A/N: This is a slightly bizarre idea. It's going to flit between now and another period of time, so just bear with me :P

Sarah x

Serena watched Edward slyly as he stared out the window at the end if the ward for just a moment too long. The storm clouds were swirling around the sky. "Edward." He didn't turn. "Oi! Earth to Edward!" she called to him as she came up behind him. He finally turned to face her, and she saw that slightly ashamed look in his face. She could see a distant fear in his eyes that was only ever triggered by one event.

"Sorry. I was just-"

"I know," she cut him off. "Don't worry about it."

"I might go and get some bread and milk and stuff for the staff room," he mused quietly. Well. That little quirk definitely hadn't disappeared. "You know, just in case."

"We're in England. We're perfectly safe."

"Look at the colour of the sky though."

She looked out the window to find a strange red tinge to the sky. "It's just because it's about to get dark," she dismissed his fear. She saw that look in his eyes and groaned. "Look, if it's going to put your mind at rest, knock yourself out. Just get me some chocolate while you're at it."

He nodded gratefully and Serena watched as he strode nervously and almost fearfully off the ward. The last thing she needed on a night shift was for Edward to go loco on her over a little rain. Her ex-husband was always a handful when the weather deteriorated.

"Have you hit your ex on the head or something?" Jac Naylor asked Serena loudly, sauntering onto the ward holding a cookie and a hot chocolate. "He's just asked me if there's anything I need from the shop for tonight. I'm more than capable of getting my own cake, thank you."

Serena grinned uneasily. "Just ignore him. I'll reign him in. He's taking the weather forecast a little too much to heart, I fear," she smiled, leaning against the nurses' station. "He gets jumpy when the weather turns nasty."

"Oh, yeah," Jac frowned. "It's supposed to be a storm tonight, isn't it?"

"Don't remind me," sighed Serena. "Not only does it bring the country to a standstill, it makes my husband think the world's about to end," she rambled as she searched through the papers in the filing trays for some blood results that clearly hadn't arrived yet.

"Ex-husband."

"What?" Serena asked as she turned back to Jac.

"He's your ex-husband."

"What did I say?"

"You called him your husband."

"Sorry."

Jac smiled a worryingly knowing smirk. As much as Edward irritated Serena, this was his one obstacle in life – the only thing she was never going to hold against him. He was like that for a reason. She had watched it happen, experienced it with him. She'd woken to the same horrific day, went to sleep that night in the same crowded, damp resource-turned-refuge centre. So she understood. She didn't have the heart to tell him off, but she did think he had to tone it down a little.

Jac was searching Serena's face; she could feel those pale blue eyes piercing her. "Is he OK? He seems a bit on edge."

"He's fine," Serena lied. She knew he wasn't. He wouldn't be until it passed with the promise that nobody was hurt. "He will be fine." Jac didn't ask anymore questions but Serena knew better than to assume the redhead had swallowed what she had been told. "Why are you on AAU anyway?"

"You would like Jonny Maconie to keep breathing, wouldn't you?" Jac checked. Serena nodded. "Then you'll give me a break down here for a while, before I strangle him. I'm telling you, unless I'm paged for theatre or an emergency, I'm not going back up there until quitting time."

Serena laughed. She knew what Jac felt like – Edward had been almost unbearably protective while she was carrying Eleanor. She had fallen pregnant two months after they returned to the UK, and a still quite traumatised Edward had been convinced he was going to lose his family before it was even formed. She often wondered if that fear in itself was what made him cheat on her. But she had needed someone or something to blame, and Edward was the easiest option, rather than try and analyse what went on in his mind.

"You can sit in my office if you want," Serena offered kindly. "Or kick Nurse Carter off that chair. It's about time she did some actual work for a change."

"Happily," Jac smiled. She strode around the desk until she was stood in front of Mary-Claire, who looked up. "Hop it, missy," Jac ordered the nurse. Serena smirked as the Irishwoman jumped out of the chair and gave it to Jac. Whether it was out of fear or politeness, Serena wasn't quite sure, but it did the trick. She went off to work. "So. How's the marital nightmare treating you?"

"Put it this way. The number of wise cracks he comes up with every day, I'm amazed I have had the self-restraint not to cut his tongue out," grumbled Serena.

Jac snorted in a very unladylike fashion. "Why did you marry him if he annoys you so much?"

"Because once upon a time I was in love with him," Serena admitted quietly and honestly, unflinchingly so, which was a rarity for her. She remembered the burning love she used to feel for him. She remembered the white hot pain of thinking she had lost him. She remembered the searing anger of actually losing him to stupidity. Now she didn't even know if she loved him or hated him.

She went off to deal with the patient in bed eight and when she returned, Jac was falling asleep in her chair. Serena didn't have the heart to wake her so she kept an eye on her so the woman didn't hurt her neck.

After half an hour, Edward had returned with three large supermarket bags. "Oh, for God's sake, Edward!" Serena exclaimed, taking one from him and looking inside. Bread, milk, crisps, ready meals, cans of soup. "It's one night. You're not going to need all that."

"There's not just me though," he reminded her that they were not the only two people here tonight. In Edward's mind everyone was in danger. She accepted that. But his behaviour could become quite bizarre.

"This is going to be a long night," she sighed as she followed him to the staff room to put all this away. He wasn't speaking, concentrating on setting each item in a sensible and accessible place. She went to take the milk carton to the fridge but he batted her hand away. "Edward," she warned tiredly. He ignored her and crossed the room to the fridge. "Edward." He didn't even look at her, his mind set on upholding his and everyone else's safety. She grabbed his arm to get his attention. "Edward," she repeated again when he turned his head. "I know you're scared."

"Aren't you?" he asked her, handing her the chocolate that had been the condition on which he was allowed to the shop.

"No."

That was not exactly true; even though she didn't freak out like he did, she still felt uneasy and worried when the weather became dangerous. But she wouldn't let it show. For one thing, people would wonder why, and she didn't want to go there.

"I wish I was more like you," he sighed as he sat down in a chair.

Serena sat on the table. "No, you don't," she contradicted him. "You might be an idiot but you're kind and friendly. Anyone sees me, they run away. You don't want to be like me." He looked a little surprised by the admittance that she was far from perfect, and that she was hardly endearing. "No, you just keep being you. Antlophobia and all."

He smiled slightly before he warned her, "You do realise I'm going to end up make this shift a living nightmare for you?"

Serena smiled softly down on her ex-husband. "Yes. But don't worry about it. Just try and keep a lid on it in front of Jac. I don't want you getting her uptight," she cautioned him, her eyebrow raised. It was clear Jac had no intention of returning to Darwin unless there was an emergency and Serena couldn't really blame her; if Jonny was anything like Edward had been while she was pregnant with Eleanor, it was a miracle Jac hadn't killed him yet.

"Has she actually fallen asleep?" Edward asked. Serena nodded. "Jeez. She must be exhausted."

"I did tell her to give up the night shifts," she recalled a conversation she had with Jac the week before. It had ended in Jac saying in no uncertain terms that pregnancy would not change her shift pattern at all.

He stood up and resumed unpacking the groceries. "Don't you ever think about it?" he asked her quietly, lining the tins up at the back of the counter rather than in the cupboards. Serena took a step towards him.

"I try not to."

"Me too."

Just because she tried her best not to let her memory wander didn't mean that she couldn't remember it. She could remember the smell of the rain and the sound of the wind. She always attempted to block it out, yes, but she remembered. She would always remember.

She came to stand next to Edward and linked her hand with his, letting her head lean against his arm. "It'll be OK," she promised him quietly. Normally she would keep her distance but tonight was different. Tonight they shared an event they were both forever haunted by, and she knew he was trying to be strong but he needed to lean on her.

Serena closed her eyes as she felt Edward's lips touch her head, seeking comfort in her. She couldn't deny him that.

The first of the rain hit the window; Serena opened her eyes at the sound, shuddering internally at the memory of the rattling of the glass against the force of the torrent that had fallen that day. "We'll be OK," he agreed, but he didn't sound convinced. She heard that layer of fear still present in his voice. To the untrained ear he would have sounded fine, but she had heard that waver in his words all too often.

"It's just a little bit of rain," Serena said, though she knew it was more than that; there had been warnings distributed across the area for flooding but she had been hoping it was the usual British overreaction to a bit of water.

"Promise me something." The words made her look up at him. He looked unsure as he said, "If anything happens, promise me we'll stick together." She nodded her head silently. She didn't even have to think about it.

She looked out the window again and watched as the rain grew heavier, sheeting down from the dimming sky. He was terrified; he was trying to play it down but she saw it anyway. This had happened every time there had been a storm while they were married – the stocking up on food, watching the weather and the news almost obsessively, sandbagging the house, even. Keeping Eleanor in his arms until it was over, for fear of having to escape and not being able to get to her. He had a psychological problem here, but it was hardly surprising.

Little did he know that she shared the same problem on a smaller scale – she was able to control it, just as she was with everything else she felt. Edward, however, was a completely different person. He had no discipline, hence the locum jobs and the multiple divorces. She just never thought he still reacted like this. She had thought that even he would have learned to control it after all these years but obviously he had not mastered it. He was nowhere near as bad as he used to be though. He hadn't dragged Eleanor to where he could watch her, at least.

She smiled up at him in an attempt to comfort him but she could tell it had had little effect. Whether it was with due cause or not, he was frightened and wound up, and trying to hide it, and he had become her responsibility. After all, who else would look after him here?

Hope this is alright!
Please feel free to review and tell me what you're thinking of it!
Sarah x