"Waiting for the dawn" for the December Song Story Challenge

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

The prompt:

Napoleon listened to the steady breathing of his partner as he slept. He let Illya have the bed in their motel room as the Russian had a bad time of it before they's gotten away from the THRUSH goons who’d captured them.


The assignment was over, a dismal failure, and on top of that their flight home was delayed. Thankfully Illya wasn’t in any danger, but he was badly bruised and battered.

The man had a bad habit of back talking to his captors which did nothing more than annoy them and they’d proceed to take it out on his hide.  Still Kuryakin never lost his cool and refused to answer their questions despite the pain they put him through. He’d merely mock and ridicule them with that barbed tongue of his, sometimes just a little too much.

While Illya was being given the once over, for the third time, Napoleon managed to free himself and ended the interrogation with a nice karate chop to the back of the Thrushie interrogator's neck.

The agent’s getaway was easier than they imagined and now they were holed up in a seedy motel in the middle of nowhere, while waiting to leave as their flight was delayed for at least another day.There was little else they could or wanted to for that matter.

Solo ventured out in search of food; coming back with roast pork egg foo yung, pork fried rice, egg drop soup, shrimp toast, egg rolls and tea….that was just for Illya. Napoleon fancied having pepper steak and some fried dumplings.

Surprisingly Illya ate mostly the soup, and just wanted to lay down after that. He even swallowed aspirin without giving his partner a hard time.

After Napoleon ministered to his partner with cold compresses, the hurting Russian had finally fallen asleep and Solo segued over to lay on the sofa. Not being able to sleep, he tossed and turned, paced and finally ended up on the floor, sitting cross legged as he stared out the window at the night sky.

There flashes of light streaking across the heavens, a meteor shower, though he didn’t know which one it was. There were a few famous ones like the Perseids, the Leonids and something that began with the letter G, though Napoleon couldn't for the life of him remember the name. He was too tired. Illya would know, but he wasn’t about to wake the man up to ask him.

You could never see things like this with the lights of New York city, so it was fascinating to be able watch the meteors come and go in this more rural setting. The sky was crystal clear, and the stars seemed so close that you felt as though you could reach up and grab them.

Napoleon looked down at the luminous dial of his wristwatch; twenty-five no, correct that,  twenty-six minutes to four in the morning. He sighed.

Finally rising up from the floor; he went to the bathroom and splashed some cold water on his face. If he was going to be awake, then he might as well really be awake.

The condition of the bathtub was anything but desirable, though he had a passing thought that a hot shower would feel really good right now.  The mould and mildew, not to mention the presence of too many silverfish made him pass on that idea in a heartbeat.

“Napoleon?” Illya called from the bed “Are you all right?”

“Fine, go back to sleep.”

Illya reached over to the nightstand and switched on the light. It revealed just how dingy their accommodations were, with the walls covered in yellowed and peeling wall paper. There were cobwebs everywhere, the paint on the door was chipped and peeling, revealing several layers of different colors.

They never stripped off the old paint and merely went over each successive layer with a new coat, though it looked like it had been awhile since the last one was applied.

“Why do I doubt that,” Illya grunted as he sat up. “What is wrong?”

“Can’t sleep.”

“Why?”

Napoleon searched for the right words. “Not really sure. Maybe I’m on edge after what happened. I mean, look at you; you’re turning six shades of black and blue and your face is pretty swollen.”

“And my insides feel as though they were being tenderized. Still we have been in this situation before, and no doubt it will happen again. It is part and parcel of the profession.” If Illya could have shrugged, he would have but the flesh wasn’t willing.

“That’s just it tovarisch, I guess I was wondering how much of it we can take, though you seem to tend to get it worse than I do.”

“We take as much as is needed. As for me getting the worst of it, I suppose I bring it upon myself with my smart remarks.”

“No arguments frome me there. Why do you do it?”

“I figure that if I am going to perish, then I will go out pissing off the people who are going to kill me.”

“Retribution Kuryakin style,”Napoleon snickered.

“Precisely. Now it is your turn to take the bed. I will be comfortable enough on the sofa.” Illya moved to get up but, groaned as he did so.

“No that’s all right. I think I’ll just stay awake and wait for the break of day. It’s been awhile since I’ve seen a good sunrise. Oh by the way Sleeping Beauty, there was a meteor shower.”

“That would be the Leonids. Hmm, shame I missed them.”

"Is there one that begins with G?"

"Geminids, they were first observed in 1862, which was much more recently than other showers such as the Perseids which date back to 36 AD and the Leonids date back to 902 AD. I would have liked to have seen them."


"Sorry, but I thought you sleeping was more important.'


“No argument there from me on that as well my friend. Are you sure you do not want the bed?”

“No thanks tovarisch.”

Illya grunted as he rolled over, turning his back to his partner as he settled down. He was sound asleep within minutes.

Napoleon pulled up a chair near the window. Resting his head on his arms, he leaned on the windowsill and waited for the sun to rise over the distant mountains.

Just as it did he fell sound asleep, at last.

Comments

[alynwa.livejournal.com]

I like this very much. A very in character Illya, Napoleon as concerned Mother Hen and a failed mission. I like the use of the meteor shower.

Thanks for taking part in the Song Story Challenge!

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Am really glad you liked it. Always good to be told you got a character (or two) right. Since we just had the Geminids appear a few days ago, that's probably where the meteor idea came from. It also gave Napoleon something else to dwell upon through his insomnia other than Illya and the failed mission.