A/N: This is all a bit unpleasant but oddly interesting to write. Hopefully it'll make some sense.

Sarah x

"Ugh, come on!" Serena shouted impatiently. Stuck behind a lorry on the dual carriageway, unable to safely overtake, was not where she needed to be this morning. Where she needed to be was in Henrik Hanssen's office for an hour and then the rest of the day on Keller attempting to pretend Edward Campbell was not working with her.

She decided to turn off and take the back road – at this rate it was going to be far quicker and the lorry in front was only getting on her nerves. Another car, probably equally impatient, turned off behind her. A car she recognised to be Henrik Hanssen's. It brought a wide smile to her face. Well, at least he was running late too; he couldn't give her any hassle when he was stuck in the same traffic. Perhaps, for once, he would believe something that came out of her mouth.

It was strange to see him driving. She didn't know why but she was never able to picture him doing normal things like sleeping, eating, drinking, driving...he was that odd.

Her smile vanished when she glanced in the mirror. His car was skidding and pulling to the side, and she could see the flash of fear and confusion in Hanssen's face even from that distance. He looked so helpless.

She turned the blind corner and anxiously waited for him to follow, relieved when the Swede's car turned the bend carefully. He should have pulled over by now but there was nowhere to do so where they wouldn't be killed the second another car met them on the road. She turned the double bend and heard a deafening noise.

She slowed down and waited for him, but he never came around.

Her blood ran cold.

She hit the brakes and parked in the nearest layby, searching for her phone. "No bloody signal!" she exclaimed to herself.

She clambered out of the car and began to walk back along the roadside, trying to work out just where he had come off the road. It hadn't been far, but then she was travelling slower on foot than she had been in the car. She checked her phone again. Still no reception. She should have known that; it was a part of the road Eleanor frequently complained she couldn't even get a text message to send.

She saw the car sitting in a field, battered but the right way up, a small mercy. She scrambled down the hill and almost instantly slipped, rolling down the slope haphazardly as sticks, stones and plants ripped at her skin and clothes. She heard and felt something crack in her ankle, causing a horrible pain she willed herself to ignore until she helped Hanssen.

When she got to the car, the doors were caved in. Trying to get them open was pointless. She glanced at her phone, not really expecting to see anything but 'no service.' She looked around and picked up a large rock, proceeding to batter in the passenger side window until it shattered and she could open the door from the inside. She noticed his phone in the foot well. The remnants of his phone, shattered and dismantled.

"Mr. Hanssen," she tried to wake him. She took his pulse. It was there, at least. There was a cut on his head, and the airbag lay sprawled, stained with his blood. "Oh, God," she sighed. "Mr. Hanssen, come on!" she shouted at him, tapping his face lightly. "Henrik!" she yelled. "Wake up, damn it!"

He stirred, groaning deeply. He turned around and faced her. "Ms. Campbell?" he asked weakly. "What are you doing here?"

"I was in the car in front of you when you crashed," she hastily explained. She put her fingers to his neck to check his pulse again but he batted her hand away impatiently. "Don't be ridiculous," she scolded him.

"I'm fine," he retorted.

"You just crashed your car at fifty-odd miles an hour and tumbled down the hill. You're not fine, Henrik," she replied, using his first name to try and tear down his defences so she could help him. He seemed aware but she felt the need to check. "Follow my finger," she ordered him, moving it back and forth across his field of vision.

"I'm fine!" he insisted.

She rolled her eyes and asked him, "What month is it?"

"August!"

"What year?"

"2013."

"Who's the Prime Minister?" she asked.

"David Cameron," he replied.

"Which doctors are on shift on AAU today?"

"Myself, Sacha Levy, Gemma Wilde and Harry Tressler."

"Keller?"

"You, Edward Campbell and Antoine Malick."

"Darwin?"

"Elliot Hope, Jac Naylor and Mo Effanga." He gave an impatient sigh at her memory-checking, slightly paranoid by the massive cut still dripping blood down his face. "Look, Ms. Campbell, I am absolutely fine. My memory is fine!"

"Now, do you feel like you could walk to my car, because your phone's taken a hiding and mine has no reception."

He nodded, though she saw it was against his medical judgement to be moved. It didn't sit right with Serena either. However, they had little choice if they wanted to get him to the hospital. She got out and hobbled awkwardly to his side of the car. He was aware enough to realise that he needed to open the door from the inside.

"You're limping," he told her as she reached across him to undo his seatbelt.

"Don't worry about it," she shot him a reassuring smile. Her ankle was agony, but he was in a worse state than she was. Once they got to the hospital she could have someone check her over, but Hanssen was first priority.

She let him out to try and stand on his own – she knew he would never cooperate if she didn't at least let him attempt independence – but she had to watch as his right leg collapsed beneath him. He fell to the ground before she could move to catch him. He was weaker than she had first thought; something was clearly wrong with his leg. It was probably broken but she didn't tell him. He probably already knew and if he didn't, she wasn't going to unnecessarily freak him out.

"OK," she groaned, getting down to his level. "It's OK." She took his arm and slung it around her shoulders so he could use her for support. She looked around and tried to find a way out of this field and back onto the road without climbing the hill. There was no other way. The embankment bordered the whole roadside adjacent to the fields for miles.

She sighed and they started walking – hobbling – up to the bottom of the slope. "That looks like Mount Everest," she admitted. She heard him mumble something in what she assumed was Swedish and promptly decided he was insulting her without her knowledge. She rolled her eyes and started to proceed up Mount Everest, the pain almost unbearable. They had to stumble up as one. Two people with the physical ability of one injured person.

They fell together halfway up, and she sensed Hanssen losing his determination. She turned her head, her arm still around his waist. "It's only a little bit further. I promise," she said. There was something else wrong with him. He was weaker than he should have been with just a broken leg. She wiped the blood off his face with her free hand. The undiluted vulnerability in his eyes was slightly frightening.

She helped him up again and led him to the roadside. "It's not far, OK?"

"I'm fine."

"You sound like a broken record," she sighed, limping in time with him, memories of the three-legged race in primary school haunting her. She never was very good at sports.

It was exhausting, walking along that deserted winding road. She was barely able to walk herself, never mind become Hanssen's crutch. "We should never have come down here," he admitted.

"It's a blessing in disguise," Serena contradicted him breathlessly. He was surprisingly heavy for such a skinny man. "That would have been a million times worse if it had happened on the dual carriageway." He tilted his head in concurrence, obviously realising that had it happened there, it would not only have caused worse injury to him, but could have caused a pile up. In which case, she might have crashed as well. The thought sent an awful icy shudder through her.

They walked in silence, neither having the energy to talk when it was needless. If there was one thing about Henrik Hanssen she actually did like, it was the fact there was no need to talk about anything that didn't need discussed.

When they reached her car, she opened the passenger side door and he just about fell into the seat. She pulled his seatbelt across him, tapping his cheek lightly with the palm of her hand in an effort to both comfort him and wake him up a bit. She smiled at him and got in the driver's seat, dreading having to drive back to the hospital with what she was sure was a broken ankle. She did an exceptionally careful three-point turn and headed back to the dual carriageway.

"See where impatience gets you," Serena joked. Though there was no need for a conversation, she wanted to keeping him talking so he could remain aware.

"A lesson we should both take heed of," he replied. "Why did you go down there?" he asked curiously. "Why not just get to where you could call the emergency services?"

It was a question she couldn't really answer, so she just replied, "Instinct."

The pain in her ankle was unreal but she was trying to keep her mind on the road. If she let it distract her, Hanssen would survive one accident just for her to get him wrapped around one of these bloody trees. She was unnerved slightly to feel tears of physical pain trickling down her face. She looked around and found him zoning out again. Looking for a question to pull him back, she asked the most ridiculous and pointless thing, but it was something to keep his attention: "Which ward do you want me to take you to? ED, AAU or Keller?"

"Keller," he answered. Oh. She hadn't expected that answer. "It's the quietest of three, and the ED and AAU are always constantly overrun." It made sense now; it also proved that his brain was still functioning, so whatever was wrong with him, it wasn't because he'd smacked his head.

When she pulled up at the hospital, she parked in her space as it was reasonably close to the door. She dragged him out the car and they once again hobbled as one to the entrance. A nurse passed with an empty wheelchair and Serena stopped her. "Are you needing that?"

"No, I was about to put it back," the young woman replied. "Here. He's gonna peg out."

"Thanks," Serena smiled. "Sit down, Mr. Hanssen."

"I'm fine," he answered stubbornly.

"For crying out loud, Henrik!" she half-shouted at him. "Bloody well sit down!" She had attracted the attention of those around them and he obeyed reluctantly. She leaned into the chair for support and got in the lift.

When she the lift doors opened, she spotted her ex-husband and shouted, "Edward!" He turned on his heel. "Edward, come and help!" He half-ran to them, Malick behind him. Malick took Hanssen.

When the support of the chair was gone, she let out a loud gasp as the pain overwhelmed her leg again and she almost fell, held up only when Edward caught her. "OK," he said. "OK, Serena. Let's get you into bed." She glared at him. "Sorry."

He helped her onto the nearest bed and put her legs onto the bed. "Just my luck to break my ankle saving the Swedish sod's bacon," she grumbled.

"What even happened?!" Edward exclaimed, looking at her ankle with a grimace.

"Long story."

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