Authors Note: Not sure if I'm exactly pleased with this (especially writing them in anything resembling in-character and the ending) but Ric and Serena and my soul right now so I'll just put this out there. I do have chapter story ideas for them but life's pretty busy at the moment. :)
Serena Campbell awoke from the dream she had been thoroughly enjoying but as she remembered that a brief version of the dream had actually occurred the night before she was not too upset about her eyes fluttering open. She and Ric had been in Albie's for a couple of hours, drowning their sorrows over the loss of a patient they had both been operating on, the day after he had accompanied her to the MBA graduate dinner. As the old saying went: one thing had led to another and as she went to kiss his cheek goodnight outside the bar their lips had accidentally met and they had ended up in his bedroom not very long later.
She knew she could say it was a mistake; that the alcohol had made more of an impact than she had expected. But she had wanted it, if she was honest she would admit that she wanted it even more so now that it had happened once. She smirked as she remembered it had in fact certainly been more than once and that they had got exponentially better together as the night progressed.
There was no sign of a hangover either so she believed she was correct in the assumption she had not had a vast quantity of drink which made the current situation seem more real. He had drank less than her but not by a great margin so they had both been somewhat tipsy when the first kiss had taken place. As her mind went into overdrive Serena felt him shift behind her and turn on to his side, his free arm finding her and tightening around her abdomen, and she didn't stop him.
It was obvious when he did wake because the warm embrace suddenly disappeared and he moved away from her body. She made sure the duvet was covering her - the absence of alcohol in her system made her conscious of the fact they had seen their colleague naked - before turning 180° and meeting his eyes, trying not to show a flicker of what she was feeling so that his opinions could be brought to light.
"Morning Serena."
"Morning."
They stared at the other for a few moments before he broached what they had done, "If this is going to make things strange or uncomfortable you can say now and we will forget it ever took place."
Serena wished she had learnt how to read his facial tics because she could not work out how he was feeling. After what he had said however she came to the conclusion that he hated himself and her for allowing this and that he wanted her out of his personal space as soon as possible. She wanted to rewind time by about five minutes so that she could have left before he had stirred so she followed his line of speech.
"I think that would be for the best, don't you?"
A week later Serena's mother was admitted to Keller for the second time and they had been speaking of her involvement in the care when she had uttered something before her brain had a chance to filter it out, "And there I was thinking we turned a corner after the MBA dinner. You were such an obliging plus one." The look on her face made it clear she knew exactly what part of the evening she was referring to and Ric had no idea quite how to respond, especially with an audience.
In their office that same day she had opened the door to enter before trying to hastily turn back when she saw Ric was working in it but he spoke before she got a chance, "I thought we agreed it would make sense to forget that night?"
Shutting the door firmly behind her so there was nobody able to overhear, she stood in front of his desk. She had been expecting to be summoned by him at some point but she had wanted a little more time to come up with a response for when he asked about her not so subtle hinting and flirting. All week had been full of them but she had thought she had got away with it since they had not spent much time in close proximity but apparently she had hit a nerve with the explicit mention of that event.
"I was just messing with you, Ric," she said with a smirk, avoiding eye contact with him at all costs because she knew her voice would falter if she let herself.
He stood up from his chair and walked around to where she was, the natural distance they stood apart closing in ever so slightly. "Serena, I want to work with you - every now and again we can actually be a formidable team - but I don't know how to if you can't decide where you stand."
"I have decided, it's just... I don't even understand why but... What if I'm not entirely sure that I do want to pretend it never happened?" She bit down hard on her bottom lip when she finished, too late to prevent the words leaving her mouth.
"I thought that's what you chose?"
"No, you suggested it leading me to believe you regretted us doing the deed, so I went along with it."
"And you did such a good job at continuing to go along with the plan." Ric didn't mean to get angry at her, it was the last thing he wanted when he knew she was troubled over their conflict but her little comments here and there managed to irk him to the highest level.
"I'm sorry, okay, if you're going to be like that then let's agree this conversation and our liaison was just an imagination!" She turned on her heel as she readied herself to slam the door when she exited.
This was their problem, both of them knew it - they each always wanted to have the last word and when they were in an argument most of the time they simply wanted to escape it and carry on with a life they knew how to manage. Without realising it the other consultant that they worked so much with had got under their skin and messed up their beliefs in how to do their job and the carefully constructed walls about having feelings for someone who was also their absolute antithesis.
Usually he would let her lose her temper and they would take a few days of only communicating briefly before getting back to normal but since sleeping with her he could not let that happen. "Serena! Serena, come back here!"
"What right do you have to demand anything from me?" She rubbed a hand across her forehead, tired of the constant reminder she was still a flesh and blood human who had ended up in bed with a man she was fast becoming aware of being seriously attracted to.
"None, I know, but I wish you would not just storm off before a discussion is over."
When he did not continue after that statement she finally caught his eye and at that moment they knew the person opposite was remembering the feel of their lips against the other, every nerve on their bodies had felt electric as they had acted so passionately together.
"I'm listening."
He bravely took another step towards her, knowing that he had to tell he the truth at this moment or they would probably never get the opportunity to admit this sort of thing to each other again,"In my head I cannot actually picture us in something that could be termed a relationship," he watched as she began to look completely defeated - an expression he seen only once or twice before on her - and he smiled because her recalled a lesser form of it from that morning in his bed and realised she had wanted him to have kissed her then instead of pushing her away, "but I think I would like to try."
"Mr Griffin, are you suggesting we start dating?"
"I am only saying that I would like to attempt to see if there's a possibility of that between us." He explained as she brushed her fingertips across his hand.
"Is there any point saying we shall take it slowly considering our previous dalliance? I mean it would be nice to get used to the whole thing."
"That is perfectly understandable." Ric was ready to move away from her in accordance with their newly-formed plan but she stopped him momentarily with a quick kiss to his cheek.
"Just making sure we are not intoxicated and can manage a simple thing like that unlike how you failed on that last week."
"Now now, Ms Campbell, we both know that it was you who had a little over their limit and could not focus properly."
"I was not over my limit and was not impaired that heavily," they stared at one another before breaking out in laughter, "Ric, what are we doing? We will argue all the time!"
"But then we get to try a different type of making up." He risked leaning down and pressing a kiss to her lips, and was pleasantly surprised when she gave in to the distraction, both able to feel the other's smile about the new direction their rivalry had taken them.