So here it is- the final chapter!

It's been a great couple of months; not only have I had great fun writing this, but I've also met some great people (Namely Nicky and Amy (Hey Nik- that all rhymed! =P )). As of this morning the fic now has 100 reviews which seems pretty crazy, so thank you to everyone who has contributed towards that, especially Caramelchan (I'm sorry I don't know your real name) who wrote that 100th review (And is a Kerry Ellis fan which just makes you naturally awesome ;) )! Thank you to Immortal Spud Thief, Nicky (PixieHead) and lilypad1 who also reviewed the last chapter =)

Thank you everyone!

21. The Final Chapter

Nikki lay on her bed, avoiding looking at the photo of her baby girl that lay on her bedside table. This was all of her fears realised. Her mind was so dark and so full of fear… a few months ago she feared that she would never recover from the mess that she found herself in, but that was nothing compared to this.

"You've got to go and see her at some point soon Niks. If it hurts too much to walk, I can take you down there in a wheelchair." Harry was almost begging her. He didn't know why she was so reluctant to see her daughter, he didn't know what she was scared of. The doctors were taking her off the ventilator that afternoon; she was doing much better than they had originally thought.

"That doesn't stop her from being frightened Harry." Leo told him, "She's terrified of losing her."

"Then you'd think she'd be spending every last second with her. Gemma said that her daughter was born prematurely and she couldn't bear to be apart from her whilst she was in intensive care… but the baby's not going to die Leo!" Harry was exasperated.

Leo looked through the window at the nameless baby girl, lying there so innocently attached to tubes and wires, "Well maybe Nikki's not convinced of that. Different people react in different ways, and Nikki has lost so much in the last few months, more than you'll probably ever know… she probably doesn't want to place all of her hopes on the opinions of a couple of doctors, no matter how qualified they might be."

"It's like thinks are going into reverse… that glassy expression in her eyes… I don't want to back there Leo, but if I'm forced to I will. For Nikki." Harry was desperate for them to be a happy family, but the chances of that happening seemed to be becoming more and more limited.

*****

Nikki took some slow steps towards the paediatrics intensive care unit. It hurt to walk a little because of the caesarean, but that wasn't why she was taking her time. She had spent so long waiting to hold her baby in her arms, but she up until now she hadn't been able to do that. The doctors had told her that she was breathing on her own now and that, if she wanted to, she could come and have a cuddle with the little girl, but Nikki was so frightened of anything happening.

She had expected the doors leading through to the unit to be closed, she had been looking around for a nurse to let her in, but it had been propped open by a trolley. There was only one person, well, one grown person inside the ward. He had his back to Nikki, but she knew instantly who he was. She saw a baby in his arms; her baby.

The blood drained out of her face, her feet became rooted to the ground and she felt her arms shaking violently, "Put. Her. Down." She said slowly, trying to sound strong, but feeling as scared as she did seven and a half months ago.

The man turned around, "Nicola. She's beautiful."

"Please." She begged, her voice barely a whisper. An immense fear had taken over her body. This was the first time she had laid eyes on her daughter and she knew that she would do anything to protect her, "Please Grayson, just give her to me."

"Call me Peter." He said, looking down at the tiny little girl in his arms. He stroked her head, making Nikki shudder, "She's the spitting image of you."

"She's not even one day old. And she's premature; she shouldn't be out of the incubator." Nikki tried desperately to remain calm, "Why are you here?" she whispered, "After all of this time, why now?"

He looked up at her, "I wanted to apologise for what I did to you, it was wrong of me" he said solemnly, "And I wanted to see my daughter."

Nikki exploded in a flood of anger and fear, "She is not your daughter! She's my baby girl, my daughter." She cried.

"I heard the nurses say that you hadn't even been here to see her." He started to bounce the baby softly in his arms as she stirred from her sleep.

"Please," she said, no longer able to hide any tears, "Please just don't hurt her."

"Maybe you don't deserve her." He continued, starting to move towards the door.

"You killed them, didn't you? You killed your family all of those months ago and you blamed it on your dead stepson." She couldn't let him leave, but she didn't know what to do, she didn't know how to save her. She felt so powerless.

"That was the past Nicola. Me and this little thing, we're the future. I need to make amends." He brought the baby closer to his chest.

"And how do you think you're going to do that? Never mind what you did to your family, what about what you did to me? You made me hate myself! Sometimes I even blamed myself, can you believe that?! Not that I ever talked to anyone about that, you made me scared of really talking to people even now. Harry knows that I used to have nightmares about you, but he doesn't know that I still can't go a night without being woken up by images of when you attacked me, that when my mind wonders during the day it always ends up finding you. You can never know how much you've hurt me and you can never make amends." Strangely it felt good to get these words out after all of these months, it was almost like she had been waiting for this moment. Nikki had her back to the door, but she knew from the look of Grayson's face that someone had just entered the room. As she turned around, she had half expected to see Harry in the doorway, "Dad?"

"Nikki? What's going on?" Victor stared out at the peculiar scene before him.

Nikki had never felt so relieved to see her father, "Dad… he's taking my baby!"

Grayson ran for it, only to be grabbed by Victor. Nikki screamed, thinking that the baby would get crushed between them. Finally she regained the use of her legs and ran towards them, gently pulling out her little girl from between them and falling to the ground. She didn't watch as her father wrestled Grayson to the ground and knocked him out; she couldn't do anything but stare at her perfect baby girl who seemed completely un-disturbed by the action.

"Nikki?" Harry ran through the door.

Nikki looked up to see that she was now joined by nurses and a security guard along with Harry and Gemma, "Harry…" she couldn't keep her attention away from the baby for long, and was soon back looking down at her precious little girl.

"So… what exactly is going on here?" Victor asked. When he had asked a nurse where he might find his daughter, he had been directed to the maternity department and he had eventually ended up here, "Niks?" she would have told him if she was having a baby, wouldn't she?

He got no response from his daughter, "That man raped her nearly eight months ago." Gemma explained as Harry went and knelt by Nikki, "And that resulted in this little one being born."

"Are you okay Niks?" Harry put his hand on her shoulder and smiled down at the sleeping baby.

She sat still, "I was so scared… I couldn't do anything to save her."

"It's all okay now." Harry kissed her on the cheek.

A nurse took the baby out of her arms and placed her back into the incubator, reattaching the monitors that were telling them that the premature baby was doing surprisingly well.

Victor walked over to her, "Oh Niks… why didn't you tell me about any of this? You know that I would have been there for you."

She shrugged, "I know. Dad, I was so messed up for a while back there… I barely knew what was going on myself for a long time."

"I… I understand." He knew that he hadn't been a very good father to Nikki. But if she could go through all of this without wanting him there… things needed to change, he realised this now. Whether Nikki would want him there more was a different matter.

"Thank you Dad. Thank you so much!" She gently placed her arms around him, "If I'd lost her… I don't think I could have ever recovered from that." She smiled as Leo and Janet walked into the unit, "You're all here; my whole family. Everything that I could ever wish for."

*****

Later that evening when all of the commotion died down, Harry returned to the unit thinking about the events of the day so far; now that Grayson had been arrested, he knew that Nikki would be able to begin a whole new step of the recovery process that had up until now been off limits due to the fear of Grayson still being out there somewhere. And with the baby girl she had now fully accepted into her life, well, the future was definitely bright.

He knelt beside the chair where Nikki sat cradling her little girl. He stroked her soft cheek, feeling so content and at peace, "It's all over now."

"And yet it's only just beginning." She smiled, leaning over slowly to kiss Harry gently on the lips. She looked into his sparkling eyes and knew that she was doing the right thing. It had always been the right thing.

"You're sure about this?" Asked the quietly ecstatic Harry. His response was another, deeper kiss, "Have… have you decided on a name yet?"

She nodded, "Effie."

His brow furrowed, "I thought you said that Effie was stupid name, that you thought it was too posh? Even for you!"

"Even for me? What's that supposed to mean?" she giggled, "I never said that I thought it was stupid and I said that Euphemia was too posh, but she's not called Euphemia, she's called Effie." She grinned down at her little, no longer nameless little girl.

"Women." He sighed. They would always confuse him, especially this one. And he imagined that her daughter would be just as bad.

Effie slowly opened her eyes, squirming a little in her mothers arms, "Hello little one." Nikki smiled, feeling happier than she had ever been before, "I know you've met him before, but let me introduce you to your daddy." She passed her down to Harry who was looking completely stunned.

"You're sure?" he asked as he took Effie in his arms, holding her as though she was made of the finest porcelain.

Nikki looked at them together; they looked perfect, "Would I have said it if I didn't mean it?" She asked

Harry had the biggest smile on his face; he didn't know that he was capable of being so happy. He brought Effie close to his chest, "Do you know what Effie?" he asked gently down to her, "You're the luckiest little girl in the world. Your mummy is the most wonderful person and she'll really deserve those 'Best Mummy' mugs that we'll be getting her on Mother's Day," He looked up as Nikki giggled, looking a little embarrassed, "And I'll try my best to be the best daddy to you that I possibly can."

"Everything really is going to be alright, isn't it Harry." Finally she truly believed Harry's promise. She knew that, although she would never be thankful in anyway for what Grayson did to her, without all of that she may never have arrived here with Harry and with her beautiful baby girl. With a future.

I hope it was a satisfying ending!

If any of you are Merlin fans, I've just started a Modern AU fic based on Morgana and Arthur (But mostly Morgana)! I do have plans to write another Silent Witness fic, but it probably won't be for a while yet =)

Thanks again guys,

Fayex