NOTE: Sorry for the late post! In this part I wanted to portray what I feel like Michael and Nikita would be feeling without having one another. They both have their own coping methods. I hope you all enjoy and thanks for all of the comments! More coming soon and thanks for reading.
Without You
Michael put his hands in his coat pocket and briskly walked down the street. Everything blurred passed him as he passed pizza shops and convenience stores. The chilly night air hitting him in the face was the only thing that seemed real. Everything else seemed only like a dream he was waiting to wake up from.
He was pulled out of his trance by the sound of a car horn. He realized that he crossed the street in front of a car as they were turning a corner. The guy in the car stuck his head out of the window, yelled, then sped of down the street. Michael realized that he had walked at least five blocks from the apartment. He stopped and checked his surroundings. There wasn't much around but a bar on his right. He decided to stop in; he deserved a drink or two. He walked in and met the gaze of a couple of men drinking at the bar and the bartender, a middle aged man with a goatee and a ponytail. This must be a locals bar. Michael ignored the untiring gaze of the men and sat down at the end of the bar. The men sitting and the bartender exchanged gazes before the bartender walked over to Michael.
"Can I get ya somethin'?"
"Yeah a scotch." The bartender saw the impatience in Michael's eyes walked away to make his drink. Michael stared everywhere else but in the eyes of the men sitting on his left. The bartender put his drink down in front of him and walked back over to talk to the other men. Michael stared down at the drink and picked it up swirling the alcohol in the glass. He hadn't had a drink this strong in a long time. He was always so busy working he never had time to drink. He took the first sip and hid his reaction to the pungent taste.
He sat replaying the events of the day. He was dead for twenty minutes. He risked his life to save his life. It was seeing her face when he woke up and feeling her holding him that made him believe that it was all over, Division and all the work they did for the government. They were free and nothing could keep them apart...except for each other.
He thought about Nikita's surprised face when she saw him standing there in the construction area when she had planned to give up her life without even saying goodbye. She was going to leave me alone like she is doing now. He shook his thoughts out of his head. He didn't want to sit and dwell on it but it was eating him alive. The woman he planned to marry wouldn't even let him help pull her to safety or even comfort her. But could he blame her? When he lost his hand he acted the same way she did. He sat thinking about all of the things he wished he had done and the things he wished he could do now. He heard an obnoxious cough coming from the man on his left and turned to look at him again.
The man sitting next to him probably around forty-five but it looked like excessive smoking and drinking made him age. Michael guessed as he studied the guy's face.
"I've never seen you in here before," the man said with glassy red eyes in a questioning tone. Michael wasn't in the mood so he decided to keep it short and to the point.
"Just stopping through."
"Oh yeah...just checking out the area?" Michael had his hands placed on the counter and the man noticed the band on Michael's finger.
"Oh wife issues," the man concluded.
"Why don't you mind your own business?" Michael was already upset and stressed out. He didn't need a old, drunk man bothering him. The man let out a scoff and had a twisted smile on his face.
"I was just making small talk," He tried to sound innocent and it annoyed Michael even more.
"Small talk is useless." Michael took the last swig of his scotch and put money on the table to pay for his drink. He quickly got up and walked back where he came from. The man came up in front of him and blocked him from leaving.
"I wasn't done talking to you." The man was visibly intoxicated to the point of violent idiocy and Michael immediately got angry.
"Excuse me," He said. The man wouldn't budge. "I don't want to hurt you."
The man let out another ridiculous chuckle and stepped out of Michael's way. As Michael went to push the door open the man grabbed his shoulder. With Michael's fast reflexes he turned around and punched the man across the face. The man stumbled backwards and held the side of his face in astonishment; his nose was bleeding.
"You-you broke my nose!"
Without any words Michael left the bar and walked back in the direction of the apartment. I go out to be by myself and I can't even relax in peace...at least I got to punch someone. He thought about what he had said to Alec when they paid a visit to Kang and he had meant it.
When he got back to the apartment he was even more annoyed and frustrated than when he left. They all turned their attention to him when they saw him walk in but no one knew what to say to him. He decided to break the silence himself and tell them that he was off to bed. Luckily the apartment had at least four rooms because a bunch of Birkhoffs hacker buddies used to room together. He chose the first one he saw and crashed on the twin sized bed, alone. He had too long of a day.
Nikita drove through Virginia until she found a secluded motel off the highway. She needed a place to rest after all the day's events. However, she now had to be extra cautious. Even though the picture they had of her was grainy and only a side profile, she wasn't sure if someone would be able to pin her to it. She knew she had to have a change of appearance but before doing that she needed a good night's sleep.
"One room please," she said to the guy behind the counter overly consumed in a late night show.
He glanced up uncaringly until he caught a glimpse of her face and then he stood up. He looked at her with a lopsided smile and crooked teeth.
"Let me check and see what we have." He pulled out a large book and then grabbed a key from underneath the counter. "How long are you staying?"
"I'll leave sometime in the morning."
"10 o 'clock."
"Fine." He looked at her again.
"Name?" She sat there staring at him lost in her own thoughts. "You have a name?"
"Oh...Lisa Daniels." He looked up at her face again. She didn't look like a Lisa. "Okay Lisa, that'll be thirty dollars." She placed the money on the counter. He scrapped it up with one hand and then slowly gave her the key with his other hand. "You're not from around here."
"You get a lot of our of town people don't you?" She asked but wasn't looking for an answer. She walked up the stairs on her immediate right. Room 207. She walked down the hallway reading the room numbers. She found her room close to the end of the hall and opened the door. She had stayed in her share of hole in the wall motels to five star hotels in France. This was okay. It had queen sized bed and that was all that mattered at that point. She kicked off her shoes, removed her jacket, and flopped down on the bed. She laid there on top of the sheets and begun to feel the small aches throughout her body. She was tired and had dealt with an incredible amount of stress. Yet, what she wanted most she couldn't have. When she had a rough day, Michael would make sure to comfort her and wrap his arms around her. Then, she felt safe again. Now, she just felt vulnerable and alone.
She began to drift off to sleep until she was awoken by yelling. She listened closely and could hear that it was coming from the next room over. A man and a woman. It seemed like the man was doing most of the yelling. She listened closely and was able to make out some of the words.
"He is my co-worker. That's all."
Thinks she's cheating. Nikita closed her eyes again and tried to ignore it. She's gone to sleep with bigger issues on her mind. Then, she heard a loud slap and what sounded like someone stumbling backwards. It was the woman. She had let out a scream so loud at the unexpected blow to the face. Nikita immediately shot up and ran to their door. She knocked hard. Everything stopped. It was quiet. He must have been coming up with a cover story. When the door opened she saw a man with dark shaggy hair, shirtless and impatient. She looked past him and saw a woman sitting on the edge of the bed with tears and fear in her eyes. She tried to compose herself.
"What?" The man said.
"You're very noisy. I'm in the room right next to you. I can hear everything and I think you should stop whatever it is you think you have a right to do to her."
"Excuse me?"
"I'm going to call the police if I hear something else." Nikita warned him looking him directly in the eyes. She hated these kind of men. She wanted to leave law enforcement out of it and deal with him herself, but she was trying to keep a low profile. The man looked at her in bewilderment and then furrowed his eyebrows and scoffed.
"Why don't you mind you damn business and go back to where you belong. You don't know who I am."
"And i'd rather not find out and, by the way, you don't know who I am either." She looked passed him again and looked at the woman.
"Come on I'm getting you out of here." The woman shook her head frantically and was about to reject the help until the man did it for her.
"You are not going anywhere get up and ill..." He stopped realizing that Nikita was still standing there. He was about to shut door in her face until she barged into the room and knelt down in front of the woman.
"Come with me, please? I can get you to safety."
"Just stop. Please." The woman pleaded with streams of tears running down her face.
"Now who is going to get the cops called on them? Get the hell out of this room." He walked up to Nikita and put his hand on her shoulder, but that was a bad idea. She grabbed his hand and broke one of his fingers than kicked him towards the window of the room where he stumbled backwards and fell. Nikita grabbed the girls hand.
"Let's go." The girl pulled away. Nikita looked back and watched her grab a purse and then follow behind. Nikita smiled at her and left the room. She closed the door and then went into her room to grab her jacket and then she closed the door and stuck the key in the outside lock. She hadn't planned on coming back. She nodded her head towards the stairs and the girl followed her out.
They walked right passed the guy behind the counter and then got into Nikita's car. Nikita pulled off and drove for a couple of minutes until she spoke to the girl. She noticed how calm the girl was. A woman who is experiencing abuse Nikita expected would be scared, anxious or even angry. Nikita glanced over at her. She noticed that the side of the girls face was red.
"What's your name?"
"Alexis."
"I'm Nikita." The girl nodded.
"Are you from around here?"
"I grew up here."
Nikita nodded.
"Are you okay with going to the police?" The girl paused for a second.
"It really doesn't matter." Nikita was surprised at how calm and uncaring the girl seemed about everything.
"Don't you want to get away from him?"
"It doesn't matter. He finds me every time."
"He stalks you?"
"Well, he knows where I live and where my parents and friends live. It makes it hard to get away so...I just stay." Nikita couldn't understand the simplicity in Alexis's answer. Nikita never had a mentality like that. She always fought when she thought something was wrong. Always.
"You know you don't have to live like this. No one should have to deal with that."
"Well, what can I do?"
"You could move away."
"Yeah, just run and what if he comes to find me again?"
"You can get him put in jail." Alexis looked down at her hand and touched the ring on her finger. Nikita noticed the ring and realized what it was about. She still loved him.
"You know I always pictured us married with kids. I never thought it would come to this."
"How long have you been together."
"Five years. But I've known him my whole life. We grew up in the same neighborhood. Now, after all of these years we are engaged but our relationship hasn't gotten worse."
"What happened?"
"He lost his job. He was a mechanic trying to save up money to open his own shop. When he lost his job he went looking again but couldn't find anything. We ended up having to go into his savings to keep our place. Eventually, it all ran out and now we don't even have a place to live. He just does odd jobs to bring in enough money for us to hop around from place to place until he can find something steady."
"Your parents live here right? Can't you stay with them?"
"My parents don't like Kevin. Even since they found out what he was doing to me. They tried to help me but when I went back to him...they told me not to come back home." Nikita pulled over on the side of the road and looked at Alexis.
"Look for what it is worth I think you should go to the police. I know that you love him, but he shouldn't be treating you that way."
"And then what am I going to do?"
"live your own life the way you want to and find someone that loves you."
"I thought that was Kevin."
"Maybe it was at some point, but I think you two need time a part. You'll never be happy with him or yourself if you stay the way you are right now." Alexis nodded. She looked up at Nikita with questioning eyes.
"You've done so much for me already. Why?"
"I understand what it is like to be stuck in a situation that you can't escape from." Alexis looked like she wasn't completely satisfied with that answer, but she accepted it. "And what I've learned is that someone can help you, but you have to want it yourself, a better life. Do you want to leave him for good this time?"
Alexis looked down at her ring in serious contemplation. Nikita waited and tried to see the situation from her eyes. It was a tough situation, but Nikita wanted her to make the right decision.
"I'll leave. I'll go to the police."
Nikita nodded and tried to smile at her.
"It'll be for the better," she said. Alexis tried to smile back, but Nikita could see the pain in her eyes. She drove Alexis to the police station and then waited for her to come back out.
"How do you feel?"
"Better. I called my father. He is on his way here to get me."
"I knew they'd be willing to help you. I'm glad."
"Thank you for everything Nikita. There's not many people like you out there." Alexis closed the door and went back into the station. Nikita smiled and then pulled out of the parking lot.
She found another motel and finally had the chance to crash on the bed. She stared at the ceiling thinking about how she ended up pulling herself into someone else's problems like she's always done. She can never stand by and let someone get hurt. Not with Sammy when he was shot by Detective Deros when he and Edmonds came after Carla, not when Alex would have been killed a long with her father in that fire, and not when Michael was going to risk his life to kill Kasim. It wasn't in her. But she also thought that she was done with "missions." There always another mission. But was that the kind of life that she wanted? Alexis had a "normal" life and yet she couldn't be with the person that she loved. Alexis wasn't much older than Nikita was around the time she became a Division agent and become closer to Michael. It hurt her to watch Alexis loose the person she loved. Nikita had been through the same thing with Daniel, but in Alexis' case the person she loved was the one who hurt her.
Nikita and Michael had the farthest thing from normal, yet they could've worked it out. We could have. But she let him go. She wanted him to be safe. Too many people had already gotten hurt because of Amanda's obsessive desire to torture Nikita. But now she was wondering if letting Michael go was worth it. Alexis had a reason to let Kevin go, he was hurting her. Michael wasn't hurting her. Michael didn't do anything wrong to her and yet she still let him go.
Nikita and Michael had the farthest thing from normal, yet they could've worked it out. We could have. But she let him go. She wanted him to be safe. Too many people had already gotten hurt because of Amanda's obsessive desire to torture her. But now she was wondering if letting Michael go was worth it.
There was a time when Nikita was trying to find out who all of the members of Oversight was. She was making risky decisions and wanted to leave Michael out of it. She remembered that the only way she could keep him from following her was by putting something in his drink. Looking back on it now, maybe she was wrong. She made the decision for him that he would not get involved. She wanted him safe, but he had gotten so angry at her. He told her that night that "if you ever pulled something like that again, we're through." Those words scared her. Yet, she was doing it again, so she knew what she had to do. She felt like she couldn't be what he needed. Especially at this point with the chances of her being incarcerated for the rest of her life. A knot in her throat and she felt like crying again, but she was tired of crying. She turned on her side and tried to fall asleep.