Serena lay awake in her bed as her alarm went off, she had not managed to get much sleep during the night, and her mind would not switch off. She reached for her mobile and looked at it hoping deep down that Ric had sent a message but he had not. She searched for his name and hovered her finger over the call button, she wanted to speak to him, she needed to speak to him, and they needed to sort out what happened last night. Before she dialled his number, she had second thoughts, he had not messaged her so maybe he did not want to speak to her, and maybe what happened last night had ruined everything. She sighed as she placed the phone back on the bedside cabinet, she knew she needed to get up but it was the last thing she wanted to do.
An hour later, she headed to work as normal, wondering whether she would see Ric today or not. She hoped she would;she wanted him to return to work as soon as possible. She needed to talk to him and she wanted his help with her mother, whether he would want to give it now though was another matter. She knocked on Guy Self's door "Come in" he called Serena entered and held out the report "The report you requested"
"Better late than never I suppose"
"I think that is uncalled for, I have never let you down, but the pressure you put on me and Professor Hope yesterday was unnecessary, our jobs are hard enough without pressure from above"
"Well you know what they say...if you cannot cope with the pressure get out of the job"
"I never said I couldn't cope but you changing the goal posts every five minutes are unacceptable and unfair. You really do need to look at the way you treat you staff because one day you will wake up and you will have none! Now if that is all"
"No it's not, sit," he demanded
"I'm not a dog"
"Your mother"
"What about her?" she asked angrily, she had only been in work five minutes and Guy had already managed to wind her up
"Serena did you listen to anything I said to you yesterday...your mother nearly caused a death here and I can't have it happening again so what are you doing about it"
"What do you expect me to do Guy, lock her up, chain her to a lamppost, what would you do if it was your mother"
"I wouldn't have let it get this far if it was my mother"
"Well I'm sorry we can't all be as perfect as you," she snapped
"I'm not sure I like your tone"
"And I'm not sure I like you telling me what to do about my family, I don't go around telling you how to deal with yours and let's be fair Guy if we want to talk about liabilities I think you should look a bit closer to home before picking on my mother. My mother has dementia, it's a progressive disease as you know and I am dealing with it and that is all you need to know"
Before he could reply, there was a knock on the door and Ric appeared "Ah Mr. Griffin your back"
"I just popped in to have a word, discuss my intentions of returning"
"Of course, please take a seat...we are nearly finished"
Serena looked towards Ric and he gave her a warm smile "Serena how are you dealing with it, how are you going to stop what happened yesterday happening again. This hospital can't afford to have any more negative press, especially when the deputy CEO is involved"
Ric could see Serena trying to hold back her tears, he knew the subject of her mother was still very raw, it had taken him hours to get her to open up to him about it the previous night and Guy putting pressure on her wasn't going to help. "Well?" Guy asked, "Lost your tongue now Ric has arrived"
"Guy that's uncalled for" Ric interrupted "I'm sure Serena is perfectly aware that the hospital needs positive press and not negative. She wants to improve this hospital as much as the rest of us; she was only saying yesterday that she wants to help promote Dementia"
"You were?" Guy asked, Serena looked confused, she hadn't mentioned raising the profile of dementia in the hospital at all
"Yes she is working on a little project; I said I would help her that's why I want to come back sooner than planned. We do not want to say too much about it now but once we have it planned, we will pass it through you, it will be good for the hospital. As far as her family are concerned I don't feel it is our place to comment, I'm sure Serena has it all under control now" she smiled at him to say thank you for saving her once again
"Very well, you may go and I look forward to seeing these plans"
Serena nodded before heading for the door, she looked back at Ric before she left and he smiled. As she left she found herself more confused than ever, why would he do all that if he did not care, if he did not have feelings for her, but after last night, he made it clear kissing her was a mistake. Her life was becoming more complicated by the minute but she needed to get back in control of it somehow.
The rest of the morning Serena spent in theatre so she had not seen Ric at all since he turned up in Guys office that morning. She walked through the corridors to Keller and found Ric talking to Sasha by the nurse's station. She smiled as she watched him laughing and joking with Sasha and Arthur, obviously telling tales of his recent adventures, something she had yet to ask him about "ah here she is" Sasha said, "Holby's queen"
She blushed "I'm hardly that"
"Did you know this man was back?" he asked
"I had heard" she smiled
"Yes we bumped into each other this morning" Ric continued "In Self's office"
"Oh I don't know what has got into him lately, the way he pushes his weight about, I know he's the boss, but there are ways to speak to people"
"I heard he has been rather hard on certain individuals lately" he looked towards Serena "He will learn"
"Right well I have patients to see...come on Dr. Digby...lovely to have you back Ric" Sasha tapped Ric on the shoulder
"Are you staying around for a bit?" Serena asked
"Yes Guy has asked me to do his list this afternoon"
"What today?" she looked shocked "Oh that man is incredible" she placed a set of notes on the nurse's station
"I don't mind, it will give me something to do"
"I thought maybe we could talk," she suggested
"Later, right now I have to sort out some paperwork and then do the two operations on the list"
"Ric I really think we need to talk about last night" she placed her hand on his arm
"There is nothing to talk about, my behaviour was unacceptable and I apologise, itwill not happen again"
"I see" she looked disappointed, in fact, she felt like she had just been kicked in the stomach.
Her feelings for him were getting stronger and stronger and his well his seemed to be disappearing fast "See you later" he smiled before heading off towards the office
"Yeah later"
Serena stood and watched him walk into the office "Serena" Collette called "Are you ok?"
"Yes...yes fine" she smiled slightly
"I need you to take a look at Mr. Charles; he is refusing treatment from us all"
"Well if he doesn't want treatment we can't make him"
"He asked for you" Collette passed her his notes
She sighed, this was the last thing she needed right now, all she wanted to do was hide away in the office and get drunk. "Very well, where is he?"
"Bay one, bed four"
Serena made her way towards the young lad's bed only to find it empty "Where is he?" she asked
"He was here a minute ago...Zosia did you see where Mr. Charles went?" Collette called
"Yes he's over here," she pointed towards the exit
"If he wants to leave there isn't a lot we can do about it, get him to sign a form and let him go. I haven't the time for time wasters today," Serena said sternly
"OK" Collette agreed as she approached the young man, "Mr. Charles I have spoken to Mrs. Campbell and she said she cannot force you to have treatment and if you want to leave you just have to sign a form to sayit's against medical advice"
"Where is she?" he asked angrily "is that her?" he pointed towards Serena who was heading back to the office "Oi Mrs. Campbell" he shouted
"If you don't mind lowing your tone, this is a ward full of sick people and please do not address me with Oi"
"How else was I going to get your attention?"
"What can I do for you Mr. Charles, my nurses tell me that you're refusing treatment, it would be against my advice for you to leave, but I am unable to stop you. If that is your wish one of the nurses will get a form for you to sign and then you are free to go," she said before turning to continue towards the office, she could see Ric watching from the doorway, he had heard the raised voices. Before she stepped any further Mr. Charles grabbed Serena by the arm and swung her around, she lost her balance and hit the wall. Before anything else happened Ric appeared from the office, grabbed Mr. Charles by the collar, and held him up against the wall "You do not treat woman like that" he hissed "Especially ones trying to help you"
"Ric" Serena called placing her arm on his "Ric let him go, he didn't hurt me...Ric please"
Ric let him drop to the floor and stormed off towards the end of the ward "What just happened there?" Collette asked looking shocked. She was not as shocked as Serena was; Ric's reaction was so out of character for him, what was going on in his head.
"I don't know," she admitted as she watched him disappear in the distance
"He's only been back five minutes and he's already causing trouble...if Mr Self finds out about this..."
"Mr. Charles, are you ok?" Serena asked, "I apologise for my colleague's behaviour"
"No I'm sorry, I shouldn't have grabbed you, I didn't mean to frighten you or hurt you...I just wanted you to talk to me...I'm scared"
"Oh Mr. Charles...I'm sorry...would you like to talk now?"
"I just want to know if I will be able to work again if I have this operation, I'm a fireman see and they are so strict on fitness...I don't want to lose my job" he said as they walked back to his bed
"Obviously the operation carries risk as does all operations but there is nothing to suggest at present that it won't go well and you will make a full recovery. It shouldn't affect you're place in the fire service"
"That doctor told me it would," he pointed towards Zosia
"I apologise, Dr. March is one of our junior doctors and is still learning, she wouldn't have meant to frighten you. I also apologise for Mr. Griffin's behaviour it was unacceptable"
"If you want to take it further we can get the necessary paperwork" Collette butted in and Serena glared at her, she did not want Ric's behaviour highlighted to Mr. Self if she could help it. He had been in enough trouble before he went away and she wanted to get to the bottom of hi behaviour herself without Guy interrupting.
"Or you could just accept my apology and leave it at that, a misunderstanding on both our parts"
"Yes I don't want to take it further; it was my fault...and thank you Mrs. Campbell"
"My pleasure, I will see you in theatre" she smiled "Collette a word please"
Collette followed her to the nurse's station "What are you playing at?" Serena asked
"I was giving the patient the option, its protocol Serena, Ric attacked him"
Serena laughed, "I would hardly call it an attack, I am not excusing Mr. Griffin's behaviour, but it was very out of character for him. If we take this to Mr. Self, I will feel I have no option other than to also highlight Dr. Marsh's lack of tact while dealing with patients. I would rather deal with this myself than get Mr. Self-involved, is that clear"
"Perfectly"
"Thank you" she replied before she headed off to find Ric, she needed to find out what had gotten into him.
She searched everywhere for him but no one had seen him, Sasha had suggested she try theatre as he was due to operate in half hour, it was her last hope. She also had a theatre slot in half an hour so she changed into her scrubs and entered the scrub room where she found Ric sitting alone staring at the floor.
"I been looking everywhere for you" she said "Do you want to tell me what the hell happened back there, I have spent the last half hour trying to persuade Collette and Mr. Charles not to take it any further"
"Let them take it further, I deserve whatever is coming" he replied
She moved closer to him "what the hell has got into you?"
"I thought he was hurting you" he admitted, "Ok there it is...I thought I was helping you"
"Ric we have been in these positions before, it is part of the job you know that. If he was hurting me security would have been called immediately but as it happens he was just a scared patient because our lovely Dr. Marsh told him he would lose his job if he had the operation"
Ric stood up and washed his hands "I'm sorry I was out of order"
"Yes you were but what I don't understand is why you did it"
"I told you I thought he was hurting you" he slammed his hands on the sink making her jump "I saw him grab you and I saw red, I didn't think I just acted"
"Ric" she placed her hand on his arm and turned him to face her "but why did you see red...I thought you didn't care anymore"
Ric laughed and turned back around staring into the sink "I don't care...is that what you think?" he asked
"You told me what happened was a mistake what else am I supposed to think"
"Oh I care Serena...I care too much that's the problem" he replied still staring into the sink
"But you said..."
"I lied" he snapped, "I lied because I didn't want you thinking badly of me"
"Ric look at me" she said softly "Ric...please" he turned around to face her with tears in his eyes for the second time
"I saw him touch you, grab you and I saw red, it has never happened before because I wasn't in... I wasn't..."
"You weren'twhat Ric?" Serena moved closer to him and placed her hand on his face
"Because I wasn't in love with you before" he blurted out, she could not believe she had just heard those words come out of his mouth "I know I have no right but I..." Serena silenced him by placing her lips against his, kissing him softly "Serena I don't want you to feel I have pushed you into this"
"When you told me it was a mistake earlier, my heart sank, I didn't want you to go last night, I wanted you to stay. After you left I sat on the stairs breaking my heart"
"I couldn't take advantage of you, I thought I was doing the right thing leaving...I never wanted to hurt you. I have tried to fight my feelings but they are too strong" He placed his one hand behind her head and allowed their lips to crash together once again this time with urgency and passion. As the kiss intensified, their lips parted and allowed their tongues to explore each other's mouths. Their lips parted after a few moments to gain some control over their breathing and they smiled at each other
"That was worth the wait" she smiled "Ric...I think I have fallen in love with you...I told myself not too, your my best friend, we work together and if this goes wrong it will be messy, but I just cannot hide my feelings for you any longer. I have hated you not being around these past few months"
"We have a lot to talk about" he admitted "No one is saying it's going to be easy but unless we give ourselves a chance how will we know if it will work or not" he rubbed her cheek with his thumb
"Do you think it could work if we decided to give it a go?" she rested her head against his chest as he hugged her
"I don't have any answers Serena, all I can promise is I will give it my all" he kissed the top of her head "Let's go back to mine after work, get a takeaway and talk"
"Yes that would be lovely" she smiled "I had better get going before we get caught" she looked up at him and kissed him softly before leaving the scrub room to head to her theatre.
The last 24 hours had been such an emotional rollercoaster for her but right now, she was happy. She knew there was a lot to talk about and that she didn't know what was going to happen along their way but to have the support of Ric made her feel stronger. She knew she did not need him to get through the tough challenge she was going to need to face, but she wanted him and that was the difference.
