American Fantasy

The Flight of Knowledge

"If you can make a woman laugh, you can make her do anything." – Marilyn Monroe

The plane ride involved a lot of staring, Addie would watch the way Napoleon's jaw clenched when he was thinking; Napoleon would watch the way Addie smiled widened when he was talking to her.

"Leon, are you a spy?" She whispered.

Napoleon smiled at the seemingly innocent question, "why are you whispering? No one is listening. And I'm not right now, right now I'm just your brother who found out you were alive. Addie, if I had known that you survived the fire I would have-"

"No, Leon, don't. You were dead, if you came back mother would have freaked, she may have burned down the entire town instead," Addie pushed her hair back over her neck instinctively.

"What's that?" Napoleon pushed her hand away and moved her hair behind her shoulder, he noticed hard second degree burns across the left side of her neck, it highlighted her jaw line.

"I tried to get her out of the chair..." Addie realized she hadn't ever talked about it. She had an appointment with a counselor but she never went, she couldn't afford a counselor. Instead she wrote it down in her journal, she brought it with her to college. But a few weeks before she had somehow lost it. "She wasn't who we remembered, Leon. She didn't cook, I had to take out a loan from the bank just to get her to eat."

Napoleon felt his throat closed up, if he was there, if he hadn't taken that damn deal. If he hadn't...but he had. And it was done; his mother was dead and his sister burned.

"I'm so sorry, Adelaide," Napoleon grabbed her hand in between his.

"Sometimes," Addie started with a soft smile, "I imagine that I was in a battle. Fighting an evil enemy that was sent to destroy our country. I imagined that I was awarded with metals and then Brigitte Bardot played myself when they created a motion picture of my achievements."

Napoleon smiled at Addie, kissing her hand then placing it back down on the arm rest between them. "I missed your stories, Addie. You were always more creative than me, my favorite was the one about you and I walking to Mexico to save the President."

Addie smiled, and propped her legs up to her chest, wrapping her arms around them and resting her head on her knees.

"I left before you told me how it ends," Napoleon said.

"Oh, we return the President in a military tank right up to the White House and then there was a day created from our victory. August 15th was now known as Solo Day."

Napoleon chuckled, "I like that ending. Your stories always end happily."

"I've never really imagined anything else. I know it's not statistically correct to assume that everything ends well...but a girl can dream. Can I ask you a question? It's okay if you can't answer it," Addie asked.

"Yes," Napoleon nodded.

"Have you fighting the Russians?"

"Uh..." Napoleon barred his teeth, "in a way. I actually work with one."

"You work with a communist!" Addie said louder than she wanted. She covered her mouth and looked around her, the other people faces in their books and magazines. "I thought they were the enemy."

"They are, but I am a part of a special team. We are, as our boss says, the best of the best," Napoleon said in his best impression of Waverly. "And a while ago I killed a bad woman who was very dangerous."

Napoleon went on to explain how he had gotten 'a dangerous weapon' safe and out of her hands. He paid attention to Addie's expressions as he told how he became part of the team U.N.C.L.E. He told her about Illya and Gaby, "they seem lovely," she commented.

"Gaby is lovely, you'll really like her," Addie straightened her spine.

"Met her?"

"Yes, you're going to stay with me and my team until we find the rest of Victoria's team."

"Will you kill them?" Addie asked. Napoleon read his sister's face, her eyes were wide, not narrow as someone with judgement would be. Her lips were relaxed, not pressed together like someone afraid would.

"I would rather interrogate them, bring them to justice," Napoleon looked out the window of the plane, seeing the land through the clouds, "but these men are trying to hurt you. And I won't let that happen," Napoleon looked back and watched Addie yawn. "Close your eyes, it's a long flight to England."

Addie closed her eyes and rested her head on her brother's shoulder.

Napoleon thought about what would happen after all this was over. He didn't want to just drop Addie back off at college, he wanted to be the brother he used to be. He never had a reason to quit being a spy, now that he has one, how will he tell the others?