Harry walked into the living room later that evening and sighed. He'd been called out to examine a body that had been found in a field and although they were both still very worried about Erin, they knew they'd had to do their jobs still. He'd left a very unsettled Erin with Nikki and a couple of hours had passed since he'd gone and it looked like the situation still hadn't resolved itself. Erin was sitting in the corner of the room with her knees pulled up tight to her chin and her face buried in her folded arms; she was gently rocking back and forth making small whimpering noises with each rock
"She's been like that for the last hour" Nikki said walking into the room behind Harry who nodded sadly "Do you think we should phone Dan Williams?"
"Let me try talking to her first" Harry said moving over to the corner where Erin was sitting, he sat down next to her leaning his back against the wall "Erin…" he said but the girl seemed to start rocking faster
He gently but firmly put a hand on her knees to stop her rocking but this just made the whimpering noises worse
"Erin, look at me" he said but she buried her head further into her arms "Alright then listen to me, I know you're scared and I know you just want to be with Leo but you can't stay at the hospital all day until he's better.
"I can" she murmured "I want to"
"I know you do" he said gently to her, glad that he was getting somewhere "But it's just not possible right now"
Erin let out a wail and was about to start rocking again before Harry stopped her
"I know all you want is Leo right now but I'm afraid you've only got me and Nikki as company at the moment so we have to try and make the best of things. Leo's getting better and you'll be home in a couple of days but for now you're just going to have to stick it out"
He heard her let out a small sob and he put his arms around her, she leaned into him, resting her head on his chest,
"There we go" he soothed "You've had a rough time of it recently and I promise you things can and will only get better from here. I can't imagine how frightening the last couple of days have been for you but you have to be really brave and just stick it out. Just take tings one step at a time and let everything else sort it out okay?"
"Okay…" she said softly
"Good girl" Harry smiled "Now would you like something to eat. I promise Nikki wont be cooking so at least you wont have food poisoning to worry about" he looked up at Nikki who was trying to look offended whilst stifling a laugh
"This from someone who can only cook pasta in several thousand different ways"
"That's more than you can do" he grinned "Don't listen to her Erin, she's just jealous of my culinary expertise"
"Of course" Nikki said rolling her eyes as Harry helped Erin to her feet "Erin lets leave the 'chef' to it, I've got some bridal magazines I want to show you" she said taking the young girls hand and leading her over to the sofa before the girl had time to even think about what was happening
As Harry worked in the kitchen he could hear Nikki and Erin gently chattering away. The tears on Erin's face had dried and Nikki had successfully distracted her away from her thoughts about missing Leo
"Nikki" he called "Have you phoned Janet yet?"
"No" came the reply "You can do it"
"Thanks very much Nikki" he said shaking his head as he punched in the digits of the number Leo had left him
"Hello?" came the voice
"Hi Janet, its Harry Cunningham"
"Harry, how are you?"
"Good thanks, look I need to speak to you about Leo"
There was a sigh "Please don't tell me he's getting you to stand me up"
"Not exactly but he is going to have to stand you up for the drinks you'd arranged"
"Is everything okay?"
"Leo's in hospital…"
"What happened? Is he Okay?" the shock in Janet's voice was evident
"He's fine, he collapsed at home with pneumonia but he'll be fine in a couple of days. They're keeping him in for a couple of days for observations" he reassured her
"Right…" Janet said trying to take what Harry was saying in "How's Erin?"
"She's a little shaken up by the whole experience but she's staying with me and Nikki until Leo recovers"
"Tell her I'm thinking of her" Janet said
"Will do, I think Leo wouldn't mind seeing an extra friendly face" Harry said giving Janet details of the ward that Leo was on
"Thank you Harry, I appreciate being kept in the loop"
"Well you are Leo's extra special lady friend and more, as Erin likes to put it"
He heard Janet laugh "Well that's a new title I can add to the list. Look I better go, I've got a meeting I have to go to in five minutes Take care Harry"
"You too" he said as the call ended
He turned back to his cooking and sighed as he saw that it was totally and utterly burned to a crisp
"What do you think of that one?" Nikki said passing a glossy page to Erin
The young girl studied the picture of the dress carefully "Honestly?" she said and Nikki nodded "The top half is nice but the bottom half has way too many layers of fabric and will just make your bottom stick out"
Nikki laughed, Erin had perked up a lot and was now helping Nikki find her ideal wedding dress although the proves was a lot trickier than Nikki had ever thought
"I just can't decide" Nikki sighed "I can't find a dress that is perfect" she said picking up another magazine
Erin looked up at Nikki and smiled "Describe it to me, she said picking up a scrap of paper from the table and a pen
"Well…" Nikki began "It would be white, I'm quite traditional on that front, Full length with a flowing bottom half and a fitted bodice. Then it would have these little sleeves that you wear off the shoulder slightly and the whole dress would be embroidered down one side with little white flowers, probably roses for love" She smiled
"It sounds lovely" Erin agreed
"Shame it doesn't exist" Nikki sighed
"Oh really?" Erin said passing the scrap of paper she had been doodling on to Nikki she gasped
There in the paper was a sketch of the dress Nikki had just described to her in perfect detail
"Erin, its beautiful" she grinned
"I could make it you know" Erin said as she studied the drawing carefully
"Really?" Nikki said looking at the young girl and back towards the drawing "It looks awfully complicated"
Erin shook her head "No really, the design of the dress would be very simple; the only thing that would take time would be the decoration"
"How do you know all this?" Nikki asked, the amazement in her voice showing
Erin shrugged "I took textiles at school and I used to practise a lot at home. Mum didn't like spending any money on me if she could help it so I just used to sew stuff myself. I've made a couple of dresses before so this shouldn't be too hard"
"Do you still have them?"
Erin shook her head "Mum ripped them up when she found them. She used to destroy my stuff when she was in a temper" Erin's voice broke as she recalled the painful memory
"I couldn't ask you to do this Erin"
"Yes you could" Erin gave a weak smile "I'm not starting school until after the Christmas holidays and it would keep me busy and it's the least I could do to say thank you for everything"
"If you're sure?" Nikki said and Erin nodded enthusiastically "Thank you Erin, I just know that it will be a perfect wedding now"
"What's all this?" Harry said coming into the room
"Erin's going to make my wedding dress. It turns out she's a talented seamstress"
"Hidden depths" Harry grinned as the doorbell went
"Who's that?" Nikki said and Erin shrugged
Harry came back into the room holding a pizza box and looking sheepish "I might have slightly burnt dinner"
Nikki laughed "I feel there is an unsaid I told you so here" and Harry shook his head
"See what I have to put up with" he said to Erin who laughed
He smiled at the young girl who was looking much happier than she had in days and he was glad that he had played a part on getting Erin back on track. He had to admit, since Erin had turned up in the car park, he'd come quite attached to the girl and didn't like seeing her upset at all.
Author's note: Thanks to Lilypad1 for reminding me about Janet, I actually forgot about her, which is awful of me and for her idea about Nikki's wedding dress. Ideas are much appreciated and credit is given where due so if you wan to see anything specific just drop me a note and I'll see what I can do :)