Chapter 3

"What?" blurted Harry and Nikki at the same time, staring incredulously at the Hotel Manager.

They had just arrived at the hotel in Berlin, two hours late because they had had to wait for their medical instruments to be let through. A pain in the arse, was how Harry described it behind one of the officers, and he didn't seem too happy after that. And now this.

"I am sorry but I'm afraid that there is nothing that I can do. I only have one single room free," said the manager apologetically.

"So what you are saying," said Harry, and Nikki noted the dangerous tone in his voice, "is that the rooms were never booked."

"No sir, I'm afraid not."

There was a pause, where Harry looked at Nikki while breathing out deeply, silently asking her what she wanted to do. She replied to the manager that it would have to do.

"In that case, please follow me upstairs to the fourth floor," said the manager, looking wearily at Harry.

The room was indeed a single room, and though the room was very nice, clearly one of them was going to have to sleep on the floor.

"I will ask one of my colleagues to bring up a mattress and a bottle of champagne with our compliments," said the manager, already preparing to leave. Clearly he didn't want them to start pressing charges.

"Thank you," said Nikki as he closed the door shut.

"Silly git," said Harry silently, while Nikki retorted, giving him an angry glare.

"He got us a room at least, didn't he?"

Harry however did not have the strength to have a spat with Nikki, so he flopped onto the chair beside the window overlooking Berlin's glittering lights. Nikki was already starting to unpack, however she took a moment to look outside.

"So this is potentially where I could end up living. It's looks quite nice from up here," said Nikki softly but Harry didn't say anything, simply staring outside. He was still going over what Leo had told him the day before. Somehow his words just wouldn't leave him alone.

"Harry, I would have told you you know. But I know you too well to know that things would get awkward, and I really didn't want that. Not on the case that could possibly be our last."

Suddenly Harry felt Nikki's arms around him, and he felt a familiar warmth surround him and make him content, ridding him of the cold atmosphere of before. He knew this feeling, but he hadn't noticed it as much as he did now, knowing that it might not always be there. However he was conflicted inside, because he didn't know what it meant.

"Can you forgive me Harry?" mumbled Nikki into Harry's shoulder. Of course he would, she knew that, but he gave a nod and smile to confirm it. He felt her smile behind before letting go. After a while, he heard the shower turn on.

"So what time are we meeting up with the Chief Investigator?" asked Nikki from the shower.

"Around 9-ish tonight I should think, he said he would give me a call," said Harry, reaching for a hanger for his coat. The shower turned off just as his phone began to ring.

"Harry Cunningham speaking," said Harry, answering it.

"Hello Dr Cunningham, this is Stefanie Rauch speaking from the Berlin Head Quarters." spoke a firm voice, in clear english but nevertheless with a slight Southern-Germanic accent.

"Oh, hello. Yes, great to finally talk to you. I believe we will be meeting you at your office, yes? Yes ok, yep, err, sorry could you hold on for a minute-, Nikki what is it?" asked Harry, and for some bizarre reason he had held the phone on his chest to stop "Stefanie Rauch" from hearing. God knows why.

"Harry, umm, I sort of umm-" stared Nikki, but Harry was impatient, not wanting to keep Rauch waiting he made the mistake of barging into the bathroom, not thinking straight after a very long day-

Nikki stood dripping wet, frozen and staring at Harry with nothing but a small hand towel covering, well, not very much. Harry was frozen too, and he couldn't do anything but stare at her. A tense silence, and then Nikki yelled. Harry heard Rauch buzz about something on the phone, which he cut before apologising a million times to Nikki, turning around and getting a towel. But that hadn't stopped him from seeing her her her-

He passed Nikki a towel, staring at the sink while doing so, noticing as she took it that her hands were still wet.

As he closed the door without saying a word, Nikki gradually started laughing silently to herself. He had seen her practically naked before, so why was he so tense, awkward and beetroot red like a school boy caught doing something naughty? It wasn't like Harry at all. In normal circumstances, he would have laughed, pulled a joke and told to stop provoking him. Just a quick as it came, Nikki stopped laughing. Had Leo said something?

Outside the bathroom, Harry had flopped onto the bed, silently cursing himself for looking like a pervert. What was wrong with him.

Author's note: sorry for the delay, was quite busy recently. Anyway, as always please review, and for those who already have, THANK YOU! :)))