Hanssen sat at his desk; it was twenty minutes to four, and Serena was still not here. Dr. Di Lucca and Nurse Fletcher had been right; this was not typical of the Serena Campbell he knew. Normally, she would have been here, sitting opposite him, by now. But she wasn't, and that was actually worrying.

It was another minute and a half before there was a knock at his door and he called, "Come in!"

In stepped Serena, whose clothes were indeed loose – perhaps Nurse Martinez did have a point – and whose expression was one that combined a complete lack of concern with a certain amount of underlying anxiety. "What's this all about, Henrik?" she demanded in a single sigh, thumping herself down onto the sofa on the other side of the room. How strange. She would have usually sat right in front of him.

"It has been brought to my attention that you are arriving considerably late for shifts on a regular basis."

That one sentence seemed to have at least an effect on Serena; her eyes hardened and he faintly heard her swallow. But she didn't speak, and Hanssen wasn't really sure he ever expected her to.

"Is there anything you would like to tell me, Ms. Campbell?"

He held her gaze. Unlike most, he was not afraid of her, because he knew her. He knew her better than she thought he did. Until now, he would have been able to cautiously predict most of her moves, but all that was out the window. Even just looking at her, there was no way of knowing what she was thinking. He was used to being given an expression, even a raised eyebrow, to decipher, but there was nothing apart from her hard, dark eyes.

He waited until her answer eventually split the silence in two. "No. Nothing," she said, very quietly.

Of course, Hanssen didn't believe her, but he felt he had to give her the opportunity to talk to him. It was his job to be there to help all his staff, and that included the mighty Serena Campbell. "Is there any way in which I can help you be on time in the morning?" he asked.

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"In that case," he sighed, having hoped he wouldn't have to go about it this way, "you shall report to me at the start of your shift until we get a handle on your timekeeping."

Inwardly, he winced. The expression on her face said it all. Serena was furious. "Excuse me?" she spat out. It was when she stood up that Hanssen remembered just why so many people tended to be wary of her. "I am not some delinquent schoolgirl."

"I know that."

He remained calm while he watched Serena's temper was visibly bubbling up. "Then why?!"

"You are having issues with arriving to work on time. Having me know exactly when you show up is an incentive to get here when you are supposed to be here," he explain. It wasn't the only reason, but he wasn't about to tell her that. However, it was the primary reason for his tactics. "It isn't open for discussion, Ms. Campbell. For the next fortnight, you will come and see me at the start and end of your shift."

"Start and end?!"

"Yes," he replied, quite calmly. Getting as wound up as she was becoming would do neither one of them any good. "Unless, of course, you feel like explaining to me your reasons for being late more often than you are on time."

She stared him down, her features harsh and angry. "You're joking."

"I most certainly am not joking."

"Does this include the end of my shift tonight?"

"Yes."

"I'm not happy about this, Henrik."

"I can see that."

In a way, he found he wanted to break her down until she told him what the problem she faced was. He did not believe that this was a simple case of Serena being lazy in the morning; he was almost certain there was something else going on. Right now, though, all he could get was anger and frustration, and to be fair to Serena, he was doing everything that was bound to anger and frustrate her – he knew it.

And then Serena surprised him. She sat down in the chair opposite him. She did not speak. She did not even look at him at all. She just sat down and stared at the floor. "Are you quite sure that there is nothing you would like to say? I can assure you it will not leave this office."

Serena remained silent. It was actually quite unnerving, to see a woman who once had so much to say for herself sit before him without even wanting to say anything.

When she did speak, it was not what he had hoped to hear. "You're treating me like a child."

"I am treating you the way I would treat any other member of staff."

"I need my freedom, Henrik."

"You have your freedom. I would just like to know, directly from you, that you are beginning and finishing your shifts at the correct times, and that all is well for you." Those last few words, he realised, were the first indication that he really did care about what happened to Serena. There was this misconception throughout the hospital that he was cold, that he did not care at all about what happened to people or how they felt. He did. He was a human being, so of course he was going to feel for other people. The rest of the world just could not read him.

He knew Serena was stubborn, but he could be stubborn too. She must have known that, since she had known him as long as he had known her. "Henrik, I'll start making damn sure I'm in on time. Every day. Isn't that enough for you?"

Hanssen exhaled slowly, and he stood up. "Serena," he said, using her first name for the first time in a long, long time. "I must confess that I am worried."

"Worried?" she shot at him, looking around as her gaze followed his path around the desk until he stopped and leaned slightly against the file cabinet. "About me?"

"Yes. It's not in your nature to let timekeeping slip. I've never known you to be late for work to the extent that you allow now."

It was Serena's turn to be surprised; it was the only obvious emotion – aside from anger – that he had seen in her yet. He had not wanted to tell her that he was worried about her, because it would only prompt her to put on a façade. But it was better than her thinking that he was out to get her, because he truly wasn't. He was out to make sure that Serena was fit to work. More than that, though, he wanted to know she was alright.

He knew the impact he had on her when she asked, "Can I get back to work?"

"Yes," he said, heading to the door as Serena stood up. "I will see you at eight o'clock." At the door, the way to the corridor open, Serena stopped and looked up at him. He returned her gaze and searched her for an answer, but there was no getting beyond the wall she was putting up.

At eight o'clock, Serena shut down her computer and put on her coat, irritated by the demands Hanssen was now making of her. Yes, she had been late a couple of times recently, but there was no need for the measures he was taking. And there was no need for him to be worrying about her, either. That was nothing short of ridiculous.

What Serena wanted to know was just how Hanssen knew about her being late. Not once had he been on AAU when she had come in a few minutes later than she ought to have been. Not once.

She waited for the lift, and watched Fletch, Raf and Cara do handover to the nightshift staff. Had one of them noticed and gone to Hanssen? But then why would they? They were capable of surviving on AAU without her, and they weren't likely to care if she were late for any reason. They didn't care about her, so why would they care if she were late?

On the fifth floor, she stood outside Hanssen's door. It wasn't like she hadn't stood in this spot before, but it felt different. Was he checking up on her? Obviously. Did he really care about her beyond how she ran AAU? Of course not. So why was he making her do this?

She knocked and was told to enter in the usual manner. She went in, only to find him packing up for the night. "Happy now?" she raised an eyebrow at him. "I'm leaving when I always leave."

"Very good, Ms. Campbell," he said in that irritating tone of his. "I'm just heading home myself, actually."

"So I see."

She watched him pack his things, transfixed by his manner of handling his possessions. He was careful and precise, and she was sure he had a place for every little thing. After about thirty seconds, he stood straight and looked right at her. Unable to do anything else, she smiled. It wasn't a real, heartfelt smile, but Henrik Hanssen wasn't exactly the master of emotions so he wasn't going to know any better.

He strode up to her and said, "Shall we walk?"

Only because she didn't have an excuse not to, Serena proceeding to walk down the corridor with Hanssen. To her surprise, he led her to the stairs rather than the lift; why would he do that? Feeling obligated to make conversation since it was going to take them a while to part ways, she asked him, "How was your day?"

"It was very productive, thank you," was his characteristically uptight answer. "How was yours?"

For the first time since she was a child, when she didn't understand it was only an idiom, Serena found herself with her teeth on her tongue, reminding herself not to snap at Hanssen for his decision earlier. Instead she formulated a believable answer. "Busy, but when isn't AAU busy?"

She saw the corner of Henrik's mouth turn up. "Plans for tonight?"

"Sleep."

"Really?" he asked her, his tone one of mild surprise. "I was led to believe the custom on AAU was to go to Albie's after a busy shift."

"Yeah, Cara, Fletch, Raf, a few others, they're going for a couple of drinks. I'm not in the mood."

"For alcohol or for socialising?"

They reached the first floor stairwell when she stopped and waited for him to notice and turn around. When he did, three steps down the flight of stairs, she stared at him. He knew. Somehow, he knew that she had stopped going out. "How do you know?" she said, barely able to hear her own voice.

"Know what?" he innocently returned. She watched him plead ignorance, and he was convincing, but she knew him better. Hanssen never said anything for no reason. Never.

Suspicious of his motives, she decided to play him at his own game. "Nothing, I'm sure I must have misunderstood." She didn't want to give away how much she thought about everything that was said to her, by Hanssen or anyone else.

So she walked down the stairs, making mundane conversation, mostly concerning the weather and how it was turning colder, until she saw her car and could escape.

But she couldn't resist. She turned and faced him at the main entrance and said, "Goodnight, Henrik." She watched him carefully, knowing he was doing the same to her, and saw something she didn't recognise in his face. He looked like he wanted to say something, but he didn't speak about anything else to her.

"Goodnight, Ms. Campbell."

She smiled and stalked down to her car; she unlocked and opened the door and sat there, not really knowing what she felt.