Concentration
For Flossie (pinkswallowsun) - Happy Belated Birthday darling, hope you had an amazing day! I apologise from the bottom of my guilty heart that this is so late. Blame the fact I had not a computer in sight for the past week :(
"Have you seen Nikki?" asked Harry, resorting to questioning Leo about her whereabouts, rather than remaining restless at his desk, waiting for her to appear.
"Yeah, she's in the cutting room," Leo replied, his sleeves rolled up, sifting through a bunch of reports that had mysteriously found their way onto his desk.
"Harry, hiding your cases on my desk does not actually constitute doing any work," he added, gesturing to the large stack of papers he had found underneath his tox reports.
"They're not mine," Harry denied, trying his best to feign his innocence convincingly enough.
"Finish them," Leo sighed, piling the case files back into Harry's hands, much to Harry's chagrin.
"Fine," he resigned, "Just as long as I don't get lumbered with the new case, I don't care," he groaned, slumping back into his chair in defeat, fanning himself with one of his cases.
"What new case? We haven't got any new cases," Leo replied, puzzled, "It's been quiet all week."
"Oh, I just assumed. Then why is Nikki down in the cutting room?" he inquired, confused.
"It's cooler in there. Nikki was feeling really hot in here," Leo stated.
"I'll bet she was. How convenient. Thus escaping finishing her PM reports. Very clever," Harry scoffed in envy, annoyed that he didn't think of it.
"Actually, she took her reports with her. Some of us actually do something called work around here," Leo chided, tutting.
"Hmmm. Back in a minute," Harry said quickly, making his way to the door, a stack of papers in his hand.
"Harry, sit down and do some work!" Leo cried after him, sighing, as he knew exactly where Harry was going. Great. So that would make two people now not doing any work.
"So this is where you've been hiding," Harry smiled as he entered the cutting room, walking towards Nikki, reaching out to the array of different coloured post-its on the workbench.
"Don't," Nikki warned, slapping his hand away from her carefully organised system, doing her best to ignore him.
"What is all this for?"
"Blood spatter...daughter's clothing...son's clothing," Nikki muttered to herself, arranging her post-its notes in an order only she seemed able to understand.
"Do you need any help?" Harry offered.
"Leo making you do your PM reports?" Nikki said, a small smile creeping onto her face.
"Leo doesn't make me do anything," Harry replied, standing straighter to try and assert his authority.
"So why are you hiding from him down here?" Nikki giggled.
"Why are you concocting a rainbow of post-its? Case not making sense?" Harry asked, bemused at the disorganised mess on the workbench that Nikki was working from.
"This case stopped making sense four days ago," Nikki sighed, her brain slightly frazzled by the heat, as she fanned herself with a tox screen.
"But you only got this case yesterday," Harry replied.
"Exactly," Nikki groaned, getting up from her stool to stretch her legs. As she hopped up onto the nearest slab, she slightly ressembled a child, as her legs dangled over the edge, her feet kicking as they did reach anywhere near the floor.
"Should I be concerned that you're seeking solace from a mortuary slab for the second time in as many years?" Harry asked solemnly.
"It feels all cool," Nikki smiled, sighing contentedly.
"Well, it looks all creepy. Do you want to go somewhere less morbid to cool off?"
"Like where? Oh no, please don't make a joke about fridges," Nikki moaned, slightly puzzled.
"Fridges? Give me some credit. And how about ice cream? We could get some ice cream," Harry said eagerly, already choosing his toppings mentally.
"You really are such a child. And I have to work on the Yeats case, anyway," Nikki gestured towards the large stack of papers on the workbench, that she was desperately trying to avoid returning to.
"You yourself said you were hitting a dead end. And you're clearly too hot to think rationally about this case, anyway," Harry said absentmindedly, before realising the alternate meaning as Nikki raised an eyebrow, giggling.
"What about Leo?" Nikki asked, suddenly intrigued at the prospect of so blatantly bunking off work for some ice cream.
"He's busy preparing for a fitness to plead hearing tomorrow. He won't even notice we're gone," Harry convinced her.
"So we'll leave him in the lurch whilst he's already overworked?" Nikki muttered guiltily, " And he will notice. I need to get my bag from under my desk. He'll see me."
"Then I'll create a diversion," Harry pleaded, "Come on, I'm bored," he moaned.
"You could finish your reports?" Nikki smirked.
"I said bored, not desperate," Harry retorted, taking her hand and helping her off the mortuary slab, holding onto her for marginally longer than necessary.
As Leo sifted through yet more of Harry's reports that had made their way onto his desk, he felt triumphant when he actually found a piece of his own work. As if his desk had become a map for buried treasure. And nothing said treasure like a DNA profile.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Nikki. Glancing up, he saw her tiptoe towards her desk, grab her bag and creep towards the door, which was comical in itself, for her heeled boots did not give her the stealth she required for a quiet getaway.
"Nikki? Where are you going?" Leo called from inside his office, just as she reached the door. He stepped outside of his office just in time to see Harry take her hand and virtually drag her down the corridor, grinning wildly.
"Harry!" Leo shouted, annoyed that he had stolen the only other person actually doing any work.
Returning to his room, he felt decidedly smug, knowing that Harry would have to return at some point. Remembering the second stack of Harry's PM reports he had found, he picked them up, strode over to Harry's desk and deposited them there, pleased with himself.
"So, what do you want to do today?" Harry asked, amused at Nikki's bright pink cheeks, as the waiter at the ice cream parlour placed their sundaes in front of them.
"Get my breath back," Nikki gasped, "When you said cool off, I didn't realise you meant run a marathon first to escape," she moaned, desperately trying to get her heart rate back to an appropriate level.
"I'd say try some deep breathing, but I think you're probably too shallow for that," Harry joked, much to the chagrin of Nikki, who simply shot him a withering look.
"Shut up and eat," Nikki gulped another mouthful of air into her lungs, gesturing towards the rapidly melting bowl of chocolate ice cream in front of Harry, various toppings galore.
"Let's play a game," Harry said suddenly, his spoon clattering as he dropped it into the sundae glass.
"Ye gods," Nikki sighed, resting her head on the table, "Somehow the Yeats case actually seems more appealing now. What game?"
"Naughts and crosses?"
"Do you have a pen?" Nikki sighed, glaring at him.
"Veto naughts and crosses. How about poker?"
"Do you have cards?" Nikki tutted, leaning back in her chair.
"Veto poker. Shag, marry, kill?" Harry laughed, not being entirely serious.
"Fine," Nikki smiled, agreeing before he came up with something worse.
"Really?"
"Yeah, I'll start. Rebecca Connelly, Charlotte Jenkins, and err...DI Whittaker," Nikki giggled, knowing all too well Harry would not be content.
"Mean. Can't I just kill all three? No? Kill DI Whittaker, because she's actually older than my mother. Marry Rebecca, followed by a quickie divorce, and shag the journalist," Harry grinned, "My go," a wicked glint in his eyes as he spoke.
"Mumford. Dan the Man. And err...me," he smirked.
"Dan the Man?" Nikki asked, completely confused.
"Your ex-boyfriend, Dan?" Harry clarified.
"Which one?" Nikki feigning confusion, laughing out loud at the look on Harry's face, "Sorry. Kill Mumford, shag...oh crap."
Nikki simply glared at Harry, knowing that she had been tricked by the involvement of Mumford. By mentioning Mumford, Harry knew that Nikki would definitely kill him, meaning that she would either have to pick "shag" or "marry" for himself.
"Huh. Fine. I'd shag Dan and marry you," Nikki groaned, "Quickie annulment also included. That way, I wouldn't actually have to sleep with you."
"You're writing me off and picking Dan the Man?" Harry cried in disbelief, illiciting a snort from NIkki.
"Why wouldn't I? I've never slept with you! You could be awful, for all I know," Nikki laughed.
"I'm not," Harry said smugly, "I think before you answer this question, you need to be able to make a fair judgement," Harry said seriously.
"Fair judgement? What does that even mean?" Nikki exclaimed.
"You can't make a fair judgement if you haven't been with all three people. It's common logic," Harry pointed out.
"Are you saying what I think you're saying?" Nikki said, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah, why not?" Harry said, trying to sound nonchalant, as he chased pieces of honeycomb around his sundae glass.
"You think I should sleep with Mumford? Well, it's a thought. He does have a certain charm, I guess," Nikki tried to keep a straight face, as Harry's face dropped.
"If you want to sleep with Mumford, I think the sun has damaged your cortex," Harry retorted, placing a £10 note on the silver plate the waiter had left.
"Come on," Harry sighed, "Back to work."
When Leo noticed his colleagues coming back into the office, it was apparent that they were more enthusisatic about getting their work done. So either, the break had done them some good, or they had a fight whilst they were out.
"Leo, I'll be in the cutting room if you need me," Nikki said softly, standing in the doorway.
"Sure. Is everything okay?" Leo asked, concerned, guessing it was the latter.
"He didn't speak to me the entire way back," Nikki sighed, shaking her head.
"Harry not speaking? Worse than I thought, then," Leo tried to make a joke, but Nikki's smile didn't reach her eyes.
Half an hour later, Nikki was still in the cutting room, presumably irritating herself about the Yeats case. Harry, meanwhile, was sat at his desk, head in a report, his hands not leaving the keyboard as he was typing, absorbed in his work. A sight that Leo knew meant only one thing.
"Harry, go and talk to her," Leo sighed, creeping up behind Harry.
"Shit!" Harry cried, getting slightly startled, and spilling coffee on his shirt.
Getting up from his chair, Harry grabbed a couple of tissues from the box on Nikki's desk, dabbing at his shirt in vain, only making the stain larger and a lot more prominent.
"There's a spare shirt in my locker," Harry said, adding nothing else as he walked out of the room, much to the annoyance of Leo, who was determined to find out what happened one way or the other.
As Harry walked into the locker room, he unbuttoned his shirt and threw it on the floor, leaving him shirtless. As he opened his locker, he heard the sound of another door - Nikki coming in from the cutting room.
Grabbing his spare shirt hastily, he avoided all eye contact with Nikki as he hurriedly put it on, desperate to steer clear of the tension that was thick in the room.
As he went to brush past Nikki to get to the door, she giggled softly, grabbing his arm and turning him around, "Your buttons are done up wrong," she murmured, as he looked down to see his shirt was sitting all wonky.
"Here," she sighed, unbuttoning his shirt for him, and putting his shirt straight. As she undid the last button, her breath caught in her throat, and she too, could not understand the tension in the room. She had seen him shirtless many times before. Just not in such proximity; she could practically feel his breath on her lips, prising her lips open, intoxicating her.
Slowly, deliberately, Harry moved towards her, until her back met the lockers. They looked at each other for the first time since they left the ice cream parlour. He rested his hands either side of her, trapping her against the lockers.
Eventually, the sexual tension between them became too much to resist. It wasn't clear who initiated it, but suddenly, his lips were on hers, and his shirt was being ripped from his body. The passion between them engulfed them, swallowing them into its jaws as they got so caught up in the moment, it was doubtful that they would ever come back down again.
"Nikki?" Leo's voice suddenly came around the door, his eyes widening at the sight of Nikki and Harry up against the lockers, half their clothing on the floor around them, "Sorry. I'll...err...come back later?" Leo said, covering his mouth with his hand as he left the room in a last-ditch attempt not to laugh.
"Ask me," Nikki ordered confidently.
"What?" Harry asked, turning his head as he put his shirt back on, making sure all the buttons were done up correctly this time.
"Ask me," Nikki repeated, giving Harry a pointed look.
"Oh," Harry replied, now understanding, "Okay. Shag, marry or kill?"
Nikki walked closer to him, her boots clacking on the tiled floor, "Shag," she whispered, kissing the side of his jaw, "Then marry," she continued, peppering his lips and cheeks with little kisses.
"What about kill?" Harry asked, to which Nikki just shook her head, grinning as he kissed her back, picking her up and placing her on the edge of the sink.
"Well, not yet, anyway. Depends how mad you make me."
"Duly noted."
Once again, Flossie, I am so sorry that this was so late. Hope you had a great day, honey :)
Hope everyone is enjoying their summer, and eagerly awaiting ATIFIL...Not long to go now (hopefully).
As always, please review, even if it is only a few words to say that you read it. Seriously, just put, "I read this." That'll do me. I'm easily pleased.
Love Ems xxx