Sorry its taken me this long to update.. things been crazy. I hope you enjoy this chapter. Much love.
Alex listened as Michael and Birkoff talked. She knew this was hard on Michael; it had to be hard on Nikita. She loved Michael more than her own life; she was dead without him. She looked down at her phone; a red locator light flashed furiously on its screen. Everything had gone horribly wrong; this wasn't the way she wanted this to go. She had come here for Nikita's help; not to destroy her life. She had to help Michael get her back. Alex watched as Birkoff left the room; she used this as her opportunity to talk to Michael privately. She walked over to him, stopping beside him, watching the waves roll onto the beach in front of them. Michael was trying to keep everything to himself, but knew he wasn't doing a very good job. 'You gonna tell me not to give up on her either?' Alex nodded slightly, 'for what its worth, I think Birkoff is right here.' Michael looked over at her a slight smirk on his face, 'Yeah just don't let him hear that.' Alex didn't know what to say to Michael but she had to talk to him. 'This was not what I had planned Michael.' Michael shook his head as soon as she had started speaking. 'This is Nikita we are talking about Alex, no one has to plan for her to make the big decisions, she does that on her own.' Alex knew where Michael was coming from; she too had been the subject of Nikita's big decision making. 'I know that not every decision she makes is the right one, but I honestly believe she makes them to protect the people she loves. I'm not claiming I know everything about what you guys have been through but I know enough to realize, she didn't have a lot until she met you; and it may not have been under the right circumstances, how you guys met, but you're Michael and Nikita. She loves you, and I know you love her too; that's why your hurting so much.' Alex watched Michael's reaction. Even though Michael appeared to have this hard exterior, she could see that this was taking its toll. 'All I am saying is, don't be so quick to call in an abort and clean.' With these words, Alex handed Michael the tracking locator. He looked down at the device and frowned. He wasn't entirely sure what he was looking at. 'Is this?..' Alex nodded slightly, 'yeah I tagged Owen more than once. My guess is Nikita didn't realize he had another tracker on him.' Michael looked at the small flashing dot on the screen. 'How come Birkoff couldn't pick this signal up?' Alex turned away from Michael slightly, causing him to look up from the screen. 'Alex?' She sighed and turned back towards him, 'When your out on your own, you make connections and forge alliances; some of them with people you generally wouldn't want to be dealing with.' Michael frowned. He didn't completely understand what Alex was trying to say but knew better than to question a gift; Nikita had taught him that. He placed a hand on Alex's shoulder and squeezed gently, 'Birkoff! Fire up shadow net.'
Birkoff's eyes snapped open at Michael's call. He came bounding down the stairs and looked at Michael who held a phone out to him. Birkoff took the phone and sat down at on his chair; rolling from one keyboard to the next. 'What are we looking for?' Michael lent on the back of Birkoff's chair, 'Alex tagged Owen,' he pointed at the phone Birkoff had in his hand, 'that is his location.' Birkoff nodded and plugged the phone, 'Ok, if that's where Owen is, Nikita should be around nearby.' Michael nodded, 'Yeah that's the hope.' Birkoff tapped at his keyboard and began a trace to find the location. He stopped just before hitting the command button and turned to look at Michael. 'What's the plan when we find her?' Michael frowned at Birkoff's question, 'what does that matter right now Birkoff… we just need to find her.' Birkoff continued to look at Michael; his eyes heavy with a sort of sadness. 'Do you even have a plan? Or are you just going to go in there all guns blazing cause your angry?' Michael frowned a little harder and clenched his fists, 'excuse me? What are you trying to say?' Birkoff stood up and shrugged, 'I know you Mikey, your just like Nikki, you hold onto things. You wanna help her I know that but you will make decisions that you regret.'
Michael took a step closer to Birkoff. Alex could see the inevitable outcome of this conversation. She stepped forward and placed a hand on Michael's shoulder, 'I think what Birkoff is trying to say is, we should make a plan before we find them. Nikita always told me, if you don't wanna go to plan B, have a good plan A.' Michael relaxed a little. He knew they were both right; he just didn't want to confront the fact that he was angry and wanted to scream and shout and blame Nikita for making another bad choice; even though he was partly to blame for every decision Nikita ever made. He fell in love with her He brought her into division. She was his recruit. She saved him.