Mistaken

By Brenna

Part One

She heard Xavier’s voice come over her com link, "Everyone to second mark." Brenna nodded to her partner, Nabiki, and moved around the corner towards the back entrance of the building that is her second mark. Her eyes roving checking for anomalies Brenna watched Nabiki move into position by the fire escape. "Report," Xavier ordered, followed by a chorus of "on mark" replies from the operatives who were surrounding the building to prevent the target from fleeing. "Team one, move in," came Xavier’s voice again. Brenna and Nabiki came even more alert as they listened to team one move toward the target.

Mentz’s voice is heard next, "Shit, something spooked him. He’s headed your way team two. He has three body guards with him."

"Acknowledged," Brenna replied and made eye contact with Nabiki to be sure she was ready as well. After quickly sweeping her eyes around the alley for probable escape routes or collateral, Brenna took cover and returned her attention to the door from which the target was expected to exit.

"Remember we need Jamison alive," Xavier instructed. The door flew open and the four hostiles poured out. After they had exited the building Brenna took out the first bodyguard and Nabiki made short work of the second. Just as she drew a bead on the third bodyguard Brenna froze. Seeing their companions fall, the last two hostiles took cover and hugged close to the building effectively blocking Nabiki’s shot.

"Take the shot, Brenna." Nabiki hissed. Seeing Brenna unresponsive, Nabiki acted quickly. Jumping down to pursue the target she spoke rapidly, "Team three, target headed your way. Should be exiting from the alley on to Washington Street right now. One bodyguard still in play."

Brenna jumped up to follow Nabiki just in time to see Davenport grab the target and hustle him into the van. "What happened to the last hostile?" she asked.

"We lost her in the crowd," Curlly answered.

Brenna turned to scan the people that are milling around the street. She started to head off that way when Xavier grabbed her shoulder and stopped her forward motion. "We have to go," he ordered steely and without removing his hand from her shoulder walked her to the waiting black SUV that served as operative transport for this mission.

As the team exited into van access Xavier stopped Brenna and said in a tone that brooked no argument, "I want to see you in my office immediately after debrief." Brenna nodded and followed the rest of the team to munitions to drop off her equipment.

After debrief, Brenna arrived at Xavier’s office to see Nabiki exiting. Nabiki smiled concernedly and squeezed Brenna’s shoulder in support as she headed off to CLHQ. Brenna entered Xavier’s office and stood waiting for him to acknowledge her. Xavier continued typing for a moment then locked his computer and faced Brenna. Standing he asked, "What the hell happened out there today?"

"I didn’t have a clear shot that didn’t endanger the target," Brenna replied stonily.

"Bullshit," Xavier spat. "You froze. I want to know why."

"I told you," Brenna repeated, "I just didn’t have a good shot. I was holding my position waiting for my opportunity."

Sighing Xavier returned to his desk and disabled the surveillance on his office. Moving back to Brenna, he reached up and tucked a loose strand of her hair behind her ear. "Talk to me," he entreated.

Brenna looked into his eyes for a long moment, seemingly deciding whether to trust him. Abruptly she made her decision and sunk down into the chair in front of his desk. Looking at the floor Brenna whispered, "I swore it was her."

"Who was her?" Xavier inquired.

Looking up at him, her eyes wide, begging him to believe her, "Misti," Brenna answered softly.

Xavier dropped to one knee so his face was level with hers, "The last body guard was Misti? How could that be? I was there the day you buried her."

Brenna answered a little distraught, "I don’t know, but Section has taught me that anything is possible. I just know the person I saw today looked liked Misti and moved like her and looked at me with recognition."

Xavier grew very still. "You were compromised?" he asked very slowly.

Brenna shook her head. "I don’t think so, or at least I don’t know how I would have been, but my instincts tell me that woman knew me. If it was Misti then I am not compromised. You know she would never do anything to hurt me."

"God damn it, Brenna," Xavier cursed worriedly. Pacing he said, "Misti wouldn’t understand how things are now and would assume you are in danger. She would endanger you by trying to help. You know how she felt about being helpless."

Stopping suddenly, Xavier said stonily, "We have to deal with this situation through proper channels."

Crying, Brenna begged, "No! Please. They’ll kill her. I couldn’t live with myself. My whole life was about protecting her and to be the cause of her death… I don’t know what I would do."

Taking her into his arms Xavier said, "I can’t have you endangered. You have to promise me you won’t try to find her and that you will tell me if she contacts you."

Pulling back from him a little so she could look into his eyes, Brenna answered softly, "And if I promise you won’t tell Madeleine about her?"

"Agreed," Xavier said.

"Agreed," Brenna responded and kissed him softly. "Thank you."

Gently running his fingers through her hair, Xavier kissed Brenna on the forehead and said, "I’ll meet you at CLHQ later. I have some reports to finish up and you need to get some rest."

"Okay," Brenna replied and kissed him passionately on the lips for a long minute. "Don’t be too long." And with a flash of her crooked smile she was gone.

Part Two

Xavier sat down at his desk and dropped his head into his hands. "What am I going to do?" he whispered softly. Abruptly he stood up and put on the jacket that was draped over the back of his chair. Running his fingers through his hair he announced to the empty office, "There was nothing in our agreement that said I couldn’t tell Michael." And then softer, opening the door, he said, "Brenna forgive me," and strode across Section to Michael’s office.

Michael quickly acknowledged Xavier’s knock on the door, ordering him to enter. Xavier stood before Michael’s desk and asked, "Have you got a minute?" Deliberately eyeing the cameras behind Michael’s desk and the anti-surveillance device in his desk. Michael answered by disabling surveillance. Michael looked at Xavier expectantly. "A ghost from Brenna’s past appeared on our last mission as a hostile. She thinks she was recognized," Xavier said finally.

"I am not the person you should be having this conversation with," Michael answered and started to return to his work.

"Michael, please," Xavier pleaded. "Was there never a time when you encountered someone whose existence endangered Nikita but decided would have endangered her sanity more for that person to be killed by Section?"

Michael slowly turned back to Xavier, remembering the time he helped Nikita and her mother say good-bye. Xavier, seeing the sympathy in Michael’s eyes, continued, "Then you know how I feel." Dropping into the chair in front of Michael’s desk, Xavier asked softly, "What did you do?"

Michael looked at Xavier for a long moment and then tossed a mini disc to him. Xavier quickly stood up slipped the disc into his pocket. Michael nodded to Xavier clearly dismissing him and returned to his work.

Xavier headed back to his own office. Once there Xavier, anxious to get home to review the information Michael gave home, quickly delegated whatever work he could and finished anything that was urgent. Letting Birkoff know where to find him, Xavier headed for the house Section had given him.

Xavier unplugged his laptop from the secure up-link to Section and took it upstairs to his bedroom. Trying to relax, he put some instrumental music on the stereo and then got comfortable on the bed. Once the laptop booted he inserted the mini disc and began to read.

He was dismayed to discover that there was a good reason Brenna thought she had seen Misti today. The woman Brenna saw was in fact an abeyance operative who had been given the mission of pretending to be Misti. Evidently Madeleine had been planning this test for Brenna for a while as evidenced by the significant amount of plastic surgery and careful review of surveillance tapes that was required to prepare the operative for her role. Xavier dropped his head into his hands for the second time since this ordeal began and asked himself again, "What am I going to do?"

Coming to the sad but inevitable realization that there was nothing he could do, Xavier put his computer away and grabbed his stuff to go to CLHQ to meet Brenna as he had promised. He hated being in this position. He could already be in significant trouble for not reporting Brenna’s confession to Madeline. He couldn’t risk both of them further by jeopardizing the test. He could only watch over her and hope for the best. Sighing to himself, Xavier vowed to keep a close eye on Brenna’s movements for the next several weeks and then headed back out.

Xavier reached Brenna’s suite in CLHQ to hear her "teenage mix" as she called it playing on the stereo. It was a compilation of all the songs that reminded her of the way they were. She had made that mix right after their talk in the park put hadn’t listened to it in quite a while. He knew the fact that she was listening to this CD today meant her Misti sighting was still affecting her strongly. Taking a deep breath to fortify himself, Xavier gently pushed the door to her room open.

He saw Brenna lying in the middle of the floor with her arms spread wide and tears slowly seeping from under her closed eyelids. She was murmuring something to herself softly but stopped when he entered. That was the only visible sign that she knew anyone was there. Xavier picked up the remote from where she had thrown it and turned the music down. He wanted desperately to gather her into his arms but was afraid of breaking down and telling her everything he knew, so he just knelt beside her and kissed her softly on the forehead. "You okay?" he asked.

Opening her eyes, Brenna smiled weakly. "Yeah, I’m okay. It is just hard. You know?"

"I know," Xavier whispered as he gave into his initial urge and gathered Brenna into his arms.

They sat like that for quite a while. When the CD stopped, Xavier gathered Brenna closer to him and stood up slowly. He carried her to her bedroom and put her softly into bed. As he started to stand up she tightened her hold on him and said softly, "Stay with me."

Unsure, Xavier answered, "You’ve had a long day-"

"Please," Brenna entreated.

Acquiescing, Xavier spooned in behind her on her bed. Brenna turned her head to kiss him. "Thank you," she whispered and snuggled closer to him.