Author's note: By popular demand, I bring you… chapter 2!

Before I begin, I just want to say thank you so much to everyone who has read this so far, and especially to those who have reviewed - I will thank you all personally in a moment. I'm glad you seem to share my ideas about where the Sahira/Hanssen relationship should go, and I hope that this chapter is more of the sort of thing you would want for them. Please do let me know what you think, and whether I'm going in the right direction - suddenly I feel a lot of responsibility to "do the right thing" by them! Hope you enjoy :)

Chapter Two

The knock at the door of Henrik's office startled him slightly. It was late, and he wasn't on call tonight. He couldn't think who could possibly need to talk to him at this time of night.

He didn't have to wait long to find out. Before he had even finished saying "Come in," Sahira had closed the door behind her. He looked up only briefly, just long enough for her to register the distaste in his expression, then returned to his work. She approached his desk cautiously.

"Henrik," she began, but he cut her off sharply.

"Are you sure you should be here, Ms Shah? After all, we wouldn't want any more rumours spreading, would we?"

Sahira gave an exasperated sigh. It appeared he wasn't going to make this easy for her.

"I'm sorry… for going off on one at you earlier." And for pretty much saying I wouldn't touch you with a barge pole, she added silently.

Henrik replaced the cap on his pen and set it down gently on his desk. Shifting his glasses, he finally looked up at her.

"I'm not stupid, you know," he said quietly. "I do hear the rumours that fly about this place. I know exactly what they say about me and you. About the… relationship we have." I also know that the very thought of it horrifies you, he added wordlessly.

"Then you must understand that it doesn't look great for me if people think I slept my way into this job?"

"You and I both know that's not true," he replied. "But I understand your concerns, and have no desire to cause you any further embarrassment, so I will respect your wishes and keep my distance in the future."

Sahira could see that he was struggling to hide the look of hurt and sadness on his face with one of indifference. Had it been anyone else he had been talking to, he would have succeeded, but Sahira knew him too well.

"It doesn't mean we can't be friends," she proffered, hopefully.

"That's all we ever were," he said ruefully. "But still we ended up here. If you want to stop the rumour-mill, it is necessary that we keep our relationship purely professional from now on."

"I didn't think you cared what people thought? Make your mind up, Henrik!"

"No, Sahira, YOU make your mind up!" he spat back, raising his voice now, anger flashing in his dark eyes. "I don't, generally speaking, give two hoots what anyone else thinks. But you clearly do, and I would hate to think that my behaviour would have a negative impact on you and your career. In fact that's completely the opposite of what I want for you. So if the opinions of others upset you so much, it's probably for the best if we just stay away from each other, unless it's unavoidable. We can't have you lowering yourself to my level, after all!"

Damnit! he thought, mentally kicking himself. That last sentence wasn't meant to be spoken aloud.

Shit! thought Sahira, cringing inwardly. That is what he's upset about.

"Henrik…" she sighed, hoping her more gentle tone would calm him a little. "…I know how it must have sounded this morning, and I apologise, I really do. That wasn't what I meant - it just… it just came out wrong. I have a lot of respect for you - as a colleague, and as a friend… I hope… we are friends, aren't we, Henrik?" She looked at him imploringly, begging him to understand, and to forgive her.

They regarded each other in an awkward silence for several moments. Eventually, he blinked slowly and nodded, almost begrudgingly.

"Well it's something I suppose," he finally said, with a wry smile. "I know I'm not exactly catch of the week, but it would be nice to think I wasn't totally repugnant to the female of the species." He paused for a second. A glimmer of wickedness crossed his face. "Doesn't change anything though: I'm still not going to go to bed with you."

His smile had reached his eyes now, and Sahira felt the relief flood over her as she realised the argument was over. She allowed herself to smile at his joke: if his trademark dry wit had returned, then he was alright.

Part of her still felt desperately sad though, that he should think so little of himself. He was so self-deprecating sometimes that it bordered on self-loathing, and she contemplated what could possibly have happened to him to make him feel like that. She wondered if he had ever known love. She knew that there had been nobody serious for at least the last ten years: for one, she was close enough to him to have known if there was, and in any case, he was never away from work for long enough to have any sort of relationship. She very much doubted he'd managed even a casual relationship in all that time. Although she had a sneaking suspicion that she would have been quite jealous if he had, she nevertheless found his apparent lack of a love life heartrending. He deserved to have someone to care about him; someone he could turn to when he'd had a bad day; someone he could just be himself with. He was the perfect gentleman: one of the last of his kind, it so often seemed. He had so much to offer, if only he could drag himself away from his work for long enough to let anyone in. She was certain that she was the closest friend he had, yet she felt like she had barely scratched the surface when it came to getting to know him. The more she thought about it, the more she realised how one-sided their friendship really was: she told him everything that was bothering her (aside from her domestic difficulties, of course - that would only give him ammunition), and he would do his best to soothe her and make things right. In contrast, he would never tell her a thing. She knew when he was unhappy, but he would never be drawn into conversation about it. All she could do for him was sit there in companionable silence, so that he at least knew he wasn't alone.

Sahira apparently wasn't the only one who was pondering the sorry state of Henrik's personal life. His smile had noticeably faded, and become sadder. His gaze left hers and drifted first to his desk, then to the window, and he appeared deep in thought. Sahira's heart broke a little at the thought that he really had believed that she found the idea of a relationship with him so abhorrent. Not that she could ever tell him of course- it was far too late now, not to mention totally inappropriate - but a few years ago, little could have been further from the truth. She wished he had even the vaguest idea how she had felt then.

Quite what came over her just then, she would never know, but what she did next surprised even Sahira.

Moving deftly around to his side of the desk, she perched on the edge, facing him. Reaching out to him, she gently cupped his face in both of her hands. Tilting his head so that she could look him straight in the eye, she held his gaze for a second. Then, closing her eyes, she kissed him tenderly on the lips.

Thoroughly dumbfounded, Henrik was, for once, utterly speechless.

"Just so you know." she said as she straightened up, smoothing down her blouse and hair.

And with that, she was gone.

For the second time that day, but for completely different reasons, Henrik found himself sitting alone at his desk, head spinning, in a state of mild shock.

And there we have it! I'm not sure whether to leave it there or not. It seems like a good ending-point, but I do kind of want to know where they go from here. Although that would probably take several more chapters - one can't rush these things, you know! What do you think? Please R&R if you can spare the time - it means a lot to me. Constructive criticism always welcome, so if I'm not quite hitting the nail on the head, let me know, and I'll work on it some more :) xx