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Published:
2016-12-14
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2017-07-14
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5/5
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Scenes From A Year of Love

Summary:

Scenes from Bernie and Serena's first year together, starting from a few months after The Kill List.

"Serena calls me Berenice when I’m in trouble.”
“I don’t!” Serena says indignantly.
“It’s Berenice Griselda when I’m in a lot of trouble.”
“Will you please stop talking nonsense,” Serena says firmly, although Bernie can see the happiness behind her attempt at a stern expression.

Chapter Text

“Hi Serena,” Zosia says cheerfully, a little drunk. “Come and sit with me and Bernie, we’re forming a club for unusual names.”

“Ah, I see.” Serena sits down and grins at them. “May I join or is mine not good enough?”

“Not good enough, I’d say, but your girlfriend certainly qualifies. She doesn’t look like a Berenice I don’t think, do you?”

Serena smiles at her. “No, I wouldn’t say so. Bernie fits much better.”

“I’ve been Bernie ever since I can remember, no-one in my family calls me anything but Bernie. Although Serena calls me Berenice when I’m in trouble.”

“I don’t!” Serena says indignantly.

“It’s Berenice Griselda when I’m in a lot of trouble.”

“Will you please stop talking nonsense,” Serena says firmly, although Bernie can see the happiness behind her attempt at a stern expression.

“What about Zosia, is it from a particular country?”

“I’m told it’s Polish, but Dad says they got it from a book.”

“It’s very pretty, it suits you.”

“Why thank you Ms Wolfe,” says Zosia, grinning at her.

“Oh…no, I didn’t mean-”

“You think I’m suited to a pretty name? I’m flattered.”

“I meant that your name’s pretty, not that you’re…I mean, not that you’re not, er-”

“You think I’m not not pretty, so that means-“

“I think your name is pretty, your face isn’t-“

“Shut up, Bernie,” Serena says calmly, the hint of a smile on her face.

“I’d quite like to extract myself from this conversation.”

Serena leans forward and takes Bernie’s hand. “What Berenice Griselda is trying to say Zosia is that firstly, you have a very nice name, which you do, and secondly, she is unable to offer any opinion on your own personal level of attractiveness as she became completely blind to the charms of other women the very moment she clapped eyes on me. Isn’t that what you were trying to say, Bernie?”

“That was it exactly,” Bernie says stiffly.

“Good. Drink your gin.”

OOOOOOOOOO

“Serena?”

“Mmm?”

“What’s that?” Bernie says, pointing.

“What?”

“On your desk.”

“The telephone? That’s a telephone.”

“Next to it.”

“That’s a computer, it’s a clever little invention-“

“The photo! In the frame!”

“That’s you, Bernie, in a photo, in a frame,” Serena says slowly. “Are you feeling quite all right, you don’t seem to be altogether with it.”

“Obviously it’s me, but why is it there?”

Serena’s face falls. “I would have thought that was just as obvious. I thought we’d been through all that, you don’t mind that everyone knows about us?”

“That’s not what I mean, I don’t mind you having it there.”

“Then what’s the problem?”

Bernie smiles at her. “Serena. Look at the photo. Then look at me.”

Serena does. “I don’t see your point. It looks just like you, I only took it last month. Your hair’s much neater than usual but-“

“The point is that we sit directly opposite each other, all day every day. You sit looking at me all day and you have a photo of me on your desk when you could just as easily look at the actual me. I don’t understand.”

“Well you’re not there all the time, are you? Some days you’re not there at all. What am I supposed to do then?”

A long pause.

“Oh,” Bernie says eventually. “That’s very…”

“What?” Serena says warily.

“Sweet,” she says softly. “It’s very sweet.”

“Oh. All right then.”

They smile at each other and go back to their paperwork.

“Might ask Jason to make me a screensaver.”

“Don’t push it.”

OOOOOOOOOO

“It’s…the thing is, Serena…”

“Yes?”

“The thing is…”

Serena waits for the rest of the sentence but it doesn’t come. “You look dreadfully uncomfortable. Why don’t you come and sit down next to me rather than propping yourself up against the mantelpiece?”

Bernie smiles nervously. “I’m trying to talk about…sex.”

“All right. And that requires a standing position?”

“I might need to pace up and down a bit.”

They smile at each other but the nerves are clear in Bernie’s body language. A nervous Bernie always brings out a mixture of anxiety and protective affection in her; she badly wants to give her a big hug.

“Before we, that is, before you and I…” she trails off helplessly. “Before there’s any sex, I think we should talk about it first,” she says all in a rush.

“All right. Are you rubbish at it?”

Bernie stares at her. “What?”

“Lesbian sex, are you crap at it? Don’t know a clitoris from a catheter, couldn’t make a woman come if you had a vibrator, a harness and a dildo the size of your arm?”

Bernie stares at her for a few seconds before bursting out laughing.

“Because honestly, Bern, I couldn’t care less. It’s not like I’m going to have any idea what I’m doing, is it? I might end up in the wrong place entirely, give you a good seeing to in quite the wrong orifice. It’ll be you and me naked in a bed, Bernie. That’s all I want. All I dream about. I think it’s fair to say that neither of us is going to be an expert in the bedroom department but quite frankly just kissing you is more exciting than several entire relationships I’ve had the misfortune to endure previously, so you’re not going to have to try very hard. Believe me.”

Feeling the tension drain out of her, Bernie joins her girlfriend on the sofa.

“Is that true? Really?”

Serena leans over and kisses her. “Really.”

“How did you know what I was going to say?”

Serena smiles at her. “Because funnily enough, it turns out my big macho army medic is a bit of a worrier when it comes to such matters. And you’ve been snogging me into a sexual frenzy practically every night and then buggering off home even though it was obvious you wanted to stay, so I’ve been thinking about why that might be. And feeling like you had to be the world’s most accomplished lesbian lover because you once had a girlfriend for a few months seemed like a very Bernie thing to do.”

Bernie reaches out to take her hand. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For everything.”

“Well, I’d wait until you’ve been to bed with me before you say that.”

“You can’t possibly be bad in bed, Serena, you’re so warm, so vibrant…”

The look in Bernie’s eyes is so earnest she finds herself fighting back tears. “What a lovely thing to say,” she manages.

They gaze at each other for long moments, the air becoming charged with electricity.

“You and me naked in a bed?” Bernie says softly.

“That was what I was thinking, yes.”

“Tonight?”

“Yes,” Serena replies simply. “Oh yes.”

OOOOOOOOOO

“Auntie Serena, Bernie got the conundrum again! It was ‘abrasions’.”

“Well done Bernie,” Serena says wearily, kicking off her shoes and dropping her bag by the front door.

“You’ve never, ever got the conundrum have you Auntie Serena?”

“Might have got that one,” she mutters, hanging up her coat.

“That’s three times now Bernie’s got it right, she’s still a long way behind me but she might catch up eventually if she watches Countdown every day. She said she didn’t know it was on every weekday but that was a stupid thing to say because it’s been on every weekday for 34 years, two months and twelve days.”

Serena walks into the living room to find Jason’s eyes fixed on the television as he fast-forwards to the next episode of Countdown, sitting as usual as close to the screen as possible. And a rather smug-looking Bernie grinning at her from the sofa.

“Have you really never, ever got the conundrum?” Bernie asks innocently.

“It would appear not,” Serena says.

“Not one single, solitary time?”

“Have you two eaten?”

“Bernie made me scrambled eggs, they taste much better than yours do.”

“Of course they do.”

“Be quiet now, I’m starting the next episode. Bernie said she’d watch Monday to Wednesday with me.”

“Lovely,” she mutters. “And do you mind terribly if I’m in the room too?”

“I don’t mind but you can’t talk.”

“Duly noted.”

She sits down heavily on the sofa, the ten-hour shift catching up with her. Leaning back she closes her eyes and sighs as quietly as possible to avoid being told off. After a few moments she feels a soft kiss on her cheek and she opens her eyes to find Bernie looking at her with a slightly guilty expression.

“I would mind terribly if you weren’t in the room,” she says quietly. “Even if you’re crap at conundrums and don’t put butter in your scrambled eggs.”

Serena smiles at her. “Good to know someone still likes me.”

“Be quiet, Auntie Serena.”

“Bernie started it.”

“You’re the one talking now. How are you going to get better at Countdown if you don’t even pay attention? Bernie doesn’t talk unless I ask her to.”

“Bernie’s better trained than I am.”

“She is when we watch television, you always talk.”

Serena sighs again. “Bernie’s superior in every way.”

“But you don’t leave the kitchen in a state or make a loud honking noise when you laugh, so I think you’re about equal overall.”

Bernie’s mouth drops open; Serena bursts out laughing.

OOOOOOOOOO

“What on earth’s that?”

“It’s a hat.”

“No!”

“Yes it is!” She puts it on to prove it.

“It’s a cylindrical badger!”

“Don’t be silly.”

“Did you hunt it down yourself or were they selling them pre-slaughtered?”

“It’s polyester from Marks and Spencers.”

“It’s astonishing.”

“Thank you.”

“Did it come with a matching stoat that you can wrap around your neck?”

“No.”

“Did it come with two matching voles that you can wear as little earmuffs?”

Serena takes the hat off and places it firmly on Bernie’s head.

“You no longer have to look at the hat. Problem solved. Come along.”

OOOOOOOOOOO

“So how are things in the old Berena bubble of love?”

“The what?”

Berena. That’s you and Serena, you know, like Brangelina. Or Brexit. Zosia wanted to go with Campwolfe but I thought that was pants.”

“That is thoroughly juvenile, Dr Copeland.”

“Thank you. So how are things? Serena seems very happy these days now that you’re all loved up.” 

Bernie looks away. “Hopefully. I mean, I think she is.”

“You think? I caught her singing in the supply closet the other day, something about sunsets and moonlight. And she looks at you like you’re heaven in human form.”

“Hardly,” Bernie mutters, shifting slightly on the steps.

“Are you blushing? You are! I didn’t know soldiers blushed. You’re adorable.”

“Knock it off, doctor.”

“You’re so in lurve it’s sickening. I might vomit right now you’re so smitten.”

“Dominic-“

“Sorry, I’ll shut it. I’m pleased for you, I’m not taking the piss.”

“Mmm. It is, contrary to my expectations, going surprisingly well.”

“I knew you two were going to work out, once you moved back from Outer Mongolia.”

“One hurdle left, though.” She takes a deep breath and wishes she had a cigarette. “I’m starting to work up to the whole…three little words conversation. Girding my loins as it were.”

Dom stares at her. “Three little words?”

“I, you and the unspeakable. Unspeakable if you’re me, that is.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“Love, Dominic, you must know-“

“You haven’t told her yet?”

“Of course I haven’t told her, it’s only been six months.”

“But I told her! Two weeks ago! I assumed she already knew, it’s been six months!”

Bernie stares at him in dismay. “You’re not serious.”

“Deadly! Two weeks ago, in your office. You’d just left and she was talking about you and all glowing, you know how she gets when she mentions you, and I said how pleased I was that you had finally got your head out of your arse and admitted how much you loved her because I was crap at keeping secrets and you’d told me ages ago. How can you not have told her?!”

“Oh God. What did she say?”

“Not much, really, now I think about it. I mean she was a bit more glowy than usual but I just thought that was, you know, because you’d recently been in the room and she was still suffering from the after effects.”

“Oh fantastic. So she finds out I love her via Chinese whispers and I still haven’t said it to her a fortnight later. Jesus Dominic.”

“Sorry. Me and my big mouth.”

“It wasn’t…Friday two weeks ago, the weekend with the bank holiday?”

“Uh…yeah, actually, I think it might have been, how did you know that?”

“No reason,” Bernie says quickly.

“No, come on, how did you know?”

“Lucky guess.”

“Major, you’re blushing like a beetroot. Out with it.”

“She may have, uh, expressed her happiness in a…non-verbal manner. More than once.”

“What do you…OMG, Berena sexy times!”

“You really must stop that.”

“You have to tell her. For your own sake as well as hers, it’s getting ridiculous. You’ll get married before you tell her at this rate.”

“I know. Although not the married part, thank you, I’m sure if I can manage to propose I can manage to say the other thing first.”

“Oh Bernie, are you thinking about proposing? That is so-“

“Right, Dr Copeland, I’ve suddenly remembered I left a patient on the table with his spleen hanging out, if you’ll excuse me.” She gets up and starts to head back inside.

“Berena forever!” he calls after her. “And for God’s sake woman, ‘fess up!”

OOOOOOOOOO

“Here,” Bernie says, placing the wine on the table within Serena’s reach.

“Mm. Thanks.”

She sits down on the sofa next to her, smiling to herself as Serena immediately snuggles into her again.

“What did I miss?” she says, wrapping an arm around her.

“I think the brother did it, the one who looks a bit shifty all the time. He was opening a mysterious envelope.”

“What does a mysterious envelope look like exactly?”

“Yes all right smarty-pants, the envelope wasn’t mysterious, it was the music. Now quiet please, he’s looking shifty again.”

Bernie watches for a few minutes as the characters on screen play out another scene and then an ad break comes on.

“What time are you in tomorrow? I’m not on until 10.”

“I’ll be in early but I can wait for you later and catch up on paperwork.”

“Sounds good. I should be done by about seven. Maybe we can go out to dinner if you’re not too tired and also I love you.”

“Good plan, that Italian place was…was…what did you say?”

“I said I love you.”

Serena sits up straight and stares at her. “You…”

“You heard. Sorry, that sounded…I meant, you heard what I think you said. What you think I said. Was what you heard. Because I said it. Bloody hell.”

Serena doesn’t say anything, but she’s smiling. And starting to glow.

“You knew that already though, didn’t you? A certain F1?”

“I did.” There’s a catch in her voice that goes straight to Bernie’s heart. “But it was awfully nice of you to finally mention it.”

“You’re very welcome.”

Serena reaches forward and tenderly strokes her cheek. “I think you already know how I feel, but I’m going to say it out loud, all right? Don’t want to frighten the horses this time round. Are you ready?”

“I am.”

“Then if I may say so, Bernie Wolfe, you wonderful, wonderful woman, I love you very much. But don’t go to Russia.”

It’s a good ten seconds before she can speak. “Not a chance,” she whispers.

OOOOOOOOOO

The soft, magical hands glide over her back one last time before she feels the light tap on her shoulder that Serena uses to signal the end of a massage. It’s all she can do not to beg her to continue, but it must have lasted at least 20 minutes already and she knows it’s hard work – Serena doesn’t hold back when she touches her like this and she’s fantastic at it. Any pain she’d been experiencing had disappeared long ago and since then it’s been pure, unadulterated pleasure.

“Thank you,” she says earnestly. “That feels so much better.”

“Your trapezius muscle felt rather better this time but there’s still some tension in the latissimus dorsi that we should monitor.”

Bernie fights to keep a grin off her face. “Oh really?”

“Yes, I think that’s the main area of concern, it would correlate with your original injury of course.” She’s sitting bolt upright on the side of the bed, her eyes looking anywhere but at Bernie who is still lying down, naked from the waist up.

“I really do feel much better.”

“Yes, that’s good, good, glad to hear it.” Serena looks at the lampshade, then the carpet, then an ornament in the shape of a frog.

“You know what the best part is?”

“Hmm?”

“The best part is afterwards when you try to hide how much this turns you on.”

Serena turns to her sharply. “What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking, Ms Campbell, about the fact that you’re exhibiting all the classic symptoms of arousal. You’re flushed, your breathing is accelerated and your pulse…” Bernie sits up and places two fingers gently onto Serena’s neck. “Oh my, your pulse is racing. This really gets you going, doesn’t it?”

Bernie grins wickedly as Serena immediately pulls away and stands up, looking thoroughly offended. “That was medicinal! Recuperative! I wasn’t enjoying myself!”

“I certainly was.”

“…I…you…”

“Serena, you’ve just had your hands all over me, I don’t know why you feel like it’s not supposed to excite you. It always excites me.”

The blush on Serena’s face starts to spread to her neck, although she’s still feigning detachment. “I thought you couldn’t talk about sex,” she says sternly.

“What can I say, we’ve been having so much of it I think you’ve cured that little affliction. Shall we have some more now?”

Silence. But then she can actually see the moment that Serena’s desire wins out.

“Fine,” she says, still sounding a bit cross but starting to take her shirt off anyway. “But don’t put your back out.”

OOOOOOOOOO

“Oh Bernie, don’t get upset about it, it didn’t mean anything.”

“I’m pretty sure he thought it meant something.”

“Of course he didn’t, it was harmless flirting!”

“I’m pretty sure he thought he was going home with you.” She opens her sock drawer and then, realizing she should be shedding clothes rather than gathering them, closes it again with as much fury as a sock drawer can muster.

“What he thought was that he was having a perfectly ordinary conversation with a woman at a bar and he’d pay her a compliment, that was all.”

“What a beautiful necklace, really brings out your eyes, really sets off your nose, really dangles around your neck so cleverly.” She starts to get undressed.

“For goodness’ sake woman you were sat right next to me! I’d told him who you were, I even said you’d been in the army. Do you honestly think he was making a pass at me when my army major girlfriend was looking daggers at him?”

“Damn right he was,” she growls, throwing her shirt onto the floor angrily.

“Pick that up please.”

“I will not.” She throws her trousers on the floor for good measure.

“You know I flirt with everyone!”

“That’s your defence?

“Yes, it is actually! If you were flirting with someone I’d know you meant it, that you were attracted to them, but it doesn’t mean that with me. I flirt with everyone at work, you know I do. I flirted with Hanssen the other day when he was all dolled up in his tuxedo, you were stood right there. Did you think I was going to run off with him?”

Bernie starts pulling on her pyjamas, turning her back on her lover who’s already in bed. “Maybe.”

“Of course you didn’t. What about when I told Raf he had beautiful eyes, did you think I was propositioning him for sex?”

“That man thought you were propositioning him for sex.”

“That man thought nothing of the kind. You’ve put your trousers on back to front.”

She looks down at her pyjama bottoms, checks the little label and starts to take them off again, barely suppressing a growl of frustration.

“I will try to tone it down if it makes you uncomfortable, but you really must understand that you and I relate to people in different ways. Flirting for me is just talking, more or less, it happens without me even noticing. Flirting from you means something.”

Having corrected her pyjamas she stands at the foot of the bed, hands on her hips.

“I hated the way he was looking at you. He obviously wanted you and I hated it. I wanted to tell him that you’re taken, you’re mine.”

Serena, to her surprise, grins wickedly. “Why didn’t you? I would have loved that.”

Bernie stares at her, completely thrown. “What?!

“You coming over all possessive, the big macho army medic putting him in his place. Sounds delicious.”

She stands there, trying to fathom her lover’s mind. “But surely…I mean me coming over all Neanderthal is hardly what you want, is it?”

“Why ever not? Like I said, it sounds delish. I rather wish you’d done just that.”

“Marcus used to be possessive and it drove me round the bend. He’d put his arm around me whenever another man was anywhere near me, always made sure that any single men knew I was taken. It used to make me feel like an object he was laying claim to.”

“Ah. I see. Well, that may be another area where you and I differ. I wouldn’t mind in the least if you went all possessive and shouted to the whole world that I was yours.”

Bernie sits on the side of the bed, not quite ready to get in it yet. “But I don’t want to have to shout about it,” she says quietly.

“Oh, Bernie. You don’t have to shout about, I promise you. I am yours. I do belong to you. It hasn’t upset you when I’ve flirted at work, has it?”

“No,” she says, reluctantly but truthfully.

“So do you think tonight it was because that man didn’t know me, he didn’t know that I was a big old flirt and might have taken me seriously?”

“Maybe.”

“But as long as you know I’m not serious, that I’d never, ever hurt you, isn’t that what counts?”

Bernie looks at her, turning everything over in her mind, trying to recall the feeling of furious jealousy that is rapidly fading away.

“So what we’ve concluded here is that you’re allowed to flirt with the world and his wife and I can’t flirt with anyone, is that right?”

“Well,” Serena says hesitantly. “Yes. I suppose so. Because we both know what that means. Or doesn’t mean, in my case.”

They gaze at each other for a few moments.

“Come to bed,” Serena says gently.

“That doesn’t seem fair at all.”

“No. It doesn’t. But I think that’s the way it is. Do you really disagree?”

Bernie looks at her lover. She’s wearing a silky nightgown that bares the tops of her shoulders; her face is scrubbed free of make-up and her expression reveals only gentle, honest love.

“No,” she says quietly. “No, I don’t disagree.”

“Then come to bed, sweetheart. But please pick your clothes up first, I won’t be able to sleep if I know they’re down there.”

OOOOOOOOOO

Bernie watches quietly from across the living room, waiting. Her girlfriend is engrossed in a magazine.

“I quite like this jumper.”

“Mm,” Bernie says.

“It’s only ten thousand pounds from Harrods, I’ll put it in my Christmas list.”

“OK.”

“It’s got diamonds sewn into the sleeves.”

Bernie stands up.

“Goodness knows what happens if you lose one in the washing machine.”

Bernie walks over to stand beside her.

“I suppose if you can spend ten thousand pounds on a jumper you can send your servant down the drain to fetch it.”

“Stand up.”

Serena looks up at her. “Sorry?”

“Stand up.”

Serena stands up, looking puzzled. “Is everything-”

In one quick movement Bernie takes hold of her, pushes her firmly against the wall and kisses her passionately, holding Serena’s arms by her sides and pressing their bodies together tightly to trap her in the embrace. Serena is motionless for a few seconds, stunned, and Bernie almost pulls away in alarm, but then she hears a groan of pure arousal and her lover melts into her, kissing her back with a hunger that sends a thrill down her spine. They kiss deeply, intensely, the shared lust of the moment making her ache with longing.

When they finally break apart they’re both panting. Serena looks more than a little dazed; Bernie’s pulse is a mile a minute. She gradually loosens her hold but doesn’t let her go.

“What…what was…where did that come from?”

“You, the other day,” Bernie says breathlessly. “What you said about being possessive, the macho army medic stuff. I, um, got the impression that you might like a bit of…” She trails off, unable to verbalise what she’s just done.

“A bit of what?” Serena grins at her.

“A bit of…that. Don’t know what to call it. Was I right?”

“Damn right you were right. I’d like a bit more, too.”

“Your wish is my command.”

In one smooth, swift movement, she picks Serena up and starts heading to the stairs. Serena looks at her as if she’s heaven in human form.

“But I’m not buying you that jumper, that’s just mad.”

OOOOOOOOOO

“Berenice Griselda Wolfe!”

Raf turns to her in alarm. “That can’t be good,” he whispers.

“Nope,” Bernie says weakly.

“My office, now.” Serena disappears back into the office and slams the door behind her.

“Do you want me to call the police if you’re not out in an hour?”

“Undertakers, more like it. Wish me luck.”

“Good luck, soldier. Some corner of a foreign field…”

“That’s not helpful.”

She heads over to their office, taking a surreptitious deep breath before entering and closing the door behind her. No need for the entire ward to hear the explosions.

“Everything all right?” she says breezily.

“No it bloody isn’t! Look at this mess! Is it too much to ask that you don’t turn my desk into a pigsty for God’s sake, I mean is that genuinely too much to ask?”

Bernie glances at the crisp packet and empty can of Coke. “Sorry, I was-“

“I mean seriously Bernie, how hard is it to use the bin, is it really beyond your capabilities?”

“Of course it-“

“We’re completely swamped with patients, I haven’t had five minutes to myself since eight o’clock this morning, Hanssen’s on my back about turnaround times, the agency keeps sending nurses who can barely dress a wound, Jason’s had a massive strop because the television broke and we can’t buy a new one that’s exactly like the old one and on top of that you leave your mess everywhere and expect me to clean it up!”

Bernie gingerly picks up the crisp packet and Coke can and puts them in the bin. “I’ve cleaned it up. Sorry.”

Serena puts her hands on hips. “Yes. Well. Shouldn’t have left it there in the first place, should you?”

“Won’t happen again.”

“Well then.” She sits down heavily. “All right then.”

There’s a long, tense silence. Bernie can’t tell whether she’s supposed to leave or stay so she hovers awkwardly by the door.

“I’ll put a rocket up the agency, you’re right about the nurses and it’s not good enough.”

Serena runs a hand through her hair. “Good. Fine.”

“And I can have a chat with Jason. If we get him a bigger telly than you had before he might not mind so much.”

“Right,” Serena says quietly.

Another silence.

“Would it help if I killed Hanssen? Quietly, in a corner. No-one would know.”

Serena sighs, but she relaxes slightly in her chair. “It’s possible that some of what I just said may not have been entirely your fault.”

“Well…”

“Possibly even most of what I just said. Obviously the Coke can and salt and vinegar were your doing and as I happened to see them last…”

“Straw that broke the camel’s back.”

“Looks like it. Although you seem to have got the blame for the whole camel.”

“It’s all right.”

“No, no, it’s not. I shouldn’t take things out on you just because you’re handy. I’m sorry.”

Serena sits forward and reaches out to her. Without thinking Bernie takes her hand, leans down and gently kisses the back of it. Immediately she feels self-conscious, but the brilliant smile that appears on her lover’s face makes it worthwhile.

“Oh my. How very chivalrous you are, Ms Wolfe.”

“Only for you, Ms Campbell.”

“Very dashing. Please don’t murder Hanssen.”

OOOOOOOOOO

“Bought you something.”

Bernie hands her the plastic bag, smiling at the look of anticipation that appears on her girlfriend’s face. But her reaction when she pulls out the grey Holby City hoodie is rather underwhelming.

“Uh…” says Serena. “Right. Thank you.”

“You don’t sound very pleased.”

“No, no, it’s nice.”

“Is it not the right colour? They had them in white I think.”

“Colour’s fine.”

“Then I’m lost. I thought you wanted one, you’ve been wearing my one all the time.”

Serena smiles at her tenderly. “Yes. I have.”

“So that one’s exactly the same.”

“No, it isn’t.”

“Yes it is, same colour, same size, same logo.”

“Bernie.”

“Same hood.”

“Bernie. Sit quietly for a little while and have a think.”

“Don’t talk to me like I’m an imbecile, I know a grey hoodie when I see one.”

“Sit. Quietly. And. Think.”

Grumpily, she does. Grey, she thinks. Hood, she thinks. High maintenance girlfriend, she thinks. And then…

“Oh,” she says softly. “Because it was mine.”

“There it is.”

Serena smiles at her again, another beautiful, tender smile. It does something to her heart that she couldn’t articulate in a million lifetimes.

“I’m not used to this,” Bernie says earnestly. “To someone loving me like this.”

“Well get used to it sunshine because this is your life now.”

They gaze at each other quietly.

“Can I have this new one?” says Bernie. “If you’ve officially pilfered mine.”

“Of course.”

A small pause.

“Can I have your orange shirt?”

“No you can’t!”