NO TIMES FOR GAMES

"Hand me the panel, Walter, and tell me what's on your mind."

"You can't risk your life like this anymore, sugar. Your place is here, in Section, not in the field", Walter says, obviously bothered by the idea.

"This mission is too dangerous, and I have no one who can do it. I don't want to risk loosing my operatives because I have to stay here and be safe", she replies looking straight at him, while he makes himself busy with some material, avoiding her eyes.

"Oh, give me a break. Admit it, you want personal revenge for your father's death", he snaps back.

She stops to think about it for a few seconds. "You're not completely wrong, you know. I always said you were a wise man. Anyway, I have to do it, and we'll all feel better afterwards", she calmly ends the argument.

Smiling, she comes closer to him and grabs his shoulder.

"Would you do me a favor, Walter? Help Jason with tactics on this one."

Walter's anger seems to melt. She knows he's always happy to be useful to her. This will also give him an occupation while she's out, besides worrying for her security. Since Michael left Section, Walter has been overprotecting her, trying to be her guardian angel instead.

"I would do anything for you, sugar. Just take care of yourself. You know we would be lost in here without you." His eyes are full of care and trust, and Nikita's heart aches at the though that she might somehow let him down.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine", she comforts him, looking more sure of it than she really is.

Nikita's people are circling a large perimeter around the building where the Collectives are holding their meeting.

"First team, go", orders Nikita to a team of abeyance operatives.

Silently they advance to the building fence and attack the guards, their only mission being to clean the road for the rest of the team. Nikita hopes some of them will survive, so she has a reason to reconsider her decision regarding their lives. Once a bridge has been made through the surveillance, she sends in the second team.

"Remember we want Helmut alive," she tells them.

As they enter the building; gunfire is heard from everywhere. Nikita breaks into the conference room followed by four operatives. While they start shooting at the participants, Nikita runs after Helmut through a back door.

Jason is following them on his screen, giving directions. "He went into the second room to your left but I lost him from there", he says.

"How could you loose him, Jason?" she asks, sounding angry.

"He just disappeared", he replies. "I swear I paid all my attention to him."

She enters the indicated room, which is now strangely empty.

"Where's the last place in here where you had him on your screen?"

"It's towards the North side, but my map shows no door on that wall. I don't' know what's going on."

"There has to be an exit around here", she says while starting to look for it. She notices one of the bookshelves is not completely aligned with the wall. She drags it away and a small niche is discovered in the wall behind it.

"I found it", she claims. "I'm going in."

"I can send a few operatives to help you", Jason suggests.

"There's no time," she answers.

"I can't see you anymore on the screen, Nikita. Can you still hear me?" His voice sounds alert.

"Yes, I can hear you."

"They've set the explosives already. You've got 15 minutes to get out."

Jason's warning turns on some internal clock, and her heartbeat accelerates.

Nikita has to crawl through a narrow tunnel, smelling like mold and old stone. "This building must have been constructed on top of an ancient one", she thinks. She arrives in a dark room, and immediately senses something's wrong. She hears several breaths, but doesn't have the time to react that the light is turned on. She is surrounded by four men who are pointing guns at her. One of them, Helmut, takes a step forward and says: "It's over, Nikita. We had the father, now we've got the daughter. Without you, there's no one in Section to stop us."

"So this was a trap," she says, trying to gain some time. "You'll never get away with it." She just wants to show he doesn't scare her, but the situation looks pretty bad.

"Let me worry about that", he grins at her.

As he prepares to take her gun, a hole opens in the ceiling, and a man goes in, sustained by a rope. Three gunshots are heard, and Helmut's men are down.

Taking profit of the surprise, Nikita shoots Helmut with the sedative gun, then takes a good look at the man that came at her rescue.

He's wearing a black mask, showing nothing but his green eyes. He freezes and just stares at her, waiting for her to make a move.

Nikita can't be fooled by a black mask, or by any other mask this man would carry. She knows every detail of his body, every movement of his trained muscles, and most of all, only one man could look at her this way.

"Jason, communication is jammed," she lies. "I'm going dark for a while."

She disables her device, while he takes out his mask.

"Michael . you shouldn't be here," she whispers as a first reaction, knowing that making contact with her represents a danger for him.

"I thought you needed my help. I can go if you want me to." He looks tense, unsure of his right to be present in this place, yet ready to submit to her decision about it.

She relaxes and approaches him. There's no time for pointless games. There never was. "Stay" she says, simply and clear, and places her arms around his neck. They look into each other's eyes for a few seconds, reestablishing unspoken communication levels. Then, being sure nothing's changed between them, they engage in a tender hug. Time slows down as they hold each other, hardly breathing.

Nikita wonders if this can be happening, if she could possibly be so close to what gave a meaning to her life. She can feel his warm ear against her cheek, the accelerated pulse in his throat, his freshly groomed skin smelling like her favorite aftershave, and his latent raw power only a fraction of a second away. Reality melts down, there are no more worries and responsibilities, nothing exists besides him. Although it's just a stolen moment of bliss that she'll have to give away so soon, she lets go of her barriers. There is no other place in the world she would rather be in. She floats in a soft, light sphere of abandonment and wishes they could just wait for the explosion together.

"It's been a long time", she finally says, allowing herself a slight nuance of feminine reproach.

"It seemed like an eternity without you", he replies, moving away just to be able to see her expression. "I was hoping you would contact me."

"You know I couldn't", she says, slowly passing her fingers through his hair, pushing it behind his ear. "You must keep away from Section for your son."

"I can't keep away from you", he says, caressing her cheek with the back of his hand.

She feels like a frail, defenseless young recruit again when he does that.

"I know", she states, including both her relief and concern in this simple phrase. "Your hair is long again", she adds while playing with it, as if it was the most important thing in the world right now.

Aware of a slight but feverish tremble from his part in reaction to her closeness, and not wanting to extend the tension any longer, she places her mouth on his.

They kiss, softly in the beginning, their lips testing each other's boundaries, then with passion, trying to catch up with these last four months of being apart.

"Come with me", he whispers in spite of himself, regretting it right away. He knows he can only make her sad by inviting her out.

She looks away from him. "I promised my father I would stay in Section. I have to keep my promise", she announces it as a fact, leaving no room for discussion.

"Would you like to see me again?" he asks, holding her chin up so she can't avoid his eyes.

"Of course I would. But I don't want you to take any risk for me. Promise you won't do anything foolish," she tries to get some assurance from him, but he avoids answering.

"We have to go now." Michael watches Nikita disappear into the tunnel, carrying the still unconscious Helmut, while the rope takes him back through the ceiling.

See the next part: My Favorite Butterfly.

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