I'm stuck at work again and seeing as it's really quiet, I couldn't resist another chapter. Thanks again for all the lovely reviews. I think this is the final chapter now.
Serena and Henrik remained silent for an hour as the policeman drove them through the treacherous snowy weather. They had both tried to explain themselves to the man, but had had no success.
Serena glanced over at Hernik who still seemed angry with her. In fairness, he was right; she had been the cause of their arrest. "I'm sorry," she whispered over to him.
Henrik glanced at her and then stared out the window. "Sometimes you really should consider what you say before you actually say it, Ms Campbell," he scolded.
"I'm sorry. I don't know how many times you expect me to apologize. I'm happy to do it again."
"Perhaps you should apologize to the man whose nose you may have broken," Henrik whispered.
Serena hated the idea of apologizing to the little dweeb, but she did owe Henrik. "Look, I'm sorry for slipping and hitting your nose."
The policeman just snorted as he glanced back at them in the rear view mirror.
"It doesn't look that bad actually," she tried to sound caring. "It looks good."
"No thanks to you."
Henrik suppressed a smile. He knew Serena was used to talking her way out of things and she didn't seem to be getting anywhere with this young man.
"So, how are you going to describe this to your colleagues?" Serena asked curiously. "Tell them that a middle aged doctor lady hit you in the face?"
Henrik's head snapped towards her. Was she trying to get them into more trouble?
"Assault is a serious crime," the policeman said.
"Yes, but I didn't assault you. I slipped in the snow."
"That's your word against mine."
"Actually, it's not," Henrik finally piped up. "I witnessed it."
"Well, you would cover for your girlfriend, wouldn't you?"
"I'm hardly his girlfriend," Serena snapped. In truth, she wasn't really sure what they were to each other anymore.
"Yeah, well . . ." the policeman stopped in mid-sentence as he turned the corner and a white Toyota veered out in front of them, completely out of control on the slippery road. Serena looked up just in time to see it and made a little childlike whimpering sound, squeezing her eyes shut. She felt the whole car jerk violently, slamming both her and Henrik against the seats in front of them and then begin to roll onto its side. Serena slid down and into Henrik who was pinned against the door.
Hearing him make a little grunt of pain, she desperately tried to move away without hurting him any further, but the handcuffs were making it impossible. "I'm sorry," she grimaced, feeling as though someone had taken a baseball bat to her skull.
"That's quite alright," Henrik tried to assure her, but he was obviously in pain.
"Hey! Mr Policeman!" She yelled. "How about giving us a hand?"
There was silence. Serena tried to peer over the front seat and saw him slumped over the passenger's seat. "Hello?"
"I think he's unconscious," Henrik mumbled.
"Well, this is a great way to end the day," Serena breathed, trying to move into the front seat. She reached up and hung onto the head restraint, most of her body was still resting against Henrik.
Henrik pressed against the door and lifted his hips up, giving Serena enough support to pull herself over into the front seat. It might have appeared quite comical to anyone uninvolved; Serena was now hanging half in the front section of the vehicle and half in the back. She was reaching over to retrieve the keys from the policeman who was still non-responsive.
"Any luck?" Henrik asked, unable to see through the front seat.
"Uh," Serena felt a little uncomfortable whilst rummaging through the man's pockets. "I feel like a sexual predator."
"Well, not only did you break his nose but now you're violating him too," Henrik managed to smirk.
Serena paused. "That would actually be funny if we weren't in this predicament."
"Sorry," Henrik replied sheepishly.
Serena suppressed a smile as she finally found the small silver keys. "Got it!"
Henrik couldn't help but watch as she wriggled about, trying to free herself from the handcuffs and remembered how close they had come to consummating their relationship. What would have happened if they had not been disturbed?
"Henrik," Serena called as she pulled her legs over to the driver's side and leaned back over to unlock Henrik's handcuffs. She was conscious of the fact that she was now resting her knees against the unconscious police officer, but he deserved it.
As soon as Henrik tossed the handcuffs aside, he proceeded to kick the back window out. "How is he? Can we move him?"
Serena felt for a pulse. "Pulse is strong," she watched as his eyes flickered open. "Well, you can't blame this on me."
"That's what you think," the policeman smirked.
"Glad to see you haven't lost your sense of humour," Serena smiled. "But can you move?"
The young man started getting up. "I think I'm okay."
"Follow me out?" Serena motioned to the back window.
"Ladies first."
Serena reached back to Henrik who caught her and helped her crawl out through the back window. They waited for the policeman before moving away from the car. The Toyota was situated against a nearby tree.
Henrik was the first to head over to make sure the driver was okay. "Ms Campbell, I could use a hand here," he called back.
The sentence filled Serena with dread. They were in the middle of nowhere with no medical equipment and it would take hours for an ambulance to get out to them. She jogged over to him and peered into the front seat. A man was slumped over his steering wheel, bleeding profusely from the head and the woman beside him was obviously not conscious. The side of her head was bleeding from hitting the window.
"I'll get the woman," Serena said as she headed to the other side of the car, struggling to open the door. "Policeman! Give me a hand!"
The policeman joined her. "I think it's safe for you to call me Jeff under these circumstances," the policeman mumbled.
"First name basis already," Serena said absent minded while watching the woman, trying to assess the damage.
Jeff finally managed to pry the door open and stepped aside to allow Serena access to the woman. She immediately felt for a pulse. It was weak, but she was still alive. The head wound was extensive and she knew from experience that there was a significant risk of brain damage. "Jeff, do you have a first aid kit in your car?"
"I'll get it," he rushed back to his patrol car.
"It's alright," Henrik said to the man who was starting to regain consciousness. "You've been involved in a collision. I'm a doctor."
The man was trying to speak, but wasn't making any sense. His nose was bleeding and it was obvious that the bone had been severed. Henrik could only hope that it had not lodged into his brain. He glanced over at Serena, noting the panic in her eyes. The only thing they could do was try to stabilize them with whatever tools they had.
Jeff passed Serena the first aid kit. It was a standard kit with some bandages, plasters, gloves, antiseptic spray and sterile gauze. Serena gently moved the woman's head back against the head restraint, not particularly wanting to move her in case she had injured her spine, but she needed to stop the bleeding. She placed a bandage against her head, watching as it turned a dark crimson red.
"Here," she passed some bandages to Henrik. "Jeff, please tell me you've called for help."
"Help is on the way. They're about thirty minutes away."
That wasn't as bad as Serena had thought. She pressed down on the bandage again, pausing as she heard an ominous gargling sound. Serena reached down to feel for a pulse and felt her blood run cold. There was nothing. She had stopped breathing. "Okay, Jeff, I need your help."
Jeff raced over to her. "We need to move her onto the ground. Quickly!"
Jeff pulled off his jacket and laid it down over the snow as they both tried to move the woman out of the car.
"Gently," Serena ordered as they got her onto the ground. She started chest compressions, wishing the ambulance would get to them before it was too late.
"Where is she?" The man had suddenly shouted from the driver's seat.
"She's been injured. We are trying to help her," Henrik was saying.
Serena couldn't pay attention to what was going on. She was too busy trying to get the woman's heart to start pumping again.
Henrik had known the second that Serena had called Jeff over for assistance that the woman had stopped breathing. Every doctor had always been taught not to move a patient if they were considered to have a spinal injury, but life had to be preserved and therefore in the event of resuscitation, the patient could be moved, even if it resulted in paralysis. The fact that Serena was now having to resuscitate the woman did not bode well. The man was desperately trying to see where his wife was. "Try to remain calm," Henrik said. "Help is on the way. We are doing everything possible for her."
Serena continued with compressions until she noticed some blood drip out of the woman's mouth. She instantly knew that her lungs had filled with blood. There was nothing more to be done for her. She checked the woman's eyes and breathed out slowly as she realized that they were fixed and dilated. She was gone.
Jeff stared down at her; his face pale as the snow.
Serena had to swallow hard, trying to rid herself of the sinking feeling that came from losing a patient. She could still hear Henrik trying to reassure the woman's partner. She knew he would realize that she was dead if she left the woman's side; so instead, she stayed where she was, staring down at the young woman's body. She couldn't even feel the snow as it started to melt into the material of her trousers.
Two ambulances finally arrived and the medics immediately assisted Henrik in removing the male patient from the car. He turned to see his wife's lifeless body on the snow and screamed.
Serena watched them pull his wailing body into the ambulance and slam the doors shut behind him. Jeff gave a wave as he climbed in with them. She watched as it disappeared from her vision.
"You did everything you could," Henrik said from beside her.
Serena nodded. She knew there was nothing else she could do, but it didn't make it hurt any less.
"Here," she felt Henrik cover her with a blanket from the ambulance. She hadn't even realized that she'd been shivering.
"We need to have you checked out," the paramedic said to them both.
"Any chance you could take us through to Holby City?" Henrik asked.
"Sure, it's not too far away," the paramedic said. "We'll need to drop her off at the mortuary," the man motioned to the dead woman.
Both Serena and Henrik had been examined by the paramedic on their drive over to Holby. They had a few cuts and bruises, but were in remarkably good shape.
They thanked the paramedics as they got out and strolled into the reception area, looking worse for wear. Serena was acutely aware of everyone's eyes on them. She was too tired to care. Stepping into the lift, they simultaneously leaned against the metal panels. It had been a crazy few days.
The team building seminar had turned into an action packed, crazy, confusing couple of days.
As soon as the lift opened, they both stepped out, walking side by side down the corridor, ignoring the befuddled looks from the rest of the staff. Serena was heading to Henrik's office and he seemed to sense this. He unlocked the door and pushed it open, waiting for Serena to enter. It seemed so serene and tranquil; away from the prying eyes from the staff.
Serena headed straight for the sofa and threw herself down, squeezing her eyes shut. She was exhausted. She had never felt so completely drained in her life.
Henrik was wondering how he was going to fetch his car in the morning. He would have to get a lift in. He wondered if Serena would be willing to do it as he finished making them both a cup of coffee. Bringing it over to her, he paused as he watched her huddled up under the blanket she had stolen from the ambulance. He would never have previously been happy to see her on his sofa, but the last few days had seemed to change that. He couldn't imagine anyone he'd rather see at the moment.
"What?" Serena asked, opening one eye to watch him.
Henrik shook his head and proceeded towards her, handing her a cup of coffee before taking a seat beside her. She shuffled closer to him so that she could rest her head against his shoulder, pulling the blanket across both of them.
Henrik smiled. "I suppose we're not going to jail anymore."
"Oh, I think that ship has sailed," Serena sipped her coffee.
"It was a close call."
"Indeed," she smiled sarcastically, almost mocking him.
"Indeed," he smiled again.
They both fell silent and fell asleep within minutes. Serena's head was rested against his shoulder and his arm was wrapped around her.
"I'm telling you, baseball is a lot more fun than football," Michael Spence pushed the door open, oblivious to Henrik's return as he tossed his file on the Swede's immaculate desk. He paused as he turned to leave. "Oh my."
"What is it?" Jonny Maconie peered into Mr Hanssen's office and caught sight of the two of them asleep.
"Now that's called team work," Michael giggled, pulling out his mobile to take a photo.
"They will kill you, you know," Jonny whispered.
"Meh," Michael shrugged. "This is worth it."