A/N: This is a bit different for me, and I'm not sure I'll continue with it, but I might if I can manage it. If I do, it'll end up a bit dark for a while.

Sarah x


Ric watched from the third floor window as Serena got out of a car. Not her car, but a silver BMW saloon with private plates. The same car she had arrived here in at least three times a week for the past few months. When he had returned from sorting his daughter, Jess, out, he had been surprised to find Serena was in a relationship, but she had been happy and that was all he wanted for her.

In the past few weeks, though, her smile had become tainted and so often forced. She was distracted, tired and defensive, so much so that Jac Naylor had felt the need to pull her aside one morning last week and tell her to get a grip on herself. Serena, of course, had kept that quiet, but Colette Sheward had witnessed it and had asked him if Serena had said anything to him about anything that might have upset her. As far as Ric knew, as far as he was allowed to know, Serena Campbell was blissfully falling for her current partner who drove her around in his fancy BMW.

He was brought back to the present when he realised that Serena was yet to move after stepping out of the car; she was staring up at the building before her as she wiped her cheeks. When she finally moved he noticed it was with a limp; she seemed to have hurt her leg somehow.

He picked his cup of coffee off the banister and went to the lift to meet her. After Colette had aired her concerns, he had not yet had the chance to speak to Serena about it. She had ducked and dived every time she saw him, so she must have known he had been told about her outburst at Jonny Maconie on Darwin. All the man had done was touch her shoulder as he had passed, and Colette said she had lectured him about touching other people when they did not want him to.

When she limped out of the lift, her face fell into an expression of mild horror at his presence. "What do you want, Ric?" she snapped, striding past him as she tried to disguise the fact she was in pain. "Shouldn't you be on AAU?"

"Actually, Guy wants us to work a case together. Apparently it needs both our expertise," he commented as he followed her. Suddenly Serena stopped and closed her eyes, and her face drained white to exaggerate how her eyes were red and had slight marks of tiredness and defeat under them. "Serena, are you alright?" he demanded gently. He reached out to support her, but no sooner had his hand touched her arm did she recoil from him. She'd never done that before. She had never flinched away from his touch. "Hey, I'm not going to hurt you," he assured her. She kept her head down and her eyes closed, and it stunned him slightly that his instinct right now to make her feel protected. She was Serena Campbell. She didn't need protected.

"Just..." she whispered. "Just take me to my office."

He reached out once more and put his arm around her waist, and he watched her squeeze her eyes shut in what was either fear or pain – he wasn't sure which. She opened her eyes but she did not look at him; instead she silently let him guide her to the office, helping her sit down in her chair. He had never seen her like this before, and it just about terrified him. "Serena, what's happened to you?" he asked her as she opened her laptop up.

"Oh, I tripped and twisted my ankle this morning," she airily replied, but she didn't look at him. She kept her gaze firmly on a screen that told her nothing expect to wait. "Turns out I shouldn't leave my bag at the bottom of the stairs."

He sighed. She wasn't herself. "What happened with Jonny Maconie last week?" he asked her.

"What's this, the Spanish Inquisition?" she snapped. He was taken aback by her reaction. He saw now what Colette meant when she had said Serena had become a different woman in the space of a few weeks. He feared he would have to venture up to the warzone of Darwin and seek out Jac and Jonny if he was to find out first hand what happened. "What's this case Guy's got us on?"

"Lizzie Archer, the girl we treated last year," he explained. "She's come back with severe abdominal pain and blood in her urine. Are you sure you don't want your leg checked over?"

"Positive."

"Surely you want to check for fractures."

"If it was broken, I think I'd know. I went to medical school too, you know." Her tone shocked him with its aggression. It wasn't normal for her to be this way, to shut him out like this. He was normally the one who could get her to talk and to listen when nobody else to get her to see reason.

Now, though, there was no getting through to her. There was no understanding what she was thinking, and there was no way she was going to let him in right now. "Don't do this to me," he sighed.

"What?" she retorted, finally turning to face him. Her eyes were dark and almost fearful, and he really did not like it.

"You're pushing me away, just because I care about the fact you're in enough pain that you couldn't walk across the ward!" he argued with her. "Is it so wrong that I'm worried about you?!"

"I'm not yours to worry about," she told him brutally. "You swanned off six months ago, or had you forgotten? And in the time you were away I happened to move on with my life!" Ric stepped forward, unable to understand why she was being like this. She knew why he had gone. She knew Jess had needed him. They'd had this argument before he had gone, and in the days after he had returned. He had thought she had grasped that it was a case of needing to leave, not wanting to.

"So I've noticed!" he shouted, finally letting himself lose his cool. "Just because you're with Mr. Nameless doesn't mean I can't be your friend!" He stopped abruptly when he saw the look on Serena's face. It was a look he didn't like, but with her in this mindset he could not say a word about it.

All he could do was turn and walk away before he completely lost his temper with her. As much as he cared for her, this need of hers to be totally independent could frustrate him to no end, especially when he knew she was not herself. He sighed and approached Sacha Levy, knowing that he had to do something to help.

"Sacha," he said as he approached the man. Sacha turned and Ric continued, "Ms. Campbell has hurt her leg so if she needs it, will you help her to walk please? Or try and get her some painkillers and a crutch? If she'll take them, that is. She's not in the best of humours," he warned Sacha solemnly.

He looked surprised but Sacha replied, "Of course. Is she alright?"

"Oh, I don't know," Ric admitted heavily. "All I know is she tried to put weight on her foot earlier and she couldn't even make it across the ward. She won't let anyone examine it. Try if you want but don't be surprised when she rips you apart. I'm just going up to Darwin but I'll be back soon."

Sacha nodded and smiled, and Ric stalked to the lift. He wanted to know what was going through Serena's head, what she was thinking, because he couldn't for the life of him work out why she was blocking him out. She didn't seem vulnerable. She seemed angry. But she had flinched away from him and she had never once done that before. He was trying to tell himself otherwise, but he couldn't help but think she was frightened he might hurt her. He would never hurt her, but she didn't seem to see it. Her judgement seemed so hopelessly clouded.

When he stepped out onto Darwin he was greeted by Elliot Hope, his friend and colleague. "Ric," he smiled. "To what do we owe the pleasure?"

"Jac Naylor and Jonny Maconie," Ric sighed. "Are they in today?"

"Unfortunately, yes," Elliot groaned.

"Still at each other's throats?"

"Oh, yes."

"Are they capable of being in the same room together?" Ric enquired. He wasn't willing to break up any rows between Jac and Jonny, and if he needed to, he would ask them separately.

"As long as you can handle them." They reached the nurses' station and Elliot said, "Jonny, Jac, follow Mr. Griffin please. You can use my office," he added to Ric, who nodded and allowed Jac to lead the way to their office. The air around the redhead told him she already knew why he was here, and as much as he didn't much like her, he was thankful that she had managed to reign Serena in.

Jac sat at her desk and Jonny sat on the sofa, so Ric leaned on the edge of Elliot's desk. "Jac," he addressed her. "What exactly did you say to Ms. Campbell on Friday?"

"That she needs to stop overreacting before someone takes it the wrong way," Jac bluntly informed him. "I told her that even though Nurse Maconie is the most infuriating living being on this planet, it's not his style to scare women."

Ric nodded and turned to Jonny, who was obviously biting his tongue at Jac's provocation. Ric knew that while he was away, Jonny had suffered the tragic death of Bonnie, his fiancée, on their wedding day, and that tensions between him and Jac, the mother of his child, still ran high after their battle for custody over daughter Emma. All of this, Serena had told him before she had become distant and defensive.

"What happened between you and Ms. Campbell?" Ric asked him.

He sighed and ran his hands over his face. "I've been through this a million and one times, Mr. Griffin," he explained. "Ms. Campbell was standing in the exit of the nurses' station. I put my hands on her shoulders to move her a wee bit without interrupting her conversation with Ms. Naylor and she reacted in a way that was completely unwarranted and that nobody could have predicted. She proceeded to lecture me about when and when not to touch other people, and I apologised but pointed out that all I'd done was touch her shoulders to get her to move. It was then that Ms. Naylor told me to see to our patient with Colette, and while I was away, I assume Ms. Naylor reminded Ms. Campbell that there was no need for her to react the way she did. I told Colette what had happened and she went to make sure everything was alright. By the time I was back at nurses' station, Ms. Campbell was gone," he concluded. "I did nothing wrong."

"Nobody's saying you did," Ric reassured him. "Would you say that the incident was out of character for Ms. Campbell?"

"Definitely," Jonny nodded.

Ric looked to Jac for her opinion. "I've never seen her like that before," the surgeon admitted. "She wasn't playing anything up. She was genuinely convinced she was right. I know Nurse Maconie can be a bit more familiar than is necessary, but I also know he meant no harm. Serena didn't see that."

Jonny stood up and said, "Sorry, but am I in some sort of bother over this?"

"No, not at all, Nurse Maconie," promised Ric. "Ms. Campbell isn't taking the matter any further." A look of relief spread across the Scot's face and Ric sighed, "Alright, thank you." They nodded and walked away, but Ric didn't miss the solemn look the pair shared, or the darkly significant glance Jac exchanged with Ric as she walked out the door, leaving him to worry about Serena.


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