Sorry this has taken so long to post - I've been a bit lost on where to take this (hence the fact not a great deal actually happens in this chapter) and have been thoroughly distracted by a few anonymous prompts and asides that are all now half finished, not to mention all the Berena news of late!

Also, thank you, thank you, thank you for all your lovely responses to this and to my other Berena works! Your comments really do make my day, and if I could take time off work to spend more time on writing these, I would in a heartbeat. Unfortunately, however, I have one of those horrible, awful, grown up, responsible jobs (and my contract is coming up for renewal!) where people actually expect me to be there and need me for things!

Serena settled herself against her pillows, a smile still playing on her lips as she drew up the covers. She allowed herself the indulgence of replaying her date over in her head, something she was quite sure she hadn't done since she was a teenager. Jumping as her phone buzzed from the bedside table, the brunette reached over to retrieve the offending device, half expecting a text from Jason for her having woken him up with her return the house. It wouldn't be the first time.

She found her smile widening as she saw Bernie's name flash up on the screen.

'I just wanted to say thank you. Again. For everything x'

Cute. Not a word that upon first meeting, Serena would ever have thought she would attribute to one Berenice Griselda Wolfe, but now found applied to almost everything the blonde said or did. She couldn't help but roll her eyes at her own behaviour. It was absurd. Phone in hand, she set about making her behaviour a touch more adult.

'I really should be the one thanking you. You did after all treat me to a wonderful dinner. Apologies for not exactly sharing dessert. If you weren't so insistent on doing things properly, however, you could have had me…'

She let out a devious chuckle as she pressed send, knowing the blonde would be having a minor coronary over how to respond. The flirt in her couldn't help but turn things up just a little more. Turning on the camera, she snapped a good dozen pictures, showing her face from the nose up peeking over the covers. Of course, they were all entirely innocent given that she was fully dressed in her usual silky pj's, but given the preceding text, she knew Bernie's imagination would wander. Selecting the best of the bunch, she sent it to the blonde.

Predictably, the reply took rather along time to arrive, and Serena eagerly picked up her phone when it did.

'Way to help a girl settle down to sleep! The rumour mill wasn't wrong when it said you were the resident flirt of Holby!'

Serena grinned in the darkness of her bedroom, rather enjoying the fact that she could make the younger woman hot and bothered so easily. She still had it. Unable to help herself, she sent one last message. 'What can I say? A leopard doesn't change her spots!'

This time around, the reply came much quicker. 'The thought of you in leopard print is NOT helping!'

"Morning!" said Bernie in a sing song voice the moment Serena approached the entrance to the hospital.

The brunette jumped, her mind having been a million miles away. She looked up to see Bernie smiling at her broadly, two cups of coffee in hand. She bit her lip at the sight, unable not to compare the blonde to a rather adorable puppy in the moment. "Good morning, Bernie," she replied with a smile of her own, gratefully accepting the cup offered to her. It was unusual for the younger woman to be at the hospital before her in the morning, not to mention looking quite so awake.

The pair fell into an easy silence as they walked for the elevator, Bernie finding it a rather new experience not to have to run for the lift, jab desperately at the button before losing patience and running for the stairs thanks to her being late…as usual. Stepping into the lift, she leant against the wall opposite Serena, catching sight of the goofy smile she was wearing in the mirror adorning the back wall of the lift and deciding she didn't give a damn. Her smile faltered, however, as she watched Serena slowly and deliberately untie the belt on her jacket to reveal a leopard print blouse.

"Cat got your tongue?" smirked Serena, biting her lower lip as she closed the distance between them. She leant in and placed a teasing kiss to lips that were still slightly parted in shock. Stepping back as the lift doors pinged open, she made her way to the ward with just a bit more sway in her step than usual.

"You're not playing fair."

Serena jumped as the words ghosted past her ear, her attention having been directed over the ward. "I swear I am going to buy you clogs!" She spun quickly in her chair, coming face to face with a grinning blonde. Their faces close, she couldn't help the involuntary flicker of her eyes to Bernie's lips.

"Then I'm buying you an ugly shirt," came the reply. "A really, really ugly shirt that can only make me think of how hideous it is and nothing else."

"Finding your mind wandering, Ms Wolfe?" smirked the older woman, silently pleased at just how much of a distraction her simple blouse choice could create. "Can't have that on the ward."

"Only have yourself to blame," drawled Bernie as she slowly stepped away, her fingers trailing over the brunette's shoulder as she sauntered off.

It was new to them, this realisation of the intimacy between them. They had always been naturally tactile with each other, but innocently so. Now they were trying to establish boundaries where none had been before.

It wasn't that she hadn't noticed the touches before, but rather that she had never appreciated them. Had never felt them accompanied by such a sense of anticipation of what was still to come between them. It was all rather thrilling really.

It was also really rather endearing to watch the blonde dance around the urge to simply reach out to her. And rather frustrating to have to reign in her own urges in front of her colleagues. Still, they would have time to draw the line wherever they found fit. In the meantime, however, they would enjoy the give and take.

Serena paused before entering the office she shared with Bernie, catching sight of her through a gap in the blinds, signing off her patient charts with a flourish in anticipation of the end of her shift. Moving to open the door, with a damn sight more ease than the blonde ever did, Serena slipped into their office, closing the door behind her, taking a moment to rest against it as the blonde turned to her with a smile. Always with a smile now.

Pushing off the door, she crossed the small space, perching on the end of Bernie's desk for a change, letting her fingers absent mindedly stroke over the younger woman's arm where it rested on the desk. "I'm sorry about teasing you with the blouse. I'm not trying to push you."

Bernie nodded. "I know. And I don't want you to apologise. In case you haven't noticed, I rather enjoy your teasing."

"Glad to hear it," smirked the brunette, leaning down to place a gentle kiss to eager lips before pulling back. "I meant what I said though. I don't want you to feel like I'm pushing you. I'm just as nervous as you. I just hide it behind shameless flirting where you…well, you're quite adorable really." She watched as a blush bloomed on pale cheeks. "We'll figure it out somehow."

"Together," added Bernie.

"Together," Serena confirmed with a smile, before pushing herself to her feet. "Now, I'm afraid I have to go. If Jason doesn't have a shepherd's pie on the table by seven thirty I shall have hell to pay." She made for the door, only to feel a gentle tug on her hand. Turning, she let herself be pulled back as Bernie stood.

"Not before I get my goodnight kiss," she breathed, leaning in, pleased to be met halfway.