"The playing house affair"~ Part two~ for Wednesday is all about April

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

link to part one: http://section7mfu.livejournal.com/578717.html





They dashed out the front door, piling into the Rambler and taking off at top speed down Valley Road.

Just as they turned the corner, April looked back, seeing a black sedan pull up in front of the Windham house and park there.

“It won’t take them long to figure out it was us who took Angelina,” she said.

“No kidding Mrs. Cleaver. I think we need to ditch this car. Napoleon pulled down a side street and made another turn.  There they parked behind a bright red convertible.

“That’ll do,” Napoleon smiled.”

“A bit obvious isn’t it?”

“April that is a brand new Thunderbird Sports Roadster, with vinyl-roofed Landau and simulated S-bars besides being a convertible. It has 48-spoke Kelsey Hayes-designed wire wheels and a special fiberglass tonneau cover for the rear seats so it gives the car the appearance of a two-seat roadster like the original Thunderbird, yet it seats four. I find the cherry red color quite attractive."

“Napoleon dearest, I had no idea you were that into cars,” she watched, holding Angelina by the hand as he hotwired the ignition.

“Not just cars April...convertibles,” he smiled and quickly tossed the child’s belongings into the back seat as they all got into the T-bird.

“It also has a V8 engine, lots of power in case we need to hightail it.”

After putting up the roof, he checked the gas gauge, noting there was a full tank, and he slowly pulled away, leaving the Rambler behind them...with the keys of course and a quick note to contact Mr. Waverly regarding the missing car.

They returned to Valley Road, seeing the black sedan go past them, no doubt in search of the Rambler station wagon. Napoleon turned in a different direction, sure the Thrushes in the sedan hadn’t noticed them. April kept the child down on her lap, completely out of view.

He took a rather circuitous route, heading back to Route 3 towards the Lincoln Tunnel, but taking the turn off for the Garden State Parkway, eventually making his way to the Jersey Turnpike, better known as I-95. They would be heading straight south, through New Jersey down to Maryland and finally to the District of Columbia and the safety of U.N.C.L.E. headquarters.

The ride was surprisingly pleasant, with April keeping Angelina amused, and when she was tired of talking, Napoleon took over, telling the child a story.  The Three Billy Goats Gruff…

Finally Angelina drifted off to sleep.

“She’s a brave little girl,” April sighed, stroking the child’s baby soft red hair. “I hope I have a daughter like her some day.”

“You want children?”

“Yes I do, though one can only hope to survive this job to be able to become a mother.”

“April isn’t forty a little late for a woman to be having a baby?”

“Darling I’m not planning on staying with UNCLE until retirement age. I’m devoted to the Command, but I have a right to a life and a family. Napoleon don’t you want that someday? I mean, even Illya has told me he’d like to have a family of his own.”

“Yes he told me that too, but he prefaced it with ‘if he lives long enough and if he could find a woman who could tolerate him.”

April laughed. “He’s not that bad. I bet under that cold exterior beats the heart of a softie. I know he likes children.

It was Solo’s turn to laugh. “Illya a softie….hmm, better be careful spouting that. You’ve never seen him get his hackles up like I have.”

“Napoleon you still didn’t answer my question.”

“Thought I’d dodged that one. Tsk. I’m not sure I’m cut out to be a father, or get married again.”

“Again?” April loudly blurted out,” Again?” She whispered this time.

“It isn’t a known fact, but I was married when I was nineteen...my wife was killed in a car accident.”

“Oh Napoleon, I’m so sorry. I had no idea,” her face flushed with embarrassment.

“April my love no need for that. It was a long time ago, but granted it’s made me have second thoughts about ever marrying again. And kids,” he rolled his eyes.”I don’t think children and I get along.”

“Excuse me? You’ve been absolutely wonderful with Angelina here. You’ve made her smile and laugh, kept her amused….granted dads have to do more than that. Sometimes they have to be the heavy, the teacher and disciplinarian, but they’re full of love too.  I think there’s that kind of love in your heart, even though you don’t want to admit it.”

Angelina’s eyes suddenly popped wide open. “Bad men,” she said telepathically.”Driving in a car, a big black car. Four bad men.”

Napoleon looked in the rearview mirror, spotting the sedan tailing them.

“Damn, how the hell did they find us?”  He pushed the accelerator, increasing the Thunderbird’s speed, and the sedan did the same.

April pulled her communicator, contacting Washington headquarters

“Dancer here, we’re on L Street and being pursued by a carload of Thrushies. We need a back up team to meet us for escort immediately.”

No sooner had she said that when a shot was fired, hitting one of the tires. The Thunderbird swerved as Napoleon fought to keep control of the wheel; a second shot, blew another tire.

“Hang on!” He yelled as they headed for a lamp post, hitting it with a loud boom!

April slowly opened her eyes, still holding onto the now crying Angelina. The car horn was blaring as Napoleon was leaning against it, unconscious.  Water and steam were spewing into the air out of the engine.

“Shusssh, baby,” she whispered,”You’re all right.” April gave the little girl the once-over just in case and found nothing wrong.

“Outta the car lady!” A basso voice ordered her.

A burly Thrushman stood next to the car, pointing a gun right at her and the child. He reached down, wrenching the door open.

“Bad man!” The little girl screamed in April’s head.

“Angel sweetheart you need to stop that. I need to think,” she whispered.

“My mommy called me Angel,” Angelina whispered this time.

“Move it bitch!” He snatched April by the arm, pulling her hard enough to make her drop the little girl.

“NOOOO!” The child screamed. “You won’t hurt her. You hurt my Mommy, Daddy and Nana but you’re not gonna hurt her….she’s my friend!”

The Thrushman grabbed his temples, dropping his pistol as he was seemingly writhing in pain. As a matter of fact all the Thrushies were doing the same thing.

“Get out of my head….get her out of my head,” he screamed before collapsing, as did his cohorts one after the other.

The backup team pulled up moments later, taking charge of the scene; calling a medical transport for Solo, and a coroner’s van for the Thrushmen.

April rode with the other agents, keeping a firm hold on the child as they headed to headquarters.

“Angel, what did you do to those men? One of them screamed for you to get out of his head,” she whispered into the child’s ear.

“I told him he was a bad man for hurting my family and you...and Napoleon too, so I told him he needed to go away. I made his head stop working.”

“You made his head stop working?” April repeated, unsure of what to make of that..

They arrived at headquarters in just a few minutes and April reluctantly surrendered Angelina to one of the nurses. She knelt beside the child speaking reassuringly.

“Don’t worry sweetie, this nice lady is going to take good care of you. You have to trust me on this.”

“I know,” came the reply,” I saw it in your head; you’re telling the truth.”

“Angel, what did I tell you about doing that?” April pretended to scold her.

“Sorry,” the child looked at her with the saddest eyes possible, her bottom lip quivering just a little.

“Promise me you’ll be a good girl and listen to these nice people? No crying now, you’re a big girl.” April hugged her one last time.

“I will, I promise.”

“Angel...if you ever want to talk to me, just tell them and they’ll put in a  telephone call to me, all right?”

It was all April could do to keep from her eyes from welling up. She’d gotten attached to the little one in such a short time…that was a bit disconcerting.  Maybe wanting to become a mother was more important to her than she’d realized.

April steeled herself, turning away and walking out the door and not looking back, something she learned from Illya…”Never look back," he once told her.

She was suddenly filled with an overwhelming feeling, one she could only describe as love. Not her love, but an emotion coming into her, enveloping her very being. For a moment her heart began to pound, until she realized what was happening.

“Thank you Angel,” she whispered as she headed down the hall to Napoleon’s room.

He’d finished dressing and was just getting ready to button up his cardigan when April appeared. She stepped to his side, pushing away his hands and did it for him. There was a sizeable lump on his head and a bandage covering a small cut on his cheekbone.

“Poor baby, want me to kiss and make better Mr. Cleaver?”

Without waiting for his answer, she did just that, planting one on his lips and he, of course, responded immediately.

“Hmmm, Mrs. Cleaver, I have it on good authority that we don’t have to be back to New York for another forty-eight hours.”

“Oh really,” she smiled.” And how do you know that?”

“Because I just filed a report with Mr. Waverly. He suggested we stay to make the child’s transition easier, as well as to debrief regarding the things we saw....hmm, well the things that she did. Kind of hard to describe it."

“Debrief won't take that long and I don’t think there’ll be any problem with her adjusting. Angelina Bell is wise beyond her years, and understands what’s going on. I did tell her if she wanted to talk that she could tell her caretakers to call me anytime. Inspite of all she’s gone through; I think she’s going to be fine. However, that being said, she's got a long road ahead of her learning to control those powers of hers."

“Nice mothering instinct my dear,” Napoleon pulled her close. “Speaking of mothering...I have this boo-boo you see that needs some tender loving care. Would you know of anyone who might be interested in that particular position…maybe a few other positions as well?”

“Napoleon, you are incorrigible. Hmm I wonder where we can go? We can’t use guest quarters here.”

“As a matter of fact, I know a great luxury hotel not far from here called the Monaco.”

“Really?” April looked at him suspiciously.” Your usual rendezvous with the ladies?”

“Don’t judge,” he tapped her on the end of the nose.

“I wasn’t...I was just wondering whose expense account we were going to put it on.”

“Whose? Well I was hoping we could split …”

“Napoleon!”

“You’re starting to sound an awful lot like my partner. You’ve been hanging around Illya too much.”

“Very funny! All right Mr. Cleaver, let’s go play house for a while.” April led him out of the room, holding Napoleon by the hand.

“Mommy’s going to make baby feel much, much better.”

“I sincerely hope so,  though I’d prefer you not use the mommy analogy?”

“Why you’re the daddy figure and I’m the mommy...and daddy’s are the biggest babies of all!”

“Trés drole April,” Napoleon crinkled his nose.

“You know Illya is right, your French accent is awful.” April commented as they stepped onto the elevator.

“You’re definitely hanging around with him too much…

Comments

[carabele.livejournal.com]

Very nicely canonesque story. Though I am far from an April Dancer fan, I enjoyed this one.

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

Thank you. What a really nice compliment and glad you enjoyed it. I agree about April, I think she's written much better in fanfiction than she was on the show. There she came across too often as the damsel in distress and not overly competent at times.