LAPOCHKA, CROSS MY HEART.

Aria Da Capo

"How are you feeling?"

Waverly, like the good handler he is, visited Nallya as soon as he got the clear from the doctors that he could drop by. After finding out who she actually was in the beginning of the mission, he took extra precautions to keep her safe. Which, sadly, hadn't made it any easier for the three in the first place. Though despite the unfortunate events, he has never seen her two partners actually behave and play nice in the field. Not even when Gaby Teller mothers the two.

"Glad for this to be over."Nallya winces at the nurse rebandaging her wound when the nurse accidentally grazed on it. The nurse apologized and left.

When they had finally resurfaced from the underwater base, Nallya was beyond relieved. It didn't matter that she got shot, she didn't feel it. She was relieved because she didn't have to worry about somebody in the team dying while they were split up. She cared. A lot. More even, especially after what Napoleon dramatically and shamelessly admitted to Illya and her after almost dying. It was one of the job hazards after all. Attachment, that is.

"I'm quite acquainted with that feeling... and ah. Yes. The doctor said it didn't hit any vital organs and you should expect full recovery by the end of the month. " Waverly had that unreadable smile on his face. The one he seemed to always have.

"Lucky me.. What is going to happen to the weapons? The plutonium the Mafia got their hands on?"

"It was bait. They knew that international agencies would be keen on trying to acquire it rather than look for the upcoming Biological weapon. Admiral Nilsson was the one to set it up."

"Mhmm... that's smart.."

"Indeed. Have you given any thoughts on something more... permanent?" He'd been hopeful that Nallya would decide to stay with them in the agency. So springing up the question felt similar to a marriage proposal.

Funnily enough, When Nallya finally registered what Waverly asked her, she was speechless. She hadn't thought about it because that's how it worked back in the KGB. She didn't find herself useful to U.N.C.L.E. anymore. Not when the mission,which conveniently involved her wellbeing, is done and they are supposed to move on. She stared at Waverly blankly, who returned it with a hopeful glance. Nallya was not used to that. All of it.

"I thought you wanted me gone after this." Feeling under scrutiny, she averted her stare. Waverly pulled a chair to sit infront of her exam table.

"Why would I want that?" The tone of his voice switched from sanguine to lost at the despondency tinting her sentence.

"Is that not how it works? I am not of use to you anymore, am I not?" Nallya thought that the British could not be indifferent to such a worldly praxis. Or perhaps, she is wrong.

"Most certainly not and no, you are not mine to use. I give you a decision of voluntarily working for this agency or not at all. It doesn't dictate your value." She thought about it, when his last words struck something familiar. It's like what Napoleon told them about his mother. Maybe it's time she continued what she started in Berlin. Killing Nazis and saving civilian lives. Illya. Napoleon... For them and with them.

"I don't want you to take this offer because you feel like you owe it to me and the organization. I want you to take it because it's what you decided to do. Not an agreement blossoming from sheer force or peer pressure" He didn't say it angrily, he said it to enlighten her because he realized why she was in utter disbelief.