Here's the next part to this. Before you read though, I'm not too happy about this chapter and it;s headed in a direction that I wasn't planning. But something came up and I was told something...

0640 hours, ET, Nikki, Spider and Bomber's house

It was early morning and Spider, Bomber and ET were sitting in the kitchen when they were interrupted by a knock at the door.

"I'll get it," Spider volunteered, getting up and heading for the front door. While he was gone, Bomber turned to ET.

"How's Nikki?" ET shrugged.

"I don't know. She didn't sleep at all and she's refusing to eat. But she doesn't want to talk about it."

"Has she spoken to her dad or brothers?" asked Bomber, sighing as she thought of the pain her friend was going through.

"She hasn't. I spoke to her brother Matt earlier though. He's flying up from Sydney today with her father, brother and Matt's girlfriend Tam who has been Nik's friend since they were in high school. Maybe she'll be able to get through to her," replied ET.

"Nikki's family's here," said Spider, poking his head through the door. ET and Bomber got up and headed for the front door. Matt, Ryan and Tamsin were all standing just inside the door.

"Hey guys," said ET, walking closer.

"Hey Josh," said Tam, reaching for a hug.

"I thought Harry was coming?" said ET, noticing the absence of Nikki's father.

"He did. He booked a hotel though and he headed straight there," replied Ryan. "I think he just wants to be alone." ET nodded. He saw Spider and Bomber standing behind him.

"Have you met these guys?" They all nodded.

"Visiting Nikki at port," said Bomber.

"Speaking of which, where is she?" asked Matt. ET sighed.

"In her room. She's pretty distraught." They nodded. "And finding out the way she did wouldn't help either," he added. They looked up at him and ET explained.

"Oh, Nik," said Matt softly after he had finished.

"She's so close to Lucia too," said Tam. "Why don't I try talking to her first? She might open up more." ET nodded and Tam handed her handbag to Matt, walking slowly down the hall to the room she knew was Nikki's. She visited her often and knew the house as well as she did her own. She knocked on the door softly and hearing no response, slowly opened the door. Nikki was asleep so she shut the door quietly and retreated back to the living room.

"She's asleep," she told the others.

"At least she's getting some finally," said ET.

"What, she's not sleeping?" asked Ryan. ET nodded.

"She didn't sleep at all last night. She wasn't even moving; she was just, awake."

"It was the first night," Matt pointed out. The others nodded slowly in agreement, not knowing what else to say.

2 days later, 1345 hours, ET, Nikki, Spider and Bomber's house

It had been nearly 4 days since Lucia's death and Nikki was still keeping herself locked up. She hardly slept and had barely eaten a thing the whole time. If anyone went in to see her, she just wouldn't talk. Her family and friends were starting to worry.

"This is going too far," Tamsin said one morning. ET, Ryan and Bomber were sitting at the table with her. "In four days, she's eaten a piece of toast and an apple and slept a total of what, 3 hours?" They heard the front door close and Matt walked into the kitchen, putting down his keys.

"How was your dad?" asked Bomber. Matt shrugged.

"He's doing pretty well considering. Much better than Nikki is anyway," he said.

"We were just talking about that," said Ryan, looking at his brother.

"I don't think Dad's worrying about himself at the moment; he knows Nik isn't dealing with it well and he's spending his time worrying about her," said Matt, sitting down next to Bomber. "He just wants to see her but she's pushing him away."

"She's pushing everyone away," added ET. They group nodded. They were silent for a moment when Nikki appeared in the doorway. She didn't look tired and certainly didn't show any signs of what had been going on.

"You're up," said Tam. They watched cautiously as Nikki walked over to the bench and searched for her keys.

"Yeah," replied Nikki simply, holding up her keys once she'd found them. She began to walk back out of the kitchen.

"Where are you going?" asked ET as he and the others turned around to watch her go.

"Out," she called back from the hallway. ET looked back at the others, worried. Bomber looked at Tamsin, who was next to her with concerned eyes. Tamsin got it and stood quickly.

"I'll go," she said, hurrying out the door to catch up with Nikki. Tamsin burst out the door and called for her friend.

"Nikki, wait up!"

"I can go by myself," said Nikki stubbornly as she walked around the front of her car, pressing the button to unlock it.

"In the state you're in? I don't think so," said Tamsin, ignoring her friends' pleas that she could go by herself and slid into the passenger seat of Nikki's 5 month old Holden Commodore. Nikki sighed as she watched Tamsin buckling her seatbelt. She knew that she wasn't going to move so she just put her keys in the ignition and turned the key, pulling her seatbelt across her body as she turned around to back out of the driveway. She pulled out onto the street and took a few turns before either spoke a word.

"So where are we going?" asked Tam, pushing her friend for an answer.

"Nowhere," was the only reply she got.

***

Back at the house, ET was pacing the kitchen and the guys at the table were watching.

"She probably just wanted to clear her head. She'll be alright," said Bomber. ET looked up at the faces watching him.

"You reckon? In the state she was in?" replied ET sarcastically.

"Tam's with her so she's not going to do anything stupid," said Matt. A look of realisation crossed ET's face.

"She wouldn't do that!" said ET defensively.

"I know that, just thought that was what you meant," replied Matt. ET sighed and sunk into a chair at the table, holding his head in his hands.

***

In the car, Nikki was staring out the window, waiting for the traffic light to change to green when Tamsin's mobile rang. Nikki saw her pull it out of her jacket and Tam turned the phone to her. Caller ID said it was Josh calling.

"I'm guessing this is more for you than me," said Tam, pushing the mobile closer to Nikki. But Nikki just went back to resting her head on her arm which was against the closed window.

"He would have given up calling me when he heard my mobile under our bed," said Nikki flatly.

"Talk to him!" Tamsin insisted but Nikki just ignored her when the lights turned green. She continued driving for a few minutes before pulling into the shopping centre. She stepped out of the car and so did Tamsin, but not as quickly as Nikki. Nikki hurried off, locking her car as she walked briskly away. Tam had to run to catch up with her and she finally did at the chemist.

"Nikki what the he..." she paused when she saw her friend. "Oh my god, you're not." Nikki looked at her friend.

"Yeah because people always buy pregnancy tests when they think they're not pregnant," said Nikki sarcastically, rolling her eyes and moving away to the counter. Tamsin sighed and closed her eyes slowly, waiting for her friend to come back. Tamsin didn't say anything more until they were safely back in the car.

"Are you actually serious?" she looked at her friend with sharp eyes. Nikki, who had her hand against the window again with her head leaning on it, was looking straight out the window but could still feel her best friend's eyes boring into her. She sighed and looked at her.

"I don't know okay. It just fits."

"How do you feel about it though? I mean, if you are?" asked Tam concerned.

"Let me put it this way; I'm currently praying I'm not," replied Nikki, putting her keys into the ignition and restarting the car before leaving the car park, headed for home.

***

It hadn't actually been that long that Nikki and Tamsin had left but it was enough to make ET worry. He was surprised at how quickly she had changed; one minute she's sobbing and refusing to talk, the next she's a woman on a mission. He was out on the backyard patio with Bomber, Matt, Ryan and Spider, who had now returned home. Nikki's dog Ruby was asleep next to the deck chairs. His head looked up as he heard a car pull up. Ruby heard it too and lifted her head before running to the back gate. ET heard car doors close and the sound of the car locks being locked and was about to get up when he saw Nikki and Tamsin come through the gate.

"Everything okay?" he asked softly, still sitting. Nikki gave him a small smile and walked over and kissed him on the head.

"Yeah. I'll explain it all in a while. Just give me a bit," she said, turning to head in the side door. Everyone then turned to Tamsin.

"Don't ask," was all she replied before following Nikki inside.

"Why are women always so..." said ET, searching for the right words.

"Conservative," said Ryan in a funny voice, trying to imitate a posh, English accent. They all gave him a weird look at his choice of words. "I'm mimicking what Cameron would say," he replied to the faces. They all nodded, their eyebrows still raised.

"Right," replied Bomber, looking unconvinced before laughing. ET could hear them laughing but it was all distant as he thought back to Nikki and her sudden attitude change.

I'm not liking this at the moment. The pregnancy part only came in because of advice I was given and the fact that it will fit into the story later. I still don't like it though. I'm trying to make this as realistic as possible and I'm drawing from my own experiences; please let me know if there's anything I'm doing wrong. Especially when I'm not feeling all that confident about this story at the moment.