"She planned that? She planned for Nikita to get shot?" Walter exclaimed and Birkoff looked around tensely. Birkoff waited for some operatives to pass and shook his head no.

"A gun discharged when it wasn't suppose too. It was just suppose to scare Nikita into moving into a house with Michael. Don't you see...? Madeline wants them together!" Birkoff cried out and Walter shook his head.

"If Madeline wanted them together, she would be doing something more, Birkoff. Nikita is leaving. She is packed and on a flight tomorrow. There is nothing stopping her." Walter said with tears about to explode from his eyes. Birkoff turned away from Walter and waited for both of their emotions to stop being so openly expressed.

"Do you want to face Mia in a week when her mother is gone? Do you want to continue to watch Mia grow up to look like Nikita? Can you do that, Birkoff?" Walter demanded and Birkoff shook his head, as his face grew long.

"We can't fight the fights that Nikita isn't willing to take on herself, Walter." Birkoff solemnly said and Walter moved back from the statement that was so mature, but in essence showed Walter that he wanted Nikita to stay, not because it was what was best for Nikita, but because it was what was best for Walter.

"You exposed us to do what Madeline? What were you hoping to achieve?" Operations angrily demanded and Madeline blinked her eyes. Her emotions and her wants where now exposed to Operations in ways that he had never had the chance to see. He had always thought of Madeline as his second wheel, doing as he commanded because she thought what he said was correct. Everything that Operations had thought about Madeline was gone in that one little statement.

"Family binds us together. We should use that as a strength, and not challenge it." Madeline said and Operations stepped back and glared at Madeline.

"I should have had her cancelled! She was never going to tell Michael that he had a daughter!" Operations hollered and Madeline lifted her chin up against his rage. She stared into his boiling eyes and remained calm as she thought.

"So Nikita's deception is as bad as Michael not checking himself. Michael knew what he had done with Nikita. I would think it would part of his responsibility to see for himself. Michael didn't look up the consequences." Madeline stated firmly in a tone that grated at the last nerve behind Operations' ears. He lurched forward to grab Madeline, but pulled his arm away at the last second.

"But that isn't the issue here." Madeline said and walked away.

"Someday you are going to need Nikita, and she isn't going to be here. And Michael won't be able to help you at all." Madeline stated and walked away.

"So I let her go?" Walter asked and Birkoff nodded his head softly and he reached out for Walter. He had seen Walter at his lowest before, but even with Belinda's death, he didn't sound so helpless. Birkoff wetted his lips and sighed.

"Isn't it Nikita's decision? And if they really are in love, won't love win?" Birkoff questioned Walter, with words that Walter had repeated to him for the past four years whenever discussion would be whispered about Nikita and Michael.

"She doesn't know what a family is! Of course she is going to run away! We all know what family is. Nikita doesn't." Walter argued out and stopped his own words as Birkoff moved closer to him.

"She knows family, Walter. Her father is standing in front of me. You have to let her make her own decisions." Birkoff said and moved down the hallway. Walter looked at the young man stop and chat with a young woman and sighed. He hated to admit it, but the genius was right this time. Now Walter hoped that he could continue having the strength to get Nikita to the airport.

*

Nikita walked down the stairs of the new house as she held onto the hem of her gray sweatshirt. She looked across the hallway and into the large living room, where Michael sat, staring out the large bay window. Nikita looked up the stairs and swallowed back her tears. She needed all the strength in her body to make it out of the house that Michael apparently tenderly chosen. It was everything that had been in Nikita's dreams from a little child to present. It would have been the perfect house to love Michael in and to watch Mia grow up through her childhood.

"Did you say goodbye?" Michael questioned as Nikita leaned against the doorway. Nikita nodded her head and moved further into the living room. She sat on the opposite edge of the couch and stared into Michael's glistening eyes, knowing that the tears showed in her eyes. Nikita took a long break to steady her nerves and finally she found the courage to speak.

"You chose a beautiful house, Michael." Nikita said softly and Michael's body leaned in towards Nikita. She turned her head and looked off to the side. She shook her head as she looked at Michael. She knew what she needed to say before she left this house, by she never thought she would get to say it with Michael so attentively listening to her. She looked out of the bay window and saw Walter's Jeep waiting to take her off to the waiting plane.

"Why are you going, Nikita?" Michael questioned and Nikita chewed lightly on her bottom lip as she lifted her chin. The words were stuck in her head, but they were slow on getting down to her lips and voice. Nikita swallowed as she moistened her dry lips.

"I have to find the strength within me again, Michael." Nikita started out slowly. She tilted her head off to the side as the words began to slip from her head, and started to pour from her heart without effort.

"You have been wonderful to me through these ordeals, but I cannot become dependent on you. Somehow, overnight I lost my strength and gave it to you." Nikita explained slowly as the words came as easy as the tears. She unwrapped her hand from the hem of her sweatshirt and wiped at the tears.

"I can't be a mother to Mia if I don't know that I have the strength to carry myself. I can't..." Nikita said firmly and then found the lack of strength to say the words that had echoed in her mind and in her heart for years.

"I can't be the woman you need, either." Nikita said suddenly. Nikita stood up as Michael began to protest against her statement. Michael looked at Nikita's frail hands being held out towards him as her head shook her long blonde hair from side to side. He stopped and felt his heart continuing to shatter.

"Nikita, you belong here. I should go." Michael finally said against Nikita's protests. She shook like the last dead leaf on the tree, struggling to stay on the branch.

"Remember me when you get Operations' job. Transfer me back." Nikita echoed out in a soft voice that was unlike any voice he had heard from Nikita's before. Michael was almost floored by the voice that easily echoed the pain of her decision, the love for her daughter, and the love that Nikita had for him. Michael moved towards Nikita so that ever so gently they grazed hands as Nikita tried to step back.

"I have to tell you something, Michael." Nikita said, losing the rational thoughts she had planned on holding onto until she made it to the car. Michael moved slightly forward, never breaking his gaze at Nikita.

"What is it, Nikita?" Michael questioned. Nikita smiled bravely as she looked at Michael's body, hoping to drink in each contour of it for one last time. How she wished that she had been braver. How she wished that Mia did not spend every night in their bed. How Nikita regretted the way she had spent her time.

"I can say the words you can't." Nikita said and Michael felt his heart stop and he could feel the searing pain of ever inhale and exhale of air into his tight lungs as he hung on every word from Nikita's mouth.

"Even in those four years Michael, I never stopped loving you." Nikita said openingly and she turned her head as Walter beeped his Jeep horn. Michael could see the waterfall of tears rolling down her cheek and cascading off of her chin. Michael moved forward to wipe them away, to dry them off one last time, but Nikita halted his progress.

"Don't make this anymore difficult Michael. I don't expect the words back. But you needed to know. I never blamed you for your absence, and I swear, if you were here, things would have been different." Nikita promised out as she felt as if her heart had sprung thousands of painful leaks that were going to drain all of her hope and strength before she even made it to the wrap around porch.

Nikita turned and moved towards the door and opened the heavy wood door. She fingered the texture as she turned to view Michael again, feeling that her love for him never waned, but she was never sure of his back.

"Goodbye Michael." Nikita whispered out as she stepped backwards out of the house. She pulled at the heavy brass knuckle. Slowly the heavy door shut the light from inside the house off from Nikita's view. The door seemed heavier than the numerous vaults that she had opened and the final click was so strong, it sounded as if a bomb exploded in her hands. Nikita looked at her hands as she slowly released her grip on the door handle and stepped away.

Michael stared at his own end of the wood door. He reached out and touched the center of the door, as it felt like all the happiness that Michael could possibly know was being drained out through that spot.

"I love you, Nikita." Michael verbalized as he stepped back. He looked around the house and ran up the stairs. Maybe this night he would find himself crawling into Mia's bed as that was the only thing left alive in his heart.

Nikita stepped back as she watched the white storm door slowly with a click for every angle. She closed her eyes and finally turned her back towards the house before the door closed all the way. She would never shut all the doors. She walked down the sidewalk of the house and promised to herself that she would be back.

Even as Walter quietly drove away from the house, Nikita refused to look at the door that did more now than separate her from the man she love and the daughter who was her life. The door was permanently in her mind, and Nikita was sure, it would haunt her dreams for weeks to come. Nikita stared straight ahead as she turned her focus elsewhere. Yet, no matter how far Madeline, Operations and George would send her, Nikita's heart was left behind in that house, near those who she loved more than life.

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