"OOFFF" Nikita blindly collides into Michael's solid form. Even touching, she still can not clearly see him. "You know Michael, wearing all black on a dark and stormy night like this may not be a good idea."

With a flash of white as he quickly grins, Michael pulls her closer. "Oh, I don't know, it has it's advantages." and kisses her until she is breathless.

Both of them are soaked to the skin and might as well be wearing nothing for the protection it provides them.

"Hey you guys, wait up." Birkhoff yells in the darkness, "Where are you?"

Michael breaks the kiss, "We are over here." He clears his throat and whispers to Nikita, "Looks like our chaperon found us again."

Nikita struggles to catch her breath, "Damn." she smiles. Ever since the 'Elvira' episode, Michael seems to be taking advantage of any stolen moment he can find or make.

Suddenly Birkhoff is there with them. "How do you see anything in this? OOFFF." He bumps into Nikita which forces her closer to Michael which throws him off balance and the three of them go down like dominoes.

"I knew I should of stayed with the van." Birkhoff mutters, uncomfortably aware of Nikita's supple form beneath him.

"You couldn't stay with the van Birkhoff, it was sinking." Nikita starts laughing. "Now get off of me."

"Sorry." Birkhoff scrambles up.

-------

Earlier -

"Watch yourselves." Michael's voice carries the unusual quality of stress as the van suddenly begins to move sideways.

Nikita and Birkhoff brace themselves and wait for the motion to stop. There is that curiously weightless, helpless feeling that being in a vehicle out of control engenders and then a solid, heavy rock as the van thuds to a halt.

"Everyone okay?"

"Yeah." Nikita and Birkhoff stand up and start dusting themselves off.

Michael appears in the doorway to verify that they are okay. The van has a sickly tilt to it that seems to be increasing. "We are going down. Everybody out the back."

"What did we do, hit a lake?" Birkhoff jokes as he picks up his laptop and looks around for a raincoat or slicker. There is only one and without a thought he wraps it around his laptop.

"Yes."

Both Nikita and Birkhoff turn and look at Michael openmouthed. He shrugs.

"We are sinking. Go out the back."

------

"I think I see a house up ahead." Michael squeezes Nikita's hand.

The three of them are walking hand-in-hand as a safety precaution. After the domino effect two more times, everyone's temper was getting short and this was the solution Nikita came up with to defuse the situation.

"How can you see anything?" she asks peering into the stygian night. Not even a glimmer of a long off porch light breaks the unrelenting darkness.

"I have good night vision." Michael answers absently, "watch your step coming up."

Nikita follows slowly. She can hear Birkhoff muttering to himself behind her but can not distinguish what he is saying. Poor Birkhoff, he is definitely not a cold op. Other than feeling chilled, Nikita is accepting of the situation they are in and counts on Michael as Team Leader to figure a way to get them out of this.

Gradually, the house that Michael predicted shows up on the horizon and the light from inside appears to be a welcoming beacon for the three exhausted travelers, giving them a spurt of adrenaline sorely needed.

-------

"Goodness, look at the three of you. Come in, come in." Sara ushers them inside through the kitchen door. "You've had quite a time of it, I see." she exclaims looking pointedly at the copious amount of mud covering them.

Nikita looks down at herself and blushes. Sara notices and hurries to reassure her that it's no problem. "More mud than that has been on this floor, my girl. I raised four strapping young men and let me tell you, you haven't seen mud yet!"

Sara hustles them around and before they know it all three of them are sitting at the kitchen table, clean, warm, sipping coffee and cocoa and wearing robes.

"Thank you for your hospitality. I hate to further impose, but can I use your phone to make a collect long-distance call?" Michael asks while smiling at Sara with great charm.

Nikita watches as Sara's face softens slightly under his green gaze and gives him permission to make as many calls as he needs. It's amazing, women of all ages can't resist him. Not that she's jealous. She is not jealous.

After he leaves, Sara glances at her, looks away and then wipes her forehead, "Whew, he's a charmer when he wants to be, isn't he? Good thing I love my husband."

Nikita can't help but smile and like Sara, despite the circumstances. "Where is your husband?"

"He's out with the cow and horses. They don't like this continuous rain."

After a few moments of idle chitchat, mostly about the recent weather, Birkhoff puts his cup in the sink and excuses himself. Off to check/play with his computer.

"So, what happened to you?" Sara asks Nikita.

Nikita launches into the story that Michael coached them on during their trek. "And then the van just started sinking. It was quite ... quite strange actually. I think we must have walked for miles. I don't know how many times we fell down. After a while, it just didn't seem worth it to wipe myself off."

"I know what you mean. I mean in this rain, what's the use?" Sara states, but she seems preoccupied.

"Thank you again for the showers and everything."

"No problem, your clothes should be ready for the drier soon." Sara pins Nikita with a intense gaze, "So, are you and Michael married?"

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

"What did Operations say?" Nikita asks in the uncomfortable silence filling the room as she and Michael look at the bed that seems to dominate the room Sara has placed them in for the night.

"He told me that I needed to stay to coordinate the retrieval of the van and to protect it."

"And ...?"

"The two of you need to fly back through the commercial airlines."

"Oh. ... So we just have tonight?"

He sighs, "So it seems."

"Well let's not waste it, then." Nikita says as she steps closer and places her arms around his neck.

Michael pulls her closer and burys his face in her hair, inhaling her elusive scent. "Always, we are rushed."

Nikita just holds on to him tighter. "I wish things could be different."

Michael pulls back and looks at her, obviously remembering the last time those words were spoken, "They are and they will be." he vows as he kisses her softly. "I promise." he breaths into her mouth.

Nikita whimpers slightly and presses closer to him. He is right, it is different from last time and she is happy with what she is getting, whether she wants more or not, she is with Michael.

Michael gently pushes her down onto the bed.

------

Birkhoff pulls up the satellite screen on his laptop. Thank god it's okay.

Madeline's private chat room comes up and Birkhoff types in a synopsis of the day's events hidden in politically correct terminology, just in case.

Within a few minutes a reply is received, "Sorry to hear you got washed away but happy the family is okay. Did Romeo save the day?"

"Romeo woos Juliet as we speak. I forsee peace between the houses."

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

Nikita wakes slowly aware that something is different. Gradually she realizes that she is not alone in the bed, Michael is with her. She closes her eyes and savors the moment. This is the first time she has woken up with Michael. His hand is draped protectively across her stomach and she can feel his body heat as they lie spoon fashion.

Unfortunately, her body tells her that she has to get up and she starts to sneak out from under Michael's hand.

"Where are you going?" Michael asks drowsily, his accent slightly heavier than normal. His hand tightens on her, preventing her from moving.

"I'd love to stay in bed with you all day Michael, but I have to get up."

With a groan of disappointment, Michael releases her and opens one eye to watch her naked form walk across the room. He had enjoyed holding her all night and wishes that the day had not begun so soon.

------

Birkhoff chews enthusiastically on a mouthful of "Frosted Chocolate Bombs" that Sara found for him. Nikita looks at the bowl, it appears that the cereal is so strong it has already turned the milk chocolate. She looks away.

Outside the sun is shining. Nikita loves the sunshine but it also heralds the beginning of another separation from Michael and the beginning of another 'moment' with Section.

Michael watches the expressions that cross her face and places a sympathetic hand on her shoulder.

From where she sits Sara watches the two of them and feels sure that what she told Nikita last night was correct, "He loves you girl. He just doesn't know it yet."

------

Michael puts down the phone in the hotel room. It will be another day before the van is drivable. Another night spent alone in nowhere. He put Nikita and Birkhoff on a plane this afternoon. Sara and her husband Ralph kindly arranged for them to have transportation and they had reached the bustling airport just in time.

Michael rubs his fingers across his lips remembering the sweet farewell kiss Nikita had given him while Birkhoff had a major fit about not running his laptop through the X-ray machine. He missed her.

He looks up as there is a knock on the door. Automatically his hand goes to his gun as he moves to the side of the door so he is not in direct range.

"Who is it?"

"Room Service."

"I didn't order room service." Michael pulls out his gun and checks that there is a bullet in the chamber.

"Hotel compliments sir."

Michael peeks out the peephole and sees the same bellhop who showed him to his room outside the door. Cautiously he opens the door, gun by his side, ready.

The bellhop moves to the side with a big grin as Nikita launches herself into the room.

"Surprise."

Michael catchs her and dimmly notices that the bellhop has closed the door. Nikita is all over him.

"'Kita! Give me a moment." He battles free from her to put his gun away safely. "Now, where we?"

----

The need for oxygen causes them to break their kiss.

"Not that I'm not thrilled to see you, but what are you doing here?"

"Oh that. Michael you should have stayed at the airport longer. I got bumped!"

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