Ooh wow...
Uhh, Hi guys! Now, before you shoot me and all for being away for such a long time I want to apologise. I've had a lot on my plate recently with different complicated surgeries and things that generally just got in the way of life, like a verrrrry slow recovery process! I'm sorry that I promised an update and never got around to it, it seems that I wasn't quite as healthy as I thought after my accident and it's been a long slow process getting better.
I think it's safe to say that I'm almost there...
As such, I've not really been keeping up with the new episodes of Nikita so I'm quite clueless as to what is actually going on (They don't let me watch that sort of stuff in hospital!) But I'm free and clear now and will soon be catching up with everything!
Anyway, here is the long awaited update to "False Pretences". For those that are interested the update is also coming your way for "Finding Home".
Enjoy.
XX
"Nikita? What's going on?" Alex stepped curiously towards her mentor, rubbing carefully at the bandages that still covered her strapped-up gun hand.
Nikita had forced the younger girl to place her arm in a temporary sling, which was neither comfortable nor particularly helpful to the healing process, it just proceeded to make her shoulder go dead at different intervals. Nikita was adamant, much to her protest, that she needed to keep it as still as possible so she didn't manage to injure it further - Being unable to use her limb was driving Alex rather insane.
She looked on in puzzlement as Nikita threw a weapons bag lightly over her lithe shoulder.
"Are we going somewhere?" Alex asked curiously, raising an eyebrow slightly at the other woman.
"I am – you're staying here on this one Alex." Nikita replied, focusing on what supplies she needed to take with her.
"I've received some Intel on a possible location of another black box." Nikita did not look up as she spoke, she just continued to bury her head and busy herself in what she was doing, stuffing all the relevant equipment into small webbing carry-sacks in front of her. Alex furrowed her brow harder, Nikita usually travelled as light as possible, unless she was going overseas for a period of time.
Alex hugged her free arm around her waist, shivering. The loft could be relentlessly cold in the mornings and this morning was no exception. At the revelation of her own chilliness, she noticed that Nikita was preparing warm clothing.
"How do you have Intel on a box when I'm not inside any more?" she asked quietly, knowing that Nikita always seemed to have ways and means of receiving such information. She seemed to be able to come up with important revelations just when they needed it the most – like info on another black box.
Generally, the other woman liked to keep herself to herself – especially when it came to her feelings. She just shrugged things off and avoided them until she really had to talk and then she liked to keep things as brief as she possibly could – professional even. It was only when she was really tested that a more open, compassionate side to her raised it's head. Like what had happened on the last mission, it had been a worried, caring side to Nikita that Alex wasn't sure she had ever seen so strong before. It was then that Alex realised that they had never really talked about what happened since the fire, and knowing Nikita, it would be a subject that she gladly avoided.
Noticing that the assassin had not answered her question, Alex shifted her weight onto the other foot, moving slightly more into Nikita's line of vision and gently spoke her name as a reminder.
"Nikita..."
"Owen." Nikita stated, finally stopping what she was doing to look up at Alex. "He's been trying to track down the other guardians for a while and has finally come up with a lead. It seems Percy has guardians spread as far out as Siberia." she added the last bit somewhat glumly. It seemed they always had to travel somewhere cold, why they just couldn't visit a warm climate she never knew.
"Ahh, hence the warm clothing." Alex nodded towards one of the small overnight bags, emphasising the look of reluctance on Nikita's face.
"Hmph, it still can't be quite as cold as in here though. Seriously, we need to invest in some heating." Alex said sarcastically, rubbing her free hand up and down the other.
"You're still cold?..." Nikita asked, eyeing up Alex's arm carefully. She gently straightened up and walked forwards, unexpectedly taking the other girl by surprise and pressing a somewhat warm hand to her forehead. Alex brushed her off quickly, slightly annoyed and murmuring something about 'fussing'. Nikita had been unknowingly fussing over her more than she normally did after the gone-wrong mission.
"Nikita I'm fine, you're just superhuman or something." She huffed, lowering Nikita's hand back down roughly.
"You want to keep an eye out for infection in that..." Nikita still didn't sound convinced. Because of everything in Alex's past, she had to be careful of any medication that Alex could potentially become addicted to, even when it came to antibiotics. So far, they had been lucky and keeping her hand as surgically clean as possible seemed to be doing the trick.
"It's fine Nikita, stop worrying." Alex grumbled.
"I can't help it – someone's got to look out for you." Nikita flashed her a small smile before turning back to the job at hand.
"You should let me come with you, you know what happened the last time you tried to take a guardian down by yourself..." Alex proposed, this time it was her voice that rang with worried tones. She instantly knew what the answer would be. Even though Nikita often flew solo on her missions, Alex still felt uncomfortable that her mentor would be halfway across the world.
"I won't be by myself. Owen's already over there and I'm going to rendezvous with him as soon as I get ground side." She stated. Somehow, she knew Alex was going to put up a bit of a fight about this one. She was planning on leaving silently, with just a note to tell Alex where she had gone, but the younger girl hadn't slept for as long as she was hoping. She was going to cut out the arguments and explanations completely, or at least aim to. It never seemed to happen that way though.
"Even so, I'm sure a bit of extra back up couldn't hurt, you know - an extra pair of eyes?" Alex said quickly, Nikita trying to cut her off mid sentence.
"Alex..."
"What do you expect me to do, sit here and wait patiently while your out there risking your neck?" Alex raised her voice slightly, she knew it wouldn't do her much good. Both women had a stubborn streak but when it really came down to the nitty-gritty it was always Nikita's voice that would give the final order. That's just how it was.
"I can't risk Division finding out that your alive." Nikita sighed, she was really trying to avoid this argument.
"If Percy's gone to so much trouble to hide this guardian half way around the world, there are bound to be lots of other agents there as back up too – if any of them were to spot you, Percy wouldn't stop until he tied up loose ends. He would know that Michael helped us to escape..." she added the last bit to the end of her sentence, it wasn't just their lives on the line here.
Alex snorted sarcastically, her voice turning bitter.
"Michael doesn't care what happens to us, as long as Percy's dirty work gets done, he's happy." Alex couldn't help but speak a little harsher than she had intended. Even with Nikita's beliefs, she still couldn't bring herself to trust her former Division trainer.
"Alex, we've been through this." Nikita raised her voice sharply, her commanding voice ending the argument before it had time to flare up once more.
"It's a simple mission, me and Owen will be in and out before you even notice I'm gone, before Percy has a chance to know we are there. It will be a couple of days – tops." she said, her tones softening once more. She hated leaving things on a bad note between her and Alex, it was just another thing to distract her from her mission and if there was one thing that was constantly playing on the back of her mind, it was Alex.
"I still don't like it." Alex stated, letting her gaze drop from the raven-haired woman before her to the stained floorboards below.
"Like what?" Nikita asked, pausing once more. Her eyes were still transfixed on Alex, even if the young Russian wasn't looking up at her.
"This, all of it..." Alex raised her injured hand and nodded towards it for emphasis as she spoke, "I vowed to help you take down Division, now I have to sit on the sidelines while you fly half way across the world, wondering if your ever going to come home from these missions – it just feels wrong!" Alex was trying her hardest to keep the emotion from her voice as she spoke, turning her back when her tones quivered. She knew that she couldn't keep the feelings from showing in her baby blue eyes, which she could feel stinging with the onset of tears.
She hated this, the responsibility of everything always seemed to come back round to Nikita.
"Alex, listen to me." Nikita stepped forwards so that she was closer to the younger girl, her footsteps echoing around the nearly empty loft they called home.
"It's just this one mission – I can't go out there knowing that I could be walking you straight into danger. Your off their radar, your out Alex, Division cant hold on to you any more. What happened in that house, I can't let it happen again..."
Alex made to move forwards, further away from the other woman but Nikita stopped her with a quick, yet gentle hand to her shoulder.
"I can't lose you Alex, I'm not prepared to risk it, to risk you." she whispered, her own voice wavering.
"You wouldn't lose me..." Alex said quietly, turning around to face her mentor. Nikita's hazel eyes rung with silent emotion and she shook her head, her eyes telling her she was sorry. Alex knew that all Nikita wanted to do was to keep her safe, but she felt the same way and she didn't want to see Nikita get hurt because she wasn't there to help when she was needed.
"I can't take that risk Alex – not with you." Nikita repeated, her voice barely a whisper, her eyes pleading now. "I need you to stay here – please." She reached out both hands to lay them gently on Alex's upper arms.
Alex knew that once Nikita's mind was made up, nothing was going to convince her otherwise. This was an argument that she was never going to win.
Admitting defeat, she nodded glumly.
"Alright – but you need to be careful. I want you to check in as often as possible you hear?" Alex stated, her voice serious. Nikita laughed half-heartedly at her words, pulling her into a quick embrace before turning away to pick up the other bag she had prepared.
"Anyone would think that you were my mentor, not the other way around." she joked, flashing Alex a smile.
"I'm serious Nikita." Alex scorned. Something still didn't feel quite right to her.
"How much can you really trust this guy?" It was something she had been thinking about a lot recently, who they could and couldn't rely on, ever since what happened with Michael she found herself becoming increasingly wary of those around her. She knew nothing about the former guardian that Nikita trusted so openly.
"Owen?" He's a good guy Alex, a good friend. He wouldn't double-cross me. He wants to see Percy burn just as much as we do, possibly more and getting hold of and destroying the black boxes is our best chance of doing that."
"I just want to make sure he is on the right side – god knows we've been betrayed for less in the past..." Alex whispered, following Nikita towards the loft's door. It amazed her quite how Nikita could be so trusting. So many people in her past had betrayed her, hurt her. Yet here she was, refusing to think the worst of anyone. Through everything that had gone on in her past, the older woman before her still wanted to do the right thing, she thought more about others than she did herself and sometimes, she put herself into danger in the process.
It was something that Alex couldn't help but admire.
"You don't have to worry about Owen, trust me – he's a good ally to have." Nikita paused, pulling open the door whilst juggling the few small bags that she was insistent on taking with her. It was when she turned the handle that she realised she hated just as much leaving Alex behind, as Alex hated being left behind.
"If your planning on leaving the loft remember, try to be subtle – Percy might think your dead but it doesn't hide the fact that he could quite easily figure out that your not. If he does, he wont stop until he finds you, even if he catches wind of what I'm planning on doing to his guardian."
"I know," Alex rolled her eyes at Nikita's words, "Don't tell me your worried about leaving me behind too?" she added sarcastically. Nikita flashed her a smile before moving to close the door behind her.
"I always worry about you Alex." she said, her eyes meeting the younger girls for just a split second longer. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do." she said quickly, closing the door behind her and leaving Alex alone in the vastness of the loft.
Alex rolled her eyes, silence quickly creeping over her skin, instantly letting her know she was alone. She shivered once more, pulling her arms back around to hug her body. She made her way over to the computer table, before sighing and taking up residence in the not-so-comfortable desk chair.
"Don't worry," she whispered after Nikita, manoeuvring the mouse so that it was snugly in her left hand, clicking the left button and lighting up the particularly bright computer monitor.
"I won't."