A/N: This is the sequel to "The Green Lady" - there will be more fun and supernatural activity, I think, as well as weather-related chaos. It's set in early to mid-December in the countryside.
Sarah x
"Thank you all for coming to this meeting," Hanssen said as Jac, her ham and jam sandwich and her increasingly sizeable bump entered the office and flopped down on the sofa next to Serena. "Now, after our successful visit to Aberdeen a few months ago, we have been invited by NHS Tayside to tour their wards and facilities. This includes Ninewells and Stracathro Hospitals and possibly Arbroath Infirmary's dialysis unit and minor injuries unit as a contrast to the large departments we are all used to here."
"Sorry to interrupt, Henrik," Serena butted in. As much as Serena had grown on him, he still felt she often had too much to say for herself. "Are you two even allowed within Tayside police's jurisdiction?" said Serena. Next to her, Jac chuckled into her sandwich. Jonny's face adorned a look of indignation that Hanssen could very much empathise with. They had never been allowed to hear the end of their few eventful hours in Dundee.
"Yes, Ms. Campbell, you're quite the comedian," he replied. "We shall be staying in Arbroath, as it is midway between Montrose and Dundee."
"I'm not staying in Arbroath," protested Jonny. "The place is full of cretins."
Serena raised an eyebrow at the Scot. "I see Jac's vocabulary has rubbed off on you."
Returning to the subject, Hanssen demanded, "What is wrong with staying a week in Arbroath?"
"Everything," Jonny huffed. "Crazy folk with bloody William Wallace swords, waving them about on Keptie Road. Never heard about that?!"
Hanssen shot him a sceptical look under the assumption it was Jonny's version of a joke. The man's expression, however, was deadly serious, and Hanssen was not naïve enough to think Jonny would let Jac and their unborn daughter go to such a place without a fight if there really were crazy people with swords. "What happened?" he succumbed, genuinely curious.
"One of my pals on Facebook said this guy was high as a kite walking past the college on Keptie Road and approached a couple of boys with this massive sword," he explained, emphasising the size by spreading his arms out. "He told them to wish him luck, and the police decked him seconds later. And another time there was a guy, on the exact same road, took a knife out on a boy."
"Well, I refuse to stay in Dundee again, and not least because not one of us can navigate the place," Hanssen asserted firmly, though Arbroath didn't exactly sound like paradise.
"I second that. I can't deal with the roundabouts," Serena backed Hanssen up. Though he had never seen what actually happened concerning Jac, Serena and roundabouts, they had told him. As entertaining as it sounded, he wasn't keen on the idea of navigating the place himself.
"What about outside Arbroath?" Jac asked. "There must be villages with B&Bs or self-catering," she suggested. Resigned to the fact his plan was scuppered, Hanssen opened his laptop and did a quick search.
"Where is Car-millie?" he eventually asked, unsure if he had said 'Carmyllie' correctly.
"Car-my-lee," Jonny amended for him. "It's between Arbroath and Forfar. That would do."
"It's a self-catering cottage near Carnegie Farm," Hanssen read off the screen. "That may actually be a better idea when we take Miss Naylor into account. She would be far more comfortable in a house rather than a hotel room."
"I can make do," Jac shrugged. "Though I don't fancy being confronted with a sword in the middle of the street."
"Carmyllie it is then!" Serena smiled. "Book it," she ordered him. He raised his eyebrows at her for her commanding tone but she only smiled defiantly. Knowing she was right he obeyed and picked up the phone. Within ten minutes it was booked and paid for, and he was able to justify the price in the knowledge a pregnant woman would be safer ad more comfortable.
When Jac and Jonny left and returned to work, Serena remained, and Hanssen didn't like her expression. "Can you try and behave yourself this time?" she asked him quietly.
"I've already discussed this many times with you, Serena," he sighed.
"Yes, well, you've not had the pleasure of living with an alcoholic," she snapped, her eyes betraying her worry that he would act like Edward. "I've learned the hard way not to take everything at face value. So, please. Just promise me one more time."
With a sigh, Hanssen stood up and walked towards her. "I will not get myself drunk or arrested, though I cannot guarantee I won't get lost," he promised her. It coaxed a small smile from her, her hands on his chest. "Actually, I probably will get lost," he added.
"Get a SatNav," she said.
"I don't trust them," he replied. She met his eyes and started laughing at his stubbornness; her head fell onto his chest as she giggled at him. "I'm glad to know I'm so funny." She shook her head in amused disdain and reached up to kiss him, the taste of the coffee and sugar she lived on invading his mouth as he kissed her gently back.
She broke away and said, "I'm being silly, I know. I just..."
"I know," he assured her with a slight nod. She smiled and walked away, leaving him to contemplate how he really felt about the woman after months of being with her. She was strange, in all honesty, and she was as cautious as he was. She said what she thought, but at times she withheld her feelings from him, though for reasons he was unsure of.
"In this slipstream of luck and democracy; a victim of chance and geography," Jonny was singing as they came off the vaguely familiar A92. "I reap and I sow the face of the Earth; while big guns play games with the land of my birth."
"Oh, so they do speak English, then," Jac quipped impatiently. It seemed her decision to sit in the back with Jonny was one she now regretted, and so might he if he didn't shut up soon. As much as Serena liked Jonny Maconie, even she was become weary of him, his music and his incessant singing in a language she didn't understand.
Serena looked out the window and found that there were clouds swirling together overhead, and the cold was deepening. She turned on the heater, causing Hanssen to look around at her. He said nothing but allowed her a little smile as Jac and Jonny continued to bicker. Why Henrik had allowed Jonny's CDs to be played in his car, she wasn't sure, but she knew he secretly found the result entertaining.
However, as they kept driving, she watched his expression change from amusement to frustration as he tried to work out where he was going. The long backroad in front of them seemed to go on forever, with many tiny turnoffs and fields. "I can see us getting snowed in here," she said to Hanssen.
"It'll be fine," he replied.
Unconvinced, she said, "I'm telling you, it's about to bucket down with the stuff," with a gesture towards the clouds above.
"Oh, grow up, Maconie," Jac sniped at the father of her baby, though without listening to the entire conversation, Serena couldn't possibly have said why Jac was saying this yet again.
"Hey! I'm not the one-"
"Will the pair of you just, please, give it a rest?!" Hanssen demanded loudly. Even Serena jumped a little when he raised his voice. He stopped the car, turned the volume of the music down a little and took out his mobile, finally yielding to the use of some technology to find his way. She knew he did it grudgingly but he found the location and handed the phone to Serena.
He did a three point turn and backtracked around the corner as Serena watched the screen. "Um, this isn't Carmyllie. It's Lochlair," Jonny piped up.
"Yes, well spotted," Hanssen retorted, irritable already with getting lost.
"Alright, Henrik, keep calm," Serena sighed. "You're only lost. Nothing that can't be undone." He fell silent as he drove across two crossroads. "Next left," she told him.
He drove down and she ordered him down the side road, where they found a cottage. Hanssen got out and met the man standing outside, who handed him the key and shook his hand before getting in the car and leaving.
To Serena's disgust, snowflakes began to fall as she got out of the car and helped Jac to her feet. Her bump seemed to grow as fast as Serena's had while carrying Eleanor – a fate she did not envy, nor would she willingly experience again. To be that size was not good for her back, her legs or her self-esteem, and she knew Jac was sure to think the same way as she did about it. "Which room are you wanting?" Serena asked her.
"The one with the biggest bed," Jac smirked.
"Well, there's a twin room, a double and a kingsize room."
"Well, even better. I can have the kingsize bed and Jonny can go and find himself a single," Jac stated. Serena stared at her for a moment as they walked into the house, Serena carrying Jac's bags. "Joking!" she grinned. "No, I need him to get me food."
"Slave driver," Serena smiled.
"He shouldn't have put me in this state then, should he?"
"That's my girl," Serena grinned, dumping Jac's bags on the kingsize bed. When she returned outside, she found Jonny on the phone with his own luggage in his hands, and Hanssen had Serena's and his own. "Who's Jonny speaking to?" she asked curiously.
"Bell Rock takeaway. Apparently we're having them deliver a small banquet."
"He's sucking up to Jac," Serena smiled; she took her bag from him and followed him to the double bedroom. "You must be tired," she commented. "Driving all that way. God knows I was tired driving back down last time."
"Not really," he said. "I apologise for my frayed nerves earlier," he added as he turned to face her.
"It's alright. Jonny was about to get a slap from me, anyway," she smirked. "You know, I didn't ask you to walk on eggshells," she added, recalling their conversation in his office. "I only asked that you don't get yourself in trouble." She turned again and started unpacking, unwilling to literally live out of her suitcase. For one thing, her shirts would need more than an iron if she let them where they lay.
For around quarter of an hour the moved in almost complete silence, exchanging glances and soft smiles when they passed each other as they carefully unpacked their clothes and belongings. Once they were finished, they turned to face each other.
"I know you didn't ask me to walk on eggshells, and I'm not doing that," he explained with a step towards her, standing inches from her. "I was making sure you know that I wasn't losing my temper. I just got a little frustrated." He kissed her gently, his hands on her hips, and pushed her into the bathroom door.
"What's got into you?" she asked breathlessly.
"Am I not allowed to kiss you?" he replied, breaking away with a look of confusion on his face. She sighed. The man could be so dense at times.
"Of course you are," she smiled, pulling him down into a deep kiss. He was leaning into her, his weight pinning her back and his hands drifting up her body until they pressed her back by the waist.
"Dinner's here," Jonny's voice announced as they door opened. They looked around and saw him with a look of embarrassment on his face. "Um, I'll just go and plate up," he excused himself from their presence.
Serena started laughing to herself, squirming free of Henrik's grip. "Come on. I'm going to pass out if I don't eat something," she said. She took his hand and led him to the living room, where they found plates and boxes of thoroughly unhealthy food, and that Jonny had started the fire. She sat down and took some food, watching as Jac dipped battered fish and white pudding in curry sauce, grimacing as she ate it with obvious pleasure and washed it down with a large gulp of Fanta. Jonny just looked disgusted.
Serena sat down next to Hanssen with a plate of food and a glass of wine, surprised as he sat closer to her; he never showed such relaxed closeness to her in front of other people.
"We'll get snowed in," Serena said yet again.
"Nah," Jac dismissed her worries. "It can't get that bad."
Jonny and Hanssen glanced at each other, the Scot grinning as the Swede wore a wry smirk. "I wouldn't count on it. We should have stayed on the coast," said Jonny.
"You're the one who put a stop to us staying in Arbroath!" Henrik protested. It was Serena's turn to exchange a smirk with Jac at the men.
Jonny only shrugged his shoulders. "I'd still rather get snowed in."
Serena shook her head to herself and drank from her glass, glancing out the window as the snow swirled around outside and Hanssen sat with her, his behaviour and manner not what it normally was.
Jac and Jonny, at least, had not strayed from tradition and were still bickering like children. Was this trip going to be like last time? Or could it possibly be more hectic? Now there was a thought – was there any way that this trip to Scotland be more chaotic than the last?
Hope this is OK!
Please feel free to leave me a review and tell me your thoughts!
Sarah x
