Serena had narrowly avoided running into Fredrick and the rest of Kellar as she made her way up to Henrik's office. She was furious. If it was true and Henrik knew about Fredrick, then he had placed both himself and her in a compromising position. The press would have a field day.
Henrik was just about to leave for the day and was locking up his office when he heard Serena's voice behind him.
"You and I need to talk," she said sternly.
"Ms Campbell?"
"Don't you 'Ms Campbell' me," she hissed, almost pushing her way into his office.
"I was about to ask if this could wait until tomorrow, but I fear I would stand the chance of locking you in my office," he said as he closed the door behind him, his keys still in his hand.
"I want the truth and I want it now."
"I'm not entirely sure what . . ."
"Fredrick Johansson," she said, watching his face change from annoyance to surprise. "He's your son."
Henrik paused, watching Serena closely. He did not know how to react or what to say. Instead he walked passed her to the window, staring out into the darkness.
"Please tell me you didn't know he was coming here. Please tell me you didn't knowingly allow me to accept him to work at Holby."
"I didn't know he was coming," Henrik said in a whisper.
Serena watched the silhouetted figure by the window. He seemed strangely unsure of himself; definitely not the man she had come to know. "But when you saw him . . ."
"How did you find out?" Henrik finally turned from the window to face her. "No doubt you employed one of your spies to dig up some dirt on my life."
"I didn't have to," Serena snapped back. "Owen Maxwell from the Wyvale Post contacted me today and questioned me on your 'relationship'. Apparently he's interested in running a story on how Holby City's Director of Surgery allows his son to run wild in the ward's corridors, screwing up and killing patients in the process," she paused to take a breath, realizing that she was speaking more out of anger than out of concern for the hospital.
"That is most certainly not the case."
"Oh, I couldn't agree more. No one here would allow it, but it's out there and we need to figure out a way to deal with it."
"Does he have any proof?"
"He claims to have access to a birth certificate with your name on it."
Henrik stared at the floor. Maja had never mentioned putting his name on the birth certificate. He would have assumed she would have put Nils down as the father. He wasn't even sure Maja had ever mentioned him to Fredrick. From his reaction in Kellar, she must have told him something.
"Look, I can appreciate you have a strange, perhaps sordid history, but I will not allow you to drag me into it. I was perfectly happy respecting your privacy but now," she took another breath. "Now we're all in hot water because you didn't deem it necessary to inform me that Fredrick is your son."
"I didn't realize he was coming to the UK until the day he arrived. I wasn't sure it was him."
"You don't know your own son?" Serena rolled her eyes.
"I . . . gave him up before he was born."
"What does that even mean?" She sighed, throwing herself down in the chair opposite his desk.
"I left his mother to care for him. I was young, inexperienced and most certainly not ready for fatherhood."
"And your girlfriend was?" Serena said it more sarcastically than she had intended and she could immediately tell that in that instant, Henrik had shut down on her. "I'm sorry," she quickly said. "I didn't mean to . . . this has nothing to do with me. I'm sure you had your reasons."
Henrik nodded, glancing out the window again. He could understand her anger towards him. She was after all a single mother herself. She had no doubt experienced the difficulties in dealing with a child by herself.
"What do you want me to do about Owen?"
"I will handle him," Henrik said without looking at her.
"And Fredrick?"
He spun around to face her. "He will continue with his placement as planned. There is no reason to drag him into this."
"Well, he's kind of already been dragged into it," Serena said softly. "At least if he knows what's happening, he won't get blind sided . . . like I was."
Henrik knew she was right. He couldn't expect the journalist to leave his son out of this. He would almost certainly go straight to him for a reaction. "Is he still here?"
"He's gone down to Albie's with the rest of Kellar."
"I'll go find him," Henrik said as he headed towards the door.
"Uh, hold on," Serena went after him. "I don't think you should go by yourself."
"Ms Campbell, I appreciate you were angered by being 'blind-sided', but this is a personal matter."
"And you don't think it would look just slightly suspicious if you turn up at Albie's? What are you going to do? Drag him out?"
"I will request that he join me outside."
"That's just silly," she huffed, jogging down the corridor after him. "He didn't exactly have the best reaction towards you the first time or the second time for that matter."
"Ms Campbell!" Henrik barked.
Serena waited for him to regain his composure before she spoke. "Let me speak to him."
"I don't see how that would . . ."
"Just trust me on this," she held his gaze. "Neither of us needs any bad press right now. Holby is in a fragile state. I've had more to do with Fredrick than you have and I feel he responds better to me than . . . well . . . to you . . . to be frank," her gaze waivered and she found herself staring down at the floor.
"I will accompany you."
"But," she tried to hide the look of horror from her face. "You never go to Albie's."
"There's a first time for everything," Henrik said as he held the lift open for her.
"Might it not look a tad bit suspicious though?"
"If anyone asks, I'll just tell them you forced me to go."
Serena's head snapped around to look at him. "They'll never fall for it."
"Oh, I think they might."
"This is going to be interesting," she sighed. "So," she started.
"Cold day today," Henrik said.
Serena tried to suppress her smile. "Yes."
Serena had managed to push her way through the crowd of smokers outside Albie's, hoping Henrik was a couple of paces behind her. She wasn't entirely sure how he was going to react in this situation. Glancing over at the bar, she noticed Malick buying everyone shots of tequila. Fredrick looked completely out of his element, but he had clearly had a drink. He's eyes looked slightly glazed.
She stopped short as she noticed Michael Spence join the group. Henrik walked straight into her, grabbing her arm to stop her from toppling over. She caught a knowing look off of some woman to her right. It wouldn't annoy her if she had actually been drinking. "Okay, I think we should abort this mission," she whispered back to Henrik who was watching the group of hospital workers carefully.
"Nonsense," Henrik said. "We can just ask him to excuse himself."
"Michael Spence is there," Serena motioned towards the group.
"And why does this affect matters?"
"Because Michael Spence will not rest until he knows why we're about to drag Fredrick out of here," Serena hissed. "No, we're too late. We'll have to wait until tomorrow morning."
Henrik nodded. He could see where she was coming from. The last thing they needed was the whole hospital finding out, but there was a part of him that was curious to see how Fredrick reacted to this kind of environment. "Glass of wine?"
Serena just stared back at him, dumbstruck. "Okay, please," she finally smiled, watching him make his way to the bar and order them both a glass of wine. She knew she had to use her poker face but she was genuinely surprised that the man even drank alcohol. In many ways, she thought of him as some kind of Swedish-Tibetan monk. She glanced over at the group and tried to hide behind a rather large man in front of her. The last thing she needed was to be dragged over there. And she was well aware of Michael's ability to drink most of Holby's workers under the table. She was not about to be challenged by him.
"Shall we hide?" Henrik asked with amusement as he handed Serena's glass to her, watching as she gave the man in front of her an apologetic smile as he noticed her behind him.
"I think that's probably for the best," she answered, gently guiding him to her favourite little spot in the corner. They took a seat and both tried to see if they could still see Michael, Fredrick and the rest of them. "I didn't know you drank," Serena heard herself saying as she sipped her glass of red wine.
"I don't usually enjoy making a show of it at work, as you can rightfully understand," he smiled.
"I didn't mean that," she chuckled. "I meant you don't seem the type to go out for a drink."
"I've never particularly felt the need to."
"I don't know why I was as surprised about Fredrick as I was," Serena said, watching as Henrik focused his attention on her. "He's a lot like you actually. Apart from the fact that he doesn't go out of his way to annoy me," she smiled.
"I apologize for placing you in this position, Ms Campbell. It was never my intention."
"I believe you," she nodded. She was being sincere. She knew he would never willingly place them in a damaging position; especially not one that would bring bad press for Holby.
"Well, it's not an early night as I had hoped," Henrik said, glancing around them.
"No," Serena answered. "And I don't think it's going to get any better," she said as she watched Michael force Fredrick to down another shot. He was already looking worse for wear.
"I'll keep an eye on him," Henrik said.
"No, no. We're a team," she smiled. "That, and my daughter's visiting her grandparents this weekend which means I'm all alone . . . again. Teenagers should be banned from having a life," she laughed.
"I can imagine it must be challenging as a single mother."
Serena suddenly became serious. "It's no walk in the park."
"I'm sure you do all you can for your daughter."
This was not a subject Serena was comfortable with and quickly moved on to hospital business. They were still deep in discussion after a few hours when they noticed Fredrick stumble out with his coat in his hands.
"I think this is our chance," Serena said as they both got up and tried very discreetly to make their way out without anyone seeing them.
"Hey! Serena! Mr H!" Michael shouted from the bar.
"Just keep walking," she hissed to Henrik.
"Would that not be construed as being a tad bit rude?"
"He's drunk, Henrik, he's not going to remember it tomorrow morning!" She answered, grabbing him by his arm and pulling him towards the exit, only realizing that she'd called him by his first name when it was too late. She wasn't about to apologize for it.
They both made it outside and desperately looked around for Fredrick. "There," Serena pointed to a lonely figure stumbling down the street. They both jogged after him. "Fredrick," she called out.
The young man turned to look at her, his eyes completely glazed.
"You're not planning on walking home, are you?" She asked as they both caught up to him.
"I'm sure it won't take me too long," he said, slurring his words.
"Don't you live half way across town? Uh, yeah, I think it might be good idea if I gave you a lift," Serena said, gently taking his arm.
"What are you doing here?" He asked Henrik.
"Mr Hanssen and I were just concerned for your wellbeing," Serena answered for Henrik. "Where are you going?" She asked Henrik who was walking away from them.
"I'm sure the last thing Fredrick needs is me annoying him."
"You are not seriously going to leave me to take him home? By myself?"
Henrik sighed heavily before deciding he really did need to help her, even if Fredrick didn't want him helping. "I can take him in my car."
"No, it's fine," Serena said. "I just need your help getting him into my car."
They reached the car park and Serena was just about to unlock the door when Fredrick said he felt sick and politely threw up on her. "Are you kidding me?" Serena nearly shouted, looking in horror down at her coat.
"Ms Campbell," Henrik said with a hint of embarrassment and amusement. "I am so sorry."
"Right, that's it; we're taking your car," she pushed Fredrick towards the tall man's vehicle which was parked quite close to her own.
Henrik helped her get Fredrick in the back seat. They both were looking around to ensure no one was watching them. Serena climbed into the passenger's seat and watched Henrik's confused look as he got into the driver's seat.
"You don't think I'm getting into my car with your son's puke on me, do you?"
"And will I be driving you back to work tomorrow morning?" Henrik asked.
"No, I'll get a cab."
"Right," Henrik nodded as he started the engine and reversed out of his parking, heading towards the exit. "Where does Fredrick live?"
Serena glanced back at Fredrick in the back seat. "Uh, Fredrick?"
"You don't know where he lives?" Henrik asked incredulously.
"I didn't really expect him to become comatose," Serena hissed as she tried to reach around to wake Fredrick up to no avail.
"Well, what do you suggest we do?" Henrik asked, watching her grimace as she pulled her coat off and rolled it up into a ball.
"Well, we can't leave him in the car," Serena huffed.
"I don't suppose he'd be too pleased if he woke up at my place," Henrik sighed.
Serena remained silent for a moment before finally speaking. "I suppose he can stay at my place tonight. We have a guest room and Eleanor's not home."
"I don't want him imposing on you."
"Henrik," Serena heard herself say. "It's nearly two in the morning. I'm exhausted, you're exhausted; your son's passed out. Can we please just get to my place and deal with the repercussions tomorrow morning?"
"Very well," Henrik nodded. "You direct me and I'm sure I'll remember how to get back to your place tomorrow morning."
"Uh," Serena held her hands up. "You're dumping him at my house and leaving?"
"Well, you're not suggesting I actually stay over, are you?" He asked in horror.
Under normal circumstances, Serena would be offended, but this was Henrik Hanssen, after all. "No, I suppose it would give me time to speak with him about the whole press issue."
"Indeed," Hanssen nodded.
"I'll call you when he deed is done."
"Thank you."
Serena huffed in reply, glancing at her rolled up coat.
"And I'll take your coat to the dry cleaners."
"No, it's fine," Serena protested.
"It's the least I can do," he said firmly. In truth, he was dreading Fredrick speaking to Serena. His personal life had always remained private and he did not like that being taken away from him. But he knew Fredrick would not want to speak to him.
Little did he know how much Serena was dreading her little chat with Fredrick.
