"Make certain you take a lot of pictures, and please make them public so that I can see them!"
Bernie smiled and gave Jasmine a small nod as she shouldered her carry-on bag before taking hold of the garment bag. Though Serena had arranged for first class seating for her, she was loathe to check her dress, after seeing just how much it had cost. "I promise that I will post any and all appropriate pictures as public. There might be a few that are not quite that, however, and well, those will be left for just me and Serena."
"Make certain that anything of a compromising nature is locked down. I would hate for a scandal to erupt at Holby." Jasmine winked at her before giving Bernie a small wave. "Also? Please let me know when you safely get there. I know, that makes me sound like such an old person, but I'd still like to know."
"Of course." She gave Jasmine a warm smile before turning and heading inside, heading over to an open kiosk and quickly checking in. It didn't take long to get that squared away, and then she had her boarding pass and passport in hand, clearing security in moments before making her way to the gate.
Bernie had barely taken a seat when her phone rang, and she pulled it out to see Cameron on the other end. "Mum! I was hoping to see you this weekend, but Jason says that you're going to Rome? When did that happen?"
Relaxing a little in her seat, she smiled at the garment bag and thought about how soon she would be seeing Serena. "It was a whirlwind for me, too. It seems that Serena misses me a little more than I thought she would. She's in Rome right now, and I get to spend an entire weekend with her."
"Let me guess, you're not going to see the sun for three whole days?"
She rolled her eyes, letting out a huff of a breath. "No, for your information, I think that Serena has other things in mind than just sex."
"Well, I suppose that's good to know, though I don't want to know any of those details, Mum." She let out a bark of laughter, causing many of the other people milling around her gate to look and stare. "Though I am staying to have dinner with Jasmine and Jason. Might as well get some family bonding time in."
"Jasmine's not…"
"Don't finish that thought, Mum. She's as good as, and you know it. Especially if Serena trusted her to look after Jason."
That thought took her aback a little, and she gave a small nod as she stared out the window at her plane taxiing to the gate. "When did you get to be so smart?"
"I can't be given the credit for this one. Morven was actually the one who connected those dots. I invited her to come along with, but she said that there's still a bit of bad blood between the two that hasn't washed out yet."
"I wish I knew what happened there, but now that they're not on the same ward, it's hard to keep track of tension between friends."
Cameron made a low sound of agreement before launching into a tale about his current hospital. It was so nice to hear that he was doing well in his foundation studies, and it seemed that this current hospital was a good fit for him. "And though I really miss everyone at Holby, I think this was ultimately better for all of us, don't you think?"
"Funnily enough, that was what I was thinking. You can get your career started on the right foot, so to speak. Though I wish you had been here over the last few weeks."
"We're just not good at keeping in touch, are we?"
She let out a little chuckle as she shook her head. "You may have just won the understatement of the century, Cameron. I'm trying to get better, but life just seems to get in the way."
"And Serena and your trauma unit take precedence, I know."
She frowned a little. "No, that's not true. I tried countless times to get in touch with you and Charlotte, and you froze me out. You took your father's side in the divorce proceedings. Those aren't things that are easily overlooked, especially when you wrote such hurtful letters about me to the courts. I love you, both of you, but it hurts to hear that you still think such things about me."
"I didn't mean to…"
"We never really mean some of the things that come out of our mouths without thinking. But that almost makes them truer, since we don't have time to sugarcoat things. I, I have to go, I think they're starting to pre-board my flight."
Bernie hung up before he could say another word, and then put her phone on silent before shoving it into her pocket. Needing something to do with her hands and mind, she took out her tablet and started to play a mindless game until the gate attendants began to announce the boarding order.
Since she was in first class, Bernie was one of the first in the area to board, and she smiled as she walked down the jetway and then found her seat, next to the window. Trust Serena to ensure that she would have the best seat possible, and Bernie sank down into the seat, letting out a soft sigh as she toed her carry-on bag beneath the seat in front of her before hanging the garment bag on a corner of the seat.
"Do you want me to hang that in the closet during the flight?"
She looked up at the flight attendant, giving him a warm smile. "That would be lovely, thank you," she replied as she handed the bag over, keeping a close eye on it until it was safely hung up. A part of her knew that Serena would kill her if anything happened to the dress. She was pleasantly surprised to find that the seat next to her empty by the time the cabin doors were closed, and she stretched her legs over into the other space, relishing the ability to further stretch out, even if it was such a short flight.
Knowing that she was supposed to be taking pictures for Jasmine, she pulled out her phone and snapped a few shots of the skyline and what was below her as the plane made its way towards Rome. There was something utterly lovely about the sky and landscape below her, and Bernie found her mind drawn to Serena and what the first thing she would do when they together again would be. She must have dozed off, because the next thing she knew, she was swallowing thickly, her ears popping as they descended into G. B. Pastine International.
The flight attendant from earlier returned, holding her garment bag, and she took it from his hands with a smile. "I hope you enjoy your stay in Rome," he said before disappearing down the aisle. She settled back in her seat once more, draping the garment bag in the free seat before looking out the window once more, taking a few more pictures before putting her phone in her pocket and getting ready to see Serena.
A part of her hoped that she wouldn't start crying the moment she saw her, since nothing said desperate more than tears at the sight of a loved one after a prolonged absence. The pilot made her announcements about the landing procedure, and she took a deep breath, trying to settle the butterflies that she started to move about in her stomach. The moment the wheels touched the runway, she flipped her phone off airplane mode, letting her notifications roll in.
The only one she could focus on, though, was from her Serena, and she grinned to see the words written there. Welcome to Rome! See you soon, Bernie! x
Tapping out a quick reply, she popped up out of her seat the moment the cabin doors opened, and started tapping her foot in an impatient tattoo as she let the people who had filled the aisle the minute the plane came to a stop pass her by. Finally, though, a kind young woman gestured for her to get out, and Bernie gave the brunette a relieved smile before slipping into the aisle and scurrying down the jetway.
Though she knew that there was no possibility of seeing Serena at the gate, she still began to look for her the moment she stepped into the boarding area, the delicious sense of anticipation filling her veins. And then, she was in the baggage claim area, surrounded by unfamiliar people and wanting only to be in Serena's arms. Ten minutes passed, however, and she didn't see her anywhere, and a part of Bernie began to feel like she had made a mistake, that she had come to the wrong airport, even though Serena had been the one to arrange all the details.
"Excuse me, are you Ms Wolfe?"
The lightly accented voice caught her attention before the feel of a soft hand on her arm, and she looked over to see a slim young man smiling beguilingly at her. "I am."
"You look exactly like the picture Ms Campbell gave me. If you'll follow me," he said as he took hold of the strap on her carry-on bag, tugging at it gently until she gave it over to him before taking hold of the handle of her small, wheeled, case. "Do you have any other luggage?"
"No, it's only a weekend trip, after all," she said absently as they made their way outside and over to a black Bugatti Veyron. A soft gasp slipped from her lips at the sight of the vehicle, and she wondered just how much Serena had spent on this weekend for her. "This is gorgeous," she murmured as she slipped into the passenger seat.
"Nothing but the finest for Ms Wolfe," her driver said as he started the car and began to drive. Bernie made certain to take pictures along the drive, knowing that she had to capture every moment of her time in this lovely country, if not for Jasmine, then for her, when she had returned to life in Holby, without Serena.