(a/n – yes I have a bazillion other fics to be working on and actual real life issues to be dealing with but the idea of Sexy Firefighter Bernie wormed its way into my trash brain and this happened. I would apologise, but I know deep down you all wanted Sexy Firefighter Bernie too. Right?)
The Third Nine
Chapter 1
"It's not bingo! It's not like a collection, Elinor!"
"It's a feat is what it is, Mum. Dad was a doctor, Robbie was a policeman. All you need is a steady relationship with a fireman and you've got the whole set! The whole 999 as it were."
"Elinor, I can assure you now that I have no intention of getting with a firefighter."
That's the conversation which ran through Serena's head as she took in the person before her. Helmet skewwhiff, shoulders back, and firm biceps peeking out from underneath the jacket as a hand was offered. Serena shook it.
"Bernie Wolfe. Area lead for Holby City Fire Service. Pleased to meet you."
If someone nine hours previously to that moment had told Serena Campbell that by the end of her shift she would have been rendered speechless by a female firefighter, she would have laughed in their face. And yet, that's where she found herself. The shift had started quietly, until they had had the call. Major fire at a warehouse in the city centre used for office spaces and studios. Four fire engines at the scene. At least twelve known casualties from a collapsed wall onto the evacuation point, many more expected who had not been able to escape. And from then on, Holby City Hospital had been filled with rescue personnel and patients and relatives and Serena had not managed to see outside a surgery or scrub room for several hours. Then, just when she thought everything had died down, in the woman had come, striding onto AAU with a middle aged man over her shoulders as if it was the easiest thing in the world, whilst simultaneously yelling details. Unconscious due to smoke inhalation, but no serious injuries aside from burns. No ambulances left at the scene so it had been easier to bring him in the fire engine. She'd been sent straight up to AAU from the ED, and was asking who was in charge. Serena, momentarily stunned, had frozen in place, scrub cap in hand, before gesturing to Bay Six and getting Raf to take the patient.
Then, there she was, shaking the woman's hand, marvelling at just how firm said handshake was, and totally not at all getting distracted by her runaway thoughts triggered by the woman. She gathered her wits enough to form a coherent reply.
"Serena Campbell. Bis-ome level of luck, I am now on my break. Coffee?" She managed to recover her accidental slip of the tongue, and cursed herself, even as the woman nodded and headed down to Pulses with her. As they were in the queue, Bernie unzipped her jacket and shrugged it open. Serena gulped and avoided staring too much.
"Sorry, I'm boiling. Do you mind if we get the coffees to go and have them outside?"
"Strong and hot!" Serena exclaimed before she could stop herself, her mind's eye wandering somewhere underneath Bernie's uniform. She coughed awkwardly. "My coffee order. Strong. And hot. Like a latte. Double shot. To go. Yes. I'm sorry, it's been a long day." She turned away from the (devastatingly attractive) firefighter, and concentrated very hard on the price list of the various cakes available.
Only once they were outside did Serena realise her mistake. It was March, and she had come outside in just her scrubs, with no hoodie. Frankly, she was freezing. She felt her muscles spasm uncontrollably as her body gave over to shivering. And it was very difficult to try and drink coffee whilst your arms were crossed in front of your chest in case a blonde firewoman happened to notice how your nipples were reacting to the cold. Bernie shrugged off her thick jacket, and placed it around Serena's shoulders. Serena tried not to swoon. It reeked of smoke, with an undercurrent of something else, something raw and sweaty, which, in any other circumstance, would probably have been disgusting. But instead it was one of the most erotic scents Serena had inhaled in a long time. She wondered briefly if she could bottle it to sniff on a lonely night, then dispelled the thought, blaming it on her hormones.
"I'm sorry," Bernie offered. "I forgot that your uniform is quite a bit thinner than mine."
"It doesn't matter. I needed a breather anyway. Long day."
"I think it has been for both of us." Bernie smiled as she downed the rest of her drink. "I am so ready to go home and get into bed." Serena bit her lip to try and stop her mind from wandering.
"Me too. Though I'll have to make shepherd's pie for me and Jason first." She sighed.
"Jason? That your husband? Why can't he make it?" Serena couldn't help but feel herself getting even more attracted to the woman as a result of her enraged tone. She was clearly a feminist, too.
"No. My nephew. He lives with me because he has Asperger's. I provide him with a sense of routine. One of the perks of being a busybody middle-aged divorcee, I guess." She tried to inject some humour.
"I'm sorry, I didn't realise" Bernie's tone had changed to one of understanding. "I know it's not the same, but Cam and Charlie get ever so grumpy when they don't have their meals at regular times."
"They're your children?" Serena queried, and was not expecting a throaty laugh at the response to her question.
"As close as I'm likely to get. Cats. Adorable monsters." Serena pondered the woman's statement, curious as to why cats were the closest she would ever likely get to children, but not wanting to cause any upset by prodding further. Luckily, she didn't have to, as the blonde continued. "Even if Alex jokes they're the only pussies I'm ever going to go home to now." She laughed again and Serena gawped at the implied meaning. Her brain short circuited.
"Alex?" She attempted to make her tone casual, but worried she had failed spectacularly.
"My ex," Bernie clarified. "Well, I say ex meaning we were sort of best-friends-with-rather-good-benefits for a good few years before she moved to Birmingham. Now we're just best-friends-with-constant-joking-around. Me about her stable civil partnership to Clara the accountant," Serena laughed slightly as the woman put on a ridiculous yet fond voice to say the name, "and her about my complete lack of any action aside from pulling people from burning buildings." Serena felt her throat go dry. Her mind wasn't working properly as she tried to compute the new information. Instead, she blurted out the first thing which her mouth decided was appropriate. And turned the shade of Bernie's fire engine as a result.
"You've only ever had one partner?!" As Serena immediately wished the ground would swallow her whole, Bernie raised her eyebrows and shrugged, before winking.
"Not at all. I've had a couple of hook-ups since Alex moved which really didn't work out. And I was in a couple of fairly steady relationships before her. Well, as steady as you can get when you're a commitment phobic lesbian who may need to leap out of bed at four in the morning because you have a shift which starts in an hour and you really don't want to get sacked. Anyway, what's it to you? Unless you're some sort of serial dater or something. Most people are meant to find one person, marry and be together forever." Her words would have been borderline insulting, had her eyes not been sparkling as she said it. Serena tried valiantly to not get completely lost in their depths.
"Yes. Well. I did the marriage thing, then the divorce thing when he decided he preferred anything younger, blonder and slimmer. Then I concentrated on bringing my daughter up. Had a few short-term failures during that time. Most notably one which started and ended at a party in Stepney in the short space of an hour inside a wardrobe." At Bernie's snort, she raised an eyebrow. "Anyway. Then I was quite serious with a policeman up until around half a year ago, when I welcomed Jason into my life and said man, despite his duties to protect all members of the public, wasn't willing to get to know, understand and accommodate an Autistic yet incredibly endearing young man. So I gave him the boot."
"You go girl!" Bernie held up her hand to high five Serena, who felt her pulse quicken at the evident strength behind such a casual gesture. "Do you reckon you'll start dating again?" Bernie's voice was casual, but something flashed across her eyes which Serena didn't dare imagine was hope. Instead, she sighed.
"Oh, I doubt it. When you're this side of fifty and living with a nephew who has a tendency to brutally screen any guests through no fault of his own, what with being Deputy CEO of a hospital with all its associated tasks, it does seem a little unlikely that I would be able to seriously consider the dating thing again. That's not to say I wouldn't be averse to someone coming along and sweeping me off my feet though." She couldn't help the flirty side of her personality coming to the fore as she winked at the firewoman, who gulped and looked away towards the car park.
"Aha, yes, that ma-"
"Sorry!" Serena looked down at her pager which had gone off in her pocket. Shrugging off Bernie's coat and immediately missing the warmth, she turned apologetically. "Rebleed in bed four, duty calls! See you around, Bernie."
"Well, I'll be here until the boys have all come out from where they're chatting up the nurses, most likely. See you around, Serena!" She mock-saluted at the surgeon, for seemingly no apparent reason, and Serena dashed into the warmth and safety of the hospital before her knees buckled beneath her. She needed to focus on her patient, and not the alarmingly sexy firewoman who had stumbled into her life.
By the time she finished in surgery, got changed and clocked out, the fire engine which had been parked in front of the hospital had gone.
Much later, after supper with Jason was long over and she was tucked up in bed, Serena cursed herself for not being more forward and asking for the woman's number. It looked like the beautiful firewoman would have to remain a mere memory of sunshine on a busy day.
