Set pre-series and post-series, how Birkhoff chose the name Shadowwalker and Seymour. It could be a slight AU, but we don't know enough about the characters' past to say otherwise.

"You know. Someone's gonna notice you're not where you're supposed to be," Lionel startled at the sound of a girl's voice behind him. He should've been carefully watching his surroundings. He wasn't hacking in the safety of his bedroom anymore. He had to use free Wi-Fi at cafés until he found a place to settle. Until then, anyone could catch him with an illegal hack.

Fortunately, the preteen girl that had snuck up on him wasn't a real threat. She was small for her age, and for her clothes; the stuffed backpack she had on practically dwarfed her. The most harmful thing about her had to have been her smug grin and knowing brown eyes. She knew what Lionel was doing. At least, she knew a part of it. She wasn't studying his computer; she just studied him judgingly. The girl knew he had run away from home, "How did you…"

"You're way too suspicious," Rolling her eyes, the girl scoffed. Maybe she was right. Lionel had faked his death and established a new identity months ago, yet he continued to keep himself guarded and a bit too panicked. Of course she pegged him as a runaway. Though, he started to suspect that it took one to know one, "I can give you some tips. But it'll cost ya."

"Yeah, no. I'm good. Why don't you go back to your mommy?" Lionel tried to shoo her away. He wouldn't be running from town to town for long. Once he established himself as a hacker, he'd settle down in a nice big place and never have to worry about anything.

"Wow. You really are stupid," Collapsing in the chair across from him, the girl's snark never faded. Lionel wanted to kick at her to make her leave him alone, but then he noticed the many faded bruises along her tan cheeks and neck. His thoughts escaped him for just a moment.

She remained completely unfazed. Her backpack fell off her shoulders and she crossed her arms. It was as if the girl was daring Lionel to contradict her. He wound up taking the bait, turning his laptop to face her, "If I was stupid, would I be doing this?"

"What is that? A broken computer?" Confusion marred the girl's features. She tried to reach for the laptop, but Lionel pulled it away sharply.

"No. I'm hacking. You know, exploring the darkside of the internet," He wasn't certain why he bragged, but it seemed right. He had been doing amazing things lately, and all while sitting and typing. Soon, Lionel was going to make a huge name for himself; he just knew it. All he had to do until then was stay careful, and solve some of the problems he hadn't thought about.

Maybe the girl was right to offer him help. Running away was a lot more difficult than Lionel had first believed. He was constantly on his toes. But with her tips, he could possibly relax. All he had to do was pay for whatever she wanted, "If you buy me food, I'll teach you how to actually survive on the street and not get your ass kicked."

"Fine," That was simple enough. Lionel let the girl order whatever she wanted from the menu, which turned out to be a lot. He had made enough money from his latest hacking con, so it was alright. Also, in return, she happily gave him advice that was actually pretty solid.

Eventually, the conversation dissolved into the two teenagers joking and laughing. They were exceptional at poking fun at one another. However, in doing so, Lionel took his eyes off of his current hack. It wasn't as fun as talking to the girl, but he still should've paid attention. Cops walked into the café, clearly looking at anyone with a laptop. He was screwed. Anxiety gripped him tightly, "Shit. I didn't watch out for the firewall. The cops are here for me."

"It's okay. Just keep walking through the shadows of the internet or whatever dorky thing you said," Suddenly grave, the girl took off. Lionel didn't have the chance to tell her not to be a distraction. He'd hide the evidence and leave. But she already said she was a runaway. The cops didn't deem her important until she revealed bruises on her ribs and cried. She claimed it was from the streets, but Lionel knew the truth. She lied for him. Again, his thoughts escaped him.


"Yo, Lionel. You still owe me an explanation," Nikita kicked at Birkhoff's legs under the table. They had all gathered for some sort of family dinner once they settled into their new lives. Things continued to be a bit hectic, but when wasn't it for the team of former rogues. At least they had bright futures ahead of them that time.

"It's not that big of a deal," Attempting to dismiss her, Birkhoff shrugged. He knew Nikita was referring to why we went from Lionel to Seymour, yet he didn't want to get into it. Their dinner had been going so well. They didn't need to ruin it by bringing up the past.

"What's not a big deal?" With Sonya wondering what was occurring, however, Birkhoff knew he couldn't ignore it for long. She could always get him to cave one way or another.

"Why I chose the name Seymour Birkhoff," Sighing, Birkhoff admitted. The table instantly became far more interested in his story than the food and drinks on the table. Ever since the team discovered he had run away from home as a teenager, his past had become frequent discussion. He knew a lot about their lives, after all, so why couldn't they know about him.

The fact that Birkhoff had reunited with his estranged family recently added weight to any story from his past. The team wanted to wade through it all. And of course, make jokes like Alex expressed, "Wait. You chose something dorky after having the name Lionel? Weren't you bullied enough?"

"Nice," While the two giggled, Nikita high-fived her best friend.

Birkhoff rolled his eyes. He had expected ribbing from his friends. But he had his reasons for what he did. He didn't act without thinking like the others did, "You do know the most common way to get a fake identity, right?"

"Yeah. You steal the identity of someone born the same year as you, but has died," Michael replied. He had guessed that was what Birkhoff did to secure a new identity. Though, he probably added some hacker flare to it to be able to trick the government.

"Right. I was searching for a new identity, and I landed on Seymour because of that movie," Continuing, Birkhoff admitted that his name was ultimately decided by an old movie.

"Little Shop of Horrors," Sonya beamed. She had always thought about that movie whenever she heard his name. Apparently, that idea wasn't far off from reality.

"Spot on," Birkhoff shared his girlfriend's grin.

Nikita coughed in order to stop the nerds from lovingly gazing into one another's eyes. She had just eaten; she didn't want to throw up. Besides, Birkhoff had claimed his name change was more than just a simple explanation. She was a tad disappointed, "You said it was a long story, Nerd. That was just lame."

"Yeah. Now I know you're an even bigger nerd than I thought," Alex added. She and Nikita giggled once more. Michael soon chuckled along with them. Though, they couldn't say much about it. When hadn't the rest of the team made decisions based off of movies.

"I like Seymour," Ignoring the others, Sonya assured Birkhoff. There was a reason she called him by his first name, other than the fact that they were intimate. She liked the way it sounded. And, strangely enough, it really did suit him.

"Thank you," Birkhoff didn't try to make his gratitude a dig at his friends. He was sincere, smiling brightly and moving his chair closer to Sonya. She returned his adoring gaze.

As they kissed, Alex and Nikita scrunched up their noses in disgust, "Gross."

"Alright, we get it. You were resourceful when you faked your death," Somewhat chiding Birkhoff, Michael got Alex and Nikita to stop groaning. They could discuss other topics as they finished their dinner. Namely, the codename Birkhoff chose for himself, "What I want to know is where Shadowwalker came from. Cause that is the most pretentious name I've ever heard."

"Hey. Don't diss Shadowwalker," Instantly, Birkhoff defended his hacker codename. Sure that wasn't his name when he had first started hacking- it had evolved when he began to make his more notorious and criminally genius hacks. However, that didn't mean he wasn't defensive over it. The name was special to him.

"Yeah. Diss Shadownet and Shadowbot instead," Nikita smirked. Birkhoff attempted to kick her under the table, but she pulled her legs away just in time. He accidentally struck Alex instead, causing her to glare and mutter a curse in Russian.

"I already did," Flashing a crooked grin, Michael admitted. It was when he and the nerd were still Division, but he used to constantly make fun of those names. Birkhoff rolled his eyes.

"I knew we were soulmates," Nudging her husband, Nikita shot him a proud smile. It made Birkhoff groan, yet that was sort of the purpose. Well that, and Michael smiling in return.

It was the married couple's turn to kiss at the dinner table. Sonya didn't mind it, yet Alex and Birkhoff complained annoyingly. He successfully nudged them with his foot as she taunted, "What is up with the gross PDA tonight? It's as disturbing as Birkhoff nicknaming himself."

"Whatever. The point is Shadowwalker is a good codename, and you should drop it," Birkhoff was becoming tired of defending himself. Shouldn't they just move on already.

"Why are you so defensive over it? We're just messing around," With an arm still wrapped around Nikita, Michael wondered. Usually Birkhoff could fire back with his own quips and taunts. They must've truly upset him somehow.

"Did one of your hacker friends give it to you?" Sonya guessed. Her boyfriend was close to the hackers he used to run with. They were essentially his family before he joined the team. Maybe one of them called him Shadowwalker and that was why he cared for it so much.

Instead of answering right away, Birkhoff shook his head. He seriously didn't want to talk about it. He wasn't quite sure why- he could trust his friends with anything. Yet a part of him thought not telling the story would somehow protect the other person involved. He wasn't able to protect her the first time around. That time could be his chance, "No. Just forget about it."

"You know who you're talking to," Nikita indicated the former spies around the room. If there was one thing they hated, it was a lack of answers. They always discovered the truth.

"Look. It was in my early runaway days. I ran into this girl. She helped me out. And when she left she gave me the idea," Shortly, Birkhoff explained. He thought it would appease the others. But, unfortunately, they always wanted more.

"A girl, huh? Was she a special girl?" With a shiteating grin, Alex immediately teased.

"Yeah, Seymour. Was she special?" Sonya chimed in, lightly pushing Birkhoff.

"No. She was like barely thirteen when I was sixteen. She just gave me some pointers on how to be a runaway and live off the streets," Shaking his head at that ridiculous assumption, Birkhoff expanded. It still wasn't enough to satisfy his friends, however, so he continued, "She also took the heat off of me when the cops showed up once my hack got out of hand. Before she ran off, she made some joke about 'walking through the shadows' and it stuck with me."

Whereas Sonya, Alex, and Michael nodded in understanding, Nikita froze. She gaped at Birkhoff, shocked. Her mind attempted to adjust to what she heard. She was relatively ignored, though. The rest of the team continued to want more stories of the nerd's past. Alex, for one, wanted to know how exactly the girl made fun of him, "Okay. I need the context for that joke."

"She was making fun of how I described hacking," Shrugging, Birkhoff couldn't help but smile at the memory. That girl's sarcastic comments were something. He was still impressed.

"That sounds about right," Michael had been around Shadowwalker long enough to understand the need to make fun of him, especially in regards to how he described his process. Naming himself after a joke that he could walk through shadows was a great way to brag about his prowess. There were times where he was absolutely untouchable from behind a keyboard.

"Do you know what happened to the girl?" Although she doubted it, Sonya wondered. He never got her name, or anything else about her, yet that hadn't stopped him before. He was great at finding the impossible. Birkhoff could've kept track of the girl who had helped him so much.

"No. I wish I did though. She had some wicked bruising. And I think she was afraid to go back home, despite what she told the cops," Solemnly, Birkhoff replied. Decades had passed, yet he felt a small amount of guilt for what had happened. He should've checked in on her at least.

"If she really was a runaway, she did you a huge favor. She must've liked you," Alex nodded. A lot of the runaways she encountered were terrified of the places they had come from; they'd do anything to never go back. The girl's choice to sacrifice herself was monumental.

Understanding that, Birkhoff nodded as well. However, there was no point in dwelling on the negative aspects. They didn't know exactly what happened to the girl. She could've been perfectly happy at the moment. The team should think about more positive things, like how easy it was for the girl to like him, "I did buy her a lot of food so…"

"Where was this?" Finally, Nikita found her voice. Curious eyes cast her way, wondering what her outburst could've been about. But she ignored them, intently focused on Birkhoff.

"I ran all over the states at first. But I think this was in Detroit," Birkhoff wasn't quite sure of his answer. Where he was his first couple months with his new identity was a blur. He could only guess which cities he had stopped in before he found a place to permanently settle.

"Weren't you a runaway in Detroit?" Cautiously, Michael turned towards his wife. Sonya and Alex stared at her wide-eyed, and it was Birkhoff's turn to gape in shock.

There was no possible way the two had met each other as runaway teens. But sure enough, Nikita had the same knowing brown eyes and self-assured smirk Birkhoff remembered the girl having. And of course, she had the same sacrificial nature, "Oh, don't tell me…"

"I made fun of you and you turned it into a moniker?" Nikita couldn't believe it. Actually, on second thought, she could. Yet it still was outrageously insane, even for them.

"You went back to foster care for me?" That was the part of the story Birkhoff could never forget. The girl he had run into at the café sacrificed her freedom as a runaway, so he wouldn't be arrested for his mistake. She returned to what he knew was an abusive situation, so he didn't lose his chance at a life. He had never met anyone who was that willing to risk their heart for another's, until he met Nikita. But, apparently, they were the same goddamn person.

"Yeah," Darkness settled over Nikita's features; she was lost in the memory of her first runaway attempt at thirteen. Michael placed a comforting hand on the small of her back. He knew what Gary had done to her once she returned home. What she did for Birkhoff wasn't a small sacrifice. But before he could change the subject, she shook her head. A smirk slowly grew on her lips once more, "That means I've saved your life ten times now, Nerd."

"Ten! No way, Nikki," Instantly catching onto what Nikita was doing, Birkhoff scoffed. He could play along with her diversion. Besides, the number she stated was completely off.

"You're right. It's gotta be at least fifteen," Michael jabbed, quickly tagging along. That was always the best way to move past their terrible memories- jokes at each other's expense.

"And twice from the cops," Alex gleefully jumped in. Quips and taunts continued to flow from the family of former rogues throughout the rest of their dinner and night. It was the type of crazy fun they were used to. And it was what they expected of their insane futures together.

P.S. Go check out my other one shot collections Homequarters, and the M rated one shots in Only Place We've Ever Had Any Fun.