The process of decontaminating the lab was a long tiresome one, since the spores could be carried by the ventilation shafts the whole building had to be decontaminated and the entire staff given vaccines just in case they had contracted anthrax. The farm where the anthrax had been from was also being decontaminated and the animals had to be put down to prevent further infection. Leo was one of the first to be allowed to leave the lab and he was already on his way to the hospital to be with Harry and Nikki after he had received a phone call from Harry asking him to go to the hospital as soon as possible. When he walked up to the reception in the hospital the woman behind the counter directed him towards Nikki's room and he walked cautiously along the corridors until he reached the plain wooden door with the number fifteen written on it in plastic numbers. He reached up and knocked quietly on the door then opened it slowly and poked his head in. Harry looked up from his position next to Nikki's bed and gave Leo a small sad smile which Leo returned as he walked into the room and closed the door behind him.

"How is she doing?" Leo asked quietly and Harry looked away from Nikki to look at his older friend.

"Don't give me that crap Leo" he sighed "You did go through medical school as well" he paused and cleared his throat "You know she's dying"

"Don't say that Harry" Leo said as he pulled up another chair and sat next to the younger man "It's not a one hundred percent mortality rate"

"Yeah but it's ninety seven percent Leo" Harry replied and shook his head "That's a death sentence and you know it"

"Harry please…" Leo started but Harry shook his head again and gripped Nikki's hand under his and swallowed heavily, not wanting Leo to see him cry.

"Just don't Leo please"

"Have you had the vaccine yet?" Leo asked after a few minutes and Harry nodded and turned to look at him and nodded.

"Yeah they made sure I had it. What about the lab?"

"They're decontaminating it and giving the vaccines to everyone just in case, the body has been taken away and disposed of properly and the farm is being sorted out as we speak" Leo replied quickly and looked at Harry again "Why don't you go home and get some rest?"

"No" Harry replied shortly "I'm staying here with Nikki, I cant leave her"

"Nikki wouldn't want you to…" Leo started but Harry interrupted

"You don't know what Nikki would want" Harry almost snarled at him as he stood up to face Leo who was also standing "She's not your wife she's mine, you don't know anything!" he was shouting by the end of it and he found he didn't care that he had tears streaming down his face. He started so sob loudly and Leo gently pulled him into a hug and allowed Harry to cry into his shoulder, his own eyes filling with tears as he looked at Nikki laying motionless in the bed, knowing that they were slowly losing her for real this time. He comforted Harry gently like he would with a small child as the younger man cried loudly into him and clutched at his shirt. After a while Harry stopped crying and moved away from Leo, not even looking at all embarrassed by what he had just done as he wiped his face with one hand and sniffed slightly.

"Can you stay with her while I go home for a while?" Harry asked quietly and Leo nodded and gave Harry a small smile.

"Of course" he replied and nodded to the door "Go and get some rest"

"I'll be back as quickly as I can" Harry told Leo as he leant over and pressed a kiss onto Nikki's slightly cold lips and ran one hand gently over her hair "You stay with us" he whispered and gave her another kiss before standing up and walking out of the room. When he had gone Leo turned to the bed and gently grasped Nikki's hand in his, he noted that it was still quite clammy and cold.

"You hang in there Nikki" he told the woman in the bed "You aren't going to let some statistics beat you are you? You're stronger than that"

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When Harry got home the first thing he did was have a long shower to try and calm himself down. The second thing he did was sit on the sofa with a photo album that held pictures of himself, Nikki and Leo in various places, most of them being the pub. He smiled to himself and ran his fingers over a picture of Nikki holding a glass of wine, one arm wrapped around Leo's shoulders grins on both of their faces. Swallowing a lump in his throat he pulled out another photo album, this time of their wedding and opened it slowly his eyes smarting as he saw a picture of Nikki in her wedding dress a bright happy grin on her face as she faced the camera. Harry couldn't bear to look any more and slammed the album shut before replacing both of them in their original places and walking up to his and Nikki's bedroom to try and have a bit of sleep. Instead he just lay on the bed staring up at the ceiling, sleep not wanting to come to him at all. He rolled over onto Nikki's side of the bed and reached over to grab hold of her pyjama top, he brought it to his face and breathed in the smell that was uniquely Nikki.

"Why her? Why my Nikki?" he whispered into the top as he started to cry again "Why not me?"

Even I don't know if I am going to kill Nikki yet. I'm going on holiday on tuesday so you may have to wait about eleven days to see what happens. lol! Sorry about that by the way. So..do you think Nikki should die or not? Or was that a really stupid question? hehe. I'll take it into account when I'm writing the rest of this story.

xxx