He could feel her watching him out of the corner of his eye. Well, it was more that she was examining him closely rather than simply watching him, but he daren't turn. It had been like this between them for a couple of months now, ever since Thomas and Clarissa left and there was no one left to separate them. They really only had each other and it was showing. She was the first person he thought of when he woke up in the morning and she was the last person he thought about when he was lying in bed. It was fair to say that there wasn't a moment where Jack Hodgson wasn't thinking about Nikki Alexander.

That was when he stole a glance at her and she had quickly turned her head, he didn't fail to notice the way her cheeks had reddened; she had been caught in the act.

The piece of paper burned in his pocket. The piece of paper containing a collection of numbers and a name to go with it. They had been at a crime scene together, nothing serious, Nikki had only made a fleeting appearance before she had to rush off. But she seemed to have made quite an impression on one of the police officers since he slipped Jack his number and asked him to pass it onto Nikki; the guy had walked off so quickly Jack didn't have the chance to hand it back to him. It wasn't as if Nikki wasn't free and single but Jack had only just got her back (her relationship with Matt quickly disintegrating after last years events), he'd finally been given the chance to try again and he wasn't going to let anyone stand in his way.

Was it selfish? Perhaps, but Jack had passed the point of caring anymore.

A sudden thought entered his head, it wouldn't be bad to test the waters now would it? They had had one drink to mellow them out and Nikki had been staring at him for most of the evening and surely that counted for something? He chuckled as he lifted his glass to his lips, the last dregs of his drink trickling down his throat.

"What?" Nikki's head snapped up, her eyebrows pulling together in confusion. Her curiosity only growing the longer Jack remained silent. "Jack, what is it?"

She watched as he dug into into his pocket, revealing a small piece of paper with ink scrawled over it. He pushed it across the table towards her.

"What's this?" She picked it up, inspecting it. "Who's number is this?"

Jack raised an eyebrow, "You made an impression on him."

"On who?"

"One of the police officers a couple of days ago."

Well now she was even more confused, she was hardly going to remember a police officer anyway but one from a couple days ago? Had Jack really been holding onto the number for that long? She pushed the paper back towards him, "Well I'm not going to remember them, am I?"

He pulled a face, "You might've."

Her eyes were darting across his face trying her hardest to work out the point he was trying to make here. He was almost digging for information, trying to get a reaction out of her. Oh. And then it clicked, he was trying to see if she would be interested in this persons number, if she had somehow remembered them enough to want ring them and have them take her out for a meal or a drink. She bit the inside of her cheek, well, two can play at that game.

"Actually," she was picking the number up again. "Now that I think about it, I do remember him. He was rather easy on the eye, I think I should give it a go, don't you?"

Jack opened his mouth slightly, this wasn't quite the reaction he was hoping for. But he caught the glint in her eye and the twitch of her mouth, she was winding him up; or at least, he hoped she was.

"How come you're only giving it to me now?" She asked him, tilting her head as she sipped from the straw of her drink.

Jack shrugged, "I don't know."

"Come on," she nudged him with her knee as she edged closer to him. "There has to be a reason, why you would keep someone's number from me?"

"No reason," his thumb ran over the rim of the glass, he wasn't expecting the interrogation to turn back around on him. He could feel her creeping closer to him and he could feel himself losing his breath. He bit down on his lip as her hand brushed his, "Okay," he turned to her, she was dangerously close to him, one movement and he could capture those lips between his. He swallowed, "I didn't show you because I didn't want you to be interested and have it lead somewhere."

"Well I wouldn't be interested anyway," she spoke calmly. "I don't even know who this person is, didn't give him a second thought." Her eyes drifted to his lips very briefly.

"No?"

She shook her head, "No," she paused, moving her hand to take hold of his. "Because there happens to be someone else. At least, I hope there's someone else."

Jack's lips quirked, "Someone else? What's he like?"

"Tall, dark hair, green eyes," her heart was pounding out of her chest as her eyes kept dropping to his lips. Her lungs felt tight as she ran a finger up her arm.

Jack felt the goosebumps erupting all over his body. This wasn't just longing looks from across the room, or back and forth flirting. This was them, inches away from stepping over that boundary. Stepping over that confusing line where they go from just being friends into becoming something more.

"He's a forensic scientist and he's incredibly stubborn."

Jack scoffed at that, interrupting her, "Coming from you?"

The air grew thick around them as their chests rose and fell in time with each other. Jack could feel the blood pumping in his ears and he couldn't stop himself from glancing at her lips. He lifted his hand to cup her cheek; their eyes connected, he was asking for permission. Permission to cross that boundary.

"Jack…" the word barely escaped her throat. She could feel his breath moving across her cheek and the wait was becoming excruciating. She couldn't breathe anymore, it felt as though there was vice squeezing lungs. It had never been like this with anyone, no one had ever made her feel quite this giddy before.

No longer able to bear it, Jack closed the gap between them, his lips connecting with hers. It was only brief, testing the waters. But as he pulled back from her, Nikki's lips were on his again. Jack's fingers threading through her hair. He could feel her smiling against a lips, a smile that quickly turned into a chuckle.

Nikki pulled away from him, her forehead coming to rest on his chest as Jack leaned against her hair. She was laughing, "What? Am I that bad?"

She lifted her head, a smirk spread across her face, "No," she stole another kiss from him. "Just wondering how it took us this long to get here."

Jack nodded slowly, he couldn't argue against that. He had been asking himself the same question.