Half an hour after Emily had revealed what Harry had told everyone the night before and Nikki had seen the rest of her friends who all asked if she was okay, Nikki glad that none of them were angry at her and glad that they cared about her. She had told them the truth, that she was getting over her Gran's words and that she was grateful to have them to comfort her.

Nikki walked into the kitchen once again, still in her pyjamas and dressing gown and couldn't help but glare at Harry who had his back to her feeding Gabriel, he and his brothers sitting in highchairs at the table, Jennifer was sitting in her usual spot with Adrian in her arms, Anthony next to her with Fergus in his arms feeding him from a bottle, Abigail opposite her partner and surprisingly Leo sitting next to Donovan feeding him whatever breakfast was in the bowl. Abigail instantly saw the icy look that Harry was giving her lover and winced slightly as Nikki walked further into the room and shifted Elsie in her arms slightly, the red haired woman relieved that she had the baby because it meant Harry was safe from physical damage for the time being.

"There's mummy" Harry smiled at Gabriel as he glanced up at his lover and then back to their son, missing the look Nikki was giving him as he fed another mouthful of porridge to their oldest child. Donovan looked at Nikki and smiled before letting Leo feed him some more food.

"Morning Nikki" Leo turned his head to look at Nikki and she nodded at him, smiling slightly before glancing at Harry.

"Morning Leo, do you have some work for us?"

Despite having the children Harry and Nikki sometimes did some extra work in the lab to help Leo and the professors out, it didn't take up much more of their free time and the lecturers respected their need for this time to relax, spend time with their children and to do their assignments. Their lecturers however liked the fact that they volunteered despite having two children to look after.

"No, I just thought I'd come and say hi" the older man smiled and Nikki nodded, shifting Elsie to her shoulder as the baby began to fuss.

"How is she?" Harry looked up and nodded towards the baby cradled to her shoulder.

"Fine"

Harry raised an eyebrow and glanced at his friends when Nikki then ignored him and walked over to the fridge, opening it with her elbow and peering in for some food. She missed the way that her friends shrugged and shook their heads, all except Abigail who cleared her throat and shifted in her chair, absentmindedly stirring her coffee.

"So we're taking care of Elsie for a few hours?" Harry ventured hesitantly as he scooped some more porridge onto the baby spoon and glanced at his lover as she closed the fridge and rubbed Elsie's back as the baby began to fuss again.

"Hmm"

Nikki walked straight past Harry without even looking at him and Harry quickly looked back at Gabriel as the baby let out an angry noise and slapped his hands on the tray attached to the highchair. He then opened his mouth and reached for the spoon, Harry starting slightly and shaking his head as he fed the porridge to his son.

"Sorry Gabriel"

Nikki muttered something under her breath which none of them caught as she sat down in between Abigail and Leo and moved Elsie so she was cradled in her arms.

"Sorry Nikki?" Harry asked her and Nikki glared at him.

"You will be"

"What have I done?" Harry asked in shock, shrugging and looking at their friends around the table who all made noncommittal motions, not wanting to anger either of them, especially not Nikki. Abigail however glanced at Nikki and then looked back down at her coffee.

"Have I divulged any private information about your past that you wanted kept secret?" Nikki asked Harry tersely and he shook his head slowly before a light dawned on his face "Now he gets it" she sighed and shook her head as though Harry was stupid "No, I haven't"

"Well I think Adrian needs to be put to sleep" Jennifer told them as she stood up, glancing at Anthony and Abigail as she did so.

"Yes, we have some work to get on with don't we?" Anthony asked Abigail, none of them could have been more obvious about their intentions to quickly leave the room but Nikki just sat in silence and let them do it. Harry looking at them in turn with a surprised and confused look on his face.

"Yes we do, and I'm sure Fergus wants to play" Abigail nodded, quickly standing up and picking up hers and her partner's mugs before glancing at Leo who they had also bonded with in the past three weeks. The other man shrugged discreetly and motioned to the bowl of porridge in his hand that he was feeding to Donovan, the baby getting impatient when the food wasn't given to him in time.

"Could you take Elsie?" Nikki asked Abigail, the older woman nodding and taking their friend's baby from the blonde, smiling at her and cooing about how beautiful she was. "Leo I'll feed Donny"

"Okay" Leo smiled and handed Nikki the baby bowl with the food and then the spoon, the blonde smiling back at him and nodding, thanking him quietly as they all then trailed from the room leaving Harry and Nikki together with just their children.

"So why did you tell them everything?"

"Who told you?" Harry murmured and Nikki shrugged.

"Abigail and Emily accidentally let slip about forty five minutes ago" she replied with another shrug as she glanced at the clock "They told me everything that you told them all last night. I know that I let slip in the cafe about dad being dunk and hitting me sometimes but did you really have to tell everyone about the bulling at school? About dad and Gran verbally degrading me until I didn't think anyone would love me? That I'm still insecure sometimes, thank you very much for that by the way, that really gives me a confidence boost"

Harry was shaking his head all the way through her talking and attempted to interrupt but Nikki just glared at him.

"You keep quiet until I'm finished" she snarled at him "You told them that I was so desperate for people to love me that I kept going back to him" she yelled and saw Gabriel jump, his bottom lip trembling as he let out a loud sob and began to cry "How desperate did you want to make me sound?" she shouted as she quickly walked over and picked up Gabriel, cradling the crying baby against her "Mummy's sorry she shouted" she whispered as she kissed his head, glaring at Harry as she did so.

"I thought that maybe it would help them to understand" Harry protested as he was allowed a word in edgeways over Gabriel's sobbing, Nikki rubbing their son's back and avoiding looking at Harry. "I didn't think you would mind, they're our friends and..I'm sorry it upset you"

"Sorry isn't going to cut it Harry" Nikki blinked away her tears and shook her head, not seeing the distraught look on her lover's face as she still refused to look at him "What if you decided to stay out a little bit later than usual and I told them about your father? Hmm? How would you feel then?"

"But you didn't just stay out a little bit later did you Nikki? You ran off because you were upset. It wasn't just a random conversation we were all having where I decided to just slip some of your history into it" Harry told her loudly, Nikki finally looking at him and glaring at him "No-one had any idea where you are and they were all concerned and confused. Can you not see that?"

"Or maybe I should just go and grovel to them and beg them not to judge me because I'm so desperate for people to like me" Nikki yelled back at him, Gabriel sniffing loudly as she stroked his hair "It's okay baby"

"Now that's not fair"

"No it's totally fair Harry" Nikki shrugged as she walked over to the kitchen door "I'll go and do that now shall I?"

She opened the door and Harry slammed his hand down on the table, making her jump slightly before a shudder went through her at his tone of voice when he spoke.

"Don't you dare turn your back on me"

"Or what?" Nikki smirked as she turned to look at him, all reason gone from both of them "You're going to stop me?"

"Yes"

Nikki scoffed and shook her head, shifting Gabriel to her other hip as she took another step out of the door.

"Maybe you should take a leaf out of your father's book and begin to beat me into submission"

Nikki turned away and walked quickly down the corridor, missing the utterly distraught look on Harry's face as she did so, tears slipping down her cheeks as well as she pressed a kiss to Gabriel's soft blonde hair, whispering to him how much she loved him.

"I did the worst possible thing I could to Harry"

Abigail looked up from the work she was doing and over to Nikki who was curled up on one of the sofas Gabriel playing on the floor, Elsie and Fergus on the play mats next to each other. Nikki had wandered into the room ten minutes before, placed her son on the floor and then curled up on the sofa in silence, staring absentmindedly out of the window at the large expanse of grass in front of their accommodation.

"Wha..you didn't leave him did you?"

"No" Nikki scoffed, reaching up to wipe her face as a few tears slipped down her cheeks "No I could never do that, I'm too much in love with him. I.." she stopped talking when she realised that if she told Abigail what she had said to Harry it would mean revealing what Harry's father was like. In doing so she was just doing the same thing Harry had done the night before, what they had just argued about. "I compared him to...my father" it was the truth, just changed slightly so it was her father and not his "I told him that maybe he should start beating me like he did so I start to listen to him"

"Oh Nikki" Abigail sighed, putting her textbook down on the table and placing her pen on top as Nikki began to sob quietly into her arms, the older woman walking over and sitting next to her friend. She gently wrapped one arm around Nikki and pulled the blonde closer to her, Nikki resting her head on Abigail's shoulder as cried. "It'll all work out, you've had arguments before haven't you?"

"Of course" Nikki whispered tearfully, wiping her face and then looking down at her leg when she felt something tug on it. "Oh darling" she sighed, quickly reaching down and picking up her quietly crying son as he tugged on her leg "Come here" she placed him on her lap and he snuggled closer to her, Nikki stroking his hair and kissing the top of his head, more tears falling down her cheeks "Mummy did something very very silly"

"He's perceptive" Abigail stated absentmindedly and Nikki nodded as she moved away from the red haired woman and continued to soothe her son.

"They get to be like this at around six months, they pick up on emotions and facial expressions" Nikki explained and then shrugged "Or the twins did, I don't know about other babies. Donny started doing it first and then this one here" she kissed Gabriel's forehead gently and murmured words of love to her oldest child.

"You should talk to Harry"

"He hates me"

"He doesn't hate you" Abigail protested instantly, scoffing at the mere thought "That man could never hate you just as you could never hate him"

Nikki just shook her head, knowing that Abigail didn't truly understand the consequences of what she had told Harry.