A/N: Just watched Holby City and this came into my head because it just as easily have been Hanssen that followed Greg and not Sahira.

Sarah x

"Don't you ever, ever, ever stop?" The question was yelled in Hanssen's face while everybody else looked around in absolute shock. Greg stared in his face for one more moment before he stormed through to the staff room. Sahira quickly jumped to Greg's defence when Hanssen stared her down for an explanation.

"Don't give him a hard time, Henrik," she reasoned quietly once everyone had returned to their work. "He and Andy, they're going through the same thing, I think. It looks to me like Greg's father abused them both. Well, I'm sure that they were both abused, if not by the same person. Take anything he says with a pinch of salt." Hanssen smiled ever so slightly. He had no intention of going in all guns blazing. One, it wasn't his style and two, he knew that was the wrong tactic for this situation.

"I am more than capable of handling him," he replied, walking toward the staff lounge. He silently walked in, only catching Greg's attention when the door closed behind him. Greg spun round and glared at Hanssen. He was in no mood for his snide remarks and sarcastic sense of humour right now. So he started his verbal attack on him. Even if it just made him feel a little better to know that he had come out on top somewhere in this whole thing.

"Don't you start, you lanky, sarcastic, pedantic Swedish pain in the backside!" the Irishman shouted. "You don't know what you're about to get into, so why don't you just keep out of it? For once in your life, keep your nose out!" He kicked a chair away from the table so he could throw himself into it. He waited for Hanssen to start yelling at him, for the outburst that he was sure he had thoroughly earned with his disrespectful attack on his boss' character. It never came, though. Hanssen remained silent, waiting until he was sure that he would not be interrupted.

"I am not angry with you," Henrik assured him, pulling up a chair to face the doctor he had to address. Greg looked at him in disbelief. "And your insults are not ones that I have not heard before," he added with a small smile. He paused to see the tiny grin that briefly spread across the registrar's face at Hanssen's comment. "I know that you are under strain and that you have a very short fuse at the moment. I also know what it is like to be in the position you have been in."

Greg just stared at him incredulously. Why, why would he say that to him? He had no clue what he was talking about. He didn't know anything about the wounds Greg carried or the scars they left. The effects of his past were unknown to Hanssen. You don't have a clue-" Greg began hotly before he was cut off.

"I do," contradicted Hanssen immediately. "Abuse is abuse. It leaves the same marks, if not the same memories. Any kind of constant mistreatment will leave wounds on a person's personality," he explained, clasping his hands in front of him and leaning forward. "I know how it feels to be mistreated. Maybe not in the same way as you were, but I understand how Andy's appearance must have brought back things that you would much rather forget."

"And how would you know what it's like to have someone abuse you? In any way?" he demanded testily. He felt a tiny twinge of guilt when the expression on Hanssen's face changed. He was anguished, though Greg was sure he was trying his best to hide it, as he always did.

"My father was not the most pleasant of parents. Particularly after my mother died. He sent me to a boarding school over here, and I was glad for the ten months a year where I didn't see him. But at Christmas and during the summer…" Hanssen trailed away. He didn't want to discuss this part of his past with a man who was on the edge of losing it again. "This is not about my experiences. It is about yours and what they have done to you."

"Do you know why I can't get along with you?" Greg asked quietly. Hanssen shook his head and gestured for him to proceed. He had noticed how Greg seemed to dislike him and, though it sometimes appeared like he did, he did not return those feelings of dislike. "You remind me of him. The sarcasm and the impatience. The black looks when someone annoys you. You're more like him than you know. Not your fault, I know that. But it doesn't help," he explained.

"Let me ask you something," Henrik requested. Greg nodded and waited for the question. "Why do think that I am like that?" Greg just shrugged. How was he supposed to know why his boss was so horrible half the time? "It's how I deal with my demons. Everybody has their demons, but how we deal with them often defines who we are. And I am nothing like him. I would never harm you or anybody else like that. I might be snide and intolerant, but I could never hurt anybody."

"I think I know that, really. Sahira wouldn't trust you like she does if she thought you had it in you to hurt her or anybody else," he admitted. They sat in silence, contemplating the things they had just learned from each other. Henrik had learned why Greg did not get on well with him and why he had shouted in his face. Greg had learned that Hanssen was who he was because his past made him the man he was today. It was confusing to Greg that less than five minutes ago, he had been shouting and screaming at Henrik, but now he felt he knew him better than he ever did.

Hanssen broke the silence with another well thought out query that was sure to get Greg thinking. "Have you ever made a decision based on what you experienced as a child?" he asked. He was actually interested in the way he reacted. To him, abuse victims would usually go one of two ways. Either they would follow in the footsteps of their abuser or they would make sure they ended up nothing like them. Both options had their drawbacks and both had their consequences.

"Not really. I learned to live with it and that's it. Maybe the fact that I live life as much as I can. But that's all, really," Greg told him. He then wondered whether it had just been out of interest that he had asked that. There was something in Hanssen eyes that told him something he had decided had been based on his past. It was as if he wanted to know whether he was in the majority or the minority in doing so. "Have you?"

Hanssen looked at the floor, wondering whether making his decision at the age of twelve had been the best idea. No experience in life apart for school and family had led him to believe that the way to avoid being like his father was to make one decision. But, so far, it had worked. "I do not drink alcohol," Hanssen admitted.

"Like, tee-total?" Greg asked in shock, cracking a smile. He thought the Swede was joking. "Seriously?" he said, realising that he was not fooling around. Hanssen nodded.

"The violence always stemmed from alcohol. I decided that I was not going to put myself in such a position," he explained. He gazed at Greg, contemplating him for a moment. He could still see that pain in his face, but there was something lighter about it. More relieved than it was when he had been uptight. Maybe even just knowing that there was someone who understood had helped. Maybe the reassurance that Hanssen was not like the man the Greg wanted to forget. Whatever it was, Greg was calm enough to return to work.

They headed for the door together. Before they left, Hanssen placed a hand on Greg's shoulder and told him, "Don't be like me. Don't let the past change who you are. He isn't worth that." The younger doctor smiled and opened the door. Well, shouting in his boss' face had been surprisingly helpful.

Hope it was alright!

Please review and tell me what you think!

Sarah x