#you know. since i mentioned that reyhan's gonna die

[lonelier-version-of-you]

what would be your dream au where this storyline had been done right? like what would the key moments or scenes be?

Ohh boy anon you have opened a can of worms here. It’s a can of what I personally think are very good worms, but it’s a can of worms nonetheless. I have put so much thought into how I wish this SL had gone.

OK. My number 1 priority for this AU version of the storyline that was actually done right: the abuser is NOT Sahira’s dad.

In fact, Sahira isn’t involved with the storyline at all. Or if it absolutely must overlap with her return (which is a story I wanted to happen, just... not like this, and I think it should’ve been completely separate from this one), she’s supporting Henrik (perhaps in a similar sort of role to the one Fletch took a couple of weeks ago). But I think it’s easier if she’s just not involved at all.

Instead, we’re introduced to a new childhood friend of Henrik’s (à la when Rox and John came in as “Henrik’s university friends” even though he’d never mentioned them before). The name or gender doesn’t really matter, but for this post, I’ll assume it’s a woman and call her Stacey just to make things easier.

Stacey could be introduced shortly before the storyline as a new staff member, or come in when her dad - let’s call him Richard - is brought in. That doesn’t really matter either, though I’m leaning towards the idea of her coming in to see her dad and being introduced then. Oh, and obviously, Richard is white because fuck this weird “men of colour are evil” racial stereotyping, and also it’s far more plausible for him to have got away with abusing his pupils all these years if he’s white. (Stacey is probably also white, though she could also be biracial so long as it was her mother who was a POC. The important part is for Henrik’s abuser to be white - and in this case, since it sounds like Henrik went to an all-boys private school, there probably would have been mostly male teachers so it’s most likely for it to have been a man who abused him, so that’s why I’m still keeping it as the dad of his childhood friend.)

Also, in this hypothetical verse (hey, you said my dream AU, I can go as far-out as I want), COVID wasn’t a thing and therefore the show still has hour-long episodes and this storyline can actually get the screentime it deserves.

Some other significant changes are that the Cameron storyline would finish before the Henrik storyline started, and Jac would still be on the show.

So. The scenes/plot points I would keep the same:

- S22E40, the beginning of the storyline, would have played out exactly the same except the abuser isn’t Reyhan. Honestly, this was a good episode and a good introduction to the storyline, my only qualm is the Reyhan aspect. Definitely keeping the “you were always my special boy” scene - that was brilliant(ly terrifying).

- The scene in S22E44 where Henrik confronts Reyhan about the abuse would have stayed the same, except, again, it wouldn’t have been Reyhan. I love this scene. Absolutely love it. It’s incredibly well done, and it is incredibly powerful on a disability/autism level. I could not get rid of it in a million years.

- I would keep the fundamentals of how the abuse went pretty much the same, although I would have been more explicit about Henrik having had a crush on Richard than the show has been so far about his having had a crush on Reyhan (because I want them to stop dancing around Henrik’s queerness). But the whole thing of a teenaged Henrik, not having fully come to grips with his bisexuality yet, being groomed, thinking he was having a consensual relationship, then realising much later it was abuse? Yeah, it works, we can keep that.

Things that would be different:

- The storyline would have been announced in advance.

- Henrik would actually have a social circle and friends there to support him. He would be in a steady relationship with Carole, who would support him. In my dream Holby, Roxanna never died, so she’s there. Sacha is more involved in the whole situation instead of being so caught up in Dom’s storyline.

Jac definitely still needs to be there, and as another anon said a while back, she should have had a scene with Henrik about them both being rape survivors along the lines of that scene she had with Guy Self in S18E46 about them both having abusive mothers.

If the storyline overlapped with Sahira’s return at all, then as earlier stated, she’d also be there to support Henrik - regardless of how he may have treated her in the past, she knows no one deserves this, and as a mother she’s horrified at the thought of such a thing happening to a child.

- Not only would we have had a scene with Jac and Henrik talking about everything, but we would have had one with Dom and Henrik too. There is a wonderful parallel in the idea of Dom being there to support Henrik through having to face his abuser again, just like Henrik was there for Dom through everything with Isaac.

- Henrik would have gone to the police and reported Richard of his own free will, not because he was forced to.

- Henrik would have been given the chance to open up to other people (at least Jac and possibly Sacha; I think he wouldn’t say anything to anyone other than them until later) about what happened to him before having to say anything to his abuser’s daughter.

We can still keep the plot point of Henrik noticing his abuser trying to get time alone with his grandson, being horrified and shouting at him to stay away from the child, leading to a confrontation where his abuser’s daughter is like “why would you assume such a thing about my father?!” and Henrik says “because he did it to me”. Stacey, however, would listen to Henrik and take his words into consideration, rather than going into kneejerk “omg you’re a liar” mode. She’s torn between her love for her dad and what she’s now learned from Henrik, but she doesn’t straight up deny that abuse happened - she just has complicated feelings about how to deal with it.

- Rather than another allegation being made that Henrik’s abuser’s daughter doesn’t believe, a few other victims would come forward after Henrik reported Richard. One of these victims would be, just like in canon, a boy who was abused very recently... and he happens to be autistic. There would be parallels drawn between this boy and Henrik - the show’s already done this with the comments about them both being “odd”, I’d just make it less subtle by actually introducing him for an episode and explicitly stating that he’s autistic - which make it very clear to anyone who hadn’t already figured it out that Henrik is autistic too, just undiagnosed, and Richard took advantage of both of their isolation from their peers and difficulty with reading people’s intentions.

- Richard would face actual justice, instead of just dying and basically getting away with it the way Reyhan’s gonna do.

- Henrik’s queerness would be addressed more clearly, and the fact that the trauma from the abuse made it harder for him to admit his feelings for Gaskell would be mentioned.

- All of this would lead into a longer-term storyline exploring Henrik’s mental health and his trauma.