A/N: Hellooo Mikita shippers! :) After the thrilling response of "The Little Leather Notebook", I was prompted to write another Mikita oneshot. I know it's a late but this is a Christmas fic. I'm thinking that maybe I could make it a two-three shot? Anyway, it takes place a year after Division and Oversight are taken down but everything's explained in the fic itself:)

I hope you like it! And I hope it helps tie us over for another week...grrr, biting my nails in anticipation for Feb 3rd!

DISCLAIMER: No. I don't own them. If I did, Mikita would be together again. :'(

Nikita shut the door behind her, relaxing as the warmth of the inside of her apartment greeted her. She discarded her jacket, boots, hat, gloves, and another sweater underneath before hurrying into the living room. The hallway brought a draft of cold air past her and she shivered, smiling when she saw her boyfriend, Michael, sitting on the couch, eating a bowl of popcorn as he watched the Lakers game. She rolled her eyes, flopping down beside him. 'Hey,' she said.

'Hey,' replied Michael, turning to smile at her. He pressed a soft kiss against her forehead as she snuggled up beside him, listening to the fire crackle below the television and stealing a handful of popcorn. Michael edged his arm around her. 'Your skin's freezing cold, what's the temperature outside?' he said in surprise, turning to squint out the window.

'Beats me but I'm staying in here until it stops snowing,' Nikita muttered decidedly. Michael grinned at her statement, giving her a quick squeeze before returning his attention to the game. They were interrupted only minutes later by a knock on the front door.

'Bags not,' said Nikita immediately, her face splitting into a smirk at Michael's dejected face.

'Fine,' he said, pushing the popcorn into her lap and getting to his feet, cussing as the cooler air of the hallway hit him. 'We're getting a heat pump for this hallway!' he announced, swearing again. Nikita laughed. She placed the popcorn on the table in front of her, reaching to the couch on her left to wrap herself in a blanket. A Christmas tree stood, sparkling and lit in the bottom left corner of the room. Underneath it were about a dozen, neatly wrapped presents. The entire room was decorated with mistletoe, holly and various assortments of Christmas festivities. It was the 23rd of December...it would be Nikita and Michael's first Christmas in years that they actually got to celebrate together without having to think of Division, Oversight, missions, black boxes or anything remotely fighting related.

–(*)–

It had been a year since they'd taken down Division and Oversight. For the first six months, things had been a bit hectic...

Well. A bit was an understatement. Very hectic. Obviously, as soon as Percy was killed, the black boxes uploaded themselves but Nikita, Michael, Alex and Birkhoff got to the White House first while Sean, Owen and Ryan convinced all the recruits and agents which side was correct before all hell broke loose. Governments were immediately taking stabs at the U.S. so all Nikita could think of was tell their side of the story to the press. So for two weeks, all any news channel broadcasted was the story of every single recruit, agent, rogue or techy who had helped bring down the leaders of Division and Oversight. By that time, Madeline Pierce had become Nikita and the gang's mole inside of Oversight, thanks to Sean, who had joined their side shortly after they'd caught him making an attempt to kill them. It took a while, but when civilians and members of the public began to recognise their friends and family among the storytellers, whom they had thought to be dead, the stories began to make more and more sense and it was announced to be the truth. Amanda and the remaining three members of Oversight were put in high security prisons in which it was impossible to escape from. The recruits and agents...anyone who had been loyal to Division before Sean, Owen and Ryan's convincing, all were sent to a special facility for a couple of months, just to ensure they were no longer loyal to Division and to help them get their lives on track. Families had been reunited, truth had been shared and finally...finally, justice had been served.

Michael had met his parents, brother, sister, niece and nephew after being on television. He'd been over the moon to have his family back and he saw them whenever he could...although, he always made one thing clear. Nikita was his number one. Always.

Cassandra and Max had moved to Manhattan, which was where Michael and Nikita decided to buy an apartment, just so that Michael could see Max without having to choose his priorities.

Alex and Sean also got together after months of dancing close to the line of no return...they finally crossed it and moved in together. For them, being a couple was so natural, it's like they'd been together for years. Nikita was endlessly telling Alex 'I told you so.'

Owen, Ryan and Birkhoff all bought separate but equally expensive apartments, also in the same city. Ryan was reinstated to a much higher position in the CIA and Birkhoff was recruited as well, seeing as he was the best techy in the country. Owen got any money he needed from Birkhoff for a while but then also figured, 'hey, what the hell, CIA seems fun' or something along those lines and ended up going for a job there as well. He and Ryan became partners and they were two of the best agents you would find anywhere.

With the CIA and the FBI's help, Alex was able to disband and imprison all members of Gogol, as well as sending Semak to his prison for the rest of his life, get her mother the help she needed and take Zetrov. Chaos erupted in Russia for a while but soon, the country learnt to sustain itself without Semak's dirty dealings. However, after a couple of months of having Zetrov under her control, Alex realised she didn't want to follow in her father's footsteps and sold the company to one of her lifelong friends who still lived in Russia, who ran it well with full capability.

Nikita and Michael didn't need a job...although every single line of work that involved serving the country had infinite offers stacked higher than the Chrysler Building, hoping either one of them...ideally both, would take an offer. The same deal was on Sean and Alex but they'd all agreed that if they was going to work anywhere with anyone, it would be with the team that had helped take down Division and Oversight.

(That was, by the way, Alex, Sean, Michael, Nikita, Ryan, Owen and Birkhoff.) Ryan said there was always somewhere for them at the CIA but Nikita said she'd consider it when she felt liking kicking ass again.

So now, just over a year after the raging hell ended, Nikita was doing what she never thought she would ever do in her life. Sit on the couch on the day before Christmas Eve, watching a basketball match in front of a spitting fire, eating popcorn and pizza with her boyfriend.

Life's a surprising thing.

–(*)–

'Uh...Nikita?' Michael called, sounding confused. 'It's for you!'

'Who is it?' Nikita asked, really not wanting to get up from the couch.

'He says you'll know who he is when you see him!'

Nikita inwardly groaned. She swung her legs off the couch, getting to her feet and trudging down the hallway, also cursing at the cool draft that pierced her uncovered skin. If this visit was Owen and Sean playing a prank, she was going to kill them...

She stopped, frozen when she saw the man at the door. He was older. A lot older than she remembered from the dreams she'd been getting the last four months. But it was him. He had the necklace on...she could see the chain around his pale neck...the same chain that hung around hers. The chain her mother had given her. He saw her face and she noticed his eyes, a shimmering, emerald green, light up. He wordlessly handed her a photograph and she took it, relieved that she wasn't trembling and saw the one memory that had never left her, now on paper.

'H...how?' she asked, looking back at him.

'I saw you on the news,' he said in explanation. 'You look exactly like her, you know.'

Michael had his nose wrinkled in confusion and he looked between the two people, silently begging for someone to help him out of his blankness of the situation.

'Go watch the rest of the game,' Nikita said, smiling at his bewildered face. 'I'll explain later, promise.'

Michael saw a familiar look in her eyes, a look that said trust me and with no chance of this man being someone who would whip out a gun and shoot her, he did just that and gave her a gentle kiss on the head before heading back to the living room. Nikita couldn't hide her smile as he hissed a quiet cuss as he shifted through the hallway.

'I never thought I'd see you again,' said the man in the doorway. Nikita turned the photograph, seeing three names scribbled on the back.

Yen, Steven and Nikita.

Nikita recognised herself as only aged two or two and a half at the time.

'Is he your husband?' asked Steven, nodding his head towards Michael's direction. Nikita shook her head. 'No,' she said with a small smile. 'Just boyfriend.' She glanced up at the man before her. 'What happened?' she asked quietly.

'I ended up posted in that area of Vietnam for three years,' Steven said, stepping into the house and closing the door behind him. 'Military man, in case you don't remember. Army. There were some large groups of protesters who were causing hell. I'd been injured at one point but we were too far from out camp to go back, especially with the protesters blocking our way. Your mom helped me out. I tried to make any excuse to cover that part of the area just to see her again.'

'And you did,' Nikita said. 'And had me.'

Steven chuckled. 'Yeah. God, it was insane that I'd managed to get what I'd always wanted while being in a warzone. I had a family but...just after you turned two, I received word from my chief that the protesters had surrendered and we were going home.'

'Why didn't you stay?' demanded Nikita.

Steven sighed, leaning against the wall. 'My uh...my brother had just been in a car accident and was in a coma. He was brain dead. They were planning on switching off the life support and I had to take care of his little boy. I wanted to stay. I told your mom that I'd send her money, I'd visit, anything she needed to take care of you but she told me that I would never see her again and that I had to take you with me.'

Nikita's brow furrowed in confusion.

'I kept trying to find out what was going on,' said Steven in assurance. 'And in the last week before I left, I stole my mate's camera and we took some photos, just so both you and me had something to remember her by. Before I left for the last time, taking you, I saw her give you the necklace I'd given her. I wore its twin. Then, she gave you up to me.'

Nikita was trying incredibly hard to keep her tears inside.

'I smuggled you back to America and manage to legalize your situation here. I had you for a while but my mother had remarried. My family was extremely wealthy and mother and her new husband were all not happy about me having a relationship with an apparent 'peasant' while I was supposed to be serving my country.'

Nikita's hand curled into a tight fist as her arm lay limply by her side.

'I was furious,' Steven admitted. 'But I had nowhere else to stay. My money was being used to look after you and Cameron and my mother was letting me live with her. And then...one morning...I woke up and you were gone.'

'What?' Nikita gasped. 'Somebody had taken me?'

Steven nodded, running his fingers through his brown hair that was tinted with specks of gray. 'My mother or my stepfather. They'd taken you and given you away. Neither spoke of it but my mother pulled me aside once saying that it was the best thing for you and that I should accept it seeing as they'd been so hospitable.'

'That's a threat!' Nikita began. Steven held up his hands to stop her. 'Yeah, I know. That was a threat. She would kick me and Cameron out if I raised a police investigation. I figured, you had to be at an adoption agency or something so I'd get you back when I managed to move out of the house. I had no idea you'd been put into the system.' He sighed. 'Years later, my stepfather approached me with an article about a young, Vietnamese-American teenager who had been put on death row for killing someone.'

'That was me,' Nikita confessed quietly. 'But you would never have found out that my death had been faked and I was sent to Division. Well...until now.'

'I'd got a job as a children's legal advisor about three years after I lost you to the system,' said Steven. 'I moved out of my mother's house and bought my own while I looked after Cameron. After graduating High School, he'd become an incredible swimmer but due to an temporary injury, he'd come home. We were following the Division and Oversight story on the news. When you came up...you looked so much like your mother...' He shook his head with a small smile. 'Cameron recognised you actually. I have those pictures of you and your mother around the house with all the other photographs. Cameron saw you and called me. I knew who you were immediately but it look me a long time to track you down.'

'There was a lot of controversy over the truth of the whole matter,' said Nikita. She breathed out deeply, feeling slightly faint. 'I...I can't believe this is happening...' She glanced up at Steven again. 'I've been searching for so long for answers and now I can finally get them. Did you know Division planted someone to pretend to be my father so as to get information?'

'That's low,' Steven said, whistling quietly.. 'Hey, um...do you want to have breakfast tomorrow? I can explain some more...you could meet Cameron...I could give you some photos...?'

'Yeah, that would be great,' Nikita said. 'Eight o clock? There's a Starbucks down the road?'

'Sounds good,' Steven said. He gazed at her. 'My mother's going to have a heart attack when I tell her about you.'

Nikita laughed. 'I'm guessing that's a good thing?'

Steven hesitated before giving her a quick hug. Nikita buried her head in the chest pocket of the old jacket that he had also been wearing in the photo. It smelt of things that had lingered in her mind for years. The smell of ash, cigarette smoke, dust, cologne...

'See you tomorrow,' Steven said, giving her a warm smile before slipping out the door which banged shut behind him. Nikita watched the mahogany coloured wood that stared back at her for a moment. Then, she wrapped her arms around her middle and with a grin on her delicate features, headed back to the comfort of the fireplace.

–(*)–

'Hey, what was that all about?' Michael asked, pulling Nikita down to the couch and muting the television. Nikita bit her lip to try and hide the enormous smile on her face. 'That was my dad,' she whispered. Michael's eyes widened. He sat up, turning to face her properly. He opened his mouth and then closed it, repeating that several times before he finally spoke.

'Your real father?' he said incredulously. 'Not a fake...'

'My real father,' Nikita echoed. 'He gave me this.' She handed him the photograph. Michael glanced at it quickly before his eyes flickered back to Nikita.

'I'm meeting him for breakfast tomorrow,' she continued. Her face broke into a smile. 'I can't believe I've finally found him.'

'Technically, he found you,' Michael began but at Nikita's jab to the stomach, fell quiet on the subject. 'Aw, but this means I won't see you till the evening,' he complained with a cute, protesting look in his eyes. 'You're having breakfast with your dad, lunch with Alex and then you two are going last minute Christmas shopping and then I spend the afternoon with Max so I don't get to see you until dinner!'

Nikita rolled her eyes, leaning into his chest. 'Well, it's not Christmas day.'

'Actually, Christmas Eve is more celebrated than Christmas day itself,' said Michael. Nikita sat up, locking eyes with his, amazement shining in her brown-hazel orbs. 'Where the hell did you even learn that?' she asked with a laugh. Michael grinned. His smile disappeared though and his eyes turned sympathetic. 'Do you think your mother's still alive?'

Nikita shrugged, gazing down at the dark red material on the couch. 'I...I dunno. He said he never found out what happened to her after he left...' She swallowed back the lump in her throat.

Michael brought a gentle hand up to her cheek. 'You'll always have my crazy, eccentric mother, don't forget that.'

Nikita managed to laugh, letting Michael wrap his arms around her. They sat in silence, apart from the television, which Michael had un-muted to distract his girlfriend from the pressing matter of her mother. Suddenly, he reached down to retrieve something from under the couch.

'Michael, what're you doing?' Nikita asked, pulling her legs up to the couch and crossing them. Michael faced her again. 'I know it's not even Christmas Eve yet,' he started to say but Nikita's eyes lit up like the Christmas tree behind her. Michael laughed at her face, 'but in order to get your mind of things, I'm thinking of one present to give you, now.'

Nikita's eyes were twinkling with anticipation...Michael had known since the first time he met Nikita how much she loved Christmas presents. Behind his back, he easily flipped open the little box and ordered the woman in front of him to close her eyes. With a smiling, suspicious look on her face, she did as she was told. Michael took one of her hands and gently placed the box in her palm. Her eyes shot open and whisked down to her right hand that was lying in her lap, a dark blue ring box in it with a shining, beautiful ring staring back at her.

Nikita's eyes widened and her mouth dropped into a small o. She tried to say something but no words came out.

'At least say yes or no,' teased Michael but his words were soft. He knew that Daniel had proposed before he'd been killed and that Nikita had said yes. It was that simple reason that had Michael tossing and turning over the decision for weeks. Nikita's silence wasn't helping his nerves much.

'Michael...' she said, looking up at him. At first...the almost regretful tone in her voice but his heart drop into his stomach but the minute he met her eyes, he could see the answer to his unsaid question.

She began to say yes but Michael had already cut her off by kissing her.

She smiled into the kiss, wrapping her arms around his neck and weaving her hands into his silky, dark brown hair. She broke the kiss first, resting her forehead against his and gazing into his loving eyes. 'Best Christmas present ever,' she breathed.

'Second best,' Michael corrected, holding up the photo between his thumb and index finger. Nikita stole a second kiss, taking the photo from his fingers. 'No,' she contradicted. 'The best.'

Michael slid the ring onto her left hand. 'Merry Christmas, Nikita.'

–(*)–

A/N: What do you think? Should I continue? You know what to do, read and review!