*6*
Michael was still breathing heavily into her neck quite a few minutes later while Nikita's heart rate was slowing down again. She stroked his hair and back soothingly, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth as she kissed the top of his head. Her legs had stopped twitching and had relaxed their grip on his lower body to come to rest on the bed again. Still not getting enough of touching him wherever she could, she trailed the instep of her foot up one of his well defined calves. She rubbed her cheek against his forehead in a catlike gesture before kissing his hair, deeply inhaling his scent as she pressed her lips to his head.
Basking in her loving embrace, Michael eventually caught his breath and lifted his head to look at her. She was radiant and he felt somewhat smug and incredibly humbled by that fact at the same time. He framed her face between his palms and touched his lips to hers, "That was -"
"- Pretty damn amazing", she finished his sentence, grinning from ear to ear. Her grin turned out to be contagious, "Yeah", he breathed over her lips and then caught her in another kiss, thoroughly exploring her mouth once again but breaking it off before it could escalate into something more. Michael couldn't not kiss her though. So he kissed his way over her eyes, her nose, the corner of her mouth, her jaw. Making Nikita sigh in contentment while her fingers travelled the length of his spine and charted the muscles in his shoulder and arm. They lay like that for a while, touching and kissing each other over and over. Content to be in each other's arms and enjoying the afterglow of their love making.
Michael thanked his lucky stars again to be here with Nikita like they were. Amazed at being wrapped up in her arms only shortly after everything she'd been through at his hands. To hear her say 'I love you'. He could never put into words what that meant to him, what she meant to him. He gazed at her in wonder in between kisses and caresses. Trying, like last night, to put into touch what he couldn't put into words. Eventually Michael turned them both on their sides, manoeuvering the sheets in such a way to cover them both. Their bodies had separated again and Nikita wrapped a leg over his, tangling their legs effectively. Stroking a strand of hair behind her ear he told her, "Thank you."
"For what?"
He took her hand to intertwine their fingers and brought it up to his mouth to kiss. "For today. For yesterday", he whispered, "For being you." He pressed his lips to her fingers again and downcast his gaze. Nikita had to strain to hear him add, "For still having me."
Oh Michael, tears pricked her eyes again. With her free hand she brought up his chin and their eyes met. He was frowning a little. "You're very welcome", she said in a low voice and touched her lips to his. She smiled at him, her free hand lovingly caressing his face, but the frown didn't leave his features completely and he broke eye contact again. She tilted his face up once more. Her voice a soothing caress, she repeated what she'd told him this afternoon, "Forgive yourself hon, it's time."
His breath shuddered from him as she kissed him lightly once more, punctuating her words. His voice was somewhat fragile as he replied, "It's hard."
Her heart broke for him as he closed his eyes. "I know", she said, understanding all too well, then added, "Try."
Michael nodded once, eyes still pressed closed and buried his face against her neck again, one arm wrapping around her tightly. Nikita let him draw comfort from her, happy to give it to him and squeezed his hand, hugging him close with the other. Her fingers drawing soothing circles on his back.
She suspected he might fall asleep like this and was totally fine with that. But then he moved away from her a bit to be able to look at her and took her lips in another slow and sweet kiss.
Nikita was right, he knew that even if he couldn't quite acquit himself of his sins as generously as she did. What he could do was not drown in the misery that came with the reflection upon said sins and try and live more in the moment. For her. She deserved better, deserved to be carefree, at least as much as possible with their lives being what they were, but especially in the aftermath of their wonderful love making. So he made the effort and tried to engage her in lighter conversation.
His sadness seemingly dissipated for now, Michael asked her, "What do you want to do tomorrow?".
Trying to lift the seriousness of moments before even further, she answered him, "Stay in bed all day?" A coy smile graced her luscious lips as she tightened her leg around his.
Michael appreciated her catching on to his attempt at lightheartedness and joining him in it more than he could say and did his best to not weigh it down again even as a potential practical problem started to weigh on his mind. He kissed the smile from her lips and replied, "Tempting".
Nikita easily picked up on the fact that there was something he wasn't saying. She wasn't having that. He should know he could tell her anything, anytime, big or small. So she prompted him, "But?"
"I didn't bring an extra set of clothes…"
Right, she thought, that didn't quite clarify anything yet. "You won't need them if we're spending the day in bed…", her voice was low as she batted her eyelashes while she traced her fingers through his hair.
He smiled at her flirty demeanor and couldn't resist stealing another kiss. "No, but I will when I have to go in early the next day".
Nikita tilted her head at him, leaning back in his embrace to create a little distance and he clearly saw the doubt returning to her eyes as she spoke, all flirtyness gone from her voice, "You want to leave-"
Now it was his turn to interrupt her before her thoughts would run away with her, "-Nikita, no". He brought her closer to him, touching his nose to hers he spoke in a low voice, "I want to stay. As long as possible. But if I don't want to leave well before the crack of dawn day after tomorrow, I'm going to need to at least pick up some clean clothes. I didn't really come prepared yesterday…" He smiled ruefully at her and the clouds lifted from her eyes.
"Oh", she said simply, "Okay".
"Okay?", Michael asked, smiling at her encouragingly and making sure they were on the same page again.
"Yeah", she whispered. "Maybe you should bring an extra set. In case you decide to drop by unexpectedly again?", her coyness returning.
He kissed her hard at that, leaving no room for doubt in her mind. "Maybe I should", he flirted right back and kissed her again, slow and sweet this time.
Reassured she said, "And maybe you should bring some sweats too. Then we can spar if we want to, like before".
Michael smiled, "Hmm". She felt the rumble of his voice through his chest against hers and delighted in it. "You want to get sweaty with me?", his tone suggestive.
"Always", she replied huskily.
One corner of his mouth twisting up further, he gathered her closer still, letting her feel the effect of her teasing words. Lips pressing against her jaw, he mumbled, "Bad girl."
She smirked and trailed her hand over his bottom, squeezing lightly, "You love it."
"Hmm." She was right, he did love it. He loved everything about her. From the way she could take down an entire floor of well trained recruits and heavily armored Division guards to the way she disarmed him with a few well chosen words, a slight touch or even a glance from those beautiful brown orbs of hers.
They had always walked the fine line between acceptable and not according to Division's code of conduct, trying not to cross it too obviously and desperately failing more often than not, especially in front of those who knew either or both of them and actually cared enough to notice. It had never escalated to more than teasing remarks and lingering looks, though it had easily could, save of course for that one kiss in Russia.
All the while both of them had realised they were playing with fire, though Michael suspected he'd been a little more aware of what that entailed than she'd been. Or maybe he'd just cared about it more. Nikita was a natural flirt and a very tactile one at that, so being close to another person in some way or another was just what she did. And of course, Nikita didn't like to play by anyone's rules but her own.
From nearly the moment he'd met her, Nikita had been like a breath of fresh air to him, she was the only one who came close to making him forget his heavy burden for a little while by just being who she was and demanding his full attention with just a teasing word, a smile or a touch. And for the longest time he had craved those little moments between them. They had made him feel alive again.
So yes, she was absolutely right when she said he loved her subtle and sometimes not so subtle naughty playfulness. She had resurrected a side of him he thought he'd buried along with his wife and daughter. But most of all he was grateful to have her in his life again after three long years of missing her, and to now even have her in his arms in her tiny bed, all to himself - finally - and so accepting of all his flaws, it meant the world to him. He wouldn't give that up for anything. He nuzzled her hair and then kissed her cheek, feeling her hand come up to bury itself in his hair again.
She turned her face to his, running her fingers softly through his hair, her lips tickled against his ear as she pulled him from his thoughts, "So what's the plan for tomorrow then?"
"Stay in bed all day except for the time it will take to go and pick up some clothes?", Michael questioned semi seriously. Nikita let out a short laugh, "Good plan". She pulled her head back to see the beginnings of a smirk on his face and kissed him lightly, not able to keep from smiling herself.
They cuddled and kissed until Michael started to fade, post coital drowsiness catching up to him fast. Nikita shifted a bit to tuck his head underneath her chin, the already familiar feeling of his stubble lightly scraping the sensitive skin above her breasts making her smile again. She cupped his jaw in her hand, her thumb caressing his cheek once and pressed a kiss to the top of his head. "Sleep well", she whispered lovingly.
Michael tangled their legs further and wrapped his arm around her a little tighter. His reply to her no more than a low affirmative "Hmm" against her skin as he pressed his lips over her heart, kissing her there.
Nikita felt his breathing evening out and becoming deeper as she ran her fingers through his hair and stroked the top of his spine repeatedly. She savoured the feeling of him in her arms, so open and trusting of her to let himself be lulled to sleep by her soothing caresses for the second night in a row. As for herself, she found there was a striking difference in the sense of security she felt now compared to little more than a day ago, compared to this morning even.
Michael had opened up to her completely, sharing with her what his life with Liz and their daughter had been like, why he'd chosen Division, the conflicting emotions he'd experienced when she herself had entered the equation and then again when she left. He'd done so without knowing how she would react to his candor. He obviously hadn't thought it would work out well for them, but he'd chosen to be truthful nonetheless. For which she was very grateful as it showed her how very serious he was about her and them being together.
Afterwards he had been so relieved when she had told him she'd already forgiven him and offered him the comfort he so desperately needed, that she had almost forgotten that there was something else she also needed before she could let things progress any further between them. And he had offered that just as freely and patiently, validating the sense of safety she felt with him. How far they had come in such an incredibly short period of time, she marveled as the contentedness she felt blossomed to out and out happiness.
Sure, they still had a long way to go. Michael would not just stop deeply regretting everything that had happened just as much as she would need more time to trust him implicitly on some levels. But looking back upon the last day or so, Nikita also knew that what she felt, what they felt, was real - however fast things seemed to be progressing between them - and that they could make it. Together. She kissed the top of his head again and let herself join him in sleep, a smile still etched on her face.
