Picfic Tuesday: The Good Stuff

[alynwa.livejournal.com]

Napoleon and Illya were sitting in Aunt Amy’s living room one Saturday afternoon eating finger sandwiches, scones and small cakes lovingly prepared by her. She was using her favorite tea set; royal blue with a gold trim. She poured each of “her boys” a cup before pouring one for herself. As she dropped two sugar cubes into her cup she said, “I am so glad you called today! You know how much I miss you both when you’re out of town.”

Napoleon sipped his tea and replied, “I think I speak for Illya and myself when I say we miss you, too. Honestly, Auntie, you didn’t have to do this. I was looking forward to taking my best girl out for dinner.” He tilted his head towards Illya. “We both were.”

“I know, my dear, but I wasn’t feeling especially hungry and I didn’t want to just pick at dinner. Besides, I felt like staying home and keeping you two all to myself.”

Illya put his cup down and took one of her hands into his large one. “Are you not feeling well, Aunt Amy?” he asked with a concerned look on his face.

She pulled her hand away gently. “I feel perfectly fine, Illya.   I just felt like staying home.” She noted that her nephew was about to speak and turned her attention back to the Russian. “How do you like this tea set, Illya? It has been in my family for four generations. It was a wedding present to my great great great grandparents. They brought it from England when they immigrated to America.”

“It is beautiful, Aunt Amy. In fact, when you first brought it out I was going to suggest that we just use regular mugs.”

Napoleon gave the blond an odd little looked and asked, “Why?”

“Because it is so beautiful, it should be saved for a special occasion.”

Napoleon and Aunt Amy exchanged looks and burst out laughing. “Dear boy,” she giggled, “I checked with the Queen of England; she’s not coming!” She laughed a little harder at the confused look on his face. “That’s a Solo family inside joke. Napoleon, you tell him.”

“When I was a kid and my parents would bring my siblings and me to visit Aunt Amy and Uncle Charles, we would have wonderful meals with the entire family at the table with everyone talking and laughing. One day, I asked Aunt Amy why I never saw her use any of the dishes, bowls, platters and cups in her china closet, including this tea set I might add. She looked at me and said, ‘Those things are for company.’”

Illya’s eyebrows furrowed. “You were not ‘company?’”

“My question, exactly. And the answer Aunt Amy gave me was ‘Those are my good things to be used for special company.’ Which, apparently, we were not. As we got older, we would threaten to sneak into her house to use her ‘good stuff’ and she would swear she would kill us if we ever did.”

“One New Year’s Eve, we were here for dinner and, as usual, nothing in the china closet had be placed on the table. We had a tradition where everyone would mention one New Year’s resolution they had made. When it was Uncle Charles’ turn, he said, ‘I resolve that starting tonight, there will be no more good stuff in this house’ and he walked to the china closet and began to pull out wine glasses.”

“We were stunned; I for one had never even seen the glass door of the china closet open. Aunt Amy said ‘Charles, that’s my good crystal!’ and Uncle Charles calmly replied, ‘I checked with the Queen of England. She’s not coming so we might as well use it.’ We all laughed and toasted the New Year with those glasses.”

Aunt Amy refilled her teacup. “I was very annoyed with your uncle when he did that, but we all learned a valuable lesson that night.”

“And that lesson is?” Illya asked.

Napoleon answered, “There may be things in my home that are too good for you to use, but there is nothing in my home that is too good for me to use. That’s why I don’t have every day and special occasion plates, cups and cutlery. Everything in my kitchen is for everyday use.”

Aunt Amy chimed in, “From that day forward, I began to use the things that I had stored so carefully in that china closet. The world didn’t end, my things didn’t get destroyed and Charles and I enjoyed it all. When he passed away, I was so grateful that we did that. I mean, I would have felt so foolish if I had valued these things more than I valued my husband and my loved ones.” She reached down and delicately picked up a finger sandwich. “And that is why we are using this tea set. It used to be a centerpiece in that china closet and it makes me happy to use it to entertain my two favorite nephews.”

Moved, Illya leaned in to kiss her cheek. “You honor me, Aunt Amy. Thank you, both of you, for telling me about one of your family traditions. This is a gorgeous tea set and now that I know something about it, I feel doubly honored that I am here for afternoon tea. Thank you so much for inviting us.”

“You are welcome, dear Illya.”

A familiar chirping started emanating from Napoleon’s jacket draped on a hangar in the front coat closet. Moving swiftly to get it, he walked into the kitchen, assembled the communicator and said softly, “Solo.”

Mr. Waverly’s voice came through loud and clear. “Is Mr. Kuryakin with you?”

“Yes, sir.”

“I need to see the two of you as soon as possible.”

“We’re on our way, Sir. Estimated time of arrival is thirty minutes. Solo out.”

Illya had already swallowed two more finger sandwiches and the rest of his tea by the time Napoleon came back into the room. “Duty calls, Aunt Amy. If we’re in town next Sunday, would you consider having brunch with me?” When she nodded, he hugged her and kissed her cheek. “I love you. Very much.”

“And I, you, dear Napoleon,” she responded. She let go of her nephew long enough to reach for the Russian who closed his eyes and allowed himself to be enveloped by Aunt Amy’s loving arms. “I’m so glad you are in my life.” She kissed his cheek and patted his face as she broke the hug.

As they headed to the front door, Amy called Napoleon back to her. Illya continued through the door and waited a few moments in the hallway. Seconds later, Napoleon exited the penthouse and the two men walked to the elevator. When it arrived, they stepped in and Illya pressed the ground floor button. He noted his partner’s expression. “Napoleon?”

The brunet shoved his hands into his pockets and let his eyes wander. “Aunt Amy told me that she wants you to have the tea set after…when she…you know.”

The Russian’s facial expression didn’t change, but he felt a surge of dread. “I do not like this, Napoleon.”

“Neither do I, Illya. Neither do I.”