Serena Campbell could feel the pressure building in her left ear. She knew she was getting sick; it's the only time her ears would pressurize and she would hear that odd ringing sensation. She had felt light headed earlier, but the feeling had passed and she had forced herself into coming in to work. It was Henrik Hanssen's first day back at work and she was not going to miss it. He might feel she was trying to hide away like a coward which she would never do.

He had become a liability to the hospital and she had never been afraid to say what she thought. It wasn't like she hadn't tried to assist him after the whole incident with Richie Mooney, but he was so fixated on standing up for his principles that he forgot to play politics. And the Board members loved politics.

"Ms Campbell," Jonny Maconie greeted as she got into the lift with him.

"Morning," she smiled. She had not had a great deal to do with Jonny and his partner, Mo Effanga, but she had heard some good things. They were both an impressive team.

"Have you seen Mr H yet?"

Serena felt her stomach knot. "No, not yet. Have you?"

"No, but then I've only just gotten in," Jonny answered. He couldn't help wondering how Hanssen was going to deal with the woman. He pictured Hanssen as a knight fighting a dragon. The thought brought a smile to his face which he tried to hide from the tired looking CEO.

Serena had always sensed some discomfort from Jonny on the few occasions she had been in his presence. She wondered if Jac Naylor had anything to do with it.

The lift opened and Serena wandered out, glancing up and down the corridor. No sign of Hanssen. She was quite pleased. There was a part of her that was just not in the mood for an argument.

"Morning," Professor Elliot Hope greeted from behind her. She spun around to meet the older man.

"Good morning," she smiled, walking along with him. "Are you on your way to see . . .?"

"Mr Hanssen," Elliot finished for her, smiling sheepishly.

"Right," Serena nodded. "So he is here after all."

"I believe so. I just got a phone call from him."

Serena took a deep breath, feeling a hot flush come over her.

"Are you okay?" Elliot asked suddenly, pausing to look at her.

"Absolutely fine," she smiled. "Probably just too much wine last night."

"You know, Mr Hanssen isn't really one to hold a grudge. He's too professional for that."

"I'm really okay," Serena reassured him, continuing her walk toward Hanssen's office. In truth, she was feeling worse than earlier. She wasn't sure if it was because she was becoming ill or if it was the thought of facing Hanssen, but she was consciously trying to fight the urge to lean against the wall to regain her balance. She waited as Elliot knocked on the door and almost jumped at the familiar deep sound of Henrik Hanssen's voice.

She hesitated as Elliot held the door open for her. She wondered if she should just come back later, but her laptop was on Hanssen's desk and she wouldn't be able to do anything without it. A part of her wondered if he had not kept it in his office to force her to make an appearance.

Finally gaining enough courage, she stepped into the office that she had been working in up until a day ago.

Hanssen was seated behind the desk, going through emails. Her laptop had been conveniently placed to the side of the desk, but was not out of sight.

"Mr Hanssen," she said, trying to sound pleased to see him but not overly pleased.

"Ah, Ms Campbell," Hanssen looked up at her. "Professor Hope," he greeted, standing up.

"How have you been?" Elliot went over to shake his hand. Serena found she couldn't move and just watched the two men exchange niceties.

"I wanted to hear about the Hertzig project," Hanssen said. "I hear it's a remarkable success."

"Well, I don't want to blow my own horn, but it has come along rather nicely."

"I look forward to hearing the details."

"Why don't you two catch up and I'll just come back later," Serena reached out to collect her laptop, but Hanssen's hand was faster than hers and he rested it on the machine, making it clear he wanted to speak to her.

Elliot had noticed it as well and started moving away. "I'll make sure I bring all the information and results from the Hertzig for our catch up," Elliot said.

"That would be fantastic," Hanssen's lips twitched upwards to show he was pleased.

Serena waited as the man closed the door behind him. She could picture his eyes moving from Hanssen to her with concern and she didn't feel like smiling to him again. She waited in silence as Hanssen took his seat again, glancing at his computer screen.

"I take it you wanted to speak to me," she finally broke the silence.

"Indeed," the man answered, resting back in his seat. "I wanted to let you know that I have changed the passwords to my private emails."

Serena looked down at the floor, trying to think of what to say. "The only reason we had to hack into your email account was because you had disappeared and were refusing to reply to our numerous attempts at contact. That and the fact that you were refusing a £40 million deal, of course," she heard herself say.

"Which was none of your business."

"Unfortunately, Holby City is my business," she answered, feeling another hot flush. The pressure in her ear was increasing to an uncomfortable level.

"I've been informed by the board that you will be acting as CEO for another few months – on a trial basis. At the end of the trial, I will assess your suitability and ultimately decide whether you stay on or are moved back down to AAU."

"You make that decision?"

"That's correct."

She reached down to grab hold of the back of the chair to steady herself. "And the board are okay with this, are they?"

"Why wouldn't they be? I've been more than capable of acting as CEO and DOS for the last few years."

"Yes, but that was until you decided to publicly criticize the government and then run off leaving the rest of us to clean up the pieces."

"And I understand you were more than ready to step into my shoes," Hanssen answered, observing her for a moment. "Have you ever heard the story of the fox and the scorpion?"

Serena tried to compose herself. She was furious at the decision to allow Hanssen to decide her fate. "I don't believe so."

"The scorpion needs to cross a river and asks for the fox to carry him on his back. The fox agrees. Half way across the treacherous river, the scorpion stings the fox. The fox says 'Why would you do that? Now we'll both die' and the scorpion says 'I can't help it. It's just in my nature'."

This time it was Serena's turn to watch him. "And I'm presuming, in your little story, that I'm the scorpion?"

"I just thought it was quite fitting," he said.

"Well, thank you for that little analogy," she fumed, reaching down for her laptop and grabbing hold of it, pulling it from the desk, accidentally knocking over the photo frame that she had placed there when she had moved into his office. It was a beautiful photo of her daughter. She grimaced slightly as she heard the glass shatter. Sighing heavily, she put the laptop back on the desk and knelt down to clear up the mess. She was far too angry to even look at Hanssen who had come to stand next to his desk. It wasn't his fault and yet somehow it felt like it was. She snatched up the photo frame and started throwing the pieces of broken glass back onto it, in annoyance. She had just about cleaned up most it when she felt the last shard pierce through her skin. Dropping the whole frame again, she covered her hand. She didn't need to look to know that there would be blood.

"Here," Hanssen mumbled as he retrieved a white handkerchief from his jacket pocket and reached down to apply pressure to her hand to prevent any further bleeding.

"I'm fine," she tried to protest, but Hanssen was not having any of it. He took hold of her hand and pressed down on it with his own for a few seconds before carefully peeling the material away to see the damage. It was deep cut, but not serious. "Does it feel like there are any remaining glass fragments in the cut?"

"No," she answered.

"Well, then I think you'll survive with a plaster," he got up to retrieve a small first aid kit from his drawer.

Serena looked down at his blood stained handkerchief. "I'll get this cleaned up."

"That's okay," Hanssen answered in a much gentler tone. "It's the risks that come with working in a hospital." He returned and gently stuck the plaster over the cut, smoothing it down with his thumb. His hands were warm. Her hands looked like those of a child in his. He reached down for the photo frame and carefully discarded the broken glass into the bin near his desk before peering down at the photo. "You have a beautiful daughter."

"Thank you," Serena watched him smile. "Let's just hope she doesn't turn out like me."

Hanssen immediately turned to look at her. "You're not a bad person. You just make bad choices."

"Thank you for clarifying that," she said more sarcastically than she had intended.

Hanssen handed the photo frame to her. "I look forward to seeing your ideas for the future of Holby."

She placed the photo frame under her arm as she took hold of her laptop. Not entirely sure what to say, she headed for the door.

"I appreciate we will be needing to work closely together," he said as soon as she had reached the door. "In other words, in the hospital's interests, it would be a good idea to let bygones be bygones."

"I couldn't agree more."

Hanssen nodded. He would be keeping a very close eye on her. The idea filled him with adrenaline; life at Holby was about to get risky.