Diclaimer: I own nothing, obviously.
A/N: Hey guys. Thanks again for the wonderful reviews! So, this chapter is a bit different, okay? I came across this plot after re-watching Glass Houses, and the name of the chapter is a mention to that.
It's an extra that popped in my mind for the holidays. It's a bit too much fluffy and quite different from the chapters I usually write. But it's Christmas and I thought it would be nice to have a chapter with no drama. Characters might be a little out of character, so I apologize in advance.
I hope you guys like it, though :)
Grammar/Coherence mistakes: the drill remains the same.
Enjoy!
"And then what? We'd live happily ever after? Domestic bliss?"
"Stupid, right?"
Nikita 01x20 – Glass Houses
A childish giggle brought Michael back to consciousness. He groaned, not wanting to wake up just yet. He kept his eyes closed for a few more minutes until he could feel someone's gaze on him.
"What do you want, Owen?" he grumbled.
When he heard the giggle again, he slowly opened his eyes and blinked a few times, trying to clear his vision from the drowsiness. Once everything came into focus, a blonde little boy was staring back at him with a smile.
"Max?" he frowned "What are you doing here? How did you get here?"
But his questions didn't have any effect on the little boy, who just laughed and sat on the couch across from him and waved.
"Wow kiddo, you ready? We are on Christmas tree duty today" Owen suddenly entered the room and ruffled Max's hair, who laughed again.
Michael sat up, confused "Owen? You brought him here? What the hell?" he inquired, but Owen seemed unaware of his presence.
Only then he perceived his surroundings; the clean white walls and high ceilings, the windows, the modern decoration. Shocked, he realized he definitely had not woken up in the same place where he'd fallen asleep the night before.
"Come on fellas, if we don't get this goddamn tree soon, Nikki and Alex will kill us" Birkhoff said, joining them in the room "Little guy, go find your father, we'll meet you in the car".
Max nodded "Kay" and went towards the corridor in an apparent search for Michael.
"Max, I'm right here" he said, but the boy didn't turn back. He sighed "Birkhoff, Owen where are we?" he questioned the two man, but they just left the room and again, no one answered him.
"Okay, either I'm going crazy or this is a really weird dream" Michael closed his eyes and kept them shut for a few minutes.
He opened them hoping everything would be back to normal. But to his disappointment, he was standing in the same place.
"What the hell is going on here?" he questioned as he walked through the hallways, looking for Max.
He found the boy sitting on a bed in one of the rooms "Max?" he called, and the boy smiled "Hey, can you see me?" the boy nodded "Good. Can you tell me where are we?"
Max looked at him, confused "Home"
"Home?" It was Michael's turn to look confused.
The boy nodded again.
"Max? Let's go, Uncle Owen and Uncle Birkhoff are waiting for us. Go say bye to Nikita and Alex" a voice said from inside the walk in closet. Michael could swear he recognized that voice.
It was his voice.
But before he could think deeper into that, Max got up the bed waving for him to follow.
Michael followed him downstairs to the living room, but stopped at the image of Nikita sitting in the couch with Alex, both of them surrounded by boxes and more boxes of Christmas ornaments.
As he stood a feet away from Nikita, Max kept walking and cheerfully jumped in the couch between Alex and Nikita.
"Hey sweetie. Are you guys off to the market?" she asked, caressing his cheek.
He nodded "Chistmas tee" he said with a smile.
"Christmas Tree" Alex corrected him gently "Choose the biggest and prettiest, okay?"
"Kay" Max nodded and kissed Alex's cheek.
"Don't I get a kiss?" Nikita asked, arching an eyebrow.
Max laughed and hugged Nikita, who covered him in kisses.
"Now I'm jealous" a hoarse voice said behind Michael. As he turned around searching for the familiar sound, Michael faced nothing other than himself.
Surprised, Michael stepped away from him, and for a few moments all he could do was stare at this older version of himself, who passed by his side and smirked.
Michael questioned if his other self could see him.
"Hey buddy, remember what I told you?" the older Michael told Max "You have to be careful around Nikita because of the baby, okay?"
"Sory, papa" the little boy said with a pout.
Nikita frowned "He can hug me whenever he wants, he never hurt me or the baby, right Max?" Nikita asked the little boy who smiled at her and nodded "See, you're just jealous" she teased.
"Ohh, so he's your favorite guy now?" he asked, faking offense "Well, now I can only hope our daughter will like me, because the two of you…" he shook his head, laughing.
"We'll have to wait and see" Nikita said with a loving smile, caressing her six-month pregnant belly.
Michael smiled at her and kissed her quickly on the lips.
"Dude, are you coming or what? If we don't go now, there's no way we're getting a decent tree. It's Christmas Eve" Birkhoff said, suddenly walking into the room.
"Sorry, we're going" the elder Michael looked back at Nikita "I'll be right back"
Birkhoff held his hand out to Max "Come on champ, we have to find a tree before all the good ones are gone" Max kissed Nikita's cheek one more time before holding Birkhoff's hand.
"Bye bye" he said waving at the two girls.
"We won't be long" Michael said kissing Nikita's forehead, before following Birkhoff.
Once the trio was gone, Michael slowly approached the couch where Alex and Nikita were, fearing they could see him like Max.
As he stands right in front of them, the two women keep going through a few of the Christmas ornaments inside the boxes, unaware of his presence.
Realizing they couldn't see him either, Michael's attention fell back to Nikita.
Her long, mahogany hair fell around her face, framing her beautiful features. She was smiling; it was a genuine, happy smile that lit up her face completely.
Nikita slowly caressed her swollen stomach, carefully, cherishing it. He couldn't believe she was pregnant with his child. He wanted to touch her womb, to feel their child, to share that moment with her, even though he knew he couldn't.
She looked beautiful. He couldn't get over how pretty she was, sitting there, looking as serene and peaceful as he'd ever seen.
He wanted to kiss her so badly.
"Is Cassandra really okay with Max spending the holidays with you?" he heard Alex ask her.
"She wanted Max and us to bond before the baby comes. She believes he'll be more comfortable with sharing his 'papa' if he spends some time with me while I'm still pregnant."
Alex laughed "I think he'll have more trouble sharing his stepmom with the new baby. He absolutely adores you"
Nikita smiled "I know, but don't tell Michael"
The two girls laughed and Michael couldn't hold back a chuckle.
"Have you thought about names yet?" The younger girl asked, affectionately caressing Nikita's baby bump.
"A few…I thought about 'Sadie', but Michael really likes 'Joanne'. I think there's some special meaning to him, so I'm really inclined to accept" she said with a smile.
Michael felt his heart swell with love; Joanne was his mother's name.
"I like Joanne" Alex conceded "But I gotta admit, I had a suggestion for you" she said, a little coy.
Nikita smiled "Tell me"
"Aniya" Alex smiled "It means 'gracious'"
"Aniya" Nikita repeated, like if testing how it would sound "I like it"
"Think about it" Alex smiled again "Should we start making dinner?"
"Yeah, we probably should do that. Get ready for some fake turkey. If you guys get enough wine, it might taste real" she laughed.
As the duo headed to the kitchen, Michael followed them.
However, a half opened door on the second floor caught his attention. He went upstairs and slowly walked into the room.
It was still under construction; two of the four walls were painted in a very light tone of yellow. A white horizontal stripe crossed the walls in the middle, and little delicate flowers were draw there, just waiting to be painted.
He chuckled; it was just like Nikita to paint their daughter's room yellow or any other color instead of pink.
The floors were still covered in old newspaper, and by the little footprints in white paint, Michael knew Max had been trying to help them decorate the baby's room.
Looking around the room, a rush of emotions overtook him; happiness, joy, fulfillment, pride.
Was that really happening? Michael questioned himself. He wanted it to be real, he wanted all those things.
Leaving the room and looking at the hallway, Michael was drawn to explore the other rooms. He got into the room next to the nursery and instantly recognized it as Max's room.
It was blue and decorated with sports gear all over the walls, and an uncountable amount of toys scattered around the floor.
A picture by the nightstand caught his attention; it was a picture of him and Max apparently at a stadium, both of them were laughing and Max had his face all covered in ice-cream.
"So you're a sports fan as well, huh?" Michael said with a smile, his fingers lightly touching the photo frame.
With that smile still plastered of him face, Michael left Max's room and headed to the first room on the hallway, the one room he had been before, but didn't had the time to look around.
Entering what was his room with Nikita, he looked around taking in all the details in the room which he hadn't noticed earlier when he'd been there with Max.
The room was fresh, bright and still incredibly cozy; he was sure Nikita had handled all the decoration.
The walls were clean, only adorned by the curtains covering the windows. The most luxurious thing in the whole room was probably the closet and Nikita's dressing table. Other than that there was only an simple armchair with a side table by the corner of the room, and the two nightstand guarding their bed.
As in Max's room, both nightstands had a lamp and a collection of framed photographs.
Michael never took Nikita for the kind of person who liked to have millions of pictures around the house, but apparently she was. Or at least in the bedrooms.
Pushing a few of Nikita's pregnancy books aside, he reached for one of the photo frames.
The first picture was of himself and Nikita.
Looking at it closely, he assumed it was a wedding picture. The couple staring back at him from the picture seemed in total wedding bliss, smiling like they were the happiest couple in the world.
And we probably were, Michael thought with a smile. He was wearing a light blue shirt and she had a strapless champagne dress on.
Simple and beautiful.
The next picture consisted of him, Nikita, Max and Cassandra. Michael was slightly surprised Nikita would have a picture of Cassandra by her bedside. It was a birthday picture, Max's birthday specifically. Max was blowing his seven candles and Cassandra had her arms around her son. Standing by the other side were him and Nikita, happily cheering for the little boy.
It was adorable.
Moving by his side of the bed, another two pictures were on his nightstand; one picture was of Max, sitting on the front steps of a house, with the most endearing smile. The next picture showed him, Nikita and Max sitting in the living room he'd been only a few moments ago.
He knew it was a recent picture because Nikita's small baby bump was already showing.
"God, let this be real" he whispered, clutching the picture.
As he heard loud chatter coming from downstairs, he placed the picture back in the nightstand and carefully walked out of the room and down the hall, looking for the cheerful voices.
Michael walked down stairs, the smell of food and baked goods in the air. When he reached the bottom of the stairs, Max waved at him from across the room where he was going through the ornaments with Birkhoff.
Alex and Owen were trying to place the tree on the stand while Michael and Nikita were trying to untangle the Christmas lights.
"This time next year, we'll have a nine month old little girl crawling around in this mess" the elder Michael whispered to Nikita, who smiled warmly. She placed his hand on the spot were the baby had just kicked her, and the couple shared a smile when their little girl kicked again.
"Can't hardly wait." she said, resting her head on his shoulder. Michael kissed her hair before looking up to the younger version of himself staring from across the room, and giving him a knowing look.
"Okay, tree is secure" Owen announced "Let the decoration begin"
Max clapped his hands excitedly as he and Birkhoff started hanging all kinds of ornaments on the tree.
Michael watched the six of them gleefully adorn the tree with colorful ornaments and sparkling lights. He let out a contented sigh, watching the small but amazing family he'd apparently created for himself.
"Come on, buddy" older Michael called his son "You get to put the star on the top" he said hoisting the boy up over his head so he could reach and place the star on the top of the Christmas tree.
Max carefully placed the silver star and looked down, smiling at his father.
"Well done" Michael praised him and put him down.
As they got distracted with settling the table for dinner, older Michael stealthily walked towards his younger self, standing by his side and looking at his family.
"She's amazing, isn't she?" He asked, looking at Nikita.
Michael nodded "Yeah, she is" he said with a smile, thinking about how much he loved and missed her.
"It will be a long way until you get here, you know" elder Michael said, looking sideways to Michael "But it's all worth it, I swear"
Michael snickered "Are you telling me this is all real?" he said, disbelieving his own words.
"Ohh it is real, you'll see" older Michael said with a smirk "I'm living proof of it" he looked at Nikita one more time and his smile grew wider "and so is she".
"When it comes to planning ahead for positive outcomes, I'm just not used to it.
It does not mean I don't want one. It's just...It's been a long time since anything as good as you has happened in my life"
Nikita 1x20 – Glass Houses
A loud bang woke Michael up. His eyes snapped open with pain.
"Wow man, are you okay?" Owen asked from across the van. They were sleeping on the back of the van, hoping to close up on Ari on soon.
"I'm fine, I guess I just hit my head on the wall in my sleep" Michael groaned in distress "I had the weirdest dream" he commented.
Owen arched an eyebrow.
Michael rested against the wall, bemused "Can't remember it, though."
A/N: So, yeah, too much fluff, I know. .
In case it was a little bit confusing: I decided to leave the ending to your imagination; if you like to believe Michael actually saw a glimpse of his future, great! But if you think that's nonsense and prefers to believe it was just a dream, that's great too. Your choice :)
I particularly like the idea that he saw his future, but that's just me!
By the way, the line : "Get ready for some fake turkey. If you guys get enough wine, it might taste real" was based on Maggie's tweet on thanksgiving. I love her sense of humor.
Ohh, and in this story, little Max is learning some English, he understands it but can't speak so well yet. As you may have noticed, I love little Max!
Good? Bad? Tell me if you think Michael was just dreaming or not. I really want to know what you think about this chapter! :)
And happy holidays, guys!
~Rose.