It had already seemed to be a very long shift for Henrik but as he continued down the corridor to his office, what he didn't realise was that It had only just begun. For him, seeing Kristian again for the first time in years had stirred many a painful memories from his past, memories of his father, of what he did, of what they all did... to him. He had long since buried all of these thoughts, all of his memories, somewhere deep, deep down inside of him, in a place where they could no longer bother him anymore. Despite all this though, he still felt petrified of anything that might happen and what Sahira might unearth but most of all, he was worried about Sahira. She was really worried about him and he knew that. Again this was one of the many things that he loved about her and that he always would do, no matter what she did. "Henrik, are you ok?" the soft voice of Sahira interrupted his thoughts. He turned around to face her and instantly felt himself relax under her gaze. She always had this effect on him and she was the only one who had really taken the effort to get to know him.
Sahira meanwhile was waiting for an answer with a somewhat worried expression on her face. She'd never seen him anymore preoccupied or worried than he was now. "Urm yes thank you Miss Shah, I'm, I'm fine I'm just a bit…"
"Preoccupied, busy, petrified maybe?" she suggested in a toneless and emotionless manor as if they were merely having a normal, everyday conversation as opposed to one purely consisting of her trying to work out what the hell was going on here between Henrik and his half brother.
"Now Miss Shah, what on earth would give you that idea?" he asked her, apparently not with a clue what she was going on about but she saw that he'd raised his defensive wall up, just a little bit more than he usually would around her. "Look, Sahira I am ok. I promise you. Besides if I actually needed your, or anyone else's help for that matter, I would ask. Understand?" He concluded. And with a curt nod, he began to walk off in the direction of his office.
Before he had the chance to get too far however, she attempted to grasp him by the arm, missing slightly though, resulting in her grapping his hand, just as Jac Naylor came stalking around the corner and very nearly bumped straight into them.
The look on her face said it all but just before she had the chance to say anything too crude though, Sahira intercepted her with, "sorry Miss Naylor, I-we will be back soon and before you start I don't want any more snide remarks about Nigella or Hubby. Ok?" without even waiting for a reply, still with a firm hold of Henrik's hand, she strode off towards his office. She held the silence all the while she was leading Henrik too his office and she still kept hold of his hand despite many of the strange and slightly confused looks he was giving her and his many attempts at trying to pull free of her grasp. She then proceeded to pull him through the AAU ward, much to the surprise of Sacha and Chrissie, and into the waiting lift, along the corridor then into his plush office. With one last look from Henrik she let go of his hand and then turned him around to face her. "Look, Henrik, sorry I-I, anyway will you please just answer my questions or at least listen to me, please. Do I make myself crystal clear?" she asked him, whilst still holding her gaze just a fiercely as he was defending his. This was yet another thing in the long list of things that he loved about her, the way she stood up to him, where no one else would, the way she was so passionate about everything she did, even about him. It was for this reason that he slowly began to nod his head, still marvelling at her passion and the love she showed. "Right then," she started whilst pulling up two chairs so they could at least be equal in some way. "Please will you tell me, and truthfully this time, why Kristian Hanssen, and you know exactly what I mean, has such a – such a – makes you act so- why Kristian Hanssen make you act like this. And please Henrik, don't tell me not to worry because I already am and don't tell me it's nothing either because I'm neither that naïve nor that stupid to believe you. You should know I only worry because I care about- about you." She concluded with a smile. "So, tell me, please why does he affect you like this?"
These questions had taken him by surprise and he knew that he probably shouldn't answer them, for his own good, but despite all this, he couldn't lie to her for any longer. "He's my half brother and I- he because…" he trailed off slowly whilst staring out of the window, looking dazed and slightly lost.
"Because… what, Henrik" she pressed. "You don't have to hide yourself from me." She said softly. She was worried about him, and she knew that her shouting at him wouldn't help this situation in the slightest.
As she looked at him, she saw a single tear roll slowly down his cheek as he remembered his childhood. She put a reassuring hand on his shoulder as he continued, "when, when I was a child, after, after my mother... my father, well, he, blamed me for her death and so he…" Henrik trailed off once more and Sahira knew that there was so much more to this that met the eye. She continued to try and sooth him by slowly rubbing her hand up and down his arm and shooting as many comforting looks in his direction as she could muster.
"What did he do Henrik?" She asked him softly. She knew he hadn't had the best childhood in the world, at least she had assumed so, but he had never really opened up to her fully, in the past he had only told her small parts of the fuller picture and all she could do was piece what little information she had together like a jigsaw puzzle except, she only had half of the pieces to work with. "You can tell me, you know it won't change anything."
"He used to drink, too much and then when he, when he was drunk he used to, he used to abuse me." He said quietly, whist avoiding eye contact with Sahira at all costs. He knew that he could have told her sooner, more about himself that is, but if he didn't tell anyone, if no one knew then he could almost kid himself that it hadn't ever actually happened.
"It's ok," Sahira said softly, seemingly seeing straight into his thoughts, "I'm here for you now." With this she put her arms around his skinny frame and pulled him into a tight embrace, and despite his original protests he soon gave in and hugged her back. Despite neither speaking both were thinking the same thing… this was the start of something big.