Through strained eyes, even the slightest change in his expression was hard to make out, but she could tell it was there. A tiny flicker of his eyelashes, a twitch of his lips.

He was coming round.

"Nurse!" Nikki called urgently into the corridor. A woman in a white tunic followed her in and went around the other side of the hospital bed, peering into her patients face while she untangled the blood pressure cuff.

"Mr Cunningham?" The nurse asked quietly.

The patient scrunched his face slightly but his eyes did not open. Nikki moved her hand from his, lifting it to gently play with the hair on his head.

"Harry..." She whispered quietly, with longing.

Harry's eyes flashed open for a split second, but he gradually started to squint. Nikki smiled as she felt her tears overflow and cascade down her cheeks. She leant her head against his and left a soft kiss on his forehead whilst the nurse performed his observations.

"He's stable" She said to Nikki happily once she was done, and began to scribble down notes on the chart that hung on the end of the bed. "I'll get the doctor to come and review him, but everything looks fine. He won't be very responsive for a little while, and he'll be quite confused and tired because of the anaesthetic, so just be gentle with him for now and when he comes around properly later we'll have a chat with him so he knows what has happened. He can have a bit of water but I wouldn't give him anything to eat yet, just in case."

Nikki nodded and thanked her, but her gaze remained fixated on Harry's confused expression.

"Hi," She said with a smile as she ran her fingers down his cheek. He looked up at her unseeing, but the corners of his mouth tilted into the slightest smile at the sound of her voice.

Harry's eyes opened more fully, as if he was starting to take in where he was. He tried to shift his position but he grimaced as it tugged on the wound in his left shoulder.

"No Harry, don't move." Nikki commanded, holding his left arm in place to stop him doing himself more damage. He rolled his head slightly and noticed the bandage with a furrowed brow. Nikki took his left cheek in her hand and gently moved his head back so that their eyes met. The smile that overwhelmed his face was unmistakable, and Nikki beamed down at him, face flooded with tears.

"Niks" He whispered, success after a few attempts. He puckered his lips softly as if asking for a kiss. She granted his wish, smiling as she pressed against him.

"Hello" She grinned.

"Love you" Harry sighed. Nikki looked at him with wide eyes, smile still firmly on her face.

"I love you too, Harry" She whispered quietly.

He licked his lips and grimaced. Nikki poured a glass of water from the jug on the bedside table and offered it to him. He struggled to reach it, so she helped him hold his head up and tilted the glass so the water reached his lips. He pulled back after a few seconds and she laid him back down.

"Where am I?" He asked softly.

"You're in the hospital. I'll explain everything later"

As he looked up at her, Nikki realised she had never seen him quite so unguarded and vulnerable.

"I'm sorry" He started to say. "I'm so sorry..."

Nikki looked at him blankly, confused.

"I'm so sorry." He repeated. "About Lucy, I missed it."

"Don't worry." Nikki sighed, realising what he was getting at. She didn't want to have this conversation now.

"She was the only one... the whole time I was there... but I didn't... I couldn't... nothing happened." Harry closed his eyes, tired.

Nikki stared at him, wondering if she'd just understood him correctly. A piece of her felt slightly guilty. If she had understood, then she'd held a slight grudge unnecessarily. She leant in and kissed his cheek, feeling the curve of his smile as she left her head by his, comforted by the touch. As he was once again consumed by sleep, she pulled back and sent a quick text to update Leo and Janet, who had Lucy at theirs.

The last 24 hours had been hellish. She shuddered as she remembered the events of last night. She remembered hearing the gunshot, and the deathly silence that was only invaded by police sirens from outside the building. She hadn't been able to help herself. She'd dashed from the bathroom and crept down the corridors, stopping in her tracks when she saw the scene before her. Leo had been bent over Harry, putting pressure on a wound that was weeping blood. The police were leaving the corridor, dragging a figure away with them. Leo had looked up at her, shocked to see her and desperately sad that she'd had to witness the scene. He'd ordered her to go into the office next to them but she'd stayed rooted to the spot. The paramedics reached them a few seconds later and Leo relinquished his duties and took Lucy from her once he'd wiped his hands of Harry's blood.

"Nikki you don't have to watch this."

"I can't leave him" She'd whispered.

Leo had taken Lucy into the room next door and lay her down in an armchair where she slept easily, unperturbed. Nikki had knelt down next to Harry, hand entangled in his blood-matted hair as the paramedics padded the wound. She only moved back when they put the stretcher under him. She'd gone with him in the ambulance, and Leo had brought Lucy behind them.

Harry had been in theatre for hours, he'd lost a lot of blood. They'd brought him out after a while, but his observations had become worse and worse, his blood pressure gradually dropped and his pulse increased until they decided to take him back in, there was probably still an internal bleed. Nikki hadn't left his side apart from when they were operating. Leo had long since retired and taken Lucy with him, more for her sake than his, but Nikki had stayed there all along, still wearing her vest and pyjama bottoms with blood soaked knees. After he was out of theatre, long before he had come around, he'd had a blood transfusion, a fluid drip, antibiotics, analgesia, Nikki couldn't keep up with everything.

She sat back in the chair and felt her eyes beginning to close, finally succumbing to sleep.

A few hours passed until Harry woke up again, and he called out for her, rousing her from her slumber.

"It's ok" She said rapidly. "I'm here."

She pulled her chair closer to the bed again and gripped his hand, smiling at him softly. She flicked on the light, and he looked at her with a panicked expression.

"What's happened? Where am I?"

"We're in the hospital. You're ok." She said, relieved to be able to tell him that. She thought for a second, but leant over and pulled the chart from the bottom of his bed. The nurse had been in a few times since they'd been asleep, and the doctor had written up his latest blood results. Nikki smiled at his improved renal and hepatic function, but his haemoglobin could have been better.

"Why?" Harry said quietly. Nikki looked up at him, and realised that he couldn't remember what had happened. He had hit his head as he'd fallen, she reasoned.

She smiled sadly and gripped his hand. "What do you remember?" She asked.

"Tom..." He said with a realisation. "But I hit him... Where is he?!"

"It's ok, the police were there when he... he's in jail, awaiting trial for attempted murder and a horde of other crimes." Nikki paused sadly. "And you did hit him, but he had a gun, Harry."

"He shot me?!" Harry rolled his eyes as if bemused.

Nikki smiled at him and nodded gently.

"Coward" Harry remarked. Nikki scoffed and chuckled. Apparently the bullet hadn't destroyed his humour. "I didn't die though!" He said, as if proud.

Nikki shook her head with relief.

"It was bad though." She admitted. "It just nicked your subclavian artery, narrowly missed your lungs and wasn't all that far from your heart. You lost a lot of blood Harry, and you've already had one transfusion."

"Piece of cake!" He whispered with a chuckle that led to a grimace as he pulled his shoulder.

"You're just lucky Tom can't shoot." She smiled.

"Where's Luce?"

"Leo has her. You ought to thank him, he might have saved your life."

Harry smiled, making a mental note to thank him. He looked up at Nikki and noticed tears in her eyes, threatening to spill over. He gave her hand a squeeze but she couldn't return the smile.

"I'm so sorry, Harry" She whispered. "It's all my fault."

A madness gripped Harry's eyes as she spoke. "Don't say that." He ordered. "None of this was your fault."

"But if I hadn't brought him into our life..."

Harry sighed and looked up at the ceiling.

"It wasn't our life then though, was it? It was your life. Niks if I'd just been honest with myself and hadn't left you..."

They paused as a nurse entered the room and started to quiz him about how he was feeling. She rechecked his blood pressure, pulse and temperature before leaving them again.

"Nikki" Harry started. "Tomorrow, what are you going to do?"

"I was intending to stay with you until you're better." She said matter-of-factly. He smiled and shook his head.

"Why don't you spend a couple of hours with Lucy in the morning and find somewhere for us to live?"

She looked at him, shocked. She was surprised, but happy with his assumption.

"If you'd like..." She began.

"Well, I'm going to need somewhere to live after I get out of here, and I don't know about you but there's no one I'd rather live with than you and our daughter."

Nikki smiled and stroked his hair gently.

"I'd love to live with you" She said quietly.

"So you'll look?" He asked. With a wink, he added "I trust your judgement."

She nodded, grinning. "Any requests?"

"Well I think we're going to need three bedrooms." He smiled. Nikki furrowed her brow momentarily but Harry noticed. "Well we can make do with two..."

"No it's fine, three will be fine." She said slowly. "One each, and one for Lucy."

Harry chuckled, and Nikki looked down at him confused.

"That's not what I meant." He grinned. "I just thought that it might be good to have a spare room... you know, if we decide to stay there for a while and... well."

"Well?" She questioned, smile back on her face.

"Well I can't speak for you but I never planned just to have one child. Maybe one day, when things are a bit better..." He trailed off awkwardly, but Nikki grinned and pressed a kiss into his lips that he returned gladly.

I felt bad, so I thought I'd update this nice and quickly to put you out of your misery! I don't think I could ever kill Harry haha, he's far too nice for that ;) Nice theories, though! I particularly liked your one about Nikki being the one shooting, Baibe, would have been a good twist on it!

Anyway I think we're down to our last two chapters now! Hope you've enjoyed this one anyway ;)