1 month in
Alex wasn't stupid. She could see where her former flame's attention gravitated towards these days. She knew there was no hope for her anymore when she'd got there and Bernie and Ms Campbell were already heavily involved co-leading AAU. Bernie looked at her with eyes that promised the world if only Serena would notice her. She almost felt sorry for Bernie who seemed destined to cock up everything in her personal life. Having spent her adult life in the closet and not even knowing it, divorcing her husband for a different reason entirely and further complicating the situation by falling down the rabbit hole of lesbianism, only to hopelessly paddle there ever since. Bernie was screwed. Despite being burned with Alex, (it never would have worked), she was wasting her time pathetically crushing on a man flirt with an atrocious taste in blouses. Thank goodness she was going to be out of here by Christmas. Bernie Wolfe was out of her hands.
3 months in
When she first started, Alex scoffed at the idea that the thoroughly heterosexual surgeon would look at another woman. But now she might have to eat her words. There was a definite response from the Campbell corner and the longer it went on, the more she was sure of it. The coffee; the pastries, the touching, the conspiratorial winks, the flirtatious use of the title Major. Those cosy drinks in Albie's. And the way that Serena smiled at her. She lit up when Bernie was around and that was hard for Alex to ignore.
6 months in
She caught her watching Serena from the corner of her eye, out of the window. Alex couldn't stand it any longer.
'Will you just stop!'
Bernie jumped and knocked over the small pile of crap on her desk.
'You go out there and tell her, or I will do it for you.'
Bernie looked panicked.
'I don't know what you mean.'
Alex nearly slapped her with impatience.
'Don't think I haven't noticed the way you moon over her.'
They looked in the same direction, at Serena chatting and laughing with Fletch. Alex turned to Bernie and saw her unable to look elsewhere.
'Serena? No, you've got it wrong. She's…she's a colleague. She's a friend.'
'You clearly have a massive crush on her.'
Bernie tried to deny it but it was no use. She'd been found out and by Alex no less. Her embarrassment felt like a hurricane shrieking in her ears and she closed her eyes to get rid of it. Alex didn't let it go.
'I'm fed up with this pussy footing around. You never stop staring at her but you won't say a thing.'
Bernie lost her patience.
'She's bloody well straight! She'd run a mile if she knew what I was thinking. She's not interested.'
'She bloody well is. She's constantly initiating.'
Bernie flatly denied it.
'Of course she does. She always asks you out for drinks, she's always the first to inform you of anything and she gives you back rubs.'
'I have a bad back' Bernie said stiffly.
'She volunteered to give you a massage and she's never stopped since. She's keen on you.'
'That's just the way she is, she's very tactile with people.'
'I bet she won't say no if you took the lead for once. She's the kind of person that makes the first move so you'd better get in there quick.'
Bernie said nothing, just looked back at Serena with longing.
Alex looked at her in exasperation. Her sweet somehow still naive Bernie. Who still had such a lot to learn in the art of lady loving. Been out of the game for so long she wouldn't know how to start.
'Darling Bernie, she's been chasing you for a long time. How could you have failed to notice that she looks at nobody the way she looks at you, the way that she only has eyes for you?'
She saw shock seasoned with a dash of hope on Bernie's face.
And with that, the world just turned upside down.