What Birkhoff found didn't make sense. At least, he didn't want it to make sense. While hunting for the mole, he had discovered that the encrypted messages were sent on revolving servers and on a time delay. He still wasn't able to decrypt the messages. But from what he had, he was able to narrow the origins of the messages down to a specific terminal. Sonya's terminal. He had thought it was a mistake. He believed he had done something wrong. Except, he had done everything right. Sonya really was the mole.
He didn't want to believe it. He refused to accept the facts. But once the shock faded away, Birkhoff grew livid. How could she work with Amanda. How could she try to hurt everyone. And how could she work with him to find the mole. Birkhoff couldn't make the pieces all connect. None of the hurt and betrayal made sense. He was going to explode. Yet before he did that, he needed to find Sonya. He needed to understand. Preferably before she told Amanda anything else, especially while she hid in the server room, "We need to talk."
"I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I didn't want to, but… but…" Instantly, Sonya burst into tears. She knew Birkhoff would figure it out eventually; she had hoped he would follow the trail back to her. Yet once her terrible secret was finally out in the open, she couldn't bring herself to admit it. She was still so frightened about what might occur. She wasn't safe. Nowhere was safe. But she had to try to keep fighting. After all, there was a reason why she had helped Birkhoff track her down, "One night when I was going home, Ann kidnapped me and brought me to Amanda. She turned on my killchip. She said I had to spy for her, or she'll kill me. I'm so sorry."
Birkhoff reached out to hold Sonya. A part of him remained furious about her treachery. However, it was quickly beginning to fade. How could he fault her for trying to save herself. She was scared and hopeless; Amanda could make her do anything. After almost giving up Nikita under the Inquisitor's torture, Birkhoff could completely understand that. Moments like that, though, were when it was important to rely on others. None of them were alone. There were 300 agents that could help. If Amanda was going after one of them, then the rest would stand up and fight, "Why didn't you tell any of us? We could've helped."
"No. No. There's a second mole, someone watching me to make sure I stay in line. The second I talk, they'll know. Amanda will know," Shaking her head vehemently, Sonya negated. Everything he was about to suggest, she had already tried. She had been trapped in that hell with no way out, until Birkhoff began to search for the mole. She felt terrible for what she had done to the team- to the friends she thought she would've made. Except, what choice did she have. If she didn't give the scant information that she had, she would've been killed. And someone else would've relayed far worse.
"It's okay. It's alright. I got you. I won't let anything happen to you. We'll figure this out together. I promise," Birkhoff squeezed Sonya tightly. She embraced him as tightly as she could, her body trembling. They both knew it wasn't alright. Her activated killchip was far from okay. However, the two had to have some hope that things weren't a complete death sentence. There had to be some solution they could find. Maybe if they found the other mole, they, Amanda, and the killchip would no longer be a threat. It really could be okay. Birkhoff and Sonya simply had to keep talking. They also had to involve the others.
Whereas Michael woke to the alarm, Nikita remained in bed. She curled tightly on her side and groaned at any noise or movement that disturbed her. He left her alone. She could head to Division late, or not at all. Whatever eased her morning sickness was perfectly fine by him. She could just lay in bed while he got ready for work. When Michael returned to the bedroom to kiss his wife 'goodbye', however, she was gone. It took him a second to realize she had sluggishly made her way to the bathroom. Nikita tried to move around on her own, yet her cramps made it difficult. Her husband had to help her back into bed, "You still don't feel good?"
Wordlessly, Nikita reached for her burner cell. She had been uncomfortable during some parts of her pregnancy, and completely fine during others; she had also been sick every so often. But the pain rippling through her body wasn't normal. It had come and gone, yet as of that moment it was constant. She couldn't ignore the problem. She had to go to the doctor and discover what was wrong. Reaching out for Michael to curl into bed with her, Nikita dialed the number and cautiously said, "Hi, this is Nicole Prior. I'm calling to set up an appointment. Today if possible. Morning sickness is okay, it's just that I'm… um… I'm bleeding."
Despite his suit and shoes, Michael had climbed onto the mattress next to his wife and held her. He wasn't alarmed by anything she had said. He knew she used a fake ID at the doctors. He knew she hadn't been feeling well. It was a standard conversation, until the last word. At the mention of blood, Michael shot up. His eyes frantically scanned Nikita, needing to know exactly what was going on. As she wrapped up her call, she kept her eyes on him. She'd explain once she hung up. He had to know. His millions of questions once she ended the call needed to be answered, "You're bleeding? How much? When'd it start? Are you alright?"
"A little. It's happened before. But everything checked out. It was fine, just some heavy spotting. This time, though, it hurts," Finally, Nikita told Michael about the spotting after Mia had kicked her out the window. She had been alright afterwards- doctor cleared. It was just some heavy, but not unusual, spotting. But the blood she had noticed that morning as she went to the bathroom was a lot different. It could have been nothing again. However, an unsettling feeling in the pit of her stomach said otherwise. She reached for her husband's hand and squeezed.
"Why didn't you tell me about it before?" Michael squeezed back. There had to be something he could do to help Nikita. He felt so useless. While she curled in a tight, painful ball- the only comfortable position she could find- all he could do was hold her hand. And ask her questions. At least the latter appeared to distract her from her pain. She could focus on facts, and on sharing everything with him. A part of Michael understood why Nikita never told him about the spotting. However, he was still upset by it. The two had promised to not hold secrets from one another. They had to know everything, small or huge. It was all important.
"You didn't have to worry," The excuse seemed to have made more sense when she had first made it. But at that moment, Nikita realized how ridiculous it was. Michael obviously should've known. He would've worried, but he also would've helped her fear and stress. She was right that the whole thing had surmounted into nothing. Of all the things they had to worry about, the spotting wasn't one of them. At least, it hadn't been. With the bleeding back, and far worse than before, Nikita could feel her world start to disastrously shift.
Laying back down on the mattress, Michael pulled his wife into his arms. He rested his forehead against hers, and let her draw from his strength. He couldn't go into Division then. He couldn't leave Nikita's side. She shouldn't be left to deal with her pain alone. Although they had decided that while Amanda was still out there he couldn't go with her to her doctor's appointments (the two of them together drew more attention than just them acting alone- he was willing to risk the bitch discovering their secret. He couldn't let his wife be alone, not when she was suffering so much, "And now?"
"I don't feel right," Burrowing into her husband's warmth, Nikita muttered. She had to get up soon to get ready for her appointment. Ignoring her problem wouldn't make it go away. Just like with everything else she went up against, if she let it fester it'd only get worse. She had to swallow her emotions and face it all head on. Except, she didn't want to leave the comfort; she didn't want to face what was wrong. She just wanted to live in a little bubble and pretend everything would be alright forever.
"Where are you going?" The sound of Sean leaving startled Alex awake. It was too early for either of them to head into Division- their alarm hadn't even gone off yet. He didn't have to be up and ready; he could just stay in the nice warm bed with her. But he was already dressed. Although he usually wore a mix of suits or casual clothes to Division, that morning he wore what looked like one of his service uniforms. Alex wasn't able to wrap her sleep-addled mind around it. Sean didn't give her much of a chance as he stopped by her side of the bed for a 'good morning' and 'goodbye' kiss.
"I got called in for some briefings. I'm deploying soon, so I gotta get ready," Softly and slowly (knowing how long it takes Alex to process English when she first woke up) Sean somewhat explained. There were more things he had to go to the base for. And he deployed in a few months not just soon. However, he would go into more detail once he returned. He hoped it was a short trip, that he wouldn't be far from his girlfriend and his friends for long. The split duty he had between the Seals and Division was becoming more difficult. He couldn't leave either team in the lurch. But he also couldn't ignore what he had to do.
"Oh. Well, be careful," Alex just sighed. She couldn't stop Sean from going back to the Seals. She had known that was his job since they had met. She couldn't pull him away from the Navy, just as he couldn't pull her away from her team. After recent disappointments, though, she wished her boyfriend would stay by her side. She'd need his stalwart support as they figured out what their next mission should be. Preferably, it'd be against Amanda and her mole. Yet there still weren't any new leads. The agents were perpetually left in the dark.
"I should be telling you that," Unable to help himself, Sean chuckled and kissed Alex once more. It wasn't necessarily a light moment, but he was going to be fine. He would be perfectly safe on a military base. She should be more worried about herself. An underground bunker full of assassins, spies, rogues, and moles wasn't a safe place to be. She could more than handle herself- as could the rest of the team- yet things hadn't been going their way recently. Unless that changed, something terrible was bound to happen.