A/N: This is just something I've written for no reason whatsoever. So if it makes no sense, that'll be why.

Sarah x

"See, I always thought that those who dare win," Serena sighed. She was rather unhappy with this new arrangement of Hanssen's, but she now had to choice but to tough it out for the time being. The biggest problem was that she didn't like disorder, she didn't like half the patients and she most definitely did not like Michael. And yet here she sat, having a drink with him.

"No," Michael contradicted her, swigging his bottle of beer. What a surprise. He disagreed with her. Nothing new there, then."Those who dare usually screw up and either end up unemployed or with their ass in the brig."

"Or on AAU," she pointed out with a grim smile into her wine glass. "How'd you end up there, anyway? For whatever else you are, you're still a good surgeon." She wasn't used to paying the man a compliment, but his skill was undeniable. It was just the arrogance that came with it that made him so frustrating.

"Made a bad impression on Hanssen on his first day. And there was no consultant for AAU. Last one was murdered, and Penny was left to run it even though she was just an F2," he confessed. And as far as Serena heard, Penny Valentine was crushed by a train. AAU had a brilliant track record, didn't it?

"So AAU is a form of exile, is it?" she concluded. "Good to know what the boss thinks of me."

"You did help land Hanssen in a bad situation," he needlessly reminded her. She knew she was wrong now. Even though she was absolved of any blame, she knew it was her policy that started it. Ric had already pointed out before that she was wrong. "Look," Michael continued, sensing the atmosphere was changing. "We all made a mess of this. You started it, Ric allowed it to happen on his ward, Binns encouraged it, Eddi and I escalated it and Hanssen was left to deal with the consequences. He can't punish all of us, so he's chosen the person it originated from."

Serena turned to face him; she knew he was talking sense for once in his life. And he knew what he was on about. She knew what had happened barely a year ago. That had been another level of backlash for the hospital, and Michael had played a big part in it, abducting Darwin for his little plastic surgery scheme. Only with unreliable plastics, of course. But she believed he didn't know they were dodgy. He wouldn't knowingly do that. Of that much she was sure.

"Anyway, AAU is the place to be," Michael grinned. "Entertaining when you're on the Friday night shift, believe me," he winked. There was the cockiness again. Why did he feel the need to be like that?

"Oh, yeah," she drawled sarcastically. "Drunk sluts wearing a bucket load of fake tan and clothes three sizes too small shouting abuse at me. Sounds like great fun," she retorted. "I shouldn't be doing that. I should be on Keller, doing what I am good at," she asserted.

"And how do you know you won't be good at this?" he challenged, one eyebrow raised. "You're good with patients. You're nice to them but you don't let them run rings around you, and you're a quick thinker."

"Where is Michael Spence and what have you done with him?" she replied with just a small smile. "I'm not very good with chaos. I like to know where I stand."

"Let's face it, Serena. None of us know where we stand anymore. I'm not even sure some of us remember who the hell we are," he frowned, drinking from his bottle yet again. Wise words seemed to pour from the American when he had a beer in his hand, Serena realised.

She was convinced that, just in her case, he was very much mistaken. She knew her duties, and though she was now willing to admit that she had overstepped a few blurred lines, she was determined she knew who she was. "I know exactly who I am, thank you very much," she retorted with what was dangerously close to becoming a mocking sneer. He just challenged her silently to explain to him her being. "I am a surgeon, a doctor, a business woman, a friend, colleague, consultant, but above all, I am a mother," she asserted calmly.

"Ah, but is it in that order?" he smirked. He was rapidly becoming irritating. But he was Michael Spence, and she was beginning to wonder whether it was his only active personality trait. "First and foremost, you're a mom. But what comes next? Surgeon or business woman? Friend or colleague? Doctor or consultant?"

She knew exactly what he was getting at. Her tendency to choose her responsibilities rather than shoulder the ones that no-one else would seemed to irk him. "I learned my lesson; I used to put profit first and look where it got me. Now the patient comes before any possible profit. Question is, have you learned your lesson yet?"

Serena said nothing, staring at the alcohol in her glass. He, of course, had a fair point. She had learned plenty. Acted on none of it, but learned plenty. Maybe it was time to put what she learned into action and make a go of AAU, and worry less about finance and more about medicine.

Today, she had found that Michael irritated her less as the day wore on. Maybe this wasn't so bad. Maybe she could get used to this. In a way, because there were no electives and no pressure to get through them, AAU was easier than Keller. But she still preferred Ric to Michael. Only an idiot would wish Michael upon themselves.

"I have learned plenty," she smiled grimly. "I know you don't like me, Michael. I know-"

"It's not you I don't like, Serena," he cut across her. "I just don't agree with your methods sometimes. It's probably because I've made similar mistakes. But there's nothing wrong with you as a person," he allowed. "You can actually be quite funny with that smart mouth of yours."

Serena snorted into her glass when he said that, wondering why he wasn't insulting her anymore. "I can't understand why I let it happen. I knew there was something amiss, that it wasn't as straightforward as electives on Keller and emergencies on AAU. I think I knew AAU didn't have the capacity to handle it. But I ignored it and tried to keep Hanssen and Binns happy."

"We've got one theatre and a staff shortage," he reminded her shortly.

"I know that," Serena groaned. "And for what the strain I put you and your department under, I apologise."She poured herself another glass of wine, and opened Michael another bottle of beer. "I was wrong," she finally admitted. The freedom she achieved from those three words was unbelievable. It felt good to know that somebody around her knew she acknowledged her mistakes.

"How about we just try and get along?" Michael suggested. "For everyone else's sakes?"

"We're acting like petulant children, Michael," she sighed. "My daughter was more gracious as a toddler than I am now."

"A testament to what a great mother you are," he grinned. He raised his bottle and toasted, "To a cease fire?"

She smiled and knocked her glass together with the bottle and repeated, "To a cease fire." She drank to their truce and added, "Now, I suggest we get drunk and try and forget the idiots we are sure to encounter in the morning," with a smirk.

"Sounds like a plan. But we'll regret it tomorrow." Another good point, but she didn't care. All she needed was to forget what she'd put him through, and all she'd put Hanssen through. Neither of them deserved the positions they had been placed in.

"Honestly, Michael, I don't really care," she asserted.

"Well, then," he grinned, throwing an arm around her neck casually, receiving an ignored glare for his troubles. "We'd better get drinking, hadn't we, Serena?" he agreed, using her first name to tell her he was going to try.

"Yes, we had," she grinned, drinking deeply from her glass. She felt his arm still draped around her neck, and she felt herself loosen up just a little. Maybe she could enjoy this new place she found herself in. After all, what could be more exciting than car crashes, drunks and the cocky American?

Hope this is OK!
Please feel free to review and tell me your thoughts!
Sarah x