Set shortly after 3x04: Michael gets wounded and tries to hide it from Nikita (Could be considered AU but I have no idea)
"Michael... I'm cold" Nikita whined. She had fallen asleep with Michael pressed against her back, holding her tight and keeping her warm. At some point during the night, he must have turned away from her and now Nikita woke up shivering. She always got cold at night but she had gotten used to Michael taking care of that. He always held her tightly and kept the covers on her.
"Come here then" Michael mumbled. He couldn't even open his eyes. Exhaustion was weighing down on him heavily. He had been out in the field that day and the mission didn't go as planned exactly. He and the alpha team luckily got away before they were fully trapped but he wasn't feeling so great after. "But I don't want to move…please" Nikita was very comfortable on her side like that. She just wanted him to come back to her.
Michael chuckled tiredly and snuggled in her back. She brought one of his hands to her chest, wrapping herself in his arms even more. She reached her hand and caressed his cheek and her eyes immediately snapped open.
"Michael, do you have a fever?" When she felt his skin he seemed unusually hot. She shifted in his arms and pushed him on his back. Michael hardly ever got sick. He seemed well when she got back home. He had been in bed already but she returned pretty late and didn't think much of it. She and Alex had the day off. Alex needed to stop and recover properly from getting shot so Nikita decided the best way to get her to rest for at least one day was to spend a day together outside of Division.
"I don't know" he took a sharp breath in when she pushed him on his back. Nikita grew concerned "Are you in pain?" She touched his forehead again. She was pretty sure he had a fever and he was sweating which confirmed it.
"Just a few scrapes and bruises from today. I'm fine" If he got her to fall asleep again he could check on himself. He didn't want to worry her. She had gotten through enough stress the past week.
"What do you mean you are fine? You are clearly not" She turned the bedside lamp and got out of bed. She grabbed the first aid kit to see if she could help ease the pain of some of the bruises, a thermometer and a new shirt so he could change out of the sweaty one.
Nikita checked his temperature first. He did have a fever but thankfully it was not too high. She started taking his shirt off but was quickly stopped by Michael's hands grabbing hers "Baby, I'm really okay. Let's just go back to sleep. You don't need to do that" He pulled her back into bed but she didn't lay down. She straddled his legs and gazed at him concerned.
Her heart dropped then. She knew something was seriously wrong. "Michael, take off your shirt" she couldn't hide her worry and her voice cracked. She knew him so well and he acted this way only in one scenario - when he tried to hide something bad from her.
Michael really wanted to prevent this moment but he could tell by her face that she was already forming ideas in her head about what might be wrong with him. He sat up and wrapped an arm around her. "I didn't want to worry you. I'm really okay"
He took off his shirt and heard her gasp. He had bruises on his left side which looked normal for after a mission. From all the running around and fighting during missions it was almost impossible to walk out without bruises. What caused her reaction, though, was his bandaged shoulder. He had been shot.
"You were shot today and you didn't think about fucking telling me!"She tried to keep her voice down and stay somewhat collected but so many emotions were going through her at the same time. Anger - because he didn't tell her, fear - because had gotten shot, guilt - because she didn't notice and wasn't there to have his back in the field.
"It's not that I didn't want to tell you. You were having a good day. You came home happy. When was I supposed to be like 'Oh by the way I got shot'. You would have gotten worried for no reason " Michael pleaded with her. When she came home she was visibly relaxed and happy. He knew how she would react about him getting shot. He couldn't do that to her and he also wasn't in that much pain when they went to bed.
"You should have called me as soon as you got back to Division. I had to learn about the last-minute op from Ryan through a text and then find out my way what was going on." Nikita found it strange when she got Ryan's text. She reached out just to check-in. He only said that they were preparing an op but not to worry because they had it under control. She got curious and logged into Division's system to have a look through. It was a simple procedure. Micheal and an alpha team were dispatched to some warehouse to check a lead on a rogue agent. Alex reassured her that if it was something solid that they would have been called in so she decided to let it go.
"I'm sorry" Michael didn't want to fight with her. It hurt more than any physical wound. He understood where she was coming from. He had been in her place many times before with her and had reacted the exact same way. "It's my fault. I should have told you"
"No, It's my fault" she muttered while peeling off his bandage.
"No, Nikita, don't do that" It was a bad habit of both of them. Whenever they went out into the field without each other and got hurt the other would feel guilty about not being there. They knew how to protect one another best and they almost never got hurt when they were together. "I wouldn't have taken you with me either way. That warehouse was supposed to be empty. I had an alpha team with me solely because the building was huge and we needed to check all of it"
She was studying his wound not looking at him. He took her hand and brought it to his lips. She was still her stubborn self "How mad are you at me from 1 to 'I'm going to rip your head off' " That got a slight smile out of her. He lifted her chin and moved closer. He brushed his forehead against hers and whispered "I prefer you yelling at me than not talking to me"
"Just you wait for the next time you are on my ass about not taking care of myself and hiding stuff like this" She bit back. Michael chuckled "And I would absolutely deserve it"
Nikita decided to drop it for now. Taking care of him was more important. Michael, however, wanted to make sure things were okay between them. "I just didn't want you to see me shot so soon after.." he trailed off and didn't finish.
She understood then. After Alex got shot she went to clean up and he had followed her. They had a conversation about how hard it was for her to go through that especially when it happened right in front of her eyes. Her gaze now turned serious but soft. "That's not what I meant when I told you those things the other day. This is different. You got shot. You can't just hide that as if it didn't happen. That does more harm than good to me. If you had told me I could have taken better care of you than the dumbass that treated your wound" her tone quickly turned angry again. It brought Micheal back from his thoughts "What?"
"It's getting infected. Who did this?" Luckily it didn't need stitches but his wound hadn't been cleaned or dressed properly at all. "Erhm…I think his name was James." Michael wasn't sure. Usually, the team was treated by the doctor but he wasn't in Medical so someone else had to help him out.
"What kind of fucking medical school did he go to?" Nikita was ready to fight someone. "Nikita, it's fine. It happens" Michael tried to calm her down. She shouldn't get so heated up. Sometimes wounds didn't heal so easily.
"No, it's not fine. It's getting infected. That's why you have a fever. Let's go to the bathroom so I can take care of it" She wasn't as pissed off at him as before but there was no way she could be calm about him being in pain and having an infected gunshot wound.
"Okay" he nodded and followed her to the bathroom. She grabbed a chair so he could sit down while she patched him up. It made him smile. No matter how upset she was with him right now she would still take care of him in the best way possible. She was soft and gentle despite the fury that radiated from her face.
As she was cleaning the wound he tensed up. It really stung. She took a hold of his hand and squeezed it gently while her other hand continued cleaning it up. She needed the comfort as much as he did.
They didn't say anything for a long time. She patched him up and kissed his shoulder. He instantly pulled her in his arms. She stepped between his legs and wrapped her arms around his neck "Don't do that ever again" she whispered and bumped her forehead against his.
"I won't and I'm sorry again" He held her tighter. "And I also want to be the first person you call if you are hurt or something has happened" She might be a little bit of a hypocrite on that one because she wasn't the best at it either but she knew Michael would keep his word and honour her wish. He wasn't as stubborn as her, at least in some cases.
"I promise if you promise you won't kill the guy from Medical tomorrow" He was serious about being better about that. He didn't want to hurt her more and be the reason for her getting really worried. He tried to lighten the mood somehow now. Nikita huffed and rolled her eyes "He wishes to have that luck"
"Nikita…"
"What? Everyone in Division knows how to patch up a wound and he works in Medical. How did he manage to fuck up like that?" She was getting heated up again. Michael's safety and wellbeing was something she would never compromise with. He was her everything and if she was coming off dramatic right now so be it.
"Well, I don't know if he was actually a medic. It was a bit of chaos when we got back. Everyone was helping everyone" Michael explained sheepishly. If Nikita hadn't blown off his head before then she was definitely going to do it right now.
"Michael, are you serious?! There was no other person you could ask? Like any agent or you even alone would have done a better job. Or you know you could have maybe told your fiance about it at least" Nikita pulled away from him. She didn't understand how he could trust a stranger like that. Yes, he knew almost everyone at Division but still. He couldn't have known if the person had any experience with treating gunshot wounds. He could have been one of the techs just passing by.
"Not my finest moment I admit it '' He hadn't thought about it until now. He had seen the guy before but wasn't sure what exactly he did. Treating wounds was like second nature to any Division agent so he didn't care at the time who helped him patch up.
"I understand why you didn't tell me. I get it. I'm not even mad about that anymore. But at least make sure you have taken care of yourself properly. What if I hadn't woken up and noticed your fever or listened to you when you didn't want to take your shirt off. You were in pain yet you still didn't want to tell me and ask for help"
She was right and he knew that. Michael should have told her from the start. He always complained when she hid her injuries and pain and here he was doing the same thing. Was it so bad that he wanted to give her some peace? Apparently yes because it backfired on them big. Neither was she calm nor was he helpful in any way to keep her calm.
"I just didn't want you to worry. It was stupid. I shouldn't have tried to hide it from you. Can we please not fight. I'm sorry" Michael felt terrible. If he had told her about it earlier they would have been sleeping in bed peacefully now instead of doing this.
"We are not fighting" His plea made her heart sore. They weren't fighting or at least she didn't want it to come off like that. She just wanted him to understand that hiding it was so much worse than her finding out. She loved him for his protective nature but sometimes he put her first in situations where he really shouldn't have.
She came back into his arms and cradled his cheeks "I love you so much. I appreciate everything you do for me. But please if you want to take care of me and protect me you have to take care of yourself first. And I would like to be included in that process as well" she let on a smile this time
"I love you too and I promise to let you in no matter what" He wanted to kiss her so bad right now. Michael hated arguing with her. It left him feeling empty every time. They were on the same page now so he wanted her snuggled up in his arms again.
"Am I forgiven now?" She chuckled and laid a kiss on his forehead. He whimpered. She shook her hand and laughed but granted his wish and kissed him fully now. "When have I not forgiven you? I am not your favourite person in the whole entire world for any old reason"
Michael chuckled and rolled his eyes. He had told her that a while back when he was drunk out of his mind amongst a lot of other praises for her. They were all true of course. Nikita loved it so much that she constantly found a way to remind him that she was his favourite everything. She took great pride in it.
"Hell yeah, you are. Maybe I should add a favourite nurse to that as well" He teased and ran his hand on her back, keeping her extremely close.
"Well yeah now that we established that I should be your go-to one as well" There were no more harsh feelings in those words. They could tease each other and laugh now "And while we are still on that note.." she pulled away and studied his bruises "Does anywhere else hurt?"
"No. Just my shoulder and my side" He was honest with her now. "Your shoulder should be okay now. Although, I would like the Doctor to see it in the morning just to be sure. I think we have something in here for bruises" she started going through the medkit until she found what she was looking for.
She applied the cream on his bruised side while pressing on them to feel if something was broken. "Baby, nothing is broken you don't need to check again" he took a big breath in and shuddered to exhale.
"Okay, I'll stop. I'm sorry" She gave him a kiss and went to clean up the mess on the counter. "Go lay down. I'm coming in a minute" He didn't want to though. Michael remained on that chair sitting and waiting for her. "Michael…" her voice was more stern now.
He smiled and decided to listen to her now before she fully walked him back to the bed herself. Nikita finished putting everything back and walked out of the bathroom. She didn't return to bed, though. She left the room before Michael could say anything.
She returned shortly after with a big bottle of water and made him drink a good portion of it. He had to stay hydrated. It was going to help his body with the fever. They settled into bed after. Nikita was going a little overboard in his opinion of making sure he was comfortable and that his shoulder wasn't in a weird position. He decided not to make a comment about it and let her take care of him. He would have done the same for her.
Thank you so much for reading and reviewing! This chapter could be considered AU because I feel like it's too serious of a moment maybe to have in between episodes. Hope you enjoyed it!