A/N: I saw a post about femslash scenarios on tumblr and was going to do a few one shots, but then this idea popped into my head. I've basically adapted 5 of these into scenarios where Serena and Bernie have met but not really properly 'met'.

Canon compliant – the last chapter will be my interpretation of their thoughts in their first scene together based on this fic, so everything up until then still happens.

Hope you enjoy!

Bernie checked her watch for about the 10th time in an hour, groaning. The minute hand seemed to be moving slower the closer it got to the end of her shift. It was almost 10pm on a Friday, she had spent the morning in a deadly boring anatomy session, being taught the muscles of the forearm, then started on a 6-hour shift.

No one was in the canteen at this time, any normal student would be relaxing ready for the weekend. Bernie had cleaned all the tables and was sweeping the floor, muttering to herself as she went along. Anterior compartment performs flexion and pronation. Superficial muscles: flexor carpi ulnaris, palmaris longus, flexor carpi radialis, pronator teres. Intermediate…

She was disturbed by the door opening and closing. Who the hell comes in five minutes before closing?! She was annoyed, this meant she'd have to stay late clearing up and all she wanted was to be curled up in bed.

Propping the broom against the wall, she plastered her best 'customer smile' on and turned to greet them. Wow she is gorgeous Bernie thought, before mentally checking herself. Evidently a student, judging by the huge rucksack and wild eyes that most people on campus had, considering assignment and dissertation deadlines were less than two weeks away. She was dressed in a denim mid-length dress with a long zip down the front, currently done up to the neck. Bernie's breath hitched slightly, trying to suppress her attraction. Long, brunette curls cascaded past her shoulders and elegant painted nails were bright against the cover of the textbook she was clutching.

"Sorry, I know you're closing soon but could I have a black coffee to take away please?"

"Sure, would you like any food with that?" Bernie's smile had become genuine, as she made her way behind the counter.

"No thanks, strong and hot coffee is all I care about at the minute," she started to reach around to get her purse, and lost control of the textbook, which fell to the floor with a thud, scattering pages of hand written notes everywhere.

"Oh, bloody hell, that's all I need! Could this day possibly get any worse?!" the brunette muttered.

Bernie finished pouring out the coffee, and went to help the poor girl with collecting everything up. As she bent down she noticed the textbook was Gray's Anatomy, which meant she was almost certainly a medical student. It was weird, Bernie hadn't seen her around before. It was quite a small course and female medics were, although more common nowadays, still few and far between. She must be in fifth year, Bernie didn't really know many of the year above as they were pretty much constantly on hospital placements, trying to get as much practice in before they were properly responsible for patients.

Before Bernie had chance to ask her, she had taken her belongings out of Bernie's hands and left the correct change on the counter, rushing towards the door with a quick "thanks".

In the next couple of weeks before the Easter break, the mystery student returned to the canteen three times. Not that Bernie was counting. She always ordered a black coffee, no food, and seemed slightly on edge. It was a stressful time of the year, especially if she was a final year medic as Bernie suspected.

On the third occasion, she was almost on the brink of tears. Bernie wanted to ask what was wrong, but there was a long queue and if the roles were reversed she wouldn't want a stranger checking she was okay. Anyway, she was terrible at comforting people and had always been a doer rather than a shoulder to cry on.

So, she drew a little cat on the cardboard cup. Bernie told herself it was what any kind, half-decent human being would do for someone who was upset. It just so happened that this fellow student was also quite attractive, and had been occupying her thoughts since that first Friday night. Not that Bernie would ever act on her feelings; she was far too scared to admit that she found women attractive. Her parents would go spare, and it was definitely frowned upon in her dream job, a Royal Army Medic.

It was a crude drawing, simplistic but obviously feline. Suddenly, she felt embarrassed. How weird was it to just draw a cat on someone's coffee cup? A stranger's coffee cup. Too late, she couldn't go back now, so she just handed the coffee over with her hand covering the little drawing and quickly moved on to serve the next person. However, out of the corner of her eye Bernie swore she saw the brunette chuckle to herself and smile at the cup when she noticed.

Easter passed and Bernie was back at work, trying to juggle the mountain of revision with rowing training and her shifts in the university canteen. Her favourite customer seemed to be coming in more frequently, and each time Bernie would draw another little cartoon animal. She was no artist, but it seemed to cheer her up and her smile made Bernie's day a little bit better.

Then came the day that would change Bernie's life forever. The brunette was queuing up, it was four o'clock on a Monday, exams had started and she looked stressed. Bernie already had one order for a black coffee, so she decided to get ahead of the game. What should it be today? She had basically run out of animals she was capable of drawing. A flower or a heart wasn't really Bernie's style, might make it seem a bit weird (who was she kidding, it was already weird). Should she maybe write a message? No, definitely too stalkerish.

A smiley face seemed like the best option – circular face, black circles for eyes and a big open grin with lots of teeth. She'd added the small 'x' underneath before she had time to think about what she was doing. Hopefully, she would be the sort of person that put kisses at the end of notes to friends.

She grabbed both of the takeaway cups, aware that she had probably spent too much time deliberating. Handing one over to the first guy – she thought he might be called Mark or Martin, she had a feeling he was in the year below her, she smiled and said her standard "have a lovely day".

She served the brunette, smiling shyly as she presented the already made coffee to her. "I assumed it was the usual?"

She smiled and thanked Bernie, handing over the exact change as always, then hurried out of the canteen.

She was walking back home after her shift finished when she heard heavy, fast footsteps behind her.

"Hey, hey, wait up! It's Berenice Wolfe, isn't it?" She turned to see the guy from the year below that had been in the canteen earlier. "Isn't it usual for guys to ask the girl out?"

"What?" Bernie exclaimed "Sorry, who are you?"

"Marcus Dunn, sorry, I only know your name because you're vice-president of the boat club, aren't you? A load of my mates row, anyway it's err, nice to meet you."

"Oh, yeah I am. Hi – uh look I need to get back home, is there something you wanted?"

"A date?"

"What?!" Bernie was even more perplexed, he was evidently very sure of himself.

"Well, I assumed you wanted to? You know – the whole smile and a little 'x' on my cup this afternoon?"

Bernie felt like a weight had dropped to the bottom of her stomach. She'd given him the wrong cup! She was overwhelmed with guilt, she felt like she'd let down the girl and led on poor Marcus.

"Ah, sorry, I'd – uh – I mean, um, my friend was in the queue behind you, that one was meant for her!" Bernie watched as his face fell and guilt washed over her once more.

"Oh, okay, well I'd uh, better be off then," Marcus shoved his hands in his pockets, clearly quite embarrassed by the whole encounter.

"No, wait!" Bernie felt really bad, but she thought of a compromise. "The rowers are having a big night out next Friday, you know, celebrate the end of the year? If your friends are going why don't you come along as well? I'll see you there?"

She didn't see the mysterious brunette after that day, term finished and the next year Bernie was far too busy to fit in a job around placement and making sure she thoroughly enjoyed her last year as a student. She soon mostly forgot about her, what she looked like and such; Bernie had had many crushes in the past, most of them lasting a few weeks and she never did anything about them. She only ever remembered her as the reason she'd met Marcus, never quite admitting that sometimes, she wished things had turned out differently.