Set after 3x11 "Black Badge". Michael and Sean get some bonding time.

"You're the best at this stuff. You have a great memory, you know what is and isn't useful, and you know how to use your equipment very well," His hand in hers, Nikita led Michael to the armory. She walked backwards so her bright eyes and brilliant smile would be perfectly aimed at him. Although he wanted to question her, he couldn't say anything against her beautiful expression. She could lead him off a cliff with the way she looked at him. He'd only smile dreamily, as he was then- especially as her melodic compliments and slight innuendo rang in his ears. Michael was trapped under Nikita's spell, helplessly guided wherever she wanted.

"This is a great way to keep helping the team as you recover. You always know what we need, and you're just about the smartest person for the job," Bright and cheerful, Alex brought Sean to the armory. Her smile could've illuminated the sky as she fed her boyfriend compliments and stared at him lovingly. Sean was captivated by it all. He didn't care why Alex was dragging him away, only that she looked at him like that. He'd do anything for that expression, including following her to destinations unknown.

Once in the armory, however, Sean and Michael quickly figured out what was going on. They were both dragged there by their partners, for starters. Also, although the brilliant smiles remained, Alex and Nikita weren't as sweet. They unceremoniously dropped paperwork and clipboards in the men's hands, then left the room. Michael and Sean were too stunned to speak, or do anything else for a moment. They simply stared at one another and their retreating partners. Glancing at the paperwork as well, Sean was finally able to connect all the dots. He didn't know whether to laugh or cry, "Did we just get duped into doing inventory for them?"

"Well, Alex does have you whipped," Sighing, Michael began to take stock of Division's remaining weapons and equipment. Since he was already in that situation, there was no use fighting it. Someone had to do the job, and it obviously wouldn't be Nikita or Alex.

"Like you don't follow Nikita around like a puppy," Sean huffed. He also started to work on the inventory; Alex had been correct in saying it'd help him help the team while he recovered from his recent injuries. But he didn't appreciate that she had tricked him into the job. She could've just asked. It wasn't as though he'd say 'no' to her. Which was why it was so easy for her to mess with him. She didn't need to ask when she could prank him. Either way, he'd follow her. At least Sean wasn't alone in that regard. Michael was just as wrapped up in his girl.

"She follows me around too. We can both sway each other," Unlike Sean, Michael accepted his fate. He also recognized that Nikita was the same. They both had it bad for one another, and they both knew each other better than they knew themselves. Michael and Nikita could make the other do anything they wanted- within reason. They just had to find the right tactics, "In fact, I can make her rant until we turn in for the night. And I can do it in less than five words. No. Less than five letters."

"Alright, bet," Sean didn't necessarily doubt Michael; he did know his fiancée best. He could easily find a way to get her riled up. But to do so in less than five letters, Sean couldn't believe it. He wasn't even sure he could do that with Alex. More than just a word had to be said in order to start a fight.

Smirking, Michael opened the armory door. Nikita and Alex had gone down the hall to work on something with Owen. He wasn't sure what it was. But considering they had forced him and Sean to do the tedious work, they probably weren't working that hard. Michael could easily distract his fiancée with one simple word- well, acronym really, "CPS…"

"Fuck child services!" Nikita didn't need to hear anything else. She didn't care what Michael could've been talking about. All she had to hear was CPS and she was ready to fight.

Closing the door and cutting off Nikita's rant, Michael shot Sean an 'I told you so' expression. The Seal rolled his eyes. Everyone knew Nikita hated social services more than she hated anything else. Anyone could set her off with the acronym. Her fiancé wasn't special, "I could've done that."

"If it comes to the overall safety of a child…" Opening the door once more, Michael shouted. He stared at Sean pointedly as he let his sentence drop. He didn't need to say anything more. That was all it took to make Nikita rant for the rest of the day.

"Do not fucking call CPS…" Once again, her shout could be heard clearly down the hall. And once again, Michael closed the armory door and smirked at Sean.

The Seal scoffed and shook his head. Michael had more than proved his point. He had gotten Nikita to rant, possibly forever. The thing was, though, could Michael eventually get her to stop. As soon as she figured out that he goaded her into a rant, she might go off on him. That was what Alex would do, at least. Sean didn't think Nikita was any different, "Is she going to be pissed at you later?"

"Over the sentences she interrupted, no. She knows I agree with most of her points. When she finds out why I said that, definitely. But I'll just apologize and feed her, and it'd all be good," Shrugging, Michael returned to taking inventory. He was fully aware that Nikita would snap at him later, but he was prepared for it. He knew he shouldn't have set her off, so he knew how to apologize. The only thing he had to figure out was what to make her for dinner.

"Food really is a saving grace. I don't know how many times my unit would nearly tear each other's heads off, then we'd eat and it'd be like nothing ever happened," Laughing to himself, Sean set down his clipboard. Michael was definitely right that dinner (and an apology) would instantly fix things. Something about food just made everything better. It was magical.

"I'm gonna be honest. I'd rather eat an MRE than some Division food," Losing focus on his task, Michael admitted. His choice could've been swayed by his differing memories of being in the Navy and being in Division. Yet, a part of his statement had merit. Some of Division's food was a worse degree of government issued slop than a ready to eat meal.

"Oh yeah. MRE over mess anyday. Especially the peanut butter," Sean nodded vehemently. He'd take somewhat spiced mush in a bag over flavorless, dry, lesser quality government food. Neither were ideal, but one was definitely better.

"I think the peanut butter in an MRE is better than from a store," Again, Michael's memories from the Navy might have been swaying his opinion. The familiarity and comfort of a little pack of peanut butter in a ration kit always made it taste better than it really was. A decade later, that comfort stuck with him. He certainly didn't miss it, yet the thought was still warming.

"Dude. Have you ever mixed it with the coffee? It's so good," In hindsight, mixing the terrible instant coffee with just-okay peanut butter was disgusting. But being deployed overseas made it taste like the best thing in the world. Sean would never do it while he was home. Yet if he was ever out in the field again, he'd give it another shot.

Placing down his own clipboard, Michael glanced at Sean in concern. Sure, he had made his own weird concoctions while deployed. But he had never been that desperate, "Okay. I at least have some taste."

"You're missing out," Sean shrugged. No Michael absolutely wasn't. But the Seal couldn't let him get away with the taunt.

"On pure sludge, yeah," Michael rolled his eyes. He could see how Sean and Alex got along so easily. They both liked to ruin peanut butter with gross slop.

A sarcastic reply played on the tip of Sean's tongue. He was ready to just tear Michael apart. However, Nikita's shouts about child services grew even louder. Even with the door closed, the two men could hear it. Concerned, Sean glanced at Nikita's fiancé to see if she was alright, "Is she still going?"

Cautiously, Michael opened the armory door. Sure enough, Nikita was still going (just as Michael had predicted). Except, her voice and words became louder and harsher with each passing minute, "The system doesn't give two fucking shits about kids. I mean, look at Alex. There was no way they'd ever help her if they found her. She was a trafficked kid on drugs. They would've just sent her back to the hell she came from without a single care."

"Yeah! Women's shelters wouldn't even take me cause I wasn't old enough," Alex easily added on. She wasn't as passionate as Nikita was when it came to child services, but she was just as angry when it came to the wrongs she had suffered. There were hardly any resources for a young girl trafficked into the country. She had been fated to be cast aside and killed since the second she was sold. Even safeties in place to help women couldn't help her. She wasn't a consenting adult with her own autonomy, after all.

"See! It never ends. Abuse is just a cruel fucking cycle perpetuated by the system," Nikita wasn't making any arguments anyone would disagree with. She didn't need to be yelling. But there was a lot of bent up rage that had to get out. Then was her chance.

"Should we save Owen from that?" Michael wondered. Alex appeared wrapped up in the rant, even supplying to it every once and awhile. Owen, on the other hand, seemed frightened by the screaming. He hadn't started it, so why was he receiving the anger. For half a second, Michael and Sean considered helping him out. Then, they quickly closed the door, "Nah."

Chuckling, the men returned to their work. Both swore they could faintly hear Nikita's and Alex's shouts, yet they didn't pay any attention to them. They simply did what they had been tricked into doing. Sean thought a lot about that fact. He felt like he should pay the women back; getting them riled up wasn't enough. There had to be something else he and Michael could do. After some time, Sean believed he finally found that idea, "Have the girls had MREs before?"

"Yeah they should've. Why?" Michael was far more interested in what Sean was thinking than the inventory. The Seal was obviously up to something. Whatever it was, the agent wanted to be a part of it.

"Just wanted to torture them a little bit," Sean shrugged. He had originally wanted to trick Alex and Nikita into thinking that an MRE was amazing, only for them to eat it and be extremely disappointed. But since they had had one before, he needed to change up his prank.

Fortunately, Michael was right there with Sean. He had his own ideas in tricking Alex and Nikita. And some of them went well with his half-made plans for dinner that night, "We could pretend we're making them a meal, then serve them no-flame heated crap."

Before Sean could excitedly agree to the idea, there was still the matter of an angry Nikita. Would the prank even work while she was so pissed, "Would it get Nikita off her rant?"

"...and then once they adopt you, they have full control of you. CPS stops paying attention. The abuse can just get worse…" Opening and closing the door allowed the men to hear that Nikita was nowhere near done. She was going to argue with no one until she passed out.

"She'll eat and rant without noticing," Although his fiancée was livid about a very serious and important topic, Michael couldn't help but laugh. He could never say she wasn't passionate. Everything she did was with the power of the sun.

"...even if you run away, there's no safety on the street…" Opening and closing the door on Alex produced the same result. She was just as riled up.

"Alex is involved enough to just blow right through the food," Sean concluded. As fun as seeing the women's reactions to being served MREs would've been, them eating the slop without noticing sounded even funnier. They weren't the only two people who could trick their partners into something without their knowledge. The tables could easily turn.

Setting down his clipboard for good, Michael decided. After getting Nikita so worked up, a silly prank could make her feel better. She always enjoyed it when they were all making fun of one another and joking around. She'd be able to see some good in that day. Sean and Michael just had to torture her and Alex first, "You wanna swing by an Army surplus store?"

"We can stock up on the things we noticed were missing," Tossing aside his own clipboard, Sean was ready with an excuse to get them out of Division. It wasn't exactly an excuse. They should restock on what they could. However, the black ops group could be placed on the backburner for just a moment. The friends should focus on themselves. Or, more specifically, on the men proving they weren't totally whipped by their partners.

After buying some nasty looking MREs (and the things for Division) Michael and Sean somehow managed to drag Nikita and Alex to the engaged couple's apartment. The women continued to vent their frustrations about their past experiences throughout, even while they ate. Just as their partners had suspected, the two didn't notice the MREs. They were consumed by their rant. Yet hours later, when exhaustion crept in, Alex and Nikita were fine with calming down and going to bed. Sean and Michael sighed in relief. That didn't last long for Michael, though. Once alone, his fiancée muttered bitterly, "Dinner sucked tonight, by the way."

Michael burst into laughter. He wasn't expecting her to change subjects so suddenly. He also hadn't expected her to make a comment about dinner so long after the fact. While he laughed, Nikita glared at him incredulously. She had been completely serious. Just because she was distracted by other things didn't make it not true. After a long and shitty day, the dinner he had made her sucked even more, "What?"

"You're passionate," Flashing a crooked grin, Michael kissed his fiancée adoringly. He'd explain everything in a minute. For the time being, he'd just cherish the woman he loved.

Once home, Alex settled into bed before Sean. Not only was she still getting used to the fact that they lived together- especially because of what had happened to cause that- but she was also still lost in thought. She quietly stewed on what she and Nikita had said. However, as soon as her boyfriend joined her in bed, she was able to shake away most of her heavy thoughts. Only a few confusing ones remained. The loudest was the fact that Sean and Michael had made one of the worst meals she had eaten in a long time- even though she knew they could create delicious foods, "You and Michael cannot cook."

"What? Oh, yeah. That's cause we gave you MREs," Placing a sweet (and apologetic) kiss on her cheek, Sean finally admitted. He was surprised it had taken Alex that long to say anything. She had been completely wrapped up in venting her past anger.

"I hate you. But I love you at the same time," Alex confessed with a laugh. The rest of her worrisome, dark, and angry thoughts left her as she giggled. She just kissed her boyfriend and relaxed against the pillows. Sean smiled brightly into the kiss.