NOTE: Hi everyone! Sorry for the long delay again, been pretty busy. And I'm slowly developing the story so I didn't get to the part you all are waiting for yet-Nikita and Michael seeing one another again. But I'm getting to it very soon. However, you will see hints of it in this chapter. I'll hopefully have more posted at the end of this week. Thanks for reading!

Unexpected Call

The next morning Alex woke up feeling drowsy. She had cried herself to sleep and ended up sleeping through the rest of the day. She had work, but she really didn't feel like going. After forcing herself out of bed, she took a shower, then went downstairs to see what everyone was up to. They all looked at her when she entered the room.

"And she has awoken," Birkhoff said.

"Where were you? We haven't seen you since yesterday afternoon?" Michael asked.

"Oh, I fell asleep. I was tired." They all nodded.

"We have some new developments in the "president's assassination'," Ryan said to Alex.

"Enlighten me."

Birkhoff pulled up the news that had been on earlier that morning.

As the American people still mourn the death of President Spencer, the CIA is still working to uncover the mystery behind the president's death. New information has been uncovered about President Spencer's former personal assistant, Janet Malcolm. An unknown source claims that Malcolm was found by a construction worker strapped to a wooden beam inside of a house that is under construction in a new housing development. Malcolm was frantic and anxious asking to return home to her family. When told that President Spencer had been assassinated, she according to police "dropped to her knees crying and shaking." No other information has been released about any information that Malcolm has about the assassination or whether or not she may be involved. She was given time to recuperate from the tragic event and has not yet returned to the White House...

"Alex and I met Nikita in a housing development that day," Michael told everyone.

"Nikita must have put her there. She must have used Janet to get access to the president," Alex said.

"Janet Malcolm," Ryan said. "I've seen her around...If she met Nikita that day, she must suspect that Nikita is the one who did it...I'm sure she's seen the picture on the news."

"Do you think she told them what she knows already?" Sonya asked.

"I'm sure she has. Problem is: the police have no idea who the woman is that she identified. When Nikita spoke to the president in public she used a fake name," Ryan said.

"Looks like we need to make a house visit," Michael said in his stern voice.

"Mikey, you don't want to frighten the woman. I'm pretty sure she is terrified already," Birkhoff said.

"Janet knows who I am. If Michael and I go and speak with her, I think we can find out what she knows," Ryan suggested.

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"And I'll set up everything with the UN today about raiding Bauer's brothel. But before I do that, I need to go to a dealership and buy a car," Alex said remembering that they still only had one car to split between all of them.

"Well, that shouldn't be very hard for Alexandra Udinov," Birkhoff joked.

While Alex was at the UN, Michael and Ryan went to Janet Malcolm's home in D.C. They arrived at a cozy two story single home in a quiet suburban town. They got out of the car and walked silently up to the door. Ryan rang the doorbell and waited.

"Just...let me do all of the talking or most of the talking. At least until she is willing to talk to us," Ryan told Michael. Michael just looked at Ryan and then back at the door. Ryan could tell that Michael was still dealing with Nikita sudden decision to leave, and although Michael was still trying to be his normal self, he was obviously a lot more stern and serious than usual.

A man opened the front door who they supposed was Janet's husband. The man looked between the two of them with skepticism. He probably thought they were more journalists.

"Sorry but Janet isn't home..." Mr. Malcolm started.

"Mr. Malcolm, sir, my name is Ryan Fletcher I am am from the CIA. I worked with Janet. I would really like to speak with her if she has time." Malcolm looked at Fletcher with less skepticism, and then looked at Michael.

"My name is Michael, I also worked with Janet at the CIA, but we never met in person. Right now Mr. Fletcher and I are working on President Spencer's case."

"In any event, we just want to see how Janet is doing," Ryan said. Malcolm opened the front door. Ryan didn't show it, but he was happy. Talking to Janet would hopefully give them new information about everything that happened that day.

Malcolm walked them down the hall and to the living room where Janet was sitting on the couch with the television on.

"Mr. Malcolm..." Ryan started.

"You can call me Brian."

"Okay, Brian, have you gotten a lot of attention from the media?" Ryan asked. Brian scoffed.

"Oh yeah. We had news reporters in front of our house. I couldn't go to work without someone running up to me with questions. It was a media circus out there. They left yesterday after getting bored, I suppose."

"Honey, who is at the door?" Janet called from the living room. Brian stopped them before they got to the living room.

"She is still upset about what happened. She's been watching the news reports back to back. She hasn't been to work. Just do me a favor and don't make it worse, alright?" He led them into the living room.

"You can tell those reporters to lea..." Janet stopped when she saw Ryan. It was silent as they all stared at one another.

"Hi Janet," Ryan said. "Nice to see you again. It's been a while." Janet was in a daze and managed to let out an awkward laugh.

"Ryan Fletcher, it really has been a while..."

"Are you okay, Janet?" Brian asked.

"Yes, I'm fine. Please have a seat, Ryan and..."

"Michael." Michael put out his hand for her to shake, and then he sat down on the loveseat while Ryan sat on the chair on the other other side.

"I'll just be upstairs. I'm going to check on Aaron," Brian said and left the room. Janet didn't take her eyes of of Ryan.

"Janet..."

"Listen, I had nothing to do with it, alright?" Janet said. "I didn't know. I..." She got frustrated and turned off the TV.

"Janet, we didn't come here to accuse you of anything..." Ryan tried to convince her. "We just wanted to talk to you about the woman you described..."

Janet looked up at him again, but this time with a hint of fear in her eyes.

"I should've known...I should've known something was going to go wrong. I-I should have said 'no,' but...she threatened me, my family," she began to whisper suggesting that she hadn't told her husband about everything that happened that day.

"Things went a lot different that day than you probably suspect," Michael said.

"What do you mean?" She looked at Michael.

"We'll get to that in a little. I want to ask first what happened to you that day when you came in contact with the woman?" Ryan asked. She paused, then looked down at her hands.

"I was just at a quiet restaurant that I usually go to for coffee in the morning. I was getting up to go to work when I saw her..."

"What was her name?"

"Susan...Mason."

Ryan and Michael looked at one another.

"She was wearing a long trench coat, she had a suitcase. I was shocked, surprised that she was there, that I saw her again. She didn't remember me, but when I reminded her that I helped her get into the gala for the G20, she remembered. Then, she told me that she was doing a lecture at Georgetown and then asked me if she could get onto the president's schedule...that day. I told her is was impossible, but she showed me her gun. I-I was terrified. She made me drive to the construction sight and then call and ask my coworker to put her on the schedule. Luckily, it worked; I don't know what she would have done to me..."

"What happened after that?"

"She taped me up inside of that house...I sat there for about two and a half hours until someone found me there..." The distress was still on her face as she thought about what happened.

"What did you tell the construction worker?"

"I told them that some-crazy woman taped me up there!"

"And the police?"

"I told them everything I told you. I told them that she seemed very close to the president. President Spencer would always stop what she was doing to talk to Susan...she seemed like a nice person. I just can't believe that she killed the president.."

"Janet, that's what we wanted to talk to you about. She did not kill the President..." Michael told her. Janet looked at him in disbelief.

"W-what do you mean? The president was shot in the oval office-she had to...they are showing that picture of her on the news. I told them what I knew about her. Come to find out, there is no Susan Mason." Janet said. "And when she was taping me up inside that house she said 'if I fail there will be no reason to live.' What does that even mean?" Janet asked. Ryan and Michael looked at one another again. "Am I missing something here?"

"What she meant by that is," Michael said. "She was trying to save...someone she knew. She had a gun to her head. Someone told her to kill the president in order to save her friend." Janet paused and looked between them.

"You're kidding right? That's ridiculous," she let out a chuckle and noticed that they still looked at her with a serious expression. "You are...serious."

"Very much so. The woman you met, her name is Nikita and she did not kill the president, the president killed herself," Ryan told her. Janet was taken back. She looked at them with wide eyes and let out a gasp.

Birkhoff sat at his computer playing a computer game with Sonya and he was losing.

"Damn it!" he yelled and sat back in his chair. Sonya laughed and put her arms up.

"I told you you couldn't beat me, Seymour."

"Yeah, yeah. I want a second round," He said.

"I don't know...I feel bad playing games while everyone is out trying to help Nikita...maybe we should go back to doing some research and working on Shadow Net..."

"One more game won't hur..." He stopped when he heard a familiar voice coming out of his bluetooth headset.

"Birkhoff!"

"What the-Niki?" He said as he pressed the ear piece into his ear. Sonya looked at him with total shock. He switched to speaker mode to make the sound come from his computer. Her location showed on his screen again; she was sill in Montreal.

"Nerd, I need your help." Nikita said into Sam's phone.

"Niki...you know you have some explaining to do. Your sudden disappearance has everyone worried." Nikita felt a pit in her stomach.

"I know..."

"I mean, you just left. Where are you?" Birkhoff asked curious to see if she would tell him.

"I...I need to do this on my own Birkhoff,"

"You're in Montreal right now. Are you with Sam?" She paused, but she wasn't surprised. She knew Birkhoff could track her. "Niki if you didn't want anyone to know where you were you should have cut out your tracker."

"I wanted you all to know that I was okay...does Michael know?"

"Only Sonya, Alex, and I know where you are," he told her. She sighed in relief.

"Thank you..."

"But, really, I can't keep up this lie forever that I have not completely restored Shadow Net. For one: I tend to be pretty efficient with computers and would not like to spoil my reputation and also Ryan and Michael will figure it out eventually. I'm not trying to make Michael any more upset than he already is. Mikey is not the most fun guy to be around right now..."

"I know, I know but I need you to do me this one favor and just try to avoid saying anything for now."

"Alright, but I'm expecting a call, especially for Michael."

"Alright."

"What do you need?" He asked.

"I need you to look up some information about Karl Jaeger?" Birkhoff paused. "Can you do that?"

"Yeah just give me a minute..." Birkhoff typed away on his computer. "Jaeger is connected to a brothel in Berlin which is controlled by a guy named Dominik Bauer. If you want to find out anymore information about Jaeger, you should start with him."

"Thanks Birkhoff, I owe you."

"But if you plan to go there...don't go until I tell you."

"What?"

"There is going to be a raid on the place. I wouldn't suggest going beforehand, because you might mess up their plans. You should go on the day of the raid right before...if you want I can walk you through it, give you directions...like old times."

"That would be great, thank you...how do you know about this raid?" She asked. Nikita heard him pause on the other end again.

"I've been following some information that I've been getting from Shadow Net. Besides that, don't forget that call, alright?" Birkhoff said.

"Alright. Thanks," She hung up the phone with a feeling that he wasn't telling her something. She was staring off when Sam tapped her.

"Hey, you alright?" He asked.

"Yeah, I just...I feel like he's not telling me something."

"Probably true." Nikita sat down on Sam's new couch and put her fingers through her hair with a sigh.

"I need to talk to Michael."

"I think you should," Sam said. She looked at him for an explanation.

"When I was with Emily I had to keep a lot of things from her. I couldn't tell her about my job, my past, why I was having certain feelings. Michael not only knows where you came from, but he also understands first hand what you've been through as a Division agent. You have the ability to be completely open with him. You're lucky." Nikita began to feel guilty. She knew she would have to face Michael eventually. She just couldn't figure out what she was going to say to him when that time came.