section7mfu | Wednesday's Child: The "Women Only" Affair

A/N: This will hopefully turn into a longer story.

“Napoleon, please understand, Mate; I’m not trying to be insubordinate…”

“That’s good to know,” came the terse reply, “because as CEA, the only person I have to explain myself to is Waverly himself and he is fully aware of why I assigned April to go to Saudi Arabia.”

Mark leaned back in the chair alongside Napoleon’s desk and sighed deeply. He had been doing paperwork in his office when April returned from a meeting with Napoleon. He had been curious as to why both of them hadn’t been summoned, but hadn’t thought anything of it until she said she was leaving for the Middle East in six hours. Even that didn’t upset him too much because he assumed it was a two – pronged affair and Solo would be calling him any minute to apprise him of his part of the mission. It wasn’t unusual for a team to be working the same affair from two different angles. Not knowing all the details of a partner’s assignment helped to keep a mission from being completely compromised if one were captured or succumbed to torture or a new truth serum.

April had said, “This is going to be an interesting assignment, Mark Darling; I’m going to be working with Celia.” Agent Celia Lozada and her partner, Agent Vince Ferraro, were transfers from UNCLE South America. They had been paired with Mark and April on a mission in Texas and Mexico that had been successful despite Ferraro taking a bullet.* “Vincenzo is still recuperating at home and Napoleon thinks this mission is perfect for Celia and me.”

She had finished the paperwork on her desk and left to go home to get ready for her flight. The more he had thought about it, the more apprehensive he felt until he decided he wanted to speak to Napoleon about it. His mistake had been asking the CEA bluntly why he had paired April and Celia. He held his hands up in surrender and tried to appease the obviously miffed Napoleon.

“I am sorry, Napoleon. I’m going about this all wrong. I’m just worried about my partner’s safety.”

“Of course, you are. I worry about Illya when I’m not there to watch his back. However, I take comfort in the fact that my partner is an extremely capable agent and I trust Mr. Waverly not to send a single agent to do the work of a team. You need to trust the fact that April is as trained and capable as you are and that she and Celia were assigned to this mission because I think they are the best for the job.” He leaned closer and asked, “Mark, between you, me and the wall: Is this questioning my judgment coming from the fact that I’ve sent two women without their male partners?”

Mark’s face colored slightly as he replied, “I can’t ‘elp it, Napoleon. I just feel like there should be a male agent involved. If she knew I felt that way, she would kill me, but I do feel protective of ‘er in a way that I wouldn’t if she were a bloke.”

Napoleon checked his watch and remarked, “I have a meeting with the Old Man. Mark, I know you’re unhappy about this situation; this is the first time since you’ve been partnered with April that she’s working without you. You know as well as I do that you are not the first team to be split up temporarily and you will not be the last. I don’t always agree with that policy either, but sometimes it’s necessary. This is one of those times.”

They walked out of Napoleon’s office together toward the elevator bank; Napoleon pressed the “Up” button while Mark pressed “Down.” The CEA’s elevator arrived first and as he stepped on he said, “Just remember: She and Celia are excellent agents. Try not to worry.”

The doors slid shut and Mark was alone. He rocked back on his heels as he watched the floor numbers light up as his elevator descended. Easier said than done, Mate, easier said than done.

*ref. "Changing Minds"