A/N: First...THREE MORE SLEEPS. Second, sorry this took a wee whilie to update. And thirdly, thank you very much for all your lovely reviews!

Sarah x

Serena wandered around in search of Hanssen. Groaning, she pulled out her phone and tried to phone him. It was with very little surprise to her that he let it ring out to voicemail. He most definitely was pissed off with her then; last time he did that, he was in Sweden and deeply offended by her behaviour.

She sighed and thought where he could possibly go. Surely he wouldn't have tried to walk back to Thainstone? He didn't know the bus routes so that was out of the question, and Jonny had the keys to the car, as far as she was aware.

So he was somewhere around here.

She scanned the area and sniggered when she spotted him with a woman, looking severely uncomfortable. It gave her some satisfaction to see he was in a worse predicament now than when he stormed away from her. He looked mortified as the pretty blonde inched closer to him; Serena was shocked to find herself really quite jealous that there was a woman quite clearly trying to flirt with him.

She decided to come to his aid so she walked up with a smile and said, "You coming, sweetheart? The kids will be at the dodgems by now, and little Jac wants to have a go on it with her daddy," she added with a quick kiss to his lips to make the woman think they were married. She quickly realised it was a mistake – she felt him ever so subtly return it and a rush of heat soared through her.

"Of course, darling," he smiled falsely, taking her outstretched hand. "What are you playing at?" he hissed as she guided him away.

"You looked like you wanted the ground to swallow you up," she grinned. They severed contact when they were out of the blonde's line of sight. "No need to thank me."

"For what? Slinging insults at me?" he challenged as they went inside.

"Need I remind you that you were just as nasty as I was?" she retorted.

"There's a fine line between love and hate, as they say," he sighed.

Serena shook her head and replied, "No, actually, there's the Great Wall of China with armed guards on either side and spears sticking out of the top."

He gave a soft laugh. "Hence why very few dare to cross it," he pointed out. "I shouldn't have said the things I did. I'm sorry."

"Me too. Sorry," she said. "I..." she hesitated. She knew why she was so horrible to him; she'd tried being nice to a man before. She'd married him. And then divorced him. She didn't want to go through all that again.

"Do you have something to add?"

She sighed and stopped walking, turning to face him. "I don't want you to think you can walk all over me," she admitted. "My husband did that and I hated it. It made me feel weak, and I don't want you to see me as anything other than strong."

He took an obviously tentative step towards her. "So you resolve to insult me?" She grudgingly nodded. "Last night, I saw your other side," he told her. "I saw someone who actually cared about Jac. About Jonny. And, for whatever reason, you cared about me last night. I didn't expect that and it threw me slightly."

"First names now, is it?" she smiled, recalling their disagreement about being so formal. He glared at her for avoiding the point. "I know I care about them," she admitted. "Jonny is the most irritating man on the planet and still he's easier to endure than my daughter. At least he has a sense of humour. Jac pretends she hasn't got a heart, but she does – it's just broken. And you..."

"Go on. Speak freely," he encouraged her.

"You let everyone think you don't know how to feel anything, but you feel everything," she tried to explain. "I know that now. You're just so bloody sarcastic and self-disciplined that you come across as coldhearted. But you're not. You're an emotional person. You just don't let it show. And for some reason it...attracts me to you. It makes me want to force some kind of emotion out of you. Maybe that's what's making me act like such a bitch to you."

He smiled down on her. She was slightly shocked when he put his hand on her neck, his thumb stroking her cheekbone lightly. She had honestly expected him to dismiss her explanation as a get-out clause, but he seemed genuinely touched by her words. He leaned down towards her until their faces were barely an inch apart. "Kiss me," she whispered when he hesitated. He obeyed, kissing her lightly as that same heat rushed through her body. It was a warmth she hadn't felt in a long, long time.

She put an arm gently around his neck and the other around his waist and pulled him closer, deepening their kiss. "We just crossed the Great Wall of China and survived," she grinned when they broke apart. She felt a little dizzy, but she didn't want him to know the effect he'd just had on her.

"For now," he amended.

"Is that us friends again?" she checked. His fingers sorted her hair lightly and he just smiled to himself in answer to her question. "I'll take that as a 'yes,'" she smiled, heading towards the dodgems with him. "They thought we were married," she admitted.

"What?" he asked, sounding very confused.

"The...ghosts," she clarified. "They were talking about us. They thought we were married to start with, until you gave me a good looking over when I was in that towel." She waited for him to deny it but he didn't. "And as for the other two...I'm hoping they've seen sense. Jonny is perfect for Jac and she knows it. She's just so bloody stubborn!"

"You're one to talk," he reminded her.

When they reached the dodgems, Jac and Jonny were standing together, deep in conversation. "Friends?" Jac asked cautiously as the approached. Serena nodded and noticed Jonny repressing a grin. Were they really that obvious?

"Come on, then," Jonny ordered them towards the dodgem area. Hanssen stood still and Serena – who had been expecting him to be stubborn about it – grabbed his hand.

"If you don't cooperate," she threatened, turning to face him. "I will embarrass you so much you'll wish you'd just went quietly." He gave her a challenging stare, daring her to do her worst, so when Jac and Jonny's backs were turned, she reached up and rested a hand on the back of his neck playfully.

"You wouldn't," he informed her. She glanced at Jac and Jonny, making her intentions clear as they chatted to the attendant.

"I would," she said. "You know I would."

"Fine. You win. If it stops you opening a can of worms then I'll play on the silly little cars with you," he succumbed. She dropped her hand with a grin, her fingers brushing his chest as she did so. "That is if my legs will fit in."

Serena and Jac fell into the hotel room laughing like schoolgirls. "He got stuck," Jac cried with laughter for what must have been the tenth time since leaving Aberdeen.

"I know!" Serena exclaimed, unable to stop laughing at the memory of Henrik Hanssen stuck in a dodgem car because his legs were too long. He, of course, had warned her. She hadn't listened. "I had to blackmail him to do it in the first place!" she admitted. "I threatened to kiss him if he didn't."

Jac looked at her in shock. "He can't honestly find you that repulsive," she asserted. Serena flashed a wicked smile at her before sitting down on the bed and pulling out her phone to check her emails. It was as expected; stupid junk mail was the only thing she found in the absence of Hanssen's orders. Oh, and she noticed a probably drunken email from Michael Spence.

She sighed and lay back for a few minutes. "Spill," Jac ordered her, lying down next to her. Serena's head whipped around to see the redhead's evil grin. "He was undressing you with his eyes," she giggled. Serena had never seen Jac in a fit of laughter but she found she was rather enjoying seeing the happy Jac Naylor.

"What happened with you and Maconie?" Serena retorted, having seen the change in atmosphere between the two upon her return. "You told him, didn't you?" Jac nodded. "And what did he have to say about it?"

"He was surprisingly OK with it," Jac admitted.

"Knew it. That's you two back together then?" Serena asked.

"Looks like it."

"Good."

"You and the Swede?" Jac persisted. "Ha. You thought I'd given that up!" she nudged Serena in an unusually playful manner. "Come on."

"We...made up," Serena allowed. She didn't want to tell Jac the whole truth. One kiss did not mean anything where Hanssen was concerned. It had been a moment of attraction, nothing more or less. She would not allow this to change anything; they were the same fatally incompatible people. It would end in tears.

"Good," Jac smiled. "I don't like it when you argue," she confessed, sounding very much like a child when she said it. "I never know how it'll end."

"We'd better go for dinner," Serena sighed, avoiding the subject yet again.

Jonny entered the hotel room trying to control his laughter; he, along with Jac and Serena, had completely taken the piss out of Hanssen for getting stuck in the dodgem car. "I'm glad to see you have laughed yourself silent," the Swede grumbled.

"I'm sorry," Jonny answered. He had been wary of Hanssen from the second he had discovered they were to share a room, but he saw now that the man was harmless. That didn't mean, though, he had the balls to fess up and say he listened to Hanssen's conversation with Serena last night. He wasn't a moron.

"It's good to see Miss Naylor actually laugh though," Hanssen unexpectedly admitted. "It's a bit of a rarity."

"Ain't it just?" Jonny grinned.

"I have a feeling you may be the source of a good bit of her happiness."

Jonny was thrown. He didn't know what to say. He had never known – with the exception of Ollie and Tara's issues – the boss to have a view on his employees' personal lives. "Um..." Jonny tried to speak but was lost for words.

"As long as you're both happy, where does the problem lie?" Hanssen continued.

"Jac is...volatile," Jonny described Jac's insane temperament. "You never know what she's gonna say or do."

"I noticed. But she's also a very fragile person."

Jonny sat on his bed facing Hanssen, who had already sat down. "What about you and Ms. Campbell?" he dared to enquire, deciding that Hanssen had no right to ask him about Jac and not allow any questions about him and Serena. When he didn't answer, Jonny clapped his hands and laughed. "I knew it!"

"You knew what?"

"You snogged her, didn't you?" he said. Hanssen said nothing but he didn't need to. Jonny could see from the coy look on his face what happened when Serena finally found him. Jonny's face broke into a wide smile and he sang cheerfully, "Henrik and Serena up a tree, K-I-S-S-"

"One more letter, Jonny, and I will cut your tongue out," Hanssen threatened, causing Jonny to fall silent with a wide grin, wondering what Jac had got out of Serena.

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