Thanks everyone for your lovely reviews. They always make me want to write more. Hope this doesn't disappoint.x
Serena waited with baited breath, her eyes fixated on the door. She was trying to listen out for Henrik's footsteps, but was having difficulty over the loud thumping of her heart. This was a mistake; the whole stupid seminar was a mistake, but this was something that could affect both of their careers. It was short sighted and based only on some peculiar burning passion which was never a good thing. She tried to calm herself down, but the thought of Henrik stepping through the door was only making it worse. She was so angry with him, but at the same time all she wanted was to rip his shirt off.
She moved into the bathroom and splashed some cold water onto her face, still acutely aware of any noises in the corridor.
After almost half an hour of pacing around the room, Serena came to the conclusion that Henrik was not going to appear. Perhaps she had scared him off. Perhaps he had finally come to his senses. She tried to ignore the hint of disappointment that had settled in her mind as she stared at his overnight bag that had been placed neatly in the far corner of the room.
She desperately wanted to go find him and talk everything through. Both of them had said some rather awful things to each other and she hated the idea of having said something that had hurt him, but at the same time she wasn't sure she could trust herself around him. It was already quite obvious how quickly things could escalate from a conversation to a full blown argument and then to a make-out session. And there was still a part of her that was attracted to the man.
Maybe they could put everything down to what had happened earlier and having been thrown into a completely different situation and location. People tended to act differently than they usually would when placed under those kinds of circumstances.
A knock at the door made her blood run cold and she hesitantly moved towards the door, taking a deep breath before opening it.
"Hi," John smiled.
Serena rolled her eyes in reply.
"Sorry to bother you so late," he smiled back.
"Is there something I can help you with?" She asked impatiently, glancing over his shoulder.
"Oh, well, I was wondering if you and Mr Hanssen would be interested in spending tomorrow completing the team building seminar."
Serena stared back at him incredulously. "Is this a joke?"
"I've spoken to my managers and they feel that you've all been cheated of what should have been an enjoyable experience and that we should provide a free day of training."
"Oh how magnanimous of them," she smirked, folding her arms.
"Well, what do you say? Join us?"
Serena was about to tell him to jump off the roof, but then realized that it might be a good excuse to go and speak to Henrik. "I'll need to confer with my colleague."
"Absolutely," John gave her a smarmy smile.
Serena gave him a repulsed look before physically pushing him out of her way so that she could leave the room.
"I suggest you get your beauty sleep. You'll need it for tomorrow," he called after her.
"I wish you were the one on the way to hospital right now," she mumbled, glancing back to ensure he hadn't heard her. She reached the reception area and tried to imagine where Henrik would be. He wasn't in the restaurant and the hotel seemed empty apart from the night porter.
"Can I help?" He asked her politely.
"I'm looking for a colleague of mine," she replied sweetly. "He's insanely tall."
"Ah," the man smiled knowingly. "I believe he's in the bar."
"Oh," Serena raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Thank you." She stepped into the darkened bar area and paused as she made out the silhouette of a man sitting in the corner of the room, staring out the window. He seemed to be holding a whiskey tumbler in his right hand. He looked as though he was deep in thought and Serena almost felt like she would be intruding by interrupting him.
She took a step closer and watched him turn to look at her. She couldn't see his face and was therefore slightly uncertain whether she should continue towards him or not. He made no effort to stand, but sat in perfect stillness as she moved closer.
Her heart rate started increasing again and she consciously tried to calm her nerves.
"Ms Campbell," Henrik said softly as he watched her stand in front of him. He wasn't entirely sure if he saw some uncertainty in her face or if it was just exhaustion.
"Uh," she tried to think of something to say. "Mind if I join you?"
Henrik paused for a moment before motioning for her to sit down.
"I just ran into John," she started as she took a seat. "He wants us to join the seminar tomorrow – apparently it's a freebie seeing as our experience has been somewhat tainted by what's happened."
"I don't think that's a good idea," Henrik answered, his eyes tearing away from her to stare out the window.
"Well, I couldn't agree more," she smiled, watching him closely. Had she really brought him to drink? "I was tempted to tell John to get stuffed, but I thought that . . . as a team . . . we would need to make the decision together."
Henrik snorted at the thought of them as a team.
"I didn't know that whiskey was your choice of poison," she tried to make small talk.
"Perhaps you should get some sleep, Ms Campbell," he answered. "You look tired."
She could tell by his dismissive manner that he was not in the mood to talk to her. "Okay," she paused, watching him, wondering if she should push the matter. "So, what time do you want to drive back tomorrow?"
"It depends on the roads," he answered.
Serena got up to leave. "Are you coming to bed?"
"Have a good night, Ms Campbell," he said as he sipped his drink.
She turned around and was half way out the room when she heard herself call back over to him. "Maybe staying on for this seminar wouldn't be such a bad thing. Clearly we need some help communicating," she said in a whisper before leaving Henrik to his own devices.
He heard her leave and wondered why she had actually come down to see him. She had been so desperate to get away earlier on; to remove herself from the situation that she herself had created. Once again, Serena Campbell was able to dodge the repercussions from her actions. He slammed the glass down on the table harder than he had intended and the sound echoed through the room.
He knew it was wrong to blame her for this. He had been the first to act on his feelings, but she had in no way discouraged him. He wasn't sure what frustrated him the most; the fact that this attraction was so inconvenient or the fact that he was attracted to a woman he distrusted. It was obscenely abnormal.
He had always been impressed with Serena's accomplishments. That was the reason he had hired her and the reason he had kept her on after the complications with the non-referrals policy that she had decided on implementing. The truth was he appreciated risk-taking and he appreciated intelligence; all the traits that she clearly possessed. He had been intrigued by her ideas on a number of occasions and he would find himself thinking about her ideas and concepts even when he was not at work. In that way, she had managed to find a way into his car, into his home and on some nights, even into his bed. She had managed to break through his defences and it annoyed him to no end. But he could not blame her for it.
Perhaps she was right; the team building seminar might be a good way to learn to deal with her. The relationship between them had never been as bad. And this confusing attraction was only making it worse.
Serena awoke to a knock at the door. She jumped off of the bed, realizing that she had finished off the bottle of red wine from the mini bar and passed out on the bed. She didn't even bother to look in the mirror as she opened the door, barely having time to glance at her watch. It was 8:30 in the morning. Henrik stood staring back at her. She assumed she looked as dishevelled as he did.
"Morning, Ms Campbell," he greeted.
"What happened to you last night?" She asked curiously.
"I slept in the empty room," he answered, waiting for her to step aside so that he could get into the room.
Serena quickly remembered that the elderly couple had been sent to the hospital so their room would have been empty. She side stepped, allowing him to move passed her to get his overnight bag. "You could have come to fetch your bag."
"I didn't want to wake you."
Serena ran a hand through her hair, trying to stroke through the bits that were standing on end.
"It appears that was good idea after all," he said, glancing at the empty bottle of wine.
Serena ignored him and looked out the window. "What time are you planning on leaving this morning?"
"We'll be staying for the morning section of the seminar," Henrik said and tried to supress a smile as Serena's jaw dropped.
"I'm sorry, what?"
"We'll be attending the morning part," he repeated, gathering up his nightclothes that he had dumped over the chair when they had been called to assist with the stabbing. "Obviously we need to get back to Holby today so we'll have to miss the afternoon part."
"And what made you decide this?"
"I think it's a good idea," he said. "Don't you?"
Serena just stared back at him as he made his way towards the door with his belongings. She was hardly about to argue with him. She stood in silence after he left for a good few minutes before deciding she really needed a change of clothes.
After making trying to make herself look slightly more presentable, she rushed into town and was forced to buy some new clothes and a few necessities. The snow had been cleared from the main roads, so it might be possible for them to get home if they travelled slowly.
She just had time to shower and reapply some newly purchased makeup before she met Henrik for breakfast. He seemed somewhat more pleasant than he had the last time she had seen him.
"I hope you're feeling rested," John called to them in an annoying cheerful voice.
Serena took a deep breath. "And so it begins."
"The man is an idiot," Serena sighed. "I don't even know how he can think of himself as a life coach or whatever the hell it is that he calls himself."
Henrik smiled as he carefully maneuvered the car down the road. "At least his jovial spirit was consistent."
"Jovial?" Serena spat. "You mean his completely fake, pretentious, smarmy attitude?"
Henrik didn't reply. He simply nodded in agreement. John was definitely a creep.
"And did you notice how he picked on the women?" Serena seethed. "I presume he thinks he can get away with it because a woman won't punch him in the face."
"That's not necessarily true. Have you in fact met Jac Naylor?"
Serena chuckled at the thought. "I would have paid good money to see him try his team building nonsense on her."
Hanssen had to smile at the idea. As much as he despised being forced to publicly humiliate himself, he was pleased that he and Serena were on speaking terms again. Perhaps it had helped.
"Uh oh," Serena took a closer look out her window. "It's starting to snow again."
"We should make it home safely," Henrik said, more to comfort her than for anything else. He had noticed the clouds assemble and had been a bit worried about driving, but he couldn't imagine being hauled up in that hotel any longer.
"Maybe this isn't such a good idea," Serena started squirming in her seat.
"It will be fine."
"So much for that," Serena huffed as Henrik pulled over to the side of the road, the snow now turning into a blizzard and making it impossible for him to see.
"There were no signs of severe weather," Henrik answered.
"I honestly thought Mr-I-Come-From-Sweden-And-Therefore-Know-What-Bad- Weather-Is would have been able to distinguish between rain clouds and blizzard clouds."
Henrik sighed. "It's not all that cut and dry."
"So now what?" Serena flung herself back into her seat, crossing her arms with a huff.
"Now we wait."
"For what? Better days?"
"We wait until the blizzard subsides."
"Which could be two days from now."
"Hardly," Henrik snapped. "If that were the case, then we would be trapped in another ice age."
Serena glanced at him as he pulled up the parking brake and rolled her eyes. "Lot of good that's going to do."
"Perhaps you would like to get out and walk?" Henrik heard himself say out loud.
"I'd like a cure for cancer, but isn't life a bitch?" She said sarcastically.
Henrik had to bite his tongue. He glanced over at her only to find her staring back at him, daring him to start another argument. "There are worse things in life," he finally said.
"Yes, I'm sure you know all about that," she snapped. She was annoyed. This was yet another delay. They would be lucky if they ever managed to get home at this rate.
"Taking your frustration out on me will only lead to another argument," Henrik said.
"Another argument," Serena said. "That's right, as a woman who is uncaring, unfeeling and malicious by nature, you're right, I tend to argue quite a lot with you."
Henrik shook his head. "Let's not start this again."
"Well, you're the one who said it last night."
"Well, I also seem to remember you calling me an insensitive, egotistic, socially inept, power monger."
"Oh how quaint," she said sarcastically. "You memorized it."
"Yes, it's quite difficult not to memorize the dreadful things you say. You're so good at saying it."
"Well, I tend to unleash myself on men who accuse me of trying to seduce them in order to get ahead in life; much like a common hooker."
"I never said . . ."
"You didn't have to!" Serena yelled. "Your implication was quite clear."
Henrik could feel the anger rising in him. This woman seemed to get the better of him at every corner. "Perhaps if you didn't present yourself as a power hungry woman who is willing to do anything to get what she wants . . ." Henrik had to stop himself. The words were just rolling off of his tongue.
"Oh, but it's perfectly fine for a man to act that way, is it? Because I think you just managed to successfully describe yourself!"
"I will not have . . ." Henrik was cut off as Serena leaned in to him and crushed his lips with hers. The heat emanating from her body increased his need to have her right up against him and he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him.
Serena couldn't explain why she had done what she did. She just needed to feel his lips against hers. She could feel his heart beating against her chest and pressed up closer to him, allowing his free hand to run down the side of her waist and down to her thigh. She could feel his kisses becoming more urgent and she didn't want it to stop.
Henrik felt Serena tug at his jacket and he moved forward so that she could push it off of his shoulders. He shrugged it off, only breaking contact with her lips for a split second before greedily returning. He felt her begin to unbutton his shirt and in turn pushed her back into her seat and hovered over her as he helped her with the buttons and tossed his shirt into the backseat.
Serena pulled him down onto her, running her fingernails down his back. She allowed him to unbutton her blouse and kissed his face as he glanced down at her. They had not had time to get this far before the emergency services had turned up. Henrik's heavy breathing only seemed to encourage her lust for him. She reached down to unbuckle his belt when they both paused.
"What was that?" She breathed.
Henrik glanced through the back window which was now completely steamed up and cursed.
"What is it?" Serena whispered in a panic as Henrik quickly reached into the backseat for his shirt. Serena sat up as there was another knock at the window. Glancing back she noticed the distinct flashing blue lights.
"Oh shit."