A/N: Thanks for all the positive reviews for the first chapter :)

Sarah x

"Ms. Campbell, I'd like to speak to you, if you don't mind," Hanssen said, and fear washed over Serena. What was he going to do? What punishment would she receive for running? "In private," he added, a dangerous glint in his eye. She took Ric's arms from her waist and followed Hanssen, surprised he was heading up to his own office rather than hers.

Another thing that surprised her, though, was that he wasn't striding through the corridors. He was keeping to her pace, as if he was letting her collect her thoughts before being grilled for answers she knew Hanssen needed before the press got hold of this. He needed to be able to answer their questions, because there was no way this would be kept quiet. The attack last year had been well-publicised, much to Serena and Chantelle's disgust, so another incident involving Serena Campbell was not going to go unnoticed.

But he had many questions, and Serena was finding she had very few answers. She knew Mariah was in some way connected. That was it. That was the only answer she had to give him.

Hanssen opened the door and sat down in his chair. "Sit down," he gestured to the chair on the other side of the desk.

"No, thanks," she said, and she couldn't keep that defensive ice out of her tone. She couldn't stay still. She paced, up and down and up and down, waiting for him to speak.

"Serena," he sighed. Now they were in private, she knew he had no problem with using her first name, being more understanding. She'd been surprised by the way he'd stepped up in this past year, keeping her sane when everyone else failed. His logic was always impeccable, and sometimes it was her saving grace. "Can you explain it?"

She just shrugged her shoulders. How could she give him an answer, nineteen years after she'd registered missing?

"Do you know why?"

She had a fair idea, but shrugged anyway, not wanting her boss to know she'd been cowering half her life.

"What are you going to do about it?" he asked more sternly. She felt something snap and ended up finally speaking.

"How the hell can I do anything about it when I had no idea anyone ever reported me missing?!" she bellowed, her temper finally breaking. "Go on, tell me, Henrik! Come up with one of your bright ideas!"

"How can you fail to notice you were reported missing?" he demanded. "Since 1994, I know for a fact you've had a child, been married and divorced, left and returned to the UK on several occasions, graduated from Harvard University, passed your consultants' exams and most recently acquired a management position in this hospital," he listed, his voice turning deadly. "How can you do all of those things and never know you're on the missing persons' register?"

"Well, I don't know!" she shouted. "Nobody ever approached me! I never heard anything on the news, or saw anything in the papers. It was before the time of mobile phones and computers and tablets, so nobody could email me or text me or anything. How the bloody hell was I meant to know?"

"It is not easy to just vanish, Serena," he told her. "It takes effort. I know that much."

"Just because I wanted to disappear does not mean I knew anyone was looking for me!" she yelled. "I made myself invisible before I left!" she added angrily. She hadn't meant to say it but there was no taking it back.

"Calm down," he said placidly.

"Calm down?!" she repeated. "I'm sorry, but seeing a twenty-year-old picture of myself on a missing persons site is not something I can just brush off."

"I didn't ask you to brush it off," he reminded her, getting out of his chair. "I asked you for an explanation, but I think it's quite clear you can't come up with one. That is not your fault," he added when she opened her mouth to argue her innocence. "But it does need dealt with."

He tilted his head slight, and she could tell he was trying and failing to read what she was thinking and feeling. She let her guard down and brought her hand to her mouth, attempting to curb both the urge to release her shocked tears and the urge to throw up. She felt sick to her stomach. "Does Ms. Campbell need a hug?" he gave her a light smile, much to her surprise. What an odd way to put it.

"No," she answered. "I think little Serena McKinnie might need one, though," she confessed. She almost laughed at bizarreness of this conversation. She couldn't believe it when he actually, however awkwardly, put his arms around her. She had to smile; only Henrik Hanssen would actually doubt how to hug someone. She had to feel sort of sorry for the man. He obviously had nobody. She was lucky enough to have found Ric in the process of facing everything she hated about her life.

"We'll figure this out," he assured her gently. "Between all of us, we'll straighten it out. But I'm afraid you may have to draw on that incredible strength of yours once more while we do it."

"I think all of my strength may have been lost the last time," she admitted to her self-doubt. She felt him rub her back soothingly and smiled into his chest once more. These were the things she couldn't tell Ric; she was terrified of frightening him with any sudden change, so she forced her behaviour to remain as consistent as she could make it.

"Nonsense," he scolded her lightly. "There's a reason nobody wants an argument with you." He put her at arms' length and smiled down on her. "We will deal with this, alright? But first, it seems evident that you must have a conversation with Mariah Swinley."

"I can't," she immediately said. "I can't do it."

"Why?" he asked her gently. "What is it about the prospect that frightens you?"

"I'd have to explain, Henrik," she told him. "I'd have to tell her what her step-brother did."

"She is Fraser Pickering's step-sister?"

"Yes," Serena said, with more urgency than she'd intended. "She won't believe me. "

"She will," he reassured her. "She will have seen the news, and the trial, and that he is now in prison."

"That was only reported locally," Serena contradicted him. "The last time her husband was seen in hospital was two months ago, and they'd lived in Surrey that whole time. She won't know, Henrik. How am I meant to say those things to her?"

"You have to be brave," he told her.

"I'm sick of having to be brave," she said bitterly. It was true. She was tired of having to be strong and constantly fight everything off. Why couldn't she just have a calm, normal life? With her daughter and...whatever Ric was to her at the moment. Why couldn't everything just go away and leave her alone? Just because she survived, that didn't mean she liked doing it.

The look in Hanssen's eyes wasn't one of annoyance. It wasn't even one of pity. It was one of belief. Belief in her. She didn't feel she deserved it. She wasn't as strong as they all thought. She felt that maybe she'd been broken one too many times. Maybe this was more than she could take. The shock of seeing her younger self on the screen had not worn off yet, and she was doubting she could find a way around this one. Did that mean she had to go through it instead?

"I can't do it," she said again. "I just can't do it."

"You can," he replied. "Would you like one of us to be there?" She looked up at him again, hardly believing he was offering that. She'd never thought he had that kind of compassion in him.

"No," she said. "No, I'll be alright." She didn't add that she had no intentions of doing it in the first place. She just let him think she was strong enough to do it herself. They all had to think she was strong and unbreakable, or she was nothing. And she couldn't let them see that.

"If you need us, you know where we are," he reminded her. She just smiled and left. When she opened the door, she was startled to find Ric leaning against the wall, texting on his phone. He'd waited for her.

"Ric," she breathed.

"Serena," he said as she closed the door. "What's he doing about it?"

"Nothing," she replied. "I think we're assuming Mariah is going to report it to the police that I've been found. Which, of course, means the press will be all over this, me being executive director of the hospital and everything," she sighed.

"We'll get through whatever they throw at us," he assured her, his smile soft. "We always do." He put an arm around her waist and led her to the lift. "You'd better tell Michael. He'll be worried."

Of course Michael was going to be worried. Michael hadn't stopped worrying about her for a year. It was irritatingly sweet. And then there was Jac Naylor. The woman who cared about nothing and no-one had found someone she cared about. Serena and Jonny had become something to Jac, she'd discovered.

She sighed and thought about what was going to happen. She refused to speak to Mariah. The sense of self-preservation in her wouldn't allow it. As she got in the lift, she found she felt drained and lifeless once more. She was tired of this before it even began. She groaned and leaned in against Ric, hoping he could see how she felt so she didn't have to say it.

"I love you," she whispered to him, in case he ever doubted it when she yelled at him and told him to leave her alone. She'd developed an unfortunate habit of pushing him out when she felt vulnerable and hurt.

"I know," he said into her hair. "I love you too."

The doors opened to reveal Keller. Chantelle looked troubled as she stared at the same computer screen as Hanssen had been at. Malick looked like he wanted to say something to her when she met his eyes across the ward. Mariah was nowhere to be seen and her husband looked rather confused, the poor man.

Serena looked at Chantelle again and felt some irritation. She stalked over and turned the monitor of the computer off, briefly seeing the photo of herself before she did so. Chantelle looked up and Serena glared down at her. Instead of getting annoyed, though, the young blonde took Serena's hand and squeezed lightly, reiterating that she was not alone.

It felt like they were all staring at her, like they were all wondering what she'd done this time. She hated the feeling of being watched. She felt invaded upon.

She watched as Mariah strode onto the ward, putting her phone in her back pocket.

Serena looked down at Chantelle and groaned, "This should be fun."

Hope this is OK!
Please feel free to leave a review and tell me what you think!
Sarah x