"I hate having to dumb myself down" Nikki moaned as they reached the gate to the upper field where the bodies were found "I didn't go through school and university, studying for a medical degree and getting through the whole prejudice of a woman as a pathologist just to come up here and get ignored like...."

Harry cut off her ranting by covering her lips with his own. He drew back and held the gate open for her to walk through.

"It's not for long" he reminded her and Nikki just shrugged and walked through the gate. A loud ringing cut through the silence and both Harry and Nikki looked around, confused for a second before Nikki dug into her pocket for her mobile "I'm surprised we have signal"

Nikki just shrugged and answered the phone when she saw it was Leo calling.

"Hello Leo" she greeted their friend as she and Harry kept walking up the side of the hill and in the direction of the burial site "How are you coping without us?"

"Well it's very quiet" Leo replied "and there's a lot less arguing and banter going on. How's it going up there?"

"Well we have five bodies" Nikki explained "All seemed to have died from blunt force trauma to the head and I don't think we will ever find out who did it"

"Why not?" Leo asked, he had every faith in their abilities and it wasn't like Nikki to say she couldn't do something.

"Because we don't have our proper lab equipment and the nearest police station is about two hours from here so we don't have the back up of the police" Nikki told her older friend "Why are we even here in the first place?"

"Because the powers that be insist that we co-operate with the town and the people there"

"They don't even know the people" Nikki replied loudly "Harry and I went round showing them pictures of the five victims and no-one knew them. And I know you're going to say that they are probably lying but we could both tell that they weren't"

"Okay fine, just keep on going and I'll have a talk with the home office"

"Thank you Leo" Nikki cheered and Leo chuckled down the phone

"How is the accommodation?"

This made Nikki think for a second, Leo didn't need to know that she and Harry were sharing a bed, not at that moment any way.

"Um...it's nice. We have a house to ourselves"

"I bet that's as close as Harry's going to get to living with a woman for a long period of time" Leo joked but it hurt Nikki to hear that said and glanced at Harry who looked back at her and gave her a smile which she returned hesitantly.

"You're probably right" Nikki agreed with Leo but her heart jumped sadly when she said this, she knew it was true though, Harry wasn't much for commitment "Look one of us will call you later on, we're just getting to the crime scene"

"Okay Nikki thank you" Leo replied "Have fun"

Leo then hung up and Nikki shook her head as she put her phone back in her pocket.

"Yeah" she mumbled quietly and looked up just as Harry held his hand out for her. A smile graced her face as she reached up and took it, Harry entwining their fingers as she did so.

"How's Leo?" he asked and Nikki shrugged and looked away from him as they walked along the path.

"He's alright, he said it's very quite without us"

Harry chuckled and nodded, he knew something was wrong with Nikki, she wasn't looking at him and was gripping his hand very hard.

"I'm sure it is" Harry nodded and grinned at her "You're not there to boss everyone around"

Nikki gave him a withering look but this just made Harry laugh louder.

"I do not"

"Yes you do" Harry argued and Nikki glared at him and turned away with a huff but Harry could tell she was joking.

"I should move up here" Nikki moaned as they finally got to the crime scene after their hike "I'd lose so much weight"

"You don't need to lose any" Harry replied, confused as to why she had said that "You're perfect the way you are"

Nikki blushed slightly and looked away from him, no man had ever told her that but she liked to hear it from Harry.

"Thank you" she mumbled and Harry leant over and pressed a kiss onto her lips before turning and looking back at the town below them with a sigh.

"We need to get the police involved" Harry informed her "But if they are as closed off as these are then it's going to be hard"

"Maybe I can add them to my queue of men waiting for me" Nikki suggested seriously and she laughed loudly when Harry spun around to look at her with a shocked look on his face "I was joking Harry don't worry"

"Well you are all mine now" he informed her as he wrapped his arms around her waist and preceded to kiss her senseless "You're going to have to tell the rest to bugger off"

"We can't keep doing this at work" Nikki whispered as she broke the kiss "All this kissing and cuddling"

"Well we'll save it up for the evenings then" Harry shrugged and Nikki gave him a wide grin and slapped him on the chest.

"Who says I will want to see you in the evenings after working all day with you"

"Maybe the fact that you can't get enough of me in bed" Harry whispered into her neck causing her to shiver involuntarily as he walked off again.

------------

"Right so I've asked Adair to give the nearest police a call, which happens to be about forty five minutes away from here" Harry told Nikki later that evening as they sat around after eating dinner "They said they will come either tomorrow or the next day but there isn't much we can do until then"

Nikki just made a noise in the back of her throat to show Harry she had been listening but didn't look up from the book she was reading, well pretending to be reading, Harry had noticed that she had been on the same page for fifteen minutes.

"Okay what's wrong?" Harry asked as he sat himself next to Nikki on the sofa, Nikki didn't reply so he sighed and plucked the book out of her hands and threw it on the coffee table causing Nikki to protest loudly "You weren't even reading it properly now what's wrong?"

"We haven't been using anything" Nikki mumbled as she bit her lip and Harry had to think about what she was going on about.

"Oh" he rolled his eyes when he figured it out "That was probably my fault"

"Why?" Nikki asked slowly and shook her head

"Well I'm the male I should think about things like that" Harry shrugged and looked away "I mean you think about the pill don't you?"

"That's the thing Harry" Nikki replied quietly "I ran out just before we came up here and I thought I wouldn't need any so I didn't get any more" she looked away from Harry and out of the window, it was only half past six but it was already pitch black outside.

"We..you..we haven't been using anything?" Harry asked and Nikki shook her head and bit her lip, she knew Harry would hate her for that "God Nikki"

"I know" Nikki shook her head and tried to blink away her tears "I'm sorry" she then stood up and walked out of the room leaving Harry alone with his thoughts.

She slammed the bedroom door open and it swung back and hit the wall before bouncing back and slamming shut again. Nikki started to sob as she climbed onto the bed and buried her face in her pillow, she was scared that Harry would leave her because he didn't want commitment, or a child if that was the case. She didn't hear the door open or hear Harry pad quietly over to the bed but she did feel the bed go down on Harry's side as he climbed on. Nikki tensed slightly as Harry lay down behind her and draped one arm over her waist and kissed her neck gently.

"Please don't cry" he whispered into her neck as he kissed her again "I hate it when you cry, it makes me feel like I have failed"

"Failed?" Nikki choked out and Harry made a noise of agreement as he propped himself up on one elbow and looked down at her running his hand gently over hair.

"When I first saw you cry I promised myself that I would never let it happen again"

"Really?" Nikki sniffed and turned her head so she was looking at him as he nodded and gave her a smile, she let out a small sob and more tears fell down her face "No-one has ever said that to me, no-one..has..ever made..me..feel as..loved..as you..and we've only..just..started.." she could continue her sentence as she started to sob loudly and Harry pulled her closer to her.

"This isn't just about us not using protection is it?" Harry whispered as he soothed her gently as Nikki shook her head and cried into his chest as she clutched at his shirt. He let her cry knowing she needed one but it still made him feel useless, her small sobs broke his heart and he could feel her whole body shaking in his arms. After a few minutes her sobs subsided but she remained clutching at Harry like her life depended on it.

"When I was on the phone to Leo today he said something about this trip being the only time when you will be tied down living with a woman" Nikki told him after a few minutes of comfortable silence "He was joking of course, he doesn't know about us, but it still hurt" she paused "More than I thought it would actually"

"Oh Nikki" Harry sighed and sat up against the headboard behind them and pulled Nikki gently onto his lap and held her close to him "You have no idea how much you mean to me do you?" he asked but Nikki didn't say anything "If I wasn't afraid that you would refuse me then I would ask you to move in with me straight away because I have fallen in love with you. I just missed the whole going on dates and getting to know each other thing and fell so hard for you it scares me" Harry stopped talking, not knowing whether or not he had stepped over the line. Nikki didn't say anything for a while but then looked up at him with a small smile on her face and reached up to place her hand on his cheek then leant up and kissed him softly.

"You mean it?" she asked quietly

"Which bit?" Harry enquired as he reached up and entwined his hand with Nikki's that was still on his cheek, he turned his head and kissed her palm as she replied.

"The part when you said that you loved me"

"Love Nikki" Harry whispered as he turned back to her "Present tense and yes I meant every word"

All is quiet now..just you wait though hehe! XD

xxx