Birkoff walks into the briefing room quickly. He sits down in his seat and taps his fingers impatiently at the table. He would much rather be with Melissa, but of course, Operations would not hear of such a thing. Then, there were two missions running, and the operatives handling them, Birkoff didn't approve of.

Walter walks in a looks at Birkoff with a wrinkled up face. He walks down to the end of the table and leans down.

"How is Melissa?" Walter asks softly.

"Madeline is with her... I can't wait for Michael and Nikita to return." Birkoff says as he looks around the room.

"Any ideas on when that will happen?" Walter asks and Birkoff quickly shakes his head.

"Nikita called in, but we have no idea where exactly they are, how long they are there, and when they plan to return." Birkoffs says. He looks around the room, and Walter can easily see the lack of sleep.

"I hope their return is soon." Walter says and Birkoff shakes his head.

"I don't want them to cut off their honeymoon for me..." Birkoff says and he quickly turns his head down towards the table as Operations enters and shuts the door.

"Birkoff... Walter..." Operations says as he goes and sits on his side of the table. Walter looks at Birkoff and Birkoff looks at Walter.

"We have an incoming extended mission arriving in five hours. There is someone very special on that mission who will be staying here on a permanent basis. I want the proper welcome back prepared." Operations says.

"Who is this special someone?" Birkoff asks.

"I don't want to say now, because until the mission has been completed, it is not a 100% thing that this person will return here." Operations says. "We will also be changing some positions. We are consolidating the two Russian substations into one... Ayn from the Moscow substation will be based out of here now, but she will be gathering intel most of the time from the islands." Operations says continuing in the briefing.

"Isn't Ayn the one that was working with Stephen?" Walter asks. Operations stands up and moves to the door.

"Yes." Operations says softly. He looks at Birkoff. "Any new ideas on where Michael and Nikita are and when they plan to come back?" Operations asks.

"No, sir." Birkoff answers. He shakes his head and leaves.

Walter stands up and moves down to Birkoff again, who has not moved.

"Who do you think this is for?" Walter asks.

"It's easy... Stephen is returning." Birkoff says almost choking the words out. Walter looks away, knowing what Stephen has done to Birkoff.

"Is this an absolute, or is this a guess?" Walter asks.

"I saw the intel today." Birkoff says as he stands up and pushes pass Walter, out of the room.

"Damn!" Walter mutters to himself as he walks out of the room. Birkoff is hating this, but he sure didn't want to be the one to tell Nikita this when she returned.

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

The knocking on the door continues, even after Madeline called out, "Be right there." She moves through Birkoff's living room and opens the door.

"NIKITA! MICHAEL!" Madeline says as Nikita pushes past Madeline and heads immediately for the bedroom and Melissa.

"I didn't want to interupt your honeymoon." Madeline says softly as Michael closes the door.

"You didn't." Michael says as he steps closer into the middle of the room.

"Michael... there will be some issues that I will need to speak to you and Nikita about..." Madeline says softly. Michael reaches into his pocket and hands a bottle to Madeline. "What's this?" Madeline asks without looking at the bottle.

"A wedding gift from us to you." Michael says as he finally walks past Madeline and follows softly towards the bedroom. Madeline looks down and sees the Section-issued birth control in her hand. She was going to need to have this talk real soon. Madeline is about to turn and follow when she remembers the important issue of the day. The day had been circled on every calender in Section... Stephen's return. Madeline places the bottle down, hoping she can keep Michael and Nikita from going in on this day.

"Melissa..." Nikita says as she steps into the bedroom. Melissa raises her head softly and smiles at Nikita as she drops her coat and heads to the bed.

"How was your honeymoon?" Melissa asks as Nikita pulls her into a giant bear hug.

"Fine... but I'm worried about you." Nikita says as she sits down by Melissa. Melissa smiles softly.

"I don't know if I like Madeline." Melissa whispers. Nikita almost laughs at the comment.

"She has good intentions." Nikita says with a smile. All this time, Nikita is taking survey of the injuries that Melissa sustained.

"When my wrist heals... Birkoff and *Madeline* said you could teach me self defense." Melissa says slowly.

"Sure." Nikita says patting the forearm of Melissa's uninjuried arm.

"I hope you didn't come back just for me!" Melissa says as Michael softly creeps in the room. Nikita knows that Michael made sure that Melissa knew that he had entered.

"You didn't." Michael says with a smile.

"I wish I could have been there." Melissa says with a half smile.

"We have pictures." Nikita says with a bright smile. Madeline enters the room and Melissa yawns.

"I think that you have had enough company for a while.. that medicine will be kicking in soon." Madeline says and Melissa nods. Nikita is about to raise when Melissa pulls her to her mouth.

"I only fake it to get rid of her sometimes." Melissa says with a little giggle.

"I won't be far." Nikita says and with that, the room empties, leaving Melissa by herself.

"She had an infection set in... that is why she is still in bed." Madeline is explaining to Michael as Nikita shuts the door.

Nikita shoves her hands in her pockets and walks over to Madeline.

"She has funny feelings about you." Nikita says softly and Michael cannot contain his laughter.

"Normal." Madeline says and Nikita smiles.

"How long will the medicine be in effect?" Nikita asks.

"A good six hours." Madeline says. Nikita walks over to the coats and picks hers up.

"Well... we are going to go in." Nikita says.

"YOU CAN'T DO THAT!" Madeline says louder than normal. Michael and Nikita raises eyebrows and continue to the door.

"Has it been breached?" Michael asks. Madeline nods no.

"Then we go in." Nikita says and shuts the door.

Before Madeline can call and warn Section, and especially Operations, Melissa starts screaming with another nightmare.

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

"I wonder what is going on here..." Nikita says as Michael and her enter in the festive mood. There are streamers about the hallways and they move slowly.

"They didn't know we were coming back..." Michael says drifting off in thought. Nikita sees a big welcome back banner and softly smiles.

"Maybe they had found us." Nikita states, but operatives are walking past Nikita and Michael like they had the plague.

"Nope... it's not for us." Nikita states softly as they turn the corner and smells the huge array of food.

"I don't think our reception even had that much food!" Michael says as he looks at the giant table.

"But we had the drinks." Nikita says with a laugh. Michael starts to laugh and pulls Nikita into a giant hug, and softly they kiss.

Birkoff is walking about, nervous about Stephen's return. Birkoff knew that Operations would not return Stephen unless he was ready. Ayn had arrived just ten minutes earlier, so Stephen would continue to have the support he had in Moscow.

Birkoff hears a few mumbles in the operatives and rubs his head. He looks around at the decorations and approves of them all.

"Hey, Birkoff... what are they doing back?" Elana calls out. Birkoff turns his head and sees Michael and Nikita kissing softly, halfway down the hall as the phone starts to ring.

Birkoff looks at the phone when all of a sudden..."Hey..Welcome back.. Hey... Good to see you!" Start from the opposite hall. Birkoff looks back at Michael and Nikita, who have pulled out of their embrace.

Nikita looks across the room and her mouth drops to the floor as she mutters, "Stephen".

Birkoff closes his eyes as he picks up the phone.

"Birkoff." he says softly as the operatives continue to welcome Stephen back.

"Birkoff, Michael and Nikita are heading to Section.." Madeline says in a rushed voice.

"Already here." Birkoff says and slams the phone down.

Nikita stands still as she makes contact with Stephen and then he goes back to the operatives around him. Nikita wanted to be the center of attention, instead her crazy half brother was.

"NIKITA! MICHAEL!" Birkoff calls out as he wades through the mandatory welcoming operatives.

"Birkoff... I rode a roller coaster!" Nikita says happily as she hugs the young man. Birkoff laughs.

"Not an emotional one, I hope!" Walter asks from behind Michael. Nikita is immediately hugging the man, and it isn't until Stephen walks over that Nikita stops smiling.

"I just want to wish you luck on your marriage, sis." Stephen says and he walks away. Nikita shakes her head and goes back to telling about the parts of the honeymoon that they are able to discuss.

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

"Nikita... I have heard so much about you." Ayn says as she walks into the office, where Nikita works alone, listening and reading her electronic messages.

"You are Ayn." Nikita says as she turns down the volume. "You work with Stephen."

"I will be working with everyone now... I have heard a lot about you... from Viktor." Ayn says softly. Nikita looks at her confused.

"OH, Viktor is Operations... we worked way back when." Ayn clarifies. Nikita nods her head as Ayn sits down.

"I am just checking my messages.. and then Me and Michael are out of here." Nikita says softly.

"Yes, you cut your honeymoon short." Ayn says and she smiles.

"We did." Nikita comments as she starts to erase messages that are not needed.

"Viktor was worried about you a lot... He was talking about you constantly after he nursed you." Ayn says.

"Nothing you say will get me to like him any better... Now, if there is something about Stephen you'd like to discuss..." Nikita says sharply as she turns off the computer. Michael was off in a debrief with Billie and John because they had some minor problems.

"Stephen wants a relationship with his sister." Ayn says as she looks around the office. She notes the couch, sitting oddly facing the wall.

"Half-sister... and the half-sister would want one too.. and that is not planned." Nikita says sharply as she raises and points to the door.

Nikita steps into the new condo and stands in the middle in amazement.

"Is it ours?" Nikita asks as she takes her shoes off and runs her bare feet on the thick carpet. She recognizes some of the Knick Knacks but everything else is new. Michael pulls up behind Nikita and hugs her.

"Welcome, back home." Michael whispers into her ear before they start to search for the bed.

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