Hi everyone! First fic for me. Very Harry/ Nikki central. Gotta love a bit of Emilia and Tom, Harry and Nikki. Who cares, it's all brilliant!

Been inspired by some amaaazing fics on here to have a crack at my own. Not much of a plot to it I don't think. Not quite finished yet, will update with more chapters soon. (Harry and Nicki, Leo and anything else you recognise belongs to the great BBC. )

Vix

She couldn't help but notice the pain gradually fading from his eyes. She couldn't help but notice his undeniably mischievous smile spread once again over his lips. She couldn't help but notice the ease at which everything had returned to normal in the past weeks. And she couldn't help but notice the sickening feeling in the pit of her stomach as she realised that 'normal' was no longer bearable.

As she delicately nursed her compulsory cup of morning coffee, Nikki could not help but wonder where it had all gone wrong. When did it become wrong? Wrong to find herself counting the seconds till Harry walked through the office doors each morning. Wrong to feel her stomach lurch with a sense of some indecipherable emotion at his every word. Wrong to feel a spine-tingling chill when he touched her arm, worse when he placed a hand on the small of her back in the comforting manner he so frequently did. When did Harry Cunningham's presence become so alien to her?

Things had changed. It was all wrong. She knew everything would be different after Hungary. After Anna. After the relief from the gut wrenching pain caused by the thought of never seeing Harry again. Seeing him in that instant, feeling his warmth pressed against her, after dreaming of his cold, dead body, sent innumerable emotions racing through Nikki. At the time it was all she could do just to remain standing, but constant reflection upon that moment had exposed her to feelings she knew she'd hidden away for far too long.

Harry, however seemed entirely oblivious to the emotional turmoil Nikki had found herself in.

"Well, as it is quite clear that the hair on my head will be grey and sparse by the time you finish your coffee, I guess I'll be taking off to sort this roadside stabbing then will I? "

A wicked smile spread across Nikki's face as she prepared to speak, but Harry anticipated her comeback.

"And before you even think about making some crude grey hair-related witty remark... Dont!" He smiled.

"Caught me out there Doctor. It was just such an easy jibe to make... And no, my coffee is, er..." Nikki paused as she swallowed the remainder of her stale coffee to prove her point "...finished. There. So I'll come with you. Roadside incident. Broad Daylight. Bound to be a hell of a lot of scene contamination and onlookers. No, I'd definably better keep you company on this one." She mused.

"Ah, I see. You just don't want to be so soon separated from my devilish wit and rugged handsomeness!" Harry retorted.

"Rugged? Is that what you call it? Well in that case, I've seen homeless guys on the street who are less 'rugged' than you Doctor Cunningham! When was the last time you bothered to shave?"

In truth, Nikki had noticed the slight remaining purplish shadows underneath Harry's piercing eyes, the lengthy 'stubble' that adorned his pale skin, and his generally dishevelled appearance of late. She had decided weeks back though that he didn't need her poking her nose into his grief, and she had to admit she found the worn down, vulnerable Harry less of a challenge and a threat to her new found feelings for her colleague.

"Humph!" Harry folded his arms in jest and pouted across the desk to his female colleague.

"I was thinking of inviting you out to dinner tonight."

"Oh yes? For what purpose?" Nikki felt a surge of hope rising inside her. Maybe Harry was FINALLY asking her out on a real date?

"Well. Invariably, so that if I went out to dinner with you, you'd actually be there! Seems a bit pointless otherwise don't you think?"

And just like that her hopes were once again, like so many times before, crushed by his aberrant humorous nature. And she found herself wishing, once again, that if he had to go and destroy all hope of there ever being a 'beyond' phase in their friendship, he should do it is a less loveable manner.

"Well I suppose that makes sense, but there's one fatal flaw in your great dinner plans. You see, you're assuming I actually want to have dinner with you tonight. You're also assuming that I have nothing better to do."

But Nikki wondered why she couldn't in that instant, think of one thing she would rather do than go to dinner with Harry that evening. Dinner sounded perfect, even if it was with the one man who would never be able to open his heart to her enough to explore a possibility of them being together.

"Better to do? What could be better than spending the evening with me in a snazzy little restaurant somewhere?" Harry teased. "Unless you have plans with Brian, or Bruno, or... what was it again?"

"Firstly, no one says 'snazzy' anymore you old man! Secondly, his name is Ben. And no, he's working tonight but we are having dinner tomorrow." Nikki replied.

Total lie. Not about the Ben part, he was real alright. A real distraction from her situation with Harry. But the dinner part. Shit. She'd have to remember to leave work on time tomorrow so as to keep up the pretence. Or she could actually ask Ben to dinner tomorrow? He'd probably jump at the chance. Probably jump out of a moving car if Nikki asked nicely enough, she was sure his affections for her were borderline obsessive. Still, he was there when she decided she needed him, and easy enough to disregard when she didn't.

"Well, well, well! Nikki Alexander. Two men and two dinners in as many days. Who'd have thought it eh?" Harry had perched himself on the edge of Nikki's desk and was refusing to budge, both physically and conversationally.

"Once again you fail to notice Doctor Cunningham, that I have yet to respond to your offer of dinner thus far!" Nikki couldn't resist prolonging the unusually (of late) relaxed, and quite possibly flirtatious, behaviour between the two of them.

"Give a guy a break Nix! We haven't had a proper catch up since... well, in forever. I'm bored without your wonderful little stories in my life!" Harry made a sad but rather comic face.

After a slight further pause, Nikki gave in. "Well, a girl's gotta eat I suppose. Pick me up at eight."

"Yes Maam!" Harry replied, beaming. "Now, how about a pre-dinner bit of excitement at this lovely roadside stabbing I keep hearing so much about?"

"Gosh. You sure do know how to treat a girl Harry!"

And with that, the pair left the office arm in arm. Comfortable, content and excited for the evening ahead.

Hope this was a teeny bit enjoyable, at least to a few. Please review with any comments, good or bad. :) More chapters to come!