HEY HEY HEY ! Yes, i am going fast ! But i ship Balex so much i just write so easily about them :3 Thanks for those very kind reviews you guyshave been giving me, it's so sweet and adorable of you :D

Well, there you go, Chapter 3, on a silver plate ;D

A few days later, Birkhoff started getting better. He was again drinking his Energy drinks all day, and was rediscovering, slowly, his love for good food. Alex walked in the big living room, turned towards the kitchen area and walked in on Birkhoff making himself a triple cheese sandwich. She smiled at him. He didn't answer. He was still very avaricious with words but he was softly warming up to taking part in conversations. Even if it was just a glare, or a smirk, for Alex, it was sign of huge improvement. He finished his toast and took it in his right hand and his Fueler© can on the other. Alex followed him to the couch and they sat together as the engineer was eating back his strength. She took the can from his hand and drank a few sip of it. She returned it at its rightful place and lingered on Birkhoff's hand. She took one of his fingers and pressed it in a friendly way before getting up to fetch an apple from the table's fruit basket.

"So, how is our favorite nerd doing today?" Nikita asked, walking in the room, very energetic, as usual. Birkhoff lifted his head up and gave her a quarter of a smile to reassure her. Alex walked up to the woman and smiled at her.

"I think he is finally starting to get better. I'm watching him closely and he seems to have taken back a bit of strength." Nikita smiled back. She was happy too that Birkhoff was turning around the corner and looking to a brighter tomorrow. She had to admit, if he wouldn't be there anymore, what would they have done? Lost, that's what they would have been. She turned her eyes back to the young woman and looked at her seriously. She pointed to Alex's right hand, still bandaged and asked with an eyebrow rising up:

"You never actually told me what happened." Birkhoff stopped eating for a second, waiting for Alex's answer. He silently prayed she wouldn't say anything. He could deal with Alex being worried sick about him, but with three people preoccupied, he wasn't so sure how he would handle it. Alex swallowed her saliva and improvised.

"Oh that? Nothing, really. I was showering and some water spread on the bathroom floor. When I got out, I slipped and knocked the mirror down. Nothing to worry about, really." She gave Nikita a bit of a forced smile, hoping her mentor wouldn't notice anything. Automatically, her eyes went to Birkhoff, sitting in his sofa. They exchanged a glance and went back to their occupation. Alex finished her apple under Nikita's concerned pupils. She then threw the core of the fruit in the bin before she walked out of the big room. Nikita approached Birkhoff and sat next to him in front of the big plasma TV. There was some channel going on about world news, which were, as always, really intelligently made cover-ups for everything. She put a hand on Birkhoff's knee and turning to him.

"What happened to Alex's hand?" She asked with a threatening look. Birkhoff hesitated a minute. Was he supposed to say the truth? The truth of how Alex lost it when he tried to suicide? No. He shouldn't, he thought. Nikita and Michael should never know about this.

"I'm not entirely sure. I was asleep when it happened. I just helped her take care of it after" He answered with a soft voice. He had been silent for so long, listening to his own voice was feeling weird. He turned back to the screen, changed the channel, and then turned back to Nikita, who hadn't moved an inch.

"Could you call Alex? I need a partner for videogames."

"Sure Nerd" Nikita replied. She got up, patted his shoulder in a gentle way and walked out of the room. He followed the young woman's figure until she was out of sight and exhaled. He didn't even realize he had kept his breath all this time. Birkhoff closed his eyes and let his mind wonder, listening to the pounding of the rain at the window. Thunder rumbled in the back and he leaned back in the couch. The rain poured faster as the thunder got closer. Birkhoff opened his eye and looked through the window. A little smile painted his lips as he saw Alex come running inside and shake all the water off her. He heard her talk with Nikita, and few seconds later, she came into the room, bearing a smile on her face. He waved and she got closer. He joyfully pat the pillow next to him and the young woman sad down, happy.

"So, what should we play?" She giggled as she took the videogames boxes from the table in front of her and starting looking at them.

"Just take a pick" Said the man, switching on the console.

They played for a few hours, waiting for the storm to pass by. But the rain wouldn't go away, and the thunderbolts were getting bigger and bigger each minute. In the middle of a game, where Alex was, for once, winning, power shot down. It's was darkness. Complete utterly darkness. Alex screamed of anger when she couldn't finish Birkhoff off and threw the controller at the engineer.

"Hey! What was that for?" He whined in a laugh. His typical Birkhoff laugh. She took a minute to answer, enjoying the moment. She heard it ring in her ears for an instant before turning to him and laughing it off.

"This place is supposed to be Fort Knox no? How would you work if the power shuts down?" She asked with a mischievous glare.

"Heh, I don't work when there's no power. Duh…" He answered with an ironic voice.

They exchanged a glance and burst out laughing like little kids. For a few seconds, Birkhoff forgot it all. The pain, the sadness, the melancholy… All had been whipped away by the tingling feeling he had in his stomach when he heard her giggle. He smirked and thought about what he had done. He had been selfish. Genuinely more selfish that he had ever been in his whole life. Sure, he was very narcissistic and egotistical on a daily basis but what he thought of doing. What he almost had done. Like Alex said, how could he have ever thought that it would have made anything better? He decided to turn a blind eye to what he had done, and forget everything about it. As of now, he knew that the most important thing he had to do was to get better, whatever the cost it had. For him, for them and for her.

Hope you guys liked it :) I thought, after doing two very sad, i should bring back a bit of a smile on everybody's face :D Plus, now, i can get to the very adorable part of their relationship, you'll seen what i mean next time ;D

For the moment, Ciao, see you soon :3