A week had now passed and it was finally the day they headed to Malmö for the conference. Henrik had allowed Tabby into work for DESK DUTIES ONLY for the last few days before they headed off and today they had a few things they needed to do at Holby before they left for the plane.
Henrik and Tabby both stood at the entrance with their suitcases, Tabby's a greeny, bluey, purply floral pattern, Henrik's a plain grey and black.
"Oh, Tabs, darling, come here." Mo brought the young doctor into a hug, "Remember to bring me back a little something yeah?"
Jac held up a finger, "And don't forget me too." She pointed out.
"Don't worry, it is gifts all round." Tabby giggled. She then spotted movement from behind and instantly recognised the orange flowing shirt.
"I see we're all ready for the off then?" Serena stood next to the other two girls, arms folded.
"We certainly are." Tabby grinned.
"Oh, Tabitha, here's your doctor's note, it needed a second signature." Serena handed it to her.
"Thank you." She gave the deputy DoS a quick hug.
"Right ok, have fun guys." Jac turned on her heel.
"Not so fast, Naylor, come here." Tabby stood with her arms out as Jac turned back grudgingly and took the hug.
"You'll do brilliantly, Tabby, and if not you'll have me to face when you get back." She joked pulling out from the embrace.
"Right then, Henrik, are we ready?" Tabby turned to the boss who, the whole time, had been looking through his phone.
"Right yes, away we go then. See you all soon." He gave a wave to the three women at the entrance as they set off, wheeling their suitcases through the car park.
"Bye, Mr Hanssen, see you Tabby, have fun!" They all called out, waving.
Hanssen took both suitcases and placed them into the boot whilst Tabby lowered herself into the car and soon they were on their way out of the car park and headed towards Bristol Airport. The journey was silent, it was strange, they were two polar opposite people yet they had nothing to talk about. Tabby reached for the radio, typical, BBC Radio 3 was his choice. She left it on, resting her head back as she listened. It wasn't long until they were at the airport.
Check in was a doddle, security was passed with ease, but then they reached the departure lounge where they found they had an hour delay.
"Oh, fuck off, how typical is that?" Tabby ran her hand through her hair exasperated.
"Coffee?"
"You are a star, Henrik." She took his bags from him and slumped onto a seat whilst Henrik went to get the drinks. She stared at her lap.
'Tabitha, crutch."
"Why Henrik?"
"Because you need it, now take it."
"NO!"
"I'm so sorry Henrik, I've been a selfish, disrespectful cow."
"I want to be noticed for my talents, I want to be independent in my work, is that too much to ask?" She whispered to herself tearfully, "Why aren't I trusted? Why must I be ordered around?" She began to sob into her lap. Henrik and Tabby had hardly spoken about anything other than things to do with work, where he was just bossing her around anyway.
"Umm, miss, are you ok?"
'Of course, the flight's delayed so everyone suddenly wants caffeine.' Henrik rolled his eyes as he joined the back of the queue that was leading out of the coffee shop. Unfortunately this wait gave him time to think.
"I'm young, I'm still ignorant to most things in this world, you're training me to be a doctor in a hospital, I get that in all aspects of my life you are superior to me. But I am sick and tired and pissed off with the way you try to control me. …You know the sign 'Beware of dog, enter at own risk'? Well I want to enter at my own risk, but you prefer to order me around and tell me not to enter and when I do enter, you get so angry with me. It upsets me because all I want to do is please you, but I want to do it on my own terms. Do you understand? ...I've been a selfish, disrespectful cow."
'Do I really boss her around that much?'
"Oh, Tabby, how on earth am I going to make it up to you?" He muttered under his breath.
"Wow, you're a doctor? That's so cool!"
"Is it? I don't even know any more." She hung her head.
"So you really like this guy then?" The young man sat next to her became serious again.
"Yeah, but he's my boss. I don't think he realises I exist until it's time to tell me to do something."
"But isn't it his job? And you said you guys have done it a few times, so he must like you back."
"Even so, I'm a girl and he's a man, it wouldn't matter who it was, if a girl stripped off in front of you and agreed to sex you would wouldn't you?"
"No doubt about it, but he sounds different." He glanced up, "Oh, and he's 12 o'clock, gotta go. Good luck with your speech, hope it all goes well." He waved and headed off.
"Who was that?" He handed her, her drink.
"No one." She took a sip of her drink.
"You were talking weren't you?" He sat next to her.
"Yeah but I don't know who he was." She shrugged.
"Tabitha, it's not safe to talk to strangers."
"Oh my God, I'm 22, not 12."
"In your condition you would not be able to defend yourself."
"In my what?"
"Tabitha, I didn't mean-"
"No, of course you didn't." Irritated she grabbed her coffee and crutch, flung some change to him then left, leaving Henrik in a confusion of what to do.
"Punch him, yeah, right in the bollocks! Wait, what are you doing?"
"Knock Out!"
"It's a shit game anyway."
"Then why are you going again then?"
Tabby paused her hand by the money slot before she paid in, 'It's that guy from earlier.'
"Here, I'll show you how it's done." He reached into his pocket and took his position at the controls.
"Aaaaand fight!"
"You see it's not all about the attack, it's about the strategy, do you want to catch this dude by surprise or do you want to go full force in a battle of power?"
"Win!"
"Wow, you're quite a guy aren't you? Can you teach me?"
"Of course." He motioned for her to take his place, "I'll pay for this one." He slipped his 50p into the slot for her.
"Aaaaaand fight!"
Henrik wandered around the area; surely she wouldn't be in the arcade would she? But that's when he caught a sight of her messy short hair, punching out on some keys. There was a young man with her; he seems to be getting quite friendly with her. 'She's not safe.' His mind whirred with possible situations that might happen to her with this stranger, he looked strong and could easily take advantage of her; he wasn't going to have a repeat of Sir Fraser.
"Win!"
"I did it!" She grinned excitedly.
"Tabitha!"
Both she and the boy turned to the call.
"I'm glad I've found you, our flight is boarding soon; we should wait back at the departure lounge."
She folded her arms, "And what if I said no?" She stood close to the stranger and flung her head sideways like a spoilt child.
Henrik gave up, "Then that's your decision."
"Good, then I'm staying here until our flight is called." She turned back to the machine and reached into her pocket.
"Tell me, what's the name of your new friend?" He tested.
She froze by the money slot for a moment before going ahead, "Cory." She stated.
The guy suddenly tensed then went along with it, "Yep, that's the one."
"Well, I will be by the grass plant where we were before. So you know where I am when you're done." He turned on his heel and left.
Tabitha's body drooped as she sighed.
"Are you alright?" 'Cory' asked.
"This is your game." She muttered to him then began to head in Henrik's footsteps. She stopped and looked back at the boy, "Thank you."
"Hey, it's only been an hour, it's gunna be a long flight if you're that tired already." She stood in front of him akimbo.
"Tabitha?" He looked up.
"Well, duh, who else is it going to be? Wait, don't tell me you've got a cheeky little mistress who's tagging along have you?" She grinned.
Henrik chuckled, "It's nice to see that smile back on your face."
Tabitha bashfully giggled, lowering her head and brushing some hair behind her ear, "Listen, I'm sorry about earlier-"
"No, no, no, that was me, wrong choice of words."
"Information for passengers on EasyJet flight 413, your flight is now departing, may you please make your way to gate 15, making sure you have your passport and boarding card ready."
Sighs, groans and exasperated huffs of 'hooray' were heard all throughout the departure lounge as everyone got up and picked up their hand luggage.
"Finally like, let's get going." She energetically picked up her hand luggage and hobbled for the queue that had now formed at the gate, Henrik in tow feeling better about Tabitha's lift in mood.
They were towards the end of the queue thanks to everybody else being excited to get their winter holiday going, there were also many other business tourists too, people in suits playing on their iPhones, tapping about on their tablets, seemingly talking to themselves until they turned around and you realised they had a dongle in their ear. Children vibrating with excitement and anxiousness to go on holiday, and the parents zombified from exhaustion as they wouldn't hear the end of it since they booked the tickets.
Tabitha reached beside her and took a gentle hold of Henrik's hand, but to her disappointment he shook her off. Slightly perturbed but not undetermined she went for it again, this time he squeezed it and leaned down to her slightly.
"Not here." He simply stated and shook her off again.
She hung her head, 'Well done Tabs he hates you now, he doesn't just mean not here, he means not here, not there, not anywhere. After you keep having a go at him like some witch with permanent PMS, it's no wonder why he doesn't want anything to do with you.' She nearly fell into tears until it was there turn to go through the barrier.
Henrik did all the talking and lead the way through the corridors to the plane. Once on board Henrik took Tabitha's hand luggage and placed it in the overhead rack then in silence they both took their seats, Tabby next to the window with Henrik next to her, he insisted that he'd sit next to the stranger which she found odd but went with it anyway.
"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome aboard to EasyJet flight 413, your morning 9:30 flight to Copenhagen. My name's Scott, I'm your captain, how'd you do? Bit of information about the delay there was a tiny electrics problem, our external tail end lights weren't working, the problem has been sorted and now we're safe to fly so I will hand you over to my beautifully handsome cabin staff who are now going to take you through the safety video and yes, it is very important you watch it but I know you all won't so I will get off my knees and hand you over, thank you."
The cabin staff began their routine of explaining the safety procedures along with the video and as they went through Tabby got more and more anxious about the flight; emergency slide, oxygen masks and life jackets, all the worst scenarios were rushing through her head and she began to become slightly breathless.
"Tabitha, are you alright?" Came a soft, concerned whisper from beside her.
"Y-yeah, I'm fine." She replied quite unconvincingly.
All too soon the briefing was over, the command for seatbelts on was given and they were taxying towards the runway. Tabby's panic wave was rippling from the inside out, she began to shake, tears welled in her eyes and she began to ring out her hands. The plane turned on to the runway and straightened up ready for its sprint to take off. Tabby closed her eyes and whimpered quietly. Soon a hand was on hers, interlocking their fingers, it held her hand tightly giving her the comfort she needed.
"I take it you've never flown before?" He whispered into her ear.
She shook her head, eyes still tightly shut.
"It will be fine, I'm here for you."
As the plane began to accelerate she took her free hand and gripped tightly onto Henrik's suit sleeve, squeezing more tightly on his hand.
He felt her shaking and a few teardrops plop onto his hand and he leaned down to where she was hunched over and whispered into her ear, "It's ok, you're safe, I'm here for you, you're completely safe." He kept whispering until they were up in the air, "We're up." He announced.
She slowly lifted her head and looked out of the window to see blue sky and the tops of a few buildings. She sighed, loosening her grip. Slowly she lifted her head and gazed into her boss' eyes, "Thank you." She whispered.
He smiled and nodded letting go of her hand and reached for his Kindle.
Soon things settled down, Tabby listening to her Walkman and reading her book, Henrik reading his Kindle, it felt like de ja vu, then she remembered the Wrexham conference travelling on the train.
Half an hour had past and suddenly Tabitha's head slumped onto his arm. He glanced to find her book resting pages down on her lap and her chest rising and falling with relaxed breaths. He smiled and got back to his read.
"Oh Henrik I apologise, I don't know what came over me." Came the slur from beside him. He dismissed it and carried on.
"I'm being truthful, I love you." She mumbled, "I really do." And soon a tiny snore started from her.
He couldn't help but chuckle and after stealthily checking around him he decided it was safe to put an arm around her.