So, I am taking this story off of it's hiatus for now, but it might go back on hiatus if things get hectic again. Hopefully you guys are still interested in reading it!

Toll awoke in the middle of the night to screams. He lunged blindly for the gun on his nightstand and fell out of his bed with a thud. He untangled the sheet from his foot and burst out of the bedroom, swinging his gun around looking for the person who was making the woman scream. Then it hit him. He had Nikita, and she was screaming. He flicked on the light, seeing that there was no one there making her scream. She was still asleep and having a full on nightmare, just as he predicted would happen. Toll almost wished there was a bad guy standing in his small living room. That he could handle. A nightmare was a whole different department. He set his gun down on the kitchen counter and went over to wake her up.

"Hey," he said, shaking her. "Nikita. Honey, wake up."

She gave one more blood curdling scream before sitting up boltright, eyes wide.

"Help me!" she cried, seeing him. "Help me!"

"Hey," he said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, I'm right here. You're not in danger. You hear me?"

Nikita looked at him finally, her eyes wet with tears and her bottom lip trembling.

"Where am I?" she asked in a whisper.

"You're at my apartment. I brought you here from your home because you were in danger. You...you live here now," he finished awkwardly. Nikita looked at him solemnly until the dream began to fade from her mind. They were terrifying images.

"Do you want some water or something?" Toll asked. He really was hopeless with children.

"No," she shook her head.

"Is there anything I can do or say that will make you feel better?"

"I don't think so."

Toll felt like a horrible person then. What guy couldn't make a child feel better?

"Okay."

Nikita curled back up on the mattress and buried her head under the blankets. Toll hesitated for a moment before going back to his own bed, but he couldn't fall back to sleep. Her screams kept echoing in his ears.

Barney's Hangar

"That bad, huh?" Barney asked when Toll finished telling him what happened. Gunner was entertaining Nikita, to the surprise of everyone. He seemed taken with her. She laughed out loud when he finished telling her a joke. Barney hoped it was a clean joke.

"I have never felt so useless and helpless in my life," Toll sighed, rubbing his head. "I don't know what I'm doing."

"We all knew that," Barney pointed out. His cigar was hanging from his lips as he grunted and twisted at the part on his plane he was trying to work on.

"Thanks for the confidence boost," Toll said sarcastically.

"What did I miss?" Lee asked, appearing then with his helmet in his hand.

"Not much," Barney answered. Caesar was off with his family, so he wasn't there. The rest didn't know what to do with themselves after a mission sometimes, so they hung out together.

"How was she last night?" Lee asked Toll. He explained what happened.

"You should get her to talk to someone," Lee suggested when he was done. "Like, I dunno, your therapist?"

"Right," Toll nodded. He felt incredibly stupid then. "I'll call her."

"It's okay that you don't know what you're doing," Barney spoke up again. "No parent does. It's not like a manual comes out behind the kid to tell them what to do."

"Yea, but they're at least their biological kids," Toll argued. "I'm not related to her."

"No shit, but how do you think adoption and fostering works?" Barney snorted.

"Ah."

"Are you going to adopt her?" Lee asked, curious.

"I don't know. I brought her here with no papers or anything. I have no idea how that is going to work."

"I know a guy," Barney said.

"So, what? We have this guy say I'm her uncle or something?" Toll questioned.

"He can get her some papers. The rest is up to you."

"Great," Toll muttered.

"We could just take her back," Lee offered. His tone was sarcastic, though.

"She'd die there," Toll said softly, missing the sarcasm.

"I know that, idiot," Lee said, nudging him. "I'm just trying to make you realize you did the right thing, saving her." He'd been thinking about it all night, and he came to the conclusion that he would have done the same thing too if it had been him.

"Oh."

"You better take her shopping for some new clothes," Barney said. "Make her feel at home. And clean up that apartment of yours; it's nasty."

"I'm on it," Toll sighed. This was going to be a lot of work.

Later-Nikita

Nikita knew Toll was out of his element, but she had to give him credit for trying. He looked so out of place in the children's clothing section of the store, and she felt out of her element from what there was to choose from.

"Overalls?" he asked, poking at them. She shook her head.

"Me either," he agreed.

"Do you need some help?" a woman asked. Nikita could see how relieved Toll was.

"Actually, yea," he answered, nodding vigorously. "I'm...I'm not so great at this."

"It's all right," she smiled. "I'm Amy."

"Chuck," Toll said back. Nikita tilted her head at him. That was not what the other men had called him. Toll shook his head at her slightly, seeing her giving him a look.

"So what are we looking for?" Amy asked.

"Nikita?" Toll prompted.

"Oohh, I love that name," Amy gushed.

"It does the job," Nikita answered. She wasn't so fond of this woman really. She seemed too excited to help. It made Nikita wary.

"She's adorable," Amy said to Toll.

"'She' is right here," Nikita commented. Toll coughed to hide his laugh. Amy's brightness dimmed a little.

"I'm sorry," she said. "Let's look at some things, okay?"

"Okay."

As they followed Amy, Toll bent down near Nikita's ear so Amy wouldn't hear.

"I think I'm gonna really enjoy having you around, kid," he said. She smiled. She couldn't help it.

...

"Okay," Toll said once they were free of Amy and back in his car. "That wasn't too terrible, was it?"

"I suppose not," Nikita answered.

"I just have to make a stop at the library, if that's all right."

"Okay."

They drove along in silence. She saw Toll looking at her in the rearview mirror a couple of times.

"You doing okay?" he asked after a while. She shrugged.

"I guess."

"You don't have to pretend with me," Toll said gently. She breathed in deep and exhaled slowly. She had a feeling she could trust Toll, but she wanted to make sure he was going to be honest with her first.

"Is your real name Chuck?"

"It's actually Chestley," he answered. "But I always went by Chuck. Toll is what the guys call me. If you don't mind not telling them, that would be great. I get enough harassment as it is." He looked at her again in the mirror.

"I won't tell," she promised.

"So, your turn. How are you really?" he asked. She was impressed that he figured out what she was up to with the name question, that she was testing him.

"I'm scared," she confessed. "I miss my mom and dad. I don't know what is going to happen to me."

"Well, I know what it's like to miss someone, so I can relate to how much that hurts," Toll said honestly. "As for what's going to happen to you, well, if you're okay staying with me, then you can stay with me for as long as you want."

"Will they find me?" she asked. This was the burning question actually. That was what her nightmare was about last night. She had dreamt they had found her and were going to kill her.

"I don't know how they could," Toll answered. "They don't know who we were."

"Could they find out?"

He hesitated, not really knowing the answer to that question.

"I'm 90 percent sure they can't find us."

"And the other 10 percent?"

"Well, I'll be damn good and ready if they do."

This answer seemed to satisfy Nikita for some reason. Then again, she had seen him kill the bad men back home after they had shot her mother. He was good at what he did. She felt safe with him.

Barney & Gunner

Barney sauntered over to where Gunner was sitting and whittling. His curiosity was peaked.

"You whittle? Since when?" Barney asked, hovering over his shoulder.

"Since now," Gunner answered.

"Huh."

"It passes the time."

"Right."

"What are you doing?" Gunner asked, turning his head to look at Barney.

"I couldn't help but notice earlier that you were having a good time with Nikita," Barney said. "I didn't expect that from you, if I'm honest."

Gunner was quiet for a moment.

"Well," he said after. "I find she reminds me of someone."

"Who's that?"

"This girl who lived down from me," Gunner answered. He set down his knife and piece of wood.

"I have a bad feeling about this story," Barney said.

"You're right," Gunner nodded. "I knew something was wrong with her father. I just knew it. I should've done something about it."

"What happened, Gunner?"

"He did a murder-suicide," Gunner replied, running a hand through his hair roughly. "I'll never forget the sight of that apartment. I was about two minutes too late. She died in my arms."

"Shit," Barney said, feeling bad. Gunner did his best to block out the images from his mind. They haunted him sometimes still.

"I was angry that the son of a bitch was dead before I could make him pay for what he did to that girl and his wife."

"I'm sorry, Gunner."

"Can't change the past," Gunner said, standing up then. "Gotta keep walking ahead."

"You all right?"

"I'm fine. I'm just gonna go out for a bit."

"Okay," Barney said warily. So far Gunner was still clean, that he knew of. It worried him sometimes to think that Gunner could relapse, but he had faith that Gunner was strong enough now to avoid the temptation.

Toll Road

"Thanks," Toll smiled as the lady scanned the books he was taking out of the library. Nikita was looking around at all the books. She had declined when Toll offered to get some for her too. He was already thinking about what to do about school for her. How would that even work? He wasn't her legal guardian on paper.

"Hey, Chuck," the librarian said, coming out of her office.

"Hey, Emma," he grinned.

"Parenting books?" she asked, curious. He blushed.

"Oh, just doing some light reading," he dismissed. "I have my...niece here for a while. I'm out of the loop on what to do with kids."

"You're always so prepared," Emma noted. It was true. She always seemed to be there when he was leaving to see what books he was taking out.

"I try," he smiled.

"Have a nice day," she said as he collected his books.

"She likes you," Nikita said as they walked outside. Toll had to collect himself quickly from the surprise.

"What?"

"She likes you," Nikita repeated. "Didn't you see the way she looked at you?"

"Um, no?"

"She took an interest in what you're reading," she went on. "She made a compliment. She flicked her hair. She likes you."

"I don't think so," Toll shook his head. Emma was not interested in him. There was no way.

"I think you're in denial."

"How are you so smart in this anyway?"

"I'm eight, I'm not stupid."

"I didn't mean that..."

"I know," she cut him off. She waited a moment before continuing. "I watched my parents interact with each other. They did this thing sometimes where they flirted with each other like they had just met one another. Emma is showing some interest in you based on what I have seen and know, but you're right, I am only eight, so I could be wrong."

"You're a very advanced eight year old," Toll said, looking at her.

"Are we done yet?" Nikita asked, changing the subject.

"Yea."

She just nodded back. She was tired, but a part of her was afraid to sleep. She didn't want anymore nightmares.

"I'm going to call this woman that I talk to and see if she can talk to you too," Toll said as they drove home. "She listens to stories you tell her about your life and helps you feel better. Do you think that might help with missing your parents?"

"I'll think about it," Nikita answered.

"Okay. That's all I ask."

She looked out the window as the landscape passed. Her new life was still unknown, and she wished that it didn't scare her so much.

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