If Jason can survive two gun shot wounds, so can Nicky. Post Jason Bourne. How it should have ended.
-Athens, Greece-
'Get off the grid. Survive.' That was his mantra. The one he told himself repeatedly, even before this whole ordeal began.
She brought him back.
'Nicky.'
Thought that she was doing the right thing, hacking the agency. She wanted redemption. She wanted to help him, stop him torturing himself. She didn't ask for his help, she just told him what she had done, she came back to give him a piece of his past.
"I remember. I remember everything." He had said.
"Remembering everything doesn't mean you know everything." She countered.
He'd tried to protect her, told her they needed to move. He was going to run with her.
"Hold on Nicky. I'm going to get you to cover."
Nicky was lying in the street. She turned to face him. She was as pale as a sheet. "No…Don't…Go…" She breathed out. Blood was pooling around her, she was going into shock.
"I'm coming."
He couldn't save her.
She knew exactly what the asset would do, after all, she had worked with them for years. She sacrificed herself for him. If she didn't get up to throw him the key, then Jason would have been lying next to her in the street. Dead.
After Marie died, he watched them pull the car out of the water in Goa and burned all of her belongings.
After Nicky died, he discovered that he had joined Treadstone because of a lie.
He had mourned for one but not the other.
Yet, he loved them both.
Now he was back in the square. It was bustling again. No one would think that a couple weeks ago there was a riot.
That night, he'd lost a piece of himself.
He had forgotten her once already. He wasn't going to do it again.
Jason stood a mere few inches away from where she had died. He knew the CIA couldn't clean it up. The whole operation was messy. She was just a victim of the riots as far as Greek police were concerned.
He found himself travelling from Washington to Greece. To grieve for her, the woman that he'd forgotten he loved. He knew he would raise eyebrows if he went to the morgue looking for her body. He couldn't risk it.
This was the last place anyone would think to look for him. Why would he come back here after everything? No one knew about his past with Nicky. As far as the agency was concerned, Nicky went rogue on her own. She wanted out back in Madrid because of guilt. Not because of love.
Jason watched the Greeks manoeuvre their way around him. He swallowed. Seeing couples and families hurt him, knowing he could never have that. He sighed and walked away. He would find a place close by so he could return to her unmarked grave.
Jason slipped through the crowds unnoticed. Found himself in the middle of a market. There were clothes and food everywhere. It was perfect for blending in as a tourist. He was constantly scanning the environment for any signs of danger. Old habits die hard.
He spotted something in the corner of his eye. A red haired woman. She wasn't doing anything wrong, just buying some apples. He couldn't see her face clearly but something about her was familiar. Was she CIA? Was she someone from his past? Was she dangerous? Against all logic, Jason found himself moving towards her.
The woman had made her purchase and was walking away from the stall when she felt someone following her. Tailing her. She didn't run. Instead she changed direction and headed into a side street.
Jason followed her through the horde. She turned into an alleyway and Jason knew she had noticed him. She would be waiting for him. Perhaps ready to ambush him? He slowed his pace and steadily approached the corner.
A metal bar was hurtling towards him and Jason grabbed the end of it before it made contact with his face. He had stopped his so called attacker in her tracks. The woman gasped. Clearly she wasn't expecting Jason's reflexes to be so fast. He moved his eyes across the bar and saw her face. He felt like all the air had been knocked out of him. Nicky.
Nicky couldn't believe her eyes. It was Jason. He wasn't supposed to be here. Anywhere but here. Her face had paled, almost mimicking Jason's.
Jason was shocked to his core. "You're dead." He breathed out. "I watched you die."
Nicky swallowed the lump in her throat. She could understand his confusion. "Not here. Meet me at S2 in ten minutes." Nicky let go of the rod and stepped out into the crowd once more.
Jason watched her leave. His eyes following her through the masses. Nicky could feel his gaze burning into her back as she left.
Still holding the bar in his hand, Jason lowered his arm. Had he seen a ghost? Was he hallucinating? He swallowed and tried to regain his composure. S2 was the cafe he had passed on his way in to Syntagma Square. There was only one way to find out if Nicky was in fact real and not just haunting him in his dreams. He stalked in the opposite direction to her and made his way to the cafe.
Nicky sat down in a corner at the back. She ordered two expressos, both for her. Shit, she thought. This wasn't supposed to happen. Not yet anyway. Not ever possibly. She contemplated running out the back but she knew he would find her. Now that he knows she's alive. He wouldn't just let her go.
Jason needed answers. His eyes glazed over with a steely determination as he made a beeline for her. He pulled the chair out harshly and took a seat opposite her.
Nicky couldn't bring herself to meet his intense gaze. She knew she had surprised him. She used to enjoy surprising him a long time ago. Nicky looked down and licked her lips nervously.
Jason ignored her anxious demeanour. "How?" Jason wasn't asking. He was demanding.
Nicky recognised that tone. He was furious with her.
"I was dead." Nicky began to explain. She looked up to gage his reaction but Jason was staring at her intently. He was studying her physically. His eyes looking her up and down. Checking if she was real.
"My heart stopped. The bullets had caused enough damage. The EMT's tried to resuscitate me. Apparently it worked." She shot him a shy smile. Jason didn't respond. Her face dropped once she saw that he was undeterred by her smile. He had a serious expression on his face.
Nicky swallowed. "I don't remember much. I woke up in a hospital room. They couldn't find any ID on me so they called the police." Nicky paused. "No one knew who I was."
Jason eyes were now locked on hers. Listening very carefully.
"They'd already operated on me by the time I came around, so I pulled the IV out and ran. I went to the train station, to the locker. Saw it was empty."
Jason was pleased she hadn't stuck around in the hospital. But not so pleased that she'd risked herself by coming to the train station.
"I needed to recover Jason. I couldn't get very far and I figured the agency thought I was dead, so I stayed here. Found a place to hide out. Got a simple story and stuck to it. Started over. Dyed my hair and cut it. Gave myself a new identity."
Jason took her words in. She did exactly what he had told her to do. He was proud. And he was happy. She was alive. Nicky was alive. That's all that mattered.
"I listened out for you, on the radio. Watched the news. Kept checking the internet. Thought I could help, if you needed it. After Vegas, I figured you were done."
"Why didn't you contact me after? You could have told me you were alive."
"I thought it would be easier this way, for both of us."
Her words stung him. How could it be easier this way?
"Watching you die was the hardest thing I've ever had to do."
Nicky was surprised by his honesty.
"I didn't have time to process anything. I had to keep going, otherwise your death wouldn't mean anything. I came back to mourn you."
Nicky was taken aback. He hadn't just left her because she was dead, he left to get answers. To pursue her mission. All she wanted to do was help Jason. He couldn't keep living the way that he was. Torturing himself for the things he had done. She was ready to expose the black ops files for him. He completed her mission. Found out the truth about his father. And he came back to Athens to grieve for her.
Nicky felt guilty, she needed to tell him the truth.
"Jason, I thought I could accept that things would never go back to the way they were, between us. But I can't."
Jason was surprised by her admission. It all made sense now.
"Thats why I didn't reach out."
Jason saw her hand trembling next to her empty cup. He calculated his next move very carefully, thought about what to say to her. He knew that whatever decision he made now, he would have to stick with it. He couldn't hurt her any more.
Jason reached over the table and took Nicky's hand in his. He couldn't lose her again. Not when he had just found her. There was no going back now.
"I've missed you."
Nicky could feel the tears rolling down her cheek.
"It gets easier."
Jason's voice echoed in her ears. Perhaps, this time, getting off the grid and surviving wouldn't be so bad.