Jack stomped into his office and collapsed into his chair, passing on the way, a shocked Clarissa and Thomas who were having a discussion in the next door lab. He was slouched and looked upset and very fed up.

"Ok. What's up with you?" Clarissa asked him.

"He's going to take her back with him." Jack muttered, his downcast eyes staring down at his desk.

"Who and who?!" Clarissa pressed him, not understanding.

"Anton is going to take Nikki." Jack picked up a stray pen off his desk and muttered again. "He's going to take her back to South Africa with him and we will never see her again." He raised his voice at the end of the sentence and threw the pen at the wall in his frustration. Jack had a slight tendency to over-dramatise when he was this upset.

"Nikki said that, did she?" Thomas quizzed as he and Clarissa moved a bit nearer the dejected younger man.

"She didn't need too. Anton is doing that for her. He's been going on about it all day. Ever since he got here actually." He slammed his hand down on the desk, making them jump, before adding, "And Nikki loves South Africa."

Clarissa sighed. "Well, of course she loves it - she grew up there, but that don't mean she's going to go back with him - and as for never seeing her again..."

Thomas shook his head. " She hasn't actually said 'yes'." He pointed out, loudly.

"Well, she didn't say 'No'!" Jack retorted, raising his voice louder than Thomas, as the distance voice of Anton became nearer. This disscussion was getting heated.

Nikki walked into the office. She looked even more fed-up than Jack.

Anton was following her. "Come on, Nikki. You know you want too. You don't belong here. You can have so much more at the place in South Africa. And there's me. I'll give you everything you've ever wanted."

"I highly doubt that." Nikki commented, finally bothering to answer him Jack, Clarissa and Thomas watched her, waiting.

"Oh, come on, Niks..." Anton began, but Nikki cut him off.

"...because I already have everything I want."

"Like what?" He spluttered. Jack was beginning to hate this man even more - Anton clearly thought they weren't good enough for her and Jack was terrified in case he managed to persuade Nikki that he was right.

Jack needn't have worried. Nikki spun around to face Anton. "Jack. Clarissa. Thomas. The Lyell Centre. I don't need anything else." She turned back, just in time to see Jack let out the breath he didn't realise he'd been holding in. Nikki smiled slightly before looking back at Anton briefly. "And I certainly don't need you, Anton. I think you should go."

"Fine, I'll dropped by to see you later, before I get the plane." Anton told her. Jack dug his nails into the desk. This guy was not giving up. Jack wanted to hit him for trying to take Nikki away.

"Don't bother." Nikki snapped at Anton."Just get your plane...coffee, Jack?" She continued, without pausing. She turned back to Jack. Who seemed a bit lost for words, by this sudden turn of events.

"Er...yeah...please" He stammered.

Nikki smirked slightly at his surprise as the door slammed behind Anton. "Thomas? Clarissa?"

They both nodded and Nikki went over and put the kettle on, before turning around again. "What?!" She remarked, slightly amused by the three shocked faces staring back at her.

Clarissa eventually broke the silence. "Jack was convinced you would leave with Anton. He thought he'd never see you again." She explained, enunciating the last sentence, to show Nikki just how upset Jack had been. "He nearly broke his hand punching his desk and he threw a pen at the wall."

Nikki glanced at Jack, who put his head down and stared at his desk again, embarrassed at how pathetic that now sounded. He should have known that Clarissa would take great delight in telling Nikki how he had 'thrown his toys out of the pram' at the prospect of her leaving. Nikki walked over to him and squeezed his shoulders.

"Why would I do that, eh?"

"He knows you like it over there." Thomas indicated Jack. who was going very red in the face.

"Anton's been going on and on about it and you didn't say no." Jack muttered.

Nikki sighed. "I do like South Africa. I spent some of the happiest times of my childhood over there, but this is my home now - over here with you three, ok?" Jack nodded. Nikki continued."I was fed up with him going on about it, so I just ignored him."

"There." Clarissa retorted, brightly. " We told you, you had nothing to worry about!"