"Hey, Sean. Look, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for what I've said and done. You were right. I was an ass," Once Sean answered his phone, Michael apologized. He had meant to apologize to his fiancée's brother for a while. But he had always found a reason not to. As he waited for Nikita to finish getting ready for their date, he had no more excuses to delay making that call. He had been awful to a lot of people the past few weeks, especially to those who had just wanted to help him. Michael had to make atonements. He had already begun to strengthen his relationship with Nikita. So then he had to start making it up to others.
"You really weren't too far off with what you said. I think both our asses needed to be kicked," Sean dismissed part of the apology. He appreciated that Michael was expressing his regret and was trying to atone for all he had done. But Sean had also said and done things he shouldn't have- namely, what he had said and done to Alex and Nikita when he left Division. He deserved to have had his ass kicked by Michael for hurting them. Yet it was forgiven and forgotten (mostly) then. They could all move on and focus on trying to brighten their future. That needed more of their efforts anyway.
"So. There's this wing place nearby that you know Nikita would never go with me to. Would you want to grab a bite to eat some time?" For some reason, Michael felt awkward as he asked. He was only trying to get closer to his fiancée's brother. He was going to be his brother once he and Nikita were finally able to marry. He actually needed to bond with Sean. The two got along fine and could consider each other friends. Yet there was just this weirdness between them from not completely trusting the other when they had first met and from some other drama during their long war. They needed to start fixing that. They needed to be a family.
"Yeah. There's a Caps game this weekend. We can go and watch," Sean wholeheartedly agreed. Once pardons were received and a wedding was finally planned, the two were going to be in each other's lives forever. They actually had to be close and bond over more than just the Navy and their kickass girlfriends. Grabbing dinner and watching a hockey game together would be a great start. The two men could hang out outside Division, and they could truly talk and get to know one another. With everything else going on, it'd be good for them to have that.
Michael quickly agreed to the plan before Nikita called to him and he hung up. Sean chuckled softly, pocketed his phone, and refocused on what he had been doing. He and Alex were parked outside Jill's house, preparing to finally have dinner with the whole family (well, almost the whole family). They had reviewed some of their cover stories and half-truths to keep Jill and Sandy from the dangerous truth. Then they were just building up the courage to go inside. Although the two were excited, they'd welcome any distractions that'd delay them having to lie so much. The phone call was the best distraction yet, "Was that Michael?"
"Yeah. Seems like his and Nikita's time off has been good for them," Answering Alex, Sean smiled. After what had occurred in Kosovo, Michael and Nikita decided to take a week off from any Division duties. They needed to talk and focus on themselves. No one disagreed with the engaged couple. Whatever made the two happy and helped them get through their rough patch was great by the team. They couldn't have any more drama between them going forward. There was enough they had to worry about; they didn't need to be stressed about each other too.
Alex sighed. There was always going to be something to worry about with Amanda and the Dirty Thirties still out there. To keep their stress from consuming them, the team needed to rely on each other. They needed comfort and support. And they needed time off. She and Sean had the night to spend relaxing time with his family. The two didn't have to talk about wars or missions or anything awful. They were just expected to have fun. But first, they had to get out of the car. Although it felt awful, lying was a part of the superspy life. It protected their loved ones. Sean and Alex could survive the night with that in mind. It'd be okay, "You ready?"
"Ты придурок," When Alex beamed at him, Sean caressed her cheek and cherished her in Russian. At least, he attempted to compliment her in her native language. As he said the words so reverently and sweetly, she glanced at him in confusion. He had the feeling that he hadn't actually said what he thought he did. He had asked his sister for the best thing to say to Alex when he took her on dates, and Nikita had been sincere as she responded. Sean didn't believe he had to doubt her. He was rethinking that then, though, "Does that not mean 'you're beautiful'?"
"Did Nikita teach you that?" Alex tried not to laugh. Sean had tried so hard to be endearing. He was picking up Russian phrases here and there, and he was attempting to find time to learn the language. But when he turned to their friends for sweet phrases to surprise her with, he was always let down. Birkhoff taught him nonsense words. Michael taught him the wrong pronunciation. And Nikita taught him phrases that made him look like a jackass. It was like the three had a bet to see who could make Sean the biggest fool, and he kept falling for it. Alex had no sympathy for him by that point. She just rolled her eyes, "You really are a dumbass."
Sean had half a mind to call Nikita, ruin her date with her fiancé, and yell at her for what she had done. But then Alex got out of the car and called for him to follow. He quickly did as he was told. Hand in hand, the couple walked up to his sister's house and knocked on the door. They were greeted immediately. Jill welcomed them with a warm hug and a bright smile, then she ushered them into the full house. Sean's and Alex's anxiety alleviated as they began to talk and joke with siblings, in-laws, and an adorable niece and nephew. There was so much warmth, cheer, and love to go around, one couldn't feel stressed for long.
They had to wait for dinner to finish cooking, so the family sat in the livingroom to chat and get to know Alex. They all took an instant liking to her, which was another huge relief to the couple. They became more comfortable as they talked, even if they had to keep telling half-truths. At some point, Sean sat on the floor to play with his niece and nephew. He was having so much fun with them, that Alex couldn't stop laughing and smiling as she watched. She had to take out her phone to take a picture. She wanted to remember that moment for a long time.
Before she put her phone away to engage in the conversation again, though, she thought of taking another picture. For that one, she framed it so Jill and Sandy were also in the photo. When it was perfectly captured, Alex sent the image to Nikita. She deserved to see a happy moment of her family. It'd be something for her to hold onto until she could make it back home. Alex knew that pictures of her own mother helped when there were times when she couldn't talk to her or go see her. They needed things to keep them connected to their families while their war tore them apart. It helped them know what they were all fighting for.
Satisfied with all the pictures she had taken, Alex really was going to put her phone away for the rest of the night. But as she looked around Jill's house, she caught sight of a photo on the wall that peaked her interest. She moved off the couch to look at it closely, and was instantly glad that she did. It was an old picture of Nikita on a camping trip when she was probably about thirteen. Her hair was a mess, her clothes were dirty, there was s'more all over her face, and she flashed the camera the goofiest expression. Alex could only laugh at the picture and mutter to herself, "Oh she's definitely getting payback."
Discreetly taking a picture of the awkward and embarrassing photo, Alex texted the image to Michael and Birkhoff. If she just taunted Nikita, she'd roll her eyes and fire back with the awkward and embarrassing teenage moments she had had at the loft (like the night her period had returned after years of stressful absence). But if Michael teased her and Birkhoff tormented her, Nikita would struggle for a way to fight back. Alex fought back her giggles; no one could wonder what she was doing. Yet as she hurriedly put her phone away, Jill appeared behind her. She startled the young agent as she said, "That's Nikita. Has Sean told you about her?"
"Yeah. A lot, actually. I know her almost too well," Alex, again, had to fight with herself to not roll her eyes and to not make a sarcastic comment. There were so many things she could've said about Nikita. She could allude to the fact that she had known Nikita longer than she had known Sean. She could say some stupid joke Nikita had once told her regarding Sean and the twins. She could talk about how she knew how much the siblings meant to each other. But Alex couldn't actually speak about the Pierces' lost sibling. She wasn't supposed to know as much as she did. Nikita was still dead to her family, and Alex couldn't resurrect her then.
"She would've loved you. She would've made fun of you, but she would've loved you," Sandy added to the conversation with a smirk that looked just like Sean's and Nikita's. Alex couldn't help but burst into laughter. She'd excuse it with a lie that Sean had once said the same thing if the twins' questioned her reaction. But she was too busy laughing to notice if they thought it was odd. They had absolutely no idea how true that statement was. Nikita teased Alex constantly, yet she still loved her like another sister. And Alex felt the same way about her.
"From what Sean has said, I feel like we would've been best friends," Alex seriously couldn't help herself that night; she was just in such a good mood. She laughed at her own joke, and shot her boyfriend a proud smirk. He had heard what she said while he was talking to Jill's husband, and he pouted. For a very brief second, Alex wondered what that was about. Then, it all clicked. She might've thought it was fun to make vague jokes about Nikita. But Sean had to constantly pretend that his other sister was dead and not a huge part of his life. It wasn't fun to lie to Jill and Sandy like that. It wasn't fun having to keep his family apart.
"He hasn't wanted to talk about her recently. Nikki or Mom," Concerned, Jill commented. Glancing at Sean as he tried to re-engage in his conversation with his brother-in-law, Alex thought she knew why he avoided talking about his mother and sister. He didn't want his family to know the dangerous truths of their deaths. That might've been easier to hide a few months ago. But with his increased anxiety, the President's threat about containment, those blue files to deal with, Amanda putting targets on Nikita's loved ones, and Heidecker's group that spooked Nikita, it was so much harder. Any slip of information could mean death.
Although Alex could help Sean with his anxiety, and maybe help him create new cover stories and lies, she had no real way of solving his problems. Sure, they both lived two different lives. Yet her spy life and heiress life didn't clash like his two lives did. It was starting to eat away at him. He couldn't keep up with the lies or the fact that he couldn't share Nikita with their sisters. Alex felt terrible for making jokes about the situation then. But soon, Sandy distracted her with her theory of why Sean was so upset, "It's probably cause he's shipping out soon. He gets all moody like Dad used to."
"Shipping out? He's going back to the Seals?" Alex nearly screeched in her shock. She hadn't known that. She had thought that since Sean was back with her in Division, he was going to stay until the fight was finally finished. He couldn't leave again. She had just gotten him. Why would he even want to go back to the Navy, anyway. Wasn't he committed to helping the team. Wasn't he committed to bringing his sister home. Wasn't he committed to his girlfriend. Why go back to his Seal unit. Wasn't everything else he had enough.
"I never left. I was just on leave," Overhearing the women's conversation, Sean clarified. Alex was still confused, but the stern 'don't ask too much about it' look he gave her cleared things up. He had been on a special assignment for Oversight. Since that had ended once he talked to the military after the attack on Division when Nikita finally killed Percy, he was assigned back to his unit. Once they deployed, so would he. He had always been a Seal. Neither Division or Oversight had changed that. Honestly, nothing could.
While Alex continued to stare at her boyfriend in shock, his family moved to the kitchen and dining room. The food was ready, and they could finally eat. Some of the joy and fun had been replaced with awkwardness, however. Jill and Sandy hadn't known that their brother's deployment was a secret kept from his girlfriend. They had assumed that since they knew, Alex would've as well. Unfortunately, for Sean at least, they were very wrong. Sandy called him out for that as she walked past him, "Way to tell her ahead of time, Boyscout."
Whereas Alex took a second to realize 'Boyscout' wasn't just a taunting nickname Nikita had for her brother- her whole family had learned to use it- Sean closed the distance between them. He had had every intention of telling Alex about his deployment. The only reason his sisters knew first was because he needed them to understand that a family dinner had to happen sooner rather than later. Sean was going to tell his girlfriend when he was leaving and where he was going when they had a moment of peace. He didn't want to upset her or stress her out. It was going to be okay. He wasn't leaving her forever, after all, "I'll tell you more about it later."
"Let's just enjoy dinner," Alex took Sean's hand and smiled. The two would have a long talk about his deployment and what that meant for them and the team later. Preferably, they'd talk completely openly in private. But until then, they shouldn't ruin their night with his family. They should keep having fun with the people who loved him and were beginning to love her. They deserved a night of peace and joy, especially since he would be leaving her again soon. Though, he was coming back. He'd promise that to her over and over again. Sean wouldn't leave Alex or his family long. He wanted all that love in his life.