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Absent Past

By TrinityLast

E-mail: trinitylast@wambtac.com

Disclaimer: The characters from La Femme Nikita don’t belong to me. Don’t sue. All you’ll get is this computer, and it’s obsolete anyway. All of the other characters are my own. I don’t steal...my stuff’s better than what you’d come up with anyway. :-)

Feedback: As long as it isn’t flames. I burn easily.

Note:  Fourth in the “Circle of the Gifted” Series. Sequel to “Elemental, My dear Section”, “Twisted Shakespeare” and “Don’t Look Down”. The first was set during the time Michael and Nikita are together, compliments of Michael’s leverage over Operations with Adrian. It splits off from there. You might want to read the first three before reading this.

*italics*

Chapter one (Kinda short - Mission)
___________

A loud explosion sounded.

Michael looked up and glanced to his right into the dark, but no expression crossed his face. He waited a few seconds and then turned back to his panel.

A second explosion was heard, and the concrete tunnel shook.

Michael’s panel blinked green twice, and the bare light bulb above his head dimmed, then died. A voice came from the small metal dot behind his ear.

“You’re clear!”

Michael hit a glow rod, and headed down the tunnel to his left. Shouts and gunfire were heard behind him.

The door at the end of the passage was locked by a voltage-charged keypad, but that was the point of blowing the power. Michael blew the handle off with a plastic explosive and hit the inside wall. Shots went past his head, fired by the automatic security system in place. Michael slipped his “members” card into a slot, and the shots ceased. A gate opened to an inner room.

The little girl was balled up in the corner, covered in dirt and crying for her mommy.

**

Chapter two
___________

“Her name is Naomi.”

Operations thumbed his remote, and a child appeared on the briefing “screen”. She was in a Section cell, playing with a doll.

“We retrieved her last night from a Red Cell detention center. She was only there for three hours, so we are hoping that she was not contaminated during her stay.”

“She is an orphan. Her parents were killed in a car accident, and she was kidnapped by Red Cell from the foster home. She is five years old.”

Operations changed the view, and now a young boy was on the screen, bouncing a tennis ball against a cell wall.

“This is Trent. His parents were killed in a skiing accident. Red Cell only had him for two hours.”

“Naomi and Trent are part of a Red Cell initiative, to see if children’s IQ’s are affected by their upbringing. If they were, that was to be used in...other ways. As opposed to other concepts we’ve seen before, this time the plan was to raise them in nurturing homes, and see if they could not be made, eventually, to be both brilliant, and yet still do whatever they were told.”

Nikita looked up from her pad. “Did we take them to stop the project?”

“No, we took them to steal the project.”

Nikita’s eyes narrowed.

“With one large difference. We are not going to raise them to adulthood. We are going to see if we can’t improve their IQ’s within a few months. The children will not be harmed, they are for study only.” Operations smiled at her. “We already have permanent parents ready and waiting to take these children in when we are through.”

“Through using them, you mean.” Nikita dropped her pad in her lap and looked away.

“Yes.” Operations caught her eye. “And Nikita, I’m sure you’ll make a fine mother.”

**

Chapter three
___________

Operations turned the screen off. “There will be two couples, one for each child. We don’t believe that either is ready for an emotional bond yet with a “brother” or “sister”. The couples will appear to be in love, for a show of stability. Also, there is a chance that if all goes well, in nine months, the children will go to their permanent homes, and as they are so young, they may never remember that this happened.”

“As I said, there will be two couples. Both will continue to function regularly inside Section, though all overly dangerous missions will be assigned to others.” He smiled. “Where applicable, anyway. Michael, you will be with Madeline. Nikita...you will be with me. The children will be going home with us tonight, after individual briefings. Berkoff has your pads. That’s all.”

Nikita didn’t move. She was being teamed with Operations?? She couldn’t quite get her head wrapped around that...

She finally stood when Michael took her hand, and they followed Operations into his office. He motioned for them to wait while he tinted the windows.

“I thought you two would like to know the reasoning behind the pairings.” He paused and glanced at Nikita. She just stared back.

“I cannot be teamed with Madeline for this project for the simple reason that we must all be able to reach the Island. Since Madeline cannot know about my involvement with the Circle, we certainly can’t be sharing a home.” He didn’t add that he wanted time to work with Nikita.

Michael nodded. “That is the best solution.” He walked to the window and watched Berkoff at com. Abruptly changing subjects, Michael gestured towards the tec. “What does he remember?”

Operations joined him at the window. “He remembers the cave with Walter, and, according to Lalia, a visit from her.  But it seems that he believes the story she gave that morning, and still thinks that he and Walter got around Section rules. He doesn’t remember any of his discoveries about the Island or ‘Section 11’. So, we seem to be safe there.”

Nikita leaned against the back wall and watched the two men talking. Her next comment was so quiet neither heard her.

“For now.”

**

Chapter four
___________

“Naomi, you have to get up now. We’re here.”

Nikita smiled at the little girl in her lap and shook her again. Slowly Naomi’s eyes opened, and she blinked.

“We’re here? Here where?”

Nikita smiled again. “Home.” She looked up at Paul who picked the child up and carried her into the house. Slowly, Nikita got out of the car and stretched, subtly taking stock of her surroundings. Quiet neighborhood, tree lined divider running down the middle of the street which blocked the view of the opposite side. Gates around each front yard, and large privacy bushes, reaching just below the roofs. Spacious plots of land. Very private, secluded and expensive.

And a pain in the ass to defend. From inside, you wouldn’t be able to see a damn thing.

Nikita mentally scowled at the street and went inside, still paying close attention.

They had a smaller yard than the other houses, almost cramped in comparison. One tree set up with a porch swing. The front doors were oak with small stained glass windows. The door was standing open, waiting for her, her bags left just inside by the driver who’d brought them. Nikita could see right through from foyer and living room to the backyard, which made up for what the front lacked. The French doors leading out to the back porch were standing open as well, and lantern-like lamps stood up out of the grass. She hung her coat up on the rack by the front door and glanced to her right, taking note of the study. Just before the entrance to the living room was the door to the kitchen, off the foyer, opposite the stairs leading to the second and third floors.

Very subtle and cultured, perfect for Mozart and Shakespeare...and raising a child’s IQ.

Sighing, Nikita followed the sound of voices up the stairs and stopped outside a child’s bedroom.

The walls were done in a subtle cloud design and the room was filled with stuffed animals, a computer, books (though not children’s) and educational toys. Toys designed, Nikita noted, for kids a few years older than Naomi.

She watched Paul tuck the little girl into bed and smooth the dark hair off her face. He really looked like a father. Then he turned to Nikita and followed her out into the hallway, pulling the door closed behind them.

“So. Now what?”

“It’s eight p.m., and neither of us has eaten since we left. How about dinner?”

Nikita nodded and followed him downstairs, stopping to glance into her bedroom. Apparently, being married didn’t mean sleeping together.

-- Thank god.

Checking her watch as she went, Nikita started to relax. In fifteen hours she’d be heading for the Caverns.

-- Not soon enough, if you ask me.

**

Chapter five
___________

Michael watched Madeline as she read to the small boy. He was snuggled into the covers, his head just peeping above the thick comforter.

It was uncomfortably familiar.

Trent looked up at him and smiled. Michael smiled back and then headed downstairs. He wasn’t sure what he needed downstairs, but he knew that another minute in that room, and he wouldn’t be objective.

Fifteen minutes later, Madeline joined him in the living room.

“How is he?”

“Sleeping.”

Michael nodded. “Sleeping arrangements?”

“You want the far room or the master?”

“You take the master, it’s closer to Trent’s room. Operations and Nikita...?”

“Same deal.” Madeline smiled slightly. “Your jealousy didn’t used to be this transparent, Michael.”

“The Caverns change us all in different ways. Speaking of...when is your next trip to the caverns?”

Madeline closed her eyes. “Tomorrow morning. Nikita and I are going together. Lalia has something she wants to talk about.”

“You’re going with Nikita?”

“Yes.”

He turned to face her. “I need a favor.”

She just nodded, waiting.

“Keep Jack away from Nikita.”

Madeline turned and stared into Michael’s eyes for a minute. Then she nodded.

“Consider it done.”

**

Chapter six
___________

“What??” Lalia finally dropped the report she’d been reading and stared at Nikita. “Say that again.”

“I’m supposed to pretend to be Paul’s wife.”

The corners of Lalia’s mouth quirked and she closed her eyes. Her face started to turn red and suddenly she collapsed in a fit of giggles, leaning back in her chair. “Oh, that’s precious. Just think how uncomfortable that’ll be for him!”

“Him? What about me?” Nikita frowned and crossed her arms.

“No, no. It...it makes sense, but...” Lalia took a deep breath and tried to stop laughing. “But, see, he thinks of you more as a protector would. Obviously, this was set up so he could try and make everything up to you, but if this was the only way he could think of to do it...” She started to laugh again.

“Wait..” Nikita’s mouth turned to a small, amused smile. “He assigned me to be his wife, so he could show me that he thinks of me as a daughter?”

“You see why *I* got this job?”

“Well, it makes some sense, I suppose.”

“He wants to spend some time with you, uninterrupted. To explain and, I’m guessing, to heal some old wounds. He probably could have picked a better way, but, as I understand it, this mission was there anyway. He was gonna have to have two couples. So...” Lalia frowned. “What exactly *is* this mission?”

Nikita’s face darkened, and her voice held a sarcastically cheerful quality to it. “We’re running an experiment to see if we can’t increase a child’s IQ by manipulating their environment.”

“What. Did. You. Say?”

Nikita jumped and her eyes snapped to Lalia’s face.

Which held pure anger.

She continued in a slightly less hostile tone. “Two couples will each raise a child for a few months and try to increase their IQ’s.”

“Using what means?” Her tone didn’t change one iota.

“I’m not sure. So far I’ve noticed the obvious things laying around the house. Classical music, educational toys, books set just above the normal reading level...” Her voice trailed off at Lalia’s expression.

“Nikita, could you please excuse me? I have some work to do.”

Nikita nodded and left.

Lalia waited until the door had closed before she pulled out her keys and called down for someone to pull out her boat.

-- I’m going to kill him.

**

Chapter seven
___________

“Jack?” Madeline set her bag down on a chair and started wandering around the training room. “Jack? You here?”

There was a crash from the back of the storage area and Jack came out, hands covered in grease.

“What can I do for you, Madeline?”

“Nothing. I just thought we ought to get to know each other better.” She smiled and sank into a chair. “Nikita says she’s known you all her life.”

“Since she first came to the Caverns, yeah.”

“So, you taught her how to use her magic?”

-- Ok. Moment of truth. Lets see what he’s got.

Jack smiled and shook his head. “No. No, Nikita had special training. Lalia taught her most of her magic. I only trained Nikita for the first few years.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Lalia set aside a lot of other stuff to train Nikita. She was...kind of obsessive about it. Nikita was going to learn everything about magic, and Lalia didn’t want programmed lessons to get in the way of that. After Nikita’s sixteenth birthday, she never saw the inside of this training room. Lalia had her working in her private gym upstairs.”

Madeline’s brow wrinkled. “Lalia has a private gym?”

“Yeah, it’s up two levels. Her Father, the Founder of the Circle, taught her magic up there. Not so much a gym as a specialty training room, I guess. I’ve never been in there. Only Lalia and her brother were trained in it before Nikita. No one else is even permitted on that floor. The stairs and elevators don’t go there. It’s kind of a halfway floor? Stuck between, and off to the side.” Jack smiled. “So, why did you want to know? If you want to know how to do something...well, I don’t know what they can do. That’s kinda the point, I guess. Nikita was trained, I think, to take over in case something happens to Lalia.”

“Wait, but...you said a brother?”

“Oh. Him.” Jack stood up and headed for the work table, shifting things around. Madeline raised an eyebrow at that.

“He...left the circle when the Founders were killed and Lalia was left command. Didn’t take it too well. They hadn’t really talked since then, not until recently.”

“Why was Lalia left command and not him? What happened recently?”

“One question at a time, little girl.” Jack turned around and smiled, perching on the end of the table. “She was left in charge because her brother was purposely a disappointment. Until Lalia was born, anyway. He liked to pretend that he didn’t care. Then Lalia was born and....the two were really close. I mean, *really* close. When he left after their parents died, she took it really hard.”

“So, what happened recently?”

“That’s a story I really don’t have time to tell you.” Jack smiled again. “I have way too much to do, and I’ve stalled long enough by chatting with you.” He glanced at the clock. “Besides, don’t you want lunch? Serge will stop serving it soon.”

Madeline smiled at Jack and left, heading for the dinning room.

-- That was an obvious evasion. He’s hundreds of years old...you’d think he’d be better at that.

**

Chapter eight
___________

“Paul! PAUL!”

Operations came through the French doors in back holding Naomi who was wearing a swimsuit. They’d been in the pool out back and were both dripping wet.

The banging on the front door had been loud enough to hear underwater.

“Paul, you have two minutes to open this door or I’m going to remove it, ENTIRELY!”

Operations stopped halfway across the living room when he recognized the voice. He set Naomi down and told her to run upstairs and wait in her bedroom.

The last thing he needed was to give Lalia more ammunition.

“Lalia. What brings you here?”

“*What brings me here*?!”

He winced at her voice , suddenly remembering how much like their father she could sound. He started to say something, but she wasn’t done.

“Gee, I don’t know. Perhaps it was the idea that you’re manipulating little children. Or, it might be the concept of you experimenting on human beings too young to give consent. Not that you bothered to ask in the first place. How about the idea that you might be destroying these kids for life? Take your pick.” She brushed past him and closed the door behind her. Walking over to the doorway separating the stud from the Foyer she leaned against the jamb and glared at him. “Please note,” she raised both eyebrows “that I haven’t even mentioned the fact that this is against every ethical rule. *Every* ethical rule.” Lalia waited for Paul to face her before finishing. “I think we need to talk. What do you think, *dear brother*?”

Paul met her gaze for a minute before turning and starting up the stairs. “I’ll be right down. I have to change and check on the child.” He stopped mid step and looked down at her. “You don’t want me to just leave her up there, alone, without checking on her?”

Lalia glared at him but nodded imperceptibly. He flashed a cold smile back and ran the rest of the way up. Lalia watched him disappear before she pushed off the door jamb and walked to the kitchen. She set the coffee maker for a full pot and plugged it in. This was going to be a long night.

**

Chapter nine
___________

Meren stumbled on a protruding tree root but recovered quickly. He didn’t glance behind him as machine gun fire whipped past his head. After centuries of warfare, he knew better.

Plus, he could simply feel them. They were following. No need to look.

-- There’s the river. Three meters, maybe four. You can make it.

He smiled to himself as he ran.

-- Nice vacation, wasn’t it?

Yeah, right.

Two meters.

A bomb went off under his feet, but the ballistics expert just rolled with it, flipping back up and sprinting the last few steps to the water.

He leapt in, relaxed his body and focused, forcing his weight to sink the sixty-odd meters down. He hit bottom and opened his eyes, looking up.

Nothing.

-- Maybe they’re gone. Right. And pigs fly.

If he wasn’t underwater he’d have laughed. The founders used to do just that as an orientation for the newer Saviors. He’d seen it.

Meren blinked twice and slowly turned until he was facing the opposite shore.

-- With the distortion, that’s six kilometers. I can make that.

He focused again, forcing the water in front of him to separate into oxygen particles, creating an air bubble in front of his face.

-- And you thought all those underwater survival training sessions would never come in handy, since I ‘so rarely leave the caverns’. Ha! Take that, Kryn, you bitch!

The thought was accompanied by a wry smile. At this point, he’d have just as soon not been proven right.

-- When I get back, I’m going to kill Jack!

Meren continued to dodge bullets until he was halfway across the river.

**

Chapter ten
___________

“Niscia, I’m tired of cleaning up your messes! Learn to wash a dish!”

Nikita closed her eyes and shook the laughter off before knocking. They could probably hear Kryn three floors up.

Same old temper.

The door swung open to reveal a truly pissed-looking Niscia. She glared at Nikita, shot an obscenity at back at Kryn and stormed past.

“Trouble in hell?”

Kryn glared at Nikita and slammed to door behind her as she walked in. The room was spotless except for the stack of unwashed dishes in the kitchen that, presumably, started the fight.

Kryn flashed an evil smile as she flopped onto the couch. “She’ll be back in less than an hour. And she’ll do the dishes.”

“I don’t want to know.” Nikita sank into an overstuffed chair, her back to the kitchen.

“Then what *do* you want?”

Nikita gave her a wounded look. “I’m not welcome? Fine, I’ll leave.” She made a move to get up.

“No.” Kryn sighed. “Ok. Sorry. Give me a minute.” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She sighed again and opened her eyes. “So. What’s up?”

“Just wanted to talk.” Nikita looked down and started fidgeting with the hem of her blouse. Suddenly she stopped and closed her eyes.

-- Just do it.

“Do you know why Michael wants me to avoid Jack?”

Kryn’s eyes shot up. “What?!”

**
“Madeline.” Michael smiled at the face in the locket. “What’s up?”

Madeline shifted on the couch in her living room in the caverns, tucking her legs underneath her. “Do you know who trained Nikita?”

Michael’s face darkened and he nodded. “Yes.”

“When did she tell you?”

“Why?”

Madeline’s eyebrows lifted. “I think it’s important. Where and when?”

He frowned at her. “Ok, we were in her room. It was just after I first noticed Jack avoiding me. She told me that she’d known him since she first got to the caverns, that he trained her, and that’s why they’re so close. Why?”

“Oh.” Madeline pursed her lips. “I’m not sure how I’m supposed to do this...this isn’t Section. Something tells me that I’m really not even supposed to know.”

“Madeline.” He raised his eyebrows.

“Right.” Madeline took a deep breath. “Ok. Jack stopped training Nikita when she turned sixteen. After that, Lalia trained her.” She closed her eyes. “She was trained to be a backup for Lalia...to take over the Circle.”

At that moment, Trent came into the living room rubbing his eyes and asking for water, and Michael dropped the locket.

**

Chapter eleven
___________

Paul came back downstairs to find Lalia sitting cross-legged on the coffee table in the living room holding a cup of coffee. A tray with another mug and a full pot along with all the accessories sat next to her.

He sat down on the couch opposite her and took the mug she held out. The coffee was just the way he liked it.

“So.”

He looked at her and closed his eyes. This was not a conversation he’d been looking forward to.

“So.”

“Ok. Let’s just start at the beginning. I’ll ask the first question. ‘Paul, what exactly is it that you’re doing?’“ The sarcasm dripped from her voice.

“We are attempting, using outside stimulation, to raise these children’s IQ levels.” He kept his voice clinical and steady. Passion and excitement for the project would only get him into trouble at this point.

“‘Outside stimulation.’“ Lalia studied his face. “And what, exactly, does that entail? Straight answer, Paul.”

-- Straight answer. Right. Shit.

Paul grimaced. “We bombard the child with anything advanced. Books, music, ideas, mathematics. We take wherever the child’s understanding is, and start a level higher. Then we simply increase the rate of input.”

“Try again. In simple, everyday, ‘I’m talking to a really dumb five year old’ terms.”

“We play classical music, read Shakespeare, force algebra, and talk politics until the kid understands what we’re talking about. Then we move a level up and start over.” He risked a glance at her face, then wished he hadn’t. It was *definitely* times like these that he remembered how much like their father Lalia could be.

“I see.” She continued to look at him while he looked into his coffee cup.

They sat there for a few minutes. When she didn’t say anything, Paul started playing with the handle to his mug. And then he suddenly felt the need to fill the silence.

“Ok.” Simple. Non-committal.

At least, that’s what he thought.

“No, Paul. Right now, you wouldn’t believe how ok I’m not.”

He closed his eyes.

“But I really can’t stop you, can I?”

Paul’s eyes popped open and he raised his head to look at her, but she was gone. He turned around to see Lalia grabbing her coat off the rack.  She opened the front door and stopped in the doorway too look back.

“Don’t call me until this is over. I can’t trust myself to be civil.”

He winced when the door slammed, rattling the windows.

“Daddy?”

Paul glanced through the foyer at the stairs. Naomi was at the bottom step in her footie pajamas, rubbing her eyes.

“Who was that?”

Already calling me ‘daddy’.

Paul closed his eyes again.

-- I hate it when she’s right.

**

Chapter twelve
___________

“Where to, Senior?” The heavily accented driver stumbled over the English, obviously not used to using it.

-- I hate Brazil.

Meren decided to do them both a favor and gave him directions to his hotel in Spanish, though he was fairly certain that his Spanish was worse than the driver’s English.

When they got there, Meren made a mad dash for his room, packing in record time. He wanted out of there, *now*.

Packed, he slammed the room door and took the stairs down, not willing to wait for the elevator. He tossed the room key on the front desk as he passed and jumped back into the waiting cab, already giving instructions to head for the airport.

-- Time to go. Hell, it was time to go three weeks ago, but *no*, I have to be the idiot and just hang around, *waiting* for someone to figure out who took their precious timer. What the hell is wrong with me? I could be home, right now, in my bed, J’net rubbing my feet....

He was literally slammed out of his reverie by the car behind them. Meren turned and swore when he saw who was driving the other car.

-- I thought I lost him!

Without waiting for his own driver, Meren kicked his door open and started running, duffel over his shoulder. Weaving in and out of traffic, he grabbed the back of a passing pickup truck and heaved himself into the cargo area, dropping flat so he wouldn’t be seen.

It didn’t work.

Three minutes later Meren rolled out of the wrecked vehicle and ran again, not bothering to look back and see if anyone was hurt in the broadside collision.

And ten minutes later he was arguing with an attendant at the small village airport who spoke some dialect he’d never even *heard* of.

-- I really, really hate Brazil.

**

Chapter thirteen
___________

“I still say it’s weapon envy.”

Three hours later and most of a bottle of tequila, Nikita and Kryn were sitting on the floor playing poker. Neither had come up with any reason Michael would be angry at Jack. At least, not any serious reasons.

“That’s ridiculous.” Nikita picked up the deck and dealt Kryn two cards, taking three for herself. “Michael has guns. He has knives. He has at least one of every weapon possible, including, I’m sure, a rocket launcher.”

Kryn raised an eyebrow. “Really? A rocket launcher? I’m afraid to ask.”

“Then don’t. Full house.” Nikita put her cards down and groaned at Kryn’s straight flush. She downed the shot between them and refilled it for the next game while Kryn shuffled.

“Ok, then let’s look at this rationally.” Kryn started to deal while Nikita gave her an odd look.

“Rationally? We’ve just finished a bottle of tequila, and *now* you want us to think rationally?”

Kryn shot her a deadpan look and pointed to the shot glass. “We haven’t finished the bottle yet, and I have more, anyway. And yes, I do. Neither of us is drunk. We can think logically and rationally if we want to.”

Nikita glowered. “What if I don’t want to?” She reached out and snatched the shot, finishing it off. “I fold. And we’ve now finished the bottle. So, rational thought is not an option.”

Kryn frowned at her and stretched over to the cabinet next to the couch, pulling out a new bottle. She thunked it down between them and re-dealt the hand. “Do you have a better idea?”

Nikita just picked up her cards.

“I didn’t think so. So, what, exactly, did he say?”

“He said he didn’t want me around Jack. He said to ‘trust him’.” Nikita shuffled her cards in her hand and put one down. “One.”

Kryn dealt her one card and took two.

“That’s all he said? Just to stay away from Jack and to trust him?”

“Yep.”

“Nikita, he thinks Jack wants you.” Kryn smiled to herself and folded her cards back together.

“What?” Nikita’s mouth turned down and she glared at the other woman over her cards. “That’s stupid.”

“Is it?” Kryn watched as Nikita put down a flush. She smiled to herself again and put down a royal straight flush. “I still win.”

Nikita stared at the cards for a minute before picking up the bottle. She took a very long drink.

**

Chapter fourteen
___________

Madeline sank into a plush chair and reflected for the thousandth time how luxurious the Caverns were, and how uncomfortable Section was in comparison. She smoothed her hands over the find silk table cloth before accepting the leather-bound menu from the waiter.

And stared at the crest.

-- How did I never see that before?

Madeline traced her finger over the embossed crest of the Circle, elegantly imprinted on the front of the menu. For some reason, she couldn’t remember seeing it before.

Which was odd, since she knew, in the back of her mind, that it adorned almost every Circle-issue item.

-- Just never took the time to look, I suppose.

She knew it was usually referred to the ‘Star of All Religion’, but she had a feeling that if she asked, it would mean more.

Something to look into.

-- But not now. Now, we eat.

**

Nikita rolled over and stared at the intricate designs carved into the rock ceiling. “When did you have the rock carved?”

“Hmmm?” Kryn squinted at her from the couch and then turned on her back. “Oh, that. I don’t remember.”

“Interesting choice of patterns.”

“Hmmm.” Kryn’s eyes were closed again.

“Kryn.”

Nothing.

“Kryn!”

“What?!”

Nikita shifted onto her side and looked up from the floor at the woman on the couch. “I got sidetracked by the thing with Michael and didn’t really ask you the main question I wanted to ask you last night.”

Kryn rolled to face her. “You mean there’s more?”

Nikita nodded and Kryn stood up. “Ok, we’ll need more booze. C’mon, let’s something off Serge.”

**

Chapter fifteen
___________

“Well, what exactly does he want?”

Nikita bit her lip and squinted at Serge. Kryn had asked him to join them, so the three Saviors were sitting around the large table in the kitchen, drinking scotch and getting nowhere.

“That’s the thing. I don’t know. He...he assigned me to play his wife so we’d have time to smooth things out, I guess. But...I think he sees me more as a daughter, which...”

“Ok, but I don’t think the roles are literal.” Kryn frowned, and then her eyes widened. “Are they?”

“No. Separate rooms, blah, blah, blah. But, I don’t know what it is he wants. I don’t know what kind of relationship he’s trying to create. And, while I’m not *mad* at him, I’m not sure I want to get really close.”

Serge propped his head on one hand. “When you left,” he raised his eyebrows and Nikita nodded. “When you left, you wanted to get to know him. I remember you said something about an uncle you never had.”

Nikita nodded and held her glass to Kryn to be refilled. “Yes, but that was before he started playing God with my head.”

“Wait.” Kryn frowned and sent her a mock glare. “Didn’t you say that the only other option was to kill you?” Nikita nodded again. “Ok, so, technically, didn’t he save your life?” This time Nikita just glared. “What? He did, didn’t he?”

“That isn’t the point.”

“Well, what *is* the point?” Serge took her hand. “If this is a purely emotional response, that’s fine. There is not a person on earth that would not understand that. But if it isn’t, we have to figure out what it is that’s bothering you.” He smiled sadly. “He’s Lalia’s brother, son of the founders. Normally I’d say to just write him off, but I don’t think you can do that here. So...”

“Yeah.” Nikita bit her lip. “I know. I have to figure out what I want to do.”

“No.”

Nikita moaned and dropped her head into her hands while Serge shot a flustered look at Kryn. “What?”

“No. You don’t have to decide what you want to do. You have to find out what *he* wants to do, *then* decide if that’s what you want *too*. But you can’t make the first move. *He* hurt *you*. So, you let him move first.” She smiled weakly. “Isn’t that the rule anyway?”

Nikita giggled softly. “ ‘Never make the first move.’ Yes, but I’m not sure it applies here.”

Serge chuckled. “When in doubt.”

“ ‘Read the instructions’?”

“Sounds right to me.” Kryn knocked back the last of the scotch. “And we have now officially solved the problem.”

This time Nikita chuckled.

**

Chapter sixteen
___________

(setting some scenes...)

-- Ok. Just do it. This is something you can do. You are *not* this sad!

Greg suppressed a laugh. He *was* this sad. Three times he’d stood in front of this door, ready to ask her, and three times he’d backed out and run from the building.

Fifteen minutes later he actually knocked. It might have had something to do with the fact that he now, after all this stalling, needed to use her restroom.

“Greg!”

Lalia’s tired smile faded entirely a minute later when he still hadn’t come in.

“You waiting for a formal invitation?”

“Sorry.” He flashed a weak smile and followed her into the living room, then gestured into the bathroom beyond. She nodded and he disappeared after dropping his coat over  a chair.

Lalia picked up the coat to put it on a hook and a small jewelry box fell out of the pocket. She took one look and closed her eyes before picking it up. 

Then she opened it.

“Damnit, damnit, damnit!”

**

“You have to get up. The lady from Westwood will be here soon. Don’t you want to look nice for her?”

Michael tried not to think about what he was doing and just focus on getting Trent out of bed. The evaluator for the ‘Gifted’ school would be there soon, and the kid at least had to be awake. Even if the visit was just for show.

“Trent!”

“I don’t wanna.” The voice was muffled by the layer of blankets he’d pulled over his head.

“Please?”

“No!”

Michael sighed. He didn’t want to do this....

Quietly he reached under the blankets and to the boys abdomen.

And started tickling.

Five minutes later Trent was still rolling around on the bed, giggling.

“Ok, ok! I’ll get up!”

**

Chapter seventeen
___________

Meren got off the plane and took a quick look round him. No familiar faces. At least that meant he wasn’t still being followed.

He jogged towards the parking lot to reclaim his car but stopped halfway there. Cringing and reaching into his pocket, the old war horse pulled out his wallet and opened it.

-- Crap. Might as well have those little butterflies come flying out.

He sighed and went back to the building to find an ATM. After almost a year away, that car was going to cost a fortune to get back.

**

-- Why do they always have to *do* this?

Lalia dropped into a chair, the coat forgotten, and stared at the large diamond in her hand.

-- Just when it was going so well....

She sighed and, closing the box, set it on the coffee table, never taking her eyes off it. As if it was a snake and would bite her and she didn’t want to give it a chance to sneak up.

-- I really hate engagement rings.

**

“Nikita?” Madeline knocked twice more before she gave up and headed to the training room.

-- Where the hell is she at nine thirty in the morning? I never even saw her at breakfast.

In an oversized black sweater and loose black sweatpants, Madeline blended perfectly with the rest of the Circle. Comfortable, but stylish. She got more than a few glances in the hallways. After the fifth man she’d never met smiled at her like she was family, Madeline reflected that she really ought to meet more of the Inner Circle.

Not knowing any names at all put her at a disadvantage, and if there was anything Madeline hated, it was being at a disadvantage.

**
“Naomi.” Paul knocked again and this time the little girl opened the door. She was wearing the pink sundress with white sandals he’d laid out for her, and her hair was pulled into a simple pony tail.

“You look very nice.”

She smiled at him.

“Why don’t you go downstairs and eat? Breakfast is on the table, and the man from the school will be here soon, ok?”

Naomi nodded and headed for the stairs, but when she got to the top she stopped and turned around.

“Aren’t you coming, daddy?”

Paul winced. Then he sighed and nodded, following the child down the stairs.

**

Chapter eighteen
___________

Jack couldn’t keep quiet anymore. He’d watched her for fifteen minutes now, and every time she connected she made him wince.

“Nikita, you tryin’ to kill that thing?”

Nikita hit the punching bag with a left hook. “Why (punch) would (punch, punch, jab) you (spin kick) care? (punch, jab, kick, kick, kick, spin kick)”

Nikita’s last kick unhooked the bag and sent it flying across the room. It hit the rock wall with a loud ‘thud’.

“I’m less concerned about the bag and more about you. Though, if you keep this up, I’ll have to re-do this room, and you know how much Lalia hates new equipment.”

“Sorry.”

“You wanna talk about it?”

Nikita glared at him. “I already talked about it. Now I have to burn off the booze.”

Jack gave a light laugh. “Talked to Kryn, did you?”

“Yeah. About everything.”

Nikita was on the treadmill jogging. Jack found himself making a very conscious effort to keep his eyes on her face and not other parts of her bouncing anatomy. “And...?”

“And, we are sticking with the ‘rock rule’*.”

“Can’t say I blame you. What makes you think he’ll move?”

Nikita glared at him again. “You mean, what makes me think he’ll move *again*, right? I mean, putting us into a house together, this doesn’t strike you as a move?”

“Good point.” Jack hesitated, then decided finish. He looked down at his hands as he spoke. “But, I doubt that that situation will last all that long.”

The movement on the treadmill stopped. Jack could hear her walking over. It was confirmed a minute later when she knelt in front of him, much as he had her on her last visit. The difference was, she wasn’t reassuring.

In fact, she looked pissed.

“Explain that. Now.”

Jack closed his eyes and sighed.

Wrong choice.

“Lalia went to see Paul. I think....” He cleared his throat. “Walter got the impression in Operations’ last checkin that the mission may be going down in flames. Soon.” He looked up. “By choice.”

Nikita stared at him for a minute, then stood up. Without one word, she grabbed her towel and left the room, slamming the door behind her. Jack winced when the swords by the door fell off their hooks.

Note to self: Never, ever, forget that Lalia raised that girl.

___________________

* ‘rock rule’ is the rule that no Savior can make the first move. It’s refereed to as such, the way we refer to the ‘golden rule’

Cavern, rock...get it?

:p

**

Chapter nineteen
___________

Michael sat through the interview with the school and tried to remain impassive, but he couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief when he saw the woman drive away and finally got Trent back into the house. The boy immediately took off for his bedroom, and Michael collapsed on the couch.

This mission was starting to hurt more than his heart. Sitting in that interview had hurt his head.

The answering machine had been set to silent answer during the interview and the blinking light finally worked it’s way into Michael’s head. He hit the play button on his way to the kitchen.

~ Beeep! ~
*Mike, it’s me. The meeting at ten on Monday is being changed to tomorrow at three. Boss says you’re required. Sorry, man!*
~ Beep! ~

‘Mike, it’s me.’ That was Walter’s call sign, but Michael would have recognized his voice anyway. The ‘meeting’ was the operative’s next scheduled check-in to Section. They were supposed to check-in every Monday. The message told him to go in tomorrow.

Something was up.

**

“So. You found it.” Greg sat down opposite Lalia and watched her stare at the ring. Not really the reaction he’d been hoping for.

“Yeah.”

“Uhm...not the way I wanted to do this....but...”

“Don’t.”

Greg closed his eyes when she interrupted him. Trying to calm his breathing, he didn’t speak. Just waited.

And with his eyes closed, the door slamming shut was rather unexpected.

**

“Where’s Nikita? We go back today.”

“I know. And I think she knows. She was just in here, pummeling out her problems.”

Madeline stared at the punching bag Jack was loading onto a cart. It’d been hit so hard the seams burst.

“Nikita did that.” It wasn’t a question.

“Yep, that’s our Nikki. She was upset about somthin’, but I don’t think even she knew what.” Jack carted the bust bag away, calling back to Madeline over his shoulder. “There’s a message for you on the main floor, by the way. Nikita already went to get hers. And your transport should be here in about three hours.”

Madeline nodded at his back, but wasn’t really paying attention. She just frowned at the floor where the stuffing from the bag still hadn’t been cleaned up.

She had a pretty good idea what was bothering Nikita.

And she was talking to Jack about it.

Madeline raised n eyebrow at the empty room.

-- Michael won’t like that.

**

Chapter twenty
___________

“Paul.”

Paul groaned and managed to pry his eyes open. He blinked a few times. She was still there.

“What?” He looked around. This *was* his room, so he hadn’t fallen asleep in the common room or anything...

“Lalia, what are you doing in my bedroom at...” He glanced at his clock. “Six AM! God, Lalia! Don’t you ever sleep?”

She giggled. “Nope. Come on. You promised to take me somewhere today, remember?”

Paul grinned up at his eight year old sister. He remembered the promise very well.

“Ok, let me just get up.”

“No.”

Paul glared. “Lalia...”

“No. You can’t get up until you tell me where we’re going. I mean it.”

“Little girl, get off me.” She was sitting sideways on his chest with her legs hanging off the side of the bed. Lalia shook her head.

“No. Not ‘till you give.”

“Uh huh, fine then. We won’t go. I’m going back to sleep.”

“PAUL!!” Lalia stood up and started shaking his shoulders. “Paul!”

One eyes opened. “Ha! Got you up, didn’t I?”

Lalia stuck her hands on her hips, affecting a petulant child’s pose. “That was sneaky!”

“Yeah, well, I’m a sneaky guy.”*

**

“Hey Walter!”

“Sugar! When’d you get back?”

Nikita smiled and leaned forward on the table, resting on her elbows. She peered at the circuitry he was working on while she talked.

“Just now. I heard there was a meeting about the mission?”

-- Come on, Walter. If Lalia’s being overprotective, you’d know, right?

“Yep.” Walter put down the soldering iron. “I think we’re scrubbing the mission.”

Nikita stood back up and crossed her arms. “What? Why? Not that I’m upset...but, why?”

“Official version, or real?”

-- Now we’re getting somewhere.

She raised her eyebrows. “Both.”

“Right. Official version is that it turns out we don’t have the manpower to spare you four for so long, and Operations doesn’t want to trust this to lower level operatives.”

“And the real reason is?”

“I hear Paul, son of Rayne and Seiren, got a visit from his sister who read him the riot act. Something about morals and children and free choice...oh, yes, and manipulating children’s minds, I believe. She told him not to even talk to her until the mission is over.”

“Oh....” Nikita dropped her arms and cocked her head. “Lalia yelled at Operations? Really?”

-- About the kids. Not me. Ok, I might have overreacted.

“Yep.”

Suddenly it hit her. Lalia yelled. At Operations. Nikita looked up at the Aerie and frowned. “And he’s still breathing?”

**

Chapter twenty-one
___________

Nikita flopped into a chair in Michael’s office. “So, what happens to the kids?”

“Trent is going to a good home in Paris.”

Nikita frowned. “Trent? What about Naomi?”

**

Paul glanced down at the little girl in his arms and smiled.

Fast asleep.

With no desire to get stuck in the snow, he started to walk faster. The cobblestones sounded hollow under his boots, and Paul kept checking Naomi to make sure he wasn’t waking her up.

“Almost there, little one.”

He looked ahead and couldn’t stop the smile from coming when the large stone house came into view.

“There it is, Naomi.” Then he glanced down again. She was still dead to the world. Paul chuckled.

Climbing the steps, he stared at the door for a minute before knocking.

“Who is it?”

“A nephew you haven’t seen in a very long time.”

The door opened.

“PAUL!” Christabel, sister of Seiren, moved to hug him, but stopped when she saw the bundle in his arms. “And who is this young lady?”

Paul smiled. “This is my daughter Naomi.” He caught his aunt’s eye. “I was wondering if you’d be willing to take care of her for a while?”

Christabel looked back at him for a moment and then at Naomi.

Paul held his breath.

Finally, she smiled.

“Paul, there is nothing I would love more.”

Just then Naomi woke up and blinked up at Paul.

“Daddy, are we there yet?”

Paul smiled. “Yes. We’re here.”

**

Chapter twenty-two
___________

“He hasn’t sent a damn thing in weeks!”

Kryn sat with her elbow on her desk and her head propped on her hand, watching passively as Lalia paced the large cluttered office. She walked around the stacks of papers and books piled on the floor, hitting the  back of every chair she passed.

“I want to know what the hell is going on with my son!”

Kryn wrinkled her nose as Lalia’s foot came very close to a particularly large pile of file folders.

“I’m sure Walter would have sent something if there was something to tell you about. Or he would’ve used the lockets. What’s that old saying? ‘No news is good news’?”

Lalia shook her head but didn’t stop pacing. “Oh no. Last I heard, Paul was going to do something about the way Berkoff was prying. We had a discussion, and I said he could do whatever it was he was going to do. Something Section-like. I haven’t heard a word on him since.” Lalia finally stopped moving and dropped into a chair in front of Kryn’s desk. Propping her elbows on her knees, she put her hands over her face.

“I just know he’s done something that he knows I’ll hate. We had this discussion, but....I at least expected Walter to message me and tell me what happened!”

**

“Jack!!”

Meren dropped his bag just inside the door of the training room and glared daggers into the weapons racks.

“JACK!”

Jack came around a corner smiling. “Hey man, you’re back! So, how’d....” He stopped walking when he looked up. Meren was dressed in torn fatigues with spots of dried blood on his arms and legs. Three or four days stubble was evident, along with a definite lack of showering.

“Uh...never mind. I don’t think I want to know how it went.”

Meren crossed his arms. “A year gone, and you don’t even ask? Jack, old buddy, old pal, I’m hurt.”

Jack tried to hide his smirk but it didn’t work. “So sorry. But, as I recall, you did lose the bet...”

“Jack!”

“Well, you did. Did it never occur to you to ask *why* I didn’t want to go myself *before* you took that bet?”

Meren glared for a minute, then, without one word, picked up his bag and stormed out.

The minute he was gone, Jack was on the floor laughing.

**

Chapter twenty-three
___________

-- Numb. I believe the word for how I feel right now is numb.

Lalia closed her eyes to clear her head, then opened them again.

The report was still there.

And it still said the same thing.

The conference in Jamaica was bombed by Freedom League fighters.

The conference in Jamaica with sixty-three Saviors in attendance.

Including one Inner Circle Savior.

Niscia.

Lalia put the report down and dropped her head into her hands.

The tears running down her cheeks didn’t make a sound.

**

“Oh, Look. Home. I really, really missed you.” Meren spoke to the door as he let himself into his apartment. Dropping his bag, he toed off his boots and headed straight for the master bedroom. He grabbed clean shorts from the dresser and went for the shower.

Fifteen minutes later he was still in the shower when his wife came back. He was totally out of it when she got into the shower behind him, and jumped a mile when she wrapped her arms around him.

“Jeez, J’net!” He turned and looked down at her. Then Meren raised an eyebrow. She was fully clothed.

“So sue me. You’ve been gone for a year. I couldn’t wait.”

**

“Ok. Today seems to be a sandwich day.”

Jack raised an eyebrow in agreement at Kryn. There was indeed nothing on the lunch menu but sandwiches.

“Supposing someone wanted to keep kosher? All these sandwiches are meat and cheese.”

Jack frowned. “Kryn, if there are Saviors keeping kosher, they aren’t eating out of Serge’s kitchen to begin with. He doesn’t keep a kosher kitchen.”

“What’s that got to do with it?”

Jack sighed. “Never mind.” He shook his head and put his menu down. Scanning for a waiter, he spotted Lalia standing in the doorway, staring at the back of Kryn’s head in pain. He frowned at her and lifted her eyebrows. She shook her head and motioned him to follow her.

“Kryn, I’ll be right back. Do me a favor and order me a meatloaf special, ok? On a hard roll.”

“Got it.”

Jack stood up and followed Lalia into the hall. Once there she handed him the report. Jack read it and closed his eyes.

“I’ll be right back.” He handed the report back to Lalia.

“Where are you going?”

“To cancel my lunch. I’m suddenly not hungry.”

**

Chapter twenty-four
___________

Operations met Madeline as she got to bay doors and rode down with her into Section.

“How was your trip?”

Operations smiled. “It was fine.” He turned her head to meet her eyes.  “What have you heard about the Freedom League attack?”

“Not much. I thought we’d get more today.”

The doors opened into Section and the two stepped out.

“We don’t know what the target was?”

“No. It was just a conference. Nothing remarkable.”

The entered comm and Madeline headed for her office. “I’ll send it up as soon as we have it.”

Operations smiled and looked up at his office.

He immediately lost his smile.

The emergency line Lalia had made him hook up was blinking red.

**

Berkoff looked back up at the Aerie. Operations had been pacing for fifteen minutes now and talking to someone on an independent unit around his neck. That was weird enough, but he kept shooting strange glances at Berkoff through the window.

Berkoff swiveled around and, ostentatiously, looked at his computer screen, while his eyes wandered over to Walter. *He’d* been packing up his equipment for the last ten minutes, as if he were planning on being gone for a while. He was clearing his area of all his personal projects, and closing all the ‘renovations’ he’d been working on.

There was something going on.

**

Chapter twenty-five
___________

“So, what will you tell George, hmm? That you’ll just be gone for a month or so, no big deal?”

Paul frowned. The sarcasm was dripping from Lalia’s voice. “No. We just won’t tell him that the mission with the kids was scrubbed until I get back. He’ll think I’m there.”

On the small screen, Lalia raised her eyebrows. “And you’ll explain this to Madeline, how? Oh, how about when you accidentally run into her in the caverns? Do you know how hard it’ll be to keep her from knowing you’re there? It’s not like we can just not call her in. She’s Inner Circle. We need her.”

“So what’s your idea? Just have me lead half the Circle from Section? You don’t think that’ll be slightly suspicious? Not to mention incredibly awkward. You try leading several hundred Gifted soldiers from a screen.” Paul’s face scrunched up. “Unless you don’t need me to lead. In which case, this is all a moot point.”

Lalia sighed. “You know as well as I do that I don’t *need* you to lead. We handled this kind of stuff before without you when you were gone, just like you did when you were on your own before I was born. But it never works as well as it should. It’s sloppy. There are too many Saviors for one person to handle, that’s why it was Dad *and* Mom, that’s why they had two kids. Two of us. Equals in battle. And....” She gave  small smile, “It’d be nice to have my brother back as my equal, and me as his. Not to mention that if I have to do this by myself...”

“Right. Which brings us back to the original point. I guess we’ll just have to make sure Madeline doesn’t know I’m there.” He smiled wryly. “So, I think it’s safe to say she’ll be in your half.”

**

“Michael, you have to get up.”

He didn’t move. Nikita glared at his back. She walked over to her packed bag (essentials only) and picked it up. Then she walked back to the bed and dropped it on the floor next to his head.

That worked.

“What?” Michael rolled on his back and blinked, taking in her plain jeans, black T-shirt and packed bag. He sat up, suddenly awake. “What?”

“We’ve been recalled. We’re moving in-house indefinitely.”

Michael stood up and started dressing. “Section.” It wasn’t a question.

Nikita shook her head. “No. The Circle.”

**

Chapter twenty-six
___________

“J’net!” Lalia jogged a bit to catch up with the younger woman. “Wait.”

J’net stopped mid stride and turned around, never taking her eyes off what she was reading. “Yes?”

Lalia stopped in front of her and waited for her attention. After a minute, J’net got the message and looked up.

“Yes?”

Lalia raised an eyebrow. “Thank you.” She smiled. “Ok, we should sit for this.”

J’net eyed her warily. “That bad?”

“Yeah.”

J’net followed Lalia to one of the numerous overstuffed couches lining the hallways. Lalia waited for the redhead to sit.

“Ok....you don’t remember much before Section, do you?”

J’net shook her head. “No. Just...the hospital, then Section, then Paul sent me here.” She bit her lip. “I haven’t seen him since. I heard he was back....is he...”

Lalia smiled. “No, he’s just been busy. He was planning on seeing you his next trip.”

“‘Was’.”

“Yeah. Do you remember your sister at all?”

J’net frowned. “Not really. I remember I *have* a sister. Do I get bonus points for that?” They both chuckled.

Then Lalia sighed. “I’m going to say this, and you need to not jump up and run away.”

“Ha ha. I haven’t done that since my first year here. Just say it.”

“You asked for it.” Lalia took a deep breath. “Ok. Your sister is an Inner Circle Savior, and I need you not to tell her who you are when you see her.” She glanced at J’net’s face and winced. “I’m sorry. I wouldn’t have had to bring it up normally, since you two would never meet, but everyone’s being recalled, and you’ll have to. And I know you’ll recognize her aura....but for now, I need you to not tell her.”

“Why not?”

Lalia made a face. “Because, really, she can’t know that Paul knew you were here.”

“Because...?”

Lalia leaned back and crossed her legs. “Because we need her focused. This would....no one has *that* much control over their emotions. We’re kind of afraid of a nervous breakdown.”

“Why would seeing me cause a breakdown?”

“Because Madeline thinks she killed you.”

**

Chapter twenty-seven
___________

“We’re being recalled to The Circle?” Michael finished packing his bag and joined Nikita in the kitchen. She handed him a cup of coffee.

“Yes. An Inner Circle Savior was killed.”

“So we’re being recalled?” Michael wrinkled his brow. It wasn’t really that big a deal, was it?

Nikita sat down and stared into her coffee cup. “There hasn’t been an Inner Circle who was killed for over a century.”

 “I see.” Michael reached out a finger and lifted Nikita’s chin. “You knew them?”

Nikita nodded. “So did you. It was Niscia.”

Michael closed his eyes.

**

“What do we do about Berkoff?”

Lalia frowned into her locket. She was walking down some hallway, Paul could see, but he wasn’t sure which one. They all looked alike in the caverns.

“What do you mean, ‘what do we do about Berkoff’?”

“I mean, we can’t just leave him there. You’re calling Walter in. There won’t be anyone to watch him, and he could become a target.”

“So what do you suggest? You wanna bring him with?”

“Yes.”

“‘YES’?!?”

**

“Meren? Honey? You in here?”

No answer.

Thank god.

J’net sank into the couch and dropped her head into her hands. She loved her husband, but right now, she needed time alone.

She was finally going to meet her sister.

Who thought she’d killed her.

And she couldn’t say a thing.

-- On second thought, perhaps what I need is a drink.

**

Chapter twenty-eight
___________

“Ok, so at the very least, did you get it? Because with what’s going on now, I’m going to need it.”

Meren glared at Jack and dropped a small leather pouch onto the table. “I got it. Thank you, by the way, for the warning that there would be a nice tribe of priests waiting to kill me when I got outside.”

Jack picked up the bag. “Oh, didn’t I mention that?” He raised his eyebrows at his friend then opened the bag.

“Ah. Thank you.”

Jack pulled out two simple-looking stone disks, one on top of the other, roped together through small holes in the middle.

“Oh. Good. I was wondering if those words would ever leave your mouth.”

Jack glared, but Meren just smiled. “What?”

“Never mind. So, have you tested it?”

“No, that seemed like a bad idea since I was, at the time, being chased by several dozen men with guns.”

“Oh.” Jack held up the disks to the light a and small beams filtered through the pattern of punctures in the edges.

“Will it work?”

“One can only hope.”

**

“If you bring him, you get to come up with an explanation for him.” After three hours of arguing, Lalia’s voice had a resigned note to it. Neither of them had been able to come up with a better solution. And they had certainly tried.

“I know.” Paul bit his lip to which Lalia raised an eyebrow. “What will you tell Jack?”

“I don’t know. Probably the truth. He’s Inner Circle...and I owe it to him.”

“You aren’t worried?”

“About?”

“About how he’ll react to seeing his son again.”

**

Chapter twenty-nine
___________

Madeline had been trying for hours to get through to Lalia, but her locket was busy.

Leave it to Jack to use an actual ‘busy signal’ for these things.

She tapped her fingers on her desk and the re-read the message.

Still said the same thing. She sighed.

All Saviors, of all levels, were being re-called and moved in-house.

Of course, that didn’t take into consideration that Section was bound to notice if she just took off for a few months.

Not to mention it’s two best operatives.

And didn’t she hear something about Walter being a Savior?

This was not good.

Madeline tried Lalia’s locket again.

Still busy. Damn.

**

“Nikita, she’s not going to answer. Get on the plane.”

Nikita looked back at the door to the plane and smiled at Michael. She was standing in the middle of the runway trying to get through to Lalia on her locket.

So far, no luck.

“Just let me try one more time, ok?”

Michael nodded and disappeared into the plane.

Nikita opened her locket and entered Lalia into it.

Still no answer.

Damnit!

Sighing, Nikita put the chain back round her neck and headed back to the plane.

-- I’ll try again when we land in Ireland.

**

Chapter thirty
___________

Greg rolled over and covered his face with a pillow, trying to ignore the pounding headache that was, apparently, still there.

-- Well, that’s what you get when you drink an entire bottle of scotch.

Suddenly it registered that the pounding wasn’t in his head but at his door.

He sat up and looked around his Circle apartment.  He hadn’t had the energy to go home, so he’d stayed here.

And someone was *still* pounding on his door.

Groaning, he got up and headed towards the front room. Reaching for the doorknob, he looked down to make sure he was indeed wearing boxer shorts, then opened the door.

“Lalia?”

“Hey.” She squinted up at him. “I figured, when you weren’t there when I got back, that you’d have gone home?”

Greg shook his head.

“You going to invite me in?”

He raised an eyebrow but stepped back so Lalia could enter. She walked past him then turned back around to face him and waited for him to close the door.

She took a deep breath. “Is that offer still open?”

Greg was immediately awake.

**

Michael took Nikita’s hand when he got off the helicopter at the island.

He was immediately knocked off balance by a messenger running towards the other side of the field.

Nikita raised an eyebrow and looked around. The place resembled a military base more than an island retreat.

-- Which, really, it is. We just tend to forget that, don’t we?

Michael pulled on her hand and she came back to attention.

“Right. Let’s find Lalia.”

**

Chapter thirty-one
___________

“Madeline. Madeline!”

Lalia sighed and ran a hand over her eyes. She couldn’t seem to interrupt the other woman’s diatribe.

“*Madeline!!*”

“What?”

“Thank you. Just stop.” Lalia closed her eyes against the headache budding behind her eyes then opened them to glare at Madeline on the screen. “Look, not one thing you’ve brought up is an actual problem. We’ve been here for several centuries. You think we can’t cover for you?” Madeline was silent. “Good. Then get your ass on the island. I’m sending a plane.”

“But...”

“No. Just get here.” Lalia closed her laptop, flopped onto the couch and looked around her empty office.  She closed her eyes and covered them with her hands.

And felt the engagement ring. She opened her eyes and stared at it for a second.

Her locket started buzzing.

Lalia dropped her head onto the back of the couch, covered her face with a pillow and screamed.

**

Operations met Berkoff at the bay doors and handed him an overnight bag.

The Tec shifted his computer case to the other arm and shouldered the duffel. “Where are we going?”

“Not until we get out of Section.” Operations glanced at his watch and threw an annoyed glare at the empty hallway. Presently, Walter came running down it, breathing hard.

“Ok, it was close, but I got it all.”

“Walter, what’s...”

Walter shot a look at Operations, busy at the control panel of the lift. “Later, man. Just trust me. Later.”

Berkoff nodded. When the doors opened, the three men headed for a non-descript SUV parked across the street.

Berkoff stared at it a minute before getting in.

It wasn’t Section issue.

**

Chapter thirty-two
___________

Jack finished his last training session and slammed the door behind him, exhausted. With the Freedom League situation, everything was moving faster, and training had been stepped up for all unfinished Saviors.

-- Sixty in one day. I believe that’s a new record.

He ran a hand over his eyes and almost bumped into Lalia coming to talk to him.

“Sorry.” Jack’s eyes dropped to her hand.

He took a deep breath. Then another. Then he closed his eyes for a second to clear his head.

-- I’m hallucinating. It’s really the only explanation.

But when he looked again, the ring was still there.

-- Did Hell freeze over while I wasn’t looking?!

“Jack?”

“Sorry. Congratulations.”

Lalia frowned. “What?” She followed his gaze. “Oh.” She smile weakly. “Thank you. But that’s not what I’m here about.”

“Ok. Walk with me.” Jack started back down the hallway and tried not to think about the engagement. Or the man she was engaged to, since it was obvious. Or the fact that it was Lalia, engaged. Or the fact that he was trying not to think about it, since he wasn’t in love with her anymore, right? Right. He was in love with Nikita. Who Lalia did or did not marry was really none of his business.....

He stopped.

-- Great job not thinking about it, man.

Right.

Jack suddenly realized that Lalia was talking to him.

“...so, he’s bringing him.”

“Sorry....who’s bringing who?”

Lalia sighed. “Do you ever even listen when I talk? Paul. Bringing Berkoff. Here. Tomorrow.”

“WHAT?”

**

Chapter thirty-three (kinda short)
___________

Madeline got off the plane and headed straight for the caverns, for the first time completely missing the beauty of the island on the way.

She didn’t even bother picking a rose.

Which would have been something to comment on if the place wasn’t crawling with recalled Saviors. But it was. Swarming. The fields looked like an Army training camp, with squads of soldiers doing drills and target practice.

If it wasn’t for the fact that they weren’t using weapons, it wouldn’t have been anything to stare at. But they weren’t.

Using weapons.

Of any kind.

And things were blowing up or being shot left and right.

Madeline took a closer look at a squad just by her plane’s takeoff. They were wearing uniforms.

She’d never seen a uniform once the entire time she’d been inside. But there they were. Plain dark-gray tank-tops with black, form-fitting utility cartridge-pants. The Circle Crest was the only marking on the cloth, resting half an inch above the hemline, to the left. The female version of the uniform top was only a half-top, and had thinner straps than the men’s, but both were obviously of some soft, stretchy cotton. The pants, though skin tight, seemed very flexible, not at all hindering. Every female soldier had a silver armband on her left arm, with a black throwing knife held fast along the outside of the arm.

They were all doing some kind of magic drill. And there was not one that wasn’t lethal.

This was a nation going to war.

Over one woman’s death.

Madeline had a sudden need to sit down.

**

Chapter thirty-four
___________

Nikita stared at the Inner Circle uniform laying on her bed. It was exactly like the lower levels, only the top was a light blue-gray, and the Crest was done in silver thread, not black. The jacket was hung over the back of a chair, and was the same color as the top.

As she’d explained to Michael before he put his on and went for some last minute training with Meren, who just got back from wherever the hell he’d been, it wasn’t that she didn’t like the uniform. The uniform was fine. It was comfortable, even. Usually it was worn during any time spent in-house, but during a lull like they’d been having everything was much more casual.

No, it really wasn’t the uniform.

It was everything attached to it.

This wasn’t the uniform of a simple soldier, or of a Section operative. It wasn’t even somewhere in between.

It was the uniform of a nation of warriors. She couldn’t be the ‘sweet Nikita’ she was so comfortable as in this uniform. She was an Inner Circle Savior in it. A leader in battle and an elite soldier-at-arms. Part of a larger family. Attached to nothing but the Circle.

Which she was perfectly comfortable being. In fact, that feeling was just a bit *more* comfortable. It didn’t require half as much effort, it just came naturally.

Which was what was making her nervous.

-- What if I can’t come back from it this time?

**

“So, you’re Michael.” Meren looked over the young man in front of him. From what Lalia’d told him, Michael had stolen their little girl away.

-- Ok, so she’s not *our* little girl, but still....

“Meren. Nice to meet you.” Michael held out his hand and Meren shook it.

“Ok Michael, let’s see what you’ve got.

**

Chapter thirty-five
___________

“Ok. We’re out of Section. Operations is asleep. We’re over ‘uncharted waters’. Give, Walter!”

Walter sighed and turned to look at Berkoff. After debate, Operations had decided on the simple truth, and Lalia could yell at them both later. None of them were really willing to let him die just so he wouldn’t know.

“Ok. We’re going to an island off the coast of Ireland. It’s an independent nation, centuries old. I can’t tell you anything more than that besides the fact that we’re going to war.”

Berkoff stared. “I’m here, because?”

“You might be a target. We don’t want you to get...dead. It’s pretty much a given that you wouldn’t really be safe. Remember when I told you that I’m supposed to take care of you?”

Berkoff eyed him warily. “Yeah.”

“That’s what I’m doing. So, just be quiet and try to stay out of everyone’s way, ok?”

“What?”

“You heard me.”

**

Jack sat down at breakfast and jumped right back into the conversation from the night before. “What are they telling him?”

Lalia looked up from her menu. “Who? What?”

“Berkoff. Paul. Here. Today? Telling him what?”

“Oh.” She frowned. “I have no idea. Not clue one.” Her eyes widened and the corner of her mouth twitched. “I forgot how good you look in that uniform.”

Jack grinned back. “I never forgot how good *you* look.” He glanced around the room. Six A.M. and the dining room was full, showing just how serious the situation was. Every Inner Circle member was here, all in full combat uniform. “Nice crowd.”

“Almost makes me nostalgic.”

Jack nodded. “Almost?”

“Yeah.” She closed her eyes. “I was really enjoying the peace. You know what a conflict like this does to the Circle. Especially the Inner Circle.”

“Sure. Everyone gets upset. We go out and remind the world that, just because they don’t know us, doesn’t mean we aren’t here. Then, when it’s all over....” He stopped and winced. “Oh.”

“Yeah. We never get back to that nice, relaxed way of life do we? We’re back to being a militant nation. Which is good. We need to be right now, but...I’ll miss the quiet.”

“Yeah?” Jack looked around again before his eyes caught Lalia’s. “I’ll miss Niscia.”

Her expression turned hard. “Yes. There is that.”

**

Chapter thirty-six
___________

J’net shrugged her jacket on over her uniform and jogged onto the field, but stopped about ten meters out and took a deep breath. This would be her first time leading a full attack squad.

Hell, this would be her first time actually leading, other than simple drills. She wasn’t really sure if she was ready.

But she was Inner Circle. And Inner Circle Saviors lead. They never follow. So, she leads.

-- Right. Because you’re just such a natural-born leader.

She took another deep breath, finished buttoning up her jacket and headed towards her squad.

-- One step at a time. Just take it one step at a time

**

Berkoff couldn’t remember ever being quiet this confused, or quite this left out. He looked around the office, and almost wanted to pinch himself, just to make sure he was awake.

It was a large....well, it was a cave! But, not cold or damp...the plush carpet was a deep burgundy, the furniture was heavy wood and glass, the couches and chairs were overstuffed and comfortable, and there was plenty of light from a diffused source above them that he couldn’t see. Everything was very expensive.

But what really got him wasn’t the expense. Everything in Section was pretty damn expensive, too. But here...everything was comfortable.

It was a new experience.

Berkoff looked back to where Operations and Lalia were. They were arguing over a large map laid out on a light-table.

She was ...different. Berkoff remembered meeting her before, during the Red Cell Directory scare. She’d yelled at Walter....who’d seemed genuinely scared of her. That was odd in itself. But here she was again, arguing with Operations. With *Operations*.

The strangest thing about the whole situation, though, was that she seemed to be winning.

**

“You’re leading a Recon Squad under Paul.” Jack handed Michael a disk. “Everything is on there. Nikita will be under Lalia, so you two will have to make sure your movements aren’t contradictory. Make sure you know where she is, and she knows where you are, got it?”

Michael nodded and slipped the disk into his Circle issue computer. They were set up differently than the Section computers, and he was still getting used to them, but he’d found that the programming was...easier. Simpler. More user friendly.

That *did* seem to be the norm around here.

“Where will Nikita be working?”

Jack consulted his own screen for a moment. “Paul’s main people will be in the fourth common room, and Lalia’s in the second, but all Recon for both halves will be in the third, where Lalia and Paul are setting themselves up, so that shouldn’t be a problem. Recon and Strategies will both be there, actually.” He smiled. “That’ll start looking like an oversized situation room in about five hours, when we’re all set up.” His face darkened, and he gave Michael a long, hard look. “You understand what we’re doing, right?”

“We’re going to war.”

“No.”

Michael’s brow furrowed. “No?”

“No.” Jack looked back at his screen. “We’re killing them all.”

**

Chapter thirty-seven
___________

“The twenty-third is handling the distraction for the drop, but we need Freedom League’s main stronghold to make the package worth delivering.”

“We only need half the twenty-*second* for that! You’re wasting resources that could be diverted to France.”

“It has to go as smooth as silk. It can’t be done by the seat of our pants! We need those people right where I have them.”

“There aren’t enough Saviors for us to pad stages like that. We need those people in France to take out the Contrium. If Freedom League gets their help before we get them *out*, this whole war is lost before it’s started.”

“Oh, please. Like the Contrium is any threat to us at all.”

“They are if they can convince Jerardi to help, and we have no idea how sympathetic he is to their cause!”

“We can take *care* of Jerardi. That is not even an issue.”

“Oh, right, like you took care of Mealiana?”

“Damnit, Paul, this is serious!”

“Yes, thank you for bringing that to my attention. It would never have crossed my mind before, but now that you’ve *said* it...! Lalia, this is a war! You are going to have to lose some people.”

“This is not Section, Paul. Saviors are not expendable.”

“I never said they were.”

“Really? Coulda’ fooled me.”

“Look, if we divert the sixteenth over from Walkway....”

And on, and on, and on.....

Nikita was getting a headache. The buzz of the “war room” alone was really enough to cause that, but for some reason, she and Michael were set up right next to Lalia and Paul’s area. Their arguments came in loud and clear, and never really stopped, even when they both agreed.

It was starting to make her eyes cross.

She glanced at Michael and wrinkled her nose. He was completely unaffected by the bickering. Hell, it was possible that if a gun went off in his ear, he wouldn’t bat an eye. Whatever he was doing had his complete attention.

Nikita snuck a glance at his screen and her eyes widened. Michael was planning a Recon mission for the Contrium. She stifled a giggle.

The whole damn argument was for show. For the lower level Saviors still in the room.

Michael’s mission was ordered by both Lalia and Paul.

The decision had been made last night.

**

Chapter thirty-eight
___________

“Walter, is anyone ever going to tell me what the hell is going on?” Berkoff shifted in his chair and watched them blow up yet another plastic explosive with what had to be some kind of hidden device. They’d been doing it for hours. Then one of the two men with Walter would go over and pick it up, examine the hole left behind it in the wooden prop and measure. Then they’d do it again.

And again.

And again.

Berkoff’s head was beginning to pound from the noise.

“No.”

Berkoff started at Walter’s answer and turned to face him. “No? Do I even get to know how long I’ll be here?”

The man Walter had called Jack looked at him strangely. “I suppose that all depends on how well you handle what happens in the next few days.”

“Why?”

Jack frowned. “Well...if you take it well, don’t ask any questions and stay out of everyone’s way, you’ll go back to Section with Walter and Paul, no questions asked.”

Berkoff stared for a minute, slightly thrown by hearing Operations referred to as Paul, but managed to calm enough to ask another question. “If I don’t?”

“We’ll deal with that if it comes up.”

Something in his voice prompted Berkoff to resist the urge to push and change the subject.

“What happens in the next few days?”

Jack just turned around and headed into the gun racks. Meren waited a beat in case Jack came back out before he decided to answer the question. He turned to Berkoff and shrugged.

“We remind the world that we’re here.”

**

J’net led the fifth un-armed squad through a series of simple drills and then sent them to the head of the field for hand-to-hand. The minute they were out of site she flopped onto a bench and dropped her head into her hands, her elbows on her knees.

-- Come on. This  is *your squad*! You’ve had this command for six years. What is *wrong* with you?

She almost giggled at herself. The answer to that was simple. She’d never led during an actual assault, and she was scared as hell that she’d screw up.

Lifting her head, J’net squinted out at the field to see her first column coming over the hill doing two-man pursuits.

-- Ok. When in doubt, use Section training.

She stood up and cleared her head of everything but the job, and jogged to meet the first wave.

**

Chapter thirty-nine
___________

“So, how exactly does this work?” Madeline dropped into a chair in what was usually the main lounge and now resembled a very large think-tank. The woman in front of her had red hair and wore black wire-rim glasses. She sank into the chair across from Madeline and flipped a curl out of her face.

“You do all the psych-ops for Section?”

Madeline nodded. “Among other things.”

“Ahhh... well, I suppose I’m your counterpart here.” She smiled and Madeline smiled back. “My name is Faith. I’ll be your partner for this war.”

Madeline’s brow furrowed. “Partner?”

“Yep. We run what’s jokingly referred to as the ‘Mental Room’.” She made a sweeping gesture to the rest of the room and leaned back in her chair. “This is our staff. We are supposed to...do what we do. When they send a workup down to Mental, we send it back and tell them whether it’ll work or not.” She smiled again. “That be it.”

Madeline looked around the room. “This is our staff?” She shot a look at Faith. “Aren’t there a lot of people down here?”

Faith shrugged. “We’re important. No operation goes up without our say-so.”

“Really?”

Faith grinned. “Yep.”

“Who’s idea was that?”

Faith ran a hand through her hair and looked around the room. “I don’t know. It’s just always been that way. Nothing goes out without our approval. The idea being, though I’m sure I don’t have to tell you, that only twenty percent of any given mission is the actual operation. Eighty percent is how it will affect how they think. I know that Lalia believes in it completely...I don’t know about Paul, you’d have to tell me that. It’s been a while since I saw him. He’s...what?” Faith caught Madeline’s expression and frowned. “What’s wrong?”

“Paul Wolfe?”

**

Chapter forty  (Circle record of the Contrium Mission)
___________

“Main One, signal.”

“Signal check. Main One gone. Main Two back One.”

“Check. Maintain position.”

“Lalia, it’s all yours. Good luck.”

“Thanks, Mat.” Pause. “Nikita, position.”

“West gate, south building in sight. Michael?”

“I’m at the north corner. Fourteen guards. Non-Contrium personnel.”

“Nikita, hold there. Michael, give me armaments.”

“Ten M-16 assault rifles, two forty-five autos, and two twenty-twos on the guards. Three AK-47s against the outer wall, within reach. Mine as well. No knives plain to sight.”

“Take care of them.”

“Wait.”

“Ok. Michael, hold. Nikita, *what*?”

“Non-Contrium? Michael, do they have any insignia on them?”

“Ugh. I hate being in the van during these things. It throws me off. Michael, answer her.”

“No insignia. Lalia, they look familiar... I think they’re Red Cell.”

“Shit.”

“Who was that?”

“Sorry, that was my right hand. Kilen! Keep quiet. We’re off enough as it is.”

“Sorry, Nikita.”

“Michael, if they’re Red Cell, keep three alive and we’ll send a truck, but knock them out now. We have thirty seconds to their shift change.”

Sounds of shooting and bodies falling. Several shouts.

“Done.”

“Nikita go.”

A short silence, then several shots. An alarm. More silence.

“Main One in.”

“We got it from here.”

“Michael, good luck. Nikita, get out.”

A long silence.

Miscellaneous babble from the lower level Saviors on Nikita’s team as they extract. More shots. Nothing from Michael’s team as they insert.

“Main One out.”

Silence.

Explosion.

Silence.

“Insertion complete. Main Two extracting.”

Silence.

“Extraction complete.”

“Main One, come back.”

“Main One, coming.”

Sounds of an engine, presumably the van leaving the extraction point with the teams. A door is slid open between compartments.

“Kilen?? Where the hell is Nikita?!”

**

Chapter forty-one
___________

“What is Circle protocol for this?”

Lalia looked up from her screen and stared at Michael. He looked completely calm, but she knew better.

The marks on Kilen’s neck proved it.

“We go back in after her. That is what the Circle does in normal cases.” She met his eyes. “Circle Saviors are *not* expendable.”

Michael nodded, but didn’t break their stare. “Is this not a normal case?”

“No. Nikita is special. We have to be careful...more so than normal.”

“Why?”

“She’s the only successor I have.”

**

Faith jogged over to Madeline’s desk. “Nikita didn’t extract. We have to provide a fool-proof work-up of the Contrium and another of Red Cell.”

Madeline looked up and frowned. “Why Red Cell?”

“They were on-site when Nikita went missing.”

“On site at the drop point?”

“Yes.”

Madeline nodded and looked at the ceiling. “How is Paul taking it?”

**

“What do you mean, ‘she didn’t come back’?!”

“What did it sound like?”

“Damnit, Lalia...”

“No. Stop. We’re going to get her out, but right now, I’m upset, and you’re upset. Let’s not do this now, when we will both say things we don’t mean.”

“Fine.” Paul sat down at his ‘desk’, really just a very big conference table, and promptly stood back up again. “Who was her right hand?”

“Kilen, but I’d ask you not to do whatever you’re thinking of doing.”

“What? Why? He was there. He can tell me. I’m just going to go *ask*.”

“Oh yeah?” Lalia stood up and put her hands on her hips. Every head in the room turned to stare, but at Paul’s threatening look, they all went back to work.

Lalia waited a beat until she knew everyone was focusing elsewhere before speaking, and she consciously lowered her voice. “The last person to ‘ask’ him what happened left finger marks on his neck. He’s in the infirmary, and I guarantee he doesn’t know anything more than we already have.”

“Michael.” It wasn’t a question. Paul sat back down.

“Ya’ think?”

He nodded, then looked back up at her. “You trained her to replace you if something happens, didn’t you? She’s your successor if you die.”

Lalia sat back down and started reading a report. “What makes you say that?”

Paul smiled. “She has mother’s mark tattooed on the back of her neck, just above her hairline. I noticed it only recently, I’m rather embarrassed to admit.”

Lalia’s eyes shot up and held his for a minute. Then she grinned. “Took you all this time to see that? It’s not *that* well hidden.”

“Subtle, little girl. Real subtle.”

“What??”

Paul made a face at his sister. Such innocence her voice did not deserve.

**

Chapter forty-two
___________

“Who do you work for?”

Nikita spit out a tooth and looked her interrogator in the eye. “Don’t you guys ever come up with anything new? They *all* ask that. It’s getting boring.”

“Boring? I’m so sorry our hospitality doesn’t meet with your approval.” He hit her again. “But that will not stop us from getting our answers.”

Nikita nodded. “You’re right. It won’t. That’ll be your weak-ass interrogation techniques.”

The blond man in front of her growled, but didn’t hit her again. He wasn’t used to subjects that talked back.

Nikita wracked her brain for another come-back as he stood there. Circle Saviors had a specific way of handling interrogation, and, having been operating under Section rules for so long, she was rusty. But just as his hand came down for another blow, a nice line clicked into place.

Her head whipped to the side under the force of the blow and he smirked. “Not laughing now, are we? Where’s the snappy retort?”

Nikita smiled and lifted her head. “It’s gone. You bored it to death.” Ok, so it wasn’t that clever, but she hadn’t done this in a while.

The man growled and stormed out, slamming the heavy door behind him.

-- On the other hand, maybe it was better than I thought.

**

“Ok, I know I’m not supposed to ask questions or get in the way, but there’s a faster way to do that.”

The tec looked up and glared at Berkoff. “Look, I’m busy. Go bother someone else, ok?”

Berkoff nodded, then cringed as the girl started to, one by one, search several databases for a mention of a specific agent.

By hand.

“Really. There’s an easier way to do that.”

She looked up again, then smirked. “Oh, then, by all means. Do my work for me.” She stood and moved behind the chair, motioning for Berkoff to take her place. He smiled, sat down, and set up a script to search the remaining databases automatically. Then he stood. It hadn’t taken him five minutes. He smiled again.

“It should be done in about fifteen minutes.” Smiling, he went back to his own laptop and picked up his game of Doom. The tec just stared at her computer, openmouthed.

“Jeez. I’ve never seen anyone but Lalia do anything that fast.”

Berkoff’s hand slipped, and he watched the screen as he lost a life.

**

Chapter forty-three
___________

Madeline frowned at her screen and closed the lid on her laptop. “I need coffee.”

Faith looked up from across the table. “I can have someone bring you some.”

“No.” Madeline shook her head. “I’m going to stretch my legs.” She stood, they paused and turned back around. “Is Serge still running the dining room, or did it shut down?”

Faith giggled. “The day Lalia lets that kitchen shut down is the day The Circle starts canceling Saviors.”

Madeline gave a half smile. “In that case, I’m going to go bother him for some cheesecake and a latte.”

Faith looked up. “Bring me some?”

“Sure.”

**

“Ok, Michael is going in after her, and he’s taking his team. I want to send J’net in too....”

“Wait...J’net? Why?”

Lalia didn’t look up. “Because we need to get her out there. She needs to get some actual experience, and this is, really, the safest way. We already know the layout, and we’ve been there before. Also, they won’t be expecting a retrieval.”

“Why not.”

Lalia made a face. “They’re used to dealing with you, Paul.” She looked up. “When was the last time you actually made an attempt to retrieve a fallen operative?”

Paul raised an eyebrow, then nodded. “I hate it when you do that.”

“Do what?”

“Start in on my conscience.” He smiled wryly. “And here, I thought I’d managed to ditch the thing years ago.”

She smiled. “You did. I’m just good about returning lost property.”

Paul looked at her strangely. “You know, Lalia, sometimes I worry about you.”

She just smiled.

**

Chapter forty-four (uhhh...there’s a swear word...)
___________

Michael slid into his uniform jacket and covered the crest with a Velcro flap. “Who’s taking care of the interrogation of the Red Cell operatives?”

“I’m thinking of having Madeline do it.” Lalia leaned against a locker and stretched her legs out in front of her along the bench. “She does it at Section, yes?”

Michael nodded. “But I thought she was doing the psyche workups.”

“She can’t do both? I think she can do five times as much without breaking a sweat.”

“So do I. But isn’t it against policy? It was my impression that you normally have each person only doing one thing.”

“Now what on *earth* gave you that idea?” Lalia smiled and stood up. “Good luck. And Michael?”

He turned to her and slung a bag over his shoulder. “Yes?”

“If she’s been interrogated, you bring him in. Alive.”

“Yes.” Michael headed for the door.

“He’s mine, Michael.”

Michael stopped, but didn’t turn around. 

“I mean it.”

He nodded, then left. Lalia kept her eyes on the now empty door.

“He’s mine.”

**

“Where’s Berkoff?”

“What?” Jack looked up and glanced around the room. “Not here. Why?”

Walter cringed. “I think he’s into something...actually, that’s wrong.”

“Hmm?”

“I think he’s into *someone*.”

It took Jack a minute, but when he finally looked up he was frowning. “Say again?”

“I saw Berkoff with a cute girl...I think she’s a tec. Two hours ago they were in the library. Now they’re not.”

Jack nodded. “Oh.” He went back to the machine he was re-wiring for a minute before his hands froze. Slowly, he looked up again.

“Oh....shit.”

“That about covers it.”

**

Chapter forty-five
___________

“Madeline?” Lalia ran  a hand along the large glass table Madeline had been given for a desk. She looked up and caught Faith’s eye.

“Where’s Madeline?”

“She went for cheesecake and coffee.” Faith pouted. “She was supposed to bring me back some, but nada so far.”

“I’m sure she’ll be down as soon as she’s done.” Lalia glanced at the computer on the desk. “You think she’s done with...whichever workup she’s doing?”

“I don’t know...why?”

“I need her somewhere else for a while.”

Faith frowned. “We need her here. Badly. She’s four or five times better than anyone else...including me, and I really hate having to admit that.”

Lalia smiled. “I know, and I’m not taking her...I’m just adding to her duties.” She slumped into Madeline’s leather chair and turned it to face Faith. “Unless *you’d* like to take care of the interrogations.”

Faith turned pale. “You know, I think we can spare her for a few hours.”

Lalia smirked. “So glad to hear it.”

**

“Do you think she’s Section?”

“Yes. She matches the description of one of their top level operatives: Nikita. She is Section One.”

A man with dark hair, thick black glasses and a goatee smiled. “So. We have an upper-level Section Operative. And if Section’s past is any indication, they will never, no matter how high up she is, come after her.” His smile turned feral. “That is so beautiful, I cannot begin to describe it.”

“Yes, sir.”

The blond behind them kept his mouth shut. Having worked her over for over an hour, he knew that she wasn’t acting as Section operatives usually did during interrogation...but once Devon Mealiana decided something, it was final. You contradicted him, you died. Simple as that.

So the blond man held his tongue.

**

Chapter forty-six (Circle record of retrieval for Savior Alpha-Two)
___________

“J’net, take first point.”

“I’m in.”

“All yours.”

“In. Group one, lead off.”

“J’net, I need an entry point at the south gate.”

“Got it. Point two, make way. South breaker. Go.”

Sounds of shots.

“Done.”

“Check. Michael, you’re in. Point two, back out, make way for Rec Team Two.”

“Out.”

“Michael, let me know.”

“J’net, keep the front tunnel clear. I’ll need extraction for at least one live hostile.”

“Got it. Point five, take the tunnel.”

“We’re in.”

“Ok, good. And for the record, when you say ‘check’, we sound like some kind of bad military movie. Knock it off.”

“Yes, J’net. Sorry.” Chuckling.

“Hey! No laughing on the open line. If they hear us, they’ll think we’re pranksters.”

“No one will think that, Ger. I promise. Pranksters do not blow things up as they leave.”

“Sure they do. Didn’t you ever see ‘Mind Games’?”

“Ok, could we stop now? This is a mission.”

“Yes ma’am.”

Silence.

“Oh, yeah, this is so-o-o-o much better.”

“Quiet!”

More silence. Sounds of shots.

“Point two, we’re out.”

“Ger, go get Michael. Ling, follow and take the prisoners.”

“Coming.”

“Nikita?”

“I have her.”

“Make for the van. You’re clear.”

“Check.”

“Ger!”

**

Chapter forty-seven
___________

“Madeline’s going to do the interrogation on the guys we picked up this morning tomorrow. Something about letting them sit.”

“She knows what she’s doing Lalia. Trust me.”

Lalia sank into the couch in the Library and smiled tiredly. “I do. And I trust her. I wasn’t trying to put her down, I just didn’t feel like repeating what she said word for word.”

Paul grinned from his seat at a table. “Said the girl with the photographic memory.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.”

“Did the retrieval go off ok?”

Lalia nodded. “They checked in at midnight.”

“Any prisoners?”

“Just one.”

“Is Madeline doing him tomorrow as well?”

Lalia’s expression turned dark and she shook her head.

“No. Mine.”

Paul met her eyes for a minute, but before he turned away he was reminded, again, just how much like his sister Madeline was. He’d seen that look before.

It wasn’t an expression he was happy he remembered.

**

Faith took a bite of cheesecake and spoke around it.

“So, what did Lalia want?”

“She wanted me to interrogate the Red Cell operatives they brought in this morning.”

Faith frowned and wiped her mouth. “Why you?”

Madeline caught her eye and held it. She didn’t say a word.

After about a minute Faith looked away nervously.

“That’s why.”

**

Chapter forty-eight
___________

“Hey.” Michael tried again to wake Nikita. She’d been out since they’d picked her up, and they were now flying over The Andes on the way back to the Island.

“Nikita.” He ran a finger down her face, tracing the contours of her cheekbone and rested on her chin. “Nikita.”

She moaned quietly and her eyes managed to open. Michael’s own eyes darkened at the sight of hers so bloodshot and swollen.

The idiot who’d hit her might not make it back to Lalia....

“Michael. Hey.” Nikita smiled up at him and rubbed a hand over her forehead. “Did you get the number on the truck that hit me?”

Michael smiled at her. “Better than that.”

“Hmm?”

He motioned to the chained and hooded prisoner in the back of the airplane. “We got the truck.”

**

“Lalia!” Walter jogged to catch up to her, breathing hard.

Lalia stopped walking and waited for him.

When he caught up with her, Walter leaned against the wall and stared at the ceiling for a minute, still panting. He gave a weak smile and waved. “Hey.”

“Hey yourself. What’s up?”

“Oh...uhh...ok, you get that I can’t watch Berkoff every minute, right?”

Lalia straightened from where she’d been leaning next to him and put her hands on either side of his head, tilting her body in until they were face to face, almost literally.

“Walter. What. Happened.”

“He’s in a lower-level Savior’s room. Her name’s Rene. She’s a tec, mostly a trouble-shooter for one of the middle station teams. I stuck him down there while I was working with Meren on the Key because I didn’t think you wanted Berkoff to *see* the Key, and we’re pretty sure now that they aren’t just sitting there talking, because she has a roommate who says their signal is out.”

Lalia didn’t move out of her threatening stance. “Signal?”

“A scarf on the door. It’s supposed to mean ‘do not disturb’. Which means...”

“Yes, thank you Walter. I know what it means.” Lalia finally backed off only to slump against the opposite wall and cover her face. She stood there for a full minute before looking up.

“Well, there’s not much we can do about it now, is there? He’ll see hers, or she’ll see  his. He’ll probably ask her. She’ll probably tell him. And that’ll be that.”

Walter didn’t say a word, and eventually Lalia straightened and headed back down the hall. When she was actually out of sight Walter let out the breath he’d been holding.

He’d really been expecting her to kill him.

**

Chapter forty-nine
___________

“So. Guess where Berkoff is?”

Paul didn’t look up from the map on the table. “Where?”

“In a lower-level tec’s room.”

*Now* he looked up. “What?!”

Lalia perched on the edge of the table and smiled a saccharine-sweet smile. “Walter sent Berkoff down to a middle station prep area so he could work on the Key with Meren. While there, Berkoff met a young tec named Rene, and as of right now, they are in her bedroom, with a ‘do not disturb’ signal out for her roommate.”

“Shit.”

“Yeah, that pretty much sums it up.”

Paul sat down and closed his eyes.

Lalia sat down across from him.

Neither said another word.

**

“So. I’ve let it sit for almost two days, but now I gotta ask.”

Madeline squinted up at Faith, letting her eyes readjust after hours staring at a screen. “What?”

“You really didn’t know that Paul was here?”

Madeline consciously kept a neutral expression and moved her eyes back to the computer. “No.”

Faith nodded. “So, you know there was probably a reason no one told you. In fact, I can’t think of a single scenario where they were not purposely withholding the knowledge.”

“Mm hmm.” She didn’t look back up.

“So, my question is, what are you going to do about it, and how can I help?”

Madeline still didn’t look up, but she did smile.

**

Chapter fifty (Ok, let’s go with R for this one.)
___________

“Wow.”

“I’ll second that.” Berkoff rolled over to face Rene and smiled. She grinned back and tweaked his nose.

“So...where did you learn that?”

His brow furrowed, but his eyes gleamed. “Learn what?”

“You know damn well what I’m talking about!” She reached down and pinched something sensitive. He yelped, then rolled over her, pinning her arms above her head.

“Just for that, I’m not telling you.”

Rene giggle. “Fine then. Be that way.” She squirmed, trying to get away, but didn’t really want to, so managed to fail miserably. Berkoff grinned down at her.

“Going somewhere?”

“Obviously not.” She giggled again. “Though, I suppose even if I tried I couldn’t. Not with a founding son on top of me.”

Berkoff let go of her arms and sat up, kneeling between her legs. “A what?”

Rene rolled her eyes. “You think I don’t know a founders mark when I see one?” She sat up under him, raising her knees to cradle him and and ran a finger up his back, searching for and finding the tattoo on his right shoulder blade. She traced it as she talked, kissing his chest between words. “I didn’t even realize it when I asked you in here, but I have to say... you certainly lived up to the reputation.”

Berkoff was about to ask something but was distracted when her other hand moved between them. She rolled them over and started kissing him again.

Then her hand started pumping and he forgot the question completely.

**

Chapter fifty-one
___________

Michael rolled over and propped himself up on an elbow. He looked down at Nikita who mumbled something in her sleep. He smiled and brushed a piece of hair out of her face.

It turned out that the Circle doctors wouldn’t make you stay in the infirmary if you had a ‘loved one’ willing and able to take care of you, so Nikita had been moved to Michael’s Circle apartment after she’d been checked over. Now she was asleep in his bed, apparently dreaming.

Judging by the moaning earlier, she wasn’t having a nightmare.

“Nikita.” He traced her collarbone with one finger, carefully avoiding the growing bruise along her right shoulder. “Wake up. You have to see the doctor again.”

She mumbled again and rolled over. Michael chuckled.

“Nikita.”

“Five more minutes.”

“No. I’m worried about the wound on your head. I want them to look at it again. So you have to get up.”

Nikita groaned but opened her eyes and looked up. Michael was hovering over her, brushing her hair out of her face.

“Morning.”

He smiled. “Good morning.”

**

Rene glanced at Berkoff before sliding away from him as quietly as she could. She didn’t want to get up, but she had to be at her station in an hour. As she moved her head off his chest he reached for her. When he didn’t make contact he rolled over onto his stomach, giving Rene a clear view of his tattoo.

She reached out and traced it again. It was beautiful... the symbol of the founders bloodline. The thought that he was lying here, in her bed, was overwhelming. She didn’t want to leave. She wanted to lie in his strong arms and let him protect her.

Ok, so it was corny. But she was a level two Savior. The only time she even *saw* an Inner Circle Savior was for a lecture, or the one time she’d gotten promoted. The very concept that he would be there in her bed was so unthinkable...

But he was.

Rene bit her lip and looked at the clock again, then looked at her phone. She could call Fera and have her take over the shift...

Berkoff mumbled something in his sleep and rolled over again, throwing one arm over his eyes and the other across her pillow invitingly.

She grabbed the phone and started dialing.

**

Chapter fifty-two
___________

“So, what level is Rene?”

“Two.”

“Ugh. She had to be less than four, didn’t she? She’s going to have that humble attitude around him. And if this turns out to be more than a one night stand, she’ll end up being up here a lot, walking around with that awed look they all get, and....”

“Jack, stop.” Lalia sighed and dropped her menu back onto the table. She wasn’t hungry.

“What? I’m just saying...”

“You aren’t comfortable around lower levels. I get that. I know that. I’ve known it for centuries. I’m really not worried about her so much today, ok? I’m more worried about him.”

“Berkoff?”

“No, Arafat. *Yes, Berkoff*. As of right now, he is either asking about her tattoo... or she’s fawning over his. He has no idea what that mark means. All he knows is that it’s a tattoo... and that he’s always had it. I doubt he even remembers he has it most of the time... but now...”

“Well...I can think of worse ways for him to find out.”

Lalia glared at him over her coffee. “Do tell.”

Jack shrugged. “The Ordem could have grabbed him and explained it while they slowly tortured him to death.”

Lalia thumped the coffee cup down and stared at him. “You really know how to make a girl feel better, don’t you?”

He shrugged again. “Just putting it in perspective.”

She glared and sipped her coffee. Looking around, she spotted a waiter and called him over, thinking she should at least try to eat some toast.

**

Chapter fifty-three
___________

Madeline smiled at the guard and waited for him to open the cell door. As she walked in, her smile took on a tone that made the guard very glad he wasn’t the one she was aiming it at.

Then he did a double-take. He knew her....

Hell, he’d been there when they brought her in. Byron frowned. What was her name?

-- Madeline, that’s right.

He thought about her smile as he closed the door behind her.

Well...they’d said she was powerful...

**

“Good morning.” Madeline gave the man her patented smile and stood in front of him. He was sitting on the cell floor, his back against the back wall with his legs stretched in front of him. Unlike the cell Madeline had been held in when she first came in, this one was dimly lit and uncomfortably cold.

“I will tell you nothing.”

**

“Ugh. They all need a new script.” Lalia turned the volume up on the screen and took another sip of her coffee as she flopped into the chair behind her desk.

“Ok, Maddy. Let’s see what you’ve got.”

**

“You work for Red Cell.” It wasn’t a question. The man on the floor just stared at her.

“Do you have a name?”

“Pablo.” He spat the word like it was a bad taste in his mouth.

“Pablo. Spanish. Yet you work with Red Cell? Why? Their causes are completely contradictory to yours.”

“They only think I work for them. I work for no one but myself.”

Madeline smiled.

**

Lalia stared at the screen.

“Wow. Ok.....how they hell did she do *that*?”

**

Chapter fifty-four
___________

Berkoff pried his eyes open and turned his head to look at the clock.

However, he wasn’t in his bed, and the clock here was on the other side. He tried to roll over, and that’s when he noticed the brunette sleeping in his arms, her head pillowed on his chest.

He lifted his free arm and stroked her hair, thinking back on the night before. She’d said something about his tattoo...what was it she called him?

Founding son. She’d called him a founding son.

Founder of what?

**

“He up yet?”

Walter smirked. “He’s young. I’m sure he’s managing.”

Jack closed his eyes as if in pain. “Walter, that *is* my son you’re talking about. Must you do that?”

Walter stood for a minute and put his hand to his chin as if in thought.

“Yeah. Yeah, I think I must.”

Jack glared and Walter grinned unrepentantly.

“I’d think you’d be happy about this! I mean, he’ll find out who he is from...”

“Someone who’ll worship the ground he walks on, inflate his ego, fawn over him, and generally make him impossible to train? Is that what you were about to say, Walter?”

Walter cringed. “Uhh...no. I was gonna say that he’ll find out from someone who’ll just give him the bare facts since she doesn’t know any more, and therefore, he won’t start his life in the circle being scared shitless, because he has to save the world with a jewel embedded in his hand at birth.”

Jack glared again. “Yeah, that makes it worthwhile.”

“I’m just saying...”

**

Chapter fifty-five
___________

“Well, it’s healing fine, but I’d take a few days off. No active training, no missions. I’ll make sure Lalia knows.”

Nikita grimaced. “No missions? We’re at war!”

The doctor shot an odd look at Michael before replying. “I don’t see the problem. You’re one soldier. You can sit a few days out. There are plenty of people to fight the war.”

Nikita shook her head. “I lead Recon one. I have to be active.” She turned to Michael. “We still have France, and I need to go over the Iran mission with Strategies...”

“Stop. Two days will not kill you. I’ll lead Recon one in France, and by the time we get to Iran, you’ll be cleared.” Michael glared at the doctor. “Right?”

The doctor nodded. “Right. Not a problem.”

“Good.”

The doctor quickly excused himself and left the room. Michael was making him decidedly nervous.

**

“Ok, I’ve been around for a while, and while I don’t pretend to know everything, I must admit that I find it depressing that I can’t figure out how you did that.”

Madeline smiled at Lalia as she sat down and took her menu from the waitress, noting that it was the first waitress she’d seen so far down here.

“How I did what?”

Lalia didn’t answer, just raised her eyebrows.

“What?” Madeline’s tone of voice was coy. She was curious about Paul, but of all people, fond herself trusting Lalia. Oh, she’d get her back...there was no question there. But Madeline couldn’t help but listen to the voice in the back of her head telling her that if Lalia hid this, it was for a reason.

“What do you mean, ‘what’? Were you not there? Was I watching a clone run that interrogation?”

“Oh, that!” Madeline smiled sweetly. “I suppose you just have to know how to push the right buttons.”

Lalia started for a minute, then shrugged. “Fine. You don’t want to tell me, don’t tell me.” She picked up her menu. “We all have our secrets.”

Madeline frowned at her menu.

-- Yes, we do, don’t we?

**

Chapter fifty-six
___________

Greg finally caught up with Lalia in the library and sank into a chair across the research table from her.

“Hey.”

She didn’t look up. “Hey.”

“Lalia...”

“Not now, Greg. I don’t have time.”

Greg raised an eyebrow. “Really? No time for coffee? And yet, I can almost guarantee that you’ve had at *least* four cups today.”

Lalia raised her head and caught his eye. He cringed. It was obvious that she both hadn’t slept last night and had spent it worrying.

Greg stood and took her arm, urging her out of the chair. “You need sleep. Really. And there aren’t any missions going out until tonight. You can take a few hours.” He started to lead her out of the library, and she let him for about a minute until she snapped back into focus.

Shaking off his arm she went back to the table. “I can’t. I’ll sleep after tonight.” She ran a hand through her hair before picking the report she’d been reading back up.

Greg frowned at her from the doorway. “Are you planning on killing yourself? How about the squad tonight? Because you’re hardly in a state to lead.”

Lalia shrugged. “I have to wait for Berkoff.”

Greg stared for a minute before walking back over and re-taking his seat.

“Why is that?”

“He spent the night in some lower level tec’s room. I don’t know what she knows, so I don’t know what he knows. So, I don’t know if he’s going to spend the day just sitting around again, or if he’s going to spend the day finding out more of his personal history than is safe for him to know, learning to hate his abandoning parents, and hearing about how he is the only one who, when the time comes, can save the world, due to a little jewel we embedded in his hand when he was born.” She glared at Greg. “So, I’m not going to sleep.”

“Ok. That’s cool.”

**

Chapter fifty-seven
___________

-- Ok, it’s almost nine-thirty. How late do people sleep here, and how do I sign up?

Berkoff brushed another piece of hair out of Rene’s face. She was cuddled up to his side, and though his arm was falling asleep, he really didn’t notice. He was trying to work everything out.

She’d been...impressed. That was the only word for it. By his *tattoo* of all things. He’d had that tattoo...god, since before he could even remember. It’d always been there. He used to look at it in the mirror, but these days, it might as well have not been there for all the thought he gave it.

But...she’d been impressed. Said it was the mark of a founding son.

Berkoff reached his free arm over to the nightstand and pulled open the drawer, looking for random clues.

And hit paydirt.

“The Circle of the Gifted - A History”

**

“Walter. What are you working on?” Madeline smiled and leaned over his shoulder, peering at the electronics strewn over the table.

“Ehh...nothing you’re interested in.” Walter smiled turned to face her. “So, how goes it up in the lofty tower of the mental ward?”

Madeline sighed. “The names they come up with around here.” She smiled. “But fine, thank you. Though, I did learn something interesting, and I was wondering if you could help me understand something?”

“What’s that?”

Madeline leaned in and rested her hands on the table behind him, one on each side, effectivley pinning him in.

“Why was I lied to?”

**

Chapter fifty-eight
___________

“He’s still not out.” Lalia grimaced and flopped into a chair. Paul squinted at her across the table.

“Who?”

She rolled her eyes and pushed her hair back from her face, gathering it into a loose ponytail. Paul sighed. The first time back that he’d seen her with her hair down, and five seconds after seeing him, up it went.

“Berkoff, dumb-dumb. He’s still in that girl’s room. It’s lunchtime.”

Paul raised an eyebrow. “It’s actually an hour past, which raises the question of where you were, dear sister, that you of all people almost missed a meal.” He flashed a half smile. “‘Dumb-dumb’?”

“Sounded right at the time. And I’ve been working. *And*, that isn’t the point. The point is, they aren’t still having ‘morning sex’, ok? It’s been too long. By now, they’re talking. And her area said she sent down a friend to take over her shift instead of going in. She’s skipping work.”

“Ok.” He frowned. “Do we think that’s a good thing or a bad thing?”

Lalia shook her head. “We aren’t sure.” She rubbed a hand over her face and squinted back at him. “Is that coffee?”

Paul looked down at the cup by his elbow. “It was...about an hour ago. Right now I’d say it’s closer to brown water.” He made a face. “And I’m not drinking it.”

“I am.” Lalia reached across the tabletop and swiped it, knocking over a salt shaker and not bothering to right it. Paul didn’t notice. She took a sip and made a face.

“Was this coffee when you got it, even? It doesn’t taste like Serge’s coffee.”

“It’s not. He’s on the mainland today for something. I don’t know what. It’s Jacob’s coffee.” He nodded towards the kitchen. “Not a skill he’s mastered yet.”

Lalia groaned. “No, but I need the caffeine.” She took a deep breath and downed the liquid, wrinkling her nose. Then she reached over and stole her brother’s water. She finished it in two swallows, trying to get the taste of the coffee out of her mouth. Paul made frustrated motion with his hands.

“Hey! Supposing I wanted that?”

“This is the Circle, not Section. You can get more water.”

He made a face at her. “That was low. You can always get water in Section. And at least in Section, the main cook doesn’t just take off whenever he feels like it and leave an incompetent in his place.”

She smiled wryly. “Ok. You know what?” She glanced over her shoulder and the kitchen. “I’m not going to argue that point.” She ran a hand over her face and the next words were mumbled, but Paul heard them:

“Besides, you’re right.”

**

Chapter fifty-nine (Slightly suggestive)
___________

“Ready?”

“No.”

“J’net!” Meren collapsed onto the couch and stared at his wife with wide, big-eyed annoyance. “What is the problem now?”

“You know what? Just go without me. Really. I have work to do, and a mission to plan. I should go over it with Nikita, and I know she won’t be in the dining hall, since she’s on sick-break, so, actually, it would probably be nicer if I made something and took it over since I’m asking for her help, plus I have to take care of the briefing reports from Lil and Andrew, not to mention...”

Meren stood up and put his hand over his wife’s mouth, stopping her from pacing anymore. “Sweetheart. What’s wrong?”

J’net sighed. “My sister’s down there. She thinks she killed me, I’m not allowed to tell her who I am, and I don’t know if I can face even seeing her to begin with.”

“What?!”

**

Berkoff had slid out of bed roughly fifteen minutes after he started reading, and was now sitting at Rene’s desk, completely engrossed. So much in fact that he didn’t hear her finally wake up again, and didn’t notice when she stood and came up behind him.

So when she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, he almost jumped out of his skin.

“Rene!” He turned around and cinched his arms around her naked waist, kissing her bellybutton. “Don’t do that.”

She giggled as he started to tease her stomach, tickling her with his mouth. “What’cha reading?”

Berkoff bit her stomach and she moaned. He looked up at her. “Is it important?”

Rene shook her head. He was a founding son. Hell, if he went through her diary, it wasn’t like she’d complain.

Berkoff smiled and went back to her stomach, his mind trying to work out a way to sneak the book out of her apartment later.

**

Chapter sixty (one bad word)
___________

Walter raised an eyebrow at Madeline. “Lied to?”

She searched his face for guilt, but had to finally admit that with both Section and Circle training, there wasn’t a lot of hope that he’d be that transparent.

“Yes, lied to. There are some important things that no one told me.”

“That isn’t a lie. That’s withholding information.” Walter smiled. “You know that Inner Circle Saviors don’t lie to each other. It’s a damn rule, and it’s not like we have oh so many of them that we can just break them left and right.”

Madeline eased off and stood back, putting her hands in her jean pockets. Walter suddenly noticed that, yes, Madeline was wearing jeans. And a simple, comfortable sweater.

Well, that was new...

“Alright. So, if I ask a question, whatever you answer is the truth?”

Walter gave her a strange look. “Well, yeah. Why?”

Madeline didn’t answer. She stood there for a minute, and then just turned around and left. Walter stared after her.

**

“Nikita, down.” Michael pushed her shoulders back into the bed and gave her a stern look that normally had operatives pissing their pants.

Nikita simply ignored it and sat up again.

“Nikita!”

“Michael, I can at least get the sim done. Look, it’s all on the computer, I can work from bed. I’m not doing anything the doctor said I couldn’t.”

“The doctor said no work at all. This includes yelling at a laptop while you try to get it to work up to your speed.” He sat down on the edge of the bed and pulled the computer out of her hands, glaring at her.

“You need sleep. Working will not help you to accomplish this.”

Nikita glared right back. “Do you want to sleep on the couch?”

He shrugged. “I have no problems with that. I’ve done it before. But you are going to sleep if I have to drug you.” He held her gaze. “Do I?”

Nikita sighed and laid back down, and Michael shut off the light. He came over and kissed her head before leaving the room.

“Sleep, sweet one.”

Nikita’s eyes shot open as she heard the door close.

He’d used an endearment!

Would wonders never cease?

**

Chapter sixty-one
___________

Paul dropped into a chair in the Inner Circle tec-ops area and stared at the back of his sister’s fiancé for a minute before speaking. He wasn’t really sure why he was even down here, other than the fact that Lalia refused to talk about it, and it would be nice if he knew how Greg had managed to do what men had been attempting for several centuries.

Paul almost laughed.

-- There’s a sentence you don’t hear every day...

He sighed and decided to take the plunge.

“So, you proposed, and she said yes. Yes?”

Greg looked up from his screen and turned to Paul. He made a face. “No.”

“No?”

“No, I proposed and she ran away. Then, and I think this was after the attack on Jamaica, she came to my room and asked if the ‘offer was still open.’“ Greg’s voice was sarcastic, but his face didn’t give anything away, as usual.

Paul’s eyebrows furrowed slightly. “And *then* she said yes?”

“No.” Greg sighed and pushed away from his station, running a hand through his hair. He leaned back and closed his eyes. “No, she said she wanted to try being engaged for a while before we actually talked about getting married.” He shrugged. “I figured I’d take what I could get.”

Paul nodded. “Ok...well, that’s...spineless of you.”

Greg glared. “Hey, she offered me something she never even offered Jack, and she had a baby with *him*. I think this was a pretty good choice on my part. Besides that, this from the man who’s tried to kill me twice? That wasn’t a spineless act? I wasn’t exactly abaence material. You were just afraid George would steal me.” He didn’t mention that he was undercover for Circle at the time, made up to look younger, or that George was his father. None of this was likely to win him points with Paul. He did, at some point, hope to be in the man’s family, after all...

Paul raised an eyebrow, but didn’t look particularly guilty. “I didn’t know you were a Savior.”

Greg caught his eye. “Would it have made a difference?”

Paul didn’t say anything for a minute, then he smiled.

“No.”

The tec nodded and swiveled in his chair to face the computer.

“But being engaged to my sister would have.”

Greg whipped back around only to catch Paul’s back as he walked away.

**

Chapter sixty-two
___________

“Oh. My. God. She actually fell asleep.”

Faith stood over Lalia and just stared down in shock. Her assistant was the one who’d spoken, but Faith hadn’t heard her.

“Did you know that she’s never fallen asleep at work? I mean, *never*. Not ever.”

The assistant, who’s name was Kelly, raised an eyebrow. “Really? How old is she, like two-hundred?”

Faith looked at her oddly. “Uh, you did go to school, right?”

“Of course. Why?”

Faith rolled her eyes. “Because she’s four-hundred and sixty-three. Where do you get two?”

Kelly shrugged just as Paul came up behind them, looking through a folder for a report he was sure he had. He’d just decided to steal Lalia’s and copy it when he noticed the two psychologists staring at his sister’s desk.

“What are you two looking at? Shouldn’t you be working?”

Faith just pointed, and Paul followed her finger to see his sister with her head pillowed on her arms on the table, fast asleep.

“Thank God. I was getting worried.”

The two women stared at him and he looked at them blankly. “What?”

Faith just shook her head and handed him a few sim-pads before heading back to the stairs. Kelly followed her out, and Paul watched them go before turning back to Lalia. He smiled, then frowned. Walking over, he carefully started to slip papers out from under her arms.

“Ok, little sister. Where did you put that report?”

She’d never know it was missing.

**

Chapter sixty-three
___________

“Madeline, right?”

Madeline looked up from her computer to see a dark-haired man standing in front of her desk. She nodded and motioned for him to sit and he did, smiling.

“I’m Meren.”

Madeline smiled back and held out her hand. “Very nice to meet you.”

Meren just sat there, meeting her gaze for almost a full minute before speaking.

“Do you know a woman named J’net?”

**

Lalia woke up and blinked a few times before raising her head. She looked around the room in distaste.

-- I fell asleep at my desk? That’s just so sad...

Sighing, she straightened up in her chair and grabbed her coffee cup. Frowning into it, she stood and headed for the dining hall for a refill.

-- And a thermos.

**

Nikita slipped out of bed and peered around the corner, checking for Michael. He wasn’t there. Biting her lip in an effort to keep quiet, she slipped on her clothes and carefully bent to tie her shoes, wincing at her broken ribs. They were healing, but not really as fast at they could have.

At least, not according to her.

She stared at the bed before rolling her eyes and piling the blankets and pillows up so it looked like she was there. Really, *nothing* she did would fool Michael if he actually came in to check, but if he just looked from the doorway, this would do it.

Giving a last look around the room, Nikita turned off the light and headed out into the hallway.

Actually, she had two reasons for sneaking out. One was her medical condition, obviously, but the other was where she was going.

Nikita needed to talk to Jack.

**

Chapter sixty-four
___________

“J’net?” Madeline frowned. “No, I don’t think so. Why?”

Meren shrugged and kept a straight face. “She needs some help...she’s Inner Circle, and she leads a squad, but she’s...she has some issues. I just...I read your record, and you seem like you’re pretty good at this. Better than anyone *we* have already here, so I was wondering if you’d talk to her?”

Madeline fought the urge to raise an eyebrow. He was hiding something, and was obviously not trained for this sort of face-to-face confrontation, but for an amateur, it was well done.

-- No way to find out but to do it.

She smiled. “That would be fine. When would she like to meet?”

Meren shrugged again. “I don’t know, I haven’t really talked this over with her. I wanted to check with you first. Probably not ‘till after this whole thing with Freedom League’s blown over. Can I get back to you?”

Madeline nodded and watched him walk away. Even his back was tense. She frowned.

-- Definitely hiding something.

**

“Jack?”

He looked up and smiled at Nikita. “Hey Nikki.”

She didn’t return the smile. “We have to talk.”

Jack nodded and put down the machinery he’d been working on. He grabbed a towel and started to wipe off his hands. “What’s up?”

“I know how you feel about me.”

Jack’s face went a little pale but he didn’t change his expression. “Oh?”

“Jack, I’m sorry.” She sat down, her injuries hurting more than she’d be willing to admit. “I love you, but not like that.”

He nodded. “I know. Listen Nikki, it’s not a big deal...”

“It is.” She leaned forward on her knees. “I can’t be around you when Michael’s not in the Caverns anymore. It upsets him. It took me a while to figure out why, but now I get it. And I don’t want to throw this on top of everything else he has to worry about.”

Jack looked down at his hands. “Well, you gotta do what you gotta do.”

Nikita stood up and left. Jack stared at the door for about a minute before crossing the room to the intercom.

*Someone* would be willing to get drunk with him tonight.

**

Chapter sixty-five (END)
___________

Three weeks later:

“Wow.” Lalia stared at her screen. “We did that fast, even by Circle standards.”

Paul nodded. “Fifty-seven bases all purged. That doesn’t include all the sub-bases and stock-piles.”

“When are you leaving?”

He sat down. “Tonight. Walter and Berkoff will be coming back with Madeline, Michael and Nikita tomorrow.”

Lalia nodded. “Still nothing on Berkoff?”

“No. Seems all that happened was some sex. Not really something we can complain about. He hasn’t even seen the girl in a week.”

“Ok. Well...let me know when you get in there, ok?”

“Ok.” He stood to leave, but stopped at the door. “Do we know what’s going on with the Ordem?”

She didn’t look up from her screen. “They’re still watching her, Paul. Constant mind reading. She can’t know.”

“Right.” He paused and then figured it was worth it to mention. “I was thinking.”

“Yeah?”

“The way we probe-proofed the caverns...”

“For Section?” Lalia looked up and he nodded. She seemed to consider it for a minute. “I suppose it’s worth looking into. I don’t know, though. Without constant maintenance, there’d be no guarantee the mind readers couldn’t see in. It’s a chance.”

Paul smiled and came back in. He sat down and caught his sister’s eye. “Supposing I said I wanted constant maintenance.”

Lalia raised an eyebrow. “You’d have my attention.”

Necessary Secrets

By TrinityLast

E-mail: trinitylast@wambtac.com

Disclaimer: The characters from La Femme Nikita don’t belong to me. Don’t sue. All you’ll get is this computer, and it’s obsolete anyway. All of the other characters are my own. I don’t steal...my stuff’s better than what you’d come up with anyway. :-)

Feedback: As long as it isn’t flames. I burn easily.

Note:  Fifth in the “Circle of the Gifted” Series. Sequel to “Elemental, My dear Section”, “Twisted Shakespeare”, “Don’t Look Down” and “Absent Past”. The first was set during the time Michael and Nikita are together, compliments of Michael’s leverage over Operations with Adrian. It splits off from there. You might want to read the first four before reading this.

Note2: In the interest of keeping this ‘archive friendly’, and making there be less work for me at the end, *blah* now shows italics, because I don’t want to have to find and replace all the HTML in this one, too. It’s just getting to be a pain. Also, the chapters in this are longer, in the hopes that I’ll be able to finish posting faster (though, hopefully, when I get to the point where I’m currently writing, I’ll be done) I admit it. I want this posted. I want you to know what happens already! :p And I want to start posting a different story soon, but I can only handle posting one LFN at a time. I’m kinda thinking that posting it will add enough pressure that my muse will kick in and I can finish it. :p So...longer chapters. :-)


Chapter one
___________

It wasn’t possible.

That’s what Lalia was chanting to herself as she raced down the hallway to the Ops room. Every conceivable precaution had been taken. Every single thing had been accounted for. They’d kept Madeline and Paul separate right up until they’d both left a week ago. So, it simply wasn’t possible. There was no way it could have happened.

-- Right. Except for the part where it *did* happen.

There wasn’t a calm person in the room, but when Lalia needed to talk to someone, she generally got her way. The tec she’d stopped took several deep breaths before explaining the situation.

“It seems that they found something almost the minute she was off the island. They scrambled, and we didn’t even pick up the activity until three hours ago.”

Lalia cringed. Hundreds of years the Circle had managed to stay fifteen steps ahead of the Ordem. Now, here they were, six months before the most important date in over three centuries, and what happened? They were brought down by...

“How?”

“Faith didn’t know not to tell her.”

-- Oh, dear god!

**

Madeline blinked a few times and shook her head to clear it.

Or rather, she tried to shake her head, and found that it was bolted to a wall.

Looking around she noticed that she was in a cave...but what could easily be described as the complete opposite of the Circle caves. Dark, damp and smelly.

-- The ultimate cliche.

She almost laughed. There was, after all, usually a reason something was a cliche.

It tended to be true.

**

Berkoff rubbed his eyes and tried to focus on the computer screen. He’d been up all night reading, the same as the night before that.

And the night before *that*. He’d read that damn book three times now, and it still made no sense.

Well, that wasn’t true. It made sense. He just didn’t want it too. It meant that most of what he’d accepted long ago to be true, wasn’t. If he accepted this book as truth, other things had to go with it.

He wasn’t the best tec Section had ever had, he was the *only* tec Section had ever had.

He wasn’t some kid born under Oversight supervision, he was the grandson of the Founders Of the Circle.

He wasn’t at Section because they refused to let him go. He was at Section for his own protection.

Operations wasn’t just the guy who pushed buttons to make people live or die.

He was Berkoff’s uncle.

Berkoff glanced up at the Aerie where Operations was pacing.

-- The guy does *not* look relaxed

Of course, that made sense, when you thought about it. They’d just finished wiping an entire terrorist organization off the planet, from what Rene’d told him.

But still...

-- That’s a lot of pacing.

Berkoff glanced at Walter who was working with a soldering iron. He’d been acting kinda jumpy since they came back, too.

Something was going on.

Berkoff chuckled and closed his eyes, rubbing his hands over them again in an effort to clear his vision.

-- When *isn’t* something going on?




Chapter two (R for language)
___________

“Do you know why you’re here?”

Madeline squinted up at the dirty man in front of her. There was no way she was going to answer that, and he knew it.

He hit her and screamed, “Answer me, bitch!”

-- Or, possibly, he doesn’t.

Madeline kept her mouth shut, though. After a long night of thought, (something that, if these people knew anything about her, was not a brilliant thing to have allowed her) she’d come to the obvious conclusion that these were, most likely, the last vestiges of Freedom League. After all, no plan is foolproof. The Circle, in it’s anger, might possibly have missed some tiny, out of  the way base, and Madeline was paying for it.

-- Happens to the best of us.

The man waited for her to answer and, when she didn’t, spit on her.

“Well, when we get back home, the mind readers will tell me.”

-- Or, *not* Freedom League.

There went an entire night of thinking.

She could have spent it sleeping.

**

Lalia hadn’t called.

Ok, so, she might not know. But Madeline was supposed to be back almost three days ago. They were past the grace period given for unexpected delays.

Damnit, she should have been back by now!

And where was that damned sister of his?

Paul glanced at his face in the mirror and raised an eyebrow. If Lalia saw him this way, she’d most likely comment that she could see steam coming out of his ears.

Which, he wouldn’t mind hearing.

-- If she’d just answer my damned calls!

Because a three day delay really could only mean one thing. He’d had Section check all the traditional  places. No terrorist organization had her.

So, it was the Ordem.

Which meant she might be dead.

Which really wasn’t an option.

Paul pulled a small box from his pocket and turned it over in his hand for a minute before opening it with the other. He stared at the contents for a minute before snapping it shut.

“She is *not* dead!”

He wondered why saying out loud seemed to make it more real.

**

Nikita stared at the ceiling in her bedroom, listening to Michael breathe next to her. She hadn’t talked to Jack since their discussion, but she knew it was bothering Michael. He’d gone out of his way to keep her from the munitions room the entire time they’d been in the Caverns. Not an easy thing to do when you’re fighting a war.

She didn’t know what to do about it.

Also, there was the fact that she hadn’t heard a word from Section *or* The Circle since she got back. It was as if she and Michael were totally off the radar screen.

Which, at least as far as Section went, was ridiculous. Even if Paul decided to give them a break for a few days, their lengthy absence had to have been noticed by the higher-ups. George should have gotten in contact with them by now.

Hell, they should have been arrested by now. Not one of them had been in the Sections’ eye.

-- You’d think that when six high level operatives of Section One disappear for two and a half months, someone would mention it.

Chapter three (R for language)
___________

Berkoff was jolted awake by someone calling him, but when he sat up he was more worried about the computer he’d slept on than anything else.

-- Damnit! Brand new laptop...

“Berkoff!”

He snapped his head around and met Operations eyes. “Sorry, sorry.” He turned back to his computer and started decoding a message from Section Eight, but he felt Operations coming closer.

“Long night?”

The voice was right in his ear.  Berkoff jumped a mile, then turned around again.

“Sorry?”

Operations smiled. “I asked if it was a long night. You seem tired.”

“Oh. Um,  yeah. Kind of. But I’ll be fine. Just need some coffee.” He gave a weak smile and got up, heading for the cafeteria.

He *definitely* needed coffee.

**

Operations watched the tec walked away and grimaced. He knew *exactly* what Berkoff had been doing the night before because he’d had surveillance on him since they’d come back from the caverns.

Somehow, Berkoff had gotten hold of a Circle School textbook, and was now apparently in the process of memorizing it, judging by the number of times he’d read it so far.

He sighed. There was no way around it. Both Section and The Circle were in a shitload of trouble. Turning he went back to his office. He’d try Lalia one more time before he flew over.

She couldn’t ignore him if he was standing in front of her, now *could* she?




Chapter four
___________

“She hasn’t said a word?”

Silas looked at his father. “No. She hasn’t.”

“Impressive.”

“Yes, sir.”

“You say that the mind readers were barely able to penetrate? How did we get this information if her mind is so closed?”

Silas was about to respond when he realized that his father was now talking to another subordinate. He bit his lip to keep in the sharp retort he had ready. He hated being passed over for someone of such obviously lower stature.

And he thought, not for the first time, that surely, they don’t do that in The Circle.

Those thoughts were coming more and more of late.

“According to the mind readers, her thoughts on this subject were fairly new, and therefore, she hadn’t begun to hide them yet. Apparently, she hadn’t had occasion to be around people who couldn’t know she knew.”

Silas stifled a groan. He highly doubted that that had even been a sentence.

Not, of course, that his father noticed.

“Ahh. Yes, thank you.” The older man smiled at the peon, who bowed and made a hasty retreat after a glance at Silas’s face. The hatred he saw there was almost tangible.

“Silas?”

He turned. “Yes, Father?”

His father didn’t even look up from his computer screen. “That’s all.”

“Yes, Father.”

Silas was fuming as he left the office.

-- I’m *sure* they don’t do this in The Circle!

Chapter five
___________

Operations stared at the screen. He blinked twice, then looked again.

The message didn’t change. And it was Lalia’s signature.

Reaching over, he grabbed his coat and left the aerie.

**

George Sr. looked up as a subordinate came in the room.

“Well? Do you know where they went? If not, you’re just wasting my time.”

The peon swallowed audibly. “We know, and we don’t know.”

“Explain.”

“We know *where* they were.” He unrolled a map and pointed at a small island off the coast of Ireland. “But we don’t know *what* it is. We don’t have any idea what’s there, or what they were doing there.”

George scowled. “They were gone for close to three months, and this is all we have?”

“No, sir.”

George looked up. “Well?”

The peon bit his lip and looked to his partner who shrugged, abdicating any responsibility. George started tapping his fingers on the desk.

“Well, umm...”

“This year.”

“It’s the same island your son disappears to every now and then.”

The head of Oversight got a thoughtful look on his face. “Really?”

“Yes, sir.”

“I see.”

The subordinate waited a few minutes, but when it was obvious that he wasn’t needed or wanted anymore, he packed his few things up and went back to his office, taking his partner with him.

And George continued to stare into space.

Chapter six
___________

-- I could easily be killed for this...

Silas looked down at himself. He wasn’t even sure how he got here. But here he was. Standing at the docks, staring at Circle Island.

Of course, he knew that there was no way for him to get *on* the island without being seen. There was a reason the Ordem was always so frustrated. The Circle wasn’t in the position of worrying that they’d lose. The Ordem had been fighting a losing battle for centuries. Since the Circle was founded.

Before, even.

He eyed the island one last time before boarding the boat. This was it. No going back.

He was now officially going home.

**

There was a knock and Lalia looked up from her computer screen to see a lower level assistant at her door. Of course, at three in the morning, if something came in, she’d probably been the only one available to deliver it.

“Um...”

Lalia sighed. “Yes?”

“There’s...um...”

“This year.”

“There’s an Ordem Higher Family member on a boat. He’s kinda...heading for the island.”

Lalia’s mouth opened then closed again. She bit her lip and turned her observation screen into the main feed.

There was the boat.

And there was....Silas. Lalia smiled.

“It’s ok. He’s kinda...an old friend.”

The assistant’s eyes got very large but she nodded and backed out...the minute the door had closed she started running, heading for the closest secure communication node.

Her boss would be very interested in this information.

Chapter seven
___________

Nikita walked into Section warily, though you wouldn’t know it to look at her. Every nerve in her body was screaming that something was wrong.

They’d been gone too long for there to be *no* reaction at all from Oversight. It didn’t make sense. Now that they were back...

Well, something would have to happen, right?

Behind her, Michael suppressed the urge to roll his eyes.

“Relax. They aren’t going to have snipers shoot us down in the middle of Section One.”

“Because they’d never stoop to that?”

She heard him hesitate for a minute before answering. It was not what she wanted to hear.

“Good point.”

**

Walter was waiting for them in Ops.

“No good.”

Nikita frowned. “What?”

“We’re going back.”

“What?!?”

**

George entered Section One three hours later with a team. He was going to take the six of them in, and he was going to find out just what the hell was on that island. Subtlety be damned. This was his son they were talking about.

When he got there the aerie was empty. So was computer ops, and the weapons alcove.

George spun on his heel and raged at the men behind him.

“Find out how they knew we were coming.”

No one moved.

“I mean *now*!”

The room was suddenly empty.

Chapter eight
___________

The island was empty.

Nikita stood on the docks and watched the waves crash in farther up. They hadn’t been able to get a direct flight and had ended up in Dublin. Several hops later, they were looking at the island, waiting for a boat to come.

But the island was empty.

Not the caverns. Nikita could feel the Circle inside, as she always could. But the island itself, where the training usually was, where many of the Circle lived this time of year, was empty. Not one person was above ground.

There was no possible way that was a good thing.

Walter came over to stand next to her. He slung an arm around her shoulder.

“She’s got ‘em all holed up in the apartments. No one out in the open. I can’t really blame her.”

Nikita just shook her head. Several centuries, nothing like this had happened. Now it had.

And it was all her fault.

**

“So...you’re here because...?”

Silas swallowed and nodded at Lalia. “I’m here because...many reasons. They’re...personal.”

“Your father.”

His head shot up.

“What, I’m dumb? I’ve been around for a couple hundred years. I know a family dispute when I see one. The cliche, and obvious question now is, ‘if you make up with your father, where will that leave us?’“

Silas swallowed again. “We didn’t fight. And there’s no chance of us making up.”

“Why is that?”

“He’d have to notice I was missing first.”

Chapter nine
___________

George didn’t look up when his subordinate entered the room. “Well?”

“They didn’t know we were coming.”

“Then how did they manage to evade a perfectly laid attack, hmm?”

The subordinate squelched the instinct to take a step back. “They left for a different reason. We have coded communications that came from that island. We’re working on deciphering them now.” He pointed at ops.

George watched through the Aerie window as several tecs worked at one station. “If Berkoff were here, he’d have it done in a few hours.”

“Yes sir.”

“I want them found.”

“Yes sir.”

**

“Ok, if this is the back, where is the front??”

Silas pointed at what looked like a solid brick wall and Lalia made a face. “Where’s the door in that wall of concrete?”

“There isn’t one. You go in through a tunnel, but it goes under that wall. It starts fifteen meters away, here.”

Lalia stared at the map. “Ok. Hang on.” She reached over to her desk and grabbed a small locket out of the clutter and left the room. Silas watched her go with an odd look on his face.

He’d forgotten how beautiful she was.

**

“We know where she is?”

Lalia nodded at her brother in the small screen. “Yep. But you’ll never, ever, ever! Guess who told me.”

“Who?”

“Remember dad’s brother’s son? Rupert Grey? He defected to the Ordem?”

“Yeah, I seem to remember something like thirty years of hearing about it.” Paul’s voice dripped sarcasm.

“Well, he had an adopted son. Remember that?”

“Yes...this is going somewhere, right?”

“Yeah. Silas is sitting in my office right now, making notes on an Ordem map.”

“SILAS??




Chapter ten (record of the Circle retrieval of Beta Three.)
___________

*loud explosion*

“Main two. Check one.”

“Check one. Main six, down three.”

“Three? How the hell did we lose three people already?”

“Kryn, I love you, but get the hell off the com.”

Silence

“Lalia, I’m out.”

“Nikita, go.”

“Gone.”

Silence

“Thirteen in the basin. Down?”

“Down. Thirteen, tally count.”

“They’re down. Heading in. Jesse, got my back?”

“Here.”

“Jack, get Paul a view of the fifth floor.”

“He’s got it.”

“Someone get Paul on the wire!! Three guards in the South Bend!”

*shots*

“Where the hell is he?”

“I have him! Heading west through the tunnel. Following the target. She’s being taken through...shit! We lost her!”

“Paul?”

“He went in after.”

“Main one, corner west! Follow the hordes.”

“We got ‘em!”

Silence.

*shots*

Silence.

*sound of pounding on the van door*

“Hey! You people gonna let us in?”

“Paul, how the hell did you get a broken leg?”

“Madeline’s fine, thanks for asking.”

*sound of Lalia hitting Kryn across the back of the head.*



Chapter eleven
___________

Lalia looked up at the knock on her door and frowned. “Madeline, what are you doing up? You should be lying down. You look like hell.”

Madeline gave a wry smile. “Why, thank you.” She came in and stood over Lalia’s desk, crossing her arms. “But I think I need to know what’s going on, don’t you?”

Lalia tilted her head. “With what?”

“Nice try.”

The older woman sighed and motioned to a chair. Madeline sat down.

“Ok, ask a specific question, and I’ll do my best to answer it.”

“Why was I captured?”

Lalia frowned. “They didn’t get that far?”

Madeline shook her head.

“Ok, you were captured because the mind readers the Ordem had tracking you picked up that you knew about Paul once you cleared the Island protection.”

Madeline just raised her eyebrows. Lalia sighed. “Ok, look. The Circle founders had two kids. Me and Paul. Me they always knew about. I was second. But they never knew that there was an older brother until he left the Circle forty-something years ago. He was the ace in the hole, originally. We never made me a secret, because by the time I came along, my parents knew I’d be running Circle when they were gone, and keeping the existence of their successor would be...well, not worth the effort. I don’t know *why* they kept Paul a secret before that. I never got a chance to really ask. Father...always shied away from it. But they didn’t know who the older brother was.” Lalia took a breath and sat back in her chair, putting her feet on her desk.

“Then Paul left. And there was such a commotion about it that the Ordem was alerted to the fact that yes, I have an older brother. But they didn’t know who or where. See, at the time, the Circle people who actually knew Paul’s name etc were all very old. You, Nikita and Michael are the first new members of the Inner Circle not *born* into it for the last ten centuries.” She smiled. “Congratulations.”

Madeline raised an eyebrow. “Thanks.”

“However, it meant that you couldn’t know that Paul was Circle. You haven’t been trained in that kind of mind control. That kind of control, in fact, takes *years* to learn. There was no way to teach you in time. It didn’t seem like a problem, though, because he’d *left*. But...then, of course, he came back. So we were *trying* to keep Paul and you separated.”

Madeline winced. “And Faith blew that.”

“Right outa the water.” Lalia sighed. “That’s why you were picked up. You knew, and the mind readers could get in. We don’t really know how they found you to begin with, but that isn’t really an issue at this point.”

“What’s to stop them from grabbing me again?”

Lalia gave a wry smile. “They don’t need to. They have what they were after.”



Chapter twelve
___________

“Well?”

The peon continued to look down. He didn’t want to meet Mr. Grey’s eyes. He was fairly certain he wouldn’t like what he saw.

“We don’t know.”

“What?!” Rupert Grey finally lifted his eyes from the computer screen and glared at his subordinate. “You don’t know how they got her out?”

The peon shook his head. Rupert sighed. “Fine. Go.” He watched the man leave the room and the pushed a button on his phone.

#”Yes sir?”#

“What is the name of the man who just left my office?”

#”Simon.”#

“Kill him.”

#”Yes, sir.”#

Rupert turned the phone off and glared at it for a second. He thought about checking up on what Silas was doing but decided against it and went back to work.

**

On a lower (technically upper) level of the Circle caverns, an lower level assistant was trying to get an outside line on a public com station, but was running into problems due to the heightened security. However, she had all the time in the world.

The Circle didn’t believe in in-house security.

After five hours she managed to splice enough wires together for a clean outside line. Pulling a small book from her pocket, she flipped through a few numbers before throwing it down in disgust. She pulled instead a small piece of napkin from her other pocket and set it on the counter, smoothing it out against the cool rock so she could make out the digits.

She dialed and waited, casting occasional glances over her shoulder from habit.

After three rings, a voice answered on the other line.

“Oversight. How may I direct your call?”

Chapter thirteen
___________

Nikita sank onto her bed in Circle and stared at the ceiling, making a face. What were they still doing here?

Lalia hadn’t let them leave. After Madeline’s rescue, Nikita had naturally assumed that the emergency was over and had started to, yet again, pack. But Lalia had called down and informed her, not asked but *informed* her that they would all be staying here indefinitely.

Nikita did *not* like the sound of that.

**

“So, he wanted to catch us, and it was pure luck we got out in time.” Paul grimaced. “I really hate being saved by luck.”

Madeline smirked quietly from her seat in the corner of the office. She was trying to stay out of the way while the siblings worked this out, but it was getting harder and harder to keep her mouth shut.

She’d never seen Paul this loose before except after they’d made love. His sister really had a calming effect on him.

It was interesting to watch.

“I know you do. But that isn’t the point. The point is that he knows that Greg comes here, too. He knows we’re here. Well...at the very least, he knows that *you’re* here. I don’t think he’s actually aware of what the island is, but I’d be willing to bet he has a few ideas.”

“So...” Paul frowned at her and stopped pacing to sit. “You’re just going to wait for him to invade? Does that sound smart to you?”

“Yes.”

**

Berkoff knocked on Rene’s door and leaned against the wall while he waited for her to answer. He closed his eyes, making sure he had the short speech ready for her. He had to be convincing.

“Hey!”

Berkoff opened his eyes and smiled at her. “Hey.” He held up his right hand to show her the text he’d borrowed. “I just came to return this. Interesting perspective. I don’t think I’d heard it put like this before.”

Rene chuckled a bit before taking back the book. “No, I’ll bet you never had a clinical rundown of your family’s history put quite so bluntly before.” She cocked her head and smiled again. She hadn’t really expected to ever see him again, let alone the book. He was a Founding Son. She wasn’t exactly expecting returning a book to a lower level Savior to be high on his list of things to do. Yet, here he was.

“Would you like to come in?” Maybe that’s why he came?

Berkoff gave a small half smile. “No thanks.” He brushed his lips against her cheek before taking a few steps back. “Just came to return the book.” He smiled again before turning and disappearing down the hallway. Rene watched him go with a confused look on her face.

Why on earth would someone as important as him come all the way down here just to return a fifth grade textbook he borrowed?

She didn’t really give it a *lot* of thought, though, because her phone rang. Shrugging, she closed the door and went to answer it.



Chapter fourteen - part one
___________

Paul sat down next to Madeline. They were sitting in his apartment after the meeting with Lalia. They’d be going to an Inner Circle meeting later, but they had a few hours yet.

Madeline sighed. “You lied to me.”

“Nothing new.”

“No. I suppose not.” She looked down at her hands. “You’re older. Much older than I thought.”

Paul looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “*Much*. Yes.”

“Lalia said that you were older than her.”

He nodded, though she wasn’t looking and wouldn’t see. She seemed incredibly interested in the hem of her shirt.

“Yes. I am.”

“How old are you, Paul?”

He thought for a moment whether or not he really wanted to tell her, but realized he’d have to. If he didn’t, she could just ask someone else. It might be better coming from him.

“I’m five hundred and twenty-seven. I was born in fourteen seventy-five.”

Madeline was quiet for a moment. Then she raised her head. Paul searched her face, but found her expression unreadable.

Then he met her eyes and sucked in a deep breath. The only word to describe that look was ‘smoldering.’

“So, I suppose you have a lot of things you can teach me.”

He raised his eyebrow again.

“Such as?”

Madeline didn’t move her eyes, and she didn’t say anything. After another minute, Paul leaned forward and pressed a gentle kiss to her lips, refusing to deepen it when she opened her mouth.

“Yes. I suppose there are.”



Chapter fourteen - Part two, NC-17
___________

Paul leaned forward and pressed a gentle kiss to her lips, refusing to deepen it when she opened her mouth. When he pulled back, there was a speculative gleam in his eyes.

“Yes. I suppose there are.”

Madeline raised an eyebrow, but he didn’t elaborate, simply stood up and headed to the bedroom. The only difference between this time and the last was that this time, he kept her hand in his. So, she followed.

When they got in the door, he turned and slid his hands into her hair. Gently, he started taking the pins out. Madeline frowned and Paul chuckled.

“You wanted me to show you what I’ve learned in the last five hundred and twenty-seven years. That’s to go slow. To go fast, I’ve learned since I’ve been at Section. There’s always a reason to rush, a reason to hurry. But...” he took the last pin out and ran his hands through her hair, drawing it over her shoulders, “the best way to do this is slow.”

He brought his hand up and cupped her cheek, moving a lazy pattern with his thumb just under her eye.

“Is that alright with you? I know we’ve never...”

“It’s fine.” Madeline resisted the urge to muzzle into his hand, but some instincts die hard, and it was habit not to show weakness. Affection was weakness.

Paul smothered a grin at that. He was determined now to make her forget all that training tonight.

One way or the other.

He started kissing down her neck. Feather-light, his lips barely brushing her skin as he moved. Madeline suppressed a groan of frustration at the light touch, but didn’t argue. As he got closer to her shoulder, however, she tilted her head.

At the juncture of her neck and shoulder, he bit down. She tried, but couldn’t stop the shudder that went through her. She felt Paul smile into her shoulder as he continued to kiss his way down.

“You *can* let go, you know. There’s no one here to see.”

“You’re here.”

He stopped and looked up at her. Her eyes were closed, and she was struggling to keep her breathing even, but other than that, she looked just as unflustered as always.

“You don’t understand, do you?”

“What?” Madeline opened her eyes and found herself looking into his. Their noses were practically touching.

“We’re immortal, Madeline.” He sighed and pulled back, running a hand over his eyes. “You’re immortal. You aren’t going to die. Are you going to spend the rest of eternity hiding behind a mask?”

Madeline took a deep breath and looked away. When she looked back, her eyes widened. Paul hadn’t moved except to take a small box out of his pocket. Now he got down on one knee opened and it. Madeline had to fist her hand to keep it from flying to her mouth.

“Marry me?”

It was a beautiful diamond, round cut with tiny emeralds set in around it. The band was white gold, braided.

It had to have cost more than the entire new computer system at Section.

“When?”

Paul raised an eyebrow. “It’s customary to say ‘yes’ before asking ‘when’.”

Madeline gave a small half smile. “‘Yes’. Did you think I’d say something else?”

He stood back up and slid the ring on her finger, focusing his eyes on his task so she wouldn’t see the relief in them. “You can never be sure.”

Madeline watched him for a moment, then lifted his chin with her right hand. “You could have been.”

He kept her eyes locked with his for another minute before he claimed her mouth, and Madeline sighed into the kiss. These kisses she knew.

His tongue tangled with hers and he lifted a hand to snake into her hair and cradle the back of her head. As they kissed, he started to slowly walk her towards the bed, and a minute later Madeline felt the edge against her knees.

Paul wrapped an arm around her waist and lifted her, his eyes twinkling at the surprised look on her face.

“What? I’m immortal. I only look this old because I want to. It doesn’t mean I have to be old and feeble.”

Madeline chuckled as he tossed her onto the bed and followed her down. “If there was one thing I never thought you were, Paul, it’s ‘feeble’.”

He grinned and Madeline’s eyes lit up at the sight.

“Well, like I said...one never knows.”

“Very funny.”

He grinned. “Was it? I thought so, too.”

Moving over her he continued his quest to give her a hickey, one hand trailing down her side. His fingertips danced over her hips, along the waist of her slacks but never actually touching her skin, and Madeline moaned.

Paul lifted his head and met her eyes. Holding her gaze he moved his hand between them and unbuttoned her pants, sliding them down her legs and leaving her in her black silk panties. He moved down and pressed a gentle kiss to her stomach before smoothing his hands under her blouse and lifting it off.

She smiled up at him and started un-buttoning his shirt while he kissed down her clavicle to her breastbone and down between her breasts. The lace of her bra rubbed against his cheeks and he smiled into her skin and shouldered off his shirt.

Reaching underneath her, Paul undid the catch on her bra and slipped it off her shoulders, dragging it down her body before dropping it onto the floor.

Then he bent and kissed every bruise and cut on her shoulders and stomach, never once touching her breasts. Madeline groaned.

“Paul!”

“Slow, remember?”

She groaned again but didn’t argue and he started to slowly move back down from her shoulder. When he was once again between her breasts, he pressed a gentle kiss in the small valley and then turned his head to her left breast.

He traced his tongue around her nipple, not touching but blowing small puffs of air every now and then. His other hand came up to cup her right globe, and his thumb lightly brushed over her nipple once before he started circling it in soft, maddening strokes.

Madeline squirmed underneath him, shifting her hips on the bed, and her leg brushed his erection through his pants. Paul moaned and took the nipple his mouth was currently teasing between his teeth and bit, twisting the other in his hand.

Madeline arched under him, bringing one leg up to wrap around his and started rocking. Paul used the new position to slip his hand under her hip and ripped her panties off from the back.

She smiled. “What happened to slow?”

“You seemed dead set against it.” He lifted his head and raised an eyebrow at her. Madeline frowned and started to search his eyes, unnerved by the odd expression, and so she didn’t notice where his hand was until his thumb brushed her clit.

“God!”

Paul chuckled. “There’s a word I’ve never heard you use.”

His thumb was tracing slow circles around her clit now, teasing in the same way he had her nipples. Madeline moaned.

“Never felt the need before.”

“Let’s see what else I can make you say.”

He slipped three fingers into her and started making faster circles with his thumb, brushing over the small bundle of nerves every now and then, but not keeping enough of a pattern to make her come. After a few minutes, the fingers inside her stopped sliding in and out, instead curling up and brushing a small swelling inside her passage in a light circular motion.

Her eyes squeezed shut and she screamed as the orgasm slammed through her, throwing her head into the bed and arching her back.

Paul kept the fingers in her moving until her body stopped convulsing. When she opened her eyes, he was smiling down at her.

“I thought the g-spot didn’t exist?”

He chuckled again. “Any man who tells you that just doesn’t know where it is.”

Madeline didn’t say anything for a moment. Then she reached up and pulled his head down for a kiss while her other hand snaked between them to his jeans’ button.

Paul managed to free his mouth long enough to get a word out. “Slow?”

“We’ve done slow.”

They managed to get the pants off him and off the bed, and Madeline raised her knees to cradle his body. “Now.”

Paul looked down at her and raised and eyebrow, but the gesture was cut short by her hand wrapped around his cock. He hissed and closed his eyes.

“Now, Paul.”

He nodded and opened his eyes. Resting his forehead against hers, he slowly entered her, determined to do this, if not slow, then not in the rushed way they’d gotten used to. Madeline’s eyes rolled back in her head as she felt him enter her inch by inch and she closed them so he wouldn’t see her reaction.

Old habits die hard.

Instead of immediately moving, as he usually did, once he was in her, Paul held still for a moment and moved to kiss her shoulder again, laving the area where a hickey was now beginning to show.

In fact, he waited until Madeline started making little impatient movements with her hips. She brought her legs up to wrap around his waist, and they both moaned as it sent him deeper. Crossing her ankles, she pressed her heels into the small of his back and caught him in a kiss, sucking his tongue into her mouth. She refused to say again what she wanted. Let him figure it out himself.

He did.

Paul pulled half way out and slammed back in, making them both shudder, and hitting her cervix in the process. After about three more times, Madeline’s hips were rising to meet his, and his movements started to speed up. Soon the headboard was actually pounding against the wall, and he was sure that her nails were leaving marks on his shoulders.

He let a hand drift down between them and took hold of her clit with his thumb and forefinger, but didn’t rub. Madeline started to agitate against him as they moved and suddenly her whole body went tense, and she screamed his name, her legs tightening around his waist, and her passage around his cock.

Paul bit his lip but couldn’t hold back, and he felt himself release into her and dropped his head to her shoulder to muffle his shout.

Five minutes later they were still lying there. Neither wanted to move, but Madeline slowly unhooked her legs from behind him and he reluctantly moved off her. She settled into his shoulder and closed her eyes, but she didn’t go to sleep.

“You never said the one thing most expect.”

Paul looked down at her and sighed. “I thought it was rather obvious.”

“I’m not a normal woman, but I do like to hear the words, you know.”

After a moment, Paul nodded, even though she wasn’t looking. “I know.” He closed his eyes. “I love you.”

Madeline smiled and kissed his chest. “I know.” She put her head back down and started drawing small patterns on his chest. “I love you, too.”

Paul’s eyes snapped open and he glanced down at the hand on his chest. A slow grin crossed his face.

She was showing affection.

Mission accomplished.



Chapter fifteen
___________

Lalia’s pacing was making Jack nervous.

“*Sit*. You’re nuts. We’ll just tell him. He read the book, he knows *something*. We’re not catching him totally off guard.”

Lalia made a face at him and kept pacing. She continued to pace until Berkoff came in.

He hovered in the door. “Well.” Glancing at his watch, the tec nodded. “Gee, I must have just missed the meeting.”

Jack sighed. “We canceled the meeting.” He motioned to a chair. “We need to talk to you, first.”

“Right.” Berkoff sat down and nodded. “So, is this where you tell me that I’m royalty?”

Lalia shook her head and sat down opposite him. “No. This is where we tell you that we’re your parents.”

Berkoff blinked, stood up and left the room. Running.

Lalia tried to run after him, but by the time she got to the third turn, he was gone.

**

“He’s gone.” Jack slammed down the phone and closed his  eyes, running a hand over them. “Left the caverns, the island...no one knows where. He’s just gone.”

Paul took a deep breath. They were all gathered there now. Madeline was on the couch next to her fiancée. Michael and Nikita were curled up in a chair together, she on his lap. The rest of the inner circle was gathered in the various other chairs, except for Kryn, who was sitting on Lalia’s desk and Jack who was sitting behind it. Lalia herself was standing in a darker corner, arms crossed, eyes closed.

That sight was starting to make Madeline distinctly uneasy.

Nikita blinked at Paul and then at Jack. “Ok. I was to understand that the jewel in Berkoff’s hand went to that.” She pointed at the two simple-looking stone disks, one on top of the other, roped together through small holes in the middle that were sitting on the coffee table between the couches and chairs. They were the same ones that Meren had brought back from his trip.

“It does.”

“Ok.” Nikita frowned. “So, if that thing won’t work without the jewel, how do we perform the ritual?”

Jack sighed. “I don’t know. We’ve never had this problem before. But things happened differently this time. The disks were stolen. The ritual spot has been taken by the Ordem. technically, we can do this *not* on that spot, but as for that, see, we need the jewel. Hence the hiding of it.”

Micheal’s eyebrows furrowed. “So, we do it at the ritual spot.”

Paul’s face darkened. “No. That has to be done by two women of the Founding Family, from the direct line. We don’t have that. Plus, with all the protection the Ordem has up around it...” he trailed off and swallowed. When he spoke again, it was much quieter. “They could die.”

“What difference does it make if we don’t have two members? Seiren’s dead. It’s just Lalia now. We need that jewel.”

Lalia cleared her throat. “Actually...it’s not just me. We can do it.”

Paul’s eyes widened. He glanced at Nikita, then back at his sister. “NO.”

Chapter Sixteen
___________

Lalia sighed. “What do you mean, ‘no’? It’s all we’ve got.”

Paul shook his head and stood up. “NO! It’s not an option. We can’t lose both of you. Hell, we can’t lose either of you. There’s too much risk. We’ll find Berkoff.”

Michael’s arms had tightened around Nikita to the point that she almost couldn’t breath. She wriggled loose and sent  him a look, then stood up. “Is there a way to track Berkoff?”

“No. He’s off the systems, because of the jewel. We didn’t want to risk it.”

“Why does the Ordem want to stop this?”

All eyes turned to Madeline. Lalia’s voice was soft when she answered. “The ritual creates balance. It’s performed on a schedule, and it keeps things in line. Even. If it’s not performed, there is no...order, I guess you’d say. Everything is left to true rules of chance. It creates a kind of chaos. At the moment, if you drop a piece of bread with butter, you have an even chance of it falling facing up as down. Without the ritual, it might fall on one end, and stay. Or it might hover. Or, it might always fall face down, which is what the Ordem is hoping for. They want the chaos. They think that with the chaos, they’ll be stronger.” She sighed. “They might be right.”

**

Greg stared at his father. He looked back over his shoulder and sighed at the agent there.

“Is there a problem, dad?”

“There’s an island off the coast of Ireland.” George sat down comfortably and picked up his tea, sipping at it. “What is it?”

Greg blinked then jerked his head back over his shoulder again, at the agent. “Why don’t you just ask your plant?”

**

“So, we have to find Berkoff.”

“No, we have to do this the other way. There’s no *time*, Paul. We have to do this.”

Paul sank into a chair and looked at Nikita, hoping for an ally. He closed his eyes as he watched her nod.

“The decision’s already been made, hasn’t it?”

“Yeah.”



Chapter Seventeen
___________

Nikita threw another gun into her bag and sighed. She needed more ammo. Turning, she headed out and down the hall, jogging towards the weapon’s area.

“Jack! I need more auto cartridges.”

Jack came around the corner and nodded, wordlessly getting out the box and handing it to her. When she went to take it, he grabbed her hand.

“Jack?”

“I’m in love with you.”

Nikita took a step back, and then another.

“I’m not saying...I know. Michael. You love him.” He shook his head. “I’m not asking for anything, just...” he took a deep breath. “Come back alive, ok?”

Nikita nodded, holding the box tightly, then turned and ran for her room.

This was *not* what she needed right now.

**

“You’re *not* going with us!”

“I am.” Silas sat down and watched Lalia pack. “I know the system that’s up. I can get you in.”

“You won’t come back out.” She stopped and stood in front of him. “They’ll recognize you. You won’t make it back.”

“It’ll be worth it.”

**

Paul was waiting for Nikita when she came back. He got up from where he was sitting on her bed and came over.

“Come back, ok?”

Nikita nodded. She reflected wryly that she seemed to be speachless a lot these days, but all thought flew from her head when he hugged her.

Suddenly fighting tears, she hugged him back.



Chapter Eighteen
___________

George smiled. “So, you know.”

“I recognized her. But you have no idea how high the stakes are right now. What’s going on. What time it is. I’m not going to tell you anything.”

His father sighed. “Yes, you will.”

Greg pulled out a small remote and shook his head. “No, I won’t.”

He pushed a button, and the building exploded.

**

Three figures could just be made out on the southern side of a very rocky mountain in the middle of a large desert. They were climbing with good equipment, and had been for several hours. They didn’t seem to be making for the top of the mountain, but one of the smaller peaks.

After another hour they landed on a small plateau. One of the women pulled herself up and was suddenly blown to bits.

And all hell broke loose.

**

Berkoff landed back on the island and was immediately hit with a large fist. His father stood over him and fisted both his hands, then backed up a few steps.

The tec stood and blinked. He’d run, but he hadn’t thought it was quite that big a deal.

He was apparently wrong.

Chapter Nineteen
___________

Berkoff sat in the main room, every inch of his being focused on the monitors. There’d been an explosion. Then nothing. No one knew what was going on.

Jack came over and handed his son a cup of coffee. Berkoff looked up and watched the other man sit next to him.

After a second, Jack took his son’s hand, and they sat together, watching the screens. Neither said a word.

**

Michael was pacing, much in the style of Lalia. An hour conversation with Nikita before she left, and he still knew he’d forgotten to say something. *Something*.

There was always the chance she’d be dead. It was the hazards of working in Section. But this felt different. Somehow, this just felt different.

**

J’net watched Madeline for a while. She was just sitting there, watching the screen. She wasn’t moving a muscle.

Carfeully, the savior approached her sister and sat down. She looked at the other woman’s profile for a minute before reaching out her hand.

“Hi.”

Madeline turned to her and blinked for a second. She looked down at the proffered hand and blinked again, swallowing, before she took it.

“Hi.”

“You’re Madeline, right?”

She nodded.

“I’m J’net.”

Chapter Twenty
___________

“Let’s go, let’s go!”

J’net pounded on her sister’s door and bounced. “Come *on*! They’re here!”

Madeline rushed out of her room, pulling on her jacket, and lifted a hand to her hair. “Does it look ok?”

“It looks great. Your husband will be floored. Let’s go!”

The two jogged to the elevator and then waited impatiently for the doors to open. The first birthday party of Michael and Nikita’s daughter, Laliana, would start in less than an hour, and Walter and Paul were coming from Section for the celebration of his sister’s namesake.

The elevator doors opened at the cavern entrance and the sisters started running for the helicopter pad. The chopper was just leaving, and two men were heading towards the caves.

Paul saw his wife first and started walking faster. When he reached her he picked her up and spun her around, smiling. “Miss me?”

She smiled and kissed him. “Always.”

Walter grinned at the two of them and hugged Madeline when Paul put her down. The three started back towards the caverns, and Madeline frowned at her husband.

“Coming?”

“Just a second.”

She nodded and jogged to catch up with the others.

Paul watched them go, then pulled out a white rose from his jacket and looked down at it. Today was the third anniversary of Lalia’s death on that mountain. She’d been killed in the first explosion. Her spirit had somehow hovered long enough for the spell...and then she was gone. Nikita had never really been able to explain what’d happened...

Paul wiped at his eyes and threw the flower into the ocean, watching it wash away, then turned back to the caverns, where his wife was standing waiting for him.

Slowly, he walked towards her.

END!!!!

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