Harry nearly bumped into Adair and Alec on his way out of the hospital, it took him a while to peel himself away from Nikki but he realised he had to and had rushed out of the room as quickly as possible to get everything ready.

"How is your wife?" Adair asked Harry and placed a hand on the younger man's shoulder.

"Our home office is sending a medical helicopter to pick us up and take us to a London hospital" Harry explained "If we don't go then Nikki will die"

"You do this all for a woman?" Alec asked and Harry shot him a glare and surprisingly so did Adair "Can't you just get another one?"

"You have no idea how much I love her" Harry hissed as he forced himself not to punch the smug look of Alec's face "You may not have any respect for your wife, or for any woman in fact, but you know what? They deserve to be worshiped for all they do for us" he then turned to Adair who he knew was softening to Nikki "Will you please stay with her?"

"Of course I will" Adair nodded and a guilty looked passed over his face as Alec turned and walked back down the road where he had just come from "I apologise for how we have treated your wife, I am afraid that it was my own father who drummed it into my son about how he thinks women should be treated. My own wife was as dear to me as my own soul and she was the reason I lived, much like you I imagine, but my son worshiped his grandfather and thought his word was law, I tried to stop him but I couldn't" Adair stopped and blinked away tears "Most of the men in this town were misguided by traditionalists in their families, and I apologise for that" he then turned and walked into the hospital leaving Harry to process what he had said.

The next few hours passed in a blur for Harry and the next thing he knew he was sitting in the waiting room of Kings hospital in London waiting for any news about how Nikki was doing. As soon as they had landed on the roof of the hospital the doctors and nurses had rushed her straight through and had made Harry wait for any information. On the way to the hospital he had explained everything that had happened and the paramedics who had come to collect them had every faith that he had done the right thing and a good job. Harry felt otherwise. He sighed loudly as he leant his elbows on his knees and rested his chin on his entwined fingers, he had called Leo about an hour beforehand but the older man had been in a meeting of some sort so couldn't answer his phone, Harry had just left him a voice message telling him what was going on and telling him to come to the hospital whenever he wanted. The door opened and Harry turned his head to see Leo walking in the room, he didn't bother to stand up as Leo seated himself next to him and patted him on the shoulder.

"You did well Harry" he told the younger man who just shrugged "Without what you did I'm sure Nikki wouldn't have made it this far"

"I just keep thinking back to Africa" Harry whispered as he sat up fully and stretched his back "And what happened when I performed an operation there"

Leo didn't know how to respond to that, he knew that incident had haunted Harry in the past months since they had returned from Africa and he hoped that saving Nikki's life might help with the failure Harry was feeling.

"Nikki's a fighter" Leo told Harry who nodded and smiled as he thought of his lover "She won't leave us"

"What's going on with the case?" Harry asked after a while "Nikki's going to be out of action for a while and I'm not leaving her"

Leo frowned slightly when he said this, to him that was more than just a best friend's concern.

"I'll call the home office and tell them the situation" Leo stated "Is there anything else you wish to tell me?" he smiled when he said this and a grin grew on Harry's face.

"Nikki and I we..." Harry trailed off "Some good came out of going up there anyway" he added and Leo chuckled and patted him on the back.

"Well it's about time" he told his younger friend "Why do you think I asked for you two to be sent up there?"

"Sorry?" Harry asked quite confused "You asked for me and Nikki to have this case?"

"Yes" Leo said simply "The home office were looking for two pathologists, one male and one female, to act as husband and wife to go and perform the autopsies and I thought that as you two acted like husband and wife you'd be perfect for the job" Leo was grinning by the time he had finished and Harry had a shocked look on his face as this sunk in. He was about to open his mouth to say something when the door opened again and a doctor walked in.

"Harry Cunningham?"

"Yes" Harry said instantly and both men stood up

"I was operating on your wife just to make sure things were okay" the doctor told him and Harry winced slightly when he heard this. Adair and Alec had been there when they had both got into the helicopter so Harry had told the paramedics that Nikki was his wife "Your own operation was a complete success I am happy to say"

"Really?" Harry whispered "I didn't..Nikki's going to be okay?"

"With lots of rest and TLC she will be back on her feet in no time" the doctor replied with a smile and Harry let out a sigh of relief and ran one hand through his hair.

"Can we see her?"

"Of course" the doctor nodded and motioned to them to follow him out of the room. He then walked down the corridor and pointed to some stairs at the end "They are just moving her into room two hundred, just up the stairs. Her heart is being monitored and all that so don't be alarmed by all the machines"

"Right, thank you" Harry nodded before himself and Leo made their way up the stairs and walked cautiously into the room they had been directed to. Nikki was laying in the middle of the hospital bed, one arm was attached to a drip by the side of the bed one giving her blood, the other giving her what Harry and Leo assumed was morphine. Harry swallowed a lump that had formed in his throat when he saw his lover laying motionless and vulnerable in the bed. He reached over and gently covered one of Nikki's hands with his own and was alarmed to feel it very cold. He ran his thumb gently over the smooth surface then bent over and pressed a kiss onto her lips, ignoring the fact that Leo was in the room as well.

"Do you have any idea what she had to put up with up there?" he then asked Leo as he straightened up to look at the older man who shook his head "She had to dumb herself down and become someone that she clearly isn't just because of their traditions. I had to publicly put her down and even though she knew I was making it up the look on her face when I did so made me hate myself Leo" he whispered the last part and turned away from the other pathologist "You should have seen the way the men up there treat their women"

Leo didn't know how to respond to this so looked away from his younger friend and smiled slightly when he noticed that they both still had their 'wedding rings' on. His phone vibrated suddenly in his pocket and he pulled it out to look at the caller I.D.

"It's from the home office" he explained to Harry as he walked towards the door "I have to take this, I'll come back later on okay?"

I was in two minds whether or not to kill Nikki...but once again found I couldn't do it. lol!

xxx