"Is he or isn't he, Nikita? I need to know if I can trust the man!" Operations demanded.

"I need more time! He hasn't proven anything!" Nikita hedged.

"You have three hours!" He barked.

"Well?"

She knew she had failed again- there was no proof either way that she had found. All she had to condemn the man was her gut feeling. She took a deep breath before she stated, "He is the one. He is guilty. He plays a role better than Michael but he went overboard with me. He is guilty." She wasn't sure if she was convincing him or herself by the end of her answer.

"No, Michael!" She cried too late. She closed her eyes as the sound echoed through the hall. "He was a traitor, Michael."

Michael stared down at the dead man- Jergun, the man who had worked his way between Nikita and himself. "How?" Michael whispered.

Nikita turned back to him then, determined to tell him all of it. "I won't lie to you about us- I told you that before. I could let you believe all of it was the test but I can't. The test or mission, whatever, didn't start until after- after I doubted you. After I chose him." She closed her eyes and sucked in a ragged breath then released it before she opened her eyes to look into his and went on with her words. "I've made a lot of mistakes in my life, Michael. Lots of mistakes. I've regretted a lot of decisions in my life, too, but none do I regret more than when I doubted you." Nikita blinked back a tear. "Everyone believes I have yet to surrender my soul to the darkness of Section One and I haven't, but I just sold a part of it to the Section. I didn't listen to my heart.

"You were ready to save him for me, you have no idea what that means to me, Michael, no idea." Nikita smiled, a little unsure. "You believe you are the darkness, the evil, that there is nothing left inside you but them. You couldn't be more wrong.

"I know you can't stop lying to me, Michael, but you have to stop deceiving yourself. You can never be the darkness if you continue to help me." Then she walked away- she had to see Madeline and then Operations.

She didn't hear the doorbell. She didn't hear someone pounding on her door. She didn't even hear someone walking into her apartment. But she felt his presence, as always, near her. She was half way through her swing with a sledgehammer when she felt his presence in the apartment. She ignored him and finished knocking out the wall in her apartment.

"Hello, Michael." Nikita smiled when she turned around to face him.

"Redecorating I see. Care for a cold one?" Michael asked, holding up a can of soda from Nikita's fridge.

"Mmm. Thanks. What are you up to? Wait, I know! You wanted to see my expert skills in destruction! Or perhaps you had to satisfy some need to see that I was okay even after killing Jergun?" She laughed at herself knowing full well that it was the second reason he was here for and that he would never admit to it.

He stopped her laughter with three softly spoken words. "Are you okay?"

She blinked. It was the only outward showing that she allowed him to the fact that he had thrown her off balance. She smiled. "I am now." And it was the truth. His honesty with her helped the healing process quite a bit.

Michael smiled then rolled up his sleeves. "Want some help with anything?"

Nikita smiled. She could think of a few things but she kept those ideas to herself. "Sure. If you could pack up the tools while I go shower, afterwards you can help me find some furniture."

The words shower flashed a picture in his mind but just as quickly as it appeared, he banished it. There was no place for those ideas in Section One. "All right, but don't take all afternoon!"

Nikita's laugh drifted out from the bathroom.

To Michael's surprise, she was ready in ten minutes dressed in jeans, a tee shirt with her hair up in a pony tail and still wet. Her customary flashy glasses decorated her nose. "Lets shop!" Nikita declared.

Michael picked out modern furniture for her, she shook her head and went towards more natural woods. Michael chose a brilliant multicolored fabric, Nikita loved it. Michael headed for a burger joint for food, Nikita pulled him toward a Japanese place.

"You've changed, Nikita." Michael stated as they headed back to her apartment.

Nikita sighed and looked up at the night sky. "Indeed I have, Michael. The old Nikita would never have been able to kill Jergun like that. Nor would she have been able to see what he had been doing so quickly or turn him into Operations. I grew up. Michael." Nikita chuckled. "I still can't agree with Section One policy but I can learn to live with some of it. And I can see some of the reason for it now. I still won't give up my heart and soul to it but I can live with it now. I guess you could say that the tint of my rose colored glasses lightened a bit."

Michael smiled at the image. "I am sorry, Nikita." He knew that she would understand what he was talking about without an explanations.

"I know you are, Michael, but I also know why you do it now. It can't happen again. As sweet as it was, it would kill us both. We are each other's strengths but we are also the other one's weakness. I can live with that, Michael, as long as we have times like these every once in a while. I'm not asking for anything you can't give, Michael. I'm not asking you to tell me everything or to even stop lying to me. I just want to enjoy your company without Section interference every once in a while." Nikita stopped him in front of her apartment building.

Michael nodded, knowing she was letting him off the hook. He smiled his gratitude. "You are unlike any other, Nikita, my light. You possess a strength I can barely imagine. You are stronger than I ever thought I could be. We will have these times together, me amour. That I promise you." He chuckled at the irony in his words. He had lied to her so often, how could she believe a promise now?

Nikita's palm touched his cheek, bringing his focus to her face. "Michael, I do trust you- at times, and this is one of those times. I am learning, learning to tell when you are not being truthful to me."

Michael, in response, turned his lips into her palm and kissed it softly, then whispered, "Thank you."

"Would you like to come in for coffee?" Nikita offered, wanting to talk to him about her freedom but not being able to ask.

Knowing she wanted to talk and knowing that she couldn't talk in her apartment, he declined. "No, Nikita, but I would like to show you my place."

Nikita looked into his eyes and smiled. "Well, then, lets go. I wouldn't want you to change your mind!"

Michael laughed and lead her to his car.

"I was free, Michael. I had a job, a little place to stay, all of life's necessities." Nikita shook her head. "But I had no friends. I had no one to laugh with, talk to, or just be with. I began to see that Section One hadn't been just a job, it had been a way of life. It was a way of life that encompassed you. Madeline is right, you can never leave Section. But it isn't that you can't escape Section. I did. But I couldn't escape the memories of Section. I remembered you, Walter, and Birkoff, even Madeline and Operations. I remembered the laughs and the smiles, as well as the hell and the tears.

"I was looking over my shoulder constantly, wondering if Section was going to find me. Or would a member of Red Cell or Legion find me first and use me as a bargaining chip or torture subject? I meet someone at work one day. He was nice to me, saw the torture in my eyes and offered me some advice. He told me that where there is love, there is freedom, and where there is fear, there are shackles. Freedom Fighters captured me then. God! What a bunch of fools! You know what happened then.

"He was right. Section One was not my prison, I was, Michael. My fears held me stronger than any cage ever could. Once I let go of my fears, I began to see Section One in a new light. I saw myself in a new light. And I saw how I was hurting you. I was stunned to realize that I could see the pain I inflicted on you when I turned to Jergun and away from you. But then I witnessed Jergun's true self. There was no time to talk with you, no time to set up a mission." Nikita chuckled. "Operations was not thrilled leaving this all in my hands without a quasi trusted operative."

"Nikita," Michael started to speak but Nikita silenced him by placing her fingers on his lips. "No, Michael. It is the past, let it go. There is nothing left there to talk about. This isn't about who we were, or even about who we would like to be. It is about who we are now. There is a song called As long as you love me' by the Backstreet Boys. The chorus says this: I don't care who you are, where your from, what you did, as long as you love me. That's all I want, Michael. All I need is for you to care. It doesn't matter what you did to get into Section, what you do in Section, who you were or even who you are in Section. I don't need to know where you are from, what your past is. All I need is for you to show me you care every once in a while."

Michael smiled. "Songs, they speak volumes when a person can't say anything at all. I do care for you, Nikita."

Nikita was home finally- two missions and three weeks away. She was tired, but she smiled contently as she listened to the radio and continued to arrange the furniture she had bought when she had been with Michael. He was right- she had changed- she had gotten over a heartache of her own making.

"This one goes out to Jo. Your dark angel says thanks for lighting up his life. When fallen angels fly' going out to Jo from her dark angel."

The words froze her. She shook her head. It couldn't be. Could it? Then she listened to the words of the song. She smiled as she remembered his words that long ago night- Songs speak volumes when a person can't say anything at all.

Michael smiled at the dedication. He knew she would think it was his and in a way it was- he had asked Walter to do it for him.

"Hey there radio listeners! Remember last night's dedication to Jo from her dark angel? Well Jo called in tonight. She wants to tell her dark angel a little something. Here you go, Jo. What's wrong with you (is you ain't got me)' by Stephanie Bentley."

Michael laughed at the dedication. So she was sending him a message, was she?

"Hello, Michael." Nikita smiled as she picked up the phone.

"So all I need is you to make me right?" Michael stated over the phone lines.

"Nope. I said what was wrong with you is that you don't have me. I never said all you needed was me. But, now that you mention it, having me would right most of you." Nikita chuckled.

"It was a cute song, Nikita. Thank you." Michael hung up.

"Thanks for coming over, Michael." Nikita smiled. "Everyone else is here already."

Michael raised an eyebrow at the her last comment.

"Well, I couldn't very well have an apartment warming without my friends!" Nikita laughed as she lead him in.

He found Walter and Birkoff in the main room. He smiled and shook his head. The apartment was not quite the old Nikita, but the boldness of colors and unique decorations were still her signature.

"You've done a wonderful job, Nikita." Michael complimented her as she came out of the kitchen with a tray of snacks in one hand and a tray of drinks in the other.

Nikita beamed. "Thank you. I love that fabric you found, Michael. It helped tie everything together!"

Walter and Birkoff smiled. Their Nikita was back- and better than ever!

The End