Chapter Two: Keeping Up the Lie

It had been over a week since Nikita had gotten the sonogram, and she was still keeping it a secret. She kept the photo Meghan had given her with her at all times. She figured that it was safer than leaving it somewhere for someone to find. Whenever she was feeling stressed, she would find a room to hide away in and stare at it for a while. She still wasn't sure how she felt about it, but she liked to pretend that the Dirty Thirty were all captured, Division was finally shut down, and her and Michael could retire on a fabulous island with their little girl. It was just a pipe dream, though, and her dream was shot back down to reality every time she realized that there was another rogue agent to find.

"Nikita," came Ryan's voice from the doorway, "We need you in Ops. We've got intel on a new rogue target." She quickly hid the photo back in her pocket and turned to face him.

"Sure thing, boss! I'll be right there" she called back to him.

That day was a long one. They had managed to find the rogue agent, but unfortunately he was very stubborn, and ended up dead. Great, another agent we failed to save, thought Nikita dejectedly. They had just arrived back at Division to drop off their gear before leaving for the night. Michael had gone to go check on Ops, so Nikita was left alone in the weapons room. As she was putting her gear away, she heard footsteps and turned to look. It was Birkhoff.

"Geez, nerd you scared me!" cried Nikita. She slapped him playfully on the shoulder.

"Sorry Niki, but I gotta talk to you" said Birkhoff, sounding a bit serious.

"Sure dude, what's up?" asked Nikita.

"Well," he began tentatively, "I've been noticing some things lately."

"Oh yeah? Like what?" Nikita asked as she unpacked her gear.

"Like you've been acting differently," he started, "Eating differently, resting more in between missions-" Nikita cut him off.

"So? What's wrong with that?" Nikita asked a bit harshly.

"Well, nothing," said Birkhoff, "Except I checked medical records just to make sure, and I noticed that Meghan checked out the sonogram machine 12 days ago, and then I find this in your pocket!" He held up my jacket and pulled out the photo of the sonogram. My eyes widened and I turned white with fear.

"I, I can explain!" I stammered

"You wanna tell me what's going on here, Niki? And why you're carrying around a photo of a sonogram? Are you pregnant?!" asked Birkhoff loudly.

"Keep it down, nerd!" She whisper-screamed at him as she grabbed the photo from his hands. "Just forget you ever saw it, okay?" she asked desperately.

"I don't think I can do that, Niki." He said.

"Why not?!" She shot back at him angrily.

"You really expect me to keep this from Michael?" he asked.

"Well, yes!" She said matter-of-factly.

"Do you have any idea how mad he'd be if he knew I was letting you go on missions in your condition? He'd go ballistic!" Birkhoff said, throwing his hangs up in the air.

"That's exactly why you're not going to tell him, or anyone else! Got it nerd?" Nikita warned. He looked at her with a pained, confused look on his face. She felt bad making him keep her secret, but it was his fault for investigating and finding out.

"Fine," he finally said, "I'll give you two days. But then you have to tell him!" he ordered.

"Yes, yes, okay! Good. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm tried so im going to go home" Nikita said.

"Yeah, im sure you are" Birkhoff joked sarcastically.

"Hey, no jokes!" She said as she hit him over the head. Michael and Ryan suddenly appeared from down the hall, and Nikita and Birkhoff immediately composed themselves and tried to act as normal as possible.

"Congrats, by the way" Birkhoff whispered as he smiled and squeezed her hand.

"Thanks, nerd" Nikita smiled back at him.