AN: There's been an outbreak (hmmm, that makes it sound like a disease!) of Serena/Hanssen fics recently and I figured I'd jump on the bandwagon. They aren't a pair I'd have initially shipped but especially with the way they are going to be 'keeping an eye' on each other now, who knows what may develop. Should be interesting to watch, there will undoubtedly be fireworks of some description at some point.
This is the same AU that 'Stitch' belongs to, a couple of references to that.
Usual disclaimers apply: I don't own Holby City, Henrik Hanssen or Guy Henry. Sigh. If only.
'Oh. No. No way. Some jumped up little shit is not going to steal my resection of the splenic flexure.' Serena storms away from Ric, past the nurses' station and pushes her way though the double doors which lead to the operating theatres.
Belatedly she realises that she didn't think to check the theatre lists on the ward so she doesn't know which of the two operating theatres her kidnapped patient is in and she tempers the urge to scold herself for reacting instantly rather than behaving like the calm and collected consultant she strives to portray.
She can have words with herself later when her missing patient has been located and the body of whichever surgeon is stood over them cannot be found nor identified. Her eyes narrow dangerously as she stops outside the viewing window for the first operating theatre, seeing the figure of Mr. Malick facing away from her.
'He wouldn't dare, would he?' Serena considers the man for a split second, acknowledging that the registrar was ambitious but he's still on too thin ice to risk her wrath by stealing the CEO's operation, even if she is a few minutes late. She reaches out and stabs the intercom button a little harder than she meant to, trying to hide the wince and the potential temper explosion from her voice.
"Mr. Malick," she watches him turn his head to face her, his face mostly hidden by his mask.
"Morning, Ms. Campbell," he acknowledges her presence casually and Serena eyes him like a hawk, looking for any clue or sign of his guilt and is annoyed when she detects none. "What can I do for you?"
Serena responds, telling herself that her enquiry is part of her role as CEO and Director of Surgery rather than a senior surgeon slighted by a younger colleague. "What have you got there?" She gestures at the table, keeping her face stern and if Malick is confused by her question, he doesn't show it.
"Mrs. Fuller, Cholecystectomy. Nearly done. Why?" Serena tries not to curl her lip in disappointment, although part of her is glad it isn't Malick, she rather likes his attitude and she would hate to have to add another black mark to his record.
"No reason. As you were." She barely sees Malick shrug and turn back to the table, reaching out for a device from one of the scrub nurses. Serena remembers why she is stood there and feels her anger bubble back to the fore; her hijacked patient can only be in the second theatre and she's putting on her scrub cap, fiddling with the tie at the back as she bursts through the door into the second theatre, ready to throw this surgeon out of her theatre so quickly that their head will spin.
"What on earth are you doing?" She's fighting a losing battle to remain calm, she knows as CEO she should rise above any attempts to undermine her authority but she still feels like a woman scorned.
Serena lets her anger fester as she gets a mere dismissive tilt of the head from the surgeon, she can't see who it is as she squints at the lights positioned behind their head. It crosses her mind that they are tall but dismisses it as irrelevant until the figure moves to the left, out of the light and as her eyes focus, she registers the glasses and eyes as familiar.
"Good morning, Ms. Campbell." She does little more than blink as a fluttering feeling develops in her stomach.
It is Mr. Hanssen.
She can even hear the smirk in his voice and she realises that the Swede is enjoying having the upper hand in her unexpected meeting; he has undoubtedly had all morning to practice his greeting as he engineered the situation.
"I thought if I took care of things here, that would give you the time to clear your things from my office." Serena can count on one hand the amount of times she has been speechless and this is one of them; her mind has just stopped working as it tries to compute all of the information and implications of that information in front of her.
"Not a problem, is it?"
"No. Not at all." She attempts a polite smile but is aware that it is strained as her brain finally engages with her mouth and she leaves the theatre utterly stunned as Hanssen turns back to his resection of the splenic flexure, unaware of the way he glances after her.
Serena didn't look at Ric or anyone as she strode through the ward on the way to the lifts to the fifth floor, not feeling up to taking the stairs. She swipes angrily at the button to summon the lift berating herself as she waits for the lift, arms folded, wondering if Ric was in on the joke at her expense.
'Like a schoolgirl in front of a crush', she huffs at her own actions just now, feeling as though she has been ambushed. Serena is distracted from her immediate desire to do something by the disembodied voice in the lift announcing 'doors opening'. She is about to step into the lift when she realises that it is already occupied and she would quite appreciate a quick word with its sole occupant.
"Ah," she raises a hand to stop Cunningham in his tracks, "if you're on your way to tell me, there's no need – I've already seen him."
"And?"
"Found him in theatre, doing my operation. Quite the thing." She tries not to let her fake smile descend into a sneer. "Can he do that?" Her tone challenging.
"According to HR, he is perfectly within his rights."
"Oh, for heaven's sake." Serena can barely believe what she's hearing, frustrated at the way her day has developed.
"He has ended his sabbatical and as of nine AM this morning, he's once again, CEO and Director of Surgery."
"But he's been AWOL for two months, doesn't he at least have to... fill in a form?"
"It appears not," Serena watches the man check his watch for show, "now, I'm talking to the board shortly but until then, it is a case, I'm afraid, of 'as you were'." She glares at the useless man as the lift doors close once more, separating them and Serena realises that she'll have to take the stairs to the fifth floor anyway and she makes a mental note to remind herself to call her daughter back – her day has changed somewhat since they spoke all of half an hour ago.
"People deserve an explanation," Serena comes to a stop next to the tall Swede, trying to put as much emphasis on people as she can. People means her. She wants an explanation, dammit.
"If the board require an official response, then they can have it, they only have to ask." Serena briefly entertains the notion of reaching up and strangling the man, spelling out to him that she is asking. He's too good at subterfuge to not to know what she is asking. She decides to change her approach.
"It's not just the board you have to convince," she says, pointedly looking at him, knowing it was a lack of confidence by his staff which caused his absence in the first place but he has deliberately turned away and she knows that he understands what she is saying and what she isn't saying. "It's your staff."
They're interrupted by a loud patient that Serena doesn't recognise and although she wants an answer, as Hanssen inclines his head at her and wanders off, leaving her to deal with the obnoxious woman, she knows she picked the wrong opportunity to question him.
She huffs again in annoyance, her gaze lingering on him as he sweeps off the ward, somehow still managing to look graceful in his red scrubs. She is rusty, there has been no-one in the same league recently for machinations and manipulation and now Hanssen is back she has a worthy rival to butt heads with again.
She would grudgingly admit to having missed his looming presence and dry observations over the past couple of months, his calming presence in the face of Imelda's bluster would have been most welcome. It was the way he had just disappeared off the face of the planet not long after he'd been attacked and Serena had stitched up his wounds which had Serena concerned about him, he'd shown her some weakness, perhaps unwillingly so but he hadn't thrown her out of his office on that day and in the end had relented and allowed her to treat him. She thought that would have counted for something.
She supposes that absence makes the heart grow fonder but today it's business as usual with the enigmatic man, his professional walls in fine form and she wants to throttle him.
A couple of hours later, Serena finds herself back in theatre two on Keller, this time without anyone stealing her operation. She provides a sarcastic running commentary in her head about the man's actions this morning, careful not to mutter out loud in case the scrub nurse becomes concerned.
Out of the corner of her eye, she can see a tall, immaculately-suited figure appear at the observation window and she fights the urge to sigh in annoyance. Serena studiously concentrates on the monitor in front of her, deliberately not looking at him. He hasn't announced his presence over the intercom as is his wont when he wants something so she pretends to ignore him, equal to the task.
After a couple of minutes of his scrutiny, Serena decides they're both being ridiculous and decides to acknowledge the presence of the 'once again CEO and director of surgery'. As soon as she has reached a suitable place to stop for a moment, she seizes the opportunity and taking a deep breath, squares her shoulder to face him.
Only to find the observation window empty.
Serena frowns as she feels a flash of disappointment at his departure. Returning her focus to Ms. Laidlaw in front of her, she wonders what he had been there for and why.
She gets her answer as she leaves the operating theatre after Ms. Laidlaw's endoscopic procedure.
"He voted for you."
As Cunningham's opening remark, it isn't what she expected to hear as the chairman suddenly materialises next to her from behind a pillar when she makes her way back onto the ward after theatre. It takes her a moment to work out what Cunningham means, who has voted for her and voted for what.
"Really?" For a moment Serena is genuinely thrilled until it dawns on her that this is Henrik Hanssen they're dealing with and the smile fades from her face, morphing into suspicion. "Why?"
It causes Cunningham to stop and look as blank as she has come to expect from him as she is forced to elaborate. "What's he up to?"
"I don't think he's up to anything." Serena barely resists the urge to roll her eyes in the face of Cunningham's stupidity, wondering how the man can be so dense. "He must have just seen sense, that's all." He turns around and smirks at her and Serena is unmoved by the display.
He goes to move off, back in the direction that he appeared from before swinging back around to stand too close to her for her liking and lowering his voice slightly; she hopes this isn't an attempt at flirting by the chairman, Serena rather thinks that Hanssen, in all his awkward glory would fare better and considering the way he has turned her day upside down and driven her mad, that is saying something.
"Anyway," he leans in a little more and Serena can smell the coffee on his breath. "At least we've got someone who can keep an eye on him now."
She doesn't care for the way his eyes rove over her chest as he makes his statement. She plasters another fake smile onto her face and is slightly disgusted by Cunningham's appraisal of her. She is relieved when he wanders off and calls him all manner of names in her head.
Since the board's decision to offer the interim CEO position to Imelda Cousins instead of herself in the wake of Mr. Hanssen's abrupt and sudden departure from the hospital, especially after Cunningham had all but promised her the job, Serena Campbell has actively avoided Mr. Cunningham. This morning's events have not helped to change her mind or put the chairman of the board in a better light.
She is rapidly losing confidence in the chairman but decides to play along for the moment, to see what she can work out and if the man's plans suit hers. She knows that in the end the man's attempts don't stand a chance against Hanssen's machinations. She isn't picking a side as such – merely choosing the options which are to her own benefit – she has to look out for herself.
She lets the superficial smile fall off her face as she moves away from Cunningham towards the Keller Consultant's office – she has some thinking to do about Hanssen and try and work out what he is up to. She stops short as she sees Ms. Laidlaw dressed already and raring to leave the hospital.
Serena is back into her office, her shift had finished nearly half an hour earlier but she is still sat in the consultant's office on Keller. She has a folder and some patient notes in front of her but her pen hasn't moved for a few minutes and she has no idea any more what it is that she is reading.
Since the slightly cool reunion in Theatre two, her mind has been occupied with the reappearance of Hanssen, back to his enigmatic best. She supposes she should be thankful that he hasn't yet banished her back to AAU to be forced to deal with Michael Spence again.
Other than briefly on the ward, she hasn't spoken to Hanssen, she had dawdled a bit clearing out the office in the hope that he would reappear so they could speak without success. She had reluctantly left the office – she finds she can't use a possessive term yet – his sudden reappearance and takeover without as much as a 'thank you, Ms. Campbell' smarts.
Serena had gone to Darwin in the search for Ms. Naylor, not long after she had vacated the fifth floor office and deposited her possessions on Keller. She found the consultant at the Darwin Nurses' station, looking annoyed.
"Problem?"
"A no show." Serena watches Jac turn away, only to realise a moment later that she is still stood there with a raised eyebrow. "Yes?" Serena is prepared to overlook Jac's rudeness, the younger woman has information that she needs, she can't risk alienating her just yet.
"What happened last week in Stockholm?" More specifically, Serena wants to know what Jac had said to Hanssen to make him return so suddenly.
"I told you," the younger woman replies, sounding bored with the conversation already.
"Yes and I think his judgement has been impaired for several weeks – why was he even there?"
"He's Swedish, where else would he go?" Serena is certain that Jac knows more than she is letting on but her answer cannot be challenged without giving the game away. Serena glares at Jac who sighs, "he had personal matters to attend to."
"So he has said." Serena mutters, just loud enough for to Jac to hear.
"Well then." Jac makes it clear the conversation is over as a man sits down heavily next to her and Serena vaguely recognises him from Paediatrics. Without another word, Serena marches off the ward, ready to head back to Keller, still wondering what Jac had said to Hanssen to make him return to Holby so suddenly and feeling a bit slighted that Hanssen hasn't said anything to her.
The rational part of her can accept that the CEO job was never really hers to hold onto upon his return, no matter her manipulations to remove Imelda Cousins, it is still Hanssen's job. With a sigh, she glances at the clock and realises that she's wasting time and avoiding her daughter's expected unhappiness, Serena packs her bag and shrugs on her coat, checking the office a final time before leaving her new domain.
On a whim, she decides to walk up to the fifth floor to see Hanssen. If he won't come to her – and it doesn't look like he will, she will have to go to him.
The man has inadvertently made Serena felt like a prize fool, waiting after her shift, pacing up and down the fifth floor corridor, not quite masochistic enough to speak to the man in the office that was hers only a few hours before. Serena can't quite make up her mind whether to leave the hospital, go home, pour herself a glass of wine and try and forget about the day or remain and confront the man. Eventually her indecision is rewarded as she walks back along the corridor, she sees the lights in his office extinguished and the familiar tall figure steps out, locking the door.
"Mr. Hanssen." She greets him casually as if it is an everyday occurrence to just be walking along the fifth floor corridor as he is leaving.
"Ah, Ms. Campbell," his reply is just as neutral and Serena can't discern anything behind his words. She hopes that he hasn't seen her walking up and down and is thankful when he doesn't mention it. "I believe you will be my new sidekick." By this time she has drawn level with him and silently catalogues the differences between today and eight weeks ago, while he doesn't look totally rested and refreshed, he doesn't look as strained and ill as he did.
"Yes, well, thank you for the opportunity. I look forward to working alongside you." In her office earlier, alone, she had had to suppress the thrill at the thought of working with Hanssen again when Cunningham's message and its implications finally registered.
Once or twice, the thought of pursuing an affair with the enigmatic and mysterious Henrik Hanssen had crossed her mind. He had been the focus of her thoughts more often than she would care to admit, especially after the events in his office and during his absence. She had seen a human side to the man, one who suffers and bleeds the same way as everyone else and the image had stuck with her.
She isn't naïve, the situation did arise, it would probably wind up being as awkward as some of the Swede's attempts at small talk and they'd never be able to look each other in the eye again without cringing. However, there is a voice which reminds her of the smallest possibility that based on the way he reacted to her after his attack, that something might just work, there is a possibility for their relationship to develop, even if it's just to become friends, she'd like that.
Pleasantries observed, Serena wants to steer the conversation back to her earlier questions. She also knows Hanssen will hate any reference to it but she wants to know about his recovery from the attack.
"Indeed." He looks at her for a moment as if he is about to say something else and Serena waits before he changes his mind. "Good night, Ms. Campbell."
Serena watches helplessly as he sidesteps her, both figuratively and literally and sweeps down the corridor and again she curses her missed opportunity. She remains where she is, observing Hanssen's tall figure gracefully move away as if he hadn't been AWOL for months and it frustrates her, the man himself frustrates her.
Perhaps she'll have that glass of wine after all.