Conflict of Interest (17/?) Morgana/Nikki
Title: Conflict of Interest (17/?)
Fandom: Silent Witness/Merlin (Modern AU)
Characters & Pairings: Morgana/Nikki (with side Arthur/Gwen, unrequited/past Nikki/Harry and maybe-not-so-past Gwen/Morgana)
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: ~ 48,000 so far, 1,957 for this part
Summary: Morgana/Nikki. Harry hears something he shouldn't and Gwen has a shocking revelation.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Merlin or Silent Witness, this is not for profit, just for entertainment!
Note: I'm in the middle of my second year exams at uni so this chapter is a bit shorter than usual. I hope you all enjoy it though!
Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 |Chapter 12 | Chapter 13 | Chapter 14 | Chapter 15 | Chapter 16
“Harry!” Gwen gasped, desperately trying to think of something to downplay whatever Harry had heard. “That...” she gestured down the corridor that Arthur had just disappeared down. “It wasn’t what you thought it was.” She took a breath. “I mean, it was, but it wasn’t. Morgana and I...”
“None of my business.” Harry held up his hands. He was actually quite certain that it was his business, seeing as Morgana and Nikki were dating - or something - and that Nikki was his best friend. “How’s Morgana?”
“They’re- They’re still operating,” Gwen stuttered her breath catching as her stomach fell through the floor. She didn’t want to think about Morgana on the operating table, cut open with a stranger’s hands inside her. She didn’t want think about the tube in her throat or the foreign blood dripping into her veins. She didn’t want to think that maybe Morgana’s heart might stop beating. She didn’t want to think that every minute that passed by, might be Morgana’s last. “They said they would update us... but we haven’t heard anything yet.”
“Mrs Pendragon?”
As if called into being by Gwen’s words, the surgeon who had briefed them earlier stood before them, seemingly appearing from thin air. He was younger than Gwen would have liked, not much older than herself, but he was clean shaven and well dressed. For some reason, that made her feel better.
“Yes,” Gwen confirmed, standing again, “and this is a friend, Dr Harry...” She realised that she didn’t know his last name.
“Cunningham,” Harry finished for her, shaking the other doctor’s outstretched hand.
“How- How is she?” Gwen’s fingers pulled absently at her sleeve, twisting the material tight before letting it go and starting again.
“The operation went well,” the doctor began. “Your sister-in-law’s injuries were not as serious as it first appeared. We managed to stem the bleeding and repair most of the damage to her vasculature.”
Harry took a step closer to Gwen and nodded to the surgeon to continue. Nikki would expect more than the reassurance that families were usually given.
“She has been incredibly lucky. Her injuries were confined to her liver and her portal vein. She lost a lot of blood but we’re confident that she will make a full, if slow, recovery. She’s on her way down here to her room now. She’s still sedated but you can sit with her if you like.” With a small, emotionless smile he nodded and started back down the corridor to the nurse’s station.
~*~
Nikki sat on the side of her ward bed, her white-socked feet brushing the floor and her grazed hands gripping the edge of the mattress. Her hair was pulled back into a messy plait that failed to keep the tangled strands away from her face.
Leo was sat on the chair next to her bed, trying to distract her with a problem he was having identifying the abrasions on the back of a dead salesman’s neck.
“I thought maybe they were electric burns from a stripped and cut flex - I saw that once before when I was training - but that didn’t fit histologically. I don’t think it could be chemical either, there weren’t enough necrotic cells, barely any, in fact. I just don’t understand it.” He put his hand on her arm. “Nikki?”
She let out a heavy breath and shook her head. “Sorry Leo, what were you saying?”
“Don’t take this the wrong way, Nikki,” he began, frowning, “but I don’t really understand it. It’s just so... out of blue, for lack of a better expression.”
Tearing her eyes away from the wall clock, she looked at colleague, her friend. “I can’t explain it, Leo. I wasn’t expecting it. I certainly wasn’t looking for it. I just... It was so easy, talking to her that night in the bar. She got me. It seemed so natural, to lean closer, to kiss her. I couldn’t help myself.”
Leo smiled. He remembered that feeling. He remembered losing that love, having it ripped away. His heart clenched.
“She makes me feel different,” Nikki tried to explain, “still me, but even more like me. I’ve never felt like this before. It’s never felt this right before. I knew almost straight away that we had to be together, that it was what was meant to happen. I’m not talking about fate or destiny or any of that nonsense, it just is. It feels like I can breathe properly for the first time. It’s like I’ve been holding my breath my whole life and now I don’t have to anymore because she’s here.” She blushed and dropped Leo’s gaze. “Sorry, I know that sounds-”
“No,” Leo interrupted, squeezing her hand. “I understand.”
The squeak of polished shoes on vinyl floor brought Nikki’s head back up.
“Harry,” Nikki greeted him eagerly, jumping to her feet despite the pain, “how is she?”
“She’s out of theatre,” Harry said, a little out of breath. “She’s going to be fine.”
“What was it? Where is she?” Nikki asked, not happy with Harry’s vague account.
“There was some damage to her liver but it was minimal. She had a tear in her portal vain, which they have repaired. She’s in recovery,” Harry said. “She was still sedated when I left. Gwen is sat with her.”
~*~
“Oh Morg, how did we get here?” Gwen whispered, bringing Morgana’s pale hand up to press her lips against. “I remember when I first saw you. You looked so nervous, leaning against the railings with wide eyes, watching the freshers floats. You were the most beautiful thing that I had ever seen. You completely took my breath away.” She laughed slightly, tears running down her cheeks. “It was so loud and the crowd was so keyed up. I got carried down the street in the mayhem and I lost sight of you.” Gwen closed her eyes, picturing it.
“I couldn’t believe it when you knocked on my door a couple of hours later, all signs of nerves gone. I never thought you would actually like me. You were so smart and gorgeous. I expected you to be the most popular girl in halls. But you weren’t, you didn’t want to be. You were just as much of a geek as I was,” she laughed. “We spend the first week sat on my bed watching Monty Python repeats and eating Rainbow Drops from the Spar, do you remember? Then on the Saturday, you went and rented The Matrix to watch with me instead of going out with that lad from Surrey who kept asking you out. You sat so close to me through the whole thing that I could barely breathe. You kissed me right near the end, completely out of nowhere, and I couldn’t believe my luck.” She brushed the hair from Morgana’s forehead, the pad of her thumb stroking the soft skin there.
“You asked me if I’d done it before and I said yes because I thought you meant kissed another girl, but you didn’t. I didn’t stop you though, I didn’t want to. You made me feel so special, so wanted. I never told you that you were my first. It was perfect, Morgana. You’re perfect.” Gwen leaned forward in her chair and kissed Morgana’s cheek. “I was such a fool letting you go. I didn’t know what I was doing. I’ll always love you, always.”
“What about me?”
Gwen turned sharply to see Arthur stood in the doorway, a bunch of flowers clutched in his hand.
“What about me?” he asked again with tears in his eyes. “She’s in love with Nikki you know. I’ve not seen her this lovesick over someone since that first Christmas when she brought you home from uni.”
“I know,” Gwen said, still clutching Morgana’s hand. “And I love you Arthur, just as much as I love her.”
“It’ll never be more, will it? You’ll never love me more.” Arthur asked, taking a step into the room.
Gwen looked up at him with shining apologetic eyes and shook her head. “I’m so sorry.”
He nodded and dropped the flowers on the table at the end of Morgana’s bed, before walking over to his wife, wrapping his arms around her shoulders and kissing the top of her head. “I can deal with that.”
~*~
“Harry, I’m fine!” Nikki hissed, swatting him away when he went to take her elbow. “Stop fussing.”
“You were missing for over 24 hours,” Harry said, taking her elbow despite her protests, “I’m entitled to fuss.”
They were making the ridiculously long walk - three floors and the entire length of the hospital away - to the private ward, without taking the lift. Nikki had started hyperventilating when they had tried to take the lift up to Morgana’s floor and had dashed back out of it before the doors could close behind her.
“And besides,” Harry continued, smirking, “I’m your knight in shining armour. It’s my duty to escort you.”
Nikki rolled her eyes. “I distinctly remember Arthur being the heroic one. And that’s not even mentioning the fact that Morgana got herself put in hospital for me.”
“Nonsense,” Harry insisted, “I came to your rescue twice.”
“You went down the wrong path and Morgana got snatched whilst you jogged through the forest,” Nikki teased, glaring at him when he tried to take her weight as they reached the second set of stairs. “I am perfectly capable of climbing stairs. I’ve been doing it since I was less than two years old.”
“Alright, alright,” Harry conceded. “At least hold the banister?”
Nikki nodded in agreement and continued to climb.
“So,” Harry said after a moment, “are you going to be all chirpy and loved-up at work now?”
“No,” Nikki laughed, “I don’t really do ‘loved-up’.”
“I’m happy for you, Nikki, I really am,” Harry said, stopping her and giving her a smile. “I’ve got to admit, she wasn’t what I expected from you - you pulled that one out of nowhere - but I think you’ve got it right. You may say that you don’t do loved-up, but I’ve seen the way you look at her and the way she looks at you too.”
“I love her,” Nikki said honestly. “I wasn’t expecting too, not even after that first night, but I do. She’s everything that I never knew I wanted.”
~*~
Later that evening, when Morgana finally broke through the mist of anaesthetic and opened her eyes, it was Nikki who sat at her bedside.
“Hi,” Nikki whispered, squeezing Morgana’s hand. “Do you want me to get your brother or-”
“No,” Morgana interrupted, her voice hoarse and quiet, “Stay.”
Smiling gently, Nikki rubbed her thumb over the back of Morgana’s hand. “I love you,” she said impulsively, her chest tightening the second she said it. They had said at the garage, but they had both been scared that they wouldn’t see daylight again.
Morgana closed her eyes and coughed, before tugging weakly on Nikki’s hand. “Come here,” she murmured, coughing again.
Nikki stood and leaned in to her. “Are you alright?” she asked, her brow pinched in concern.
“I’m so sorry for what I put you through. You have every right to run as fast as you can in the other direction.”
“Don’t,” Nikki said, shaking her head. “Don’t.”
“I love you,” Morgana whispered, tangling her hand in the loose hairs at the back of Nikki’s neck.
Nikki smiled and let her forehead rest against Morgana’s.
“Kiss me,” Morgana begged.
“Always,” Nikki promised, tingling rising in her as she brought her lips to Morgana’s and kissed her.
Gwen took a deep breath and looked away from the window. She had lied to Arthur. She was beginning to think that she did love Morgana more.
.
Fandom: Silent Witness/Merlin (Modern AU)
Characters & Pairings: Morgana/Nikki (with side Arthur/Gwen, unrequited/past Nikki/Harry and maybe-not-so-past Gwen/Morgana)
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: ~ 48,000 so far, 1,957 for this part
Summary: Morgana/Nikki. Harry hears something he shouldn't and Gwen has a shocking revelation.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Merlin or Silent Witness, this is not for profit, just for entertainment!
Note: I'm in the middle of my second year exams at uni so this chapter is a bit shorter than usual. I hope you all enjoy it though!
Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 |Chapter 12 | Chapter 13 | Chapter 14 | Chapter 15 | Chapter 16
“Harry!” Gwen gasped, desperately trying to think of something to downplay whatever Harry had heard. “That...” she gestured down the corridor that Arthur had just disappeared down. “It wasn’t what you thought it was.” She took a breath. “I mean, it was, but it wasn’t. Morgana and I...”
“None of my business.” Harry held up his hands. He was actually quite certain that it was his business, seeing as Morgana and Nikki were dating - or something - and that Nikki was his best friend. “How’s Morgana?”
“They’re- They’re still operating,” Gwen stuttered her breath catching as her stomach fell through the floor. She didn’t want to think about Morgana on the operating table, cut open with a stranger’s hands inside her. She didn’t want think about the tube in her throat or the foreign blood dripping into her veins. She didn’t want to think that maybe Morgana’s heart might stop beating. She didn’t want to think that every minute that passed by, might be Morgana’s last. “They said they would update us... but we haven’t heard anything yet.”
“Mrs Pendragon?”
As if called into being by Gwen’s words, the surgeon who had briefed them earlier stood before them, seemingly appearing from thin air. He was younger than Gwen would have liked, not much older than herself, but he was clean shaven and well dressed. For some reason, that made her feel better.
“Yes,” Gwen confirmed, standing again, “and this is a friend, Dr Harry...” She realised that she didn’t know his last name.
“Cunningham,” Harry finished for her, shaking the other doctor’s outstretched hand.
“How- How is she?” Gwen’s fingers pulled absently at her sleeve, twisting the material tight before letting it go and starting again.
“The operation went well,” the doctor began. “Your sister-in-law’s injuries were not as serious as it first appeared. We managed to stem the bleeding and repair most of the damage to her vasculature.”
Harry took a step closer to Gwen and nodded to the surgeon to continue. Nikki would expect more than the reassurance that families were usually given.
“She has been incredibly lucky. Her injuries were confined to her liver and her portal vein. She lost a lot of blood but we’re confident that she will make a full, if slow, recovery. She’s on her way down here to her room now. She’s still sedated but you can sit with her if you like.” With a small, emotionless smile he nodded and started back down the corridor to the nurse’s station.
~*~
Nikki sat on the side of her ward bed, her white-socked feet brushing the floor and her grazed hands gripping the edge of the mattress. Her hair was pulled back into a messy plait that failed to keep the tangled strands away from her face.
Leo was sat on the chair next to her bed, trying to distract her with a problem he was having identifying the abrasions on the back of a dead salesman’s neck.
“I thought maybe they were electric burns from a stripped and cut flex - I saw that once before when I was training - but that didn’t fit histologically. I don’t think it could be chemical either, there weren’t enough necrotic cells, barely any, in fact. I just don’t understand it.” He put his hand on her arm. “Nikki?”
She let out a heavy breath and shook her head. “Sorry Leo, what were you saying?”
“Don’t take this the wrong way, Nikki,” he began, frowning, “but I don’t really understand it. It’s just so... out of blue, for lack of a better expression.”
Tearing her eyes away from the wall clock, she looked at colleague, her friend. “I can’t explain it, Leo. I wasn’t expecting it. I certainly wasn’t looking for it. I just... It was so easy, talking to her that night in the bar. She got me. It seemed so natural, to lean closer, to kiss her. I couldn’t help myself.”
Leo smiled. He remembered that feeling. He remembered losing that love, having it ripped away. His heart clenched.
“She makes me feel different,” Nikki tried to explain, “still me, but even more like me. I’ve never felt like this before. It’s never felt this right before. I knew almost straight away that we had to be together, that it was what was meant to happen. I’m not talking about fate or destiny or any of that nonsense, it just is. It feels like I can breathe properly for the first time. It’s like I’ve been holding my breath my whole life and now I don’t have to anymore because she’s here.” She blushed and dropped Leo’s gaze. “Sorry, I know that sounds-”
“No,” Leo interrupted, squeezing her hand. “I understand.”
The squeak of polished shoes on vinyl floor brought Nikki’s head back up.
“Harry,” Nikki greeted him eagerly, jumping to her feet despite the pain, “how is she?”
“She’s out of theatre,” Harry said, a little out of breath. “She’s going to be fine.”
“What was it? Where is she?” Nikki asked, not happy with Harry’s vague account.
“There was some damage to her liver but it was minimal. She had a tear in her portal vain, which they have repaired. She’s in recovery,” Harry said. “She was still sedated when I left. Gwen is sat with her.”
~*~
“Oh Morg, how did we get here?” Gwen whispered, bringing Morgana’s pale hand up to press her lips against. “I remember when I first saw you. You looked so nervous, leaning against the railings with wide eyes, watching the freshers floats. You were the most beautiful thing that I had ever seen. You completely took my breath away.” She laughed slightly, tears running down her cheeks. “It was so loud and the crowd was so keyed up. I got carried down the street in the mayhem and I lost sight of you.” Gwen closed her eyes, picturing it.
“I couldn’t believe it when you knocked on my door a couple of hours later, all signs of nerves gone. I never thought you would actually like me. You were so smart and gorgeous. I expected you to be the most popular girl in halls. But you weren’t, you didn’t want to be. You were just as much of a geek as I was,” she laughed. “We spend the first week sat on my bed watching Monty Python repeats and eating Rainbow Drops from the Spar, do you remember? Then on the Saturday, you went and rented The Matrix to watch with me instead of going out with that lad from Surrey who kept asking you out. You sat so close to me through the whole thing that I could barely breathe. You kissed me right near the end, completely out of nowhere, and I couldn’t believe my luck.” She brushed the hair from Morgana’s forehead, the pad of her thumb stroking the soft skin there.
“You asked me if I’d done it before and I said yes because I thought you meant kissed another girl, but you didn’t. I didn’t stop you though, I didn’t want to. You made me feel so special, so wanted. I never told you that you were my first. It was perfect, Morgana. You’re perfect.” Gwen leaned forward in her chair and kissed Morgana’s cheek. “I was such a fool letting you go. I didn’t know what I was doing. I’ll always love you, always.”
“What about me?”
Gwen turned sharply to see Arthur stood in the doorway, a bunch of flowers clutched in his hand.
“What about me?” he asked again with tears in his eyes. “She’s in love with Nikki you know. I’ve not seen her this lovesick over someone since that first Christmas when she brought you home from uni.”
“I know,” Gwen said, still clutching Morgana’s hand. “And I love you Arthur, just as much as I love her.”
“It’ll never be more, will it? You’ll never love me more.” Arthur asked, taking a step into the room.
Gwen looked up at him with shining apologetic eyes and shook her head. “I’m so sorry.”
He nodded and dropped the flowers on the table at the end of Morgana’s bed, before walking over to his wife, wrapping his arms around her shoulders and kissing the top of her head. “I can deal with that.”
~*~
“Harry, I’m fine!” Nikki hissed, swatting him away when he went to take her elbow. “Stop fussing.”
“You were missing for over 24 hours,” Harry said, taking her elbow despite her protests, “I’m entitled to fuss.”
They were making the ridiculously long walk - three floors and the entire length of the hospital away - to the private ward, without taking the lift. Nikki had started hyperventilating when they had tried to take the lift up to Morgana’s floor and had dashed back out of it before the doors could close behind her.
“And besides,” Harry continued, smirking, “I’m your knight in shining armour. It’s my duty to escort you.”
Nikki rolled her eyes. “I distinctly remember Arthur being the heroic one. And that’s not even mentioning the fact that Morgana got herself put in hospital for me.”
“Nonsense,” Harry insisted, “I came to your rescue twice.”
“You went down the wrong path and Morgana got snatched whilst you jogged through the forest,” Nikki teased, glaring at him when he tried to take her weight as they reached the second set of stairs. “I am perfectly capable of climbing stairs. I’ve been doing it since I was less than two years old.”
“Alright, alright,” Harry conceded. “At least hold the banister?”
Nikki nodded in agreement and continued to climb.
“So,” Harry said after a moment, “are you going to be all chirpy and loved-up at work now?”
“No,” Nikki laughed, “I don’t really do ‘loved-up’.”
“I’m happy for you, Nikki, I really am,” Harry said, stopping her and giving her a smile. “I’ve got to admit, she wasn’t what I expected from you - you pulled that one out of nowhere - but I think you’ve got it right. You may say that you don’t do loved-up, but I’ve seen the way you look at her and the way she looks at you too.”
“I love her,” Nikki said honestly. “I wasn’t expecting too, not even after that first night, but I do. She’s everything that I never knew I wanted.”
~*~
Later that evening, when Morgana finally broke through the mist of anaesthetic and opened her eyes, it was Nikki who sat at her bedside.
“Hi,” Nikki whispered, squeezing Morgana’s hand. “Do you want me to get your brother or-”
“No,” Morgana interrupted, her voice hoarse and quiet, “Stay.”
Smiling gently, Nikki rubbed her thumb over the back of Morgana’s hand. “I love you,” she said impulsively, her chest tightening the second she said it. They had said at the garage, but they had both been scared that they wouldn’t see daylight again.
Morgana closed her eyes and coughed, before tugging weakly on Nikki’s hand. “Come here,” she murmured, coughing again.
Nikki stood and leaned in to her. “Are you alright?” she asked, her brow pinched in concern.
“I’m so sorry for what I put you through. You have every right to run as fast as you can in the other direction.”
“Don’t,” Nikki said, shaking her head. “Don’t.”
“I love you,” Morgana whispered, tangling her hand in the loose hairs at the back of Nikki’s neck.
Nikki smiled and let her forehead rest against Morgana’s.
“Kiss me,” Morgana begged.
“Always,” Nikki promised, tingling rising in her as she brought her lips to Morgana’s and kissed her.
Gwen took a deep breath and looked away from the window. She had lied to Arthur. She was beginning to think that she did love Morgana more.
.