Birkoff types quickly and shakes his head as the signal disappears. Madeline appears as his shoulder and looks down to the screen.
“What is it Birkoff?” Madeline asks in her calm voice. She was not going to admit that when she heard that there was incoming intel, that she prayed that it was Michael or Nikita trying to establish contact. Now, the screen was blank, but Birkoff continued to work.
“It’s a crystal signal.” Birkoff says and then drops his head. He shakes his head as he pulls up the weather report for the general area of the signal. He shakes his head and looks at Madeline.
“We probably won’t get another reading until tonight. The snow is just too heavy.” Birkoff says and Madeline nods her head.
“Michael is accounted for. Now the question is if Nikita is with him or not.” Madeline says and she walks away. Birkoff looks at Madeline and then over at Walter. Michael wouldn’t leave Nikita, would he?
“Jingle Bells.. jingle bells… kingle all the way… oh what fun it is to see you look at me.. HEY!” Nikita slurs out as she drops the last few drops of the liquor down her throat. Michael takes the cup and looks at Nikita.
“I want more!” Nikita cries out and Michael shakes his head.
“Nikita, it is time to redo this brace.” Michael says and Nikita starts to giggle.
“Do you know how sexy you look when you are serious?” Nikita asks as she giggles and starts to fight with her hair. Michael stands back as Nikita uses both hands to toss her hair back and forth.
“DO SOMETHING!!! I hate it. CUT IT OFF!” Nikita screams out and Michael presses his lips together and walks to the bag. He looks at the old rain poncho and smiles as he grabs the rubber band off of the poncho. He walks over to Nikita and stops her hands.
“Your eyes look like Christmas lights, Michael… all twinkle.” Nikita says as she smiles again and starts to sway her head back and forth. Michael helps Nikita hold her head still and he pulls Nikita’s hair up into a crude ponytail, but it was going to keep it out of her face for the time being.
Michael walks around the end of the bed, and Nikita’s silliness stops. It was like she absolutely understood what was going to occur. Nikita looked at Michael with her blue eyes widening and waits.
“This is going to hurt, right?” Nikita says and Michael reaches up the bed to touch Nikita’s cheek.
“It shouldn’t hurt too bad.” Michael says but Nikita grabs his hand.
“Remember.. No lies on Christmas Eve.” Nikita says and Michael drops his head. He uses one hand to untie the bottom of the brace. He can see how much the leg had swelled.
“Yes. It is going to hurt. I’m going to get some snow to put on it.” Michael says and Nikita starts to shake her head.
“It will freeze me. I’m cold already.” Nikita says with her slurred speech. Michael could not wait until he could give Nikita some coffee to so he could really talk to her.
“Nikita, I will cover you up with a blanket. We need to stop the swelling.” Michael says as he grabs two huge buckets and heads towards the door. All Michael does it pull the door back enough to fill the buckets with snow and then close the door again.
Michael places the buckets near his feet as he pulls back the blanket from Nikita’s legs. Nikita drops her head back as Michael starts to take the brace carefully off. Michael was not going to move the main pieces of wood. It is the smaller piece of wood that causes Nikita to howl. It was also the reestablish flow of blood to her foot that caused pain. Michael was relieved to see the blue color go away from her foot.
Michael pulls down a sheet and starts to drop the buckets of snow over the leg. It was going to melt quickly, but he needed to try to stop the swelling. Michael walked back to the door for more snow as Nikita stopped her crying as she started to shiver.
Michael drops two more buckets of snow around the leg and stops. Michael looks at Nikita as her entire body is shivering. Michael pulls up the huge quilt and wraps it around Nikita’s chest and head and leans into her.
“Only a few minutes, Nikita. Only a few minutes.” Michael says softly. He kisses Nikita’s ear, but she continues to shiver. Michael starts to doubt what he was doing. Maybe it was more important to keep her warm than to stop the swelling.
“I’ll be home…. Zor Chrizmas… you can zount on me…” Nikita sings out, as she tries to ignore the pain and the coldness that wraps her body up tightly.
“Pleaze have znow… and mizletoe… and prezentz on the tree…” Nikita says and Michael tightens his grip on Nikita. He kisses her ear, and hopes that his body heat can warm Nikita up. He glanced at his watch and licked his lips. Only four more minutes of Nikita’s snow treatment left. Michael never realized how long a minute was before.
“I have incoming intel!” Birkoff cries out as he looks over at his main computer screen. He finishes hanging up the Christmas ornament that was in his hand and walked over to the computer. He glanced up at the screen above his head. All operatives were accounted for on this Christmas Eve except for Michael and Nikita. As the night finished hours ago, Birkoff and Walter started to assume the worst.
“Madeline! Where is the Christmas tree!” a child up front whines and Madeline smiles and looks at little Walter, who looks like he is about to fall asleep.
“It won’t be long now.” Madeline says as she picks little Walter up and shifts him to the other leg as she continues with the story.
“And I had your gift.” Nikita says and Michael stops as he plans on making some coffee. Nikita’s drunken state was making taking care of her more difficult. Michael knew it helped with the pain, but he never knew what would happen if he needed her for something.
“Nikita… I am making you some coffee. Why don’t you try to sleep?” Michael says and Nikita shakes her head back and forth.
“I searched for months on you.. Michael…. It was zo difficult. I.. I.. Traveled to three.. no four countriez. I had to find the perfect Chrizmas gift for you, Michael.” Nikita says and Michael turns on the stove and starts to heat the water for the coffee.
“Three countries, Nikita? I think you are exaggerating.” Michael says and Nikita shakes her head.
“You liked that clock… we zaw in the one mansion…. Well… I found it’z zizter… I tracked it down.. firzt the ztatez and then to France, god they are rude!, and then off to Germany.. and then I traveled down under… for one Chrizmas gift… that I won’t even give to you… I am in my living grave.” Nikita says as she rolls her head back and stares at the ceiling.
“Nikita, we are going to be fine.” Michael says as he pours the water into the instant coffee. Michael stirs and gives the cup to Nikita.
“I don’t want thiz.” Nikita hisses out and Michael rolls his eyes slightly.
“Nikita… you need to drink this.” Michael says and Nikita shakes her head back and forth.
“Let me go.. it’z Chrizmas Eve… and it’z destroyed. No tree…. No prezents.. no egg nog , no food… and PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN!” Nikita screams out and Michael sits down on the bed and helps Nikita to swallow some coffee.
“I probably bought a gift for no reason… I’m glad you aren’t getting it. You probably hate it either way!” Nikita exclaims and Michael bites his lip. He did buy Nikita a gift, but now was not the time nor place to tell her so.
“All I wanted for Chrizmas was a tree….. all I ever wanted…” Nikita sighs out and Michael helps Nikita with some more coffee. Michael leans her head back and kisses her forehead.
“Why don’t you try to get some sleep.. and I will try to get communications up.” Michael says and Nikita nods her head.
“Oh therez no place like home for the HOLLY dayz… no matter how far away you roam… ROAM ROAM ROAM.. if you vant to be happy in a millizons wayz…. For the HOLLY dayz you can’t be home zweet home!” Nikita sings out and Michael watches her as he rubs his head. He needed to get Nikita into Section One. There should be no doubt about that.
“I had everything planned. Tonight… I was going to get a Christmas tree… my first.” Nikita says as Michael places another blanket over her body. He had retied the brace, and now was starting to warm Nikita back up.
“Is it a clock?” Operations asks. Birkoff types quickly and smiles broadly.
“Actually, I have two signals, not far apart from each other. A communications unit and a clock. The clock is currently moving.” Birkoff says and Operations looks at Madeline and nods his head.
“Send a small team out.” Operations says and Birkoff looks up.
“The location is remote. It won’t be well into the morning that they make it through the snow.” Birkoff replies and Operations nods his head and turns away from Birkoff. Birkoff sighs and turns back. Maybe he could establish an open line into the communications unit.
The moon was full, and it lit the way as Michael trudged in the knee-deep snow. He looked around, and could still see the cabin from where he stood. He rubbed his hands together, not believing that he was out in the cold, doing something so irrational.
Michael looked around and heaved the ax back up onto his shoulder to rest. Michael glances back and then moves forward. He had to find a tree soon, as he knew that Nikita’s condition was not very stable. He didn’t know what she would do if she woke up and he wasn’t there.
Michael had spent the afternoon trying to get Nikita to drink coffee. What occurred, was that the pain was coming back to Nikita then, stronger than before. Although Michael did not want to do what he did, he started to give Nikita the alcohol. With her weaken system, as he felt that Nikita was starting to develop pneumonia, that it was likely the alcohol would help her go back to sleep.
Michael listened to Nikita tell him about her dream Christmas, and Michael felt the emotional pain that had been inflicted onto Nikita, not only from Section One, but from childhood. Michael started to understand Nikita on a level that he never thought was possible. He started to truly feel her pain as she experienced, and he felt his own pain for what he had done to her in the past.
It was that overwhelming guilt that sent Michael out into the winter wonderland. He started out, saying he was looking for firewood, but Michael could not lie to himself. He didn’t want to let Nikita down for another Christmas. It was most important to her that she had a Christmas tree this year and that was what she was going to get.
Michael walked past a few more trees and stopped in an area the moon glowed brightly. Michael looks and finds two trees. One is the perfect Christmas tree. It has the perfect triangle shape, and is not too big and is not too small. It’s green is a solid shade and each needle was to perfection. The other tree was not perfect. It had a dead limb on the bottom, and the one side was concave and there was no branch at the top to place a star.
Michael looked back at the cabin, and watched the small swirl of smoke carry up from the chimney and looked back at the trees. He had to make his decision in the moonlit patch of woods. Michael rubbed his jaw lightly and then turned to the battered Christmas tree.
Michael worked quickly. He knew that Nikita would want to leave the perfect Christmas tree out for other to enjoy. She was the sort who always took the second best, because someone more needing than herself might need the best. Michael knew as he chopped at the base of the tree, that Nikita would not care that he had passed up the perfect Christmas tree. What mattered is that she had a Christmas tree. The battered Christmas tree was going to be her first Christmas tree.
Michael picked up the tree and started to drag in on the heavy snow. Michael smiled as he crested the hill and started back down to the cabin. He thought about how Nikita’s face would look in the morning. Hopefully, it would lessen the great pain that she was in, and allow Michael to hold her tightly for a few moments. Hopefully it would prove to Nikita, how much he was listening to her, and how much she meant to her.
“I have another signal!” Birkoff calls out as he looks up to Operations and Madeline as they stand in the glass office. Operations nods his head and walks over to the intercom.
“HE PASSED UP THE PERFECT CHRISTMAS TREE???” Sandra asked loudly and little Walter picks his head up from Madeline’s shoulder.
“Yes, he did.” Madeline says and Sandra stands up and looks around.
“WHY? IT WAS THERE! IN THE MOONLIGHT! It was his Christmas tree.” Sandra says and Belinda stands up and looks at Sandra.
“It wasn’t Nikita’s. It wasn’t what she would have liked.” Belinda says and Sandra turns around and glares at Belinda.
“I didn’t ask you!” Sandra hollers and Belinda looks at Madeline.
“Madeline… I am right, right? That Nikita wouldn’t care what tree it was. It mattered that Michael did it for her.” Belinda says and Madeline nods her head.
“It is like now. Christmas would not be Christmas for me if I didn’t tell you all the stories.” Madeline says and the kids giggle and Belinda and Sandra fall back down.
“Well… where was I?” Madeline asks and little Walter tugs on Madeline’s ear. Madeline leans her head down and listens to the whispering little Walter.
“Of course, I will wait. Hurry up!” Madeline says with a smile, as little Walter jumps off of Madeline’s lap and runs to the boy’s room.
“Hurry up, Walter!” Belinda calls out as she hears the toilet flush. All the children turn their heads, and watch little Walter walk back into the room. He pauses by Madeline’s rocking chair, and Madeline bends down and picks him up.
Madeline pauses and tickles little Walter lightly. Little Walter giggles loudly and Madeline pulls her hands away from him and kisses him lightly on the cheek.
“Where was I?” Madeline asks the children, and all of them start to respond. Madeline smiles at the children.
“Ok! I remember.” Madeline says loudly with her hands raised. The children all stop and settle back down. Madeline smiled and thought, “How nice it is to have control without threats!”
Nikita almost sighs contently as Michael pushes back a few strands of hair off of her face and back behind her ear. Nikita feels the Goosebumps run up her arm, as Michael gently checks the bullet wound. He places the cover back over the arm.
Then Nikita can feel his breath, so warm, near her face, near her ear. Nikita tries not to react, but her skin seems to be jumping by the motions of Michael.
“Merry Christmas, Nikita.” Michael whispers softly into her ear, and then he lightly brushes his lips against her cheek. Nikita feels Michael stands up and Nikita takes a long pause.
“Merry Christmas, Michael.” Nikita responds loudly. Nikita does not turn to look at Michael. She knows that he has stopped and turned back to look at her. Nikita then slowly turns around and blinks her eyes.
The green tree stood in the corner, by the stove. Nikita blinks her eyes, as tear form from the sight. She does not notice the dead limbs or the brown needles. She doesn’t notice that the one side was missing almost all of the needles. Nikita’s lip starts to tremble as she looks up and sees a tin star on the top of the tree.
“Michael…” Nikita says and he slowly walks back to her, not blocking her view of the Christmas tree. Michael slides his body down onto the wood floor and strokes Nikita’s cheek softly.
“I wanted your help with decorating.” Michael says and Nikita now starts to bawl at the comment. No one has ever done such a sweet thing in her life. Nikita couldn’t contain her emotions any longer and rolled her head towards Michael’s. Michael’s skin tinkled with each tear that falls onto his skin. He slowly reaches his hand up and rubbed Nikita’s forehead with the pads of his fingertips.
“I have a few ornaments I made last night. I just don’t know where to put them.” Michael says as he stands up and brings over a pile of tin ornaments that he had crudely made. Michael picks one up and shows Nikita. Nikita reaches for it, and Michael shakes his head.
“The edges are sharp. I don’t want you to get hurt anymore.” Michael says and Nikita nods her head. Nikita’s eyes widen, and she begins to cough. Michael sets the box down and leans Nikita up, and rubs her back as the coughs continue. Michael knew that this was soon to happen. Nikita wasn’t moving around because of her leg, and the need to use snow to take down the swelling was making Nikita sick.
“It’s alright.” Michael whispers into her ear, and soon the coughing ceased. Michael placed Nikita back down on her bed and he picked up the ornament. He shows Nikita and walks to the tree.
“Where should I put it, Nikita?” Michael asks and Nikita giggles softly and starts to point her hand. Michael moves and places it near the tree and Nikita shakes her head lightly.
“No… down some.” Nikita says and Michael moves it down a few branches and Nikita smiles. Michael walks back to the box and sees the tears on Nikita’s eyes softly. Michael is about to move to her, when there is a crackle. At first, both operatives look at the roaring fire.
“Michael! Nikita! Respond!” Birkoff’s voice screams over the communications unit and Nikita gasps in relief.
It was starting to get warm again for Nikita’s body. She fought the urge to open her eyes. She turned her head and tried to force her body back to sleep. There was a pounding in her head as she felt the bed sink lightly with the body weight of Michael sitting on the edge.
“My daddy saved Michael and Nikita?” Belinda asks in shock and Madeline smiles at the girl. She was so proud of her father, and was very intelligent in her own life.
“No. Your father talked to Michael and Nikita. But that is jumping ahead in the story!” Madeline says and little Walter tugs at Madeline’s ear again. Madeline sighs and bends her head down to listen to little Walter’s words.
“You think so?” Madeline asks little Walter, and he nods his head up and down enthusiastically. Madeline smiles and looks at the children.
“Walter thinks that it is time for some hot chocolate and Christmas cookies.” Madeline says and the children all jump to their feet and start towards the attached room for their annual Christmas Eve snack.
Madeline helps little Walter down and walks with him to the room. Madeline smiles a she looks at the children. Off in the corner is Operations again and Madeline raises an eyebrow, but continues with the children. It was the children’s night.
Madeline watched as the children ran back to the room, and huddled around her rocking chair. Madeline took the last cookie, and bit into it. She loved the smooth chocolate cookie melting in her mouth. She closed her eyes briefly, and that was when Operations reached out and touched her arm.
“Do you mind getting your Christmas gift early?” Operations asks and Madeline tilts her head and stares at Operations. He had never bought her anything. Madeline turns back towards the children and then looks back at Operations.
“I don’t mean right now. It’s not here yet.” Operations says and Madeline narrows her eyes. If it weren’t for little Walter tugging on Madeline’s shirt, she would have continued the stare down. Madeline picked little Walter up in her arms and headed back to the room without a word.
Operations leaned against the wall and smiled as he watched the cold Madeline he knew turn into the warm and loving, aunt that she was to all of these children.
“Birkoff.” Michael replies as Nikita starts to cough again. Michael carefully slides the communications unit onto his ear and goes back to Nikita’s bed. Nikita is struggling to pull her body up, as the coughing intensifies.
“Michael, we are sending a team. We need a status. Is that Nikita with you?” Birkoff asks as he hears the coughing continue. Michael starts to rub Nikita’s back, but soon is striking it to help subside the coughs. Nikita’s face is streaked with tears as Michael helps her tired body back to the bed.
“I will get something to sit you up some more. You need to get more air into your lungs.” Michael says as he stands up and goes to the dresser. He starts to pull out clothes, forgetting about Birkoff on the communications line.
“Michael!” Birkoff finally yells again to gather attention. The silence was evil to Birkoff, and the more he heard, the better things were.
“Birkoff… I am attending to Nikita in a log cabin that we are almost snowed in into. Be patient. I have important things here to do.” Michael says and walks back to Nikita. He pulls Nikita up by her good arm and starts to place things underneath Nikita’s back and head. Slowly, the incline increases, and Nikita is able to breathe easier.
“Shh… Birkoff is on the line… we will be alright soon.” Michael says as he strokes Nikita’s face. He can feel her fever now and he waits for Nikita’s eyes to shut. Michael stands up and moves towards the fire.
“How far is the team?” Michael asks as he throws more wood into the fire. The team would be cold when they arrived.
“They are on a road that is up the hill from the cabin you are in. It should be another two hours, though. There is too much snow.” Birkoff reports and Michael nods his head. He looks to Nikita and then to the tree. It gave her happiness, no matter how short. Michael walks back and picks up the ornaments and starts to hang them.
“How sick is Nikita?” Birkoff ask sand Michael almost chokes from the comment.
“You should have asked for her condition, Birkoff. She wasn’t sick until late last night, early this morning.” Michael say sand Birkoff types furiously at the computer and Michael leans down and places another star on the bottom of the tree.
“Birkoff.. She was injured coming out of the building. A bullet wound to her arm. I have taken the bullet out and stitched her up. There is no infection yet.” Michael says and then he looks at her. The leg injury could mean her death if it did not heal. Michael looked up to the ceiling and then continued on with his description of Nikita’s injuries.
“Nikita on the way to the cabin, fell. Her leg is twisted and shows signs of multiple breaks. I believe that the lower legs has at least two breaks, and possible a break in the ankle. The thigh is in similar shape. I am hoping that there is only one break. It is swollen pretty badly. I can’t get it to stop. But I do have circulation throughout the leg.” Michael says and he hangs up the last ornament.
“So Nikita is immobile?” Operations asked over the line and Michael went back to the bed. He rubbed his hand against Nikita’s burning cheek.
“I would have said she could have moved if necessary up till last night. I believe she has developed pneumonia since I had to use snow to try to stop the swelling in the leg.” Michael says and then he takes Nikita’s hand and kisses it softly.
Michael waits in silence. He knows that Operations must be in deep thought. Michael trembled; knowing that Operations could tell him to cancel Nikita immediately and to go met the van. Michael closed his eyes and waited.
“Michael, the team is closer than we thought. ETA in 55 minutes.” Birkoff reports and Michael looks at the window and smiles. He rubs Nikita’s face softly again and leans down.
“Not long. Not long.” Michael says and picks his head up; to do some chores before the team arrived.
Michael ran to the table and grabbed up the communications unit. He had rebuilt it last night, using the two units to create the full unit that he now held in his hands.