// From P.25 // "Napoleon and I are going to sleep now. We hope you have enjoyed the show. Sorry the ending wasn't as good for you as it was for us. 'Night." The room was then plunged into darkness. //

The room was in darkness, save for the slivers of pale blue-gray light that shone through the drawn curtains in Illya's bedroom. Napoleon could still see the face of his partner, friend and now lover face. Illya's head was laying gently nestled in his shoulder. Napoleon smiled softly and lightly tightened the arm that was embracing Illya.

Illya, who was awake, snuggled softly deeper into Napoleon's shoulder making a low satisfied sigh. His right arm was laying draped over Napoleon's bare chest, his hand gently holding the other's hand..

"So, you are still awake too.?" Napoleon said softly into Illya's ear. "No, not really. I was a sleep for a time. I woke up again a little while ago. I have been laying here listening to your heart beating." Illya replied in a low blissful voice. Napoleon brushed his cheek against Illya's silken blond hair. "Listening to my heart beating?" "Yes." Illya responded "I find it quite soothing. It makes me wish I had taken the time to listen to it before."

They were both silent again for long while. Lover embracing lover. Napoleon held Illya's hand gently in his, squeezing it lightly from time to time. Thoughts slowly humming through his mind.

The events of the past week swam through his head. Illya and he prowling through the jungle looking for that downed US satellite. His being captured by the aliens and THRUSH. Illya rescuing him. The two of them in the Bangkok UNCLE infirmary. Illya's breathing stopping.

The memory of that moment made him shiver. The through of losing Illya that day still pained him so. Not to have Illya alive, with him. That would have been far crueler torment than anything the aliens had put him throught after he had been captured by them..

The sudden movement made Illya raise his head up enough to look at his friend. "What's wrong Napoleon?" Even in the shadowed pale light, Illya could see the faint lingering look of fear in Napoleon's open, staring eyes. Napoleon blinked, Illya's soft concerned voice had brought him back to the present. "Oh no nothing, just letting my thoughts get the better of me." Illya gave his lover an understanding smile. "I have let my own problems lately Napoleon make me forget that you too haven't had it that much better than I." Illya pressed his face closer to Napoleon's. Napoleon turned his own, the better to see Illya's.

"I treated you no better my friend. I allowed myseld to turn a blind eye to what the aliens did to you. I should have been more surportive to you just after we learned the full extent of their...tampering."

Illya removed his hand from Napoleon's, and laid a finger on his friends lips. "NO Napoleon, I don't want you to apologize to me. You were in a state of shock, so was I. I may have responded in much the same way if our roles had been reversed. We are human, Napoleon. This is just obviously something these aliens do not understand.."

Napoleon looked deeply into Illya's blue eyes that in the dim light looked fully gray. Love and understanding were filling them now. "Illya my friend, since the first day I met you, you have never ceased to amaze me." Napoleon let his lips playfully brush Illya's cheeks.

Illya used his free hand to move Napoleon's head closer to his. Their lips met and the kiss and embrace lasted a long time. No more was said and the two of them slept together still embraced into the waiting arms of sleep.

Tomorrow come what may, they would face it together.