I'm glad you all waited for me to return, and I'm glad you're all looking forward to this, I have so many ideas, and yes Tabby and Henrik always seem to argue about something, I think now that they're in a more stable relationship argument sexy should fit in, it's down in my ideas list, so keep a look out for it!

This chapter is full of medical dialogue which I hope doesn't get too boring for people, I enjoy researching this kind of stuff (Disclaimer: I ain't a doctor, nor have any medical training) and I feel it loses it's setting in a hospital if it doesn't include it. I hope it might even be interesting to some people.
Anyway, enjoy!


His grin was almost sickeningly fake, his silver hair combed neatly and his posture gave off a stench of boastful self-importance; Tabby instantly knew what this man was about.
She shuddered lightly as the man shut the door and strolled over to where she was sat. She glanced to Henrik who was now fervently typing at his laptop, almost in prayer that the man who just walked into his office was not the gasconading neuro surgeon they had just been talking about. Unfortunately, his glance proved his nightmare, and as he hit the last key he spun his chair round to face the two visitors of his office.
"Mr Self, to what do we owe the pleasure?" His voice was full of obvious distaste for the man.
"I just wanted to congratulate the lovely Dr Rees here on her recent qualification, and to welcome her to the Holby surgical team." He explained, his hand resting on the back of the chair Tabby was sat on.
Henrik gave a nod but watched closely as Guy greeted the young doctor.
"It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Tabitha." He held out his hand to her.
She gave a lightning fast survey over the body language of his hand shake. To start he was reaching down from above her, that automatically placed him in a position of higher power. Standing on the right hand side of her and reaching across his body for the shake was yet another tally on the power list. Her eyes then glided down his muscular arm to his hand where she noticed it was twisted with his palm facing towards the floor, a less coincidental pointer to his want for power and status.
She got to her feet, squared up to him, and reached her hand out to his.
Henrik noticed something was off about the gesture, it wasn't as smooth as her usual handshakes; taking hold of it from underneath, she made a point of twisting their hands to a more vertical position before starting the shake.

"The pleasure's all mine." She grinned, but Henrik noticed there was something off about that as well.
Guy gave a small chuckle, almost awkward in nature, before taking a breath, "Right, now that introductions are out of the way I'd best get back to my project, thank you very much for your time both."
"Yes, thank you." Henrik dismissed, although his eyes narrowed as he caught the puzzled look Mr Self pointed in Tabby's direction.

As the door shut Henrik whipped his gaze towards the young doctor, still on her feet, grinning to herself as she brought her eyes from the door and sat back down.
"What are you playing at?"
"What?" She stared dumbfounded at his question, "I'm not playing at anything." She defended.
"Yes you are, it's obvious." He kept throwing his accusations at her hoping to get a decent explanation.
"Like what?" She huffed.
"Mind games." He stated simply.
She gave a small chuckle as she realised he had witnessed the tiny nuances of their greeting.
She began to give her analysis.

"…His grip was firm, but not suffocating, a sign he is more than used to this gesture. But then, I noticed a slight falter in his grip after I had made my adjustments, perhaps surprise to be corrected as he is probably used to having (the literal) upper hand in the shake. I also led the movement, so to have the lead taken from him, he suddenly found himself as follower. Although not major problems, subconsciously they can create doubt as to who's got what power in this new relationship." She explained.

"An adjustment to create a desire for equal power, but also stealing his limelight as leader; perhaps taken as a desire to overpower his position as consultant? You're smile was also fake." He tried to make sense of her psycho-analysis.
"A mirror of his own façade. Also the words I spoke to him…"
"The pleasure's all mine."
"…I had taken away some of his implied ownership of the situation." She grinned pleased with herself.
"Executed perfectly, you knocked him down at every opportunity you got." He lowered his head and looked over his glasses, "I think this will make for an interesting relationship, don't you?" He smirked proud of his new doctor.

She glided onto the ward of Keller, butterflies fluttering in her belly, a nervous grin a mile wide stretching across her face. Flicking Henrik's birthday present around her neck, she wiggled and scrunched her fingers, taking deep breaths to calm her excitement, she finally felt like she belonged in the maroon scrubs that adorned her slender frame.
She stopped by the nurses station and scanned the ward, 'This had better go fucking well for how hard I worked for it.'
"I believe these are for you." With a grin Essie dumped a huge pile of patient notes on top of the counter, "Have fun."
"Oh why thank you very much." Tabby feigned.
She began to flick through each of the files, taking in important pieces of information.
"Right, I won't be long." Tabby then turned and headed in the direction of the nearest bed.
Essie couldn't help but gawp as she tried to work out how much time had passed since she gave the pile to the young doctor.
"6 minutes." She muttered to herself in disbelief.

"Hello Ms Mason, my name's Dr Rees, I'm just going to take a note of your stats if you don't mind?" Tabby picked out the plastic folder from the bottom of the bed.
"That's no problem." She smiled.
"How are you feeling at the moment?" She made a note of the numbers on the monitor.
"Ok, a few twinges now and again."
"Have you vomited today, or do you feel nauseous at all?" Tabby slipped the folder back in its place.
"Not today no, just aching, right across here." She rubbed her hand over her stomach.
Tabby furrowed her brow as she studied the area her patient pointed to, "Do you have any pain anywhere else?"
"Umm, well, not really, it just feels like it goes right through." She placed her other hand on her back.
"Give me two moments." Tabby turned and headed towards the nurses station, "Mr Levy, Ms Mason - bed 1, the notes suggest a possible appendicitis, yet I'm not entirely convinced. May I possibly take over her care, please?"
"What you thinking, Remarkable Rees?" Sacha gave a cheeky glance to his fiancé.
"I'd like to take a closer look, she's complaining of symptoms that don't really fit." She looked hopeful.
"Well you are a doctor aren't you?" Sacha gave her a wink.
As Tabby gave a coy look towards her feet, another consultant strolled up casually behind her.
"Tabitha, may I have a quick word?" Ric motioned over the side, "We already know you're a good doctor, you've been treating patients in this hospital for over a year now. You're not like the other student doctors here, you don't need to do rotations or assessments, you've already done the hard parts; the only place you now have to impress us is in the operating theatre. So don't invert yourself to F1 status and start sucking up to everyone because you're past that already, have some confidence, you belong here, and the rest of the team know that." He gave her a quick pat on the shoulder before heading back down the ward.
She furrowed her brow and smiled to herself, 'He's right Tabby, you're already a fully qualified doctor, now own this place like you did before.' She nodded determinedly and turned back towards her patient, notes in hand.

"Ms Mason, how many times had you vomited before being brought up to us?" She flicked through the notes.
"Call me Jess. Um, several, I don't know how many exactly." She suddenly held her mouth shut and heaved slightly.
"Ok, just relax." She quickly ran to her side and held a tray in front of her.
Jessica took a deep breath and slumped back into the pillows, "I'm sorry."
"It's no problem, there's probably nothing more to come up." Tabby placed the tray on the table, "How's your diet?" She referred back to the notes.
"Normal, I used to eat a lot of fast food when I was working in the middle of town, it was just easy to pop down to McDonald's or Burger King than it was to grab a sandwich somewhere. I put on a lot of weight; I was 16 stone by the time I switched jobs. I then drastically changed my diet and began walking to work. I came down to 12 stone within a year." She grinned proud of her achievement.
"That's brilliant." Tabby took it down on the notes, but as she heard Jess heave again she looked up, and watched with intrigue at the way she rubbed her chest, "Are you having any other symptoms other than the pain and vomiting?" Tabby motioned her eyes towards Jess's chest.
"Just a little bit of heart burn, nothing out of the ordinary." Jess shrugged it off.
"How long have you had it?"
"A few months, I've started eating cauliflower a bit more now, I never used to like it but I find when I add it to a broccoli bake, it's not too bad. Well I think anything smothered in grilled cheese tastes better. I just assumed it was that- Ow!" She suddenly bent double and clutched her stomach.
Tabby reached to the end of the bed and squirted some sanitiser on her hands, "Right sit back for me."

Meanwhile a tall, dark figure had entered the ward and stood at a distance, watching as Tabby took over the care of Jessica Mason, 'It's nice to see she hasn't lost her confidence.' He thought to himself as he witnessed her bonding and treatment of the patient.

Feeling around Jess's stomach Tabby looked at the nurse who was stood ready to help, "Right, Erika, can we get LFT's, CBC's, and amylase, and can we order an ultrasound and CT please; in the meantime 5mg morphine to ease the pain." Tabby took another squirt of sanitiser and gave Jess a reassuring look, "Don't panic, I need more evidence but I do believe your condition is common and more than treatable."
"Thank you doctor." She smiled before leaning her head back and rubbing her stomach.

Tabby wandered over to the nurses station and began scribbling on Jessica's notes: Re-query gallstones. Suddenly there was a deep sexy voice in her ear, "What are your thoughts then, Miss Rees?" Henrik smirked awaiting her answer. Both Sacha and Essie looked up towards her as well, adding slightly to the pressure.
"Um, the notes suggested appendicitis, but for me the symptoms don't fit. When I asked her where the pain was her hand was too high on her stomach to be near the appendix. She also mentioned the pain seemed to spread to her back as well. She's been suffering from heart burn for several months and she seems knackered, like she's had no sleep whatsoever. I mean look at her…" She turned back to look at her patient, the others following her gaze, "… She just can't seem to get comfortable. I'm querying gallstones." She looked up at her Boss/Lover, awaiting his answer.
"What tests are you doing?" Henrik still looked at Jessica.
"Liver function, complete blood count, and amylase, I've also ordered an ultrasound and CT scan." She listed.
Henrik nodded, "And if you are correct what is your plan of treatment?" He turned back to Tabby.
"Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy."
"Good. Mr Levy I'd like to take over the mentoring role here, would you be happy with that?"
Sacha raised his eyebrows, "Yep, no problem."

He then walked beside Tabby as she headed down the ward, "How are you feeling? Is it good to be back?" He raised his eyebrow, a casual smile lining his lips.
"Nervy, but looking forward to it, I just got to keep telling myself it's no different from before, only this time I get to take the treatment further." She grinned.
"Exactly." He nodded, "Although by following through the surgical procedure the life of the patient now hangs in your hands, no palming them off to the surgical team, you are part of the surgical team now." He warned.
"Cheers, Henrik, I take it you weren't there when I said I was nervous." She rolled her eyes.
"For now you'll be assisted by the more senior members of the team. Then as your skills develop you'll be expected to do more procedures on your own. But you're never more than one shout, or phone call away from help, if you need it, ask for it, saving a life is more important than saving face, it's ok to say you can't do it occasionally, and you're never expected to go it alone, not ever." He stopped and turned to her as they reached the quieter end of the ward, and looked down to her, his expression soft and sympathetic.
"Thank you, Henrik."
He shook his head, "How do you feel about taking on another patient today?"
Tabby drew her head back in surprise, "Um, I don't know, wouldn't that be a bit above me for the moment?"
"I don't think so, I think you're more than capable."
"I don't know." Tabby shook her head.
"Come. I'll introduce you, you can make a start and if you don't feel up to it there's no problem." Henrik motioned for her to follow him.

"This is Mr Wells, he brought himself onto Keller." Henrik explained.
"Friend of Ms Campbell's, but I didn't get the memo that she'd moved wards." He explained.
"Right, may I ask what the problem is?" Tabby furrowed her brow, the guy didn't appear to be ill.
"Take a look at that." He removed the blanket and showed off his knee, which was not in the right position. He glanced up to the two doctors who both raised their eyebrows at the sight, "That ain't right, is it?"
"Is that your knee cap?" Tabby asked shocked as she looked closer at the bone which had shifted to the side of his knee.
"I think so." He chuckled looking up at Mr Hanssen, who gave him a puzzled look.
"Did you not think this was a job for the ED, or Orthopaedics perhaps?" The CEO wondered about the use of the GS ward for this patient.
"I didn't know where I was going to be honest, but I remembered Serena used to work here so I hobbled over." He explained, he seemed almost chuffed with his injury.
"Doesn't it hurt?" Tabby asked putting on some gloves.
"Does it hurt, tell you what, you try twisting your kneecap round then walking on it for 3 days."
"3 days?" She looked at the guy dumbfounded before getting back to examining the injury, "Tell me if you feel any tenderness." She took one gentle prod and he suddenly yelped, "I'd take that as a yes then. You know you should have gone to A&E the moment it happened right?"
"Yeah, but, I was confused, I mean, I didn't do anything to it." His expression now held a faint look of worry as he glanced between the couple beside his bed.
"What do you mean?" Tabby stood up straight.
"I was just lolling about the house and suddenly it slipped, no crack, no knock to it, it just slid round. I was in so much pain I couldn't get to my phone for like a day." He explained.
"Do you do any sports or anything?" Tabby tried to make sense of it.
"I play rugby for Clifton RFC." He suggested.
"Have you dislocated your knee before, or knocked it during a match?"
He shook his head, "Nope, it's been knocked but not serious enough to cause injury."
She removed her gloves, "OK, well I'll get you a consult from Orthopedics and we'll take it from there." She smiled and wandered back down the corridor, Henrik in tow, "And how come you haven't decided to send him down to AAU or somewhere more suitable than here?"
"Why should I? He's already made the effort to get here I think it would be rude to send him elsewhere now." He defended.
"Henrik Hanssen, the epitome of etiquette, the ever polite socialite, never to question the motives of others, just lets them get on with things because otherwise it's rude." She dug as she reached over the nurses station for the phone. Picking up the receiver she dialled a few numbers before placing it to her ear, "Hello, It's Dr Rees from Keller, I'd like an Orthopedic consult for a patient please? The name is David Wells, 12/08/87… Cool, thank you."

Tabby decided to spend her time trawling online, researching for her patient's, when one of the nurses brought her attention away.
"Miss Rees, I think you should take a look at this." She nodded her head towards the patient.
Tabby followed, an expectant puzzled look on her face as the nurse stood on the other side of Jessica.
"Take a look at her eyes." She pointed around Jess's eyes.
Jess looked up at Tabby, concern spreading across her face, as Tabby looked intently into her eyes.
"Can you look to your right please?" Tabby nodded as she saw the discolouration of the whites of her eyes, "Erika, may you please track down her bloods and we'll do her ultrasound here now." She turned back to Jess who looked almost panicked by this point, "Jessica, we've noticed you've developed slight jaundice which is supporting my diagnosis, but we still can't be sure. I feel sure enough though to tell you I think you may have gallstones, easily treatable and we should be able to remove them all with a laparoscopic procedure.
Having knowledge of your past diet says to me they're probably cholesterol stones caused by too much cholesterol in the bile, as you indicated to me you used to eat a lot of fatty foods. You also used to be obese and have lost a lot of weight, this weight loss may have caused the liver to secret extra cholesterol, not your fault it's a natural bodily response.
Other risk factors include your age, being in your mid 40's you're now in a risk factor category for many common ailments, and the condition is also more common in females.
The jaundice could be caused by a gallstone blocking the common bile duct, which is the tube that connects the liver and gallbladder to the small intestine, the bile then helps to digest fat. Jaundice is just a physical symptom that shows the liver isn't able to do its job properly."

Behind her the nurse wheeled over the ultrasound scanner and started setting up.
"We're going to do your ultrasound now which should show us whether or not there is anything in the gallbladder. If it is gallstones we should be able to see them as small pale balls floating around in the organ." She smiled and turned to the monitor as the nurse began scanning, "Come up a bit." Tabby instructed the nurse, "And over to the left slightly." A small smirk began to line her lips, she turned the monitor towards Jess, "As clear as day, can you see that?" She pointed out the small white dots on the screen, "They are your pesky stones, now this is where the bile duct starts and it runs down here." She followed an imaginary line across the screen, "So here is the stone that's blocking it, the problem with this is if it dislodges and travels down the duct to the duodenum, it's going to get even more painful as it travels through the intestines and at some point you may even end up passing it in your stool, which is not a nice situation." They all giggled slightly, "Good news is, I'm happy to proceed with surgery right away, I don't think I need any more convincing, how about you Erika?"
"Looks clear to me what it is." She nodded, she'd seen this plenty of times before to not even question what was on the screen.
"How about you Jess?"
"You're the doctor."
"Do we have your consent?" Tabby made sure she was ready.
"Yep." Jess gave a deep breath as she realised she said that way too readily.
"Excellent, we'll get you the necessary forms to sign and get you prepped for theatre." Tabby smiled as she turned and headed for the desk whilst Erika cleaned up the scanner.

As she flicked through her notes a voice piped up behind her.
"I believe you have a patient for me." Came the slightly eloquent yet obnoxious male voice in her ear.
She recognised it immediately and as her face dropped the grin of the face behind widened.
"I'll show you the way then shall I? James." She spun round and her look of disdain helped the amused grin grow a mile wide.