Michael set about decorating the tree with no idea on how to begin. He picked up the many strings of lights that were strewn about and looked at them. Then he proceeded to toss them aside as he picked up a box of old ornaments. They looked dusty and worn as he touched one of them. He quickly set the box back down trying to figure out how to get the tree decorated.

Just then he got an idea. Birkoff or Walter might know how to do this. He quickly picked up his cell phone and hit the speed dial for Birkoff. It took no time at all for Birkoff to answer the phone. ,p> “Yes?” Birkoff said suspiciously. Not many people had Birkoff’s cellular number and called him on it.

“I need you here now!” Michael demanded before he hung up the phone. He knew that Birkoff would recognize the voice and knows where to come. Then Michael pushed the speed dial button for Walter.

“Yes?” Walter answered in the same manner as Birkoff had.

“I need you here now!” Michael demanded the same thing with Walter as he had with Birkoff. He then proceeded to hang up the phone before any questions were asked.

Michael set about trying to make sense of all of the things he had to decorate with but failed miserably. He had always been good at his work with Section but had no clue about things like this. He was rarely even here in his apartment let alone trying to decorate it for a holiday that he didn’t celebrate.

It didn’t take long before Walter and Birkoff appeared at his door. They knocked on it quickly, afraid to disobey Michael’s demand. The door swung open and Michael appeared in the doorway looking rather frustrated.

“Come in!” Michael ordered once more. He was not in the mood for playing around. He wanted to get this done soon. He hated messes.

Birkoff and Walter walked in stunned by what they saw. There were light strings all over the floor. Ornaments were everywhere. There was garland draping off chairs and across the dining table. Candy canes were hanging from lampshades. Their mouths dropped open in unison.

“Uh, Michael, what happened in here?” Walter asked slowly.

“I’ve been trying to figure out how to decorate with all of this stuff and having no luck whatsoever. I called the two of you here to do it.” Michael informed them briskly.

The two men looked at Michael astonished. They knew that they couldn’t argue with him over this because he was willingly doing this for Nikita’s sake. In addition, because of the fact that Michael would shoot them if they didn’t help. With those thoughts in mind, the two men set about organizing and decorating Michael’s apartment without a further word.

“Man that’s hard work!” Birkoff exclaimed. “Now I know one reason why Nikita’s not doing it this year!”

“Shut up Birkoff!” Walter reprimanded quickly. He didn’t want Birkoff to slip to Michael that he had told him the real reason why Nikita wasn’t doing it. Birkoff did have a tendency to let things like that slip to the wrong people.

Birkoff closed his mouth quickly noticing Walter’s signal to him. Michael however knew that Walter had told Birkoff but was not going to mention it.

“Man I’m tired! We’ll be here all night doing this. Any chance that we can take the rest of the night off from this Michael and finish in the morning?” Walter asked hopefully.

“No.” Was all that came out of Michael. He was determined that this would be finished tonight.

“Aw come on! We’ve done quite a bit!” Birkoff whined to Michael.

When Birkoff saw the look on Michael’s face, he decided that he had better not proceed with his whining. He was better off just decorating so that he didn’t have to come back until the party. Nothing more was said as Walter and Birkoff got up from their perches on the sofa and began to finish decorating. The two of them wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible. They felt uncomfortable doing this here in Michael’s apartment.

Michael grabbed his coat suddenly and walked out of the apartment. Walter and Birkoff exchanged surprised looks then went back to decorating. They both figured that he was going to talk to Nikita. They were not wrong. A half an hour later, Michael was standing in front of Nikita’s apartment door knocking lightly. It took Nikita longer than usual to answer the door which worried Michael tremendously. He would never admit it though. He was relieved when he saw Nikita open the door for him.

“What are you doing here Michael?” Nikita asked tired.

“We need to talk.” Michael said as he pushed past her into the apartment. He saw that nothing had changed since the last time he had been there. Nothing except for the mess getting larger and nastier.

“Michael, there’s nothing for us to talk about.” Nikita said as she tried to get rid of him.

“Yes there is.” He said as he walked over and pushed some used Kleenexes aside on one of the chairs and sat down.

“What is it Michael? I want to get some sleep before the next mission.” She said tired and weary.

“I want you to come to my Christmas party.” Michael stated simply as he watched Nikita’s face go from fatigue to total shock in zero to one second.

She turned back around to face him with fury in her eyes and her hair swinging wildly around her head. Michael knew that he was in for a fit of hers and prepared himself.

“You what?!” She screamed wildly at him. “You are so…so…” her voice trailed off as she tried to figure out the perfect words to express what she was feeling inside.

Michael just stared at her with his patented blank stare. He knew what she was feeling inside. He thought out all of Nikita’s possible reactions to this before coming over.

Michael slowly stood up and walked over to Nikita. He placed his hands on her shoulders which were promptly thrown off.

“How can you come over here and ask me to come over to your Christmas party when you can’t even bother to bring yourself to any of mine!?” She screamed loudly.

“I know I was wrong Nikita. I figured that if I could show you that I could get into the Christmas spirit that you could too.” Michael told her softly. He was trying hard to let her know how much this mattered to him but wasn’t doing a very good job. That was very apparent by Nikita’s stance and the fury still in her eyes.

“You were wrong?! You were wrong?! That is a first now isn’t it Michael?! You know that that is not going to work now! Not after all of those years that I sat on Christmas morning wishing that you were here with me! Crying because you weren’t with me! I hated those parties because you weren’t there!” Nikita screamed out as tears poured down her face.

Michael wasn’t prepared for the onslaught that he had just received from her. He stood there stunned. He had had no idea of how badly his not coming had affected her Christmas. The only thing that he knew to do was to try and calm her. He slowly put his arms around her sobbing body and pulled her towards him. She started to relent but then pulled violently away knocking the empty bottle of brandy onto the floor.

Michael hated to see Nikita this way. Even worse, he hated himself for making her this way. She was too good and pure that she didn’t deserve what he had to offer her. All he had to offer her were stolen moments of pleasure and lots of unhappiness.

While she had her back turned to him, he silently walked over behind her and put his hands on her shoulders once again. This time he made sure that he had a firm enough grip on them so that she could not just shake them off. He leaned over and placed a kiss on the top of her blond head. When he lifted his mouth from the kiss he softly whispered in her ear, “I’m so sorry Nikita.” Then he turned and walked out of her apartment without another word.

She put her arms tightly around herself as she looked around the small apartment. It was truly a mess. She just didn’t have the energy to worry about cleaning it all up. All she wanted to do was climb in bed and forget that Michael even came over this night.

She knew that another mission would be coming up for her very soon and wanted to be well rested for it. She didn’t have the time or energy to spend on Michael the way that she used to. She was also tired of being toyed with like some kind of doll.

Nikita slowly walked up the stairs to her warm bed while Michael was standing outside of her door. He couldn’t/wouldn’t leave. There was something inside of him pulling him to stay. He didn’t understand it. He had emotions running through him that he couldn’t explain and that scared him. Michael was trying to figure out what made him tell her that he was sorry. That was totally unlike him to actually tell her a heart felt emotion of his.

All of the other times that he had told her that, he had never really meant it from his heart and both of them knew it.

Slowly he turned and raised his hand to knock on the door again but just let it drop to his side. She had probably gone back to bed after he closed the door. He turned and walked down the hallway trying to figure out a way to make all of his wrong doings up to her. She was special to him. She had taken his heart in a way that even Simone had not.

He stopped when he reached the end of the hallway and turned back towards Nikita’s apartment. He could not let this night end this way. He had to convince her that he truly meant his apology. He walked back to the apartment and opened the door silently.

Since she was not downstairs, he set to work. He began cleaning her apartment. He was almost done with the livingroom when he saw the corner of something sticking out from underneath the coffee table. He leaned over and pulled it out to find that it was a photograph. The shocking thing was when he turned it over to see who the picture was of.

It was a picture of him that she had somehow managed to get ahold of. It had some writing on it and he turned towards the light to read it. A tear filled the corner of his eye as he read what Nikita had wrote on the picture. It said: ‘Michael, the man that I love with all of my heart. I don’t know how I manage to survive without us being together. You are the one who makes my life worth living. You are the only reason as to why I have not taken my own life. Nikita.’

He sat down in shock as a terrible sadness ran through his entire body. He knew that she cared deeply for him but he didn’t know that her feelings for him ran that deeply. She couldn’t tell him herself. In fact, she hadn’t intended for him to see this. He quickly put the picture back into the frame that was laying about an inch from where he found the picture and walked up the stairs quietly. He set the picture down on her nightstand careful not to wake her up. Then he turned away from her sleeping form and walked back downstairs. It was almost morning and he wanted to have the place clean by then.

She went into the bathroom and took a shower. She quickly pulled an outfit out of the closet and put it on without even caring what it was. Then she started to walk down the stairs when she noticed something was horribly different. Her apartment was spotless and there on one of the lounge chairs was a sleeping Michael.

It suddenly hit her as to how the picture made its journey to her nightstand. That also meant that he had read it as well. She finished walking down the stairs trying to keep her composure after her realization. It just wasn’t to be because when Michael heard her, he woke up. Their eyes met as Nikita made the short trip from the bottom of the stairs into her little kitchenette. She didn’t say a word to him as she pulled down a glass from the cupboard and then poured herself a glass of orange juice. The truth was that she didn’t know what to say. Michael had spent the night cleaning her apartment, learned her deepest secret from him and then fell asleep in her living room. Michael was the first one to speak.

“I meant what I said last night Nikita.” Was all that he said as he got up from where he was at and pulled on his coat. He started for the door when he heard a soft “thank you” from behind.

He turned around to see Nikita standing in the livingroom looking at him. This was a very awkward moment for both of them.

“Will you come to the party?” Michael asked hesitantly. He wasn’t sure if he should bring it up or not.

“I will get back to you about it Michael. I’m not sure right now.” She said and turned away from him.

He stayed right where he was. He didn’t know what was going through her mind at that point. He knew that by now she had realized that he’s read what she had written on the photo of him. She had to know that it had affected him deeply.

“I saw the picture Nikita.” He said bluntly. A tear formed in his eye. She still didn’t turn around to face him. He hesitantly took a step towards her.

She didn’t say anything to his comment. It was hard for her to deal with him knowing her deepest emotions for him. It was bad enough that she had told him how she spent her Christmas mornings for the last few years. A tear formed in her eye as she turned to face him very slowly.

Nikita looked up at him to see the tear that had been forming in his eye start its journey down his cheek. He was not trying to hide it. Neither of them said a word as an understanding passed between them. Nikita now understood why he was doing all of this for her. Michael now understood why she acted the way that she did most of the time towards him.

Neither moved for what seemed like forever. Then Michael broke out of his trance and took the few steps needed to stand face to face with Nikita. He gently brushed back a lock of stray hair that had fallen across her face. Michael saw true happiness in her eyes as he cupped the back of her head with his hand and leaned down to kiss her. She did not resist in fact she invited him.

Nikita was mesmerized by his aura. She wanted more of him. It was hard but finally, Michael lifted his head up to look into her eyes. He saw the love that she felt for him shining brightly without the hatred for all of the pain he has caused her over the years. He was elated when he saw the hatred disappear.

“So will you come to the party? I think that Birkoff and Walter would be very upset if you didn’t.” Michael added softly as his lips brushed against hers with each word out of his mouth, after he asked her the question that had been burning his brain since he had began this whole thing.

“Why would Birkoff and Walter be upset if I didn’t come?” She asked him curiously. She enjoyed how he was letting his lips brush against hers because he didn’t want to break the contact between them. They had been apart too long.

“Because I’ve had them over there all night decorating the tree and the apartment for this party I’ve planned for you.” Michael told her with a slight note of amusement in his voice. He was enjoying this toying with each other bit that they’d begun. It was good for him to see her smile brightly the way she was.

“You didn’t!?” She replied loudly. “How could you?!” She playfully slapped his shoulder in fake admonishment. Her hand stayed on his shoulder for a minute then began a slow trip down his back. It was sending vibes through both of them that they knew could not be taken care of at this time.

“Hey, I had no idea as to what to do with the stuff. This isn’t my sorta thing.” Michael replied easily, enjoying the feeling of her hand stroking his back. His mood lightened when he was around her. He felt something that he had not felt in a long time. He felt happy. He felt complete. He felt love in his heart.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do with you!” Nikita teased lightly as she looked up into his eyes and then slapped his butt lightly. “Come to the party with me.” Michael replied easily letting his fingers wander through her hair. He played with the gold strands that when she slept were like a halo around her head. She was his angel and he was determined to keep her.

“Of course I will Michael.” Nikita said softly and stretched up to give him another kiss on the mouth. He leaned down to meet her half way. He wanted to feel her kiss now more than ever. The kiss lasted for a few minutes as their tongues darted back and forth teasing each other.

“Good!” Michael said happily. He did not hesitate to let his feelings show to her at this point. She meant too much to him to lose her. She was his salvation as he was hers and he now knew this. “I have to go now though. I need to get to Section and finish my work. I will pick you up at 8pm for the party.”

Michael turned after one last kiss goodbye and walked out of the door. Once he was in his car, he breathed a sigh of relief. She was coming. Then he started to wonder at what made him do such crazy things. He thought about it the whole way to Section. When he reached his office a thought occurred to him. “It was the influence of Nikita’s love that made me do this for her!” He said softly to himself as he sat down at his desk and began working.

Michael smiled as he finished his work and headed out of his office. He wanted to get home and change clothes before he went to pick Nikita up. He was humming a Christmas tune as he walked down the hallways of Section. He bumped into Walter who was heading back to his station to drop something off before leaving.

“Hey Walter!” Michael said with a note of happiness in his voice that Walter had never heard before.

“Hey Michael! Did you manage to talk Nikita into coming tonight?” Walter asked.

“Yup, I sure did. It wasn’t as hard as I thought that it would be either. I have to pick her up at 8pm so could you please get to my place a little early to greet people?” Michael asked Walter in a merry voice. Walter stared in amazement. Walter had never heard Michael utter the word please before and it almost scared him.

“Yeah sure man. I’ll be there about 7:30 ok?” Walter responded trying to get to his workstation so that he could get ready and is at Michael’s apartment early. “Sounds good to me!” Michael said and slapped the older man on the back as he resumed his journey home.

When Michael got into his car, he started it and turned on the radio looking for Christmas music to listen to. Finding some, he put the car into gear and sped home.

It didn’t take him long to find an outfit suitable for this evening. Unlike what Nikita thought, Michael did not wear black outside of Section or Section related activities. He pulled on the white silk shirt that he had with a pair of dark blue jeans. It wasn’t too dressy but it wasn’t exactly dress down either.

He examined his image in the mirror while he was running the brush through his medium length curls. He thought that he looked decent enough to get Nikita.

Little did he know that Nikita was going through the same process as Michael at the same time as Michael was.

Nikita went through her whole closet of clothes trying to find the perfect outfit to wear. It had to make her look good as well as being easily disposed of once everyone left. She was planning to give Michael a night that he would never forget. Especially since this was Christmas Eve.

He had a lot of past Christmases to make up to her this year and she was not going to miss one of them. She hoped that he had plenty of eggnog and milk to help her with her plans. If not, he would be going to the store for them!

She grinned as she stuffed some stuff into an overnight bag that she had. She made sure that she put her robe in there because if she had to put anything on in the next few days, that would be it.

She finished packing around 7pm and hoped that Michael would show up a bit early. She wanted to be with him again more than she had wanted anything before in her life.

Michael was feeling the same way as he paced around his decorated apartment waiting and waiting for Walter to show up. Finally he heard a knock at the door. He rushed over, grabbing his coat on the way, and swung open the door and pulled Walter inside. He put on his coat and left the apartment without saying a word to Walter.

Walter just watched the door slam shut behind Michael stunned. He knew that Michael must be heading to Nikita’s and then smiled. They were finally getting their stuff straight and it was about time!

He jumped out of his car after parking it and ran up the stairs to her apartment. The closer he got to her apartment, the happier he got. It was 7:43pm when Nikita finally heard the light knock on the door that she had been expecting. He had shown up early just like she had hoped he would. She was going to make this night special for him she decided as she walked over to the door and opened it up.

The moment when their eyes fell upon each other seemed to last forever as each took the time to let their eyes slide from top to bottom. They wanted to explore every inch of each other with their eyes. Finally after a few minutes, Nikita moved out of the doorway and allowed Michael entrance. She closed the door behind him as he walked in and turned back to face her.

“You look gorgeous.” He said huskily. She could tell from the sound of his voice that he wanted her.

“You look great yourself. I didn’t know that you actually had clothes that weren’t black.” She said lightly. She wanted to break the sexual tension that was flying through the room right now. It didn’t work. They both knew it.

Nikita walked into the little kitchenette and pulled two bottles of water out of the fridge and opened them. She offered one to him and he took it gratefully. She then took a swig of her own bottle. He watched her every move unable to remove his eyes from her luscious curves showing through the tight red dress that she had on. The dress has white fur around the collar, wrists, and the hemline. She looked like Mrs. Claus in a way and it made him want her even more.

She knew what her dress was doing to Michael’s composure. She could see the war of emotions and loss of control crossing his face. She was enjoying every minute of it. It was about time that he panted after her instead of the other way around. Although the tight blue jeans on his butt were driving her mad.

“We had better go.” Michael said finally. The both know that the only place that either of them wanted to go to was her bedroom and rip every piece of clothing away from each other’s bodies.

“Yeah…” Nikita started to say. They were both lost in the moment. Finally Michael gained the strength to break free and walk over to her coat. He picked it up and slid it on for her. Then he walked over to her bag and picked it up. Then they walked out of the apartment, locking it up securely.

He opened the door quickly and was surprised to find that everyone but him and Nikita were already there. They quickly entered and removed their coats. Operatives started coming up to them and wishing them a Merry Christmas. Michael tried not to leave Nikita’s side but eventually they got separated in the rather large crowd.

Walter managed to get Nikita to dance with him to Jingle Bell Rock. Michael heard Nikita’s laughter at Walter’s antics and looked over. Electricity ran through his body when he saw her moving around in her tight dress. After Walter and Nikita finished their dance, Birkoff managed to talk her into dancing to Rocking Around the Christmas Tree. Suddenly a female operative came up to him.

“Would you like to dance with me Michael?” She asked over the noise of the crowd.

“No. Thanks for asking though.” He said as his eyes found Nikita again. Michael didn’t know that Walter had set this up. After hearing his refusal, she grabbed his hand and pulled him out into the middle of the room. He had no choice but to dance.

Nikita looked up at him and saw him dancing with her. Just then Operations walked up to her.“Are you enjoying yourself?” He asked.

“Yes, I am. Why?” She asked suspiciously.

“Nothing. Just wanted to make sure that Michael didn’t go through all of the hell he did for nothing.” He said.

“Why would it matter to you how much trouble Michael went through for this?” She asked suspiciously.

“No reason.” He said and walked away. That was very odd she thought to herself then shrugged it off. She would worry about that later. She had to deal with a male operative who was determined to dance with her. He would not take no for an answer and pulled her out into the middle of the room right next to where Michael and the young female operative were dancing.

Suddenly the song changed from a fast one to a slow song and the two young operatives who had pulled Michael and Nikita out into the middle of the room started dancing with each other leaving Michael and Nikita to dance with each other.

Michael didn’t hesitate to take Nikita in his arms the way that he had been aching to since he saw her dancing with Walter. Walter smiled deviously. He had pulled off getting them back together after they had gotten separated. Both Birkoff and Walter were relieved to see Nikita happily dancing in Michael’s arms outside of a mission and orders from Madeline.

Michael never let Nikita away from his side for the rest of the night. He had finally gotten close to her for the first time since they had walked through the door and he was not letting her get out of his sight again.

When everyone was leaving, Michael pulled Walter aside and thanked him for arranging for him and Nikita to get back to each other. Walter said that thanks weren’t necessary then patted Michael on the back as he slipped out of the door with a small kiss on Nikita’s cheek. The last person left quietly and Michael immediately took Nikita into his arms for a deep kiss that would last way past the next day.