So, I know I should be revising, but I'm not. Obviously.

Actually I should probably be sleeping, but I can't again. Been kind of an eventful day and can't switch off. Probably to do with the fact thatI watched a car three in front of me today drive into a power line and flip over... not fun.

Anyway, this is of no relevance so I'll be quiet now :)
This chapter just kind of happened... I thought Harry and Nikki needed a little break before the chapters that I have written for later on...

Thank you to everyone reading as always. And a special thank you to Thyqua, gem.S, EmmaJ1996, freitazal, dinabar, pinkswallowsun and Starr123 - I love you all :D

xXx

Chapter 25 - Lunch

"Leo?" Janet answered her mobile almost immediately, and Leo felt guilty at the concern that he heard in her voice. He had spent very little time at home in the past week, and had missed their time together. He had woken early again this morning, leaving Janet asleep in the warmth of their bed as he had made his way back into the office before the other two. He really would need to make it up to her soon. He would buy her flowers on the way home, and maybe pick up a bottle of wine at the same time…

"Hi Janet, sorry I left early again," Leo hastily apologised.

"Don't worry about it Leo. Honestly, I know how bad this case is," Janet said softly.

'What have I done to deserve someone as good as Janet?' he thought to himself. She always seemed to understand.

"It's just got a whole lot worse," Leo sighed, feeling the energy in his body slowly seep away. He felt exhausted, both physically and mentally, and he dreaded to think how Nikki was feeling. He knew how much the case had affected her weeks ago when the first victim was found. Long before they knew that Ruby Wilson was the beginning of something so complex and horrifying.

There was a pause, and Leo knew that Janet was waiting for him to continue. That was another thing he loved about his girlfriend. She never pushed him to speak. She knew that sometimes the best thing to do was stay quiet and wait for Leo to organise his thoughts enough to continue.

"We got an envelope this morning," he sighed heavily. "Some sort of message from the killer I think. Covered in blood from the first victim, Ruby."

"Do you still want me to come in today to try and build a profile on the murderer?" she asked simply.

"Maybe tomorrow," Leo sighed again. "I don't think Detective Shaw will be back today. He had a rather heated discussion with Harry this morning and left pretty quickly."

"Is Harry ok?" Janet asked, and Leo couldn't help but smile. She was so used to him coming home and letting off steam about his two younger colleagues that she had become part of the team herself. A part of their little mixed up family that muddled through life together.

"Yeah, he's fine," Leo smiled down the phone. "Nikki's taken him out for lunch to calm him down. I think they both need to be out the office for a bit."

"You know, I think that will do them both a lot of good," Janet laughed, a certain secret in her laugh that carried through to Leo, and he knew that Janet would be smiling on the other end of the phone.

"No Nikki, no way. We are not going to that café. Mrs Travis does nothing but watch us, and she really creeps me out," Harry moaned as Nikki skipped in front of him.

"The only other place worth going to is a twenty minute walk away," Nikki said, spinning round to look back at Harry.

"Yeah, and Leo said we could take as much time as we wanted," Harry smiled. "Which means we have verbal permission to skive the rest of the afternoon if we wish. You heard it as well as me, didn't you?"

"If we were to go to the other place, the one with the fancy bar in the middle, you will just drink too much, turn up to work drunk – for the second time today – annoy Leo, get sent home, drink again and pass out in front of the TV watching a really bad film," Nikki said in one long breath.

"Well, now that you've planned my whole depressing night out for me, I suggest that we go to the café instead and sit in a corner where Mrs Travis won't see us," Harry smirked, and knew instantly that Nikki had once again got her own way.

Taking his hand, Nikki pulled Harry towards the small café that almost hid between two large, dark bricked buildings. Harry smiled at the warmth of her gloved hand in his, and the thoughts that had been running through his head of their current cases were pushed to the back of his mind. He could allow those thoughts to be stored away for an hour surely. An hour to listen to his best friend complain about Mrs Travis watching them, and the fact that her coffee wasn't strong enough, and that Harry's food looked better than hers, even though she always ordered the same thing.

Surely enough, as Nikki pulled them into the warmth of the café, they were greeted immediately by the elderly Mrs Travis, who was wearing the same pin striped red apron with the small tomato ketchup stain on the bottom as she always did, her grey-blue hair pinned back tightly on top of her head, stretching the skin at the side of her eyes slightly.

It wasn't that Harry didn't like Mrs Travis. In all honesty, she was a kind woman who just seemed to enjoy the company of others. But she was one of those people who just had to have their hand on your arm as they were talking to you, and seriously invaded Hharry's personal space every time she greeted him. And not in a good way like Nikki did.

"Ah, Harry, how lovely to see you again," Mrs Travis beamed as soon as Harry was dragged through the door. "Oh and Nikki too. How are you both today?"

Harry smiled politely and tried not to shrug away from the firm hand that she placed on his arm.

"We're both good thanks," Harry said. "Just thought we'd get out the office for a bit."

"Oh, are you two working on that awful case that's in all the newspapers?" Mrs Travis asked as she peered over the top of her glasses. "The one about those poor young girls?"

Who was Harry kidding, thinking that he could shut out the thoughts of the cases for just one hour. Just one hour where he could try and get Nikki to smile again. He had missed that smile the past few days. The one that lit up her eyes and made his heart skip a beat.

"I'm afraid so," Harry nodded as Nikki took his hand again and directed them to the small table in the corner.

"If only she knew," Nikki sighed as they sat down at the table and reached for the menus. "If only she knew how bad this really was."

"Hey, no thinking about that case over lunch, ok?" Harry said, pointing his menu in her direction. "I mean it. I know you Nikki, you won't stop until this does, no matter how long it takes. So just for one hour, you're not allowed to think about that case at all."

Nikki nodded, a small smile playing on her lips, as she directed her attention back to the menu. Which was pointless really. He knew that she would order a black coffee, a toasted tuna sandwich, and a slice of carrot cake for afterwards. How she managed to eat it all considering how small she was had always amazed him.

After sitting in comfortable silence for a few minutes, Mrs Travis appeared at their table again, a small notebook in her hand.

"What can I get you two today then?" she smiled warmly.

"Can I have a black coffee, a toasted tuna sandwich and a slice of carrot cake please," Nikki said without looking back at the menu which she had already placed back in the middle of the table.

"And you Harry," Mrs Travis grinned.

"A black coffee, a cheeseburger, and a portion of chips thanks," he smiled as Mrs Travis scribbled down the order, gave Harry a small wink and disappeared back to the kitchen.

"She's flirting with you again," Nikki giggled as Harry rolled his eyes. "Maybe you should try an older woman the next time, rather than another one that's about half your age. You could be her toy boy."

Harry crossed his arms and leant over the table towards her.

"Speaking of an older model," Harry smirked. "What about Shaw…"

"What about Shaw?" Nikki asked, her eyes wide.

"Well, has he made it into your phone book full of highly unsuitable and very inappropriate men yet?" he asked, raising his eyebrows. "Because he certainly flirts enough."

The reaction from Nikki was just what he was hoping for.

"What exactly are you insinuating Harry?" she scoffed. "Because the last thing I remember with Shaw was you arguing with him."

"It wasn't an argument, it was a disagreement," Harry clarified, but Nikki just shook her head.

"He's actually a good guy Harry," she said, leaning on the table now too. "And by the way, please don't play with my phone again. Do you realise how long it took me to get the settings back to normal?"

Harry laughed and leant back in his chair smiling. So far, he had successfully managed to distract Nikki from work, and annoyed her in doing so. He was quite impressed with himself really.

It was only a few minutes before Mrs Travis appeared again with their food and two mugs of steaming coffee.

"Why do I never choose the cheeseburger?" Nikki asked as Mrs Travis walked away again, yet Harry could see her glancing back at them once she had got to the other side of the room.

"Because you know that I'll always give you a bit, so you choose your smelly fish thing instead," Harry stated as he cut off a section of his burger to pass to Nikki.

"You're probably right you know," Nikki nodded.

"I'm always right," Harry grinned.

"Don't push it Harry," Nikki tried to say seriously, yet the smile slipped to her lips almost immediately.

Harry made a mental note to thank Leo when they got back to the office. They really had needed to get away from everything for an hour or so today. It had been a pretty intense morning for all of them, and Harry knew that this was just the start. This game that the murder was playing… he was far from finishing. They had to find a way to stop him before he found another victim.

"If I'm not allowed to talk about that case then, what about your one? The Yates' case. Have you found anything new?" Nikki asked him as she took one of his chips.

Harry shook his head.

"Not really. I think that there was someone else involved, and there were skin samples found under their finger nails, but there was no match found," Harry said, his eyebrows furrowed in concentration. "But Julia said that they were always fighting, and that she thought they had been fighting the night that they died. She thinks that Ray killed Jennifer."

"And you don't?" Nikki said, half way between a question and a statement.

"I don't know," Harry sighed. "She thinks that Jennifer stabbed Ray in self defence, and yet he managed to kill her by slitting her wrists. Nothing makes sense."

"Why do we do this job?" Nikki said with a weak smile. "Why didn't we just get a normal nine to five office job instead?"

"Because that would be boring," Harry said. "And you Nikki, would miss my company far too much."

"Hmmm, I suppose," Nikki mumbled before taking a sip of her drink. "This coffee is never strong enough," she stated.

Once again, Harry couldn't help but smile.

Leo watched from his office as his two younger colleagues walked back into work after nearly a two hour lunch break. Normally he would have made a half hearted comment about their time keeping, but today was different. They deserved a break from it all, and it seemed to have lifted their spirits slightly. Cleared their head ready to look at the evidence again through fresh eyes.

The rest of the day went rather quickly, despite the eventful afternoon. The lab results from the clothing had returned, giving Nikki something to focus on. The card and envelope results also came back, yet the only result was the fact that the blood was Ruby's, no other DNA sample on either to give them a lead. Just as they had expected.

It had just gone seven when Leo announced that it was time to pack up and go home for the night. The work would be there for them in the morning, and he didn't want them getting in the habit of spending all night working again when they had little information to go on.

"Well I need a strong drink," Harry announced as they were making their way through the Lyell Centre.

"I couldn't agree more," Leo responded. If he was quick, he would just have enough time to stop at the shop on the way home to buy the flowers and wine for Janet.

"Professor Dalton," the woman behind the reception desk in the foyer called over. The woman was standing with her coat tightly fastened and her scarf already around her neck. "Sorry Professor, you got some post about two hours ago, but I've been so busy all day what with Alice being off ill, and Kim on maternity leave that I didn't get a chance to send it through to you. You're lucky I caught you really, I was just about to leave, eventually."

Flicking thorough her in tray, the receptionist found what she was looking for and handed it over to Leo. The envelope was small, and slightly yellow, with no stamp and a printed out label identical to the last one.

"Nikki," Leo said slowly, aware that the other two were behind him again. "Phone Shaw again. Tell him to get here again. I'm going to phone Janet and ask her to come in too rather than waiting until tomorrow."

So much for a night with a bottle of wine and an old film with his girlfriend. This case was just getting worse and worse by the day, and Leo had a feeling that tonight was going to be one of those all-nighters after all.