NOTE: Hey everyone, here is a little more. This chapter is more about Nikita reestablishing her relationship with her friends and reflecting on the significance of her friends to her life. Also there's some Mikita in this chapter =) I'm working on the next chapter, more coming soon. Thanks for reading!

Reunited

Nikita lay in the bed next to Michael. She watched him sleep and listened to his heart. It had been a long time since she got the chance to hold him. She held up her hand and stared at the ring on her finger. She felt guilty; she didn't realize how much she missed her ring until Michael unexpectedly put it back on her finger. Most importantly, she couldn't believe that she let him ago once again. It was like a slap in the face, Nikita. His words still mingled in her head. She tried not to replay that conversation, but she couldn't get it out of her head. She did feel guilty for leaving him. However, the lingering threat of being in jail for the rest of her life or dead if she ended up in Amanda's hands left her unsure of how long they would have before being torn apart again. Next time it would be for good.

She finally pulled herself out of bed and peeked through the curtains. The early morning sunlight made her squint. She closed the curtains not wanting to wake up Michael, but he was already rubbing his eyes and grunting as he pulled himself up with his right hand. They stared at each other; it had been a while since they had woken up next to one another. Nikita smiled and got back into bed.

"Good morning," she kissed him and touched his cheek.

"Good morning," he smiled back.

"I think I'm going to call room service and order some breakfast. You hungry?" She asked. He sleepily nodded and got up to use the bathroom.

Ten minutes later room service brought them breakfast and they sat on the bed. Nikita sat in silence thinking about everything that she practically beat out of Dominik Bauer. Michael noticed how quiet she was and turned to look at her.

"What are you thinking about?"

"Bauer, he told me something about his connection with the Shop. He sold women to the Shop as test subjects for experiments."

"What?" Michael said in disbelief.

"I know it's completely inhumane. He said Karl Jaeger wanted a girl with blond hair who could speak English and had a specific build."

"Did he say why?"

"It was for Amanda." Michael looked at her in shock.

"Amanda?"

"The girl was sent to the United States. I tried to get him to tell me where in the U.S. but I didn't have the chance to." Michael frowned and stared off trying to understand what was going on.

"We need to find Amanda and we need to find out what happened to the girl," Nikita said. "We should head back to the states as soon as possible."

"Of course..." Michael said and sighed.

"What's wrong?"

"I guess I was hoping we could spend some time together..." Nikita didn't know what to say. She wanted to spend time with him, but she knew that they couldn't waste any time. They needed to figure out Amanda's plan now so that they could find her and stop her from carrying out any other plans that would only hurt more people.

Nikita leaned over and kissed him.

"I want to spend time with you too." She began to kiss him again, but was interrupted by one of their cell phones. They both reached for their phones. Michael picked up and heard Birkhoff on the other end.

"Mikey, we need you back here. We have a lot to talk about."

"Is Alex back?"

"Yeah she just finished her press conference."

"Alright, I'll head back."

"...you bringing Niki?" Michael paused a looked over at her. "I'll call you back when I land." He hung up and looked at her.

"Are you coming home?" She sat quietly staring at him trying to decide whether or not to say "yes." She wanted to go back and see everyone, but she was also thinking about why she left in the first place. There's always that chance that she will find me. She was worried about Amanda, but she shook the thoughts out of her head. Even though she had unfinished business with Amanda, it wasn't going to stop her from being with her friends, her family. She smiled at him and nodded.

"Yes." She saw his face light up and the greatest smile that she'd seen in a while. He gave her another kiss and hugged her. Nikita had butterflies in her stomach; she had a lot of explaining to do when she returned home.

Nikita, Michael, and Sam drove to the hideout. Nikita was surprised that Sam wanted to come. She warned him that everyone wouldn't be very happy to see him, but he decided he would go in and try to make amends. He wanted to help out; he had unfinished business with Amanda like everyone else.

They walked in and were greeted by Alex, Ryan, Sonya, and Birkhoff. The four of them stared in disbelief of their eyes. Nikita was back, and she returned with Michael and brought Sam with her who they hadn't seen since the G-20. Without a word Alex, still dressed in her skirt suit ran up and hugged Nikita.

Nikita relaxed a little. It felt great to know that all of the built up emotions floating in the room weren't hostile. In fact, she learned that none of them were. RyanI was the first to speak.

"Nikita..." He said with a sigh. "I'm so glad you are okay."

"Niki," Birkhoff said. "I knew you'd be back." Nikita couldn't help but smile.

"All thanks to you, Nerd."

"We're glad you are back. It wasn't the same without you." Sonya said.

"Thanks Sonya." Nikita looked at everyone and tried her best to speak.

"I know all of you have been trying to find me. After being framed for President Spencer's death, I made a rash decision to leave. I want you all to know that it wasn't my intention to make you worry or feel like I didn't care about any of you. Truth is, I care a lot, and all I wanted was for all of you to be safe. I didn't want my mess to become yours. You all know and have witnessed and felt Amanda's wrath. She is relentless, and if she was able to frame me who knows what lengths she is willing to go to now to find me and make her plan work. She has already done so much to try and tear us apart, and yet somehow we make our way back home. Well, I'm back home, and this time I'm not going anywhere. I love you guys and I'm sorry for everything. I appreciate all that you have done to try and find me and I thank you for trying to find Amanda. Now, I want us all to work together to find her so we can all move on and have the lives that we want to have."

Everyone stood smiling at Nikita as she spoke. It wasn't hard for them to accept her apology. They knew that she meant it, and all they wanted was for her to be safe and come home. Now, they had her back, and it was time to get back to work.

After Nikita finished speaking Sam stepped up from behind. He had been standing near the door trying to do get any attention. After the way Michael reacted to seeing him in Berlin, Sam knew that the rest of them wouldn't be very happy to see him. He saw all of the smile disappear from their faces.

"I know what you are all thinking: 'what the hell is he doing here?' The last time you all saw me was at the G-20 when I was trying to sell the black box. As you know, Amanda helped me sell it-or pretended to anyway. I destroyed the last black box, as you know, and I had decided to leave you all alone after that. Then, Nikita unexpectedly showed up at my place and convinced me to help you all. I know you remember Owen, the nice guy. Sam seems like a jerk, but Sam remembers Owen as well. I'm still in ways the guy you all once knew, and I want to help you. I'm sorry for everything and I know I don't deserve your trust, but I'm hoping to earn it." They all stood quietly and then watched as Birkhoff walked up and shook Sam's hand.

"Glad you are on board, but just to let you know, I'm not letting you near the gun supply." Birkhoff said remembering when Sam put a gun to his head and forced him to help him escape from Division.

"Fair enough," Sam said.

"Yeah, thanks for helping Sam," Ryan smiled.

"Alright, lets get back to work, shall we?" Alex said to everyone.

"I think we deserve a break for the night. Unless you guys would rather work, I think we can start back up bright and early tomorrow morning." Ryan suggested.

"Amen to that, brother," Birkhoff said waving his xbox controller in the air. "Alright I'm going to beat you this time." He said to Sonya. Everyone went off to their rooms. Ryan showed Sam where one of the spare rooms were. Nikita walked over to Birkhoff.

"I don't want to interrupt your game Birkhoff, but I just wanted to thank you for everything you did. If it wasn't for you I don't know if I would have come back." Birkhoff had paused the game and was looking up at her.

"You know I have you back Niki, always." Nikita gave him a hug and then went upstairs. She knocked on Alex's bedroom door. When she opened the door, she was already in her pajamas with her hair up in a bun.

Michael walked to the end of the hall where Sam was now staying. He had his door open so Michael knock on the open door to get Sam's attention. Sam looked up and paused when he saw Michael standing there. He had his guard on around Michael; he knew Michael never really liked him that much to begin with.

"Come in," Sam said. Michael took a few steps into the room.

"I don't want to bother you, I actually just wanted to thank you." Michael said.

"For what?"

"For having Nikita's back while she was with you in Montreal." Sam was shocked to hear this coming from Michael. Michael never gave him any praise let alone thank him.

"Of course, Michael. I have Nikita's back. I told you back at Division that as Nikita's new partner I would have her back. Well, I still do Division or no Division. Like I said, I know I hadn't been acting like it, but I think I just needed a reality check. Family comes first." Michael nodded, gave Sam a little smile and left the room. He liked Sam a little more now.

"I'm just happy that you are safe," Alex said as she sat on her bed across from Nikita.

"I'm just so happy to be back. I really missed all of you."

"We missed you too. Michael definitely took it the hardest though. Birkhoff and Sonya were working to get Shadow Net up and running so that we could track you. That's all Michael cared about. That's when Birkhoff contacted you without telling Michael and conjured up his plan to get you both in Berlin which I didn't find out about until the day of the raid. I am impressed," She chuckled.

"Yeah...I thought I was dreaming when I saw Michael there."

"I wish I could have been there too. This whole diplomat Alexandra Udinov role is...it can be a lot for me to handle sometimes. I have to make sure I do the right things, say the right things. I can't even go out on missions with you anymore."

"Honestly, I think this works a lot better for you. Because of you, over one hundred girls were released from prison. Those girls were living in small rooms, locked up until someone wanted to use them. Now, they are free. That was all you. It's what you are supposed to do, help girls like you."

"You sound like Maryam Hasan."

"But it's true. I think if you embrace Alexandra Udinov, you'll find out that she is Alex."

"I used to have nightmares about becoming Alexandra Udinov. Like that name belongs to a different girl. The Udinov name haunts me. It comes with a lot of expectations and assumptions and...responsibility that I don't know I want or can handle."

"Alex, when I met you, you were addicted to drugs ready to give up on everything. Then, you made it through and now you've become the strong person that you've always been. Trust me, you can deal with the new challenges of being a celebrity." Nikita smiled. Alex laughed.

"I don't want to lose you all in the process."

"That won't happen. You'll always be my sister." They both gave each other hugs. Nikita remembered why family was so important to her, it gave her something to live for. She was glad to be back with her family; she needed them as much as they needed her.

She walked to her room and saw Michael already getting ready for bed. She climbed into the bed and got as close to him as she could. He moved her hair out of her face and put his arm around her.

"I missed you."

"I missed you too. I'm glad to be home." He smiled at her and closed her eyes. "Michael?"

"Hm?"

"No matter what happens...from this point forward I want you to know that I love you and I can't wait until things change for us."

"It's going to be hard for a while, but it'll get better. We are still having our wedding, I promise you that." He kissed her on the forehead. "I love you." Nikita closed her eyes and smiled feeling hopeful about her future with Michael again as she finally dozed off to sleep.