Almost ten hours later and Harry hadn't left the hospital, he had been made, by Dr Winters and other members of the team attending to Nikki, to go and get some food and drink from the canteen and he had agreed but other than that he hadn't left her side. He was sitting in the corner of the room staring out at the rain pattering on the window when he heard a soft groan from the bed. He turned around and saw Nikki carefully bringing her hand to her face.

"Nikki?" he asked and made his way towards the bed as she opened her eyes and gave him a smile he thought he would never see again "God Nikki" he whispered and leant down to kiss her on the lips "I thought I'd lost you"

"What..?" Nikki asked as she looked around the un-familiar room and then back at Harry who had tears running down his face, then to the drip in her hand. She then brought both her arms up and allowed Harry to gently pull her into his and sit down on the bed burying his head in her shoulder as he cried.

"I thought I'd lost you" he repeated as he sobbed and clutched at Nikki who lay her head on his shoulder and winced slightly as the drip pulled in her hand "Did I hurt you?" he asked as he pulled away slightly.

"No" Nikki replied and gave him a kiss "Just hold me please" she whispered, wanting the comfort from him, her throat still sore and dry from not being used for days. "Why am I in hospital?"

"You contracted anthrax from that farmer you autopsied" Harry explained as he pulled back and allowed Nikki to reach up from where she lay and wipe the stray tears from his cheeks "Everyone thought…they said you…" he took a deep breath and brought his hand up to lay it on Nikki's that was still on his cheeks "They all said you would die Nikki"

"Well I didn't" Nikki replied in a whisper as she cleared her throat.

"Three percent" Harry smiled and nodded as he turned his head and kissed the palm of her hand.

"Sorry?"

"Three percent" Harry repeated "That was your chance of survival"

Nikki was shocked by this revelation, her mind still to fuzzy and cloudy to remember details about anthrax. Harry leant down and gave Nikki another kiss and this time she responded eagerly but broke away and moaned, bringing her hand to her head and closing her eyes.

"Headache?" Harry asked and she nodded "Your doctor said that might happen, it's the medication they were giving you. I'll go and get him if you like"

"No" Nikki said loudly and reached out for Harry who entwined their hands on the duvet cover "Don't leave me. Explain what happened"

"You inhaled the spores from the deceased farmer" Harry explained "That's why you felt ill days after, you didn't have flu you were suffering from the onslaught of anthrax. You went into shock so I called the ambulance to bring you here but the test results from the tox report came back and Leo rang the hospital to tell them what you had contracted" Harry stopped for breath and Nikki nodded at him to continue "They told me that you had…" he stopped and had to swallow a lump that formed in his throat at the memories "They told me that you had reached the fulfilment stage and that there was very little chance of you surviving. Then they had to put you on a life support and I thought that you…" he couldn't continue as a fresh wave of sobs shook his body and Nikki gently brought him down to her and pressed soft kisses on her forehead as what Harry had told her sunk in.

"I'm not leaving you Harry I promise" she whispered and gently pushed Harry's chin up so she could kiss him on the lips "I'm still here"

"You should get some rest" Harry told her as he reached down and moved some of her hair behind her ear, just wanting to touch her to make sure that she was real and he wasn't dreaming.

"I'm in bed" Nikki rasped, her throat getting worse "I'm resting"

"Do you want a drink?" Harry asked softly and Nikki nodded. Harry poured her some water and helped her sit up slightly so she could drink it before tucking her back into bed.

"I'm not a baby Harry" Nikki laughed and her face fell as she remembered something. Harry knew what it was and gripped her hand tightly.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Tell you what?" Nikki asked, not knowing if Harry knew she thought she was pregnant.

"That you thought you were pregnant" Harry said softly and gave Nikki a smile "I would have been delighted"

"Exactly" Nikki nodded "You would have been, I was as well but what if it was a false alarm?"

"Then we would try again" Harry replied then gave her his cheeky grin which made her stomach do a flip "and again and again. I've heard making babies is quite fun"

Nikki laughed out loud at this but her laughter turned into a coughing fit which made Harry decide to get Dr Winters despite Nikki's protests. A few minutes after leaving Nikki's room, Harry returned with the doctor and they both found Nikki asleep a small smile on her face.

"We'll do some more tests" Dr Winters informed Harry who nodded and gave the older doctor the first genuine happy smile he had seen from the man "I'd like to keep her in for at least another week but once the patient has woken the recovery is quite quick. I'd recommend keeping her away from work for another three weeks after she has left the hospital and no hard work, her lungs are still recovering"

"Good luck with that" Harry muttered humorously "She loves her work"


This chapter is dedicated to charlotte88 who asked for this chapter and helped me decide not to kill . :D Hope you all enjoyed it, only one more to go.

xxx