"Are you expecting a message or something?" Alex asked Nikita.

"No. Why?" Nikita asked her, looking up guiltily from the computer.

"It's just that you keep checking the computer," Alex told her. Nikita realized that she'd been checking on the computer hoping for a message from the mysterious person at Division.

"I guess it's just a nervous reaction." Nikita smiled at Alex, "let's go pick out some masks."

000

Michael had just finished some work and was about to leave the desk when the blank page with the prompt appeared on the screen; he'd been hoping that the mysterious person would get in touch, Hi, he typed.

Hi, Nikita wrote back.

I was hoping I'd run into you again, if you get my drift, he wrote.

Who are you? Nikita asked, she really wanted to know and hoped against hope that the person she'd enjoyed writing to the other night wasn't Percy or Amanda.

Michael looked at the screen; should he tell the computer his name? On the other hand the person at the other end probably knew it was him, it wouldn't hurt to tell them his name, and it was just a name after all. I'm Michael, he wrote back.

Nikita couldn't believe it; okay she could, who else in Division would have been that interesting to write to. Thank God it wasn't Birkhoff.

Aren't you going to introduce yourself? Michael asked her.

No, she wrote back.

Seriously, you're not going to tell me your name? Michael asked.

Nikita wondered what he would do if she said that it was her, Nikita, finally back on the grid, but why tempt fate. She finally had a chance to spend time with Michael without their past and individual baggage getting in their way.

Not yet, she wrote.

What do you mean not yet? He asked. You mean at some later stage you will tell me your name?

Maybe, she wrote back, if you're good, who knows?

How will you know that I'm being good? He asked, smiling to himself, settling in for another exciting chat session.

I have my ways, Nikita begin to type back, but Alex walked into the room, "I think I'll go with this one," she said, holding out a mask. Nikita stood up reluctantly, it was time to go through the plan again; she logged off and joined her young friend. It was time to concentrate on the task at hand.

Michael waited, and then saw the words, USER OFFLINE on the screen and left the computer. He couldn't wait for the next time they'd meet again.

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