Outside of the office, Nikita relaxed her facade for a moment. The sass of moments earlier drained from her face and was replaced by a look that was more reflective of the tired state her psyche was in. Ever conscious of unseen eyes - and cameras - she lowered her lashes to hide her emotions. A second later, though, she drew her shoulders back, eyes carefully adjusted to just the right level of casual disinterest as she sauntered forth with a lazy swing of slim hips.

She had hoped that Michael would be back by now but so far there had been no sign of him. After Jurgen's death Operations and Madeline had given her two weeks off. So far Michael had been out of circulation for a month. Although she didn't doubt that he needed this time to deal with the loss of Elena and Adam, Nikita wished he wouldn't do it alone. Who knew what kind of hell he was going through. To lose his son, his wife...

A sharp pang twisted in her chest.

Her eyes shifted over to a group of male operatives standing together talking off to the right. One of them glanced at her and Nikita forced her expression to soften into a polite smile.

She waited till she passed the group before allowing her mind to wander back to Michael. She had considered soliciting Birkoff's help in locating him but two things stopped her. First, Birkoff was already under suspicion for his role in helping save her life. And second, she wasn't all too sure Michael wanted to see her right now. Maybe ever... She was just another reminder of a part of his life that Michael didn't want to be reminded of right now.

The gripping pain in her chest intensified; churning mercilessly within her.

What was it Viscano had said about him? Michael can make you feel like the most important person in the world, and then the next day, 'poof'! You're history. Nikita wondered what Viscano would have to say if she knew about Michael's marriage. Would she have been surprised? Or accepted it as further proof of Michael's inability to care for anyone?

No. That's not true. Michael did care. He cared a lot. Too much, in fact. And thus he taught her another important survival lesson - - - caring brings pain.

"Hullo." Nikita greeted another operative in passing. She couldn't remember his name right off but she had served with him on a mission in North Africa. He had a charming smile and an equally deadly backspin kick. Both had been helpful in attaining closure on that particular mission. She wondered vaguely if Michael had trained him.

'God, Nikita. ENOUGH with the Michael routine!' she chided herself.

Taking a deep breath, she schooled her features into a look of relaxed blandness as she rounded the corner into the armory. As she expected, Walter was sitting at the counter working on some electronic gadget.

"Hey, Walter," she smiled. She strolled forward and perched herself on the stool opposite of him as she slid her PDA toward him.

"Hi there, Sugar" He left what he was doing and checked her list of equipment. "I didn't know you were going out tonight. Solo?"

"Yeah." She gave him one of her innocent smiles. "They just called me in on a replacement."

"The Vercors mission?"

"You familiar with it?"

"Vaguely," Walter responded. He glanced at her as he moved toward the shelf and began putting together her inventory. She appeared normal. He turned and placed the requested equipment on the tabletop in front of her, then paused - waiting.

Nikita did a quick scan before gathering everything up and placed them in the bag that Walter had placed on the table. "Thanks, Walter," she smiled again. "I'll see you later."

"Nikita wait!"

She halted, being careful to keep her eyes neutral as the old man glanced cautiously around. Walter took a step closer and raised a hand to touch her shoulder, turning her so that he could study her face closely. "Nikita, you know that if I could have told you I would have."

Her eyes flickered with just the right amount of confusion before allowing comprehension to dawn. "Oh. You mean with Michael?"

Walter watched her carefully. "Sugar, I'm sorry," he started, then stopped as Nikita leaned in and kissed him on the cheek.

"Don't worry about it, Walter," she smiled tenderly, and gave his hand a reassuring squeeze.

"You did what you had to do. I know that."

She turned then and glided from the room. Despite her words and actions, something about her disposition worried him. She seemed too . . . Walter scratched his head a moment. Too what? Calm?

"Aw, hell." Maybe he was just being too overprotective of her.

Out in the hallway Nikita breathed a sigh of relief as she headed toward egress. She didn't like shutting out Walter, but that was the way things had to be from now on. In Section all emotions were a weakness, especially love. She had witnessed first hand how Section used those emotions to its advantage and she had had enough. From now on she was going to make damn sure that they didn't have anymore ammunition to use against her.