Nikki glanced up from the computer at her desk when she felt someone's eyes on her, smiling and raising an eyebrow when she saw Jack leaning against the frame of the doorway with his arms crossed over his chest, an amused look on his face.

"What?"

"You know they'd be very proud of you in this office, Leo especially" Jack told his partner, staying where he was and seeing Nikki looking over to the framed pictures of Leo and Thomas that were on the wall length bookcase behind her desk "I think Sam is right, you should take the professorship, lead the Lyell when she goes"

"It's not that simple Jack" Nikki sighed, leaning back on her chair and looking over at him. Yes she had been so proud and happy when Sam had told her that this office belonged to her, that she was quite happy taking the smaller room that had been Nikki's, and one of the desks too. Nikki had joked that it was just to keep an eye on Jack, Simone, and their newest (or old however they looked at it) recruit Charlie.

"Why not?"

"We have Leo now"

"The little lion is fine, he'll get to grow up with a professor as his ma" Jack smiled, stepping into the office and shutting the door, perching on the arm of the couch, a move that he knew annoyed Nikki still by the way she quickly looked at the actual seats and then back at him. "Imagine him going to school and telling his teachers that his ma is a doctor, a professor"

"And his da could be as well"

"It's a lot of work"

"Professor Hodgson has a ring to it as well you know" Nikki informed him with a smirk, pointing her pen at him "I'll do it if you do it"

"That's blackmail, and is very illegal" Jack told her as seriously as he could, but his lips twitched up and he rubbed the back of his neck, looking around the office "I don't know"

"Oh so now it's me encouraging you, it's 'I don't know'?" she rolled her eyes, looking back at the computer screen and typing in the last few words of her report that she had been doing before Jack had interrupted her "Where is Leo by the way?"

"Simone kidnapped him as soon as I entered the building"

"Of course she did, bet there's no chance she'll take him overnight though"

Simone told them that she was always there to babysit during the day if she was available for it, but she drew the line at looking after Leo overnight because she enjoyed her sleep too much. She had said that being woken for a crime scene was one thing, but being woken a few times a night because the baby had accidentally sneezed and scared himself was where she drew the line. Nikki had laughed so much when she had said that, but had agreed wholeheartedly.

"Will you think about the professorship?"

Nikki nodded at Jack's question, it hadn't even crossed her mind that it might be the next step until Sam had started to gently nudge her about it. Running the Lyell wasn't anything that she had ever really thought about properly, there had always been Leo, and then Thomas, and some days she still felt like the young woman who had come in sort through some bones and ended up worming her way into staying. Some days she still walked in and expected Leo to be standing there waiting to give her the best cases over Harry, but times had changed and she supposed that she must as well. She checked her watch when she thought about Harry, pointing at Jack again with her pen.

"Harry's plane lands in four hours, is the..."

"The spare room is all ready for him, I've done the shopping so the cupboards and freezers are full, and I have cleaned the house" Jack interrupted her, standing up and walking over to stand behind her, putting his hands on her shoulders and leaning down to kiss her "Your dutiful house-husband knows what he's doing"

"I knew there was a reason I had a baby with you and not some other man" Nikki giggled in response, seeing him roll his eyes in the reflection of her computer screen "I bet you even had time to babysit your son" she added, her lips twitching into a smirk when she heard him groan, she knew how much he hated it being called that.

"Nicola you know how to push my buttons"

"I do, now go away I need to finish these reports by this afternoon so I can leave early to see Harry"

Jack laughed, leaning down to kiss her head quickly, before leaving the office and leaving the door open like it had been when he had found it. He was so proud of Nikki, and he really hoped that she did consider going for the professorship, and perhaps he would think more seriously about her deal to go for his as well.

As it turned out, Nikki had been running late and had phoned Jack to ask him to go to the airport to meet Harry from his flight, and he had told his partner teasingly that he was going to start charging for the taxi services. Conor had agreed to look after little Leo who had just been put down for a nap after having screamed himself into exhaustion for an hour for no reason, and Jack hadn't wanted to dare move him to put him in the car to take him to a noisy airport.

"Jack Hodgson"

Jack looked up when he heard the voice, laughing when he saw Harry walking towards him and they exchanged a hug, before moving away and Jack patted the other man on the shoulder.

"Nikki was running late at work"

"Are we surprised?" Harry joked and shifted his bag on his shoulder as Jack rolled his eyes and shook his head as they started to make their way towards baggage claim "You look good, how have you been?"

"I've just come from spending an hour trying to get a screaming three month old to go to sleep, then he throws up on my shirt, and falls asleep as though nothing happened" Jack laughed and ran his hand through his hair, Harry snorting next to him as they walked.

"How is he? And Nikki?"

"They're fine, this whole sharing maternity leave is working out better than we thought. I don't think Nikki could have coped being away from work for a year, I don't think I would have wanted to her to in all honestly" Jack responded, missing the smile that Harry gave them as they walked past the crowds of people, it had only been two months since Harry had last visited but he had taken two weeks holiday to come and stay with them for the tenth anniversary of Leo's death "Plus I think she wants to stay busy with work"

"I'm sure Professor Ryan is helping with that"

"Sam has taken a bit of a step back and is trying to get Nikki into the role of leading the lab properly again, whether Nikki knows it or not is another thing, she's not mentioned it and she keeps saying that Sam is her superior and her boss"

"She's lead the lab before"

"She says she doesn't want it"

"It's a position that any pathologist would want" Harry informed Jack with a laugh as they reached baggage claim and he looked up at the screens to see where his was coming in from "I think she's just too scared to replace Leo, or even Thomas even though I never knew him"

Jack just hummed and nodded.

"I don't believe for one second that you were horrible for your dad this morning" Harry told little Leo as he sat in front of him on the floor where the baby was laying on his play mat, the three month old staring at him and then grinning widely, a grin forming on Harry's face as well "See, nothing but an innocent little face there" he cooed, tickling Leo's belly as the baby kicked his legs. Sometimes he wondered what would have happened if he had been strong enough to tell Nikki how he felt about her before taking the job in America, perhaps they'd have one or two children by now too, but they were both vastly different people now and he was so happy that she had Jack. It was a plus that he and Jack got on so well too, Nikki even joking that she would rather that they fought, rather than gang up on her with their bad jokes at her expense.

"You'll retract that statement when you're looking after him one night so Nikki and I can go out on a date and he's crying and throwing up on you"

"I would simply pass him to his granddad"

"...We're taking da on our date with us"

Harry laughed at that as Jack smirked, both of them looking in the direction of the door when they heard it open, and then the sound of keys being thrown on the table.

"Jack?"

Jack put his finger on his lips to Harry as the pathologist stood up from the floor.

"In the living room, Harry's flight was delayed" he called out to his partner, stepping into the hallway and seeing the frown on her face, walking over to kiss her softly on the lips and wrapping his arm around her waist "You know what flights are like"

"I know, but I was looking forward to seeing him today"

Jack nodded, kissing her again and nudging her towards the living room when she had kicked her boots off, his lips twitching into a smile as he followed her in and saw her go straight for little Leo, leaning down to coo at him.

"Were you good for daddy?"

"He threw up on me" Jack huffed and glanced at Harry who had been standing just out of view of Nikki's vision when she had stepped into the room.

"He was fine for me though"

Nikki jumped when she heard the other voice, standing up and letting out a noise of surprise when she saw Harry standing there next to Jack. She quickly moved towards him, wrapping her arms around his neck as he laughed and hugged her back, kissing the side of her head.

"You bastards" she told them both tearfully, wiping her eyes and sniffing despite the wide smile on her face "Honestly sometimes I regret how good friends you are"

Both men laughed at that, Jack stealing a kiss from Nikki before walking over to pick Leo up from his play mat, bouncing the three month old slightly in his arms before holding him against his shoulder as he watched Nikki and Harry talk to each other. He kissed Leo's head, rubbing his back and humming softly.

"Time for a nap, let mummy and Uncle Harry have time together I think" he told the baby, looking down at him and gently booping his nose "And no throwing up on your da"

"So, are you going for the professorship?"

Nikki sighed when she heard Harry ask that, looking over at where he was sitting on the armchair with little Leo in his arms, one hand holding the baby's bottle while Leo happily but messily drank from it.

"He doesn't make that much mess when I feed him"

"You feed him straight from the source" Harry responded with a chuckle, Nikki rolling her eyes and curling her legs under her on the couch "You didn't answer my question"

"Jack needs to keep his mouth shut"

"He just mentioned that you were doing a great job of running the Lyell and that Sam had mentioned the professorship as well"

"I'm not running the Lyell, Sam has been running the Lyell since we came back from that thing in Liverpool" Nikki pointed out, which was an agreement that she had been happy about, despite Sam having agreed to split the job between the two of them, especially when Nikki had announced her pregnancy.

Harry gave her a pointed look, shaking his head and shifting Leo in his arms a bit before the baby started to feed again.

"I'm just worried that they're going to put me somewhere miles away and I'll have to commute, or we'll just have to up everything and move away. I can't do that with a three month old, and I can't do that to Conor"

"I'm sure you can work it into the conditions that you have to do it here, they can't say no just because you have a baby"

"I suppose" Nikki shrugged, pulling a cushion onto her lap and sighing, glancing towards the hallway when she heard the door open and Jack call out that they were back with their dinner "I told Jack that if I do it then he'll have to do it as well"

"Well, you're going to be able to tell everyone that your parents and your uncle, and your aunt are professors" Harry told little Leo with a chuckle, stroking his cheek with his thumb as the baby continued to feed "If you don't do it for yourself, do it for Leo so he can show off at school"

Nikki giggled at that and nodded.

"Okay, just for that reason" she rolled her eyes, smiling at Jack when he walked in and kissed her head "So, are you ready to be Professor Hodgson?"

"We're going to do it?"

"We're going to do it"