The time difference between the team was going to kill her. Not physically, it wasn't that detrimental. But waking up before dawn just to catch up with the team and share intel was draining. It got to the point that one morning, after returning from their missions in Europe, Nikita simply sat on the mattress without thinking, feeling, or moving. Even Michael was sluggish beside her, grumbling about finding a better way to communicate than a too early call. At least that wouldn't last forever. They'd all be back together soon; they simply had to rearrange the right pieces. Unfortunately, they had no idea how long that would take. So with a groan of protest, Nikita answered her brother's call too groggy to fully speak, "How's Greece?"
"Awesome. Though I think Katya is bullying me in Russian," Sean quipped, much more awake than the team at the beach house. He had intended to make her laugh and perk up, but Nikita only muttered something (probably mean) in Russian. He chuckled. Annoying his sister was one of the rare positives of battling a time difference. It made up for the struggle to stay in the loop. Speaking of, there was an original purpose to his call besides being a nuisance. A lot had happened recently- a little too much if he was being honest. He had to know how everybody was fairing, "How's Alex and Michael?"
"Hanging in there. Alex is focusing on Zetrov, and she plans on dealing with that during the upcoming board meeting. Michael, on the other hand, is just trying to relax. He'll be okay though. He did the right thing," Shaking herself awake, Nikita was able to respond. She stumbled out of bed towards the bathroom, taking the phone with her. Michael fumbled and reached for her like he didn't want her to go just yet. It would've been a sweet gesture, if she wasn't too exhausted to truly notice. She swatted at his grabbing hands, and hopped from foot to foot in an attempt to completely shake off her sleep. Sean heard snippets of the commotion over the phone, causing him to chuckle to himself. He probably should've called at a later time, but it was hysterical hearing the two struggle to wake up.
He needed a laugh at the moment; the whole team did. Between Michael and Max and Alex and Katya, they all needed a second to relax and forget their troubles. However, Sean only dealt with the Alex side of things. He helped her defy Amanda and Ari, somewhat take control of Zetrov (at least until she handed it off to someone she trusted), and agreed to guard her mom while their enemies were on their revenge path. He knew what she had gone through and how to calm her. Michael's situation, though, he was still playing catch up with. No doubt Nikita had the comforting thing down. But he wondered what they were thinking and feeling, specifically his sister. He wanted to know if she had drawn the same parallels he had, "So if you were in the same situation..."
"What did you want to talk to me about the other day?" After a beat, Nikita asked. Her words were garbled around a toothbrush, yet that wasn't what concerned him. The deflection was obvious. She had definitely thought of their mother and being placed in Division for safety's sake while helping Michael with Max. After all, Sean had thought of it after he had been informed of what happened. Yet the extent of which his sister saw the parallels was unknown to him. She wasn't going to talk about it or any of her other feelings.
"Oh. Um. It'd be better in person," So, Sean decided to postpone discussing Daniel and his Seal operations. It wasn't as though then was a perfect time, anyway. He was actively protecting a safehouse in Greece against possible Russian assassins. And Nikita had just woken up, after a long night of dealing with the aftermath of Alex declaring war on Ari and Amanda and Michael losing his son. Both siblings should settle before considering serious topics.
"Okay, weirdo," Whether Nikita was fine with that, or worried about what he wanted to discuss was unclear to Sean. She sounded distant, but that could've been because she had the phone on speaker as she began her day in the bathroom. His stress had to have been eating away at him. Although he'd do as Alex asked and protect her mother while she was dealing with monsters, he didn't like being separated from his team. Knowing them, they were bound to to get up to some trouble, and he wouldn't be able to help. If anything happened while he was away- he didn't think he could live with the guilt.
Washing her face, Nikita thought of some ways to distract her brother. Or, at least, distract herself. As a Seal, Sean could handle himself. Alex was also fine in Russia with the media all over her, popularity protecting her. The team always managed to survive until the next mission. The emotional weight they were under couldn't have been an exception. Fortunately, Michael entered the bathroom as she was shaking those thoughts from her head. She could focus on him, the gentle hands he laid on her waist, and the tender kiss he placed on her temple. A small smile graced her lips, but only for a moment. Soon, his smoky voice in her ear teased her, "You're the one who got facemask goop on the phone."
"Just for that, you get one too," Lightly shoving Michael to sit on the toilet seat, Nikita grabbed another facemask and began to put it on him. She had gotten a couple cheap packets to help her relax after a long day on the run. However, trying to scoop out the content and massage it into her skin often left a mess along the counter. Michael constantly got onto her about it. And despite being over the phone, Sean was able to as well. He didn't need to see it to imagine the destruction his sister left behind; he had lived through it enough. Remembering those instances got him to forget the anxious present and recall much lighter times.
"No Michael, don't let her. That shit stings," Sean tried to warn the agent of being subjected to the torture of his sister's cosmetics, yet it was too late- not that Michael cared. Nikita was between his legs, massaging his cheeks and forehead with the cooling facemask. Yes the sensation was relaxing, and he desperately needed a second to calm. But having her so close was far more comforting. He got to have her in his arms, where both of them were content and warm. Soothing techniques were great after the intense situations they went through. Except, at the end of the day, what they really needed was one another.
"Cause it was cleaning your pores you pimply freak," Eventually, Nikita was able to tear her attention away from Michael enough to tease her brother. She could hear his exasperation through the phone. Percy had made fun of him for having acne as a teen as well, so it probably wasn't the best blow for her to deliver. Yet there was a reason she would force Sean to wear facemasks with her when they were younger- besides torturing him, of course. She, Jill, and Sandy were notorious for using their little brother as a life-size doll. It wasn't until he was older that he fought back against them, but that just made it more fun. Nikita was aware that there were many reasons why Sean joined the Navy Seals. But she also knew she had to tease him for choosing such a manly profession, as if to prove himself after the shit his sisters put him through.
"Most teenagers have acne. It goes away. Unlike being disgusting. That lasts forever, Icky Nikki," It wasn't the best comeback, but it was the best he could come up with on the spot. Besides, as a younger brother Sean was adept at simply being annoying. He couldn't see Nikita's reaction, yet judging from Michael's laughter his comment irritated the hell out of her. He was glad to know that her 'boy scout' nickname for him wasn't the only old taunt that got under skin. It was about time he had some ammunition to fire back at her.
"At least I never ate chapstick," With a mutter, Nikita moved to clean up the mess she made along the sink. Michael laughed through his questioning of what past event she could've possibly referred to. When it came to the siblings' antics, he and Alex were constantly lost. The way the two bullied one another, as well as fiercely protected each other was bewildering. Birkhoff was able to shrug it off, though- maybe because that was how his and Nikita's relationship was as well. And although Ryan only experienced snippets of their craziness through telephone conversations, he was able to ignore it too. That was probably just how siblings were, and Michael and Alex had to accept that. He just wished it wasn't so dizzying to witness.
"I was three. And it was the flavored lip-smackers ones," Sean immediately defended himself, but it did him no use. He had to remove himself from the room he was in, in case Katya overheard him and told Alex about it. The less people there were to make fun of him, the better. It was already a lot to be fighting a war with his sister. Whenever the team ganged up against him (reminding him that they would always be Nikita's rogues first) it was just so much worse. For once, he'd like any teasing situation to be flipped.
"I had a four year old daughter who loved playing with her mother's makeup. But she never ate it," Joining in on the sibling's taunts, Michael shared a brief story about Hayley and Elizabeth. He never mentioned his family outside of quiet moments with Nikita. Except, he figured then was as good a time as any to talk about them. Maybe discussing all that he had lost would help him process his current pain. He could also bring the rest of the team into his heart, instead of holding them at arm's length. He trusted them all with his life, so he should be able to trust them with his thoughts as well- just as he trusted Nikita with his whole being.
She smiled at him brilliantly. Her fingers slipped through his short hair, their eyes connecting adoringly. Michael wasn't certain if Nikita was happy he shared something from his past, or that he made fun of her brother; it was probably a mixture of both. She was always excited whenever one of them joined in to taunt Sean. It was as though her two families were coming together in a way. Adding to that sense of joy, she returned her attention to the phone and snarked, "Take that. A preschooler's smarter than you."
"That went without saying," Michael couldn't help but quip. Whereas Nikita collapsed in laughter, Sean tried to think of a way to defend himself. Yet after the agent's vulnerability in mentioning his late daughter, the Seal didn't believe he should. He should let that comment go, focus on throwing a taunt at his sister instead. He had to step up his game in that regard. The two had yet to truly spar, causing him to think that'd be a great idea to shut her up for a while. A Seal could take on a rogue any day; it didn't matter that she was his older sister. He could take her down once and for all.
"Well she never had a sister who slammed her head against a bedframe," In the meantime, though, while they were on the phone, Sean could drag Nikita for some of the harsher things she had done to him. Michael chuckled softer that time, staring at his girlfriend like 'what the hell'. Her eyes rolled, and she roughly wiped off his facemask after cleaning her own face. Leave it to her brother to take a short story and make it more dramatic. She wasn't one to comment on that, however. Sometimes, there was no doubt the two were related.
"All I did was push you, after you stuck your damn lightsaber through Pooh Bear's eye," Despite the incident happening when they were kids, anger still filled Nikita's voice. She had come home from a tournament to catch Sean tearing at her stuffed animal's loose eye and sticking a toy in the stuffing. Of course she pushed him for it. Though, it was a hard shove into her bed. Michael didn't need the full tale to burst into laughter. He enjoyed discovering fun snippets about the Pierce's past. It was the epitome of the sense of normalcy, family, and freedom they were fighting for. At the end of their crusade, they'd have more moments like those.
"Hey, sorry to interrupt whatever this is. But, Senator Pierce wants to talk to Michael," Awkwardly, Birkhoff appeared in the bathroom doorway, handing out a burner phone to Michael. Laughter and the trip down memory lane died at the nerd's words. The agent glanced at Nikita for a second, almost as though he was asking if it was alright that he talked to her adopted mother. She nodded stiffly, and her boyfriend moved to take the call. Birkhoff shot her a thoughtful look, wanting to say something that might've been reassuring. But she only handed him a packet of facemask as a distraction. Although he regarded it strangely, he left her alone with Sean still on speaker.
Thinking of saving the rest of the facemasks for Alex and Sean kept Nikita from overanalyzing Michael's conversation with Madeline. It was probably in regards to the deal they had made about taking down Division and gaining pardons. Of anyone to talk to about that, the former head of agents was the best choice. Sean didn't jump to the same conclusions, however. He felt like he was fishing for information once again, hoping to understand what was going on, "I haven't talked to Mom in a while, so I don't know what it could be about. Have you spoken to her since getting her to help with Ms. Bennet?"
"It's probably Division stuff. You know, we still have that deal," Nikita ignored the second part of the question as she answered the first. It was obvious she hadn't talked to Madeline since then. And it was obvious she didn't want to ever talk about it with him. Maybe that was what Sean wanted to discuss. If so, she could definitely wait until they were in person. She could spend the time until then fortifying herself for the conversation. She didn't want to say anything hurtful that could upset him. She knew how much he still loved their mother.
Except Sean just wanted to not be frustrated at the rift that would grow between them when their current family situation was mentioned. He should give Nikita the benefit of the doubt, especially after the hell they just went through. But when was the dust going to finally settle for them. He attempted to do something about it then. Yet, once again, more pressing matters got in the way, "I'm… I gotta go, Alex's calling again. We'll actually talk later."
"Yeah. Yeah. That'd be great," It was a flat sentiment, but it was all Nikita could say as she hung up the phone and finished preparing for the day ahead.