A/N: So this is a bit soppy and romantic, but I hope you like it. And I'm finding I must be quite the hard arse, since my version of soppy and everyone else's are two totally different things, so don't take my version as yours ;) as always, thank you for the lovely reviews :)
Sarah x
It was with a huge amount of trepidation that Hanssen knocked on Serena's door, wondering yet again why he had landed himself in this situation. She was not someone he had taken a great liking to, but she was someone different to him today. Today she was not the frightening Ms. Campbell; today she was the soft, childlike Serena he had become so intrigued by.
"Come in, Henrik," she called. He felt slightly uneasy entering her home. He opened the door, and briefly wondered whether she was ready for him or not – he was twenty minutes early, after all.
He found her in the kitchen, barefoot, in a hoodie and sweatpants, head almost in the oven. "Bloody hell!" she shouted, jumping back.
"What?" he asked.
"Burnt my hand!" she complained, wringing it in pain. He had to roll his eyes; he'd been right about her common sense to intelligence ratio. He silently took her hand in his, seeing a straight red line where her hand had obviously hit the rack. When he dragged her to the sink and ran cold water over her hand, she, surprisingly, didn't object.
She looked up at him, her hand still trapped in his, and smiled gently. "Perhaps tonight was another night for a takeaway," he joked.
"Are you trying to get me fat?" she retorted.
"No," he returned. "I'm trying to save you from having to make a trip to the ED," he added with a smirk. She just grinned up at him, her eyes shining bright. He returned his attention to her hand, examining it carefully. "It should be fine. Just watch what you're doing from now on," he suggested. He knew he sounded silly. He didn't know why he was pointing out the obvious; he just couldn't think of what else to say. He felt quite awkward, not helped by the fact he was dressed like he was about to walk into an important meeting, and she was dressed like she planned on lounging about all night. Her pink and grey hooded jumper was not something he had ever expected to see her wear, but he figured even she had to relax sometimes.
She pulled her hand out of his grip and returned to her cooking. It smelled like chicken with cheese and bacon. Comfort food. Serena seemed the type to eat comfort food when she was hurt.
Before he knew it, she had handed him a plate, and picked up hers, a bottle of wine and two glasses, and was leading him to the table. She poured the wine and they ate in silence for a few minutes, Henrik beginning to wonder what the hell he was doing here. Why was he so determined to look after the woman? It wasn't like she was a helpless child who needed taken care of. But that was just it; he was starting to see every piece of her, and that she was both and woman and a child. She was strong and yet, to him, she was strangely helpless.
"Why am I here?" he finally sighed.
"I invited you," she shrugged.
"It's that simple?"
"Yes."
"Nothing is ever that simple," he contradicted her, only realising now how cynical that made him sound.
"It is with me," she answered, eating a forkful of food. "I treat everyone the same until they give me a reason not to," she explained, and he had to admit to himself that, in that sense, yes, she was easy to get along with.
"So I'm here simply because you invited me," he conceded. "Which leads to another question: why did you invite me?" he asked her.
"You're determined to make me open up. Do your worst," she grinned. "Which, of course, leads me to a question of my own: why do you want to know me?"
He remained silent and ate his dinner. The truth was that he had seen a side to her he had never witnessed before. It proved that a good, kind person lay underneath the exterior of cold-heartedness she wore on a daily basis. "You need a friend," he stated bluntly. "And since you're not willing to tell anyone else why you need a friend today, the role falls onto me," he explained. "And you're not bad company."
He hadn't meant to say that aloud, but his nerves had stopped his thought-to-speech filter from working properly. She looked up from her plate curiously. "What happened was a long time ago," she sighed. "I really should get over it."
"It's never as simple as just getting over it, I'm afraid," he told her softly.
"Hmm," she agreed. "Don't I bloody know it."
Her bitterness took him by surprise. "Ms. Campbell-"
"Please don't call me that," she cut him off. "Not in my own home. I don't even think about calling me Rena – Michael Spence seems to have caller dibs on that one," she added, seeming rather unimpressed by her pet name, and the fact Michael had taken to it.
"Serena," he corrected himself. "Nothing I say will detract from the horror of what happened, especially as you were only a child," he told her. "All I can do is listen if and when you feel the need to discuss it. Which, at the moment, you are determined not to do, so I won't push the matter. I'm no masochist," he gave her a tiny smile.
"Why are you being so nice to me?" she demanded suspiciously.
He didn't know how to put it into words, this feeling. It was an odd mix of concern and that, actually, he really did want to get to know her, understand her, be near her, stand by her. "My mother told me a tale when I was a child. A bedtime story of sorts," he began, deciding this was the only way to explain it. She looked at him with an odd kind of interest, like she couldn't see what he was feeling, when he thought what he was feeling for her was perfectly clear.
"There was a woman, who did everything alone, who refused to let anyone help her or love her. She was so scared of showing weakness, so terrified of her vulnerabilities being exploited, that she never let anyone get close to her, scaring everyone off with her sharp tongue and fearsome temperament," he continued. She looked down into her plate, her chicken and bacon suddenly very interesting, but he carried on regardless. "She was so ferocious that everyone in the land was frightened of her, leaving her no choice but to walk alone and fight her battles on her own. She was strong and intelligent, and beautiful, but her temper was the stuff horror stories were made from. She was proud, and she was brave, never letting her surroundings or obstacles overcome her."
She glared at him, but it was soft and nervous, the opposite of the Serena Campbell the rest of the world knew. "But one night, it was cold and dark, and she was lost in a town she didn't know. A man gave her shelter, letting her eat, drink and sleep in his home. He had heard the stories of her wrath, but wasn't scared of her. He found she was not who she pretended to be. She was a force to be reckoned with, yes, and treated with caution at times, but there was nothing to fear from her," he smiled. She rested her chin in her hands, elbows propped up on the table, just gazing intently at him.
"As the night went on and her barriers slowly fell, he discovered that she was warm and kind, funny and vibrant, intelligent and fascinating. He realised she was not the hellish demon everyone warned one another of, but was a truly beautiful woman," he continued, and Serena let a smile form across her lips.
"Later into the night, her guard collapsed completely, and she allowed him to hear the darkest times she had faced. The man could tell she was more vulnerable than she allowed to show and that she had faced down her demons alone for far too long. He realised she was a strange combination of a woman and a child, and there was still a little girl in her who wanted nothing more than to have someone who would be there for her." Serena looked into his face, looking quite confused by what he was saying, but was still listening with interest.
"That night, the man swore to himself that he would never let her stand alone again. He vowed that, no matter what battles and monsters she encountered, he would be with her if she needed him. From then on, the woman and the man stood together, and kept each other on the straight and narrow, because both had been dangerously close to taking a road that led to nothing more or less than loneliness. They were stronger together than they were individually, and the man made certain that she never had to face her demons alone again," he concluded. She was openly smiling now, and he was pleased he could make her smile. It was the most beautiful thing about her.
"Did your mother really tell you that?" she asked sceptically, an eyebrow raised.
"No," he confessed. "But it made it easier to say."
"Well, I think it's lovely," she commented simply. She put her hand on his and lifted their hands together, intertwining their fingers with a soft smile he had never seen her use before.
Her smile left him perplexed and puzzled. He had never been very good at reading people, particularly women. Very good at hiding his own feelings, definitely, but deciphering a woman had never been his strong point. In a way, he was lucky his top consultants were Jac and Serena – they had women's intuition but displayed male logic most of the time, which was a great relief to him.
They were quiet as they finished their dinner, and Henrik could only sit and watch when Serena refused to let him wash his plate. He carefully and silently walked into the kitchen, standing behind her. She didn't notice his presence, and turned, again, straight into his chest. "Either you need to stop doing that, or I need to look where I'm going," she announced.
"Doing what?" he asked, not sure to what she was referring.
"Looming," she smiled. Her hands were still went from washing the dishes, leaving hand prints on his chest from when he had steadied herself on his body. The sensation her touch left on his skin, he believed, he would never get used to. "And so it begins," she sighed, although she sounded quite happy and content.
"And so it begins," he conceded, knowing exactly what she meant. She was talking about the way he felt, and the way she obviously was feeling too. He leaned down towards her, gauging her reaction, ready to move away if she flinched. She didn't though, and his heart started to beat too hard and fast. He kissed her gently, giving her ample opportunity to put a stop to it; instead, her hands moved up his chest and she put her arms around his neck, letting his wrap his around her waist.
Her breath tasted of wine – they probably had both had slightly too much – but he knew she was well aware of her actions. What he felt now, he could never have expected; she was no longer Ms. Campbell, the adversary forced upon him, but Serena, the woman who had bared her most difficult vulnerabilities to him. He felt slightly dizzy, feeling his pulse in his head. He broke the kiss and looked into her eyes as he attempted to work out what she was thinking.
She finally spoke, and he was relieved to see it was with a smile that she confessed, "I think I might pass out after that."
"Sorry," was his first reaction. She started laughing, her forehead leaning on his chest. What did she find so funny this time?
"I meant it in a good way, you moron," she chuckled into his chest. "And by the sound of your heart, you might pass out next to me," she joked when she heart the rate at which his heart was beating. She placed a hand on her chest, still in his arms, and smiled at the effect she was having on him. She touched his lips with her thumb, and the rational coward in him decided enough was enough. For tonight, at least.
"I should go," he told her quietly.
"Of course," she sighed. "This is wrong, isn't it?"
"It's only wrong if we let ourselves think it is," he reasoned; he pressed a kiss into her hair, picked up his keys and his coat and turned to face her. He kissed her softly once more and said, "Goodnight, Serena."
Her fingers brushed his cheek lightly and she replied, "Goodnight, Henrik." She released him and allowed him to leave. By the time he got to his car, his head was in the clouds. As he turned the ignition of his car, he came to the conclusion that he was an idiot. All the same, he was starting to wonder if, just maybe, he could have allowed himself to fall for Serena Campbell.
Hope this is alright!
Please feel free to leave a review and tell me what you thought!
Sarah x