AN: Despite my ramblings you all seem to keep reading and reviewing and I love every single message I get. Thank you all again.
Usual disclaimers... yadda, yadda, yadda.
Onwards!
To Absent Friends.
"We almost had something that could have passed for a relationship or at least the start of one." Ric sighs, his hands fiddling with the coffee cup as he avoids his friend's scrutiny.
"And yet..." Elliot trails off deliberately to get Ric to continue his explanation.
"And yet in the space of a week it all changed." He sighs again before putting his coffee cup on Elliot's desk to stop him shredding the paper and spilling the cool dregs of the coffee everywhere. Ric meets Elliot's gaze and grins self-deprecatingly, his expression almost a grimace. "You know, I wasn't even in Holby that week. I had nothing to do any of it."
"Why not?" Ric thinks about Elliot's question, recalling the time he spent with his daughter and grandson away from the constant stress and pressure both from outside the hospital, from the media and the tension radiating from the fifth floor. It had been a very good week and he returned to the hospital refreshed, ready to go and utterly unprepared for the events which had unfolded and would continue to unfold for several weeks.
"I was on holiday, I had a week with Jess." He explains and Elliot nods, suddenly understanding when Ric is referring to. "Then I came back to a brave, new world and a new order established."
"But surely things wouldn't have changed with you two?" Elliot asks and Ric isn't certain whether it's deliberate naivety, designed to provoke some kind of possibly cathartic response on his part or whether his friend is that unfamiliar with Serena Campbell.
He laughs almost bitterly, there's little, if any amusement to be found in the situation that he'd found himself in back in November and unbidden, the first day begins to replay itself and he describes the day from his point of view to his friend.
Ric makes his way across the hospital car park towards the lifts in the Wyvern entrance foyer, his phone in his hand as he rings the Director of Surgery's office – the call is transferred to answer phone which isn't unusual, the man he is trying to contact is perpetually busy. Especially in recent weeks with the media scrutiny he has been under, it's little wonder that Hanssen hasn't answered his phone just in case Ric is a reporter or a member of the board. His call is about the unresolved management issue on Keller which he wants sorted sooner rather than later but Ric is forced to hang up as he gets a shout from the ambulance which has just pulled up outside the main Wyvern hospital entrance.
Taking an early morning detour via AAU, they are unable to save the life of the patient and as he pronounces the patient dead at only 0815, he muses that it's not the start to his first day back that he wanted. The young, female doctor introduces herself, apologising to him for being so pushy and as he washes his hands with disinfectant gel, he waves away her concern, not bothered by her forthrightness and taking charge of the situation, especially as the woman is not a registrar as he had thought, rather a CT1.
"Excuse me, do you work here?" Ric is barely six feet onto his own ward before a blonde woman heads over from somewhere on his right.
"Yes, I do." He wants a few minutes just to put his case down but the mother is insistent and swallowing his annoyance, he heads over to the bed, he spends a couple of minutes assessing the patient and ordering some tests before excusing himself and striding back to the familiar office door, half-expecting another interruption.
Ric extracts what he needs to from his bag and puts it away, glancing over out of habit to Serena's desk; her bag isn't in its usual place. It isn't until he gets to the doorway of the office, his hand on the handle that he remembers – Hanssen demoted Serena to AAU in a fit of Swedish pique. Ric now has what he wanted a few months ago – the ward and office to himself once more and he finds that his wish may have been too hasty.
Staring at the vacant desk for a moment longer than necessary, Ric blinks and turns away towards his own desk, the niggling feeling that he has forgotten something. He hadn't spoken to Serena during the week he'd spent away but they had exchanged a couple of brief text messages.
Ric had wanted to know how things were going and how Serena was coping on her new ward as well as how AAU was coping with her. Serena's messages had hinted at frustration with the unpredictable nature of the ward and at some of her new colleagues to Ric's suppressed amusement; he can't see Serena Campbell and Michael Spence ever getting on and he assumes it's something which Hanssen had anticipated too, a bonus for the Swede. The messages he'd received back from Serena had made no mention of Henrik Hanssen and Ric hadn't asked about him, figuring that the enigmatic Director of Surgery was keeping a low profile, probably rather sensibly.
He had found himself thinking about Serena more as the week had worn on, wondering if the enforced space between them at work could work in their advantage; he was certainly looking forward to seeing her again and perhaps picking up where they had left off.
Ric shuts the office door behind him, the noise of the ward filling his ears as he makes sure that the lock clicks. A quick glance around the ward reveals no emergencies or wayward patients and so Ric strolls over to the nurses' station, to log onto the intranet and try and catch up with what has happened in his absence.
"Ah, Mr. Griffin, welcome back." A very familiar high-pitched voice greets him not looking up from the computer screen, scowling at his inability to log onto the intranet.
"Is there some reason that I can't access the system today, or?"
"Oh, password's been changed." The nurse explains, "Ms. Campbell thought-"
"Been changed." Ric sighs, the woman isn't on the ward any more and still interfering. He doesn't know whether Chantelle knows of Serena's demotion, "and where is Ms. Campbell? I don't see her name on the board."
"Has nobody told you?" Chantelle ignores his question, asking one of her own.
"Told me what?" Malick picks that moment to stroll over and between them they inform Ric of Hanssen's leave of absence. "Look, I don't have time for 20 questions, who is running Holby City?"
Chantelle doesn't give him a name but the expression on her face and awkward silence is telling enough. Malick reluctantly confirms Ric's guess and he excuses himself from the ward for a few minutes, leaving Malick in charge again.
He'd known.
Part of him had known, as soon as Chantelle and Malick had mentioned that Hanssen was gone, Ric knew who had installed themselves at the top.
His first sight of Serena after his return isn't the one he had expected, she is on the phone to the chairman, laughing in the appropriate places and being quite charming; it is something which would make Ric rather wary but he doubts that Cunningham would pick up on it, blinded by the way that Serena is obviously appealing to the man's easily-flattered ego. Ric takes the offered chair and sits himself down, waiting for Serena to finish the conversation, an unimpressed look upon his face; he decides to give Serena the benefit of the doubt for the moment and wait for her explanation of the situation, ignoring his gut instinct to blame her.
"Well, I take it congratulations are in order." It's a leading question but Serena's answer will give Ric some idea as to her feelings on the matter.
"For the moment I'm acting CEO, nothing more." Her answer is reassuring and Ric releases the breath he wasn't aware he'd been holding.
"And did you speak to Henrik before...?" He trails off, not quite certain whether Hanssen left or whether the Director of Surgery was pushed. Either way, Serena seems to know what Ric means and doesn't draw any attention to Ric's uncertainty and faint accusation.
"Not a whisper, inscrutable to the last." Ric blinks – that wasn't the answer he was looking for but part of him cheers Hanssen's ability to keep everyone guessing, a glimmer of hope that the man may return.
"Will he be coming back?"
"No-one knows," Serena pauses and Ric thinks she is enjoying the situation a little too much for her assurances that it's only a temporary position to be as serious as he wants them to be. "So we keep calm and carry on. It's business as usual."
"However, it is a testing time for Holby so I would appreciate it if you keep a tight grip on budgets and avoid any non-essential procedures."
"Understood." Ric answers, he should have known there would be some kind of a catch, Serena's assurances about ward autonomy would come at a cost; it's how the woman seems to work. Quid pro quo. "And you?"
"Me?"
"What are your plans? Personally?" It's an important question for Ric, he wants to be aware of what Serena's plans are and what they mean for him, for them.
"Did you not get the email?" Serena's confusion is clear, her brow is furrowed a little as she looks at him and Ric holds her gaze, trying not to wonder what kind of bombshell she is about to drop.
"I've only just got back," he explains for what feels like the dozenth time this morning. " I haven't caught up."
"Right...Well, certain senior consultants," Serena drawls, pointing to the two of them with her pen. "Have been invited to interview for the post of acting CEO, since the position is only temporary but situation critical they have bypassed formal application procedures and interviews are scheduled for this afternoon."
"Yours is at... Let me see..." Ric watches Serena, disquieted by how much she is enjoying this. "Four o'clock."
"That's if you want the job?" Serena smirks, knowing she has the upper hand in the conversation. Ric offers a sarcastic smile in response, confirms the time and makes his escape, citing a patient.
The next few hours pass in a bit of a blur, Ric has several thoughts going through his mind as he heads back onto the ward, reassuring Malick that, "apart from tightening of budget and avoiding non-essentials, the ward is sacrosanct – her words."
"Do you believe her?" Malick asks and Ric silently answers that he isn't sure any more, he isn't sure he recognises the Serena Campbell he's spoken with today; it's certainly not the same woman he woke up with last week.
"She's incredibly busy and out of my hair," Ric deflects and the two men head off to give the Earnshaws the news about the kidney.
Ric leaves Malick to continue the kidney transplant and he finds himself sat outside the boardroom on the fifth floor just before four o'clock. He can hear Serena through the thin walls, making her pitch to the assembled suits; he has no way of knowing if the Board are buying Serena's spiel but Ric concedes that on her day, Serena Campbell could sell snow to the Eskimos. As he waits, Elliot's words play on his mind.
'The last few days she's been in the post, Ms. Campbell has already begun to interfere with non-essential procedures, clinical trials, ward budgets.' Ric resists the urge to pace as his friend's words contradict Serena's earlier promises. 'Now I understand that she's cutting clinical skills funding, which could directly affect Mr. Malick's position.'
'A Holby under her control is not something anyone wants.' The door opens and Serena covers her surprise well when she spots Ric.
"Change your mind?"
"Evidently." He answers in a bland tone.
"Well, best of luck." Ric doesn't answer her and strides past her, into the boardroom.
Ric doesn't have a fancy presentation like Serena; he's had no time to prepare one and all he can do is stand in front of the assembled interview panel to remind them about why they are here. What the hospital is here for.
The patients.
His pager beeps and it's Keller Theatre. Ric ignores it for the moment and carries on. His back-to-basics approach seems to be getting a positive response from what he can tell. When his pager beeps again, Ric has to put his money where his mouth is, excusing himself form the interview only part-way through. He is aware that he has probably ruined his chances but he's here to treat patients, not play politics. He has survived Hurricane Serena once, he'll survive again.
He isn't particularly surprised when the news comes through later at the fact that he didn't get the job. Ric is more surprised by the fact that Serena didn't either and the board have appointed and external candidate.
Ric heads to Albie's to have a quick drink after work. As first days back go, today was a particularly trying one in the grand scheme of things and one he was utterly unprepared for. He had only been gone a week but it was almost an unfamiliar hospital which he had returned to this morning.
Hanssen's leave of absence isn't entirely unexpected, Ric concedes, considering the amount of stress the man has been under recently but part of him finds it hard to accept that the unflappable man has actually caved.
Sadly, what doesn't surprise him is the way in which Serena Campbell has jumped at the chance to be the boss; the earth has barely settled on Hanssen's metaphorical grave and Serena is already dancing on it. Ric and Hanssen didn't always see eye-to-eye but Ric owes his life to the Swede and he has come to grudgingly believe that Hanssen did have the hospital's best interests at heart and certainly doesn't deserve the treatment he's been getting.
Tilting his nearly empty glass on its edge at 45 degrees, Ric contemplates his rival of the day and Serena's behaviour. He sighs to himself, today was not a normal day but the realisation that Serena has shown her true colours is an unpleasant one; he doesn't want to be case aside like the Swede – he got a taste of it earlier in Hanssen's office when Serena pulled rank, summoning him just before the kidney transplant and tried to lecture him.
'On your head be it'.
Ric can still hear Serena's voice issuing the warning and he sighs to himself; that was the straw which broke the camel's back and made up Ric's mind. He just has to find a way of telling Serena.
Ric's musing is broken by Chantelle Lane making an appearance somewhere to his left; they have a brief but odd conversation about cheese and Ric knows better than to ask the nurse to attempt to explain. He watches her bounce away, over to her date, someone from radiology, apparently.
"Can I get you another?" A very familiar and currently unwelcome voice sounds from behind him and Serena sits herself on the stool to his right. He knows they need to talk but he doesn't want to do it now.
"Actually, I was just off." He stands, gathering his coat from his lap, a strategic retreat is his best option at the moment.
"Don't give me that." Her tone of voice doesn't allow for any arguments. "After today, it's a night for a lock-in. Letting us make fools of ourselves like that, I'm spitting feathers." Ric watches Serena mutter angrily into the middle distance for a few moments before she turns around to him.
"Come on, I don't offer lightly."
"Just a small one for me." Ric finds himself conceding. "Thank you," he addresses the barman and the man nods, waiting on Serena's order.
"Usual, please." Ric sits back down, resting his arms on the bar, not realising that he and Serena are subconsciously mirroring one another, the tension and awkwardness between them palpable. "External acting CEO, really." Ric hears Serena huff. "Got any idea who they appointed?"
"None whatsoever." Ric finds he doesn't mind; they'll find out in due course and for the first time today, everyone else seems to be as in the dark as he is.
"Talk about 'we live in interesting times'." Serena thanks the barman who places their drinks in front of them, Ric nods his thanks silently. "What shall we drink to?"
"To Henrik." The surprise on Serena's face isn't unexpected; sadly Ric thought that Serena would have forgotten about the man already, dismissed him as a fallen rival while she indefatigably moves on to new targets and heights. "Wherever he is, I bet he's laughing."
"Hmmm." Serena looks as if she is weighing up Ric's suggestion in her mind before raising her glass and repeating Ric's toast. "To Henrik." They clink their glasses together before drinking to the health of the mysteriously departed enigmatic Swede.
One drink with Serena quickly becomes two and Ric makes himself call it a night before he drinks too much to be able to drive – he's cutting it fine as it is. Announcing his intention to Serena, he gathers his coat and briefcase once more, standing to leave and bidding her goodnight.
"Wait, Ric." Serena takes a final mouthful of wine and follows him out of Albie's and across the hospital forecourt to the staff car park. They travel in silence, traces of their earlier awkwardness becoming more pronounced as they walk.
Ric can see Serena's car parked further up, closer to the exit as he comes to a sudden halt all of nine foot away from his own can when Serena's fingers finds his forearm, sliding her hand down his wrist and tug him to a stop, holding his hand. He makes an effort to remove his hand from hers gently, careful not to snatch it back and taking a calming breath, Ric turns to face Serena, waiting to hear what she wants.
They're stood in the dark, barely illuminated staff car park just behind the Wyvern entrance to the hospital. There is just enough light for Ric to see Serena by and despite how he still feels about her, Ric knows that he can't continue whatever it is he has with Serena. What they had was certainly enjoyable while it lasted but it obviously wasn't meant to last. Today has demonstrated that Serena is more interested in the power she could wield and that is never going to make for a healthy relationship.
"I think today has shown that it's best to end things now for both our sakes." Ric says when Serena remains uncharacteristically quiet. Reluctant to step away, Ric allows himself a final kiss and he presses his lips to Serena's, lingering for a few moments longer than he knows he should.
"Ric-" Serena starts as he pulls away.
"No Serena, I'm sorry." Serena huffs and glances away, the ambient light is just enough for him to see her jaw clenching. "I am sorry but I don't think that you are."
Ric decides he needs to leave now, when things are still just this side of amicable before either he or Serena say anything regrettable. "I'll see you tomorrow." Ric turns and heads towards his car, looking into the rear view mirror once he is settled in the driver's seat at Serena, stood watching him before she moves off in the direction of her own car.
Ric rests his head back against the headrest, eyes closed; knowing he has done the right thing doesn't make it any easier to swallow. Ric is determined not to let this affect their working relationship and concedes that Hanssen's decision to demote Serena to AAU may be a blessing in disguise and just what they need if they are ever going to recover.
Serena has left by the time Ric reverses out of his parking spot and as he drives past the vacant spot, he exhales, thinking about how much difference a day can make.
"I kept expecting Serena to turn up on my doorstep, all fire and brimstone, ready to tell me that I was an idiot and just completely wrong." Ric sighs. "Yet again."
"Did she?" Elliot queries and Ric shakes his head.
"No," Ric answers, not confessing that he had wanted her to but he suspects that Elliot has already guessed as much, "she didn't." Ric had waited for a couple of hours, expecting the angry knock at the door until he admitted it wasn't going to happen and had eventually gone to bed, annoyed, confused and frustrated.
"What did she do?"
"Well, the next few days weren't what I expected."
"How so?"
AN: The end? Hell no.
Lots more still to come, we have to deal with Lilah and Imelda and the return of the Swede.
Drop me a line, let me know what you thought :)