Nikki smiled to herself as she walked down the hallway of the university to find the room that Harry was in talking to the physics professor about their victim. They had a phone appointment later on in the afternoon with their social worker who was in charge of Niall's case, to set up a proper appointment to start the hopeful adoption of the teenager who they were fostering, and nothing could dampen how happy she was feeling at the thought that they may be starting the adoption process for the teenager. She had to stop the smile on her face as she turned the corner and saw Harry already talking to a student outside of the room, the professor catching her eye and rolling his as the student walked away from them both.
"I don't remember being such a dick when I was a student" Harry told them both as Nikki approached, and she laughed and raised an eyebrow.
"Saved it all for adulthood?" she teased him, her partner sighing and shaking his head as she followed Dr Jacobs into his lesson "I never know how these students find which people to hang around with, I don't remember being so interested in the same group of friends when I was at university"
She looked around the room at the students as Harry answered his phone, greeting Charlie on the other end of it, Dr Jacobs answering her question with a flippant 'the rest just sniff each others armpits' which made her giggle. Some days she thought about going into teaching like Leo did some days, but then she met students and decided against it. Perhaps with the baby coming she would look into it some more. Nikki glanced at the time, their appointment with the social worker was in three hours, but she was nervous about it already, having laid awake some of the night while the baby was unsettled thinking about all the things that could go wrong with the adoption process. Tuning back into what Harry and Dr Jacobs were talking about, she frowned when she heard Harry talking about things that could have caused a rash on their victim's arms, mentioning something familiar.
"Buccal Nitrate could have caused the redness in the corneas" she told Harry who nodded and turned his attention back to the phone, speaking to Charlie while she looked around at the students gathered, sometimes it didn't feel like too long ago that she was in their position. Harry hung up, putting his phone in his pocket and giving Nikki a small smirk.
"Sniffing that stuff clearly sent him over the edge. Better sue the dry-cleaners, better sue everybody"
Nikki grinned and shook her head at Harry, looking at Dr Jacobs when he spoke, but frowning at Harry when there was a loud banging of a door in the hallway somewhere, Harry's attention caught by that instead. She ignored him though as he walked past her and out into the hallway, nodding when Dr Jacobs asked if she wanted him to find the place that their victim had worked at.
"That would help, would one of his friends know?" Nikki asked, looking over her shoulder at Harry, wondering what he was doing out in the hallway "Harry?"
She watched as he looked up and down the corridor, shaking her head and turning back to the papers on the desk that Dr Jacobs was showing her, looking over at her partner again and wondering what was going through his head, they had a case to work and he was worrying over a slammed door.
"Harry? What is it?"
Leaning against the desk, she shrugged at the older doctor when Harry didn't even look at them, reaching into the room and shutting the door slowly before walking out of view, a sigh falling from her even though something in the back of her head was telling her that something was wrong. That seemed to always be there one way or another though in her line of work and sometimes she just liked to ignore it for peace of mind.
"What is he doing?"
"God knows" Nikki sighed and shrugged at the older man, flicking through some of the papers on his desk again so she could write some things down "I've stopped wondering now, just let him loose" she chuckled, looking up when she heard Harry's voice from the hallway say something that she didn't quite catch "What is he.."
Walking over to the door she opened it and stepped into the hallway, looking around for her partner and frowning as he quickly turned and walked towards her.
"Harry what are you doing?"
"Get back in" Harry told her quickly, putting his hands on her arms and pushing her back into the room, his heart feeling like it was somewhere in the vicinity of his stomach, hoping that his suspicions were not correct and some students were just playing an awful prank.
"Harry?"
"Ssh"
Nikki was about to open her mouth and tell him off for putting his finger on his lips and shushing her like a child as he locked the door to the classroom, the students behind her suddenly aware of them in the room when the key was turned and they were locked in.
"Shut up all of you"
Nikki jumped when she heard the gunshots, unmistakable when you'd heard them before, her hand automatically moving to her belly and her heart hammering and the baby kicking out against her hand at what she imagined was protest against the sudden jump she had done when the gunshot sounded. She looked to the students as they started to mutter and speak amongst themselves, clearly confused and worried about what was going on.
"It's a car"
"That's not a car"
"Keep away from the door"
Nikki put herself between two students who tried to get out, shushing them and wrapping her arms around their shoulders, ignoring the look that Harry gave her as she did so, her partner turning the lights out as the students kept talking about what was happening, more loud bangs going off in quick succession somewhere down the hallways.
"It's not..."
"Ssh" Harry snapped at them all, standing at the doorway and wanting nothing more than to go to Nikki and wrap her in his arms instead, but he knew that she would want him to keep calm for the students' sake instead "Shut up"
"Let me in!"
Nikki watched the slight hesitation that Harry made when the young woman banged on the door from outside, begging to be let inside, Harry's eyes flicking back to her and then to her belly, and she let out a breath when Harry quickly opened the door and pulled the student inside, locking it again. She walked over to the girl, pulling the sobbing student into her arms and stroking her hair, shushing her gently despite being terrified herself, her eyes continuously moving to the other students and then to Harry, mentally screaming at him to move away from the damn door.
"Harry" she then murmured when she looked down and saw blood on the sobbing girl's shoes, and on the floor where she had walked it in, looking at her partner and then the professor, both of them knowing that they were indeed gunshots that they had heard echoing down the hallways. Nikki held the sobbing girl close, rubbing her back as the other students fell silent, looking to the three adults in the room and staying exactly where they were as if frozen in spot "It will be alright" she whispered to the teenager, looking at Harry and then to the girl again, keeping her against her and nodding "We'll all be okay"
