Nikki turned off her hairdryer at the wall, pulled out the plug, and carefully stored it away in her bedside cabinet. It had been a long, hard day on a tragic, tragic case; she had been totally and utterly exhausted when she'd arrived back in the hotel. Taking a bath had helped a little; it eased the tension that had wound its way around her neck, back, and legs, and gave her the opportunity to finally rid her blonde locks of spots of dried blood. She had even used the fancy little bath oil bottle she'd found perched on top of her towels, and was surprised to find that the smell of lavender really was as soothing as everyone said. Now, though, having dried herself down, scraped her hair back into a loose ponytail, and put on fresh clothes, she became aware that she was starving, too; there was a dull ache in her belly that reminded her that she'd not touched food since her toast and banana smoothie early that morning. Grabbing her phone and purse from the desk, she headed towards the door, leaving her room and crossing the corridor to knock lightly on number 38.

"Jack? It's me," she called through the door.

"Come in," she heard him return, and opened the door.

The sight she was greeted with was one she probably should've been used to, but it still made her awkwardly look down at the floor, blushing. Her colleague, Jack, was stood topless in the middle of his room, towelling off his hair, clearly having decided to do the same as Nikki and clear any physical remnants of the case from his body, even if, like her, he wasn't able to quite shake the details from his mind.

"You okay?" He asked, chucking the towel onto the back of the nearby chair and reaching for a white polo shirt, rimmed with a black stripe around the sleeves and collar.

"Yeah," Nikki said, permitting herself to sit down on his bed. The covers matched her own; light blue, with geometric patterns and shapes outlined in white, scattered at all angles across it. "Just hungry. Wondered if you'd like to join me downstairs for some supper?"

Jack turned to her, scrunched up his nose, and then returned to searching for his shoes in his pile of laundry. Nikki wondered how such a tidy-looking man could be so messy.

"Hotel food is always a bit-" he made a gagging sound. "We could go to the pier we passed on the way to the caravan site, earlier, and gets chips, and spend whatever we just earned on those rubbish slot machines, or whatever."

Nikki thought of the car ride they'd shared to the crime scene. The sky had looked hopeful and blue, and the sea even bluer, even though she'd only really seen a sliver of it from the road. A stark contrast to the hopelessness of her holding a dying teenager, dyed all over with blood-

"Please?" Jack was looking at her with his best puppy eyes, and she had to bite back a smile, despite herself.

"It seems a stupid trip to bother making." She said half-heartedly. "And it'll be an early morning again, tomorrow."

"Nothing wrong with stupid."

"You would say that," she grinned again. "You've never made anything other than stupid decisions."

For a moment Jack looked a little genuinely hurt, but then he straightened up from tying his shoelaces and gestured to the door. "

We'll get a taxi. On me."

Nikki sighed and stood up, smoothing out the wrinkles she'd left on the bedspread as she did so. "Okay."

"Let yourself have fun for once, Nikki. You deserve it, especially after today."

"I know," she said, and leant into him for a moment, before stepping out into the corridor. "I know."

It was half past nine. Jack was pretending to like vinegar because Nikki had put it all over their portion of chips and he didn't want to be rude. It was dark out and he thought he'd never been anywhere more beautiful than on a rickety bench, breathing in the sea air and watching the nearby arcade lights dance across Nikki's features, illuminating and casting shadows in turn.

"Thank you for this," she said, interrupting him out of his reverie.

"For the chips?"

"For taking me out of the crappy hotel and my crappy thoughts about this crappy case. And for the chips too."

He smiled at her and nudged her with his shoulder instead of responding. She knew what it meant; the two of them had developed a talent for communicating without communicating. Their silences were never awkward, not now, or at least not to him; even if they were, he wasn't sure how much he'd mind. A lifetime of awkward silences with Nikki was still a lifetime with Nikki, and that was what mattered to him.

"Do you want to go in there at all?" He pointed towards the arcades with a slightly floppy chip, nearly dropping tomato ketchup onto his trousers as he did so.

"We can have a look," she said, squinting at the grabber machines that lined the entrance. She let out a sudden little squeal. "Oh my God, Jack, I need one of those."

Jack looked at her questioningly. It was now Nikki's turn to point with a chip.

"Those octopuses! I've seen them online, they're reversible, they're adorable-" she glanced at Jack and saw his bemused look. "What?"

"And you say that I have stupid ideas," he chuckled, though Nikki wasn't really listening. She had already wrenched the near empty chip tray from his hands and shoved it into a nearby bin, and was getting to her feet eagerly. "I suppose it should be octopi really," she was frowning as she searched her pockets for change. "Or not. I've never known."

Jack shook his head in bewilderment at the woman before him, and followed her towards the claw machine she'd been so excited about. As he neared, he saw the octopuses more clearly, and privately admitted to himself that maybe they were a little bit cute, after all. There were ten in total, all sat smiling out at him, in all colours of the rainbow. Nikki seemed intent on the pink one in the far corner, and was already eagerly shovelling money into the machine with an enthusiasm Jack had never suspected she would have for gambling, and, to be fair, she probably didn't usually have, when cute plush toys were not involved. He watched her multiple attempts with increasing interest, and, on her tenth and final go, rummaged in his pockets for a few more pound coins. He handed them to her and her face lit up. He knew vaguely that he was staring, but his friend really did look like an angel when she was happy, and he couldn't help it.

"You have a go, Jack." Nikki moved over, allowing Jack access to the control panel. Despite his earlier disdain she was pleased to see that he rose to the challenge immediately and adopted a look of grim determination as he began to play, swearing quietly under his breath as his first attempt saw the claw scooping at thin air.

It took four attempts for Jack to get the claw around the pink octopus, and a further two to actually pick it up. But he did, and he managed to tip it over into the prize area, sending it tumbling down the chute towards a beaming Nikki.

"Look at her!" She cried, scooping the stuffed toy up into her arms and hugging it tightly. Then, she turned to Jack, and before he could say anything, she'd wrapped herself around him too, and pressed a kiss to the corner of his mouth that sent his heart aflutter and made his tummy do backflips like a kid with a crush. "Thank you, thank you, thank you."

It was very late in the evening when Nikki and Jack finally returned to the hotel. As they walked through the automatic doors, Nikki was hit by the realisation that she'd not felt quite so freely, stupidly happy in quite some time, and she found herself leaning into Jack's large, masculine frame again without quite meaning to, wishing to convey how joyous she felt without words. The assistant stood in the hotel lobby gave her what she thought was a knowing look, but later, laid in bed with the octopus toy on the cushion next to her, she was struck with the realisation that it was probably a judgemental look based on the fact that a grown woman was cradling a soft toy as opposed to anything to do with the relationship, or non-relationship, she had with Jack. No amount of shame or embarrassment could take away the happiness she felt that evening though - she felt like she could take on anything.

It was with a great deal of reluctance on both sides that Nikki and Jack went into their separate hotel rooms when they reached the corridor they both resided in, though, with one last, lingering hug. Almost immediately, Jack stripped down to his boxers and slipped between the cotton sheets, suddenly overwhelmed with a kind of content exhaustion. He did, however, grab his phone from the bedside cabinet as soon as its screen lit up in the darkness; having taken a moment to get his eyes used to the dazzling light, he opened the text that he had received, and felt himself smiling like an idiot upon seeing who it was from. Nikki had text him another 'thank you', accompanied by a smiley face, two kisses, and a picture of her, in silky pink pyjamas, hair splayed across the blue pillows, beaming wildly, laid next to the little plush octopus, looking happier than he'd seen her in months. Lost for words and surprisingly emotional about the whole thing, he wrote a simple goodnight message, send a heart emoji, and flopped backwards onto the pillows again, mind buzzing with possibilities for the future, now certain that Nikki's elation was matching his own. Maybe that little pink octopus had been just the push they needed.