Thank you for the lovely reviews, I'm happy you like this! I can't stop writing it!

Serena snatched her phone up and furiously swiped at it, momentarily dazzled by the light of the screen in the darkness of her bedroom. All her muscles tensed and she could hear the rush of blood in her ears. Forcing herself to take three slow breaths she looked down to read it.

Bernie:

"I hate myself for what I've done. I'm going to leave in the morning. I'm sorry Serena. B x"

NO.

NO.

Serena realised she'd vocalised that out loud and listened quietly for any movement from Jason. Thankfully he didn't seem to have been disturbed. Sitting up sharply she debated calling Bernie but realised quickly that that would probably freak the army medic out. She started a new message, erased it, started again, deleted. "Come ON Campbell" she said to herself, but more quietly this time. "You've got to do this and you have ONE chance to make this right".

A flash of inspiration took hold and she tapped out four words. Just four. Added the signature S and a single x, exhaled and pressed send.

Realising that she needed to move she slipped out of bed and tugged her dressing gown on, shivering slightly in the cool night air. Taking her phone she opened the door and waited. When she heard nothing she softly padded down the stairs, avoiding the creaks and the wobbly rail as she did so, headed into the kitchen and closed the door. Flicking the light on and placing her phone carefully on the table she moved over to the cupboards. Despite being nearly 1 in the morning she seriously contemplated a glass, hell a bottle, of Shiraz but sensible Serena won out and she poured herself a glass of water from the filter jug and sat down.

Tapping her fingers to an unheard beat she waited and waited. Willing her phone to light up, to ring, whatever her friend did was fine as long as she replied.

Resting her chin in her palm she closed her eyes and sighed. "Everything will be different now" she thought and a ripple of sadness washed over her. The easy banter, the teasing, the gentle touches of each other. The looks in theatre, bringing each other coffee, drinks in Albies, casual dinners, all evaporated. With one kiss, her world had changed.

But then she thought about it some more and realised that all of those things, from their very first meeting in the car park, had been leading to this, even if neither of them knew it. It hadn't been plain sailing, Bernie had lied and cheated, not on Serena, but it had stung all the same after what Edward had out her through and yet Serena found it so easy to forgive her, would always find it easy. Her voice came into her head, "that's what love is I suppose. Defending the indefensible." Love. Yep. That's what it was and maybe had always been.

Oh God this was torture. Should she have called? No, it was the right decision, Bernie would have gone into a blind panic if she'd moved from texts to calls. This way, Serena reasoned, she had chance to think about what she wanted to say. Bernie was always so considered, she never spoke without being certain of the consequence of her words, in direct contrast with her actions usually, which tended to be more immediate, instinctive. "Army training" she thought. "Can't second guess your decisions there".

She nibbled her lower lip anxiously and looked around the kitchen. Jason's lists fixed with magnets to the fridge, photos of him and Elinor on the wall, a shelf of cookbooks jostling for position, spices and oils on a line. All giving little insights into who she was and who Jason needed her to be. Methodical, organised, practical. She snorted at that, she was, after all, hopeless at anything DIY related.

Her gaze shifted back to her phone just as it lit and vibrated. Her vision swam for a second and she grabbed at the edge of the table, noting that was the second time tonight she'd needed to support her own weight. She reached across and saw it again.

Bernie.