New Division meant better out-of-country command centers. Hotel rooms instead of creaking abandoned houses or something that looked more like a homeless person's lean-to then a place where a mission would be conducted.

Their current mission brought them to Russia. Back to the place Owen had been held, back to the hell he had been put through. Justice, he was promised. Answers. Plus, the extended invitation to put a bullet between the eyes of the crooked warden who had made his stay there just that much worse. Alex was pretty sure that's the whole reason he had agreed to go in the first place. The same reason she would've went back to the brothels of her past if it meant a bullet between...

She paused and shook off the thoughts. This wasn't about her. Nikita and Michael had left an hour or so prior, leaving to get their transportation and covers finalized. Across the room she watched the blond man polishing a knife with a precision she'd only seen once before. In Nikita. A small smile played across her face. Those two were more alike then they'd ever admit, but she found it endearing...in an odd way.

"Owen." The brunette piped up, closing the file she'd been reading over to cross the room. He looked up and gave her a smile, one that didn't quite reach those piercing eyes of his but a genuine one none the less. For someone who did the things that he did, the jobs he had carried out...he seemed to be a nice enough guy. It was like the opposite of judging a book by it's cover and judging it on it's first chapters only. No way to tell if you would like it.

By the time she reached the other end of the room and sat down beside him, the knife and the cloth he'd been using were set off to the side and he was paying attention to her. It was bordering on gentlemanly, though she supposed that's just something normal people did when someone spoke, as opposed to what she'd gotten used to in Division.

"What's up?" He asked, shaking her from the short thought span she'd gotten stuck in. For a moment, she'd forgotten why she came over here, why she wanted to talk to him. She had found herself doing it more often, reaching out to talk to him since he came back, trying to figure out who he was. What he was about, other then the stories that she'd been told from everyone. Gentle warnings that had been thrust upon her that she ignored now about him and the regiment. She could tell that man wasn't there anymore.

Her fingers picked at the fabric of her sweater for a moment before her mind clicked. "Oh! I just wanted to touch bases with you. This prison. Are you sure that you're ready to head back in there? Going back into a place like that...it's not the easiest thing to do, especially voluntarily." Her mind flashed for a moment. Vlad's place, Udinov manor...she had experience with it.

"Yeah..yeah. I'm ready for it. Places like this shouldn't be running under the people it's being run by. People like that shouldn't be allowed to walk on this Earth." His voice had dropped for a moment, quickly catching himself to even out and finish off the comment. Last thing he wanted to do was scare this girl sitting next to him. Though, he figured; scaring her would probably be hard. He had heard the things she'd gone through. Before Nikita, during her stay with the former agent, while she was in Division, afterwards. Call it shop talk, call it getting to know his allies. Either way, he knew she'd seen a lot of hell for a girl her age, more then most.

When his hand found it's way on top of her slightly fidgeting one, he wasn't surprised. He used to see Nikita do the same thing. That same nervous tick. It's what happens to your body when your nervous system goes through the roller coaster that is an addiction and the recovery process. Some twitch, others jiggle there leg, and sometimes, they make their hands busy. He understood.

She looked down, surprised for a moment before an easy smile made it's way across her face and a soft laugh escaped her lips. "Sorry." She murmured, clearing her throat to find her voice again. "We've got your back. Nik, Michael and myself. So just remember...you aren't in there by yourself." It's a thought that could keep you alive. She kept that one to herself. The wise words of gentle encouragement would be fine for the man in front of her.

"Ya know. Hearing that you'll be watching my back makes me thankful of the extra work out hours I clocked in that place." He smirked, and this time his eyes caught the playful tone and she felt her heart actually flutter. That wasn't normal. She didn't do that and yet she found herself tucking her chin and blushing behind a curtain of her hair that had fallen in front of her face. A chuckle filled the room, belonging to Owen as his free hand came up under her chin to keep her from hiding her face any longer.

"Now see, I was told that you Russian's couldn't blush. I'm kinda glad to see that was a myth." Dammit, he was a charmer. She grinned, shaking her head as she swatted his hand gently and shook her head.

"Shut up." That voice didn't belong to her. It belonged to a school girl with a crush or something. Did she mind? Not particularly. He was...refreshing. From what she'd dealt with in the past. With Thom, things were forbidden, same with Nathan. Sean was a story she didn't want to even begin to read but Owen...

He wasn't forbidden. He wasn't off limits. And she liked it.