A/N: I'm back after a loooong absence! I hope you like this chapter and that it will make up for the years of silence! Enjoy!
The sun tickled her face. Slowly, she opened her eyes to find that it was already morning. She ran her hand across the other side of the bed. It was empty. From downstairs, she could hear people talking but couldn't make out what they were saying. A faint smell of bacon reached her nostrils and her stomach growled loudly.
She sat up and looked around the bedroom. Everything in Michael's room had been built by him. The previous evening, he had showed her his workshop. She had never known that Michael was a woodworker. Evidently, after many years together, he was still able to surprise her.
The room was big and took up most of the second floor. The door gave to a small hallway from which overlooked the main floor. A wooden railing prevented you from falling and let you see what was going on below. Nikita figured that Michael viewed this as an additional security. If someone were to walk in the house, he would be able to view the entire downstairs area without being seen.
Slowly, she got out of the bed. She crossed over to Adam's bedroom to find that the children were already awake. A quick glance at the clock in the room told her it was 8 am. She couldn't remember the last time she had slept past 5:30 am. It finally began to sink in that she was on vacation. She had never had one in the past. The feeling was very foreign to her.
Laughter came from the main floor. Quietly, she made her way down the stairs. She could hear the food sizzling on the stove as Michael made breakfast for his family. Erin and Jacob were sitting in the living, talking too rapidly in Spanish for Nikita to understand what they were saying. She gave them a quick good morning kiss before joining Michael in the kitchen.
"Ooh, smells nice," she said before kissing on the cheek.
"Did you sleep well?"
She nodded.
"There's orange juice in the fridge if you want some," he told her.
She grabbed a clean glass from the dishwasher and poured herself some juice. She watched as Michael continued to make breakfast. She wasn't sure what to tell him. It had been so long since they had seen each other and only once had they had such a domestic life.
"You were up early."
"Yes. I heard the kids move around the hallway. I figured they would be hungry. Breakfast will be ready in about ten minutes."
"What are we going to do today?"
A smile tugged at Michael's lips.
"It's a surprise."
Nikita frowned. Michael had never quite been the surprising kind of guy. Then again, he seemed to have changed a lot in the years he had lived in Canada. He definitely looked more relaxed and at peace with his life, now that he was no longer killing others. For a moment, Nikita wondered if she would ever get used to this kind of life. A part of her was yearning to be back in the comfort of Section. As little as she wanted to admit it, it had almost become a home to her.
Minutes later, Michael was setting the plates at the dining room table. Adam, Erin, and Jacob immediately joined them. Adam and Michael made a small-talk. Nikita learned that, at 15, Adam had a girlfriend. Her name was Cassandra, a French-Canadian girl who went to his school. He asked if Cass could join them today. Michael agreed.
"Where are we going?"
The smile on Michael's face widened.
"We're taking a small trip."
"Where?"
"You'll see. But first, we'll need to stop by the store. I think Erin and Jacob are missing essential equipment for this trip."
Her confusion lasted all through breakfast and the trip to the store. They stopped at a large chain store Nikita had never heard of. They made their way towards the summer clothing.
"You packed enough clothes for them to live with us for a month and yet you forgot the one thing a child needs during the summer: a bathing suit."
Nikita chuckled. How could she have forgotten their bathing suit? This is where not being a full-time mother caught up with her. She lacked the experience to know what to bring on a trip and how much to pack.
"Don't worry about it," Michael said after the twins had picked and tried their bathing suit. "Now, it's your turn."
In her excitement at picking out the perfect bathing suit for her kids, she had completely forgotten about her own. It had been years, even not decades, since she had worn a bathing suit. She tried on many but nothing felt good on her. She was afraid to come out of the changing rooms to show Michael. The entire morning felt surreal.
Finally, after nearly thirty minutes of trying on bathing suits, she opted for an aqua-coloured tankini. She liked the color on herself as she looked in the mirror. As they headed towards the cash registers, she still couldn't believe she was about to buy a bathing suit.
Once back in the car, Nikita tried to get Michael to confess where they were going. He remained silent.
They drove for what seemed to be an eternity on a highway lined with trees. Everywhere she looked, Nikita could see forests and mountains. She had to admit that Canada offered beautiful sights.
They took an exit. The sign indicated they had reached the town of Saint-Sauveur. In the distance, she could see a tall plastic tube.
"What is that?" she asked, pointing at the tube.
"This is where we're going," Michael replied.
Fifteen minutes later, the family were entering the parking lot of Mont Saint-Sauveur waterpark. All around her, Nikita could see children running excitedly. The intensity of the noise made her smile. Here, people were living. Here, people were happy to be living. Everywhere she looked, smiles lighted the strangers' faces. The sun was shining brightly and the temperature wasn't too humid (according to Michael).
They walked in, bought their tickets in, and the kids immediately took off running. Nikita immediately called them back, afraid of losing them in the big crowd. Erin and Jacob stopped in their tracks. Michael handed her the map of the site. He explained to her the different slides, the area where the twins would be able to go, and where they would be able to eat.
Adam's girlfriend would be meeting them shortly. Michael told his son where he would be in case he needed him, gave him a bit of money to buy some food while he waited for Cassandra, before taking off in the opposite direction.
They joined the other young children in their designated area. Nikita and Michael sat on a bench nearby while the kids began to play in the water. Their excited squeals made Nikita's heart swell. She couldn't believe how happy her children were at that moment. She watched them as they slid down the small slides, splashed each other in the pool and bumped into other children in the water-bumped-car circuit.
She joined them a few times in the water and laughed uncontrollably as Michael and the twins began to splash her with water. The morning passed by in a flash. Soon, it was time for them to join Adam and Cassandra for a quick lunch.