It took way longer to update than I had hoped, but I've been ill for a few days. Anyways, I hope you enjoy :)

Chapter 14: Back Home

Nikita entered the training facility and was relieved to see it was empty. She didn't feel like having a lot of people around, as was the situation in Ops, it was just too crowded. She considered she'd might as well do something while she was here, but then she felt the exhaustion throughout her whole body, gravity pulling on her and every single muscle aching.

When she sat down, she heard someone walking into the room and sighed, she didn't get the chance to be alone after all. But when she turned her head to see who it was, that person was Alex, leaning against a post looking at her.

If it must've been one person, she was glad it was Alex who disturbed her loneliness.

Alex walked up to her with an endearing smile and sat down next to her.

"Hey." She said.

Nikita replied with the same as they looked out in front of them. It wasn't that they didn't have anything to say to each other, they just both didn't feel like it. They enjoyed each other's company in a way, sitting in silence, contemplating over all that had happened. It was as if there was a mutual understanding between them.

After a while Alex looked at Nikita, who kept on looking out in front of her. Observing her, Alex couldn't find it in her heart to just let it go without saying something.

"Nikita.." She began, after which Nikita finally turned her head to look at her. "Are you really okay?" Alex asked. She didn't want to make Nikita feel like she pitied her so she kept her expression relatively calm. Underneath that, Alex was worried, she knew Nikita kept her real emotions concealed for others if she wanted to, while behind that mask she could be on the verge of breaking down. Right now, Alex found it hard to tell whether this was the case or not.

Nikita opened her mouth and paused it for a second, but then answered. "I'm fine, Alex." She looked away. "I mean, it all turned out quite fortunate actually. Ryleigh found her brother, alive. You found me, alive. And we found Ryleigh.. alive."

"Just because we're all alive, doesn't mean that all the things that didn't kill us become irrelevant.." Alex said as she looked at Nikita; bruises on her face, red marks all over her wrists and cuts and scrapes on her right arm.

"Stop that, it's nothing." Nikita said as she noticed Alex looking at her.

"It's not nothing, Nikita. Let's just say it, you have been tortured, and my heart breaks to know that you've been through that. And considering it was Amanda I'm guessing it was not just physically.. " Alex watched her with eyes full of concern and worry for the person that was closest to her in this world.

Nikita swallowed and then just sort of shook her head.

"I don't feel like I get to complain about what happened to me.." She said. "I think it hurts her more." Nikita added after a few seconds with a grave voice.

"What do you mean?" Alex asked confused by Nikita's latest statement.

"The torture." Nikita knew it still wasn't clear to Alex, but she didn't actually want to elaborate on it. She didn't know if Alex would understand.

"Nikita, please, just tell me." Alex said, seeing Nikita was struggling.

"There was a.." Nikita paused again, staring out in front of her with a blank expression, as if she forgot she was talking to someone for a second. She realized it herself, she frowned and then continued. "..there was a moment where it wasn't Amanda who dealt the blows."

Alex understood what she meant, but she couldn't wrap her mind around it.

"But you didn't see her back there, it was.. she was just so disconcerted and full of anger. And I don't know which part of it was just Amanda's deceiving lies and which part was actually really her.." Nikita said, now worried herself as she was re-experiencing it all vividly in her mind. "That's what scares me."

Alex inhaled deeply before she started talking. "You're right. I don't know how it all went down, but you told me that Ryleigh was under some sort of mind compulsion by Amanda. I don't believe that Ryleigh would have wanted to do what she did without that. We fucked up when we chose to keep her in the dark about our mission, but you mustn't blame yourself for any of this. When she wakes up, it'll be the old Ryleigh who we've known for a little less than a week now."

The time that had passed surprised Alex. She felt like she'd known Ryleigh for much longer than they did in reality, but she slowly started doubting her own words. Who was the old Ryleigh? What did they really know about who she truly was? Alex was worried about how these recent occurrings would affect her.

She looked over to Nikita again and noticed how she was still nervous and unsure about everything.

"And you," Alex said, "are gonna get through this, like you've always have, because you are without a doubt the strongest person I know. I'll let you alone whenever you want, but only if you realize every time that you're never truly alone." Alex took Nikita's hand and held it in hers. "Never."

Nikita gave her a smile without much joy as she looked down.

"Nikita?" Alex said.

"No I know, I'm sorry, I'm just a little.." She breathed in. "Thanks, Alex, for everything you said. It's good to have you by my side." Nikita now said with an honest smile.

Ryleigh had woken up about ten minutes ago, but no one had been there. She didn't mind, she even felt that it was for the better. She wanted to be alone and she didn't want anyone to see her. She felt miserable, sick to the stomach, thinking about it all. She could not comprehend how any of it could have happened.

And Amanda. O how she felt the sting of Amanda's betrayal this time. Everything else was hollow. She was worth nothing, Amanda had used her for her own purposes without giving a second thought about her.

Through the window she saw both Alex and Nikita walking into Medical. For a second Ryleigh even considered pretending to be asleep, she just wasn't ready to face them yet.

"You're already awake." Nikita said with a surprised voice, while she was also bothered with herself for not being there. "How are you feeling?" She added softly.

Ryleigh didn't know what to say. Physically she felt awful, it hurt like hell, but that wasn't important to her. Why didn't they seem to be the slightest bit upset with her? A small part of her naively hoped it had all been a very long and tiring nightmare.

"You don't have to this, really." She said with a genuine tone as she looked down.

"Ryleigh.. I hope I can make this clear to you." Nikita said with a firm voice and Ryleigh was awaiting her words, ready to undergo whatever she was going to say, she would accept it.

"We did all this effort to save you and get you out of danger and you just keep ending up in our medical facility.. do you really think we do that because we feel obliged to? We do so because we have one very important rule here; and that is that you don't leave family behind." Nikita said.

Ryleigh thought she knew what to expect, but this was far from it. She was speechless. All she could do was look up to Nikita and Alex, feeling it as a comfort to have them call her a part of the family. Her mind was overwhelmed with emotions. She could see that Nikita meant it, but she couldn't believe it. Did she really forgive her for the things she'd done? She didn't deserve it, she so didn't deserve it.

Then she suddenly recalled another aspect of the day before.

"Jackson." She uttered.

Everything felt so surreal, she couldn't believe a single thing her mind told her.

"Did.. did that really happen?" She asked.

"Your brother's alive and well." Alex answered with an endearing smile.

Inexplicable happiness filled her heart. Her brother. It had been a long time since the word came without melancholy.

"Where is he? Can I see him?" Ryleigh said, looking from Alex to Nikita back and forth.

"Well.. he's actually at another wing of Division right now. After he was checked out of Medical, he was taken to the interrogation room, just to be sure. We didn't do that with you and things turned out a little bit different than we thought." Alex said.

"Oh.. right. I see. Of course." Ryleigh replied a little confused.

Alex was just about to say something again while a guy had been walking up to Medical and then held still when he was in the doorway. He turned to Alex.

"Michael said that I should tell you that agent Pierce was back at Division."

Alex had a torn expression on her face.

"Go." Nikita said reassuring.

"I'm gonna check on you later, alright, so you better not sneak out again." Alex said to Ryleigh.

Ryleigh gave her a smile. "I won't."

The messenger stepped out of the way to let Alex through and went into the room himself.

Ryleigh observed him, because she knew she recognized his face, but she just couldn't place it yet. He remained at his spot, looking a bit unsure, probably feared that he had just interrupted a moment.

He cleared his throat before he spoke. "Is the doc coming back soon or should I just leave..?" He said as he pointed his thumb towards the door.

Ryleigh was relieved to finally realize who it was upon hearing his voice. She did pick up his voice very clearly when they were in the building, but the sight of him was blurry.

"Aaron, right?" Ryleigh said.