Nikita is on deaths door. Elana and Nikita are of similar empathic races. They are the most open-minded and human looking aliens anyone at the D.E.O. have ever met. Which is why it made sense to everyone that Elana could easily 'sync up' with Nikita and bring her back from the brink. Elana explains what is needful to bring her back and why she can't do it.
"It would require someone both compatible and in sync with her to pull her back from death. I'm compatible; I'm not in sync!" She looks around and takes it by a different handle. "It would require someone who has been with her for at least six years day in day out and is on the same wavelength as her. I'm on the same wave-length. But she and I are practically strangers. In other words, despite the fact that we agree with each-other on 95% of everything, we've never actually spent enough time together to recognize each-other. And in this case, it has to be someone who is BOTH."
"Could I do it?" J'onn asked in a voice barely above a whisper.
"I...I believe so." Elana replied thoughtfully. "The two of you have always been so in-step...and you've known her longer than anyone."
Several days later Nikita is at her apartment, watching a Cinderella musical when J'onn knocks on her door. She waves him in, finishes whatever she was whispering to herself about and invites him to sit down with her and watch the movie. The instant he sits down, she hurriedly stands up.
"Would you like something to drink?"
"What are you drinking?"
"It's a kind of seltzer, apparently mildly alcoholic." J'onn give her a 'why do you say it like that' look. "I've never known anything that is not alcoholic to calm both my nerves and my stomach like this. Here, let me pour you a glass." She pours him more of the seltzer into a glass identical to her own. "Chet na-she Hezikiah Nest-Za Ki." She says raising her glass in a toast. She brings the glass up to the side of her face before drinking. "Alah Ka-tiya Kian-em."
A traditional toast in her own language which translates loosely as "To life friends and family...To God whoever that may be."
J'onn actually blushes. "I'm sorry I, wasn't sure you recognized me."
"I know what is familiar to me J'onn." She replied with a small laugh. "Although I have to admit I'm not always sure why. Why does Jeremiah act like he's afraid of me?"
"It's a caution stemming from concern, not apprehension." J'onn said automatically. His face grew a look of regret. “You know how much we both care for you right?” Nikita nodded slowly. “I'm hoping you and I can talk about something...that we've been dancing around for a long time.”
Nikita sat herself down on her couch. "Yeah what is that about anyway? Seriously J'onn, what happened between us? I feel like apologizing to you for something. But I also feel like grabbing you by the collar and trying to shake some sense into you. Which makes no freaking sense!"
"I underestimated you and scared you off in the same stroke."
“J'onn I am asking as formally as I know, to be direct exact and forthright. It shouldn't be hard for you.”
“Do you recognize the name 'Hank Henshaw'?"
A dark look cast over Nikita's eyes. "Only that he was a jerk who took Jeremiah away from his family. I didn't have anyone to miss me when he locked me away. He must be dead now, long dead because I try to picture him and all I see is you."
"That might be because I am wearing his face. Hank was...well I met you and Jeremiah for the first time when you both served under him. Your word for him was Creech-ta. It Fits."
"...It would have to; I wouldn't use it otherwise." Nikita said offhandedly.
"Something did happen between us. You said I was appropriately wearing Hank's face. That I reminded you of him. You were right. I stepped into Hank's shoes in a MAJOR way. His attitude, his bull-headedness, and quite possibly his arrogance. If there is one thing Jeremiah, you and I know about Henshaw it's that we hated his tendency of jumping to the worst conclusions about someone who is practically a stranger, just because of their race. Which is exactly what I was doing and you rightly called me on it. But you didn't break faith with me over it.”
"You didn't know how unnervingly I hold to my own convictions?"
"I think you mean unswervingly, and no I didn't. But even that isn't all of it. For the last several months I've been keeping my distance from you...admiring you from a distance actually. You're a better human being than I ever realized. Which may sound ironic, but for us it's true." Nikita cocks her head sideways. "What?"
"Weird choice of word sequence is all. And you are a very deliberate person so I imagine it was meant to indicate something specific. It wasn't just for the sake of being different?"
"That was me acknowledging both that we know you're Zavallen and that we still call you a human being. For us it doesn't matter.” J'onn looked intently into Nikita's face with a warmth and admiration that would make you envy the recipient. “We've been working together, professionally but avoiding each-other in a way that...probably wasn't very comfortable for either of us. I've been trying to find a way to tell you that you were right. But something...uncertain was going on. There was some pain in your face I hadn't seen there before. And until I knew where it came from, and what part I had in putting it there, I didn't want to, 'stick my foot any father down my throat'."
" 'In your mouth', I believe is the proper expression. At least you're aware of what happened. And you're being honorable about it: Giving me space without playing the blame game. What I mean is you're being selfless. You're not demanding an apology or an explanation, but giving one. And you recognize the part you had to play in what happened between us. In my experience, that's pretty rare."
" 'In your experience'.” J'onn said thoughtfully. “It occurs to me I know very little about your life before I met you. Or at least, before you ended up here the first time.”
“I shall assume you mean the D.E.O.” J'onn nodded. “Well, there's not much to say. I spent 19 years on my home planet, 38 years in the Western Hemisphere of this one. 12 years living rough with the salt of the Earth in the geographic intersection of the world; Southwest Asia. I was learning Farsi and Arabic so I could speak as one of them. I came back to the United States, got captured as a criminal and treated as if I had been running away from justice or the law the entire time I'd lived on your planet. No one had noticed me so they assumed I had been hiding my presence. It was pretty messed up. After, I don't even know how long Jeremiah joined the D.E.O and life became bearable again. 5 years later...well I assume you know that part of the story."
J'onn nodded sagely. "You stood up for Jeremiah even when you wouldn't stand up for yourself. In light of that, Henshaw decided you could work for the DEO and make a difference, instead of living there as a prisoner in one of their cells. Wait...you were a prisoner for more than 5 years?"
"Of course!" Nikita said as if this were the most obvious thing in the world. "Hank didn't take a particular interest in me until Jeremiah came. I only look back as far as when Jeremiah joined up because that's where our story, yours and mine I mean, even begins. But that's not the same thing. J'onn are you feeling alright?”
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