Chapter 13 (Present day)
The shrill sound of the alarm broke into Nikki's consciousness and she groaned, stretching her arms out towards Helen's side of the bed. She opened one eye cautiously when she found nothing but cold sheets with her outstretched hand. That was odd, Helen was definitely not a morning person and on a normal day it would take nothing short of a miracle to get her out of bed at this time of the morning.
Nikki started to panic, was there something wrong with the baby, why hadn't Helen woken her? She launched out of bed and wrapped her dressing gown around her shoulders as she called out, "Helen?" When she got no answer she stuck her head into the en suit bathroom, no sign of her. She took the stairs down to the ground floor, two at a time while calling Helen's name. "In here," came the muffled response from Nikki's office. "That's weird," thought Nikki as she jogged down the passage. Helen hardly spent any time in the home office if she wasn't in there with her. She walked through the door and found Helen sitting in front of the computer totally engrossed in whatever was on the screen. She looked up and smiled at Nikki, "Morning," she said. The smile dropped from her face when she saw the concern in Nikki's eyes. "Babe, you scared me half to death when you weren't there when I woke up, I thought there might be something wrong with the baby." Nikki said as she walked over and kissed the top of Helen's head. She ran her hand over Helen's belly and waited for a little kick as if to reassure herself that everything was indeed still fine.
Helen looked up at her with confusion on her face. "It's 5:30am, I can hardly get you out of bed by 8 without a forklift or death threats, what was I supposed to think? Nikki said with a mischievous glint in her eye. Helen gave her a playful smack on her bum as she turned back to what she'd been reading. "Very funny Wade," she said.
"What have we got here then," Nikki said as she leant forward to read over Helen's shoulder. "It's Dominic's proposal, the one he sent to the Home Office, regarding turning G wing into a lifers unit. He was really thorough; I can see why they are so impressed with it. I couldn't have done any better myself," She said as she scrolled through the documentation. "Well he learnt from the best," Nikki said as she skimmed through it quickly. Helen swivelled around in the chair to look at Nikki. "I think this could really work Hun," she said as she reached out and took Nikki's hands in her own, "And I think that I might want to be a part of it."
Nikki knelt down in front of Helen and moved a strand of hair behind her left ear, "I'm glad you've found something you feel passionate about my love, and whatever you decide, I'm behind you all the way. Just promise me one thing O.K.?" Nikki said, looking deeply into Helen's eyes, "if it ever gets too much you walk away. That place has no power over us anymore; it doesn't have to be in our lives if we don't want it to be." "Promise," Helen said as she looked down at Nikki and traced her thumb over her lips.
"Do you think it's too early to give Dominic a ring to tell him I'm interested?" Helen asked as Nikki stood to leave. She laughed, "I think you should give him at least another hour babe, now come back to bed, I'm sure I can entertain you for at least that long." "Not dashing off to gym this morning then?" Helen asked with a naughty smile starting to pick at the corners of her mouth. "Well seeing as you are up, I can think of several far more pleasurable ways of burning calories," Nikki said as she tugged Helen to her feet and began to lead her up the stairs.