It felt weird to Nikki, ringing the doorbell of her own apartment and waiting for someone to open it, especially that person being Jack. She smiled though when he pulled the door open, stepping back and motioning for her to enter. She thanked him, hanging her bag up beside the door and stepping out of her shoes.

"How's it been?"

"Well I've spent the afternoon going back and forth between places bringing all of our stuff here, then feeling guilty because there are boxes all over your flat, and then I tried to cook us dinner as a thank you but that went tits up. So I ordered pizza that should be arriving soon" Jack responded, relived when he heard her giggle from behind him as he walked through to the main living and kitchen area, glancing back at her and playing with his fingers nervously as he waited for her reaction to the stacks of boxes hanging around. "How was your day?"

"If I see another number I may scream" Nikki responded, eyeing the boxes and humming "Have you found your rooms?"

"Yes, thanks, da is upstairs unpacking. You have no idea the amount of encouraging I had to give him that you were in fact letting us move in. He was going to call you to ask if I was lying" Jack told her with a roll of his eyes, Nikki giggling "But how is everything at work? Tough start to you being boss"

"I'm not the boss"

"Says the woman currently running the place"

"The board should be getting someone else in soon" Nikki told him, the thought of someone else coming in and taking over from Thomas' shoes made her stomach crawl, but then she remembered that he had done the same with Leo and she sighed. Change after so long was odd. "And it's been...it's difficult. No-one knows how to respond to this, it's not happened like this in any of our lifetimes so even the most senior leaders of labs around the country have no idea how it's going to be. I don't think even Leo or Thomas could have.." she trailed off, shaking her head and walking over to open a cupboard, grabbing a glass and opening the fridge to pull out the carton of mango juice she had in there, pouring some out.

"You're doing a great job already"

That meant a lot, even coming from Jack who she found praised her at least once a day for something, even if some of them were backhanded compliments or jokes, she knew he meant them.

"You're going to have to have all your mail redirected here"

"All in hand"

"And your address changed on the Lyell.."

"All in hand, Nikki" Jack responded to her with an amused look on his face, leaning on the kitchen counter to look at her, fiddling with a fork that he had forgot to put in the dishwasher when he had been trying to make some food for them. "Thank you, for this"

"I mean what I said Jack" Nikki told him seriously "About you and your da shielding. There are a few others with underlying health conditions at work that I've had to speak to today about what they want to do, and technically I should be having the same conversation with you at work"

"Yes boss"

"Jack..." Nikki trailed off, putting the glass down angrily on the counter and shaking her head "You aren't taking this seriously"

"Yes I am"

"No you are not. You're acting as though there's nothing different to you than last year, and as much as I want to forget it happened as well, in other circumstances we might have, you can't" she told him angrily, frustration running through her as she saw him bow his head and shake it as well "God damn it Jack I can't bury you as well"

"Nikki?"

Nikki forgot that Conor was in the apartment as well, and she quickly looked over to the door and ignored Jack as he tried to put his hand on her arm, walking past him and smiling at Conor, embracing him gently.

"I should thank you for letting us stay here"

"You don't need to thank me, it's what friends do" Nikki assured the older man, ignoring Jack's presence behind her, she was too annoyed at him to even give him the satisfaction of looking at him "I'll help you move boxes later, we can unpack everything, find a home"

"We won't be here long, just a few weeks"

"Well, we can pack it up again when you've found a place to live" Nikki told him with a smile, looking down the hallway when the buzzer rang, Jack walking past them without a glance at them to go and fetch their dinner "Tip them" she called after him, seeing him wave his hand at her to show he had heard.

Nikki was quite happily curled up on her sofa with the pizza on a plate in her hand, dressed in lounge wear, watching a crime documentary on the large television on the wall. She almost forgot that she had guests, Conor having finished eating and disappeared upstairs to read, leaving her with Jack who was sitting at the other end of the couch. She jumped when she felt a tap to her arm, not having noticed Jack leaning over towards her.

"What?"

"Don't you do enough of this stuff at work? Why is this on your favourites?"

"That's work, this is fun" Nikki responded as though it was obvious "I have other things on my favourites"

Jack hummed and nodded, picking up the remote and ignoring Nikki's protest at interrupting the episode by scrolling through her favourites, an amused look on his face.

"Unsolved Murder Mysteries. Catching Killers. The Ripper" he reeled off as he went through them, moving the remote away quickly when Nikki put her plate down and tried to reach for it, a laugh coming from him as he continued to scroll "Oh, Blown Away?"

"It's a glass blowing contest!" Nikki protested, unable to stop herself from laughing as she stood up and moved to try and grab the remote from him, nudging his head when he laughed as well and let her take it from his hand, going back to the episode that she had on and then settling back down on the couch "You're going to have to deal if you're going to live here and mooch off my account"

"Vikings, Nikki?" Jack laughed when he saw another of the favourites pop up at the bottom before she pressed play, looking at her and seeing her face bright red "Which one does it for you?"

"Shut up"

Jack covered his mouth with his hand as he watched her, Nikki's lips turned up into a smile that he knew she was trying to hide. It was nice to see her smiling, he knew how much stress she was under, and how much it would just increase now that everything seemed to get much more serious. She hadn't expected to be made acting head of the Lyell, but everyone he spoke to had said how much she deserved it and how much they were glad that it was her, not someone they had brought in to run the place from outside. He wondered if Nikki knew just how much everyone appreciated her and loved her.

"We need to talk about how much I pay you for me and dad"

Nikki shrugged, waving her hand vaguely and reaching over for the last crust of her pizza.

"Doesn't matter"

"Yes it does, God knows when we'll find a place to live or when this thing will end, we're not staying here for free Nikki"

"I'll think about it and get back to you"

"You better"

"Yes boss" Nikki teased, throwing him a smirk and reaching over to smack him gently with one of the cushions, rolling her eyes when he feigned being hurt "I'm just glad you're both safe, where I can see you"

"You see me at work"

"You know what I mean, you're in my bubble" she shrugged and sighed, suddenly feeling like everything was slightly overwhelming "I wouldn't have had anyone otherwise"

Jack smiled, reaching over to wrap his fingers around hers, squeezing them gently and then resting them on the cushion between them, stroking his thumb over her knuckles.

"You've always got me, Nikki, you can't get rid of me that easily you know. Not even a nerve agent can get rid of me"

"That's not funny"

"It's slightly funny" Jack smiled and nodded, seeing Nikki's lips twitch up into a smile as well, squeezing his hand but keeping them together.

"You're a git"

"Thank you"

The next few days went by quickly, filled with long days of going over safety protocols with everyone in the lab, four or five or even more meetings a day just with the people who worked in the lab to explain things to them so they weren't all crowded around at the same time. Nikki did consider herself lucky though, and she knew others in the Lyell did as well, that they all worked in a place that had so many procedures in place in the first place, the rest were just being added in between their work.

"Dr Alexander?"

"Yes?" Nikki smiled at one of the forensic scientists that worked under Jack in the lab, she was in the first meeting of the day and she really hoped that she had time for a coffee before her second one.

"We've heard rumours, about the death rate of this virus. Will we be getting the victims here?"

Nikki heard murmurs amongst the five people who were sitting spaced around the room, of course that had been a question on people's mind, she should have known. It had been one of her worries too. She shook her head at the question.

"No, I was given confirmation this morning actually that the Lyell is to strictly remain for suspicious deaths until further notice, they have facilities elsewhere for that"

She noticed the air of relief from the people there, she knew better than them what her colleagues elsewhere were already going through, and part of her was glad she wouldn't put her team through it, and the other part felt guilty for being happy about it. Every day she wished that Leo or Thomas was there to help her through this, but they weren't, and she knew they would have every faith in her to do this and do this well enough to keep her team safe.

"Dr Alexander?"

Nikki realised that she had zoned out, shaking her head and smiling at the woman who had spoken this time, nodding at her to continue.

"Sorry"

"I just wanted to say that, and I know everyone thinks this too, that you've done such a great job under the circumstances"

Nikki didn't realise just how much those words would mean to her until then, and she smiled and nodded at her colleague, clearing her throat.

"Thank you"

She shut the blinds to her office when she finally got back, locked the door, sat on the couch and cried until all that was left in her was dry sobs.

"Do you know the difference between a decomposing oozing body that's been left in a sack in the middle of summer, in the middle of a muddy moorland, and going shopping at the start of a pandemic lockdown that no-one has experienced before?"

Nikki frowned at Jack's question, looking at all the bags that were lined up on the kitchen counter full of what she assumed was food and other items.

"Tell me"

"I would rather work a case with that decomposing oozing body that's been left in a sack in the middle of summer in the middle of a muddy moorland"

Nikki couldn't help but laugh at Jack's words, seeing the putout look on his face as she covered her mouth with her hand to try and stifle her noise, peeking into some of the bags as she walked through her own kitchen area to get herself a drink.

"You had fun today then"

Jack just grumbled, digging through the bags of the things he had brought and opening the cupboards to see where Nikki kept all of her stuff. Finding things and putting things away in other people's kitchens was volatile, Jack knew. Nikki watched him with an amused look on her face as she poured herself a juice, switching the coffee machine on as well and flicking through the coffee pods she had.

"Cases are still rising" she commented, getting a muffled grunt from Jack as he had his head in one of the top cupboards "They're already working on a vaccine though"

"Why is there nothing on these top shelves?" Jack asked, poking his head from behind the open cupboard door and pointing to the top shelves of the cupboards above the counter, only the bottom shelves in use. He then smirked, looking Nikki up and down. "Because you can't reach the top shelf, shorty?"

"Shut up" Nikki huffed, putting the mug under the coffee machine and pressing the button to make the coffee, rolling her eyes at Jack's laughter "I've had a few people at work who I've allowed to isolate because they have vulnerable family members, or they've got underlying health conditions"

"Does that make the Lyell very short?"

"Not really, budget has been good the past few years so we've taken a few more people on than we would have normally. It evens out for now"

"Well at least I'll be there"

"You know you don't need to be"

"I cannot sit around for the next God knows how long, not doing anything Nikki" Jack told her, shutting the cupboard and folding up the bag he had just emptied "Plus the precautions at the Lyell are more than enough"

"I've asked people to test every day. I know it's more than they need to but..I can't risk anyone. Let alone them taking it home and...God Jack" Nikki sighed and ran her hand over her face, putting her glass of juice down and stirring her coffee instead "Did you ever in your wildest imagination think we were going to be in the middle of a bloody pandemic of all things?"

"No, but we are, and we have to make sure that we do everything we can to protect us, and everyone around us"

Nikki nodded, hoping that everyone thought that way.