Chapter 4: In Which a Not Wholly Successful Escape is Made

A/N: Thank you, thank you, thank you my lovely reviewers. You mean the world to me :)

Sorry for the mega delay in updates… work and uni mauled my soul, chewed it, spat it back out again, stamped on it, buried it and then danced about on its grave. Anyway, you get the idea.

With all the goss out and about regarding the new series, and Tom Ward's statement that "It's not over… there will always be something special between them [Harry and Nikki]" we can't give up just yet, fellow shippers. Slag!Rebecca will soon be history I'm sure.

Just in case it's not easily obvious, italics are Nikki's (and my morally questionable muse's) wayward thoughts.

Nikki found she couldn't look away. She just couldn't. The look in Harry's eyes was pinning her to the spot, trapped between his body and the door. The sudden reality of the situation and the enclosed space around her made her feel slightly hysterical, and it was all she could do to swallow a giggle.

Harry looked taken aback at her sudden change in attitude and feared he'd done something wrong. When she shook her head and tried to hide a manic grin he simply raised one eyebrow in his trademark 'Harry's WTF look' and her giggle came out unabated.

"Sssh!!" he madly whispered, placing his hand over her mouth to try to stop the flow of hilarity before Jenelle heard anything. Instead, Nikki's laughter sounded more like a gagging cough and the noise rang out through the bathroom.

Jenelle, obviously concerned for whoever was a few cubicles up from her and was seemingly coughing up their tonsils, called out. "Are you okay up there?"

A look of startled panic, akin to 'deer in the headlights' passed between Harry and Nikki at their situation, and how exactly Nikki was going to answer. Because Harry definitely could not answer from a cubicle in the ladies' bathroom – that didn't bear thinking about for a variety of horrible and hysterical reasons.

"Ahem… I'm okay, thanks," Nikki called back in Jenelle's direction. "Just choked on a lozzie, I'll be fine in a sec."

Hoping that this had put an end to the issue, Nikki closed her eyes and leaned her head forward against Harry's chest. They were too close to the door for him to snake his arms around her, so he simply rested his chin on her head. They stood in silence, listening to each other's breathing, and the noise of flowing water as Jenelle flushed her loo. Nikki hoped this move wasn't too presumptuous of her, but Harry looked as if he really needed some TLC right at that moment. Clearly, Nikki thought, his plan for tonight had not involved cheating on his new date in the ladies' toilets at a bar in town and he needed some reassurance. She wasn't exactly sure what sort of position, morally or emotionally, this put them in. She didn't have great experience with the 'messy love triangle' category, and didn't like the idea that she'd made a cheater out of him – but in the context of what had happened tonight, what she'd experienced and what she'd realised about herself – she couldn't decide if she really regretted it at all.

Nikki realised some time later as she heard Jenelle running water in the sink that if she didn't emerge from the cubicle soon it was going to look very weird. She did her best to explain to Harry her plan using a combination of sign language, semaphore and animated lip reading. Figuring it was now or never, Harry stepped to the left, behind the arc of the door, and Nikki exited the cubicle through the far right, careful to leave the door open enough to not look suspicious, but closed enough that Harry couldn't be seen from outside.

Jenelle looked up into the mirror to see who her companion in the bathroom was, and immediately familiarity identified on her face. "You must be… Nikki, right?"

"Y-yep. Er, that's me." Nikki tried not to sound nervous or guilty or freaked out, and ended up sounding just a little drunk. Oh well, drunk it is then she decided.

"Harry's told me so much about you – you must be really great friends! He really seems to value your friendship and he has so many great stories about you." Oh, I bet thought Nikki caustically, then reminded herself that she had to remain impartial in this conversation. "Oh, I'm sorry – you probably have no idea who I am! I'm Jenelle."

"Nice to meet you Jenelle. I noticed you with Harry earlier." Understatement. "Yeah, well Harry's a pretty funny guy. He's a good friend of mine, and we've known each other for years, and since we work together we seem to get into a lot of adventures together." Oh God, don't gush or anything.

"It would be great if the three of us could catch up for dinner one night, Nikki – I'd love to get to know you better. You seem so friendly."

Oh God. Harry. What have you done?

"I'd like that too," smiled Nikki through gritted teeth. Liar, bollocks you'd like that. "I'll talk to Harry about getting something organised."

"Cool – well I'll see you then," said Jenelle.

"I'll look forward to it." Like a cobra bite. Christ, when did I get this bitter?

Half way to the bathroom door, Jenelle turned back to Nikki and asked "Have you seen Harry anywhere? He went to the bathroom about half an hour ago and I haven't seen him since. Perhaps he fell into the urinal!"

"Harry has a habit of wandering off… maybe he's gone outdoors to get some fresh air, particularly if he's had a couple of drinks." Only a lie by omission. You didn't actually directly say you hadn't seen him.

"Ok, I'll try outside – thanks Nikki."

"No worries, see you later Jenelle."

Harry waited thirty seconds or so after the door had closed behind Jenelle and then slipped out of the cubicle. Nikki was finishing drying her hands on some paper towels, and turned her head in surprise when he grabbed her around the waist from behind.

"And in the ladies' toilets, Harry. Your flattery skills are second to none."

"I work with what I'm given. You can't say I'm not resourceful."

"We'd better get out of here before some poor, drunk eighteen-year-old stumbles in here and succumbs to your charm."

Harry gave her a dirty smirk and headed for the door, before grabbing Nikki and pushing her out first. "Quick, check the coast is clear."

After a quick look around, she turned back. "It's fine Harry, no one's around, we're good to go."

"Fabulous," drawled Harry, pulling her back inside the bathroom and pinning her against the wall next to the hand towels. "So I can do this," he kissed her neck, "without the risk of being interrupted."

"Harry, no. Just… no. We can't do this. Not now. There's too much stuff to work out, too much to think about. That poor girl thinks you're God's gift at the moment, and I still don't know where I stand. We need to sort this out properly, and the middle of the ladies' is not the place to do it."

"You're- you're right. This," he waved his arms about, "whole thing, is about as unconventional as you can get." He looked desperately sad for a moment, perhaps in recognition of the series of events he'd set in motion.

"We need to talk, properly. I think I'll head out and find Manda and say I've got a headache from the alcohol and I'm off home. How about you come to mine at, what is it now….? 9.30… Okay, will you come to mine at 11?"

"You know I will." His answer was spoken so quickly that she immediately looked up, startled by his words. The look in his eyes implored her to trust him, and spoke of so many turbulent truths that she just couldn't look away.

"Come on, we've got to get back," she said finally. "I'll see you at 11."

She took the opportunity to steal a kiss on his temple, and pulled the door open. They spilled out of the bathroom together, already too far out the door by the time they noticed Jenelle watching the two newest occupants of the corridor from the other end of the hall.