She came to, opening her eyes to find herself laying on the futon in the living room, a pair of very worried blue eyes staring into hers. With a groan, Shado rubbed her hand over her eyes and then traced her fingers down Illya's cheek. He responded by pressing her palm tightly into his face. His eyes drifted closed as they relished the connection of flesh touching once more. She purred slightly and slid her hand to the back of his neck. He slowly moved toward her and the touch of his lips against hers had her purring even more. His kiss was tentative at first, a mere brush of lip to lip but she opened her mouth, a silent plea for more. The taste of his mouth was a memory that she had never forgotten and she pled for more, arching off the futon into his arms. He deepened the kiss, a stifled moan in his throat. The heat that they had always shared flared between them, blocking the memory of recent events from both their minds, their passion and love reawakening from its twenty year sleep. His arms found their way around her back, holding her upright and safe at last against his chest.

Keeper and Napoleon shared a look from their respective positions in the room. The girls smirked at the sight of their normally calm sensei, losing herself in a simple kiss. Napoleon grinned and pulled his communicator from his pocket. Yes, things might be screwed up right now, but at least his friend and partner had found what he had been searching for. Keeper rolled his eyes toward the ceiling and cleared his throat.

"Ah, Sensei," he growled softly. He wasn't too happy with this development. The re-appearance of her long dead husband, someone he hadn't even known existed, had really thrown his own emotions into chaos. He wasn't sure if he was happy for her or not. He had fancied himself in love with her since they had first met, years ago, but their one attempt at a relationship had bombed before it even begun. The one "date" they had gone on had ended in laughter and the knowledge that there was too much between them for any romantic involvement. However, that didn't stop him from experiencing a flash of hot jealousy when Illya finally broke the kiss, pulling back with a faint blush on his face.

Shado groaned and hid her face in his chest, her cheeks crimson with embarrassment. She clutched Illya's shoulders burying herself deeper into his arms as reality came crashing back down on her. He held her, awkward in the position they were in, but equally reluctant to let her go. After a few moments she pulled back from the hold, her eyes searching his for a second, then she moved so that they weren't off balance anymore.

"I couldn't find him." She said to the air. Keeper and the members of the circle knew exactly what she was talking about and frowns moved across their faces. Keeper's scowl deepened as the ramifications of what she had attempted made their appearance.

"Sensei, I thought you had more sense than to try to trace that call." he scolded, folding his arms across his chest and letting his posture speak his displeasure. "What if you had been lost?"

She shrugged. "I wasn't. I had to try. He's my son." She said glaring at Keeper over Illya's shoulder.

"Excuse me? What?" Napoleon said, he was still holding his communicator, trying to decide who would be the best of the agents on the roster to handle this situation, aside from Illya and himself.

"She tried to follow the call using her talent." Mage said in explanation.

"I don't understand."

"It's possible for us to 'follow' something on the astral plane, provided there is a connection. Like a voice on the phone or sometimes even using line of sight. Kind of like tracing equipment." Mage continued.

"And this is dangerous?" Illya asked, tightening his grip on Shado for a moment. She wiggled slightly until he loosened his hold.

"Not really." She started to say but Faln broke in.

"Very. If the connection is severed abruptly, the seeker 'scatters' or breaks into pieces and those pieces can be lost. That's why she passed out." She said. She joined Illya beside Shado, checking her pulse and looking her over with a critical eye. "Shado got lucky. Had she not been firmly grounded, she would have stayed lost."

"What happens then?" Napoleon's curiosity leaked into his voice.

"She would slip into a coma and die. That's why she shouldn't have attempted it without the proper preparations."

"Look, there wasn't time and I am fine." She pushed Faln's hand from her forehead. "We have to find him."

"We will, Paige, we will. I'm going to call the office and get a team of our best agents here in just a few hours. When Sepheran calls again we'll be ready for him." Napoleon said activating his communicator.

"No Napoleon. That's the last thing we want to do." Shado said firmly.

"Dushka?" Illya held her hand and gave it a squeeze. She turned to him, her concern in her eyes.

"We can't have more people knowing that we are alive, Love. It's too dangerous." Napoleon started to protest but she cut him off. "I know your agents are trustworthy, but you have to understand our position. The more people who know about us the greater the risk. We have to do this ourselves. No one else." Her voice was firm but her eyes showed the fear and worry that she felt. Illya, reading her more clearly than he should have been able to, nodded.

"Da. No others, Napoleon." His voice was strong with his support of her position. She smiled at him warmly and he felt himself answer with a smile of his own.

"Okay." Napoleon said hesitantly putting his communicator away. "And just how do you propose to do this? We have no idea where they are, how many are involved?"

Tense chuckles filled the room, coming from the Circle. Gem shook his head at Napoleon's naivete. "Mr. Solo, ve haf our ways." He said in a horrible mock german accent, eliciting more chuckles.

"But first, Shado needs to eat and I would recommend a nap as well. She was up all night and I know she didn't eat anything yesterday and unless I miss my guess, the day before as well." Faln said running a critical eye over Shado's pale face, noting lines of strain from her sleepless nights. "Don't argue with me either, you’ll lose."

Shado nodded reluctantly. "I'll eat, but a nap is out of the question. There is too much to do and we have little time. Blair is scared and Sepheran is not a patient man."

"Shado, we can't do anything until he contacts us again, we have no idea what he wants." Gem said.

"What he wants is obvious." Illya said. "He wants Napoleon and myself, we have thwarted his plans too often in the past." Shado shook her head, no.

"I don't think so. I have a feeling that you and Napoleon are just icing on the cake this time, Illyusha." She started to move but a glare from Faln made her sigh and settle back into the corner. "Way back when, he made me the offer to stay with Thrush, wanting to use me like my father did. I turned him down rather spectacularly if I may say so myself..."

February 1970.

Paige sat in the chair under the window staring out at the landscape that was visible through the falling snow. She knew that she should feel something, anything but she was numb, her emotions locked deeply inside her with the death of her beloved. She had been a "guest" of Angelique's since the Thrush agent had found her slowly freezing to death beside the cold body of her husband. She felt like she had died herself when the bullet had entered his brain. She wished she had died there, but instead she was still alive, if you could call this living.

"Illyusha." She whispered into the still quiet of her room, frozen tears locked in her chest, the pain of his death as much a part of her as breathing now. The baby, her only link to him, turned and rolled against her diaphragm, the only connection she had to him now. She felt the stretch of her skin and laid a gentle hand on the lump that was their child. Illya had been so happy, she remembered. The memory of his fascination with the new movements, the way he would lay with his head pillowed on her breast and watch for hours for the slight flutter of life... she choked back a sob. She wouldn't cry, not anymore.

The pain of that memory was too fresh, too much for her to bear. The days ahead of her, the rest of her life, stretched before her, bleak and cold. The only light would be the child she carried. His child, conceived in love and hope. She pushed back the memories, the feelings of his arms wrapped around her, burying them deep into her soul, it was the only way she would be able to survive.

The sound of her door opening barely made an impression on her, the soft footfalls even less of one. She didn't turn her head, recognizing the expensive cologne as it wafted to her, Sepheran, Angelique's superior and the one who had found this haven for her. He stopped next to her, laying a hand on her shoulder. She barely repressed the urge to shrug it off, she hated the way he touched her and he knew it. She hated, even more, the enjoyment that he got from hiding her from her father's men. He kept her informed of their efforts to find her, gloating in his superiority.

"Solo is back. His plane landed an hour ago. Your father met him at the airport." Sepheran's voice was smug. "I would have given anything to have seen his face when he got the news."

She did move out from under his hand at that statement, a sharp shrug dropping it quickly. He moved closer, encroaching on her personal space. The smell of his cologne was overpowering and made her nauseous. "I'm sorry, my dear, I forgot for a moment that you are still grieving. Is it any better?" he asked overly solicitous. She frowned at the snow falling outside the window, it had been snowing when Illya died, she thought. She had trouble focusing still and with an effort pulled her attention to the man next to her.

"He will be searching for you, of course. But he won't find you here." Sepheran said misreading her movement. He ran his eyes over the still, silent woman, noting that she was still pale and seemed to have lost even more weight. The doctors he had brought in to care for her were worried that she wasn't eating or sleeping, her depression deepening instead of lessening. The baby moved once more and he fought back the revulsion he felt every time he saw the reminder of her late husband.

He had first encountered Paige three years previous, when she along with Solo and Kuryakin had infiltrated his latest attempt for Thrush. He had been fascinated by the small red-headed psychic. She had been the first true talent that Thrush had in the Project but that hadn't been the only reason for his fascination. Pagan St. John, as she had been known to them, had been vivacious and beautiful, eager to expand her abilities. He had been furious to find that she had been working for UNCLE, and even more furious when her true identity had come across his desk a year later. Had he but known that she was Waverly's daughter... ah the things he could have done. He had tried to find her, to spirit her away on a couple of occasions, but always Kuryakin was there. When their latest plant in the UNCLE HQ had reported that Kuryakin was going to marry her, he had attended the wedding, watching from a perch across the street from the church. She had been even more beautiful in her dress, her eyes shining with happiness that was visible to him across the distance.

He had followed them on their honeymoon, no easy feat, given their background, but he had managed to watch them while they toured Italy. He had only given up his interest in her when it became apart that there would be no way to get to her, no matter how much he wanted to.

When Angelique had contacted him with the news of Illya's execution and the subsequent rescue of Paige, he had immediately put plans into effect to bring her into the Thrush family; hiding her on his newest estate, one that no one knew about, not even his superiors in THRUSH. He had arranged for doctors to monitor her health and the health of her child, hoping to pierce the shell that surrounded her now and turn her to his hand. Still, the sight of her child turned his stomach, for reasons that he wouldn't even admit to himself.

"The baby will be born soon." He said ignoring her silence. "Have you given any thought to a name?" his questions were designed to lull her into complacency, he was very careful not to let her know his true feelings.

Paige frowned once more, she knew well what Seraphan was trying to do. He wasn't able to fool her, but she kept the knowledge to herself. It wouldn't do for the THRUSH mastermind to realize that he was as transparent as glass. She had to play his game for a bit longer, it wasn't safe for her on the outside. Not yet, and especially now that Napoleon was back in the country. She didn't know if he was involved in the conspiracy that had killed her husband or not. She hated the thought that he might have been, but if her father had given the order, she knew that Napoleon would have followed it no matter that Illya had been the target. Such was his loyalty to UNCLE.

She still had trouble believing that her father, despite her feelings for him, had arranged for the sanction on Illya. Yet she had seen the files herself, had recognized his handwriting on the letter that he had sent to Moscow, the letter that Angelique had stolen from his personal safe at home. She had done so using the combination Paige had given her. Paige knew that she really couldn't trust either THRUSHie but, there was something in Angelique that had told her that this was not an elaborate set up. The blond THRUSH was an open book for her to read, and Angelique had been as horrified as she acted by the betrayal of her nemesis by his boss.

Sepheran spoke once more, irritated by the continued silence of the woman he wanted. "You really need to decide what you want to do now that your husband is dead. Will you go back to your father and UNCLE?"

Paige spoke finally, her voice cold and hard. "Never."

"You could stay here. You and your child will be safe in this house. No one will ever find you." He made the offer once more, hoping this time that she would accept it. Paige shrugged. "You know that neither he nor Solo will rest until they have found you. You won't be able to hide from them if you leave here."

She had to force indifference into her posture at his words, when she wanted to smile at his ignorance. Did he honestly believe that she had learned nothing from Illya and her father? That she was incapable of eluding the searching Solo? Egomaniacal idiot, she thought. But she kept herself silent and still.

"Think about it." He said losing his patience finally as her silence descended once more. "The baby will slow you down if you try to run, and you really have no where to go."

"Perhaps I might stay. But why would you help me? What's in it for you?" she asked. She knew his reasons but had to play the innocent that he assumed she was. He would never know that her talent had sharpened with the advance of her pregnancy, making his mind an open book. She knew his every thought, the revulsion that he felt when he was reminded of her child and it amused her briefly lost as she was in the chill of her new world.

"The pleasure of knowing that I have what they are looking for." He said casually. "Just the simple joy of denying them is enough for me."

Yeah, right, she thought. And you expect me to believe that you have forgotten all about my talent.

He laid his hand on her shoulder once more. "I also admire you greatly, Pagan. You are a beautiful woman and I have long wished to get to know you better. Ever since we first met years ago, you have been on my mind." He said smoothly, sliding his hand into the hair that had loosened from the braid she had it in.

Paige just barely managed to control her reaction as his words and actions changed from concerned to something infinitely more dangerous to her sanity. She pulled away, moving closer to the window, turning her face to the snowfall once more.

"I love my husband." She said softly. The pain of his loss flooded her once more, breaking through the ice she had built around her heart since his death.

"I know but he is dead. Forgive me, but you must know that I care a great deal about you and hope that someday you will return my feelings. Perhaps in time, once you have recovered from this tragedy, you will come to me." He tried to pull her close but she stiffened and he let her go. "Pagan, I would love you just as much as he did."

"And my child? Could you forget that it is the child of your worst enemy? Or would you hate it as you did its father?" she asked sharply. Damn, him, she thought. How dare he assume that I could ever forget Illya?

"The father of your child doesn't matter to me." He lied ever smooth. "I would care for it as if I were the father. Love it because you are its mother."

Paige sent her mind to his, reading him easily. She could see the lie in his mind, its dark flame brilliant with the hate that he felt for Illya still and knew that her baby would suffer an accident at some point in his young life. Perhaps while she was at work, or asleep. She could see Sepheran's plans for her, see how he wanted to use her to destroy her father and UNCLE and by default Napoleon as well. The man's lust for power turned her stomach and she pulled back quickly, hoping that her pallor hid her distress.

"You are not well." Sepheran said suddenly as she blanched. "You must rest and eat, for the child." He chided. She allowed him to steer her away from her vantage point at the window, moving to the cold lonely bed like a zombie. God, she thought, I have to get out of here. She allowed him to help her lay down, then turned her face to the wall as he arranged the blanket over her.

"You are right, I am tired." She said weakly playing the part. He didn't need to know that his words had woken the part of her buried in grief. "I will sleep. And try to eat more."

"Good. You need your strength." He said. "I will send dinner up to you later." He turned off the light as he left.

She lay there for a long time in the darkness, her mind turning over possibilities. She knew where Illya had planned to take them, he had made certain that she knew all the places where he had hidden money and new identities in case they had been separated. Places that not even Napoleon had known about, it wouldn't be too difficult for her to disappear. The trick would be getting away from this place since she wasn't too certain where here was. She felt the ice that had been her sanctuary begin to melt as she started making plans for her escape. She didn't know whether or not it was a good thing, this loss of sanctuary. She clutched a pillow to her chest as the tears she swore she would cry began to flow once more. The baby moving inside her as silent sobs wracked her frame.

"Hush, little one." She whispered softly. "It will be all right. I promise, it will be all right." She dozed off finally to the feel of Illya's child and the knowledge that she had to get away.