Some hours later and everyone apart from Harry had gone to bed, it was late and despite their protests and promises to stay up and wait for Nikki Harry had insisted that their friends go to bed and he would obviously wait up for her. It had taken a while but eventually their older friends had filled off to bed, telling Harry not to get too worried and that Nikki would be fine.

Harry had checked on their sons a few times, the baby monitor in the living room where he was sitting waiting for Nikki and staring out of the window at the darkness outside. He knew what her Gran was like with her words and he knew how Nikki would have taken them, he also knew that Nikki would need some space to think about things but this just made him worry even more. It was dark and it was late and they still didn't know their way around Oxford or the campus well enough yet for them to be confident about their navigation during the day, let alone at night.

The light going on in the corridor outside made Harry start slightly, standing up as he heard the main door to the halls open and then close.

"Nikki?"

He quickly made his way out of the living room and down the still dark hallway to the entrance hall where the light was seeping from. Harry saw Nikki trying to quietly lock the door and his heart jumped to his throat as he quickly strode over to her and pulled her into his arms.

"Where have you been? We were so worried" he whispered into her hair before moving away slightly and kissing her forehead as she shook her head, smiling slightly at him.

"I didn't mean to worry you, I..I wasn't thinking and..you obviously know what happened"

Harry nodded and pressed a kiss to her lips, moving his hands to her cheeks and looking her over, checking her to see if anything was wrong.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm...they know about what they did to me" Nikki whispered, ignoring Harry's question as she shook her head "What Gran and Dad did to me"

Harry suddenly felt immensely guilty and worried for divulging everything else to their friends a few hours before and avoided telling Nikki that they all knew more than she had said in the cafe.

"They don't feel any differently towards you Nikki, they're our friends" Harry smiled, pressing a kiss to her lips as tears began to fall down her cheeks.

"It's humiliating" she whispered and pushed away from Harry, ignoring him as he attempted to grab her hand and walking away from him down the corridor and in the direction of the rooms, knowing that it would take Harry a good few minutes before he could follow her so he could turn all the lights off and lock the doors properly.

"You know you really scared us all Nikki" Harry stated as he walked into their accommodation and closed the door behind him, locking it and then walking through to their bedroom where Nikki was sitting on the end of the bed.

"Sorry"

"Really? Are you really?"

"I don't want to argue with you Harry" Nikki replied quietly as Harry slammed the baby monitor down onto the bedside table with more force than he meant to, making Nikki jump and look at what he had slammed down.

"I don't want to argue with you either Nicola but what you did today was.."

"You don't understand" Nikki interrupted him with a shout, standing up and shaking her head "You didn't have a woman who made my life..hell standing in a coffee shop embarrassing you and humiliating you in front of your new friends who before then thought that my life was great and then I had to get angry didn't I and then I shouted right back at her and said things that I didn't want them to know yet" she motioned in the direction of the other rooms as tears fell down her face "I felt so weak and humiliated"

"You need to stop thinking that you need to be strong all the time" Harry shook his head, walking over and placing his hands on her arms and trying not to feel hurt when she shrugged him off and walked over to the bathroom, pushing the door open so hard it banged against the wall "This is what makes you like this when it all eventually gets too much"

"I have to be strong" Nikki whispered as he walked over and stood in the doorway of the bathroom, seeing her glaring at the mirror as she leant on the sink "I have to be for my children, I have to show people that..that I'm not just a teenage mother and that.." she then burst into tears and pushed Harry away as he went to pull her into his arms and comfort her "And that I'm more than that and I am..going to give..them the best..life..that..I can possibly give..them"

Harry didn't say anything as he carefully reached over and gently pulled Nikki into his arms, she didn't protest this time but buried her face in his chest, her small body shaking against his as he hugged her tightly to him and stroked her hair, resting his chin on top of her head as he did so.

"I don't want to see everyone tomorrow" Nikki told Harry quietly as he helped her into her pyjamas, exhaustion catching up with her after everything that had happened.

"It's better to face them" Harry replied as he buttoned up her pyjama top, a small smile crossing his face as she shook her head "Anyway no-one blames you and they certainly don't think that what they did to you is anything to be embarrassed about, I think everyone who lives here has the upmost respect for you"

"Why?"

"Because you got through it" Harry murmured as he kissed her on the cheek, Nikki turning her head towards him and letting him press a soft kiss to her mouth as well "And you got here"

"I don't want to make a big deal of it, lots of people have it worse than I did"

"Nikki your dad hit you, belittled you and abandoned you, your Gran did practically the same. I think that is worse than a lot of people have it don't you?"

"I don't want to talk about it" Nikki shook her head and Harry nodded, kissing her forehead gently as he pushed some of her long hair away from her face "Can you plait it for me?" she then asked with a small smile on her face and Harry chuckled.

"Of course I can"

"I knew I'd run into one of them" Nikki murmured some time later as the two of them lay curled up together in bed, the duvet wrapped tightly around them, Harry with his arms around his lover's waist and Nikki resting her head on his t-shit clad chest.

"You didn't know it was going to happen, the chances were astronomical"

"And yet it happened"

"Yes but you're okay now aren't you?" Harry asked quietly, reaching up to stroke her hair as he looked at her through the darkness, hearing Nikki sniff quietly before feeling her nod. "No you're not" he sat up quickly and turned the bedside light on, wincing at the sudden brightness before looking down at his girlfriend who had buried her face in his chest against the light and to also hide the tears he knew she was crying. "Come he" he sighed and placed his hands on Nikki's arms, moving her gently away from him as she let out a loud sob. "Come on sweetheart don't cry, you know I hate it when you cry"

Nikki just drew in a shuddering breath and shook her head, more tears falling down her cheeks as Harry rested his forehead on hers and stroked her arms gently. He hated it when she cried, not only because it meant that she was unhappy but because in his eyes someone like Nikki shouldn't every cry unless it was in happiness, it looked and sounded wrong and it broke his heart to see and hear her sob like she was doing now.

"She didn't have..to..come and..talk to me" Nikki cried as she attempted to stop herself from crying and explain to Harry why she was so upset "She could..have just ignored..but she actively..came over and..." a loud sob tore from her throat "And told..me what..a bad mother..I was.. and what a bad..mother..mum was to..me"

"You're not a bad mother Nikki" Harry assured her, moving her head so she was looking him, her large brown eyes filled with tear and boring into his own green ones "Don't you dare let anyone tell you any different, you are a brilliant mummy to our boys and you will be to any other little ones we may have in the future" he smiled slightly at her and Nikki nodded, giving him a tearful chuckle as she did so "There we are, you know I love to see you smile"

"I might have..rilled her up..a bit" Nikki sniffed as she wiped her face "I was sarcastic to her"

"That doesn't give her a right to say those things to you"

"I'm sorry I scared you" she then murmured, looking down at the bed and shaking her head "I just needed to think"

"I know, but you did scare us" Harry nodded, seeing Nikki bite back more tears as she nodded as well, still not looking up at him "But I understand your need for space, I was just worried about you, we all were"

"I wasn't thinking straight"

"Nikki I definitely don't mind if you need space and I don't want to crowd you"

"If I need space I'll tell you like I always have done" Nikki smiled up at him, her eyes red and puffy from her crying and dried tear stains on her cheeks "Just like you always tell me when you need space, but it's not space I need it was..I don't know I just wanted to get away from her and.." she swallowed heavily "I didn't want to see everyone else's reactions to what they heard"

"Well it's not going to be as bad as you think tomorrow when you see them"

"They're going to pity me, I don't want their pity"

"Tell them that then" Harry nodded encouragingly as Nikki reached up to rub her red eyes, nodding as well "But they will understand"

"You always know what to say to make it all better" Nikki smiled at her lover who chuckled and kissed her forehead.

"I should hope so, I've known you for over four years now"

"It doesn't seem that long at all" Nikki informed him as she lay back down in the bed and Harry turned the bedside light off, snuggling down as well and returning to their original position.

"No it doesn't"

"I love you Harry"

"And I love you" Harry nodded, leaning down in the darkness and pressing a kiss to the top of her head before they fell into a comfortable silence and quickly fell back to sleep.

"Morning" Nikki smiled slightly as she wandered into the kitchen in her pyjamas and dressing gown Emily and Abigail sitting at the table in their nightclothes and dressing gowns as well.

"Nikki" Abigail sighed in relief as she stood up and walked over, wrapping her arms around her friend and pulling the younger woman into a hug, kissing her on the cheek and making Nikki laugh despite herself. She hugged Abigail back and then the red haired woman drew away slightly, looking the blonde up and down "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, thank you" Nikki chuckled and then looked from Abigail to Emily and then back again "Look I'm sorry about yesterday, you shouldn't have had to see that between me and..her and I shouldn't have run off and left you to worry"

"Just as long as you're okay" Emily said as she stood up, shifting Elsie in her arms as the baby began to fidget and fuss "What's wrong with you then miss? You were terrible last night"

"Terrible?" Nikki mock gasped as her friend walked over with the baby who was still dressed in the light pink babygrow she had worn to bed "How can this little angel be terrible?"

"You didn't look after her last night" Emily chuckled tiredly as Nikki smiled down at Elsie.

"Do you want me to look after her while you get some more sleep?" Nikki then asked and Abigail nodded, including herself in the babysitting as she walked over to the kettle to make Nikki her morning mug of coffee.

"Are you sure? I don't want to dump her on you if you're doing something" Emily shook her head and Nikki chuckled looking back down at the brown haired baby.

"I don't mind looking after a little angel like you"

"I honestly don't know how you coped with two" Emily sighed, handing Elsie to Nikki who instantly cradled the fussing baby to her shoulder and rubbed her back.

"I had Harry to help" Nikki shrugged, kissing Elsie on the head as the baby began to calm down in her arms "But it was still difficult, especially when we had school the next day and we were up all night with them, but that's parenthood"

Emily was silent for a few seconds as Nikki walked over to the table and sat down on the chair Abigail had vacated, moving Elsie so the baby was sitting on her lap, her head supported in Nikki's arms as the three month old baby looked up at her, her bottom lip trembling and her hands coming to her face.

"I sometimes wonder if I'm.." Emily trailed off and the other two women looked up at her, Abigail placing a mug of coffee on the table for Nikki and then walking over to the brown hair woman.

"If what?" she asked, placing her hands on Emily's arms as the other woman looked up at her and shrugged, glancing over at her daughter.

"Sometimes it's so difficult, especially because it's just me and her but then I look at Jennifer and how brilliant she is with Adrian and how Nikki and Harry are brilliant with the twins and cope with Donovan as well and I just feel.." Emily stopped talking and looked down at the floor to hide the tears in her eyes.

"Emmy listen" Abigail told Emily as she glanced at Nikki who just nodded at her to continue "You are a brilliant mother to Elsie and raising a child is hard, very hard, especially on your own. But really you're not alone because you always have us, we all know what it's like and we are all here for each other if things get tough or you need some extra sleep or something. Unless you don't trust us enough yet to look after Elsie on our own"

"Don't be silly of course I trust you all" Emily shook her head and ran one hand through her long brown hair, smiling at them both "It's just going to be one of those days"

"Well like I said we're more than happy to look after this little one if you want some more sleep" Nikki smiled at her friend "It's the least I can do for yesterday"

"Don't worry about that, Harry explained all about everything about what your dad and Gran did to you"

Nikki frowned at them both and then shook her head.

"Like..what?"

"The..abuse" Emily continued hesitantly, glancing at Abigail "He just..expanded on what we heard in the cafe"

Nikki squared her jaw angrily and looked down at the baby in her arms, both of her friends knowing that they had both embarrassed and angered her. And also got Harry into a fair bit of trouble.