Bernie pulled the car up outside the restaurant.
"Serena, are you OK?"
Serena sat nervously in the passenger seat. After her antics the other day she was still surprised that Henrik was still so willing to help her. "Yes, just; you know."
"I know," Bernie said sympathetically, "Hanssen thinks very highly of you. He wants to help, don't be afraid to accept his help darling."
Serena smiled and squeezed Bernie's hand. After their rooftop heart to heart their relationship had shifted; strengthened somewhat. Serena knew that Bernie would be there for her no matter what, in whatever capacity. All she wanted was to be part of Serena's future. Serena wanted this too but at this moment she needed to put herself first; heal some wounds. She did not want to focus too heavily on her relationship with Bernie as this would put Bernie under pressure and that was the last thing she wanted to do.
"Just call me when you want me to pick you up, OK?"
"OK." Serena pressed a kiss to Bernie's lips, "Thank you darling."
With that she left the car and entered the restaurant where she spotted Hanssen at a table.
Henrik spotted Serena across the room, even when she was in turmoil she always managed to look elegant and carry herself well. He stood and pulled a chair out for Serena to sit, he nodded, "Serena, thank you for coming today."
"No thank you Henrik." He put his hand to his chest and bowed slightly as he sat.
He held up his hand to attract the waiter's attention. "Drink?" He asked.
"Shiraz please." Serena answered.
Hanssen ordered a bottle.
"So is this hospital business or…" Serena started.
Hanssen sighed, "It is whatever you want it to be. I invited you here as a concerned friend. I would like to think that you can see outside of my CEO position and treat me as a friend and confidant. What I said in my office stands." He paused as the waiter returned with the wine and poured. "As I said previously, there's almost nothing I wouldn't do to help you Serena."
There was a moment silence as Serena took this in. She knew he was genuine, she had known Henrik long enough to know he did not make empty offers. "Thank you Henrik. I appreciate your support."
He nodded. "Would you like to eat, the food here is a little better than Pulses. Another reason for suggesting we meet outside of the hospital." He passed over a menu talking Serena's smile as a yes to his offer.
As they browsed the menu Henrik spoke, not looking up from his menu, "Anything we discuss today, as friends, would be between us."
The waiter returned and they ordered their food. As he left Henrik sat sipping his wine knowing that Serena was trying to find words to speak.
"Henrik, I really do not deserve your loyalty."
"Ah, but you do Serena. You may not see this now. But in time you will."
"I overstepped the mark, we both know that. Had Jac not intervened I would have hit Jasmine. I would have. I can't deny that."
Hanssen looked unsurprised at this revelation, "Admittedly it does not look good but I think we have to remember that you are not yourself at the moment. Anyone can see this."
"I'm not sure Jac Naylor would see it like that. I nearly hit her sister." Serena spoke in a low voice, she did not want anyone else to hear what a monster she had been.
"Granted, Ms Naylor may not currently be in your fan club but I think even she will appreciate your situation."
Serena gave Hanssen a sceptical look, she and Jac had locked horns professionally in the past. She respected Jac as a surgeon but did not really know much about her given the armour she wore to protect herself personally. Jasmine's arrival at the hospital had rocked Jac to her core. She was less than impressed that it was revealed that she and Jas were related. Empathy was not an emotion she would associate with Jac.
"I think you will find that what Jac lacks in emotion, Dr Burrows more than makes up for. She really has been your saving grace here Serena."
Serena nodded in acknowledgement, she knows that she would have been for the high jump had Jasmine not retracted the complaint.
"You may be aware that Dr Burrows has also retracted her resignation and Ms Wolfe has agreed to pick up her mentoring so that she may remain on AAU."
Serena nodded.
The food arrived and it certainly was a cut above. Henrik did have good taste. She must remember to bring Bernie here. Her heart stung a little as she thought of Bernie. Bernie who was willing to wait in the wings until Serena was ready to bring her centre stage in her life. She had been in the wings since Elinor's death if she were honest. All Bernie asked in return was that there was some place for her. She was pulled from her thoughts by Hanssen.
"You look deep in thought, would you like to share?"
Am I really that easy to read! Hanssen won't want to hear about Bernie. She and Hanssen's friendship did not run that personally.
"Sorry Henrik, I was just thinking about how good Ms Wolfe has been over the last few months."
"Ah yes, Ms Wolfe. You certainly have a loyal one there Serena."
"Well I meant in respect of the AAU; I do not know how we would have coped without her."
"Yes but I think this stretches further than AAU. Ms Wolfe's loyalty to the hospital and yourself is very commendable and when you have someone like that in your corner; you need to ensure that you don't let them go."
They ate in silence for a while as Henrik contemplated his next words. Given that the subject of Ms Wolfe had come up it had shoe horned him nicely to the subject he did want to touch on with Serena.
"Serena I have to admit I did have an ulterior motive for asking to see you today. I hope you will forgive me for this minor ruse." Serena looked up.
"I met with Ms Wolfe yesterday, did she tell you?"
"No. I've not really seen her; other than her running me here" Serena said, not affronted or surprised; she gathered that Bernie would meet with him at some point to discuss AAU, Jasmine and her. Bernie had purposely not tried to discuss work with Serena. As well as this because Bernie was effectively living at her flat, the time she did spend with Serena was their time. Precious time. Not time to discuss work.
With their mains finished the plates were cleared and Henrik ordered another bottle of wine. He had spoken with Ms Wolfe yesterday and he had asked her not to mention anything from their meeting until he had spoken to Serena. She had been true to her word.
"Well as I have already said Ms Wolfe has taken over mentorship of Ms Burrows and she is more than capable of running AAU, so in that respect I would urge you not to rush back."
Serena nodded, they both know that she had returned too early last time.
"I am aware that you do not wish to take sickness leave; nor do I feel that gardening leave is appropriate; as we are both aware of the implications."
The wine arrived and Henrik poured as he continued to speak; "I am aware that a sabbatical may be a more appropriate course of action here. That way you can take time and distance yourself from Holby whilst knowing that your position here would be waiting for you upon your return. What say you?"
Serena did know if Henrik was very intuitive or whether Bernie had dropped a hint; either way this would be the best option. Sick leave or suspension would probably what she deserved here but a sabbatical would be ideal. Especially since Bernie was supportive of the idea and maybe a bit of space between herself and Jason would help to mend the hurt he had caused. Obviously depending on the sabbatical itself she would need to speak to Alan about Jason living with him on a more permanent basis. She certainly would not uproot him to satisfy her needs.
"Well, um; I would need to discuss it with Bernie and Jason of course. But although I need time away from Holby I certainly do not want to spend it sitting at home twiddling my thumbs."
"Naturally; Ms Wolfe has informed me that Jason is currently living elsewhere. How is that?" This was Henrik the friend asking, not Hanssen the CEO. He was quite fond of Jason and admired the responsibility Serena had taken on with him.
"He moved back with his full time carer Alan, after, well; the other day. He lived with Alan when I first met him. He ended up with me as Alan fell ill and was unable to care for Jason. It seemed like the natural thing to do to let Jason go back to what he was familiar with."
"Is it permanent?" Henrik asked, hoping it wasn't. Not that Jason replaced her daughter but he felt Serena needed someone to care for. She was a carer, a mother hen. But first she needed to look after herself.
She shrugged, "I hope not."
Henrik nodded, realising that the future was very uncertain for his friend. He would help as much as possible to assist Serena in getting herself back from the edge.
Henrik reached for his case and pulled out some papers. "Now I want to show you something, please do not write it off straight away." He was concerned that what he was about to show her would evoke memories and she would flat out disregard his proposal.
He passed the booklet to her, "I would ask you to consider it, speak to Ms Wolfe, speak to Jason and call me with a decision. The placement is for 6 months; ample time for you to deal with the issues you need to address. Also, it would allow time for Dr Burrows to complete her rotation on AAU. I feel she is owed the opportunity to complete it given her level of loyalty to yourself and department; but I also feel that it would be unwise for you to return whilst she is there."
Serena opened the booklet and read. This was a position for a surgeon with management experience. This particular hospital needed an overhaul. They needed someone to come in and fix the problems. No nonsense approach. Not there to make friends. There to do a job and leave once a new board of directors was in place. It did sound like a challenge that Serena would like to take on. The hospital itself looked good, the credentials looked good. But there was a but…..
"Henrik, it's in the Czech Republic. You want me to go to Prague!"
"Serena, admit you read the remit and it excited you; then you saw the location."
"Yes, are you surprised at my trepidation? Is your answer to everything to send someone abroad to stew in their own juices?" She said a little too coarsely.
Henrik nodded his head to the side, "In my defence Serena I was unaware of the situation between yourself and Ms Wolfe when I made a proposal to her. I hope you know that I do feel a little responsible for the repercussions of that move."
Serena waved her hand, she knew Henrik was not responsible, Bernie did not have to accept and she certainly did not have to go incommunicado and remain there longer than necessary.
"Forgive me Henrik, you have no need to take any of the responsibility. Maybe the time apart made us realise…." She left the sentence hanging not wanting to make her boss privy to too much of her private life.
He nodded graciously, "I think you will find that Prague is not too far away, relatively speaking. Within the deal I have negotiated I have stipulated that you will be given leave to return to the UK as and when required. As you would be there on a consultancy role your hours would not be fixed and a degree of your work can be done remotely."
Serena took this in, maybe it would not be so bad if she could come back, and it would be easy enough for Bernie to visit if Hanssen allowed her the time off.
"I am fairly certain I can adjust some rota's to ensure that Ms Wolfe is able to visit you. In fact we may even be able to send her as an additional consult for a few days."
He really had thought of everything. She considered as she took a sip of wine.
"Henrik, I don't know I mean. It's the Czech Republic."
"I hear that you have a certain skill for languages?"
"Not Czech though."
"No, but I hear you have a grasp of German and you are pretty good at English."
They both laughed, "Yes I speak and read German fairly competently. English too for that matter."
"Well you are set then. Amongst the higher educated in the Czech Republic almost all are bi or tri lingual, languages of choice being German and more predominantly English."
They sat and drank for a few moments.
"Please say you will consider it Serena."
"I will Henrik. I just need to discuss it with Bernie, and Jason of course."
Henrik put his elbows on the table and touched the fingertips of his hands together. This was a pose he took on when he was going to say something profound.
"I think you will find that Ms Wolfe will be more than supportive if you wished to take up this placement."
He gave a knowing look making Serena wonder she was not the first person that he had shown this proposal for her to.