Serena walked back to her room in a daze. Had he just said what she thought he had? She collapsed on her bed even though it was only the afternoon, feeling emotionally drained after the last few days.
She was woken abruptly when she heard a sharp rapping at the door. It took a while for her banging head to recognise the noise. When she did, she slowly pulled herself out of bed and pulled open the door.
"You look bad," Michael grinned.
"Thanks," She glared. "What do you want?"
"Charming. I just came to let you know that it's half six and you weren't at dinner so I was just checking your OK."
"Half six?" She groaned, jumping up. "Ughh, Michael, I'm not coming down, I don't feel too good."

"Aww, Rena, I take it this means our drink tonight's out of the question?"
She glared at him, her mood growing worse and worse. "I'll come check on you later, then."
"I'm not a baby and I don't need a babysitter."
"Good job I'm not a babysitter then, isn't it?" he pushed his luck by darting forward, pulling her into an embrace and planting a quick kiss on her forehead before running off to make sure she didn't kill him. Serena found herself smiling although she wanted to chase after him and throttle him. Although he was cocky and arrogant, she loved him like a brother, an annoying big brother that she wanted to murder day in day out but couldn't ever bring herself to do so. She shut the door before climbing back on her bed and falling into the deepest sleep she'd had for a long time.

She woke groggily the next morning, her head having ceased its throbbing. Checking the time, she got up and started to get ready knowing they had to leave early to get back in time for their shifts at Holby. She had just done the zip up on the small case she had bought when she heard a knock at the door. With the usual "come in, it's not locked" she turned to face Hanssen. She was taken aback when she saw him, having not seen him since his statement in the lift.
"Are you ok?" She smiled.
"I'm very well, thank you. Yourself?"
"Better." she smiled. And after a few awkward moments of silence added, "Can I help you, Mr Hanssen?"
"I just came to check you was up and ready because Mr Spence mentioned that he came to check on you last night and there was no answer the second time so I came to check you hadn't slept in this morning as you wasn't feeling too good yesterday." she loved the way he was dithering in the doorway. "Which you haven't," he added as an afterthought.
"Clearly," she pulled her bag off the bed and did a last scan to check she hadn't left anything behind.
"Shall we go and put your bag in the car?" she nodded and Hanssen took the bag from her, ever the gentleman. When the bag was safely in the boot of his car, she suggested they wait in the car for Michael.

"I believe Mr Spence will be a while yet. When I left, his Yvonne had turned just turned up, crying and begging for his number." Serena laughed at the thought of Michael dealing with that.
"In that case, we have time to say goodbye to your Swedish squirrel." she smiled.

"Ah, I never mentioned he was a fellow Swede, Ms Campbell," He said straight faced but his eyes were sparkling as he offered his arm to her.
"Why were you talking to him in Swedish then?" She asked, taking his arm.
"Because it was evident he didn't understand English." He smiled at her. "Shall we?"
They strolled to the park and around the lake in silence. It wasn't an uncomfortable, awkward silence but peaceful as they were both deep in their own thoughts.
"Listen to that grasshopper," She said suddenly, stopping to listen to the distant sound.
Hanssen listened closely before saying, "That's not a grasshopper, it a cricket."
Serena looked at him in surprise. "How do you know?" he smiled at her but didn't answer.
"Crickets have their ears in their legs." He said knowledgeably. "And grasshoppers have theirs in the side of their stomachs." He then went into interesting facts about all kinds of wildlife creatures. Serena was trying to concentrate but she was more interested in watching him, all his little gestures and the way his eyes lit up when he talked about what he was passionate about.
When he finally paused she asked, "Do you have any pets?"
She was surprised when he said no. Pressing, she asked whether he had had any in Sweden. She realised he had clammed up when he didn't answer, he was never one for personal conversations. The silence was a lot more awkward and tensed than before. She sighed, not wanting him to shut her out again.
"Sorry," She sighed. Not giving him the chance to feign innocence and ask what she was apologising for, she stopped dead and hugged him tight, her head resting on his chest. She loved hearing and feeling his heartbeat through the thin shirt. At first she felt him tense, as if he wanted to run a mile, but she held him tight and he soon hugged her back, his arms wrapped around her shoulders.
"We all have dark shadows in our past." she informed his chest, guessing that's why he clammed up at the mention of Sweden.
"I guess some are darker than others," He sighed. This made her more curious than ever but she didn't want him to shut her off altogether so she didn't pursue it. She pulled herself away stepped back when she heard phone ringing. Answering it she recognised the familiar drawl straight away. She smiled up at Hanssen when she hung up and said, "Michaels at the car."
When they arrived at the car, Michael was leaning against it in a way the thought was cool.
"Where have you been?" He asked suspiciously.
"Nowhere of interest to you," She said sweetly. With one last suspicious glance he turned and jumped in the front seat while Serena got in the back seat. When Hanssen reversed out of his space, Serena quizzed Michael about the situation with Yvonne. When he explained he gave Yvonne his number to stop her crying so he could leave Serena snorted and mumbled something along the lines of "She must be desperate". Michael replied with "you can talk about sticky relationships" with a quick glance at Hanssen. Serena glared at him and was quickly loosing that feeling that she loved him like a brother.
"This conference was a waste of flipping time," Michael grumbled, his eyes closed and his head leaning back. "I learnt absolutely nothing."
"Oh I don't know," Serena smiled sweetly. "Did you know crickets have their ears in their legs?" Michael shot her a quizzical glance while Hanssen let a faint shadow of a smile flash across his face.