A/N: Just to address a few of your reviews, I know that there are a lot of people who see the Alex/Michael relationship on the show as more of a brother/sister thing. I'm keeping an open mind for now because I see the potential for something more between them, hence this story ;)

'Any news?'

Alex quickly looked up to make sure that Birkoff was otherwise occupied before typing back, 'I heard Michael and Percy talking today. About you and Sarah.'

'Are they coming after her?'

'Michael told Percy that Sarah was dead.'

Nikita didn't respond for several minutes, and Alex looked around the room impatiently. 'Are you still there?'

'I'm just surprised,' Nikita finally wrote back. 'Because Michael saw that Sarah was alive.'

Alex's eyebrows rose, and at that moment she heard Birkoff call her name. "You okay back there?"

"Yeah," Alex called back, quickly telling Nikita she had to go before logging out of the chat window and bringing up the assignment they were supposed to be working on.

Birkoff strolled towards her, and peered over her shoulder. "Did you crack that code yet?"

Alex gave him a tight smile, "I'm working on it."

"Several of the other recruits have already finished the task," Birkoff said pointedly.

"You know this computer stuff doesn't come easy to me," Alex complained.

"Birkoff!"

Alex jumped and all the recruits swiveled around in their seats to see Michael standing in the back of the room, his face set. "Get back here, now!"

"Would it hurt you to say please every once in a while?" Birkoff grumbled, still hovering behind Alex.

"Now, Birkoff!" Michael said impatiently.

Alex watched curiously as Birkoff jogged up the stairs to meet Michael, and they bent their heads together to converse in low voices. Try as she might, she couldn't hear anything they were saying.

At that moment, Michael looked up and he met her gaze for a fraction of a second. Not wanting to be caught staring, Alex hurriedly turned back to her computer screen. Still slightly annoyed at Birkoff, Alex let her fingers fly over the keyboard as she easily completed the assignment.

A door slammed behind her, and she turned to see that Michael and Birkoff had both disappeared. Alex was about to open a chat window to tell Nikita that something had happened, when someone whispered in her ear, "Why are you pretending?"

Alex whirled around, her eyes wide. Thom was standing behind her, his arms crossed. "Way to sneak up on me," Alex snapped, taking a deep breath. "What are you talking about?"

"You're pretending," Thom repeated, his eyes accusing.

"Pretending to do what?"

"To be bad at this computer stuff!" Thom exclaimed. "I was watching you…as soon as Birkoff left, you cracked the code! Why pretend?"

"I…" Alex frowned, "You were watching me?"

The corner of Thom's mouth lifted in a half-grin, but he shook his head. "Don't try to change the subject."

Alex grinned back, "I wasn't." She shrugged nonchalantly, "You're the one who brought it up."

Thom rolled his eyes, "Forget I said anything."

"If you say so," Alex smirked, grinning when Thom halfheartedly brushed by her shoulder as he walked back to his computer.

It took her several moments to remember what she had been doing before she had been interrupted by Thom. She contemplated telling Nikita what she knew, before she realized that she didn't really know anything. Maybe she should find some information out first…

Glancing around the room to make sure she wasn't being watched, Alex quietly got out of her seat. She padded across the room and up the staircase, before pausing at the door. She looked back to look at Thom, and was relived to see that he was busy helping one of the other recruits.

She silently slid the door handle down, and slid through the smallest opening possible before shutting the door quietly behind her. She began walking towards the security room, hoping that she could sneak in somehow, when she heard footsteps coming.

Damn.

"Alex?" Michael's voice was incredulous as he rounded the corner and spotted her standing there. "What are you doing?"

"I was...looking for Birkoff," Alex invented. "I needed his help with this code we're supposed to be breaking."

"He's busy," Michael looked her over, his eyebrow raised. "Maybe you should get back to the other recruits."

Alex didn't move, "So...did you guys find Nikita?"

Some emotion flickered in Michael's eyes, but it was gone before she could identify it. "Nikita got away," he said dryly, "What else is new?"

"Um," Alex cast her eyes downwards, "What about that other recruit? She was my..."

"She's dead," Michael cut her off, his voice hard. "She got caught in the crossfire."

'Michael saw that Sarah was alive,' Nikita's voice rang in Alex's head, loud and clear.

"Oh. That's...too bad."

"You win some, you lose some," Michael said, his voice sarcastic.

"At least Nikita isn't dead," Alex said casually, "You must be relieved."

"Excuse me?"

"I mean," Alex quickly covered, "Now you can kill her yourself, instead of knowing that she died because of Percy."

Michael frowned at her.

"I should be getting back," Alex smiled at him innocently, and immediately hurried back down the hallway. After she had gone a good distance, she paused to listen. There were no footsteps, so obviously he hadn't followed her.

She crept forward until she reached the outside of the security room. She took a deep breath and silently opened the door.