Guts Over Fear ◇ NIKITA

Domesticity

Alys had let Owen take control of regulating his regimen doses, but she still liked to keep record of his personal timing. Division records had said that it should be taken every 24 hours, but never exceeding every 12 hours should it be necessary. Keeping this in mind, she realized he was currently at the twelve hour limit rate.

He was taking a dose of four pills as she was making breakfast, something simple but would meet all nurtrional needs. "Did your mom teach you how to cook?" Owen asked, his eyes going to her momentarily as he made himself coffee.

"No, I never actually knew any of my parents all that well. Even then, I wasn't eating all that much those days. Believe it or not, cooking is something a ghost taught me." Alys stirred the contents of the pan: sausage, potatoes, red and green peppers, she had cheese she would melt over the top later, too.

"Any of them?" he questioned. One might've thought it was in disbelief, but Alys noticed Owen got caught up on terminology sometimes.

"I never knew my mother, can hardly remember my father," Alys explained, giving a one shoulder shrug. "At a young age, my father sent me away, paid a couple to raise me. When I was old enough I learned they were just handlers, they were always away doing missions. Is it any reason I didn't end up the same?" She turned off the fire and grabbed a handful of the shredded cheese she'd pulled out, sprinkling it on top and putting a lid on the pan so it would properly melt the cheese. "Did your parents teach you any of your current skills?"

She had her back turned to him after getting a quick look at his curious expression, grabbing two plates as Owen started doing that quiet scream again. Quickly setting them down, she turned and grabbed the mug from his hand, somehow managing not to spill as she set that down too and took his arm for support. He'd just taken the regimen, maybe it needed some time to kick in, like any other drug.

The way he was laid back against the counter, clutching his head and to Alys at the same time, she was able to see tattoos peaking out of his short sleeves, threatening to capture her attention again. "Are you alright?" she forced herself to ask, having to force her attention elsewhere.

"I'm fine," he panted, still clutching his head when he let Alys go to grab the counter instead. She was almost grateful, he had an intense grip, even without being as intense as when he momentarily wanted to kill her.

"Come sit down," she gently instructed. Letting her take his hand, Owen let her guide him to the livingroom, sitting down with a low groan. With concern clear on her face, Alys stepped back and watched him adjust, the pain passing from his face soon after. "You aren't getting better on the regimen," she noted with a soft sigh.

"It's only been a week, I haven't had time to regulate," Owen assured, meeting her gaze. "Give it time." Alys nodded and went to the kitchen, putting the food onto plates and bringing Owen his coffee, biting back her disbelief. "Thanks." Alys hummed in response and sat down in her chair, pulling the Guardian's computer onto her lap and booting it up as she ate. "You kept that?" Owen asked around a bite.

Raising a brow at him she looked to the screen, typing something onehanded as she brought her fork away from her mouth. "I thought it might have useful information. I'm not just a doctor, I'm also a hacker." Alys set her fork on her plate and opened up the files, finding most of it encoded. Looking through what she could with simple access, she looked for anything related to the regimen and detoxing programs.

"You've got all your bases covered, don't you?" Alys scoffed with a small smirk, pouring over the contents while she ate. The two sat in silence for a while, if silence counted as the sounds of Alys' focus centered on the keys of the laptop. Essentially, the only things unencrypted for her had been just orders on the list - rogue Guardian Owen, rogue agent Nikita, Black Box at Priority One.

That silence was disrupted as Owen was bringing his dishes back to the kitchen, offering to take Alys' as well. She was too distracted to much more than nod with a polite smile, her eyes moving back and forth over the screen. He shook his head and got a couple steps in before a cell phone buzzed on an end table. It was only a text alert, but they didn't even stop by the time Owen had returned to the livingroom. "You gunna get that?" he asked curiously.

"It's just Birkhoff," she dismissed, reluctant to turn away from the new information. "You guys have him stretched thin with the Black Box situation, he doesn't always have the moments to keep up with me." Alys half growled to herself when after a short pause another came through. "Could you hand me that?" she asked, trying to conceal her irritation.

Owen chuckled and grabbed the suddenly silent device, walking it over to her. "Nikita told me you liked to go through people's things, but this isn't what I pictured," he softly laughed, handing her the phone.

"Yeah, well, did I tell you that Nikita likes to watch people sleep? Like, crossing the line on normal," Alys retorted, a smile to her lips to hide the real spite behind it. Get a grip, Al, she thought to herself as she scrolled through the messages. Most of it was him bitching about Percy and his lockdown, venting so he a somewhat clearer head going back into it. Some bits were checking up on Alys, and supplying her with records on the regimen program. Since the detox wasn't used outside of Guardian purposes, it wasn't kept in the usual Division logs.

"He got anything useful for us?" Owen asked, sitting back down on the sofa.

"Not right now," Alys mumbled slowly, still reading over the texts. "He has his moments."