A/N: Thanks for all the reviews on the first chapter :) I'm glad you don't hate me for torturing Hanssen and Serena ;)

Sarah x


It took them over an hour, but they eventually found A&E and the knowledge of what town they were in – Brighton. It made things easier and more difficult; at the moment, the task Hanssen was finding the most difficult task was keeping the unflappable Serena Campbell calm. She had grown more upset with every step they had taken towards the hospital.

As the nurse stitched his face, she asked, "Is there anyone we can call for you or your wife?"

"Ms. Campbell isn't my wife," he automatically corrected the young woman. "She's merely a colleague."

"Sorry," the brunette apologised. "I just assumed."

"It's alright," he assured her. "But no, thank you. I'm sure Ms. Campbell has had someone inform her daughter that we will be returning later than originally planned. Am I to assume you have contacted the police?" he added.

She nodded. "Two people come into the ED in that state, we've not got much choice." He didn't say he was a doctor, or that Serena was too, but let her continue. "The pair of you look pretty roughed up, like. What happened?"

"I have no idea," he sighed. "We argued on the street – Ms. Campbell and I are prone to disagreeing," he explained, and the nurse gave a small smile. "There were a few men at the other end of the street," he recalled. "After that..." he trailed off, not knowing what came next. It was an awful feeing, not knowing what had happened.

A doctor poked his head around the curtain and said, "Joanie, when you've finished stitching Mr. Hanssen up, can you arrange a gynae consult for the lady in cubicle seven? As soon as they can get themselves down here?" Joanie nodded and the doctor replied, "Thanks."

Cubicle seven. Serena.

"Is she alright?" he asked the doctor before he could leave. "Ms. Campbell? Is she alright?"

"You can see for yourself once Joanie's finished with you," the doctor smiled at him before leaving.

"Is she a friend?" Joanie asked, making small talk while she stitched, as nurses so often did.

"Not exactly," he smirked lightly. "Sparring partner, perhaps." Joanie gave a laugh at his view on Serena. "I'm sure she is a lovely enough woman. She just tends to...push my buttons," he admitted. He didn't know why he was explaining himself to a twenty-odd-year-old nurse he didn't even know. Perhaps it was out of politeness, or perhaps because someone was actually taking an interest in his feelings for once, instead of dismissing him as heartless.

"Ah," she grinned. "Which buttons are these?"

"She is ambitious to the point of insanity at times," he explained. "I never know where her loyalty lies. She's stepped over me to get what she wants before, and I'm sure she would happily do it again. She takes her emotions out on other people and then tries to pretend she doesn't feel a thing. It almost led to someone being formally disciplined for something that wasn't the girl's fault."

"So she's a riddle you can't solve, and that's what annoys you so much?" Joanie summarised for him, giving his cut – inflicted by Serena – one last clean. "You're very worried about her. You know, for someone you can't stand. Be back in a minute," she smiled, leaving him to ponder what she had said to him.

Gynae. It was the first thing he thought about; did this mean Serena's fears were founded, or were they only trying to appease her? She was, after all, a difficult woman to deal with. However, in Hanssen's medical experience, women tended to know their bodies; if they thought there was something wrong then there usually was.

The thought he had been powerless to help her sickened him.

"She's in cubicle seven," Joanie's voice called to someone, presumably the gynaecologist. "Well, that was easier than I thought it'd be," Joanie said happily. "Mrs. Adams was floating about the ED anyway so she said she'd have a look at your friend. It's normally a nightmare getting anyone from obs and gynae down here!"

Realisation flooded over Hanssen. "One of them was called Adam," he said, recalling the memory of the use of the name.

A young man stood before him, shoulders squared threateningly, as Henrik stood between the men and Serena. "You think you're a right old hard-nut, don't ya?" the man shouted. There was something not right about him – it was clear to Hanssen that he was either extremely drunk or, more likely, on drugs.

He reached and hit Hanssen on the back of the head, trying to provoke a reaction. "I am no hard-nut," he tried to reason. "I'm merely trying to protect my friend."

"Yeah?" he shouted, getting up in Hanssen's face. "Well, your friend needs to watch her fucking mouth!"

"Yes, I'm aware Serena has an unfortunate habit of saying the wrong thing at the wrong time," Henrik agreed, hoping understanding would defuse the situation that was becoming increasingly heated. "I find myself on the receiving end almost daily."

"All I did was ask him to move out of the way," Serena groaned, and Henrik heard from her tone that she was rolling her eyes.

The man tried to dodge around Hanssen to get to Serena, who was the real target of his anger, but a friend of his warned, "Adam, you heard what the DSI said. If you get arrested again..."

"Shut up!" Adam shouted. "You're just as much of a stuck up pain in the arse as she is!" he roared at Hanssen. This was an overreaction Henrik was almost certain was down to the fact he was taking some kind of narcotics. As a doctor, it was blindingly obvious to him...

"The one that started it all off was called Adam," he repeated, completely sure of it. "He was coked up to the eyeballs, by the look of him."

"What a surprise," Joanie sighed. "If we could bottle the effects of that rubbish, we'd have a weapon of mass destruction on out hands. Right, I'll tell the police that and then I'll get them to come and speak to you. OK?" Hanssen nodded. "Right, that's you all cleaned up, although you look like you've just done a round with Mike Tyson," she joked, coaxing a tiny smile out of Hanssen. She left him, and not long later the police came in.

Hanssen went through the motions, telling them why they were here and what little he could remember, his relationship with Ms. Campbell, where and what state they woke up in. "Now," Hanssen sighed. "Am I able to check on Ms. Campbell yet?"

"Yeah," the older police officer replied. "We've already got as much as we're gonna get out of her. I'll warn you now though, she's in some state."

He nodded in understanding and stepped out onto the main ward, searching for cubicle seven in a unit unfamiliar to him. This was not how he had planned to spend today. By the sound of it, they hadn't even made it back to their hotel last night. "She's over there," Joanie told him from the nurses' station, pointing at the corner cubicle. "Gynae's finished with her. She'll be needing you," she warned solemnly.

"Ms. Campbell," he called through the curtain. "Can I come in?"

"Yeah," she replied. When he stepped in, he saw exactly what Joanie had meant; the first thing he saw was that she had been crying, and, bar the occasion concerning her mother, Serena Campbell never cried.

"What have they said?" he asked cautiously. He was dreading the answer but he still wanted to know.

"Take a guess," she retorted. He felt his heart break a little at that harsh, bitter tone her voice had taken on, and the reason for it. "I feel sick."

He got up and handed her a kidney dish, and when she threw up he realised shock was taking her. He carefully rested a hand on her shoulder and said, "It's alright."

"Oh, yes, Mr. Hanssen," she snapped. "Just bloody brilliant, isn't it?!"

"That isn't what I meant, and you know it," he reminded her that she was just taking her hurt out on him, and that he was only trying to make her feel marginally better. She leaned back and he gave her a tissue so she could wipe her mouth, and poured her a drink of water.

"I don't need a childminder."

"You haven't got one," he retorted. "But since I'm not going anywhere without you, I might as well make an effort to be nice to you." She looked at him in surprise and he fell silent, feeling he had embarrassed them enough.

"I just want to go home and leave all this behind us," she moaned. Henrik was startled by her sudden helplessness; she was not a woman who just gave in and said "I want to go home." She usually stayed put until she won and got what she wanted.

He sat down in the chair next to her bed once more. "You know, Ms. Campbell, it isn't going to be as simple as just leaving it behind us."

"It's as simple as we make it," she snapped. Her temper was growing shorter by the second; Hanssen had a suspicion that she wouldn't be able to keep this act up for much longer. He had seen for himself the guise of anger she created when she was hurt, and he didn't much like it. It stopped him from being able to help her and left him no other choice but to fight her.

He just shook his head to himself. What a mess to get in. He hated that Serena had been right and that when he was knocked out he was in no position to help her. He hated that her protection had been taken out of his hands and that he had allowed her to be attacked in the worst way possible.

"How are we even going to get home?" she demanded. "Your car will be at the hotel – whichever one that may be – and you don't have the key anyway. And we have no money and no phone."

"Would you like to call someone from Holby to come and pick us up?" he suggested, but he didn't think she was going to like the idea.

"And let them see me like this? No chance," she dismissed the idea.

"You don't have to tell them what happened."

"No."

"Then we wait," he raised an eyebrow, knowing she would hate that idea even more than the first.

"Fine!" she sighed. "But not Michael. Or Ric. Or Chantelle. Her driving is awful." Hanssen suppressed a smile, having heard tales of the young nurse's unimproved driving skills. By all accounts she only just passed her test and no more. "What about Sacha? In my experience, he doesn't ask questions."

"His daughter is ill," he reminded her.

"Maconie?" she suggested, "Actually, no, I'd have to kill him. We might as well just stay here until we get it all sorted with the police, and we find the hotel we were in so we can get our stuff."

Hanssen remembered suddenly that, actually, they weren't in such a bad position. "I keep the spare key to my car in my bag. And some money. About fifty pounds or so."

"I never thought I'd be grateful for you and your OCD," Serena quipped. Hanssen gave a soft smile. She was deflecting, and they both knew it. Anything to avoid talking about it. "The sooner they discharge us, the better."

"Are you going to be alright?" Henrik dared to ask her. She glared at him, silently demanding to know why he gave a damn about her. "I hate to tell you this, but right now all we have is each other."

"Another reason I can't wait to get home. And I'll tell you something else," she warned. "This stays between us. Got it?"

Understanding her need to keep her secrets, he nodded. "As long as you realise that you need hide nothing from me. You've been through a massive trauma and, to make it all worse, you don't remember how you were attacked. There is such a thing as being too strong," he asserted gently.

She turned to look him in the face, and he only hoped she could see that he really did care.


Hope this is OK!
Please feel free to review and tell me your thoughts!
Sarah x