Thank you for the lovely reviews and I hope you enjoy this chapter...


It was a pleasant, dry evening with the lights of the man-made world illuminating the night sky. Nikki pulled into the car park and switched the engine off, letting out a small breath. She'd be lying if she'd said she wasn't nervous about tonight. She had no idea why, it was just Jack after all; the same Jack who dragged her down a sewer at God knows what hour in the morning, the same Jack who stood by her and believed her when no one else would and the same Jack who had asked her out on a date tonight...sort of. Nikki could her feel her heart rate increase slightly and her cheeks were starting to burn up.

Shaking the thoughts away she leaned over towards the passenger's side to retrieve her bag from the well but as she did so the door opened and tall, dark haired man clambered into her car and looked at her with a big, cheeky grin spread across his face. She could kill him sometimes.

"Are you ready or are you just going to wait inside your car all night?" Jack asked, winking at her.

A flash of confusion washed over Nikki's face, had he been watching her? "Stalking me now are you?" She raised an eyebrow at him.

"I seen your car pull up as I was just about to go in and I thought I'd be a gentleman and wait for you but you were taking ages," he moaned. "What were doing anyway, phoning the husband and telling him not to worry because I'm just a friend?" He laughed.

Rolling her eyes, she chuckled at him. "No," she paused. A blush crept up her neck as she realised that the only reason she was taking forever to get out of the car was because she was thinking about him, how was she going to get out of this one? "I was just checking my make-up and my hair, didn't want to turn up to a date looking as though I'd been dragged through a hedge backwards now, do I?" Hopefully that sounded somewhat convincing.

"So it's definitely a date then?" The smile had returned to Jack's face and Nikki could swear she'd seen a flash in his eye.

"I don't know, it depends on how I feel by the end of the night," it was Nikki's turn to wink now. Pulling up the sleeve of her black blazer she checked the time on her watch. "Well, we better get a move on otherwise they'll run out of pizza."

Jack's mouth opened in shock of what she had just said, "You're the one that's taking forever," pushing the car door open he got out and waited until she had joined him before walking over to the restaurant entrance. Holding the door open for her he spoke, "After you, my lady."

"Oh ever the gentleman Jack, thank you," she joked.

Once they both got inside and the waiter showed them to their table at the back of the restaurant, they began to relax but Nikki's heart was still racing. She tried to calm it but every time she looked over at Jack it would just speed up again, this can't be happening again, she thought to herself.

"So what are we ordering then, margarita or pepperoni?" Jack broke the silence rubbing his hands together as he looked down at the menu.

Nikki smiled, he was such a nerd sometimes, "Well, I was fancying a pepperoni."

"Whatever you want sweetheart as long as it's not too expensive because I'm paying," he looked over at her and watched how her expressions changed.

"No I can't let you pay for the whole meal, we can go half instead," she insisted, not the breaking the eye contact that they had locked.

"Like I said earlier, I owe you, so I'll pay for it," he paused, dropping his head down to look at the menu once again; fizzling out the ever-growing tension that had been building between them. "It's the least I could do."

"Fine," Nikki gave up. "You'll only argue with me if you don't get your own way anyway."

Jack chuckled to himself as he hailed the young waiter over to their table.


After spending two whole hours sat in the restaurant, talking about work and family and everything else whilst eating their way through a large pizza and two desserts, they finally left and they were making their way back to their cars. Nikki had eventually convinced Jack to let her pay at least a small amount towards the bill so that she didn't feel as bad for making him pay for the full meal.

"Well I guess that's me then," Nikki spoke as they reached her car. "Thank you for a lovely evening Jack I had a wonderful time."

"It's no problem, thanks for keeping me company," he replied, tucking one of his hands into his jean pocket and looking down at the floor. He felt like a teenager again; the awkward goodbye when you don't know whether you should kiss them goodbye or not.

The silence was strung out as both of them stood by the car, neither of them really knowing what to say.

"I better find my own car then and let you go home," Jack remarked, breaking the dead air. "Unless, you want to come back to mine and have a cup of coffee or something?"

"No, thanks," Nikki stopped, realising how rude she must've sounded from the slightly hurt expression on Jack's face. "What I mean is, I would, I really would love to but I've got to be up early tomorrow. I've got a meeting."

"Right, yes, of course. Sorry I shouldn't have asked," Jack said quickly, cursing himself for even thinking that she'd say yes. "Well, I'll be off then, see you tomorrow Nikki."

He turned to walk away from her but paused as he felt a small hand on his arm pulling him back to face her.

"Do I not get a hug then?" She joked reaching up to him to wrap her arms around his neck. His arms fell to her waist as he tightened the hug. Jack wished it would last forever, but if he stayed holding on to her for too long, it was just make things awkward again.

Nikki pulled back slightly but not too much so that Jack's arms were still cradling her small waist and her hands gently rested on his shoulders. She drunk in his features as her eyes roamed across his face, from his emerald green eyes, to his soft pink lips. The air between was growing thick and she knew one thing would lead to another if she didn't say anything now.

"I should probably be getting back," she faintly smiled.

Jack couldn't breathe, his heart was beating out of his chest. He wanted to kiss her there and then, but was stopping him? He just couldn't do it. You're an idiot sometimes, he thought to himself. Gently releasing her from his grip, he returned the small smile.

"See you tomorrow then and good luck for your meeting," he spoke quickly, wanting to get away.

"Yeah, see you," Nikki replied, turning to her car and clambering in. She cursed herself as she sat down, she wanted to kiss him, but why didn't she do anything?