Nikita walks on the New York City street looking around her. Her baggage wasn't sent immediately with her. Nikita knew that Madeline would take care of it. She walked with her hands shoved into her pockets down the street. She looked straight ahead, when the man turned the corner.

"Nikita!" Zachary exclaimed as he noticed Nikita and wrapped his arms around her. Nikita reciprocated the hug and let out a gentle laugh. Zachary let Nikita go and noted what his sister had told him. The emotional strain was seen on her face. He knew that it wasn't all Nikita's doing also. Madeline had sent Nikita to New York for a reason other than what she was told.

"We'll enter this way." Zachary says as he takes Nikita's arm and folds it under his. Nikita smiles gently and walks quickly with Zachary.

"At least this time I didn't have to be in an accident." Nikita says and Zachary nods to her.

"Madeline was concerned about you. How was your flight?" Zachary says and Nikita looks out to the street. It didn't take a brilliant person to sense that Nikita was trying to pull away.

"The flight was fine." Nikita finally responds and Zachary nods his head as he turns the corner and the secure entrance is found.

Once inside the elevator, Nikita looks at Zachary.

"If you don't mind, talking about your sister would be the last think I would want to do." Nikita says and Zachary sighs. Madeline was up to something again. She just didn't know when to quit.

"Ok..." Zachary says and Nikita leans against the metal door of the elevator.

"So, what are these serial killings that I heard about?" Nikita asks and Zachary immediately tenses up. Nikita stands up straight and looks at him.

"Nikita, we have made some security adjustments to the room you will be staying in." Zachary says as the elevator comes to a stop. They step out together and the operatives on the floor look at Nikita firmly.

"What kind?" Nikita asks and Zachary starts to lead Nikita to her room.

"Madeline sent us a retinal scan. It will only have two, yours and mine. It will be the only access to your room and office." Zachary says and Nikita stares at him. That was a very secure system for this.

"Your eye, please." Zachary says as he steps towards the door. Nikita places her eye down and the scan is complete. Zachary does his and they walk into the room.

"Your quarters are here, and to the left, is the door to your office." Zachary says and Nikita sighs as she sits down on the fluffy white chair.

"What aren't you telling me?" Nikita asks and Zachary continues to stand.

"We have had 48 murders with surgically removed arms." Zachary says and Nikita sits up to look Zachary.

"That's a lot." Nikita says and Zachary sits down.

"We think that there is a skilled copy cat." Zachary says and Nikita rolls her head around.

"Why don't you clean up some. Madeline had put some of your clothes in storage here." Zachary says and Nikita stands up.

"Why the secretacy, and why aren't the police handling this?" Nikita questions as she rubs her neck softly.

"An operative was a target several weeks back.... and we believe that the copy cat is one of our operatives." Zachary says.

***********

Nikita walks slowly into the office part of the quarters that she would be staying in. Zachary walks not far behind her and checks on the security as he closes the door. Nikita looks straight ahead and Zachary takes note of Nikita's change in dress.

Nikita had arrived in a more casual manner but that was gone. She wore a strict black business suit. She had pulled her long blonde hair up into a tight and strong bun. Not a strand was out of place and Nikita wore no makeup.

Nikita walked forward and saw the huge board of pictures.

48 pictures.

48 pictures of surgically removed arms.

Nikita walks closer to the pictures and slowly studies them. Zachary follows her hand stands nearby. He wouldn't tell Nikita how many hours he just stood there, staring at the pictures.

"Whatever we do in here, and whatever theories we develop in here have to be kept in here." Zachary says. Nikita nods her head and continues to stare at the pictures.

"Why aren't they in order of sequence?" Nikita asks and Zachary nods his head. He knew the question would come soon.

"We have been trying to find differences between each arm... when in order, it was impossible. Now, only little differences are seen, but at least seen." Zachary says and Nikita looks carefully.

A few of the arms have watch tan lines. Some of watches. Some have rings and some are totally bare.

"They are all women." Nikita comments as she tilts her head and looks at them slowly. She would find one arm more interesting than another. She didn't know how two people could be executing the exact some procedure.

"Do we have pictures of the surgical side of the arm?" Nikita asks and Zachary walks over to the computer.

"I couldn't continue to look at these on a minutely basis. We think when I placed these on the computer is when the copy cat started." Zachary says and Nikita turns back to the board.

"And the board is moveable?" Nikita half questions as she turns back to Zachary.

"Yes." Zachary says as he looks down to his beeper. He moves to the phone and picks it up.

Nikita moves closer to the pictures. She is looking for the operative that was a victim. She looks and studies the hands carefully. Nikita passes a picture of a blank hand but then goes back to it. Nikita pulls it off of the board and studies it.

The fingers are all a little crooked. Each one had been cleanly broken as least once before. Zachary hangs up the phone and Nikita turns towards him.

"V-14... is that the operative?" Nikita asks and Zachary nods his head slowly. Nikita tilts her head and looks at him. She needs not to ask what was wrong.

"More?" Nikita softly asks and Zachary again nods his head. He moves closer to Nikita and looks at the picture.

"Four. Another operative." Zachary says and Nikita blinks a few times. One of their own was killing them.

"How did you know it was this one?" Zachary asks and Nikita smiles softly.

"Each finger and the thumb had been broken. Standard exercises for operatives." Nikita says as she goes to return the picture and get ready for Zachary to bring back more.

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

Nikita shuts the file one case number one. It was long and it was descriptive. It gave Nikita no leads at all. Nikita notices Zachary walk in and head towards the board.

"Number 49." Zachary says as he hangs a new one up with a green push pin on the upper right hand side.

"Number 50." Zachary says as he pushes this picture up on the lower left.

"Number 51." Zachary says as he pushes the next picture on the bottom edge.

"And our operative.. Number 52." Zachary says as he places it in the center.

Nikita stands up and looks at them.

"They could be photocopies." Nikita says softly and turns back to the files. Zachary stares at the board a while and looks at Nikita.

"I understand that you didn't have a chance to talk to Michael before you left." Zachary says and Nikita nods her head has she starts to label files for 49-52.

"No. Madeline sent me right out. That's why I have no clothes of my own." Nikita says as she finds the pile of papers that Zachary carried in and started to separate them.

"So are you two having problems?" Zachary asks and Nikita rolls her eyes.

"You mean your sister didn't tell you?" Nikita asks slightly annoyed.

"She only said that you have had some problems of late." Zachary says and Nikita closes her eyes. She walks to the board and looks it again.

"This box.. have we traced this symbol?" Nikita asks as she points to the corner of the box.

"Yes.. they make recycle sides of boxes so a person can assemble them by themselves." Zachary says and Nikita shakes her head.

"So a dead end." Nikita says and Zachary stands up and shakes his head yes.

"Over 10,000 stores alone in New York." Zachary says and Nikita shakes her head in disappointment.

"So are you going to call Michael?" Zachary asks and Nikita turns her head to face Zachary. She rubs her forehead and looks to the files that she still needs to read and go through.

"No. He knows by now. I am going to take something for this headache and take a nap." Nikita says as she walks out of the room. Zachary looks down at his beeper as it vibrates again.

In the parenthesis the number 2.

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

Nikita sat in the office, staring at the now 56 pictures and then looks away. Nikita looks at the phone and thinks about the past four days that had passed. She hadn't been able to get Michael at the house, but then Nikita expected that.

Nikita pulls the phone up and quickly dials the number. She waits as the call connected.

"Nikita... how is New York?" Birkoff asks and Nikita smiles at the sound of the voice. Maybe she was living in her own personal torture, but Nikita loved to hear Birkoff's voice.

"I haven't seen it. Just been staring at pictures." Nikita says and she hears Birkoff typing away at his computer.

"Pictures of what?" Birkoff asks and Nikita looks ahead and then pulls her eyes away from the pictures. For about thirty seconds Nikita was grossed from the pictures but she soon pushed those thoughts away.

"56 pictures of surgically removed arms." Nikita says flatly and Birkoff stops his typing.

"Well.. I hope you weren't calling to talk to Michael." Birkoff says and Nikita rolls her head down.

"On a mission?" Nikita asks and Birkoff starts to laugh.

"Nope.. marathon eight hour workout." Birkoff says and Nikita closes her eyes. Michael was more than upset at her. She had hoped that Michael would understand what was going on with her. Nikita waits until she hears the keys to start to click again.

"He is that mad?" Nikita asks and Birkoff laughs stiffly and then stops.

"Nikita... he is pissed off. I would give it a few more days... Madeline has a meeting with him later tonight." Birkoff says and Nikita nods her head.

"Thanks Birkoff." Nikita says as she pulls the phone down and clicks the connection off. She stares at the black phone and rolls her head back against the chair.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Zachary asks and Nikita sits up straight and turns towards Zachary.

"Tell you about what?" Nikita asks and Zachary shakes his head.

"That you had a miscarriage... you and Michael must be hurting." Zachary says and Nikita looks straight ahead. She rubs her hands together and suddenly stops.

"Your sister told you." Nikita says accusingly. Zachary shakes his head.

"Walter called, worried for you." Zachary says and Nikita closes her eyes. She missed Walter also.

"I'm fine." Nikita says and Zachary looks down. There is a pause in talking until Zachary raises his head.

"No your not." Zachary says and Nikita shakes her head. She can't believe that this is going on. It was too much.

"Look, Zachary... Your sister offered me a clone baby to raise as my own... because she felt that I would never get pregnant. But I did get pregnant.... and although I might have miscarried, I proved her wrong." Nikita says as she stands up. She walks to the pictures and starts to stare.

"How can you stand looking at them all this time?" Zachary asks and Nikita doesn't even blink. She hates that she can do this, but she has too. The only way she can stop the murders is by understanding what is going on.

"I have to figure out which ones are the copy cat's." Nikita says bluntly and Zachary shakes her head.

"Well.. I came to invite you." Zachary says with a solemn voice. Nikita looks at Zachary and raises her head.

"Invite me to where?" Nikita asks tentatively.

"We have found another arm. Maybe if you see it in the real setting it would help." Zachary says. Nikita looks to the pictures and then back to the phone.

"Sure." Nikita says as she heads for her coat.

***********

Nikita walks into the cool air and looks around her. There are large buildings as Zachary leads her. Nikita looks ahead and sees the Section Van sitting there. Nikita looks at Zachary and then ahead again.

"Now.. seeing it this way, is much more graphic, Nikita." Zachary warns Nikita. Nikita nods her head and smiles softly.

"Are you forgetting that I am a cold operative?" Nikita asks and Zachary smiles softly.

"Yes, I am." Zachary says as they walk around the van and sees the arm.

Nikita looks at the arm carefully from a distance. She studies the surroundings carefully. She notes the red bricks and looks up in the sky.

"Are you ok?" Zachary asks softly. Nikita nods her head and moves closer to the arm. She bends down and looks for defensive wounds, but finds none.

"They must be at least sedated. There are no defensive wounds at all." Nikita says and Zachary nods his head. Nikita stands up and turns back to the van.

"We might never know who is the copy cat and who is the real killer." Nikita says as she steps away from the arm and rubs her hands together.

"We must. How else can we proceed?" Zachary says and Nikita slightly shrugs her shoulders.

"If at the end of the week I still don't know which is which... I will concentrate on getting the copy cat." Nikita says and Zachary shakes his head.

"Madeline will not be satisfied with that." Zachary says and Nikita turns around, with tears in her eyes.

"She isn't satisfied with a lot." Nikita says as she starts to walks down the street. Zachary looks at the arm and then goes after Nikita.

"Maybe you need to get out of the office? Have you tried calling Michael yet?" Zachary asks softly. Nikita shakes her head and keeps her head away from looking at Zachary.

"No.. I don't need either." Nikita says as she wipes at her tears and bites on her lip.

"Nikita..." Zachary says and Nikita looks sharply at him.

"I will go and figure out which pictures are of the copy cat and which are of the original killer." Nikita says firmly and Zachary watches Nikita rush off.

Zachary turns back and studies the team looking towards the arm.

"Pick it up and try to find the body!" Zachary says firmly and turns back to walk back himself.

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

Nikita grabs the sweater and wraps her long arms inside the warm cotton material. She walks out of the bedroom and into the living room. That was were she had moved the board of pictures. Nikita glances at them and move to the radio and flicks the power on.

Nikita pulls at the sleeves of the sweater. It was definitely someone else's but the New York headquarters were so much colder than Section One's headquarters.

Nikita pauses briefly at the phone. It had been exactly a week since she left, and she still hadn't called Michael. He had sent a brief e-mail saying that she had to do what Madeline assigned her to do and that he understood. Nikita knew he was still upset.

Nikita moves and sits in front of the pictures. She knows there is difference in the pictures, she just can't find them. She had rearranged them at least five times this day alone. Nothing clicked in her mind as a difference.

"Nikita... I have an extra ticket to Ragtime... would you like to go?" Zachary asks as he moves into the living quarters and finds Nikita staring at the pictures again. Zachary didn't like her behavior. She hadn't talked much and spent hours staring at those pictures.

"No thank you, it is something that I plan on doing with Michael." Nikita says as her voice cracks and she drops her head. Zachary pauses and then moves closer to Nikita.

"You know... we planned on doing so much together.. and we can't even achieve one." Nikita stays as she pulls at the sweater sleeves and keeps her head down.

"Nikita..." Zachary says softly. He knew Nikita was lacking her support system here. And since the case was so sensitive, Nikita was isolated from everyone else in the New York Section.

"How do you think a baby should be conceived? How should a child be brought into existence?" Nikita asks and Zachary sits down on a chair next to Nikita's. He is not going to answer Nikita's question. She already has her answer.

"I always believed that all you need to have a child..to have a family is love... Me and Michael have plenty of love. I don't want to implant my child. I don't want to FERTILIZE my egg with Michael's sperm to have a child. It should be out of our love. Our actions. Our connection..." Nikita says as tears run down her face. Zachary carefully regards Nikita.

She shouldn't have been sent to New York so soon. Zachary had tried to tell Madeline that, but then she explained. Once Zachary knew what Madeline did to Nikita, he was surprised that she still functioned. Thankfully, Nikita didn't know that the miscarriage was all planned. She would have never survived that.

"It's so wrong to worry about is the timing right.. am I at the right temperature... should I have more drugs... We should only worry about us... the connection... the love." Nikita says and Zachary gently touches Nikita's arm. He wasn't going to let Nikita delve too far into her pain. He wasn't Madeline, he wasn't Walter and he definitely wasn't Michael.

"Nikita... all I wanted to know was if you wanted the ticket." Zachary says with a smile and Nikita chuckles as she wipes at the tears.

"Sorry..." Nikita says as Zachary stands up. Nikita turns her head and looks up at the pictures.

CLICK!

"Wait!" Nikita screams out as she stands up and pulls a picture closer to her eyes. She then pulls another picture and studies it. She turns to Zachary and smiles.

"Do you have a protractor?" Nikita asks and Zachary gives her a strange look.

"Those plastic things that measure angles?" Nikita asks and Zachary shakes his head no.

"Go get one.. NOW!" Nikita says firmly.

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

Nikita rearranges the pictures in order of days and looks at them. She paces as Zachary hasn't arrived back yet. She locates the first operative and places a hot pink thumb tack onto it. She needed to know which one it was.

There were 63 pictures now, and Nikita looked at each one carefully. Finally Zachary opened the door and handed the protractor over. Nikita went over to the desk and grabbed a grease marker. She goes to the picture and quickly measures the angle on the box.

"Only 87 degrees." Nikita announces as she notes it on the picture. She moves down several more pictures, and find them all to be 87 degrees. The 23rd picture in is the operative. Nikita carefully measures it and steps back from the picture.

"SO?" Zachary asks and Nikita looks to him and then looks to the picture.

"A perfect right angle.... 90 degrees." Nikita says solemnly. She had found when the copy cat started. Zachary pulled the protractor from her hand and remeasured.

"He wouldn't have known that the angle was only 87... we never thought of that." Zachary says and Nikita nods her head.

"Our serial killer's signature is a box at 87 degrees... our copy cat believes he is using 90 degrees." Nikita says. She finishes the other pictures quickly and finds that once the copy cat started, he killed with the same sort of frequency.

"Why the long face?" Zachary asks as Nikita sits down at her table and places her hands on her chin. Nikita looks at the pictures, that Zachary was now arranging according to the killer.

"It doesn't bring us any closer to either killer." Nikita says and Zachary nods his head.

"It does give us proof that someone inside Section One is the copy cat." Zachary says and Nikita closes her eyes.

Nikita stands up and pulls the files on the two operatives that have been murdered. She places them in the pile closest to her and looks at them.

"We have to study who they knew, who they worked with. I'm not going to be able to stay locked in here." Nikita says and Zachary nods his head.

"I'll talk to Walter about some devise to place on you. I don't want to take any chances. Michael would kill me hair by hair if something happened to you." Zachary says and Nikita stretches her arms above her head.

"Well... I'm going to call it a night!" Nikita says as she moves out of the office part. Zachary stays and smiles. It was a great and amazing find. Nikita had found what he had looked over for weeks. It was only the beginning, and Zachary could only hope that Nikita was mentally ready for the long term stay.

Nikita walked into her room and slammed a hand into the wall. She felt like she was trapped. She was getting trapped by the mission. It seemed endless and never-ending. She didn't like it. She loved the challenge, but she was drained.

Nikita moved to the bathroom and sighed. She wasn't drained because of the mission

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

Nikita stumbles out of the bedroom and grabs the phone in the darkness as she tries to snap a light on.

"Hello?" Nikita answers as the white light glares back at Nikita's face.

"Did I wake you?" Michael asks softly. Nikita sits in the overstuffed chair and pulls her legs up underneath herself.

"Yes, Michael." Nikita says and she waits. She pulls at a strand of hair and the tension is heard in the silence.

"How are you?" Michael finally asks as Nikita is glad she disabled the video part of the phone.

"Fine. And you?" Nikita asks as she struggles to maintain her emotions. It was a bad time for Michael to call.

"Fine." Michael responds.

Again the silence echoes in each of their ears.

"Heard you had a good find." Michael says and Nikita nods her head softly.

"Nothing too big." Nikita says. She bites down on her lip as she wants to cry in Michael's arms.

"Madeline is very proud. How much longer will it be?" Michael asks and Nikita stares at the light. She didn't like the answer she was going to have to give. She also knew that Michael wasn't going to like it.

"It could be a long while." Nikita says softly and Michael pulls at the phone.

"But you broke the case?" Michael says in a question form and Nikita feels like she is being split apart with arrows.

"It could take over a year Michael... ever hear of Ted Bundy? The Green River Murders?" Nikita asks and Michael smacks his lips together hard.

"Yes... sorry." Michael says and Nikita looks to the wall. The light is stinging her eyes and she swallows back a few sobs.

"I'm sure you will solve it soon." Michael says as the silence begins to get painful again between the two.

"Nikita, how are you?" Michael asks firmly and Nikita lets the tears flow down her face.

"Michael, I'm fine. Don't worry." Nikita says as the tears drip off of her chin. You can't even hear the emotion in her voice.

"Well.. I have a briefing... Didn't mean to wake you up." Michael says. They both grip the phone tightly.

"I love you Michael." Nikita says as she pulls the phone down and places it on her chest.

Michael places the phone down and looks at the screen. There was his Nikita in New York. Her tears glistened from the bright white light. Michael sits staring at the screen and he doesn't notice Walter walk in.

"Give her time, Michael." Walter says as he turns the screen off for Michael.

"I was so mad at her for leaving... until now." Michael says and Walter tilts his head.

"She is beating herself up about this. And there is nothing I can do." Michael says and Walter nods his head.

"I have to go, Michael.... putting some toys together for 'Kita... Want me to send her something?" Walter asks and Michael looks at him.

"No... thanks either way, Walter." Michael says as he waits for Walter to leave. Michael leans over and turns the screen back on.

Although the miles separate the two, they cry together.

Send suggestions and comments to ranma.
OR
If you would like to send a comment to Nikita507, click HERE!!