"So... Ashton!" Nikki pushed a steaming cup of coffee into Jack's hands, before perching on a lab stool between him and Clarissa.
"What about her?" He responded.
"She totally fancied you!" Nikki quipped, sipping her tea.
"Of course she did - I'm very fanciable!" Jack smirked, "All women fancy me."
"I don't!" Clarissa interjected, Thomas chuckled as she continued: "Nikki does, but I think your head might explode if she admits it!"
Nikki giggled. Then, ignoring Clarissa's last comment, continued pressing Jack for information. "Did she go in there?"
"Yep!"
"Dark?"
"Yep!"
"Smelly?"
"Yep!"
Nikki still wasn't finished. "Wet?" she continued. Clarissa choked on her tea.
Jack sighed. "Yep!"
Nikki giggled, almost satisfied with his answers. "Did she enjoy it as much as me?" Thomas and Clarissa's faces were priceless.
Thomas cleared his throat with a sideways glance at Clarissa. "Urm...do we even want to know what you two are talking about?"
"Yeah, because it sounds really dirty!" Clarissa added.
"It was dirty!- and I don't anyone enjoys it as much as you, Nikki!" Jack answered promptly, causing Nikki to go into hysterics at the looks of shock on their colleagues' faces. She, unlike Jack, had already worked out what Thomas and Clarissa thought they were talking about.
"You...and...Nikki...have..." Thomas stammered at Jack.
Jack finally cottoned on. "Oh what? No, no, no! Not that!" Nikki found his apparent horror at the misinterpretation hilarious and he frowned at her.
"Well, what then?" Thomas and Clarissa looked aghast.
"The sewers! I took her down the sewers, ok?" Jack put his head in his hands, shaking it. He was mortified - they had actually thought that he and Nikki had... No matter how much he loved her, he would never let that happen unless Nikki wanted it too - and he certainly wouldn't be brash enough to brag about it after.
"Let me get this straight." Clarissa commented. "You took Ashton and Nikki down the sewers?!"
"Not together!" Jack spluttered. If it had been anyone else in the hot seat, he would have marvelled at Clarissa's ability to turn an innocent situation into something it's not. This conversation was rapidly becoming a nightmare!
"No, because I don't do threesomes!" Nikki sniggered. She was enjoying this immensely, although she did feel bad about the colour that was rising in Jack's cheeks. She would buy him pizza later to make up for it. "And he took me down there first!" she added proudly.
Clarissa chuckled. "Nikki, you must be the only woman in the world who enjoys being taken down a sewer!"
"It's not so much the sewer that I enjoyed, Clarissa." Nikki exclaimed, "but rather the company I had!"
Jack looked at her, beaming - his cheeks now returning to their normal colour. Nikki giggled at his obvious delight and ruffled his hair affectionately.
"But a sewer?!" Thomas was clearly very unimpressed with his younger colleagues 'romantic notions'. "Who takes their women on a date down a sewer?"
"Jack does! Only Jack." Nikki sniggered, "It's rule one in Jack Hodgson's guidebook to wooing women! - take them somewhere unusual and smelly!"
"Yeah, if they can hack it down there, I know I'm onto a winner!" Jack declared, by way of explanation.
"Well, it clearly doesn't work!" Clarissa retorted. "You never get past the first date!"
Nikki saw Jack's downcast look - though he hid it well from the other two. She had grown used to reading his body language and facial expressions, and now only needed to look at his eyes to know he was feeling dejected. She put her arm around him and placed a gentle peck on his cheek. It worked on me. We've been on many dates since we went down the sewer, haven't we!"
He beamed at her again, as she whispered in his ear, "I'll buy you a pizza later, love."