Disclaimer: I don't own Red Dwarf or any of it's characters (how many more times?)

Author's note: I really, really, really, really, really, really love this chapter....but any criticism welcome! This is what you've been waiting for. You knew it was coming. Well here it is....

Rimmer put down his book in annoyance. He knew Nicole and Lister would be well into their date by now and he wasn't in the mood to see anyone right now.
"Holly?"
The flaxen computer appeared on the screen, clearly annoyed at being disturbed yet again.
"What do you want now?"
"Can you convert me to soft-light, please?"
She did so.
"Can I go now?"
"Um..."
Holly sighed with intolerance.
"Yes, go."
Rimmer didn't have a clue why he had just done that. Maybe he had thought that if he kept himself busy long enough the unwelcome visitor would leave. As a knock came to the door again he realised that they didn't have the same feelings as Holly. Whereas she wanted to leave as soon as possible, whoever this was wanted to come in desperately. He opened the door unwillingly to find Nicole standing there, her face red, her hair tousled, her make-up running.
"Dave and I have had an argument." She managed to squeak out before spiraling into uncontrollable sobs. Rimmer was in turmoil. Now what was he going to do? Crying women were one of his all time greatest nightmares--and the fact it was Nicole made it ten times worse. He had two conflicting instincts: one was to fling his arms around her and never let her go; one was to turn tail run as fast as he could. Using the foolproof method of 'Ippy Dippy, My Spaceshippy' he picked one.
"Holly?"
She didn't come.
"Holly!"
Still nothing.
"Holly!"
"Oh, what now!?"
"Convert me to hard-light, quickly."
"But you just said..!" She was in such disbelief she was practically into ultrasound.
"Just do it!"
She noticed Nicole for the first time and immediately understood.
"Yes, of course Arnold. Sorry."
She threw on his hard-light projection unit and he wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
"Shh, it's gonna be OK." He reassured her. She took a deep shuddering breath and buried her face in his chest. He took his free hand and stroked her hair gently. He knew she was angry and upset, and that that was what he should be thinking about, but he couldn't help but notice how comfortable he was. He had never been this close to her for this long before. He hugged her tighter. "Everything's gonna be fine."
"OK," came the muffled reply. He released her a little and allowed her to break away from him.
"What do you want to do?" he asked her.
"Can you...can you just hold me for a little while?" she sniffed.
Rimmer nodded, "Yes, of course. Are you sure you wouldn't be more comfortable sitting down?" Nicole nodded and sighed.

He led her over to his bunk with a smile and sat next to her. He put his arms around her again. She nuzzled into him and closed her eyes. Rimmer prayed to God that Nicole couldn't feel his heart rate as it was about the same as a man who had just completed a fifty-mile sprint. Once she had calmed down he asked her a question which had been bugging him almost since she first stepped into the room.
"Why did you come to me?"
Nicole looked up at him, "How do you mean?"
"Why me? You know, with our...history."
Nicole shrugged. Honestly, she hadn't really thought about it. Rimmer had just somehow seemed the obvious choice: Cat wouldn't care; Holly would be too annoyed at being disturbed to be compassionate; Kryten's guilt/understanding compassion replica was highly questionable; and Dave...well, he was out of the question. And besides, Rimmer was nice. He was gracious, and listened to her.
"Didn't matter to me," she replied truthfully, "I just needed to see a friendly face."
She looked into the eyes of that friendly face and saw it. She saw everything. All the passion, all the conflict, all the history. She could read it all in his eyes.
"What?" Rimmer said, jolting Nicole out of her trance.
"N-nothing."
It wasn't nothing. Next thing she knew, she had pounced on him and started kissing him. Suddenly everything made sense for both of them. Everything that had happened in their lives fell into place in a similar fashion to that of students falling into line when the teacher blows the whistle. They understood. They were meant for each other.

A/n: I've been wanting to write that chapter for SO long, you have no idea how good it feels!