Thanks for the great response to the last chapter, I'm glad you're liking it! Thanks to Nicky, Caramelchan, langfieldl and Harry-Nikki-love for reviewing! Reviews do make me very happy! xD

This chapter's a bit longer than the last, so yeay! I think the rest of them are all about this length.

Enjoy!

Chapter Two

Harry didn't leave his kitchen that night, he just sat at his table pondering the situation, racking his brain as to why she was leaving and how he could stop her, but he came to nothing. He knew it must be something to do with Hilary, but he and Nikki had been friends for six years now, if there was anything romantic between them, well surely he'd know by now? Of course there had been that time when they had come close to starting something before everything with Penny happened, but that was years ago!

He considered what his own feelings towards Nikki were; he knew he would do anything for her, that he loved spending time with her, that he couldn't imagine his life without her, but did that mean that he loved her?

Harry had assumed that Nikki had been in long-term relationships before she had met him, but he hadn't even thought that she hadn't been in one in the last six years because she had met him. She couldn't possibly… she does doesn't she? He knew at that point that he would stop at nothing short of begging her to stay.

He picked up his coat and headed for the door, but as he opened it there was someone on the other side of it, her key held out in front of her, about to let herself in, "Oh… Hilary." He had almost forgotten about her.

"Hey Honey," She kissed him on the cheek before lifting up the bag she was carrying to show him, "I've brought breakfast!" she grinned.

He looked at his watch, "I hadn't even realised that it was morning yet?"

She looked at him quizzically, following him through to the kitchen "You haven't slept? Harry have you even got changed?" She eyed his crumpled shirt and trousers.

"No, I…" He couldn't think of a decent explanation, "I had loads of stuff to do for work." He sat back at the kitchen table.

Hilary sat down on his lap and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, "Well I hope you aren't too tired Harry; it's you day off today." She bent down to kiss him, "I thought we could go out for a picnic later; it's a gorgeous day, so I don't think we should be spending all of it inside." She grinned.

That look in her eyes… he couldn't do it to her; he couldn't run after Nikki and leave her behind, breaking her heart. She didn't deserve that, not Hilary, "A picnic sounds great."

She snuggled into him, "I love you Harry."

"Me too." He replied honestly. But could he just let Nikki go without any fight at all?

Nikki waited, she waited all morning. She didn't know quite what she was waiting for though. It was a relatively quiet morning at the Lyell Centre and she was spending the majority of it doing paperwork, waiting to be called out to what would be her last scene whilst working here.

"Did you do Simon Reading's PM?" Leo asked, bringing her a cup or coffee during his break.

"First thing this morning," she took a much needed mouthful of coffee, "Undiagnosed aortic valve stenosis, as we thought."

Leo pulled a chair over from Harry's desk and sat beside Nikki, "Have you told him yet?" He had felt awful the day before, not being able to tell Harry what was going on.

Nikki nodded, "Yeah, last night." She said sadly, slumping down in her chair.

"How did he take it?"

She didn't want to let him know that she had been too gutless to tell him properly, "I don't know. He said don't leave, but it's not like he's made any effort to try and get me to stay. Not that he should have to." She quickly added.

Leo wondered why something that seemed so obvious to him had completely escaped Harry's attention. It had even escaped Nikki's attention until recently, "I don't know how he can be so blind."

Nikki looked up at him, her eyes widening a little, "What do you mean?" Did he know? How did he know?

Leo sighed, "You know exactly what I mean Nikki. I've spent the last five years trying to resist bashing the pair of your heads together!"

Nikki looked back down, "You won't say anything to him will you?"

"You don't have to go Nikki, I'm sure this thing with Hilary won't last forever."

"And you know that how? They love each other!" she trying to hide her trembling lip, "And even if it doesn't last, am I just supposed to wait around, wishing for their relationship to crumble so that I can jump in and get what I want? And that's if he'll even have me." She took a deep breath, "No, I have to leave; it's the only way that we can all be happy again one day."

She waited, but he didn't come.

"You should try and stop her!"

Harry didn't know exactly what reaction he would get from Hilary when telling her about Nikki leaving, but he hadn't expected that, "Really?"

She laughed, "Yes really; she's your best friend!" She kissed the end of his nose.

Harry looked at her, laid out beside him, naked under the thin sheets, "You're so brilliant." He said seriously.

"Uhm, okay," She raised her eyebrow, "That's nice to know! Are you okay Harry?"

He nodded, "Yeah, just some women might be jealous."

"Well I'm not 'some women' am I?" She smiled sweetly, "I'm not going to go all maniac on you and demand that you can't have any friends that are women! I know how much Nikki means to you."

If she really did know how much Nikki meant to him would she still be lying here beside him now?, "Thank you."

"Well what are you waiting for? Go!" she gave him a playful shove, "I hate seeing you unhappy Harry."

He kissed her goodbye as he pulled on his trousers and shirt, "Thank you," he repeated, "I don't deserve you." He told her before leaving her to wonder what he meant by that.

Twenty minutes later he arrived outside Nikki's apartment building. He stood outside it for a further seven minutes ringing the bell, Did she know that it was him ringing the bell? Was she ignoring him?

"You're Nikki Alexander's friend aren't you?" A man came up behind him. Harry recognised him as being Nikki's next-door neighbour, "I'm afraid you've just missed her."

"Missed her?" He looked at his watch; she should have only just come home from work at this point, "Did she say what time she'd be back?"

The man looked confused, "Well… she's not coming back, is she? She's moving to Africa."

Harry's mouth fell open, "What, now? Today?" Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit.

"Yeah, I thought you were her friend? In fact I used to think you were her boyfriend until you came around with that brunette girl a couple of months ago." He wondered why he knew more about Nikki that her friend did

"Thanks for telling me, I'm going to… I'm going to have to go." The worry on his face was evident, the fear that he would never see her again. He pulled out his mobile and frantically found Nikki's number, "Pick up, pick up, pick up!" He growled at his phone, "Nikki, don't go, not until we can say goodbye at least, don't go!" He begged her voicemail.

Try as she might, Nikki just couldn't stop herself bursting into tears in the back of the taxi that was taking her towards Heathrow. She knew it was a bad idea, but she replayed Harry's message anyway. She just felt horrible, horrible for leaving him and for feeling this way.

"Are you okay love?" The taxi driver asked, concerned.

She nodded, "I'll be fine, thank you." She had just had to leave; she couldn't drag it out any longer. She had been waiting for him to come and beg her to stay, and that was part of the reason she was leaving in the first place; she couldn't expect him to do that, she herself couldn't do that to Harry or to Hilary because she was better than that.

Her flight wasn't until the following afternoon, but she had decided to book herself into a hotel close to the airport. She had already packed two suitcases full of clothes and essentials, and Leo had already agreed to send over her furniture and the rest if her possessions in a few weeks time once she had got herself settled in her new job. She would stay with Sara until she sorted out a place of her own, and thus her new life would begin, though due to the setting in many respects in was more like her old life. Either way, it was a life without Harry.