"Why aren't you at the hospital?" Nikki shrieked as she arrived at her desk the next morning.
"Glad to see you too!" He replied sarcastically. "I discharged myself this morning, I couldn't forget your birthday could I?"
"Harry!"
"Happy Birthday!" he smiled, bending down beside his desk and retrieving some flowers and a card and passing them to her
"Oh Harry, they're lovely," Nikki gushed. "But you shouldn't have, you need to worry about yourself for a change!"
"But I couldn't let you get away with forgetting how old you are, could I? I can only use the slippers and walking stick jokes once a year!"
"Oi! Just because you're ill it doesn't mean you can get away with anything!" Nikki laughed kicking him. Harry responded by feigning pain and Nikki laughed even more.
"What're you doing to celebrate anyway?" He enquired.
"Well, I was planning to come and see you this evening."
"On your birthday?"
"Of course, I mean I did have other plans but after yesterday…"
"Well there's simply no chance you're going to sit in and drink Coco on your birthday night, can you rearrange?"
"Possibly…"
"Well it's sorted then."
"Ok, but you've got to come and keep me company."
"It'd be my pleasure. I'll meet you at yours at seven?"
"Fine, but get out of here now, you need to rest! You're lucky Leo isn't here to shout!"
"Okay, okay!" Harry replied, hands raised in mock surrender as he backed out of the lab grinning like a possessed Cheshire cat.
Nikki sat at her desk and smiled a secret smile as she looked at her to-do list; her day had suddenly become much brighter. It was so good to see Harry back to his old self. She had hated seeing him try to be strong yesterday; it had made him appear all the more vulnerable, upsetting her even more. Harry was notoriously bad at admitting he needed help, he'd try to deal with things himself, right up to the last moment. He had always been quite closed with her too, not locked- he'd sometimes share with her when the moment was right, but he'd rarely volunteer information when she asked. This is what troubled Nikki most of all, it made her wonder what was really going on underneath their guise of friendship, whether Harry really trusted her enough to open up fully, whether they could ever be more than friends. They had been on a few dates a couple of years ago but things had suddenly stopped in their tracks with no real explanation. Nikki quickly pushed these thoughts aside, reminding herself that she should be grateful because she'd had nearly lost him yesterday…and that she had a big mound of paperwork resting on the side of her desk that desperately needed her attention.
Finally got the latest chapter up! I should probably include Leo a little more, or at least try to! Just started full time work so not writing quite as much...it's really odd as now my evenings go so quickly and I feel really tired, yet I'm still up at midnight!? Anyway, let me know what you think....more dialogue or less or do you think the balance is ok? Hopefully we'll see some pensive Harry next chapter and find out what's really going on in his head!
