Thank you to everyone who was so enthusiastic about this sequel! It's a bit more serious than 'In Unexpected Places', but hopefully you'll enjoy it as much! It's probably not strictly necessary to have read that one first, but I would recommend it...

Let me know what you think x

'You are joking'.

Serena Campbell looked down at her shoes with a look of pure revulsion on her face.

'Sorry'.

The woman in bed five looked up sheepishly, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, and Serena reached over to the table next to the bed for a kidney dish and a wad of tissues. She shoved them unceremoniously under the patient's nose before looking around for a nurse, thinking that she really should have been quicker off the mark. She had jumped back, but evidently not far – or fast – enough.

'Chantelle?'

Serena decided that having vomit splattered on the bottom of her trousers and shoes was as good an excuse as any to dispense with the formalities of 'Nurse Lane', and Chantelle, passing through the ward after speaking to another patient, made a detour as she saw what had happened.

'Could you see to Miss Holmes, please? I think she may need some more Domperidone. And a cleaner'.

She scowled at the woman who was now leaning back against the pillows, her eyes shut and the kidney dish clutched in her hands.

'Evidently her assertion that she was not feeling at all sick was a slight understatement'.

'Of course, Ms Campbell…but Mr Jarvis in bed three is complaining of serious abdominal pain. He had his scan earlier but the results aren't back yet. Could you maybe go and see him?'

Serena gestured impatiently to her shoes.

'Ric? Malick? Even Digby would do.'

Chantelle looked down at Serena's heels and trousers, and tried not to laugh.

'Oh dear. No problem, I'll see if Mr Malick can take a look. Do you need some scrubs?'

Serena was already at the foot of the bed, rubbing sanitiser on her hands.

'I have spare clothes in the office. If anyone asks, I am temporarily indisposed'.

She walked quickly back towards her office to fetch the change of clothes that she always kept there before heading to the locker area. Fortunately she didn't have very far to go. She hated to think of the teasing she would get if she bumped into Ric on the way back from his coffee break, or – God forbid – Michael Spence. Hurrying down the corridor and pushing open the door, she was relieved to find the small room was empty, and threw the bag of clothes down on the bench before gingerly slipping out of her shoes.

'Ugh', she muttered.

She contemplated the black suede pumps for a moment, wondering whether they were salvageable or whether to grit her teeth and bin them. They were fairly new, very uncomfortable and also very expensive. Serena supposed that she should have known better than to wear them for a day working on Keller, but still. She didn't get very far in her decision, however, before she heard the door to the locker room open behind her.

'Can you give me two….?'

She stopped as she turned round and caught sight of the tall figure standing by the door.

'Ms Campbell, I must have just missed you on Keller. Nurse Lane informed me that you were….indisposed. Temporarily'.

The corners of Henrik Hanssen's mouth were twitching, and Serena glared at him. Only he could have walked in at such an inopportune moment.

'I got thrown up on'.

'I can see that'.

'I was just about to get changed. So if you don't mind…..'

Hanssen did not leave, however, but stepped into the room and carefully closed the door behind him, smiling briefly at her indignant look.

'Nothing I haven't seen before, Ms Campbell'.

Serena stared at him for a moment before shaking her head and turning back to her shoes to hide the little smirk that had replaced the glare.

'True. In fact, if I remember rightly, the last time was just this morning'.

'Indeed'.

She could sense Hanssen nodding and imagined his poker face, the little twinkle in his eye the only indication that he had spent last night, like most nights this past month, with her, and had almost made himself late for work by staying in bed and watching her get dressed.

Serena removed a pair of trousers from the bag on the bench and quickly stripped off the ones she was wearing, making a face as she bundled them into a small plastic bag.

'Was there a reason you came looking for me?'

She gave Hanssen an enquiring look as she stepped into the clean trousers and rummaged in the bag for some shoes. Pulling out another pair of black heels, she dropped them on the floor and sat down to slip them on, but Hanssen remained silent.

She sighed and stood up, fixing him with a stare that meant she wasn't in the mood for any fun and games.

'Henrik?'

'I have something I need to discuss with you'.

He didn't meet her gaze, and she narrowed her eyes.

'OK. Well, you have a captive audience, since I still need to decide what to do with those shoes'.

He shook his head.

'I was going to ask if you would come to my office later, when you finish on Keller'.

Serena smirked, remembering all too well what had happened the last time he had asked her to go to his office. Judging by the expression on Hanssen's face, though, this meeting would be less enjoyable, and she wondered what precisely it was that he wanted to speak with her about.

'Yes, I'll stop by, but are you not going to give me a hint?'

When he didn't reply, she moved a couple of paces towards him and ran a hand up over his chest to his shoulder, leaning up to kiss him. The warmth that cascaded through her, the tingle on her skin where his hand touched her face, the intensity of his lips on hers…..all so familiar now, and yet she still found herself slightly breathless when he finally pulled away.

'I have to go'.

He did at least have the grace to sound reluctant, she thought, and frowned slightly as he turned to open the door.

'Oh, and Ms Campbell?'

He turned back to her before stepping out into the corridor, the ghost of a smile on his face.

'I think the only suitable place for those shoes now is the clinical waste bin'.

Serena paused outside Hanssen's office. She had finished on Keller later than she had anticipated, and it was now almost six. The ward – and the paperwork that seemed to multiply by itself – had kept her busy for most of the afternoon, but every so often a niggle at the back of her mind would remind her of the look on Hanssen's face as he had told her he needed to speak with her. The last time she had seen that look was when he had spent two days avoiding her after they had first slept together. At least, she thought, he didn't seem to be avoiding her this time, but it did not bode well for the conversation that they were about to have.

She still wasn't sure how she would describe the relationship that had developed between them over the past few weeks. Eleanor was probably right when she said that to call Hanssen Serena's boyfriend sounded somehow wrong – although she had also accused Serena of acting like a lovestruck teenager more than once, so perhaps the terminology was right after all.

Anyway, Serena supposed it didn't really matter. All she knew was that she didn't want to lose whatever it was they had unexpectedly found. Hanssen made her laugh. He had, on one occasion, made her cry. He made her feel things that she couldn't even define. She found it easy to talk to him, which was something she didn't think she had ever experienced before. And on those few days when they had not seen each other, she realised that she missed him.

She had to keep reminding herself that they had only been together for just over a month. It was hardly the right time frame for falling in love.

Serena took a deep breath as she knocked on his door, hoping against a rather thin hope that the problem would turn out to be work-related rather than personal. She could cope with budgetary disasters and NHS bureaucracy nightmares. She thought she could even deal with angry patients who wanted to sue. The slight twist in her gut, though, told her that it was unlikely to be any of those things, and the look on Hanssen's face as she entered the office confirmed that her gut, as usual, was right.

He was standing by the window, his expression troubled, and she realised that her knock had probably brought his mind back from somewhere he would rather not have gone in the first place. She walked over to stand beside him, looking out over the hospital grounds to the city beyond. His office certainly had a good view.

'You wanted to see me?'

Hanssen nodded.

'I apologise for asking you to come here. But I didn't think either the ward or the locker room were the right places'.

Serena put a hand lightly on his arm to stop him. Her gentle action belied the fact that her heart was beginning to hammer. She didn't want to hear this.

'If this is personal – which I assume it is – then would it not be better later? At home?'

Hanssen swallowed as he shook his head. Serena was getting really nervous. She didn't think she had ever seen him like this.

'I wanted to give you the opportunity to walk away, Serena. After you've heard what I have to say you may well want to. And you couldn't if I was in your house'.

'Henrik, you're scaring me'.

She deliberately made her voice light, but she meant every word. When he looked at her, his eyes were troubled.

'I had an email today.'

He paused, and for once Serena waited. Her natural impatience was battling with her desire to close her ears and run, and the two instincts clashing kept her rooted silently to the spot.

Hanssen gestured to his laptop, still open on his desk.

'I don't know how to explain this'.

'Then perhaps I should just read the email?'

Hanssen nodded, and Serena forced her feet to carry her around the other side of the desk. She clicked onto his email program, and skimmed through until she came to one that didn't look like it was about theatre schedules or hospital meetings. As she opened it, her brow furrowed and she looked up at Hanssen.

'It's in Swedish'.

He looked vaguely surprised, and she realized that whatever was in it had thrown him so off balance that he hadn't realised he had been reading his native language. After a moment, he closed his eyes and began to recite the contents of the email from memory as Serena followed the unfamiliar Swedish words on the screen.

Henrik.

I hope this finds you well, and that you have managed to put the events of last year behind you. However, I think I have learnt by now that you are who you are – which probably makes that last statement redundant. So I'll keep this short and sweet.

I am emailing you on Fredrik's behalf. He is due to graduate from medical school here in Stockholm in two weeks' time. He has done remarkably well on his course, but for the past eighteen months has been struggling with depression. Some days the medication helps, other days it doesn't. He doesn't talk very much to me at all. But he has mentioned you more and more often, saying how he would like to meet you.

Please understand me, I do not for one minute think that his mental state is linked to you being absent. He has a father in Nils – he has said that himself. Perhaps becoming a doctor has made him think about his own biological roots. I don't know. But I have reached the stage where I don't know how else to help him other than to ask you to come back over and at least meet him. His graduation would be a good opportunity.

Please let me know.

Maja.

Serena slowly looked up. Hanssen had turned his back to her and was looking out of the window again so that she could not see his face.

'Henrik?'

Her voice came out as a hoarse, uncertain whisper, and he did not turn around.

'Henrik.'

Her voice was stronger this time, and he turned to face her, the anguish clear now on his face.

She stared at him for a moment, but found herself unable to utter anything except probably the most obvious question she could think of under the circumstances.

'You have a son?'

After what seemed like forever, he finally nodded.

'I have never met him. I left, and…..' He took a deep breath. 'I never imagined for one moment that he would want to meet me. Maja married, and Nils has been his father. Not me. I'm nothing to him'.

Serena blinked a couple of times, trying to take it in. Whatever she had expected, it was not this. Unbidden, a conversation from a few weeks ago came back into her mind. The stairwell in between the third and fourth floors, Hanssen trying to explain why he had been avoiding her after their first night together, finally managing to put into words what he felt for her…..I never expected to feel anything like that again.

A woman called Maja, and a son he had never met. Were they the people who had stirred those same feelings in him before?

'Obviously you are something to him'.

Serena's voice was quiet.

'He's your son, and he wants to meet you, Henrik'.

She didn't ask why he had left in the first place, why he had left the mother of his child and never looked back. She, of all people, knew all too well how quickly relationships could sour and how badly things could go wrong. It was why, up until now, she had been so careful. She had never wanted to go through that again.

Hanssen turned back to the window. He seemed unable to meet Serena's gaze, although really she couldn't blame him. She was slightly surprised that he had confided in her at all.

He seemed to read her mind.

'I had decided not to tell you about them'.

He sounded apologetic, almost ashamed.

'It did not affect you, and I didn't want to run the risk of alienating you. Of having you think less of me because of it. And they were hardly a part of my life'.

Serena shook her head, even though his back was still turned and he couldn't see.

'I wouldn't have done. I care about you too much for that'.

It was the truth. She knew she had made enough mistakes in her time not to be able to judge others on theirs. And, she realised, she did care about him. She cared more than she was willing to admit.

'But now it does affect me?'

She paused.

'You're going?'

'I don't know'. He turned around, but hesitated before he spoke again.

'I had expected you to have left by now'.

Serena saw that he was only half-joking, and raised her eyebrows.

'And yet I'm still here', she murmured drily.

She was shocked, admittedly, and very surprised. It was a lot to take in but, she thought, it must be far harder for him to tell her than it was for her to listen.

'That being the case….' Hanssen paused, and cleared his throat delicately.

'If I decide to go – and I have not taken that decision yet….'

Another pause, and Serena waited. She had a feeling she knew what might be coming.

'Would you come with me?'