Michael sat in his office and thought about Nikita. He couldn't believe what had just happened. She was just suppose to go in and get a disk and come right back out, but it didn't happen that way.

ON THE LAST MISSION

"Nikita, Where is your location?" Michael asked over the com link.

"I just entered the front door. Where do I go from here?" She waited for instructions.

Birkoff just sat there looking at the screen. "Michael. We have men coming up on both sides of the building. Get Nikita out of there now. This is a trap."

"Nikita come in. It's an ambush."

"Michael. There is something wrong with my com link I cannot hear you." Nikita said back.

Michael just turned around looked at Birkoff for a minute and then jumped out of the side door of the van. He didn't need to say anything. He knew that Michael was going after Nikita.

Right as he got closer he noticed that it was about five men on different sides of the building. All at once they lit some fire bombs and threw it at the building. Michael had shot and killed all of the men within seconds, but the house was already engulfed. He went into it anyway. He had to get Nikita.

"Nikita, Where are you? Talk to me."

He ran into room that she was last seen in. He saw her in the corner, she was trapped. When she saw him she tried to get to him and a piece of wood fell from the ceiling. This hit her right in the back and knocked her unconscious. The wood that was on her back was burning and had caught her clothes on fire.

Michael pushed through the flames and when he got to her, her entire back was on fire. Michael jumped over her and tried to extinguish the flames with his body. Nikita came to at this time and was in shock. He got it out and picked her up. She began screaming when he touched her back. Michael had no other way to hold her. Once he was out of the house he ran to the van. He carried her in and sat her down. All that was in the back of the van was Nikita, Michael and Birkoff. Michael began to take off Nikita's shirt. He stripped her down from the waist up. The burns were awful. They rushed back to Section.

Michael carried her into Section. He had put his jacket over her chest so that he could carry her in. He put her down on the gurney. As they began to wheel her away she screamed for them to stop. They did and Michael ran up to see what was wrong. She held out her hands to Michael.

"Michael, please don't leave me." Her eyes were filled with tears. Michael didn't let go of her hand and went with her into Medlab. The doctors tried to move him and Nikita would not let go, so the doctor grabbed her hand to move it away from Michael and when he touched her she screamed. Michael grabbed his hand and nearly broke it till he let go of her.

"Don't hurt her again! If you do, you die!"

As they moved Nikita around, she would scream. It hurt her so bad. They were third degree burns. Michael could not look at the burns. He looked directly into her face and talked to her, trying to soothe her, wishing that he could take the pain away from her.

Michael felt like his heart was being pulled out of his chest as he heard her cry to him, saying the same thing.

"Michael, please cancel me. Please. I can't take this pain. It hurts too badly." She cried once again and then she passed out.

Michael did not leave her side. He sat with her every time that they would have to change the dressings on her back. She would usually scream the entire time and would just hold onto Michael's hand as this was being done. He refused to leave her while she was awake. He did certain errands while she was asleep.

Michael sat in his office when Madeline came over the loud speaker. "Michael, I want to talk to you in my office." Michael went directly there.

"Michael, There is something that we need to talk about. Operations just talked to the doctor about Nikita's condition. He said that it was not going to improve and Operations has her under consideration of being canceled. You will be going on a mission in a couple of hours and when you get back we will decide."

"Is there someone else that could take my place on this particular mission?" When Madeline shook her head Michael nodded and walked out.

Right before he left for the mission he went to Birkoff and explained to him what they were talking about.

"I have a P D A and if they try anything I want you to get in touch with me. I do not trust them. Call me immediately." With that said he turned and left.

Birkoff went and saw Nikita that day as and Walter did everyday.

"Nikita, Michael and Walter went on a mission. Operations would not let them wait so that they could tell you good-bye. So they asked me to." Nikita just nodded.

"That is OK. I understand. I know they would have stayed if they could have."

A couple of days later Birkoff was walking past Madeline's office and he heard her and Operations talking.

"I thought that you said that you were going to wait until Michael gets back and then you were going to decide." Madeline said.

"Are you kidding? Of course I am going to cancel her. I did not even want Michael on such an easy mission, but it was the only way that I could get him out to get the job done."

Birkoff could not believe what he was hearing. He ran back to his desk. He sent Michael a message as soon as he got there.

"Michael, you need to come back now. Nikita is to be canceled tonight. Get back now." The answer was almost immediate.

"Get her out of Section NOW!!"

At this point Birkoff tried to think of how he could do it. He did not have to think if he should or not. Because he would even if he would get canceled for it, Nikita meant too much to him. He pushed a few buttons and all the cameras in Section went off. Birkoff went in and started to wheel her out of a side door. She had been given a lot of pain killers and was barely conscious. Birkoff got her to his car and they left.

He took her to a place that Michael showed him a while back that the Section would never find. He brought her inside and then he had to leave to get back before anyone was suspicious. He showed up about the same time that Madeline and Operations did. They had been at lunch and no one knew that he was even gone. Madeline was the one that went to see Nikita. All of a sudden she came into the main section and looked around and then walked up to Operations office.

Birkoff watched as Madeline told Operations that Nikita was gone. He had never seen him so mad, but at this point Birkoff did not even care. He just sat back and waited for Michael. About an hour later Birkoff's computer started to beep. "Is Nikita safe?"

Birkoff answered at once. "Yes. Plan Alpha is in progress."

Michael replied with a few simple words. "I owe you one."

Michael did not even go back to Section. They now knew that he was missing and that so was Nikita. He knew that if they went back that they would both be canceled. As he pulled up in front of the house he heard Nikita crying. He hurried into the house and saw her that she was laying on the bed. She had taken off the shirt that Medlab had put on her, and was nude from the waist up. She was in a lot of pain.

Michael went and got some pain killers that he had swiped from Section before he left. He knew that this was coming. He came back in with a syringe and gave Nikita the shot. She began to feel a little better as her back began to numb. She lay there and talked to Michael.

"I know that they were going to cancel me. I heard them while they thought I was asleep. They said that with the burn scars I would no longer be wanted and that is what most of my job was, seducing men. I can't even begin to think what I must look like." She cried.

"I think that you are beautiful." Michael said as he leaned over and began to stroke her hair. Nikita stopped crying and looked at him and smiled.

"You always were the charmer. What is going to happen now? I mean we cannot go back to Section. We will be canceled."

Michael looked at her for a few minutes. "Don't worry about that now. I will take care of that. I will take care of you."

He got up and walked over to the window and pulled the curtain shut. "Now get some rest."

Nikita was asleep within minutes due to the painkiller. While she was asleep Michael got in touch with Walter and Birkoff. They were on a secured channel.

"Walter, I need some medical supplies. Nikita is bad off. I need some salve for her back and some more dressings."

Walter had to go all over the place to lose the man tailing him. He got so upset when he saw her back. He brought enough supplies to last a month. He did not know how long that they would be there. Michael was staying right by Nikita's side. As Walter was leaving he went over and gave Nikita a small kiss on her cheek.

"I will see you soon Sugar."

After a few days Nikita was starting to feel a little bit better except for when Michael had to change the bandages.

The weeks soon turned into months. Nikita's back was healing up well. The burns no longer needed bandages. She was turning into her old self again.

"You know that Section is going to find us sooner or later. Why did you do this Michael? I mean now you will get canceled too if they find us. Why did you risk it? Why give up your life for me?" Nikita needed to know.

"Because without you I have no life, no feelings, no heart and no soul, so what would be a reason I would stay there? I will never let anyone hurt you again. I love you. I always have, I just think that it took this to finally make me realize it."

Nikita patted the bed beside her and Michael crawled up next to her and she put her head on his chest.

"I love you Michael. I want to stay with you. I never want to leave your side again."

Nikita woke up screaming in the middle of the night. She was screaming something about the fire. She looked at Michael as she came out of her nightmare.

"What happened that I do not know about?"

Nikita looked at him for a minute. "It was all planned. The men that set the house on fire were from Abeyance. I noticed it before they threw in the bombs. I believe that it was Operations that did it." Nikita finished and looked at Michael. Michael was fuming. Nikita told him to calm down but he was already too far gone. He jumped up, got in the car and left.

"My God, What have I done? I never should have told him." She cried to herself.

Walter couldn't believe it when he saw Michael walk into Section. Michael walked right past him and then walked into Operations office.

"She's dead, you bastard!" Then he lifted the gun and shot him in the heart.

Then he came face to face with Madeline. He turned and started to walk away. As he did some operatives came up and began to shoot at Michael. Michael brought two of them down but was not fast enough to get them all. About that time bullets starting going into Michael's body and he hit the floor. He began to whisper Nikita's name as he closed his eyes for the final time. "Forgive me, my love."

Nikita woke up in a cold sweat. Michael reached over and put his arm around her. "Go back to sleep, baby. It's OK."

Nikita looked around and saw that she was in the bed with Michael. It had all just been a dream. They were at the house. She decided then and there that she would never tell Michael that it had all been a setup to have her canceled. She wouldn't risk losing Michael.

The next day Michael sat there thinking to him self. "I wonder if Nikita will ever realize that Section now believes that we are dead. Thanks to a little help from Walter and a couple of other operatives. We took care of Operations in the process. I wonder if she will know that it was not a dream. I guess I will never know."

The End