| Subject: Priority Mail 280 |
Author:
Nikita507
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Date Posted: Tuesday, July 12, 08:44:57pm
In reply to:
Nikita507
's message, "Priority Mail 280+" on Tuesday, July 12, 08:43:57pm
The plane was leveling off and Michael turned to look at Nikita. On the way to Cleveland, she had been a different woman than she was right now. She had taken them to a warehouse not far from the airport in Cleveland to retrieve something from a safe. Michael didn’t press Nikita what it was but he assumed that it was some sort of kit that would somehow identify her as a long lost relative of Lisa.
Yet now, something was causing Nikita’s already serious face to turn more serious. Michael cleared his throat as he turned with the luxury of sharing the private jet with just Nikita and took her hand. “Why do I feel like I should have asked Beatrice to come with us?”
Nikita didn’t respond first and Michael held his breathe with anticipation of a bad reaction. He feared that he spoke too strongly right now, that maybe she needed support and not questions. But then Nikita started to slowly shake her head from side to side. Finally, Nikita’s blue eyes connected with Michael’s green. “I just have to start to talk.”
Still, Michael wasn’t sure if that was an opening or if that was just Nikita stating what she needed to do but couldn’t do. Nikita exhaled slowly and cleared her throat nervously. “And I’m not sure if it is easiest to start with Lisa… or to tell you about them all.”
“Whatever you want to start is a fine place, Kita,” Michael encouraged Nikita with a tender voice as he moved closer to Nikita and hoped that the contact helped her find the strength to continue. He knew that this would be a giant jump forward for them.
Nikita slowly nodded her head and looked to the side, out the window of the plane. “I knew… that even though they weren’t inside of Section… that I would think of them in ways… as my children. I guess it was bound to be a stronger bond simply because I was carrying a child I couldn’t tell anyone about.”
Michael didn’t have words. But he had touch. He stroked Nikita’s thumb in a steady beat as he nodded his head slightly. Nikita wasn’t looking at him, but he knew that she could sense his reaction at this point.
Pressing her lips together tightly, Nikita released them with a sigh. “They were there for who knows what… that secret went to the grave with Madeline… but it was clear that some where just there to provide photographic backup for operatives… Lisa could have been me as a child… I guess… it would have been a stretch…”
“And others?” Michael inquired and Nikita looked at him. She shrugged her shoulders. “There were many who were simply brilliant… I feared that they were trying to bring up the next Birkoff inside of Section... I fear that is how Birkoff grew up… like one of those children.”
“We’ll never know that either,” Michael commented and Nikita frowned. “There were the journals that had a lot about me… and you… but barely was Birkoff mentioned… and I want to scream at that injustice… but more about these children because suddenly I had to figure out what to do with them… if there was a security risk… what to do with them because they weren’t staying in Section.”
“So you got them out,” Michael commented.
That was when Nikita pulled her hand away.
“I did my best,” Nikita rasped as she closed her eyes and stared out the window again. “The young ones… like Lisa… were easy. I didn’t fear that they would say anything about Section… the older ones... I had to make sure that I felt that they were safe to go out… and that they wouldn’t be in danger…”
“And?” Michael questioned after Nikita’s words had stopped and hadn’t started back up.
Nikita looked back at Michael and exhaled. “I believe I’ve been right about them… one has gotten married and has a child… a bit young, but seems happy. A couple are in the military.”
“Really? Your suggestion?” Michael questioned and Nikita shook her head. “I didn’t want to suggest anything to them… my only suggestion was that they never speak of Section… ever.”
Nikita’s shoulders went up as she winced. “But…”
Michael had a feeling that there was something there that was an exception to what she was saying. Nikita looked at Michael and coughed slightly as she blinked her eyes, keeping tears at bay. “Ah… there were two… I think Madeline… did something… they would have been heading to be… torture twins… or something worse than them… I couldn’t…”
Michael reached over and touched Nikita’s cheek. “You did your best.”
“I couldn’t change it,” Nikita winced as she shook her head back and forth. “And there was a standard… I always thought about… would I want Adam near this child… and I knew that he was going to be strong like you… so I walked a line with a lot of them that I was afraid about… but they all have lived up to what I expected… thankful for the life they have now… at least the older ones.”
“Back to the two,” Michael directed and Nikita dropped her head. Turned and looked at Michael. “They didn’t get out of Section.”
Michael could tell that it bothered Nikita. “So… did they…”
“They were still in Section when it… closed,” Nikita winced a she said it. “I couldn’t save them… I couldn’t reform them… they were too far gone.”
Michael leaned closer to Nikita’s face and pressed his cheek against her. “You did more… than any of us could have, Kita.”
“It doesn’t make it easier when I think about it like this,” Nikita pulled away as she touched Michael’s face. She waited for him to look at her. “But… looking back, that would still be my decision. I fear… what they would have done to the world… they were so angry… it would have been awful.”
They were silent for a long time and Nikita leaned her head against Michael’s shoulder. “The younger ones were easier… Lisa… she was brilliant and that was my fear for her.”
“Plus she could have been there to stand in as you,” Michael pointed out and Nikita shrugged her shoulders. “And maybe… I knew that I could more easily watch over her… than my own child…”
Nikita’s voice was rasping as she groaned and chocked back a few tears again. She tossed her head from side to side. “I almost had to go to her… right before Section closed… she isn’t challenged in school… but she wouldn’t let any of her teachers see how smart she was… she was mute… and that wasn’t her… “
“What happened?”
“She was moved to another foster home,” Nikita answered as she twisted her hands together. “She appeared to be more content there… but she has been moving a lot… it seems that the foster parents don’t know how to handle her intelligence… and now that she is a fourteen year old girl… some of the social things that she didn’t get while in Section are making it harder for her to adjust.”
“We are going to get a delinquent?” Michael questioned as he shook his head slightly. Nikita chuckled and shook her head. “No… that’s not it at all… that’s not why we are going for her right now… Despite how much it hurt me that she couldn’t find a steady home… that wouldn’t have been enough to get me to come out here… not like this.”
Michael waited and Nikita twisted in her seat. She looked at Michael and opened up the package that she had retrieved. “I had several cover stories for ever going to retrieve her… this one… a military aunt… this gets me her fast… and I need to protect her fast.”
“Why?” Michael questioned.
“She may know who killed her foster parents,” Nikita answered and Michael swallowed hard. “What?”
“The reports say that she came home to find that her foster parents had been shot…” Nikita explained and Michael raised an eyebrow. “Michael, the police are stupid… at least the ones running this investigation… the timing is off. The forensics won’t be back yet… but we both know the signs of timing being adjusted by the killers... I have concerns for her ultimate safety.”
“Could someone know where she came from?” Michael questioned and Nikita rolled her eyes. “Seriously?”
“I am serious,” Michael stated and Nikita shook her head back and forth. “The father… he was good… but he liked to gamble…”
“Crap,” Michael shook his head from side to side. “So… she could be traumatized also… if she saw anything.”
“You’ve handled me well enough… I think we can help her,” Nikita spoke as she took Michael’s hands and squeezed them.
“We can’t keep her.”
“Absolutely,” Nikita agreed as she nodded her head up and down. “And I know that she isn’t my daughter.”
“So… you have a plan…”
“I know… who can give her a good home.”
“And?”
“You know them,” Nikita replied as she shifted back into the seat. For now, Nikita wasn’t going to say who.
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