Henrik Hanssen waited patiently in his car, listening to the afternoon news report. He had only been back from Sweden for two months and had been forced to jump through some hoops with the Department of Health to get back into his position of CEO and then there had been the explanation of his absence to his staff; many of whom felt he had betrayed their trust by just disappearing and allowing Imelda Cousins to take over from him. He had concluded that she had not left the hospital on a happy footing, but the staff seemed to be thrilled to see the back of her.
It was good to be back. But there was still a lot of work to do in order to gain back the respect he had once received from the members of the board – and some of his staff members.
The passenger door flew open, bringing with it a flash of freezing air as Serena Campbell jumped into the seat, dropping her handbag at her feet and reaching over for her seat belt.
Hanssen watched her. He had seen her speaking to Cunningham and he was aware of her struggle to gain power of Kellar, but he would honestly never have thought of her as being that desperate to become the CEO of Holby City or that manipulative. He had hired her because he knew she was good at what she did, but he would not tolerate someone knifing him in the back and he had little doubt that she had had something to do with the complaint against him.
"Oh, I thought I was late," Serena glanced into the immaculately clean back seat, rubbing her hands together to warm them up.
Hanssen raised his eyebrow, clearly perplexed.
"Mr Griffin," Serena explained. "He's not here yet."
"Oh yes, I forgot to mention, Mr Griffin will no longer be accompanying us. Ms Naylor, Professor Hope and Nurse Maconie have driven ahead. Hopefully they will get there before us."
"Oh," Serena answered, glancing back at Holby City. Well this was going to be a fun trip.
Hanssen carefully drove towards the exit, driving as slowly as possible through the snow.
"I would have assumed that they would cancel this meeting due to all the snow," Serena tried to keep the conversation flowing. After a pause, it was clear Hanssen wasn't going to answer. "But I guess not," she swallowed. She tried to think of a topic that he might actually be interested in, but realized that she didn't actually know the man. She could discuss sushi and bonsai trees, but in fairness, she didn't really think she could put herself through it. Not a mindless conversation in the middle of the afternoon.
Hanssen appeared to be concentrating on his driving.
Serena felt like a school girl being given a lift by her headmaster. One thing that Hanssen never seemed to lose was his ability to intimidate even her. He was probably the only person who could make her feel like a petulant child.
"Early for us to be having snow," she heard herself say.
"Yes, very."
This conversation was futile. Serena suppressed the urge to roll her eyes. Even Michael Spence would have been more interesting. "Good to be back?"
"Yes it is."
"Good, good," Serena reached down to pull out her phone, checking for messages or anything to take her mind off of the awkward conversation between herself and her CEO. She always had messages, but the one day she needed something to take her mind off of things, the whole world had decided to ignore her. She dropped the phone on her lap. "So," she huffed, trying to stroke the crease in the material of her trouser leg out. "Is it cold in Sweden?"
"How's your daughter?" Hanssen countered her question.
"Good," she answered cautiously. Damn Ric Griffin, she knew he couldn't keep his mouth shut. He had obviously mentioned her daughter's drinking issue. It had only happened once and that was months ago.
"Good," Hanssen nodded.
"Yes," she nodded. Well, that was the end of that conversation. This was going to be a long trip.
Jac Naylor had very reluctantly agreed to letting Professor Elliot Hope drive them to the seminar which was almost a two hour drive away. It wasn't that she didn't trust him, it was just that she was hoping to get there on time and preferably in the same year.
"Lot of snow for this time of the year," Elliot said as he carefully maneuvered them around a corner.
"I hear it's just going to get worse," Jonny Maconie called from the backseat.
"It would be nice to have a white Christmas, I suppose."
Jac snorted. "Another reason to love England," she said sarcastically.
Elliot glanced over at her over the rim of his glasses. "We're more privileged than most countries, you know."
Jac rolled her eyes. Not this lecture again, she thought.
"I agree with you, professor Hope," Jonny smiled.
"Why exactly are you coming along to this seminar anyway?" Jac snapped to Jonny over her shoulder.
"The seminar is on antibiotic resistance."
"Yes, I am aware of the topic," Jac replied.
"Well as transplant co-ordinator and charge nurse, I am responsible for my ward and for the members on my ward and therefore need to be kept up to date on occurrences such as antibiotic resistance so that I can inform the nurses serving with me as to correct procedures involved to prevent the transference of any kind of bacteria which may be resistant to antibiotics," Jonny answered confidently.
"Did you have to rehearse that line?" Jac smirked.
Elliot glanced back at Jonny is his rear view mirror and was pleased to see that the young man had not taken offense by Jac's comment. "I agree with nurse Maconie," he said. "Everyone should be trained in how to handle this kind of thing. Antibiotic resistance is fast becoming the cause of superbugs."
"Exactly," Jonny nodded.
"Does anyone know if Hanssen and Serena have left yet?" Jac asked, clearly ignoring Elliot's agreement with Jonny.
"Mr Hanssen was waiting for Ms Campbell to join him and then they were leaving. He should be at least thirty minutes behind us," Elliot answered.
"I am glad I finished early. I would not want to be in that car," Jonny chuckled, referring to Hanssen.
"It might be slightly awkward," Elliot agreed. "But if anyone can handle intimidation, I'm sure Ms Campbell can."
"Might be an interesting dynamic," Jonny kept smiling. "In one corner, we have Ms Campbell; fiery, feisty and killer instinct and in the other corner, we have Mr Hanssen; lethal death glares, mind tricks and . . . height."
Jac tried to suppress her smile, but couldn't. It was probably the first time she had smiled all day.
"My money would be on lady Campbell. I bet she'd rip Hanssen to shreds."
"Mr Hanssen might surprise you," Elliot replied, his focus clearly on the road as his BMW started skidding slightly. As soon as he gained back control of the vehicle, he seemed to relax a bit. "I think Hanssen knows how to put Ms Campbell in her place."
"I'm being entirely serious when I say this," Jonny leaned forward so that both Elliot and Jac could hear him. "I would pay big money to see that."
They'd been driving in silence for nearly an hour when they reached the motorway. The traffic was crawling to a stand still.
"Great," Serena sighed, watching Hanssen struggle to slow the car down in the ice. She felt it start sliding sideways and grimaced as it came to a stop right next to a lorry. She glanced at Hanssen who had obviously noticed her moment of panic.
"Close call," he said.
"I wonder what the hold up is," she tried to see passed the queue in front of them.
Hanssen turned the radio up just as the news reporter started speaking about a massive pileup on the motorway they were on. She said that there would be delays of nearly four hours.
"Well, if that's true, we'll miss the seminar," Serena said.
"Only the first hour," Hanssen answered. "And I'm certain that we are not the only delegates who will be affected by the traffic."
Serena was about to say something when her mobile started ringing. She was almost relieved to have a break from the icy atmosphere. "Hello," she answered, recognizing the AAU's number instantly.
"You're alive then," Michael Spence chuckled.
"Unfortunately, Mr Spence, you will be stuck with me for a while longer," she answered, ignoring Hanssen's sideways glance at her.
"Damn, and here I was hoping to have your desk cleared out by midnight."
"No such luck," Serena smirked. "What can I help you with? Besides dashing your hope of being free of me."
"Ah, come on, don't be like that," Michael laughed. "You know how much I love your sparkling charm."
"Michael," she pushed.
"I heard there was a pileup. Just thought it would be a good idea to make sure you were still breathing."
"I'm touched by your concern," she said sarcastically.
"Actually, I drew the short straw and got drafted into checking on you."
"Right," Serena smiled.
"Just kidding. Actually I was calling to ask you if your patient in bed one had mentioned any stomach pains?"
"Bed one,"Serena tried to remember who she had left in bed one. "Mrs Henderson?"
"Yeah."
"No, she didn't. Why?"
"It's probably nothing, but I have a feeling she's been hiding it from us. I might send her in for some extra tests."
"It might have something to do with her son being there; she doesn't like speaking in front of him and he won't leave her bedside."
"Okay, just wanted to check," Michael was typing something. "So, I hear Ric couldn't make it."
"That's right."
"So . . . it's just you and Hanssen?"
"That's right," Serena repeated. She could hear Michael chuckling. "If there's nothing further, I'm going to hang up now."
"Have fun," he sang as she hung up.
"Mr Spence?" Hanssen asked.
"Correct," Serena smiled, putting her phone into the front pocket of her handbag.
"Is everything okay at AAU?"
"Seems fine."
"You and Mr Spence are still having problems?"
"Michael Spence and I have a love-hate relationship. The only thing we can agree on is that we can't agree on anything," she answered wryly. "However that doesn't affect out ability as doctors or surgeons, of course," she quickly added.
"I see," Hanssen replied, the corners of his mouth seemed to rise slightly in what Serena had come to know as his way of smiling. "I think we're going to be here for a while," he said as they both watched every car on the motorway come to a complete standstill.
"Is there an actual point to us even bothering to go anymore?" Jac sighed. It was already turning dark and the road had become particularly hazardous.
"Well, I suppose we have missed quite a bit of the seminar," Elliot answered, glad that they had finally managed to turn off of the motorway and onto a country lane. It was much darker and icier, but it was good not having the worry of sliding into any cars.
"That's if they even let us in," Jonny piped up. "I wouldn't be surprised if we get turned away at the gates. Do we know if they have any hotel rooms available tonight?"
"There was no reason to ask," Elliot answered, catching Jac's nervous look. "But I'm sure Mr Hanssen might have a problem explaining four hotel rooms to the board."
"Five," Jac corrected him quickly.
"Of course, that's what I meant."
"Unless you think Hanssen and Ms Campbell will be sharing a room by the time their trip is over," Jonny smiled, watching Jac's face through the side mirror.
"I could do without that image," Jac snorted. "Maybe we should just call Hanssen and find out if we can skip out on this. By the time we get there, we'll have made it for the last twenty minutes."
"It's all about saving face," Jonny said. "Holby can't be the only hospital that doesn't show up."
"For all we know, no one's there," Jac answered.
"Perhaps try calling Ms Campbell," Elliot said. "She can ask Hanssen."
"If we've traveled all the way out here for nothing, I'm not going to be happy."
Hanssen was glad to leave the motorway behind. There had been a few hair raising moments and he was looking forward to being able to stretch his legs. They had been traveling for almost four hours already.
Serena grabbed her handbag and started rummaging through it. She successfully retrieved a small bag of gummy sweets that nurse Lane had given to her a few weeks earlier. "Cola bottle," she offered Hanssen who politely took one.
"Thank you."
"They're Chantelle's," she explained as she popped one into her mouth. "Sugar is a stress buster, apparently."
"I see," Hanssen nodded.
Serena couldn't take much more of this silence. "Okay," she sighed. "I don't know what's going on. I don't know what you've been told. I don't know what you think it is that I've done, but this whole awkward silence is starting to get to me."
Hanssen glanced over at her. He could see the look of frustration on her face. "Awkward?"
"Oh please, don't pretend like you haven't noticed," she threw her hands up.
"I presume you have something on your mind?"
"Look, I know that the non-referrals policy was my idea. But you agreed with me. It was experimental at best. I've taken responsibility for it."
"Have you?" Hanssen heard himself say and was immediately sorry for saying it.
Serena fell silent. "I suppose you think I should have been struck off?" she finally said.
"No, I would never suggest that. I believe the death of a man is enough punishment."
"Then what?"
Hanssen glanced at her again. The anger had disappeared from her face. She looked suddenly strangely vulnerable. He had to look at her again to prove to himself that he had not imagined it.
"Why are you so angry with me?"
The words seemed to take him by surprise and he wasn't sure how to respond. She was right of course; he was angry. He was angry about what had happened. He was angry about the way in which it had happened and he was angry with himself for allowing it to happen. He wasn't as angry with her as he was disappointed. He was disappointed that she had betrayed his trust and he was disappointed that someone that he felt had great potential could have made such a great error in judgment. Could he be angry with her for making a mistake? Of course not.
Serena just watched him, waiting for a reply.
Hanssen was about to tell her what he thought when he felt the car skid to the left and off the road. It fell to the side and began to roll down. Hanssen thought he counted it roll at least four times before slamming his head against the window. His vision grew dark and he could no longer feel it moving, but he felt his mind grow foggier until he was not aware of anything else.
"No answer," Jac dropped her mobile into her lap. "From either of them."
"Maybe their phones are switched off?"
"No, they both rang and then went through to voicemail."
"Well, we need to make a decision," Elliot carefully pulled over to the side of the road. "If we go ahead, we'll most definitely miss the whole seminar. There's not much of a point."
"Well, if you're happy to explain that to Hanssen, then I'm happy with turning around," Jac said.
"We can all go for a drink at the pub," Jonny called from the back seat.
"And a meal," Elliot said, realizing how hungry he was.
"Okay, so I'm getting the feeling, we've pretty much already decided that we're not going," Jac smiled wryly.
"I think we can safely conclude that none of us want to go any further. There was a pub about twenty minutes back," Jonny glanced back onto the dark road.
"Let's call it a day," Elliot nodded, deciding to turn the car around. "We'll be rebels today."
"I'll try Hanssen again," Jac said as she dialed his number again, waiting for a reply. This time it went straight through to voicemail. "Nothing," she stared at the screen for a few seconds, trying to ignore the anxious feeling that was starting to grow.
"Maybe they've both decided to move past their differences and pulled in to a little inn to get it out of their system," Jonny chuckled.
"Again," Jac said. "Not and image I need to think about."
Hanssen awoke with a start. His head filled with pain and he felt something heavy pressing down on his chest. Opening his eyes, he realized that he was hanging upside down and his seat belt was holding him in place. The car had rolled onto its roof and an icy stream was running through the broken windows.
He glanced down at his knee which was bleeding heavily. His vision was restricted on his right eye due to what seemed like swelling to his face. He raised his hand to feel for any damage. There was a huge bump to the side of his head which seemed to be bleeding.
He turned to his left and caught sight of Serena. She was still unconscious.
"Ms Campbell," he called out. "Are you alright?" It seemed like such a ridiculous question in the situation they were in. He reached out to touch her shoulder. She didn't move. This caused him to panic; he could not see if she was breathing as her coat was too thick to see her chest moving. "Ms Campbell," he called again. This time very gently shaking her.
He heard her whimper slightly as she started to stir. Her hand moved up to her head. "Oh my god," she exclaimed. "My head feels like it's about to explode."
"Can you move your legs?"
"Where's my handbag?"
"We've just been in an accident. Your handbag should be the least of your concerns," Hanssen said with a twitch to the corners of his lips.
"Oh my god, Henrik," she turned to look at him. "Your face," she reached out to him, but was restrained by her seat belt.
Hanssen was didn't know if he was more unsettled by her calling him by his first name or by the fact that she was reaching out to touch him. He would expect neither from this woman.
"Are you okay?" She asked.
"I seem to be immobile," he glanced down at his legs.
"What do you mean?" Serena asked with a panicked voice.
"My leg seems to be lodged near the brake."
"Uh, okay," Serena tried to think of the best point of action. She reached to unclip her seat belt, bracing with her legs against the ceiling of the car. As soon as it unclipped, she dropped into the stream, gasping at how cold it was. The water was freezing and felt like thousands of tiny pinpricks. "Cold. It's cold," she mumbled, trying to force her way out the door. It wouldn't budge so she ended up breaking the glass further and climbing out of the window. Her head was spinning as she moved around to Hanssen's door. She had to kneel down in order to get a closer look at his leg. It was definitely stuck. The brake had come through the inside of the car and was jamming Hanssen's leg against the inside of the car. Serena reached out, trying to pull the brake away. It wouldn't budge.
Hanssen was grimacing, trying to hide the pain.
"Okay, this might hurt . . . a little," Serena said, moving closer to him until her head was pressed up against his chest. She could hear his heart pounding in her ear. It was strangely comforting. She stood on the brake until it gave way. Hanssen grabbed her just before she fell.
"Okay, let's get you out of here," she reached down to unclip his seat belt. "Ready?"
Hanssen braced against the ceiling of the car as she released the clip. Serena was there to grab him this time as gravity gave way. She guided him out on the car and towards the hill that their car had rolled down. "You've got to be kidding me," she mumbled.
"I don't suppose you have your mobile on you?"
"Unfortunately not," Hanssen answered, resting against a nearby tree.
"Our best chance is to get to the road," Serena said, trying to forget how few cars she'd seen pass them just before their accident.
"If we stay here we won't make it to the morning," Hanssen replied.
Serena glanced down at Hanssen's knee. It was bleeding badly. "Maybe I should first see to your knee."
"The sooner we get to the road, the better," Hanssen countered.
"But if you bleed out on the way up there . . ."
"That won't happen," Hanssen started climbing. He was obviously in pain. His jaw was tensed up.
"Here," Serena reached out to him. "Let me help you."
Hanssen allowed her to drape his arm around her neck and help him climb. It took the pressure off of his knee.
Once they reached the road, they both collapsed. Serena reached down to examine Hanssen's knee and was surprised when he stopped her, wrapping his arms around her instead. "You need to stay warm before you get hypothermia.," he said as he held onto her.
She couldn't deny that the sensation of being held in a warm embrace far outweighed what would usually be viewed as an awkward moment.
Hanssen felt comforted by the woman in his arms which was strange seeing as she was the one person he would feel least comfortable with under normal circumstances. She was tricky; she was the only person with whom he didn't know where he stood. She challenged him, kept him on his toes. In a way, he almost liked it.
"Well, I can honestly say I didn't expect this when I got up this morning," Serena mumbled into Hanssen's chest.
"I'm starting to get worried," Jac said, glancing down at her mobile. "Hanssen should've gotten back to us by now."
"He's usually glued to his phone," Jonny agreed.
"Maybe we should call Holby? Check if they left?" Elliot said.
"What the hell?" Jonny sat forward in his seat, pointing to the side of the road.
Elliot immediately stopped the car.
Jac had already opened her door and was sprinting across the snow with Jonny hot on her heels.
"Oh my god, are you okay?" Jac asked as she reached Serena and Hanssen.
"We're cold," Serena answered, letting Jonny help her up. "It's pretty cold."
"What happened?"
"We took a tumble," Hanssen answered, watching as Jonny led Serena to the car. He felt the cold seep in to where she had held onto him. "Off the hill."
"Right, let's get you into the car," Jac helped Hanssen to the backseat. He carefully climbed in beside Serena.
"We need to stop the bleeding," Serena said, placing pressure on Hanssen's knee. "Do you have a first aid kit, professor Hope?"
"I'm afraid not," Elliot answered. "I know there's an A&E around here somewhere though."
"Let's go," Jac climbed into the passenger's seat, turning to watch as Serena and Jonny tried to slow the bleeding on Hanssen's leg.
"You need to have your head looked at," Hanssen said as he noticed the deep cut just above Serena's hair line.
"Too many doctors, not enough nurses," Jonny smiled.
"If anyone feels sick, let me know to stop," Elliot said, worried about them, but also worried about the state of his car.
Serena heard her doorbell ring and had to force herself off of the couch to answer the door. Eleanor had wanted to stay off of school to make sure that she was okay, but she had forced her to go. In fairness, she needed some time to relax and she hated the thought of Eleanor looking after her.
She moved slowly over to the door, pulling it open, expecting to see the postman standing there. Instead, Henrik Hanssen looked down at her. "Mr Hanssen," she said, the surprise in her voice obvious.
"Ms Campbell," he greeted. His head was wrapped up in a bandage, much like hers as well as his knee.
"You better come in before my neighbours start talking," she said as she glanced around the neighbourhood. She could imagine how amusing they both looked.
Hanssen followed her in, waiting for her to close the front door before following her into the living room.
"You'll have to excuse the mess," she glanced down at the coffee table covered in mugs and plates. "Eleanor decided she'd spoil me with breakfast and I just haven't had the energy to clean up."
"That's quite okay."
"Please, have a seat," she motioned to the couch. "How are you feeling?"
"Much better, thank you. And yourself?"
"I've had better days," she smiled. "But things could be a lot worse." She noticed the awkward air between them was gone. He seemed more at ease with her. "Can I get you something to drink?"
"No, thank you."
Serena took a seat, watching him. He seemed a bit nervous. "Is everything okay?"
"I've had some time to think about what you said," the man started. "And I believe I have some explaining to do," his eyes met hers.
This was going to be an interesting conversation.