Chapter 21

"Have you lost your mind? Didn't you just hear what I said?" Alex called Nikita as soon as they parted ways. Alex, Sean and Ryan were on their way to the airport and Nikita and Michael were headed home. Alex took that opportunity to scold Nikita about her idea while Sam wasn't with them. He had gotten back to Sonya and Birkhoff's place to get his things.

"Why are you guys being so dramatic about it? If you don't trust him at all then that's a whole other issue that needs to be addressed" He was a part of their family. It was ridiculous that no one had brought up those concerns before when they got together.

"You out of all people shouldn't be trusting him so blindly" Alex could not understand Nikita at all. Her life had been put on the line because of him so many times.

"Okay first, I can take care of myself and trust my intuition about a situation and secondly I have Michael with me." Nikita had to prove them wrong about Sam. He had changed and they shouldn't hold his past mistakes against him.

Alex sighed annoyed "Okay, fine. It's your decision but you are going to keep me updated"

"Upadated on what exactly? How much he ate for breakfast or you want his routine hour by hour" Nikita rolled her eyes and bit back at Alex. She wasn't going to be following Sam's every move. She just wanted to be there for him as a friend.

"I hate you sometimes" Alex groaned. Nikita knew what she meant.

"And I love you always so relax and have a safe flight" Everything was going to be fine. Her family just loved being dramatic.

"Okay. I'll text you when we land."

After hanging up the phone Nikita leaned in and kissed her husband's cheek. That caught him off guard. He turned to look at her but she just returned her attention to her phone again.

"What was that for?" He laughed. Not that Nikita necessarily needed a reason to kiss him but that felt like it was for something.

Nikita shook her head and grinned "Because you always go along with whatever I want to do" Michael was her biggest supporter. Even when he didn't exactly agree with her he was always by her side in everything. She knew he hated her idea as much as Alex and the rest of the family did but he wasn't giving her a hard time for it.

Michael reached for her hand and brought it to his lips. "There is never going to be a day where you and I are not a team. We don't have to agree with each other all the time for me to stand by you"

"I know that" There was no need for him to say it. He showed it to her through his actions every single day. It was strange how you can be with someone for so long and your love for that person just continues to grow more and more each day that goes by. She kept on falling in love with him more and more and god was she not prepared for what she was going to feel when they welcomed their child.

"Hey" He nudged her hand. "Lost you there for a second" Nikita didn't realise how deep into her thoughts she had gotten. "Sorry, what were you saying?"

"Do you want to go to the grocery store to grab a few extra things or do we have everything at home for now?" With Sam staying with them for a week they definitely needed an extra food shop at some point in the next few days.

"In terms of food, I think we're good. I don't know if we have extra toiletries for the guest bedroom though. We haven't had someone stay for a while" It was going to be a bit strange actually to have someone with them in the house for that long. Nikita and Michael had gotten used to it just being the two of them and Archie of course.

"We can go home first and make a list and then I'll go get everything. Sam shouldn't be that long. Birkhoff will drop him off."

"Yeah. Let's do that. I also need to refresh the room a bit" Nikita was making a list in her mind already with all sorts of tasks for when she got home.

"I can help you with that before I go out"

"There's no need. I'll just hover and dust, put some new sheets on and that's it" Nikita didn't need help with everything.

"Yeah, I know but don't you want to rest for a little bit? We've been walking a ton today and you haven't had a nap yet. You'll crash at some point" Nikita has had a nap every single day since she has been back from Greece. She just couldn't go without one.

"Honestly I am exhausted but if I lay down I wouldn't want to get up for the next 12 hours so no" She could just get an early night in.

"Or you just try to close your eyes for a bit now. We still have an hour until we get home. Don't try toughing it out. It's normal to be exhausted. You got two heartbeats now"

That got Nikita to laugh. Maybe she could close her eyes for a bit. "If I fall asleep you're not carrying me inside though. We have things to do. You're waking me up"

"Promise, baby"

"And this is your room. You have your own bathroom over there. I have some things for you in there. The wardrobes are mostly empty so you can unpack if you like. The laundry room is through the door we just passed. You can use it whenever you like. Also in your wardrobe, there are spare towels and blankets if you need them" Nikita explained. For the past three years that the couple had lived in this house, Sam had only visited once. That might not sound too bad but in comparison with the rest of the family who got spare keys to the place and assigned guest rooms, it was pretty strange. Nikita had to give him a quick tour beforehand.

"Thank you really. This is better than any hotel I would have stayed at" Sam appreciated Nikita's kindness. He knew she had to have done some serious convincing of Michael so he could stay here. They weren't the best of friends.

"Of course. If you need anything Michael is just at the store grabbing some things. Do you want something?" Nikita was proud of her set-up. She always tried to make her home feel like home for her guests as well.

"No, I'm good. Thanks. I'll just unpack"

"Okay, I'll leave you to it. I'll be downstairs in the kitchen. Do you have any requests for dinner?"

"Um, not really. Whatever you guys are having."

"Okay, it will be quesadillas tonight then." Nikita had already told Michael what she wanted so she secretly hoped Sam would be on board cause she was having a craving for those damn quesadillas that her husband made.

After making sure her guest was all settled in Nikita headed downstairs to prep for dinner. Michael wasn't out for very long and joined her shortly after. He quickly took over and left Nikita to sit on a bar stool next to him and drink her Sprite.

"You know what I realised today" Nikita started.

"What?"

"Yesterday was Friday. I turn a new week every Friday. I'm officially 9 weeks pregnant" She grinned all exited. There were so many emotions happening on Friday that she completely forgot.

"Oh, yeah" Michael beamed as well. That had slipped his mind as well. Thirty-one more weeks to go and they were going to be parents. That was so crazy and exciting to think about. He leaned over and kissed his wife's cheek "And you're doing amazing"

"Yeah if being sick, sleeping like a grandma and a lot of hormones equals amazing" Nikita huffed. Luckily the nausea had become manageable. She wasn't throwing up anymore at least. But the exhaustion was something else.

"Stop that. " Michael wouldn't take any of that negative talk. "You are growing a human. That's not an easy job"

"Yeah but it's also a bit freaky to think about it" Sam rounded the corner and joined the couple in the kitchen. He had overheard their conversation.

"Freaky?" Michael couldn't understand how someone would call something so beautiful freaky.

"I said to think about not that it actually is" The look Michael shot Sam could have killed.

"How do you think about it?" Nikita was curious. Despite all the discomforts she was so happy to be pregnant.

"You are growing a human inside of you" That was the part that freaked him out.

"Yeah and?" That didn't bother Nikita at all.

Sam scrunched up his nose unsure.

"I think you just haven't seen the whole process happen that's why you think about it like that" Michael explained. He had experienced having a child once. It truly was an indescribable experience.

"Maybe. You're actually the first pregnant woman that I would be around"

"That would be interesting" Nikita quipped.

"We do actually need to warn you about a few things since you'll be here" Michael needed to instruct Sam on what to do if anything were to happen. Nikita was still set on following her regular routines which included mostly working from home. Michael had a lot of anxiety about leaving her alone.

"Is it actually that serious?" Sam got slightly worried.

"I'm fine." Nikita reassured her friend.

"If she starts throwing up you check up on her regularly and call me. If you catch her sleeping you don't wake her up and if anything seems even the tiniest bit odd you call me" Michael explained, ignoring Nikita's glare.

"You are making it seem like I have a disease or something. It's not that serious" She turned to Sam "I know when something is wrong. Michael checks up on me regularly so you don't need to worry."

"Okay. I got you both" Sam hoped there were no incidents like that while he was here. He had absolutely no experience with any of this and the last thing he needed was Michael killing him for not taking care of Nikita properly.

"Good. Dinner is ready" Michael announced. He would definitely have to talk to Nikita later about his overwhelming worry about her.

"Did you just lock the door?" Nikita had already gotten into bed and selected a movie for her and Michael to watch. Sam had excused himself early for the night so the couple was going to watch something and go to bed early too. It had been a busy day.

Michael had gone downstairs to fill her water bottle and take Archie out. As he came back and closed the door Nikita heard the lock turn. He shrugged as he came around her side and left the water bottle on her nightstand "Yeah"

"Do I want to ask why?" She could guess why and there was probably no point in arguing it. If Michael was more comfortable like that then that was it.

"No" Michael would have been on guard the whole night if he hadn't locked the door. It might have seemed excessive but in the room next door was a person he did not trust so he was going to take every precaution.

Nikita wasn't going to get into it. He had already compromised by letting Sam stay, so she could ignore the rest.

"So what are we watching?" Michael got into bed and pulled her closer to him. They settled in and Nikita revealed her choice for tonight. "I saw someone watching this at the hospital while I was waiting for you."

"Atlantis?" Michael read the title. It was another cartoon. She had been enjoying those lately. It seemed to comfort her to have something like that in the background or to watch at night.

"Have you seen it?"

"No, I haven't seen this one. Is it like a documentary?"

"Oh, hell no." Nikita would never pick a documentary to watch. "From what I watched this guy is on an expedition to find Atlantis. We had to leave by the time he reached it"

"Okay" Michael laughed. "Play it then but you better not fall asleep again like that last time" He teased.

"Last time I fell asleep 'cause your pick was boring" She nudged him with her elbow while he placed a kiss to her cheek. That was absolutely not the case but Michael would let her believe it. It would take him 20-30 minutes into the movie to prove his point. And he did just that because Nikita was fast asleep before they even reached the halfway point. Michael admired her for a bit and enjoyed the peacefulness of the moment. His eyes started to feel more and more heavy so he shut off the TV, held his wife close and fell asleep too.

11th September, Sunday

5:00 am

Michael and Nikita were woken up by Archie barking. It felt like he was right outside their door. It was that damn loud. Nikita groaned and rolled over, putting the pillow on her head. When that didn't do the trick she whined "Michael" There was no way she was getting up. It was still pitch black outside.

"Yeah yeah" It took Michael a few moments to wake up and actually get out of bed. Archie was usually well-behaved so something had to have been wrong for him to bark like that.

Michael unlocked their bedroom door and got into the hallway. He instantly saw what the problem was. Archie was barking at Sam who had climbed up the stairs to the third floor but he must have stopped midway because of their dog.

As soon as Archie saw Michael he calmed down and went over to him. "It's okay buddy. It's alright. Go cuddle in bed, come on" Michael let him into the bedroom. Their dog loved to cuddle with the couple and sleep. It was going to settle him down as well as Nikita.

After that was sorted Michael turned his attention to Sam. There was a clock on the wall that showed 5 am. What on earth was Sam doing this early?

"That dog of yours doesn't like me very much" Sam stated and slowly descended the stairs.

"He's just not used to you yet. He probably heard you and thought it was one of us" Yesterday was actually the first time Sam met Archie. When Sam first visited the couple they hadn't gotten their dog yet.

"What are you doing up so early?" They had all gone to bed early but getting up at 5 am on a Sunday was a bit unusual.

"Oh, I always get up around this time. I was actually going to head out to go to the gym that's not too far"

Michael didn't believe that. Sam looked even more tired than he was. His eyes were all red like he hadn't slept at all. Then the next part also didn't make sense. Nikita told her husband that she had given Sam a tour of the house. Surely she didn't skip the gym. Michael had transformed the garage into a gym for her since she hated going to public ones."Oh, Nikita didn't tell you? We have a gym in our garage. I mean it's nothing fancy but it has all your standard equipment. I can open it for you"

"She might have mentioned it and maybe I've just forgotten. It's okay. I'll keep it in mind. I just already planned to do a run to the gym and then work out there." Sam explained.

"Okay" There was also something else. "Did you need anything? You were going to the third floor" Michael tried to go with a more genuinely curious approach rather than immediately thinking all sorts of bad things. There was nothing much on the third floor. There was an extra guest bedroom, a bathroom, a big storage room and Nikita's office/art room. Sam had no business there.

"Oh, no I wasn't going up there. Archie just came out of nowhere and so I just took the stairs cause they were the closest." Sam stammered here a bit. Michael pretended not to notice that and just nodded.

"Did Nikita give you her keys?" If Sam was going out even before they were awake how was he going to get out of the house? Michael had been pretty clear with Nikita that he didn't want to give him spare keys to the house.

"Oh" Sam had thought of a way how to get out of the house without a key but he couldn't tell Micheal that. " I guess I hadn't thought about that. She hasn't given me her keys. I hadn't told her that I would need them."

"That's fine. I can let you out and I won't be going back to sleep so you can call me when you're coming back." Michael was too awake now to go to sleep plus he had a big task to do today that he had to prepare for.

"Thanks. I'll go get ready." Sam went back to his room. Michael shook his head and went to check on his wife and get dressed.

Nikita was fast asleep as if nothing had happened. The only difference was the furry ball snuggled into her back. Michael laid a gentle kiss on Nikita's temple before he moved to get ready for the day.

9:30 am

"Since when did you become such a workout guy?" Nikita let Sam into the house, relieved he was okay. Michael told her that he had gone out at 5 am and he still wasn't back when she got up. She was just about to call him when he texted her that he was on his way.

"You know I've always trained hard" He wasn't selected as a guardian for nothing.

"Yeah, that was when we were doing active missions. Nearly five hours at the gym is a bit excessive for the average person." Nikita and Michael spent an hour and a half at the gym and still managed to keep up their form.

"Well, I'm not an average person" Sam quickly dismissed her and poured himself a glass of water.

Nikita rolled her eyes and just continued cleaning up the kitchen.

While Sam was drinking his water he noticed something strange in the backyard. "Ughm, a dude is walking around in your backyard."

"Oh, that's Scott. He is our next-door neighbour. He's helping Michael today with closing our pool for this year" Nikita explained. She had forgotten to mention that to Sam yesterday.

"Isn't it pointless to have a pool but only be able to use it 2-3 months out of the year"

"I don't think so. It also depends. Last year we had a very warm spring and quite a hot summer so we enjoyed the pool a lot" Nikita loved their pool. A late-night swim during the summer was a luxury she was never going to get tired of.

"So your neighbour is your pool boy?" Sam joked.

"What?" Nikita laughed. "He is a friend that's just helping out. He has a pool as well and has a bit more experience with maintaining it so he offered to help" Scott was great. When Nikita and Michael first moved in he and his girlfriend were the first to introduce themselves and welcome the couple. Scott and Michael got along instantly and his girlfriend Lauren was lovely as well. She had shown Nikita all the best spots in Brighton.

"That's cool I guess. What does he do when he's not your pool guy?" Sam smirked. Nikita rolled her eyes and threw a hand towel at him. "Stop it. He is a police officer"

Sam's face immediately dropped the smug smile. It was as if Nikita had said the most horrible thing ever. "Relax. He's not about to arrest you" Nikita was onto Sam's weird moods. Why would he react like that?

"That doesn't…I don't know…worry you?" Sam stammered. He couldn't find the right words for it.

"Why would it worry me? We are not doing anything that will get us in trouble with the police" The last thing she needed was to have to hide and run again.

Sam looked around to make sure Michael and the police officer were as far away as possible but still whispered "So you're telling me you have no guns in the house"

"Nope. We don't have anything like that anymore" She was not about to admit out loud that they had weapons hidden in almost every wall in the house just in case something happened. No one needed to know that except the couple.

"Bullshit" There was no way. Nikita didn't need to lie to him. He knew her well enough. She was never unarmed.

"Believe what you want believe" She shrugged. Nikita knew she couldn't fool Sam so she didn't need to say more on the topic. "Anyway. Feel free to make yourself whatever you want for breakfast. Michael will be home the whole day so you can use his car if you want to go somewhere. I have talked to him to him about it so just ask for the keys" She explained.

"Okay and where will you be?"

"I'm going to the Sunday market in one of the towns near us with some friends" Nikita had gotten the text this morning and decided to go since she felt better and rested. "I'm going to be gone the majority of the day so it will be just you two."

"Wait, friends? What friends?" As far as Sam knew Nikita's only friends were also her family.

"Wow, shocker. I do have friends outside of you guys" Nikita laughed. As much as she wanted to she couldn't spend all her time only with Michael. She made an effort to socialize outside of her close circle and that effort paid off. She found some great people that she also had a lot of fun with.

"No, I…I didn't mean it like that. It's just…I don't know I guess I never thought about how that would be normal now"

"It's good to have a community around you. You know what they say people need people. And as cliche as that sounds it's true" It made Nikita sad that he hadn't found even one person that he could feel that with outside of the family.

"Yeah, I guess. I'll try and help out the guys then. I don't have any plans for today"

"Okay. I have to go get ready now. I'll come and see you guys before I leave" Nikita headed upstairs while Sam remained in the kitchen. He had something else in mind for today but he couldn't stop Nikita from going out, especially with Michael around. Sam was also not looking forward to spending the day with him.

"What's with your guest over there?" Scott asked Michael when they entered the shed to get some things.

"Oh, that's Sam. He's part of our family. He's staying with us this week" Michael explained. Scott knew who Nikita and Michael were and their story. He was a police officer after all but he didn't care. Scott actually found it comforting to have friends who had also seen some terrible things but were not police officers.

"He has not been giving you nice looks" Sam had been sitting on the couch on the patio and scrolling through his phone. Scott had noticed though that from time to time he did look up and just glared at them.

"Yeah, he and I don't enjoy each other's company. He's much closer to Nikita so that's why he's staying here"

"So you'll just be avoiding each other the whole time?"

"I'm cool with him tagging along to whatever but he always has something to say" Not to mention the fact that Michael was constantly suspicious of him.

"Hope the week goes faster for you then" Scott patted Michael's back and started heading outside.

"Yeah" Michael sighed. Nikita had gone out not too long ago and Sam was already getting on his nerves. Sam had told Nikita that he was going to help them out with the pool. He had circled around them for a bit but the minute Nikita left he sat down on that couch and never moved. Michael had also seen the weird looks he was throwing his way. It was rude, especially in front of Scott. He told himself though that he wouldn't pay attention to it or say anything. It wasn't worth it. If that was all Sam was going to do during this week that was fine. As long as he brought no trouble to the couple Michael could manage him for a week.

Thank you so much for reading and for your continuous support xx