"I thought you were going home to get some rest"
"Hmm?" Nikki asked without looking up from the autopsy results on the teenager they had found dead on the roof, squinting slightly when she tried to read some of Harry's writing. She was sure that sometimes he just did squiggles on the paper and made it up later on when he typed it up properly. She jumped when the folder was taken from her hand, rolling her eyes at Harry when he put it on the desk behind him out of her reach.
"Go home and get some rest"
"Harry I'm fine"
"You were up all night and you look like you're going to fall asleep on your feet" Harry sighed, putting his hands on her cheeks and kissing her softly, resting their foreheads together "Please? Just go home and rest for a bit"
Nikki looked at the clock on the wall behind Harry, sighing and nodding, she was tired. Sometimes she forgot that her body reacted to things differently now that she was pregnant, before she could have quite easily missed sleep one night and worked all the way through the next day too. Tiredness crept up on her easier now though, and the thought of going home and climbing into bed and having a nap was a very attractive prospect.
"Come on, I'll take you home. Niall will be home in a few hours too"
"I'm sorry we haven't been home much the last two days" Nikki told Niall, wrapping her robe around herself as she walked over to the teenager sitting at the dining table, looking down at what homework he was working on "Biology?"
"It's okay, I know you're both busy" he shrugged and looked up at his foster mother, smiling at her "And you know you didn't need to phone me that much last night, I was okay on my own"
"I just hate leaving you on your own all night"
"I'll forgive you if you help me with this homework"
Nikki laughed at that, sitting down next to him and pulling her hair back over her shoulder, looking at the homework that he was meant to be doing, one hand moving down to her belly when she felt the baby shifting and pressing a hand or foot against her stomach. Some days it seemed unreal that she was pregnant, with Harry's baby at that, and that they were fostering a teenager who was turning into a great young man.
"Does it hurt? When the baby moves?"
"Sometimes, it's mostly uncomfortable" Nikki told Niall, picking up his pen and making a few notes on the paper for Niall to return to later if he wanted to "Do you still want to study medicine?"
Niall nodded, glancing quickly at the notes that Nikki had made on his paper and laughing.
"Do I have to have shit writing too to become a doctor?"
"Language" Nikki reminded him pointedly and then rolled her eyes, putting the pen down and pushing the paper towards the teenager again so he could continue his homework "And there is nothing wrong with my writing thank you"
"It's just squiggles"
"It is not" she tuts, nudging his arm and laughing "Harry's is worse"
"Harry tried to write me a to-do list one day when you were both at work and I had to send a picture to Leo to ask him him to translate it"
Nikki giggled at that and nodded, wrapping her arm around Niall's shoulders and kissing his head when he leaned closer to her, resting her head on his. The first time he had willingly come to her for a hug months ago, she had cried afterwards, and she knew that there was no way that she was going to let him go to anyone else.
"How is school?"
"It's good I suppose"
"You just suppose?"
Niall shrugged, silence falling in the room apart from the ticking clock on the wall as he wrote notes for one of the answers to the questions on the paper, Nikki watching him for a few seconds and then getting up from the chair, tying the front of her robe again and running her fingers through her damp hair.
"You know you can always talk to me or Harry about anything, if you want"
"I know"
Silence fell over the room again and Nikki decided to leave the subject of school for a while, clearly that was a subject that Niall didn't want to talk about.
"Do you think we should start the adoption process soon?"
Nikki watched Harry from where she was already in bed, sitting up with a book in her hand and a steaming mug of hot chocolate next to her on the bedside table. Harry had asked when he had come into the bedroom if this was her finally deciding to relax after work and start to wind down for her maternity leave and she had ignored the question completely.
"For Niall?"
"No, the other foster child we have with us. Yes, Niall" Nikki rolled her eyes, looking back down at the novel on her lap as Harry hummed, pulling the t-shirt he slept in over his head "He asked me if we're going to ask him to leave because of the baby and I can't bare the thought that he thinks..."
Harry sighed, he had anticipated that question at some point, but he didn't think it would take this long to come up. He walked over to the bed and sat on the edge next to his partner, taking the book from her hands and marking her page, putting it on the bedside table when Nikki didn't protest his actions. He took her hand in his and kissed her knuckles, smiling at her and leaning forward to rest their foreheads together when he saw the tears in her eyes.
"Niall Alexander-Cunningham has a nice ring to it"
Nikki sniffled and laughed, wiping her eyes and nodding, letting Harry move his free hand that wasn't holding hers to her belly, stroking that with his thumb too.
"How about we contact the social worker tomorrow after work, I have to go and speak with one of the tutors tomorrow on campus to get some information on our victim. It shouldn't take long"
Nikki grinned and nodded, kissing Harry firmly and running her hand through his hair, she didn't think anything could dampen how happy she was in that very moment.
