While I am still working on "The perfect gift" I wanted to do something different as well….still Balex because I absolutely love them, but mostly because the story has been developing in a new way and I rather like the thought of writing about the building of Homequarters. Not sure whether I will be using Sean/Ryan as a couple again though….what do you guys think? I will start out with Salex though so the story will once again be following the exact path of the previous episodes.

"Alex when I said: you are buying the next house, I didn't mean an entire hotel." Birkhoff commented as the whole group looked at the building in front of them.

"You are exaggerating, it isn't that big." In truth it hadn't been a hotel but a resort. It meant there were quite a few rooms that were comfortably decorated for sleeping, a pool, an already installed camera system, a large room to set up as common space, a great kitchen.

"Yeah Nerd, quit whining. I like this five star treatment." Nikita joked as she passed him to enter the house.

"I wasn't whining, it's just not what I expected." He grumbled as he followed the rest. The resort was perfectly placed as it was surrounded by a thick forest. They really couldn't have picked a better place.

"How did you find this place Alex?" Michael asked as he dumped a couple of bags in the entrance hall. The hall immediately connected with a large room, which clearly had been a bar of some sort. Little tables were still standing here and there and the bar in question was covered with a cloth to protect the surface from damage. It was spacious and had hardly any windows because the main form of light was a large glass dome with a chandelier hanging from its central point. It all reminded Birkhoff vaguely of the Titanic movie, not that he would ever admit to knowing that.

"It's a need to know basis really. The really rich people used to come here until they found out there were swamps in the surrounding forests. They usually come here to hunt so that kind of ruined the fun…and the business. It hasn't been on the market yet because I found the owner before he could do that." She walked to a room in the back and turned on a few levers, connecting the main power station to all the other things in the building. Soon the chandelier was throwing sparkling streams of light through the room. "Big enough for a main room right? There are 8 suits in total. The resort wasn't built for many guests at the same time. They all have their own bathrooms and small living rooms attached. There is a library down the hall and a pool downstairs. The kitchen is that way." Alex said pointing in a couple of directions. After the packing and traveling everyone had done, they were glad to just head upstairs and settle in. To Birkhoff his surprise Ale didn't follow Sean into the room he had picked, but instead took the one next to it. He decided not to think about it anymore in favor of taking a hot shower.

They had acquired a couple of new computers before they headed over to the new "house" which were still in boxes in the new main room. He looked at them with a sigh, he was too tired for this. The computers needed to be up and running so he could keep tabs on everything and make sure they were blocked from Division their eyes, but it was a lot of work to make sure everything was connected. He just wished he could go upstairs and fall back into his bed like the rest of them, but he was the computer genius and therefor responsible for this. "Want some help with that?" He turned around to find Alex standing behind him munching on a sandwich.

"As long as you don't spill any mayonnaise on them." She gave him a smile that said she understood he was grateful for the offer.

"Where do you exactly want to put them?" She asked grabbing one of the boxes.

"I am not sure yet, I need a bigger table first, I can't work with those smaller round ones." He looked around, trying to find a suitable replacement.

"There is a big mahogany desk in the library, I don't think anyone else will be using that one." As it turned out the desk was also extremely heavy. While it was a beautiful thing, Birkhoff still cursed it.

"Damnit!" He yelped as a stray loose piece of wood imbedded itself in his finger.

"You alright?" Alex asked who put down her part of the desk.

"Yes, just a splinter." He grumbled, pulling out the piece with his teeth. He grabbed the desk once again, making sure he avoided the place he had just placed his hand. The going was slow but once it was standing he found it commanded the attention in the room. It truly was fitting for the Shadow Walker.

"Not that I do not appreciate the help Alex, but why exactly are you here instead of upstairs like the rest of them?" They were setting up the screens and connecting them.

"You are just as tired as us, even with your energy drinks. This needs to be done and it doesn't necessarily take you to do it. I wanted to help." He gave her a grateful smile for not forgetting that he was just as human as the rest of them, even if he never admitted it. With Alex her help the computers were soon up and running and a general system-check was done.

"Well I'm going to bed, you coming?" The younger female threw him a smile from the couch she was currently inhabiting.

"No I think I'll stay down here. I never sleep well in a strange place. I just need to get used to it." She looked so small and lonely and Birkhoff nearly kicked himself for what he was about to do.

"Well then I'll just keep you company." He crashed on the couch across from her, making himself comfortable.

"Birkhoff you don't have to do that."

"No it's fine, we can share secrets and all that crap." He moved the pillow beneath his head. "Which reminds me with that phone hack what was that about?"

"What do you mean?"

"Oh please your whole act at Division: Gee Birkhoff that workaround you figured out is just genius." He did a very high fake imitation of Alex and suddenly she remembered what he was talking about.

"One: I do not talk like that. Two: I put a transmitter in your pocket so I could listen in on what happened in operations when you pushed my aside. I can't believe you remembered that."

"You actually bugged me!" He faked an affronted look. "I'm impressed. And how often do you think the recruits came up to me telling me how brilliant I am, of course I remember."

"Well I didn't lie, it was pretty brilliant."

"Wow the one thing that was actually true, considering you know a lot more about computers than any of those other idiots and you were pretending to be just as stupid." She laughed.

"Well I could hardly tell you Nikita already trained me in everything."

"Oh please, I know you stepped in when I was away. You are better than Nikita, but not as good as me of course." She threw a pillow at him and was rewarded with an oomph as it landed on his stomach.

"Learn how to take a compliment woman." He grumbled, using the extra pillow to support his head.

"Learn how to curb your ego nerd." She shot back.

"How can I stop it if you continue to praise my awesomeness." If she wasn't so comfortable she would have thrown a second pillow at him.

"What do you think about this Home-quarters idea Michael and Nikita have?" She had been questioning the idea the moment they had put it on the table. The stars were just barely visible through the glass dome above her, but it still made her feel small and insignificant in this world.

"Well I don't know about you but I am not really trained for anything but this. After this life I do not really feel like becoming a boring guy who fixes peoples cables."

"You could go back to being Shadow Walker?" She speculated.

"Yes and trigger another alarm or another organization like Gogol or Division. No thanks. What about you? Live on some faraway island with your navy seal? You have the money for it."

"I don't know. You guys are my friends and I don't think I can ever really get close to other people without having to tell them where I came from. If Nikita and Michael make Home-quarters a more permanent thing we might actually be able to help people the way Division once meant to do. Without the turn kids into assassins thing of course." They shared a small smile at that.

"That is if we survive this whole thing. I mean we have at least some sort of deity looking out for us with the bouts of luck we have had." It was a harsh reality that some of them may not survive it.

"I was thinking about that and I was wondering if you could train me with the computers?"

"So you think I am the first one to go?" He joked, trying to lift the once again heavy tension.

"No, but currently you are the only one capable of doing those things…if we lose you we lose a lot more than if we lost me or something." It was a very clinical approach to the problem.

"If we lost you it would be just as important Alex. Hell Nikita was taking extreme risks when Michael was on the other side of the world, I don't want to know what she would do if she actually lost on of you. You are like a sister to her."

"I know but skills wise you guys wouldn't lose much. With you we would not only lose a friend but also an important asset. So can you teach me, so I can step in if you get hurt?"

"If we have time for it, yes I can teach you." She would probably be the best one to take over anyway. "What does Sean think about fighting after this is over?"

"I don't know, we haven't really had time to talk yet." She let out a sigh, she had absolutely no idea where Sean and her really stood.

"You know it doesn't take a genius to figure out you are unhappy about something. I thought you liked Seal six?" Birkhoff was actually rather surprised they were having such a deep conversation, but at the same time he and Alex had been becoming better friends. They had the same humor, which often wasn't appreciated by Michael or Nikita. Some people really didn't get sarcasm.

"I do, but I am just not sure what we are exactly."

"With the way you were going at it in the back of the car I'd say it's pretty obvious what you guys are. You didn't talk when we were at Ryan his place?"

"No, we were never alone there. Let's just drop it okay, I'm sure I'll be able to talk to Sean tomorrow and sort everything out." And with that they just stayed silent, enjoying the view of the clear sky outside.

AN: Not my best I think and I promise you I will try to write the next chapter for the perfect gift tomorrow….well later today as it's past midnight.