"Come on Harry" Nikki whispered frantically, blood covering her hands and the shirt that the boy was wearing, his eyes still open though as she spoke to him about anything that came to mind, trying to keep him awake and focused on her enough that he wasn't panicking. She jumped though when her phone buzzed on the ground next to her, quickly picking it up and answering the call, wondering when the phone lines had become clear "Hello?" she whispered

"Nikki?"

"Niall" Nikki's heart sunk when she heard his voice on the other end of the phone, trying to ignore the smell of blood on her hands now that one of them was closer to her face, making sure the other was firmly still on the bloody cloth pressed against the student's neck "What is it?" she murmured, looking over her shoulder down the hallway again out of habit, just in case "Are you okay?"

"Why are you whispering?"

"I'm...in the back of a lecture hall right now" she responded just as quietly, grimacing at the lie and shaking her head "Are you okay? Aren't you in school?"

"Yeah, I had a free period at school so I came home and I saw...do you and Harry have an appointment with the social this afternoon?"

Nikki frowned, trying to work out how he knew that, this wasn't the time for this conversation but she wasn't about to let Niall know that she was currently in a life or death situation with a boy no older than him bleeding out in front of her.

"How do you know?"

"There's a note in Harry's writing, I managed to decipher it enough to know what it says"

"We were going to tell you later, after the meeting, we wanted to make sure that everything was good" Nikki murmured, closing her eyes and sighing before opening them to check on her patient "We were going to have a conversation with the social worker about starting the adoption process for you"

It wasn't how they wanted him to find out, they were going to sit him down and tell him, but if anything happened to her without Niall knowing about it... She swallowed the lump in her throat, blinking away her tears at the silence on the other end of the phone.

"Niall?"

"Were?"

"What?"

"You said you were going to have a conversation with the social worker"

"No, I mean we are" Nikki bit her lip and let out a shaky breath, looking down the hallways again and mentally shouting at Harry to hurry back, praying that nothing had happened to him on the way to find some medical aid "We are Niall. This afternoon. We were going to sit you down and tell you this..." she trailed off when she heard gunshots, her heart pounding.

"Nikki?"

She opened her mouth to say something but the phone cut off, cursing as she looked at the now bloody screen and saw that there was no signal again.

"Who...?"

"My foster son" Nikki responded, putting the bloody phone in her pocket and stroking the boy's hair again, looking down the hallway once more "Ssh"

As soon as she spoke, she saw a figure at the end of the hallway through the doors, her heart dropping to her stomach when she saw a familiar backpack and hoodie, thankfully facing away from her. She shifted slightly out of view of the window fully, looking back a few seconds later to see that he had gone. She let out a breath, jumping when the door on the other side opened Harry walked back in with a first aid kit in his hand.

"Are you okay?"

"I saw him, down there" Nikki whispered to Harry, nodding in the direction that she had seen the figure "At the end through the hallway" she continued as Harry opened the first aid kit and fished through it for something to use, wiping her bloody hand on her shirt with the rest of the blood that had accumulated there "A few seconds ago"

"Did he see you?"

"I think you'd know if he'd seen me"

Harry didn't respond to that, trying to stop his hands from shaking as he picked up a bandage and pressed it against the boy's neck, glancing at the blood all over Nikki and then to the boy. He'd lost a lot, they both knew that, but they weren't going to give up on a live patient.

"There's a door at the end of the hallway, I can lock it to keep him in there" Harry murmured, looking through the glass to see if it was all clear "You can lock this door behind me"

"No, Harry" Nikki shook her head, putting her hand on his arm "You can't.."

"I have to, Nikki. He can't get to you"

"And if he gets to you?"

Harry put his hands on Nikki's cheeks, leaning forward to kiss her firmly on the lips.

"I'll see you later, okay? We'll be out in time for the meeting with the social worker"

Nikki couldn't get another word out before Harry was up and slipping through the doors, shutting them behind him. She stood up, leaving Matthew on the floor for a few seconds to lock the doors, leaving blood smears on the door from the blood on her hands, returning to kneel by the young man again.

The next half an hour seemed like a blur to her, paramedics rushing into the small corridor she was in and taking charge of the care of Matthew, but she refused to leave his side even when one of the paramedics told her that she had to be checked over as well. They said that the shooter had been found, but that was all that she had been told, the patient care taking over as they wheeled Matthew out and down to the waiting ambulance.

"I'm going with him"

"Dr Alexander?"

"Yes?" she asked a man in a suit, handing over the drip to one of the paramedics so they could load Matthew into the ambulance "I need to go with him"

"It's all been taken care of there are medical teams waiting"

"Harry Cunningham, have you seen him? Is he okay?" Nikki then asked, looking back at the ambulance, she had promised that she wouldn't leave Matthew.

"It's all in hand, doctor, you need to come with me we need to speak with you. Please come with me and we'll find out"

Nikki swallowed heavily and nodded, running her hand over her belly and looking back at the building behind them, suddenly aware of the amount of blood on her clothes. She wanted to shower, to get rid of these clothes and never have to look at them again, her skin feeling dirty and itchy now that the adrenaline was wearing off.

"Do you know where the shooting started?"

She shook her head, walking next to the man and trying to get her head in order, worried about Harry.

"Nikki"

She turned quickly when she heard Leo's voice, seeing him walking towards her and holding his hands out to her, his eyes going to the blood all over her.

"Are you okay?" he asked, taking Nikki's hands and looking her over.

"Where's Harry?"

"I don't know. Are you okay?" Leo asked her again, realising that he was shaking. He hadn't been able to think of anything else but Nikki, and also Harry's, safety since he had seen them step out of the room and into the hallway on the CCTV hours earlier "And the baby? Who's blood is this?"

"One of the students, I was..." Nikki swallowed heavily and shook her head at the man who was still trying to ask her questions, closing her eyes and looking away from him "I need a shower and I need Harry"

"You need to go to the hospital"

"I'm fine Leo" Nikki snapped, sniffing and blinking away tears "He went down the hallway to lock the doors after we saw the shooter, and I haven't seen him since then"

"Okay" Leo nodded, wrapping his arm around Nikki's shoulders and pulling her close, kissing her head, it was better to humour her than to force her to do anything "We'll find out what happened to Harry, he's probably got lost or something you know his sense of direction"

Nikki laughed tearfully at that and nodded, feeling her phone vibrating in her pocket again, pulling it out and seeing Niall's name on the bloody screen.

"It's all over the news" Leo told her softly, taking the phone from her so he could answer it instead "Niall"

"Leo? Where's Nikki? And Harry? The news is on and..."

"Niall, calm down.."

Nikki let Leo step away from her a little bit, putting her hand on the back of the bench they had been passing, she desperately needed a shower and to find Harry, and to get to Niall and hold him close. She jumped when Leo called her name, handing her back her phone and wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

"Niall is at home, I told him not to go back to school after his free period and that you were okay" Leo told her and Nikki nodded quickly "He said you told him you were in a lecture?"

"He called, while I was in there" she nodded back at the building and reached up to push her hair away from her face "I couldn't tell him the truth Leo"

"I'd really prefer it if you went to the hospital Nikki"

"We still need to ask Doctor Alexander some questions.."

"She is clearly pregnant and she's been through Hell in the last few hours" Leo told the other man loudly, putting his hand up to put some distance between Nikki and him, keeping his other arm around Nikki's shoulders "You can ask your questions later on, okay?"

"Yes, professor"

"Thank you" Nikki whispered, resting her head on Leo's shoulder and closing her eyes as the suited man walked away from them and towards one of the trailers that had been set up. She was exhausted, the adrenaline was slowly ebbing away and her body felt like it was made of lead. "I need to work"

"You need to not work" Leo told her firmly "Come on, the Lyell is close we'll go there"

"No, I'll go on my own"

"Nikki.."

"Professor Dalton"

Leo turned when he heard his name being called from the trailer, a man waving him over to it from the open door.

"Nikki stay here, I won't be long. Then I'm taking you to the hospital"

Nikki nodded, waiting for Leo to disappear into the trailer before she turned and made her way in the direction of the Lyell.