A/N: I hope you enjoy my first Berena story. Feel free to PM me any ideas you have for another :)
Serena had been hoping for a busy day today, but as usual when she hoped for something, the complete opposite occurred. For once, AAU was quiet, under control and un-needing of Serena Campbell's guidance.
It was with a defeated sigh that she sat at her desk, glaring at the piles of paperwork in the hope they would disappear. She'd tried in vain to invent something else she urgently needed to do, and had even offered to pick up other people's work, but it was as though everyone knew what she was doing and were working against her.
There was nothing else for it, now. She'd have to do the work in front of her.
Come on, Serena! A bit of paperwork has never bothered you before!
She tried to bolster herself, she tried giving herself pep talks, she tried motivating herself with talk of a hot coffee and a croissant when the first few pages were dealt with, but nothing worked. Serena Campbell did not want to do her paperwork.
The reason she did not want to do said paperwork happened to be sat directly in her line of vision, and she didn't think she'd ever hated anything more.
Come on, old girl! Just do it!
Fine. Fine! I'll do it.
As soon as it was done, Serena regretted it, because at that exact moment the person she really did not want to see walked through the office doorway.
Bernie Wolfe.
Bernie Wolfe who now had a bemused expression flitting across her face.
"What?" It comes out a snap unintentionally. Not that it seemed to matter, because it only seemed to heighten Bernie's amusement. "Is there something funny?"
Giving her head a slight shake, Bernie approached Serena's desk, eyes fixed on her colleague, her mouth and eyes still dancing with a smile. "Have you-"
"Please don't say it." Serena shuts her eyes, but she knows the inevitable is about to unfold before her.
"Have you bought reading glasses?" Bernie finishes asking, her eyes studying the dark frames her colleague wore.
"I've been doing a lot of paperwork recently, and as no one seems to care about fixing the terrible lighting in here which is forcing me to strain my eyes- yes, I've been forced to buy glasses. Happy?" Serena snapped again, this time more from embarrassment mixed with annoyance than anything else. And again, Bernie seemed to take no notice of her tone, because the smile didn't budge from her lips. Reaching up, Serena pulled the glasses off in one swift movement and dropped them with a thud onto her desk. "They look horrible, don't they?"
"On the contrary-" Bernie offers, finally pulling her eyes from Serena's face to glance down at the glasses and then back up at the brunette. "They're quite fetching, actually."
"Librarian chic, the optometrist said." Serena offered with a resigned sigh.
"Mm. I've always found librarians to be quite sexy, personally." Bernie offered the comment in a casual way, as though unaware of the effect her words would have on the woman who had been embarrassed to put on her new glasses in front of Bernice Wolfe.
"How can I help you, ma'am?" The woman behind the counter gave the sort of smile that Serena hated, but she had little time today to think of such things- her lunch break finished in half an hour, and she had promised to check on Jason before she went back to work.
"I was in earlier. I bought some, ah, reading glasses."
"Are they not to your liking?" The woman frowned now, though the bored look in her eyes infuriated Serena.
No time for that. Glasses!
"No. No. They're fine. In fact, the optometrist recommended I get a pair to wear more generally for my long distance vision, and I've decided to go ahead with that." Serena gave a nervous smile, sure the woman in front of her would roll her eyes and tell Serena that glasses would not make Bernie Wolfe notice her.
"Nice glasses, Serena." Raf offered with a smile as he passed his boss later on that day.
She gave him a polite smile, adjusting the glasses on her nose. She had to admit, everything was clearer wearing these. Almost too clear, in fact, Serena decided when a certain blonde doctor came into her vision.
"Very nice." And a smile that met Bernie's twinkling eyes. Serena's favourite.
I cannot believe you have gone out and bought yourself some bloody specs just to get a smile from Bernie Wolfe!
"Thank you." Serena smiled back, once more nervously adjusting the frames that she was fast growing accustomed to. "I-"
"I don't suppose you have a copy of 'Oranges are not the only fruit' in your library, do you?" Bernie asked in almost a whisper as she passed the brunette.
The glasses could not help Serena now, because whenever Bernie spoke in that low tone, her eyes would shut themselves and Serena would find herself quite unable to control her muscles. Her world pitch black, she didn't see the doctor watching her with a smirk on her face, nor did she notice her approaching again until suddenly there was a hand on her arm. Skin prickling, she was sure her glasses would soon slide down to the very tip of her nose as sweat began to dance its way from her soul.
It's hot in here. Too hot.
"What I'd really like, of course, is to see you in our bed wearing nothing but those glasses."
Eye's opening, Serena watched the blonde's retreating back, mildly surprised her glasses hadn't steamed up. She would never get used to this feeling Bernie Wolfe had unleashed inside her.
Oranges are not the only fruit, indeed.