Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters! This is fanfiction. It's not the real thing.
Note: This chapter is not edited or proofread. I had it somewhere on my computer for quite some time and decided that it just needed to go up.
Anthony's POV
The weeks following Nikita's hospitalization consisted of coercing the former counselor into resting at home, stripping her of all electronic devices, and restricting her access to PsyNet as much as possible.
Anthony's efforts reaped little returns, and in turn, he had gotten into Max Shannon's bad side on more than one occasion.
"I looked studied the security protocol with a fine-tooth comb," Nikita's security chief told Anthony for the third time in less than a week. "You are not going to find anything I haven't already secured."
"My apologies, Mr. Shannon." Anthony had lived under Silence all his life, but unlike his counterparts, he was used to dealing with humans. He had overstepped.
"Word of advice," Nikita's Security Chief leaned against the wall behind him, hands in his pocket, with the thumps sticking out of the edges. "You should focus on strengthening your own security. You and everyone in the new ruling council are at risk."
"I already have," Anthony said, giving the nod. It was the security of his children and that of Nikita's that concerned him the most. "I'll send you a report of my security for review."
Max Shannon stood to attention at the words. "Excuse me?"
"Nikita's going be spending a lot of time by my side," Anthony said. "We stand a better chance of combining forces."
Anthony rode the elevator up to Nikita's penthouse. In the short ride up, he sent his security chief a warning to anticipate a call from Nikita's own security chief. He had just stepped out of the elevator when he found an unexpected figure sitting in Nikita's guest area.
"Leon?" he asked.
Anthony's brother sat in a loveseat across from Nikita. An assortment of protein drinks and bars sat on the coffee table between them.
"Anthony." Nikita was sitting on the couch, legs crossed, and wrapped in a soft-looking bathrobe. The sight was highly unusual for the utterly "silent" Nikita.
"What are you doing here?" Anthony's knuckles of his hands turned white. "I thought you were in Florida."
"I came back early and wanted to check on Nikita's progress," Leon said, picking up a steaming cup from the table and bringing it to his lips.
"Leon brought samples from his new line of nutrition bars and drinks." Nikita plucked a bar from the pile on the table and unwrapped it. "It's a brand of mild flavors for Psy looking to ease themselves out of Silence. Come try it."
"Making a profit out of the fall of Silence." Anthony draped his jacket on the arm of the couch, sat next to Nikita, and he rested a hand on her knee.
Leon's eyes followed the possessive gesture, and his hands came together into a steeple before meeting Anthony's eyes. "It seems like I'm not the only one taking advance of the fall of Silence."
"Leon has a good business plan," Nikita said, looking from one brother to the other. "He's selling a lifestyle, and, conveniently, the Psy population is looking for help emerging out of a Silent."
"Are you investing? Anthony studied all the aches of her face.
Nikita's conditioning was strong, but he was starting to pick out the small tales, and her answer confirmed it.
"It's not a bad idea," she said.
"I want to kiss you," he telepathed.
Nikita broke eye contact and returned her attention to the platter on the table. She picked up a cookie and broke it in two. "Eat this cookie."
Anthony leaned in and took a bite of the piece she offered right out of her hand. "I have no point of reference, but I can tolerate it."
"It is evident that your relationship has changed." Leon was peeking at them from the top of his glasses. "Could I ask some questions? Medically related, of course."
"No," Nikita said.
"Yes." Anthony squeezed Nikita's knee. "What do you want to know?"
"Are you two physically intimate?" Anthony's younger brother tilted his head to the side. "Has your mind found ways to adapt or cope with the changes?"
"Our conditioning is strong," Anthony answered, "but I'm not going to talk to you about the nature of our relationship. Unless you need the information for yourself."
"What about your mind?" Leon asked, eyes on Anthony's possessive hand. "Has your mind adapted to the change?"
Nikita was the one to replay. "The failsafe of the condition have are…evolving."
Anthony lowered his gaze and watched Nikita's expression go pensive. "Good or bad."
"Neither," she said, meeting his eyes before completing her response telepathically. "I think I'm starting to understand happiness, but I am even more aware of the pain."
Anthony swallowed. "Silence" had only nullified the sadness they had carried since childhood. After all, no Psy was ever born without emotions. The capacity to feel happiness, shame, sadness, or anything else, all those things had just been replaced with other things. Nikita's steely ambition, her work hectic, and her desire to kid her daughter safe were replacements to cover up the sadness of losing herself, and later her child, in Silence.
Anthony kissed the top of her head. "Leon, could you give us a moment. Maybe we could resume this conversation over dinner tomorrow."
Leon arched an eyebrow but nodded. "Perhaps it would be better, I have consulted with a group of empaths this afternoon, and they might be able to give us some insight.
Nikita's POV
"Nikita?" Anthony stood on the other side with an unusual raised brow. "Are you in pain?"
Nikita blinked and stare. "My daughter came to visit."
"Is she okay?"
"Yes." She felt herself nodding. "She brought Nadiya."
Nikita had watched her daughter walk out of the bedroom with a baby waving goodbye in her arms. She even took a snapshot of the image with a collection of others for a later time. Nikita had enjoyed holding the sweet child, her confidence and curiosity was proof that her decision to let go of her daughter had been the right thing to do, and she would never regret it.
Sasha might feel resentful or perhaps think of her as evil, but it doesn't matter. It was not Nikita's job to gain her daughter's love. It was her job to give her the life she deserved, even if it meant she also needed to force her out of her life.
She untangled her legs with a grunt. Disabling her pain receptors, she tightened her bathrobe before letting her body drop against him.
"Why don't we go to bed?" He pushed away the strands of her hair that had fallen to her face. "I want to hear all about your granddaughter."
"You just want me to sleep." She allowed him to usher her back into her room and help to bed, getting a full kiss on the lips as a reward.
"Does she look like you?" He slipped into the spot next to hers.
"She's beautiful." She recalled her an imagine of her granddaughter. "She has that tilt on the side of her eyes, her mother's cheekbones, but she lakes more from her dad. If she ever wants to go into business, she will have a major advantage. She's not only beautiful, surely her emphatics and telepathic are strong."
"I bet she has the Duncan boldness." He wrapped his arm around her neck and cozied up to her side.
The intimacy and the audacity of the whole thing made her heart beat a little faster, but she was learning to regulate her responses. She had already manipulated the wiring in mind, and now she was learning about pleasure.
"She does," she said, thinking about her granddaughter's hard stare on her person. The girl had good survival instincts, which she will need to survive in the world. "She's curious and confident, and she's happy."
"Did you take a snapchat?"
Nikita became still, debating the idea of sharing an image of her granddaughter. If something happened to Anthony, someone might take the images from his mind. But then again, he also understood the importance of family.
"She has your stare," he said, tracing her cheeks with a gentle finger, "and your cheekbones."
"She is Duncan." It didn't matter what the world thought. Sasha was and will always be a Duncan, and the reason for her existence. The equation now included her granddaughter and the inconvenient leopard alpha her daughter mated.
"It was nice of Sasha to bring her over," Anthony said. "I understand the cats have elevated their security after the kidnapping attempt."
"She defended herself quite well." Nikita was proud of her daughter's callous self-defense. It was precisely what she had been preparing her all her life. "She asked me whether or not I thought she was flawed."
Anthony turned to his side, propping his head up with his arm, and pulled her closer.
She answered his non-verbal question. "I employed her, appointed as a lead in my team, and provided her with several projects of her own."
Nikita stared up at Anthony, whose eyes had gained a glint. "She needed verbal validation."
"How is that helpful?" She rather do things that provoked a consequence, like involving her child with a dangerous group of leopards. "It must be completely emotional."
"My daughter still thinks I want to keep her hidden somewhere," he said, "strapped to a monitor."
"Don't you?"
"It's only to keep her safe." Anthony's lips settled into a thin line. "Why is that hard to understand."
"You are better at emotions than me." She pulled away, slowly rising from the bed, and leaving a scolding Anthony behind. The scold was all in his eyes, of course.
"Where are you going?"
"My home office." She slipped into a pair of fluffy sandals Sophia had given her as a "Get Well Soon" gift. The young J-Psy left shoes next to her bed with a note that read:
"Enjoy life a little before you get shot again."
"Is there anything I can do or say to convince you otherwise?" He asked, coming to a seated position.
"You can order food," she said, "and you could give me an update on the situation in the city."
"The PsyNet is imploding, but Arrows have the city under control, and we have become an unlikely symbol of change." He rose, swiftly swinging his legs to the floor. "The same as always, with the exception that we have become the tabloids' favorite couple."
"If it keeps the general population distracted," Nikita said, "then I don't mind it. The last thing we need is for people to focus on problems at hand. At least not until we have a solution."
"Spoken like a true politician."