Jack had stayed in Nikki's spare room the first night after they returned from Mexico. They were both tired and had gone to sleep relatively quickly – despite the horrors of the previous few days. In the early hours, however, Jack was woken by anguished sobbing from Nikki's room. He rushed next door to find her sat up in bed – trying her best to slow her breathing back down.

Jack sat down next to her and pulled her into a hug, rocking her gently. "Shh, it's ok. You're safe now." He whispered. "You're safe."

"I'm sorry...I had a...really bad...thing." She muttered, once she had calmed down a little.

"A nightmare?" He asked.

"Yeah." She agreed. "I'm sorry – I didn't mean to wake you."

"Hey, it's ok." He told her softly. "That's what I'm here for – isn't it."

"Will you stay in here with me?" She sniffed. "Don't want to be on my own."

And so he did.

The second night, as Jack prepared to head into the spare room, Nikki was suddenly overcome with fear at the thought of waking from another nightmare alone and grasped his hand. Seeing the look of terror on her pale face, he understood, and squeezing her hand comfortingly, he followed her into her room.

In the early hours, it was Jack this time, who dreamt that he had found the box – only to discover her partially decomposed body inside. He woke up yelling and Nikki was left comforting him.

After that – having both suffered hellish torment in their sleep, Jack and Nikki both chose to stay together at night for the present.

The nightmares were not always as vivid now – some nights even passed free from them, but the night terrors were still a fairly frequent occurrence and often one – or both of them were plagued by the horrors that had occurred in Mexico.

Jack had gone straight back to work, however Thomas had insisted that Nikki took some leave – though she didn't take as much as he would have liked.

Now back at the Lyell, Nikki sighed and turned to look at the three concerned faces staring back at her. "Let me ask you something Thomas. Are you going to lock me in a dark room, on my own?"

Thomas looked shocked. "No, of course not!" He exclaimed.

"Well then, I'm fine!" She remarked. "So you can all stop asking if I'm ok every five minutes and let me do my job!"

"We're just worried about you, Nikki – that's all." Clarissa explained gently.

"Well don't be!" Nikki answered. "But while we're on the subject of worrying, I've been wondering – what do you intend to do about Jack?"

"What?!" Thomas and Clarissa both inquired loudly. "What's wrong with him?"

"I'm fine!" Jack muttered, staring at the floor.

"Don't tell me you haven't noticed that he's much angrier than usual!" Nikki responded – ignoring Jack's feeble protest. "I'm not stupid – I might have been on leave but I've seen him every day after work when he comes to check up on me. I can tell that he's spent all day lashing out at you both!"

There was an awkward silence for a minute.

"I'm fine!" Jack repeated sulkily.

Thomas sighed. "I hate to say it Jack, but she's right – you have been. She can read you like a book."

"I'm afraid, there aren't enough punch bags in the gym this time, Jack!" Nikki commented. "Why can't you just yell at me like you normally do, huh? I'm not made of glass like you seem to think and this is awful – it's like walking on bloody eggshells around you!"

"I'm not..." Jack started.

"You are angry at me!" Nikki retorted. "There's a whole list of reasons why you're angry at me. Are you going to tell me what they are or do I have to do that as well?!"

"Well, you seem to know all about it!" Jack exclaimed throwing his hands up.

"Fine." She answered turning to Thomas. "It's a long list – you might want to sit down."

Clarissa chuckled as Thomas obediently pulled out the lab stool next to her and perched on it.

Nikki turned to Jack, who was avoiding eye contact with once again. "Firstly, you're angry that I repeatedly ignored you when you begged me to come back to England with you." She began. "You know that Gustavo warned me we were targets and told me to let you take me home, but I ignored him too, so you're angry about that. You're angry that I kept pushing things to find Louisa even though I knew it was getting more dangerous." She continued. "You're angry that I volunteered to do the prisoner's insulin and that I then lost my temper with him because it meant that I no longer had access to him. You think that if I hadn't lost my temper, Eva would have taken you instead." Nikki paused. "You've been angry ever since you found out what I tried to do in the box when I didn't believe I was going to get out. You're also angry that I deliberately sent you to save Louisa and the other people instead of me." She paused again. "And...I think you're angry with yourself as well. You think that you should've tried harder to get me to leave Mexico before every thing kicked off. You think you should've been there to stop them from taking me and you think that you didn't try hard enough to find me. And-" Nikki continued. "You're angry at yourself for being angry at me and for not being able to yell at me." She finished.

"Wow!" Clarissa stated. "That's a lot of anger!"

Jack said nothing and he remained staring at the floor sullenly.

"Well, Jack?" Thomas pressed him. "What do you have to say?"

"Nothing." Jack answered crossly. "I have nothing to add." He stood up – having decided that leaving the room was his best option at this point.

"Well, it looks like you're right again, Nikki!" Clarissa commented. "So, if you're that angry, Jack – why haven't you yelled at her?" She asked as he passed her on his way out the room.

Jack stopped in his tracks – but still failed to provide an answer.

Nikki answered for him again. "Because he's scared that if he yells at me, he'll wake up and find that I didn't really get out of the box alive." She said quietly. She stood up and made her way over to him. "But if this – me being alive, was a dream, Jack – don't you think you would have woken up by now?" She touched his arm lightly. "So come on – yell at me."

He moved his arm away, trying to swallow the lump that was forming in his throat. "I can't." He muttered and walked out the room.

"Let him go." Thomas told Nikki as she debated whether or not to follow Jack. "Just let him go."

Nikki sighed and went back to her desk.

Thomas followed. "What did you mean, by 'What you tried to do in the box'?" He questioned.

Nikki bit her lip. "I thought I wasn't going to get out and it was the alternative to dehydration or suffocation when the oxygen ran out. I thought it would be quicker and..." She hesitated. "...less...unpleasant. I had a little piece of broken wood, so..."

Thomas nodded his understanding. "You tried to cut your wrist." He said quietly. "What stopped you?"

"It wasn't sharp enough." Nikki shrugged. "There was a splinter in my wrist when I got out and I had to explain why. I guess he's angry that I didn't believe he would find me in time. But I tried to do it for him as well as me...I mean we had no idea where I was. The whole bloody country looked the same. I was underground and I could have been anywhere. The chances of him finding me...well I thought it would be impossible. Being a doctor – I know the right place and I thought it would hurt him less if he thought that I'd quickly bled to death, rather than a slow death from lack of water and air...you do understand that – don't you?" Nikki implored Thomas and Clarissa.

They nodded.

By the time Jack returned to their office, Nikki had disappeared into the cutting room with Thomas and only Jack & Clarissa remained in the lab for the next couple of hours.

"She shouldn't be here!" Jack hissed at the latter when she eventually dared to prod him about Nikki's earlier speech. "Nikki is supposed to be on leave! She's having nightmares frequently about what happened in Mexico – she shouldn't be here!" He repeated.

A voice spoke quietly behind him. "Except I'm not the only one who's having nightmares – am I?"

Jack jumped violently – he hadn't noticed that Thomas and Nikki were back in the room. "You're-you're back!"

"We've finished for the day.." Thomas explained. "Is it true, Jack?"

"Huh?"

"Is it true that you're having nightmares too?" Thomas asked again patiently.

"That's different." Jack muttered.

"No, it's not." Nikki responded gently.

"Yes it is!" He insisted. "You-you need someone there. I-I don't."

Silence followed - with neither Thomas or Clarissa knowing what to say.

"Yeah, you're right, Jack." Nikki agreed putting her coat on. "But if you don't need me, then I certainly don't need you." She started to do her buttons up. "So...I guess...you can go back home, can't you." She told him coldly and without showing any emotion.

Jack looked taken aback. Surely she didn't mean it? His Nikki was not throwing him out? "Well...I-"

Nikki rooted around in her draw for something. "Good luck for your fight." She exclaimed to Jack in the same cold tone. Picking her bag up, she walked over to him and lifted up his hand in hers, she unfolded his clasped fingers and placed in his palm, her spare key, before closing his fingers around it again. "Of course, should you change your mind later – you know where I live." She remarked in a much warmer manner. "Good night Clarissa – Thomas. See you tomorrow."

"Good night" they chorused as she left.

Thomas leaned towards Clarissa. "I didn't know Jack had a fight tonight." He commented in a whisper.

"He didn't." Clarissa chuckled. "But he does now! He spontaneously goes cage-fighting when he's stressed – and I does know if you've noticed, but nothing stresses him out more than a row with Nikki!"

"Hm-mm, yes I have noticed!" Thomas agreed. "Did you know that he was still staying with her?"

"Nope." Clarissa answered.

"Well I'm glad." Thomas remarked. "It's good for both of them."

They looked up to see Jack still staring after Nikki, looking forlorn.

"You know something, Jack?!" Clarissa called over at him. "Considering how you much you insist that you and Nikki aren't together – you're doing a great impression of a man who's just been dumped!"

"Shut up!" Jack retorted at her rudely – before grabbing his coat.

Thomas sighed. "Jack, just say sorry to her!"

"I'm going for a fight." He snapped, before storming out.

"Told you!" Clarissa chuckled again. "Don't worry, Thomas – he'll go for a cage-fight and then he'll go to Nikki's to grovel – trust me!"

Nikki decided on an early night. The truth was that she was already missing Jack's company. They'd spent almost every evening together since coming back from Mexico and they got on so well that they didn't even need to talk. They could just sit and watch a film. If they did talk, conversation was so easy that it didn't need to be about anything in particular. Jack just being in the room was company enough but now that he wasn't here – the silence was biting. If she fell asleep, maybe she would forget that he wasn't here.

Going to bed early was a mistake though, Nikki now realised and she was regretting telling Jack to go away. Faced with the prospect of having a nightmare without Jack there for comfort was terrifying. Maybe she did need him after all – of course she'd known that anyway, but she wanted him to realise that he needed her too. The first step to healing was admitting to having a problem in the first place and Jack was not admitting anything. He'd gone straight back to work as though nothing had happened and he was stubbornly in denial.

No, Jack was not admitting to anything and Nikki was very worried about him. At times, the night terrors were as bad as ever for them both and they weren't going to improve much if Jack kept ignoring his issues during the day. That's what telling him to leave had been all about. Nikki had hoped it would shock him into realising that he needed to deal with things, and she had given him her spare key in the hope that he would come back to her after his inevitable cage-fight. The more she though about it though, she knew she had been too harsh. Jack had looked so upset and she very much doubted whether he would want to come back at all. Nikki tossed and turned, unable to sleep, but she squeezed her eyes shut, trying to force her mind into oblivion anyway.

"Are you asleep?" He whispered as the bed dipped slightly next to her. Upon finding her apparently already sleeping, Jack was a little worried now, that she had meant it when she said she didn't need him – but then she had given him her spare key.

Nikki opened her eyes and gave a dejected sigh. "No – you know perfectly well that I can't sleep on my own, Jack."

He stretched his arm out above her head as he shuffled down under the duvet. "I know – I'm sorry." He mumbled. "And you were right – I can't sleep on my own either."

Nikki propped herself up on one arm. "Jack Hodgson – did you just admit to needing me?" She teased him affectionatly.

He sighed. "Yes – ok? Yes, I need you."

She smiled and wrapped her arms around his waist. "So...did you win?"

Jack grinned. "Of course, I won! You wished me luck, didn't you!"