Luckily, Nikita turned her head before she threw up. She made it into the alleyway instead of on herself or Michael. Instantly, he rubbed her back and soothed her. His comfort didn't do much, however. As soon as she stopped vomiting, she started to panic. She gasped and spluttered and clutched at her knees as she doubled over. Tears bit in her eyes. She couldn't even attempt to control herself. Her heart was beating so fast and her body shook. Her husband tried to help, but he could only do so much, "Whoa. Those hormone changes hit you fast and hard."
"Michael, I can't… I can't be pregnant… I…" Attempting to push away from him, Nikita hyperventilated. There was a good chance she was overreacting. A positive pregnancy test wasn't the end of the world. Discovering she might be pregnant wasn't that detrimental. She had somewhat expected it, after all. No amount of surprise coursed through her; it was only panic. Of all the times to be pregnant, then couldn't be it. A family with Michael was supposed to happen after they had their freedoms- not while they were struggling to survive a mission.
"Hey. It's okay. Breathe. Just breathe," Reaching for her again, Michael did his best to keep his voice calm. He tenderly cradled her cheek and gently wiped her tears away. Nikita's reaction was completely valid. He was freaking out as well. A possible baby amidst the chaotic shitstorm they were dealing with was far from ideal. They couldn't handle the stress of expecting a baby and of shutting down Division. But they couldn't completely panic in a Hong Kong alleyway while being hunted by the police. The couple had to calm down and continue their rush to the awaiting getaway car. They'd have to figure it all out later.
"It's not okay. There's Division, and the Dirty Thirty, and… oh God… Amanda. If she finds out I'm pregnant, we're fucked," As much as Nikita wanted to find comfort in her husband's touch, she couldn't relax. She knew they had to keep running. She knew Sean and Alex were waiting for them. But settling her nerves was beyond her control. She couldn't breathe or think- just feel. Maybe that was a sign of the out of whack hormones Michael had mentioned. Except, she knew her apprehensions extended deeper than that. Division, the Dirty Thirty, those were stressors she could handle. But Amanda, she was always the worst among them.
The fact that the bitch was out there had already been in the back of Nikita's mind. Except, she thought after the Zetrov deal went south, Amanda would stay in whatever hole she had crawled into. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. She decrypted the black box, she was recruiting Dirty Thirties, and she was making another power grab. If Amanda ever discovered Nikita was having a baby, she'd use that information in all the worst ways. The bitch would know exactly how to destroy her. Nikita couldn't let that happen, "I'm going to ruin our baby before it's even born. I'm gonna mess it up, and put it in danger… and… I can't do this…"
"Whoa. Hey. Who said anything about you messing the baby up? You could never mess anyone up, or put them in danger. You save and help people. And you can do this. We just found out you're pregnant. Hell, we only found out you had a positive pregnancy test. You have to go to the doctor to be sure," Although Michael was absolutely certain his wife was pregnant, he gave her something to focus on in order to calm down. They didn't have all of the information yet, and that was alright. They'd figure it out together.
If only his words would get through to Nikita. She stared at him with panicked wide eyes, tears welling and chest heaving. Even if she did believe Michael- and could put her faith into the fact that it would be alright and she would be great- she was too overwhelmed at the moment. She needed more to ground her. Holding her gently, he reassured his wife as best he could, "Hey. We will figure this out. The world's not gonna come crashing down around us. We will figure this out, and we will plan, and we will ensure everyone we love and care about will be perfectly fine- just as we always do. We can do this."
"And if I am pregnant, and the whole world turns against us?" Nikita took her husband's hand in hers and squeezed tightly. She was sure he was right. Michael had gone through a pregnancy and a baby before. But that situation- that time- was so dramatically different. For starters, she was the mother. And she couldn't be a mother. After the life she had had, she couldn't raise a kid. She was a terrible person to look up to. She didn't know what normal looked like. She didn't know what a home was. How could she provide that for hers and Michael's baby. She was going to mess it up, and it'd be just like her. No one could be like her.
"Then we have nine months to fix it. Which is plenty of time, because I will be with you every step of the way. And so will our family," Keeping a warm and secure hold of his wife's hand, Michael promised. The things Nikita didn't know, or didn't believe, he would teach her. She wasn't alone. Neither of them were alone. When things became too much- which they undoubtedly would- the couple would have their whole family to support them. The thought finally helped Nikita to breathe. She also began to beam. Michael, of course, smiled with her.
"Hey! You guys alright?" Rushing towards the couple and ruining their moment, Alex wondered. She had expected the two at the getaway car awhile ago. When they didn't show at first, she thought they had gotten stuck in traffic or took some wild turns to avoid the police. But after no word from Michael or Nikita, she began to worry. Thankfully, she found them in a nearby alley. They weren't in trouble; they just dumped the car and were walking. At least, she hoped they weren't in trouble. Their tense bodies and startled appearance said otherwise.
Nikita glanced at Michael, then at Alex, then at her vomit on the ground. The young woman caught what she was staring at, and instantly began to panic. Nikita had to calm her down. At least one of them had to remain rational. However, she couldn't bring herself to tell Alex the truth. Admitting what was occurring would only make things worse, especially as Sean joined them with the same worried expression as his girlfriend. She had to lie to keep things calm. She needed a plausible excuse, "Yeah. Just um… I have a concussion."
"Then we need to get you to a hospital," Sean instantly decided. Their escape from Hong Kong simply had to be more hectic. If Nikita was telling the truth, she couldn't travel unless she had everything checked out first. And if she was covering up for something else, he wouldn't deny her the chance to seek medical attention. He knew if Alex was in the same situation, he'd want her to be as safe and sound as possible. Though, he was mostly assuming what the situation was. Sean didn't know what exactly was happening with Nikita. But one glance at Michael and his suspicions were confirmed. It definitely had to do with that pregnancy test he saw.
"We can't tell them anything," While Sean and Alex moved ahead to the car, occasionally checking over their shoulders to see if she was alright, Nikita whispered in her husband's ear. She wanted her friends' help if she really was expecting a baby and continuing to rage a war. It'd just have to be after she had answers. She couldn't burden them with her potential pregnancy if she didn't have anything thought out or planned yet. It was hers and Michael's problem to solve first, then the others could be brought in. No one needed that extra stress.
"I know. We'll get as many answers as we can first, then we'll tell them," Placing a kiss to her knuckles, Michael easily agreed with his wife. Although he was fairly certain Sean caught onto what was occurring, he knew he and Nikita had to settle their own nerves before raising others'. The news of a baby wasn't something they could take lightly, not while they were still secret agents. Everything had to be seriously and thoroughly thought of and planned. Afterwards, happiness and excitement could flow through them. Michael was already feeling a jolt of pure joy. He and Nikita were going to have a baby. Their happily ever after was already taking shape.
Birkhoff found Ryan in his office. After ordering the hacker to secure the agents an immediate flight out of Hong Kong, he disappeared from Ops. It made sense why. Nikita's stunt with the Chinese intelligence service required a lot of cleanup. Killing Martin didn't give them the clean break they needed. Yet that wasn't Birkhoff's concern at the moment. He and Ryan had to have a serious discussion. The things that had happened on the mission couldn't be ignored. They were trying to be a different Division, after all, "Hey, man. Can we talk?"
"It's alright that you couldn't get them an immediate flight out. Nikita had to go to the hospital first. Something about a head injury," Ryan didn't look up from the paperwork he was pouring over. Michael and Sean had let him know about the delay. He was fine with that, however. It gave him more time to smooth things over with the Chinese. The President was going to have his ass for what happened in Hong Kong. Their first mission had gone drastically wrong. It didn't matter that they handled a Dirty Thirty. They caused way too much destruction.
"No. I know. It's not about that. It's about Michael," Sean and Michael had told Birkhoff the same thing as Ryan. The delay, though unfortunate, helped him and Sonya secure the agents a better ride home. Again, that wasn't what mattered, however. Needing Ryan's full attention, Birkhoff sat in one of the chairs in front of his desk. The hacker wasn't a big fan of the new director taking over Percy's old office. But it wasn't as though he had anywhere else to go in the bunker. The space was the only one that provided him any privacy as he talked to the President and as he figured out what to do with Division. They were stuck with the poor options they had.
"Is he alright? Can we not wipe his name and case from the police records?" Ryan dropped his paperwork in alarm. Destroying all evidence that Michael had ever been detained by the police was a part of his plan to smooth things over. If they couldn't wipe his name from the servers, more problems would drop in their laps. Division was already dealing with too much. The threat of death looming over their heads if they screwed up wasn't the motivator it thought it was. There was too much stress to be perfect, and Ryan had to make sure they reached it.
Easily, Birkhoff could've gone on a tangent about how much his friend doubted his abilities to hack into a police department's service. But then wasn't the time. There were more pressing matters than the Hong Kong police, not that Ryan was paying attention. After all, that was a part of the problem. He put the mission and a Dirty Thirty above his teammates. He left them in danger in order to support his own agenda. That wasn't Ryan. That was Percy, "You left him in jail, and you cut Nikita off when she tried to save him."
"We need intel on Amanda. Michael would've understood. She's far more important," Ryan instantly defended himself. Amanda was the most concerning of the Dirty Thirties. She had a black box, she had Ari, and she had the most damning intel on the ins and outs of Division. If she was out there making deals and gaining power, then the team had to stop her. The bitch could so easily destroy them, the country, and the world. They couldn't allow that to happen. They'd never have their freedoms if they did.
"More important than your friend's husband? Then a member of this team? You stranded Nikita out there and left him to Martin," Birkhoff couldn't sit any longer. What happened to Ryan. How could he think about leaving and hurting his friends. Division would have other chances at Amanda. They were a spy organization, for God's sake. They could get any information they wanted. The bitch would pop back up on their radars soon, and they would stop her. Their friends' lives, on the other hand, were things they didn't have multiple opportunities for. If they lost them, they were gone forever. They couldn't mess with that.
"We made too much noise already. Nikita's stunt only made it worse. We should've done it quietly, and with information on Amanda on our side," Ryan wasn't exactly sure why he was arguing. He should've dismissed Birkhoff and dropped the subject. But he was just so stressed. He couldn't get anything to go his way. The safety of Division was struggling, and he had to get it under control. The only way he could think of doing that was ensuring they followed the rules and focused on their enemies, "The whole world was watching, Birkhoff. I couldn't let Nikita disobey my orders. I'm in charge. She isn't rogue anymore."
"Right. The whole world was watching. And they saw you abandon your friend. Though, Michael never really has been your friend," The last point wasn't fair. The two cared about one another- Michael had been a huge help to Ryan with Max. It was just that all of Division had seen their director abandon his team. Birkhoff didn't want them thinking of his friend like that. He also didn't want Ryan to fall into bad habits. If that meant a rude wakeup call about how he had treated the former analyst, then so be it. He had to know how he came off, "You haven't liked him since Nikita decided to be his mole. You even hated him when she ran off with him."
"I helped them," Snapping to his feet, Ryan argued. Sure, he didn't like that Nikita lied to him and had been a mole for the CIA. He also didn't like that when her actions caught up to her, she led Michael into danger by faking their deaths and escaping. But that didn't mean he didn't like the analyst. He did what he could to help the rogues before he went fully rogue himself. Michael was great for the team and for Nikita. Ryan didn't know what he would do without his help. He didn't abandon him. The director simply chose another option.
"You helped her. Look. I don't know what's going on with you, but figure it out on your own time. Don't take it out on Michael. Cause Nikita will kill you next time," Birkhoff didn't wait for a reply. He left Ryan in his file-ridden office to mull over his words. Maybe the director didn't have a problem with Michael, but he certainly had a problem. If he didn't figure it out before their next mission, they might not have a mission after that. New Division didn't have anything 'new' about it, not under the surface. The team had to fix that.