"Harry" Nikki called out to her husband as she sat in the study on the laptop, checking her e-mails. "Your phones ringing and it's your mum"
"What does she want now?" Harry sighed as he walked into the room. He was in the middle of cooking dinner for them.
"I'm not psychic" Nikki giggled and Harry rolled his eyes as he answered the phone.
"Hello mum" he walked out of the room and back towards the kitchen, not wanting his food to burn. Nikki chuckled to herself as she shook her head, turning back to the laptop and opening an e-mail from Leo. She read it quickly, it was asking if they were having a good time and what they had been up to. Nikki smiled as she wrote a reply to her friend, feeling slightly guilty for keeping something as big as her marriage to Harry, from Leo, the man who was more of a dad to her than her own father was. She sent the e-mail and turned in her chair as Harry walked back into the room, setting his mobile on the desk next to her.
"Mum has decided that she is going on holiday for a week with a friend"
"Good for her" Nikki shrugged, standing up and closing the laptop lid at the same time "Doesn't she deserve some time with her friends?"
"Friend" Harry shook his head, leaning back against the desk behind him and pulling his wife closer so she was standing between his legs, his hands on her hips. "Of the male variety"
"Oh" Nikki grinned "They could just be friends, like we were when we came out here"
"And look where we are now" Harry held up her hand and showed her the rings, before pressing a kiss onto her knuckles and returning his hand to her hip.
"Yes but I don't think your mum is going to get married while she's away"
"Did you think that you were going to get married while you were away?" Harry countered and Nikki shrugged.
"Not really, but come on Harry..."
"Nikki she's my mum" Harry sighed, Nikki reaching up to run one hand through his hair "I don't even know this man, what if he's..."
"A mass psycho murderer?" Nikki interrupted incredulously, making Harry flush slightly and shrug. "Bloody hell Harry"
"We see it at work"
Nikki sighed loudly and shook her head, throwing her hands into the air and laughing, slightly shocked at Harry's attitude.
"Harry your mother is a grown woman, she obviously knows what she's doing with this man. She's not stupid" she shook her head again and moved away from her husband slightly "It's probably completely innocent"
"Yeah" Harry replied moodily, crossing his arms over his chest and sighing "just like we were"
"Doesn't she deserve to be happy?" Nikki asked quietly "Even if it is only an innocent holiday with a friend. Did she have boyfriends after your dad died?"
"I suppose so" Harry shrugged, refusing to look at his wife "I never liked them, they tried to be a father to me, tried to be my father." He looked up at Nikki and she saw the sadness in his eyes "and back then I hated it, the only man I wanted as my father was my father. And now I think back and realise that they weren't alcoholics or..."
"Ssh" Nikki whispered, walking over and gathering her suddenly vulnerable husband into her arms, stroking his hair gently as he lay his head on her chest. "I hated dad's girlfriends as well" she confessed "They were always nice to me in front of him, but when he wasn't there they used to tell me that I was a burden on him and he would be better off without me" her voice broke slightly but she carried on. "they said I held him back from doing all the things a single man could do"
"That's why you ran away?"
"Mmm" Nikki nodded, pressing a kiss to Harry's hair before resting her cheek on his head "I couldn't take it anymore. Dad's drinking, dad forgetting the fact that he had a daughter, the snide comments from his whor..girlfriends, the fact that I didn't fit in at school, the bullying..." she broke off and Harry looked up at her, a frown on his face.
"Bullying?"
"Yeah, well you know" Nikki shrugged, moving away from her husband and smoothing down her dress unnecessarily "New girl from another country and all that"
Harry reached up and placed one hand gently on her cheek, stroking it with his thumb.
"You didn't deserve any of that Nikki" he told her softly, sadness and regret in his voice.
"Hmm" Nikki shrugged "It's all in the past now"
Harry looked at her for a few more minutes and Nikki squirmed slightly under his gaze, feeling herself blushing.
"What?"
"I'm trying to picture you with a South African accent" he chuckled and Nikki rolled her eyes "I bet it was gorgeous"
Nikki opened her mouth to say something, but stopped and sniffed and frowned.
"What's that smell?"
"Shit" Harry swore, practically sprinting out of the room and in the direction of the kitchen were a strong smell of burning was coming from. Nikki followed him and found Harry standing at the sink, staring dejectedly at the saucepan hissing in the water. "Dinner's ruined"
"It doesn't matter" Nikki told him, wrapping her arms around his stomach and resting her chin on his shoulder.
"But I wanted to cook for you"
"It's fine Harry" his wife giggled, pressing her lips to Harry's cheek "You've already proven to me that you can cook so don't worry"
"Nikki I'm not going to cook for you once and then forget about it" Harry replied incredulously, glaring at the saucepan in the sink.
"Stop it Harry" Nikki laughed, taking his face in her hands and turning it so he was looking at her "There's a chip shop down the road, we'll go there"
"Sure?"
"Sure"
Nikki leant up and pecked Harry on the cheek again, letting her lips linger slightly longer than the first time, her hands sliding up the front of his shirt and up his smooth chest. She felt Harry shiver slightly and licked her lips, pressing them to his neck and kissing her way up to his ear.
"If you keep that up we won't be going out" Harry warned her, moving away from his wife and extracting a disappointed groan from her. "and I'm sure you want to eat"
"Well that depends what I'm eating" Nikki smirked at him, her eyes flicking to his crotch and then back to his eyes. Harry felt himself flushing slightly, however he didn't know why. It was probably something to do with the intense look in Nikki's eyes and the way she licked her lips.
"Nikki" he whispered, his throat suddenly dry. He had no idea why he was suddenly acting like a inexperienced teenager, it wasn't like Nikki hadn't done anything like that to him before. "Chip shop now" he commanded her, hoping his voice was steady "the sooner we leave, the sooner we come back"
Nikki's smirk grew as she turned and sauntered out of the room, Harry's eyes running over her perfect body as she walked down the hallway. When he was sure that she had gone to get ready, Harry let out a low breath. He had never met a woman who affected him as much as Nikki did. She only had to walk into the room and his breath was taken from him, even if she was only dressed in some baggy tracksuit bottoms or one of his shirts. Even the small things, like the way she licked her lips, or the way she fiddled with a strand of her hair when she was nervous, or tucked it behind her ear as she was talking, they always distracted him from what he was meant to be doing in the first place. Normally resulting in him staring at Nikki for quite some time without even himself realising what he was doing until Nikki called his name, or Leo nudged and smirked at him.
"Harry"
Nikki's voice broke him out of his thoughts, and Harry smiled at her as he walked over and took her hand.
"What were you thinking about?"
"You" he replied simply, leaning down and stealing a kiss from her, before leading her out of the house.
Harry and Nikki really did have messed up childhoods didn't they?, another reason for them to get together in the show and share the pain :D
xxx
