Sacrifices for the Greater Good

Mission V

Gaby contacted a nearby garage which would no doubt have connections in America that would supply the part she needed. The amount they wanted in exchange for performing a relatively simple administrative job was stupidly high, but luckily it was a necessary expense that was dealt with by UNCLE and therefore didn't require her and Illya to fast for several days so they could afford it. The part was going to take a while to arrive, which at first had worried her until she realised that Rose was still too happy over their new friendship to care about how long she went without a car especially since she had Gaby to drive her around wherever she wanted.

While dealing with Rose was somewhat tiresome, she could not help but grow fond of her the more time they spent together. She was selfish in that she often thought of herself over anyone else, but she was also at least aware of it on some level and did work to correct it. Gaby still hadn't had the opportunity to introduce her to Illya without it seeming forced, and so they were sticking with the plan of inviting her for dinner after the car was fixed. She had nearly cheered aloud when the part she needed finally became available for collection at the garage one morning and immediately rushed over in her own car to get it.

"Do you know what to do with that thing?" One of the mechanics asked sceptically as he handed it over.

"My father was a mechanic and I was an only child." She replied acerbically. "I think I can handle a minor fix."

As soon as she returned home, she contacted Rose on the number she had been given and was surprised at the voice that answered it.

"Hello? Who is this?" A deep male voice asked. Gaby felt a thrill as she realised that this was the first contact that had been with their actual mark for this mission.

"Hello this is Gaby, is Rose home?" She replied, doing her best impression of a woman enquiring after her friend.

"Gaby who?"

"Gaby Jones." She replied slowly, sensing this might be the paranoia Rose constantly complained about. "Do I have the wrong number?"

"One minute." The phone went silent as it was abandoned briefly, she could faintly hear two people having what sounded like a rather loud argument, but because it took place away from the mouthpiece she couldn't make out what either person was saying. Eventually came the sound of the phone being picked up again.

"Gaby?" The voice this time was distinctly that of Rose. "Sorry about that, my dad was being stupid."

"It's not a problem. I just wanted to ring to let you know I've managed to get that part for your car. If you bring it over in the late afternoon sometime this week, I could fix it."

"How is tomorrow for you?"

"Tomorrow is great." She would let Illya know when he returned, and they would begin preparations for the second important meeting of the mission.

The next day, Gaby woke up bleary eyed in the early afternoon. She had spent all night on a determined quest to make a decent jug of lemonade and further establish herself as a competent housewife, only allowing herself sleep once she was sure she had perfected it. Half-asleep, Illya had wondered in the kitchen at about two o'clock in the morning to find her squeezing lemons and promptly walked out again before she could try to convince him to be her test subject. By the time he was getting up to go to work, she had just finished and fell into the still-warm bed he had just vacated.

As much as she wanted to stay in bed, she knew she had to clean the house before Rose arrived, so she threw on some worn clothes and got to work. When the last surface had been polished, Gaby had looked over at the couch with longing and sat on it with a happy sigh, but no sooner had her feet left the ground was her moment of tranquillity interrupted by the insistent sound of a car horn. The sudden noise jerked her back to reality, and she stood up again with a groan as her full weight fell back onto her aching feet.

Outside a large truck was towing the familiar red car into her driveway, and a frantic hand movement from driver's seat indicated Rose's presence. With a smile, Gaby waved back, even as her eyes drifted to the men driving the truck. She knew it wasn't good to judge on appearances, Illya being a prime example of how deceptive first impressions could be, but the men looked menacing. She had no difficulty imagining them working on the wrong side of the law. She felt their eyes on her, and she remembered what Illya had said about a prominent part of alleged business and self-consciously crossed her arms over her chest. One of the men elbowed the other and whispered something that made both of them erupt in loud guffaws of laughter. She felt her eyes narrow but didn't dare say anything, suddenly happy that Illya was still away at work, otherwise their leaving might not have been so straightforward.

"Hi!" Rose greeted cheerily, hopping out of the car. Seeing the pretty outfit the other woman was wearing made Gaby suddenly feel inadequate by comparison in her old shirt and overalls.

"Hi, do you want some lemonade?" She tried to sound inviting as much as possible, even though internally she was planning murder if her hard work never came to fruition.

"That would be great!" Gaby invited her inside and poured her a glass from the chilled jug, before heading to the basement to collect the tools that Illya had brought home a week or so ago.

Rose was content to sip at her drink and chat away as Gaby worked on the car. With each minute that passed she found herself relaxing more and more as she let the task consume her. She realised with a moment of sadness that it had been quite a while since she had worked on any vehicle, and she had missed the honesty and even to her surprise the dirtiness of it all. There was something comforting about sticking her hands into the guts of the car, and quite nostalgic as well. It conjured up memories of her foster father teaching her about the different parts of a car and what each of them do. Her good mood translated well into her conversation skills and she often heard Rose letting out high pitched peals of laughter at something she said.

"Do you want to try to turn on the engine?" Gaby suggested finally, using an old rag to wipe her hands. Rose complied and it purred back to life.

"Thank you so much!" She was nearly knocked over by the slightly taller woman's weight suddenly slamming into her, and a little awkwardly Gaby patted the pleased girl's back until she pulled away. She wasn't used to such sudden displays of affection, normally it was her that attacked her friends in such a way. It felt odd to be the recipient this time.

"It's quite late now." Gaby noted, looking at the sky. It had taken her longer than she would have thought to fix the car, she must have been getting rusty. Illya would be getting home soon. "Do you want to stay for dinner? I'm making risotto tonight, and my recipe makes more than me and Charlie can eat."

"I would love to. It's no fun having dinner at home anymore, it will be nice to eat in a relaxed atmosphere." Rose replied enthusiastically as they walked into the house together.

"You'll also get a chance to meet my husband." Gaby suggested. "He should be home in about half an hour."

"What's he like?"

"He's nice. But I should warn you he probably won't be very talkative, he works long hours at the construction site so he's usually tired when he gets back." Rose frowned in confusion.

"I thought your husband was military? You said he was stationed in Germany."

"He was military." Gaby clarified. "He isn't anymore. He was discharged from the army before we moved here." She paused slightly to let that information sink in before she spoke further. "It's a delicate subject for him, it wouldn't be a good idea to bring it up in conversation." She hoped she had sown enough seeds that could be transferred over to her father.

"I'll be careful not to mention it." Rose agreed as they wandered into the kitchen. She glanced over the freshly cleaned counters which held the ingredients Gaby was going to use. "Is there anything I can do? I can't cook but I can cut things up." Her enthusiasm was infectious, and so she decided to allow her to help.

"Do you want to dice these onions?"

They were sitting at the table, waiting for the rice to cook with a glass of wine each when the sound of the door signalled Illya's arrival.

"Gaby?" She heard him call out.

"Kitchen." She shouted back, and shared a conspiratorial smile with Rose. She rose to greet him as he walked into the kitchen, and they shared a brief kiss. "This is my friend, Rose, the one I was telling you about." He summoned up his best charming smile, one she only ever saw on missions, to greet their guest. By Rose's face Gaby guessed that it had worked as the girl turned cherry red as they shook hands.

"Pleasure to meet you, I'm Charlie but I'm sure my wife has already told you that." Rose giggled and confirmed she had. While Illya continued to make conversation, Gaby took a look at the pot on the hob and after trying a small spoonful she pronounced it finished and began to serve. Rose dominated the conversation as they ate, questioning them on their backgrounds and their relationship. Illya knew his cover story well so was easily able to answer questions about his former 'home' on the other side of the USA.

"So how did you two meet?" Rose asked, toying with her glass.

"He rear-ended a tank." Gaby explained with an amused look over at her partner. "I had to fix his car before his supervisor could find out. I charged him a fortune." Rose giggled at the story, they had decided to stick to the story they had given her uncle since they were both very familiar with it.

The pleasant interlude was abruptly interrupted by a loud, relentless banging on the door. "Rosie!" A deep voice shouted, one that Gaby recognised from having spoken to briefly the previous day.

"Shit, I'm sorry." Rose said, sounding distressed. "It's my dad. I didn't tell him where I was going to be."

"Is he violent?" Illya asked, rising to his full and impressive height. She didn't get the chance to answer him as in the next moment the front door was kicked open and the man himself stormed in, reminding Gaby of the bulls they had seen in the ring in Barcelona. Illya immediately moved in front of her, pushing her behind him so he could face the threat without putting her in harm's way.

"Dad! What are you doing?!" Rose shouted, her fury seeming puny in comparison to the much larger man. He ignored her in favour of the other display of testosterone, and marched up to Illya in order to glare up at him. The man, George if Gaby remembered correctly, was large but Illya was still taller by a few inches.

"Who the hell are you?" George demanded.

"I think a better question is who the hell are you and why do you think you have the right to break into my house?!" Illya's hands balled into fists by his sides, and for a moment Gaby panicked that he might lose control and alienate their mark. But after a few more seconds she realised that despite his stance, his demeanour was still relatively relaxed. He was not unnaturally still, and there was no tell-tale hand shaking or finger drumming that characterised his violent episodes. The realisation hit her like a brick- he was acting. This was their first encounter with the main mark of their mission, and Illya was using the opportunity to present himself as an ideal candidate for the job vacancy George had without arising suspicion.

Before anything could become physical between the two men, Rose shoved her way between them and began to irately rant at her father for his utterly unacceptable behaviour.

"How could you?" She shouted. "I was having a wonderful evening with some friends and you've ruined it all!"

"But-"

"No! You cannot justify your stupidity to me, if you don't leave right now I will never forgive you."

Her words had a surprisingly strong effect on the man, and he seemed to deflate before their eyes. With one last suspicious look over at them he immediately left, but the lack of engine starting noises alerted Gaby that he was going to wait for Rose to join him before he left the area. With the situation effectively dealt with, Rose took a moment to regain her composure and turned to them looking extremely apologetic.

"I am so sorry about him. If I had any idea he would blow up like that I would have tried harder to keep him away."

"No harm done." Gaby said, trying to keep things relatively friendly even though Illya still looked murderous. "We can always buy a new door. Is your father well? That seemed like a bit of an overreaction, you're not a child after all."

"He's just paranoid. He thinks everyone is out to get him." Rose replied, rolling her eyes. "Don't worry about the door, I'll get my dad to get someone to come over and fix it for you. I'll need to knock some sense into him first." She looked over at Gaby with some worry badly hidden in her expression. "I hope this hasn't affected our friendship."

"Of course not." Gaby was quick to reassure her. "You can't be held accountable for your father's actions. Isn't that right Charlie?" She nearly elbowed him in her haste to get him to say something nice.

"That is correct, if you had tried to break down our door I think I might have been able to stop you." His attempt at humour did the trick and made Rose's face light up with amusement.

"I think you would have." She said between bursts of laughter. She moved over to Gaby to hug her goodbye. "I'll stop by tomorrow to make sure the workmen have done a decent job, then I'll buy you lunch to make it up to you."

"You don't have to."

"I know, but I want to." That settled the discussion, and after another quick squeeze Rose followed her father through the mess of a doorway he had left behind. They could hear her acidic voice even as the two cars, hers and his, started up and drove away.

Gaby left the house and looked around at the neighbourhood. She had come out of slightly morbid curiosity to see if any of the people living in the houses nearby had paid any attention to the havoc that had recently been wrecked on her home. She had to bite back a laugh as she realised that the street could have been any neighbourhood in East Berlin after an arrest- not a single curtain was drawn back and nor were any curious faces to be seen at any windows or doors. It was as if nothing had happened. With surprising good humour, Gaby kicked a small piece of wood out of her way and walked back into the house and into Illya's waiting arms.

Author's Note: Door gets broken down and it's not even Illya's fault, LOL. Getting into the meat of the mission now. Thanks for the reviews guys, I really appreciate it :)