A/N: HELLO! :D This is just a little Father's Day one-shot because, for various reasons, I'm looking for distractions. Hope yous like it :)

Sarah x


Henrik Hanssen didn't 'do' Father's Day. Not least because his own father died in January but because he had acted as if the man was dead since he was sixteen years old. And not to mention the useless father he had made. That was why he was sitting on Keller on a Sunday afternoon, too much of a coward to sit alone at home.

Jac Naylor wandered up eating from a can of prawn cocktail Pringles with Jonny Maconie behind her. "Just think, Nurse Maconie," Hanssen smirked as they sat down, Jonny hopping onto the nurses' station while Jac found a computer chair and put her feet up. "This time next year you will be celebrating with your child." The pair shared an uncomfortable look at the realisation Hanssen knew. "You really think I wouldn't notice the difference between the normal Jac Naylor and a pregnant Jac Naylor?" he challenged quietly, his eyebrows raised. "For one you're actually eating, which is a dead give away."

Jonny laughed as Jac eyed the can of crisps accusingly before she shrugged her shoulders and reached into it for another handful and offered the men some. They refused. "More for me," she reasoned.

Henrik shook his head to himself. "Take it you've not got kids then," Jonny remarked. Hanssen said nothing, fearing if he spoke he would say too much; it wasn't often he felt vulnerable like that but today he did. He didn't want to talk about what today meant to him – failure.

"I've sent Michael home," a familiar voice informed him. "It was either that or kill him. He was climbing the walls wanting to go home to Jasmine."

"I expected as much, Ms. Campbell," Hanssen replied. "He lasted longer than I thought he would."

"I was quite impressed, actually," she confessed. "I expected him to walk out like a spoiled brat by ten o'clock," she added with a laugh. She sat down in the remaining computer chair. "At least he's actually bothered that it's Father's Day. Eleanor's dad is being a pathetic old sod about it. She practically had to force herself on him," she explained as she took some crisps when offered by Jac.

It was a fleeting and unexpected glimpse into the personal life of Serena Campbell, and he was surprised to see her ex-husband frustrated her so much. "Sounds like a right gentleman," Jac snorted.

"Just," Serena concurred, sounding rather hopeless. "I'm telling you, Maconie, do that to your kid and I will help Jac castrate you," she threatened; Henrik heard the protectiveness in Serena's voice and realised that, while she pretended otherwise, she was a bit defensive when it came to Jac.

"I'm sorry, but is it really that obvious?!" Jac exclaimed.

"You're doing what I did. Stuffing your face," Serena replied complacently. Henrik met Jonny's eyes and, while the younger man was openly laughing, he controlled his own amusement. Jac casually hit Jonny in the chest with the back of her hand to shut him up. "I've seen you eat more in the past week than in the year I've known you. And none of it is very good for you."

"Christ, is it really a year since Hurricane Serena hit Holby?" Jonny demanded. Hanssen watched in silence as the infamous Campbell glare was shot at Jonny for his cheek, forcing back the smile Jonny Maconie was always able to raise in him. The Scot looked rather uncomfortable but Serena looked like she was thoroughly enjoying making him squirm.

"Now I come to think of it, it's nearly three years since Hurricane Henrik began," Jac teased. "Still raging on, eh, Mr. Hanssen?"

"You're walking on thin ice, Miss Naylor," he warned. Serena burst into giggles behind him. "It wasn't so funny when they were saying it to you!"

"Oh, Henrik, do get a sense of humour," she chuckled. "Being sulky is attractive up until the point it makes women want to slap you," she told him. They all looked at her in shock, Henrik wondering whether there was something she was trying to say.

"Owned!" Jac exclaimed happily.

"Nice one, Ms. Campbell," Jonny praised her with a grin.

"Oh, yes," Henrik snapped, feeling ganged up on as Jac, Jonny and Serena had plenty of fun at his expense. "Just hilarious."

Serena, grinning cheerily, reached under the desk to see what was lying ignored in the printer but fell off her seat, forcing Hanssen to stop her hitting the floor. "Sorry," she smiled up at him, snatching the paper from the printer and reading it, apparently barely aware that Hanssen was placing her back in her seat. "Chantelle Lane," she laughed. "What are we going to do with that girl?!"

She shook her head and handed Hanssen the card, signed by everyone bar the three surrounding him; he guessed Chantelle hadn't managed to corner them yet and hid it in the printer until she could. Jac and Jonny were looking curiously over his shoulder. "She must have been planning to find you later, after she got everyone to sign it," she explained while Jac and Jonny grinned. "To Mr. Hanssen; thank you for being the best Dad the we could have asked for. What is she like?!"

"Awww," Jonny grinned. "Guess that makes you Mummy, Ms. Campbell. Mummy and Daddy must be divorced though. Or married too long."

"Shut your trap, Maconie," she answered him quickly. Picking up a pen and signing it hastily before Jac and Jonny did the same with smug grins, knowing they had been given the chance to thoroughly embarrass Hanssen.

Touched but not really understanding the sentiment Henrik reminded himself to remain stoic, but he felt a smile gracing his lips. "Put it back where you found it," Jac said. "Let her do whatever it is she was up to."

"No," Jonny protested. "Tell her Ms. Campbell caught her."

"I think I've tormented her enough, don't you?!" Serena retorted, for the first time admitting how miserable she had managed to make Chantelle.

"She's coming!" Henrik hissed as he saw Chantelle headed towards them cheerfully distracted by a relative of one of the few patients on Keller. "Put it back."

"No!" Jonny argued. Serena didn't know what to do and, in haste and panic, Hanssen forced her wrist under the desk so she could put it back where she found it. She looked guilty as sin when she smiled at Chantelle.

"Anya Massey wants to talk to you about her dad, Mr. Hanssen," Chantelle said, though it was obvious she was lying. He pretended to fall for it and went to see blonde Anya, though they did not talk about her father's condition and instead talked about the weather.

"You're such a bad liar, Chantelle," Serena sighed as he left. "Remind me never to get you to cover for me."

When he returned, he was cornered by Chantelle as he sat down. "I had this idea," she began. She sounded rather nervous. "You've been so great and kept us going through all the rough times, and you take the time to make sure we're all OK, and I thought, well, nobody ever really says thank you for being like the Dad of the hospital so I made this since it's Father's Day and we've all signed it..." she rambled on, not taking one breath as she handed him the card.

"Breathe, Chantelle," Serena reminded her when the young nurse started to turn slightly blue.

Still deeply touched that he was thought of like that, he took it from her gently and said, "Thank you." He was shaken to hear his voice was hoarse and feel his mouth dry; it wasn't often he struggled to convey his thoughts but this was one of those times. All he could do was thank her and watch as she happily bounced away to bed eight.

"She really is something else," Jac said, tipping the Pringles can upside down to see if there was anything left. "Come on, Jonny," she ordered, standing up as Jonny rolled his eyes in resignation. "I need more crisps." Pregnancy was evidently making Jac both daring and soft because she leaned down and kissed Hanssen's cheek lightly. "For what it's worth, Chantelle's right. See you later."

"Happy Father's Day," Jonny added, clapping his shoulder on the way past. Speechless he turned to look at Serena; it was obvious she was trying not to smile.

"You've never really celebrated Father's Day, have you?" she guessed.

"That obvious?"

"Yep. So. Why not?"

She spun her chair to face him, waiting for an answer. He could not lie to her the one time she was sincerely interested in his experiences, so he replied cautiously, "My father and I...fell out...when I was sixteen. And he died in January, so there's not much point, is there?"

"Not really, no," she smiled sadly. "Never been a dad yourself, then? For real?" she added before he could give her the smart answer ready at his lips. He knew she would see right through him if he lied to her.

"Not a dad," he admitted. "There's a million miles between being a father and being a dad," he asserted.

"But you do have a child?" she asked curiously with ill-disguised shock.

"I've never met him. The rewards of being a coward," he explained cynically.

"You're not a coward," she answered him, an unexpected compliment from the woman who, most days, would quite cheerfully strangle him.

He sighed and said, "Only a coward abandons their partner and unborn child." It was the first time he had openly discussed it, and the person opposite him was not who he would have expected, but he felt unusually fine with it. Serena had a child, and he knew that girl made her life hell sometimes. Perhaps she could understand why that prospect had terrified him into running away.

He stood up to leave but she caught his hand and stood up opposite him. "If it makes you feel any better, I agree with Chantelle," she said. She smiled up at him when an expression of renewed shock fell upon his face. He was shocked further when she pulled him down into a careful hug, disregarding the fact they stood in the middle of Keller Ward in plain sight of everyone. "You scare them half to death but most of this lot would be lost without you if you weren't here when their lives fall apart."

He smiled openly for the first time and cautiously returned her embrace, his arms around her body. "I believe the same applies to you. Jonny might be on to something when he calls us 'Mummy and Daddy.'"

"I want a divorce," she remarked, briefly squeezing her arms around his body.

"Too late. I divorced you months ago." He received a lighthearted slap to his ribs for being impudent as she pulled away from him. She grinned, kissed his cheek – just as Jac had done – and sauntered away.

As he watched her leave he came to a conclusion: they were all crazy. And so was he for getting so attached to them all.


Hope this is OK!
Please feel free to leave a review and tell me what you thought of it!
Sarah x