Set before season 3. The team discusses family history.
"Hey. All three of our names end in an 'A'," Alex commented excitedly from behind the laptop. She was in the process of making hair appointments for her, Nikita, and Sonya when she noticed the similarity. It wasn't that big of a deal, but Alex thought it was nice. The three women definitely had a lot in common.
Nikita and Sonya, however, just nodded at the fact and continued unpacking. Michael and Nikita had finally moved out of the safehouse and into their own apartment. The couple had planned on moving themselves, but Alex wanted to see the place. And once she was over, Birkhoff wanted to join to help setup security. The nerd brought Sonya with him to assist with the alarm system. The only reason Sean and Ryan weren't there was because they were busy with higher ups and the government. Otherwise, it'd be a full apartment. Michael and Nikita couldn't escape their friends. The team should've never started a texting group chat.
Except, the couple wouldn't complain. Alex, Birkhoff, and Sonya were a great help in unpacking and setting up the apartment. Nikita and Michael could relax and have fun. The group drifted between topics, simply enjoying their time together. At some point, Nikita mentioned wanting a haircut. Alex immediately became excited and insisted on treating the women to a salon day. The three deserved it after being trapped in safehouses and bunkers for so long.
As soon as Alex stopped working to make an appointment, Birkhoff taunted her. He called her 'princess' and a 'spoiled heiress', and he claimed that she was really leaning into her 'Udinov' identity since she had gotten her revenge. Birkhoff did stop teasing briefly when he learned Sonya's last name was Bunhili. That was important information he wanted to hold onto. Yet, once he filed it away, he went right back to torturing Alex. Her latest comment was an especially easy target, "Your name ends in an 'X'."
"Anyway…" Alex wasn't going to respond to Birkhoff. She'd simply let Nikita's and Sonya's bewildered glances and giggles express how stupid he was. While the nerd stammered over having forgotten that 'Alexandra' was her real full name, Michael led him away to work on the alarm system. The three women were alone, allowing Alex to continue listing their similarities, "We're also illegal immigrants. Well. I'm assuming you are, Sonya, since you had asked about gaining citizenship when we get our pardons."
"It's okay. You're right. I am illegal," Sonya chuckled lightly as Alex rambled. She understood that Alex didn't want to make any assumptions, but it was fine. Sonya did have a foreign accent, and she was in Division. It wasn't difficult to guess that she was undocumented.
Nikita, on the other hand, glanced at Alex stupefied. It wasn't concerning what she said about Sonya. Nikita had seen that fact a mile away. She was absolutely beyond curious as to why Alex would think she was an illegal immigrant too. She was born in America. That was fairly obvious with the hellish foster care she was placed in since birth, "I'm American."
"Birkhoff said you had a birth certificate from Vietnam," Alex argued. After she had warned Birkhoff about the Division plant posing as Nikita's father, she checked back in to see if they were alright. Birkhoff informed her of everything that had happened, including the birth certificate they had found on the black box. She was glad she had helped them when she did.
"That was fake. It was created by Division to freak me out or whatever," Instantly, Nikita negated. Her birth certificate in the black box was as fake as everything else in Division. As she said that, Sonya finally realized what the two women were talking about. She remembered that mission, and she absolutely agreed with Nikita. Percy wouldn't have baited the rogue with any real information about her past. He'd keep it twisted just to fuck with her.
"Are you sure it's fake? The best lies have the most truth," Throwing Nikita's words back at her, Alex kept arguing. It made sense to her. After all, wouldn't it have been easier to dupe the rogues with an altered real certificate than a completely fake one.
"I was in American foster care. How did I get from Vietnam to that hellhole?" Nikita was quickly getting fed up; though, not so much with Alex. She hated that she didn't know what exactly was real or not regarding her past. She didn't have any family history to support her claims. Nikita's guesses could be just as accurate or as wrong as Alex's wild theories.
The arguing drew Michael and Birkhoff over to the women. All unpacking and setting up seemed to be halted for the moment, and it probably wouldn't start up again for a while. The men could join in on the conversation. After all, Michael had his own ideas based on what he overheard Nikita and Alex say, "Didn't that one recruit, Sara, have a son that was sold into adoption? That could've happened to you."
"Human trafficking buddies," Alex was the only person in the room who could make that joke. She was also the only one to laugh and nudge Nikita. The others just let Alex have her moment of dark humor. After what she had experienced, she could have that.
While Alex giggled to herself and riled Nikita up, Sonya was struck by the information Michael had dropped. She wasn't aware of any recruits having kids, and that was something she would've noticed. It was also something the others would've spread rumors about. What exactly was she missing, "There was a recruit with a kid?"
"Must've been before your time," Birkhoff shrugged. He had no idea what Michael was talking about either, yet he wouldn't admit to that. He'd pretend that he wasn't still kept out of the loop on things that occurred before he was a rogue agent too.
"Yeah. When were you recruited? I don't remember you before you became head hacker," Picking up on what Birkhoff stated, Alex asked. If she was being honest, she didn't pay attention to any of the recruits after she was promoted to agent. But she could've at least noticed Sonya as she was hacking in the computer lab.
"I was in the last batch of recruits. About a month before Amanda took over," Sonya shrugged. She didn't remember Alex either, not until she became that free agent. They had just run in different circles.
"So I was too busy fucking with Division to notice," That wasn't entirely true. The month before Amanda took over, Alex had been scrambling for control. Yet, they didn't need to rehash that. All of those terrible experiences could remain in the past.
Nikita agreed with that sentiment, which was why she didn't tease Alex for her response. Instead, she turned towards her boyfriend with a shiteating grin. The instant Michael noticed it, he sighed deeply, "And Michael was too busy fucking me to be an effective handler. He left poor Sonya all on her own."
"I was too concerned with the possibility of my girlfriend getting deported," Michael couldn't help himself. He had to joke about it, despite the glare it earned him.
"Me being trafficked doesn't even make sense. I was strictly in foster care until Gary and Caroline. No one adopted me before them," Fed up, Nikita seethed. She would love to have answers to shut her friends up with, but she had nothing. They could keep going with their wild accusations and probably be right. Who could say otherwise. All evidence of Nikita had been erased when she entered Division. And anyone who could've answered her questions was dead.
"They could've changed their minds and given you up. Didn't you say a foster family once gave you back because they didn't want you?" Regardless of Nikita's annoyance, Alex continued. Maybe it was messed up for her to use a story Nikita had told her in confidence as evidence for her claim. But Alex was certain she was right. Or at least partially right.
"What the fuck?" Michael's sudden flash of anger at what happened to the woman he loved most covered Nikita's head duck. Alex was probably onto something. Nikita just didn't want to be reminded of foster care. It was hell enough the first time she experienced it.
Shaking her head, Sonya believed she had a plausible explanation to get Nikita to calm down. It couldn't answer all of her questions, but it could explain some of the things Division created for her fake birth certificate, "Your mother could've been an immigrant. That'd explain why you didn't have any family to take you in. You were born here, so you couldn't go to them- you were a citizen. And they couldn't come to you, cause immigration's a bitch."
"Thank you, Sonya. That's the most reasonable explanation," It was also the explanation Nikita was the most willing to accept. She hated thinking about her parents and how she came to be because of all the potential heartbreak. Yet the story Sonya spun seemed the easiest to swallow and be okay with.
Sonya only shrugged. She had seen that situation play out before. It was never easy for immigrant families, "My friend in uni went through that. Her family couldn't help her with the baby due to immigration. She didn't die, however."
"That's right. You went to Oxford. But you grew up in West Africa," Remembering what he had read in Sonya's recruit file, Michael commented. When Sonya nodded in agreement, he turned to Nikita with a crooked grin. She rolled her eyes, "See, I paid attention."
"You're an idiot," Nikita was unable to come up with a better quip. She could only lightly punch Michael's arm. That just made him chuckle, however.
"And you're adopted," Alex replied. Nikita shot her a look, yet she simply shrugged. Alex had no explanation for that besides wanting to back Michael up.
As that strangeness occurred, Birkhoff grabbed Sonya's attention. He wanted to know more about her life than just the small snippets he had received. It was bound to be far more interesting than the guessing game they were making of Nikita's past. Sonya wasn't so sure about that. But of course she would tell Seymour about herself, "I grew up in Nigeria."
"So you went to school abroad, wound up in America somehow, got in trouble, and Division took you before you could be deported?" Birkhoff attempted to put all the pieces together, but fell short. What he knew didn't make much sense.
"More or less," However, Sonya didn't necessarily want to expand upon it. She'd go over the basics, yet she didn't want a trip down memory lane. It was too much to revisit.
"What's more?" Tearing her attention away from Michael and Alex, Nikita asked. They had explored her missing past, so why not delve into more complete ones. Sonya was the least known member of their team, after all. They should get to know her, especially since she had begun a relationship with Birkhoff. All eyes turned towards the hacker, waiting for her to speak. She eventually did so with a long intake of breath.
"I grew up well with a politically active family. When I was at university, political tensions rose and my family was in danger. I couldn't go home, and soon my student visa expired. I thought America would be the best place for me. I could hide, be safe, and find a way to help my family. I was arrested after I tried to hack into the immigration agency. Percy said I could join Division, or return home and die like my family. I chose Division," That wasn't everything, yet it was all Sonya was willing to share at the moment. It seemed to appease the others; they had grown serious. That fact helped settle Sonya.
She didn't have to worry when it came to them. Sonya had known that with Birkhoff, but it was nice to realize that with the others as well. She felt as though she could share her thoughts on the matter. With Division defeated, she believed she could be given the opportunity to help her family escape to America or any country of their choice. She simply had to gather the right resources first, and remain strong like they had been, "Despite what Percy claimed, I believe my family's still alive. They're staying strong. I just need to gain enough power to help them."
Whereas Michael, Nikita, and Birkhoff simply nodded along, believing Sonya's conviction, Alex absolutely understood it. Once she had had the right amount of power, she was able to avenge her father and help her mother continue her life. It remained a wonderful feeling to have. Alex had made things right for her loved ones. She hoped Sonya could do the same some day, "I know what you mean."
"Alex, you didn't know your mom was alive until six months ago. And your father was basically a criminal," Nikita took Alex down a peg. Yes, Sonya and Alex were similar in that they had been tragically separated from their families and had worked towards returning to them. But the situations were not at all the same. For starters, Sonya's family was still in danger while Alex and her mother could take their massive wealth and run.
"And your father could be rotting away in prison for the rest of his life. That's why you don't know him," Alex instantly fired back. As much as Nikita wanted to fight her about it, she couldn't. Alex's idea was entirely possible. And if it was true, it would explain a lot.
"He's in a prison in Vietnam," Birkhoff's addition ruined it, however. Nikita became pissed again. It was bullshit that Division's ideas about her past held more water than her own.
The information Nikita had received from varying foster parents and case managers was barely enough to let her know she was Asian; though, she could've gathered that on her own. She was hardly certain that her birth mother had died. No one had ever cared enough about her to provide her with real answers. She could never form an identity. Which meant whatever her friends were suggesting could be wildly unfounded, "We don't even know if I'm actually Vietnamese. You guys could just be racist."
"Well it's better than just saying all of Asia," Michael admitted. It was true that the team didn't know Nikita's ethnicity; she didn't know it either. But there was a good chance she was Vietnamese. Percy wouldn't have made that up. After all, Asia was a huge continent. There were tons of different countries, races, and ethnicities. A person couldn't just lump it all into one thing. They had to be specific.
"That's true. Russia is in Asia," Agreeing with Michael, Alex added. Until they knew the full truth, they had to stick with partial information and wild guesses they believed made sense.
"You're a Muscovite. You're not Asian," Annoyed, Nikita refuted. It was true that Russia expanded across half the world, and many Asian people lived within its borders. Yet Alex and her entire family had been born in Moscow. She was European through and through.
"I didn't say I was Asian. I'm saying you could be Russian," Alex shook her head. She was fully aware of her family history and roots. Since Nikita didn't, the others could say anything that seemed even remotely plausible. Her being Russian could fit the facts. Michael, Sean, and Birkhoff did like to joke that Alex and Nikita were sisters. The two could have a lot more in common than they thought.
"So, what? My father got sent to the Gulag, and my mother ran off with me to America?" Chuckling dryly, Nikita highly doubted that was plausible. Even if she didn't know anything about her origins, she still believed she was born in the States. How she was unceremoniously dumped into foster care couldn't be explained if she came from anywhere else. She was an unwanted orphan, and the government cast her aside; it was that simple.
"It's possible. The Soviet Union was still around when you were born," Always willing to believe someone had once cared about Nikita, if only evil forces hadn't gotten in the way, Michael sided with the sarcastic story. Well, only partially. It was out there, but it could be an explanation. It also pissed Nikita off and made her glare at him again.
"Seriously!" Nikita huffed. Michael began to chuckle, causing Alex and Birkhoff to giggle as well. They were definitely getting off track. Except, it was fun. As long as they kept it light, their stupid speculations didn't matter. It was all part of the teasing game.
Watching the others, Sonya chuckled as well. She had been distracted by her thoughts of her family. Yet she was ripped back to the moment by Nikita's crossed arms and intense glare. Unable to control her giggles, Sonya leaned over to whisper in Birkhoff's ear. Although her family wasn't in her life at the moment, she was glad she had that over nothing, "My family history might be crazy, but at least I know it. I'd rather have that than chaos."
"I'm pretty sure we could say anything, and it'd have the possibility of being true," Grinning wickedly, Birkhoff suggested. That was his chance to torture Nikita after all the times she had taunted the hell out of him. He wasn't going to miss that for the world.
However, Sonya quickly beat him to the punch. She sized Nikita up with a devilish smirk. Once Michael's and Alex's laughter from previous jokes died down, Sonya voiced the cruel tease that had been bouncing around her head, "Do you think the reason Percy was so obsessed with Nikita was because he was secretly her father?"
"Oh my God!" Gagging, Nikita shrieked. That was, without a doubt, the worst thought in existence, and she was forced to experience it.
Sonya easily burst into laughter with the others. The joy and teasing was absolutely contagious. The team's friendship was a powerful thing. It sucked in others and made them feel like they could be a part of the fun. The team had love to spread around, even if it was disguised by slight bullying. Sonya hoped she could really supply to it one day. Although she wished to be reunited with her family, she also wanted to form a new one. She could be involved in the team's craziness. As long as nothing horrific happened to her, she could see that happening. The fact that she was Birkhoff's girlfriend didn't matter. They had all become friends.
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