Choice Transcript
By Cathy

(This is the second part of a two-part episode. You should read the spoiler for "Gray" first if you haven't seen these episodes)
TEASER

A building in which a drug deal is taking place
The episode begins with a man flipping open a suitcase full of drugs. He is with a group of men and one of them looks in the briefcase.
Man #1: Oooh.
Briefcase Man: (smiles)
Man #1 does some calculations on a PDA.
Briefcase Man: We packed them a little heavy. I'm sure you won't complain.
Man #1: (laughs) Next scene, another man is outside. He looks around and pulls out a walkie-talkie.
Outside Man: It's all clear.
Briefcase Man: Good, we're coming. (They all exit the building. Suddenly Man #1 and his cohorts have guns pointed at their heads)
Briefcase Man: Here's what's going to happen. Everyone's going to hand us their weapons. You're going to hand the heroin over to me, get in your cars and disappear. (The men give him the heroin). Thank you. The money, please? (the other man hands over his briefcase) Thank you. Excuse me. (he walks away)
Man who handed over the money briefcase: What the hell is going on?
A shootout ensues and the men who have just been divested of the money and drugs are all slaughtered.

Scene 2: Madeline's office. Operations walks in; Madeline is upstairs.
Operations: A heroin deal went bad two days ago. Buyers and sellers were slaughtered. We need to find the people who perpetrated the rip-off.
Madeline: (scornfully) We're suddenly chasing street criminals?
Operations: This is as serious as it gets. They were CIA. (He walks out)

Scene 3: Nikita's apartment. She and Gray are in bed together; she's lying on top of him and he's playing with her hair.
Nikita: You know, it seems a bit too soon
Gray: You don't feel the same way I do?
Nikita: No, I do, of course I do, and I really want to meet her. It's just she's your daughter and it's going to be hard for her.
Gray: We've got to start somewhere.
Nikita: I don't want to start something that I can't finish. If Casey gets attached to me, what if in six months it doesn't work out?
Gray: No guarantees in life. Is there guarantees in life? Well, death and taxes, are guarantees.
Nikita: Gray-
Gray: What's up? What's holding you back? (There is a knocking at the door.) Who is it?
Nikita: Nothing (knocking gets louder) Coming! (She throws a robe on and heads to the door. She looks through the peephole and looks back at Gray apprehensively before opening it.)
Gray: Who is it?
Nikita: (Opens the door) It's uh… (Michael is there)
Michael: It's your cousin Michael.
Nikita: (whispers) It's not a good time Michael
Michael: (low voice) Since when do you decide when it's a good time? (He enters) I missed you! (He kisses her cheeks) You must be Gray! Pleased to meet you.
Gray: (enters) Who are you?
Nikita: This is my cousin, Michael.
Michael: I feel like I know you already. You're all Nikita talks about these days.
Gray: Really? (Beeping from kitchen) I'll get that. (He leaves)
Michael: I'm sorry to burst in. I tried to call but I couldn't get through. (He moves toward the phone as Nikita backs away, trying to shield him from seeing it.) See, it's disconnected. I wonder how that happened?
Nikita: I unplugged it.
Michael: And your cell phone?
Nikita: It's broken.
Gray: (from kitchen) Uh, Michael? Glass of wine?
Michael: Thank you. (They go into the kitchen)
Gray: Nikita, you never mentioned you had a cousin living in town.
Nikita: Well, Michael works away a lot. He's rarely ever here.
Gray: What do you do?
Michael: Buy art for galleries. (He hands Gray a business card)
Gray: You know what's weird? We were just talking about meeting family today.
Michael: (Smiles but it's like the smile of death) That's nice.
Gray: Yeah.
Nikita: (fake smile) So, uh, Michael, what brings you here? It must be something very important to come all the way here.
Michael: Yeah, it's your Aunt Josephine. She's uh - she's still not doing well. So I told her you'd drop by in the morning.
Nikita: Fine.
Michael: Good. (Toasts Gray with his glass) Welcome to the family, Gray. (Poor Gray ... he has no idea who her family really is...)

Scene 4 Section One. Michael is at the briefing table; Nikita walks in behind him, angrily.
Nikita: What gives you the right to barge in on my life?
Michael: You don't unplug the phone, ever.
Nikita: All I wanted was one hour to myself. Was that too much to ask?
Michael: Yes.
(Operations walks in and seats himself at the table, as does Birkoff )
Operations: Operation Rosewood is the name given to a covert task force operating within the CIA. Their assignment is to stem distribution of heroin into North America and Europe.
Birkoff: We're constantly monitoring Langley. I've never heard of these guys.
Operations: They're not out of Langley. Rosewood operates outside of the agency. Three days ago, a group of heroin dealers were ambushed, ripped off and killed. One of the dearly departed was identified as a member of the Rosewood group. We now believe the perpetrators are a rogue element inside of Rosewood group.
Michael: Why don't they put their own internal affairs on it?
Operations: The director wants to keep Rosewood invisible even to his own agency; he asked us to clean house. (He brings up the holoscreen)
Michael: Where do we start?
Operations: Here. They're headquartered on the third floor of this building under the pseudonym Pruitt Distributors. They're a very well-funded group. Do not underestimate their security.

Scene 5: The mission van.
Michael: Ted, when you get the signal, send a burst of EMF and knock out the power. Nikita, you'll have four seconds until the auxiliary power kicks in.
Nikita: (beside him) Is that enough time?
Michael: It'll have to be.
A security guard walks back and forth outside the building. Nikita rappels up the side of the building.
Birkoff: She's on the roof.
Siren go off; a police car pulls up outside. This distracts the security guard. Nikita gets into a ventilation duct and works her way along inside the building. She then drops her way into a protected room that has laser beams criss-crossing it. The electricity zaps out and she drops to the floor just before the lasers resume.
Nikita: I'm in.
Birkoff: She did it. I hope you're comfortable, Nikita. See you in eight hours.
Nikita watches the beams zapping back and forth just above her head for a moment and then closes her eyes

Scene 6: The same building, daylight. A security guard exits the elevator and presses some buttons. The lasers turn off and Nikita springs to her feet. She puts a disk into the computer, copying data.
Birkoff: Transponders on. She's booted up.
Michael: Are we receiving?
Birkoff: Yep. (Flash to shot of people entering the building. Nikita types away at the computer. The scene cuts from the security guard walking to Nikita stripping off her outside layer of clothing. The guard opens the door to reveal Nikita just picking up her bag. She is dressed in business attire.)
Guard: Who are you?
Nikita: Mr. Price's secretary. Look, I don't mean to be rude but he has a conference call in ten minutes, so I really should be going. (She breezes past the stunned guard, who gets a message on his walkie-talking that they are waiting for him to unlock L-12.)

Scene 7: Section One. Operations meets Michael and Nikita at the door as they come in.
Operations: We downloaded everything you sent us; comm is putting it through analysis now. (He turns and they follow him down the hall)
Nikita: Michael, if it's all the same to you, I'll debrief in the morning?
Michael: No, you'll do it now like everybody else.
Nikita: Michael! Please, I have to get back. It's very important.
Michael: The sooner you get started, the sooner you get out of here.
Nikita stares after him, angry, as he walks away.

Scene 8: Nikita enters her darkened apartment and finds Gray and his daughter, waiting for her, asleep. She notices there is a candlelit meal that has been prepared for her. She lies down next to Casey, Gray's daughter, and looks at her, then kisses Gray on the ear to wake him.
Gray: So, what happened to your aunt?
Nikita: She got dizzy.
Gray: Is she alright?
Nikita: Fine.
Gray: There's a little person I want you to meet. Meet Casey.
Nikita: Hi Casey.
Gray: She's a bit sleepy.

Scene 9: Section One. Nikita enters Madeline's office; Madeline is sitting at her desk.
Madeline: Thanks for coming in. From what I've been reading, it appears to have been a letter-perfect operation last night. (She gets up and walks across the room, away from Nikita, to the sitting area)
Sit down. Would you like some fresh fruit?
Nikita: No, thank you.
Madeline: For every one of us in here, there comes a time when we get confused. When we think we're living two separate lives. We tear ourselves apart trying to reconcile them.
Nikita: I don't need any advice today, Madeline.
Madeline: But you do. See, there aren't two parts of your life anymore. This isn't a job. You can't go home at night and be someone else. You've heard it all before, but now it's real. ray doesn't exist, not really.
Nikita: Isn't it enough that I do what you ask?
Madeline: You will do what we ask. You missed my point. You can't hide who you are from the people that you care about.
Nikita: What are you telling me? That I can't see him? That I can't care about him?
Madeline: One or the other. Your choice.
Nikita: Can I go now? (Madeline nods almost imperceptibly; when Nikita gets up to go, she gets up and follows.)
Madeline: The world outside these walls is an illusion. It's not really there for us. We're ghosts.
(Madeline looks concerned as Nikita walks away)

Scene 10: Section One, Comm Center
Birkoff: (Looking at his computer screen) Rosewood's targeted seven different drug lords. When I started analyzing the data, I noticed that six out of the seven have been subjected to all kinds of infiltration. (Michael looks over his shoulder) This one guy here, Valery, hasn't been touched. They don't even seem to be setting him up.
Michael: So they're ripping off the other six and selling to Valery.
Birkoff: (nods) That'd be my guess.
Michael: Where do we find this guy Valery?
Birkoff: Finding him's not the problem. Getting to him ... he's heavily guarded.
Michael: We have to get Valery. He's the link to the dirty CIA agent.

Scene 11: A restaurant. The man with the briefcase from the first scene, Price, sits down with Valery and a blonde woman.
Valery: I'm not crazy about the venue.
Price: My deal, my place.
Valery: Your place sucks. You got the black?
Price: (whispers at Valery) The only reason you're sitting here, and not doing twenty to life, is because of me. I own your ass. Let's keep that straight. I'm not one of your street-slime homies. So when you talk to me, you look me in the eye and you use complete sentences. Are we cool, bro?
Valery: Do you have the heroin, Mr. Price?
Price: (rises) Much better. (Valery thows something on the table, Price picks it up.) Enjoy the food.

Scene 12: The outside of a large hotel.
Nikita: So what's the occasion?
Gray: Do we need a reason to get away for a couple of days?
Nikita: (looks around the room in wonder, smiles. Gray takes her coat.) Not bad. Not bad!
Gray: Only not bad? (He lies down on the bed, she comes over and jumps on the bed, standing over it.) So you like it?
Nikita: No. I love it. (She lies down on him and they start kissing. The phone rings. After two rings, she answers) We're not here.
Michael: Josephine.
Nikita: Yep.
Michael: There's a headset under the sink, on the left side. You'll get instructions when it's on. Go.
Nikita: Okay! (falsely cheery voice) Thank you.
Gray: Who is it?
Nikita: The front desk. They want to know when they come up and turn the bed down. You know, I'm feeling a little sticky. I want to take a shower, the train trip. Gray...
Gray: After.
Nikita: No, now.
Gray: Together?
Nikita: No, alone. I'll be two minutes.
Gray: One minute. (Nikita gets up and goes into the bathroom, Gray starts counting backwards) Fifty-nine, fifty-eight.
Nikita goes into the bathroom and turns the water on. She gets the headset out and puts it on and hears Michael's voice.
Michael: There's a removable panel behind the blue towels. Tell me when you've opened it. (She throws the towels out)
Nikita: Okay, it's open. (There's a gun behind it)
Michael: Pull out the unit and assemble. (She does)
Nikita: Done.
Michael: There are six micro-cartridges in the packet. Put in two tranq darts.
Nikita: Done.
Michael: Go to the window and open it.
Nikita: It won't open.
Michael: Now, Nikita. (She balls up the drapes and breaks the window)
Gray: Everything allright?
Nikita: Fine! (She aims out the window) Where's the target?
Michael: He'll be out in seconds.
Gray: We should go down to the wharf for dinner!
Nikita: That sounds great!
Michael: Be ready, they're coming.
Gray: Good. The art gallery here is supposed to be fantastic.
Nikita: Which one?
Gray: (hears her) What?
Michael: Pink shirt. Hit him in the back of the shoulder. (She does, he falls. It is Valery.)
Gray: Hey, there's this architectural exhibit at the museum, which you might find boring but…
Nikita: Done.
Michael: All right Nikita, you're done. Clean up.
Gray: You decide, whatever you want. (knocks on door) Nikita? (Outside an ambulance pulls up and a medic comes up to the man with the target)
Medic: What happened?
Man: I don't know, he just keeled over. Is he dead?
Medic: No, but he will be if we don't get him to a hospital right away.
Man: We'll take him.
Medic: Not possible. He's had a massive coronary. If he's not treated in the next two minutes, you can take him to the morgue.
Gray: Nikita, what are you doing in there? (She emerges in a bathrobe and sits down, looking stunned). You allright?
Nikita: I'm not feeling very well.
Gray: Ok, look. I know you don't like to talk about your past, but every now and then I lose you.
Nikita: Gray, I'm sorry. There are just some things I have to work out myself.
Gray: Can I help? (She gives him a blank stare) Yeah. (disgusted that she won't talk to him)
Nikita: Why did we come here?
Gray: Why? What do you mean? To be together.
Nikita: Why here? Why this hotel?
Gray: Is that why you're upset? Did Michael tell you?
Nikita: Michael? Tell me what?
Gray: Michael called me the other day, when you were out. I told him that we were going away for the weekend and he said that you liked this place and that…
Nikita: (laughs sarcastically)
Gray: What is the big deal? Like you've got some family thing or what?
Nikita: Yeah, yeah it's a family thing.
Gray: Okay, then we'll go back.
Nikita: No! I want to stay, I want us to have a good time. I want us to laugh and drink and I want to stay up all night long. (He comes over and kisses her) I'm not crazy, I'm crazy…for you.

Scene 13: Section One, Michael is in his office. Nikita comes in.
Nikita: Hi, Michael.
Michael: Hello.
Nikita: Is there any reason you had to involve Gray in our business?
Michael: There is a reason for everything we do. Is there a problem?
Nikita: No, nothing I can't handle. (She leaves and runs into Walter)
Walter: Were you impressed?
Nikita: Impressed?
Walter: With the dart gun in the hotel room. Handled just like a TRG-21, right?
Nikita: Can I talk to you for a minute?
Walter: You can do anything you want to me and it can last for more than a minute.
Nikita: Have you ever been involved with anyone outside the Section?
Walter: Once a week if I'm lucky.
Nikita: That's not what I meant.
Walter: Oh, jeez. Don't tell me. You didn't fall in love, did you Nikita? That is not a good idea.
Nikita: Why not?
Walter: Paula Davenport. Sweetest little speech pathologist you'd ever want to meet. The only girl I ever had that I didn't kick out after the show was over.
Nikita: Well that's romantic (sarcastic)
Walter: No, you know what I mean, she had my number. I mean, I … I still think about her.
Nikita: So what happened?
Walter: Not that I was ever that big on honesty, but when you have to lie to someone every minute of every day.
Nikita: What if I didn't? What if I just told him the truth?
Walter: Then just take a gun and shoot him yourself.
Nikita: So that's it?
Walter: You can't dwell on what you can't have. Nikita, look, if you lost an arm you could spend the rest of your life depressed because you can't play the piano - or
Nikita: Or?
Walter: Or, you could learn to sing. Do this guy a favor, sugar... learn to sing.

Scene 14: The White Room. Valery regains consciousness. There is another operative in the room with him.
Valery: Who…who are you? What the hell is going on? My legs? I can't move my legs! I can't feel anything! What the hell did you do to me? (Madeline enters) Who are you? What is this place? What the hell did you do to me? I can't feel anything! What the hell is going on? (The other operative helpfully duct-tapes his mouth)
Madeline: Hello, Mr. Valery. I understand your confusion. It's not important where you are or who we are. If you ever want to have use of your legs again, you'll listen to me carefully. We need some information from you. Because we knew you'd be reluctant in advance to give us this information, we've had to resort to some rather drastic measures. You have no feeling below your waist. The reason for this is we've injected you with a nerve agent that will permanently paralyze you from the waist down if you don't receive an antidote within the next ninety seconds. (She inserts a syringe into the IV attached to him, but doesn't depress the plunger.) You're doing business with someone in the CIA. We want his name, time and place of your next meeting. Are you prepared to give us that information? Take your time. I know it's a difficult decision. You have twenty-eight seconds. (he starts to make noises against the tape and the other operative rips it off)
Valery: Oliver Price. I'm meeting him in two hours.
Madeline: Where?
Valery: Give me the stuff. The iron works at fifth and Grand. Gimme the stuff!
Madeline: The iron works at the corner of fifth and Grand?
Valery: Gimme the stuff! Yes!
Madeline: And his name is Oliver Price?
Valery: Yeah, that's right, now gimme the stuff! (total panic) (Madeline withdraws the syringe without having depressed it and walks away. Valery freaks out.) That's the truth! Come on! We had a deal! We had a deal! Come on!
Madeline: (turns at the door) The feeling will return to your legs within a few hours. There's no need for an antidote.

Scene 15: A boat goes by. Nikita, Gray and Casey are having lunch at a waterfront restaurant.
Casey: This is cool. Daddy never lets me eat french fries. He wants me to eat salad.
Nikita: Your daddy's a very smart daddy. That's really pretty, now Casey, I like it. (She is referring to Casey's doodling on a placemat)
Gray: Where do you go when you go away?
Nikita: (ignoring him, talking to Casey) What are we going to draw now?
Gray: Where do you go?
Nikita: Shall we draw a big bumblebee?
Gray: Who's Aunt Josephine, Nikita?
Nikita: Please, not now, not now, please. (to Casey) Can you draw?
Gray: Whatever the truth is, it can't be worse than what I imagine.
Nikita: I'm not seeing anybody else, Gray.
Casey: This is for you.
Nikita: You made this for me? This picture? It's very beautiful. I'm going to stick this beside my bed tonight and when I wake up in the morning, it's going to be sitting right there so the first thing that I see when I open my eyes is this picture and I'm going to think about your face.
Gray: Look, we don't have to talk about it now but we do have to talk about it.
Nikita: And we will. (to Casey) Very nice, thank you.
Gray: (to Casey) Sweetheart? You'll go back with Nikita, okay?

Scene 16: Nikita and Casey are walking through a mall, talking. Her cell phone rings.
Nikita: Casey, look at the fish for me darling? Just for a few minutes. (She leaves Casey looking at a fish tank and turns to answer her phone). Hello?
Michael: Josephine.
Nikita: I'm here.
Michael: Be here in twenty minutes.
Nikita: Yeah, I'll be right there. (She ends the call and turns around again) Casey, we're going to have to… (Casey is not there) Casey? Casey? Casey? Casey? (Nikita runs through the mall, calling) Casey? (She stops another shopper) Have you seen a little girl?
Shopper: No.
Nikita: (spots a child Casey's age and runs up.) Casey? (The girl turns around it isn't Casey) Terribly sorry. Casey? (She runs up the escalator and to a counter.) Excuse me?
Clerk: I'm helping-
Nikita: I've lost my little girl! She's five years old - can we close the exits?
Clerk: I don’t know how to do that?
Nikita: Can you call someone who can help me? You've got to find her.
Man: Excuse me, ma'am? (he is leading Casey by the hand. Nikita swoops her up into her arms.)
Nikita: Oh!
Casey: I was so scared.
Nikita: Oh, I was so scared too. (to the man who brought her back). Thank you! (to Casey) Are you okay? Yeah?

Scene 17: Section One. Valery, Michael and Walter.
Valery: Where's the girl? I can't go in without the girl.
Michael: Have you heard from Nikita?
Walter: Not yet.
Michael: We go without her.
Valery: Bad idea. Everybody knows I'm superstitious. I take a girl all the time to the buys.
Michael: Forget it. It's going to go down too fast to matter.
Valery: It's your party. Price is going to know something's wrong.
Michael: It won't matter, he'll be surrounded.
Valery: Just remember, I'm not the target.
Michael: Duck.
(Price arrives at the meet.)
Price: What is wrong with this picture?
Valery: Whaddaya got for me today?
Price: Every time we meet, you got a bimbo hanging off of your arm. What's going on?
Valery: We here to talk about my love life or do business?
Price: What's going on?
Valery: Nothing's going on yet. (He gives Price a look. Price goes over and opens a briefcase full of money)
Michael: (into his comm set) All right. Outside teams, take him down now. Blue team, neutralize the shooters on both sides. Exterior's clean, let's move in. Shooters first. Everyone but Price is expendable. Go. (There is a huge shootout. Nikita arrives at the tail end and watches.)

Scene 18: Madeline's office. Madeline, Operations and Nikita. Nikita is being lectured.
Operations: You have cultivated an extremely dangerous situation. Not only to yourself but to the Section. If you think we just played an impersonal game of global espionage…the fact is, what we do here is try to ensure the safety of every man, woman and child in this so-called civilized world. There is such a thing as evil. It exists. It's an insidious force that trickles down to innocent people. Now, when we fight that force, we help save those innocent people.
Madeline: You're going to have to let him go.
Nikita: Well, no I don't, I can make it work. I can.
Madeline: I'm sorry, Nikita.
Nikita: You don't own my soul. I'm not afraid to die. (She and Operations stare at each other)

Scene 19: Nikita's apartment. She's already there; Gray arrives.
Gray: (walks in, slowly, stunned by something) Uh, sorry I'm late. The... weirdest thing happened. I'm crossing the street and a car comes out of nowhere, almost runs me down. It was like he was trying to hit me. I didn't get the license number but I think I should call the police anyway.
Nikita: (takes the phone from him) We've got to talk.
Gray: Okay. What?
Nikita: I'm not who you think I am.
Gray: Okay, we talked about this before. Sometimes I don't know what to think but…I love you.
Nikita: Don't say that! I...
Gray: Why not?
Nikita: It's not going to work. Because I don't love you.
Gray: Right. (faces her)
Nikita: I don't. You don't know me. You don't know anything about me.
Gray: Nobody asked you to be perfect.
Nikita: Gray, I don't have time for you anymore. Or Casey.
Gray: What happened to you?
Nikita: Get out. (She walks away and goes upstairs)

Scene 20: Section One. Nikita stalks into Michael's office and puts her gun down on his desk.
Nikita: I don't want it any more. Cancel me. I can't live like this. I'm done.
Michael: Nikita.
Nikita: This place, the Section, is full of lies! They talk about all the innocent people they save, well what about the innocent people we hurt? Like the four year old girls who are left just wondering why they've been abandoned?
Michael: You were warned. You should have never gotten involved. You still believe in free will. In here there's no such thing.
Nikita: You keep telling me that, Michael, but I don't believe you anymore. You couldn't handle it, could you? You got jealous of Gray because I love him and not you.
Michael: You don't love me.
Nikita: So you came up with a brilliant idea. Almost kill Gray. C'mon Michael, at least have the decency to admit it.
Michael: Yes, it was my idea.
Nikita: You're sick.
Michael: I only proposed it after I heard theirs. They wanted to kill him. (Michael gives her back her gun). Gray will heal, his daughter will grow up, and they'll have the life they deserve. (She snatches the gun away and leaves).

THE END
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