"What time will you be home later?"

"Depends" Nikki responded to the teenager's question, smiling at Niall as he sat opposite her at the kitchen counter digging into his cereal before he was off to school, a newer one where he was far happier and was getting on much better "Harry is going to be later than me, he's got a court case coming up he has to prepare for. Why?"

"Just asking"

"You know I used to ask my mum that all the time when I wanted to sneak girls back home" Harry responded as he shrugged on his jacket, a smirk on his face as Niall went bright red and Nikki tutted.

"Harry" she shook her head and looked at the boy they were fostering in their home, a smirk slipping easily onto her face, her next words drawing a loud sigh from her partner "Don't listen to him Niall, no girls found him attractive at school for him to sneak home"

The grin on Niall's face was worth the teasing of each other, and Nikki followed Harry into the hallway and to the front door as he did his jacket up, allowing him to them lean down and kiss her.

"I'll see you at work. I'll drop Niall off at school on my way"

Harry nodded, kissing her again and then leaning down further to do the same to her stomach, Nikki grinning and running her fingers through his hair.

"Be good for your mum"

"They're yours, so I doubt that" Nikki told him fondly, nudging him in the shoulder and out the door "Go on, I'll see you later or you'll be late"

Stepping back into the kitchen, Nikki smiled at Niall when she saw him washing up his breakfast things, a frown on his face as he kept washing the dish with the cloth over and over. She waited a few more seconds, walking over and taking the cloth and dish from him to put on the drainer next to the sink, the boy looking at her quickly.

"I think it's clean by now" Nikki told him softly, watching the teenager closely, putting her hand on his arm and rubbing it gently "Are you okay, Niall?"

"You and Harry have been so good and kind to me this past year, but with the baby now..."

Nikki frowned, waiting for him to continue what was going through his mind, keeping her hand on his arm and rubbing it soothingly with her thumb.

"I thought you'd want me to go"

"Go? Go where? You're not going anywhere unless you want to" Nikki told him, wondering if she or Harry had given Niall the impression that they wanted him to leave or that he wasn't welcome with them anymore. The thought made her heart ache. "Niall have we said or done anything.."

"No" he interrupted and shook his head "But this baby is yours"

"Just like

"You are ours" Nikki whispered, putting her hands on his cheeks and kissing his forehead despite the boy being a bit taller than she was now, something that neither Niall or Harry ever tired of teasing her about it seemed "I think you have been ours ever since we met you if I'm honest, whether we knew it or not, sometimes...well sometimes things surprise you, and here we are. But you will always have a home here with us whatever happens I can promise you that. Even when you're in medical school and you only visit us to bring us your washing at the weekends or to steal our food"

Niall laughed tearfully at the last part and nodded, reaching up to furiously wipe his cheeks and eyes, sniffing.

"That's a long way off"

"Plenty of time for us to teach you to cook then" Nikki whispered, wiping her own eyes and letting out a breath, handing the young man a tissue from the box next to her on the kitchen side "Here, now go and brush your teeth and I'll drive you to school otherwise I'll be late too"

It wasn't the first time in the last year that they had left Niall home alone overnight, but it wasn't any less worrying for Nikki on the rare occasion that her and Harry both had an overnight shift and had to leave the teenager home by himself. He always made sure that she knew he was more than capable, it wasn't the first time he had been left alone at home, and Nikki had argued that was why she was so worried. Niall told her that he would be fine, but that didn't stop her from calling him three times before he said he was going to bed, that he'll see them in the morning, and yes he had locked the front and back doors and turned the gas off on the oven.

"Stop worrying, he's a sensible boy"

"I'm not worrying" Nikki responded, while worrying, as though she herself hadn't been left home alone by her father at that age too. She tapped her pen on the desk, looking up when she heard the loud thumping of the music from the students in the halls, smirking and standing up when Harry wandered into Leo's office. "Do you remember being a teenager, Harry? I know it was a long time ago"

"Please tell me again why I put up with you"

"Because you love me" she grinned at him, holding out the papers she had just finished writing "Here, draft twenty seven"

"We could be at home right now, in bed, fast asleep"

"And those teenagers are down there four hours into a party, and old man Cunningham wants to beat home in bed" Nikki giggled, putting her hand on his chin and squeezing his cheeks as he tutted, moving one of his hands to rest it on her belly instead "Do you remember being nineteen?"

Harry groaned at the question, leaning across to kiss her quickly before looking down at the papers she had handed him.

"I'd like to forget. Anyway, does it matter if we get this into the New England Journal of Medicine?"

"It matters to me" Nikki told him softly, tutting as he leaned over slightly to place the papers on Leo's desk, her partner's hands going to her hips and stroking them through her trousers with his thumbs "We have six hours"

Harry knew if it mattered to Nikki then it mattered to him.

"Did Niall survive the night on his own?"

"Shut up" Nikki smacked Harry's arm as she hung up the phone to Niall, having phoned him as soon as they both got out of their meeting about their entry into the journal. Harry smirked at her and she rolled her eyes, rubbing one of them with her free hand as she fiddled with her phone with the other. "I might get some sleep when I get home"

"I'm surprised you didn't have a nap in Leo's office" Harry told her softly, shrugging his jacket on and draping his arm over her shoulder, kissing his partner's head gently "You have to start slowing down, Nikki, you're almost twenty-two weeks pregnant"

"I know when I have to slow down and I know how pregnant I am" she muttered, putting her phone in her pocket and doing her jacket up "Do you think we can convince Niall to come to university here when it's time?"

"So we don't have to pay for his travel and board?" he asked, his lips twitching up into a grin at the exasperated look that Nikki gave him as she tucked her scarf into her jacket "No?"

"No, Harry"

"Shall we get breakfast on the way home..."

Nikki and Harry turned when they heard Charlie's voice calling their names, the woman smiling at them both and holding a piece of paper in her hands.

"Which one of you is least knackered?"

Harry looked at Nikki.

"Bollocks"