Title: The Little Things In Life
Summary: Post 2x21. The gang learns about what happened between Sean and Alex, and they all know that it's the beginning of change.
Rating: T for mild language.

'Sometimes, it's the little things in life that can make all the difference.'

'Morning, Nikita.' Alex say, smiling widely. The sensei, who had just emerged from her bedroom, smiles at her protégé as she rubs the lingering sleep from her eyes.

'You're cheerful this morning.' Nikita lovingly strokes the younger woman's hair, before pulling out a chair and plopping on it, thankfully accepting the coffee that's she's offered by Birkhoff.

The computer tech just smirks knowingly, looking back and forth between Alex and Nikita. 'I think she has a good reason for that.'

'Really?' Nikita says, interest piqued as she shifts to her side to look at Alex. 'Do tell.'

Alex's smile fades, but not quite disappears. 'Well…I was going to tell you later today, but since Birkhoff already spilled some of it, I might as well come right out and say it.' Her fingers find the edges of her shirt and play with it, revealing some of her anxiety. 'Last night, when we were fleeing Division, Sean… kissed me.'

Nikita is never one to squeal, or clap her hands together like an overly excited teenager. But boy, she does love it when she is proven right, and since she's expected Sean and Alex to get together since the day she met him, she can hardly restrain her joy. And as an added bonus, it really appears that Alex is happy with last night's events.

'Wow. And you-'

Alex nods once. 'I kissed him back. I mean, it was the last thing I expected to happen but it just felt…good, I guess. Part of me was thinking that this wasn't a good idea and reminded me that we were in the backseat of Birkhoff's car, with Ryan and Birkhoff sitting right in front of us. But he seemed so into it, I thought that he 'd forgotten all about them. And when I closed my eyes…' Alex shrugs innocently, avoiding the gazes of Birkhoff and Nikita. 'I don't know, I guess I started to forget about the world too.'

A silence falls between the three of them, until Birkhoff clears his throat. 'That seems like one helluva kiss, Alex.'

'So, now what?' Nikita asks.

Alex shrugs again, the confusion and doubt now evident in her eyes. 'I don't know.' She inwardly curses at herself when she realizes that tears are starting to form into the corners of her eyes. 'I have to admit, when I see what you have with Michael, it makes me want something like it. But after what happened with Thom and Nathan, I don't know if I'll ever be capable of finding it. Better yet, finding and holding on to it.'

'Hey,' Nikita shushes, 'you need to remind yourself that Thom and Nathan are not Sean. They're…' Nikita pauses to find the right words, 'not with you anymore because they didn't know everything about you. But Sean does. And he's a good guy. I'm probably not one to talk because you know him better than I do, but I feel like he's someone who'll love you with all he has. And I swear that if I even had the mere thought that this will not go well, I would've told you.'

'It's true,' Birkhoff chips in, 'Nikki's painfully annoying trait is telling everyone what she thinks it's the right thing to do.'

Nikita just shoots Birkhoff a glare, but Alex knows that he's right, and that Nikita would tell her if she thought she was getting herself into a doomed relationship.

The three of them are startled to hear the sound of a door opening, and their heads immediately shoot towards the maker of the sound.

'Oh.' Nikita breathes, then recollects herself. 'You finally up, sleepyhead?'

Michael smirks. 'Mornin', everybody.' He walks up to Nikita, plants a kiss on the top of her head and disappears into the kitchen to grab a cup of coffee.

'Now, can I just ask you guys one thing?' Alex starts, noticing that Nikita is now all smiley too. 'Can you please not get all weird about this?'

'I get it. No need to make something awkward even more uncomfortable.' Birkhoff says for the both of them, and Michael appears from the kitchen again, a frown on his face as he takes a careful sip of his coffee. 'What's going on? Something's going on.'

Nikita turns to look at Alex, who just nods at her.

Grateful to be the one to break the news to Michael, she smiles widely at a now amused Michael. 'Get this: Sean and Alex kissed last night.'

As much as Michael is surprised and eager to ask more about it, he can't help but laugh at the way Nikita is basically bouncing in her chair. Birkhoff obviously has to worsen it, and playfully mocks his friend. 'Oh, em, gee, I was totes rooting for them to get together since day one!' His high tone turns into an even higher shriek when Nikita jumps off her chair, and flings one of her slippers in his direction.

'Alright, alright, break it up guys- break it up.' Michael laughs loudly, as he settles himself between his best friend and his lover. 'We're not a bunch of teenage girls around here, we're gonna talk about this like the grown adults we are. So,' Michael spins around to look back at Alex, who was still recovering from the hilarious fight that had just occurred. 'what, you guys are together now?'

'I don't know.' Alex shrugs. 'That's the thing, I don't know where this is going.'

'But she knows that it's right and it feels good.' Birkhoff adds, and Michael smirks, raising an eyebrow.

'Your words?'

'I said it in better words.' Alex scoffs, but nods.

'Well,' Michael grins proudly, now completely losing himself in acting like a surrogate father/brother to Alex. 'I'll have to say, if you were to get together with anyone, I've always secretly wished it to be with a guy like Sean.'

Again, the group is slightly alarmed when they hear a door creak open, but they all heave relieve breaths when it's Ryan. 'Hey, you guys finally up?'

'Yeah, some people sleep in on Saturdays.' Birkhoff informs him.

'Yeah, and some people wake up early so they can do useful things, like, go grocery shopping.' Ryan dumps his paper bag of groceries on the table and scans the room. 'Sean's still sleeping?'

Birkhoff, Michael and Nikita smirk as they all notice Alex's awkward look at the mention of his name, and reply in unison: 'Yeah.'

Ryan just rolls his eyes. 'Well, I guess he's finally taking that rest he needs, with the gunshot still fresh in his side.'

'Yes,' Birkhoff begins to speak again, and Alex forces back a sigh, 'It's also easier to sleep after you've made out with a chick you've always had the hots for… you know, something good to cover up the bad shit in your life that keeps you up at night.'

'I take it you've told Michael and Nikita what happened last night.' Ryan gives Alex a friendly smile, and she nods.

'With Birkhoff around, I had no choice but to tell them as soon as possible.'

'Hey,' Birkhoff proudly grimaces, 'I'm the number one couples fan around here. If there's no girly-girl around, someone else's gotta be it. Mikita.' He nods at Michael and Nikita, then at Alex. 'Salex. Now if you'll excuse myself, I'm going to go get a shower.'

Nikita giggles. 'Salex sounds good.'

The rest of the morning goes by in a comfortable blur, and slips into afternoon, when the young man that was the topic of the morning finally emerges from his bedroom.

Sean yawns and groans as he stretches, his eyes scanning the room for any sign of Alex.

'Good morning. If you're looking for Alex, she just left with Nikita to go for a run.' Ryan tells him, and Sean nods, slightly disappointed.

His hand slips underneath his t-shirt and rescues him from an itch on his side, as he saunters towards the kitchen, not bothering to lift his feet too much.

Michael and Birkhoff, who were on the other side of the room watching the news, now spot the Navy Seal as well. 'What up, Sean? Welcome back to the world of the living.' Birkhoff exclaims, referring to the fact that's it's already 2pm.

'Shut up, nerd, it's Saturday.' Sean growls teasingly, and disappears into the kitchen.

Birkhoff just furrows his eyebrow at Michael, who can barely stifle a laugh. 'Dude, he's now calling me nerd, too?'

In the kitchen, Sean joins Ryan for some late breakfast. 'Here you go.' Ryan hands Sean a cup of coffee.

'Thanks.'

'You well-rested now?' Ryan attempts to start small-talk, leaning casually against the kitchen counter.

'Yeah. I guess I slept so long 'cause I went to bed kinda late last night.' Sean yawns again, rubbing his hand across his face sleepily.

'I heard. How's your wound?'

'Still hurts, but it'll heal. Plus, it's kinda cool.' Sean jokes, a boyish pride in his voice.

Ryan grins, glad to see that he can get along with Sean too. Sometimes, he finds it hard to connect to certain people, but he feels like Sean is becoming some kind of family too.

'So…' Ryan begins, a little awkward. 'Did you talk to Alex about what happened?'

'We did some talking last night.' Sean answers, grabbing a bowl and the carton of cornflakes. 'Hey, you got any milk?'

'You'll have to settle for soy milk.' Ryan opens the fridge and hands him the soy milk.

Sean silently prepares his cornflakes, before letting out a soft sigh. 'Alex wasn't really clear on what's next.'

'You're scared that she's not going to give it a chance?'

'I'm not scared,' Sean immediately goes into defense mode, his eyes shot at Ryan, who just offers him his permanent attentive smile. Sean's face softens at that. 'I'm just saying… sometimes I can peek through the walls around her and I think I'll have a shot at convincing her that it'll be worth it.'

'You're very into her.'

'What else is new?' Sean jokes, and the two men share another laugh. 'No, seriously. I don't know what happened. When I first met her, she just totally got under my skin and annoyed the hell out of me. But lately, she's the one who helps me get back on my feet when life knocks me down.'

Ryan nods his head in understanding. 'I get it. Very poetic, by the way.'

'Thanks man.'

'Hey,' Ryan glances through the door, and spots two women jogging towards it. 'Speak of the devil.' It's the last thing he says before leaving for the living room again, obviously wanting to give Alex and Sean some time alone.

Sean clears his throat, ignoring the skip in his heartbeat as he settles himself into a chair, watching Alex's ponytail skip up and down as every step brings her closer to the house.

She's laughing in between her tired gasps for air, and Nikita is laughing too. They stumble into the kitchen, making a lot of noise as the door swings open and they fight to enter the house first.

'You ladies sure know how to make an entrance.' Sean speaks and shoves a spoonful of cornflakes into his mouth.

'Sean!' Alex puffs, bending forward and leaning into the hands on her hips. 'Be honest- who entered the house first?'

'Hm,' Sean swallows, playing the way Alex and Nikita entered the kitchen again in his mind. 'I would say Nikita.'

'What? No way!' Alex shouts out, her hand colliding with Nikita's arm in order to stop her from erupting into celebration.

'You asked for honesty, that's honesty right there!' Sean defends himself. 'But if it makes you feel any better, it was a close call.'

Nikita laughs triumphantly and pats a defeated Alex on the shoulder. 'You did good, Alex. Don't forget, you owe me ten bucks.' And with that, she goes out of the kitchen, leaving Alex alone with Sean.

'So,' Alex begins, finally able to control her breathing again. 'How'd you sleep last night?'

'Good.' Sean nods with a mouthful of cornflakes. 'You?' He won't tell her that she was on his mind every second of the night, not yet.

Alex smiles. 'Good.' She won't let him know about the dream that involved him, maybe later, but not today.

His eyes lock with hers and she finds herself getting lost in those charmingly reassuring brown eyes, just like they broke through her wall the day before.

'I think we should talk.'

'Maybe we should.'

He nods in satisfaction, tearing his eyes away from her and casually taking a few other bites of his cornflakes. A few moments pass before Sean shoves his bowl away.

'Can I ask you something, Alex?'

'Sure.'

He waits, and wipes his mouth with the edge of his shirt. A part of Alex is disgusted by his behavior, but the other part enjoys the glorious sight of the six-pack he's revealing briefly when he pulls up his shirt. He clears his throat and looks back at her.

'Did you believe the things I said yesterday?'

This felt like a tough question to answer, and Alex waits a minute until a proper answer comes to mind.

'Coming from you…I believed most of it.'

Sean smiles slightly, and he knows that he's moving forward. That's good enough, for now. 'Good. 'cause I really want to see more of you, Alex.'

A warm sensation creeps up to the sides of Alex's face and she knows that she must be blushing, so she awkwardly lets her gaze fall to the ground.

'Hey,' Sean's gentle voice causes her to look back up again, and he shoots her his best puppy dog eyes. 'I'd like to take you out…we can see where it goes from there.' He notices the shocked expression on her face. 'After what you've been through, you deserve normal life. Well, at least the closest thing you can get to it- we both know that it's never going to be completely normal. And I really don't think I'm full of it when I say that a night with just you and me could be enjoyable.'

Alex's mind goes into overdrive, thinking about her options and what she should be focused on. Does she have time to date in the midst of war? But then again, if Michael and Nikita can handle it, then perhaps she can too. She'll never know if she won't try.

She knows that any day with Sean is enjoyable. Despite her best efforts to stay calm and serious, he always manages to make her smile and get her heart to flutter out of control. Maybe she can finally put meaning to what happens inside of her chest whenever he smiles back at her.

She's so lost in thought, that she nearly misses Sean's question.

'So, what do you think?'

Alex breathes in deeply, closing her eyes for a second as she tries to let go of all her doubts. 'A date. We'll see where it goes from there.'

'Atta girl.' His euphoric smile ignites a giggle from her side, and it's the second time she's momentarily forgotten about everything that usually haunts her brain during the day.

Author's Note: So, what do you think? Salex totally ignites the girlish squeals inside of me and they made me want to write something like this. Not a lot of angst and drama, there's enough of that in the actual show. Share your thoughts in the reviews section! Chapter 2 up soon.