Hello o o o o o (echo) anyone else there other than by beloved angst groupies, anne1119, tigpop, thyqua and pinkswallowsun, you're the best :)

Twenty-Nine

Friday was a new day. Nikki had left for work after Harry had promised to sort out his finances, register his phone properly and plead with the gym not to cancel his membership. She decided this would probably be the easiest of the three. Having seen her scrape him off the floor less than a week ago, they were probably prepared to allow for a slight hiccup in a payment plan.

Her day at work had gone smoothly. She had a feeling that Leo was vetting all the cases she was getting. The temp had been working on a dog bite case. He was careful to conceal his work from her, but there was no mistaking that the full length of sheet on the gurney was not needed to cover the tiny body.

By five o'clock she was ready to leave. Her work wasn't finished but she was ready. She picked up the files she was working on and the recordings of her post mortem and put them in the bag. She could work on them over the weekend. They only needed transcribing and writing up really. Harry was still busy working on his charts. It was something that the therapist suggested, and it seemed to be occupying him so she was happy for him to work on them. It would give her a chance to finish these two cases.

Climbing the stairs to Harry's flat she wondered what sight would greet her today. She was beginning to be able to tell them apart. He had a slightly different body position, or face depending on what moment he was reliving. They all had his body locked into tense lines and points but they were all different. She knew the one for Anna of course, but then there was a different one for Janos, his head always angled slightly differently. A different one again for Agnes' baby, fear, protection and exhaustion all rolled into one and his arms hugged tight against himself, in attempt to keep hold of the baby. One day he would be able to tell her what he saw, but mostly she just let him stare. If it were Janos or Agnes, she would go and sit behind him and hold him. If it were Anna, she found a way to be busy until her presence brought him out of his trance.

She was surprised by the smell of cooking that wafted down the staircase. She was even more surprised by the fact that it was coming from Harry's flat. She opened the door, expecting to find his mother or Janet busy in the kitchen. But no, it was Harry and it smelt decidedly like a roast dinner.

"Harry!" Nikki said her voice as surprised as the rest of her.

Harry came loping across the floor towards her and pulled her straight into his arms. He held her tight and then released her to arms-length.

"I am really sorry," he said.

"Yesterday, I was horrible, insensitive, I'm really sorry."

Nikki looked at his hangdog expression, his eyes scouring her face in search of her forgiveness.

"Apology accepted," she replied.

"Do they always come with roast dinners?" she continued

"What?" asked Harry, confused.

"Apologies," she repeated.

"Erm no," said Harry, "they usually come with…." Harry stopped but blushed scarlet and left Nikki no problem in guessing how he usually apologised to his girlfriends.

"That roast smells delicious," she said hastily before their eyes stayed coupled together for too long.

The meal was delicious; Harry had really surpassed all her expectations as a cook. Why had they been eating greasy take-outs all these years? But there was one thought nagging at the back of her brain. A voice like an omen hovering at the edges of her consciousness, it was his mother's voice of course.

She had warned her that Harry would pick fights with her. All for the joy of making up and begging her for her forgiveness.

But had he? She was the one who had been cross about him giving all his money away and anyway they always fought didn't they? That was what made them work so well, the fights and the reconciliations. But there was something unsettling about the evening, something about the effort he was making for this apology. Harry might well be making good progress in his journey back to health, but whereas physically he was getting stronger, mentally she worried he was getting further and further away.