A/N: I don't know why I even wrote this. It's a bitty odd, haha. But thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed!

Sarah x

"Remember that time you and Dad were drinking and you tried to make out you were stronger than him?" Serena giggled to Edward. She was starting to lose focus on keeping him at arm's length. She couldn't help it – everything was coming back to her now, and the good, in her slightly drunken haze, was outweighing the bad.

"Yeah," he laughed. "Nearly took my arm out the socket! I challenged him to an arm wrestle, not to see who could do the most damage to each other!" Serena could only laugh at the indignant expression he was wearing at the memory of the one and only time Serena's father had physically hurt him.

"That's what you get for getting cocky with my dad," Serena shrugged. "Your own fault really."

A grin spread across Harry's face, and Serena didn't like that arrogant look in his face. The young man thought rather a lot of himself, and it could become not only irritating, but quite worrying too. "I bet I'm stronger than all of you!" he boasted.

"'Mon then, wee man," Jonny piped up. He cleared the table, everyone taking their drinks out of the way, and leaned his elbow on the flat surface. "Unless you're scared I'll beat you?"

Looking slightly affronted, Harry sat opposite. "You ain't got a hope in hell, Tressler," Mo grinned. Admittedly, Harry did look like a skinny little posh boy next to Jonny, who was quite muscular.

"Don't embarrass yourself," Jac advised Harry wisely.

Harry ignored them and joined hands with Jonny, who was already grinning; the contest was already won. Harry just was too full of himself to see he was beaten before he had even started. Just as Serena had predicted to herself, it didn't take long for Jonny to start overpowering Harry, and soon Harry's hand was against the dark wood.

"Who's next?" Jonny grinned. Mo stood up and locked hands with Jonny. She put up more of a fight than Harry had, and had pushed Jonny back a fair bit before he managed to fight back and beat her. The woman was stronger than she looked.

Michael stood up and walked – well, stumbled – around the table to sit opposite Jonny. "Oh, Michael," Serena laughed. "You can't possibly be expecting to win in that state!" He made a face at her and proceeded to take Jonny's hand regardless. To Serena's amazement, he fought hard against Jonny's strength, and slowly but surely pushed the Scot's hand down to the table. "You have got to be kidding!" Serena exclaimed, shocked that Michael had pulled it off.

Michael winked at her. "Come on, Naylor," he challenged the redhead, who, never one to deny anyone a fight, sat down where Jonny had been sitting. She was wearing a confident smile; she didn't look exceptionally strong but it wouldn't have surprised Serena if she was in face capable of beating Michael.

Their hands joined and did not move for over a minute as Jac fought Michael's strength, never breaking her stare from his. The steely determination in her eyes was something to behold, though not even remotely surprising. Michael started to give a little, looking a bit horrified as she forced his hand down until it hit the table. Jac grinned triumphantly.

"Mr. Hanssen?" she offered, leaning her arm up for him. Everyone looked around, and Serena was surprised when he knelt down to Jac's level and took her hand. It was almost frightening the levels of determination that came from them both as they stared each other out. "Bloody hell!" Jac gasped. "You're strong!"

A smile broke across Hanssen's face as he slowly defeated her. It was with a bitter reluctance that Jac's hand went down. When he released her hand, she stretched her fingers with her mouth open in shock.

"Chantelle?" Hanssen asked the young blonde, offering her a contest. She looked like a bunny rabbit caught in headlights.

"Oh, no, Mr. Hanssen," she smiled. "I couldn't."

"Oh, go on, Chantelle," Serena encouraged her. How often did the Swede act so human? Everyone had to get what they could from it, didn't they? Edward guided Chantelle down in a slightly paternal fashion, like he did with Eleanor.

"Please don't hurt me," Chantelle pleaded. Serena just burst into giggles at the genuine worry in the girl's face; did she not understand that Henrik Hanssen would never hurt her? "I didn't mean it when I made it sound like you were a rapist!" she said.

Serena looked at Jac, who just shrugged.

"What the hell are you an about?" Harry laughed.

"One my first day here, I accidentally suggested that he looked like a rapist," Chantelle explained.

"That was over two years ago," Hanssen reminded her. "What on Earth would give you the impression I would hold a grudge over that?!" Chantelle shrugged, still looking extremely apprehensive, and refused to take Hanssen's hand. "Oh, don't be silly, Chantelle. Of course I'm not going to hurt you!"

With a small, slightly terrified smile, she took his hand. They fought quietly, and everyone was shocked when Chantelle started winning – Chantelle included. She was adorably astounded as she watched her hand move Hanssen's into defeat. Her mouth fell open when she beat him. When Hanssen sat back down, Serena whispered to him, "You let her win, didn't you?"

"Of course I did," he replied with a small smile; she had not realised that Hanssen was capable of being quietly sweet to see a smile on Chantelle's face.

Serena watched in amusement as Edward sat across from Chantelle and took her hand gently. Serena found it oddly endearing that Edward looked almost afraid of hurting Chantelle; in his defence, the girl did not come across as strong. She knew her ex-husband was strong – though not as much so as her dad had been – and she could tell he was barely trying. He was giving in a little to Chantelle every so often as she pushed against him with all her might until he eventually had her hand against the wood.

Serena smiled to herself as Chantelle sat down, looking quite relieved that she had been beaten and didn't have to wrestle anybody else.

"Come on, then, Serena," Edward smirked. "You're the only one left."

"No!" she protested. "No, no, no, no!" In twenty years, she had never arm wrestled Edward, and she fully intended it to stay that way. And besides, every time she had played this game with her mother or daughter, she had been hopeless at it unless she was on the floor and could balance her weight.

"Oh, I forgot," Edward tapped his head, seemingly reading her mind. "You can only do it on the floor." Immediately Chantelle, Harry, Jonny and Michael cleared the chairs from the floor for them to lie down. "Floor's clean enough," he added.

"Edward..."

"Everyone else has done it!" Michael reminded her childishly.

"OK, OK!" she half-shouted in frustration. "If I do it, will you all pipe down?!" she demanded. Everyone nodded enthusiastically, though she knew she could do whatever Michael wanted and he would still sit and irritate her. Rolling her eyes, she scrambled haphazardly on the floor, convinced she would regret this when she tried to get back up again.

She put her elbow against the carpet and let him take her hand.

"One..." he said.

"...two..." she added.

"...three!"

They fought against each other, neither giving way the other. She had almost forgotten how strong Edward actually was; she did, however, put all her might into her own efforts, and she could tell he was struggling to beat her. Their hands had not moved even half an inch in either direction. He looked up and met her eyes, and she was slightly taken aback by the mischief shining in his eyes.

When it became clear neither hand was going nowhere, a grin spread across his face. "What?" she asked. He didn't say anything. "What?!"

Before she could stop him, he leapt forward and she felt his fingers tickling her stomach relentlessly. She rolled over in coerced submission, giggling against her will. "Stop it!" she laughed. "Ed, stop it!" Pleading did nothing to help her – he was enjoying himself too much. "That's cheating!" she gasped out.

"And?" he replied. He wouldn't stop tickling her, no matter how much she pleaded or kicked out. It reminded her of the early days of their marriage, when he would reduce her to a laughing heap at will.

She reached up and tried to push him off but he had weakened her. The only way was to get herself on top of him, but she was suddenly very conscious of how it would look to everyone watching. And they were watching, very closely. But there was no escaping it all. "Edward, please!" she begged him one last time, but his grin was evil and happy with the quiet amusement and affection he was stirring within her.

Serena saw no other option without asking for help; she wrapped her arms around his neck and floored him in one swift movement, straddling him to keep her balance. But it didn't disable his hands, and it was not very long before he forced her knees to give and she fell on top of him. Eventually he stopped, leaving Serena wondering whether her wide grin was a good reaction to his misbehaviour. She had forced this side to him into the back of her mind and tried to forget it. She would rather see him as a demon than acknowledge that he did love her. That always had done.

Their faces were mere inches apart; she smelled the sweetness from the cola and the alcoholic bitterness on his breath and she had the urge to lean down and taste it for herself. Before she had the chance to either resist or succumb, he leaned up and whispered in her ear, "Everyone's watching."

She looked up and found he was right. Jac was giving her a look that plainly said, 'I told you so.' Michael was looking annoyingly satisfied. Chantelle, Harry, Jonny and Mo were sharing odd looks Serena didn't even want to know the meaning behind. Hanssen was just smiling gently and quietly into his glass, and she didn't even try to interpret what was hiding behind that rare smile. She had just let Edward make her look like a giggling teenage girl in front of her colleagues – her boss, even – so why didn't she want to knock his head off his shoulders anymore?

She fell off of Edward's body and sat on the floor, glaring around at everyone, daring them to speak. Jac was clearly biting her tongue, and Serena didn't doubt that she was going to receive a lecture about falling for ex-husbands all over again. And as patronising as it was bound to be, Serena had a feeling someone needed to talk sense into her.

Edward helped her up, keeping his hand on the small of her back. It was things like that that made her wonder if he wasn't worth the second chance. He had even remembered to support her back as she stood up.

She sat back down next to Jac, who looked smug and self-satisfied as she drained her bottle. "Still denying it?" Jac asked quietly. Serena said nothing as she took a huge mouthful of wine to calm her down a little bit. "You were about two seconds away from kissing him," she accused.

"I wasn't," Serena lied.

"You were," Jac said with a finality that was impossible to argue with. "You know what happens when you fall for them again, don't you?"

"Make or break?" Serena answered her.

"Usually break. And it's usually your heart that gets broken."

Serena's head whipped around. "You think I don't already know what he's capable of?" she demanded of the younger woman. "I know he's bad news. I know he's cheated on me before. But..." she trailed away, unable to put into words the doubt he had infected her resolve with.

"Old habits die hard. But the habit of a lifetime isn't always a good one," Jac warned.

Hope this is OK!
Please feel free to leave me a review and tell me your thoughts!
Sarah x