Involuntarily Illya glanced around. The room was fairly empty but there
were still a number of people within earshot. Lowering his voice he said to
Napoleon, "Do you think it is wise to discuss such matters here? Anybody
could overhear us."

"I didn't know you were so paranoid," teased Napoleon. "Do you think
there's a spy in the building?" He regretted the words as soon as he saw
the effect on Illya. The younger man seemed to shrink back into his seat
and Napoleon felt like he'd just smacked a puppy...a puppy with blond hair
and big blue eyes that were now watching him warily as if unsure whether he
was going to be smacked again. "Hey, I was just teasing," said Napoleon
hastily. "You're right of course. It's no harm to be cautious. We'll talk
about the assignment when we've finished eating...no sense in spoiling good
food!" This *did* get a half smile from Illya but the aura of wariness
still surrounded him and Napoleon wondered just what it would take to get
him to relax again.
He tried again, "I'm afraid that this isn't exactly the fine cuisine I had
in mind for our lunch date."

"Perhaps..." Illya started but then hesitated, almost wresting with himself
before continuing, "Perhaps we can reschedule it for after the
mission...that is if you still want to..." If you still want to speak to me
after the mission, Illya added silently to himself. His encounter with the
KGB watchdog outside Napoleon's office had left him with a very bad feeling
about the assignment. Why was the man suddenly taking such an interest in
his doings? Was it simply the fact that he had been paired with Napoleon
Solo or was it the mission itself that was of value to the KGB? Or was it
all simply an effort to make him even more suspicious and paranoid...well if
that was the case, it was starting to work, thought Illya a little sourly.
He was also feeling a little anger towards the man...this was his first
mission of importance...his chance to show that it hadn't been a mistake for
Mr. Waverly to bring a Russian to work in New York, and he was damned if he
was going to let that bully of a man spoil that chance.

Illya was so caught up in his thoughts that he hardly heard Napoleon's
answer. "I am sorry, what did you just say?"

"I said, I have no intention of letting my extensive plans go to waste,"
repeated Napoleon. "They'll just be postponed until the mission is over,
okay?" He watched Illya intently, wondering just what was going on behind
those oh so innocent looking blue eyes. The man was impossible to read at
times...or maybe it was just because Napoleon didn't know him that well...a
fact that he was determined to rectify over the next few days. After all,
for at least the duration of the mission, Illya's life would be in his
hands, and possibly vice versa...and while Napoleon had the utmost
confidence in Mr. Waverly's ability to pick his agents, he was still not
going to put his life in *anybody's* hands without knowing a little bit more
about them.
And he took a certain amount of pride in his information extracting
abilities...especially on a social level. More than one woman had found
herself confiding her most intimate secrets to him after a blast of the
patented Solo charm. Of course a few glasses of wine and some romantic
music usually helped, and most of the women weren't U.N.C.L.E agents trained
in the art of resisting interrogation, but Napoleon was sure that he could
find out what was bothering Illya...and he was sure that *something* was
eating away at the younger man...and that the man he had seen twice today
had something to do with it.

"Okay," said Illya, unaware of the machinations going round in Napoleon's
head. "We shall take a...a snow check?"

"That's rain check," Napoleon started to correct him before seeing an impish
grin appear on Illya's face. "Hah, funny."

"In Russia we have more snow than rain," said Illya, rearranging his
features into a look of studied innocence. "So naturally we would have snow
checks instead of rain ones."

"Yeah sure," said Napoleon. "Well, come snow or rain, fog or flood, we
*will* get to have our all day lunch...that's a promise, and one thing
you'll find out about me when we work together is, I *never* break a
promise."

---

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