hypersensitive to human touch, can't tolerate it at all. It he comes into any sort of contact with another human being, it causes him pain. He says it's like a tingling, then a burning sensation on his skin like it's on fire.
"How long does Schneider think this is going to last?"
"Unfortunately it's getting worse instead of better. Dr. Dennison..."
"No not a good idea to get him involved."
"Ellie, they think it's psychosomatic, the result of the combination of being kidnapped, being given the cocktail of drugs, along with residual emotional trauma from what happened to him two months ago."
"They're saying he's crazy, no flippin' way!"
"I agree." Napoleon said.
"Well that's what we have to work with at the moment," Waverly finally interjected, " and unless proven other wise; Mr. Kuryakin is to be treated by the psych department. Pehaps you being home will help your husband recover my dear. In the mean time, I'm sure you are anxious to see him. Your report can wait in the meantime. Mr. Solo, please keep me informed?"
Max Schneider met Elliott and Napoleon as they stepped from the elevator to the medical level.
"How's he doing Max?" she asked.
"I wish I could say fine, but for the moment he is behaving quite normally. I should say, normal for him that is."
At that moment there was a crash coming from Illya's room as a dinner tray came sliding across the floor into the corridor, followed by a very flustered duty nurse.
"Leave me alone... vy karova_you cow!
"As you can hear for yourself," Schneider finished his sentence.
"I presume that you were brought up to speed on his conditon?" he said to Elliott. "It's as if Illya's pain receptors are on overdrive right now, though I can find no neurological reason for it at all. Elliott you cannot touch him, in any way. Not even through his clothes or with gloves, understand?"
"Yes I do."
"Alright, go ahead in."
Napoleon waited outside for a few minutes to give them some privacy.
As she walked in, Elliott found the idea of not touching her husband a very unsettling thought but she tried to seem cheerful for his sake.
"Illuysha, I see yer being yer usual happy self."
"Annushka, I am so glad you are home." he summoned a smile.
She walked to his bedside, leaning close but not coming into contact.
"I understand that I'm not allowed to touch ye right now? Bad?"
"Bad enough. Other than that, I feel fine. That...chto mudak Dennison dumaet, chto eto vse v moyei golove_that asshole Dennison thinks it is all in my head."
"Well we know better don't we?"
"Please do not use the collective 'we'? That is how Dennison speaks to me."
"So ye are in no pain at all right now?"
"None, it only happens when I am in physical contact with another person and that is not good right now as I very much want to kiss you and make love to you." he whispered.
"Me too my darlin'." Elliott leaned close to his face, whispering softly, " I'm kissing you in my mind right now my love."
"Thank you Anya, I suppose I will see you in my dreams tonight then."
"That's a date," she smiled. "I'll be off now, I've got to get home to Demmy."
"Elliott, he thinks I am away. I have spoken to him on the telephone, he has been very emotional as of late."
"Yes, I called from Japan several times, I know Bella and Napoleon have been taking care of him and she told me how upset he's been."
"Give him a kiss for me?"
"I will my love. Sweet dreams." she said, trying to hide the sadness in her voice as she left him.