NOTE: Quick update this time! Rainy days and good music are awesome for writing. I'm bringing in a new element in this chapter (you'll know what it is when you read =)). I hope you guys like it. I felt like it could work, because I caught whiff of it in season 3. Anyway you guys are great! Thanks so much for the comments! I'm glad this story is like a possible season 4, that was my goal. Let me know what you all think of this chapter. Thanks!

Getting Closer

"What?" Ryan huffed in disbelief.

"Niki, you sure you aren't on crazy medicine right now, because you sound a little nuts."

"That's a pretty big statement considering that President Spencer shot herself right in front of you," Sonya said.

"President Spencer is still alive, because Anya is dead. I figured out Amanda's plan..."

Amanda was escorted into a meeting room in the White House were she was going to meet with President Allen.

"Hello, Victor," everyone heard from Birkhoff's computer that was still streaming the audio from Janet's pin.

"Amanda," Nikita said with resentment.

"Why am I not surprised?" Birkhoff said. "Dragon lady is trying to dig her claws deeper into democracy. Since when has she become friends with Allen?"

"I don't know, but that's definitely not good. That woman does not need anymore power," Sam said.

"This explains why Allen was avoiding contacting the CIA about me working with them. He is working with Amanda," Ryan said.

"Great, we have the Shop in the United Stated Government. At the rate things are going, we might not even have a world to save," Birkhoff shook his head.

"This is a very short meeting," Allen said.

"I know I just wanted to talk to you about a couple of things. Things that I do not want to talk with you about over the phone."

"I see...well?"

"We still have to move on with our plan. I just made a small change, is all."

"What kind of change?"

"Well, as you know, catching Nikita is apart of the plan. I am going to use oure lovely president as bait. She is fully under my control, now."

"Once she finds out Spencer is still alive, she is bound to come looking for you."

"That's exactly what I want. I am just waiting for her to find out..." Amanda paused and took a phone call. "Yes..."

"You need to get back here now."

"What is the problem?"

"Analisa did an interview with Alexandra Udinov, and I have her being sent to the office as we speak. You know that means that-"

"Nikita found out about the President. Perfect." Amanda hung up her phone. She dialed a number.

"Yes?"

"Did you meet Nikita?

"Yes, I answered all of her questions about Anya. She wants to find her."

"Great job. You did exactly what I wanted."

"I want to know where Anya is. That was the deal...will you tell me now?"

"There was no deal sweetheart. I lodged a kill chip in your brain stem, but since I told you I would provide you with that information, fine. She's dead."

"What?"

"Now you know, goodbye."

"Wait-this chip, kill chip, you called it. Can you take it out of me...I don't want to die..."

"When I get Nikita, I'll remove your kill chip." She hung up.

"Now, we can move to the next step, Victor. Expect to hear from me soon. When the time comes...you know what to do."

"Yes."

"So, Amanda has President Spencer," Michael said.

"This is a mess..." Ryan said and rubbed his rubbed his eyes.

"She knows you are going to come looking for her," Alex said to Nikita.

"Good. Let the bitch prepare. I'm coming to get her, and this time I'm not holding back. I've been waiting forever. She deserves what is coming to her."

"Nikita, you know that this is a trap. She is going to put you right where she wants you," Michael said.

"I know."

"Wh-"

"Let Amanda make her plans. We can all show her who she is messing with. It's time to stop running and face her," Sam said. Michael turned around to look at him.

"Says the guy who was used as Amanda's pawn to get the black box."

"What did you say?"

"You heard me. That is what you are always used as, a pawn. With Percy, Amanda..."

"You know what-" Sam started and began to walk towards Michael. Alex stood between the two men.

"Alright," she said in a low tone. "That's enough." Sam huffed and backed away still glaring at Michael. There was an awkward air in the room until Ryan spoke up.

"Bottom line is: Amanda set a trap and is waiting for us to walk right into it. We have to figure out what her plan is and a way to evade it."

"I can tell you what it is," Nikita started. "We know that she wanted to me to go to the oval office and give Spencer the gun. She knew that I didn't want to do it. She planned for Spencer to shoot herself-or Anya. It was Anya, not Spencer."

"How-how was she able to have Anya portray the president?" Alex asked.

"Biogenetics. Michael's hand, a bioprosthesis, Kosta's leg, carbon fiber bone. They found ways to use DNA to recreate body parts. See that's why I told you to stay away..." Birkhoff shook his head.

"They must have got a hold of the president's DNA somehow and recreated her. Think about it. Bauer told me that Amanda had been looking for a specific girl with a specific look. Then, she must have tampered with her brain, just like she did with Alex and with Sam. Then, she used her to frame me."

"That's...just horrible," Sonya sighed.

"So President Spencer is Amanda's hostage," Michael said.

"And guinea pig," Birkhoff added.

"We've got to find her," Alex said.

"Like I said before: It is a trap. We go snooping around for Amanda's lair, we don't know what we are going to find, and I don't want to run into another escapade like the one we were just in," Michael said.

"Michael, we have to do this," Nikita walked up to him. "We have to stop her."

"No, we don't. Why not just leave while we have the chance. Do you all realize what we are running into?"

"Michael, there is no point in running away, now. We've got to finish this. Especially now that we are all together as a team," Ryan said.

"Michael, I know that you are worried, but we can't run from this. I want to be free and as long as she is out there, we never will be." Michael looked at her in silence, his face frowned.

"I'm getting some air," he said and briskly walked out the front door. They watched him leave and then looked at Nikita. She tried not to let herself get too upset. It would only make things worse.

"Okay, why don't we take a break. We need to come up with a strategy. Maybe everyone can think of something, and we can see what we all have come up with later on," Nikita tried to smile at everyone, then she went up the stairs to her room.

Alex walked up the stairs and passed Nikita door. She paused in the hallway debating on whether or not to talk to Nikita. As she stood there contemplating, she felt someone walk up behind her and turned around. It was Sam.

"You should leave her alone. I think she needs time to herself right now," He spoke in a low voice so Nikita didn't hear him. Alex paused wondering if she should take his advice. She realized that Nikita was having a hard time, and knew how her friend functioned. She definitely needed some time to herself for the moment.

Sam watched her expressions. He could tell she was having mixed emotions. The constant twitch between her eyebrows, the fluttering of her eye lids and the movement of her eyes in search for an answer. Finally, she looked up at him, nodded, then continued to walk towards her room. Sam had followed behind to go to his room. He went into his room and stood there staring at the wall, thoughts racing in his head. He remembered the last time he had spoken to Alex. It was at the G-20. He was planning to sell the black box in exchange for enough money to relax on a beach somewhere for the rest of his life. Screw all of this Division bullshit. Alex tried reasoning with him to "do the right thing" and end this now. Tsh...yeah right, he thought. Then, he found out that Sean was dead, he missed a lot. He remembered the look on her face when he asked her if it was true. She looked down trying to hold in the tears. She reminded him of how much he still missed Emily, and as much as he tried to get over it, he couldn't. His years as Owen were actually some of the best he had when Emily was around, but he lied to Alex.

"Yeah, I lost ten years of my life."

"It wasn't just a loss, you gained as well. You have us. I care about you," she told him with her sincere eyes.

He couldn't help but get lost in them. However, he had to protect himself. He walked away that day. He was a jerk to everyone. He turned his back on everyone and now they were accepting him back. He owed all of them. He owed Alex.

He walked up to her door and softly knocked. He pressed his ear to the door, and heard sniffling. She's crying? He stepped back when he heard the knob twist and she stood there looking up at him.

"Yeah?"

"I just wanted to say-I wanted to...can I come in?"

Alex looked at Sam with curious eyes. She never saw Owen-or Sam go out of his way to speak to someone before, ever. And if he did have something to say, he never held back. The fact that he couldn't get it out surprised her. What did he want to say?

She had been staring at him, and she could tell that he was getting uncomfortable.

"Come in," she cleared her throat and opened her door for him. She closed the door and turned around with her arms folded.

"I'm...sorry, did I interrupt something?"

"No...no, I'm fine. What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong. I just wanted to talk to you about the G-20."

"What about it?"

"I said some things to you that weren't okay. I wanted to tell you that I apologize and that I appreciate that you and everyone are willing to work with me now after everything."

"It's okay. That's what friends do." She walked over to her bed and sat down.

"Is that all you wanted to talk about?" He wasn't sure if he should continue. He wanted to say something to her, something he wasn't sure was right. He just didn't know how she would react.

"You told me that you care about me," she looked up at him. "I told you that it was a mistake. I was protecting myself. Truth is...I care about you too and I know that you are hurting."

"What are you talking about-"

"You know what I'm talking about, Alex. I've been through the same thing. I've lost someone that I love too." She paused, then got up and walked over to the window.

"I don't want to talk about this anymore."

"A-Alex. Come on. Have you even had the chance to talk about it? Have you talked to Nikita about it? You can't keep it in forever. It's going to eat you alive. Trust me, I was a wreck."

"How is talking about it going to help!" She turned around with tears streaming down her face. It caught him off guard, but he understood her well. All too well. "Sean is dead and it's my fault. If I hadn't caused all of that trouble at Division and he tried-he tried to talk me out of it many times, but I just...damn it," she tried to wipe away her tears and then she turned away from Sam. Sam slowly walked towards her and stood across from her. She wouldn't look at him, so he lifted her face up and wiped her face with his thumb.

"It's not you fault. It's not."

"Sam, it was my fault."

"It was Amanda."

"And I let her get to me, control me. I hurt everyone I love and lost him in the process, because I couldn't let go of the fact that I always survive and everyone else around me dies. My father, Larissa, everyone. Why do I get to live?" Survivors guilt. We are like the same person...Sam thought as he remembered the guilt he felt when Emily died.

"Now, I am by myself. I had a great person by my side, and I lost him. You know, I look at Nikita and Michael and sometimes I just want to tell them to work through their differences and never walk away from one another. They do not know how lucky they are to have each other. They have no idea..."

"I know..." Sam said. She looked up at him and he couldn't help but smile at her. He pulled her into a hug and held her tight so she wouldn't feel so alone. He didn't know what was happening, but he didn't want to let her go. He tried to ignore it before, but he always liked being around Alex. When he went on a mission with her, and she told him about her tattoo, it felt nice to have someone to talk to. He knew then that he cared about her, a lot. But there was Pierce, Amanda, and the mess of their lives that they had to deal with. He couldn't make it more complicated, and he knew that she loved Sean. But now, it only seemed right.

Screw third wheel.

Alex held onto Sam and felt more relaxed and safe. She didn't know what was happening, why she was confiding in him, why he was trying to comfort her but she needed it. She hadn't told anyone how she felt, not even Nikita. Nikita had told her that she needed to stop running away from her past. With Sam, she didn't need to do that. Somehow, with Sam, she could let her guard down. She knew he wasn't just saying that he understood, he did

She felt him pull away and she looked up at him. Then, he leaned in to kiss her. She was so shocked, but at the same time didn't want to let go. She felt safe, but she pulled away when she began to think about Sean.

"I'm sorry, Alex," Sam sighed. "I don't know what I was thinking..." She turned away from him and wiped the rest of the tears from her eyes.

"I can't..." She said.

"I understand," he nodded. "I'm sorry." He began to walk towards her door to leave. She watched him and suddenly felt lonely again. She knew that as soon as he walked out the room, her thoughts would come racing back. "You have to start to heal yourself," Nikita told her.

She realized how much she enjoyed his company. He never made her feel guilty or treated her differently because of her mistakes or who she was or ever had been. He just treated her like a friend, like Alex; she needed that.

"Wait," he turned around. She walked up to him and kissed him.