| Subject: Chapter 26 (Read disclaimer in header) |
Author:
Mary
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Date Posted: Wednesday, October 19, 04:25:39pm
In reply to:
Mary
's message, "The Healing Touch - Chapter 25+" on Thursday, October 13, 02:39:21pm
Dear Reader: I am always anxious whenever I mention a certain disease or illness in a story. I am not a doctor and I may take certain liberties with the disease, medications, etc. While I do research and try to be accurate, no one can really understand a disease until they have lived it. So in advance, if anyone of you dear readers have the condition mentioned in this chapter - please know that I am only using it for purposes of the story and entertainment and I certainly would not offend anyone knowingly.
Thanks
Mary
*****
Chapter 26
Mick sat in his office and he knew how this had to play out. This had, of course, been planned for a very long time. Just like everything at Center, planning was always the key. And the other key was in knowing one’s opponent. Alexandria was a difficult woman, brilliant but very, very stubborn. She had served Section, Oversight, and now Center well for many years. She was a born strategist and had used her skills to rise through the ranks to the position that she now held.
But she had become a liability that Mick wasn’t sure the organization could absorb anymore. She had fallen in love with Walter over ten years ago. The relationship posed no threat to the organization so it was allowed to continue. But slowly they began to evolve, as a team, to be quite a formidable team. They began to plan for their ‘retirement’. They were both high enough in the organization that they weren’t under constant surveillance, so they were able to attain the current situation with Michael and Nikita without Mick knowing all the details.
He did however know enough to plant himself as Nikita’s assistant in order to watch for Alexandria’s next move. She, of course, had no idea that Mick was already in play when she began her profile to bring Michael and Nikita in. That had been his trump card. With that he had thrown Alexandria off her game, and took the upper hand in the situation. She was always pushing at her boundaries, that was part of what made her so good at her duties, and so much like Nikita.
Mick checked his watch and realized enough time had passed. He had Frederic politely inquire on Michael and Nikita to see if they were ready to continue and was pleased to hear that they were. He then called Alexandria and Walter and they re-convened.
As Mick walked into the room he was glad to see that Michael stood behind Nikita his hands on her shoulders, a unified front ready for battle. Nikita, although pale and obviously shaky, had a determination that had returned to her eyes. Yes, Michael had done his job well.
“Nikita? Michael? Are we ready to complete our discussion?” Mick rubbed his hands together and smiled like it was going to be fun.
Michael tightened his hold on Nikita and replied, “Yes. Let’s get this done.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” Alexandria swooped into the room with Walter right behind her. “We’ve wasted enough time. There’s a lot of work to do.”
“All in good time Alexandria. The last time I checked the Earth was still rotating correctly on its axis without your assistance. So, first things first, Nikita, popsicle – how are you doing? You ok now?”
Nikita nodded as she looked up at Michael, “Yes I’m all right.”
“Good. So we’re all together again. You and Michael have had a chance to chat. Now I think it’s my turn.”
“Mick, really….”
“Alexandria. I have heard from you already. You had your time to tell us all how you saw the world and now it is my turn.”
Mick sat at the head of the long table and took a deep breath. He collected his thoughts as the room remained silent and then he began, “Just so everyone understands, Alexandria and I are brother and sister. Our parent’s started the Section’s before we were even born. We inherited what you see around you today when our parents passed away many years ago. I have been here my entire life, Alexandria was released from Section for a while to attend school outside the Section. Not an entirely successful experiment that our parent’s brought to an end fairly quickly. Nikita, I am sorry that you were the result of that particular profile.”
“Alexandria is truly your biological mother, that of course makes me Uncle Mick!” He said with a huge smile and quickly falling into his fun-loving Mick personae.
Nikita just simply closed her eyes at the additional information, “Oh now Popsicle don’t look so sad. I’m on your side here. Bear with me. Just a little more patience please?”
She nodded and he continued, “Our parents had a vision of helping a world that they saw crumbling around them. While I applaud them for their foresight, they didn’t realize that an entity such as this would take on a life of its own if not controlled properly. Alexandria has run Center, and thus Oversight and the Sections for many years now and I have been more of a man in the field. I am much more hands on oriented, I need to see it for myself, touch it if you will.”
Mick paused and Michael took a moment to lean down and whisper to Nikita, “You holding up all right?”
Her blue eyes were clouded that looked up at him as she quietly replied, “Yes, but I’m just so very tired.”
Her voice was thin and weary. Concern sliced through him for the woman that he loved so very , very much. “Do you want to go rest?”
“No, I’d rather hear this and get it over with.”
He was concerned, her coloring was terribly pale and she felt cool and clammy to his touch. But she was determined to stay so he conceded, “All right.”
Mick had noticed the side conversation taking place and asked, “Shold we continue this later?”
Nikita answered, “No. Go on.”
Mick made eye contact with Michael to make sure that it was indeed all right to continue and Michael nodded his silent consent. “So we come to today and the fact that my dear sister now wants to once again leave here and go have ‘a life’. And she wants to take Walter with her.”
Alexandria was furiously mad at the condescending tone that her brother was using. “How dare you. I have been the one that held this organization together, that made all the hard decisions, while you just went out and played. One of us had to be responsible, one of us had to make sure that our parent’s legacy continued.”
Mick took a deep sigh, “There you go being overly dramatic again. I did not go out and ‘play’. I am just as responsible as you are for the current organization and you know it. I collected all the data from the field and kept the Sections in line, and most of the time I took care of Oversight. So please don’t try to come across as the hurt, overworked sister.”
“You may have been in the field. But you know you can’t run this place as well as I do. That’s why I have been watching Nikita for so many years. You and Michael are the perfect team to take over.”
“I don’t think so dear sister. It’s not just your decision, it’s mine too.”
“Actually I don’t think there’s a decision to make.”
That caught Michael’s attention and he felt a chill go down his spine. He sat down next to Nikita, took her cold hand in his and asked, “What do you mean?”
Alexandria smugly replied, “Mick may think he has all the answers but I have always been the smarter one. You see what you don’t know Mick, is that our parents passed on to me, which I then passed on to Nikita, a genetic disease. APECED Syndrome is a very rare genetic syndrome involving your autoimmune system. Essentially it affects the functioning of several of your endocrine glands at the same time. You and I Nikita both have Type II APECED, I know because of the blood work that we have done on you and I could tell a few months ago. You’re tired all the time, no appetite, you’re loosing weight…”
Nikita, with tears in he eyes, snapped, “I know the symptoms. I am a doctor.”
Nikita and Michael were both stunned by the revelation. Michael mind was going through everything he knew about the disease. Controlling it was difficult, at best. He had a moment where he prayed the Alexandria was wrong, that she was just using this, but then his logical mind clicked into place and he realized that her symptoms did fit. He would extensive testing to determine exactly if what Alexandria said was true.
The older woman continued, “So you see, Nikita and Michael will stay here because the only doctors in the world that can deal with this disease and keep it controlled are here. We have medicines that no else in the world has. The only supply is here. If Nikita wants to live, then she has to do it here.”
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