This takes place directly after 'From Promise to Ultimatum to Covenant' in between episodes 1.17 and 1.18. I read somewhere that supposedly a week had passed between these episodes, that will be the timeframe for this story. I always found it a little strange that Michael and Nikita went from being at each others throats to very much in love and comfortable with each other in seemingly record time. So this is my attempt to fill in what might have happened to make it so. Don't expect a plot. Do expect naughtiness, it's rated M for a reason after all.

I've already written a big part of this story but it has not been finished entirely and a large part has yet to be edited, so I'll be posting as I get along.

English still isn't my first language, every mistake is mine, Nikita is not. A big thank you to the kind people who either reviewed, followed or favourited 'From Promise to Ultimatum to Covenant'. I hope you'll like this one too.


Interlude

*1*

Falling asleep with your lover's arms around you, their body pressed up against yours as intimately as physically possible, was an experience both Michael and Nikita had not had in several years and never with each other. Both were also familiar with the fact that even sleeping in the same bed with someone after years of sleeping alone - at least for the most part, nearly always took some getting used to. Sounds, movement, added warmth, less space… One would have thought at least the space issue could have been relevant in Michael and Nikita's case as they slept in that tiny little excuse for a bed of hers, but as it turned out, it wasn't. They fit. In more ways than one. Literally and figuratively. Like a two piece puzzle.

Michael had insisted Nikita get some much needed rest after a very short post coital discussion of the events that had eventually led them into each others arms. He'd kissed the top of her head again after lovingly ordering her to go to sleep for a second time despite her mild protests when she had felt him hardening again inside of her. By some miracle of sorts she'd listened to him though and fell asleep nearly as soon as she closed her eyes and by an even greater miracle Michael was able to drift off shortly after her, feeling at peace for the first time in a very long time as she surrounded his body with hers in every way possible.

When Michael woke after only a short while then, it wasn't because of lack of space, sounds or movement by Nikita. She was still fast asleep, the sound of her rhythmic, slow and deep breathing providing him with a sense of tranquility that was heightened by the feel of the fingers of her left hand tucked just slightly beneath his ribs, while her right hand lay just beneath his pectoral muscle. Her fingers twitched in her sleep. She looked so incredibly young, her head resting over his heart, her long hair fanned out over his shoulder and part of his arm. She looked as peaceful as he felt, save for one of mother nature's tricks.

He'd woken up fully aroused. Expecting to slip out of her somewhere during the night when he fell asleep, he was somewhat surprised to wake up completely hard and feeling Nikita's muscles holding on to him and contracting mildly now and again even as she slept. It took everything in him not to wake her and roll her over to have a repeat performance of earlier that evening. She needs to rest, he told himself, let her sleep. Repeating this to himself over and over and thinking back on what he'd put her through the past days, he managed not to hold on to her too tightly or let his hands roam free. His guilty conscience and his worry about her didn't quite help his heightened senses though.

Michael was all too aware of where her body touched his, of the soft, warm skin of her back under the fingertips of his one hand, while her hair was woven through the digits of the other as he cradled her head. A slight turn of his head would push his nose into these sweet smelling tendrils, but he dared not move. As it was he was having a hard enough time not gritting his teeth in an effort to calm his clamouring body and keep his breathing under control. An effort that proved to be quite useless when Nikita gripped him a little tighter than before and he let escape a soft moan, a tingle traveling up his back.

How was he supposed to resist when even asleep she was temptation personified? Her body more delicious than he had dared imagine, her touch sweeter than anyone's before her. Any fantasy about her he had grudgingly allowed himself before they finally came together only hours ago, didn't even come close to the real thing. And now here he was, laying underneath her, the woman he loved more than he thought himself capable of after all that had happened to him - to them, fighting quite possibly a losing battle with himself to let her sleep. His guilt and noble efforts fading away in the light of her tempting glory.

He repeated his mantra to himself again and managed to relax the tiniest bit. Enough to be able to slowly slip his fingers out of her hair and from her warm skin to rest his hands beside his body. Less touching would make this easier, he told himself, pressing his eyes tightly shut and still struggling to regulate his breathing.

And that is how it came to be that Nikita woke by movement anyhow. Missing the feeling of being enveloped in his arms even when sleeping, she awoke slowly. Instantly aware of her own arousal, it took her but a moment to assess the situation. Michael's body was tense underneath her. Her muscles contracted of their own accord around his thick length once more and she felt him tense a little as she bit her lip to keep from moaning out loud. She couldn't help the smile that formed as she realised Michael wasn't even aware of her having woken as caught up in himself as he was in this moment. She had her suspicions as to why he wasn't acting upon his obvious desire as he had been insistent she'd get some much needed rest after their first round of lovemaking and she fell in love with him deeper for it. That of course didn't mean she agreed with him on her needing rest more than she needed him and she wasn't going to let him torture himself, or her for that matter, for a second longer.

She raised her head to see his face in a slight grimace. One of her hands travelled to one of his feeling it gripping the sheet underneath it. She covered it with her own, prying loose his fingers to intertwine them with hers. Her other hand reaching out to caress the furrow in his brow as she touched her lips softly to his. Oh Michael. She felt his other hand traveling up her back to curl into her hair again, holding her to him as he released a shuddering breath. And thus their lovemaking started anew. This time with Nikita as the conductor of their pleasure as she refused to let Michael flip her over.

They would go slowly next time, Nikita had thought during their first time. That would have to be postponed to at least their third time, she fleetingly thought now as she moved her body over Michael's. Her hands roamed over his chest, tweaking his nipples as she passed them and a shuddering groan was her reward. Michael pushed his pelvis up and into hers as his hands travelled over her body, touching and kneading her flesh. He lifted his head to capture her lips in a kiss and she sighed, answering his groan with a moan as he rotated his hips in just the way she needed to heighten her desire to boiling point.

Feeling him everywhere she sped up their pace a little more, gripping Michael's length a little tighter with each thrust. "Oh god, Nikita", he moaned as she rode him in tight little strokes, twisting her pelvis just a bit to achieve just the right amount of pressure. She kissed him languidly as she sat up all the way, coaxing him to follow her up by holding him to her as she alternated between nibbling on his lips and stroking her tongue softly along his in counterpoint to the fiery rhythm she kept up. He was completely under her spell, holding onto her hips as she rode him. The familiar tingle up his spine told him he wouldn't last much longer and apparently Nikita knew this to be true as well for she told him between kisses, "Let go, Michael".

He wouldn't though, not without her and so he told her just before finally twisting her underneath him, "Not yet, you too". By some herculean force of will he managed to hold on and changed their rhythm to slow deep strokes, rubbing their bodies together anywhere and everywhere possible until he felt Nikita begin to shudder, fingernails biting into the skin of his upper back. She was close, the feeling of his hard length thrusting into her almost leisurely, the touching of their pelvises every time he sunk into her to the base, left her gasping for breath. "Michael", she begged.

His hands holding onto her shoulders, his chest brushing hers and her legs tightening around his buttocks every time he thrust home, he kissed her hard. Her hands disappeared into his hair again as she kissed him back just as passionately, their tongues tangling as she met his rhythm thrust after thrust. He felt the tell tale quiver of her body and pushed into her a little farther. Just a few more deep strokes were all it took to send her over the edge and she broke their kiss moaning. Eyes locking, Michael followed her into bliss. Spilling himself into her, he shuddered as her warm wetness enveloped him even more tightly than before, milking his hot flesh. He collapsed into her welcoming embrace as her arms curled around him, both of them reveling in the aftershocks of their union. Out of breath and still involuntarily thrusting against each other, they held on to each other tightly, being as close as possible the most important thing in the world.

When they eventually started to come down, their breathing slowing and limbs loosening, Michael slipped from her body and Nikita couldn't help but feel a little bereft. Funny how until a few hours ago she hadn't known emptiness, not until he had covered and filled her body with his own and shown her what it was like to really, truly make love. So when Michael started to shift his weight soon after, she held him in place and tilted his face up to hers. In a near perfect role reversal from their first time she kissed away the question in his eyes and told him simply, "Sleep", as she tried to coax his head to rest on her breast this time around. Michael though, somewhat back to his senses again and his protective streak shining through, objected with a whispered, "I'm too heavy".

Her answer was preceded by another slow and sensual kiss that had him moaning once more. She just shook her head slightly and repeated her loving order as she directed his head to her breast anew, her hand in his hair, "Sleep, hon".

Her use of the abbreviated endearment led him to give in, kissing her breast right over her heart. Pulling the sheet over their rapidly cooling bodies, he nestled his arms into her sides. One hand curling underneath a breast, the other around a shoulder, he relaxed into her. Feeling one of her hands softly caressing his hair and the other lightly tracing the vertebrae of his neck, he let himself be lulled to sleep by the soothing sound of her heartbeat and the wondrous feeling of utter contentment being in her arms like this gave him.


Nikita didn't follow him into sleep right away. She lay there, Michael's torso a comforting weight upon hers. Her busy fingers not only relaxing Michael into sleep but also having a hypnotising effect on herself even though she was intensely aware of Michael and everywhere her body was in direct contact with his. The texture of his short hair as it slid past her fingertips over and over again. The cool skin of his neck underneath the pads of the fingers of her other hand, his hands - relaxed in sleep - holding onto her, his breath tickling the skin of her breast on every exhale and one of his legs, slung over one of hers, tucked against the inside of her other leg from knee to toe. If someone had told her three days ago, she would be laying here in this moment, wide awake with Michael asleep in her arms, both of them naked after they had made love two glorious times in one night to boot… she probably wouldn't have stopped at calling them crazy.

To think that just a few hours ago she was worried sick about Michael, if he was okay mentally, physically. It was mind boggling really. He'd put her through hell, forcing her to risk her life because he'd been convinced she was the one that stood between him and his holy quest for revenge. He'd been utterly blind to anything else and she had been the one to nearly pay for it with her life, not to mention the threat he'd uttered to Alex. And now here they were.

She had nipped his attempts to apologise in the bud. Not once, but three times actually. Truth of the matter was, there probably wasn't an apology conceivable that would suffice. Michael knew that too, he hadn't had that much difficulty with putting even the beginning of one into words for nothing. And she? If she was being honest, she didn't really want one. If you needed to apologise for something you were too late anyway, the damage was done. You should have thought your actions through beforehand, not after the fact. At least that was the one thing she picked up from one of the many foster mothers she had had that had actually made sense too. Not that she managed to live by the rule herself all the time…

What Michael had done to her, an apology wouldn't fit. They would need to talk about it though. She knew that. She knew it would be painful for both of them too. That was the most pressing reason she'd deflected his attempts to do exactly that. They had both hurt quite enough up until then. She was also a firm believer of taking some time now and again to reflect upon events, something Amanda had taught her. Though she didn't quite manage to do that too, most of the time. But in this case, when everything had spiraled out of her control faster than she could process, she would. She couldn't not. That had also been a reason for her to ponder her history with Michael and it's recent dramatic low point at length when she drove home earlier in the day. And it was for that very same reason she was now wide awake. Happy and content at having him in her arms, feeling completely and thoroughly loved - something she had yearned for for a long time but hadn't expected to happen any longer - and at the same time she was worried about what their future would hold. And that was without factoring in Division.

She'd be damned if she wouldn't make sure they tried their very best to work out all of their differences and difficulties. Because, heaven knew how much she loved him. More than any other man before him, maybe even more than life itself. She had loved him for a long time and she was quite convinced that would never change. And now that she finally had him with her, she didn't ever want to let him go. But they did need to figure out a way to make it all work between them. Nikita sighed, they would talk, soon, maybe tomorrow if Michael could stay, would stay long enough.

Tomorrow she told herself, tomorrow will be soon enough. She lifted her head to kiss the top of Michael's and just as she lowered it again to close her eyes his gravelly voice called to her softly, "Go to sleep Nikita". For some reason she found this quite funny and snorted in a not so ladylike manner, which in return made Michael lift his head and shift up and off of her, turning them both on their sides. He pulled her in close, tangled his legs with hers and breathed against her lips, "Sleep", before kissing her reassuringly. She wrapped one arm around his shoulders and moved the other between their bodies until she found his hand with hers. And then she kissed him just as sweetly as he'd kissed her. "Goodnight", she whispered and closed her eyes too. An affirmative, "Hmm", was the last she heard before sleep claimed her.