"Did you imagine yourself with children?" Nikki asked suddenly, breaking Harry out of his own musings about having children with the woman on his lap. "When you were younger I mean?"
"No" Harry replied truthfully, shaking his head and continuing to fiddle with a strand of her hair "I was more of a career man really, the thought of having children terrified me. That's why I reacted the way I did with Penny, plus I didn't really want children with her in the first place, I didn't love her. I thought I did, but I was young, what did I know?. But then I met you and over the years that changed"
"I'm glad about that" Nikki smiled at him "I love you"
"I love you" Harry told her, brining her hand to his mouth so he could kiss it softly "We should do this more often. Just come to the park and sit and relax together"
"I like it" Nikki nodded, closing her eyes and sighing contentedly, shifting slightly into a more comfortable position, but still laying on her back on the blanket, her head on Harry's lap. "It's peaceful, no pressure from anyone, just us"
"That was very philosophical Dr Alexander"
"You just ruined the moment" Nikki told him dryly, opening her eyes and grinning at him as he smirked down at her. "But I love you anyway"
"and I love you"
"Damn it" Harry hissed as he hobbled into the bathroom where Nikki was relaxing in a bubble bath, book in her hand.
"What is it?" she asked as she turned her head and watched her lover hobble his way over to the closed toilet with one crutch and sit down heavily. "Your leg?"
"The damned cast" Harry replied moodily, throwing the crutch to the floor and turning towards her "I can't wait to get the bloody thing removed, it's ruining my life"
"I wouldn't go that far" Nikki chuckled, turning back to her book and missing Harry incredulous look.
"Nikki" he said loudly "It's stopping me from making love to you properly, we've been together three times in the past three weeks since we've got together. I want to be able to please you"
"Harry calm down" Nikki giggled, turning away from her book again to look at the very frustrated Harry "Once the cast is off, we can spend as much time in bed as you want, and you can make love to me as much as you want as well. Trust me, I'm looking forward to not being able to walk the next day"
"You're not frustrated?" Harry asked hopefully and Nikki shook her head, looking back at the book.
"Nope, and anyway, with all the built up tension it should be even more amazing. Maybe we should wait until we're in Rome until we have se.." she saw Harry's look and corrected herself "make love, again"
"How romantic of you Dr Alexander" Harry joked, leaning over and pressing his lips to hers as she giggled "I like that idea very much"
"That's why I suggested it" Nikki told him, bookmarking her page and handing it to him. Harry took it and glanced at the cover.
"Angels and Demons"
"Read it, it's good. Addictive actually" Nikki stated, reaching over to grab the body wash on the side of the bath.
"Maybe, after you" Harry told her, watching as Nikki grabbed the body wash and looked up at him.
"Wash me?" she asked, a coy smile on her face as Harry raised an eyebrow "Well we said no..making love, we didn't say anything about no touching did we?"
"You smell like coconut" Harry stated later on as they sat on the sofa, curled up with Gladiator on, Nikki's turn to chose the film of course. He pressed his face into her hair and breathed in her shampoo, mixed with her unique smell.
"I should do" Nikki replied, not taking her eyes off the screen "It's coconut shampoo, I'd be a bit disappointed if it smelt like chocolate" she paused and smirked "Unless the chocolate was covering me and you were licking it off"
Harry was taken aback slightly by Nikki's boldness, but a smirk to match hers formed on his face as she turned and smiled at him.
"or cream, I'm not fussy"
Harry leant down and kissed her, distracting her from the film as he pulled her onto his lap so she was straddling him. Nikki deepened the kiss and their tongues fought for dominance as Nikki ran her hands through Harry's hair, pressing herself up against him and moaning as one of Harry's hands made its way up the front of her pyjama top, running over one of her naked breasts and making her arch into him slightly.
"Kinky minx" Harry muttered through the kiss and Nikki smiled as they continued to fight for dominance.
"You have no idea"
"You'll have to show me" the male pathologist whispered as he broke the kiss and with some effort, extracted his hand from Nikki's top, both of them breathing heavily.
"Only if you show me yours" Nikki responded, resting her head on his and licking her lips as Harry nodded, a smile on her face "Every one of them, and I'll tell you, or show you, every one of mine, no holding back from each other"
"I promise" Harry nodded, kissing her on the nose and then on the mouth again, chuckling as Nikki yawned and apologise. "Even the talk of kinky sex isn't keeping you awake"
"Sorry" Nikki apologised again "It's all the fresh air I've had today"
"You go to bed and I'll lock up down here" Harry told her, reaching over for the remote and turning the DVD off, patting her bum as he did so and making her giggle slightly. "Go on, I'll see you upstairs"
"Okay" Nikki nodded, leaning down to kiss him as she climbed off his lap "I love you"
"I love you" Harry responded as Nikki turned and walked out of the room.
By the time he was ready for bed, the house locked up and upstairs in the bedroom half an hour later, Nikki was already fast asleep, laying on her side facing his part of the bed. Her blonde hair was splayed over the pillow and the duvet was pulled up over her body, a small smile gracing her face in her sleep. Harry didn't think he could fall in love with Nikki even more than he already did, but when he looked at her like this, he knew that wasn't true, there was something about her that made him fall in love with her a little more every day. Climbing into bed, he carefully wrapped his arms around her so not to wake her up, and pressed a kiss onto her forehead, before closing his eyes and falling asleep.
The next thing Harry knew he was being gently shaken awake, his name being muttered from beside him. He opened his eyes and saw Nikki standing beside the bed, shaking him gently, her hair in disarray.
"What's wrong?" he asked instantly, sitting up slightly as Nikki bit her lip and mumbled something "Sorry?"
"There's a spider in the bathroom" Nikki murmured, looking down at the bed in embarrassment, a flush rising across her cheeks that even Harry could see in the darkness. "It's huge, can you move it please?"
She sounded so much like a scared little girl that Harry took pity on her, chuckling under his breath as he climbed out of bed and grabbed one of his crutches, glancing at the time as he did so. Quarter to three in the morning.
"Come on you" Harry told his lover, feeling her trailing behind him as he walked out of the room and across the hall into the bathroom. "Where is it?"
"There" Nikki pointed to the wall just above the toilet "It's huge"
"Nikki the poor thing is more scared of you than you are of him"
"How the bloody hell do you know?" Nikki muttered to him, pushing him slightly into the room "Go and get it, don't kill it though"
"Of all the things you could be scared of and it's spiders" Harry chuckled as he walked over to the sink and grabbed a glass "I thought the great Dr Nicola Alexander would be okay with them, being a strong independent woman and all that"
"Shut up and get rid of it" Nikki told him loudly "I need to use the loo"
"There's one downstairs" Harry stated as he placed the cup over the top of the spider, turning to glance at her "Paper? Cardboard?.." he prompted and Nikki popped her head out of the bathroom and then reached over to grab a piece of paper from the chest of drawers on her landing. She handed it to Harry and stepped back quickly as he turned around with the spider sitting on the paper under the glass. "I can't do it with only one hand" he told her "It's okay to stand without the crutch but I can't walk without it at this time of the morning, my co-ordination isn't that good"
"What?" Nikki practically screeched "What are you going to do with that?"
"Well you can.."
"I am not bloody touching that"
"You don't have to touch the poor spider" Harry rolled his eyes "Just the cup and paper"
"But..but it's right there" Nikki whimpered, motioning to the glass and the quite large spider in it. She could practically feel it watching her.
"Nikki, all you have to do, is take it to the window and throw it out"
"I can't" Nikki whispered, shaking her head. She hated admitting any of her fears to anyone, including Harry, and to have him find out that she was stupidly terrified of spiders really damaged her pride.
"Okay" Harry compromised, seeing how scared Nikki was, wondering why he hadn't known about her fear before now "You take it to the window, then I hobble over and throw it out. Okay?"
"Okay" Nikki murmured as she nodded, walking over to him and taking the cup from him with shaking hands. Walking quickly over to the window and sighing with relief as Harry made his way over as well, handing her his crutch and gently throwing the spider out of the window, knowing that it would be okay. "I'm sorry"
"Don't apologise" Harry chuckled, pressing his lips to hers and giving her a smile as he pulled away.
"It's stupid.."
"No it's not" he interrupted her "Stop thinking that you have to be strong all the time, you're allowed to be scared and cry and..moan and...whatever else humans have to do. Stop thinking that you're being a burden"
"How did you know I think...?"
"Because I can read you like a book Nicola" Harry replied with a smile, kissing her once more before hobbling away from her and to the doorway "Now I've rescued you from the big bad spider I can go back to bed"
"My own knight in shining armour" Nikki giggled and Harry grinned at her before walking from the room.
So..should I write about their time in Rome, when the time comes?
xxx