Ring...Ring...Ring...Ring

Michael rolled over and groped the floor for his jacket. When he found it he pulled out his phone and listened to it “Yes...Of course.” He said and dropped the phone on to the floor. Then he rolled back over and pulled Nikita closer.

“What did they want?” She asked sleepily.

“There’s a briefing at ten tomorrow.”

“Will I be needed?”

“Yes, You and Kathryn.” He sat up and reached for his pants.

“Where are you going?”

“To check on Kathryn, something’s been bothering her for awhile and I want to see if she okay.”

“Michael, it’s “ she paused to look at the clock “Two-Thirty in the morning. She's probably asleep.”

“I just want to check on her. I’ll only be a minute.” He leaned down to kiss her then left.

He stood in front of Kathryn’s door and knocked lightly, there as music playing, but if she was sleeping he didn’t want to wake her. When there was no answer he took out his keys. He walked in, the light over the kitchen counter was on and so was the CD player. He looked around at how she decorated the apartment. It was done in three colors, Purple, black and blue. Each room had a primary color with the other two as accents. Like the bedroom, its primary color was black and everything was black. From the frame of the bed to the rocking chair in the corner to the overflowing bookcase along the other wall. The fitted sheet on the bed and the quilt were also black. Everything else was purple or blue. There was one window in the room it had one purple curtain and one blue, the other of each pair was hanging on the closet door. Her footlocker was purple and the mass of pillows on the bed were a mixture.

Kathryn was curled up on the bed. The four bodypillows had been arranged to create a barrier between her and the edges of the bed. She was in the middle of them, the quilt was tangled up in some pillows at the head of the bed. He untangled it and covered her up, as he laid it on her shoulders he noticed the tear tracks on her face. She had been crying, why? Another nightmare? It had been two months since their last encounter with Dunham. And she hadn’t had any nightmares in the meantime. He caressed her cheek with the back of his fingers and found that her cheek was still wet. He sighed deeply. He didn’t know why she wasn’t telling him what was bothering her. As he thought about it he realized that she couldn’t, they didn’t spend any time together. They use to be closer then they were now, they used to do things together.

Now he was either at Section or with Nikita. She reached over and pulled one of the bodypillows to her and snuggled into it. For a moment he saw the little girl that he first met in Section. He decided that he’d make it up to her. After the mission, he’d start spending more time with her. Macbeth was playing downtown, it was her favorite play and as far as he knew she hadn’t seen it yet. He’d get two tickets for after the mission. He looked down and saw that her eyes were open.

“Do we have to go in?”

“Now right now. There’s a briefing at ten tomorrow.”

“Okay. Then you should go back to Nikita, she’s probably wondering were you are.” She closed her eyes and was asleep in seconds. A strand of hair fell in her eyes and he brushed it away before leaving.

************

The next morning Michael was in his office when Birkoff told him that Madeline wanted to see him. When the doors to her office opened she called him in.

“Michael, sit down please.” He did so “I would like to know what’s bothering Kathryn. She seems to be a little depressed.”

‘Damm,’ Michael thought. He still didn’t know exactly what was troubling her and he was hoping to find out before Madeline thought there was anything wrong.

“I’m not sure what’s wrong yet.”

“No, I would have thought it was obvious. Kathryn is lonely.”

“Lonely?”

“Yes, Anybody else in Section who’s Kathryn’s age is a recruit. The operatives with the same amount of skill as are too old to know what it’s like. She has no one to identify with.”

“Birkoff-”

“Is not a cold op. Also there are other things. She has never lived outside Section, when she went away was the closes she’s ever been. Also your current relationship with Nikita as probably increased any feelings of loneliness that she might have. I would guess that you’ve been spending most of your time out of Section with Nikita”

Michael was having trouble keeping his mask in place. They know about him and Nikita. He looked into her eyes and suddenly didn’t think that they were in as much trouble as he first thought. Madeline smiled slightly.

“Michael, I don’t believe that a relationship with another operative is as big of a disadvantage as Operations.”

Michael nodded, they’d be allowed to be together but it was still dangerous, this was still Section. As if reading his mind Madeline continued.

“Because I wouldn’t want to ruin any connection that you might have, manipulating you against each other will be a last resort.”

“Of course.”

“Now back to Kathryn. You should do something about the situation, we don’t want her to become ineffective, do we?”

“No.”

“Good”

He got up and went back to his office. Nikita was there waiting for him.

“Where were you?”

“Madeline’s office.”

“What did she want?”

“She wanted to know what was wrong with Kathryn. Also she told me that she knows about us.”

“What are they going to do?”

“She says that they’re going to leave us alone,...for now.”

“Oh, and what did you tell her about Kathryn?”

“Nothing, she told me what was wrong with her.”

“And that is?”

“That’s she lonely."

“Lonely?”

“Yes, I realize now that she’s been spending more and more time by herself.”

“So what are you going to do?”

“I don’t know, just spend more time with her.” He looked at his watch “after the mission, come on the briefing is about to start.”

As he walked out the door Nikita looked at him, she thought over the last two months. He was more open with her, he told her things when she asked and the one time he had to lie to her on a mission he had warned her. She still didn’t know any more about his past except that he had a brother named Marcel. She walked to the briefing table and sat down next to Michael to wait for Ops.

************

Operation came down and took his seat on the other side of the table.

He took out the remote and turned on the vid- screen. The picture that appeared was of a man in his fifties.

“This is Carl Rogers, he’s a wealthy, powerful, and influential businessman who’s pushing for laws that will prevent certain illegal actives from being possible. For obvious reason this hasn’t gone over well with the people involved with those activities. To try to change his mind they are threatening him and” He clicked the remote again and another picture appeared, this one of a girl about Kathryn’s age. “His daughter, Melissa Rogers, he has pulled some favors to get her the best protection he can, that means us. But since he also doesn’t want her to know that her life has been threaten you have to go undercover and if anything happens hide it from her. Michael will be Jack Walker, Carl’s new assistant, who takes care of his little sister, Bethany. Kathryn you’re assigned to protect Melissa at any cost, never let her out of your sight. Understood.”

“Yessir”

Two weeks later Melissa Rogers was walked down the street with her new friend Bethany. When they had met she wasn’t sure about her, most people who wanted to be her friend because of her Dad. But Bethany was here because her brother, Jack, was her dad’s new assistant. They had become friends pretty quick, they both liked the same things. The last two weeks had been the most fun she had enjoyed in awhile. But right now something was wrong. Bethany was acting kind of weird, her eyes constantly roomed the area. They would center on a building and then minutely examine every detail on it, then go to the next one. It all took a few seconds for her to canvass the entire street with her eyes. Every few steps she would slightly turn her head to look behind them. Her shoulders were squared and she was making Melissa nervous.

For her part, Kathryn was A: really sick of being called Bethany and B: she wasn’t nervous, she was tense. She could feel that something was wrong, that they were in danger. She didn’t want anything to happen to Melissa. They were actually friends. The feeling of danger intensified and she stopped walking.

“Melissa” she said “call the car.”

“What? Bethany what’s go-”

“Just call the car.” Melissa opened her cell phone and dialed. When she hung up the tension that was coming from Bethany had doubled. She was putting the phone back into her pocket when a red dot appeared on her shoulder.

“Get down!” Kathryn yelled, as she pushed her to the ground. She stepped over and the bullet lodged itself in her right shoulder. She fell to her knees, but not from pain.There was too much adrenaline in her system for her to feel it. She reached into her coat and pulled out her gun, Aimed, fired and watched the body fall from the roof. She could still sense danger and pushed Melissa behind a parked car as the place they just were became riddled with bullets. She started firing unaimed shot at the building when a screeching was heard. The car came around the corner, barely staying on all four tires. It came to a halt in front of them. The door open and Michael stepped out and sprayed the building with bullets from an automatic. She grabbed Melissa’s arm and pushed her towards the car. After they were both in, Michael got in, and the car took off down the road. After giving the driver directions Michael looked at the two people in the back seat with him.

“Kathryn, your bleeding.” He said when he saw her shoulder “Let me look at it.”

“I’ll be fine, Michael.”

“Sure you will.” He leaned forward and pulled off her coat. She gasped slightly when her shoulder moved too much.

“It passed right through.”

“Don’t you think I know that”

“It didn’t do much damage, it’s going to need a couple stitches to close it. I’ll do it when we get back.” He said as he applied a handkerchief to the exit wound, it was still bleeding. The one in front had seemed to have stopped.

“Will someone please tell me what is going on!” Melissa yelled.

Someone had tried to kill her, her new friend had been shot and her father’s new assistant was talking about stitching up the wound. She wanted to know what was going on and she wanted to know now!

Kathryn and Michael exchanged a glance.

“Some people” he started “ want your father to stop doing something that he’s doing. They want you, so they can try to convinces him that it’s a good idea”

“So you were hired to protect me? “ she asked as she looked at Kathryn.

“Is that what everything was about? Just a job, every thing that we did together was just because you were hired to protect me, and I thought you were my friend.” Kathryn wanted to say something, anything, that it wasn’t just a job. That they really were friends, but she couldn’t. There was this fog in her head and she was getting really cold. She started shivering as she put her head on the window. Her eyes felt like lead, they wouldn’t stay open. A white dot appeared in her vision and started to grow bigger as she slid to the floor. Michael caught her and found that the wound on the front of her shoulder had started bleeding again. The entire right side was of her shirt was red. She was going into shock from the loss of blood, he turned to tell the driver to hurry. He looked at her and her eyes were closed. “Kathryn, wake up. Open your eyes.” Her eyes fluttered open, she whispered his name and closed them again, then her body went limp in his arms.

************

Walter was sitting in a chair in MedLab. He’d been there ever since Kathryn had come out of surgery. Michael would have been there but he had to finish the mission. Birkoff was there when he could be, but they were still worried. Kathryn had been brought in three days ago with severer blood loss and hadn’t woken up since. He got up and walked over to her bed, raised a hand to brush away a strand of hair from her forehead.

“Oh Sweets,” He said “ you better get well. Do you know what will happen if you don’t. Michael is just starting to get back to where he was before. If he looses you, he’ll go back to like he was before. You don’t want that to happen do you Sweets?”

“Have you always called her Sweets?” He turned around to see Nikita.

“Um, Yeah, ever since the first time I held her when she was a day old.” He looked back at Kathryn. “She was the sweetest thing I ever saw. You’re my Sugar and she’s my Sweets. No one else gets those name. No matter-no matter what”

“Don’t worry, Walter, she’ll be okay.”

“I hope so, Sugar, I hope so.”

It was four days later, when Birkoff was sitting with her that she woke up. Birkoff was typing on his laptop when he hear a groan. He looked up and saw her rubbing her eyes with her left hand. Slowly her eyes and looked at him. She tried to say something but her voice wouldn’t work so he got up and lifted the cup of water that was next to the bed, to her lips. She took a couple sips and cleared her throat.

“I have to get Madeline. She told me to get her as soon as you woke up.” She just nodded and laid her head back on to the pillow as he left. A couple minutes later she heard the MedLab doors open. She looked up saw not only Madeline and a doctor but Birkoff, Walter, Nikita and...Operation. He only stayed for the doctors report, which was as follows.

He had Kathryn sit up as he examined are arm. He took the bandage off to look at the wound. Then he gripped her shoulder and moved it slightly. That caused Kathryn to gasp in pain.

“The wound has healed nicely and the shoulder is a litter tender, it will have to stay in a sling for a couple of weeks but that to be expected. I’m still a little worried about how long she was unconscious, but other then that she should be fine.”

“Good” Ops said and left.

“I’ll get the sling and some pain meds.” The doctor said and left also.

“Where’s Michael?”

“He had to finish the mission”

“Of course, How long have I been out?

“A week.”

“A week?”

“Yes.”

“So what happened?”

“You tell me. What do you remember?”

“Um, we were walking, I could tell that something was wrong and told Melissa to call the car, then I saw a laser site and pushed her out of the way. I returned fire and the car came around the corner. We got in and Michael looked at my shoulder, I got tired and closed my eyes and woke up here. So” yawn “when can I get” another yawn “out of here?” Madeline smiled.

“After you’ve rested some.” She said as Kathryn stifled yet another yawn.

Knowing it was pointless to argue, and too tiring, Kathryn laid back down on the bed.

“I’ll see you later, okay Sweets.”

“Sure Walter” she said as everybody filed out the door.

When she woke up the next morning Michael was there. He was standing next to the bed but her was staring at the floor.

“Mission over?” He looked at her.

“Yes, how are you feeling?”

“I’ll be fine. Can I get out of here now.”

“Sure” he walked over to a table, brought her some close, and helped her dress. Then he brought over the sling. She looked at it.

“I’m not wearing that.”

“You have to protect your arm.”

“That never stopped you.”

“Madeline’s orders.”

“I repeat, that never stopped you.” Michael smiled and stared at her in till she took it from him. She grimaced as she put it on.

“Good and here.” He handed her the pain meds. She took them in her left hand and glared at them. She didn’t think that she could get then into a pocket and she put them in the sling, it was as good a place to carry them as any.

“Come on, I’ll drive you home.”

“I can drive.”

“Kathryn, you right handed, and the last time I knew you weren’t very ambidextrous.” He turned to leave.

“I can still drive.” She said petulantly to his back. She caught up to him and asked “What about my Jeep?” She had a black Jeep wangler, which she had bought two months ago and loved. She didn’t want to leave it here.

“I’ve have someone bring it to the apartment.” After they got there he insisted on walking her to the door and unlocking it for her.

“You know Michael, I may not be able to use my left hand very good, but it does work. Are you going to come back at lunch time and spoon feed me too. I mean come on, this isn’t the first time I’ve been hurt on a mission, shot yes, hurt no.”

“Last time you didn’t almost die in my arms and last time it was my fault.”

“What?”

“When I looked at your shoulder I was wrong, I said that it wasn’t bad, it was. You passed out in the car because you had lost a lot of blood. The bullet sliced a vein in half. It took an hour of surgery to repair it.”

“It wasn’t your fault, Michael. You didn’t shoot me and your not a doctor. How could you have known.” He didn’t say anything at first, then reached into his pocket and pulled out an envelope.

“Here.” She took it from him.

“What is it?”

“I realized that we weren’t spending much time together and I got these so we could.” She opened it and pulled out the Macbeth tickets.

“Really! When?”

“It’s for tomorrow night, hopefully there will be no missions. I haven’t seen it in awhile.”

“You haven’t, You don’t mean-“

“Your off active status.”

“How long?”

“In till your arm heals.”

“But that will be a month, at least! I go nuts from boredom.” Michael smiled slightly

“I have to go. I’ll see you later. Okay?”

“Sure, See ya later.”

************

'I was right’ Kathryn thought a week later. She was bored out of her mind. Of course she hadn’t left the apartment in that week. Michael had been called in for a three week mission the day after the play and she didn’t feel like hanging out at Section.

"That’s it, I’m out of here.” She grabbed her coat and left. Her arm was still in the sling, so she couldn’t drive. She didn’t know why she was still wearing it, she didn’t need it, but the day was nice. She had her left arm in the coat sleeve and the other side was resting on her right shoulder.

She was walking down the street, not going anywhere, just enjoying being outside. She walked passed a music store and remembered that there was a CD that she wanted. When she went into the store training made her sweep it with her eyes, there was only two people inside. The clerk and a man. The clerk didn’t even look up but the man did, they made eye contact but she looked away quickly. She didn’t know why, she had never done that before. As she walked around the store, she glanced out of the corner of her eye at him. He was tall with brown hair that was as short as Birkoff’s. She looked away again when she saw that his eyes were on her.

They continued to play eye tag for the next couple of minutes in till Kathryn noticed that she had found the right section of music. She started to look for the CD that she wanted. When she saw it, she rolled eyes. Of course it had to be at the top of the stand. She reached for it and felt her coat fall off her shoulder and hung only by her left arm. She didn’t think anything of it in till she heard this clinking sound.

‘I didn’t know that I had changes in that pocket.’ She thought when she looked down and saw the coins still moving in slow circles, before falling flat. She leaned down to pick them up and swore that when her arm got better she would learn to use her left hand better. There was only three coins left and when she reached for them another hand picked them up.

“Thanks” She said when she stood up.

“Your welcome.” He said and extended his hand to gave them to her. She opened hers and he dropped them in. His fingertips caressed hers and Kathryn felt her cheeks get warm again. She looked at her hand. Her coat still hung from her arm and she didn’t think that she could put the coins into a pocket, so she put them in the sling, it was becoming a habit. He raised a eyebrow

“Interesting place to keep thing.”

“Yeah, but it’s very convenient” she said with a smile. She tried to get her coat back on. He took the sleeve and laid it over her shoulder.

“Thanks” She said again. He nodded to the CDs

“Which one were you reaching for?”

“Holly Cole” He reached for it.

“Is it any good? What is it? Jazz?”

“Well, I’m in the Jazz section so I hope that it’s Jazz. And, yes it’s good, I like it.”

She took it from him and walked up to the counter. He followed.

“So, what other kind of music do you like?”

“I’d tell you but I don’t give that kind of information at to people that I don’t know.” She paid for the CD and left. Something out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. He was trying to catch up to her.

“Are you following me?” She asked when he did.

“I’m very interested in what other kinds of music that you like, so I guess I’m going to have to get to know you.”

“I guess so.”

“I think the best place to start would be getting to know your name.”

“That’s usually where people start.”

“Well, are you going to tell me?”

“Do I get to learn your name?”

“Yes.”

“And what is it?”

“I asked you first” She started walking again, but looked at him out of the corner of her eye.

“Kathryn”

“No last name?”

“Don’t press your luck. It’s your turn.”

“My name is Stephen Wolfe.”

“So what happened to your arm?” He asked two hours later as they were walking in the park.

“It’s not my arm, it’s my shoulder. And it’s nothing really exciting, it could happen to anybody on any day.” She said ‘At least in my job.’ she thought to herself. “I don’t really need the sling, I’m just wearing it because I’m under penalty of death if I take it off before the Doctor say I can. Which should be in a couple of days.”

“Penalty of death?”

“Yeah”

“How will they know if you take it off?”

“My-I guess my brother comes and checks on my almost every night and if he can’t they send someone else.”

“Your brother, you guess?”

“Well,...It’s complicated. He’s not really my brother but he’s like a brother to me. See, I’ve known him since I was six, and when I was eleven my parents died, he was the only one that I let see me cry. He took care of me, and was there for me when I needed him. Though there is one incidence that he wishes he had gotten there sooner.”

“How did your parents die?”

“An accident.” She said quietly as she looked away from him. She hadn’t lied, it was an accident. the mission they were on was to blow up a building. On their way out one of the C-4 charges detonated prematurely.

“Losing one parent at a time was hard enough, losing them both at the same time must really been hard.”

“Are you parents dead?”

“Yeah, my mother died a couple of years ago, and you could say I lost my father when I was seven.” She looked at him.

“My father was in Viet Nam and the last time I saw him I was seven. He was a POW and after seven years we were told that he was dead.”

“I take you don’t think he is.”

“No, I don’t think he is.”

“Wouldn’t you think that he would try to find you if he was?”

“Maybe but if he is alive I’ll find him.” They spent the rest of the day together and he walked home with her. When they stood in front of her door.

“Thanks for the day. I had fun, I was going stir crazy by myself.”

“I had fun too. You wouldn’t... want to go to a movie tomorrow, would you?”

“I have a doctors appointment at two ‘o clock, but sure.”

“Yeah, I’ll be here at eight, okay?”

“Fine.”

“Okay, I’ll-I’ll see ya.”

“Yeah, see ya.”

************

Kathryn had just shut the door, when someone knocked on it. She turned around and opened the door.

“I heard that. So who is he, where did you meet him and what’s he like?”

“Hi, Nikita and what are you talking about?”

“I heard you talking to that guy.”

“You were spying on me?”

“No, I was standing near the door and heard you talking. I didn’t even look out the peephole. So what’s he like?”

Kathryn sighed deeply.

“His name is Stephen, I met him at a music store, and we got to talking. He seems to be a nice guy.”

“And you're going out on a date with him tomorrow.”

“It’s not a date.” Kathryn said quickly.

“Then what is it?”

“We're just going to a movie.”

“Uh-huh, Kathryn have you ever been on a date before?”

“Um, no.”

“Thought so. Come on, let’s find you something to wear.” She said as she went into Kathryn’s bedroom.

__________

A week later Kathryn was sitting on her couch. Stephen was supposed to be there in a few minutes. She absent-mindedly rubbed her finger against her lip. After they had came back from the movies Stephen had gently kissed her. One night they had gone dancing, he had held her close and his hands had moved in circles along her back. She could feel her cheeks start to blush at the memory, and also the warm feeling in chest that she always got when she thought of Stephen returned.

She sat up and a small spasm of pain stabbed her shoulder. The sling had come off the day that they had gone to the movies. It was the first time she had gone to Section since Michael had brought her home. Michael, his mission should be over in about a week, in less something held it up. Nikita was going crazy, it was the longest that they had been apart since they had gotten together. She had just thought of something when there was a knock on the door.

“Hey, Stephen.”

“Hi Kath.”

“Um, you don’t have anything special planned do you?”

“No, not really. Why?”

“You remember I was telling you about Michael, the person who’s like a brother to me?”

“Yeah”

“Well he out of town on business, and his girlfriend, who live across the hall, kind of misses him, and I was thinking that she could go out with us tonight, if that’s okay with you?”

“Sure, fine with me”

“She’s been wanting to meet you. Let me go ask her if she wants to.” Kathryn walked across the hall and knocked on Nikita’s door.

“Hey Kathryn. What’s up?”

“Stephen and I are going out and I was wondering if you wanted to go with us?”

“I wouldn’t want to intrude.”

“You wouldn’t be, plus you said that you wanted to meet him.”

“Are you sure that I wouldn’t be intruding?”

“Positive, just come over when your ready, okay?”

“Sure.” Kathryn walked back to her apartment.

“So?” Stephen asked.

“She’ll be over in a second, I’m going to get my coat.” Kathryn said and ran into her room. A second later there was a knock on the door.

“I’ll get it.” Stephen said and open the door. “Nikita!?”

“Stephen? Your the Stephen that Kathryn’s going out with?”

“Yeah, um, Nikita,” he looked behind him to see if Kathryn was coming.

“Could you not tell Kathryn how we met before. I haven’t done much information selling lately, and I don’t want her to judge me on that.”

“I don’t like lying to people, so how about I say that I won’t volunteer any information. But Stephen, last time I saw you, you said that you didn’t care who you hurt as long as you found your father. Kathryn better not be one of them. If she is, the next time I shoot you it won’t be with a tranq dart, is that clear?”

“Perfectly, and thanks”

Kathryn came down from her room then. “I guess you guys know who each other is now, so let’s go.”

The next day Nikita walked into Section and into Walter’s shop.

“Walter, can I ask you a question?”

“I can do anything you want me to Sugar.”

“It’s about Kathryn.” He looked up

“What about Sweets?”

“She’s seeing someone.”

“Yeah?” He asked with a smile

“Yeah, and I know him. From a mission.”

“A mission?”

“Yeah, the group he was with stole something and we wanted to take down the buyer. He’s asked me not to say anything, that he doesn’t do that any more. But on the mission he told me something that makes me doubt that.”

“What group was he with?’

“The Crew.”

“That was the CM-12 mission last year wasn’t it.”

“Yeah”

“I thought that everyone but Brosos was killed. Yeah, I remember Michael saying that you took out the last one when he was about to kill him.”

“That’s who she’s going out with, his name's Stephen Wolfe and I would have just given his name to Birkoff but Section thinks I killed him last year.”

“Why didn’t you?” She hesitated for a minute

“Can you keep a secret?” He nodded and she preceded to tell him about the mission, starting with when Operation came to her apartment, and then what happened last night.

“What do you think I should do?”

“I don’t think there’s anything that you can do.”

“It’s just - I don’t want her to get hurt.”

“None of us do.”

“Okay, thanks.” She went home and sat on her couch. She wished that Michael was here, so she could ask him. Of course that lead to other reason why she wanted Michael here. She into a really good one when there was a knock on her door.

“Can I talk to you?” Kathryn asked when she opened the door

“Sure.”

“You know Stephen, don’t you?” She asked as she walked into the apartment. “I know he carries, He tries to hide it, but when you’ve been around hidden weapons as long as I have you can see it.” Nikita sighed deeply.

“Yes, I know him. I met him on a mission last year.”

“A mission? Is he Section?”

“No, we were taking down the people his group was selling to.”

“Great, so the first time I go out with someone and he’s a terrorist”

“He’s not a terrorist, besides last night he asked me not to tell you because he doesn’t do that anymore.”

“Okay, so he’s a retired terrorist. What’s Michael going to think when he gets back.”

“Well Michael going to be a little surprised because he thinks that Stephen is dead.”

“Excuse me?”

“He thinks that I killed Stephen during the mission.”

“Um, why?”

“I shot Stephen with a tranq dart and Michael saw him go down.”

“I don’t want to know the rest of this, do I?”

“No.”

“So, now not only is he a retired terrorist but a dead retired terrorist. Great” Nikita smiled

“You really like him, don’t you” Kathryn looked at her and smiled too.”

“Yeah, I like him a lot.”

************

A couple of days later Kathryn and Stephen were walking back to her apartment. When they got to her door Stephen leaned in to kiss her. It started out gentle but slowly deepened and he pulled her closer. Kathryn had put her arms around his neck and stepped closer. She was enjoying the kiss but when her hips came into contact with his, and she noticed how much he was enjoying the kiss, she panicked.

All of a sudden it wasn’t the present and she wasn’t leaning against her door kissing Stephen, it was four years ago and she was chained to a bed with Dunham laying on top of her. She stiffened and put her hands on his chest and pushed him away. Stephen looked at her face and saw the look of fear she had on.

“Kath, what’s wrong?”

“N-nothing. I’m-I’m sorry” She leaned her head back against the door.

“Bad memories.”

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Your sure?”

“Yeah, um, listen, uh, I’ll call you tomorrow, okay.”

“Sure,” He caress her cheeks with the back of his fingers. “Are you sure you're all right?”

“I’m fine.” She said before she leaned up and kissed him then went into the apartment.

That night Kathryn sat out on her balcony thinking about Stephen. She liked him a lot and if she was honest with herself she’d say that she was starting to fall in love with him. On one level she didn’t want to be in love with him. Section already thought that he was dead, they wouldn’t hesitate to make him that way. That wasn’t a pleasant thought.

Besides what happened when she went back on to active status in a couple of weeks?”

But before that happened she had to get thought the next step. With her reaction at the door she wondered what Stephen thought. In the four years since ‘The Incident’ she had dealt with it in all but one way. She had never been close to a guy before now for her to be able to or want to dealt with that part. Now, at night when she was hugging one of her bodypillows, she wished it was Stephen. She wanted him to touch her, weather it was a caress on the cheek and something more, she didn’t care. But obviously a part of her wasn’t ready for that yet.

The next morning she walked into Walter’s shop. He was in the back so she sat down and started tying a piece of wire in a knot. She had added another piece of wire by the time he came out.

“Hey Sweets, haven’t seen you in awhile.”

“Yeah, sorry I’ve been busy.”

“It’s okay sweets, all I care about is that your arm gets better.”

“Thanks Walter” She said quietly and looked at her hands. She had come here to ask Walter a question, she would have asked Michael but he wasn’t back yet. This was a question that she didn’t want to ask anyone else.

Walter went about his work as he watched her open and close her mouth a couple of times, trying to find the word that she wanted. When she asked the question he paused.

“Walter, what’s-what’s it like to-to make love to someone because you want to and not because they’re forcing you to?” he slowly put down the pliers that he was holding and let out a deep sigh.

“Oh Sweets, It’s nothing like what he did to you. But first, do you like Stephen?”

“How did you-”

“Nikita.”

“Oh, well I think so. I mean I think about him all the time, I can’t wait until I’m with him, and stuff like that. And usually when someone touches me, like grab my arm to get my attention, sometime I still think that it’s Dunham trying to grab me, but that’s never happened with Stephen. Well until last night.”

“What happened last night?” Walter laughed as a blush came to her cheeks.

“Stop it, or I won’t tell you.”

“I’m sorry, go on.”

“We were kissing and he pulled me close to him and I could tell that he-well I could tell.” she said as she blushed again. She knew that he would understand. She was never comfortable talking about this with people. Walter laughed again.

“I know what you mean, go on.”

“I panicked, It wasn’t him it was Dunham. I pushed him away.”

“Did you explain it to him?

“No, not yet. I should have, but I just needed to be by myself. Do you think it’s too late?”

“Not if he feels the same about you.” Just then Birkoff came up. “Hey Kathryn, Madeline wants to see you.”

“Okay, Thanks Walter.” She walked to Madeline’s office.

“You wanted to see me?” She said as she walked in.

“Yes, It’s come to my attention that your involved with someone outside of Section. You know the problem with this. Dismissed” Looks like she didn’t have to explain to Stephen. She went home and stared at the phone, she was supposed to call Stephen today. Now she didn’t want to, but her hand was reaching for the phone and dialing.

“Hi Stephen, it’s me, um, could you come over?”

“Yeah, I’ll be right there.” Kathryn was so absorbed in what she was going to say it seemed like she had just hung up the phone when there was a knock on her door. She opened the door and waved him in.

“Kathryn, about last night, if I was rushing you I’m sorry. I-”

“Stephen, it wasn’t you. A couple of years ago I...”

“You were raped weren’t you?”

“What?”

“The look you had on your face last night was just like the one a friend of mine used to get after she was raped.”

“Yeah, It was four years ago and I’ve dealt with it in almost every way but, truthfully, I’ve never gone out with anyone else but you.”

“I know you probably don’t want to talk about it if you would have told me I would have-”

“What? Controlled your body more. You can’t do that, besides, Stephen I didn’t mind. It’s just that the only time I’ve ever been close to someone like that was-was then. So if you want to, you just need to give me some time to get use to it.” She looked down at her hands. He walked over to her and lifted her chin so that she was looking at him.

“Kath, That doesn’t mean much to me, I like being with you and I enjoy the time we spend together. I wouldn’t care if we never made love, so long as we’re together."

“Some how I doubt that.” She said with a smile

“Okay, maybe I would.” He said with a smile of his own but then turned serious again. “But I would never push you to do something that you didn’t want to. Kathryn I love you and I will never on intentionally hurt you.”

“You-you love me?” Stephen stared at her. He wasn’t paying attention to what he was saying and it just came out. Now that it was said he couldn’t deny it, his mind or heart wouldn’t let him.

“I know we’ve only known each other a couple of weeks but I do, I love you. And like I said, I’ll never push this issue with you.” Kathryn looked down again and this time when she looked up there was a glint in her eyes.

“Stephen, what if” She took a step closer “ I want to push the issue with you?”

“What do you mean?”

“What if I want you to help me get more comfortable with that part of a relationship?” She took another step closer.

“Well, I wouldn’t have a problem with that.”

“Good” She said and put her arms around his neck to kiss him. Their lips were just about to meet “Stephen”

“Yeah?”

“I love you too.” She said then kissed him.

************

With the way that the conversation turned Kathryn forgot about Madeline’s order. It was always in the back of her mind but when ever Stephen was around she never thought of it. Stephen was at her apartment a lot and he was helping her. He was always touching her, if it was something more he would pause to make sure that she was comfortable with it.

For the most part she was. Stephen would spend the night and they would sleep in the same bed with their arms around each other and she was fine. It was only, sometime when he would pull her close that she’d get a flash of memory of Dunham doing something to her. A week later it barely ever happen but they still hadn’t made love yet, but it would be soon.

Michael was walking down the hallway. His mission had just gotten over, a week late but it was over. All he wanted to do was fall into bed and pull Nikita into his arms.

As he neared the door he pulled out his keys and saw the key to Kathryn’s apartment. It was late and she was probably asleep but he decided to check on her.

He unlocked the door and walked in. When he go to the stairs to the bedroom he stopped. Just outside the door was a shirt, a man’s shirt. He looked at it, then at the door, before walking into the bedroom.

What he saw inside was a shock. There was his adopted little sister in bed with someone. Someone who he wasn’t here to meet and give the ‘You hurt her and you’ll wish that I will kill you’ speech to. Her head was pillowed on his chest and their arms were around each other. He looked at the persons face, it looked a little familiar. When he figured out who it was his eyebrows raised in confusion. This man was dead. He saw Nikita kill him last year. He quietly left the apartment and went to Nikita’s. The sound of a key in the lock had woken her up and she was standing on the stairs when he entered.

“Michael, when did you get back?” She asked as she walked over to him and put her arms around his neck. He still had a confused look on his face.

“What’s wrong?”

“Why is there a dead man in bed with Kathryn?”

“What do you mean?” She asked. He hadn’t checked on Kathryn had he?

She was hoping to talk to him before he knew that Kathryn was going out with someone let alone who it was.

“I just went over there and there’s a man in her bed that you killed last year. could you explain how that’s possible to me?”

“I didn’t kill him.”

“Obviously, why not?”

“Operations asked me to protect Stephen.”

“Operations?”

“Yeah, Stephen is...is his son.

“Operations told you this?”

“Yes” She said and then told him everything that she had told Walter.

Then every thing that happened since then.

“What does Kathryn think about this?”

“I don’t think she minds, she still with him.” Michael didn’t say anything. He didn’t want to deal with this right now, he was too tired. He took Nikita’s hand and lead her into the bedroom.

The next morning as Kathryn slowly woke up she smiled, she could feel Stephen’s arms around her. It was a weird feeling, she felt safe, not trapped. She sat up slowly so she wouldn’t wake him up, and quietly walked out of the room. When she got to the door she froze. She looked behind her at Stephen, then at Michael sitting on the couch.

“Uh, oh”

“We need to talk” He said as he motioned to the balcony. That was were Stephen found her half an hour later. He walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I was just thinking.” She said. What she was thinking about was what Michael had said. He had reminded her of Section’s no relationship rule and told her to be careful. That he didn’t want her to get hurt but that he wasn’t going to tell her to do anything about this. He also asked her if she loved Stephen. She nodded her head and whispered yes, then he hugged her then left.

They stayed like that for awhile and would have stayed longer but the phone rang.

Kathryn let out a deep sight and answered it.

“Yes.......Sure I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“Who was it?”

“My doctor, he’s really busy for the next couple of weeks and he wants to check my shoulder one more time to see if I can go back to work, and right now is one of the only times that he had open.” It wasn’t totally a lie. She did have to go to MedLab, but she also had to see Madeline.

“How long is that going to take?”

“I don’t know but I have a few errands to run also. I should be done by seven ‘o clock”

“I have something that I have to do too, so how about I meet you back here for dinner?”

“Sounds good.” She went into the bedroom to change out of her night clothes. A couple of second later she came out, gave Stephen a kiss and ran out the door.

A little while later she was standing in front of Madeline’s office, composing herself. She knew that she was in trouble, Madeline had told her to break up with Stephen two weeks ago. She didn’t know what was going to happen and she was scared for Stephen. She pushed the code in and the door opened. As she walked in she was surprise that Operations was also there. That meant that she was really in trouble.

“Kathryn, have a seat please.” When she did, Madeline continued. “Two weeks ago I told you to end the relationship that you had with someone from outside of Section. As far as I know you haven’t. You’ve been here long enough to know and understand the reasons why we have this rule. So could you please tell me why haven’t you ended it yet?”

“I don’t know really. When you told me I went home and called him intending to break it off. But when he came over, it just slipped my mind. I thought it was just what we were talking about but it happen the next time also. Maybe I was forgetting it because I didn’t want to do it, but it happens every time I’m with him.”

Madeline considered this for a moment before asking “What is his name?”

“Stephen Wolfe” So much for them thinking he was dead. Kathryn thought when she saw Madeline’s eyebrow raise a little. She also thought that Operations’ eyes flicker to her and then back down. As it was Operation looked at Madeline a for a moment.

“We’ll talk it over” Madeline said “report to MedLab”

Kathryn had gotten up and was heading for the door when Operations spoke for the first time. “Kathryn, do you love him?”

“Yes.” She answered quietly

“Does he love you?”

“He says he does.” She turned and went to MedLab.

************

When Kathryn came home she was starting to get a headache from worrying about what Section might do. She walked into the apartment to see that it was lit only by candles.

Stephen looked up from a collection of pots on the stove. “You're a little early.”

“Oh, sorry.” She looked around to see that the table was set. She smiled when she noticed that he was playing the CD that she had bought when they had met. “Is there anything that I can do?”

“Um, no these only need a couple of minutes more.” When they were done he told her to sit at the table, he served the food and then sat down also. They ate and talked about things. He smiled when a romantic ballad came on.

“I’ve been waiting for this song.” He said as he stood up and held out his hand. She took it and he pulled her and to him as the word of the song started.

I want you, you, you
All I want is you, you, you
All I want is you

“Is there a reason that you picked this song?” She asked

“Yes, it says the way that I feel about you better then I can”

I’d give you the stars above
The sun on the brightest day
I’d give you all my love
If you would only say

I want you, you, you
All I want is you, you, you
All I want is you

“You know” She said a couple of verses later, “I think it’s the same for me.” She put her head on his shoulder and continued dancing.

At Section Operations was sitting at his desk when the intercom beeped.

“Yes.”

“She’s here.” Birkoff said.

“Send her in.” A couple seconds later Nikita walked in.

“You wanted to see me?”

“Yes, why didn’t you tell me that Kathryn was seeing Stephen?”

“I.....Truthfully, I didn’t know what you would do about it.”

“In your opinion how do you think they feel about you?”

“They love each other. If you even see them together once it’s obvious.”

“I have a difficult decision to make. I either have to threaten to harm someone that I would give my life for or let them be together and him become a target for anyone who finds out that she works for us. I either make her break my son’s heart or put him in danger.”

“It’s something that will happen or something that might happen. He is in love with her and if you make her break up with him it will break his heart, but it’s only a possibly that someone might find out who she works for.”

He was quiet for a few minutes, thinking. “Thank you, Dismissed.” He sat back in his chair and stared out the windows.

A couple of hours later Kathryn was leaning against was doorjamb to the bedroom, staring at Stephen sleeping. She didn’t want to lose him.

She was starting to understand some of the things that Michael wrote about. Some of his feeling for Nikita that were still abstract to her because she had never been in love.

The pain she had at the thought that she might loses him was enough, she didn’t want to know how it would feel if she did lose him. She was about to get in bed when the phone rang.

She answered it quickly so that it wouldn’t wake Stephen. “Yes?”

“Sky.” She raised her eyebrows. That was her codename but it sounded like...like Operations?

“Yes?” After she heard what he said she hung up and climbed into bed.

Stephen woke up to find Kathryn straddling him. Her hands were on his chest but she was looking off into space. He put his hands on her thighs. She looked into his eyes.

“Are you sure?” He asked

“Yes” She said as she leaned forward to kiss him deeply. They made love.

Stephen kept it slow, he knew that this was like the first time for her and he didn’t want her to have any memories about what happened before.

Afterwards Kathryn was lying in Stephen’s arms. She was thinking about what Operations had said. He said that they would be allowed to be together as long as it didn’t interfere with her effectiveness. He also said that she could tell Stephen enough to let him understand that when the phone rings she had to go and might not be back for a while.

“Are you okay? You're kind of quiet.”

“Sorry, I was just thinking. I’m fine.”

“What were you thinking about?”

“How much I love you.” She said as she put her head on his shoulder and went to sleep.

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