Author's Note: Anyone know when is the big H back on our screens? I'd better get a shifty on if I want to get this finished by then. Can't be long to go now...

Work's been a bit crazy and I just couldn't get Edward v Hanssen to sound right but there are still a few plots to come :)

Chapter 37.

"Have a good evening." Serena glances up and mumbles something similar at Ric who is on his way out of the office. He pauses and regards her for a moment and Serena answers the unasked question.

"Just this morning's presentation catching up with me, probably." Serena runs her hands through her hair and rubs her eyes with the heel of her hands. "Nothing a good night's sleep won't solve."

"Well, don't stay too late."

"I won't." Serena promises him with a tired smile but Ric doesn't leave, pausing still by the doorway.

"I'm heading to Albie's if you fancy a quick drink?" Serena weighs up Ric's offer, she has an hour or two to kill one way or another before going home and thinking about dinner; Eleanor is staying at a friends, revising for an upcoming exam, Hanssen has an opticians appointment and her mother, Adrienne, was at a speech therapy session and her carer, Cathy, a large, slightly intimidating, no-nonsense woman would drop her off later on.

"You know, that sounds rather good, give me ten minutes to finish up here and I'll wander down once I've put all this in the car – I'll have my usual." Ric grins good-naturedly at her instruction and disappears out onto the ward leaving Serena to pack up her day's work.

Serena leaves the hospital building through the main Wyvern reception area, intending to head to Albie's via a quick detour to her car to drop off her bag and her bunch of flowers. The waft of cigarette smoke is the first indication that she's not alone and Serena drops the flowers to the ground and whirls round, ready to try and fight off any would-be assailant only to find Edward stood a few feet away from her, inane grin on his face.

"Why the hell are you sneaking up on me?" She demands.

"I wasn't." Edward holds his hands out in a gesture of innocence. "I did call out to you but you didn't hear me." Serena sincerely doubts it but she doesn't have any way to disprove Edward's story, a little annoyed, she changes tack.

"And when did you start smoking?" She frowns, her ex-husband looks rumpled, although his clothes have been slept in.

"You're one to talk." Serena's attention is diverted, she rolls her eyes; she has been known to have the odd cigarette or two when her stress levels have risen dangerously high, in fact, Edward has provoked a few cigarettes over the years but her vice of choice now is Shiraz. "So, does Hanssen know you smoke?"

"I don't smoke Ed." Edward smirks.

"It's okay, Serena, I'll keep your little secret safe." Raising an eyebrow, Serena know that would only happens until it suits Edward to conveniently forget and 'let it slip'.

"Whatever. If you've got nothing useful to say, go away." Edward steps closer to her and Serena instinctively steps away and instead of making any move to kiss her or something equally unwelcome, as Serena initially thought he was going to do, Edward just smiles at her and then bends down, picking up the discarded flowers from the floor.

"So you got flowers then?" Edward enquires, holding them out to her.

"Well, nothing gets past you," she mutters, taking them back from her ex-husband. She's a little annoyed but not unsurprised when he walks with her towards her car. "What do you want?"

"Do you like them? Edward asks, not answering her question and Serena adjusts the bunch of flowers to one hand as she looks for her car keys in her bag with the other hand.

"Why wouldn't I like them?" Serena frowns at her ex-husband, not sure where he's going with this.

"Good."

"What do you mean, 'good'?" Her frown deepens.

"Well, I wasn't certain if you'd like them or not." The cocky grin is back on his face. "I'm glad you do." It's on the tip of Serena's tongue to ask Edward what he means again when the penny drops.

"These are from you?"

"Of course, who else would send you flowers?" The thoughtless comment stings a little bit but Serena ignores it.

"Why are you sending me flowers?" They're almost at Serena's car and to her relief, Edward waits until they're out of earshot of the two nurses heading in the opposite direction for a cigarette before he answers.

"Why wouldn't I?"

"The small matter of you being married?" Her point doesn't seem to register and Serena isn't entirely surprised but refuses to feel any sympathy for Edward's child bride. "Or the fact that I'm in a relationship with someone else?"

"With Henrik Hanssen..." Edward trails off, apparently deep in thought as they approach Serena's car and she swiftly unlocks the car, putting her bag out of sight and the flowers on the passenger seat.

"Yes Henrik Hanssen." She's starting to get quite annoyed with her ex-husband now. "And not Edward Campbell."

"Why him?" Serena deliberately ignores the question, not wanting to get into this debate and she knows that she doesn't owe Edward any answers.

"Stop sending me flowers, Edward." Her firm instruction leaves no room for misinterpretation.

"I've missed you, Serena." Alarm bells start ringing in Serena's head and she takes another step back to increase the distance between them. Part of her wants to start laughing, Edward moved on from Serena almost indecently quickly, remarrying within a year of their divorce.

"We've been over a long time." She locks her car. "And that's not going to change – go back to your wife." She steps around her ex-husband and Edward lets her pass and she can feel his gaze on her as she walks away.

It only takes Serena a couple of minutes of brisk walking until she's pushing through the doors into Albie's bar; it's not very busy yet and she easily spots Ric at the far end of the bar. She joins him, thanking him as he hands her a glass of Shiraz and knowing she has to drive, Serena is determined to make her one glass of wine last.

Serena spots Edward re-enter the bar a few moments after she does and make a bee-line towards a familiar red-headed nurse on another table. Ric obviously realises her attention has wandered and following her gaze, he quietly reminds Serena that they are both adults. It's enough to make her turn back to face Ric and she's soon able to put her ex-husband out of her mind, discussing the latest calamity to befall Michael Spence in his quest for love.

"Can I buy you a drink?"

A whispered voice in her ear makes her jump and Serena turns around to find, for the second time in less than an hour that Edward is stood next to her – Ric had excused himself a couple of minutes earlier to go to the loo.

"No thank you – I'm driving."

"Right." Edward nods, putting his glass on the bar and signalling for another drink. He stands there, staring at her for a few seconds before he speaks. "You know, I reckon I know why."

"You reckon you know what?"

Serena's gaze flickers over his shoulder to the table he was occupying with Nurse Carter but the Irish nurse is gone and staff from the oncology ward sit at the table instead. Serena looks around the bar to see if anyone is watching them and is a little relieved when she spots Ric making his way back towards them.

"I reckon I know why Henrik Hanssen..." This makes Serena look up at her ex-husband in surprise and she finds she doesn't like the expression on his face.

"You've been drinking Edward, be careful what you say."

"Which means don't say anything." Ric rejoins the conversation and Serena hopes that the warnings from them both will be enough to dissuade the slightly unsteady on his feet Edward from verbalising whatever he's thinking.

In typical Edward form, he ignores them both.

"I reckon I know why you picked Henrik Hanssen." Edward looks at her, his gaze automatically tracking up and down her body. "Let's be honest, you've let yourself go a bit, put on a bit of weight. In fact, he's probably the only man you've had since I left you?" Serena can feel her face burning at Edward's assumption. "Yeah, I thought so."

"I reckon I know why you picked him; he's not exactly catch of the year, is he? Quiet and desperate, you two have to take what you can get, I suppose." Edward ignores Ric's second warning. "I'm not sure out of the two of you, just who got the worse end-"

"Shut up!"

He splutters to a stop as Serena throws her drink over him, the red wine staining his Armani suit and shirt and Serena hopes it's permanent. There's a tense silence as Serena tries to get her anger under control and Edward tries to comprehend what just happened to him; Albie's has become almost silent as everyone watches and waits to see what will happen.

"Don't tell me that you honestly think you are catch of the year?"

"Says the woman who's kept my name for nearly 15 years..." He smirks at her.

"You think that is some sign of undying devotion?" Serena has no idea what expression is on her face right now but it's enough to make Edward start to look uncertain. "It's nothing more than too much hassle to get everything changed back and let's be honest, Edward," now it's Serena's turn to look him up and down and she's pleased to note that the red wine stain is growing bigger by the moment. "You just aren't worth the effort any more if you were even worth it in the first place."

"This isn't the end of this." Edward almost snarls at her, wiping red wine out of his face.

"Yes. It is." Ric answers forcefully, standing next to Serena, making it clear whose side he's on.

Serena storms out of Albie's bar and barely registers Ric charging after her, almost running to keep up with her. Car keys in her, Serena unlocks her car and opens the driver's door with her right hand but it's pushed shut before she can do anything. Glaring at Ric, Serena steps backwards and strides around the back of the car to the passenger side and opening this door, picks up the bunch of flowers off the seat, slamming the door shut.

"Serena..." Serena walks past Ric, not acknowledging her colleague and friend; she's almost steamingly angry and doesn't want to say something she'll regret and risk alienating him. "Serena, what are you doing? Where are you going with those?"

She doesn't answer but she knows exactly where she's going, a grim smile on her face, eyes fixed on her ex-husband's blue Audi. It's all Ric can do to stand and bemusedly watch as Serena strikes the car with the bunch of flowers, sending petals and pollen all over the paintwork and windscreen. After a minute or so, Serena is out of breath and all she has in her hand is a few broken stems in the crumpled wrapping, with a last swipe at a wing mirror, Serena tosses the remains onto the roof of the car and turns around, ready to walk back to her own car.

"Feel better for that?" Ric asks, hands on his hips.

"Not really." Serena exhales almost sulkily. "I'm sorry about the wine – it was a good one."

"I don't mind," Ric shrugs, "but I think Albie might."

Serena groans. "I'll sort that out tomorrow, I'm not going back in there tonight."

"That's probably just as well." Ric hangs his arm around Serena's shoulders and she leans into the contact, grateful for his presence. She can hear the amusement in his voice and she starts to smile at what she's just done – it's either that or cry. "And you know it'll cause a lovely stain."

It takes Serena almost as long to convince Ric that she's not going to cause an accident on her way home as it does to drive home. It's after the main rush hour traffic but the roads are still slow but moving and the extension to the journey helps to calm herself down before facing anyone at home.

Despite her best attempt, Hanssen can tell something is up, the man isn't stupid, far from it and he waits until Adrienne has gone to bed before asking her what's wrong. Instinctively Serena snaps at him, denying any problem and Hanssen stiffens, heading into the other room and leaving Serena to want to bang her head against the wall.

It's only later, when they're lying in bed that Serena brings up the subject, apologising to the Swede for her earlier reaction but chickens out of explaining the real problem, instead blaming an argumentative patient. She doesn't know whether Hanssen believes her or not but he seems to accept her answer and she's grateful when his arm snakes under her pillow a few seconds later, drawing her closer to him.

…

"Err, Ms. Campbell..." Having already detoured via AAU on her way to Keller this morning to consult on a case, Serena isn't in the mood to put up with whatever Chantelle is about to say unless it's important.

"Is someone about to die?" The blonde nurse stops in her tracks and looks like she doesn't know how to answer the question. Serena rolls her eyes and opens her office door. "I'll take that as a no then." Before stopping short.

Actually, someone may just be about to die.

Serena turns and glares at Chantelle who shrugs helplessly and mouths 'I tried to tell you', before retreating back towards the nurses' station and Serena is left face to face with the last man she wanted to see today, if ever again. Edward is in her office, sat in her seat and Serena is about to explode when he stands up, hands out, wanting her to listen to what he has to say before she kills him. Edward can see that Serena is angry and when she growls at him to vacate her chair, he does so, instantly.

"I err, got you some coffee." Edward steps towards her desk and points to the steaming paper cup.

"I don't want it." It's a lie, she hadn't slept very well last night, somewhat unsurprisingly and a dose of caffeine would do wonders for her right now but she isn't about to let Edward know, what's left of her pride won't allow it.

"Oh right." He takes a step back and Serena hopes it's because he's wondering if she's going to throw it over him. "Well, I err..." Considering Edward's years of experience of lying to her, to colleagues, to other girlfriends and fabricating excuses on the spot, the usually silver-tongued anaesthetist stumbles over his words, apologising for his behaviour the night before at Albie's. Serena notices that he makes no mention of Hanssen at all during his monologue and she idly wonders if he's rehearsed this at all.

"Ok." Serena comments once he's finished.

"Ok. That's it?"

"What else am I to say?" Serena asks, booting up her laptop.

"Well, something more than just 'ok'."

"Why? It won't make any difference." Edward looks confused, not to mention more than a little hungover and Serena explains for him. "You said what you said last night and that can't be taken back. You've said what you said this morning and if it makes you feel better for having said it, well bully for you."

"Serena-"

"No, Edward. It's always been you doing something stupid, only apologising when you get caught and only then because you have to. Your child bride might put up with it but I will not." Serena's use of the nickname for Edward's wife gets a small reaction as she knew it would.

Edward's taunts last night about Serena's weight were unforgivable, he knew that Serena struggled after Eleanor to shift the pregnancy weight. For him to have thrown that in her face, in front of Ric hurt more than she'd ever let Edward know. Nearly 50 now, Serena knows she is never going to be thin but she'd reached a sort of peace with herself; Hanssen certainly didn't seem to mind and the Swede had unknowingly gone a long way to increasing her confidence again and although it had taken a battering last night, Serena was determined not to allow Edward any sort of victory.

"I really don't want to speak to you right now." Coming to the conclusion that he isn't about to win, Edward nods and leaves the office, shutting the door quietly behind him. Serena reaches out for the hot drink her ex-husband has left on her desk and is about to sip at it when the door to the office opens; afraid that Edward has returned and is about to see her drinking the coffee she said she didn't want, Serena hurriedly deposits it back on the desk, close, she hopes, to where it was left.

"How did that go?" Ric asks as he ambles in and it takes Serena a moment or two to cotton on to what he's just said.

"You knew what was happening?"

"I, err, well. A good guess?" Serena narrows her eyes and Ric capitulates as he sits down at his desk. "Fine, fine. I bumped into Henrik this morning and he wanted to know what happened last night."

"You told him?"

"Not as such." Serena buries her head in her hands, massaging her temples. "But I think he guessed."

"What did he do?"

"He didn't say much, just got off the lift at AAU." Serena has a pretty good idea what her Swede has done.

"Stupid, daft man." She isn't sure whether to wring his neck – not that she'd be able to reach – or just embrace him. "I should probably go and find him then." Standing up, Serena deposits the untouched coffee on Ric's desk and leaves the office.

…

Hanssen isn't in his office but it doesn't take Serena long to find him on the landing, staring into space over the hospital grounds, seemingly oblivious to her presence but Serena knows that he is aware of her. She comes to stand next to him and looks out over the grounds too.

"I had a visit this morning." Hanssen glances briefly at her in the window's reflection but doesn't say anything, waiting for her to continue. "Would you happen to know anything about that?" He looks at first like he's going to deny any involvement, sighing as he returns to stare out of the window.

"I may have had some words of advice for Mr. Campbell this morning, in tone that brokered no argument. I don't know what he said to you and I don't want to know what he said but you two need to be able to work together. He only has a few days left on his contract after all."

"I would apologise if you honestly felt that I have overstepped the mark, however, I shall not deny that what Mr. Griffin told me this morning... bothered me." Serena looks up at Hanssen and he turns to face her. "I only wish you had told me last night."

Serena feels a bit guilty, she should've trusted Hanssen. "It was a bit raw still." She admits and Hanssen nods.

"That I can understand." Serena squeezes his hand and turns to leave and Hanssen adds, holding onto her hand. "There is one more thing..."

Serena listens as Hanssen somewhat haltingly suggests that they stay at his house tonight, away from the stresses of her own home; apparently he'd spoken to Adrienne about the possibility a few days before and her mother had agreed and arranged with her carer, Cathy, to stay over for an evening.

"Everything is arranged..." Hanssen is nervous although not obvious outwardly and she's touched by the effort he's gone to on her behalf.

"Does that mean you're cooking?"

"It's a distinct possibility." He tilts his head to one side. "I may even have a bottle of Shiraz somewhere." Serena smiles, tempted to make a comment about blatant bribery but she doesn't want Hanssen to take it the wrong way so she keeps it to herself.

"I'd love to." She's never seen Hanssen's house before and after sorting out their plans, Serena leaves the fifth floor in a much happier mood than earlier. In fact, her good mood lasts the next few hours and she manages to listen to Ric babble on about something he discovered during his recent trip to America called 'Primary Defence' without snapping at him.

Late afternoon, just as Serena has given up concentrating on her paperwork and is trying and failing not to openly daydream about what Hanssen's house looks like when a knock at the door redirects her attention back into the office. A man in a red and black DPD delivery uniform steps into the room.

"I've got a delivery for Campbell."

"That's me but I haven't ordered anything." Serena stands, slightly wary of a second courier delivery in as many days but to her relief it doesn't look anything like flowers. She signs her name and waits until the door is shut again before opening the package.

It appears to be a box of clothing and on the top is folded paper which she unfolds, a surprised grin breaking across her face as her eyes race across the page. These are Edward's clothes and the papers are divorce papers, already signed by Edward's current and soon to be ex-wife. Serena's first thought is to put Edward's clothes into the hospital incinerator and leave the divorce papers in his pigeon-hole but dismisses it, wanting the satisfaction of seeing his face as he realises.

Tugging the box back behind her desk, Serena decides to save that task for tomorrow and she heads out onto the ward to do a final check on the patients before the tall, suited figure of the Director of Surgery appears.

Would love to know your thoughts and suggestions as to what Hanssen's house looks like...