Sacrifices for the Greater Good

Mission IX

Over the next week or so, Illya clearly wanted to ask her about what had so upset her but unfortunately he either didn't have the time or they were too wary of being listened to. The fact she had not volunteered the information of her own volition clearly told him that it was not mission-related and thus not something he could bring up while they were under such heavy surveillance. Despite George trusting them enough to give Illya the job they had been waiting for, he had not yet removed the bugs or told them about them, so they remained in place constantly recording every word they ever said while under that roof.

With the next stage of the mission complete, Illya remained with her during the day only to disappear at night. He had quit his job at the construction company at George's request so he could work full time at the new job. She struggled to sleep without him, constantly worried that something would go wrong. Maybe George would search him and find the recording device attached to his person, or maybe Illya would slip up somehow and blow his cover. She was pleased each time Illya returned, but disappointed as each time he shook his head at her silent enquiry as to whether he had yet gathered enough evidence. It was only a further delay for the information she badly wanted to tell him.

Knowing the end of the mission was so close, she had been quite tempted at times to begin the process of packing anything she wanted to take with her back to London, but each time she had restrained herself. Rose still came by the house occasionally, and she didn't want to risk the other woman reporting back to her father that his new enforcer was preparing to move away. It would be suspicious to say the least, but the feeling only added to the suffocating permanence about this uncomfortable situation they were both in every time she was forced to return her clothes back to the wardrobe.

One night, Gaby was up later than usual. It was several days since Illya had been offered the position, and she was pacing in the bedroom, wondering frantically where he was. It was the mid-hours of the morning, the time he was normally back. Logically, she knew that there was probably a perfectly reasonable, mission-related reason for his tardiness, but she was feeling particularly highly strung as a result of the mixture of powerful emotions she had been struck by ever since she had visited the hospital. By now, the results should have been available for collection but she hadn't been able to bring herself to go get a final confirmation. That confirmation would have only made her more desperate to tell Illya the truth, and if she was honest with herself she did not need it. She already had all the proof she needed that there was a tiny being growing inside of her.

A sudden knocking on the front door only exasperated her anxiety, if it had been Illya he would have just walked through. Worried that something had gone wrong she went down to answer it, only to see a man in a dark suit indicate the car behind him. She did not recognise him, and his presence could mean anything of three things- the mission was over and she was being called back, George had sent someone to collect her for some reason, or something had happened to Illya and she was being summoned to his side. Whatever it was she would likely not be getting any answers soon and she was certainly not dressed appropriately for the former two scenarios.

"I need to get dressed." She said simply, and shut the door in the man's face. Running up to her bedroom, she quickly dressed into something more appropriate and rushed back down. He and the car were still there when she returned, and without a word to the man she let him open her door and climbed in.

"Where are we going?" She asked when he joined her.

"Safe house." Gaby nodded in acknowledgement, and watched the buildings go past as they drove on. Safe house could have meant anything, so she was not ready to start up a conversation and possibly give herself away. After half an hour of driving they arrived at their destination- an isolated warehouse. Once again the door was opened for her, and the man led her inside. It was well-lit inside, and she felt herself blinking rapidly as her eyes adjusted. Once they did, she felt a sudden burst of joy as she immediately spotted Illya, sitting unharmed and unrestrained while speaking frankly to another man in a suit.

"Gaby!" She turned only to be caught in a hug, and when she pulled away she saw Napoleon's grinning face. "We did it." Out of the corner of her eye she saw her driver exit, leaving the four people alone. A sudden 'pop' over by Illya and the man made her jump, but she saw that it was only the man opening a bottle of champagne. "Our temporary boss from the FBI." Napoleon told her quietly at her silent enquiry. "He's really pleased, he's been wanting to nail Russell for years." They were beckoned closer and they both sat beside Illya in front of the FBI man's desk.

"I am very impressed with your work." The man said, conjuring up four glasses and pouring them a generous portion each. "All of you. I have to admit I was a little sceptical at first, especially when I heard about the switchover." He gave Napoleon and Illya a hard look at that. "But I cannot fault your efficiency. You two in particular were spectacular." He nodded at Gaby and Illya.

"Thank you sir." They all replied in chorus, and he pushed the glasses towards them. Illya and Napoleon accepted theirs with a thanks, but Gaby pushed hers towards Napoleon who accepted it with a raised eyebrow. "You don't drink?" The FBI agent asked with a slight frown.

"I've not been feeling very well." She said, half-speaking the truth. Her morning sickness had started in earnest over the past few days. "What happens now?"

"I have sent a team to apprehend Mr and Miss Russell."

"Both of them?" Gaby asked, not even bothering to cover up her surprise.

"Yes. Thanks to you all we have enough evidence to be able to arrest and convict Mr Russell of his illegal activity."

"I understand that." She stated slowly. "But why are you apprehending Rose? We've seen no evidence that she is involved in her father's business." The man clasped his hands together, looking slightly uncomfortable at the question.

"It is true that Miss Russell appears to be innocent, but we need to apprehend her anyway." There was something unstated that Gaby was quick to grasp at.

"Are you going to use her as a bargaining tool against her father?" She asked in outrage. His moment of silence was enough of an answer to her.

"It is better for all involved if she remains in custody." He phrased delicately, she snorted in response but he ignored her and continued to speak. "If any of her father's business associates discover the arrest, they may attempt to capture her as a ransom chip to prevent her father from giving any of them up." He said insistently. "Also keeping her in custody prevents her from going to seek her best friend's advice only to discover that the best friend in question is part of the reason her father has been arrested."

Shame lit Gaby's face red, and she kept quiet for the rest of the uncomfortable discussion between the men. Once Illya and Napoleon had drunk their champagne, they were dismissed. Napoleon had driven over in his mission-supplied car after a call from Waverly about the ending of the mission, and so he offered to drive them both back to the house. Gaby had snatched the keys off of him with an eye roll and pronounced herself the designated driver.

The first thing Napoleon and Illya did when they arrived was scour the house for all the bugs available, mostly because Napoleon insisted that he didn't want to keep asking Illya for bugs when he could have a readily available supply from the ones he had used during this mission. They also took the opportunity to locate and destroy all of George's bugs. After all, he would have no further use for them in prison.

"Right well, I will head back to my own house and start packing for the journey home." Napoleon announced once he had his small pile of devices in a bag. "Enjoy your final day here." The exaggerated wink he gave them and the unsubtle innuendo made Gaby roll her eyes, and she lightly punched him in the shoulder as he left.

"Time to pack." She told Illya with a smile.

They worked quickly and efficiently, packing only items that they might find useful in the future into two small suitcases. For Gaby that meant all of the clothes she had acquired, including her new green dress. She ran a hand over the fabric, feeling yet another pang of guilt, and she half considered just leaving it. She didn't in the end, she would keep it as a reminder of the person she had to sacrifice to complete the mission.

She looked over at Illya and felt a sudden urge to tell him everything. He might have a better idea than her about what they should do. Most of all she just wanted to hear him reassure her, even if those reassurances were empty promises, it was what she needed at that time.

"Illya." She allowed herself the luxury of his actual name, the word came surprisingly easily considering she had become so accustomed to calling him 'Charlie'. He turned expectantly to her, dropping the shirt he was holding to hear what she had to say. It should have been easy enough to say, they were just words after all. But they caught in her throat when she first try to say them, strangling her into silence.

"What is it?" He asked, and she nearly cried when she heard him say those words in his own voice. The American accent he had been using for the whole mission finally dropped now that it was no longer needed.

"I-" She opened her mouth to say it but a sudden, insistent rapping on the door interrupted them. The confession died again in her mouth. "It's probably Napoleon, he'll have forgotten something." It was typical of him, he might even have left something deliberately just so he could come back interrupt them in the middle of the sex he had insinuated they would have once the surveillance devices were gone.

Leaving Illya to finish packing, Gaby went down the stairs already preparing a snarky comment for Napoleon. Opening the door she was startled as it swung open of its own accord as soon as the chain was taken off, and she was abruptly pushed out of the way by the person entering.

"Rose?" Gaby asked in disbelief, her voice loud enough to permeate the rest of the house. "What are you doing here?"

"My dad was arrested, I don't know what to do. I don't know what happened." The woman blathered endlessly, nearly hysterical. Over her voice Gaby could faintly hear the sound of footsteps on the stairs, but still Rose continued to speak. "They came to the house and they tried to take us away-"

Too overwhelmed by the shock of her presence, Gaby barely reacted at the sudden sharp noise that occurred in the background of everything else as Illya came into view. However she did notice when Illya suddenly jerked back and looked down in astonishment at the dart sticking out of his chest before promptly falling to the ground like a marionette with its strings cut.

Author's Note: Right so originally this chapter was quite a bit longer but as I was editing it in prep for the Friday upload it got long enough to split into two chapters. And because the split point was near a cliffhanger it kind of worked out alright.