#aviest

Bernie Wolfe’s a bit astounded when her co-lead, Serena Campbell, tells her that she’s invited her on-again-off-again boyfriend, Robbie, to come to a medical conference with them, not least because Robbie is a bobby, not a doctor.

“Why?” she asks, baffled. 

“Well, as you know, Robbie had a bit of a cancer scare and we’ve sort of re-connected again, and I thought it’d be nice for him to come so we could spend some time together.”

Bernie frowns. “Does that mean he’s coming to the lectures?”

Serena laughs and Bernie wonders if she’s imagining how hollow that laughter sounds. “Of course not, silly. He’ll do his own thing while we’re in lectures, then he and I will spend the rest of the time together.”

Bernie’s frown intensifies, she’s sure, because Serena says, “He and I can eat together and if I have a free session, then we’ll go for a walk on the front or something.”

Bernie shakes her head a little, then shrugs, “Well, it’s your decision to bring him along.”

“Actually, he’ll be driving us up there - as you know, my car can be a bit unreliable.”

“Which is why I offered to drive us both up there,” Bernie says, which was when Serena had revealed that she had invited Robbie the bobby to come to a medical conference in Blackpool.

“Well, this way you can enjoy the trip listening to whatever you like on the radio or drive with the top down or whatever,” Serena says blithely.

Bernie doesn’t tell her friend that she’d been hoping to use the trip to properly re-connect with her following her three month stint in the Ukraine. She’d been seconded to one of the big hospitals in Kyiv to set up a trauma unit from the scratch - Henrik Hanssen had offered her the opportunity following the work she and Serena had done in setting up a trauma unit on AAU. It had been a highly successful secondment and personally very fulfilling, not least because the Kyiv trauma unit was significantly larger than the one on AAU, which was only one bay. But she had missed Serena, not least because she had a better head for figures and a better business brain in general than Bernie. But she’d also missed her friend’s warmth and wit, not to mention her flowing silk blouses which always brightened up their shared office.

“Right. Well, then, I suppose I’ll see you at the conference centre at some point tomorrow,” Bernie says. 

She turns her attention back to her computer and focuses on getting the rest of her paperwork completed before she leaves for the day since she’s planning on arriving in Blackpool in time for lunch. There’s an introductory lecture at 5pm, then the opening dinner after that. She wonders if Robbie will be coming to the opening dinner, but she refuses to ask or even discuss the policeman. She doesn’t ask if Robbie’s been treating Jason any better although she knows that he split up with Serena because she’d invited her nephew to move in with her - it’s none of her business, although once Bernie had heard that Serena had got back together with Robbie in her absence, she had made a point of telling Jason that if anyone ever upset him and he felt he could not tell his Auntie Serena about it, he could come and tell her. She’s not sure if the situation will ever arise but Bernie had been determined that Jason shouldn’t be without support.

The morning wears on without much to interrupt it and Bernie wonders if she’s imagining the air of awkwardness that’s been pervading the office since Serena’s announcement. 

When the office door opens around midday, Bernie looks up, only to feel her heart sink into her boots at the sight of Robbie the bobby looming in the doorway. 

“Robbie! What are you doing here?” Serena asks, sounding flustered. Her hand goes to her pendant and begins sliding it along the chain and Bernie wonders if her co-lead is even aware that she’s playing with it in such a nervous manner.

“I was in the area, so I thought I’d come and take you out for some lunch,” Robbie says with a smirk. “After all, it’s not like you’re the only consultant on the ward now.”

Serena shoots Bernie a glance that she cannot quite interpret, but she drops her eyes back to her computer monitor. “Do - um - do you mind, Bernie?”

“Why do you need her permission?” asks Robbie. 

“Because we co-lead the ward,” Bernie says, looking up at him. “As in, we run it together.”

“Didn’t stop you buggering off to - where was it? Somewhere foreign anyway - did it?”

Bernie gets to her feet and frowns at him. “I didn’t ‘bugger off’ as you charmingly phrased it. I was seconded to a hospital in Kyiv to allow them to make use of my experience and skills. It’s not that different to a senior police officer being seconded to another force to assist them. Or perhaps that’s not something you know anything about?”

She moves around her desk and tries not to sneer when he takes a couple of steps away from her and towards Serena, then she moves onto the ward and heads towards the nurses’ station where she joins Morven. It doesn’t take Bernie long to find herself something to do on the ward so that she doesn’t have to watch Serena leaving with her dull plod of a policeman.

Twenty minutes later she’s back at work in the consultants’ office when the door opens again and this time she smiles when she sees that it’s Jason.

“Hello Doctor Bernie, do you know where Auntie Serena is?”

“She’s gone to have lunch with Robbie,” Bernie tells him, then feels bad when his face falls. “Something wrong?”

“I was going to ask her to eat lunch with me in the Peace Garden because it’s a nice day. She often complains about being cooped up indoors when the sun’s shining.”

“Well, I’m due to take my lunch break now, Jason, so perhaps I could join you? I know I’m a poor substitute for your Auntie Serena, but it’d be an honour to have lunch with you.”

“You’re not a poor substitute, Doctor Bernie,” Jason says immediately, his whole face brightening up. “You’re an excellent trauma surgeon, Auntie Serena says.”

“Thank you, Jason. Just give me a moment to sign out of my computer and grab my purse, then we’ll go outside.”

“Thank you, Doctor Bernie.”

“It’s my pleasure.” She signs out of her computer, grabs her purse and her mobile phone, checks she also has her beeper in her pocket, then follows Jason onto the ward.

“Mr di Lucca, I’m going to take a lunch break with Jason down in the Peace Garden. Page me if you need me.”

“Of course, Ms Wolfe.” Raf’s eyes are full of kindness and warmth as he looks from Bernie to Jason. “Hello Jason.”

“Hello Mr di Lucca.”

Bernie touches Jason’s arm. “Ready?”

“Of course. See you later, Mr di Lucca.”

“Bye Jason, bye Ms Wolfe.”

Lunch with Jason is thoroughly enjoyable. She buys him a bottle of juice from Pulses to go with the lunch he’s brought from home, and gets a sandwich and some coffee for herself, then they sit on the bench in the Peace Garden where she does her best, between bites of her sandwich and mouthfuls of coffee, to answer his questions regarding the tanks and guns she’d seen or used during her time in the RAMC.

“Can I eat lunch with you again?” Jason asks as they’re making their way back inside.

“Of course you can, Jason. As long as I’m available, I should be happy to have lunch with you.”

“Did I ask you too many questions? Robbie says I always ask too many questions.”

Bernie feels herself stiffening in annoyance at this report of the policeman’s behaviour, but she keeps her tone calm and friendly when she answers. “No, you didn’t, Jason. Personally, I don’t think anyone can ever ask too many questions - after all, it’s how you learn. There might be occasions when asking a lot of questions is inappropriate, but it’s up to the person you’re asking to tell you that they don’t have time to answer more.” She pats his shoulder. “You keep on asking questions and expanding that big brain of yours, Jason, and don’t ever feel ashamed to ask. Okay?”

“Okay, Doctor Bernie. Thank you.”

She gives him a nod, then heads to AAU and the pile of work she knows is still sitting on her desk.

It’s another half an hour before Serena and Robbie return and Bernie feels her ire building when she notes that Serena’s cheeks are red and her hair is mussed up. 

“Alright?” Serena asks when she sees Bernie gazing at the policeman.

“Why did you tell Jason that he asks too many questions?” Bernie asks, doing her best to keep her tone mild.

“Because he does,” Robbie says, squinting at her as if he cannot understand her question.

“No, he doesn’t. Jason asks as many questions as he needs in order to get more information about something. Don’t ever tell him he’s asking too many questions. It’s unkind and a lie. Understand?” She injects a little bit of the Major’s steeliest tone into her final words and feels satisfied when the policeman gives her an alarmed look before he nods. “Good.”

She sees Serena opening her mouth, but she shakes her head slightly, not wanting to discuss Jason in front of Robbie.

Fortunately, Robbie disappears almost immediately afterwards and Serena stares at Bernie, who raises her eyebrows.

“Why is Jason telling tales on Robbie to you?” demands the brunette.

“First, it’s not telling tales, and you know it. Jason doesn’t even think like that. Second, he came looking for you, wanting to have lunch with you in the Peace Garden because you, so Jason said, often complain about being cooped up indoors in nice weather. Because you weren’t here, and he was obviously disappointed I told him that I’d have lunch with him instead of you. During lunch he asked me a number of questions about tanks and guns, then afterwards he asked me if he’d asked too many questions. That’s when he told me that Robbie had complained about him asking too many questions. I made it quite clear to Jason that he’s allowed to ask as many questions as he wants.”

“You really like Jason, don’t you?” Serena asks after a few moments of silence.

“Of course I do,” Bernie says immediately. “He’s a very bright, very caring young man. I love how straightforward he is and wish I could be more like him in that regard."

“Robbie finds it hard to deal with him, sometimes.”

“Well that’s on Robbie, not Jason. Besides, Jason doesn’t need to be dealt with, he just needs to be treated like a normal human being. He’s got Asperger’s, not a life-threatening illness or a crippling disability. Robbie could do with an attitude adjustment.”

“He’s been making noises about us living together,” Serena says after a moment. 

“Oh.” Bernie doesn’t ask whether it’s going to happen. It’s no concern of hers who Serena chooses to live with.

“I’m thinking of suggesting a month long trial run to see how we all get on together given Jason’s very strict routines.”

“What does Jason think of the idea?” Bernie asks curiously.

“I haven’t mentioned it to him.”

“I see.” Bernie frowns at the forms in front of her. “Well, I’ll be sure to tell Jason that if it gets a bit much he can always come and bunk down with me.”

“You?” Serena says, sounding so surprised that Bernie can’t help glaring at her a bit.

“Why’s that surprising?” she asks.

“Have you even got space for someone else to stay?”

“Of course,” Bernie says immediately. “I wouldn’t make the offer otherwise. I’m in a two bedroom flat because I thought Cam or Charlie might one day want to come and visit, assuming they ever start talking to me again that is.”

“Well, that’s very kind of you, I’m sure, but I daresay we’ll manage to muddle through.”

Bernie turns her attention back to her paperwork, the dismissal in Serena’s words very clear to her. She gives a mental shrug, but resolves that she’ll make that offer to Jason if Serena does let Robbie move in with them.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The next day Bernie leaves bright and early for Blackpool and gets herself booked into her room in time for an early lunch. She bumps into an old acquaintance in the hotel dining room and joins Jack’s group to talk shop while they eat, then she makes her way back upstairs with Jack, the pair of them laughing rather loudly as they reminisce about a tour in Iraq where they’d worked together.

“Bernie?” 

She looks up at the sound of her name to see Serena and Robbie have arrived, the latter huffing and puffing in a manner she’d find alarming if she gave a damn about the man.

“Hello Serena. Robbie.”

She supposes they make a bit of a stark contrast: Serena, who never fails to look elegant, even after a three hour drive, and Robbie, who’s definitely out of shape, then herself and Jack, both rather lean and still pretty trim, despite civilian life not requiring the same kind of discipline as their life in the RAMC.

Bernie notes Serena’s prolonged stare and adds, “This is Jacqueline ‘Jack’ Evans. She and I served together for a tour in Iraq. Jack, this is my co-lead, Serena Campbell.”

“I see.” Serena’s words sound brittle, somehow, but Bernie cannot figure out why she thinks so.

“Anyway, I’ll see you at dinner.” She lets Jack into her room and focuses on making them both a cup of coffee. “Why don’t we sit out on the balcony to drink this?” she suggests, and Jack grins, then opens the French windows.

“So, Serena?” Jack says in an inviting tone as they settle on the chairs out on the balcony.

Bernie frowns at her. “What about her?”

“How long have you two fancied the pants off each other?”

Bernie nearly chokes on her coffee and Jack has to repeatedly thump her on the back before she manages to get her breathing back under control. “Excuse me?” she gasps, eventually.

“C’mon, Bernie, it’s as plain as the nose on your face. If looks could kill, I’d have been dead. Same for that bloke she was with - the two of you were looking daggers. I take it that was her husband?”

Bernie shakes her head. “No. That’s her arse of a boyfriend, Robbie. He’s a plod and doesn’t treat Serena’s nephew, Jason, very well. Jason has Asperger’s and is a lovely young man.”

“Oh, so you’ve gone and fallen head-over-heels for a dyed-in-the-wool-heterosexual. Blimey, Bernie, you don’t make things easy on yourself, do you?”

Bernie snorts. “You don’t know the half of it,” she says, and proceeds to tell her friend about Alex and the end of her marriage to Marcus.

“Oh god! I have never heard such a tale of woe,” Jack exclaims when Bernie’s finished.

“I know. I am what’s known as a ‘disaster lesbian’, or so one of my young colleagues at Holby tells me. I think Dom despairs of me, to tell the truth.”

“I can’t say that I blame this Dom.”

“And what about you? How’s your love life these days?”

Jack smiles shyly, something Bernie doesn’t think she’s ever seen before. “I’m engaged,” she says. “Wedding’s next September. Would you - would you like to come?”

“Oh Jack, I’d be delighted!” Bernie leans over and hugs her friend. “So, tell me more.”

By the time Jack has filled Bernie in on all the details of her relationship with Sally Magnus, it’s getting close to time for them to head to the introductory lecture and dinner. Bernie lets Jack out of her room, pausing in the doorway to hug her friend again. 

“It’s so good to see you,” Jack says. “I’ll see you at dinner, yeah?”

“Definitely,” Bernie agrees, stepping back and watching with a fond smile as Jack heads along the corridor to her own room.

“Well, it’s easy to see someone’s got a type.”

Bernie turns, startled by Serena’s voice, and even moreso by the tone of her voice: it’s so acid it practically burns. “What do you mean?” she asks, frowning.

“Well, I did see Alex Dawson when she was briefly at Holby. It’s clear your type is tall, thin brunettes.”

Bernie scoffs. “Jack isn’t an ex or current girlfriend. She’s an old friend, like I said.”

“If you say so.” Serena’s voice is dripping with disdain. 

“Well, yes, I do say so,” Bernie says, fighting to keep her temper in check and remain civil. “For one thing, Jack’s engaged and getting married in September.”

“Okay.”

Before Bernie can respond to the patent disbelief in Serena’s expression, the door to her room opens and Robbie sticks his head out. Ignoring Bernie completely, he asks, “Didn’t you say you wanted to get ready for this lecture and dinner?”

“I do,” Serena agrees, giving him a warm smile, before stepping into her room.

Robbie glares at Bernie, for no reason she can discern, then closes the door. 

Bernie blows out her breath, wondering why Serena’s so pissed off - is she jealous, as Jack had implied earlier? It doesn’t seem very likely since Serena’s never shown any interest in taking their relationship beyond the friendship they already share. However, it occurs to Bernie that she hasn’t really shown any interest in that, herself - although in her defence, she’d believed Serena to be straight, whereas her co-lead already knows that Bernie’s a lesbian - the entire hospital knows that thanks to the hospital’s rumour mill and Bernie’s own ineptitude when sending email from her phone.

She steps back into her room and crosses to the ensuite, intending to grab a shower before she changes into something smarter than her usual skinny jeans and a shirt. 

She’s shocked into dropping her bottle of shower gel when she hears grunting through the wall and realises that Robbie and Serena are, apparently, having shower sex. She turns on her own shower and hopes the sound of it will be enough to drown out the noises next door. Then she focuses on getting herself clean and ready for the evening. It works for a while, until Serena positively wails, and Bernie has to clap her hands over her ears to shut out the sounds of her friend climaxing. That’s the sort of thing she only wants to hear if she’s the one responsible for causing said climax.

Shaking slightly, she turns off the shower, then hurries to dry herself off, before moving back into her room to pull on her clothes. The minute she’s dressed, she grabs her keycard and her mobile, then lets herself out of her room to go and knock on Jack’s door. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

She and Jack sit together for the lecture, but when it comes to the dinner afterwards, Bernie finds she’s sharing a table with Serena and a handful of other people she doesn’t know, while Jack’s at her own hospital’s table. Bernie can’t help wondering how she’s going to get through the rest of this weekend if she’s going to be obliged to listen to Robbie and Serena going at it next door. Perhaps she’ll bunk down in her car tonight - she doubts that the hotel has another room to spare, given the size of the conference and the size of the hotel. 

Serena arrives after most of the other people at their table and Bernie’s already conversing with another trauma surgeon by the name of Becca, who has been working with the UN Peacekeeping forces in South Sudan. 

Bernie hears a gasp and turns to see Serena is staring at her almost as if she’s never seen her before. “Are you alright?” she asks worriedly.

“I - you - yes, alright, fine.”

Bernie raises both eyebrows at this disjointed utterance. “Serena?”

The brunette takes her seat, still staring, and Bernie’s starting to get worried when Serena says, in a much lower voice than usual, “You’re wearing a suit.”

Bernie frowns. “Yes? Why, were you expecting me to wear a dress?”

“I - um - no, that is, maybe.”

“Serena, what’s wrong?” Bernie takes her friend’s hand in her own and squeezes it.

The gesture seems to steady her because Serena says, “I - um - I just wasn’t expecting you to wear a suit. You - um - you look magnificent.”

“Thank you,” Bernie says. “You scrub up pretty well yourself.” The words are out  before she can think and they both flush, she presumes that Serena is also remembering the shower she shared with Robbie. Bernie certainly is, although she’d prefer to consign that particular memory to a deep, dark vault in her brain.

Fortunately for them both the waiting staff arrive with starters, bottles of wine and pitchers of water, and they both turn their attention to eating, and Bernie resumes her interrupted conversation with Becca. She’s not deliberately cutting Serena out of the conversation, but she’s rather keen for Becca to finish what she was saying before Serena’s arrival caused her to break off.

Once their conversation concludes, Bernie finds herself drawn into other conversations with their dining companions, all of whom seem to have heard of her or read one of her papers, which is both gratifying and embarrassing as Bernie’s never keen to be in the spotlight. 

Bernie does her best to include Serena in the conversations when she talks about the trauma unit on AAU as she doesn’t want her friend to feel left out or overshadowed by all the attention being on her. She praises Serena’s ‘business brain’, explaining that she holds an MBA from Harvard and that she’d been very glad to have someone so capable to assist her in costing the trauma unit at Holby.  Once dinner is over, many of the conference attendees head to the bar, but Bernie’s tired and feeling a little overwhelmed by all the attention, so she refuses both Becca and Jack when they invite her to have a drink with them, and instead heads up to her room. She doesn’t realise Serena’s followed her until she joins Bernie by the lift.

“You seemed very interested in your conversation with that woman Becca,” Serena says.

“It was interesting,” Bernie says. “She’s a medic with the UN Peacekeeping forces in South Sudan. It’s not quite the same as working for the RAMC, but we found we had a lot in common.”

“I see.”

The lift arrives and they step in, Bernie selecting the button for their floor. 

“I’m sorry about earlier,” Serena says into the deafening silence. “It was silly of me to jump to conclusions about you and your friend, Jack.”

“It was,” Bernie agrees. “Although I don’t know why you care what I’m doing with other women.”

“I - um - that’s to say, I was jealous.”

Bernie feels her eyes widen and her eyebrows go up. She hadn’t really expected Serena to prove Jack right. “Jealous?” she repeats. “Why would you be jealous. You’ve got Robbie.”

“Well, um, not - not anymore.”

“Oh?” 

The lift stops and they step out into the corridor. 

“Come to my room,” Bernie suggests, and Serena nods, fiddling with her pendant and casting a glance at the door to her own room as they pass.

“Tea, coffee, or whisky?” Bernie asks once they’re inside.

“Tea, please.”

Bernie nods. “Do you want to sit out on the balcony since it’s a nice evening?”

“Thank you.” Serena lets herself out and Bernie busies herself making them both a cup of tea, then carries their drinks out onto the balcony, passing one to Serena, before sitting down in the same spot as when she and Jack had been talking out there earlier.

“What happened with Robbie?” she asks.

“We, um, we had a row while I was getting ready for the lecture and dinner. He said I cared more about your opinion than his and -” Serena pauses to drink some of her tea, even though it’s a bit too hot yet. She winces and Bernie can’t help reaching out and clasping her friend’s free hand in her own. 

“And?” she asks softly.

“He accused me of using him because I couldn’t have you.”

Bernie can’t help staring at this. “Is that true?”

Serena nods, then sets aside her cup of tea so that she can fiddle with her pendant with her right hand - her left remaining in Bernie’s clasp. “Yes,” she whispers. “I am - um - I am attracted to you. Romantically. Well, and sexually, too.”

“I’m very flattered,” Bernie says. Because she is - Serena is an utterly gorgeous woman and the idea of Serena wanting someone like her is a bit baffling, but since she feels the same way, it does make things a tiny bit easier. “How long have you felt this way?”

“If I’m totally honest, since the day we met. You came sauntering over to my car, an unlit fag in your mouth, looking sexy as anything in that pink coat and your skinny jeans, your hair artfully tousled, as if you’d just got out of bed, and - well, I don’t know how I didn’t just swoon.”

Bernie swallows. “I - I, uh, I had no idea.”

Serena snorts at that. “It wouldn’t have helped if you had, would it? Not when you were still married to Marcus.”

“True.”

“Do you - um - do you feel, that is, do you want -”

Bernie leans over without giving it any thought and kisses her not very chastely. “Does that answer your question?” she asks once she’s released Serena.

“Yes.”

Bernie gives her a shy smile. “I was attracted to your voice first. There you were, berating that hapless mechanic about your car, and all I could think was that your voice was smooth and warm. Made me think of honey sliding down my throat.” She feels herself blushing as she adds, “In that moment I wanted to take you to bed and make you scream.”

“Do you still want to?”

“Yes,” Bernie says instantly. “But I’m not jumping into bed with you tonight.” She sees Serena’s face fall and squeezes her hand. “I’d prefer you to wait twenty four hours, to start putting Robbie behind you. If that’s okay?”

Serena sighs. “It’s not okay, but it is. I suppose I can understand what you’re saying.”

“Good.” Bernie leans in close and feels Serena shiver as her warm breath hits the brunette’s ear. “And just so you know, I intend to make you scream, not just wail.”

Serena gulps. “You - um - you heard that?”

Bernie snorts. “I should think half the hotel guests heard that. But yes. I was in the shower myself, so I overheard everything.”

Serena blushes and Bernie can’t help thinking she looks even sexier.

“By the bye, I didn’t say earlier, but I think you look incredibly sexy tonight. That dress is perfection.”

“Thank you.” 

It’s a black cocktail dress, cut low enough at the front to show off Serena’s collarbones and décolletage, and dipping even lower at the back to show off Serena’s lovely back. It’s a little longer than knee length, thereby showing off her shapely calves in delicate stockings.

“I should get to bed,” Serena says. “I didn’t get much sleep last night.” Then she blushes, leading Bernie to guess why she didn’t sleep much.

“Alright,” Bernie says, getting to her feet and collecting their empty teacups. She accompanies Serena to the door of her room, though it’s only a few feet. “Have breakfast with me?” she asks.

Serena gives her a beaming smile. “Yes. Please.”

Bernie gives her a soft, fairly chaste kiss, then opens the door for her. “Sleep well, Serena.”

“You, too.” 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The next day seems to drag interminably because all Bernie can think about is taking Serena to bed and making her scream. She’s unbelievably aroused by the time they sit down to dinner and she can scarcely focus her attention on anyone other than Serena. As it’s not a formal dinner tonight, Bernie finds herself sharing a table with both Becca and Jack, as well as Serena and two other people whose names she instantly forgets. She does her best to make coherent conversation, but it’s not easy, and when Serena clasps her knee under the table, Bernie feels as if she might explode with pent up desire.

Eventually everyone’s eaten their fill and Bernie pleads a headache as an excuse to escape the dining room. Serena follows her a few minutes later and as soon as she steps out of the lift on their floor, Bernie pounces on her and carries her the short distance along the corridor to her room, Serena shrieking and giggling the whole way.

She lowers the brunette to the bed, then hurries to put the ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign on her door handle, before locking the door firmly.

“I am going to ravish you,” Bernie tells Serena as she joins her on the bed. “You’ll be nothing but a sated puddle of a human being when I’m done with you.”

“I can’t wait,” Serena tells her; she’s a little surprised by how stern Bernie is and she can’t help finding it sexy.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Afterwards, Serena falls asleep, spooned by Bernie, and as she does she realises she’s never felt happier, safer, or more taken care of than with Berenice Griselda Wolfe. This woman, she decides, is a keeper.