Lost in translation

(Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to Silent Witness but the BBC do)

Harry walked into the locker room and sighed when he saw who was in there. Nikki was standing in front of the mirror pruning and perfecting herself to within an inch of her life. Harry flopped down on one of the wooden benches and observed Nikki for a few moments

"Stalker" she said not moving her gaze away from the mirror as she applied another coat of mascara

"Tart" he retorted back and Nikki laughed and stuck her tongue out at him

"Can you pass me my blusher please?" she said, still without turning away from them mirror

Harry faltered. Her make up bag was on the bench next to him and it was huge. Apart from bulging at the seams, Harry could see a number of zipped up compartments and pockets. He didn't know where to begin. Taking one giant leap for mankind he pried open the bag and stared to rummage around through the various containers, pots and tubes. It was only then that he realised he didn't actually know what blusher was

"Nikki…" he began

Nikki sighed loudly and turned around to face him, her blonde curled hair bounced on her shoulders and eventually settled to frame her face nicely

"Men!" she exclaimed and take the bag from him, instantly pulling out a small pot which Harry didn't think he could distinguish from the other millions of pots her bag held

"Why do you need all that?" he asked gesturing to the bag as Nikki started to apply another layer of make up

"Because I look awful without it"

"No you don't" Harry said quietly

But Nikki hadn't heard him, instead she was distorting her face into what Harry thought was a rather ridiculous pose as she brushed her cheeks with the blusher

"You look like a fish" he said and Nikki snorted with laughter

"At least I make an effort"

"I do too" Harry protested

"I believe you" she replied sarcastically "Thousands wouldn't but I do…"
"I even brushed my hair this morning"

"Really?" Nikki eyes him suspiciously, his hair was matted and sticking up in rather attractive tufts, even if it did make him look like a bit of a hedgehog

"I don't know why you wear all that make up anyway" he began again "It makes you look like a…"

"A what, Harry?" Nikki said turning back around, already anticipating the rest of his sentence

"A slut" Harry said softly

"Well thanks a lot" Nikki said throwing her blusher back into her bag angrily

"No" Harry shook his head "You don't understand. I mean when you put all that make up on you just look like all the other woman out there. You sell yourself short and it makes you look cheap. You look perfectly wonderful without any make up on…."

"When have you seen me with no make up on?" she said, her icy reaction thawing slightly

"When you come into the lab after a night out. You look slightly rough but in a pretty sort of way"

"Rough in a pretty sort of way" Nikki repeated incredulously

Harry nodded

"You still look like a hedgehog" she replied "Only when you come in after a night out, the hedgehog becomes one that has been flattened by the motorway rush hour traffic"

"Still at least we both look better than the corpses in the cutting room" he said letting Nikki get one over on him

"If that's any standard to judge by" she grinned "Make up?"

Harry groaned "Nikki, we' just gone through this. You look perfectly fine without it…."

"No!" Nikki groaned "Make up, as in do you forgive me?"

Harry blushed at his mistake but this only made Nikki laugh harder. He could hear her giggling as she left the locker room and walked down the corridor

There were some things that Harry Cunningham would never understand about women.