A/N: This is the sequel to "Breathe In, Breathe Out," set about two years after the final chapter of that - so about seven years in the future. So it's very AU. Jac and Jonny will be heavily involved, and will face the greatest of dilemmas involving their daughter, Flora, and Serena and Hanssen's daughter, Anya.
Sarah x
"We're smarter than Daddy, aren't we, darling?" Serena grinned as she and Anya fixed the TV connection Henrik had been struggling with for half an hour. He was thoroughly frustrated; he should have known Serena was going to be able to fix what he could not. It was typical.
He rolled his eyes and helped her out from behind the TV unit. She smiled and went to the kitchen to finish cooking dinner, leaving him with their daughter. After all that hassle with the television, it was amusing to find six-year-old Anya sifting through the CDs. She handed one up to him and said, "Big River!"
He smiled at Anya and the CD – Right or Wrong – he had bought for Serena seven years ago, putting it in the player and finding the track for her. "Well, I taught the weeping willow how to cry," they sang together, Anya reaching up for her dad's hands. "And I showed the clouds how to cover up a clear blue sky; and the tears I cried for that man, gonna flood you, Big River, and I'm gonna sit right here until I die."
"Her Daddy wrote this!" Anya happily said.
"Yes, he did," Hanssen agreed, spinning Anya around carefully as the song continued in the background. "How was school today?" he asked. She remained silent. "Anya?"
"Flora's getting bullied."
"What has her mother said about it?" Hanssen asked, knowing Jac Naylor would not take kindly to her child being the victim of bullying at school.
"Jac doesn't know," Anya replied solemnly. "They pick on her 'cause she's ginger."
"Well, I will sort it out, sweetheart, alright?" he smiled, picking her up into his arms, her long dark hair falling everywhere. "We really must convince Mummy to tie your hair up," he sighed, noticing the multitude on knots in the girl's hair. Combing his fingers through them, he undid them the best he could without a comb, knowing she was to get a bath later anyway.
"Daddy," she mumbled. "Daddy, I don't feel good. Feel funny."
Alarm bells did start ringing in his head – they always did when Anya complained she felt ill – but he saw no use in worrying her. "You're probably just hungry," he said. She shrugged and smiled and started singing again. "So won't you go back down by Baton Rouge, River Queen, roll it on; take that man on down to New Orleans, New Orleans; go on, I've had enough; dropped my blues down in the Gulf; he loves you, Big River, more than me."
Hanssen smiled, impressed his six-year-old daughter knew a song that was older than he was. He set her down again and took her hands, singing the last chorus with her, "Well, I taught the weeping willow how to cry, cry, cry; and I showed the clouds how to cover up a clear blue sky; and the tears I cried for that man, gonna flood you, Big River, and I'm gonna sit right here until I die."
She laughed happily and Henrik sat down on the sofa with Anya on his knee and picked up the house phone, dialling a familiar number. "Hello?" a deep Scots voice asked.
"Jonny," he said, having become on a first name basis with both of Flora's parents over the years. Deciding that Flora had the right to be present while she was discussed, he said, "How would you and Jac like to take Flora over to play with Anya for a little while tonight?"
"Um, I'll just check with the boss," he replied, and Hanssen heard him shouting through the house to Jac. "Aye, that's fine. See yous about half six?"
"See you then," Hanssen confirmed, hanging up the phone. He got up and left Anya with the book she had found so he could speak to Serena. "Jac and Jonny are taking Flora over later," he told her, getting plates out of the cupboard. She looked up at him curiously so he elaborated, "Anya says Flora is being bullied by the other children at school."
"Oh," Serena said. "Well, any kid who picks on Jac Naylor's daughter is either very brave or needs their head tested."
Hanssen laughed quietly, knowing exactly what Serena meant; messing with Jac was a bad idea. Messing with Jac's daughter and fiancé was an even worse idea.
He called Anya through for dinner and they ate together, just like they did nearly every night. It wasn't until twenty past six that there was a knock on the door and a girl – only a couple of months older than Anya – came bouncing in, red plaits flying behind her. Well, she seemed happy enough, but then she was a child. Children were good actors. Terrible liars, but good actors.
"I hope you know she comes back from this place singing songs from 1979," Jac quipped, though she was smiling as she did so. "You're a bad influence."
"I know," Hanssen smirked, taking great pleasure in knowing Jac was being wound up by her own child. It was all in good fun, though, and all four parents knew this. The girls immediately ran to the CD player, looking through the CDs. Serena in particular had instilled a love and respect for music into the children; Henrik, Jac and Jonny only encouraged it.
They let the girls go ahead into the living room while they stood in the kitchen for a moment. "Jac, Jonny," Hanssen addressed them, Serena putting the kettle on. "Were you aware that Flora is being picked on when she goes to school."
"What?!" Jac immediately demanded, as furious as Hanssen had internally predicted. "When? Why? How do you know?"
"Yeah, that would be a 'no,'" Jonny translated.
"Anya says it's because she's a redhead," Hanssen explained, feeling Serena's arm snaked around his waist. "She told me earlier."
Jac was livid; her anger was easily seen in her stony face. Jonny seemed more relaxed, as if trying to find a way to sort things out while avoiding the fireworks Jac's temper always seemed to cause. "I suggest you take the diplomatic approach," Hanssen quickly said. "That means, rather than go and slap their mothers, go to the school in the morning and talk to the headteacher," he advised, all too familiar with Jac's infamous short fuse.
"Yeah, I would talk to Flora before you do anything," Serena added sternly. "The last thing you want is to be asked what's been said and done and not be able to say you know what's going on."
Just then, there was a frantic scream of, "Mummy!" from who Hanssen recognised to be Flora. When they piled into the living room, they were horrified to find blood stark against pale wooden floor. Looking for the source, Henrik was shocked to discover his daughter coughing and throwing up blood.
"Call an ambulance!" he barked at Jonny as he and Serena got to the floor to comfort Anya and Jac pulled Flora out of the way for them. "On second thoughts, no. Let's get her in the car and take her straight to AAU."
To his relief, nobody argued with him, and Serena helped him pick Anya up and grabbed the car keys. All the thoughts that crossed his mind in that moment were terrifying; all the things that could have been wrong with Anya, and he couldn't make a clinical judgement for his own daughter. All he could do was place her in the car and climb uncomfortably in the back with her, wiping the blood from her mouth with his sleeve, stroking her hair lightly.
"Don't worry," he whispered as Serena set off, barely giving him time to fasten the seatbelts. She leaned her head against his shoulder and Hanssen had to squint through the winter darkness to see if she was still conscious, but she was still awake, though she kept coughing. He shouldn't have dismissed her complaints earlier. He had been careless to do so.
He could have sworn he heard Serena crying in the front; perhaps she was thinking the same as he was. Perhaps she was coming to believe their daughter was truly seriously ill. She was not as together as he was – she hid her emotions well, but events as drastic and frightening as this did break her. He had known that for years. But he also knew that, no matter what, she always glued herself back together, sometimes with his help.
He knew it was sheer self-restraint that she hadn't put the throttle to the floor and broken every traffic law in existence. He feared he would have been unable to resist the need to get Anya help as quickly as possible, which was why he had Serena driving. At least with her driving, they would end up at the hospital in one piece.
When they parked in Serena's parking space near the door, Hanssen quickly, almost on auto-pilot, undid their seatbelts and took Anya into his arms. She felt weak and floppy in his arms, and he did not stop to find a wheelchair, only to let Serena catch them up at the lift.
When they stepped out of the lift on AAU, it was only a split second before a nurse met them and took them to a bed to place Anya in. Hanssen had a feeling Jonny, instead of calling an ambulance, had called ahead to AAU for them. Henrik made a quick mental note to thank him for his thoughtfulness next time he saw the nurse.
He watched, frozen in time, as the on-call consultant ran over to see to her and barked out orders to nurses and registrars. Hanssen had to resist the temptation to step in, the logical part of his mind reminding him that, at this point, his input would not be helpful.
Pushed out of the way as Anya threw up blood again, Serena was soon next to him, her head on his chest. He put his arms around her and said, "It'll be alright."
"You don't know that," she immediately answered. He knew she was right but, as he watched helplessly while Anya was surrounded by a team of medics hastily discussing her treatment, what else could he actually say? He didn't know what was wrong and he didn't know how to fix it. And in his seven years with Serena, she had taught him that, in a situation like this, he had to hold her tight and help her be strong. They had to be strong.
Hope this is OK!
Please feel free to leave me a review and tell me what you thought!
Sarah x