"Will I be back?" Nikki wondered, as she went down in the elevator and then got into the taxi to the airport, Anton's last words to her still echoing in her ear. She loved coming back to Cape Town but did she still really belong here? Cape Town wasn't home anymore. The childhood feeling of security and love and being at home, that was the past. Being with Anton these past few weeks she thought she had gotten that back but had she really? Yes, Cape Town was familiar and there would always be a sense of home and belonging, but the times had changed. She had grown up, built up a whole different life in London. Nikki stared out the window, looking around the city she loved so much. When in London she always seemed to be yearning for South Africa and now that she was here and after all that had happened with Anton she suddenly missed her life in London. Nikki continued staring out the window. When on earth had London become home? What made London feel more like home now than South Africa? It felt almost sacrilegious to even be thinking this!

Nikki's phone rang. "Oh please, don't let it be Anton!" she thought as tears filled her eyes. It didn't matter how betrayed she had felt by Anton, she couldn't just flick a love switch off, she felt raw and shaken. She looked at the caller id and smiled though the tears to see it was Harry.

"Hi Harry," she answered.

"You sound odd!" he immediately blurted out, "Are you aright?"

"I'm fine" she gulped and cleared her voice.

"Right, yes, you sound just dandy! So, what's this Leo just told me, you're flying to London today?"

"Mmm" she agreed.

"My, you're chatty… You couldn't hold out two days longer and fly with us as planned? Now I have to sit through hours of chat on calcification and entry and exit wounds and splatter patterns from Leo."

Nikki laughed.

"That sounds better" Harry said and she could hear the smile in his voice before he continued, "So, what's the rush, what are you running away from?"

"I just… needed space after all these weeks here. A lot has happened and I need to think and I can't do that with Anton breathing down my neck…" Nikki said.

"And an attractive neck at that, I don't blame Anton for breathing on you. Was it heavy breathing?" Harry asked innocently.

Again Nikki laughed out loud.

"Well, come on, Nikki, details! You and he are an item, right?"

"Not anymore… yes, we… I'm not sure..." Nikki faltered

"Ah, now that's the story, right there! So, lover's tiff and now you're leaving?" he asked.

"I suppose so. Harry, I really don't want to go into all that right now…" Nikki started, feeling her throat constrict again.

"I should sock the man in the jaw for hurting you…" Harry muttered, then continued more cheerfully, "Then again, he is an ex-Scorpion so I'm not sure how well I'd come out of such an event …"

Nikki smiled through the tears that had started to form again, "Ever the protective gallant friend. Thanks, Harry, but I think I can fight my own battles. In any case, I just need to get away from Anton, from South Africa, and think, so I called the airport and I can fly out today."

"Alright, well, I guess that's that then… but you owe me a drink when we get back to London!"

"I owe you a drink? Whatever for?"

"For standing Leo and me up. And I promise I will pass on every morsel of Leo's great knowledge, so you can suffer as I will."

Nikki grinned, "Alright, it's a deal."

"And try not to think too much about live bodies of possible ex-boyfriends on your flight home, just concentrate on all the dead ones as is your job as a forensic pathologist!"

"Will do!" Nikki grinned. "Thanks for calling, Harry"

"Have a good trip and please don't start flirting with the pilot, I'm counting on you landing safely." Harry quipped.

"Only if you promise to leave the stewardesses alone!" Nikki retorted.

"Oooh, that's a tough one… Tell, you what, I'll only look at the ones who work in the back and don't go into the cockpit distracting the pilots."

Nikki laughed. "I suppose if she's 25 and well endowed you won't be able to help yourself anyhow."

"Well, you can't stop a man from looking, now can you? As I recall pointing out to you once before, it's all poetry and love and art in motion."

"Ha, yes, we all know that theory!" Nikki laughed. "Oh, here's the airport, I've got to go. Bye Harry!"

"Have a safe trip and see you in London." Harry said and they both hung up.

Nikki got out of the taxi, smiling to herself. Harry always had that knack of knowing how to cheer her up and make her feel better.