(Thanks for reading and reviewing! I do feel I should make a small 'shout-out' to Kaysia...your comments never cease to make me smile, so thank you!)

Chapter 22

"Yes...Ms. Campbell and I were required to stay slightly longer than we originally planned...yes quite...thank you Mr. Griffin." Hanssen hung up the phone and turned to see Serena staring at him through bloodshot eyes. "How are you feeling?" he asked her, slightly too jolly for her liking.

"Ugh." she complained, turning away from him and feeling the bed dip slightly as he climbed onto it behind her, cuddling up to her.

"You need to rehydrate yourself." he said gently, kissing her neck.

"Yes, thanks for that." she grumbled, holding a hand in front of her eyes. "What time do we have to leave?" He sat up behind her and looked at his watch.

"We have an hour or so." he estimated, dropping a kiss onto her cheek and climbing off the bed. "Drink." he instructed as she groaned and pulled herself up to sitting, picking up the glass of water and two neatly placed paracetamols. He headed into the bathroom and turned on the shower, careful not to let it spray onto his clean shirt. He returned to the bedroom and saw Serena was rooting about in her bag, triumphantly pulling out a clean pair of underwear. Turning to smirk at him, she held them up.

"Always come prepared for all eventualities." Hanssen smiled at her and nodded his head.

"Great minds." She squeezed his arm as she pushed past him and headed to the bathroom, closing the door behind her. He stood aimlessly at the foot of the bed and decided to aid with the packing. He had already packed his belongings this morning before she'd woken up so he set about locating hers. He put the bag on the bed and gathered up her clothes, folding them carefully and placing them in the bag. His hands came to rest on her pink shirt, his favourite, and he placed it carefully to one side, choosing a black t-shirt to go under it and a pair of black trousers. As he was double-checking under the bed, he heard the bathroom door open and Serena appeared, a towel wrapped around herself. She headed to her bag on the bed and raised her eyebrows as she noticed the outfit lying next to it.

"I thought it might save time if I helped you pack. You don't have to wear what I have selected." he said stiffly as she picked them up gingerly.

"I didn't take you for a 'fashionista'." she quipped, smirking and heading back to the bathroom to change. He exhaled the breath he hadn't know he'd been holding as he smiled gently to himself. After checking the room once more, Serena re-emerged fully clothed with a softly made-up face. His eyes were instantly drawn to the shirt, billowing open as she leant over and placed her toiletry bag in her overnight bag. He went and stood behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist as she smiled. Standing up straight, he moved his chin to rest on her shoulder and sighed, her leaning her head back on his shoulder. "Well, this is it then." she said solemnly, as she closed her eyes and moved her hands to his arms at her waist.

"Indeed." They were silent for a moment, before Serena sighed and patted his arm, stepping out of his grasp.

"We are going to have to do a much better job of hiding this, than we did this weekend." she laughed lightly, thinking back to Amelia's comment.

"Yes, I agree. However, I should think we'll be too busy for anyone to notice anything." he said, thoughtfully. She glanced at him and smiled in agreement, picking up her bags and coat.

"Ready." she announced as he glanced around the room once more and picked up his own bag and coat, holding the door open for her as they left the room and headed for the lift.

As they were stood at Reception, checking out, Serena caught sight of Cunningham making his way across the lobby towards the entrance, leaving without a backward glance in their direction. She turned to Hanssen, who had also noticed, and raised her eyebrows. He looked troubled as he placed a hand on her lower back and guided them towards the exit. She had a horrible feeling that this wasn't the last they'd hear of this.

During the car journey home, they lapsed into a tense silence, both lost in thought. Serena stared out the window, wondering if they were doing the right thing. It might be more painful, and it would take them a while to get back to normal, but surely it would be in everyone's best interests to end things now? The threats Cunningham had made had shaken her as she had seen the vicious look in his eyes. She knew he would waste no time in informing the Board about her and Hanssen and she couldn't allow it. She formulated a plan of action and gave herself the rest of the car journey to try and find another way, but there wasn't one. She was not about to let him ruin their reputations and have Hanssen sacked for falling in love. She could feel he was tense and she wondered how he was going to react to what she had to tell him. The closer they got the Holby, the more she became determined that this was the right thing to do. It was the right thing for the Hospital, their staff and also for her daughter. It had been the most intense, exhilarating few weeks, but things had to get back to normal now. She swallowed the lump forming in her throat as she placed her emotions away in a safe place, where she could ignore them.

Hanssen tried to keep his mind on the road ahead, but he was finding it increasingly difficult. He kept glancing over slyly at Serena and noticed she was becoming more and more emotionally detached the closer they got to Holby. He frowned as he wondered what she could possibly be thinking about, hoping it wasn't him. He knew they'd have to confront this issue with Cunningham, preferably before he spoke to the Board. He knew that all it would take to bring the man down would be to get written statements from Amelia and Serena, plus his own witness account of what happened in the stairwell. However, he also knew that his account may be received as him simply sticking up for his partner, the woman he loved, but he had to try. He gripped the steering wheel tighter as he began to think of ways they could approach Cunningham, whether they had any information about him that he wouldn't want brought to the attention of the Board. He cursed himself, not being able to see a suitable exit from this mess. He couldn't lose his job, that would break him, but he also couldn't lose Serena. He exhaled as he returned to the beginning and thought about simply confronting Cunningham and possibly denying the affair. After all, there was no proof available and Cunningham hadn't actually witnessed them doing anything. He started as he realised they were minutes away from Holby City. He looked over and saw Serena was fiddling with her handbag, clearly nervous. He reached a hand across , taking her own in his and his heart lurched as she pulled it away, keeping her gaze out of the windscreen.

Hanssen parked the car in his usual spot and Serena instantly exited the vehicle, heading to the boot to retrieve her bag. He followed her and stood close, dropping his voice.

"What's the matter?" She refused to look at him, tugging her bag out and throwing the strap over her shoulder.

"Nothing, I just think we should get to work. We've already lost half the day thanks to me." She began to walk towards the entrance, Hanssen following her swiftly.

"Serena, we need to talk about this." he insisted as she shook her head, eyes darting around.

"That's the last thing we need to do right now." She stopped and turned to face him. "I'll come by your office after I finish up." With that, she turned and headed into the building leaving him stood still, a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"Ms. Campbell!" Chantelle exclaimed as Serena stepped onto Keller and smiled at the young nurse.

"Hello Chantelle, sorry I'm late."

"Don't be silly! Mr. Griffin is in Theatre at the moment, but he shouldn't take much longer. Would you like a coffee?" Serena's eyebrows shot up as she stuttered a reply.

"Thank you Chantelle, but there's no need, I can get my own."

"Nonsense! You've had a long car journey, I'll fetch you one now!" she smiled, heading towards the staffroom. Serena chuckled at the nurse's caring streak and headed to her office needing to offload her bags and coat. Looking at her watch she saw it was already 3pm, their journey had taken them longer than expected. Entering her office, she groaned at the sight of two rather large piles of paperwork on her desk. Sighing loudly she hung up her coat and bag and took a seat, flicking through a couple of folders quickly.

"Here we are Ms. Campbell." Chantelle smiled caringly at her as she placed the mug of coffee on her desk.

"Thank you." she said absently as she continued reading.

"Probably not the sight you were wanting to return to." Chantelle observed as Serena chuckled.

"No, not really. Thank you." she motioned to the coffee again and Chantelle took that as her cue to leave. She took a sip of coffee and set to work, sorting the urgent from the slightly less-urgent.

Working straight through, she looked up as the door opened to reveal Ric Griffin smiling down at her.

"Well I thought it was a rumour!" he laughed as she rolled her eyes and leant back in her seat, running a hand through her hair.

"Unfortunately not. How have things been?" He nodded his head and headed towards his desk.

"They've been fine. I took the liberty of not giving you any patients today, due to not knowing the time of your return." He clarified as she held her hands up and exhaled.

"Trust me, that has been a great help to me..." she indicated the files surrounding her and laughed "...so thanks!"

"No problem. So how was it?" he asked as she kept her eyes steady.

"It was a conference." she said, him understanding exactly how tedious they could be.

"Ah, say no more. Did our Great Leader enjoy himself?" She looked up at him and frowned.

"I don't think I'd ever associate the word joy with him...would you?" He chuckled as he picked up the piece of paper from his desk and returned to the ward, leaving her in silence. Shaking herself, she returned to the work in front of her and powered through.

When she next looked at her watch she saw the time was 6.30pm. Yawning and stretching she placed the last folder on top of the rest and exhaled. Not bad, she thought, as she switched off the desk lamp and turned to collect her belongings. Waving across at Ric who was with a patient, she headed for the lifts and down to Hanssen's office. Standing in front of his door, she summoned all her courage. This was going to be one of the hardest things she would have to do, but she saw no other option. Knocking loudly, she was greeted with his order to enter, which she did.

"Ah, Ms. Campbell, only just finishing?" he asked as he stopped what he was doing and sat back, nervously. She closed the door and headed over to his desk, standing before him, clearing her throat.

"I'm sorry Henrik, but I think it's best if we stop things now before they go any further." she spluttered, needing to get the words out before she changed her mind. Hanssen's face fell momentarily, but deep down, he'd known this was what she would do.

"Serena, they've already gone far enough." he said standing and making his way around the desk as she backed away shaking her head.

"Please don't. Look, we were fooling ourselves. We're not in love, it was lust." she said gently, trying to make herself believe it. Hanssen stood still, feeling his heart aching for the woman in front of him, clearly hurting just as much as him.

"You know that's not true." he said quietly, wanting nothing more than to reach out and shake her.

"It is. I'm sorry, I don't love you and I should never have said I did." she said finally, raising her eyes to his, a steely expression in them. "Now I'm going to go home and I hope tomorrow, we can get things back to normal." she said formally, heading for the door.

"I won't let you do this." he spoke loudly, turning to face her.

"You don't have a choice." was all she whispered as she opened the door and left his office. He leant against the edge of his desk, stunned, feeling his heart aching. She'd done it, she'd done what he'd been afraid of...she'd left him. He took a deep breath and realisation took him. He was still here, he was still alive and he hadn't broken. Looking towards the door she had recently left through, he wanted nothing more than to rush after her, but first, he needed a plan.